Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with a hymn from the hardback temple, number 199.
199, Christ Receiveth Sinful Men. Let's all stand together. Sinner Jesus will receive. Sound this word of grace to all
who the heavenly pathway lead. All who linger, all who fall,
sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ receiveth sinful men. Make the message clear and plain,
Christ received his sinful man. Come and He will give you rest. Trust Him for His word is plain. He will take the sinful last. Christ receiveth sinful men. Sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ receiveth sinful men. Make the message clear and plain,
Christ receiveth sinful men. ? Now my heart condemns me not
? ? Pure before the law I stand ? ? He who cleansed me from all
spot ? ? Satisfied its last demand ? ? Sing it o'er and o'er again
? ? Christ receive his sinful bed ? Make the message clear
and plain, Christ received the King of Man. Christ receiveth
sinful men, even me with all my sin, purged from every spot
and stain. Heaven with Him I enter in, sing
it o'er and o'er again. Christ receiveth sinful men,
Please be seated. Aren't you thankful? I welcome
our brethren in Sarasota, they're
all back in town and meeting over there tonight. It's a blessing
to have them online and it's a blessing to have you here.
I'd like for us to read from Revelation chapter 5, Revelation
chapter 5 for our scripture reading tonight. Verse one, and I saw in the right
hand of him that sat on the throne, a book written within and on
the backside sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel
proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book
and to loose the seals thereof. And no man in heaven nor in earth,
neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither
to look thereon." Oh, if this book doesn't get open, nobody's
going to be saved. And I wept much because no man
was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to
look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto
me, weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book
and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo,
in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the
midst of the elders, stood a lamb as it had been slain, having
seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God,
sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book
out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And
when he had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and
twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of
them harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers
of saints. And they sung a new song saying,
thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof
for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood
out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation and hast
made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign on
the earth. And I beheld and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne and the beast, and
the elders, and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000,
and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is
the lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom,
and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. Let's pray together. Merciful Heavenly Father, we
come before thy throne of grace, pleading in the name of thy dear
Son, that you would open this book for us tonight, that you
would be pleased to reveal to us the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ, that we would find ourselves joining our hearts with the voices
of those angels in glory, singing glory and honor and power. For truly, Lord, you're the only
one that is worthy. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Worthy the Lamb for sinners slain,
His blood can never fail. The conquering line of Judah
came, And over all prevails. Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is
the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb who was slain. All praise to the Lamb, all praise
to the Lamb, all praise to the Lamb who was slain. Dear Lamb of God, you took our
sins and made them all your own. Your blood you shed, your life
you gave to bring us to your throne. Worthy is the Lamb, worthy
is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb who was slain. All praise to the Lamb, all praise
to the Lamb, all praise to the Lamb who was slain. That precious blood we know was
not for sinners shed in vain. Not one of those can ever die
for whom the Lamb was slain. Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is
the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb who was slain. All praise to the Lamb, all praise
to the Lamb, all praise to the Lamb who was slain. This Lamb who died, He is a Lion,
Whose will is always done. He conquered Satan, Death, and
Hell, And then He claimed His throne. Worthy is the Lamb, worthy
is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb who was slain. All praise to the Lamb, all praise
to the Lamb, all praise to the Lamb who was slain. The lion rules to save his own,
his chosen, ransomed race. He conquers and subdues their
wills by matchless sovereign grace. Worthy is the Lamb, worthy
is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb who was slain. All praise to the Lamb, all praise
to the Lamb, all praise to the Lamb who was slain. Did Jesus rise, the Lamb of God,
and take His rightful place? So surely shall His ransomed
ones in heaven find their place. Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is
the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb who was slain. All praise to the Lamb, all praise
to the Lamb, all praise to the Lamb who was slain. Please be seated. We're going to begin tonight
in Joshua chapter 23, if you'd like to turn with me there in
your Bibles, Joshua chapter 23. I was reading that passage over
there in Philippians chapter 3, where Paul said, this one
thing I do. And I thought about one thing. How often times is one thing
mentioned in the scriptures? And I found several passages
of Scripture where the Lord uses those two words together, one
thing. And I came to see that out of
all the references that are in the Word of God on one thing,
part of them have to do with the faithfulness of God being
the one thing. And the other of them has to
do with the faith of believers being their one thing. And so, faithfulness on God's
part and on our part, according to the Word of God, is the one
thing needful. The one thing needful. I'm so
thankful for the simplicity of the Gospel, aren't you? Man-made
religion is so complicated, you never know exactly how many things
you need to do or how you need to do them. And for the Lord
to simplify the gospel of His grace down to one thing, that
makes it easy. Makes it easy for us to get a
hold of it and to understand what it is the Lord would have
us to know about that one thing. Faith is never enough for the
unbeliever. He's always got to have something
else. He's always got to have some other evidence of his salvation
based on works or based on his will or based on something else. Faith, God-given faith, is the
only thing that the child of God has. And the only hope that
they have is that the Lord was faithful, faithful, to keep all
of his promises in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's that one thing. So let's look at some of these
verses together. Jeremiah chapter 23, Joshua. Did I say Jeremiah? I'm
sorry. Joshua. Joshua chapter 23. Joshua is
about to go the way of the earth. In other words, he's about to
die. And he's giving his last words to the children of Israel. And here's what he says in verse
14. And behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know that in all your
hearts and in all your souls that not one thing hath failed
of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning
you, all are come to pass unto you and not one thing hath failed
thereof. Every promise of God is fulfilled
in Christ. They're all yay and amen in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And you know that not one of
them has failed. Not a single one of his promises
has failed. Joshua being a type of the Lord
Jesus Christ, we were talking about this before the service,
his name is the Hebrew for Jesus. It means the same thing. So Jehovah
saves, that's what his name means. Moses couldn't bring the children
of Israel across the Jordan into the promised land. Moses had
to die on the other side of the river. Moses' body had to be
taken away and hidden by the Lord. Why? Because Moses is a
picture of the law. And the law can't save. And we
don't look back to the law. Can you imagine if they had been
allowed to bury the body of Moses somewhere where they knew where
it was? They'd have gone back to that tomb, wouldn't they?
And that's what men do today. They just go back to the law.
It took Joshua. to bring the children of Israel
across the Jordan River into the promised land. He was the
picture of Christ. And he's now about to die, and
he says, not one of God's promises have failed. You know that. We
don't serve a frustrated God. All of his purposes have been
fulfilled in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me show
you that. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. 2 Corinthians chapter
1. Here's an illustration of how
complicated and how convoluted man-made religion is, how impossible
it is to understand it, and how man has gotten away from that
one thing, this one thing you know, all the promises of God
have been fulfilled. Now, how does the Lord express
that in 2 Corinthians 1, look at verse 18. But as God is true,
our word toward you was not yea and nay. We didn't preach a gospel out
of both sides of our mouth. We didn't say God is sovereign,
except when it comes up against your will. We didn't say that
man is dead in his trespasses and sins, but he has the ability
to make a decision for God. We didn't say grace, grace, Apart from the law is the only
hope that you have to be saved and then turn around and take
you back to the law to use it to measure your salvation or
to monitor your salvation or to somehow motivate your obedience.
You see, we didn't preach yay, nay. We didn't say one thing. I've heard preachers say, well,
they're trying to explain election and man's responsibility, and
they'll say things like this. They'll say, well, the atoning
work of Christ was sufficient for the sins of all men, but
only efficient for the elect. That's just talking out of both
sides of your mouth. That's yay-nay preaching. It
doesn't even make sense. And Paul says, we didn't come
to you like that. We came preaching to you one thing, the faithfulness
of God to accomplish the salvation of his people by satisfying all
of his law and by keeping all of his promises. That's the gospel
that we came to preach to you. We didn't say to you, God loves
everybody. and most of the folks he loves
he's gonna send to hell and torture for all eternity. We didn't come
to preaching that kind of gospel. The yes is yes and the no is
no and the simplicity of the gospel is that you know that
our Joshua has kept every promise and not one of them has failed.
Look at the rest of this passage. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ,
who was preached, we're looking at verse 19 now, in 2 Corinthians
chapter one. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ,
who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and
Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. In Christ was yes. Yes, the justice
of God has been satisfied. Yes, the law has been fulfilled
and silenced. Yes, all God's people are saved. It's all yea in Christ. Look at the next verse. For all
the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen unto the
glory of God. He gets all the glory. Why? Because as Joshua said, this
one, not one thing hath failed of all the good things which
God spake concerning you. They are all come to pass, not
one of them has failed. Oh, I'm so thankful that we have
the simplicity of Christ. who fulfilled all the law of
God and who kept all the promises of God. He's faithful, faithful
to save his people. His name is faithful and true. I like the way Peter put it in
2 Peter 3, verse 8. He said, I would not have you
to be ignorant, brethren, concerning this one thing, This one thing,
a thousand years is as a day, and a day is as a thousand years. God is not slack concerning his
promises to us-ward. To us-ward. He's going to accomplish
the salvation of his people. As some men count slackness,
but it was long-suffering. Long-suffering. Why? Because
all Israel's going to be saved. Every single one of them. This
is the one thing He came to do. The one thing that the Lord Jesus
Christ came to accomplish was the salvation of God's people
and the glory, bringing glory to the Father through the salvation
of His people. In 2 Samuel chapter 3, turn with
me there. Turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter
3. Abner is the commander of Saul's
army and Abner realizes that the blessings of God are on David
and Joab and that Saul's on his way out and so Abner goes to
David and to make a covenant with David. He says to David,
I will pledge the loyalty of my army to you. And David receives
Abner into his camp. And look what David says in 2
Samuel 3 at verse 13. And he said, well, here's David
speaking, I will make a league with thee. I'll make a covenant
with you. But one thing I require of thee. And that is that thou shalt not
see my face, except thou first bring Michael, Saul's daughter,
when thou comest to see my face. Michael was the one that Saul
gave to David in hopes that when David went out to kill the hundred
Philistines, as the dowry for his daughter, that they would
kill David. But David didn't. David killed
the hundred Philistines, brought them back to Saul, and Saul gave
David his daughter. And now David is the son-in-law
of the king. But then Saul takes his daughter
back. And scripture says that Michael loved David. And now
she's been given to another man and David's longing for her back.
And it kind of reminds me of the story when David and his
men were in battle and they came back to Ziklag where they had
left their wives and their children. And when they got back, they
found out that the Amalekites had burned the city. It was just
in ruins and smoldering, and all their wives and children
were gone. And David's men were about to stone him. And the scripture
says that David comforted himself in the Lord and went to the priest
and prayed, and God led him to go find the Amalekites. And the
end of the story, the end of the story is that, is this line,
David recovered all. He recovered all. Everything
that was in Ziklag, not one child was injured, not one of the wives
were taken, none of the possessions, he recovered everything. It's
kind of like when God brought the children of Israel out of
Egypt, the scripture says that not a hoof was left behind. They all came out. And so David
now is saying to Abner, he's saying, I'll make a league with
you under one condition. You bring Michael back. My wife. And he did. Abner went and got
her, brought her back. And what is all this about? It's all about our David, the
Lord Jesus Christ, saving his bride. Not one will be lost. Not one will be left behind.
You know that all the promises of God are yea and amen in him. And Joshua said, he's not failed. We don't serve a frustrated God. We serve a God who has accomplished
the salvation of his people. What comfort we have in that.
What hope, what rest to know that though the Amalekites come,
and what a picture of our flesh the Amalekites are. And though
Saul might take us away and give us to another man for a period
of time, the Lord's going to recover all of his bride. All Israel's gonna be saved.
Why? Because of his faithfulness.
That's the one thing. David said, I require one thing
of you. One thing of you. Bring Michael
back to me. I'm so thankful that we serve
a God whose one thing is to be faithful. Faithful. He can be trusted. You can rest
the eternal salvation of your soul on Him. Why? Because He's never failed. He's
never been frustrated. He knows, he's the one who has
the authority to unlock the seven seals of the book. He knows the
names of those recorded in the book of life. And he's going
to make sure that every one of them, every one of them are with
him in glory. What a, what a glorious God we
serve. He's faithful. And that faithfulness
of his, he gives to us. He gives to us. Faith is the
substance of things hoped for. It's the evidence of things not
seen. It's all we have, this God-given faith. For by grace
are you saved through faith. And that faith is not of yourself,
it's a gift of God. And yet every believer has it.
As a matter of fact, the only thing that you can, if you're
honest with yourself, the only thing that you know for sure
I hate these testimonies where people say, well, you know, before
the Lord saved me, I did this and that, and now I don't do
those things anymore. As if they're looking to their
changed life as evidence of salvation. If God's made you to be a sinner,
you know that everything you did before, the Lord looks in
the heart. We may not engage in some of
the activities we did, but we don't take comfort in that. Well,
you don't take comfort in that. What do we take comfort in? What
do we take hope in? Faith! That's the one thing that
I know is different now than it was before. I believe God. I believe. I can't not believe.
I just believe God. He's given me that one thing
that is needful. In Luke chapter 10, when the
Lord went to Bethany, and he went to Mary and Martha's house,
and Martha was running around trying to get everything ready,
you know, and trying to get the meal fixed, and she went to the
Lord, and she said, she said, Lord, Mary's making me do all
the work. Why don't you tell her to come
over here and help me? Where was Mary? She was sitting
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what'd the Lord say
to Martha? Martha, Martha, thou art careful
and troubled about many things. One thing is needful. One thing is needful. And Mary,
Mary hath chosen that good part. The one thing that's needful
is for us to sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
for us to look upon Him. For us to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. For us to know that God has made
Him to be for us all our wisdom, all our righteousness, all our
sanctification, and all our redemption. God's made Him to be that. He
is the one thing needful. And just as he has a, if the
eye be single, then the heart will be full of light. But if
you be double-minded, then you'll be unstable in all of your ways.
What is the single eye? It's looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's relying upon Him as your
all. It's sitting at His feet like
Mary and having that one thing that is needful. It's what we're
doing right now. David said in Psalm 27 verse
4, one thing have I desired of the Lord, and that I will seek
after, that I might dwell that I might dwell in the house of
the Lord all the days of my life and behold the beauty of the
Lord to inquire in his temple. What is it that's so beautiful
about him? It's his faithfulness. It's the faith that he gives
us. to cause us to come, to cause us to trust Him for our righteousness,
to cause us to rest in Him. That's His beauty. And David
said, this one thing I desire of the Lord, that I could dwell
in the house of the Lord forever, to inquire in His beauty. In another place, David looked
at, he got his eyes off the Lord, didn't he? And he looked out
into the world and he said, I envied, I envied the unbeliever when
I saw that they had no bands in their death, they just accumulated
material wealth, they lived in ease, they didn't struggle with
sin, and I envied them until I went into the house of the
Lord and then I knew their end. Didn't envy them anymore. Let
them enjoy all they can, as this is all they're going to get.
And the truth is that this is the worst it's ever going to
be for the child of God, and it's the best it's ever going
to be for the reprobate. Oh, Lord. Cause me to choose
that one thing that is needful, to come and to sit at your feet
and to trust Christ for all my salvation. If that happens, then we'll say
with that man in John chapter 9, you remember the Lord gave
him sight. And Pharisees were there, and
they brought him in, and they started interrogating him, wanting
to know how this man had done it, and who he was, and they
brought his parents in, and so they asked him a second or third
time, you know, exactly the details of his healing, and he said,
I told you once before, and you didn't listen to me, then you're
not really interested in knowing. It wasn't complicated, it was
very simple. what he did to me, and how he
gave me my sight. And they responded by saying,
that man's a sinner. They said, he's of the devil. We are of our father Moses. And that's what they were. They
were just under the law. And that's when the man who had
received his sight, he said, listen, he said, I don't know
about all your theological questions. This one thing I know. Once I was blind and now I see. I see the difference. You can't
take that away from me. I was blind. I was born blind.
I'd never seen in my whole life. And never in the history, he
went on to tell them, never in the history of mankind has a
man who was born blind been given his sight. And nobody could do
that but God. They ended up excommunicating
him. They kicked him out of the synagogue. They took his name
off the rolls and condemned his soul to hell, as far as they
were concerned. The Lord sought him out, didn't
he? One thing I know, Whereas once
I was blind, once I couldn't see the difference, now I see. The Lord's opened my eyes and
he's caused me to see the truth. That's the one thing, to see
Christ, to see him seated at the right hand of the majesty
on high, ever living to make intercession for you, to see
him as all your righteousness before God, to see him as all
your sanctification, to see your need for him right now, to keep
speaking and teaching and calling you to himself and revealing
himself to you. He's the one thing needful. Now turn with me to Philippians
chapter 3 because this is the passage of Scripture that got
me thinking about this one thing. Paul begins in verse for by saying,
though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man
think that he aware of that he might trust in the flesh, I the
more. If anybody's got a life of outward righteousness that's
worthy of salvation, I'm willing to put my life up to theirs.
That's what Paul said. I was circumcised the eighth
day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew
of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee concerning zeal. I persecuted the church, touching
righteousness, which is in the law, blameless." That's pretty
good pedigree. Pretty good, pretty good outward.
And he spoke this, he wasn't being Was this not false humility?
This is just the truth. This is just the way his life
was. It wasn't pride, verse 7. But,
but what things were gained to me, those things that I thought
were benefiting me, Why? Because I was doing all these
different things. I looked at my bloodline, I looked
at my law-keeping, I looked at my being a Pharisee, I looked
at all these things as the hope of my salvation. Yea, but what things were gained
to me, those I counted lost. Lost for one thing. One thing. Oh, that I might be found in
Him." Look what he goes on to say, "'Yea, doubtless I count
all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I suffer the loss of all things. I do count
them, but dung that I may win Christ.'" He's not saying, oh,
you know, I used to do all these things and God saved me. You
hear some people talk about the stuff they used to do like they
want to go back to it. And that's what he's saying.
He said, no, it's dumb to me. I have no desire whatsoever for
those things. I'm glad they're gone. Why? That I might be found in
him. He's the one thing needful. Not
having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith. That's the one thing. His faithfulness
and our faith in Him. That's the one thing. That I might know Him and the
power of His resurrection. What is the power of His resurrection?
When the Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, the Bible
says that he became the firstborn among many brethren. The power of his resurrection
is that it is the testimony of God that God is satisfied with
what the Lord Jesus Christ did. He's satisfied with his faithfulness. Salvation has been secured. It's
all finished. It's all finished. And the resurrection
is the sign that God has given. No other of wicked and perverse
generations seeketh after a sign. No sign will be given to this
generation except for the sign of Jonah. And the resurrection
is the sign of Jonah, who spent three days and three nights in
the belly of the whale and was vomited out on dry land. And
so the Lord Jesus Christ came forth. Paul said, Oh, that I
might know, that I might be more fully in faith, that when Christ
was raised from the dead, I was raised in Him. That's the power
of His resurrection, that I might know that. And that I might also
know the fellowship of His suffering. Now don't misunderstand that.
Paul's not saying, oh, I just want to suffer for Jesus. I just
want to, you know, I want to be persecuted more. No, he's
talking about what the Lord Jesus Christ suffered on Calvary's
cross. And that I had fellowship in that. that I was crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. The life that I now live, I live
by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and died for me.
Oh, that's my hope. Oh, that I might know the fellowship
of his suffering, the power of his resurrection. That's the
one thing needful. Being made conformable unto his
death. buried with Christ in baptism,
raised to walk a new life in Christ Jesus, if by any means
I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. That's my one thing. My one thing is not to be successful
in this world. My one thing is not to accumulate
stuff in this world. My one thing is not to be happy
in this world. My one thing is to attain to
the resurrection. My one thing is to get to glory.
That's the one thing needful. And I know that if I'm gonna
get there, the only way I'm gonna get there is to be found in Him.
That's everything. I could show you real quick, Ecclesiastes
chapter three. Hold your finger there, Philippians.
We're not finished there yet. But go back with me to Ecclesiastes. Chapter 3. You know what Solomon, what the
theme of Ecclesiastes is. Solomon had indulged himself
in all the pleasures of the world, and he was wealthy enough and
powerful enough to do it, and what was his conclusion after
it all? Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. And now look at verse
19 in Ecclesiastes chapter 3. For that which befalleth the
sons of men befalleth beast. Even one thing befalleth them,
as one dieth, so dieth the other. Yea, they have all one breath,
so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast, for all is vanity. I heard someone say recently
that their pet was going to be in heaven. That's not what this
is talking about. It's just saying that just like
you see a dog die, just like you see a bird die, a squirrel
die, you're going to die. You're going to die. And nothing else is going to
matter except the one thing. That's the only thing that's
going to matter. In that day, it's the only thing
that's going to matter. Nothing else is going to count
for anything. And that's what Paul's saying,
oh, that I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. That's
the one thing. Go back with me to Philippians,
chapter 3. Verse 12, not as though I have
already attained. I'm not there yet. Either we're already perfect.
I'm not there yet. One day I will be. One day I'm
going to shed this flesh and I'm going to be just like him,
without sin. But I follow after. that if that
I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. He's apprehended me, I know He
has. He won't turn me loose. I'm like a, sometimes I'm like
little LJ, you know, I just try to struggle away and have my
own way and run off somewhere, but He won't let me go. He's
got a hold of me. He won't turn me loose. He's
apprehended me. And I'm just seeking to apprehend
Him. And I know that I'm not going
to fully apprehend Him until I see Him as He is and be made
like Him. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended. I'm not there yet. But this one
thing I do. forgetting those things which
are behind and reaching forth to those things which are before,
I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore as many as be
perfect be like minded. Oh, think like this. Think like
this. Forget those things which are
behind. Your accomplishments, you can't live on yesterday's
grace. The manna that they tried to save up for the next day,
it had worms in it, didn't it? You can't live off of yesterday. You can't live off of yesterday's
successes. You can't beat yourself up over
yesterday's failures. You can't do penance over yesterday's
sins. All those things have been put
away. This one thing I do for getting those things which are
behind, I press towards the mark. Press towards the prize. The mark of the prize of the
high calling of God. Here's what God's called me to.
He's called me to one thing. One thing. Now I know you have
a lot of other things going on in your life. But the one thing
that's needful. The one thing. that will enable
you to apprehend Him fully one day. Well, to have faith, faith in
His faithfulness for all the promises of God are yea and amen
in Him. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
We're thankful for your word, and we pray, Lord, that you would
remind us of the simplicity of Christ and cause us, Lord, to
not be so distracted from him by all these other things going
on in our lives. Thank you for reminding us of
the one thing needful. We pray for your Holy Spirit
to strive with us, Lord. Be patient with us. Be gentle
with us, and keep us coming back to Christ. For it's in His name
we ask it. Amen. Number 42? 42, and let's all back to Him. Now let's stand together. In myself I have no merit Nothing
good have I to give That a holy, just, and perfect God could ever
let me live Sin defiles my best performance Guilty, vile, and
ruined I am Yet my heart breaks in repentance, By God's grace
I see the Lamb. See the Lamb of God, our Savior,
bearing all our sin and shame. By eternal love and favor, Jesus
died bearing our blame. Bruised and wounded and forsaken,
as our substitute He died. It is finished, sin's forgiven,
justice now is satisfied. Here's my hope and consolation,
Jesus died for sinners' sake. Trusting Him, I have salvation
and the cup of blessing take. All is well, I cannot doubt it,
God who gave His Son for me, Rules this world and all things
in it, For my good eternally. So I'll trust my God and Savior
Though my joy is mixed with pain He is worthy, worthy ever That
in me His peace should reign Faith in such a great Redeemer
Gives my soul a blessed calm Christ is near, He's my protector,
He will keep me from all harm. Thank you.