If you can remember three words,
you will be able to remember my message and the outline by
which I intend to give it to you. Looking, waiting, expecting. Looking, waiting, expecting. Turn with me, if you will, to
Micah, chapter 7. Micah, the seventh chapter. Looking, waiting, expecting. Our text is Micah 7, verse 7. Therefore will I look unto the
Lord. I will wait for the God of my
salvation. My God will hear me. The opening word of the text,
therefore, connects this verse of scripture with that which
immediately precedes it in the context. So let's read the first
six verses together with our text. Woe is me, for I am as
when they have gathered the summer fruits as the great greenings
of the vintage. There is no cluster to eat. My
soul desired the first ripe fruit, hungry with nothing to eat. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Verse
two, situation gets worse. The good man is perished out
of the earth and there is none upright among men. They all lie
in wait for blood. They hunt every man his brother
with a net, that they may do evil with both hands earnestly. The prince asketh, and the judge
asketh for reward. And the great man, he uttereth
his mischievous desire. So they wrap it up. Everybody's
for hire. The best of them. The best of
them, the best princes, the best judges, the best great men, the
best in this world, the best of them is as a briar. The most upright is sharper than
a thorn hedge. The day of thy watchman and thy
visitation cometh. Now shall be their perplexity. God say, wait. The day is coming
when your watchman will visit you and God by your watchman. And when he does, he will bring
confusion and perplexity to the ungodly. Verse five, trust you
not in a friend. Put you not confidence in a guide. Keep the doors of thy mouth from
her that lieth in thy bosom. For the son dishonoreth the father.
The daughter rises up against her mother. The daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies are the men of
his own house. Therefore. Therefore. Micah speaks for himself and
he speaks for God's church. He speaks for God's kingdom.
He speaks for God's people in the midst of these circumstances.
Therefore. I will look unto the Lord. I
will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will help me. Therefore, moves us from great
necessity to priceless privilege. This portion of Holy Scripture
speaks of a time. That's almost indescribable and
yet a time that's prevalent in every age. It speaks of a time
when men and women are taught that it's wise not to trust other
men and women. To trust people with confidence,
something that's not wise. The time when neither companion
nor familiar friend, nor even one's own child, nor even his
wife is to be trusted with complete confidence. Such was the day
of many that have experienced in time past. Samson, you'll
remember, was betrayed by his own kinsmen, by his friend, by
his father-in-law, and finally by her that lay in his own bosom. David found this to be his situation. He found his confidence betrayed
by the men of Judah, by Joab, the captain of the Lord's host,
by Ahithophel, and by his own son Absalom. As it was in the
days of Micah, so it was in the days when our Lord Jesus walked
upon this earth, when our Savior walked here and performed all
his wonderful deeds of mercy, when he walked here establishing
righteousness for us, as he came here to redeem his people from
their sins. Once many of his disciples went
back and walked no more with him. All he had done was preach
to them the gospel of God's grace. All he had done was told them
of the necessity of faith in himself. All he had done was
tell them that life and salvation is altogether spiritual. It is
altogether eating his flesh and drinking his blood. And from
that time, many turned and walked no more with him. One of his
apostles, a man who was his own familiar friend. A man who was his own familiar
friend. Betrayed him. And we shouldn't
be surprised to find ourselves in the same situation. Turn to
Matthew 10. Matthew chapter 10. We should
never be surprised to experience this same great heaviness. Our
savior taught us to expect such times. He said, the disciple
is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. Look
at verse 34, Matthew 10. Think not that I'm come to send
peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword for I'm come to set a man at variance against his father
and the daughter against her mother. and the daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they
of his own household. I recall years ago, a very good
friend of mine, his father's pastor, and God saved him when
he was about 20 years old. And he and his next brother older
than him had been such good, great companions growing up.
But after God saved him one day, he came in and he said to his
dad, he said, we just don't get along like we used to. We don't
have anything in common anymore. And that's what happens when
God saves sinners. They of their own household,
they have nothing in common with them. They're like pulling in
two yoked oxen pulling in opposite directions. There's nothing in
common. And those who cause great pain
are those who are closest in a physical sense. Not only that,
but if we look for help from men, if we hope that the next
president or senate or congress will improve things, our hope
will prove vanity. Now, please do not misunderstand
me. We ought to be patriots. We ought to be the best citizens
in the land. We ought to exercise responsibilities
as such. But don't put your hope in me.
The next president and the next Congress and the next Senate,
be it liberal or conservative, will not do anything to improve
the days in which we live. as it was in the days of Noah. So it is now and so it shall
be until the end of time. Men shall live for nothing but
to eat and drink and marry and be given in marriage. That's
the way men live. They live like cattle for nothing
but the earth, for nothing but what they can get out of the
ground. And that's a time of great extreme darkness. Micah understood it. And we need
to. Oh, what a destructive thing.
the wisdom of this world is. The wisdom of this world not
only separates man from God, but seeks to alienate friends,
break up families, destroy human confidence and gender pessimism
expressed by the psalmist as almost a desperate pessimism
when he said all men are liars. Most conclude, well, I can't
trust anyone, so I'll trust myself. If you do, you're a fool. The
wise man says he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. I'll put trust in me. The heart
of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
The man that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. And the
opening word then of verse seven, therefore, means that we are
completely shut up to God. Completely shut up to God. Oh, blessed you are when you
find yourself so completely shut up to God. Oh, what a blessed
enclosure. What a blessed place that man
is in who is altogether shut up to God. Michael says the kings. The prince, the judges, the rulers
of the world, the great men of the world. They are all vanity. I can't trust them and I can't
trust myself. Therefore, I will look unto the
Lord. I will wait for the God of my
salvation. My God will hear me. Blessed. Blessed is that disappointment. That trouble. that sorrow, that
heartache, that affliction, whatever it may be that compels me to
leave everything to God, my Savior. Blessed is that heartache, that
sorrow, that trouble, whatever it is, be it political or civil,
be it in the world or in the church, be it in my heart or
in my house, whatever it is that leaves me shut up entirely to
God to look to Him. All right, let's look at our
text. Therefore, I will look unto the Lord. I'll lift up mine
eyes unto the hills, David said, from whence cometh my help. My
voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord. In the morning
will I direct my prayer unto thee and look up. That is to
say, I will pray and look up. I will pray and look to the Lord.
I will look to the Lord Jehovah alone. I'll look to him and put
my trust in God, my savior. I'll look to him in prayer. I'll
look to him. and look to Him for all things,
placing my confidence in Him alone for everything. Look to
Him in everything and look to Him for everything, for He alone
is God. The name by which the triune
God is revealed and reveals Himself is Jehovah. You remember He came
to Moses and made Himself known to Moses by this name, Jehovah. when he came to bring Israel
out of bondage to deliver them from their Egyptian captors 400
years they had been in captivity 400 years ago God had promised
I will come and bring them out and now he comes to bring them
out and Moses said well tell me your name so when I go tell
them the Lord sent me I could be able to tell him who it is
that sent me he said my name is I am that I am I am the Lord
Tell them I am Jehovah Jehovah the eternal God the word basically
means Savior or Deliverer God in Christ is mighty to save Jehovah
essentially means to be and our Lord Jesus declares that he is
that one which is and which was and which is to come the eternal
God the God of salvation redemption and deliverance and I'm told
that the Jews, when they would come to this name Jehovah, as
they were, the scribes would copy the scriptures, just copy
the scriptures. They would get up and bathe themselves
before they would write the name. The Jews, the ancient Jews didn't
allow their children to speak this word openly. It wasn't something
that they used commonly because they had a reverence for the
name. Theirs, I suppose, was a superstitious
reverence for God's name. There's no command that the name
should not be mentioned. But the Lord God does tell us
that this glorious and fearful name, the Lord, the Lord thy
God, is not to be taken in vain. It is not to be used as a common
word. It is not to be used as a byword.
Now, you children and young people and mamas and daddies and grandma
and grandpa, please listen to your pastor. Don't use God's
name in vain. So I wouldn't do that every time
you say, oh, Lord. Oh, God, gosh, golly, lordy,
Jesus, Jesus, as a byword, you take God's name in vain. Don't use God's name in vain.
The Lord will not hold him guiltless who taketh his name in vain.
He sent redemption to his people. He commanded his covenant forever,
and he is to be reverenced by us. Holy and reverend is his
name. The word look, Michael says,
I will look unto the Lord. This word is a word that's used
throughout the scriptures to speak of faith. Faith in our
Lord Jesus Christ you remember when the children of Israel turn
over to John chapter 3 John chapter 3 when the children of Israel
were bitten of the fiery serpents Moses was commanded to make a
serpent of brass and hold it up on a pole a picture of our
Lord Jesus Christ and he said the Lord God said now anybody
who looks on this serpent anybody who looks on this serpent looking
shall be healed and as many in Israel who were bitten of the
serpent and had the Plague of the serpent in their bodies had
the fever of death in their bodies looking to that brazen serpent
Were healed just like that and made to live so all sinners bitten
of Satan all sinners with the plague of sin in their hearts
Looking to Jesus Christ the crucified Son of God are made whole immediately
the kid John chapter 3 John 3, these are our Lord's words, verse
14. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up.
Underscore that word must. He must be lifted up because
he's the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He must
be lifted up because it's the purpose of the eternal God. He
must be lifted up because he came here to save his people
from their sins And there's no way for even God to save his
people from their sins, but by the death of his son He must
be lifted up That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but
have eternal life Now here's the reason for God so loved the
world Obviously that does not mean as this whole Religious
world of nonsense thinks it does God loves everybody in the world
If God loves everybody in the world than the love of God is
worth of suspect That's exactly right there if God loves everybody
in the world some folks go to hell Anyway, God's love doesn't
make any difference if Christ died for everybody in the world
and some folks go to hell Anyway, the blood of Christ doesn't make
any difference God loved the world. That is, he loves his
elect scattered throughout the world. He loves people who are
lost and perishing. That's the condition we were
in when he chose us lost and perishing. That's the condition
that we were in when he redeemed us. That's the condition we were
in when he called us lost, condemned with this world, children of
wrath by nature, even as others. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son. Whosoever believeth in him should
not perish but have everlasting life Let's look at how this word
is used again back in the Old Testament Isaiah 45 Isaiah chapter
45 The God of heaven is here calling
upon us to understand that he alone is God He alone is God. And then he compares
himself to all of those things that men call gods. You know,
men take a stump and they carve out some kind of an image and
overlay it with gold and put some silver chains on it and
put some rubies and diamonds in his face and put a crown on
his head and they say, these are our gods. They look up at
the skies and they Call this one God and that one God the
other one God and they refer to their gods war with one another
good gods and bad gods and the Lord God says to whom Will you
compare me? I'm God and sitting here on my
throne beside me. There is none other This is who
God is but what it says Isaiah 45 verse 20 Assemble yourselves
and come and draw near together Ye that are escaped to the nations
They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image
and pray unto a God that cannot save. Let's read that with just a couple
of words taken out so you get the meaning of what he's saying.
They have no knowledge that pray unto a God that cannot save. Oh, songs of grace book, save
me now. Well, brother Don, we better
check you in the funny farm. You're right. You're right. Insane. Well, let's call this book God.
Let's call it Jesus. Let's call it the Holy Spirit.
Let's call it Jehovah. And you look at his book and
say, save me. Well, don't we sure got to check you in the
funny farm now. Spiritually, you're exactly right. They have
no knowledge. who pray unto a God that cannot
save. This whole generation thinks that God can't save. God's will
is subject to your will. God's will is held in check by
your will. God's omnipotent grace cannot
move except you let Him. The Lord cannot save except you
let Him. What foolishness! That ascribes
salvation not to God's will but to man's will. And it can't be
both. Look what it says, verse 21.
Tell ye, and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? There is
no God else beside me. Well, who are you? A just God
and a savior. A God who saves justly and righteously
because sin's been atoned for and where sin has been paid for.
God cannot impute sin. A just God and a savior. There
is none beside me. Now here, hear him speak. Look
unto me and be you saved all the ends of the earth. For I
am God and there is none else. I have sworn by myself the word
has gone out of my mouth and shall in righteousness and shall
not return. God's word has been declared.
This is his decree. This is what he predestined.
This is what he has ordained. It shall come to pass that unto
me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear. Some of you
here are yet rebels to God. You yet believe not on the Lord
Jesus Christ. I will be my own master. I'll
be my own Lord. I'll have my own way. Do you
go to hell? You will. But the day is coming
when you're going to bow. You will either bow now and seek
his mercy, or bow in the day of judgment and acknowledge his
justice. But bow you will, and you will
confess that it's right for him to be Lord. Look what it says,
verse 24. Surely shall one say, in the
Lord have I righteousness and strength. Bob Duff, you spent
25 years in religious nonsense thinking you were righteous and
doing good. Is that true? And one day God
revealed Christ in you and you said, in the Lord I have righteousness
and strength. There's all the difference in
the world. There's all the difference in the world. Read on. Even to
him shall men come. Men shall come to Christ out
of every corner of the earth, north, south, east and west,
black and white and rich and poor and learned and unlearned,
male and female. To him shall men come. And all that are incensed
against him shall be ashamed. You and me, you and me, either
ashamed as you bow before him confessing your sin, seeking
his mercy, or ashamed everlastingly in the torments of the damned.
Now look at verse 25. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified. All of them, all of them. Well, God's going to save the
Jews. To declare this notion that one
of these days the Lord is going to reestablish a kingdom in Israel
and Jesus is going to sit on the throne over there, on that
little peanut throne in Israel, and that because you've got Jewish
blood running in your veins, therefore you have a claim on
God's mercy, therefore you can be sure God's going to be good
to you, is to deny exactly what we're told in John 1, 13. It's
not of blood. The grace of God doesn't run
in bloodlines. The Israel he's talking about
is the Israel typified by those Old Testament Jews, typified
by the physical nation. It's called the Israel of God.
It's called the kingdom of God. It's called the sons of Jacob.
All the seed of Israel, every chosen center shall be justified. Every covenant child shall be
justified and glory. Glory in the Lord rejoice in
him and find everlasting glory in him. I will look to the God
God my father I will look to God God the Son. I will look
to God God the Holy Spirit my comforter I will look unto the
Lord and The Lord Jesus in whom dwells all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily, the God-man mediator, the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. I will look to Him who takes
away the sin of the world. The mediator between God and
man. I'll look to Him, my prophet,
to teach me the will of God, my priest, to make intercession
for me, my king, to rule over me and care for me. I'll look
to the Lord, the Lord my righteousness, my only Savior, my only Redeemer. I will look unto the Lord for
all things, in all things, at all times. When I'm in darkness,
I'll look to Him for light. When I'm in bondage, I look to
Him for freedom. When I'm full of sin, I look
to Him for pardon. When I'm hungry, I look to Him
for food. When I'm downcast and disconsolate,
I look to Him for consolation. Not to you. Not to the church. Not to my relationship with the
church. To him, to him, when I'm sick, I look to him for healing,
for all supplies of grace here and eternal glory and happiness
hereafter. I will look unto the Lord only
to the Lord. I look unto the Lord as he's
held up in his word. I was talking to a young man
yesterday, a good while, who's giving some thought to the possibility
maybe the Lord would have him to preach the gospel. Asked me
about studying. And this fellow happens to be
real brilliant. Bright, bright fella. I said, your most dangerous
quality will be your brilliance. Because you're going to want
to chase rabbits all your life. You're going to want to investigate
little things here and little things there. Want to understand
little details and miss the big picture. When you read this book,
look for Christ crucified. That's what it's all about. It's
not about prophecy. It's not about history. It's
not about the church. It's about Jesus Christ and him
crucified. I'll look for him in his word.
I went to bed last night, reading this book, looking for him. And I found him. And I got up
this morning, reading this word, looking for him. And Alan, I
found him. And you know what? I've never
read this book looking for him. I didn't find him. I look for
him in the ordinances he's ordained. The worship of God in His church. Nothing in this world more important
to any child of God than the public assembly of God's saints
for worship. But don't come here just to punch
the calendar and say I went to church on Tuesday. I went to
church on Sunday. Come to the house of God looking
for Him. I've come many times. I've come
many times without consideration of why I was coming. And you
know what I got when I got here, Don? Most of the time, nothing. Most of the time, nothing. Though
I preach different places and have opportunity to hear the
gospel and fail to ask God to show me his son and speak by
his servant to my heart. Oh, thank God. Often he overrules
my negligence and my sin. But often you get just what you
came for. Nothing. You come looking for
Christ and you'll go having gotten what you came for. Seeking him,
you'll find him. We come to the Lord's table every
Sunday evening. We observe the Lord's table,
not just so that we can observe the Lord's table every Sunday
night, but so that we might remember him. And if you don't remember
him, you haven't observed the table. We baptize believers. Not just so we can tell folks
we're Orthodox and we dip them and we raise them up and they
walk with Christ. We baptize folks because thereby
we confess the gospel of God's grace. We're crucified with Christ,
buried with Christ, risen with Christ. And every time I had
the privilege of baptizing somebody here or watching someone else
baptize them, every time, it's as though I'd now had the opportunity
With fond memory, once again, to lift my hand to God. As Jephthah
lifted his hand to God and declare, I cannot go back. Oh, Holy Spirit
of God, give me grace in all my ways, in all my days, in every
darkness, through every storm to be looking unto the Lord Jehovah,
my God. That's the first thing looking.
Therefore, will I look unto the Lord. All right, look at the
text again. I will wait for the God of my
salvation. Oh, what a treasure this is.
He who is our God is the God. He is the God. And he who is
the God is the God of my salvation. Now, just in proportion. I spent a long time preparing
this sentence this afternoon. I hope you'll get it. Just this
one sentence. If you don't get anything else,
get this. Just in proportion. As we realize that he who is
our God. Is the solitary God of the universe
and that he is the God of our salvation. We will wait for him. Wait patiently for him. Just
in proportion as we realize that he who is our God is the God
and that he who is the God is the God of my salvation. We will
wait for him patiently in all circumstances. And just in proportion,
Mark, as we fail to realize that we will trust ourselves or other
things and run and fret for nothing. here and there. I will wait for him when he hides
himself to reveal himself. I'll wait for him to work. I'll
wait for him to deliver our souls in time of trouble. I'll wait
for him to accomplish his will. You've got that new baby born
in your house, Celeste. And what you want for that baby
when it's in this world is God's salvation. I'll wait for him. I'll wait for him. I'll wait
for him. We need to do something for the
child. Pray for him, commit him to God's hand, preach the gospel
to him, and wait. Wait. Try to trick them into
a profession of faith. Not going to try to twist their
arms and get them to come down here and repeat some prayer after
me. What stupidity and nonsense and
destruction to men's souls. Why don't you engage in the stuff
other churches do? Because we wait for God. Wait. We need to make something
happen. I'll tell you something. Everything
I ever made happen in my life I'll live to regret real soon. And that's especially true in
all things spiritual. I'll wait for Him to do His will,
wait for Him to perform His promise, wait for Him to do His mercy.
I'll wait for the God of my salvation. If He tarry, I'll wait for Him
because He will surely come. He will not tarry. That's the
voice of faith. And that's the faith and patience
of the saints. Our dear Savior sometimes hides
himself and sometimes he seems to be far from us for a long
time. And we have two choices. We can
either work up a fake frenzy of revival and communion with
Christ or we can wait for him to make himself known and visit
us again in mercy. I prefer to wait. How often we're
like Peter, to whom the Lord Jesus said, what I do thou knowest
not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. And for the most part, Lindsey,
we don't know what God's doing right now. You don't and I don't. Why on earth has that leg been
bothering you these five years? Why five years of going to doctors
with no help? Why are you about to have it
taken off? I don't know. Why is Joyce dying with cancer?
Why is Kathy going through this? She and Darvin preaching the
gospel of God's grace, faithful serving our God. Why? I don't
know. I don't know, and I won't pretend
to have the answers. I'll tell you what we can do.
God, we can wait. We can wait, and they that wait
on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall walk and
not be weary. They shall run and not faint. They shall fly as eagles above
as we wait on Him. I'll wait on the Lord. Celeste sang this great hymn
by William Cowper just a while back. God moves in a mysterious
way his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the
sea and rides upon the storm. Deep, oh, deep in unfathomable
minds of never failing skill, he treasures up his bright designs
and works his sovereign will. You fearful saints, fresh courage
take. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy and shall break in blessing on your head.
His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud
may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower. Blind
unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain, God is his
own interpreter. God will, in his time, make it
plain. My soul, wait thou only upon
God, for my expectation is from him. I'll wait for the God of my salvation. He is the author of eternal salvation. He's the performer of eternal
salvation. But that's not all. God's salvation
is the continual deliverance of our souls from sin and from
heartache and from trouble. You're Israel in Egypt, in bondage,
suffering from the whip of a cruel taskmaster. And you must have
escape. God sends salvation. And the same is true in the day-by-day
trials God's people experience in this world. And soon our salvation
shall be performed in its consummate act. Now is our salvation nearer
than when you believed. I'll wait for Him to come. Either in His glorious second
advent or to take me home in death, and it doesn't matter
which. It doesn't matter which. It was, oh, I'd sure like to
be living when the Lord comes. Paul says the dead in Christ
will rise first. That's the one place where there's
going to be a distinction between God's elect. The dead in Christ will
rise first. They'll rise first. No advantage
to being alive when he comes. Oh, no, no, no, no. We look for
him all the time. And we anticipate him either
coming for us in death, which is our life, or coming in the
glory of the second advent. I wait for him to perform what
he promised he would perform my salvation. God, give me grace. Give us grace that we may be
able to say with Jacob when we are about to die what Jacob said
when he was about to die. My name's Jacob, you know. And
this is what Jacob said when he was leaving this world. I
have waited for thy salvation. Oh, Lord. For 45 years, David Burge, I've
been waiting for God's salvation. Since the day he revealed his
son in me and to the last day, I hope to be waiting for God's
salvation. waiting for the consummate glory
that awaits me, prepared for me from eternity with my Redeemer. All right, here's the third thing.
My God will hear me. That's my expectation. I fully
expect my God to hear me. I fully expect him to hear my
prayers. I fully expect him to hear my
groans, my cries, my tears. I expect him to hear my pains,
my anguish of heart. My God will hear me. He will hear me ever. What a charming sentence. My
God will hear me. My God. Martin Luther said. There's greater volume of theology
and this personal preposition or this personal pronoun, my
that in volumes of theology, my God. Jonathan, he who is the
God of the universe, he is my property, my God. The Lord's portion is Jacob,
and the Lord is the portion of my soul. He's my God, my God. My God will hear me. He will hear me. But what do
you cry for? Let me give you just one thing.
Turn to Philippians chapter three, and I'll wrap this up. My God, my rock, my salvation,
my strength, my defense, my shield, my refuge, my hiding place, my
guide. My expectation, my soul, wait
thou only upon God for my expectation is from him. Philippians chapter
three, verse seven. What things were gained to me,
I counted 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've suffered the loss of all things. and do
count them but done, that I may win Christ and be found in Him,
not having mine own righteousness, not having mine own righteousness.
Hardest thing on this earth for you and I to shed is self-righteousness. God, keep me from my own righteousness,
which is of the law. but rather that which is through
the faith of Christ, not through my faith in Christ, through the
faith of Christ as my Redeemer, my substitute, the righteousness
which is of God by faith, this righteousness we receive by faith
in Christ. And this is what I want, that
I may know Him. Oh, I want to know Him. To know Him. Not theory and doctrine,
Him. Not creeds and confessions, Him. To know Him. To know Him and
the power of His resurrection. The power of His resurrection,
Bill Raleigh, is new life by His Spirit. We're quickened together
with Him. and the fellowship of his sufferings.
I want to know my interest in his sufferings. I want to have
a personal conscious awareness of my interest in his sufferings. When he died, I died in him. When he suffered the wrath of
God, I suffered the wrath of God in him. He's my savior, my
substitute, my redeemer. I want to know him as such. being made conformable unto his
death. How did he die? How did the Son of God come to
die for Rex Bartley and Don Ford? By the willing, voluntary, entire
consecration of his life to God. Oh my God, so conform me to Him. I have these pressing desires
in my soul. I want unceasing communion with
my Savior. I want total commitment to my
Redeemer. I want total conformity to Him. And when the God of my salvation
comes in the consummation of this wondrous work of grace,
I shall enjoy forever total, uninterrupted communion with
my Redeemer. Total, complete commitment to
Him, holding nothing back. absolute consecration to God
my Savior.