We'll open your Bibles back to
Isaiah chapter 8. The title of the message this
evening is Five Gifts of Grace. Five Gifts of Grace. Now you'll
recall last week we ended the message by looking at man by
nature. He knows he's in trouble and
he seeks the familiar spirits. He seeks preachers who are like
him. Someone who will tell him what
he wants to hear. And those familiar spirits, they sound charming,
but they peep and mutter. You can't understand what they're
saying exactly. There's no salvation in their
message. Verse 20, that's what we read last week. To the law
and to the testimony. If they speak not according to
this word, it's because there's no light in them. They peep and
mutter. They sound charming, but there's
no light in them. There's no light in their message.
There's no light in them. So they can't lead anyone else
to Christ's light. You're never going to find the
light by looking in darkness. And that leaves men stumbling
around in the darkness. We see that in verse 21. This
is where our text begins this evening. And they shall pass
through it, hardly bestead, and hungry. And it shall come to
pass, when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and
curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall
look under the earth, and behold, trouble and darkness. dimness
of anguish, and they shall be driven to darkness. Now these,
they hear the message of these false prophets, but there's no
light in their message. They just keep stumbling around
in the darkness. And by nature, this is our condition. We're so blind. We're in such
darkness. We can't see Christ the light.
Every person in here can see these lights because you physically
got sight. Spiritually, we're blind, so
we cannot see the light. We can't see Christ the light,
and we can't find Christ the light because we're blind. I
mean, you'd think finding light in darkness would be a simple
thing. Well, it is if God's given you eyes to see. But if you're
blind, you can't tell. You can't find the light. And
no matter where we look, all we see is darkness. We look to
the earth, look to the ways of the earth and the ways of men,
All we see is darkness. We look up, all we see is darkness. Just deep, thick darkness. Because we're blind and we're
in darkness. And man left to his own devices. Stumbling around
in this darkness, following false prophets that peep and mutter
that have no light. They're going to starve to death.
When you don't have any light, nothing can grow. They're going
to starve to death. They can't feed on Christ, the
bread of life, because He's not being preached to them. Christ
the Light and Christ the Bread of Life, neither one. And man
by nature doesn't know another way. He doesn't know another
way. So he stubbornly insists on going this way. The only way
that he knows. Even though that way is leading
him to death, he stubbornly insists on going that way. That's what
that phrase, hardly bested, means. He can't change his mind. He's
just stubbornly going to go this way. And that way drives him
from God. You'll notice it doesn't make
him call on God for mercy. He's in darkness. He's in anguish.
He's starving to death. It doesn't make him call on God
for mercy. It makes him curse God. That's
what he says here. Now, before the Lord saves anybody,
this is the condition of all of us by nature. But before the
Lord saves anyone, he's going to show us this is our condition
by nature. God's going to bring us to this
point where we're in anguish, where we're miserable, where
we see we don't have any hope. We don't have any light. We don't
have any hope. There's no hope for me. Then
in the midst of that judgment, there's mercy. In the midst of
this darkness, God promises light. God's people, they're cast down,
but they're not forsaken. Look at chapter 9, verse 1. The dimness should not be such
as was in her vexation. When at the first, he lightly
afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and
afterward did more grievously afflict her, made it worse, by
the way of the sea beyond Jordan and Galilee of the nations."
This darkness is not going to last forever. Now, at the moment,
God's brought darkness. He's brought affliction. But
later on, in his time, his appointed time, God's going to give glorious
light to His people. And that's the first gift of
God's grace. It's light. Look at verse 2. The people that
walked in darkness, they've seen a great light. They that dwell
in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light
shined. Now you'll notice they didn't
find light. Light shined upon them. It's a gift of God's grace.
God's going to shine a great light on His people. who have
walked in this intense darkness, they've walked through the valley
of the shadow of death, full of fear. God's going to give
His people Christ the light, and the fear's going to be dispelled.
They've walked in the darkness of ignorance. Christ the light
is going to reveal the wisdom of God. They've walked in the
darkness of unbelief. Christ the light will give faith
in God. They've walked in the darkness
of error. Christ the light will reveal the truth of God. Look
over in Isaiah chapter 42. Now this light is Christ. It's Christ the light of the
world. It's God's gift to his people, the gift of grace. Isaiah
42 verse 6. I the Lord have called thee in
righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep thee and give
thee for a covenant of the people for a light. of the Gentiles,
to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison
and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. When
we, this light is Christ and when we have Christ, we have
light. Now Christ can only be seen in
the light of himself. Christ can only be revealed in
His own light. It's not going to be the light
of nature. It's not going to be the light of false religion.
Christ is only revealed who He is in the light of Himself. Christ
is the light and Christ is who we see when God gives us light.
So when God gives light, we're not going to stumble anymore.
Those Pharisees, our Lord told them, you're going to stumble
over the stumbling stones. He's right there in open sight.
How could they stumble over Him? They're blind. They're in darkness.
But when God gives this gift of His grace, light, you don't
stumble over Christ's stumbling stone anymore. You believe on
Him. You fall upon Him because you
see. You fall on begging for mercy
because you see. You don't stumble over Him. And
if you look over Matthew chapter 4, Scripture removes all doubt that
Isaiah here is prophesying of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew
chapter 4, verse 13, ìAnd leaving Nazareth,
he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast,
in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtalum, the very same cities
Isaiah wrote of, that it may be fulfilled.î Why did he do
that? ìThat it may be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the
prophet, saying, The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtalum
by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles."
Why did he go there? The people which sat in darkness
saw great light. And to them which sat in the
region in shadow of death, light is sprung up. Light sprung up
because the Lord Jesus came to town. And when God gives us the
gift of light, we see. We see Christ. We see our need
of Christ. You know, many people have heard
of Jesus Christ. I'd say almost everybody in this
country has heard the name Jesus of Christ, but they don't see.
They don't see their need of Christ to be their Savior. They
don't see how God saves sinners. But once we see Christ. Oh, now
I see how God can save me. I mean, not just sinners in general. I'm talking about how God can
save a sinner like me. and still be just and still be
holy, yet show mercy to someone like me. And it's not because
of anything I did. It's not because I kept even
any part of the law. It's because Christ did all the
work of salvation. Christ fulfilled the law for
me, made me righteous in Him, shed His blood to pay for my
sin. And we see that when we see Christ
the light. Now here's the second gift of
God's grace. It's life. Verse 3, back in our text. Thou
hast multiplied the nation. Now the nation of Israel, we
looked at this a number of weeks ago, is going to be severely
diminished. Their population will be severely
diminished. Many people are going to be killed
in a war this coming. Many people are going to be killed
by occupying armies. But that nation, as much as it's
going to be diminished, is going to grow again. It's going to
grow to a mighty nation again. And isn't that Israel's history?
All through Israel's history, this is what happens to them.
How many descendants of Abraham? First of all, God said, Abraham,
I make of you a great nation. Abraham, his wife, too old to
have children. How are those two old dead people
going to become a great nation from them? God's able. Then 70
descendants of Abraham. That's not very many folks. 70 descendants of Abraham went
down to Egypt during a time of famine. Over three million of
them came out of Egypt. And the same thing is going to
happen again. They're going to be diminished, but God's going
to make them a mighty nation again. And God has done all that
for this reason, to give us a picture of what he's done with spiritual
Israel. Now, spiritual Israel, we're
not just diminished. You know, we're not, well, we're
just down to a few. No, we're dead. There's no life in us. We're dead. We're dead in Adam.
We're dead in our own sins. We're dead. But God gives His
people the gift of His grace. Life. He makes them be born again
so that they'll never lose that life. The life a believer receives
in the new birth is the life of Christ. We're born from incorruptible
seed. Then the life can't be corrupted.
It can't be lost. And God caused that life to grow
exceedingly, to multiply. He uses the word here, multiply,
not just add. I mean, you know, you can add,
you know, you can eventually get a pretty big number. But
boy, you start multiplying and that number just grows faster.
This life is multiplied. Christ came to save and to give
life a whole lot more than just those few Jews. To a number no
man can number. Gentiles too. centers from every
nation and they're multiplied so that they're more than the
stars in the sky and more than the sand which is on the seashore.
You just go to the beach. I do this every time we ever
go to the beach. I just pick up a handful of sand and think
I can't count that many. How many grains is there when
the sand is as far as the eye can see? Scripture says God's
people are more than that. He multiplied them. Look in Genesis
chapter 22. This is the promise that God
made to his people in Christ. Genesis 22. Now I know we think of, and rightfully
so, a remnant has been saved. Just a remnant, it seems like,
on earth believes at any time. Scripture says that. Don't ever
think Christ is somehow inferior or less glorious. He has saved
a multitude. Look here, this is what he promised,
Genesis 22, verse 16. And said, God told Abraham, By
myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done
this thing, and hast not withheld thine only Son, that in blessing
I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the
stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore.
And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in thy
seed Shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, all of
them, because thou hast obeyed my voice." Now look over in Genesis
32. This does not exactly fit any
of my five points, but you get just the three. When you plead
with God in prayer, we all do, don't we? Plead with God in prayer.
I'll tell you an awful good idea. When you plead with God, plead
His own word. God, you said, and I'm asking
for what you said. God made this promise to Abraham.
I'm going to give you a people more than the sand on the seashore. And God confirmed that promise
to Jacob. Now, Jacob's in trouble. Look
here in Genesis 32, verse 9. And Jacob said, O God of my father,
Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord, which saith
unto me, Return unto thy country. Now you told me, return to my
country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee.
I am not worthy of the least of the mercies, and of all the
truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant. For with my
staff I passed over this Jordan. The only thing I had in my hand
when I crossed Jordan, running from Esau, was a stick, a walking
stick in my hand. And now I am coming back over.
I have become two bands. Now he's afraid of Esau. Esau,
he could kill him. Deliver me, I pray thee, from
the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear
him, lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children.
And thou saidest, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed
as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. Jacob pleaded God's own word. God, you said you'd do this. Now, deliver me, please. And
you know what happened the next day? He was delivered. He sure
didn't kill him. He sure blessed him. God answered
his own word. So in mercy, in grace, God's
multiplied the number of sinners he saved in Christ. Not just
a few. Multiplied them. And you who believe, God's given
you this gift of grace. He's given you life. That life's
been multiplied. It grows. That life grows. And
one day, it's going to be multiplied to perfection. You're going to
put down that sinful flesh and go be with the Lord forever.
Life multiplied. Here's the third gift of God's
grace. In verse 3, back in our text, Isaiah 9. Joy. The gift of joy. Verse 3. Thou hast multiplied the nation.
and not increase, I told you that means to him, you've increased
the joy. Their joy before thee according
to the joy of harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide
the spoil. Now this joy, it's not just this
happy, goofy, jumping around joy. You know, you see people,
I don't even know what to call it, pretend like they're God.
This joy is joy in Christ. It's joy because of Christ. There's
three things in this verse about joy that show us there's joys
in Christ. First, Isaiah says, they joy
before thee. They joy before the Lord because
of who the Lord is. God gave them light. So they
see Christ. God gave them life. And they
have joy because God gave them life. They see Christ. They see who he is. They have
his life. and they joy in Him. Consider
Him. Consider Him. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the seed. He's God in human flesh. He's
a perfect man. He's holy, perfect, knows no
sin, did no sin, not acquainted with sin. Yet, He's kind to sinners. He's forgiving to sinners. He
came with healing in His wings. He's the successful Savior. His
blood cleanses His people from all sin. There's no blood like
Him. There's no person like Him. There's
no righteousness like His righteousness. His righteousness makes those
who are born guilty righteous before God. That's joy in who
Christ is. There's none like Him. What a
message, what a Savior we have to preach. There's none like
Him. What joy! Secondly, they joy
in the harvest. Look at Matthew chapter 9. This
harvest is the salvation of God's people. It's purchased by our
Lord Jesus Christ. It's the joy in the harvest. In Matthew 9 verse 35, Jesus went about all the cities
and villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching the
gospel of the kingdom. and healing every sickness and
every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes,
he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted,
and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Then
saith he unto the disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous,
but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. And the Lord of the harvest has
answered that prayer." And he's still harvesting his people. Now, this harvest, God has an
elect people. And God's servants, they go out
sowing the seed through the preaching of the Word. God's Word is the
seed. They sow the seed. They sow the seed. They sow the
seed. And God's harvest comes when he reveals himself to his
elect through the preaching of the Word. Now, they're his elect. He chose them. But now they've
got to hear the gospel. The light's got to come to them.
They've got to see Christ and believe Christ. And when the
time's right, that fruit is ripe. Right now is not the time to
harvest anything, is it? It's not the time to grow. But
when the time's right, we'll harvest out of our gardens and
the farms and things. When the time's right and the
fruit is ripe, God's going to harvest. And there's going to
be joy. There's joy for that sinner that
God saved. When Christ reveals Himself to
the hearts of one of His people, there's such joy. Oh, there's
such joy. And there's joy in the church.
There's joy in the church on earth. How we rejoice to see
God save one of His people, sinners. Oh, we rejoice. And there's joy
in the church in heaven. They rejoice over one sinner
that repents. All heaven stops and rejoices
over one sinner that repents. Joy. in the Lord, because he
gave us the harvest. And third, they joy when they
divide the spoil, the spoil of Christ, the spoil that Christ
gained when he defeated every enemy. You don't even have to
turn to this. You know it well. You know it
by heart. Isaiah 53, verse 12. Therefore,
while I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto and was numbered with the transgressors, and he bared
the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." Because
Christ poured out His soul into death, because He was numbered
with the transgressors, because He bared the sin of many, He
divides the spoil with them. He won the victory and He divides
the spoil with His people. All the spoil belongs to Him.
He won the battle. He fought the battle. But He
graciously gives that spoil to His people. And His people have
joy. Now what spoil did Christ gain
at Calvary? What is it, the spoil, that He
gained against His people? Well, there's just a few. We
don't have time to mention them all. But how about the forgiveness
of sin in His blood? That gives reason for joy. How
about peace with God? The door's open. Oh, there's
peace. That brings such joy. There's
freedom from the law. Freedom from the of the law. That brings joy. It's freedom
from Satan. His head's crushed. We have eternal
life. Life we cannot lose. We've been
taken from the bitter darkness of prison to the sweet light
of Christ. That's joy. And we have joy in
Christ. I want you to look at Romans
chapter 5. Now this joy, all three of these show us the joy
that a believer has is in Him, in Christ. Romans 5 verse 6. For when we are yet without strength,
in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet for a good man some would even dare to die.
See that righteous man, that good man, they can't find much
joy in somebody like Christ doing something for them because they
think they've got some goodness. This is for the ungodly. This
is how the ungodly have joy. But God. commended his love toward
us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more, then, being not justified by his blood, we should be saved
from wrath through him. For if we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of the Son. Much more, being
reconciled, we should be saved by his life. And not only so,
but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
we have now received the atonement. This joy in Christ is a gift
of God's grace that we have because Christ is the atonement that
we have in Him. Now the fourth gift of God's
grace is freedom. Look at verse 4 in our text.
For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff
of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressors in the day of Midian.
Now at this time Israel was under the yoke of foreign nations,
and it was a hard yoke, a difficult yoke to bear. But that yoke,
that control that was held over them by these foreign nations,
is going to be broken. God's going to defeat that enemy.
He's going to give Israel, His people, freedom. And that's exactly
what God has done for His people, for spiritual Israel. We're born
under the yoke of the law. We're born under the burden of
the law. And that burden is too heavy
for us. We cannot bear it. You can't
even, you kid, you can't even have your mom go tell you to
pick up your room and do it. I mean, you know, you just find
every reason not to. The burden of the law is too
much. We can't bear it. It's heavy,
and the yoke, it don't fit good. It cuts and chafes and just causes
bruises and wounds. And ultimately, it kills us.
But Christ came, and He broke the yoke of the law for His people.
By keeping the law for us as our representative, as our substitute,
He took that heavy yoke that was too much for us to bear,
took it off His people and put it on His great shoulders and
bore it away. The yoke, freedom from the yoke
of the law. We're born under the yoke of
sin. We have a fallen nature that yokes us, ties us to sin. Just try getting away from it.
You can't do it. Why? We're yoked to it. Just like that oxen is yoked
to the plow, we are yoked to sin. Sin is ever present with
us. And finally, it'll kill us. Sin,
when it's finished, bringeth forth death. But Christ came,
and He broke the yoke of sin for His people. He took that
yoke of sin off of His people. He put it on His great shoulders.
And He bore that sin away through the sacrifice of Himself. He
bore that sin, that yoke of sin, away from His people as far as
the East is from the West. You'll never see it again. We're
born yoked to the heavy burden of guilt. You ever wonder why
it's so easy for these TV preachers to manipulate people and get
people to do crazy things and send them money? Why is that?
We're born yoked to guilt. We feel guilty. We'll do anything
to get rid of that guilt. We're yoked to it. Christ came
and He took that heavy yoke of guilt off His people. He put
it on His great shoulders. He was made guilty for us. And He bore that guilt away and
made His people the righteousness of God in Him. So, Matthew chapter
11. The gift of freedom. Matthew
11, verse 28. Now a Savior says, Come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I will give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest
unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light. What a gift of God's grace. serve
Christ. And the last gift of God's grace,
the forgiveness of sin. Verse 5, Isaiah chapter 9. For
every battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments
rolled in blood, but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.
And normally a battle is fought in confusion with casualties
on each side. I was watching a special about
the Civil War the other day. And they were reading from diaries
of different soldiers and things. And during this one particular
attack, the smoke and the sun had started to set, it was getting
dark, the smoke and the noise and the men were in such confusion.
And the Confederate Army was just killing one another. They
weren't shooting at the Union. They were shooting at one another.
They didn't know. They were in confusion, a battle.
Well, that won't be that kind of battle when God comes to set
His people free from the oppressors. God's done that before. One time,
He made the enemy. They had Israel dead to rights.
They were just going to crush them. But God made them hear
the sound of many a great army, many chariots and horses, and
they fled in terror, even though nobody was coming. One time,
God just sent a few hornets in, drove out the enemy. Israel came
in with a joy to spoil. One time, God made the enemy.
The battle of confusion and confused noise, it just made them kill
one another. Israel won the battle and they were fired a shot. God
does that for His people. Normally, a battle is fought
in confusion. And there are many soldiers on
each side. They're coming to participate
in the battle. And because there's many on each
side, there's going to be many casualties. Not this battle. Not the battle against sin. There's
not going to be many soldiers. There's going to be one. Lord
Jesus Christ is going to go to this battle alone. He's deserted
by everyone. He needs no help, but he was
deserted by everyone. His disciples ran and hid. Even his own father turned his
back on him. And Christ was there alone, fighting
the battle against sin. And you and I don't join in that
battle. Not the battle that puts sin away. We don't join that
battle that pays for sin and atones for sin. The Lord Jesus
Christ must fight that battle alone. And there are not many
casualties in this battle. On God's side, there's just one. Just one. The Lord Jesus Christ. But now His death. You know,
you count how many have been killed and captured and injured,
right? His death is not counted as a
fatality. He did die, but his death is only a casualty. He
died, but only as he was bruised. He arose again victorious over
sin, death and hell because of his blood, because of who he
is. That's why we joy in who he is, because his death could
gain the victory. Only Christ can do that. The
sin of his people are forgiven through the blood of his sacrifice.
The victory is won by burning. through Christ burning in the
furnace of God's wrath until sin was purged. His garments
rolled in blood, they're now put away. And he wears the crown
of victory and the robes of victory. There is just that one casualty.
But on the other side, there are some fatalities. All the
fatalities are on the enemy's side. The first one is sin. 1 Peter 2.24. who his own self
bear our sins and his own body on the tree, that we, being dead
to sins, should live unto righteousness by whose stripes you are healed."
Christ's death was the death of sin. Now look in Romans chapter
7. The second fatality is the law. In Romans 7 verse 1. Know ye not, brethren, for I
speak to them that know the law, how that the law hath dominion
over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath a husband
is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if
the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
So then, if while her husband liveth she be married to another
man, she should be called an adulteress. But if her husband
be dead, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress,
though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren,
ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that
ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when
we were in the flesh, the motions of sin, which were by the law,
did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now
we are delivered from the law, that being dead, wherein we were
held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in
the oldness of the letter. The believer is dead to the law
because the law is satisfied by the death of Christ. The third
fatality is death. The death of Christ was the death
of death. Hebrews 2.15 tells us that Christ
came to deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. Well, how did Christ set his
people free from death? Why do you not have to fear death?
Do you believe, why do you not have to fear death? Because Christ
died for us as our substitute. Look over a few pages of 1 Corinthians
15. Christ has set his people free
from death by dying for us. The law can only demand one death.
1 Corinthians 15, verse 51. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, the last trumpet shall sound, and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For
this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal
must put on immortality. So in this corruptible shall
I put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality.
Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, swallowed
up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ." We have the victory over death by the death of Christ. Then the fourth fatality is Satan. The death of Christ fulfilled
God's promise to Adam and Eve that the seed of woman would
crush the serpent's head. The death of Christ put Satan
out of business. Satan can't destroy and he can't
take away from God one soul for whom Christ died. At this very
moment, Satan is reserved on God's chain awaiting judgment.
When Christ died, Satan was put to death. His power was put to
death. And fifth, the last fatality,
we're dead to sin, we're dead to the law, we're dead to death,
not going to die again. Satan put to death by the death
of Christ. And the last one is the world. Paul said in Galatians 6.14,
but God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and
I am to the world. Now, what does that mean when
we say a believer is dead to the world? The world still affects
me a whole lot. Doesn't it affect you? It affects
me a whole lot. When a person was crucified, the world, Paul
says, crucified to me. I'm crucified to the world. When
a person is crucified, they can't move very much, can they? But
they're still alive. They're going to be alive a long
time, hanging there, more than likely. The world is crucified
to me. It can't move. It can't come
attach itself to me. It seems like it affects me a
whole lot more than I wish it would, but it can't control you
because you're dead to it. It can't control you because
the world is crucified to you. It can't control you. You're
dead to the ways of the world. You're dead to the religious
ways of the world. It can't affect you. You're not
going to go back to that. God's given you light and life
and all these gifts of grace, freedom. You're not going to
go back to that. You're free from your own righteousness,
which comes from your own attempts at obedience to the law. You're
free from that. The world is dead to you. In
Colossians chapter 2. Colossians 2 verse 20. Wherefore, if ye be dead with
Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living
in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, touch not, taste
not, handle not, which are to perish with the using, after
the commandments and doctrine of men? Which things have indeed
a show of wisdom in will-worship and humility, neglecting of the
body, but not any honor to the satisfying of the flesh? If ye
then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." Set your affection
on things above, not on things of the earth. Why would you do
that? For you're dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God. Now that is victory over death,
over the world. The world is dead to you. You
want to see how complete that victory is? Look at verse 4.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also
appear with him in glory. That is complete victory in our
Lord Jesus Christ. And God's elect are more than
conquerors through Him who loved us. And in Christ, we enjoy all
the spoils of His victory. Life. Life. Joy. Freedom. And the forgiveness
of sin. Now, Lord willing, next Wednesday,
we're going to look at the sixth gift of God's grace. The unspeakable
gift of God's Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. It's the gift of Christ. that makes all the other gifts
of God's grace possible. All the gifts of God's grace
come to us from the Father through Him. So next week, we'll look
at Him, the sixth gift of God's grace, the unspeakable gift of
His Son. All right, let's bow in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we give
thanks for your grace. What rich mercy and grace you
have so freely showered upon your people. We're sinful, wretched,
and vile by nature, but how we thank you for your grace. Grace
to save the soul. Grace that reveals Christ, that
gives life to a dead sinner, that gives us who in the flesh
are in anguish, gives us joy. in Christ, gives us freedom,
freedom from sin, freedom from the law, freedom from guilt,
sets us free to serve our Lord Jesus Christ, to follow Him.
And how we thank you for the forgiveness of sins. This is
such good news to sinners, the forgiveness of sin and the sacrifice
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do thank you. How we thank
you for your grace. Pray that you would continue
to be merciful and gracious to this people. In the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and for His sake we pray.