Well, good evening. Always a
blessing to be with the Lord's people, meeting together, fellowshipping
together, and worshipping together around the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, you find Ephesians chapter
2, and we'll be right back where we read a moment ago. I want
to try to bring a message this evening from Ephesians chapter
2, Verse 19 down through verse 22. Verse 20 will be my main
text. Three words. Here's my title and my subject
in verse 20. Three words you cannot improve
upon. Three words that sums up everything
we believe taught in the Word of God concerning this salvation
by the sovereign grace of God. These three words that God has
given unto us, this gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look at these three words in
verse 20. Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus Christ Himself. Christ is all. And in all, in
Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in
the Lord Jesus Christ we stand complete in Him. Now, if you go back and look
at verse 18 for a moment, it talks about this blessed reconciliation
we have through the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
this word that God gives us here, for through Him, that is the
Lord Jesus Christ, God was in Christ. reconciling his people
unto himself, for through him we both have access." Now you
think what he's saying there. Access. If you go back and look
at the tabernacle in the holy place, in the Holy of Holies,
who went into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement? Not
any particular priest, common priest, but the high priest alone,
once every year, not without blood, he went in under the veil
and he put the blood on that mercy seat. He had access. But you know when the Lord Jesus
Christ died on Calvary's tree, that veil in the temple that
day was ramped top to bottom. Salvation is not from the bottom
up, it comes from the top down. Salvation is of the Lord. And
the Lord Jesus Christ having reconciled us, having redeemed
us, we were made nines of God by the blood of Christ. Now we
have access. unto the throne of grace so much
so that he says in Hebrews chapter 4, seeing that we have such a
great high priest that is passed into the heavenlies. Let us draw
near, he said, come boldly unto the throne of grace that you
may obtain mercy. Find grace to help in time of
need. Think of that. The Lord said,
I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
has life. Salvation. We have access. You see that? The door, you came
into this building this evening, Through a door. It gives you
access into this building. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
door. He's the way, the truth, the
life. He's the bread. He's the water.
He's everything in salvation. For through Him, in Him, and
because of Him, and by Him, we have access by one Spirit unto
God our Father. He said, Come, all you that are
weary and heavy laden. He said, Come unto Me, I'll give
you rest. Now, look at verse 19. He said, Now therefore, you are
no more what you were by nature, strangers to the covenants of
grace, aliens. You remember back in the earlier
part of this chapter, in Ephesians 2, verse 11, He said, That is, you being in time past,
here's what we are by nature, children of wrath, even as others,
Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcised, ungodly,
verse 12, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens,
being idolaters, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers
from the covenant of promise, having no hope, without God in
this world, but now, but now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes
were far off, far off, made nigh, near unto God by the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, but now, look at verse
19 again, now therefore, Because of all that Christ is. Because
of all that the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. Now therefore,
we are no more strangers to God. He's called us out of darkness
into His marvelous light. We're no more strangers. We're
no more foreigners to His mercy, foreigners to His grace. But
He says, you're fellow citizens. Fellow citizens. with the saints
and of the household of God. In the Lord Jesus Christ, now,
therefore, in Him, you are no longer estranged from God. Sheep going astray, but now you're
brought into the fold by His grace. In Christ Jesus, we're
no longer strangers to the covenant of love, no longer strangers
to His mercy, no longer strangers to His grace, His power, but
we're friends. Friends. No longer foreigners,
idolaters, and aliens to the covenants of God's promise of
salvation in Christ, but now we know Him. We're found in Him. He's made us to love Him, to
rejoice in Him, to hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see what
he's saying there? Now, therefore, you are no more.
No longer are you strangers to our great God and the gospel
of Christ. No longer are you foreigners,
but you're fellow citizens. with the saints and of the household
of God. We're in His household. He's
our Father. We're fellow citizens with one
another. Saints of God having the blessed
and sweet fellowship around the gospel. The glorious good news
of forgiveness and pardon in Christ Jesus. We read in Scriptures
that God is a God ready to pardon. In Philippians chapter 3, it
says that for our conversation, and that word there can be rendered
citizenship, is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. We are fellow citizens. In His kingdom, in His church,
in His family, we are fellow citizens one with another. And
every believer is a saint. Did you know that? If you're
a believer resting in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're a saint.
You've been sanctified. in that eternal covenant of grace,
set apart, chosen in Christ Jesus, sanctified by God the Holy Spirit,
doing that work of grace in your heart, giving you a new nature,
a divine nature. He's made us to be partakers
of that divine nature. Can any man be in Christ? He's
what? A new creature, a new creation. That's what happens in regeneration
and in the new birth. We've been made fellow citizens. We've been made saints of God,
set apart by divine election, called out of darkness into His
marvelous light. But notice further, he says,
you're the household of God. We've been adopted into His family. We've been made by the sons of
God. Do you remember what John said?
Behold, beloved, now are we sons of God. Behold what love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called sons
of God. Do you think of all the blessings
we have in Christ Jesus? We're fellow citizens. We're
saints sanctified in Christ, set apart in that eternal covenant
of grace, sanctified by the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we're of the household of God. Family of God. Members one of another. We share,
believers do, in the fullness of His grace. Believers are richly
clothed in Christ Jesus. Of His fullness have we all received
grace for grace. In the Lord Jesus Christ there
is plenteous mercy in Him. My God shall supply all your
needs according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus.
We've been made heirs of a never fading inheritance, incorruptible,
undefiled, that does not fade away. You see what blessings
we have in Christ Jesus. God has blessed us with all spiritual
blessing and heavenly in Christ Jesus. Made heirs of a never
fading inheritance. Made heirs of God. And joined
heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, look at verse 20. And, you
mean there's more? And, are built upon the foundation. Now there's just one. There's
just one foundation, and that foundation, as you all know,
that God had laid in Zion, is the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
And to build upon the foundation, now watch this carefully. Notice
how this is said here. Build upon the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief
Cornerstone. Jesus Christ Himself. The Church
of God and this family of God, this household of God, is built
upon a strong foundation. And that foundation is the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now here's what he's saying here.
All the prophets of the past, they had but one foundation. He's not saying that the Church
is built upon the apostles and the prophets. That's not so.
But all the prophets of the past had how many foundations? One foundation. Who was that
foundation? It was none other than the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is already laid, which is Christ Jesus the Lord. All the prophets of the past
had but one hope of salvation. You talk about Jeremiah. His
hope of salvation was Christ. Isaiah. All the Old Testament
prophets. As a matter of fact, it says
in the book of Acts, to him give all the prophets witness. They all testified. and gave
witness that the one foundation that God had laid in Zion that's
tried, sure, and certain is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. Built upon this household of
God, this family of God, this church of God is built upon the
foundation of the prophets, and that is Jesus Christ himself. Now, it also mentions there the
apostles. Is the household of God built
upon the apostles? No. But it's built upon the apostles,
the foundation that the apostles described. And here's what it
is. You remember in 1 Corinthians
it says, For other foundation can no man lay than that which
is laid. Remember in the book of Acts,
in chapter 4, when Peter and John were arrested and brought
before that trial, and they wanted to know by what name and by whose
power and by whose authority had this crippled man been made
whole? Remember Peter's answer? Neither
is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under
heavy. given among men, whereby we must be saved." You see what
I'm saying here? All the apostles of the past,
all the prophets of the past, have but one foundation. They
all pointed to Jesus Christ Himself. Now that sums it up. There is
no other. Now, I want to show you from
the Scripture this phrase here, how the Lord God the Holy Spirit
uses it in Scripture to teach us that in salvation the Lord
Jesus Christ is everything. Everything. Now here's the first
reference. Jesus Christ Himself is the theme of all Scripture. He is the message of all Scripture. Now turn back to Luke chapter
24. Jesus Christ Himself is the theme of all Scripture. Luke 24. Remember this story.
The risen Lord met with these two men that walked on the road
to Emmaus. Luke 24, Luke verse 25. Then
He said unto them, O fools, Slow of heart. This is the Lord speaking
to those two men. Slow of heart to believe all
that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures
the things concerning Himself." What is this book about? What
is this Bible about? The whole message of Scripture
is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The Old Testament tells us someone's
coming. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming.
The Gospels tell us that He has come. He is here. Call His name
Jesus. He shall save His people from
their sin. And the epistles tell us what?
He's coming again. He's coming again. And all this
scripture is a thing concerning himself. Now, stay right here
in Luke 24. Look at verse 44. He said unto
them, These are the words which I spake unto you while I was
yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which are written
in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms.
What are the Psalms about? What do all the prophets speak
about? What does the law of Moses tell
us about? Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus. in the prophet, in the Psalms,
concerning me." It's all about Christ. If you turn to any book
in the Old Testament, or any book in the New Testament, it's
always a message about the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who He is. Thus it is written, and thus
it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third
day, that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in
His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses
of these things. The Bible is all about Christ,
isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ, His person,
His Word. Because Christ is the theme of
this book, He must be. He must be the subject of our
preaching. Jesus Christ Himself. Someone said, when you're done
with preaching Christ, you better be done with preaching. You see,
we preach not ourselves. We preach not ourselves, but
we preach Christ. We point sinners unto the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. He's the theme of Scripture.
We're told in the Gospels, I charge thee before God, Paul said to
Timothy, who shall judge the living and the dead at the appearing
of his kingdom, to preach the Word. Preach Christ. Preach Christ. I've never. Heard a believer complain that
the preacher preached too much about the Lord Jesus Christ.
That he exalted Him too high. That he gave Him too much honor
and too much glory. I'd like to be guilty of that,
wouldn't you? Of lifting up the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw my people unto
Me. You see, in the preaching of
the gospel, it's lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ, who He is.
What he did. Why? That he might be a just
God and Savior. Jesus Christ himself, his person,
his work, all about him, is the theme of this book. It's the
theme of all Scripture. Secondly, The Lord Jesus Christ
Himself is our Redeemer. The Lord Jesus Christ is all
our redemption. Now, not some of it. He didn't
pay a part of it. He paid the whole ransom price.
He paid the full price. And you know what the price of
our redemption was? Jesus Christ Himself. Now, I can show you that here
in the book of Ephesians. Look at Ephesians chapter 5,
verse 1 and following. Ephesians chapter 5. Jesus Christ
Himself. That was the price that God demanded. That was the price that the law
demanded. His blood for our sin. Look at Ephesians 5 verse 1,
Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk
in love, as Christ also had loved us, and hath given himself for
us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. The blood on the altar is unto
the Lord. The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ is not offered to men. It's offered unto God. It's a
sweet-smelling savor unto God. And that offering is Jesus Christ
Himself. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away our sin. Jesus Christ Himself is all our
redemption before God. Look at the same chapter, Ephesians
chapter 5. Look at verse 25. Husbands, love
your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave. What
did He give? Now, He could have given a lot. He owns everything. But He gave
Himself. He gave Himself for our sins. Now, you want to mark your place
there in Ephesians 2 and find Hebrews chapter 1. I'm saying
that Jesus Christ is all of our redemption before God. He bought
us with His own blood. Doesn't it say that in Acts 20?
God bought us with His own blood? You see, it's just not that someone
died. It's just not that some historical,
some mere Jewish man died. This One who died is God Almighty
manifest in the flesh, and He gave Himself. His redemption
work was successful, effectual, substitutionary, and satisfying
unto God. Hebrews 1, look at verse 3. Who
being the brightness of God's glory, speaking of the person
of Christ, and the express image of His person, upholding all
things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged
our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the majesty on
high. Now why did He sit down? You
go back and study the tabernacle. And the pieces of furniture in
that tabernacle, there was not a share in there. The priest
never went in the tabernacle into the Holy of Holies or the
holy place and sat down. His work was never done. Every
morning, every evening, every year. The Lord Jesus Christ,
because He successfully put away the sin of God's covenant people,
so much so that God said their sin, and how effectual is the
blood atonement of Christ? How completely does He put away
our sin and redeem us unto God? That God Almighty said their
sin and their iniquity, I remember no more. Jesus Christ Himself
is all our redemption before God. Do you have any other hope?
No! Look at Hebrews chapter 9. Jesus
Christ Himself. He's the only foundation. Jesus
Christ Himself is the theme of all Scripture. Jesus Christ Himself
is all of our redemption before God. Hebrews 9 verse 11, But
Christ being come a high priest, a good thing to come, by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, Not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by His own blood, He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." Now, stay
right here in Hebrews 9, look at verse 26. The middle part
of verse 26 says, "...but now, once in the end of the age, He
appeared." Who appeared? The Lord Jesus Christ, He appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice, not of blood of bulls and goats. He didn't bring that typical
sacrifice, did He? What did He bring? His own blood. Jesus Christ appeared once in
the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Did He get the job done? Absolutely. Absolutely. Put away all the
sin of God's covenant people, and they stand completely justified
by His blood, Jesus Christ Himself. Now, here's the third thing.
Jesus Christ Himself is all our righteousness before God. Jesus
Christ Himself. He's all our righteousness before
God. Now, I not only need to have
my sin put away and redeemed and cleared, but I also need
a justifying righteousness before God. And I can't pronounce it.
You can't either. But the Lord Jesus Christ did,
and He freely gives that unto us. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself
is the Lord our righteousness. Now turn to Philippians chapter
3. I remember years ago, this is
going back past 35 years ago, I was driving up Interstate 64. And as I'd often do, I'd put
my Bible on my steering wheel or on my old work truck, on my
dash, and I would try to glance at the Scripture and read a little
bit while I did a little bit of driving down the interstate.
You could do that on a straight road. Now, I don't advise you
to do that. But one day this long ago, and
I never have forgotten it, I was looking at Philippians chapter
3 and looking at the Scripture beginning at verse 7. But what
things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ, yea,
doubtless I count all things but lost, were the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered
the loss of all things, Osala Tarsus took all his religious
past and put it all in the garbage can and said, it's nothing but
dung. And I do count it dung that I
may win Christ. And here it is, verse 9. Here's
the verse that gripped my heart that day I was driving down the
freeway, and I'd never gotten over it. Jesus Christ Himself
is all our righteousness, and that we might be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, a legal one, something that I've tried to bring or produce
myself, but that which is through the faith of Christ. The faith
of who? Not your faith. The faith of
Christ. His faithfulness. The righteousness
which is of God by faith. Looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ,
He is all our righteousness. Now, the believer is no longer
going about to establish a righteousness of his own, are we? No! Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. Rather, we are
resting in Christ. Believing Him. Listen to this
Scripture. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30. But of Him are you in Christ
Jesus, who has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and He's our Redeemer. He's our redemption. Jesus Christ
Himself. Do you get a hold of what He's
saying here? I've been looking at this a long time. I've never
gotten over it. Jesus Christ Himself is all I
need to stand before God, justified, complete, made whole of His fullness. It says that in John chapter
1. Of His fullness, have all we
receive grace for grace. Because of His fullness, we stand
complete in Him. Jesus Christ Himself is all of
our righteousness. Here's the fourth thing. I've
just got five of these. A couple more to look at. But you could expand this out,
and you could run with this for a long time, and you could never
wear it out. Jesus Christ Himself is all of
our salvation, all of our redemption, all of our righteousness. But
here's the fourth thought. Jesus Christ Himself is the only
object of saving faith. Jesus Christ Himself. Now go
back to Ephesians 2 for just a minute. Jesus Christ Himself, now, is
the only object of saving faith. Now, where does this faith come
from? The faith of God's elect is not something that blooms
in our wicked, sinful heart naturally. It's not a natural occurrence
of our fallen humanity. Faith is the gift of God. Look
at verse 8 again. Ephesians 2. But grace are you
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the
gift of God. It's not of works. lest any man
should boast." Now listen to me, I've thought about this coming
up the highway before. I've never looked at it in this light. I've
never looked at it in this light before. If I have, I've forgotten,
which is easy to do. For me it is. Faith that's a
gift of God looks back to the giver, right? Faith that's a
gift of God doesn't look in here. Faith that's a gift of God looks
back to the one who gave it, to the giver. It's the gift of
God. Jesus Christ Himself is the only
object of saving faith. Faith, God's elect, looks unto
Christ alone. It looks back to the giver. Turn
over to Hebrews chapter 12. Let me show you another scripture. It looks back to the giver. Hebrews chapter 12. Jesus Christ
Himself. Look at verse 1, "...wherefore,
seeing that we are all so compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth
so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that
is set before us, looking..." Looking! Where do we look? A
lot of people look to their ceremony. A lot of people look to their
feelings. A lot of people look to their emotions. Saving faith
doesn't look there. Saving faith looks back to the
giver. Look what it says, verse 2. Looking unto Jesus, the Lord
Jesus Christ, He is the author and finisher of our faith. Saving
faith looks back to the author of faith. Now the foundation
of faith is what? The Word of God. The object of
faith has to be the subject of this book. And that is the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself is the object of saving faith. Looking unto
Christ alone. Not to an experience of the past. Not to my feelings of the present.
Not even saving faith doesn't even look to faith. My faith
is not in my face. My faith is in Christ alone,
Jesus Christ Himself. Looking unto Him. That's why
the Lord said, I am God, beside me there is none other. Look
unto Me. All the ends of the earth, I
am God, and beside Me there is no other. Here's the last thing. Jesus Christ. That's what it
says in the text there. This foundation of this fellow
citizenship we have with the saints, sanctified in Christ
Jesus, and this household of God, this church of the Lord
Jesus Christ, is built upon this one foundation, and that one
foundation that God had laid in Zion that tested true, certain,
and sure is none other than Jesus Christ Himself. Do you see what
he's saying there? He's the chief cornerstone. He's the only rock upon which
we can build. So here's the last point. Jesus
Christ Himself is the only source of all true joy, comfort, hope,
and peace. Now, I can make good on that. Jesus Christ Himself. Turn to
2 Thessalonians 2. Jesus Christ Himself. You see, it all revolves, this
gospel of God is concerning a person. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Now look what it says here, 2
Thessalonians 2 verse 16. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself
and God, even our Father, who has loved us and He has given
us an everlasting consolation and good hope through grace. Comfort your hearts. Establish
you in every good word and work. What? Jesus Christ Himself. You see, He's all our comfort.
He's all our hope. He's everything to the believer,
to you who believe. He's precious. He's altogether
lovely. Now look, just across the page,
if you have the Bible that I have over in 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy
1. Look, verse 1. Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus
Christ, and let's read it this way, and our Lord Jesus Christ,
our hope. He's our hope. Jesus Christ Himself. He is all our hope. He's our comfort. He's our joy. He's our hope. We have peace
with God. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ Himself. He's our
hope. He's our joy. He's our comfort. We joy in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation. And He is our comfort. Remember in John 14, 15 and 16,
when our Lord said to His apostles, I'm going away, and where I go,
you can't come right now. But he said there to Peter there
in that 13th chapter, about verse 35 or 36, but you'll come later.
You'll come later. And then he said, I'm going to
send a Comforter. I'm going to send a Comforter.
When the Holy Spirit has come, He will comfort you. Now listen,
what does God the Holy Spirit comfort us with? Now, you think about that a minute.
What does He comfort us with? You read in chapter 16, verse
13, 14, 15 of John 16. Don't read it now, but let me
just see if I can quote it for you. But John 16 talks about
when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, speaking of the Holy
Spirit that our Lord said is a comforter, our Lord said, He'll
take the things of mine and show them unto you. So, what does
the Holy Spirit comfort us with? Jesus Christ Himself. It's not with some gooey, ooey
feeling. It's not with some emotional
fit. Feelings come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving.
Martin Luther said, My warrant is the Word of God and nothing
else is worth believing. Is it? When He, the Holy Spirit,
has come, He'll take the things of Christ and He'll show them
unto you. And you know what that does in
our heart? That gives us comfort. That gives us hope. The Lord
Jesus Christ is everything I need to stand before God complete
in Him. Nothing lacking whatsoever. Jesus Christ Himself is all our
salvation. He is that chief cornerstone.
Now look back at Ephesians chapter 2. I'm just going to read these
two verses and let you go. "...in whom all the building
fitly framed together." We are His workmanship. created in Christ
Jesus. He's made us living stones in
this living temple. He has fitted us in there. He's
called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. He delivered
us from the wrath to come in whom all the building fitly framed
together. You carpenters know something
about that. How you fit things together. Frame things together. And this living temple of the
Lord Jesus Christ Because it's alive. Because it's Christ in
you, the hope of glory. You know what it does? It grows.
It grows. That which is living grows. We grow in grace, don't we? Now, we don't grow in holiness
or sanctification. We are sanctified in Christ.
We are holy in Christ. Holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in God's sight, in the Lord Jesus Christ. But my soul, we do grow
in grace. And in the knowledge of Him,
desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you might do what?
Grow thereby. I'm interested in growing in
grace. And we grow up unto a holy temple
in the Lord. We grow together as the body
of the Lord Jesus Christ, verse 22, in whom you also are builded
together. Now watch this. Builded together. fellowship here in oneness of
believers and oneness and union with the believers and with the
Lord Jesus Christ, in whom you're also built together for a habitation
of God through the Spirit. He dwells in us. He said, I'll
never leave you. I'll never forsake you. No, never. No, not ever. Never. What an astounding gospel
we have. Mercy and grace that God would
justify in Christ, make us new creatures in Christ, and then
come to live within us, and to abide within us, and to reign
over us. You see, it's Jesus Christ Himself. When He called you out of darkness,
He not only is enthroned in glory, but I tell you what happens in
salvation when He comes and invades your heart, your mind, your soul,
your affection, everything about you. He comes and He enthrones
Himself in you. Jesus Christ Himself. And it causes you to love Him.
It causes you to believe Him. It causes you to bow unto Him,
submit unto Him, look unto Him, rest in Him for all salvation. Jesus Christ Himself. You see what I'm talking about,
those three words? Three tremendous words. What a truth we have.
What a gospel we have. Thank you for having me. I appreciate
the invitation coming up to come up and to preach for you. I thought
about this Scripture. I was going to open with this,
but I'll close with this. I often quote Brother Scott Richardson,
who served here for so many years, and oftentimes I remember things
that he said over the years. I told him last time I was here,
when Brother Scott was still with us back in 2009, I sat down
next to him over here in the fellowship hall, and I said,
Brother Scott, You've been such a blessing to me and such a help
to me." And I told him, I said, I remember the first time I heard
you preach the gospel down in Ashland. And I said, I remember
the text that you used, Romans 14, 9. To this end, to this purpose,
Christ spoke, died and rose and revived, that He might be Lord.
I've never forgotten. Your former pastor was such a
faithful, faithful gospel preacher. And this ministry that God has
established here over 50 years, going on 60 years. I thought
of this scripture. I thank God for your former pastor
and your current pastor, Brother Marvin, and for this congregation. And this verse came to my mind.
In Romans chapter 1, where the apostle says, I thank my God
through Jesus Christ for you all. that your faith is spoken
of throughout the whole world. And it's true of this congregation.
It's true of this ministry of the past and the present. Your
faith in Christ Jesus Himself is spoken of throughout the whole
world. Now, do you glory in that? No. We glory in Him. He did it all. He did it all. Okay. God bless
you. God bless His Word.