I invite you to turn back with
me in your Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians
chapter 2. I want to begin reading this
morning with verse 11. Verse 11 of Ephesians chapter
2. Wherefore, remember that ye being
in time past, Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands that
at that time ye were without Christ being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise
having no hope and without God in the world. But now, in Christ
Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh or near
by the blood of Christ. I want to speak this morning
on the subject nearness to God. Nearness to God. And our text
is verse 13. Paul has been explaining to these
Ephesians that there was a time when they were without hope and
without God in the world, and he told them that at this particular
time that they being in time past they were Gentiles in the
flesh and they had been called the uncircumcision by that which
was the circumcision. Now the Gentiles were referred
to as the uncircumcised by the Jews which of course had the
ritual of circumcision. But Paul is addressing these
that are now in a different position. They were at one time without
hope and without God, but now, he says in verse 13, in Christ
Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the
blood of Christ, nearness then to God. Now these two phrases
that we find here in this text this morning, in Christ Jesus
and by the blood of Christ, are the two pivots of the doctrine
of the text or the teaching that we find here in the text today. Now made nigh, this beloved is
the privilege, this is the blessing that we have been given. We have
been made nigh. That means we've been brought
near unto God. Now then, we know that this privilege
or this blessing that we have is in Christ Jesus and it's by
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the way that we have
received the blessed privilege and blessing in Christ and by
his shed blood. Now we want to talk about this
this morning. I believe it can be very helpful
It has been helpful to me and it has blessed me and I pray
this morning that it will be a blessing to you, that it will
comfort you, that it will strengthen you, that it will enable you
in your mind and heart and soul to be able to practically draw
nearer to God. Because we want to talk this
morning first of all about the doctrine of the text and then
give you the practical side of what this really means to a believer. And I hope that you'll be able
to just sit still for a while and be able to receive what we
had to say. In Mike and his prayer, he just
echoed the words of my own soul, is that we could hear, retain
better, and that we would believe what we hear. how important it
is that you not only hear something but that you retain it and that
you believe what you heard. I cannot understand the callousness
of men and women who will go and sit under a ministry and
pay little attention to what they hear, have no desire whatsoever
to retain it and keep it, and they will not believe half what
they hear. Now beloved, this is of course
very characteristic of men and women who are carnal minded and
live in the flesh, as it were, and walk after the flesh. But
may God today enable us to hear, retain, and believe what we hear. Now then, all believers have
been brought near. They have been brought not. All
believers in the Lord Jesus Christ have been brought near unto God. Now that sounds very simple.
It sounds just very, very, very simple. But now listen. We were
afar off. We're to understand what that
means. We know that in Adam we fell into sin. Adam was our federal
representative in the garden. We were in Adam when he fell. And our being far off was due
to the fact that we fell in him and that we were all lost and
dead spiritually. I remember Conrad emphasized
that when he read it this morning that we were dead in trespasses
and sins. So the people of God now, they
have been brought near. They were afar off. They're like
the prodigal son who remembered that he went to his father one
day and he wanted his part of the inheritance. And we're told
that the father divided with him the inheritance and the Bible
says he went into a far country. He went to a far country. And
that's the way we all were by nature. We were children of wrath,
even as others. We were children of disobedience.
And that spirit that indwells men and women today that are
living in open sin and rebellion, both against the laws of the
land and the laws of God, that very spirit was in us in days
gone by. And we were far off. And we needed
to be brought nigh. We needed to be reconciled to
God. We needed to be brought. into
a position where we could fellowship with God and where God could
fellowship with us. And so all believers have been
brought in to this position where they have a nearness unto God. Now to commence, let me try to
explain, if I can, the meaning of these two phrases which I
said was the pivot point of the doctrine of this text. Now first
of all, in Christ Jesus, and then secondly, by the blood of
Christ. We who sometimes were far off
are made nigh, number one, because we are in Christ Jesus. Now this is so very important
for you to understand. I told you that Adam was the
federal head, our federal head, the federal head of mankind in
the Garden of Eden. Now Jesus Christ is our federal
head. He's the federal head of all
the elect. Now these people that here Paul
is talking about in verse 13 are the same people that he was
talking about in verse 4 of chapter 1 when he said, According, as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. The very same people. But now
in Christ Jesus, those that had been chosen before the foundation
of the world in the federal head, the Lord Jesus Christ, these
people, they're in Christ. All the elect of God are in the
Lord Jesus Christ by this federal union. And he's our head. He's
ordained of all to be so, as we said from the foundation of
the world. Now, as Adam, as we explained,
was the head of the human race, and we all fell in Adam, so Christ,
the second Adam, stands as the head of the elect. And in him
we rise from the fall, and in him we live, and in him we have
our nearness unto God. Now this is our position. Now
you may feel a long way off this morning, and you may not feel
that God is very near to you, nor are you very near to God.
But positionally this morning, all of God's elect are near unto
God, and God is near unto them. Now this federal union leads
in due time, by the grace of God, to a manifest and vital
union, a union of life and for life even unto eternal life,
of which faith is the visible bond. Now I mean by that, that
if you were chosen in Christ Jesus before the world began,
that in time, sometime, in due time, God is going to bring you
unto Jesus Christ. You're going to be brought to
Him, you're going to believe upon Him, and there's going to
be a union that's going to be formed between you and Him, and
you're going to become one with Him, in Him, you're going to
be one. Now the soul of God's elect as
we said, are brought to lay hold of Jesus Christ by faith. It
is so because Jesus Christ has already laid hold upon their
soul by the power of His Holy Spirit. He claims them to be
His heritage seeing that He has bought us with His blood and
seeing that His Father has given us to Him as the reward of the
travail of His soul. We have been given unto the Father. Now all who are in Christ Jesus,
and in Him from the foundation of the world, They are in eternal
covenant with God. They're in the eternal covenant
of grace. And they shall in due time be
in Him by this living union which we now speak of. This living
union. And so this morning, if you're
a believer, you're in this living union. You are one with Christ. You are in Christ Jesus. Now, beloved, if there is any
phrase in the Bible which is the key to unlocking the oneness
of the message of the gospel, it is that phrase, in Christ
Jesus. Because, beloved, this is where
the people of God are, positionally. They're in Christ. They're in
Christ. They're one with Christ. Just
like a man and woman get married, they become one flesh, we're
told in Ephesians 5. And so those that are in Christ,
those that are in this vital union with Christ, this union
of life Beloved, these people, they're the people of God. And
this is where so many, many people become confused. And so many
people today, they profess to be believers, but they don't
understand how it is that we are accepted of God, how it is
that we're near to God. They don't understand it, but
beloved, it's all in Christ Jesus. It's in Him. Now, listen to me. It is clear that we must be near
to God in and by this union because Christ is ever near to God and
those that are one with Him must be near also if He be near to
God. Now Jesus is himself God. Here is nearness outdone, if
you please. How can you get near to God than
to be God yourself? Now hear me out. Now as a man,
the Lord Jesus Christ is without spot or blemish and so he is
near to God in character because there is no sin in him. He was made to be sinned by imputation
When our sin was laid upon him when he took our sin upon him
He the just one dying for the unjust when sin was laid upon
him He was made to be sinned, but he knew no sin. That's 2nd
Corinthians 5 and verse 21 he knew no sin, but he was made
to be sinned for us but Jesus is without sin, spot, or blemish
before God and is one with God by character as well as by birth. Now as having finished the work
which was given to him to do, he also is near to God by acceptance,
in acceptance. The Father has accepted him back
into glory because Jesus finished the work which the Father gave
Him to do. Now as having gone up to heaven
to take the promised crown, He is near to God in person. The
Bible says He is seated at the right hand of God. He is the
conqueror and He must reign until all men become His footstool. And since we are one with Him,
We must, from that very fact, be near to God as near to God
as Christ himself is. Now this is the part that people
have trouble with. They have difficulty in believing
that we could possibly be as near to God as Jesus Christ himself. But that's not blaspheming because
you see we're in union with him. We stand, now listen to me, Christ
standing is our standing. Now if we be one with Christ
by real and actual union where Christ Christ is, we are. Now you must believe that brother
because you believe that His death on the cross was your death. You believe His death to sin
was your death to sin. How do you explain that? Well
you explain it only this way and that is that you were in
Him when He died on that cross. That's the only way it could
be possible. For His death to be your death? It's the only
way you had to be in Him when He died and we were in Him as
our head when He died on that cross. So I believe that death
was my death unto sin and so Christ's standing is my standing. Whatever standing He has before
God is mine. is mine as I stand in him and
as Christ is nigh unto God even so he has raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places and we're so near so very
near to God we cannot nearer be for in the person of his son
we are as near as he the poet said and I think that's blessed
to know this truth and we must believe this Because there are
so many times when we feel so far off. But brother, sister,
we are nigh. And God is nigh us. We are as
near as Christ. Don't ever stand back from the
throne of grace. Don't ever stand back and say,
well, I don't have any right to come. You've got as much right
as Christ has to come to the Father. You've got as much right.
You're just as near as He is. and you come in His name and
that's what that means that you come with His merit and you come
before the Father and you come as one who is righteous in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the second phrase is this
and that is by the blood of Christ. Those of us that are now in Christ
Jesus have been brought nigh by the blood of Christ. Now if you and I were to be asked
what power lies in the blood to bring us near to God, our
answer would be that the blood is the symbol of covenant. It's the symbol of an agreement
having been reached. between two parties. And we know that the Lord Jesus
Christ is our covenant head. That the agreement that has been
entered into, that eternal everlasting covenant was made between the
Father and the Son. It was made, they were the contracting
parties. Now ever in the scripture, when
covenants are made, victims are offered and the victim becomes
the place and becomes the ground of approach between the two coveting
parties. the victim, there must be this
victim and he becomes the place of the crown and the approach
between these two parties. Now the blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ is expressly called in the Bible, in the book of Hebrews,
the blood of the everlasting covenant. His blood is that blood
and that is the ground of our approach unto God. Now, for God
comes in covenant near to us by the blood of His only begotten
Son. Now every soul whose faith rests
upon the blood of Jesus Christ which was slain in the mind and
soul of God from the foundation of the world is in covenant with
God. If you trust in the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ, you are in covenant with God, meaning
that there's a covenant agreement between you and God, and Jesus
Christ is the grounds of your approach unto God, and God has
accepted Him. We have, by His Spirit and grace,
accepted Him, and He is the mediator between us and God, and we've
been brought near to God by His precious blood. Now, beloved,
there is reconciliation. It has been made. We are reconciled
unto God. You say, Preacher, I've been
working on that. You give it up. It's already happened. It's
already taken place. You say, Preacher, I've been
getting nearer to God. I've been trying to get nearer
to God. Give it up in and of yourself. As far as the doctrine
of it, as far as the position of it is concerned, you can't
bring yourself nearer to God because God's already done it.
He did it in Christ. He did it by putting you in union
with Christ and then by your covenant head shedding His blood
in order that you might be brought into nearness. with God. Now, when we read the scripture
here as it speaks of the blood, bring us near, it does so because
the blood takes away our sin. That has separated us from God. First John 1 and 7 says that
the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. It's the blood that washes us
clean from our sins. Now when we read the word blood
as it is here in Ephesians 2 and 13, it means mortal suffering. In short, we are made nigh by
the griefs and the agonies of the Redeemer. We are made nigh
unto God by His suffering, by His grief, by His agonies. Now the shedding of blood indicates
pain. It indicates loss of energy and
health and comfort and happiness, but it goes further still. The
term blood signifies death. It signifies that the victim
here, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, it signifies that
he died, that he died. Now it is, and don't ever forget
it, the death of Jesus in which we trust as the people of God. Now this is so important that
you understand this, that we glory in his life, we glory in
his resurrection, We glory in his second advent. We believe
he's coming back to this earth. But beloved, the ground of our
nearness to God lies in his death. In his death. His death was not
brought about by the decay of nature or by disease, but it
was caused by the sharp sword of divine vengeance. It was caused
by the Father putting him to death. He was put to death for
our sin. He died on that cross. Now the word blood in fact refers
directly to the crucifixion of our Lord. We are brought nigh
to God specially and particularly by a crucified Savior pouring
out His life's blood for us. That's how you've been brought
nigh God. And so don't you stand back and say well I can't get
near God. Listen you've already been brought nigh God. You are
near to God in Christ and by His shed blood. Now the first
and the grandest and the highest and the most essential truth
for us to lay hold of and to preach is the fact that Jesus
Christ died for our sakes according to the scripture and that this
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
came into the world to save sinners, and for sinners gave Himself
up to die, as we said earlier, the just for the unjust, that
He might bring us near to God. That He might bring us to God.
And so don't you see, this business of a sinner getting out of the
forecountry and getting up near the heart of God is all the work,
the sovereign work of our God. It's His work! that brought us
near through the person of His Son. Now listen to this, O love
of God, how strong and true, eternal and yet ever new, uncomprehended
and unbought, beyond all knowledge and all thought. We read thee
best in Him who came to bear for us the cross of shame, sent
by the Father from on high, our life to live, our death to die. the Lord Jesus Christ lived our
life and died our death and it is his life Our salvation is
based upon a life that we did not live and upon a death that
we could not die. We are not able to die and to
pay the debt of sin. Men who go to hell, they die
an eternal death, but they never get done paying for their sin. But Jesus Christ died our death. and he suffered eternal death
and paid for our sin. Now to preach the atoning sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ and to preach the position of the
elect people of God in their federal head, the Lord Jesus
Christ is the surest way under God. I think to draw those that
are far off spiritually and mentally unto God, to draw them near unto
God and to give them hope in their souls. You see, this is
the only way that a person can get to God. You can't get to
God, you can't get near God any other way. You cannot. We'll
have a little to say about that a little later. But now I want
you to turn back with me in Psalms to the book of Psalms chapter
73. Chapter 73 and I want you to
look verse 27 and 28. Now I want to talk a little bit
about the practical side of this. And what this means, what this
translates out to, this doctrine that we've discussed this morning
about us being near to God. Do you feel it? Do you feel nearness
to God? Oh that you would feel it, that
the divine spirit would come upon you and draw your heart
close to the Lord, and you would experience, your state would
become what your position really is in the Lord. But now in verse
27 and 28, the last two verses of Psalm 73, the psalmist says
this, for lo, they that are far from thee shall perish. And that's
exactly what's going to happen to those that are not brought
nigh by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. For those who are
not in Christ, they will perish. Thou hast destroyed all them
that go a-whoring from thee. But it is good for me, listen
to verse 28, but it is good for me to draw near to God. I have put my trust in the Lord
God that I may declare all thy works. It is good for me to draw
near to God. Now beloved, this is the practical
side of our subject. I believe that once it dawns
on your soul, once you are able to receive what it was that we
have told you this morning. Once that it enters into your
soul and becomes part and parcel of your heart's faith, I believe
there will be this desire to draw near experientially to God. Practically to draw up near the
Lord because you see how that God has brought you near to himself
in Christ and through his blood and you want to draw near unto
him. Now we have showed that we must
be reconciled to God by the death of his son before we can ever
draw near to God in any other way. There's no need for you
to talk about drawing near to God if you haven't already been
reconciled as we've explained this morning. Now to do so would
be like a moth drawing near to a candle. You know what would
happen. Or the stubble approaching the fire. If you try to draw
near to God apart from Christ, You'd just be like the stubble
coming up near the flame because the Bible says God is a consuming
fire. And while our hearts are not
right with God, we cannot draw up near to God ourself practically
and experientially. You can't draw near to God because
you must be brought nigh by the blood of Christ and by being
in the Lord Jesus. Now before any of us can draw
nigh to God in acceptable worship, prayer, and praise unto God,
we must be washed in that fountain filled with blood drawn from
Emmanuel's veins that Mike led us in a little while ago. Well, practically, in order to
draw near to God, I think the soul must grasp the thought the
soul intimacy is what I'm talking about now listen what we have
here in this world now if you were to read the fifth chapter
of Ephesians you find it talks there about marriage and the
oneness and I quoted a verse there and the scripture does
say that we are members of his flesh and of his bones and for
this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother and
shall be joined to his wife and they too shall be one flesh and
Paul says this is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ
and the church. Now there is intimacy that grows
out of being one in marriage and there is intimacy
that grows out of this union that we have with the Lord Jesus
Christ. And this is what is involved
in our drawing near unto God. There's intimacy there in that
union that we have with the Lord Jesus Christ. And what we have
on earth with human beings that we're related to or that we deal
with is only a shadow or a type. of what we have now experientially
as true believers who are convinced of this union that we have with
Christ, who are living in touch with that union and who are convinced
of it and who grasp the nearness of God to their own soul. It's
only a shadowing type of what we have here with God and what
we shall have eternally with God forever and ever in heaven
above. Now, if we can believe, I want
to say that ignorance is a very effectual barrier to any approach
to God. Now, I mean by that, that you
must believe what I have told you here this morning. You must
believe that. You must know it and you must
believe it. That in Christ Jesus, you who were sometimes far off,
are near. You've got to believe that. You've
got to believe it. Now if you don't know about it,
that you're already near to God, you may just, as we've suggested
earlier, keep on working on trying to get near to God. And you can't,
you can't do it. He's the one that's made the
nearness. He's the one that's brought us
now. And we must believe it, that the position that we're
in is the same position that he's in. And we must come and approach
Him to God just as Jesus. You say, well, I know that Jesus
wouldn't have any trouble just coming right up to the Father
and pouring out His heart to the Father. Well, you and I are
in the same position He's in. And so we've got no problem with
that. I'm telling you that ignorance is a barrier. It's a barrier
to any approach unto God. Sinners can never be brought
any other way than the way I've explained. And if we believe
that our approach is both a mental and a spiritual approach. You've
got to know what I've been talking about and you've got to believe
what I'm talking about. It's a mental and spiritual thing. You see, we're in a fall. If we don't understand, when
the preacher says draw near to God, if you don't understand
what's went on before, what we've said, then you're in a fog. Maybe it's because there's mist
in the pulpit. They say if there's mist in the
pulpit, there'll be fog in the pew. And maybe that's the reason,
but I've tried to clear that up. This morning, I've tried
to make it clear to you how we've been brought near to God. Now
if we can believe that we're near to God and He's near to
us, we have become capable of spiritual and experientially
drawing near to God. We can do it. We can draw near. We can come right up near the
Lord. Now well, what is it? Practically
to draw near to God. We've said it's intimacy with
God and it is. Now it's also prayer. Prayer,
I think, is the outward form of drawing near to God. We come
to God in prayer and we're conscious that God is hearing our heart
talk. Now, I'm talking about people
that are near to God now. They're not only conscious that
God's here in their mouth, here in their words, they're conscious
that God's reading their heart. That God is reading their heart
like you and I would read a book. That God is reading our heart. You see, we're one with Him.
And that's mighty near. See, we're one. Draw near to
God, it is getting to feel that the Lord is close to you and
that you have no secret which you wish to or can keep back
from Him, but you've unveiled your most private and sacred
thoughts and desires to Him. You see? You're near God. Now Hebrews 4 and verse 13 says,
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight,
for all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with
whom we have to do. And so in this intimacy and in
this prayer we have unveiled the most private and sacred thoughts
and desires of our hearts to Him because we're near to Him. I'm trying to explain what it
means to draw near the Lord and you'll see why it's good to do
this and like the psalmist said it was good for me to draw near
God. Now the giving right up to the
ear of the Lord Jesus Christ, the leaning of our aching head
and our troubled heart upon that heart of the Lord Jesus that
always beats with pity. The casting of all of our care
upon Him, knowing that He cares for you and pities you and believing
that and sympathizes with you. And this is, I think, what we
mean when we talk about drawing nigh to God. We're drawing near,
approaching Him in faith, believing that He's touched with the feelings
of our infirmities. And we draw near. Now listen,
next, drawing near to God I believe will assume also the form of
praise at different times. in our lives. It would be, I
think, a proof of our utter selfishness if we only come to God when we
wanted to get something from God. That would be, that's just
not the way it is with a true believer. They just come when
they just want something all the time. There are times when
the soul draws near to God in thankfulness. And sometimes we're able to convey
with words how we feel about what God's done for us. And then
there are other times when the weight and what we feel in our
hearts, what the Lord has done for us, it kind of reminds me
of what David said one time, he said, what is my, he said,
what am I? And what is my Father's house
that thou hast brought me hitherto? I mean, why is it that I've been
brought into this place of nearness to God and that I have forgiveness
of sin and pardon and that I'm reconciled to God, accepted by
God for all eternity? How is it that things are as
well with me as they are? How is that? Well, there are
times when we're so overwhelmed And we know that the Lord's mercy
has been so upon us. It overwhelms us and as it were,
our words, their backs are broken by the heaviness of the praise
and the gratefulness and the thankfulness of our hearts. And
the words, they just break down and all there is there is just
a voice of praise. We exhibit a real and deep thankfulness
unto God by drawing near to God in praise unto Him. Oh, I hope you felt that. Now,
in drawing near to God, there is the element, I think also,
and I want you to get this, of looking at things and drawing
near to God. I mean, if we're that near to
Him, where He reads us and where every thought, every feeling,
everything about us, He knows it, and we're intimate with Him,
listen to me, I think there's an element of looking at things
when we get that close to God, as God sees them. I mean there's
this element of looking at things in the divine light, seeing things
as God sees. Now our light here below is nothing
better than the candle light, the way we look at things, the
way we see things. We too often judge our afflictions,
I think, and the providential dispensations of God by what
I would call the light of a candle. We look at them, but we don't
really see what God's doing, and we don't understand what
God's doing, but listen, but when we draw near to God, we
get into His light. And we begin to look at things
in their eternal bearings, and we cannot help but to receive
some comfort, and it does us good because we begin, the closer
we get to God, the more we begin to see things from His point
of view, the way He sees it, and what He's doing, and how
this thing is. Now men by natural light and
human reason, they judge providence by the moment. They judge the
providence of God by the moment, instead of regarding the providence
of God in its true magnitude, stretched upon the framework
of that eternal love which knows neither beginning nor end. We
judge what God's doing by just this minute. How it's affecting
me right now. But the closer you get to God,
brother, sister, The more you begin to look at this thing,
the big picture, and the more you begin to see these things
from God's point of view and in God's light. And it is so
needful for us to get near to God that we could weigh the events
of life in His scale and measure things according to His rule. Now isn't that important? It
is very important and I'll tell you this, the only way you ever
get to be able to do that brother or sister is for you to draw
near to God. Draw up near to Him. Now He's
brought you and I, now you draw near to God and you begin to
look at things by His light. Now it is right that we get so
near to God. Now you may wonder about this,
but it is right. If we are one with Him, And that
if we're near Him, that we get so near to God that we're pleased
with anything and everything that pleases Him. Now that's
right. Absolute trust in the living
God is what we are aiming at. Now it's a high attainment when
a believer can honestly say, if I could have my will, if I
could have my own way, it should be my will that God's will should
be done. Now that's a high attainment,
brother. If you ever get to there, you've
got near to God. You've got near to God in your
heart. Now if it were ever to be brought to a vote, your vote
would be, I will be done. If it was to ever be brought
down. People voting on whether they want the will of God to
be done, your vote would be, Thy will be done, O Lord. I mean,
if you've ever got near to God, then that's the way you would
feel about it. Now, let him do what seems good in his sight,
is the saying of a soul that's been near to God. The heart has
to pass through many a furnace before it can attain to such
a degree of humility and such a degree of subjection and submission
unto the Holy God. Let us ask to be able to say,
nevertheless not as I will, but as thou will. If it pleases you,
my God, it must please me. Let us ask God to give us that
kind of a heart and nearness to Him. And might our song be,
have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way. Thou art the potter,
we are the clay. Have thine own way, Lord, have
thine own way. Now brethren, As we draw this
to a close here, may the secret of the Lord be with us. And it
will be with us if we're near Him. The secret of the Lord. And may the Spirit of the Lord
overshadow our spirits in such a way that His will will be our
joy and His light our delight and Himself our all in all. And with the psalmist, we'll
be able to say, but it is good. for me to draw near the Lord,
near to God. I have put my trust in the Lord
God. Father, we give thanks for your
word, for your truth, for the privilege of preaching this morning.
And I pray that you'll give us all, our Father, the ability
to retain what we've heard. Give us that measure of grace
and help that will enable us to hide these truths in our hearts. And there's no barrier now, there's
no reason now, why we should not draw near being. And so,
lead us on to do it. And may all of us be able to
come back into this place and say, publicly, it was good for
me to draw near the Lord. I put my trust in the Lord. Lord, bless this people and encourage
them. In Jesus' name, Amen.