Well, it's a pleasure to be here.
Thank you very much. I'll just mention that my welcome
has been excellent. I'm really pleased to be amongst
friends and it is a joy when we can travel many miles and
yet feel at home amongst the Lord's people. And we are strangers
in many ways, and yet there is a bond between us because we
are brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. I do come
from a little congregation. It's a little country church,
an old stone-built building. One or two of you have seen it,
I know. And it's really quite far out in the country, out in
the sticks, we would say. I don't know whether you use
that phrase. But I bring greetings to you from Egglesburn Baptist
Church. It's a generally old congregation. I can't get some of them to go
more than 10 miles away from home. They will never, ever be
in Kentucky. I can assure you of that. But they are eager that the gospel
is preached amongst them. And they are willing and happy
that I am here somewhat on their behalf to preach to you this
evening. But our greatest desire is that
the Lord Jesus Christ might be uplifted wherever that might
be. We sang in our opening hymn,
may they not see the channel, but only see him. So yes, I'm
a long way from home. Yes, my accent is a little peculiar
and I will speak slowly so that you Kentuckians can keep up. No, it's a privilege to be here
and I trust that we will understand each other and we will know that
our desire is to glorify our savior, Jesus Christ. If you'll
turn with me please to the 13th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Acts chapter 13. I want to read a few verses from
this chapter as the Lord enables and perhaps in some small way
that'll get you into the tone of my voice. Acts chapter 13,
we're going to read from verse 14. But when they departed from Perga,
we're speaking here of the Apostle Paul and a number of his associates,
his company. But when they departed from Perga,
they came to Antioch in Pisidia and went into the synagogue on
the Sabbath day and sat down. And after the reading of the
law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them
saying, ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation
for the people, say on. Then Paul stood up and, beckoning
with his hand, said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. The God of this people of Israel
chose our fathers and exalted the people when they dwelt as
strangers in the land of Egypt. And with an high arm brought
he them out of it. And about the time of 40 years
suffered he their manners in the wilderness. And when he had
destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their
land to them by lot. And after that, he gave unto
them judges about the space of 450 years until Samuel the prophet And afterward, they desired a
king, and God gave unto them Saul, the son of Kis, a man of
the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of 40 years. And when he
had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king,
to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David,
the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill
all my will. Of this man's seed hath God,
according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus. When John had first preached
before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people
of Israel, and as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think
ye that I am? I am not he, but behold, there
cometh one after me whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to
loose. men and brethren, children of
the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you
is the word of this salvation sent. For they that dwell at
Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the
voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they
have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no
cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be
slain. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and
laid him in a sepulcher. But God raised him from the dead,
and he was seen many days of them which came up with him from
Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.
And we declare unto you, glad tidings, how that the promise
which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto
us, their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again, as
it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art my son, this
day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised
him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption,
he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of
David. Wherefore, he saith also in another
psalm, thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption. For David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep and was
laid unto his fathers and saw corruption. But he whom God raised
again saw no corruption. Be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are
justified from all things from which ye could not be justified
by the law of Moses. Beware, therefore, lest that
come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets Behold, ye
despisers, and wonder and perish, for I work a work in your days,
a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare
it unto you. And when the Jews were gone out
of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might
be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now, when the congregation
was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytites followed
Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue
in the grace of God. The next Sabbath day came almost
the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the
Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and spake
against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting
and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed
bold and said, it was necessary that the word of God should first
have been spoken to you. But seeing you put it from you
and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have set thee to be a light to the Gentiles, that
thou shouldst be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And
when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was
published throughout all the region. The Lord bless. this reading of his word. When the Lord Jesus Christ is
preached faithfully and fully, It is to be expected that there
will be a reaction. It is to be anticipated that
there will be a response. Sometimes that response will
be positive. And there will be that fruitfulness
which the Lord has ordained to follow upon the powerful declaration
of the Gospel and by the work of His Holy Spirit. And sometimes
that response will be negative and we will see that there is
a latent anger and opposition to the truth of the Word of God. The gospel is like a sword that
divides, and we should always expect that where there is a
faithful ministry and a faithful preacher and a faithful congregation,
then there will be both positive and negative results through
the preaching of the gospel. That positive and negative will
be at a congregational level. It will be focused upon the pastoral
and ministerial responsible people in that congregation. And undoubtedly
it will flow also against the individuals who comprise that
congregation. And there will be trouble will
follow those who seek to uphold and maintain the faithful preaching
of God's Word. You see, the Gospel demands a
response. The Gospel will always have a
way of entering into men's conscience. There will always be that challenge
which comes with the faithful preaching of sovereign grace.
It will either break a man in his pride or it will feed it
like petrol upon a fire. And that pride will rise up and
it will say, don't tell me that I have no part in this, don't
tell me that I have no way in this, don't tell me that I have
no will in this. because we want to have a way
and a will with God. Our nature requires that we have
something that God desires, and men will always want that unless
and until the grace of God breaks in upon their proud hearts and
humbles them before his holy throne. The Gospel demands a
response, and even in our day and age, ignoring the Gospel
is a response too. I don't know what it is like
here, but we often find back in the United Kingdom that there
is a great deadness of spirituality. There is a lack of interest. Our churches are very few, and
those that do exist are very small. There is a form of godliness,
there is a form of religion, but there are very few that preach
sovereign grace. There are very few who stand
for square upon the gospel of free grace. And yet we discover
that even amongst those religious people, there is an antagonism
and an antipathy towards the gospel. So it is, so it always
has been. And so it always will be. Here we find one of the finest
preachers of the Gospel, standing up and boldly declaring what
the Lord Jesus Christ has done and who the Lord Jesus Christ
is. And he also discovered that he
had great opposition in the preaching of the gospel. But he also had
a very positive response. There were those in this town
of Antioch who hated him for what he said. And there were
those who learned to love the Lord. because of the faithfulness
of his ministry. And is it not interesting that
those Gentiles who heard the gospel and desired to hear more
of it were contradicted and refuted by the religious people of the
day? And here we are told in the 45th
verse of the passage that we read that they contradicted and
blasphemed the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Things don't
change very much and we must expect that wherever Jesus Christ
crucified and risen in power is preached and declared, that
there will be that contrariness, there will be that opposition
and there will be that blasphemy. Is not this free will doctrine
that pervades our towns and cities, is not this religious activity
that we see all around us a form of blasphemy as it undermines
the glory of God and detracts from the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ and sets man upon the throne that ought to be the place
of God? That is the blasphemy of our
day. And that was the reaction which
the Apostle Paul obtained also. But let me say that this reaction,
the positive and the negative, ought to be an encouragement
to us. It is not encouraging when we
are constantly opposed. It is not comforting when we
are beset all around by trials and troubles and those who would
seek to silence our mouths when it comes to preaching. And yet,
It shows us that the preaching of the gospel is not in vain,
that the preaching of the gospel is a very potent thing. As that word goes out, as that
message is heard, the reaction of men and women to it shows
us that it is a lively word, a living word, that it does enter
the heart, that it does enter the conscience, and it elicits
a response. The preacher ought to be encouraged
in that. The Apostle Paul elsewhere wrote
in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, the preaching of the cross is to
them that perish foolishness. But unto us that are saved, it
is the power of God. And it is the preaching of the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ that we desire to hear. I was
delighted to hear our hymns being sung and particularly nothing
but the blood of Jesus. That was the great message of
the apostles. The disciples took the fact that
Jesus Christ had been crucified and they ran with that message. Sometimes we hear it said, wouldn't
it have been wonderful if the Apostle Paul had taken the time
with all of his scriptural understanding, with all of his Old Testament
awareness, to write as a definitive commentary on the book of Isaiah. It wasn't the prophecy of Isaiah
that thrilled the Apostle Paul. It was that which the prophet
had spoken of. It was the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He had done with all the old
ways and he was filled and he was thrilled with the fact that
Jesus Christ was alive. That Jesus Christ, the Savior,
had come, that he had died, that he had risen again, and that
he was coming back. And those are my four points
this evening. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior, is come. The Savior has died. The Savior
is risen again. And the Savior is coming back. What a Savior. Our verses are
those that are found in the 29th and the 30th verse of Acts chapter
13. The Apostle Paul was speaking of
the way in which the Jews had crucified the Lord Jesus Christ,
taking him to Pilate. And there, upon Calvary, He was
crucified. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of Him, they took Him down from the tree and
laid Him in a sepulcher. But God raised Him from the dead. God raised Him from the dead. We worship our risen Savior. The Savior came. In Luke chapter
2 and verse 11 we have the account of the way in which the Lord
Jesus Christ's coming was related to some of those who were there
around Bethlehem at the time of our Saviour's birth. In the
11th verse we read these words, And I wonder if you've ever noticed
that the one who was born was a saviour. He was announced as a saviour. Unto you is born this day not
one who would become a saviour, but one who was a saviour. Unto you is born this day in
the city of David a saviour. Christ did not become a saviour. He was born a saviour. He was the Savior before he was
born. It was the Savior who was born. Now think on that. We see many
men and women. We have the history books before
us who have proved to be of great usefulness to their fellow man,
who have perhaps in a time of war or in a time of disaster
or in a time of trouble proved a usefulness in the way in which
they have been able to help and indeed to deliver their friends,
or their families, or their neighbours, or their compatriots, and deliver
them out of danger, to be a saviour to them. But they were not a
saviour before that incident. Whatever they did of bravery
and greatness at that moment and whatever they are applauded
for and provided with accolades subsequently, they were not a
saviour until they delivered that salvation. Christ is the
eternal saviour of His people. He always was their saviour. He always will be their saviour
and He demonstrated that salvation when He laid down His life for
His people at the cross. He was a saviour when He was
born. He was a saviour who came into
the world. And we have many Old Testament
statements and acknowledgements of that great role which the
Lord Jesus Christ was due to enact and perform in this world. There was a purpose to His coming. There was a reason for His coming. In Isaiah chapter 45 and verse
21 we read, Who hath declared this from ancient time? Ordinarily,
normally, whenever we read such references to ancient time, or
time long ago, or time before the foundation of the earth,
it is a reference to eternity. It is a reference to that which
has always stood. And here is a declaration from
ancient time. Supposing you want to say that
it is limited to time. It is still demonstrably a long-standing
promise and purpose. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside
Me, a just God, a God who is just, a God who justifies, and
a Saviour. There is none beside Me. In ancient times, in times before
times, in eternity, the Lord who was alone, the one true God,
the God in his three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
declared himself to be God, declared himself to be Lord, God, the
Savior. It was his purpose, it was his
plan to come and deliver the people whom he loved. In Isaiah
chapter 9 and verse 6, we can begin to see some of the outworkings
of that plan. Unto us a child is born. This is the one that was born
the Savior. Unto us a son is given. This
is the second person. This is the very Son of God.
And the government shall be upon His shoulder. He shall have rule,
for He is a King. And His name shall be called
Wonderful, for all those things which He shall reveal, for all
those things which He shall accomplish, for all the praise that His people
will give Him. Wonderful Saviour! What a Saviour! He shall be a counsellor, a counsellor
before God on behalf of his people, a counsellor for his people as
their great prophet in revealing God to them and as he brings
that word of life to their hearts, the mighty God, the everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. That was the plan. Here was the
one coming who had been long prophesied. Here was the Savior
being revealed. And then we discover that in
due time, this Savior came into the world. And there was an expectation. These Jews were not ignorant
men. They understood something of
the Old Testament prophecies. They appreciated that there would
indeed be a Messiah coming. And yet their blindness prevented
them from seeing this one. Here we discover that in Matthew
chapter 2 there had been an awareness given to Herod in his day that
this Messiah, this King, would be born. We read, when Herod
the king had heard these things, he was troubled. Here is a competitor. Here is another king in the land
and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all
the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded
of them where Christ should be born. Where is this Messiah going
to be born? Where is this prophesied one
going to be born? Where will the Savior appear? And they said unto him in Bethlehem
of Judea, aye, they knew. For thus it is written by the
prophet, and thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah, art not the
least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a
governor, that one that was prophesied, that shall rule my people Israel. And of course we understand that
in the Old Testament, Israel was the name of that people who
were chosen of God. But there is a loveliness about
the name of Israel. Jacob was called Israel. The deceiver, the supplanter,
the cheat was called Jacob at birth, but Israel after the experience
that he had with God. Israel means a prince with God. And by that name, and by the
testimony of the New Testament, as we read and understand it,
we perceive that Israel, the true Israel of God, the true
chosen ones of God, those who are princes with Him, are those
who are the chosen People of God. The elect of God. In a New Testament age, they
comprise both Jews and Gentiles. All who are the blood-bought
people of God. All who are saved by the death
of Jesus Christ. All who have been brought into
that experience of grace by faith in Him. Here is a Savior. A Savior who has come. And He was a Saviour who died. Our Lord Jesus Christ, that prophesied
One, that One who was planned from eternity to come and deliver
His people, He enters into this world. And He lives a life in
relative obscurity for most of it. And then only at the very
end is His ministry revealed. Here we see the Lord Jesus Christ
these three years, this obedient service to his father, this doing
good to all men, this boldness of preaching, this declaration
of the truth, this manifestation of God amongst men, the prophet,
priest, and king, the Lord Jesus Christ. And what happened to
him? Well, Paul, in his preaching
in the synagogue here in Antioch, had given something of a history
lesson. And it's interesting the way
in which these men, the scribes, the rulers of the synagogue,
having seen Paul and his compatriots enter into the synagogue that
Sabbath morning, gave them ear, gave them the opportunity to
speak. It is a privilege. when we get
the opportunity to speak about the Lord. Let us follow Paul's
example. I don't say go and knock on people's
doors and become an annoyance to them. I don't say speak about
it every day at work to such an extent that you're workmates
can't abide your presence. But as we have an opportunity,
as we see that desire in the part of one and another to hear
something of the Lord, let us be ready to lay our testimony
before them. Let us be ready to tell them
what the Lord means to us. Here is a saviour who has come
into the world, but what did they do with him? Well, the Apostle
Paul just took his history. He set the history of Israel
before these people. He demonstrated that he had a
knowledge of where they were coming from, that he understood
something of their background, something of their awareness
of the world in which they lived. But then he took them on to speak
about the Saviour. He didn't berate them, he didn't
accuse them until that time in which they manifested their rejection
of him. Then there was a need to be bold. But until then he plainly presented
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what the Lord would have
us do. He says, regarding David, David,
the son of Jesse, was called of God a man after mine own heart,
which shall fulfill all my will. To this extent, the Jews were
happy. But then he led them on from
that, and he said, Of this man's seed hath God, according to his
promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus. Let us be ready to preach
the Saviour. Let us be ready to preach Jesus
Christ, and to tell men and women what He has done for our souls. He calls upon these men to listen. He says, you of the stock of
Abraham and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word
of this salvation sent. Oh, what a privilege to see some
saved. What a great thing it is when
the gospel goes forth and men and women are convicted of their
sins and brought into a knowledge of the truth. I trust you do
not take for granted the blessedness that you have in having so many
to fellowship with. I trust you do not take for granted
how good it is to see so many young folk amongst your congregation. It is a great privilege to see
young men and women, older men and women coming to a knowledge
of the truth, having that fear of the Lord in their heart and
knowing something of the grace of God towards them. Paul preached
Jesus Christ to them. He preached the Saviour who died. He said of this one, they fulfilled
all that was written of him and they took him and they put him
on the cross. They hung him on a tree. This
Savior who died, he died for the salvation of his people. He died in order to bring that
people who were placed into his hands, that people that he loved
from all eternity, into that place of reconciliation with
God. He paid the price of their sins
upon the cross. He purchased that people. He
redeemed them by His blood. He sanctified them, set them
apart and cleansed them with His own blood. not the blood
of calves, not the blood of goats, but with his own blood. A little
later, the apostle Paul would speak to the Ephesian elders. It's recounted in Acts chapter
20. And he would say to them that they had a responsibility
to preach this Jesus, the one who was crucified, to their congregations
and to all men. Feed the church of God with the
gospel. Feed the church of God which
he hath purchased with his own blood. That is the church of
God, the people whom Christ has died for, the people who are
purchased and redeemed with the very precious blood of Jesus
himself. The writer to the Hebrews chapter
13 and verse 12 says, wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify
the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. And this is the testimony that
he has left us through his servant, John. As we go into the book
of Revelation and that great prophecy that John received,
the revelation of Jesus Christ, We are told there, and from Jesus
Christ who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the
dead and the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved
us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. is the great subject of our ministry. The blood that cleanses, the
blood that deals with the problem of man's sin, the blood that
cleanses the conscience and gives us a purity before God, that
is the only message of substance, the only message of power, the
only message which has a reality for men and women today. And
therefore we have the privilege and the responsibility of taking
it to all men and preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified. There had been sacrifice before. There had been many great feats
performed by men and women of valor and bravery before. Think
of the Old Testament, how that there were men like Moses who
delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, or sisters like
Esther who was raised up for a particular time in her nation's
history. But here is one who came to save
a great multitude, a multitude that no man can number, a multitude
from the four corners of the earth, a people that will spend
eternity in the presence of God because the cleansing blood of
Jesus Christ has washed their hearts from sin. The Lord Jesus
Christ saved his people by his death. He died the just one for
the unjust. In John 15 verse 13 we read,
greater love hath no man than this, than a man lay down his
life for his friends. And God commendeth his love towards
us. in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. What a great privilege and blessing
we possess. Our blessed Saviour paid the
price of our freedom. He gave His life as a ransom. It was a high cost to pay. But
He was willing for the love that He possessed for His people,
for that everlasting love, that eternal love which He had foreknown
us with. He came and He shed His blood. He represented us upon the cross
before His Father. He stood in our place as a substitute. He died for us on the cross.
God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto
the world. The Apostle Paul knew that this
was the message that would touch the hearts of men and women there
in Antioch, but he knew also that it would cause controversy. And so it proved to be. now is made manifest by the appearing
of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and
hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. When the Gospel is preached,
it will have a reaction, and so it proved. We have a Saviour
who came, and we have a Saviour who died. But bless God, we have
a saviour who rose again. What a wonderful thing to know
that the one that we serve today is alive. There are many people
who are worshipped. There are many who have originated
or constructed religions in this world, but we serve a risen Saviour. Of this man's seed, the Apostle
said in Acts 13.23, we read it, of this man's seed hath God,
according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour, that is,
Jesus. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and
laid him in a sepulcher. This is how dead Jesus was. He was dead. These Roman soldiers
had done their job. They had come out that morning
with the purpose of putting this man to death. I often wonder
whether or not we truly appreciate some of the scenes around that
cross. My mind has recently been turned
to that centurion that stood at the cross of the Saviour.
He got up that morning and went to get his daily orders and he
took them out just as he had taken them out Probably hundreds
of times before. And he read what he had to do.
And he got his men to go down to the jail and to get this Jesus
and to bring him out. And to get the hammer and to
get the nails and to get the cross and take them out to Golgotha. Take them out to Calvary. Now
get on with the job. He had seen it so many times.
A man who was hardened in so many ways to death and brutality. And yet by the end of the day,
having accomplished all that was his duty to perform, that
man in some capacity was touched by the things that he had observed
that day. Indeed, the things that he had
heard that day from the cross. And he was able to testify, surely
this was the Son of God. What an amazing statement for
that centurion to make. He was just going about his business.
He was just doing his job, brutal and gruesome as it was. And yet
he saw something in this man that I believe may well have
changed his life for all eternity. Who had revealed that to him?
Surely this was the Son of God. Oh, may we have the privilege
of being able to see Jesus Christ crucified and risen as the Son
of God. May we know Him to be the Son
of God. May that vital illumination,
may that enlivening, may that quickening word come to our souls. that we might see this man of
whom a hundred thousand books have been written, of whom many
films have been made, of whom many sermons have been delivered,
not simply as the historical Jesus of Nazareth, but as the
Son of God who died and is alive here. was the great theme of
the apostles, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, not simply alive,
but risen from the dead. Three days and nights in that
tomb and risen from the dead. If we really could grasp that,
would not that challenge us in the very depths of our being
and send us out into this world as a people who know that whatever
this world can do, for what more can it do in the end than take
our lives? It can rob us, it can steal,
it can marginalise, it can persecute, it can heap all manner of trouble
upon us, and it may even, as is the experience of some, be
a martyring life, a martyring experience. But we know that
life beyond death now exists. We know it to be true. And when
we lay a brother or a sister in the grave, we believe that
we will see them again. Why? Because Jesus Christ is
risen from the dead. Death is defeated. The grave
is broken. Satan cannot hold. Those chains
of death which men rightly fear have been snapped into and Jesus
Christ is alive. Oh, may we get that deep in our
souls and may it cause us to preach the gospel with vitality
and enthusiasm and boldness. For we have a message which no
one else has. We have a risen savior. Corinthians says, Moreover brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which
also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are
saved. Our salvation flows from the
shed blood of Jesus Christ, the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ,
and we follow our risen Savior. In Revelation 118, our Savior
says, I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive
forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell
and of death. Those chains, those padlocks,
they're broken and the Lord Jesus Christ has the key. We serve
a saviour who came. We serve a saviour who died. We serve a saviour who is risen
again. What a saviour. and we serve
a Saviour who is coming back. Soon the Lord Jesus Christ will
come again. I get into trouble from my wife
sometimes. She tells me when I'm preaching
that I don't preach with an eye on the immediacy of the return
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I ought to. And it's wrong
on my part if I talk about what's going to happen in the future
and when these things, because we ought to have an eagerness
of anticipation. We ought to be expectant. Of
course, we have to plan for the future. Of course, we have to
prepare for the things that lie ahead. But never let us get away
from the fact that soon, very soon, the Lord Jesus Christ is
coming back. And of course, he may come back
for his church and take us in the entirety. It may be that
a sermon like this, a sermon like this, in a service like
this, will be the last one. Think of that. We'll all be sitting. What a privilege it would be
if the last child of God to be called was called in our congregation. I've got a dozen folk, and as
I say, they're mostly old these days. But maybe, just maybe,
the Lord will be pleased to make that the place where that final
child of God will be revealed and brought into the kingdom,
and then we'll all go home. Then the Lord Jesus Christ will
come again for his people. The reality may be that He will
call for us individually. And we know that too. We know
what it is to see friends and family pass from this scene of
time into eternity. What a privilege to know that
the Lord Jesus Christ is coming soon. And as we anticipate that,
let us look to Him. Let us think of Him. Let us anticipate
the wonder and the greatness and the glory that will be manifested
at that time when He is pleased to call His people home. We look to Jesus, He who is the
author and finisher of the faith, who for the joy that was set
before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. where that eternal
love which brought Him into this world as a Saviour, that love
which He had which took Him to the cross and brought Him again
from the dead, is still manifested in His representation of His
people before His Father. He speaks to His Father there
on our behalf. Oh, we are sinners. We still
have the vestiges of that old man in our life. Day by day we
manifest the wickedness of our nature. Day by day we show ourselves
to be utterly unfit for the presence of God. That old man will not
leave us until the Lord is pleased to come and get us one way or
another. But until that moment, think on this, He is in the presence
of his father. Christ, the risen man, stands
in the presence of his father, seated at the right hand of God.
But he stood when he watched Stephen being slain. There He
is in the presence of His Father, and He is interceding for us. He is speaking for us. He is
telling the Lord God that we are His people, we are His bride,
we are holy in Him. That all of that sin which might
legitimately be laid to our account, all of that condemnation which
ought to fall upon us, All of those legal boundaries which
we have transgressed have all been dealt with, have all been
removed, have all been taken upon the Saviour Himself and
He has paid the price and there is no condemnation any longer
against that people whom He is pleased to call His own. What
a wonderful Saviour we have. There He stands in the presence
of His Father. He is the promise. He is the
hope that we have in this life. I will come again. Our conversation is in heaven. From whence also we look for
the Saviour. The Lord Jesus Christ. We're just pilgrims here. This
is no lasting home for us. Don't put down too many roots. Don't bind yourself too closely
to this world. Hold these things that the world
has to offer you loosely and be prepared to let them go quickly. when the Lord is pleased to translate
us into His presence. We are a heavenly people. We
are pilgrims and strangers here. Our conversation ought to be
preceding our bodies in the very courts of heaven. That's what
we're looking to. That's what we're thinking about.
That's what we're talking about. We're talking about the blood
of Christ that will be the subject of our conversation for all eternity. We're talking about a wonderful
savior who will be the topic of our thoughts and our praises. For the millions and the billions,
we can't even begin to conceive. This is one who should fill our
attention. This is a wonderful Saviour. Now they desire a better country. That is unheavenly. Wherefore
God is not ashamed to be called their God. Christ is not ashamed
to be called our Saviour, for He hath prepared for them a city. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. But where
I am, there you may be also. What does this world have to
offer you that will compare with such a great Savior? What does
this world have that you desire above that great Saviour? What is holding you here in this
time from wanting to be in the presence of that great Saviour? He was called a man of sorrows. And he bore all of that sorrow
of God's judgment against our sin in his own soul, that we
might know his joy. We ought to be a joyful people
as we consider the greatness of the Savior that we have. He
knew no sin. He was no sinner. He was no perpetrator
of wickedness. And yet he became sin for us. He was made sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. This is our God. This is our saviour. This is
our redeemer. This is our friend. Jude, verse
25 says, to the only wise God our savior, be glory and majesty,
dominion and power both now and ever. Amen. And that's a good
note to end upon. Amen.