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Let us begin our study this morning by reading in the Epistle to the Colossians, chapter one verses nine to twenty three. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray and make request for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to walk worthily of the Lord, unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power according to the might of his glory, unto all patience and long suffering with joy, giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who delivered us out of the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, in whom we have our redemption, even the forgiveness of our sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him were all things created in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, the all things have been created through him and unto him. And he is before all things, and in him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it was the good pleasure of the first that in him should all the fullness dwell, and through him to reconcile the all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross. Through him, I say, whether things upon the earth or things in the heavens. And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works, yet now has he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreprovable before him, if so be that you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven, whereof I, Paul, was made a minister. And may God give us good understanding of his word. Yesterday in our first study, we were thinking together of our Christian hope. And notice how in this first chapter to the Colossians, Paul deals with it twice, first telling us that our hope is laid up for us in heaven. And then reminding us of the hope of the gospel, which is nothing less than this, than that ultimately Christ will present us before the throne of God's glory with exceeding joy, presenting us holy and without blemish and without charge. And finally, we notice towards the end of the chapter, he talked of the hope of glory. That is the hope of being presented one day, not merely without charge, but being presented mature and full grown. This morning, therefore, we come back for a while to think of the hope of the gospel. Let us begin by noticing how it is secured to us, that we shall be presented holy and without blemish and without charge. That glorious hope is secured to us on God's side, first of all, by the divine decree, says verse nineteen: it was the good pleasure of the Father. Alternatively translated, it was God's sovereign decree that it shall be so. It issued forth from his counsels. He determined it. He decreed it because it was his good pleasure that it shall be so. That one day we shall be presented holy and without blemish and without charge before God. It is enough to make one's heart leap even at quarter past nine of a Tuesday morning, isn't it? What we shall be there, my dear brethren and my sisters, because God has decreed it shall be, and our blessed Lord Jesus, whose responsibility it is to fulfill that decree, will fulfill it to the last iota, and the will and decree of God shall be done. It is secured to us by the divine decree. It is secured to us by the adequate resources of Jesus Christ our Lord. For the divine decree was this, that in him should all the fullness dwell. Not one iota of all that is demanded by the divine decree shall lack its resource, since it has been decreed that in him shall all the fullness of almighty deity dwell. It is secured to us on God's side, not only by the divine decree and by the deity of the Lord Jesus. It is secured to us by his indelible sufferings upon the tree. By his humanity, it was decreed that we should be reconciled through Christ in the body of his flesh. And who can tell out the wonder in any credible form? When the Greeks heard it, it shocked them out of all belief. That for us and our salvation, the very Godhead should permanently be changed. The second person of the Trinity become what he never was before. For our sakes, he became. And what is more, my brothers and sisters, abides man forever. Who shall tell out his wonder? It is a shocking thing to the Greek mind that we Christians are called upon to believe that in the resurrection, our blessed Lord has a body still and gone back to glory with a body that could be felt and touched. When he comes again, it shall be the same Jesus that so returns as he who ascended. Think upon it and consider it well, my brother, my sister, that for your salvation's sake, the very Godhead has been changed eternally. But if on God's side it is secured to us by the divine decree, by the deity of the Lord Jesus, by his humanity and his sufferings and blood at Calvary. And on our side, you notice, there is a condition. For the end of verse twenty three says, if so be, provided only that you'll continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you had. It seems to me that it would not be too much to say that Paul's chief preoccupation in writing this letter is concerned with this one condition. Provided only that you continue in the faith. You will, if they remember the historical occasion of the writing of this letter. Paul, for two solid years, had, uh, taught in the school of Tyrannus at Ephesus. And there are some Greek manuscripts of the New Testament that says he taught from eleven till four. Just imagine listening to a preacher that went on, that long? I haven't attained to it yet. As a result of his systematic, uh, teaching of the word in Ephesus for two solid years. A certain Epaphroditus, called Epaphras for short, Epi, heard the, uh, heard the word, found the Lord, and went north as a missionary in his own right. And so was used of God to preach the word in the Lycus Valley, that churches were formed, notably the church at Colossae and that at Laodicea. And all went well for a time. But when at last he visited Paul, and one morning the dungeon door opened, and there stood Eppy afore said. And Paul was delighted. His heart was first cheered by the news of the progress of the gospel. And then sorrowed by what else he heard. For there had come false teachers to Colossae, and the Colossians were in grave danger of being misled. And curiously enough, not misled by that temptation that assails us so effectively oftentimes, by our worldliness. They were in danger of being led by their very desire to make spiritual progress. For Satan, our master enemy, um, the master of tactics, will of course ruin us if he can by worldliness, but if he can't, he'll attempt to ruin us by our very desire to make spiritual progress, by putting before us all sorts of seemingly wonderful recipes for the deepening of the spiritual life that look good but are absolutely bogus, which, if we follow them, will end- land us in disaster. These false teachers were advocating recipes for the development of spiritual life that were subversive of the very foundation of the gospel. That denied the uniqueness of the person of Jesus Christ our Lord, and in his place put the worship of angels and asceticism and religiosity. Theories that in their day were the counterpart of what is being peddled now in your beautiful country here, and notably in Germany, by the New Age movement, desperately insidious in all its ways. The danger, therefore, was that these Colossians, though they had professed faith in Christ, should not continue in, now notice what it is, should not continue in the faith. Or partly without knowing it, imbibing these strange doctrines would be moved away from the hope of the gospel and follow after a gospel, another gospel, which is not a gospel. It is not just a flourish of calligraphy that adds that, uh, condition to verse twenty three, provided only that you remain in the faith. You'll say, half a minute, uh, Mr. Preacher, this may be early in the morning, but we are awake enough to begin to hear what you say. Are you not also in danger of denying the eternal security of the The believer? believer. Well, Writing. I think not. But then you say, everybody, everybody that, uh, lays claim to believing in the inspiration of Holy Scripture, everybody believes in the eternal security of the believer, surely. How do they possibly avoid it? When the Bible says it so explicitly, he that hath the Son hath life, he that believeth on the Son of God has everlasting life. I say everybody that accepts the authority of Holy Scripture must and does believe, surely, in the eternal security of the believer. But then you'll say, that very phrase, the eternal security of the believer, raises another question, doesn't it, of more fundamental nature. What happens to a person who has professed to believe and thereafter abandons the faith? And by implication, if not explicitly, denies the uniqueness and deity of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and holds doctrines that are subversive of the very gospel. What about them? I know of many verses in scripture that say he that believes has eternal life. I can't at the moment think of one that runs like this. He who once upon a time believed has everlasting life, and even if now he has abandoned the whole thing and doesn't believe anything about the gospel whatsoever, nevertheless, he still has eternal life, even though he's an unbeliever, because he once believed. Do you know of any verse like this? I can't think of one. I can think of verses equivalent to this one we have here that say the same thing, to present you without charge, provided only that you continue in the faith. The matter is of such fundamental importance that perhaps you will allow me to diverge a moment to listen to our blessed Lord Jesus on this very topic. What about those who profess to believe and afterwards fall away? Our Lord Jesus discussed and described them, didn't he, in his famous parable of the sour. In Luke chapter eight, Luke records what he said about those who are the, uh, seed that fell upon the rock. He says in Luke chapter eight and verse thirteen, and those on the rock are they which, when they have heard, receive the word with joy, and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of testing fall away. Now, when our blessed Lord himself says that for a while they believed, it would ill become me to say that they didn't believe. He says they did believe. They believed for a while. They fell away. And why did they fall away? Because, said our Lord, they had no root in them. Never did have any root. Had you known it at the time, there was never any likelihood that they would persevere. So then, while it is not open to me to say they didn't believe, it is perhaps open to me to say, what use was that kind of belief? John's gospel has other ins- instances of this phenomenon. We remember the famous comment of the evangelist John chapter two, that when our Lord Jesus was at the feast and did his miracles, many believed on him simply because they couldn't deny the evidence that was in front of their noses. They believed, in a sense, but our Lord Jesus did not commit himself to them. Why not? Because while in a sense they believed, the belief in question was a superficial and in the end useless thing. We have recorded another instance in John chapter eight of the same phenomenon. John tells us that many of the Jews at a certain juncture believed. So our Lord Jesus said to those Jews that believed on him, now gentlemen, said he, if you continue in my word, then you'll be really my disciples, and you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free. They said, pardon? What did you say, free? Free from what? Well, he said, free from sin, gentlemen, you see. It is the fact that everybody that continues sinning is a slave of sin, and the slave shall not abide in the house. With which they became mortally offended and stood up on their hind legs and protested vigorously and said, who do you think you are, young man from Nazareth? Who told you to come to this conference? We'll have you know that we are children of Abraham, and what's more, we're children of God. Who do you think you are telling us that we're slaves to sin and need to be freed from its shackles? You go around the next street and preach. And it wasn't more than five minutes after that, but the Lord had to say to them, as for being sons of Abraham and children of God, gentlemen, I tell you your ancestry, you are of your father, the devil. There is a belief that is a mere shallow emotional and intellectual reaction that lasts for a short time and disappears because the person has no root. You will see this concern in the heart of the Apostle Paul as he writes his letter, how he prays and strives and agonizes in prayer that these people that have professed faith in the Lord Jesus, surrounded as they now are by spiritual presses, pressures and testings, may be reeted. That is a process in the process of conversion that we neglect to our peril. So now, because of these spiritual temptations in which they, by which they were surrounded, Paul, as usual, gives himself to prayer for these converts that he has never seen. I'm aware this morning that I speak to men and women well trained in the art of prayer, past masters in intercession. You therefore will not expect to find Paul rambling in his prayers, as I untimes do. Lord, remember the missionaries. Oh, my toe's got the rheumatism, Lord. Uh, now, uh, I've got some visitors coming. How- what shall I do for them? Oh, Lord, bless brother so and so. No. Some of us have butterfly minds. Our thoughts stray like sheep upon the mountainside. A lot often when we give ourselves, would give ourselves to prayer. But not Paul as he writes this prayer. As we go through it, we shall see that it is a logically ordered sequence of requests targeted in upon the need of these people in Cabassi. Let's least briefly run through the, the thought flow of the thing and then come back over the details. He prays and makes requests for them, he says, verse nine, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. But then we may ask, and to what purpose would they need to be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding? Why, for this explicit purpose, that they might walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing. That's why. Pray tell me, what would, um, walking worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing consist in? He answers it in the rest of his request in verse, um, uh, ten: Bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Ah. Well, now, if bearing fruit is an integral part of, uh, walking worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, tell me next, what are the absolutely sine qua non conditions for bearing fruit. Well, anybody who's tried at least to grow onions in the garden will know the end of that. Just putting the onion seed in and hoping for the best. There is only one condition known to God or man either, under which a plant, a seed will bear fruit, and that is if it perseveres. Perseveres. The man has not lost sight of his goal as he sets himself to pray. The one and only condition is provided that you continue in the faith. There is no other way of bearing fruit. Except by all perseverance, with long suffering, and with joy. If perseverance is the indispensable condition for bearing fruit, then what are the resources by which they shall persevere? Verse eleven again, strengthened with all power according to the might of his glory. They are the resources available for their and our perseverance. You say, tell me, what does that phrase mean? Strengthened with all power according to the might of his glory. Pray, what does that mean? Who shall tell out the might of his glory? Well, how shall I do it this morning? Comment upon the words of scripture here would be almost an impediment. The might of his glory, in whom you have your redemption. The one in whom, uh, all things were made, the image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation, firstborn from the dead, head of the body, which is the church. He in whom and through whom and for whom all was made. In whom at this moment the vast galaxies that whirl in space, in whom they are all upheld by the word of his power. In whom every tiny atom that whirls its way finds security and stability. The power of his glory. Ah, and the argument is going to be, oh, my brother and sister, if he's big enough to hold up a universe, he's big enough to hold up me. Me. And how shall I keep my soul in the good of these resources? I, by this simple method of giving thanks unto the Father. Alas for the hours that go by, sometimes the days and the weeks, when we allow the vision of his glory to be closed in by the fog and haze of our little circumstances, and we become weak and wobbly when we might be strong. When you see me likewise weak and wobbly, my brothers, my sister, if you feel obliged and led to exalt me, pray so do, for I need it, and I shall seek grace to bear it. Oh, make sure. When you see me feeble and my faith dimmed, you suspect that I might be tempted to throw away the shield of faith, all dented as it is. Then pray, by your grace, tell me about the might of his glory, that the sense of his strength shine through and grip my heart, and my heart be released from the frosts of winter and melt under the warmth of the spring sun, that the seed of God may grow up and persevere and bring forth its fruit in its due season. For many of God's dear people, more than they will admit, and why should they admit it, come across their times of doubt and difficulty, with problems that seem to threaten to overwhelm their faith. It's not always exhortation they need. You can poke a fire so much that it goes out, you know. It's a ministry that will reveal the Savior to them and the resources of God, so that their faith instinctively reacts to that living voice of the Redeemer. Let us therefore go over, eh, and for a few moments think about some of the details of this prayer on their behalf. What does it mean to be filled with the knowledge of his will? Well, we read that the goal is to walk worthily, um, to God's pleasure. But why should we, I ask, need to be filled with the knowledge of his will so that we can, uh, walk worthily of the Lord unto all well pleasing? Isn't it obvious what would please the Lord and what wouldn't? Oh, gentlemen, I don't know. It's not often that I take to advising husbands on how to buy, uh, birthday presents for their wives, but I will be bold to hazard a guess this morning. If it should be your bu- wife's birthday tomorrow, my good sir, don't go down to the town and say the biggest box of chocolates I can find I will buy, my sweetheart. First, make sure whether she likes chocolates. Mightn't she prefer a recording of Bach or something? You see, it'll be no good to save your skin, my good sir, when you get home with a large box of chocolates and she says, I don't like chocolates. Put on weight. What ever did you get these old chocolates for? And you say, but I like chocolates. That won't save your skin, sir. You better find out first and be filled with the knowledge of what the dear lady likes. We shouldn't suppose we know what God likes. Of course, when we think about the Lord's will so commonly, we're thinking in terms, are we not, of particular direction. Now I'm a believer, what career shall I follow? Shall I marry or not get married? Which, uh, partner and so forth. Particular direction. And that, of course, is a right concern for us. All of whose details of life are meant to be ordered by the Lord. But when we come to Holy Scripture, we shall find God much more concerned, on the whole, about not particular guidance, but general guidance as to our moral behavior. What is right and wrong? And you know, we oughtn't to suppose we know the answers, do we? Not us particularly, who live in this far gone century. So easy by osmosis to take in the standards of the world, where the Christian people get divorced almost as frequently as the unconverted. So that young folks are brought up with the tastes of the world as their guide, so that the attitude of masters and servants and employees, and thus and thus and thus, become the world's standard, instead of positively Christian. We need to be filled with the knowledge of his will, that we walk worthily unto all pleasing. And not only so, not only in this question of our moral behavior, but, uh, as you will see from the burden of this letter, we need to be filled with the knowledge of his will in the way and provision for our holiness. It is easy to become sidetracked even in these holy things, witness the Colossians themselves, keen to make progress in the things of God, and in desperate danger of striking off in this direction and at the other direction that looked to be specially holy and were bogus completely. In this area too, our spiritual progress, we must not suppose we know. We must always consult God's expressed will and pattern for our developing holiness. What that pattern is, we shall come to in our later studies. We think, therefore, of this phrase, the purpose of being filled is to walk worthily of the Lord and to all pleasing. I do remember as an undergraduate going along to a missionary breakfast in which a certain Dr. Laubach addressed us students. He was a good man, was he not an American, as most good men are? Uh, who developed a system for teaching otherwise illiterate people to read and was very successful therein. He told how he taught the chief of a barbarous tribe to read. The man was so grateful that one morning he came and putting his arm round Dr. Laubach's neck, he said, Dr. Laubach, I am so grateful that now I can read. Tell me, what can I do for you? Pulling out a big dagger, he said, who would you like me to kill? We need to be filled with the knowledge of his will so that we can walk worthily of the Lord. If a drug addict steals, compelled thereto by his pain and hunger, it is bad, but you could understand it, couldn't you? But suppose our Prince Charles, have you heard of him? Uh, suppose our Prince Charles were to come over here and got caught in the supermarket stealing sweets, oh, how the cheeks of Her Majesty would burn with shame, not only at the crime of it, petty though it is, but with a preposterous thing that the son of a queen should do such a despicably mean thing. We're not merely to do what is right, we're to walk worthily of the Lord. That will need get mean getting to know him, will it not? To like David, like David's men, we're near enough to hear the whisper of his heart's desire, and count it not too much to lay down our lives in order to get him what pleases him. What is involved in bearing fruit, uh, in pleasing him? Well, it's, uh, so the verse says, it is bearing fruit in every good work. You will remember that our blessed Lord in his parable of the sour, indicated not merely that there are four classes of reaction, but indicated that only one class is any good whatsoever. The only class that's any good is seed that takes root and brings forth fruit with perseverance. What is pleasing to the Lord is the life of a believer, in whom the seed of the very life of God has taken root and now is bearing fruit, that men might see his or her good works and glorify their Father, which is in heaven. Therefore, we come to the question of our perseverance. It's not a work of an hour, is it, or of a day, but the work of a lifetime. Not a question of bearing fruit, one pear in ten years. That's good, but scarcely enough to, uh, gain credit for the gardener. But a lifetime of fruit. Seen in the moral qualities of the life of the Lord, developed in our character. See in the fruitfulness of our work and our witness for God. Then what are the resources? How shall I tell them? He said Michael the Archangel would despair of commenting on these verses, wouldn't he? For my feeble effort. I, I, I, I, I propose to discuss them under five simple headings. The magnitude of the ruin with which God was faced. The immensity of the task that lay before the Savior. The majesty of the agent whom God employed. The marvel of the method he used. And finally, the magnificence of his achievement. The magnitude of the ruin with which God was faced. Nothing less than a whole universe disordered. You will note the repeated reference to the all things, meaning the whole universe. Disordered also at the very highest levels of creation, involving the rebellion of principalities and powers, being of beings of superhuman strength and superhuman sophistication and intelligence. Not all of them involved, there are loyal angels, but obviously a significant number of principalities and powers brought down in open rebellion against the Creator, and with enormous powers, such that our blessed Lord, faced in the garden, saw beyond the hypocrisy and the cynicism of the high priests and said, this is your hour and the power of darkness. Oh, what a scene. When David with Goliath's sword fell among the Philistines. But oh, what a scene when God incarnate fell among, surrendered himself before the very powers of God. You perceive their extent? They would challenge God incarnate. And if it weren't enough for the whole universe merely to be disordered, Paul adds this very significant poignancy. And you, you were the part of the problem, weren't you? I must talk frankly to you, and I ju- I was with you. You, the part of the problem that confronted Almighty God. You were alienated by a husband and his divorced wife, no longer on On speaking speaking tone. terms. Because of the terrible doings of the prince of the power of darkness that had slandered God, got the whole human race to believe his lie. That God was an oppressive... whose aim is to keep us from the development of our personalities. A God, though creator, of such sort that it is possible for us to live as creatures in independence of God. A lie that suggested that we would be very well advised so to do. A fantastic lie, so foolish on the face of it, but so potent. We were once part of the problem, alienated and estranged. And in the myth, this is the basic analysis of the human heart. Not that we do and did the odd thing that was wrong. Some of the things we did were very nice things in themselves, but curling beneath it was the hostility of a very soft enemies. The whole thing complicated by two factors. Of course, we had been drawn into sin and rebellion, then the holiness of God demanded our punishment, and from that we grew to hate God and to be hostile to him. Hating him for the very holiness that condemned us. That's a poison that isn't altogether worked out of our system yet, is it? Well, perhaps out of yours. And out of mine when I stand on the platform. They let pain come intense and prolonged. And that's another story. And I join Job saying, why, why, why does God allow it. The extent, the magnitude of the ruin. The immensity of the task, that is the task of putting it right. How would you put it right? That the whole universe, that's the divine decree. The whole universe to be reconciled, reconcile the all things unto himself. That does not, of course, mean, alas, that all should be saved. But the accounts of the universe have got to be balanced, drawn up, and everybody agree to them. And so they shout. One day there will be not one voice left to dispute the righteousness, ah, indeed, and the goodness, and what is more, the love of God. Say, but what's so difficult about that task? Isn't God almighty? Isn't it enough for him to speak and it is done? That was enough for creation, certainly. God is almighty. The devil himself hasn't forgotten it. When he approached the Lord in the temptation, he couldn't forget he was a creature, could he? And said, uh, you see these kingdoms, he said, they've all been given me. There speaks a creature. But the point of issue is not almighty power. Everybody in the universe that knew anything has known that God is almighty. He could sink the whole thing without trace if he wanted to, Satan himself included. And what would it achieve? Men are fascinated by power. That's not the ultimate concern of God. But if God merely put forth his almighty power and destroyed us all, and Satan included, with his wrath cast the rest, Satan would eternally mock the living God and say, there you are, you've lost, haven't you, God? Almighty could create, but not able to retain the loyalty of your creatures. So defeated you had to give in and destroy the body. All the task of face God through our Lord Jesus Christ, to reconcile all to himself, and not the least part of the difficulty, and you. You. Ah, what a task it was to bring you to the point where daily you would give thanks to the Father. And he got to bring it about, not by bribing you. That would be a shortcut, wouldn't it? For if God bribed you into salvation, we'd be tied. For the first time, the vegetables at dinner time in heaven didn't suit you. You'll be joining the trade union to issue a complaint against the Almighty. How shall God do it? That's through thick and thin. Without being bribed, you willingly bow your knee and give thanks. And then we think of the majesty of the agent. Here I must be very brief. The majesty of the agent in relation to God, the image of the invisible God. Why must he be that? Why wouldn't an angel do? Because of the issue and the battle to be fought. Your heart had to be one. Your heart had to be one for God. Therefore, you must be shown absolutely beyond doubt exactly what God is like. And how should God do it? Not by remaining aloft in his glory upon his remote throne. But the word was made fresh. Other had them in earlier stages in God's revelation. The law, for instance, came by Moses, but it was good, and it was holy, and it drove us to despair. Nothing but seeing the glory of the only begotten of the Father, translated into the idiom of the manger, Bethlehem, and the tree, would tell out God's heart until there was nothing left and nothing hidden, and we know exactly what God is like. Or if it wouldn't work, then the universe was lost to God forever. The image of God, as far as creation was concerned, he was the firstborn, not in the sense that he was the first creature, no indeed. Rather, he's firstborn because all were made, uh, in him. He is the great beginning. In the beginning was the word. In the beginning God created. The reishit, says the Hebrew. Our blessed Lord was the beginning. Like the wonderful shuttle that arises up into space had its beginning, not with some little piece of metal. It had its beginning in the mind of the designer. So in Christ were all things made, and through him brought to existence, and for him they were made. He is before all things. We are creatures of time, aren't we? We sit here. It would be that some relative of ours has met with an accident. We don't know it yet. We are after things, aren't we? No event happens in the universe before Christ. He's always before every event. And in him all things hold together. And in the work of redemption, how should it be? And it wasn't a question merely of wiping the slate clean. You might have had the trouble all over again. It was decreed that he should be the firstborn from the dead, head of the body, which is the church, and a new thing be created, guaranteed for all eternity against subversion and disloyalty to God, because the redeemed shall be incorporated into the blessed Son of God, and he in spiritual union with them be their controlling head. All the wonder of the agent that God use. Speak not to me about angels and principalities and powers and visions of angels and things like that. They are so self-evidently useless for the task in hand. And now the marvel of the method you. Reconcile the all things by the blood of his cross. Our little planet has been given the privilege amongst all the teeming stars and planets of the universe, and it has been spied with the cross of God's eternal Son. And when at last the judgments are begun that will cleanse our world of all opposition from God. John tells us in his inspired vision that all in heaven and on earth, and if you please, under the earth, shall bow their knees and say, he is worthy. The very enemies that gnash their teeth still will be obliged to confess that God is no tyrant. God is worthy, as they see him manifest in the Savior who died at Calvary. The accounts will balance. God will win his argument. More than the marvel of the redemption of the universe, if you will excuse me at these moments, is the marvel of the way he used to reconcile me. There are days when I cannot skip a beat. I'm a backyard astronomer, not that I know more than the names of about a half a dozen stars, but with my childish mind, it delights me to see them twinkle. And I turn my telescope on the Andromeda, the galaxy in Andromeda, and I'm told there are fifty billion suns. And I say, why? And what's it doing? And the verse comes back that it was made for him. And it reminds me that I, that little speck of dust, I too was made for him. Now explain it to you, to me if you can, that the whole thing was made for him to serve his will, and I had the impediments of going in the other direction and asserting my will against his. Then came the decree that a death must take place. Not my death, but his. And he for whom I was made died because I wouldn't live for him. When you've exhausted the, the mystery of it and the wonder of the results. I wish I had the time to relate them, but the time is more than gone. Sum it up, shall we, in one sentence. He hath made us meet for the inheritance of the same in light. Gone the enmity, gone the cloud of darkness and misunderstanding, and in its place, forgiveness and reconciliation, and the light of seeing God as he really is, of the ability even now to enter the holiest of all, touch the very throne of God and be at peace. Shall we pray? Lord, we are conscious that our highest thoughts, even assisted by thy Holy Spirit, fall so miserably short of the reality. Nonetheless, what we do see by thy grace confounds our hearts by the proportions of thy mercy and the extravagance of thy grace. Use thy word, we beseech thee, to enchain our hearts in the devotion of worship. And grant us thy strength that it may be interpreted in perseverance and the seeking of thy will, so that in learning it, we may do it, and all to thy glory now and for eternity. Amen.