but you still have your Bibles
open there to Philippians chapter two. I titled our message this morning,
a faithful servant. That's part of why I read that
passage in first Timothy describing the qualifications of a pastor,
a faithful servant. In our text this morning, Paul
names three faithful servants of God. He names himself, Timothy,
and Epaphroditus. And when you look at these three
men, look at them together in this passage, there is some very
good teaching here regarding pastors and the congregation
to whom he ministers. And I'm gonna, I'll make a few
comments here about pastors and hope you know me well enough
to know I'm not saying these things to be self-serving in
any way. It's important that God's people be taught what God's
word has to say about these matters. First and foremost, a pastor,
is to preach. He's a preacher. He preaches
the word. Paul told Timothy in all seasons,
in season, out of season, whether people like it or don't like
it, in every season, preach the word. Preach the word every time
you speak, not what you think, but what God's word says. And
when we preach the word, we're to preach the message of God's
word. The message of God's word is Christ and him crucified. Christ and him crucified is the
theme of every line of this book is how God saves his people from
their sin. It's through Christ and him crucified. That's why when Paul wrote to
the church at Corinth, he told them, I'm determined not to know
anything among you. You fellas got all this stuff
going on, all these tangents and all these things you're looking
at. I'm determined not to get off on that stuff. I'm determined
not to know anything among you save Christ and him crucified.
That is the message that God uses to save his people. It's
the message that God used to feed his people, to comfort the
hearts of his people. It's Christ and him crucified.
You know, the subject that Paul has just been dealing with is
the unity. He said, you guys fulfill my
joy that you be like-minded. Well, you know what would give
God's people a congregation unity of heart, make them like-minded?
Just preach Christ. Just keep pointing people to
Christ. We'll have unity of spirit. We'll have the same mind if we're
all looking at Christ. If we're all caring about his
glory and his truth and his people. And in order to preach the word,
in order to preach Christ, who he is, he's the eternal son of
God. In order to preach such a subject, a pastor's got to
give himself to prayer and to study. He's got to give himself
to prayer and to study because no man is sufficient for these
things. No man. It's hard, hard work. And a pastor
is to have the rule of the church. Pastor rules the church, not
by bossing people around, but by preaching the word. Preaching
the word, that'll fix everybody's wagon. That'll get everything
lined up. Just preach the word. The church
is to be ruled by the preaching of Christ. The pastor rules the
church by making sure that this is always a place of worship.
That we just don't get off on these other tangents. This is
a place where Christ is exalted. The pastor rules the church by
eliminating distractions. Whatever kind of distractions
that come up, we just can eliminate those things. We're just not
getting off dealing with those things. We're to preach Christ
and him crucified, to worship him. And a pastor has to be a
man who's proven himself to be faithful. He believes on Christ
himself. He trusts his soul to Christ. That's why he's faithful to only
preach Christ, because that's the only message that'll do your
soul any good. You know, if I care at all about
you, I'll only preach Christ to you, because it's the only
thing that'll do your soul any good. And a congregation is to hear
the pastor. to follow him as he follows Christ. They're to submit themselves
to the rule of the pastor and obey him by believing the message
that he preaches, by believing Christ. And there is a, you noticed
there when Paul was talking about how the congregation felt about
Epaphroditus, how he felt about the congregation. There is a
mutual love and respect with the pastor and the congregation.
You know, the pastor watches for your soul because he cares
about you. He loves you. And a congregation
prays for the pastor, loves the pastor, supports the pastor,
so that he can give all of his time to the ministry of the word,
to studying the word, to bring you a message that's true, that's
Christ-honoring, that's something that'll benefit your soul. You
know, there really isn't anything that you can do more important
than praying for your pastor. I'll be, I've told you this before,
I'll be sitting in the study and just bum-fuzzled. I don't see it. I don't see the
message here. I'm just, and suddenly it opens
up. And I think somebody's praying
for me. How'd that happen? Why'd that open up? Just somebody
praying for me. There's nothing more important that you can do
than pray God sends you a message that will bless your heart and
enable you to rest in Christ. And I say without fear of contradiction
that this congregation does those things. And I thank God for you. I thank God for you every day.
But we have to be reminded of these things. We have to be taught
these things from God's word. We have to be established in these things from
the word or else we'll let them slip. Now that's good, true teaching. Maybe I shouldn't say good, it's
true. That is true teaching. That's what the word of God says.
And you see those things from these three men that are mentioned
in our text, these three preachers. Well, I've said it's true. But
so far, haven't preached the gospel. And my job is to preach
the gospel. My job, as I just said, is to
preach Christ and him crucified from every passage of scripture. So where is the gospel in this
text? where the gospel's found in Christ,
the shepherd and bishop of our souls, and how he's pictured
by these three servants that God mentions here. Now, there
are these qualifications of a pastor, a bishop, an elder, and no man
can be perfect in these things. No man's a perfect shepherd or
perfect preacher. But Christ is. Christ, our Savior,
is. I have three points I want us
to see here about Christ, the shepherd and bishop of our souls.
Number one is this, it's Christ our sacrifice. In verse 17, Paul
says, yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service
of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. For the same cause
also do ye joy and rejoice with me. Now remember, Paul's writing
this letter from a Roman prison, he didn't know if he's gonna
get out or not. He knew, and probably pretty
likely, the Romans are gonna put him to death for preaching
this gospel. And Paul says, now if they do
that, if I'm put to death, if I die as a martyr for preaching
Christ to you, Paul says, tell you what, I have joy in that. I have joy in that. Dying for
preaching the gospel to you He says it's a joy to me because
I see God's given you faith through the preaching of Christ. And
I have joy in that. And every pastor worth his salt
gives his life over to preaching the gospel of Christ to God's
sheep, to minister to God's sheep. And I'm not complaining about
that. That's not a burden. I mean, it's a burden. It's a,
you know, it's a, it's a job that's laid upon you, but it's
joy. It's a joy. I hear pastors sometimes just
poor-mouthing about how awful it is to be a pastor. Well, maybe
I'll find something else to do. I mean, you know, it's a burden. It's hard work. But Wayne, I don't work no harder
than you. I mean, it's just different. If there's not joy in this thing,
of preaching Christ and hearing Christ preached and believing
it, there's not joy in that. Something's missing, isn't it?
Something's missing. What a blessing it is to be able
to preach to God's sheep and see the light go on. What a blessing that is. What
a blessing it is to be able to preach the word and see the spirit
take that and feed God's sheep. See their heart strengthened. I know you. When somebody's going
through it, I mean going through it, I know it. And to be able
to preach Christ and see that comfort your heart. That's the
balm of Gilead. Now that's a joy. If you don't
find joy in that, find something else to do. Go sweep the floors
or something. It's a joy to see God's sheep
comforted by the preaching of Christ. That just makes it worth
giving your life to the ministry. And boy, when Paul talks about
giving his life to the ministry, he meant it, didn't he? If it's
not here, it's sooner or later. He's going to be put to death
for preaching the gospel. And he said, I have joy in that.
Now, God's pastors are just men. And as the Lord enables me, I
can preach Christ to you. But I can't make you believe
it. I think I ought to be maybe a little
calmer sometimes. When I preach, I just get...
Because there's a part of me that wants to reach out and just
put it in your heart. I want you to see this so bad,
I can't do it. And I can tell you, I give my
life over to this ministry. I spend my time in this ministry. But you know what? That's not
much. You know, it's not much. I could
tell you that I would die to preach the gospel to you, but
my death wouldn't mean much. It certainly wouldn't do anything
for your soul. But there's one who can, and that's who I'm on
to preach. Christ Jesus, shepherd and bishop
of our soul. And he's pictured here. Look
over at Hebrews chapter two. Paul said, it's my joy to give
my life to preach the gospel to you. And you know the Savior
felt the exact same way about his people. Look here in Hebrews
chapter 12, I think I said two, it's Hebrews chapter 12, in verse
two. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God. The Savior, as horrible
as his sufferings were, and they were horrible. I mean, he prayed,
Father, if it could be thy will, let this cut past from me. Nevertheless,
not as I will, but thou will. This, oh, his suffering, unspeakable. The soul sufferings of the Savior.
Yet he counted it a joy to do that for his people, because
he loved them. And Paul says, if I'm offered here, Upon the
sacrifice and service of your faith. He said I find that a
joy. That's a joy for me Paul's death
wouldn't accomplish any more for them than my death would
for you But the death of Christ accomplished something and this
is why he founded the joy to suffer and die for his people
the death of Christ Accomplished the eternal salvation of his
people his death redeemed his people from all of their sins
That's the only reason he's seated at the right hand of the throne
of the majesty on high right now. He did what the father sent
him to do. He says he counted it a joy to
suffer like that. The savior's love for his people is beyond human language. You
think about who it is that suffers. the holy son of God, the prince
of glory, the light of heaven. Think about who he is and then
think who he suffered for. Who did he suffer and die for?
He died for the worst of sinners. He died for those who hated him
without a cause. He died for those who willingly,
willfully sinned against him. Who cried, I'll not have this
man reign over me. Crucify him and give me Brabus. They're born filthy in their
sin. They're born in Adam defiled
by sin. Defiled by sin through and through. You and I can't understand how
despicable the sight is of us and our sins. It would drive
a stark raven mad if God let us see it. Yet the holy son of
God counted it a joy to suffer to redeem the likes of you and
me. Oh, he counted it a joy because he loves his people with an everlasting
love. It's just more amazing than anybody
can find words to say that somebody like him would suffer like that
for somebody like me. with somebody like me. And he
counted it a joy because he loves his people. Oh my. Then Paul
says, now if I'm put to death for preaching the gospel, so
I counted a joy. And he said, you believers there
in Philippi, you counted a joy too. That's going to be hard. That's
going to be hard. We just can't find it a joy. We can't hear one of God's servants
preach Christ to us anymore. I miss it. I miss it. I miss
hearing him preach. I miss, you know, we love them.
We miss them. I miss being around them. I love
the gospel that they preach. I just, you know, it makes me
sad. I can't hear him preach anymore.
But I tell you what we do, Joy. We joy for our beloved brother.
The Lord has finally delivered from this sinful world and this
sinful body and taken him to be with him. Now we can joy over
that. I mean, we're going to weep.
We're going to weep. But while we weep, we're going to have
genuine joy for our brother, too, aren't we? And that's, I
believe, the only way that these believers could ever say, well,
I rejoice that the Romans put Paul to death. The only way they
could find any joy in that at all is, oh, this faithful, beloved
brother who gave his life to preach the gospel to me. I'm
so thankful for him. God used him to reveal Christ
to me. Now he's with the Lord. I find
joy in that. It's a mixed bag, isn't it? Weeping
and finding joy. But for the believer, now remember,
we're talking about the death of Christ. For the believer,
there's nothing but joy. There's nothing but joy in Christ.
We joy in His death. His death is my death. He died
the death that I deserve. When He died, I died in Him.
When he died, I died to the law in him. I died to justice in
him. I died to sin in him. Those things can't harm me anymore,
because I died in Christ. And here's what makes the death
of Christ so precious. He didn't stay dead. Now, if
he had stayed dead, there would be no joy in it. But he didn't
stay dead. He rose again. Paul says, for
our justification, he rose again as proof. His death justified
his people from their sins. Now there's joy in that. We think
about the death of Christ. It's all joy because he saved
everybody that the Father gave him to save. Not one of them
can be lost. Then here's the second thing
I see. I see Christ, the faithful servant. Verse 19. I trust in
the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you. Thy also may
be of good comfort when I know your state. For I have no man
like-minded who will naturally care for your state. For all
seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ. But you
know the proof of him, that as a son with the father, he has
served with me in the gospel. Him, therefore, I hope to send
presently, so as soon as I shall see, how it will go with me."
Now, Paul and Timothy, everybody here is probably very familiar
with them. They had a very, very close relationship. They were
so close. Paul called Timothy, my son,
my son, my son in the faith. Brother Henry called those men
that went out to preach in their place, they're my sons. And I
know that Timothy was Paul's son in the faith, but it almost
seems like that these two men were so close. It's like Paul
almost just adopted him as his son in the flesh too. They just
enjoyed a very, very close, special relationship. You read about
Timothy being with Paul pretty much everywhere. and all Paul's
missionaries' journeys. We read about Timothy coming
to visit Paul in prison. If Timothy wasn't there, Paul
would say, send Timothy to me. He's bringing me some books,
and I want to see Timothy. When Paul would establish a church,
and he'd go away, and he wanted to find out how they were doing.
He wanted somebody to help establish that church, make sure they hadn't
gotten off on a tangent of Christ plus the law, grace plus the
law. He'd send Timothy. He'd send Timothy there. to preach
the gospel to them, to strengthen them. And when Timothy went to
those places, he didn't go trying to seek his own glory. He didn't
go there trying to seek his own recognition. He didn't go to
those places trying to gain followers to himself. He went and he preached
Christ. He only, he didn't care that
people followed him. He wanted people to know Christ
and follow Christ. Timothy only cared about the
truth of Christ, the glory of Christ. This is the only thing
that's going to help God's people. He made it his business that
he would be just like the Apostle Paul. I'm determined to do nothing
among you, save Jesus Christ and crucify. I'm just going to
preach Christ. He wanted to point sinners to
Christ and he stayed faithful to that. And it strikes me as very sad.
that Paul would say, I had no man like-minded who would naturally
care for your state. For all seek their own, not the
things which are Jesus Christ. You think of all the preachers
that Paul must have known. And he said, I don't know anybody
but Timothy that I can send to you. I don't know anybody but
Timothy who's like-minded, who will not try to puff himself
up and get followers to himself and promote himself, but will
only preach Christ to you. I don't have anybody minded that
way, except Timothy. Now I don't know what all that means.
Part of what it means is this, human nature hadn't changed from
then to 2022. People doing that same thing
today, not seeking Christ, but seeking their own. And all I can think of to say
about that is this. Let's earnestly pray and ask
God that he don't allow us to do the same thing. That's the
only thing I can think of to say about that, that God keep
us faithful to preach Christ, to follow Christ, to want to
hear Christ preach, We just should make that a matter
of very serious prayer. As Timothy, he stayed faithful.
He stayed faithful to the gospel. He worked so closely with this
elder Paul in so many ways. And when the time came and Paul
was gone, then Timothy took over much of that responsibility.
Well, I'd like to be faithful to my generation that way, wouldn't
you? But now here's the gospel in all this I've been saying
about Timothy. I see a picture of Christ here, don't you? The
faithful son serving his father. The father, the son, and the
Holy Spirit. You know why they work so closely together? Why
they're like-minded? Because they're one. Three persons,
but they're one God. They work closely together because
they have the same mind. They have the same purpose. They
have the same nature. And the purpose of the triune
God is the glory of God and the redemption of his people. That
is the purpose of God. The purpose, the reason behind
everything God does is his glory, the glory of Christ, and the
redemption of his people. That's why God created Earth,
put man in it, and allowed man to fall so that Christ would
be glorified. That's why the reason God does
everything so that Christ would be glorified in redeeming those
people. And the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, they're one in this purpose. The Father, He chose the people
to save before time began. Put them in His Son. Now the
Father, before He created anything, He knew the state of those people
that He chose. He knew they'd be lost in Adam. He knew they'd
be ruined in sin. And ruined in sin, that's a good
phrase we ought to use. Ruined in sin. Because something
that's ruined can't be fixed up. It's ruined. It can't be fixed. The father
said, now I've chose these people, but I know their state. They're
hopeless. Can't save themselves. Can't
do anything to get themselves out of the mess they put themselves
in. The father said, I've got to send somebody to restore them
to me. Well, who will I send? I've got
to send somebody. who's in their flesh, who can
be their representative, and undo for them what Adam did to
them. Adam, their representative, put
them into death. I've got to send a representative in their
flesh, in their nature, to give them life. Adam made them unrighteous. I've got to send a representative
to undo that, make them righteous. I've got to redeem them. I've
got to send somebody who can be the sacrifice, who can put
their sin away, to pay their sin debt. I've got to send somebody. And the father said, I've got
one who's like-minded. I've got one, only one, who can
get the job done. He's my son. I'll send him to
redeem those people that I chose to save. Paul said there's nobody
like Timothy, nobody like-minded. Father said there's no one like
my son. I'll send him. And the son, he
has the same purpose. The son willingly came in the
flesh. so that he could redeem his people
from their sin. He naturally cares for the state
of his people. When the Lord puts you in a time
of difficulty, darkness and trial, you remember this. The Lord cares
for you. He careth for you. Naturally, it's his nature to
care for his people. He came to his people And he
naturally cares for their state. They're in a lost state. Well,
he's going to save them. They're in a blind state. He
came to give them sight. They were in a dark state. He
came to be their light. They were in a dead state, dead
in Adam. He came to give them life in
him. They were in an unbelieving state. He came to give them faith,
faith in him. They were in a lost state. And
he came as the great shepherd of the sheep to seek them, to
save them. to find him and bring him home.
He knew their state and he came to undo it. The son came to earth
and to flesh with absolutely no care, no consideration whatsoever
of his creature comforts. He didn't come to make everybody
see the glory of the power of God that he had in creating things
and all these, you know, people, now he did, he performed miracles,
didn't he? People saw the miracles. But isn't it interesting, after
seeing all those miracles, all they saw was a man of Nazareth. He did those miracles, they didn't
see God. They didn't see the power of God. He did those things
in such a way, all they saw was that poor Nazarene, there was
no beauty about his bodily person that would cause us to desire
him. And Christ came as a servant, a servant Just like Timothy served
with Paul, Christ came as a servant to his father to do everything
that it took to save his people from their sin. He's a faithful
servant. He didn't leave one thing undone. He's the perfect servant. The
father gave him a job to do, and he did it in every last detail. If you look at Romans chapter
3, I'll show you why this is so important. that Christ did
everything that the Father sent him to do. That's so important
because we can only be saved. Sinners can only be saved by
the faithfulness of Christ. Now, we talk about the necessity
of faith in Christ. You can't be saved without faith
in Christ, too. You must believe on him. But first, we got to
be saved by the faithfulness of Christ. Look at Romans 3,
verse 21. But now the righteousness of
God without the law, without your obedience to the law, is
manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even
the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto
all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference. Salvation
is accomplished by the faithfulness of Christ. He is faithful to
do all of the saving and that salvation is received by faith
in Christ. Look at verse 25, whom God has
set forth. to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare,
I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. See, Christ was faithful
to accomplish the salvation of his people, and that's received
by faith in Christ, by just resting in him, believing he's all it
takes to save me. Look at Galatians chapter two.
Paul says the same thing in his letter to the church at
Galatia. Galatians two, verse 16, knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, not by
the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. See, salvation is accomplished
by the faithfulness of Christ. We can't do it. By our works
of the law shall no flesh be justified. Our works of the law,
what can they do? Only thing they can do is condemn
us. But the faithfulness of Christ. He fulfilled God's law in every
jot and every tittle. Not only did he obey it, he magnified
it and made it honorable. And that salvation is received
by faith in Christ. Now the only one who could do
such a great work is the son of God. The father said, I gotta
send somebody who's faithful to accomplish this salvation.
I'll send my son. I've got nobody else like-minded.
I've got nobody else able. Well, here's the third thing.
Brother Henry always used to say, well, did he get the job
done? Father sent him to do work. He said, I'll do work. Did he
get the job done? Here's my third point. Yeah,
he did. Christ, the returning King. Back in our text, verse
24. But I trust in the Lord, I also
myself, shall come shortly." Now we can imagine how thankful
that church at Philippi would have been if Paul had been able
to come back and preach the gospel to them and visit with them.
You can just imagine, can't you? We had a conference here a number
of years ago, and I invited six of Henry Mahan's sons to come
preach. And I wrote Henry, told him what
I was doing, I said, I sure would love it if you'd come to this
conference and hear your sons preach. Now, can you imagine? We'd have been so happy to see
him, wouldn't we? Oh. He said, I just can't. I just
can't do it anymore. He said, but I'll be praying
for you. We'd have been so happy, wouldn't we? I don't know if
Paul was able to go back and visit with the church at Philippi.
I don't know what happened. I don't know if he was killed.
I don't have any idea. But boy, it would have been an
emotional service if one day on Sunday, Paul come walking
in. Wouldn't that have been something? But here's a homecoming I know
took place. Look at verse 25. You and I suppose it necessary
to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and companion in labor
and fellow soldier, but your messenger and he that ministered
to my wands, pre-longed after you all. And he was full of heaviness
because that you had heard that he'd been sick. He wasn't full
of heaviness because he was sick. He was full of heaviness because
you were worried that he was sick. For indeed he was sick,
nigh unto death. but God had mercy on him, not
on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon
sorrow. I sent him, therefore, to work
carefully, that when you see him again, you may rejoice, and
that I may be the less sorrowful. Now you receive him, therefore,
in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such in reputation,
because for the work of Christ, he was nigh unto death, not regarding
his life to supply your lack of service toward me or your
lack of opportunity to come to me. He came for the whole congregation
because they couldn't. Epaphroditus was the pastor at
Philippi. He'd taken a gift from the church
there and took it to Paul when he was in prison. And while he
was with Paul, helping him and doing different things, Epaphroditus
got so sick, Paul thought he was going to die. And when he
was sick, he had sorrow, because, oh, I hate that. The folks back
home worrying so much about me, I don't want them to be in heaviness.
I don't want them to be full of sorrow and worry. He loved
them so much, he didn't even want them worrying. And the Lord
brought him back to hell. And now Paul's sending him home.
I mean, we can just imagine how happy that church was when their
pastor came back home. I don't know how long he was
gone, but he came back home. He cared for them. He loved them,
and they cared for him. They loved him. They would have
been glad to see Paul. If Paul would have come, that
would have been a blessing. But Paul wasn't their pastor. Paul
came there. They first heard the gospel from
Paul. The church was established. The pastor was raised up. Paul
moved on. And week after week after week, that church had been
blessed. God had fed their hearts. He'd strengthened them. He'd
established them in the faith by the weekly preaching of Christ
from their pastor. They just had an ear for him.
They just wanted to hear him preach and they're so happy he
came back home healthy and able to preach to him. And Paul says
in verse 29, you hold him in reputation. The word means honor. You hold him in honor. Honor
to whom honor is due for the work's sake. It sure sounds to
me like they did, doesn't it? Now here's the gospel in that.
We can imagine. how that congregation felt when
their pastor came back home. We can imagine how they would
have felt if Paul came for a visit. We can't get started to imagine
the thrill that it's going to be when Christ appears again. We just can't even imagine it.
However glorious you think that might be, just think about it
for a minute. How glorious do you think that's
going to be? It's going to be better. It's going to be better. I don't know if Paul ever returned
to Philippi or not, but I know this. Christ is coming again. He's coming again because he
promised he would. He's coming again because he's the successful
Savior. He's coming to gather his people
to himself, that where he is, there we may be also, that we
might behold his glory. We just can't imagine. The songwriter
said, oh, the soul thrilling rapture when I see his blessed
face. And that's about all we can say
about that. The soul thrilling rapture. It would just overwhelm
my soul. We just can't imagine his glory.
And we're going to see it when he comes back. The Lord Jesus
Christ did everything He did for the glory of His Father so
that He could save a sinful people from their sin and glorify every
attribute of the Father in saving those sinful people. And by God's
grace, we believe Him. Do you believe Him? Do you believe
He's all it takes to save you? Do you? We believe He did what
He came to do. I believe He's all I need to
save my soul. You do too. We can say, I see. I see how
God saves sinners. We can say, I see something of
the glory of Christ and how he could love and redeem a sinner
like me. But buddy, it's through a glass
darkly. It's by faith. Abraham saw Christ's day by faith.
He didn't see it as clear as you and me do. In the day that Christ returns,
we will see his glory with no filters. We'll see His glory
with nothing between. We won't have to have a preacher
saying, look to Christ, because when He returns, every eye is
gonna see Him. We will see Him as He is. And get ahold of this now, get
ahold of your seat. And we'll be just like Him. No
more sin. And we'll spend eternity worshiping
our Savior Face to face. Another songwriter said, what
a day that'll be. Oh, what a day that'll be. Queen
of Sheba said, the half's not been told. That's true. I guess
I reckon it's true about Solomon. I can tell you it's true about
Christ our Savior. The half's not been told. You
know why? We don't know it. We can't imagine it. But in that
day, we will. He's coming again. Hasten, Lord, today. Let's bow
together. Our Father, how we thank you
for Christ our Savior. How we thank you for His willing
sacrifice. How we thank you for His faithfulness
to accomplish all the salvation of His people. How we thank you
that you're pleased to give your people faith in Christ by preaching
Him. Can't know Him until somebody
preaches Him to us. How thankful we are that you
give faith to believe and love what this flesh cannot believe
and love. Father, how we thank you for a successful reigning
Savior who's coming again. And we say, hasten, Lord, the
day. How we long to see Him face to face. This will not be a day
of fear. There's no reason for us to threaten
one another and put fear into one another that Christ is coming
again. But it's a matter of joy. It's
a matter of celebration. It's a matter of comfort for
our hearts. Christ the Savior is coming again. And Father,
until that day, how I pray that you would keep us faithful to
the cause of Christ, how we I beg of you that you keep us faithful
to preach him to our generation, that we would never seek to glorify
ourselves, to lift ourselves up, to promote ourselves. Father, cause us to lift up and
promote the name of Christ our Savior. And bless that preaching,
Father, for your glory and for the good of your people, to call
them out, to feed them, instruct them, establish them in the faith. until that day that Christ returns.
For it's in his precious name that we pray. It's in his name
we give thanks and for the glory of his name we pray. Amen. All right, Sean.