So please turn with me to the
Acts of the Apostles, chapter 21. And we come to verse 15 of
this chapter today. Acts 21 and verse, sorry, verse
13. And I'll read that verse out.
Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine
heart? For I am ready, not to be bound
only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
I am ready. I am ready, not to be bound only,
but to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. Paul
had been told by the early church, there were special gifts in the
church. There were special gifts of prophecy that there aren't
today. There were special gifts of tongues that there aren't
today. And by these gifts of prophecy, he had been told that
nothing other than physical harm awaited him in Jerusalem and
beyond. And one of them we read about
was a prophet called Agabus who came and took Paul's girdle off
him, the thing, you know, like a cord for a dressing gown. And
he bound his hands and feet with it and prophesied by the Holy
Spirit that those bonds would await the man whose girdle this
was. That Paul was going to Jerusalem to be bound, to be put in prison,
to be put under severe physical constraint. And they were pleading
with him not to go to Jerusalem. We need you here, Paul. We need
you to carry on preaching. There's a great work for you
to do. Please don't go to Jerusalem. It will be nothing but harm for
you. Nothing but bad is going to come out of this. Please don't
go." And Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break
mine heart? Why are you so upset about my
physical safety? He said, I'm ready, not to be
bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem. for the name of the
Lord Jesus ready to die for the name of the Lord Jesus you know
some people most of us expect that we're going to live to 80
or 90 years old maybe even a bit longer than that I think the
oldest man in Britain's a hundred and twelve years old which is
pretty old I think and most of us whilst we would like to live
to a good old age most of us would like to live it in fairly
good health We don't fancy the prospect of not being well. We
don't fancy the prospect of being entirely dependent on those around
us. We'd like to live a good long
life and then go, and that would be enough, that would be the
end of it. But some, you know, in fairly young years, are taken
with a terminal illness. Something that cuts short their
life. You hear about it in the news the whole time. And some
have time to prepare and put their affairs in order. You know,
perhaps a man with a family learns he has cancer and he's going
to die. And medically speaking, he's
got no more than three or four months to live. And he has some
time to put his affairs in order and make sure his family's catered
for and provided for when he's gone. And all those sorts of
things. And they try to get ready. But most people are not ready
for death. They live their lives not ready
for death. Most people consider readiness only in relation to
things like high-definition televisions. you know, whether your television's
ready or not for high definition. Or food, is it ready? Our little
Timothy, two years old, and he hears the bleep on the cooker,
bleep, bleep, bleep, and he shouts, wherever he is in the house,
he shouts, it's ready! It's ready, because he knows
that the food is ready. That's what people think, is
the food ready? Or they think about getting ready
for going to work, or school, or getting ready to go on holiday.
But what about death? What about that appointment that
we all have, Do you know in this week since we last met in this
room in Italy over 280 people who were just like us a week
ago had absolutely no idea that they had an appointment with
death. 280 people died in that Italian
earthquake. Were they ready? Were they ready
as Paul was ready not to be bound only but to die? To die? He was ready to die. Do you know
in Job, in the book of Job, right at the start, where God gives
Satan permission to go and afflict Job, and he takes all of his
possessions, and all of his family, and all of those things away
from him. And in not one of those things did Job curse God. And
then God and Satan meet. It's picture language, but they
meet up. And God says to Satan again,
have you considered my servant Job? There's nobody like him.
And Satan says, oh yes, I know you, let me take everything from
him. You let me take everything from him. But, but, let me touch
his flesh. Let me touch his flesh. Then
we'll see what he's really like. Because he says, all that a man
has, all that a man has, will he give for his life. All that
a man has, will he give for his life. You know, you're going
to die. Say you're the richest person in the world. You're going
to die tomorrow. What would you try and do? You
would try and buy your life, wouldn't you? You would try and
buy the ability to avoid that death. You would try and buy
that. All that a man has will he give for his life. But Paul
would give his life for the name of the Lord Jesus. He'd give
his life for that name. Why should he need to die for
that name? You may say. Isn't the name of
Jesus a very sweet name? Don't we sing about it in our
Christian hymns? At the name of Jesus every knee
shall bow. What a sweet name! How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
in a believer's ear. Why should anybody need to die
for that name? It's because of the message that's
associated with it. You see, if you turn over the
page, well you have to in my Bible to chapter 21 and verse
28, the message of the Lord Jesus cast doubt on the message of
religion. They cried out, men of Israel
help, this is the man, Paul, that teacheth all men everywhere
against the people, and the law, and this place, the temple, and
further brought Greeks into the temple, and hath polluted this
holy place." He's defiled our religion with his message of
this Lord Jesus. He's defiled our religion. I
tell you, there are places even in this little town where the
name of Jesus is being mentioned, but in the heart there is no
truth of the Lord Jesus Christ at all. There is nothing other
than idolatrous blasphemy going on this morning. in the name
of Jesus, but it's not the Jesus of the Scriptures. It's not this
name that Paul was ready to die for, it's the name of religion.
He doubted their religion and they hated him for that. They
hated him. He preached particular redemption
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He preached that and they cried
away with him. That's the thing, you know. I
was looking, let me just, quick aside, I was looking at a song
that we used to sing. I used to play the guitar and
Christine used to sing it. And some of you might remember
us singing, A purple robe, a crown of thorns, a reed in his right
hand. Before the soldiers smite and scorn, I see my Saviour stand. He bears between the Roman guard
the weight of all my sin. And so it goes on. And then in
the middle bit of it, it says, Fast, as in fastened, to the
cross's spreading span, High in the sunlit air, All the unnumbered
sins of man I see my Saviour bear. I'm sorry, I crossed that
out in that book years ago. All of the sins of His elect
I see my Saviour bear. Who did Christ come to die for?
He died for His people. He came for His sheep. We'll
see that. I'm not going to jump too far ahead. But that's what
they hated. That's what the religious people
all around hate. You're not good enough in yourself.
To get right with God is the message of the Gospel. It's only
in Christ and it's only a message of particular redemption in Him.
You see, the natural man, all of us as we are, all of us as
we are, it's not that we who believe have got a nicer nature,
not at all. We're all dead in trespasses
and sins. And all of us, by nature, have
a hatred of sovereign grace. Sovereign is in charge. Sovereign
is the one who speaks and it is done. Sovereign grace. And
that grace is expressed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that name speaks of this. It speaks of our poverty. Our
utter poverty stricken nature spiritually before a holy God
that we have nothing to recommend us. And it speaks of this. God's
riches. God's absolute contrasting riches
and abundance of His provision for His people in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's overflowing. It's according
to the riches of His grace that He blesses us. In accordance
with that abundance. He's not like a very rich man,
you know, he's got so many billions he can't count them and he gives
you a five pound note. Makes no difference to him. That's
not according to his riches. But God gives according to His
riches. In accordance with the abundance
of them. So what was it about the name of the Lord Jesus that
made Paul ready to die for that name? Are you ready to die for
that? Am I ready? When our time comes
is our confidence in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
what I want to do is to remind you, because I'm sure I've preached
something similar not too long ago, but I want to remind you
of seven aspects of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that
Paul was ready to die for. And to ask us, are we? Are we
ready? You know, think of those Italian
earthquake victims. Think of all the other things
that can happen. And are we ready? Are we ready? Is it well with
my soul? So I want you to think of these
things. I've got seven here, but there are many more. I've
got seven. Seven things. The names of the Lord Jesus are
all the names of God. They're the names of God. This
is how He's expressed. That name of the Lord Jesus,
the Messiah, These are the names of God. Now here are some of
them. Jehovah-Jireh. Jehovah-Jireh. J-I-R-E-H. Jehovah-Jireh. Which means the Lord will provide. Do you know where it comes from?
It comes from the account of Abraham and Isaac. Upon the mountain
where he took his son, his only son, to slay him at the command
of God. To sacrifice him at the command
of God. As a test of him. And there,
Isaac said to his father, I see the wood And I see the fire for
the sacrifice. But where is the sacrifice? And
Abraham said to his son, Jehovah-Jireh, God will provide. God will provide
Himself a sacrifice. And our Lord Jesus Christ, this
name of the Lord Jesus is the name of God providing the sacrifice. This is what it is. He's not
just an example. He's not just a good man that
we should follow. He's not just a man for whom
we should feel sorrow and sympathy. because they crucified him wickedly.
He's God who provided a sacrifice. He's, behold, the Lamb of God,
as John the Baptist said, who takes away the sins of the world,
a world of his people. Galatians 4 verse 4 says this,
when the fullness of the time had come, at the right point
in history, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under
the law that he might be exactly like us, to redeem, to buy back
those who are under the law. And so this name of the Lord
Jesus Christ is Jehovah-Jireh. God will provide Himself a sacrifice. He is the sacrifice whom God
has provided to bear the sins of His people and to carry them
away. As the lamb, you know, you read
what has often appeared to us with our, you know, we go and
buy meat You look at meat in the supermarket and where's it
come from? Well it comes from this kind of polystyrene pack
with cling film wrap on it or plastic covering and the fact
that it was an animal that was alive seems to be removed from
our consciousness. But no, in the Old Testament
sacrifices the lambs were taken and were slain and the blood
was spilt. And the sins of the people were symbolically placed
upon the head of the lamb and it was sacrificed as a sin offering
for the people. and the scapegoat was taken,
and the priest would place his hands on the head of the goat,
and then it would be driven away into the wilderness by the hand
of a fit man to symbolize the taking away of the sins of his
people. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
Jehovah Jireh, the provided sacrifice for the sins of His people. Then
secondly, He's Jehovah Rapha, Rapha, Jehovah Rapha, the Healer,
the Healer. We get this from Exodus chapter
15. And verse 26, where the people had come out of Egypt, and the
waters that they came to were bitter, and a branch of a tree
was cast into the waters, and the waters became sweet. And
God said, He is Jehovah Rapha, God the healer, the one who heals,
and our Lord Jesus Christ, the one for whose name Paul was ready
to die. He is Jehovah Rapha. He is God, our healer, because
He is the one who heals all our sicknesses. He heals that sickness
of sin, that sickness which takes us down to death, down to hell,
down to the curse of a broken law. He is the one that heals
us of that condition. And it's symbolized in all the
healing that He did. Matthew 15 verse 30, Then great
multitudes came to Him, to Jesus, having with them the lame, The
blind, the mute, the maimed, and many others. And they laid
them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them. And the lepers
also. Luke 7 verse 22, Jesus answered
and said to them, Go and tell John, because the disciples of
John had come saying, Are you the Messiah or do we look for
another one? And He said, Go and tell John the things you
have seen and heard. But the blind see. That was what
the prophecy said in Isaiah. The blind shall see. The lame
shall walk. The lepers shall be cleansed.
The deaf shall hear. The dead are raised. The poor
have the gospel preached to them. And leprosy is such a picture
of the sinful condition that we're in before God. And you
read all the laws of leprosy. Unclean. Out of the camp. Put
out from amongst the people. And so it is with sin. But there's
a healing for sin. There's a healing for the sin
of leprosy. And He healed the lepers. And that leprosy pictures
sin and he brought the healing for that sin in the blood of
his cross. You know he said also that it's
very exclusive. He was speaking to some Jews
in the town where he was brought up and he said this, he said
there were many lepers in Israel in the days of Elisha the prophet.
There were many lepers. Oh wouldn't God, isn't this what
people think today? Shouldn't God have been duty-bound
to heal those lepers that were in Israel? They were the people
of God, weren't they? Shouldn't He have been duty-bound
to heal those? And Jesus said to them, there
were many lepers in Israel in the days of Elisha the prophet,
but not one of them was healed except Naaman the Syrian, the
foreigner, the enemy of the people of God. Naaman the Syrian, the
captain of the army of the king of Syria. He was the one who
was healed. He was told to go and wash seven
times in Jordan. Are not all those rivers better
than this river? This is just a muddy stream. Are they not
all better rivers in my country than these? I'll go and wash
in them. I know. You must come the way God says.
Your own righteousness, your own goodness, your own things
are not good enough. But go and wash here. And this
is the message to this generation in which we live. The only cleansing
for sin and the judgment that that sin deserves is the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, I'll not have this man to
rule over me. I'm good enough as I am. I don't need this. I've
got my religion. I've got all the established
churches all around. They'll give me the right religion.
No. Go and wash in Jordan. Go and wash in the blood of the
Lamb of God. That's the place. There and there
alone is cleansing for sin. This is why Paul was ready ready
to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus because in
Him is healing Jehovah Rapha and then thirdly He's Jehovah
Nisai Jehovah Nisai Jehovah the banner the banner we get this
from Exodus 17 where Israel is fighting against Amalek the enemy
they're fighting and it was a long battle and Moses went up on the
hill to pray And he held up his hands and the rod of God in his
hand. And as he prayed with his hands held up, Israel prevailed
over Amalek. Israel was winning the battle.
But he got tired. You know, you don't have to do
this very long. Hold your hands up. You don't have to do that
very long. I bet if I asked you all to do this, people might
think that we're in a different sort of church. But don't worry,
I'm not going to do that. But you don't have to do this
very long and your hands get tired and they start to flop
down. And so did Moses' hands get tired and start to flop down. And so his brother Aaron and
her, H-U-R, not H-E-R, H-U-R, went up with him. And one on
one side and one on the other. And they held up his hands and
he prayed from morning till night. And Israel prevailed over Amalek. And he was like a banner. He
said, He is Jehovah-Nissi. A banner over them. A rallying
point. A flag of state. a flag of state,
a distinctive flag of state. Why? Because there's a difference
being made between Israel and Amalek. This world must realize
there's a difference that God makes between those who are His
people whom He calls in the Lord Jesus Christ and those who reject
Him and go to their just end. Israel and Amalek, you see, there's
a distinction. The whole scripture speaks of
a distinction. This idea that Christ has redeemed
the whole world, if the whole world will only let Him, is not
what the Scriptures teach. He saved His people from their
sins. He calls them out by the power
of His Holy Spirit, under the preaching of the Gospel of Grace.
And His banner over me, as Song of Solomon, chapter 2, verse
4 says, His banner over me, Jehovah-Nissi, is love. Oh, what a loving Savior
our Lord Jesus Christ is. Is He fit to be to lose your
life for as far as Paul was concerned of course he was of course he
was also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ Isaiah 11 verse 10 says this and in that day there shall
be a root of Jesse by natural physical descent Jesse David
and King David and so on and so forth and of the town of and
city of David which was Bethlehem and there was born the Lord Jesus
Christ, a root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the
people. For the Gentiles shall seek him,
and his resting place shall be glorious. There's a promise for
us. The Gentiles, those who by nature are not the people of
God. That's all of us, all around us. We, who are Gentiles by nature,
irrespective of whether you've got Jewish blood in your veins
or not, that's utterly irrelevant in these days. Utterly irrelevant.
It's this, by nature we're Gentiles, enemies of God, and yet, the
Gentiles, here's the promise, people of Nebwith, Gentiles,
shall seek him, and his resting place shall be glorious. Jesus
Christ said this, and this message goes out to this town again today,
come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. He gives rest to those who labour
and are heavy laden. and under a burden of sin, He
gives them rest. And then, fourthly, our Lord
Jesus Christ, His name is Jehovah Shalom. Jehovah Shalom. Many people know what that word
means. It means peace. It means peace. Oh, to be at
peace with the God of the universe. And in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and in His name, His exclusive name, there is peace with God.
How many of the epistles speak of the peace of God which is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Again and again this is the message.
The name of the Lord Jesus Christ is a name of peace with God. We first come across it in Judges
chapter 6 and verse 24 when Gideon saw the angel of the Lord. And
it's perfectly clear from the context that the angel of the
Lord is the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ. Christ before he
became a baby at Jerusalem. And he comes and he appears.
And so God appears to a man A man looks, a sinful man looks upon
the form of God, the angel of the Lord. And God says to him,
because he's terrified, because he knows what the scripture says,
no man shall see me and live. No man shall see me and live.
The one who looks, you cannot see my face, he said to Moses
in Exodus 33. The one who looks on my face,
you must die because a sinner cannot look on a holy God. But
in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can. No man has seen God at any
time. The only begotten Son who is
in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. He has made
Him known. Gideon saw the angel of the Lord
and said, Alas! Not just, Oh bother, but it's
up for me. I'm done for. I'm finished. And
there are several other accounts. The parents of Samson. Exactly
the same experience. Alas! I'm done for. I've seen
God. But the message is this. Don't
be afraid. Jehovah Shalom, God of peace. And how has the Lord
Jesus Christ made peace? How is it that He has made peace?
This apostle, when he was in prison, after these events, wrote
these words in Colossians 1 and verse 20, that our Lord Jesus
Christ has made peace through the blood of His cross. That's
where He's made peace. How has He made peace through
the blood of His cross? The blood of His cross was the price the
price of justice because it was the life of the infinite Son
of God. It was the life of the Son of
God that was poured out to pay the penalty for sins and therefore
that penalty having been poured out, that penalty having been
paid, He made peace through the blood of His cross. There's no
peace with God for us through our own value, none whatsoever. People of this place need to
understand this. There is no peace with God on
the basis of who we are, where we've been, what we've done,
who we know, who our relations are, which church we go to, not
in the slightest. Each one of us here, we may think
that we are the only ones with the true message. There is no
peace with God in just thinking you're the ones who know the
true message. Peace with God is in the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's made peace through the blood
of His cross. when He was delivered up for
our transgressions and poured out that lifeblood on the cross
of Calvary and was raised from the dead for our justification.
And then He's Jehovah Rahah. Rahah. Jehovah our Shepherd. The Lord is my Shepherd. That
best known of Psalms. Psalm 23. The Lord is my Shepherd. And because the Lord is my Shepherd,
I shall not want. I shall be in need of nothing.
What about in the day of your death? I shall be in need of
nothing. For the Lord is my shepherd.
I am ready, not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem
for the name of the Lord Jesus. He is Jehovah-Raha. He is the
Lord my shepherd. I shall not want. I'll be in
need of nothing. Because He shall come. Isaiah
40, 10 and 11. God shall come and feed His flock
like a shepherd. and gather the little ones in
His arms. What a picture of peace and of
comfort and of blessing and what a glorious name. In John chapter
10, just turn back there, this is the Lord Jesus speaking. John
chapter 10 and verse 14. Because Jesus Himself took up
those prophecies of Isaiah and others. And he said this, verse
14, I am the Good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of
mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Who
does he lay down his life for? The sheep. That's who he lays
down his life for. It's an exclusive gospel. It's
a particular gospel. He lays down his life for the
sheep. This is what he does. God shall
come and feed His flock like a shepherd. And in the Lord Jesus
Christ, He is the Good Shepherd who has come. He is the one who
leads His people by still waters. Paul knew, whatever they might
do to me, they might bind me, they might beat me and scourge
me, they might put me in chains and in a terrible dungeon, but
the Lord who is my shepherd will lead me beside the still waters.
in the green pastures he shall feed me I shall have all that
I need and you know we read several chapters earlier at such an occasion
when he was in the stocks with Silas in the prison at Philippi
and they'd been beaten and their skin was bleeding their backs
were bleeding where they'd been beaten with rods and what were
they doing they were thinking on the glorious benefits of this
one whom they were ready and willing to die for the name of
they were singing hymns to the praise and glory of God in those
terrible circumstances they were singing praise because they had
such peace with God because the Lord was their shepherd and a
terrible dungeon and stripes on their back even there even
there was green pasture and still waters for the soul and this
is what martyrs down the ages have known you know, you look
back, I know I've mentioned it often but it's the one that really
strikes me in the heart remember that old woman and the young
woman who were tied to the stake in the Solway Firth up near Carlisle
at low tide I mean it brings a lump to my throat even to think
about it they were tied there you know one in the prime of
her life and one who'd lived such a such a lovely life as
a child of God and they were tied there to renounce this gospel
to renounce it and they would not because they could not because
even that cold chilly and I know it well it's freezing cold can
be and that cold water came in and drowned them but even that
was the still waters that the shepherd leads his people beside
and the green pastures because in their souls it was well with
their soul and they knew these things they knew sixthly that
he was Jehovah Tzidkenu this is hard to pronounce T S I D
K E N U Jehovah Tzidkenu the Lord our righteousness We have
that in Jeremiah 23 verse 6 because do you know? You say that's His
name. That's His name. It is. It is
His name. The Lord our righteousness. But
do you know what it says in Jeremiah 23 verse 6? It's the name of
His bride, of His church, of His people. What is their name?
These people who are Christ's people. Their name is this. The
Lord our righteousness. That's their name. That's their
confidence. What? Do you mean that they're
not confident in their own sanctification, that they've done enough to make
them good and to get a bigger prize when they get to heaven?
No. The Lord, our righteousness. Weren't those glorious words
that we sang in that last hymn about sanctification in the Lord
Jesus Christ? He is made unto us wisdom from
God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. We're not made
unto ourselves sanctification. Yes, we bear the fruit of the
Spirit, but it's Him. He has set us apart from the
rest. Our Lord Jesus Christ is our
righteousness because He's earned all the righteousness we'll ever
need. He perfectly honored and obeyed
and pleased God. Nobody could convict Jesus of
sin. He was the only man who ever perfectly pleased God. And so therefore, therefore,
we're not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold and
stones and all these other things that the world counts dear. We're
not redeemed. We're not the price of our freedom
is not paid with those things but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot because he is
Jehovah Tzidkenu the Lord our righteousness and this is the
thing blessed blessed said Jesus are those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness you know if you're hungry and thirsty for
food and drink then you haven't got any. You know, you're starving.
You're desperate for some food and for something to drink. You're
hungering and thirsting for food. You haven't got any of your own.
You're in need of it. You think, you think, if I go
much longer I feel so hungry and weak. I don't know whether
I can continue. You're hungering and thirsting
for food. Well, he's talking about hungering
and thirsting for the righteousness that is acceptable with God.
And those who are conscious that they've got none and are in desperate
need he promises in the Sermon on the Mount of those who will
be filled with what? with Christ's own righteousness
by imputation by crediting crediting it to them he is the Lord our
righteousness and then seventhly he's Jehovah Shammah Shammah
who is the God who is there the one who is there he's our shepherd
He's our righteousness. He's the provision of our sacrifice.
He's the one who is there. He's the immanent God. That's
a word that you don't hear very often. It means He's there, the
presence of God. Not something just academic in
a book, but the one who is with us. He walks with me and He talks
with me along life's narrow way. He lives within my heart, the
immanent God. He dwells in spiritual Jerusalem. He doesn't dwell in buildings.
He doesn't dwell in temples made with hands. He's the God of the
universe. He dwells in the hearts and minds
of His people. If a man loved Me, My Father
and I will come to him and will make our abode with him. We read
in Psalm 46 and verse 5, God is in the midst of her. Unmoved
her walls shall stand. God is in the midst of His people.
Hebrews 13 verse 5, He Himself has said to His people, this
is it, This Lord Jesus has said to Paul, I will never leave you
nor forsake you. So don't be afraid, you see.
Why was he prepared to go to Jerusalem and even to die there?
He's saying to them, don't weep and break my heart in your concern
over me. Yes, they'll bind me. Yes, it
may be that they will put me to death at Jerusalem. They didn't.
He went to Rome and in the end he was put to death in Rome.
But what a blessed ministry he had in the intervening time.
but he went there for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ for
this message because he knew there was no other message no
other message for the soul of a sinner for eternity and what's
the result of this readiness? I am ready not to be bound only
but to die at Jerusalem what's the result of it? the result
is this that in our minds if we're ready like this there is
a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory of which we're
conscious This world, yes, there's some nice things in it. You know,
the relationships that we have, the families, the friends, and
all of those things, the things that we can see and hear, there's
still a beautiful creation all around. All of these things are
good to behold. But eternity, the promise for
the people of God is a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory. And because of the name of the Lord Jesus, because
of all these things that He is, Jehovah, Jireh, and Raphah, and
Nisai, and Shalom, and Rahah and Sidkenu and Shammah because
of all of these things we have confidence confidence confidence
Ephesians 3 and verse 12 we have boldness and access with confidence
by faith of Him by the faith of Him not by our faith in Him
but by the faith of Him by the faith of the Lord Jesus what
is it that gives me confidence for eternity? the fact that our
Lord Jesus Christ was faithful and obedient unto death even
the death of the cross in my place and on my behalf and we
hold fast as Hebrews 3.16 says we hold fast the confidence and
the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end and though we know
a little bit but not a lot as John says in 1 John 3 to beloved
now are we the sons of God and it does not yet appear what we
shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like
him for we shall see him as he is there's a lot that we don't
know we definitely know this as Psalm 17 and verse 15 says
as for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied
when I awake with thy likeness this was his confidence this
is why he was prepared to die at Jerusalem for that name of
the Lord Jesus Christ as Job wrote in the midst of all of
his physical trials I know that my Redeemer lives and he shall
stand at the latter day upon the earth and the worms destroy
this body yet in my flesh shall I see God." And therefore, to
Paul, the testimony is what he wrote to the Philippians. Philippians
1.21, for to me, to live is Christ. To me, to really live is Christ. Oh, there's living, there's experiencing
things, but to me, to live is Christ now. But to die is gain. There's more Christ, there's
yet more. To live now is Christ, but to
die is gain. And so Paul was ready and filled
with confidence in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Am I ready? Am I? I ask myself honestly,
am I ready? Are you ready? He is our hope. Amen. Well, we're now going to sing
another hymn in the bulletin and it has what many would regard
as a bizarre title and a bizarre sentiment don't stand around
my grave and cry and i'm sure there would be some with them