There in verse nine, I want you
to look at this with me. But now, after that you have
known God, or rather known of God, I wanna talk about knowing
God and being known of God. It says there in verse eight,
how be it then when you knew not God? There's a time we didn't
know God, did not have a clue who he was. Did not know him,
didn't want to know him. Had no interest in him. And you
did service. You did service unto them which
by nature are no gods. We all had our idols. We all
had our false gods. Whether it was our will, our
rights. Whether it was actually an idol.
Whether it was some false doctrine. where we served other gods. But now, that's one of the things
the apostle uses so many times, but now. He'll take a statement
and then he'll turn around and say, but now. But now, after
that you have known God or rather are known of God. What were we
made for? To know God. That's why God made
us, to know Him, to know Him. What aim, what goal should you
and I have and set for ourselves in this life? It's to know God. To know God. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
He said, This is eternal life, that they might know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. He said,
That's what I come to do, to let you know who God is, the
true God. And eternal life is in that true
God, and in Jesus Christ. You know, what's the best thing
in life that brings more joy, more peace, more comfort, more
contentment than anything else in this world? It's the knowledge
of God. It's knowing God. God said, let
the rise of Jeremiah 9, 23 said, let the wise man go in his wisdom. Let the mighty man go in his
might. Let the rich man go in his riches. But he said, this
is the man that ought to glory. The one that knows God, knows
me, and understands, understands. And I know this, and when we're
talking about knowing God, when we see that term, knowing God,
some people equate that with a special sort of emotion. You've
got to have some kind of a special emotion. Maybe you even have
shivers down your back. Or I feel like I'm floating.
I heard somebody say one time, I feel like I'm walking on air.
I feel like I'm floating. Well, I'll leave that and go. But do you know some people say
they hear a voice. Or they see a vision. They've
had a vision. Is knowing God some kind of a
special intellectual experience? Well, I do know this, that God
can be known. The scriptures tells us that.
And what takes place, what takes place when it can be said that
we know God? What can be said when it says
we know God? I know this much that knowing
God is a heapsight more different and complex than knowing a fellow
man. Human beings can cover up. We're good at covering up. We're
good at making ourselves appear different in different situations. We're very good at that. Human
beings can cover up, not show what's in their heart, not expose
themselves. And you can know a person for
years. I've seen this happen and you have too. You can know
a person for years. Know him for a long, long, long
time. Do things with him. And end up saying, after a while,
I don't think I really ever knew him. I didn't realize he was
that kind of person. I didn't know him at all. And
I do know this also, that what we know about a person depends
on what they want us to know about them. And if they don't
want you to know anything about them, you ain't gonna know anything
about them. They're gonna let you know what they want to let
you know. Well, we can only know God. We
can only know God as He allows us to know Him. The psalmist
said like this, it's only in your life that we see light.
A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven.
And yet God, God is willing, willing for us to know Him. And
how can we come to know God and being known of God? Well, according
to this verse of Scripture, verse 9, but now if you've known God,
rather I've known of God. To know God is a matter of grace,
a free, sovereign grace. If you ever know God, it's a
matter of grace, sovereign grace. You know why I say that? Because
God, God always, always have to take the initiative in salvation. If you know God, God's got to
make, come to where you are. He's got to take the initiative.
You see, and we only know Him as far as He allows us to know
Him. as only as he allows us to know
him. We have no claim on him whatsoever because of our sin. You know Adam and Eve, God, here
they was, God created them upright. They enjoyed fellowship with
God, they enjoyed union with God, they enjoyed God. And then
what happened? What happened? They sinned. They fell. They was cast out
of the garden. And I tell you, then God, He
had to, you know how God come to where they were. They didn't
come to God. They hid from God. And they come
to God, and God came to where they were, made them admit what
they were, made them admit what they did, and then God himself
clothed them with clothes before he ever put them out of the garden.
He clothed them. And that's what he's gotta do
to us. He's gotta come where we are, make us admit what we
are, And then he has to be the one to clothe us when he comes
to us. And you know, when it talks about
Abraham, it says that God of glory appeared unto Abraham. Abraham wasn't looking for God.
He was just a heathen idolater like everybody else was, and
then the glory of God appeared unto Abraham. I tell you what,
people say, well, I found God. Oh, no, you didn't. No, no, no,
no, no. I hear it fell on the radio all
the time, you know, Jesus wants to be your friend. He'll be the
best friend you ever had. But listen, we don't make friends
with God. No, no, no, no. He comes to us. He comes to us. and he reconciles
himself to us. And he makes his love and his
grace and his power and his ability known to us. Oh, listen, that's
why Paul said, will you please God who separated me from my
mother's womb and call me, call me by his gospel. And I tell
you, beloved, only God can make God known. And when it says here
to know or be known, or to know and to be known, this is a sovereign
grace word. It's a sovereign grace word.
Showing God's initiative to know God and or be known of God. It's a sovereign grace word,
showing God's initiative in choosing us, redeeming us, calling us,
preserving us, keeping us, doing everything for us. God, we find
out that God will have mercy on whom He will, have mercy on
whom He will, He'll have compassion. And I tell you, the Scriptures
tells us that we're looking through a glass darkly. What little bit
we know, I mean it's very little. You imagine how infinite God
is. He's eternal. We're creatures
of time. He's absolute spirit, perfect
spirit. We're bound by the flesh. He's
life and everything about life. And we can't have any life or
know anything about him unless he's pleased to come out of his
place where he is and go where we are and make himself known
to us. Huh? Oh, he sold Jeremiah. I said, Jeremiah, Jeremiah was
called to be a preacher, from his mother's womb, just like
Paul was. And Jeremiah got up, grown, got
up, ready to go preach, and God said, Jeremiah, I knew you! I knew you! When did you know
me? You're four years in your mother's
belly. I know them. You keep Galatians,
and look with me over here in John chapter 10. Look, let me
show you something. This is what I'm talking about.
Knowing God. Knowing God. Look here in John
chapter 10. This is what he says talking
about, I know them. Oh, how do you know God? Because
God's got to know you. He's got to do the work or you'll
never know him. Here you know, here it is, God
telling us in chapter 14. I mean, excuse me, verse 14.
John 10, 14 and 15. I am the good shepherd. And listen to this, I know. I
know. I know, who do you know, Lord?
My sheep. And all listen. And then after
he says, we knows our sheep, he said, they also know me. and none of mine. It's telling
us of God's knowledge of those who are his and his purpose of
saving mercy. Then look what he said. He says,
listen, I know them, I know them. And because I know them, I'm
known of mine. And then look what he says there
in verse 15. As a father knoweth me, Even so know I the Father. And then here he shows us how
he redeems us. He says, I lay down my life. For who? For the sheep. For the
sheep. And then covenant faithful, look
what he says down here in verse 28. Oh, listen, you're talking
about covenant faithfulness and God, listen, he said, I give
unto them eternal life. I give it to them. And listen
to this, they ain't never gonna perish. Ain't nobody gonna get
them. Ain't nobody gonna get them.
He said, I know them. I redeemed them, I laid down
my life for them. And he said, you know what? He said, I'm gonna
keep them. They are mine. They are mine. I give them eternal life and
ain't nobody ever gonna take them away from me. And then He
watches over us in Providence. And He watches over and He said,
and a stranger, a stranger, they won't follow. He won't let us
follow anybody else. He won't. And I tell you what,
God in grace reveals Himself. Our Lord said in Matthew 11,
25, our Lord talking to His Father,
He said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, Sovereign
God. Thou hast hid these things, you've
hid them. You hid these things from the wise and reputed. Well,
who'd you reveal them to? Babes, babes. You know, they brought some children,
the infants. People think they brought some
three or four year old child to them, but the scripture says
they brought to the Lord Jesus Christ infants, babies. And he
said, bless them. And his disciple says, no, no,
don't bring your babies around here. And our Lord Jesus took
one up in his hands and he said, except you become as a child. As this child, as this baby,
you ain't even going to get in the kingdom of heaven. And one
thing you understand is after God reveals grace to you, you
understand that if you learn anything, know anything, you're
going to have to have Him to be the teacher. He's got to feed
you, He's got to clothe you, He's got to care for you, He's
got to protect you, He's got to keep you every moment of every
day. Ain't that right? My God the eternal purpose in
Christ was to make his people to know him to know him Second
hit this is how God taught me the gospel. I told you it before
Second Timothy 1 9 God Start or the gospel always starts with
God God What we do have saved us Salvation's always in the
past tense and We didn't know it until God saved us, and then
we looked at He purposed to do it. We find out this is always,
always God's purpose. But it's always in the house
He saved us. He saved us by Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Then He called us, called us
how? By the gospel. And he called us with what a
holy calling. Our works had absolutely nothing
to do with it. It was according to his purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
ever began. Huh? Oh my. He calls and we listen. And what do we hear? How do we
hear His voice? This right here. You hear it
in His word. You hear it in His word. And
I'll tell you something happens. There's always something happens
when God comes to a person. And he starts hearing God's voice
in the gospel, in His word. The first thing that happens
is, is you start to come down. You start coming down. you start
coming down. I mean, you're brought down,
down, down. You know why you're brought down?
Because God lets us know what we are. We're sinners and we
are sin. And he shows us how guilty we
are. Then he shows us how weak we
are. Then he shows us we have no ability. Shows us that we're blind. And
then he brings us to where we judge ourselves. We judge ourselves. And we write on ourselves the
sentence of death. And when we brought so low, and
we bring judgment upon ourselves, God, you're right to treat me
this way. If you save me, it's gonna be
cause of your grace. If you save me, it's gonna be
mercy. If you do anything for me, it's
gonna be cause I say, oh God, be merciful to me. Oh, we see
how helpless we are. And I'll tell you what, we never
get any above helplessness. If you get to where you can help
yourself, you done went too far. God has to Listen, we're hopeless,
and He brings us hope. We're helpless, and He brings
us, and shows us mercy and forgiveness. Oh my. Listen, we come to realize,
as we hear God in His Word, that God is speaking to us, bringing
us to Himself. Oh my. It's like when Joseph
was in prison. You know who brought him out?
God did. Joseph became Prime Minister. Who made him Prime
Minister? God did. Who made him more than have all
the bread? God did. Showing us that everything's
in Christ. He's the one that brought us
out of darkness and brought us from the kingdom of Satan into
the kingdom of his dear Son. And let me give you four things
about knowing God. Knowing God. First of all, you
listen to God's Word as it's revealed to you by the Holy Spirit,
and the Holy Spirit's the one that has to interpret it to you.
And when the Holy Spirit interprets it to you, it applies it to you
and you alone. Ain't that right? Listen to what
I'm telling you. When you hear in the Gospel,
and you hear in the Word of God, the Holy Spirit comes, and He
takes the Word of God and makes it alive, and makes it real.
said our gospel came not unto you in word only now I'm using
words I'm using words but the gospel came unto you not in word
only but in the Holy Ghost and in power And with it come with this power
comes much, much assurance. What kind of assurance? That
what you're hearing is God Himself speak to you in His Word. Have
you ever felt like nobody, that you know what was said today
was just for you? You ever come to a service one
time and say, God please speak to me? I'm so low, I'm so weak,
I'm so frail, and I'm such a hypocrite. Lord, please speak to me. And
he always does. He always does. You know, being
born again, not of corruptible seed. That new birth comes not
by corruptible seed, but by incorruptible. By the word of God. God takes
a seed and plants it in a soul's heart. And I tell you, the scriptures
tells us, by his own will, he begat of us. That's a new birth. With the word of truth. And that's
why the next verse says this, so let every man be swift to
hear, you be swift to listen. And I tell you, and don't get
angry. He said, whatever you do, Don't
get angry at what God says. Don't get angry at what the Lord's
telling you. Don't get angry at God. Don't get mad at God
because God lets you know what you are. Don't be mad at God
because God exposes you. Don't get mad at God because
God lets you know that you're a dog, you're a worm, you're
a grasshopper. You're a sinner. Your righteousness
is as a filthy rag. Don't get mad at God. And that's
what people do. That's what people do, find out
that God's sovereign. Well, listen, that ain't fair. Life ain't fair. But I do know
one thing, God is. If he gave us what was fair,
what would we have? I don't want to face that, do
you? Be fair in playing cards, be
fair in playing checkers, be fair in playing games, but I
tell you what, You don't want fairness from God. You want mercy
from God. You want grace from God. You
want pity from God. You want God to do something
for you and keep on doing something for you. Once He starts, you
want Him to keep it up, keep it up, keep it up. Never let
me go. Never let me go. Oh, and I tell
you, here's what we see. We understand something about
God's nature. as his word and his works reveal
it. You know, Paul was a Pharisee
of Pharisees. And I tell you, he really thought
he had something to the gospel, till God made him know, knew
what he said about himself. Everything that amounted something
to me, made me look like somebody, he said, I count it done. That's
garbage. He said, all I want to know from
now on is Christ. All I want to do is win Christ.
I want to be found in Christ. I want the righteousness of Christ.
I don't want nothing of myself involved in this situation. Nothing
of me. Huh? Oh listen, what does the
fall of Adam and the flood teach us about God's nature? That first
he's a just God. Adam you sinned. Told you when
you ate that fruit you was going to die. That's justice. but he's
also a God of grace and mercy because he found him out and
clothed him. What does the flood tell us?
He's a just God. But also he prepared an ark and
he saved some people in that ark. He's a God of grace and
a God of mercy. Huh? Oh my. And that's why he
said, look unto me and be you saved all the ends of the earth.
I'm a just God and a savior. And then the third thing that
happens to us is we come to Him, bowing to Him, as He reveals
Himself to us. You know why people ain't bowing
to Christ and submitting to Christ? He's never revealed Himself to
them. You see how they built that shack out there on the road
up here at this place right up the road? You know what people's
gonna do? They're gonna dress up, they're
gonna put a little baby, a real baby, in a manger. And they're gonna get him a donkey,
and they're gonna get him a lamb, and they're gonna stand up there,
and act like that this is the way God, this is the way God
reveals himself every year at Christmas time by Jesus being
born. It's not the birth of Christ
that saves us, it's the death of Christ, and the blood of Christ,
and the righteousness of Christ that saves us, not his birth. The only person, you know the
only person who had a birthday party, a big birthday party in
the scriptures is Belshazzar and God said, right on the wall.
What does that say? You're putting the balances and
you're found wanting. Oh my. And so we come to him
and we bow to him. And listen, once we start bowing
to him, we stay there. We stay there. Like I told you,
Bruce Crabtree told a young preacher here a few years ago, he said,
whatever you do, stay low. Stay low. God will not use a
man who's not low. He won't do it. He won't do it. And I tell you what, one thing
about his preachers, and Cody will own up to this, is that
God, he deals with his preachers in a different way than he deals
with anybody else. They see things that nobody else
sees and experience things nobody else experienced. People want
to come up and tell you how y'all preach and how y'all do this,
that, and the other. Listen, whenever they think they're able
and capable, they're welcome at it. They're welcome to it. They're welcome to it. And I'll
tell you one, and here we go. Here's the fourth thing I said
about knowing God. Recognizing and rejoicing and
resting of what God's grace did for us in His blessed Son, in
the Lord Jesus Christ. We rejoice in it, we rest in
it, and we recognize that how salvation is, is through the
Lord Jesus Christ in union with Him. And let me give you... Oh, I'll tell you what, I ain't
even been a half an hour yet. I've got plenty of time. Plenty
of time. There's four types in the Scriptures
describes the way we know God. It says a son knows his father
and a father knows his son. A wife knowing her husband and
a husband knowing his wife. A subject knowing his king and
a sheep knowing his shepherd. And all of these things show
us looking up to the one that's known. A son looks up to his
father and the father takes responsibility for the son. A wife looks up
to her husband, and the husband is responsible to take care of
the wife. A subject looks up to his king,
and the king is responsible for his subject. A sheep follows
his shepherd, and the shepherd is responsible for the sheep
and their responsibility. And you reckon he's going to
meet his responsibility? Well, I'm going to tell you how
we can only know God one way. One way. And that's through the
Lord Jesus Christ. Can't know Him any other way.
The only way you can know God is through Christ. Ain't that
right? I'll tell you. Our Lord said it like this. He
says, no man. No man. Two places. No man can come unto me except
the Father which sent me dry. And no man can come unto the
Father but by me." He said, you see, because I'm the way. There
ain't no other way to get to God other than me. They say all
in God's the same one. No, they're not. They're not. And he said, you know, he said,
if you want to know the way to God, I'm the way. You want to know the truth of
God? You want to know the truth? You want really to know the truth
about God, about yourself, about the word? He said, I'm the truth. If you ever know any truth, I've
got to be the one to let you know it. And he said, you want
life? You got to have life? He said,
you're the only place you're going to get it, it's me. And
I tell you what, that's the only way in the world you'll have
any dealings with my father. Only way. And I tell you what,
when our Lord Jesus Christ, he spoke, they stood in astonishment
because he spoke with one having authority. And one thing for
certain, we have no claims on God and we certainly have no
claims upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And I do know this also, we recognize
him as God Almighty. He is God, he is as much God
as God who was in eternity. And he's our God. He's the one
with the words of eternal life. Those disciples, there's a whole
bunch following him one day. And a bunch, you know, he says,
you know, he said this, he said, it's the word, the spirit quickeneth,
the flesh don't profit anything. And the words that I speak, there's
spirit in their life. They heard that and scratched
their head and said, what in the world, who told them that? And
a whole bunch of them turned around and walked away. And our
Lord Jesus said, looked at them all, looked at them, just like
I'm looking at you. He said, you're gonna go away
too, I guess, ain't you? You're just gonna leave too. And how many times have we said
this, Lord, to whom shall we go? Whom shall you go? You've got the words, the words. of eternal life. Oh Lord, I can't
go no place else. You brought me here and I'm going
to stay right here. I'm going to stay right here.
And the blessed privilege of this knowledge produces in his
disciples an allegiance to him. And this allegiance transformed
their lives. And it will everyone who knows
him. He said to his disciples, there was men than this one day.
Come on, follow me. They followed him. Went by James
and John, follow me. Went by Matthew, he's counting
his money, follow me. He walked off and left his money
on the table. And that's the way it is with
God. With God's people, they own allegiance to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I'll tell you what, and that
transforms our lives, oh how it transforms. And when he says,
my sheep hear his voice, When we hear his voice, we acknowledge
his claim, we acknowledge his promise, and we call, oh my goodness,
we're so thankful he called us. Oh, he's that good shepherd that
laid down his life. He's the bread of life and he's
the resurrection. Look what it says over here in
John 5, 23 with me. Look at this. I remember Herman
very, very well. I was preaching from here one
time, oh, I don't know how many years ago. He's a long time,
he was 75 years old when the Lord done something for him.
Died when he was 92, so. And he heard the gospel a long
time, but one day he heard it. And I was preaching from this
passage here. Look what he said in verse 23.
Talking about God can only be known through the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, all men should honor the Son, even as they honor
the Father. If you honor one, you honor the
other. He that honors not the Son, he don't honor the Father
either with sinning. Truly, truly, or very barely,
I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him
that sent me hath everlasting life. And listen to this, they're
not gonna come into judgment, not gonna come into condemnation,
but here's a great path. People, a lot of people, Paul
Simmons just went from death, from life into death. But people
don't go from death into life, except in the spiritual world.
We were dead, and we passed from death to life. People don't do
that. And we're gonna do the same thing
when Christ calls us out of the grave. We're gonna go from being
dead to alive. But look what else he goes on
to say. And verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming,
and right now is, when the dead, dead in trespasses and sin, Hear
the voice of the Son of God. Will you hear that in that blessed
word? What happens when they hear it? They live. Life comes. Life comes. Oh my. And he becomes your master. He becomes your Lord. He becomes
your head. He becomes your redeemer. He
becomes your only hope. He becomes your only plea. He
becomes your all and it all. To know the Lord Jesus Christ
is to be saved by Him right now and hereafter. I mean, He saves
us now and He gonna save us for eternity. Huh? Oh my. And He saves us from our sin,
saves us from our guilt, saves us from death. And to know God, what I've said
is this, it's a matter of personal dealing. Here we are, several of us here
today. God deals with every person in
this building individually. He deals with every single one
of us individually. That's right, He saves us one
at a time. It's a matter of personal dealings
and you deal with God. God deals with you and you deal
with Him alone. And you deal with Him as He makes
Himself known. And as you're being dealt with
by Him. You know as He makes Himself known and deals with
you, you deal back with Him as He makes Himself known. Personal dealings. And I tell
you, let me, I'm gonna wind this thing up here. But knowing God
is a matter of personal, personal involvement. It's just between
you and God. We all deal with God as He makes
Himself known with us and deals with us. He deals with us sometimes
in trials, deals with us sometimes in joy, deals with us a lot of
times in comfort. He deals with us in a lot of
different ways. But it's a matter of personal
involvement. What's involved? Your mind is? Your will is? Your feelings are? You know, we know God with our
mind. You know, there's people that are very, very, very, very
smart. I mean intellectually, greatly.
Oh, so intellectual. Oh, so smart. So smart. But I tell you what, when we
start considering God and what He knows and let us know about
Him, our little old puny brains just have to bow. Just have to
bow. But yet our mind, our mind is
involved with Him. And our will is involved with
Him. Ain't you willing to know God? Ain't you willing to have
a relationship? Ain't you willing for God to
do something for you? And I tell you what, it's an
emotional involvement. It's your heart involved with
it. You're involved with the ups and downs of God's dealings
with you. Sometimes He takes you up, sometimes
He takes you down. Sometimes He takes you this way,
sometimes He takes you that way. But one thing about it, is He's
the one that's doing the taking. Oh Barnabas, here he is, he's
seen the grace of God. Daddy, do you know what he said?
He said, I got glad all over, I just got so glad. And I do
know this also, beloved. The believer often, often feels
great, great shame for failing his Lord. Oh, he feels so ashamed,
so ashamed. And then at other times, God
comes and blesses their hearts so much that they so rejoice
and so thankful for God's everlasting, eternal love and that he'd even
look in my direction. David said, looked up at the
stars, the sun, the night time, you know, and he looked up at
the stars and he said, Lord, he's laying on his back, he's
a shepherd out in the field, taking care of sheep. He looked
up and said, oh Lord, oh God, when I look at the stars, the
moon, all the things that your hand has prepared, I sit here
and I lay here and I wonder, what in the world is man? What
am I? That you'd even be mindful of
me. That you'd even look in my direction. Oh my. And here's the most important
thing of all of I said, get this. The most important thing is not
that I know God, but that God knows me. For I can't know Him without
Him first knowing me. The foundation of God standeth
sure. How does it stand sure? The Lord
knows them that are His. He knows them that are His. He
knows me. He knows me. I was trying to
write a little article. Maybe I'll put it in next week. People get in bad shape. I mean,
in this world, people get in bad shape. Their mind goes. They get into
comas. They end up in nursing homes,
you know, and they don't, can't talk, just toss and turn, toss
and turn. Somebody has to take care of
them. And even that's, God's elect
is not immune to that. God's elect are not immune to
that. But I do know this, if they get to where they can't
think, don't know their name, don't know who their children
are, what's gonna happen? They say,
well, you say, do you know God? You go and ask them, say, do
you know God? They will talk, what, what? What'd you say? Do you know God? Well, who's
he? You know your son standing here? Who's he? I don't remember seeing him. That's when it's really, really
a blessing to be known of God. They're laying there with their
mouth open just hours from leaving this world. Oh Lord. They can't hear you. But God knows where they are,
knows who they are, and He knows what He did for them. Ain't that the most wonderful
thing? I tell you what, that's just... He knows Him. All my knowledge of Him depends
on Him. He has to sustain that knowledge And there's never no moment in
time that he ever wavers, ever wavers. And you're talking about
momentous knowledge. His knowledge of me and love
for me is based, listen to this, based on what he knew of me at
the very first. He knows the worst there is about
me. He can't find any new thing out
about me. And he loves me and keeps me
still. Oh my, you're talking about humbling
you down. He knows all the twisted, perverse
things about me. He knows everything I've ever
done in the dark. He knows everything I've ever
done in private. He sees all the corruption that's
in me. And yet, He loves me, He knows
me, and He keeps me, keeps me coming to Him, looking to Him. Oh, you're talking about a motive
to love and worship God Almighty. For reasons only known to Himself,
He come to me, came to you. He said, I'm going to be your
God, and you're going to be my child. And then not only that,
but He gave His Son to die for me, to put away my sin. And He did it to bring me to
Himself and give me a knowledge of Him, knowing God. God knows us, but we'll never
know Him. Our Father, in your blessed,
holy, glorious name, thank you for allowing us another day,
another time, to gather around the gospel, to gather around
our Lord Jesus Christ, to gather around his precious word, to
hear what he has to say to us today. Oh, Lord, it's a wonder. It's absolutely a wonder. No
wonder John Newton called it amazing grace. that saved, saved,
saved a wretch like me. Oh, what amazing grace, what
condescending grace, what eternal electing love, what power came
forth, what a miracle took place that you brought us from death,
death, Lord, death, to life, an eternal life, the life of
God in us. Oh Lord, thank you and bless
your holy name. We bless you and praise you in
Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Let's turn to 118 in the
hymn book. Stand with me and we'll sing
that and then we'll be at liberty to go. 118. 118. When I surveyed the wondrous
cross, On which the Prince of Glory died, My richest gain I
count below, And broke until dawn all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should
boast, Say, in the death of Christ my God, All the vain things that
charm, I sacrificed Him to His blood. See from His head, His hands,
His feet. Did our self's love and sorrow
meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown? Were the home of mature
men, That we're present far too small Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all