I want to remind you from Galatians
chapter 4, it says in verse 22, for it's written that Abraham
had two sons, one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman, that
he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, that he
of the free woman was by promise, which things are an allegory. Now, what that reminds me of
is that everything in the Old Testament, these stories, are
allegorical. That doesn't mean they didn't
really happen. They did happen, just as the Scripture presents
them, but they're all given to illustrate and teach us something
of the Gospel. Paul says that Hagar and Sarah,
Isaac and Ishmael are given to illustrate the two covenants.
Well, here we have a very powerful and a very important illustration
of something that's very, very important. I've entitled this
message, The Perpetual War. Turn back to Exodus chapter 17. Verse 16, because the Lord Jehovah
hath sworn that the Lord Jehovah will have war with Amalek. Now this is a war that the Lord
himself fights. He says, I'm the one that's going
to have war with Amalek. And notice it says this war is
going to go on from generation to generation. It's a never-ending
war. It's a perpetual war. And I think
it's very interesting that this is the first thing that Moses
was commanded to write down. Look in verse 14. And the Lord
said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse
it in the ears of Joshua. For I will utterly put out the
remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Now, this is what initially attracted
me to this earlier this week. I was reading this, and the thought
of my sin being utterly blotted out so that it won't even be
remembered. Oh, that's so attractive. to
have my sin blotted out. Now, Amalek represents the flesh. It's not like God had something
personal against Amalek beyond and above everybody else or the
heathen nations, but it's what Amalek represents. And we're
going to see that as we look at this passage of scripture.
But one of these days, my sin will be so blotted out that nobody's
going to remember it. I won't remember it, God won't
remember it, because it's not. I want to say this right. Did you know that when God saves
a man or woman, nothing is changed? Now I realize a lot of people
would take issue with that, but it's still the truth. Nothing
is changed. You are just as bad as you ever
were. I'm just as sinful as I ever
was. I have not been changed. And neither have you. You're not less sinful. You don't
have less sinful appetites. You and I have not been changed. I still have the same old wicked
nature I was born with and God doesn't change anything. Here's what he does. He gives
a new heart. He doesn't change the old heart.
He gives a new heart, one that was not there before. But your nature is still what
it always was. Now, religion, human religion,
false religion, tries to present a changed heart. A changed heart. I've changed. I've changed. Now there's several problems
with that. First, it's just not so. It's
not so. The person who makes that claim
is lying. They're just lying, trying to present themselves
to be something that they're not. It's just not so. Let me
give you another problem with it. That teaching or that belief
is a denial of total depravity. It's saying that there's something
in you that God works with. There's something in you that
God changes. Part of that old evil nature
that He changes. That's a complete denial of what
the Bible teaches about being dead in trespasses and sins.
And there's nothing about you that God uses. Nothing. It's not a changed heart. That's
false. It's dishonest. It's somebody
making claims that really aren't so. Somebody says, I've changed. No, you haven't. No, you haven't.
And if you have any honesty about yourself, you know what I'm saying.
So you're just as bad as you ever were. You have the same
sinful appetite you've always had. They haven't diminished.
They haven't gone. They haven't left. But you have
something new. You have a new heart. You have
a new man. You have something that was not
there before. Now, to be quite honest, I feel like I struggle with sin
more than I ever have. That's my experience. And that's
the experience of everyone who's honest. I like what Barnard said,
honest people don't go to hell. They don't. Blessed is the man
whose transgression is forgiven, whose iniquity is covered. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin, and in whose
spirit there is no guile. They're not deceitful. They're
honest before God. And this honest person sees,
I'm just as bad as ever was. I think of what David said, my
sin is ever before me. and my sins are ever before me. Now the thought of that being
no more, what a blessed thought. My sins being utterly put out
of remembrance. Now I hope that this message
will help us in this perpetual war. that every believer is going
through all the time. Galatians 5, 17 says, The flesh
lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit lusts against the
flesh, and these two are contrary one to the other, so that you
cannot, you lack the ability, you cannot do the things that
you would. You would be without sin. And you can't. And you would be as bad as Satan
himself, but you can't. Verse 8. Then, and this then is important,
then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim. When? When the rock was smitten
and waters gushed out of the rock. Now that's the gospel.
Now Israel hadn't done any fighting up to this point. As a matter
of fact, the Lord fought all their battles for them. They
did not do a thing. But when the rock was smitten,
when spiritual life came, all of a sudden there was a battle.
Now I know this. I struggle with sin now like
there was a time I didn't. I didn't. This is when the battle
begins. As a matter of fact, look back
in verse 1. And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed
from the wilderness of sin after their journeys according to the
commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim, and there
was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did
pray, and say, We can trust God to get us water. Look what all
he's done for us. No, nothing like that at all. Wherefore the people did chide
with Moses and said, Give us water that we may drink. What
a horrible way to speak. And Moses said unto them, Why
do you chide with me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord?
And the people thirsted there for water. And the people murmured
against Moses and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought
us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle
with thirst? And Moses cried unto the Lord,
saying, What shall I do unto these people? For they be already
almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders
of Israel, and thy rod, thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river. You remember when he smote the
Red Sea and it parted? This is the rod he used to smite
in the What do you call them? The judgments, the ten judgments. He'd smite the dust. It would turn to lice. He was
doing everything with this rod. This rod represents the means
of the gospel. Let's go on reading. And the
Lord said unto Moses, Go before the people, and take with thee
of the elders of Israel, and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest
the river, take in thine hand, and go. And behold, I will stand
before thee upon the rock. in Horeb, and thou shalt smite
the rock." Now who's standing on the rock? The Lord is. And
he says, smite the rock, and there shall come water out of
it, and the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight
of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the
place Mesa-Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of
Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord
among us or not? Now here we have one of the most powerful
pictures of the Gospel in the Bible. Nothing to drink. The rock smitten. And Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians
10, that rock was Christ. The rock was smitten and the
waters flow out. Salvation through a smitten rock. And those waters also represent
the giving of the Holy Spirit. You remember that passage in
John chapter 4, or John chapter 7, where it says, This out of
their bellies shall flow rivers of living waters, this spake
he of the Spirit. Now, this is when life took place. When life took place, verse 8,
then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim. Now, God
had fought all their battles for them against Pharaoh, but
now here's a battle they're called on to fight. Now, who is Amalek?
Amalek was the grandson of Esau. Amalek was the sworn enemy of
Israel. Turn with me for a moment to
Deuteronomy 25. This is 40 years later after this took place in
Deuteronomy 25. This is right before they go into
the promised land and Moses reminds them of Amalek. Verse 17, Remember
what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when you were come forth
out of Egypt? How he met thee by the way, and
smote the highmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee,
when thou wast faint and weary? And he feared not God. Therefore
it shall be, when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from
all thine enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy
God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt
blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Thou shalt
not forget it. He wants them to remember Amalek
and take care of him. Now do you remember Saul's sin?
Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 15. This is King Saul. This is why he lost his kingship. 1 Samuel chapter 15. Samuel, verse 1, also said unto
Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people,
over Israel. This is several hundred years later. Now therefore,
hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus saith
the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel. how he laid wait for him in the
way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and
utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not. But
slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel
and ass." Kill every single one of them. Now somebody says, well
that's the God of the Old Testament. Don't talk like that. Don't even
think like that. Whatever God does is right. And
this is given to illustrate some aspect of gospel truth. And these
people deserved this. They were enemies of Israel.
They were enemies of God. They had no fear of God. He said,
wipe them all out. So what did Saul do? Look in
verse 7. And Saul smote the Amalekites
from Hivia until thou comest to Shur. That's over against
Egypt. And he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive.
And God said, kill them all. He spared one. His name was Agag. Who is Agag? The king. The decision
maker. His name means, I will be victorious. That's his name. He's the one
Amalekite that Saul spared. The decision maker. Now, in religion,
in religion, what is the one thing about men that is spared? the will. The will. Now he spared this man, and he
took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive and utterly destroyed all
the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people
spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and
of the fatlings, and of the lambs, and all that was good, and would
not utterly destroy them, but everything that was vile and
refuse, that they destroyed And you know the rest of the story,
how he lost his kingship over that because he refused to destroy
all the Amalekites. Now let's go back to our text
in Exodus chapter 17. By the way, it was an Amalekite
that killed Saul. He refused to kill all the Amalekites
and it was an Amalekite that killed Saul. Verse 9, So Joshua
did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses
and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Here we have the first mention
of Joshua, the Hebrew name for Jesus. Moses couldn't bring them
into the promised land. The law can never bring anybody
into the promised land. Only Joshua Jesus could. Now this rod that's spoken of, Moses said in Joshua, choose
us out men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will
stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. This rod is the same rod that
was used for the smiting of the rock. It represents the power
of God into salvation. This rod is what God worked through. And it represents the gospel. Okay, verse 10. Or verse 11. And it came to pass, when Moses
held up his hand, that Israel prevailed. And when he let down
his hand, Amalek prevailed. Now when the rod was held up
high and could be seen, Israel prevailed. When his hands grew
weary and dropped down to where the rod could not be seen, Amalek
prevailed. Now let me tell you something
that I hope I get and I hope you get. You look to Christ and
you prevail. This is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith. You rest in Christ. You look
to him as all that's needed to make you accepted before God.
You prevail. You win. Now when his hands grew
weary and then went down, Amulek prevailed. When I'm not looking
to Christ, When I can't see him, Amalek wins. As long as the hands
are up, Israel prevails. When the hands grow weary. Amalek prevails. The gospel is
no longer seen. Now, Moses is weak. We don't generally think of him
that way, do we? We think of him as a strong, mighty man,
but Moses represents weakness. You know, the law made nothing
perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did. Moses represents
weakness at this time, and he couldn't keep his hands held
up. Have you ever tried to keep your hands up? I mean, they feel
like lead in not too long, and he couldn't do it. I mean, he
just went down, went down. He couldn't continue to do it.
Moses represents the flesh, human weakness, unable to do these
things. Moses is weak. The law is weak
through the flesh. Now, this holding of the hands
up represents faith in Christ. And the first time it's used
is with regard to Abraham, after he had delivered Lot and Melchizedek
has come to him. And then the king of Sodom, who
he had delivered and rescued, he said, well, let me just take the women and
children and so on. I don't want any of these. I'm
going to give you these goods. And Abraham said, no, I don't
want the goods. I'm not going to take a shoelatch from you
because I've lifted up my hands to the Lord. He only is my salvation. I'm not going to take a shoelace
from you, lest you should say, I made Abraham rich. The Lord's
everything. This lifting up of the hands
to the Lord represents faith in Christ, but Moses couldn't
have kept them left up. It just kept going down and down
and down. This is the weakness of the flesh,
the weakness of Moses. And you know what that is. You
know what it is to be unable to look to Christ, and you know
what it is for the hands to drop, and you can't see anything but
your feet. You can't see anything but your sin. Now, Moses' hands
drop. Now, let's go on reading, verse
11. And it came to pass, when Moses
held up his hand, that Israel prevailed. And when he let down
his hand, Amalek prevailed, but Moses' hands were heavy. Oh, how heavy they were. And
he had to watch Israel being defeated because he lacked the
ability to hold his hands up. And they took a stone and put
it under him, and he sat there on. And Aaron, her, and her stayed
up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the
other side, and his hands were steady into the going down of
the sun. Now here's where Aaron and her
come in. We're so weak that we can't hold our hands up. Well, who's Aaron? Aaron's the
great high priest. He represents the intercession
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if he prays for you, You
can have your hands held up. He'll hold them up. You know,
does he ever pray in vain? Peter, I prayed for you that
your faith fail not. You know what? Peter's faith
didn't fail. Anybody the Lord prays for, his
father hears him. He's answered. When he said,
Father, forgive them, it wasn't some kind of generic prayer.
Everybody he prayed for, Father, forgive them. They know not what
they do. You know what Father did? He forgave them, every single
one of them. Wherefore, he is able to save
them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them. Aaron represents the intercession
of Christ. Her, his name means light. He's an emblem of the Spirit
of God, God the Holy Spirit, the illuminating Holy Spirit
of God who shows you who God is, who you are, and your sinfulness,
your need of Christ, the sufficiency of Christ, the intercession of
Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit made him hold his hands
up the entire time, and that is when Israel prevailed over
Amalek. He held his hands up steady into
the going down of the sun, verse 13, and this is very important.
Verse 13, and Joshua disconfitted Amalek and his people with the
sword. Now this is a word that we don't
normally use, disconfitted, but you know what it means? It means
weakened. It doesn't say he slew them with
the edge of the sword. It says they were weakened. by the edge of the sword. Amalek
was weakened, but he's still alive. That same word, how art
thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou
cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations? Weaken. Amalek is weakened. He's still alive, and you know
the Bible paints so many pictures of this. Every believer, you've
got a nature that's as bad as it ever was. You believe that? You've got a nature that's as
bad as it, it hadn't changed, it hadn't become better, it hadn't
become less sinful, it's as evil as it ever was. And you've got
a new nature that was not there before. It's called the new birth.
It's called a new heart. A new heart also will I give
you. And there's so many illustrations
of this throughout the Old Testament. Let me rattle off a few of them. Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac, the
supernatural birth. Ishmael, born after the flesh.
Ishmael, mocking, making fun of, hating. Isaac, You know what
Sarah said? Cast out the bondwoman and her
son, for the son of the bondwoman should not be heir with the son
of the free. And then you have Jacob and Esau. Turn with me
for a moment to Genesis 25. I think this is so interesting,
so clear. Verse 20, and Isaac was 40 years
old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel, the
Syrian, of Paddanerim, the sister to Laban, the Syrian, And Isaac
entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren. She didn't
have any life in her. And the Lord was entreated of
him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. Now all of a sudden she has life.
And the children struggled together within her. And she said, If
it be so, why am I thus? And this struggle is a strong
word. They were fighting. I mean, she
had a fight going on in her womb, and she was thinking, what is
wrong with me? What is wrong with us? What is
going on here? And she went to inquire of the
Lord, verse 23, and the Lord said unto her, Two nations are
in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from
thy vows, and the one people shall be stronger than the other
people, and the elder shall serve the younger. Now, there's two
different manner of people. Two different manner of people.
It was Jacob and Esau. Jacob, the one God loved. Esau,
the one whom God said, I hate you. Two manner of people. The flesh and the spirit. And
that represents that. Yes, it represents God's sovereignty
and salvation, how God loved Jacob and passed by Esau. But
it also represents what's going on in us. Two manner of people. A struggle within. And she felt
that acutely. What about Jacob himself? Jacob. What does that mean? supplanter,
deceiver, heel. And when the angel said, what's
your name? He knew what his name was, but
he's making him confess. What's your name? Jacob, deceiver, supplanter, And then God said, you're not
going to be called Jacob anymore. Now you're Israel. You're a prince
with God, and you've prevailed. And you know, for the rest of
his life, he goes back and forth with these two names. Sometimes
he's called Jacob. It's obvious he is Jacob. And sometimes he's
called Israel. And look at the way God speaks
of him. It's Jacob and Israel in the book of Isaiah. He's going
back and forth and back and forth. But we have this principle of
two natures so clear in the scripture. And notice the old nature, Amalek, has been
weakened. And here's why. The new nature
is greater than the old nature. You see, the new nature is that
which is born of God. Obviously, it's greater and more
powerful than the old nature. And I love the way it says, the
elder shall serve the younger. That old nature is a servant
to the new nature. Do you know, even when you sin,
perish the thought, but even when you sin, do you know that
ends up driving you to Christ and serving Christ? When you
sin, what do you do? Lord have mercy of God, be merciful
to me the sinner. Lord let me be found in Christ,
save me from my sins. The old nature ends up serving
the new nature in that sense. It's glorious the way the Lord
does this. Now, the Amalekites appear over
and over in Israel's history. It was prophesied of them. Amalek
was the first of the nations, but his latter end is that he
will perish forever. But he's still alive and still
just as alive as he ever was. He's the one who made Paul cry
out, oh, wretched man, not that I was, but that I am. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? my Amalekite and my Amalekites,
my sin and my sins. Now, the Lord could have made it. Now listen to me carefully. The Lord could have made it to
where we didn't sin anymore, couldn't he? Is he able to do
that? Sure he is. He could have made
it to where we didn't sin anymore. in his wise and holy purpose. He hadn't made it that way yet.
Now, what benefit could there be in that? Well, I know one.
I know one. I don't have anywhere to look
but Christ. Now, that's a benefit. All I
see in and of myself is my sin. And I don't have anywhere to
look but the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't look to myself for a
thing. And I don't want to look to myself for a thing. Thank
God I can't look to myself for a thing. Paul said, I know that
in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Now if you know that about yourself,
you know where you're going to look? To Christ only. You won't have anywhere else
to look. And Joshua, our text, Exodus
17 verse 13, and Joshua weakened Amalek and the people with the
edge of the sword, verse 14. And the Lord said unto Moses,
this is the first instruction Moses was given to write something
down. I think this is interesting.
This shows us the significance of this passage of Scripture.
This is the first time the Lord says write it down. And the Lord
said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse
it in the ears of Joshua. He needs to hear this over and
over and over again, and he needs to hear it from this book, for
I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Write this down so it's not just
hearsay. rehearse it over and over again,
I will utterly put out, put away, wipe out, obliterate, blot out,
abolish, destroy, exterminate the very remembrance of Amalek
from under the heavens. And this same word is used by
the Lord in the book of Isaiah, I, even I am he that blotteth
out That's the word. I, even I am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions for my own sake. I'm not doing it for
your sake. I'm not doing it because you
asked me to. I'm not doing it because of anything
you can do to me or add to me. I'm doing it for my own sake,
for my own glory, and will not remember thy sins. I blooded
out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins. You see, this is what the blood
of Christ does. It makes sin to be no more. Turn to Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1, God who at sundry times
and in diverse manners, spake in times past into the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his
Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he
made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory, and
the express image of his person, and upholding all things, by
the word of his power when he had by himself, no contributions from me, no
contributions from you, when he had by himself, with no help,
when he had by himself purged our sins, washed them away. There's a stain In a garment,
it's washed, it's gone. It's not there anymore. Purged,
washed away. That's what he did with our sins.
That's what he did with everybody he died for. He put away their
sins. He did it by himself. And look
what it says next. When he had by himself purged
our sins, what did he do? What did he do? He sat down. Why? Because the work was finished. Because the work was completed.
There was nothing left to do. The sin was gone. That's what
the Lord Jesus Christ did and that's how the remembrance of
my sins are going to be utterly blotted out from under heaven.
There's nothing there to remember. It's all gone. Now, in heaven, You're not going to remember
that bad way I treated you. I'm not going to remember what
it's like to feel shame or guilt or the separation that sin causes
when you feel like your sins have separated you from God.
In heaven there won't be even a hint of anything like that.
Revelation 21, here's why. Verse 1, And I saw a new heaven
and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were
passed away, and there was no more sea, there was no more separation.
Revelation 21 verse 2, And I, John, saw the holy city, New
Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a
bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people,
and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be
no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there
be any more pain. For the former things are passed
away, they're gone. And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new." A lot I can say about that,
that's a sermon in itself. But more than anything else,
I have a new history. And it's all good. All that other
stuff has passed away. The former things have passed
away. They're gone. Behold, I make all things new. Back to our text
in Exodus 17. And Moses built an altar, verse
15, and called the name of it Jehovah Nissi, Christ our banner,
Christ our flag, Christ our ensign. Now, the American flag means
a whole lot to me. The United States of America. And it's important. It represents
something. You know, when we sing the Star-Spangled
Banner, the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air gave
proof through the night that our flag was still there. And that's what enabled the men
to persevere in the battle. The flag's still up. Christ is
still all. He'll never leave me. He'll never
forsake me. He's the, He's the Ensign. He's, He's everything to us. Christ our banner, our Ensign. This is one of those seven Jehovah
is. There is Jehovah Jireh, the Lord
will provide. All He requires, He provides. Can it get any better than that?
All He requires, He provides. You don't bring your own anything.
All He requires, He provides. And then there's Jehovah-Raha,
the Lord is my shepherd, and if my shepherd is the Lord, I
shall not want. There is Jehovah-Ratha, I am
the Lord that healeth thee. I need him as a physician, don't
you? I love that great physician. Who needs a physician? Folks
who are sick. I'm the Lord that healeth thee.
Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is present. He's there all the time,
whether I realize it or not. Jehovah Tzadkinyu, the Lord our
righteousness. Oh, He is my righteousness. The
only righteousness I know of is He is. Jehovah Shalom, the
Lord our peace, and Jehovah Nisi, the Lord our banner. Verse 16, for he said, because
the Lord hath sworn. This is a battle the Lord fights.
He'll fight your battles for you. This is not a battle you're
up to. Let me assure you of that. This is not a battle you're up
to. You couldn't do anything about it, but he does. He does. for he said because the Lord
has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation
to generation. Now, the Amalekites are going
to be around until when? Till you die. Till you die. But thank God the
remembrance of Amalek is going to be blotted out Nothing there
to remember. And that's, you know, when I
stand before God justified, I'm not going to be thinking, well,
what if this sin's brought up and what if that sin's brought
up? What if this thought and that action's brought up? No,
no. Don't have any. Don't have any. As a matter of
fact, Paul put it this way in 2 Timothy 4. Let me read this
to you. He says in verse 6, For I am
now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at
hand. I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I've kept
the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me. And that word is actually requite
me, pay me back. I've got it coming. Now that's
how real the righteousness of Christ really is, the believers. The righteousness of God demands
my salvation because I'm perfectly righteous before him. The righteous
judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto
all them also that love his appearing. I love his appearing. I love
his appearing as my surety before time began. I love His appearing
when He came to this earth and worked out a perfect righteousness.
I love His appearing on the cross when He put away my sin. I love
His appearing as He ascended back to the Father. I love His
appearing right now as He's seated at the right hand of God, interceding
for me, appearing for me. And oh, how I'll love His appearing
when He returns. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Okay, Dwayne, let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
promise of the gospel that our sin that's ever before us, it's
going to be blotted out so much that even the remembrance of
it is taken away and there's nothing left. Lord, we pray for
grace. Oh, Lord, we pray for grace that
we may be Israel and not Jacob. But Lord, we know we are, Jacob,
how we thank you for Israel. We pray for grace to live and
walk and talk and think in a way that adorns the gospel of thy
dear son. Take this message and bless it
for our good and your glory. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.