Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ (Quality: Good)

[0:00] Our text is in Romans, in the thirteenth chapter and the last verse. In Romans chapter 13, verse 14.

[0:13] But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof.

[0:24] Especially are we looking, our trust with the Lord's help, at the opening part of the verse. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.

[0:39] When Paul wrote to Titus concerning believers and the way that they were to live, he employs this expression, that they might adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

[1:03] And it seems to me that the thirteenth chapter of Romans is setting areas before us where we are to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour.

[1:18] Here are some of the all things. You see in this thirteenth chapter, if you look over it, you see in the first seven verses that there is to be that respect given to those in authority.

[1:34] Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God.

[1:47] And certainly we are to be exemplary in the obedience that we render to those who have authority over us. And it is only when there is the collision, such as we saw tonight in the reading there in Acts chapter 4, when it is a setting of the will of God clearly revealed in the Word, in contrast with the commandments of men.

[2:16] When the commandments of men are directly contrary to the revealed will of God in the Word, it's only then that we are to obey God rather than man.

[2:26] But in every other respect we are to render on obedience. And we must needs be subject, says the Apostle, not only for wrath but also for conscience sake.

[2:40] And we are to pay the tribute. We are to pay our taxes. We may grumble at them and complain. We have the right by legitimate means to protest. We have the right to seek to change government according to our system in this country.

[2:56] But we are nonetheless to render a submission to those who are in authority. So there is an area in which believers are to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

[3:09] There is another one then that follows and that is the area of loving one's neighbor in verses 8 to 10. O no man anything but to love one another for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

[3:26] For this thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

[3:46] Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. You see that these commandments are all brought under this which sums them up, that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.

[4:02] We have to love the Lord our God. The first four commandments deal with our loving of God according to the way that he is to be served.

[4:12] And then the other six commandments, the second table of the law to do with the loving of our neighbor. So there is another area that we seek by God's grace in these days to adorn the doctrine, to glorify God in the profession that we make, that like those, again, of whom we've been reading men might take knowledge of us, that we have been with Jesus.

[4:37] And you say, well, it's so hard to communicate the gospel. It's not hard to be exemplary in our citizenship. It's surely not a difficult thing to see the obligation to our neighbor and seek grace to fulfill it.

[4:56] And in the doing of these things, we bear a testimony. And that often through the living according to these things, there will be the opportunities that God himself will make for us to give an answer and a reason for the hope that is within us, to be specific in our statement of gospel truth.

[5:17] So these are two areas, the civil power, the area of 11 to 13, which is to do with godly living.

[5:31] Knowing the time that it is now high, time to awake out of sleep, now is our salvation nearer than when we believe. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness.

[5:47] Let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

[5:59] We are not to make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. But here is now the summary of it. There in this 14th verse, put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.

[6:14] If we are to adorn the doctrine then of God our Savior in all these areas and other areas besides these, we must put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

[6:25] Here is this great direction that I would draw your attention to, to put on the righteousness of Christ in the way that we would put a garment upon our bodies.

[6:36] That's what it means. The word that is translated, put ye on, is the normal word for the pulling on of a garment, for dressing ourselves, for putting on our clothes.

[6:49] It's used of putting on armor. In an earlier verse, in the end of the 12th verse, let us put on the armor of light. You remember in Ephesians 6, that is almost the very same when we are told to put on the whole armor, the Christian's panel plate, the whole armor of God, the Christian's complete armor.

[7:16] putting on as a garment, Christ, putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. What does that mean? What is this name expressing? It is expressing Jesus Christ and his righteousness, which we have heard, which we have come to believe upon, which we trust in.

[7:37] We are to live then in him and for him. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. As the Christian is saved, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

[7:51] As the Christian seeks prayer that he might continue and persevere, brought out in the benediction at the end of 2 Corinthians chapter 13, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you.

[8:09] So we are then to put on the righteousness of Christ, the salvation of our God, which has been given to us so wondrously and by God's grace we are to put it on and wear it like a garment.

[8:25] Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. In our daily living, Christ is to be put on as a garment. The Lord Jesus Christ then is set before us here as a garment to be put on.

[8:40] That's what we look at first then this evening. Christ is the spiritual clothing of his people. There is a thought for us tonight. Christ is the spiritual clothing of those who are his people.

[8:57] In terms of their experience of him, he is to be put on as a garment. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this that I've just said to you concerning the putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is expressly stated in various scriptures.

[9:19] In as many words we are told that in Isaiah 61 verse 10. Isaiah 61 verse 10. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord.

[9:31] My soul shall be joyful in my God for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

[9:51] There is a statement in the Old Testament then that speaks of our being clad as clothed as with the garment of righteousness, the garment of salvation.

[10:05] You find in Revelation in the third chapter to do with the sorry case of the Laodicean church and the counsel that the Lord addresses this church that was so full of itself and yet in his esteem was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

[10:24] I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed.

[10:35] The imputation of the righteousness of Christ is what they need. Not their own self-congratulation concerning their own righteousnesses. These are as filthy rags.

[10:47] But that they might have that white raiment, that white garment of the spotless righteousness of Christ and know man or woman that has a proper esteem of that righteousness and the imputation of righteousness to those that lack it inherently but will be humbled thereby.

[11:05] Will not be brought to think of themselves proudly and self-sufficiently but they will walk in humble dependence. May we be those that know what it is then to have the white garments, the white raiment, the righteousness of Christ imputed to us.

[11:24] And then in Revelation 7, just a chapter or so on, you have it in the ninth verse again. Lo, a great multitude. John is given this great vision of the multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues that stood before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands.

[11:53] And there is again that righteousness of Christ that's been imputed and now these who to whom an imputation of righteousness was given, they are made perfectly holy in glory in the presence of the Lord.

[12:08] Express scriptural statements. These are just some, there are others. But then also there are those types in the word of God that are setting forth in a typical fashion how Christ is the covering of his people.

[12:24] He is the spiritual clothing of the elect of God. And you go right back to the beginning to see a glorious type of this in Genesis chapter 3, the chapter of the fall.

[12:38] And in the 21st verse, unto Adam also, and to his wife, did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them.

[12:51] They were clothed with coats of skins. There was the shedding of blood. There were those animals that had to die that their skins might be sewn together.

[13:04] And the Lord did this thing and he himself put this clothing upon our first parents, Adam and Eve. And it is typical of Christ, the shedding of his blood, that there might be that covering that would hide sin.

[13:19] That's all set forth. That's all anticipated in Genesis chapter 3 and 21. In Exodus chapter 28, there's another great type of Christ as the spiritual clothing of his people in the holy garments of Aaron and his sons.

[13:39] In the specification for the tabernacle that was given to Moses, it dealt not just with the items of furniture, but it dealt with the clothing that was to be about the priests as they engaged in their work.

[13:57] And in that chapter, we are told, thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.

[14:09] These were the garments, the holy garments of Aaron that were for glory and for beauty. Now what did these garments signify? What was the place of these garments in that worship?

[14:23] In the day of the tabernacle, they were to show that there was a distinction placed upon Aaron from others. He was that one that God had called to be as the high priest in Israel.

[14:36] He wore clothing that differentiated him and marked him out from others as such. They were moreover those garments of glory and of beauty.

[14:47] And that there is the detail of them in this same chapter. We haven't time to look into that. But there was that fine linen. There were these costly wavings and patterns and embroideries in these garments and they are setting forth the sanctity of those that stand in the Lord's service.

[15:10] The priest was to offer for his own sin that he might come before God in the performance of these duties that were his. These garments, moreover, they spoke concerning the place that he occupied as the one that was standing for the nation.

[15:32] And they speak also that by reason of what he did as the priest of Israel there was that lifting of the sentence of God from the nation because of the specification that had been followed out and the faith that was in the blood that should be shed.

[15:52] Not of these sacrificial animals but of the one who is God's Lamb who would come in God's time. And you see all of this is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

[16:04] He is that one who is specially set forth. There is the perfect righteousness about him. The holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, higher than the heavens.

[16:18] Jesus, he is the one at God's right hand. He was the one that came to be that great high priest. He is that great high priest over the people of God.

[16:29] He represents those for whom he came most perfectly and gloriously. He makes propitiation by his blood. He does once and for all all that the priestly system had symbolized in sacrifice.

[16:44] He does it. That he might be the covering of his people, the propitiation of their sins, that we might see Christ as the clothing, the spiritual clothing of his people.

[16:57] We could spend much time tracing out more in detail the points of resemblance between the garments of glory and beauty of the high priests of the old Israel and our great high priest, Jesus Christ.

[17:12] there is another place in which we see the Lord set out as the garment of his people. It is in the wedding feast of Matthew 22.

[17:26] The kingdom of heaven, the Lord said, is like a certain king that made a marriage for his son. And you recall that when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment.

[17:41] And he said, unto him, friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer darkness.

[17:55] There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth for many are called but few are chosen. The wedding garment there is Christ apprehended by faith and those that have Christ are those that will be brought into that great married supper of the Lamb.

[18:14] They will have a right to be there and those have no right to be present and they will not be present but they shall be brought to know God's judgment and wrath eternally upon them.

[18:26] They are not in Christ. On that calendar in there today the text is he that hath the son hath life and how that is set so vividly before us.

[18:38] If we don't have Christ as a garment and we've never known what it is to put on the Lord Jesus Christ we have not a wedding garment. We have not that covering.

[18:48] We have not that which God requires. Now the Christian then is favoured in that he is given to see Christ as a spiritual clothing to cover him.

[19:02] And that brings out many things with the Lord's help. Let me seek to bring out some of these aspects. There is covering itself. Clothing is there to cover us.

[19:14] It covers our nakedness. Our first parents in their original righteousness they were naked and they saw no inconsistency in that. They saw nothing amiss in their nakedness.

[19:27] But when sin entered they became ashamed. And it was as though that nakedness now of their sinful souls before a holy God by reason of transgression is set forth in the fact that they realize that there is a nakedness about their bodies and they seek to cover themselves and they take leaves of figs and sew them together and make garments of them to hide their nakedness.

[19:54] There is that need for clothing to cover the nakedness of the body and then you find that the Lord himself comes and he makes these garments of skins that we've already noticed in the 21st verse of that third chapter of Genesis that there might be the covering which is speaking of the soul covering and the only soul covering through the shedding of blood all these centuries future when God should send his son made of a woman and made under the law to redeem heart says in the hymn of all the creatures God has made there is but man alone that stands in need to be arrayed in coverings not his own and there is that covering then Christ's righteousness his blood covers us and hides the nakedness of our sinfulness before a holy

[20:55] God that's what the very word propitiation means at root it means a covering there is a covering that hides my saviors and pigeons and blood hides hide all my transgressions from view do you know by the putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ that there is that which clothes you that your spiritual nakedness is covered and covered as God has appounded it not with fig leaf righteousness of your own works that will never do God will not be pleased to accept that they must be the only covering that he appoints blood and righteousness of his dear son then clothing is used to ornament it is used as an ornament to the body that same hymn continues naked and weak we want a screen but when with clothes we are decked not only lies our shame unseen but we command respect clothes can work wonders for persons they can hide deformities imperfections they can bring out the best in natural beauty as we know and as every person that is concerned with these things knows a little there is that in clothes which is ornamental but the world's fashions never adorn the soul they may adorn the body but there is nothing but the blood and the righteousness of Christ that can adorn the soul that's why we are to put on the Lord

[22:40] Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof and in that psalm that we were singing here is this picture of the church the church the daughter of the king behold the daughter of the king all glorious is within and with embroideries of gold her garments wrought have been she shall be brought unto the king in robes with needle wrought her fellow virgins following shall unto thee be brought and it's a lovely setting forth there of the bride of Christ the daughter of the king being clad in the righteousness of Christ adorned with salvation we know something of that aspect of clothing it hides nakedness it covers the body and then also it ornaments the body also may we know that adorning with the fullness of Christ the fullness of our

[23:41] God let the beauty of the Lord and our God be upon us then there is also the use of clothing to protect there is a protection in clothing protection the cold thank God we've got at it with clothing on a cold day such as this in the hot weather we're thankful for clothing for another aspect of this that there is that which can come between us and the heat of the sun as it comes down upon us we're so thankful for clothing to protect us those that do work where they are in places of some danger where there is physical contact with dangerous substances they want protective clothing and we are in a day very conscious of the need to be properly equipped and properly clad when we are engaged in these things the soldier needs proper clothing to protect long since the days of armor as we read in books and see in pictures but there's still the clothing of the present day soldier that reflects the same idea that there is a protection that there are those things to be put upon one that will give a measure of protection against the enemy now

[25:03] Christ is the great protector of his people put you on the Lord Jesus Christ as that garment to protect us to protect us from sin to protect us because there is a righteousness imputed to us that gives us a standing whereby now we can fight against the tendency of sin within us until we have the imputation of the righteousness of Christ until we're the Lord we are without a standing you can't fight against sin when you're under the thralden of sin but when you're in Christ sin has not the dominion over you that it had and therefore there is that position now occupied in which you can fight against indwelling sin so there so there is a protection given against sin there is a protection given us also from wrath the hottest flames you see have got to penetrate these garments that are worn that protect us from the heat before they begin to scorch and burn the skin there are those special suits of clothing that those that have to go into very hot places put about them to give them this protection thank God that we have that fire screen of the righteousness of Christ that when it comes to a dwelling with everlasting burnings we shall not be hurt of that flame for there is that perfect protection of Christ's righteousness round about us that we shall never go to hell that we shall know no condemnation not that we don't deserve it but it has been taken from us it has been drawn it has come upon the

[26:47] Son of God that it might never come upon us and so we put on the Lord Jesus Christ for that defense for that protection that we might not be brought under sin's dominion and that we might not be those that are in the fires of hell and then there is the keeping warm there is the keeping warm through clothing and we are brought to think of how Christ keeps us spiritually warm in our natural state there is the chill of death upon the man or woman outside of Christ there is a corpse they are the walking dead indeed dead in trespasses and sins but when they are quickened unto life in Jesus Christ they are they are warmed and we keep our warmth as we put on the Lord Jesus Christ he keeps us so warm and mind you when you've got clothes upon you to keep you warm from the cold of the weather that you've got spiritual clothing to keep you spiritually warm you might not be chilled you might be in that enjoyment of

[28:06] Christ kept spiritually alive and spiritually warm in him there are many uses as you see there's a differentiating of persons by means of clothes if you ever thought of this that this is one of the important functions of clothing that they differentiate persons used to be that a king was instantly discernible from his subjects by the manner of his dress you would know a king from a footman the sexes are to be differentiated in a similar way and there is that verse in Deuteronomy 22 verse 5 the woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man neither shall a man put on a woman's garment for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God has that changed is that statement there does it cease to be an abomination unto the

[29:07] Lord thy God when a woman parades itself as a man or a man parades himself as a woman does that cease to be relevant I don't believe it cease to be relevant although our day seems to be very different from former days you find you find one of the marks of the present day decline is that women are dressing like men their hair is short like the hair of men and it ought not to be it's contrary to the word of God and godly women and godly men are to be obedient to the word of God in these things this is the criterion not the whims and fancies of men not the way that the nation dictates that we should dress there is to be that distinction that preservation of these things royal persons should appear as royal persons we're in the state we're in I believe in terms of the decline of respect for their royalty because they seem to be so little different from anyone else the way they dress appalling way they dress at times these things ought not to be and we need

[30:21] I'm sure that there be those in high places that speak faithfully these matters our forefathers did you'll find that Knox preached against the luxury of the court and the excesses of the fashions of the day and the Puritans did so and they did it in the very presence of the king and whether the king would receive it or not they would not flatter flesh and would that some of those that preach the sermons at Sandringham and Crathy and other places would say thus saith the Lord and declare these matters instead of having an eye to popularity and preferment and all the rest of it the only preferment that a man of God should be concerned about is to receive the well done thou good and faithful servant enter thou in to the joy of thy Lord Christ's righteousness then is to be as a garment that differentiates in what sense to differentiate us from an unrighteous world around us the righteousness of Christ upon us you see that is the very thing that will make us want to be different and not to be conformed to this world and to be rather transformed from the spirit of the age and seek to be those that live to

[31:40] God and honour his word when there is that righteousness about us as a garment this will come to pass and the holy women the godly women you find it in 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Peter chapter 3 you find it they're concerned not with the outward decoration so much as that inward adorning of the soul the ornament of a meek spirit these are the things that matter these things come out of the garment of Christ righteousness put upon us well what lessons there are for us in Christ as a garment to cover us let me say a few more things it's a perfect covering my friends it's a perfect covering why is it a perfect covering because he's a perfect Christ in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead body there's nothing at all wanting in the one who is the

[32:43] Lord Jesus Christ whom we're to put on like a garment it is a perfect complete covering he is a suitable saviour you've heard the expression why is he a suitable saviour he's a suitable saviour to both parties to God the father and to the elect that are given to his charge he is the saviour that we need and the saviour that we are made to esteem even as he is the son of God's love and the one that he has appointed and raised to his own right hand because of his faithfulness even to the death of the cross it's a perfect covering then that's there put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ it's a complete covering it covers all the sins of all the people of God particular redemption again how can it be that there are those that have no place for particular redemption in their thinking or in their preaching so many of them so many that claim to be reformed ministers and yet they would never venture from the pulpit to declare that Christ died for the sins of his people and for the sins of no other

[33:58] Christ died for his people he gave his life a ransom for many he loved his people and gave himself for them you see that's the glory of this covering that it is a full perfect covering it's all been achieved for all the sins of all his people it's not indeterminate and vague and a potential covering for everybody it's the definite atonement for those that were given to him in the covenant he has made the propitiation he comes as protection he comes to cover nakedness he comes to adorn to be as those garments of glory and of beauty put upon us that are made to be priests unto our God he is all these things to us put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ he is a perfect covering he is a complete covering he is a lasting covering one of the verses that I love to read in the Old

[35:03] Testament is that verse of description that Moses makes in Deuteronomy concerning the way that God has been with them through the 40 years Deuteronomy 8 the fourth verse thy raiment he says wax not old upon thee neither did thy foot swell these 40 years there was a miraculous fact that the raiment of the people that came out of Egypt was as fresh 40 years later when they were ready to enter into Canaan as it was when they came out you can't account for that but for the miraculous power of God the same God that opened the rock and supplied them with the living waters the same God that gave them the daily manna until they entered into the land of promise and then there was no more manna and the eight of the parched corn of the land the same God of miracles caused that their raiment did not wax old upon them and or that raiment that's upon us the spiritual covering that

[36:06] Christ puts upon his people it will never wax old it is always fresh it is that which will never wear out for he cannot wear out who is the same yesterday today and forever what I thought that is that even when we come to die there will be a freshness about that covering and when we are resurrected in the great day of his second advent there will be still that covering about us of his perfect righteousness so that we shall enter into glory what a mercy it is to know Christ made a covering to us how it should humble us also when we consider the freeness of it we don't pay to have these clothes these are designer clothes you know but a great design of heaven itself the God of our salvation has appointed that we should be clothed in this clothing that our soul should be covered in this way with the blood and righteousness of his dear son what a mercy that is and it's without money and without prices it's like the spiritual milk and wine without money and without price we are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of

[37:25] Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot how favoured we are then to have all these things given to us in Christ put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ what do we need in this life food and raiment if we have these we have sufficient but we have spiritually food and raiment in Jesus Christ he has become that bread of life to us he is that covering put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ may we know something of it then in our own experience what of those without this covering their nakedness is apparent to God however it might not be plain to men they may shelter behind their membership in churches they may shelter behind their works and their religion but their nakedness will be manifest in God's sight for all things are naked and manifest before him with whom we have to do and if they are trusting in any other covering they will find that it will never hide from the wrath of

[38:37] God it will never hide their sins and it will never protect them from the wrath of God that will be visited finally upon them in the day of judgment how can there be any that hear these things and are not intent on seeking this God and desirous of making peace with this God suing for peace while it's a day of opportunity and mercy believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and them shall be saved we'll never be covered with that righteousness except they believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ they will never be fitted to approach unto a holy God except they put on the Lord Jesus Christ and if they don't put him on then they will go out into that lost eternity with the rags and tatters of their own righteousness clinging to them but no covering nothing to avert divine judgment for all eternity and that's

[39:48] I believe the truth of the gospel faith once delivered unto the saints put he on the Lord Jesus Christ put him on for justification of God made unto us wisdom and unrighteousness that's justification diachiosity righteousness it's that righteousness of Christ that is the covering we are those that come before God and he does not look to us but he looks to him we're covered there is that justifying of the sinner because he is the righteousness of Christ imputed to him he isn't righteous in himself none of us is the more we go on the more we feel our unrighteousness of our own selves to be very great pardon my iniquity David says for it is great and those that say that as they're going on their iniquities are lessening and it it won't be long now before they've got no more sin oh that's not the burden that I feel after years of being a Christian seeking to know and serve the

[41:01] Lord I feel to be a greater sinner now than ever in the past but the saviour's blood and righteousness are a perfect covering for all my sin or is he then put on for gentrification Christ our sanctification that there might be that which causes us to do righteously that makes us seek to be like him who loved us and gave himself for us that we might reproduce a likeness to Christ and be godly and sober in our present world and bear a testimony to him there are those as I've said that only want him as a saviour and they don't really want him as a lord but he'll never be anything other than saviour and lord he is the lord Jesus Christ he is the lord Jesus Christ put ye on the lord Jesus Christ make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts there are lord that god will speak to us and show us where we stand in these matters and lord that we might not be naked that we might not be those that are under wrath but those that are covered by his perfect covering we might have the garments of righteousness the garment of our salvation upon us that we might be living accordingly and in the strength of his name living our days and adorning the doctrine of god our saviour in all things put ye on the lord

[42:40] Jesus Christ it's a verse to the christian but as i've brought out it certainly comes with great force also to those who are outside of christ there was a young girl in a garden perhaps she wasn't a girl perhaps it was a boy it was a child's voice the one who records it in his in his diary says whether a boy or a girl i know not but this voice said take up read tolly leggy take up read and then continued with the statement of this verse romans 13 14 put ye on the lord jesus christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the loss thereof and it was that word that was as an arrow that brought down aurelius augustine and he was brought under conviction of sin and converted to god through that that word put on the lord jesus christ make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the loss thereof or that it might be a word that god fastens us with a nail in a sure place may be one of the arrows from the quiver of the almighty to slay the proud self sufficient sinner to bring him into that place where he acknowledges his lostness his deadness that he is shot up to wrath and condemnation may it be that same word that not only brings its wounding but brings with it healing and gives us to know the glorious covering for time and for eternity of the blood and the righteousness of the dear redeemer god's son the lord jesus christ put ye on the lord jesus christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof god bless his word to us and give us sweet meditation upon these things but all that the precept too might come and be fixed in our thought that we might be doers of the word and not just hearers only amen