Okay, now we're turning to Luke
chapter 12. Luke chapter 12, look at verse
54. Luke chapter 12, verse 54. And he said to the people, now
there was a large, large crowd there that day, and he, the Lord
Jesus Christ, had been preaching. this sermon here for, no doubt,
several hours. And he said to the people, when
you see a cloud rise out of the west, the Mediterranean Sea was
to the west of Jerusalem, straightway you say, well, shower's coming. It's going to rain. And so it
is. And when you see the south wind
blow the desert to the south of Jerusalem, Egypt, the Sinai
region, desert land, there will be heat when you say that south
wind blows and it does heat up, it does come to pass. But the
Lord says this very sharp criticism of them in verse 56, He calls
them hypocrites, hypocrites, pretending to be something that
they are not. You discern the face of the sky
and of the earth. But how is it that you do not
judge or discern this time right now? This is a special time.
This is a special day. This is the day the Lord has
come to accomplish salvation. Yea, and why even of yourself
judge you not what is right? Why can't you judge what is right?
You have no discerning spirit. And then the second part of this
sermon he gives, when thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate,
as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be
delivered from him, lest he hail thee to the judge, and the judge
deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into
prison, I tell you, and you'll stay there, until you have paid
the very last penny." Now, if you have nothing to pay and they
cast you in prison and demand you to pay, how long are you
going to be there? You're going to be there a long time. You're
never going to get out. Now, I'm entitling the message from
these last six verses in Luke 12, Discernment and Reconciliation. Discernment and Reconciliation. That's the theme of the Lord's
closing statements in this sermon that's found here in Luke chapter
12. The Lord concludes His great sermon that we've been studying
here. We've been studying in Luke chapter 12 for the last
10 weeks. I look back at the messages I
brought from the Lord's message here. The first one I brought
from Luke chapter 12 was back on September 24th. September
24th, and now it's almost the end. of November. This makes
the tenth message that I brought from this one chapter. And I
must say that it has been a blessing to me to read and study the Lord
Himself, who was the Prince of Preachers, who is God Almighty,
manifest in the flesh. Every word He speaks is absolute
truth. It's impossible for him to lie. Everything we read in his book,
we can count on it that it's absolute, sure, and full of truth. Now, I love reading the preaching
of those who were preachers. especially when it's referring
to the Lord Jesus Christ in the Word of the Lord. I like what
a dear preacher friend of mine, Scott Richardson, used to say
when he would ask this question, what is preaching? What is preaching
anyway? It is simply repeating what God
has already said. And that's all I do. Week after
week. I've been standing here a lot
of weeks, haven't I? A lot of years. Week after week, I simply
tell you from the book of God what He has already said. We
preach not ourselves, as the Apostle Paul said, but we preach
Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. I like, too, what Brother Scott
Richardson used to say about preachers. I've got a picture
in my study. Sometime look at it. It was taken
just shortly before he died. He must have been up in his upper
80s. But there's a caption on his
picture there where it said, a preacher is a nobody who tells
everybody about somebody, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who can save? The Lord Jesus Christ can save
anybody. What is a preacher? He's a nobody.
We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of
the power may be of God and not of us. Now, look at verse Here's
the first part of this message. In Luke 12, verse 56, the Lord
tells these people that they are religious hypocrites. You can discern the face of the
sky. That word there, discern, means
to judge. the face of the sky and of the
earth, that how is it that you cannot discern or understand
or judge this time right now in which you're living? Now what
does the Lord teach us here about having a discerning mind or a
spirit of discernment? You can be most religious, like
these Jewish people were, and miss the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ altogether. You miss faith in Christ and
you'll miss salvation. You'll miss salvation. If you
miss the person of Christ, who He is, and what He's done, you'll
miss salvation altogether. If the Lord is not pleased to
give you a discerning spirit, you'll miss the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, because by nature, we have no discerning
spirit. Now, the Lord calls out these
Jewish people and calls them hypocrites, which simply means
they're play actors of the worst kind, playing a game before God. Now, the Lord uses the same illustration,
if you hold your place there, and find Matthew 16. Turn over
there, Matthew 16. We have a similar thing the Lord
says on another occasion to the Pharisees and Sadducees, Matthew
16 verse 1. The Pharisees also came and the
Sadducees tempting and desired him that he would show them a
sign from heaven. And the answer to them, when
it is evening, you say, it will be fair weather, for the sky
is red. And in the morning, it will be
foul weather today, for the sky is red and lowering. Oh, you
hypocrites, can you discern the face of the sky, but you cannot
discern the signs of the times. The day of the Messiah has come.
A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. There shall
be no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah. And he left them and departed."
Now, what is the sign of Jonah? You remember the story of the
prophet Jonah, how he was swallowed by that fish that the Lord had
prepared, and he spent three days in that fish's belly, and
then was delivered by the power of God, and he declared that
salvation is of the Lord. And that's what he's saying here.
Salvation is of the Lord. Now, these folks here, they were
good weathermen. They were good weathermen. I
loved to watch the weather. My favorite, favorite TV channel
is the Weather Channel. I'm always watching the Weather
Channel. These folks bragged on forecasting the weather, but
they were blind to the obvious fact that the Lord Jesus Christ,
the long-promised Messiah that all the prophets had written
about, was standing in their presence and they did not even
know Him, who He was. They looked right at the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ and said to Him, you're a gluttonous
man, you're a wine-bibber. You're the prince of the devil. And yet, all the prophets from
Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, all the prophets that the scribes
and Pharisees had been reading and studying, all pointed to
this day, this time, to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
remember in Acts 10, 43, to Him give all the prophets witness.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the exact one. that Abraham rejoiced
to see his day and was glad. Abraham rejoiced in the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ and he saw his day and was very thankful. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
exact one that Abraham rejoiced in. The Lord Jesus Christ is
the identical one that Moses wrote about. Remember our Lord
said, You search the Scriptures, and in them you think you have
eternal life, but they are they which testify of me. And you
will not come to me that you might have life. If you would
have believed Moses, you would have believed me, because Moses
wrote about me. Genesis all the way through,
Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, all the writings of Moses tell
us Lord Jesus Christ is everything in salvation. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the same and precise one the angels were praising
when they said glory to God in the highest, on earth peace,
goodwill toward Man, the very one, the Lord Jesus Christ is
the very one that Simeon in the temple picked up that babe and
said, Lord, let me depart now, let me die, and my eyes have
seen thy salvation. By His appearing at the promised
time, it was the fulfillment of all Scripture. In the fullness
of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the
law, to redeem them that were under the law. By His appearing
at this particular time is the fulfillment of all Scripture.
All the way back from Genesis 3 verse 15, where the Lord said,
would bruise a serpent's head. Who is that seed of woman? It's
the Lord Jesus Christ, born of a woman, born under the law to
redeem us. The coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the fulfillment of all Scripture. Even Daniel's
70 weeks, those 490 years to the coming of the Lord, this
is the day in which the Lord would come to put away sin and
to fulfill all Scripture. Jacob prophecy was fulfilled
in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ when he blessed Judah
his son remember in Genesis 49 10 The scepter shall not depart
from Judah nor the lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh
come Unto him shall be the gathering of the people who is Shiloh the
son of peace. I The Son of God is the Prince
of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Old Testament closes
with the prophecy of the coming of John the Baptist who came
in the spirit of Elijah to identify the Messiah when he said, Behold
the Lamb of God that taketh away our sin. You see, all the scriptures,
all the prophets, all point to this time of the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ. and they had no discerning spirit
in the fulfillment of Scripture. These same hypocrites, when John
the Baptist came declaring, Behold the Lamb of God, what did they
do to John? They put him in prison, remember,
John the Baptist, and they took off his head. Why did they do
that? They had no discernment in their
heart that this is the Messiah. The Lord by His many miracles
demonstrated that He was the promised Messiah, yet they were
so blinded by their wicked and deceitful heart they could not
discern or see or make a right judgment that the Lord was standing
among them and they knew Him not." Hold your place there and
find John chapter 10. John chapter 10. Look at verse 22, John 10, 22.
And it was at Jerusalem, the feast of the dedication, and
it was winter. And the Lord Jesus walked in
the temple, John 10, 23, in Solomon's porch. This is Solomon's temple.
Then came the Jews round about him, same crowd, same people,
and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou
be the Christ, tell us plainly. Look at the answer. And the Lord
said, I told you and you believe not. The works that I do in my
Father's name, they bear witness of me. You believe not because
you are not my sheep. As I said unto you, My sheep
hear My voice, oh, they have a discerning ear. I know them,
and they follow Me. They follow the shepherd. And
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which
gave them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father, we are one."
Now, What are they going to do? Look at the next verse. Then
the Jews took up stones again, it wasn't the first time, to
stone him. Now why would they do that? No
discerning spirit, ignorance, blindness, and deadness of heart. How is it the Lord says you do
not discern the time? Blinded by unbelief? and religious
pride. They were blind leading the blind,
all headed for the ditch. Now, what can we learn from this
in our day in which we live? May our gracious Lord be pleased
to give us a discerning spirit. May the Lord be pleased to give
us a believing heart and ears to hear the gospel. We, too,
by nature, are dead in sin, blind and ignorant, without God, without
hope, and without Christ. We, too, will believe anything
and everything but the truth left to ourselves. God must intervene. God must give us life. He must
give us ears. He must give us a discerning
spirit that we might understand the Gospel. You remember our
Lord said, except a man be born again, he cannot see. He cannot
understand. He cannot discern the kingdom
of God. Except a man be born again, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God. And our Lord said, you
must be born again. That's the only way we'll have
a discerning spirit as to know who the Lord Jesus Christ is. He's more than just a historical
figure. He's more than just a mere prophet
from Nazareth. He's God Almighty coming to flesh
to accomplish our salvation and he cannot fail. The Lord our
God must give us a new heart in regenerating grace to enable
us to discern and judge what is true or what is false. Now how do you know if I'm not
lying to you this morning? The standard of right judgment
is not your opinion or mine. The standard of right judgment,
what is truth or what is a lie, is this book. We need to have
a discerning spirit what the Word of God teaches us. The Lord
must bless us and give us life, spiritual life, to enable us
to make a right judgment, a righteous judgment, according to the Word
of Truth, not according to our opinion. Now, I hear a lot of
people say this, when the Gospel is declared, well, you know,
I think this, or, well, you know, I think it, You're thinking wrong. God must teach us the gospel. By nature, we don't have right
thoughts about God. All our thinking is totally wrong. The Lord must give us life in
Christ to give us a discerning spirit that we might judge what
is right according to the Word of the Lord. In John 7.24, the
Lord says, Judge not according to appearance. Now that's the
way we do most of the time, don't we? We see something and immediately
we make a judgment. But He said, Judge not according
to appearance, but judge a righteous judgment. Now how do we judge
a righteous judgment? Not by our opinion. Not by what
we think, but rather by what God has said. We are to try the
spirits, the preachers, whether they be sent of God. Whether
they are telling us the truth or not. God must give us a discerning
spirit. I want to read this to you. You
turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. And this is important. I want you to see this. 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. Look at verse 9. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 9, As it is written, I have not seen, nor ear heard,
neither hath entered into the heart of man the things which
God hath prepared for them that love him. By nature, we don't
have a discerning eye or ear. But God, there's that big word
again, B-U-T, but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For
the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
1 Corinthians 2 verse 11, For what man knoweth the things of
a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the
things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Now, we
have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit
which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely
given to us of God. Verse 13, which things also we
speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the
Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Now look at verse 14 carefully.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned." God must give us
a discerning spirit of truth. But he that is spiritual, That
is, those that have the mind of Christ, who are indwelt with
the Spirit of God, resting in the Lord Jesus Christ for all
of salvation, he that is spiritual judgeth all things. Notice the
marginal reference on that word, discerneth all things, yet he
himself is judged or discerned of no man. For who hath known
the mind of the Lord, but we have, who hath known the mind
of the Lord, that he may instruct him, But we have the mind of
Christ. What is the mind of Christ? It's
a spirit of discernment, a spirit of understanding that the Lord
gives us when He saves us by His grace. Now, I pray for you
and for me that God would give us a spirit of discernment of
what is the gospel and what the gospel is not. Now, the second
part of this message, verse 58 and verse 59, is the message
on reconciliation. The message on reconciliation.
That's why I read over there in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, God
was in Christ reconciling us unto Himself. Now, the Lord gives
us a parable here in verse 58, Luke 12. When thou goest with
thine adversary, to the magistrate, as thou art
in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from
this adversary." Now, when I first read that, I thought in my mind,
who is this adversary that we need to be delivered from? Who
is this adversary? Well, I'll tell you who it is.
It's the very law of God that has a claim against you, and
the very adversary says, you're guilty. I'm going to haul you
before the court of God's holy law, and there you must pay. as thou art in the way, give
diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him. How can we
be delivered from the curse of the law? Lest he hail thee to
the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer
cast you into prison, and you'll stay there, and there's no release
from this prison. And I tell you, thou shalt not
depart thence till thou hast paid the very last mite. Why is hell eternal? Because
you cannot satisfy the claims of the adversary. You cannot
satisfy the claims of the law of God. You'll never be released
from that torment. one time. Now, the Lord teaches
us here about being reconciled. The great need of being reconciled
before we meet God in judgment. Now that day is coming. It's
appointed unto man once to die, and after that, the judgment. We read just a moment ago over
here, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
It's appointed a man who wants to die after that judgment. Now, I don't want to meet God
in judgment with the accusations of the adversary against me. What does the adversary say?
You're guilty. Wait a minute. Guilty. We must stop our mouth and agree
with the adversary, agree with the holy law of God that we are
guilty. If the Lord is not pleased to
give us a discerning heart, a discerning spirit, we will never see our
need of being reconciled. Unless the Lord gives us a discerning
spirit, we'll see no need of being reconciled. We'll see no
need of being delivered from the adversary. The Law of God. If the Lord is not pleased to
give us a discerning heart, a discerning spirit, causing us to look to
the Lord Jesus Christ, our Deliverer, we'll have to say, hear the Lord
say, depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. Now, the Lord gives this parable
of a man who was taken by his adversary toward the judge, and
the Lord says, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered
from the adversary before you come before the judge. found
guilty and cast into prison, and you'll be held in prison
until you have paid all your debt." What he's saying here
is settle out of court. Settle up before you come before
the judge. You don't want to face the judge
with the accusations of the adversary. You want to settle out of court. Now, here's the application for
us. The holy law of God is our adversary. who has a rightful and legal
claim against us for violations and sins against God." There's
the law of God. The adversary says, you've broken
every law of God, you're guilty. Guilty before God. That's what
the law of God says. That's what the adversary justly
says. If we're not delivered from the
claims of the law of God that's against us, we've all sinned
against God. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Before we come before God in
judgment, we shall be forever cast out of His presence into
eternal condemnation and everlasting punishment. For sin is the transgression
of the law. Preacher, have you broken the
law of God? Preacher, are you guilty of violating
the law of God? Absolutely, every day, every
way, all the time, I'm guilty. The adversary has a right claim
against me, guilty before God. Against you as well. How are
we going to be delivered from this powerful adversary, the
holy law of God? The law of God said, stop your
mouth. Let all the world become guilty,
guilty. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Now, a very important question
for us to consider this morning. Who can deliver us from the adversary
of the holy law of God." Can you satisfy the law of God? Can
you do the law of God? Absolutely not. God has set that
bar so high, we've all sinned to come short of that holy standard,
and we cannot reach it. There's just one answer. The
Lord Jesus Christ has came to deliver us from the curse of
the law. The Lord Jesus Christ has come
to deliver us from the adversary. Now listen to this scripture,
Romans 11, 26. There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer." This
Deliverer is a person. "...and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob." Now, I want you to find some Scripture with me,
and I won't read too many, but find the book of Galatians chapter
1. Christ is our Deliverer. He's
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us. Galatians chapter 1, let's read
verse 4. The Lord Jesus Christ, grace
be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord
Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver
us. Now, there's our deliverer. He
gave Himself for our sins. He bare our sin in His own body
on the tree. We read a moment ago, God had
made Him sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him, that He might deliver us from
this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Now find the book
of Galatians chapter 3 this time. Verse 13. I quoted this a moment
ago, but it would be good for you to read it. Mark it in your
Bible. Galatians 3, 13. Christ has redeemed
us. That word means delivered us.
He's the deliverer. He has delivered us from the
curse of the law. What does the curse of the law
say? Back in verse 10 it says, Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of law to do them.
Christ hath delivered us from the curse of the law, being made
the curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. Oh, you see the adversary now
deals with my surety, my substitute, as he bears my sin, the sin of
God's people, and his own body on the tree. Now I found Galatians
chapter 4, look at verse 4. Galatians 4, 4. But when the fullness of the
time was come, the time, God sent forth His Son, made of a
woman, made under that law, to redeem them, to deliver them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. Now watch this. And because you
are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
heart, causing us to cry, Abba, Father. Wherefore, thou art no
more a servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through the Lord Jesus Christ." Now, turn a few books over. Find
Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. Colossians chapter 2. Here we read about being delivered
from the adversary by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
it's delivered by sacrifice. Colossians 2.13, being dead in your sins, and
the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with
him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us, that was contrary
to us." That's that adversary. The adversary's got a claim on
us. "...and took it out of the way." He took the adversary out
of the way, nailing it to his cross. Having spoiled principalities
and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them Himself." Thanks be to God who has given us the victory
over sin, death, hell, and the grave through the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is only by the blood atonement
of Christ that we've been reconciled, and that's a beautiful word,
is it not? The book of Galatians, don't turn, let me just read
this one to you. We've been reconciled, how? Let me read it to you. Colossians 1, For it pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell, having made
peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all
things unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you, that were sometimes
alienated, enemies in your mind by wicked works. You know what
that is? That's separation. Separation. Our sin has separated
us from God. Yet now hath He reconciled in
the body of His flesh through death to present you holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in His sight. Now my friend, that's reconciliation. He made peace for us with His
own blood. It is only the redeeming blood
of Christ that the law of God has been satisfied. So much so
that God said, their sin and their iniquity will I remember
no more. Remember in Job chapter 33, the
Lord said, deliver them from going down to the pit. I found
a ransom, and that ransom price is the blood atonement of Christ.
And when the ransom price is paid, those for whom it's paid
are set free. Stand fast therefore in liberty
wherewith Christ has set us free. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
has been given on our behalf to satisfy the demands of the
law of God, who alone has reconciled us to God, who is now also our
advocate, Think of this. He hath redeemed us to God by
His own blood, put away our sin. He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, who is
now, right now, in the presence of God. He's our Advocate. He's
our Advocate. John puts it this way. My little
children, these things I write unto you, that you sin not, but
when you do, We have an advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous. The
Lord Jesus Christ right now is our mediator. Do you need a mediator? I don't want to go before the
judge without a mediator. If you go over here in town and
go before one of the judges over there in one of them courts,
he better have a mediator. He better have a lawyer who knows
the law who can stand up before the judge and make sense. And
that's what we have in Christ and much more. Christ is our
mediator. One God. One mediator between
God and men, that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Right now, the
Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior and our God who pleads His righteousness,
who pleads His blood, not our goodness, not our works, but
rather His merit. The Lord Jesus Christ right now
is our surety. He's a surety of the everlasting
covenant. The God of peace who brought
again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ through the blood
of the everlasting covenant. He is the great and good and
chief shepherd. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
husband. We're married to Him. We are
reconciled in Him. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
head. By one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of another shall many be made righteous. The Lord
Jesus Christ right now appears in the presence of God for us,
who represents us before God because he has reconciled us. That's the good news of the gospel.
God was in Christ reconciling us unto himself. Now we can say,
there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ. Romans
8, 1. The claims of the adversary are
all satisfied. Now who satisfied the claims
of the adversary? The adversary has a just claim.
The guilty must die. Who is going to satisfy the adversary?
The Lord Jesus Christ. The claims of the adversary are
all satisfied. Now God can be just and justify
the ungodly. A full atonement has been made.
He is now a just God and Savior. The debt has been completely
paid. And who paid the debt? What was
the price? His blood. He shed His blood. He gave His life. Now we are
reconciled to God in Christ. Now, if you want to go back there
again to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, 2 Corinthians 5, look at verse
18. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 18. Now, this reconciliation is a
mighty work. It's a tremendous work. I mean,
this is not something that men had any part in. Therefore, it
says, "...all things are of God, who reconciled us to Himself
by Jesus Christ." The preacher doesn't reconcile. Mama doesn't
reconcile. The church doesn't reconcile.
We reconcile to God only through Christ. He is our only Mediator. And He has given us the ministry
of reconciliation. That is, we tell you that God
has been reconciled through the blood atonement of Christ to
wit, namely, that God was in Christ. Who is the Lord Jesus
Christ? He is more than just a mere man
from Nazareth. He is a real man, but He is God
Almighty, manifest in the flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is only begotten of
the Father, full of grace and truth. To wit, namely that God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. Now, whoever
this world is, their sins are not imputed to them. That's why
it doesn't mean universal reconciliation. This world that he has reconciled
is the world of those whose sins are not imputed to them. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not charge sin. Remember? So we're talking here
about the elect of God. Reconciling His elect unto Himself. Not imputing their trespasses
unto them. and have committed unto us this
word of reconciliation. Now then, verse 20, we are ambassadors
for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead now. God's reconciled, be you reconciled. What is he
saying here? Lay down your shotgun. bow and
submit unto the Lord Jesus Christ. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, he that believeth not the Son shall not
see life, but the wrath of God, the wrath of God abide on him. May God be pleased to give us
discernment, wisdom, and understanding to see the Lord Jesus Christ
as all of our salvation. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and we are complete in Him. And may
God be pleased to bless us to see the Lord Jesus Christ as
our Redeemer and the one who has reconciled us to God. Our sins separated us from God. were only reconciled through
the mediation and the blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
may God give us grace to rest in Him alone for all of our salvation.