The True Church by J.C. Ryle The following sermon was preached in England in the year 1858. The text for tonight comes from the book of Matthew, Matthew 16, verse 18. On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. We live in a world in which all things are passing away. Kingdoms, empires, cities, institutions, families, all are liable to change and corruption. One universal law seems to prevail everywhere. In all created things, there is a tendency to decay. There is something sad and depressing in this. What prophet has a man in the labor of his hands? Is there nothing that shall stand? Is there nothing that shall last? Is there nothing that shall endure? Is there nothing of which we can say, this shall continue forever? You have the answer to these questions in the words of our text. Our Lord Jesus Christ speaks of something which shall continue and not pass away. There is one created thing which is an exception to the universal rule to which I have referred. There is one thing which shall never perish and never pass away. That thing is the building founded upon the rock, the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. He declares in the words you have heard tonight, on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not overcome it. There are five things in these words which demand your attention. First, a building, my church. Second, a builder. Christ says, I will build my church. Thirdly, a foundation. On this rock, I will build my church. Fourthly, perils implied, the gates of hell. And lastly, security asserted, the gates of hell will not overcome it. May God bless the words that shall be spoken tonight. May we all search our own hearts tonight and know whether or not we belong to this one church. May we all go home tonight to reflect and to pray. First, you have a building mentioned in the text. The Lord Jesus Christ speaks of my church. Now, what is this church? This is a very important question. For lack of due attention to this subject, the errors that have crept into the church and into the world are neither few nor small. The church of our text is no material building. It is not a material, physical building. It is not a temple made with hands, or of wood or brick, or of stone or marble. It is a company of men and women. It is not a particular visible church on earth. It is not the Eastern Church or the Western Church. It is not the Church of England or the Church of Scotland, much less, it is definitely not the Church of Rome The Church of our text is one that makes far less show in the eyes of man but is of far more importance in the eyes of God. The Church of our text is made up of all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. It consists of all those who have repented of sin and fled to Christ by faith and faith alone and have been made new creatures in Him. It comprises all of God's elect. all who have received God's grace, all who have been washed in Christ's blood, all who have been clothed in Christ's righteousness, all who have been born again and sanctified by Christ's Spirit. All of these, of every nation and people and tongue, compose the church of our text. This is the body of Christ. This is the flock of Christ. This is the Bride of Christ. This is the Lamb's Wife. This is the Church on the Rock. The members of this church do not all worship God in the same way or use the same form of government. Our own church constitution declares it is not necessary that ceremonies should be in all places one and alike, but they all worship with one heart. They are all led by one Spirit. They are all really and truly holy. They can all say, Alleluia, and then they can all reply, Amen. This is that church to which all visible churches on earth are servants. Whether they are Episcopalian, Independent, or Presbyterian, they all serve the interest of the one true church They are the scaffolding behind which the great building is carried on. They are the husk under which the living kernel grows. They have their various degrees of usefulness. The best and worthiest of them is that which trains up most members for Christ's true church. But no visible church has any right to say, we are the only true church. No visible church has any right to say we are the only true church. We are the men and wisdom shall die with us. No visible church should ever dare to say we shall stand forever. The gates of hell will not overcome us. This is that church to which belong the Lord's precious promises of preservation, continuance, protection, and final glory. Whatsoever, says Hooker, whatsoever we read in scripture concerning the endless love and saving mercy which God shows towards his churches, the only proper subject is this church, the true church, which we properly term the mystical body of Christ. Small and despised as the true Church may be in this world, it is precious and honorable in the sight of God. The Temple of Solomon in all of its glory was nothing, nothing in comparison with that Church which is built upon a rock. Oh, my dear friends, see that you hold sound doctrine on the subject of the Church. A mistake here may lead to dangerous and soul-destroying errors. The church which is made up of true believers is the church for which we, who are ministers, are especially ordained to preach. The church which comprises all who repent and believe the gospel is the church to which we desire you to belong. Our work is not done and our hearts are not satisfied until you are made new creatures and are members of the one true church. Outside of this church, there can be no salvation. I pass on now to the second point to which I propose to call your attention. Our text contains not merely a building, but a builder. The Lord Jesus Christ declares, I will build my church. The true Church of Jesus Christ is tenderly cared for by all the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity. In the economy of redemption beyond all doubt, God the Father chooses, God the Holy Spirit sanctifies every member of Christ's mystical body. God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, three persons and one God, cooperate for the salvation of every saved soul. This is truth which ought never to be forgotten. Nevertheless, there is a special sense in which the help of the Church is laid on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is preeminently the Redeemer and the Savior. Therefore it is that we find him saying in our text, I will build. The work of building is my special work. It is Christ who calls the members of the church in due time. They are the called of Jesus Christ. Romans one six. It is Christ who gives them life. The son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. It is Christ who washes away their sins. He who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood. It is Christ who gives them peace. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. It is Christ who gives them eternal life. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. It is Christ who grants them repentance. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance. It is Christ who enables them to become God's children. To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. It is Christ who carries on the work within them when it is begun. Because I live, you also will live. In short, God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Christ. He is the author and finisher of our faith. From Christ, every joint and member of the mystical body of Christians is supplied. Through him, they are strengthened for duty. By him, they are kept from falling. Christ shall preserve them to the end. and present them faultless before the Father's throne with great joy. He is all things, and He is everything to the believers. The mighty agent by whom the Lord Jesus Christ carries out this work in the number of His churches is, without a doubt, the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who applies Christ and His benefits to the soul. It is the Holy Spirit who is always renewing, awakening, convincing, leading to the cross, transforming, taking out of the world, stone after stone, and adding it to the mystical building. But the great chief builder who has undertaken to execute the work of redemption and bring it to completion is the precious Son of God, the Word who was made flesh, It is Jesus Christ who builds. In building the true church, the Lord Jesus condescends to use many subordinate instruments. The Lord Jesus condescends to use many subordinate instruments. The ministry of the gospel, the circulation of the scriptures, the friendly rebuke, the word spoken in season, the drawing influence of afflictions, All of these are means and methods by which his work is carried on. But Christ is a great superintending architect, ordering, guiding, directing all that is done. What the sun is to the solar system, that Christ is to all the members of the true church. Paul may plant and Apollos may water, but God gives the increase. Ministers may preach and writers may write, but the Lord Jesus Christ alone can build. And unless he builds, the work will stand still. Great is the wisdom with which the Lord Jesus Christ builds his church. All is done at the right time and in the right way. Each stone in its turn is put in the right place. Sometimes he chooses great stones and sometimes he chooses small stones. Sometimes the work moves fast and sometimes it moves slowly. Man is frequently impatient and thinks that nothing is happening. But man's time is not God's time. A thousand years in his sight are but as a single day. The great builder makes no mistakes. He knows what he is doing. He sees the end from the beginning. He works by a perfect and certain plan. The mightiest conceptions of architects, like Michelangelo, are mere insignificant child's play in comparison with Christ's wise counsels respecting his Church. Oh, great is the condescension and mercy which Christ exhibits in the building of his Church. He often chooses the most unlikely and roughest stones and fits them into a most excellent work. He despises no one and rejects none on account of former sins and past transgressions. Christ delights to show mercy. He often takes the most thoughtless and ungodly and transforms them into polished corners of His spiritual temple. Great is the power which Christ displays in building His Church. He carries on His work in spite of opposition from the world, opposition from the flesh, and from the devil. In storm, in chaos, through troublesome times, silently, quietly, without noise, without stir, without excitement, building progresses. Like Solomon's temple, I will work, he declares, and no one shall stop it. Oh, my brothers and sisters, the children of this world take little or no interest in the building of this church. They care little for the conversions of souls. What are broken spirits and penitent hearts to them? It is all foolishness in their eyes. But while the children of this world care nothing, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God. For the preserving of that church, the laws of nature have oftentimes been suspended. For the good of that church, all the providential dealings of God in this world are ordered and arranged. For the elect's sake, wars are brought to an end and peace is given to a nation. Statesmen, rulers, Emperor, kings, presidents, heads of government have their schemes and plans and think them of vast importance. But there is another work going on of infinitely greater significance, for which they are nothing but the axes and the saws in God's hands. That work is the gathering in of the living stones into the one true Church. how little we are told in God's Word about unconverted men compared with what we are told about believers. The history of Nimrod, the mighty hunter, is dismissed in a few words. The history of Abraham, the father of the faithful, occupies several chapters. Nothing in Scripture is so important as the concerns of the true Church. The world makes up little of God's Word The church and its story makes up most of it. Forever let us thank God, my beloved brothers and sisters, that the building of this one true church is laid on the shoulders of the one who is mighty. Let us bless God that it does not rest upon man. Let us bless God that it does not depend on missionaries, ministers, or committees. Christ is the almighty builder. He will carry on his work Though nations and visible churches do not know their duty, Christ will never fail. That which he has undertaken to do, he will most certainly accomplish. Now, I pass on to our third point, which I propose to consider. The foundation upon which this church is built. The foundation upon which this church is built. The Lord Jesus Christ tells us, On this rock I will build my church. What did the Lord Jesus Christ mean when he spoke of this foundation? Did he mean the apostle Peter to whom he was speaking to? Most assuredly not. There is no reason if he meant Peter why he didn't say, on you will I build my church. If he had met Peter, he would have said, I will build my church on you. As plainly as he said, I will give you the keys. No, it was not the person of the apostle Peter, but the good confession which the apostle had just made. It was not Peter, the erring unstable man, but the mighty truth which the father had revealed to Peter. It was the truth concerning Jesus Christ himself, which was the rock. It was Christ the mediator. It was Christ the Messiah. It was the blessed truth that Jesus was the promised savior, the true guarantee, the real intercessor between God and man. This was the rock and this was the foundation on which the church of Christ was to be built. My brothers and sisters, this foundation was laid at a mighty cost. It was necessary that the Son of God should take our nature upon himself, and in that nature live, suffer, and die, not for his own sins, but for ours. It was necessary that in that nature Christ should go to the grave and would rise again. It was necessary that in that nature, Christ should go up to heaven to sit at the right hand of God, having obtained eternal redemption for all his people.

No other foundation but this could have borne the weight of that church of which our text speaks. No other foundation could have met the necessities of a world of sinners. That foundation once obtained is very strong. It can bear the weight of the sin of all the world. It has borne the weight of all the sins of all the believers who have built on it. Sins of thought, sins of imagination, sins of the heart, sins of the head, sins which everyone has seen, and sins which no man knows. Sins against God and sins against men. Sins of all kinds and descriptions. That mighty rock can bear the weight of all these sins and not give way. Christ as the mediator is a sufficient remedy for all the sins of all the world.

To this one foundation, every member of Christ's true Church is joined. In many things, believers are disunited and disagreed. In the matter of their soul's foundation, they are all of one mind. They are all built on the rock. Ask where they get their peace and hope and joyful expectation of good things to come. You will find that it all flows from that one mighty truth, Christ the mediator between God and man and the office that Christ holds as the high priest and promise of sinners.

Here is the point which demands our personal attention. This is so important. Are we on the rock? Are we really joined to one foundation? What does that good old godly man Leighton say? He said, God has laid this precious stone for this very purpose, that weary sinners may rest upon it. The multitude of imaginary believers lie all around it, but they are not any better for that. any more than stones that lie loose in heaps near the foundation because they are not joined to it. There is no benefit to us by Christ without union with Him. There is no benefit to any of us by Christ without union with Him.

Oh my beloved, look to your foundation. If you want to know whether or not you are members of the One True Church, look to your foundation. It is a point that may be known to each one of us. We can see your public worship, but we cannot see whether you are personally built on the rock or not. Your attendance at the Lord's table we can see, but we cannot see whether you are joined to Christ and one with Christ and Christ in you. But it will all come to light one day. The secret of all hearts shall be exposed. Perhaps you go to church regularly and pray faithfully. All this is right and good so far as it goes. But see that you make no mistake about your own personal salvation. See that your own soul is on the rock. Without this, everything else is nothing. Without this, you will never stand in the Day of Judgment. Better a thousand times than that day to be found in a cottage on the rock. than in a palace on the sand.

I proceed in the fourth place to speak of the implied trials of the church to which our text refers. There is mention made of the gates of hell. By that expression we are to understand the power of the devil. The history of Christ's true church has always been one of conflict and war. It has been constantly assailed by a deadly enemy, Satan, the prince of this world. The devil hates the true church of Jesus Christ with an undying hatred. He is always stirring up opposition against all its members. He is always urging the children of this world to do his will, which is to injure and harass the people of God. If he cannot bruise the head, he will bruise the heel. If he cannot rob believers of heaven, he will aggravate them as they travel the road to heaven.

For 6,000 years this hostility has gone on. Millions of the ungodly have been the devil's agents and have done the devil's work, though they did not know it. The Pharaohs, the Herods, the Neroes, the Julians, the Diocletians, The Bloody Marys all were Satan's tools when they persecuted the disciples of Jesus Christ.

Warfare with the powers of hell has been the experience of the whole body of Christ. It has always been a burning bush, though not consumed. A woman fleeing into the wilderness, but not swallowed up. The visible churches have their times of prosperity and seasons of peace. But never, never has there been a time of peace for the True Church. Its conflict is perpetual. Its battle never ends.

Warfare with the powers of hell is the experience of every individual member of the True Church. Warfare with the powers of hell is the experience of every individual member of the True Church. Each member has to fight. What are the lives of all the saints but records of battles? What were such men as Paul and James and Peter and John and Polycarp and Ignatius and Augustine and Luther and Calvin and Latimer and Baxter, but soldiers engaged in a constant warfare? Sometimes their persons have been assailed and sometimes their property. Sometimes they have been harassed by slander and sometimes by open persecution. But in one way or another, the devil has been continually warring against the church. The gates of hell have been continually assaulting the people of Christ.

Oh, my brothers and sisters, we who preach the gospel can hold out to all who come to Christ great and precious promises. We can offer boldly to you in our master's name, the peace of God, which passes all understanding. Mercy, free grace and full salvation are offered to everyone who will come to Christ and believe on him. But we promise you no peace with the world and no peace with the devil. We warn you on the other hand, that there must be warfare so long as you are in the body. We would not keep you back or deter you from Christ's service, but we want you to count the cost and fully understand what Christ's service entails.

Hell is behind you. Heaven is before you. Home lies on the other side of a troubled sea. Thousands, tens of thousands have crossed these stormy waters and in spite of all opposition, have reached the haven where they should be. Hell has assailed them but has not prevailed. Go forward, beloved sisters and brothers, and do not fear the adversary. Only abide in Christ and victory is sure.

Do not marvel at the hatred of the gates of hell. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. So long as the world is the world and the devil is the devil, there must be warfare and believers in Christ must be soldiers. The world hated Christ and the world will hate true Christians as long as the earth stands. As the great reformer Luther said, Cain will go on murdering Abel so long as the church is on earth.

Be prepared for the hostility of the gates of hell. Put on the whole armor of God. The tower of David contains a thousand shields, all ready for the use of God's people. The weapons of our warfare have been tried and tested by millions of poor sinners like ourselves and have never been found to fail. Be patient under the bitterness of the gates of hell. Oh, be patient. It is all working together for your good. It tends to sanctify. It keeps you awake. It makes you humble. It drives you nearer to the Lord Jesus Christ. It weans you from the world. It makes you pray more. Above all, it makes you long for heaven and say with heart as well as lips, oh come, Lord Jesus, come. Don't be cast down by the hatred of hell. The warfare of the true child of God is as much a mark of grace as the inward peace which he enjoys. No cross, no crown. No conflict, no saving Christianity. Blessed are you, said our Lord Jesus Christ, blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kind of evil against you because of me. Lastly, there remains one thing more to be considered, the security of the true Church of Christ, the security of the true Church of Jesus Christ. There is a glorious promise given by the mighty builder, the gates of hell will not overcome it. He who cannot lie has pledged his royal word that all the powers of hell shall never overthrow his church. It shall continue and stand in spite of every assault. It shall never be overcome. All other created things perish and pass away, but not the true Church of Jesus Christ. The hand of outward violence or the moth of inward decay prevail over everything else, but not over the Church that Christ builds. Empires have risen and fallen in rapid succession. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Tyre, Carthage, Rome, Greece. Where are they now? Where are they now? They were all the creations of man's hand and have passed away. But the Church of Christ lives on. The mightiest cities have become heaps of ruins. The broad walls of Babylon are sunk to the ground. The palaces of Nineveh are mounds of dust. Tyre is a place where fishermen hang their nets. Carthage is a desolation. Yet all this time the true church stands. The gates of hell did not and will not prevail against it. The earliest visible churches have in many cases decayed and perished. Where is the church of Ephesus and the church at Antioch? Where is the church of Alexandria and the church of Constantinople? Where are the Corinthian and the Philippian and the Thessalonian churches? Where indeed are they? Where are they? They departed from the word of God. They departed from the word of God. They were proud of their bishops, proud of their councils, proud of their ceremonies, and proud of their learning and their antiquity. They did not glory in the true cross of Christ. They did not hold fast to the gospel. They did not give Jesus his rightful office or faith its rightful place. They are now among the things that have been. Their candlestick has been taken away. But all this time the true church has lived on. Has the true church been oppressed in one country? It has fled to another. Has it been trampled on and oppressed in one soil? It has taken root and flourished in some other climate. Fire, sword, prisons, fines, penalties have never been able to destroy its vitality. Its persecutors have died and gone to their own place, but the word of God has lived and grown and multiplied. Weak as this true church may appear to the eye of man, it is an anvil which has broken many a hammer in times past and perhaps will break many more before the end. He that lays hands on the true church is touching the apple of God's eye. The promise of our text is true of the whole body of the true Church. Christ will never be without a witness in the world. Christ has had a people in the worst of times. He had 7,000 in Israel even in the days of wicked Ahab. There are some now, I believe, even in the dark places of the Roman Catholic and Greek Churches who, in spite of much weakness, are still serving Christ. The devil may rage horribly. The Church may in some countries be brought down to a very low level. But the gates of hell shall never entirely prevail. The promise of our text is true to every individual member of the Church. The promise of our text is true also of every individual member of the Church. Some of God's people have been brought very low, so that they have despaired of their safety. Some have fallen, sadly, as David and Peter did. Some have departed from the faith for a time. Many have been tried by cruel doubts and fears. But all of them, all of them have gotten safely home in the end, the youngest as well as the oldest, the weakest as well as the strongest. And so it will be to the end. Can you prevent tomorrow's sun from rising? Can you prevent the tide in the channel from ebbing and flowing? Can you prevent the planets moving in their respective orbits? In the same way, you cannot prevent the salvation of any believer, how feeble, or any living stone in that church which is built on the rock, however small or insignificant that stone may appear. The true church is Christ's body, Not one bone in that mystical body shall ever be broken. The true church is Christ's bride. It is Christ's bride. They whom God has joined in everlasting covenant shall never be put asunder. The true church is Christ's flock. It is Christ's flock. When the lion came and took a lamb out of David's flock, David arose and delivered the lamb from his mouth. Christ will do the same. He is David's greater son. Not a single sick lamb in Christ's flock shall ever perish. He will say to his father in the last day, I have not lost one of those you gave me. The true church is the wheat of the earth. It's the wheat of the earth. It may be sifted, winnowed, buffeted, tossed to and fro, but not one grain shall be lost. The tares and chaff shall be burned. The wheat shall be gathered into the barn. The true church is Christ's army. The captain of our salvation loses none of his soldiers. His plans are never defeated. His supplies never fail. His roll call is the same at the end as it was at the beginning. Of the men that marched gallantly out of England a few years ago in the Crimean War, how many never came back. Regiments that went forth strong and cheerful, with bands playing and banners flying, laid their bones in a foreign land and never returned to their native country. But this is not so with Christ's army. Not one of his soldiers shall be missing in the end. He himself declares, they shall never perish. The devil may cast some of the members of the true church into prison. He may kill and burn and torture and hang. But after he has killed the body, there is nothing more that he can do. He cannot hurt the soul. When the French troops took Rome a few years ago, They found on the walls of a prison cell, under the Inquisition, the words of a prisoner. Who he was we do not know, but his words are worthy of remembrance. Though dead, he still speaks. He had written on the walls, very likely after an unjust trial and still more unjust excommunication, the following striking words. Listen. Blessed Jesus, they cannot cast me out of your true church. That record is true. Not all the power of Satan can ever cast out of Christ's true church one single believer. The children of this world may wage fierce warfare against the church, but they cannot stop the work of conversion. They cannot stop the work of conversion. What did the sneering Emperor Julian say in the early ages of the Church? He said, What is the carpenter's son doing now? An old Christian answered him and said, He is making a coffin for Julian himself. Only a few months passed away when Julian, with all his pomp and power, died in battle. Where was Christ when the fires of Smithfield were lighted? And when Latimer and Ridley were burned at the stake, what was Christ doing then? He was still carrying on his work of building. The work will always go on, even in troublesome times.

Oh, do not fear, beloved brethren. Do not fear to begin serving Christ. He to whom you commit your souls has all the power in heaven and earth, and he will keep you. He will never let you be cast away. Relatives may oppose you, neighbors may mock you, the world may slander and sneer at you, but don't fear, don't fear. The powers of hell shall never prevail against your soul. Greater is He that is for you than all they that are against you. Do not fear for the Church of Jesus Christ, my friends. Do not fear when ministers die and saints are taken away. Christ can always maintain his own cause. He will rise up better and brighter stars. The stars are all in his right hand. Forget about all the anxious thoughts about the future. Stop being downcast by the plans of statesmen or the plots of wolves in sheep's clothing. Christ will always provide for his own church. Christ will take care that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. All is going on well, though our eyes may not see it. The kingdoms of this world shall yet become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ.

Now allow me to say a few words of practical application of this sermon. I speak to many, many whom I speak to for the very first time. I speak, perhaps, to many whom I may speak to for the very last time. I will not let this church service conclude tonight without an effort to press home the sermon on each heart. First, my word of application shall be a question. My word of application shall be a question. What shall that question be? How shall I approach you? What shall I ask you? I ask you whether you are a member of the one true Church of Jesus Christ. Are you, in the highest, the best sense, a Christian in the sight of God? You know what I mean. I look far beyond the Church of England. I speak of the Church that is built upon the rock. I ask you with all solemnity, are you a member of that one true Church of Jesus Christ? Are you joined to the Great Foundation? Have you received the Holy Spirit? Does the Spirit witness with your spirit that you are one with Christ and Christ one with you? Does the Spirit testify with your spirit that you are one with Christ and Christ with you? I beg you in the name of God to take to heart this question and to ponder it well. Be careful, dear brothers and sisters, be careful if you cannot give a satisfactory answer to my question. Be careful that you do not make shipwreck of your faith. Be careful lest at the end the gates of hell prevail against you and the devil claims you as his own and that you will be cast away forever. Be careful lest you go down to the pit from the land of the Bibles and in the full light of Christ's gospel.

My second word of application shall be an invitation. I address it to all who are not yet true believers. I say to you, Come and join the one true church without delay. Come and join yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ in an everlasting covenant not to be forgotten. Come to Christ and be saved. The day of decision must come sometime. Why not this very evening? Why not today while it is still called today? Why not this very night before the sun rises tomorrow morning? Come to Him, whose I am and whom I serve. Come to my Master, Jesus Christ. Come, I say, for all things are now ready. Mercy is ready for you. Heaven is ready for you. Angels are ready to rejoice over you. Christ is ready to receive you. Christ will receive you gladly and welcome you among His children. Come into the ark. The flood of God's wrath will soon break out upon the earth. Come into the ark and be safe. Come into the lifeboat. The old world will soon break into pieces. Don't you hear the tremblings of it? The world is nothing but a wreck stuck on a sandbar. The night is far spent. The waves are beginning to rise. The winds are rising. The storm will soon shatter the old wreck. But the lifeboat has launched. And we, the ministers of the gospel, beg you to come into the lifeboat and to be saved. Do you ask, how can I come? My sins are so many. Do you ask how you shall come? Hear the words of that beautiful hymn just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bid'st me to come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come." That is the way to come to Christ. You should come waiting for nothing and tarrying for nothing. You should come as a hungry sinner to be filled, as a poor sinner to be enriched, as a bad, undeserving sinner to be clothed with righteousness. So coming, Christ would receive you. Him that comes to Christ, He will not cast out. O come, come to Jesus Christ.

Last of all, let me give a word of exhortation to my believing listeners. Let me give a word of exhortation to my believing listeners. Live a holy life, my brothers and sisters, live a holy life. Walk worthy of the church to which you belong. Live like citizens of heaven. Let your light shine before men and women, so that the world may profit by your conduct. Let them know whose you are and whom you serve. Be epistles of Christ, known and read by all men and women. written in such clear letters that no one can say we do not know whether he is a member of Christ or not. Live a courageous life, my brothers and sisters. Live a courageous life. Confess Christ before all men and women. Whatever station in life you occupy in that station, confess Christ. Why should you be ashamed of him? He was not ashamed of you on the cross. He is ready to confess you now before his Father in heaven. Why should you be ashamed of him? Be bold, be very bold. The good soldier is not ashamed of his uniform. The true believer ought never to be ashamed of Christ. Live a joyful life, my brothers and sisters, live a joyful life. Live like men and women who look forward to that blessed hope, the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the prospect to which we should all look forward. It is not so much the thought of going to heaven as of heaven coming to us that should fill our minds. There is a good time coming for all the people of God, a good time for all the Church of Jesus Christ, a good time for all believers. A bad time for the unrepentant and the unbelieving. A bad time for them that will serve their own lust and turn their backs on the Lord. But a good time for true Christians. For that good time, let us wait and watch and pray. The scaffolding will soon be taken down. The last stone will soon be brought out. The top stone will be placed upon the edifice. Yet in a little while, and the full beauty of the building shall be clearly seen. The great master builder will soon come himself. A building shall be shown to assembled worlds in which there shall be no imperfection. The Savior and the saved shall rejoice together. The whole universe shall acknowledge that in the building of Christ's church all was well done.