Good evening. Let's all stand
and begin our worship service by singing 298. God leads us
along, 298. Shady green pastures so rich
and so sweet, God leads his dear children along. Where the water's cool flow bathes
the weary one's feet, God leads his dear children along. Some through the waters, some
through the flood, some through the fire, but all through the
blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives us some in the night season and all the day long. Sometimes on the mount where
the sun shines so bright, God leads his dear children along. Sometimes in the valley in darkest
of night, God leads his dear children along. Some through the waters, some
through the flood, some through the fire, but all through the
blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives us all in the night season and all the day long. In sorrows I follow, and Satan
opposed, God leads his dear children along. Through grace we can conquer,
defeat all our foes, God leads his dear children along. Some through the waters, some
through the flood, some through the fire, but all through the
blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives the sun in the night season and all the day long. Away from the mire and away from
the clay, God leads his dear children along. Away up in glory, eternity's
day, God leads his dear children along. Some through the water,
some through the flood, some through the fire, but all through
the blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives us all in the night season and all the day long. Thank you. You may be seated. I'm going to read from John chapter
4. I'm going to begin in verse 7. John
4, 7. There cometh a woman of Samaria
to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, give me
to drink. For his disciples were gone away
unto the city to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria
unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of
me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto
her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith
to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and
he would have given thee living water. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your grace in sending your Son, Jesus Christ, who gives
everything that we need for salvation, who gave himself his life that
we might have life in thee, and that we would go free from our
bondage and our death, and that we would have life in thee. And
Lord, we thank you for your grace and mercy to call us out of darkness
and to give us the water of life, and that in him, Lord, that in
our Savior, we are satisfied and thirst no more. That is we
have, we're not looking for anything else. We're satisfied with your
son, Jesus Christ. And we thank you because we know
that that is all of grace and not of this flesh and that there's
nothing we can do of ourselves to earn your favor or to give
ourselves life. Father, we thank you for your
grace and mercy and gathering us together here this night to
hear your word. to hear the voice of the Son
of God. Lord, please speak to us, comfort
us, teach us, heal our broken hearts, heal our wounds and our
sorrows, and comfort us in our Savior. Lord, turn our hearts
from the things of this world and set them upon Christ. Turn
our hearts from dead religion and dead works to behold he who
is the living water, he who gives life and fills us with his spirit
and gives us the hope of the saints. Lord, we pray that you
would remember our families, our children, our loved ones,
and our friends. Lord, cause them to hear the
gospel, give them a hunger and a thirst for righteousness that
can only be satisfied with Christ. And Lord, draw them by your grace
unto your Son. Lord, help us to love them, to
love one another, and to follow our Savior, wheresoever
he leads. Lord, we thank you for our visitors.
We pray that you would bless Mitch and Carla, that you would
keep them, bless their time of fellowship wherever they go and
give them peace with one another and safety in their travels.
And Lord, we're just thankful for them and for them visiting
us. And Lord, we pray that your spirit
would be upon us now as we worship our savior, that you would bless
our hearts It's in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, that
we pray, amen. As you remain sitting, let's
sing 282, hiding in thee, 282. ? Who's safe to the rock that is
higher than I ? ? My soul in its conflict and sorrows would
fly ? ? So sinful, so weary, thine, thine would I be ? ? How
blessed rock of Asia I'm hiding in thee. Hiding in thee. Hiding in thee. Thou blessed rock of ages, I'm
hiding in thee. In the calm of the noontide,
in sorrow's lone hour, in times when temptation casts or me its
power, In the tempest of life, on its wide heaving sea, Thou
blest rock of ages, I'm hiding in thee. Hiding in thee. Thou blest brook of ages, I'm
hiding in thee. Thou oft in the conflict, when
pressed by the foe, I have fled to my refuge and breathed out
my woe. How often when trials like sea
billows roll, Have I hidden in thee, O thou rock of my soul? Hiding in thee, Thou blessed rock of ages, I'm
hiding in thee. Thank you. Yeah, but I didn't see it there
until just now. Alright, is that working? Can you hear it? I don't know
why it's doing something funny. Hello. Connection? Oh, yeah. That's
exactly what I think it is. All right, here we go. All right. That's better, right? No. Okay. All right, brethren. Good evening. Last week, we were
looking at the seven I Ams. We began a study looking at the
seven I Ams, which our Lord speaks and which the Spirit records
for us in the Gospel of John. And so to quickly recap, you'll
remember that it was our God who first spoke these words when
he said to Moses in Exodus 3.14, I am that I am. And he said, thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. And so when we hear someone use
those words, just as the Jews heard Christ say these words
in their day, when we hear someone speak those words, I am, and
they use them in a manner which sounds as though they're They're
saying, I am something so broad and so all-encompassing that
there's none greater or mightier than me. For example, you've
probably heard a sports star say at one time or another, I'm
the greatest sportsman of all time in whatever their sport
is. I know on the playground, we said things foolishly like
that as children. I'm the greatest. I'm the strongest.
I'm the best. And so it is. I mean, we've heard
someone in the administration say, I am the science. And so when Christ spoke these
words, When he said, I am the true vine, for example, he was
speaking as the son of God. And when we hear someone speak
so definitively in that way, it sounds to us as though they're
saying, I have the authority of God to make this claim and
to take this title unto myself, because no one can say those
words which are so broad and so all-encompassing except for
the true and living God. He's the one who has the authority
to say such a thing. He's the one who can say it and
back it up completely. And it has great meaning when
it is said properly. And so when our Lord says, I
am, he is speaking to us as the God-man mediator, that one who
was sent of the Father to reveal and make known the will and purpose
of the Father, and to establish the will of the Father for his
chosen seed. So, when He speaks those words,
He's talking to us, who have an ear to hear, as the God-man
mediator, the one who reconciles the sheep unto the Father. And so, in these words, when
our Savior speaks these words, and we hear them, they're a comfort
to our hearts, and they give us great confidence in our Lord,
and they settle us down and they give us peace to know He's got
this. He's providing everything for
me and I don't need to worry and stress and fear and be afraid
because my God has provided everything I need in His Son, and He gives
me His Word. He gives me His Word that He's
provided everything for us. All that we need is met for us
in Christ Jesus, the Son of God whom the Father wisely sent to
obtain eternal redemption for you, His children, His bride,
His sheep, His people whom He loves and cares for from eternity
and chose you and gathered you together to hear His words and
to be comforted by the Savior and to rejoice in the Savior
so that we know that He's able to save them to the uttermost
who come to God by Him, by Him, by Christ. Paul said it this
way, he said, such trust have we through Christ to Godward
or toward God. Why do I stand here and preach
Jesus Christ to you? Why do I preach that Christ is
all and that he is salvation to all who come to God by him?
Because that's how confident I am that Christ is all. And why are you gathered here
in this little congregation to hear that Christ is all? Because
you too are made confident and you're so confident that Christ
is all toward God, that that's through Christ that we come to
God, that you're willing to come here rather than to go to the
many other places that are available to religious people. And so confident
was Paul in Christ that saw the Pharisee who was laboring hard
and working hard and sacrificing hard. So confident was he in
Christ that he became Paul the apostle and wrote to Timothy
and said for this cause. For this cause, for the cause
of Christ, I've laid aside my labors and my confidence in the
flesh, and I'm looking to the Lord Jesus Christ and to him
alone so that I suffer these things that I'm now suffering.
Nevertheless, he said, I'm not ashamed, for I know whom I have
believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I have committed unto him against that day. That's confidence. You that are resting in Christ,
you're committing everything to Christ. You're not trusting
your labors. You're not trusting your efforts,
your work in the flesh. That's not your confidence. You
have no confidence in that. But you have every confidence
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the blessing of your
God. That's the gift of God to you whom he loves. He gives that
confidence and that hope. And so we're trusting that all
of our salvation is committed safely, wisely, competently,
above all that we can ask or think or do or say. And it's
all in Christ's hands, and that's exactly what the Father intended
it to be for His people, exactly, for you to trust Christ alone.
Now last week, we had only made it to the first I am, the first
of the seven, where our Lord said in John 635, I am the bread
of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. And our Savior, our Lord, can
say this as our Savior because we see that in Christ we're made
whole and we are complete in Him so that we are satisfied
with the Son. We're satisfied with our Savior
that He's provided everything for me, that there's nothing
left undone. I have no Nothing open before
God that I'm going to be judged for because I'm judged in Christ. And I'm made righteous in Christ. And we've been adorned with the
grace of our Savior in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we're complete
and we're satisfied in Christ. And what that means is, having
believed on Christ, we don't continue to search out other
religious ideas and other ways and other means to try and add
to the hope that we have or to find some other comfort. in some
other thing to give us assurance or confidence before our God
against that day. We're satisfied with Christ. He is the bread of heaven and
we are satisfied with that bread and we thirst for no other righteousness
than the righteousness of Christ. So let's continue now with these
other iambs that our Savior spoke. The second one is found in John
8 verse 12. Go to John 8 verse 12. Then spake
Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. That sinner
who truly believes on Christ, who trusts Christ, who knows,
I have no other righteousness, I have no other forgiveness,
no other salvation but in Christ, that one who believes Christ
has the light of God shining on them, shining in their hearts. So that when Christ, who is the
Light of God, when He shines, He's the one that shines upon
our darkness. He's the one that makes it known
unto us that salvation is of the Lord. It's of His hand. It's of His work. It's of His
doing for us. He's the one that makes it known
to us that our God has provided salvation in His Son, so that
we know it's not my works. We come to see the futility of
trying to work for our own righteousness, to try and absolve ourselves
of our own sins and to obtain forgiveness with our God by our
works. But we know that in Christ, our
God will be gracious to whom He will be gracious, and He'll
be merciful to whom He will be merciful. And in Christ our God
will show compassion upon whom he will show compassion. And it's Christ that reveals
this truth in your hearts. It's Christ who makes this known
to us so that we see that the works of man, the religion of
man, the work of the flesh is idolatry. And that it doesn't
obtain us favor with our God. We see in Christ that it's not
by a long practice of religion, that it's not by the works that
we do in religion, that it's not by trying to be more moral
or do those things which are contained in the law that bring
us closer to our God. It's by the knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That as we grow in the knowledge
of Him and we grow in that grace, that's where we're comforting.
When we first began in religion, it was very stressful. It was
very worrisome because it was all about what we have done and
what we continue to do. But thanks be to God who caused
us to hear the gospel. and settled our hearts in the
Lord Jesus Christ so that it was by the hearing of faith,
the hearing of Christ and what he has done for us that settled
us and gave us comfort by anchoring our souls in Christ, anchoring
our hearts, our hopes, our thoughts in the Lord Jesus Christ. and
receiving by His grace, receiving that hope, which rests in the
Lord Jesus Christ, so that we cease to do those things that
we did formerly and trusting those things, though they never
gave us any comfort or any rest or any peace in those things.
It's the light of our, it's the light of Christ that shines in
our hearts, that shines in our minds to give us that knowledge
and understanding that our God's provided everything. in his son,
Jesus Christ. And so that light of Christ delivers
us from the enmity that exists in this heart by nature, and
that hatred of the true living God, which exists in this heart
by nature and in his flesh. It's Christ that conquers the
enmity. It's Christ that delivers us
from that vain hope that we have in self. Turn over to 2 Corinthians
4. Go to 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 3 is where we'll begin. Christ is the light, but not
everybody sees that light. Christ is the light, and he shines
in the hearts of his people, but not everybody sees that light
or receives that light. And Paul writes about this in
verse three, saying, but if our gospel be hid, because we're
preaching the gospel to all, we're declaring that salvation
is by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to all, to all. And Paul says, if our gospel
be hid, it's hid to them that are lost. and whom the God of
this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
we're not out preaching man's works. and man how to get himself
saved or how to get nearer to God, we don't preach ourselves
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. When we preach man's works, and
we focus on man, we're darkening the mind. We're actually throwing
a blanket or just throwing another layer of the veil on the heart
and just adding to that darkness that's already there by nature. But when we preach Christ and
we preach His righteousness and we preach His accomplished salvation,
which He did triumphantly for His people, We're holding forth
the light of our God. We're declaring that salvation. We're holding up the engine.
Though few seem to be interested or to rally around it, we're
holding it up, knowing that our God is faithful to call all his
sheep and to gather them unto the Savior. We trust not ourselves,
but we trust Christ Jesus, and we preach Him knowing that He
faithfully calls His sheep unto Himself and blesses them with
the life which is in Him for His people. And this is so because
our God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, Our
God who created the heavens and the earth and all that in them
is. He has shined in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. He is the light of God. He is
the light of the world. There is no other light. There
is no other salvation. There is no other way. Christ
is the light of the world. so that Jew and Gentile come
unto the Father one way, through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the wicked and the unbelieving,
they hate Christ, who is the light of God, because he shines
upon the darkness and exposes the vain hopes that we have in
ourselves. Turn over to John 3. John 3. Verse 19 and 20, and this is
the condemnation that light is coming to the world and men loved
darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone
that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light lest
his deeds should be reproved. And so men hate that truth Because
what is being declared is that all our works, which we've done,
all the things which we've collected and built up to try and satisfy
the righteousness and the holiness of God, is declared to be vain
and worthless, and to have not gained us anything with our God. Hasn't gained us any life, hasn't
gained us any favor, hasn't gained us any merit, any righteousness
with the true and living God. Christ and Christ alone is the
light of God. He's the one that reveals to
us this truth. He's the one that reveals to
us salvation in Him. And our Lord said to the Jews
in John 8, 24, He said, if you believe not that I am He, if
you don't believe that I am the light, that I am the way of salvation,
that I am the truth whom the Father hath sent, ye shall die
in your sins. And so that one who labors the
most and works the hardest and tries to please God in their
works and abstain from things that they think are evil and
sinful, that one will die in their sins if they have no hope
in the Lord Jesus Christ and have him as their only hope.
Because to look any other place is to have a confidence in this
flesh, and to not hear what the Father has said, and to not believe
on Him whom the Father has sent. And so that one who doesn't see
Christ remains in their darkness. They have not heard, they have
not seen, they have not believed the one whom the Father had sent.
They're always learning, always increasing in knowledge, but
never coming to an understanding of the truth because it takes
the light of God, Jesus Christ, to shine in our hearts and to
make this known to us and to give us a hope in Himself. And
so it's the sovereign power of our God that turns the heart
of the sinner. He's the one that makes known
to us our need. He's the one that makes known
to us the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ. And our Savior
tells us this in John 3 21 when he says, but he that doeth truth
cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that
they are wrought in God. So that one who believes on Christ,
who trusts him and follows Christ and stays upon the Lord Jesus
Christ, who who seeing how the heart would wander if it could,
and with trust in vain things, that one who sees that it's God
who's keeping them, confesses. to his brethren, confesses unto
God that, Lord, if you didn't keep me, I'd never stay. I would
depart. I'd go away. But it's the Lord
who keeps his people. And it's the Lord who reveals
this to us, and shows us Christ, and shows us the sufficiency
of Christ. And Christ said, that one shall
not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. And that's
the promise of your Savior. and you shall have light, because
you have life, and He keeps you, and keeps you in that light.
Then there's a third recording, and this is found over in John
10. There's actually two times where two I Ams that our Savior
declares to us. So the first of these is in John
10, verse 9. We'll look there. Our Savior
said, I am the door, By me if any man enter in he shall be
saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture. What our Savior
is making known to us is that by Him and by Him alone we do
enter into fellowship with the Father. It is only by the Lord
Jesus Christ that we are reconciled to the Father. You know, when
you read a chapter like Ephesians chapter 1, it's a beautiful chapter
that declares to us great truths. But one of the things that you'll
notice there is every interaction, every fellowship that we have
with the Father is only and always in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's never spoken of outside
of Christ. There's no blessing, there's
no hope, no comfort for us outside of Christ. That begins in verse
3 when we're told that every spiritual blessing is given to
us in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And then we see that in
verse four, we're chosen of God in Christ. And then in Ephesians
1.5, we see that we're adopted children unto God by Jesus Christ. Verse six, we see that we've
been made accepted into the beloved by Jesus Christ. Verse seven, we're redeemed by
the blood of Christ. And we're forgiven of our sins
by Jesus Christ. Verse nine, it's Christ that
reveals the mystery of God unto us. Verse 10, we're gathered
together by Jesus Christ. And then in verse 11, we find
that Christ is our inheritance. So there's no blessings with
our God for sinners, but through the Lord Jesus Christ. To preach any other hope is vain
and damning to the soul and shuts men up to the only hope that
we have. keeps us out from the only hope
we have, but to preach Christ shuts us up to Him who alone
is the salvation of God. So Christ is the door by whom
we have access unto the Father. Now in verse 7 he also said,
I am the door of the sheep. and the sheep are the children
of God. All others are described as goats,
having no part in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's only one way
to the Father, and the sheep go through the sheep door, and
none others go through that door. Only the sheep go through the
sheep door. Men think that their works are
bringing them to the Father. They think that their sacrifices
are bringing them to the Father. They think that their religion
brings them to the Father. But Christ says, I am the door. Your religion isn't the door.
Your false hopes aren't the door. Your works aren't the door. Your
sacrifices aren't the door. Christ and Christ alone is the
door. We come having one plea, one
hope. Lord, save me by the blood of
your son Jesus Christ. Wash me in that blood. Plunge
me in that fountain of forgiveness in the blood of Christ. Because
if I have not the blood of Christ, I have nothing. Because you receive
nothing and no one but in the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn over
to Hebrews chapter 9. Seeing that Christ is the door,
I'm sorry, go to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews 10 verse 19. You that hope in Christ have
great confidence. and shall never be turned away
in Christ, in coming to the Father through Jesus Christ. And he
says in verse 19, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into
the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which
he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his
flesh. And having an high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near, let us enter in through
the door with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water. So that with great encouragement,
your God calls you to the Lord Jesus Christ to believe him,
to trust him. We see our sin, we see our weakness,
our unbelief, we see our failings and our folly, but our God has
provided one greater than all our faults and all our sins and
our trespasses. He's provided His Son, Jesus
Christ, and He calls you who hope in Him to trust Him, to
believe in Him, to come to the Father, to worship Him, to pray
to Him, to ask forgiveness of Him and to trust Him, that He
has forgiven you, because that's how precious the blood of Christ
is, and how sufficient the blood of Christ is, how powerful the
blood of Christ is for you and for me, that though we are sinners,
that though we are fools, and insufficient in ourselves,
yet Christ is all. And against the backdrop of this
black heart, we see how precious the Lord Jesus Christ is. And
he says, I am the door. And you that come to the Father,
through me. You have an audience with the
true and living God who created the heavens and the earth, who
knows all things and nothing is hid from his eyes. And he
says, come, come to me, come to my father through me, because
in me is rest and comfort for your souls. And there is peace
and forgiveness in Christ. Enter through the door, which
is Christ Jesus. He's the door of the sheep. You that worry and wonder, am
I a sheep? Do you believe on Christ? Is
he all your hope? Because that's how the sheep
enter. It's through Christ, having no other hope but him. All right,
now the fourth recording is found for us in John chapter 10, verse
11. And here, he that is the door
of the sheep says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth
his life for the sheep. So as the good shepherd, our
Lord is making it known to you that he's the one caring for
you. He's the one providing for you and sustaining you. He's
the one that is preserving your soul in him. He says in Isaiah
40, I'll read it, Isaiah 40, verse 10 through 11, behold,
the Lord God will come with strong hand. And his arm shall rule
for him. Behold, his reward is with him,
and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd, he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry
them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with
young. So that no trial is too great
for your Lord. We're pressed in the way, we're
troubled, and we go through various trials and difficulties. But
our Savior tells us there's no trial that's too great for Him,
that He's able to provide for you because He loves you and
He keeps you. And He brings us through trials
for our good, for our learning, that faith may be found, that
we may know that we are the sheep of the Lord and that he's the
one who's gathered us together and put us together with his
sheep and his local assemblies and blesses our hearts and feeds
us and keeps us in the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so our God, we see that Christ is the good shepherd. Believe
him, trust him. And look to Him, always. Lean
not upon your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge
Him. Because He cares for you, and
He looks after each of us, even when we feel alone and in dark
times. and feel weary and feel in danger,
our Savior knows all things, and He's brought us right to
where He's brought us and put us right there, and He abides
with us and keeps us abiding in Him. He is the Good Shepherd. As the Good Shepherd, He says
He gives His life for the sheep, which speaks to what He did for
us upon the cross. When He came as our sacrifice,
being made sin for us, being made a curse for us, to deliver
us from death and to put away our sin and to give us life and
a hope and an inheritance in Him. And having borne our sins,
He put them away and obtained eternal forgiveness for us with
the Father. And the Father and the Son sent
the Spirit to seek you out and to cause you to hear the voice
of the Son of God, to give you faith and hope in the Son of
God, and to cause you to cry out to the Son of God for mercy
and for peace and grace in Him. And He comforts your hearts and
your souls in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one that gives
us that new birth, regenerating us, giving us life and understanding
in Christ to behold that He is my shepherd. And in him we shall
not want, but he ever keeps us and is ever watching over us
and is fully aware where the lions are and the bears and anything
that would come to rend the sheep, he knows right where they are.
And he's protecting each one of you and keeping you through
all the dangers. And so our Savior says, I am
the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. He tells us that He's the one
that chose us before the foundation of the world and put us in Christ,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. And so the great I Am says these
words to comfort you and to give you peace. He's not a man that
his will should be frustrated. You know, sometimes I have a
chore to do outside, and when I think I'm gonna go out there,
it suddenly starts raining. Or I wake up and I think I'm
going to accomplish something this day and then something comes
up that frustrates that whole thing and turns things around.
And that's true of each of us and we know that. And it's good
for us to be frustrated. It's good for us to see that
I'm just a man and I can't determine what shall be for me. But my
God, who is wiser than I am, and stronger than I am, and greater
than I am in all things, He's determined my steps, and He places
my steps, and He's determined what shall be for me in this
day. And that is a comfort. So that
whatever happens, any foolish decision that we make and look
back upon and say, I shouldn't have done that, or I should have
done this differently, don't. And yes, we confess our sin and
our folly, but know that our God has us right where He will
have us, and He's teaching us exactly what we need to know.
And He's doing it for our good, and He's doing it in the body
for the good of His people, to bless them, and to keep them,
and to reveal Himself to them. And He says there in John 10,
verse 27 through 29, He says, My sheep hear My voice, and I
know them. They follow me, and I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. And so your God shall not fail
to do that which he's purposed to do for you. The good your
God purposes for you shall indeed be brought to pass. And he says,
or when he says, I am known of mine, it's because he's purposed
to fulfill his purpose in giving you life in the sun. And nothing can stop that. And
those whom you love and pray for and hope that the Lord will
reveal himself to them and be merciful, he knows. He knows
them that are his. And he has a purpose in all things
which he does. And so continue to pray to your
God, to trust him, to believe him, to pray for one another,
to pray for your loved ones and rest in him, leave it with him.
He is the good shepherd and his will shall not fail to come to
pass. And so I'm gonna stop right there
and I pray that the Lord comfort your hearts and bless your hearts
this night in him, amen. Let's pray, and then brother,
close us in. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your grace. We thank you that you have all
authority and all powers given unto you. We see the wisdom,
the power, the grace of our God in committing us into the hands
of the Son, who did all things well. Lord, we thank you for
trusting us not to ourselves, but trusting us, committing us
to Christ, and that he does all things for us. And Lord, we are
comforted, and we do thank you when we see how precious, how
great, how wonderful our Savior is. Lord, stir our hearts with
the love of our Savior, and love for one another in him, that
we may rejoice in him always, and that our hearts would See
him and hear his words when we are brought into trouble, that
we would be comforted by Christ, that we would know your presence
and see your power and might worked out in our midst. Because
we know that nothing is too great for you and that you were able
to do exceedingly above all that we can ask or think. And Lord,
we thank you for this because we see how easily we fail. and how far we fall short of
your glory. Lord, bless your people this
night. Bless those that are here. Bless those that could not be
with us but would, Lord, who are suffering and are sick. We
pray that you would heal them and that you would gather your
sheep together to rejoice as one in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray and
give thanks. Amen. All right, brother. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn, 256. It is well with my soul, 256. When peace like a river attendeth
my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my luck,
thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Though Satan should buffet, though
trials should come, let this bless assurance control, that
Christ hath regarded my head. and has shed his own blood for
my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. My sin, O the bliss of this glorious
thought! My sin, not in part, but a whole! is nailed to the cross, and I
bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
O my soul, it is well. with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. And Lord, haste the day when
my face shall beside the clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resound, and
the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Thank you.