Perhaps someone might be curious as to how I get what I believe to be the
message that God would have me bring to you from this pulpit
Sunday after Sunday, week after week. I've been preaching to many of
you for a very long time, thirty-three years. Multiply that by fifty-two
weeks. Multiply that by three to seven messages, radio, television,
other things. I've got a lot of sermons. A lot of sermons, I hope, are
messages from God. But someone says, well, isn't
it difficult to get a new message? Yeah, if I were trying to get
a new message, it would be, but I'm not trying to get a new message.
I'm trying to preach the old message. We have no new message. We preach Christ. Well, how do
you find a subject? Well, this morning's subject
was suggested to me by a letter that I received in the mail this
week. a very sad letter. It began this way, this is not
going to be a pretty letter, and it wasn't. But the person
is so depressed, so dejected, so lonely, seemed to be so totally
forsaken, so alone in the world, isolated. But the individual
did say this in the letter that That rather shocked me, because
I believe this person is a believer. I believe this person knows Christ. But he said in the letter, I
discovered recently a truth that has meant more to me than anything
else. I learned that Christ prays for
me. I thought, didn't you know that
before? No wonder you're dejected, no
wonder you're depressed, no wonder you're lonely. Christ prays for
me. And so I immediately went to
the 17th chapter of John, in which our Lord said in verse
9, I pray for them, I pray for them. And the reference here
is back to his conversation with Peter, in which he said, you'll
deny me three times, but I prayed for you, I prayed for you. And then down here in verse 20,
neither pray I for these alone, these eleven disciples, but for
them also which shall believe on me through their word. And
Paul wrote in Romans 8, he ever liveth to make intercession for
us. Christ prays for us. In the tabernacle
there was a There was a symbol set up in front of the veil.
24 hours a day, 365 days a year,
that altar of incense was kept burning by the priest. That smoke
always, never one minute, not one second, not one hour of any
day that that incense wasn't burning. And that is a picture
of the intercession of Christ. Right now he prays for me. Tomorrow
he prays for me. Every moment of every day Christ
prays for me. He prays for his own. I pray
for them. Without the intercession of Christ,
we wouldn't be accepted of the Father. Even our righteousness
is a filthy rag. Efforts at worship and prayer
ourselves would not be admitted into the ear or presence of God
without the intercession of Christ. He prays for us. And I want us
to look at John 17 together for a little while. Now, I've said
this on so many occasions, this is the Lord's prayer. I pray
for them. And this is the prayer, in so
many words, which he continually prays, which continually is in
the ear of the Father on our behalf. I pray for them. I pray
for you. Boy, you say, if I could know
some great preacher in America was praying for me, when he has
his devotions and opens his Bible and kneels beside his bed, he
literally actually calls my name, it thrills me to death. If I
knew that a whole church, that I was down in the hospital and
a whole church was mentioning my name before the throne of
God in prayer, I'd just feel so comfortable and secure, would
you? What about if the whole Southern Baptist Convention today
had Mike Bartram Day and everybody in the whole 28,000 churches
prayed for Mike? Wouldn't that make you feel good?
What about all the churches in the world? Well, let me tell
you something. That's fine. That's fine. And I wouldn't object
to it, but I've got one who prays for me that's infinitely above
and greater than all creatures on God's earth, and all the angels
in God's heaven, and all the seraphims and cherubims in God's
universe, and all the prayers of all the great warriors and
martyrs put together. Praise for me. My Lord, the King
of kings and Lord of lords, the one mediator, the one advocate,
the Lord of glory calls my name." Now, that's it. That's it. That's
it. And if that ever dawns on you,
if you can ever lay hold of it, you can have some comfort and
some assurance and some confidence. Because he prays for you. If
he loves you and prays for you, I guarantee you, sure as God's
in heaven, you're saved, because his prayers are always heard.
That's the reason he says in verse 9, I pray not for the world.
If he had, he'd had it. If he does fall, he'll get it.
What he asks for, he gets. But he only prays according to
the will of the Father. He only prays according to the
will of the covenant. He only prays according to the
purpose of the God of glory, and he gets what he prays for.
He said, Father, I know you what? Always hear me. Always. If it can be determined, let
me tell you that Christ prays for you. If it can be determined,
if you can lay hold upon this truth, that he is our surety,
and he is our advocate, and he is our mediator, and he is our
lawyer, our effective lawyer before the great throne of God,
then, my friend, you can rest securely. Your case is won. He says here in verse 1 of chapter
17, this is holy ground, I know that. I figuratively take off
my shoes. But Jesus lifted up his eyes
to heaven, and he said, Father, the hour has come. Now, my friends,
this is the hour of hours. He said on one occasion, mine
hour has not yet come. Woman, what have I to do with
thee? Mine hour has not yet come. And then his disciples cautioned
him against going to Jerusalem and cautioned him against exposing
himself to the dangers there, and he said, for this cause came
out of this hour. Now he says, Father, the hour,
the hour which God purposed, the hour which God prophesied,
the hour which God planned, the hour which God promised, the
hour which God typified, the hour has come. It's come. This is the hour of hours. This
is the hour that the Passover typified. This is the hour that
the brazen serpent typified. This is the hour that the high
priest who went into the Holy of Holies and put the blood on
the mercy seat. This is the hour that was typified
by every lamb whose throat was split and the blood poured forth. This is the hour of hours. This is the redeeming hour. The
hour has come. There's enough material there
to preach from now on. Father, the hour has come. The
hour established in the covenant of grace. The hour that was declared
when you spoke to Adam and Eve and the serpent and said, the
woman's seed will bruise the serpent's head. This is it. This is that hour. Glorify thy
son. Why? That thy son may glorify
thee. All that God does. is for His
glory in the creation of the world, in the creation of man,
in determining to spare man, in determining to save men, in
setting aside His Son as the Redeemer of men, in preserving
this world while He cast the angels in unspeakable darkness
and change, in giving Christ in the flesh, in sending Him
to the cross, in calling you, in our meeting here this morning,
in preserving this Word, in giving us eyes to read it, and ears
to hear it, and hearts at least to lay hold on some of it. Everything
God does, from the falling of a sparrow to the numbering of
the hairs of our head, is for His glory. We've got to get that
through our heads. It's not just to preserve a race,
it's not just to save you from hell, it's not just to have a
whole crowd of people up there in heaven, it's not just to populate
a new earth, it's for his glory. Everything he does is for his
glory. If you'll turn with me to Ephesians
1, I wish I could lay hold on this. If we ever could, it would
give us our particular place. in the kingdom of God. It straightened
us out in our thinking about ourselves and our importance
and our contribution and our general commitment. If
we could realize it's for his glory. When he spoke to Gideon,
he said, go against the forces of evil. Gideon said, Lord, they've
got 100,000 troops over there, 50,000, whatever. I don't have
the 3,000 troops. The Lord said, you've still got
too many. If you win the battle with that many, you'll take the
glory. Why don't you get rid of some of them?" So he whittled
it down about halfway, and he said, I'm not prepared to go,
Lord, because we're going to take us a whipping. But I'll
go. He said, you've still got too
many. Whittle them down some more. So they whittled them down
to 300, and there stood Gideon with three, there's about 300
people right here. And he said, go against the multitude.
Gideon said, can't be done. He said, that's when it will
be done. I'll get the glory and not you. And I'll tell you this,
if we can ever get our thinking adjusted and straightened out
as to why we're here and what our purpose is and what end we
serve, the chief end of man is glorified God. And I have a little
article in the bulletin along this line of whether we think,
whatever we think, do or say, eat or drink, Let it be for the
glory of God. That's the first motivating purpose,
is the glory of God. Look at Ephesians 1, verse 6. The preceding verses talk about
what God's done for us, and then it says, "...to the praise of
the glory of His grace." Verse 12 says that we should be to
the praise of His glory. Verse 14, the last line, says,
under the praise of His glory. Everything God does is for His
glory, that no flesh should glow in His presence. And even our
Lord, when He deals with these great truths of redemption, He
prays to His Father, Father, The Hour has come. Glorify Me, strengthen Me, enable
Me, help Me. Glorify me that I may glorify
Thee." Do we ever pray that way when you get up to sing or preach
or play the instruments or teach a class? Lord, let me do my best. Let me do this, let me do that.
Do we ever pray, Lord, help me that I may glorify Thee? If I
can't glorify Thee, shut my mouth, because if I don't glorify Thee,
I'm going to glorify the flesh and be condemned by Thee. Lord,
read on. Thou hast given him authority. Thou hast given him power over
all flesh, all flesh. Let me tell you something. Our
Lord Jesus Christ is sovereign, almighty, omnipotent. The word
power here is authority. When he gathered his disciples
about him, he said to them before he ascended to the Father, all
authority is given unto me in heaven and earth. Our Lord is
not lacking in authority. He has all power, all authority
over all flesh. I get a little concerned when
I hear preachers say, the Lord's trying to show you this. The
Lord's not trying to show you anything. He's not trying. The Lord wants you to do this.
I'll tell you this, Almighty God's will is done. It's done, one way or the other.
We've got to talk as the scripture talks. Our Lord said, you've
given me authority, power over all flesh in heaven and earth. He died that he may be Lord of
the dead and the living. There's no lack of authority
and power in Christ. Look at the next line. The reason
for this position of authority, that he might give, that he should
give eternal life. to as many as thou hast given
him." Yes, Christ has a people. And he says they were given him
by the Father. In fact, six times in this one
chapter, if you will look at verse 6, I have manifested thy
name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Verse
9, I prayed for them which thou hast given me. Verse 12, while
I was with them in the world, I kept them, those that thou
gavest me, in six times. He refers to those that the Father
hath given him. In John 6, verse 37, he said,
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh out of no wise cast out. So thou hast given me power over
all flesh that I should give. Eternal life's a gift. Salvation
is not something you give to God. I hear preachers say, Give
God your heart. Now listen to me. Listen to me. Salvation is God giving you a
new heart. Not your giving God, that old
stony heart, but God Himself taking the stony heart out and
giving you a heart of flesh. Salvation is not something you
do for God or something you do for yourself. Redemption is something
God in Christ does for you and something He gives to you and
something He makes of you. Verse 3 gives us the definition
of that life. And this is eternal life. This
is life eternal. Now, life eternal is not the
length of it, and not the quantity of it, it's the quality of it.
When the Bible talks about eternal life, this is the record. God
hath given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. When
the Bible talks about eternal life in Christ, it's not talking
about how long it's going to last, because as I've said so
often, everybody's going to live always, eternally. But eternal
life is a relationship with, a knowledge of, and a union with
Christ. Now look at the next line. Thou
hast given them power, authority over all flesh, that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this
is it. This is the life he bought. This is the life he gives. This
is the life that he bestows on us. This is it, that they might
know thee. That they might know thee. The
only true God. Know thee. That's not just a
knowledge, that's a relationship. If you'll turn to Matthew chapter
7, I'll show you something here. Matthew the 7th chapter. Here's
a crowd of people stood before our Lord at the judgment, and
he made this statement in Matthew 7. Listen. Verse 23. Then will I profess unto them,
I never knew you. I never knew. You see that there?
I never knew you. Depart from me ye that work iniquity. Now, the Lord knew these people
as far as their history was concerned. He knows everything. He knew
when they were born because he decreed it. He knew by whom they
were born. He knew how long they would live.
He knew every act they committed. He knew every word they said.
He knew every thought they thought. He knew all about them, their
history, past, present, and future. What does he mean? I never knew
you. Was he not aware of them? Was he not aware of their existence?
Oh, yeah. What did he mean then, I never knew you? There was never
a union between us. I never loved you. There was
never an affection between us. You were never included in my
purpose. I never knew you. As Adam knew
his wife and the two became one flesh, I never knew you." And
this is what he's saying over here. Eternal life is to know
God. It's to love God. It's to approve
of God. It's to lay hold upon God. It's
to be brought by the Spirit of God into a living relationship
with God. Not God just as a myth or as
an idol or as an object of worship, but God as us in him and him
in us, the living God, that they might know thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." This is eternal life.
This is what Paul is talking about in Philippians. Turn over
there a minute to chapter 3 of Philippians. Philippians chapter
3. It says here in Philippians 3,
listen. In verse 8, now Saul of Tarsus had religion, but one
day he came to know God. And he said in verse 8, doubtless
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ. The knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord. For whom I have suffered the
loss of all things, I do count them but dumb that I may win
Christ and be found in him. Look at verse 10, that I may
know him. know him and the power of his resurrection. So this
is eternal life. It's not to believe there is
a God, it's to believe God. It's not just to worship a God,
it's to know God. And then verse 4, he said, I
have glorified thee on the earth, I have glorified thee in obedience
and submission, and I have finished the work you gave me to do. There
are three things to note here. First of all, there is a work. What is this work? I must work
the works of him that sent me while it is day. I must be about
my Father's business. The work here is the work of
redemption. All of it, redemption, bringing
in a perfect righteousness, fulfilling God's holy law, satisfying God's
divine justice, everything that the law required and justice
demanded and God Almighty commanded and the sinner needed, Christ
Jesus took upon himself. The work is the second thing. I had finished it, left nothing
to be done. And notice the third thing, the
work you gave me to do. I have finished the work you
gave me to do. I have completed it. Nothing left for the sinner
to do. Nothing left for the sinner to accomplish. I have finished
it. Finished the work you gave me
to do. All right, verse 5. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. Here you have the eternality
of Christ. Very God of very God. Turn to
John 10, verse 30. Now, there's so many verses that
tell us who Christ is. We can go to John 1, where it
says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God, and all things were made by Him. We can
go to Colossians 1, 16, where it says, Everything was made
for Him, by Him, through Him. Philippians 2.9, that every knee
should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God the Father. Acts 20, in which he
said, feed the church, preach to the church of God, which he
purchased with his own blood. But look at this one here, very
simple, one verse, John 10.30, one statement, six words by our
Lord, I and my Father are one. I and my Father. Jesus Christ
is God. God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself. This one who prays for us, this
one who finished the work God gave him to do, this one who
is our surety and representative, he said, I and the Father are
one. The eternal trinity is never
divided in its purpose, in its intent, or in its work. I finished the work you gave
me to do. Glorify thou me with the glory
which I had with thee before the world was. Now look at verse
6 and 8. Quickly, verse 6, 7 and 8. I
have manifested thy name, Christ is our prophet, unto the men
which thou gavest me out of the world, sons of Adam. Thine they
were, they were in your hand, they were your property, and
you gave them to me, and they have kept thy word. Now they
have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee,
for I have given unto them the words which you gave me, and
they have received them, and they know surely that I came
from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. As the
prophet, I have revealed thy name to them." Now, I want you
to note something here about thy name. If you turn to Romans
chapter 10, this is so important, Romans 10, verse 13. Romans 10,
13. It says here, Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And Christ said
in verse 6, I have manifested thy name to them. My friends,
the name of God is the character of God. And if you expect to
call on God, if you expect to be accepted of God, if you expect
to do business with the living God, you've got to come to Him,
not as you suppose He is. Not as you've been told he is.
Not as you assume he is. But you've got to come to him
as he is. And the only way to know God
is to know Christ. He's revealed in Christ. I have
manifested by name. The name of God is the character
of God. The name of God is the very attributes
of God. The name of God is who God is.
And if I pray rightly and if I call rightly, I've got to pray
and call on the name of the Lord. And that name's got to be revealed
in Christ. I have manifested thy name to
these men which you gave me, and they know. They know that
all things whatsoever thou hast given me are thee, and I've given
them thy words, and they have received them, and they know.
Turn to 1 John 5. Let me show you a verse over
here. 1 John 5. This is so important. 1 John 5, 20. It's not a God that saves, it's
the living God. Salvation is not to know a God,
or even my God, but the living God. His name. His name, the
Lord our Provider, the Lord our Banner, the Lord our Righteousness,
the Lord our Portion. the Lord our Atonement, the Lord
our Redeemer. We got to know him as he's revealed
in his name. Now look at 1 John 5, 20. And
we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding
that we may know him that is true, that we're in him that
is true, even in his Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God,
and this is eternal life. Yes, I think most religion today
is an assumption, and I think it's presumption. I think most
religion today, most religious people are strangers to the true
and living God. I don't believe they, I think
they're using words, the words that we use, Bible, creation,
God, Spirit, Jesus. grace, blood, atonement, and
I think the definition of those words is totally different. When
we talk about this Bible, I'm talking about the living Word
of the living God. When I talk about this Bible,
I'm not talking about a book that contains the Word of God,
but that is the Word of God. I'm talking about not a book
of history or love or proverbs or good sayings, but the book
of redemption. I'm talking about a Word that
cannot be separated from the living Word. It is the Word of
God, the powerful Word of God, the sword of the Spirit of God,
that pierces even to the dividing asunder bone and marrow, that
searches the heart and tries the reins, the living Word of
God. When I talk about God, I'm talking
about the living God of heaven and earth that inhabits all things.
which the heavens cannot contain and the earth is his footstool,
and considers the inhabitants of the earth as grasshoppers.
He holds the nations in his hand as a drop in the bucket, that
does as he will, when he will, with whom he will, the living
God whom we adore and worship, and fall at his feet and bow
to him in fear and submission, not a buddy or a copilot or a
partner, but the living God. When I talk about Jesus Christ,
I'm talking about God in the flesh, not a messenger of God
or an ambassador of God or just one cent of God, but God himself
in human flesh, who came to this earth and made himself of no
reputation. He was not of no reputation,
he made himself of no reputation. He is reputation itself. who
limited himself, he had to do it himself, he couldn't be limited.
He said, no man taketh my life, you can't take my life, I lay
it down. He is life, you couldn't take
life from life. He had to lay it down, he had
to give it up, man couldn't take it. Who is the sovereign Lord,
who none of lily blooms, or lightning flashes, or a snowflake falls,
or a bird stumbles without him and his permission and his will,
who controls even the thoughts of men. He's the sovereign Lord
of heaven and earth. Don't feel sorry for him. He's
King of kings and Lord of lords. He was king on the cross, and
he's king now, and he always has been. When I talk about the
blood, I'm talking about cleansing blood, atoning blood, redeeming
blood, not effortless blood. And not blood that can do something,
but blood that was given for a purpose to accomplish a purpose
and will accomplish that purpose. That's what I'm talking about.
When I talk about the invincible work of the Holy Spirit, I'm
talking about the conquering Spirit of God who cannot be frustrated,
who cannot be confounded, who cannot be resisted. That's what
we're talking about. We're using the same words, but
we're talking about a different person. I have manifested thy
name to them, thy name, thy name, the name of the Lord. Moses stood
by that burning bush, and he said, Whom shall I say has sent
me? Tell them, I am, I am. I am God. I am almighty. I am holy. I am just. I am merciful. I am loved. I
am. Everything else fits into my
I am. That's what he told him. All right, verse 9. He said,
I pray, Father, I pray, Father, oh, if we could just lay hold
of this. All of this is gone before. Father,
this is a sovereign Lord, as if there's not another creature.
Father, the hour has come. What an hour. the hour for which
the world was created, the hour for which man was permitted to
stand and to exist, the hour of redemption prophesied, foretold,
purposed, planned, the hour of the covenant, the hour of the
fulfillment of God's justice and righteousness and the meaning
of mercy and peace and righteousness and truth, that hour, that hour
of ours, it's come. We're fortunate even to read
about it, let alone understand it. We're fortunate and blessed
of God. It holds back the wrath of God
that God even designed such an hour, that God even sent such
an hour. But he says, come, now you glorify
me that I may glorify thee. You've given me authority, authority,
power over all flesh. I'm going to give eternal life.
I'm going to purchase it, eternal life. I'm going to accomplish
eternal life, and I'm going to give it. And that eternal life
is not that they should read about thee or hear about thee,
but know thee. Know thee. Walk with thee. Have
fellowship with thee. Intimately, personally, be united
with thee in me. And I've glorified thee on earth.
I've finished that word. I pray for them. I pray for them. For whom? I pray for them. I
pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me.
For they are thine. And then over here in verse 20,
neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word, that they may be one. How is
it that we're one with Christ? Let me give you five things and
I'll quit. Number one, we're in his heart. We're in the heart
of Christ. He loves his people. He always
loved them. Over in Exodus, I wouldn't care
if you turned over there a minute to chapter 28. I want to show
you something here, Exodus 28. In Exodus 28, verse 29, there
was a high priest called Aaron, and Aaron once a year with the blood atonement,
would enter under the veil and go into the Holy of Holies, and
there the mercy seat covered the Ark of the Covenant in which
was the broken law. That solid gold mercy seat covered
the Ark wherein was the broken law. And Abram would take the
blood in a basin, the animal had been sacrificed And he'd
pour that blood on the mercy seat, and it'd run over the mercy
seat, all over the mercy seat, and drip down over the Ark of
the Covenant, just blood, covering the broken law, the blood. And
that blood of that animal represented Christ's blood, our Lord Jesus
Christ, that covers the broken law. And that blood cleanses,
and that blood atones, and that blood reconciles, and that blood
And the Heavenly Father cannot see our broken law and our sins
through the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ cleanses
us from all sin. Now then, that high priest who
took that blood and poured it out is Christ also. You see, he's the mercy seat,
his is the blood, he is the God of glory to whom the sacrifice
is offered for his people, and he's the priest who brings it.
And our Lord Jesus Christ, the great high priest, didn't enter
the holy place made with hands, but into heaven itself. This
is a figure of the truth. But he offered his blood before
the Father. Now then, on the breastplate
of that priest, here's Aaron with the blood, puts it on the
mercy seat. On his breastplate, you know
what written over his heart, what was there? Well, let's read
about it, verse 29. the names of the children of
Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when
he goes into the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continually."
Does that mean anything to you? Well, I say this, when the hours
come, glorify thy Son, I finish the work. I pray for them. I go into the Holy of Holies,
and Christ's work's not chopped up in divisions. It's one work. He said, I finished the work.
The work. You gave me to do. It is the
end. It is. Not they, the work is
finished. And everything coincides with
this Old Testament picture, the figure of the truth. And when
that high priest went into the Holy of Holies with that blood,
He didn't have written across here the world. He had the names
of the children of Israel. He didn't have the Babylonians
and Medes and Persians and Philistines and Amorites. He had the children
of Israel. And in the same way, our Lord
Jesus Christ had the names of those the Father gave him when
he went into the Holy of Holies and sacrificed for their sins.
I saw a plaque on a wall down in Texas that said, I asked the
Lord how much he loved me. I asked the Lord how much he
loved me. And he said, this much. And he stretched out his hands
and died. That's how much he loved me. I'm on his heart. I'm
on his heart. Here's the second thing. I'm
in his book. I'm in his book. Exodus 32. Look
over here. I mean his book. Moses said,
Lord, if you don't forgive Israel, blot me out of your book. Well,
verse 33, he says, And the Lord said unto
Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out
of my book. He has a book called the Lamb's
Book of Life. And our Lord Jesus Christ said
to his disciples, You rejoice, not that the devil is up to you,
But your name's in the book of life. I'm in his book. Thirdly,
I've got to hurry, I'm in his hand. Turn to John 10. How are we in Christ? We're in
his heart, we're in his book. John 10, we're in his hand. Listen
to this, verse 27. John 10, 27. My sheep hear my
voice, I know them, they follow me, I give them eternal life,
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them all
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. And then not only that, but I'm
in his body. Ephesians 5. Turn over here a
minute. Ephesians chapter 5. I'm in his
body. Oh, our oneness. This is our
confidence. This is our assurance. This is
our hope. our oneness with Christ, Ephesians
5.30. Listen, we're members of his
body, of his flesh, and of his bones. We're members of his body,
of his flesh, and his bones. For out of this cause shall a
man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife,
and the two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery I speak,
I speak concerning Christ and the Church. Christ is the head,
we're the body. Where the head goes, the body
goes. What the head has, the body has.
Where the head is, the body is. Christ is the head, we're the
body. I'm one with Him. Talk about confidence and assurance.
And then last of all, we're in His loins. In Romans chapter
5. Turn over there a minute. Rather,
1 Corinthians 15. Let me just read this one. 1 Corinthians
15, verse 21 and 22. I'm in His loins. It says in 1 Corinthians 15 verse
21, For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection
of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ are all made alive. And then verse 47 and 48. The
first man is of the earth earthy, the second man is the Lord from
heaven. As is the earth is such they also that are earthy, as
is the heavenly. such are they also which are
heavenly. As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall
bear the image of the heavenly. I am in his loins. Let us pray. Our Father, we're grateful for
your word. What confidence and what assurance
we have when we read thy word revealing to us all of the mercies
we have in Christ. And that's where the mercies
are, in Christ. And that's where the life is,
in Christ. And that's where forgiveness
is. And Lord, by your grace, that's where we are, in Christ.
Your mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace
have kissed one another. And there God is reconciled.
And we rejoice in the hope that we have in Christ Jesus. We pray
you destroy every confidence we have in this flesh, that we
lay aside every hope, every tradition, and our faith shall be turned
in a single fashion to look upon him whom you pierced for the
remission of our sins. We pray in Christ's name and
for his sake. Amen.