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[0:00] With the Lord's help, I would like to direct your attention to some thoughts found in the first epistle of Thessalonians, chapter 1, and I will announce my text as verse 4.

[0:19] However, I will be dealing with an interpretation, that is, as the Lord helps with verses 9 and 10. That is the first epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians, chapter 1 and verse 4.

[0:34] Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. For the last few Wednesday evenings, friends, I have tried to point out in this chapter those marks of election.

[0:51] What a mercy, friend, if you have a concern, not necessarily that you are elect, but that you are one of the Lords. Certainly, then you are the elect.

[1:03] And as we try to trace out this, that of which sets forth the characters and the description of these persons. What a mercy if there is something of faith in your heart. Which leaps out.

[1:16] And you can say, well, I trust I'm not a stranger to these things. And if in the description we find here of what it is to be of those who are the true elect of God.

[1:28] And if you find you miss these marks. That you are destitute of those marks which are found in the word of God. Oh, what a mercy, friend, if you would cry out to the Lord.

[1:40] That the Lord might bring you in by his irresistible grace. The first mark that we noticed here was that how the gospel came. And in verse 5 and 6, or verse 5 primarily, that the gospel didn't come in word only.

[1:57] But it came with power and in much assurance. And then last week we tried to notice a further mark, beginning with verse 6, 7, and 8.

[2:08] How that then they become a follower of us and of the Lord Jesus Christ. For one may boast much of religion. But, friends, does their life prove that they are a follower of those who fear God?

[2:24] A follower of those who preach the truth? Though it may be often sometimes very cutting and very searching. But yet is there something within you?

[2:34] You say, well, Lord, if this is the truth. And if that word does search me, oh God, may I take it. And may I know what it is to receive it and receive the searching.

[2:47] And also, friends, that we notice there that they received the word of God in much affliction. Now, it is true that when the Lord works in the soul in the revelation of sin, that person is afflicted.

[3:04] They are brought to see themselves as a lost and an undone sinner. And remember, friends, sinners can say, and only they, how precious is the Savior. And so they received the word of God in much affliction.

[3:18] And another mark of their election was found in verse 8. That their testimony, their uprightness, and their walk sounded out into all the other areas.

[3:31] Now we come in verses 8 and 9 and 10. And then we notice here, friends, there's further marks of those who are the elect of God. Notice once again, for they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you.

[3:52] It was a mercy, friends, as Paul went around to the different churches. He didn't have to tell the success which he had at Thessalonica. It was noised abroad through all the other churches how that the Thessalonians had received the word of God in much affliction.

[4:10] And not only that they had received the word of God in much affliction, but their very lives and their very conduct proved that they were the true disciples of God. What a mercy, friends, when that is sounded out.

[4:25] When in our daily life, in our daily behavior, men take note of us that we have been with Jesus. It is a marvel, friends, of those sometimes I realize it's difficult.

[4:38] Especially in the old early days, when in our unemployment or in our family life, they begin to see a change. And they wonder why we can't no more follow the course of this world like they do.

[4:52] And maybe we have to take some reproofs. Sometimes there is persecution. For the most part of us this evening hour, we have been brought up into a godly home or under the influence of truth.

[5:06] I don't know if I can say everyone a godly home, but God knows that. But at least there have been the influence of truth. But even there, friends, though there may be that influence of truth, there are going to be those in our own home which will come up against us, especially when we seek to rebuke them because of their waywardness or because of their lethargy and carelessness as to the means of grace.

[5:31] Oh, friends, it takes grace in those early days to take a stand for the testimony, don't it? But everywhere it was heard about the least Thessalonians. And Paul needed not to tell the other churches about them.

[5:46] For they themselves showed of us what manner of entering in we had unto you. And certainly when Paul came to those Thessalonians' friends, he did not come as a popular speaker.

[5:58] Because you'll notice there in the book of Acts, they detailed this book of Paul as one who stirs up the people. He maketh insurrection in our kingdom.

[6:09] They tried to, without a doubt, try to spread them forth as one who robbed the churches and sought to do it for the merchandise or for popularity. But nevertheless, friends, when the word of God made an effect, and these are Thessalonians' friends, all these things laid aside, they begin to recognize that these men and their message were something far different than what they had heard before.

[6:34] And they received their word by faith. Now we see, as we notice here further in our text, we see further, as I already mentioned, further evidences of election.

[6:50] There is the entering in of the word of God And what did it do? Thou how they turned, how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.

[7:05] That one particular word, friend, rather struck me this afternoon in my meditation, and that is how. How ye turned to God. We find here, then, they turned from idols to serve the living and true God.

[7:23] Now we know that the churches, or the heathen of that day, were steeped in their idolatry. The worshipping of idolatry, friends, was very pleasing to the flesh.

[7:36] It was a religion, friends, of which was pleasing. It was something they could see, something that they could handle. But we know it gave them no hope for eternity. It gave them a false hope.

[7:46] But, friends, there is no, I trust not any here this evening, I have possibly ever known what it is to have bowed down, actually, to an idol of gold, or of silver, or of wood.

[7:58] But yet, friends, we see in the word of God that the God of this world hath blinded our eyes. Another place in the word of God we read about the God of our belly. And I believe, friends, that God of our belly is much that of which has taken place in our country.

[8:14] What shall we eat? All we sometimes can speak about is that of what they're going to eat. Go out to eat, here and there. Now, if there's that gone wrong of it, we need it, and God hath blessed us abundantly with good food, and we may appreciate it, and we may partake of it.

[8:31] But let it not be our God. But then there is the God of this world which hath blinded every man by nature. The God of pleasure. The God of the TV, and of the sports, and all these other things, hath blinded man.

[8:47] The God of money. All these things have been to the means of making men actually their gods. We know in ourselves we come across certain individuals.

[8:58] All they can speak about is their investments, or their pleasures, or this or that of which they have purchased. Or they can even make some of their own loved ones their gods.

[9:09] So we see here how ye turn. Now, friends, how is this that they did turn? Now, if it is a mere turning from idolatry to the recognizing as there is but one God, remember, friends, the devils believe and they tremble.

[9:30] So, friend, it has to be something more than just the mere comprehension or coming to the conclusion that this idol of which I have been worshipping is nothing at all.

[9:44] Friends, there is going to be the work of repentance. Amazing when we think how Paul went there amongst those Thessalonians and tried to set before them the one and the true God.

[9:56] They were used to many gods and each city and each community had a particular temple to a certain God but yet they acknowledged all the other gods.

[10:08] Here comes a man without a God in his hand but he speaks about the one and the only true God which is an inhabitant of eternity and all these other gods so-called are nothing at all.

[10:22] Oh, friend, can you immediately see the necessity of a nature of a living faith? And so it is even in the working of this in our own soul. What a mercy when the Lord begins to open our eyes to see the vanity of time, things and the value of our soul because, friends, then we are brought to a true repentance of our sins.

[10:47] And so these Thessalonians they were brought to utter amazement. I am a worshipper of this of which will never save my soul. And by my falling down and worshipping this I have offended the holy and the just God.

[11:02] And so what a mercy, friend, we too in our own souls experience that we become guilty before God. That we have made to the pleasures of this world in our own self, our own religion, our own pride of life, the lust of our flesh, the lust of our eyes hath been the very means of our idolatry.

[11:22] And now I find that these have been proven to be displeasing and hideous in the eyes of God. And so in this here, how?

[11:33] It was by the divine revelation of who God is and what I am and I as a sinner and He as holy and just. Oh, what a mercy to be able to trace out in our own souls experience how God caused us, as it were, to turn from the things of time and sense and to lift up our eyes in confession of our sins.

[11:57] But notice they turned. In other words, they seen the nature of sin. They seen it was vile in the sight of God. They also, friends, they seen that they had lost their affection and their desires for these things.

[12:15] Because in the turning, friends, there is also the nature of living faith. And oh, what a mercy when faith there is in our soul because faith never can be separated from love or from hope.

[12:27] And as I have said again and again, what is the undermining part there of true repentance before God? An acknowledgement of my sin?

[12:38] Yes, this is true. But underneath the whole line of true confession of sins and repentance before God, it is undermined and motivated, if you put it this way, by the nature of that love which, unknown to the soul, there yet goes out unto God because we find we have come short of truly loving him of whom we would love.

[13:07] so we see the entering of the word of God, how he turned. Oh, ye, ye who were once dead in your trespasses and in your sins, ye who once followed the course of this world, and then something took place.

[13:27] It appears as if in the case of the Thessalonians, friends, that which took place was very sharp and very sudden. And God worked effectually within a few days or a few hours, at least in a few weeks.

[13:42] Now again, as I have said again and again, friends, let us never limit God. God can take the vile as a sinner and bring him into a low place this evening hour and bring him to a time to see himself as a sinner and tremble, as it were, over the very gates of hell and then to bid him to cry unto the Lord for mercy and save him in one night if he so pleases.

[14:06] Or, friends, we realize in this day of small things it is more of a gradual. Well, let us never repent upon, we'll say, because we come older, we see the emptiness and the vanity of time things.

[14:19] Oh, friends, it is good in a measure. But the main thing is this, because we have sighted a new object before our eyes, the desirableness of being brought back unto God, being brought something to see, something of the desirableness, the loveliness, the preciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[14:43] Oh, when I think of Peter, when he was examined by his master, in the midst of all of his besettings, he could say, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love me.

[14:55] Yes, the entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned. Yes, they turned because they were brought to hate the very sins which had made the separation between them and God.

[15:13] Do you sometimes hate your sin? Do you sometimes actually hate your very being because you are so prone to sin? Yes, this is all part of the work of repentance which is also the part of faith.

[15:30] Ye turn to God from idols to serve. Oh, this serve is not servitude of the life we once served the world.

[15:42] Oh, I would imagine there if a man was as a slave and he served a master out of rigor, out of fear and out of trembling and then marvelously we will say there was another man who come and bought him as a slave and brought him into new servitude and he was not near as severe.

[16:02] He was rather a kind servant or a kind master. But friend, he was still in bondage but owed this liberty, this servitude of which is now found in the Lord Jesus Christ in and through the means of the gospel, friends, it is something of which I hardly know how to describe.

[16:24] It is a serving out of love. It is a serving because you would do it. It is a serving of which sets the soul free. Oh, it is true when the Lord began to open our eyes and we begin to see something of our sinfulness, we tried to serve the Lord under the law.

[16:44] We tried to make ourselves right by the word of the law and maybe might have looked at certain sins and certain laws that we thought, well, now I seem to have come above that particular sin and then to find us sometimes falls and slips even in thought and then we're brought to realize but even my thoughts are sin.

[17:08] Though I have not committed and gone after the course of this world, yet I find deep within me all the fightings of this old wicked flesh of mine, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, and sometimes the love of the world seems to become so alive.

[17:26] Yes, friends, there's times when the soul begins to abhor himself and hate himself. Yes, he wants to serve the Lord out of love, but when he is brought unto the truth of the gospel to see the liberty which is found in Christ Jesus, then they are brought to realize like Jesus says, my yoke is easy.

[17:49] The yoke of the law, the yoke of the Pharisee was not easy. Even Paul says that to their fathers, they found it was grievous to the flesh that it was hard for them even to walk into.

[18:02] That is all the ceremonial laws of which Moses gave to the children of Israel. But Jesus said, my yoke is easy. It is that yoke of the gospel which enables that person to serve the Lord in truth and in sincerity.

[18:20] Oh, to you who know something of attending to the ordinances of God's house, we as Baptists are as the Lord's supper, to come with a willing heart to see that this is his commandment, his ordinance, and that you delight to be found walking in it.

[18:38] what a mercy when you come to the house of God with a desire and a longing that you might hear something to the prophet of your soul to come to the house of God and pray that the ministry might exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and that you might have your eyes opened, that you might be able to have a glimpse of the King and his glory.

[19:01] That's serving the Lord. And then when some tempt you with the world and you can say in truth and insincerity, take the world but give me Jesus. All its joys are but a name.

[19:15] Yes, this is what they did. Oh, may we find within our hearts and soul friends a hungering and a thirsting, a longing that we might serve the Lord.

[19:27] Notice here how he expresses it, to serve the living and true God. a living God. Now, they were brought to recognize that all of their idols were dead.

[19:41] But what a mercy, friend, if we are brought to recognize that all this world has to offer me is only death, it will deven my soul. It comes between me and that blessed fellowship which I want to experience with the Lord Jesus Christ.

[19:57] And so I want a living God. But really, who are those friends who want a living God, it is those who have known something of a living sin within them.

[20:11] A living sin within them of which they have no might nor power against. A living condemnation, a living guilt. They want a living God to apply the truth with might and power.

[20:26] Like Paul Peter says in his epistle, they become living stones because they are laid upon the foundation of Christ. Yes, they serve a living God.

[20:39] And then he also noticed here a true God. Everything is false. Everything else will deceive me. But oh friends who want a mercy when we find we are afraid of the deceitfulness of our heart.

[20:54] when we aren't afraid of man who might deceive us. Oh, I realize sometimes it might be good intentions and it might be a good man. They might come to you and say certainly you are a Christian.

[21:09] And we begin to realize I dare not trust that person. Because I see the living reality of sin within me. And again friends, a living person does not this good when one might encourage one another.

[21:24] Don't get me wrong there. But friends, they want a living testimony of a true God within them. Lord, is it thy work? Was it truly the commencement?

[21:37] Were those early exercises the beginnings of the work of grace within my own heart? Was it the work of God drawing me from these things of life? Is it because there is within me a true love to the Lord Jesus Christ?

[21:51] O friends, may we all know more and more what it is to come under the restraining and the constraining power of the gospel. O friends, when we are found under the preciousness and the liveliness of that gospel, friend, then everything of this world fades away.

[22:12] Then we know what it is to walk circumspectly before God. Then we know what it is continually, Lord, keep me from falling, lest I should ever bring shame and reproach upon thy name, upon thy testimony, upon the word, or lest there be something which would come and admire this sweet fellowship of which now I am enjoying, especially in the days of that early love.

[22:36] We find in the word of truth here, the interning of the word of God was this, that they turned to God. Marks are there, the evidence again, friends, are those of like the publicans.

[22:51] You remember the publican who sat at the money-changing seat, steeped in the gold and the silver. And mysteriously something took place within his own heart.

[23:05] He began to see how that he made this his God. This is what I am serving, that I might have this money. How I might even add more profit to my gain, or add more to my gain.

[23:20] What a fool! But I have a never-dying soul. And by my sins and by my folly, I have sinned against the holy God. And therefore I am guilty.

[23:33] But what a mercy, friends, in the gospel there is the sound also which sets forth that there is a mercy seat. And the Lord says, and there wilt thou meet with me, not upon the ground of God's law, but upon the ground of God's mercy.

[23:50] Now, friend, wouldn't that be the very means of drawing a sinner then from his idolatry that he might serve a God? And then to find that that mercy seat is overshadowed.

[24:02] But how can I come? But, oh, blessed be God, there is the sacrifice, there is the altar, and there is the sacrifice which is provided, and there is a way open whereby I can come unto God and meet with him upon the ground of that blood, upon the ground and the worth of Jesus.

[24:21] Friends, there is the gospel when we come to see something of the worth and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in his finished work upon Calvary to serve the living and true God.

[24:38] But as a further mark, another mark is they wait for his son from heaven. Now it is true that it appears as if the early church far more looked for the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, friend, at that day than the church of God does today.

[24:56] Certainly, friends, this was a new love to them. You can imagine, as like the description there we have in Galatians, where Paul says they were brought to see, as it were, Christ set before them, crucified in their midst.

[25:15] In other words, the person of Christ was so real to them, and as they heard the early apostles and the disciples describe the glory of the person, how he hath ascended up into glory, they longed that they might see him in the flesh, they had a desire that they might know and see him return again upon the face of the earth.

[25:38] Because, friends, they suffered great persecution. We read there of the Hebrews, even their substance, the things of time and sense of which they needed for the sustenance of their body and of their family, was taken away from them.

[25:53] They were cast out, and we read there in the 11th of Hebrews, how many of them were stoned and crucified and slain for the true saint. And they hide in sheep's clothing and so forth.

[26:05] So, friends, they did much persecution. In almost every epistle, Paul reminds them and exhorts them to be very patient.

[26:18] The one that comes to me here is found in the Hebrews, where Paul says, for yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry.

[26:28] But while the Lord tarries, he exhorts them, know what it is then to live by pain. And so Paul, there in the 8th chapter of Romans, also speaks that the suffering of our present time is not to be compared with the glory that shall follow.

[26:49] For I reckon that the suffering of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. In other words, there was this looking for the Lord Jesus Christ.

[27:02] And this is why later Paul in the second chapter of the second epistle of Thessalonians and also of Timothy and almost every one of his epistles, he had to remind them what yet would take place before the return of the Lord.

[27:16] But friends, I realize there is very little looking, even in God's people today, for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is no doubt because, friends, because we have so much of time things, we know so little of the crucible, we know so little of suffering for the name of the Lord Jesus.

[27:38] But nevertheless, friends, if we are amongst those who are the elect, we've got to find the evidence also then of waiting. What is this waiting then, friends?

[27:51] Do you wait at the throne of grace? Do you wait at the means of grace? Do you wait for the Lord again might return? Do you wait with true confession of your sins when you find your soul so dead and dried?

[28:07] You come there with your confession of your sins, and, Lord, have I sinned? Lord, search me and try me, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

[28:19] And you won't be afraid of the searching. You'll want to know, Lord, am I right? And so there is a waiting. And there is that waiting, as I said, in patience and with confession.

[28:36] Not like that servant there in the days of Elisha who says, I have waited for the Lord, I'll wait no longer. And he went and took things in his own hand, even like Saul, and they proved to be a castaway.

[28:50] They proved to be a reprobate. Oh, friend, I realize sometimes Satan will try us and torment us, especially when we become so careless and indifferent.

[29:02] But, friends, what a mercy if he tempts us and tries us and it takes some trying in our own soul. And we then turn to the Lord and ask that we might be taken from the hand of this world of ungodly doubts and fears and be so carnal about the things of time and sense.

[29:20] Oh, we can be wretched. As I said, friends, I can be so silly and foolish, taken up with buying a pair of shoes. Yes, we can.

[29:31] Oh, to be found walking in the love of God. Yes, waiting. And they were waiting. Oh, what a mercy if we knew something of the language of one of our hymns with them.

[29:44] Hymn writer says, what is this world to me? This world is not my home. And like the apostle there, speaking in the 11th of Hebrews, they look for the city whose maker and builder and maker is God.

[30:00] You look to have another foundation. I realize, friends, these are experiences which come and go, don't they? What we find here, and to wait for his son from heaven.

[30:15] I like this, but whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus. the resurrection of Christ from the dead was proof of his sonship. This was evidence that he was the son of God.

[30:29] If Christ did not rise from the dead, friends, then he wasn't the son of God. But God quickened him and God called him again. I realize all three persons had part of that resurrection.

[30:43] But mostly we find here that God is attributed to that resurrection. In other words, he was satisfied. Death cannot hold him. And he came forth.

[30:55] But he came not forth to be upon the face of the earth, but he came forth to ascend into the holy of holies, there in the presence of God as the representative of the church of God.

[31:08] Have you ever rejoiced, friends, that Jesus is in glory? Have you ever had a little glimpse of faith? Maybe you haven't come to the assurance of him. But the very thought, but there is one in heaven who is over the church of God, who is the intercessor, who is the representative, who is the advocate, who is that blessed mediator, and does sometimes faith there livening within your own soul and draw out prayer, and especially after we have laid before him our wants and our needs and the confessions of our sins and ask that he might bless us in our own soul, then we've been able to sum up our prayer, like the sacrifice that offered up in the name of the Lamb, in the name of Jesus.

[32:01] Oh, that is the name the Father loves to hear, friend. May you plead the worth and the merit, friend, of him, because you have none of your own. I realize it is difficult when the Lord cuts us off of all hope and self and centers us in that one and only hope which is in Jesus, and to wait for his Son, the Son of God.

[32:29] Yes, his only begotten Son who is in heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus. I like how Paul put this here.

[32:43] He referred to him first as the Son of God, but as it were to the encouragement of little faith, he tells him it is even Jesus, even Jesus, who was here upon the face of the earth, whose name was given to him as Savior, as Redeemer, that one who was upon the face of the earth, who had compassion upon those that were out of the way and those that were ignorant, that Jesus of whom John was able to lean upon, that Jesus of whom we can approach, who had compassion upon the blind and upon the hungry, and who preached the gospel to the poor, who prayed unto his Father, I thank thee, Father, that these things are hidden from the wise and prudent, but they're revealed to babes, and what a mercy when we become a babe and desire the sincere milk of the word of truth, even Jesus, yes, even that one who was there at the right hand of God, but what further was his accomplishment here upon to the face of the earth, and he carries it out yet in glory, notice the closing description here, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

[34:14] Again, let me just mention this one word, us. Oh, friend, what a mercy if you have a glimpse of yourself, your wretched self, your sinful self, delivered from the wrath to come.

[34:31] God, now, remember the church of God, I realize in the mind of God, they were always cleansed, there is eternal election, there is eternal justification, this is all true, but yet, friends, into their person, they were children of wrath, even as others, and all of those who do not come to the leaving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, are under the wrath of God, oh, the wrath of God, look a little at the descriptions of what took place there in the Old Testament, when the earth opened up and swallowed them, when the wrath of God was poured out upon the Egyptians, when a type of God's justice was declared upon Mount Sinai, but oh friend, if we could be brought to Calvary to see a sinless person hanging upon the cross which did no sin nor knew no sin, and then cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

[35:37] When darkness covered the face of the earth, the wrath of God was there poured out, the heavens black, and the earth shook with a great earthquake. Oh, friend, how are we going to stand then in the wrath of God?

[35:54] But we find here those who were the elect were delivered. delivered by the actual work of Christ, but they were also delivered by the application of it to their own soul.

[36:08] Oh, what a deliverance. When we were brought to see that Jesus died for me, he took my sins and my sorrow. In my place condemned he stood.

[36:22] What a mercy if we have a little experience to be able to find ourselves as if all of our sins, the past, the present, and the future are not to be found. It is a blessed time, I realize, when we come lose it, we get back to our old state, but that experience of which we once known in our own soul, friends, we don't forget.

[36:44] We've lost the sweetness, we want the renewing of it. After all, friends, each time that the high priest entered into the tabernacle, they had to go to the labor.

[36:54] There was a continual cleansing. They had to wash again and again, because there they had dirtied their feet and stained their hands with the things of time and sin.

[37:07] Oh, what a mercy, friends, there is a fountain open for sin and uncleanness. It doesn't say a fountain open for the holy, for the just, that is in their self, but it is for the sin and uncleanness.

[37:23] Very suitable to those who are sinners, who have no hope in themselves, who cannot wash the leper's from their body. They need something of a miracle, which is provided in and through the precious all-atoning sacrifice of Jesus.

[37:40] Remember, I said to you, friend, there came forth from his side blood and water, blood to atone and water to cleanse. Do we have to go any other place, friend?

[37:53] Is there any more suitable fountain open than that? Is there any more glorious person than the Lord Jesus Christ? What fools! Oh, may we then flee to that fountain, flee to that Savior, and find all our sand we need of in time and for eternity into that rock of ages.

[38:16] Lead me to the rock which is higher than I. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. And to wait. Now, maybe we can enter it into a little, when we get a little lifting up, we think of that waiting.

[38:32] Yes, friends, the sorrows and the sins are only for time. The griefs and the disappointments of which we experience are time. But it's going to come to a close.

[38:43] Oh, may we be found waiting. Waiting. Waiting. for his son from heaven. It is a mercy, friend, when we have a thought that he is in heaven, whom he raised, that is, God the Father, from the dead.

[39:04] Even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. Now, in this wrath to come, friends, as I look upon it, it looks as to me, it covers the past, the present, the future.

[39:19] Not only the wrath to come, but already now. Because those that are in Christ Jesus, friend, are not under condemnation. I know we want to know it more, and I want you to strive to know it more.

[39:33] Don't think of that as some far-off thing of which only a few come to. If there's only a few that come to it, friends, let us be the few that do. May we come to that blessed assurance to see, delivered by that sacrifice of sin, by the atonement he made, and by the application of it to my own heart and to my own conscience, delivered from that wrath.

[40:02] It's going to be a solemn day when the heavens and the earth will melt away with fervent heat. But to those who are found in Christ Jesus, the ungodly will call to the mountains and to the hills to cover them, but they will melt away.

[40:18] They will have no covering. But to be able to stand bold in that day, in that glorious righteousness which is Christ, may the Lord give us more and more sight of this by faith.

[40:32] Now let us quickly analyze what we have covered on these last few Wednesday evenings, and maybe I have come into some heights here to which you say, oh, they're so high for me.

[40:44] But I can say they're for sinners. But maybe we can see some evidences and marks of our calling, of our election. Oh, what a glorious thing to be amongst the elect of God.

[41:00] First of all, how has the gospel been received by you? Was it a message of joy? Did it come in power and might? Did it give you a hope in Jesus?

[41:13] Did it give you a hope in His mercy? Is it your desire that you might have much assurance? Or maybe when it did come, did you have much assurance at the time?

[41:25] Did it make you a follower of those who serve God and also a follower of Jesus? Did it compel you to walk into that narrow pathway and to follow the Lord?

[41:37] also did you receive the word with much affliction, often with trials and troubles, persecution, at least the affliction of God's angry law against you as a sinner?

[41:49] And was there much of that joy of the Holy Ghost? That joy of believing at seasons? And did you prove to be an example to those round about you that you have been with Jesus?

[42:02] Was there some sounding out of the word of the Lord on your part that you couldn't keep silent to these things anymore? And did you also know that there was a turning to God from the idolatrous things of this world?

[42:19] You wanted a living God. You wanted a living experience. You wanted a living application of the word to your heart and to your conscience because you've seen that he was the true God, the true and the only God.

[42:35] And did you serve him? Was you compelled by love, by faith and by hope? And you served him in truth and in sincerity.

[42:47] And then, do you have some anticipation of looking and waiting? Waiting in prayer? Waiting at the throne of grace?

[42:58] Waiting at the word of God? Waiting at the means of grace? For another token, speak Lord. Yes, speak again to my soul.

[43:10] Awaiting. Awaiting for his return. With anticipation, oh, the day is coming when I shall be able to lay this body of sin and death aside and enter into that glorious place.

[43:27] Yes, to be delivered now and then from that wrath to come. Well, friends, I have to leave it into the hands of God to apply the truth.

[43:39] Whatever has been said amiss, too large or too small, may the Lord forgive. But I can never speak high enough to God. I can never speak high enough to the Savior. I can never speak low enough of man's wretchedness and depravity.

[43:53] But they come together in and through the mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is able to lay his hand upon the vilest of sinners and lay his hand also upon God to the Father as the spotless mediator between God and man.

[44:09] What a mercy if we can say, I know there is but one mediator between God and man, the Lord Christ Jesus. Amen. Amen. Shall we close then by the singing of hymn number 916?

[44:32] Hymn 916. Off this sin my soul assail thee, turn thine eyes to Jesus' blood. Nothing short of this can heal thee.

[44:45] Seal thy peace or do thee good. Seek no healing but from Gilead's sovereign bond. Hymn number 916.

[44:57] Ophel sin my soul assail thee, burn thine eyes to Jesus' blood.

[45:25] God and man. Nothing short of this can heal thee. Seal thy feet are to see good.

[45:38] Sing no healing, sing no healing, but from still the sovereign love.

[45:50] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. trabalh Oúa Amen.

[46:04] It's a dark Children's love. Luther's niew good is this great sacrifice.

[46:25] True repentance, true repentance, Christ to Israel pretty good.

[46:41] May the grace of the Savior and the love of the Father and the communion of the Holy Ghost rest upon all, now and forevermore.

[46:54] Amen. .

[47:23] . .

[47:37]  . . . . you