All right, brethren, Joe and
Joanne, give their regards. They're just not feeling well,
so we're gonna miss this week, but are looking forward to being
back with us again midweek and definitely next week. And let
me just say, too, we're gonna have a meal next week, so we'll
take the Lord's Supper together, and then we'll have a meal together
as well. So hopefully you can all join
us. All right, brethren, so I'm leading
the singing today, and it's gonna be acapella without music, accompaniment. I'll even sing over the microphone
for you. All right, brethren. I wanna
begin with hymn number four. Hymn number four, which is Praise
Ye the Triune God. Let's stand. Let's stand and
sing this one. My throat's getting a little
croggy. All right, hymn number four.
? Praise ye the Father ? ? For
his loving kindness ? Tenderly cares he for his erring children. Praise him, ye angels. Praise him in the heavens. Praise ye Jehovah. Praise ye the Savior, great is
His compassion, graciously cares He for His chosen people. Young men and maidens, ye old
men and children, Praise ye the Savior. Praise ye the Spirit, Comforter
of Israel, Scent of the Father, and the Son to bless us. Praise ye the Father, Son and
Holy Spirit, praise ye the triune God. Okay, Brother Scott will
come and read the scriptures to us now. You may be seated.
You're supposed to go this way, Scott.
Oh, is that the plan? I have to go that way? I'm going to read Psalm chapter
11 today. It's short but nonetheless, no less important. Psalm chapter
11. In the Lord put I my trust. How say ye to my soul, flee as
a bird to your mountain. For lo, the wicked bend their
bow. They make ready their bow, they make ready their arrow,
upon the string that they may privily shoot at the upright
in heart. If the foundations be destroyed,
what can the righteous do? The Lord is in his holy temple.
The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold, his eyelids
try the children of men. The Lord tryeth the righteous,
but the wicked, and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain
snares, fire, and brimstone, and a horrible tempest. This
shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous Lord loveth
righteousness. His countenance doth he behold
the upright. Let's pray. Father, we come to
you this morning thankful for this scripture and father we're
thankful for those that could be here this morning lord please
open our eyes and our ears and hearts as the message is brought
to us and father we ask that you watch over those that couldn't
be brother joe and joan and sister joanne we just ask that you watch
over them and Lord, we just want, you know, if you please let Joe
know how important he is to us. And, you know, we see how much
he does for the church and we're so thankful to have him. And
Father, we miss him when he's not here. And we just ask that
you watch over his and Joanne's health. And Lord, we ask that
you watch over my mother with some of her health issues and
any other folks that I haven't mentioned. Father, you know their
issues. Lord, we ask that you continue
to raise this church up here. Have more folks come if it be
your will. Father, we are so thankful for a place to come.
And Lord, we're also thankful for the pastor that you've given
us. Lord, that you continue to give him strength and support
as he brings the messages to us. Lord, we ask all this in
Christ's name. All right, brethren, let's turn
to hymn number 75. Hymn 75 is Abide With Me. All
right, hymn 75. ? Abide with me, fast falls the
eventide ? ? The darkness deepens, Lord with me abide ? ? When other
helpers fail and comforts flee ? Help of the helpless, so abide
with me. Swift to its close, heads out
lights little day. Earth's joys grow dim, its glories
pass away. Change and decay in all around
I see. O thou who changest not, abide
with me. I need thy presence every passing
hour. What but thy grace can foil the
tempter's power? Who like thyself my guide and
stay can be? Through cloud and sunshine, oh,
abide with me. Hold thou thy word before my
closing eyes. Shine through the gloom and point
me to the skies. Heaven's morning breaks and earth's
faint shadows flee. In life and death, O Lord, abide
with me. Good morning. Let's turn to John
chapter 11. John 11, and we're going to be
looking at the verses in 45 through verse 53. I've titled this message, Substitution
Accomplished. Substitution Accomplished. Our Lord had performed a great
and mighty miracle in raising Lazarus from the dead. And this work that he did had
two different outcomes in the people. The people responded
in one of two ways. Some who were there to assist
in the mourning of Mary and Martha over their dead brother. Some
who were there when Lazarus was raised from the dead. They too
were raised from the dead. They were raised from spiritual
death. Look at verse 45. Then many of
the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which
Jesus did, believed on him. They saw the works which Christ
did. They saw it for themselves. And
they believed on the Lord. If you look back in chapter 4,
John 4, it reminds us of what happened with the woman at the
well. who spoke with Christ. And Christ revealed himself in
her heart. He revealed faith in her heart.
And she went off to the village to tell the townsfolk of what
the Lord had done for her. And it says in verse 41, when
they came out and heard Christ speak, many more believed because
of his own word and said unto the woman, now we believe. not because of thy saying, for
we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed
the Christ, the Savior of the world. And so to them, what was
said to the Pharisees back in John chapter 11 was given to
them. Our Lord said in John 10, 37
and 38, if I do not the works of my father, believe me not. But if I do, though he believe
not me, believe the works that ye may know and believe that
the father is in me and I in him. But there were others that were
there who stood by, and they saw that same miracle as the
others. And yet, they remained. in their sin. They remained in
unbelief. What they saw was death. What
they saw was a saver of death unto death. They didn't believe.
They were amazed, but they thought ill of what Christ had done.
They despised what the Lord had done in raising Lazarus from
the dead. Look at verse 46. Here they ran
off seeking the approval of men rather than the approval of God.
But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees and told them
what things Jesus had done. They didn't believe the Lord
Jesus Christ. They saw the miracles. They saw
the works that God, only God can do. and they didn't believe
him because they were blinded by hatred. They had a veil over
their heart, a veil over their eyes, and they hated Christ,
and they would not believe the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is
exactly the natural heart of man. Everything's just a coincidence. Everything has an explanation.
And it certainly isn't the glory of God that they've just seen.
And so the natural heart of man does not believe. Though he sees
a man rise from the dead, he will not believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Paul says in 1 Corinthians
2.14 that the natural man, what we are by nature, receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him. Neither can he know them because
they are spiritually discerned. And by nature we don't have the
Spirit of God. And so the things of God that
we witness and see in this flesh without the Spirit our foolishness
to us. They're just foolishness. We
don't believe them. And so we see this happening
throughout scripture. When Paul was preaching to the
Jews, when he was giving defense of himself, we're told at the
end of Acts, in Acts 28, 24, some believed the things which
were spoken and some believed not. Who makes man to differ? How is it that two people can
be sitting in the same church, on the same pew, hearing the
same message preached, and one believes it and another does
not believe it? One believes and the other does
not believe. Who makes man to differ? Many people believe that it's
that person, that there's something about that person, some spark
of life, some spark of light, and then that the other person
is suppressing and subduing and putting down and not believing. But the scriptures teach that
all men are dead in trespasses and sins. So who maketh thee
to differ? In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul
had declared, just declared at the beginning of chapter 2, he
said, we're all dead by nature. All men are dead in trespasses
and sins. And we, by nature in this flesh,
walk according to the course of this world. And we walk under
the power and influence of the prince of the power of the air,
that spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
And we, just like them who are still in their trespasses and
sins, we too walked in darkness. We too were children of wrath. What made the difference? Who
made the difference? Well, verse four, Ephesians 2.4
says, but God. God makes the difference. But
God who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he
loved us. Wherewith he loved us. This flesh,
when they see salvation, when they see the works of God, They don't believe, but God makes
the difference in the believer. And we see here that he speaks
of love and wherever the love of God is present, There shall
be faith. There shall be deliverance out
of death into life. Verse 5, even when we were dead
in sins, hath quickened, hath given us life together with Christ. By grace ye are saved. And so wheresoever the love of
God rests on a person, they too shall be quickened together with
Christ. They shall receive by the pouring
in, by the gift of God, they shall receive that same power,
that same spirit of life which raised Christ from the dead.
They too shall be given it and raised from the dead because
Those whom God loves, he quickens and gives life to, just like
he says here in the scriptures in Ephesians 2, 4, and 5. And so his people shall be saved. Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. Romans 9, 13. Who did God quicken? Who did
God give life to? Jacob and Esau? No. Jacob I loved,
Esau I hated, and Jacob... was raised from the dead spiritually.
Both men in the flesh were blessed. They had much possessions. They
had much cattle. They had good families. They
had possession of land. They both appeared to be blessed
in the flesh outwardly. But God had fellowship with Jacob
and not with Esau. And he tells us he loved Jacob.
So where the love of God is, there shall be a quickening together
with the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when men hear the gospel,
they're either blessed or they're angered. And the more near that
word of truth is brought to their hearts, and begins to interrupt
their life, if they have not the spirit, the more violently
they react to it, the more violently they come out against it. So
in Romans chapter nine, in verses 14 through 16, you can turn there
and then put a marker there, because we'll be back much later
in the message, but in Romans nine, in verse 14 through 16, if God loved Jacob, and despised. He hated Esau. Well then all
the human race is divided in this same manner by God. Because
where love is, there is a quickening. And where hatred is, there's
no quickening. There's no life. There's a leaving
man to himself. And the natural response of man
is exactly what we see of those Jews in verse 46, where they
go off seeking the approval of men and despise in Christ and
speak ill of the Lord. So Romans 9, 14, what shall we
say then? What shall we say then if God
loved Jacob and hated Esau? Is there unrighteousness with
God? That's what the natural man thinks. Well, that's not
fair. Everybody needs a chance to be saved. Everybody needs
a chance, meaning what about my will? What about what I do?
Doesn't that count for anything with God? Is there unrighteousness
with God? God forbid. Not at all. For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. and I will have compassion,
on whom I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth. It's not of man's will, which
is bound in sin and death and darkness, nor of him that runneth,
but not of his works, but of God that showeth mercy. Next, we read of the response,
the response of these religious leaders of the Jews. Turn back
to John chapter 11. We see that their chief goal,
that which was most important to them, was how do we preserve
what we have? How do we preserve our influence
and our power and our place here in this kingdom? How do we continue
in those things that we have? And how do we eliminate our competition? How do we get rid of this guy
because he's showing us up, he's making us look like fools. But
if he was the Christ, surely he would come and partake with
us and he'd align with us and not with the people. And so they
wanted to be careful not to raise any alarm bells with the Romans,
because they knew then Rome would come in and destroy them, and
destroy their temple, and destroy their power, and destroy their
religion, and outlaw their religion. And so they were worried about
protecting themselves. So verse 47 and 48. Then gathered the chief priests
and the Pharisees a council and said, what do we? In other words,
guys, what are we doing here? What are we doing about this
guy? He's just going on doing these miracles. What are we going
to do? Why aren't we taking care of
this? And what are we going to do when we do take care of it?
For this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all
men will believe on him, and the Romans shall come and take
away both our place and nation." You see how their fear arose. It was born out of their unbelief. They didn't have the Spirit of
God. What this man was doing was foolishness, and it was going
to destroy them and the nation. And our Lord warns us. He tells
his people, warns them that the man who seeks to preserve his
life, to save his life, he's going to lose it. He's going
to lose it. He's going to be destroyed. He said it in several places,
but one place was in Luke 1733. Whosoever shall seek to save
his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve
it. Those who lay down their life
In pursuit of Christ, trusting His blood is sufficient. Not
my works, not my will, not the things that I do or don't do.
Christ saves or I cannot be saved at all. That one who lays down
their life, they shall find life. And that one, though, who seeks
to preserve his life and say, well, I'll let the Lord come
this far, but no further, that one, Christ says, will lose it.
You'll be overwhelmed by the tidal wave of life, and you'll
be destroyed in your sins. And so no miracle of grace was
wrought in their heart. They were nothing but men of
this flesh, and their hearts were hardened against the truth. They were dead in trespasses
and sins, and when they heard and saw the truth, their hearts
were hardened even more. A man who was dead for four days
had been raised from the dead, and their hearts could only think
of themselves and seeking how they could overcome and outdo
this Jesus of Nazareth. So they heard, they saw no light,
When they heard the voice from heaven speak, they said, it's
thunder. That's just thunder. That wasn't
God speaking. That was just thunder that you
guys heard. There was no quickening of their
souls together with Christ. Turn over to John chapter five. Look at John five. Just stay there for a minute
with me. Go to five verse 39. Here our Lord is speaking to
the Jews. And he tells them, search the
scriptures. They had the scriptures. They had the prophets, and the
Psalms, and the five books of Moses, and the historical books.
Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal
life. And they are they which testify
of me. So, if all you see in this Bible
is historical lessons and historical accounts of Israel and lessons
of motivation and good moral stories and how to build up moral
character, you're as dead spiritually as these Jews. You're just as
much darkness and foolishness as these Jews. You're deceived. You're deceiving yourselves.
You have the scriptures, and you do not see of whom the scriptures
speak. And he tells them, and ye will
not come to me that ye might have life. That's the will of
the natural heart of man, refusing Christ. We will not come to Christ
that we might have life. And he says, I receive not honor
from men. I'm not looking for your approval,
Christ says. I'm not some political messiah. I'm not looking to get you guys
on my side to shore up my support among the people and to get you
guys behind me. I don't need your approval. But I know you that ye have not
the love of God in you. Because if you had the love of
God, you would love me, you would love him whom the Father hath
sent, because whom God loves, there is life. There is life
brought in the heart of a dead sinner, brought to life by the
resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord's people who are loved
by God, they shall be willing in the day of God's power. Psalm 110 verse 3. Now if you're
still there in John 5, verse 21. Verse 21, for as the Father
raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, gives them life, even so
the Son quickeneth whom he will. He gives life. to whom he will. And so having no life of the
Lord Jesus Christ, we see that which is manifested in them is
enmity. They despised Jesus Christ. But the beauty here is that all
these things are being managed and worked out perfectly by the
will of God, according to his purpose, according to his will,
to be gracious to his people in the Lord Jesus Christ. He loves his people and he will
therefore be gracious to them. He will be merciful. He will
put away their sin. He's going to give his people
life because it's his will and purpose and no man can stay,
God, from doing his will and purpose. So look at verse 49
and 50 now in John 11. John 11, 49. And one of them
named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto
them, you know nothing at all. You guys are wasting your time
debating about who this person is. Is he innocent? Is he guilty? Is he the Messiah? Is he just
some other guy? Who cares? This man's threatening
our position of power. That's all that's important.
That's all that's important to us right now. It doesn't matter
who he is. Destroy him. Let's kill him,
lest the whole nation and we be taken away and all that we've
worked for and all that we have. Verse 50, nor do you consider
it expedient for us that one man should die for the people
and that the whole nation perish not. Caiaphas was not a man of
faith. He put on the appearance of being
religious, but he wasn't a faithful man. He wasn't a righteous man.
He didn't know the true and living God at all. In fact, it seems
that he was a Sadducee. In Acts chapter 4, 6, it says, and Annas, the high
priest, and Caiaphas, who we know was a high priest. That's
because at that time, it wasn't for life you were a high priest.
You would pay money to the king who would appoint you the high
priest for that year. It was a political office. It
was an appointed office. It was politics that these guys
were following. And John and Alexander and many
of the kindred. And then in chapter 5, verse
17, Acts 5.17 says, Then the high
priest rose up, and all they that were with him, which is
the sect of the Sadducees, and were filled with indignation.
These men didn't even believe in the resurrection of the dead. These men paid for their political
office, and they intended to get a return on their investment. This thing wasn't going to be
undone by some Galilean, some Jesus of Nazareth. And so this
man is just pure carnal evil against the true and living God. He only cared for himself. He
was protecting his position, his power, his authority, his
influence, and he didn't want to concern Rome and have them
coming in there to destroy. So he tried to protect it, but
we know it was all destroyed anyway in 70 AD. But being high priest that year,
yet he prophesied. He spoke truth, though he didn't
know it. He didn't see it or understand it, yet he spoke truth.
If the nation had followed Christ and had made him a political
messiah, not that Christ would allow this, but if they did,
they would have perished. And we would all perish in our
sins. Except Christ lay down his life
as the substitute of his people, we cannot be saved because sin
would remain. If Christ didn't put away our
sin, if he doesn't put away our sin, our sin remains. And though God love us from all
eternity, he can do nothing. He can't be just in saving us.
And so to be just, our sins had to be paid for. They had to be
put away, and they had to be put away by one righteous, one
fit to lay down his life, bearing the sins of the people to make
atonement, a covering for the sins of the people. to be a propitiation
to God, to turn His wrath against us, that's justly against us,
away from us because it was poured out on Him as our substitute,
as our substitute to set us free. And so he intended to do harm
to the God-man mediator, and he had a wicked heart in doing
it. But what he did was he was part in working the works of
God. God used his hatred. to work
the works of God, to accomplish his will in saving the nation
of his people. First the Jews and then the Gentiles
who were scattered among the nations. So this man preached
substitution that by Christ's death the Lord's people would
go free, free of their sin. So John 11, 51 and 52. In this spake he not of himself,
but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should
die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that
also he should gather together in one the children of God that
were scattered abroad. And so we see there the sovereign
arm, the sovereign will of our God able to affect all that he
pleases to do, to accomplish his will and purpose that he
determined to do for his people before the foundation of the
world, all for his love's sake. those whom He loved, He would
not be denied His will and purpose. Nothing can stop our God who
determines to save His people. Not even we can take ourselves
away from Him. The Apostle John said, Hereby
perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life
for us. So Christ died as our substitute,
taking our place under the wrath of holy God and made atonement
for our sins. The prophet Isaiah in chapter
53 verses 5 and 10 says that this is substitution. He was
wounded for our transgressions. We weren't wounded. He was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement. The punishment,
the bruises, the stripes, the whippings, the beatings, the
chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes
we are healed. He took our place, and He gives
us of His righteousness. We are made partakers of His
righteousness and salvation. Verse 10 Yet it pleased the Lord
to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
all his seed that are born of the incorruptible seed of Jesus
Christ. He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He is the
successful Savior. He did not fail. The Apostle
John adds in 1 John 2, 2, Christ is the propitiation for our sins,
and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. He is not just the Savior of
the Jews, He is the Savior of the Gentiles whom He chose as
well. He saved all his people. So these
two are children of promise. Let me just read in Romans. I'm just going to read it. Romans
9, 11. For the children, being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It's all by the grace of our
God. And so all this was the will
of God. No wickedness, no wicked man, no evil plots, no vicious,
wicked darkness that man does and invents and works up by his
own evil heart can prevent God from accomplishing his will and
purpose in his people. Then and now. Everything's in
the hand of our great, almighty, gracious, loving God. They thought
they were destroying Christ on the cross. And what he was doing
was crushing the head of the serpent and destroying them,
taking them in their own folly and in their own conceits. They
were snared in that which they laid for him. and they were taken
and put to an open shame by our Lord while He was on the cross. They were despised. They were
made fools because in their very work to destroy Him and the people
of God, God obtained our eternal redemption and salvation by the
Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 2, 23-24 says, Him, Christ,
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain,
whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it
was not possible that he should be holden of it. You know, it
reminds me of when I was little. I'm the youngest, so my brother
and sister, being much older than me, were taller than me,
and they would just stick out their hand when they'd get me
angry, and they'd put their palm on my forehead, and I'd be so
angry, just swinging, beating the air, because I couldn't reach
them. And when I was so angry, and pushing against it with all
my might to get to them, at that moment, they'd remove their hand,
and I'd go crashing down, falling on my face, and they'd laugh
all the more. Well, that's what the Lord did. He used their hatred
and their anger and despising of Christ against them. And through
that, our Lord wrought gloriously the salvation of his people. And so it's not even just the
Jews. We can't even be angry with the
Jews like the nations have been for so long. We all, all of humanity
was united against our God and his Christ. We all were united
against him. We all tried to destroy and overthrow
God. That's why it's such a gracious
thing that we who are enemies of God, who are enmity against
him, should be brought into the grace and have peace with our
God. Acts 4, 26 through 28 says this. The kings of the earth stood
up. This is quoting from Psalm 2. They stood up and the rulers
were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. for of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. So those whom the Lord loves,
they are blessed. They are raised together with
Christ. We are raised by that same power. We died with Christ, and we are
raised with Christ. When we died with Christ, our
sin was put away that we would be married to Christ. And being
raised in Him, our life is hid with God in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we're blessed by the grace
of our God, because he's wrought pardon for us and manifested
this salvation in our hearts. When the Lord purposes it, he
sends his spirit, who comes into the hearts of his people, giving
them life, revealing in them faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
which he does through the preaching of the gospel. Now in Romans
1, why don't you turn there, because we're coming to Romans 9 again. Romans 1 verse
16 and 17. Paul there tells us a few words
and he says, the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek, to those Gentiles scattered abroad. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the
just shall live by faith. This is the commanding will of
our God so that all his people shall have faith revealed in
them. Just as Peter tells us that it is the will of God when
he says, Be ye holy for I am holy He's telling us not to do
something in the flesh. He's telling us this is the will
of God for you that you be holy as He is holy and He works that
in you. So it is that He's saying the
just, those who are justified by the blood of my Son shall
live by faith. It's the will of God. so that
it shall be wrought in your hearts. Faith will be manifested in you
by the grace of God in the appointed hour when he sends the Holy Spirit,
giving you life and revealing Christ in you, the hope of glory. So we see the will of God is
that the just, His just ones, His justified ones by Christ
shall live and that by faith. Who can resist the will of God? His works are wondrous to behold.
We glory in Him. Turn now to Romans 9. Romans
9 and let's look at verses 17 through 24. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. That's exactly what we see with
the Sanhedrin. He raised up those men. and their
hearts were hardened in unbelief. They were left to themselves,
and they showed the enmity and the despising of God and His
Christ. Verse 19, Thou wilt say then
unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? for who hath resisted
his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
unto honor and another to dishonor? What if God, willing to show
his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? that he might make
known the riches of his glory on the vessels of honor, those
whom he loves, which he hath aforeprepared unto glory, even
us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of
the Gentiles. And so we see the grace of our
God. From that day forward, it says,
back in 1153, it says that they took counsel together for to
put Christ to death. And so while they thought to
do evil against the Lord, their conscience is being seared as
with a hot iron, doing that which they wanted to do, doing that
which they wanted and purposed to do in their hearts. all the
while our God was accomplishing his will and purpose to be gracious
with his people, to establish peace with them, to reconcile
us to himself by the death and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a comfort that is to us.
What a comfort that is to us in our day, right? When we look
at the evil heart of man and the wickedness of man, in the
earth, and we see all the works they do, we know and are comforted
and assured that it's all working to the glory, the praise, the
honor of our God, and it'll work for our good. It's working for
our good, brethren, because God loves us, and those whom he loves,
he saves, he blesses, and brings them into the riches of his glory
and his blessings in his son, Jesus Christ. Amen. All right,
let's close in prayer, and then we'll close with a hymn after.
Our gracious Lord, we thank you, Father, for your grace and your
mercy. We thank you, Lord, for your
love for such undeserving sinners as we are. Lord, that you should
quicken us and give us life together with our Savior, our Lord, that
we should be blessed in him. and have fellowship with our
God. Thank you, Lord, for your grace. Thank you, Lord, for your
mercy. Father, please pour out your blessings upon us that in
our hearts would be revealed faith. You say your will is that
the just shall live by faith. And Lord, we see the work of
faith which you've begun in us. And Lord, we look to you and
are confident in you that you will continue it even unto the
end, you will do everything necessary. You will bear fruits of righteousness
in your people. We know this because of your
love for your son and the love you have for your people in that
you've given them to your son to effect our salvation. Thank
you, Lord, for your grace. Thank you for your peace. Thank
you for not leaving us to ourselves, but revealing faith, manifesting
the life of Christ in us. It's in the name of our Lord
that we pray these things and give you thanks for these things.
Amen. All right, brother. Let's go to 357. You guys familiar
with near my God to thee? All right, good. Some of you are. All right. 357. Nearer, my God, to Thee,
nearer to Thee, even though it be a cross that raiseth me. Still all my song shall be nearer,
my God, to Thee, nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee. Though like the wanderer, the
sun gone down, darkness be over me, my rest a stone. Yet in my dreams I'd be nearer,
my God, to Thee, nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee. There let the way appear, steps
unto heaven, all that thou sendest me in mercy give. Angels to beckon me, nearer,
my God, to Thee, nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee. Then with my waking thoughts
bright with thy praise, out of my stony griefs Bethel I raise. So by my woes to be, Nearer,
my God, to Thee. Nearer, my God, to Thee. Nearer to Thee. O'er if on joyful wing cleaving the
sky, Sun, moon, and stars for God Upward I fly Still all my
songs shall be Nearer, my God, to Thee Nearer, my God, to Thee Never to thee. You're dismissed.