69 from the hardbacked hymnal,
number 69. This is one of those hymns that's
supposedly only be sung on Sunday, but every day we get together
is a Sabbath, the Lord's day. Let's stand together, number
69. Good other week, God has brought
us on our way. Let us now a blessing seek, waiting
in his courts today. Day of old, a week that passed,
emblem of eternal rest. Day of old, a week that passed,
? Emblem of eternal rest ? ? While we pray for pardoning grace ?
? Through the dear Redeemer's name ? ? Show thy reconciled
face ? ? Take away our sin and shame ? From our worldly cares
set free, may we rest this day in thee. From our worldly cares
set free, may we rest this day in thee. Here we come, thy name
to praise, let us feel thy presence near. May thy glory meet our
eyes while we in thy house appear. Here afford us, Lord, a taste
of our everlasting peace. Here afford us, Lord, a taste
of our everlasting peace. May thy gospels' joyful sound,
Conquer sinners, comfort saints. May the fruits of grace abound,
Bring relief for all the plains. Thus may all our Sabbaths prove,
Till we join the Church above. ? Thus may all our Sabbaths prove
? ? Till we join the church of love ? Please be seated. Good evening. Let's open our
Bibles together to Revelation chapter 19. Revelation 19, and we'll begin
reading in verse seven. Let us be glad, and rejoice,
and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come,
and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted
that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,
for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And he saith unto
me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, these are
the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship
him. And he said unto me, see thou do it not. I am my fellow
servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus.
Worship God for the spirit of Jesus, the testimony of Jesus
is the spirit of prophecy. And I saw heaven open. behold
a white horse and he that sat upon him was called faithful
and true and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His
eyes were as a flame of fire and his head were many crowns
and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself and
he was clothed with the vesture dipped in blood and his name
is called the word of God. Our gracious, glorious, merciful
heavenly father. What hope and confidence and
comfort we have in knowing that when we come into thy presence,
looking in faith to the one who is faithful and true, the one
who is the word of God. the one who is the spirit of
prophecy and the fulfillment of all thy promises, thy dear
son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that we have full acceptance in him.
Lord, that you're pleased with him and those that are found
in him. We ask that you would send your
spirit in power, that you would increase our faith, that you
would forgive our sins, that you would, Lord, grow us in your
grace, in the love of Christ, cause us, Lord, to find that
rest that we just sang about in our living Sabbath, thy dear
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. For it's in his name we ask it.
Amen. Number 36 in the Spiral Gospel
Hymns Hymnbook, number 36. And let's stand together again.
? Behold my soul, the love of God
? ? Behold the grace flows free ? Before all worlds His purpose
stood, His heart was fixed on me. Elected by eternal love,
A covenant firm and sure, The triune call God created love,
Salvation to secure. My soul was given to the Son
He promised to redeem By blood and righteousness His own He
would my soul reclaim In the due time He met who came To live
and die for me He lives today and bears my name. Christ is
my surety. In love He sent His Spirit down,
Who gave me life and grace. He drew me and I followed on,
My Savior to embrace. Please be seated. Did you open your Bibles with
me to Psalm 119? Psalm 119. We'll begin reading at verse
110. The wicked have laid a snare for me, yet I erred not from
thy precepts. What a glorious picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ going to the cross and being faithful to the
Father to the end. In spite of all of the contradiction
of sinners, he erred not from the precepts of God. Verse 111,
thy testimonies have I taken as a heritage forever. for they are the rejoicing of
my heart. And in faith, we can say that.
The precepts of God are the rejoicing of our hearts. And the Lord has
given us faith. That faith is forever. And we
trust his perfect word for the revelation of Christ and for
the hope of our salvation. This is why I wanna spend some
time tonight. Look at verse 112. I have inclined
my heart to perform thy statutes. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one that performed the word of God. He said, I did not come
to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. And we just read in the book
of Revelation that the Lord Jesus himself is the spirit of prophecy. All the prophets and the law
speak of him. And so he's saying, I have inclined
my heart to perform thy statues always even unto the end, even
unto the end. I hope that you'll find some
encouragement tonight as we look at several passages of scripture
that speak of the end, the end. You know, it's not how we begin,
it's how we end. and how the Lord Jesus Christ
ended faithful, faithful to the end to fulfill and to perform
all the precepts of God. In Hebrews chapter 9 at verse
26, it says, for then must he often have suffered since the
foundation of the world. Speaking of the Lord Jesus not
being like those Old Testament priests who performed sacrifice
after sacrifice after sacrifice. But now, once in the end of the
world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. Now God is saying to us 2,000
years ago was the end of the world. But once in the end of
the world, a day is as 1,000 years and 1,000 years as is a
day. Oh, that the Lord would give
us the grace to redeem the time and to reckon our time like he
does. He says now in the end of the
world, Christ has made the sacrifice to put away our sins once and
for all. Even unto the end, I want to
be faithful to the end. I do. I want to be able to say
with the Apostle Paul, I have kept the faith, fought a good
fight. And there's a crown of righteousness
laid up for me and not for me only, but for all of them. for
all them that love His appearing. I know that that faithfulness
is dependent upon His faithfulness. Turn to me to Romans chapter
14. Romans chapter 14. We are in the end times, brethren. Maybe this is the end of the
end, but we just saw in Hebrews that the Lord refers to that
whole period of time between the first and second coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ as the end of the world, the end of
the world. And that's a good thing. It's
a good thing for us to be reminded of the brevity and the vanity
of this world, that we might set our affections on things
above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. In
Romans chapter 14, look with me, if you will, at verse seven.
For none of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live
unto the Lord. And whether we die, we die unto
the Lord. And whether we live therefore
or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end, for to this
end, Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be
Lord both of the dead and of the living. To this end, the
purpose that the Lord Jesus Christ came was that the Father would
set him at his right hand and give him a name that is above
every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee would bow
and every tongue confess, here at the end of the world, The
Lord Jesus Christ has been exalted to his rightful place of glory.
And he reigns sovereign over the dead and the living. And
he's not talking about those who are physically dead or physically
alive, talking about spiritual death. The Lord, I was thinking,
you know, we're back into these, into a political era, period
of time, which we'll all be glad when that's over. But I've heard
people say, Donald Trump's not my president. Well, you'll have
to renounce your citizenship of the United States for Donald
Trump not to be your president. I don't care what you think about
Donald Trump. He's your president if you're a citizen of this country.
And people say that about the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I'm
not gonna bow to him. I'll not have that man reign
over me. Well, he reigns over you, whether you want him to
or not. You can't avoid that. God gave
him a name and God made him to be Lord. At the end of the world,
when he put away the sins of his people, to this end did he
live and die and revived again. that he might be made Lord over
the dead, that's the spiritually dead, those are those who stand
at enmity with God, who don't know the life of God, and the
spiritually living. Jesus is Lord. The sign out on I-4, it was there
for years, I guess at some church religious organization, Jesus
is Lord over Orlando. Well, he's Lord over a lot more
than that. He's Lord over everything, everything and everybody. And
he hath done, he reigns sovereign over all the affairs of men,
over the armies of heaven. No man can stay his hand. No
man can say unto him, what doest thou? He is Lord. And God's people
rejoice in that. He was faithful to the end. And
God made him Lord. Religious talk about making Jesus
Lord of their life. Too late. Too late. God's already done it. You can't
make him Lord. He's already Lord. You can't
make him to be something that he already is. John chapter 18, when our Lord
was talking to Pilate, he said, To this end was I born. To this end was I born. And for this cause came I into
the world, to bear witness unto the truth. And they that are
of the truth, heareth my voice. Oh, that the Lord would give
us ears to hear. We know that the hearing ear
and the seeing eye they that are of the truth, they that are
of me, those that are of Christ, the Lord Jesus himself is the
truth. They that are of the truth, they hear his voice and they
rejoice in his voice and they bow to him for he was faithful
to the end, to the end. In his dying breath, father into
thy hands, I commend my spirit. He performed all the word of
God. And what did he say? It is finished. It is finished. Turn to me to
Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22. Look at verse 37, for I say unto
you that this that is written must
yet be accomplished in me. What was written? Well, Isaiah
chapter 53 verse 12. He was reckoned among the transgressors. You remember when the Lord was
on the Mount of Transfiguration and and Moses and Elijah appeared,
and the veil of our Lord's humanity was taken away for a brief period
of time, and Peter, James, and John found themselves in the
dirt. And the scripture says that Moses, a picture of the
law, and Elijah, a picture of the prophets, the Lord Jesus
came, Because all the promises of God, all the promises made
by the prophets are yea and amen in Christ. He's the end of the
prophecies. The prophecy, the spirit of prophecy
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believes. And so the Lord is
speaking with Moses and Elijah, representing all the scriptures
of those things which he would accomplish in his death. Those
things that he would accomplish in his death. And now he says
here in Luke chapter 22 at verse 37, that which is written must
be accomplished in me. What has been written? that he
was reckoned among the transgressors, for the things concerning me,
look at the last phrase in verse 37, for the things concerning
me have an end. They have an end. They have a
purpose. They have an accomplished purpose. They have a finished work. And
something's the end, it's the end. You know, I was thinking,
I couldn't remember In movies, does the end come after the credits? I think it does, doesn't it?
After a movie, you get the credits, and then you sit there and watch
all the credits, and then it says the end. And when it says
the end, you know, it's nothing else, right? It's over. It's
finished. And I thought, you know, that's...
The Lord's saying, there's an end. There's a purpose. What
is His end? What is His end? Well, it's His
glory. And it's the salvation of his
people. And those two things are perfectly met together, aren't
they? Because he's most glorified in
the saving of his people. For this cause came I into the
world. For this end was I born to bear
witness unto the truth. And of his kingdom, the scripture
says, there shall be no end. There should be no end to his
kingdom. The scripture speaks of that
world which is without end. So the end work of the Lord Jesus
Christ fulfilling all the law and the prophets was that there
might be the establishment of his kingdom which hath no end
in a world which has no end. Everything else ends, doesn't
it? Everything else does. And these
things are made possible because he made an end of sin. Turn to me to Daniel chapter
nine, Daniel chapter nine. We looked at this passage recently.
I love this, this prophecy. The Lord is telling Daniel, and
you know, when the wise men came, where was Daniel when he received
these prophecies? He was in Babylonian captivity. And he was teaching those wise
men in Babylon the prophecies of God. And I'm convinced, those
men that came from the east at the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ,
they didn't just, They didn't just come because they thought,
well, maybe, you know, it'd be a good idea to come or because
God spoke something to them extraordinarily. No, he spoke to them by his word. They knew the prophecies of Daniel. 490 years prior, Daniel had told
the men in the, remember he was set over all the wise men of
Babylon, Daniel was. And he shared these prophecies
and they knew these prophecies. And so what I'm trying to say
to you is that God speaks by his word. He doesn't speak through
a, you know, you're not going to get a dream or a vision or
a feeling or, you know, an experience. Don't trust those things. Trust
what God says, because what he says is true. And that's what
the Lord came to do. He came into this world at the
end of the world in order to make an end of sin and in order
to fulfill these prophecies. Look at verse 24, 70 weeks are
determined upon thy people and upon the holy city, thy holy
city. Now a day is a year in this prophecy. So seven times 70 is 490. And that's exactly how long it
was between the time that Daniel prophesied and the coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And these wise men knew it. And
so the Lord said, 70 weeks are determined. They are determined
by God. They're set in stone. It's going
to happen. 490 years from now, this is what's
going to happen. thy people and upon thy holy city to finish
the transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation
for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and
to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
Now, those are all the things that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished. In the fulfillment of this prophecy,
he made an end of sin. He put away the sins of his people.
He buried them, and the scripture says, in the depths of the sea.
Put them in a sack and threw them over his back, and they're
just gone. The Lord says, I remember them no more. There's our only
hope. Our only hope that when God looks
at us, he sees us in Christ, and our sin's been put away.
Every bit of it. Past, present, future, all sin. Oh, he made an end of it. That's
what he came to do. Faithful to the end. I thought
my introduction this past Sunday would be what Philip asked. Does the prophet speak of himself
or is he speaking of another man? Most of what we've read in the
Psalms, we could say with Philip, oh no, he's speaking of another
man. He's speaking of the God man. The one mediator between
God and man, the man, Christ Jesus, the Lord, that's who he's
speaking of. And certainly that's who Daniel is speaking of, who's
going to come and finish transgression, make an end of sin, make reconciliation
for iniquity. We can't reconcile ourselves
to God. Man at his very best state is
altogether vanity. Our good deeds are iniquitous. And the Lord said, I'm going
to reconcile those who cannot reconcile themselves. I'm going to bring in an everlasting
righteousness. I'm going to seal up the vision.
I'm going to anoint the Holy One. That's what Christ came
to do. And those wise men read that
and they believed it. And they came and God gave them
another sign when the stars, this was the book, this was the
word that they were studying to know that this was the time
for the end. Christ Jesus the Lord fulfilled
the law. He fulfilled the law. The law's
never been able to save anybody. God didn't give the law as a
means of salvation. God gave the law to make sin
utterly sinful, to reveal the perfect righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 10 says, men,
ignorantly, unknowingly go about trying to establish their own
righteousness, being ignorant of the righteousness of God.
For Christ, Jesus, the Lord himself, is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
end. Does He not call Himself on several occasions in the scriptures,
the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end? And so from election in the covenant
of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ had to stand before the Father
as the surety of His people in order for us to be, in order
for God to be able to love us with an everlasting love. That's
the first cause of our salvation. That's the beginning of our salvation.
And when the Lord said, I am the alpha, he's talking about,
I was there. I'm the reason that the father
chose you. I'm the reason that he loved you. I'm the reason
that he redeemed you and called you and sanctified you and glorified
you. The Alpha and the Omega, the
beginning and the end, all of salvation, all of salvation. I was talking to a dear sister
this week and she was trying to share the gospel with a loved
one, a family member. And the family member was listening
to a gospel preacher read scripture. And her response to him reading
scripture was, well, that's His opinion. You know, I thought, that's it. Going about trying to establish
their own righteousness. Not knowing that Christ Jesus
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
A veil is still over their face. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians. chapter three, 2 Corinthians chapter three, verse 13. And not as Moses, Moses
being a picture of the law, but not as Moses, which put a veil
over his face that the children of Israel could not steadfastly
look to the end of that which is abolished. They could not
see what Moses represented. He had a veil over his face.
The radiant glory of God was so bright that they had to cover
his face, and they could not see the end of that which was
abolished. But their minds were blinded,
for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in
the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. We see only in Christ the end
of that which is abolished. But even unto this day, when
Moses is read, the veil is still upon their hearts. Well, that's
just their opinion. They can't hear. They that are
of the truth hear my voice. For this end came I into the
world. Nevertheless, when it, when what?
The heart. When the heart shall turn unto
the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. They can't see Christ. They can't see what he accomplished. They can't see what the end of
his life was. They can't see what his purpose
was in keeping the law of God. They're going about trying to
keep the law themselves in hopes that it'll be good enough. Well,
it's not. It's not good enough. God requires
perfection and he's pleased only with Christ. He's the end of
the law for righteousness. But the natural man, the religious
man, still has a veil. They can't see the end of that
which is abolished. All they can see is their own
works and their own righteousness. But Lord, we've done many wonderful
works in your name. Isn't that what they say? That's
what the Lord said they'll be saying on judgment day. We've
cast out demons in your name. We've prophesied in your name.
And what's the Lord say? Depart from me, you workers of
Iniquity, all the good things that you've been doing in hopes
to earn favor with God, I'm calling iniquity. I came to put an end
to iniquity, to abolish iniquity, to put an end to sin. And you're
robbing me of my glory by trying to do what I only can do. There's a veil over their face. Turn with me to First Peter chapter
one, First Timothy chapter one. First Timothy chapter one. What law are we under? It was a little article in your
bulletin this past Sunday. People that accuse believers
of being lawless Really what they're saying is,
if I believed what you believe, I would be lost. I pray they not get those accusations
from seeing our lives. But that's what they're saying.
If I didn't have the law to restrain me, And if I didn't have my good
works to, to promote me, if I believe what you believed in pure grace,
I'd be completely lawless. I wouldn't have any, I wouldn't
have, but they know nothing of the constraining love of Christ,
do they? We do have a law. We have a law
of the spirit. We have a law of grace. Look
what, look what Paul says to Timothy in first Timothy chapter
one at verse five. Now, The end of the commandment
is charity, love. That's the summary of the law,
isn't it? And we have the love of Christ. The end of the commandment is
love, is charity, out of a pure heart and of a good conscience
and faith unfeigned. We're not pretending to have
faith. We're not, this is the faith that God's given us. We're
looking in faith to Christ. Let me say this. Faith is not
believing that you're saved. That comes and goes, doesn't
it? Faith is believing that Jesus
Christ, the Lord, the Son of God, is the accomplished successful
Savior of sinners and that the only hope that you have to stand
in the presence of God is to be found in him. It's a sweet thing when the Lord
gives you. Assurance and comfort and grace
and you have that fellowship, but that doesn't always happen,
does it? But even when it doesn't, if you have faith unfeigned,
faith unfeigned, you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
son of the living God, whether you believe that he saved you
or not. You believe that, don't you? You can't. The end of the law is charity. Revelation chapter 21, verse
six, it is done. The Lord Jesus said, for I am
the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. Every part of your salvation
is completely dependent upon me all the way to the end. Because he was faithful to the
end, it is certain. It is certain that we shall be
also. If he's called us, he will finish
what he's begun. I'm confident of that. The Lord
Jesus said, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me
and to finish his work. To finish his work. The very
first recorded words that we have in scripture from the unfeigned
lips of the Lord Jesus Christ is, woman, did you not know that
I must be about my father's business? When he was 12 years old, lost
to his parents, he wasn't lost. And his last words, it's finished. My whole life was to do the father's
business and to do his will. and to bring an end to sin. And
I finished the work. Paul said in 2 Timothy chapter
4, I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I
have kept the faith. I'm believing more now than I've
ever believed before. And the more you grow in grace and the
non, faith is not, is not some sort of brash, bold self-confidence. That's not what faith is. It's
just the opposite, isn't it? It's just the opposite. Because
the more you grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ, the
more you see of his glory, the more you see of your need for
him, the more of you see of your sin, the humbler you become.
and the more you rely upon Him for everything in your salvation,
everything. And on your dying bed and in
your dying moments, child of God, you're going to know then
more than you've ever known in your life that all you have is
Christ and all you need is Christ. That's what Paul's saying. I've
kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness which the Lord The righteous judge shall give
me at that day and not me only, but unto all them also who love
his appearing. Paul said in Philippians chapter
one, I'm confident. I'm confident of this very thing
that he, which began a good work in you, will perform it until
the day of his coming. You see, that's what he does.
He finishes what he starts. He's never started anything,
not like us. He's never started anything he didn't finish. He
came into this world to put an end to sin, to work out a righteousness,
to save his people. And he accomplished what he came
to do. He didn't make an offer of salvation
for us to accept or reject. He offered himself to his father
and his father accepted his offering, his blood sacrifice for the forgiveness
of the sins of his people. And just as he accomplished what
he did in saving his people and justifying them and being their
righteousness, so he accomplishes what he does in each of our lives. He calls us by His grace. He
keeps us by His grace. He will make sure that we're
able to say with the Apostle Paul, I've kept the faith, kept
the faith. John chapter 13. Our Lord gathers
with the disciples at the Last Supper. The scripture says, having
loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto
the end. There's our hope. There's our
hope. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. He said, I'll never
leave you nor forsake you. He said, all power and authority
has been given unto me in heaven and earth. Therefore, Go ye therefore
and teach all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I've commanded you and lo, I am with you even
unto the end of the world." The end of your life in this
world. He loved them to the end. How many things you and I have
started in our lives that we didn't finish? A lot of them is probably good
we didn't finish. But we're bad about that, aren't we? I'm particularly
bad about it. I will always leave a little
something undone. And pretty much everything I
do, there's just a little something undone at the end. I don't know
why I do that, but it seems like I can't ever quite finish anything. The Lord's not that way. He finished his work. He was
faithful to the end. And he declares the end from
the beginning. In other words, he's sovereign
in every part of our lives and in our salvation, yes, but in
Providence as well. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
46, Isaiah 46. Look at verse 10. This is a familiar
passage. Well, we'll begin at verse 9.
Remember the former things of old, for I am God. Just think
about that for a minute. I am God. Scripture says, you call me Lord. Honor me with your lips, but
your hearts are far from me. In other words, people will say
Jesus is Lord, Jesus is God, but then they'll deny the very
essence of deity by robbing him of his sovereignty. I am God and there is none else.
I am God and there's none like me. declaring the end from the
beginning and from ancient times of things that are not yet done
saying, my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. Only God can say that. Declare
the end from the beginning. In other words, what the Lord
ordained in the covenant of grace at the beginning has an end. and not one of his sheep will
be lost." I love it when Moses came and brought the children
of Israel out of Egypt, the scripture says, and not a hoof was left
behind. You remember Pharaoh tried to get Moses, well, take
the men and leave the women and children. Nope, taking them all.
Okay, well, take the women, but leave the children. Nope, taking
them all. All right, well, leave your cattle behind. Nope. And
not a hoof was left behind. They all came out. What a picture
of our Moses, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is a prophet like
unto him, who fulfilled the law and brought out every one of
his children, every single one. Look at verse 11, calling a ravenous
bird from the east, the man that executed my counsel from a far
country. Yea, I have spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it and I also
will do it. Ah, I can rest there. I can rest
there. Our God reigns. He's absolutely
sovereign. Just because our future is uncertain
to us, doesn't mean that it is to him. Oh no, it's not uncertain
to him at all. He's got it all purposed. according
to his will. Listen to what the Lord said
in Jeremiah chapter 29. I know the thoughts that I think
toward you, saith the Lord. Thoughts of peace, not of evil,
to bring you to your expected end. Oh, we have an expectation, don't
we? that the Lord is going to bring us to our end. He is faithful. He that called you is faithful.
He that keeps you is faithful. He that delivers you is faithful.
He's faithful to the end. To the end. He loved those that
God had given him out of the world and loved them to the end. The Lord said in Matthew chapter
24, he that shall endure to the end shall be saved. Oh Lord,
keep me to the end. Keep me to the end. The end of
all things is at hand. The Lord said, be therefore sober
and watch unto prayer. The end is at hand. If God said
that the Lord Jesus came into this world at the end of the
world to put away sin, and he was talking about what he did
2000 years ago, how much closer to the end are we now? And the Lord says the end of
all things is at hand. Be therefore sober and watch
unto prayer. Remain firm. to the end, receiving
the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. There's our hope. There's our
hope. In closing, turn with me to Ephesians
chapter three, Ephesians chapter three. Verse 16, that he would grant
you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened
with might by his spirit in the inner man. His strength is made perfect
in our weakness, and that doesn't mean that. That that we become
strong. That means that we we remain
weak. We remain weak. Lord, I can't
do this. I can't save myself. I can't
deal with my circumstances. I'm weak. I'm completely dependent
upon you for everything. that He would grant you according
to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might by
His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may
be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth
and the length and the depth and the height and to know the
love of Christ, which passive knowledge that you might be filled
with all the fullness of God. I got an email a couple days
ago. Somebody, I don't know who they were. They, I guess, been
listening and they said they had a group of five young couples
that they were doing marital counseling for. and they wanted
me to suggest some questions that might inspire a discussion
that would help these young couples in their marriage. And as soon
as I read it, I thought, yeah, I'll be happy to do that. And
so I wrote him back and I said, I said, I have three questions
that you can present to your little group And the answer to
these three questions will answer every other question that they
might have. And the answer to these three
questions is going to require the entire book of God. It's gonna require the entire
Bible to answer them. The answers are not short, but
the implications to the full answers to these three questions
We'll answer every other question. Who is Christ? What did he accomplish? And what is the gospel? I said, you ask, you pose those
three questions to your little group of marriage counselors.
And if you all can answer those questions, then the answer to
those questions will cause your hearts to be filled with Christ
and the love and the grace and the forgiveness and the joy that
will come will solve whatever other issues you might think
you've got a problem with. Who is Christ? What did he accomplish? And what is the gospel? That's what that's what Paul
saying here. To know the love of Christ. Which
passes knowledge that you might be filled with the fullness of
God. Now unto him that is able to
do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according
to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory to the
church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. World without end. This kingdom
is an everlasting kingdom. the rule and reign of the Lord
Jesus Christ in the hearts of His people as they bow to Him,
look to Him, depend upon Him, rest in Him, rejoice in Him. He's the faithful one, faithful
to the end, to the end. And His faithfulness to the end
will keep us faithful to the end. Our Heavenly Father, bless your
word to our hearts. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. 125, let's stand together, 125. I hear the singer say, thy strength
indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and
pray. Mind indeed, I owe it all. Jesus made it all, all to him
I owe. Sin had left the crimson stain,
He washed it white as stone. Lord, now indeed I find My power
and mine alone, And change the leper's spots, And melt the heart
of stone. Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe. Sin hath left the crimson stain
He washed in finest snow. For nothing good have I Whereby
thy grace will play. I'll wash my garments white In
the blood of Calvary's Lamb. Jesus paid it all, all to him
I owe. Sin had left the prince and stay,
he washed it white as snow. And when before the throne, I
stand in complete, Jesus died my soul to save. My lips shall
still repeat, Jesus made it all, all to Him my own. Sin had left the Prince and stayed,
He washed it white as snow. I'd like to speak about So we're going to do the same.