I want to ask you, if you will,
please to turn to 1 Timothy chapter 1. I'm sorry I missed last Sunday.
Judy and I were planning on being here and by 9 o'clock it was
snowing so hard I just thought it would be better if we didn't
try to get out on the highways. And then by 10 o'clock it stopped. We could have gone to church,
but I didn't know what the weather was going to be like in the next
hour, and I was predicting more snow, so we chose to stay home. Isn't that terrible? Stay home
when we could come and hear the gospel preached. And so I apologize. But I'm glad I'm here today,
and I'm glad you're here. I want to talk about Paul, the
apostle, this morning in relation to the gospel. He preached from
his heart. He preached what he had experienced. And as an apostle to the Gentiles,
he also preached to the Jews. He preached whenever the Lord
would open a door for him to preach. And like all of God's
preachers that he sends, he had one message, Jesus Christ, crucified,
buried, risen, exalted to his sovereign throne of power, the
only real hope for hell-deserving sinners. He knew, Paul knew there
was nothing good in his flesh, Therefore, he had no confidence
in his flesh, and under divine inspiration, he wrote those very
words. He knew he was not seeking the
Lord when the Lord opened his eyes to the truth. When the Lord
revealed himself to Paul, he knew that. And in knowing that, knowing
he was still full of hatred when the Lord sought him, he was able
to preach from the heart the truths of the gospel that sinners
need to hear that gives our Lord Jesus Christ all the glory. Now here in 1 Timothy chapter
1, look at verse 15. This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief." Now, our Lord moved Paul
to write these words. He did not write that Christ
Jesus came into the world to try to save sinners. No, no. He came into the world to save
sinners. That's why they named him Jesus. The angel told Joseph, thou shalt
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.
So Paul was writing the truth concerning why our great creator
came into this world. He came to save his people. God never tried to do anything
what he has purposed. He does that. He does it without
anybody hindering what He sets out to do. It's all according
to His purpose. So He's not trying to get permission
from anyone to allow Him to save them. He came into the world
to save sinners, and that points to what Jesus Christ did at Calvary
2,000 years ago. He redeemed us. I love that last
song we were just singing. He obtained eternal redemption
for us. He reconciled us to God by his
substitutionary death. He by himself purged our sins. They're gone. He took care of
that at Calvary when he uttered those last words just before
he gave up the ghost. It is finished. The work of redemption
was done. Now in our text, Paul describes
himself as the chief of sinners. And I don't know about anyone
else, but that's the way I felt when the Lord delivered me. And
I just have to believe everybody feels that way. So, therefore,
the church of the living God is the only tribe where everybody's
the chief. We all feel like we're the chief
of sinners. Now look at verse 16. Paul writes, under divine
inspiration, saying, Howbeit for this cause, I obtained mercy
that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering
for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life
everlasting." Now folks, God has mercy on whomsoever He will
have mercy. He tells us that. We read it
in the Old Testament when God was speaking to Moses. We read
it in the 9th chapter of Romans, Paul writing once again on a
divine inspiration. God says, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So here in this 16th verse, Paul
is talking about obtaining mercy even though he felt he was the
chief of sinners. But God had long suffered on
him to use Paul as a pattern, as a pattern, a sketch for imitation. Now I'm going to leave 1 Timothy
and take you over to the book of Acts chapter 22. The word pattern You ladies know
what a pattern is. If you can sew, if you go about
to make a dress, you like to get a pattern. For us men, I
thought about this, I'm not a mechanic, I can't even spell that word,
but because of my finances, I was forced to, when I was a young
married man, to do my own mechanical work. Back then, that was a long
time ago, You can do a little backyard mechanicing today with
all the computers, I don't even think about it. But when I did
a brake job on my car and my daddy told me this, leave one
side intact. Take the drums off, leave one
side intact. You start working on the other
side and when you get into a position where you're not sure what to
do, go around and look at the pattern, the sketch. And when
I did, many, many times, I said, well, that's why I can't make
that piece work. I'm trying to put it in backwards.
But I had a pattern. So that's what a pattern is.
And Paul tells us, and it's God who moved him to tell us this,
that he was a pattern of God's long suffering and mercy to those
who would hereafter believe to life everlasting. I'm interested
in that. I'm interested in that. So here
in Acts chapter 22, Paul is giving his personal testimony before
an angry mob of Jews who had just tried to kill him. And a
Roman centurion with those under his command rescued Paul and
was taking him inside to a safe place away from those Jews. And
Paul asked permission if he could speak to them. And the centurion
gave him permission. So we read in verses 1 through
5, where Paul says, Men, brethren and fathers, hear ye my defense
which I make now unto you. And when they heard that he spoke
in the Hebrew tongue to them, They kept the more silence, and
he saith, I am very a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city
in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel,
and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers,
and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. And I persecuted
this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both
men and women. And ye also, as also the high
priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders,
from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to
Damascus to bring them which were there, bound unto Jerusalem
for to be punished." Now I read all those just to say a few things
from his introduction to those unbelieving Jews who had just
tried to kill him, Paul could identify with them. He knew they
had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. He knew that because
that's just where he was, and he gave a little information
about his hatred for those who were followers of Jesus Christ,
whom Paul didn't believe, and neither did those other Jews
he's preaching to believe that the Christ that was crucified
was the true Messiah. They did not believe that. Paul
didn't either. And so he's giving them a little information. Actually
what he's doing, he said, I came out of the same camp. I did the
same things that you're doing. I had no love for those who were
followers of that Jesus that was crucified. And He gave them
information if they would have wanted to check him out, would
have confirmed what he said, he got letters from the high
priest and the Sanhedrin men in authority over the Jews. He
got letters of permission to persecute men and women who were
followers of Jesus Christ. He said, I'm just like you. I
thought just like you thought. And his personal testimony was
being brought before them going into their minds, and he has
them captivated. They're listening to him, because
he didn't try to get over their head. Now Paul was capable of
speaking in different manners which would impress well-educated
people. He could have been a philosopher,
a historian, a theologian, he just had the ability. He was
a well-educated man, but he got right down on their level. As an application, isn't that
how we should speak to those that are our loved ones, our
relatives, our co-workers, our neighbors. We don't have to speak to them
in a way that makes them think that we're trying to be more
holy than they are. Matter of fact, we're the chief
of sinners. I know religious people who try
to impress others who have never gone to church with their manner
of speaking. Knowest thou not that thou shouldest
repenteth? We don't have to do that. We
came out of the same camp that they came out of. We hated Jesus
Christ just as much as Saul of Tarsus hated Jesus Christ. We
have enmity in our heart. The natural mind is enmity toward
God, is not subject under the law of God, neither indeed can
be. That's a strong word. A lady told me one time, I've
loved God all my life. That's too long. That's too long. You can't love God all your life,
because that old natural heart hates Jesus Christ, and manifests
it by our ungodly, sinful lifestyle. So, this first part of Paul's
testimony is a pretty good pattern of how we should conduct ourselves
before those who are lost, who don't know Christ. In verses
six through eight, we read, and it came to pass, Paul telling
them that he was on his way to persecute Christians, to take
them to prison, consenting unto the death of them, whatever it
took. And he said in verses six through
eight, and it came to pass, that as I made my journey and was
come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from
heaven a great light round about me, And I fell into the ground,
and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? And I answered, who art thou,
Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus
of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest." Now folks, this, what Paul experienced,
was fulfilling the qualifications of an apostle. The apostles in
order to be qualified to be an apostle, had to see Jesus Christ
with the physical eyes, had to hear the audible voice of Jesus
Christ, have a personal relationship with Him by seeing His physical
being. We're not apostles. That office
ended when the last of the apostles died. But it is still a qualification
for being a follower of Jesus Christ. We must see Him through
the eye of faith. We must see the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ through God-given faith. We must hear
Him. My sheep hear my voice and I
know them and they follow me, is what our Lord Jesus said.
And so, we must have a personal relationship with the true and
living God. But Saul of Tarsus saw Jesus
Christ with his physical eyes and it blinded him for three
days. And he said that light about
noon, in another place in the scripture giving the testimony
of Saul of Tarsus, that light was brighter than the noonday
sun. That's Jesus Christ revealing himself to Saul of Tarsus, but
he heard a voice, we read in verse 7, saying, Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou me? He didn't say. Our Lord Jesus
did not say, why did you persecute me? He told him, why persecutest
thou me? You're still persecuting me.
Paul doesn't know the Lord Jesus yet when he tells him that. He
knows God is speaking because he said, Who art thou, Lord?
But he doesn't know that it's the Lord Jesus. And in his heart,
that old enmity was still there. And the Lord convicted him of
that. Why persecutes thou me? And then when Paul got the answer
from the Lord, saying, Who art thou, Lord? He reveals himself
in a way that Paul cannot misunderstand who it is that he's talking to. I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou
persecutest. You're still persecuting me.
You still have that hatred in your heart. You're after me by
going after My disciples. And our Lord tells us in His
Word, whatsoever you've done unto any of the least of these
My brethren is the same as if you're doing it to Me. That's
why we're to love one another, forgive one another, overlook
the faults of others for the glory of Jesus Christ. We're
family. We have the same Heavenly Father,
the same Savior, the same faith, the same hope. I was thinking
about this the other day. We've left most of our family
out in California and Oregon. A lot of them don't know Christ. But you're my family. You're
my family. You're my brothers and sisters
in Christ Jesus my Lord. And we're just sojourners passing
through a world that's not our home on our way to glory. Anyway, Paul now knows that Jesus of Nazareth is the
one that is speaking to him. So this was a personal call from
our Lord Jesus to Saul of Tarsus because he called him by name. Saul, Saul. It was a heavenly
call. A great light shone from heaven.
The voice came from heaven. It was a convicting call. Why
persecutest thou me? And it was a convincing call.
The Lord had his attention. And there were others who heard the noise from heaven. We read
that in verse 9, They that were with me saw indeed the light,
and were afraid, but they heard not the voice of him that spoke
to them. They must have heard a noise, but this was a personal
call from our Lord Jesus right to Saul of Tarsus. And that conversation
was intended only for Saul, the Apostle Paul. I don't know who else might have
heard the voice of Jesus Christ the day the Lord delivered me. I don't think anyone else in
the congregation heard it. They no doubt heard the voice
of Christ at another time. But at the time when I was delivered,
I heard His voice. Not the audible voice. I heard
the voice of Jesus Christ speaking to my heart. I heard the gospel. I heard that Jesus Christ was
God my creator who came to this earth to purchase his own people
with his precious blood. by taking care of my sin debt,
paying a price in full, so that absolutely nothing could be laid
to my charge. I heard that Jesus Christ died,
was buried, came out of the grave, and ascended to glory, and is
now on his sovereign throne of power ruling over this whole
universe and everything. I heard the voice of Christ speaking
to me. We must hear His voice. We must
see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now remember,
Paul is a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Christ
to life everlasting. So, if he's a pattern, and he
is, then we're going to hear the same voice speaking to the
heart that Paul heard in an audible sense. Is that not right? Is that not correct? We have
to hear His voice. I know the voice of a preacher
is important. I know that. He must preach the
gospel. We must hear the gospel. But
how many hear the same gospel we hear and never, never hear
the truths of the gospel for their salvation and for the glory
of Jesus Christ. We must hear the voice of the
one who loved us and gave himself for us. Now, those witnesses
that were with Saul of Tarsus could have been sought out by
these Jews that Paul is preaching to, but they They had no reason
to believe Saul of Tarsus. They didn't want to believe him.
And those people who were with him, who saw the light and probably
heard a sound, who would have testified of that if they wanted
to, probably feared the Jews so much they wouldn't have anyway.
They didn't want to get kicked out of the synagogue. They feared
those Jews, and so it wouldn't have done any good for Paul to
bring witnesses Our Lord said to some unbelieving Jews, why
do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear
my word. Now they heard the audible sound,
but they didn't believe. They didn't believe with the
heart. They didn't believe what our Lord was preaching. But He
tells us, Blessed are your ears, for they hear. And so Paul was
a panther. Look at verse 10. It says, And
I said, What shall I do, Lord? God makes us willing in a day
of His power, doesn't He? Where the word of a king is,
there's power. And so Paul has now a new heart. God gives a new heart to His
children under the preaching of His gospel. Paul knows Jesus
Christ to be the Lord, and so he has a change of attitude.
What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise,
and go into Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all
things which are appointed for thee to do. Now, our Lord could.
He could have told Paul everything that Ananias told him. and other preachers, but God
has ordained gifted men and sends them to preach His gospel. This
is the way the Lord has appointed His children to learn the truth
is under the preaching of the gospel by ordained preachers
that God sends. And so our Lord tells Paul where
to go and what to do. And we read in verse 11, And
when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led
by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus."
Now I love the way Paul puts that. When I could not see for
the glory of that light. That was a glorious light that
Paul saw. And we've seen it too through
the eye of faith. And when the Lord delivered me,
after I heard His voice, after I heard the Gospel, after He
had given me a heart to believe, given me faith to believe Him, It was the glory of Jesus Christ
that captivated me. Like the Ethiopian eunuch, when
our Lord sent Philip out to preach to him, after he was baptized,
he was caught up, he saw Philip no more. He saw Christ. And Christ captivated his mind,
and that's the way it is with God's children. We have to deal
with the world, we have our jobs, we have our families, we have
things that require our attention, but our minds are captivated. by Jesus Christ. We see His hand
in all these things that take place. We see Him in sovereign
control. And we delight in Him. And God
help us to delight in Him more. So we read there in verse 11,
Paul could not see for the glory of that light. Then in verse
12 we read in 1 Ananias, a devout man, according to the law, having
a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, came unto
me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy
sight. And the same hour I looked up
upon him. Paul knew Ananias was God's preacher. Because when he spoke to him,
he said, receive thy sight. And those scales fell off his
eyes. And he saw Ananias. He looked up upon him. He saw
him. And so he knew that he, Ananias, was given a message
to speak to Saul of Tarsus. He knew this was God's messenger
because his preaching was accompanied with power. With power. Isn't this what Paul told the
church at Thessalonica? He knew they were God's elect
because the gospel came to them not in word only, but in power. And it must come in power. God's
power. So Ananias is speaking to Saul
of Tarsus and in verse 14 he says, and I love this, the God
of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his
will, and see that just one, and shouldest hear the voice
of his mouth, for thou shalt be his witness unto all men of
what thou hast seen and heard. Now let me just digress just
a little bit, and it's really not digressing from the preaching
of the gospel, But when Ananias used this term, the God of our
fathers, and I don't know if it's used in this respect every
time that's used, but usually that term, the God of our fathers,
refers to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And I was just telling
Judy this morning. I've got to work up a message
with those three men as a three-point outline. What Larry brought this
morning in Sunday school, what I'm about to share with you,
I believe personally goes right along with that lesson. Abraham
was called out of the land of the Chaldeans. It was a personal,
when his name was Abram, it was a personal inward, effectual,
irresistible, holy calling that brought Abram out. Well, the
promise is to them that the Lord our God shall call. The promise
of eternal life is to those who hear the call from Jesus Christ. Saul of Tarsus heard that call.
Isaac was a child of promise. God promised him to Abraham and
Sarah and fulfilled that promise when it was absolutely impossible,
humanly speaking, for Sarah to have a child. And we, as Isaac
was, are children of promise. Jacob, and we read this in the
ninth chapter of Romans, Jacob was Esau's twin brother. God
loved Jacob. He hated Esau. And the scripture
says, before they were even born, before they had done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. So there it is. There's nothing in us. that merits
God's grace and His mercy. Nothing in us that can be used
to gain favor with God. It's all of God's grace for the
glory of Jesus Christ. And I believe this is part of
what Larry was referring to when he brought out to us that it's
nothing in us, not even our prayer. The Word of God tells us those
who glory, let them glory in the Lord. Everything was purposed
and accomplished. Every little detail that takes
place from the time our Lord created this earth and heaven,
every event, every leaf that comes on a tree, every leaf that
falls in the fall, Everything that we witness was executed
by our Lord Jesus Christ. Now hang on. Not just executed,
but brought to pass for the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord and
our Savior. Everything. All things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. Okay, I digress a little bit. Anyway, Ananias is speaking to
Paul, and he says, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee. Well, he's a pattern. Paul is
a pattern for all those who would hereafter believe. God has chosen
me. I believe that, don't you? He
chose me and Christ before the foundation of the world. The
majority of professing Christians don't believe that. When our
daughter, mine and Judy's daughter, our youngest daughter Becky,
was a junior in high school, the teacher gave the class an
assigned reading, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by
Jonathan Edwards. I don't think that would be allowed
today. That was 23, 24 years ago. But the teacher, while she was
introducing the book to the class, said that Jonathan Edwards believed
in election. Then she said, that's a primitive
doctrine, nobody believes that anymore. Becky said, excuse me,
excuse me, my dad pastors Rescue Baptist Church. That's what he
believes, and that's what he preaches. And the teacher said,
really? Well, Becky, would you come up
and explain that doctrine to the class? And she did. And I wasn't there, so I don't
know how she explained it. But I'll tell you what. I really
thought, well, that's something. And I didn't contribute anything
to that. But as her daddy, I was a little
proud of my daughter for standing up for what she had heard her
daddy preach and what she herself believed. I said that to say
this, during the days of the Apostles and for some time afterwards,
the word election, chosen, those words and others like them were
spoken of in the camp of the believers every day. That was a common word. Those
were common terms. They understood. God had enlightened
them. Becky grew up under that doctrine. She believed that. She still
believes it. She won't go to a church if they
don't teach it. And we, as God's enlightened
children, should never, never, never be ashamed of the truth
of the gospel that gives our God all the glory. The God of
our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his
will. It's what Ananias is telling
Saul, and he's a pattern for us to pattern ourselves after.
Paul knew God's will. Our Lord revealed his will, and
he preached it, and he wrote about it. Of His own will begat
He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits
of His creatures. James said that in his epistle.
Paul believed that. He said, it's not of Him that
willeth, nor of Him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
That's God's will, showing mercy on His children, blood-bought
children. We read the words of our Lord Jesus in John 6, I think
it is, where He said, All that the Father giveth Me shall come
to Me, and him that cometh to Me I will know why he is cast
out. For I came down from heaven, not to do My will, but the will
of Him that sent Me. And this is the will of Him that
sent Me, that of all that He hath given Me, I should lose
nothing. We should raise it up at the
last day. Our salvation coming to Christ at His own appointed
time It was no accident. We had nothing to do with that.
This was God's will. Bringing us to Christ is God's
will. He, our Lord Jesus said, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O
God, by which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once and for all. He sanctified us. He made
us holy in God's sight. He took care of the sin debt.
All of our sins were laid on Him. He took our sins They were
nailed to His body when He hung there on a tree, and He removed
every sin of those He represented from God's sight forever. They'll
never be brought against us, ever, ever, ever. Does that bless
you? My sins are gone. The God of
our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know His
will, and see that just one. See Jesus Christ so that God
could be just and justifier of all who believe. And we have
seen him through the eye of faith. And every enlightened child of
God has this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us. and hear the voice
of his mouth. If Paul's a pattern, and he did
like I explained, he heard the audible sound. but he heard the
sound of Jesus Christ by faith as well. And from other preachers,
as he heard the gospel, he heard the voice of Jesus Christ. Paul
was like a, he grew in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord.
And he already had a head start. He was well acquainted with the
scriptures, but he had to mature in the faith like we. And so
he heard the voice of Jesus Christ giving him giving him an understanding. He was caught up in the third
heaven so that he saw things that was unlawful to utter. The
Lord God taught him. And Paul went on in obedience
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Ananias said, Arise and be baptized. Verse 16 and wash away thy sins,
calling on the name of the Lord." Now, Ananias didn't intend for
Paul to believe that baptism would wash away his sins. Can't. Baptism is an answer of a good
conscience toward God in obedience to the command of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And we get baptized letting those
who are witnessing our baptism know that we're identifying ourselves
with Jesus Christ. I'm running out of time. I need to take you over to 2
Timothy. I've got to bring something else
before I bring this to a close. 2 Timothy chapter 3. When I got baptized, I wanted people to know that
Jesus Christ was my Lord and my God. I wanted people to know
that I believed that He came to this earth for the purpose
of cleansing me from all of my sins by the shedding of His precious
blood. I wanted them to know that I
believed that He died for me, that He was buried, and that
He rose again on the third day, and ascended to glory after that,
where He is now seated in heaven, working all things after the
counsel of His own will. I wanted people to know that.
I wanted them to know that I had a relationship with the true
and living God, the Lord Jesus Christ. I wanted people to know
that He, Christ Jesus my Lord, has taken care of everything
that I need and has promised me that I have a home in heaven
with Him for all eternity because of what He has done for me. I
want people to know that. Now I know of some people who
make a profession And I've witnessed it over the
years that the Lord has allowed me to pastor a church. They start, and they continue
for a while, some for quite a while, then they fall away. And they
never darken the door of a church again. I know several in the
Sacramento area. The person that's pastoring the
church now works with one. And he still talks about the
Gospel, but has no time to attend services. Brethren, I know Jesus
Christ has saved His people and we can never lose our salvation,
I know that. But the Word of God teaches us,
he that endures to the end shall be saved. Don't let anything take you away
from the hope of the gospel. We need to hear that on a regular
basis, and I'm thankful for the pastor of this church. Every
time I've heard him preach, I've heard the glorious gospel of
Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Savior. So Paul says here, and
remember, he's a pattern to all who would hereafter believe He
says in verse 6 of chapter 4. I said chapter 3, I'm sorry.
Chapter 4 of 2 Timothy. He says, For I am now ready to
be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I like
that word departure. It talks of leaving one position
in an area and arriving at another one. And he was leaving. His
time was at hand. His departure time was right
close. But he knew he was going to glory.
Absent from the body, he is present with the Lord. And he says in
verse 7, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith. It is a good fight, isn't it?
It's a good fight and God has given us His Spirit to help us
to be aware that the fight belongs to Him. He has already accomplished
it for us. And the struggles that we're
going through right now, the Spirit worn against the flesh,
that's going to end when we leave this body, when God delivers
us from the body of death. We have to be delivered from
this body of death. So he says, I have kept the faith.
Keep the faith. Keep looking to Christ, the author
and the finisher of our faith. But he says in verse 8, Henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me
only, but unto all them also that love His appearing. Folks,
that's what we're doing. We're waiting for the return
of Christ our Lord. We're waiting for His promised
return to come back to this earth and take us to glory. Like Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, this world is not our home. We're just passing
through. And one bright day, whether it's
at the time of our departure like Paul was talking about,
or when our Lord Jesus returns, we're going to see Him with the
physical eye of the new body, in all of His glory. And Paul said, what I could not
see for the glory of that light. We have no idea of what's waiting
for us except what's revealed in the Word of God. And that's
not much. But I know this for a fact. Christ
is waiting for all of His blood-bought children And He is able to keep
us from falling and to present us faultless before the presence
of His glory with exceeding joy. And He is worthy of all praise,
all honor, and all glory. Thank you for allowing me to
bring this before you.