Grace Chapel Bible Ministries
240623 A Conquering Faith/ Communion - 2024/06/23
Trim one of you like slippin' it through. No, there. That's a good chair. And when I sit down we only need to do stuff. A good searching chair. Everybody else has a little bubble, but your voice was okay. Where are bottles? When you start want to take those out. Okay, here. You don't hear 'em broken? Your voice is good. Your voice is a little... It's like staggered. So you didn't hear them very good? Okay. That's good to know. Let's see. Test a little bit, babe. Don't hear that, babe. There we go. Boy, you want to start this off with... 404. 404. Carry it. 404. All right. [Door opens] You sure to welcome us? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Good morning, everybody. How you doing today? Good. Good. We'll be singing page 404 in the hymnal. The solid rock. ♪ ♪ I hope it's built on nothing less ♪ ♪ Than Jesus' blood and righteousness ♪ ♪ And I dare not trust the sweetest friend ♪ ♪ But only lean on Jesus' name ♪ ♪ On brings the solid rock I sing ♪ ♪ All underground is singing fan ♪ ♪ All underground is singing fan ♪ ♪ When darkness fails his lovely face ♪ ♪ I rest on whose unchanging grace ♪ ♪ In every high and stormy gift ♪ ♪ My anchor holds good and a fill ♪ ♪ ♪ I hope underground is singing fan ♪ ♪ All underground is singing fan ♪ ♪ It's open covered in blood ♪ ♪ For me and the well-being flood ♪ ♪ And all around I so get away ♪ ♪ Even in all my hope and say ♪ ♪ I hope underground is singing fan ♪ ♪ All underground is singing fan ♪ ♪ All underground is singing fan ♪ ♪ And we come home with trumpet sounds ♪ ♪ Oh may I stand in every fountain ♪ ♪ It's been your righteous and so long ♪ ♪ All Westerns and before the throne ♪ ♪ All the white and solid rock I stand ♪ ♪ All underground is singing fan ♪ ♪ All underground is singing fan ♪ (upbeat music) - What would you find? - You wanna work on it? - It's tricky, that was tricky. - Yeah, I know, but can you figure out where to pick up? - Well, that's okay. - I was getting lost and I looked up and dealing with some wonders, they were like... (laughing) - What's that? Oh yeah, come on up. - Let me get used to the new set. - Well, that's okay. - We're good. - Okay. - Just the opening reading, the songs, one. - Mm. - Mm. - Before the prophets. - E-S-V, my apologies. - Blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields his fruit in its season, and his leaves does not wither. And all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like shape that the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor centers in the congregation of the righteous, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. - No, I'll let you. - All right. - Okay. Well, sorry for the confusion. We will do that song again next week. - All right. - Hey. - You'll be on vacation. - Well, you'll be on vacation. Well, we're going to keep doing it until we get it right. How's that? - Oh, right. - That's all right. Actually, that was a new musical score. - On the drive there, we'll just keep singing. - That's right. That's right. So, when you come back, we'll be, oh, no, when you come back, we'll do that song again. That's all right. Welcome, Grace Chapel, Bible Church. Welcome, Terry. Still, you'll hear a voice here. That's not, oh, it could be an angel, but that's Terry. She's up in Maryland. She joins us each week, and her and Mike, and glad they're along. Terry will be visiting our favorite place here next week, and we will definitely have to make a trip to Crockett's on morning. - Oh, man. (laughing) - All right. Joy, you're familiar? - Do you think you can have one of those sent to me? - Oh, baby, I can't. There'll be a little stale by the time we get there, but... (laughing) So we got a new set up, new format, so we're not always this confusing there, Joy. Sometimes we're even worse, so... (laughing) But... - It's not always this time. (laughing) - I'm kind of worried about it. I'm kind of this one. - There you go. (laughing) I've learned to laugh at myself and not take it too seriously, but early in the ministry at the time. It was the end. I wanted to go out and crawl along the rock, but Lord Scott is such humor and over time that time, but welcome, glad you're here. And... All right, how's Wendy doing? - I'm tired. - I'm tired. - It is coming more and more tired. Was he... So it's 15th Street. I thought it was over 15 weeks, but it is... - It started... - Well... - Not the last 36, but the 36 before. So she's, I guess, seven or eight. I guess it's just through the weeks, isn't it? - Yeah. - You're not doing seven or seven. - Yeah. So... - I don't know if many of us have both of them. - I don't know if many of us have both of them. I don't see them. - Okay. So I know that on the same, when we get back to the vacation, 'cause we've done with it, but... I said that the... She just... I'm sure anxiety through it. You can talk to that very quickly. But she's too more up for that. - But I see her... - Yeah. - ...make her call for you, 'cause he's been so hungry. - You know, smiling. - Okay. - I heard Terry groan in the background, but she's been through this. She knows the gameplay. - My heart goes out to her. - All right. So we'll keep her in her prayers on that. Again, trying to learn mercy for her. We're gonna meet up with Greg and Linda, who also has a home church. They meet in their home. They're coming down to Gatimer. We'll meet them for the first time this week. So, show them mercy for us. And again, Terry, well, thank you to you, when we're sitting there at Crockett's. Okay. Be with mom. Mom's not here today. She's going through a lot of pain with, you know... - She's having surgery Tuesday. - Having surgery Tuesday. So be with her. And the surgery and the docs and all of that. That... George and Linda and Richard, they're meeting at Ramas, and Charles and Woodruff, you know, so they still got their church congregation. They got a restaurant now that they can meet in the day. It would be the first day. - Oh, I didn't know that. - Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. When George, they've got the first time they met after they left the church. They had 16 plus war visitors at somebody's house. And now they're meeting at a restaurant today. - I didn't know they were meeting at a restaurant. - No, this today was first day. - Oh, cool. - And so, so we'll pray for them. All right. What else we got? Any other prayer requests? Nice to have you back, boys. With that there? - Your neighbors have your neighbors. - Rosemary is home. - Rosemary is home. - Yay, that's great. She's resting and I hadn't heard much from her since she got home. But she's probably still quite suffering with her back. I think that's the pain in her back. And I don't know if they've started any kind of treatments or anything. Well, I was going to touch with them on what's going on. But just keep them in prayer with, you know, what she's going to have to do treatments and healing of her back because that injury is bad, you know, having to go through that. Plus the cancer. So. - Okay. Boys, it's nice to have you back. Hope you didn't go carnal with all that time you spent. We'll go miss next week too. So I'm going to carnal here. I think that I have to double down on there. It's Bible study. Y'all have a good time? - Yeah, we do. - Good. All right. Anything else? - Keeps free, but on your list it's closing week. It's going to be this week, coming week. But your challenges, closing the bank issues with machines and not what was it? I can see his tough on calm. And he does not do well with his stoicism. - If it is just stoicism. Well, if it was easy, everybody be doing it. Okay. We'll keep Springfield on there as well. And also a great upstate Bible challenge. This is, we'll finishing up with Matthew 26, 27, 28, plus a few, three. We'll probably do people in the Bible, people in the gospels, where Jesus walked, wild card. All right. - There's a lady. I can't find her name right now, but she's the lady that's the leader of our support group for metastatic breast cancer. There's a person in there that has just also been diagnosed with it going to her brain. And she asked me if I would be willing to speak with her. Of course, I didn't know about it, but I had to be happy to, you know, just talk with her and maybe get through some things with her and have out and out. And I went to the Bible and read a couple of verses to get myself ready, and I called her, and she didn't answer. I was looking for her name, or put them in my e-mails, but I can't. I can't seem to find it. - Okay. - I just think we could just do a broad thing. Everybody, you know, that just needs some help in whatever is going on in their lives, whether it be health, or, you know, belief, or finance, or family, or whatever. Just our prayers to go out to everybody is having over time right now. - All right. Thank you. We will. Well, when you get to get the name, Terry, go ahead and give me -- I'll put it on Lady right now, so when you get it. Okay. So, let us turn to the Lord in prayer. Don Heaven, we thank you for this day. We thank you for your love, your grace, your mercy. And we thank you Heavenly Father that our worship doesn't require a cathedral, or even a formal setting. And even though we have every "I" dot and every "T" cross, things go wrong sometimes and out of procedure. But I think that's just your way of saying we got this. Continue to be with Wendy as she continues through her cancer treatments, give her strength. Let her find her strength in the -- I pray Heavenly Father, the traveling mercies of those who are traveling this weekend, Greg and Linda and their family. I pray Heavenly Father, Mom's pain as she's going through it. And for the surgery, she's going to have Tuesday. We ask that to be with the doctors, and I pray for a quick recovery. I pray for George McDowell and his congregation as they're meeting this morning in a restaurant. I pray Heavenly Father, we know that the spirit is there with them. Thank you for getting Rosemary home. Continue to be with her back and for the cancer. Sir, for the challenges, a Springfield. And I pray Heavenly Father for a smooth turnover. May they overcome the challenges that meet them along this way. Be with Tom and his Relaxment Latitude. I pray for this lady that Terry speaks of in her support group. I pray Heavenly Father that the gospel will be within her heart and be communicated. Give the words that Terry can communicate to her as she reaches out. Heavenly Father, be with us this morning as we continue to worship thee and these things we pray in Christ's name. Amen. All right. Our second hand is our subject this morning is Faith is the victory. And that will be in 486. And remember our faith is the victory. And remember that faith is not in the our ability to have faith, but it is in our, it is the one whom we have faith in. Our God, our Lord and our Savior. So let us stand for 486. We have a partition in this. It has a longer dose of light He grished in children's eyes. In Christ the battle there the night shall battle the moving skies against the full and tells below that all are strength be heard. Faith is the victory we know. That overcomes the world. Faith is the victory. Faith is the victory. All glorious victory that overcomes the world. The banner over us is of the Lord, the Word of God. We tread the road, the saints above, wish out some time. Some page they hide the world with breath and let it over every field. But a faith by which we conquer is still a shining shield. Faith is the victory. Faith is the victory. All glorious victory that overcomes the world. On every end of all we find all of the bread array, the blessings that we meet at behind and onward to the phrase. Some page they tell men on each death the true poker abounds. The earth shall tremble in protection and gave the wind our shout. Faith is the victory. Faith is the victory. All glorious victory that overcomes the world. What's the first one? They remember when we do it. Well, next time we'll have the first. Yeah, that's first. I think Michael is waiting on me. I'd love to work with him. You're the music leader. Two things. One, you can stop. You say no, no, no. Back it up. We're going to sing this right. You can do that. You've got to leave. Second of all, if there's no work first and no music, we'll go for them. If your decision is saying, I could pillow. You've got it. You've got it, my man. All right. But no surprise, we are in Hebrews chapter 11 and we're dealing with faith. And remember that faith. And today is our communion service, so we will be finishing up at 12 no matter where we are. And so I'll. Remember that faith is not just our ability to cope. Faith is not a coping skill. When somebody turns around and says, "Hey, listen. You know, you're going through stuff. Terry's going through stuff. I can't just say, "Terry, you just got to have faith." There has to be something. Faith has to have content. Content of the heart. There must be something that we have faith in. And because we can have faith in quite a few things. We can have faith in the squirrels outside. We can have faith in some psychological mumbo jumbo. We can have faith in faith in some, you know, just about anything. You can have faith in demonology. But remember it is the merit. It is the object that has the merit in our faith. It's the one whom we are trusting in. And faith also requires us over time to send back because we can hurt today. And we'd be praying for a relief today. We can pray for tomorrow for a relief. Every day and it doesn't seem like, and I can look at you and I can say, "How can you keep hanging on?" And I can be antagonistic. I say, "Every day you pray and yet God doesn't answer your prayer." Because it's God's timing. It's God's timing. I'm believing in Him, I'm trusting Him on a day-to-day basis. So we've come up to our time in our passage. And we finished off last Tuesday with Hebrews chapter 3. "By faith Moses when he was born was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's eating. By faith Moses when he had grown up refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure an ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasure of sin. Considering the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures of Egypt for he was looking for the reward. "By faith he left Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is unseen. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land and the Egyptians when they attempted it they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient after she had welcomed the spies in peace. This is the word of the Lord. So by the time the people had crossed the Red Sea they turned around to see. I'm embellishing a little bit but I could imagine they saw that the same waters that opened up was the waters that came down upon them and destroyed their enemies. This was deliverance. We must see this and this is something that they're going to remember all the way through year after year after year as they celebrate Passover as we celebrate communion. And with all that, with all they saw God brought them to a place where it was impossible to get out of. He brought them to the sea and this is where we spoke of last Sunday. They came, they were looking at the sea in front of them. All both of them were mountain ranges. Behind them Pharaoh was coming. There was no escape. And God remember what we said that the Lord will bring us to an impossible place in order to demonstrate His power for us. When there is no option we should be given thanksgiving. We should be given thanksgiving to the Lord. Thank you Lord for bringing me here because there is nothing else I can do except thank you for bringing me to this spot where I can see your glory shine through. Where I can see that sometimes we give up on prayer. Sometimes we give up on God while I prayed and I just don't see the answer. Well welcome what's faith all about. I'm the pitter on you, the Lord. So He brings them. These are children of God. There are little faiths. They grew up in a pagan society. And sometimes the Lord will take you to your limit in order to show you that I am God. Didn't He do that with Job? But Job was a mature believer. He brought Job to the place where there was no more hope. And Job actually gave up until the Lord showed up. And so we should remember the failure of Job. Job had successes but Job also had failures. So the faith of Israel is a conquering faith. This was a kind of faith Israel needed in conquering Jericho. They had a faith that God could give victory over. And this once again the listness, the Lord brought the Israelites through the wilderness. It brought them through challenges. And they grumbled every step of the way. And God's grace kept them day by day. And there was a challenge. And every time the Lord brings testing into your life. It's an opportunity for God, not only for you but also to God to show His power in your life. He doesn't test you with more than what you can handle. And sometimes listen. Sometimes I'm not saying that we are all, and I'm not saying tears are failure. I'm not saying that our weirdness is a failure because we do get tired. The trip does get long. But the question is do we see tears behind the, do we see hope behind those tears? Yeah, yeah. And you know what sniveling is when it's excess release of that pressure. Then you stand up, you pick your gun up, and you continue to march. Never lose a faith in God. It's not easy, but you continue to trust. And every time that you apply, you go into the faith situation, and every time that you have that trial, and you apply the Word of God to that trial, it's going to pop muscle on that faith. That's why the Lord took the Israelites through the wilderness. It was an order so that they could build up the faith so that by time they got the battle. They didn't bring them into the land. By the time they got to the battle at Jericho, they could have the faith that it took and took to defeat a powerful enemy. Exodus 14, 17. Who's got it? Go ahead with it. Go ahead, why? As for me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army through his chariots and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen. So he brought the people to this impossible situation in order to... This was a conquering faith, a faith that they can have not in themselves, because they were not their own heroes. Remember this about faith. You are not your own heroes. Faith doesn't make you a hero. The one that you are believing in is the hero. Christ is the hero. Don't make yourself the hero of your own story. That's not mine, that's from another. But faith that looks beyond our weaknesses and looks upon the one who is strong that leads us and leads us people to victory. Even over the same victory that he has conquered death. Because even if we should believe, because the world will look at you and you've trusted the Lord all the way to the grave. You've trusted the Lord all the way. Maybe it's a cancer. Maybe it's a heart. Maybe it's a disease. Whatever it is. And we prayed for people. Remember my friend, not my friend, but I love him, the Dr. Walter Martin. He said, "I prayed for people and they've gotten well. I prayed for people and they've gotten sicker. I did that prayed for people as they died. Does that mean that God is unfaithful? No, why? Because there's a resurrection. We believe them all the way to the grave. That's a victory. The victory isn't that we get everything that we want. The victory is that God is God. And if God should take us to the grave trusting in him, then we stand before him. With the victory at the Lord says, "Well done good and faithful servant." You've been faithful in a few things. All the way to the end. And this could not cause me to give up on my faith in the Lord. I knew you'd come. We'll stand here before the Lord up, before the judgment seat of Christ. And I'm saying, "Lord, I knew you wouldn't forget me." And while others on air said, "Well, he trusted God and he died." No, he's not. I've got a resurrected body. Amen. I'm standing before the Lord. My personal abilities will fail me. With my own strengths. And I'm recognizing this. I'm getting older. I'm getting weaker. I'm getting... Remember I was six foot four. I was six foot and bulletproof. Remember that? I was a Marine. Nothing could knock me down. I could take the hill. I could move the hill. I could conquer the hill. Well, I'm learning as I'm growing older. I'm getting weaker. But you know what? I'm also getting stronger. Paul says, "When I am weak, I'm strong." Why? Because as I'm growing older and in my weakness, I'm trusting in the Lord more. And I've got this confidence. I've got this confidence. You see, I can fail me. People can fail me. My ideologies can fail me. Even religion can fail me. I can fail so many ways. But you know what? God never fails. The Bible is a record for God's faithfulness. And what a fool. I've been in life and I'm not just telling myself, but I'm telling all of us. What fools we have been when we trust anything over the word of God. God himself. I was telling back, it dawned on me yesterday. Inside them. In it's funny, and if you haven't heard it, you'll hear people argue about the Bible. Well, you can't trust the Bible because it was written by man. But how many of those people go? You've heard that, Joy? Yeah. Because it's written by man. Here's the thing you can say next time. Well, why is it that you listen to cable news network? Who's experts in lying? And you trust them and you don't trust the Bible, you don't make sense. God has a track record. He is a perfect track record. So now the writer of Hebrews brings us to Jericho. And the conquest of the land. Now, understand this. We spoke about the first generation Israel. What happened to them? Anybody? They died in the wilderness. And they didn't die in defeat. You know what's so funny? They were worried about being defeated. They were worried about this. Or you're going to bury us here. And you go, notice that they died. They died of the same thing they were. They died. But you know what they died of? Unbatfulness. Unbatfulness. The Lord, over and over in His grace, over and over and over again. We're trying to bring them into faith. See? Again, I'll reiterate what I said last week. Get luck out of your vocabulary. Set luck. Don't even think about luck. Luck is for pagans. I don't even wish people good luck. If I see you and you're going into something, Mom, you're going into surgery. I'm not going to wish you good luck. I'm going to wish you good grace. And because luck is for the pagans. Grace is for you and I, children of God. And it's by the providential hand that we recognize, the providential hand of God. When I am in a circumstances, He works all things out for good to those who love Him. Hello? Do we love the Lord? Well, if we can shake our head, yes. That we love the Lord. That we can be rest assured that every situation that He brings us into is by the providential hand of God. And there's some bullet points for you, Terry, for your friend. And you can bring them to Romans 828. And because the God of love, He brings us to the situation. And with us each time. So rather than Hebrews... Alright, Melissa Cooper, thank you. So there's some ammunition when you talk to Melissa. Right. So the first generation failed. And where they failed, they failed to trust God. Please, please, please, please, if you don't hear nothing else today that I tell you. This life is short. And every day is the opportunity not to do what we want to do, but an opportunity to glorify God. To say, "I'm trusting you, you Lord." In every situation that you bring into my life, I'm trusting in you to bring it. That I can face every reliance. That I can go through every wilderness. And wherever you bring me, and Lord, in the prosperity that you have blessed us with, even that becomes a challenge. Because how many of us have turned our backs on the Lord while we were enjoying our prosperity for getting God? Well, I'll see you, Lord, the next trouble that I go into. Even our blessings, even our prosperity blessings is a challenge because we're holding on. And faith is holding on. So again, there is only one reason for failure of these people in the wilderness, and that was unfaithfulness. The inability to trust God. You know, the sad thing is even Moses didn't get to go into the promised land. That's heartbreaking, and that's also scary. Moses did not lose his salvation, by the way. But Moses failed in that greatest treasure. He was able to watch the people, that second generation, 20 years and under go into the land. But he wasn't allowed to. And again, it was unfaithfulness. And it was just a moment with Moses. Remember, Moses was said to go and speak to the rock. The Lord told Moses, speak to the rock and let water come out. What did Moses do? He struck the rock two times. And the Lord buys grace brought water out of that rock. But then he also told Moses, you're not going to go into the land. Not into the land of promise. Who did get to help me out? Who did get to go in? Joshua. Joshua. Joshua. Joshua and Taylor. Very good. They're the ones, listen, they were the ones that in Numbers 13, 30 were not all turned there. And 14 to 14, 8. They were the ones when the giants, and these were literal giants. These were the Nephilim giants in the land. And when the recon went in there, Moses sent reconnaissance in to check out the land. And they saw giants. He said, we were like grasshoppers in their sight. These were the giants. The same kind of giants that was before the flood that roamed the earth. And they had inhabited Israel at that time, or Canaan. It was Canaan at that time. The promised land. And so they went in there, and the recon came back and said, these are giants. They're giants in there there. The ants, the land was flowing with milk and honey. It's a great land. But there's giants. And the people were terrified. Oh Caleb, Caleb, let's go get him. We could take him. Caleb must have been a marine. But let's go get him. And Joshua too. And the people cried, and the people once said, no, you know. And they're unfaked. And the Lord still had grace. Listen, the Lord could wipe them out right there, and he didn't. He said, okay, the Lord was still going to teach them. They weren't ready. You know, sometimes, I really like this passage, Michael and Numbers. I just learned one more thing. Because you and I talk about when we fail, and we kick ourselves. Sometimes I think the Lord does bring us into challenges. And we wobble in our face. And if it is for anything else, we learn where we are at in our face. And we say, okay, let's go back, continue, study Word of God. Remember, the Word of God puts muscle on your faith in the exercise of it. I'm not there yet. But the Lord is faithful to bring you back to that place again to retest you. And to these people, he didn't crush them. It's not there. He gave them another chance. But poor Joshua and Jacob, I thought about this before. Poor Joshua and Jacob, they're looking over at the prom sledding, so we could have had it. We could have had it. Now we know it has to roam around in the wilderness for 40 years, year after year. And we could have been in the land. I know that those two must have been as frustrated as all. But you know what? Those two got to go in. Those two got to go in. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. Point of application. The Lord does not bring any of us to a place of insurmountable odds to destroy us. Having brought us already through the most miraculous deliverance, that is our so great salvation. Regeneration. Our baptism through our own water that we have crossed through. You know, the story of Israel is so important. Oh, this breaks in. Yes. It's that when we see history, there are those, listen. There are those that will say the Old Testament is irrelevant. I want you to know that, gentlemen, that's a lie. The same people that say the Old Testament is irrelevant. You know why they say it? Because they believe the Jews are irrelevant. They believe that the Jews are no longer God's people. And so they and their Old Testament Bible can just go on. That's a lie. Remember why we used to talk about evolution and how school is evolution a lie? Yes, it is. You can hear a lot about how the Palestinians at that Israel took Palestinian land. You gentlemen know the Bible. You know that's a lie. I don't care if the whole world says it and you're the only two or we're only three or all of us. That's a lie. That's Israel's land. Okay? But if you disregard the Old Testament, you just don't awake. First of all, two-thirds of the Bible. Second of all, you throw away the record of God's faithfulness. When we see Israel, we see Israel historically what God did but Israel. We also can see what God is doing in the same way there where He's doing with us spiritual. There's so many parallels between the journey of Israel and our journey to this faith. And you know what? The same way that Israel failed, we can fail. So it's also a warning. If God brought us through the waters, doing the most for all of us, will He not also fight life's battle for us? What was Israel's baptism? Go ahead through the waters. How many times did they have to go through that water? Once. And He closed up the water so He couldn't go back. He should tell us that Paul tells us that Ephesians just one baptism. We don't have to get rebaptized every time that we sin. It's good. It's good. Okay? But we also receive our baptism. When we have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life, we have received our baptism. They went through a literal waters. When they went through, it was history. Water on both sides. On both sides of them. Water on this side. Water on this side. And they went through it. And I see that as their baptism, but we go through baptism as well. They were an impossible situation. So are we. Even though we don't see the armies coming up behind us and the historical. Can we agree? All of us, it's impossible for any of us to save ourselves. Okay, amen? Thank you, ma'am. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot break or we cannot fix what we ourselves have broken. Our relationship with God is a God-sized problem. And we can't, that's insurmountable odds. We cannot fix it. Because the very fact is that we've sinned. We've all come short of the glory of God. And the wages of sin is what? Death. There is no amount of being good. There is no amount of good, goodism. There is not a amount of crusaderism. There is nothing. It's a valuable odds. There is nothing that we're going to do to be saved. There ain't nothing that we're going to do that we can receive eternal life. We have a problem. And that problem is a huge problem. It's insurmountable means you can't get over this. But God did it. Jesus Christ, upon that cross, took our sins for us. Substitutionary, He went to that cross, He died for us. In order that we might become children. We might become the righteousness in Him. Because if we're going to live forever with God, we have to be as righteous as Him. Isn't that incredible? God just did not forgive us of our sins. See, when Adam sinned, we all sinned. And so the Lord just said, "I'm not just going to save you and bring you back to square one to where you're perfect." Because Adam wasn't righteous. Adam was not made righteous. He was made perfect. He was in perfection. But when He takes us as sinners and He saves us, He brings us back. He cleanses us from all unrighteousness. He purifies us. He blots out all our transgressions. He brings us back to equality, to perfection. We were born perfect. But He doesn't stop there. He gives us His own righteousness. He closed us with His own righteousness that we might be children of God and live with Him forever. We have a better position with Christ than what Adam had. Incredible. Now, if He did the most for us, by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die upon the cross. And in baptism, we go through our waters through faith, identifying Him with Christ. Identifying ourselves with Christ and His death, His burial and His resurrection. How much more where our faith carries through every situation? How much more can we conquer every adversity, every challenge, every pain, every hurt by standing upon the promises of God? And even if it takes us out of this life, will we never last victors? Now, will we not be resurrected? Will we not be in our new bodies and claim victories? Listen, amen. I enjoy every day is an opportunity to wake up and to serve the Lord into growth. And I love life. I do. But I know it's not going to compare with the life to come and the body we're going to have. You think I look good now? So, how many Joshua's do we have here? How many Caleb's that we have this day within a, in this perverted world? And this world is certainly perverted. And every day I hear Christians telling them, and I'm guilty to a times when we lose focus and we talk about how bad this world is. Listen, I can talk about how bad this world is, but how many of us are talking about how great is the kingdom to come? Amen. If this world was perfect, I'd want to stay in it. I don't. I'm looking forward to the promise of God for that kingdom to come. So, our passing into the kingdom will not rest on our own ability. Our passing into the kingdom will rest on our faith, and on the one who has fought and has won the greatest victory. He intercedes for us, and he wants us to succeed. The John says when I say these things that you should not sin, but if you do sin, you have an advocate. And that is when the, when we've sinned, we've all come short of the glory of God, and it breaks our hearts and stuff like that. But we are his son. We, we are his children, and we've never stopped being his children. We are in Christ. There's no provision to be out of Christ. And so, even though that we've sinned, Satan is in, Satan is still in heaven. He is still the adversary. He's still the devil, and he's making an accusation against all of us. Oh, look at him, and he calls himself a Christian. And he's done this, that, and the other thing. And, and you're beaten down even by your own conscience, maybe even by the demons themselves. But you know what the Lord does? The Lord comes over here. He's an advocate. He patched his own shoulder. He said, "I got this. I got this." And he comes up and he says, he goes, he goes, "You can't try him." He's talking to the Lord, the judge, the God. He said, "You can't try him, because that would be double jeopardy. I took every one of his sins in my own body, that, that wipes out his death. Now and forever." The devil turns around and walks out. Now with that said, you recognize by faith, and by the promise of God, that, oh, I'm set free. I've named my sins, I'm set free, and now I'm free to worship the Lord. Without the restraints of sin and guilt, faith is the victory, and overcomes the world. Hebrews, let's go back, Hebrews 2, 14. Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also protect and the same, that through death, he might rid or powerless him who has the power of death. That is the devil. And might free up those who through fear of faith were subject to slavery all their lives. For assembly, he does not, for assuredly, he does not give help to the angel, but he gives help to the descendants of Abraham. Therefore, he had to be made like his brethren in all things so that he might become the merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God and make propitiation for the sins of his people. For since he himself was tempted and that which he has suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. And it is the Israelites who are God's racial seed. But there's also those of us who have circumcised hearts. We are Abraham's spiritual seeds. The God is our God. And can we see the journey that we're on? And so we need to go back to the Old Testament. We need to recognize the challenges that were set before those people and recognize that you have challenges as well. 1 John 5, 4, and 5 says, "For whoever is born of God overcomes the world." And this is the victory that has overcome the world. Our faith, our faith, who is the one who overcomes the world. But he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Because those who believe that he is the Son of God, those who profess with their mouth and believe in their hearts, that Jesus Christ is the Lord, is Lord God, they have overcome, they have been brought out of this world. And we are his. And you see, sin did not conquer us. All of us were at our worst. Isaiah says that none of our rights, all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Even the best of us were hopeless cases. But Jesus Christ is overcome. And therefore those who trust in him are born again and they have overcome the greatest of all circumstances, our spiritual death. Listen, death can't do anything. When we were born, we were physically alive but spiritually dead. The the prettiest baby I ever saw was a sinner. It was born in the sin. Beautiful baby, beautiful baby girl. But nonetheless she was born in a world that is universally lost. And no matter how pretty she was, sin made her ugly. The losses, she was lost before the Lord. And a dead person cannot do anything to save themselves again. Intermarable odds, conquering faith. And when she trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. She conquered not because of her belief, per se, but who she believed in. We're not good people because we're able to believe. We're good people. Or we are saved because we have trusted in the Lord. The one who is able to save us. It brings us to our communion service. In our when it comes to the Israelites. They had their baptism. And they were when 10 plagues came they were the Israelites were slaves to this world. Egypt was the picture of the world at that time. And the Israelites were enslaved to them. And plagues came one afternoon of 10 plagues. Not up to 9 plagues. God told Moses to tell Pharaoh. Pharaoh told him what was coming. This wasn't just happenstance. These things were coming. But the Lord each and every time, hard, and Pharaoh's heart, that Pharaoh would not release them. And the Lord says to Moses. Got one more. Got one more plague to bring. This time he will let you go. And that was a plague of death first born. And surmountable odds. And surmountable. They were up against this. Apart from the Lord doing what the Lord does, they would have stayed in slavery. But he said one more. He said it would be the death of the firstborn. And that would be the firstborn son. It would be the firstborn son that lineage would carry on in a family. Emphasis was on the son. So a man could have 20 girls. But the firstborn son would be considered the firstborn. So it was a curse on the firstborn. The firstborn son in each household would die from the slave girl to the... And this was a universal judgment over all of Egypt. A universal judgment because that's what God does. He says first of all here is judgment. And then he says this is the way out. And he says tell the Israelites or tell the people. And you know what? This one suggests the Israelites, but this could be of any one. And maybe it was a Egyptian family that saw all that God did. Maybe it was a Phoenician or some other family that said this man was right and everything else. And he speaks for God. And so we're going to do what he says. You think they'll be saved? I think so. So any home, what they were to do is they would get a lamb. Or they would get a male lamb about one year old. And they would bring that lamb into the household. It would be on the 10th day of Neesan and that lamb would be in the home for four days. And now on the 14th of Neesan, that month, after four days, they would take that lamb outside. And they would kill that lamb. They would cut the carotic artery. And that lamb would bleed out. And then they would take the blood into a basin. They'd take a hyssal plant and they would paint the sides of the door above and beyond. That night, the death angel would fly over. Judgment was coming. That death angel came over looking down. And it was at death in every house. That day, there was at death in every house. It was either the firstborn son or it was the substitutionary lamb. They were told to stay in their homes. They were told not to look out. They were specific instructions. If he was right exactly right about everything else, I could count that Moses, I knew that judgment was coming. So I'd be in my house. I'd be wondering if I had every word that maybe I did something wrong. I'd be counting and I'd be thinking and double thinking. And do I have everything right? Am I sure that I am a believer? You can put this part on tape. Am I sure that I've got everything right? How do we ever wonder? There are people that are today living in sin. They call themselves Christians. But if they had to face judgment of God, would you be sure that you are saved? Would you be sure that you are a child of death? It's easy to say right now. Yeah, I'm safe. What happens if you were looking at the eternal lake of fire? Would you be so sure at that point? You'd be looking for the judgment that's coming. That things you did come through. And he did and those that exactly what God said, those that deny of that blood on the door person on the left, they died. They also came through the waters. They also came through their baptism as we spoke of. And if you read there and you meditate on this historical event, you can see the parallel between the spiritual and the historical. We're living in the spiritual. And every year after, there was only one baptism, but every year after, they would celebrate. They would celebrate on the lunar calendar. They would celebrate the Passover. And they still do it to this day. And Passover became a memorial to their freedom. But there is another Passover. There is another calling out. Because that lamb, that young lamb, went to the cross, our lamb, our substitute. And if you look, and as we've studied, when you look at our resurrect day service, Easter, the events around the crucifixion of our war. And if you parallel them with the Passover, side by side, it's the same story. The calendar and everything, Jesus on the 10th day of Nissan came into, he rode that donkey into Jerusalem. He came into the household. Four days later, at twilight, along with the sacrificial lambs, he was put to death. John said that, John said that, behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. When he was on that cross, man did everything, man did everything he could to destroy Jesus. To get him, not only man but demons, everything. Everything was against, remember, insurmountable odds. The odds against Jesus, remember his humanity, was so great going to the cross. He was tested far beyond anything. It had to endure everything more than anything we could ever think. Why? Because his hour had come. When all the way back to Genesis 3.15, Jesus, the Lord said to the serpent that, you know, I will put enmity between your seed and her seed. He's going to crush your hand, serpent, and you're going to bruise his heel. This was the time, this was the hour. He was faced with it. And you know what? When Jesus was in the garden and he said, Father, if it be your will, let this cut past from me. Not my will, but your will be done. I'm sure Jesus wasn't concerned with what man can do. He wasn't concerned with what devil can do, or the demons that would be attacking him. You know what? He was right on his father. Because it was his father that was going to pour out the judgment of the world. First of all, he's going to pour the sins out on his son. He who knew no sin became sin for us. And in that body, he poured out all the sins of the world. The worst that was done to the son wasn't done by man. It was done by his own father on our behalf. He took our sins. It was the greatest of all victories. He was of Moses. He was the Moses in our time as Moses led the people out through the waters. Jesus Christ leads us out into freedom, into victory. Amen. Just like the Jewish people, year after year, the Israelites celebrate Passover as a memorial of that first of their freedom from Egypt. So do we come to the communion service. So as we come to the table, let us begin this morning. First of all, clearing out your desk of any food or drink or anything as we come to prayer that we might concentrate this morning on the bread in the cup. That we might concentrate on our freedom. Jesus said that do this in remembrance of me. So our service, each, for each and every service, that we do this. We think about our freedom and what it took for us to be spiritually free. Let us pray. As we come this morning, Heavenly Father, to our communion service, the bread in the cup. We pray, Heavenly Father, that at this time, may we concentrate on your word. That circulates within our hearts. We are concentration be upon thee and your work and your son and what he did upon our cross. May we recognize our freedom. And our spiritual freedom comes not by the figurative bread in the cup that we have, but what it represents, the body and the blood of Christ. That our hearts be concentrated on this as we join in your service and these things we pray in Christ's name, Amen. Jesus was absolute humanity. Everything he suffered is what we suffer. We can't say that, well, he's God and he can handle these things. You know, he freely said, restricted the divine use of his divine attributes in order that he may carry out what needed to be done. Jesus said, when he came into this art, Jesus said, "A body you have prepared for me to do your will." And Jesus said, "I am the bread of life, that anyone that protects in me shall not perish, but have eternal life." He is our sustenance that comes down from heaven, just like man it was for those Israelites. So as we take on the bread this morning, be concentrating on these things as we take in the bread. You don't have that, he's an armpit. And it will be our custom to retain the bread until all have been served. Jesus said, "I am the bread of life, that is the bread of life." The communion service was instituted by our Lord in that upper room on the night that he was portrayed. He took bread, he broke it, and he gave it to his disciples. And he said, "This is my body." It's not like the Catholics have said that this is a, it becomes his body. But it was a symbol, it was a teaching aid. Eating is non-meritorious, we eat and it nourishes our body. And it doesn't require anything on our part, it's totally non-meritorious. Christ through grace and through us as faith that we've taken Christ each and every day, recognizing and remembering what he had been through in order that we might be saved. So he took the bread, he broke it, he gave it to his disciples, he said, "Take any." It will also be our custom to retain the cup until all have been served. [Silence] [Silence] [Silence] [Silence] It wasn't for Christ we'd not have spiritual life, we would not have no life. We would only have hell to look forward to. We were born into the slave market of sin without life, without hope and without eternal life. Substitutionary death, substitution at Tony refers to the fact that an innocent had to die for us and on our behalf. Just like that lamb who committed no sin had to die for those people in that house and that household. It was Christ who is the Passover lamb who died for us. After taking the cup he blessed it, after blessing it. He gave it to his disciples, he said, "This is the blood of my covenant that has poured out for many." It would take centuries. [Silence] And after being in the upper room, and after they had completed, they sang a hymn before they went out to the Mount of Olives. Whether or not we'll have the music go with it, our closing hymn this morning will be 185. I'll start out, I'll have a lot of stand for the closing prayer and then we'll pick up on our hymn. [Silence] I'll close out there first. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for this time together. Thank you Heavenly Father for our so great salvation. And by trusting in thee, we do have eternal life. I pray Heavenly Father that this message that goes out, I pray Heavenly Father, give us every opportunity to live and to live a life that is worthy of our calling. Thank you for our, again, thank you for our so great salvation. And may we continue to live according to your word. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. [Music] In a survey, the wondrous post, on which the friends of glory died. My riches came, I down, but lost. And for the tempt of all my life, the holy Lord that I should boast. Save in the death of Christ my God. All of the things that God involves. I sacrifice them to His blood. Feed from His head, His hands, His feet. Some Roman love, low me, low down. Give their such blood, and some Roman peace. O Lord, God bless us all, and raise us one of our crowns. The world, the whole world, the nature of mine. That world of friends that are too small to live. The world of many, so divine. He meant my soul, my life, my life. [Music] [Music] [Music]