Good morning. If you would turn your Bibles
to First Timothy. First Timothy, chapter one. I have one verse, very familiar
verse. Very familiar, I'm sure you're
all familiar with it. Verse 15 of 1 Timothy 1 verse
15. Listen to these words, though. This is a faithful saying. And it is worthy of all acceptation. That Christ Jesus came into this
world to save sinners of whom I am chief. The subject this
morning that I will be speaking on is the declaration of intercession,
declaration of intercession. Let's have a word of prayer. Dear Lord and Heavenly Father, Lord, we bow before you this
morning, Lord. We bow before your sovereign, holy,
righteous, perfect throne, Lord, that You are full of majesty and might. Lord,
if we have all of eternity, Lord, we will not have long enough
to sing Your praises. Lord, we thank You for who You
are. Thank You for the fact that You are a God of sovereignty,
that You are a God of power, that You rule and overrule in
all things. Lord, that nothing is left to
chance. That You have chosen before the foundation of the
world to do a work. And You have accomplished that
work in the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord. And You are working all
things for Your glory and for Your honor, Lord. Lord, we thank
You for this. Lord, we love You. Lord, we pray
that it would be seen more in our lives. Lord, that these would
not just be words that we say, but that we would go out in this
world and that we would love you more. Lord, we remember a
pastor here. Brother Bruce and his wife is
their way. We pray that you would lift them
up, that you would strengthen there, that you would encourage,
that you would bless, Lord, as they speak. And as Bruce speaks,
where he's at, and that you would just lift them up. And Lord,
we thank you for his witness and his testimony, Lord. And
Lord, we just pray that you'd bless them. Lord, we remember
those that are around this land this morning that stand and preach
the gospel. We pray that you'd lift them
up and that your name this day would be glorified and would
be magnified, Lord, in pulpits around this land. And Lord, we
know that it only happens if you speak through these earthen
vessels, Lord. For if it is only the words that
are spoken that are heard, Lord, by us, Lord, they are meaningless. But Lord, if you speak through
us, Lord, what great things we will see. And Lord, we pray that
if there is one here today that does not know you as their Savior,
that you have not come to them with power, and with might, Lord,
that you have not regenerated their heart. Lord, that you have
not given them an inward man, one with ears to hear and eyes
to see and a heart to believe. We pray, dear God, that you would
do a great work here this morning and that you would save even
one with the preaching of the gospel, Lord, and through it.
Lord, we thank you again for this day. May your name be glorified
and honored in all that is said and done here today we pray. In your dear son's name we ask
these things. Amen. Well, this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into this
world to save sinners of whom I am chief. You know, Thursday
was the 4th of July and we had a good day. We went rafting and
then we had hot dogs and hamburgers and went and watched the fireworks.
It was a real good day. But on July the 4th of 1776,
our founding father signed what was called the Declaration of
Independence. The Declaration of Independence.
And this document stated that we as a nation and as a people
were claiming our independence. from King George and Great Britain
were going against him. We were. We stood and we threw
his tea in the ocean and we rolled up our sleeves and we spit on
our hands and we said, we will not have this king reign over
us. Not going to do it. And this
king was a tyrant. He was. He was a tyrant. He ruled
with an iron fist. And he said in one of the battle
cries of the revolution, there was no taxation without representation. And that's what this king was
known for. In this Declaration of Independence, it was just.
It was needed. It was something that we needed
to do as a nation. And by the grace of God and God's
providence shined upon this nation. And we were able to win that
war with Great Britain. But while the Revolutionary War
and the blood that was spilled, it gave us a freedom as a people. It gave us physical freedom as
a people and certain unalienable rights such as life and liberty
and the pursuit of happiness. And it did. It gave us that.
But we as Americans are born into this world like everyone
else. We are not free. We are not born
free. We are born under the shackles
and chains of sin. That's how we're born into this
world. We are, yes, physically speaking, we're born into this
country free as far as our morals and our laws will allow us to
be. Yeah, we're born in this world free physically, but not
not spiritually, not spiritually. You know, there was a time in
our ancestry when we were free spiritually. We were we were
able to walk with God. We were able to talk with God.
We we we loved the king and he loved us. He did. But one day
we declared our independence. We did. We stood in the face
of God and we declared our independence. At the fall, Adam chose to revolt.
He chose to go against the king who had formed him from the dust
of the earth. He chose to do that. He did. At the fall, Adam and Eve said.
At the fall, we said. He said, well, wait a minute.
He said, I wasn't at the fall. I had nothing to do with that.
I didn't. Well, we weren't there when Paul Revere rode down the
streets of Boston saying the British were coming. We weren't
there when he did that. We weren't there when all those
men picked up those pitchforks and those hoes and the guns that
they had and said, we're going to fight. We weren't there then.
We weren't there when the blood was spilt. No, but we still claim
the freedom that this country has to offer, don't we? We do.
Why? Because we were born into America.
We were born Americans. We were born with a certain freedom
that we have here in this country. The revolution made us Americans.
It did. Adam's revolution made us sinners.
It did. It made us sinners. Spiritually
dead, bankrupt sinners. That's what we became at the
fall. We did. Adam's children were sinners.
Adam's children's children were sinners all the way down to us.
And we're sinners. That's what we are. Romans 5,
look over here real quick, Romans 5. Scripture all through the
Bible, it shows us this, but look at Romans 5, verse 12. It
says, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, so that all have
sinned. All have sinned. What were these
men doing when they signed the Declaration of Independence?
Really, what were they doing? They were really, truthfully,
they were signing their own death warrant, is what they were doing.
In the eyes of Great Britain, in the eyes of King George, these
men were creating high treason, is what they were. They were
committing high treason against the king. And fortunately for
these men, they were doing this against an earthly king. They
were doing this against a king who could be whipped, a king
who could be beat. He could be. But Adam, Not so
with Adam. He was creating high treason
against the sovereign king of this universe. It's who he is
creating treason against. That one who had given him all
things. Adam had everything that he wanted. Adam had eternal life. He had, he had, he could never
die. He was immortal. He was. Adam
had paradise for all. But what could compete or what
could compare to the Garden of Eden? Nothing. He had all that
he wanted. The Lord had given him Eve. He
took a rib out of his side and he created for him a helpmate.
And he'd given him all that he wanted. He did. But God gave
one commandment to Adam. One commandment is all he said.
Thou shalt not eat the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And the day you eat of that tree, you shall surely die. That's
what's going to happen. He declared his independence
on the Lord of glory when he took that apple or that fruit
and he ate of it. He declared his independence.
He said, I'm not going to have this king reign over me. I'm
not going to do it. And immediately his eyes were
open. And right then a war started. It started right then. And it
will not end until the judgment. It won't end. A war between God
and man. It is. We're at enmity with God.
Sinners are at war with God. They are. A war declared on the
king of kings and lord of lords. And that war rages. In every
child of Adam born into this world, I would say, ah, look,
our little kids are so cute. I look at little Maggie, our
little girl. I said, ah, you know, it's hard
to see, but yet there is a war raging there. I know that. There
is a war raging there. And she's going to grow up warring
against God until one day, by the grace of God, God will conquer
her soul. And he'll bring her to his own.
I pray to God that happens. I pray to God that that happens
in all of the children's lives. I do, because only that will
stop this war. Only that will do it. Man is
born into trouble. That's what Job said, wasn't
it? As sparks fly upward, man is born into trouble. Man is
born kicking. He's born screaming. He's born
warring against God. That's how he's brought into
this world. God, in all of his precepts, all of his commands,
We're not born into this world wanting to follow God's precepts.
That's not how we're born in this world. We're born going
against everything that God says. That's how we're born into this
world. The fall killed us spiritually. It did. Adam's declaration of
independence ruined us. Listen, the Word of God proclaims
that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's
what the Word of God shows us, that all of us have sinned. There
is no difference between men. They've all sinned, whether you're
an American or whether you're European or whether you're from
Asia or wherever you're from. We're all sinners born into this
world. That's what the word claims.
And the warrant has been signed. We signed our death warrant at
the fall. We did. God said the wages of
sin is death. We're sinners. We're going to
die. All right. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. That's what God said. And we're
going to die because we're sinners. We will. Now let me ask you a
question this morning. What would have happened if Great
Britain had won the Revolutionary War? What would have happened?
What would have happened if George Washington's crossing the Delaware
had failed? What would have happened? Well,
you say, I guess that would depend on what the king, the king's
will, I guess. He could have lined all the so-called
Americans up, and he could have shot them all. They were all
guilty of treason. He could have done that, I guess.
If King wanted to, he could have made everybody slaves, and he
could say, you can work and work and work and work and work until
one day when you've done enough, and I believe that you paid off
your debt to me, then I'll let you free. He could have done
that, I suppose, as King. Or he could have said, I'll have
mercy on some, or I'll have mercy on all. That's what he could.
Why? Because he was king. He could have done that. He could
have. You say, I'm glad we won. I'm glad we won. We won that
one. But we're never going to win
this one. We're not going to win this one. What happened in
Adam's insurrection? What happened there? Well, Adam's
treason was against the just God, the just God of this Bible. All right. And the just God of
this Bible spoke in the day you eat of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. In that day, you're going to
die. You're going to die. Well, so what is our state? What
did the sovereign God of all creation, of all glory, choose
to do about these insurrectionists, these rebels? What did he choose
to do? Listen, God is just. God is right in everything that
he does, and the quicker we get that down, the better off we're
going to be. The quicker we can say with Job,
naked came I into this world and naked will I return. For
the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name
of the Lord. The quicker we can come to that
point, the better off we're going to be in this life. We are. God
is just. He is right in everything. He
is right. Earthly kings can be wrong. Many
times they've been wrong, and they can be unjust. They can. Politicians, elected officials,
they can be wrong. You're probably saying, well,
I'm trying to figure out when they've been right. They can
be wrong. They can be. And they can be
unjust preachers, even with a doctor in front of their name. They
can be wrong. They can be wrong. Listen, the
Word is right. The Word is right. And if a preacher
doesn't preach the Word, he's wrong. He's wrong. That's the
truth. You've got to preach the Word.
We must preach the Word. We have to. These men, they may
have crowns. They may have titles. They may
have badges on their chest. They may have all these things,
but they're still sinners. They're still sinners. They are.
And they can be wrong. They can be. Not so with the
God of this Bible. He is right. He is always right. He is just. He is holy. He is
perfect. In everything that He does, He
is perfect. The law was given, thou shalt
not eat. The penalty was given. The day
you eat, you're going to die. That's going to happen. That's
going to happen. The God of this universe, he
will carry out that sentence. He will. Don't doubt it. Don't
go through this life doubting that the God of this Bible has
said something that he's not going to do. He's going to carry
out this sentence. There's no, my dad always said,
there's no ifs, ands, ors, buts about it. There isn't. He's going
to do it. He's going to do what he said
he was going to do. There's no political motivation with God. God's not
up for re-election next year. He's not going to change his
mind. He's not going to do something
different. No, he's not. God doesn't need our vote. He
doesn't. God's God. That's who he is. He doesn't worry about political
correctness. God is correct in everything
that he does. No absurd notions about what
people are going to think about him. There are places, I refrain
to call them churches, but there's places that pastors will stand
up in front of people and they'll preach a whole message and try
to justify God's actions to men. God needs no justifying to men.
God's God. He does what He wills. He does. In Noah's day, God looked down
upon the children of men. You say, well, that was in Noah's
day. No, we're the children of men. See, the same thing if he
looked down today on the children of men, he'd see that every thought
and every imagination of their heart was only evil continually. That's total depravity is what
it is. You've got to be shown that. You've got to be shown
that by a holy God. I will destroy these people is
what God said. I'm going to destroy them in
a flood. You better believe he's going to do it. He's going to
do it. God is just God. He is. But he's
also a savior. He's also a Savior. He's a just
God and a Savior. God will punish sin. He's going
to punish those who are sinners. He will. But God is a God of
love also, and a God of mercy, and a God of pardon. He is. The love of God is an attribute.
It's one of God's attributes. And He will manifest that attribute
on the object of His desires. He will. God's going to love
somebody. He is. He's going to love His
people. He will. Turn over to Genesis 6 real quick.
Genesis 6. Genesis 6, verse 8. Now all these
men, every thought, every imagination of their heart was evil. Continue.
That was all of them. But yet there was Noah. Look
at this. It said, But Noah found grace. in the eyes of God. Now, Noah was still one of those
men that God saw that every thought and every imagination was heart
was evil continually. He was. But Noah found grace
in the eyes of God. You say, I can just hear these
men out here say, well, no, because the reason why that happened
was because Noah was a just and an upright man. And he was perfect.
It says that in the Bible. Yes, it said that in verse 9.
But verse 8 comes before verse 9. Noah was a just man because
he found grace in the eyes of God. Noah was a perfect and upright
man because he found grace in the eyes of God. He did. That's the way that works. What
is grace anyway? What is it? If you brought an
acrostic down for grace, G-R-A-C-E, God's riches at Christ's expense. That's what it is. That's what
grace is. God's riches at Christ's expense. It's not one of the
jewels of God's attributes, perfection. Isn't that one of his attributes?
He's perfect in everything. Noah found it at Christ's expense.
He did. He found perfection at Christ's
expense. He found justice at Christ's
expense. That's how he found it. Look
at verse 17 and 18 of Genesis chapter 6. It's a perfect picture
and shadow of God's sovereign plan of salvation. And it's brought
to life here. Look at verse 17. It says, And
behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy
all flesh Wherein is the breath of life from under heaven, and
everything that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will
I establish my covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark."
Into the ark. Thou and thy sons and thy wife
and thy sons' wives with thee. How is Noah saved? Because he's
in the ark. How are we saved? Only in Christ. Only in Christ. He is our ark,
isn't he? He is. Alright, look back at
our text. 1 Timothy chapter 1. One, verse
15. Listen, we have the Declaration
of Independence and we have it in a building that's locked in
a case, and we have guards guarding this Declaration of Independence,
and it is a document of great worth, probably priceless, really,
in this world. I don't know if anybody could
buy it, truthfully. But look at this declaration
that we have that is printed here on these pages. And the
word of God is free. It's free, but this declaration
is of greatest worth there is. It is of eternal worth is what
it is. This is God's declaration of
intercession. It should be memorized and it
should be put on the highest pedestal in every Christian's
life. It should be. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners of whom I'm chief. What a great saying. Why is this
declaration needed? You say, why is it needed? Well,
let me ask you this. Why was the Ark needed? Well,
you say, well, if Noah hadn't had the Ark, he'd have died.
Well, that's right. That's right. Well, what about
the children of Israel? Why did they need that brazen
snake up on that pole? They said, well, you know, if
those who had been bitten by the snake, if they didn't have
the brazen snake, they would have died. That's right. Well, what about
the manna in the wilderness? Why did they need the manna in
the wilderness? Well, if they hadn't had the manna in the wilderness,
they would have died of starvation. Well, what about the rock that
was struck and it brought forth water? Why did they need that?
If they hadn't had the rock, they would have died of thirst.
Well, what about the blood on the doorpost? Why did they need
that? Well, if it wasn't for the blood
on the doorpost, that angel of death would have come in and
destroyed them. That's why. So many pictures. So many times. Why did Isaac need that ram?
Well, if it wasn't for that ram, that knife would have came down
on Isaac. And he would have been dead. Why did Rahab need that
scarlet cord that hung from her window? If it wasn't for that
scarlet cord, those soldiers would have went in and killed
her. That's why. Listen, without these things,
these men and these women, these boys and these girls, they would
have perished. They would have died. And all these pictures
point to that one great declaration. In which all these pictures and
types and these shadows, they all make sense. And that is in
that light that shines from Calvary in the Lord Jesus Christ. They
all make sense in Him. Why do we need this declaration?
Because without it, we all would perish. We all would perish. Jesus Christ is our ark. Jesus Christ is our brazen snake
on the pole. Jesus Christ is our manna. Jesus
Christ is our rock. He's our spiritual drink. Jesus
Christ is the blood on the doorpost. Jesus Christ is our ram caught
in the thicket. He's our all in all. He's everything. He's everything. Listen, I've
got five things real quick. I want to show you about this
great declaration of intercession. Number one, this is a faithful
saying. This is a faithful saying. The first thing that comes to
our mind when we think about earthly words or earthly things,
such as the word faithful. We think about earthly things,
don't we? We think about faithful parents. We think about faithful ministers. We think about faithful teachers. We think about even faithful
dogs, don't we? It's the first thing that comes
to our mind when we think of faithful. Earthly words that we've used
for earthly things. It is the first thing we need
to do when we examine this verse of Scripture right here, and
we see this is a faithful saying, is we need to get all of that
out of our mind. It's the first thing we need to do. We need
to erase all that because we're not talking about faithfulness
that we find on this earth. We're talking about the faithfulness
of God, the altogether faithful one. Every earthly word that
we use to describe God is an understatement. Why? Because
we've used it to describe other things. and other people. The
word awesome would have been a great word to keep to describe
God. If that's all we ever used it
for was to describe God. He's an awesome God. But back
when I was a kid growing up, everything was totally awesome.
It was everything. I mean, down to socks or it doesn't
matter. Everything was totally awesome.
It was. We just destroyed that word.
It means nothing anymore. I heard on the radio the other
day that there's some car stereo was redefining awesome. You can't. I mean, the only way we can see
the awesomeness of God is for that to be revealed to us. It
must be revealed. And that word doesn't do it justice.
It doesn't do God justice. And this word faithful. If we
view it in light of what we understand as faithfulness in this world,
parents or whatever, it doesn't come close. to saying what God
is in His faithfulness. God is a faithful God. He is
altogether faithful. He is nothing but faithful. Psalm
89, if you went there, it's full of showing us how faithful God
is. God is a God of faithfulness.
He is. Turn over to Lamentations 3 real
quick. Lamentations 3. We've all heard
these verses, but let's read them real quick. through verse
26. What was this going through verse
23? It says in verse 18, it says,
And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord,
remembering my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the
gall. My soul hath been still in remembrance and is humbled
in me. But this I recall to my mind, therefore, have I hope.
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because His
compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great
is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. This
is a faithful saying because the object of this declaration,
the one that this declaration is worth, it's about, is the
Lord Jesus Christ, that altogether faithful one. The one who is
all faithfulness. This is not the promise of a
loving parent. It isn't. For every parent, that
has made a promise realizes that the only way they can fulfill
that promise is if the providence of God shines upon them. And
they are allowed to do it. They are. We're totally dependent
upon the providence and the will of God and everything in our
lives. I was thinking about this morning. There's people that
I've heard of, men that I've heard of that, man, everything
he says he does. Well, he's very, very, the providence
of God has shined upon him. And I was thinking of driving
here. I said I'd be here around 10 o'clock this morning. I'm
saying if I was in control of everything in this world, everything
except one little nail on the road that was sticking up, and
I ran over that nail, I wouldn't be here at 10 o'clock. You've
got to be in control of everything if you're going to be faithful.
You have to be. If you're going to be altogether
faithful, you have to be in control of all things. All promises made
by mortal men are subject to the promises and the providence
of Almighty God. And this is not the good intentions
of a thoughtful teacher. No, it's not. It's not. All intentions
are just that. You intend to do them, but you're
only going to do them if God wills. That's the only way we're
going to do them. And this is not the political
stand of a meaningful politician. No, it's not. We've all heard
and we've all seen and we've all felt earthly faithfulness. We've all seen it. We've all
seen the frailty of it. We have. But this One in whom
this verse is written about, let's get this down. This One
that this verse is written about is the altogether faithful One
from eternity past to eternity future. He is faithful. He is
faithful. And this is a faithful saying
because it is about the Lord Jesus Christ. It is. In order to be absolutely faithful,
you have to be the absolute predestinator of all things. You have to be
the absolute sovereign over all things. You must be. You have
to be someone who is truly faithful, cannot give a decree and then
wait to see if it's going to take place. You can't. That's not the way it works.
You can't depend upon frail men. To do your will and you be a
faithful person. You can't do it. God is not a
God that sits in the heavens and waits for things to happen.
He's not a God who sits on his throne and says, man, I just
wish that person would accept me. How's that? How's that? How does that show
anything about his faithfulness? It doesn't. God is a God of absolute
predestination. Colossians 1 verse 16 says, For
by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. All things. Everything. Could
this be said about a God that sits around and waits for things
to happen? Could that be said about Him? Who waits for choices
to be made? Who waits for plans to be finished?
Who waits for decisions to be made? Could that be said about
Him? No, that's not a faithful God.
He says, if that's if that's your God, he's not faithful.
He's not faithful. He's not. And he's not the God
of this Bible. He's not. The God of this Bible
is faithful. He is. He's absolutely faithful
because he has predestinated and he has foreordained everything. All things. All things. All that
he says, all the declarations made about him, all the declarations
made by him. Everything that in this book
is absolute, it's yea and amen, it's final. It is. It's gospel
truth because they have already been accomplished in the mind
and the purpose of Almighty God. They've already been done. If
you look at Revelations 13, verse 8, it says, Jesus Christ was
the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. In the mind and
purpose of God, Jesus Christ was crucified on Calvary's cross
before the foundation of the world. It's done. It's finished.
in the mind and purpose of God. It was. Ephesians 1, 4 says,
according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. This took place before the foundation
of the world. And it's God. We're in Him. Alright? There's a lot of questions there.
A lot of questions people have about that. But all I know is
God's God. He's God. And He chose a people.
He elected a people. And who are we to say to God,
why have you done this? Why has he made me thus? Why? We've got to quit saying why.
Just believe. Believe. Believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ. All right. This is a faithful
saying. We've seen this. And number two, it is worthy
of all expectation. It's worthy. There's another
one of those words. Worthy. Worthy. Worthy of worship. We sing that song. That's a beautiful
song, but it's an understatement. It is. We talk a lot about worth
of people. This person's worth this and
this person's worth that. This person's worthy of this.
This person's worthy of that. Only God is worthy. Only God
is worthy. He is worthy of all things. And
in order to understand the worthiness, I think, of this declaration,
what we really need to understand is our unworthiness. It's how
unworthy we truly are. Jacob said in Genesis 32 10,
he said, I am not worthy of the least. of your blessings. I'm
not worthy of anything that you have to offer me. None of it.
What are we worthy of in and of ourselves? We are worthy of
death. We are worthy of judgment. We
are worthy of hell. That's what we're worthy of in
and of ourselves. And it's only in this life, in
the understanding that we're not worthy at all. And He is
altogether worthy in our understanding our need. And this is only done
by revelation. It is only done by the Spirit
of the Lord working in us and showing us what we are by nature.
It's the only way this works, but that we can claim this declaration
as our own. And it's the only time we're
going to do it, because we understand this declaration. These things
have to be revealed to us. What's the first and greatest
commandment? Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your
heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. Now, can you love
the Lord your God with the heart you got? Spiritually speaking,
naturally man, natural man, can you? Now you gotta have a new
heart. You gotta have a new heart. Can you see him with the natural
man's eyes? No. No you can't. You gotta have
eyes of the inward man. Can you hear him with the ears
of the ear? Job said, I've heard of thee all my life with the
hearing of the ear. But now mine eyes see it thee. What's he talking
about? He's talking about the eye of the inward man. He's talking
about regeneration. He's talking about being born again. Born
again. You must be born again. That's
what they Jesus told Nicodemus. John 4 verse 10 points us right
to this declaration, and it says, Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be a propitiation
for our sins. What's that word propitiation
mean? It's an atoning sacrifice, an atoning sacrifice. He took
the wrath and the guilt and the pain for his people on the cross
of Calvary. He suffered on the cross of Calvary
for his people. When I think of the love of God,
when I think about His worth, I think about the martyrs. You
know, that's really how we really think about His worth in our
lives. We look at the martyrs and what
they suffered through and what they did. You know, I think of
Stephen who knelt down while they were stoning him and looked
up to heaven. You know what was going through his mind? Thou
art worthy. Thou art truly worthy. When Peter was crucified on the
cross, You know, he said, I'm not worthy to hang on the cross
like the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not worthy. So do you hang
the upside down? Only he's worthy. He's worthy. When we think of those those
martyrs who who were they strap a chain around their waist and
hang them on the pole to be burnt. And a lot of times when they
burn and they burn the bottom half of them and it wouldn't
kill them yet. And only the chain was holding them up and they'd
be Eyes up to heaven, praising God, for only He is worthy. Only
He is worthy. Oh, when we think about that,
we think about that song. If we would think the ocean filled
or were the skies of parchment made, if every stalk on earth
a quill and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of
God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could that scroll contain
the whole if you stretched it from sky to sky. It couldn't
contain it. Couldn't contain it. This is
a faithful saying and is worthy of all acceptation." Now listen
to this, that Christ Jesus came into this world. He came into
this world. Christ Jesus, the anointed Savior,
came into this world. The King of kings and Lord of
lords, He became flesh. John 1 says, In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God. And that Word became
flesh and dwelt among us. Among us. Sinners. Wretched sinners. The creator
of the heavens and the earth. That One who formed all things
by the Word of His power. He became flesh and dwelt among
us. He did. The fairest among ten thousand.
The rose of Sharon. The lily of the valley. Came
down and dwelt in this filth hole. He did that. He did that. He thought it not robbery to
be called equal with God. He had a crown of glory. He laid it aside for a crown
of thorns. He did. Altogether lovely one. He came and he had his beard
plucked out by the roots and he was beaten and he was scourged
and he was hung on Calvary's cross. And he hung outside those
city walls of Jerusalem on that hill called Golgotha or Calvary.
He hung there and he cried to his father, My God, why has thou
forsaken me? Why has thou forsaken me? Why? Well, I'll tell you why. But unless the grace of God has
touched your heart, you're going to think it's the most foolish
thing you ever heard of. You are. You're going to laugh. Must have been somebody special.
He must have came here for somebody special. He must have. Why would
God have done that for anybody else but somebody special? We
know it's scarcely for a righteous man one will die, yet preadventure
for a good man someone even dare to die. But God commended this
love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Christ died for us. Did you hear
that? This is a faithful saying. It is worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. That's right. To save sinners. Sinners. Oh, the law says saint. The law says saint. The gospel
says sinner. Doesn't it? The law says worker
of righteousness. The gospel says sinner. Satan
says you ain't good enough. That's why I said the gospel
says you don't have to be. Christ is. Christ is. Look to him. Look to him. Quit
looking at yourself. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. The legalist says work. Says
do. He says be. Isaiah said this. He said, Jesus Christ bore the
sin of many. And he made intercession for
the transgressor. For the transgressor. Oh, intercession,
what does it mean? It's the act of interceding,
a mediation, interposition between two parties at variance or a
war with each other. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
did. He came into this world as an intercessor for his people. God says they have to be perfect.
They have to be holy. They have to be spotless. They
have to be pure. Mine eyes are too holy to look upon anything
that is not holiness. Christ said, I'm holy. I'm holy,
I'm perfect. God said, well, the soul that's
in it, this shall surely die. That man's got to die. Christ
said, I died. I died. God said, well done,
my good and faithful servant, for thou has done all things
well. And I tell you what, if we're in Christ, we'll hear those
words. For only he's heard them, and only he will. Oh, but we
must be in him to hear it. Well done. my good and faithful
servant." Well, that's what this Declaration of Intercession means
to me. It's a faithful saving, and it's worthy of all expectation
that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. But listen
to how far this declaration goes. It says, "...of whom I am chief."
Of whom I am chief. This means there's hope for all
of us. There's hope for everybody. There
is. There is. No matter how deep
or dark the stain, that soils man's nature. No matter how dark
it is, there's hope. There's hope. He came for the
chief of sinners. The chief of sinners. The blood
of the Savior can wash away any sin. It can. It can. I remember my father one time,
he said this. He said, you can be too good
to be saved. You can, but you'll never be
too bad to be saved. You never will be. You never
will be. 7.25 says, wherefore He is able also
to save them to the uttermost. Uttermost. I heard somebody say
guttermost one time. He's able to save all those to
the uttermost that come unto God by Him. That's the Lord Jesus
Christ. Must come by Him. Oh, Jude said,
now unto Him who is able. Now unto Him who is able to keep
you from falling and to present you faultless before His glory
with exceeding joy. Paul said, I know and I'm persuaded
that He is able to keep out which I've committed unto Him against
that day. He's able. He is able. He is. He's faithful. Oh, the
Declaration of Intercession. It's a faithful saying. This
is a faithful saying and it's worthy of all acceptation that
Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners of whom I'm chief. Well, Lord bless you.