If there is, and I sincerely
look at this in this light, a text that is the Holy Spirit's selection
to shine the light into the dark regions of the soul of this sinner,
it would be Colossians 2, 9 and 10, which says, For in him dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete
in him. who is the head of all principality
and power. And eventually, as my message
this morning will unfold, we will get to that very text. But I wanted to establish a foundation
to present this presentation of the gospel to you this morning.
In Psalm 136, I selected just the first portion of the psalm
and one verse which is at the very end of the psalm. This is
a famous psalm. You're probably familiar with
this psalm because over and over in every verse it says that the
mercy, His mercy, God's mercy endures forever. If there isn't
a stamp of eternality upon the mercy of God, then brothers and
sisters, we don't know what it is we're looking at because that
is exactly what God has declared about His mercy. Oh, give thanks
unto the Lord, the psalm begins, for he is good, for his mercy
endureth forever. Oh, give thanks unto the God
of gods, for his mercy endureth forever. Oh, give thanks unto
the Lord of lords, for his mercy endureth forever. To him who
alone doeth great wonders, for his mercy endureth forever. To him that by wisdom made the
heavens, for his mercy endureth forever. To him that stretched
out the earth above the waters, for his mercy endureth forever. To him that made great lights,
for his mercy endureth forever. And then the psalm ends, O give
thanks unto the God of heaven, for his mercy endureth forever. And true, it is. We could say
as well that this declaration of God's mercy is replete throughout
all the scripture. I even brought forward Psalm
103, verses 17 and 19, wherein it says from there, the mercy
of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
upon them that fear Him. Then it says, the Lord hath prepared
His throne in the heavens. And I put in parentheses there
the word eternity. Any time that you have a reference
from God's Word to heaven, that city of His creation that is
even not of this creation, That city that dwells and has dwelt
in eternity, the abiding place of the very holy beauty of God
Himself. Whenever that word heaven shows
up in a context such as we have seen, like the last verse of
Psalm 136, O give thanks unto the God of heaven. That's eternity. For His mercy endureth forever.
And here in Psalm 103, The Lord hath prepared his throne in the
heavens in eternity, and his kingdom ruleth over all. Now more or less as a sidebar,
I brought forward Psalm 47 to give us encouragement in our
day and time, bring this right down to a level of practicality
In our present state of turmoil in this world, with nations being
in such chaos in so many ways and no telling where our own
country is going to end up, Psalm 47, 8 declares adamantly that
God reigneth over the heathen. God sitteth upon the throne of
His holiness. And beloved, there again is heaven.
The everlasting mercy of God in His granting Any lost enslaved
soul a truly holy hope of deliverance from the justice of unfavorable
judgment for all eternity can never ever be sufficiently extolled
and praised. That the Spirit of God should
ever have conveyed to anyone a genuine concern about the eternal
realities that lie ahead For every single transgressor that
makes up the whole of fallen humanity is by itself an act
of saving grace by God. For only by an act of God the
Holy Spirit is there ever even given of you a true and soul-saving
sense of the greatness of the bestowed love of God the Father
and the majesty of the fullness of eternal life found only in
God the Son. 1 Corinthians 2 verses 9 and
10 declares, as it is written, and it is written in Isaiah 64
verse 4, I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them
that love and wait for him. But God hath revealed them unto
us by His Spirit. Dear ones, we looked at it and
we studied it. We focused upon it. Romans 8,
verses 11-13 tells us that we are debtors, not to the flesh,
but to the Holy Spirit. And why are we indebted to the
Spirit of God? We are indebted to Him because
He alone quickens us. We cannot quicken ourselves.
And He, the Holy Spirit, comes and indwells us and puts to death
the fleshly deeds of our sin-cursed and corrupted fleshly minds and
bodies. And we are indebted to the Holy
Spirit for the wonderful revelation of the pure truth of the gospel
of God's grace that causes us to understand that this indeed
is so. For it is by the Spirit's revealing
of Christ to us that we see all too clearly what sinners we really
are. And what a great, powerful, compassionate,
and complete Savior and propitiation that He really is on our behalf. Hence, it is by the Holy Spirit's
revealing to us the Lord Jesus Christ that causes us to breathe
after Him, to long for Him, to hunger and thirst for His righteousness
throughout the entirety of our earthly lives. Now, when we are
granted a glimpse, if you will, of this, the excellence and the
glory of Christ Jesus, Is it not true that just that view
of who He is has such a profound effect upon us? All the tinsel,
gaudiness, and alluring things of this world, on which of a
truth a mind and heart that is bent toward these fleshly things
according to Scripture, specifically from Romans 8.6, is bent toward
death. All these things of the world
just fade away in the magnitude and the magnificence of the glory
of the Lord. Do they not? Have you not experienced
this? One moment's sight by faith of
Christ will produce that effect in you. And yet, When you've
done and said all with respect to how far you have to date come
in your, by grace, ever-growing knowledge and understanding of
our sovereign Lord and Savior, there is this to be added, that
there is yet still an infinitude more beyond to be learned and
experienced, to be discovered and discerned of His grace. It is the sovereignty of the
gracious work of the Holy Spirit that causes this to come to pass
in and throughout your Christian walk. Romans 8.14 says, for as
many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of
God. And Proverbs 4.18 describes of
this leading, but the path of the just, that is the path of
the one that is justified by grace. is as a shining light that shineth
more and more unto the perfect day. The Holy Spirit only works in
this way in those in whom he has indeed united with in real
regeneration by the blessed holy word of God. Paul asks from 1
Corinthians 6, 19, Know ye not that your body is the temple,
that is, the inner temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you,
which you have of God, and you are not your own? Before he stated
this truth, he declared from 1 Corinthians 2, verses 12 and
13, Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but
the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that
are freely given to us of God, which things we speak, not in
the words which man's wisdom teaches, but in which the Holy
Spirit teaches." Oh yes, there is a spirit of
this world, it is true. And it is a most evil and persuasive
and convincing spirit in all the matters that lead souls astray,
that holds souls in bondage to blindness and deception where
the real and pure truth of the gospel is concerned. But the
true child of God does not receive the spirit of the world. For
God the Father and God the Son send no other spirit save the
same Holy Spirit that is in complete harmony and union with themselves. Jesus said in John 14, verses
16 and 17, And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you
another Comforter that He may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of Truth whom
the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows
him. For he dwells with you and shall be in you." The distinguishing
characteristic trait of the three persons of the Trinity is their
perfect and complete union and unbreakable harmony with one
another. There is never a quibble or controversy
between them. They work in complete concert
with each other for the eternal good of their elect unto eternal
salvation, for the eternal glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is the eternal Son of God. The only sovereign Savior substitute
of sinners that there ever was, is, or ever will be. The unique
harmonious unity of the Trinity declares this to be gospel grace
truth. Christ Jesus himself is in the
same perfect and complete manner united to us as our eternal Savior
and Substitute. And it is the Holy Spirit of
truth that reveals this to us through the Holy Scripture of
God. So, therefore, by God's grace, let's pray that for our
eternal benefit and growth in grace, that we may be able to
see our eternal unity with Him as being such in three profound
ways. in eternal covenant union, in
perfect cleansing union, and in complete holy union. First of all, the Lord Jesus
is our eternal Savior by his having entered into an everlasting
covenant union with us as our substitute, as our surety, as
our propitiation. Triune God cut this covenant
with us in His promised seed, which again is the eternally
beloved Son of God. This was precisely David's experience
as recorded and related to us from his last words. 2 Samuel
23 verses 1 through 5 tell us. Now these be the last words of
David. David, the son of Jesse, said. And the man who was raised up
on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet psalmist
of Israel, said, The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His
word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, The rock
of Israel spoke to me. He that ruleth over man over
men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be
as the light of the morning when the sun rises, even a morning
without clouds, as the tender grass springing out of the earth
by clear shining after rain." Kind of reminds you of Proverbs
4.18, the path of the just. is as a shining light that shines
more and more unto the perfect day, doesn't it? And yet David
confesses in verse 5 of this portion of scripture, although
he says, my house be not so with God. He's not talking about his
house, per se. That's why he says in the next
phrase, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things, and sure, there's our Savior. For this is all my
salvation and all my desire." Then from Psalm 89, verses 3
and 4, here through the psalmist, we have God declaring, I have
made, or literally, I have cut, or I have confirmed a covenant
with my chosen. I have sworn unto David my servant. Thy seed will I establish forever. Verses 14 through 17 says, justice
and judgment are the habitation, that is literally, the foundation
of thy throne. Mercy and truth. shall go before
thy face. Blessed is the people that know
the joyful sound. That's the hearing of the gospel.
They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. We're
right back to Proverbs 4.18 again. The path of the just is as a
shining light. We hear the Apostle John from
1 John 1.7. But if we walk in the light as
He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood
of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. They shall walk,
O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance. In Thy name, in Thy name, shall
they rejoice all the day. And in Thy righteousness, the
righteousness of Christ, the righteousness of God Almighty,
the righteousness of holy, holy, holy God, which is as eternal
as He is. And in Thy righteousness shall
they be exalted, for Thou art the glory of their strength. And in Thy favor our horn shall
be exalted, which is to say that many shall be born again. The exalted horn in Israel was
the symbol of fertility. Jesus, the greater Son of David,
at the last Passover Seder with His chosen disciples, held up
the cup and announced that it represented His blood that was
about to be shed for His people. He said in Matthew 26-28, For
this is My blood, of the new covenant which is
shed for many for the remission of sins. And the writer of the
Hebrews ended this great epistle by announcing from Hebrews 13,
20, now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our
Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of the everlasting covenant. The everlasting covenant. The
stamp of eternality is upon this covenant. This covenant union,
as is stated from this text, is an eternal union that earlier
in the same epistle of Hebrews is declared to have been established
by God upon what is scripturally referred to as, quote, better
promises, unquote. Hebrews 8.6 says, How much also
He is the mediator of a better covenant which was established,
and that is literally, beloved, established by God's law upon
better promises. The law doesn't promise the sinner
anything but condemnation for his sin. But the covenant with
Christ that he has entered into with us promises us that that
law is fulfilled for us in Christ, by Christ. That's why verse eight
says, or I'm sorry, verses seven through ten go on to declare
in this eighth chapter of Hebrews, for if that first covenant had
been faultless, it says, then should no place have been sought
for the second. Think about that. Those that
love to be under the bondage of the law, they have ceased
to seek to the refuge, for the refuge is found only in the second. Verse 8, for finding fault with
them, he says, and that's God, behold the days come, saith the
Lord, when I will make a new covenant with, or literally upon,
See where it comes. I want you to know where this
covenant comes from. It comes down upon you. It doesn't
come up from within you. God bestows it down upon you. It's a covenant of His love. I will make a new covenant upon
the house of Israel and literally upon the house of Judah, not
according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in
the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the
land of Egypt, because they continued not in my covenant. And I regarded
them not, saith the Lord." Oh, don't let that phrase slip by
you. And I regarded them not. saith the Lord. For this is the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those
days, saith the Lord. I will put, or literally, I will
give my laws into their mind and write them in, or literally,
again, upon their hearts. And I will be to them a God and
they shall be to me a people. This is the Spirit of Christ
that is given to us. So, we see that the Word of God
clearly says that the difference between those that did not keep
the first covenant and those that do keep the second covenant
is the fact that God finds fault with those under the first and
He does not find fault with those that are under the second. And
why is that? Even because the second covenant
is a better covenant that is established upon better promises. Even because the second covenant
is centered upon Christ, in whom all the promises have been fulfilled. Promises whereby God graciously
gives His laws, literally, into the disposition of the thinking
of the minds of His chosen people. It's what that word for mind
means when it says, I will give my laws into their mind. It's
a word in the Greek that underscores the disposition of the thinking.
There's a radical change that has taken place by grace. You
don't think the same way. And whereby God also writes them
upon their hearts. Beloved, this is exactly what
He has done in and with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior, the
surety and propitiation. This is what makes Christ outstanding
from the rest of us fallen men. This man was the God-man. This
man thought different, talked different, walked different.
He was different. He was holy. He was God, the
Son of God. And He was that way as a man
for all of the elect of His grace and to the eternal benefit and
salvation of their souls. It is into this eternal covenant
union that the elect of grace are drawn
by the Father and led of the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 12, 22-24
tells us, but you are come unto And note the stamp of eternality
in this passage of Scripture. You are come unto Mount Zion,
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to the innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly
and the church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God, the judge of all, and the spirits of just men,
that is, justified men, sinners declared righteous in Christ
by grace, through faith in His blood, made perfect. Where are they? They are in the
heavenly presence of their Redeemer. Or they wouldn't be described
as perfect. And to Jesus, the mediator of
the New Covenant. There are none that can be honest
and at the same time deny that eternality is stamped upon every
aspect that is here being described. Whether we refer to the city
of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, or to the innumerable
company of angels, or even to the justification of the elect
before they are made to be perfect by their going to heaven. It is the eternal union of the
Trinity that performs this feat of eternally saving grace. Secondly, not only are we united
to Christ in an eternal covenant union, but we are also united
with him by virtue of a perfect sin-atoning cleansing union. The Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal
Son of God and eternal Lamb of God is united to His elect in
the eternal advocacy of His atonement. It is in the eternality of His
atonement that we have been eternally reconciled unto God. The very
power of the blood of Christ that has cleansed us from our
sins is also that which has changed the very nature of our relationship
with holy God. Instead of remaining enemies
with Him as we exuded when we were born into this world, we
have been vicariously represented by the life of Christ and thoroughly
cleansed by the blood of the death of Christ into being His
loving, obedient children. All of this has been accomplished
on our behalf by virtue of the eternal redemption that He has
obtained for us. Peter describes this in 1 Peter
2.24 when he says, "...who his own self bare our sins in his
own body on the tree." Paul describes this from 2 Corinthians 5.21
which very aptly says, "...for he hath made him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him." Also, the scripture touches upon
the eternality of the Christ's work of atonement when it concludes
from Hebrews 9, 24 through 26, for Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself. Now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest enters into the holy place every
year with the blood of others, for then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now, once for all, in the
end of the ages, hath he appeared to put away sin. Behold the Lamb
of God which taketh away the sin of the world. to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. Heaven and the presence of God
cannot be referred to apart from an understanding of eternity
as well. And Christ is, in fact, described
from Revelation 13 as being the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, which has to, without a doubt, from eternity. Earlier, from
Hebrews 9, verses 11, 12, and 14, it was very aptly explained, It says, being come and high
priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building
or not of this creation, neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood, he entered in once for all into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption, eternal redemption
for us. In verse 14, how much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God? Once again, eternality is not
only being stressed here, but focused upon. If our redemption
accomplished by Christ is an eternal redemption, then just
when in time did it happen? There is no time in eternity. Also, I alluded to it earlier,
1 John 1, 7 descriptively declares, but if we walk in the light,
as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.
And 1 John 1.5 tells us, God is light, and in Him is no darkness
at all. No darkness at all. If we walk
in that light in which there is no darkness at all, as He
is in the light where there is no darkness at all, then we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ,
His Son, cleanseth us. A paracyphal. That is, it eternally
continues to cleanse us. from all sin. Finally, not only are we united
to Christ in an eternal covenant union, and by virtue of His shed
blood, by a perfect cleansing union, but we are also united
to Christ, our eternal Savior substitute, in a complete and
holy union. In Him, By virtue of His covenant
with us and His blood having cleansed us, we are in Him made
to be complete in His holiness. His holiness. And this is what we are before
God, the great triumvirate, right now. Colossians 2, 9 and 10 says,
for in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead. All the fullness
of the holiness of the Godhead. All the fullness of the omnipotence
and omnipresence and omniscience of the Godhead. In Him dwells
all the fullness of the great triumvirate Himself. Collectively,
all that fullness dwells in Him in bodily form, and you are complete
in Him, which is the head of all principality and power. Satan, the flesh, the spirit
of the world included. This completeness. that we have
before holy God in Christ is that which is referred to earlier
in this same epistle in Colossians 1, verses 21 and 22, which says,
And you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now has He reconciled in the body of His flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable. and unreprovable
in His holy sight. In His sight. This completeness
in Christ is also alluded to from Ephesians 5, verses 25 through
27, from where it is declared that Christ loved the church
and gave Himself for it. That He might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the Word. Why? Verse 27, that
he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it might be holy and
without blemish. All of this is the wonderful
work of the person of Christ Jesus that only the Holy Spirit
can reveal unto a sinner. Receiving the pure truth of the
Holy Word of God is only experienced in the genuine regenerating reception
from God of the Holy Spirit of God. It is this experience that
the child of God longs for to happen time and time again in
this earthly life. And the Spirit of God is the
only one that can and will make this happen. Paul addressed the
Thessalonians regarding the profound effect that understanding this
truth has upon the life and walk of the true believer when from
1 Thessalonians 2, verses 10 through 13, he told them, you
are witnesses. And God also, how wholly and
justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe. As you know how we exhorted and
comforted and charged every one of you as a father does his children,
that you would walk worthy of God who has called you unto his
kingdom and glory. For this cause also thank we
God without ceasing, because when you received the word of
God which you heard from us, you received it not as the word
of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually
works also in you that believe. Even so, our union with Christ
by His everlasting covenant, and our union with Him due to
our having been cleansed from our sins by His shed blood, and
our union with Him in our having been made complete in His perfection,
according to the declaration of His Word, may the Spirit of
God cause the eternal truth of all these grand things of the
gospel to truly be believed in and effectually worked out in
us also. Amen.