Our speaker this evening needs
no introduction here. Clay Curtis is the pastor of
the Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Ewing, New Jersey. This makes
the fourth year in a row he's been here, right before Labor
Day on his way to Danville. And I'll just keep making my
press to make this an annual event. I look forward to Clay
and the family's visit all year long. It's just such a joy for
me and Janet. And I know you all enjoy getting
to hear him preach the gospel. of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
in case you don't know, after the service, we're going to have
an ice cream social. Everybody can get together, have
a few empty calories and enjoy a time of fellowship and hope
you can stay for that. So, Clay, you come bring the
message that the Lord's laid on your heart. Well, it's good to be with you
all again. I always enjoy our time together and I feel a privilege
and an honor to speak for Brother Frank. He's a dear friend of
mine and a faithful pastor, faithful preacher of the Gospel. I'm thankful
to be here preaching for you, Frank, and visiting with you,
Janet. Thank you. Let's turn in our
Bibles to Psalm 28. Psalm 28. I was telling Brother
Frank last night that we have come to 2 Corinthians 5, verses
18 through 21 back home. And so that's what I plan to
preach on when I'm in Danville. And we talked about it. He asked
me to preach it tonight. And I said, well, I'm afraid
I'll preach it out if I preach it tonight. But I will touch
on it some tonight. But our subject tonight is four
blessings by Christ. And this is Christ's intercession
with the Father. on behalf of His people. Christ
here interceding on behalf of His people and it's by Christ
that God gives these four blessings to His people. Let's read this
in Psalm 28 verse 9. Save thy people and bless thine
inheritance. Feed them also and lift them
up forever. Now in order for us to see that
this is Christ's intercession for His people, let's go back
to the beginning of the psalm and let's look at a few things
throughout it. Now first in verse 1 we read,
this is a psalm of David. David you know in the psalms
is typical of Christ and it says here in verse 1, Unto thee will
I cry, O Lord my rock, be not silent to me. lest if thou be
silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit." As
we hear him cry to God and he says, be not silent to me, we're
reminded of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. He was forsaken
of God on the cross. And throughout the Psalms, when
you read the Psalms, you read these Psalms as Christ praying
the Father faithfully. and faithful fidelity to the
Father while as yet He was bearing the sin of His people and bearing
the judgment of God on our behalf. Now why was it that God forsook
Christ on the cross? Well, He did so in strict justice
because our substitute, the scripture says of Him, it says, He hath
made Him sin for us who knew no sin. we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. Now, it's commonly said, and
I may have said this in the past, and I know we've heard it said,
it's commonly said that Christ was made sin by imputation. It's commonly said God made Him
sin by imputation, treated Him as if He was sin, So he satisfied justice and now
God imputes righteousness, Christ's righteousness to the believer
and treats us as if we're righteous. Well, I understand a believer's
desire not to say anything that would dishonor Christ. I understand
that. I don't want to ever say anything
that would dishonor my Lord. But what took place at Calvary's
cross is the very honor of Christ. What took place at Calvary's
cross is the Lord Jesus Christ obeying the Father. It's Him
manifesting the righteousness of God. How that God is the just
judge who will do right. It's Christ manifesting how God
can be just and justify the believer. That's what was taking place
there. So I want us to look at imputation for just a moment.
And I want to see how it's used in Scripture. Turn with me to
Leviticus 17. Now, according to every use of
the word imputation in all its various forms, in Scripture,
imputation is the imputation of fact. It's the imputation
of what a person has been made by a prior act. That's what imputation
is. Nowhere do you find anyone being
made sin or righteousness by imputation. Imputation is imputing
what a person is by a prior act. Now if God would give us grace
to bow to this, bow to the Word of God, this would be great comfort
to a believer. Look here, Leviticus 17.3. What
man, soever there be of the house of Israel, this is the Lord speaking,
What man soever there be of the house of Israel that killeth
an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or that killeth it
out of the camp, and bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the Lord before
the tabernacle of the Lord? Now there's the prior act by
which a man was made sin. He killed this offering, but
he didn't bring it to the Lord. And it says, because of this
prior act by which he was made sin, look at the next word, blood
shall be imputed unto that man. Why? He hath shed blood. That's why blood will be imputed
to him. He hath shed blood. And then he will bear the punishment.
And that man shall be cut off from among his people. Now go
with me to 1 Samuel 16. Let's see another example. 1
Samuel 16. Go through all of these. I'll
try to give more Sunday at Danville, but right now I just want to
go through a few of these because I want to get to those four blessings.
1 Samuel 16, verse 5. We're looking at Christ cut off
here in the Psalm and we're seeing why He was cut off. Psalm 16,
verse 5 says, When King David came to Bahurim, behold, there
came out Shimei. And the last part of that verse
says, He came forth and He cursed still as He came. And He cast
stones at David, and at all the servants of King David, and all
the people, and all the mighty men were on His right hand and
on His left. And thus said Shimei when He cursed, Come out, come
out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Biliam. And on and on
He went cursing David. Now that was the prior act by
which Shimei was made sin. Now look at 2 Samuel 19. 2 Samuel 19. And it says here in
verse 18, as they went over a boat. This
is after King David was pronounced the king. It says, they went
on a ferry over the river to the king's household to do what
he thought good. He came running and he fell down
before the king as he was come over Jordan. And he said unto
the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me. Neither do
thou remember that which thy servant did perversely. The day that my lord the king
went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.
For thy servant doth know that I have sinned." You see, Shimei
was made sin by that prior act. And so he was begging David.
He knew that imputation would be just if David imputed sin
to him because he had sinned. And so he's begging David, please
don't impute the sin that I am to me. You see what imputation
is? Let me give you a couple of more
words in the New Testament. First Corinthians 4.1, Apostle
Paul said, So let a man account of us, that is impute to us.
He says, so let a man account of us as of the ministers of
Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Is he saying that by
accounting him or imputing to him that he's a minister of Christ,
that he will be a minister of Christ? No, he said, impute that
to me because that's what God made me. And then again, Peter
said, account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation. If
I account that the longsuffering of God is salvation, am I making
God's longsuffering to be salvation by accounting it so? No. I'm accounting it what it is.
It is salvation. Now that's how the word is used. Now let's go to Romans 5. By
Adam's sin, we were made sin. By Adam's disobedience, we were
made sin. And due to that fact, God imputed
sin to us. Look at Romans 5.12. Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passed upon all men. For that, and your margin
says, in whom? And the word for means because.
Because in Adam all have sin. That's why God imputed sin to
us. And the next word, It verifies it. Watch this. For until the
law, sin was not in the world. But sin is not imputed when there
is no law. From Adam until Moses, God gave
no law. And God will not impute sin where
a person has not been made sin under a known law. That tells
us right there that we can't be made sin by imputation. God
only imputes sin where somebody has been made sin under a known
law. And he says, nevertheless, death
reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned
after the similitude of Adam's transgression. That means even
over them that had not broken a known law like Adam did in
the garden, still God imputed sin to them and death reigned.
How could God be just to do that? They didn't even have a law from
Adam to Moses. He's saying to us, it's due to
the fact that in Adam, we all broke the law. and became sin. That's why God imputed sin to
Him. And that's why He imputed sin to us. But Christ knew no
sin. He knew no sin. And therefore,
according to these Scriptures, God would not impute sin to Christ
because He knew no sin. He had done no sin and would
not do any sin. And not only that, when we say
that our sin was imputed to Christ, and that's how He was made sin,
we're not the head. Christ was not in our loins so
that when we disobeyed, He became sin and therefore, because of
that fact, God imputed sin to Him. No, sir. No, sir. Christ is the last Adam who knew
no sin. He was not born of a corrupt
seed like the rest of us were. He came forth holy. He's the
last Adam. Here you have two men and the
first Adam in a garden disobeyed God. and transgressed his law. He was made sin. And when he
did, he made all his people sin in him. And so God imputed sin
to us. But here you have the second
Adam, the last Adam, who would not sin and knew no sin and had
to be the spotless lamb of God in order for him to lay down
his life, the just for the unjust. How would he be made sin? It
was by obedience. He presented himself the spotless
lamb to God His Father, and He hath made him sin, who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."
So you see, brethren, it was the disobedience of Adam, but
it was righteous obedience in Christ. And so God imputes to
His people what these two heads made us. Look at Romans 5 18. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, there's the prior act. Judgment came upon all men who
Adam represented to condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, there's the prior act. The free gift came upon all men
who Christ represented unto justification of life. You know what justification
is? Justification is not just clearing
our debt that we owe to justice. You know, if a sinner commits
a crime and he's sentenced to 10 years in prison and he goes
and serves 10 years in prison, that's the debt he owes to justice.
And when he's paid that debt, he don't owe that debt anymore.
But the crime is still on the record books. Justification is
to put the crime away. And in order for Christ to put
the crime away, he had to be made the crime. God had to view
him as the one who who was guilty of the crime. And that's what
took place. He intimately, profoundly knew
the sin of his people, but by that he justified us, he put
away the crime. And it says in verse 19, for
it's by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. It doesn't
say by imputation, it says by one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. So by the obedience of one, shall
many be made righteous. Now believer, you rejoice in
this. What does this mean for me and you? It means that when
God imputes to the believer, will not impute trespasses to
the believer. God's not treating you as if
you don't have any trespasses, but for the all knowing judge
who always does right. God does not impute sin to us
because we don't have any. Christ took it away. And when
God imputes righteousness to the believer, it's because that
is what Christ made us. Righteousness. Righteousness. So we have Christ here in verse
1 saying, Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock, be not silent
to me. Even while He was bearing our
sin, even while He was cut off, He never ceased praying to the
Father. He never ceased trusting that
covenant that the Father made with Him to raise Him again when
the work was finished. We're not saying Christ was made
a sinner. We're not saying Christ was made a rebel. We're not saying
Christ was corrupted and polluted. We're saying He was made sin.
And men will say, well, I don't understand how that could be
unless it was by imputation. Well, it don't matter if you
don't understand how it could be. It's God's Word and we're
supposed to bow to God's Word and believe it. Faith is what? The evidence of things that you
can't figure out how it could be. It's the substance. Believe God. Believe God. And
then at last, in our psalm, justice was satisfied, and so God answered
our Redeemer. And Christ cries out here in
verse 6 and says, Blessed be the Lord, because He hath heard
the voice of my supplications. The Lord is my strength and my
shield. My heart trusted in Him, and
I'm helped. Therefore, my heart greatly rejoices. And with my
song will I praise Him. The Lord is their strength, and
He's the saving strength of His anointing. You know, at times
we pray and it doesn't seem like the Lord is hearing us and answering
us. But Christ hung on that cross
for three hours in darkness with no answer. Whatsoever, but at
last he was heard and by hearing and seeing him being heard by
the father and answered by the father and the father making
good on all his covenant promises, you and I who believe on Christ
can be assured our prayer will be heard. He will hear, and He
will hear for Christ's sake, and He will hear by Christ. So
now at God's right hand, He's risen, He's at God's right hand,
and Christ intercedes for His people. And He prays the Father
to give us these four blessings. Now here they are. First He says,
verse 9, Save thy people. God's people are those He chose
freely by His grace and gave to Christ before the world was
made. They are those for whom Christ laid down his life. No
more and no less. He did not lay down his life
for every man. He laid down his life for those
the father gave to him. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. And the way we know that's who
he died for is because he accomplished their salvation. Everybody he
died for must and shall be saved. That's how we know he accomplished
it. By His finished work, God promises everyone that believes
on Him that we have no record of sin. Listen to this. In those days and in that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for,
and there shall be none. And the sins of Judah, and they
shall not be found. For I will pardon them, I reserve. He said again in Isaiah 43, 25,
I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions." Not just
your guilt, not just your punishment, the transgressions themselves.
That means it's all gone. The record and everything. I
blotted out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not
remember thy sin. It's not that God is treating
you as if you have no transgressions. It's God saying, by Christ's
finished work, by His blood and His righteousness, bearing our
sin away as our scapegoat, we don't have any transgressions.
God does not see any transgressions in His people. Go to Romans 6.6.
I want you to see something here. God doesn't speak in as-if language. I don't know at what point that
came into our language and we began to use that kind of language,
but God doesn't use that kind of language. God would have us
to know It is done. Watch this Romans 6, 6, knowing
this, that our old man is crucified with him. It is. That the body
of sin might be destroyed, that means when our old man of sin
was crucified with Christ, the body of sin, my body of sin and
your body sin was destroyed before God. It was destroyed that henceforth
we should not serve sin for he that is dead. And he's saying
there, we are dead. He that is dead is freed, that
word's justified, from sin. He that is dead is justified
from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ
being raised from the dead dieth no more. Death hath no more dominion
over him. It did once, but not anymore. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once. He did die unto sin once when
sin was laid upon him. But in that he liveth, he liveth
unto God. Now listen to what God says to
you and me. Likewise, reckon, impute ye also yourselves. He's saying you impute to yourself
the way God imputes you. Impute yourself to be dead indeed
unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. See, there's no as if in that.
That's God saying this is how it is. Dead indeed. You're dead
indeed. And you're alive unto God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. And for this reason, being so
satisfied with Christ, God the Father has raised him to his
right hand and given him the privilege as the head over all
things to the church, giving him the privilege to fill all
in all his people. This is the glorified God man
seated at God's right hand, working in the midst of his people as
real as he did when he walked this earth. when brother Frank
read Ephesians 2. Have you ever read that last
verse of Ephesians 1? And it says that, it's talking
about where he's made higher than everybody. Everything's
put under his feet. And he's the head over all things
to the church that he might fill all in all. And you just keep
reading it says, and you hath he quickened who were dead. Who
did that? Christ did that. Christ did that. Christ praised the Father, saved
thy people. And the Father says to him, by
your precious blood, you go save them. And Christ sends forth
His pastor preaching His word. And Christ comes in spirit and
enters in and He creates His people a new creation. He makes
old things pass away and all things become new. He makes us
to behold what he accomplished for his people on Calvary's cross.
And he makes us to know that because he justified his people
and put away all the crimes of his people, every one of his
people must be saved. He said, no man can pluck them
out of my hand and my father's greater than all, and no man
can pluck them out of my father's hand. They must and shall be
saved. And so he comes forth and saves his people, every one
of them, by his power. And He continues to save us.
We're saved, we're being saved, and we shall be saved. He continues
to save us by continually growing us in grace and knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ. That's by His grace and by His
knowledge, by His wisdom that He grows you. And it's to grow
us in that grace and in that knowledge of Him. That's what
He does. And He makes you more assured
that your salvation is not in anything you do, it's in Him.
It's in what He's accomplished. And this He does. He saves His
people. And then look secondly. Christ praised the Father in
verse 9 and He says, Bless thine inheritance. Bless thine inheritance. Just as God blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
He chose us in Him. Just as He blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
He chose us in Him. God shall make His people, each
one of His people, experience all of those blessings in time. All those spiritual blessings
He blessed us with, we're going to experience those blessings
in time by His grace. One of our chief blessings is
when God makes us to behold that we are His inheritance. We're His inheritance. He says
they're blessed Thy inheritance. We're God's inheritance. When you read that last couple
of verses of Ephesians 1, it says that His church is the fullness
of Him. Christ's church is the fullness
of His body. When later in Ephesians 4, He
says that He's going to keep sending forth this gospel until
we're all brought to the faith and brought into the faith to
the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ to be
brought to be one whole man. What he's saying is Christ is
our head and we're going to all the members of Christ's body
is going to be there. They will all be complete. His
body is going to be complete. There won't be even a little
finger missing. We'll all be there. We'll all be complete
in him. We're his. We're his purchased possession.
We're his inheritance. We're God's inheritance. And
he's going to have what belongs to him. When we sin, Christ,
our advocate, our propitiation with the Father. He praised the
Father on behalf of his erring child. And he says to us what
he said, what Moses said after he delivered Egypt. Deuteronomy
9.29, he says, Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance,
which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power and by thy stretched
out arm. And God will not resist that
intercession. They're your people. You brought
them out. They're your inheritance. And
so God, for the sake of Christ, for the sake of Christ, our righteousness,
he blesses in his inheritance. And in time he makes us experience
all those blessings he gave us in eternity. In Romans 8, he
tells us whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate, conform
to the image of his son, that Christ might be the firstborn
among many brethren. That was done from eternity.
But he's going to make us be conformed to him. Paul said in
1st Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians 3 at the end of 2nd Corinthians
3, I believe it is. He said when he's made, we're
made to behold Christ in a glass, in this word, we're changed into
the same image. He says both of that new man
in Colossians 3 and he said that new man is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him that created him. He makes that new man after
the image of Him. That was a blessing given us
in eternity, but it's a blessing that will be brought to pass
in time. He said, moreover whom He did predestinate, then He
also called. And whom He called, then He also
justified. And whom He justified, then He
also glorified. All that was done in eternity.
That's all spiritual blessings that He blessed us with according
as He chose us in Christ. But in time, He's going to call
each one, and justify each one, and glorify each one. We're going
to experience that because we're in his inheritance. He said,
if God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not
his son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not
with him freely give us all things? And he's talking about these
things. He delivered him up for Christ to procure all these spiritual
blessings for us that he might in time come and give us these
blessings. And he shall, because Christ
praised the Father and says, Father, bless thine inheritance. And the Father, for Christ's
sake, blesses his inheritance. All right, then thirdly, let's
look at this. Christ praised the Father, verse
9, and he says, feed them also. Now this word feed means rule
them. Rule them. Go to Micah chapter
5. Micah chapter 5. Micah chapter 5, right before
Haggai, right after Jonah. Micah 5, verse 2. Thou Bethlehem
Ephratah. You know who he's talking to?
He's talking to Christ. That one born in Bethlehem. Thou
Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands
of Judah, out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to
be ruler in Israel. That's Christ. Out of Bethlehem.
whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting. And
look at verse 4. And he shall stand, and here's
how he's the ruler, he shall stand and feed in the strength
of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God,
and they shall abide. For now shall he be great unto
the ends of the earth. Our resurrected Redeemer, in
the strength of the Lord and in the majesty of the Lord, praise
the Father, feed thy people, rule thy people, And the Father
says to Christ, feed thy people, rule thy people. And Christ speaks
into the heart of his messenger and says, feed my people. And
through that gospel, just like we're hearing right now, Christ
rules in the hearts of his people. He turns us when we need to be
turned. He brings us down when we need
to be brought down. He brings us up when we need
to be lifted up. He sits us down when we need to be sit down.
Whatever we need, He rules in the heart of His people through
this gospel, through the preaching of this Word. Paul said, the
love of Christ constrains us. The love of Christ constrains
us because we have this discernment. If Christ died for all His people,
then all His people died. All our old men died so that
so that those that now live should not henceforth live to ourselves,
not live to our flesh anymore, not live to our old man anymore,
but live unto him that arose and died for us. Christ said
love is the fulfillment of the law. The rule that we're under
as believers is to walk by faith which works by love. That's the
motive. With God, motive is everything.
You know, one man can do the same deed as another man, but
one man be doing it because he's trying to earn a righteousness.
The other man be doing it because he just sees what Christ has
done for him and is constrained by the love of Christ in his
heart. And God receives that man constrained by the love of
Christ. But the man trying to earn righteousness, he doesn't
receive same deed. You know what? When he puts this
love in our heart, And He begins to govern us by making us see
what He did for us. In this was manifested the love
of God. While we were yet enemies, Christ
died for us. He didn't wait until we were
friends to reconcile us. We wouldn't have had need of
reconciliation. While we were enemies, He reconciled us to
Himself. And then came and put that word
of reconciliation in our heart and made us be reconciled to
Him. fighting against Him and surrender
to Him. And by that love, that's what motivates us and moves us
to do what we do in the name of the Lord and to come here
and hear the Gospel preached. Used to, we were constrained
by men. We were constrained by the church.
We wondered what the church would think if we didn't show up. Or
what men would, you know, we've got to show up and put on a good
show. Now you just come because you
want to. Because the love of Christ constrains you. It's not
law that constrains us. I'm married to my wife here,
and I love her. And because I have love in my
heart, I don't need a law. I don't need a set of rules to
make me give myself for her and provide for her. And because
she loves me, she doesn't need a set of rules to look at, to
try to see how she's supposed to submit to me and honor me
and all things. She doesn't need that. Why? Because
love is the motivation. Loves to motivation. And after
our Lord told us how that the woman is to submit to her husband
in all things, and that he's to rule over her, after He said
that, then He told the husband how it is He's to rule over her.
He says, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the
church and gave Himself for it. And right now, brethren, Paul
said in Romans 7, Wherefore, my brethren, you are become dead
to the law, that you might be married to another, even to our
Lord Jesus Christ, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Ladies, when you get married,
how did you bring forth fruit? How did you bring forth children?
Your husband produced it. Your husband produced it. Well,
you know how the bride of Christ is going to bring forth fruit?
Our husband is going to produce it. Our husband. And it's serving
in newness of spirit, not in oldness of letter. He's walking
by faith, constrained by his love. That's what it is. If you
go through the scriptures, you find throughout the scriptures
that he never says believers are ruled by the law. Listen
to Isaiah 48, 17. Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel. I am the Lord, thy God, which
teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that
thou should go. Listen to Psalm 22, 28. The kingdom
is the Lord's and He is the governor among the nations. Listen to
Psalm 23, 1. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restores my soul. He leadeth
me in paths of righteousness. He does this. In Isaiah 49.8,
I want you to turn there. I love this. Isaiah 49.8. Men
get so in such disputes over covenant theology. Covenant theology. And look here, this is what we'll
miss if God don't teach us by His grace. Isaiah 49.8. Thus
saith the Lord, in an acceptable time have I heard thee, and on
the day of salvation have I helped thee, and I will preserve thee,
and I'll give thee for a covenant of the people." He's talking
to Christ. Christ is our covenant. He is
our covenant. All the promises of God are yes
and amen in Christ. He's our covenant. And look what
it says, I'll give him a covenant for, to establish the earth,
to cause to inherit the desolate heritage, that thou mayest say
to the prisoners, go forth, and to them that are in darkness,
show yourself." When's a man going to come out of the dark
into the light of Christ? When Christ says, show yourself.
Look at this. They shall feed in the ways,
and their pasture shall be in all high places. They shall not
hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them,
for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them. Even by the
springs of water shall He guide them, and I will make all my
mountains away, and my highways shall be exalted." You see, we
who believe on Christ and believe that Christ right now is raised
to the right hand of the Father as the glorified God-man, we
who believe on Him really do believe that He is working in
His church right now just as real as He did when He walked
this earth. And He's doing it through the Word that exalts
Him. Through the Word that exalts Him. I think I've told you all
this. You may have heard me say it.
I went to a banker several years ago when we were trying to find
money to purchase a building. And this banker was religious.
Don't ever go to a religious banker. And he was asking me
a lot of questions about our church and about how we run things. And he said, well, who's the
committee that controls, you know, where you spend your money?
I said, we don't have one. He said, well, who's the committee
who controls, you know, the membership, making sure the people are giving
as they should? I said, we don't have one. He said, well, you
don't have anybody ruling those things? I said, we don't have
anybody among us doing it, no. I said, but Christ is doing it.
He said, well, who governs you? I said, the same one that governs
the rest of us. Christ does. The world don't
get that. That's why they got to have every
rule and regulation and they got to have the CIA of disciples
going around and knocking on your door, making sure you're
reading the right books and you got your TV covered up on Sunday,
pretending like you're obeying the Sabbath. All those things
they do, brethren, because that's the constraint of men. We're
constrained by the love of Christ. He feeds us. He rules us. And
then here's the last thing he prays. Psalm 28, 9, and lift
them up forever. It means sustain them. It means
support them. It means especially bear them
yourselves. Isaiah 40, 11 says he shall feed
his flock like a shepherd. He should gather the lambs with
his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those
that are with God. In Exodus 19, verse 4, he said,
You've seen what I did unto the Egyptians, how I bear you on
eagles' wings and brought you unto myself. He bears us. We don't bear Him. He bears us. He lifted us out of the miry
clay, out of that horrible pit. He lifted our head, our thoughts
to Him at God's right hand and showed us that that's where our
life is, hid with Christ in God. He showed us we really are dead
by His work and our life is hid right there at God's right hand
in Christ. He continually lifts us up and bears us so that our
foot, when we slip, we don't completely fall away. He bears
us up, this whole pilgrimage that we're going through, through
this journey. When it's all said and done, we're going to be like
Israel. Our shoes aren't going to be worn out and every promise
He made, He's going to fulfill because He bears His people.
And one day at last, He's going to lift us up to heaven's glory
with Him. And we'll drop this body of death
and we'll be perfectly conformed to Him forever. God does this
for the sake of Christ. These four things right here.
And when He makes us behold what He's done for us. He said, I'm
going to do these things for you. But I'll be inquired of
for these things. You just think of this whole
psalm now, what I've said to you. We keep coming to a place
where we're alone. We're crying to God and it seems
like He don't hear us. Then in a little while, what's
happened is Christ has gone to the Father and He's praised the
Father on our behalf, interceding for us on our behalf. Thou art
my strength, Thou art my help, I trust in Thee and I'm helped.
And He's the mediator. Not only does He go to the Father
and take our prayers to the Father, then He comes to us and He speaks
the same word in our heart. I'm thy strength. The Lord's
thy strength. You believe on Him and you're
helped. And as He does this, He intercedes to the Father and
He says, Save thy people. Bless thine inheritance. Feed
and lead thy people and lift them up forever. And you and
I at last discover He really has heard our prayer. Your heart
overflows and then you begin to pray yourself. And you say
the exact same thing He put in your heart. He is my strength.
He has lifted me up. He has done all these things
for me. And because He said I'll be inquired of for these things,
He makes you pray for your brethren and say, Lord, save thy people,
bless thine inheritance, feed them also, and lift them up forever. This is the oneness. He makes
us pray what He prays. That's how one we are with Him.
That's our redeemer. Thank you all. Thank you. Pray
the Lord to bless you. I've heard a lot of preaching
in my life. A lot. That's the best I've ever
heard on imputation, bar none. We sat and talked about this
in my living room last night, and I'm guilty as charged. I
did ask him, preach that tomorrow night. I did ask him. I said,
now, preach what the Spirit lays on your heart, but I hope it's
that. Because it was such a blessing
to my heart. It's just woke me up all day,
and I wanted that for everyone. But as he was preaching, did
you notice this? This matter of imputation and the sacrifice
of Christ and the righteousness of Christ be made ours. This is not just a doctrine that
we want to have to differentiate us from everybody else. Do you
hear the sweet, glorious, wonderful salvation and blessing that comes
to us because of that? That's the gospel. Oh, that's
just such a blessing. I'm so glad you can preach that
to us. Thank you. After we sing a song,
let's remember to stick around, enjoy a little ice cream and
fellowship. But before we do, let's bow in
prayer. Our God, how we thank you. Oh,
how we thank you for allowing us to be here this evening, to
hear one more time the glorious good news of our Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you for your wisdom
that would provide such a salvation. How we thank you for your love
and your grace and your mercy and your pity that would provide
such a salvation for sinful, helpless men and women such as
we are. How we thank you that you've given life, that you've
given faith to believe the Lord Jesus Christ and cling to him
to rejoice as we hear his gospel, Father, how we thank you. Father,
we thank you for bringing Clay our way and we pray your continued
blessing be upon him as he goes to Danville this weekend and
as he goes back home to New Jersey. Continue to bless him, Father,
in a special way for your great namesake and for the good of
your people there. Continue to cause your word to
go forth in the power of your Father, we thank you for this
time of fellowship that we're about to enjoy. Pray you bless
it for your great namesake. It's in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ. For his glory, we pray and give
thanks. Amen.