Windows Live Hotmail Print Message Page 1 of 13

Sermon No. 319: THE EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST No. 2

From: sermon@mail-list.com on behalf of Gospel Chapel (rc100@3rivers.net)
Sent: Sun 12/26/10 10:16 AM
To: fighter4life7@hotmail.com

You are receiving this message because this email address

subscribed to the Weekly Sermon email.
------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, send a blank message to: Sermon-off@mail-list.com
------------------------------------------------------------------

To hear sermons by Ralph Bouma to to

http://sermonaudio.com/gospelchapel

No. 319: THE EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST No. 2

And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of
Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven
seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four
beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain (REV
5:5-6a).

Last week we spoke about the blessed excellencies we see in this diversity there
is in Christ. In these diversities we see that He is not only King of kings, and
Ruler of rulers, but how He is meek and lowly and as a Lamb that was slain.

In our text, He is referred to as a Lion and as a Lamb. How can you find a
greater diversity in the Person of Christ? A lamb, and especially a lamb that
had been slain, would be helpless in the jaws of a lion. Yet, we see these two
characteristics in that Blessed Redeemer. He is a Lion that prevails to every
foe of His church, unto every assailing sin, unto every trial and temptation of
Satan. He has prevailed over death and the grave. He has prevailed over the
powers of hell and over the powers of sin. In this respect we have such security
in Him.

On the other side, He appears to His church as a Lamb that had been slain. He
became the Lamb of God. He went as a sheep to the shearers and opened not His
mouth. He humbled Himself unto death, even the death of the cross.

We have spoken some about the excellencies of our lovely Saviour as we behold
His condescension. See how King David sang praises to his God for such
condescension in such excellent majesty. In a prophetic way, King David saw this
as we see in Psalm 138:4: “All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O LORD,
when they hear the words of thy mouth.” This happens when the Lion of the tribe
of Judah opened that book that had the mysteries of salvation sealed in it. They
were sealed unto the day of redemption, unto the day of the shedding of blood.
The Lamb that was slain opened that book.

Continuing in verses 5 and 6 we read: “Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the
LORD: for great is the glory of the LORD. Though the LORD be high, yet hath he
respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.”

We see how these excellencies are brought forth and how this blessed
condescension of Christ was seen by King David. We see the harmony between these
verses and Revelation 5:13: “And every creature which is in heaven, and on the
earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in

http://bl104w.blu104.mail.live.com/mail/PrintMessages.aspx?cpids=88e05936-110b-11e0-a235-00237de4... 12/27/2010
Windows Live Hotmail Print Message Page 2 of 13
them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him
that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.”

See how David saw the Lord’s condescension in His respect for the lowly. The
Lord had revealed to King David the blessedness of that condescension of His
blessed Son.

The way to heaven is open wide enough for the chiefest of sinners, but it is so
narrow that not one sin can enter. As we enter the kingdom of God, and as we
enter the service of God, we cannot take our old pride and our old character and
our old nature with us. That has to be crucified. It has to be cut off.

God sees pride afar off, and you know, that was the first sin in Paradise. The
serpent raised up in pride against the King of kings and said, “Ye shall be as
gods.” That old Pharisee is born in our hearts by nature, and by nature you and
I are proud. The Lord knows the pride of our hearts, and if the Lord loves us,
He takes us as we saw in Deuteronomy 8:2, “God led thee these forty years in the
wilderness, to humble thee.” The Lord brings us through circumstances that
humble us, and He breaks that pride. He breaks that rebellion, and He brings us
into a humble spirit. He gives us that Spirit of Christ.

I want you to see the infinite beauty there is in that Blessed Redeemer that He
does not forsake us because of our pride. He sees it. He recognizes it, and He
deals with it. He loves us and therefore He chastens us. If a father loves his
son, he will chasten and correct him with a rod of correction. The Father loves
us and the Son loves us, and when He sees that pride, then as we saw in
Deuteronomy 8:2-3, He brings us into the wilderness to humble us. He proves us,
to know what is in our hearts, whether we would keep His commandments, whether
we would learn to understand that we live by every word that proceeds out of the
mouth of God. That is what He comes to teach us.

In His infinite wisdom, God has decreed that His dear children will learn to
condescend to their fellow man in that same Spirit or mind as Christ. It is not
a matter of choice. The Lord takes us as His loving children, and He brings us
through such humbling circumstances. This is the school of Christ. He teaches us
to be conformed to that blessed image of Christ, that we become Christlike, that
the Spirit of Christ is formed in us.

I was talking to a young lady this past week, and we rehearsed the past three
years. She said: Well, but the Lord knew one thing. I was too important in my
own right. The Lord had to humble me. Now, I understand.

Sometimes we are in circumstances that we cannot figure out. The Lord brings us
into circumstances where we come to our wits end, and then when He comes with
the light of His Spirit, then we can say as she did, The Lord did it. Why? It is
because the Lord would humble my pride. I was proud. It is so easy to see it in
the next person, but difficult to see in ourselves.

I want you to turn with me to Romans 12:10: “Be kindly affectioned one to
another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another.”

This means I prefer the other ahead of me. It is awful hard to raise an argument
or to strike a quarrel with a person who is on his knees saying: Forgive me. I
am guilty. I am guilty. It is a lot easier to strike a quarrel with someone when
you are pointing a finger at him and showing him his faults However if I can
http://bl104w.blu104.mail.live.com/mail/PrintMessages.aspx?cpids=88e05936-110b-11e0-a235-00237de4... 12/27/2010
Windows Live Hotmail Print Message Page 3 of 13
come to you and say, I am guilty here, and I have been guilty there, it is awful
hard to pick a fight with someone like that.

We should not always be critical, trying to find the other person’s faults, but
we are to honor them and look at them with charity, seeing that person in the
best possible light. We try to find something that we can speak well of him
about.

Continuing in verses 11 to 14 we read: “Not slothful in business; fervent in

spirit; serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing
instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to
hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.”

That word bless means “speak well of them” in the original. We are to speak well
of those who persecute us. That verse is a mouthful. We are to speak well of
those who persecute us, of those who drain our life’s blood, and put their heels
on the center nerve of our whole system and tear our feelings to shreds. We do
not criticize them. This is condescending in the Spirit of Christ.

We read in verses 15 and 16: “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with
them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things,
but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.”

This is where Christ will bring those who love Him.

Verses 17 to 19 say: “Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest
in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live
peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give
place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the
Lord.”

The very person who is persecuting me might be one of God’s dear children. If I
go out to avenge myself, the Lord will take vengeance on me, because I am
persecuting one of His people. He is doing wrong, Oh yes, but he might have been
the very instrument the Lord picked to humble me. I have to look at what did the
Lord do for me.

There are some powerful lessons in these verses. The Apostle Paul points out how
that as the work of grace is worked in the heart, the flesh is brought into a
crucifying process. We will be brought into the valley of humiliation.

We see the beauty of how Christ was hanging on the cross, and how He was praying
for you and me, the very ones whose sins nailed Him there, and He said, Father,
forgive them, they do not know what they are doing.

Have you ever stopped to think, if our eyes are open to see what we have done to
Christ, and what a forgiving spirit He has? If we do not have the Spirit of
Christ, we are none of His. This is a powerful lesson.

The Lord loves us, and He will lead us through this wilderness. He is going to
bring us into circumstances to reveal what is in our hearts. It is not until He
allows that person to persecute us that we realize how much anger boils up in
our hearts against him. We did not know that was in there until the Lord allowed
that set of circumstances to open the vent of our hearts.

As we learn the lessons that are laid before us we are told to bless them who
http://bl104w.blu104.mail.live.com/mail/PrintMessages.aspx?cpids=88e05936-110b-11e0-a235-00237de4... 12/27/2010
Windows Live Hotmail Print Message Page 4 of 13
persecute us, to bless and curse not, and to condescend to men of low estate.

It is so important that we realize that we cannot continue in sin that grace may
abound. This preaching of inability is something that really scares me. Sure we
have inability, but it is preached out of its context and gives us a license to
continue in sin.

The revealed will of God is repent. The Lord says He has His secret will in
Deuteronomy 29:29: “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those
things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we
may do all the words of this law.” He has His secret will that we may do all the
words of this law, so that we will live by His revealed will. The Lord conceals
from you and me whether we are in His election of grace for one reason, that we
not live fatalistically and say, Well, I know I am going to go to heaven anyway
and go ahead and live in sin. Nor can we continue in sin that grace might
abound.

I have cited that passage of scripture to several pastors and asked, What is the
rest of the verse? They did not know there was more to it. When you use it only
to that point, you are making fatalists out of people, because then they begin
living by and governing their lives by the secret will of God.

Those who violate this spirit of condescension bring God’s displeasure or

indignation upon themselves. We make it so God removes Himself, and we see
spiritual death, which is separation from God, and we walk in darkness. We bring
it upon ourselves, and then the Lord brings us through circumstances that will
again humble us to bring us to the point that we see the light.

I want you to see Romans 2:6: “Who will render to every man according to his
deeds.”

This means much more than just in the day of judgment. When the Lord is dealing
with His dear children, He rewards them according to their deeds.

Let me give you two illustrations. Take one look at David. He fell in adultery,
and he committed murder. The prophet Nathan told him, The sword will not depart
from your house. The first thing the Lord did to reward him was that he allowed
his own son to force his own daughter. Can you picture something that would make
adultery more abominable to David, to see the grievousness and sinfulness of his
sin? The Lord rewarded him according to his deeds.

Then he saw Absalom, one of his own sons, murder another of his sons. In his own
house he harvested the fruit of his very sin. The prophet Nathan told him that
this son would go in to David’s wives. When Absalom died, David said, “O my son
Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee” (2 Samuel
18:33). Now David saw that the Lord had rewarded him according to his deeds. In
this life, the Lord does this.

Jacob is another example. He was cheated. He was deceived and he was lied to. He
got to see the reward of his own deeds, but what comes closer to home than when
his own children came and said, Joseph is yet alive? Now he could see that his
own children had deceived him. They had deceived him with his brother’s coat, as
he had deceived his father. Jacob may not have realized the grief he caused his
parents with his deceit. No one had to explain to Jacob how a father’s heart
grieved over the deceit of his children
http://bl104w.blu104.mail.live.com/mail/PrintMessages.aspx?cpids=88e05936-110b-11e0-a235-00237de4... 12/27/2010
Windows Live Hotmail Print Message Page 5 of 13

The Lord rewards every man. It does not say just the wicked. In this life, the
Lord rewards His own people according to their deeds. He brings upon them the
sin of their own heart that they might learn the anguish and the grief and the
bitterness of that sin.

Now I want you to see Romans 2:7: “To them who by patient continuance in well
doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life.”

We are talking about hereafter as well. The Lord rewards those according to
their deeds in the hereafter also.

Verse 8 says: “But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth,
but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath.”

These are those who fight for their own rights. This does not mean that every
person who is contentious is going to go to hell, but they may find out how
grievous contention is because they will have contention like David had and like
Jacob had.

Continuing in verse 9 we read: “Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man
that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile.” The Jew refers to
God’s people.

Verse 10 says: “But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to
the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.” The Lord rewards every man according to
his deeds.

I am going to tell you something out of my own experience. I have never

experienced anything more humbling than when the Lord comes with His precious
word and tells me that He was pleased with something I had done. Nothing is more
humbling than to think that the Lord would look down with His favor upon
something that a worm of the dust had done. He looks at the heart. He looks at
the Spirit upon which it was done.

The purpose of our Saviour’s condescension is for us to become reconciled unto

our God, that is, for that image of God, which was lost in Paradise, to be
restored. The Lord will prepare us. He will make us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance in light. That word meet means fit in character, acceptable, able to
take that station. He takes the Saviour’s condescension and the image of the
Blessed Redeemer, and He brings us in conformity to that. We are predestined to
be restored to the image and character and attitude that was lost in Paradise.

I want you to see something in Romans 8:29: “For whom he did foreknow, he also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren.” Those He did foreknow are those He loved from
eternity. It is like the love where a man knows his wife. It is speaking of a
marriage union.

If you talk to people who do not believe in predestination, the first thing they
will do is charge God with injustice. You tell me one person who has a right to
complain, to say we were predestined for holiness. That is what it is saying. It
does not say predestined for heaven or hell. It says we are predestined to be
conformed to the image of His Son.

When the Lord has predetermined in His eternal counsel from eternity He has
http://bl104w.blu104.mail.live.com/mail/PrintMessages.aspx?cpids=88e05936-110b-11e0-a235-00237de4... 12/27/2010
Windows Live Hotmail Print Message Page 6 of 13
predetermined if you and I are going to spend eternity with Him. He is going to
bring us into that image of Christ that He might be the firstborn among many
brethren. The image we lost in paradise will be restored by the working of grace
in the heart. It will be by the circumstances He leads us through.

That image is as a reflection in a mirror. That character, that attitude, that

disposition of God will be reflected by His church.

It is so important to follow not only the context, but the order in which these
Scriptures are written to understand their significance. We are predestined to
be conformed to His image. That is number one.

See how being conformed to that blessed image of His dear Son comes ahead of
justification. Why do we hear so much preaching about justification and not one
word about sanctification? They talk about the blood of Christ and how He
purchased salvation, and how the hearer will experience justification, but he is
sitting there with a heart of hatred and bitterness for his brother, knowing
nothing of being conformed to the image of Christ.

We must first preach predestination to the image of Christ. Watch the next
verse. In Romans 8:30 we read: “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also
called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them
he also glorified.” Justification comes after conforming to the image of
Christ.

Then we get the exercise of saving faith. How is justification made mine? It is
through the exercise of saving faith, which is the instrument, the tool that the
Lord uses to transfer that to me.

In proportion as we grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and His
blessed condescension, we will also learn to see our need of that blessed Lion
of the tribe of Judah to deliver us from the Pharisee that dwells within.

We learn to understand being conformed into that perfect image of Christ and
into that precious Lamb that was slain. We start to see that corrupt nature of
ours, and we learn to see that we need to be delivered from it. We see that
Satan is so much more powerful than we are and that we are unable to deliver
ourselves from these things. Then we learn to see the preciousness of the Lion
of the tribe of Judah.

My mother used to tell how she was so assaulted by Satan, and how curse words
would come up in her heart, and she fled and put her head under the blankets and
tried to hide. She said that old Satan just tormented her. Then that verse we
are speaking about came into her heart: “the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root
of David, hath prevailed.” All of a sudden, she told me, the next morning she
was standing on the step, and curse words came to her again. She just stood
there and said: Go ahead old Satan. Christ, that Lion out of Judah’s tribe, has
prevailed. You lost the game.

We see that we are unable to attain that victory over the power of sin by
ourselves, but then we start seeing the beauty and the excellency of that
Blessed Redeemer who came to redeem us from all iniquity. He came as the Lion,
with might and kingly authority, and old Satan has to flee as he loses his
power. Satan, sin and the powers of hell are broken by that master act of the
Lion of the tribe of Judah. All He does is speak the word, and when that word is
spoken with power in the heart all the powers of sin are broken Now true
http://bl104w.blu104.mail.live.com/mail/PrintMessages.aspx?cpids=88e05936-110b-11e0-a235-00237de4... 12/27/2010
Windows Live Hotmail Print Message Page 7 of 13
humility begins to build in the heart.

After God had taken the Pharisee out of Job, he cried out in his humiliation in
Job 17:14: “I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art
my mother, and my sister.” When the Lord starts working true humiliation in our
hearts, we start to see that we are but worms. All that Pharisee is gone. The
Lord takes that Pharisee and He crucifies it.

King David said in his distress in Psalm 22:4-6: “Our fathers trusted in thee:
they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were
delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and
no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.”

When the Lord has truly opened our eyes to see who we are, and to truly shine
into our hearts to see the wretchedness within, then we see how the Lord could
deliver others, but we are worms. Now it becomes such an impossibility for us.
Then we see the beauty in that Lion of the tribe of Judah and how He has
prevailed against the power of sin and has overcome hell and the grave.

David, the man after God’s own heart, the sweet psalmist of Israel, God’s
anointed king over His people, learned to see that no one worm of the dust could
exalt himself above another.

I want you to see what happens when that Pharisee has been crucified, that
Pharisee that lies within our own heart. When we learn to see what worms we are,
how can we raise our heads above our fellow worms? That takes away all pride.

The Lord has chosen such base things as the worms of the dust to confound the
wise that we might glory in the Lord, and not in the flesh. See the
condescension there is in God. No flesh will glory in the Lord. We have to glory
in the Lord and not in the flesh.

This is the lesson the Lord teaches us in 1 Corinthians 1:27-31: “But God hath
chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base
things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and
things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should
glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made
unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That,
according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”

It is not what we do, but what God does. It is all of God. He is the author. He
had His foreknowledge, His love from eternity. It was God who predestined us. It
was God who called. It is God who glorifies. No glory is left in the flesh. No
glory is left in anything of man. No glory is left in anything but that blessed
Lion of the tribe of Judah.

Our text so beautifully teaches the diversities of our blessed Saviour. As a

Lion, He prevails over Satan, sin, and hell; and as a Lamb He condescends to do
the will of His Father, that is, as the propitiation for our sins. He comes to
do the will of the Father as a Lamb, as a sheep that goes to shearers, so opened
He not His mouth.

Our text says in Revelation 5:5-6a: “And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep
not: behold the Lion of the tribe of Juda the Root of David hath prevailed to
http://bl104w.blu104.mail.live.com/mail/PrintMessages.aspx?cpids=88e05936-110b-11e0-a235-00237de4... 12/27/2010
Windows Live Hotmail Print Message Page 8 of 13
open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in
the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders,
stood a Lamb as it had been slain.”

He has prevailed to open the book, to open that blessed good news of the gospel,
to open that blessed way of salvation and to loose the seven seals thereof. He
prevailed through His precious atonement, through His precious sacrifice.

These excellencies are revealed in our blessed Saviour to move our hearts to
conform to His blessed image. How can our hearts remain hard? The Lord will not
be pleased with service out of compulsion. I am going to explain something, and
it is vitally important that we know this. If I was a cowboy, and I would get
behind you, and drive you with a whip, and make you do all these things because
I said, I would not be a shepherd. A shepherd goes before, and the sheep hear
the shepherd’s voice, and they follow voluntarily.

The Lord will only be pleased when I serve Him because it is my desire to serve
Him from a motive of love. As the Lord shows me the exellencies of that Blessed
Redeemer, and He makes my heart desire to conform to His blessed image, I start
to follow Him as my Shepherd.

As a Lion, he has prevailed over all our enemies. Therefore Jesus said to Peter
in Matthew 16:18: “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this
rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it.” It does not matter what kind of trials, struggles or what the Lord brings
His people through, the gates of hell will never prevail against His people. The
Lord has the whole thing well planned from eternity.

Some of these riddles, some of these anxieties, these things the Lord brings us
through, if we were just able to give it into His hand and come to an
unconditional surrender and say, Lord, your will be done, if we were just able
to trust Him, we may find that the trial would be over.

So what rock was Jesus speaking about? Look at Matthew 16:15-16: “He saith unto
them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God.” This is the Rock. Continuing in verse 17 we
read: “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona:
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in
heaven.”

Before Christ’s enemies, He appears as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, but unto
those who have learned to love Him in His appearing, He appears as a Lamb as it
had been slain.

When we are under attack by the power of Satan and sin, we may flee to Him for
refuge as the Lion of the tribe of Judah who has prevailed. You and I should
never be concerned about any person coming against us, or about anything that
would happen to us, if we have our faith in the Lord. He controls it all, and He
has sent it. We have to be passive in His hands. We have to be able to take
every trial and put it in His hands and trust Him to lead us through it, and
pray for wisdom to discern His will, and faith and courage to do His will.

When we feel the weight of our sins and the plague of our own heart, we may come
to Him as a Lamb as it had been slain. We may come to Him as a needy, broken
sinner and plead that blessed atonement
http://bl104w.blu104.mail.live.com/mail/PrintMessages.aspx?cpids=88e05936-110b-11e0-a235-00237de4... 12/27/2010
Windows Live Hotmail Print Message Page 9 of 13

Our Saviour is awful in majesty: He is a great God and infinitely high above us,
but we can take such courage from the fact that He was also very man.

We see in Hebrews 4:14-16: “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that
is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our
profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the
feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

Our High Priest is the one who goes before us with His atonement. He
condescended so low, He became a man, and He was tried and tempted in every way
as we are. He was tempted with every trial and temptation that we suffer. He can
understand so intimately our every need. We must come before Him with our hearts
laid naked before Him. We can come before Him boldly because that blessed High
Priest who has ascended into heaven to mediate on our behalf, understands the
very feelings of every sensitive thought of our hearts. He understands every
feeling of ours that has been trampled. He understands every sin. He understands
every concern.

We may obtain mercy because He understands, and He is a merciful Saviour.

Whatever your circumstances, you need not hesitate to come to such a Saviour as
this. However far you may have roamed from His blessed will, you may still cry
out with David in Psalm 119:175-176: “Let my soul live, and it shall praise
thee; and let thy judgments help me. I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek
thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.”

No matter how far the Lord has allowed you to fall away, you may still return to
Him. When we see how far we come short of doing that blessed will of God, when
we see how far we fall short of conforming to the image of Christ, then we must
cry out as David did.

Think how much Christ appears as the Lamb of God in His invitation for you to
come to Him and put your trust in Him. We want to see the invitations that
Christ had. Look at Isaiah 55:1: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the
waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine
and milk without money and without price.”

Do we have a thirst, a desire, a hunger after righteousness? This sometimes is

the hardest part. We always want to pay for something. We want to offer
something. We want to give something in exchange. We always have something where
we are unable to come to beggar’s language, but the Lord wants us to come with
beggar’s language, to come with no worthiness, with absolutely nothing to give
in exchange.

I want you to see how gracious He is to every soul who thirsts after
righteousness. See how He repeats His invitation by the mouth of the prophet
Isaiah over and over again. I want you to see how blessedly condescending the
gospel is.

Notice again Isaiah 55:1: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price ”
http://bl104w.blu104.mail.live.com/mail/PrintMessages.aspx?cpids=88e05936-110b-11e0-a235-00237de4... 12/27/2010
Windows Live Hotmail Print Message Page 10 of 13

Do we have a thirst? Do we have a desire to be cleansed from our sins, that we

may be cleansed from the pollution of our sins? This is personal. We have
nothing left to offer. We have no good works. We have nothing of merit.

See how that word come is repeated in this verse. Oh beloved, see what gracious
arguments our Blessed Saviour uses against our rebellion. Do you know that there
is only one thing that keeps us from coming to Christ? It is the rebellion in
our hearts, the old Pharisee, that old monster of sin, that old nature, that old
Adam. It is the only thing that keeps us away.

Watch what He does to plead. I want you to see how graciously He argues His
case. Watch the next verse, Isaiah 55:2, “Wherefore do ye spend money for that
which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken
diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight
itself in fatness.”

Why are you still striving in the flesh? Why are you still trying in your own
strength to accomplish some cleansing of yourself that you are unable to
accomplish? Why do you not come if you are thirsting after cleansing, and you
are thirsting after righteousness? Why do you not come to the waters? Why do you
not come to Christ and lay yourself prostrate at His feet and say, Lord, help
me.

Continuing in verse 3 we read: “Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and
your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the
sure mercies of David.”

What a blessed argument this is against our rebellious hearts. There is such joy
in heaven over one sinner who repents and turns from his rebellion.

Sometimes words fail me to be able to really convey what we see in the Word of
God, the joy there is in heaven over one sinner who leaves his rebellion and
turns in a repenting spirit unto Christ.

Christ’s reward for perfect obedience is seen in Philippians 2:10-11: “That at

the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in
earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Do you think that the Lord is not glorified in our obedience? Do you think that
the Lord does not rejoice when our hearts are brought into the image of Christ?

I want to share something with you. I want you to see how the Lord Jesus Christ
was given the most exalted throne, that every knee shall bow before Him. I want
to show you where that throne is, and this is so humbling.

We see the answer in Isaiah 57:15: “For thus saith the high and lofty One that
inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place,
with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of
the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”

I want you to see how lofty His throne is His throne is on the heart of the
http://bl104w.blu104.mail.live.com/mail/PrintMessages.aspx?cpids=88e05936-110b-11e0-a235-00237de4... 12/27/2010
Windows Live Hotmail Print Message Page 11 of 13
humble and the contrite. He can sit as the majesty of heaven, as the king of
your heart. This is what He purchased with His blood. This is why there is
rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents, over one sinner who
unconditionally has had his rebellion broken.

Contrite means unconditionally surrendered to the will of God. He revives the

spirit of the humble, and the heart of the contrite ones. This establishes the
throne of Christ upon that humble and contrite heart.

Beloved, oh what excellencies we can see in Christ: He might justly send an

officer to seize us as rebels and malefactors, but instead He comes in His own
Person and stands at our door pleading for entrance.

We read in Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man
hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him,
and he with me.”

That word behold means take notice of, do not overlook it. It is as bright as
day. It glares to you as brightly as the sunshine. Everything that is in the
gospel has already told you this. “If any man hear my voice” does not leave out
anyone. If you can allow that rebellion to bend, if your heart can fall
prostrate before the Lord, open the door and He will come in.

I want to talk about condescension a little. After all that we have considered
about the blessed redeeming love of Christ, and how that He has opened the way,
He does not come with a whip, He comes beseeching us. He comes pleading with us.
He stands at the door knocking, and He says, Open and I will come in.

He not only comes knocking on our door, but He stands there before our backward,
rebellious, unwilling and impenetrable hardened heart pleading such blessed
promises: “If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him,
and will sup with him, and he with me.”

Can we plead inability and say that it has to be given? What mockery. He wants
an unconditional surrender.

See the condescension of our blessed Redeemer recorded in Revelation 22:16-17:

“I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches.
I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And
the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let
him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life
freely.”

Who is this who will? It is God who works in us to will and to do of His good
pleasure. This is not freewill preaching. This is preaching the gospel. It is
those who are made willing.

We read in Philippians 2:13: “For it is God which worketh in you both to will
and to do of his good pleasure.”

Those who will are those God has worked in, those whose hearts have been
changed.

Man has become a contemptible worm, but Christ has undertaken to take upon
Himself our human nature to accomplish the purpose of God’s creation, and this
is to reflect the glorious image of God in our human nature.

http://bl104w.blu104.mail.live.com/mail/PrintMessages.aspx?cpids=88e05936-110b-11e0-a235-00237de4... 12/27/2010
Windows Live Hotmail Print Message Page 12 of 13
We read in Hebrews 1:3: “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express
image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he
had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on
high.”

He is the express image of the person of the Father in our human nature. We are
predestined to be conformed to that image.

Would not these excellencies of our beloved Saviour excite an urgent desire in
our hearts to plead with and beseech our fellow man to turn from his rebellion
to serving the living God?

Or do we allow ourselves to say with the first murderer in Genesis 4:9: “And the
LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my
brother’s keeper?” Can we see what blessedness there is in Christ and have a
brother or a sister who is outside and just arrogantly say, Am I my brother’s
keeper, or should our hearts go out for them, and should we beseech them? Should
we try with every loving aspect of our souls to win them and to bring them in?

This philosophy has become so predominant in our day when you ask someone of his
brother’s welfare, but where is that condescending Spirit of Christ? How do they
come and knock on the door?

The Lord willing we hope to speak of our scriptural mandate to exhort one
another this afternoon.

So, now I want to ask you a question. If such condescension and such love and
such pleading and beseeching of the King of kings is not enough to break the
heart, to break the rebellion, do you think that Mount Sinai will do it? Do you
think that standing there with the whip of the law will do it? No.

When we go to win our brother, we win them by pleading, by beseeching, not by

being critical and condemning. We beseech them to see the beauty that there is
in Christ.

---------------------------------------------------
Gospel Chapel
23 5th Ave SE Conrad, MT 59425
Phone: (406)-278-5664

Web Site: http://www.gospelchapel.com

Devotion Archives: http://archive.mail-list.com/devotion

Sermon Archives: http://archive.mail-list.com/sermon

To listen to audio sermons by Ralph Bouma, go to:

http://www.sermonaudio.com/gospelchapel

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
To subscribe send a blank message to Sermon-on@mail-list com
http://bl104w.blu104.mail.live.com/mail/PrintMessages.aspx?cpids=88e05936-110b-11e0-a235-00237de4... 12/27/2010
Windows Live Hotmail Print Message Page 13 of 13

To unsubscribe, send a blank message to Sermon-off@mail-list.com

To change your email address, send a message to Sermon-change@mail-list.com

with your old address in the Subject: line

To contact the list owner, send your message to

Sermon-list-owner@mail-list.com

Gospel Chapel #23 5th Ave S.E Conrad, MT 59425

Total number of subscribers: 3,486

To unsubscribe, or change your email address, click here.

http://cgi.mail-list.com/u?ln=sermon&nm=fighter4life7%40hotmail.com

This message was addressed to: fighter4life7@hotmail.com

http://bl104w.blu104.mail.live.com/mail/PrintMessages.aspx?cpids=88e05936-110b-11e0-a235-00237de4... 12/27/2010