and happy for you. I'd like to
introduce this message by asking you to turn with me to Romans
chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. I've titled this message, An Honorable
Priest, but I could have titled it Two Covenants. Romans chapter 11, verse 6. And if by grace, then it is no
more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it
is no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. The Bible makes it clear that
there are two covenants. The covenant of works, which
is the covenant that Adam was put under in the garden. If you
do this, then you'll live. Adam did not keep the covenant
of works. He failed in doing what God had
commanded him to do. And the result of his failure
was death, separation from God. And the Lord had ordained that
in order to bring about the eternal covenant of grace. And that's
the covenant that God established in eternity past when God the
Father gave to his son a bride. He chose a particular people.
And God, the son entered into that covenant promise and agreed
to be the surety, the sacrifice, the redeemer of those who had
broken the covenant of works. God, the Holy spirit entered
into this covenant promise. I want you to notice this, this
covenant, the covenant of grace took place before time ever was. before the stars were made, before
the earth was made, before the angels were made, before man
was made, God established this eternal covenant. God, the Holy
Spirit, entered into that covenant, that promise, and promised to
come in the day of His power and to make those for whom Christ
died, those for whom the Father had chosen, willing and to regenerate
them and to cause them to come in faith to Christ. Now you and
I had nothing to do with that covenant. There's no way that
that covenant can fail. We failed in our father, Adam.
We continue to fail if we're hoping in a salvation by works. And what we just read in Romans
chapter 10, the Lord is making very clear. If the hope of our
salvation is determined by our works in any way, then it cannot
be of grace. Otherwise, grace is not grace.
And if our hope of our salvation is determined by grace, then
it cannot be of works. Grace is unmerited favor. Grace is the work that God has
done on behalf of his people to redeem them, to save them.
Now, there is a sense in which the entire Bible is given to
us in order to contrast these two covenants. And over and over
and over again, the Lord gives to us pictures of these two covenants. They stand in opposition of one
another. There's no common ground between
the two. It's one way or the other. And
the covenant of works is the covenant that we are born with
and under. And it is what has been used
by men to establish all religions. The only difference, the only
difference between one religious persuasion and another is what
works are necessary in order to satisfy salvation in that
religion. And so the Jewish religion has
a set of rules and regulations and the Muslims have their set
of rules and regulations and each denomination within The
category of Christianity has their set of rules and regulations,
but they are all the same, all the same. All the religions of
man, all man-made religion is a covenant of works. And God
said, if you don't do this, you'll die. And so the covenant of works
always leads to death. The only hope of salvation, the
only hope of life, the only hope of redemption, the only hope
of eternal salvation is a covenant that God does. And so with that
in mind, I'd like for you to turn with me to 1 Samuel 2. 1
Samuel 2. There was a descendant of Aaron
by the name of Eli at this time in Israel. And Eli was the high
priest. He had two sons. Their names
were Hophni and Phinehas. And Hophni and Phinehas in our
story picture this covenant of works which always leads to death.
And because of their unfaithfulness as priests, and because they
robbed Christ of his glory and salvation, and they robbed the
people of their peace of salvation, God promises to raise up a new
priest, a new prophet. And his name would be Samuel.
And Samuel's name translated means his name is God. His name is God. Samuel in this
story points to our high priest who himself is Emmanuel, God
with us. His name is God. In the beginning
was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.
And the word became flesh and he dwelt among us and we beheld
his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the father full
of grace and full of truth. The Lord Jesus Christ is pictured
in this story as the one who would come and satisfy the demands
of the covenant of grace that God's people might be saved. Chapter 2, beginning at verse
12. Now the sons of Eli were sons
of Balaal, and they knew not the Lord. That's pretty clear. It's pretty simple. These men
had no knowledge of God. They had perverted their responsibility
as the priest, and they had perverted the worship of God and the sacrifices,
and they had turned the covenant that God had given to Israel,
the covenant of grace, into a covenant of works. And God calls them
sons of Belial. Now the term Belial translated
means unprofitable. It means unprofitable, it means
worthless. And so Hophni and Phinehas, Picture
this worthless, unprofitable covenant of death that can never
ever save and everything they do pictures that in contrast
to what God would do in Christ in satisfying the covenant of
grace for the salvation of his people. Sons of Belial are mentioned
in the scriptures on several occasions. I'll just, I'll just
point to a few of them. In Deuteronomy, you don't have
to turn with me here. Let me just tell you this story. In Deuteronomy
chapter 13, verse 13, God said, if a man, if a man teaches anything
other than the gospel that God had given to him, He is a son
of Belial and he's to be destroyed. And so anyone that would lead
the children of Israel to strange gods, is how Deuteronomy mentions
it, is considered a son of Belial. There is but one true God. And
every other God is a strange God. Every other God is a false
God. Every other God is nothing more than a figment of men's
imagination. And so the Lord calls those false
prophets sons of Belial. In 1 Samuel chapter 25, David
is in need of sustenance for his army, and he goes to a man
by the name of Nabal and asks for assistance, and Nabal refuses. And David determines to destroy
Nabal and his entire family. And Nabal's wife, whose name
is Abigail, comes out to David and pleads mercy for David. And
she says of her husband, she says this of her husband, he
is such a man of Belial that no man can speak to him. So here
we find out what a son of Belial is, a person that won't listen. He's not teachable. He won't
hear. He resists the word of God. I think it's interesting that
in the English language, at least, the word bow and bow is spelt
the same way. And all men will either bow to
what God has said, or they will be sons of Belial. And they will
bow up to the very word of God and resist the truth of what
God has declared about Christ and about salvation. So here
again, we see one way, or the other. He is such a son of Belial. In 1 Samuel chapter 30, David
takes his men to battle against the Philistines. And they leave
their wives and children in a city called Ziklag. And when David
comes back from a successful campaign, They are a distance
from the city of Ziklag, and they see smoke billowing up from
where their wives and children had been left. And when they
get to the city, they find out that it's empty. All the wives
and children have been taken by the Amalekites. Now, the end
of the story is that David recovers all. And what a glorious picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ in recovering all his wives and all of his
children unto himself who have been taken captive by sin." But
when David goes to recover the wives and children of his men,
200 of his 600 men become so faint that they're not able to
go to battle. And so David separates them from
the 400 and leaves them behind, the scripture says, with the
stuff. I love the way the Lord identifies the things of this
world. He calls it stuff. And so the 200 men who are faint
stay behind with the stuff and the 400 go to battle. And by God's grace and David's
leadership, they recover all. And when they come back, the
400, are resentful towards the 200
that stayed behind with the stuff. And the 400 said, you can have
your wives and children, but you can't have any spoils of
war. And you take your wives and children and you depart.
And David said, no. David said, that is the, he said,
don't be like the sons of Belial. That's what David said to his
400 men. Don't be like the sons of Belial.
The reward for those who didn't fight in the battle is going
to be exactly the same as those who did fight in the battle. There's no degree of reward in
salvation. All of the men of David represent
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And for one member of
the church to think, well, I've sacrificed more, and I've worked
harder, and I've been to battle more than they have, and I deserve
more. David says, that is the spirit
of Belial. The reward is Christ. God told
Abraham, he said, I am thine exceeding great reward. I am
thy shield. And you know, the guy that showed
up the last hour of the day to work in the field for the master
got the same amount of pay that the guy that worked all day in
the heat of the day got, didn't he? And those who worked all
day were resentful. And that's the spirit of Belial.
And that's who God says these Hophni and Phinehas are, these
false prophets, these men who are promoting a covenant of works,
a false gospel. Perish the thought that I deserve
more because I've worked harder. Perish the thought that that
other believer, here's the real problem that the children of
God have. You know, another believer who
is that, boy, they're so much more spiritual than I am. And
they've given so much more than I've given. And they've done
so much more than I've done. Maybe they'll get a better reward
than I'll get. That's the spirit of Belial. That just goes right along with
the covenant of works, doesn't it? Somehow, they're going to
be rewarded more than me because they worked harder than I did. Finally, in the New Testament,
in 2 Corinthians 6, the Lord said, don't be unequally yoked
with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath light
with darkness? And what concord hath belail
with Christ? Don't try to find common ground.
with the unprofitable and worthless works gospel, that's the spirit
of Belial. It's one way or the other. It's
either all of grace or it's all of works. I handed you a glass of water
like this one right here. Took an eyedropper and put one
drop of arsenic in that water. And I said to you, you know,
this water is 99.9% pure. Have a drink. Who's going to
drink from it? A little leaven leavens the whole
lump, doesn't it? It leavens the whole lump. You
put a little bit of works in the gospel, and you've turned
the gospel into the spirit of Belial. You've turned it into
a gospel of works, and you've robbed Christ of his glory, and
you've robbed me of my peace. You've robbed me of my peace
and my hope. If Christ is not everything in
my salvation, then he's nothing in my salvation. Christ will
do it all, or he won't do it at all. That's just, that's the
gospel. Hophni and Phineas are given
to us in God's word to remind us of this covenant of works
that we're in one sense where you're plagued with that in your
flesh, aren't you? Your old man is still very works
oriented, isn't he? And you were constantly tempted
to think, well, you know, how could I be a child of God? Look at, look at the things that
I think of and the things that I do and the things that I say.
And, and, uh, where we're tempted to find some
hope of our salvation in something other than Christ. 1 Samuel 2, the sons of Eli were
sons of Belial, and the sons of Belial knew not the Lord. There's no concord between Belial
and Christ. If this spirit of works is the
hope of our salvation, God says, we know not the Lord. We know
not the Lord. And verse 13, the priest custom. Now this word custom is the word
judgment. In other words, tradition had
become law. What they were practicing now
became the common practice. And what a picture of religion.
You know, the things that are being practiced in the covenant
of works, in man-made works religion has become so traditional. It's become so accustomed to
that it's now their judgment of right and wrong. In other
words, they've judged that which is profane, holy. And they've
judged that which is holy, profane. The covenant of works is profane
before God. And you talk to someone who is
under the spirit of Belial, and they will tell you that your
hope in Christ alone for your salvation is evil. It's wrong. Why? Because their
custom has become their judgment. They've decided their way is
the right way. And the truth is that all they're
doing is declaring that. I was talking to somebody recently,
two men actually in the same week, and it was obvious in our
conversation that there was no common ground between us on the
gospel. And both of them walked away
making this statement to me. They said, well, at least we're
brothers in Christ. At least we're brothers in Christ.
Which told me two things. Number one, they didn't see the
difference. They thought that there was some
common ground between the two of us. And number two, it told
me that somehow they needed my affirmation for their salvation. I mean, I would rather they have
said to me, you're lost. I'd rather they accused me of
not knowing God. Might God give us the grace to
discern the difference between grace and works. And may he give
us the grace to not need the affirmation of another man for
the assurance of our salvation. That we would look to Christ
alone to speak peace to our hearts. But this had been done so long
and with such regularity that it became the right thing to
do. Well, what were they doing? Let's read on. When any man offered
sacrifice, the priest servant came while the flesh was in seething. They were boiling the meat. God said, when you make sacrifice,
roast it with fire. Don't sodden it with water. The sacrifice was not to be sodden
with water. What is it to sodden the sacrifice? Now this sacrifice we know. We
know that these Old Testament sacrifices point to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the lamb that was slain
before. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter nine before we go any
further. Hebrews chapter nine. And look with me at verse 12. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Do you see
the verb tense there? That's very important. not hoping
to obtain eternal redemption for us, not making an offer to
us. God, the Lord Jesus Christ did
not make himself an offer to us to be accepted or rejected
by us. He offered himself unto the father and the father saw
the travail of his soul and the father said, I'm satisfied. He
obtained eternal redemption for his people. He accomplished the
salvation of his people when he died on Calvary's cross. When
he bowed his mighty head and said, it is finished. Father
into thy hands, I commend my spirit. He did everything that
God required in order to ratify the requirements of that covenant
of grace that was established in eternity past for the salvation
of God's people. That's what he did. He obtained
eternal redemption for us. Now, what did you and I have
to do with what the Lord Jesus Christ did on Calvary's cross?
He's the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. He is
the lamb that is without spot and blemish. He is the lamb of
God who taketh away the sins of the world. There's no hope
of our sins being taken away apart from what the Lord Jesus
Christ did. And yet what he did satisfied
everything that God requires. You know, we talk about God being
a just God. God would be unjust if he sent anyone for whom Christ
died to hell. He would be unjust. Verse 13, for if the blood of
bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled the unclean
sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, So there's Old Testament
practices. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without
spot to God. Don't miss that. Oh, that's so
important. This distinguishes the difference
between the covenant of grace and the covenant of works. Christ
is not offering himself to us to take what he did and make
it work for us, to add our faith to what he did in order that
what he did might work for us. He offered himself to God. He
obtained eternal redemption for his people. It's all of grace. Guard your conscience from dead
works. What are dead works? Works that
men do in hopes that it will recommend them to God. Anything
that we look to other than the Lord Jesus Christ for merit or
favor with God is a dead work. It's a dead work. Did God do
good works? Yes. We're saved by grace. unto
good works, which he hath ordained. We are his workmanship, Ephesians
2 10, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which he hath
ordained that we should walk in them. Now, if God's ordained
for us to walk in something, is there any way that his ordained
purpose is not going to be fulfilled? Oh, listen, brethren, as soon
as you think you've done a good work, it's become a dead work,
hasn't it? Just look to Christ and the ordained
things that he's called you to, he'll fulfill. And if you ever
look to them, and they are good works, you'll consider yourself
to be an unprofitable servant. When the Lord separated the sheep
from the goats on the day of judgment, what did the sheep
say? When he said, I was hungry and you fed me and I was thirsty
and you gave me to drink and I was in prison and you visited
me and I was naked and you clothed me. When the believers say, Lord,
when did we do those things? When did we do those things? God, give us that grace to not
live off of our works but live off of Christ. So these sacrifices go back with
me to our text. There were three offerings that
represented the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament covenant
was the burnt offering in the burnt offering. Every part of
the animal was to be consumed by fire. And it was a clear picture
of what the Lord Jesus Christ did on Calvary's cross. When
the fire of God's wrath fell on him, he suffered the full
shame and separation of sin. And he consumed the fire of God
and he quenched the fire of God's wrath. That's the burning bush
that Moses stood before and was on fire, but it was not consumed. That was the burnt offering that
God gave to the children of Israel to practice in the Old Testament,
pointing to that sacrifice that Christ would make to satisfy
God's demands for justice on Calvary's cross. The second offering
was the sin offering. And in the sin offering, the
priest was to receive a portion of that sacrifice, and the rest
of it was to be burnt. And here again, we have a picture
of not only the cross, but we have a picture of God providing
for his people in the priesthood of the saints. You are a holy
priesthood. And so this sin offering feeds
our souls with the bread of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
priests were sustained by that offering. The third offering
was a peace offering. And the peace offering, a portion
of the animal was to be burnt by fire. The shoulder and breast
of the animal was to be given to the priest. And the third
part of the animal was to be used in celebration by the family
that brought the offering. And it was called the peace offering.
And so they were celebrating how God had given them peace
through the sacrifice that had put away their sin. Now clearly
this is the peace offering that's being referred to here. And what
we have a picture of is Hophni and Phinehas are robbing God's
people of their peace. Notice with me in verse 17. Verse 17, wherefore the sin of
the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred
the offering of the Lord. They resented going to church.
They resented going to the... You know, most people have just
enough religion to be miserable. And if you're under the covenant
of works, you're miserable. You never... You're never at
peace. You go through the rigors of
religion and you attempt to satisfy the demands of God's law and
you can never find peace. You abhor the worship of God. Some of us, the Lord took us
through years of religion before he brought us to Christ. And
I can tell you right now, man, I want to say this with all reverence
and with all caution, but I don't see myself ever going back to
that. I mean, there's more comfort
in eating, drinking, and being married in the world than there
is being religious and not having Christ. But that's what Hophni
and Phinehas had done. Part of this meat was to be given
to the people. And now that people had taken
their portion of the sacrifice and they were boiling it. And,
uh, and the Lord made a command in, in, uh, in Exodus chapter
12, when he gave the children of Israel, the, the, the sacrifice
of the, of the lamb. And he said, um, he said, uh,
roast it with fire and sodden it not with water. Don't boil
it in water. And, uh, don't, don't compromise
the gospel by watering it down. Um, We passed by a church just
the other day and it was in a different part of town I'd not been to
in a while. And it was called Grace Baptist Church. And I thought,
and it was a nice looking building. It was a nice area. And Trisha
was driving. So I took my phone and I pulled
them up on the phone to read what they believed. And I read
the things on their website while she's driving, and I thought,
well, everything they're saying, I agree with. But there's some
very critical things that they're leaving out. You see, soddening
the gospel, watering the gospel down, compromising the gospel
is to take the offense out of the gospel. And the offense out
of the gospel is the limitations of the atonement, the particularity
of the atonement. And there was nothing in their
statement of faith talking about how the Lord Jesus Christ had
accomplished the salvation of a particular people whom God
had chosen in a covenant of grace. There was nothing about election.
There was nothing about particular redemption. There was nothing
about irresistible grace. That when one for whom God had
chosen and Christ died for hears the gospel under the power of
the Holy Spirit, they'll not be able to say no. The grace of God is here. There
was nothing, you see, the offensive things of the gospel were left
out. And that's what it is to sovereign the gospel. It's to
take the edge off of it, to take the offense out of it. And that's
what Hophni and Phinehas were doing. And that's what the gospel
of works always does. Men may say everything they say
may be true, but what are they not saying? What are they not
saying? We, Paul said, I did not shun
to declare unto you the whole counsel of God. We preach the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth, leave no part of it out. Why? Because that's the only hope
that we're going to be saved by grace. We take the offense
out of it, we're going to be just like Hophni and Phinehas.
Look what happens. Verse 13. I want to pursue this
quickly. And the priest's custom with the people was that when
any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came while the
flesh was in seething with a flesh hook of three teeth in his hand,
and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot,
and all that the flesh hook brought up, the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh." Now,
Shiloh means a place of rest. They were robbing from the people
the portion of the sacrifice that was given to them in celebration
for the peace of God that had been satisfied through the part
of that sacrifice that was burnt. And they were taking pieces of
that meat out of the pot and robbing it to themselves and
destroying the very place of rest. So they did in Shiloh unto
all the Israelites that came thither. Also, Look at verse
15. Before they burnt the fat, the
priest's servant came and said to the man that sacrificed, give
flesh to roast for the priest, for he will not have sodden flesh
of thee, but raw. Now in Exodus chapter 12, the
Lord said, do not eat it raw and do not eat it sodden with
water. It is to be burned with fire. What is it to eat raw meat? Well, we already know that the
sacrifice by fire is a picture of justice satisfied through
the sacrifice that Christ made as the burnt offering. The full wrath of God falling
on him. And so to eat the sacrifice raw,
Now listen very carefully, as this is practiced in all forms
of works religion. To eat the sacrifice raw, which
is what the priest did. We don't want it sodden. Now
what they were doing now is they were going to the portion of
the meat that was to be given to the fire. And they were insisting
that part of that sacrifice be given to them as well. And they
wanted, and that part of that sacrifice was the fat of the
animal. And we know that the fat is more
tasty than the lean meat. And they wanted that, and they
wanted it raw for themselves. Let's read the rest of this verse. They insisted, we'll not have
it sodden, but raw. And if any man said unto him,
let them not fail to burn the fat presently and then take as
much as thou so delighteth. Then he would answer him, nay,
but thou shalt give it to me now. And if not, I will take
it by force. Deed of the sacrifice raw is
to make an attempt to apply any portion of scripture to any part
of your life without consideration of the cross. The cross, you know, the Latin
word for cross is crux. And we often say, well, you know,
that's the crux of the matter. The cross is the crux of the
matter. It's all about what Christ accomplished
at Calvary's cross. But what do we do? What do men
do? The works gospel is always trying to find some trinket of
truth, some little message that, you know, I can, I can find something in
God's Bible in the Bible that, you know, precept, uh, a principle
of life that I can apply that to help me be a better person
to help me live a better life and help me to be more happy.
This is, this is the spirit of delay. They said, I said, no,
no, let it be burnt with fire. And they said, no, give it to
us raw. Give it to, we don't want anything to do with the
fire. We want it raw. And if you don't give it to us
freely, we'll take it by force. We'll take it by force. Turn to me to Matthew chapter
11. John the Baptist had been arrested And he sent his disciples to ask
the Lord if he was the Christ or should we
expect another? And the Lord said, you go back
and tell John of all the things that I've done. And he commends
John. He said, no. No greater man has
been born among women, except, you know, besides this man. And yet he that is least in the
kingdom of God is greater than he. And so here's, look at verse
22. Of Matthew, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm in the wrong. Matthew 11, verse 12. Let me
get to it. Matthew 11, verse 12. And from the days of John the
Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence. Now the Lord's making reference
to the violent response of the Pharisees, who were sons of Belial,
who had a covenant of works, who thought that their law keeping
was somehow going to recommend them to God. And he says, the
kingdom of God has suffered violence. And the arrest of John the Baptist
is a testimony of that. and the violent take it by force. Isn't that what we just read?
That sons of Belial, Hophni and Phinehas, give us that raw mean. And if you don't give it to us,
we're going to take it by force. Let's look at one other verse,
John chapter six. Look with me at verse 15. When
Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him
by force to make him king, he departed again onto a mountain
himself alone. What do we hear in the covenant
of works? Won't you make Jesus Lord of
your life? Won't you pray this prayer? You
can, you can command God to save you. You can draw your sword. You can pursue him. Uh, the covenant
of works says, you know, God's voting for you and the devil's
voting against you, but you get to break the tie. You, you hold
the trump card. You've got the power of salvation
in your own hands. You can take him by force and
he'll have to succumb to your decision and to your works. You don't make Jesus Christ Lord
of your life. God's already made him Lord of
your life. He made him Lord over the living and over the dead.
He reigns sovereign over all men, whether they want him to
be Lord or not. We bow before him, Lord, if thou
wilt, thou can make me clean. Lord, I can't take you by force.
Lord, if I'm going to be saved, you're going to have to have
mercy upon me. If you have mercy upon him, you'll
have mercy. It's not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth.
It's of God that showeth mercy. Salvation's of the Lord. It's
in his hand. You don't take God by force. But that's what this story is
telling us of Hophni and Phinehas, these sons of Belial, these ones
who represent a covenant of works, a salvation that is in the hands
of man that determines himself to be saved when he gets ready
to be saved and makes God subservient to his will. We're gonna take
him by force. No, you won't. Any, what did
he do there in John chapter six? He went into a mountain and separated
himself by himself. Oh, he will. You try to take
God by force and he will hide from you. God hides from you,
you'll never find him. You'll never find him. Someone said to me recently,
I found God. God ain't lost. God must find us. We're the ones
that have to be found. You give me that. I'm going to,
I'm going to apply the precepts of the Bible to my life. And I'm going to eat the, I'm
going to eat the sacrifice raw without any consideration of
the fiery justice of God that fell on Calvary's cross. And I'm going to take it by force.
If I have to, you don't give it to me. What a picture. All right, back with me to our text
and I close. Look with me at verse 30. Well, let's look at verse 35
first quickly. And I will raise up a faithful
priest that shall do according to that which is in my heart
and in my mind, and I will build him a sure house, and he shall
walk before mine anointed forever. Now in the context of this story,
it's talking about Samuel. But as we saw from the beginning,
Samuel's name means His name is God. This is Christ, who is
our prophet, priest, and king. I'm going to raise up a... These
men have been unfaithful priests. They have robbed Christ of His
glory by taking the sacrifice raw. They have robbed the people
of their peace and hope of salvation by robbing from them that which
they had sodden in water. They had destroyed the name of
Shiloh, which means peace of rest. The people of Horde worship. They hated going to the temple.
There was no hope. There was no peace. And God says,
I'm going to raise up a faithful priest. One who's going to honor
my law. One who's going to satisfy the
demands of my justice. One in whom you will have peace
with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And his house is a sure house.
Oh, David, David said, although my house be not so with God, my life, the tabernacle of my
flesh, my home, my works, they're not as they ought to be yet. He has made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. That's what the Lord's
saying. Now I'm going to make a, his
house is going to be a sure house. Everything necessary for the
salvation of God's people is going to be made sure in the
sacrifice that Christ makes on Calvary's cross. And we will
have peace with God in him and in him only. He shall walk before me. They
didn't walk before me. The Hoffneys and Phineases of
this world are not going to walk before me lest they ought, but
he will. David said, this is all my salvation
and this is all my desire. Though he make it not to grow
all the hope of my salvation is bound up in this one. who himself hath obtained eternal
redemption for us. All right, quickly look at verse
30. Wherefore the Lord God of Israel said, I said indeed that
thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me
forever. Now the Lord's speaking to Eli,
but now the Lord sayeth, be it far from me. For them that honor
me, I will honor and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. The Lord tells us in Isaiah chapter
42, verse 41, that he, speaking of Christ, magnified the law
of God and made it honorable. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one that honored God. You and I have never been able
to keep any part of God's law, not once. He is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The Lord Jesus
Christ came to fulfill the demands of God's holy law, to give peace
to his people, forgiveness of sin through his sacrifice. And God says, I'm gonna honor
him that honors me. God honored Christ and he gave
him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus,
every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. Psalm 111 verse two says, the
works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have
pleasure therein. His work is honorable and glorious
and his righteousness endureth forever. His work is honorable
and glorious and it's sought out by them. I will honor them
who honor me. And God honored his son. God
told his son, sit down here at my right hand until I make thine
enemies thy footstool. The word of God did not return
unto him void. Christ Jesus, the living word,
returned back and took his rightful place in glory with the names
of those for whom he lived and died. And the scripture says
that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is in heavenly places
right now in Christ. And he's seated at the right
hand of God and he ever lives to make intercession for us. God honored him. giving him his rightful throne.
And God honors those who honor him. I will honor them who honor me. What is it to honor Christ? It's
to believe on him. It's to rest in him. It's to
look in faith to that sacrifice that he made on Calvary's cross.
He was burnt with fire as the burnt offering, the sin offering,
the peace offering. And when we look to God's word,
we understand all of it in light of who Christ is and what he
did to obtain eternal redemption for us. He's that peace offering. This has been a wonderful Oh,
we get to the end of Sunday services and conferences. It just seemed
like it just went like that. Oh, it goes so quick. Until we
meet again. And always in hopes of meeting
together in glory, we'll be able to worship him as we ought. What
a day that'll be. I'm so happy for you all. Thankful
that you have a pastor. He's all in with you. You know
that. And say, well, how can I encourage him? Pray for him.
Pray for him. Encourage him. Let him know God
speaks truth to your heart by something that the Lord's given
him. Tell him, tell him. And you mentioned not forsaking
the assembling of yourselves together. And surely that passage
is apostasy, forsaking the gospel. But I will tell you as a pastor,
the most encouraging thing you can do for this man is when he's
prepared to preach, you'll be here to listen. Be here, often
as you can. And that'll be a blessing to
him. Caleb, thank you, brother. Thank
you for having me.