Let's open our Bibles again to
Isaiah chapter 52. I suppose I should have led with
this. It's really good to be home. Jay and I had a very good
trip and we were preparing to come back on Sunday and I looked
at my watch and said, well, about time for Dale's getting started.
And I looked at my watch and about time Eric's going to get
started. praying the Lord's blessing and thinking about the service. So it's good to be home. All
right, Isaiah chapter 52. The title of the message is Put
on Christ. Now, we pick up here in verse
one of Isaiah 52. This is a continuation of the
Lord's answer to the church's prayer in the previous chapter.
And he says, Awake, awake. Put on thy strength, O Zion.
Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. For
henceforth, there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised
and the unclean. Now this is still part of the
Lord's answer to the church's prayer. Look back at chapter
51, verse nine. The church says in verse nine,
awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake as in
the ancient days and the generations of old. Art thou not it that
hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon? The church asked the
Lord to reveal himself to them in his redemptive power to save
his people. They asked the Lord to wake up
in his power. And now the Lord tells his people,
it's time for you to wake up. The Lord says that he has redeemed
his people and he tells them now, wake up. and see my power
to save, see my power that's already saved you. Now believers
been awakened haven't we? We've been awakened, we've been
given life and the new birth, but we are still in the flesh.
So there are times we fall asleep. There are times that we fall
into a spiritual slumber and we have to be told, wake up.
And it's important that we be awake. You know, when we're asleep,
We're just not aware of what's going on around us. We don't
respond appropriately to things that are going on around us.
During our trip south, we were driving along, talking. I was
driving, and I was talking to Jan. I was just watching the
road. We were talking. Before long, I thought, you know,
that ought to have drawn a response. You know, why isn't she responding?
Well, I looked over, she's asleep. That's why I said I was driving.
Good thing she, you know, she, I was driving and she was asleep.
And we, you know, we do that in the car. That kind of lulls
us to sleep. Well, that's what happens to us in the flesh. The
flesh lulls us to sleep. We're asleep spiritually, so
we don't see things right. We don't hear things right. We
don't respond to things right. We need to wake up. When we're
asleep, we're not active. Now, it's good for us to sleep,
but you know, when you're sleeping, there could be things that need
to be done you're not doing, because you're asleep. When we're asleep,
we're not vigilant. We're not watching what's going
on around us. And that happens to us, even
to the believer, because we're still in the flesh. Look over
at Romans chapter 13. So occasionally, we need to be
reminded and told, now wake up. It's time to wake up and pay
attention. Romans chapter 13 verse 11. And that knowing the time that
now it's high time to wake out of sleep for now is our salvation
nearer than when we believed the nights far spent the days
at hand. Let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let's
walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness,
not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but
put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the
flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Now it's time to wake up. Put
off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. And
if we're going to do that, we've got to wake up. So the Lord tells
his people, now wake up. And he tells us, put on two things.
Put on thy strength, O Zion. Now he's speaking there to the
church, represented by Zion. Put on thy strength. But now
what strength is that talking about? Because if we're honest
at all with ourselves, we know we don't have any strength. We
have no spiritual strength at all. Paul said in Romans 5, verse
6, that Christ died for the ungodly when they were yet without strength.
We don't have any spiritual strength. That's why we needed Christ to
die for us in the first place. So the only strength that the
prophet here can be talking about is Christ. Christ, our strength. I'll show you that in a few scriptures.
Look first at Psalm 31. Psalm 31. Christ is the only
strength that a believer has. Psalm 31, verse 1. In thee, O
Lord, do I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver
me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me. Deliver
me speedily. Be thou my strong rock for a
house of defense to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress. Therefore, for thy name's sake,
lead me and guide me. Pull me out of the net that they
have laid privily for me. For thou art my strength." That's
Christ our strength. He's the only strength that we
have. Now look at Philippians chapter 4. Christ is the only strength a
believer has. We have no strength without Him.
But because He's our strength, look what Paul says in Philippians
4 verse 13. I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me." Now, Paul here is talking about the
strength of Christ being ours through union with Christ. The
strength to believe Christ comes from him. The strength to trust
Christ, the strength to see Christ as our righteousness comes from
him. The strength to serve God's people comes from him. And this
is talking about union with Christ. Now, I never noticed this before
until Monday when I was looking at this. The marginal reference
here is to John 15. If you look over there, John
15, I can show you how this is referring to Christ being our
strength. We have that strength through
union with Him. John 15 verse 4. Our Lord speaking to His disciples,
He said, Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear
fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye,
except you abide in me. I'm the vine, you're the branches.
He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. If you're severed from Christ,
if you don't have union with Christ, you can do nothing because
you have no strength. But if you have union with Christ,
if you're in him, You have all strength because Christ is your
strength. You know, the only reason that
a believer has any desire or even any ability to do anything
spiritual, do anything for the good of somebody else, it's the
power of Christ that they have through union with Christ. Paul
said, it's God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of
his good pleasure. That comes from union with Christ.
Someone might ask, I'm interested in that. I'm so
weak. I can't do anything. I'm so weak. I'm so frail. I'm
so pitiful. How can I put on Christ as my
strength? Well, to put on your strength,
to put on Christ as your strength, I'll tell you what it is. It's
to quit depending on your strength, to quit depending on your ability,
and depend entirely upon Christ to save you by His might and
by His power. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
12. I'll show you that. To put on Christ our strength
is simply to depend entirely on Him. 2 Corinthians 12 verse
7. And lest I should be exalted
above measure, through the abundance of the revelations that were
given unto me, a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan
to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this
thing, I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me.
And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my
strength is made perfect in weakness. My strength is made perfect in
your weakness. So Paul said, most gladly, therefore,
will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecution,
in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I'm weak, Then am I
strong. When I look away from any ability
or strength I might have of my own and look to Christ and depend
on Him, then I'm strong. That's putting on Christ our
strength. Well, the second thing he tells
us to put on here is to put on thy beautiful garments. Again,
he's clearly talking to believers here. He says this to Jerusalem,
the holy city. All throughout scripture is a
picture of believers. Jerusalem is a city where God
dwelt. The presence of God dwelt in
the Holy of Holies in the temple that was at Jerusalem. And believers,
they're Jerusalem. They're the temple of God because
God, the Holy Spirit dwells in them. And Jerusalem was called
the Holy City. It wasn't any different than
any other city, but it was holy because that's a place where
God dwelt, where God was worshiped. And that's a believer. They're
made holy in Christ. This is the only way a believer
can be beautiful. It's by being in Christ. The
only way we can be beautiful is by being clothed in Christ.
Because we don't have any beauty of our own. All of our beauty
is the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll show you that. Look in Ezekiel
chapter 16. A very famous passage of Scripture
you all know well. The baby that was cast out in
the open field to die to the loathing of its person. That
baby was cast out there because it was ugly and deformed and
not wanted. But I want you to look what happened
to that baby when that baby became an object of God's mercy. Let's
pick up here in verse 8 of Ezekiel 16. Now, when I passed by thee
and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was a time of love.
And I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness. Yea,
I swear unto thee and entered into a covenant with thee, saith
the Lord God. and thou became as mine. Then
washed I thee with water, yea, I thoroughly washed away thy
blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee
also with broidered work, and shod thee with badger skin. I
girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy
hands, and a chain on thy neck, and I put a jewel on thy forehead,
and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head.
Thus was thou decked with gold and silver, and thy raiment was
of fine linen and silk embroidered work. Thou didst eat fine flour
and honey and oil, and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou
didst prosper into a kingdom. And thy renown went forth among
the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect. How? Through my comeliness, which
I had put on thee, saith the Lord God. See, all of our beauty
is Christ, and that's what we're told to put on, put on His beauty. The believers told in our text
to put on Christ, who is all the beautiful garments of salvation. Now again, the question is asked,
how do I put on Christ as the beautiful garments of salvation
for me and my salvation? I don't see any beauty in myself.
All I see is sin in me. Well, brethren, when you see
your sin, when all you can see about yourself is your sin, and
you think, God will never accept me. God will never look on me. God will never dwell in me. When
you think that, then you put on the blood of Christ that cleanses
from sin. Look at Revelations chapter seven.
Revelation chapter seven. When you see your sin, You put
on the blood of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation 7 verse 14. Go look at verse 13. One of the
elders answered saying unto me, what are these which are arrayed
in white robes? And whence came they? And I said
unto him, sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, these are
they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their
robes and made them white. in the blood of the lamb. Therefore,
that's why they're before the throne of God and serve him day
and night in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them. When all you see is your sin,
you put on the blood of Christ. You put on his blood by trusting
his blood, his sacrifice to cleanse you from all of your sin. And
when you see your complete inability to keep the law, when you see
all I can do is sin, I didn't even mean to break the law and
I did. Or worse yet, when you see your active disobedience
against God, when you see your willful disobedience against
God and you think it's impossible for God to accept me in His presence. It's impossible for someone as
sinful as I am to be holy. When you think that, then you
put on Christ our righteousness. You put on the obedience that
the Lord Jesus worked out as a man. That obedience that He
freely imputes to His people. Look over a few pages of Revelation
19. Put on His righteousness. Put
on Christ our righteousness. Verse six, and I heard as it
were the voice of a great multitude and as a voice of many waters
and as a voice of mighty thundering saying, hallelujah for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb has come and his
wife have made herself ready and to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white for the fine
linen is the righteousness of the saints. That righteousness
of Christ that is ours through union with Him. And then when
you see you're defenseless against sin, that you're defenseless
against any temptation, and it makes you afraid, then put on
Christ. Look in Ephesians chapter 6.
Put on Christ. Put on the whole armor of Christ
that will protect you from every danger. Put on Christ. Look to Him. Ephesians 6, verse 10. Paul says, finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. There he's
saying the same thing that Isaiah said, put on thy strength, the
strength of Christ. Verse 11, put on the whole armor
of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of
the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of
the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that
you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done
all to stand. Stand therefore, having your
loins girt about with the truth, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness. When you get confused and your
mind gets, you don't know what weighs up. Just put on Christ. Put on the truth of Christ. I don't care what it is that's
attacking you. You put on this truth. God saves sinners. God saves
sinners who don't deserve it. But He saves them by His mercy
and by His grace and by His power. And because God saves sinners,
none of His people can ever perish. He saved them by the sacrifice
of His Son. None of them can perish. Well,
that kind of puts everything in perspective, doesn't it? That
puts everything else in perspective. You put on this truth, the truth
of Christ. And when you see your own disobedience,
Put on the breastplate of righteousness, the breastplate of Christ our
righteousness. Don't look to anything else now.
Don't think, well, you know, I'm gonna do a little better.
Our rags of righteousness won't protect us from anything, but
the righteousness of Christ is perfect. It'll stand up to any
charge Satan or the law can throw against us. Put on Christ. Verse 15, read on. And your feet
shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. When you
become afraid, you're afraid of God's wrath against your sin.
I always wish I could sleep all night long, especially in those
dark hours of the night. Because when you're laying there
and you can't sleep, I don't know about you, but for me, that's
when those fears start to crop up. And you think, Everything's
not just right in my life because of my sin. God's judging me for
my sin. It's just going to get worse
and worse and worse. And I see why He would. I can
see why God would just pour out His wrath upon me. And when you
become afraid of God's wrath against your sin, brethren, put
on Christ. Put on Christ our peace. Put
on the Christ that you hear preached in the gospel. Put on the Christ
that you hear preached in the gospel that tells you how Christ
made peace with God for His people through the blood of His sacrifice.
Just take every opportunity you can to hear the gospel preached,
to hear Christ preached, because only Christ will bring peace
to your heart. Oh, when you're troubled, put on Christ our peace. Verse 16, above all, taking the
shield of faith, wherewith you should be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked. I don't care what day you're
in. It could be a dark, cloudy, stormy
day. Maybe it's a sunny day. Maybe
it's what we call a good day. But whatever day you're in, you
put on Christ. Put on faith in Christ. Just
believe Him and look to Christ. If you look to Him alone, your
heart will be settled. Just look to him. And every time
Satan, the accuser of the brethren, casts a fiery accusation at you,
just trust Christ. Now, no accusation can harm you
if you're trusting in Christ. Because what does scripture say?
We're justified through faith, through faith in Christ. Just
believe him and no charge can be brought against you. Now,
every one of those accusations will damn you if you're trusting
in yourself, if you're trusting in the things that you've done,
but they can never harm you if you're trusting in Christ. That's
faith, it's just trusting him. Put on faith in Christ. Verse
17, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit,
which is the word of God. Take the helmet of salvation
in Christ. Take as your helmet to protect
your head the salvation that Christ accomplished for His people
by Himself. If you do that, your mind will
be protected from the error that's everywhere in our day. I worry
every day about our children. I remember what it was like.
Believe it or not, I remember what it was like going to school.
Now I go to school, and school is a very, very, very different
place than home was, very different. And the things that you heard
and the things that you saw and the things people tried to teach
you were very different than what I heard at home. And I worry
about you. You might be surprised how I
think about you during your school day. And this is what I pray,
that God will protect your mind. and the only way He'll protect
your mind from all that error that you hear out there is salvation
in Christ. Just look to Him and it'll all
become clear. And take the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God. Take that great two-edged sword.
With one end, it kills all hope in the flesh, and with the other
edge, it gives life to the Spirit. In verse 18, don't leave this
one out. praying always with prayer and
supplications in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and supplication for all saints." Spend much time
in prayer. Spend much time in prayer. You
know, prayer is not just asking for things that we need or we
want, certainly that's part of prayer. You know, a big part
of prayer is thanking God for all His blessings. thanking God
for who He is, praising Him for that He's God. Prayer is simply
talking to your Heavenly Father. And I know this to be true. The
more time we spend communing with our Father, the more strength
and the more peace we'll have. Now, put on these garments. When
you see your body, this body of death, when you see it, And
they say, boy, it's not going to last long. Then put on Christ,
who is our life. When you face the death of this
body and the judgment that we know will follow, put on Christ. Christ has already died to the
law. He's already stood condemned. He's already stood judged for
his people. Then put on Christ. You could never die. The law
could never put you to death if Christ has already died for
you. because he already satisfied the law for you. You don't have
to worry about condemnation if you're in Christ. He's already
stood condemned for his people. You can never be condemned if
Christ died for you. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. Now put on Christ, isn't that
a beautiful garment? A garments of beauty and righteousness
and holiness, garments that'll protect you eternally. And someone
says, boy, that sounds good. That sounds good. I'd like to
know how I could put on those beautiful garments. Is there
a way that I could put that beautiful garment on? I need them. I'm so ugly and
defiled with sin. My nature, my attitude, everything
about me is so ugly and defiled by sin. How can I put on these
beautiful garments so that they're mine? It's so simple. Just by looking to Christ. Just
by depending on Christ and not yourself in any way. You put
on these garments of salvation when you quit approaching God
with all the good things you've done and only approach God in
Christ our righteousness. Now trusting Christ is not saying,
You know, I've sinned, I didn't do very good in these things
today, so tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to straighten
up. I'm going to do, you know, a
few things a little better. And after I do things a little
better, then I'm going to come before God and ask for forgiveness.
Don't do that. That's not trusting Christ. You
just come to God and you cry for mercy. You cry for forgiveness
based upon the blood and the righteousness of Christ our Savior. That's trusting Christ. That's
putting on these garments of salvation. You put on these garments
of salvation when you quit looking for peace in the things you've
done. And you just look to Christ to be your peace. Now back to
our text. I'm sure you noticed this. Our
Lord says, put on thy strength. Put on thy beautiful garments.
Well, if I don't have any strength, I don't have any beauty, but
the only strength or beauty there is to be found is Christ. Then
how can the Lord call these things mine? I don't have any. Well,
they're ours through union with Christ. They're ours. The believer is so much one with
Christ that we're everything that he is. And you know, the
smart aleck will say, well, you're not God. You're not deity. Of
course not. That's not what that means. But
we are just like Christ because we're one with Him. We're one
with Christ. So everything, everything the
Lord Jesus did as a man, we did in Him through union with Him. The man Jesus of Nazareth obeyed
God's law perfectly for every second. Now I want you to think
about how amazing that is. Not only did he not outwardly
ever sin, he never had a thought of sin. He never had a desire
to sin. How amazing that in every minute
detail, not just in deed, although certainly in deed, but in word
and in thought and in heart, he obeyed God's law perfectly. If you have union with him, Christ
obeyed God's law perfectly? So did you. You're righteous because He's
righteous. You're obedient because He was
obedient. And right now, the Lord Jesus
sits on a throne in glory, accepted there by His Father. You know
why? Because He's perfect. So are you who believe. The Apostle
John said in 1 John 4, as He is, As he is right now, so are
we in this world. Righteous, holy, perfect, accepted
with the Father. The believer puts on all strength
because we have union with Christ who's enthroned in glory with
all strength. The believer puts on perfect
righteousness because we have union with Christ who is our
righteousness. And these things are actually
ours. Scripture calls them ours. How
can they be ours? Because God gave them to you.
By his grace, God gives these things to his people. The righteousness
of Christ is imputed to us. It's charged, it's reckoned to
our account by God's grace. But it goes more deeper than
that. They're also imparted to us. These things are put in the believer
when there's a new man born in the new birth. A man who's holy
and righteous. He's imparted in our heart. You
want me to tell you when will a sinner put on these beautiful
garments of salvation in Christ? You want me to tell you? When
they're born again. That's when. Look here at the
rest of verse one of our text. For henceforth there shall no
more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean." What he's talking
about there, the uncircumcised and the unclean, that's the flesh.
That's all the old man will ever be. Uncircumcised and unclean. But the new man, who's been born
of the Spirit, has a circumcised heart. He has a clean, holy nature. Look at Romans chapter 2. You
know, this matter of putting on Christ, It's not an activity
of the body. It's an act of God's grace in
the heart. This is a heart work we're talking
about. Romans 2 verse 28. For he's not a Jew, which is
one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward
in the flesh, but he's a Jew. He's one of spiritual Israel,
which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not
of men, but of God. A believer has a circumcised
heart. That's the act of God's grace
in giving him a new heart, a new nature and the new birth. Look
over at 1 Corinthians 6. A believer's heart is circumcised
and a believer is made clean, holy, righteous. 1 Corinthians
6 verse 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the
kingdom of God. Now let's be careful not to look
down our nose at those folks just described there, because
look at what Paul says next. And such were some of you. Such
were all of us. Not some, some. Such were all
of us. But you're washed. But you're
sanctified. But you're justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus by the Spirit of our God. The believers made
clean and holy and perfect in Christ. Now he's talking to believers
here. This is what our Lord in our
text is talking to redeemers or to believers. He said, now
you've been born again. You've seen my power. You've
seen my power, my redemptive power, and you've put on Christ. So there's some things you ought
to take off. Now there's some things to put on. There's some
things to take off. Look here at verse two of our
text, Isaiah 52. Shake thyself from the dust.
Arise and sit down, O Jerusalem. Loose thyself from the bands
of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. At first, he says, you're
to take off the dust of this world. Shake off the dust of
this world. Now, what does that mean? Shake
off the dust of this world? Well, it means this. Shake off
the ways of this world. Shake off human reasoning and
human will and human logic. Just shake it off. and trust
Christ. Shake off the trusting in the
flesh in any way and trust in Christ. And this shake thyself,
this is serious business. Luke, I thought of Michaela when
I was looking at this. I don't know if you all know
this about Michaela, but that young woman hates bugs, insects
of any kind. She hates them. And you ought
to see her if one lands on her. I mean, she's just going there
just to get that bug off of her. violently shaking to get that
bug off of her. That's how a believer is to shake
off the religion and the thoughts and the ways of this flesh. Shake
it off violently. Don't have anything to do with
it. You've been translated from the
kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. You've
been given a new citizenship Shake off every claim to that
old citizenship. Why do you want any claim? Why
do you want any of that stench of the kingdom of darkness on
you? Shake it off and enjoy being translated into the kingdom,
being a citizen of the kingdom of God's dear son. Shake off
the dust of this world. Second, he tells us, take off
the works of the flesh. That's when he says, arise and
sit down. I'll tell you what he means.
Arise and sit down. What he means is you rest in
Christ. Stand up out of your grave and
come to Christ who is your life and sit down, sit in Him. Christ already has arisen from
the grave, hasn't He? Now you arise and you come to
Christ who is your life and you rest in Him. Stand up out of
your religious activity I'm afraid even believers do this sometimes.
We think that our religious activity, our Calvinism, our correct doctrine
and things, you know, that's going to impress God. It's just
going to impress God that, you know, I attend church somewhere,
you know, and they don't have all this craziness going on. Even to the believer, not to
someone in free will, I'm telling you, stand up and get out of
that and come to Christ. But even to the believer, get
away from that thinking. Stand up out of trusting in your
religious activity that you hope will impress God and just come
sit down. Just quit your working, quit
your religious activity as a way to try to impress God and rest
in Christ. Just rest in Christ. If you'd
like to impress the Father, Rest in His Son. He's already impressed
the Father. Just rest in Him. Christ has
made peace through the blood of His cross. Now quit trying
to recreate the wheel. Quit trying to make peace yourself
and just rest in Christ. Christ has already sat down,
hasn't He? Why did He sit down? The work's
finished. Well, if the work's finished,
don't try to add to it, you'll just mar it. Just sit down and
rest in Christ. And then thirdly, he tells us,
take off the yoke of the bondage of the law. That's what he means
here. It says, loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O
captive daughter of Jerusalem. Now this is an important one.
Because the flesh loves the yoke of the law. And because the flesh
loves it, the believer has to constantly shake it off, violently
shake that off. I mentioned this earlier, I sin.
I think, I better do something good, you know, before I come
to God in prayer. You know what that is? That is
the oppressive yoke of the law, giving you something to do before
you can come to God, putting something between you and the
Savior. Just take that yoke off and enjoy
freedom in Christ. And I know people will say, well,
if I believe that, I'm free to sin all I want to. Well, if you
think that, it's because you haven't been born again. You're
still asleep. You're not responding to things
appropriately here. Being free from the law means
that you're free from having to keep the law before God will
accept you. Violently shake off that bondage
of the law, shake it off your neck and rest in Christ. Look at Acts chapter 15. This
is what the first Bible conference was all about. The apostles and
elders came together to answer this question. is a believer
required to keep some of the law in order to be saved. And
they must have talked for a little bit and then Peter violently
shook that idea of the law off. Look here in Acts 15 verse 10.
Now therefore, why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of
the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able
to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ We shall be saved even as they. We Jews will be
saved even as those heathen Gentiles. It's by grace through faith. We're saved by grace through
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ without any works of our own. Now enjoy that freedom. Put that
on and enjoy that freedom. God accepts you in Christ who
kept the law for you. Now you're free to serve him
out of love. You know, if you're serving the
law, you're doing it out of a slavish fear. The law is driving you.
But the believer serves Christ out of love and thanksgiving.
So take off the bondage of the law and enjoy freedom in Christ. And I want to tell you, that's
not presumption. You know, it's not glorifying the flesh and
bragging on the flesh about how much better you are than somebody
else if you've got all this freedom in Christ and they don't. That's
not glorifying the flesh. Matter of fact, it's glorifying
to Christ. If you lay hold on Christ by
faith, you trust Him to do everything that's required, and you rest
in Him without any of your own works because He's finished the
work, that's glorifying to Christ. Now rest in Him. God pray, God
be pleased to enable each of us this evening, lay hold on
Christ, put on Christ and enjoy all the eternal blessings that
are ours through union with Him. You know, the circumstances of
this flesh is going to change. It's going to go up and down,
up and down. Ultimately, circumstances of the flesh are going to go
down. But those blessings in Him, through union with Him,
never change. lay hold on joy, these blessings
that are ours through Christ our Savior. Let's bow in prayer. Our father. How we thank you
for your word. How we thank you for the glorious
good news of redemption that sure and certain in our Lord
Jesus Christ. Father, how we thank you for
the gospel of your dear son. How we thank you that you've
given us this gospel to preach. That you've blessed it through
the years and called out your people, blessed them and edified
them, comforted them, gave them assurance through the preaching
of our Lord Jesus Christ. That you sent your darling son,
your precious only begotten son, to be the savior of sinful men
and women. put our sin away, that You've
washed us in His blood. And Father, we pray that You
continue to bless Your Word. Continue to bless Your Word,
to call out Your sheep, to call out those that You've chosen
in eternity past, but have yet, they haven't heard, they haven't
come to Christ. Father, bless Your Word. Cause
them to run to Christ. Bless Your Word, Father, comfort
the hearts of your people, to give them a calmness and assurance
in Christ our Savior. Cause us always to look away
from ourselves, to look away from the strength and ability
of this flesh and look to Christ to wholly and completely rest
on Him. All these things we ask and we
give thanks in that name which is above every name, the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ.