John chapter 18. John chapter
18. Turn there and look at verse
7 and 8. Then asked he them again, Whom
seek ye? And they said, that is this multitude
that came with weapons to arrest the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord
answered and said, Whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus of
Nazareth, and he answered again, I've told you that I am. If therefore you seek me, let
these go. Let these go their way. The Lord Jesus Christ here is
protecting the sheep. Read one more verse. That the
saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, of them which thou
gavest me have I lost? Not one sheep of Christ. I'm entitling the message from
the words that are found in verse 8. The Lord Jesus Christ taken
and sinners set free. Sinners set free. You take me
and you let these go. That in a nutshell is the gospel. of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
make no mistake, the Lord Jesus Christ knows exactly what He's
doing. He knows exactly what He is saying,
for He came to set the captives free. He came to save His people
from their sin. He came to freely give Himself
for us. He gave Himself a ransom for
many, for His people. Don't turn, and let me just read
this to you over in the book of Galatians, where Paul here
defines the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, "...who
gave Himself for our sins." That substitution, that satisfaction
that He might indeed deliver us from this present evil world,
according to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory
forever and ever." He gets all the glory. And the scripture
says, Amen. The Lord Jesus Christ gave himself
not only to these ruthless, ungodly, vile men who beat him, who mocked
him, who whipped him, who made fun of him and railed on him,
But more than that, he gave himself up to divine justice. He gave
himself up to the holy wrath of God that his people might
be forever justified and glorified in him. There is no other way. There is no other way that God
can be just and justify the ungodly but by Jesus Christ in Him crucified. Where would we be without a substitute? Where would we be without a Savior
who came willingly, lovingly to put away our sin? all of our
sin, all of the sin of God's people, that we might be freely
justified in Him. I love that scripture over in
Romans 8 that we often quote, He spared not His own Son. He gave the Son of His love.
He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all.
How shall He not with Him also freely, freely give us all things? who can lay anything to the charge
of God the elect, saying that the Lord Jesus Christ came, actually
laid down His life, shed His blood to put away our sin. Without the blood, there is no
atonement. And through all that He did for
us, the Lord declares in Luke chapter 4 that He came to say
that liberty those who were bruised by sin. He came to set the captive
free. And my friend, make no mistake,
he got the job done. He got the job done. The Lord,
I can't stand anything that even indicates to the slightest and
smallest degree that the Lord Jesus Christ failed in any aspect
in fulfilling all the Word of God. You remember our Lord said,
these things were done that the scripture might be fulfilled.
The Lord Jesus Christ did not fail in any aspect to honor God's
law, to do God's will. He prayed to that end. Father,
thy will be done. Thank God we have a substitute. a Savior who really saves, a
Redeemer who really redeems, our God and our Savior who cannot
fail to accomplish salvation for us. And we see here some
of the details in John chapter 18, look at verse 1. When, when
everything happens, according to God's time God's
purpose when the Lord has spoken these words goes all the way
back to chapter 13 those special intimate detailed instruction
that the Lord Jesus Christ Gave unto his church before he goes
to Calvary Street to die for our sin and when he had spoken
all as a prophet of God he goes forth now as the priest of God
and to accomplish redemption by the sacrifice of himself.
He went forth with his disciples. One was missing. He had 12, remember? One forsook him and betrayed
him, Judas Iscariot. But he went with the 11 here,
his disciples, over the brook Cedron. which was an open running
sewer from the temple and he went in to the garden and this
is a garden we read about in Matthew 26 Luke it says when
he prayed so exceedingly and was in such great agony that
his sweat sweat out great drops of blood, being in agony, where
was a garden, the garden of Gethsemane, into which he entered with his
disciples with him. The Lord having declared the
purpose of God as the prophet of God, now he goes about to
accomplish his priestly work, giving himself as a sacrifice
for our sin. I love that scripture over in
Isaiah 50 where it says, I've set my face like a flint. You remember Peter and the others
said, Lord, don't go to Jerusalem. When he told them, I must go,
I must be betrayed, I must suffer, I must die. And Peter said, uh-uh,
no, no, no, no. Don't do that. And he said, I
must. It's a must. It's a necessity.
No one could turn him from doing the Father's work, accomplishing
the Father's will. In Isaiah 50 it said, I've set
my face like a flint. He was hardened to do the will
of God. This garden the Lord enters here
is a garden of Gethsemane where he prayed that the will of God
should be accomplished." Notice this garden. It's interesting to note where
Adam was when he sinned against God. Remember where he was? He was in a garden, wasn't he?
The Garden of Eden. The first man, Adam, sinned in
the garden. The second man, the Lord from
heaven, took our sin to himself. Where? In a garden. No accident,
no luck, chance, or fate, all by purpose. Adam's sin brought
agony and death upon all men and Adam all died when he was
in a garden. The Lord Jesus Christ began to
be in agony, suffering for our sin there in the garden of Gethsemane. Adam hid himself from God in
a garden, didn't he? The Lord Jesus Christ surrenders
unto the justice of God openly in a garden. Look at verse 2,
John 18 verse 2, Judas also, which betrayed the Lord. He knew the place. Judas had
been to this garden before. The Lord often times went there
to pray with his disciples and Judas often before this betrayal
went with the Lord and was taught by the Lord. Judas knew the place.
The Lord had spent much time there with the disciples and
with Judas, teaching them about the kingdom of God, praying unto
the Father, teaching them about praying, and yet here we see
Judas Betraying the Lord the all-knowing Lord goes forth to
meet Judas He's not invading captor He knew the hour of his
glory was at hand the glory of accomplishing our salvation and
he does not turn from it remember in John 17 verse 1 These words
spake Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven and said father the
hours come I Many times when they sought to take him, he simply
walked away from them. He said, my hour has not yet
come. Now he knows it's here. This hour appointed of God, decreed
of God. He said, my hour has come. Glorify
thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. He knew this hour
from all eternity. being the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. And that hour that was appointed
in the creed of God, now it has come. The Lord had been looking
for this hour for many, many millenniums and centuries and
thousands and thousands of years. Now it's come. The day has come
and the Lord does not shrink back from doing the will of God.
Look at verse 3. Then Judas then, having received
the band of men, having made a bargain with the Pharisees
to sell the Lord out for thirty pieces of silver and to identify
who he is by the kiss of betrayal, then Judas having received a
band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisee. These were the religious somebody
of that day. Cometh there not seeking salvation,
not seeking forgiveness. They came there with lanterns,
weapons, and torches. They came there to do him harm."
Judas, having sold the Lord for 30 pieces of silver, he leads
this band. He's in the forefront. He leads
this band of God-haters against the Lord Jesus Christ and kisses
the Lord upon the cheek to identify him and says, Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?
Looks pretty good as he embraces the Lord and kisses Him. But
many like Judas say religious things, but their heart is far
from the Lord. You think what was in Judas'
heart as he kisses the Lord calls him master, yet in his heart
he hates this man. He hates this man. sells him
out as a common slave. Our Lord said of those hypocrites
that Isaiah writes about, they draw nigh unto me with their
mouth, they honor me with their lips, but their heart, that's
the problem, their heart is far from me. Jeremiah writes about
that deceitful heart. He said, the heart of fallen
man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked who can
know it." Apart from the grace of God, we're all just exactly
like Judas. The only difference between Peter
and Judas, Peter and Judas, is the grace of God, the purpose
of God, the sovereign mercy of God. Judas was left to his own
wicked thoughts his own wicked heart his own wicked way Peter
the Lord did a work of grace and Simon Peter made him a new
creature in Christ Jesus look at verse 4 John 18 and the Lord
therefore knowing Jesus knowing all things that should come upon
him. As God, He knows all things. As God, He's decreed all things. Knowing that all things should
come upon Him, He went forth. He takes the first step. He goes
forth when he sees this crowd coming, he doesn't run and hide,
and he comes forth as the king, as the captain of our salvation,
as God Almighty, and he says under this band of 400 men, who
are you looking for? Whom do you seek? Now he knew
exactly who they were after. He knew exactly what they were
about. This didn't sneak up on the Lord. You remember we read
as he was praying, he said, let us go forth, for they come after
me. This was no surprise unto the
Lord. He was waiting on them. He's the all-knowing Lord. This
hour was appointed from all eternity, must come upon him. Justice of
God must be satisfied. The righteousness of the law
must be fulfilled. Remember he said, I came not
to destroy the law, And the prophets, he came to fulfill all things.
His foreknowledge of all things is exact, knowing, look what
it says, knowing all things that should come upon him. He knows
what's waiting for him. And yet he does not shrink back.
His foreknowledge of all things is exact because he is God. In
the book of Acts chapter 15 we read, Known unto God are all
of his works from the beginning. In the book of Acts again chapter
2 it says he was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God. Again in the book of Acts it
talks about Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Romans, the Jews
and the Gentiles were all gathered together for to do whatsoever
God's hand, God's purpose, God's counsel determined before to
be done. Notice the Lord says, whom do
you seek? The Lord is in complete control,
total command of all things And he steps out in the open, walks
forward boldly and says, who are you after? What a courageous
Savior we have. What an almighty, willing sacrifice
we have in the Lord Jesus Christ crucified. Look at verse 5, they
answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them I am and
that's the way it reads underscore that I am Judas also which betrayed
him stood with them Identified himself with this army of rebels
against God They answered him Jesus of Nazareth he was the
The despised man from Galilee. They had no idea, did they? Who
this man really is. Notice it says in the text here
that Judas stood with them. He stood against the Lord. How
sad is this? It's a sad, it breaks my heart
to see how wicked and how fallen we are. You say, well, I wouldn't
have done that. Yes, you would. You'd have been
Judas had not the Lord done something in your heart. Remember, our
Lord said, those that stand not with him, stand against him. Matthew 12, he that is not with
me, Notice very carefully how the
Lord answers this question. I am. I am that I am. Now we've seen this before. Remember when Moses met God Almighty
on that mountain? And the voice from that bush
that was burning but was not consumed, the voice of God speaks
from that bush and says, I am that I am. When Moses asked that
question, whom will I say unto the people that sent me to deliver
them from bondage? God said, I am that I am. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
almighty eternal I am. He is God. Now let me show you
a couple of scriptures. I think it'll help us on this.
Turn to Isaiah 45. I am that I am. We've seen this all the way through
our study in the book of John. And we'll look at a couple of
scriptures. But turn back to Isaiah 45 for a moment. Isaiah
45, look at verse 5, Isaiah 45 verse 5, I am the Lord, Jehovah,
Almighty God, there is none else, there is no God beside me, I
girded thee though thou hast not known me, They may know from
the rising of the sun from the west that there is none beside
me. I am the Lord. There is none else. That's pretty
clear, isn't it? I am that I am. I form the light. I create darkness. I make peace. I create evil. I, the Lord, do
all these things. Turn one page, Isaiah 46. Verse
9, remember the former things of old. I am God, there is none
else. I am God, there is none like
me. We're talking about our blessed
Savior, the Redeemer. Remember the former things of
old. I am God, there is none else. I am God, there is none
like me. Declaring the end from the beginning. from ancient times to things
that are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand. I'll
do all my pleasure calling a ravenous bird from the east. The man that
executes my counsel from afar, I've spoken it. I'll also bring
it to pass. I purposed it. I will do it. Our blessed Savior is none other
than God our Savior. Remember, turn back to John chapter
8 now for just a minute. The Lord Jesus Christ is declaring
unto us and to all that He is God. We've seen this before in
our study in the book of John. Turn to John 8, 32. John 8, verse
23. John 8, 23, I want. He said unto
them, You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world,
I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you that
you shall die in your sin, for if you believe not that I am, You shall die in your sin. John chapter 8, look at verse
54. If I honor myself, my honor is
nothing. It is a father that honors me
of whom you say that he is your God. Yet you have not known him,
but I know him, and if I should say I know him not, I shall be
a liar like unto you. But I know him and I keep. Keep
his saying your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day He saw
it and was glad then said the Jews unto him thou are not yet
50 years old hath thou seen Abraham? And the Lord said unto them barely
barely truly truly I send you before Abraham was I The Lord Jesus Christ is the
eternal, almighty, sovereign, holy God. And when He declared
that, they took up stone to cast at Him. But the Lord hid Himself
and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and
He just walked right through that crowd. As almighty God,
they could not put a hand on Him. Turn one page to John chapter
10. You remember all the seven I
am's in the book of John. The Lord said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, verse 7, John 10, I am the door by me, the
door of the sheep. All that ever came before me
are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn't hear them. I
am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall
be saved and shall go in and out and find plenty, find pasture,
John 10 verse 30 said I and my father we are one Remember in
John 14 turn over there the Lord said in verse 6 I am the way
Not a way Salvation and no other I am the truth He is the true
God. I am life Salvation. No man comes unto the Father
but by and through me." Now clearly, the Lord is declaring His deity.
We as believers believe the record of God. The Lord Jesus Christ
is just not a mere man from Nazareth. He is the God-Man Mediator, Son
of God. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Now, He looks like an ordinary
man. I am this one. I am God. He looks like an ordinary
man from Nazareth, the carpenter's son. We know who he is. We know
his father and his mother. He's the carpenter. But he speaks and acts as God
because he is God. Remember in Matthew chapter 8,
When the Lord was with His disciples in that little ship, and a great
storm came upon the water, and the boat started taking in water,
and the boat started sinking, and the Lord Jesus Christ is
over there sleeping through the storm, and they come to Him and
awake Him, Master, don't you care that we perish? And He arose
and rebuked the wind, and the sea was a great calm, And they
said, behold, what manner of man is this that even the wind
and the seas obey him? He's God. He is a real man, yet
he is God in one blessed person. What power! are in His Word. No man, remember that man who
came back and said, no man spake like that man? I am that I am. Let me show you another scripture.
Turn to the book of Luke chapter 4. I am. Whom do you seek? Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I'm God. I'm God. That's what he's saying there.
I am. I'm God. In Luke chapter 4, this is when
he goes back to his hometown there in Nazareth. And he declared
unto them the gospel, verse 18, The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the
captive, recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
them that are bruised. Look at verse 28 now. And all
they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled
with wrath, and rose up and thrust him out of the city, and led
him unto the brow of the hill, whereon their city was built
that they might cast him down headlong, cast him over the hill,
cast him off the cliff. But he passing through the midst
of them went his way and came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on
the Sabbath days. And they were astonished at his
doctrine, for his word was with power. Now watch this, look at
verse 33, Luke 4, verse 33. And in the synagogue there was
a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out
with a loud voice, saying, Let us alone, what have we to do
with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us?
I know thee who thou art. Even the demons recognized He's
God, Thou art the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying,
Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had
thrown him in the mist, he came out of him, and hurt him not.
They were all amazed and spake among themselves, saying, What
word is this? For with authority and power
he commanded the unclean spirit, and they came out. And the fame
of him went out into every place of the country round about. I
am that I am. There's power in his word and
in his truth and in his gospel. Now look back at John 18 verse
6. As soon then as he said unto
them, I am, you see there's power in his word. They went backward
and they fell to the ground. Now, can you imagine this scene?
Here's the disciple standing with the Lord and when he declares
his deity that I am God, I mean these folks hit the ground. Just the sure power, the absolute
power and authority of His command, I am, they fell to the ground. They fell out. His answer was
delivered with such power, such glory, such authority that they
could not stand before Him. He defeated this army with two
words, I am, I am. I love that scripture in Psalm
33 where it says, He spake and it was done. He commands and
it stands fast. When He speaks, Worlds are created,
created all things by the word of His power. When He speaks,
men live and men die when He speaks. You remember from 1 Samuel,
the Lord killeth, the Lord maketh alive, He bringeth down to the
grave and He bringeth up. When He speaks, dead men come
forth. You remember the story of Lazarus?
Lazarus come forth. When He speaks, devils are cast
out. And they declare, are you the
holy one of God come to torment us before our time? When he speaks,
sinners are saved by the word of his power. Of his own will
begat he us with the word of truth. The word of the Lord is
quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. Notice this raging mob is silenced
and put to the ground. They're pinned to the ground.
What a miracle and demonstration again of who the Lord Jesus Christ
is. He's no mere man. He's God. with all authority and all power. And He's showing us here that
He is God. He is also showing us here that
He gave Himself for our sin. Willingly and voluntarily the
Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. Remember John
10, 18? He said, no man takes my life from me. I have power
to lay it down. I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received in my father. Now here's all
these men pinned to the ground and the Lord could have easily
just walked right through their midst and they couldn't have
laid a hand on him. He could have easily walked away
as He did on many other occasions. But then, remember what He said?
How shall the Scripture be fulfilled? These things must be. He must
be arrested. He must be crucified for our
sin. The Lord Jesus Christ must answer
for us, for our sin, or we shall forever perish in our sin. If He does not go forth and meet
them, and die in our room and in our stead. You remember He
said, these things must be so. He gave Himself for our sin. Look at verse 7. When these men
recover, I don't know the span of time between when the Lord
said, I am, and they lay prostrate on the ground, having, it's almost
like a, It's almost like a bolt of lightning. You ever seen a
bolt of lightning or heard about a bolt of lightning hitting a
baseball field and all the baseball players just are laying out on
the ground? I kind of get the idea that this
bolt of lightning struck them and they're flat on the ground.
And when they recover And I don't know the span of time when they
finally came back to their senses. The Lord is just standing there
waiting on them. And when they said again, then
he asked them again, rather, verse seven. When they have ears
to hear what he's saying, whom do you seek, whom seek ye? And
again, and they say, now these men just experienced the power
of God. Jesus of Nazareth. Once these men recover from being
forced to the ground, notice this. They answered the Lord's
question in the same way, Jesus of Nazareth. It didn't change
their heart, even though they experienced the awesome power
of God. Put on their back or put in their
face in the ground It didn't change their wicked heart You
would think after experiencing such unusual power of God. They would have answered differently
such as the Apostle Paul Saul of Tarsus when he was smitten
of God and put in the dust unhorsed and put in the dust and he said
Lord I What will you have me to do? You see there in that
case there was a power of His grace, the power of His love,
the power of His mercy in salvation. Here is just a brutal, awesome
justice and power of God and these men remain unmoved. You
see, when God deals in the power of His mercy, He changes our
heart. These men remain unchanged, unrepentant,
unrelenting. You see, it takes more than just
the sheer power of God Take the power of His mercy, the power
of His grace, the power of His love working in our heart to
change our heart. And if He doesn't do a work of
grace in us, we will remain unmoved and ignorant just as these men
were. I mean, they experienced the
power of God, didn't they? Wasn't the power of His mercy?
Wasn't the power of His grace like Saul of Tarsus when he was
smitten? There's a difference here. You see why I'm getting
there? Men can experience to some degree the power of God
and yet not know God, not really believe God. That's the case
in these men. No outward means will change
dead hearts. God must do something in us.
He must operate upon the mind to give us new thoughts. He must
operate upon the will to make us willing in the day of His
power. He must give us understanding that we might know the true and
living God or we will remain hardened in our sin, unchained
in our heart. Nothing short of a miracle of
grace can bring a rebel from darkness to light. He must command
the light to shine in our dead hearts. to give us a light to
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You see, the gospel of Christ
is the power of God unto salvation. Not just mere power. The gospel
of Christ is the power of God unto salvation. These folks,
they didn't know anything about the power of salvation, did they? Now look at verse 8. The Lord Jesus Christ answered,
again, I told you, That I am. Same answer, same
word. I told you, I am. If therefore you seek me, let
these go their way. That the saying might be fulfilled,
which he spake of them, which thou gavest me, I've lost nothing. The Lord here repeats the message,
doesn't he? I'm reminded of what the Apostle
Paul said to the Philippians, to say the same thing to you,
to me, indeed, is not grievous. I preached this same message
to you for 20 years, and it's not a burden to me to tell you
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ once more. We see something
here, though. We see the Lord Jesus Christ
protecting His own, don't we? You take me, and you let these
go. Here we see the great shepherd,
the good shepherd laying down his life for the sheep. The great
shepherd, the good shepherd, the chief shepherd, protecting
his sheep, giving his life for us. The Lord speaks here as no
helpless prisoner or victim of godless men. He speaks here as
a mighty king and what he speaks here, he speaks by command, you
let these go. And they walked away. You take
me and you let these go. That the scripture might be fulfilled. that the elect of God may truly
be saved by the Lord Jesus Christ giving his life for us. Now here
what we see is the great Bible truth of substitution. Substitution. You take me. Justice of God, you take me. Let these go. Aren't you glad
we have a substitute? Now, listen to this. If the Lord
Jesus Christ took my place, and He did, if the Lord Jesus Christ
took my place, dies in my stead, suffers for my sin, endures the
wrath of God for me, for my transgression, my offenses, my iniquity, and
completely pays all the debt I owe, Who can lay anything to
the charge of God's delect? Now, if He pays all my sin debt,
the justice of God has no claim on me, does it? If He paid my
debt, I must go free. I must be set free. Then I must
be set free. And everyone for whom the Lord
Jesus Christ did this, for everyone for whom He dies, they must be
set free. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. You remember the Apostle
said in Galatians 5, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith
Christ has set us free. He died for his people. He died
for their sin and they're set free. There's no condemnation
to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. He took the cup
of God's wrath as it says in verse 11, put up thy sword into thy sheet,
the cup which my father gave me, shall I not drink it? Now
if he took the cup of God's wrath for my sin, and drank it dry,
took all the wrath of God due me, is there any wrath coming
to me? No, sir. No, sir. He took all
the wrath, took all the judgment for my sin, and therefore he
gives me life. Justification. And He did this
not for all men without exception, or all men without exception
must be saved. And if He did this for all men
without exception, then we have to go along with universal redemption. But He did this only for His
covenant people. He did this for them. He said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. He said, I give them eternal
life. And He said, therefore they can Never perish. I give them eternal
life. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
cannot fail in any aspect for us. If He takes my place, takes
my sin, suffers the justice of God, drinks the cup of God's
wrath dry, then there's no judgment left for me. There's no condemnation
left for me. That scripture there in Job where
God said, deliver them from going down to the pit, I have a ransom. Christ is our ransom. Christ suffers for our sin and
we're set free. Justified freely by His grace. through the redemption that is
in Him. You see, substitution, my friend,
is the heart of the Gospel. Isn't it? He made satisfaction
for our sin. Isaiah 53 declares that He was
wounded for our transgression, bruised for our iniquity, chastisement
of our peace was laid upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him in our room and in our stead. He endured the wrath of God for
us. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. You
see, in the Gospel, as Brother Mahan often used to say, learn
these two words, and learn the Gospel. Substitution, satisfaction. The Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself
for us at substitution, and made complete satisfaction for all
our sin. The Lord Jesus, Peter said, that
just one suffered for the unjust, one sacrificed for sin, the just
for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God. I want to know if the Lord Jesus
Christ did that for me and died for me. Don't you want to know
if he did that for you? How can I know? Is it some feeling? Some emotion? Are you a sinner? The Lord Jesus
Christ came to save sinners. Do you see your need of Him?
He's able to meet all our need according to His riches in glory.
Do you look to Him for all of salvation? He said, look unto
Me and be ye saved. He said, ho everyone that's thirsty,
come ye to the waters. He said, all that laboring and
heavy laden, He said, come unto Me and I'll give you rest. May God give us grace to thirst
after Him, to see our need of Him, to look unto Him. Oh Lord,
grant me faith to look to the Lord Jesus Christ and see in
Him my Savior, my substitute, my surety, my all, and in all. For in Him dwells all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily, and in Christ we stand complete in Him.