Our speaker this evening, Pastor
Tom Harding, Zebulon, Kentucky. Needs no introduction here. I
still count Tom as one of us. He came here from Ashland, moved
there from Ashland. He told me that 22 years ago
this week, they moved to Zebulon. And that town's been very, very
blessed for 22 years. And we're very thankful that
you're here. Tom, you can come preach to us. I'm glad to be back with old
friends. We lived in this city, this county,
Boyd County, 19 years. And the Lord in His good providence
moved me here to hear the Gospel. This is where I was living when
the Lord was pleased to stop me and teach me and reveal Himself
unto me. in this place, in this city,
in this town. And then the Lord was pleased
to set me down and shut me up under a faithful gospel preacher. So blessed. I count those years
just special. Special, special time. Turn back
to Ephesians chapter 2. One of the first times that I
attended over there on 13th Street. And I sat down behind my friend
Carter Brown. Didn't know him at the time,
Carter and Joyce. And I sat down behind him and
he turned and looked to me, being a stranger, you know, in that
place. And he said, well, said, what are you doing here? And
I said, well, I came here to hear the gospel. I'm interested
in the gospel of the grace of God. And Brother Carter looked
at me and said, Oh, he said, you're here for some sheep food.
And I said, that's it. I want to hear what the shepherd
has to say. The sheep, they hear his voice.
He says, I've given them eternal life. They hear my voice and
they shall never, never perish. Now, Ephesians chapter two, beginning
at verse 19. Now this is such a special, special
chapter because it takes us down to the depths of what we really
are. Sin, rottenness, dead, children
of wrath, and on and on and on. Wicked. And that's what we all
are by nature. Sinners. But it also takes us
to the heights of what we are in Christ. But God, who is rich
in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when
we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ, raised
us up together, and made us to sit in heavenly places in the
Lord Jesus Christ. By nature low and dead, by grace
high and lifted up. Now look at verse 19, Ephesians
2. Verse 19, now therefore, you
are no more, no longer strangers by birth, by nature and practice. We are strangers to the grace
of God, strangers to the love of God. As we read just a moment
ago in this same chapter, that at that time, verse 12, you are
without Christ. being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope without God in the world. And I love these two words here,
but now, but now. But now in Christ Jesus, you
who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ
He is our peace. He made peace for us with His
own blood. Now, therefore, you are no longer
strangers. No longer are we foreigners,
aliens, separated from God, but rather we're fellow citizens. With the saints, every believer
chosen by God's electing grace, made a new creature in the Lord
Jesus Christ, every believer is a fellow citizen. We are saints,
sanctified in the Lord Jesus Christ, set apart unto His glory. And we are of the household. I mean, we're family. We're family. We're in the household of God.
Beloved, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed
upon us that we should be called sons of God. I'm never weary
of hearing that. Sons of God? By His adopting
love, by His adopting grace, by His calling us out of darkness
in His marvelous light? Adopted into His family? We are
of the household of God. He's our Father. We are His sons. And, I love that word, we are
of the household of God and, you mean there's more? Yes, there's
more. We're built upon the foundation. What is the foundation? The foundation. It's the foundation
that God has laid for us, and that foundation is none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Rock of Ages. Do you
remember Isaiah 28, 16? God said, Behold, I lay in Zion
for a foundation of stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. You'll never, ever weary of resting
on that foundation. It's certain. It's secure. It
is a stronghold in this weary land. It is a refuge, a rock
upon which the believer finds total rest. Christ is that foundation. For other foundation can no man
lay than that which is laid. And that foundation is Christ.
He is that rock of ages. We're built upon this foundation
that God has laid. Now watch this. This foundation
is Jesus Christ himself. You see those three words? That's
the title of my message. Jesus Christ himself. Now where it says here, the apostles
and the prophets, what did all the apostles write about? Paul
said, we preach Christ crucified. All the apostles, Peter, John,
Paul, all the apostles pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm thinking of what Peter said
in Acts chapter 4, remember? Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there's no other name under heaven given among
men, whereby we must, we must, we must be saved. In Christ,
salvation is certain and sure. All the apostles pointed every
sinner to look to Christ. Did they not? Look unto me, the
Lord said through Isaiah. Look unto me, all the ends of
the earth. I'm the only just God and Savior. Now look to me and be ye saved. For I am God. He's the only just
God and Savior. The foundation of the apostles,
what is it? Their apostleship? No, what's
the foundation of the apostles? Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all the foundation. How
about the prophets? What was the foundation of the
prophets? The law? Did they look back to the law?
No. Remember what the Lord said?
Moses wrote about me. How about Abraham? The Lord said,
Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it. He was glad. You see,
the point I'm making is this. Every believer delight in the
foundation that God has laid, and that foundation is none other
than these three words, Jesus Christ Himself. Now I want you
to take that, these three words, I want you to take it home with
you. I want this to ring in your ears
when you lay down at bed this evening. You think of this, Jesus
Christ Himself. To you who believe To you who
believe, He's altogether lovely. To you who believe, He is precious. He's precious to the believer.
Jesus Christ Himself, that's all our salvation, is it not?
Christ is all and in all. Is that right? In Him dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and in the Lord Jesus
Christ you stand, you stand in Him complete. I love that word. The Lord said
upon Calvary's tree, it is finished. I'm trusting not the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm trusting Christ who finished
the work for me. I'm trusting him. He finished
all of salvation for me. And the Lord Jesus Christ here
being the chief and only cornerstone. What knits us together? Those
old timers, when they laid a foundation and they built with stones, they
would have a cornerstone that would knit the building together.
It was absolutely necessary. What is the cornerstone? What
knits the believer's hearts together? What blesses this fellowship
we have with one another? Is it not But the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself, the chief cornerstone, He is, He is the cement, the
glue, if you will, that sticks us together, that keeps us together,
that will not separate us. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom
all the building Fitly framed. Who frames it? Some of you men
are carpenters. I don't frame things up very
good. I make a mess of things. I try to build some things, but
if I didn't have good supervision, I'd make a mess of things. I'm
not a carpenter. But some men are blessed with
that skill, and they fitly frame together a house. They frame
up a house, put it on the roof. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
master builder. He fitly frames together His
building, His church. He said, I will build my church
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And this
building that is Christ, His body, this building that's fitly
framed together, it grows. You see that word? Groweth. Groweth. Groweth. Why does it grow? Because
it's alive. That which is living grows. Fitly framed together groweth,
groweth, groweth. And it grows unto a holy temple
in the Lord. Believers are accepted in the
beloved. What is true of the head? Christ
is our head, right? What's true of the head? The
head's holy, right? What's true of the head is true
of the body. What's true of him is true of us. We are holy in
Christ. He has made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption, in whom also you are built together. We're bonded together for habitation
of God. Think about this. God dwells
in His people. God dwells in His people for
a habitation of God through the Spirit. Christ in you, Christ
in you is a hope of glory. What does God the Holy Spirit
who dwells in every believer? What does God the Holy Spirit
testify of within us? Remember, He's called the Comforter.
Our Lord said, when the Comforter has come, He will comfort you.
What does God the Holy Spirit comfort us with? Well, it just
makes us feel good. No, that's not it. God the Holy
Spirit comforts us with Christ who is our comforter. Remember
what he said in John 16? He'll take the things of Christ
and show them unto you. That is his chief office to magnify
and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, therefore, you are no more
strangers foreigners, fellow citizens, the saints, and the
household of God. Now, I want to show you several things
on this subject, Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus Christ Himself. I'll give you five or six things
here, maybe not that many. Jesus Christ Himself. First of
all, we know this. salvation that we so desperately
need. Salvation is in a person. He that hath the Son hath life. Brother Mahan made that the theme
of his preaching. Christ is salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is salvation. He that hath
the Son hath life. Give me Christ or else I die. He is life. He is salvation. We must be found in Him if we
are to have salvation. Salvation is in a person. The
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
Hold your place here if you want to and turn to Luke 24. The Lord
Jesus Christ Himself is the theme, the message of all of Scripture
in Luke 24. What is this Bible all about?
Laws, rules, regulations, ceremony, tradition, all these different
things. People come up, they all read the same book and come
up with so many different things. People do. Believers don't. They
all arrive at the common denominator. The common denominator of this
book and the theme and message of this book is Jesus Christ
Himself. I can make good on that. Turn
to Luke 24. The risen Lord finds these two
men walking on the road to Emmaus. Verse 25, then He said unto them,
O fool, slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Remember the prophets had one foundation, Jesus Christ himself. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things, being wounded, bruised for our iniquities, and
to enter into his glory when he by himself purged our sin,
he sat down on the right hand of God. And beginning of Moses
and all the prophets, all the prophets, Boy, that would have been a good
sermon to listen to, wouldn't it? All the prophets, he expounded
unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning, what's
the Bible all about? Jesus Christ himself. You see
that? Again, in this same chapter,
Luke 24, look at verse 44. He said unto them, these are
the words which I have spake unto you while I was yet with
you, that all things must be fulfilled. which are written
in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms. Brother
Mike, you read that Psalm 118, didn't you? This is the Lord's
doing and it's marvelous in our eyes. That's one of my favorite
verses. That's one of my favorite verses. Salvation's the Lord's
doing, isn't it? And it is marvelous, marvelous
in our eyes. Moses wrote of Christ. The Prophets wrote of Christ.
The Psalms. Or all about 150 Psalms. What are they all about? About
David and his heartache? David had some heartache. David
had some trouble. But David always told us about
Christ. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. The Psalms, the Lord said concerning
me. Then he opened, then opened he
their understanding that they might understand the scripture.
And said unto them, thus it is written, and thus it behoove
Christ to suffer. and to rise from the dead the
third day, that repentance and remission of sins should be preached
in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You're
witnesses. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
theme of all scripture because he's the theme of this book.
He must be the subject of our preaching. He must be the subject
of our preaching. The Apostle put it this way,
2 Corinthians 4, we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the
Lord and ourselves, your servant for his sake. We preach not ourselves. We preach Christ. That is our
message. One preacher of the past put it this way, a sermon
without Christ is a mistake in its conception and a crime in
it being preached. It is of no eternal value. When we're done preaching Christ,
We better be done with preaching. That's right. Paul said, I'm
determined. I don't know anything among you
but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. A sermon without the Lord Jesus
Christ is like a well with no water, a stove with no fire,
a cupboard with no bread, a house with no light or life. Give me Christ or else I die. Preacher, what's your message?
Jesus Christ Himself. That's the theme of all gospel
preaching. Paul, when he writes in Romans
1, Paul, a servant, an apostle, separated unto the gospel of
God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all about Him, isn't
it? His person. Who He is. Tell me
who He is. He's God our Savior. Tell me
what He's done. He's accomplished salvation by
Himself. Brings me to my second point.
Look back to Ephesians, the book of Ephesians again. The Lord
Jesus Christ Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is all our
redemption from sin. He's all of our redemption. He
is the Redeemer that really redeems. He is the Savior who saves His
people. from. Call His name Jesus, He
shall save His people from their sin. He is the Redeemer. Jesus
Christ Himself is all of my redemption. Notice, if you will, Ephesians
chapter 1, verse 6, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein
He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have, in
whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of His grace. It's something
redemption is deliberate from all sin and every believer has
that now as the gift of His grace. Now, stay right here in Ephesians
and look at chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. The Lord
Jesus Christ is all of our redemption. What was the price that God's
law and justice demanded for our redemption? His blood. His
blood. Remember Paul's message in Acts
20? God bought the church with His
own blood. Studying recently from 1 John
3, verse 16, where he talks about, Hereby perceive we the love of
God. Hereby perceive we the love of
God. And then it says because he laid
down his life for us. Who laid down his life? Hereby
perceive we the love of God. He laid down his life for us.
The Lord Jesus Christ is God Almighty manifest in the flesh. Now did I tell you to turn to
Ephesians chapter five? Did I tell you that? Okay. Look
at verse one. Be therefore followers of God
as dear children and walk in love as Christ also has loved
us and has given, what did he give? Not the blood of bulls
and goats. He wasn't that typical priest
like Aaron. He was a priest after the order
of Melchizedek. He obtained eternal redemption
for us with His own blood. Walking love as Christ also had
loved us and has given Himself for us an offering and sacrifice,
watch it now, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet
smelling savor. The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ is not offered to men. It's not up for their exception
or their rejection. The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ, His atonement, the blood on the mercy seat was on the
mercy seat before the Lord. As a matter of fact, in that
Holy of Holies, who was in there? Everybody else was outside. The
priest was in there. You see, this is God's sacrifice
for sin offered unto the Father. And that priest is a picture
of Christ. walking love as Christ also has
loved us and has given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice
to God, satisfying unto God, a sweet smelling savor. In this
same chapter, chapter five, husband, love your husbands, love your
wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave, he gave
himself. You think about this. He gave
Himself here in His love, not that we love God, but that He
loved us and that He sent His Son to be the sacrifice for our
sin. He laid down His life for us.
God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. Who died? The Lord Jesus Christ
died. Did He die a real death? Yes,
He suffered once for our sins, the just for the unjust, being
put to death in the flesh. The just for the unjust, that
He might do what? That He might do what? Bring us! Bring us unto God! He must die, we'll never be brought.
You see, He reconciled us unto God by Himself. He reconciled us. He gave Himself
for us, that He might sanctify and cleanse us with the washing
of water by the Word, that's the Gospel. that he might present
it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, that it should be holy without blemish." Without
spot. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the theme of all preaching. That's what's preached here,
isn't it? It's Christ. Christ and Him crucified. The Lord Jesus
Christ The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is all our redemption
before God. Thirdly is this. The Lord Jesus
Christ is all our righteousness before God. He's all our righteousness. Now, I love this scripture. You
know, we say that I love this scripture. Well, I don't know
if that We love all the scripture, you know, we love when we have
our we have our particular favorites and some some scripture speaks
more. I don't know if it's the right
way to say this, but I'm going to say it. Some scripture speaks to
us more powerfully than others. I mean, that's the way it comes
to me. Some some scripture just just just grips me, holds me. Well, let me go. And this is
one of those scriptures. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself
is all of our righteousness. Now, did I tell you where to
turn? Philippians chapter 3. When you get my age, you get
a little bit forgetful. But that's alright. You'll just
have to overlook my frailties. And I'll overlook yours. Philippians
chapter 3. Now this scripture is special
to me because the Lord used this scripture here to teach me the
gospel. And every time I read it, I think
back to when this was just opened up to me. In Philippians chapter
3, verse 7, what things were gained to me, those I counted
lost for Christ. Saul of Tartus one time hated
the gospel. Yea, doubtless, I count all things
lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord. for whom I've suffered the loss
of all things and do count them but dumb that I may win Christ
and be found in Him." Now that's the phrase that got me right
there. I want to be found in Him. He is salvation. I want to be found in Him. But
of him are you in Christ, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, and be found
in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law. Paul, or
Saul of Tarsus, one time thought he was a law keeper. He says
in this same chapter as concerning touching the righteousness, which
is in the law, he said, well, I was blameless. That's before
the law came to him in the power of God the Holy Spirit. And he
says, O wretched man that I am, being found in him not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faith, now watch it, the faith of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God. This righteousness is of God. Talking about the righteousness
of God revealed in the gospel. The righteousness which is of
God and is received by faith. Faith is not our righteousness.
Faith looks to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our righteousness. Christ himself is our righteousness
before God. Turn to Romans. Romans. All through the book of Romans,
we read this righteousness of God, the righteousness that this
sinner must have by a gift of God's grace unto us. Look, first
of all, Romans 1. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. Romans 1, 16. I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God and
his salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first,
and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the
just shall live by faith. Look at Romans 3. The Lord Jesus
Christ Jeremiah rejoiced in the Lord our righteousness. And that is our name as well.
She shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. Christ is
our righteousness before God. Romans 3 verse 20. Therefore,
by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now
the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being
witnessed by the law and the prophet, even the righteousness
of God, which is by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's through His obedience, through
His doing and His dying, through His obedience unto God. Even
the righteousness of God which is by the faith of Jesus Christ
unto all and upon all them that believe, there is no difference
for all have sinned that come short of the glory of God being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God sent forth to be the propitiation
through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness. For
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness, that
He might be just and the justifier of them which believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Do you have a justifying righteousness
before God? Well, preacher, I'm just trying
to do the best I can. That won't do. There is none
righteous, Romans 3, none righteous, no, not one. The best, our best
deeds are filthy rags. In God's sight, all of our righteousnesses
before God are as filthy rags. A couple more scriptures here
in Romans. Romans 4, verse 3, for what saith
the scripture, Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him
for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is reward,
not reckoning of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. Faith looks to the Lord Jesus
Christ, even as David also described the blessedness of the man unto
whom the Lord imputed righteousness without works, saying, Blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whom the Lord
will not impute sin. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
righteousness before God and He freely gives that unto us.
Look at Romans 5 verse 19. Fourth, by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners. So by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. God made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all of our righteousness.
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is all the believer's righteousness
before God, because it's Christ. Christ Himself is all our righteousness. Now I've got a couple of more.
Turn to Hebrews, the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. Look at verse
one, wherefore seeing we are also compassed about with so
great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight in
the sin which doth so easily beset us. Let us run with patience
the race that is set before us. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
is the only object of saving faith. Looking, verse two, unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Saving faith, the faith of God's
elect that loves the truth, believes the truth, saving faith always
looks to Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. I put it this way. It's
a simple way to remember. True saving faith never looks
here. True saving faith always looks
to Christ and it's the exalted Christ, the lifted up Christ,
the one who is the author and finisher, the one who endured
the cross, despising the shame, the one who is the victorious
one seated at the right hand of God, the one who has redeemed
all of his people from their sin and accomplished their eternal
salvation. Saving faith, therefore we can
say, always looks back to Christ. Saving faith always looks to
the one who gave it. Where does saving faith come
from? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself,
it is a gift of God. Saving faith always looks back
to the giver. That's what I'm trying to say.
Now if your faith looks somewhere else, You don't have the faith
of God to let. Saving faith always looks back
to the giver. And the giver is the one who
is the author of life. The author and finisher of our
salvation. Looking to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not to my feelings. Not to my experience. Not even
looking to my faith. But always looking to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Remember the song of Martin Luther?
about feelings and the Word of God? You've quoted it before,
haven't you? Feelings come and feelings go.
Feelings are deceiving. My warrant is the Word of God.
Nothing else is worth believing. Though all my heart should feel
condemned for want of some sweet token, I know one greater than
my heart whose word cannot be broken. So I trust God's unchanging
Word. Till soul and body sever, the
words of man will pass away. God's Word It abides forever. You see, the foundation of faith
is the Word of the Lord. And the object of faith is the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Now here's the last one. Here's
the last one. Find in the Bible now 2 Thessalonians
2 chapter 2. This is a familiar scripture.
I trust all these references have been familiar to you. Think
about this. I want you to think about this
tonight when you go to bed tonight. I want you to think about this
in your heart. The Lord Jesus Christ himself is all my salvation. All my righteousness. All my
redemption. All my sanctification. He's everything. Now, the last point is this.
The Lord Jesus Christ himself is the only source of true joy,
comfort, hope and peace. The Lord Jesus Christ himself.
We read, I think it's here. Yes, it is. If you look just
across the page, 1st Timothy chapter 1 verse 1. The Lord Jesus
Christ Himself, He is our hope. You see that? Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus
Christ, our hope. Christ is our hope. Well, preachers,
you have a hope. My hope's not in a hope. My hope
is in a person. He is our hope. Now, back to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. Verse 13, we are bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God has, from the beginning, chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the spirit, the work of regeneration, belief
of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren,
stand fast, hold the traditions. And that word can be rendered
truth, which you've been taught, whether by word or by epistle. Now look, verse 16, don't miss
this. Don't miss this now. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself. How about that? The Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God, even our father who had loved us, loved us with an
everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness. He draws us
into Himself. He loved us and washed us from
our sin in His own blood. We love Him only because He first
loved us. Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
and God, even our Father, who has loved us and has given us
an everlasting consolation, that everlasting comfort and a good
hope through grace. Grace. What a blessed word. Grace. The grace of God. We believe
through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved
even as others. The grace of God. Paul said,
for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though
He was rich yet for your sake He became poor that you through
His poverty might be made rich. Jesus Christ Himself. He loved
us. He's given us an everlasting
consolation. He's given us a good hope and
it's all through His grace. Sovereign grace. Electing grace. Redeeming grace. I love that
story about Mephibosheth called Fetching Grace. He fetched us
to Himself. A good hope through grace. Comfort
your hearts. Establish you in every good word
and work. You see, the grace of God motivates
us. The love of Christ constrains
us. God who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace. Those
two words are always married together. Purpose and grace,
which was given us in the Lord Jesus Christ before the foundation
of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He's all our comfort. He's all
our joy. Joy in God to our Lord Jesus
Christ, for whom we now have received the atonement. We are
the true Israel, which worship God in the spirit, that rejoice
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have, we have, what's
the last part of that? We, we, we have, I know what
it is. We have no confidence in the
flesh, do we? We are the true Israel which
worship God in the Spirit, that rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and we have no confidence in the flesh. All our confidence
is in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Well, thank you. May the Lord
bless the poor. Thank you for the invitation.
I appreciate your pastor in this ministry. I pray the Lord will
bless it, keep it, own it, crown it, empower it, And bless you. Thank you. I'm going next month. Some of
y'all drive me if you want. Thank you, Tom. You know how you know you can
take this message home? and believe it and rest in it. I don't know if this struck you
or not, this preaching. Everything Tom said, he never,
he didn't say, well, so-and-so said this. So this is, he didn't
say the human logic. He didn't use the human logic.
Well, this is true. So this must be true. Every single
point was taken directly from the word of God without error. It is true. What you preach is true. We have
rest. whole peace in Christ. It is true because it's where
it came from. Oh, that was a blessing. Thank
you. I hope God will give us the faith to believe it. Let's
bow in prayer. Father, we thank you for your
word. We thank you for your servant
that you brought this way. Thank you for the message of
Christ that you gave him, that you gave him to preach, that
you enabled him to preach. Father, I pray that you enable
us who heard to believe it. to look to Christ, to rest in
Christ. He is all. Make him be all in
all to us, we pray. We pray that you bless Tom as
he travels back home, that you give us a good night's rest and
bless us again tomorrow as we meet one more time in Bible school. Bless your word as it's taught,
we pray. In the precious name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, amen.