Why do we preach what we preach?
That's the only thing we got. That's the only thing we got.
When we see Christ as He is, revealed in Holy Scripture, and
we see ourselves as we are, revealed in Holy Scripture, we have nothing
else to preach. We have nothing else to preach.
Turn with me if you would. To John chapter 17, I've got
three astonishing statements that we find written in God's
Word. And as I was looking at these,
most men would call this blasphemy, but it's here in God's Word,
so it's safe to preach. It's safe to preach. The first
statement I want to look at is John 17 and verse 23. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that
thou, here's the statement, thou hast sent me, and hast loved
them as thou hast loved me. What a statement. What a statement.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is telling His people, the Father loves
you with the same love He loves me. How can that be? How can this
be? Knowing something about who we
are and what we are in this flesh. And if this was not written in
Holy Scripture, I would dare not speak it. But it is. So that gives us the free course
to declare unto God's people, God loves you. The sign, when you come into
Dangas, if you come in one way, there's a big church there. Out
on the front of there, they've got one of these digital signs. It runs notes across it. The sign says, welcome to Dingus,
God loves you. That's not true. You might be
coming to Dingus, but the other part's not true. God loves Christ. And only those that are in Christ. So when we tell men, smile, God
loves you, we're telling them a lie. We're making God a liar,
because he don't love everybody the same. But men will not have
it. They will not have it. Oh, but let us cherish what God
tells us. Let us read in His Word and find
these things that tells us how He sets His love upon us, why
He sets His love upon us, and how He demonstrates His love
to us. The Father loved me. as the father
loved his son. Can I get a hold of that? Do
I know even how to start to describe God's love? God's love is infinite,
holy, righteous, and true love. If He ever loved you, He always
loved you. Before I was ever created, or
before I was ever born, however I come to be, God said, I have
loved you. And He put me in Christ, way
back here. Way back here. Before the foundation
of the world, the scripture tells us. He put me in Christ. But I didn't know it. I had no
idea of it. I went about in false religion. I went about satisfying the flesh. I went about doing all manner
of things. But then one day, as Walter said, God revealed
something to us. I hear men say, I remember this
message just like Walter said. I don't. I don't remember. I remember knowing what I was
doing in religion was not right. I knew that the Free Will Baptist
was getting ready to start ordaining women for the pulpit. I knew
that wasn't right. That's not according to Scripture.
But I didn't know what was right. I knew that was wrong. And I
knew that what we were doing by attempting to pay our way
into the very presence of God was not right. But what is right? That's what is right. How is
the acceptable way to worship God? How is the acceptable way
to approach a holy God? Then He began to teach me. Matthew records it this way.
And lo, the voice of heaven saying, this is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. You hear Him. You hear Him. Push aside these other things
that does so easily distract us. Push these things aside and
let us look to Christ. Let us worship Him. Let us lean
on Him. The Father loved the Son in creation.
He said, let us. Who was He talking to? Way back
here. He said, let us make man. He's
talking to the Son. He's talking to the Spirit of
God. The triune God. Saying, let us make man. So that
He created man. He created male and female, created
He then. The Father loved the Son when
He took upon Him our humanity. He said, for this purpose came
I into the world. I came to take the sinner's place. I come, God in human flesh, no
one can explain that. No one can explain how Christ
died on the cross, but yet God was still alive in heaven. That's
unexplainable because this is the work of God. We see through
a glass dimly or darkly. We get a glimpse every now and
then of how God loves me, when He sheds His mercy and His grace
and His affection upon me, but it's soon forgotten. The Father
loved the Son, why He walked you upon this earth. Oh, how
the Father loved the Son. Luke describes it this way. And
the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape of a dove upon him. And
a voice came from heaven, God the Father testifying of the
love that He has for the Son. Thou art my beloved Son. In Thee I am well pleased. The Father always loved the Son.
He always did. Oh, how the Father loved the
Son even when He was made sin. Made sin. The men hollered, oh
God so loved the world, the world of all humanity with no exception,
and he sent Christ to die for him. That's not so. That's not
true. It's not so. God loved the people,
yes. But that people was a people
that God chose just like the children of Israel was a type
and a picture of them. We are the seed of God. We are
the children of God. Because God has shown us the
light of the gospel and the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And we see Him. And unless we
see Him clearly, and unless we see Him unmistakably for who
He is, who He is, then we will pass over these things. There's
thousands and thousands of people in the world today with the name
of Jesus or Jose in Mexico, but they have no power to save. Only
this one, this one Son of God who took upon Him flesh in a
room instead of His people. And he came and he lived, most
people believe 33 some years. He walked this earth with his
disciples, he led them, he taught them, he gave them an understanding
of who he is. And then even his closest disciples,
Peter said, I don't know the man. Left to himself. Left to himself. And it's the
same way with you and I. We as a dog would return to its
vomit. We as pigs would turn to the
watering in the marsh. We as self-righteous religion
would go back. Except God says, no, you're mine. You're mine. I will not let you
go. The father loved the son when
he stood in the room instead of his people. Although the justice
of God demanded he must be killed. He must be slaughtered. He must
be forsaken. And I don't understand that either.
How could God forsake Himself? But He did, according to Scripture.
I mean, if it's not in Scripture, don't preach it. But God forsook
God. Our Lord cried on the cross,
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? We know now that
it was because of sin. We know now that God must, I'm
going to use the word withdraw, but I don't know if that's the
right word or not. Where God is, there's life. And in order
for life to be gone out, God must be absent. Because where
God is, there's life. He says, I am life. But for an
instant, for a time, He withdrew to the point that the life went
out of the very Son of God. Life went out of this flesh.
And He died. He physically died. Because that's
exactly what sin curse desired. Sin's curse demanded. The soul
that sinneth, it shall die. And there he died under the wrath
and penalty of God, but all the time, God loved him. God loved him. God's love is
not like mine and yours. God loves the son not as a man
loves his dog. I watched Paul and Paula with
their dog Clyde. They love that dog, but that's
not God's love. That dog will soon pass away,
I'm sure, and they may even forget about him in a few years, but
not so with God. Not so with God. Jeremiah said, the Lord of old
has appeared unto me, Saying, yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. That's God's love. That's the
way God loves. That's the way that God loves
His Son. And that's the way that God loves
every one of His people in Christ. In Christ. That's the whole hinge
of a whole thing. What is my standing in Christ? Am I in Christ or am I outside
of Christ? Do I look to Christ? Do I worship
Christ? Or do I serve the law of sin? That is the standing that God
looks upon. And if He sees me in Christ,
His love is set upon me. Because He's put me there for
the very point of loving me. God loved me not merely as a
creature that He created, like a man would love his dog, or
a mere descendant of Adam. God loves to a point, and I don't
want to misconstrue this, God's mercy is over all human race,
to a point. Not his saving mercy, not his
saving grace. The example is, it rains on the
just and the unjust. The fields, the farmer, an unjust
farmer can go plant a field. And a righteous man can plant
a field. Both fields grow. Why is that? Why is that? The same sun that hits the righteous
man's field hit the unrighteous man's field. So they say that's
God's love. It may be to a point, but it's
not saving love. It's not a holy love as He has
toward His Son and those that are in His Son. I don't know
how to explain that, but that's the way it is. But God loves me in Christ as
He loves His only begotten Son. What a statement. What a statement. No wonder the old hymn writer
wrote, How can it be? How can it be? that God should
love a soul like me. And the answer sings forth, only
in Christ, only in the Son, can God love anyone. Our Lord prayed in John chapter
17 and verse 20. He said, neither pray I for these
alone, but for them also which thou shalt believe on me through
their name. God sees His people. All of His
people. Every one of them. Old Testament. New Testament. Jew and Gentile. He sees them in Christ. And that's
how He loves them. That's the reason He loves them.
That's the result of His love for putting them in Christ. He
says that they all may be made one. They're one. You and I are
one with God in Christ. I don't understand that. I know
something about who this flesh is. And it boggles my mind to
think that I am one with God. But it's so. It's so. That they all may be one as thou,
Father, are in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in
us. that the world may believe that
thou hast sent me, and the glory that thou hast given unto them,
that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou
in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world
may know that thou hast sent me, and has loved them as thou
hast loved me. Now who is he? Who's he talking
about? Romans 8.28. Let me just turn over and read
it to you. Romans 8.28. Most of you can
quote this. And we know that all things work
together for the good to them. There they are. There they are. That's us. To them that love God. To them who are called according
to His purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them. Them. That's you and I. Them he also called. And whom
he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What are we going to say about
this thing? What are we going to say about this? We say, if
God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own
Son, but delivered Him up, how shall He not with Him freely
give us all things? And that's exactly what He does.
That's my second point. Psalm 68, verse 19. You can turn
if you'd like to, but if you're not, I'll read it to you. It's
a short one verse. Psalm 68, verse 19. Blessed be
the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits. Who daily loadeth
us with benefits. What benefit is there in serving
God? What benefit do we have? Well,
time would run out for us to try to even tell them. Blessed
in honor and glory be unto the Lord, who daily loadeth us with
benefits. The one great benefit that we
think about is his ascension. Him coming and taking my place,
what a benefit. What a benefit it is for him
to come and die for me. It's one thing to die for a friend.
It's one thing to take a penalty of another man. But oh, to come. and be made sin, to take the
place of another. What a benefit! What a benefit
that is! Our Lord said, For I came down
from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him that
sent me. And this is the Father's will
which He has sent me, of all which He has given me. I should
lose nothing, but should raise Him up again at the last day.
What a benefit! What a benefit that is! What
a blessed benefit that is! the promise of eternal life in
the Lord Jesus Christ. But the verse says, He loatheth
us. Loatheth us means not just one,
not just two, but all that we can handle. We have the benefits
of God and He does this daily. Just as the children of Israel
were in the wilderness, He gave them water to drink daily. He
gave them manna to eat from heaven daily. He gave them quail to
eat daily. So He daily loatheth us with
His longsuffering, His mercy, His grace, His truth, His forgiveness. All these are benefits that we
have, but we have them only in Christ. He loatheth us daily
with benefits. The Lord loatheth us with His
mercy and favors daily. His mercy endureth forever. His
mercy is fresh every morning. Every morning. Every day that
we awake to another day, it's God's blessings upon us. We could
have passed away in the night and went to be with the Lord,
which is the most beneficial thing that I know of we can receive
from Him. But while we're here, while we're
here, He loadeth us. He loadeth us daily with benefits. We are loaded down with all of
God's blessings that we and I can handle. If God would bless us
anymore, we would probably be prideful. Oh, look at me. Look
at me. Look what I've done. If God would
bless us anymore, And if He would bless us any less, we would be
resentful. Why ain't He blessing me? But
He loatheth us with all that you and I can handle. Some men
have more blessings than others. Some men are blessed to sing,
write songs, play instruments. Some are blessed to preach the
gospel. Some are blessed just to hear. Just to hear. But all
these blessings come to us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, in this life we may struggle
in this flesh. We may live from payday to payday.
But not so in God. Not so in the blessings and the
benefits of God. We have every spiritual blessing
that you and I need. If we needed it, He would give
it to us. We need an understanding of who God is. He gave it to
us. We need the blood of Christ to redeem us. He gave it to us.
We need grace to look to Christ daily. He gave it to us. And
He gives it to us. And if we live tomorrow, He'll
give it to us tomorrow. We need this thing of strength
to magnify and to praise and to honor the Lord. He gives it
to us. He gives us a right mind to say,
I am His and He is mine. Mr. Spurgeon said, God's benefits
are not few nor light. They are loads. Neither are the
intermittent, just a few here and there, but they come daily. They come daily. Nor are they
confined to one or two. One or two favors, but the whole
church says the Lord loatheth us daily with benefits. Turn
with me to Ephesians chapter 2. Let me just read down through
here and listen to the benefits that God gives us. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1.
And you have ye quickened. What a benefit. What a benefit. And He quickened us from who
we were dead and trespassing sin. Wherein in time past we
walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now walketh,
and the children of disobedient, among whom also we had our conversation
in time past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling as ours the
flesh and of mine, and were by nature children of wrath, even
as others. But God, what a benefit. But
God who is rich in mercy. Mercy to look to Christ. Mercy
that forgives our sins. Mercy to sustain us daily, every
day. What a benefit. And He did it
for His great love. Oh, what a benefit, this great
love He had towards us. Even when we were dead in sin. Hath He quickened us together
with Christ? By grace are you saved. What
a benefit this grace of God is. And has raised us up together.
Oh, listen to what the Lord has done for us and is doing for
us. And He's promised He will yet do for us. And has raised
us up together. Made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ. That in the ages to come, He
might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
towards us through Christ Jesus. What benefits we have. What great
mercy and grace we have in Christ. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God. A benefit,
the gift of God. This thing of grace that saves
us. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. For we are His workmanship. God has created us. Created in
Christ Jesus unto good works. He has created us to good works. To honor, to magnify, to give
glory and honor to the name of our God and our Savior. This
is what we're here for. Which God had before ordained
that we should walk in there. God ordered this way back there.
I'm going to make you. I'm going to create you. I'm
going to give you life. And you're going to... The second,
third, and fourth verse of this tells us exactly what we've done
by nature. We went astray. We worked after the flesh. We lusted after the flesh. Until
God says, that's enough. That's enough. And then all these
blessings begin to pile upon us. Loading us with blessings
day after day after day. And He has ordained this to take
place. Wherefore remember that you being Gentiles in the flesh,
who are called uncircumcision, but that which is called circumcision,
that simply means we're Jews and the Gentiles, we're circumcision,
in the flesh made by hand, that at that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world. But now, Oh, these benefits come
to us now. Now in Christ Jesus, you were
sometimes far off or made nigh. We're made nigh to the point
that we're sons of God. We're heirs of God. And we're
joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. What benefits He's put
upon us. What benefits He has daily loaded
us with. For He is our peace. who has
made both one, has broken down the middle war partition, having
abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandment contained
in ordinance, for to make himself twain of one new man, so make
him peace, that he might reconcile, that he might bring me to God. God came to me, or I went to
God. No, God came to you. God came
to you. God was the offended one, but
He was the reconciling one. You and I left to ourselves would
never come to God. We would never approach God.
We would never attempt to come and worship God. But God came
to us and created life within us. Put within us His Holy Spirit,
causing us. We can't help but worship Him.
That's what the Spirit of God does. And we can't help it. Although we, at times, ponder
and fall and weaken the flesh, we don't worship Him as we should,
but we do worship Him. We can't help it because the
Spirit of God lives within us. And He came and preached peace
to them which were afar off and to them that were nigh. For through
Him, We both have access. What a benefit to have access
to the very Spirit of God, to the very presence of God. Now,
therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow servants
or fellow citizen with the saints and with the household of God.
How far has He brought us? He has brought us from being
dead in trespasses and sin to now we're seated on the high
places of God. We're blessed with all holy blessings
of God. What a God. What a God we have. This is who we are in Christ.
With our daily benefits. Our daily benefits. We don't have time to mention
atonement. Being at one with God. God's
goodness, God's peace, God's love. But these are just some
of the benefits we have from the Father. Blessed be the Lord
who daily loatheth us with benefits. Now here's the shocker. The third
astonishing statement. We find it in Psalms 149 and
verse 4. For the Lord taketh pleasure
in His people. Why did He do all this for us?
The Lord taketh pleasure in His people. I dare not try to even
explain that. Why does God daily load me with
benefits? The Lord taketh pleasure in His
people. Why has He loved me as He loved
His own Son? Because the Lord taketh pleasure
in His people. And He showers upon us all the
blessings of God in Christ Jesus. And we cry with the old hymn
writer, how can it be, how can it be that God should love a
soul like me? Oh, how can it be? Only in Christ. Is this not astonishing to you
and I? Don't we stand amazed to think
of what God has done for wretched, vile, sinful creatures such as
you and I? Let me read you a song. This
is what I call Brother Rupert Ryvernbach's song. Some of you
may have heard him sing it. It's called In the Beloved. He
says, In the Beloved, excepted am I. risen, ascended, and seated
on high, saved from all sin through His infinite grace, with the
redeemed ones according a place. In the Beloved, God's marvelous
grace caused me to dwell in this wonderful place. God sees my
Savior, then He sees me. In the Beloved, accepted and
free. In the Beloved, how safe my retreat
in the Beloved accounted complete. Who can condemn me? In Him I
am free, Savior and Keeper forever is He. In the Beloved I went
to the tree, there in His person by faith I may see. Infinite
wrath rolling over my head, infinite grace, for He died in my stead. In the Beloved, God's marvelous
grace, called me to dwell in this wonderful place. God sees
my Savior, then he sees me, in the beloved, accepted, and free. Thank you.