All right, turn with me, if you
will, to the Song of Solomon, chapter 6. When you've found your place,
just hold your Bibles open and listen carefully for a moment. When Rebekah found two nations
struggling in her womb, she asked the Lord that which sooner or
later every believer will be compelled by his experience to
ask. Why am I thus? Paul asked the same question,
stating it really as a fact. I know that in me, that is, in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. The evil which I would not, that
I do. When I would do good, evil is
present with me. Why? Why am I in such a condition? Why is sin so prominent in my
nature? Why is evil always present with
me? Why is there a constant warfare
in my soul? These are questions that I am
asked by someone almost every day, almost every day, and questions
that I ask of myself continually. The Word of God alone supplies
us with the answer, and the answer is really very simple. That which
is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of spirit
is spirit. It's as simple and as profound
as that. All true believers are people
with two diametrically opposing natures, flesh and spirit. The old man, Adam, and the new
man, Christ Jesus. The new birth, is not a renovation
of the old man. It is not a reformation of the
old man. The new birth is not even a restoration. The new birth is a resurrection
from the dead. It is described in Revelation
chapter 20 and verse 6 as the first resurrection. The new birth
is not something that we arrive at by acquired knowledge. It
is not something that we achieve for ourselves, but rather it
is God by his Spirit with omnipotent mercy and grace that is irresistible,
giving life to dead sinners. It is Jesus Christ who is life,
planting himself in the hearts of chosen sinners. These two
natures, flesh and spirit, are constantly at war with one another.
The Spirit will never surrender to the flesh, and the flesh will
never bow to the Spirit. We are told plainly in Romans
8, we do not live after the flesh, and we do not walk after the
flesh. We live after the Spirit, and we walk in the Spirit. Every believer does. Paul said,
you, brethren, are not in the flesh. but in the Spirit. I'm
looking at folks who are sitting here in bodies of flesh. Paul
states plainly, by divine inspiration, you are not in the flesh. That is to say, you are no longer
living in the realm of condemnation, but rather in the realm of life
and liberty in Jesus Christ the Lord. Those who walk in the Spirit
Do not fulfill the lust of the flesh. If you walk in the Spirit,
you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Yet, we never escape
the lust of the flesh for a second. Never, never. We are never free
from this body of sin and death, not until we have dropped this
body of physical flesh in death. Now, painful as this condition
is, It is best for us for now. If it weren't, it wouldn't be.
Painful as it is to acknowledge, it is best that we be in this
world just as we are. If it were not best for us, our
God would not have so arranged it. We must never forget that
the only thing that distinguishes us from other people is distinguishing
grace, and so God has left us. to war with the flesh. We must
never forget that our only acceptance with God in His great holiness
is the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. He is all our wisdom, our only
wisdom. all our righteousness, our only
righteousness, all our sanctification, our only sanctification, and
all our redemption, our only redemption. And in order for
us to recognize this continually, the Lord God has left us here
warring in flesh and spirit. We must never, never, never,
never, never, never become content with life in this world, content
with God's providence, content with God's grace, content with
God's goodness, content with our Savior, but never content
to live in this world, but rather continually looking for that
blessed day when this earthly house and this tabernacle shall
be dissolved, we shall have a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens. longing for Christ and life eternal. And for those reasons, it is
best that for now we live in this world warring flesh against
spirit and spirit against flesh. Here in the Song of Solomon,
let's read chapter 6 beginning at verse 11. The Lord Jesus speaks
and says, I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits
of the valley. That is, I came to visit my church
and my people. And I'll just pause a moment.
He comes to visit his people in the valley. You can mark this
down. Wherever you find the hill of
Zion established, you will find her established in the valley. The scripture constantly speaks
of God's church and God's people in the valley. I know religion
likes to work up, whoop these stuff, you know, so you, oh,
I'm living on the mountain underneath the starry sky. I don't know
anything about that, and you don't either. You don't either.
If you've had any experience at all in the grace of God, we
have occasional, occasional times when the Lord soulless our spirits.
But most of us spend most of our time scratching from the
depths of the valley. But that's the way it ought to
be. That's the way it ought to be. You see, you folks here are
familiar, I'm sure, with high mountain ranges. You get real
high on the mountain and you'll find out that nothing grows there.
All you have is thin air that makes you dizzy. And that's just
about the way all religion is. Rich, fertile ground where God
plants and raises His people are valleys. valleys of his arranging. I went down to see the fruits
of the valleys, and to see whether the vine that he planted in the
valley flourished, and the pomegranates budded. Or, ever I was aware,
my soul made me like the chariots of Amenadim. Return, return,
O Shulamite, return, return, that we may look upon thee."
And then the Shulamites, the Church, the Christ's Bride, answered. What will you see in the Shulamites
as it were the company of two armies? In these verses, our
Lord speaks to his church not in a time of shame and sleeping
carnal ease, but rather speaks to his church in her very best
condition. She has now just begun to enjoy
blessed fellowship with him again. Christ has now returned to his
spouse. the breach she had made by her negligence and indifference,
he healed by his grace. Now there is a sweet renewal
of love and fellowship. And in verse 11, our Savior speaks
to his beloved church, and this is essentially what he says,
I had withdrawn myself from you, I gave no comfort to you for
a while, but even then I had my eye on you. My heart was fixed
on you. I watched over my garden with
tender love and care. Though you didn't see me, I saw
you, because I will never forsake the apple of my eye. I went down
to the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley." In
verse 12, our Savior tells us how it is that He was overcome
by our broken, aching hearts. how he anxiously returned to
his people who cried after him. Or ever I was aware, my soul
made me like chariots of a minidim. It is as though he said, I could
hide myself no longer. My love for me compelled me with
irresistible force to return to you. Almost before I knew
it. If you have a marginal translation
in your Bible, it reads like this. Almost before I knew it,
my soul set me on the chariots of my willing people. You remember
when Joseph's brethren, when Joseph first came to them, when
he had brought them at last to Egypt, and he hid himself from
them. He hid himself from them because
of their evil behavior. He hid himself from them because
he intended to do them good. He hid himself from them because
it was his purpose to bring them into the place of safety and
prosperity during a time of great need. But at last, he broke out
with a broken heart and tears, and he said, I am Joseph, and
here I stand for you. That's the picture we have here.
We ought to be a willing people seeking Christ Always seeking
Christ in love and faith and hope. And this love and faith
and hope that He alone gives will be like chariots to bring
unto us. If we continue seeking Him, He
will return to us. Seek Me with all your heart,
He promises, and you shall find Me. Matthew Henry put it this
way, No chariots sent for Christ shall ever return empty. Our
Lord, will return to us. He will return because of His
own great grace, mercy, love, and faithfulness. We can do nothing
to win His favor. He is gracious because He will
be gracious. He loves us because He will love
us. He returns to us because He will
return. He's ever faithful. Now look
at verse 13. The Lord Jesus, having returned to His beloved
church. Court, sir. You fellows aren't too old to
remember how you do that, are you? You woo the object of your love. You court her tenderly to draw
her heart to you. Listen to how he courts, how
he woos his church. Return, return, O Shulamite,
return, return, that we, the triune God, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, may look upon thee. And notice, Solomon chose his
bride, and espoused her to himself, giving her his name. This name
Shulamite would be better translated as Solomon, and perhaps it is
that way in the translation you use. The word is the feminine
name Solomon. He gives her his name. I know the tradition here has
been for some time, and it is beginning to be a tradition or
custom in the United States when a woman marries to keep her maiden
name. When that first started to be
manifest to me, my daughter was just a young girl, and I informed
her and informed her often, it would be a reproach to her father
as well as a reproach to her husband and a reproach to her
to refuse to take her husband's name. It's a reproach. Because
a woman who is married to a man finds her completeness, her fulfillment,
and her identity in that man. And I said to my daughter many,
many times as she was growing up, until you can find a man
in whom you are willing to find your completeness, your identity,
your fulfillment as a person, don't even think about marrying
such a man. The Lord Jesus Christ, like Solomon,
has made us so thoroughly one with himself that he gives us
his name. And when he gives us his name,
he doesn't just give us a name by which to be addressed, he
gives us himself. Hold your hands here and turn
to Jeremiah, chapter 23. Let me show you. Jeremiah, chapter
23, verse 6. In his days Judah shall be saved,
and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is the name whereby
he shall be called Jehovah-Septim, the Lord our righteousness."
Now, that's marvelous. Turn to chapter 33. I know that
many modern translations omit this passage, but they omit it
mistakenly, in my opinion. Jeremiah, chapter 33, verse 16. You have almost the identical
statement. In those days shall Judah be
saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name
wherewith Watch it now. She shall be called the Lord
our righteousness. He calls to the Shulamite, to
Solomon. Her name means perfection and
we are perfect, complete in Jesus Christ our Lord. washed in His
blood, spotless before God, robed in His righteousness, righteous
before God, glorious, holy, pure, and perfect in Him. This name,
Solomon or Shulamite, also means peace. Therefore, being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We are no longer at enmity with
God. Our consciences no longer accuse
us. When Brother Andrew stood here
to pray a moment ago, calling God our Father, and he began
to express all at this thing. Here we are, such things as we
are, knowing our corruption, our depravity, knowing something
of what we are, lift our eyes and our hearts to heaven. to
the ineffably glorious God of heaven and earth, whom we once
dreaded, who was once the terror of our minds and our consciences,
who was that which caused us constantly to quake before Him,
and now we lift our hearts to Him and say, My Father. Because He has made us accepted
as His sons and daughters in Jesus Christ the Lord. Not only
accepted with Christ, but accepted as Christ. And now, the warfare
between our souls and God is ended. God's sword of justice
has been sheathed in our Savior's own heart. And justice no longer
cries against us, but for us. back here in the Song of Solomon.
Our Lord graciously calls for us to return to it. Four times
He says, return, return. Oh, Solomon, return, return.
And so you see how willing Christ is for us to walk with Him in
sweet fellowship and communion. Return to me. Return to your
first simple faith. Some time ago I was asked to
preach on living in grace, and I was delighted to be asked.
I took from my text Colossians chapter 2 verse 6. As ye therefore
have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. How should believers live in
this world for the glory of God? Let me change that. How can a
believer Live in this world for the glory of God. There's only
one way. Exactly the way you first came
to Christ. How did you come to Him? What
did you bring? What was your state of mind?
How did you come to Him? Empty-handed, empty-hearted,
naked, filthy, with nothing to offer Him but sin. That's all. Believing Christ. Trusting Christ. alone as my righteousness, my
redeemment, trusting Christ alone for everything as I walk before
Him. That's how we honor God walking
in this world. If you grow one hair's breadth
above a sinner seeking mercy, you have outgrown grace. Return
to me. Return to your first tender love. Return to the place where first
you met me. Return to the cross, the place
of sacrifice where I redeemed you." Now, catch the next loving
words of our Savior. He says to His beloved and to
you and to me, return, return that we may look upon thee. Return that we may look upon
you in such a way that you behold God looking on you in favor,
looking on you in love, in forgiveness, in kindness, look upon you with
pleasantness and satisfaction. But then in the second line of
verse 13, the bride, the church speaks, the people of God, convinced
of her own sin, full of shame, she confesses her frustration,
not with him, but with herself. Why would he look on me? What
will he see in me? What will you see in Solomon? As it were, the company of two
armies. She's saying there's nothing
in me but conflict and confusion. In my heart are two armies at
war. If you look on me, you will see
nothing but raging strife, a raging battle, good fighting evil, light
contending with darkness. I'm not worth looking on. And
the house divided against itself. Do you know anything at all about
that? Do you know anything at all about what I'm talking about?
I hope you do. Most religious people don't.
I was preaching in California one week years ago. I go out
there six or seven times a week, a year rather. And this one time,
big conference, and I had two fellows walk up to me, one right
after the other. And I tried to be nice and bite my tongue.
This fellow came up to me and started to ask a question, but
when he prefaced his question with a statement, I knew he wasn't
interested in asking a question. He said, I'm really strong in
the Lord. And I looked at him and I said,
well, I'm sure you are. The fellow followed him. He started to ask
a question. He prefaced his question with
a statement. He said, you'd be astounded at how much I know.
And I said, I'm sure I would, and just walked away. That's
the feeling of most. But I'm going to tell you something.
Any man, any woman, young or old, who knows himself and knows
Christ, knows better. Any. This is the true and accurate
description of God's people. All God's elect experience continual
inward conflict between flesh and spirit. And it never gets
better. The warfare never lets up. There's
never an abatement. There's never a truce. There's
never a reprieve. The spirit never prevails over
the flesh, and the flesh never prevails over the spirit. And
the two continually fight against one another, day and night, all
the time. And the struggle just gets harder. Now, let me make four simple
statements concerning this. First, this inward warfare is
a fact of life in every believer's experience. Oh, thank God at
first. The newborn baby in Christ experiences
little of it for a brief period of time. But the believer's life
is not all rose-colored glasses. It's not all joy and peace. To
believe on Christ is to engage in a warfare. Faith in Christ
brings with it conflict. And I'm honest as I can be with
you. The conflicts I face are not nearly as strong outside
here. Now, I hate the society. I started to say the principles
of society. We live in a society that doesn't
have any principles. And I hate the immorality, the
homosexuality, the abortion, the murder, the pedophilia. What
a horrible word to use for that. The rape, the incest, everything. Oh, I hate it. I hate it. But I have something that concerns
me far more. What goes on right here. It's
far more difficult for me to live with. Far more so. All of
you who are God's children will sooner or later find out what
I'm talking about. These struggles between flesh
and spirit are evident enough to the unbelieving, to the unregenerate
religionist true believers are just confusing paradoxes. We're
the happiest, most mournful people in the world. The holiest, most
sinful people you can imagine. The richest and poorest people
on the earth. We are men and women who possess
perfect peace and are at war all the time. Now let me show
you how evident this is in scriptures. Look here in the Song of Solomon,
back in chapter 1, verse 5. Here's the first confession found
by the bride in this blessed, blessed song of love. I am black,
but comely. Here I am. There's nothing out
of hell so black as this man. Nothing. Nothing. And nothing
out of heaven so beautiful. In myself, blackness. and sin
in Christ's beauty and perfection, as the tents of Peter, those
dirty, dirty tents of Peter, and as the curtains of Solomon,
the beautiful curtains of Solomon's house. Chapter 3, verse 1, By
night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth. I sought
him, but I found him not. We saw it again in chapter 5
this morning. Our brother read Psalm 73 just
a little bit ago. David's house, oh my soul, David's
house, hated him and hated God. He had a house full of rebels,
a house full of rebels. And he looked out over the field
and thought about his neighbor, and he said, his neighbor, his
eyes bug out with fatness. He's got everything he could
possibly desire. His children never bother him, never give
him any trouble. They come home every Sunday and have lunch with
him, bring the grandchildren with them, and everything's great.
Everything he touches prospers. And look at me. And David said,
I almost said, I serve God for nothing. I've washed my hands
in innocency. And then I thought, I dare not
say that lest I offend against God's children. And then I went
into the house of God, and I was reminded. and made to understand. The reason his eyes bug out with
sadness, the reason he's got no trouble, the reason he lives
in ease and prosperity all the time is because God has determined
to kill him. God has set him in slippery places
and will bring him down. He said, Oh God, I was as a beast
before you. Turn to Romans chapter 7, Romans
7. Paul says in verse 14, We know
that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, soul under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I do, or for what I
would, that I do not. But what I hate, that I do. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then, now watch
this, it is no more I that do it. but sin that dwelleth in
me." In Galatians, he says concerning his life, this new life in Christ
Jesus, this life of faith, this life of righteousness, he said,
nevertheless, I live, not I, but Christ liveth in me. This
is the same thing right here. He says the evil that I do, that's
not me. That's not me. That's my daddy
Adam. That's sin dwelling in me. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For
the good that I would, I do not. But the evil that I hate, that
I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not,
it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find
then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with
me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man,
but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my
mind, bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in
my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself
serve the law, but with the flesh, I serve the law of God, but with
the flesh, the law of sin. One of our brethren, several
have prayed this week, referring to us bringing acceptable sacrifices. Sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving,
sacrifices of our hearts. And Peter tells us that these
sacrifices are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. We come and worship Him and we
bring Him our sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving and we are accepted
and our sacrifice is accepted because of Him. Because we are
one with Him and in Him. Paul says to the Romans, I beseech
you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present
your bodies a living sacrifice. That is, You and me, we who believe,
the multitude of believers present our bodies, plural, as one living
sacrifice. Well, how can we do that? Acceptable
to God by one sacrifice. Acceptable to God by Jesus Christ,
our Lord. The Lord God spoke when His Son
was baptized. He said, This is my beloved Son.
In whom? I am well pleased." He didn't
say with whom, he said in whom. Now hang on till you see. If
this doesn't ring your bell, I don't know what will. God Almighty
looks on His people in His Son and He is well pleased with His
own all the time. All the time. It never varies. Oh, but Brother Todd, you can't
say that to people. That'll open the floodgates to
sin. That'll make folks want to go
out and live like hell. Nobody will think like that who doesn't
presume he does something by which to make himself accepted
with God. That's just absolutely contrary to good sense, much
less grace. That is turning the grace of
our God into lasciviousness to suggest that free grace will
cause folks to live in licentiousness. That's totally contrary to everything
revealed in Scripture. No, no. Our acceptance with God
does not vary at all. Not with our good deeds or our
bad. Not with our purity nor our sinfulness. Not with our highest elevations
of praise or our lowest depravity. Our acceptance with God is totally
in the doing and dying of our substitutes. nowhere else. Now
as we see these terrible inward conflicts in our daily experience,
the believer is constrained to ask why. We have a corrupt nature
in us and a nature that can do nothing but sin. And we have
within us a righteous nature, a nature that can do nothing
but righteousness. And between these two forces
Good and evil, righteousness and sin, there is no peace. Turn
to 1 John 3. In verse 5, we're told, you know
that he was manifested to take away our sins. Either he did
it or he didn't. And in him is no sin. In him
personally is no sin. Yes, sir, that's certainly true.
In him representatively is no sin. Look in verse 7. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as He is righteous. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, exactly to the same degree, in the same measure as
Jesus Christ, our Mediator, who took away our sin, is righteous. He that committeth sin is of
the devil. For the devil sinneth from the
beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifest, that
he might destroy the works of the devil. Now watch verse 9.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin ever. The word ever, I added. That's
exactly what the text is saying. Well, how do you know that? Look
at the next line. For his seed remaineth in him,
and he cannot sin. Because he's born of God. What
is that new man in you? It's Christ in you. It is that
holy thing that's born of God. And it cannot sin. And Paul says
this clearly. It's not me, but sin that dwelleth
in me. So that the believer lives continually
with this holy seed born of God and this ugly, sinful seed born
of Adam. The conflict is caused by and
begins in regeneration. The new birth gives us a new
nature, a new nature planted in us, but the old nature of
sin is not eradicated. That's the second thing I want
you to see. Don't ever imagine for a moment
that the old nature dies in regeneration or even gets better or lessens
in evil or lessens in power. is flesh, nothing else. The Lord God, in His Word, has
given us repeated examples of the noblest of men. Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord, and then Noah was drunk as a
skunk. Lot, righteous, righteous Lot,
righteous Lot. Read the account in Genesis,
would you please? And find me any solitary thing,
righteous Lot, ever said or did that's recorded in scripture
that some religious fool would look at and say, now we know
Brother Lott was a righteous man, because look what he did.
Find me one example. Find me one example. But God
refers to him as Righteous Lott, who vexed his righteous soul
from day to day. But Righteous Lott, in drunken
stupors, twice, two nights in a row, commits incest with his
own daughter. as a result of his ungodly behavior. David, that man after God's own
heart, David, David takes Bathsheba and murdered his faithful friend
to cover his crimes. You say, well, a believer wouldn't
do that for very long, wouldn't he? A year, a year, David covered
his crimes. A year, David hid what he had
done and would have continued to do so if God hadn't sent his
prophet by his Spirit to reprove his sin. So I just don't believe
a believer would do that. Now what you're really saying
is I don't believe I'd do that. There's not anything you won't do if
God leaves you to do it. Nothing you won't do. You mean
no limitation? The limitations of the corruption
of your heart, no more. And the Scripture speaks of these
things, describes them for us with no mitigating circumstance. to make us understand exactly
what I'm trying to tell you. We need no further proof of what
I'm saying beyond an honest examination of our own hearts and lives.
Tell me, before God saved you, any of you, any of you, before
God saved you, did you ever imagine that a believer could be possessed
with the thoughts you are often possessed with? Before God saved
you, did you ever imagine that a child of God could love Christ
so little and himself so much. Did you ever imagine that one
who is redeemed by the blood of Christ could find it so hard
to believe God and so easy not to believe God? I never dreamed
such. But one morning, God awakened
me to reality. I find it as I read this book
I can read almost anything else. I can lay down at night, start
to read and relax a little bit. I'll get home from the office.
I can be dog-tired, just dog-tired, and I can pick up almost anything
and read it, and I'll get wide awake. If I want to go to sleep
quick, just take this book up and read it. Why? Because of what I am by nature. Because of this warfare within
me. Here's the third thing. These
inward conflicts do have some good effect. So, Brother Don,
how on earth can any good come from this? This much I'm certain
of. I'm certain. When we get to the
other side of this warfare, we will, everyone, look back upon
even those things that make us weep in bitter repentance now
with gratitude, because our God in His infinite mercy overrules
evil for good, even the evil that's in us and done by us. Our God graciously and wisely
in infinite wisdom that no man can begin to explain works even
this together for good to His own. More than that, while we
live here, our struggles with sin, tend in some measure to
humble us and curb our pride, and ought to make us lenient
and gracious, forgiving and forbearing of one another in love. My friend,
Evangelic, is in Christ. I am commanded of God, and I
ought always to find it my great delight to esteem Him better
than me." Well, how can you do that? Because I don't know much
about what's inside him. And I know a lot about what's
inside me. And I know he's in Christ. That
makes him perfect. That makes him perfect. Bite
your tongue next time you start to say something about him. Bite
it off if you have to. He's your brother. Esteem each
the other better, not equal to, better than himself. He's in
Christ. I just can't do that. If you
ever find out what I'm talking about, if God will give you grace
to do so, you can, and delight in it. Our struggles with sin
have this tendency. The Lord God keeps knocking the
crutches out from under us. He keeps knocking the props out
from under us, forcing us to lean on Christ, to lean on Christ,
to lean all the weight of my soul on such Salvation is of
the Lord. And we learn to rejoice when
it is. Our struggles with sin tend to make us prize His faithfulness. When I was 17 years old and first
started preaching, I preached a sermon on God's faithfulness.
Any of you 17, 18, 20 year old fellas start thinking about doing
that, I advise you not to. I advise you not to. The sermon
was true. Every word of it was true, but
I didn't have a clue what I was talking about. I didn't have
a clue because I'd never experienced it. Forty years later, oh, how
I prize the faithfulness of God. One more thing. Turn to the book
of Jude. Bless God, the warfare will soon
be over. Oh, that I might know him and
the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering,
being made conformable to Him in His death. Oh, am I so knowing
Him soon, soon? That's exactly how I'll know
Him perfectly. No sin, no regrets, no sorrows,
no tears forever. Because He has done all things
well. And at the end, we read in Jude
20, 24, now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling
and to present fall before the presence of His glory with exceeding
joy. I don't know which will be greater,
his or mine. To the only wise God, our Savior,
be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. My brothers, my sisters,
so long as we live in this world, we will be as a company of two
armies. So I give you this one final word of admonition. Keep
yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our
Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Rest your soul on Christ,
your Sabbath. Oh, blessed is that man who so
rests his soul on Christ Jesus the Lord. He truly calls the
Sabbath a delight. I recall, I was telling one of
Alan's boys, Steven and Peter Wood, twenty years ago, And we
were all sitting around one Sunday afternoon, and I kind of acted
like I didn't know what I was doing, but I did. I'm a little
bit sneaky that way. And the kids were all standing
around with their hands in their pockets looking like they were just bored
out of their minds. And I said, y'all want to play
some ball? Man, you would have thought I had stripped off naked
and gone dancing. I mean, folks were, this is the
Sabbath, baby, don't do that on the Sabbath. Christ is our Sabbath day, and
if Christ is our Sabbath day, we are forbidden to keep another. That's exactly right. Read Colossians
2.16. It's not an option. We're forbidden.
If you keep a Sabbath day, you may as well sacrifice the Paschal
Lamb on Passover day. It's the same thing. Christ is
our rest. Folks in the Old Testament were
forbidden to pick up sticks on the Sabbath day, and if you did,
you're dead. Why? Because that was a portrayal
of redemption and salvation in Christ alone, without you pitching
in anything! And I'm telling you, if you pitch
in anything, in the beginning, in the process, or in the end,
God will kill you. God will send you to hell. Our
whole salvation is Christ Jesus the Lord, and we rest in Him. Our Heavenly Father. Oh God,
our Father. Thank you for free salvation.
Thank you for not leaving us to ourselves in darkness and
death and sin, but for giving us life, liberty, blessed, blessed
life and liberty in Jesus Christ. Thank you, thank you, thank you
for Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. Turn us, O God
of our salvation, turn us continually unto you, and we shall be saved
day after day and forever. Now, I thank you for the blessed,
joyous privilege of having these new friends brought into my life.
God, will you bless them and keep them and use them for your
glory. Grant your blessings on this
assembly, this dear pastor, these elders. These faithful, faithful
ones whom you've made faithful, God used them for Christ's sake
in this generation. Amen.