Well, I've called this message
Heartburn. I like to sometimes give messages
a title that even if somebody's not very interested, if they
stumble across it on the internet, they'll go, oh, that's an interesting
title. I wonder why he's called it heartburn. Have you ever had
heartburn? It's that horrible indigestion,
isn't it? And it keeps burning in your gullet and you take those
milky medicines for it to calm it down. But you see, that's
not the heartburn I had in mind. It's prompted by verse 32. of
Luke 24, the disciples on the Emmaus road, they said to one
another, did not our heart burn within us? While he talked with
us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures. Our heart
burned within us. This is the kind of heartburn
I want to talk about this morning. Not indigestion, but an emotional
glow. You know, you get that burning
in the heart. that emotional glow in the heart
about all sorts of things. It might be sport. You might
get, you know, the people that won the Grand National yesterday
or the boat race or the football, whichever thing it is, you get
this heartburn, this burning in the heart of emotion about
sport. You might get it about your career.
You might get it about your family. pride in what family members
have done. You know, you saw them born as little infants and
they grew up and then they achieved great things. Heartburn, burning
of joy in the heart over these things that have happened. Well,
these disciples, the Emmaus Road disciples, their hearts were
burning with spiritual sight. They'd seen something. Their
hearts were glowing within them. While he talked with us by the
way, while he opened to us the scriptures, they'd been with
Christ. and their hearts were burning with spiritual blessing. Blessing. Their souls were comforted. They'd seen something of salvation
accomplished. They'd seen righteousness imputed. In what Christ had said to them,
they'd seen something of righteousness imputed to them. Do you remember
we were thinking last week about that Imputation of righteousness,
which Abraham experienced, and Paul says, is the experience
of all who believe him who raised Jesus from the dead. All who
believe that Christ bore our transgressions. He was offered
for our transgressions. And he was raised again for our
justification, to prove that it was accomplished. And there's
blessing, there's soul comfort, there's heart-burning soul comfort
in seeing that righteousness imputed and confirmed by belief
of the truth. There's no more comfort in place.
to be than that. Oh, there's all sorts of things
that switch you on and tick your box in this life, but truly,
knowing that it is well with your soul because of what Christ
has done, and you're standing before the judgment seat of Christ
in eternity, there's no more comforting place to be than in
the good of the gospel of grace. But all are prone to heart trouble. All are prone to heart trouble. In verse 38, just look down a
few verses, Jesus said to them, why are ye troubled? And why
do thoughts arise in your hearts? The heart, we know that the brain
is where thoughts occur, but by talking about the heart, it's
the seat of the emotions. Why do thoughts, troubled thoughts,
arise in your thought processes, in your hearts? Why was that
surprising that they were still troubled? The risen Christ had
come into them. He was there, they were in a
state of confusion. It's just a day, it's the third
day since Christ was crucified, and they're in a state of turmoil,
and there are these people saying that he's risen from the dead,
and then he appears in the midst of them, and they're terrified.
They're terrified. Even with him in the midst of
them, they have trouble in their hearts. Well, this is my outline
this morning. I want to look at troubled hearts,
what it is that causes us trouble. I want to look at the remedy
for troubled hearts, and the remedy is resurrection proofs. The proof of the resurrection,
because that's what Christ does to these troubled hearts. In
verse 38 he goes on to show them it's him, he's risen from the
dead. And then, with the resurrection proofs, he goes and he leaves
them in the wilderness of this world, which is where we are,
but we're comforted here. And he leaves us with comfort.
And I want to look at that. So first of all, troubled hearts. Troubled hearts. You know the
story of the account of the disciples on that Sunday, the third day
after Christ was crucified. they were walking back to Emmaus,
which was about seven miles from Jerusalem, a little bit further
than seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were walking that road
and they were in turmoil because they had thought that their king
Jesus was going to be established as a king of a physical nation. And he was going to subdue the
Romans, and he was going to restore the kingdom to Israel, and he
was going to reign in Jerusalem as a king, as David and Solomon
had reigned. This is what they thought was
going to happen. And their hearts were troubled,
and the priests and the Pharisees, they'd taken him, and the one
in whom was all their hope had been nailed to a cross, and they'd
seen him die a death of shame. And they were despondent, but,
but, they were talking and saying, but there are rumors that he's
risen from the dead. There are rumors, people say,
some of the women said that he's risen from the dead. And this
man comes alongside them and walks with them. And it's held
from their sight who he really was. They didn't see who he really
was. Verse 16, their eyes were holden
that they should not know him. And he said to them, what manner
of things, what are you talking about? And one of them says,
are you the only one in Jerusalem that doesn't know what's going
on about Jesus of Nazareth, a mighty prophet, and they killed him
and we trusted that he was going to come and save our nation from
this domination and he says certain women also of our company made
us astonished which were early at the sepulcher and when they
found not his body they came saying that they had also seen
a vision of angels which said he was alive and you see they're
in a state of confusion. And he goes along and then he
said to them, verse 25, O fools, and slow of heart to believe
all that the prophets have spoken. It's already there in your scriptures.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things? Don't the prophets
make it clear, don't the scriptures make it clear, that when Christ
comes will he not only do the things that Jesus of Nazareth
did, but He will go to the cross. He will die an ignominious death
for the sins of his people. He will suffer and then enter
into his glory. And, verse 27, beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy, and all the prophets, he expounded unto
them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. He
showed them something. of how the Old Testament Scriptures,
what they were about, was about him. These are they that testify
of me, said the Lord Jesus Christ. These Scriptures testify of me. They see him, and they constrain
him to go in with them. And he took bread with them and
ate it. And then, verse 31, their eyes were opened and they knew
him, and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another,
did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by
the way and while he opened the scriptures? And what did they
do immediately? Let's go back to Jerusalem and
tell the others. Where the others are gathered
together, let's go back there and tell them. And they went back, and they
got back there, and they started comparing notes back in Jerusalem.
They went back to Jerusalem, verse 33, and found the eleven
gathered together, and them that were with them, and they were
all talking about these various accounts of how he was risen
from the dead. The Lord is risen indeed. And
somebody said, yes, he's appeared to Simon. Simon's seen him. And
they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known
of them in breaking bread. There's all these accounts of
the fact that he's risen from the dead. And there are several
witnesses to the resurrection already. And then in verse 36,
as they thus spake, Jesus himself, the risen Lord Jesus Christ,
the one whom they'd seen dying in ignominy and shame three days
before on the cross, stood in the midst of them and said to
them, peace be unto you. And they were terrified. Verse
37, they were terrified. They thought they'd seen a ghost.
They thought it was a spook. They thought it was something
to be terrified of. And he says to them, why are
you troubled? Why do these thoughts arise in
your hearts? These disciples, even in that
situation, experienced fear and trouble in their hearts. And
we all, don't we, experience troubled hearts at times. Those
who are without Christ, those who do not believe the Lord Jesus
Christ, they have great cause for a troubled heart. If you're
without Christ and don't believe Christ, you have great cause
for your heart to be troubled. Because I don't care how strong
you think you are, how much in a state of health and vitality
you are, you're mortal, and you will die. You will go As David
said to his son, I go the way of all the earth. All the earth. Nobody, no exceptions. I go the
way of all the earth. you're going to go the way of
all the earth, we all are. However young and full of life
you might appear, you will grow old. And when you get to those
days of old age, if you grow to an old age, it will seem,
though now when you're young it seems stretching out like
an eternity before you, when you get to old age you will look
and you will say, where did that time go? How quickly has that
time gone? Some of us here, 80 years old
and more, and you look back and you think, wow, it doesn't seem
five minutes since I was a little boy or a little girl. And there
you are. How quickly it goes. Yes, if
you're without Christ, you're without hope in this world. You
have cause for a troubled heart. Why do you have cause? Because
you're going to die. Whatever your state of health
and prosperity is, you're going to die. You will be stripped
naked. Naked came I into the world and naked shall I go out
of it. You will have nothing to take with you, but you will
stand before the judgment seat of Christ in your sins. And you
will be found guilty, for the law of God has declared you guilty.
For the soul that sins, it shall die, and all have sinned, and
there is none righteous, no, not one. And judgment is inevitable,
and condemnation is inevitable, for a holy God cannot look upon
sin. He is of purer eyes than to behold
iniquity. And there are no words of comfort
whatsoever if you stay unbelieving. If you remain outside of Christ,
if you remain without God's righteousness imputed to you, you must have
that righteousness before that throne. before that judgment
seat. And if you don't have it, and
you're outside of Christ, you have no hope. You have cause
for a troubled heart. But listen, you're still here.
Today is the day of salvation. Today. Today. And Jesus says,
come to me, all you who labor and heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. All that the Father gives me
will come to me, and he that comes I will in no wise cast
out. Today is the day of salvation.
So if you're without Christ, if you're unbelieving, I say
this to you most seriously, settle the matter before you go to sleep
tonight. For as the Psalmist said in Psalm
4 verse 8, knowing Christ, I will both lay me down and sleep in
peace, for you, Lord, only make me dwell in safety. So that's
unbelievers. But believers, they don't ever
have troubled hearts, do they? Oh yes, I think they do. Believers
have troubled hearts. Believers have troubled hearts
about all sorts of things, don't they? Believers have troubled
hearts about their health. Believers have troubled hearts
about their finances, about their property, about their family. Don't believers have troubled
hearts? Believers have troubled hearts about all sorts of things,
big things and little things. I'll confess, I've got a troubled
heart this morning. Do you know why? You'll laugh
when I tell you. I've got a lovely garden pond,
but it keeps leaking the top two inches of water. And it never
goes below that level, but every time I fill it up, and can I
find where it's leaking? You say, what a trivial thing.
I'm telling you, my heart's troubled about it. I've got a troubled
heart about my pond that won't stop leaking. I'm determined
to find it, but oh, I don't know how I'm going to find it. I know
that's a trivial example, but you know, we all have troubled
hearts. in some degree or another. People
are concerned about politics. We've got a time of elections
coming up and you know, you hear it and it's... It's dreadful,
some of the things you hear. The lies and the false promises
and the accusations and the untruths because people only want to vote
for cake today and nobody thinks about reality. And they're all
making bigger promises than the other one to give you a nicer,
bigger, sweeter piece of cake. And it's just a pack of lies,
isn't it, from all of them. And you think, what are we going
to do? Where are we going to turn? Politics in a world of
turmoil causes believers to have troubled hearts. Do you know
what it all is? It's Satan's schemes. It's Satan,
the prince of this world, scheming. He's in league with fallen flesh,
and especially fallen flesh in positions of political power.
And it causes alarm, it causes heart concern, troubled hearts. The disciples were even troubled
about Christ when he came into them. They had, what would you
want? Christ here, if only he was here. The disciples had him
and they were troubled, they were terrified. Is it a ghost?
Is it a spook? Believers today can be troubled
concerning Christ and their relationship with him. Do you ever ask this?
Am I truly saved? Am I truly saved? Do I have You
know, I read of people, and they have certain feelings when they're
saved. Oh, do I have those feelings?
Because if I don't have those feelings, then I can't be saved,
can I? And I, my heart gets troubled.
Have I had the same experience? This is why it's so, be careful. When you read biographies, of
Christians, believers that have gone before, be careful. Because
the writers that write them always write with rose-coloured spectacles.
And more often than not, they miss out the heart troubles of
those who have gone before, and they live lives floating several
feet above the ground compared with the rest of us, but not
really. They're men and women of flesh and blood, who are troubled
with the same things. But believers say, am I truly
saved? Do I have the right feelings? Have I felt a deep enough sense
of sin? Oh, you know, I read that believers
are in a state of anguish for weeks on end before they come
to know Christ. Have I felt a deep enough sense of sin? My heart
is troubled because I don't know where I stand with Christ. Have
I? I read about, I sing the hymns talking about the tears that
believers shed. Have I wept enough tears? Have
I wept at all to be sure that my repentance is real? Or what
about the way I live? Oh, is my daily walk sufficiently
holy? Is it? Oh, my heart gets troubled
by all these things! And the psalmist comes and says
this to us, and to himself, Psalm 43, verse 5, Why art thou cast
down, O my soul? Why are you troubled, my heart?
And why are you disquieted within me, hoping God? for I shall yet
praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God."
Don't look to yourself and the things of your own feelings and
experience, look to him. Why are you cast down? I shall
yet praise him, hope in God, not in yourself. Have you come
to faith in Christ, sorry, to Christ in faith, believing that
his death satisfied the law for you, particularly, for you. And
if it was particularly for you and all those for whom he died,
therefore it was effectually, it got the job done. Have you
come to Christ in that faith? then you know that you're His.
All that the Father gives me shall come to me, and Him that
comes to me I will in no wise cast out. There's no qualification
in there about the number of tears you should shed. There's
no qualification in there about the sense of sin you should feel,
the extent of it. There's no qualification there
about how holy your life should be. All that the Father gives
me shall come to me, and Him that comes to me I will in no
wise cast out. There is no qualification other
than coming to Christ in faith. I'm a poor sinner. What did he
say? Happy, Jack? I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all. What are your qualifications, Jack? I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all. But Jesus Christ, he's my all
in all. He came to Christ in faith, believing
that all he had done made him rich beyond measure in terms
of eternity. And therefore, that was his qualification. What should I do to be saved,
said the Philippian jailer? Believe. But what about everything? Believe. What of all these things
I've done? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved, and everyone in your household who
does so. You see, it's Christ, Christ
alone who is made to believe as wisdom from God, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption, It's He that is all those things,
not we or anything that we are or anything that we feel. Yes,
we have feelings, but don't rely on your feelings. Rely on the
truth. Rely on what the Word of God
says. The Word of God says this, Colossians 2 verse 10, we are
complete in Him. Yes, but apart from, no, we are
complete in Him. Complete means nothing missing.
Complete means nothing lacking. We are complete in him. And so,
Jesus said to his disciples, just after he told Peter that
Peter would betray him, as strong as he felt he was, you, Peter,
will deny me three times, and then the cock will crow. As strong
as you feel now, you're so weak in the flesh, Satan will have
you. He's desired to have you, to sift you, but I've prayed
for you. And he says to him, John 14 1, let not your heart
be troubled. Did you hear that? In the midst
of your sin and your troubled heart, let not your heart be
troubled. We have troubled hearts, but
let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. When Jesus says to them, why
are you troubled and why do thoughts arise in your heart? Verse 39,
he goes straight on and look what he says, Behold, my hands
and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit,
a ghost, hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have.' And when
he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet.
And while they yet believed not for joy and wondered, he said
unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of
fish and a honeycomb, and he took it and ate." Resurrection
proofs is a comfort. Believer, what's the most effective
remedy for a troubled heart? Yes, we're all prone to troubled
hearts. What is the most effective remedy for a troubled heart?
It is this. It is the truth of salvation
accomplished. It's the truth that on the basis
of salvation accomplished, I'm justified before the judgment
seat of Christ. What is it that reassures me?
It's the fact that Christ has risen. Is it not? He has risen. How do you know you're going
to rise from the dead and go to be in eternal glory? He has
already risen. He is risen from the dead. This
is the cause of rejoicing. Salvation is accomplished, but
he didn't stay dead. He rose from the dead. Christ
is risen. He was offered for our transgressions,
for our offenses. for our sins against the law
of God. He paid the penalty of them,
but then having paid, the proof that he paid was that he was
raised from the dead. He was raised for our justification.
He was raised to show that we are justified by what he has
done in satisfying the law of God in his death for us. For
the law says, you must be perfect or you must die and we're not
perfect and we can never make up for that but he died in our
place that we don't need to die and so the law is satisfied he's
raised for our justification it's the proof it's the confirmation
and if he has done it We will. You see the trees in blossom
at this time of year, and you know that means there's going
to be fruit. I can tell you now the maximum number of plums we're
going to have on our little plum tree. It had a few on it last
year, but this year I think it's building up its strength for
the future. I think I've seen five flowers on it. I doubt whether
we'll have more than five plums this year. But when you've had
one, you know that there are others coming. And he rose from
the dead. He's the first fruits. He's the
harbinger of that which is to come, the indicator of that which
is to come, that there's more fruit to come, and we who are
his people are those fruits who will be raised. John says this,
1 John 4 verse 17, Herein is our love made perfect, that we
may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is,
so are we in this. He's risen from the dead. As
He is, so will we be. So are we. We will rise from
the dead. Don't be troubled, my heart. Look at the resurrection. Isn't this why we believe? If
there's no resurrection, we're of all men most miserable. Why
do we do it? Why do we bother with this religion
if there's no eternity, if there's no eternal life? If we all go
the same way, if the lights are just switched off, we should
say with the rest of the world, let's eat, drink and be merry,
for tomorrow we die. But we don't, we believe in eternity.
And the proof of it is the resurrection. Christ is raised. He is risen
from the dead. And we shall be as he is, so
are we in this world. He is risen. So all his people
will rise as he has. Look at his hands and his feet.
Behold, my hands and my feet." What's he saying? He's saying,
look here, can you see where the nails went in? This is his
real body. Can you see where the nails went
in? Look at my side. Can you see where that spear
pierced my side? Come and look. On another occasion
he said to Thomas, who is known as Doubting Thomas, he said,
Thomas, come here, look, feel, put your fingers in here, feel
it, it's real, put your hand in the hole in my side where
the spear went in. Now, now do you believe that
I'm risen from the dead? And Thomas falls to his knees,
my Lord and my God. And Jesus doesn't rebuke him
for calling him my God. He's his God, this is our God,
the God-man. in the flesh, risen from the
dead, having accomplished the salvation of his people. He says,
it's me. And he says in verse 41, yet
believe not for joy. It means that they were confused
and in a state of elation, but not clear what they were seeing
and they were wondering. And he says, look, let's go further.
Have you got any meat? Have you got any food? And they
gave him some fish and a honeycomb and he took it and ate it. And
he said, look, A spirit doesn't eat, does it? Here's a man who's
risen from the dead. As he is, so are we in this world. He ate troubled, he ate real
food. And troubled hearts were turned
to rejoicing hearts. They were rejoicing because they
saw. There was a book written in the
1930s. and it was by a man who took the pen name, it wasn't
his real name, Frank Morrison, and he set out, highly sceptical
about religion and about Christianity, and he set out to write a book
disproving the resurrection. and proving to people how this
was a load of mythical nonsense. You know, like that man Richard
Dawkins wrote his God Myth book and all this sort of stuff. Well,
this man Frank Morrison set out to write a book like that, disproving
the resurrection. And he ended up, the more and
more he looked, the more convinced he became that Jesus truly did
rise from the dead. And he wrote the book called
Who Moved the Stone? And many people have been greatly
moved by reading that book. Resurrection proofs. Is your
heart troubled? If Christ is risen, listen, right? Listen to the logic of this.
If Christ is risen, what can possibly threaten your eternal
security and confidence? Christ is risen from the dead.
What can possibly threaten your eternal security? You have confidence,
don't you? Romans 8, 32 and 34, I know I
read it a lot. He that spared not his own son
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemns? It is Christ that died. Yea,
Rather, listen, that is risen again, who is even at the right
hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. I ask the
question again, if Christ is risen, what can possibly threaten
your eternal security and confidence? Nothing, nothing, nothing at
all. Troubled hearts? Think on those
things. Think on the resurrection. Think
on the fact that Christ is reigning in glory now. That He's building
His many mansions. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. That He's going to take all His people in resurrection
glory to be with Him. But He's left us here now. He's
left us here. He's left us. He's risen from
the dead, but He said, look in verse 44, He said to them, These
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law
of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the
scriptures and said unto them, thus it is written. And thus
it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the
third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
And ye are witnesses of these things. Christ is now in glory,
and we, his church, visible, are still here in this fallen
world of flesh and sin. We have the assurance of the
scriptures concerning the resurrection. We have a good hope based on
confidence in Christ's resurrection. But still our hearts today are
prone to trouble. What comforts us now? What is
it that comforts believers now? The picture in Revelation 11
is of the church being driven into the wilderness to be kept
there. to be fed there by God. But it's
a wilderness place. We're in a wilderness world.
Regarding spirituality, this is a wilderness. However beautiful
it may appear on a spring day like today, spiritually we are
in a barren desert wilderness world. You talk to your unbelieving
relatives and neighbors and you will know the coldness and the
hardness and the unbelief of the human heart. What's going
to comfort us now? We can't look physically on the
risen Christ. He's not going to appear in this
room before us as a physical person whom we can go and touch.
So what has he given us to comfort us? What calms troubled believing
hearts? Just turn to John's gospel, just
a few pages over. John's gospel, chapter 14. John
chapter 14 and verse 16. And I will pray the Father, says
Jesus, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may
abide with you forever. He's speaking of his Holy Spirit,
that when he goes away he will send. Verse 26 of the same chapter. But the Comforter, and now he
tells us, which is the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, He shall teach you all things. He'll teach
you the gospel. He'll teach you those things
you need to know, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever
I have said unto you. Chapter 15, verse 26. But when
the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father,
even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He
shall testify of me. We have Him. What comforts us
now? It's the Holy Spirit, because
He testifies of Christ. Now, how does He testify of Christ? How does He do it? By what means? What means does He use to testify
of Christ and comfort us? It's the Scriptures. Through
the Scriptures, he comforts us with the things of Christ in
this wilderness journey. These are the wilderness comforts.
The Holy Spirit comes and takes the Scriptures and reveals the
things of Christ to believing hearts. Romans 15, four, for
whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning, that we, listen, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures,
might have hope. What comforts us in this wilderness
journey? the Scriptures. The Scriptures
alone? Many people read the Scriptures. No, the Scriptures interpreted
by the Holy Spirit. who gives us the mind of Christ,
who reveals the things of Christ to us. How do the Scriptures
comfort us and give us hope? Look at Luke 24 again, verse
25. I'll read those words that I
read earlier. Oh fools and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ
to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory?
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, all the Old Testament,
He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning
himself. And then on at verse 44, he said
to them, These are the words which I spake unto you while
I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which
were written in the law of Moses. Why? Because they were written
concerning him. All things written in the law
of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms, what were
they all about? Concerning me. Can you imagine
a man before their eyes saying that everything that was written
in this book was concerning me? This was our Lord Jesus Christ,
our risen Lord Jesus Christ. And then he, verse 45, opened
their understanding. He opened their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures and not just view
them as an academic book, a theology, but that they might see them
as a book of Christ, that they might see them as revealing Christ,
the mind of Christ, the spirit of Christ to us. And he said
unto them, thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to
suffer and to rise from the dead the third day that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached. This is it. This
is what the scriptures are about. This is it. They were written
for our learning that they might give us comfort. They all speak
of Christ. But the Holy Spirit alone gives
the sight of faith to see what they say concerning him. And
what in particular? The necessity of Christ's suffering. Why did he have to suffer? He
had to satisfy the law. Why did he have to die? If his
people are going to be in glory, they can only be in glory if
they're justified before the law of God. What does the law
demand? Their death. They cannot die
and then be in glory. They must be in an eternal hell.
But he died in their place, the infinite one for them. And thereby,
he satisfied. This is why it's necessary. This
is why it behoved Christ to suffer. That he might fulfill the law
for his people. That he might satisfy it in his
death for his people. and that he might rise to prove
that the work that he'd done, the death that he'd died, had
satisfied the law, and that that would lead to repentance and
remission of sins. This is the whole counsel of
God. This is all of it. This is all God has to say. He's
not teaching us how to live as a society, he's teaching us about
Christ. Paul said to the Ephesian elders,
Acts 20, 27, I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel
of God. What's all the counsel of God,
Paul? 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2. I was determined, says Paul,
to know not anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. To Paul, preaching Christ and
Him crucified is the same as preaching the whole counsel of
God. There's nothing else. There's nothing else. There's
nothing else to say. That is it. It's the sum total
of what God has to say. It's not a book of morals. It's
not a book of religious organization. It's about Christ. And what He
has done, saving His people from their sins, do you understand
that? Has God opened your eyes, your understanding, given you
faith, given you soul sight, to understand what the Scriptures
declare concerning salvation? That there's no condemnation?
No condemnation. that the word will be to you
on that day before that judgment seat of Christ, come ye blessed
of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. This is the pearl of greatest
price. This is what thrills your heart.
Knowing that you were destined as children of wrath deserving
of condemnation to experience the liberty of the redeemed slave. Can you imagine that? It's just
a picture. The liberty. Imagine the slave market, you
know? Slavery's wrong, it's a horrible thing, but imagine the slave
market. And imagine the complete bondage of the one who was a
slave in chains. And somebody steps forward at
that market and comes with the price of redemption to set that
slave free. That's it. liberty of the redeemed
slave. This is true spiritual heartburn. This is true joy in believing. No wonder it prompted believers
to write, you know, the hymns that we sing, why do you think
the men and women that wrote those hymns wrote what they did?
Their hearts were burning within them of the joy of what they
believed in the gospel of grace. So yes, In the flesh, we're prone
to doubts and to fears and to unbelief and to trouble. But
this comfort here in the scriptures that only the redeemed of God
know, this comfort that makes our hearts burn within us at
the thrill of it.