a prayer of Moses at the heading
of this psalm, a prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling
place in all generations. I imagine as Moses for those
40 years of wandering in the wilderness with all those grumbling
Jews pitching tent in the evening, taking it down every morning.
What a comfort it must have been to him for God to remind him
of this. Lord, you've been our dwelling
place in all generations. Here we have no certain dwelling
place, but in God we always have. Verse 2, before the mountains
were brought forth, wherever thou hast formed the earth and
the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God,
or you are everlastingly God. You're always God. Thou turnest
man to destruction, and sayest, return ye children of men. For
a thousand years in thy sight, or but as yesterday, when it
is past, and as a watch in the night, thou carriest them away
as with a flood. They are as asleep. In the morning
they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth. and groweth up, in the evening
it is cut down and withereth away." Our life is compared to
but one single day. Verse 7, For we are consumed
by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set
our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy
countenance. For all our days are passed away
in thy wrath, We spend our years as a tale that is told, and it's
a short story. The days of our years are three
score years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be four
score years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow, for it is soon
cut off, and we fly away. Who knoweth the power of thine
anger, even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. So teach
us. In light of everything that we
just read, Here's the application of it. So teach us to number
our days so that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Here we stand near the close
of another year. As we just read in that psalm,
how quickly it's gone by. How time does fly. I'm older now than my father
lived to be. I'm a year older than he was
when he died. I have a better, I think, I have
a better appreciation about how brief life is now that I'm standing
so near the end of it than I did at the beginning. I can remember,
and I bet you can too, do you remember when you thought 40
was old? Remember? Thinking 40 was old? I've not thought that way for
quite a while. I understand more by experience what we read. For
example, in James chapter 4. You know this. James 4 verse
13. He writes, go to now you that
say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue
there a year and buy and sell and get gain. Will you now? Will you now? That's how I used
to talk. That's how I used to think. And
to God, I pray, is teaching me better. As James went on in the
next verse of James 4, verse 14, whereas, he wrote, you don't
know what shall be on tomorrow, for what is your life? It is
even as a vapor that appears for a little time and poof, it's
gone, vanishes away. In a few days, We'll observe, we'll celebrate,
enjoy, the Lord willing, another Christmas. I thought about this
the other evening, and it seemed like just a few years ago that
I was just a young boy back in West Virginia, and with my brothers
and sisters, we'd be lying in our beds on Christmas Eve. Our
parents wouldn't allow us to open anything until Christmas
morning. And I remember laying there being so anxious, so excited. And it seemed like the morning
wouldn't come. Oh, but about daylight, we'd all get up, run
into the living room to find our presents. And I did the same
thing with my three children. John, I remember them coming
in. I mean, it would be two hours before daylight. Daddy, can we
get up now? No, Daddy ain't quite ready.
Go back to sleep. Give me another hour or two.
Oh, remember as a child how excited you were about Christmas? So
looked forward to it. This, what Brother Paul wrote
in his bulletin for today, just a portion of it, sort of reminds
me of that. The title of his article was,
What Makes for Good Preaching? And he wrote, this is just a
portion, he said, I remember as a young believer hearing many
sermons and reading many sermons and books by gospel preachers
and nearly everything I heard and read blessed me. If the preacher
or writer just said mercy or grace or God reigns, if Christ
was exalted, I rejoiced and thought it was the best sermon or book
ever. Why, Paul asked, because I was
hungry for truth. That's why. Remember that? And
as the Lord said, we need to hear the word as a little child,
hungry, anxious. Paul wrote, May the Lord give
us all that hunger and thirst for the sincere milk of the It
may be that the message will be the best you've ever tasted,
and you might think the preacher to be a better preacher than
you thought before. I hope that today I may be enabled,
as we sang a minute ago, by God's grace to remind us of His unspeakable
gift. Oh, what a gift He's given unto
His people. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable
gift, inexpressible. Where can you find words to describe
the gift of His own Son that is given unto us? In 1 Peter
chapter 1, verse 24 and 25, Peter wrote, For all flesh is as grass,
and all the glory of man is as the flower of grass. The grass
withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. but the word of
the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you. While it is true, as one old
hymn writer expressed it, we don't know what tomorrow holds. We don't know what tomorrow holds,
but we know who. We know who holds tomorrow, all
of our tomorrows. I want us to look at three different
scriptures in God's Word that each tell us the great blessing
of being in Christ Jesus. That's the title of my message,
In Christ Jesus Now. Now. Brother Don, my pastor,
used to say, if God is pleased to bless that message, I believe
it'll float your boat on troubled seas. in Christ Jesus now. Turn, if you will, to first,
or rather to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. We'll read one verse there and
then go to chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings, all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. All spiritual blessings in Christ,
whatever they are. And Paul speaks of many of them
in that chapter. Whatever all spiritual blessings
include, whatever they are, they can only be found, they can only
be realized in Christ. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. Not in a Catholic church. Oh,
I know that, but not in a Baptist church. Not from a priest, certainly,
but not from a preacher either. As Brother Scott Richardson used
to say, and I made mention of this in the article in your bulletin,
God put all of his eggs in one basket, referring to his son. Outside of Christ, a sinner can
expect nothing from God. Oh, I wish people believed this.
Outside of Jesus Christ, a sinner can expect nothing from God but
His wrath. That's exactly right. Men try
to deny it. Men try to suppress it, men tried
to close their ears to it, but outside of Jesus Christ, a sinner
can expect nothing from God but wrath. You know why? We've earned
that. That sucked. As Paul said in
Romans 6, 4, the wages of sin is death. If God gives me what
I've earned, I'm lost and doomed forever. Oh, but thank God, Paul
didn't stop there, did he? Yes, it's true. The wages of
sin is death, but, oh, blessed but, the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Blessed divine intervention,
blessed grace, blessed substitute, blessed savior. God, don't give
me what I've earned. God give me what Christ has earned. That's grace, John. God giving
us what Christ has earned. God, for Christ's sake, have
forgiven you. Christ right now appears in the
presence of God for us as our representative. Oh yes, Father,
deal with me. Not on my own merits because
I don't have any. They're all demerits. But deal
with me on the merit of your son. Give me what Christ earned
on my behalf. He deserves it. He deserves it. Mr. Spurgeon wrote an article
entitled, A Trip to Heaven. Listen to this. He said, Christ
is the chariot in which souls are drawn to heaven. The people
of the Lord are on their way to heaven. They are carried in
everlasting arms, and those arms are the arms of Christ. Isn't
that a sweet picture? Underneath are the everlasting
arms, the arms of Christ. Christ is carrying them up to
his house, to his own house. In time, his prayer was, Father,
I want those you have given me to be with me where I am. One
day that shall be completely fulfilled. And it's being fulfilled
now, Spurgeon wrote, for he is like a strong charger drawing
his children in the chariot of the covenant of grace unto himself.
Oh, blessed be God. The cross is the plank on which
we swim to heaven. that crosses the great covenant
transport which will weather all the storms and reaches desired
haven. This is the chariot. The sides
are pure gold and the bottom is silver. It is lined with the
purple of the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh yes, Father,
give me what my Redeemer has earned, merited on my behalf."
In your bulletin today, there is a brief article by Brother
Frank Tate, pastors in Hurricane near Ashland, Kentucky, complete
in Him. Frank wrote, if someone like
me is complete, I know I must be complete only in Christ. Where else can we find completeness?
Where else is there all fullness? Everything about me is incomplete. Don't I know it? My faith is
incomplete. My repentance is incomplete.
My enjoyment of peace is incomplete. My love is incomplete, my experience
is incomplete, yet I am right now complete in Christ. In Christ Jesus, now. Now. It is not that I will be
complete one day, but I am complete right now because the Lord Jesus
Christ completed the work of salvation for me and in me. Now, will you look with me to
that first verse here in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 13. But now, but now. Oh, God impressed that upon my
heart. But now in Christ Jesus, you
who sometimes were far off are made nigh, near by the blood
of Christ. Here you have a before and after
picture. In order to appreciate the after
picture in verse 13, look at the verses prior to it, verses
11 and 12. Wherefore, remember that ye being
in times past Gentiles in the flesh, you are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that
at that time ye were without Christ." What else matters that can be
said of me if I'm without Christ? What else matters? without Christ,
being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from
the covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in the
world. What a sad, sad picture. In this same chapter, look over
at verse 1. Here's another part of that before
picture. before grace, before mercy, before
Christ. And you had he quickened, that
is, made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein
in times past ye walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we all had our conversation." We were dead in sins, and that's
how we lived. in times past in the lust of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath even as others." Unregenerate
souls are dead in sins. All those who are in their sins
are dead, which signifies all sorts of sins, habitual actual
sins, sins of the heart, sins of the life. Sin is the death
of the soul. Wherever this death prevails,
there is an absence of spiritual life. Sinners are in a dead state. And being in that state, they're
destitute of the principles and the powers of spiritual life.
They're cut off from God, the fountain of life. Nicodemus,
you must be born again. Must be. He didn't say, Nicodemus,
that's something you can do. But he said, Nicodemus, if it's
not done, if you're not born again, you'll never see the kingdom
of God. That's where every believer was
by nature. And that's where we were. That's
where I was. And that's where you were. And
brothers and sisters, God help us to remember, except for His
grace, that's where we would get big. That's exactly where
we would yet be. Oh, but God. But God. Not but I, but God. Not but the preacher, but God. Not but the soul winner, but
God. Are you still looking at Ephesians
2? Look at verse 4. But God. Don't you love that? who is rich in mercy for his
great love, wherewith he hath loved us, even when we were dead
in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace you are
saved, and hath raised us up together and made us set together
in heavenly places in Christ." Oh, now we're no longer without
God, without grace, without Christ. What a terrible description,
without Christ. That equals no hope. in a Christless
condition, living a Christless life, going to die a Christless death,
and go out into a Christless eternity. Oh my, what a horrible,
horrible description. But now, oh I like the after
picture, don't you? But now in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ."
As if Paul said, you should remember what you've been and compare
it to who you now are and where you are now in order to humble
yourselves and render thankfulness and worship to God that brought
you out of darkness into his marvelous light. We were so far
from God without Christ. We couldn't have been any further
away, but now in Christ Jesus, we couldn't be any closer. In
Christ Jesus, how can you be any closer? How can a believer
be? It's not possible. Oh, we once
were far away, but now we've been brought nigh by the blood
of Christ. Picture that mountain, that mountain,
that gigantic mountain of your sins. You're on one side and
the Holy God's on the other. You can't have fellowship with
God. He can't come nigh to you until
that mountain is removed and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, removed the mountain of my sins and now the way is made
that I can have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. By nature and by practice far,
the hymn writer said, how very far from God. Yet now by grace
brought nigh to him through faith in Jesus' blood. So near, so
near to God, I cannot nearer be. For in the person of his
son, I am as near as he. So dear, so very dear to God,
more dear I cannot be. The love wherewith he loves his
son, such is his love to me. That's what grace does for every
sinner who experiences it. The true grace of God is always
reigning grace. Would anything less than reigning
grace do anything for you? Would anything less than abounding
grace do anything for you? And that's what God's grace is.
It's abounding grace. It's reigning grace where sin
abounded grace does much more abound. And God's grace is saving
grace. Again here in Ephesians 2 verse
8, For by grace are ye saved through faith. Ye are saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not that
you might be saved, or you might only be partly saved, or you
might be saved for a little while and then perish after all. Oh,
no, no, no. Never, never. By grace you are
saved. God's salvation is an everlasting
salvation. His grace is saving grace. God
has no other kind. God's grace is saving. Paul,
writing to Titus, said, for by the grace of God, or rather for
the grace of God that bringeth salvation. Grace doesn't offer
to save, grace saves. God's grace doesn't attempt to
save, it brings salvation. Bring all those blessed descriptions
of grace together. Reigning grace, abounding grace,
saving grace, and as Brother Scott said, put them in one basket
and then put a tag on it that says successful grace. Successful
grace. It must be successful. Because
grace comes by Jesus Christ. How could it be anything less
than successful? Grace is Christ doing. It's Christ's work. And He always
gets the job done. When I was a boy at home, and
my father would give me something to do, and he'd get home from
work and I hadn't finished the job, that's what he would say,
son, come here a minute. Didn't I give you this or that
to do? Yeah, yeah, that. He said, well,
you're not finished. You're not done. The job's undone. God never said that concerning
his son. As a matter of fact, he said
the very opposite, didn't he? This is what God says concerning
his son. Behold my servant. whom I uphold,
mine elect, and whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit
upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged."
Don't you like that? God the Father says concerning
His Son, behold Him. Put your eyes upon Him. Feast
upon Him. He shall not fail. He shall not fail in anything
God the Father sent him to do. He did not fail. That's what
he said when he came into this world. Lo, I come, in the volume
of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. And he did it. He did it perfectly. He did it completely. He did
it everlastingly. And He did not fail. I come to
do Thy will, O my God. And in John 6, these familiar
verses, He tells us what that will included. For I came down
from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that
sent me. And this is the Father's will
which is sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should
lose nothing." I should lose nothing. God entrusted into the
hands of His Son as our everlasting surety all of His people. He put into the hands of His
Son and His Son became responsible for them. Father, I will. In
the fullness of the time, God sent forth His Son, and when
His Son came, He did everything to accomplish the will of His
Father on the behalf of His people. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that of all which He had given me, I should lose nothing."
Nothing, not one. Behold that multitude before
the throne. John said, there are more than
I can count. They're more than I can number. They all came out
of great tribulation. You know why? Because none could
pluck them out of the great shepherd's hand. He's mighty to save. I should raise them up again
at the last day. Christ went on to say, and this
is the will of him that sent me, that everyone would seeth
the Son, and believeth on him may have everlasting life. And
I will raise him up at the last day, and he shall not fail. He
shall now fail. You talk about a reunion. You
talk about a time of rejoicing. My soul, I can only imagine,
but I confess at the same time that I say that, my imagination
just doesn't reach that far. Oh, to be gathered around the
throne of God, to be presented back to God the Father by the
Lord Jesus Christ without a spot or a blemish or any such thing,
and to hear our glorious Redeemer, our successful substitute declare,
Father, here they are. I and all the children you gave
me, they're all here. I lost none. Is it anyone? Is it any wonder we cast our
crown to His feet and sing, worthy is the Lamb? Isn't He something? Isn't He glorious? Isn't He worthy? Here's the second verse, if you'll
look at it. Romans chapter 8, very familiar
one to you. Romans 8 verse 1. In Christ Jesus
now, Paul writes, there is therefore now no condemnation. You say, Larry, I don't feel
like that. Well, don't trust your feelings. Trust God's Word. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. What a wonderful chapter Romans
8 is. It begins with no condemnation
and it ends with no separation. And in between those two blessed
truths, There is our great wonder-working God, working all things after
the counsel of His own will for our everlasting good. Verse 1
again, there is therefore, therefore, the therefore is there for a
good reason, the very best reason, the only reason there can be,
because we're in Christ. That's why there's no condemnation.
We're in Christ, like Noah was in the ark. Outside the ark,
nothing but wrath. Inside the ark, safety, security,
blessings, grace. Because we're in Christ, because
we're justified from all sin, because we've been crucified
with Christ, because we are risen with Christ. We read that in
Ephesians 2. Because we are made righteous
by Christ, because we are not under law but under grace, because
we are dead to the law and married to Christ. Therefore, there's
no condemnation. And notice again, There is. There is, therefore, no condemnation. Not that there was, used to be,
but it's no longer true. No. This is an ever-present,
never-changing truth. This is as fresh, as certain,
as the Lord Jesus Christ, who never changes, is. He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. So for everyone who is in Christ,
this is true. Yesterday, today, and forever. There is therefore now. Now. Think about it. Now. At this
very moment. From this moment to eternity.
Now. Now no matter where now finds
you. At this moment. Whether now finds
you weeping, troubled, doubting, fearful, anxious, and were more
found that way than not. There was a time in David's life
when now found him lusting after another man's wife. How sad,
how sad. There was a now in the life of
Peter that found him cussing and denying that he even knew
Jesus Christ. Notwithstanding, those things,
this is still so, that no earthly trouble, no spiritual trouble,
nothing in earth, nothing in us, nothing in time, nothing
in eternity will ever change this. There is therefore now
no condemnation. No condemnation, no punishment,
no sin, no guilt, no possibility of sin being imputed to us, How
can that be? My sins were imputed to God's
Son. No judgment, therefore, to fear. Nothing to dread. The purpose
of God must stand. These are must-be things. The
blood of Jesus Christ shall never lose its power. The seal of the
Spirit cannot be broken. The promise of God cannot fail. If accepted in to be loved, I'll
always be accepted in to be loved." Doesn't that sound so much better? That God, for Christ's sake,
has forgiven you? So much more comfort in that
than for your own sake. Oh no, there's no help there. And here's the wondrous reason
why there is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. How sad that there are multitudes
gathered in churches at this hour, and their hope is that
they're not condemned because they're in that church, or in
the right doctrine, or in the right conduct in how they conduct
their lives. But it is only true that there's
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus, in Christ by
election, because God had from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Thou art my first elect, God
said, and then chose us in Christ our head. We're in Christ Jesus
by regeneration, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth
forever. And we're in Christ Jesus by
the sweet experience of faith. We come to know our election,
we come to know our redemption, when God by His matchless grace
gives us the gift of faith to behold His Son. So that a child
of God can say, for I know Him. You could fill a building with
the books that it would take to record the things that I don't
know. That doesn't matter to me in the least, because by God's
grace, I joined Paul in saying this, I know him. I had believed,
and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. As we sometimes sing, I don't
know how this saving faith of me he did impart nor how believing
in his word wrought peace within my heart." I don't know how God
does that. But I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that
he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against
that day. Here's the last verse. 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse
30. Look at that with me, will you?
1 Corinthians 1 and 30. We may just simply read it and
let you take it home with you. to think about. But of Him, are
you in Christ Jesus, that is, of God, are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. That pretty much covers it all,
doesn't it? Think about that. What a blessed
place is this, in Christ Jesus now. That is where Paul said
he wanted to be found, rather than where he was found at one
time. Philippians chapter 3, Paul wrote,
though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any man thinketh
that he have whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Listen
to this religious pedigree. Circumcised the eighth day of
the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, the Hebrew of the
Hebrews as touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal persecuting
the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless,
but what things were gained to me, those I count a loss for
Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but done that I may win Christ and be found in Him,
be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith, found in Him, in Christ Jesus now,
how safe, how secure, how accepted by holy God. I've told you the
story I often think of it when I consider this blessed truth
of being in Christ. Oh, how safe I felt as a young
boy being caught out after dark when we lived up that hollow.
Man, walking alone up that spooky hollow, and then getting home,
getting in bed, and Mom tucking me in, and that bed spread just
coming down. She tucking in all around me. I wasn't afraid anymore. I was
home, and I was safe, and I was sound, in that day that God Almighty
has appointed, in which He will judge this world in absolute
righteousness." Oh, what a joy! What a comfort it'll be to be
found in Christ Jesus, safe and sound. Safe and sound. In the Beloved, the hymn writer
expressed it this way, In the Beloved accepted am I, risen,
ascended, and seated on high. Saved from all sin through his
infinite grace, with the redeemed ones accorded the place. In the
Beloved, how safe my retreat. In the Beloved, accounted complete.
Who can condemn me? In him I am free. Savior and
keeper forever is he. In the Beloved, I went to the
tree. There in his person by faith I may see. infinite wrath
rolling over His head, infinite grace, for He died in my stead. In the Beloved, God's marvelous
grace caused me to dwell in this wonderful place. God sees my
Savior, and then He sees me in the Beloved, accepted and free. In Christ Jesus, now. What a glorious place to be.
God bless you. Thank you for your teaching.