Now, if you will, I'd like for
you to turn back with me to Colossians, the second chapter. I want to talk to you a little
while this morning about hidden treasure. Hidden treasure. I used to listen to the preacher
preach when I was young and listen to him talk about Things like
that talk about glory and talk about wisdom and talk about treasure
and things like that. My understanding of treasure
and my understanding of what he was saying was not the same.
I didn't see that glitter and glamour and glory in these things. This treasure is hidden. It's
a hidden treasure. The Scriptures often speak of
the Gospel as a hidden treasure. Hold your place there in Ephesians.
Well, let me just quote it to you here in Ephesians chapter
3. Paul said unto me, who am less
than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Unsearchable. Unsearchable riches of Christ. And to make all men see what
is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the
world hath been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ. And He did it to this end, that
now unto principalities and powers in heavenly places, even the
angels in glory, might be known by the church by what they see,
by this redemptive work of Christ concerning His church, that these
principalities and powers You know that scripture, he said,
which things the angels desire to look into. That's what he's
talking about right here. That now under principalities
and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church
the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which
he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. The gospel is the divine
treasure. It manifests to poor, undeserving
sinners the very glory and heart of God in the person and work
of Jesus Christ. But it's hidden to men. It's
hidden to men. I know what this treasure is.
I've seen this treasure. I see it when I open this book.
I can see it. I can read it. I can declare
it to you. But it's hid to men. They don't
see what I see. They hear my word, but they don't
see what I see. It's hidden. It's hidden. How
is it hidden? Is it recorded in such a way
that its beauty and glory is disguised? No. It's plainly declared
in the Word of God. Is it preached in such a way
as to hide the treasure? Do we preach it in mysterious
ways that men can't understand? No. Paul said we use great plainness
of speech. He said, I determine not to know
anything among you philosophers. You wise men, I've determined
not to know anything except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. How is this heavenly treasure
hidden? Well, according to Ephesians 3 that I quoted to you, it's
hidden in God, first of all. It was hidden in God. Hidden
in His eternal counsels. Hidden in His eternal purpose
of grace. That is beyond natural men to
see that God has an eternal purpose of grace, and He's going to accomplish
that purpose. He's always had this purpose.
When did it begin? It began in God. That's why it's
hidden to men. We're temporal. We're temporary. We're just here for a short time.
We're limited in our understanding. This purpose, God has a purpose,
an eternal purpose to save a people for the glory of His name. And these counsels, they are
hidden in the counsels of God. These mysteries are hidden with
Him before the world was. Our salvation wrought out in
Christ and revealed to our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Paul says,
he writes to Timothy and tells him it was not according to our
works. but according to God's own purpose and grace which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. But now it's
made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ who
has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel. The hidden thing, those things
hidden in the counsels of God and hidden here and hidden there,
they're brought to light. with the appearance of Christ
in this world through the person and work of Christ. And since
the beginning of this glorious treasure, it's been hid in God
who created all things through Jesus Christ. And then secondly,
this divine treasure was hidden in the types and figures of the
ceremonial law. The priesthood and the sacrifices,
the temple, the ark of the testament, the mercy seat, and the lamb,
they were all figurative of the person and work of Christ. We are told in Hebrews that these
things stood, Hebrews chapter 9, these things stood in meats
and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed
on them until the time of reformation. These things were hidden. The
Jews didn't see it. What the Jews saw was the ordinance.
They saw the carnal ordinance and adapted that. They wouldn't come to Christ.
Christ said, you search the scriptures, for in them you think you have
eternal life. You keep the ordinances. You
keep the sacrifices. You keep the Holy Day. But you
won't come to me that you might have life. And then thirdly, turn with me
to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. His heavenly treasures hid in
the multitudes even though it was clearly manifested in Christ
and plainly declared to men by these apostles and preachers
of the gospel from that time to this. It's hidden to men. And it's hidden by the satanic
influence of false religion. Now let's see if I can show you
that in the Word of God. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 3. But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost. That's who can't see it. Lost
sinners. They can't see it. In whom the
God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them. Verse 6. For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Now watch this. But we have this
treasure. Isn't that what he calls it?
We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of
the power may be of God and not of us. It's not so much that
when we speak you can't understand us. Men understand what you say
or they wouldn't get mad. I just read a two-page article
that some bunch of nuts wrote against Don Fortner for things
that he said. And I'm telling you, I go out
of my way to find the clearest illustrations. I go out of my
way to find the plainness of speech. I know it offends you,
but it offends you because you understand what I'm saying. I
go out of my way to do that, not to offend you, but to make
it plain. And it's not that men do not
have the capacity to understand what we're saying. They do understand.
The problem is that what we say don't square up with worldly
religion. That's the problem. It's not
how you thought it was. That's the problem. It's contrary
to it. It's opposite of it. Pretty much
everything they preach is the opposite of what the Scripture
teaches. Their minds, Paul said, is blinded by the God of this
world. How does He blind a man's mind?
He convinces him of a false gospel. That's how He blinds men's minds.
He convinces them. that religion is right, that
these lies are the truth. Our Lord said, by the prophet,
He said, you call light darkness and darkness light. What they call righteousness,
God calls filthy rags. What they call salvation, God
calls a perversion of the gospel. What they call heresy, Paul said,
after the way which they call heresy. He said, that's how I
worship God. What they call rank heresy, what
they shiver, what just makes them shiver when they hear it.
He said, that's how I worship God. Men's minds are blinded, and
then fourthly, God's treasure is hidden to men in that he put
it in earthen vessels. I stand up to preach. And I'll
be honest with you, I don't usually get these first hand. Occasionally
I do, but usually at third or fourth handed I'll get the comment.
But the comment is always the same. Who's he think he is? It's hidden to men because God
put it in an earthen vessel. Who's he think he is? My own
family. I can see the thoughts in their
head. I can read the thoughts in their minds when they when
they talk to me. We know you, bud. We know you. We grew up with you. We know
who you are. We know your history. We know
all about you. And so what you're telling me
is that you know the truth. And these great multitudes out
here, they don't know the truth. Is that what you're saying? Is
that what you want us to believe? It's the truth. It's the truth. Look in the scripture. Look at
what the multitude... The multitude was never right.
Never. I don't know where the church ever got the idea to vote
and take the census of the multitude. Every time the multitude got
together and reasoned out what to do, they were wrong. Every
time. It was the multitude that laughed
and scoffed at Noah. It was the multitude that said,
we can't go into Canaan. There's giants in there, walled
cities. We can't go in there. We can't
do this. It was the multitude that said, Moses, you got too
much on you. And what we've done here is all
the heads of the 12 tribes have got together. And we've decided
that we're going to split this authority up among us. And it'll
just be passed on from generation to generation to our sons and
our daughters. And Moses said, well, we'll see
what God has to say. Everybody's on God's side, line
up over here. Everybody's on your side, line
up over there. Everybody lined up behind them, God took them
to hell with their shoes on. The multitude has always been
wrong, and yet that's the backbone of false religion, is it wants
to use the multitudes when they reason these things to be wrong.
That's what Israel did. You mean to tell me for 2,000
years we've been doing it this way and now we're supposed to
do it that way? Well, you're crazy. You're crazy. Was Christ crazy? Huh? No. Their minds are blind that
God put this gospel in earthen vessels. And He did it. Here's
why He did it. He did it that no man, not this
man, not any other man, and glory in it. The excellency of the
glory is going to be given to God by all those who see this
treasure. Our Lord said in Matthew 13,
verse 44, He said, Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto
a treasure hid in the field. The witch, when a man hath found
it, when he finds it, John, I'm standing here preaching to you
this morning, and I've got a big nugget out of the treasure chest
of God, found over here in Colossians chapter 2. And I've shown it
to you in the Word of God, and a man sees it. Here's the field.
He finds the treasure. You know what he does when he
sees it? He buys the whole field. I buy the whole field. The field's
full of treasure. I didn't know it had treasure
in it. I thought it was just words. I thought it was just
philosophy. I thought it was just something God said to try
to get us to do better. I thought it was just a carrot
dangled out so we'd pull his wagon. We didn't understand it's
a treasure. It's a field full of treasure.
When you discover the treasure, you buy the whole field. You
buy the whole field. You quit listening to what the
world's saying. Ain't no treasure out there.
Nothing out there but problems and trouble. But there are treasures
here. And you find that treasure and
you say, let God be true and every man a liar. Isn't that
something? Totally turned around. Just turned
you in the opposite direction. Treasures in the Gospel. The
field is the Word of God and the means is the preaching of
the Gospel. We discover God's hidden treasure, hidden in God's
thoughts and counsels and purpose, hidden in the types and figures,
hidden in the ancient prophecies of the scripture. He, by the
grace of God, hears the gospel and discovers the hidden treasure
of the gospel. He discovers that treasure of
God and he buys the field, the whole field. Ignorant men and
women, they tire quickly of the gospel. They tire quickly of
it. They want something new. They
want something clever. They want something exciting. They want something entertaining.
They want something that brags on the flesh, that boasts on
men, that gives credit to men. Something conducive to their
own ambitions and lives. They need the pomp and pageantry
of religion because they don't see the treasure. They need the
visual aids and the smells and the candlelight, and they need
the music and the aura of the big cathedral. They need the
special dress and the titles and reputation of men. Believers
just need Christ. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead. all the fullness of His glory,
all the fullness of His promises, all the fullness of His grace
and His mercy, all in this man. They need only Christ. And some
of you in this very room have heard me preach Christ Sunday
after Sunday, and still you cling to your old religious ideas,
experiences, and ceremonies. Maybe God will be pleased today.
Open your eyes. See His treasure. Christ. Some of you have religion
and you have no joy. There's no rejoicing. There's
no rejoicing. I know that you have traditions.
I know that you have religion. I know that you do the best you
can. I know that you try to be good mothers and good fathers
and good children. I know that you attempt to do
these things. But you've got no joy in it. There's no rejoicing
in it. I tell you, you find Christ,
you'll rejoice. Rejoice. No happiness, no celebration
of the heart in worship. Paul said in Philippians chapter
3, verse 3, he said, we are the circumcision which worship God
in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. Well, preachers, sometimes I
just think I'm not up to snuff. You're not. You're not. Sometimes I just think I'm a
I'm a horrible sinner. You are. You are. Now you're thinking right. Now
you're thinking right. That's what Paul said. We got
no confidence in the flesh. All we have to do is look at
it. All you got to do is examine it. It's full of sin, full of
pride, full of self, self-glory, self-honor, self-attainment,
self-made man. I get so sick of it when I listen
to it. There's no confidence in the flesh. Where's the rejoicing?
It's in Him. It's in Him. Discovering the
treasure of God in Christ begins with a knowledge of sin and self. It begins with an awareness of
our guilt and inability. I went out to eat with Brother
Winston. I'm going to tell you a story on Winston since he ain't
here. Now, y'all get the story right because I know you're going
to tell it. But we went out to eat. We went down to Spring Hill
to eat at that little Mexican restaurant down there. And we
was walking up to the restaurant, and he bent over and picked up
a penny. And he said, I bet you wouldn't
bend over and pick up a penny. And I said, no, I got a pocket
full of change. But I tell you, if I was bankrupt,
I'd dive on that penny before somebody else seen it. Wouldn't
you? That's the difference. That's the difference. You see
a man, if a man's got his own righteousness and he's been fixed
up and he's got his own will and he's got his own, all of
these, what's he need with the grace of God? There's no treasure
in that for him. But boy, you find that old bankrupt
leper. You take that old leper covered
from head to toe with scabs and sores wounds and all of this
stinking and barred from fellowship. You find Him, boy, show Him Christ. He'll show you the treasure.
He'll show you the treasure. He'll tell you about the treasure.
And you can go on and on, blind Bartimaeus. Everybody told him,
be still. Just be still. You ain't nobody.
Be still. Jesus, thou Son of David, have
mercy on me. He saw the treasure of God passing
by. And He might not come by again.
That's what it means. This is that treasure. He puts
it in earthen vessels. And the multitudes don't even
see it. They just laugh at the scorn. He's nobody. He can't
even talk in proper English. Who does he think he is? What's
he doing trying to preach? I'm not trying to preach. I'm
trying to show you the treasure. I don't want you to see me. You
see me, you miss the treasure. I want you to see the treasure.
One of the old preachers was in Glasgow years ago and he was
walking over to the meeting and he went by an auction house.
He said he looked in that auction house and the auctioneer had
a painting. He said you couldn't see the
auctioneer. All you could see was this painting and you could
see this finger out here going around on the painting. as He
auctioned the painting off. And that's it. We preach this
gospel. I don't want you to see me. I
just want you to see what I'm pointing to. I want you to see
Christ. Our Lord said, Because thou sayest,
I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.
But He said, You don't know this. You don't know that thou art
wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. You don't know that. God reveals
this heavenly treasure to sinners. Listen to this. Blessed, He said,
are the poor in spirit. They are bankrupt beggars. He said, for you know the grace
of God. 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. You know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though He were rich, Yet
for your sake He become poor, that you through His poverty
might be made rich. Believers rejoice in Christ because
without Him they are nothing, and with Him they have everything.
You are complete. That is what the text says in
Him. What is it that is demanded of
the sinner that Christ does not provide? He is the end of the
law for righteousness. Do I seek righteousness? Do I
need righteousness? Yes, I do. One of the strangest
requests I ever read in the scripture is what Paul requested. He said,
oh, that I might be found in Christ not having my own righteousness. He didn't want God to see his
righteousness. And that was his hope before
God converted him. He said, touching the law, I
was perfect. I was perfect in my breeding.
I was perfect in my inheritance. I was perfect in all of these
things. Oh, I was perfect. And then he found out what he
really was. Oh, he said, now I just hope
I can be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness,
but His righteousness. What else is demanded? We're
at war with God. We need to be reconciled. When
we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
Justification, we're justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Sanctification, Christ came to
do what was written of Him in the volume of the book, The Will
of God. By the which will, Hebrews 10.10,
by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. What about life? He that hath
the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God,
whatever else he has, he doesn't have life. Colossians 3 verse 4 says, When
Christ, who is our life, shall appear. That's the life. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. He's the life. I tell you, everything in Christ
sparkles like a jewel to a poor bankrupt sinner. Has God ever
revealed to you your true condition before Him? I don't mean that
this is some kind of isolated act, but you see, I just got
to get down here where this one time I really feel That's not
what it is. It's a continual revelation.
But have you ever had the beginning of that revelation? Has God ever
even begun that revelation in your heart of your true condition
before Him? You wouldn't be chasing after
free will and fighting over man's decision if you ever found out
that you were held captive. Captive. In your fallen nature,
you're held captive. You can't get out. It's got bars
and doors that set bounds. You can't get out. You can't
work free from the nature. You can't change your spots like
the leopard or the Ethiopian. You can't change the color of
your skin. What's he talking about when he says, oh sir, he's
talking about your nature. You can't get out of it. You
can't get around it. You're a sinner before God. You're
locked in that way. You can't do yourself any good.
The only person who can do you any good is God, and if He does
it, it will be all of grace. Won't it? Do you know anything
about that? Did God ever reveal that to you? Poor and wretched. How many in
here this morning know that they are wretched? Wow. A fellow told me, he said, I
ain't always doing the right thing. I said, you ain't never
done the right thing. One thing I can say, no, you
ain't got one thing. You get where you can't say anything,
then you're where you need to be. Wretched. Wretched before God. Miserable. Miserable. Just miserable. Can't do myself
any good, can't do you any good. Just miserable. Held captive. Paul said in Romans chapter 7,
listen to this. I think about that word miserable.
He said, when I would do good, evil was present. The good that
I would, I don't do. The evil that I wouldn't do,
that's miserable. How wretched man that I am, he
said. Who can deliver me from the body
of this death? Who's going to deliver me from
this nature? Who's going to deliver me from
this condition? I thank God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Bound in a fallen nature, held
captive by the prince of darkness, Deceived by a deceived world.
Where will you go for help? Where will you turn? How will
you decipher the difference? There's a man on every corner
preaching. How are you going to know which one is right? You
won't. That's what my nephew said. He
said, you know, he said, I listened to you talk. And he said, I sincerely,
I want to have. He said, I know that this book
has something good to say and something good that God has given
to men. He said, I know that. But he
said, this guy says he knows the truth. And this guy says
he knows the truth. And this denomination says they
know the truth. And this one over here says,
and some of them are ancient, and some of them are new. And
how do I know? How does a poor, ignorant sinner
like me know the difference? I said, you never will, but by
the grace of God. You will know who to go to. How are you going to pick who
to listen to out of that old nature? Now, the influence of
a deceived world, you're going to find somebody that suits your
needs, somebody that suits your disposition, and you're going
to sit under him and listen to him until you die. I'm telling
you the truth, but by the grace of God. All believers have a common problem. They're all sinners. All believers
have a common experience, the free and sovereign grace of God
in Christ. I listened and sang this. Sang
this when I was in religion. Just sang it at the top of my
voice. Never one time ever listened to the Word. It was grace that
taught my heart to fear. I didn't know anything about
that. I just sang that at the top of my voice. Amazing grace.
It wasn't amazing. I didn't even know what it was. It was grace that taught my heart
to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed. And through many dangers and
tolls and snares, I have already come. It was grace that brought
me safe thus far, and grace will take me home. Do you know anything
about that? All believers discover the same
priceless glory, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
And by the experience of grace, their hearts are knit together
in love. That's why we love one another. Everything we have is
in common. I'm not going to pick at you
because of your sins. I'm a sinner. It doesn't amaze
me that God saved you. It amazes me God saved me. If
He didn't save me, He didn't save anybody. If He can turn
me around, He can turn anybody around. If He can show that priceless
treasure to me, my soul, He can show it to anybody. That's why we knit together in
love. That's why we have this common,
we got a common past and a common future and a common solution. It's all by the experience of
grace. You cannot know the true and living God in the saving
experience of grace and not love others like yourself. He that
loveth not, God said, knoweth not God. For God is love. When I say the saving experience
of grace, I'm not talking about a feeling or anything like that.
I'm talking about faith wrought in the heart by the Holy Ghost. I'm talking about the eyes of
your understanding being enlightened. I'm talking about hearing and
receiving the gospel of God's dear Son. I'm about a sinner
finding mercy who deserved to die. I'm talking about a bankrupt
beggar who's carried into the king's house because of a covenant
made with his father. You ever read the story of Mephibosheth? Boy, he was nothing. He had a
contract out on him. He was to be put to death, but
Jonathan, his father, made a covenant with David to save him. He said, if there's any left
of my house, he said, I want you to swear to me before God
that you won't kill them. And they sent for Mephibosheth.
And Mephibosheth knew what was going on. He knew there was a
contract out on him. He knew that the new king had
to destroy all of these sons. All of his enemies. And they
brought old Mephibosheth into the house. And he couldn't walk.
Had to carry him in. Carried him in before David.
He was going to die. That's what he thought. He was
going to die. David said, put him over at my table. Let Him sit at my table. Let
Him sit right beside me in my house forever. Huh? You know anything about that? That's treasure. That's treasure. The heavenly treasures here in
our text described as the riches of the full assurance Now, lesson
of understanding. Over in 1 John 5, I think it's
down along verse 20 or so, he said, And we know that the Son
of God hath come and given to us an understanding, that we
might know Him that's true, that we're in Him that's true, and
this is eternal life. That's what it is. This is eternal
life. has to do with an acknowledgement
of the mysteries of God, the mysteries of God's eternal concepts,
counsels and purpose, the mystery of God's eternal election and
predestination, the mystery of God's character and attributes,
the mystery of God's Israel. I bet there's not a handful that
you can find out here in the counties that know anything at
all about the mystery of God's Israel. They think that little
group over there in the Middle East is Israel. God has an Israel. Spiritual Israel. The mystery
of God's incarnation as a man. The mystery of Christ's eternal
appointments. The mystery of His resurrection
and present reign and glory. The mystery of His future return.
The mystery of God's eternal kingdom. For centuries, men explored
those old pyramids over in Egypt. And they went inside and They'd
look around and there was a language on the wall. It was pictures.
Pictures. Looked like little stick pictures
up there on the wall. Called it hieroglyphics. The
strange pictorial language, unlike anything that was ever seen. All the Egyptian history and
religion and government were all recorded on the walls. Each
king and his heirs were recorded there in their life and their
history. Their hope and directions were put there to their inheritance
where it was sealed. Nobody could understand the writings.
They were just pictures. Have you ever been there? Have
you ever read the Old Testament and said, I wonder why he let
that happen? I wonder why he let King David look down there
in lust after that woman. Go down there and marry her.
Put her husband. I wonder why all these things.
Mysteries, ain't they? We don't understand the language.
Oh, I tell you, when Christ come, then you understand what the
pictures are about. And here's this language down
here. Then in 1799, near a little town called Rosetta, Egypt, a
man found a tablet, Russell. And inscribed in this tablet
was Greek and Emotic And the hieroglyphic, it was all there.
It was the key to the language of the hieroglyphics. They called
it the Rosetta Stone. And the Rosetta Stone was the
key to hieroglyphics. It unlocked all the mysteries
that it laid hidden for centuries. Christ is the key. He's the Rosetta
Stone. He's the stone. Listen to what
Peter said. He said, this is the stone. And now what he told those Jews,
those religious men and women, he said, this is the stone which
was set it not of you builders, which has become the head of
the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there
is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved.
It's all in Him. He's the stone. Preachers don't
understand the Scriptures. Well, quit studying them. Start
studying Christ. Start studying Christ. Christ
will unlock the scriptures. He'll unlock the scriptures.
Christ is the chief cornerstone and his apostles and prophets
are the inspired foundation on which the church is built. In
him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. How do I know if this is really
what this text is talking about? Because he gets down in verse
6, and he said, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord,
so walk you in Him. Rooted and built up in Him and
established in the faith as you've been taught. Abounding therein
with thanksgiving. I'm going to ask you something.
I've got a lot more notes, but I'm pretty much finished. We
got a lot of caves up in Kentucky, and I used to love to go explore
in the caves. We found some pretty unique things
in there. Let's suppose you were in this
cave. It's just dark. You can't see.
When you get back in there after a while, you can, I don't care
how long you've been there, you can hold your hand right here,
you can't see anything. There's no light. You're wandering around
there in that dark cave, not knowing where you're going, feeling
your way along, and all of a sudden this little speck of light shows
up in front of you. And you go up there and it opens
up into this big old cavity. And in the ceiling is a light.
There's a hole in the ceiling. Goes all the way to outside.
And that light's coming down through there like a prism. And
it shines in that big cavity and you look out there, Russell,
and there's treasure. There's a treasure out there
you can't see across it. You can't measure its breadth
or its length or its depth. It's just treasure as far as
you can see. Your buddy's over here. He's
still over here in the darkness. He comes into this place and
he's getting a little tiny bit of light over there. And he said,
man, come over here and see what I found. He said, I found a flower
pot. You reckon you're going to leave
that treasure to go look at that flower pot? No, I think you're
going to say, no, you need to come over here and see what I'm
looking at. Come over here in the light. Come over here in
the light. That's what I'm trying to tell
folks. Come into the light. Come and see the treasure. See
the treasure. Might be God will reveal it to
you. Could be. Our Father, we don't know where
to begin to give You thanks. Not a single need that we've
ever had that You haven't fulfilled. Not a single promise that You've
ever made that You haven't made known to us, that we haven't
experienced. Help us as we continue to try
to preach this gospel. Be with us. Give us of Your Spirit. Give us the hearts of the people.
Be pleased this morning to open blind eyes and deaf ears for
Christ's sake. Amen.