You will back to Exodus chapter
34. Now, this is one of nine times in
the Bible we read that God is called a jealous God. A jealous God. So essential is
this jealousy to his character that he tells us His name is
jealous. That's his name. What would you
think of someone who you met whose name was jealous? There
are certain thoughts that that would evoke. His name is jealous. Holy and reverend is his name
and jealous is his name. God is jealous. Now, what do
you think of when you think of jealousy? Well, there are several
things that come to my mind, but one thing regarding jealousy
is if you're jealous, You're intolerant of rivals for your
affection. If I'm jealous of Lynn's love,
I don't want her looking to anybody but me. Me only. Now, that's what jealousy is.
That's what it is. It's its very root. Now, God's
jealousy is a good jealousy. Our jealousy is evil. It has something to do with some
kind of sinful love of self. But not God. It's right that
he should be so. And it would be beneath the glory
and dignity of his person for him to not be so. He's jealous. Turn to Exodus chapter 20. I
want us to look at the first table of the law, and it has
to do with God. You remember, the first table
has to do with God. The second table has to do with
men, how we treat men. But look in verse one of Exodus
chapter 20, and God spake all these words, saying, I am the
Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of bondage. Now, here's the beginning of
the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt have no other gods.
before me. He is intolerant, intolerant
of any other God. He won't have it. He's jealous. Look at verse four. Here's the
second commandment. Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image or any likeness of anything that's in heaven
above or that's in the earth beneath or that's in the water
under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them or serve
them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a
what? Jealous God. Visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children and to the third and fourth generation
of them that hate me and showing mercy unto the thousands of them
that love me and keep my commandments. Now he is against all idolatry
because he's a jealous God. He will not tolerate it. Not
in any way. God hates idolatry because he's
a jealous God. Look in verse 7. He's jealous
of his name. Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him
guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Be careful when you
use the name of the Lord. Use it in fear and in trembling. Certainly don't use it as a slang
word. He's jealous of his name. Look in verse 8. Remember the
Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour and
do all thy work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord
thy God. He's jealous about this. And
in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter,
thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger,
that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth. He made it, and to see it, all
that in them is. And rest is the seventh day. Wherefore, the
Lord blessed the sabbath day and hath it. Now the command
of the sabbath day is not to work. Now what does that teach
us? Turn over for a moment to Exodus chapter 32. I'm sorry,
Exodus chapter 30. I'll find it in a minute, I've
got the wrong scripture written down somehow, but I want you to see
it. OK, Chapter 31, I'm sorry. Verse
13. Speak thou also to the children
of Israel, saying verily. My Sabbaths. You shall keep. For it is Sabbath is a sign. Between me and you throughout
your generations that you may know that I am the Lord that
does sanctify you. Now you think of the commandment
of the Sabbath. Don't do any work. Don't do any work. And what does that teach us?
He says, I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Now, what is the
one word that most completely describes God's salvation in
the Bible? Sanctification. What are believers
called? Saints. Sanctified ones. Every time I think about it,
I love to call myself St. Todd, because I'm St. Todd. St. Lissy sitting over there. That's
St. Lissy. Just as much a saint as St. Paul or St. John or every
one of God's elect are his saints, his sanctified ones, his holy
ones. Now, how is it that sanctification
most completely describes God's salvation? Well, we're sanctified. The word means to take something
common and ordinary and set it apart for holy purposes. I'm
sanctified by the Father in eternal election. He set me apart to
be holy. How much of my works were involved
in that? That's why on the Sabbath day
we do no work. You see, sanctification is God's work. He said, I'm the
Lord that does sanctify thee. You don't sanctify yourselves.
I sanctify you. The sanctification of Christ. I love that passage of Scripture
that says, by the witch will, we are sanctified once for all
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. By the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ, every believer was sanctified, declared
to be holy. Now, how much did your works
have to do with that? Did your works have anything to do with
that? No, that's the work of the Lord alone, and He's jealous
of His honor. He's jealous of His glory. I
am the Lord that doth sanctify thee. This is the work of God.
And what about the work of God the Holy Spirit? We read of the
sanctification of the Spirit in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2,
verse 13. Made holy, given a new nature, given a holy nature by
God the Holy Spirit. How much did your works have
to do with that? Was this God's response to you in any way? God
is jealous of his honor. Sanctification describes God's
salvation. And he says, I am the Lord that
does sanctify thee. Isn't that blessed? You know, all I got to do is
think of free grace. And it makes me happy. It's the Lord's work. It relaxes me. It's the Lord's
work. I'm the Lord that does it. And he's jealous of his honor.
You know, the honor of the Lord is at stake in my salvation.
Now, if I end up being damned, I'd lose a lot if I'm somebody
who believes on Christ. If I'm somebody who actually
trust Christ as my sanctification before God, and I do, that's
where I'm hanging my hat. That's the only hope I have.
Now, if I end up being damned, I'd lose a lot. But you know
who'd lose more? God himself, because his honor
is at stake in the salvation of every single one of his people.
I am the Lord that doth sanctify thee. He's jealous of his sovereignty.
There's only one sovereign. He says, can I not do what I
will with my own? He's jealous of his word. He
will not tolerate the most minute change or modification. He's jealous of his glory. We're
said to be saved through the praise of the glory of his grace. And I love thinking about that.
I know this. My salvation. If I end up in that great heavenly
choir singing the praises of the redeemed, I know this. My
salvation will give His grace all the glory. You believe that
about yourself? I know it so. He said, My glory I'll not give
to another, and my praise to golden image. He's jealous of
his people. He has entered a marriage covenant
with them. He's jealous of our love. He
is not willing that you should love anybody as well as him.
That's including your mom, your dad, your wife, your husband,
your children. He's jealous of your love. He's
jealous of our trust. He will not tolerate us having
any other trust than him. To rely on him for all things
and salvation in this life. You know, I'm reading in the
paper every day about this big economic disaster that's going
on. I want to just trust the Lord,
don't you? He's going to take care of me. You know, if I lose
everything, I'll still be all right. I'll be all right. It's
not that much to lose when it comes right down to it. I'll
be just fine because the Lord's my helper. I will lift up my eyes to the
hills from whence cometh my help. My help comes from the Lord,
which made heaven and earth. The Lord's thy keeper. Isn't
it wonderful to be kept by the Lord? If anybody wonders why we're
so precise, it's because we serve a jealous God. That's why we're so precise.
He is jealous of His honor. He's jealous of His glory. Now let's look back at verse
9. Chapter 34. Now, after we saw this last week,
how the Lord had made himself known to Moses, here's what Moses
asks. He says in verse nine, and he
said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my
Lord, I pray thee, go among us. For it's a stiff-necked people. We're wicked people. So pardon
our iniquity, our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. And
so here's the Lord's response to Moses' request. And he said,
Behold, I make a covenant. I make a covenant. And this is
not a Me and you are going to agree to agree. This is not something
we're making together. I make a covenant. Before all thy people, I will
do marvels. And that word marvels has to
do with distinguishing. That's what the word actually
means. He distinguishes. Now, he says, I will make a covenant. And this is what is known as
the covenant of grace. Now, there are only two covenants.
Now, I want to be so important that you and I understand this.
There are only two covenants. I've read people say, well, there's
six covenants or there's seven covenants. No, there's two. There's
two. There's the covenant of works and there's the covenant
of grace. Now, let me show you that in
the scripture. I want to show you what the scripture teaches about this. Turn to Galatians
chapter 4. Galatians chapter 4. Verse 21. Tell me, You that desire to be under that
first covenant, the law, salvation, dependent upon some obedience
you render, tell me that you that desire to be under that
first covenant, the law, don't you hear the law? For it's written,
Abraham had two sons, the one by bondmaid and the other by
a free woman. Now you remember the story. God
has promised Abraham, you're going to have a son. through
Sarah. Years pass, and that promise hasn't come to fruition. They're
still without children. And Sarah says, now, Abraham,
I know God made us that promise, but we need to do our part. That
promise won't come into effect unless we do our part. Now, here's
Hagar. My slave, Hagar, the Egyptian
woman, you go into her and you have a baby through her and her
baby will be mine. I'll take her. She'll be mine.
And that's how God's promise will be fulfilled with us doing
our part. So Abraham said, OK, and Abraham
did his part and God rejected that. This is not the son of
promise. And you know, the rest of the
story, how some years after that, 13 years later, After he was
13 years old, he went into Sarah at God's time, and Sarah, who
had already gone through menopause, had a child, Isaac, the child
of promise, who the Messiah was going to come through. Now, that's
what took place. Now, let's read Paul's comment on this. Verse 23, But he who was of the
bondwoman was born after the flesh, But he of the free woman
was by promise, which things are an allegory, for these are
the how many covenants? Two covenants. One represents
the covenant of works, man doing his part, and the other represents
the covenant of grace, God doing what he said he's going to do.
It really is that simple. Two covenants, one of works,
one of grace. For one, for Mount Sinai, which
genders to bondage, is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai.
She represents the covenant of law. She represents works. Abraham
doing his part. Now, if any aspect of salvation,
I don't care if it's at the beginning, an act of your free will, I don't
care if it's in the middle, some work you do to make you better.
I don't care if it's in the end where you're given a higher reward
in heaven because of something you've done. If you make any
aspect of salvation works in any way dependent upon what you
do, that's the first covenant. You know, all you've got to do
is believe that Jesus Christ died for everybody and made salvation
possible for everybody. But it's up to you to do something
to make what he did work. All you've got to do is believe
that, and your end of the covenant works. It makes salvation dependent
upon what you do. God said, I make a covenant.
This is the same covenant that David spoke of when he said,
although my house be not so with God, yet hath he made with me
an everlasting covenant. Ordered in all things. And what? Sure. And David said,
this is all my salvation. And this is all my desire. And
I can say with just as much conviction as David, this is all my salvation. and all my desire. I don't want
to be saved any other way than by the glorious covenant of grace. Now go back into our text in
Exodus chapter 33 or 34. Behold, I make a covenant before
all thy people. And I will do marvels. And as I said, that word means
to be separate, to be distinguished, to be extraordinary, to be wonderful,
to be miraculous, to be astonishing. Now, we can see this with regard
to Israel, how what the Lord did for them. But we see it even
more in what he does for a believer. He takes somebody like me or
you. Weak. Sinful. Mutable. Changing. Inconsistent. Contradictory. I could go on
and on and on describing me and you. What we are in our flesh. He takes somebody like me and
makes me to be perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Now that is a marvel. whom he did foreknow, them he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren." Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, then he also called. And whom he called,
then he also justified. And whom he justified, then he
also glorified. Past tense, it's already done.
What shall we say to these things that God made for us? Who can
be against us? Is that a marvel or what? He says, I do marvels. Look in verse 10. I will do marvels
such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation,
and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of
the Lord, for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee."
Now verse 11, observe, take ye thou that which I command thee
this day, listen real carefully to this commandment, behold,
I drive out before thee the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite
and the Perizzite and the Hivite And the Jebusite, I'm driving
out these heathen nations. And understand, these heathen
nations were wicked. They were killing their babies. They were setting their babies
on fire. They were doing all kinds of
evil things. And they deserved to be driven out of these nations.
They were wicked rebels. These heathen nations, they had
no love for the living God. And people have a tendency to
think, well, why do you drive them out? Because that's what
they deserve. They were wicked. They were evil. And Israel was
just as wicked and evil. But God made a difference. He
had mercy on them. He had grace on them. Now, he
says, observe that which I command thee this day. Behold, I drive
out before thee the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the
Perizzite, the Hivite, the Jebusite. Take heed of thyself, lest thou
make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, whether thou goest,
lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee. Take heed that
you enter into no covenant or agreement with them." Now, some
of them are still going to be in the land, have no toleration
for their ways, no toleration for their religion, because it
will prove to be a snare to you. If you tolerate it. Verse 13. Here's what you're to do with
their religion. But you shall destroy. Their alters. Now, he didn't say just. Passing
by. He said, destroy him. That's
where they offer their sacrifices that they think will render God
obligated to do something for him because they've given him
this. What does he say to do? He says, destroy him. And thou
shalt break their images, these false idols, these man-made gods. What does he say to do? Break
them, not just say, well, you know, you worship your way and
I'll worship mine. No, he said to break them down. Cut down
the groves. The groves were just the trees
where this stuff went on. Now, there wasn't anything sinful
in and of itself with these groves, but yet God says cut them down.
Don't tolerate any of this. Now, why such sweeping reform? He says in verse 14, for thou
shalt worship no other God. For the Lord. Whose name is jealous. Is a jealous God, he will not
tolerate rivals. Jesus Christ is jealous. I want you to just think about
that. Jesus Christ the Lord is jealous. God the Father is jealous. God the Holy Spirit is jealous,
and it's right that he should be so. That's who he is. He is a jealous God. Let me show you some examples
of this. Turn over to Revelation, Chapter 2. This is the Lord's
word to the churches. Now, he says to the church at
Ephesus in Revelation, Chapter 2, verse 4, Nevertheless, I have
somewhat against thee, because thou hast left Now, he's saying
that to his children. He's jealous. He said, you've
left your first love. Look in verse 13 of chapter 2,
or verse 14. This is speaking to
the church at Pergamos. He says, but I have a few things
against thee. This is because he's jealous. He's intolerant
of rivals. He says, I have a few things
against me because thou hast them there that hold the doctrine
of Balaam, the doctrine of compromise, who taught Balaam to cast a stumbling
block before the children of Israel to eat those things, sacrifice
them to idols and commit fornication. So has them also there that hold
to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or
else I will come unto thee quickly and will fight against them with
the sword of my mouth. Look in verse 20. He says to the church of Thyatira,
Notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, because
thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, that calleth herself a prophetess,
to teach and to seduce my spirit, to commit fornication, to eat
things sacrificed unto idols. Look in chapter three, verse
one. Under the angel of the church
in Sardis write, These things Sayeth he that hath the seven
spirits of God and the seven stars, I know thy works, that
ye have a name, that ye live, but ye are dead. Be watchful,
and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die,
for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Look in verse
14 of chapter 3. And unto the angel of the church
of the lad that seeth and write these things, sayeth he, Amen,
and the faithful, and the true witness, and the beginning of
the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither
cold nor hot. I would thou were cold or hot,
so then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I'll
spew thee out of my mouth." Now that's the words of a jealous
husband. Because thou sayest, I'm rich
and I'm greased with goods, everything's fine, I have need of nothing,
and you know not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor
and blind and naked. Now this is who he is, the Lord
Jesus Christ. is a jealous husband. And turn
back to our text in Exodus chapter 34 verse 15. Now, here's what will happen
if we don't destroy the altars and break down the images and
cut down their groves. Now, understand, this is not
advocating that we go into some building edifice with idols and
go in there and start breaking down their idols. You know, that's
not what that's talking about. But that's talking about giving
no toleration to any religion that's contrary to the gospel
that saved you. What gospel saved you? The gospel
of free grace. The gospel of his son. You don't
countenance anything contrary to that. Now here's what will
happen if you do. Verse 15, Lest thou make a covenant
with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a-whoring after their
gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and
thou eat of his sacrifice, and thou take of their daughters
unto thy sons, and their daughters go a-whoring after their gods,
and they make thy sons go a-whoring after their gods. Now, the imagery
here is of a marriage bed. I'm to look for comfort. I'm to look for pleasure. I'm
to look for security only in the covenant. Nowhere else. And anything else is going a-whoring
after other gods. That's the language the scripture
uses. Our Lord is a jealous husband. He's jealous of my faith. He's
jealous of my affection. He's jealous. I love the security
of the covenant, but it doesn't make us apathetic. I fear what
he's speaking of. I fear it for this church. I
fear it for myself. As a matter of fact, I'm very
afraid of this. Everything's so fragile. I know it's not fragile
at all in the sense that we're kept by the grace of God, but
oh, a little leaven. Leaven's the whole lump. And
look at the direction it can take us. And I fear this. I want
to go to a passage of Scripture now in the New Testament. Would
you turn with me to 2 Corinthians, Chapter 11? 2 Corinthians, Chapter 11, verses
1 and 2. Paul says, Would to God you would
bear with me a little in my folly. And indeed, bear with me, for
I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. Now, this is a good
jealousy, isn't it? It's a godly jealousy. And he
says to the Corinthians, I'm jealous over you with a godly
jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may
present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. I fear, lest by any means, as
the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, through his deceit,
so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ. Now, I don't have any doubt that
Paul the Apostle believed in the eternal security of God's
elect. And he didn't believe any sheep of Christ could fall
away. You know that he stood for that
throughout his epistles. Why, even in this epistle, he
said all the promises of God in him are yay and amen. Every promise in him is completed. Paul believed in the complete
security of God's elect, but that didn't take away from this
fear. Now, here's the fear. Here's
why he had this fear. Look in verse four. He says,
for if he that cometh, And he's talking about the false prophets
that were coming within the church of Corinth. For if he that cometh
preacheth another Jesus. Whom we have not preached. Or
if you receive another spirit. Which you've not received or
another gospel. Which you've not accepted, you
might well bear within. Let me read the NIV. For someone
comes to you and preaches another Jesus than the Jesus we have
preached. Or if you receive a different
spirit than the one you received or a different gospel than the
one you accepted, you put up with it. Easy enough. Now, Paul
is rebuking them for this. You seem to tolerate this and
this toleration for the false gave Paul this fear. Would you
let me ask you a question. Would you tolerate unfaithfulness
in your spouse? Would you? Not if you love them. Not if you love them. If you
don't love them, you can say, well, it's OK. It's OK. But if you love
your spouse, you will not tolerate unfaithfulness. Now, this is
what our Lord is saying. Now, back to verse three. He
says, I fear, lest by any means This is Paul's greatest fear
for the Corinthians. This is my fear for myself. This
is my fear for you. And by the grace of God, will
you zero in and ask the Lord to cause this to be effectual
to you? He said, I fear lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, through his deceit,
so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ. Now, what is the simplicity?
What is the simplicity that is in Christ? The word means the
singleness, the onlyness, the wholeness that is in Christ Jesus. Now, if I have a gallon of distilled
water, you know what that means? There's nothing else in it. It's
simple. All it is is H2O. It has no additives. It has no minerals. It's just
H2O. It is simple. If I put something
else in it, even a drop, it's no longer simple. It's compound. It's now got other things in
it. Now, Paul feared the Corinthians becoming corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ Jesus, the singularity, the onlyness of
Christ. Now, there's nothing complex
about this. That's what I love about the
truth. It's simple. If it's complex, if you've got
to scratch your head and try to figure out what's being said,
the truth is not being preached. The truth is always simple. It's never complex. I'm going
to be as simple as I know how to be. The simplicity that is
in Christ Jesus. We have a simple salvation. A simple salvation. When our
Lord bowed His mighty hand and said, It is finished. You know what? I was saved. That's all my salvation. And that's simple, isn't it?
If you introduce the word and, you missed it. We have a simple
salvation. We have a simple message. Christ is all. That's simple. Anything else? No. Christ is all in my salvation. Christ is all in the scriptures.
Christ is all to God. Christ is all. That's why Paul
said, I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ and him crucified. Well, Paul, what about all these
other things? No, I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ and him crucified. We have a simple message and
we have a simple doctrine. It's the doctrine of Christ. Everything in the scripture is
only understood in light of him. Election is chosen in Him. Redemption
is redeemed by Him. Whatever doctrine you want to
talk about, He's the sum and the substance of it. We have
a simple doctrine. We have a simple faith. Christ only. Not Christ and Christ
only. I really believe that who He
is and what He did is my salvation before God. He is my salvation.
My salvation is A person, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have a simple object of faith, Christ only. We have a simple
ground of assurance. I have assurance that I'm saved.
I'm thankful for that. It's miserable to lack assurance. And when you lack assurance,
it's because you're looking within. That's why you lack assurance.
If there's anybody who's a believer that's struggling with assurance,
let me tell you why. It's because you're looking to yourself for
some kind of assurance. Here's the only ground of assurance.
It's Christ that died. Nothing else is needed. Absolutely
nothing else is needed. It's Christ that died, yea rather
than it's risen who's even at the right hand of God who makes
intercession for us. We have a simple ground of assurance. We have a simple plea. His name. His name. Lord, hear this prayer for Christ's
sake, for His name's sake. Lord, forgive me of my sins,
not because I'm sorry enough, not because I've repented enough,
not because I promise I'll never do it again. Forgive me of my
sins for Christ's sake. No other reason is needed. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. We have a simple plea. His name. We have a single interpretation
of the Scripture. I know the meaning of every Scripture.
Christ. He said, You search the Scriptures
and they which testify of me. We have a single, simple interpretation. We know the meaning of every
one of them. We might not know how to get there, but we know
where to end up with it, don't we? Christ Jesus the Lord. We
have a simple motive. His glory. Any other motive is
a wrong motive. His glory. You see, there's nothing
complex about any of this. I'm not given two things with
regard to any of this. We have a simple salvation. Anything but single and simple
a jealous God will not tolerate and our minds are corrupted and
we commit spiritual adultery when we introduce the word and. Or but. The truth is simple. Glorious,
yes, awesome, yes, powerful, yes, but. Simple. Simple. The simplicity that's
in Christ Jesus. I'd like to close by turning
to Matthew chapter 17. Verse 1. And after six days, Jesus taketh
Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an
high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the
sun, and his raiment was white as the light. I believe this
is the same thing Moses saw when he spake face to face with the
Lord in that pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. As
a matter of fact, next week we're going to consider that, where
Moses had to put a veil over his face when he came back out
and his face shined. This is the same thing going
on here. Our Lord is letting them know who he really is. They see something of his glory,
his deity, his Godhead. Verse 3. And behold, there appeared unto
them Moses and Elijah talking with them. And you know, we don't
have to guess about what they were talking about, because Luke's
account tells us in Luke 9 31, it says they spake of the decease,
which he should accomplish. And I love thinking about that.
We don't think of death as an accomplishment, but his death
was an accomplishment. He accomplished something by
his death, and that's what Moses and Elijah, the representative
of the Law and the Prophets, were talking with him about.
The decease which he should accomplish. I'd like to have been privy to
that conversation, wouldn't you? One of these days we will be.
Verse 4. Then answered Peter. I think
that's unique, or unusual, because nobody asked Peter anything.
Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it's
good for us to be here. What else are you going to say? If thou wilt, let us make here
three tabernacles, one for thee and one for Moses and one for
Elijah. He couldn't have said anything
more stupid. I mean, stupid, spiritually slow, wicked really, ignorant. While he yet spake, the jealous
God speaks. Behold, a bright cloud overshadowed
them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased Hear ye Him. And when the disciples heard
it, they fell on their face and they were sore afraid. I imagine
they thought they were going to be killed. I would imagine that,
and I understand why they felt that way. And Jesus came and
touched them and said, Arise and be not afraid. And when they
had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. Now there are two words that
go well together. Not Jesus and. Jesus only. The Lord God is a jealous God. And there's only one view that
will do me and you any good at all. Jesus only. May God give us the grace to
not be corrupted from the simplicity, the oneness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let's pray together.