Christ's Ultimate Success
Unknown
Grace Free Presbyterian Church
Christ's Ultimate Success
Derek to come and to preach tonight and it probably was, I think it was 1998 probably
when I did that first sermon probably before we went to day training as I remember anyway.
So unless something drastic happens I think it will be a little bit longer than seven
minutes tonight.
We do bring greetings from our church in Burlington and I just know you're much in our prayers
and thoughts and heart as well.
So I would ask you to take your Bibles and turn to Psalm 132 please, Psalm 132, one of
the song of degrees when they go up to the house of the Lord, in fact it's one of the
last ones.
A couple more after it but the yearly pilgrimage, they say that they sang these as they walked
with their families and friends.
Psalm 132, let us give our attention to this portion of God's inspired and infallible word.
Lord remember David and all his afflictions, how he swore unto the Lord and vowed unto
the mighty God of Jacob.
Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house nor go up into my bed.
I will not give sleep to mine eyes nor slumber to mine eyelids until I find out a place for
the Lord and habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.
Lo, we heard of it at Ephrata, we found in the fields of the wood.
We will go there.
We will go into his tabernacles, we will worship at his footstool.
Arise, O Lord, into thy rest, thou and the ark of thy strength.
Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness and let thy saints shout for joy.
For thy servant David's sake, turn not away the face of thine anointed.
The Lord has sworn in truth unto David.
He will not turn from it.
Of the fruit of thy body will I sit upon thy throne.
If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their
children shall also sit upon thy throne forevermore.
For the Lord hath chosen Zion, he hath desired it for his habitation.
This is the Lord's covenant.
This is my rest forever.
Here will I dwell, for I have desired it.
I will abundantly bless her provision.
I will satisfy her poor with bread.
I will also clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints shall shout aloud for joy.
There will I make the horn of David to bud.
I have ordained a lamp for mine anointing.
I have appointed his enemies will I clothe with shame.
But upon himself shall his crown flourish.
Amen.
The Lord's word.
Do trust his blessing upon the public reading of it among us.
And let's do a bow again and seek the Lord's help as we come to this portion tonight.
Our Father in heaven, we again draw near to thee, the great and mighty King.
And yet our heavenly Father, to become a Father in the name of our Savior,
who has gone before us into the glory land,
who is sitting there at thy right hand,
interceding for us even at this very moment.
And so Lord, we pray as we've come to this word that has been given to us.
The Spirit of God that gave it may be pleased.
To open our hearts unto it.
Lord, may our hearing and preaching be mixed with faith.
We might, as we go home, have profit from what we have heard.
Father, forgive our iniquities, our sins, wherein we have turned from thee.
In our hearts, in our words, in our lives.
And be gracious to us.
For Christ's sake.
And Father, we just ask that.
As we look into this book that Christ told us, speaks of himself.
That we may find him here.
We ask in his name.
Amen.
In this psalm we have this psalmist, probably Solomon,
referring to this place that's called the habitation of God.
The place where he would dwell.
The place he had chosen.
That he would build.
Of course, if it's Solomon, he would be building it according to the directions
that God inspired David to have.
That it might be according to that pattern shown him as it were in the mount.
He speaks very prominently, though, also of the kingdom of David.
And of his seed coming after him.
If you look down again at verse...
11.
The Lord has sworn in truth unto David.
He will not turn from it.
Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.
And he speaks more of it there at the last part of the chapter.
Therefore, or there will, rather, in verse 17,
I will make the horn of David to bud.
I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed.
His enemies will I cleanse.
Clothed with shame.
But upon himself shall his crown flourish.
We know that David and his sons Solomon and Rehoboam and on down
sat on this throne.
And they did prosper.
Many of them greatly.
Some of them not so much as we find in verse 12.
You know, they disobeyed the covenant.
And God judged them accordingly.
But as we think of David's throne and David's seed
and his throne.
And his children that came from him.
It is not limited to just those Judean kings
that petered out by the time their Lord Jesus came to earth.
But the apostles very clearly tell us
that it refers to the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
In Acts chapter 2 we find Peter's sermon,
Day of Pentecost.
Him saying this.
We're breaking in, of course, into his line of thought.
But just to show this point.
He says,
Therefore being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him
that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh
he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne.
And then we go back in time just a little in Luke chapter 1
where Mary has been given her message by the angel.
He says to her,
Thou shalt, in verse 31,
Thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son
and shalt call his name Jesus.
He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest.
And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David.
And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever.
And of his kingdom there shall be no end.
I want to say, you know,
with those,
with those texts before us,
it's a great and present encouragement and hope for us tonight.
You think what the angel told Mary there.
He said of this kingdom of Christ, of Jesus,
that it'll be forever.
And it'll have no end.
And I think tonight we fit in those words, don't we?
It's still forever.
It still hasn't come to an end.
There'll be no end.
So, as we think about,
our Lord Jesus Christ here tonight,
and particularly, I want to look at verse 18.
Let us not think these are things,
and I hope it will be clear during the sermon.
These things that just happened back for Solomon,
for maybe for Rehoboam and their sons and grandsons.
But this is something that is for us this very night.
So let me just read verse 18 again.
Of course, speaking of the horn of David.
Of David, to bud the seed of David, the Lord Jesus Christ, preeminently.
His enemies will I clothe with shame,
but upon himself shall his crown flourish.
His crown shall flourish.
Christ's ultimate success is what I want to speak to you of tonight.
Before we come to the first point, just notice what it says of Christ.
That his crown, so his kingdom, his ruling, his office as a king,
will flourish.
It will blossom.
Or as one has said, it will be fresh and vibrant.
It is not, if you think of it, something that is withered.
If you think of the wreaths that sometimes are for crowns.
Other ways, if you think of the crowns that are gold,
it's not tarnished and set aside as it were.
But the one wearing it particularly is the idea that his reign will not peter out.
It's forever.
It's without end.
And his reign will blossom.
It will flourish.
It will be productive.
It will be successful.
It will accomplish all that it is supposed to accomplish.
And it's his crown.
It's not ours.
It's not our crown.
It's not any pope's crown.
It's not any government's crown.
It's Christ's crown.
It shall flourish.
I want to look at three ways that Christ's crown will flourish.
The first one is it shall flourish in converts.
Or conversions.
His crown will flourish in conversions.
And I think it was number six in the supplement.
I was reading tonight and I spoke, I can't quote it because I haven't, I don't think I've sung that one before.
But he conquered by, as it were, seemingly to be conquered.
He was trodden down.
But yet in his being trodden down, he trod under his and our enemies.
And in Isaiah 53 and verse 10 through the end we find this.
Verse 10.
Their iniquities.
Therefore, you see the great consequence of Christ's humiliation,
His suffering, His bearing sin, His being bruised for our iniquities.
It says, therefore, in verse 12,
Will I divide Him a portion with the great,
and He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because He hath poured out His soul unto death.
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
and He shall bear the sin of many.
And He bared the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Do you see the great blessing,
the flourishing of His kingdom, of His crown,
because of His death, because of His suffering.
He is going to justify many by His knowledge.
He's going to divide that portion,
the portion with the great,
the spoil with the strong.
He's honored in, I say, converts.
Christ, when He shall see the travail of His soul,
part of what that means is He will gather in His elect.
He will not lose one.
You think of John chapter 6,
where He speaks more directly to this Himself.
And especially in verse 35 to 36,
verse 37, He says,
And Jesus said unto them,
I am the bread of life.
He that cometh to Me shall never hunger.
He that believeth on Me shall never thirst.
But I said unto you,
that ye also have seen Me and believe not.
All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me,
and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.
For I came down from heaven not to do Mine own will,
but to do My own will.
But the will of Him that sent Me.
And this is the Father's will which hath sent Me,
that of all which He hath given Me,
I should lose nothing,
but should raise it up again at the last day.
The Father commissioned the Son to come and to die,
to procure the price,
to procure the redemption of His people.
And He, of course, hasn't done it at this point in John 6,
but He did, from our perspective.
And He said, in doing that,
and then sending, as we know, the Holy Ghost out
to come into the hearts of His people,
all those, as He says, that the Father has given Him,
that He should regenerate them,
He should give them faith and repentance,
He will lose none.
His crown is flourishing.
But the text also says, back in Psalm 132,
the beginning of that verse,
His enemies will I clothe with shame.
Christ drawing in, saving His people
from darkness unto light.
Every time.
Every time He saves one.
And how many of us here can testify to that?
Maybe not all of us can.
Christ is speaking of His elect,
of those whom the Father gave Him,
and that eternal covenant.
Yes, He also says this.
Let's read the verse again in John 6, 37.
All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me.
His crown shall flourish.
Maybe if you stop there,
and some people,
do on the doctrine of election and predestination,
think, well, how do I know if I should come?
Maybe I'm not one that has been given to the Father.
Christ says then, I think,
to us, because we do not know the decree,
we do not know that book of life
in which the names are written.
He says,
And him that cometh to Me,
I will in no wise cast out.
There's the day.
No words, our lives here are still living and breathing.
It's the day to come to Christ.
Not to try to decide whether you're elect.
That'll be clear after you're saved.
But the call is,
come unto Me.
Come unto Me.
All ye that labor and heavy laden,
I will give you.
I will give you rest.
And say, well, I'm very sinful.
I'm a hypocrite.
I've put off knowing that I should come.
I've put it off for years.
Perhaps you've been a blasphemer.
Maybe not publicly, but maybe in your heart.
My friend, Jesus says,
All that come unto Me,
I will in no wise.
In no way.
For no reason.
You're coming sincerely.
You're coming to Him to save you.
He will not cast you out.
Rather, He'll save you.
You may think, well, my faith is not very strong.
In Mark's Gospel, we have the woman with the issue of blood.
She was able by her simple faith
to just touch the hem of Christ's garment.
No one else knew.
Didn't make any scene.
But what happened to her?
She immediately felt in her body
that she was healed from the plague.
When you come to Christ,
be it ever so small a work of faith,
if it is in Him,
remember the man,
Lord, I believe.
Help thou mine unbelief.
Yet, what happened?
Christ worked for him.
He worked for the woman.
He'll work for you.
He'll save you from every sin
and every stain.
The great question for us tonight on that point is,
have you come?
Have you believed?
Have you thought,
my sin is bad enough
that I can't deal with it myself?
I have to have someone else.
And that someone else
has been presented to me as Christ.
And then have you taken Him?
Have you taken Him?
He'll take you if you come to Him.
But every time
that one comes to Christ,
God the Father is clothing
the devil with shame.
He says His enemies,
He will clothe with shame.
2 Timothy,
and there's other places too,
but we do find in 2 Timothy
a reference
to those
that are under Satan's power
and what the servant of the Lord is to do.
So in verse 24 to 26,
Paul tells Timothy,
the servant of the Lord must not strive,
but be gentle unto all men,
apt to teach,
patient in meekness,
instructing those that oppose themselves,
if God perventure will give them repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth,
and that they may recover themselves
out of the snare of the devil,
or taken captive by Him
at His will.
And you see,
when the Lord,
Jesus takes out
that one from the devil's captivity,
the snare of the devil,
you can think of it this way,
He's taking the needle
and He's weaving another run
in that coat of shame for the devil.
He could not hold them.
He had to give them up
because Christ's crown will flourish
and He will take in all those
that the Father gave Him.
What a glorious thing it is.
What a glorious thing.
The salvation of a soul
is not only to the praise
and the glory of Christ
and the Father and the Son
and the Spirit.
It is.
It's also to the shame,
to the confounding of the devil.
He could not hold them.
Christ's crown will flourish
there in converts,
but also secondly,
will be flourishing in fruit
in those that He does save.
Those that He has redeemed
from the sin of sin.
From sin and from Satan.
They will bear fruit.
You're very familiar, I'm sure,
with John 15
and how Christ says there
that He is the true vine,
in verse 1,
and my Father is the husband.
Then down in verse 5,
I am the vine,
ye are the branches.
He that abideth in me
and I in him,
the same bringeth forth much fruit.
For without me,
ye can do nothing.
Christ saves His people.
He is our righteousness.
He's our justification.
He's also our sanctification.
And He will have us to bear fruit
by abiding in Him.
And He will accomplish it.
Again, it's against the old man.
The fruit of the Spirit,
the fruit that we bear abiding in Christ,
is against our flesh,
against the world,
against the devil.
And it can confound us.
How could it even happen?
We're singing some of those hymns tonight
and I forget the name of the first one we sang,
but on how could the Lord love us so.
And we think about all of our sins
and all the ways we failed the Lord.
And yet, He loves us.
Yet, He produces fruit
and He continues to work with us.
He doesn't throw us off.
But He intercedes for us.
He works in us humility.
Peter speaks about that
in his first epistle
in chapter 5 and verse 5.
And he says
that we should be clothed
with humility
for God resisteth the proud
and giveth grace to the humble.
Humble yourselves therefore
unto the mighty hand of God
that He may exalt you in due time.
Casting all your care upon Him.
For He careth for you.
And you know, that's a fruit
of abiding in Christ.
You realize that my Father in Heaven,
the God in Heaven,
is not my enemy now.
He's my Father.
I can go to Him.
I can cast my cares upon Him.
Why?
Not just because He tells me to.
Of course, we admit that as well.
But He careth for you.
Do you realize that
as a child of God?
Augustine said in his confession
something to the effect
that the Lord cares for His people
individually
as if they were the only one
on the face of the earth.
Because every one of His people
is bought by the precious blood of Christ.
He has predetermined an eternity
to set His love on them.
He has predetermined an eternity
to set His love on them.
He has predetermined an eternity
to set His love on them.
He has predetermined an eternity
to set His love on them.
He has predetermined an eternity
to set His love on us.
And He will not forsake us.
There's nothing that can separate us
from the love of God
which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Paul sums up there in Romans 8.
Nothing.
He cares for us
as if we were the only one.
You don't have to try to get in the audience.
You don't have to get in the line.
You just go to your Father.
You think about your young'uns
and they come to you.
They don't say,
Daddy, can I have an appointment?
Can you give me a little card
with a certain?
Day and time.
They just come up to you
and say they need to talk to you.
And you talk to them.
That's how it is with your Heavenly Father.
He careth.
For you cast all your care
upon Him.
Christ will have that fruit in His people.
He'll work in us that belief
and that understanding.
Remember, He sends into our hearts
His Spirit.
And what does that Spirit do?
He cries, Abba, Father.
They're drawn.
They're drawn near to our Father in Heaven.
He gives us that fruit of prayer.
It really goes right with that.
Remember Zechariah 12.10.
The Spirit of grace and of supplications
He'll pour out.
And brother, let me just say,
these things we're going through,
I'm going to go through a few more
of the fruits that Christ
will produce in His people.
And again, you know,
we can't expect perfection.
This is a time of testing.
This is a time of trial,
a time of growing.
Not of...
complete accomplishment
of all these fruits.
That remains for Heaven.
But nevertheless,
when we see ourselves
lacking these things,
we should come honestly to Him
and say, Lord Jesus,
work this in me.
Thou hast been given
a portion with the great.
Thy crown shall flourish.
May it flourish in me
by working this humility,
working this prayer
and supplication.
Working this faith
that my Father in Heaven
loves me and cares for me.
That I can cast all my cares
upon Him.
We are not to hold back from Him.
We don't need to.
He knows anyway.
But He wants us to tell Him.
He wants us to cast them upon Him.
You think of Galatians 5 and 22.
The great list,
not exhaustive,
but a great summary
of the fruit of the Spirit.
Love, joy, peace,
long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance.
Against such is no law.
I mean, we look at those
and we think how much we need to grow.
How much we may need
to start on some of these,
perhaps sometimes.
Christ's crown will flourish.
You can take that to Him.
And you can find,
and prove Him true
to give you an increase of love
and joy and peace.
And write down those graces.
Abiding in Him.
He goes on to say,
if His Word abides in us,
we must look to Him.
Remember, Paul tells us that
we are changed into His image
by beholding Him,
by looking upon Him.
Not a picture we might draw
or someone has painted.
But the image,
the picture,
the descriptions
that the Holy Scriptures give us.
How He has set forth.
And to gaze upon that
sanctifies us.
In other words,
makes us more like Him.
There's no other one that
just by gazing upon their attributes,
their person, their work,
changes the man,
changes the woman or the child.
Because He is the God-man.
Our Lord Jesus Christ.
So we can examine His love and joy,
His peace,
His long-suffering and gentleness,
and goodness and faith
and meekness and temperance.
And as we meditate on
and think upon that in Him,
we ourselves are growing in it.
It's a wonderful thing.
So that's great.
But I'm in great troubles.
You know, even in,
infirmities or weaknesses,
God brings forth fruit, doesn't He?
Remember the good old Apostle Paul.
That mighty man.
And yet,
he suffered greatly, didn't he?
He had many things against him.
In 2 Corinthians chapter 12,
in verse 7,
when he speaks of that needful thorn,
he says,
And lest I should be exalted above measure
through the abundance of the revelations,
there was given to me a thorn in the flesh,
the messenger of Satan,
to buffet me,
to fight me,
lest I should be exalted above measure.
And Paul, you know,
wasn't at first willing to deal
with this on a constant basis.
He wanted it removed.
So what does he do?
For this thing I besought the Lord thrice,
that it might depart.
From me.
Remember, one of our local preachers
on the radio in our town,
he mentioned when he was going through this on the radio,
that he,
and I think it's a good point,
he didn't think that Paul just prayed three times in a row,
Lord, please take this away.
But very earnestly,
and perhaps he suggested,
and of course we don't know,
but he might have even fasted and prayed.
He's very intently,
desiring this thorn might depart.
Might leave me.
Might go away.
It might be us tonight.
You might think,
I can serve the Lord better.
I can have the fruits of the Spirit better
if this thing departs.
This infirmity.
And it may well be the Lord will take it.
We don't always have to deal with it.
But if it is not taken,
he says in verse 9,
And he said unto me,
My grace is sufficient,
for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
My strength is made perfect in weakness.
And then he says this,
Most gladly therefore,
will I rather glory in my infirmities.
I mean to say,
not because they're pleasant.
Not because he wanted them.
He wanted them gone.
But this is the reason,
that the power of Christ may rest,
upon me.
And then he was able to take pleasure in them.
Not again,
because they're enjoyable.
But because,
even in not only infirmities,
but reproaches,
necessities,
persecutions,
in distresses for Christ's sake.
Why?
Because when he was weak,
then he became strong in the Lord Jesus.
Brethren,
your Savior is not one that is just good
when things are going well.
He's good when things are not going well.
His crown is not his kingdom,
his rule,
his scepter,
does not help you.
Only when everything just seems to fall into place
and everything is rolling along like you'd like it.
But as Paul points out here,
in his own history,
in his own soul,
in his own life,
things are opposite to him.
Things that he does not want.
He does not want to have to accept.
The Lord says,
Paul, I'm bigger than that
which you're going to be.
I'm going through.
My grace.
The love,
the power,
the strength,
the support
as your king, Paul,
is greater
than that thorn.
And I will strengthen you in it
so you may be able to bear it.
Brethren, we're never without hope
in our lives as Christians.
Whatever we may be in,
Christ,
the crown flourishes.
It'll bear fruit.
And you think,
every time these graces are worked in us,
every time Paul and us,
if we're in the same condition,
rejoice in our reproaches,
in our distresses,
in our persecutions,
whatever it may be,
these things that are too heavy for us,
because Christ has strengthened us,
because his grace imparted to us,
enabled us to go through it and glorify him,
more threads in the shame,
of the enemies of Christ,
their coat is woven in.
They are again baffled
at the kingship of Christ
in his people.
And lastly,
Christ flourishes
in his crown in glory,
in glory.
In Matthew 24,
we find
him coming again.
And I know that
some may object to this,
depending on your interpretation of prophecy,
as being his second coming,
but
that's where I submit to you it is.
But you can at least,
as one man told me,
I preached this to him,
not just to him,
but he was one of them.
He said,
it is true,
he is glorified.
But anyway,
in Matthew 24, verse 30,
after the tribulation,
it says,
then shall appear the sign
of the Son of Man in heaven,
and then shall all the tribes
of the earth mourn,
and they shall see the Son of Man
coming in the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory.
And he shall send his angels
a great sound of a trumpet,
and they shall gather together
his elect from the four winds
and from one end of heaven
to the other.
He's coming,
he's coming in great glory
to gather his elect
from all the parts of the earth
where they're scattered.
Great glory,
great magnificence and majesty,
great acclaim
on their part.
But he's also coming
in that same instant
to judge the wicked,
and he will be glorified
in that as well.
In 2 Thessalonians chapter 1,
verse 7,
we find the same idea.
And to you who are troubled,
rest with us,
when the Lord Jesus
shall be revealed from heaven,
again, notice,
with his mighty angels
in flaming fire,
taking vengeance on them
that know not God
and that obey not the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory
of his power.
When he shall come
to be glorified in his saints
and to be admired
in all them that believe
because our testimony among you
was believed in that day.
If we could jump back up
to the need to be saved.
My friends,
there is a day,
as Paul said,
as John says,
as,
as the Savior himself said,
when he's coming again to judge.
Yes, he's coming with glory,
with blessing for his people.
But he describes others here
that know not God
and that obey not the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It's an urgent thing
to make sure
that you're ready for that day.
It's a day in which
there's no escape.
At that point,
it is not a day of grace
but a day of judgment.
Again,
what does Jesus say?
Come unto me.
Today is the day of salvation.
Today is the day
to have your sins washed away.
Your heart clean,
your conscience
not anymore condemning you
but saying,
no,
I have an advocate.
I have an advocate
with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous
who is a propitiation
for my sins.
That's today.
And that is today
to be sure of that.
Because there is coming a day.
Not only will Christ be glorified
and magnificent
and, you know,
it's hard to describe glory.
I've tried to read
some of the theologians
various times
on describing
what the glory of God is.
It's hard to describe.
He dwells, it says,
in an approach,
in a beautiful light.
Well, this will be light
we can see
and fearful for those
outside of Christ.
Glorious for those in.
But yet it will
provoke reverence
in us as well.
Glorified in the saints.
Glorified also in judgment.
Judgment.
In Revelation,
we find this theme continued
of the saints glorifying Him
in heaven.
Chapter 7 of Revelation.
In verses 9 and 10.
After this, John says,
I beheld and lo,
a great multitude
which no man could number
of all nations and kindreds
and people and tongues
stood before the throne
and before the Lamb
clothed with white robes
and, excuse me,
palms in their hands
and cried with a loud voice
saying,
Salvation to our God
which sitteth upon the throne
and unto the Lamb.
And unto the Lamb.
Great glory
in that day
by His people.
But at the same time,
we find later in Revelation
that all those,
especially
the devil,
clothed with shame
this time
not just temporary shame
of having one sinner
snatched out of his hand here
and one lust and pleasure
in other words,
snatched out of his
hand from saints
by the work of the
Christ in their souls.
But this time,
they're all in heaven.
And He
is laid hold of
and cast into
hell.
In Revelation 19,
in verse 20,
those that
worked for Him
and the beast was taken
and with Him the false prophet
that wrought miracles before Him
with which He deceived them
that had received the mark of the beast
and them that worship His image.
These both were cast alive
into a lake of fire
burning with
brimstone.
Then again in chapter 20
in verse 10,
the devil
that deceived them
was cast into the lake of fire
and brimstone
where the beast and the false prophet are
and they shall be tormented day and night
forever
and ever.
Christ's crown
shall flourish
but His enemies will I
clothe with
shame.
Brother, in that great day,
will you be one that
is there of that multitude
that no man can number
giving praise,
and glory to the
one that sits upon the throne
and to the Lamb?
Or will you be one that is
drug as it were with the dragon,
the false prophet,
and the devil,
and thrown into
the lake of fire
that burns with brimstone
and be tormented
forever
and ever?
Christ will be glorified
either way,
in both ways.
He is a great King.
Many times I think,
you know, in our American culture
we think of Christ
as just a nice,
nice friend.
Somebody that can be
dealt with as we please.
And He's okay with us.
He is a great King.
The world did not like Him
when He was here on earth,
not because He was mean,
because He was unmannerly,
not because He was
morose,
but because of His doctrine.
They didn't like the truth,
He tells us.
They didn't like the light
because of their sin.
And yet, who was He?
He was the sin bearer.
He was the Savior from sin.
If you're here tonight without Him,
don't think of Him
as that one who came
to condemn the world at that time.
He came to save sinners.
He's here tonight to save you.
You'll come to Him.
He will.
Let me close with a quote
from Mr. William Childs Robinson.
He wrote this in 1946
about the King and His beauty.
He said,
We plead for a reformation,
vision of the King and His beauty,
God and His majesty
in a sense of our absolute dependence upon Him.
We depend upon Him for light
and He gives us His word
with the illumination of the Spirit.
We anchor in Him for life
and the everlasting arms
of our Maker sustain us.
We look to Him for redemption
and behold the Lamb of God
that taketh away the sins of the world.
We cry to Him for salvation
and the Holy Spirit
raises us up with Christ
and makes us sit with Him
in the heavenlies.
We raise our bruised hopes
and our bleeding hearts to Him.
He opens the portals
of the blessed hope
of the glorious appearing
of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ
bringing with Him
the new Jerusalem,
the new heavens and the new earth
in which dwelleth righteousness.
His enemies will I clothe with shame
but upon Himself
shall His crown flourish.
Let us pray.
Our Father in heaven,
as we close tonight,
we ask that we might see
the glories of Christ as King.
Father, we pray for those
that may be here tonight,
young or old,
that have kept back from Thee
through Christ.
Oh, may they know that
though there's only one way
to come,
yet it is a sure way,
it is an open way.
It is through our Lord Jesus Christ
who said He is the way,
the truth and the life.
No man cometh to the Father
but by Him.
Open hearts we pray.
Lord, those of us
that have been recipients
of this grace,
Lord, we are humbled.
We praise Thee.
We glorify Thy name.
We look forward to the day
of joining that grace
and the great throng,
a multitude from all places,
all nations, all families
and all kindreds in heaven
to praise the name of the Savior
in person as it were,
beholding the Lamb of God.
Oh, Father, draw us near
to that great day.
Father, may Thy blessing
be upon Thy people tonight.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
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