The preaching of the gospel is
ordained of God for many, many good purposes. As I prepare to
preach to you, as I stand in this place, I try constantly
to have certain things before my mind. Preeminently, I hope
the glory of God. The object of preaching is not
to build up this church, this congregation
to get more people to join with us, though we certainly rejoice
when God's pleased to save sinners. The object of preaching, first
and foremost, is the glory of God. If you make the object to be
getting results, if that ever becomes Even a matter
of concern, the message is going to be compromised. The glory
of God is the object of gospel preaching. Involved in the glory
of God, of course, is the salvation of God's elect. I want so much
to be used and for us to be used as a congregation for the increase
of God's kingdom, the furtherance of the gospel, for the gathering of His dispersed
people into the blessed wings of His
grace. And in preaching the gospel,
it is my responsibility to comfort and edify your souls, to minister
comfort to God's people, to edify God's saints in the faith of
the gospel. You see, the Lord has promised,
when he gives pastors, to give pastors, teachers, after his
own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and with understanding. A God-given knowledge and a God-given
understanding. Knowledge of Holy Scripture. Knowledge of Gospel truth. Knowledge of you. An understanding
of you. Understanding of where you sit,
what you experience, what you feel, what you go through. Understanding
that comes with experience, yes, but understanding that comes
by the direction of God's Spirit. So to preach the gospel to the
hearts of men is God's work, not a man's. It's
God's. It can't be done by man. God
promised to give pastors who will guide you in old paths of
gospel truth so that you might constantly find rest for your
souls in Christ. And to that end, I come here
again tonight, praying that God the Holy Spirit will be pleased
to speak through these lips of clay to your hearts, that your
hearts may be established with grace. Now let's turn together
to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. Our text
will be verses 7 through 14. Hebrews 13, verses 7 through
14. We'll read the text as we go
along. If we would have our hearts established with grace, we must
constantly set our hearts upon Christ. live with Christ before
our hearts, living constantly in the pursuit of him. So that
with Paul, we constantly must put aside those things that are
behind and reach forth to those things which are before, pressing
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus, seeking to know him. seeking to know him in the
fellowship of his suffering, being made conformable unto his
death, seeking to know him in the power of his resurrection.
Now, in these verses, we are given six important pressing
admonitions, admonitions we need to constantly heed, admonitions
we need to have constantly before our minds so that we might walk
before God with our hearts fixed upon Christ, with our affections
set on things above. First, the Holy Spirit here gives
us an admonition regarding faithful pastors. Look at verse 7. Remember
them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you
the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of
their conversation. Now, the language of this passage
in the teaching of the New Testament with regard to pastors and their
work is totally contrary, totally contrary to the concepts men
and women have concerning such things in our day, totally contrary
to the concepts of the religious world around us, even the concepts
of most people who genuinely are believers but have had very
poor instruction in this regard. I've told you many times, and
if you've been in my company at all, I try to avoid letting
strange people know that I'm a pastor unless I have occasion
to minister to them, because just as sure as they find out
you're a preacher, they'll give you advice on how to do it. Every
mother's son is an authority on pasturing. Every mother's
son. We had roofers out here a few
weeks ago, and the fellow asked me something about roofing. I
said, I don't know a thing about roofing, but I'll make a deal
with you. You don't tell me anything about preaching, I won't tell
you anything about roofing. And I don't know the fellow's matter,
but his crew bent over double laughing. And he said, I'll make
that agreement with you. That's a pretty good agreement,
because I don't know anything about it. And most folks don't
know anything at all about religious, spiritual things and truth. Most people don't at all, and
few in the religious world as well. What does this book say
then? Christ's church is a kingdom,
a kingdom. The church is not a democracy. It's not a democracy. A democracy
is the mess you get when everybody has his own opinion and exercises
his own opinion, kind of like the mess we're in in our country
today. Church is not a democracy. Church is a kingdom, and Christ
is the king. He has appointed gifted men. as pastors, to be overseers over
his church. Not subordinates under, but overseers
over his church. To be rulers. The word is governors. It might be translated leaders
or guides, but the word is governors. Those who are appointed governors
over his church to be subordinates to him, but not subordinates
to men. They're not men of superior quality. Nothing could be further from
the truth if that's thought. They are not men of superior
abilities. Nothing, nothing about a man's
physical abilities qualifies him for this work. Nothing about
his natural gifts and talents. Boy, look at his talents. He
sure make a good teacher. He sure make a good preacher.
Got nothing to do with it. Nothing to do with it. They are
men appointed by God to a specific place, to a specific work for
which God alone gifts them. And they are responsible to exercise
themselves in that regard. They are called them which have
the rule over you. Now, there's a reason for that.
You see, pastors are men who are appointed and gifted of God
to rule his house, the local church, in exactly the same way
as a husband is required of God to rule his house. You find that
clearly in 1 Timothy 3 and verse 4. The bishop must be one who
rules well his own house. If he doesn't know how to rule
his own house, how can he rule the church of God? The same thing.
Now, in our household, I am responsible under God for the direction of
the house. Does that mean that I push Shelby
around, get my way with things? I hope not. If so, I'm not much
of a husband. You see, a husband, a father,
is one who rules his house for the glory of God, for their welfare,
without consideration to his own pleasure, desire, and will. And in exactly the same way,
a pastor must rule the Church of God. God's servants don't
rule his churches arbitrarily, according to their own wills
or for their own pleasures, but according to the word and spirit
of Christ. They rule his house faithfully,
with prudence, seeking the direction of God's spirit, exercising great
diligence seeking God's will and God's glory and the good
of his people. God's servants are not and do
not wish to be demagogues. I know folks say, well, he's
just a dictator, he's a demagogue, he's a tyrant, likes to rule
over men's souls. Religion tries to control your
life, not God's servants. Not God's servants. I'm not about
to sit down and investigate your life and see what you eat and
what you don't, what you wear and what you don't, where you
go and where you don't go. I'm not about to try to set down
rules and regulations by which you must live in this world.
That is not the purpose of the gospel ministry, nor the desire
of God's servants. But God's servants are not June
bugs on a string. I don't know whether you fellas
ever did or not, but when I was a little boy, we didn't have electronic games. So we invented things, you know,
like kick the can and that kind of stuff. I used to catch June
bugs, tie a string around them and you just take those things
and fly them everywhere. Just fly them everywhere until
they died. But the June bug couldn't go
anywhere except where you let him go. Not God servants. Not God servants. They are not
june bugs on a string controlled by men, but rather they are the
servants of God who watch over your souls, serving your eternal
interest, and are subject to the rule and governing of God
Almighty for His glory. The word rule here, as I said,
might be rendered guides or leaders. The meaning is that the gospel
preacher is one who points you to Christ, who directs you continually
to Christ, who leads you by faithful instruction and by faithful example
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He guides men and women into
the understanding of scripture, into the truths of the gospel,
and leads them in paths of faith, Faithfulness and true godliness
by the Word of God and by the example that it is before them.
The admonition here is threefold. Look at it, verse 7. First, the
Lord God admonishes his people to remember those men who serve
their souls by the gospel. Remember them, own them, acknowledge
them, respect them, obey them, submitting to the Word of God.
They deliver to you as those whom God has set over you to
rule over you, to guide you, to direct you. To remember them
involves knowing them. Turn over to 1 Thessalonians
5. 1 Thessalonians 5. Now the things that I say here
this evening in this regard I say not just with regard to this
congregation and this pastor. I thank God for your grace and
kindness toward me these 23 years. But the Church of God needs clear
instruction. And I urge you, as you demonstrate
great care and love for me, to do the same for our brethren
who labor in the gospel wherever they may be found, giving the
proper respect and the proper hearing to those men who are
directed of God and gifted of God for the work of the ministry.
Look in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 12. Paul is wrapping up this
epistle to the Thessalonians, and he says, we beseech you,
brethren, to know them. Know them. Know them. Know who they are. Know what
they do. Know them. Now watch this next
word, which labor. Labor. The work of the gospel involves toil and labor. How can I stress this sufficiently?
That man who doesn't labor in the word and
in the doctrine, who doesn't labor for the souls of men, who
doesn't give his life to the business of studying and preaching
the gospel, by whatever means God gives him, has no business
standing where I stand here tonight. That includes me or any other
man. Gospel preachers are men whose lives are separated unto
the gospel, who labor in the word and in the doctrine. You
remember what Paul said in 1 Timothy 4, I believe it is? The pastors,
the elders who labor in the Word and in doctrine are worthy of
double honor. He's talking about men who give
themselves to the Word, who give themselves to the work, laboring
in the Word. Know them which labor among you
and are over you. There's that word again, over
you. I recall some years ago, first time I started beginning
to think about pastoring, and somebody spoke to me about hiring
me. I wasn't just a kid, but I had better sense than that.
Hire me? No. Right after I came here, some
folks asked me if I would send a resume to this fairly large
congregation seeking a pastor. I wrote them back. I said, I
don't apply for a job pastoring. No. God's servants are made to
be overseers in His house and kingdom. Over you, now watch
it, in the Lord. Over you, in the Lord. I am the
head of my house, not because I'm superior to my wife, because
I'm the husband. That's the business. I'm the
husband. Now, I'm responsible to exercise my responsibilities
as a husband, providing for and caring for my family, seeing
to it that their concerns stand above mine without consideration
of mine. But I'm still the one responsible for it. And I am
the pastor of the congregation, not because I'm better than any
man here. Oh, my soul. But because God
has put me in this position of responsibility. Know them which
labor among you and are over you in the Lord, and admonish
you. Admonish you. Teach, instruct,
guide, lead, beseech you. And to esteem them very highly
in love, esteem them. Esteem them properly. Esteem
them with love. Love them for their work's sake,
if for no other reason because they preach the gospel to you.
Love them. Brother Rex last couple of weeks
been concerned about Walter and Cody and Lance and their families. I just want to tell them I love
them. Love them. Care for them. Because they preach
the gospel of God's grace. Because they're God's servants.
And we need more of them. And be at peace among yourselves. Now I'm going to guarantee you
this. I'm going to guarantee it. I've been pastoring for 30
years. A little better. Good bit better
now. I have never seen this fail.
Wherever there is a congregation that rallies around the ministry
of a man, esteeming him highly for the gospel sake, loving him,
that congregation is at peace. And wherever there is envy and
strife and division concerning the man who preaches to them,
the congregation is in constant turmoil. I can give you example
after example after example after example. So Paul says, remember
them. Remember them who preach the
gospel before you, knowing them. And remember them before the
throne of grace. Are you still there in Thessalonians?
Look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. I often leave a note to Brother
Lindsey when I'm away containing this reference. Finally,
brethren, pray for us. Pray for us that the word of
the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is
with you. Pray for me, for these men who
preach the gospel to you and elsewhere. Pray for us that the
word of God might have free course. Pray for us that we might serve
you with a good conscience and serve God with a good conscience.
Pray for us that the gospel might not be bound, but might run freely
wherever the gospel is preached. To remember them is to treasure
up, remember, and heed the gospel they preach to you. In 2 Timothy
1, listen to this, Paul says, hold fast the form of sound words
which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ
Jesus. Hold it fast. Don't let it slip
away. When the message is done, when
you are dismissed here this evening and after every service, try
to refrain from discussion of any kind. that will take your
mind away from the gospel that you just heard. How many times
have you walked out the door, you just get done preaching,
singing God's praise, and your heart's lifted up in worship.
You walk, before you get to the door, something has distracted
your mind. By the time you get to the first
step, if somebody asked you what the message is about, you'd have
to go back and look at your notes to find out what it was. Don't
let that happen. Speak to one another about the
word that you've heard and encourage one another with regard to it.
Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in
faith and in love which is in Christ Jesus. To remember them
is to remember their needs and supply them as you have opportunity. It is reasonable, Paul says,
that they who labor in the gospel should live by the gospel. I
oftentimes speak to pastors, young men particularly, who are
hesitant to deal with this. Why should a man be hesitant
to deal with what God plainly teaches? Pastors, if a man's
a greedy man seeking wealth, he's not a preacher. Brother
Mahan said years ago, he said there are two kinds of preachers.
those who give and those who take. And that's a pretty good
description. And yet at the same time, it
is altogether proper that pastors be supported in their livelihoods
by the gifts of those they serve. Not only that pastor who serves
you here, but wherever men are in need, who preach the gospel
of God's grace, as we have opportunity, let us do whatever we can to
seek to what their needs are met. Obviously, this congregation
can't supply the needs of every needed preacher in the world,
but we can do what we can. And let's do what we can. Provide
their needs in an even better way. When you bow before God,
pray. Pray. I need some help. I need some
help. I need God's help. And I can't
possibly minister to your soul, Bob Duff, or anybody that you
bring here to hear the gospel, unless God speaks by me. No matter
how many hours I labor and study, no matter how hard, no matter
how much I strive after, unless God speaks, nothing good is done. and encourage men in the gospel
every time you get a chance. Drop a note, missionaries, other
preachers. I try my best to seek to it that you know faithful
men everywhere in this generation. I want you to know them, love
them, support them, and encourage them. Don't ever, don't ever,
don't ever, Hear a man preach the gospel to your soul without
speaking an encouraging word to it. He said, well, I don't
want to puff up his head. Don't worry about it. It's already
puffed up. That's not a problem you have to concern yourself
with. I sit down at a meal. Shelby and I have been married
for 33 years. I don't believe, and I may have,
but I don't think there's ever been a time in 33 years, breakfast,
lunch, or supper, that I didn't express to her my gratitude for
the meal she prepared and how good it was. Well, you thought
not do that. That's just flattery. No, it's
called simply being thoughtful and encouraging. I'd kind of
like for to fix one again. I'd kind of like for to labor
at it some more. The reason given for this admonition, look at
it. The encouragement to heed this admonition is the fact that
faithful pastors are men who have spoken to you the word of
God. without question that regards
the written word, this book, the pages of this book, the faithful
exposition of scripture. But the word that's translated
word here is not the word that is most commonly used with reference
to the written word. But rather, it is that word that's
most commonly used with reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is the living word of whom the written word speaks. More about
that in a moment. But the singular message of this
book is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And that man who is
appointed and gifted of God to be your overseer in the cause
of Christ, wherever he is, whoever the man is, his message, his
constant, unceasing message is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Now, what's the next line? Whose faith follow. You know, four times the Apostle
Paul said, to the Corinthians and the Thessalonians, follow
us. Follow us. We tell our children to follow
us, to heed us. And if we expect them to follow
us, let us take heed how we lead them. When Paul says, follow
their faith, No question, he's talking about the doctrine of
faith. I preach the gospel of God's free grace to you. Seek
to it that you follow it for your soul's good. Anything that
sounds different, just push it aside. Just push it aside. It
doesn't say whose faith consider, it said whose faith follow. But
it's more than that. He's talking about following
their example of faith and faithfulness. Someone asked me just recently
about somebody that's considering calling for a pastor. And I don't
offer advice that's not asked for very often, and seldom when
it is, because most folks don't want to hear it. But somebody
asked me about a pastor, somebody to minister their souls. I'm
going to be just as ruggedly honest as I can be, just as ruggedly
honest as I can be. I said, don't call him. Don't
call him. I know the man. Don't call him.
How come? He's such a good preacher. You
can't count on him. You can't count on him. You see,
pastor must be a man you can count on. You can lean on him. You can follow his direction.
You can depend on him. If he puts one step in front
of the other, this is where he's going. And you follow him. That's
what a man ought to be in his house. What a pastor must be
in the congregation. Follow his faithfulness and his
faith. And then the third part of the
admonition includes a reason for following such a man, considering
the end of their conversation. The word end here has the idea
of the drift, the direction. the consummate finality of their
life. There's a man who's shown me faithfulness,
who's shown me faith, who's shown me the grace of God in Christ,
who's shown me the way of life. He's proved himself faithful.
He's looking for everlasting salvation, for the glory of God. I believe I want to follow him.
Isn't it amazing how that children will pick out folks who have
some kind of a some glamorous aspect, just whatever it might
be, or some imaginary glamorous aspect. Boy, I like him. I'm going to follow him. And
that becomes their idol. They want to follow him. Got
lots of idols these days. I recall reading a story some
time back. I forgot who it was. Asked a
young man, said, who would you like to be like? Just a little
boy. Said, I'm eight years old. He said, sir, I ain't never met
anybody I want to be like. What a pity. What a pity. Find somebody who has proved
himself faithful and follow him, not a shooting star. Follow him,
not something that just has a passing fancy. Follow him, considering
where he's going. Follow Him, considering where
He is directing you to. Whose faith follow, considering
the everlasting salvation at the end of their conversation.
All right, let's look at the second thing. The Holy Spirit focuses our attention
on our immutable Savior. Here's the end of His conversation. Here's the stability of His life. Jesus Christ the same. What a word. It never changes. Never changes. I may embarrass Lindsey a little
bit, but he'll just have to endure it. I've done got it out. I tell
folks, Everywhere folks know him and hear his name on the
tapes and so forth. I admire him because he's faithful. He's faithful. Every aspect of
his life I know of, faithful. Enough said. But I admire him. I admire him. Told your boy that
wouldn't have a long time ago. I admire him. Nothing I admire
in a man like dogged, dependable faithfulness. It's faithfulness. But His faithfulness, mine and
yours, is nothing compared to this. What makes men and women
faithful is following the faithful Savior, Jesus Christ the same. He doesn't change in his person,
in his character, in his object, in his love, in his mercy, in
his grace, in his attitude, in his goodness. He is always the
same. Yesterday, back yonder, Abraham,
you read about it back in the author, Baba Genesis 18, he met
Jesus Christ at his tent's door. He's the same fellow. And I use
the word with great reverence. Abraham met that fellow at his
tent's door and bowed and worshipped him as his Lord. Same one. Same one. He's the same right
now, today in this gospel age. And what he is to us now, he
shall be to us forever. When we bow before him and say,
Lord, this is our God, we've waited for him. This is our God. Now then, look at verse 9. The
Holy Spirit calls for us to remember and consider our own hearts.
He says, be not carried away with divers and strange doctrines. What are those? Any doctrine
that supplants the work of Christ. Any doctrine that makes the immutable
God our Savior to be mutable and changeable. Any doctrine
that denies the gospel of God's free grace in him. Any doctrine
that would somehow make his work to be less than effectual and
less than glorious and accomplished. Be not carried away with divers
and strange doctrines. There's a bunch of them and they're
all strange because they all come from strange sources, not
from the word. For it is a good thing, it's
a good thing that the heart be established. unwavering, like
the rock of Gibraltar, unmoved, unshaken, established, firmly
fixed, because it's firmly persuaded, established with grace. Grace. Grace. Sometimes folks say, well, Fortner's
going to cede on sovereign grace. I say, thank you. It's time somebody
did. Grace. Just pure, free grace. Let your heart be established
with grace. The free grace of God in Jesus
Christ. and not with works. That's the
meaning of the next phrase. Not with meats. Not with legal
ceremonies. The kingdom of God is not in
meat and in drink, but in righteousness and in peace and in joy in the
Holy Ghost. The kingdom of God, the grace
of God, doesn't have anything to do with what you eat and drink. Nothing. Man, alive at the religious
world around us, couldn't cuss about what folks eat and what
they drink. They wouldn't have anything to preach about. Put
anything on. If they couldn't fuss about what
you wear, don't wear. If they couldn't fuss about how
long a fellow's hair is or how short a woman's hair is, they
wouldn't have anything to talk about. The kingdom of God's got nothing
to do with that stuff. Got nothing to do with it. The kingdom of
God is righteousness. Righteousness, which God gives.
Peace. Peace, which God gives. Joy. Joy, which God gives in the Holy
Spirit, convincing us of finished work by our Redeemer, by whom
our sins have been put away. by the grace of God we stand
now, accept. Let your heart be established
with grace! And forget all the nonsense you
hear that is in any way contrary to grace. Somebody says, boy,
that sounds like it works for me. I believe I'd tag it works. It looks to me like that's mixing
grace and works. I believe I'd tag it works. Grace. Let your heart be established
with grace. Let us not be unsettled and tossed
about and carried away with every wind of doctrine. Those who are
occupied with those things, meets and drinks and ceremonies and
Sabbath days and law-keeping, Those things that can never justify,
can never sanctify, can never take away sin, can never establish
the heart, they have just simply fallen from grace. That's all.
They've departed from the gospel of God's grace. Now look at verse
10. When Paul says, let your heart
be established with grace, he turns our minds and our hearts
directly to the finished work of Christ. He talks about Christ,
our altar. We have an altar. Somebody points
to their huge altar, and they say, there's our altar. They've
got a crucifix there, hanging up. Up down here, we rented that
building to have faith's wedding. Cost us enough to rent it. Fellas,
oh, you can't do that. That's the holy altar. Talking
about a communion table. Shoot, let's roast some marshmallows.
That's not an altar. No, no, no, no, no. Oh, we have
an altar, but not a physical altar. Not a physical altar. We have an altar in the heavens. Christ is our altar. He's our
priest, He's our sacrifice, and He is the altar by whom we draw
near to God. Now, having Christ as our altar,
we have the right to come and eat of Him. Look at it. We have
an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the
tabernacle. Those who serve God by carnal
means, those who have a physical altar. Now listen to me and listen
carefully. I'm not just talking off the
top of my head. If a man or a woman attempts to worship God at a
physical altar, he can't worship at this altar. Can't be done. Can't be done. I don't care who
made the altar or how many of your ancestors have been worshiping
at it. A man or woman attempts to worship God at a physical
altar cannot worship God and will not worship God at Christ,
the altar, who's in glory. I worship spiritually, it's not
carnal. Does that make sense, Bobby? We worship Him in spirit
and in truth. We have a right to eat at this
altar, who is the bread of life. What you talking about eating?
The sacrifice. Look at the next line. The altar at which we feed,
upon which we must set our hearts, is Christ our sacrifice. For
the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary
by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp." Now,
this is what he's saying. On the day of atonement, you
remember back in Leviticus chapter 16, and then on back to chapter
6, the high priest would bring the blood of calves and goats. make the sacrifice, take the
blood into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the mercy seat,
but the sacrifice was burned on the altar. And the priest
was required to eat it, the whole sacrifice, in one day. The priest
family were required right there in one day to eat the whole sacrifice. You see, you can't get Christ
by bits and pieces. You receive Christ's sacrifice,
His finished work, His substitutionary accomplishments by faith, all
at once, and you continually feed upon Him. Feed upon Him. Now watch verse 12. Wherefore
Jesus also, that He might sanctify, that He might make holy the people
with His own blood, suffered without the gate. as that lamb
was brought without the gate to the city, and there slaughtered
as a representative victim, representing Christ our Lord, with the sins
of the people imputed to Him ceremonially. So the Lord Jesus
Christ, in order to redeem our souls, in order to sanctify us
before God, voluntarily took on Him our sins, and went without
the gate, went without the city up to Golgotha's brow, and there
laid down His life for us, being made to bear our guilt and our
sin. And then, sixthly, we must constantly
have our hearts and minds focused upon our place. Let us go forth, therefore, since
Christ forsook all for us, let us forsake all for him. Let us
go forth, therefore, unto him. That's the issue, unto him. without the camp. It's not just
a matter of separating from this fellow or that, separating from
this thing or that, but it's separating from everything unto
him, bearing his reproach. Whatever reproach comes for following
him, thank God for it. Whatever comes. Whatever comes.
Believe the gospel of God's free grace and men scandalize your
day? Oh, thank God for that. Believe
and preach the gospel of God's free grace and men get upset
with it? Oh, thank God for that. Preach the gospel of God's free
grace and folks talk and yik-yak? Thank God for it. Thank God for
it. I know in this town, you folks who are identified with
this place and this ministry, You have to have a little gift
jack, you know. Folks got to say something. They got to have
some snide remarks and talk. They like to talk. Let them talk. Who cares? They're nothing. The
religious world around us is nothing. Nothing. Well, preacher,
aren't you impressed with these things? No. No. I drive by and see these huge
mausoleums folks build and call them churches. Oh, look what
they're doing. I tell you what, I have never
yet envied, at least not a lost man, over here in this cemetery,
no matter how fancy his mausoleum was. I've never envied one. Oh, I sure wish I could have
his place. Now I'll be if I stay where I am. What's to envy? What's to be concerned about?
Go forth unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach gladly,
as he bore reproach for you gladly. For here we have no continuing
city." That doesn't mean we don't have one. Love not the world. These are the things that are
in the world. Don't crave the things this world craves, religious
or otherwise. Don't do it. We have a city whose
builder and maker is God. And where Christ is, soon we shall be. He says, where
I am, there you shall be also. How come? Because He's borne
our reproach. He's taken away our sin. He's
taken away our guilt. So let us go forth unto Him, feasting upon His sacrifice,
the bread of life. Day by day, feed on His blood
and His righteousness. Find sustenance for your soul
in what He has done for you. Find strength for the day in
his constant unfailing intercession at the Father's right hand for
you. Find stability for the establishing of your heart with grace and
heal our immutable God and Savior Jesus Christ the same yesterday
and today and forever. Amen.