If you turn in your scriptures
to 2 Thessalonians 10, we're looking at the outflowing of
Paul's great but after describing the reality of this world that
we live in, where there is religious deception and this world is under
the judgment of God and this religious world is under the
judgment of God. And I pray that as we go back
and look at this and contemplate it further we will see that this
is actually the reality of the world we live in. But isn't it
marvellous that in this world Paul had reason to give thanks
that we are bound, we are committed, we are held tight to give thanks always to
God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast
and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether
by word or by our epistle. Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
and God, even our Father, which has loved us and has given us
everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your
hearts and establish you in every good word and work. What a remarkable set of promises,
isn't it? It begins in verse 13, God has
from the beginning chosen you And it finishes in verse 16 with
everlasting consolation. That's my prayer, isn't it? That's the prayer of God's preachers,
that His children would come away from hearing the Gospel. consoled, comforted, everlastingly. What an amazing promise. The
Bible is just full of these remarkable promises, isn't it? The Lord
Jesus is coming back, He's coming back in glory, He's coming back
to be glorified in His people, and He's saying to us now, He's
saying to His children, He has from the beginning chosen you
and He has promised His people everlasting consolation. And you've got to remember the
context, isn't it? The context is these Thessalonians being
troubled and troubled enormously, persecuted and pressed hard by
false brethren. Jews and Gentiles are persecuted,
troubled, and there Paul's solution to it, Paul's explanation of
it, is actually to open up to us what the scriptures reveal
about how our God, our God despite all of the opposition to His
Gospel, our God rules and reigns with absolute sovereignty and
righteous justice and righteous judgement. those who have pleasure
in unrighteousness. And then he turns in verse 13,
in the midst of all of that, in the midst of the fearsome,
fearful things that are coming, the solemn, heavy things that
are coming, he's speaking about people that we know, about people
that we love, speaking about this religious world that's all
around us. And then he says, therefore,
in the midst of almost universal apostasy, God is to be thanked
and God is to be praised. He is to be praised for his love. He is to be praised for His love
which is an electing love. He has chosen from the beginning,
chosen you to salvation. And He has chosen the means as
well through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. It is this Gospel He called you. He called you. The shepherd's
voice comes to the sheep by our Gospel. He calls his beloved
by the Gospel. the declaration of Jesus Christ
and Him crucified, the declaration of a God who is absolutely sovereign. In the midst of all this apostasy,
our God reigns and He sits on the throne of this universe and
He reigns effortlessly. He reigns as a satisfied Saviour
right now. But there is a purpose, isn't
there? And we looked at some of it last week. He called you,
verse 14, He called you by our Gospel to the obtaining of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. The glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a remarkable, remarkable
thing. To obtain the very glory of our
great God. He reigns and He rules. There
are three fundamental things that the scriptures reveal to
us again and again and the book of Revelation goes in a cyclical
journey through these, doesn't it? That our Redeemer is in total
control of the universe. Our Redeemer has a church and
His church and His kingdom are safe and secure. And the people of God, the people
of God, despite the bitterness and the hatred and the enmity,
the people of God reign and rule because they are seated with
Him on the throne of the universe. I love how Revelation pictures
the people of God. You turn in Revelation chapter
11, you see again and again that Revelation outlines for us what
2 Thessalonians chapter 2 talks about in terms of the events
that will unfold, the events that are unfolding around us
and in the midst of all of that. in the midst of that. He has
a people, a people who are named, a people who are numbered. In
Revelation 11, a people who are measured. Let's just read some
of it. There was given me a reed like
unto a rod, and the angel stood saying, Rise and measure the
temple of God and the altar and them that worship therein. But
the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure
it not, for it is given unto the Gentiles, and the holy city
they shall tread under foot forty and two months." Measure his
people. Measure his people in his sanctuaries. Measure his people gathered around
his altar. And I will give power unto my
two witnesses, Now that may be a reference to the Old and the
New Testament, the Prophets and the Apostles. It may be a reference
to his missionaries and his preacher. I will give power unto my two
witnesses and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three
score days clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees
and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their
mouth and devoureth their enemies. And if any man will hurt them,
he must in this manner be killed. These two have power to shut
heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy and have
power over waters to turn them to blood. So they have the power
of Moses and the power of Elijah, and to smite the earth with all
plagues as often as they will. And when they shall have finished
their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless
pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them and kill
them. And their dead bodies shall lie
in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom
and Egypt, where also our Lord is crucified. And they of the
people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead
bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead
bodies to be put in the graves. What a prophecy about how the
Word of God is treated. How real is that in our day. And they, and how real is this,
isn't it, in verse 10, and they that dwell upon the earth shall
rejoice over them and make merry and shall send gifts one to another
because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three and a half, three
days and a half, the Spirit of Life from God entered in them
and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell upon them
which saw them. And they heard a great voice
from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended
up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them. And the same hour there was a
great earthquake, and a tenth part of the city fell, and in
the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand, and the remnant
were affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven." If you
read Revelation and all those pictures in light of what we
have seen in 2 Thessalonians, you'll see how again and again
we have these pictures, don't we? We have this picture of this
beast being released for a while. Over in chapter 12, just turn
over the page, it speaks of God's children in verse 11, and they
overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their
testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death. Therefore
rejoice, you heavens, and you that dwell in them. Woe to the
inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the devil is
come down unto you having great wrath, because he knows that
he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that
he was cast under the earth, he persecuted the woman which
brought forth the man-child, talking about the church. And
to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle that she might
fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished
for a time and times and half a time from the face of the serpent. And the first serpent cast out
of his mouth water as a flood after the woman that he might
cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped
the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the
flood which the dragon had cast out of his mouth. And the dragon
was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant
of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony
of Jesus Christ." I want to speak briefly to you out of this next
verse that we're looking at in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 15. He says, therefore, you've been
called by this gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our
Lord Jesus Christ. You believers have been chosen
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.
And then he says these remarkable words, he says, therefore as
a result of all of that, and then he says brethren. It's interesting isn't it, we
sometimes miss the import, the importance of little words in
the scriptures. The word brethren implies fellowship. We are a habitation, the children
of God. We are a habitation of God by
the Spirit. We are called into fellowship
with His Son. God is faithful and you are called
unto the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. It's the
fellowship of the Spirit. It's the fellowship of the Gospel. It implies being together in
a business enterprise, that we have the same purpose And we
have the same mind and we have the same goal. And John speaks
about it in 1 John in those verses that you know well. In verse
3 of chapter 1 he says, That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you, this testimony, this testimony about the Lord
Jesus, that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly
our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ,
And these things we write unto you that your joy may be full."
Full joy comes from fellowship, comes from fellowship around
a testimony. This then is the message which
we have heard of Him and declare unto you, that God is light and
in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship
with Him and walk in darkness, we lie not, and do not the truth,
but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ,
His Son, cleanses us from how much sin. a little bit up until
you're converted and then you have to work hard. He cleanses
us from all sin. That's how we can have fellowship
with Him, because of the perfection of His work. Notice the personal
pronouns there in these verses. It's remarkable, isn't it? He's
called you, verse 14, by our Gospel. to the obtaining of the
glory of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 16, Now Our Lord Jesus
Christ Himself, and even God, Our Father, which has loved us
and given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace. I love how the Lord Jesus is
described in Hebrews chapter 2. for it became Him, from whom
are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many
sons unto glory." Which is a similar theme as what we've been looking
at in 2 Thessalonians, to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings. For both He that sanctifies and
they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause? Because they are one, He is not
ashamed to call them brethren. He calls us brethren, partakers
of the divine nature, made to be one with Him. I love what Ezekiel 20 says,
I will cause you to pass under the rod and I will bring you
into the bond of the covenant. Our God is a promise keeping
God. He brings you into the bond of
the covenant. Brethren, stand fast. How do you gain everlasting consolation
in the midst of shocking tribulation, in the midst of satanic deception
which comes with power and signs and lying wonders and all deceivableness,
all the deceivableness of the wrath of Satan that we read about
in Revelation 11 and 12? How? He has a simple, simple word,
doesn't he? Some simple words. Stand fast
and hold the traditions which you have been taught. Stand fast. It's the same word that Moses
is told to command the children of Israel at the Red Sea. I think
so much of our Christian life is we're taken by God to Red
Sea experiences, aren't we? Where behind us is just an army,
a superpower's army is behind us. And we look behind and we
think, dear oh dear, and we look ahead and there is probably,
I think, 7 miles, 10 kilometers of water and there's no way out. There you are with all the women
and children and no weapons of war and no allies around at all
to help you. And you're there at the Red Sea.
And Moses tells the people, you stand fast. You stand fast. You stand, you stand and you
believe. It's to believe and to trust. You stand fast. Stand still, fear you not. In the midst of all this, don't
fear, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Again and again, throughout the
scriptures, In the New Testament we are told, encouraged, just
to stand fast. Stand fast in the faith, 1 Corinthians
16.11. Quit you like men and be strong.
Stand fast in the faith. It's a noun. Stand fast in the
testimony that you have heard. Stand fast in the Lord, Philippians
4. Stand fast in one spirit. And in 1 Thessalonians we find
Paul, when he hears news from this little band of troubled
and tried believers that he'd only been with for those few
weeks, he says, we were comforted in all our affliction. He's in
afflictions and he's in distress, 1 Thessalonians 3.7. He's comforted
by their faith and he describes it as living, doesn't he? He
says, for now we live. If you stand, if and you do,
you stand fast in the faith. Stand fast. God alone is able
to bring the Gospel to His children, and God is able to make Him stand. Stand, and you stand in something. You stand in the traditions,
and you hold the traditions. You hold, it means to keep carefully
and faithfully. It means literally to have a
masterful grip. to grip, to hold on to these
truths and take possession of them. as traditions, as words. As 1 Thessalonians says, that
these words that we have on these pages before us, as we saw in
Galatians, they are words that come directly from God to His
people. His servants are taught directly
by God and they write them down here and then all of His servants
that read them and have them written down are just saying,
this is what God says. This is what God says again and
again and again. This is who God is. This is how
He saves people. This is what you are. This is
what salvation looks like. This is the testimony of our
Lord Jesus Christ. As the Lord said Himself, He
said, The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they
are life. See, there is no salvation outside
of the Gospel. Earlier in 2 Thessalonians 1
verse 10, He shall come to be glorified in His saints and be
admired in all them that believe. All them that believe, in that
day, in that day when the Lord comes, and what is it to be a
believer? I think the word believer is
one of the best descriptions of a Christian that I can think
of these days. It is really just someone who
believes, isn't it? Someone who denies the fundamental
declarations about who God is, the fundamental simple, simple
things that he says in this book about himself and about his dear
and precious son and how he says, they are just believed by God's
people. They are believed, even when
we can't understand them, they are believed when they bring
us to wonder what does it mean to have everlasting consolation.
It means that you are comforted, you are consoled in all of these
situations everlastingly. What is it to be loved everlastingly? See we can believe these things
and we can rejoice in them and sometimes we are talking about
things and so often we are talking about things which are just so,
so remarkable, isn't it? What remarkable things we're
talking about. What remarkable things Paul has
given us in this letter. That the Lord Jesus is coming
back to be glorified in his saints. He's coming back to gather us.
He's coming back to wrap up this world and wrap up this universe.
He's coming back with all of those millions and millions of
saints. that are in heaven right now
around the throne of God rejoicing and as he comes back he's going
to take his people off this earth and we'll be together with him
in the air and he's going to destroy this earth and he's going
to build a new creation. And then people argue about evolution
and creation. Dear, oh dear, we're talking
about the most remarkable supernatural things and we're talking about
the most remarkable supernatural emotions and character of our
God. He's loved us. Beloved of the
Lord is how he describes the brethren in verse 13. Beloved
of the Lord. See, believers are people that
believe the testimony. You see, that's what it is to
be saved, isn't it? That's what it is to be glorified in His
saints and to be admired in all them that believe, 2 Thessalonians
1.10. because our testimony among you
was believed." In 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 12 we have a description
of those who are damned. They all might be damned. What a shocking word. Perish
is another word, isn't it? Damned. Rightfully, justly judged
by God. Damned, who believed not the
truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Hold the traditions. Stand firm. Set yourself upon a rock. And the Lord giving you grace,
do not be moved from it." Isn't it remarkable to think, he says
at the end of that, he says, by word or by letter. He says, remember when I was
with you I told you these things. In those three weeks he had given
these Thessalonian believers the whole council. Isn't it remarkable? They were there with just Paul's
words and not a single New Testament letter. And the Old Testament
Scriptures, they had absolutely everything that was necessary
for life, for faith, for standing firm, for salvation. God promises to teach His people. God promises to preserve His
people and protect His people. The testimony is a testimony
that is believed by believers. The testimony is a testimony
that believers rejoice in. It's our first priority, isn't
it? The first importance, 1 Corinthians
15, Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which you also have
received, wherein you stand." We actually stand and we actually
have fellowship in a gospel, in the Lord Jesus Christ and
the declaration of who He is and what He has done. And this
is where you stand, by which also you are saved. if you keep
in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed
in vain. For I delivered unto you first
of all that which also I received, how that Christ died for our
sins." So the brethren are all people whose sins have been washed
away by the blood of the Lord Jesus. died for our sins according
to the scriptures, according to the Old Testament scriptures,
and that he was buried and that he rose again on the third day
according to the scriptures, and was seen by Cephas and then
of the twelve, and after that he was seen above five hundred
brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto the
present, but some have fallen asleep." And after that he was
seen of James and then of all the apostles and last of all
he was seen of me also as one born out of due time. Believers are the remarkable
recipients of the Gospel coming to them, a Gospel that calls
them. calls them out of this world. It's interesting, isn't it? He
calls it the traditions. We know from so many passages
in scripture that the traditions of men are as dangerous as the
traditions of God are good. Mark 7 gives us a remarkable
description, a tragic, tragic description of what happens when
people hold on to the traditions of men. In Mark chapter 7, as
I've shown you several times, it's a description of religion. The best that religion can ever
do is look at the outside. In verse 2 of chapter 7 they
looked. And religion always finds fault. It finds fault. And the religion
challenges the very truthfulness of God and how he cares for his
people, and it challenges him. Why? Why don't they do as all
these other men do? And the Lord Jesus says of them,
They honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men." And so then they lay aside the commandment
of God and they hold on to its tradition of men and they reject
the commandment of God. that they might keep their own
tradition and they were, in verse 13, they make the word of God
of none effect. See all they've done is start
with externals and he goes on later on in that chapter in verse
22 to show that all these things, the things that defile a man
are not things that are external, they are things that come out
from our hearts. Traditions can be bad. Traditions
can be incredibly dangerous, can't they? So many people we
have met hold on to traditions, hold on to faithfulness, to some
doctrinal position or some denomination, and they say, I'm going to stand
here. This is where I have been. This
is where I've made my nest. Even if the testimony of the
Gospel speaks against them. It's a tragic thing, isn't it?
Believers believe. Believers are not interested
in the testimony of men. Believers are not interested
in the traditions of men. We just hold on to what God says
in this Word. The Thessalonians, as I said
earlier, had everything that was needed for everlasting consolation
and good hope. So the traditions are Paul's
way of describing what is our gospel. So what is your gospel? What is my gospel? What is our
gospel? I trust that the Lord continues
for us to be a church that makes it plain. Makes it plain, so
that no one who walks away, walks away saying, I wasn't sure what
they were saying. I wasn't sure. I trust that the Lord would continue
His faithful witness that He's promised amongst us, that our
gospel would never be a yay and nay gospel. It would just be
yes and amen, and we'd be a gospel that we can live by, a gospel
that we can die by, a gospel that we find comforting, a gospel
that brings good hope through grace, everlasting consolation,
a gospel that comforts your hearts and establishes you. A gospel
that declares the sovereign grace of our great God. It's the gospel
of God. It's the gospel of Christ. It's the truth. It's a gospel
that God judges His servants to be worthy. It's a trust that
comes from God. We have what he describes as
this treasure in vessels of clay. In 1 Thessalonians we are allowed
of God to be put in trust with the Gospel. Even so we speak,
not as pleasing men, but God. We have one interest. Those who
proclaim the Gospel have one interest, don't they? One interest,
that God be glorified. That the Lord Jesus be honoured
and glorified for who he was in eternity, for what he did
on this earth, and for who he is right now. This Gospel, the Gospel, it comes
to the called, as we saw in 1 Thessalonians 1, it comes to the called, the
chosen, the brethren, beloved of the Lord, it comes in power,
it comes in the Holy Spirit and it comes in much assurance. It comes as a testimony from
God, about God, and it comes as a testimony that is just truth
in the most remarkable and absolute way. You see, we're reading about
these absolute promises, aren't we? Everlasting consolation,
loved from eternity. See, everlasting promises, absolute
promises depend upon absolute truth. Absolute reality. They are real. They are real
and true in the believer's life and in the believer's experience
because they are the promises of God who is real. And they
are the comfort and the hope of believers. In the Sermon on
the Mount, the Lord Jesus finishes that sermon by talking about
two places of building, aren't they? People who build on a rock. and people who build on sand. And the rain descended and the
floods came. The house that was built on the
sand is washed away. Read about it in Ezekiel 28. People make for themselves a
refuge, a refuge of lives, and the ever-flowing scourge will
come and will just wash it away. The wise man builds his house
on a rock. It's called the faith which was
once delivered to the saints. We are to build on that rock.
the Lord allowing it. He says, enter in the straight
gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to
destruction and many there are which go in there at because
straight is the gate and narrow is the way which lead us under
light and few there be that find it. Thank God he finds it as
a way for his people. We are to beware of the traditions
of men. It's philosophy, isn't it? And
vain deceit, according to Colossians 2.8. Because it simply denies
the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
It's called the traditions, it's called our common salvation,
our common faith. It's the faith of the Gospel. There is just one faith. It was
delivered by God to His apostles. It was delivered once, directly,
powerfully, emphatically, Paul only had the Old Testament to
preach the Gospel from. The Old Testament and the testimony
of the life of the Lord Jesus, perfectly sufficient. And it
came full and complete. It came authoritatively. It came
as a revelation of God. It was God who spoke. It was God who spoke to these
Thessalonians. It was God who called them out
of religion. It was God who sustained them
in the midst of all of the opposition. It was God who was honouring
His eternal covenant. There are some simple, simple
things about this testimony that we keep repeating again and again,
and it's good for us to repeat them. It's good for us to be
reminded again and again, isn't it? Firstly, let's just look
at some stubborn statements, as our friends describe them,
and I think they are dogmatic, stubborn statements. Firstly,
we have the Scriptures. The Bible in its entirety is
holy, inspired, it's infallible, it's the inerrant Word of God. It is either all true or it's
all a lie. It is the Word of God. It speaks
the truth of God and it's on that basis that all of our foundations
and all of our traditions, as Paul calls them, and all of our
Gospel is founded. And it declares a God. A God
who we saw in 2 Thessalonians, despite all of the activities
of Satan and the enormous success of Satan in deceiving this world
and deceiving this religious world, God is the one who is
absolutely sovereign over all of it. He's in total control
of all things at all times. There just is no way of saying
that there is anything partial about his sovereignty. He is
absolutely sovereign. And man is totally depraved. He is utterly dead in trespasses
and sins. If there is some spark of goodness
in him, some little activity of his will, some little thing
that he can do with his hands, then he has no need of a saviour
at all. There is no need if he has any
good or any will. As we saw in these verses, beloved
of the Lord, chosen from the beginning. God chose. God elects and God chooses and
He chose some of Adam's race. He chose them, as we saw in these
verses, He chose them to salvation, to the obtaining of the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He chose them to belief in the
truth. Salvation is God's will, not
man's. Grace is God's gift, not man's
choice. And God chose those people and
they were joined as one to His dear and precious Son. And He
is an effectual Redeemer. There are those four words that
we use all the time with regard to our Lord Jesus Christ. He's
absolutely sovereign. He is a perfect and fitting substitute. He perfectly satisfied. He is satisfied now. He's satisfied
the law of God. He's chosen bride. She's called a fair one, a beautiful
one. He is a successful saviour. He's sovereign, substitution,
satisfaction and success. And if there are not those things
you have to declare, as my cousin declared down in Victoria last
weekend, that he failed, that he's a failure. He had to say
it. That's what his theology necessarily
demands, that if he loves everyone and he died for everyone and
he gives everyone a chance and a whole bunch of people end up
in hell, he failed. At least he was being honest.
We are given new life. We are regenerated. by the irresistible
power, the omnipotent grace of God the Holy Spirit, and it's
free and sovereign grace. And I love to describe what grace
is according to the scriptures, but in simple terms, grace asks
nothing, asks for nothing, because we have nothing to give. Grace
asks for nothing and gives everything. Grace is sovereign grace. It waits for nothing and does
everything. As we see in our walk through
Galatians, God's people are entirely free from the law. And as we
see here in these verses that we're looking at, God's children
will stand fast because God will establish them. They will stand
fast to the end. They will be preserved. They
will be kept. They will be protected by God. It is the purpose of God, and
it cannot be thwarted. It is the very purchase of the
Lord Jesus, His Church, and He'll have what He paid for. And it
is the power of the blessed Holy Spirit. that ensures that all
that the Lord Jesus has done will be made known to us, revealed
to us. I'll just finish with something
that Robert Hawker wrote. He talks about these great and
leading doctrines of the Bible. Paul calls them these traditions
that we stand fast in, this testimony. It's our testimony. The great
and leading doctrines of the Gospel in the everlasting love
of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. More or less, he says, they are
on every page of the Scriptures. The person, glory, bloodshedding
and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ with redemption
only in His blood and regeneration only by God the Holy Ghost. These
are the bottom and foundation of all our mercies. To contend
for these, and with earnestness, is to contend for the very life
of our souls. Any indifference or coldness
to the open profession of these glorious truths in ourselves,
or to the denial of them in others, is wounding the Redeemer in the
house of His friends. It is high treason to the majesty
of God. It is traitorously admitting
the enemy into our citadel. I'll just finish with these words
of John Kent. I love this hymn. Twixt Jesus and the chosen race,
subsists a bond of sovereign grace, that hell with its infernal
train shall ne'er dissolve, nor rend in twain. This sacred bond
shall never break, though earth should to her centre shake. Rest,
doubting saint, assured of this, for God has pledged His holiness. He swore that once the deed was
done to settle by the Great Three One, Christ was appointed to
redeem all that the Father loved in Him. Hail, sacred union, firm
and strong! How great thy grace! how sweet the song, that rebel
worms should ever be one with incarnate deity. one in the tomb, one when he
rose, one when he triumphed over his foes, one when in heaven
he took his seat, while Sarah's son at hell's defeat. Blessed by the wisdom and the
grace, the eternal love and faithfulness that's in the gospel scheme revealed,
and is by God the spirit sealed. Let's pray.