Let's open our Bibles again to
Isaiah 36. Now, as you saw when we read this a moment
ago, this is a very harsh chapter. It's the enemy of God speaking.
So I've entitled the message, Answers for the Enemy. Beginning
in verse 1, now it came to pass in the 14th year of King Hezekiah,
The Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the defense
cities of Judah and took them. And the king of Assyria sent
Rabshake from Lachish to Jerusalem, and the king Hezekiah with the
great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool and
the highway of the fuller's field. Then came forth unto him Elkayim
and Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the
scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder. Now, Sennacherib
had conquered almost all this area of the world, and he'd conquered
about all of Israel. And now he's come to Jerusalem.
And rather than try a long and very expensive siege, Sennacherib
sent messengers to King Hezekiah to try to get him to just surrender. It's going to be easier on everybody
involved if you just surrender. But now God had promised Hezekiah
that Sennacherib's not going to enter Jerusalem. God told
Hezekiah, Sennacherib's not even going to fire an arrow over the
wall. Well, here his army is. Now here's Sennacherib's army
come up to the city. Will King Hezekiah, will he be
confident in the Lord or not? That's the question. Sennacherib
is trying to scare Hezekiah to death. He's trying to scare him
and make him give up. Well, what reason does Hezekiah
have to be confident? What reason does Hezekiah have
not to surrender? And I want us to look at this
message from Sennacherib as a message of false prophets. The message
that they preach to you and me every chance they get. This is
the message that our own flesh whispers in our ear all the time.
Satan, false prophets in our own flesh, they're trying to
do to us the same thing that SnackRab is trying to do to Hezekiah.
They're trying to scare us into surrendering instead of depending
upon Christ. And I want us to see each of
these tactics that this man Rabsheki uses as he's delivering SnackRab's
message. Look at each of these tactics,
because these are the same tactics that Satan uses to try to get
us to look away from Christ. And I want us to see the tactics
and have an answer for each of those. Now, the most important
thing we can do when Satan tempts us with these tactics is prayer.
Verse 21 tells us, but they held their peace and answered not
a word for the king's commandment was saying, answer him not. Hezekiah told his ambassadors,
he's not doing it. Don't you answer him a word.
Don't not even a word. Don't you get drawn into a debate
with this man. So they stayed silent as they
were instructed. And we'll see this Lord willing
next week in chapter 37, everybody stayed silent. In chapter 37
is God's servant speaking, Hezekiah speaking in prayer. And that's
the most important thing we can do when tempted with these tactics.
Stay silent. Just stay silent. Don't get drawn
into a debate. Don't talk to anyone about it
but the Lord. Just go to Him in prayer. But
here's the first tactic that Satan uses. He asks you, what's
your confidence? What reason do you have to be
confident? See verse four. And Rabshakeh said unto them,
say ye now to Hezekiah, thus saith the great king, the king
of Assyria, what confidence is this wherein thou trustest? I
say that sayest thou, this is what you say, but now they're
just vain words. I have counsel and strength for war. Now on
whom dost thou trust that thou rebellest against me? Lo, thou
trustest in the staff of this broken reed on Egypt, whereon
if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is
Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him." Now in the
past, Israel had trusted in this treaty and alliance with Egypt,
hadn't they? We've seen that in our study. But Sennacherib
had already conquered Egypt. Egypt's not going to be any help
to Israel at this time. Leaning on Egypt would be just
like leaning on one of those hollow reeds that grow up along
the Nile. First time you put any weight
on it, it's just going to buckle and you're going to fall down.
Or it'll pierce through your hand. Now that's a picture of
us leaning on the arm of the flesh to save our soul. Our flesh
is of no help to us at all. Our flesh has already been conquered
by Satan. By the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be
justified in his sight. Leaning on the arm of the flesh,
not only will it not help us, not only will it not save us,
it'll harm us. It's just like leaning on a cane
that instead of having that nice rounded handle, has a pierced
end. I mean, you just put your weight on it, it pierces through
your hand. It doesn't help you, it hurts you. That's our flesh. Our flesh never spiritually helps
us. always only hurts us. And all of us, at some point,
had been guilty of this. I don't care where it is the
Lord found you. When he found you, you could
have been sitting right here in these pews when the Lord found you. And
when he found you, you know what you were doing? You were leaning
on the arm of the flesh. I don't care where you were.
Before God finds us, before he reveals himself to us, we're
leaning on the arm of the flesh. Well, what's the remedy to that?
You who know the Lord, what's the remedy for that? When the
Lord first revealed himself to you, what was the remedy to leaning
on the arm of the flesh? It was look to Christ, wasn't
it? How did God make you quit leaning on the arm of the flesh?
By revealing his son to you. Now look to him. Depend on Christ
to keep the law for us, not on our own obedience to it. The
remedy is not to depend on our own selves to clean ourselves
up and start acting better and doing better. We're to depend
on Christ, on His blood to cleanse us from all of our sin. But even
after conversion, this problem doesn't go away, does it? This
wanting to lean on the arm of the flesh. When some problem
comes up, what's the first reaction of the flesh? The reaction of
the flesh is, what can I do to fix this? I better get to work
fixing this. You know, well, I guess I probably do need to
pray about some, but I need to start acting better before I
pray. What is that? That's leaning on the arm of
the flesh, isn't it? Even a little problem comes up. And we say,
oh, I got this. I know what this is. Rather than
immediately going to the Lord for help, that's leaning on the
arm of the flesh. And it's embarrassing. Now that's
embarrassing. We ought to know better. Well,
what's the remedy for that? Trust in Christ. Trust in the
person of Christ who forgives sin through the blood of his
sacrifice. The remedy is the same as when
the Lord very first revealed himself to us. The remedy is
look to Christ, rely on Christ. Look over at Hebrews chapter
10. What was your confidence when
the Lord first revealed himself to you? Your confidence was Christ
alone, wasn't it? Look here at Hebrews 10, verse
35. When these tactics of Satan come
up and are used against you, just don't answer him a word.
Look to Christ. Keep that same confidence you
had when the Lord first saved you. Hebrews 10, verse 35. Cast not away, therefore, your
confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For you
have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God,
you might receive the promise. for yet a little while, and he
that shall come will come, and he'll not tarry. Now the just
shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall
have no pleasure in him. This is what the writer is saying.
Don't draw back, because God says his soul will have no pleasure
in him. But we're not of them who draw back under perdition,
but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Don't cast
away your confidence. You keep looking to Christ. Well,
here's the second tactic. Satan whispers in your ear, you've
been guilty of leaning on the arm of flesh and now God's deserted
you. What good has it done you to
depend on Christ? This is what he says in verse
seven in our text. But if thou say to me, we trust
in the Lord, our God, is it not he whose high places and whose
altars Hezekiah have taken away and said to Judah and to Jerusalem,
you shall worship before this altar. Now, therefore, give pledges,
I pray thee, to my master, the king of Assyria, and I'll give
thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set
riders upon them. How then wilt thou turn away
the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants,
and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?" Now
this is what Rabsheki's saying here, Hezekiah, when he first
became king, one of the first things he did is he had the people
cut down all the groves. The groves are where they worshiped
idols. He removed all the groves, he
stopped all the idolatry, and said, as a country, we're going
to worship God only. And what Rabsheki's asking is,
what good has that done you? Huh? It ain't kept us away, has
it? Here's this great army. What
good has trusting the Lord done for you? We're here to destroy
you. God hadn't done you any good, but now we will. Tell you what we'll do. We'll
give you 2,000 horses in a trade for the city. Now, you should
go ahead and take our trade, because trusting in God hasn't
done you any good. You don't even have 2,000 men put on these
horses, much less have 2,000 horses trusting the Lord hasn't
done you any good. But now, you just rely on us. We'll give you these 2,000 horses,
and it'll all go well for you. Well, now, I suppose the flesh,
the fallen flesh, darkened flesh, flesh with darkened understanding
would say, you know, I think I'll make that trade. But that's
an awful trade. I mean, that's a horrible trade.
You know, I do well down at Flea Market making trades like that.
I mean, you trade a whole city for 2,000 horses? That's a bad
trade. But that is what appeals to the
flesh. The flesh wants to trade our
own obedience to the law. and try to get salvation in return.
But that's a bad trade. We don't have any obedience to
offer. Just like Israel couldn't put 2,000 men on those horses,
we don't have any obedience to offer to God's law. That's a
bad trade. But now, think about what this
man's saying. What good is trusting in the
Lord done for you? Look at the situation you're
in. Here's a lesson for us. Just because a person's a child
of God doesn't mean they're not going to face many trials. Just
because a person is a child of God doesn't mean they're not
going to find the enemy at the door from time to time. When we find
ourself in a time of trial, that does not mean God's deserted
us. But that's what the flesh is whispering in our ear. Well,
what's the remedy for that? Trust in the Word of God. Trust
in the promises of God. Look over a few pages of Isaiah
43. Isn't this what the Lord Jesus
himself did when Satan tempted him? Every time Satan tempted
our Lord, what did our Lord do? He answered him with the word
of God, every temptation. Well, what's God's word say to
us? Look at Isaiah 43, verse two. When thou passest through
the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior. He didn't say you won't have
to pass through the waters and the fires, no, but he says when
you do, I'll be with you. It won't harm you because I'm
your God, because I'm your Savior. Don't turn to these, just let
me read them to you for time's sake. This is our Lord's promise,
Luke 21, verse 17. You shall be hated of all men
for my name's sake, but not a hair of your head shall perish. 1
Corinthians 10, 13. There hath no temptation taken
you, but such as is common to man. But God's faithful, who
will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able, but will
with the temptation also Make a way to escape that you'll be
able to bear it. Now you just depend upon God's
word. He said it, he'll do it. 2 Peter
2.9, the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations.
Now he knows. Look at Hebrews chapter 13. This
is, I want us to turn to this. This ought to be well-marked
in our Bibles. And if you've never done it,
when you go home tonight, get your amplified version, or if
you don't have one, I'm sure they're all online now, this
homework assignment. Read the amplified version of
Hebrews chapter 13, verses five and six. This is what the King
James says. Let your conversation be without
covetousness and be content with such things as you have. For
he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. so that
we may boldly say, the Lord's my helper. I will not fear what
man shall do unto me. And that's why Job said, though
he slay me, yet will I trust him. Because I believe God's
as good as his word. That's what I'm gonna do. I'm
gonna trust the word of the Lord. I'm determined by God's grace
to trust Christ alone, to trust his sacrifice alone. That's what
this table represents. I know God will save his people
from their sins. I trust Christ who gave his body
to be broken as punishment for my sin, gave his blood to be
shed as payment for my sin. I'm going to trust him. He's
as good as his word. Here's the third tactic. This
is what they say. The Lord told me to do this.
You better not speak against me now. The Lord told me to do
this. You better make an agreement with me. Look at verse 10 back
in Isaiah 36. Am I not come up without the
Lord against this land and destroy it? The Lord said unto me, go
up against this land and destroy it. See, you're saying the Lord
told me to do this. Now this is the Lord's will,
so you better get in line with it. You know, this is God's will.
And don't preachers say that all the time today. Whatever
it is they're doing, this is God told me to do this, this
is the Lord's will. Well now, what is the believer's defense
to this tactic? Trust in the character of God.
The character of God. God is revealed in his word. God's character is revealed.
Who he is, his character is revealed in his word. Well, if someone
tells you, well, this is the Lord's will. The Lord told me
to do this. Well, does what he says match God's word? If the
answer is no, God didn't tell him to do this. If the answer
is no, this is not God's will. And you stay away from him. What
Rabsheki is saying does not match the character of God, does it?
God told Hezekiah, Sennacherib's not going to take this city.
He's not going to enter it. He's not going to fire an arrow
into it. But Rabsheki is saying, God told me something different.
God told me it's his will that I come destroy you. Trust in the character of God.
This is not God's character. God keeps his word. God keeps
his promises. You know who this man Rabsheki
is? He's an apostate Jew. This is a man who grew up in
Israel. He grew up a Jew being taught
all the religion of the Jews and now he's a turncoat gone
over to the Assyrians because it looks like they got the upper
hand and he's come back to Israel lying on God. Well, how can you
tell if he's lying or not? trust the character of God. It's
what he says match the character of God. If he's got God going
back on his promises, he's lying. But this is what false prophets
do, say now, this is God's will, you better make an agreement
with this. If you just change a little bit, just, you know,
knock the edges off, don't be so dogmatic and we'll all get
along, because you know, really, we're all saying the same thing.
That's what Rabshake says in verse 16. He says, Harken not
to Hezekiah, for thus saith the king of Assyria, make an agreement
with me by a present, send me out a little bribe, come out
to me, and eat every one of his vine, and every one of his fig
tree, and drink ye every one of the waters of his own cistern,
until I come and take you away to a land like your own land,
a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. What
he's saying is, you know, just compromise a little bit to get
along with us. Here's what we'll do. You come
out, make an agreement with me, and you can just stay here for
a while, you know. Keep doing everything like you've been doing
it, you know. And then, at some point, you know, he sounds like
this is the fine print, you know. It was a long time down the road.
I'll come along and take you to a different place. It's a
place a lot like this one, really. It's just a little better. And
what we'll do is we'll give you real freedom. We're going to
give you real freedom so you won't be trapped in this city
anymore. What a lie. What a lie. Sennacherib was known
as being brutal. He'd take people into captivity
and work them to death, starve them to death. I mean, what a
lie. But this is the tactic of Satan.
This is the message of Satan. Just compromise to fit in. You know, it's all the same.
We really all believe and we're all preaching the same thing.
You know, just take the edge off a little bit and we'll all,
you know, get along. And then we'll be able to show
you something even better. We'll give you real freedom.
We'll give you a rich, full life. We'll show you how to have lots
of money, lots of friends, lots of influence, and all your children
will be just wonderful, and your marriages will be wonderful,
and your jobs will be, everything will be wonderful. We'll show
you. What a lie. What a lie. This is exactly the lie Satan
used to deceive Eve. I'll give you real freedom. You'll
be as God's. I'll show you something even
better. What a lie. Man didn't get freedom from that.
Man's been a slave to sin ever since, hasn't he? Now, I'll show
you how Snacker got a foothold here. At one time, Hezekiah made
a treaty with Sennacherib. He sent a bunch of gold. He had to even take gold out
of the temple and off the doors and things. You know, he sent
Sennacherib a bunch of gold to make this treaty, and Sennacherib
said, okay, you've sent me all this gold, I'll stay away from
you. But he didn't honor the treaty. Now he sent his army,
and you know what he's trying to do? He's trying to make them
surrender again. He's trying to scare them into
surrendering again. He already did once. This is
the tactic of the false prophet. Under the direction of Satan,
he's trying to get you to surrender to the law again. He's trying
to bring you back into captivity to the law. The apostle Paul
wrote a whole epistle to the Galatians about this very issue.
False prophets trying to bring you back into captivity of the
law and make you surrender to it again. Well, what's the remedy? What's the remedy for this tactic?
It's trusting in the character of God. Paul said, I'm not gonna
go back under the law by any means, because I know whom I
have believed. It's trusting in the character
of God. Who better to believe? Now, who better to believe than
God? What is better than the way God
saves sinners? What is better than the love
and mercy of God? I tell you, nothing. Trust in
the character of God. God's not going to love you today
and hate you tomorrow. Trust in the character of God.
He's not going to save you today and make you lost tomorrow. God's
not going to give you his spirit today and take his spirit away
tomorrow. You trust in the character of God. In a false prophecy,
we just, you know, don't be so narrow. I mean, don't make it
all Christ all the time. Just throw us a bone, you know,
mix in just a little something else every once in a while. Well,
I'll tell you what, we'll be as narrow as the character of
God. How about that? We'll be as narrow
as the way that God saves sinners consistent with his character.
How about that? Just be as narrow as the word of God, as narrow
as Christ, the narrow way. Just trust in the character of
God. Well, here's the fourth tactic that they use. They tell
you you're being deceived by God's servant. Look at verse
14. Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for
he shall not be able to deliver you. Neither let Hezekiah make
you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver
us. This city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of
Assyria. Now, King Hezekiah did tell the people that. He told
them the Lord's going to deliver us. The king of Assyria, Sennacherib,
he's not taking this city. Hezekiah told the people that
because God told him that. Here's this huge army outside
the city. Is Hezekiah deceiving the people or not? Had God promised
to spare Jerusalem or not? Well, he had, hadn't he? God
had promised to spare Jerusalem. Well, the deceiver's not Hezekiah. The deceiver's Sennacherib. And
false prophets tell you God's servant's deceiving you. Now,
I tell you what, they're right about one thing. Somebody's deceiving
you. One of the two. Either that false
prophet or God's servant, one of the two is deceiving you. One of the two is not telling
the truth. Well, how do you tell? Are you
listening to someone deceiving you? Or not? How can you tell? The Word of
God. Now check it by the Word of God.
You hear people say, well, God just wants to save everybody.
Christ died to make salvation possible for everybody. And they
tell you that God's servant, when he tells you God just sent
his son to die for his leg, now he's deceiving you. Well, which
is it? Who's deceiving you? You just
crack open God's word and read it for yourself and find out.
You see if God promised to save his people. You see if God said,
I chose a people from Adam's fallen race. And I chose them. I gave them to my son and I sent
my son to be the sacrifice for their sins. For those people
and those people alone. You check and see if all those
people that Christ died for, see if they'll be born again
or not. Must they be born again or not? I mean, is that a big
deal? Being born again a big deal or not? I tell you, it is. Salvation is not reformation
of the flesh. Salvation is the birth, the creation
of a brand new man. He's born again. You check in
God's Word and see, is everybody Christ died for, are they going
to be brought home or not? Is there a chance any of them
can be lost or not? They're all going to be brought
home and not under their own steam, through the power of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now you check God's Word and
see. and spend some time with it. Because Satan quotes scripture
too, you know that? When Satan tempted our Lord,
he tempted Eve, he misquoted it, he twisted it, but he quoted
scripture, didn't he? That's how people are deceived, doesn't
make it obvious. He twists the scripture so that
people are deceived. And these false prophets will
be insistent. Look at verse 11. Then said Eliakim
and Shebna and Joah unto Rabsheki, speak, I pray thee, unto thy
servants in the Syrian language, for we understand it, and speak
not to us in the Jews language in the ears of the people that
are on the wall. And all the people gathered on the wall to
see if they could hear what was going on. But Rabsheki said,
hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these
words? Hath he not sent me to the men
that sit upon the wall that they may eat their own dung and drink
their own piss with you? Now, these ambassadors of Hezekiah,
they said, don't speak to us in Hebrew language, speak to
us in Syrian, we understand that. Because they didn't want the
people who were sitting on the wall, who were not bilingual,
to hear what this wicked man is saying and be discouraged
by his lies. They didn't want them to be caused
to stumble and not trust in the Lord because of this wicked,
wicked man. And certainly that reminds me
of the job of a pastor. The job of the pastor is to protect
what you hear. Now I can promise you, I will
do my best to protect the pulpit, to protect the message from this
pulpit. But you still have to beware
your own self. You gotta beware what you hear when you go out
to school, you go out to the job, you turn on the TV or radio
or something. You will undoubtedly hear what
some false prophet's saying because they're insistent. Now you gotta
give it to them. They're insistent. Maybe we ought
to be that insistent, you reckon? But here's a good way to recognize
a false prophet. The false prophet can't give
you his message and leave you alone with God. He can't do it.
He's got to get results and he's got to get them now. He's got
to get a decision out of you and he's got to get it now. And
if they don't get it, they'll threaten you. Now, they'll threaten
you with what'll happen to you if you don't do what they say.
You know, oh, you don't, you know, you don't tithe, well,
God'll make you lose your jobs. You don't have any money. You
know, you don't come to service, well, God'll kill your children.
I mean, you know, they threaten you with these things. They say
you're gonna be left with nothing to eat. You're gonna just eat
your own excrement if you don't do what we say. That's pretty
gross. But you know what reality is?
That's exactly what you will eat if you trust in the arm of
the flesh to save you. You're just going to eat your
own dung because that is all the flesh can produce. The only
thing the flesh can produce is what ought to be flushed down
in the sewer. That's all this flesh can produce, both naturally
and spiritually. That's so. And God's not going
to be pleased with anything that we produce anymore than you'd
be pleased with your basement getting filled up with sewer.
You wouldn't be pleased with that. God's not pleased with
it either. That's why the Apostle Paul said
he counted everything he did under the law as dung that he
might win Christ and be found in him. Well, what's the remedy
when these fellows come with this tactic scaring you to death?
Look to Christ. Look back at chapter one of Isaiah.
Are you going to be left without anything to eat if you trust
in Christ? What will we eat if we have only Christ? Isaiah chapter
one, verse 19 says, we'll eat good things. If ye be willing and obedient,
ye shall eat the good of the land. If you be obedient, you
trust in Christ, you're going to eat the good of the land.
Look over in chapter 25. We saw this a few weeks ago. We'll
eat fat things, things that have been seasoned with fat and it
tastes so good. Isaiah 25, verse six. In this
mountain, shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast
of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full
of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. That's what God
promises you to eat. In Christ, that's what God promises
will be your diet. And God won't deceive you. Trusting
in Christ is represented by this table. It's taking this table. It's eating his flesh and drinking
his blood. And our Lord called that meat
indeed and drink indeed. Meat and drink that will indeed
give you eternal life. Well, here's the last tactic
that they use. They compare God to idols. They
compare the truth to false religion. Verse 18. Beware, lest Hezekiah
persuade you, saying, The Lord will deliver us. Hath any of
the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the
king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath
and Arphad? Where are the gods of Sepharvon? Have they delivered Samaria out
of my hand? Who are they among all the gods of these lands that
have delivered their land out of my hand? That the Lord should
deliver Jerusalem out of my hand. All these idols of the other
nations couldn't deliver their land from me. God's not gonna
be able to deliver you from me either. What makes you think
you're so special? What makes you think you're different
than these other nations whose God was an idol? What makes you
think you're different? Well, we're not different by
nature, are we? By nature, we're all sons of Adam. We're just
as lost in sin as they are. The difference is God. God makes
the difference between the saved and the lost. Just like on that
night of the Passover, he made a difference between the Israelites
and the Egyptians. God said, Pharaoh's gonna see
this. I made the difference. I made
the difference. Who maketh thee to differ? God
did, didn't He? In pure, unadulterated mercy
and grace, God made the difference. Well, they say now, nobody believes
that sovereign grace stuff you preach. You know, just join us
and be like everybody else. Everybody can't be wrong, can
they? Yes, they can. Yeah, the mob
can be wrong. Matter of fact, that's the problem.
We're all wrong. In Adam, we're all wrong. Every man is a liar. Well, is there a difference?
Is there really a difference in what we believe and what those
false prophets preach? Is there? Absolutely there is. What's my answer to them? I say,
now there's really no difference. Why don't you just quit making
such a difference? Quit being so divisive. Why do you make
such a difference? What's my answer to them? Look
to Christ. Look to Christ. There's no other
Savior to look to. Look to Christ and all this other
stuff take care of itself. There's no other God to trust
in. There's no other gospel worth
believing than this one. Look over a few pages, Isaiah
45. Isaiah 45, verse 20. Now is there really no difference?
God says there is. Assemble yourselves and come.
Draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations. They
have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image,
and pray unto a God that cannot save. Tell ye and bring them
near. Yea, let them take counsel together.
Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that
time? Have not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside
me, a just God and a Savior. There is none beside me. Look
unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I
am God, and there is none else. There is no salvation like God's
salvation. The gospel that you hear here
every week is the only gospel that declares salvation where
God's God and sinners are sinners. The gospel you hear, the gospel,
is the only gospel that says God is God and sinners are sinners. The gospel that you hear week
after week is the only gospel that declares a salvation that
answers all of God's righteous demands. It's the only one. This
gospel is the only gospel that answers God's holy justice. The only one. Because it's the
only gospel that says how God can put sin away and make his
people righteous. The gospel declares the only
salvation. No matter where else you go,
if they preach a different message than this, you'll never hear
this. The gospel declares This is the only salvation where God
remains just, where God remains holy and still saves sinners.
Well, how does he do that? It's through the sacrifice of
Christ that this table represents. There's no sacrifice like the
sacrifice of Christ. The sacrifice that says Christ
died to make salvation possible for people who ended up in hell,
that's no sacrifice. But the sacrifice of Christ the
way scripture describes it, is a salvation that saved his people
from their sin once for all. It just took one, one sacrifice
and his people were eternally justified. There is no savior
like the Lord Jesus Christ, the savior of sinners. I looked to
him, looked to him. And when the men hand out the
table here in a few moments, when you take that bread, When
you take that wine, you know what you're doing? You're confessing.
Christ is my salvation. My only hope. I am such a vile
sinner. My only hope is His body was
broken for me. I am so completely defiled with
sin. My only hope of salvation is
His blood was shed for me. All right, why don't you, you
may distribute the bread, please.