Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.heritagesermons.org/sermons/7166/ephesians-quality-good/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] We carried out His mercy As I could've ROBARIES What if all sinners have said And that's all Depending entirely on the help of the Lord, we'll turn to the chapter that we read, the second chapter of the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, and read the first verse.

[0:50] The first verse of the second chapter of the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.

[1:06] And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. We are again spared to another anniversary service in this place.

[1:24] Much has happened since we last met. And on contemplating an anniversary naturally, one considered the normal anniversaries that pass through our lives.

[1:42] There are marriage anniversaries. There are yearly anniversaries. There are anniversaries in the house of God.

[1:53] There are anniversaries in the nation. But today one had the hope that we may all, that are called by grace, look back to all the way that the Lord has led us, and looking back, prove, as was said in the vestry before the service, that he has been a faithful God.

[2:22] And as we leave the house of prayer tonight, have that assurance in our souls, that he will be faithful unto death.

[2:35] And so then we thank the Lord for all his mercies to us in providence. He has been good to us.

[2:46] We record these mercies. And when we consider the wretched state of our land, we have to more and more realize God's mercy.

[3:02] It's only God's mercy that keeps us from destruction. And if he dealt with us according to our sins, he would destroy us. He would send us into Babylon, as he did the Israelites.

[3:16] But in his mercy, he has spared another year. We have had a plentiful harvest. And we enjoy many blessings, which some nations do not enjoy, and certainly which some individuals do not enjoy.

[3:38] We have many mercies. So we should return thanks on this day for his mercies in providence. His mercies to our nation, who daily says, we will not have this man to rule over us.

[3:59] And it's the remnant, my friends. If the remnant doesn't pray, who does pray? If the remnant doesn't return thanks, who does return thanks?

[4:10] You can go to a restaurant. You can see that amid the hundreds, how many bow their head before a meal. And yet, my friends, everything we enjoy comes from God.

[4:25] Yet, how many bow their head? Do we? How many in the assembly never bow their head because of God's goodness?

[4:37] Oh, my friends, we return thanks this day for God's goodness in providence. But mark this one thing, my friends.

[4:49] You'll only rightly return thanks to God for his goodness in providence as he sanctifies it. That's all. When he sanctifies your prosperity, then you'll return thanks.

[5:07] And not before. Oh, there's much thankfulness comes from our lips, my friends. And it's right that he should do. Mark it.

[5:18] It's right that we should ever return thanks. Day and night for his benefits. But you won't return thanks by the Spirit until he sanctifies your blessings.

[5:31] Yes, it's right that we often say that we should have, we would long to have our affliction sanctified. Yes, it's necessary. But, my friends, we want our blessings sanctified.

[5:44] When our blessings are sanctified, then the first thing that will come is an unworthiness to receive them. When an unworthiness to receive them comes, there will be a confession.

[6:04] And when confession comes, the honour and glory for every blessing be to God. So the need then, on this day, to thank the Lord for all the way wherein he has led us and for all his blessings in our own souls, in the churches, in the nation, but to have a desire to come to the sanctification this day of our blessings.

[6:38] Then we should go out from the house of prayer tonight, and we shan't go out with our heads high. We should go out bowed down. It'll be the cry of the publican, God be merciful to me a sinner.

[6:53] And being there, we shall realise God's goodness, our unworthiness, and we shall have a view that salvation is of the Lord.

[7:05] So that is the brief description of how I have viewed this time.

[7:16] And we commence with, And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.

[7:27] Now, as we said, an anniversary is to look back over the way that the Lord our God has led us. How many in the assembly can look back to the day when they were quickened by grace?

[7:43] Amen. We may meet in the assemblies of the saints. I will be faithful. God has shown me that I've got to stand before him in the judgment day.

[7:56] And oh, how many times I trembled lest one of my own flock or any other should get up in the judgment day and say, but he deceived me.

[8:07] I thought I was going to heaven, but now I find I'm going to hell. And so we must be faithful, but hell, it's not, my friends, to be found in the house of prayer.

[8:22] That's being in the way. And it's good. Yes, it's excellent to be found in the way. But has God met with you in the way?

[8:34] Can you look to a place where God dealt with you? My friends, if you can, let us, by the power of the Spirit, open it up so that you can get some comfort from it.

[8:50] It may be hidden. It might be as a needle in a haystack. You may not be able to see it. It may be you come to the house of prayer and tremble lest you've ever known anything of the pathway.

[9:05] If you have, you come with prayer. And so, my friends, if you come to the house of prayer like that, may the Lord open up what he's done in your pathway.

[9:16] Now, there are various ways that the Lord is pleased to call by grace. He's a sovereign God. We cannot set a standard, my friends.

[9:27] No. But I do set one thing before you, and that is this, that if God call you by grace, he'll bring you to an end of everything in self.

[9:45] I do maintain that, because I maintain that all the time there's something that you can rest upon in self. You won't fully lean upon a Savior.

[9:58] So, whatever his leadings and teachings in the way, my friends, he brings his people by different means, but he brings them to fall at his feet.

[10:11] Now, and you hath he quickened. We read in the fourth chapter, I believe it is maybe the third, of St. John's Gospel, where Christ says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must be born again.

[10:30] Must. There's no two ways. It's not might. It's not perhaps. It's must. We must be born again.

[10:42] Born of the Spirit. And you hath he quickened. We are dead in trespasses and sins as we enter the world.

[10:53] Never seen it so much as I'd have over this last 12 months. I have a young married couple that come to my house of prayer and they were expecting their first child.

[11:15] and it was told them that it would be deformed in various ways. And we went to prayer.

[11:29] I hope I went to prayer myself. We went to prayer as a church and felt very cast down for this young couple, their first child.

[11:42] my friends, if ever God showed me that if that child died before it was born, that it needed the blood of Christ to take it to heaven.

[12:01] I'd had somebody previously say to me, they'd said, I don't believe to you, Mr. Dobell, that a child that's born and dies a few days old can ever go to hell.

[12:16] And I could only say, well, they need the same blood as a man a hundred years old. But when the Lord led me into this, my friends, when he opened it up to me as I prayed for that child before it was born, I had to pray that the blood of Jesus Christ would cleanse it in the womb if it was to die before birth.

[12:47] Yes, yes, there's a cleansing. We all need it. And you, hath he quickened who were dead. My friends, we're all by nature dead.

[13:01] A dead to all hope of heaven. A dead to any good thing. A dead to a good thought. A dead to any hope in Christ.

[13:12] A dead to any desire for Christ. Yes. Any desire. Oh, you say, you cut it fine. My friends, the flesh profiteth nothing.

[13:24] There's nothing in our flesh that we should desire him. Nothing at all. No. Why, the Jews, they had looked for Christ for many years, had they known.

[13:38] They had expected him. They had sought for him. But when he came, they had no desire for him. No.

[13:49] Neither are we, my friends. Oh, if you, if you're brought to see your wretched state by nature, you'll find, my friends, that there's no desire in your heart for Christ.

[14:03] And I'll go further, my friends, and I'll say this, that you may be born of God, you may know the pathway of the text, and still your flesh, and you may know that you may know desire for him.

[14:17] No. No. No. Man would not have Christ to walk with. He would not be conformed to Christ's image.

[14:29] No. Not man. And it says, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Well, can we look back to a place where we were dead in trespasses and sins?

[14:42] Or can't we see any change in our lives? Are we still the same? Are we still dead? Oh, how solemn to be in the house of prayer and, my friends, to come Sabbath after Sabbath and think we're going to heaven and find that we eventually are found in hell.

[15:07] Is there any call by Christ? What can we look back to? Is there a place in your experience where God turns you right round?

[15:20] When you were like Paul, he was going down that Damascus road. He had permission from the high priest to take all those that believed in Jesus.

[15:33] He was determined to destroy them. It was noonday. The sun shone, the eastern sun above. however bright it was.

[15:44] Yet, my friends, he saw light above that sun and he heard the voice. What did he say? Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?

[15:55] He was turned round. He was going to persecute the saints, but he went and preached Christ. There was a change. My friends, you may not see such change as that.

[16:07] You may tremble because you cannot see a definite turn round in your pathway. Now, Paul could.

[16:18] I sometimes envy Paul because I think he could have never mistaken that change. He was going to persecute the saints. He knew what his heart was.

[16:30] He knew what he intended to do. and then to see this light from heaven, to hear the voice, the others with him saw the light, but they didn't hear the voice.

[16:43] But he heard the voice. Yes. And he said it, Christ said, it is hard for thee to kick against the bricks. Yes. And he knew in his spirits that he was quickened because he knew he could preach Christ.

[17:03] He saw Christ as his only saviour. There was such a change. Well, some of you may be able to see such a change in your life when the people of God were your enemies, when the world was your home, when a Monday morning was the best day of the week, when a Saturday night was the worst night, because there was a Sabbath before you.

[17:30] You were dead in trespasses and sins, but God stopped you in your wild career. He brought you to his feet to plead as a publican, God be merciful to me a sinner.

[17:46] You may be able to see her die. Look back to the die. Blessing if you can, hope you can to die and draw some strength from it.

[17:58] others may not be able to go to such a place. But can you look back to a time when, as Lydia, God opened your heart?

[18:15] When he opened your heart? A little different pathway, my friends. He didn't deal with you with, shall we say, such hard dealings.

[18:27] no, no. You used to come to the house of God. You were found in it, perhaps continually, or maybe you never, you had left the house of God.

[18:40] I know not. But was there a time when God opened your heart? heart? Yes. You know, if you open a box, my friends, and open the lid and open it wide, you'll see all the contents in it.

[18:56] That's just what God does when he opens the heart. He opens the heart for you to see what's inside. Is there a die, or was there a die when he began to so open your heart that before you were dead in trespasses and sins?

[19:18] No desire. You just came and went as a door upon its hinges. But one day there seemed to be a change, and you knew not what it was.

[19:34] But it was a change. And you began to consider about eternity. And eternity became a burden.

[19:51] And in your little pathway, the things of time began to become vanity before they'd been your whole desire.

[20:05] You were dead in trespasses and sins. The world was your home. It was your only consideration. But the Lord gradually, here a little and there a little, line upon line, precept upon precept, he showed you that the world was nothing but vanity.

[20:32] Nothing but vanity. He brought you to see in your pathway that you must come to death.

[20:44] You say, well, we all know that. Yes, we do. But, my friends, those that are not quickened do not consider it. But now, death was a consideration.

[21:00] And you began to see the word of God. There was a feeling in your soul, was your name, written amongst the redeemed in the word of God.

[21:18] The house of God now became more important. Perhaps before, well, it was just another day.

[21:29] Oh, I can look back, my friends, to the time when Monday morning was my pleasure. Yes, I was going back into the world.

[21:40] I'd had a Sabbath day amongst his people, and I would say humbly that God never permitted me to leave the house of prayer.

[21:51] But God has showed me that I was a greater sinner than some that have left the house of prayer. But anyway, I wasn't permitted to leave the house of prayer, but a Monday morning to get amongst the world was my delight.

[22:09] Is it so? Amongst some of you that are younger here, what is a Monday morning to you? Can you say that you're cast down, allowing to enter the world?

[22:27] Yes. Saturday night, my friends, to me, oh, I've got Sunday before me, and I didn't look to it with any pleasure. I endured it.

[22:38] Why? Because my parents would have been offended if I hadn't. Any here like that come, because your parents would be offended if you did.

[22:54] Good if you kept to it. Good in an outward way, because it is said, honour thy father and thy mother. So that's good, but there came a time, my friends, in my little experience, when God opens the heart.

[23:13] I saw what was there. I saw what I was lacking. I saw what the people had got, and I wanted what they had.

[23:25] There was a desire wrought in the heart. He showed me the depths of the iniquity of my heart. And what did I do, my friend?

[23:38] I turned to the Lord. God, yes. I said I would have been my ways. I would do better. I would follow his holy law.

[23:51] And I endeavoured. I went to prayer. No faith in my heart, mark it, no faith. I went to prayer, my friend.

[24:02] God, and I prayed God that I might keep his holy law. And I was telling me own people a week or two ago, you know, when I was in my teens walking this pathway, I would get up in the morning and I would bow my head before God and feel what I was by nature, and I would say, Lord, I'll keep thy holy law today.

[24:27] I won't get mixed with the world. I'll separate myself in my speech, in all my pathway, and you know, there was a determination in my soul to do it, and at that time, you know, I had a motorcycle.

[24:46] And I remember one morning in particular, going out under these feelings, and that motorcycle wouldn't stop. And I lost my temper. I flew up in the air, and in half an hour, I committed all the sins under the law, my friend.

[25:04] Committed them all. And oh, then, what was the case with me? I couldn't keep his law.

[25:16] The more I tried to keep it, the more I sinned against its power. Yes, I couldn't keep his holy law. But this was the way.

[25:27] He opened up my heart. I saw the evil there, and I run to the law, my friends. But the law only demanded perfection, and I couldn't give perfection.

[25:41] Do you know the pathway? Have you run to the law for your perfection? Well, my friends, it'll only demand perfection. perfection. The law is a mirror of God.

[25:54] It's his perfection, and he demands it. And God says, the thought of foolishness is sin. Well, you may have kept yourself outwardly.

[26:07] You may have abstained from the pleasures in the world, but God says, the thought of foolishness is sin, and the sinner falls further.

[26:21] And he has to say, well, I can't control my thoughts. No, every thought is sinful. And then here's I, when he's taught you that, here's I, but you're born in sin, and shaped in iniquity.

[26:45] And then, where do you go there? Can you change your birth? Did you have anything to do with bringing yourself into the world? You didn't know you was in the world until you was old enough to believe it and understand you had no dealings with this to bring rebellion, my friends, in your heart, to rebel against God, to say that he's an unjust God, that we never had any dealings with bringing ourselves into the world, and yet condemned to hell because we're in the world.

[27:21] Do you know who? He walked the pathway, did he open your heart up, my friends, to show you what was there? Well, that's what he does, and you'll condemn God, because he has brought you into the world, you never had any dealings with it, and send you to hell because you're in the world.

[27:49] Original sin, my friends, we have to pay the penalty for. Yes. Well, has he quickened us?

[27:59] Do we know this pathway? No, this is not the quickening, my friends. That is mentioned in the text. This is the way to it, but it's not the quickening.

[28:16] This soul has many faith, no faith under the law. This soul is brought low. He may walk humbly.

[28:28] The people of God may lay hands on him, but you know we should be careful, because there's no guarantee here of salvation.

[28:43] Brought down to see her lost and ruined state, my friends, but we must go one step further. Can you look back to a time when on all your destitution, when you trembled because of God's dealings with you, when you saw that you couldn't keep his law, you couldn't walk uprightly before him, you was born in sin, unshapen in iniquity, when you acquiesce with God in his perfection.

[29:21] Say, what is that? And if my soul be sent to hell, thy righteous law approves it well. Have you ever acquiesced with God in his perfection, my friends?

[29:35] Is this a will? Yes, in his measure, he'll agree with God that he is holy and that the soul is unholy and he has no hope himself.

[29:50] He rests on the mercy of God. Well, my friends, if you came here, he didn't leave you there, did he? What did he do? He revealed Christ as your hope of glory.

[30:05] Now, in Christ, you saw there was a way of salvation. You've never seen it before. Say, why not? Well, as I was again saying to my own people a while ago, you know, I remember when, I hope, Christ was first made known in my experience.

[30:31] And I saw it as the only hope of my salvation. There'd been no way, my friends, the way was barred, it was shut up, for I couldn't do nothing, and I was under this law of God, and the power of the law, my friends, helped me, and I couldn't get out of it.

[30:52] And I had to say it was despair, yes, despair. But when Christ was revealed, when I saw, I hope, a glimpse of Christ, that it was under my dear pastor at that time, his ministry, he preached from that prayer of Jabez, you know, and as he preached from that prayer, I hope Christ was made manifest as being my only hope for salvation, and I laid hold on that hope, and it was only a hope, my friends, yes, we laid on it.

[31:32] But what I was going to say, that when that came, you know, the next Sabbath, Christ's name was preached, and I said, but why hasn't he preached Christ before?

[31:51] Why not before? Oh, oh, it was a different ministry, but it wasn't him that had changed my friends, it was me. I hadn't seen a good hope in Christ, I'd seen myself going to hell, I was destitute, I was dead in trespasses and sins, what say, under the law, yes, my friend, under the law, dead in trespasses and sins, but when Christ was revealed, then I laid hold on him by faith, the first faith ever in the pathway, when Christ was laid hold upon, no faith before that, faith always leads to Christ, my friends, so Christ was laid hold upon, can we look back to the day in our experience when Christ was first made pressure, when he was of some value in our pathway, now let me make it clear, not perhaps in the possession of him, no, not in the possession of him, but in the want of him, there's a difference here,

[33:10] I believe when God begins in the hearts of his people, it's not always the case, but often the case, that he sets Christ by the Spirit to, before the soul's understanding, the soul sees Christ as his only hope against the power of the law, but he cannot say he is his Christ, but he longs to be able to, so the soul in this way has a desire for Christ, in the want of him, yes, he wants him in his experience, he wants him to be revealed, and let me say, my friends, you'll know nothing of Christ only as he reveals himself to you, that's all, and you'll know nothing of yourself only as it is revealed to you by the

[34:11] Spirit, so it's a revelation, my friends, and we shall know nothing right for heaven but by revelation, now this is a revelation, and this morning, if God help me, there's one more case, you may not have come in quite like I have made known, in either case, but sometimes God deals more gently, and have you come in like Ruth came in, and it was a blessed case of Ruth, my friends, but let us mark first, that before there's any Ruth in this assembly, there'll be some Naomi's, let us mark it, and if you look at that case, the first chapter of Ruth, you'll find this, that Naomi never encouraged

[35:11] Ruth to follow her, she didn't say, but you come with me, I will look after you, I will see that you have everything that you want in this time state, she never said that, my friends, she said to her daughter-in-laws, return unto your gods, that's what she said, and Orpah left, and returned to her gods, Ruth clave to her, but still, she didn't say, follow me, she said, your sister-in-law has returned, go back to your gods, but what did Ruth say, entreat me not to leave thee, nor from following after thee, for where thou dwellest, I will dwell, where thou lodgest, I will lodge, where thou diest, I will die, and there will I be buried, and what does it say, and

[36:17] Naomi left off speaking to her, why, because she had seen, my friends, the fulfillment of her travel, so first, those souls that come in this way, there will be a traveling church, a church that brings them in, that does not lay hold on any man suddenly, no, that looks and labours before God, but when they see what they saw, Naomi I saw in Ruth, then they will rejoice, yes, see Ruth said, she said, I'll follow you, well, my friends of the some, firstly, if there's some here, my friends that have laboured in such a way for some young souls in this assembly of you, you'll come to this place where you'll say, but that's my people, or did we come in this way, did God gradually lead us and teach us that this was a people, the world was nothing, we had the same feelings of its vanity, you may have been amongst the world in your labours, you may have been amongst the world in a supermarket, and has the Lord so dealt with you that you looked round to all that was about you, and did he drop into your heart with this, and did you say,

[38:07] Lord, with all this that's about me, there's something that I want, that this world cannot give, have you said, this world cannot give it, Lord, I don't know what I want, I don't know what it is that I need, but there's nothing in this world that can give me real joy, Lord, it must be something from heaven, Lord, I see it in thy people, thy people, you know, a soul that comes in this pathway, my friends, you almost worship the people of God, yes, I don't mean it wrongly, but it will, I had a, I felt most unworthy of ever such a saying, but I had one of our young people once, you know, we went to a meeting, and this young person said, when she returned to her home, she said to another young person, oh, what a privilege I've had this night, and so they said, well, what was that?

[39:30] She said, well, she said, I sat between one of the servants of the Lord and one of his deacons.

[39:42] Do we know anything about it? Some of you young ones being brought into it, what are the people of God to you? They're being brought in as Ruth was brought in, where they dwellest, I will dwell.

[40:00] Is the house of God a precious place in your thoughts and affections? It wasn't when you were dead in trespasses and sins, but as he changed the scene, can you say now that the house of God, the people of God are your delight?

[40:21] That you look at the Lord's people, you see something in them, you know not what it is. If I said to you, do you love Christ, you'd say, oh, I don't know about them, but do you see something in God's people which you haven't got in your own experience?

[40:44] You long for it, you say, Lord, where they dwell, I will dwell. This is what I want in my soul, make it manifest in my love, quicken, my friends, by the Spirit.

[41:03] Yes, as I said, the lower you bring a soul, my friends, in the depths of his sin, the more, my friends, you can raise a sinner up in the desire.

[41:16] If you got a desire after Christ, you didn't have it from the flesh, because the flesh hates God, it hates Christ, it hates his ways, it rebels against everything that's good.

[41:33] So, have you been brought then to a desire in Christ, a desire for him, whichever way you may have been brought, I very poorly describe three ways, there are many more, but those three ways, my friends, have we been brought in?

[41:56] Do, has our heart been changed? for this text makes it so clear, and you have he quickened, the people of God he's talking to, they're quickened, by his spirit, they live a life of faith and prayer, trusting only in his merit, casting on him all their care.

[42:20] It's a different people from the world, my friends, yes, they come out from the world, and they're separate, a separate people, you won't find this in the world, no, so, have we been made separate?

[42:38] Are we separate from the world, my friends, in our desires, if we are quickened by his spirit? If we are quickened, then we are a separate people, yes, separate in heart and affection, at times, and you know the trouble really is that we are so conformed to the world that we are not often separate enough, and we are not conformed to the image of Christ, or we should rejoice in more revelations of Christ.

[43:13] Oh, it's our sin, God has an altar, no, no, but it's us that have changed, we've changed, my friends, and therefore we come short of those blessings in Christ Jesus, and you hath he quickened, well, if he hath quickened you, you'll be able to say this, you'll be able to say, but God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love, wherewith he loved us, you see, it was God's love first, man is determined to destroy his soul, but God's determination is greater, Christ's determination is greater than ours, he satisfies steadfastly to go up to Jerusalem, there is then the beginning of the work of grace in the heart, how many of us can sign that with the text, and you have he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, oh it's a blessing my friends, it's a greater blessing than you can ever have in the world, if he fill you with everything you need from time of your birth to your death, if you never have an affliction, if you live to be a hundred years old, why, that is but vanishing, to this blessed quickening of the spirit, and it's necessary that we should look into our pathway, that we have not deceived ourselves, my friends, how then do we stand, well if we are quickened by the spirit, then we have to say that it is by grace we are saved, through faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of

[45:21] God, through faith, now we did sign that there's no faith until the soul sees Christ as being necessary, no, no, no faith under the rule, it's what is Christ to us, yes, what value is Christ to us in our pathway, is our all, and in all, is all our hopes centred in Christ, well if it is, my friends, he won't fail you indeed, no, no, no, you might be cast down, I remember, he's brought to my remembrance, you know, old Mr.

[46:10] Carr of Chippenham, he was in the home for some four or five years, and he was pastor at Chippenham, and he had walked and preached many years, and he came down to his end, and he was much cast down because he couldn't preach, but his mind was far beyond it, he wasn't even of a right mind to read and to pray, he got so muddled up, and he was much cast down about this, and he was brought very low a few weeks before his day, and one night, my wife heard him as she was in the room above him in the middle of the night, and she thought, oh that's Mr.

[47:01] Carr, I must go down his bed, and she went down, she opened the door, and he was sitting up in bed, my friend, and he saw my wife come in the door, and he said, oh my dear, you've come, he says, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin, he said, all your sin, all my sin, and there for ten minutes, he preached his last sermon, my friend, it wasn't long before he was in heaven, but you see, he's coming to a knowledge, now he came to a knowledge of that precious blood, it was applied to his conscience, he rejoiced in it, yes, well now this soul may not have rejoiced in it, but my friends, if you're quickened, you'll have a longing desire to come to this blessing in your soul, I don't give you much for your religion, if you've been quickened by grace and don't want to go any farther, no, oh a living soul, my friends, he wants to live in Christ, you know time's gone, but you know him,

[48:13] I think it's 234, but I'm not sure, there, my friends, is a sinner's desire, that is called by grace, he that believeth Christ the Lord, who shed for man his blood, by giving credence to his word, exalts the truth of God, so far he's right, but let him know, farther than this, he yet must go, he that believes on Jesus Christ, has a much better faith, his prophet now becomes his priest, and saves him by his death, by Christ he finds his sins forgiven, and Christ has made him heir of heaven, now, there's another stage, my friends, but he that into Christ believes, what a rich faith hath he, in Christ he moves, and acts, and lives, from hell, and self, and bondage free, he has the Father, and the

[49:30] Son, for Christ and he are no but one, oh is this our desire, my friends, this blessed union, oh I see more in the union of Christ than I've ever seen, to come to this blessed marriage union, my friends, to be cleansed, to be holy, to be perfection in itself, my friends, in Christ, because of pride, is perfection, to her, husband, my friends, and you'll be perfection to the Father, yes, and he says, till we attain to this rich faith, though safe we are not sound, though we are saved from guilt and wrath, perfection is not fair, Lord, make our union closer again, and let the marriage be complete, have we been quick on it, is this our desire, are we pressing forward after it,

[50:38] I don't ask you if you pray, I ask you if you're pressing forward for it, because if you are, one day, you'll be favoured, with this blessing in your soul, this union to Christ Jesus, it'll be a hard pathway, if you want union with Christ, where will you find your union in his sufferings, that's where the union with Christ is, where did Peter find union with Christ, you know, Christ said to Peter, Simon, Simon, Satan, hath desired to have thee, that he may sift thee as wheat, but I have prayed for thee, that thy, thou sinned not, know thy grace, that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen the brethren, how did

[51:43] Peter follow a blessing Christ to the crucifixion, my friend, he followed them in his sins, and so what, or if you ever get a view of Christ crucified, you'll follow him there in your sins, my friend, Peter would have followed him, he would have hung up beside him, he would have been something, but that wasn't the way, Christ has walked this pathway alone, Peter could only follow in his sins, oh sinner you might be cast down, because you long for a view of this Christ, but there only seems sin in your pathway, well my friends you can do nothing else, you'll follow him in your sins, you'll find, that, as I've just said, he forgives from all sin,

[52:46] God grant them we may know that call by grace and bring it back to remembrance this day, and if any in the assembly know not a call by grace, may you have a desire, either the revelation of Paul, the opening of the heart of Lydia, or the desire of Ruth, for his name's name, amen.

[53:18] Our closing game is 698. Paul, pause my soul and ask the question, art thou ready to meet God?

[53:49] Am I made a real Christian, washed in the Redeemer's blood? Have I union to the church's living God? Amen. Christ's soul and lost the Christian, on the great to be gone, have I made a real Christian, washed in the Redeemer's love, Now what Now I after you will So Theonstant shall change Please give that

[54:54] Of my freedom by His experience Play In the life of faith and prayer.

[55:11] Trusting only to his merit. Trusting only on my care.

[55:25] Daily planting, daily planting. In his likeness you'll appear.

[55:47] In my hope of Christ's day. Let him come where he may stand.

[56:03] All my soul may not despair. Lay upon his loving rest.

[56:18] He will cheer me. He will cheer me. With the smiling of his grace.

[56:36] Salvation only on.

[57:13] Take and tremble. Take and tremble. Get his travel on the road.

[57:29] Oh Lord may we each be brought to that place.

[57:41] To think and tremble. But Lord as we think and tremble. May we lay hold upon that hope set before us.

[57:56] Do now take us each to our homes in safety once again. Prepare us for the service of thy house this afternoon.

[58:07] Give us strength and wisdom. May the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

[58:25] The love of God the Father. The fellowship and communion of the Holy Ghost. Be with us each. Now and forever.

[58:35] Amen. Amen.

[59:04] Thank you.