Sunday, November 24, 2024 AM

together in prayer. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the day that you have made. I thank you for shepherding each one of us into this place at this time.

And Lord, having prepared for us, we ask for your blessing. We ask that we would trust in you and receive from you, from your word, that which you have prepared for us.

Lord, we know that you are good, and we know that you do good.

You are worthy of our trust, and you are worthy of our praise.

Please remind us today, in our communion together with Christ, remind us today of how worthy you are and lift us in worship to you, lift our attention to you, lift our affections to you.

We ask for these mercies, looking only to Jesus Christ, the one with whom you are well -pleased.

Amen. Well, I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Acts, and we're going to be in Acts chapter 18, and we will read verses 9 through 11.

Acts chapter 18, we'll be reading verses 9 through 11.

By the ascension of Jesus Christ to the right hand of the

Father, He assures us His communion with us by sending

His Holy Spirit. I will not leave you orphans.

By the Spirit, we know God as our Abba Father.

We have confidence in that standing because of the merits of Christ our

Savior. We are not without Christ, though He is ascended and hid from us in glory, because by His Spirit, we abide with Him.

And throughout the book of Acts, the constant cause of rejoicing in the Lord and the thankfulness we see amongst the saints, the thankfulness for the blessings of God, is by the presence and power of the risen

Lord Jesus Christ manifest in His Spirit. And we have these three verses here in Acts 18, verses 9 through 11, where the

Lord speaks to Paul and instructs him and encourages him and calls him to confidence.

Confidence. We're going to think about Paul's confidence this morning.

And by looking at Paul's confidence in Christ, I think we're going to come away with several reasons for thanksgiving for our same confidence in Christ.

I invite you to stand if you're able and read with me God's Holy Word, Acts 18, verses 9 through 11.

This is the Word of the Lord. Now, the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision.

Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you, for I have many people in this city.

And He continued there a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them.

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. In the late 1800s, early 1900s, there was an impoverished country preacher in the

American Midwest by the name of George A. Young. Brother Dean can relate.

His carpentry supported his preaching habit. And he eventually was able to save up enough to build a small house for he and his wife.

But one day when he was away, when he and his wife were away preaching somewhere, some people who didn't like him, didn't like his message, who hated

Jesus, they came along and burned his little house to the ground. And his response was to write a hymn,

God Leads His Dear Children Along. The title of this morning's sermon is from a line from the chorus,

In the night season and all the day long. When can we have confidence in Christ?

In shady green pastures so rich and so sweet,

God leads his dear children along. Where the water's cool flow bathes the weary one's feet,

God leads his dear children along. Some through the water, some through the flood,

Some through the fire, but all through the blood.

Some through great sorrow, but God gives a soft season.

And all the day long.

Throughout all the changes in a Christian's life, God is our constant, steady hope.

By the merits of Christ and by the mediation of Christ, by the sacrifice of his body and his blood, we may have a constant, steady hope, come what may.

How much changes in a month? How much changes in a week?

How much can change in a single day? Beloved, though we may be storm -tossed, we are never lost when we are with Christ.

The Lord's Supper, our focus on communion here this morning, reminds us of where we are.

We are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. Our lives are bound in the bundle of the living with the

Lord our God. I like George Young's hymn. It echoes the struggle in the

Salah of the Saints. And the meditations of the psalmist resonate there in his chorus.

Psalm 63, verse 6, When I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you in the night watches, because you have been my help.

Therefore, in the shadow of your wings I will rejoice. Do you hear that? The darkness of the night is simply the shadows of the wings of the

Lord. In the shadow of your wings I will rejoice. My soul follows close behind you.

Your right hand upholds me. It may be surprising to us, but we find the

Apostle Paul in need of encouragement. The Apostle Paul in need of confidence.

The Apostle Paul in need of boldness. And the Lord comes to him and encourages him and gives him instruction to not be so timid.

Can you believe it? The Apostle Paul needed that. I think we need it too. So we're going to make four observations about Paul's confidence that I think will lead us to four thanksgivings this morning.

Thanksgivings that put our attention upon our confidence that we are to have in Christ. Many things change, but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Beloved, I want you to hear this. The confidence of the saints is our communion with the

Savior. The confidence of the saints is our communion with our

Savior. Let's look at Paul's confidence. Paul's been on the road for quite some time.

The end of chapter 15 in Acts tells us that he was sent out with Silas by the church in Antioch, and he went traveling through the region of Galatia.

And passing through this area that he had already planted churches, he tried to encourage those who were there.

And along the way, he picked up Timothy. And Timothy became a part of his missionary team.

And then the Lord led them along to Troas, where they met Luke. He wrote the

Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. And then by a vision, they were led across the Aegean Sea to Philippi.

And the way we draw our maps, we look at it very significantly. Oh, this is the first time the gospel went into Europe.

And here is Paul preaching in Philippi and Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth.

And all along the way, we find that Paul is imprisoned or persecuted or confronted.

There are many difficult labors that attend this missionary journey. It's unsurprising, should be unsurprising, that now here in Corinth, the risen

Lord Jesus Christ comes to the apostle Paul, his bond slave, and a vision in the night to encourage him, to instruct him, to give him motivating promises to continue on.

Makes sense. I mean, there's been yet another controversy here in Corinth with a local Jewish synagogue.

Political tensions are high. Claudius has kicked out the Jews and everybody who sounds like Jews out of Rome.

Iniquity is rampant in Corinth. But Jesus Christ commands

Paul to continue with confidence. And the reason that he gives to Paul is simply this.

Jesus says to Paul, I am with you. That's the confidence that we need to have.

Jesus Christ is with us. Consider the mode of communication.

How does the Lord communicate? He speaks to Paul in the night by vision. Verse 9 says, earlier in Acts, we find

Jesus guiding Peter the same way. Here he guides Paul. In the night watches, the

Lord directly communicates with the apostle Paul and encourages him.

He sees something, but what he sees turns out to be a word that Jesus Christ gives to him, comfort in the night.

Why does Jesus speak to the apostle Paul in that way? Well, Jesus has already said he's building his church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

Jesus Christ himself is the cornerstone. The apostles and the prophets are the foundation and Jesus is aligning them all with him.

He's laying the foundation for this new covenant temple, as Ephesians says. And so he gives direct instructions to his apostles.

Sometimes he intervenes into the apostles' life and he says, wait. Sometimes he says, no.

Sometimes he says, yes. Sometimes he says, stay. Sometimes he says, go. But we can see

Jesus Christ building his church. Now, when we read a passage like that, we may immediately wonder when we are going to get a vision in the night.

But I have some good news for you. None of us here are apostles. That is good news for a lot of reasons.

One of them is if you read about how much suffering the apostles had. But there is good news that none of us here are apostles.

We have something even more kind and generous than visions in the night. More on that in a moment.

But look, first of all, at the commandments that Jesus gives to Paul. How does he instruct him? Three things that all relate to each other.

He says, do not be afraid, but speak, and do not be silent. Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not be silent.

It's actually, the original language is very short and percussive.

I think the closest you can get to the drumbeat here in English is this.

Don't fear, but speak, don't hush. That's about how fast it comes.

Don't fear, but speak, don't hush. So don't be afraid. Jesus is telling the apostle

Paul, of all people, bold Paul who stands in the middle of the

Europagus, bold Paul who takes the gospel straight into each synagogue, every city, knowing what's going to happen.

Jesus says to him, don't fear. Why does Jesus tell Paul, don't be afraid?

Because there was cause to be afraid. It would make really good sense to be afraid, applying any kind of level of common sense.

Paul should be afraid. And if Jesus is telling him, don't be afraid, it's possible that Paul was getting a little overwhelmed and afraid.

And the Lord intervenes and says, don't be afraid, do not fear. Why should

Paul be afraid? Because many folks from the synagogue are angry. We just saw that in the previous passage. They have shown a willingness to bring

Roman authorities as an arm of persecution against the church. That's been their pattern so far.

They're going to try it again in the next passage. There is cause to be afraid. Paul has said to the synagogue,

I'm not going to keep preaching here in the synagogue. I'm going to go to the Gentiles and preach the gospel to them. You don't want your

Messiah? I bet the Gentiles do. And he's going to go preach to them, but what kind of people are they?

They're not nice people. The Corinthians are a sexually immoral audience.

It's a two -port city, two seaports on both sides. You have a clash of several different languages and cultures.

Remember how infamous the Cretans were? Lazy gluttons, always liars. Well, the

Corinthians were also infamous. If you wanted to describe the process of moral corruption, there was a phrase at that time, to Corinthianize.

We say, he went all Washington. But back then they had a phrase, to Corinthianize.

That's who Paul is going to be preaching to. Okay, I'm going to go to the Gentiles now. That's not an easier audience.

There's reason to be afraid. In fact, Paul points out how tough of a ministry it was when he wrote to the

Corinthians and described what he was called to do. He said, who is sufficient for these things?

So, Jesus says, don't fear, but speak. It's because the fear of the

Jews and the fear of the Gentiles, the fear of men, what men may say, what men may do, all that fear just might keep

Paul silent. But what happens? The risen Lord Jesus Christ, who is

King of kings and Lord of lords, who is the same Lord over both Jews and Gentiles, who holds the very keys of death and Hades, comes to Paul and says, do not be afraid, but speak.

And this isn't about Paul believing in himself and being self -assertive and getting his individuality out there for everybody to be impressed with.

His obedience to his Lord's command is seen in verse 11. And he continued there a year and six months.

Notice how he was speaking what he was speaking, teaching the Word of God among them. That's what he was called to do.

He was called to teach the Word of God, to proclaim the Word of God. To preach the

Scriptures. Paul is to keep preaching

Christ from all of the Scriptures until he is formed in all of his people. That was

Paul's mission. He says that in 2 Corinthians 3. He says, to the

Corinthians, clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but by the

Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh that is of the heart.

Paul went there and he preached and he preached and he preached so that Christ would be written upon them. He says the same thing to the

Galatians, Galatians 4, verse 19, my little children for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.

That's what he was to do. And so he says, so the

Lord says, don't fear, but speak, don't hush. The Lord is just emphasizing the obvious.

His commandment against fear and for speaking just emphasized by this prohibition against hushing up.

Jesus does not want Paul holding his peace, keeping dumb, playing the quiet game. Because the risen

Lord Jesus Christ is building his church upon the rock of the gospel and the advance of the kingdom is by the preaching of the gospel.

The advance of the kingdom is by the preaching of the gospel. It will not do, therefore, to have

Paul in Corinth if Paul is not going to preach Christ to the Corinthians. What good is it to have the apostle

Paul in Corinth if he's not going to be preaching Christ? That's the main thing. And we all know the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.

I think it's a little encouraging to find that this consummate evangelist, missionary, and church planter, the apostle

Paul of all people had to be told by the Lord Jesus, don't be afraid. I find that encouraging.

To be told, do not be silent, but speak. That Paul needed to hear it is encouraging to me because I need to hear it.

We all need to hear that. But we remember that the commandments of the

Lord are not burdensome. And when he calls us to the work in the harvest field, it's a call to come alongside of him.

Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. Rest.

And then he says, put my yoke upon you and learn from me. He's gentle and lowly in heart.

His yoke is easy, his burden is light. But if you put a yoke on an ox and you take him to a field, that sounds like work.

But guess what, when we're with Jesus, it's not burdensome. It's not burdensome.

Notice how Jesus says, I am with you, Paul. I'm giving you these commandments. I'm calling you to labor. I'm calling you to work.

But he's calling him to rest. He's calling him to obey in such a fashion that is not burdensome.

Why is it not burdensome? Jesus says, I am with you, Paul. For I am with you. See the word for?

Do all this, why? For. Because of this fact. Here's why you can do it, how you can do it, why you should do it.

For I am with you and no one will attack you to hurt you, for I have many people in this city.

So Jesus provides encouragement and motivation to Paul. Here's why Paul can obey these commandments and not find them burdensome.

Jesus says, I am with you. And then he promises two specific blessings concerning what goes on in Corinth.

First, he says, no one will attack you to hurt you. The potential for that was high, as we see in the next passage.

It almost got there. But Jesus said, I'm not going to let that happen to you,

Paul. So keep on preaching. Additionally, Jesus promises,

I have many people in this city. Now, Paul is just getting started preaching the gospel in Corinth.

Things are just getting off the ground. But hearing this, the chief shepherd says to his under -shepherd,

I have many sheep in this city. Which means what? Paul spends 18 months going preaching the gospel so that they would be gathered into the fold.

He preaches the gospel so that Christ's sheep will hear his voice and follow him into his fold.

Assurance. There is a lot of rich work to be done here. Paul didn't always have that assurance of physical protection.

In fact, most times he did not. How many times did he get beaten and flogged and shipwrecked and put in prison?

More often than not, he did not have that physical protection. And also, Paul did not always find many converts in a city.

But you know what the constant assurance and blessing is in this list of comforts? Jesus says to Paul, I am with you.

I am with you. Jesus was with Paul when he was getting beaten. Jesus was with Paul when he was in the prison.

Jesus was with Paul when he was getting shipwrecked. And he's also with Paul when no one is attacking him and when many are coming to faith in Christ.

It is telling that at the end of everything, as Paul was reflecting upon his life and reflecting upon the crises that he endured.

His last letter, 2 Timothy chapter 4. Lord, help each one of us to be like this when we get old and start telling our stories.

Let us all be like this when we get old and we've got nothing to do but just tell our stories. Let us remember

Christ. Let our stories be filled with memories of Christ.

Now, Paul says in 2 Timothy 4 verse 17, but, after talking about the controversy that happened, but the

Lord stood with me and strengthened me so that the message might be preached fully through me and that all the

Gentiles might hear also. I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion and the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for his heavenly kingdom.

To him be glory forever and ever. Amen. Now, this is an old man talking to a young man.

Can I encourage you, older men? If you don't know if you're an old man or not, ask your wife.

Can I encourage you, older men, to be that way for younger men? Tell your stories. Yeah, we need to hear your stories.

We need to hear your stories, but we need to hear how Christ was the hero in the stories.

Okay, and then notice what Paul does to ground Timothy and root Timothy.

The last verse, verse 22, he says what?

The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

Amen. Do you see how he grounds Timothy in the presence of Christ, the communion with Jesus Christ?

That's what Timothy needed, that's what we need. That's our confidence that Jesus Christ is with us.

And therefore, Paul continued in verse 11, he continued there, a year and six months teaching the word of God among them.

Eighteen months. It doesn't take eighteen months to go into the synagogue and preach

Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the living God until they kick you out. They're going to kick you out way sooner than eighteen months.

You're not going to get eighteen months worth of Sabbaths to pull that off. They're sending you away. If they do leave you there, it's not going to be a synagogue anymore.

It's going to be a church. It doesn't take eighteen months to go into the synagogues and preach the evangel to give the gospel, the person and work of Christ, and then call for repentance and faith.

That doesn't take eighteen months. It doesn't take eighteen months to do that in the marketplace. It doesn't take eighteen months to do open -air preaching and call for repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

You can do that fairly quickly and get her done. Doesn't take eighteen months.

And it would take far longer than eighteen months, even longer than eighteen years and perhaps even longer than eighteen decades.

It would take far too long to go to a place like Corinth and try to reshape the societal structures and rehabilitate the religious prostitutes and the recalcitrant idolatrous poor and save the society.

You can't do that in eighteen months. But you know what happened in eighteen months of Paul teaching the

Word of God among them? Do you know what happened in eighteen months of church life and church planting and evangelistic work through the local church?

Do you know what happened in eighteen months there in Corinth? In the church house they planted right next to the synagogue in the house of justice?

Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, the covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners were all washed and sanctified and justified in the name of the

Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God and they were made heirs of the kingdom of God. That's what happened in those eighteen months according to 1

Corinthians chapter 6 verses 9 through 11. How about that? Preaching Christ, teaching

Him from all of the Scriptures, laboring through the manner in which Christ has called us to labor and look at how

He blesses the work. Now this is a very encouraging passage.

It's full of brightness and hope. And I think we rightly, instinctively, want to lay hold of these three verses and make them our own.

But how we do that matters, doesn't it? Jesus Christ is the light of the world, so He's the light of the

Word. And that's how we should come to this text. Otherwise we might wait around for visions in the night before we ever take any action.

Or think that visions in the night are a sign of only the truly spiritual.

We may apply Christ's visionary instructions to Paul to speak, and then just give ourselves divine permission to interrupt anybody and say whatever we want to say, however we want to say it.

We might even take this promise, you know, I have many people in this city and no harm will come to you. And we'll grab that and say, that's my promise.

And no harm will come to me, walk around with that. And then insert, instead of Corinth, we'll say, and I have many people in this city,

I'm claiming that city as Oklahoma City, or I'm claiming Norman for Jesus. And we can even use verse 11 as a rubric for how long mission work should be done.

18 months, what it says. 18 months, that's all you need. Or, this is how long a pastorate should last.

18 months, I'm gone, got to go. Or how long a discipleship relationship should last.

Sorry, I can only do 18 months with you, then you got to move on. Let us remember that Christ is the light of the

Word. So our connection to this passage is not through our experience, not through our emotions, but through our

Savior, Jesus Christ. In other words, let me put it this way. Jesus is talking to Paul, so don't interrupt yet.

Wait your turn. And then remember that Luke is writing to Theophilus about Jesus talking to Paul.

So, don't interrupt, let them finish their conversation. And yes, this is

Holy Scripture. And yes, this is God -breathed. And yes, this is the very Word of God to you and for you.

Let's take it from Christ, according to Christ. So what is our confidence? Our confidence is not in every single way exactly what

Paul has, but in every important way, it is the same. Do you know what's better than getting a vision of Jesus Christ in the middle of the night?

Someone's going to say, well, a whole night's sleep would be nice. But what's better than a vision from Jesus Christ in the middle of the night is having the entire inerrant

Word of God to meditate on in the middle of the night. Not that. Psalm 119, 148 says,

My eyes are awake through the night watches. Sometimes you're going to wonder, why am I awake? That I may meditate on your

Word. It's a good thing that we're not apostles here, because we're living stones in the new covenant temple built upon a laid foundation.

And we're not going to lay a new foundation, are we? We've got the foundation, and the cornerstone is Jesus Christ. And so we are indwelt by the

Holy Spirit. We have been given that anointing, and the veil has been lifted so that we can read the Scriptures in the light of Jesus Christ and quote, and meditate all day long and in the night season.

What pride do we try to defend or fuel by waiting around for some definitive, direct Word? The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

And everywhere in this Scripture, the Father speaks to the Son by the Spirit. We've been given a sure

Word. God has declared that He is well -pleased in His Son, Jesus Christ, and that we are to listen to Him.

And how do we do that? Well, God has not left that a mystery. 2 Peter 1, verse 16.

Peter refers to that Mount of Transfiguration where he had made the foolish suggestion that they make three tents, one for Elijah, one for Moses, one for Jesus.

Now we have three sources of authority that we can consult with, and God shuts that up, shuts

Peter down. And only

Jesus Christ, filling the vision of Peter, James, and John. And when they heard the

Word, the Word from the Father, and the Shekinah glory cloud was, This is my beloved Son, hear

Him. And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.

That's definitive. 1 Peter 1, verse 16, he says, For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and the coming of our

Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the

Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the excellent glory. This is my beloved Son in whom

I am well -pleased. Do you hear who has all the authority? Do you hear who's in charge of the church? Who gets to say what's true?

Who gets to say what we do? Who's in charge of the church? Jesus Christ. He's King of kings.

He's Lord of lords. He's the head of the church. And we heard this voice which came down from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

And so we have the prophetic Word confirmed in the authority of Christ. You see, the authority of Christ is what confirms the prophetic

Word. And what are we going to pay attention to? To which you would do well to heed as a light.

The prophetic Word. Pay attention to the Scriptures. Pay attention to the Word of God. Heed it as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

Knowing this first that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the

Holy Spirit. A lot better than the vision in the middle of the night. You get the whole Word of God given to us by the authority of Jesus Christ.

We should be thankful for that. We abide in Him as His Word abides in us. Jesus also, just like with Paul, would also have us to not fear, but speak.

We would refrain from silence. Those are words that are applicable to all Christians, that we can profess

Christ before men. We are to speak the truth of God's Word in praise to His name.

Now, there is an appropriate time for silence. We should be slow to speak, quick to hear, shouldn't we?

There is an orderly silence in the patterns of the church of worship. There is a cessation of quarreling and rather just trusting in the

Lord. All those things are good, but silence due to lesser fears, that is to be repented from.

What's the number one reason why we do not speak of the Lord Jesus Christ, King of Kings?

Why don't we boast about His glory? It's usually because we do not perceive some pragmatic advantage.

What's the use? I don't see the pragmatic advantage. Therefore, I'll not speak in this moment.

My question is, when did the worthiness of Jesus Christ cease to matter in our calculations?

The worthiness of Jesus Christ should be preeminent when we're wondering, should

I speak or should I be silent? We should have fidelity to our

Lord and be quick to boast about Christ. Our Lord is worthy to be named and declared and referenced and worshipped in all circumstances.

So let's lose the mute button. Let's stop holding our peace, quick trailing off, stop biting the tongue, out of the abundance of fear in the heart, the mouth stops.

Do not fear men as a snare. Do not fear death, that's slavery. The fear of the Lord frees the tongue to speak of Christ and His fullness in our hearts.

Now, we don't have a warrant to claim that Jesus is going to protect us from all physical harm or that Oklahoma City is just jam -packed full of people ready to get saved.

But what do we see Jesus doing here as He talks to Paul? We see that somehow Jesus is just simply all -powerful and all -knowing and in charge of the whole thing.

Hey, Paul, I'm not going to let anyone touch you. Why? Because Jesus is in charge of those things. Hey, there's a lot of my people here in the city.

I want you to go out and preach the gospel to them until they hear my voice and follow me because they're my sheep. Who's in charge of that?

Jesus Christ is in charge of that. How about that? That's encouraging for us to know. And by His Spirit, He is ever -present with us.

This is salvation to know Him. Let's be thankful for this promised presence of Jesus Christ.

We are assured of this in Hebrews 13. Not only are we told in verse 8 that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, but we're also told in verse 5,

He says to us, I will never leave you nor forsake you. And so the Jesus who is the same yesterday, today, and forever is also the one who says,

I will never leave you nor forsake you. Because He has bought us at the price of His blood upon the cross.

He has suffered under the wrath of God what we deserve. He was raised for our justification. He's our shepherd and we are

His sheep. And He's not going to lose one of us. Do you know how righteous

Jesus Christ is? He is so righteous that with a full, holy stare of God the

Father into every single aspect of the Son, the Father says, I am well pleased in Him.

Fully satisfied in Jesus Christ. Which means that if we're in Christ by faith,

God has every reason to always welcome us to Himself. Such is the ocean of the righteousness of Jesus Christ that God continually calls upon innumerable, satisfyingly glorious reasons to welcome us to His throne in the name of the

Son, Jesus Christ. And it is out of the ocean of this justification in which we are situated, forever and fully situated, it is in this ocean of justification, its waves break upon us lovingly and relentlessly, sanctifying us, shaping us evermore into the image of Jesus Christ.

In communion, thus we continue. Thus we continue. Paul continued in Corinth for 18 months.

We are to continue. We are to continue. Continue in the

Word. Continue in what God has given to us, that we may abide in Him and commune with Him. Continue in all the ways that He has provided for us to grow in Christ.

Now, when we think about the Scripture, this Word, this is not a manual of Christian doctrine.

This is not a manual of Christian ethics. This is not a structured liturgy.

This is the Word of the Father concerning the Son by the Spirit, and it is Jesus Christ who manifests to us who

God is, what righteousness is, and how we're to worship Him. The Bible is not our authority insofar as it is mediated to us by experts or by experience or by secret knowledge.

That's not why this is authoritative. This is the scepter of Christ's authority in our lives.

He's the Lord. He's the Master. Here's His scepter beneath which we bow.

It's in His hand. He wields it. That's why it's authoritative. So all of Scripture is unfailingly authoritative, profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, 2

Timothy 3 .16, because it testifies of Christ making us wise unto salvation, 2 Timothy 3 .15,

and thus Scripture thoroughly equips us for every good work, 2 Timothy 3 .17,

and what is our good work other than following the Lamb wherever He goes? Follow the Lamb wherever He goes.

So let us be thankful for the Lord's continued work in us through His Word. Our confidence is in our communion with Christ.

It's not in our performance. It's not in our feelings. It is not in what other people say about us.

Our confidence is in Christ, His righteousness, and the fact that we're situated in Him, seated with Him in the heavenly places, by His merits.

Let's pray. Father, we thank You for the time You've given us in Your Word. I pray, Lord, that You help us now as we partake in this communion that we would reflect well and deeply upon the worthiness of our

Savior, Jesus Christ. It's in His name that we pray. Amen. I'd like to encourage you.