claim God's Word. Tonight we'll
be in Colossians 1, verse 28. The name of the message is whom we
preach. Whom we preach. Whom we preach, Colossians 1.28. whom we preach, warning every
man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present
every man perfect in Christ Jesus. So tonight we'll be looking at
verse 28, but it's connected all the way up to verse 21. So
let's read from 21 to 29. And you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled
in the body of His flesh through death to present you. Holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, be not moved away from the hope of the
Gospel which ye have heard, which was preached to every creature
which is under heaven, where have I? Paul, I made a minister
who now rejoiced in my sufferings for you and fill up that which
is behind the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's
sake, which is the church. whereof I am made a minister
according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for
you to fulfill the Word of God. Even the mystery which hath been
hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His
saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the
glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in
you, the hope of glory, whom we preach, warning every man,
and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every
man perfect in Christ Jesus. Whereunto I also labor, striving
according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. So tonight we'll be looking at
verse 28. whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every
man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in
Christ Jesus. Now, there is only one whom we
preach. There is only one whom we proclaim. There is only one hope. There's
only one Redeemer. He's identified in verse 27,
Christ in you, and He's also identified in the latter part
of this verse, in Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ, whom we
preach. Let's look at this portion. Whom
we preach, warning every man. Let's first look at whom we preach. Before Paul was imprisoned, he
went around. Preaching and proclaiming Christ.
Preaching and proclaiming Christ. Preaching Him crucified. And now Paul makes use of every
opportunity to preach the Gospel. Whether in person or whether
in bonds. Whether in person. Turn, if you
would, to Acts 28. Whether in persons or in his
bonds. He received people and preached
and proclaimed Christ in Acts. In Acts 20, he's under house
arrest and he's still receiving people while guarded by soldiers
and proclaiming the gospel. Acts 28, verses 30 and 31. And Paul dwelt two whole years
in his own hired house and received all that came in unto him. preaching
the Kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the
Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding Him. Whom we
preach, we only preach Christ. And this is who the Apostle Paul
preached. While he was in prison, he's
writing to the church at Colossus. He writes to other churches.
We know some of the epistles are called prison epistles because
he wrote. So whether he was in bonds or whether he was free,
he preached and proclaimed Christ, Jesus our Lord. And he preached
the riches of Christ, both present and future. Both present and
future, which the believers possess in our Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians
1.12-14 was written, a prison epistle. But I should understand,
brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen
out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. So Paul saw even
his bonds as a furtherance of the gospel. so that my bonds
in Christ are manifest in all the palaces and in all the places,
and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my
bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear."
Philippians 1, verses 12-14. So Paul is telling the Colossians
here whom we preach. He's telling the Colossians believers
that the same gospel which he preaches, the same gospel which
he proclaims in bonds or free, is the same Gospel that faithful
Epaphras, look in verse 7, and as you also learned of Epaphras,
who is our dear fellow servant, is for you a faithful minister
of Christ. The same Gospel which Epaphras
preached to them, Paul is proclaiming. He's proclaiming. And he proclaims
it to all who will listen. And that's called a general call.
We preach the Gospel to all. God makes it effectual. God draws
in His sheep. But we preach the Gospel to all,
warning every man. Warning every man. So Paul is
telling the Colossian believers that the same Gospel which he
preaches is the same Gospel which Epaphras, who is a faithful preacher
of the Gospel, preaches to them. And Paul here shows us whom we
preach. He shows us right here the main
subject of his preaching. The main subject of his preaching.
It's Christ. And every gospel preacher has
the same main subject. Christ. We're not here to tell
you what you have to do. We're here to tell you what He's
done. What Christ has done for His
people on Calvary's cross. We have one message. Just one. And we preach and we proclaim
the Lord Jesus Christ, the riches and the glory and the mystery
of the gospel, which is only found... Without Christ, there's
no good news. It's not good news without Christ.
But in Christ, this is wonderful news for sinners. A dear friend
of mine, a preacher, went to a nursing home where a young
lady is being cared for. One of the members of his church
asked if he could go and speak to his daughter. And she said,
yeah, I'd like to speak to you. And he says, well, I only have
one message. But I have good news for sinners.
And she's got about two weeks left to live. And so he proclaimed
Christ to her. And he said, would you like me
to come back tomorrow? And she said, yes, I would. Oh, pray the Lord will reveal
Himself to you. But we only have one message.
Whom we preach. And that's Christ. That's Christ
in Him alone. No one else. No one else. We preach and proclaim the Lord
Jesus Christ. God incarnated in the flesh.
The express image of God. The head of the church. The fullness. The only mediator. The redeemer
of the lacked. The hope of glory is in Him.
And then Him alone. And it's Him who we preach, and
it's Him who we proclaim. And let us remember that the
false teachers here at Colossus, they weren't just teaching Christ,
they were adding things to Him. They were preaching Christ plus
works, adding to the finished work of Christ, which is no gospel
at all. Anytime anybody adds anything
to the finished work of Christ, it's not gospel. It's not good
news. Because then it becomes dependent
upon the sinner, rather than the Savior. Oh, what we believe
is dependent upon Christ and Him alone. These false teachers
were adding Christ plus angels, or Christ plus the law, or Christ
plus traditions. But Paul was teaching and preaching
and proclaiming that Christ has done it all. And that is in sharp
contrast to the Gnostic teachers, to the people who had rose up
within the body, works-based preachers who say it's Christ
plus something you do, or Christ plus some revealed knowledge
that only they could give. Whether it's revealed knowledge,
it still works. Because salvation is of the Lord,
period. It's all in Him. It's all in
Him. Galatians says this, Christ has
become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you is justified
by the law, you have fallen from grace. Galatians 5.4 So we preach,
the one whom we preach is Christ. And we preach to lost sinners
that Christ is the only hope to flee to. He's the only Redeemer. He's the only Savior. And it's
by His righteousness and His death His death and His righteousness
imputed to us that we can be justified before a holy and righteous
God. Only in Christ Jesus our Lord
can all our sins be forgiven, whom we preach. It's only Christ. It's only Him. It's only His
precious blood that can cleanse every sin away from a sinner.
There's power in the blood of Christ. Only His sacrifice can
satisfy the holy law of God, the holy justice of God, the
God who every person must stand before. And sinners can only be accepted
in Christ. So we preach Christ in Him crucified,
salvation in Him alone, by Him alone, He was the subject of
the apostles' preaching. And this is Paul's subject here.
We saw it in this chapter. He just brings out Christ, doesn't
he? He's not talking about himself. Christ is the main subject. You
go through the epistles whenever he's battling works-based religion.
Christ is always the subject. Always. He points us to Christ. We have one subject, which is
Christ, and we can trace a long lineage of faithful gospel preachers
who have preached salvation by the free and sovereign grace
of God and Christ. whom we preach. Gospel preachers
preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. Christ is the only
one we preach. We preach the person of Christ,
who He was. God incarnated in the flesh.
Who He was in eternity? God. Who He was while He was
upon this earth? The God-man mediator. God manifested
in the flesh. And who He is now? King upon
the throne. Our dear sister is beholding
Him right now. It's wonderful for her. Wonderful. And this is whom we preach. Christ is seated at the right
hand of the Father. The work is done. Paul had a two-fold message,
warning every man and instructing every man. Someone said the blessings
of God are hedged about on one side by the warnings of God lest
any presume and on the other side by the promises of God lest
any despair. It is the duty of the minister
to warn the careless of God's wrath to come and to invite men
to flee to Christ. Now let us remember the context
in the subject of the letter. Warning every man here, Paul
means that Paul was warning the Colossians against the false
teachers and he was also warning the false teachers as well as
unregenerate people who heard the message that this mixing
of law and grace was no gospel. No gospel at all. It's a false
gospel. And anytime man mixes anything
with Christ, it's no longer the gospel. I don't care if it's
just a pinprick of your works. You've poisoned the well. Poisoned the well of grace. No,
salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ
alone. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. When Paul proclaimed the gospel,
it took the form of admonishing, which is warning. He warned those
who listened, and teaching, because it was always centered on Christ
and Him crucified. The gospel preacher will admonish
by putting Christ forth, warning every man, warning every man,
and by teaching and proclaiming Christ in him crucified. Turn
if you would to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Warning every man,
and by teaching and proclaiming Christ in him crucified. The
message then is Christ-centered, God-centered, as it puts forth
that which was planned, purposed. It puts forth that which was
planned, and that which was purposed, and that which was executed by God. It's not God who planned me when
I was dead. Not at all. Christ is the Redeemer,
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, planned and purposed
by God, and executed by God. Look at 2 Corinthians 5 verse
17, and then we'll go to 6 too. We'll go right through that whole
section. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.
Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation,
to wit that God was in Christ. Reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed
unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for
Christ, right? Warning every man, remember?
Teaching and warning every man. Ambassadors for Christ. As though
God did besiege you by us, we pray you in Christ's deed be
reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. We then, as workers together
with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God
in vain. For he saith, I have heard thee
in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation I have secured
thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Now. Behold, now is the
day of salvation. Often time we stop at 21, but
6-2 ties, 6-1-2 ties right in with this. Now, now is the accepted time. Oh may God give you grace to
flee to Christ. Behold, now is the day of salvation. We see how this applies to gospel
preachers today as we proclaim the gospel. To all, there's a
general call. which goes out, but it's made
effectual by God's Holy Spirit. He draws his sheep, regenerates
them, but we warn every man that by nature we're dead in trespasses
and sins and that we have no hope for heaven by our own works,
that we must be born again, that salvation is in Christ alone,
but we're lost. We must have Christ. Oh, that
the Holy Spirit would make it effectual. all that He'd show
you, your desperate need for Christ. We warn every man of
the judgment to come, and of the wrath to come upon sin, the
terrors of the Lord, the danger that man is in. We proclaim the
holiness of our Sovereign God. He's absolutely holy. He's perfect,
spotless. He's holy. How can a sinner stand
before a holy God? Clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. That's the only way. by the righteousness
of Christ. So we warn, we warn every man
that they cannot justify themselves before God. We must be justified
by Christ alone. His work upon the cross. Turn
if you would to Luke chapter 8. His work upon the cross. We warn every man that they are
guilty before God and that left in their sins their parish. We
say flee from the wrath to come. flee to Christ. We set before
them the hope of the gospel, which is all about whom we preach,
Christ. It's all about Him. It's all
about Him. Look at Luke chapter 3. Verses
3 to 8, And he came into the country about Jordan, preaching
the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it
is written in the book of the words of Isaiah, the prophet
saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye
the way of the Lord, make his path straight. Every valley shall
be filled, and every mountain and hill be bought low, and the
crooked shall be made straight. Oh, is that not what happens
to sinners? Oh, Luke 3, 5, the crooked shall
be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth, and
all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Then said he to the multitude
that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers,
who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth,
therefore, fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves,
we have Abraham to our father. They were resting and trusting
that they were Jews, thinking, well, we're saved because we're
Jews. Salvation's not in the nationality. It's only in Christ.
It's only in Christ. It's nowhere else. It's nowhere
else. Bring forth therefore fruits
worthy of repentance and begin not to say within yourself, we
have Abraham to our father Christ, saying to you that God has abled
these stones to raise up children of Abraham. Oh my. Teaching, warning every man,
warning every man who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to
come. And in our text continues, in teaching every man in all
wisdom Now the Apostle Paul taught that every man, in all wisdom,
he proclaimed the unsearchable riches of Christ, not in his
own strength or wisdom, but in the strength of God and by his
Holy Spirit. We are taught, we who believe,
are taught by the Holy Spirit of God. He must teach us. He must reveal Christ to us,
or we're never known. We're never known. Oh, and he reveals Christ. I'll
turn if you would to 2nd Timothy and then put your finger in Acts
chapter 4. 2nd Timothy chapter 3 and Acts chapter 4. The Apostle Paul taught that
every man that all of God's elect, we will
all one day know who Christ is. It will be revealed to us. And
this is not the wisdom of the world. When it says, in teaching
every man in all wisdom, it's not the wisdom of the world which
Paul speaks of here, but it's the wisdom of God. It's the wisdom
of God. God's people are made wise unto
salvation. It's the wisdom of God. of which
the gospel of Lord Jesus Christ is the wisdom that comes from
God, through God's preachers that preach the Word of God as
they are taught by God the Holy Spirit. Look at 2nd Timothy chapter
3 verses 14 to 17. But continue thou in the things
which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing
of whom thou hast learned them. That from a child thou hast known
the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. Faith cometh by hearing, and
by the word of God. Through faith you must believe,
which is where? Which is in whom we preach. Which is in Christ Jesus, All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished, and do
all good works." So the wisdom of God, the wisdom of God, makes
the wisdom of the world absolutely meaningless when it comes to
salvation of God's people. Because the wisdom of the world
says, I'm not a bad person. Surely God's not going to judge
me because I'm a good person. It's not about the natural man's
thoughts. And God, well, I used to believe
that God would put us, I don't know why I believe this, but
I used to believe that it might be scales. And God would put
me in a scale, and surely, you know, I'd be killed by the, you
know, I've never thought badly of a few things in front of people,
but surely, surely, you know, I would be up here, and all the
bad stuff, and the other bad people in the world would be
down here, but surely I'd be up here. scales. We are way without one. Way without one. We need Christ
desperately. So the wisdom of God makes the
wisdom of the world absolutely meaningless when it comes to
the salvation of God's people. As one preacher put it, worldly
wisdom can be a hindrance to the unregenerate and God will
bring that wisdom to nothing. To nothing. Turn, if you would, to Acts chapter
4. And think on this, that college professors and the worldly wise,
they stumble over the truth of the gospel. They stumble over
the simplicity of Christ. But the scriptures are able to
make us wise in the salvation because the Holy Spirit always
makes those scriptures illuminate and regenerate us. I need my savior. I'm in a desperate,
desperate place. So, the worldly wise stumble
over the truths of the gospel. They stumble over it. Well, poor,
uneducated, in the eyes of the world, of all ages are made wise
unto salvation through the holy scriptures of God." I remember
Brother Mahan saying when it said the foolish things of the
world, he said, this doesn't mean that God's people are gone.
It doesn't mean that at all. It means we're common people.
Common people. God saves Oh my. The worldly wise, not
many, not many. But think of this. God the Holy
Spirit makes us wise into salvation through the Holy Scriptures.
Look at Acts chapter 4. verses 5 to 14. And it came to
pass on the moral that the rulers and elders and scribes and Ananias
the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and as
many as were of the kindred of the high priest were gathered
together at Jerusalem. And this is shortly after the
man had been healed at the gate called Beautiful. And when they had set them in
the midst, they asked, by what power or what name have ye done
this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy
Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers, the people and the elders of
Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the
impotent man, by what means he is made whole. Verse 10. Be it known unto you and to all
the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
again remember whom we preach, whom we preach, whom you crucified,
whom God raised from the dead, even by him, that this man stand
here before you whole. This is the stone which was set
at nought of you builders, which has become the head of the corner.
And look at this marvelous verse 12. Neither is there salvation
in any other. Remember, whom we preach, warning
every man, warning every man. These gospel preachers are doing
the same thing right here. They have one subject, beloved,
one subject. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none other name. under heaven, given
among men, whereby we must be saved." The same gospel that's
proclaimed from this pulpit, from 13th Street, from many other
pulpits that we know of, is the same gospel. Same gospel that's
preached and proclaimed by Peter and John and the Apostles and
Paul. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. And when they saw the
boldness of Peter and John, they perceived that they were unlearned
and ignorant men." Oh, the religious Pharisees. These men are taught
by God. These men are made wise unto
salvation. These men are born again of the
Holy Spirit of God, and they preach and proclaim that there's
salvation in no other, no other but Christ. And these religious
Pharisees call them unlearned and ignorant men, and little
did they know they knew more about the Scriptures than these
Pharisees and scribes did. They marveled, and they took
knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. And beholding the man which was
healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it."
Speechless. Their life's speechless. Oh my, turn if you would over
to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. And we'll keep this in mind,
that we are taught of God, taught of God the Holy Spirit, and it
makes worldly wisdom nothing. Now we saw what Peter and John
proclaimed, we'll see what Paul proclaims, Christ and Him alone. It's the same gospel that we
preach and proclaim. 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verses
1 to 5, and I brethren when I came to you. Now remember who Paul
is. He sat under some of the muckety
moo, the big teachers of his day. He sat under some of the
big religious teachers of his day. You remember he said, I
count on all of them. Look what he tells us here. Now
this man could have went toe to toe with any philosopher. I've often thought in my mind,
and this is just in my own mind, but I picture Paul, Lloyd, Lee,
Corinth, going through, and he hears these different philosophers
debating in his mind saying, I'm determined to preach Christ
and be crucified. I'm determined to preach Christ
and be crucified. Look at this and I brethren when
I came to you came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom,
declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not
to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
whom we preach." Remember our text, right? Whom we preach.
For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness
and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. Remember, God's
wisdom destroys worldly wisdom, destroys it. But in demonstration
of the spirit and power, not by might nor power, but by my
spirit, saith the Lord. We're not saved by any of our
works, not by might nor power, not anything we do, but by my
Spirit, regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God, born again, born
again. That your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God. The power of
God. Oh my. Whom we preach, warning
every man, warning every man, teaching every man in all wisdom,
God's people. God's people are made wise unto
salvation in and through God the Holy Spirit teaching them
about Christ. And this leaves no room to boast. No room to boast. The sinner,
the saved sinner has no room to boast. No room for pride. No room for how much we've learned
to boast about that. No room. We're taught of God. Everything I know, God's taught
me. Everything. Never forget the rock you were
hewn from. Never forget the pit you were taken out of. Never forget where the Lord saved
us from. And never forget, if the Lord hadn't saved us, we'd
still be there. All praise, all glory, and all
honor goes to our great kingdom. Our text continues that we may
present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. So we have seen
Paul say, we preach, we warn, we teach in wisdom by the power
of the Holy Spirit. And in the latter part, we see
that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. He used
the word we, clearly signifying that this is the ministry of
all those who are ordained of God to preach his gospel. This
is the preacher's charge. Our text says, present every
man perfect, and we know that from studying scripture that not every man is saved,
right? But we know that the elect of
God will be saved and will be presented before God and Christ.
Therefore, we can conclude that this is speaking of the church.
The same with teaching, speaking of the church. Now, warning every
man, we warn all men, but we know that only those who are
taught of God shall come to Christ. We know that only those who are
redeemed are made perfect in Christ. This is speaking of the Church,
God's elect, the ones who will be presented before God in Christ. Perfect. spotless, sinless. Our dear sister is no longer
struggling with sin. She's clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. Oh my! Who but the church could be presented
perfect in Christ Jesus? Only God's people. Only God's
people. None but the members of Christ
can be perfect in Christ. He is the head, and we are the
body, and we're complete in Him. We're complete in Him. Christ
altogether is our righteousness. He is the Lord our righteousness.
The Lord our righteousness. And only those in Christ Jesus
We're perfected forever by the offering of Jesus Christ. And they will be presented perfect.
See, we're sinners, aren't we? We're sinners. We're in this
body of flesh and we sin and we struggle all the time. I do. All the time. I struggle with
my thought line. I struggle with the heaths. Don't
we struggle? Let's be honest, we do. One day we will struggle no more. We
who are in Christ will be made perfect, presented perfect before
God. And only those who are taught
of God, those whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of His mystery, which is in Christ
Jesus, the hope of glory, Those who are born again by God the
Holy Spirit. Those who have fled to Christ
as their only refuge. This wisdom has been given to
us by God. And the perfection spoken of
here can only be for those who are in Christ Jesus. Look at
our text, it continues. Every man made perfect where?
In Christ Jesus. So these are key words right
here. Not everyone is in Christ, but
everyone of God's sheep are. Everyone of God's sheep are.
This is key to the verse here. We who believe confess our own
imperfection, don't we? We confess our imperfection.
We confess our sinfulness. We confess our desperate need
for Christ. We confess that our righteousness
is like filthy rags before the Lord. all because we've been made willing,
born again, fled to Christ, and we take refuge in Christ, in
Christ, and in Him alone. We are made fit for heaven. Remember further up, qualified,
qualified for heaven. where it says we're made meat
for heaven. Made meat for heaven means to
be qualified. God's people are made fit for
heaven. And it's only in Christ. It's
only in Him. Nowhere else are we made fit.
Nowhere else are we qualified. But in Christ Jesus our King. In whom we have redemption through
His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Only in our great King. In Christ. In Christ Jesus, three
key words. Sister Marge was made fit for
heaven, but not by her works. Not by her works, but by what
Christ had done for her. And is it not so for every one
of us who believe? We're made fit for heaven, not
by anything we do. All whom we preach, what He has
done. what he has done as the sinner's
substitute upon Calvary's cross. Made fit. And by faith we lay
a hold of that, don't we? And faith is a gift from God.
But we exercise faith. What you were saying, sister,
that Brother Bruce said, we exercise faith. We flee to Christ. We're made willing. And that
faith is a gift. But we do run to Him. We do run
to Him. Oh, we who believe are presented
perfect in Christ Jesus, not in ourselves, but by the grace
of God in Christ we are made holy and righteous. Sinners made
saints. Sinners made holy. Sinners made
righteous. Sinners justified in the sight
of God. All in Christ Jesus. All in Christ
Jesus. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. The believer is absolutely complete
in Christ Jesus our Lord. In Christ. In Christ. In Christ. May it ring in our
ears, beloved. In Christ. in Christ. We must receive Jesus Christ
as our only acceptance before God, or we die in our sins and
perish forever. And oh, that God would grant
you faith to believe if you don't believe. Oh, that he would. Salvation
by grace alone, in Christ alone, by faith alone. Was Paul's message
That was Peter's message. That was John's message. All the apostles' message, salvation
in Christ alone, by faith alone, and it's the same message that
every faithful gospel preacher proclaims. We set before you Christ, who
is the hope, the hope for every believer. We preach the truth
for Christ's glory with a desire that he would deliver his lost
sheep from the power of darkness, from the power of darkness. And
we pray for the edification of God's sheep, that those who have
been quickened by the Holy Spirit of God would be built up proclaiming the one who can save
his people and saves all who come to him. He is redeemed his
people by the shedding of his own precious blood. by shedding
of His own pus. We ring the warning bell time
and time again, telling our hearers that the only way to escape the
wrath of God is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as He is
clearly set forth in the Word of God. Neither is there salvation
in any other. That means not you or me. That means only Christ. Neither
is there salvation in any other. Only the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we proclaim Christ Jesus our Lord. We proclaim that sinners
must come to Christ with nothing in their hands. With nothing
in their hands. None of their works. No confidence
in the flesh. Nothing. Empty handed, bankrupt
sinners. And we say let go of all your
earthly props, all your earthly hopes. Look away from your deeds. Let
go of any hope in your own works. Hope in one of those works is
a false hope. But a hope in Christ is a sure
hope, a good hope. to place all your hope and trust
and all your care for your eternal soul in Christ Jesus our Lord
and cling to Him only. That's what the believer does.
He clings to Christ. Clings to Him. Sink or swim,
I cling to Him. And beloved of God, don't be
moved away from the truth of the gospel, which you've heard. Rest. Rest in Christ daily. Trust in Christ daily. I know
it's hard. I know it's a struggle life is,
but oh, what rest we have in Him. Keep looking to Christ, who is
the author and the finisher of our faith. And may God give us
the grace to sing along with the songwriter who said this.
Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to the cross I cling.
Naked come to thee for dress. Helpless look to thee for grace.
Foul I fly to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die while
I draw this fleeting breath, when mine eyes shall close in
death, when I soar to worlds unknown. See thee on thy judgment throne,
rock of ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee, whom
we preach the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's
go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for
allowing us to meet together tonight. Oh, and the honor and
privilege to preach and proclaim Thee, whom we preach, only You,
the only salvation for sinners. Oh, Lord God, use this for Your
glory, the message for Your glory, for Your honor and Your praise,
and may You see fit to If it's Your will to draw in lost sinners
and to build up the saints with the preaching of Your Word, we
give You all the glory and all the honor and all the praise.
In Jesus' name, Amen.