Those Remaining Corruptions In Your Heart

1 Samuel 8 is where we're going to be at.

God tells us in 1 Timothy 3 that all scripture is spirit-breathed.

In Hebrew 4, God tells us that his word is living, powerful, and piercing.

I'll read aloud as you follow along.

When I'm finished reading, I'll say the word of God for the people of God.

If you receive God's word by faith this way,

then please respond by saying thanks be to God.

When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel.

His firstborn son was named Joel.

The second was Abijah.

They were judges in Beersheba.

However, his sons did not walk in his ways.

They turned towards dishonest prophet, took bribes, and perverted justice.

So all the elders of Israel gathered together and went to Samuel at Ramah and said to him,

Look, you are old. Your sons do not walk in your ways.

Therefore, appoint a king to judge us, the same as all the other nations have.

When they said, Give us a king to judge us, Samuel considered a demand to be wrong.

So he prayed to the Lord.

But the Lord told him, Listen to the people and everything they say to you.

They have not rejected you.

They have rejected me as their king.

They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to me since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day,

abandoning me and worshiping other gods.

Listen to them, but solemnly warn them and tell them about the customary rights of the king who will reign over them.

Samuel told all the Lord's words to the people who were asking him for a king.

He said, These are the rights of the king who will reign over you.

He will take your sons and put them to his use in his chariots, on his horses, or running in front of his chariots.

He can appoint them for his use as commanders of thousands or commanders of fifties,

to plow his ground and reap his harvest,

or to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.

He can take your daughters to become perfumers, cooks, and bakers.

He can take your best fields, vineyards, and olive orchards, and give them to his servants.

He can take a tenth of your grain of your vineyards and give them to his officials and servants.

He can take your male servants, your female servants, your best cattle, your donkeys, and use them for his work.

He can take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves can become his servants.

When that day comes, you will cry out because of the king you've chosen for yourselves.

But the Lord won't answer you on that day.

The people refused to listen to Samuel.

No, they said, We must have a king over us.

Then we'll be like all the other nations.

Our king will judge us, go out before us, and fight our battles.

Samuel listened to all the people's words and then repeated them to the Lord.

Listen to them, the Lord told Samuel.

Appoint a king for them.

Then Samuel told the men of Israel, Each of you, go back to your city.

The word of God for the people of God.

Isaiah 40 says that the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands forever.

In Luke 1, no word from God shall be void of power.

Let's pray.

Amen.

Lord, we pray that your word will go forth.

We pray that your Holy Spirit will give us hearts and ears to receive you.

The living word of God, the King of kings, the Lord of lords.

That we will not refuse your rule over our lives.

Amen.

Well, there's said a group of Christians in a circle, their Bibles open.

And as God's word does in the book of James, you know, it becomes a mirror.

We see in the word of God another story, another example, or a passage, and it reflects back on us.

We start reading, thinking that this is about Israel, or even about, you know, the villains or the enemies pushing in.

And before we know it, we realize the Bible is speaking about me, my own heart.

And one of those moments in a Bible study, the person who most likely had been a Christian the longest, a godly lady,

made the statement that my heart is still so full of sin every single day.

And that's what the scripture reveals.

So then every other Christian sitting around this circle has that feeling,

if this godly woman who's walked with the Lord so long still is so aware of all the sin in her heart,

where does that leave the rest of us?

And I'm so glad she had the humility to say that.

That's the same insight that Pastor Robert Murray Machine in the 1800s in Scotland,

he had that same insight.

He said, the seed of every sin known to man is in my heart.

Do you feel that way as a Christian often as well?

So beloved brothers and sisters, beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

that's what I need to talk with you about today.

It's those remaining corruptions in your heart and in mine.

Those remaining corruptions in the hearts of God's children.

I see in this passage three cautions for us in one gospel hope.

Here's the first caution.

Hearts with remaining corruptions are prone,

they're bent to take gifts and turn them into idols.

Hearts with remaining corruptions are prone to turn gifts into idols.

Would you look at verse one with me?

Children are a good gift.

Amen?

Psalm 127.3 says,

Children are a heritage from the Lord.

What a blessing.

And judges are a good gift.

Proverbs 21.15 says,

When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous.

But Israel was not Samuel's nation.

Israel was God's nation.

And who is it that can put an authority over his own people?

Only God, whose people they are.

Samuel was forcing a dynasty.

Children, a dynasty is when one king or person in a power

wants to make their own children be their successors.

Nepotism.

God will rule his own people the way that he alone chooses.

We have this insight next in verse two,

which I think is very significant.

I know it is.

It's in God's word.

Would you look at verse two?

The name of the firstborn was Joel.

The name of his second was Abijah.

And they were judges in Beersheba.

Okay, so now we got to do a little research to find out in the Hebrew,

what do these two names mean?

And where is Beersheba?

Well, let's start with the names first.

When these two sons are born, Samuel, a man of God,

blessed them with wonderful names.

Joel, you hear the last two letters is L.

We know L means God.

So Joel means Yahweh is God.

Abijah means my father is Yahweh.

Most likely these give us an autobiographical insight into Samuel.

Remember, he grew up away from his biological father.

He had to call Eli the priest his father.

Eli called him his son.

And he's growing up in the house of the Lord around the tabernacle at Shiloh.

And this is what he wants for his own children more than anything else,

that Yahweh would be their God

and that their father would be Yahweh himself.

This is his prayer for his sons.

But the problem with Samuel's sons was not their names,

but that their lives did not match up to these wonderful names.

Most likely with the best of intentions,

we could say Samuel was dressing up his sons with a name.

It's something put on them,

not something that they had to earn.

We read in verse 3,

Samuel's sons did not walk in his ways.

What do you mean by that?

Well, they turned aside after dishonest gain.

They took bribes and they perverted justice.

You see, their lives did not match their names.

Yahweh was obviously not their God.

Yahweh, the Lord of hosts, was obviously not their father.

Maybe this is why Samuel makes them judges way down in Beersheba.

This is a southernmost isolated part of the country.

When we can't dress up those things that we've made into an idol enough,

the remaining sin in our hearts tries next to cover them up.

Maybe Samuel sent them to judge way down in Beersheba,

south out of the way,

to try to hide them with obscurity

and minimize the damage of their corruption.

So do you see even from these first three verses

how even Samuel,

this great prophet of the Lord,

this judge that the Lord appointed,

the Lord didn't let a word of Samuel fall to the ground.

He established him.

Even Samuel had remaining corruptions in his heart.

Do you agree?

You see these?

We need to beware of the hurtful result of idols.

in our own hearts.

When we turn a gift into something

that we are elevated beyond its proper place in creation.

Look at the results in this case.

Lost the trust of God's people.

He undermined his own authority as their judge.

And he stirred up the remaining corruptions in the hearts of others.

He became the occasion for the nation of Israel

to rebel ultimately against God.

Beware the hurtful results of our own idols.

In 1 John 1, 8, we read that if we say we have no sin,

we deceive ourselves.

You and I still have sin remaining in our hearts also,

just like Samuel, don't we?

Romans 7, 19,

even the Apostle Paul cries this out.

Oh, wretched man that I am,

the good that I will to do,

I do not do,

but the evil I will not to do,

that I practice.

In 1 Timothy 6, 9,

God's people are warned that the lusts

that remain in our flesh

make us fall into many temptations

and ensnare even Christians.

We know that sanctification,

to be made more like Christ,

we know that that's God's power, right?

In other words,

you ask Samuel or Paul or Timothy,

who is it?

Whose power and energy

made you more like Christ now

than you were 20 years ago?

Every Christian will always say,

it was God's power working in me.

God gets all the glory for my sanctification, right?

But then the question remains,

well, why does God allow men like Samuel and Paul

and you and me to fall back into our sin?

It's all His power to sanctify me.

Why is He doing this now to let me,

let go just enough for me to drop down

and reveal these corruptions in my heart?

What are God's purposes in doing this?

This is a great question.

It's one that every Christian needs to wrestle with

and which is,

we're not the first Christians to ask this question.

I love this answer

from the Confession of Faith,

chapter 5, paragraph 5.

And this chapter is on the providence of God,

His sovereignty over every little detail

of your life and mine.

Listen to this.

The most wise, righteous, and gracious God

does oftentimes leave for a season

His own children to manifold temptations

and the corruptions of their own hearts.

And here are seven purposes identified.

Number one, why?

To chastise them for their former sins.

Number two, to discover unto them

the hidden strength of corruption

and deceitfulness in their hearts.

Number three, that they may be humbled.

Number four, to make them more watchful

against all future occasions for sin.

Number five, for other just and holy ends,

so that whatsoever befalls any of God's elect

is by His appointment.

Reason six, for His glory.

And reason seven, for our good.

So hearts with remaining corruptions

like yours and ours,

we need to beware.

They will be prone always

until that final breath

to turn gifts into idols.

Here's the second caution from this passage.

Hearts with remaining corruptions

are prone to disguise idolatry with reason.

Hearts with remaining corruptions

are prone to disguise idolatry with reason.

Well, in the first three verses,

the hidden corruptions in the heart of godly Samuel

have been discovered.

Next, Israel's idols will surface.

Look at verse four.

Then, in other words,

when the sin of Samuel's sons

had become so obvious to enough people,

we read in verse four

that all the elders of Israel

gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.

Here are the 12 tribes represented by elders.

It's basically a tribal confederacy.

And that's how bad things got.

They're looking at the succession plan.

Samuel is getting old

and his sons are not ones

we as a confederation of tribes

want to have to submit to anymore.

These guys are awful.

In verse five,

they said to Samuel,

look, you are old

and your sons do not walk in your ways.

Notice how street smart people

always wait for the best time

to get what they want.

The time is right now.

Strike while the metal is hot.

What we find out is that their hearts

had already rejected God

as their king.

So now they're just waiting

for this man of God to show weakness

and they can pounce.

In verse five,

they say,

now make us a king

to judge us

like all the nations.

Every time they request

for Samuel to make a king for them,

it's attached to that desire

to be like all the other nations.

But notice how this,

this is their heart,

rejected God,

want to be like all the other nations.

There's the idol.

Notice how they try to disguise it

in a reasonable way.

It is reasonable

because number one,

Samuel was old.

No one could deny that.

And a leadership vacuum

would jeopardize the stability

of the whole nation.

So using our own reason,

a king would offer them

a strong and stable

and predictable

center of political authority.

That would make sense

for these tribes.

And this seems more rational

than having to show

all the other neighbors

we don't even have a king.

Our king is in heaven

and he's unseen.

No one's going to believe that.

And what's going to keep them

from invading

and taking our land

and making us slaves?

Israel appeared

to their neighbors

as politically chaotic,

primitive,

and frankly,

it would have been embarrassing

to have to tell people

this is our nation.

This is what we do.

It's not the first time

that this desire came up

for God's people.

In the book right before this one,

chronologically,

it's Judges.

In Judges chapter 8,

Judges 8:23

verse 23,

see Gideon,

that great man,

the judge that the Lord

used to deliver them

from the Philistines.

They wanted to make

his son a king

and make him a king.

And he says,

I will not rule over you

and my son will not

rule over you.

The Lord will rule over you.

Gideon pushed off

this desire to be like

all the other nations

before.

What's happened again now?

Another generation rises up.

How quickly they forget.

And they stopped singing,

so to speak,

as we did,

under the shadow

of your throne, God,

your saints have dwelt secure.

We run this same risk.

If we forget that

the Lord of hosts,

our God,

He was our help

in ages past,

and then we will lose

the hope that He will be

our help

in years to come.

And so Samuel,

in verse 6,

gets offended.

He thinks this is wrong.

And for all of his shortcomings,

now this should encourage you

and me,

for all of Samuel's

shortcomings,

as a father

and as a leader,

he did the right thing next.

Look what Samuel does next

in verse 6.

Samuel prayed

to the Lord.

In verse 7,

the Lord said,

they have not rejected you,

but they have rejected

me,

that I should not reign

over them.

Here's why this can

encourage you and me.

Parents,

grandparents,

brothers and sisters,

you who have

had the opportunity

to witness

and share the gospel

with someone,

or even to

disciple someone

and lead them,

only to find out

years later

they reject

this path,

this narrow way

that you're trying

to walk on.

The Lord stands by you

like He stood by Samuel.

And the Lord says,

look,

if they were to believe

and follow,

that would not have been

your doing, Samuel,

you're my instrument.

Because they've turned away,

they've not rejected you,

they've rejected me.

And so what we do

is we feel the burden

like Samuel,

we take it to the Lord

in prayer,

and we know that

this is the Lord's work.

The only thing we can do

is pray,

and we trust it to Him.

The Lord stands beside you.

The Lord reminds you

in verse 7,

they have not rejected you,

they have rejected me,

that I should not

reign over them.

That's what idolatry means.

It's to reject

God's rule

over your life

and mine.

And we're just like

the Israelites.

We try to rationalize it.

We can't outsmart God.

He calls it out.

He says,

you have rejected me.

He says to them

in verse 8,

this is just as idolatrous

as the first generation

coming out of slavery

in Egypt

and worshiping the golden calf.

In verse 8,

He says,

just like all the evil deeds

you did

after I brought them

out of Egypt,

see,

we can't explain it away.

He says to you and me

and to them,

this is your Baal,

this is your Astaroth,

this is your Dagon,

it's your golden calf.

You have forsaken me

in order to serve

a false God.

I'm the one

who brought you

out of slavery.

I'm not like

any other gods.

I'm holy.

But because our hearts

have remaining corruptions

in them,

we're prone to turn

good gifts

into idols

and then try to disguise

those idols

with reason.

We're reminded

in 1 Corinthians 7,

23,

church,

Christian.

Just like this

people of old,

you too

were bought

with a price.

The blood of Jesus Christ

Himself.

And so never become

a bondservant

to any creature.

You belong to Him.

He purchased you.

He ransomed you.

You're His.

I bought you,

the Lord says.

And for us

as a congregation,

as a church,

it's the same caution.

We can turn so many

things into an idol

and then dress them up

with our own reason.

What He's asking

the people of Israel

is this.

Why do you want

to be like

all the other nations?

Why do you want

to be a worldly kingdom

when you alone

have been set apart

to be my heavenly kingdom

on earth?

I set you apart

to be holy

as I am holy.

Why would you want

anything less than that?

Well, the third caution

is this.

That hearts with

remaining corruptions

are prone

even to refuse

God's fatherly warnings.

This is how stubborn

we are.

This is how deceitful

and powerful

those corruptions

that remain

in our hearts

are.

Hearts with

remaining corruptions

are prone

to refuse

God's fatherly warnings.

Look at verse 9.

After Samuel prays

and the Lord

hears,

now therefore

heed their voice.

God says,

I'm going to

do what they want.

However,

before that comes,

you shall solemnly

forewarn them

and show them

the behavior

of the king

who will rule

over them.

The Lord God

in his fatherly

love and wisdom,

I know they will

sin,

but I will

solemnly

forewarn them

first.

There are four

cautions

that Samuel

gives them

that describe

bondage to a king,

even one from

their own nation.

And they're all

marked out by

these words,

he will take.

First,

he will take

your sons,

verse 11.

Verse 13,

he will take

your daughters.

Verse 14,

he will take

the best

of your fields

and vineyards

and olive groves.

And fourth,

verse 17,

he will take

a tenth

of your sheep.

But notice

the bent of their hearts,

they're prone

to refuse

this fatherly

warning.

We read in 19,

nevertheless,

the people refused

to obey

the voice of

Samuel who spoke

for God.

And they said,

no,

we will have

a king over us,

verse 20,

that we may be

like all the other

nations,

and that our king

may judge us

and go out

before us

and fight

our battles.

Notice the

possessive there.

The possessive

determinative,

who is all this

for?

They say,

go before us,

fight our battles.

In verse 11,

Samuel had used

the possessive

to point to the king.

The king's going

to make it all

about his agenda.

Look at verse 11.

He'll make your sons

be his infantry.

Verse 12,

he'll make them

plow his ground

and reap his harvest

and make his weapons

of war

and equipment

for his chariots.

Verse 16,

he will put them

to his work.

See,

if you get a king

and you want to be

like all the other nations,

you're going to have

a repeat

of slavery

in Egypt.

The king of Israel

is described

using

the language

of bondage

in Egypt.

He's a pharaoh figure.

In verse 17,

it says it,

you will be his slaves.

Verse 18,

you will cry out

in the day.

Now Samuel changes it

to show them

you'll be enslaved again.

He says in verse 18,

because of your king,

whom you have chosen

for yourselves

and the Lord

will not hear you

on that day.

When we choose

the idol,

we choose that thing

we will serve above God

or love more than God

and his kingdom.

We have no one else

to blame,

do we?

And when God warns us,

fatherly,

loving warnings,

we still rebel

against him

and refuse him.

There's no one else

to blame.

We become enslaved

to the thing

we chose

instead of God.

In verse 19,

nevertheless,

the people refused

to obey

the voice

of Samuel.

And there it is again,

we will have

a king over us

linked with

that we may be

like all

the other nations.

See,

they own it.

Verse 20,

that our king

may judge us

and go out

before us

to fight

our battles.

This is what

we are choosing.

Think about how

the Lord Jesus

turns us upside down

in the pattern

of his true kingdom

that men in the flesh

refuse to see.

And his disciples

expected this type

of king

just like Israel

has expected

all along.

And Jesus says,

disciples,

when you pray,

pray like this.

our Father

who art in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

on earth

as it is in heaven.

It teaches them

utter dependence.

Well,

that Lord's prayer

is corrupted.

We could paraphrase

what we just read

and the attitude

of his people here

with their remaining sin.

It's like they're praying,

oh, Samuel,

our old father

who art on earth,

disgraced is your name.

May our kingdom come.

May our will be done

on earth

as if there were

no heaven.

Your sons have sinned

against us,

so don't have us

ask God

to forgive us

our sins against him.

Give us this day

what all the other nations

had

and lead us not

anymore at all.

We'll deliver

ourselves from evil.

We want a king.

We can see.

Footnote.

If possible,

please make him

noble, tall, and handsome.

And he'll lead us

to fight our own battles

for ours is the kingdom.

Ours is the power.

Ours is the glory forever.

Amen.

The loving Father in heaven

needed his people

to discover

for themselves

the hidden strength

of corruption

and deceitfulness

that's still in their hearts.

what they're saying is,

Lord,

we don't want you

going before us

into battle anymore.

They're asking for this

in a time of peace

when all the Philistines

have already been pushed back

by the mighty hand of God.

They're rejecting

God's way of fighting.

Remember how God fought

right before this?

Samuel started to pray.

He put a whole lamb there

and burnt it

as a sin offering.

And they said,

please don't stop praying.

And as the smoke

is going up

as a pleasing aroma

to the Lord,

the Philistines are

coming in battle array

against them.

And the Lord sends

thunder

like lightning

as if it were

an artillery

of arrows

upon the Philistines

and pushes back

all the land

that they had ever taken.

That's what they're rejecting.

They don't want to

go to war

God's way anymore.

They want to be

like the world,

like the defeated Philistines

instead.

They want to map out

their own plans.

They want to do

the work themselves.

They want to try to expand

this kingdom on earth

by fighting

their own battles

with a champion

out in front of them.

A charismatic,

strong king

from among them

just like all

the other nations.

Church,

we need to reflect

on this as well.

what type of kingdom

are we here for?

Sadly,

some of you

have experienced

this same temptation

gripping an entire church.

What we need to do,

they'll say,

is hire consultants.

We need to get people

in with charismatic

personalities.

We need a five-year

business plan.

We need to use

sales tactics.

We need to think

of some more gimmicks.

We need to seem

more respectable

to the world.

We don't want

the lightning

and the thunder

that only God

can bring.

With God's help,

may that always be

our prayer as a church.

Lord, we don't want

anything of this world.

We want you,

your presence

with your people

fighting on our behalf.

What we do

is we pray.

We want the lightning

of the Spirit of God

in the souls

of men.

We want the thunder

of God's voice

through broken vessels,

earthen vessels.

In our weakness,

He has made great.

But our hearts

with remaining corruptions

are prone to refuse

God's fatherly warnings.

Well, there are

the three cautions.

I know this is heavy.

It's soul-searching

for me as well.

Here's our one

gospel hope.

God uses

the remaining corruptions

in His children's hearts

for His purposes.

God uses

those remaining corruptions

in your hearts

and mine

for His own purposes.

What a great hope

we have.

Would you look

at verse 21?

Samuel heard

all the words

of the people.

Picture how painful

that would have been

for him to sit there.

accused by Satan

the whole time,

I'm sure.

This is all your fault.

You loser.

You sinner.

Look what you've done.

You've ruined

all the good work

God did.

Sitting there,

hearing all the words

of these representatives

of the whole nation.

And then Samuel

does what he does.

He goes back

to the Lord

in prayer.

And he repeats it all

in the hearing

of the Lord.

In verse 22,

the Lord said to Samuel,

heed their voice

and make them

a king.

C.S. Lewis said,

there are only two kinds

of people

in the end.

Those who say to God,

thy will be done

and those to whom

God says in the end,

thy will be done.

all that are in hell,

choose it.

Someone pointed out

the most severe

fatherly discipline

at times

may be God

giving us

exactly

what we ask for.

Israel's elders

had a God-created

desire.

desire.

We want a king

who is a man

like us.

But what God

would reveal to them

through the rest

of redemptive history

is that you need

a king

who is way more

holy,

more righteous,

more generous,

more good

than any man

born of Adam

can be.

You and I,

we need a king

more powerful

than the corruptions

of our own hearts.

the Israelites

thought what they

needed was Goliath.

This is what

it's teeing it up for.

Remember,

like the normal

pattern of a

military confrontation

would be this.

First,

from a distance,

artillery,

arrows flying

back and forth.

The next round,

you send out

all the poor people,

the peasants

that are the infantry,

foot soldiers,

to thin each other out.

Last comes

the cavalry,

the class that has

horses and land,

and the cavalry

comes in and

cleans up.

And then finally

would come the king.

The king has to be

protected just like

on a chess board.

Once you get the king,

it's over.

But most likely,

this setup is

preparing for

1 Samuel chapter 17,

1 Samuel 17 · chapter mention

which is a great

confrontation of

two federal heads.

Rather than this

great slaughter

of all these nations,

infantry and cavalry

and artillery,

all of that,

doing so much damage

to both nations,

how about we just

send out a federal head?

You send your

best champion,

we'll send out

our best champion.

Let the two of them

fight.

The loser

becomes the slave

to the entire nation.

So Israel's wanting

to play the game

on the terms

of the enemy.

And they're asking

for a king

that could go do that

on their behalf

so that they don't

have the threat

of becoming a slave

and maybe get ambitious.

Maybe our champion

could win

and we get to

take them as our slaves

and expand the land

a bit more.

You see how God

handles the remaining

corruptions in our hearts?

It's to show

there is one champion

who can go out

in front of the army.

He's the one

who will crush

the head

of the greatest foe

and he will take

captivity captive.

And he will purchase

on behalf of his

whole nation

the peace and stability

and kingdom

and abundance

that only he can accomplish.

He alone can be

that representative

federal head,

the champion

of his nation.

Our Lord Jesus Christ,

he took on flesh.

He became our representative,

our federal head.

He lived the life

of righteousness

that would not give

anyone anything

to point to

to say there's no reason

I should submit to you.

He's perfectly holy

and righteous

and sinless.

You can submit

to his rule.

He's proved it

with his life.

And he crushed

the serpent's head

on the cross.

He defeated the enemy.

Romans 6.14 says,

sin shall have

no more dominion

over you

because Jesus Christ

rules over

his people.

Those remaining

corruptions

in your heart

and mine,

they are powerless.

Christ has disarmed them.

We need

Jesus.

We need the Lord

of lords,

the King of kings

to be the ruler

of our hearts.

Only he can be

the one to fulfill

these desires

and to protect us

even from ourselves.

Because the sin

that remains

in our hearts

is so deceiving

and so self-justifying.

We need to be ruled

by Jesus

because he alone

understands

our temptations.

And he alone

is wise enough

to disarm them.

He is more persuasive

than the sin

that remains

in your heart

and mine.

Our confession

states that

one of the reasons

God exposes our sin

even after we're

a Christian

following him.

It's to raise

us

to a more close

and constant

dependence

and support

on Jesus Christ.

Do you need that?

I know I do.

Jesus said

in John 15

for abide

in me

and I in you.

The branch

cannot bear fruit

by itself.

He says apart

from me

you can do

not even a little.

You can do

nothing apart

from me

unless

you

abide in Jesus

the vine

neither

can you do

anything.

You can have

confidence

that Christ

will rule

and will continue

to conquer

over those

remaining corruptions

in your heart

and mine.

I won't get tired

of using this

because I need

to get this

into my soul.

John Flavel

Christ is no

half savior.

This is why

you can have

this confidence.

Did Christ

finish his work

for us?

Did he church?

Yes and amen.

Then there can be

no doubt

that he will

also finish

his work

in us.

If he began

it

then no doubt

he will finish

it.

Philippians 1.6

Jesus Christ

is not only

called the author

but also

the finisher

of our faith.

Hebrews 12.2

Still Flavel

so dear believers

be not discouraged

at defects

and imperfections

in yourselves.

Be humbled

for them

but not

dejected.

Be convicted

but not

depressed.

Always desire

more holiness

but never

become hopeless.

This is

Christ's work

as well as that.

That work

was finished

and so

will this

be.

Preach this

gospel

to yourself.

God uses

those remaining

corruptions

in his

children's

hearts

for his

purpose

to make

us more

dependent

on him.

And so

we sing

and we preach

to ourselves

and to one

another

my hope

is built

on nothing

less

than Jesus'

blood

and righteousness.

I dare

not trust

the sweetest

frame

but wholly

lean

on Jesus'

name.

His oath,

his covenant,

his blood

supports me

in the

whelming flood

when all

around my

soul gives

way,

even inside

my soul.

He then

is all

my hope

and stay.

Amen?

Amen.

Let's pray

in response

and thank

our Lord

for his

great salvation.

Thank