Good evening to everyone. Let's
take our Bible and turn to 1 Samuel chapter 21. One of the brothers prayed earlier
about the service this evening that God would be pleased to
speak to us from His Word. And if we get anything accomplished
this evening, it will be thus saith the Lord. 1 Samuel 21. 1 Samuel 21. I'm taking my text from verse
9. 1 Samuel 21, we begin reading
at verse 8. We find David here on the run
for his life, out in the wilderness, being pursued, he said, like
a hunted bird, like a dead dog, pursued by old King Saul, his
own father-in-law, but one who hated God and hated God's anointed
David. 1 Samuel 21 verse 8, David said
unto Ahimelech, Ahimelech was the priest of Nob, where David
sought refuge, is there not yet here under thy hand spear or
sword? For I have neither brought my
sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required
haste. Now the truth of the matter,
David left town so quickly that he could not take any provisions
nor any defensive weapon to defend himself. Verse 9, And the priest
said back unto David, The sword of Goliath, the Philistine, whom
thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped
in a cloth behind the ephod. If thou will, take that. Take
that. Take it, if thou will, take it,
take that. For there is no other save that
here. That is, the preacher's saying,
I have just one sword. It's the sword that you use to
remove Goliath's head. And here's what David said back.
David said, and here's the title of the message, there is none
like that. There's none like that sword.
There's none like that sword." Then David says, you give that
to me. Give that sword to me. I know something about that sword.
I've made good use of that sword in the past and there's none
like that sword. Let me have that one. Let me
have that one. Now, David being warned by his
dear friend Jonathan of Saul's evil intentions against him,
To put him to death, David flees for his life. He flees in haste,
he takes no food, he takes no weapon, but he flees to a place
that he thinks he might find refuge, to the priest of God. Ahimelech is his name and he
lived in the city of Nob. But even in this fleeing to the
priest, David, a man after God's own heart. David, a picture of
a believer. Even in this fleeing to the priest
of God, we have in this a picture of a sinner fleeing to the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is our great high priest. And we know the
Lord Jesus Christ is our refuge. And the Lord says unto us over
in the book of Hebrew, don't turn, let me just get it for
you and read it to you, saying then that we have a great high
priest that is passed into the heavens. 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 as we are, yet without sin. And the Lord said, let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. The Lord Jesus Christ
is our sure refuge, our only hope. Our Lord again speaks in
Matthew 11, He said, Come unto Me and rest. Come unto Me, all you who are
laboring and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Ho, every one that is thirsty,
He said, come and drink. Come and drink. price. Come and drink freely. David
in this story, you can read over 1 Samuel 21, David does receive
bread, that special shell bread, and he does receive a sword from
the priest of God. But we know even in this, we
have a picture of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. For
Christ is our bread. He is the bread of life. He is
the bread that every believer desires to devour and consume. We hunger for this bread. Christ
is our bread. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
our defense. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
refuge, is He not? Do we have any other place to
hide but in Christ Himself? When David here inquired about
a weapon, he was told there was no weapon but this sword that
belonged to this giant Philistine. You remember the story. how David
killed Goliath with that single stone in a sling. David used this sword after he
had killed Goliath with that smooth stone. He used that sword
to remove the head of Goliath. Turn back to 1 Samuel chapter
17. 1 Samuel chapter 17. along about verse 49, and David
put his hand in his bag and took thence a stone and sling it,
smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his
forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed
over the Philistine with a sling and a stone and smote the Philistine
and slew him. But there was no sword in David's
hand. So what does he do? Verse 51,
therefore, David ran and stood upon the Philistine, took his
sword and drew it out of his sheep thereof and slew him and
cut off his head. And when the Philistine saw their
champion was dead, they fled. David used this sword to remove
Goliath's head. David, remembering the victory
over this enemy of Israel and the enemy of God, said, there
is none like that sword. There is none like that one.
Give that sword to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. Every believer of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ can respond with similar words. There is no gospel like the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Give that gospel to me. Not another. Not another gospel
that Paul writes about in Galatians 1 that is not the gospel. Give
me that gospel of God's free and sovereign grace revealed
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Of which Paul says, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God and the
salvation to everyone that believe it. There is no gospel like that
gospel of Christ that's the power of God. Give that gospel to me. Tell me about the Lord Jesus
Christ. There is no God like our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. There is no message like the
gospel message of Christ and Him crucified. Give that to me. Don't give me your experience.
Don't give me how you're feeling today. Don't give me your hard
luck story. Give me the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Give it to me that I may rejoice
in Christ Jesus. Give that gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ to me. Tell me about Him, who He is
and what He has done. May we all be determined to hear
nothing and to preach nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified
alone. as all of our hope of salvation. You know, over the years, I've
been trying to preach the gospel about 30 years now. I've never
heard a believer complain that we preach Christ too often. Now, notice how I phrase that. I've never heard a believer complain
that we preach Christ too often, or exalted Him too highly, or
that we gave Him too much honor and glory. I'd like to be guilty
of that. Of giving the Lord Jesus Christ
all the honor and glory that is due unto His name. God forbid
that we should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is not that the reason that we're
here this evening? You remember what Cornelius said
to Peter when Peter came to his house to tell this Gentile the
gospel message of Christ? He said, Cornelius said to Peter,
we're all here to hear the things commanded thee of God. We want to hear what God commanded
you concerning the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, isn't
that why we're here? You don't want to hear about
me, my story, my background, where I came from. You're not
interested in those things. You want to hear about Christ.
And I want to tell you about him because there's none like
the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a pleasure and delight
to talk about one you love, isn't it? I love to talk about my blessed,
blessed Savior and Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I
want to take this phrase that we find here in 1 Samuel 21,
there is none like that, give it to me. And I want to bring
you a five point message on there's none like that, give it to me. Now, five things. We could easily
have 50 things in regard to the gospel, but I'm going to limit
myself to five things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and the
salvation that we find revealed in him. First of all, in regards
to the holy, inspired Word of God, there is none like that. Is there? There's none like the
Word of God, the Scripture, the Bible. There's none like that.
Give it to me. Preach the Word. Preach Christ
from the Word to me. Now, let's find in the Scripture.
I'll have you turn to this. Let's find 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy.
Chapter 3. In regards to the Holy Inspired
Word of God, there is none like that. Give it to me. The Word
of God is called the sword of the Spirit, isn't it? The Word
of God is called quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. There's none Like that Word of
God, give me that Word. 2 Timothy 3, 16. All Scripture
is given by inspiration of God. Given by who? Given by what?
Inspiration of God. And is possible for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
How God can be just and the justifier. that the man of God may be complete,
throughly furnished unto all good works, good things. I charge
thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
judge the living and the dead at the appearing of his kingdom,
preach the word." You see, it's God-inspired, God-given. The prophets of old, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, when they came, they came speaking, thus
saith the Lord, give me the word, there is none like that. Preach the word, be instant in
season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering
and doctrine. Preach the word. unto me, who
tells us the written Word, inspired Word, tells us about the Word,
the incarnate Word, the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now consider for a moment who
the author of this Word of God is. I've just answered the question. It is the Word of God. Who is the author? All Scripture
is God breathed. Peter writes it, puts it this
way. Holy men spake as they were moved by God, the Holy Spirit. All Scripture is given of God. He's the author of this book. The author of the Word. Now consider,
consider the subject of this book. What would you say the
subject of this book is? There's one author who writes
about one subject and the subject of his whole book is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the subject of this book.
It's all about him. Remember in Luke chapter 24,
he says to those two men on the road to Emmaus as he preaches
the gospel unto them, and the Lord said, beginning, the scripture
said, brethren, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he
expounded unto them the things and all the scriptures from the
prophets concerning concerning the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
You remember from reading John chapter 5, our Lord said to those
Pharisees, you are they that search the scriptures, and they
did. But our Lord said, you missed
the message. You are they that search the
scriptures, they are they that testify of me. In the book of
Acts chapter 10, Peter again, when he's preaching to Cornelius,
declares to Him, to the Lord Jesus Christ, give all the prophets
witness. They all talk about the Lord
Jesus Christ. Someone's coming. Someone's coming. God's Lamb. God's Messiah. Consider
something else about this Word of God. Not only the author of
it, the subject of it, but consider the effects of the Word of God
preached under God's elect when it's blessed by God the Holy
Spirit. It has no profound and everlasting,
permanent effect upon God's people when it preaches the power of
God the Holy Spirit, and when He takes it and blesses it to
our heart in the power of the Spirit, it has a lasting effect
upon us. Jeremiah said his word like a
hammer. that breaks the rock. The hard-hearted
sinner is broken by the Word of God when it's preached and
blessed of God the Holy Spirit. Paul, when he writes to the Thessalonians,
said, Brethren, we know your election is of God because our
gospel came not unto you in word only, it came in power. It had an effect, a lasting effect. You became followers of the Lord.
And it caused you to turn to God from your idols and dead
works. That's what the gospel is. It
causes you to turn unto Him, doesn't it? And it draws you
to Him. Now consider this. Consider the
effects of the Word of God preached. It's so quickening, isn't it?
It's so quickening. of His own will, begat He us
with..." What? "...the Word of truth." It is
so quickening. Born again by the Word of God. It is heartwarming, isn't it?
You remember what those two men said? In Luke 24, after the Lord
opened unto them and preached unto them the gospel. You remember
what they said? Didn't our heart burn within us? when He opened
unto us the Word of the Lord. You see, it's soul-quickening,
it's heart-warming. David writes in Psalm 119, it's
a guide and light unto our feet. It's a lamp. It's a guide unto
us. It is the children's bread. They
desire the sincere milk of the Word that they might grow thereby.
You see, there's nothing like God's Word. Every believer can
say, isn't this your heart cry this evening? Every believer
can say, give me the Word, the Word of God, the Word of Truth,
the Gospel of Christ, that I may learn of Him. He said, take my
yoke upon you and learn of me. Give me the Word of God, the
Gospel of Christ, that I may have faith in Him. Faith comes
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, the word of truth.
Give me the word that I may grow in grace and in the knowledge
of thee, Lord Jesus Christ. You see, there's nothing like
that. Is there? Words of books you've read thousands
and thousands of times. They don't exist. But we read
God's word over and over and over again, and it's ever new
unto us. It's ever fresh, and it's never
stale and old. It's ever new. Give me that word. that I might rejoice in the Lord
Jesus Christ." Paul's final farewell to those elders at Ephesus recorded
in Acts chapter 20, remember? He said this, we commend you
to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build
you up and to give you an inheritance. There's none like God's holy,
inspired Word, is there? Let's make much of the Word.
I love the way the services are conducted here. Back in this
study, we read from James chapter 4. Out here, Lindsay read from
Philippians chapter 1. And now we're going again through
the Word of God. Let us make much of the Word
of God. You can't overdo it. There's
none like that. Give me that Word of God. Secondly,
in regards to God's salvation, turn to the book of Acts chapter
4. The book of Acts chapter four in regards to God's salvation. Can't we say that there is none
like that salvation because he's the only God, our savior in regard
to salvation, there was none like that. Give me that salvation. That's the only salvation that
really saves sinners, isn't it? He's the only Savior who is able
to save to the uttermost all that come to God by Him, seeing
He ever liveth to make intercession for us. In the book of Acts,
chapter 4, this is Peter and John, I believe it is, before
they Pharisees who were examining them, verse 9, if we this day
be examined of the good deed done to this infinite man, by
what means he is made whole, be it known unto you and all
the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by
him, that this man stand here before you whole. This is a stone,
the rock, the foundation, which was set at nought of you builders.
They said, away with him, crucify him. We have no king but Caesar,
which has become the head of the corner. He's the chief cornerstone. He's that foundation that God
has laid. Now watch it, verse 12. Neither
is there salvation in any other, for there is none of the name
under heaven. given among men, whereby we must
be saved in Him." There is no Savior like Him. Therefore, there
is no salvation like salvation we have from Christ, salvation
is of the Lord. There is none like that. Can't
you say in your heart, give that to me? I want that salvation. I don't want something by works
and tradition and ceremony. Give me that salvation by the
free and sovereign grace of God. The whole of salvation is totally
of the Lord, Jesus Christ, our God and our Savior. As Paul writes
to Timothy as he sits on death row, in a Roman dungeon, and
he writes his last words to him, said, Timothy, don't be ashamed
of me or the gospel, for it's God who saved us, it's God who
has called us with a holy calling, not according to our work, but
according to God's own purpose and grace, given us in Christ
Jesus before the foundation of the world. Give that salvation
to me. Isn't that what you need? What
do real sinners need? And that's me. Tell you what
real sinners need. They need salvation, don't they?
They need a Savior who really is able to save to the uttermost. We don't need a Savior who wants
to and He can't, who tried and failed. We don't need any kind
of peanut Savior. We need a Savior who is almighty
to save. who is the Almighty God, the
One who God has given power over all flesh, that He should give
salvation to as many as the Father has given to Him. You see, there's
nothing like that salvation, is there? Can't you say in your
heart, Lord, give me that Savior? Give me the Lord Jesus Christ. This salvation was purposed from
all eternity, wasn't it? We read about the Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. This salvation in time
was purchased with the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He bought us with His own blood. Acts chapter 20. God bought the
church with His own blood. You reckon He's going to lose
that for which He bought? Is He going to lose any of His
sheep? Those for whom He died? Those for whom He shed His blood?
Absolutely not. He said, I will not lose one
of my sheep. You see, this is the salvation
and the Savior who really saves His people from their sin. Call His name Jesus. He shall
save His people from their sin. You see, He purposed this salvation
from eternity. He purchased it with His own
blood. And He performs the applying of it to whom He will. Lindsay
read that verse a moment ago from Philippians chapter 1, being
confident of this very thing, that God who has begun a good
work in you, he'll finish it. That which begins in grace, write
this down. I read this somewhere. That which
begins in grace will end in glory. He never leaves a work undone. He said it is finished. It is done. He will have mercy
on whom He will have mercy. That's true. But my friend, He
will have mercy on His people. You see, there's no salvation
like this salvation. There's none like that. That's
the one I need. Give me the Lord Jesus Christ.
I know this, there's no other sacrifice for sin, is there?
Is there any other sacrifice for sin revealed in God's Word?
We're not redeemed with corruptible things, are we? but with the
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other sacrifice
for sin, for He appeared once in the end of the age to put
away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. For He obtained, our
great High Priest obtained for us eternal redemption with His
own blood. He did it! You see, there's only
one sacrifice for sin. There is no other justifying
righteousness but that which is through the faithful obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. No wonder the
Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3 that he counted everything
else done, lost, and ruined that he
may win Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness,
he said, which is of the law, but that which is through the
faithfulness Notice he didn't say my faithfulness, but the
faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. His obedience unto death,
even the death of the cross. Blessed is the man whom the Lord
imputeth righteousness with, how it works. You see, there
is no other salvation. Like we see, He's the only salvation
revealed in God's Word. There's none like that. Give
it to me. There's no other way of reconciliation. There's no other way of regeneration. There's no other way of righteousness
being established. There's no other way of redemption
but in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's just but one mediator.
Is that right? Just one mediator between God
and man. And that's the God-man, the Lord
Jesus Christ. God was in Christ reconciling
us unto Himself. For He had made Him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made to righteousness
of God in Him. There is no salvation like that
salvation. Give it to me. I need the Lord
Jesus Christ. I need Him all the time. There's none like that salvation,
give it to me. Give it to me that I may be justified
before God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Give it to me that I may be found
in Him without blame, holy, unblameable, spotless in His sight. Give it to me. I need that. Salvation. Give it to me that
I may be accepted in the Beloved. Give that salvation to me that
I may rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ now and forever. You see, there's nothing like
that. Is there? Regarding His Word, there's nothing
like that. Regarding salvation, there's
nothing like that. Thirdly, here's the third thing.
Turn to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. In regard to God's love revealed
and made known in Christ, there is none like that, is there?
Like His love? Saving love? Sacrificial love? Electing love? Drawing love? Wooing love? There's none like
that. Give it to me. Look at verse
32, Romans 8. 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 if God did justify? Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Now, who shall separate
us from this love of Christ? Come on now. Who? Tribulation? Do you know anything
about tribulation? That won't separate you from
the love of God. Distress? Persecution? Famine? Nakedness? Peril? Sorrow? As it is written, for thy sake,
we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. In all things, we are more than
conquerors through Him that loved us. There is no love like His
love for us. Give that love to me. For I am
persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things that come, how about
height, depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate
us from the love of God, from His love of God, which is in
our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no love like His love
Give that to me. Give that to me. You see, it's
electing love, isn't it? Jacob, have I loved? Esau, have
I hated? It's electing love. It's sacrificial
love. Here it is love, not that we
love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the sacrifice
for our sin. It's drawing love, isn't it?
Remember Jeremiah 31? He said, I've loved thee with
an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
I'll draw you. unto myself." It's glorifying
love, isn't it? We read in Revelation 1, unto
him who loved us and washed us from our sin, to him be all the
honor and glory both now and forever. And it's adopting love,
isn't it? We're adopted into his family.
Behold what manner of Behold what manner of love the Father
has bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God. This sinner, adopted, made a
son of God, called in love with an everlasting love? There's
none like that love of God in Christ, is there? Oh, give that
to me. Give me that love of God of which
there is no separation, Having loved His own, He loved them
to the end. God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. None will perish. Now listen
to me. None will perish for whom the Lord Jesus Christ loves. Will they? Can they? They'll all be brought to love
Him. We love Him. because He first
loves us. I don't want anything to do with
a love that is a failure. And this love of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ cannot fail because He cannot fail. Says that in
Isaiah 42, doesn't it? He shall not fail. There's nobody in hell for whom
the Lord Jesus Christ loves. There's nobody in hell for whom
the Lord Jesus Christ died. I despise that teaching that
says God universally loves all men everywhere and yet some men
wind up in hell anyway. What kind of love is that? That's
no love at all, is it? I love that sovereign love, that
special love, that saving love, that drawing love, that everlasting
love that never will be never separated from, cannot be. He
said, I give my sheep eternal life. and they shall never perish. They cannot perish. He loves
them and saves us in everlasting love. This love of Christ never
fails. It cannot fail. It's saving love
is. Give me that love. There's none
like it. There's none like that love. Give that to me that I
may love Him. and bow to Him and worship Him
in my heart. In regards to saving faith, let's
find 2 Peter chapter 1. In regards to saving faith. Saving
faith now. I'm not talking about traditional
faith, historical faith. I'm not talking about feelings. I'm talking about the faith of
God's elect. Saving faith. There's none like
that. There's none like that faith.
It's the gift of God, isn't it? None of worth that any man should
boast. There's none like that saving faith. Lord, give me faith.
We read in the book of Hebrews, without faith it is impossible
to please God. Lord, give me faith in Christ.
2 Peter 1, Simon Peter, a servant. an apostle of Jesus Christ, to
them that have obtained like precious faith, there it is,
they've obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness
of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Faith is called precious. is obtained with the blood atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you and peace be
multiplied through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. According as His divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness
through the knowledge of Him that called us to glory and virtue,
whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.
that by these you might be partakers of a divine nature, having escaped
the corruption that is in the world through lust." Precious
faith. There is none like this faith
given of God. Give me that faith. I don't have
it by nature. Do you? Not a product of the
flesh, is it? It's the supernatural gift of
God. There's none like that faith
of God's elect. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. A man without saving faith is
a man without Christ. A man without Christ is a man
without salvation. Faith we know is a gift of God.
Faith we know is obtained through the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith
has one saving object. Faith, saving faith has one object. Saving faith doesn't look in
here. Saving faith looks back to the giver of faith. Looking
into Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the author and finisher
of faith. Saving faith looks back to the one who gave it.
Doesn't it? Unto Christ, exalted, God our
Savior. Faith believes and loves and
acknowledges the truth. The truth of who He is. The truth
of salvation by His grace. The truth that glorifies God
in all things. You should know the truth and
the truth shall set you free. Can't you say in your heart about
saving faith? God honoring faith. Give it to
me. There's nothing like that. Lord,
give me faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that I may honor Him and
worship Him. Give it to me that I may please
God being united to the Lord Jesus Christ. Give me that saving
faith that I may lay hold on Christ alone. One old writer
said, saving faith is a hand that reaches. Saving faith is
a feet that run. Saving faith is the arms that
embrace the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, give me that saving faith. Give me faith that I may lay
hold on Christ. Give me faith that I may be justified
in Christ Jesus. Give me faith that I may win
Christ and be found in Him. Give me saving faith that I might
believe Thee. You know, saving faith honors
Him. Abraham was strong in faith, giving glory unto God. Saving faith honors Christ, believes
Him, loves Him, embraces Him. Lord, give me that saving faith
in Christ. There is none like that. in regards to the hope we have
in Christ Jesus. It's a good hope. Let's see if
we can find a scripture that might help us some on that regard. Turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter
2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, beginning at verse 13. In regards
to our hope. Our hope is just not a shot in
the dark. Our hope is not some wish Our hope is a good hope. It's a good hope that has a foundation
based upon thus saith the Lord. Let's read about it. 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 13. But we are bound. You got it? 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. We're
bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit.
There's the new birth. which leads to belief of the
truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren,
stand fast and hold the traditions, and that word can be rendered
truth. Hold to the truth you've been
taught, whether by word or by epistle, now our Lord Jesus Christ
himself, and God, even our Father, who had loved us and had given
us an everlasting consolation, everlasting comfort, and a good
hope. Here it is, a good hope through
grace. Now, we read in Scripture, stay
right here, and look right across the page, 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy
chapter 1, verse 1. 1 Timothy 1, verse 1. You see, our hope we have in
Christ is a person. Is a person. Christ in you is
the hope of glory, isn't it? I look right across the page
here. 1 Timothy 1, 1. Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, the two words there, which
is, leave them out. Because they've been added. Read
it this way, by the commandment of God our Savior, Lord Jesus
Christ, and our Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. Christ is our hope. You see, salvation is in a person,
isn't it? It's all wrapped up in a person. It's Christ. It's
who He is. God our Savior. Every believer
has a good hope through grace. Grace. Grace. Grace of God alone. Christ in
you. The hope of glory. You remember
what Peter said on that first Bible conference, I call it,
in Acts chapter 15, where they had a discussion about circumcision,
salvation by grace alone, or combination of grace and works.
And Peter stood up and said, We believe through the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ that we shall be saved even as those
others. Grace, grace and grace alone. Our hope of salvation based upon
the eternal, unchanging promise of God. Aren't you glad that
the exceeding great and precious promises of God never change? What was true 10 million years
ago or what was true in eternity from eternity is always. You know, truth. Think about
truth. You know, lies always change.
You ever notice that? Lies always change. False religion
is full of lies and it always changes. It always changes. Truth never changes. The Lord
said, I am the Lord, I change not. He's the same yesterday,
today, forever. Truth never needs updating. Truth is always the same. Our Lord said, I am the way,
I am the truth, I am the life. No one comes unto the Father
but by and through me. This was David's hope of salvation.
He said, the Lord is my shepherd. He's looking to a person. The
Lord is my light and my salvation. Our hope of salvation is not
a mere wish, a shot in the dark. It's a blessed person. The Lord
Jesus Christ, our blessed Redeemer. There's no other hope as this
hope. Lord, can't you say that in your
heart tonight? Lord, give me that hope. Give
me that hope of salvation in Christ alone. We read about Him
being the hope and anchor of our soul. two immutable things
in which it is impossible for God to lie. We might have strong
consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope
set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of our soul,
both sure and steadfast." Talks about our Lord Jesus Christ who
has entered in as our forerunner. When he by himself purged our
sin, he entered into glory and he set down. He sat down, the
work being finished. Our great high priest has finished
salvation for us. The hope we have in Christ is
the joy of our heart. Paul writing in Philippians 3
said, we're the true Israel which worship God in the spirit, that
rejoice in Christ Jesus. What's the rest of that? We have
no confidence. I know what the rest of it is.
I just want to see if you're listening. We have no confidence
in this flesh. You see, our hope is in Christ,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. I've had a radio program up in
the mountains of East Kentucky for, oh, going on 17, 18 years. And when I first started, I always
would close the radio program with this, this saying, these
words. With the Lord Jesus Christ, there
is endless hope. Without Him, there is hopeless
end. In the Lord, we have an endless
hope. It's an eternal hope. But without
Him, it's a hopeless end. There's none like that hope we
have in Christ. Give it, give it to me. Summing
this all up, when you get right down To the bottom line, it's
this, give me Christ. It's all summed up in Him. Give
me Christ. Christ is all and in all. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and in Christ we stand complete. Lord,
give me Yourself. Let me be found in You. John
writes, this is the record that God has given to us, eternal
life. And this life is in His Son. God the Son. This is the true
God and this is eternal life. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
does not have life. And we know that the Son of God
is come and He's given us an understanding that we may know
Him. That is true. And we're in Him, that is true,
even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God. And this
is eternal life. There is no other salvation but
in Christ alone. You remember that title now?
There's none like that. There's none like that. Give
it to me. Give me Christ, lest I die. May God bless you. Thank you.