Open your Bibles, if you would,
to the book of Galatians. Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2. The name
of the message is Grace Given. Grace Given. I could have had
a couple different names for this message. It could be Pillars
of the Church. But I decided to name it Grace
Given because this is something that's given to every believer.
is grace. God gives us grace in and through
Christ Jesus our Lord. And other believers recognize
that as our spirit bears witness with one another. It's affirmed. It's affirmed, the grace that
God has given us. And today we'll be finishing
the first section of chapter 2 Now chapter two is a very important
chapter in this book, especially in the upcoming portion. The
whole scriptures are important, but Paul is going to get at the
heart of justification in Christ. That's what he's going to bring
forth in the next section that we're going to look at, that
we are only justified in Christ. We're not justified by anything
we do. We're only justified in Christ. So this is the finishing
section from the start of the epistle to this point where Paul
is bringing forth his apostolic authority that is being given
to him by God. Remember we've been seeing that
through chapter 1 and we've seen that through chapter 2 now. Now
the brethren, the apostles at Jerusalem, they've agreed that
he's been given the grace of God and he's preaching salvation
in Christ alone. And so that's the section that
we're at right now. Let's read verses 1 to 10 of Galatians chapter
2 to get the context. Our verses today will be verses
9 and 10. So we will be closing up this
again first section within this chapter. Then fourteen years
after, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus
with me also. And I went up by revelation,
and communicated unto them that gospel which I preached among
the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation,
lest by any means I should run or had run in vain." Again, he
had a private meeting where he preached the gospel to the apostles. But neither Titus, who was with
me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised, because remember
the false teachers are saying you must be circumcised in order
to be saved. So Titus wasn't compelled to
be circumcised because he's saved by God's grace in Christ alone. And that because of false brethren,
unawares bought in, that came in private and inspired our liberty,
remember our freedom that we have in Christ, which we have
in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us again into bondage.
All man's base religion brings us into bondage. Anything man
adds that you have to do to gain or merit God's favor or get to
heaven is bondage, beloved. It's bondage. To whom we gave
place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of
the gospel might continue with you. He said, I'm not going to
even let them speak. It's poison. Again, right? Would you let your
kids toy with a bottle of poison? No, we would never do that, would
we? We saw our kids playing with poison. We'd grab that bottle,
wouldn't we? Take it out of their hands. Because if they just drink
a drop of that, they're gone. So Paul, he's not letting these
false teachers even speak a word. Little leaven leaveneth the whole
lump. Why did he do that? That the
truth of the gospel might continue with you. But of those who seem
to be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it make it no matter to
me. God accepted no man's person. There's a universal truth right
there. God doesn't accept any of us based upon anything in
ourselves. It's all according to His grace
and His mercy. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, that's so wonderful. So encouraging,
isn't it? So encouraging. For they who
seem to be somewhat in confidence, they added nothing to me. But
counterwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision
was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was
unto Peter, for he that wrought effectively in Peter to the apostleship
of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me towards the
Gentiles." Notice who's rotting in them, like we looked at last
week? It's God, isn't it? God's called him to preach. He's
the chosen vessel to be sent to the Gentiles. Every one of
us is a chosen vessel out of our generation, beloved. And
it is God who has wrought a work in us, isn't He? The Holy Spirit
has regenerated us. We are born again. Christ wrought
a work for us, and then the Holy Spirit wrought a work in us.
Oh, it is wonderful. And when James, Cephas, and John,
who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto
me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship,
that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.
Only they would that we should remember the poor, the same which
I also was forward to do. Isn't it amazing? Isn't it amazing
that God gives grace to unworthy sinners? Here's an example right
here. I'm an unworthy sinner. I'm a
safe sinner now, but I'm an unworthy sinner. Are you? Isn't it amazing? Isn't it amazing that God's showing
us grace? Isn't it wonderful? Isn't it
truly incredible that we were lost sinners? We were totally
lost. Had no idea who God really was.
Had no comprehension of His glory. Had no comprehension of how wonderful
He was. Totally lost. Now we've been born again by
the Holy Spirit of God and now we're saved sinners. Isn't that
amazing? We didn't do anything about it.
It's God who did it all for us, isn't it? We've been given grace,
haven't we, beloved? We've been given grace. Grace
has been given to us. Grace has been shown to us. Unworthy
sinners. The God of the universe is showing
us mercy. The King of kings and the Lord
of lords, the Ancient of Days, has shown us mercy. Oh, it's
wonderful. It's wonderful. Again, I ask
you, has God's grace not been given to us? Has God not saved us by His great
mercy and His great grace? Has He not manifested His eternal
love to us? He has, hasn't He? Rejoice, beloved. Rejoice. It's only God who made
us to differ. It's only God who made us to
differ from all the folks in the world. There's nothing in
us. We're unworthy sinners. And yet God said, I love you. You're mine. You knew where I
was going. You're mine. And he said that
from eternity. He didn't just say that when
we were born again. He said that all through eternity.
Before an angel ever was. Before there was ever any worlds.
Before there was ever any worlds. God is showing, he's showing
mercy and grace to us. mercy and grace to us, beloved.
Isn't that wonderful? So wonderful. Truly we who are
the redeemed of the Lord, truly, truly we have something to praise
God for, don't we? Truly we are the most blessed
people in this world. Even though we have a hard day,
we struggle, we are the most blessed people in the world. the most blessed people. God
has shown mercy to this unworthy sinner and you who are the redeemed
who are also unworthy sinners. God has shown us mercy. You know
why? Because it pleased Him to do so. Oh my! Now that's fuel for the
fire, isn't it? That makes my heart leap for
joy. Wow, God, the God of the universe
has done this. Just because it pleased Him to
do so. You know what else He's done it for? He's done it for
every single believer. Look at our verse here. And when
James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived
the grace that was given unto me. Paul's been given grace,
hasn't he? Do you know the same grace Paul
received, the same grace we received? Isn't that amazing? Spurgeon
said this once, and I just blew my mind away. He said, we were
chosen the same time as the Apostle Paul and Peter and James, before
the foundation of the world. All of us were chosen at the
same time. Isn't that incredible? All of us are loved in eternal
love. It's just incredible. says, perceive the grace that
was given unto me. They gave to Barnabas, to me
and Barnabas, the right hand of fellowship. What do we do? Morning, brother. Love you. We see each other,
don't we? Morning, sister. Give each other
a hug. Perceiving the grace that God
has given us. Isn't it wonderful? The same grace that was given
to Paul and Barnabas and James and Cephas and John and Cephas
there is Peter. It is the same grace that has
been given to us, beloved. Amazing! And it is amazing grace,
isn't it? Like John Newton wrote. It is
amazing grace that God would have mercy on unworthy sinners. Yes, yes, yes. And you know He
will have mercy on all who come to Him, won't He? All who come
to him, here have mercy on him. Has he turned away one who's
come to him? Not one. Amen. Not one. Not one. Folks say, well, I don't know
if I'm one of the elect. Flee to Christ. Don't worry if you aren't one
of the elect. If you flee to Christ, I'll tell you what, you're
one of the elect. Isn't it wonderful? Folks get
all wrapped up in things like that, don't they? I know I did. Before the Lord
saved me, I did. I thought, what are you talking
about? God chooses people? Yep. But the amazing thing is
that he chose me. That he had mercy on me. That's
the amazing thing. So here, the scripture declares
that James and Cephas, which is Peter and John, were apparently
the chief spokesmen for the church at Jerusalem. And the word pillars
there is from the word stulos, which means to speak of literal
pillars or columns of buildings. But it was natural, was a natural
metaphor that the Greeks used in classic Greek as it's used
here about the church being looked upon as a temple of God. that
these men, among others, were looked upon as supporters, that's
all. That's all it means, supporters of the church. They were men
who went out and preached the gospel. They're no different
than you and I. You know that? They weren't.
They were men of like passions. We know from Peter, don't we?
I know from Peter, he's just like me. Peter's always sticking
his foot in his mouth. Well, yeah, that's all of us,
isn't it? Right? Let's be honest. Right? That's every one of us. Oh my. But he's saved man, isn't he?
Redeemed by the blood of the lamb, just like we are. Given
the grace, same grace that we're given by God. It's amazing. It's just amazing when you think
about it. So they were, and think of this
too. It was a church at Jerusalem
that thought them to be so. The church where they ministered,
who thought them to be so. Right? And they didn't, they
didn't say, well, I'm a pillar of the church. The church couldn't
live without me. I'll tell you why. Someone asked
me one time, someone asked me one time, they said, they said,
wait, when I was out in Oregon, they said, Wayne, what would
happen if you died to the church out here? I said, God would just
raise another person up if he wants it. I said, the church
doesn't depend on me. I'm just a, I'm just a mouthpiece
praising God and, and telling others about other sinners where
to find bread. Like I found bread. Right? Yeah, no, they weren't bolting
themselves around going, look at me, look at me. They weren't
doing nothing like that. They were leaders, yes. They
were humble leaders, weren't they? And they did that which
they were commissioned to do, because we're soldiers. A soldier's
commissioned to do something, right? You get orders and you
march. We're going to look at today
the purpose of the Church of God. Why we are here in Almonte. The purpose of why we're here.
It's amazing, beloved. It's all according to God's plan
and purpose. We're here for the gospel. That's
why we're here. And isn't it amazing that God has
brought a bunch of people together who at one time didn't listen
to the gospel? It's a miracle, isn't it? It
really is. You know why now we love the
gospel? Because of the grace that's been
given to us. It's amazing. And I'll tell you
who gets all the glory. God gets it all, beloved. He gets it all. When I first
meet people, I don't say, well, I'm Pastor Wayne. I don't say
that at all. I don't say that at all. You
know what I do? I just meet them on their own. And then they find
out I'm a preacher, and then they're either still
my friend or they're not my friend anymore. No, I'm just kidding.
But they pull out the God card, right? Then, you know, once they
find out you're a preacher, Norm Welser, I've experienced this
many times. They're talking to you like normal and everything,
and once they find out you're a preacher, well, I'm a good
person. Like, no, you're not. Just quit lying. And I'm honest with them too,
and you know, you just continue being friends. But, you know,
yeah, I don't wear no collar. I don't advertise who I am. I'm a safe sinner. That's what
I am, first and foremost. I'm a safe sinner. Now, I'm called
the lead in the church, and I'll do that by God's grace, right?
And by God's mercy. By His mercy and His grace. Any
one of us who are in a leadership position, it's because of God's
grace and God's mercy we've been placed there. And by God's grace
and by God's mercy, we will lead. We will lead as a believer. As
a believer, no matter where we're at. It's wonderful. And so they
were looked upon as pillars in the church. And they were not
pillars. They were not strong supporters
because the other apostles were unfaithful. No, not at all. They
were just really zealous in what they believed. And they were
appointed by God to be leaders. But it doesn't make them any
better, right? That's why I always say, I'm no better than you guys.
We're all on the same ground, aren't we? I've been to places
where the preacher, he never sins. It's like, my gosh, he's
a sinner just like me. But they get vaulted up to such
a position that people think, well, they never sin. Oh, no.
Yeah, they do. They're just as much of a dead dog as I am. I'll
tell you what. You know, just because we're
saved doesn't mean our sin goes away, does it? No. As a matter
of fact, now we struggle more with sin than we ever struggled
before with sin. It's so true. But see, the grace
that's been given to us strengthens us, doesn't it? Right? The faith in Christ strengthens
us, beloved. And God strengthens us. He gives
us strength to endure temptations and sins, to turn away from certain
things. Now there's certain things we
struggle with and we're probably going to struggle with. There's
sins that we struggle with that we're probably going to struggle
with till the day we die. But you know what? We won't struggle
with them anymore after we're made perfect, right? We'll never
struggle with any sin after we go to glory. Isn't that wonderful? What a wonderful thing to look
forward to. No more struggle with sin. Ever. Ever. I told my family, I said, I know
you're going to weep for me when you die, but I'm going to be
in glory rejoicing. I have no more struggle with
sin. And when I say to my kids, I say, meet me there. Meet me
in heaven. Look to my king. Look to my savior.
Look to him. my oh my my oh my so these three
men were repeatedly pillars in the church and they were thought
of so by the jerusalem church but uh note in this verse also
that that paul used peter and james and john to illustrate
the apostle's approval of his apostolic authority remember
he went up to jerusalem to get letters for the Galatian churches
to prove his apostolic authority. Well, look what we see right
here. The apostles, after they heard him preach, they said,
hello, brother. Hello, brother. Rejoice, if you
hear someone preaching the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace,
rejoice. Rejoice, beloved. We live in
a world of works-based religion. But I'll tell you why. The gospel's
sounding out, isn't it? Where God has ordained, the gospel's
sounding out. Out it goes. Out it goes. Oh, it's wonderful. And we're
just one little bleep sounding out the gospel, one little horn
sounding out the gospel amongst this world, right? And there's
many others. We don't see them. We don't know
them. We just know a small group of
them, don't we? But I'll tell you what, there's more. I heard that Lance Heller in
the jungles of Papua New Guinea, there's two, three hundred people
that gather together in different places to hear the gospel every
Sunday. It's amazing. Out goes the gospel. Now that
gospel there might not be going out to the world, but it's sure
going out right there, isn't it? And then they're going to
carry it out to their families, aren't they? Now we have the
blessing of technology where we can get the gospel out to
all around the world. From last year to this year,
we've had 178 different countries download messages. Amen. That's the key right there. Praise
God. Give him all the glory. Isn't
that wonderful? We could never reach that many
people with missionaries. See, God's taken us, the gospel
going forth from here. That's the purpose why we're
here. And out it goes, beloved, into the world. That's amazing. That's amazing. And these men,
they just carried the gospel to wherever they went, didn't
they? They preached the gospel to wherever they went. That's
what every gospel preacher does. Where he's sent, he preaches
the gospel. And God's people, what do we do? We rejoice, don't
we? Hallelujah. What a Savior. What a Savior. So again, these men are not sought
out to be pillars. No, they were just praising God
and preaching the gospel. And they recognized and they
acknowledged the grace that God had given to Paul and Barnabas.
Look at it again. Look at the first part of this
verse. When James, Cephas, and John, or James, Peter, and John,
who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto
me. They heard the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
flowing out of the mouth of Paul. They heard it, because remember,
he had a meeting with them. They heard the gospel. He had
a private meeting. He preached to them. testimonies
of Titus, of how God had effectively worked in him and saved his soul
by the preaching of the gospel from Paul's mouth. And they rejoice. And Titus, he stood before them,
an uncircumcised Jew. Isn't that neat how Paul brought
him along? Here, look! A Gentile saved by the grace
of God. And Titus probably professed
Christ. Like every one of us do, eh? Professed Him as our
King and our Lord and our Savior. They're standing before them
as a miracle of God's grace. A Gentile, saved by the grace
of God. Now, they always thought that
it was all about Israel, didn't they? Here's a Gentile standing
before them. A Greek. My, oh my. God's amazing. And that's just
a foreshadowing of how he saved us, wasn't it? By the same grace
that was given to Paul, Peter, and James. Same grace. My. And they couldn't, these strong
supporters of the church, right? They couldn't argue against the
grace that had been given to Paul. Here's an example right
before him. They heard him from his mouth,
the gospel, and they were probably rejoicing, right? What do we
do when we hear the gospel? Oh, we rejoice! And here, here they are, they're
here, and Paul preached the gospel, and Paul says, well let me bring
this fellow over here. He's a Greek. Go ahead, Titus, tell him. Tell
him what the Lord did for you. Oh, he saved my soul! He redeemed
me with his blood! I'm saved! All my sins are forgiven!
And remember that man, remember that man, the great called beautiful?
Silver and gold have I none, but such as I give you, right?
In the name of Jesus Christ, your eyes open. He was walking
and leaping, wasn't he? He was joyful, wasn't he? Oh,
let that joy spring up in our hearts, beloved. We don't have
to leap and jump, because if I leaped and jumped, I probably
wouldn't get up again, right? But yeah, you'll help me, brother,
won't you? You'll help me. But I'll tell
you what. That joy is in our heart, isn't
it? Our heart's leaping for joy. Oh, it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. Oh,
he's so good to us. He's just so merciful to us.
So merciful. And they welcomed them in. They
welcomed Paul and Barnabas into fellowship. They also confirmed
the proof of Paul's apostleship by doing that too. You see, now
he's writing to the Gentiles telling them about what happened.
And who's he writing it by? The power of the Holy Spirit
of God. See, never forget the true author. He's writing these
things. These things are recorded for
our learning, beloved. This is for our learning. This
is for us to marvel and go, Paul's been given the same grace that
we've been given. Peter and James and John, they've
been given the same grace that we've been given. My, this is
wonderful. So in this, let's read this verse
again. As we're reading this, it's as
if Paul's saying to the church at Galatia, it should be obvious
that these false brethren have bewitched you. They bewitched
you, because what did they do? They questioned his authority
to preach. They questioned his authority
as an apostle. They even questioned the gospel he preached. And so
now here, these three men who are respected amongst the whole
church at that time, look what they do. And when James, Peter,
and John, who seem to be pillars, perceived the grace that was
given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands
of fellowship, that we should go unto the brethren, they unto
the circumcision. Paul, you go and preach to them Gentiles.
That's what they're saying. You go and preach Christ to them.
We're gonna go to the circumcision, we're gonna preach Christ. You
go and preach that Christ finished the perfect work, that Christ
has redeemed his people by his precious, precious blood. You
go preach that to them, brother. You preach that all who believe
upon them, all who believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ shall be
saved. And if all their sin is forgiven,
it's not a question, it's assured. You believe on Christ, you trust
Christ, and you're saved, aren't we? We're living proof of that,
aren't we? Every believer, we're living proof of that. This unworthy
sinner, God saved me. And every one of us can say that.
Oh, isn't God's grace wonderful? Isn't it amazing? It's so amazing. It's just absolutely incredible. And consider this, it's God who's
made us to differ. Only God made us to differ from
anybody else in this world. Anybody else? I was talking to
Bill Kirkpatrick yesterday, and he said he's the only one in
his family who's the Lord saved. And I too, and Brian as well.
In our families, we're the only ones who's the Lord saved that
we know of. The only one who God made is God who made us to
differ. That's the only one. The only
one who made us to differ is God. Isn't that amazing? Oh,
it's absolutely amazing. We're saved sinners. We're saved
sinners. We're saved by the grace of God.
We've been given the grace of God in Christ to us. We're redeemed. And think of
this too. We're redeemed by the same Father, beloved. We're chosen in Christ by the
same Father. The same blood, the precious
blood of Christ is the same blood that saved us. The same Holy Spirit has regenerated
us. We're part of the family of God
now. We are blood-bought brothers
and sisters, purchased by the precious blood of Christ. Blood-bought. He gave his life for us. Mine. And it's only God who's made
us different. And it's God who's bestowed this mercy upon us.
It's God who's bestowed this grace upon us. And therefore, we give each other
the right hand of fellowship, don't we? We love each other.
Do you know that's the one thing Satan can't counterfeit? Is the
love of God in Christ. The love to the brethren. He
can't counterfeit that. He can counterfeit all kinds of other
stuff. People say, well, I'm a believer. And they can know
doctrine. They can know all kinds of stuff. And not be born again. I was there. I was a five-point
Calvinist and lost, so lost I didn't know Christ. I knew doctrine. I knew doctrine. I had been what,
if you call a five-point Armenian, I was a five-point Armenian.
I became a five-point Calvinist just knowing doctrine. Now understand
this, there'd be no grace, there'd be no work of grace in my heart.
I knew things about the scripture, but I did not know Christ. I
had no peace. It was all about what I did.
How many doors I knocked upon. How much better of a Christian
I was because I went so when and other people didn't. It was
horrible. I was a Pharisee of Pharisees, beloved. But pray
be to God, God saved me. So I went from a lost sinner
to a religious sinner. That's a lot worse, let me tell
you. Oh my. I was still lost as a
religious man, but I'll tell you what, I thought I knew something
and I didn't know nothing. I did not know nothing. Oh my. But praise God, now I know a
little something. Yeah, I could tell you about
the person who saved my soul I'll tell you what I'm tell you
about the one who done done it all without any works by myself
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh He's wonderful any wonderful
So these false teachers again, they crept into the Gentile churches
And they cast out on Paul's call and they cast out on Paul's authority
But you know when when a man's called to preach the gospel Let
me tell you this when a man's called to preach the gospel.
I A team of wild horses couldn't keep his mouth shut. I'll tell
you, he's going to find some way to preach the gospel, to
tell others about Christ. And it's not ever about us, it's
always about Christ. It's always about what he's done
for us. Always about what he's done for us. And it's all by
the grace of God. The only reason I can preach
the gospel is because of the grace of God. He's equipped me for
this, just like he's equipped every believer. Every one of
us is equipped for what we shall do in his service going through
this world. Isn't that wonderful? He's giving
us gifts. Every one of us have a gift.
Every one of us. It's amazing. And here we are,
a body of believers gathered together for the furtherance
of the gospel, right? I'll tell you what, you know
what? Praying for this work, praying for me, I hold that in
a high place for y'all praying for me. And I know you do. And
you know how I know you do? Because I see what God's doing
with the messages. Because it ain't me. It's God. It's God that's doing that. It's
Him. And how He blesses you while
we're here. And then how He blesses the messages that goes out. That's
the Lord's doing, beloved. Nothing we're doing. It's just
an amazing we we have part not see God uses means doesn't he?
He uses a sinful man To preach the gospel to sinful people So
here we are just a bunch of sinners Right here and we're just rejoicing
together that God saved us and we're praying that God takes
the message as it goes out and he uses it to save his people
and Build up his Saints, right? So we can all just be praising
them, can't we? Do you know that not one of God's
sheep will ever be lost? You're not losing one of them.
And Henry used to say, we're on the trail of God's sheep.
That's what we are, aren't we? That's why we're here. We're on the
trail of God's sheep, beloved. And I'll tell you what, I'll
tell you what. Dan, you said this years ago.
God doesn't need a lot of people to do a work. I'm going to tell you all something
at the first of the service to give you a perspective of what
God's doing with this work. It's absolutely stunning. Absolutely stunning. It's incredible. My oh my. Paul wrote this. because Paul
knows that it's God who has to give the increase. He wrote this.
I love these words. He said, who then is Paul? And
who is Apollos? Remember the Corinthians were
saying, well, I love Paul, and Apollos is my favorite preacher,
and such and such is my favorite preacher. Don't say that. Don't
say that. Say, well, I enjoy that fellow's
preaching. But don't say, favorite preacher, favorite. You know
why? You don't ever pit God's men against each other. Don't
ever do that. Now, somebody may like the way
someone speaks. That's fine. Right? You know, I'm just a plain speaker,
so you're not going to get no fancy works from me. But yeah,
we're all called. And that's what Paul was trying
to bring forth to those Corinthians is that don't vault Paul's up
and don't vault Paul up, right? Listen to these words that he
wrote, and I'll give you the address so you can write it down. It's
1 Corinthians 3, verses five to seven. He says this, who then
is Paul? And who is of Paul's but ministers
by whom you believed? We're just servants sent to preach
the gospel, right? That's our duty as pastors, is
to preach the gospel. It says, even as the Lord gave
to every man, so it's the Lord who makes us to differ. I have
planted, Apollo's watered, look at that, but God gave the increase. That's the key. I'm just planting
some seeds here, laying some, sowing some seeds like the sower
did, right? Some falls on good ground. Some
falls on stony ground. But when it finds good ground,
it takes root, doesn't it? Because God gives the increase.
And then he says this, So then neither it is he that planteth
anything, neither he that watereth, but God that gives the increase. Who gets the preeminence? God,
He gets all the glory. He gets all the glory, beloved.
It's all His. It's all His. It's wonderful. And think of that as the gospels
preach. Think of those words right there
that Paul wrote as the gospels preach from Elmont, Michigan,
goes out into the world every month. It's God who gives the
increase, isn't it? It's God who gives the increase
to the preaching of His word. He gets all the glory. He gets
all the honor and praise for what he's doing amongst us too. I've seen a great change in the
congregation here in the last two years. It's amazing. The
unity we have, the peace that we have is absolutely stunning. That's God who's done that. That's
God who's done that. Now we still pray for those who
are no longer with us, but we still pray for them, right? Still
lift them up. Don't ever forget that. But what a work he's done
here. What a work he's done in us,
in amongst us. The peace we have now. My, it's
all his work. And God will use the preaching
of his gospel to build up his saints, right, to edify us, to
build us up, to have us focus upon Christ and not the things
of this world, to lift up our hearts, And you have it go to the lost
sheep who are scattered all over the world. So marvel at the fact that God
uses sinners to proclaim his gospel. That he uses sinners
to tell other sinners about Christ. And he tells this bankrupt sinner
right here. To tell others who are bankrupt
too, where to find the pearl of great price. That's the Lord
Jesus Christ, isn't he? Isn't he the pearl of great price?
Isn't he the most beautiful person you've ever seen? Isn't the gospel
the most wonderful news you've ever heard? Meditate upon that
this week, beloved. Meditate on the fact. of how
good God has been given to being to us and that he's given us
grace. It's been given to us. Wonderful.