I want to begin my message tonight
in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Do something a little different.
I like to give a little variety now and then. So tonight, I want
to get you to my text, The Last Thing, and give you the title
of the message, The Last Thing. So you just hang on and follow
along as I go through the scriptures for a minute. Here in 1 Corinthians 1, Paul
is addressing the saints at Corinth. Now try to remember the reason
he's writing them. This church was in a peck of
a mess. I meant a peck of a mess, that's
what I said. They had lots of difficulties. Incest, vain worshiping of preachers,
and the notion that somehow by cutting themselves off from physical
things having to do with the flesh, such as marriage, having
children, wives, husbands, and so on, somehow they made themselves
holy before God, boasting in spiritual gifts, all of those
things. And I would expect him to begin
writing the letter by giving a word of great warning. Maybe
even a threat. But he writes the letter. That
cat's in here somewhere. Find him. Oh, outside the door,
go kick him in the teeth. He writes the letter. And he
begins his letter by speaking to these folks a word of kindness,
of grace, of assurance, and of peace. Look at it. He writes
to these and says, he's speaking in verse two, to them who are
sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be saints. Verse three, grace be unto you
and peace from God our father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God,
which is given you by Jesus Christ, that in everything, You, you
Corinthian believers, are enriched by Him in all utterance and in
all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you,
so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now watch this promise. Who shall
also confirm you unto the end, that you may be blameless in
the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now is it possible for such people
as these Corinthian believers to have confidence that they
would be kept of God, kept of God in his grace, and at last
presented before his throne blameless in the day of Jesus Christ? Is
it possible for such sinners as we are, knowing something
of our own corruption, to be confident of such great salvation
and such blessed security? If it depends on you or me, on
our works, on our experiences, on our feelings. If it depends
in any measure upon us, no, such salvation is not possible. But
read on, look at verse nine. God is faithful by whom you were
called unto the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. What a word of grace. I'm often
asked by particularly young preachers, as I get older, if I have a little
easier time preaching. And I try to not always say exactly
what I think, but my thinking is, my friend, if God's called
you to preach the gospel, you're in for a great awakening. Seeking
God's message. for eternity bound men and women,
seeking a message for you today, knowing that you live in a world
full of pain and heartache and woe. Knowing that you carry in
your souls great trouble, knowing that you face trials and troubles
and temptations and difficulties day after day, seeking a message
for you for this hour is no easy task. Seeking a message for eternally
bound men and women living in a world of great sin with hearts
full of sin is no easy task. I find for myself, the longer
I carry it and the more I know of the responsibility of doing
so, that which the old prophets called the burden of the word
of the Lord gets heavier and heavier all the time. I have
more difficulty now trying to find a message. and preach in
the power of God's Spirit that message to your hearts than I
ever have in my life because I have some concerns. I'm concerned
for your souls. I want you to know the Son of
God. I want you to know Him whom to
know aright is life eternal. I want you to know the blessedness
of complete redemption by His blood, a perfect righteousness
in Him. I want you to know the sweet
peace of God that passeth understanding being reconciled to Him. I want
you to know the blessedness of His adorable, wise, and good
providence. And I have concern for you who
know Him. I want you to be kept in Him,
kept in the love of God in Christ, steadfast in faith unto the end. For you who are sanctified in
Jesus Christ and called to be saints, I am completely confident
in this regard. This is my great consolation
as a preacher, as your pastor, as your friend. God is faithful
by whom you were called under the fellowship of his son, Jesus
Christ. Paul said to the Philippians,
faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. He which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. The faithfulness of our covenant
God assures me that all who are now dearly beloved and longed
for will soon be my joy and crown before him. And I'm aware that
you have concerns too. I want so much every time you
come here to have a message from God for you that will be like
the snow of Lebanon, as Jeremiah described it, or as cold flowing
waters to your soul to refresh you day by day. I pray and I
hope that you pray that God will speak by me to your hearts. Now here in 1 Corinthians 1.9,
Paul speaks of us being called unto the fellowship of Jesus
Christ. What on earth is he talking about?
Called unto the fellowship of Jesus Christ. Sometimes God hides
his face from us. and refuses to let us see his
smile. He sometimes places over us dark
clouds and heaviness. He sometimes causes us to go
through great difficulties, both without and within. And he does
it to expose our own corruptions to us. to make us aware of who
and what we are. He does it to make us seek his
face, to make us aware of our constant need of his grace, and
to make us call upon him in prayer. David found himself in this position
when he said, there is but a step between me and death. how utterly desperate the man
was. Job found the same thing when
he sighed, the arrows of the Almighty are within me. He cried,
oh, that it were with me as in months past. How often. Oh, that it were with me as in
months past, as in the days when God preserved me, when his candle
shined upon my head, when by his light I walked through darkness. In such times, how cheering it
is. to know that he has called us
unto the fellowship of Jesus Christ, his son, and that he
who has called us is faithful. Faithful to cause us to have
that which is given us in his son, Jesus Christ, and faithful
to keep us in his grace. It simply means that all who
believe, you and I trust in Christ, looking to Him alone as our Savior. Now, what I'm about to say is
just almost more than I can think, much less declare. You and I
who believe have all things in common with Jesus Christ. God's darling son, our mediator. Can you grasp that? All things
in common with Him who is our Savior. Let me just call your
attention to a few things that I think will help you. When we
have fellowship with one another, someone read the other night
back in the office of Acts chapter 2. When we have fellowship with
one another, we have all things in common. We read about those
early disciples of the early gospel age, that they were of
one heart and of one soul. Neither said any that ought of
the things which he possessed were his own, but they had all
things in common. This is what John urges us to
and desires for us. He says, that which we have seen
and heard, declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship
with us. The same expressions are used
here. Ye are called unto the fellowship of his son. What boundless
grace, what indescribable mercy. We who are creatures of sin and
shame are now made to have all things in common with God's darling
son, our mediator and our covenant surety. Is he loved of God? Loved of God perfectly, completely,
and eternally? Indeed He is. We have been called
unto the fellowship of that same love so that we now have fellowship
in this love of God, having the love of God that's in Christ
just as He has it. When our Savior was about to
leave this world, He said to His disciples, I go to my Father.
When he died, he cried, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. When he entered into heaven and
passed through the opening ranks of adoring angels, the father
said, Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee.
What a blessing exchange he made. He left the frowns and curses
of the world for the embrace of his father's arms. He left
the outpoured wrath of God upon him so that he was forsaken of
the Father for the full sunshine of his Father's constant smile.
He left the crown of thorns for the crown of glory. Now, do you
trust him? Do you trust him? What an exchange
you have made, who have fled for refuge to Jesus Christ the
Lord. He said, I ascend unto my Father
and to your Father, to my God and to your God. He is as much
your Father as he is Christ's Father, as much your God as he
is Christ's God. Turn to John 17. The Father loves you, my brother,
my sister. with the same, full, unchanging,
satisfying love with which he loves the Lord Jesus. All that
the Father gave him is yours in him. John 17, 5. And now,
O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory
which I had with thee before the world was. Verse 22. And the glory which thou gavest
me, I have given them. That glory which you gave me,
I've given them. That they may be one even as
we are one. Now watch this. I in them, and
thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the
world may know that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved
me. Now there it's declared. God
the Father, loved you with everlasting love, just as he loved his son. And then he says something else
about this love. Look at verse 26. And I have declared unto
them thy name and will declare that as I've revealed God to
them and in them, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me
may be in them. In the revelation of Christ in
you. in the giving of grace and salvation
to you, the Lord God Almighty declares that the love wherewith
he loved that man who set yonder in glory, having perfectly fulfilled
all righteousness, his own dear son, that love wherewith he loved
him is love with which he loves you. That the love wherewith
thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them. Oh, we who
were the heirs of hell have been made in Christ to be heirs of
God and joint heirs with Christ. Brother Milton Howard, sometime
back, sent me a recording of some of his songs. We listened
to some of them going out the other day. One of those great,
great songs he sings is, I was lost and undone without God or
His Son when He reached down His hand for me. Oh, He lifted
us from the deep miry pit and set us up high on the rock Christ
Jesus made us to be the sons of God. The Father loves the
Son. as our mediator, and loves us
in the Son exactly as He loves the Son. Remember what our Savior
said in John 10? He said, therefore doth my Father
love me? He said, I have a commandment
from God, and because I obey that commandment, the Father
loves me. Now wait a minute. not in his essential deity, but
he's talking about a love which he has earned and merited by
his obedience to God in the full perfection of obedience as a
man. Now, the father loving the son
because he fully deserves it, loves his own in the son because
in him we are made worthy of God's love and God's smile. He loves us for the same reason
as He loves His Son. Loves us, looking on us in His
Son from eternity with an everlasting love of complacency and delight.
And loves us as He loves His Son immutably with an unchanging,
fixed, perfect love. Our text we read here in 1 Corinthians
1.9 says, God is faithful by whom ye are called under the
fellowship of his son. Is he faithful to Christ? Be
assured, he is. And as faithful as he is to Christ,
just that faithful he is to your soul and mine. Just that faithful. How often we think to ourselves
whenever we have some little thing come up where the Lord
has forsaken me. God has forgotten me." But that's
never true. The Lord Jesus was once forsaken
when he was made sin for us, forsaken by the Father that we
might never be forsaken by him. What a soft pillow this is for
our souls. I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. Do you remember the shepherd's
statement? My sheep hear my voice, and they
follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand." We are aware of some of the difficulties we
face. Satan wants you. He wants to destroy you. He is
as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. but he can never
have you. The world lays snares for your
soul, but the snares will never take you. Your own wicked heart
would sometimes be for leaving the hand that has saved you.
Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I
love. but even your own wicked heart
can never destroy you who are kept by the power of God in Christ. None can pluck you out of your
savior's hand. None can pluck you out of your
father's hand. None can ever break the grip
of his grace. Did the father say of his son,
thou art my servant, I have chosen thee and will not cast thee away. That's his word to you in his
son. The soul united to Christ is
not like the grass that withers, but rather is like a tree, a
tree of righteousness planted by the rivers of water that brings
forth fruit into its old age that even until the end of its
days is full of sap and life. To show that the Lord is upright,
he is my rock. and there is no unrighteousness
in him, so he keeps his own by his matchless grace." At the
very time when Zion cried, my God has forgotten me, we read
in Isaiah 49 that he had engraved the walls of Zion upon his hand. Ever look to Christ. That's what
I'm saying. Ever trust him. Ever believe
him. Ever rest your soul on him. Your
security, your blessedness, your salvation, your acceptance with
God is not in you. It's Christ and Christ alone.
God's promises. Paul tells us the promises of
God in Christ Jesus are yea and amen. Now that speaks to many,
many things, but God, the father, The triune God made some promises
to his son as our mediator. He said to his son, I will be
with you. He said to his son, I will uphold
you. He said to his son, you shall
not be confounded. He said to his son that he would
make him to have for his possession the uttermost parts of the earth.
He promised his son that he would make him triumphant and call
all his enemies to be brought in subjection under his feet
so that he would have dominion over all. Now listen to me, what
God promised his son, He promised just as surely to Bobby Estes
and his son. He will strengthen you. He will
uphold you. He will sustain you. He will
give you the earth and all the nations of the earth and make
you triumphant over all your foes before he gets done. The
God of peace shall brew Satan under your heels shortly. All
right. Now, let's turn to Isaiah chapter
50. Isaiah 50. This is one of those texts I've
been mulling over for a long, long time. I want us to pause
for just a few minutes and consider one of the sweetest and most
profound things revealed in Holy Scripture. None's more important,
none's more precious. Isaiah 50. Now remember, the
context is talking about Christ, Jehovah's servant. He is that
one described in verses five through seven who opened his
ears, who gave his back to the smiters, his cheeks to them that
plucked off the hair, who was not rebased, neither turned away
back, being assured that he is near that will help me, being
confident he would not be confounded because the Father had promised
that he would be with him. Now in verse eight, look what
the Savior says. He is near that justifieth me. What sustained
him? in the midst of his great troubles
in this world. When our Lord Jesus was tempted
of the devil, he simply takes refuge in God, his father, and
our father. When he was accused of blasphemy,
he never uttered his word, a word to defend himself, not a word.
When he was accused of being a winebibber and a glutton, a
drunk and a glutton, he didn't say a word. He didn't say a word.
When his own brothers and sisters, his own kinsmen said the man's
beside himself, he didn't respond to a thing, not a thing. Why? Because he is near that justifies
me. What peace. What blessed, sweet,
sweet peace. Watch this. Who will contend
with me? He is near that justifies me. Who will contend with me? Who is my adversary? Let him
come near to me. And now these are the words of
the Son of God, our mediator. Let all hell and all the world
come against me. It's all right. He is near that
justifies me. Now that which God Almighty gives
to His Son, He gives to us in His Son. We are called unto the
fellowship of Jesus Christ, God's Son. That means, Rex, as God
Almighty, in all the fullness of His being, was near to Christ,
justifying Him all the time. So He is near that justifies
you. He is near that justifies me. What a blessed thought. Once
our Redeemer was unjustified, Once there were countless untold
millions of sins laid to his charge and made to be his. Men
and devils and even his holy father hurled their fierce accusations
at him. But he stood silent. He answered
not a word. Although he did no sin, neither
was any guile found in his mouth. Yet he had agreed to be made
sin for us. And therefore, before his accusers,
he was dumb. That was his agony when he was
in the garden. That was his great agony upon
the cursed tree. He was made to stand before the
bar of God unjustified, condemned because he was made sin for us. He was numbered with the transgressors.
His only comfort in the midst of all these things, he is near
that justifies me. And with that, his soul is sustained.
What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour,
but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy
name. The hour of darkness now is over. The wrath of God fell upon him
and is now done. The thunder clouds spent their
lightnings upon his head. The vials of God's anger and
wrath emptied themselves upon him. The sword of justice buried
itself in him. Is He yours? Do you believe the
Son of God? Then believe the record God gave
concerning His Son. God has called us unto the fellowship
of His Son. And we are one with Christ. Now this is what that means.
When He suffered, you suffered. When He obeyed, you obeyed. When He died, you died. And you are now and forever as
fully justified before God Almighty as God's darling Son. You are
now and forever as free from guilt as Christ Himself is free
from guilt. As free from sin as Christ Himself
is free from sin. He was manifested to take away
our sins and in Him is no sin. the vials of God's holy anger,
wrath, and justice, not one drop is left to be poured upon God's
sword. Blessed be His name. Not one
drop is left to be poured upon us. This is the one thing I want
you to see and take home with you. He is near that justifies
me. Have you ever noticed that our
justification by God is declared to be not only that which was
done in eternity, that which was accomplished at Calvary,
that which we receive by faith, but it is an ongoing, continual
thing. Three times the word justify
is used in the present tense, here in Isaiah 50, in Romans
chapter 4, and in Romans chapter 8. Who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, faith is counted
for righteousness." Well, what does this mean? Does that imply
somehow that justification is continually being accomplished?
Of course not. You know better than that. But
it means something special. It means He is near. that justifies
me." Now, I showed you in the context here. This is what's
said concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to Romans chapter
8. The Apostle Paul, writing by divine inspiration, takes
these very same words spoken by the mouth of our mediator
and makes them to be his own. Romans 8 verse 31. What shall we then say to these
things, if God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather than is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us
from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus? Nothing and nobody. How come? Because He is near
that justifies me. God the Father gave his darling
son up to death to justify us. God the Son, our ever-blessed
Christ, was delivered to death because of our offenses and raised
again because of our justification. God the Father gave his son over
to the hands of justice because he was made sin, and he raised
him up from the dead because justification was accomplished
by him. And God the Holy Spirit, is that
one of whom Paul writes when he says Christ was justified
in the spirit in his resurrection. It could not have been, had justice
not been satisfied, that our Savior rose from the dead and
ascended up into heaven. But over and above these things,
glorious as they are, this is the foundation of our hope and
we rejoice in it. And this is what gives us comfort.
Mark it down. As God the Father, in all the
fullness of His being, was near His Son, justified Him, declaring
Him just, declaring Him righteous, declaring Him holy. So God Almighty,
in all the fullness of His being, is near, justifying you. The Charter of Grace, Our pardon
written down in the letters of Christ's precious blood is always
near. It is always at hand. And here
it stands on record. God is now just and the justifier
of him that believeth. Now, I have been, this is what's
been going through my mind and my heart for weeks. I am so thankful,
so thankful. that God the Holy Spirit put
these words in the present tense that justifieth us. How come? Because doubts arise in my mind concerning this matter. They
shouldn't, but they do. I hear folks, sometimes they
say, if you doubt, you're damned. And others say, if you don't,
you're damned. The fact is, we struggle with such things, don't
we? And when doubts arise, the Lord Jesus is near to turn our
hearts and our minds away from ourselves. You see, our acceptance
with God, our salvation, our righteousness, our standing before
God is altogether outside our experience and outside ourselves.
It's Christ. He accomplished it. But we get
to looking in here. We get to looking for something
in here to give us some peace, something to give us some satisfaction.
And when we do, We swell with pride and self-righteousness
for a little while until our burble busts and then we are
crushed because we recognize there's nothing inside us, nothing
inside us that God Almighty could ever accept, nothing. In me that is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. But he's near who declares me
just. And he says, my blood has washed
away all your sins. My righteousness clothes you. I brought salvation with my own
arm. I magnified the law and made
it honorable. And I have blotted out as a thick
cloud all your sins. Sometimes the law seems to revive
its claims. Justice seems to rise up against
us. Satan roars and accuses us. Fears and doubts arise and creep
into our own hearts because of our own corruptions. And when
they do, he is near that justifies me. There is therefore now. Isn't that a good word? Now. No matter what now is. There
is therefore now. No matter what you are like now. There is therefore now. No matter
what you feel now. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus, who will continue with me. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect, it's God that
justifies. There is no sin in the book of
God against his people. As Christ Being justified from
all sin is freed from sin, and so sin now has nothing to do
with him. So we in Christ are justified
from all sin, made free from sin, and in him is no sin. Oh, God our Father, may indeed
he does, he must stretch out his rod to correct us. And when he stretches out his
rod to correct us, his face appears angry. When our little girl was growing
up, I often had to show her a frowning face. I often had to show her
a frowning face because I love her dearly. And I was determined
to make her know my displeasure at that which she did, which
was hurtful to herself. So that she looks up as I draw
back the paddle to swat her on the behind, and she sees anger. But honestly, there was no anger. There was no anger. Only the
deepest love for her very being. And God in Christ has no punitive
judgment against us. There is no more penalty to be
satisfied. He never lays one stroke upon
us because justice must be satisfied, sin must be punished. That was
done at Calvary. But rather, the rod of chastisement,
when he shows his frowning and displeasure at the evil in us
and done by us, is but the evidence of his everlasting love for us. The more the clouds gather over
you, the more your heart is made heavy, the more you are tried
and chastened of the Lord, the more reason you have to be convinced
that God in the totality of his being is bent toward you in everlasting
love. He is near that justifies me. Would you be justified of God?
I mean, would you go home this day with no guilt before God
and no possibility of ever gathering in Him? Trust Christ the Lord. Would you walk with God in peace? Believe Jesus Christ and lean
hard upon Him who is near that justifies you. Write this down
in the book of your memory and rejoice. He is near that justifies me. So let men say what they will.
And let men do what they will. And let hell breathe what accusations
it will breathe. I'll laugh. I'll laugh. He is near that justifies
me. And when my own heart would condemn
me, God is greater than our hearts. He is near that justifies me. So none shall condemn to endless
flames the chosen people of our God. He has, by grace, written
our names in the book, the Lamb's Book of Life, slain from the
foundation of the world. Amen. All right. Song is a graceful number.