Thank you, Ruth, that was beautiful. Turn your Bibles to 2 Corinthians
12, 2 Corinthians 12. Titled the message today, My
Grace is Sufficient for Thee. The text we're gonna take is
from verse seven to verse 10, but I'm gonna read verse six
to you. It is not expedient for me, doubtless
to glory, I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years, whether in the
body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell,
God knoweth. Such an one caught up to the
third heaven, and I knew such a man whether in the body or
out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth. How that he was
caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which
is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such in one will I glory,
yet of myself I will not glory, but in my infirmities. For though
I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool, for I will say
the truth. But now I forbear, lest any man
should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that
he heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted
above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was
given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet
me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing
I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And
he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength
is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I
strong. Salvation is God's work. It's all of God. All of His free
and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior. That grace chose us in Christ
from eternity. That grace Christ voluntarily
sent to redeem us with His own blood. And we're called, that grace
calls us, and borns us again, and makes us new creatures in
Christ. And that grace keeps us. And one day we shall be known
as we are known, without sin forever. And that is all of God's
grace. There is nothing in there that
man can boast about. For His grace is sovereign, and
Christ Jesus, His blood is effectual, and it's all we need. It's sufficient. Christ is sufficient for us.
For grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. God reveals Himself to
us, and we experience His grace, His mercy, His love. And God sends storms. He sends
thorns into our flesh. His Holy Spirit guides us and
convinces us, testifies of Christ and His accomplishments, the
works that the Father gave Him to do, that He finished. We only
receive what God gives us. Grace, spiritual life, faith,
it's all a gift of God to believe on Jesus Christ. He has made
Him unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
And we glory in Him alone. We are weak. He is our only strength. And there are four things for
you to get from this message, God willing. And that is what
we just said. And it's God, by His grace, who
reveals Himself to us in the face of Jesus Christ. That's
the only way He does it. And He sends those thorns in
our flesh because they are good for us. God only does what is
good for us and for His glory. And His grace is sufficient for
all the elect of God, chosen in Christ from eternity. And
we glory in him alone For his strength is manifest That's that's
all that matters his grace and his strength are manifest in
our weakness Not of our merit not because
we're weak But god manifest himself in his grace In making us weak
But we're strong in Him. Revelation of God and Jesus Christ. Apostle Paul. Look what he was
shown. Probably more than any other
man other than Christ Himself. This man was shown so many great
things. And by grace, he shows us Look
at how many great things He's shown us that He hasn't shown
others and He will not show us. Just look at what He's shown
us. By grace are you saved, through faith, that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God. Not of our
works, lest any man should boast. Only God shows you that. Only God shows you that. And it's God's work alone. By
His grace, we're chosen in Christ, by Him before the foundation
of the world. It's Christ who is set up to
be our voluntary surety and substitute, our Redeemer. By His blood, His blood shed
for us. It is God who predestinated us
to be the sons of God in Christ Jesus. Beloved, if He chose you for
the foundation of the world and His Son, He's loved you from
eternity. He's predestinated you to be
the sons of God. Kings and priests with Him. Look what He's shown you. Look
what He's revealed to you. In Christ Jesus, it is God, all
of God's work, it is God by His Holy Spirit that quickens and
borns you again. Not only was this all done in
eternity, because God purposed it, predestinated it, in Christ
it's done. That lamb was slain before the
foundation of the world. He chose you in Christ, you've
been saved. from eternity. It's done. You didn't know it.
Some of you still don't know it. God does. He reveals Christ in us, that
hope of glory. Christ in you. You're in him. Look what God has revealed to
you. And he calls us by his gospel
and he draws us to his son. God does all that. He gives us
life. Spiritual life. We're dead. We're born dead. Spiritually
dead. We're not seeking him. We don't
seek him. He draws us. It's continual. He continually draws us. to Him
by His Son. Gives us that spiritual life
and faith. That's a gift of God. To believe
on Him. To believe that Christ Jesus
is sufficient, He is enough. Cause of His death, His burial,
His resurrection, His sufferings, His blood shed, His atonement,
His sacrifice of Himself. That's all. Christ has done it
all. There's nothing left for you
to do but rest in Him. Rest in that grace. Rest in His
blood. Rest in His accomplishments.
His finished works. Because they're enough to please
God. We were born with that fallen
nature of Adam. Ruined sinners. Lost. Spiritually dead. Totally depraved. No good in us whatsoever, and
there still is not. That new creation, it's in Christ. He is good in us, and He is faithful. He's the one that keeps us. It
is God who grows us in grace and in faith by the knowledge
of His Son, Jesus Christ. All we have, all we know, God
revealed to us. God gives it to us. From the
food you eat, from the air you breathe, and the spiritual things
that you don't know and can't see, God gives it to you. By His grace in Christ Jesus,
our Lord and Savior, And we're taught by His Spirit that Holy
Spirit is a gift, is a promise. Those in Christ Jesus, you've
got the Holy Spirit of God in you. God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit, they're all one. And they all reside
in Jesus Christ bodily. Now having been made a new creature
in Christ, we are taught of God and yet we still have this old
sinful nature of Adam around our necks. We're still sinful. It's only
Christ who is faithful. We are sin and all we do is sin. And when God reveals his grace
and glory to us in Christ Jesus, Our old nature, our old nature
tries to steal glory from God. That's how sinful and vile we
are. God gives us a glimpse, just a glimpse, because we only
see part and we only see darkly. We only see what he reveals to
us. But our old nature, that old sinful nature of Adam that
we're born with, wants to steal glory from God. Very supped. Very supped. I can't help it. I just love
what Brother Evans said about that. It's beautiful. Really
brings it to my mind. You know how a lot of us when
we were children, maybe some of you still do it, when your
child grows, somewhere in your house on the doorpost, you make
a little mark. And when that child grows up,
gets a little taller, you measure him again. He gets a little bit
taller, grows. We're so excited and so, so wonderful,
so thankful. Every time the Lord blesses you
with his grace, with what Christ has done for
you, What's the first thing we do? We want to bring a measuring
stick and tell everybody, look how much I've grown in grace.
Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. That's how sinful we are. Just
that. That's just scratching the ice.
That's just scratching the surface. I'm only scratching the surface.
I want to take that measuring stick out and show everybody
how much I've grown. God will not give His glory to
another. He ain't going to give it to me and He ain't going to
give it to you. Thank God. Glory belongs to Him. He's done
it all. He does it all. He saves you. That's not the end of it. That's
not the end of it. He keeps you. You're His precious
possession. He bought you with His sons on
precious blood. He gave you to Him for the world
was. You're His inheritance. He's
ours. He won't give His glory to another. He gives us His Holy Spirit.
We are secured. We are sealed. But it's His faithfulness. It's His righteousness. It's
all of His work and His accomplishment. His grace is sufficient for His
elect. Because they're the only ones
who give it to. He keeps us and preserves us
for it is by faith. The faith of Jesus Christ. Our
faith looks to Him. Our faith is weak. It's God-given. It's a blessing. It's a gift. It looks to Christ
who is the object of that faith. Who is the author of that faith?
Who is the finisher of that faith? And it's His faith, His faithfulness,
His perfect righteousness, His perfect obedience that we cling to. Because it's only in Him that
we are kept. Can you heal yourself from a
cold? Boy, I can't. Can you make your
broken arm men back together by your own power and your own
strength? I can't. What can you do for yourself
spiritually that you can't even see? It's all of God. His grace is
sufficient. He is our refuge. By grace, God
convinces us of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He uses His means
to humble us, to point us to the only righteousness and hope
we have. He points us to Christ Jesus,
our rest, our only strength, And He sends us thorns in the
flesh, just as He did to our dear brother Paul. Verses 7 and 8, And lest I should
be exalted, Paul said, above measure, through the abundance
of the revelations that God had given him, there was given to
me by God a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan. Satan
to buffet me Lest I should be exalted above measure for this
thing. I besought the Lord three times
That it might depart from me Three times He cried to the Lord
That this song this messenger Satan Who would beat him down? He asked God to take it away. God sends us these thorns. Satan
accuses. He accuses us. So we know we're sinful. God's
revealed that to us. But God has also revealed to
us that Christ put away all our sins. Yet we know we're still in this
old flesh and we still sin continually. We're weak. God's grace is sufficient for
us in Christ Jesus. He's our strength. His grace
and His strength are magnified through our weakness. We don't get any merit for this
weakness. We don't make ourselves weak that God's strength and
grace be shown. How foolish of a thought. There
we are, trying to steal God's grace again. His glory. He put you He chose you in Christ. You're in Him. There's your faithfulness. There's your righteousness. He
puts the thorns in your flesh to bring you low. Because Satan accuses us and
causes us doubt, right? We start looking to ourselves.
First thing that happens when a lot of people have a tragedy
or something we consider a tragedy in our life. It hurts, it's burdensome,
a sickness, a loss. First thing we do, we want to
say, what did I do? What did I do wrong? What did
I do to not please God? What did I not do? What could
I have done better to please God? Brethren, He tells us there is
nothing you can do to please God. Christ already done it. He already chose His propitiation. He already chose the atonement
that would satisfy Him. That one sacrifice of Jesus Christ
Himself. His own blood. That's who we're
in and that's who we're seeing in. And He's put our sins away. But we look to ourselves instead
of looking to Christ Jesus. Pride. We all know it. It's an ugly
word. We get proud when He gives us
a glimpse of His grace. That's how sinful and vile we
are. Look how much I've learned. Look
how much I've done. Look how much I've seen. Look
how much I've grown. God revealed it to you. God blessed
you with it. All the blessings are in Jesus
Christ. From whom all blessings flow. We look to Him. We give Him the
glory for His strength and His might and His power. We need to be shown continually
what we are by nature. Because when we're weak, His
strength is manifested. His grace is manifested. And we see it as sufficient for
me. God does these things, It's all
God's. Everything belongs to Him. Everything
was created by Him. There isn't anything that wasn't
created by Him. And it's all for His glory and
for His use. We are sanctified in Him. We're
set apart in Christ Jesus. His blood sprinkled. He is the
mercy seat. He went to the Holy of Holies.
He ascended. When he died, he was buried and
he rose again, victorious, justifying his children. All his elect,
he arose to the Father, accepted, sanctified. We're sanctified
in him because his blood went to the Holy of Holies and his
blood was applied. His blood sanctified us to God. We're His. We belong to Him and
we're for His use, for His glory, for His furtherance of the gospel. Because there are so many brothers
and sisters out there that will be saved if they were chosen
in Him before the eternity. But we don't know. I don't know. You don't know. But God does.
and He's going to use you. He uses His church. That's His
church. You're His church. His Word and it don't go out
void. It accomplishes. It's factual.
It accomplishes every single thing that He means for it to
do. And He's already ordained it and determined it for the
foundation of the world. Nobody can answer or ask Him why He
does something. Oh foolish man, why do you reply
against God? Why should we? His own elect. Why should we ask? That's what
you're doing? Why me? Why did this happen to
me? What are you saying? God, you
don't know what you're doing. You don't know what you're doing.
I know better. Isn't that what Adam said? in the garden when he fell. Look who's nature you got. Aren't you glad that God ordained
the fall of Adam? He passed by the angels. The body is now prepared for
me. With glory in him, The one who
deserves all that glory. He is instructing the new man. We're a child of God. We need
to be instructed. We've been born again by His
Holy Spirit. We need to be nurtured by Him.
We need to be taught by Him. We need to be corrected by Him.
We need to be chastened by Him. He is conforming us as He promised
to the image of His Son, the firstborn among many brethren. So it's God that gives us these
thorns. And He does hear our cries. He sends troubles and trials.
He sends Satan. What happened with Job? The devil didn't say, I'm gonna
go do this, and I'm gonna go see Job, and I'm gonna, no. God
said, what are you doing? Have you considered my servant,
Job, who loves righteousness and abhors
sin? No finer man are you gonna find. God's in it. He sends storms. God knows what's best for us.
He doesn't do these things to destroy us, but to make us grow
and mature in our Savior, Jesus Christ. By that knowledge, by
that faith, by that grace that he gives us. For we are weak. And he brings us to see that
we can do nothing without Jesus Christ. He is our surety. surety of the covenant, our strength,
our only acceptance to God is in Jesus Christ, our Lord and
Savior. Hebrews 12, 6 says, For when the Lord loveth, for whom
the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and he scourges every son whom
he receives. Oh, what love! Oh, what grace! Oh, what blessed assurance! That
faith he gives you to believe on him. If he scourges you and
chases you, beats you down, he's dealing with you as a child,
as a beloved son. If he didn't, you'd be a bastard.
You wouldn't be here. Your parents love you. They're
gonna whip your butt when you do bad, ain't they? They're gonna
teach you what's right and what's wrong. This is a heavenly Father, God
Almighty. He's made you his son in Christ
Jesus. Don't you think he's gonna keep
you? Teach you and instruct you? He's overcome this world. It
is by His faith we endure Christ's faithfulness. For He deals with us out of love,
His children. We belong to Him. We belong to
Christ. Look how He suffered for His
elect. Hebrews 2. Hebrews 2, verse 7. Thou madest him a little lower
than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory
and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands,
O our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thou hast put all things in subjection
under his feet. For in that he put all things
in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under
him. But now we see, Not yet all things put under him, but
we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the
suffering of death, crowned with the glory and honor that he,
by the grace of God, should taste death for every man, for every
one of his elect. He did not die for all. He died for all his elect. For
it became Him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,
and bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through suffering." That Christ Jesus, His perfect
obedience to God, to His law, to His precepts, to all of His
commandments, Perfect. Salvation cost us nothing, but
it cost God the one thing he loved the most, his son. He's our surety, he's our substitute,
and he is our representative head, all of his elect. And his
grace and his strength are manifest in our weakness, He was exalted. He is exalted. He is above all. We have a high priest, the God-man
Jesus Christ, sitting on his throne interceding for us because
we don't even know how to pray. We don't. But he's made us one with God
in him. Weak, sinful, vile creatures. He's made us new creatures in
Him. We can, in Christ Jesus, boldly
go to Him. In Christ. We can go to the throne
of grace, humbled at His feet, and in His
name, we can ask of the Father. And if it's His will, it will
be done. Because He hears our cries just as He heard the Apostle
Paul. Only God knows and does what
is best for us and for His glory. And in His time, He does answer
us. And it is all for our benefit.
It is all for His glory alone. For it is Christ who came in
the flesh and in our nature, yet without sin. It is He, the
just for the unjust, who suffered, shed His effectual, sin-atoning
blood. It is Christ who died. It is
Christ who was buried. And it was Christ who arose again
victorious, successful. He accomplished all that the
Father gave Him. And we were in Him, chosen. before
eternity. We didn't even know it. Our life
is in Him alone. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. It is His one-time sacrifice
of Himself that God accepts. He ordained it from eternity.
He chose Christ to be that sacrifice that he would be pleased with for us, for all of his elect. And he's enough. He's sufficient. He appeased the holy justice
of God in our room instead with his perfect righteousness, his
perfect obedience, his finished works, and we rest in him for
He was made to be sin for us. Who knew no sin that we made
the righteousness of God in Him? Whose suffering compares to Christ's
suffering? Who dares to question God? God doesn't always take that
thorn in the flesh away either. He didn't brother Paul. Cause he said my grace is sufficient
for you. My strength is made manifest
in your weakness. His grace is sufficient He answered
Paul. He gave him an answer. It is God who chose us in Christ
for eternity. And look what state that we were found in. We didn't seek God. He sought
us because he chose us. for eternity in Christ. If you
go to Ezekiel 16, Ezekiel 16, verse six, this is just a small
portion of this. I encourage you to read this.
Pray God reveal Christ to you in all these passages. In Ezekiel
16, verse six, When I passed by thee and saw thee polluted
in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood,
live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou
wast in thy blood, live. I have caused thee to multiply
as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen
great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments. Thy breast are fashioning,
thine hair is grown, whereas thou was naked and bare. Now
when I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was
the time of love. There's a time appointed to each
and every one of God's elect when He will come and reveal
Himself to you in the face of Jesus Christ. And you won't be
seeking Him. And I spread my skirt over thee
and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee and entered
into a covenant With thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. He has to do something for you,
because you're weak. Polluted in your own blood, in
your own sin, cast away. Ruined by the fall. Ruin in your own sin. He answers
us. It is Christ who redeemed us
with His own blood. It is God the Holy Spirit that
applies that blood to our hearts and our conscience after He borns
us again. It is His inward working of grace. that mourns us again. It is God's
free and sovereign grace in Jesus Christ that keeps us till that
day and for eternity. He gives us faith to believe
on Him. He is the object of that faith. He sought us. He found us. He scattered us
first. Wretched sinners, ruined by the fall of our first
representative head, Adam. Born, conceived in sin, born
in sin, born with lies coming out of his mouth. What can you do for yourself? Nothing. Nothing. You can't add to it, can't take
away from it. No man can come unto me except
the Father draw him, and I will raise him up in the last day.
Look over in John. John six, verse 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. The Father has drawn you to him. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all
which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day. And he repeats this. And this
is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth
the Son, and believe on him, may have everlasting life, and
I will raise him up at the last day. In Christ Jesus, we are more
than conquerors. He has overcome the world. When he died on that cross, when
he was raised again, he conquered all his enemies. His enemies are your enemies,
and your enemies are his enemies. He conquered you too. He conquered
Satan's work. He put you under grace. Sin has
no more dominion over you or power over you. You are under
the grace sufficient of God Almighty in Jesus Christ. And He has revealed
that to you. He must be lifted up. The Son
of Man must be lifted up. And all that look on Him and
believe on Him shall have eternal life in Him. It's God's grace
alone. It's all of God. We're only recipients. 1 Corinthians 1. So many times we've read it. That no flesh should glory in
His presence, but of Him are ye in Christ Jesus. who of God is made unto us wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. He
must be exalted. Verse nine of our text. And he said unto me, My grace
is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore, Paul says,
will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power, the power of
Christ may rest upon me. Who is your refuge? When you are weak and you're
weak all the time. Who is your refuge? Who are you
in? Who keeps you? Whose faithfulness are you looking
to? Whose righteousness are you looking to? That propitiation,
that atonement, God chose His sacrifice that pleased Him and
appeased His holy justice that we, we offended. We deserve that wrath that He
bore. We deserve that eternal punishment.
Took an eternity, and eternity is a long time. I don't even
know what eternity means. I cannot fathom it in my mind.
But it's forever. You couldn't have paid for it
forever. And Christ paid for all of his elect sins at one
time with that one sacrifice on that cross. Became a curse
for you. The law of God honorable. Put
an end to the law for righteousness sake. He answered Paul. And he answers
us. He hears our cries. He does. He hears our cries. We are weak. He is our strength. He has overcome
the world for us. It's the only reason it's here. The only reason this earth is
standing right now and rotating on its axis is because God purposed
it and ordained it for His glory, for the saving of those that
God chose in Him before the foundation of the world. He took full responsibility
for you, for all of His elect. No greater surety could we ever
have. His grace is sufficient. We are kept in Him by His power. He is our refuge. We're in his
hand, and nobody can pluck you out of God's hand. Nobody can pluck him out of my
hand, he says, and God's greater than me. He's God, nobody's gonna pluck
you out of his hand. You are secure, you are kept,
you are safe in him. He's overcome this world, nothing.
Satan's not his equal, no, Satan's not his, He only does what God has ordained
and allowed him to do. He cannot go outside of his limits.
God said, you go ahead, you destroy, you take anything away from Job,
but you ain't gonna touch him. You're not gonna touch him. He said, what I do, I'll let
him curse you. No. No, you're kept in Christ. You're kept under God's grace. You're weak. You're going to
say things. You're going to do things. You
may curse God. But he's going to show you because
you're his. It's going to bring you low.
It's going to humble you. That sin's already paid for. Christ already paid for it. He's
going to show it to you. He's going to reveal it. He's
going to bring you low. He's going to humble you. And
He's going to show you who paid for it. He's going to show you
His grace, His mercy, His love in Christ Jesus. He's going to chasten you. He's
going to scourge you. He's going to instruct you. And He loves
you. He does it out of love. He does
it for your benefit. It's expedient for you. It's necessary. It's for your
good. We don't always see it. We don't always understand it. But God knows what He's doing. Look at Him on that cross. Look at your savior. In all the
reproach, in all his anguish, being spat upon, the only thing
he was put up there for was because he said he was God, equal to
God. He told the truth. And they mocked him. And they
said, crucify him. We won't have this man to rule
over us. Who is this man? We know his mom and dad. You didn't know his father. He born of the spirit of God. He God. He came in the flesh
born of a virgin. He broke the womb. the God in me. Went to that cross,
suffered all the punishment and the anguish and the shame and
the pain that we deserve. We deserve. Took it on himself in his body
he bore it. Under all that anguish and that
pain of having his beard plucked out, being forsaken, Being reviled, he opened not his mouth. God
made him sin for us who knew no sin. He bore it all. In his body, it never said, oh
God, thank you. You know what he did? He prayed for you. He prayed
for his elect. He prayed for you. Some of the
ones that were standing there spitting on him and cursing him, all of them he created. All of
them were blessed to be breathing the air that he gave them. Everything
they had he gives your life But even the ones he gave eternal
life to and chose in the beginning And he prayed for them God forgive
them for they know not what they do No greater love No greater love
He gave his life for you He shed His blood for you. He bore your
punishment. Not only that, He bore your guilt
and shame. Not only that, those sins are
gone. They can't ever be found again.
They can never be charged against you again. Because He paid them
in full. He paid that sin debt in full. And God the Father Pleased with
it. That's enough. It's sufficient Let no flesh glory in his presence He that glories let him glory
in the Lord He does he answers our us Because
he knows what's best He hears our cries, but His glory He will not give
to another. And in our weakness, His strength
is magnified, is manifest. Praise Him, praise God for the
great things He has taught us, revealed to us, and for the great
things He has done. in Christ Jesus. Because God's grace is efficient.
Christ Jesus' blood is effectual. Sin atoning. It's enough. It's enough for
his elect. No other argument, no other plea. He's enough. Let's look at 1 Peter. We'll
wrap this up. Let's look in 1 Peter. I want
to share this with you. Chapter 2, verse 20. This is a little lengthy, but
it's beautiful. Only five verses here. For what glory is it if
when you are buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But if, when ye do well and suffer
for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. Can any of you do that? I can't. But His grace is sufficient. Christ is faithful. For even
hereunto were ye called You were called to suffer for
His name's sake. Because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow His steps. Those are ordained by God before
the foundation of the world in Christ Jesus. Grace sufficient. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously. Who, his own self, bear our sins
in his own body on the tree that we, being dead to sins, should
live under righteousness by whose stripes we were healed. For ye were a sheep going astray,
but are now returned unto the shepherd, bishop of your souls. What love, what mercy. We want to do these things. We
desire to do these. That new creation in us that's
in Christ Jesus wants to do these things. We want to do the will
of God. We want to know what the will of God is. We want...
His grace is sufficient. His grace is sufficient. Christ
is enough. God convinces us by His grace
in Christ Jesus. By faith, He gives us any. by
His Holy Spirit in us, instructing us and chastening us, that Christ
Jesus is our only strength. He's our only hope. He's our
only righteousness. He's our only advocate with the
Father. He is our only hope of eternal
salvation and eternal life in Him. He is our only acceptance
to God. And yes, his grace is sufficient
for all his elect, for us always and in everything. For as Paul
was inspired by the Holy Spirit to say, so let him convince us that we
should say, for when I am weak, then am I strong. For Christ
Jesus is my all He is more than enough for me He has put my sins
away by his one sacrifice To God for the sins of all his elect. He has made me one with the Father
in him We're one with God. We're we're his body. We're his
church. He's our head When I am weak
When He makes me weak, He makes me weak. His strength and His grace are
manifested. What revelation He has given
us in Christ Jesus. To God be the glory. His grace
is sufficient. And I hope and pray that you
got as much enjoyment out of that as I did and much comfort
and blessing. And God's grace is sufficient
for us.