Luke chapter 4. No need for me to repeat the
scriptures, for you were here when I read it a few moments
ago. But our Lord came to Nazareth,
where he was brought up, came to his hometown, where he grew
up from just an infant The son of Joseph, that's what
they said, is not this Joseph's son? Thought to be the son of
Joseph, the son of Mary. His brothers and sisters lived
there, Joseph and Judah and James, there were several of them. He
worked there as a carpenter. We know very little about his
life which he spent in the village of Nazareth. But we know that he left there
when he was about 30 years of age, and began to preach. Well, on this occasion, he came
back to Nazareth, and a fame of him had spread throughout
that area, and of course it filtered back to his hometown. How he'd
performed miracles, and caused blind people to see, and lame
people to walk, turned water into wine. many great notable
miracles. So when he came back to Nazareth on this Sabbath day, the scripture
says that as his custom was, he went to the synagogue. Our Lord's custom was to go to
the synagogue on the Sabbath day. And evidently he had read
before It says, verse 16, as his custom was, he went into
the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up part to read. And they handed him the book,
the minister, whoever the minister was, handed him the book of Isaiah. Now, the synagogue was packed
that day. People from all over the village,
the city of Nazareth was there. Word had spread, I'm sure, like
wildfire, Jesus had come back home, and he was in the synagogue,
and they would be hearing from him. So they gave him the book
of Isaiah. Now, if you'd like to turn, he
opened the book, the book of Isaiah, at chapter 61. That's
where he turned, chapter 61. And he read this familiar Messianic
prophecy. Now I'm not going to spend the
time tonight talking to you about the promises and prophecies concerning
the Messiah and the Christ. They're throughout the Old Testament
scriptures. And many of these people, these
Jews, were very familiar with these messianic prophecies. Even
the woman at the well, who was by no means noted for her piety
and church attendance, She said, when the Messiah has come, he's
going to tell us everything. When those Jews came to question
John the Baptist, they said, are you that prophet? What prophet? Well, that prophet Moses wrote
about. So they were familiar with these
Messianic prophecies. They were familiar with these
Old Testament scriptures that referred to the Messiah, to the
Christ, to the Redeemer, who would come. And our Lord deliberately
turned to this scripture. He knew what he was doing, and
when he read, they knew what he was doing, to a great extent. And I'll read it to you. It says
in Isaiah 61, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because
the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek.
And you remember when the Ethiopian eunuch was reading Isaiah 53?
And Philip was walking alongside the chariot, and Philip looked
up and said, Do you understand that which you are reading? And
he said, How can I except some man show me? Philip got up and
sat down beside him, and he said, Now, is the prophet speaking
of himself or some other man? Wonder what he asked him? And
so the prophet Isaiah is writing this, but the prophet Isaiah
is speaking of some other man, Christ Jesus. speaking of the
Messiah, speaking of the Redeemer. The Lord God hath anointed me
to preach good tidings to the meek, he hath sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty, liberty to the captive,
the opening of prison to them that are bound, to preach the
acceptable year of the Lord, the day of Jubilee, and the day
of vengeance of our God. to comfort all that mourn, to
appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty
for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be
glorified." Now turn back to our text and look forward. And this is the way Dr. Luke, the physician Luke, this
is the way he recorded the reading. It's the same reading, Psalm
61, but Luke brings it into our language and he says in verse
18, he took the book and found the place where it was written
and he said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath
anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor He hath sent me to
heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
recovering the sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are
bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." And he closed
the book. The Lord Jesus closed the book.
And he said he gave it to the minister and sat down. Now back
then, I gather, that they stood to read the word of God. And
then when the man spoke, he pulled up a chair and sat down, evidently.
He sat down, and of course the eyes of every person in that
building, it says here, were fastened on him. He read this
Messianic prophecy, and all eyes were on him. And this is what
he said. And he began to say unto them, this day is this scripture
fulfilled in your ears. This day, in your presence, is
this prophecy and all prophecies concerning the Messiah fulfilled. I am that person spoken of here. I am that person of whom Isaiah
speaks. I am the Messiah. Now, you think
about that. Since Moses had been 2,000 years, two millenniums, 2,000 years. Since Adam it had been 4,000
years. 4,000 years since God said, the
seed of woman will bruise the serpent's feet. Almost 4,000 years since Almighty
God promised the Lamb, typified by able sacrifice. 2,000 years
since Moses said to those people, God will raise up a prophet like
unto me, out of the midst of the brethren, unto him shall
ye hearken. And here our Lord sits before them, and every eye
is on him. And he said, This day the scripture
is fulfilled. Now, the lesson I want to present
tonight, I hope that I can do it effectively and bring it down
to a personal application. Verse 21 is my text. Yes, verse
21. And he began to say unto them,
This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Now, I've got to
change the wording a little bit, but doing no violence or harm
to the scriptures. I want to say it this way. This
scripture is fulfilled this day. Same thing, isn't it? This scripture
is fulfilled this day in your ears. Now, number one. The scripture is always fulfilled. Turn to Isaiah chapter 46. Now
here's a scripture, Paul, that we read last night, took great
comfort in, Isaiah 46. The scripture is always fulfilled.
You can bank on it, rest in it, depend upon it, the scriptures
are fulfilled. God said in Isaiah 46, now listen
to it, verse 9, Remember the former things of old, I am And
there's none else. I'm God, there's none like me.
I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things
that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand, I will
do all my pleasure, calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that
executes my counsel from a far country. Yea, I've spoken it,
I'll bring it to pass, I've purposed it, I'll do it. What I'm saying
is this, it shall be done. All scripture is fulfilled. God declares the end from the
beginning. When Jesus Christ is the Lamb's
slave to the foundation of the world in the mind and purpose
of God, it's done. It's done. A promise of God is
as dependable and effective as a deed of God. You see, Abraham
believed in what God had promised he was able to perform. When
the living God declares something, it's done. It may take 6,000
years. Christ has already returned,
as far as the purpose and mind of God is concerned. You remember
that scripture in Romans 8, 29-31, whom he foreknew? He did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son. Whom he predestinated,
he called. Whom he called, he justified. Whom he justified, he glorified. It's done. It's done. God is not a creature of time.
You and I, if we're going to build a home, we'll get the blueprints. We'll look them over, make a
choice. But it's not done. It may never be built. It may
never be built. We set aside the money. the down
payment of whatever, we go down and get a loan, we hire a contractor,
we dig a footer or a foundation, we lay a block. Well, we started
it, but it still may not get done. I always look at that house out
here on Route 64 between here and Lexington. There's a concrete
block house coming this way on the right. It's been there for
a humpteen years. Somebody almost finished it,
but they didn't finish it. He's got a roof on it and four
walls, and that's it. Somebody started a nice home.
I don't know what happened, whether the couple got divorced, or whether
the man lost his job, or whether the man got killed, or what happened,
but the house was started and never finished. That's us. But that's not God. God does not have to wait to
determine the results. It's done. God said, I've purposed
it. I've decreed it. It's good as
done. That's what I'm saying, the scripture
is already fulfilled. It's fulfilled. He declares the
end from the beginning and from ancient times, the things that
are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand. All right? This scripture is fulfilled.
That's what our Lord said. This scripture is fulfilled.
It's fulfilled. You can take anything in the
Word of God, it's done. When it says that the multitude
gathered about the throne and praised and cried, worthy is
the Lamb, it's done. When it says he has a people
of every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue unto heaven, it's done.
God said there would be a new heaven, new earth, it's done.
There's going to be a new heaven and new earth. It's going to
be just exactly like he ordered it and planned it. Brother Barnard
used to say there would be plenty of room in heaven, but there
won't be any vacancies. There won't be any vacancy. Plenty
of room now, but not one vacancy. He said, All that my Father giveth
me will come to me. Of all which the Father has given
me, I'll lose nothing. This is a picture when Israel
came out of Egypt, they didn't leave one cow behind, not one
dog, not one animal, not one possession. They all came out. of Israel that Egypt retained
was the judgment of God, because he wouldn't let them go. That's
all they retained. Nothing, no memories of Israel.
All right, the second thing. This scripture is fulfilled,
now watch this, this day. Though all the promises and purposes
and decrees of our God are done in his mind and will, There comes
a day in time when it is actually accomplished. There comes a day
in time when that will and that purpose and that decree is actually
revealed. Now, let me show you something
here in Romans 3. This is what I'm saying. There comes a time, you turn
to Romans 3. In other words, in the fullness
of time, the seed of woman became a man. God back here 4,000 years
prior to the actual fulfillment of that promise said the seed
of woman will bruise the serpent's heel. Now when it was done, in
the mind and purpose of God, it was done. But that day when
the shepherds were watching their flocks on the hills of Galilee,
the angels came down and said, This day there is born unto you
in the city of David a Savior, Christ the Lord. This day. This is some day. See, it's a
day. It's day. And then the Lord,
our righteousness. Jeremiah talked about the Lord,
our righteousness, the Lord, our righteousness. There came
a day when he actually did fulfill that righteousness. That's right. Malachi said, the Lord whom you
seek will come to his temple. Old Simeon's eyes lit up one
day, he came. See what I'm talking about? He
came. With God it was done. In the
mind and purpose of God it was done. He had come to his temple. All that God decrees is done. But one day that old man, that
astute-shouldered, white-haired, long-beard old man stood there,
and a little Jewish woman came up and laid an infant in his
arms. And I'll tell you, he must have been shaking like a leaf.
I bet he was shaking more than the first time you held Caleb
down. He looked down in the face of that little infant. You know
your thrill. Think of history. He said, I'm
ready to die. I've seen the Lord has come to
his temple. He has come. All the promises. That old man looked back over
all those years. What angels desired to look into
and prophets desired to look into and men of old desired to
look into. Moses wrote about that day. Abraham
dreamed about that day. And Simeon stood here holding
him in his arms that day. That day, oh, I tell you, one day old Di
and Jacob blessed his sons, each one, Simeon, Reuben, got down
to Judah. He looked at them and said, Judah, the scepter shall not
depart from Judah until Shiloh comes. Brother, I tell you, there
was a day when Shiloh did come. He did come. He actually came
back yonder. How many Passover lambs did they
kill? How many Passover lambs did they
slay? How many throats of Passover
lambs did they slit? How many rivers and rivers of
blood flowed through that old tabernacle and that old Temple
Solomon built and out yonder in the wilderness and wherever,
all those Passover lambs, and then one day God's Lamb, and
God's only Lamb, was nailed to a cross, and all that was written
prior to that was fulfilled. No more lambs, no more sacrifices. The great high priest, how many
times did he go under that veil? How many times? Just think about
how many times over 2,000 years! How many times over all those
months and weeks and years did that Passover, did that high
priest come into the tavern and go through all that, and every
year go under the veil, and then one day Christ, our high priest,
entered not the holy place made with hands, but heaven itself
and sat down. It's all fulfilled. And yet people
want to go back and dig up all that and do it over. They want
to go back and find all those rules and regulations and rituals
and all those ceremonies and let's go through this farm again.
Oh no, my high priest is sat down. It's finished. And all I'll do is just sit over
here at his feet and listen to him, if you don't mind. I'll
just sit at his feet and love and worship him. When anybody
talks about a sacrifice, I'll point to him. When anybody talks
about a priest, I'll point to him. When anybody talks about
a sin offering, I'll point to him. When anybody talks about
a ritual or ordinance, I'll point to him. Everything I need is
in him. Yes, and in Romans 3 it says
this, something we know something about here. It says, verse 20,
"...therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified
in God's sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin, but
now." Now, that's what I'm talking about. This scripture is fulfilled.
In God's eternal purpose and mind, I want no less God than
that. Don't preach to me a God who
doesn't know. Don't preach to me a God who
cannot do what he wills. Don't bring to me any message
about a God who says he wants to and wills to and can't because
I won't let him. That's not God. Talk to me about
a God who decrees and purposes, and he says, my counsel will
stay! None can stay my hand or say
unto me what doest thou. My arm is not short that I cannot
say, my ear is not heavy that I'm not hard of hearing, God
says, that I cannot hear. I'll have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious, and whom I will I'll hire. And if I want to raise
Pharaoh up to dump him in the river and reprobate him and get
glory to my justice, that ain't none of your business. I'll do
it, God says. If I want to raise up Judas and
call him the son of perdition from the beginning, that's my
business. And if I want to save whom I want to save, that too
is my business. And it's done. That's the God
of the Bible, that's the God of the universe, that's the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who said to his Redeemer,
his Son, come up here and sit down and I'll make your enemies
your footstool. I'll do it. It's done. It's as
good as done. But he says now, but right now,
the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. That's what I'm saying. Our Lord
sat down and told those people when he read that Messianic prophecy,
he said, this scripture is fulfilled this day, this day, this day. One day when heaven was filled
with his praises, one day. when sin was black as could be,
Jesus came forth. He wasn't early and he wasn't
late. He came in the fullness of time. One day, Jesus came
forth to be born of a virgin, and he lived on this earth. My
example was he. One day, they led him up Calvary's
mountain. One day, they nailed him to the
tree. One day he suffered in anguish
and torment, living my Savior is he. Now, here's the third
thing. Look back at the text. Third and final thing. He said
this scripture is fulfilled, as all of it is, Paul. It's all
fulfilled. It's God's Word. God's not a
man that he should lie. You can rest in it. God's not
a man. And one thing we need to learn.
It's God's word whether we understand it or not. It's God's word whether
it fits into our estimation of right or not. When God said to
Saul, go down to the Amalekites and don't you leave one infant
alive, don't you leave one human alive, don't you leave one cow
alive, that ain't fair. Now wait a minute. Don't you
subject the word of God to your estimation of fairness. God doesn't
do things because they're right. They're right because he does
them. Now, that's so. That's so. God is God. Let God
be God in every one of us, unfair and unrighteous and liars. Now,
don't try to explain away the word of God. And here's what
God does so often, like in the flood and like in the death of
the Amalekites He's showing us dumb sinners his judgment, the
certainty of his judgment, the far-reaching effect of his judgment,
that his judgment is upon everything and all things, you see, that
none shall escape, that in the law there is no loophole. We're so used to finding a loophole.
That's the reason people rob banks, and it's the reason people
do all these things, they figure they'll find a loophole, and
man's law has a million loopholes. But I guarantee you, the holy,
immaculate law of God has no loopholes. There's no lenient
sin, there's no mercy, and there's no giving to the law. It is God's
law, and that's what he's showing us in this destruction. And it's right because God says
it, it's right because God does it, and the secret things belong
to God and the revealed things belong to us and to our children.
And let's, when we read the word of God, just believe it. We'll understand it some day.
We know, if we could just understand, we don't preach at all in total. We understand in part. We prophesy
in part. That's right, I mean just a part.
If a man thinks he knows, he doesn't know anything like he
ought to know it. Did you know that? The man that thinks he's got
this thing figured out, he's got God all figured out, he's
got the answers. I never could understand these
preachers who get on the radio or television and say, now call
me and give me your question and I'll answer it. I need a
little time. And I'll tell you, even with
a little time, I had to say, I don't know, Bill, I just don't
know. But I can tell you what the Bible says and tell you what
it says now. Understanding is another matter. If I could comprehend
God, I'd be gone. See, this is not a junior high
workbook here. This is the infinite, impeccable, inerrant, infallible. unchangeable Word of Jehovah. And it stands. Let it stand.
I'm glad it stands. But we'll someday know as we
have been known. Think about that now. You know
how God knows us? That's how we're going to know
his Word. That's how we're going to know his Word. Oh, and here's
the third thing. Our Lord said, this scripture is fulfilled.
It's fulfilled this day. Now, here's the thing. See if I make good on that. is
fulfilled this day in your years, in your years. Now, we've gone
from the secret, eternal counsels of God in this message tonight,
when all things are decreed and determined and fulfilled. God is not upset, everything
is on schedule. To the glorious day in when the
Redeemer actually came in the flesh and fulfilled that which
was prophesied and promised. Now I come down to this. Is it
fulfilled in your ears, in your eyes, in your experience? Is the grace and mercy of God
fulfilled? Has it been revealed in you? That's what Paul said. God, who
separated me from my mother's womb, was pleased at a given
time, at a given place, to reveal his Son in me. I thought about
the house of Zacchaeus. Here sits a house in Jericho. Zacchaeus lived in Jericho. He
had been there a good while. Zacchaeus wasn't a Zacchaeus
was a publican, tax collector, well-known. He'd lived there.
Let's say Zacchaeus was 50 years old, 45, 50 years old. He was older than the Christ
in the flesh. And he had lived in Jericho all
that time. Now then, salvation's outriders,
as somebody said, had already marked that house for blessing.
That's right. When Zacchaeus was living in
that house, wasn't he already marked out for God's mercy? Wasn't
he already chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world?
Wasn't his house already? You know, our Lord said, this
day is salvation come to this house. Was that the first time
salvation had had any dealing with that house? Oh, no. Oh,
no. God who separated me from my
mother's womb. You know, angels had encircled
that house long before that day. You know, God's protection had
been over that house long before that day. That's exactly right. God's angels had watched over
that house for many years. God's mercy had visited that
house for many years. God had hedged them about even
in their ignorance, even in that rebellion. But one day our Lord
said, this day, salvation has come to this house. See what
I'm saying? There was a day when Zacchaeus,
who was chosen of God, when Zacchaeus, who was a sheep of Christ, when
Zacchaeus, for whom our Lord was born and suffered and agonized
and died, when Zacchaeus, when that scripture was fulfilled
in his ears, in his ears, I've heard and I've seen. That's what
John said when he wrote the first epistle of John, he said, that
which I've heard, and that which I've seen, and that which my
hands have handled, I declare unto you. He didn't just say
that of which Moses wrote, and that of which Jeremiah wrote,
he said that which I've seen. I'll tell you something else,
that Ethiopian eunuch I don't know anything about the
Ethiopian music. We just pick him up when he's
a full-grown man. We pick him up when he met Christ,
the day he met Christ. But God picked him up from eternity
past. God set his affection on him
from eternity past. And here one day there was a
little old Ethiopian boy born to an Ethiopian heathen mama.
And they brought him forth like any other Ethiopian kid. And
he was raised like a, who knew that that is a child of the King?
He got no special treatment from his mama and daddy or neighbors
or friends or school teacher, because he was a child of the
King. But I'll tell you, somebody ever was watching over him, somebody
that earmarked him for mercy, somebody said, he's my chosen,
that's not my anointed. And God protected him and hedged
him about and directed him, predetermined his ways, until one day he's
sitting in a chariot, one day, coming back for me from Jerusalem,
where he'd gone to seek the Lord, to worship God, whom he did not
know. And that day he said, I believe. This scripture is fulfilled this
day to me. To me. In my ears. Boy, that's a day! That is a
day! What about old Thomas? Let me
show you in John 20. Listen to Thomas in John. This
is interesting here in John 20. Listen to Thomas. This is one
of the disciples. This man, like some of us, had
come the religious road. This man, like some of us, had
not only come the religious road, but had met the sovereign Redeemer
in his proclamations, in his commandments, in his instructions,
in his doctrine, but old Thomas still was without faith. That
day, Bob had not known to him. A lot of days he learned a lot,
he heard a lot, he listened to a lot, he observed a lot, and
he'd probably argue a lot. But why don't you listen to him
in John 20? John 20, verse 24. But Thomas, one of the twelve,
called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. And the
other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord.
We have seen the Lord. But he said, Except I see in
his hands the print of the nails, except I put my finger into the
print of those nails, and thrust my hand into his side. Oh, I
tell you, I hate these four words. I will not believe. That's tough,
isn't it? I don't believe. Well, after
eight days, the disciples were within and Thomas was with them,
and then in came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the
midst and said, Peace be unto you. And he turned to Thomas,
and he said, Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands. which hither thy hand thrusted
into my side. And Thomas, be not faithless,
but believing." That's the day, wasn't it? And old Thomas answered
and said, My Lord and my God. He never had any problem, John,
after that. I wish that day had dawned for us, everybody here. This scripture is fulfilled.
We know that. We're taught that. We know that
in our head. You don't doubt that. This scripture is fulfilled
this day. Christ has died. The calendar
will tell you that. Yeah, anybody knows that. Josephus
wrote about that. It's a known fact that Christ
died. This scripture is fulfilled in a certain day. But in your
ears, I've heard the voice of Jesus say, Come unto me and rest. Old Thomas had his day. I'll
show you something else and I'll quit. Let's go to John 10, just
a minute, and I'll show you that the progress of this thing, the
progress of this thing. And it has to be. It has to be. It has to be your experience.
It has to be God's day for you. I'm telling you the truth. It
has to be God's day for you. And it's amazing what we can
know and not know. It's amazing what we can pass
through and yet not get to Him. It's amazing. It has to be in
your ears. This scripture is fulfilled this
day in your ears. I've heard. Blessed are your
ears, they hear. They have ears, but they don't
hear. What don't they hear? They hear words. They have eyes,
but they don't see. What don't they see? They see
people. They see doctrine. They see rules, they see law.
They have hearts, but they don't understand. What is this they
don't understand? They don't hear him who speaks
through his word in mercy and comfort. They don't see him,
he that seeth the Son. I see. And they don't understand. Just haven't. They're still playing
the game of religion. Still playing the game. Still
playing that awful, awful, useless game. Still marching like wooden
soldiers. Still doing all the things they're
told to do at the time they're told to do them. They don't understand. That heart communion, that's
the reason they come and go. That's the reason they join and
quit. That's the reason they get fired up and cooled off.
That's the reason they get excited and lose it. That's the reason.
Just having fallen in love with him who grows sweeter every day,
of whom you're never weary, of whom you never get tired, whose
fullness you never really lay hold upon, though it increases
more and more. That's right. He said in John
10, now listen, John 10.14, I'm the good shepherd, I know my
sheep. That's settled, I know my sheep,
that's settled. Verse 15, As the Father knoweth
me, when so know I the Father, I lay down my life for the sheep.
That's settled. Huh? That's done. Verse 16, Of
the sheep I have, which are not of this foal, them
also I must bring. He will too, won't Now, here's
what's got to happen. And they shall hear my voice. They're going to hear my voice.
And they shall be one pole, one shepherd. They're coming into
the pole, Jim. They're going to hear his voice. And that's
the thing I want to emphasize in that one text tonight. This
scripture is fulfilled, as all scriptures are fulfilled. The
Bible is one book, it's a unit. It's the glory and person and
work of Christ Jesus. It's done. And it's fulfilled. The day has come that all of
what I want and what I covet and what I cherish and what I
want for you is that it might be fulfilled in your ears, in
your ears. That you might, and I might,
I'm not leaving me out, that we might fall at his feet like
Thomas, I see. my Lord and my God. And that
union is cemented and bonded and will never be broken by faith. And that faith will just keep
growing, it will never diminish, it will keep growing. Our Father, how glad and how we rejoice in
our words just as we utter them, seem so frivolous and empty We feel like just being silent
before thy awesome, awful, holy throne. Thou art God, Thou art
God. Beside thee there is none else.
In thee we live and move and have our being and our breathing. Yea, this whole universe of which
we are but a speck, and yet thou thinkest upon us. When I consider
the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars, the things that thou
hast made, all of them greater than this
little planet on which we live, what is man? One man, one son
of Adam, one child of flesh, one simple, ignorant, rebellious
sinner. that you should think upon him,
be mindful of him, set your affection upon him, yea, even from eternity,
and determined to call him, determined to justify him at that awful, unexplainable price of the precious
blood of thine own son. We're overwhelmed and overcome,
and we bow before thee and say, thank you, Father. Thank you. Praise thy name. That you not
only love us and gave Christ for us, but were pleased to call
us and give us faith. Without thee, we'd not even think
of faith. There's no faith in us, no sorrow
in us, there's no mourning about us, there's no repentance anywhere
around us, except that which the goodness of God hath led
us unto. Our mourning is the gift of your
grace, and our understanding is the gift of your grace, and
our faith is because you loved us. Let us see our emptiness,
but his fullness. Our guilt and wretchedness in
his holiness, our hate and rebellion in his indescribable love, eternal,
infinite love. Lord, this day in our ears and
before our eyes and to these personal souls, fulfill this scripture, reveal
Christ in us. There will be no forsaking of
him, there will be no departing from him, there will be no disappointments
in him. If you'll bring to pass that
divine union, that divine union, when we become part of his body
this day. Work that mighty work of grace
which a man cannot accomplish. No argument or logic or persuasion
that any man can use can bring to pass that which is the work
of God. Create in us the image of Christ Jesus. We
pray in his name. Amen.