Colossians chapter 4. We'll continue
our study in the book of Colossians. We'll be in Colossians chapter
4, verse 2. I'd like to read the
context, so we'll read Colossians 4, 2 to 6. Galatians 4, 2-6 is what we'll
be reading. But our main text will be in
verse 2 tonight. The name of the message is, continue
in prayer with thanksgiving. Continue in prayer with thanksgiving.
Continue in prayer and watch, and the same with thanksgiving.
Wherewithal, praying also for us, that God would open unto
us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which
I am also in bonds. that I may make it manifest as
I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward them that
are without redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with
grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to
answer every man. Now our text will be found in
verse two tonight, but let's do a quick overview of last week's
message in verse one of Colossians chapter four and verse one says,
masters give unto your servants that which is just and equal,
knowing that you also have a master in heaven. It was the. Last week's verse was the conclusion,
the conclusion of instruction that Paul gives for us, for our
Christian walk. And verse 4.1 again was tied
in with verses 18 to 25. As I said, most commentators
say that 4.1 belongs with those texts. The original letter was
not broke up into chapters. The original letter is one letter.
And so most of the commentators, Hawker and Gale, said that this
verse 1 belongs with 3.18 to 25. And we considered how Paul
had given instructions to those who were converted Converted
to Christ and slavery with verses 22 and 23 of chapter 3 and they
were commanded to do all things heartily as to the Lord and not
in the man Chapter 401 is the command to those who are converted
in Christ who own slaves at the time of this writing Slavery
was a practice which was which was done and we could say for
our time those who have authority over men or women at a job site
and The converted master is to remember that they have one master.
One master. And the slave also has one master.
And all believers in Christ, we have one master. One master,
all of us. But for the slave owner, they
were to remember that they had a master who was greater than
them. They had a master who was greater than them, greater than
all human masters. And again, that's the Lord Jesus
Christ. And verse one says, Masters, give unto your servants that
which is just and equal, knowing that you also have a master in
heaven. And we've seen all through this
epistle, we've seen all through this epistle, Paul correct error
and exhort the believers to Christian conduct by looking to Christ. by looking to Christ. He's the
one we're to look to. He's the one we're to look to,
Christ in Him alone. And we're to do all things for
His glory and His honor. So may we all remember, and may
we always remember, that each of us who believe, we have one
Master in Heaven, the same Lord, the same Savior, Jesus Christ,
our great God and King. And we're to submit ourselves
one to another in the fear of God, knowing that we have a Master
in Heaven. So let's continue our study in
this wonderful book, and it's just been a great joy to study
through this book. And the book, again, is all about
the preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ, the supremacy of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and the all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is everything to the believer, everything. And as we looked
at on Sunday, to every individual believer, we have a full portion,
don't we? We have a full portion, and it's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful, wonderful. So let's look at our text here.
Paul, having bought forth some exhortations for people on different
stations in life, which he did through 18 to 41, returns to
speak of that which is common to all believers. All believers,
look at this, continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving. Now, we know that all of God's
blood-bought children have a living union with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Turn, if you would, to John chapter 15. We have a living union, and
we have an illustration of that. Think of this. We have an illustration
of this living union that we as believers have with Christ.
We have it every day, beloved. We have it every day. When you
look at these trees, and you see a plant growing and fruit
coming on it, it's an illustration and it's marvelous of the union
that we have with Christ Jesus our Lord. Because when we look
at these trees, we see a trunk coming out of the ground. And
we see these branches that come off of that trunk. And then what
happens in the spring? The nourishment comes up through
that trunk, doesn't it? And it goes to all those branches
and then With apple trees or other trees, we get these beautiful
blossoms. Beautiful blossoms. And then,
if it's a fruit tree, or even a vegetable where you see the
vine come up and the branches come off of it, what happens?
We get fruit, don't we? And that's how the believer is.
The fruit of the spirit comes all from he who is the drunk. The vine, the Lord Jesus Christ. And look what our great king
tells us here. It tells us in John chapter 15. So keep that in mind that that. That is a tree blooms after button
and leaves come back. It's all because the branches
are in union, in union with the trunk, which pictures what our
Lord said in John chapter 15. Look at this. I am the true vine
and my father is the husband. Every branch in me that he that
beareth not fruit, he taketh away in every branch that beareth
fruit. He purges that that that it may
bring forth more fruit. Now, who's doing the work God's
working on? He's the husband. Now, you are
clean through the word which I have spoken unto you, abide
in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself.
So remember, when we see these these trees, right? Think of
an apple tree. We got an apple tree right here
in the parsonage. Think of that. That tree will eventually produce
apples. It'll eventually produce apples.
Do the branches just produce it by themselves? No, they can't
do anything without the trunk bringing up all that nourishment. They're attached to the trunk. And look, as the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself, Accept it, abide in the vine. No more
can ye except you abide in me. We can't bring fruit on our own.
The Holy Spirit has to work it in us. It's a work in the spirit
of God. Look at this, I love verse five.
I am the vine and ye are the branches. So he's telling us
right here, I'm the vine. I'm the one who you receive all
spiritual blessings from. It's from me. Ye are the branches,
that's his elect, that's his people. He that abideth in me,
and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without
me," oh, this is it right here. For without me, you can do nothing.
Nothing. So all of God's blood-bought,
born-again children have a vital union with Christ, just as the
vine and the branches, just as the trunk and the branches. They
all have that. with Christ and without Him we
can do nothing. The only way we can approach
our Heavenly Father is through Christ, right? He's the mediator.
He's the one mediator between God and man. It's only through
Christ and Him alone. One commentator said this about
our verse, our text tonight, which says, continue in prayer
and watch in the same with thanksgiving. One commentator said this, prayer
is also a divinely appointed weapon against the sinister attack
of the devil and his angels. It is the vehicle for confession
of sin and the instrument whereby the grateful soul pours out its
spontaneous adoration before the throne of God. Have you not
been in prayer, and you're just praying, and all of a sudden,
you just start pouring adoration out to the Lord. Thank you, Lord.
Thank you for what you've done for me. And you just get overwhelmed.
You just get overwhelmed. Oh my, spontaneous adoration
before the throne of grace. So let us consider this with
our text tonight. It says, continue in prayer and
watch in the same with thanksgiving. What a friend we have in Jesus.
All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry. Everything
to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear.
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Oh, he's our
refuge. He's our refuge, beloved. And
let us remember this, that God communicates to his children
by his spirit through this word. He does. This is how he communicates
to us, is through his word, showing us Christ, and we communicate
with our God by prayer. By prayer. And God's saints,
we're praying people. We're praying people. And our
text proclaims this truth. Continue in prayer and watch
in the same with thanksgiving. Continue in prayer and watch
in the same with thanksgiving. Now we don't pray as the hypocrites
do, right? We don't pray as them. We don't stand and we don't go
out to the street light and start shouting and praying, do we?
We don't pray like the hypocrites do. We don't try to bring attention
to ourselves, do we? Not at all. Not at all. The hypocrites
love to stand in the marketplace and pray to be seen of men. Every
time I see a guy with a collar on walking around, I think all
you're doing is drawing attention to yourself. That's all they're
doing. That's all they're doing. And it's just incredible. Before I was saved, I thought,
oh, surely that's a holy man. No, not now. No, they're just
a sinner. But now they're steeped in their
self-righteousness saying, look who I am. I'm better than you. And they might not say that with
their voice. But I'll tell you, they're sure thinking that. They're
sure thinking that. My goodness, so we don't pray
as the hypocrites. We don't. We don't pray as them.
Oh, I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to give you an illustration.
I'm going to give you an illustration of. I know someone. And it was me. That when before when I was in
religion. I would say to Vicky. I'm going to go pray. Leave me
alone for half an hour. I was so full of self-righteousness,
so absolutely full, just dripping of self-righteousness. Oh, I'm
going to go pray. My goodness gracious. Thank God
he delivered me from that self-righteous spirit. So we don't pray and
we also don't pray thinking we can change God's will. You hear
folks say, well, if you pray, you know, God will change his
mind. That's just a lie from the pit
of hell. We don't pray. We don't pray
to change God's will. When we pray, turn if you would
to Luke chapter 22. When we pray, we pray as our
Savior did. We pray as our Savior did. We
close our prayers, or we have within our prayers this. Look
at Luke 22, verses 39. We're looking at 39 to 44. And He came out and went as He
was watched to the Mount of Olives. Luke 22, verse 39. And He came
out and went as He was watched to the Mount of Olives, and His
disciples also followed Him. When he was at the place, he
said unto them, pray ye, pray that ye enter not into temptation.
And he was withdrawn from them by the stones cast and kneeled
down and prayed, saying, now look at this. This is, we pray,
Lord, if you're willing. Look, look what our king said,
saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Now
this is our prayer here, nevertheless not my will. Thy will be done. And there appeared
an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him, and being
in agony. He prayed more earnestly, and
his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood fallen down to
the ground. My, nevertheless, not my will,
but thine be done. Isn't that what the believer
prays? Isn't that what we pray, beloved? whatever your will is. So let us consider this that
Paul is bringing Paul has been bringing forth the sufficiency
of the all sufficiency of Christ and the supremacy of Christ through
this epistle. And what better way to express
the lordship of Christ? And remember, we don't make him
Lord. God beat us to that. He's already Lord. He's already
Lord. But what better way to express
the preeminence in the Lordship of Christ and for the believer
to faithfully come before Him in prayer, submitting, submitting
to Him and seeking His will in our lives. My, my. Praying to our great God is what
the believer does. And we see it all through Scripture.
Turn if you would to Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1, verse 14. And then put your finger in Acts
chapter 2, verse 42. Here's just two examples. Acts
chapter 1 verse 14 and Acts chapter 2 verse 42. Praying to our great
God is what believers do. And again, we see it all through
Scriptures. These are just a couple of Scriptures, but we see it
all through Scripture. Acts 1 verse 14. These all continued
with one accord in what? In prayer. In prayer. In supplication. With a woman and Mary, the mother
of Jesus, and with his brethren. And then turn, if you would,
over one more chapter, Acts 2, verse 42. And it continued steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of
bread, and in prayers. And in prayers. That's just two
examples. There's many more. Many more. Now, in our text tonight, The
Holy Spirit here in our text lists three important things
we need to consider in regards to our prayer. Three important
things that we need to consider in regards to our prayer. And
these things are addressed to all the members of the body of
Christ. All the members of the body of
Christ. This letter is instruction for us, beloved. For all and
for all the believers that will come after us. All of God's saints
are encouraged to continue in prayer. Continue in prayer. Brother Henry Mahan made this
comment about this verse and continuing in prayer, which really,
really ministered to my heart, beloved. And I hope and pray
that it will for you, too. He said, continue in prayer.
This does not mean that the Christians are to be in constant prayer
to God all day long. But we should live all day long
in an attitude of prayer, an attitude in an attitude of fellowship
with God. Boy, that ministers to the believer's
heart, doesn't it? Because in religion, you just
beat yourself up. I don't pray enough. I don't read the Bible
enough. I don't do this. Well, get your eyes off yourself,
right? And what does the believer do?
He gets his eyes on Christ, right? He or she gets their eyes on
Christ. We get our eyes on Christ and Him alone. Him alone. Oh,
my. So we're exhorted to continue
in prayer. Continue in prayer. Now, the
Greek word Continue there means to tarry, remain somewhere, endure. One Greek commentator speaks
of the Greek word used here in this verse in the context that's
used metaphorically of steadfastness, or to be steadfast in prayer. For the believer, prayer is something
every believer will do. We who believe are not as the
Jews. We don't have a certain time set aside for prayer, do
we? The Jews in religion, they have
a certain time and they got to pray that exact moment, and then
they've got to they're so regimented. No, no, the believer. And for the for the for the unbelievers
in religion, that way, they are bound to so many times a day,
so many times a day they have to they have to do this. Beloved,
we can pray to our great God and King. Anytime. Anytime. Driving by ourselves. At work. On the job site. At home. When we're in the silence,
either at our job site or at our home. In the quietness of
our homes. And for a believer, a day should
not pass when we do not pray. to our great God and King. And
that's what Paul's bringing forth here. That's what Paul's bringing
forth here. And prayer is, you know, we cry out to our God,
don't we? We pour out to Him. We pour our
hearts out to Him. That's what true prayer is. Coming
to our Heavenly Father, coming before our Heavenly Father and
pouring out before Him our needs, the needs of others, Just talking
to our great God and King in reverence and awe, of course,
right? Because we do, because we know who he is. But oh my. So Paul is bringing forth here
by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that we are to continue
in prayer. One grace preacher comments with this. I read these
words which all of us should lay to heart. He had a little saying he read.
Seven days without prayer makes one W-E-A-K, weak. Not W-E-E-K, but weak. Makes us weak. My. Now all of us have needs, right?
All of us have needs. Some more than others, whether
it be financial needs or physical needs or we're going through
sickness. All of us have needs. all of
us. Scripture declares this. Think
of this in mind of all our needs and the needs of others that
we love. Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of
need. Oh, my, my. We always have people in our
lives, friends, family, co-workers, whom we whom we could lift up
in prayer. And if it's the Lord's will to
save them, we always pray that right. Lord, if it's your will,
please move in their heart. Please move in their hearts. We can pray for our common conference
that we're going to have. We can pray for the church. We
can pray for one another. We can we can lift up other preachers
to pray and that God would give them an understanding. Of the
gospel and understanding. Understand, illuminate the scriptures.
Teach. Pray for me. Ask God to teach
me that I might grow in the grace and knowledge and truth of Christ,
that I can continue to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ.
I need prayer. We all do. We all do. So there's
always someone to pray for. Please pray for the community
that we're in. Pray for the community. Oh, that God may draw some of
his lost sheep in. Oh, my. To hear the preaching
of the gospel, if it's his will that that. That he'd save them. My. What a great God we have,
and so let us always remember this when we pray, we ask our
Lord Jesus. We we we we go before our Lord
in prayer, but let us remember this, too. He already knows our
needs. He already knows he already knows
our needs. My. One commentator said, it
pleases our Savior when we bow to Him and acknowledge in our
need of Him. And that's what we do in prayer. We go before
Him acknowledging, Lord, I need you. I need you. And we do, don't
we? We who are saved, we know what
the Lord saved us from. And we're still sinners, struggle
on, pilgrimaging through this world. And we still, we cry out
because we know the scripture says, without Him, we can do
nothing. Nothing. Oh, my. We're needy people. We're
needy people. And think of this. If you if
you're needy before God, it's because God's shown you that.
Rejoice, beloved, because not everybody feels that way. Not
everyone feels that way, but God's people do because because
they had Christ revealed to them. So we need to be reminded of
the words without me, you can do nothing. And let us remember
that the Lord Jesus Christ is our great high priest, beloved.
He's our great high priest, who scripture says can be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities because he was in all points
tempted like us, yet without sin. He knows what we go through. He knows. So let us consider our second
point in the text. So we saw continue in prayer.
So be steadfast in prayer. He brings forth the second point,
and watch. And watch in the same. And watch
in the same. So Paul's exhorting the Colossian
believers to be steadfast in prayer. Now he says, watch in
prayer. They're to be alert. And they're
to have intent in prayer. They're to have intent and they're
to be alert. And that's said in opposition to the cold, formal,
careless preaching which God, or praying which God despises. We come with grateful hearts
before our God, with pouring out our needs before Him and
the needs of others. One commentator said we can go
through the motions of prayer, we can utter words that are cold
and careless, words that are not coming from the heart. John
Gill said this. There is not only a watchfulness
unto prayer, previous to a man's entrance on it, but a watchfulness
in it, a watchfulness in it, which is opposed both to the
sleepiness of the body and to the coldness and indifference
of the mind, to all careless errors and neglect, manner of
performing it, and a design and intenseness of mind and application
of thought and a fervency of devotion and affection in it.
So we're to pray. And when we do, our hearts burn. because we're in communion with
our God. Now, now we've all. You know, I've got to say this
because I remember someone mentioned in Jim said this, and it's true
because we've all done this. We've all been reading our scriptures
or praying and fall asleep. We've all done that, haven't
we? All of us, all of us. But, you know, we just we we
pour out our hearts to our great God and King, don't we? We pour
out. We pour out to him. Oh, my. So we are to continue in prayer
with a watchfulness, being conscious of the needs of the church, being
conscious of the needs of our country to lift up our country
and lift up our country, also being aware of the needs of the
church, our brother, the needs of our brothers and sisters,
being being aware of the needs of our family, whoever the Lord
lays on your heart, pray for. And and like I say, how many
times have we just been walking down the street or or or been
doing something and the Lord will lay someone on your heart?
Just pray for him. Pray for him. Pray for him. Lift
them up. Just lift them up to Christ. And also. If you felt led to
pray right then just to talk to the Lord, I can't tell you
how many times when I was on the job site, I'd be talking
to the Lord. No one else knew. No one else
has to know. No. No, this is private communion
between me and my Savior. Now, public prayer is different.
But private prayer, oh my, we just cry out, cry out. So we're to watch, and the same
with Thanksgiving. We see here. The latter part
of our text, here's the third part. When we pray, we're to
have undivided, sincere communion with our living God. And that's
the thing, it's to be sincere communion, sincere. There's a
sincerity in our prayers. So the third thing that our text
mentions in reference to prayer is this, with thanksgiving. with
Thanksgiving. Oh my. Continuing prayer and
watching the same with Thanksgiving. Now the Greek word for Thanksgiving
is gratitude. Actually grateful language. That's
what the Greek says. Actually grateful language. Thankfulness. Thanks, the act
of giving thanks and Thanksgiving. Conversation marked by the gentle
cheerfulness of a grateful heart. I like that. Oh my. is contrasted with that of an
unthankful heart. So no matter what we might be
in need of, every believer always has something to be thankful
for. No matter what situation we're
going through, we always have something to be thankful for. My. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
50. Psalm 50. One grace preacher said, if we
can't be thankful for what we already have, it's a grossing
gratitude to ask for more. If we can't be thankful for what
we already have, it's a grossing gratitude to ask for more. Look
at Psalm 50, verse 14. Beloved, we are to offer up to
God thanksgiving. Psalm 50, verse 14. Offer unto
God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving to our great God and King Psalm 95 to Scripture
says this let us come before his presence with Thanksgiving
Psalm 95 to let us come before his presence with Thanksgiving
and then it says and make a joyful noise unto him with Psalms singing
oh my And when we praise in God, when we're singing, we were singing
and praising from a grateful heart. May God keep us from formality. All may he may stir in our hearts
as we sing praises to our great God and King. First Thessalonians 518. Says
this. In everything, give thanks. And
everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. Why, isn't that marvelous? It's the will of God for the
believer that we be thankful. That's marvelous. That's absolutely
marvelous. In everything give thanks for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Now redeem
men and women, give thanks to our great God for what he has
done, for what he has done for us, describing all the glory
of salvation to God and God alone, and to the Lamb. We give thanks
both here, and we give thanks when we're in glory. Turn, if
you would, to Revelation chapter 7. The angels. Do you know that
the angels in glory, although they have no part in redemption
through the blood of Christ themselves, yet they highly approve that
it is just and right that man should give the glory of salvation
to our great God. to our great God, because they
know He's due all that glory and all that majesty. And they give thanks to God for
the great things God has done for us. Look at this. Oh. You are washed in the precious
blood of Christ. We have so much to be thankful
for. So much to be thankful. Look at Revelation 7 verses 9
to 12. After this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no
man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues
stood before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes. That's the righteousness of Christ,
beloved. That's believers, the elect of
God, clothed in the spotless righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice saying,
listen to this, is this not what the believer cries? Salvation
to our God. Salvation to our God, which sitteth
upon the throne and unto the Lamb. And the angels stood round about
the throne and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell
before the throne and the faces and worshiped God saying, here's
what the angels are saying, saying amen. Blessing and glory and
wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our
God forever and ever. Amen. Oh my. The angels ascribe
all glory to our great God. Oh my. And we ought to be thankful
for what God's done for us. My. So let us consider these
words in Hebrews chapter 13, where scripture proclaims in
verse 15, by him, therefore, by Christ Jesus, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to our God, to our God continually. That is the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to his name, the fruit of our lips. Oh, my. When we when we consider what
what God has done for us, what Christ has done for us. Oh, my. And it's a good thing. It's a
good thing to give thanks unto the Lord. Psalm 92 1. It is a
good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises
unto thy name. Almost. It's a good thing. It's a good thing for the believer
to give thanks to God. And let us ponder this. We've
all known in our lives. All we are saved, have known
people in our lives. Think of how many people we've
known in our lives. And then think, God saved me. God saved me. And then the question comes,
who made you different? And what do you have that you
didn't receive? Oh, my. We have nothing to boast in,
do we, brother? Nothing to boast in. We know it's not us. We know it's God who's made us
to differ, saving us from our sins, and saving us when we could
never save ourselves. And the believer cries out, praise
your mighty name, Lord. Praise your mighty name for what
you've done. What you've done for me. My, what a king we have. What a savior. What a redeemer
is Jesus Christ, the Lord. Now here are some Blessed truths
for us to contemplate in closing. Some blessed truth for God's
blood-washed saints, who have been redeemed by the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and who have been regenerated
by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Here are a few truths
to keep at the forefront of our minds. Turn, if you would, to Romans
9. Romans 9. The first point is this. the believer, the elect of God,
our vessels of mercy, our vessels of mercy, because our divine
potter has made it so. Has made it so. Has made it so. Our divine potter, beloved. Romans
chapter nine, verse 21 to 23. Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and
another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show
His wrath and to make His power known, endeared with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? And look at this,
and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the
vessels of mercy which He had aforeprepared unto glory. God's
people, every single one of God's elect is a vessel of mercy, a
vessel of mercy. prepared unto glory by God in
eternity. In eternity. My planned and purposed
by God that we would be saved in Christ Jesus our Lord. Turn
if you would to Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3. Here's another point that will
give us reason for being joyful, for being thankful to our great
God and King. Number two, all of our sins,
all of them, every single one of them for the believer in Christ
have been purged, beloved, purged. The believer has full forgiveness.
Look at this in Hebrews 1 verse 3, who being the brightness of
his glory in the express image of his person and upholding all
things by the word of his power, oh, a sovereign almighty God,
beloved. Oh, this is our Savior, which
when he had by himself purged our sins. He's the one who purged
our sins. We couldn't purge even one of
our sins. Our Savior has purged all of our sins. Oh, what a great
Savior we have. When he by himself, by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty
of God, it is finished. The law has absolutely no demands
on the believer because Christ fulfilled all What a Savior and
so When we when we consider these truths all would be thankful
aren't we thankful to our great God and King turn if you would
to Hebrews chapter 9 Hebrews chapter 9 verse 12 the third
point is our Savior obtained eternal redemption for us. It's
not a question Our great God and King our Savior our precious
Redeemer has obtained beloved He has obtained eternal redemption
for us, and He did it all. He did it all. It's His work.
It's His work for us. Sinners to the core, but we receive
mercy because we're vessels of mercy. Oh my, look at Hebrews
9, 12. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, all those Old Testament sacrifices, could never take
away sin, but by His own blood. Oh, by the shedding of His precious
blood, beloved. He entered in once into the holy
place, just once. God satisfied with the sacrifice
of Christ. He entered in once into the holy
place, having, and let this just burn in your heart, beloved,
having obtained eternal redemption for us, for us, for us. Obtained it. There's no question. Christ has obtained eternal redemption
for his people. Oh, my, that'll spring our hearts
into Thanksgiving, won't it? My. And then look at last text. We'll look at things to consider
to keep at the forefront of our minds is in Ephesians chapter
four, verse 32. Why has God forgiven us? Beloved,
he has forgiven us for Christ's sake. Because of what Christ
has done. Because of what he's done. Remember
that which is impossible with man is possible with God. We
can't save ourselves, but Christ can save, save. And he went to
Calvary's cross and he saved and redeemed his people from
their sins. He did it. He did it. It's a finished, completed
work. Look at Ephesians chapter four,
verse 32, and be you kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God for Christ's sake, what hath forgiven
you? The reason that we are forgiven
is for Christ's sake. for Christ's sake. That's the
only reason. The only reason we because God
chose us in Christ. And Christ redeemed us. But here
is the text here. Even as God, for Christ's sake,
hath forgiven you, think of this, everything we have, both physical
and spiritual, has been given to us by our great God, by our
great God, for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ for the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Also, everything God withholds
from us, because there's some things he withholds from us,
isn't there? There is. Everything he withholds from
us is for our good and for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
May we reminded, may we be reminded that all things work together
for good to them that are to them that love God, to them who
are called according to his purpose. And may we be reminded of the
patience of Job in the midst of all the afflictions that occurred
in his life, right? All those afflictions and all
those sorrows, Job said this, though he slain. Though he slain. Yet will I trust
in. Yet will I trust in. So, beloved,
tonight we've considered that we are to continue in prayer
and be watchful in prayer. And we are to pray with thanksgiving,
thanksgiving, flowing from a redeemed, grateful heart for what Christ
has done for us. We are to acknowledge past mercies,
past mercies of the Lord, what the Lord has done for us. Oh,
and present blessings, present blessings. And we've all, we
all, every believer has received all these things in Christ Jesus
our Lord. My, what a Savior. Gracious Heavenly
Father, oh, we are so thankful. So thankful for what you have
done for your people. Lord Jesus, you leave in heaven
and die in for your people upon the cross. Oh, Lord Jesus. And now you are seated at the
right hand of the Father, our mediator between us, between
your people and the Father. Oh, we thank Thee for what You've
done for us. May we consider what we've heard
tonight, this week. May it just burn in our hearts
how great of a Savior You are. And may we give Thee thanks for
everything that we have. In Jesus' name, Amen.