I'd like to thank you all. Thank
you, Ruth. You turn in your Bibles to Psalm
95. Psalm 95. Oh, come, let us sing unto the
Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to
the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence
with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with songs. For
the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods. In his hand
are the deep places of the earth. The strength of the hills is
also his. The sea is his, and he made it. And his hands formed the dry
land. Oh, come, let us worship and
bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord,
our maker. For he is our God, and we are
the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Today,
if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation,
As in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers
tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was
I grieved with this generation, and said it is a people that
do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. Unto
whom I swear in my wrath that they should not enter into my
rest. sing praises unto the Lord, the rock of our salvation, the
Lord Jesus Christ. God has made Him the foundation.
In Isaiah 28, 16, it says, Therefore this, thus saith the Lord God. Behold, I lay in Zion a foundation
of stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation,
and he that believeth shall not make haste. God has made him
the foundation of his church. He has built all upon him. He
is an everlasting righteousness, a surety, an eternal surety for
his chosen elect. And he has made him our salvation.
He is a great God. He is the King of kings. He is
the Lord of lords. Nothing is hid from him. He has
made all things, all things visible and things invisible. He is sovereign. He is all-knowing, all-seeing. He's everywhere. He shows His
strength in the hills and all His creation. He has total control
over all His creation. Have you ever looked over out
at the ocean? And you look on the horizon and you see those
waves coming, and they look like they're going to take over the
dry land. But God has set those boundaries that they cannot move
from. He set his limits, and he does
it with all his creation. He said to the storming sea,
peace, be still, and it obeyed him. He caused the sea to part,
caused the wind to blow, and dried the land. God separates. He divides. He divided light
from the darkness. He divided the day from the night.
The sea from the dry land. The nations. He divides peoples.
The elect angels from the fallen angels. Things seen and things
we see not. Powers, principalities. He holds
the kings in the heart of his hand and the armies. He's numbered the hairs of your
head. He knows the thoughts and the intents of our hearts. Nothing
is hid from Him. And He provides all. He controls
all. And He uses His creation for
His glory and for the saving of His elect. He has purposed
all things, and it plays out according to His great will.
God commands that he be worshipped. All he does is good and just
and right because he is God. There is none beside him. There
is none that is counseled God. He needs nothing. He needs nothing
from you. Nothing from me. Bow down and kneel before the
Lord our Maker. And that's what I've entitled
the message tonight. The Lord our Maker because he
has made all things for his purpose. and for his wise providence,
and for his glory. For he is our God, and he has
made us his people of his pasture. He has made us a habitation with
a strong foundation. For he has made Christ our great
shepherd, and he has made us the sheep of his hand. And who
are his? Well, those are the elected sinners
saved by his grace. He knows us, for He chose us
and He calls us and He makes us to follow Him. John 10, 27,
my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I
give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. He gives us life
and He gives us eternal security. God knows His elect. He knows
them because He has chosen them in the beginning. And I love
the beginning. I personally love to hear that
because that takes me, it takes you, and it takes everything
there is out of it. In the beginning, God. God the Father, God the Word,
His Son, God the Holy Spirit. These three are one. The blessed
Trinity. These three agree in one. and
made a covenant, the covenant of grace to the redemption and
purpose in Christ Jesus' atoning blood. God made a covenant with
Himself. God in His infinite wisdom, His
manifold wisdom, chose Himself, chose Himself a people to love
just because it pleased Him. He put them in His only begotten
Son, Jesus Christ, as our sureties, and Christ joyfully took us. He took those elect that God
gave Him, and He became their surety. And He died to die and
redeem them. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter,
would quicken and regenerate you. Christ swore. He would lose none, and he'd
raise him up in the last day, gather together all of those
that God had given him in himself. Oh, sweet union, the sweet union,
the sweet atonement in his blood. He would be our obedient representative,
our substitute, the kinsman redeemer. For God would send his righteous
beloved son to reconcile us to himself. for God would scatter
us over the four corners of the earth because he purposed the
following Adam. Nothing see it from God, nothing
surprises God, it's all his providence. And our disobedient representative
Adam, God made him upright in his image and he placed him in
the garden. He communed with him, made him a helpmate, Eve. Satan, that serpent, deceived
Eve, because God commanded unto them that they should not eat
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For the day
that you eat thereof you shall surely die. And Adam, because
Eve was deceived in his love for her, he willfully disobeyed
God, and willfully sinned against God, his Creator. He took and shook his little
fist in God's face, And he said, I'll do as I please. And in doing so, he, Eve, and
all of his posterity, God made spiritually dead all that Adam
represented, you and me. We are all born with Adam's nature.
That God-hating, sinful, totally depraved nature, we are born
spiritually dead. And God purposed that for His
good, for His glory and for our good. And God called out to you,
Adam and Eve, and He provided them with a substitutionary death. Genesis 3.21, Unto Adam also
and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed
them. Behold, that Lamb of God slain
before the foundation of the world. Blood was shed. For where there is sin, there
must be a shedding of blood. God's justice demands it. And
he clothed their nakedness. A picture of Christ imputed righteousness. His blood shed covering the sins
of those that God had given him, clothing us in his righteousness.
And Christ Jesus loves his bride, his church, His elect, that's
what we are, His bride, His church. He laid down His life for us.
He is our representative, our obedient representative. Our
substitute shed His blood and covered our sins, robed us in
His perfect righteousness, made us acceptable before God the
Father. The firstborn among all His brethren. Christ, the firstborn of the
Spirit, He has preeminence. God has made it so. God knows
His people. Turn, if you will, to Ephesians
1, and we'll start reading in verse 2. Grace, grace be to you and peace
from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
To the praise of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of His grace, wherein He hath
abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of His will. He makes those hidden things
to be seen, according to his good pleasure, which he hath
purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness
of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven and which are on the earth, even
in him, in whom we also have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to
the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom he
also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation, in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest
of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchase position
unto the praise of his glory. God sanctified us and he set
us apart. He divides, he separates. He
predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his own dear
son. He sent him in the flesh, the God-man, born of a virgin,
the woman seed, born of the Spirit of God. He is God incarnate flesh. He manifest himself. He made
himself known unto us. Christ Jesus, Emmanuel, the Messiah. He walked faithful. He walked
righteous, obedient unto death on the cross. I have come to
do my father's will, he who sent me. That rock, that rock of our
salvation. He came to redeem His elect.
He went to the cross as our substitute. He suffered. He was made a curse
for us. For we are born under the curse
of God's law. Christ magnified the law. He
made it honorable. Freed us from its curse. For it was written, cursed is
every man who hangeth upon a tree. He was sinless, and God made
him. God made him to be sin for us. 2 Corinthians 5.21, for he hath
made him, our Lord God, our maker, hath made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness in
Jesus Christ. And it pleased the Father to
bruise him. Christ Jesus, the only begotten,
the only righteous, just, holy one, God in the flesh, the anointed
of God, bore all the sins of his elect in his body. God in
his infinite wisdom made a way to be just and justify the ungodly. He died for sinners. He died
for his elect. He cried in a loud voice, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? When God saw sin on him,
he spared not his only begotten son. He slew him with the sword
of his justice. He perished him. He poured out
his holy wrath on him for us in our stead. Christ's blood
was shed, and he cried, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. It is finished. It is finished. Redemption accomplished in Christ
Jesus. The holy justice of God appeased,
satisfied, righteousness of Christ imputed, salvation accomplished,
sin debt paid in full for all that the Father had given Him.
Justification, reconciliation, all that the Father required
for salvation is done. He finished the works that the
Father had given Him. He gave up the ghost. He the
giver of life. He who is life. He died on the
cross. How? I don't know, but I praise
God by his grace and by his faith, I believe it. I believe it. He was buried and he, according
to the scripture, he rose again on the third day and he lives.
Christ Jesus lives. He rose victorious over the grave,
conquered death. He saw no corruption. There was
no sin in Him. He paid for all the sins, all
His and all the elect that God had given Him. He took all our
sins away. He conquered Satan, crushed that
serpent's head, bruised his heel. Conquered all our enemies. Delivered
us from our sins and our captivity and bondage. Provided a perfect
righteousness. Made peace with God and man.
The God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, provided all that the Father
required for salvation. Eternal life in Christ through
our righteousness. Made us perfect in Him. That's
right, because God put us in Him, didn't He? In the beginning.
We were in Him. God put us there in the beginning. He made it so. And Christ charged
his disciples to preach his gospel to all men, the Jews and Gentiles,
repentance and remission of sins. It is expedient that I go to
my Father, but the Comforter will come, John 14, 26. But the
Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send
in my name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things
to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you." Because
every true believer, as we know, has two natures. We have that
nature of Adam that we're born with, that nature that does nothing
but sin, that God-hating nature, the one we are born with, and
that new creature That new creature that God makes in us, born of
his spirit, the Holy Spirit regenerates us. Christ in us. We in him, 2 Corinthians 5.17
says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
our things are become new. And these two natures war against
each other. till that day that God separates
us from that old man, that old nature. Put that new nature that
God has given us. He's given us eternal life in
Christ Jesus. Greater is He that is in us and
is in the world. And Christ ascended back up into
heaven to the Father. And as our high priest, After
the order of Melchizedek, Christ Jesus offered the only sacrifice
that God the Father was ever pleased with, the one he purposed,
the one he gave himself and provided himself, the only one he was
pleased with. Christ offered himself as a living
sacrifice. and the Father was well pleased.
The holy justice of God satisfied appeased the propitiation. Christ
Jesus made us acceptable to God the Father, made us one in Him. Behold the Lamb of God slain
before the foundation of the world. He has taken away all
of our sins. Oh, make a joyful noise unto
Him. Come to pour Him with thanksgiving,
because He is our God and He has made us His people in Christ
Jesus. God knows His people. He's known
you from eternity. He put you in Christ. He will
call you at His appointed time of love. When it pleases Him,
He will make you call on Him. Turn to Ephesians, chapter 2,
verse 8. It says, For by grace ye are
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift
of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Faith. Faith is a gift of God. By His grace, He gives you faith,
by His grace. Faith to believe on that rock
of our salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ, the object
of our faith. The author and finisher of our
faith. Faith that receives the imputed
righteousness of Christ. The Holy Spirit quickens and
regenerates, borns you again of God, that new creature in
you, Christ Jesus, revealed in you, born of His Spirit. God
reveals Himself to you in the face of Jesus Christ. He reveals
Christ in you. Oh, praise the Lord, our maker.
Praise God for His sufficient grace, for faith and mercy. Praise Him for His divine providence,
His purpose in His creation. For His wisdom, He makes things
unseen visible to us and He uses all His creation. He uses evil
for good. He gives us examples. He gives generations for examples
to us, as He's done in Psalm 95. This psalm is a psalm of
heed. H-E-E-D. Heed. Today, if you will hear His voice,
harden not your heart. as the Holy Ghost saith. Turn
with you, Will, to Hebrews 3. We'll start reading verse 12. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be any of you, or be in any of you, an evil heart of unbelief. in departing from the living
God. But exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest
any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For
we are made partakers of Christ if we hold fast, if we hold the
beginning of our confidence steadfast until the end. While it is said
today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in
the provocation for some when they had heard it provoke, how
be it not all that came out of Egypt by Moses? But with whom
was he grieved for 40 years? Was it not them that had sinned,
whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom swear he that they
should not enter into his rest, but to them that believe not?
So we see. that they could not enter in
because of unbelief. These Israelites that we read
of in Psalms 95, these Israelites were God's chosen nation in the
Old Testament. His chosen people were the Jews. They're a picture of his church
in the Old Testament. He gave them Moses, Aaron, He
gave them his law. He gave them his gospel. But
this generation of people angered God. That precious rock of our salvation
was with them as he is with us. He's still in the midst of his
churches. He's always near. He followed them. He delivered
them from their captivity and their bondage. He provided for
all their needs on their journey. He performed great wonders before
their eyes. You know how he conquered their
enemies? He destroyed Pharaoh and his army right before their
eyes in the Red Sea. Water flowed from that rock,
continually flowed, life-giving water, manna from heaven. He parted the Red Seas, caused
the strong wind to blow, And they crossed over in dry
land. You see the pictures. You see the pictures. The Passover. He showed them the Passover.
The blood. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. That lamb slain. All the sacrifices. The scapegoat. The serpent of
brass that was held up. The Son of Man uplifted high
in the wilderness to give them life as if they look upon it
when they were bitten by those fiery serpents. They were headed
for that promised land. They were the lineage of faithful
Abraham. They took pride in it. The gospel was preached to them
the same as it was to us. The same as it is to us, the
same as it was to Abraham. Yet they stumbled over that stumbling
stone. That rock of offense, that rock
of our salvation, they stumbled over. The Lord Jesus Christ and
God swore, they shall not enter into my rest because of their
unbelief. Unbelief! Oh, how terrible is unbelief. Unbelief calls God a liar. Unbelief
tramples that precious blood of Christ underfoot as if it
was worthless and if it was nothing. Unbelief. Just as Esau counted
his birthright as worthless. God will send you to hell for
unbelief. 1 Corinthians 10-11 tells us,
now all these things that happen unto them for in samples, and
are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world
are come. Wherefore, let him think. Let
him that think as he standeth take heed, lest he fall. God gave that generation to us
for an example. All those people that he led
out of Egypt, he gave them to us for an example of unbelief. The sole reason for their existence. God uses his creation as it pleases
him. Turn to Hebrews 4. Let's look
in chapter 1, or verse 1, I'm sorry. Hebrews 4, chapter one. Let us therefore fear, lest a
promise being left us of entering into his wrist, any of you should
seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel priest
as well as unto them, but the word priest did not profit them,
not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. There is
that faith that we talked about earlier, a God-given faith. The Israelites, they praised
God after He delivered them from Egypt. They were happy. They sang songs unto Him. I believe
it was said it was one of the first recorded songs that ever
was. Yet the Scripture says they lacked
faith. God delivered them. by a mighty
hand." And there's that rock of our salvation again. But God
did not give them that God-given faith to believe on that rock,
that Jesus Christ whom he sent. He did not impute the righteousness
of Christ to them. They did not hear him. They would
not hear him. They were not his sheep. They murmured. They sinned against
God. They tempted him. God gave him
his law. Sin did abound. They said to
Moses, Moses, you go talk to God. We're afraid of him. We're
afraid. And whatever he says, we will
do. Whatever he says, we will do.
They had a faith. They had faith in themselves.
They had faith in their lineage. They had a righteousness. Self-righteousness. They dared to think that they
could keep God's law. God's holy law. And God gave
them what they asked for. He gave them the law. And then
they turned and worshipped idols. They didn't worship that rock.
It was with them. They worshipped idols. They tempted
God and they grieved Him. They angered Him. They said again
to Moses, is God really with us? We'd be better off if you'd
just let us to die in Egypt. Left us to die in Egypt. In captivity. In our bondage. In our sin. That's what it represented. Been better off, he just left
us there. For we tire of this water. That Christ, that living water. We tire of that manna. Feasting
on him. They tired of that manna from
heaven. And God gave them what they lusted
for. in their hearts. He said, they did err in their
hearts and they do not my ways. They rejected that precious stone,
that chief corner stone, and God left them to themselves. Gave them just what they lusted
after. Over and over again, he pointed
them to Christ. And over and over again, they
refused to believe They refuse to hear. They harden their hearts. God hardened their hearts, just
as He did Pharaoh. Forty years, the long suffering
of Christ. Picture here, the forty years. Long suffering towards us, because
He said He wouldn't lose any. But He just bare with them for
forty years. He is slow to anger, and he swore
they would not enter into my rest. And he left their carcasses
in the wilderness. Oh, the wisdom of God, his manifold
wisdom. He does all things for our good
and for his glory. All of his creation bows to his
will. His will, not man's will. What man think he's got a free
will it's a hall of God. Oh What a what a great God what
a great Lord our maker We should bow down before him worship him. Thank you Praise him and saw
Look what he's done for us Look what he's delivered us from turn
to Jeremiah 31 It's looking Jeremiah 31 Start reading
in verse 31. Jeremiah 31, verse 31. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel,
his true Israel, his true Jews, his true church, and with the
house of Judah, Not according to the covenant that I made with
their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring
them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break.
Although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord, the Lord
Jehovah. But this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,
saith the Lord, I will put my law into their inward parts,
and write, write it in their hearts, and will be their God,
and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, know
the Lord, for they shall all know me. From the least of them
to the greatest of them, saith the Lord, for I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Thus saith
the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinance
of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth
the sea when the waves thereof roar. The Lord of Hosts is his
name. If those ordinances depart from
before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall
cease from being a nation before me forever. Thus saith the Lord,
if heaven above can be measured and the foundations of the earth
searched out beneath, I will also cast off the seed of Israel. For all they have done, saith
the Lord. He cast them off. Cast them off. But Israel is only blinded in
part. There is a remnant, God knows
who his people are. Till the fullness of the Gentiles
come in, God knows his people. O sinner, O brother, O sister,
Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart, for the
just shall live by faith. If God, by His grace, has put
you in Christ Jesus in the beginning, elected you, predestinated you,
sanctified you, made you righteous, holy, just, acceptable before
Him, in Christ Jesus, you are entered into that rest that they
could not enter in. God has made it so, that mighty
maker. There remains a risk for the
people of God. You know where I'm going, let's
go to Hebrews. Hebrews chapter four. You all know it well. We'll go in verse three. Hebrews four, verse three. For we, which have believed,
do enter into rest, as he said. As I have sworn in my wrath,
if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished,
but from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain
place of the seventh day on this wise, and God did rest on the
seventh day from all his works, all that he created. And in his
place again, if he shall enter into my rest. Seeing, therefore,
it remaineth that some must enter therein. Oh, hope, and they to
whom it was first preached, entered not in because of unbelief. Again,
he limited the certain day, saying in David, today After so long
a time, as it is said, today, if you will hear his voice, harden
not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest,
then would he have not afterwards have spoken of another day? Oh,
the providence of God. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. For he that is entered into his
rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from
his. Christ, he is our Sabbath of
rest. The Jews knew about that Sabbath
awful well. They knew him well, they knew
that scripture, they knew all about that law. This is a Psalm
of heed, beloved. Look on, look on in verse 11,
look on down, same chapter, Hebrews 4. Let us labor, therefore, to
enter into that rest. lest any man fall after the same
example of unbelief. For the word of God is quick
and is powerful and is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even into the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit and of
the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight. He knows all things. He's purposed
all things. But all things are naked and
open to them, to the eyes of him whom we have to do." So how do we labor to enter into
his rest? How do we do it? We cease from all our work. Because God has made a way. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. His finished works that we just
talked about, all that He has done, God is pleased with. The only begotten Son of God.
He rests in His finished work. His and His alone. The sacrifice
that God is well pleased with, the one and only rock of our
salvation. He, Christ Jesus, sits on his
throne. At the right hand of the throne
of God is our King, is our great King, is our great Lord, is our
great God, is our high priest. He rules and He reigns with ease. He's given power over all His
creation. His enemies be made His footstool. He rests because His works are
finished. All that the Father gave Him,
He rests. And there He sits in glory at
perfect righteousness. He sits upon His throne, ruling
and reigning over all His creation. He alone has made us one in Him. One with the Father, because
He and the Father are one. He has made us the sons of God.
Join heirs with Jesus Christ. He has made peace for us with
God. We, us sinners, He saves sinners. Like you and me. Believe on the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ and ye shall be saved. Ye shall
have eternal life. He is eternal life. He is our
salvation. In him is life because he is
life. Today, if you will hear his voice,
harden not your heart. Oh, how we at times, that old
man, how that old nature, that old sinful nature, how we at
times get so bogged down with the trials and the cares of this
world. We know we shouldn't. We're told
not to. We're told we're not to. We're in a rest. But we do. Because that old nature. It does
nothing but sin, and it wars against that new creature, that
new creation that God has made in you, Christ in you. Oh, He's
greater, but we sometimes take our eyes off of Him. That Son of Man must be uplifted. We must keep our eyes upon Him. He is our life. He is our salvation
when those fiery serpents start biting us, when those sins that
we're so easily led astray to. He is life. Take heed, examine
yourselves. 2 Corinthians 13 5. Examine yourselves, whether ye
be in the faith, that faith. Prove your own selves. Know ye
not your own selves? How that Jesus Christ is in you,
except you be reprobates, then you have no idea, do you? You
wouldn't have an idea, not if He didn't show you. Let's go
to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10, start reading in
verse 26. For if we sin willfully after
that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth
no more sacrifice for sins. This is one sacrifice that pleased
God. but a certain fearful looking
for the judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three
witnesses. Of how much sore punishment,
suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy? There's that unbelief,
"...who trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted
the blood of the covenant, a covenant wherewith He was sanctified,
and like an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit
of grace, For we know him that has said, vengeance belongs unto
me. I will recompense, saith the
Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge
his people. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of a living God. This is a Psalm of heed. Now look on down into verse 38. Now this same chapter, Hebrews
10, 38. Now the just shall live by faith,
but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in
him. But here's this hope, look here. We are not of them who
draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving
of the soul. That grace, that faith, that
God-given faith, that mercy. The just shall live by faith,
Romans 10, 17. So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. God provides everything. Brethren,
forsake not the gathering of yourselves. Love one another. Comfort one another. God commands
you to love one another. He loves His church. He loves
His bride. He loves His elect. He set up
His church. He set up His messengers. He
set up His message. The Gospel of God, He sends preachers
to preach His Word, His Gospel. The Holy Spirit teaches you all
things in Christ. All blessings are in Him, in
Christ Jesus. The whole Godhead resides in
him bodily. The Holy Spirit points you to
Christ. The Son declares the Father. The Father says, this
is my Son in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye Him. Brethren, we have
an advocate with the Father. We have an intercessor, a mediator. We have that high priest. After
the order of Melchizedek. God delights in mercy. Pray to
Him. Christ intercedes our prayers. Says, come boldly, cry, I am
a father. If we confess our sins, He's
faithful to succor us, to help us in our times of need. He is
the cause of our love, because He loved us. Turn back to Hebrews
4. Turn back to Hebrews 4. Let's go in verse 14 of Hebrews
4. Oh, how precious. Seeing then
that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens,
that Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted
like we are. Yet without sin, he came in the
flesh, became one of us. He knows us. Let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. He who perseveres to
the end shall be saved. Christ Jesus is able to save
us to the uttermost. He is able to keep us till that
day when He gathers all in one, even unto Himself. He is that
eternal surety. He will keep us for eternity.
Rest in Him. The grace of God is free. Try
to get it any other way and you can't have it. because Christ
paid it all. All to Him we owe. He who glories,
let Him glory in the Lord. He is a great God, He is a great
King, He is a great Lord, He hath made us. He hath made Him
to be our all in all. Trust in Him alone. Sing praises
unto the Lord. the doing and dying of our Lord
Jesus Christ. You rest in His finished work
alone. It's enough. Cease from all your
dead works. Your righteousness is as filthy
rags. Quit trying to do anything to
make yourself acceptable to God. He won't have any of it. He's
pleased with His Son. He says, come boldly, not in
your confidence, not in your accomplishments, not in anything
you've done. You come to the throne of grace
with reverential awe to him. James 1 6, but let him ask in
faith. Nothing wavering, for he that
wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and
tossed. You come with that complete and
total confidence, with that God-given faith, by His grave closed in
the righteousness, in the perfect righteousness of Christ, totally
confident that Christ finished works, that His accomplishments,
all that the Father required, He purposed it all in Him. He's fulfilled it. Ask for wisdom. Ask for grace. Ask for faith.
Mercy. And He will bless you. All the
promises of God are in Christ and they're all yea. You cease
from all your dead works. Christ made us acceptable to
God. It is all of the grace. It is all of God's grace. His
gift of faith. Christ imputed righteousness.
His redeeming blood. His and His alone. It's all of
God's grace. God has made it so. Thank Him. Make a joyful noise unto the
Lord. Come to the throne of grace and bow down and kneel before
Him, the Lord, our Maker. He is a great God. Enter into
His rest. May God get His glory. May it
be a blessing to you. Amen.