Good evening. It's good to be
together. Always a blessing to meet together.
Tonight we'll be in Colossians, continuing our study. We'll be in Colossians chapter
seven, but I'd like to do a quick overview and just hit some of
the main things that we looked at in each verse. The first verse,
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God and Timotheus,
our brother, And we highlighted there, by the will of God. By the will of God. If we're
ever saved, it's by the will of God. It's by the will of God. And Paul was an apostle by the
will of God. And then verse 2 said, to the
saints and faithful brethren in Christ, which are at Colossus,
grace be unto you and peace. from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the key word we looked there
at, the key words were in Christ, in Christ. Every believer is
in Christ and in Him alone. The third verse was we give thanks
to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always
for you. And we looked at giving thanks
and praying for God's people, for His saints. Since we heard
of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have
to all the saints, we looked at faith and love, and hope is
in the next, where there's three pillars of the Christian faith,
faith, hope, and love, three pillars of what we believe. So
the next verse had, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven,
where have you heard before in the word of the truth of the
gospel, and we have a hope, oh, what a hope we have. And our
hope is not in ourselves. Our hope is in our Redeemer,
and He is in heaven, and we will be there in a short time, when
you think of our lifespans, a very short time. And the truth of
the gospel, the truth of the gospel, the gospel is true. Our God is true. He is truth. Christ is called the truth. And
then we looked at verse six, which has come on to you. The
gospel comes to us. And that's a magnificent thing,
because we would never come to God. We would never come to Christ.
But the gospel comes to us. Christ comes to us as it is in
all the world. And it goes forth into the world
and bring it forth fruit. And we looked at the gospel bearing
fruit and the gospel day for every believer is when the gospel
bears fruit in our life. and then knew the grace of God
and truth, the gospel must be revealed to us. And the believer
knows the truth. He knows Christ. He knows the
one he never knew before. And then verse seven, we'll start
there tonight. As you also learned of Epaphras,
our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister
in Christ, a faithful minister in Christ. Now, Epaphras has
come to Paul. He's concerned about heresies
that are that are coming up within the church at Colossus, and he's
concerned about them. He comes to Paul to talk to them,
and Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes this
letter to the Christian believers at Colossus. Now, these heresies
have entered in, and all heresies basically can be boiled down
to Christ plus something. Christ plus something you do.
That's basically, you can boil them all down to that. They say,
well, you're saved by Christ, but. Well, we don't believe that. We believe we're saved by Christ,
period. There's nothing added to that. We're saved by grace
alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And we have no
other hope, and we have no other refuge but our Lord Jesus Christ. So think of this, though, as
we were looking at those verses. Paul is laying the groundwork
for exposing the error which has creeped into the church at
Gloss. He's laying the groundwork, he's focusing them upon Christ,
he's getting their eyes set upon him, and he's laying the ground,
he's contrasting what the truth is in the preceding verses and
will expose the errors. We go through this book, he will
expose the error based upon already setting what the truth is and
that they knew the truth, that they knew the truth. So here,
expose the error against the truth. And in the verse preceding this
one, he is explaining that love for the brethren and the truth
of the gospel and the hope of eternal life and salvation is
only in Christ. In the preceding verses, he told
us that. That is only found in Christ,
in him alone. It's not Christ. What he's doing
is setting up that it's not Christ plus your works. or Christ plus
anything, he's saying, no, it's Christ alone. It's him alone. And if you notice in all the
epistles that he writes, he almost does this in all of them. It's
incredible. Especially in Corinthians, he sets that up, that whole first
chapter. He sets the truth and refocuses their minds upon Christ
before he writes a correction to them. So all he's done is point them
to what they've learned from Epaphras. And he is a faithful
gospel preacher. He's a faithful gospel preacher.
He's explained to them what normal Christian life is. We love the
brethren. We love the brethren. We pray
for the brethren. We gather together to hear the
wonderful gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed. But
they were being taught by false teachers that you need something
more than Christ. that you need something more
than Him. But Paul refocuses them on the fact that everything
that a sinner needs is in Christ. Everything that these believers
need is in Christ and Him alone. It's all found in Him. Christ is all I need. All, all
I need. He was crucified for me. he died
on Calvary, that he loved me so. This is why I know Christ
is all I need." A little song I found, a little hymn that sums
it all up. He's all we need, isn't he? All
that a sinner needs is found in Christ. Notice in our text here, as he
also learned of Apocryphus, our dear fellow servant who is for
you a faithful minister of Christ. Now notice, this is the Apostle
Paul speaking. The Apostle Paul, and he calls
him a fellow servant. He calls him a fellow servant.
Not just a dear fellow servant. A dear fellow servant. What condescension. What condescension. And they
serve the same master. They're engaged in the same work,
so Paul's telling the Colossians that this dear servant, Epaphras,
preaches the same gospel I preach, serves the same master that I
preach. They're fellow laborers in the work. They're fellow laborers
in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. As I said, though he
was an apostle and the other an ordinary minister, an ordinary
pastor, Epaphras was very dear to Paul. And notice something,
too. Paul doesn't lord over him, does
he? He calls him a fellow servant,
a dear, dear fellow servant. He's a faithful minister of Christ.
He doesn't lord over him. He doesn't tell him what he should
preach, because they preach the same gospel. He doesn't tell
him what he should do or who his friend should be. He doesn't
do that. He counts him as a fellow, a
fellow servant, a fellow minister of the gospel. Now, Pastor Epaphras, because
that's what he would be called, Pastor Epaphras, is a sinner
saved by grace. He's a sinner saved by grace,
and he's telling other sinners about the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's telling other sinners
about the only one who can save sinners. He's preaching the same
message that we preach today. That the gospel of God's free
grace in Christ, salvation's only in him. And he's a faithful
minister, beloved. He tells it like it is. He doesn't
hold back. He tells it like it is. He doesn't
change his message based upon his hearers, whether they be
wealthy or poor. His message is the same for all,
because we're all sinners. We're all sinners. Almost no one speaks the truth
anymore, because they're afraid they might offend someone. That's the bottom line, where
they're afraid they might offend someone, and no one wants to
offend someone. Well, I'm sorry, the gospel offends. We know because before we were
saved, it offended us, didn't it? Oh, but now we love the gospel. We love the gospel. Apophis is
not like false teachers who tickles people's ears and just want to
get gain from them, like Joelstein and the guys out there, the Word
of Faith guys, that's all they're doing, just tickling people,
thousands of people's ears, just tickling their ears. Won't even
mention sin, oh no, no, no, no, we won't do that. Just tickling
people's ears, making people two-fold the child to hell. Oh,
it's, no apathos isn't like that. He's not like the false teachers
who will hold something back because they don't want to offend
someone who might leave. Because, well, maybe they'll lose some
money. No. He preaches the free and sovereign
grace of God in Christ. And God does a saving. And we
know we know from what the scripture says, we know that it bore fruit,
didn't it? It bore fruit. It bore fruit. Look at Colossians chapter one. We give thanks to God, our father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. Since we heard
of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have
to all the saints, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven,
where have you heard before in the word of the truth of the
gospel, which has come unto you, as it is in the world, and bringeth
forth fruit. Oh, it brought fruit, didn't it? The Lord saved them. The Lord saved them. So he doesn't
hold back. Oh, and God's preachers know
that God will take care of them. And God's church knows that God
will take care of them. He always takes care of his sheep.
I can't tell you how many grace preachers I talk to, and they
just keep saying, God always takes care of his sheep. And
He always does. He always does. Oh, so they don't hold back grace
preachers in the Paphras. He wouldn't hold back anything. This is a quote. We preachers
are dying men preaching to dying men. Dying men preaching to dying
men. And one day, every one of us
in this room will step into eternity. One day, everyone. Oh, I pray
the Lord will save you and you'd step into eternity and be with
Him. Oh, every day, every one of us
has got an appointment. We won't miss that appointment,
where preachers are dying men preaching to dying men. Flee
to Christ, He's the only hope. And Epaphras preaches the free
grace of God in Christ. Plus nothing. And the same as
what we believe, God does the same. God does the same. He saves whomever He pleases.
And that's so what faithful gospel preachers say all over the world.
who preach this message, that salvation's in Christ and Him
alone. Oh, we just preach the gospel and let God do His work. We pray it'll be fruitful. We
pray He'll save souls. But He must do it. He must do
it. So the fundamental issue here
is truth, which goes against false teaching. which goes against
false teaching. Look at verse five, for the hope
which is laid up for you in heaven wherever you heard before in
the word of the truth of the gospel. So Paul's setting the
truth of the gospel. He's setting this groundwork
to show them the error, the error of what these works mongers are
trying to get them to do. Take them away from their hope
in Christ. Look at verse 7 as you also learned
of a powerful serve dear fellow servant who is for you a Faithful
minister of Christ these false teachers. They're preaching lies.
They're just spewing out lies They're adding works to grace
But God's preachers and Saints we proclaim salvation as of the
Lord period Nothing at it Nothing at it Salvation is of the Lord. So the opposite of grace is works. They're in war with each other. They contrast each other. Because
it's either pure grace or it's works. And in Epaphras, he is
a faithful minister of Christ. He preaches salvation in Christ
and in him alone. And grace and works do not mix.
They are like oil and water. They do not mix. Not at all. You add one little drop of works
and you poison the well. You poison the well of grace.
And God's preachers, remember this too, that God's preachers
are sinners who are saved by the same sovereign grace of God
in Christ is all the elect. We're all, those of us who are
saved, we're all just saved sinners. Turn if you would to Ephesians
chapter four. Every believer, every single
believer has been delivered out of the same pit. The pit of sin. We were in a pit and we couldn't
get out. But God saved us. And God's preachers are just
saved sinners. But they receive a call to preach
and proclaim the gospel. Look at Ephesians 4, verses 11
to 16. And he gave some apostles and
some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ, till we all come in unity of the faith and of the
knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure
of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth
be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with
every wind of doctrine." Oh, before we were saved, we were
all just going in the wind. I knew doctrine, but I was all
over the board. Oh, tossed to and fro by the
slight of man and cunning craftiness, whereby they lay in wait to deceive. And also, sitting under the gospel
and the truth of the gospel will give you discernment to know
when a man's lying to you. Or whether he's preaching the
truth. But speaking the truth in love. may grow up into him
in all things, which is the head, even Christ, he's the head, we're
the body, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and
compacted by that which every joint supplieth according to
the effectual working in the measure of every part, making
increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. God's
preachers were to save sinners, just like everyone else, but
some of us are called. Some, God's preachers are called
the pastor. But we're all just saved sinners.
We're all the one body. All believers are the one body.
So he calls some to preach, and he equips those he calls. He
equips them. He equips them to be a preacher.
He equips them to be a teacher. Or he equips them to be an evangelist. He has to make, he has to teach,
and preachers, we grow and learn just like everyone else. And
God must make the preacher, he must teach him and have him grow
in grace and the knowledge of the truth. And what are some things? Look
here, it says, and also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellow
servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ. What do faithful
ministers of Christ preach? What do we teach? What do we
tell the truth about? Well, a faithful gospel preacher
will proclaim the truth about salvation from all our sins in
Christ. None left behind. None left behind. In whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1.14. Look
in the same chapter that we're in, in Colossians. In whom? Being
Christ. We have redemption through his
blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Paul's preaching the same
message as Apophros. The same message we have. That
salvation is in Christ and him alone. In whom we have. The believer
has. This is something the believer
has. Redemption, my sins are all paid for through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins. Oh, it's not a maybe. It's not, well, I hope I get
to heaven and he doesn't toss me out like I heard. No, those
he saves, he keeps, he loves his people with an everlasting
love. With an everlasting love. The gospel preacher proclaims
the truth about God, too, that He's a holy God and a righteous
God, and that He dwells in eternity. It proclaims that this holy and
eternal God has no beginning or end. The gospel preacher proclaims
this, that the holy, eternal God has
no beginning and no end. The gospel proclaims this too.
Turn to 1 Timothy 1.17. Oh, our God, our Savior is a
king. He's a king. 1 Timothy 1.17, now unto the king
eternal. Oh, he's eternal. He's eternal. He always has been. Immortal. Invisible. The only wise God,
be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. What more do you
say? Amen. So the gospel and the gospel
proclamation, we tell the truth about God. And Apophis was a
faithful minister of the gospel. A faithful preacher. Ezekiel 18.20 says this, The
soul that sinneth it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity
of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity
of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon
him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. The
righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him. This speaks
of the righteousness of Christ imputed to sinners. And that's
found in Ezekiel 18, 20. That's another thing we proclaim,
that we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And the gospel proclaims the
truth about sinners, that there's none of us who are righteous,
none of us. It proclaims that we're in a
desperate state with no hope. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 5. It proclaims that we're in a state where we cannot
help ourselves, and we don't have any ability to help ourselves. We have no ability to save ourselves,
and we won't even seek God on our own. Romans chapter 5 says
this, verse 12. It proclaims the truth of the
fall, and how that when we fell in Adam, oh, we fell. When Adam
fell, we fell with him. He is our federal head. Romans chapter five, look at
verse 12. Wherefore is by one man sin entered
into the world? And that was Adam. And death
by sin, the wages of sin is death. The payment for sin is death.
So the gospel proclaims the truth about sin and about what we are. And so death passed upon all
men for that all of sin. Look at verse 13, for until the
law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there
is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from
Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the
similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that
was to come. But not as the offense, so also
is the free gift. For if through the offense of
one many be dead, We come into this world, we know in Ephesians
2 it says we come into this world dead in trespasses and sin, right? We're children of Adam. We're children of Adam. For if
by one man's offense death reigned by one, I'm sorry. I got ahead of myself there nevertheless
death reigned from Adam to Moses even over Them that are not sinned
after the similitude of Adam's transgression who is the figure
of him that was to come? But not as the offense so also
as the free gift for through the offense of one many be dead
We fell in Adam much more the grace of God and the gift by
grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto Many
it doesn't say all but many many A number that no man can number.
And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift. For the
judgment was by one to condemnation. Dead in trespasses and sins. But the free gift is of many
offenses unto justification. For if by one man's offense death
reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace
and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus
Christ. Therefore, as by one offense
of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness
of one Christ, Christ, verse 18, the free gift came upon all
men to justification of life. For by one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners. There it is. There it is. We fell in Adam. Every one of
us fell in Adam. The gospel proclaims the truth
about how we're sinners. Look at this, though. So by the
obedience of one, shall many be made righteous. Oh, we're
made righteous in Christ. Oh. The gospel proclaims also
the truth about Christ and how He lived the perfect life for
His elect. Turn, if you would, to John 14,
and then put your finger in Daniel. I found something interesting
this week. Daniel chapter 9. John 14. The gospel claims the
truth about how Christ lived the perfect life, right? He lived
perfect. He was sinless, wasn't He? He
lived this life for his elect, and he died in the place of sinners
as their substitute on Calvary's cross before God's holy law and
justice. His holy law and his perfect
justice. And that perfect justice must
be upheld, right? It must be. The soul that sinneth,
it must die. Look at John 14, 30, and then
keep your finger, as I said, in Daniel chapter 9. Look at
this. Hereafter I will not talk much
with you. This is our master, the Lord Jesus Christ. For the
prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me. He's sinless,
beloved. There's no sin in him at all.
He's perfect. In mind, no sin in mind, no sin
in deeds, nothing. He's perfect. He's the God-man. He's perfect. He's sinless. There's no cause for condemnation
in Christ. None. There are lots and lots,
right? Lots in me. Oh, but he was perfect
and sinless. So the prince of this world,
Satan, came and has nothing in him. Nothing. Hath nothing in me. He has no
sin. But the sins of his people were
imputed to him, right? They were laid upon him. Turn
with me, if you would, to Daniel 9. We're gonna see something
that... I hadn't seen this till this
week, and this is just, I was just marveling at this and how
plain it is. He had no inherent sin like we
do, right? We saw in Romans that we're born
sinners because of the fallen Adam. But he had no inherent
sin like we do. Look at Daniel 9, 26, but we're
going to read from 24 to 26. Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression
and to make an end of sins. This is speaking of Calvary.
Christ made an end of sins, sins of all his people, and to make
reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness,
everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy
and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and understand
that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and
to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the prince shall be seven weeks
and three score and two weeks. The streets shall be built again
and the wall even in troublous times. Now, remember, in John
14, it said there was nothing in him, right? Nothing in him. Look it. And we know that that
our sins were laid upon him by imputation. Look at verse 26,
and after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off
and we can underline this, but not for himself. He's sinless. He's perfect. Our sins were imputed to him,
but not for himself. They were our sins. They were
the sins of all the elect of all the ages. And the people
of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and sanctuary,
and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end
of the wars, war desolations are determined. But look at that,
not for himself. He's perfect. He died the sinless
one for sinners on Calvary's tree. Oh, He is the perfect, spotless
Lamb of God. The perfect, spotless Lamb of
God. The Gospel also proclaims the truth about how the Lord
Jesus Christ rose from the grave. Turn with me, if you would, to
Isaiah 53, and put your fingers in Romans 4. or see it prophesied
in the Old Testament and come alive in the New. Isaiah 53, and you know, you
keep hearing us gospel preachers hit this nail, that God is absolutely
satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ. He's perfectly satisfied. And Christ was raised for our
justification to prove that He was satisfied. Look at Isaiah
53, 11. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. God is satisfied with the sacrifice
of Christ in the place of his people. By his knowledge shall
my righteous servant justify many, justified before God, before
a holy and righteous God. The sinner is justified. For he shall bear their iniquities.
Oh, the sinless one. Oh, the sinless one. Bore my
sins at Calvary's tree. And he paid it all. Not for himself. But for every
believer. For every one of his elect. Look
at Romans 4.24, so it's prophesied in the Old Testament. And look
at Romans 4, verses 24 and 25. But for us also, to whom it shall
be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus, our Lord
from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised
again. for our justification. God is
satisfied. God is satisfied with the sacrifice
of Christ in the room instead of his people, in the room in
place of his people. Oh, he's satisfied with the sacrifice
of our mighty Savior for our sins. So Apophros, he preached
and proclaimed these precious truths. He preached and proclaimed
these precious truths. The gospel also proclaims that
all who believe on Christ have all their sins forgiven. Turn,
if you would, to Acts chapter 3 and Colossians chapter 2. All their sins are forgiven.
And the gospel proclaims this precious truth. It's precious. And Epaphras proclaimed the gospel,
the truth of the gospel. And these are precious truths
that are in the gospel. Acts chapter 3 and Colossians
chapter 2. But these things, Acts chapter
3 verse 18 and 19. But those things which God before
had showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should
suffer, he hath so fulfilled. So Christ was prophesied all
through the Old Testament. He's coming. Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted
out. Blotted out. When the times of
refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. How many
sins are forgiven? All of them, amen. All of them. Look at Colossians chapter 2.
Oh, Colossians chapter 2. Verses 13 and 14. And you, believers, being dead in your sins. That
was our natural state, wasn't it? Dead in trespasses and sins. In the uncircumcision of your
flesh, hath He quickened together, born again, born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. Heaven forgiven you? He said
it, brother. All. All trespasses. There's not one left behind.
All of them. Every single one of them. Look
at verse 14, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that
was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the
way, nailing it to his cross. Nailing it to his cross. What
a mighty Savior. What a mighty Savior. Turn with me, if you would, 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. And
we're all familiar with this passage, but I want to read it
in context and even pull some of the verses from chapter 6
as well. So the gospel proclaims that
all our sins are forgiven in Christ, and it proclaims that
the believers now clothe in the perfect righteousness. And this
is the same truth, beloved, that our fellow servant, Epaphras,
preached to the saints at Colossus. This message has never changed. It's a precious, precious message.
The gospel proclaims that believers are now clothed in a perfect,
a perfect righteousness. The righteousness of Christ.
Remember, the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing
in me. Nothing. That's the righteousness
given to us. That's why God will look at us
and we're blameless. It's marvelous. The great transfer. Our sins imputed to Him, and
His righteousness imputed to us. Oh, the righteousness of
Christ. Look at verse 20 of chapter 5.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did
besiege you by us. We pray you in Christ's name,
be you reconciled to God. or he hath made him to be sin
for us who know no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. His perfect right, our sins imputed
to him and his perfect righteousness imputed to us. Oh, it's marvelous. Look at verse. Look at the first
two verses, though, in Chapter six, which go right in with that. We then, as workers together
with him, besiege you. We besiege you. also that ye
receive not the grace of God in vain. For he saith, I have heard thee
in time accepted, and in the day of salvation I have secured
thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Now you might not have tomorrow. Now is the accepted time. Behold,
now is the day of salvation. Now is the day of salvation.
So the same message that Zadok Paphos preached, we preach today. He was a faithful minister of
the gospel. He proclaimed that saving grace is keeping grace.
Saving grace is keeping grace. And it's all, all in Christ. Our hope is in Christ, right?
Verse 5, right before our text, for the hope which is laid up
for you in heaven. Oh, we have a hope. One day we'll
see Christ. And heaven will be heaven because
Christ is there. Because He's there. I know my
Redeemer lives. I know He does. I know He does.
And I will see Him one day. And every believer says, we're
going to see Him face to face. I know my Redeemer lives. I have
a hope laid up for me in heaven, in Christ. Where have you heard
before in the word of the truth of the gospel, Epaphras was faithful
to preach the truth of the gospel and did not hold anything back.
The message we preach is not popular in this world and it
never will be. But God's sheep will be given
ears to hear and will love the message of the gospel of God's
free grace in Christ. And we'll give him all the glory.
Christ is our all in all, isn't he? Turn a couple chapters over
to Colossians chapter three. Christ is everything to us. Everything to believers. My hope
is not in myself. My hope's in Christ. My redemption's
not in anything I can do. My redemption's in Christ. I
can't make myself more holy. I'm holy in Christ. He's my wisdom
and my redemption. He's everything. Look at verse
11 of chapter 3, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision
nor circumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free. This
is in the body of Christ, beloved. But Christ is all. He's everything. My hope of eternal life, everything
is in Christ. It's all in Him. But Christ is
all in all. Oh, we proclaim a hope that we
have not in ourselves, but in Christ. He's forgiven us all our trespasses
and sins. All of them. He's made us fit for heaven,
beloved. We could never make ourselves
fit for heaven. How can a man be justified before
a holy God? Only in Christ. Oh, and in one day, one day we'll
be with Him. Turn, if you would, to Revelation.
Revelation chapter 19. We will be with Him. Oh, and we'll be in His presence. clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. Salvation into Christ is a complete
salvation. It's a complete salvation. Look at Revelation 19, verses 7 to 9. Let us be glad
and rejoice and give honor to Him, for the marriage of the
Lamb has come. And his wife hath made herself
ready, the bride of Christ, beloved, the elect of God, clothed in
Christ. And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine
linen is what? The righteousness of saints,
pure. Spotless. Oh, it's marvelous. Sinners made pure and spotless,
clean and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness
of saints. And he saith unto me, write,
blessed are they, blessed are they, which are called unto the
marriage supper of the Lamb. Blessed are they. Yes, and he
saith unto me, these are the true sayings of God. Oh, if you don't know Christ, may
He draw you, may He show you your need for Him. Because all
we are who are saved are sinners, who are clothed now in the righteousness
of Christ. And as I said, this salvation
that we have in Christ, It's for sinners. It's for sinners. And think of this. We have, as I said, all our sins
forgiven. There's none left behind. Nothing falls through the cracks. And oh, sinner friend, to have
a hope for heaven, eh? Like we have. Oh, that God would
grant your faith to believe. Oh, that He'd grant your faith
to believe, and that you'd run and trust in Christ. Our hope is in Him, isn't it?
It's nowhere else. And we say praise His mighty
name, and we give Him all the glory and all the honor and all
the praise. I'll see you when it's time.