Paul opens this second chapter
of Colossians expressing his great concern and care for the
people of Colossae and for other places. He said, I would that
you knew what great care or concern that I have for you. A true believer
particularly a minister of the gospel, but that does not leave
out every believer. A true believer has a heart that
beats especially for other Christians. He's concerned for the lost,
but he is deeply concerned for others who profess to know Christ.
Let me give you two examples of that. The first is found in
Exodus chapter 32. The Lord was angry with Israel
They had sinned greatly against the Lord. They had murmured.
They had found fault with Moses' leadership. They had found fault
with God's plan for them. They began to murmur against
him and complain and grumble. And the Lord spoke in judgment
against Israel and threatened to destroy the people. And it
says in Exodus 32, verse 31, Moses returned unto the Lord
and said, O, this people have sinned a great sin, and have
made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive
their sin, and he paused, and then he said, And if not, blot
me, I pray thee, out of the book which thou hast written. And
the Lord said to Moses, whosoever has sinned against me, him will
I blot out of my book. I don't profess to understand
this type of compassion and this type of concern that would lead
a man to cry to God, if you do not forgive my brethren, then
blot me also out of the Lamb's book of life. But I read that
to give you an example of the deep concern which this man Moses
had for his brethren. Now Paul said something like
that in the book of Romans, chapter 9. In Romans 9, verse 1 through
3, Paul says, I say the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. my conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Ghost." Now, that's a strong oath. I say the
truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience
bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness
and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself
were accursed from Christ or separated from Christ for my
brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh. Now that's concern,
that's compassion, and that's care. And while I do not expect
you or that type of concern out of myself, as I said, I do not
profess to understand that type of concern, but these men definitely
had it. Paul even said the Holy Ghost
is my witness I'm deeply concerned about you, so deeply concerned,
and my care reaches out to you, my fear reaches out to you with
such compassion that I could almost, he said, take your place
under the wrath of God, in the fire of God, in hell. But now in chapter 2 here, verse
1, speaking of his concern and care for them, he goes on to
say in verse 2, This concern and care is not over his own
success or failure. I think this is the place where
many churches and ministers miss the mark. I believe that many
of us are concerned, but our concern is over our own success
or failure, the success of our own ministry. the success of
our own particular church, or the success or personal glory
of our own denomination. That was not Paul's concern,
and that was not his care, and that was not the thing that upset
him. He didn't particularly care about
his own personal glory or success. But here's what he was anxious
about. Now look at this verse 2. This is my concern, that your
hearts might be comforted. Now, salvation in true religion
is a matter of the heart, not a matter of the form or ceremony
or outward performance. It's a matter of the heart. The
people at Pentecost, the scripture says, were quicked in their hearts. God save it, such as be of a
contrite heart, of a broken heart. The Lord is known to them of
a broken heart. Paul said, if you confess with
your mouth Jesus to be Lord and believe in your heart, God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. So Paul's concern
was that this thing of their saving interest in Christ might
be a heart matter, that your hearts might be comforted. And
then he goes on, number two, my concern is not only that your
hearts might be touched and blessed and comforted, but that you might
be knit together in love. Now a church that is a church
of Christ and a church that is a great church and a people who
are a great people will be knit together by threads of love.
That which holds them together will not be organization. That
which unites them in spirit and heart will not be entertainment.
It will not be personality. No church becomes a great church
until the members of that church love one another. They must come
to love Christ with a deep, personal love, and they must come to love
one another with a deep, personal love. Christ said, by this shall
all men know you are my disciples, if you love one another. This
is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. So this was the concern of the
Apostle Paul for these people at Colossae, that first of all,
the Spirit of God might minister to their hearts, not to their
ears, to their flesh, but to their hearts, and that they might
be knit together, joined together, glued together, sewed together
with threads of love. And then he goes on. Number three,
he says, my concern is that you might come to the riches of a
full assurance of understanding. Now there is such a thing of
a full assurance of faith, the assurance of hope, and it lies
in the understanding. Now this thing of salvation is
a heart matter. It does have to do with experience
and with emotion. It has to do with feeling. Feeling is not salvation, but
salvation is a tremendous feeling. But the assurance, the full assurance
of confidence and faith and hope in Christ lies in the understanding
of the gospel. Now I want you to listen to what
these men have to say. Now we go back and quote different
prophets and men of God of past days concerning their assurance. But all of them, they do not
say, I know I'm saved. I know I'm saved. They say they
give the knowledge of salvation, but they base it upon an understanding
of something. There used to be a fellow in
school with me down in Chattanooga, and he was a very popular fellow.
He weighed about 280 or 290 pounds, a great big preacher. He was
real funny. Everybody thought he was funny.
The president of the school and others would call on him to give
his testimony because he always said the same thing and everybody
always laughed about it. He stood up and said, God said
it, I believe it, that settles it. Well, there's a whole lot
more to it than that. Full assurance is based upon
an understanding. Confidence is based upon an understanding. The Scripture says for us to
be ready to give a reason for the hope that's within us. It's
not just saying, we don't say Job said he knew he was saved
and Peter said he knew he was saved and Paul said he knew he
was saved. These men based their assurance
upon understanding. That's what Paul is saying here.
I want you to come unto all riches of full assurance of understanding. Now listen to Job and listen
to his expression of confidence. I know, I know that my Redeemer
liveth. I know that my Redeemer liveth. And upon this earth in the latter
days he shall stand. And though worms destroy this
body in the flesh, yet I shall see my Lord. I know my Redeemer
liveth. I know that Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, is my Redeemer. The reason he could know that
he had a saving interest in the grace of God was because it was
based upon an understanding of the Redeemer's work, of the Redeemer's
coming into this world, of the Redeemer's personal visitation
upon this earth. My Lord shall stand on this earth,
he said, and I know that my Redeemer liveth. Not just a matter of
saying, well, I know I'm saved, You may not be unless you have
some understanding of the foundation on which you are building your
hope. Now your assurance is only as strong as your foundation.
Your house is only as strong as your foundation. Your hope
is only as strong as your foundation. And if you don't have an understanding
in your head of that upon which you base your heart faith, you
don't have anything. Now listen to Paul. I know whom I have believed. I know whom I have believed. I know that my confidence and
faith is in Jesus Christ. I know this one who came in the
flesh, who faced the law as a man and obeyed it, who went to the
cross and bore my sins, who put away my transgressions, who satisfied
my iniquities, who pleased the Heavenly Father in my place,
who stood as my representative. I know that my Redeemer liveth. I know whom I have believed."
You see what these men are saying? They don't just say, I know I'm
saved. They say, I know Christ came and died for my sins. I
know whom I have believed and I am persuaded he's able to keep
that which I've committed unto him against that day. Preacher,
how do you know you're saved? Well, I know I'm saved because
I feel saved. That's a poor foundation. How
do you know you're saved? Well, I know I'm saved because
one time, years ago, at an old-fashioned altar of prayer, I prayed through.
That's a sorry foundation. How do you know that you're saved?
Because one time, down at an old brush harbor, when we was
having an old-fashioned revival, and the preacher had preached,
and the choir was singing, something got a hold of my heart, and I
went down front, and I hadn't been the same since. That's a
sorry foundation, too. How do you know you're saved?
Because I feel, I feel the power of God. The power of God didn't
die on a cross for you, Christ did. How do you know you're saved? Because God hears me when I pray.
I think I can find you some illustrations in the Bible where God heard
some unbelievers when they prayed too. I know whom I have believed,
Paul said. I know my Redeemer liveth, Job
said. How do you know you're saved?
I know I'm saved because Jesus Christ came into the world to
save sinners and died on a cross for sinners. And this is the
record that God has given us eternal life and that life is
in his Son. And I have committed my soul
to Christ with all confidence and firm assurance that he's
able to keep that which I've committed. Now that's what he
means. that you come to the riches of
a full assurance of understanding. You better have a reason. Feeling won't even do to live
by, let alone to die by. You can't reach hold of feeling
on your deathbed and take it before the judgment to intercede
for you. It better be Christ that stands
at the judgment and intercedes for you. Feeling and church membership
and the law and all of these other things are not good mediators. There is one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus. There is one advocate, one high
priest. Listen to Peter. We know, we know that we are
not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold
from our vain conversation received by tradition from our Father,
but we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as a
lamb without spot or blemish. That's what we know, Peter said.
We know. Job said, I know my Redeemer.
Paul said, I know whom I have believed and to whom I've committed
my soul. Peter said, I know who redeemed
me, and he did it with his own blood. Not with corruptible things,
but with his own blood. That's how I was redeemed. Paul
said, that's my concern for you. That's the conflict which I have.
That's the care which possesses me. I want your heart to be touched
and comforted. I want you to be knit together
with the cords and threads of love. I want that to bind you
together. I want you to come to the riches
of a full assurance of understanding." And then he said, I want you
to come to a knowledge of the mystery of God. I want you to
come to a knowledge of the mystery of God, a greater and more perfect
knowledge of the mysteries of God, of the Father, and of the
Son. These things are not discovered
by natural reason. These things are not discovered
by natural wisdom. The mysteries of God's eternal
covenant of grace, the mysteries of God's divine election, the
mysteries of the incarnation, the mysteries of the scheme of
redemption, the mysteries of the cross, the mysteries of the
blood, mysteries of the atonement, the mysteries of satisfaction,
the mysteries of substitution. I want you to come to a knowledge
of the mysteries of God in Christ, reconciling the world under himself. These are things that the world
cannot appreciate, does not appreciate, cannot enter into. And that brings
us to our first point. For in him, in him, and that's
our subject, those two words, in whom, in him are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Now, the treasures he's talking
about here, wisdom and knowledge, is that which will benefit my
soul. These are proper and true treasures. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 9. These are the real treasures.
Now know what the world pants after. You do too. You know what
the flesh pants after it. It pursues the riches of the
world, the fame of the world, the honor of the world, the glory
of the world, the contentment and comfort of the world, the
strength of the world. But the prophet of God said in
Jeremiah 9.23, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Now I take off my hat to the
men who have climbed high on the ladder of education and have
studied hard and given their lives to studying the things
of this world, they are to be commended for their diligence
and for their perseverance in study and education and these
things. But that's not a treasure. That's
not a real valuable treasure. Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory
in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that
he knows the Lord, that he knoweth me, that he understandeth and
knoweth me. That's true wisdom. That's the
treasure. That's the riches. That's that
which will benefit my soul. That's that which will unite
me to God in a saving relationship. That is that which will live
eternally. That is that which will not crumble
and die with this world. That is that which will bring
me everlasting joy and peace to know the Lord. I may be the
most brilliant man on this earth, go through life taking great
pride in my ability to make decisions without fumbling. and die and
perish in my sins. I may be the strongest, mightiest
man on this earth. I may have great honor and fame
and acclaim of the world, and when I walk down the street,
millions cheer and throw confetti and paper and these things. I may be the wealthiest man on
earth, but when it's all over, Solomon said it's just vanity,
that's all, just the soap bubbles of this world. But the man that
glorieth, let him glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth
me, that I am the Lord, which exercise lovingkindness, judgment,
and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord." Now look back at our text. In Christ are hid
these treasures of wisdom and knowledge, true wisdom and true
knowledge, that which is worthwhile, that which is the most valuable
thing on earth. It's hid in Christ. Why does
he use the word hid? Well, this is not hid in the
sense that we put something in a place where nobody can find
it. When you talk about something being hidden, you mean by that
that you've taken it and carefully put it in a place to keep anyone
from finding it. But he uses the word hid here
in the sense that these treasures are not discovered or revealed
until Christ is discovered and revealed. They're in him in such
a way that a man cannot know them and cannot find them and
cannot partake of them until he has known and found and partaken
of Christ because these treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in
him and nowhere else. If you have Christ, you have
this true wisdom. If you have Christ, you have
this true knowledge. If you have Christ, you have
this in which God says that the delight to glory. But if you
do not have Christ, you do not have it and cannot find it because
it's nowhere else. In him are hid the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. the knowledge of the mystery
of God, the knowledge of salvation, the knowledge of the Father and
of the Son. These things are in Christ. You can't discover
them in the church, you can't discover them in the creed, you
can't discover them in the articles of faith, you can't even discover
them in the Bible. You've got to find Him. Your
confidence and faith and love has got to be in Him. Now, I
don't know how to make that plain because it can only be made plain
as a man comes to know Christ, because that's where they are.
A man can have religion and not have a knowledge of God. A man
can have a devout religion and not have a knowledge of God.
A man can have a devout religion to which he gives his life and
everything that he has and still not have a knowledge of these
mysteries, this true wisdom and true knowledge. Paul says they're
ever learning and never coming to a knowledge of the truth.
But once he comes to know Christ, once he discovers Christ, and
once by the aid of the Holy Spirit and the operation of God's grace,
he comes to know Christ Jesus, then in Christ he finds all these
things unfolded. The mysteries of the covenant,
the atonement, the incarnation, all of these things are opened
in Christ. And there they are, right there.
They've been there all the time, but he couldn't find them because
they were Christ and he did not know Christ. Now verse 6, here's
another verse talking about something being in him. In him are the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge, but also in verse 6. Now, as
you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in
him. Now this is an old gospel word,
received. As many as received him. To them gave he power to become
the sons of God. There's no evolution from within
here. It's a gift from without, as
you have received Christ. Everything that we have, we've
received. It's been given to us. This is free grace language.
It's received, not earned, not bought, not purchased, but received. This is a person, as you have
received him, not his words, not his doctrine, not his people,
not his church, not his ordinances, as you have received him. As
you have received Christ Jesus the Lord. Now there's safety
in going back to first principles. He says, as you received him,
as you received Christ, the anointed of God, the prophet of God, as
you received Jesus, the Savior, the high priest, As you received
Christ Jesus the Lord, the King, Prophet, Priest, and King, Christ
Jesus the Lord, how did you receive him? Go back now and think. How
did you receive Christ? Back when you first came to knowledge
of Christ, back when you first trusted him and believed on him,
how did you receive him? Well, first you received him
humbly, didn't you? Making no pretense of any value
in yourself. You came to him as a broken,
humble sinner. You came to him as the prodigal
son came home, broke, hungry, lonesome, and homesick. Having
nothing but rags, having nothing to contribute, claiming only
the place of a servant. As you received him humbly, right
now you ought to be walking in him the same way. Still broke,
hungry, lonesome, and homesick. Still having nothing of your
own except that which you've been given. still wearing not
your own apparel, but the apparel of another, still being fed at
the king's table, still being clothed by the king's hand, still
being taken care of by the king's grace and mercy. How did you
receive Christ? Well, I received him humbly.
And you walk in him all the way through the journey of life,
same way you received him. You claim to be ignorant when
you came to him, walk in him the same way now. How did you
receive Him? You received Him by faith. Well,
walk in Him the same way now. You go back to the time when
you came to knowledge of Jesus Christ. You didn't know anything,
did you? You just received it by faith.
God says you're a sinner and you believed it by faith. God
said you needed a Savior, you received Him by faith. God said
He'd save you if you'd trust His Son, you received it by faith.
Everything was by faith. You just cast yourself upon Christ
by faith. After you've come to know Christ
and come to love him and after you're walking in the journey
of life with him, walk in him now the same way. Had you received
Christ, you received him gratefully. So grateful for everything that
he did for you. So grateful for everything that
he gave you. So grateful for every benefit
of his grace. Continue the journey the same
way. Walk in him gratefully right now. Had you received him, received
him joyfully. We're walking in that way. How
did you receive him? How did you receive him? Unashamed.
Now, brother, when you came to knowledge of Christ and trusted
him, the next day you went to work, if anybody say, you believe
that Bible? Yes, sir, I believe it. I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation.
Everyone believe it. But sometimes as we journey through
life, we get a little sophisticated. We get a little dignity. And
maybe we hide our light under a bushel. Maybe we're just a
little bit ashamed to speak out like we did at one time as you
receive Christ unashamed. Walk in him. Go back to the first
principles. Go back to the day of grace.
Go back to the day of revelation. Go back to the day when Christ
was made precious to your soul. Go back to your first love. Forget
your dignity and forget your sophistication and walk in Christ
the way you came to Christ. walk in him, humbly, faithfully,
gratefully, joyfully, and unashamed in the same way that you came.
Or verse 10, let's look at this one. For you are complete in
him. You're complete in him. Now this
completion and this perfection, he's not talking about what we're
going to have someday in heaven. you're complete in him. He says,
look at verse 10, you are complete. Not you shall be complete. Not
in heaven you're going to be complete. He says you are complete
in Christ. This completion and perfection
is not in ourselves. In us dwelleth no good thing.
But he says you're complete in him. You're complete in Christ. It's not something which we get
with an additional experience later on. He says you're complete
in Him. If I have Christ, I have God.
If I have Christ, I have life. If I have Christ, I have the
Holy Spirit. If I have Christ, I have forgiveness. If I have
Christ, I have eternal life. If I have Christ, I have everything.
If I don't have Christ, I have none of these things, and I have
need of everything. I'm complete in Christ. Somebody
said to me one time when back several years ago when there
was a preacher in this area making great inroads into various churches
by his doctrine of be dipped or be damned Baptism essential
to salvation That's what we call be dipped or be damned and that's
what he was preaching Someone asked me said doesn't this Doesn't
this kind of preaching kind of get you a little bit troubled
or in doubt, perhaps he's telling the truth." I said, no, it doesn't
bother me. Not one iota. Because the word
of God says I'm complete in Christ. There's nothing needs to be added
to me to make me complete. No preacher, however strong his
authority, can make me complete by putting me beneath some water.
No preacher, however strong his authority, can make me complete
by dipping a wafer in wine and putting it on my tongue. No preacher,
however powerful his authority, can make me complete by putting
his hands on my head and praying. I'm complete in Christ. And if
I don't have Christ, I don't have anything. If I have Christ,
I have everything. Now I grow in grace and in the
knowledge of my Lord. When my children were born, when
your children were born, when you went down to the hospital,
dear ladies, and that little baby was born, and delivered
by the doctor, and then washed and cared for, and you were lying
there on the hospital bed a few hours past, and then they brought
you this little baby, and they pulled the covers down and put
it down beside you, what's the first thing you did? I can tell you the first thing
that I did when I saw mine. I picked up their little hands
and I looked at them. The other little hand. And then
I pulled the blanket down and looked at their little feet and
legs. And I carefully examined their ears and their eyes and
their heads. Why did I do that? Because I
know if a child is born without a hand or an ear or an arm or
a leg He ain't gonna grow one. Now that's a fact. If a child's
born without an eye, it's not gonna grow one. That child is
born complete or incomplete. That child is born, that little
baby, one hour old, has everything he'll ever have. Now he'll grow. He has a mind. It'll develop.
He has an arm, and it'll get strong. He has a leg, and they'll
get strong. He has a heart, and it'll get
stronger. But he's not going to add anything, because he's
born complete. He has life, and he's born complete.
And when a babe in Christ is born into the kingdom of God,
he's got everything he'll have in glory, Charlie. Everything. But he's not born. Now you can
write that down somewhere where you can read it because your
whole religion and your scheme of salvation rests on that. You're
either complete in Christ or you don't have any life. And
that salvation which you claim to have is nothing but a miscarriage
with no life. That's all in the world it is.
You've been delivered by man. You've been made by man, and
man can't make a man complete. You are complete in Christ. Now
there's development and there's growth and there's wisdom and
there's mentality and there's strength and there's other things
that come along as we feed on the Word. Now listen to this.
Desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby. You're babes in Christ and you
grow through the milk of the Word. Strong meat belongeth to
strong men. And therefore when you come here
to the house of God and you listen to the Word of God preached,
You grow on milk. That's the reason Brother Edgell
and Charlie Payne teaching these children. They're a little simpler
in there than we are in here, and these children over here,
they deal with them a little more simply than I deal with
you out here, and sometimes we get a little deeper out here.
But we're going from milk to meat, and we're doing it for
the growth, for development, not to add something to our salvation. I'm perfect in sanctification. All the holiness that God requires
is mine in Christ. I'm perfect in justification.
There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ. There is no
curse. There is no charge. Who can lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? There is perfect redemption. We are now sons of God, bought
and paid for by the precious blood of his Son. I have no need
that is not met in Christ, and I have no need to go anywhere
else if I have Christ. Verse 10, you're complete in
him. You're complete in him. Now verse 11, in him also ye
are circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, and putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of
Christ. He's our law. He's our ordinances. He's our
holy days. Now he goes on down here and
he says to us, do not, verse 16, do not let men judge you
in meat and drink and respect of holy days and new moon, the
Sabbath days. Down here in verse 21, touch
not, taste not, handle not. These things perish with the
using. Now the old Jewish ceremonies
forbid them to touch a dead body. Forbid them to touch the bone
of a man. Forbid them to touch certain
creatures in their uncleanness. Forbid them to touch a Gentile. The old Pharisees used to wash
their hands when they came out of the public marketplace for
fear that they'd somewhere along the line touch something that
was unclean. Then there was touch not. Touch
not a sinner's flesh. Touch not a creature that chewed
the cud or divided the hoof. The Nazarite vows forbid wine
or vinegar or strong drink or cider. Handle not, which is draw
not nigh unto a person who's a Gentile or a person of another
nation. All of these touch not, taste
not, handle not ceremony. Verse 22 says they perish, they're
perishing things. The use of them cannot defile
and the abstinence of them cannot satisfy and cannot sanctify. And when they are used, when
these touch not, taste not, handle not things are used as a condition
of salvation, they are the commandments and doctrines of men. Now then,
I want you to note this next verse. These things have indeed
a show of wisdom in will worship. This outward show of religion
It looks like it's a wise thing to do. For here a man leaves
off certain things and he conquers the desire of the flesh. A man
leaves off certain things that other people do and he shows
that he has a stronger will. And he says these things have
a show of wisdom to the natural hearts of men in will-worship. Not in God-worship, not in God's
glory, not in God's honor, but in will-worship, and it looks
like humility. And neglecting of the body, the
fastings, neglecting the body seems to be very religious. But
instead of honoring the body, it's dishonoring the body. Oh,
it looks good. It looks religious. It looks
holy. It appears to men. I can give
you several examples of this. Here are the people in Pennsylvania
that I've run into so often who wear the broad-brimmed black
hats. And the women, their bonnets,
you know, and And the poor little children, their homemade clothes
and shoes, and they don't eat certain things, and they don't
go to certain places, and they won't ride in an automobile,
and they won't have radios, they won't have electric lights, and
they won't have indoor plumbing, and they won't do any of these
things, and then there are others who keep the seventh day, and
they want to walk so far and do certain things. This looks
good. It has a good appearance. It
has a show of wisdom. It's will worship. It's body
worship. It's man worship. It looks like
humility, the neglecting of the body. But in the whole thing,
it's dishonoring to the body. That's what it is. It's making
the body your God. Instead of making Christ your
God. In Him are the treasures of wisdom.
In Him is perfect knowledge. In Him you're complete. In Him
you're to walk. And in him you have all of your
ceremonies, all of your holy days, all of your fasting and
abstinences, all of these things are in him. The love of Christ
constraineth me, that if he gave himself for me, I give myself
for him. I do his will, not my will. I
bow at his shrine, I worship him, I bring my allegiance to
him. I don't put on a show of religion for the satisfaction
of mine and other people's flesh. I do what I think God wants me
to do. I walk the way I believe Christ wants me to walk. I submit
my life to the way that Christ directs and the rules that He
sets forth, not the rules of me, not to make a show of humility. It's in Him. Our Father, we ask
Thee now to bless Thy Word, give us an understanding of Christ,
understanding of the Word, Help us that we might show forth the
praises of Christ, whom we love. First of all, bring us to a knowledge
of him. Give us life. Give us birth.
Receive us into thy family. Make us to be complete in Christ
Jesus, who has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Then help us to grow in the knowledge
of Christ, in the grace of Christ. Help us in thought, and attitude,
and word, and deed, and in daily living, and practical obedience.
to live for Christ's glory, to show forth his praise, to be
knit together with true, sincere, unfeigned love, to have a great
church for his glory and a home for his praise and an individual
life for his glory. Deliver us from these things
of the flesh. Deliver us from a self-righteousness
and a false humility and a will worship. But, O God, deliver
us from licentiousness and a false liberty in Christ. Order our
lives according to Thy will and by the leadership of Thy Spirit
and for the glory of Thy dear Son. Bring our young people the
knowledge of Christ. Let the gospel of redemption
go forth from this pulpit in power. Bring me into an honest,
saving interest in Christ Jesus. Bring them to a faith that lives,
a faith that conquers, a faith that wins the victory, faith
in the blood of the Lamb, a perseverance that leads us to come to the
end of our lives here on this earth saying, I've kept the faith. It laid up for me a crown of
righteousness. For we ask it in Christ's name
and for his sake.