Alright, if you take your Bibles
and turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter
1. I've entitled this message, The
Sanctification, Confirmation, and Preservation of the Church. Sanctification, Confirmation,
and Preservation of the Church. All three of these are established
in these first ten verses of the this letter to the church
at Corinth. Paul begins this, Paul, and called
an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God. And Sostenes,
our brother, listen, unto the church of God. We know who this
is written to. It is written to the church of
God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ
Jesus, called saints, with all that in every place called upon
the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. Paul is writing this church of
Corinth. This church of Corinth was established by the Apostle
Paul. If you want to read it in Acts chapter 18, you can.
The Apostle Paul was sent there by the Lord, and the Lord told
the Apostle when he went to preach there, he said, don't be afraid.
I have much people in this place." This church of Corinth, when
the gospel was preached, this church was large. It was a very large, very rich
church. And the Lord established this
church by the Apostle Paul. But as soon as the Apostle had
left, he had spent 18 months there, and as soon as he had
left, divisions had arisen in this church. Divisions among the saints concerning
preachers. They were misusing the Lord's
Supper, listen, and they were getting drunk. False teachers had crept into
this church, preaching that the resurrection had passed and many
other false doctrines. But you know what the apostle
did in order to correct these errors, in order to heal those
divisions, in order to set those false doctrines
aside. He did this by one remedy. Preaching the gospel. Preaching
the gospel. And now let us see that this
letter is not just intended for this church. The church at Corinth,
but it is intended for all the churches of God. Look what he
said, "...with all that in every place call upon the name of the
Lord." He said, I'm preaching to the church of God, both at
Corinth and wherever, whoever calls upon the name of God. That
is the church of God. And so Paul intends to heal this
church by the means of preaching the gospel. Paul establishes
this, that we have one purpose, one calling, and one desire. Every man that's called of God
to preach has one purpose. Preach the Word. Isn't that what
he told Timothy? Preach the Word. Be instant, in season, and out
of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all longsuffering. How do we reprove? How do we
rebuke? How do we exhort? Preach the
Word. That's how you do it. You preach
the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it is by the preaching of
the gospel that we are rebuked. It is by the preaching of the
gospel that we are encouraged. It is by the preaching of the
gospel we are comforted. Look at verse 17. Paul establishes
this truth. He said, For Christ sent me not
to baptize. Baptism is important, isn't it?
But he said there's something more important than baptism,
and here it is. He didn't send me to baptize, but to preach
the gospel. How? Not with wisdom of words,
lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. You realize
this, that if we bend the Word of God to accommodate man, then
our word has no effect. If we seek to please men by our
word, our word has no effect. Look at verse 22, for the Jews
require a sign. How many people desire to see
power? They say, well, is this the church of God? Well, I want
to see some miracle. I want to see some power. I want to feel something. If
I don't feel anything, then you're obviously not the church of God.
They seek a sign. The Greeks seek after wisdom.
Most people want an academic church. An academic church. But what did Paul say? He said,
but we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews, those that seek
a feeling, those that seek power, those that seek a sign, We are
a stumbling block. To those who seek education,
we are what? Foolishness. We're foolish. But listen, to them that are
called, to all who believe on Christ, who all have heard His
voice, both Jew and Greek, what do we believe? We believe Christ
is the power. I don't need to see a sign, Christ
is the power. He didn't say that to those Jews.
He said no sign is going to be given to this generation except
the sign of Jonah. As Jonah was three days and three
nights in the belly of the whale, so shall the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth." You want
a sign? That's a sign. That's the only sign I need.
Christ is the power of God. You want academic? Well, Christ
is the wisdom of God. We don't need academic. I don't
want to confuse you. I want to be plain. I want to
be clear when I preach. I don't want to tickle the minds
of men. We were called, Christ is the
power of God, Christ is the wisdom of God. Look, therefore, go to
chapter 2 and look at verse 2. Therefore, what is Paul's conclusion?
He said, four, I determine not to know anything among you except
what? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is our message. This is
constantly, consistently, and boldly our message. Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. It is the remedy for all your
trouble. It is the remedy for all your
trouble. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is our message. And that's
the message I want you to hear tonight, the gospel. And I'm
going to show you this. Paul establishes three things
now. Three things in order to comfort
God's people. In order to establish the church
and remedy their trouble, He establishes three things in these
first ten verses that every believer should know, that every believer
should be very aware of and find comfort in. First of all, every
believer in Christ is sanctified. The church of God is sanctified. Secondly, the church of God is
confirmed. Confirmed. Everyone who is in
the church, everyone who is a believer, you are sanctified by God. You are sanctified by God. But
how do you know? What's the confirmation of your
sanctification? the preservation of the church.
Everyone who is sanctified has this confirmed in them because
they believe on Christ, and everyone who believes on Christ, Paul
says this, you are preserved in Christ. You are preserved. Let's look at these together.
First of all, the sanctification of the church. Paul begins this
letter, he states his authority, he says, I'm an apostle. He was
called an apostle. After the Lord saved the apostle
Paul on the road to Damascus, He made him an apostle. He heard
His Word directly from Christ. And as a faithful apostle, he
is given the responsibility to write the Word of God for us
so that we should be comforted and established. This gospel,
this gospel he preached, is the gospel the church believes. It's
the gospel the church loves. But now the church is full of
strife. The church is tainted with errors. And the first thing Paul reminds
these believers of, listen, in the midst of their errors, in
the midst of their troubles, he reminds them of this. You
are sanctified. As far as I know in the New Testament
churches, this probably was the worst. This church was probably
the worst. And the worst church, what did
Paul establish first? They're sanctified. They're sanctified. He establishes their sanctification. Look at this in verse 2, unto
the church of God. Look what he calls them. With
all their trouble, with all their sin, with all of their difficulty,
the first thing he calls them is the church of God. The church
of God. which is at Corinth. Well, who
is the church of God? Them that are sanctified. The
church of God. Who is the church of God? Let
us be reminded that the church of God is all the elect. All
of the elect are the church of God. All of those that God the
Father chose. All of those that Christ redeemed. All of those that are called
of the Spirit of God. Listen, you are the church of
God. We got a nice new building. We
got a nice new building. This building is not the church.
It's a building that the church comes to. You are the church
of God. It's not a denomination. The
church is not Baptist or Presbyterian. It's not Catholic. It's not a
denomination. It's a people. The Church of
God are His elect, His redeemed and His called. The manifestation
that you are the Church of God is this, you believe on the Son
of God. You believe, as many as received
Him, to them gave He the right. What right do you have to say
you are the Church of God? As many as received Him, to them
gave He the right. To be called what? The sons of
God. Sons of God. And your birth,
your birth was not by blood. Your being part of this church
is not by the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. But you
were born again of God. You're the church of God because
God made you His church. Made you His children. And so
this church of Corinth, they're a group of believers who come
together to worship God. Isn't that what we want to do
tonight? I want to worship God. I want to bow before God. I want
to hear His Word. I don't want you to hear me.
Please don't listen to me. I hope you hear Him. I want you
to hear Him. If you hear Him, you've got something. We've gathered together to hear
Him, to hear His Word. We desire to hear the gospel
of Christ. So, then, you who are the church
of God, who believe on Christ, let's see that this church of
God, we are not the church by merit, or by strength, or by
will. We are the church of God because
we are sanctified by God. You are the church because you
are sanctified. Look what it says. Unto the church
of God, Zach Corinth, listen, to them that are sanctified in
Christ Jesus. Sanctified. The church of Corinth, they were
a church of God because of their sanctification. Now, a lot of
people today are very confused as to what sanctification means.
Most of them think sanctification is something you do. It has something
to do with your morality or your piety. That you can somehow sanctify
yourself and make yourself more holy. That is the common usage
today in religion of the word sanctification. They believe
it's something that you must do. Christ redeemed you, the
Father chose you, they believe in election, they believe in
the redemption of Christ, they believe the righteousness of
Christ, but sanctification is a cooperative effort. Yeah, God
sanctified me, but you also have to sanctify yourself. Not in
the book. Not in the book. This church was sanctified by
God in Christ. In Christ. Now, what does sanctification
mean? If it doesn't have to do with
your outward piety and your moral obedience, what does it mean?
Sanctification has two meanings in Scripture. One is that it
means to be set apart. Set apart. The tabernacle. In the tabernacle there were
furniture in the tabernacle. And God said this furniture was
sanctified. God set that furniture apart
for His worship. Now, you can go home and you
can take all those dimensions of that furniture, right? And
you can whittle out you an altar. You can whittle out you a laver.
You can make an ark of gold. But you see, your ark, you can
put it in your house. You can do anything you want
to with it. Why? Your ark is not sanctified. Your ark does nothing to do with
the worship of God. That furniture was set apart.
It was intended by God to picture His Son. It was set apart. And so I want you to see this.
You who are believers in Christ, you who are the church of God,
I want you to know this. You were set apart by God for
His own glory. You were set apart. You were
sanctified by God the Father. Sanctified by God the Father. Set apart for the glory and the
worship of God. He purposed this. And I'm going
to show it to you in just a minute. But the second meaning of the
word sanctification is this. Holiness. The word sanctify means to be
holy without sin. We say God is what? Holy. What do we mean? We mean that
God is without sin. In Him is light and no darkness
at all. He is perfect. He is holy. That's what we mean. And so then all the church, collectively,
have been set apart from Adam's race, and God has purposed this
for you, that you should be holy without sin. Now where do we find this? Go to Ephesians chapter 1. Go
to Ephesians chapter 1. I know you know this well, but
I think it's the best Scripture to illustrate this. It just really
is. It has it all right here. Ephesians 1 and verse 3, "...Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ."
Where are all the blessings? Where are all spiritual blessings?
Where are they at? They're in Christ. They're in Christ. And we bless God who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in Christ. Putting us in Christ
according as He had chosen us. Where? In Christ. Don't you see this? That God
set you apart by putting you in union with His Son? You are
sanctified in this. That He chose you. He chose you. and put you in
Christ. When? Before the foundation of
the world. For what purpose? Look at it. That you should be
what? Holy. You should be sanctified. You should be without blame,
blameless before Him. Here's His motivation in love,
having predestinated us under the adoption of children. How?
By Jesus Christ. Now, that's how you're going
to be holy. That's how you will be a son of God, by Jesus Christ. Not by your work, not by you
sanctifying yourself, but by Jesus Christ. That's how we are
made holy, by Him. For what purpose? That we should
be to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath
made us accepted in the Beloved. You were sanctified by God the
Father, set apart and purposed to be holy by the will of God. Now, grab a hold of this. You are
sanctified because God willed it so. Now, what did you have to do
with that? What did you have to do with
this sanctification? Did you have anything to do with
you setting yourself apart? No. God set you apart for the
praise of the glory of His own grace. That's the reason. Love
and the praise of His own grace. He set you apart in Christ and
decreed that you should be made holy by Jesus Christ. By Jesus Christ. God purposed
that all this church should not be saved by our own offerings,
that none of His church should be saved by their own merit or
work, or that we should be sanctified by our own deeds. Therefore,
the church was sanctified in Christ before the world began
by an act of divine sovereignty and love. Jude says of the church,
he says, we are sanctified by the Father, preserved in Christ
Jesus, and cold. You who are sanctified by the
Father, you were preserved where? In Christ Jesus. You were set
apart in Him. And notice the result of this. Look at verse 7 of Ephesians
1. "...in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of His grace." All who are sanctified and set
apart by the Father, decreed to be holy, declared to be holy
by God, Jesus Christ came into the world and actually accomplished
our sanctification. He accomplished it. Christ Jesus came into the world.
Notice that Paul says in your text, he says that you are sanctified
where? In Christ Jesus. in Christ Jesus. What does that mean? It means
this, when Christ Jesus came into the world, He was our surety. He was our high priest. He was
our representative. You know, Adam was our representative,
and when he sinned, we sinned. When he died, what? We died. Even so, when Jesus Christ came
into the world and obeyed the law of God, All who were in Christ
were made righteous. When Christ died for the sins
of His people, they were made holy. He sanctified us by His work.
Go over to Hebrews chapter 10. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. Look at what our Savior did for
you and me, His church. Hebrews chapter 10, and in verse
9, He said, Christ said, Lo, I come. In the volume of the
book it is written to me to do thy will. In verse 9, He said,
Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
He may establish the second. By the which will? Christ came
to do the will of God. I just told you what the will
of God was. What was the will of God? In Ephesians, what was
the will of God for His people? That you should be what? Holy
and without blame. Therefore Christ came into the
world to fulfill the will of God. To make you holy. He said, by the which will we
are what? What are we? Sanctified. Sanctified. How in the world
could we be sanctified? Through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. Friend, you're getting this.
When were you sanctified? Well, you were sanctified in
eternity when God set you apart, when God decreed you to be holy.
But it actually took place when Christ, through the offering
of His body, He sanctified you. He made you holy. Now, every
priest ended daily ministering, oftentimes the same sacrifice.
He'd never take away sin. But this man, after he'd offered
one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down. I've told you this
before. Why'd he sit down? Why don't
you sit down? Well, why do you sit down? When
you're done working, what do you do? You sit down. You're
finished. That's why Christ is our Sabbath
day. Christ is our Sabbath. Because
He is resting from His work. He's finished His work. He sat down at the right hand
of God, expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. Why is
He sitting down? For by one offering He hath perfected
forever. Who? Them that are sanctified. Those He sanctified, He perfected
forever. So who's doing the sanctifying
here? So far, have you seen any part of this yours? Does any
part of this sanctification belong to you? No! Good news! Man, that's good news, isn't
it? That sanctification does not rest on us. I'm so thankful. There is not one thing that I
haven't messed up. I can't name one thing that I've
done perfectly. And so if sanctification was
left up to me, I would be ruined. I would be ruined. But see this,
believer, you church of God, you were sanctified. You were
sanctified in Jesus Christ once for all. Christ, by His offering,
has taken all of our sin, all of the sin of all of His church,
and removed them from us. God put our sins on His own darling
Son. He imputed our sins to Christ. For God hath made Him to be what? Sin for us. Now He knew no sin. He was holy and yet He was made
sin. I don't understand it. Yet He
was. Why? That we might be made the
righteousness of God. Where? In Him. In Him. Therefore, when Jesus Christ
was made sin for us who knew no sin, He by Himself purged
our sins. He forever pleased the law of
God on our behalf. Now I know this, when we were
born into the world, we knew none of this. When were you sanctified? You were sanctified before you
were born. You were made perfect before you were, but when you
came into this world, did you come in this world perfect? We
came into this world as sinners. We knew nothing of our election.
We were born dead in sins. By nature, we could never satisfy
the justice of God. None of us by nature could ever
merit the righteousness of God. We could not even believe on
Christ. People think faith is something
easy. They believe faith to be nothing more than the decision.
The Scripture tells us to understand faith is easy, but to do it is
impossible. Jesus said, no man can come unto
Me, except what? The Father which hath sent Me
draw him. Many false preachers use the
illustration of a sinner as a drowning man. And they say the gospel
is like a lifeline. Take a rope, you tie it to a
tree, you throw it out there to a man drowning. So that's
the gospel. And a man, all he's got to do
is grab a hold to the rope and pull himself in. That's not even
close. We're not drowning, we're drowned. You see, I'm not floating on
the river, I'm underneath. the river. Somebody has to actually
plumb the depths of God's justice and pull my dead corpse out and
give me life. That's how a believer is saved. Jesus Christ, that's what He
did at the cross. He parted the sea of God's justice. He reached down and rescued us. I didn't need a lifeline, I needed
life. I didn't need a hand. I needed
somebody to do it for me. And that's what Christ did. He
saved us. He pulled us out. He sanctified
us. by the power of the Holy Spirit
in regeneration. So at the appointed time of God's
love, which He purposed from eternity, all who are sanctified
by the Father, all who are sanctified by the blood of the Son, will
be sanctified by the effectual call of the Spirit. In other
words, everybody that God sanctified will experience this sanctification. You'll receive it. You'll receive
it. This is by the power of the Holy
Spirit. This is what Paul says of the
church of God, that they are not only sanctified by Jesus
Christ and in Jesus Christ, but what? Look back at your text
now. Go back over there to 1 Corinthians. Look at this. He says you're
sanctified, where? In Christ Jesus, and then what? What's the manifestation of your
sanctification? Call. Saints. Called. Everyone that Christ
died for shall be called. Called what? Saints. Saint Joanne. That's right. You are. Saint Eric. Saint. You are a saint. Not like the world sees saints.
No, you are really saints. You were saints not by a miracle
of earthly proportions, but a miracle of divine proportions. You were
made holy by God Himself. You were sanctified in an act
of divine power. Believer, remember when we were
called by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel,
we were by nature haters of God. We would not believe in Christ.
We loved our sin, we loved this world, we had no need of Christ. We have no need of Christ. We
were unholy, unrighteous, and ungodly. We were totally depraved,
dead in our sins. But God who sanctified us, who
set us apart, and purposed that we should be holy, also came
in time and made us holy. He actually sanctified us. How did He do this? He made us
holy before God. Now I want you to see this. Every
believer is holy. I know this takes faith to see
this, but every believer is holy. I wouldn't say it if God didn't
say it. I'm not going to tell you something
like that if God didn't say it through His apostles. Go to 1
John. Look at 1 John. See what John says about us who
are born again of the Spirit of God. 1 John 3. 1 John 3 and
verse 6. Whosoever... abideth in him..." What? What does it say? "...sinneth
not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him." Look at chapter 5 and verse 18. Chapter 5 and verse 18. We know
that whosoever is born of God, what? There it is again, sinneth
not. But he that is begotten of God
keepeth himself, and the wicked one toucheth him not. Now how
in the world do you reconcile this with 1 John chapter 1? If
any man say he's without sin, he's called a liar. But if we
confess our what? Our sin. He forgiveth us of all
our sin. How can you reconcile these two?
Simply by this. When you're born again of God,
God creates in you a holy nature. And it is that nature John is
talking about. That which is born of God, listen,
sinneth not. That which is created of God
in the new man, it does not sin. But what did God do for the old
man? Nothing. That which is born of flesh is
what? Flesh. And that which is born
of Spirit is? Spirit. This is why a believer
struggles within himself. This is why when you look in
the mirror, you are not going to see a holy man. What do you
see? As a believer in Christ, what
do you see? We see our sin. The more I grow in grace and
knowledge of Christ, I know this, the more sin I see. It's not that it wasn't there
all the time. I just am made aware of it. And therefore, the believer struggles.
This is why you need to hear this message, because you struggle. "'Tis a point I long to know,
and oft it causes anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am
I His or am I not? We see sin. But this is what
God says, Whosoever is born of God sinneth not. Why? Because
you are sanctified. Now, what did you have to do
with that new nature? The same thing you had to do
with Christ's offering. The same thing you had to do
with your election. Not a single thing. This is what God has done for
you. He has sanctified you. Don't buy into the false doctrine
that somehow you are saved by grace and somehow you have to,
under the law of Moses, sanctify yourself. Paul said to those Galatians,
are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, that you're made
perfect by the flesh? No! We were sanctified by the
Father, sanctified by the Son, and sanctified by the Spirit
of God. You were holy before the eyes
of God. What does it say in Jeremiah
chapter 50 and verse 20? It says that the sin of Israel
shall be sought for and there shall be none. When God is searching for your
sins, you know He cannot find them? You know why? Because Christ
has borne them away forever. Forever. And listen, God has
taken into account all of those sins you've not yet committed. When you leave here, what are
you going to do? We will sin. To our shame, we will sin. But to His glory, He has already
taken them into account. and nailed them to His cross. You know that picture of the
great day of atonement? It's a beautiful picture, isn't
it? You want to know how you were sanctified? Here it is.
When they killed that animal, they took that blood. Without the shedding of blood
is no remission of sins. What a picture of Christ. He
was slain. by the justice of God. Why was
he slain? It took another animal to picture
that. That high priest confessed all
of the sins of Israel on that scapegoat, and that strong man
put him on his shoulders and carried that scapegoat away. He just kept going and going and
going until he was no longer in sight. That's what Christ
did with our sins. He bore them away forever. Why? So that the church of God
might be sanctified in Christ Jesus. That you might be called
saints. And what are the benefits of
this? Look back at your text. Grace and peace. There's the
benefits. Grace. Grace. Is that not all that you receive
now? Grace. Grace for what? Grace. We were sanctified by grace.
We were redeemed by grace. We are called by grace. We are
kept by grace. Grace unto thee. And what? Peace. Peace. Now let me ask you this. Are
you sanctified? Are you sanctified? How can we
know we are sanctified? Do you believe on the Son of
God? This is what the confirmation
is. This confirmation that Paul speaks about, I don't have time
to get into it. I'm not going to be able to finish again. But
this confirmation, Paul says in verse 7, he says, so that
you come behind in no-gift wanting, waiting for the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm..." I'm sorry, I
went ahead of myself. Verse 5, "...that in everything
you are enriched by Him, in all utterance and in all knowledge,
even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you." Is the
testimony of Christ confirmed in you? What is the testimony
of Christ? It is that gospel that I just preached. The gospel
of Jesus Christ. Is that confirmed in you? Are
you enriched by this gospel? Do you love this gospel? Do you
need this gospel? You do. And you confirm this. You confirm that the gospel is
true. Everyone who has the Spirit of
God confesses that this gospel is true. We confess that Jesus
Christ is God manifest in the flesh. We confess that He alone
is all our salvation. We confess His success. We confess
that He has now risen and ascended to the right hand of God. We
confess that all of His people shall be called through the preaching
of the gospel, and everyone that is called believes on Christ,
and they are kept by the power of God. We confess this. This
is true. The gospel is real to us. Everyone who is called by His
power and grace, this gospel is confirmed. I was talking to
someone last night about the confirmation. Basically, it's
like this. When I preach Christ to you, You say, yeah, that's Him. When I say Christ was God, you
say, yep, that's confirmed. I confirm that in my heart. Christ
is man. I confirm that in my heart. He
became my surety. I confirm that He was successful.
All these things about Christ that we read in the Scriptures,
we confirm it in our hearts. That's how you know you're sanctified.
Everyone sanctified confirms this Gospel, is enriched by this
Gospel. And listen, everyone who is sanctified
is preserved. Paul says that God will confirm
you, listen, to the end. What does that mean? You're going
to believe this Gospel to the end. Isn't this comforting? How often do you doubt you're
going to continue? How often do we doubt, am I going
to finish this race? You will. If you're really His,
if you're sanctified, you will finish this race. Why? Paul says
this, I think in verse 9, he says, God is what? Faithful. God's faithful. I'm so glad he
didn't say we were faithful. Because that wouldn't be true,
would it? I'm going to confirm this gospel to the end. Why?
God is faithful. It was God that set us apart.
It was Christ who made us holy. It was the Spirit who applied
that holy nature to us. And it is the Spirit of God that
keeps us in the faith unto the end. Now, I'm going to ask you one
more time. What do you have to do with your sanctification? Nothing. It's God that sanctified us.
Isn't that what it said? Just look at that one passage.
I'm going to give you that at the end. Just read it. Tell me
if this is true. Look at the end of 1 Corinthians
1. Look at the end verses. Look
what Paul says about it at the end of this chapter. He says,
But of God, you are in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto
us wisdom. Is He your wisdom? You bet He
is. He is our wisdom. What about
righteousness? Yep, He's my righteousness. What
about redemption? Oh yes, His blood is my redemption. And what? Sanctification. Just as much as He's my righteousness,
my wisdom, and my redemption, He is also what? My sanctification. So again, what do you got to do? Don't you see it's all
done? Isn't that the comfort? Isn't that the assurance? God
did it and it's done. Now, give thanks. Rejoice. You want your part? There it
is. Rejoice. Give thanks. Praise God. Preach His Word. You are sanctified in Christ
Jesus, called saints. I pray God will bless this. Gracious Father, I pray You'd
bless Your Word to Your people. Confirm again in our hearts tonight
by Your Spirit that all is done. Christ accomplished all that
You require. You have applied it to our hearts
and You keep us in this faith. You are faithful, even unto the
end. I pray that you would keep our
eyes fixed on this, even in the dark providences that we face
every day. I pray that you'd bless your
church in Jesus' name. Amen.