Now we're going to open our Bibles
again to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Now the text that I have selected
for this message is verse 2, I determined. For I determined
to know, not to know anything. I determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, first of
all, I want us to have a brief look at the man who wrote this.
Now, I know the Scripture is God-breathed, that holy men of
God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. But nevertheless,
the Apostle Paul is expressing what he feels in his own heart
in writing to us. And let's look briefly at the
man who wrote it. First of all, he is a seasoned
veteran. He's a man in middle age. He's
no novice. He's no new star on the religious
horizon. This is the Apostle Paul. And
secondly, he is a man with a great religious background. You read
the third chapter of Philippians, and he talks about what he was,
what he knew, where he'd been, and whom he knew. He talked about
his religious heritage. And thirdly, he was a man of
great education, great education. I suppose he had as good an education
as could be had in that day. He sat at the feet, they said,
of Gamaliel, one of the two outstanding teachers of that day. In fact,
one great political leader accused him of studying so much he lost
his mind. He said, much learning hath made
thee mad, Paul. And not only that, but he was
a man especially, especially chosen of God for what he was
doing. He was an apostle of Jesus Christ,
a particular apostle to the Gentiles. God said himself, God himself
said, this man, Paul, is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name
among the Gentiles. A writer of scripture, a man
of great gifts, he said, I speak with tongues more than all of
you. And not only that, but in the
fifth place, this man was a man of unusual experience. not only
here on earth, but in heaven. He had been to the third heaven.
That's what the scripture said. Whether in the body, he said,
or no, I don't know. But he said, I was taken into
the third heaven, and I beheld things, I saw things, I can't
even tell you. That's what he said. I saw things
it's impossible to describe, impossible to utter, unlawful
to speak. Now that's the man writing this.
That's the man writing, I determined not to know anything among you.
He came to Corinth, to that great city, that popular city, that
well-known city. And he says, I determined not
to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Now let's have a look at his attitude. Let's have a look at
his attitude. Look at verse 3. He said, I was
with you, I was among you in weakness. In weakness. Who's sufficient for these things?
Give me any other job to do and I may feel capable, qualified,
or sufficient. But I want to know where is the
man who feels himself sufficient for this task of handling the
Word of God. of dealing with the mysteries
of the kingdom of God, of operating on men's souls and men's hearts. That's the way Paul felt. Who's
sufficient for these things? I was with you in weakness. He's
not talking about somebody said, well, Paul was a sick man. That's
not what he's talking about. He may have been a sick man.
Several of God's best preachers have been sick men. But that's
not what he's speaking of here. He's talking about his own insufficiency
and inability. He said, who is Paul? Who is
Cephas? Who is Apollos? We're nothing.
We're just ministers by whom you believe. Not only was I with
you in weakness, but in fear. Paul wasn't afraid of men. He
wasn't afraid to challenge Agrippa. He wasn't afraid to challenge
Felix. He wasn't afraid to appeal to Caesar. So he certainly did
not tremble in the presence of these Corinthians. I was with
you in fear. I tell you this, men who do not
stand before God in fear and trembling do not know God. Men who do not stand before God
in fear and trembling and who do not represent God in fear
and trembling do not know themselves nor God. I heard a story years
ago. that impressed me profoundly. I was reading a story by, a message
by Spurgeon on the burden of the Word of God. The prophet
said, oh the burden, the burden of the Word of God. And Spurgeon
made this comment, if the Word of God is not a burden to you
now, talking to preachers, it will be at the judgment. If it
does not weigh heavily upon your heart and your mind now, if the
ministry is some foolish enterprise or some professional vocation,
and the Word of God is not a burden, a heart-breaking, heart-rending
burden, we'll be at the judgment. But nevertheless, he told this
story about a young minister who was going to candidate at
a church. He was going there to try out. to be their pastor. They didn't have a pastor and
they invited him to come and they were going to consider calling
him. Well, naturally he worked for two weeks on his message.
He studied. He had his outline, his introduction,
his text, topic, conclusion, points, illustrations, antidotes,
poems, everything committed to memory. He worked and worked.
He wanted this church. And that Sunday morning came
and he was a confident, cocky young man. He had that thing
down. He graduated from some school
and he was an expert in his field, he felt, and he was sitting down
there and they introduced him. And he bounded up the pulpit
stairs and bounded into the pulpit with that fresh, vigorous, just-waked-up
look, you know, and opened his Bible and started his message,
and he just fell flat on his face. He just fumbled and faltered
and fiddled and failed and everything else. And right in the middle
of the message, he realized that he totally, totally struck out. And he broke out in tears. And
he just stood there and cried and cried. He knew he had no
opportunity of being a pastor of that church. He just closed
his Bible, put his Bible under his arm with stooped shoulders
and faltering steps. He walked out of the pulpit.
And he went down to the front there where Bob's sitting and
put his head in his hands and just cried like a baby. Well,
one of the men came and had a song, Just Missed the Service, and
a wise old deacon who'd been around a while came walking up
to him and he laid his hand on his shoulder and he said, son,
son, if you'd have gone up there like you come down, you'd have
come down like you went up there. There's a whole lot there. But
you can't do that unless you feel it. Oh, the burden. He said, I was
with you in weakness and fear and much trembling. Much trembling. Eternal matters are being dealt
with. We're not playing games. Brother
Barnard used to say, we're not playing tiddlywinks. We're not
playing mumbledypads. We're operating on hearts and
souls. God is moving Jesus as Nazareth
is passing by, and the blind Bartimaeuses are crying out for
mercy. And the Pharaoh's hearts are
being hardened by God. I was with you in much fear. And
then let's have a look at what he determined not to do. We looked
at the man and his attitude. Now let's look, thirdly, at what
he determined not to do. First of all, in verse 1, he
said, Brethren, when it came to you, I did not come with excellency
of speech, or wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
You know what he's saying there? He said, I didn't preach the
word of God to you in lofty, eloquent words of man's wisdom
and philosophy. In lofty words. There's a temptation. Did you know this? There's a
temptation when a man gets the ear of a large number of people,
there's a temptation, and you young ministers here this morning,
listen to me, there's a temptation to wax eloquent and impress the
congregation, and impress the congregation with flowery, beautiful,
picturesque language, so that when people leave, they can say,
my, what a beautiful sermon. Wasn't that touching? Wasn't
that inspirational? Yeah, but was it edifying? Did
you learn anything about God, about yourself, about your need?
Were you broken in tears before a holy God? There's a temptation
to wax eloquent. to wax eloquent. I remember hearing
about the deacon that waxed eloquent one time in prayer. You know,
we like to hear people say that's a pretty prayer. We get to thinking
about our words. We get to thinking about our
words in preaching and in prayer. And he waxed eloquent, the preacher
called on him to pray, and he kind of got the ear and was swaying
the people, Jay, and he said, Lord, I still heaven and earth Bless all the missionaries out
there on the foreign fields, out there among the pagans and
barbarians and cannibals. Lord, bless them out there in
the far distant points where the foot of man is never trodden
out, God's never seen. You can get yourself out there
when you act eloquent. Way out there. There's a temptation
You want to suppress it. He said, I didn't come to you
with excellence of speech. I'm not trying to impress you
with picturesque, beautiful, descriptive language. Watch it.
I know a preacher in the South that's known for his descriptive
words and picturesque language. And it's not a nickel's worth
of hardly anything in what he preaches. He can make you hear the babbling
brook. But you don't hear Christ speak,
nor the Holy Spirit speak through the Word. He can make you hear
the wind rustling through the pine trees, or hear the train
coming down the track, and describe Lazarus so much you can almost
smell him in the grave. But you can't hear the voice
of God. There's a temptation. There's a temptation not only
to wax eloquent, but look at verse 4. He said, My speech and
preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. There
is a temptation to be clever. To say something clever. Watch
it. Enticing words of man's wisdom. To be cute. To be clever. To be cute. to
be persuasive with my arguments and my logic. There's a temptation
to camouflage the offense of the cross. Look over here at
chapter 1, verse 17 of 1 Corinthians. Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, not with
clever, cute sayings, lest the cross of Christ be made of none
effect. You can preach the cross of Christ
and cover it up with your clever sayings and your picturesque
language and your words of wisdom until a fellow can't even find
the cross. It becomes of non-effect. Its
power is reduced by the padding. You don't keep your sword in
that flowery, beautiful, silver and gold scabbard. You take it
out and bury the blade. That's why so many preachers
are using the sword of God's Word, but they're describing
all this gingerbread on the scabbard, and they're waving it in the
air, and people see all the gold and silver and the picturesque,
clever and cute words and so forth. Take that sword out and
let men see it in its offense, in its cutting power, in its
truth. Let the depravity of human nature
cut into human hearts. Let the sovereignty and might
and power of God. Can I not do with my own what
I will? Who art thou, O man, that replies
against God? Can the thing formed say to him
that formed it, why did you make me thus? Hath not the potter over the
clay to make of the same want one vessel under honor and another
under dishonor? I'm the good shepherd, I give
my life for the sheep. You're not of my sheep, or you'd
hear my voice. Let it cut. Let it cut. Let it pierce the heart. Without
holiness, no man will see the Lord. If any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he's none of his. If any man take not up his cross
and follow me, he cannot be my disciple. Let him see the glittering,
bare, sharp, two-edged sword of God in its naked truth. You don't have to defend it.
Don't put any padding on the cross. Don't put any padding. We camouflage. We've got a way
of camouflaging so that we say it without anybody knowing it.
We say it without offense. We say it without making enemies. We say it without stirring up.
We say it without dividing. But yet our Lord said, I didn't
come to bring peace, I came to bring a sword to divide and conquer. To set a man at variance against
his mother or father, son against his against his in-laws. It divides
that sharp two-edged sword. Oh, I like Brother so-and-so.
He doesn't offend anybody. We had a preacher that came and
held a revival for us, and he didn't make anybody mad. We just
had such a good time. Well, Paul said, I didn't come
that way. Let's see what he determined
to do, verse 2. He said, I determined not to
do something But he said, I determine not to know anything among you,
say Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Listen how the Amplified Version
says, I determine, I'm resolved. I'm resolved. Now this is not
a man speaking who couldn't know anything else, who couldn't have
done something else. Some of us come along, all we
can preach is the cross because that's all we know. We couldn't
match wits with the philosophers anyhow. We couldn't match ability
with the orators anyhow. We couldn't match gifts with
the talented anyhow. It's one thing for a man to say,
I'm determined to know nothing but the gospel, when he doesn't
know anything yet. But this fellow wasn't that way. You couldn't name a subject.
Paul couldn't debate with you on that. He'd handle it with
you. You couldn't talk about anywhere Paul had been. You couldn't
talk about anything Paul wasn't at least aware of. But he said,
I determined, I'm resolved to be acquainted with nothing, to
make a display of the knowledge of nothing, to be conscious of
nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him crucified. I'm separated,
he said, to the gospel. I'm separated to the gospel.
And I'll tell you the reason. Let's look at the reason, verse
5. That your faith, that your faith, your salvation, your hope,
your confidence, your assurance, your refuge, your foundation,
should not stand in the wisdom of men. If it does, you're in
trouble. A man, a man who's convinced
by men can be unconvinced by other men. Now you remember that. A man who is persuaded by a man
can be unpersuaded by another man. That's exactly right. A man who's married to a creed
is easily divorced by finding one more to his liking. But a
center redeemed by the grace of God, called by the Spirit
of God in vital union with the Son of God, without one pillar
or arm of human flesh, is eternally secure. He said, when I came to you,
I didn't come with eloquence and picturesque speech and waxing
eloquent words of man's philosophy and wisdom and persuasive, enticing
words of man's wisdom. I came to you with the gospel
of Christ. I determined, I'm resolved to dwell upon nothing,
to think upon nothing, to preach nothing but Christ and Him crucified,
that your faith might stand, not in my persuasion or logic
or arguments or ability or talent, but in the power of God. If I can, by the Spirit of God,
take you to the cross, you will find there a refuge. If I can,
by the Spirit of God, take you to Calvary, you will find there
some hope. If I can, by the Spirit of God,
take you to Calvary, you will find there some assurance. If
I can take you to Calvary, you will find there the source of
every mercy and grace and gift God's got. Now let me give you three things
in closing. The subject, the sufficiency thereof, and then the conclusion. First
of all, here's subject. What is it? Christ and Him crucified. Now listen to me. We preach Christ
and Him crucified. The subject's one. It may be
divided into two parts. We preach Christ, the person
of Christ, and Him crucified, the work of Christ. We preach
Christ in all his positions, in his glory, surety, mediator,
high priest. We preach Christ in all of his
offices and positions, but we preach Christ especially in his
work, the crucified one. In Acts 10.43, the scripture
says this. I would like you to turn there.
I want to read something here. Acts 10.43. I think it would
be well if you turned over there with me. It says here in Acts
10, verse 43, to him, to him, that is to his deity, his position,
his office, to him personally, to him give all the prophets
witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sin. There you have the person of
Christ and the work of Christ. Redemption. To him. in His deity and glory, His glorious
person, to Him who shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty
God, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father, to Him, to
Him give all the prophets witness that through His name and His
work we have remission of all our sins. Everything that Christ
Jesus our Lord did is headed up at Calvary. That's what we
mean by the preaching of the cross. When we say we preach
the cross, we don't mean by that that we just go around talking
about that particular piece of wood that was erected on Calvary's
mountain on which Christ died. The cross takes in all that Christ
did before he died and all that he did after he died. It's the
justifying, redeeming work of the Redeemer and the Savior for
all believers. That's the cross of Christ. It's
just headed up in the crucifixion. That's just the climax of it.
That's just the zenith of it. That's just the acne of it. Calvary's
cross. We preach Christ and Him crucified. One of my favorite illustrations
is one given by Rowland Hill many, many years ago. Rowland
Hill was a great English preacher, a very much used minister of
God. And Rowland Hill said he dreamed
one night that he died, and he'd gone to some place, heaven or
some place, where they were having a judgment. And he concluded
that it was the last judgment. And he said that he stood there
in that great valley, and there were just millions of people.
There were people everywhere, just people as far as your eye
could see in every direction. This was a dream. And he dreamed
above all of that was the glory of God. the throne of God, which
he couldn't describe, the presence of God, the angels of God, the
heavenly hosts were all around. It was an awesome, terrible time. But he said, I had some confidence.
He said, I'd been a preacher and I'd believed on Christ, I'd
been with the church, I'd come to the table of the Lord, I had
believed the gospel, and he said, I wasn't greatly troubled. I
was there, but I wasn't greatly troubled. All the people were
there, and I concluded, this is the judgment. This is the
judgment. The great white throne judgment. And he said, I just
casually sat down there on a rock, and there were people all around,
and then it was silent. And he said, the angel of God
began to call names, and people would answer. And there'd be
a judgment. And then the voice would say,
bind him hand and foot and cast him into hell. And there's just
a groan went over that whole crowd. He said people had their
heads in their hands and they were weeping. And he said, I
wasn't. I had some confidence. He said,
I was witnessing the judgment. But he said, I wasn't afraid.
Not at all. And I heard other names. And
then he said, there was a great silence. And he said, I heard
that voice of the angel of God that could be heard from miles. I cried, Rowan Hill! And he said, all the blood just
drained out of my body. He said, I began to tremble and
break out in cold sweat. And my knees were so weak I couldn't
stand. I was just horrified. Lost. Eternally lost. And he said,
as I tried to get to my feet, I heard a voice say, Here! This
is a dream. And he said, I sprang up. There's
another rolling hill. There's another rolling hill.
And he said, I began to look. And he said, I looked into the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he was holding up his nail-pierced
hand. And he said, I'm Roland Hill.
I'm Roland Hill. I've been Roland Hill since,
Father, you chose him in eternity and gave him to me as his servant.
I was Roland Hill down on the earth, and I met your law every
jot and tittle, and I kept it as Roland Hill. And as Roland
Hill, I went to the awful, humiliating, ignominious castle Calgary, and
I died under his sins. I paid the price and I was buried.
And I rose again and you accepted me as Roland Hill into your glory. So Father, I say Roland Hill
has not one charge against him receding into your glory. That's where it is. That's salvation. That's what we're talking about
by the cross. Preach the cross. Substitution. In our stead he
died. For our sins He suffered, took
our hell in His own body. I may be a witness at that judgment,
but if Christ stands in my place, I'll never be judged. Now you
can talk about your judgment of nations and rewards and all
that, just play ball all you want to with those things, but
to me there's no condemnation to them who are in Christ. There's
no judgment because I've already been judged. Hear it! He said. Hear it! And I don't even have
to answer when my name is called. Somebody else answered for me
because he stood for me. He's already entered glory for
me. I'm already accepted. I'm already seated. Already glorified. I'm just waiting on the train
to come take me home. You see what I'm saying? In Christ.
You too. In Christ. I'm not talking about something
I have you don't have. I'm talking about something every sheep of
God has. The most undeserving, motley crew you've ever met. There's not ten cents worth of
good in every one of them put together. But there is in Christ. Because they're not dependent.
I like what that old black preacher John Jasper said, old Richmond,
Virginia. Somebody came to him and said,
John Jasper, what if you get to Hinton's Gate and they stop
you and say, what right you got to be here, boy? What you going
to say? But he said, I'm going to say
I ain't got no right to be here. I'm not here on my righteousness,
I'm here on the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. They
said, come in here, John Jasper. You're welcome. On His righteousness,
you're welcome. On your own, you're condemned.
That's the whole reason. Now, the sufficiency of this
subject, let me close with this. Paul said over here in 1 Corinthians
2, I'm determined Not to know anything among you except Jesus
Christ, the Inclusive. Now usually, when a man, Jay,
and you preachers listen to this carefully now. I got something
here, I know I have. Usually when a man dwells exclusively
on one subject, he neglects the others. Now usually that's true. Usually when a man's strong on
one point, he's weak on all the rest of them. Usually. Usually. That's so. Usually when a man
gets on one subject, one doctrine. For example, you remember old
M.F. Ham, the Kentucky country preacher? Anybody remember M.F.
Ham? Or if I was the only one who heard him years ago. But
he got to where all he preached was prophecy. That's all he preached. He came to Chattanooga one time
and rented the high school auditorium and I went to hear him. There
was me and 14 other people. I'm talking about a man who used
to preach to 2,700 people at Warner Park in Chattanooga. 2,700 people fill an auditorium
every time he's there for six weeks. I'm talking about the
man that could fill the Freedom Hall down there back in the 20s
or 30s. But we had 14, 15 people out
to hear him in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Why? He neglected everything
but prophecy. He read the prophecies concerning
the second coming, that's all he preached. Armageddon, the
millennium. But, now listen, when Christ
is our subject, that's not so. When Christ and Him crucified
is our subject, no subject is neglected. Let me ask you just
briefly, would you know the living God? Would you know the living
God in His glory, in His attributes? Christ said, He that hath seen
me hath seen the Father. Huh? No man knoweth the Father
save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal. Would you
know the living God? You'll know Him in Christ. Alright,
let me ask you this. Would you know the commandments
of God? What about the commandments of God? Our Lord Jesus Christ
said, A new commandment I give you, that you love one another.
To love Christ and keep His commandments is to love God and keep His commandments. Would you know wisdom? I want
to be wise, preacher. 1 Corinthians 1.30 says, Of him
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom. Would you know sanctification?
He is our sanctification. Huh? Would you learn grace? Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Grace poured from His lips. Would
you learn to live? The life which I now live in
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved and
gave Himself for me. For me to live is Christ. I heard
a preacher the other day say, Is Jesus Christ the most important
part of your life? I sat and I thought a minute.
No, He's not. The most important part of your
life? Think about that now. No sir,
He is my life. The Scripture says, when Christ,
who is our life, shall appear, then shall we appear with Him.
You're not saved if He's just the most important part of your
life. Who's the other part? Who's the
other 99%? But I'll give him first chair
in the orchestra. He is the song of my songs. Would you learn to forgive? Be
you kind, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake, forgave you. That's where you learn it, in
Christ. Would you observe the ordinances? He said, this do
in remembrance of me. Would you learn the grace of
giving? Turn to 1 Corinthians or 2 Corinthians
8. 2 Corinthians 8. Would you learn
the grace of giving? I'm not just talking about giving
money to the church. I'm talking about giving. Giving
of yourselves. Giving of your heart. Giving
of yourselves to one another. Giving of the grace. I'm not
just talking about buying your way. That's not what we're talking
about at all. He says in verse 7 of 2 Corinthians
8, Therefore as you abound in everything, in faith, in utterance,
in knowledge, in diligence, in love, see that you abound in
this grace, the grace of giving, that's what he's talking about.
I speak not by commandment. Because you see, if God commands
you to give, you're not doing it willingly. You say, why did
Paul say I speak not by commandment? You can't command Morality, Jane. You can't command a man. Guess
what's wrong with this 10% thing? Command men to give 10% and they
do it because you commanded them. Not because they want to. You
do it because you commanded them. That was under law. That was
under legalism. That was under the Levitical
law. When men were commanded to keep a Sabbath day, and commanded
to give 10%, and commanded to keep a feast day, and commanded
to do all these things. And they did it in type. But God writes his law in our
hearts so that we love them, in our minds so that we do them.
And he said, I speak not by commandment, but by the occasion of the forwardness
of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. For here's the
basis of giving, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, that you
through his poverty might be rich. He gave himself, you see? That's the example of giving.
Would you preach on giving? Well, brethren, don't base it
on the fact that if you do this, God will bless you. You're coming at it from the
wrong direction. Or if you support the church and give and give
10% and all this, God will reward you and God will bless you. I
heard one preacher say, I heard about a preacher who said, if
you give to this church, Some bad things that would have happened,
won't happen. And some good things that wouldn't have happened,
will happen. The sovereign grace preacher said that, I regret
to say. I wish he hadn't, because it
ain't so. That's not the motive. The motive
is, verse 10, verse 9, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. How that for your sakes, though
He was rich, He became poor. that through his poverty you
might be rich. Huh? I tell you, if you get on
this subject, the preacher's one subject, Christ, you'll never
neglect any other subject as long as you preach. Because it's
all in him. I show you that in Colossians,
turn to Colossians chapter 2, I believe in Colossians. Here's
the body of the whole thing. It says in verse 9, in Him, in
Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you
are complete in Him. Now, if I preach a message that
would make you complete, I preach a message that covers your every
need, that covers every subject. I preach a message and a subject,
if I preach a subject and a message in which you can find every need
met, and be complete, then I just need to stay on that subject,
don't I? That's where it's all resolved. That's where it's all
resolved, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Men and women who meet Christ,
who love Christ, who know Christ, are men and women who know and
love God. They're new creatures in Christ.
Old things have passed away, old things become new. They become
better neighbors, better husbands, better wives, better children,
better students, better workers, better laborers, everything because
of His presence dwelling within them. I determined, I resolved
to know nothing but Jesus Christ in the name of the Crucified,
preached as He's revealed in the Word, not as a doormat named
Jesus, or a firescape from hell, but preached as He's revealed
in the Word, His person and His work. That's what it is to preach
Christ, His person and His work. Our Father, we believe this book. We believe that Paul and these
other men wrote as they were inspired by Thy Spirit. This
is the verbally inspired Word of the living God. We're persuaded
that thou art able to do all that you promised, all that we
need, and all that's required of thy holiness and thy justice
and law is met in Christ. All that we need for a fullness
of understanding and maturity as a believer and for righteousness
of life and knowledge and wisdom and sanctification is in Christ
Jesus, our Lord. It's all in Him. We're complete
in Him. Nothing needs to be added. Enable us to grow in grace and
in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And move in the
hearts of those in the congregation this morning who've never seen
this gospel and this beauty of Christ and never understood the
mysteries of thy kingdom. Lord, reveal it to them and bring
them to love Him and to trust Him, to believe on Him, to be
vitally, eternally united with Him. We wait upon Thee to accomplish
the miracle of Thy grace in some and to continue it in others.
For Christ's sake we pray, Amen.