In Mark, the ninth chapter, the
disciples, as we saw this morning, were with the Lord in the mouth
of transfiguration, and they saw the Lord Jesus transfigured
before them. They saw Christ in his glory
as no man ever saw him on this earth. They had such a dazzling,
dazzling revelation of Jesus Christ in his glory that they
were overcome by it. They were terrified. They were
just terrified. They saw Moses and Elijah talking
to him and they fell to the ground. And that's commonly the case
when sinners meet the Son of God and see him as he is. If you ever see Jesus Christ
truly in his glory and understand yourself to be a sinner, You'll
be terrified, you'll be terrified because he is holy and you're
sin. He is almighty, you're nothing. He is that one who swears that
he will by no means clear the guilty and yet at the same time
that one by whom alone the guilty can be cleared. And you are nothing
but guilt and sin before him. You're utterly helpless before
him. He is altogether almighty God our Savior. Whenever men
in the Old Testament saw him, they fell at his feet. They fell
and just, they swooned before him. And the same was true in
the near. Manoah saw the Lord Jesus Christ, the pre-incarnate
vision of the Lord Jesus. And he said, we've seen God,
we're going to die. We're going to die. Isaiah saw
him and he said, woe is me, for I'm a man of unclean lips and
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. When Daniel
saw him, he feared and quaked. When Ezekiel saw him, his knees
turned to jelly. When John the Apostle saw him,
he fell at his feet as one dead. And if ever you see him, I promise
you, you'll follow his feet. You'll follow his feet. And if
truly you see Christ in his glory, you will come to see what the
apostles here saw, Jesus only. everywhere and in all things. Look here in Mark chapter 9 verse
8. The scripture tells us here that
the disciples when they looked up suddenly, they looked up round
about. Moses was gone and Elijah was
gone. They saw no man anymore save
Jesus only. Now that's a very simple text
of scripture and I'm going to tell you in advance that I'm
going to elaborate upon it a bit more than what is found specifically
in this text and I'm not intending by any means to give a theological
exposition or to dazzle you with any brilliance or with any learning
or with any spellbinding oratory but I want by the grace of God
to lead you to meditate upon and to see and to know and to
worship Jesus only. Oh, if God will let me speak
to you and so enable you by his grace to see his dear son, then
I shall be perfectly content if he never lets me do another
thing. So listen carefully as we look
into the word of God. I want to begin in Luke chapter
24. We're going to look at several
texts of Scripture. You can jot them down or you
can turn and look at them as we go along. But we will begin
in Luke chapter 24. This I know. When the holy law of God is both
honored and silenced, and you look up to see the one by whose
obedience and by whose blood the law of God has been honored
and the law of God has been silenced for you, you will see no man
save Jesus only. When all the visions of the prophets
in the Old Testament, all those deep mysterious things that cause
so much confusion to so many, when all their promises and all
their predictions have been fulfilled and you see that one in whom
they are fulfilled, you will see no one Jesus only. This book was written to reveal
to you and me Jesus Christ the Son of God and that is its only
purpose. Did you hear me? You can write
it down now and mark it down. I know that even for some of
you who listen to me all the time you think well surely there's
more to this than that. This book has been written by
the Spirit of God. to reveal Jesus only to you and
me. It has no other purpose. It has
no other purpose. I want to show you that from
the scriptures. If you take out Jesus Christ and him crucified
from this book, all you have is processed wood with leather
bindings and gilted edges. That's all you've got. Jesus
Christ crucified, the person and work of Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, is the whole message of divine revelation. Look here
in Luke chapter 24, verse 27. Our Lord is walking with the
disciples on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection. He's
not made himself known and he just talked to the disciples
by the way. And these two disciples he spoke of, they didn't understand
what had taken place at And the Lord Jesus spoke to them, explained
it to them. He said, He said, O fools and
slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
You've got the book. You quote the book. You recite from the book. You
say you believe the book, but you don't understand what the
prophets wrote. He says in verse 26, Ought not Christ who has
suffered these things and enter into his glory? That's what was
written in the prophets. Now look at it, verse 27. And
beginning at Moses, If you have a margin in your Bible, you want
to know what that's talking about? That's talking about beginning at Genesis
chapter 1 verse 1. Beginning at Moses. And in all
the prophets. Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 going
all the way through to Malachi chapter 4. All the way through.
Moses and all the prophets. That's the whole Old Testament.
The whole Old Testament. He expanded unto them. in all
the scriptures, just in case you miss it, in all the scriptures,
the things concerning himself. Now look in chapter 24 of Luke
in verse 44. He said unto them, these are
the words which I spoke to you while I was yet with you, that
all things must be fulfilled, get it now, which were written
in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me. That was the common division
given by the Jews to the Old Testament Scriptures. The law,
the prophets, and the Psalms. And our Lord said, now these
things written in the Scriptures, in the law, the prophets, and
the Psalms, were written concerning me. Then opened he their understanding. Oh, would to God he would do
that to you. Then opened he their understanding. that they might understand the
scriptures. This is not a Baptist book. It's
not a Presbyterian book. It's not a Calvinist book. It's
not an Arminian book. It's a Jesus book. It's all about
him, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It's all about the crucified
Lord of Glory, who is our Redeemer, our substitute, and our Savior.
Verse 46, thus it is written, thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead The third day. This is what was written
in the scriptures. And if you just listened, you'd
have known it, he said. If you just paid attention, you'd
have known it. Our Lord in the text we have
here before us this evening in Mark chapter 9, in the preceding
chapter, he had told them that Christ must suffer and die. Here
in Mark 9, he said, now, don't you don't you care what you've
seen until I've been risen from the dead the third day. And they
went away scratching their chins. What's he talking about rising
from the dead? If you'd just listen, you'd understand. And
I'm telling you, if you would just open this book and compare
Scripture with Scripture, you'd see that this utterly simplistic
approach, this utterly simplistic understanding of Holy Scripture
is the only thing that makes any sense. It's the only thing
that makes any sense. So this book is altogether about
Jesus only. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It is written of God so that
you and I, chosen redeemed sinners, may come to know the living God
in the person of his dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now secondly,
I want you to understand this evening that Jesus only is not
only the whole of divine revelation, but Jesus only is our God. Now I said that exactly the way
I wanted to say it. Jesus only is our God. I do not of course mean or insinuate
in any way that the other persons of the Holy Trinity do not exist
or are any less divine than he. The Father is God and the Spirit
is God. We recognize that there is one
God and three glorious persons, Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All three of these persons are vitally involved in the work
of our salvation. We've seen it many, many times.
We were chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and called
by the Holy Spirit. There are many, many other examples
of what is done by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
in the saving of our souls. However, I do mean for you to
understand this. Word to God, I could shout it
from the housetops and all the world hear me. The God we know,
all of God that we know, All of God whom we are aware of,
whom we address, whom we speak to, and who speaks to us. All
of God that we shall ever see on this earth or in the world
to come. All of God we shall ever know
in this world or in the world to come is the God-man, Jesus
Christ, our Redeemer. Now, Jesus Christ is the totality
of the revelation of the eternal triune God. In him, in his physical
body, resides all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Well brother
Don, are you saying that Jesus is God? No, God said that. He loved the church and gave
himself for it and were admonished to feed the church of God which
God purchased with his own blood. But God's the spirit, I know
that. But if he's the spirit, he doesn't have any blood. I
understand that. God incarnate, however, is God who has flesh
and blood. God incarnate is God who gave
his own blood for the life of his church. God could never suffer,
God could never die, but the God-man, God incarnate, has both
suffered and died in our room and in our stead, and yet he
never ceased to be God. Jesus Christ is himself the full
revelation of God. He is God manifest in the flesh. If you come to know God, you're
not going to come to know Him through this medium or that.
You're going to come to know Him through the revelation and
knowledge of His dear Son, Jesus Christ the Lord, and ain't any
other way. You're going to come to know Him by coming to understand
and worship Him in Jesus Christ, who is God, our Savior. Look in John chapter 1. John
chapter 1. We who believe look on the Lord
Jesus Christ, that man, that man. The whole world this month
is singing songs about him and having little silly idolatrous
pageants about him, you know, got baby dolls that are supposed
to represent Jesus and they get a little more blasphemous, they
take take one of your babies and have it represent baby Jesus.
And they call them religious plays. It's just nothing but
idolatrous religious pageantry. I'm telling you that Jesus Christ
is infinitely beyond what any silly manger scene can describe.
The one of whom we speak, that one of whom the world has come
to recognize somehow in God's providence so that everybody
in the world knows there was one who came into this world
2,000 years ago named Jesus of Nazareth. But I want you to understand
that baby is Jesus Christ our God. Even as he hangs upon his
mother's breast and must have the milk that flows from her
breast, he is God who gives milk in her breast and supplies his
own needs. He's God Almighty. When he hangs
upon the cursed tree, he is himself God who gives the Roman soldiers
strength and skill to drive the nails in his hands and hang him
on that tree. He's God Almighty. Look here
in John chapter 1, verse 1. In the beginning was the Word. It's interesting that our Lord
Jesus is called the Word. Not just here in John, but throughout
Scripture. In the Old Testament, thou hast exalted thy word above
all thy name. The Lord Jesus is constantly
spoken of as the word, because the word is the medium of communication. I said, Bobby Estes, now I think
sometimes I know what he's thinking, but I don't really. I don't really. The only way I can really know
what he's thinking, the only way I can really know, is if
he forms words and speaks to me, or he puts it down on paper.
But somehow the only way his spirit can communicate with my
spirit is by a word. And God, who is spirit, communicates
to men by his word, Jesus Christ the Lord. He is the living word
of whom the written word speaks. In the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God, get it now, and the word was God. What are you saying? I'm not
saying anything, the book says it. The Word was God. And those who do not understand
that Jesus Christ is God don't know God. They're no more Christian
than Buddhists are. They're no more Christian than
Hindus or Islam. They're totally foreign to Christianity. Jesus Christ, the Word is God,
the Eternal Son. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him and without him was not
anything made that was made. Now look at verse 18. No man
has seen God at any time. But what about Adam? No man has
seen God at any time. But what about Abraham? No man
has seen God at any time. What about Manoah and his wife?
No man has seen God at any time. What about Isaiah in chapter
6 of Isaiah? I saw the Lord. No man has seen
God at any time. Well, what on earth is he saying?
No man ever has or ever can see God in his absolute being the
only way anybody has ever seen God is in the person of his dear
son, the God-man, our Savior. And when Manoah saw Him, when
Adam saw Him, when Abraham saw Him, when Moses saw Him, when
Isaiah saw Him, they saw Jesus Christ in a pre-incarnate manifestation
of His humanity so that He comes and makes Himself known to them
as the Angel of the Lord, as the Messenger of Jehovah, as
the Servant of God. But that One whom they saw is
Jesus Christ our God, the Mediator. All fullness of God is in Him. and nowhere else. No man has
seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the
bosom of the Father. That's strange language. Here
he stands. Just like I'm standing right
here. He says the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of
the Father. How can that be? He's God, didn't
you hear him? He's God. He is the omnipotent,
omniscient, omnipresent God. His humanity is real humanity
fixed to one local place. But even though he dwells in
that body of flesh, he speaks and as he stands upon the earth,
he's in the bosom of the Father. He is the omniscient and omnipotent
God. He is that one who is omnipresent,
everywhere present. And on the begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared here. Ron, when we open the scriptures
and we find a passage of scripture and we seek to give the message
of that passage, it's called exegeting scripture. That's the
very word that's used here. He hath exegeted here. What? He's taken the very essence
of God's being, and he's shown it to us. Jesus Christ, the God-man. Heard me? Jesus only is the revelation
of God, and Jesus only is our God. And more than that, Jesus
only, who is our God, is our Savior, the only one there is. Now there are many, many things
that I could say concerning this, but I think I will limit myself
to one text of scripture. Let me read a couple of others,
but I will limit myself to one text very familiar to you. Turn
to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. The angel said to Joseph concerning
Mary, she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name
Jesus for he, he and all together by himself he shall save his
people from their sins. He was the Savior before he came. He had a people before he came,
and he came on this mission sent from God specifically to save
his people from their sins. If he did it, then he fulfilled
the scripture. If he didn't do it, then he's
yet an imposter, and you're yet in your sins. Oh, but he did. For Peter declares that there
is no salvation in any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. In
this matter of salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ stands entirely
alone. And if you would be saved, you
must look to him entirely alone. The problem, why men and women
Struggle so much with this matter of faith. Some of you, you've
been struggling with this thing of faith. You say, well, how
do I know when the Lord saved me? How do I know? How will I
know when God's called me? You keep looking to yourself.
That's your trouble. That's your trouble. You're looking in here
for a feeling. You're looking in here for some
kind of an emotion, some kind of an experience. You've heard
all your life, you know, about these tingling sensations and
how folks, you know, they will say this happened and that happened.
And you're looking for something you knew. Are you looking for
some great change so that you can look at yourself and say,
now I'm not so bad? Are you looking for some means
by which you can live at last, prayed and laid hold of the Lord?
You're looking to yourself. Last salvation comes looking
to Him, Him alone. Not to our experience, not to
our pedigree, not to something we've done, not to anything done
by us. Not to our religious ceremonies and our religious customs and
our religious traditions. Not to anything that we have
performed for ourselves or others have performed for us. But we
look to Jesus Christ and Him alone. Look here in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1 and verse 30 and listen to what the scripture says. But
of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, that is of God by His power By
his purpose, by his grace, are you in Christ Jesus, who of God
is maiden to us. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
is maiden to us wisdom. I understand he gives us wisdom,
but this text is talking about something else. He's maiden to
us wisdom. I understand he gives us the
mind of the wise and the spirit of the wise and the heart of
the wise and the tongue of the wise but this text says he is
made of God unto us wisdom. The only parallel passage I can
find is Proverbs chapter 8 where the Lord Jesus speaks as the
personification of wisdom and he says concerning himself I
was by him as one brought up with him. And I was daily his
delight. And my delights were with the
sons of men. And the only way that passage
can possibly have any reference to Jesus Christ, as it most certainly
does, is to speak of him as that one who stood before God as our
covenant head and our covenant shepherd and in divine wisdom
found a way by which we can enter into glory through his blood
and through his righteousness. He stands before God today. and
speaks to God on our behalf with wisdom. He sends his Spirit and
causes us who do not know how to pray to pray as we ought,
for the Spirit makes intercession with groanings which cannot be
uttered. That is, he becomes the voice of wisdom for us and
makes intercession for us. More than that, he is made of
God unto us righteously. God help you to hear me now. God demands that you and I be
perfectly righteous. I'm not talking about give it
your best shot. I'm not talking about try the best you can. I'm
not talking about be good in your eyes or others. I told you
a few weeks ago about my uncle who died. He was good in everybody's
eyes. As good as gold. but not before
God. You too, not before God. Me too, not before God. Doesn't matter how good we are
esteemed of others to be, our goodness extends not to Him. But God demands perfect righteousness,
perfect righteousness. Our Lord Jesus said in Matthew
5 20, except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness
of the scribes and pharisees. You shall in no wise enter into
the kingdom of heaven. We're all without hope. If it depends on us, you're right.
Because you can't attain to righteousness. You can't pray enough to get
it, you can't repent enough to get it, you can't do enough to
get it. Can't be done. For how on earth then can a sinner
be made righteous? Of him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us righteous. Righteous. The Apostle says follow
peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see
the Lord. That's not talking about you trying to make yourself
as good as you can and you mend up the patches and you work and
strive and labor and persevere. That kind of righteousness is
no good. It's no good. It won't help you.
The only righteousness with which we can stand accepted before
God is that holiness, which is Jesus Christ, our Lord. his righteousness,
he obeyed the law, he satisfied the law, he honored the law,
he magnified the law, not for himself but for us. And his righteousness
now is imputed to us, to everyone who believes. He is made of God
and to us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification. Now I'm going to not labor that
a great deal. None of you need me to labor
it a great deal, but I'm not going to ignore it either, just
in case you've missed what I've said in the past. We live in
this age when there's so much religion. Religion on every corner. Churches everywhere. You turn
on the radio, you can listen to religion all the time. You
can listen to it all the time. You can listen to it 24 hours a day.
If you want to, you get your satellite dish and watch it on
television 24 hours a day. I don't recommend it, but you
can if you want to. There's plenty of it around.
But the religion is foolishness and nonsense for the most part.
For the most part. We live in the most religious
and the most spiritually ignorant age this world's ever known.
Folks talk about sanctification. You've heard about sanctification
all your life. Folks ask you, you know, whether
or not you've been sanctified, whether or not you're fully sanctified. Sanctification is not something
that God has you to do after he has saved you. It just is. Sanctification is as much God's
work as justification is. And it's as necessary to our
salvation as justification is. Sanctification is us actually
being made holy. Made holy. Made holy. Not just declared holy. Not just
set apart for a holy purpose. But made holy. How can that be? The new birth. Read John chapter
3, 1 John chapter 3. When you can, take your leisure
and read the whole chapter, but particularly beginning at verse
5. He was manifested to take away
our sins. And in him is no sin. And that
which is born of God doth not sin. It cannot sin for it's born
of God. Now, wait a minute, picture.
Are you suggesting that men and women who are saved by God's
grace don't ever sin? Well, yeah, and no. The old man sinned. And no believer
has to be convinced of that. Our greatest problem is we know
something about our sin. But Paul said, when I sin, there's
no way I could do it but sin the 12th and 10th man. That's
what it said in Romans chapter 7. First John chapter 3 gives
us an understanding of Romans chapter 7. That new man, which
is born of God, that new man created in us, that divine nature
imparted to us so that we're made partakers of the divine
nature upon of God, that holy thing is born of God. It cannot
sin. It cannot sin. That holy thing
is the new man put in us, Christ Jesus the Lord. And that's the
reason for the constant warfare. Jesus Christ is made of God and
to us, sanctification in just this regard. From eternity, we
were chosen to be holy in Christ. In time, when Christ Jesus redeemed
us by his blood, we were declared to be holy in Christ. And in the time of his love,
when he came and gave us life and faith in him, putting in
us what was not there before. giving us a nature we did not
have before, a new heart, a new will, a new nature, a holy nature
born of God. He's given us that which is holy. That's the reason believers are
called saints. And he is made of God and to
us, redemption. Redemption is deliverance. Deliverance
by power, deliverance by blood, complete deliverance. The Lord
Jesus has redeemed us by His blood at Calvary. He redeemed
us from the bondage of sin's corruption, came in the hour
of His saving grace, and broke the fetters that held us in bondage
and captivity. And blessed be God one day, sir,
He's coming to redeem us from all the consequences of sin in
resurrection glory. Now understand this as well.
Jesus only, our God and our Savior, is our only Lord and Master. The only one. Listen to this. Peter says, grace
and peace be multiplied to you. Our Lord. He's Lord. He's Lord. He is that one to
whom believers yield voluntary obedience, surrendering all things
to his dominion. True faith bows to and trusts
his providential care. We bow to him as he bowed to
the Father and said, thy will be done. True faith is obedient
to him. He's Lord. Now I recognize that
You know, we struggle. We have our ups and downs, mostly
downs. I recognize that we have a constant battle with sin
and unbelief and rebellion. Bob Ponce, there's as much. That's not right. That's a lie. There's more rebellion in my
heart today than there was 30 years ago when first I met him.
More than ever. There's more corruption in me
than there was 30 years ago. There's more of every despicable
thing in me that I hate than there ever was. Because this
old man of flesh only gets worse. He never gets better. But blessed
be God, there is something new. Something altogether new. New ambitions, desires, and purposes. And that new man Surrenders to
Christ the Lord. Looks to the Word. And God helping me I'm going
to be obedient to Him. I'm just going to obey Him. I'm just like
going to obey Him. If God give me grace to do it.
And if you know Him. Ron Wood if you know Him in the
tenor of your life you're going to obey Him too. You're going
to obey Him. Show me His will. the believer
obeys him. Show me his ordinances. We're
here at the Lord's table tonight. Show me what he would have us
do. That's exactly what we'll do. No qual about that. And say,
well, why do you insist on baptizing folks by immersion? Because that's
what he said. Well, what's the purpose? What you need to do
is bow to what he said. You might find out what the purpose
is. That's exactly right. Well, why do you insist on the
Lord's supper this way? Because this is the way he did it. Why
do you use wine? He did. Why do you use unleavened
bread? He did. Why do you have things
this way? He did it. But what's all the
significance? What's all the hoopla? That's
the way he did it. That's all. We've got no right
to change it. No right to alter it. Show me
what his spirit would direct me to do. Draw me. The psalmist said, and
we will run after them. Believers do. They just do. Seek to obey his word, his ordinances,
his spirit, his will in everything. Because he's the law. And that's the problem. That's
the problem. I keep stressing it over and
over again. The great, great difficulty that
keeps sinners from Christ is their imaginary righteousness.
Most folks, and most folks, think they're too good to be saved.
Most folks do. They're too good to need a savior.
Too good to need atonement. Too good to need somebody else
to stand in their room instead. Too good to need to be saved
by pure, free grace alone. And once you get past that, Arrogant
foolishness. There's another arrogant foolishness
that's even harder to deal with. You refuse to bow to the dominion
of the Son of God. That's it. That's it. Why is
it folks hold out? Folks, you know, they read and
study and they say, I'm interested, I'm concerned and they talk and
well, There's an issue that's got to be settled. It's got to be settled. Who's
going to be boss? Who's going to be boss? Now that issue's been settled.
But it's got to be settled in your heart. But I've got my plans. You can keep them and go to hell
with them. I know what I want to do with
my life. Yeah? Ruin it. What you gonna do with
it? Lord, here I am, a worthless wretch,
bent on hell and destruction. But if you'll have me, I'm yours.
You do exactly what you will from this day forward. I'm your
sworn servant. You'll take me. I guarantee you'll
take me. Jesus only is our Lord as he
is our Savior and Jesus only is our rule of life. I want you
to turn to John chapter 13. John chapter 13. Believers are not slaves under
the dominion of the law. I refuse to treat them as such.
Read the book of Galatians one more time. Read the book of Romans
one more time and understand that we are not children under
the law who are the children of God. The purpose of the law
was to bring us unto Jesus Christ. It was our schoolmaster, that
one under whose dominion we were as children, to bring us unto
Jesus Christ. Now, having come to Jesus Christ
by faith, we're no longer under the law. Well, boy, if you talk
about things like that, folks, they'll live like hell. They'll
just You cut the reins and man they'll take off. You know, I've
discovered something. You may not have observed this.
Most people I know live like hell anyhow. They don't need
that. Most people I know just, they
live where they want to anyhow. Most religious people and others.
But I'm telling you that believers are ruled by something far stronger. something far mightier, something
far more constraining, something far more forceful than any carnal
ordinance or law could ever imagine. They're ruled by the love of
God. Look here in John chapter 13
and verse 15. Our Lord Jesus has taken a towel
and a little bowl of water. Imagine this. and he takes that basin of water
and kneels down and washes his disciples. I can't think of anything on
this earth more humbling and at the same time more necessary
and more refreshing, more delightful. Walking along those dusty, dirty,
hot roads, walk in the house. It's like you walk in today and
say, boy, I'd like to have a cup of cold water. A cup of cold
water should be nice, but man alive, you pull these shoes off
and wash these feet. I believe I can walk another
mile or two. Our Lord Jesus knelt and washed their feet. And this
is what he said. I've given you an example. that you should do as I've done
to you. What do you mean? Do whatever
you can to help each other. Do whatever you can to refresh
one another. Do whatever you can to show a
little love, a little kindness to one another. Just do what
you can. Just do what you can. Our rule of life is really twofold. It involves only two motivating
forces. Two motivating forces by which
we are governed in all things, and these two motivating forces
are the two most powerful forces known to man. John said this is his commandment,
this is his law, that we should believe on the name of his Son,
Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave us commandment. The believer's rule of life is
faith. I'm going to tell you something.
I'm going to tell you something. You find a man, I don't care
how insignificant he is, I don't care how weak he is, I don't
care how unlearned, how unlettered he is, I don't care how despised
of the world he is, you find me a man who's flat Believes
God and I want to show you the strongest man in this world Man
who believes God all hell can stand in his way and you better
not die Hey, hey the strongest most powerful thing ever any
man has ever known and The only thing that would compare to it
for strength and motivation is love The believer's rule of life is
faith in Christ and the love of Christ, the love of Christ's
constraint. Men and women will do for love
what they won't do for anything else, if they know anything about it. Believers are people who are
ruled by the love of Christ for them. and ruled by their love
for him. We love him because he first
loved us. And they are ruled by love for
him and his love for them. And that rule is reflected in
their love for one another. Men and women who know Christ,
they just let do love each other. They do. They don't need a rule book over
here to tell them how they ought to love each other, they just
love each other. My son-in-law sitting back there,
got my daughter married to her. I wouldn't even think about presuming
to tell Doug how he ought to show love to Faith. He's her
husband, he loves her. And loving her, he'll be alright
by her. He'll take care of her. And I wouldn't dare to presume
to sit down and make rules and regulations for you and say,
now if you love this fellow, you love that one, this is what
you do, this is what you don't do. Oh no. No, just some general principles. If you love each other, you're
forbearing, forgiving, long-suffering, gracious, kind, thoughtful. Anytime something comes up because
of a little anger, malice, you push that aside. That's nothing. Anytime something comes up because
you feel a little resentment, bitterness, That's contrary to
this relationship. No, I'm not going to let that
intervene. Believers love each other. Jesus only is also our
only hope for God. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame. I wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sink and sand. I have no hope before God Almighty
right now, except what I had when I first came to Him. This is my hope, Christ. That's all. Not my love for him. Not even my faith in him. God
certainly not my faithfulness to him. My only hope before God is Jesus
Christ the Lord. Now if you've come to that, if
God has brought you to that, I've got good news for you. He's
a good hope for you too. My only assurance before God's
hand. He's my only advocate. He is
Jesus Christ, the righteous, the propitiation for our sins. But what about judgment? How's
it going to be in the day of judgment? We're going to be judged out
of the books. Then you dealt with it so plainly in sporting
in Romans 6. We're going to everyone get exactly what we deserve.
I mean exactly what we deserve. In its totality, exactly what
we deserve. If you stand before God on the
footing of your own merit, as you are, hell will be your portion
forever. But if you take refuge in Jesus
Christ the Lord and stand before God on the footing of his shed
blood and his perfect righteousness, heaven's glory will be your portion
forever. That's it. How come? Because
in him we are made worthy to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in life. And the book of God declares
that we're worthy. Worthy because he's worthy. Bold
shall I stand in that great day, for who ought to my charge shall
lay, for through thy blood absolved I am from sin's tremendous guilt
and blame. And Jesus only shall forever
be our reward in heaven. Look in Psalm 73. The psalmist David had the same kind
of struggles we have with flesh and sin, corruption. And after he had gone through
one of those severe bouts when he said, I've washed my hands
in innocence, he's a foolish thing to serve God. And he said,
when he said all of this is just Just kiss it goodbye, it's for
nothing. Then he said, I went into the house of God and I stood
there again. He said, oh God, I was as a beast
before thee. And he says in verse 25, whom
have I in heaven but thee? And there is not upon earth that
I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart failing. But God is the strength of my
heart and my portion forever. In that day shall the Lord of
hosts be for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty unto
the residue of the people. Soon we shall see his face. And John tells us when we see
him, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And
when we see him and are conformed to him, we shall be perfectly, fully
satisfied with him. Oh, who can describe what it shall
be, to be forever delivered from all the consequences of sin. No tears, no sorrow, no pain,
no sighing, no death, no labor, no toil. God shall wipe away
all tears in their eyes. But there's something even more
glorious than The Lord Jesus, our most glorious
Christ, is going to be fully satisfied
with us. He shall see of the travail of
his soul. He shall be satisfied. He's going to be satisfied with
his purchase. Yes, sir? That's what I bought
right there. There they are, every one of
them. Not one of them is lost. This is what I died for, that
these standing right here will be right here as they are, holy,
unblameable, and unreprovable. But more than that, He's going
to be satisfied with our love for Him, our praise to Him, and
our presence with him. You know, I'm not one of those
fellows that takes a great deal to satisfy me. Of course, that
depends on what kind of mind you catch me in. I'm aware of
that. But there have been times when I've been away from that
lady sitting over there for a couple I recall once after we were married,
I went to Mexico, almost three weeks, going over Thanksgiving,
and I came home and she, you know, Shelby likes to scuttle
about and do stuff. And I'll tell you what I was
most delighted to do. Just sit down in my easy chair
and watch her scuttle about and do stuff. Just to be where she
is. and have her with me. Now, that's
a poor, poor, poor illustration because my love for her is utterly insignificant by comparison
to his love for me and for you, his people. And eternally He will be satisfied with our
perpetual presence with Him, never waning from Him, never
declining from Him, never forsaking Him, as much so, more so, for
He's God Almighty. Then we are satisfied with His
presence with us. God give you eyes now to look
to him, Jesus only, as your God, your Savior, your Lord, your
rule of life, your only hope before God, and your everlasting
reward in heaven. Amen.