Well, will you turn in your Bible to the passage that we read in Galatians 4 and we're going to read verses 4-6.
!
Now this morning we were thinking about the baptism of Jesus and how what happened at his baptism was actually an act of anointing.
Of consecration and of empowering.
And it was an act of the triune God.
God the Father anointed, God the Son in the person of Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.
And of course if our Gospel and if the work of salvation are the work of God,
of course it is rooted absolutely in who and in what God is.
So lying behind everything that we have in the Gospel is this great doctrine that our God is one God and our God is three.
And that same background is before us in the words of our text.
Because in this remarkable passage in which Paul is telling us that if we're in Christ we are the sons of God,
then behind that, lying back of that, again, is the work of the triune God.
God sent forth his Son.
So by implication, the sending God is God the Father and the sent God is God the Son to redeem us.
And having redeemed us and adopted us into his family, God the sending Father,
now sends, same word in the Greek, his Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of his Son, into our hearts.
So this remarkable phenomenon of how we actually come to experience the salvation that God has won for us in Jesus Christ
is again rooted and grounded in the doctrine of the Trinity.
Now let's just take a moment to reflect on the context of this epistle in which this remarkable teaching is set.
In this letter to the Galatians, Paul is talking about the gospel.
And he's encouraging us, as well as his original readers, to defend the one gospel that there is.
I mean, we marvel that there is a gospel at all.
And the gospel is what God in Christ has done for us and for our salvation.
But then, as now, that gospel is open to corruption and to compromise in a thousand different ways.
So Paul actually invokes the curse of God on anybody who alters the gospel.
The gospel is what Jesus did in his life and death and resurrection and ascension for us and for our salvation.
And the moment we add to that gospel, we have compromised it and we have changed it, in Paul's language,
into another gospel that is no gospel at all.
So if you want to make sure that it's the gospel you're preaching, the good news of God's salvation,
you need to make sure, according to this epistle and indeed the whole testimony of the Bible,
that you are preaching Jesus only as the Savior of sinners
and Jesus' work only as the basis of my acceptance before God.
There were teachers in the regions of Galicia who were compromising that by saying,
yes, we believe that Jesus lived and we believe that Jesus died and we believe that we need to believe in Jesus.
But in addition to that, you must keep all the extraneous requirements of law and ceremony
and you must in some way supplement what Jesus did by your own obedience.
Well, Paul's great argument here is that an addition to the gospel is actually a subtraction.
And the moment you try to supplement Jesus Christ with anything,
the moment you bring a plus into it,
is the moment you're subtracting and actually denying the gospel of God's grace.
And it really doesn't matter what your plus is.
If your message is Jesus plus your church attendance,
or Jesus plus your religious knowledge,
or Jesus plus your theological orthodoxy,
or Jesus plus your law-keeping,
or Jesus plus your experience,
you are actually degrading the gospel of God's redeeming grace.
Now, I'm not for a moment decrying or undermining the necessity of experience,
or orthodoxy, or church attendance, or law-keeping.
But you make sure that you put them all in that proper place,
and see them in that proper context,
because at last, the whole of the gospel
is in the exclusiveness and the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, as he expounds this great theme in Galatians,
Paul comes to give us the great motto of his life,
and it should be written over the life of every one of us,
and over all our churches,
God forbid that I should glory,
except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let that be my gospel.
Let it be what Jesus did in his life,
in his law-keeping,
in his experience,
so that in Luther's great words,
the gospel is outside of me.
It's the very opposite of the world's philosophy.
The world will tell you tonight
that all your problems are outside of you.
They're in the world around you,
and the challenges that you're presented with every day.
That's where your problems are.
And your solution is inside of you.
So, all you need to do is tap into your inner resources,
and you'll soon find an answer to life's challenges and problems.
And the gospel comes and says the very reverse of that.
The problems are inside of you,
and the solution is outside of you.
And it's outside of you,
you must look to Jesus,
and to Jesus only.
And so, when anybody comes to you and says,
what must I do to be saved?
You answer the way Paul answered.
You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and you are saved.
And faith comes,
I think St. Clapper doesn't say somewhere,
it is active, but non-contributory.
In other words,
when I believe,
I'm not contributing anything to my salvation.
I'm simply coming,
and I'm taking what's there.
With an empty hand,
taking from the riches of Christ,
and I'm made all the richer.
You go for your shopping into the supermarket,
and nowadays,
you need to take your shopping bag with you.
Because if you're going to take the plastic bag from the shop,
you're going to have to pay five pence.
At least that's the cost in Scotland.
So you spend £100 on your weekly shopping,
but you grudge that extra five pence for the carrier bag.
So you make sure that you take your shopping bag with you.
Your shopping bag doesn't contribute anything to what you've purchased.
It doesn't make the food you've bought any sweeter to your taste.
It doesn't do anything to what you're going to make of the food.
But if you don't have it,
you'll struggle to carry what you've bought,
and take it home.
And faith is a bit like that.
It's your empty shopping bag
that you take to the marketplace of the gospel,
where the bread of life is there for the taking,
and you need the shopping bag to take it home.
So you come with your faith,
and you fill it with Jesus,
and with Jesus only,
and you carry it with you,
and you feed on him everywhere.
And I want you to know tonight
that the gospel is as simple as that.
I want you to go into this world
and say to sinners,
you are in need of saving.
Here is the gospel.
You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and you will be saved.
I need you to know that.
But I want you to know
that undergirding
that simple message of Jesus only
is this magnificent,
multidimensional work
on the part of the Triune God.
Because Jesus only
is the Jesus sent by the Father.
Jesus only is the Jesus
who has been commissioned
for a specific purpose.
Jesus only is the Jesus
by whom it is possible
for you to have
the Holy Spirit in your heart.
So I want to explore that tonight
as we come to these
magnificent words of Paul.
And Paul, of course,
is operating here
in terms of transitions.
You know, he's talking about
transitions in history.
He's talking about a long, long time
when the church was under ceremony
and under laws
and civil requirements
that are no longer enforced.
Transitions now
to the simplicity
that there is in Christ.
He's also paralleled with that
and intertwined with that.
He's talking about transitions
in experience.
He's talking about
coming to faith in Christ
led by the law,
our schoolmaster,
schoolmaster,
to bring us to Jesus.
So there's a point in history
when God's way of dealing
with the word changes.
But there's a point
in our experience too
when God brings us at last
through all of these things
simply to close in
with the Lord Jesus Christ.
So I want to ask
three very basic questions tonight.
I want to ask,
what did God the Father do for me?
To give me Jesus only.
And then I want to ask,
what did God the Son do for me?
To give me Jesus only.
And then I want to ask,
what does God the Holy Spirit do for me?
In order to give me Jesus only.
And when I ask these questions,
I'm conscious all the time
of the limitations
of our own minds and intellect.
Because we're making distinctions
where there is no separation.
Now if you know anything about theology,
you know that
that is the fundamental rule
in theology.
There are some things
that must be distinguished
from each other
but must never be separated
from each other.
And the persons of the Godhead
are where we begin.
We must distinguish them.
The Father is not the Son.
The Son is not the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not the Father.
These persons are to be distinguished
but not separated
because there is only one God.
And the fullness of God
is in each person
in his own way.
So the fullness of God
is in the Father.
And the fullness of God
is in the Son.
And the fullness of God
is in the Holy Spirit.
So I react very strongly
against theologians
that write about
the members of the Trinity
as if the Trinity
was some kind of club
comprised of three members.
Because the matter
is much deeper than that.
So I just prefer
the old theology
that speaks about
three persons
in the Godhead.
And I speak more
than I can possibly
ever know.
Because I don't understand
in order to believe.
But I do believe
in order to understand.
So I come before
the triune God
of Scripture
and I say
what does this God
do for me
in the person
of the Father?
And my text tells me
that God the Father
is the sending God.
He sent
the Son
forth.
He sent him
out.
He
ex-apostulated him.
I'm making up
that word.
But it really
is what the Greek
says.
His Son
is an apostle
and he is
sent out.
So he's
the sent
Son.
Sent forth
from God.
And the same language
of course
is used here
of the Spirit.
Sent forth
from God
into our hearts.
So God the Father
for me
and for my salvation
is the sending
God.
He sent
his Son.
When did he
send his Son?
Well he sent
his Son
according to my text
when the fullness
of the time
had come.
God
never does
anything
that is not
at exactly
the right time.
And
Christ
came
into the Word
at exactly
the right time.
And God
had been
preparing
the ages
for that
time.
That's why
I love
the way
John
struck
his
gospel
with all
his references
to the
hour.
So you
study
John's
gospel.
Look at
how often
John talks
about
the hour.
He begins
his miracle
working at
Cana in
Galilee
at the
marriage
and uses
that language
his hour
my hour
has not
yet come.
My hour
has not
yet come.
My hour
has not
yet come.
And then
we hear him
praying in
chapter 17
and saying
now
the hour
has come.
And he's
conscious
all the
time
that he's
moving
towards
the hour
that heaven
had set.
And in
eternity
where there
are no
hours
time
was invented
in the
mind of
God
and an
hour
was set
on the
calendar
of history
and God
drew the
timeline
and every
event that
would take
place on
the timeline
of history
and marked
the spot
and the
very hour
at which
the sun
would be
sent forth
into the
world
by the
father.
And so
he comes
when the
fullness of
the time
had come.
I'd rather
like to
think of
it in
terms of
the building
of a
grand
theatre.
You're
about to
build an
extension to
this building.
I hope it
will be a
grand
theatre.
I hope I'll
see it one
day.
We had a
new school
built in
our district
and it
was great
just walking
into the
pristine
new school
the time
had come.
I mean
you looked
at the
whole
building
program
and process
and you
thought that
it would
never come.
You'll think
that too.
You'll think
we'll never
ever finish
this project.
But I
tell you
this,
the last
day always
comes.
Whether it's
the last
day of
term or
the last
day of
the year
or the
last
day of
the holidays,
the last
day always
comes.
And the
last day
of preparation
will come
and you'll
enter into
your grand
new theatre.
which is
only for
us
Presbyterians
a plain
meeting
house.
It's not
the church.
So God
is busy
all through
the Old
Testament
building a
theatre.
He begins
in Genesis
1,
doesn't he?
When he
makes the
world,
he's got his
plan,
he's laying
the foundations
of the earth
life.
And it's
his grand
project.
And the
triune God
is making
this word.
I mean,
who made
the word?
Well,
God made
the word.
But John
tells us
that the
creation is
actually the
act of the
word,
who is God
and with
God.
By him
all things
were made
and without
him nothing
was made
that was
made.
Because he's
the unmade
maker of
all things.
And the
triune God
is making
the world.
And as
Shakespeare put
it all,
the world
is a stage.
And that's
what God
is making.
He's making
a stage on
which at
the last
his great
drama of
redemption
is going
to be
enacted.
And
suddenly,
one day,
his design
is perfected
and the
principal
actor of
the drama
walks onto
the stage.
And it's
actually the
designer and
the builder
of the stage.
He takes
the principal
role in
this dramatic
work of
redemption.
The triune
God in
the person
of Jesus
coming onto
the stage
to be the
great worker
of my
salvation.
and the
fullness of
the time
had come.
Everything
ready.
The stage
is set.
And now
God sends
him into
this one.
That's when
he came.
And how
did he come?
Well, he
didn't come
to a fanfare
of trumpets
and choirs
of waiting
angels.
I know
that we
have that
idea, you
know, in
Luke chapter
two, that
the shepherds
were treated
to some
kind of
remarkable
choral
performance
by the
angels when
Jesus was
born.
But you
get that
from your
storybooks.
That's not
what the
Bible says.
They didn't
sing glory to
God in
the highest
because it
was some
kind of
polished
performance
of the
heavenly
hallelujah
chorus.
Who did
the singing?
the hosts
of heaven
did the
singing.
That word
hosts is
the Old
Testament word
for armies,
not for
choirs.
It's the
anthem of
heaven's
infantry and
of heaven's
soldiers.
And
actually what
they're
singing is
the anthem
that is
appropriate
because their
commander-in-chief
has actually
come into
the field
of battle
where as
the captain
of our
salvation
he's going
to wage
war with
the devil
to crush
him and
to defeat
him so
that we
might be
saved.
Glory to
God in
the highest.
Let's go
to Bethlehem.
That's where
the king
is born.
And
Jesus is
born in
Bethlehem
because David
was born in
Bethlehem,
the great
captain of
the Lord's
hosts.
Actually it's
the other way
around.
David is
born in
Bethlehem
because Jesus
was born
in Bethlehem.
But that's
for another
day.
Now on
the fields
the shepherds
hear the
not the
massed
choirs of
heaven but
the combined
armies of
heaven and
they're standing
to attention
and they're
singing glory
to God
in the
highest.
Now there
will be peace
on earth
because the
king has
come.
Who is
this king?
This king
of hosts?
It's the
Lord mighty
in battle
and it's a
warrior king
that appears
for us and
for our
salvation.
And he is
sent but
you would
never know
him as
the warrior
king because
he is simply
born of
a woman.
And he's
there born
in some
cave somewhere
don't sanitize
it.
He's there
in some
cave somewhere
and Mary
gives birth
with all
the pains
that the
curse
pronounced
because
this is
the
defeater
and
reverser
of the
curse
coming.
And he's
made under
the law
there's his
subjection
and he's
come as
the obedient
one
simply saying
not my
will
but your
will be
done.
God
sends
his son.
God the
father
is also
going to
send God
the Holy
Spirit
into our
hearts.
And when
does he
do that?
He does
that when
the fullness
of the
time
comes.
He sends
the Spirit
into your
heart when
your
own has
come.
The
glorious
sovereignty
of God
in our
salvation
means that
he determines
the point
of our
regeneration.
Glory be
to him
that's on
his timeline
too.
It's on
his list
of things
to do.
He's
going to
bring us
into a
place
where his
Spirit will
be sent
into the
hearts of
his people
and melt
these hard
hearts
so that
we will
close in
with Jesus
only.
And we
will be
born not
of woman,
not of the
will of man,
not of the
will of the
flesh,
but of God
because God
the Father
does the
sending.
What does
God the
Son do
for me?
Well,
he comes.
He comes,
doesn't he?
He simply
obeys the
commission.
He comes
into the
word and
he takes
my nature
and he
is under
God's
law for
me and
he does
that according
to my
text for
two distinct
reasons.
Distinct but
inseparable.
He does
it first of
all to
redeem me
because I
need
redeeming.
That word
redeem and
redemption
that are so
much part of
the vocabulary
of an
evangelical
gospel
theology.
It's
actually a
word,
as you
know,
from the
word of
the marketplace.
When you're
redeem,
you are
buying.
You have
to part
with your
money.
You can't
keep it
clenched in
your fist.
You have
to part
with your
money and
buy something.
I don't
know that
there is a
greater
illustration
of that
than what
happens in
the book
of Hosea.
You know
the story
of Hosea
who was
commanded to
marry a
woman who
would be
unfaithful
to him.
Remarkable
providence.
And he
had to
love her
fiercely and
vehemently and
uncompromisingly.
Even to the
point where
when she had
prostituted
herself and
become a
slave,
he had to
go down
to the
marketplace
where slaves
were stripped
naked and
were put on
show and
sold to the
highest bidder.
And Hosea
is watching
just to buy
his wife
Gomer from
those who
were selling
her as a
slave.
And the
bidding begins.
What will I
make for
Gomer?
Somebody
say I'll
give you a
handful of
barley
fire.
And so
the bidding
continues until
Hosea at
last goes as
far as he
can, gives
possibly all
that he
has.
A homer
and a
leite of
barley and
measures without
them and
the auctioneers
say sold.
Hosea you've
bought her.
And now that
language comes
into the
New Testament.
It's already
of course been
so much part of
the Old
Testament's
theology but
Hosea says I
bought her for
myself and I
said to her
now I've
bought you,
you belong
to me.
And Christ
has come in
order to pay
the price of
my liberation
out of
slavery and
set me
free.
All that's
necessary, he
has outbidded
everyone my
great, here
is my
redeemer, he
has come into
this one and
has given his
very life as
the price of
my redemption.
The son of
man came not
to be served
but to
serve and
to give his
life as
a ransom.
So now in
the great
words from
the book of
Job, God
looks at the
cross and
simply says
of his people,
deliver them
from going
down to the
pit.
I have
found a
ransom.
the price
is paid
in the
finished
work of
Jesus Christ.
It is
done, the
great
transactions
done.
It is
finished.
That part
of his
work that
Jesus could
only do
on earth,
he finished
on earth.
before the
eyes of
the word,
like the
priest officiating
at the
outward
altar in
the temple
courtyard,
in the
tabernacle,
Jesus has
officiated at
that altar,
offered the
sacrifice,
paid the
price,
and it is
finished.
He came
to redeem.
But if that
was all he
did,
what hope
could I
have that
I was
saved?
You see,
something else
happens that
is distinct
from redemption
but inseparable
from it.
God sent
his son to
redeem those
who were
under the
law so
that we
might receive
adoption
as sons.
He had
one son
and gave
him so
that he
might have
many sons
through the
giving of
that one.
And so
I'm
redeemed
and bought
from my
slavery so
that through
Christ I
might be
brought into
the family
of God.
That's my
ultimate security,
isn't it?
That having
been purchased
by him,
I will
not be
lost by
him.
I love
these great
words in the
drama of
the Joseph
story in
the book
of Genesis.
Who was
the most
important of
the sons
of Jacob?
That's a
great question.
And if you
say Joseph,
you're wrong.
I don't
think Joseph
was the
greatest of
the sons
of Jacob,
not in
the redemptive
history of
the Bible.
Because the
Messiah was
going to
come from
Judah,
not from
Joseph.
And
sometimes I
think that
the only
reason Joseph
is where he
is in
Egypt is
just to
keep Judah
alive.
And I
think that
that's one
of the
reasons why
the sordid
stories of
Judah are
there in
the book
of Genesis.
To remind
us that it's
not according
to our
righteousness,
because we
have none,
but the
sheer sovereign
grace of
God that
provides us
savior even
against the
backdrop of
our sins.
Judah is
there right
at the
beginning of
the story.
Let's not
kill Joseph.
Let's sell
him as a
slave, he
says, because
he's our
brother.
Can you hear
the irony in
that?
We'll not
kill him.
He's our
brother, so
let's just
sell him
as a
slave.
But
Joseph is
spared.
And then
of course
everything
happens, and
the famine
happens, and
the brothers
have to
come down,
and Jacob
is willing to
let them all
come down
except
Benjamin.
He's already,
as he thinks,
lost the
son of
Rachel that
he loved.
Joseph is
not going to
let the
other one,
Benjamin,
go.
But Joseph
knows what
he's doing.
Engineers it.
Read it if
you don't know
it.
Engineers it so
that at last
Benjamin has to
come.
There's no
other option.
He has to
come down.
Jacob says,
no, no, no,
you've already,
you've already
been, I'm already
bereft of
everyone.
I'm not going
to let
Benjamin.
Judah says,
I'll be the
pledge of
his safety.
I'll look
after him.
My life
for his.
Let me
stand in
his place.
So off they
go down to
Egypt with
Benjamin.
And then
there's that
whole business
of the cup
of Joseph
found in
Benjamin's
sack.
So Joseph
says,
okay,
I'm going
to keep
Benjamin
here.
We can
all go
back home.
Genesis
chapter 44,
the longest
single speech
in Genesis,
Judah steps
forward.
Pleased
with Joseph
for the
life of
Benjamin.
I promised
my father
I would be
a pledge
of his
safety.
Please
keep me
and let
him go.
He began
selling
the son
of Rachel
as a
slave.
Now he
wants to
make himself
a slave
for the
other son
of Rachel.
How can
I go
back to
my father
if the
boy is
not with
me?
And I
seem to
hear in
the
gospel
a
greater
than
Judah
saying
and doing
exactly
the same
thing.
Jesus
has come
to be
the
pledge
of my
salvation
and will
not go
back to
his father
without
me
because
I am
his
brother.
And he
came to
be like
me,
born of
a woman
who was
all
together
unlike
me in
his
sinless
perfection.
But he
did all
of that
so that
I might
receive
adoption
into his
family.
And my
brother
now,
Jesus
now,
stands
before
God
and says
I am
not coming
back to
heaven
without
the children
that you
gave me.
They are
yours and
you gave
them to
me.
and the
words that
you gave
to me
I have
given to
them and
now in
the glory
of this
great
work of
redemption
he makes
me his
brother and
is not
ashamed to
call me
such.
And is
himself the
pledge of
my eternal
salvation.
So that's
what the
son does
for me.
He comes
to redeem
in order
that I
might receive
sonship
into the
family of
God.
And that
is good.
It's good.
But how do I
know it's
true?
How could I
ever have
that assurance
that I've
been adopted
into the
family and
redeemed
by Christ?
I'll tell
you how.
because in
this remarkable
tie in
salvation
the
completeness
comes
when God
who sent
the son
now sends
the spirit.
And where
does he send
the spirit?
He sends
the spirit
who is the
spirit of
his son
into the
hearts of
his people.
That's
why
you're
described
as a
new
creation.
A new
theatre
for God's
glory to
be displayed.
That old
heart of
yours on
which was
transacted
and enacted
all kinds
of sinful
business and
gave no
glory to
God.
He has
now made
into a
theatre
prepared for
his own
divine
drama of
redemption.
In the
theatre of
history,
he
accomplished
that
great
work
in the
theatre of
your heart.
He now
applies that
work and
makes it
personal to
you.
So the
God who
sent his
son in
history,
sends his
spirit in
history,
not two
thousand years
away from
where you are
and not
thousands of
miles away
from where
you are,
but right
now where
you are
sends the
spirit into
your
heart.
And how
do I know
he's there?
Because
I cry
Abba
father.
And I
use the
same
language of
God
that the
son uses.
He
calls
God
father
and so
now
do I.
So this
is not
some kind
of
hallucination
this thing
when you
say,
well,
God is
my God
and I
want to
pray to
him.
It's
real.
There is
a real
person,
a divine
person
in the
hearts of
real people,
sinful
people,
and
where the
spirit is,
God
is.
Christ
says,
doesn't
he,
that he
will send
the
comforter,
he will
dwell with
you forever,
the spirit
of truth,
and the
spirit
comes into
the hearts
of his
people
and
Christ
says,
we
will
come
to that
person.
So where
the spirit
is,
the whole
of the
Godhead
is.
And if the
spirit is in
your heart,
the triune
God
is there.
God
is faithful
who
called
us
into
the
fellowship
of
his
son.
And just
as the
word
was with
God in
the
beginning,
so we
are with
God
in Christ
Jesus
now,
and shall
be with
God
forever
and
ever.
But Paul
doesn't say
when we
have the
spirit,
we say,
Abba,
Father.
What he
says is,
when we
have the
spirit,
we cry,
Abba,
Father.
in his
book on
the
Holy
Spirit,
Sinclair
Ferguson
draws
attention
to this.
It's a
book that
I commend
to everyone.
When they
ask me,
what would I
take with
me to
a desert
island?
Some
people might
think I'm
there already,
but when
I go to
a desert
island,
I'm going
to take
Sinclair
Ferguson
on the
Holy
Spirit.
If I
can't just
take Sinclair
Ferguson,
of course.
And he
deals with
this text,
and he
says,
this is
the word
of intense
emotion that
we hear when
the boy with
the epileptic
fits is
possessed,
and he's
screaming.
That's the
word.
He's
screaming.
It's the
word of the
shout of
Bartimaeus
when he
shrieks over
the crowd to
Jesus.
It's the
word that's
used of
Christ on
the cross.
with a
loud voice
at the
very end.
He cries
out.
The
atmosphere
here,
says
Ferguson,
is not
tranquility,
but crisis.
the usage
of this
word in
the
gospels,
it's a
cry at
critical
moments.
No other
hope,
no other
place.
It's the
scream of
sheer
abandonment,
and of
sheer hope
in God
alone.
God has
sent the
spirit of
his son
into my
heart,
so that I
shriek to
heaven,
and I
say,
thou
must
save,
and thou
alone.
It's an
amazing use
of child
language,
isn't it?
Abba,
father.
But don't
let's think
of it merely
in terms of
intimacy and
security.
All of these
things are in
it,
certainly.
The emphasis
is on the
relationship
that is
absolutely
fundamental
even at the
most critical
moments of
our experience.
And when
I'm stripped
of everything,
the spirit
enables me
to cry,
father.
And in
the valley
of the
shadow,
the spirit
enables me
to cry,
father.
In life
and in
death,
the spirit
enables me
to cry,
father,
because in
Jesus only
I have
discovered
that there
is absolutely
no refuge
for my
soul but
the refuge
that there
is in
Jesus Christ.
So I
can sing
the chorus
other,
father,
to the
most beautiful
melody.
I don't
think that's
what Paul
is saying
here.
I think
he's saying
that at
your lowest
depths,
even at
the point
at which
you are
doubting
that you
were ever
saved,
Christ
to heaven
and you
are saying
Jesus of
Nazareth,
son of
David,
come to
me,
I need
you,
and there
is no
other place
for me to
go but
to your
finished
work,
at
Calvary.
That's
what the
spirit does
for me,
and enables
me to look
heavenward
and to
say
Abba.
So my
friends
tonight,
I need
you to
know
that you
don't need
to know
any of
this in
order to
be saved.
I need
you to
know
that you
only need
to know
that Jesus
died for
sinners,
and that
you must
trust to
him.
That's
what I
need you
to know.
But I
want you
to see
the gospel
in color,
not just
in black
and white.
And I
want you
to know
that it's
the gospel
of the
three in
one.
It's
the gospel
of our
glorious
God,
the
sending
Father,
the
coming
Son,
and the
coming
Spirit,
all so
that I
can dance
with God
throughout
eternity
in the
fellowship
of the
Father and
the Son
and the
Holy Spirit.
God
and the
tiniest
glimpse
of that,
then I
cry out
all the
depth
and the
length
and the
breadth
and the
height
of the
love of
God
that
passes
all
knowledge.
and I
shall
stand
as I
might
stand
on the
west
coast
of
Lewis
looking
at a
Hebridean
sunset
with no
words,
just a
mouth
wide open
at the
sheer
glory
of what
God
has
done
and for
all
eternity
be lost
in wonder
and love
and praise
Jesus
only
in all
the
multi-dimensional
functionality
of the
persons of
the
Godhead
in the
business
of saving
may God
anchor my
soul
in that
great
rock
of ages
let's
pray