All right, let's turn in our
Bibles now to Genesis chapter 50. Genesis chapter 50. We'll begin our reading in verse
15. Read down through verse 21. And
when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said,
Joseph will perventure hate us and will certainly requite us
all the evil which we did unto him. And they sent a messenger
unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,
So shall you say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the
trespass of thy brethren and their sin, for they did unto
thee evil. And now we pray thee, forgive
the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And
Joseph wept when they spake unto him. And his brethren also went
and fell down before his face, And they said, behold, we be
thy servants. And Joseph said unto them, fear
not, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought
evil against me. But God meant it unto good, to
bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive. Now
therefore fear ye not. I will nourish you and your little
ones. And he comforted them and spake kindly unto them. All right,
let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, we've gathered here
together this evening with the same need. We've all come from
different responsibilities, different things that we've had to do today
out in the world. And we've gathered here together
with one need. And Father, it's to hear a word
from Thee. How I beg of you that you'd send your spirit upon us,
that you'd give us hearing ears, that you'd give us a heart that
would believe. Enable us to hear of the Lord Jesus Christ. Enable
us to hear full and free forgiveness in him, in his sacrifice, in
his precious blood. And Father, cause us to run to
him, to rest in him. I pray that his name would be
glorified and magnified, that your people may in awe and wonder,
being able by thy spirit to worship me. Bless us, Father, we pray. We thank you for this blessed
privilege that you've given to us, a place of worship, a place
where your gospels preached. Father, pray that you'd not let
us take it for granted, not let this opportunity pass us by this
evening. Father, we beg of you that you'd
speak to our hearts, that you'd meet the need of each heart here
this evening. Father, we ask that you would
continue to preserve and to protect this place. We thank you for a place that
we can come together and meet in peace and unity and worship. And Father, pray you protect
it for many, many years to come, if until Christ returns, if it
could be thy will. And Father, we ask a blessing
for those that you brought into the time of trouble and trial,
those who are suffering and recovering. Father, we pray for them. We
pray for Andrea, she's going through these treatments. We
pray for Peg and Jackie and Father, others that need you especially.
Be with your people. Give them a fulfillment of your
promise that you'll be with your people as they pass through the
water, as they pass through the fire, that you'll be with them.
And Father, all these things we ask and we give thanks in
that name which is above every name, the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, amen. Now I've titled the message this
evening, When God Forgives Sin. Now the sin of God's elect is
forgiven. It's all been put away under
the blood of Christ. It's all forgiven. The apostle
John wrote in 1 John 1 verse 7, the blood of Jesus Christ,
his son, cleanses us from all sin. All sin. The sin of God's
people is forgiven. Because the father took the sin
of his people and charged it to Christ at Calvary. And Christ
paid the debt for all of that sin with the blood of his sacrifice. God forgives the sin of his people
because the son paid it all. Now I'm gonna read you some scriptures.
I want this to be so obvious from the word of God, God forgives
sin. We won't turn to them, just let
me read them to you for time's sake. Psalm 65 verse three. Iniquities prevail against me.
As for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away. Put them
away. Psalm 103, verse 12. As far as
the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions
from us. Psalm 130, verses three and four,
we read to open the service. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness
with thee. that thou mayest be feared, that
you may be worshiped. Isaiah 1, verse 18. The Lord
says, come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. There won't
be any trace of them left. Isaiah 43, verse 25. I, even
I, am he that blotteth out thy transgression for mine own sake. and will not remember thy sins. Won't remember. Our Lord, Matthew
26, verse 28, as he was instituting the Lord's table, he said, this
is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the
remission, and the word is forgiveness, for the forgiveness of sins.
Romans four, verse seven. Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. You'll notice the apostle
doesn't say blessed is the man who hasn't sinned. Or blessed
is the man who has sinned less than other folks. He said blessed
is the man whose sin is forgiven. Forgiven. So the word of God
makes this as plain as the noonday sun. God forgives sin. He forgives
the sin of his people. Past, present, and future. All
sins of God's people are put away by the blood of Christ.
Yet the believer is still a sinner. Sinning is all we do. This is
our experience, huh? Now we're sinners saved by grace,
but we're sinners still. Let's never forget that. That's
why the Lord taught us to pray in Luke 11, verse four, forgive
our sins. Forgive our sins. The sin of
a believer is forgiven and we're taught to pray. Lord, forgive
us of our sins. The whole life of a believer
is tied up in this thing of the forgiveness of sin. Begging God
to forgive us of our sins and thanking him for forgiving them.
That's the whole life of a believer. And you know, I cannot think
of a better reason for a sinner to come to Christ begging for
mercy than this promise. God forgives sin. God forgives
sin. Now, since the forgiveness of
our sin is so important to us, I wanna give us five points tonight
on the forgiveness of our sin. Number one is this, our sin makes
us afraid of God. Verse 15, Genesis chapter 50,
and when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they
said, Joseph will perventure hate us and will certainly requite
us all the evil which we did unto him. Now you remember everything
that Joseph's brothers did to him. Oh, they hated him so much,
they hated him so much, they couldn't even bring themselves
to speak to him. They sold Joseph into slavery. I mean, they took
their brother, they threw him down in a pit where there no
water was. He's crying out to them, he's begging for mercy,
he's asking for a drink of water, he's asking them to get him out
of that pit. And their hearts were so hard, they didn't care.
and they pulled him out up out of that pit and sold him to a
bunch of Ishmaelites passing by. They sold him to ISIS passing
by. And after that for 13 years,
13 years, Joseph spent his life as either a slave or a prisoner.
Spent the time in dungeon for a crime he did not commit. And
in one day, the Lord took Joseph from the dungeon and raised him
up to sit on the throne of Egypt. second most powerful man in all
the world. In some ways, the most powerful
man in all the world. Because after those seven years
of plenty ended, if you're gonna have any food to eat, you're
gonna have to get it from Joseph. Even if you went to Pharaoh,
Pharaoh wouldn't give it to you. Pharaoh would tell you, go see Joseph.
He's got it all. The one that controls your food,
that's the one who's in control, isn't he? And Joseph went from
being in that dungeon to being in control in Egypt like that
in one day. Lo and behold, one day Joseph's
brothers came trying to buy food. The famine was in the whole earth,
the famine was in Canaan too, and they came to buy food. Joseph
immediately recognized them, but they didn't recognize him.
After some time passed, Joseph finally revealed himself to his
brothers, and they were very afraid. Rightfully so, don't
you reckon? But immediately, Joseph told
them he forgave them. for all the evil that they did
to him, Joseph freely forgave them and told him, now you go
get my father. You tell him of my glory here
in Egypt, you bring him to me. And for the next 17 years, Joseph
spent all those years providing the best of the land of Egypt
for his brothers. I mean, they had the best of
everything for 17 years. Now I reckon after 17 years,
they should have learned by experience how good and how gracious their
little brother is, don't you reckon? He proved himself for
17 years. But now, their father Jacob has
died. They've gone off to bury him,
they've come back to Egypt, and Joseph's brothers are full of
fear. They thought, surely to goodness,
now he's gonna get us. Now he's gonna get us. And I'll
tell you why they thought that. Because this is what everybody
does. People think everybody else is just like them. They're
motivated by the same things that I'm motivated by. And this
is what they would have done if they were in Joseph's shoes.
They'd have waited until their father died. They didn't want
to disappoint their father. They didn't want to see Jacob's
disappointing frown. So they'd have waited until Jacob
was dead, and then they'd have got revenge. And they thought
that's what Joseph was going to do. They're full of fear because
they think Joseph is just like them. after 17 years of him proving
he's not. Now that is a picture of the
daily life of a believer if I've ever seen one. Our daily sin
after the Lord has been so gracious to us. Now, those of us here, believers,
we know the doctrine. We know this. Our sin is forgiven
by the blood of Christ. Every person here knows that.
I bet every person listening to this recording knows that.
Our sin is forgiven by the blood of Christ. Every believer can
say this, I have learned by experience, the Lord is good. The Lord is
gracious. I have learned by experience
how forgiving our God is. He has forgiven all our sins,
all of them. He's cast them behind his back.
He doesn't remember them. He doesn't bring them back up
to us. He doesn't shame us with them. He's forgiven all of our
sins. Now we know that's true, don't we? But we still find ourselves
full of fear because of our sin. Because we still think that somehow
God is like us. Our sinful nature makes it so
we can't trust God's holy nature. Our sinful nature makes it so
that we cannot trust God's forgiving nature. We still think God's
ultimately gonna run out of patience with me And he's going to cast
me off because my sin is finally just too much. I think that because
that's what I do. Aren't you thankful God's not
like us? God's not like us. At the end
of verse 17, it says that when Joseph heard this, he wept. We heard his brothers were so
full of fear and he heard of his brothers begging for mercy.
He wept. It could be Joseph wept because
his heart was just broken thinking about his brothers, how full
of fear they are, what they're suffering, you know, and he wept
thinking how much he hated their sufferingness. Could be Joseph
wept because it broke his heart that his brothers still did not
trust his character after 17 years of him providing the best
in Egypt for them. I don't know why Joseph wept,
but he wept. But I am sure of this. It grieves the Lord that
we don't trust His character after all of His goodness, all
of His graciousness, all of His mercy to us. But I know this,
the believer's fear that the Lord will ultimately cast us
off because of our sin is completely unfounded. God forgives sin. All right, number two. The only
plea that we have to ask God to forgive us our sin is for
Christ's sake. Verse 16. And they sent a messenger
unto Joseph, saying, thy father did command before he died, saying,
so shall ye say unto Joseph, forgive, I pray thee now, the
trespass of thy brethren and their sin, for they did unto
thee evil. And now we pray thee, forgive
the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And
Joseph wept when they spake unto him. Now, I don't know if Jacob
actually told his sons to come up with this whole big speech
or not. I don't know. It's not recorded in scripture.
But I have to tell you, I really doubt it. I really doubt that
Jacob sent them with this plea. However, it's not a bad idea,
is it? It's not a bad idea. If Joseph
was intent on getting revenge on his brothers, I'm sure he
would not have done it if his father, Jacob, asked him not
to do it. He loved his father. If his father
asked him not to do it, I just bet you he wouldn't have done
it. Joseph's brothers thought, well, Joseph will be nice to
us, not because he loves us, but because he loves our father.
So we'll ask him to be nice to us because our father asked him
to be, for our father's sake. Now I know you see the picture
here, don't you? And it's a beautiful picture. We never ask God to
forgive us of our sins because our sin's not so bad. I never
ask God to forgive me of my sin because of what I've done or
what I haven't done. At least I haven't done this,
Lord. We never ask God to forgive our sins because of anything
about us at all. We always ask God to forgive
us our sins for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake, because of
Christ alone. And I'm telling you, If we pray
that the Father will forgive us for Christ's sake, the Father
will always forgive us. Always. You see, if Christ died
for our sins, but the Father did not forgive us, Christ would
lose all of his glory because his sacrifice was not enough
to put our sin away. The Father will never let that
happen. So if we pray for forgiveness for Christ's sake, The father
will forgive us for the sake of his glory. Lord, would you
get glory to your son by forgiving me? The father will forgive your
sin for Christ's sake. The father also would not let
Christ die for our sin and then damn us anyway because the father's
just. He's holy. The father would never
punish his son for our sin and then punish us for the same sin.
That would be unholy. That would be unjust. So begging
for forgiveness of sin for Christ's sake, because of the sake of
the sacrifice of Christ, because His blood is all it takes to
put away my sin, asking for forgiveness for Christ's sake, that agrees
with every attribute of the Father. And that makes forgiveness sure.
The Father will always forgive our sin if we plead for forgiveness
based on the blood of Christ. You know the blood of Christ
is a sweet savor to the Father. You know why it's a sweet saver?
Because the blood of Christ satisfied the Father's justice. The blood
of Christ enabled the Father to be both just and to justify
the ungodly. So he'll always forgive sin for
Christ's sake. And here's the point that I want
us to be able to take home with us tonight. Trusting Christ removes
all fear of the Father. Removes all fear. Trusting Christ
removes all fear that the Father's gonna finally run out of patience
with me and cast me out because I'm not accepted because of anything
I've done. I'm accepted because of who Christ is and what Christ
has done. So if I trust Christ, I don't have to fear the Father's
gonna cast me out. Trusting Christ removes all fear that in the
end, our sin is gonna just be so great and so offensive that
the Father will finally send us to hell, even though Christ
died for us. That can't happen if we trust
Christ. The Father is completely satisfied
with Christ. So sin's forgiven, and there's
no need to fear the Father. You see, if the gospel's preached
right, if Christ is preached right, it takes all the pressure
off of us. Because He did it all. We just
rest in Him. and it removes all of our fears.
There's not one fear you have that can't be put away by trusting
Christ. Not one. All right, number three. Now this forgiveness of sin,
God forgiving our sin because of the sacrifice of Christ, because
he slaughtered his son in our place. Now that's a story, isn't
it? I mean, that's a sweet story,
the story of the gospel. But now listen, if God's going
to forgive us of our sin, We're going to have to beg him for
it. Look at verse 18. And his brethren also went and
fell down before his face. And they said, behold, we be
thy servants. Now, you know, one time Joseph's brothers absolutely
hated him for saying they would ever bow down to him. They hated
him for it. Now they seem pretty comfortable
bowing down to Joseph. They're comfortable because they've
done it so often that they're comfortable bowing down to. At
one time, Joseph's brothers hated him so much for saying that they
would bow down to him. They determined that they'd kill
him for it. They were going to kill him for
saying that was their original plan. Let's kill him. This is
just a dreamer. Let's take him and kill him and
see what happens to his dream. Now, without any hesitation,
they fall down on their faces before Joseph and begging for
mercy. At one time, it seemed like the
most ridiculous thing in the world that these older brothers
would ever bow down to their little brother. That just, it
goes against the law of nature. It goes against the way of the
civilization and society at that time. It just runs contrary to
everything that we think. Now, it's the most natural thing
in the world for them to bow down to Joseph. See, now they
see their proper place is at Joseph's feet, because Joseph
is sovereign over them. See, it's just right that they
be bowing down to Joseph and begging him for mercy, because
they're completely dependent upon Joseph. If he chooses not
to give them any food, they're gonna die of starvation. If he
says, cast them into the dungeon, to the dungeon they're gonna
go, and there they're gonna stay till Joseph says, bring them
out. They are completely dependent on Joseph, so it's just natural. that they be bound down to Joseph,
asking him for mercy. Now, isn't that another good
picture of the life of a believer? At one time, all of us were rebels. Rebels, refused to bow to Christ. We refused to beg him for mercy,
just refused to do it. Not only were we great sinners,
but we're such rebels, we refused to ask God to forgive us. At
one time we refused, I will not bow to the will of God. I hear
the gospel, I hear this is God's will, I will not do it. I will
not ask for forgiveness, because I think I'm doing well enough
on my own, thank you very much. I mean, after all, I mean, you
know, look at us, we're moral people. We're church-going people,
we even come out and go to church on Wednesday night, we're church-going
people. I'm a Christian, I mean, you know, I'm a sinner, but I'm
better most, I mean, What rebels? What rebels? I heard Brother Henry say that
so often, I didn't know what he meant, and I finally figured
out what he meant. I'm the rebel. I finally figured it out. God
finally said, I'm the rebel. The stiff-necked rebel. The sin
of God's people is forgiven because of the blood of Christ. That's
the message of the whole Bible. But before God tells you and
me about it, He's gonna make us beg for it. He's gonna make
us beg for mercy. Now God's determined from eternity
past to have mercy on His people, hasn't He? He's determined He's
gonna do it. But before God ever shows us
any mercy, before He ever shows us our sin is forgiven, we're
gonna have to see this. God does not have to forgive
my sin. Now God's merciful, but God don't
have to show mercy to me. He's got to show mercy to somebody
now because God is merciful. He must display that mercy, that
attribute of his character that is merciful. He must show mercy
to somebody, but it don't have to be me. God could forgive my
sin or God could damn me. And either way, whatever he does
with me, he's going to be right in doing it. See, the Lord has
to make me see God doesn't owe me anything but wrath because
of my sin. And when he shows me that, I
promise you I'll beg him for forgiveness. I promise you I'll
fall at his feet begging for forgiveness and begging for mercy. And here's the good news. Everyone
who has ever begged God for mercy and forgiveness has received
it. Everyone. Now, it's not because
we begged. You know, people say that like,
oh, well, you know, has to show mercy to me because I begged.
No, God doesn't show mercy to us because we begged. God's the
one that made us beg. God made us beg for what he already
willed to do. He made us beg for what the son
already purchased with his precious blood. God made us beg for what
he purchased for us. Isn't that beautiful? That's
the way God does things because God sought for them. He's the
king, he's gonna be bound to. He's gonna be begged, he's gonna
be worshiped. Well, that brings me to the fourth thing. God sovereignly
forgives sin. In verse 19, Joseph said unto
them, fear not, for am I in the place of God? But as for you,
you thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good, to
bring to pass as it is this day, to save much people alive. I
want you to notice Joseph didn't deny his brothers did evil to
him. He didn't say, now guys, don't
worry about it. There's nothing to forgive. You
really didn't do anything wrong. No, Joseph said, you did wrong.
You did evil. But God meant it for good. They
sinned against Joseph out of their sin and out of their hatred,
out of their just wicked natures. They sinned against Joseph, but
God overrode their sin. And He accomplished His eternal
purpose out of it. See, God purposed that there
would be a famine, and God purposed to save a people alive out of
that famine, and God accomplished it because of the sinful natures
and sinful action of these brothers, St. Joseph to Egypt, where he
could store up food and save much people alive. Now, our sin and our rebellion,
it's real and it's inexcusable. It's inexcusable, our sin, especially
Those of us here who have heard the gospel, we either, every
single person here either believes the gospel and trusts Christ
or you at least give head knowledge, head of sin, this is true. This
gospel's true. God is good to his people. God
forgives the sin of his people. There is no excuse ever for anybody
to sin against God And we who know better and still sin against
them, our sin's even worse. Our sin is inexcusable. And we
look over, the believer looks over the past before we knew
God was sin and just, oh, it's so embarrassing. I mean, it's
so embarrassing. It's so inexcusable. But our
God's sovereign. So you know what he did? He used
that horrible, inexcusable sin to drive us to Christ. See, it's
not our goodness that makes us come to Christ, is it? It's our
sin that drives us to Christ. Christ is the savior of sinners.
It's our sin that drives us to him. It's our sin that makes
us need him. That's God's sovereignty in action. He overrode our sin
to drive us to Christ. Now, the good news of the gospel
is God forgives sins. and here's how he forgives him.
It's in the blood of his son. You know, there'd be no gospel
for us to preach if God did not forgive sin. If he sacrificed
his son, but maybe he'll forgive your sin and maybe he won't.
There'd be no good news to preach, would there? We have a gospel
to preach. We have good news for sinners
because God forgives sin. It's of the Lord's sovereign
will and purpose. He's going to save much people.
He's gonna save alive a number that no man can number. And I'm
telling you what, he's gonna do it. Nothing can stop him from
doing it because our God is sovereign over all. And you're the best way I can
think of for how we should act, how we
should respond to God's forgiven our sin is to forgive one another. the wrongs that are done to us
by our brethren, let's just forgive. The Apostle Paul said in Ephesians
4, verse 32, be kind one to another, be tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. I promise
you, our brethren haven't done anything near as bad to us as
we did to God, and he forgave us. That ought to make us forgiving,
tenderhearted, kind peopleship. All right, here's the last point. God's message to his people is
fear not. Fear not. In verse 21, Joseph
says, now therefore, fear ye not. I will nourish you and your
little ones. And he comforted them and spake
kindly unto them. Now here's the message of the
gospel. Fear not. God says, fear not. Even though your sin against
me is so great, I will forgive you because my grace is greater. Fear not. Even though your sin
is so great, I will heap blessings upon you because your sin is
great, but the blood of my son is greater. I'll heap blessings
upon you. I'll give you grace. I'll give
you mercy. I'll feed you, I'll keep you
and your little ones. Fear not, fear not. Even though
your sin is so grievous, even though your sin is so hateful,
I'll speak kindly to your heart through the preaching of the
gospel. I'll speak kindly to your heart. That in verse 21,
where Joseph said he comforted them and spake kindly unto them,
that word kindly means to their hearts. He spoke to their hearts. This is a love language. This is to their hearts. They're
the innermost beings. But that's how we preach the
gospel. It's to the heart. Look over at Isaiah chapter 40. This is the job of every one
of God's preachers. God's people have a tough walk
through this world. They got a tough walk through
this world carrying around this old dead carcass, carrying around
this old nature that constantly makes us want to fear God and
doubt God after all the good he's done to us. God's people
need some comfort. So God says in Isaiah 40 verse
one, comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak
ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her, that her warfare
is accomplished. That her iniquity is pardoned.
She's forgiven. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all of her sins. Speak ye comfortably. That word comfortably is to the
heart. The same thing Joseph did to
his brethren. Speak to their hearts. Speak to their, give
comfort to the heart. That's real comfort, isn't it?
It's comfort for your heart. This is the message of the gospel.
The message to God, to his people. Fear not. There's so many things
that go bump in the night that make us fear. Turn on the news
tomorrow morning. Their job is to make you full
of fear. They're going to make you fear
something, you know. Well, I opened the service reading you some
scriptures, so this point will be driven home to us. God forgives
you. I want to send you home with
this. I'm going to close the message with some scriptures that tell
us, fear not. How many times in scripture does
God tell his people, fear not? Genesis 15 verse one. After these
things, the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision saying,
fear not Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.
Don't feel the, Fear the arrows and the hatred and all the things
that are going on in this world that could harm your body and
harm your soul. God said, I'm your shield. Don't be afraid
you're gonna be left with nothing. I'm your exceeding great reward.
Fear not. 2 Samuel 9 verse 7. David said unto him, when he's
talking to poor old Mephibosheth, fear not, for I will surely show
thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake. It goes back to
one of our points in the message. I know our sin is great, but
you fear not. God's going to show us kindness. He's going
to forgive our sin. He's going to be merciful to
us for Christ's sake. First Chronicles 28 verse 20.
David said to Solomon, his son, his son is getting ready to be
king of Israel. His son is getting ready to take
all the materials his father had collected and build the temple
to God. I mean, what an undertaking.
What a scary thing for Solomon to wake up one morning and, I'm
king, I'm responsible for this whole mess, you know. David told
his son, you be strong and be of good courage and you do it.
And fear not, fear not, nor be dismayed for the Lord God, even
my God, he'll be with thee and he will not fail thee nor forsake
thee. Now don't fear as you go on in
this journey from here to glory, that God's gonna forsake you.
David says, you fear not. My God, the Lord God, he will
not fail you and he will not forsake you. So fear not. Isaiah
35 verse four. Say to them that are of a fearful
heart. That's us, isn't it? Our hearts are full of easily
become so full of fear. You be strong and fear not. Behold, your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompense, he will come and save you. Now don't you worry, don't you
fear, he will come and save you. Isaiah 41, verse 13. For I, the
Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear
not, I will help thee. You wonder, something comes up
and you wonder, now how in this world am I gonna handle this?
Fear not, God's gonna do it for you. Fear not, he says, I'll
help you. Isaiah 41, verse 14. Fear not,
thou worm, Jacob, and you men of Israel. I will help thee,
saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Our Redeemer
who's already suffered and died for us. You reckon he'll help
us now? through whatever it is he sends
our way. He says he will, so fear not. Isaiah 43, verse one. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, you
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy
name. Thou art mine. You reckon God's
gonna let something that belongs to him, he that holds in his
mighty right hand be taken from him? You fear not. God says, I have redeemed you. I called you by name on purpose. Now I've called you and you're
mine. What do you got to fear? And
then Luke 12 verse 32, fear not little flock for it is your father's
good pleasure to give you the kingdom. We're just a little
flock, aren't we? Seems so defenseless, you know,
but you fear not, little flock. It's your father's good pleasure.
He's going to give you the kingdom. I'm telling you, that ought to
comfort our hearts and pull all of our fears away. It should put them away forever.
I hope maybe it'll put them away for the rest of the night, and
then, you know, we'll worry about tomorrow, won't we? All right,
I hope the Lord will bless that to you. Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for these precious, precious promises in your word of the
forgiveness of sin, that we have no reason to fear if you're our
God. If we're trusting in Christ,
we have no reason to fear. Father, I pray you take this
precious portion of your word and apply it to each heart here
this evening, that we might rest in Christ our Savior. And Father,
in the days and the weeks and the months and years ahead, keep
us clinging to this promise. You forgive the sin of your people. And we have no reason to fear.
Father, how we thank you. It's in Christ's name. For his
sake, we pray. Amen. All right, Sean.