And I am excited. You couldn't
have sang a better song and Bill couldn't have picked a better
scripture to read. We'll be in Hebrews 12. Hebrews chapter 12. Who is looking to Jesus? Christ said, I and my Father
are one. Christ is God. And in Him resides all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And we His elect, His redeemed,
His called, His new creatures. New creatures formed in Him. Christ in you, the hope of glory,
born again of his spirit, are complete in him. And he has made
us to us, him unto us, wisdom, sanctification, righteousness,
and redemption. Christ is all. It is he that constrains you.
We're taught by God. He comforts us. He chastens us. Conforms you to the image of
His Son. He instructs you. He causes you
to endure. It's He that is faithful. He
keeps us looking unto Him. Jesus Christ, our Lord and our
Savior. God has purposed all of these
things. And He will perform it. God chose His elect in Christ
in eternity, purposed your salvation in Him. Christ came in the flesh,
redeemed His people with His own precious blood, and He died,
and He was buried, and He rose again victorious. He accomplished what the Father
had purposed Him to do. It's done. He calls you by His
gospel. And at His appointed time of
love, when it pleases Him, He reveals Himself to you, looking
to Christ Jesus. Bourns you again, creates that
new creation, that new creature. You're a new creature, not of
this world. That inward working of the Holy
Spirit borns you again, gives you that life, that spiritual
life, and that faith, that God-given faith, and reveals Christ in
you, that hope of glory. Now you believe. Now you can
believe on Him. Now you can trust in Him with
that God-given faith, that gift. Looking to Him who put your sins
away, He who cleansed you from all unrighteousness, He who justified
you, imputed His righteousness to you, paying for all, all the
elect sins, making them His own. And God has exalted Him above
all. And He keeps you looking to Jesus. And here in Hebrews, Verse 1. We're foreseeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witness. Let us lay
aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us. And let us run with patience
the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. And that's
the title of the message. That's what we're going to talk
about. The author and finisher of our
faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down on the right hand of the
throne of God. For consider him, that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied
and faint in your minds, ye have not yet resisted unto blood,
striving against sin. That new creation in Christ. The children of God Who's looking
unto Jesus? The children of God. They're
looking unto Jesus Christ with a God-given faith that endures.
With suffering. We are called on to suffer for
His namesake. Look what Christ did. Enduring
the cross before the joy set before Him. And in these previous
chapters, We have seen that great cloud of witnesses. We've read
and we've heard of their testimony. The Old Testament saints who
endured suffering and believed God, they lived and died by faith
in Jesus Christ. They were looking for that Messiah
to come. Come in the flesh as the kinsman
redeemer to shed his blood to take away their sins. All the
sins of God's elect. The promise. And that promise
came in the flesh. He came. And we, by that same
God-given faith, look to Jesus Christ. We believe God has sent
His Son. that He did come as a man born
of a virgin, born of the Spirit of God, full of grace and truth,
that He is our substitute. That surety of that covenant
of grace brought in a perfect righteousness. He obeyed the
law of God perfectly in our stead. He obeyed the will of the Father. Faithful unto death of the cross
of Calvary, He came in the flesh yet without sin. He humbled himself. This God, this great God, I am
my father one. This is the God of glory. He
came down and humbled himself as a servant and suffered the
wrath of God for the sins of his chosen elect. God chose him from eternity,
shed his blood, and redeem us from our sins. He who knew no
sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. He died, He was buried, and He
arose again victorious over the grave, over His enemies, over
the work of Satan, sin, and death. He conquered death. Now death has no more dominion
over him. He doesn't have any more dominion
over us, because we were chosen in him from eternity. We've always
been in him. He alone appeased the holy justice
of God in our room and said, with that one sacrifice of himself,
to God for the atonement of all His
elect sins with His effectual redeeming blood. It accomplished
exactly what He meant to accomplish. The just justified the ungodly. He satisfied God. We are made
acceptable to God only in Him. The purpose of God. God purposed
it. And what He purposes, He will perform. He predestinated you to the adoption
of children in Christ. The firstborn among brethren. He has preeminence. He made us
join heirs. Join heirs with Christ Jesus. We are His inheritance. You belong to God. And He is
ours. To the glory of the Father. And this is all the work of God.
All the work of God. To the glory of the Father. We
are served. We are saved by the grace. His
free and sovereign grace. Through faith. And it's not of
ourselves. It is a gift. Grace is a gift
of God. Faith is a gift of God. And he only gives it to those
he choose in Christ. Not of your works, lest any man
should boast. Here in Hebrews 9, verse 14. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? And for this cause, he is the
mediator of that New Testament. that covenant of grace, that
by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were
under the first testament, or not under the law anymore,
they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where the testament is, there
must also be necessity be the death of that testator. For a
testament is a force after men are dead. Otherwise, it is no
strength at all while the testator liveth. He came and he suffered
and he bled and he died. That testator, that mediator
of that covenant, that surety of the covenant of grace, he took our sins away. He died.
that we might have eternal life and glory in Him, that we might
receive the inheritance. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. Forever. One with the Father and Jesus
the Son, and they are one. Hebrews 9.27, And as it is appointed
unto man once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that
look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. He is coming again. That's the
promise of God. That's what we hope for. That's
what we hope for in Christ. That's why we have faith. That's
why He gives us faith to look to Him. Because He's coming again
to gather all His elect unto Himself. Those looking unto Jesus. Pray God keeps our hearts fixed
on Him. You ever wonder how much those
Old Testament saints knew about these things? Says we see a little
more clearly. But I'm going to tell you. Just
like us, they didn't see anything other than what God revealed
to them. That's what they see. That's what we see. Through a
glass darkly. In part. But one day we will
see in whole with them. With all our brothers. Verses 2-4 is what the children
of God must be put in remembrance of. We must continue to be put
in remembrance of these things that He has done for us. Looking
unto Jesus. For He is the beginning. He is
the author and finisher of our faith. The beginning of our faith.
That's why we have faith. He is our faith. He is faithful.
Faithfulness of Christ is the faith of Christ what he did to
accomplish our salvation And he's the he's the end He's the
end of our faith when he comes again when he calls us home We're
gonna see him face to face as he is we're gonna know him as
we are known in him Be no need for faith because There He is. There's your faith right there.
He's the object. He's the object of our faith.
His finished work. John 6 verse 40. And this is the will of God. This is the will of Him that
sent me. that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on
him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up again
at the last day. What hope, what joy! We must
look to Jesus. He bore all our sins, all of
the elects in his own body. He suffered the wrath of God
that we earned We deserved, we deserve to be
punished for eternity for those sins. But he made them his own
and he felt the guilt and he felt the shame. He took that on himself. He felt
the sword of God's justice plunge deep into him and slay him for
us. Healed, our substitute, despising
the shame. Oh, he sweat great drops of blood. But nevertheless, thou will be
done for the joy, that glory that I had with the Father before
the world was. And for all of us to be in him,
to be complete, he our head, we his body. He didn't need us. There's nothing that we add or
take away from any of this. If it is, it ain't a grace. Ain't
a God. He did it all. To have a people to love. He endured the cross. Jesus Christ
endured that cross. Consider Him. His blood shed
for remission of sins. He appeased the holy justice
of God for us. He was despised and rejected
by those he created, even those he had already chosen that were
chosen in him. We were born hating God and Adam's
nature. And we'd done the same thing.
We'd been plucking his beard out and we'd been spitting on
him, saying, we won't have this man to be over us. But he prayed for us, didn't
he? They know not what they do, forgive
them. It pleased God to bruise him. We know over in Isaiah, you can
turn over if you'd like, it's a very familiar passage, you
probably know it by heart. But Isaiah 53, I'm gonna just
read a small portion of it here, verse 10. It pleased the Lord
to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. Oh, his hand. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with
the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death. And he was numbered with the
transgressors, and he bear the sin of many, and made intercession. for the transgressors. Christ
did that for you and for the glory of the Father. That was
the joy for that joy set before him. He is sat down on the right
hand of the throne of God right now. There's a man in heaven
on the throne and he's God. And He's ruling and He's reigning
over all His creation. Sovereign over all. He is calling
His elect. He is making intercession for
us. He is the advocate with the Father.
He's revealing Himself to His elect as our High Priest. And oh, what joy. when one of
God's elect, a sinner, one of Adam's fallen race, spiritually
dead sinner, is quickened by that inner working of God the
Holy Spirit when He calls you by His gospel, by the grace of
God, mourns you again, and gives you that life, that spiritual
life to understand, to know spiritual things, You're not of this world. You belong, you're a citizen. You're a sojourner here. You're
a citizen of that heavenly Jerusalem, that heavenly Israel, not the
earthly, not the earthly. That was an example. No, you
are, you are a citizen. You are a citizen of the heavenly
Jerusalem in Christ Jesus, the heavenly Israel. Born again by
His grace, given life and faith to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, you are turned. He turns you, He draws you to
His Son. You're brought to repentance
by God's grace, and there's joy in heaven. There is joy in heaven. What does it say? God sings. He's happy. Oh, for that hope and that glory
that he has given us, looking to Jesus. Verse five, and ye
have forgotten, or have you forgotten the exhortation? which speaketh
unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the
chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him,
for whom the Lord loveth, listen to this, whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as with a son. Furthermore, well, we won't go
any further than that. But if ye be, or I'm sorry, I've
skipped over. For whom the Lord loveth, He
chastens. If ye endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as a son. And what son is he whom the Father
chastens not? If He loves you, He's going to
chasten you. He's going to instruct you. But
if you be without chastening, wherefore all are partakers,
then you are bastards, and you're not sons. So He does this. He instructs. He chastens you. And you have
assurance. You have assurance that you're
a child of God. We go through trials and we go
through tribulations. It's God that brings them. It's
God that appointed them. He tries that faith that He gives
you. But it's the faithfulness of
Christ that keeps you. Not your faith. You see that? And there is comfort. in God
the Father's chastening for His children. John 16 and verse 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. It is expedient, it's necessary for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
Him unto you. And when He has come, this is the Comforter. This is
God the Father. God the Son will make their abode
in you. The Holy Spirit I will give to
you. The Comforter He will reprove you. Convince
you. Convince you of sin and righteousness
and judgment. That's how we're comforted. We're
comforted in many ways but We are comforted by the Gospel of
God. We are comforted by what Christ did for us, what God has
done for us by His free and sovereign grace in Jesus Christ. What He
was sent here to accomplish that we can never accomplish ourselves. He has done it. He never leaves or forsakes you.
He has promised. When God chastens you, His elect
children, He is not punishing you for your sins. Why? Why is He not punishing
you for your sins? We don't want that, do we? That
inward man looks to Jesus, don't he? Because Jesus Christ put
away your sins already. He already put them away. Not
only did He put them away with His sin-atoning blood, but He
satisfied the holy justice of God in your stead. We offended God. We hated Him. With His sin-atoning blood, with
His sacrifice, God is pleased. He's satisfied. He is satisfied. He is satisfied. His justice now can demand no
more payment for sin because Christ paid it all in full. And God's satisfied with that
payment. For you, for you, for you, for me, for all His elect. They're gone. They're gone. In full, God's satisfied. And
that's how He sees you. He sees you washed in His blood,
in His Son's blood. He sees you robed in His righteousness. And yes, you have now been partakers
of God's divine nature. When He adopts you, He gives
you His name, Righteousness. And He gives you His nature. You have Christ in you. The hope
of glory. You've got His nature. You've
got His sinless nature in you. And He looks to Jesus. And that
new creature, born of the will of God, not a man, and you're
sealed with that Holy Spirit in you. God put in you His Holy
Spirit to teach you, to comfort you. It's God in you. It's Christ in you. But you still
have this old nature, don't you? To say you don't have sin, you're
a liar. We continually sin. That's all
we are is sin. It's all we know is sin. It's
all we love is sin. But that old man was nailed to
the cross. Christ died. That old man nailed
to the cross. That nature of Adam is in you.
We are not yet. what we are going to be. He hasn't
come yet to gather us all. We haven't all died to go be
with Him. But He's given us that divine
nature, treasure in earthen vessels that doesn't sin. It's perfect. Why? Because it's in Christ. It's
made, it's created in Him, in His image. It's perfect. He's
perfect. But that old man, that old man
of sin, that we continually sin, but yet He doesn't have a dominion
over us. That's what God tells you. God arose from the dead.
He justified you with His blood. God made you just. That punishment
for the sin For all of His elect, that assurance that God is satisfied
with that payment, He rose His Son up again from the grave and
used Him. Now we no longer fear. There's
no condemnation to those that are in Christ. Because we're under grace. We're
under God's free and sovereign grace. Who judges? We're not of this world. Who
judges you? God does. God judges His people
in Christ. You're under His grace. But when
you sin, when you do sin, and you do sin, I'm sinning right
now. But when you sin, you have an
advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ God the Holy Spirit
preserves you Christ in you preserves you his faithfulness his righteousness
keeps you and instructs you So when you do sin You are chastened
You're not being punished for that sin, but you're being convinced
of it You are convinced of your sin,
instructed by the Father. But you're comforted in that
chastening. It's out of love. He does it for you good, to mature
you, to grow you in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
one who did the one who was punished for your sins. He convinces you
that you have sinned against God and you deserve the wrath
of God. And you are convinced that you
have no righteousness in yourself, in your fleshly state. You have no righteousness. You have nothing to offer God. to appease His holy justice. There is nothing good in you. None of us. So what do you do? What is He
doing? He's turning you away from those
sins, away from that guilt, and pointing you to Christ Jesus. You see your need for a substitute. You need a perfect, spotless
lamb. You need a sacrifice. God's provided
one for himself. You need a lamb that is spotless,
righteous, holy, perfect without sin, because that's what God
demands. He turns you, He draws you to
see that Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world.
It was all done in eternity, accomplished in Christ, and now
it is being revealed to you. And we must be reminded always. Because sin so easily besets
us. He turns you to look upon Jesus,
your Lord and Savior. And we fall before His feet at
the throne of grace. And we confess our sins, those
sins that He's already put away. But we confess them. And He's
just and faithful to forgive us. How many times? How many times you sin? And we
don't even know how many times we sin. But we look to Christ,
the object of our faith. And you have walked, you see
then, is you have walked in the steps that God has ordained you
to walk in. He ordained you to walk in those
steps. We can't do any good works, not
overall. If there's any righteousness
in us, it's His righteousness. If we bow before God and ask
His forgiveness, it's because He drew us there and He convinced
us. He gave us spiritual life that
we could even understand what we are and who He is. And in His spirit, He preserves
us. He causes us to endure. Let's
go on to verse nine. Furthermore, we have had fathers
of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the father of spirits and live? For they barely
for a few days chastened us, after their own pleasure. But
he, for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness,
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous.
Chastening hurts. Nevertheless, afterward, it yields
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised. Thereby, those he loves, he chastens. We run to our daddies. Some of
us had daddies, and even if we didn't, we know, we know the
structure, right? We ran to our dads. When we were
in trouble, when we saw trouble coming, we wanted protection,
we'd run to daddy. And he would protect us, best
he could. When troubles came, And we loved them. We respected
them. We gave them reverence. They whipped us to instruct us
when we did wrong in their sight. And we thanked them later on. Not at the time, but later on.
Later on we thanked them, didn't we? Because I don't know about
you, but I never got a whipping that I didn't deserve. We deserve the wrath of God. But your hallowed, heavenly Father
is the true triune God. You're a new creature. Old things
are passed away, all things are made new. You're a new creature,
you have a new Father. He is the only wise and sovereign
Lord and Master. He is the creator of the universe.
He has the keys to heaven and hell. All things visible and all things
invisible. He created them all for Him,
for His glory, and for the salvation of His elect. Think about this. He is just,
holy, and good. He only does good. And He is life. He's the giver
of life and He's the taker of life. No one lives or dies. Only God ordained it. He ordains
our life. Our new life, our regeneration,
and our death. He's appointed all those. It's
all in his hand. And he is a sovereign, just,
holy, gracious, and true. We loved our daddies. How much
more should we show reverence to him? who gave His only Son, who reconciled Himself, who reconciled
us to Himself in Christ Jesus. Well, He chose you from eternity. He loves you from eternity. And
if He loves you from eternity, dearly beloved, He ain't never
stopped, and He ain't never going to. And everything He does, No matter
how horrible it may seem to the flesh, because the flesh ain't
going to profit a thing. It's temporal. But that joy that we have in
hope in Him, that faith He gives us in Him
causes us to endure. That assurance we have that he's
dealing with us as his children. How much more evidence do you
need that your profession of faith is real? When he chastens you and instructs
you, makes you look to his son, We are called on to suffer for
his sake. And punishment hurts. I don't even know that, but I
don't know any of it. God's been so good to me. But I know there's lots of you
out there who have hurt, suffered, even to this day. And he puts us through that too,
to comfort each other. He calls you because He loves
you. He calls you to love Him and
He calls you to love His elect. Even your enemies because you
don't know who the elect of God are. We don't have a clue. We
can see little traces and glimpses that we think. God knows His
people. He calls them and they will follow
Him. We don't know who they are. We can't judge. We should not
never judge. We do. God forgive me, I do. But punishment hurts. Chastening
hurts. But he does it for you good.
He makes you fruitful. Remember that vine? I'm the true
vine, my father is the husband. Makes us fruitful, unprofitable
servants. We're only doing what God has
ordained us and allowed us to do by his grace in Christ Jesus. To assure us that we are His
children. Because we deserve the wrath
of God. And He sent His Son to be our substitute. 1 John 4,
9. In this was manifest the love
of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten son
into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. That perfect atonement. that perfect sacrifice, that
sin-putting-away sacrifice, effectual Christ Jesus, the propitiation. He is the end of our chastening
too. And He is the joy, the glory
in Him that is set before us. If you'll turn to 1 Corinthians
15 real quick, 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 20. 1 Corinthians 15 verse
20. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. For
since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of
the dead. For as in Adam all died, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own
order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ
that is coming. Look at this joy. Then cometh
the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the
Father, when he shall have put down all rule and authority and
power. For he must reign till he hath
put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death, for he hath put all things under his feet.
But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest
that he is expected, or accepted, which did put all things under
him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall
the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things
under him, that God may be all in all. I and my Father are one. Quickly. Look what God by His
free sovereign grace has done for us in Christ. Look at Christ's
suffering. Christ crucified is the Gospel.
Him coming in the flesh to redeem you of your sins. It's the Gospel
of God. Look to Jesus. Look how He endured
the wrath of God for us. For that joy set before Him.
And we're taught by Him. What comfort He gives us. What
insurance and what evidence. that we are His elect, that we
are in Christ, and He in us, and He and the Father are one.
We are in His mighty hand. In that hand that chastens and
instructs us. But He gives us faith in Christ
and endures. In that same almighty hand that
causes us to suffer, Delivers us. Comforts us. That same almighty
hand. That same almighty hand delivers
you, comforts, causes you to endure through sufferings, looking
to Jesus, the one who suffered and died for you. Quickly turn
over to Daniel, if you want to, Daniel 3, verse 15. I just want
to leave you with these final thoughts. Now if ye be ready, that at what
time ye hear the sound of the cornet flute, Wait a minute, I'm in the wrong
place. No, I'm not. But if ye worship not, ye shall
be cast in the same hour. This is where Nebuchadnezzar
is throwing them into the fire for worshiping God, for praying
to God. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not
careful to answer you in this matter. If it be so, our God,
whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace,
and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O King. But if not, be it known unto
thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the
golden image which thou hast set. And you skip on down to
verse 24, try to hurry. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king
was astonished and rose in haste and spake and said unto his counselors,
did not we cast three men bound in the midst of that fire? And
they answered and said unto the king, true, true, O king. He
answered and said, lo, I see four men loose, walking in the
midst of the fire and they have no heart. And the form of the
fourth is like the son of God. God delivered them from a fiery
furnace. God delivered his people just
as he does us. And that's what they were telling
Nebuchadnezzar. Even if we had died, our God would have delivered
us from your hand. Let's go on over to Acts 7 real
quick. Acts 7, 54. Acts 7, 54. This will all tie
together. When they heard these things,
they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their
teeth. This is Stephen. But he, being full of the Holy
Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory
of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And said,
behold, I see the heavens opened and the son of man standing on
the right hand of God. Then they cried out with their
loud voice and stopped their ears and ran upon him with one
accord and cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the
witnesses laid down their clothes at the young man's feet, whose
name was Saul. Remember Saul of Tarsus. And
they stalled, Stephen, calling upon God. While he was calling
upon God, saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled
down, and he cried with a loud voice. Listen to what he said. Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge." And when he had said this, he fell asleep. The Lord delivered him. He was
looking unto Jesus. Huh? The Lord delivered him. Was that Stephen speaking? Said he was filled with the Holy
Spirit. Christ in him. Look on down in Hebrews 12, in
verse 23 real quick. To the general assembly in the
church of the firstborn which are written in heaven, to God
the judge of all, and to the spirits of just man made perfect,
and to Jesus the mediator, the new covenant, and to the sprinkling
of blood that speaketh better things than Abel. Stephen was stoned by his brother
in Christ. He didn't know it yet. Saul didn't
know it. Abel's brother slew him. His blood cried out. God said
his blood cried out to him. What did it cry? When will thou
avenge us, O Lord? What did the blood of Christ
cry out? What did he say on the cross?
What did he allow Stephen to say? He cried out forgiveness. Forgive
them for they know not what they do. You see this? It's all in God's
hands. Seems horrible to us. Sometimes
we can't wrap our minds around it. That's why we look to Jesus. Forgiveness and remission of
sins. That's what he cried out. Those that were stoning him and
those that hated Christ and put him on the cross. It was all
God's ordained purpose. It's all His ordained purpose. In Romans 8.33, Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect. It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea rather that rose again. Who is even
at the right hand of the throne? Who will also make us intercession
for us? Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress,
persecution, famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, as it is
written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We're gonna leave this world. It's appointed unto man to die
once. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. Where is your
hope? Are you looking to Jesus? For
I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We belong to Him. He bought us
with His own precious blood. In Psalms 116 verse 15 it says,
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. Precious. You're going to be
with the Lord. Your faith is going to become
sight. You're going to be without sin. in him. Look what he did for Paul. The saw of Tarsus. He said, I'm
the chiefest of sinners. I persecuted the church of God. Stoned his brother Stephen. Rejoice with me, Luke 15 verse
6, for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you that likewise
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than
over 99 just persons which need no repentance. He turns us from our sins, from
our confidence we have in ourselves and other things temporal. He
strips us naked. and we are washed in his blood,
robed in his righteousness. We are made meat to sit at his
table and feast on the Lord Jesus Christ. drink His blood and eat
of His flesh, partakers of His divine nature. He has given us
His gospel. The object of faith is He. And
He shows us that He is the only acceptance we have before God
the Father. Believe on Him. He causes us
to look to Jesus alone. Who is looking to Jesus Christ? Every blood-bought born-again
sinner by the sovereign grace The will of God in Christ Jesus
Those are the ones we are the ones looking to Jesus I Hope
that blesses your heart as much as it did my own