if you would, to the book of
Isaiah, chapter 45. Isaiah 45. While you're turning, I heard
from our pastor last night. He said they're at a conference
in Pennsylvania. He said the conference is going
really well. Isaiah chapter 45, we'll start
our reading in verse 18. For thus saith the Lord that
created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made
it. He hath established it. He created it not in vain. He
formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord. There is none
else. I've not spoken in secret in a dark place of the earth.
I said not under the seat of Jacob, seek me in vain. I the
Lord speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.
Assemble yourselves together. Draw near together, ye that are
escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge, set up
the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a God that cannot
save. Tell ye, and bring them near.
Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? There is no God else beside me,
a just God and a Savior. There is none beside me. Look
unto me. and be ye saved, all the ends
of the earth. For I am God, there is none else. I have sworn by
myself. The word has gone out of my mouth
in righteousness and shall not return. That unto me every knee
shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely shall one say in
the Lord, have I righteousness and strength? Even to him shall
men come. All that are incensed against
him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified and shall glory. We'll end our reading
there. Sean will lead us in our call to worship. Glory to God on high. Let praise us fill the sky. Praise ye his name. Angels his name adore. All our sorrows bore, and saints
cry evermore, Worthy the Lamb! ? All they around the throne
? ? Cheerfully join in one ? ? Praising his name ? ? We who have felt
his blood ? ? Sealing our peace with God ? ? Spread his dear
name abroad ? ? Worthy the Lamb of God ? To Him our hearts we
raise, none shall so lowly fall. Okay, if you would turn in your
hymnals to song number 287, Like a River Glorious. 287. Like a river glorious is God's
perfect peace. in its bright increase. Perfect yet it floweth, fuller
every day. Perfect yet it groweth, deeper The Jehovah hearts are fully
blessed Finding as He promised perfect peace and rest Hidden
in the hollow of His blessed hand Never traitors stand Not a surge
of worry Not a shade of care Not a blast of hurry Touch the
spirit there Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed Finding,
as He promised, perfect peace and rest Every joy or trial falleth
from above traced upon our dial by the Son of Love. We may trust Him fully, all for
us to do, they who trust Him wholly. Turn with me, if you would, to
Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10. We're delighted to have today
Paul Pendleton here with us from Sovereign Grace Chapel in Beaver.
Paul, we appreciate your faithfulness to preach God's name and your
friendship to us to come declare it to us and worship together
with us. We thank you. Mark chapter 10, we'll start
in verse 17. There's a excellent article in
this week's bulletin from Brother Larry Chris that quotes one of
the verses. Very good article. It led me
to this text. We'll read together starting
at verse 17. When he was gone forth into the way, there came
one running and kneeled to him. and asked him, good master, what
shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said
unto him, why callest thou me good? There's none good, but
one, that is God. Thou knowest the commandments,
do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear
false witness, defraud not, honor thy father and mother. He answered
and said unto him, master, all these have I observed from my
youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved
him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell
whatever thou hast, and give to the poor. Thou shalt have
treasure in heaven, and come, take up the cross, and follow
me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved, for he
had great possessions. And Jesus looked around about,
and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have
riches enter into the kingdom of God. And the disciples were
astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and
saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust
in the riches to enter into the kingdom of God? It is easier
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich
man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they were astonished
out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?
And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but
not with God. For with God all things are possible.
We'll end our reading there. Let's pray together. Our Holy Heavenly Father. We
pray that you send your spirit to be with us this morning. Grant
us liberty to. To worship you in spirit and
in truth. We pray for our brother that
that you give him strength and recollection of his studies and.
And a word. from you. We pray that you strengthen
him and speak through him. We pray for ourselves that you
give us ears to hear and a heart to worship for father. We we know when we
repent and we admit we kneel before you in sorrow knowing
that left to ourselves we would we would not seek you. We're
thankful that that you've seen fit to seek a people, even us.
We're thankful. We pray for our community, for
our country. We pray that according to your
will, there might be a revival, that you would continue to call
people to repentance as you promised and as you do. We rest in your
promise. We thank you for Christ, for
his work and his accepted sacrifice for sinners, that you would see
fit to save those of us that have no right to call upon your
name whatsoever in and of ourselves. But according to your good pleasure,
you've made us worthy in Christ. We're thankful. We're thankful
for him. We pray that you be with us, pray with those that
are away from us at this time, that you give them traveling
mercies, bring them back to us according to your will. Father,
increase our faith, increase our faith that we would that
we would see your goodness. Bring glory to your name. We
pray these things in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen. Good morning again, everyone. I'm thankful to be here. Thankful
that I was asked. Thankful you would be here to
hear me. If you'll notice, Paula is not with me this time. She
had planned to come with me, but we have the two Bernice Mountain
Dogs and the girl Katie at Chapel. She usually watches our dogs
for us, but she got sick and couldn't watch it, so Paula had
to stay and not come. But I am thankful. I'm thankful
that God's put me where I am at Chapel. I'm thankful those
folks, supportive as they are. And we have two other faithful
men there that preach the gospel. I'm thankful for that. And I'm
thankful for all the other preachers we have out here, too, because
you can listen to a lot of messages out there and get some comfort.
It's good. If you would, be turning to 1
Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1. And I'll try to get turned there,
but then I want to tell you a little story if I can. A little story
before we get started. But 1 Timothy 1. I heard this from Bruce Crabtree,
so blame him if you think it's no good. This church, they were
having a conference this one time. It was real hot, and the
air condition wasn't working in the place. So the first preacher
got up, and man, he went for a long time. And it was hot in
there, and the kids are, everybody's sweating, and the kids are getting
sleepy and going to sleep. Well, he finished his message.
And then the other preacher got up, and he took even longer,
maybe an hour and 15 minutes. It's hot, and the kids are all
falling asleep. Even the older ones are nodding
off, you know, nodding off. But after the services were over,
they went out to the vestibule. This mother and her son went
out to the vestibule. And they had all these pictures
of these men out in the vestibule. And, you know, they were military
members who had died in the line of duty. And her son asked the
mother, said, Mom, who are these? And she said, these all died
in service. And he was kind of puzzled. So
he looked up at his mom. He said, was it the first service
or the second service? Bruce does a lot better job at
telling that, but that just kind of tickled me, but I'll tell
you. So 1 Timothy, are you there? 1 Timothy 1 and verses 12 through
15 to start off with. 1 Timothy 1, verse 12. And I thank
Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted
me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before
a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious, but I obtained
mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. and the grace of
our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is
in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. What a comforting passage that
is. And I mainly want to concentrate on verse 15, which I would venture
to say most of us here are familiar with this. But as we said this
morning, it's good for us to say the same things over and
over. It's safe. But that last verse, verse 15.
This is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am It's sad to say, but not everyone
can read this and truly see who this is talking about or put
themselves in this passage. Then there are those who say
they can, but you can tell when you hear them, they don't really
understand what this is saying. God has to reveal to you who
this is talking about in this passage. And that, and what you hear about
is that which causes this to be a faithful saint. God has
to cause you to see that this is true of you in this passage. If he does, what a glorious and
faithful passage it is. And I want to go through this
verse, verse 15, and break it down and talk about some things
that have come to my mind. This is a faithful saint, Christ
Jesus, and sinners saved, but then my last point is gonna be
the believer's way of life. So first, this is a faithful
saying. In other words, this saying is full of faith. I'm not even gonna talk about
God giving us faith, not yet, which he absolutely does if you
have it. I'm talking about one who is the author and finisher
or perfecter of faith. Romans 3, 21 and 22, we read
this. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ. And that little word is important.
It's of Jesus Christ, not in Jesus Christ. This is talking
about of Jesus Christ. This saying is full of faith
because of the one who is faithful. He authored and he absolutely
had faith in the father. He trusted the father with the
covenant that they had made. He fully executed his part in
that covenant all the way to the end. And we see it here in
this passage. Now that same faith given to
us in measure by him, who is the object and source of that
faith. We just read it, that it is of the faith of Jesus Christ. But this faith given is in measure,
and it's given for a reason. That reason is that we might
believe the record God gave of his son. That is why this is a faithful
saying, because he is worthy to be believed and accepted This
saying is worthy of all acceptation, even though not everyone accepts
it. But he needs no acceptance from
us. He is accepted by the Father. You see, we read this and this
is a saying worthy of all acceptation. It is worthy whether we accept
it or not. But Jesus Christ was set like
a flint toward that purpose. He tells us in scripture, I must
be about my father's business. And to this hour came I into
this world, he says in another place. So we can see this is
full of the faith of Jesus Christ who came into the world. So next
we have Christ Jesus. He has said here to came into
the world is what the words say, came into the world. It does
not say he came into existence into the world, This is Christ
Jesus, so let's look at his name for a minute. First, we have
Christ. This tells us some things. This
word means Messiah or anointed one, my chosen one, mine elect. Isaiah 42, one, we read, behold,
my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him,
he shall bring forth judgment, to the Gentiles. This is one
who was promised from the beginning of time. It was said to the serpent
and there was a record written down by God that tells us this.
It says, I will put enmity, that is hostility or hatred between
thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed. It shall
bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. Genesis 3 15 And it says him
Your word says his heel there in Genesis. So it is a man this
is the one which is spoken of throughout all the Old Testament
and It is said that he shall save his people from their sin.
I And there are several places where we can see in what we call
the pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ, several places
that we see this. But in the New Testament, we
hear of something that's referenced back to, but in 1 Corinthians
10, 4, we read, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for
they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them. And
that rock was Christ. He was a rock. We also have Melchizedek
and we also have the captain of the host in Joshua and other
places where we can truly see this is one who is God. But we are also told of this
one that was the guarantor of the covenant, that covenant of
promise. Galatians 3, 16 and 17 we read. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds as
of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant
that was confirmed before of God in Christ, The law, which
was 430 years after, cannot disannul that it should make the promise
of none effect. So the Christ spoken of here
in all of scripture is the Messiah. The one we read in our text,
he is God. But we also see this in his name,
Jesus, amen. That man that was promised. You
remember Eve and what she said because she heard what she was
told about the seed. In Galatians 4.1 we read, and
Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain and
said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. I'm sure she was thinking
about it back to that time she was told this. And she was just
thinking, is this the one? Now of course it was not Cain.
But she was looking for that one to come, even back then.
And I want to say, this says in her text, Christ Jesus. It
does not say Christ, although he is every bit Christ. It does
not just say Jesus, although he is every bit Jesus. But this
is Christ Jesus, the God man. And that's my point here. Not
just a man with the spirit of God in him, but God himself,
manifest in the flesh. Real true bonafide flesh and
bone, with blood coursing through his veins. He got tired, he got
hungry, so much so that the scripture says in Hebrews 4.15, for we
have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the filling
of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we
are, yet without sin. He knows what it's like to be
human. because not he was, he is human. But he did not just
become flesh because he wanted to know what it felt like. The
covenant involved him being a man. He had to be a man to pay that
sin debt for man. He could not do it in spirit.
No one would have survived that. Scripture says God is spirit
and no one can look upon him and live. Seeing him would kill
you instantly. But you remember Moses? God put
him in the cleft of the rock and he covered his face. He covered
his eyes, covered his face is what it says. And God passed
by. And when he passed by, Moses
seen his hinder parts. Moses saw the glory of God. He saw Jesus Christ. One of those
pre-incarnate appearances that we read about in the Old Testament.
But here's the thing, man had to pay for man's sin. It could
not have happened if he would have shown himself in spirit,
because everyone would have been consumed before anything got
done. But God, by his determinant will
and purpose, said it will have to be done this way. It in fact
pleased him to do it this way, to give himself glory. Moses
would have been consumed had God not concealed his face. But first and foremost, God purposed
it this way. The love of God for his people
was so great that he wanted to be made like unto his brethren,
Hebrews 2.17. Wherefore, in all things, it
behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might
be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Says that it behooved him. He was obligated to be made like
unto his brethren. He obligated himself, that is,
for all the reasons why this had to be this way. So this Christ
Jesus, the God-man, came into the world. Scripture says, unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Again, we read this
previously in previous message, but for God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And just for a minute here, I
know that this world uses this verse and says that God loves
everybody, but just quickly, I'll put this verse in here.
Here's what it means when he says the world here. Revelations
5, 9 we read. And they sung a new song saying,
thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof
for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood
out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. That makes
up the whole world, but it does not include everyone in the world.
So let God be true and every man a liar. Not all, but all
kind, and that makes up the world. But back to it. A child was born
and a son given. I am thankful to God for that.
but there's something that he came into the world for. We read
it in our text, so next we have sinners saved. If Christ came
into the world to save sinners, and he did, because that's what
it says right here in our text, but it goes without saying there
has to be some sinners, at least one sinner. There's one right
here. But this says sinners, so there
are more than one, and I believe I'm surrounded by some today.
But we are told by God in Scripture that all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, but there are not a lot of people
who ever come to where David the king did. I pray God has
brought us here today to that same place that David said, and
here's what David said, against thee and thee only have I sinned. He did not say he didn't do anybody
else wrong. He just is acknowledging that
when he did those wrong, he did this against God. If you all
remember the account of David and Bathsheba. One, that he did
this to, one of those that he did this to was a servant of
God as far as I can tell. But Uriah was at least committed
to doing his brethren right who were all out fighting the war,
remember. David tried to get him to go home to his wife And
he wouldn't do it. He stayed right there at the
doors He wanted to go back out there with his brethren where
they were fighting. He wouldn't want to do that But God will if he
is pleased he will come to you in his time. He will let you
know You are the man It will not matter if there's
anybody else around you that's a sinner or not you will know
that you are the man But God be thanked, he won't leave you
there to despair. This is a faithful sin. A saying
full of the faith of Jesus Christ to let sinners know he came into
the world to save sinners. Even the chief of sinners, of
which I am. Some might say, well, you don't
know how bad my sin is. And I don't wanna know anybody's
particular sin. But I can tell you this, if you
are in Christ Jesus, I can tell you how bad your sin is. It is
so bad that Jesus Christ came into the world to die for it,
if you're one of his. Sin is such an offense to God
that if there had been only one sin and that sin would have been
going into a grocery store and stealing a candy bar, he would
have had to come and die for that one sin. And he did. There's no question of why Jesus
Christ came into the world and what he came to do, because we
have it written down and we read it. But there's also no question
that he accomplished that. We read in Matthew, Matthew 121,
and she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. So that's
an absolute fact there. We are assured that this would
happen because that's a shout of God. But now we know it goes
even further than that. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, and he did. We read it in John, John 19,
30. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said,
it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. He said it's finished, so something was finished. And
it's what He came to do. He did save His people from their
sins. Jesus Christ tells us Himself
that He did, because we have it recorded in God's Word. He
says it is finished, so it is. They say this word, tetelestai,
has the meaning like when you go, you have a banknote or your
car loan or whatever, make that last payment on it and they stamp
it. Paid in full, paid in full. Salvation accomplished, nothing
more to do to work out the salvation of those he died for. Salvation
is not due, salvation is done. God the Father stamped the bill,
paid in full. I am totally satisfied with this
sacrifice. All we are told to do is believe
it. Even that's impossible for a
fallen, sinful man. I think you just read that. But
what God requires, God supplies. He gives us faith, and we're
talking about the faith of Jesus Christ. To each one of us, he
gives the measure he is pleased to give of his faith. Ephesians
2.8, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God. He gives faith so that we
might believe Him. He has justified us before God,
and that means we've done everything right before God in Christ Jesus. So faith is the believer's way
of life, right? It's how they live. Christ is
the author and finisher of faith. Galatians 3.11 we read, but that
no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident,
for the just shall live by faith. 2 Corinthians 5.7 says, for we
walk by faith, not by sight. And that word for we walk by
faith, that word means to tread all around, walk at large, To
live, deport oneself, follow, go, be occupied with, walk. It's our daily walk, and we do
this by faith. My point is this. Jesus Christ
did it all. There's nothing left for me to
do for salvation before God. And this leads me to my last
point. Nothing but Christ saves. I know there's many people out
there that say the law, the Ten Commandments, is the believer's
way of life, or that it is our guide for how we should live.
But that's not true. We just read from God's Word
what our way of life is. You can say this with all confidence. The Ten Commandments are not
my way of life, but faith is my way of life, the faith of
Jesus Christ. In fact, no law of any kind is
my way of life or to life other than this, the law of faith. You know what one of the commandments
is? Thou shalt not covet. You know what that is? A thought. To covet something, you're not
even doing anything other than in your mind. You're thinking
about it. You know what a kind of thought
that is? Sin. Christ even tells us if you look
upon a woman to lust after, it's a sin. So just thinking about
it is a sin. God says it's a sin. We cannot
recover even from one sin, not on our own. It's not that the
good has to outweigh the bad. It is the soul that sinneth,
it shall die. Now folks, we've already went
too far. We've already went too far. We've
missed the mark already. There's no making up for that.
God tells us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God, and sin is the transgression of the law. The law does not
say give it your best shot, or if it doesn't work the first
time, try, try again. There's no giving the law. You
either keep it every jot and tittle, or you must die. What
are we to do? Look to Jesus Christ. Believe
Jesus Christ. And we can only do that by a
God-given faith, which is the faith of Jesus Christ. This is
a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Those who are just like the Apostle
Paul, because it says here he is the prototype. That's what
that word means. Are you in need of a savior?
Maybe it is with you as it is with me sometimes. I must cry
out like the one man did. Lord, I believe. Help thou mine
unbelief. If we believe, it's not because
we worked it up. We believe him and are sure because
we are given faith with which to believe and we do believe. We hear the gospel of who Christ
Jesus is and what he has done. And listen, when we hear the
gospel, we are hearing of the faith of Jesus Christ. But God
be thanked, we are given a measure of that faith by God and that
faith given makes possible what was totally impossible before. It enables us to believe. It
causes us to call out for him. He saves sinners such as this.
I've said this before, but Carapoole made a statement one time, and
I like this statement, but he said, we do not exercise faith. Faith exercises us into believing. That record says, that record
that God gave of His Son, that record says He came into the
world to save sinners and He accomplished the work. But we
still have this flesh, and Paul says in Romans 7, verses 15,
for that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do
I not, but what I hate, that do I. And he goes on to say in
verse 18 of seven, for I know that is in me, that is in my
flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me,
but how to perform that which is good, I find not. Let me tell you, there is sin
there. There's sin. We still see it. God doesn't. And that's because of what Christ
has accomplished. But it's there. As another preacher
said, Christ came into the world to save sinners and he did this
by paying for their sins with blood. So I have to commit those
sins. Else what did Christ die for?
but there's nothing good in this flesh and it will raise its ugly
head from time to time. I must reckon those sins gone
in Jesus Christ who died and gave himself for me. But this
flesh, I will have the thought of I should have done that or
I shouldn't have done that. Or it might be I should have
not done that or I shouldn't have done that. Of course, I should have not
done those things, or I should have done those things. That's
obvious, right? In my flesh, I will say things
like this in my mind. I should have studied more. I
should have read scripture more. Of course we should. Or maybe
I might do something that's outright unrighteous and begin to look
within. How could a child of God do that? Well, of course I shouldn't have,
or I should have done that. But what am I really doing? I'm
looking to this flesh to try to improve upon this flesh. Trying to perform some righteousness
before God, that's what I'm doing when I do that, when I start
to look at myself. I'm trying to put myself under
a law, and that law is of my own making. which says do this
and live to somehow make myself righteous before God. Don't get
me wrong, we are to watch what we do. We should walk worthy
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Scripture tells us so. But what
we do will not bring us one ounce of righteousness before God.
It is this flesh raising its ugly head, but we are to look
to him, the author and finisher of faith. God tells us that even
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in his sight. But where
can we find the righteousness of God? Turn with me to Romans
3. I know I've read it before, but
I just want to turn there and read that. Romans 3. Romans 3 verses 21 and 22 for
right now. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe, for there is no difference. That makes me like this faithful
saying a whole lot more, you know that? God's righteousness is found
in Christ and His cross work. But still yet more. First I want
to say we are to blame for any unbelief. We are to be blamed
for any rebellion against God, we ourselves. I'm not trying
to say others are at fault for my sins by saying what I'm about
to say. I am to believe God, and if I
don't, it's my fault. But I will only believe by Him. But we are to watch. We are to
pay attention. There are some, and Paul even
warns us about them, but there are some who teach doctrines
they should not be teaching. They teach Jesus Christ and Him
crucified, but There are some additional things
you must do to perfect what Christ has done. Some of them teach
that. They may not say it that way, but the way that they're
saying things, the way they're teaching things, they have to
add something in to Christ and His cross work before you were
saved or after you were saved. It does not change. Christ is
the one who perfected us forever in dying on that tree. Most of
them are subtle in how they will tell you these things. and they
are wrong. Most of them that do this call
themselves reformed. Now, I don't wanna paint too
wide of a brush, cause not everyone that calls themselves a reformed
may not be this way, I don't know. And they teach this, that
is, that the Ten Commandments are our way of life or our guide
to life. In Paul's day, it was circumcision,
and it's a very dangerous thing to do. But listen, Christ and
His faith is what saved us. Our text verse lets us know this.
It is a faithful saying. But listen to this, Galatians
2.16. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ,
even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified
by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. For
by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. When we
believe, God counts the faith of Jesus Christ as our righteousness. It doesn't matter what law it
is. It can simply be church law. There's nothing other than faith
which we live by. The just shall live by faith,
that's what scripture says. So it is faith that is our guide.
Faith that we hear in the gospel and faith that is given us to
believe. Not the Ten Commandments or any other commandments. Scripture
says so. Looking to the law for any reason
other than what God has intended for the law to do is not good. Read Philippians sometime. Turn over to Galatians 3. Turn
over to Galatians 3. Galatians 3, right now verse
11. Galatians 3 and verse 11. But
that no man is justified by the law and the sight of God, it
is evident. For the just shall live by faith. These hucksters will say things
like, the law is our way of life. It shows us how to live. But
we are not justified by the law. It is evident, Paul says. Here
is why it is evident. The just shall live by faith.
That is their way of life, by faith. Faith given to them by
God for this very purpose. So that they might put their
trust in Jesus Christ, who came into the world to save sinners,
and he accomplished it. Salvation is not due, salvation
is done, because God says so. But now let's look in verse 12
of Galatians 3. Verse 12. Here it says it plain
and right out. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them shall live in them. God said it, I
didn't. I'm just repeating what he breathed
for the Apostle Paul to say. He says the law is not of faith. So don't try to tell me that
God by faith enables me to keep the law. Because the law is not
of faith. But it does say that if you're
going to keep them, that is the law, then they will be your way
of life. And you have to keep them every
jot and tittle. Every year, every month. Every week, every day, every
hour, every second. That is for your whole life. That just makes me tired thinking
about that. It says you shall live in them. That is, it will
be all that you have as your guide of life if you want to
go under the law. If you look to the law. The problem is if Jesus Christ
did not come to save you, then it's too late to keep the law.
You've already broken it. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. It tells us right there you will
have to eat, live, and breathe the law and think it rightly
as well. But the problem is we don't and
we will never do that because it's evident that no one is justified
by the law. What is the conclusion to all
this? Christ is all. All my salvation, all my justification,
all my sanctification, all my wisdom, all of my redemption. You could just keep going on.
Christ is all, says it all. But when we read in Scripture,
1 Timothy 1 15, our text, this is a faithful saying worthy of
all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners
of whom I am chief. We know it is full of the faith
of Jesus Christ who condescended, he came into the world for a
very specific purpose. He came into the world to save
sinners and you can look at that legalist Paul whom God saved.
He is a pattern of those that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save, and the conclusion to all this is he accomplished it. It is finished, he cried, and
he gave up the gloss and died, and in dying, we died with him. Sinners dying the death they
should have died in and of themselves. But he did this in their stead.
And I don't know about you, but that will make you a shouting
Baptist right there, woman. But I do know this, this faithful
saying and the record God has given of his son. To all of this,
if you're one of his and you're a chief of sinners, all of us
can say, amen. So be it. Thank you. Dear Lord
God, may you apply these words to our heart, dear Lord. Open
our eyes, open our ears, our hearts, dear Lord. Calls us to
take these things with us. Calls us to see Christ every
day in everything. Don't let us look to ourselves,
dear Lord. So much despair there because there's nothing good
there in this flesh. But call us to see Him. All these things
we ask in Christ's name. Amen. Well, that's been a good morning,
hadn't it? Any morning we get together and
we get to hear it's all of Christ alone. Look at Christ and let's
not look to ourselves as a good morning, isn't it? Yeah. Amen. Thank you, brother. Be sure to
greet Paul on the way out and anyone who's free and is so inclined,
we're heading to Cheddar's afterwards. If you'd like to come out to
lunch, come on. All right. All right, Sean. Okay, if you would, turn in your
hymnals to song 509, song number 509, and stand as we sing The
Sands of Time Are Sinking. The sands of time are sinking,
the dawn of heaven breaks. The summer born outside for the
fair sweet morn awakes. Dark, dark hath been the midnight,
the day spring is at hand. O Christ, He is the fountain,
the deep sweet well of love, the streams on earth I've tasted,
for deep I'll drink. There to an ocean fullness His
mercy doth expand, And glory, glory dwelleth In Emmanuel's
land. I am my beloved's, and my beloved's
mom. He brings a poor, vile sinner
into his house of wine. I stand upon his merit. I know no other. The bride eyes not her garment,
but her dear bridegroom's veil. I will not gaze at glory, but
on my King of grace. Not at the crown He giveth, but
on His pierced hand. ? All that is all the glory of
Emmanuel ?