Matthew 26. And I want, if God
will enable me, to talk to you very plainly about the betrayal. Nothing in human history more
vividly portrays the depravity, blackness, vileness, and deceit
of the human heart than the betrayal of our Lord Jesus into the hands
of His enemies by the kiss of Judas Iscariot. Nothing more
woefully displays the evil of the hypocrite's heart than the
deed of vileness that's here set before us in Scripture. Nothing
more fearfully exemplifies the hardness and the corruption of
a heart that is produced by religion without Christ. A heart is hard,
corrupt, in the gall of bitterness that is deceived with a religious
profession without the knowledge of the Son of God. Without grace,
without Christ, without the gift of life in Him, without the Spirit
of God, religion makes men hard, mean, and deceitful. Always has,
and always will. Now, I want this evening to read
with you, beginning at verse 47 through verse 56, these words
recorded by God the Holy Spirit for our instruction and for our
admonition. While he yet spake, lo, Judas,
one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with
swords and staves, from the chief priests and the elders of the
Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever
I shall kiss, that same is he, hold him fast. And forthwith
he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master, and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend,
wherefore art thou come? Some translations give the translation,
do that for which you come. Our Lord, if he asked the question,
is asking simply to prick the guilty conscience of this man,
to sting his conscience. Let him know that he knows exactly
what's going on, or else he's speaking here to reveal his absolute
omniscience, knowing full well what Judas had come to do. So
either way, it's a reflection of our Lord's greatness as our
God. He says, Friend, wherefore art thou come, or do that for
which you come? Go ahead. Then came they and
laid hands on Jesus and took him. And behold, one of them
which were with him, I'm sorry, one of them which were with Jesus
stretched out his hand. We know from John's gospel, I
believe it is, this was Simon Peter, stretched out his hand
and drew out his sword and struck a servant of the high priest
and smote off his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, Put
up again thy sword into its place, for all they that take the sword
shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now
pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve
legions of angels? But how then shall the Scriptures
be fulfilled, that thus it must be? And in the same hour said
Jesus to the multitudes, Are you come out as against a thief,
with swords and staves, for to take me? I sat daily with you
teaching in the temple, and you laid no hold on me." He said,
you've come out here in the secrecy and darkness of night to take
me? What did I do? I've been sitting in front of
you every day in the temple and you took no hold on me. But all
this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. All this came to pass because
God said, so it shall be. all the disciples forsook him
and fled. What a sad picture. Here we see
the beginning of our Lord's sorrows. The cup of his woe is beginning
to be filled. One of his disciples betrays
him. Then all his disciples forsook him. He is arrested like a common
thief by his enemies. and treated with utmost contempt,
as though he were somehow a vile baseman. Behold these things,
and see what he says himself, if there be any sorrow like unto
his sorrow. Let us never forget, let us never
forget the things our Lord suffers here, and that which he continues
to suffer, until at last he has satisfied the wrath of God as
our substitute. All that he suffered was for
us. He was delivered into the hands of these, his enemies,
and then into the hands of divine justice itself for our offenses. These things he endured even
before he got to Calvary, because he's the man of sorrows, and
he is the man of sorrows because he's come to redeem people who
deserve everlasting sorrow. In these verses before us, we're
given clear, clear instructions concerning both our Redeemer
and our Savior. I want to show you five things
in the passage. You can jot them down if you
want to. I think they will be important
lessons. The first thing to be learned from this passage of
Scripture is this. The most abominable and dangerous men in the world
are those who betray the Son of God with a kiss of friendship. The most abominable and dangerous
men in the world are those who betray the Lord Jesus Christ
with a kiss of friendship. Judas betrays the Lord here with
a kiss. Though treachery is in his heart,
he comes to the Lord Jesus with a pretense of familiarity and
kindness and peace and love. He comes to him with a kiss because
he wants, while he is betraying the Master, he wants all of his
fellow disciples to believe that he's still faithful to the Lord
Jesus. He wants Peter and James and
John to see that he is like they are in all things. And so he
comes not with some outward, spurless look on his face. He
doesn't come with some outward sign to indicate that somehow
he has turned against the Savior, but rather he comes and kisses
him. Now that was a common greeting
in those days. As we'll see in a little bit,
it was something that was done commonly whenever men were apart
for a while and they were friends, they'd come and greet one another
with a kiss, just as they do to this day in Eastern countries.
They'd come and kiss one another on the cheek, I presume like
they do now on both cheeks, indicating peace and friendship and respect,
mutual admiration for one another. And so Judas comes because he
wants all who see him to recognize him as being one who is one of
the Lord's disciples and one of the Lord's friends. But this
kiss of Judas was the kiss of a betrayer. C. H. Spurgeon said
this sign of Judas was typical of the way in which Jesus is
generally betrayed. When men intend to undermine
the scriptures, how do they begin their books? Why, always with
a declaration that they wish to promote the truth of Christ.
I couldn't help but think as I was preparing this message
of the events taking place in the religious world just prior
to Easter this year. You may have seen it. It was
on several of the news programs. There was a good bit of debate
being raised among theologians in our country and around the
world about the reality of our Lord's resurrection. And I listen
to a little bit of it, I listen to Paul just a little bit, and
these imaginary scholars, these fellows who have come in the
name of God, in the name of Christ as theologians, come only because
they are reinvestigating these things, only because they really
want people to know the truth. But somehow they always come
up with that which is a lie. They've come up with this thing
in the name of truth to make men understand that Jesus did
not really rise from the dead. And there's not really any necessity
for a belief in the resurrection. But the Apostle Paul declares
that if he did not rise from the dead, then we're yet in our
sins. There is certainly a necessity
for the resurrection of our Lord. For he was crucified and put
to death because he was made to be sin. He was made to bear
our sins in his body on the tree. If he doesn't come forth from
the grave, then the declaration of that fact would be, our sins
are not put away. And that's exactly what Paul
says. He says, if Christ be not raised from the dead, then you
yet in your sins, and our faith is in vain. And yet men come
in the name of truth. They come in the name of God
and say it's not necessary. That you really believe that
Christ was literally raised from the dead. Oh yes it is. Oh yes
it is. But the betrayer always comes
like Judas with the kiss of friendship. False prophets always come in
sheep's clothing. Will you understand that? We
need to understand false prophets don't come with a pitchfork and
long tail. They don't come dressed up here
in a devil's suit. They come in sheep's clothing.
They come in the name of God with a Bible in their hand and
a prayer on their lips and a bless you from their lips so that they
come pretending to do God's service. Now listen to the scriptures.
Our Lord said, Beware of false prophets which come to you in
sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are rabbiting long. They
come for the purpose of destroying your souls, not for the purpose
of helping you. Turn over to 2 Corinthians 11.
2 Corinthians chapter 11. The Apostle Paul writes here, and
he's giving us a warning, lest we be turned away from the simplicity
that's in Christ by the subtlety of Satan. And he says in verse
13, for such are false apostles. Deceitful workers. Now notice
the language he uses. He's not being real nice. Oh
yes he is. He's doing good to your soul
and mind. He says these fellows are deceitful workers. They're
not mistaken. They're not somehow blinded. They are deceitful workers. They
are responsible who claim to be God's servants. They are responsible
to have the Word of God. He says they're deceitful workers.
transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ, into
the messengers of Christ. And no marvel, don't be surprised
by this, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of
light. He comes as an angel of light. Do you remember how he
came to Eve? He didn't come and say, now you
eat this fruit and your eyes will be blinded and your mind
will become ignorant. Oh no. He said, eat this fruit
and you'll be like God. Then you'll be able to see. Then
you'll know. Then you will be able to know,
as God knows, good from evil. He comes as an angel of light.
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed
as ministers of righteousness, not Christ's righteousness. Oh
no, they don't come preaching righteousness by a substitute.
They come proclaiming your righteousness, your goodness, righteousness
in you, by you, apart from Christ, or in you and by you, in addition
to Christ. They come as ministers of righteousness,
whose end shall be according to their works. Now don't let
any man think I'm a fool for telling you this. Don't let any
man think that I'm somehow off my rocker, because I tell you
this, those who come as angels of light, wolves in sheep's clothing,
those who come with a Judas kiss on their lips, they're the most
dangerous men in this world. The most dangerous influence
in this world is that man who comes in the name of Christ only
to betray Him, who comes as though he were declaring things for
the glory of Christ, only to betray him. And that is the man
who comes with a false gospel, declaring to you a false hope
and a false salvation. Secondly, the Lord Jesus Christ
is such a friend of sinners that he is readily accessible to sinners
like you and me. Now, I recognize that we're never
told that any of the other disciples kissed our Savior's None of the
other disciples, are we told, came to him like Judas did and
kissed him. But that does not mean that it
is a fact that they did not kiss him. I have read a good many
commentaries and some sermons and heard them, and much is often
made by the fact that no apostle kissed the Lord except Judas.
I kind of doubt that. I kind of doubt that. Do you
remember in Luke chapter 7, when our Lord rebuked Simon the Pharisee?
He said, I came into your house and you didn't kiss me. You didn't
kiss me. In the Old Testament scriptures,
we have several examples of this, how that the men would come in
those eastern countries, and if they had been absent from
one another for a while, friends and relatives would greet one
another with a kiss. The apostles obviously did this
as well, and they maintained it for many years after our Lord's
death. The apostle Paul urges us many, many times to greet
the brethren with a holy kiss. Now, I suppose in these days,
Unless you're as old as Hubert or as young as Cody, don't kiss
me. When I'm away from you for a
while, a handshake will do all right. But what he's saying is
that these brethren, as they were to greet one another when
they'd been absent, they ought to greet one another with kindness
and affection. And the symbol of it was this
kiss. Now the picture here is that Judas comes to the Savior
who is such a condescending Savior. Listen to me now. He comes to
the Savior because the Lord Jesus, who is Himself God Almighty,
infinitely glorious, whom no man can see and no man can approach. He who dwells in light that no
man can approach Him to. He's condescended to come down
here as a man and make Himself so accessible that a man can
walk right up in a crowd of people and kiss Him. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in his
great humiliation, is that one who is able to be approached
and who is readily accessible and ready to receive and accept
sinners who come to him seeking mercy and grace. What our Lord
Jesus was when he was upon this earth in his humiliation, he
still is today. And I'm telling you, my brothers
and sisters, and you who are yet without Christ as well, You
may come to Him. Listen to what it says. Him that
cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. He says, is any
man thirsty? Are you thirsty? I'm certain
he's talking about spiritual thirst. Do you thirst for the
knowledge of God? You've come here tonight thirsty,
have you? Thirsty to hear from God? Thirsty
for righteousness? Thirsty for peace? Thirsty for
grace? Thirsty for help? Come on, come
to me. Are you thirsty for forgiveness?
Thirsty for God's salvation? He says, come to me. And our
Lord Jesus bids us come boldly to the throne of grace that we
may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. What
I'm saying is this. Sinners may freely come to the
Son of God without fear of being rejected or cast out by Him. You can come to Him. Jesus Christ
is the most acceptable or accessible being in the universe. Did you
hear me? Jesus Christ is the most accessible
being in all the universe. You come to Him. You come to
Him. Open your heart to Him. Cast
yourself down before Him and speak freely to Him. That's what
the word boldly means, just come and speak freely to Him. and
obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need. I wish it worked
so, but I know full well my own daughter, growing up in my household,
at times would be fearful to approach me because she didn't
know what my response would be. My own wife, who knows me better
than anybody else, whom I love dearly, might have reason to
fear approaching me, because you may not know what my response
will be to what you would say, ask the world. Will you listen
to me? You never need fear coming to
the Son of God. Never. You come to it with anything,
with everything, for anything, for everything, and you will
never be rejected. Never be cast out. Come then
to Jesus Christ, open your heart to him, cast yourself down before
him, and do him continually. Thirdly, the cause of Christ
and his kingdom can never be established. It can never be
maintained. It can never be defended. It
cannot even be helped, aided, or assisted by carnal means. Now I want you to look at what
our Lord says here. When these soldiers came to arrest the Lord
Jesus, Peter did a very foolish thing. In verse 51, Behold, one
of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew
his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest, and smote
off his ear. This is one of the things that
was used to cause Peter to deny the Master. This fellow's cousin
was standing there, he said, I remember you. You cut my cousin's
hair off. You were with him in the garden.
Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place,
for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
John Trapp wisely says, a wonderful work of God it was, surely. that hereupon he was not hewn
in a hundred pieces by the barbarous soldiers. You try to get the
picture. Here is this fisherman who pulls
out his sword, and I suspect that what is described here as
a sword is not a saber by any means, but at best a machete,
at best something like a large knife. He pulls out his sword
and takes on this Roman garrison that's come to arrest the Savior
single-handedly. And Mr. Trapp says it's a wonder
of God's mercy that he wasn't hewn into a hundred pieces, and
indeed it was. But our Lord gives us an instruction. He says, put up your sword. He
says, I could right now easily escape from their midst. I could
right now easily call my father, and he'd send a legion of angels
down here to take care of me. He'd presently send twelve legions
of angels down here to take care of me. But our Lord says, put
up your swords, for all they that take the sword shall perish
with the sword. Now, two things need to be understood
here. Number one, and be sure you get them both. Our Lord does
not here condemn the use, the lawful use of the sword, that
is, of deadly force and deadly arms. He does not condemn those
things. There are many who take this
verse of Scripture and others like it, and make it an argument
against believers going to war in defense of the nation, or
against a man arming himself to protect his house and his
family against criminal intruders, or even against the state using
capital punishment to deter crime and to punish criminals. The
object, after all, is to punish them and protect society, and
our Lord is not here suggesting that those things are evil. I'm
not interested in debating those issues in the least. I'll simply
state that the Word of God does, without question, allow the lawful
use of the sword or of deadly force and arms in such circumstances. But that's not the subject here,
neither pro nor con, that's not the subject here. Secondly, our
Lord is here teaching us that His cause, His kingdom, His church,
and his gospel can never be established. It can never be maintained. It
can never be defended. It cannot even be helped and
assisted by carnal means. Turn to 2 Corinthians again,
chapter 10 this time. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. In this passage, while he specifically
speaks of the sword, the sword is but a symbol, a representation
for all carnal things. And he's telling us that the
church and kingdom of God simply does not depend upon and must
never use carnal means to establish itself. Let me be specific so
that I'm crystal clear. You may wonder, why don't you
join up with the anti-abortion folks or the pro-life folks and
march against those things? Aren't you in favor of stopping
abortion? Oh, yes. Yes, sir. Would to God
every abortion clinic in the world were shut down tomorrow.
Would to God we'd shut them all down tomorrow. But why don't
you join up with them? Why don't you join up with the,
uh, uh, whatever, the moral majority, is that what they call it? The
Christian coalition? Why don't you join up with those fellows?
They're, they're, they're wanting to change the legislation to
protect Christians. They're wanting to change the
legislation to make it, make it proper that we have our rights
and our privileges as the people of God in this world. I'll tell
you why don't join up with me. Because you cannot establish
God's kingdom and God's truth by carnal means. It cannot be
done by political power. It cannot be done by legislation.
It cannot be done by threats of imprisonment or banishment
or death. Those things have been tried
in every nation in the world, including ours, and it's dead
wrong. It's contrary to the spirit of
Christianity. Or how on earth are you going
to minister to me, and how do you hope to accomplish anything? The means by which God establishes
his kingdom, the means by which God establishes his church, the
means by which God establishes his gospel anywhere is the preaching
of the gospel. That's all. That's all. Look
what it says here. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 4. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnage. not the swords of military might,
not the philosophy of intellectual fellows, not the family bloodlines
by which we bring our children into the kingdom of God. The
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, nothing carnal about
it, but mighty through God. to the pulling down of strongholds,
casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ." What does that mean? That means as God enables a man
to preach the gospel, when God speaks to your heart It brings
you involuntary subjection in every aspect of your life to
the obedience of Christ. That's exactly what it means.
Nothing else can. Nothing else can. And if God
is pleased to do his work anywhere and anyone, he'll do it through
the preaching of the word. So we won't stoop to the use
of carnal religious methods. We won't stoop to the use of
carnal religious gimmicks. We will not stoop to the use
of any carnal means by which to establish God's kingdom or
to accomplish what we think to be God's purpose, but rather
we'll preach the gospel. I'm praying, I hope you are.
I'm praying that God will be pleased to open doors of utterance
for the gospel right here in this community. I'm hoping, I'm
praying that God will be pleased to give in this place the enlargement
of his But I'm going to tell you right now, as I've told you
for 16 years, the only means that will be used, the only method
we will employ for the accomplishing of that purpose is the preaching
of the gospel. That's all. That's all. Our Lord
Jesus said, I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw
all men unto me. And I'm telling you that in this
place we will do everything God gives us the opportunity and
the ability to do to lift him up. But that's all. Nothing else. And if he's lifted up, Bob, if
he's pleased to, he can call sinners to come to him. And he'll
do it. He'll do it. Let's pray that
he will. Let us faithfully, faithfully
do what God's put in our hands, the ability and opportunity to
do in lifting him up. But having done that, let's do
nothing else but pray. Now, Lord, draw sinners to you. Oh, God, draw sinners to you. He'll do it. He'll do it. All
right, fourthly, all that our Lord Jesus endured
as our substitute, he endured for us freely and voluntarily. He was not taken against his
will. He was not arrested because he
could not escape. That would have been a very easy
thing for him to do. But our Lord came here on purpose. He came here to fulfill his Father's
will. He came here to put away the
sins of his people. He came here to make himself
a voluntary scapegoat, a willing sacrifice, a free substitute
to satisfy the justice of God by the death of himself, and
thus to put away our sins. and save his people from their
sins. Our Lord came here to fulfill the scriptures, to fulfill the
prophets, to fulfill the types and ceremonies of the law, and
he is giving himself willingly now into the hands of these men
who've come to arrest him. If you want to read John chapter
18 again this evening, I encourage you to do so. Our Lord takes
the initiative when these soldiers come against him and says, And
he demonstrated his sovereign power, his sovereign dominion,
when he said, I am, and they fell away as dead men, and then
he gives them permission to arise again. And then he says to them,
if you seek me, let these go their way. He's talking about
his disciples. All right, I'll go with you.
Notice he makes the terms on which he will go with them into
being arrested. He says, I'll go with you, but
only on condition that these go their way. And so the Lord
Jesus was arrested voluntarily. Now notice in verse 54, those
last words, thus it must be. You see that? Thus it must be. Our Lord Jesus says, these things
must be. That's a strong, strong term.
He says, these things must be. It is absolutely essential, it
is absolutely necessary that these things be done. Look at
it, in verse 54, how then, if I called my Father to send twelve
legions of angels, how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled?
That thus it must be. In the same hour Jesus turned
and said to the multitudes, are you come out against me as against
a thief? And then in verse 56 he says,
But all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might
be fulfilled. Why must it be? It must be because
God the Father ordained it. He was delivered into these hands
of wicked men by the determinate counsel it was agreed upon in
the covenant of grace between God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit, that Christ must suffer and die as
the substitute for his people, as our surety. And thirdly, it
was prophesied in the Old Testament scriptures. I started to sit
down here and give you a list of these things. I've done that
in the past. But you look them up in the scriptures. Every detail,
every single detail Of all the circumstances surrounding our
Lord's suffering as our substitute, and His death as our sin-atoning
sacrifice, was prophesied in the Old Testament. The betrayal,
thirty pieces of silver, betrayal by one of His friends, the fact
that He was spit upon, they plucked out His hair, the fact that His
back was beaten, the fact that He was nailed to a cross, the
fact that He was pierced, All of those things were detailed
and described in the Old Testament scriptures, even down to the
soldiers casting lots for his garments. Everything. It was
written in the scriptures. And so it must come to pass that
the scriptures be fulfilled, and thus the Word of God, giving
us in itself clear evidence that this is the Word of God. Those
prophecies relating to the death of Now, I'll encourage you. Young people, I'm sure you go
to school, and if not in your high school, you get into college.
You'll have teachers and professors say, you know, the Bible was
just written by me. And they got together, and they
sorted it all together. You can find flaws in it, and
you can find weaknesses in it. Explain this to anybody, anybody. I defy any man to explain. how
that all the prophecies relating to every detail of our Lord's
suffering and death could have been written in the Old Testament
Scriptures and brought to pass a thousand years later, and those
things not be explained by divine inspiration. It's not guesswork,
it's not like calling up some psychic and him giving you some
imaginary idea of something in the ballpark of a thousand miles
of what might happen. Oh no, the Holy Spirit moved
me and my divine power to write down exactly what would happen,
and thus the Word of God stands, before it's clearly demonstrated
to be the Word of God. It was necessary that these things
come to pass also. to fulfill all the types and
shadows and ceremonies of the Old Testament law. You see, our
Lord's sacrifice was typified over and over and over again.
Every year when the high priest went into the Holy of Holies
and there made atonement upon the mercy seat, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is our Passover, was pictured and demonstrated.
He's coming to put away sin. Every morning when the priest
would offer the blood of bullocks upon the altar, every morning
the Lord Jesus was pictured as Christ our sacrifice. Every evening
when they would come and offer sacrifices in the evenings for
the hope of putting away sin, the Lord Jesus was portrayed,
Christ is coming to put away sin. And now our Savior says,
thus it must be. And the scriptures are fulfilled.
And besides all that, thus it must be. because there's no other
way possible for the holy and just God to put away our sins
and justify our souls. Jesus Christ, the incarnate God,
must suffer all the wrath of God and die in our place in order
to satisfy the justice of God for the pardon of our sins. One
last thing. I want you to read the last sentence
of our text, verse 56. Then, after our Savior had declared
always, then, after these disciples, back in verse 35, just a few
hours earlier, said, not me. The Lord said, you're all going
to forsake me, and every one of them said, not me, not me. Then,
after our Lord had already made terms with his captors by which
his disciples would go free, Then, after our Lord had demonstrated
his total, total sovereignty over all things, even over these
soldiers who came to arrest him, then all the disciples were sooked
and flayed. Here's the lesson. None of us, now listen to me,
God helped you to hear that, and God helped me to hear what
I'm saying. None of us really knows what evils we're capable
of committing. If we were wise, if we were wise, we would never
again say, I don't see how a fellow could do that. We'd never again These so high-minded
say, I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do that. Buddy, there's
nothing we wouldn't do. Nothing we wouldn't do if God
just leaves us in our own strength for just a minute. Nothing. These disciples seem to have
forgotten all the grace they had experienced. They seem to
have just forgotten everything. They seem to have forgotten every
word of instruction the Master gave them. They seem to have
forgotten every experience of goodness and grace and divine
power they had seen with their eyes. These disciples who were
with him in the holy mount and saw him transfigured and heard
God speak from heaven, they seem to forget it. These disciples
who were with him here in the garden as he prayed and sweat
drops of blood falling to the ground on their behalf, they
seem to have forgotten it. because God left them to themselves. Here they are, before this band
of soldiers, and they take the Lord Jesus like a thief. And
these disciples are fully aware of what the consequences are
going to be. And they all disappear in terror. Why is this To teach us that there is no
evil we're not capable of committing or will not commit if left to
ourselves. To teach us that salvation is
by grace alone. To teach us that our only righteousness
is Jesus Christ the Lord. Without him we don't have any.
We don't have any. and to teach us our only hope
of preservation is that God who saved us will keep us by his
grace to the end. Let me conclude the message
by giving you something I found in Mr. Ryle today. He said, Let
us learn from this passage lessons of humiliation and self-abasement
Let us resolve, by God's grace, to cultivate a spirit of lowliness
and self-distrust. Oh, God, teach us not to trust
ourselves. Don't trust yourself. Don't do
it. Don't do it. Young people say to their parents
so many times, don't you trust me? Oh, you'd be smart not to
trust yourself. Don't trust yourself. Don't put
yourself in circumstances where you're going to be tested. Don't
do it. That's foolishness. Children of God, don't put yourself
in circumstances where you test yourself. That's utter foolishness. Don't do it. Let us settle in
our minds that there is nothing too bad for the very best of
us to do. unless we watch and pray and
are held up by the grace of our God. And let it be one of our
daily prayers. Let this be one of our daily
prayers. Hold thou me up, and I shall
be safe. Hold thou me up, and I shall
be safe. Bless now your word to the hearts
of these your children for the glory of your son. Thank you for our Redeemer who
voluntarily gave himself for us to put away our sins. Thank you for the lessons you've
set before us this evening, and we ask that you will hold us
up. God hold us up. And if you hold us up, we shall
be safe, day by day and forever. These things we ask for Christ's
sake and his glory. Forgive the sin and indifference
with which we deal with the most blessed, blessed truths of Scripture,
the most wondrous things in the universe. God forgive our carnal,
sinful hearts so little moved by such wondrous mysteries as
the sufferings and death and sacrifice of our Redeemer, the
grace and goodness, mercy, infinite love of God our Savior. Forgive
us. Forgive us, I pray, for Christ's
sake. Amen. God bless you. You're dismissed.