If it's alright with you all,
I'd like to talk to you for just a minute before I start preaching.
I don't know that there's any difference, but I had this message
prepared some time ago, and since then, some things have been on
my mind and my heart. I just thought I'd talk about
that to you for just a minute, some things that's blessed my
heart, that's helped me in recent days. and maybe it will help
you, but you know, grace is foreign to the flesh, and grace is foreign
to religion. I still often find myself looking
to myself, comparing myself with others, And I find myself thinking, you
know, I've been in the way for a number of years now. And I
say to myself, you know, I thought you'd be better by now. I thought
you'd be doing better. I thought you'd be more dedicated.
I thought I'd be a little more satisfied with my life, with
what I do, what I say, how I act and think and my motives. But
I'm here to tell you I'm worse now than I've ever been. And
I look at my past. And as I lived in the past, I
would look at my sins and say, that's an awful thing I did.
But I look back at them now, and it's even more awful, the
things that I did and said and thought, the way I acted. My
sin against God is more grievous to me now than ever. But there's a Scripture in 1
Timothy chapter 1 verse 9, or 2 Timothy 1 verse 9, and it says
this, "...who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace." which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. Oh my! Before my existence and
its past tense, who hath saved us. It was done before I was
ever born. There's nothing I can add to
it. There's nothing I can take from it. There's nothing that
I can do to cause me to be saved. There's nothing I can do to cause
me to be lost as a saved man. And I heard somebody make this
statement. There is nothing that can happen
in time that can change what God purposed in eternity. My,
oh my, that blesses my heart. Salvation's of the Lord. It is
He that has saved me. I'm here to tell you that God's
salvation is sure. It's certain. It's complete. His grace is the fountainhead
of salvation, and it comes from His will. And God does not look to you,
and He doesn't look to me for one thing. Not one thing. Oh, that gives me peace. I can
be happy and rest. There's no work to be done. The
work's done. I can rest. And I love its certainty. We have a message of certainty. Our message is one of certainty.
It's not, come and let me tell you what you need to do, what
you should do, but come hear who He is, who Christ is and
what He has done. It's a message of certainty.
It's a message of accomplished salvation. It's a sure hope. It's a hope we can die holding
on to. We can close our eyes in death
with confidence that He has saved us. It's a firm foundation. A firm foundation. And I need
a firm foundation. I see all around me coming to
its final end. Decay and corruption and death. I need a firm and a sure foundation. And God has provided All we need
in Christ His Son. And did you know, even this hour,
all the elect are seated at the right hand of God in Christ Jesus. We're already there in Christ.
It's accomplished. Oh my, that's a sweet, sweet
thing. And then we read after that birth,
grace according to His own purpose and grace which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began, but now is made manifest
by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ. And that's what
I want to talk about to you this morning. Jesus Christ. The unsearchable
riches of Christ, which we read about in our reading this morning
in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 8. Paul said, unto me who am
less than the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Oh my, if you have Christ, You're
rich beyond measure. And if you don't have Him, you have nothing. But we've come
here this morning as most of us are accustomed to do, and
we have before us the Word of God as our guide, our instructor. But I ask myself this question
as we endeavor to look into God's Word, and the question I post
to myself, and I ask you to do the same. Why am I here? Why
am I here? What moves me to come here this
morning and other mornings, other evenings, to meet and hear the
Word preached? And I dare say that as sinful
men, as we all are, we have among us many different reasons, wrong
reasons in a lot of cases, sinful motives for coming to the services.
We may come by force of habit. We may come because we're forced
to. Our parents make us come. Our wives, our husbands. where
we feel obligated to come. We may be trying to appear religious
before men or to salve our own conscience. And we may even come to this
place because we agree with the doctrines of grace and we love
to hear our beliefs and our convictions about doctrinal issues reinforced
and affirmed and confirmed. But we deprive ourselves to be
motivated by such things. And it's a dreary and dreadful
thing to be under obligation, to be taken up with duty, to
be looking for self-vindication. And that's nothing but drudgery
and bondage. to be caused to do anything that
we don't truly desire to do and long to do. So my strong desire
in earnest prayer this morning is that we could all be delivered
from such constraints and bondage and see Christ and to long to
hear Him speak to me through His Word. Speak to me. You know, it's one thing to hear
someone say that God has elected a people. Amen. And He shall
save them. That's so. I believe that. But
it's quite another to be able to say with the warrant of God's
Word, God in Christ has chosen me and
has saved me by His grace. When Paul was talking there in
2 Timothy, He has, by His own purpose and grace, has saved
us and called us. And I'm in that us. Who is that? I'm in that us. I'm numbered
in that us. Quite a different thing. One
is a doctrinal fact. The other is a personal experience. The difference is that Christ,
Christ Jesus Himself, through His Spirit, has entered and intervened
and revealed Himself unto me. Salvation's a person. It's in
a person. Our hope's in a person. And He's
spoken to my heart. He's spoken to my heart. And
we're talking about Christ, the actual person, a man, the God-man. And me, actually me. being vitally joined in union
with Christ, Christ Jesus the Lord, the God-man, the substitute
for sinners. We don't want to be satisfied
with going through the motions, with the husk of religion, the
outward form, the outward show of religion and duty. Seek Christ
Himself. If you don't know Him, and if
you do know Him, Seek Christ Himself. Seek to know Him. Seek
to be acquainted with Him. Seek to know His great love for
sinners. Oh, how He loves sinners. If
you're a sinner, that ought to thrill your heart. It does me. Seek to know His perfect, completed,
accomplished salvation. Seek to know if He loves you.
He loves me. Seek to know if He died for you,
if He died for me. And anxiously listen for those words
where He says to you and to your heart, these wounds are for you. It is for you I came to this
earth to live and to suffer and to die. and to be raised again. Behold My hands and My side.
These wounds are for you. Answer this question. Was it
crimes that I have done? He groaned upon the tree. We
sing in that song. Amazing pity, grace unknown,
and love beyond degree. If He ever actually reveals Himself
to you as your Savior, your heart will suddenly be engaged in this
religion business, won't it? It won't just be going through
the motions. Not saying we'll be perfect in
it. But for the most part, we'll come to the worship service to
hear from Christ our Lord and to worship Him, to thank Him,
to honor Him. Our hearts will be engaged. And I pray that God
not leave us. God, don't leave us to ourselves,
to our own devices. Leave us not content with the
form of religion. but reveal Yourself to us through
Your Son. With that said, I want to, by
God's strength, move forward and set before us Christ Jesus
the Lord. And I want us to see that the
seeking of Him, the knowing of Him, being acquainted with Him
is the most worthwhile pursuit that a man can take in this life.
I want us to see that there's everything to be had in Christ,
and everything to be lost without Christ. He's altogether lovely, and He's mighty in power, mighty
in glory and strength. I want us to see as much of Him
and about Him that God enables us to see this morning. I want
us to enter into what Paul said in verse 8 of Ephesians chapter
3, the unsearchable riches of Christ. So we're going to try
to search out the unsearchable and look to God to reveal what
we by searching can never see. God must reveal Himself to us. We can never search Him out and
discover Him apart from His divine revelation. First of all, let's
look at our Lord Jesus Christ, His person, and let's look at
His character. And oh my, where do we start? Where would it end? Just to talk
about that, his personal attributes, his character. He's perfect in
every way. Without sin, he's pure. There's
none like Him. He's the only one, the only sinless
man there's ever been. He's just. He's holy. He's righteous. He's true. He's full of truth
and grace and mercy. He's faithful, immutable, unchangeable. He's all-wise. He's all-powerful.
He has all power. He's loving. He's long-suffering.
He's good. The Lord is good. He's love. He's approachable. He's perfect
in every way. Psalm 145 and 17 says, The Lord
is righteous in all His ways and holy in all His works. We just can't even grasp that,
can we? But He is. Our Lord also is rich
in power and rich in might. He has all power. Psalm 145 verse
3 says, Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His
greatness is unsearchable. You can't know His greatness.
You can't find it out. He's great in power. His greatness
is unsearchable. Job 5 and verse 9 says, Which
doeth great things and unsearchable marvelous things without number. That's our Lord Jesus Christ.
John 1 verse 3 says, All things were made by Him. Everything
we see was made by the Lord Jesus Christ. And without Him was not anything
made that was made. My great in power. Power is unsearchable. His greatness
is unsearchable. Look over with me now in the
book of Colossians chapter 1. And you're familiar with this,
I know. In verse 16 and 17, Colossians
1. For by Him were all things created. that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him
and for Him. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist." Oh my! What manner of person
must Jesus Christ be? He's God Almighty. And the Scripture says in another
place, all thy works shall praise thee. And it says this in Psalm
76.10, that the wrath of man, even the wrath of man, shall
praise Christ Jesus. All things we just read there
in Colossians were created by Him and for Him. All that is
and all that was and all that shall be will bring praise and
honor to Jesus Christ. God the Father said Himself that
every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. How great is our Lord Jesus Christ? Who can tell it? He's God over
all. He's Creator. And He's the Sustainer
and the Upholder of all things. By His Word, He upholds all things. By His mere Word, He speaks. His words have power. His words
have effect. And He upholds this universe
by the Word of His power. Have you ever pondered the universe? Just can't even take it in, how
vast this universe is. And He upholds it. He set it
all in place and upholds it and sustains it. Keeps it in order.
My, oh my, what great power. And then too, our Lord is rich
in possessions. Not only rich in character, but
rich in possessions. Scripture says that the cattle
on a thousand hills are mine. And we read that heaven is my
throne, he says, of himself, and the earth is my footstool.
The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and
they that dwell therein, for he hath founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the floods. How rich is our Lord! How rich
is He in greatness! And He's greatly to be feared,
greatly to be feared, and greatly to be praised. Cannot even begin
to tell it out. Oh, how much richer is He. How
much greater is He. How much more glorious is He
than our thoughts can attain to. Our highest thoughts, our
greatest estimates will dishonor Him. He's so far beyond what
our minds can grasp or comprehend. And I'm glad it's that way. I'm
glad He is who He is. I rejoice in Him as He is, as
He's revealed in Scripture. God Almighty, who hath done whatsoever
He has pleased in the armies of heaven among the inhabitants
of the earth. None can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest
Thou? My salvation depends on a God
like that. I depend on Him to do for me
what I cannot do for myself and will not do for myself. But I want you to turn to an
amazing verse of Scripture in light of what we just said, 2
Corinthians chapter 8. Our Lord is rich. And He's great. Look down there in verse 9 of
2 Corinthians chapter 8. For ye know that the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became
poor. that ye through his poverty might
be rich. Dirk, for your sake, Dirk, for
your sake, the Lord Jesus Christ, though he was rich, yet he became
poor. For your sake, James, for your
sake, he became poor. Oh, now that's unsearchable.
That is beyond comprehension. And how rich are those of us
whom Christ has become poor for? Rich beyond measure. We have
what He has. We are what He is. Because He
became what we are. How rich are we who have Him?
You want to know what love is? There it is. This is the grand truth that
delights the soul and the heart of the believer. This is the
grand truth that motivates us to come and worship. This is
the truth that gives us joy and peace in believing Him and trusting
Him. Gives us confidence. Allows us
to live in peace with great joy in our hearts. Turn over to Ephesians
chapter 2. Boy, I want to live with joy. I don't want to be down in the
mouth like I am so much of the time. I want to be happy and
joyful and full of peace and assurance, don't you? This is
where you find it. You find it in Him. You find
it in His Word. You don't find it by looking
at yourself or looking at the past. If we want to look at the
past, let's look at what God did in the past. We're in eternity
past. He purposed to save us and set
us apart. What God did in the past, that
matters. Because it will come to pass.
What He purposed will come to pass. Let's not look at our past. This is where our peace and our
insurance comes from. By looking to Christ, Just ask yourself, where am I
looking? To whom am I looking? You're looking to Him. There's
where your peace, your comfort, your insurance, your salvation,
your all in all is in Him, the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians chapter 2. I was trying to get over there
in verse 4. But God, who's rich in mercy,
He's rich in mercy too, isn't He? for His great love wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sins. Hath quickened
us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved, and hath raised
us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. Listen to this, that in the ages
to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness
toward us. through Christ Jesus. Are you
in that us? Boy, you can rejoice. Boy, you
want to come and worship, don't you? You want to just give you
joy and peace, though all around you is trouble and turmoil and
fussing and fighting and ins and outs and ups and downs. Boy,
there's some joy there, true joy and peace. The Scripture never says that
God has wrath against sin, against sinners. It never says anywhere
that He's rich in wrath. He's rich in mercy. Isn't that
good? Oh my, rich in mercy. Delights
to show mercy. He doesn't delight to send men
to hell. It's not His delight. His justice
demands it. His delight is in showing mercy.
I'm so thankful that this all didn't come to pass by some force
out there, some unknown entity that just had a big bang and
it's all just turned out the way it has and it's on its own
now. It's on autopilot. But we have
a God. who created all things, and upholds
all things, and has purpose and design, and elected a people,
loved a people, came and died for a people, and delights to
show mercy. Amen. I love God as He is. Grace unsearchable, plentiful,
of great abundance and magnitude, and given to men freely. Freely
gives grace. It's not grace if it's not free.
And grace, it's not grace if it's not given. He doesn't withhold
grace. There's no such thing as withheld
grace. Grace must be given to be grace.
And it's free and it's freely given. It's liberally given with
no strings attached. The exceeding riches of His grace. And this exceeds what this world
has to offer, the riches that's in this world. My oh my, I just
can't even be compared. It's immense. It's unsearchable.
It's inexhaustible. It's without limit. It's unending. It's perpetual. It's eternal.
Nothing in this world can be said, those qualities can be
said about anything in this world. And it's beyond knowledge. It's
beyond the comprehension of man. And it's remarkably displayed
where? in His kindness toward us through
our Lord Jesus Christ. That's where it's at. That's
where it's displayed. Christ Jesus is now manifest. God purposed to save us in eternity
and in time. The Lord Jesus Christ was manifest
to sacrifice Himself and put away our sin. You see, Christ bestows His mercy
and grace to sinful, needy sinners. Is there anyone that fits that
description? Poor though they be, yet being
in Him, they are rich through Him. He gives His own merit to those
who have none. You have any merit? You don't
need Christ's merit. If you have none, and you're
a candidate for the merits of Christ before God. He gives His
merit to those who confess they have none and those that trust
Him. He presents them with an abundance of all they need in
Himself. Do you have all you need? If
you have Christ, you do. And we not only receive His grace,
His love, His mercy, and His merit, but He Himself. We receive Him, our blessed brother,
our elder brother, our Savior, His blessed person. We receive
Him. And that's a blessed thought
that God in Christ gave Himself, not only what He has, what He
is, who He is. He gave Himself. And He shed
His own blood, not the blood of another, but His own blood.
He laid down His life for His sheep. He emptied Himself. He gave Himself a sacrifice for
the sins of His people. God Himself is ours to be a portion
for us forever. And He was successful in the
payment of the debt of His people. And that's due to who He is.
Due to the richness of His person. Due to who He is. Because of
who He is, God accepted the payment in full for all the sins of all
His people throughout all time. And this is an astounding statement
to me. Listen to this. Christ gives Himself in such
a way that to deny us, He'd have to deny Himself. And that will
never happen. God will never deny Him. We are
vitally united. As I said before, we're seated
in Christ at the right hand of God, even now. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ as the hope of the believer. Paul said this, he talked about
the unsearchable riches of Christ. He's like I heard Henry say one
time, I believe what I preach. He preached at his son's funeral
and they questioned him about that. He said, well, there's
four or five reasons he gave. He said, number one is I believe
what I preach. That blessed my heart, but Paul believed what
he preached. He preached the unsearchable riches of Christ,
and he said this, he said, I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered
the loss of all things, and count them but done. I didn't lose
anything. And I did that that I might win
Christ, and that I might be found in Him. Gave up everything for
Christ. that I may know Him." And in
another place, he said, I'm determined to know nothing among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He believed what he preached.
The unsearchable riches of Christ. It's written of Moses in Hebrews
11. It says, By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused
to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Oh, he could have had
it all. He could have had all this world
had to offer. But he said he chose rather to
suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season. And it says, what else? He is
steaming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures
in Egypt. Oh my, if you have Christ, you're
rich. esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than
all the treasures in Egypt. Well, they had a glimpse of the
unsearchable riches of Christ, didn't they? True wealth that this world does
not esteem or regard as such. Look over for a minute in 1 Peter
chapter 2, verse 6. We read the estimation of this
world and religion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In verse
6 it says, "...Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture,
Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect and precious."
Ah, believers, seize worth, they esteem Him as precious, elect
and precious. "...And he that believeth on
Him shall not be confounded, shall not be put to shame." Unto
you, therefore, which believe, He is precious. Oh, He is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of a corner. And this is the world, and to
the world He is a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense, even to them
which stumble at the Word, being disobedient, whereunto also they
were appointed. That sure foundation which God
has laid and made the head of the corner. The Scripture says
in another place that other foundation can no man lay than that is laid. Christ Jesus the Lord. This foundation
men have disallowed. They've rejected and are offended
at Him. And if the chief cornerstone
be not in place, how's the building going to stand? It can't. It
won't. It'll fall. It will fall. The Scripture says in Hebrews
1 and verse 3 that Christ upholding all things by the Word of His
power, that chief cornerstone upholds all the building. Colossians
1, 17 says, and He is before all things and by Him all things
consist. Without Him was not anything
made that was made. Without Christ we have nothing.
and the building can never stand. And you know, this is a sad thing
to me to see worldly, brilliant men and women,
some I have some respect for, and I like some of the things
that they say and some of the ideas they present, but to see
these men and women seeking all but Jesus, being involved in
a form of religion and being just taken in by it and swallowed
up by it with their candles and their statues and their pagan
rituals and their hocus pocus and their ceremonies and involved
in a form of religion and missing entirely the beauty of Christ
and His unsearchable riches. Paul said, I mentioned this a
moment ago, that we preach Christ crucified under the Jews a stumbling
block and under the Greeks foolishness. And Paul goes on and says this,
he says, but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, unto you Those that are called,
who believe, He's precious. That which the builders have
disallowed and said it not, He's precious to us. Oh, He's precious. We see Him in His essential beauty
and see unsearchable riches in Him. Beautiful Savior. Beautiful
Savior. You know, the world, it says
in Isaiah, they saw no beauty in Him that they should desire
Him. We do. We do. Oh, we see beauty in Him. I dare say that there's some
wealthy people here today. You're wealthy. You have Christ. And you say, most of us do. We have Christ as our own. Our
Savior, our Redeemer, our Lord and Master, our Friend, our Brother,
our God, our Lord, our All-in-all. Oh my, you're rich beyond measure. Let me ask you this question.
What would you take to give up Christ? Oh, boy, that's a silly
question. If you have Him, you'll never
give Him up. Those that have Him will never let Him go for
10,000 worlds. Those that have Him must have
Him. Those that must have Him will
have Him. Oh boy, Lord say, you seek me,
you'll find me. May God give us a desire, a longing
to know Christ, to have Him as our Savior, to have Him as our
Lord. to speak peace to our hearts.
Our Lord is rich with all that you need, and He's yours for
the asking. Take the water of life freely.
Reach out and touch the Lord as He passes by. Silver and gold is not what you
need, and it won't make you rich. What you need is life. What we
need is life. What we need is salvation. What
we need is pardon for sin. What we need is peace and comfort
that endures. What we need is grace. What we
need is joy. What we need is hope. Those things
that truly satisfies the soul, that satisfies the longing soul,
And they're all found in Christ. And He freely gives them all.
Freely. And you know what? He asks nothing
in advance. And He asks nothing in return.
Doesn't look to you for anything. My Master is so rich, He wants
nothing from us. He needs nothing from us. Does the sun want help from darkness?
It's just as absurd to think that God needs anything from
us. Bring your emptiness. Bring your nothingness and fall
down before Him. Is your heart and soul empty
this morning? You know, this physical, mortal
life of ours is full of things. Full of things. But our hearts
are many times empty. We're busy. We're going to and
fro. Up and down. Here and there.
Got this to do, got that to do. But in reality, we're busy. But
we're going nowhere. We're all coming to our final
end. So come to Him who can fill your
soul with all you need, all you need for time and for eternity. He can fill you with Himself.
He can fill you with His goodness. He can fill you with His grace,
His mercy, His peace. He can speak peace to your heart. Boy, I value peace. My heart
was troubled so much at the time. But when I get a little peace,
oh, it's sweet. It's sweet. And God spoke peace to my heart
here recently. I was very troubled. Very troubled.
Boy, that was a sweet time. I laid down. I had some peace. And I thought, boy, how sweet
this is. I hope it lasts. I hope God lets me stay here
a while. Does your attempts at reformation
and religious duty leave you discouraged and hopeless? Does
your conscience accuse you? Does your sinful, wicked heart
trouble you? Quit your doing and your resolving. Quit your doing and come to Him
who's done all the doing. It's done. Remember, our Lord
is altogether lovely, and He's so good, and He's so kind, and
He's so ready to forgive. He's so faithful. He's so mighty
to save. And He is more able to pardon
and willing to pardon than we are able and willing to sin.
And that's saying something. Our Lord. My, oh, my. Will He turn away a man who asks
for mercy? Hasn't yet. You need mercy? Come to Him and ask for mercy.
I would that none of us would miss Christ, for if we miss Him,
we miss everything. Christ is all and in all, and
He is the express image of the invisible God. That is to say
that apart from Christ, we can never see God. We can never know
God apart from Christ. But God is in Christ, and we
can know God in Christ. We can see God in Christ. Christ
is God, and God's revealed Himself by Christ. Christ said, I am
the way. I'm the way to God. And think of that time that we
all must face, that's the time of our death. How I desire for
all of us to have Christ and His riches then, to be rich then,
truly rich. Riches we can take with us in
the hour of death. Worldly riches offer no benefit,
no comfort. When there's none to assist,
the doctors can't help, the nurses can't help, the preacher can't
help, your wife, your husband can't help. Oh, to be rich in Christ, for
Christ to be your help then. I remember in the Scripture when
Stephen was being stoned, And as he was about to die, he looked
up into heaven and saw the Lord Jesus Christ standing, ready
to receive him. What a sight that would be in
the hour of death, to have Christ be there, your helper. And I
believe He will be for every believer in the hour of death. He's the only one that can help.
What price would you give then for Him and His dying grace?
May none of us experience death without Christ. Let me die the
death of the righteous, and let my last end be like His. And oh, what contentment Christ
in His riches affords us. You know, the man who can say,
I have enough, is the richest man in the world. He's richer
than the richest who is discontented. I have enough. If you have Christ,
you have enough. He's all I need. He's all I want.
When you have all that God has to give, what more is there? I have enough. There's no more
to be had. There's always more of this world's
riches to be had. And that's why there's never
any contentment. But we who are rich in Christ
have it all. He says all things are yours. And in closing, let me point
out some of the Apostle Paul's comments back in our original
text, back in Ephesians 3, verse 7. We'll look there for a minute
and we'll be done. whereof I was made a minister
according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by
the effectual working of His power unto me who am less than
the least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." Paul was humbled
by the grace of God given to him, confessing himself to be
less than the least of all saints. But with apparent delight he
preached the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentiles. And
boy, I'm glad the Lord sent Paul to the Gentiles. That's me and
you. The good news of free pardon
to guilty sinners. He who was rich for our sakes
became poor that we might be made rich. Paul says that this
grace, this unmerited favor is given to me that I might take
on the high calling as a preacher of the unsearchable riches of
Christ. He considered it a special favor
granted him of the Lord that he was permitted to proclaim
the unsearchable riches of Christ among the Gentiles. You know, over in Acts we read
of the apostles that were beaten for preaching Jesus. And it says
that they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer
shame for His name. They rejoiced. They were beaten,
but they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame
for His name. Oh, they saw the value of Christ.
The value of Christ to them in their hearts and the value of
Christ to those that they preach to. and preach the unsearchable
riches of Christ. Well, I pray that all of us here
this morning, we desire to see Jesus for ourselves, our beloved, our altogether lovely
Lord and Savior, and to worship Him, to honor Him, to thank Him,
to praise Him. And those of us that do, we long
to see Him not only with the eyes of faith, but soon face
to face and to actually hear His voice, and to feel the warmth
of His smile, and to rest in His bosom, then shall we fully
know how rich we are in Christ. As a closing reading of Scripture,
back in Ephesians 3 in verse 14, 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, that He would grant you, according
to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by
His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth,
and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fullness of God." Thanks be to God for His unspeakable
gift. I thank you for your attention.
Brother Gary, lead us in a closing hymn. Let's stand and turn in our hymns
to Psalm number 129. Let's sing the first, second,
well let's just sing all four stanzas, don't sing the chorus.
129. Alas, and did my Savior bleed,
and did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I? I was sick for Christ and I have
done me wrong. mind. Good day, Lord bless you. See you again this evening Thank you.