Okie doke. We're getting that
feedback on that. Check that master on top, back
it off just a tad. You'll see it, I think it's the
first button on there. Yeah, that gray thing. Now, yeah, okay, can you hear
me all right? Okay. Reminds me, I'll turn mine up. in a couple weeks, if I can hear
myself. Yeah, I did it this morning when
I cut it on. I don't know what the problem
is. I don't know whether she had a bag on the side of the
chair, and I don't know whether it changed the volume on the
amplifier itself. Well, it's good to see everybody
out this morning. Remember those who requested prayer? Lou Jackson has been
added to the list. We forgot to put it on there,
but we'll put it on there. Happy birthday to Harley. I think
they're out west, aren't they? I think they're out west in Utah
seeing the kids, so remember them in your prayers and seek
the Lord's help for them. Again, I worship service this
morning with hymn number 449, To God Be the Glory. ? Dear God, be the glory ? Great
things he hath done ? So loved he the world that he gave us
his Son ? Who yielded his life and atoned for our sins ? And open the life gate that all
may go in ? Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ? Let the earth
hear his voice ? Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ? Let the people
rejoice ? Through God, through the Father, through Jesus in the glory, great things she
hath done. Oh, perfect redemption, the perfect
redemption. weary believer, the promise of
God, the vilest offender who truly believes that moment from
Jesus a pardon receives. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice. To the Father, through Jesus
the Son. And give him the glory, great
things he hath done. Great things He has taught us,
great things He hath done, and great are rejoicing through Jesus
the Son. But purer and higher and greater
will be our wonder, our transport, when Jesus will Praise the Lord,
praise the Lord. Let the earth hear his voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice. Oh God. After scripture reading
and prayer, we'll sing hymn number 222. If you have your Bibles,
turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1. Take my text this morning from
verse 7. Speaking of Jesus Christ, in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his grace. Let us pray. Our
Father, we bless you and thank you and praise your holy name.
for all you have done for us. We thank you for mercy, new every
day, for sufficient grace for every need, for abounding grace
that overcame our sin. We thank you for the shed blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who died in the womb instead of his
people and redeemed them fully by his blood all according to
the purpose of your grace. We thank you for salvation, brought
by Christ, applied by the Holy Spirit through the preaching
of the word. We thank you for the word, which is a lamp unto
our feet and a light unto our path, the entrance of which gives
understanding to the simple. We thank you, Father, that your
word should stand and not fall to the earth. that when everything
else is gone, this world disappears by your fire and power. And what
will remain will be the eternal word of God that liveth and abideth
forever. Father, we pray this morning
for ourselves and we gather here that you might be pleased by
your spirit to show us Jesus Christ and the scriptures to
cause us in our hearts to rejoice in what he has done. to worship
you, to declare that you are worthy in all things and you
deserve all glory. I pray in our hearts that we
might be able to render that to you as best we can. We know
that our best efforts are fraught with sin, weakness, and frailty
to human flesh. We know also, Father, that you
have saved us by your grace. Father, we pray for those who
are sick, going through trials. We know at this time of the year,
the struggles can be greater, it seems. We ask, Lord, you'd
be with those who are suffering through trials and temptations
and sorrows of heart. We ask you to uplift them and
strengthen them in Jesus Christ. Pray for our shut-ins. Pray for
Brother Wayne and Sister Ethel. You'd be with them. Help us this
hour. as we hear the gospel and then
partake of the Lord's table after we think on the things that are
worth thinking about. Think on that one thing that
makes the difference in all the world, and that is the blood
and death of Jesus Christ dying for his people. Help us now,
we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Hymn number 222. There is a fountain filled with
blood, born from Emmanuel's veins. And sinners plunged beneath that
flood. Lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains. Beneath that flood, lose all
their guilty stains. The dying things. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. as he washed all my sins away. Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power. Ransomed to church of God, be
saved to sin no more. ransomed church of God, be safe
to sin no more. E'er since, by faith, I saw the
stream thy flowing woods supply. And shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. Redeeming love has been my thing. and shall be till I die. With this four-lisping, stammering
tongue, lie silent in the grave. A nobler, sweeter song. I'll sing thy part to save. I'll sing thy part to save. I'll sing thy part to save. Let us pray. Father, again we approach
in the name of Jesus Christ, knowing full well as your children,
heirs according to promise, that you have put us all in that great
testament and will, and given us all things in Jesus Christ,
given him first to us, and with him freely given us all things.
We know that what we have we've received, and let us not boast
as if we've not received it. We thank you, for we know that
what we deserve is eternal separation from thee in the hell of fire. And we thank you that you have
rescued us, that you have forgiven us and given us life in Jesus
Christ. A gift that is beyond comprehension. Father, thank you. Let us return
unto thee that which you have freely given to us. It belongs
to you. And let us do so with joy. and
Thanksgiving in our hearts. We pray in Christ's name, amen. you I invite your attention back
to Ephesians chapter 1. The 7th verse says, In whom,
that is in Jesus Christ, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of His grace. The title of my message this
morning is 20-23. on the last day of this year.
I've been thinking on this for a couple of days. I heard this
morning that a million people, upwards of a million, are gonna
gather in Times Square tonight to watch the ball drop. A million
people, that's a lot of people, to watch a ball drop. I don't
know how they get all packed in there and why in the world
they wanna do that when they can sit at home and watch it on TV.
I can't imagine, but people like to do things like that. It's
been an interesting year, a year that's touched every one of us
in different ways. Sorrow has touched this congregation,
the lofts of loved ones, those who have went through these
holidays with sorrow and anguish in their hearts. Last year, I found myself rebelling
against God's sovereign providence many times as I gripe and complain
about the situation in America and around the world. I get angry when I shouldn't about
things that I have no control over with, but sad that I would
get angry because I do know who controls all things and runs
the show. I wish that God would give me
a mind to just sit back and say, I wonder what he's going to do
about this? Instead of, dadgummit, why is this going on? It's been an eventful year. One that I've seen brothers and
sisters in Christ get angry with each other and
separate. It always breaks my heart. preachers of the gospel
nitpicking over one little thing or another thing and separating
over those things. It breaks my heart. I've seen
that. Again, I wonder what's God doing there? What is He doing? I've seen Christianity as a general
philosophy being attacked throughout the world. I've seen children speak out
against the ancients and the elders. I've seen this general
attitude of rudeness, which was not tolerated when I was young.
You could do about anything. You could get in all kinds of
trouble, shoot each other BB guns with arrows. My brother
shot me with an arrow in the leg one time. Set forests on fire. Those things
were bad, but if you were rude, you got your mouth mashed. The
people are rude today. It's a different world we live
in. And I'm reminded of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
I try to keep this in mind, though I don't often do it. Our Lord
said, in the latter days, things will grow worse and worse. The world's not gonna get better. it was really good at one time
for six days and it's been on a downhill run
since then. The Lord also said the love of
many shall wax cold and we see that all the time. As I was pondering these things
I thought What's 23 2023 been like for me? And then like a
light from heaven it dawned on me. For the last 365 days. Every sin that I've committed.
All my iniquity and transgression. Has been forgiven. Every one of them. Think on that. well man my mind went this person
tied in the fact forgiveness also the fact the lord's day
to recollect commemorate what happened two thousand years ago
on a lonely tree outside of god's out of jerusalem hill called
gotha place Our Lord Jesus Christ, by himself,
with no help from nobody, not even God the Father, bore our
sins in his body on the tree, and he gave ultimately the only
thing that would pay the sin debt of his people, and that
was his life, the precious fountain filled with blood. drawn from
man died so you and I children god live live abundantly and
live forever never to die flesh will die when that does our spirit
will rejoice will no longer be battling It'll be buried in the
grave for good. And we'll be with our God without
sin. I can't imagine that because
I can only imagine it with a sinful mind. So I can't imagine what
that'll be like. And here in this passage of Scripture
it says, In Jesus Christ we have redemption. We have redemption. That's a term that has to do
with finance. has to do with exchange of currency
in order to buy something or to purchase something. It's a
term of purchase. Comes from three Latin words,
or Greek words rather, agorazo. One of them, and that's where
we get our word agora, where people have agoraphobia because
they're afraid to go out in the marketplace. The agora was the
marketplace in the Greek language. when I was over in Athens, I
went to the Agora, went to the marketplace. So it has to do
with going to the marketplace, but not just any marketplace,
it has to do with going to the slave market, to purchase a slave. Then the other word used for
redemption is ekagorazo, which means to go to the marketplace
and purchase something. and take it out of the marketplace.
Ek means out of the marketplace. Ek agorazo, take it out of the
marketplace. So redemption means to go to
the marketplace to buy a slave, to buy a slave and remove that
slave from the marketplace. And the other word is agorazo,
excuse me, luatro. what remains to take off the
marketplace never to return to the marketplace that's our redemption
Jesus Christ came to the marketplace in this world and purchase for
himself servants servants he didn't pick out the
best he picked out the worst much like Hosea and Gomer. Gomer
was a harlot and when she was used up and had nothing left
to give, that's when he purchased her for his wife. When our Lord Jesus Christ came
to this marketplace and he went down the line, there were able
people there, people who could make good, strong servants who
could actually add to him and help him if he needed help. Strong and vital, moral and upright,
people of rectitude and honor. and he went right by them. He
came not to call the righteous, but to bring sinners to repentance. And he looked through the crowd
and he saw the worst of the lot, the crippled, the lame, the impotent,
the blind, the dead, the dumb, those who could not do anything
for him, those who could not add to him, those who could not
attend anything to him. And that's who he picked. Sinners. He came to bring sinners to repentance. And how would he do that? He
would do that by paying the price necessary for their purchase.
And the price necessary for their purchase was death. the soul that sinneth, it shall
die. The wages of sin is death. This was the price God required
for the purchase of your soul, death. Somebody's got to die. Somebody will die. You will die
for your own sins or Christ has died for them, one or the other.
And mark it out very clearly, Christ did not die for all men. He died for those whom God has
chosen from the foundation of the world. unto salvation through
sanctification of the spirit and belief in the truth, whereunto
he called them by his gospel to the obtaining of the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't die for everybody.
He died for his people. He died for his elect. He died
for his church. He died for the sheep. He died for his family,
who were his family, those that he had taken in as his family
before the world began and made himself to be surety for them.
so that when they came into this world sinners all and worthy
of damnation worthy of an eternal hell they came into this world
not having the responsibility of paying the debt because he
had already signed his name to the debt before the world began
and he redeemed them and what was the price? He redeemed them
by His blood and forgave them. Forgiveness is a wondrous thing. David said in Psalm 30 if he
should mark iniquity nobody would stand. So it must be that this redemption
is so effectual and so perfect that those who are saved, God
cannot mark iniquity in them. He can find no fault in them. He says of them, Thou art lovely. There is no spot in thee, no
wrinkle or any such thing because if he could mark iniquity no
one would stand. Some people believe that when
Christ died on Calvary that he paid for sins that are past,
your past sins, but you're gonna have to take care of the rest.
If that's the case, God can mark that iniquity and you will not
stand. You will not stand. And David
understood that. You think of the sweet psalmist
of Israel who lived centuries before the Lord Jesus Christ
came to this world, believed on Christ, trusted Christ, for
he said, if God should mark iniquity, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee.
Forgiveness. Forgiveness with thee. Paul said,
or rather Peter said, Him hath God exalted with His right hand
to be a prince and a savior to give repentance to Israel and
forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins. Paul, preaching
in Acts chapter 13, said, Be it known unto you, therefore,
brethren, He was talking about the brethren in Israel, that
though this man has preached unto you, or through this man
has preached unto you the forgiveness of sin, that you could not be
forgiven by the law of Moses. Unto you is preached the forgiveness
of sin. In Acts chapter 26, he said to
Paul, he said, you've been sent out there to preach the gospel
to open men's eyes and turn them from darkness to light. from
the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness
of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith
that is in me. What was 2023? It was a year
of blessedness. It was, if you're a child of
God. For the Lord said, David said,
praise the lord and some other three because he forgiveth all
that iniquity some thirty-two quoted in romans chapter four
by paul the roman church blessed you see whose transgression is
forgiven you know a blessed missus inhale i'm glad i have it what's
left of it in alexis All that stuff gonna pass away.
Ain't nothing. What is blessedness? To be in
a world of darkness. To have light shed on your mind
and heart. And know as bad as things get
that you are forgiven of your sin. There's nothing that compares
to that. And if you don't know that, you
don't know what I'm talking about. But if you know that, you know
exactly what I'm talking about. Blessed is the man whose transgressions
are forgiven, whose sin is covered. That's the Old Testament language.
The word atonement means to cover. And that was the language used
throughout the Old Covenant always, even to the giving of the most
holy day, the day of atonement. the day of covering, because
sins weren't put away under the old covenant. They were only
covered for one year on the day of atonement, then they would
have to be covered again. But in the New Testament, the
word is propitiation, which means satisfying God, and expiation,
which means putting away our sin, removing our sin from us. And we know and we feel and we
sense our own wickedness. We know the darkness to some
degree of our own heart and our own mind. The ease with which
we doubt. The ease with which we look away
from God and look at things around us. The ease with which we are
governed by circumstance. We know all of that. We know
that about us. We know that about us. And yet
the Lord says that Christ has put away our sins and he uses
language, metaphorical language that explains that to some degree
as far as the east is from the west. How far is that? I don't
know. Behind God's back. All things
are before God. What's behind God's back? Nothing's
behind God's back. That means our sins have been
annihilated. Annihilated. Buried at the bottom
of the sea. This is the language he uses.
He put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself. And therefore he
has forgiven us of our sins. Blessed is the man whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Will not charge with sin. You know what blessedness is?
For a sinner like me, to know that God, the true judge of all
the earth, that always does what's right, in His holy bar and courtroom,
He says, I will never charge that man, that woman, with sin. Never. I'm telling you, don't get no
better than that. forgiveness in whom we have redemption
through his blood the forgiveness of sin and it's all according
to the riches of his grace Colossians 1 14 says in whom we have redemption
through his blood even the forgiveness of sin even the forgiveness of
sin I would not have to ask for a show of hands for anybody here
whether or not you're a sinner Now whether you understand that
spiritually or not, I don't know. But to understand it spiritually
is to mourn over your sin. It's to grieve over what you
are. Do you understand it spiritually? I know they've made it an easy
thing. I heard Franklin Graham on TV the other day say if you
just say you're sorry to God, well how about actually knowing
what you are that would make you sorry for God? It would make
you sorry before God, make you apologize, make you ask for forgiveness. People can say, I've said I'm
sorry to people when I really wasn't sorry. Haven't you? I really wasn't sorry, but I
knew it'd get me out of trouble if I said I was sorry. And that's
the kind of thing this modern religion is. It just sort of
gets you out of trouble. Don't do anything for you. It adds
something to a life that already exists when actually scripture
says you're dead in trespasses and sin. Let Jesus in your life. You don't have a life. Before
God, as you are in nature, you are dead. D-E-A-D. Twice dead
and plucked up by the roots. Old Donny Bell used to say graveyard
dead. That's how dead you are. Before God, naturally. Dead in
trespasses and sin. What can a dead man do? Nothing.
What does a dead man know? Nothing. What can you ask of
a dead man? Anything you want to, but he
can't do it. If you don't understand that, the metaphor used for the
spiritual condition, go up to Yelly Hill Graveyard up there
and stand beside one of those two. Talk to that person that's
buried six feet under in a casket. Ask him how he's doing. He can't
answer you. Tell him to get up. You need some help piling some
wood. He can't help you. He can't get up. You say, well,
that's crazy. We wouldn't do that. That's what
we do when we preach the gospel. We're preaching to men who can't
do anything. We wait on God to make them alive. God must come
by them when they're dead and in their blood and say, I say
unto thee, live, and then they will live. And that's done solely and completely
by His grace, not impute sin. Isn't that something? Isn't that
something to ponder? This is what we had in 2023.
We had forgiveness of sin. We had our sins were covered.
Our transgressions were forgiven and God would not in any way,
shape or form ever charge us with any sin, though we sin 10,000
times a day. Never charged. Forgiveness. Oh, how sweet a sound that is.
How sweet a sound that is. As we take the Lord's table this
morning, I want us to remember that. I want us to think about
the year that has just passed. I know there have been sorrow
that will carry us to the grave. I know that. And I want you to
think about that as we're taking the Lord's table this morning in 2023. From January 1st till
today, All our sins will be forgiven. All our sins will be forgiven. Now we see the Lord's statement.
Do you hear that? This table is a commemoration,
a remembrance of what the Lord did for us on Calvary 2,000 years
ago. It is a celebration of a thing
that the world refuses to celebrate and tries not to think about. That's what we're celebrating.
We're celebrating the fact that in Jesus Christ, in whom we have
redemption through his blood, in Jesus Christ, had been put
in Him before the foundation of the world, those who were
put in Him, those who were put in Him, were redeemed by His
death. They died. Many died. In fact, the free audience has
given them a church. All have to do with that bed,
and those with the baptism of water over there, in that cold
river. And those with experience know
how cold it is. Why? We're commemorating, or
confessing, the believer's first public confession of faith. That
when Jesus Christ died, we died with him. He was buried in the
water, where his incense burned. We were buried with Him, and
when He rose, we rose with Him. And when He ascended, we ascended
with Him, to sit in heavenly places with Christ, in Him, and
die, and die. Scripture says we are dead, Colossians
chapter 3. We are dead, and our life is
filled with Christ and God. Our life is healed. Have you
ever wondered, as you thought about yourself and what you do
and what the Lord has done for you, how in the world can I be
a child of God? You know why you wonder that?
Because you're lying to yourself. You don't know what you are.
I read a thing this morning, Deb read something to me this
morning, that 15% of the population of the world has no understanding
or self-awareness. Our life is healed. Why? Because
we're dead. We're dead. We're dead and our
life is healed. We're celebrating the dead, the
accomplished one. Christ's dead body. He took the
elements of the Passover feast, the bread, the unleavened bread
of the Passover feast, And he broke it, and he gave it to his
disciples. He said, take these. This is my father's work. As
often as you do this, eat this way as you do it in remembrance
of me. And then he took the wine in
the cup. And after he blessed it, he gave
it to his disciples and said, this wine, this cup is the new
covenant, the new covenant, the new testament in my blood, in
my day. And as often as you eat this
way and drink this cup, and show forth my death until I come again. That's the second ordinance.
The third ordinance is what I just did this morning in the place
of God because it's about the death of Jesus Christ. So let's
take this table this morning in remembrance as we take the
bread representing his body broken for us and the wine representing
his blood shed for us. That's in our minds. and in our
hearts, commemorate death. Let's say it one more time. Let's
ask the Lord to bless us all. Lord, we pray you to bless this
time together and tell us your truth as we consider the blood
of Jesus Christ that redeemed us and gave us the knowledge
that as vile and unclean as we are, like that dying pig, We
are forgiven. Even to say it overwhelms us. To know it by faith is a true
delight in a world of suffering. Lest these elements be overloaded,
we might remember the death of Christ in His name we pray. you **coughing** On the night our Lord was betrayed,
he took bread and break it, and gave it to the disciples, and
said, hey, eat it. This is my body broken for you.
He's all in as you do it. Do it. Do it this year. On the same night, he took the
cup. He said, this cup is the new testament, the new covenant
in my blood. He's all in as you eat this bread
and drink this cup. You will show forth my death
until I come again. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Do
this in the name of Jesus. In the Spirit and the
same in Him. Let's stand together. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Well now, some people have had
colds and they don't feel like they ought to hug nobody. That'd
be all right. If you want to get a fist bump, that'd be okay
too. If you want to hug each other, that'd be fine. We will
go in. God bless you.