Now, if you'd like to follow
in your Bibles while I bring the message, you may turn to
Romans chapter 10. I am persuaded that what we preach,
what a man actually preaches, is determined by what he really
believes. what a man preaches, whatever
he preaches. I'm not talking about what he
professes to believe in the coffee shop. I'm not talking about what
he professes to believe when he's in a Sovereign Grace Bible
Conference. I'm not talking about what he
professes to believe when he's sitting around in a study talking
to a group of preachers. I'm talking about what he actually
preaches, what his people are hearing him say. is what he really
believes. And one time they asked our Lord,
they said, What is this you're preaching? What is this you're
teaching? He said, Ask them that heard me. They'll tell you what
I'm preaching. You see, as a man thinketh in
his heart, so is he. Not as he claims to be or professes
to be, but what he really is in his heart. As he thinketh
in his heart, that's That's what he is, for out of the heart the
mouth will speak. David and Paul both said that.
David said, repeating, Paul said, repeating David, he said, I believe,
I really believe, and therefore I speak. What I really believe
is what I'm preaching. And here in Romans 10, regardless
of what these Jews thought of Paul, he said this in verse My heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Regardless of
what these religious Jews thought of Paul, he earnestly in his
heart desired their salvation. Now, a preacher's true motive
is determined in his own heart. Paul's true motive is revealed
here. Regardless of their enmity and
their hatred, regardless of their persecution, Paul desired their
salvation. I wonder if our motives are good.
We need to examine our motives in this business of church and
preaching and witnessing and organizations and teaching and
whatever we do in the name of God. It ought to be just that,
in the name of God. And if it can't be in the name
of God, it ought not be done. If it can't be for the glory
of Christ and the general well-being of his people, it ought not be
done. That cannot be our drive, and that cannot be our goal and
our objective. Not to praise ourselves or to
seek recognition or the applause of men, but that men and women
might be saved. Paul said, I speak the truth
in Christ. I lie not. My conscience bears
me witness. I have great heaviness of heart,
continual sorrow for my brethren. I want them saved. I want them
to know Christ. We think at the judgment what
a tragedy it would be for people to sit and listen to us and then
perish. It ought to be to us right now
a tragedy to think about it, not to wait until the judgment,
but to think about it now. Then let's redirect our motives. Let's hold people together. Let's
pray for them. Let's have compassion on them.
Let's experience or demonstrate an experience of compassion,
oneness, unity of spirit and heart, and seek the conversion
of sinners, not only from the pulpit, but in private prayer.
And then he said, secondly, I bear them record. They have a zeal
of God. Paul knew that these people were
not atheists. He wasn't dealing with atheists.
I'm not dealing with atheists. Wherever I go and preach, it's
not atheists to which I preach. I'm preaching to the same kind
of people that Paul preached to right here. They have a zeal
of God. They have enthusiasm for God.
Here's a people with a strong religious heritage. Most everybody
I preach to in this day has a strong religious heritage. They have
customs and traditions and all kind of things like that. Customs
and traditions of religion. But he says in verse 3, watch
this, but he says they're ignorant. We're preaching to a religious
people, a people with rich religious heritage. Most of it wrapped
up in tradition, but he says they're ignorant, they're ignorant
people. They're ignorant of God's righteousness. Paul is saying here they're ignorant
of the way to God. They're not ignorant of the existence
of God, but they're ignorant of the way to God. They're not ignorant of the essential
holiness of God, but they're ignorant of the holiness which
God requires for them to come to Him. That's what they're ignorant
of. They're ignorant of true salvation.
They're not saved. Religious, but lost. Zealous
for God, but lost. They're ignorant of God's righteousness,
and as a consequence, they're going about to establish their
own righteousness. Now, just this afternoon, I put
a tape in that a man gave me recently and told me to listen
to it. And I don't know whether he was trying to present this
appeal or this argument, but this is what I got from it. This
is what I heard. He was preaching on, remember,
the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And he said this, Do you want
to be holy? Do you want to be holy? I want
to be holy. I've got to be holy. Without
holiness, no man will see the Lord. Do you want to be righteous? I do. I must be righteous. God can have nothing to do with
anything unrighteous. Well, he said, begin with the
Sabbath. The Sabbath is holy to the Lord,
and we must keep the Sabbath. Well, this is the very thing
these people here were doing, the very same thing. They were
going about through Sabbath-keeping and laws and other things to
establish their own holiness. and their own righteousness through
the deeds of religion and the works of the law. But holiness,
the holiness that God requires and demands, is not produced
by the law. It's not found in the law. It's
found in Christ. The righteousness which God demands
and the righteousness which God requires and the righteousness
and holiness which I must have is not found in fleshly conformity
to rules and regulations and Sabbaths and touch-not, taste-not,
handle-not. It's found in Christ. We've got to be set free from
this bondage, and that's what it is. It's a bondage. It's a
bondage that the Jews weren't able to bear. It's a bondage
even the Apostle Paul was not able to bear. He said, these
people, he said, I want them saved. I know them. They're not atheists. They're
people with religious heritage and background. They have a zeal
for God. But they're ignorant. They're
ignorant of the way to God. They're ignorant of the righteousness
of God. They're ignorant of the holiness
of God. And they're going about to establish their own holiness. My friends, the law shows no
mercy. The law gives no quarter. The
man who would be holy before God based on his obedience to
the law must present a righteousness and holiness equal to that of
God himself. And then he says in verse 4,
For Christ is, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. What's he saying here? Christ
is the goal of the law. Christ is the objective of the
law. Turn to Galatians 3.23. Now listen to this scripture
over here. He's speaking to these Jews.
They had all the laws. They had the Levitical law. They
had the moral law. They had all the other laws. And in Galatians 3.23, Paul says
this to them, before faith came, before faith. And that's where
people are who, under the law, they have no faith. You can't
be under faith in the law, too. But before faith came, before
revelation of Christ came, before saving interest in Christ came,
we were kept under the law. We were shut up under the faith
which should afterward be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster,
tutor, to bring us to Christ. to bring us to Christ, that we
might be justified by faith. But after that faith has come,
we're no longer under the schoolmaster, no longer under the whip, no
longer under the curse, no longer under the form and ceremony,
no longer under the legal dispensation. We're free. If the Son shall
make you free, you're free indeed. Not free to sin, free to serve
Christ. Christ is the end of the law.
And he's the end of the law as a means of justification or acceptance
with God. Turn to Hebrews 10. Hebrews chapter
10. In the 10th chapter of Hebrews,
verse 9. And we're talking about the law
of Sabbath days and dietary laws and rules and regulations that
are done out of a sense of duty. There's nothing wrong with, there's
nothing wrong with with being circumcised. But being circumcised
in order to attain a holiness is evil. There's nothing wrong
with seeking to avoid every appearance of evil, to walk in godliness
and holiness and honesty and truth. And if you want to spend
the whole day alone with the Lord, worshipping the Lord, doing
nothing else, fine, but don't do it in order to attain holiness
with God. To minute these things and to
give If you want to set aside 10 percent, I don't care, 15
percent, 9 percent, 8 percent, you feel led to do that, fine,
but don't do it in order to be holy. Don't do it to please God
or to find acceptance with God. Do it because you love God. That's
what I'm saying. And then he said, he, in verse
9 of Hebrews 10, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God, he taketh
away the first. He takes it away. What is this
verse here? It's a Levitical law. It's the
tabernacle. It's the priesthood. It's the
Sabbath days. It's the holy days. It's the feast days. It's the
tithe. It's all these things under the law. He takes them
away. Don't bring them back. He takes them away that he may
establish the second. Who's the second? Christ. That
old covenant, superseded by the new covenant, by the which will,
listen, verse 10, we are sanctified Righteous, holy through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Once for all. What am I saying? I'm saying
that the moment a man believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, he's
as holy as Christ in the sight of God. Perfectly holy. And he doesn't need to reach
out and get a bunch of rules and regulations and duties and
Sabbath days and laws to make himself holy. He is holy. He
is holy. And I'll tell you this, just
a shortcut. People talk about those Jews
over there tearing down the dome of the rock and building the
tabernacle again or the temple and reinstituting the sacrifices.
That would be an insult to God Almighty. And God's not going
to tolerate it. Those things are gone. They're
gone. They're taken away. Don't you
bring them back. Don't put people under that.
A man talked to me out in Oregon, he and his wife. came down from
many miles away, stayed with the family, and came to every
single service. He was here in our conference.
He's a man about my age. He and his wife. And he said
that Ashland Conference set me free. He said I was under bondage
to all these rules and regulations. He said I was under such bondage,
I was miserable all the time, trying to, trying to, to find
a righteousness before God, trying to establish a standing. And
he said, I saw Christ is my righteousness. And he said, I'm free! I'm free. I'm free. Long ago, Pastor Weaver, over
in London, I don't know his first name, but he made this statement,
the moment a man believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, He is
in the righteousness of God perfectly holy. And he illustrated it this
way. He said he met and knew a very
poor believer, a man who was a believer, was very poor, and
he was very poorly dressed. He was actually in rags. So Pastor
Weaver took him home with him, and he gave him a suit of clothes.
He just said, I didn't give him a best suit, but I gave him a
second best suit. And I gave him a shirt. And the
man went in the bedroom, and he changed the rags and put on
that suit and that shirt and tie, and said he came out, and
he stood smiling so proudly. And he said to me, Well, Mr.
Weaver, what do you think of me? And Pastor Weaver replied,
I think you look very respectable." And he said, Oh, no. Oh, no. I'm not respectable. It's not
me. It's your clothes. They're respectable. I'm the same man I was when I
came here. I'm afraid there's a whole lot
of truth to that. There's nothing respectable or holy about my
flesh, but his clothes make me respectable and clothed with
his righteousness. It's not you. It never has been
you, is not, and never will be you. So brother man, don't talk
that way. You give people an excuse for
sin. God's people aren't looking for an excuse to sin. They hate
and despise sin more all the time, whether it's in them or
anyone else. And they hate it in themselves more than they
do in anyone else. and they see more of it in themselves than
they do anyone else. But they realize this, that the
righteousness of God is in Christ. Like he said in Ezekiel 16, speaking
of the deserted infant that he clothed, he said, Your renown
went forth among the heathen for your beauty, for it was perfect
beauty. Through my comeliness which I
put on you. That's what the beauty is. So
let's never forget that, that our beauty is not ours, it's
Christ's beauty and his righteousness. Now look at verse 5. And he said
to these Israelites, he said, Romans 10, 5, for Moses, Moses
described the righteousness which is in the law, which is of the
law. Here it is. The righteousness
of the law lies in what? In doing perfectly. Not agreeing
with perfection, but producing it. Yeah, the righteousness which
is of the law requires not only perfection in deed, but in word
and thought. He said, he quotes Leviticus
18, that the man that doeth these things will live by them. So
when you start preaching the law for righteousness, you've
got something on your hands. And the people to whom you preach,
you've subjected them to something that not even yourself can do.
No man's ever been able to do. And they can't do it. And if
they've got any sense at all, they'll wind up crazy. They'll
throw up their hands. And they'll exclaim, it's impossible
for anyone to be saved. And it is impossible for anyone
to be saved in himself. But it's not impossible with
God. In verse 6 and 7, but, he says, the righteousness, the
holiness, that's what we're talking about here, isn't it? My preacher
friend said on the tape, do you want to be righteous? Well, I
do. But there's no righteousness in the law. The law offers no
quarter, no mercy. But he said the righteousness
which is of faith, which is of God, does not speak of anything
to be done by me or anyone else. But it doesn't say in your heart,
who shall ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down.
No need to say who shall ascend into heaven. He's already come
down. It's not anything to be done by us at all in going up
and bringing down a righteousness. God sent the righteousness. He
said, stay not in your heart who shall descend into the deep,
who shall bring up Christ from the dead. Christ has already
come. He's already died and already
risen, already performed perfectly all that's required of us. He's
done it all. He cried, it's finished. But
what does it say, this righteousness, this holiness which comes by
faith? What does it say, verse 8? It's not you, it's even in
your mouth. It's in your heart. It's the
word of faith. It's not the word of works. It's
the word of faith. It's not the word of deeds. It's
the word of faith. It's not the words of need-are-standard
regulations. It's the word of faith. It's
faith for the child, for the young man, and for the elder.
It's faith that saves. That's what he says over here
in Romans chapter 4. Turn over there, Miss, just as
clear as a bell. Even old Abraham, hundred-year-old
Abraham. Verse 21 of Romans 4, and Abraham
being fully persuaded that what God had promised, Abraham wasn't
able to perform, but God was able to perform, and therefore
it was imputed, reckoned, charged to him for righteousness. Did
you ever notice, you preachers who are here tonight, and men
who teach, did you ever notice how many times in Romans 4 that
the word imputed is used? You know what imputed means?
It means to charge or to count or to reckon as belonging to
me. Look, if you will, at verse 3.
For what saith the Scripture, Abraham believed God, and it
was imputed to him for righteousness. That counted is the same. See
it there? Mark it. All right, verse 5. But to him
that worketh not, but believeth on Christ, that justifieth the
ungodly, his faith is imputed, counted for righteousness. Look
at verse 6. Even as David also described
it, the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works. Watch out, Paul, now you'll give
people excuse to sin. Paul wasn't worried about that.
Spurgeon said one time, he said, if nobody's ever accused you
of being an antinomian, you never have preached the gospel yet.
He said, I don't mind being accused of being one. I don't want to
be one, but I don't mind being accused of it. Blessed is the man to whom God
imputes holiness without works. Without works. All right, look
at verse nine. Now come at this blessedness
then upon the circumcision only, upon the uncircumcision also.
I say it was reckoned to Abraham, for we say that faith was reckoned
or imputed to Abraham for righteousness. How was it reckoned? When he
was in circumcision or uncircumcision? Not in circumcision. It wasn't
after he obeyed the law of circumcision that he was imputed righteous,
it was before. That's right, it was before.
All right, look at verse 11. And he received the sign of circumcision,
a seal of righteousness of faith, which he had being yet uncircumcised,
that he might be the father of all that believe, though they
be not circumcised." Gentiles. That righteousness might be,
what's that word, imputed to them also. Look at verse 22. It was imputed to him for righteousness. Now read on. Now here's the next
time it's used. Now it was written, not for his
sake alone that righteousness was imputed to him, but for us
also to whom that holiness, that righteousness, that sanctification,
that perfection shall be imputed if we keep the Sabbath day. Well,
if we tithe. Well, if we Make a pilgrimage
to Jerusalem, or if we elect some elders here, they'll come
around and inspect your home to see if you have your devotions
on time. No, if we believe. It'll be imputed if we believe. Now, there are seven times in
that one chapter, seven times, righteousness imputed on one
basis, faith. Faith. faith without works. And I'm not afraid to preach
that. Anyone who walks under the bondage of the law is welcome
to go where that bondage is already prescribed. They've got the cells
already ready for you. They've got the keys to lock
in. And they've got the wardens to sit upstairs and make sure
you don't come out. But if the Son shall make you
free, you'll be free indeed. Pray to what? Pray to serve Christ. free to glorify Christ, free
to walk with Christ, free to walk under His rod and His staff,
free to bear His yoke, because that's all the freedom that a
prisoner of Christ wants. But I don't want to be a prisoner
of the law. I want to be a prisoner of Christ. I don't want to be
doing what I do to attain a righteousness which I cannot attain. I want
to do what I do because by his grace and love he hath given
me a righteousness." Now watch this, this next verse is divided
into two parts, the next two verses. And here it is, that
word of faith, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus
to be Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Now this verse
is divided into two parts, faith and confession. Just like the
next For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, with the
mouth confessions made unto salvation." Now listen to me for a few moments.
What is faith? The faith itself. What is the
faith itself? Don't complicate it. Let it be
what it says it is. It's not so much the faith itself. And I think a lot of people who've
gotten hung up on this thing are trying to find out how much
faith they've got. But this thing of saving faith is not so much
the faith itself as it is the object of that faith. It says, if thou shalt confess
with our mouth Jesus to be Lord, if thou shalt believe in thine
heart that God raised him from the dead, We're talking here about Christ
in His person, and not me in my person, not me in my faith,
but Christ in His person, in His work, in His office. Christ
is His name. It's not so much the strength
of my faith or the length of my faith. It's the object of
my faith. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. I believe that Jesus Christ Four
or five things. Number one, faith looks to the
eternal Christ. It looks to the eternal Christ,
who is their God of their God. Six or seven times in the book
of John, he says, I am. I am the water of life. I am
the bread of life. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. Before Abraham was, I am. I am. That's who I'm talking about.
My faith looks to Him. Not a new God, but the eternal
God. newly revealed in Christ. And
faith looks to the incarnate Christ, not only the eternal
Christ, but the incarnate Christ. Listen to this hymn. These old-timers knew something. "'Til God in human flesh I see. My thoughts no comfort find. The holy, just, and sacred, free
are terrors to my mind. If Emmanuel, God with us, if
Emmanuel's face appears, my hope, my joy begins, because his name
erases all my fear and his grace removes all my sin. Faith looks to Christ in his
life, not only in his glory, not only in his incarnation,
but in his life. as a man in every sense of the
word, Jesus Christ, magnified and made honorable the law of
God. I say that our righteousness is without the law, because Paul
said it. But our righteousness is not
without an obedience to the law, it's without my obedience to
the law. But my Lord perfectly obeyed the law. And that's the
reason Paul said, oh, that I may be found in Christ not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness
which is of the faith of Christ." And then this faith looks to
Christ on the tree. It is finished, he said. It's
done. That great transaction is done. I am my Lord's and he is mine. If my sin rested on him, it cannot
rest on me. If he took the plunge into the
heart by the sword of God's wrath, I'll never take If he paid the
debt, it's paid. It's finished. Faith looks to
the risen Christ, the ascended Christ, the exalted Christ. If
he lives, I live, because he is life. Someone made this statement.
The whole foundation of faith rests in Jesus Christ, living
in the flesh, dying in the flesh, rising from the tomb, ascended
to glory, exalted at the right hand of God. pleading on behalf
of his own. Not so much as an atom of our
hope is found outside of Christ. In us there's no merit, there's
no praying, there's no feeling, there's no service. Our faith
looks entirely out of ourself to Christ. A person may say to
me, I have nothing to bring to God. Good. Christ is enough. I have nothing to bring to God.
Glory! What a blessing! What a privilege! Because when you come empty-handed,
He'll fill you. When you come naked, He'll clothe
you. When you come hungry, He'll feed you. When you come thirsty,
He'll satisfy you. In my hand, no price I bring,
simply to His cross I cling." What's the other part of that
verse? Confession. Faith and confession. For with the heart
man believeth unto righteousness, with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation." Would you give me a few more minutes of
real close attention? With the heart man believes,
the object is Christ. With the mouth, confession is
made unto salvation. There must be no confession from
the mouth where there is no believing in the heart. It starts with believing in the
heart and then the confession. But where there's true faith,
it'll produce true confession. It will. Faith without works
is dead. Genuine, God-given faith will
produce a genuine confession, an acknowledgement of Christ.
Now listen to this. Listen. Carefully listen. This
is what I believe. I believe that this confession
of faith, what he's talking about here, if I believe in my heart,
confession will be made unto salvation. I believe this confession
of faith embraces the whole of a person's I do not believe that
this confession Paul's talking about here is a mere walking
down an aisle, shaking a preacher's hand, and saying one time, I
accept Jesus as my Savior, and I'll be baptized upon a confession
of my faith. That's not what Paul's talking
about here. Any more than one tree makes a forest. What Paul is teaching here is
this, the confession of Christ is the whole of a person's life,
working out what God has worked in. It is the confession of Christ
by daily act, word, deed, and attitude through the whole life
span. What God by His Spirit has put
in my soul is outlived in my daily life. and confessing Christ. It's more than just walking down
an aisle. One act does not constitute a
confession of Christ. Now let me show you some examples.
I'll give you just a second, briefly, one at a time, quickly.
Of course, in confessing Christ, one gives attention to the God-ordained
ordinances. We come to the Lord's we come
to baptism, confessing Christ. Certainly we do. Secondly, in
confessing Christ, believers will unite in public worship.
Your very presence here tonight is a confession of Christ. Did
you know that? When the believers assemble on
Sunday and you're here sitting in your place, that's confessing
Christ. I think the opposite is true
too. Thirdly, in confessing Christ,
there will be a desire to associate with God's people. When you seek
your fellowship with the people of God, you're confessing Christ. You're saying what Ruth said,
entreat me not to leave you, nor to follow after you. Your
people will be my people. Your God will be my God. Where
you live, I'll live. Where you die, I'll die. And
that's where I'm going to be buried. That's confessing Christ. walking with the people of God.
Fourthly, in confessing Christ, watch it now, there will be a
strong allegiance to Christ even, even, where it produces a division
of an earthly family. That's right. You know, Christ
said, I didn't come to send peace, but a sower came to separate
a man from his father, a mother from a daughter. In this confessing
Christ, is a strong allegiance to Christ if it costs you someone
who's blood kin to you. Now, I don't want to be obnoxious
with relatives, don't want to be contentious, but I want them
to know that Christ is my Lord. If that constitutes a rift, then
a rift will have to come. And you don't like that. It hurts.
It hurts severely. But there's no room for two masters. In confessing Christ, fifthly,
there'll be an honest effort to glorify Christ in my dealings
with others, in my daily conduct. Turn to Matthew 5. This is confessing
Christ. If I willfully mistreat someone,
that's not confessing Christ, that's denying Christ. If I'm
ugly and obnoxious, that's not confessing Christ, that's denying
Christ. If I'm forgiving and merciful, that's confessing Christ.
If I'm honest in my dealings with her, that's confessing Christ.
He said in Matthew 5, 16, let your light so shine before men
that they may see your good works. You're not showing off your good
works, you're just being what God wants you to be. And they
see these works and they glorify your Father which is in heaven.
They say, well, I may not agree with this theology, but at least
it's done something for him. He's not like he used to be.
He's done something for him. That means just what it says.
It means to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. Adorn the
doctrine. It means to walk in a fashion
that you'll have a good report of them without. And all religious
people don't have a good report or a good record. And that's
confessing Christ. And then in the sixth place,
and this is interesting, I picked this up from Mr. Spurgeon. I
thought it was good. In confessing Christ, there will
be a bold stand where our position and authority require it and
enable us to do it. For example, here stands Joshua,
who is head of a family. He has a position, he has a place
of authority, and here he stands, and he makes this statement.
I go on record as for me in my house to serve the Lord. And
that's what confessing Christ is. Each one of us has some,
when I'm in charge, I may just be in charge of a doghouse, but
if I'm in charge, you know, if I have a position, if I have
any kind of place of authority, it's not misusing it, it's not
abusing it, it's just simply stating in that head of the household
or position of authority. I don't go out of my way to assume
authority, another man's authority, but when the burden is mine,
I bear it. See what I'm talking about? When
the burden's mine. If I say which way the horse is going, it's
going that way. Now, I'm riding with somebody and they've got
the reins, that's his responsibility. But if I'm in charge, if I'm
in, if it's my decision, And if I confess Christ, I'll make
that decision with Him in His glory. That's what it's all about.
Whatever that position is, husband, wife, head of a business, head
of a group of men, or foreman, or whatever, or here's a group
of young people, and you're the star, or you're the leader of
the young people, and they kind of follow your influence, or
you've got that position, that you confess Christ. See what
I'm saying? You confess Christ. And then
watch this. In confessing Christ, and here's
another thing, word to we who teach and preach. In confessing
Christ, this is all the time. It's a lifetime matter. It's
a lifetime. Those who stand to preach or
to read or to pray or to preach or to testify or whatever, we
preach Christ. That's confessing Christ. Now
this is worth reading, and I'm going to read it. And you listen. I'm going to read it because
I don't think I could tell it without reading it. There was a prince of royal blood
who once upon a time left his father's palace and journeyed
into a distant part of the king's dominion where he was unknown
and not cared for he was a true prince and he had about his face
princely marks that strange divinity which doth hedge about a king that might have made the onlooker
know that he was a royal person but when he came into this place
in the kingdom the people said let us insult him Let us mock
him. This is the heir to the throne.
Let us abuse him. Others said, he's no heir at
all. So they set upon him in anger. And as he stood there, every
person present did pelt him with all kinds of filth and use all
manner of harsh words toward him. And they said, who dare
acknowledge him to be the king? Who dare acknowledge him to be
the prince? Who dare stand by him? Well,
there stood up one man from the crowd, and he said, I dare. I believe he's the king. So they
set him on the place side by side with the prince. And when
they threw their filth on the prince, it fell on him. And when
they cursed the prince, they cursed him. And when they spoke
hard words of the prince, they spoke hard words of him. And
he just stood there and took it all. Now and then a tear stole
down his cheek. But that tear was not for himself
nor for his prince, but for those who ill-treated his sovereign.
Years went by. Years went by. Now the king came
into this dominion, and he subdued the people, and he won the victory. And there came a day of triumph
over all the cities. Streamers hung from every window.
The streets were covered with flowers and roses. The king's
troops dressed in armor of gold with plumes upon their glittering
helmets. The music rang right sweetly. The trumpets of glory sounded,
blared forward It was from heaven they had come, and the prince
rode through the street in his glorious chariot. And when he
came to the gates of the city, all his enemies were bound in
chains and cast at his feet, and they lay before him trembling.
But he singled out from among the crowd one man only. One man
stood free, one man stood unchained, one man stood unpeppered. And
he said to the traders, Do you know this man? They said, No. Well, the king said, He stood
with me in that day when you treated me with scorn and indignation
and mockery. Therefore he shall stand with
me in this day of my glory. The king said to the man, Come
up hither. And amid the sounding of the
trumpets and the voice of acclamation, the poor despised rejected citizen
of that rebellious city, rode through the streets in triumph,
side by side with his king, who clothed him in purple and put
a crown on his head. Our Lord said, if you confess
me before men, I'll confess you before my Father which is in
heaven. You deny me before men, I'll deny you. What think ye
of Christ? That's barren Our great and merciful God, we are made aware more and more
that these themes are beyond us, they are too great for us. We may decry with the Apostle
Paul who is sufficient for these things, profound, mysterious,
beyond the comprehension of the human mind, the very glory and
greatness and purpose of our living God, yet in your mercy
and your grace, you look upon such a one as I, such a people
as we are, and you've been pleased to love us. and to redeem us
and to make us righteous in Christ.