I know I speak for myself and
John both when I tell you what a joy it is to be here with you. You all are always in my prayers. I thank God for you and look
forward to this time we can meet together and worship. If you
would open your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 45. I've entitled the
message this evening, Christ our Cyrus. The Persian King Cyrus is a very
interesting character in the Old Testament. And I want us
to look at Cyrus tonight as a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
I want us to leave here this evening rejoicing in and confident
and resting in our Lord Jesus Christ who has done all things
well for his people. Now, I'm sure you're familiar
with the story of Cyrus. When Hezekiah was king of Israel,
the Lord told Israel after the death of Hezekiah, all of Israel
would be carried away captive to Babylon. And after he gave
them that prophecy of what was to come, he began that great
message of comfort in Isaiah 40. Comfort ye, comfort ye my
people. At the same time, the Lord told Israel, when Hezekiah
dies, you'll be carried away captive. He also told them that
a man named Cyrus was going to deliver them one day from this
captivity. And God told them that 200 years
before Cyrus was even born. 200 years. One day, these Persian
parents had a baby, this little baby boy. What are we going to
name him? The dad said, I know, let's name
him Cyrus. Why do you reckon they did that? God had ordained
before the world began that Cyrus was going to become king and
set Israel free. Now that's a blessing. I enjoy
that to see how God is always accomplishing his eternal purpose. God's doing just exactly what
he is purposed to do from all of eternity. You know, God's
not reacting to what we're doing down here. You know, God sees,
oh, they did this, so I better do this, you know, to counterbalance
it. No. Everything that happens, everything,
happens because God determined for it to happen just that way,
at just that time, in just that way, before the world was ever
created. You know, you read today's newspaper. You watched the evening news.
You know what you saw? you saw God's eternal providence
unfolding right before your eyes. That's all today's newspaper
is. It's what God determined to happen before the world was
created. And it's a blessing for us. It's
a comfort in the world we feel like is so uncertain. It's a
blessing to see this, how the Lord dealt with Cyrus in raising
him up to deliver his people. But there is a far greater blessing
that I want us to see this evening. You know, before God ever created
the world, it was God's purpose for Adam to be put in the garden
and for Adam to fall and to plunge his entire race into sin. That
was God's purpose. Because God also purposed the
Savior of sinners before the world was ever created. And that
Savior is the Lord Jesus Christ, our Cyrus. And Christ our Cyrus
has come, and he's done for spiritual Israel everything that King Cyrus
did for the nation Israel. So this is the first thing I
want us to see. Christ our Cyrus is the good shepherd. Now look
back up in chapter 44 of Isaiah, verse 28. The saith of Cyrus,
he is my shepherd. Now Cyrus is a heathen king,
and he's going to be sent from Persia to be the shepherd to
Israel. Now, shepherds are not lazy men
leaning up against a shade tree playing a flute all day. That's
not a shepherd. Shepherds are hardworking, diligent
men. And Cyrus was sent to be the
shepherd of Israel. And God sent him with a job.
I mean a big job. He's going to set Israel free
as their shepherd. As the shepherd of Israel, he's
going to provide for them. He's going to protect them. And
he's going to send them home. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Cyrus, is the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd. He sets His
people free. He leads them out of bondage
to the law, out of bondage to sin, and He leads them into glorious
freedom in Him. Christ sets His people free from
sin by being made sin for them and putting their sin away with
the blood of His sacrifice. Christ sets his people free from
the curse of the law by being made a curse for them and bearing
that curse away. Look at John chapter 10. This
is what our Lord tells us, that he is the good shepherd. He sets
his people free from death by dying for them as their substitute. In John chapter 10, verse 10,
the thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have
life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Well, how
are they gonna have this abundant life? I'm the good shepherd,
and the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. What
a shepherd, sets his people free. Christ our shepherd provides
for the sheep. His very name is Jehovah Jireh,
the Lord will provide. Christ provides righteousness
for his sheep. not by giving them righteousness.
Don't ever think of righteousness as a thing, you know, something
God put in a box and give to you. Righteousness is not a thing. Righteousness is a person. Christ
makes his people righteous by being our righteousness. He is
our righteousness. He provides cleansing from sin
in the blood of his sacrifice as our substitute. He provides
food for His people. He feeds them in the green grass
of His Word, bringing them, bringing His sheep together, even through
construction and all kinds of horrible stuff out there on the
road, He brings His sheep to be fed in the green grass of
His Word. And Christ our Shepherd protects
His sheep. Now Cyrus put his hand in an
umbrella of protection over Israel. No other nation could bother
him. Cyrus put his protection over them. Christ our shepherd
fiercely protects his people. Now what you got to worry about?
Christ fiercely protects his people. You remember when David
was watching his father's sheep? And a lion and a bear came to
take a lamb from his flock. David fiercely protected his
sheep, took that sheep back from them. That's our shepherd. He fiercely protects his sheep.
No harm's going to come to his sheep. He protects us from every
enemy, including ourself. Aren't you glad that your shepherd
can protect you from you? Well, I am. I mean, I can tell
you this. I'm my worst enemy. My shepherd
protects me from even me. Cyrus, as the shepherd of Israel,
ultimately sent Israel back home. Christ our shepherd is far better
than that. He doesn't just send his people home. The good shepherd
brings his people home. He puts them on his shoulder
and carries them all the way. When they need to be comforted,
he holds them in his bosom, in his arms, comforting them bringing
them all the way home. Christ is the Good Shepherd.
Secondly, Christ, our Cyrus, has performed all of God's pleasure. He is fully pleased, his Father.
Verse 28 of Isaiah 44, the saith of Cyrus, he's my shepherd and
shall perform all my pleasure. Cyrus came and set Israel free. He did just exactly what God
willed for him to do. He came and did it. It pleased
God at that time to bring Israel back to Jerusalem, and He used
Cyrus to accomplish His pleasure. Well, Christ our Cyrus has pleased
the Father in all things, in every way. He did exactly what
the Father sent Him to do. He saved His people from their
sins. He made them righteous in Him. He made them righteous
by giving them His obedience. Christ, our Cyrus, he pleased
the father by keeping the law, honoring it, magnifying God's
law. He pleased his father so well,
the father spoke audibly from heaven and said, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. He didn't say that about anybody
but Christ, our Cyrus. And the father is fully pleased
with his son. And the father is fully pleased
with everyone who's in his son. When the father sees his people,
you know who he sees? He sees his son and he's well
pleased. You who believe, the father is
well pleased with you. What a shepherd, what a savior
we have. Christ, our Cyrus, has built
God's church. Here at the end of verse 28,
he says, Cyrus eventually, he sent Israel back to Jerusalem,
told them, whoever wants to go, you can go rebuild the walls
of the city, you can go rebuild the temple. If you want to go,
you're free to go. Well, Christ, our Cyrus, did
much better than that. Christ himself built the building
of salvation. He's the builder of his church. His people didn't do a thing.
Christ did it all. He built it all. Now Christ,
he's more than the architect of the building. He's more than
the builder of the building. Christ is the building. He is
the salvation of his people. Christ is the foundation of the
church. He's the chief cornerstone and the whole building, the whole
building of God's elect all stands upon Him. Look at Matthew chapter
16. Verse 13, And when Jesus came
into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying,
Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they say, Some
say that thou art John the Baptist, and some Elias, and others Jeremiah,
or one of the prophets. And he saith unto them, This
is the issue. Who do you say that I am? Who
do you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. And I say also unto thee that
thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now you know
good and well that the Lord's not saying that he's going to
build his church upon Peter. That would be a very poor foundation. Peter's as unstable as water.
What the Lord is saying here is he's going to build his church
upon the Savior that Peter confessed. That's the foundation of the
church. It's Christ. He's the foundation. Other foundation
can no man lay than the Lord Jesus Christ. The foundation
of all of our faith is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all found
on him. Now when Cyrus sent the Jews back and they rebuilt the
temple, you know what they used. They used stone to rebuild the
temple. It's a giant stone building. Well, Christ to our Cyrus does
the same thing. He builds his church, a spiritual
house, not with stones, but with people. Look at 1 Peter chapter
2. Christ builds his church with spiritual people, people who
have been born again. people that he has made to be
living stones, and he puts them in their places to build the
walls and the structure of his church. 1 Peter 2, verse 5. Ye also, as lively stones, are
built up a spiritual house, and holy priesthood doffer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore, also
it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion, a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded." You're the living stones God's used
to build His church. Now, you want some good news?
This house that God's built is open to sinners, to sinners. You know, when the Jews rebuilt
the temple, That place was only open to Jews. If you were a Gentile,
you couldn't go in there. It was only open to the Jews. This church, this house that
Christ has built, is open to sinners. Look back in Isaiah
45, verse 1, at the end of the verse. He says, to open before
him the two leaf gates, and the gates shall not be shut. Now,
when Cyrus came to Babylon, That city was well defended. I read
that the walls around that city were so wide that teams of horses
could pull six chariots side by side all the way to go around
the wall. That's how thick it was. Well,
that wall was thick. Those gates were that thick.
How's Cyrus going to get in? Well, you know, God opened those
gates for him. When Cyrus got there, the people thought, here's
an ally, here's a friend of ours, and they just opened the gates.
And Cyrus walked in. And when he walked out, he owned
the place. God just gave it to him. He just
opened the door and gave it to him. Christ, our Cyrus, has opened
the gates to New Jerusalem, to his church, to his body. And
he has removed every obstacle that would stop you from coming
in. He's blotted out the sin of his people. There's no obstacle. Christ has removed them all,
and you just walk in. Now, you speak to a group of
any size. There's somebody here that doesn't know the Lord. Well,
there's somebody here that knows you don't know the Lord. Are
you in bondage? Are you in bondage to Babylon,
man's religion, man's will? Are you in bondage? Are you in
bondage and you long to go free? But you can't. Look to Christ. Just look to
Him. He came and set His people free. He's opened the gates that His
people may come in. And I'm telling you, He'll do
it, too. He's going to set His people
free. Nothing can stop Him. The gates of hell we just read
shall not prevail against this city. Hell itself cannot capture
and keep God's people. At the end of verse 2 here, look
what he says. He said, I'll break in pieces
the gates of brass and cut and sunder the bars of iron. The
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now listen, the church
is not in defensive mode. You know, we're not hunkered
down in hells trying to reach in and and capture God's people
away from her. No. God's church is on the offense. We're looking for God's sheep.
We're preaching to God's sheep, and when we find one, the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. They're coming to Christ.
They're God's sheep, and He's going to have them all. Christ
our Cyrus has already defeated every enemy. He's going to have
His sheep. You just go preach Christ. They'll
come to Him. Christ our Cyrus is anointed
by God the Father. Look at verse 1 of Isaiah 45. Thus saith the Lord his anointed
to Cyrus. Now God chose to use Cyrus to
accomplish his will. God chose to do that just because
he would. Cyrus wasn't any better than anybody else. There was
nothing significant about Cyrus. God just chose to use him and
so in that way he was God's anointed. And when God chose to use Cyrus,
when He gave commandment to Cyrus, you go set my people free, Cyrus
couldn't be stopped. I mean, he just conquered the
whole world. He couldn't be stopped. The Father anointed His Son to
be the Savior. He anointed Him to be the Shepherd
and the Deliverer of His people. The Father anointed His Son to
be Messiah. because no one better could be
found. The father who sees everything
said, I can't find anybody better. There's no one better than my
son. He anointed his son to be the messiah, the savior of his
people. And he sent his son to this earth
on a mission. He didn't come here seeing if
he could possibly maybe kind of sort of do something. No,
he came on a mission. He came on a mission to save
His people from their sins. He came to make His people righteous
in Him. And the Word of God says He got
the job done. Nobody could stop Him because
He was anointed by the Father for the job. And that brings
me to my fifth point. Christ our Cyrus was strengthened
by God. He's strengthened by God. He
had the strength of God. You know why? because Jonathan,
he is God. Look here at verse one again.
Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I
have holden, to subdue nations before him. You know, nobody
could stop Cyrus from conquering the world because God was holding
his right hand. God was showing him where to
go and when to go and strengthening him, guiding him to just the
right place at just the right time to accomplish his purpose.
In the same way the father was holding his son by the right
hand, they were always together because they're one. You can't
separate the father and the son. And that's why Christ our Cyrus
could perform all the father's pleasure because he is God. He has all the power of God because
he is God. And since he's God, there's no
chance of him failing to save his people from their sins. anybody,
I don't care who they are, that's begging somebody to accept Jesus
and He just wants you to do this and He's going to be so sorry
if you don't and His death is going to just be in vain if you
don't. They're lying to you. They're preaching an idol. The
Lord Jesus Christ is God. He cannot fail. He did indeed
save all of his people from their sins, and he's going to subdue
them all, too. They're all going to come and
surrender to King Christ. Sixthly, Christ our Cyrus makes
kings to fear. Verse 1, Thus saith the Lord
to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to
subdue nations before him, I'll loose the loins of kings. Now
that was literally fulfilled one night in Daniel chapter 5.
You all know the story. King Belshazzar was having him
a big party and he had them bring all those vessels out from the
temple. Those Jews we conquered, they had some gold and silver
vessels in their temple. Why don't you bring them? We're
going to drink wine from them. We're going to have a big party.
As they were having that big party, a man's hand appeared
writing on the wall. said, Thou art weighed in the
balances and found wanting. The kingdom is given to the Medes
and Persians. And Belshazzar's loins were loosed,
his knees literally knocked together in fear. And that night, the
kingdom was given to the Persians, to Cyrus. When you think of our
Lord Jesus, how many kings shook in fear of him? King Herod, I
mean, this is the king. was shaking in his boots when
he heard of this baby, Jesus. He was so afraid of him. This
is the king of the Jews. He's going to kill him. In order
to kill him, let's just kill every baby boy. Just kill them
all. Herod couldn't touch that baby boy, but boy, he was afraid
of him, wasn't he? Pilate. Pilate's so full of himself,
he told the Lord, don't you know who you're talking to? I have
the power to kill you or set you free. Don't you know who
you're talking to? But who was the one scared in that situation?
Pilate. Pilate was scared to death. He
didn't want anything to do with this man Jesus. He just, he wanted
him to be rid of, he didn't want anything to do with him or his
death. He was scared to death. Those kings feared in the presence
of the king of kings. Those kings were just puppets
in the hand of the king. But you know Christ our king,
Christ our Cyrus, He rules in grace. He's made kings to fear
before him in grace, too, hasn't he? King David, King Solomon,
King Cyrus, King Nebuchadnezzar learned who was king, didn't
he? Christ our Cyrus is the absolute monarch. There's nothing that's
not under his direct reign, and Christ our Cyrus always rules
in grace and mercy for his people. Now you submit to the king. He's
the king. And then Christ our Cyrus makes
all things plain. Verse 2 of Isaiah 45. I will
go before thee and make the crooked places straight. Now when God
sent Cyrus to conquer the world, it was just easy as could be.
Just nothing could stop him because God was with him. Now you men
who preach and teach, you can identify with this. We work. We work in prayer. We work and
study. We labor in the ministry. But
I have no power at all to give you spiritual life. I've got
none. I can't give you a new heart. I can't make you come
to Christ. I can't make you see Christ.
I can't make you surrender to Him. But that's not what God
called us to do, is it? God's called us to do what? To preach Christ, to preach the
gospel. Well, then let's just preach
Christ. And when God calls his people through the preaching
of the gospel, when you don't hear a man, but you hear God
speaking through his word, you'll come. It's so easy. It's so plain. Nobody can stop you. It's just
like old Zach is. The crooked publican was made
straight, wasn't he? He was born again. He came to
Christ, he said, Lord, everything I've taken, I just give it all
back, just give it to people. What happened? Everything was made straight
and plain. The scriptures to the natural man, The scriptures
are an utter mystery. I used to have a boss, and when
he found out that I preached, that's most of our conversations,
you know. And the Old Testament was an
utter mystery to him. He just, he couldn't, he just
didn't even see why we had it. I told him, didn't matter, he
couldn't see. That just a dark mystery. But when God gives faith to see
Christ, you say, now I see. Once I see Christ, the scripture
is plain. Now I see the meaning of the
law. Now I see Christ is the end of
the law. The law wasn't given so I'd know
what to do or how to live. The law was given to appoint
me to Christ, who did keep the law, who did what I couldn't
do. He kept the law for me. When we see Christ, All those
Bible stories that we teach our children, they're not stories
with just neat little morals for our children to learn. These
are pictures of Christ. Now I see. Now I see the person
and work of Christ. When God clothed Adam and Eve,
now I see. Abel brought a lamb, now I see. Noah built an ark and went in
it. Now I see the day of atonement. That's Christ. Now I see. Oh,
when we see him, everything's plain because they all point
to Christ. All the ceremonies and the, Christ
is our Passover. Christ is our high priest. Christ
is the ark. It's all plain in him. And then
eighth. Christ our Cyrus, the victor,
gets all the spoils for his victory. Look at verse three. And I'll
give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places. Now when Cyrus conquered Babylon,
he took possession of all their riches. You know, they had treasures
that were hidden in hidden treasuries, you know, so they wouldn't be
stolen. Cyrus took it all. And that included all that gold
and silver that was taken from the temple that Belshazzar was
using. Cyrus got it all. He's the victor. And you know, Cyrus kept it. That didn't all go straight to
Israel. Cyrus took possession of it because he's the conqueror.
When Christ died for his people, he won a great victory. He won
a great victory over sin, death, and hell. And he took possession
of his people. He bought them. They're his.
And you know what he calls his people? He calls them seven times
in scripture. He calls them his peculiar treasure
or his peculiar people. Look in Malachi chapter three,
the last book in the Old Testament, Malachi chapter three. In verse 17. And they shall be mine, saith
the Lord of hosts. And that day when I make up my
jewels, I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that
serveth him. That word jewels is special treasure. My people, Christ says, are my
special treasure. He treasures them. And you and
I would be so much more blessed if God would ever give us eyes
to see that Christ is our treasure. Christ is our treasure. He has
it all because Christ is all. Now Cyrus, he took possession
of all those treasures from the temple. And you know what he
did with them? He kept them for a while. And
when he sent Israel back to rebuild the temple, Cyrus and the other
kings that followed him started giving the Jews back all those
vessels of gold and silver. And he gave it to them over time
as they needed it. He didn't give it to them all
at once. A little bit at a time so they could use it to rebuild
the temple and to fill it when it was finished. Christ our Cyrus
is the mighty conqueror. Everything belongs to him. Spiritually,
materially, everything belongs to him. It's all found in him.
It all belongs to Him, first of all, because He's the Creator.
He's the one who made it. Christ is the one who spoke everything
into existence, so it's His. He's the Creator. And secondly,
everything belongs to Him, because He bought it. He bought it with
His sacrifice. Every spiritual blessing, the
Lord Jesus Christ bought for His people. And they're all ours
right now. They're not slowly being doled
out, are they? If you believe Christ, they're
all yours right now. All the unsearchable riches of
Christ, the spiritual blessings of salvation, the forgiveness
of sin, righteousness, sanctification, eternal life, peace, and joy,
they're all yours. Right now. You're not getting
them a little bit at a time. You're not slowly becoming more
righteous and slowly becoming more sanctified and slowly becoming
more forgiven. They're all yours right now.
You are complete in Him. Well, every spiritual or every
material blessing belongs to Christ, too. Well, then why don't we have
all that right now, too? We don't. Why don't we? Well, there are
several reasons. We'd waste it, number one. Now,
if you are honest with yourself, you know that. If you had it
all, you'd waste it. We'd waste it on ourselves. We
wouldn't be giving with it, because this is our nature. We're selfish.
God doesn't give it all to us, all these material blessings,
because we'd get rich and increased with goods. You know what we'd
think? We'd think, I don't need God anymore. I got it all. It
goes back to me being my own worst enemy. I'm glad God don't
give me what I want. So I don't fall into that thought
that I don't need God anymore. He's wise in what He gives His
people. Christ our Osiris wisely gives what we need when we need
it for our good and the good of His church. Now lastly, there
are two reasons why God has done all this through His Son. The
first one is so that we will know Him. It is my heart's desire for me
and you both to leave here tonight knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not real interested in trying
to indoctrinate you. zero interest at all in gaining
some sort of following for myself. But I want to know Christ, and
I want you to know Him. Look here at the end of verse
3. This is why God says He's done this, that thou mayest know
that I, the Lord, which called thee by thy name, am the God
of Israel. Now 200 years before Cyrus was
even born, God told everybody exactly what he was going to
do. So that when Cyrus came to town and conquered Babylon, everybody
would know, oh, God did this. He promised our forefathers he
was going to do it. God promised it. He did it this
way so everybody would know Cyrus didn't do this. This wasn't just
some dumb luck on Cyrus's part. This is the will of God. and
God always brings His will to pass. God did it this way so
that we would know God, who is sovereign. You know, there's
a big difference in believing in the sovereignty of God and
believing the God who is sovereign, and that's why God did it this
way, so we believe the God who is sovereign. God saves sinners
through the sacrifice of His Son for this reason, so we'll
know Christ. Friend, that's all that matters.
I'm telling you, that's all that matters. A couple weeks ago, I stood beside
the bed of a dear friend of mine in the hospital. He's dying.
I've known him a long time. I promise you, I promise you,
after 86 years of living, all that mattered was Christ. All that mattered. Now, we may
not exactly realize it to that extent right now, but John, it's
just as true as you and me, as it was H.P. Thompson dying in
the hospital. All that matters is Christ. To know Him is life. And the Spirit comes to His people
and reveals Christ to us so we'll know Him. And if you know Him,
you know what you'll know? He did all the saving. He saved
me by Himself. I didn't contribute anything
to it. He did it all just exactly like He promised He'd do before
time began. God saves His people by giving
them faith in Christ, by causing them to look to Christ and rest
in Christ and depend upon Christ, not by any works of righteousness
that we've done, but through faith. You know why? So that
we're always reminded how helpless and completely dependent we are
upon Christ our Cyrus. It's to know Him, to look to
Him, God saves His people and He saves them on purpose. He
calls them by name, one by one, just like He called Cyrus by
name, so that we would know salvations of the Lord. Christ is the Savior.
And second, God does it this way for the good of the people
that He loves. Look at verse 4. For Jacob, my
servant's sake, and for Israel, mine I have even called thee
by thy name. I have surnamed thee, though
thou hast not known me." Now, God loves His people in Christ. And that's more of an amazing
statement that we can fathom. God loves His people in His Son. God chose those people before
the world was created and put them in His Son. We didn't choose
God, just be honest. We didn't choose God, we can't
choose him. God chose his people and he did it in great love.
God chose Cyrus. Of all the people he could have
used, God chose Cyrus and made Cyrus his servant to accomplish
his will. But God does that with all of
his people. He chooses all of his people and makes us, each
of us, servants of God. Now, none of us are going to
do anything nearly as famous as what Cyrus did, but you know
what? Serve where God put you. Right
where God put you. It may seem small, but do it. Just whatever it is God's put
to your hand to do today, do it. Don't worry, oh, it's so
small or insignificant. Just do what God's given you
to do. You serve where God's put you.
I promise you. it'll fulfill God's purpose.
It'll accomplish his purpose. What higher honor could you ever
be given than to be called a servant of God? All his people are his
servants. Now serve where God puts you.
And we don't know God by nature, but God knows his people. He
knows them by name. He calls them by name. The good
shepherd knows his sheep and calls them by name, doesn't he?
And he says here, I've surnamed thee. Now that word surname,
it means an additional name. It means a flattering name. It's
like when a woman gets married, she gets an additional name.
She takes the name of her husband. That's an additional name. When Christ calls his people
to himself, he gives them an additional name.
He gives them the name of his own son. This is the name wherewith
she shall be called, Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. Almost nothing thrills me more
than to know I no longer bear my worthless, sinful name before
God, but that when he looks at me, he sees his son and calls
me by the name of his own son. That's an act of love, isn't
it? What a Savior, a Savior that we can rejoice in and rest in.
God help us. to look to Him and Him alone.
Let's bow in prayer.