If you please, turn back in your
Bibles to the book of 2 Peter chapter 3. The book of 2 Peter
chapter 3. I'd like to read verse 8 and
9. Verse 8 and 9. But, beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. Verse 9 is one of the texts of
scripture that we often hear quoted and used by the Arminian, those that are of the Arminian
persuasion. And I believe this morning the
Lord has directed me to these verses and I hope that we will
find here a message that would be useful, helpful, edifying
and encouraging to our hearts. If you listen carefully as we
read the chapter earlier, You certainly observed, I'm sure,
because the Apostle makes it crystal clear here, and deliberately
he distinguishes between us who believe and those coffers who
believe not. He draws a distinction between
us and them, us, those of us that have been laid hold of by
the sovereign, irresistible grace of God and have been drawn out
of the world, drawn to Christ, and those who have been left
to themselves in the world. Those who have been left, those
whirling sinners who have been left to themselves and know not
the fear of God and are willingly ignorant of many of the great
truths of God. Now we see here that the scripture
tells us that the Lord is not slack concerning His promise. Did He promise that Christ would
come to judge the world and to gather His elect into Himself?
Certainly He did. Certainly, he made that promise.
Now these that are scoffers, they say, where is the promise
of his coming? Where is the promise of his coming?
Is he coming? Well, we believe that the Lord
Jesus Christ, the same Jesus that was caught up into the heavens,
will come again in like manner. We believe he's coming back.
The Bible says, he that shall come will come and will not tarry. Jesus is indeed coming back. But the scoffer says, where is
the promise of his coming? Why, since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.
We see no evidence that Jesus, the appointed judge, is coming
back to judge the world in righteousness. We see no evidence of that. But
beloved, we're told in verse 5, are willingly ignorant of
the fact that there was a time when God poured out judgment
upon the old world in the days of Noah. There came a time when
God had tolerated as long as He purposed to the sin of the
antediluvian world, and He poured out, He opened up the heavens
and poured out judgment, drowning the world of the ungodly. And
then we're told also that there's coming a time because the Word
of God has testified of it, and God's Word has been pleased to
preserve and keep and store up and reserve, as it were, the
world until the fires of the last day. God is going to burn
up this world. We're told that here in the scriptures
that we read this morning. The earth also, in the last part
of verse 10, and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
And then we're told in verse 12, the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. Heavens being on fire shall be
dissolved. God's judgment is going to be
poured out upon this earth. There's coming an hour, there's
coming a day when God will unleash his fury upon this world and
the judgment of God will most surely come upon this world of
perverts the world of the ungodly, the world of those who challenge
everything that God says to them. Nothing is holy. The Word of
God is not pure to them. The Word of God has no message
to them. And they do not have the fear of God in their hearts.
And therefore, God's going to bring judgment upon them. But
these say, well, it's not going to happen. But Peter said, Beloved,
I don't want you to be ignorant of this, that God's time is not
our time. The way God figures things is
not the way we figure them. That's what verse 8 means, that
the Lord has an entirely different calendar than we have, and in
our short space and short time upon this earth, maybe we've
seen some things happen, maybe we haven't. But we judge God
with our limited understanding, with our minds, and such we cannot
do. And so he said, don't be ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years, and a thousand years is one day. God has a different
way of measuring things. His ways are not our ways. As
the heavens are higher than the earth, so are the Lord's ways
higher than our ways. And we have no way of figuring
out God's calendar and knowing exactly. I've heard many that
have attempted to do it, but we know nothing about when the
Lord's coming. We just know according to the
Word of God that He is coming. And we know that He's going to
bring judgment upon the ungodly. We know that. Now, the Lord is
not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness.
Don't get the idea that because God promised, and He hasn't fulfilled
it as of yet, that He's not going to. We've known many people in
our lives that you could not trust their word. They would
say something and you just couldn't depend on it. You just could
not depend on it because they were slack concerning their promise. They might keep the word and
they may not keep their word, but they were slack many, many
times concerning their promise. But the Lord is not slack concerning
this promise of His coming, this promise of judgment. He is not
slack concerning that. But, the scripture says, is longsuffering
to us worth. The Lord is longsuffering to
us worth. The promise and the longsuffering
of God are to us, those who are loved chosen and redeemed and
called of God, those who believe on Christ for everlasting life.
The long-suffering of God is salvation, and it is toward the
Lord's elect. The reason why God has not yet
brought judgment is because all of the elect have not yet been
brought in. The Lord cannot be goaded into
sending the Lord Jesus back to this earth before the time, the
right time, before all of those that the Father gave to the Son
in the eternal covenant of election are brought unto the Lord Jesus
Christ and all are pardoned and forgiven and saved through the
grace of God. The Lord Jesus will come back
at God's appointed time. And as Paul said in verse 15,
an account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation. The reason why he's not come
back is because he has some sheep that are not yet in the fold,
that must be brought in to the fold. That's why that he's not
come back. is because God is yet going to
have mercy on some people. He's yet going to show Himself
His arm of mercy, His strong arm of deliverance. He's going
to show it. His elect are going to be saved. They're going to be brought to
know the Lord Jesus. This is the only reason why God
tolerates the enemies of Christ to this hour. It's the only reason
why that God puts up with the sin and the rebellion that is
in this world. It's the only reason why that
He does not now make the enemies of Christ His footstool. It's
the only reason why that He doesn't send His judgment down right
now and convict and convince men of sin and bring them into
judgment. Listen to me. I believe this
to be a true statement, that God would never have destroyed,
he never would have destroyed the old world in the days of
Noah before he got Noah in the ark. Just remember that. We're
going to have a little more to say about that in just a few
minutes. But God would not destroy the
old world until Noah was in the ark. He would not burn Sodom
and Gomorrah until Olat was led out of the city. And God Almighty,
even in His strict holiness, will not send, I'm trying to
get you to see this, will not send his son to destroy this
world until, as long as one of the chosen sheep is outside of
the shepherd's fold. As long as there's one out, he
will not send Jesus to bring judgment. The longsuffering of
our Lord is indeed salvation. Aren't you glad that he's long-patient?
Aren't you glad that he's long-suffering? You know, I'm glad that the Lord
was patient until 1951 rolled around. 1951, I'm glad. that the Lord was patient until
that time. I'm glad He was. I'm glad that
Jesus didn't come back in 1950. I'm glad that the Lord waited
until He brought me into the fold. And I'm sure that you here
this morning that know Christ, you that have experienced that
redemption that is in the Lord Jesus, you that have had your
sins put away through the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus, Him being
made a curse for you in your room instead in place, that you're
thankful that the Lord this morning spared you and was long-suffering
and patient and did not send Jesus back until you were safely
in the fold. And then we notice here another
thing in this verse, just trying to open up this subject to you.
He's long-suffering to usward, and he goes on to say here, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Now, we're told in religious
circles today that God is not willing that any perish, but
that all should come to repentance. And I'm here to tell you this
morning that men are saved by God's will. There would be nobody
that would ever be saved if it were not for the will of God.
And God Almighty saves everybody that He wills to save. Everybody that He purposes to
save, He will save. We're told in James chapter 1
in verse 18, of His own will begat He us with the word of
truth. Of His own will, He begat us. He begat us. He brought us
in and into salvation. He saved us Himself by His own
will. And then we're told also in John
1 and 13 that we were born, not of blood, nor the will of the
flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. We were born of God. And so, beloved, who God saves,
He saves according to His own will and purpose. Paul said in
Timothy, who has saved us and called us, not according to our
own works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. And so when
this scripture here says that God is not willing that any should
perish, then to whom is this promise given? To whom is it
given that God is not willing that any should perish, but that
all should come to repentance? Well, it's certainly not to Pharaoh,
because God killed him. And it's certainly not to Cora,
Dathom, and O'Brien, because God sent them to hell. He opened
up the earth and sent them to hell. You remember, some of you
heard the tape by Brother Ralph Barnard who said that God sent
them, He opened the earth and sent them to hell without giving
them time to pack a suitcase. He did. He just sent them off
to eternal judgment. So apparently, the promise was
not to them. The scripture says he's not willing
but any should perish, but certainly it wasn't Pharaoh, and certainly
it's not Judas, because the Bible says that Judas went out and
hanged himself, and Judas went to his own place. He went to
hell, that's where he went. So the promise could not be unto
him. Let me tell you something this morning. The promise is
to nobody that's in hell today. The promise is to nobody that
will finally end up in eternal judgment under the wrath of God
forever and ever. No, it's to us. He's long-suffering
to usward. Not one of God's elect will perish
in his sin. Not one of Christ's sheep will
be missing from the fold. Not one soul redeemed by Christ
will be cast into hell. Why? Because God is not willing
that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
And the will of God cannot be Frustrated. The will of God cannot
be hindered. Frustrated. We're told by Daniel,
in the book of Daniel, that the Lord does according to his will
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
None can say unto him, what doest thou? The God of the Bible is
an absolute sovereign and he will have everyone that he gave
to Christ. The Bible says all that the Father
giveth to him will come to him. They that come, I'll no wise
cast them out. I'm not willing that any of them
should perish. I'm not going to lose one of
those that the Father has given to me. I will save them every
one. And so we've tried to open up
this verse. Now let me try to illustrate this particular truth
that God's long-suffering means salvation to his people. It means salvation to his elect.
I want you to turn back with me to the 65th chapter of the
book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 65. And I want
to try to illustrate this a little bit if I can to you this morning. And look at this with me. I want
to read here verse 8 and verse 9. Thus saith the Lord, as the
new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not,
for a blessing is in it, so will I do for my servant's sake, that
I may not destroy them all. And I will bring forth a seed
out of Jacob and out of Judah, an inheritor of my mountains,
and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell
there." Okay, now I want you to think a little bit with me
about this 8th verse. Thus saith the Lord, as the new
wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not,
for a blessing is in it, so will I do, for my servants' sake. Now a gardener was about to cut
down a dried up vine when the owner of the vineyard passed
by and he noticed kind of head back into this vine
that was dried up and was ugly and looked like it ought to certainly
just be cut off at the ground, he saw there a bunch of grapes. And he noticed this cluster of
new grapes, and he cried out to the vine dresser, destroy
it not, for a blessing is in it. Now, this vine looked worthless. It appeared to be just needlessly
occupying space, ugly and dried up. And the gardener would have
cut it down, thinking that was the only thing to be done with
it. But the owner saw a blessing
in it. He saw a blessing in it, and in that which, might we say,
which appeared to be worthless, the owner saw a blessing in it.
So will I do for my servants' sake, the Lord says, that I may
not destroy them. The blessing of God is often
found in that which appears to be good for nothing. Is that
not true? Well, certainly we can prove
that. Can we not by the word of God? Well, first thing I want
to call your attention to is God's elect in this world are
the blessing that is hidden among the nations of the world for
which he preserves them. The Lord is preserving the world
for his That's why that vine was preserved. There was a blessing
in it. And the owner said, don't destroy
it. The only reason why God does
not destroy this world right now is not the fact that there's
not some people praying that he will. And I know, and I don't
mean any disrespect by it, I said earlier that God cannot be goaded
in to destroy the world before all of his elect are brought
in. And I mean that God cannot be induced to destroy the world
even by the prayers of His people. And regardless of the moral majority
or the Christian coalition, Their thoughts about judgment ought
to be coming, and certainly it will come. I'm no one to tell
God when he should bring it, but I'm here today to tell you
that we believe that God will, in righteousness, judge this
world. But no one can move God to do
it before the time, and that's the emphasis of this message
this morning. And the only reason he does not
destroy it right now is the fact that there's a remnant, according
to the election of grace, who must be saved. Everything that
God does in this world, hear me, is for the elect's sake. Everything he does, every benefit,
providential mercies that reprobate men in joy and time is because
there lives among them the elect of God. You believe that? That's
the reason why this whole thing stands. That's the reason why
this earth is fruitful. This is the reason why men enjoy
the things of this world. It's only because the elect are
among them. that God continues to allow this
to be. Now then, destroy it not, for
a blessing is in it. Now, beloved, this is what God
says here. This is not my opinion I'm sitting
for. This is what God says. So will I do for my servant's
sake. Now, I want you to see this. I mentioned Noah a while
ago. Well, once Noah, the blessing, you see, Noah, the blessing,
was safely in the ark, then God destroyed the rest of the world.
Now listen to this, once Lot the blessing was delivered into
Zor, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Once Joshua and Caleb,
the blessings was in the land of Canaan the Lord you know he
brought judgment all those who came out of Egypt that were above
20 years old the Lord brought judgment upon them and they died
their carcasses were scattered in the wilderness because of
unbelief but oh Joshua and Caleb they were the blessings and they
were brought in safely into the land of Canaan the rest of the
world exists and is used by God for the elect's sake. The blessing
is in the elect. They are the ones blessed of
God. The Bible says that the election
hath obtained it and the rest were blinded. The election hath
obtained it. They've obtained all that God
has in Christ. Everything that other men seek
for, the election hath obtained it in the Lord Jesus. Now that's
wonderful to me. I'm glad to be one of God's elect.
I think this has a definite effect upon the Lord's people, and we'll
try to talk about that in just a few moments. But God's elect
are always just a remnant. They're few among many. That's
what Matthew chapter 22 and verse 14 says. Now, there's a verse
of Scripture. Turn over to Isaiah 43. I'd like
just to read the first five verses, and you can see what I've been
talking about right here in these verses. But now thus saith the
Lord, beginning with verse one of chapter 43 of Isaiah, thus
saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee,
O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called
thee by thy name, thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall
not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my
sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee. Therefore
will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not,
for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east, and gather thee from the west." Now, beloved, that's just
exactly what I've been trying to say to you this morning. And
I think also in this verse there in Isaiah 65 that there's another
thing. There's a declaration here that
wherever the blessing of God's grace is found in a sinner's
heart, it shall not be destroyed. The owner of the vineyard said,
destroy it not. Destroy it not. There's a blessing
in it. And like new wine in the grape, grace is a new thing in
the heart of man. Like new wine, grace is delightful
both to God who gives it and to man who profits by it. like
new wine in the cluster, must be pressed out, so all grace
in the heart of the elect must be tried. But the grace of God
and wrought in a sinner's heart can never be destroyed. What
God does, He does forever, and nothing can be added to it or
taken from it. The gifts and callings of God
are without repentance on God's part. He never goes back on His
gifts and His callings. That's something I see here in
this text. And then, frequently, the objects
of God's grace, the blessing of God in the earth, is found
in that which we consider worthless. You know, I thought a great deal
about this. You know, I can never understand, and I don't think
anybody has an explanation as to why God would come to families,
certain families, and choose out of them bride for himself. I want you
to turn with me to the book of 1st Corinthians chapter 1. Turn to 1st Corinthians chapter
1 and let me read here some verses that are astounding. I want you
to listen to them. 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and
let's begin here with verse 26. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are
despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to
bring to naught things that are, that no flesh, should glory in
his presence. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord, that gave him all things to make himself
honorable and to make himself to be even as Christ himself
before God. We have standing before God just
as if we were as righteous as Jesus Christ himself, seeing
that he's been made unto us. made unto us, that's a legal
term, his righteousness, and he says he's been made our wisdom,
our righteousness, our sanctification, and redemption. All that God
demanded of us, he provided for us in Christ, and we have this
standing in him whereby we're accepted, where the Bible says
we're accepted in the beloved. So God often gathers his jewels
for his crown among those who are counted as the filth and
the offscouring of the earth. Those chosen ones, although they're
scattered throughout the earth, are a people concerning whom
the Lord says, destroy them not. Destroy them not. God the Father
says, destroy them not, for he has loved them, he has chosen
them, and he's found a ransom for them. God the Son says, destroy
them not, for he has redeemed them by his blood. God the Holy
Spirit says, destroy them not. The Holy Spirit says, I have
pledged in the eternal covenant to go into the world and regenerate
all those that the Father chose, the Son redeemed. I pledge that
I will go and make them willing servants of the Most High God. Destroy them not. Destroy them
not. These are chosen redeemed sinners,
and they are preserved by the grace of God forever. Now I thought
a little bit about this. What kind of an effect will this
have upon the Lord's people, to hear truths such as this.
God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come
to repentance, that every one of the elect, that they get in,
that they come into the fold, that they are chosen of God.
Ye have not chosen me, I have chosen you. You remember Ananias,
he told old Saul of Tarsus, When he began to deal with him, after
the Lord struck him down on the road to Damascus, he said, God
has, the God of our fathers has chosen thee. He has chosen thee! And in that, that God has chosen
us, and has been long-suffering, allowed us to get into the fold. What a wonderful and loving thing
that is, and it has an effect. upon the people of God. First
of all, there's about seven things. I won't preach on these things.
I'll just give them to you, and maybe you can jot them down,
think about them a little bit. First of all, as we have and
are in our hearts this morning, it will cause us to rejoice.
In Psalm 65 and verse 4 it says, O blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and callsest to approach unto thee. Praise God from whom
all blessings flow. Praise the Lord. Blessed is the
man whom you choose. and cause to approach unto thee. That's the elect of God. Now
secondly, I think it promotes humility in our hearts. Humility. The Bible says in 1
Corinthians 4 and 7, who maketh thee to differ? Who is it that's
made you to differ? Why is it that God is long patient
until you get in the fold? Why is it that God's running
this world just for the elect's sake? Why is it that God sends
preachers out into the world to preach and endure hardness
and affliction and trial in this world for the elect's sake? What's
he doing all of that for? Who's made you to differ? Beloved, grace and pride are
incompatible. John Newton said that a man saved
by the grace of God, that pride is as foreign to him, it has
no place in his life. And that's true. How can you
be proud if you're saved by the grace of God? How could you be?
Well, it's impossible to exist together. Pride and grace cannot
exist together. We rejoice in Christ. Now, I
know we still have the old nature, and I know that once in a while,
and maybe more than just once in a while, this old ugly thing
of pride rears its head in our lives, and we have to deal with
it. And we're conscious of that.
but in the soul of a man, redeemed by grace, experience what he
has by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. Grace, I
say, and pride are incompatible in his heart. We rejoice in Christ. And we have no confidence in
the flesh. We are the true circumcision,
rejoicing, worshiping in the Spirit, rejoicing in Christ Jesus,
and we have no confidence in the flesh. None whatsoever. In the flesh, Paul said, There
dwelleth no good thing. I don't have any good thing in
me. Anything good will come from
God, and we have all God's good in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And outside of Him, God wouldn't
touch you with a ten-foot pole. God only saves us through the
merits of His own beloved Son. Jesus is lovely to God. God loves
Jesus, and if He chose you in Him, He loves you by virtue of
your union with Christ. And His salvation, His preserving
of your life, His blessing you, is all to do with your standing
in His own beloved Son. God loves His Son. I'm glad to be in Him and to
be loved of God in Christ. Isn't that wonderful how blessed
that is? And then I think also not only
will it promote humility, knowing that God made me to differ from
other men and saved me while others were bypassed, but it
also will comfort me in hard trials. The Lord gives, the Lord
taketh away, Job said. Even these all work together,
as Paul said in Romans 8, 28, for our good and His glory. When
we trust Him, we don't have to understand. That's what we were
talking about the other day, Susie. We don't have to understand
if we just trust the Lord. Believe God. Trust Him! And there's
no need to ask why. We don't have to understand.
Just trust the Lord. And then not only that, but I
think a belief in the things we've talked about here this
morning will suppress self and sin in us. It'll go a long ways. An awful lot said in our day
and time about sanctification. But beloved, the thing that will
suppress self and sin is whenever a man knows that Jesus Christ
has chosen him, knows that we're not our own, we've been bought
with a price, and that we belong to God by virtue of the price
Jesus paid, And we desire to glorify God in our body and in
our souls, which belong to the Lord. And that's our desire.
That's what we want to do. That's in our hearts to do that.
We're not perfect, never will be in this body of flesh. But
that's our desire. That's our aim. We aim at perfection. We'll be like Christ one of these
days, and we'll be satisfied when we behold Him in righteousness. And then I think this gives us
great assurance. to know that we're one of Christ's
sheep, to know that He's been long-suffering, brought us into
the fold, that He chose us in old time, and that's the reason
why He moved toward us in time. If God foreknew us, predestinated
us to be like Christ, justified us and called us by His Spirit,
as Romans chapter 8, 29 through 34 testifies of, then who can
be against us? Who can be against us? Well,
Jesus said, I give unto my sheep eternal life, John chapter 10,
they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of my hand, and my Father which gave them me is greater than
all. No man can pluck them out of his hand. That's eternal security. That's security. Well, and I
think, too, this is going to make dying easier. It's going
to make dying easier. We're all going to die. There's
coming a day and an hour when it's going to happen. It's not
If you die, it's when you die. We're all gonna die. Well, in
2 Samuel, I don't have time to turn to these verses. 2 Samuel,
chapter 23, verses 1 through 5, it was the eternal covenant of
God's grace that was a pillow for David's head when he lay
dying. There in that chapter, the first
five verses, you find the last words of David. where he spoke
of that covenant that God had made everlasting covenant that
God had made that's ordered in all things insure and those are
the thoughts the meditations of his heart in his dying hour
his last words about that covenant that's ordered in all things
insure what else would you want to be thinking about when you
come to die They don't need to go back and try to relive your
life. They ain't gonna do any good. Better be thinking about
that which is ordered in all things insure. Something there
ain't no question about. That God loved the people. He
chose those people. He gave them to Christ. Christ
in faithfulness, in obedience to the will of God, came into
this world, reckoned to be all they were. Died on that gory
tree outside the city of Jerusalem. died there and suffered their
hell in their room instead in place and now God has raised
him from the dead seated him at his own right hand and God
is treating his people those for whom he died just like he
ought to be treated just like the Lord Jesus ought to be treated
that's the covenant of grace now that'll make dying easier
it will it'll make it easier and then the last thing is that
it will assure us as a church. It will assure us as preachers
of the gospel of God's grace that our preaching is never in
vain. Now the scripture says in Isaiah
55 and 11, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth.
It shall not return unto me void, it shall accomplish that when
to I send it. It's going to accomplish what
I send it to accomplish. Now, I'm saying this cannot be
applied to all preaching, only to the preaching of His Word.
We know that it's never in vain. Be you steadfast and unmovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you
know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. And there's
one thing that will keep, listen, I do not know why that anyone
who holds the Arminian position and theology would go ahead and
preach. I preach because I know God is
a God of salvation. I know that his arm is not short,
that he cannot save. I know that God has a strong
right arm and that he can save his people. And I know that he's
calling his sheep. And I know that he's waiting
to send Jesus back until they're all brought into the fold. And
so we preach on. And we preach on and we testify
wherever we can. We preach Christ and Him crucified. Because we know it's not in vain.
We know God's going to save a people. We know He's going to save somebody.
And we expect Him to when the gospel is preached. We pray that
He will save sinners. Father, in the name of Jesus,
we thank you today that we've had this privilege of speaking
on this great subject to this people. We ask that you would
encourage every heart. We pray that we may all rejoice
in the finished work of our Redeemer. May Jesus Christ be glorified
in all of our lives. May we live out the praise that
is in our hearts. We ask it this morning in Jesus'
name. Amen.