118. When I survey the wondrous cross, On which the Prince of Glory
died, My riches gained I count but loss. ? And pour contempt
on all my pride ? ? Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast ? ?
Save in the death of Christ my God ? All the vain things that
charmed ye most, I sacrifice them to his blood. See, from his head and his hands,
his feet, ? Where sorrow and love flow mingle down ? ? It
e'er such love and sorrow meet ? ? Or thorns compose so rich
a crown ? ? E'er the whole realm of nature mild ? That were a
present far too small Love so amazing, so divine Demands my
soul, my life, my all Turn to page 56 I am his and he is mine, 56. With everlasting love, Led by
grace that love to know, Spirit breathing from above, Thou hast
taught me it is so. O this full and perfect peace
O this transport all divine In a love which cannot cease I am
His and He is mine In a love which cannot cease I am his and
he is mine. Heaven above is soft, dear blue. Earth around is sweet or green. Something lives in every hue. Priceless eyes have never seen. Birds with gladder songs or flow. Flowers with deer. deeper beauty
shine. Since I know, as now I know,
I am His and He is mine. Since I know, as now I know,
I am His and He is mine. Things that once were wild alarms
Cannot now disturb my rest Clothed in everlasting arms Pillowed
on the loving breast Oh, to lie forever here, doubt and care
and self-resign. While he whispers in my ear,
I am his and he is mine. While he whispers in my ear,
I am His and He is mine, is forever only His, who the Lord and me
shall part. Ah, with what a rest of bliss
Christ can fill the loving heart. ? Heaven and earth may fade and
flee ? ? Firstborn light and gloom decline ? ? But while God
and I shall be ? ? I am His and He is mine ? ? But while God
and I shall be ? I am his and he is mine. Thank you. You may be seated.
Good morning, everybody. I'm going to read Colossians
chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2 For I would that you knew what
great conflict I have for you and for them in Laodicea and
for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh that their
hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and unto
all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement
of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ. in
whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In this
I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. For
though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit,
joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your
faith in Christ. As you have therefore received
Jesus Christ the Lord, so walk ye in him, brooded and built
up in him, established in the faith, as ye have been taught,
abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware, lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are
complete in him, which is the head of all principality and
power, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands, and putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, wherein
also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you being dead
in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all the trespasses, blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore
judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of any holy day,
or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow
of things to come, but the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile
you of your reward and of voluntary humility, and worshiping of angels,
intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed
up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the head from which all
the body by joints in the hands have nourishment ministered,
and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. Wherefore,
if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, Why,
as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are to perish
with the using after the commandments and the doctrines of men, which
things have indeed show of wisdom and all worship and humility
and neglecting of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying
of the flesh. Let's pray. Father, we come to you again,
thankful for our time together. And father, we're thankful that
you sent a pastor to bring the message to us. Lord, may you
strengthen him and may he glorify Christ and all that he says.
And father, we ask that you watch over everyone here this morning,
everyone that's at a church that preaches the gospel. And father,
we ask that you watch over those that couldn't be with us today.
And father, we just ask that you watch over and care for us
in Christ's name. Amen. Good morning. Turn with me to
Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3 and we'll
be looking at verses 11 through 21. Now last week we saw a pattern. in Paul's salvation, and it helped
us answer the question, who is the least of all saints? And this week, we're now looking
at the eternal purpose of God, which he purposed in Christ Jesus,
our Lord. The salvation that our God has
provided for us in his son is rich, full, abundant. We could be here in this part
of the chapter for a lifetime preaching the gospel of our Savior
from it, because there's an eternity of knowledge concerning what
our God has done for us in providing His Son to deliver us from our
sins. And Paul, what he does here at
the end of chapter three, is he's gonna declare five blessings. Five blessings that are given
to us by God our Father, and it's to enable his people. It's to enable his people to
comprehend. This is taken, this is language
taken from verse 18. To comprehend with all saints
what is the breadth the length, the depth, and the height of
the love of our God given to us in His Son, Jesus Christ our
Lord. I've titled this message, Comprehending
with All Saints. Comprehending with All Saints,
meaning comprehending this love that our God has for us in Christ. And so first we see our God's
purpose being revealed to us in Christ. And then we'll look
at these five blessings, beginning with the help that we receive
in tribulations, in tribulations. And then Paul He gives us the
prayer, his prayer for the Ephesian brethren, which includes four
more blessings that our God gives to us that help us comprehend. this love of our God in his son
Jesus Christ. All right, so Paul in this chapter,
he's been speaking of the glorious mystery of God in Christ in which
our God has brought us from fallen corrupt, depraved, defiled sinners,
separated from Him, how that He has brought us into fellowship
and reconciliation, that we should know Him, that we should have
an understanding of the love that He has for His people from
all eternity, when He chose us and put us in Christ. You that are in Christ, you that
are in Christ as revealed by the faith he's given to you,
which looks to his son, that's his work in you. You that are
in Christ are learning by your Lord, the eternal love that your
God has for you. what he's done, what he's purposed
for you in his son. He's revealing the depth of his
love to you in his son Jesus Christ. As it says in verse 11,
Ephesians 3, 11, according to the eternal purpose which he
purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. And he does it. He does this in such a way So
that as it says in verse 18, we may be able to comprehend
with all saints what is the breadth, the length, the depth, and the
height of this love. Alright, so Paul gives five blessings
here that are given by God the Father to help our comprehension
of his love for us. Let's look now at this first
blessing, which is tribulations. Tribulations. Verse 13, Paul
says, Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations
for you. My tribulations for you. When we read these scriptures,
we see that the apostles, and their fellow laborers as well. They endured very many tribulations,
many afflictions, sorrows, trials, temptations came against them. They suffered these things very
much so against them. Not only the apostles, but Timothy
and Phoebe and Ananias and many others who were fellow laborers
with the apostles themselves. They went through various trials
and difficulties in their service to the churches. Barnabas and
Silas, these men and women gave much of themselves in sacrifice
to see this gospel go forth to new cities and to strengthen
the hands and comfort the people in those cities who heard the
word of truth. And of a truth, all disciples,
all disciples experience tribulations and afflictions. It's through
much tribulation that we enter into the kingdom of God. It's appointed to us to go through
various tribulations. And that word, tribulation and
affliction, the root of it is pressure. It's to be pressed. to feel that pressure, to feel
the affliction, to bring forth and to expose the weakness in
ourselves. that we might find all our strength
in the Lord. But this affliction, this tribulation
that we endure, understand it was first worked in our Savior. It was first endured by Him. It was first accomplished for
us in Jesus Christ, our Lord. He endured the cross. He despised
the shame. He went through it for his people. And where is he now? He sat down
at the right hand of the throne of God in glory, having obtained
eternal life for his people, having accomplished our life
in him. And so the apostles, like their
Lord, after their Lord, were also made partakers of reproaches. of sufferings, of tribulations,
of pressures that pressed them out of measure, that they too
would be made partakers of the grace of God, suffering these
things for this purpose, that it would all work together for
your good. It's all working together for
the good of his church, his people, because that's how your God appointed
him, to work that way. Even James, when James was writing
his epistle, and he speaks of trials, and he speaks of What's the word there? He's speaking
of going through temptations, of temptations as well. He's
looking at those and he's saying, it's good for us to go through
those things. It's good for us to endure those things. Well,
at the end of his epistle, in James chapter five, verse 10,
he says, take my brethren, the prophets, take my brethren, the
prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example
of suffering, affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count
them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience
of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is
very pitiful, and of tender mercy. And so these sufferings that
the Lord puts his servants through, his servants in the church, it
always works together for the good of his people. Paul is saying
in this context, he's saying my tribulations which are for
you, are for your glory." That's how he words it. He says, my
tribulations, don't feign it, my tribulations for you, they're
for your glory, your glory. What's he talking about there?
He's saying these tribulations, these sorrows, these pressures
that I'm enduring for Christ's sake and the gospel is what drove,
which pushed this gospel out to you all the way out there
in Ephesus. These pressures, these tribulations,
these persecutions that come against us drove that gospel
outside of Jerusalem, outside of Judea, outside beyond the
boundaries of Samaria and into the surrounding areas and kept
on pushing further and further up into Asia Minor and out to
Greece. and all the known world to Rome
and the occupied world and down into Africa as well. This tribulation,
these persecutions that follow after me and hunt me down have
pushed this gospel, brought it out to you, and what? God has
made it effectual in your heart. So don't get weary from my tribulations. for what I'm going through, it's
for your glory. You now know the Lord Jesus Christ.
You rejoice in him. And we see it in the prophets. We see it with the apostles,
the fellow laborers of the apostles, and his pastors and preachers
to this day. We suffer afflictions. We suffer pressures. because
they push us in to pray to our Lord. They push us beyond what
we ourselves would do. It goes beyond. It works for
the glory of God's people. And it all started with our Lord
Jesus Christ who suffered and died and laid down his life to
accomplish our redemption. Brethren, it all began in that
suffering there in God's purpose when he brought his son into
the world in the flesh. And so God, your Father's eternal
purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord is a revelation
of his love, his eternal love for you, his people. He gave
his son, he sacrificed his son. His son bore our punishment,
endured that which was ours to bear for our sin that you would
have life. That's God's love. And he gave
his people, he gave people to sacrifice themselves willingly
for you to hear that gospel and be fed and blessed by the Lord
Jesus Christ. It all works together for good. And so the first witness of God's
love for us is these tribulations which he's put his people through
for the benefit of his church, for his people. All those sacrifices
that his people made in bringing this glorious gospel are to make
you comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and the length
and the depth and the height of God's love for you in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want to make a comment
on the next two verses, verses 14 and 15. Paul adds, for this
cause, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. I remember And you'll understand this illustration. You'll recognize it for your
own selves and what you've endured. I remember when I wanted to marry
Michelle, I was told by her dad that I needed health insurance.
And I was doing labor work, and I didn't have health insurance
at the time. So I would pass a factory that had a little sign
that just said, help wanted. That's all it said outside. So
I went in, and it smelled. They made plastic parts and so
it was petroleum plastic resin. So there was that stench and
there was paint fumes and thinners and urethanes. It was just a
nasty place, and I didn't want to work there at all, but I did
it because I wanted to marry Michelle, and they gave me health
insurance there, so that's why I did it. And I did that for
a number of years, and while I worked that job in the factory,
I worked 40 hours a week. Forty hours. I would get up and
be at work at 6 a.m. to 2.30, half-hour break for
lunch, and I was home by 3 p.m. every night. And it was good.
I liked it. We had just enough to make it,
and everything was fine. But my friend had a business
that he started, and so I left the factory and I went to work
with him for a year, and it seemed good. All the profits, we would
split 50-50, all those profits. And after a year, I realized
this is rough. This isn't working out because
I felt like I was married to him more than my own wife. Because I was with him all hours
of the day and night. It was late. And because I was
considered a partner, I couldn't take off when I wanted to. I
couldn't go. There was just too much work
to be done. And it was overwhelming. And I was broken. It drove me
to a breaking point. of weakness, getting in at 10
p.m., 11, 12, and it was horrible. So I left and I went back to
the factory. Well, you know, when I went back
to the factory, I was more than happy. I'd gotten into debt being
in a business, you know that, and I was more than happy to
work 60 hours a week then. I worked 20 hours a week over
time. no problem, 65 if I could get it because I had been broken
in that previous job. It had snapped me of that comfort
zone that I was used to of 40 hours a week and it pushed me
through a door I never would have gone through otherwise. Well that's what Paul is saying. He's saying don't don't faint
at my tribulations for you. He said, I took pleasure in infirmities
and reproaches and necessities and persecutions and distresses
for Christ's sake. Why? Because when I'm weak, Then
I'm strong." And what he's saying there is, it brought forth the
weaknesses of this flesh. And I beheld things that only
God himself could do. I was in places where I thought
surely I was going to die, he said, but I saw the power and
the glory of God to perform wondrously before my eyes and to send that
gospel forth and save a people for himself. It drove Paul to
pray. Tribulations, those pressures
drove Paul to his knees. He said, I bow my knee to the
Father. And so tribulations are not bad. They break us. They show us our
weakness. They show us our insufficiency
and that we cannot do it, that we should fall on our face to
the Father and seek him. And behold, our God provide wondrously
for his people. in establishing the gospel in
the hearts of his people. So he prayed for the people,
and it did much good, much good for the people. So he says, don't
you feign at my tribulations for you, because it's all given
by the hand of your father for your good, for your edification,
that that gospel would go forth and grip you in the heart and
make you his. make you his so it's it's good
it's good all right now these tribulations that paul experienced
that led him to pray for the ephesians and this prayer is
where we see the next four blessings that our god gives us that we
should know and see and behold the love of our god in christ
for us the next blessing the second blessing here is in this
prayer paul declares that he's praying for a supply of God's
strength and might to be given to us by his spirit in the inner
man. Look at verse 16. That God would
grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened
with might by his spirit in the inner man. So that When trials
come and these difficulties come, rather than us being withered
in the flesh and being broken down and taken down by it so
that now we're reacting against it and trying to fix things and
right things in the flesh, he says, I'm praying that you be
strengthened with God's might by his spirit in the inner man,
that in you would be the testimony of your Lord who loves you and
gave himself for you, that you would trust your God, thank him
for this trial, thank him for the tribulation, and stand firm
in the salvation of your God and what he's doing for you. He's praying that we would bear
witness of what Christ has done for us, that we would be patient
in the trial, that we would wait upon our God, that we would bow
our knee and call out upon Him, looking for His grace and mercy,
because that's what it is. It's grace working in us. It's
the inner man is incorruptible. It's Christ's creation. That's
where we're to walk in the new man, in that man created of Christ,
rather than resorting to the old man of flesh that just wrecks
things and destroys things and bites and devours in its attempt
to deliver himself from that tribulation. But rather, let
us wait upon the grace and mercy of our God. And I really like
that word grant. What he says at the beginning
of the verse, he says that he would grant you. according to
the riches of his glory, that he would grant you. You know,
if you were to go to college these days, it's much easier
than, say, 40, 50 years ago to get a student loan. It's a lot
easier now to get one. And they have what's called subsidized
loans and unsubsidized loans. And if you can, you want to get
as many subsidized loans as you can, because that means that
every semester, every new class you start taking, the government
is giving you that amount of money. But there's interest that
comes with that money. And as you continue in school,
that interest just keeps on accruing. Keeps growing. But if it's a
subsidized loan, it means the government's paying that interest.
So all you're going to get at the end is the principal, and
then the interest starts after you graduate and get a job. And
then the other kind is the unsubsidized, which means it's already accruing
that interest and you're paying it. And so it's nice to get the
subsidized loans. But there's something even better.
If you can get a grant from the government That's free money. That's a gift of money that you
don't ever have to pay back. So it's good to get a grant.
And what this word here, when it says that God grant you, he's
declaring the gifts of your God are freely given in grace. We don't earn that strengthening
by our doing. We don't merit the might of our
God. We don't do anything to invoke
the spirit to help us. That's religion. You better straighten
up and get things turned around to get God's blessing to help
you through this trial and tribulation. We can't do anything like that.
We fail. miserably in every time we put
our hand of flesh to this work, but the gift of God is to grant
you freely His grace, His strength, His might, His spirit for Christ's
sake. It's all freely given by your
God in grace. Here's the third blessing. The
third blessing that Paul prays to be revealed in us is that
very source of the believer's hope. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He says at the beginning of verse
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. The This was a little tougher
because Christ already dwells in our hearts by faith. Christ already dwells in our
hearts by faith, else we wouldn't be believers. But Paul's praying
that that be made evident in us. When he was talking to the
Colossians, in Colossians 127, he described Christ in us, saying
that this is the riches of the glory of this mystery. which
is Christ in you, the hope of glory. But when he was talking
to the Galatians, he worded it similarly, saying, I travail
in birth again until Christ be formed in you. And what Paul
is saying there, because if we're his children, Christ does dwell
in our hearts already. But when we're going through
those tribulations, when we're tempted to respond in the flesh
and to hear things in the flesh and to to when we're faced with
the pressures that this world and the enemy of our souls brings
upon us and the pressures that our own thoughts and ideas and
hearts bring upon us, he prays that Christ would dwell in your
hearts by faith. That is that we would remember
our Lord, that we would would seek the Lord, remembering Him
by faith, that, wait a minute, this isn't my glory, this isn't
my home, this isn't what I need, this isn't my salvation and my
life, Christ is. And that's what meets those temptations,
that's what meets those trials and overcomes them. It's Christ
in your heart by faith. Looking to Him, believing Him
that He is your Lord and salvation. Because when you're tempted by
sin, when you're tempted by sin, your mind will race and go to
all kinds of excuses to give in to the temptation. Or when
you're faced with a difficult trial, your mind will allow itself
to be confused, wants to go with it to deliver yourself from the
difficulty that you're in. But when Christ is in your heart,
and you behold Him by faith, that He is your strength and
your comfort, and delivers you from those trials, and He keeps
you ever looking to Him. So it's, He's saying that Christ
would be present right there, and that every high thought,
everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God,
every stronghold of the enemy, would be taken down by Christ
dwelling in your heart by faith. That he would dismantle those
things that rise up and stand up against the truth of your
God and whose you are and who he is. This brings us to our
fourth blessing and it's tied to that, being rooted and grounded
in love. Verse 17 again, that Christ may
dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded
in love. As our Savior abides in us, as
He lives in us, dwells in our hearts, so we abide in Him. So we are fixed in Christ our
Savior. We abide in Him. He said over
in John 15, John 15 in the beginning there is where he talks about
him being the vine and we being the branches. And he says in
verse five, I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth
in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For
without me ye can do nothing. Our union to Christ, that's how
we bear fruit. We bear fruits of righteousness.
We bear fruits in Christ because of our eternal union to Him. It's that vital union with our
Lord. And it's in our union to Him
that we behold and see the love of God for us. For God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son. that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That life is in his Son. So our God pours out these blessings
upon us, all accomplished by Christ our Savior for this purpose,
back in our text in Ephesians 3.18, that we, being rooted and
grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints
What is the breadth? What is the length? What is the
depth and the height of our God's love for us in Christ? What the Lord is doing for you,
His people, is He's outfitting you. He's fitting you with the
gospel armor of His Son, Jesus Christ. He's placing that helmet
of salvation upon your head. so that you know him. He's put
that breastplate of righteousness to guard your heart, lest you
should think of yourselves more highly than you ought to think,
and that our righteousness is in the things that we do or don't
do, but rather that we see and know Christ is my righteousness. And he plants our feet, standing
firmly shod with the gospel of peace. We stand in that gospel. We take up the shield of faith.
We hold that sword, which is the double-edged sword of Christ's
blood and righteousness. that he conquers our foes that
come against us. So he's fitting us with this
knowledge, this armor so that we know that my God has done
everything and he's provided everything in love and he's the
one keeping me even now. He's all my sufficiency against
the enemy. Paul was writing to the Romans. In Romans 8, at the end of the
chapter, verse 37 through 39, he said, in all these things,
we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Through him that loved us. There's
that knowledge of that most precious gift which shall never pass away. Faith and hope, they won't be
needed one day because we'll be there. But love will always
be present in his people and between us and our God. We're more than conquerors through
him that loved us. I am persuaded that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from what? From the love of our
God, the love of God, which is in the person Christ Jesus our
Lord. Your God is revealing to you
and Paul is praying that these blessings be poured out upon
you so that you would comprehend, come into this knowledge and
understanding that your God loves you and gave everything for you. What won't he do for you? What
won't he do to keep you and to bless you and to edify you and
grow you in his son? and to keep you alive and well
in Christ your Lord." It's like having this visual where we see,
you know, now we see these cinematic things. We don't see battles
or we haven't been exposed to battles like this, but in movies
you could see these great armies coming down to meet each other,
all decked out in armor and swords. and they come and they meet each
other and they clash in a great battle and begin to fight and
duke it out. On one side, it's like seeing
what Paul laid out here. It's one side, there's death,
the enemy of death. There's the enemy of this life
with all its fears and worries and cares and concerns and anxieties
or fallen angels. or principalities and powers,
governments making laws and causing trouble for us and messing with
things. There's things present right
in our own lives, right here and now. And there's always the
worry and concern of things to come. There's heights and depths
to these things. And any other creature, he says,
all these enemies stand opposed to us. And on the other hand,
There's Christ. Your God has blessed you with
every spiritual blessing in your Lord and Savior, who's given
you everything necessary so that those enemies can't do a thing
to you. They cannot take you out of the
hand of your God. So you see those two armies,
except in our case, It's like Christ is the great tidal wave
coming in upon the city of your enemy, and they're running out
against that tidal wave with fun noodles and floaties and
little styrofoam boogie boards to try and stop his hand from
coming down upon them. You're already safe and delivered,
and he's just exposing the knowledge of his love and what he's accomplished
for you in his son. He's just making it known to
you. So this is what our God's revealing.
The final blessing, let's look at that. First, it's the tribulations
have always worked together for our good. It's brought you the
gospel and made his word effectual in your heart. Second, your God
grants you freely his strength and his might and his Holy Spirit,
which keeps you and reveals these things to you. Third, he gives
us Christ to dwell in our hearts, keeping us by faith, not letting
us be taken away. Fourth, he's got us abiding in
him, rooted and connected to the vine whereby we bear fruits
of righteousness by our husband. And fifth, he gives you to know,
verse 19, to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge
that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. What he's revealing to us, making
us to know is Christ is my surety. He came as my surety to provide
all that I could not give, which is nothing. I had no righteousness,
nothing in my hands to give to my God. Christ came and provided
it all. He paid the debt I owe to God. Holy justice is satisfied. My God is satisfied. The law
has nothing more to say to me. It's all been silenced. Christ
accomplished that. He gave me his imputed righteousness. It's been imputed to me. That
righteousness of my Savior's is now mine. And presently now
he intercedes for you, his people, continually supplying you with
mercy and grace and promises that he shall return to raise
you up and take you to be forever with him. You're his purchased
possession. He's not leaving you behind. He loves you. Now we have some
knowledge of it, but our Lord continues to bless us with the
knowledge of these things, growing our understanding and comprehension
of it. Beholding what our brethren have
laid down for us by the strength and power of our God to bring
us this gospel to bless us this very day and what he's done and
accomplished for us. And so he's strengthening us,
sustaining us in his son. And we'll just close with those
two final verses, that benediction, that good word. Ephesians 3,
20 and 21. Now unto him that is able to
do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according
to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the
church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Let's close in prayer,
and we'll have a hymn and be dismissed. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you, Father, for your mercy, your great provision of
love, that you would make known to us the love that you have
for us in your Son, Jesus Christ, how you've fit us and equipped
us with all things necessary that we might stand before you,
perfect, accepted, righteous in your sight, covered in the
blood of your son, Jesus Christ, who has done all this for us
freely in grace. Lord, we pray for your people,
that you would indeed help us through our struggles, through
our trials, through sufferings and sicknesses. Lord, that you
would make appear to our hearts the dwelling of Christ in us
by faith, that we would continually look to him, remembering how
you provided everything for us in your son. Lord, we thank you
for our visitors and pray that you bring them safely home again,
that you bless your people this day. It's in Christ's name that
we pray and give thanks. Amen. Let's stand and sing a closing
hymn. I think it's 113. Yeah, 113 from
your soft back. We're going to sing out of the
blue soft hymnal. 113, worthy, worthy is the lamb, from
your soft back hymnal. Worthy, worthy is the Lamb. Ransomed souls, your voices raise. Sing your great Redeemer's praise. Praise Him, God the great I Am. Praise the sin-atoning Lamb. Worthy, worthy is the Lamb, sinner
saved by God's decree. Praise the Lamb of Calvary, praise
Him for His dying love. Praise the Lamb enthroned above. Worthy, worthy is the Lamb, Jesus,
Savior, blessed Lamb. We would ever praise your name. You redeemed us with your blood,
made us kings and priests to God. Worthy, worthy is the Lamb. Righteous, just, faithful, and
true are the wonders that you do. Grace and glory in you shine. Love and mercy all devoted.