be praying for me this next couple
of weeks. I'll be preaching this weekend
and next week for the Sovereign Grace Church in Jacksonville,
North Carolina, and then for the Bethel Church in Spring Lake,
North Carolina, Brother Rupert Reisenbach, pastor there, and
Brother Gary Shepard, pastor in Jacksonville. He'll be praying
for me. I trust the Lord will overcome
whatever this is that's affecting my throat and give me grace to
not only overcome that physical infirmity, but to minister to
the hearts of his people. Let's turn this evening to Acts
chapter 19. Acts the 19th chapter. And you'll find my text and my
subject in the last sentence of verse 17. There we read the
name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. Now tonight, I'm not so much
going to preach a sermon to you as simply give a review of the
messages we heard this past weekend, and I do so for a couple of reasons. First, I want to follow Paul's
example, or Paul's admonition rather. In Hebrews 2, he tells
us that we ought to give the more earnest heed lest we ought
to give them more earnest heed to the things which we have heard,
lest at any time we should let them slip. And in Acts 17, verses
11 and 12, we are told that the Bereans were more noble than
they of Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all
readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether
those things which they had heard were so. And therefore, because
they received the word with readiness of mind and searched the scriptures
to see if those things were so, therefore many of them believed. Now without any question at all,
the messages that we heard this past weekend during our conference
may be well summarized with the words of our text. The name of
the Lord Jesus was magnified. every message was honoring to
our God, every message beneficial to our souls, every message helpful
to us in the worship and service of our Master. How blessed of
God, how privileged we are to have heard these ten messages
of grace. Had I the choice of being anywhere
else on this earth, and of doing anything else, I would not have
given anything for the privilege of being here and hearing those
ten messages. They fell like dew from heaven
to my parched heart, and they were reviving and refreshing
to my soul. Now, before I review those messages
themselves, let me make a few comments, a few personal comments
as your pastor. Needless to say, I am saddened
by the fact that so many who had opportunity to hear, chose
not to avail themselves of the opportunity to hear the gospel
of Christ. I fear for the souls of men and
women who have no interest in the word of God, the worship
of Christ, and the hearing of the gospel. When a living man
ceases to hunger for and feed upon the bread of the earth,
Then may a living soul cease to hunger after and feed upon
Christ the bread of life. This much I know. If I do not
hunger for Christ, if I do not thirst after the sincere milk
of the word, I simply have not yet experienced that grace of
God which creates newborn babes in the kingdom of grace. Those
who have experienced God's grace in reality hunger for Christ. Like David, their hearts pant
after him as the heart pants after the water book. They thirst
for the word of God, for a word from God for their souls. Those
who know God seek him and worship him. And I frankly fear for many
women who willfully deliberately choose to absent themselves from
the worship of God. I fear the very worst. And I
want to say thank you to you who gave so generously and worked
so very hard to make the conference possible. Such an undertaking
as this for a congregation of our size is an enormous demanding
undertaking. But because you were willing
to do the work graciously and with cheerfulness you made it
appear to be easy so that all of our guests were very comfortable.
And God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of
love which you have showed toward his name in that you have ministered
to the saints. And I say this to you and to
me. Let us all be careful and make
an earnest effort not to forget the wondrous things We have heard
from the Word of God by which the name of the Lord Jesus was
magnified in our midst. If you're like I am, I hear something,
I hear a message, or I hear just a single statement in a message,
something that touches my heart and grips my mind, and I think
to myself, I'll never forget that. I'll remember that from
now on. And before I get out the door,
I forgot what it was I was going to remember. Well, I want to
help you not to forget what you've heard, and I do so by giving
you this review of the messages. As we review these messages,
I want us to do two things. I want us, like the Bereans,
to search the scriptures so that, like those noble Bereans, we
may see whether these things are so. And secondly, I want
us to hold fast the gospel doctrine we've been taught. that the name
of the Lord Jesus might be magnified in us as we seek to serve him. Well, let's begin at the beginning. Turn back to Luke 16, if you
will. Luke chapter 16. On Friday night, Brother Jim
Byrd opened our conference with a message from this passage in
Luke 16 about the rich man and Lazarus. He entitled the message, A Lost
Man and a Saved Man. In Luke 16 and verse 20, we read,
there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which laid at the rich
man's gate full of sowers, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs
which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came
and licked his sowers, and it came to pass that the beggar
died and was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom, the rich
man also died and was buried." Now, Jim pointed out four things
that I hope never to forget concerning this rich man and this man, Lazarus,
this saved man and this lost man. First, he showed us that
though Lazarus was very poor in this world, and he was. God's
people often are very poor compared with the rest of the world. Though
Lazarus was very poor in this world, he was a very wealthy
man. He had wealth beyond compare
because he had Christ. The Apostle Paul tells us that
having Christ, all things are yours, for ye are Christ's and
Christ is God's. That means that you and I, believers
in Christ, ought to be content in this world with Christ alone. He alone is sufficient. He alone is sufficient to meet
my earthly needs and my heavenly needs. He alone is sufficient
to meet the needs of my body and the needs of my soul, both
for time and for eternity. Now, if you have him, you have
everything. therefore to be content, content
whatever state we're in, content whether we abound or whether
we are abased, whether we have much or whether we have little,
content with the blessed knowledge that Jesus Christ in all the
fullness of his glory is ours. When Jeremiah was cast down in
his heart because of the affliction and the wormwood and the gall
of God's providence toward him, he says, this I will recall to
my mind, therefore have I hope. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul. You understand that? Though Lazarus
was very poor in this world, he was a very wealthy man because
he had Christ. The second thing Jim showed us
is that though the rich man was very wealthy with all the goods
of this world, he was a very poor man because he was without
Christ. Poor indeed is that soul that
is without Christ. David found himself to be a man
who was little better than a beast in Psalm 73. When he looked out
over his balcony and he saw his neighbor, a godless man, a reprobate
man, but rich and increased in goods, a man whose house was
always kept in peace, a man whose riches were constantly increasing,
a man whose family was flourishing, a man who seemed to have no trouble
in life. And David said, my feet had well
nigh slipped. They were almost gone because
I was envious at the prosperity of the wicked. Who would envy
a man who was marked for destruction? If you saw a man and you knew
that tonight that man is about to leave this world and go into
eternity without God, without hope, without Christ, though
he possessed all the wealth of this world, would you envy him?
Would you envy him? Why, it's absurd to think so.
Our Lord tells us in Psalm 92, that with regard to the wicked,
who have not God our Savior, all of the prosperity and all
of the providential blessings that they abuse while they think
they enjoy them upon this earth are but as the fattening of an
ox for the slaughter. That's all. And in God's time,
their feet will slide. So this rich man, though he had
all that this world could offer a man, The rich man was very,
very poor. He was without Christ. He had
no redemption. He had no righteousness. He had
no access to God. He had no hope. He died without
hope. And thirdly, Lazarus' wealth
was the gift of God's grace. The gift that God bestowed upon
him was Jesus Christ, and that which distinguished him from
the rich man was the act of God's grace. But more than that, not
only was it the grace and goodness of God that had given Lazarus
his portion in Christ, it was the grace and wisdom of God in
his providence that gave Lazarus poverty and gave him ill health
and kept him laying at the rich man's gate. what's best for us, always. He
always gives us, Bobby, exactly as much poverty and wealth as
will do our souls good. He always gives us exactly as
much health and sickness as will do our souls good. He always
gives us exactly as much pain and pleasure as will do our souls
good. Always. He never makes a mistake. And the rich man's poverty was
the result of his own sin. You see, this man had great poverty
of soul because he was content to live without Christ. When Jim made that statement
the other night, my mind immediately went back to Proverbs 11 and
verse 24, where the wise man Solomon tells us of the greed
of the worldly. and says that the greed of the
worldling tendeth to poverty. Tendeth to poverty. Those who
would be rich, those who seek after earthly riches, those who
live ordained, bring poverty to their souls. Spiritual poverty,
eternal poverty. The greed of the worldling will
bring you to poverty. Alright, now secondly, Because
Brother Mahan was not here, I preached in his place from Psalm 115,
verse 1, where the psalmist says, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Now, the title of my message
was The Religion of the Beast and The Religion of Christ. The
difference between the two is clear and obvious throughout
the scriptures. The religion of the beast is
free will works religion. It always glorifies man. The religion of Christ is free
grace. It always glorifies God. The Word of God clearly teaches
us that the whole work of salvation is the work of God's free, abundant
grace in Christ. And this is demonstrated in numerous
ways, but I showed you that it was demonstrated in what God
has done for us. His election is the election
of grace. His covenant is the covenant of grace. His redemption
is redemption by grace through the blood of Christ. And it's
demonstrated in what God is doing in us right now. Regeneration,
effectual calling, sanctification, preservation, all these things
are the work of God's grace. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. It's
God which works in you, both to will and to do of his own
good pleasure. So that even that which we bring forth unto God
as fruits of His grace, it is indeed just that, the fruit of
His grace. Our faith is the gift of His
grace. Our praise is the gift of His grace. Our perseverance
is the gift of His grace. Our good works are the gifts
of His grace brought in us by the Spirit of God. And it is
demonstrated also in that which God will yet do with us. One
of these days, we will be raised up and transformed miraculously,
transformed supernaturally, transformed by the grace of God into the
very image of Jesus Christ, God's dear Son, and stand before Him,
holy and without blame, forever. Totally absolved from all sin. and treated so graciously in
the inheritance of the saints in light that God Almighty will
reward us for the perfect obedience of Christ with everlasting glory. That's the religion of Christ.
And then Saturday morning, Brother Mitchell Jones preached to us
from Romans 8.32. Turn there if you will. Romans
8.32. Mitchell's message was given
the title, of Christian-faced trying times. Now for most of us, this was
the first time we'd heard Mitchell preach. I don't think it'll be
the last. God in his providence spares
us both. His message was taken from this 32nd verse of Romans
8. 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. Oh, what a blessed inspiration
for God's saints while we make our pilgrimage through this world.
Believers should face trying times, Mitchell said, with these
two things. He gives just these two points.
First, looking back to the full purchase of grace. Rex, if God
purchased you by the sacrifice of his not going to do anything
but good for you. That's what his teaching is here.
He that spared not his own son, how shall he not with Christ
also freely give us all things? He gives us all things in grace
and in providence. He gives us all things in this
life, so that whatever comes to pass, it comes to pass according
to the infinite, immeasurable love of Almighty God for my soul,
even God who gave his son for me. Whatever comes to pass, God
brought it to pass. I suspect you're not much different
than I am. We have our little difficulties,
our little trials in this world, whatever
they are, sometimes trials of affliction, sometimes trials
of a domestic strife, sometimes trials from folks who we seem
to be our friends, sometimes trials from the various circumstances
we're in in this world, whatever they are, whatever they are.
But we look at our trials and we begin to feel so sorry for
ourselves. How bad things are going for
me. It looks to me like things ought to be going better than
this for me. Stop pitying yourself and begin to rejoice. This which
has come to pass this day, whatever it is, has come to pass by the
hand of God who bought me with his own blood. That means it's
got to be good. That means it shall indeed work
together for my good if indeed I love God and am called according
to his purpose. And then Mitchell told us that
we should face our trials by looking ahead to the fulfilled
promises of God. What are those promises? That
we should be conformed to the image of his son. that we should
be those whom God himself will glorify. As he has predestinated
us, as he has foreknown us, as he has called us, as he has justified
us, so the Lord God will in his time glorify us together with
Christ, conforming us to the image of his Son, that Christ
in us might be demonstrated to be the firstborn among many brethren. And then, on Saturday morning,
Brother Gary Shepherd also preached to us from Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews the 10th chapter. One
of my favorite passages of scripture. As he preached from verses 5
through 7, he gave this title to his message, The First Words
of Christ. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. Now in that message, Gary told
us these three things. First, Christ came to do the
will of God. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world in human flesh. He assumed our nature for the
purpose of doing his Father's will. Secondly, Gary showed us
that the will of God is the salvation of his people. He turned back
to John chapter 6, you'll remember. And he showed us how the Lord
God had given Jesus Christ a people. And our Lord Jesus says, this
is the Father's will, that of all which he hath given me, I
should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
day. The Lord Jesus came to do God's will, and the will of God
is the salvation of his people. And then Gary wraps things up
by telling us that the Lord Jesus has accomplished the will of
God. It has been done. By the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ, we have been sanctified. Look at verse 10. By the witch
will, that is, by the will of God being accomplished and fulfilled
in Christ, we are sanctified. We are made holy, separated unto
God, cut out from the rest of mankind through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ for one time. Now, the fifth message
of our conference was that by Brother Rupert Reichenbach on
Saturday night. Turn over to Revelation 14. Revelation
14. Rupert came real close to preaching
the same thing I preached to you Tuesday night two weeks ago
from this same passage of scripture. The title of his message was
The Worship of Heaven. And Rupert showed us in this
passage that the object of all true worship is the Lamb of God. It says in Revelation 14 in verse
1, I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and with him
an hundred and forty and four thousand, having his father's
name written in their foreheads. I heard a voice from heaven,
as the voice of many waters. and as the voice of great thunder,
and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps, and
they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before
the four beasts and the elders, and no man could learn that song
but the hundred and forty and four thousand which were redeemed
from the earth." The object of worship in heaven and on earth,
if it's true worship, in Christ the Lamb. Worship God,
believing on Christ. Worship God, coming to Him through
Christ. Worship God because of Christ. And then secondly, Rupert showed
us that the only sinners who ever worship Christ are God's
elect. Those who are numbered by God
Himself. Who are they? They're a certain
number, a hundred and forty and four thousand. And Rupert pointed
out very clearly, that is a specific number given for an indefinite
number. indefinite in the minds of men,
though definite in the mind of God. It is a number to indicate
the wholeness and the completion of God's election. No one learns
the song of the redeemed, but those who were chosen of God,
the 144,000. No one ever comes to worship
the Lamb, but those who were chosen of God, the 144,000. Now,
the object of this is not so that we might sit back and say,
well, now, there's no point in anybody else trying to worship
God, only the elect are going to. That's not it at all. The
object is to show that those who worship God ascribe to God
alone their salvation. We come here tonight and worship
Him because God has chosen us, because God has set our hearts
upon us, because God from eternity set His heart on us. who are
God's elect, they are those who are sealed, having the character
of God bestowed upon them by the Holy Spirit. They are those
who have his Father's name written in their foreheads. And again,
Rupert pointed out exactly right, that it should possibly be better
translated, they have his and his Father's name written in
their foreheads. Turn back to Revelation 7. Revelation
7 and verse 3. Here John is seeing the vision
of the angels of judgment coming to destroy the earth. And in
verse 3, the word comes from God saying, Hurt not the earth,
neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants
of our God in their foreheads. Now as the Worshippers of the
beast receive the mark of the beast, that is, they having the
name of the beast and his number, 666, stamped upon them. That does not mean that there
are some folks out there with 666 written across their forehead.
That means that the vast majority of men and women, by their profession
and by their religion, demonstrate themselves to be followers of
that religion which is of the beast. But God's people, by profession,
in baptism, by profession in their confession of faith in
Christ, by profession of the gospel we believe, have inscribed
in our folds for all the world to see that we are followers
of the Lamb, worshipers of the God of all grace. And the seal
that's given to us is the creation of Christ in our hearts, the
creation of Christ in you, which is the hope of glory. And then
Rupert showed us that all who worship God, who truly worship
God, worship him because they've experienced his grace. He carefully
pointed out that the song that is sung in heaven was learned
upon the earth. Grace redeemed us. And grace
has transformed us, not only into the sons of God, but transformed
us in the eyes of God as virgins. Those who had not defiled themselves
with women. Those who had come out from Babylon
and refused to stain their garments with the garments of Babylon.
Those who refused to drink of the fornications of Babylon.
And grace has caused us to follow the Lamb. Those who worship God
are those men and women who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth,
in good times and in bad. And grace makes God's people
guileless. In verse 5, in their mouth was
found no guile. Nathanael was described as an
Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile. And those who are
Israelites indeed are guileless people. Not to imply that we
do not have that old nature of guile, we certainly do. But those
who are indeed Israelites, the people of God, have been given
a new nature that is without guile before God. An honest,
sincere heart, acknowledging themselves and their sin, honestly
before God. Acknowledging that the only hope
we have of righteousness and redemption is the righteousness
of Christ and the blood of Christ. Acknowledging that God alone
has absolute right over us. To be one who is without guile
is to be one who is truly meek before God. He knows himself
and he deals honestly with himself and with God concerning himself
and concerning God. Not only has grace made them
guileless, sincere, true, and faithful, but grace has made
us to be faultless before our God. And they are without fault
before the throne of God. I never get tired of hearing
that. I never get tired of reading that. And I never get tired of
preaching that. Oh, what a word of grace. Through
the blood of Christ, By the grace of God, we who are by nature
nothing but thought, stand before God without fault. Without fault. And we shall be one day, by his
marvelous grace, transformed so perfectly into the likeness
of Christ, that in body, soul, and spirit, in heart, in thought, be altogether without fault before
our God. And then God crowned the day
Saturday with that message which Brother Maurice Montgomery brought
to us, sobering but soul-cheering from Philippians chapter 2. If
you want to turn there, we'll look at it for just a second. Philippians chapter 2. Maurice
gave this title to his message, What Do You Think of Jesus? And
in the message he emphasized over and over again the fact
that salvation is not knowing a doctrine. Salvation is not
practicing a religion. No matter how orthodox that doctrine
and that religion is. But salvation is knowing a person. It is knowing the Lord Jesus
Christ. who being in the form of God,
you see it in verse 6, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, for God also hath highly exalted
him, and given him a name which is above every name. The Lord
Jesus Christ is our God. He humbled himself voluntarily. In the incarnation, he humbled
himself to take upon himself the form of a servant. In his
life of obedience as our representative to God, he humbled himself to
become obedient in all things to the Father to fulfill all
righteousness. And in his death upon the cross,
he yet humbled himself even more, being obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross, as our substitute. And then his glorious
exaltation as our Lord is set forth. Because of his obedience,
God has exalted What do you think of him? He is the Lord of hosts,
the God of glory, the exalted, imparted God-man, our Savior
and our Sovereign. And then Sunday morning began
with what to me was a very delightful message. Brother Doug Weaver
delivered that excellent message, which followed the pattern of
the whole conference from Matthew 7, verses 21, 22, and 23. The
title of his message was The Great Deception. After he got
done preaching, I hope I won't embarrass Doug if he gets a copy
of this tape and hears it, but after he got done preaching,
Lindsay and I were standing here and I said to Lindsay, I said,
did you ever see so much improvement in a man's preaching in a year's
time? What a message he brought. God has graciously, graciously
ministered to many through him and ministered to him in ministering
to them. Doug showed us that many will be found in hell in
the last day. who thought they were the children
of God. Many, many people are certainly
deceived with regard to the state of their souls. Turn there to
Matthew chapter 7 and read what Doug read to us. Our Lord Jesus is speaking. And he says, Not everyone that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,
but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
For many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works. And then
will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, you
that work iniquity. Now notice what is said here.
These people are all men and women who confess Christ. They not only confess Christ,
they confess Christ properly. They did many wonderful works
in the name of Christ. They were zealous in religion,
and zealous in the religion in the name of Christ. And they
appear to be greatly used of God, but they lack the one thing
that's needful, and that one thing is faith. Faith in Christ. Works, they've got that. Profession,
they've got that. Zeal, they've got that. But faith,
that's what they lack. Those only will enter into the
kingdom of God, who do the will of God, which is faith in Jesus
Christ our Lord. And then Brother Donnie Bell brought a message that was just
a delight, a blessing. from Luke chapter 2 on Simeon
and his Savior. He used Simeon, you'll remember,
as a picture of every believer. He gave us Simeon's biography,
or he just recited to us what the Spirit of God gives us as
his biography. He tells us that Simeon was a
just man, all believers are. If you are a believer, if I'm
a believer, we're just people, and devout, devoted to God. and waiting for the consolation
of Israel, waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ. And Simeon was
a man of whom we're told the Holy Ghost was upon him. If you are led of the Spirit,
then you're the children of God. If you're not led of the Spirit,
then you're not the children of God. And this man Simeon,
this just, devout man, waiting for Christ, under the direction
and influence of God the Holy Spirit, came into the temple
at Jerusalem. Why was it that Simeon was found
in the temple? Why the temple at Jerusalem was
the house of God. And a man who's waiting for the
consolation of Israel, where better to wait than in the house
of God? Like Simeon, God's saints are
men and women who come to the house of God hoping to see the
Son of God who has promised his presence with the people of God.
And then Donny told us what Simeon did and encouraged us to do the
same. Simeon took up Christ in his
arms. That's a picture of faith. You
take it. You take it. And Simeon, taking
Christ in the arms of faith, not just with his hands, but
in the arms of faith, found peace with God. You will as you believe
him. And finding peace with God through
Jesus Christ the Lord, he blessed God for Christ. And then Donna
concluded his message by declaring once more, as we heard so many
times during the weekend, that Christ is God's salvation. Of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God has made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth
let him glory in the Lord. And again, Donnie emphasized
the fact that salvation is a person, not a doctrine, not a doctrinal
creed, not an experience, not a feeling, not church membership,
but Christ Jesus the Lord. He is God's salvation. And then Sunday night, Brother
James Watson brought an excellent exposition of 2 Chronicles 20. Please forgive me. I know many
of you couldn't hear James. I didn't realize at the time
that he's had emphysema and can talk only very low. And I didn't turn the PA system
up enough to compensate for it. I'm very sorry. But I heard him.
I was sitting right there. He preached on, stand ye still,
and see the salvation of the Lord. And throughout the message,
James kept emphasizing the fact that Christ alone has fought
and won the battle of redemption for his people. And he gave these
illustrations of it. The Lord Jesus met Satan, our
adversary, in the wilderness of temptation. And he was tempted
in all points of life as we are, yet without sin. And he overcame
Satan as our representative. He met him again in the garden
of Gethsemane, in the garden of trial. And there, as he anticipated
being made to be sin for us, and as Satan must have hurled
accusation after accusation upon him, the Lord Jesus stood firm. And though his heart broke within
him by his own work, he overcame the adversary again. when our
Lord Jesus went to the cross of sacrifice, and bore our sin,
and bore the penalty of our sin under the wrath of God. Not only
did he crush the serpent's head, but he fulfilled all the law
of God for us, and successfully accomplished our redemption by
his almighty arm. His arm he made bare, and he
wrought redemption by himself. And then God graciously enabled
Brother Todd and I, to bring the concluding, crowning message
of the conference Sunday evening. What a message it was, out of
Lamentations 112. Is it nothing to you, all ye
that pass by? Behold and see if there is any
sorrow, like the sorrow wherewith the Lord God hath afflicted me. Todd's message was entitled,
What is the cross of Christ to you? and it couldn't have been
a more suitable concluding message to our conference. He declared
that the cross of Christ, that is the glorious gospel doctrine
of substitutionary atonement, is the revelation of our sin.
There we see the sin of man at its highest. It is the satisfaction
of divine justice, for by the blood of Jesus Christ, justice
has been satisfied on behalf of his people. The cross of Christ
is the accomplishment of my salvation. He, by his blood, has saved us. He has not made us savable, but
he has saved us and rendered the salvation of God's elect
a matter of absolute certainty. And then he turned over to Galatians
6 and showed us that the cross of Christ, the gospel of God's
grace, is the motive and the rule of the believer's life.
Paul said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. And then he spoke of the Israel
of God, those who walk according to this rule. And then Todd said
that the only basis of my assurance before God is the cross of Christ. Not my feelings, not my works,
not my experiences, but what Christ accomplished at Calvary. That's it. The whole basis of
our assurance. Now these ten messages from these
ten faithful preachers came to my heart as refreshing dew from
heaven upon parched, dry ground. As a declaration of God Almighty
in His sovereign grace, declaring that salvation is of the Lord.
And as a summons from the throne of God himself, calling us to
faith in Christ, to consecration in Christ, and to a united effort
seeking the will of God in the preaching of the gospel for the
glory of Christ. And the words of Isaiah the prophet,
I read these back to the men a little bit back in the office
to the men a minute ago. The words of Isaiah the prophet
had been fulfilled before our very eyes. A few weeks ago when I was at
Wichita Falls preaching, a very dear friend who has no pastor,
no assembly, no congregation with whom she can meet. She drives
up from Corpus Christi when I'm there, about 400 miles to hear
the gospel for two nights. She did some needlepoint and
inscribed these words for me, expressing her appreciation for
me. I was humbled by it. And I was made glad to be reminded
of them again as I sat and listened to these men preaching to us.
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings
of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith to Zion, thy God reigneth,
thy watchman shall lift up the voice, with the voice together
shall they sing. That is, they shall speak as
one. For they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring
again Zion. God's servants see the gospel
of his grace eye to eye. We believe the same message.
Break forth into joy and sing together, ye waste places of
Jerusalem. For the Lord hath comforted his
people. He hath redeemed Jerusalem. The
Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our
God." Truly, the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified in our
midst. Let us now seek by the grace
of God that it be magnified in our lives as we endeavor to serve
our great God and our Savior together. Well, I hope that's
helpful to you. Hope it'll help you to remember
what you heard. Hold it fast and walk in the
light of it and live in the blessed comfort and consolation of it.