Faith in the Lord Jesus

[0:00] I'd like you to turn once again to the second portion of the scripture that we have read. First chapter of Ephesians, verse 15.

[0:30] Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 15. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

[0:55] For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you.

[1:13] Now Paul here, as he begins this letter, does so in a spirit of praise and thankfulness himself.

[1:30] He opens it in the usual way, it is of salutation, Paul, the apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus.

[1:46] I was talking to a people who are new converts. They were heathens, unbelievers.

[1:57] Ephesus was that city who praised the goddess Diana. And there, remember the episode with Paul when he was in Ephesus, the girl was converted and they cried out all day long, and great is Diana, the queen of the Ephesus, the goddess of the Ephesus.

[2:19] And so, having overcome that, Paul planted a church there in Ephesus. Today, as you look at Ephesus, it used to be a coastal port because of the change in the coastline and the different degrees of water levels around the earth.

[2:39] And the port of Ephesus is quite a long way from the sea and the coast. Now, I've never been there, but I've had to tell you have to walk quite a long way from the old port to get to the actual seaside.

[2:54] And so, here's Paul writing to this church, a bushing seaport in, as it was there, Asia Minor. What today is Turkey, it's the same area today where you see all the Syrians and the Iraqis all trying to cross to get to the island of Kos.

[3:15] That's exactly where Ephesus is, just beside that point where they are trying to get into Europe by crossing the coast, which, for some reason, is in mainland Europe, whereas Turkey is classed, more or less, as being a part of Asia.

[3:34] But here's Paul writing this letter to the saints in Ephesus. And he's so caught up in his spirit of praise and adoration that the verses we have there from 3 to 14 are all one sentence, although the English is broken down into phrases of commas.

[3:52] In the Greek, there's no commas, no full stops, nothing, just one long sentence of praise. The same thing applies from verse 15 to the end of the chapter, there is verse 23.

[4:08] One long anthem of praise for what God has done and his desire to see the people at Ephesus involved in the work of the gospel and the praise of God for what he has done for them.

[4:26] So the first thing we can say about this chapter, we ask, what does Paul here mean when he says to the saints, what is a saint? We need to know, because the early Christians professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they became very active in the defense and the promotion of the gospel.

[4:52] If you were to look at the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, the Lord Jesus Christ, of course, the Departure, says, you are to be my witnesses. And that's what they became.

[5:03] They became the Lord's witnesses in their own day and generation and proclaimed the gospel wherever they went. We have to examine ourselves to see whether we are still engaged in that same work of being witnesses for what Christ has done for us.

[5:19] Do we tell what the Lord has done for our souls to others? Our family, our friends, our workmates. I know we live in the day of political correctness, but we still have the liberty to proclaim what the Lord has done and to demonstrate what the Lord has done in our lives.

[5:38] And also, this word Christian at that time, the New Testament times, wasn't a word of approval or approbation. It was a word of abuse.

[5:50] If you go back and again, think of Acts chapter 11, verse 25, 26, that the believers were called Christians first in this place.

[6:03] And the word Christian, ekhros, you can always sense that the guttural sound of the Greek word was the word of abuse. These Christians, as people would say today, who do they think they are?

[6:17] What are they believing in? They're turning us aside from our own interests and they're spoiling the lives we want to lead. And it would have been the same thing at that time when Paul and Barnabas were there proclaiming God's word in Asia Minor.

[6:38] And so, we need to know what being a Christian means. Now, Christians have impacted society since the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world and he sent his Holy Spirit to indwell his own people.

[7:01] And a Christian, first of all, is a saint. That's what the word here says to the saints. That's what a Christian is. He's a saint. The Greek word, again, is hagios, which means holy.

[7:15] And so, Christians were meant to be holy and harmless, like the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot say we are undefiled because we are defiled. As for us, the Lord was holy, harmless, and undefiled, so we ought to be holy and harmless in the day in which we live and to be his witnesses.

[7:35] But a Christian is also someone who is cleansed outwardly. A saint is someone who is cleansed by the Lord.

[7:47] It's something that is done to him. We don't become Christians because of the family we were born into or the church we belong to. We become Christians because the Holy Spirit has come and indwelt us and given us the ability to believe, to turn our life around.

[8:03] It's not something we do in ourselves and of ourselves. It's not a strength that we have. It is something that happens to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember when Peter was asking, Who do you say that I am?

[8:17] The Lord asked the question. And Peter says, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And the Lord says to Peter, Flesh and blood, your own ingenuity and thought processes have not revealed this unto you, but my Father who is in heaven.

[8:33] So even the knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, we profess him to be the Christ and our Christ, that's a given. That's something that's given to us. It's imparted to us in our understanding.

[8:45] It's imparted to our emotions. And it renews the wills whereby we walk as Christians in this life. Now, the outward cleansing is something that changes our status with God in heaven.

[9:04] It doesn't change us immediately from being perhaps unloving to very loving people. It doesn't change us from those who are very much in the world to very much out of the world and in the church.

[9:21] It's a standing which changes in our relationship to God. It's a situation which occurs because God does something to us.

[9:37] He redeems us. Redeems us by the blood of Christ. So that we are no longer children of wrath, but children of God.

[9:49] He redeems us by the precious blood of Christ. The blood of Christ had to be shed for us to be redeemed. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. But without the shedding of blood, we cannot be redeemed by God.

[10:03] Again, remember the Old Testament ceremonial practices. There was a man came to the temple with a small donkey. And he wanted to keep it.

[10:15] But it was the first bond. It should have been sacrificed. It was redeemed by a lamb. And that was the way. So the ass had to be redeemed for it to live.

[10:26] And so we've been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. We can live spiritually, not only in this world, but the world which is to come, because God has redeemed us by the blood of Christ.

[10:40] He has redeemed us. He has forgiven us. Again, his forgiveness is because of what Christ has accomplished for us and for our salvation.

[10:51] And he does it again, not because of what we are, but because of what Christ is and what he's accomplished. And he justifies us.

[11:02] And that's the great jargon word that's used in the scriptures to show that we are justified before God. Our status with God has changed.

[11:13] He looks at us just as the children's descriptions of the world, just as if we had never sinned. As though we were totally innocent and vindicated in this sight.

[11:25] We are innocent of every charge that can be laid against us. Not because we have no charges to be laid against us, but because all the charges have been laid against Christ. And so we are cleansed outwardly.

[11:37] Our status before God has changed. We are new creations in Christ Jesus. But then we're also cleansed inwardly.

[11:48] And we're cleansed inwardly, as I hinted before, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That's what makes us Christians. That's what enables us to begin starting to live holy lives.

[12:00] The Holy Spirit takes up his residence among us. Remember in John 14, the Lord said, I must go away. And if I go away, I will send you another comforter.

[12:11] If the Lord Jesus Christ had remained on earth, even until now. His sphere of influence would have been very limited. He would have to be in one place at one time.

[12:23] In the same ways, we're limited as to where we can be and where we can go. Where we can be seen or heard. Although in today's world of the internet and everything, it can be spread wide.

[12:36] But the physical body of Christ can only be in one place. But the Holy Spirit, when he comes, indwells every believer. The Holy Spirit of God is in everyone who's a Christian.

[12:47] That's what makes us Christians. And so we're cleansed inwardly by his indwelling. He cleanses us by giving us new desires.

[12:59] So that our desires are not for this world. Our ambitions are not to progress in this world. To make a name for ourselves. And to achieve fame and fortune.

[13:10] Our desires are now spiritual. The spiritual that we might be one with Christ. That our lives might be hit with God in Christ Jesus. That is our desire.

[13:21] That's our desire for our children. When we are of the world before we're converted. All we want for our children is their prosperity.

[13:33] We want them to progress. We want them to get on in the world. We send them away to universities. We send them away to colleges. And we remove them from that influence in the home and by the fireside.

[13:45] Where they know family worship and they know the family altar. And they come to the means of grace. I'm not saying it's wrong for our children to want to progress and get on in the world. That's the way of the world.

[13:57] But we're not of the world. And we should give our children this other world view. That fame and fortune in this world is not what life is about.

[14:13] This life is a preparation for the life that we hope to live in the world that is to come. Not only for time but also for eternity.

[14:25] And so we have new desires. We have new hopes. That life doesn't end in the grave. That there is a life beyond the grave.

[14:37] There is a life which shall never end. In the fellowship of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in heaven. And all these are ours.

[14:51] Every Christian then is a saint. He's cleansed outwardly in our relationship with God. He's cleansed inwardly when our own nature is changed.

[15:05] The old man is dead. The old man without the Holy Spirit is dead. The new man in the world of the Holy Spirit has been born. We are a new creation. That doesn't mean the old nature is dead.

[15:18] As I said, it's a journey we're on. A journey from when we were unconverted. When we were perhaps blasphemers and liars and drunkards. It's a journey from there to the time when we were presented faultless before God's presence with exceeding joy.

[15:35] But it's a line. Our journey is a line. We don't go up in steps making progress. It's a line along which we travel. And along that line there will be successes.

[15:46] There will be disappointments. There will be failures. But we continue traveling. And God sometimes uses the failures and the disappointments much more in making progress in our spiritual lives than the successes that we achieve along a life's journey.

[16:00] And so all these are true of the Christian who is a saint. Full of faith. Loyal to the Lord Jesus Christ.

[16:13] Not like Thomas. Who is disloyal. Who is faithless. And unbelieving. The Lord says to Thomas, don't be unbelieving.

[16:23] Don't be faithless. But be believing. Don't be without faith. But be believing. And be loyal to that faith. And be as one who nurtures that faith and causes it to grow in your life.

[16:38] And by what you say and what you do and where you go. So what makes us Christians?

[16:51] It's the Holy Spirit who makes us Christians. It's believing in the Christian truth that makes us Christians. See a Christian is not merely a nice man.

[17:05] A man who used to be a bad man and now is a nice man. A Christian is someone who believes certain things about the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what makes us Christians.

[17:17] Christ himself is not a Christian. A Christian is somebody who worships Christ. Christ. And if we want to be classed as Christians, that is the first demonstration of who we are.

[17:31] We worship Christ. We adore him. We fall before him in wonder and love and praise. He is our Lord. He is our God. He is everything to us. He is our all in all.

[17:42] That's what makes us Christians. That's what differentiates us from the world in which we live. And so the things that we believe about the Lord Jesus Christ, which makes us different, is we believe initially in the incarnation.

[18:02] He was in heaven. He was in glory. But now, two, thirty years ago, he came to earth. He came to earth as the God-man. God became man and lived on this earth for thirty-three or so years.

[18:19] We believe that implicitly. It's that which gave birth to the Church of Christ in the world today. And we will continue. Because Christ himself is not only the founder.

[18:31] He is not only the builder. But he is the protector of it. And he will be kept throughout the endless ages until the time when he returns. So the incarnation is the second person of the Trinity who existed in fellowship with the Holy Spirit and the Father.

[18:50] Existed long before the world began. And if you read through the beginning chapters of Proverbs, you will see there some understanding of what I mean by the fact that God had a, or Christ had a pre-existence.

[19:07] And he came to this earth, born of a woman, made under the law, to redeem us, to are under that law that we might receive the adoption of sons.

[19:18] He came to this earth to create a new people. Even as God took Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and made out of Jacob's children a new nation, So Christ, in the spiritual sense, comes to this earth to make a new nation.

[19:36] He is the firstborn from the dead. And he is the one who is raising a people and establishing a people who will be with them throughout the endless ages of glory.

[19:46] It's this wonderful picture, this given to us in Scripture. Christ is establishing a kingdom. He tells us again in John chapter 14, I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, you may be also.

[20:01] That's the great end. That's the hope that we have. That's the desire Christ has for us in becoming man. He could not have achieved it from heaven. He had to come to earth to achieve it by dying for the sins of his people.

[20:15] And so taking away the barrier or the controversy between God and man. When God created Adam, there was no controversy.

[20:26] They walked together in the cool of the garden every day. But Adam caused a controversy. Man caused a controversy. And within a few verses of Genesis 3, we see God bringing a remedy to that controversy.

[20:44] The seed of the woman will crush the head of the servant. The promise of the Redeemer, the Savior, is made there right at the beginning of Scripture.

[20:55] And it continues in a greater revelation of what's going to happen. It's shown to us throughout the Old Testament and culminates in the New Testament revelation of the Gospel. But that is the incarnation and we believe in the virgin birth.

[21:12] We believe in the resurrection of Christ. The physical, literal resurrection. We believe in the ascension of Christ. We believe in all the miracles that he accomplished.

[21:23] We believe in the Holy Spirit. We believe in the Holy Spirit. We believe in the Holy Spirit. We believe in the Holy Spirit. Because of Christ and who he is. We believe it not as something we can prove, but because of who Christ is.

[21:39] He is our Lord. He is our God. He is the one whom we worship. And it would be very strange if Christ was something we could understand and we could relate to in a way that we relate to one another.

[21:53] He is wholly different to us. In his being, in his wisdom, his power, his holiness, all these things he is different to us.

[22:06] That's what makes him God. And that's what makes us his people. And that's what enables us to worship him and adore him. And so, the incarnation, we believe in.

[22:20] We believe in the virgin birth. We believe in the miracles. We believe especially in the vicarious death and sufferings of Christ. What's that word vicarious means? It means something one does for somebody else.

[22:34] He died for us. So that we will never die the spiritual death he had to suffer there on the cross. The sufferings he endured for us.

[22:46] The pains of hell overtaking him. We will never know that. Because Christ suffered for us. He did it so that his people would never have to suffer.

[22:58] It's the prospect of those who are out of Christ. But not prospect of any of those who have received and rested in Christ alone. We are his. And our lives are hidden with God and with the Lord Jesus Christ.

[23:13] And so we believe all these things. We trust the Lord for all these things for us and in us. We believe also, as I said, in the resurrection and Pentecost.

[23:26] In the Holy Spirit being sent. When we look again at scripture. We find here in the chapter we've been reading.

[23:39] That verses 3 to 14 have been verses which contain to a large extent doctrine. That's the way Paul very often works. He wants to exhort people to do something.

[23:52] So first of all he lays down the doctrine. Of the great truth of scripture. And then from verse 50 to the end. He applies that doctrine to the Christian life.

[24:05] And that's what he's doing here. He's saying give yourself two tests. This word here for this reason. It used to be written wherefore.

[24:16] Wherefore, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love to all the saints. What we see here is, Paul says it elsewhere.

[24:29] As you come to your convenience season. You apply these tests to yourself. You read chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians. And it tells you to examine yourselves.

[24:42] Whether you walk according to faith. Whether you walk circumspectly. Or whether you love the brethren. And what Paul says here. In much more seed form. For this reason he's exhorting them.

[24:55] For this reason. Because I have heard of it. Of your faith in the Lord Jesus. And your love to all the saints.

[25:05] Thanks. Cease not to give thanks. For you. Remembering you in my prayers.

[25:20] Continually. And Paul here is saying give yourself. These two. Tests. Do you have faith. In the Lord Jesus Christ.

[25:32] Do you have love. To the saints. To your fellow believers. Faith in the Lord Jesus. Not believing in some. God.

[25:45] Some nebulous God. That is. Every person seems to mention. The Jews believe in a God. Islam believes in a God. Jews witnesses.

[25:56] And the Mormons believe in a God. Hindus believe in a God. Buddhists. I don't know what they believe in. Power of good and evil. But as Christians.

[26:08] We worship Christ. He is our Lord. He is our God. He is the only one. That we will know in glory. God is a spirit. And.

[26:20] We will not receive a spirit. Christ. His resurrection. Rose. With. A human body. He said.

[26:30] Touch me and see. This is. Flesh. And bones. Thus we see. This is flesh and bones. If I have. And he. Actually. Shared food with them.

[26:43] Showed that he was a natural human being. And so. Christ. In his resurrection form. Is still. A human being. Is. As. One of the. Professors.

[26:53] We call it. Rabbi Duncan said. The dust of the earth. Has ascended. To the right hand. Of the majesty on high. So we have here. In the incarnation. Part of the. Of the.

[27:04] The Lord's. Condescension. Towards the children of men. He continues. To inhabit. A human body. In his. Exaltation.

[27:15] And. His being raised. He does not cease. To be man. Man. In his humiliation. When he became man. He does not cease. To be God. So he is the God man. In two distinct natures.

[27:27] And one. Person. Forever. And so Christ. Has the preeminence. He is. Our all. In all. Not like. These other religions.

[27:39] Of the world. We are. Totally. And utterly. Different. To every other religion. In the world. We believe in Christ. As God.

[27:50] As Christ. As the only. Savior. Of men and women. As Christ. As the God. Who became man. And no other religion. Believes. To the extent.

[28:00] We do. That. Christ. Is our Lord. And Savior. There are other. Beliefs. There are other traditions. There are. Other ideas.

[28:11] Which they carry with them. But none. Has this. That's what makes us different. That's why. People. Hate. The Christian religion. So much. They know. We're different.

[28:23] We. They know. We worship Christ. What you see. In Middle East today. Islam. And every religion. Throughout the world. Persecuting Christians. Is because they're Christians. And no other reason.

[28:34] They're not bad people. They don't go about. Abusing their children. They don't persecute. Their neighbors. All that. Is done to them. For no other reason. But because. They are.

[28:45] Believers. They are Christians. They're worshipping. Peacefully. In their own churches. That doesn't happen here. We live. In a country. Where. We have. The liberty. To worship.

[28:56] Who we want. And what we want. And we have. Peace. To be able to do that. And that's why. In our country. So many. Sometimes. Wish. There could be. Some sort of law. But that is not.

[29:07] What Christ wants us. He wants us. To persuade men. That's what Paul says. I want you to persuade men. Not use. The arms. And the means. Of warfare.

[29:18] But use. Mental persuasion. To persuade men and women. That we worship. A living. And a loving. God. And so. Here we have. That living.

[29:30] And loving God. Whom we believe in. And whom. We put our trust in. And just one final word. On this section. Paul when he's talking about. Jesus Christ. He refers to him here.

[29:41] Not as. The Lord Jesus Christ. Or Jesus Christ. Or even Jesus. I've heard of your faith. In the Lord Jesus. And there you have. The divine nature.

[29:52] And there you have. The human nature. In those two words. The Lord Jesus. They're at the opposite ends. Of a lion can always say. And they hold up. The rest of his ministry. He is the Lord.

[30:04] He is Jehovah. He is Jesus. The man who was born. Of a woman. In this world. And he is the God man. The only. Possible person.

[30:16] Who could reconcile us. To God. Not made in the nature. Of angels. But after the seed. Of Abraham. Whereby. He could take our nature.

[30:27] He could come to the earth. Live the life we're living. And then die the death. That we die. Only he died the death. He died. For our salvation. The death of the cross.

[30:39] The accursed death of the cross. But in dying that. He achieved. What he said that to do. To save a people for himself. To save all the people.

[30:51] His father had given them. And lose none of them. Not one shall be lost. And so he came to achieve that. And he has achieved that. And that's the great guarantee. We're told here.

[31:01] This Holy Spirit. Is the guarantee. Of our salvation. Not what we will do. Or be done. Or plan to do. Or hope to do.

[31:12] The guarantee. Of our salvation. Is the Holy Spirit. In dwelling us. When we live our lives here. Sometimes. We fall. As we go along that way. But if we are believers.

[31:24] The Holy Spirit. Well. If the Holy Spirit. Is given to us. He is never withdrawn. God's gifts. Are without repentance. And the Holy Spirit. Is the ultimate gift.

[31:35] He even gives. Without repentance. It will never be. Withdrawn from us. His presence. Will be veiled. If we grieve. The Holy Spirit.

[31:45] He will withdraw. His. His. His known presence. From our. Lives. But never withdraw. And as soon as we come back. Into true fellowship. He will. He will.

[31:56] Come in. With us again. He will. He will. Enlighten our hearts. He will. He will. Enlighten our minds. And spirits. And we will. Once again. Know. The.

[32:06] Hope. And the prayer. That the psalm writer. Complained of. Where is the blessedness. In you. When first. I saw the Lord. All these. Are things. The Holy Spirit. Does to us. Because.

[32:17] He is the Holy Spirit. Of God. And. We are. Christ's children. Born. By the spirit. He purchased. By his death. On the cross.

[32:27] See the Holy Spirit. Is Christ's. Purchased. Possession. For us. For himself. And for us. He died. When I go. I will send to you.

[32:38] Another comforter. He. Came. Because Christ died. And rose again. From the dead. Because of what he accomplished. For us. On.

[32:49] The cross. And also. Your love. To all the saints. A Christian will love. All the saints. Not only those who are pleasant. And clever. And those who are.

[33:02] Learned. Or. Or lovely. But even the unlovedly. Even the unloved. Make no difference. Let there be no difference. Between those.

[33:13] Let there be no partiality. I think it says. In the authorised version. But esteem one another. Better than you esteem yourselves. And walk in love. And walk. In joy.

[33:23] And walk in peace. And walk as those who are brothers and sisters. In the Lord Jesus Christ. We. Don't need to ask.

[33:36] The whereabouts of a person. Although we do. We want to know. Who he belongs to. But. You don't. Shouldn't. Want to ask. Where he's from. Or what school he went to. Or what university.

[33:47] He achieved. Or what degrees he had. Should make no difference. To a Christian. If he's a Christian. He's a Christian. Yes. We want to know. Out of. Perhaps curiosity. Or. Even a desire.

[33:58] To know the family connections. As to who they belong to. But that's. Part of our. Our own curiosity. But never. In a sense. Whereby we can. Gain some sort of. Superiority. Over them. By looking down upon their achievements.

[34:10] And placing our attainments. Greater. Than theirs. And then. Paul says. He prays. Constantly.

[34:21] Give thanks. For them. For. To the father of glory. Now. There were. Other things. I wanted to. Say about that. But I was. In the reading of this chapter.

[34:32] It suddenly. Appeared to me. What Paul. Was praying for. I hadn't. Intended to mention this. And I did. Only just briefly. That the God. Of our Lord. Jesus Christ.

[34:43] The father of glory. May give you. A spirit of wisdom. And. Of revelation. In the knowledge. Of him. Some things.

[34:54] We can learn. By wisdom. By studying. The scriptures. Other things. Have to be. By revelation. Not. What's written.

[35:06] What's written. We can look at. And we can study. And we can discuss. And we can. Learn. Wisdom. By that. But others. Have to come. By revelation.

[35:16] There are some things. Hard to be understood. I'm sure we've all. Experienced it. We've been reading the scripture. And suddenly. We see. For the first time. Something we never saw before. That was there.

[35:27] Something never been discussed. Anywhere else. But suddenly. We see something. That's been revealed. To us. And that's what Paul here. Is praying for. Not only the wisdom. We get from the scriptures. But the revelation.

[35:38] That comes directly. From him. Having your eyes. Enlightened. He's praying. That our eyes. Will be. Enlightened. You know. Again. Your catechism.

[35:49] If you're reading to you. Your synonymity. Enlightening. Your mind. The eyes of your heart. Enlightening your minds. In the knowledge of Christ.

[36:00] Showing. Who he is. That we might. Be broadened. In our view. Who Christ is. Of his beauty. Of his. Wilsomeness. Of what he's accomplished. We know some of the.

[36:11] The words there. That he talks about. About his. His incarnation. About. How we are justified. About. The wickedness. Death. But. These are just words. There's so much beneath.

[36:21] Those words. So much being written about it. We live in the day. When we're on our iPads. More than we are. In scriptures. And more than we are. In the many books.

[36:31] That have been written. Many of the books. That. Contain. The greatest. Blessings. Are not. On the web. And they're not. On.

[36:43] Your iPads. Or computers. They're still. In. Stop covers. Or hard covers. Which. Lie in the. Libraries. Of many of the men. Who are preaching the gospel. Words that have been out of print.

[36:55] For many centuries. And which. Are studied. For the edification of the saints. So he's. Caused you. My. Your hearts. To be enlightened. The eyes of your hearts.

[37:05] That you may know. What is the hope. Of which he has called you. And what the riches. Of his glorious inheritance are. Only the hope. Can you express the hope.

[37:17] Each and every one. Peter says. Should be able to. To express the hope. Of. Your salvation. To anyone who asks you. Do we rehearse that. Do we. Do we know what our hope is.

[37:29] If someone. Asks us. Why are you a Christian. Can we express that hope. Can we give that answer. To. To someone else. Can we.

[37:39] Reveal to. To someone else. What. What the. Holy Spirit. Has worked in us. And. I think it's.

[37:51] First. Peter. Three. And. Fifteen. Be. Always prepared. To make a defense. To anyone who asks you.

[38:02] For the reason. For the hope. That is in you. Can we do that. The Holy Spirit. Paul is praying. That we will be able to do that. That we will be able to be a good witness.

[38:14] In our own day. And. Generation. That you might know the riches of the glorious inheritance. Our inheritance. Is in Christ. Our inheritance is guaranteed.

[38:24] By the Holy Spirit. Our inheritance is not some earthly inheritance. It's an inheritance. Which is. With God. In Christ Jesus. The inheritance. Which is. Means.

[38:35] That we shall be. With God. And with Christ. Throughout the end of the stages of glory. Being with them. And. Knowing his fellowship. And. Knowing his peace. And his joy.

[38:46] And what is the immeasurable. Greatness of his power. Toward us. Who believe. And they gather. This. Wonderful. Wonderful.

[38:57] Prayer. That Paul makes. He prays. For us. Earnestly. Praying. To. The God. And Father. Of our Lord Jesus Christ. And once. Just one.

[39:08] Final word. He's not praying to Christ. He's not praying to the Holy Spirit. Paul himself. Is praying. As he says here. To the God. And Father.

[39:19] Of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father. Of glory. Jesus Christ. Is the glory. So. God can be called. The Father. Of glory.

[39:31] And these are. Some thoughts. On this. Wonderful chapter. I'm sure. Men. Of more accomplishment. Than I. Could probably preach. A sermon. On every one of these verses.

[39:43] That we've been. Looking at. This evening. So. We have this. Wonderful. Wonderful gospel. We need it for ourselves.

[39:53] Others. Others. Who are not saved. Need it. And if we don't tell them about it. Then nobody else. Is going to do so. As I mentioned this morning.

[40:04] In the prayer. Or whether. In the sermon. We've known. And experienced. Great blessings. In this community. In. The last 60 or so years. The.

[40:15] Vestiges. Of that. Revival. Are perhaps. Still with. One or two. Of the people. Who are still alive. And knew. What happened then. Well. Let's pray. That the Lord.

[40:26] Once again. This power. Bring. Such times. Back to us. We need them. We see. Our numbers. Declining. We see. Churches. Being amalgamated. Perhaps not here.

[40:37] But. On the mainland. A lot of them. And the only reason. We as a church. Are still. Increasing. Is that. Others are coming in. To join us. They see. The paucity.

[40:48] Of their. Of their own church. And. The belief. Of their own leaders. And they're coming to a church. Which still proclaims. The insercible riches of Christ. In the fullness.

[40:58] Of the revelation of God. May that be something. That we never lose. And that we will protect. With the utmost. Of our abilities. In. Our.

[41:10] Different places. In our usefulness. In the church. Well then. Let us then. Conclude our worship. Seeking to God's praise. In Psalm 91.

[41:23] Psalm 91. He that doth.

[41:34] In the secret place. Of the most high reside. And the shade of him. That is the almighty. Shall abide. To the end of the verse. Mark 4. Four stances. To God's praise.

[41:45] And stand. God's to God's omnip Idaho. Amen. Psalm 91. With the quintessential passage. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[42:03] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. God is still mighty shall abide.

[42:22] I hope the Lord my God will save. He is my refuge too.

[42:39] He is my fortress and my God. And in Him God I will.

[42:55] God is my fortress. God is my fortress. Give and give me the rest.

[43:12] From the fire of the earth. Near and from the voice of Mestris.

[43:30] His sever shall be high. High trust under His wings shall be.

[43:47] His faithfulness shall be our shield. And power unto Thee.

[44:05] And Thou may grace, mercy and peace. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God, rest on you. And abide in you now and always.

[44:17] Amen. Amen.