Jesus Christ Our Lord — Bob Hoekstra

Jesus Christ Our Lord and the Holy Spirit’s Ministry

Well, our study for this morning has a phenomenal title to it. And you might think, well, did he come up with this? Well, I'll tell you the title, you'll understand. Title of our study is four words. Jesus Christ our Lord.

That is a fabulous title, isn't it? Of course, it comes from the Word of God. That is the subject of the Word of God, but it's the subject of our study as well. You may remember the statement that Jesus made in John 16, 14, that the Holy Spirit will glorify me, for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you.

The ultimate ministry of the Holy Spirit to magnify and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. And take the things that are Christ and declare them to us, those of us who know him and those who need to know him.

We're going to look at one of the great passages in Scripture out of 1 Corinthians. One of the great passages in Scripture that in nine little verses just magnify and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. And we'll do three things in this study.

We will first consider each aspect of this glorious phrase and title, Jesus Christ our Lord. And second, we'll consider some of the wondrous blessings that are ours, that are related to this glorious phrase, Jesus Christ our Lord.

And then the third and last thing we'll consider out of this same passage is what these wondrous blessings depend upon. And I'll give you a tip off of the good news, they don't depend upon us. They depend upon a great aspect of God that is drawn out in this passage.

The Calling and Sanctification of the Church

Well before we pray together, let's read this great passage. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, the first nine verses of the book. Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes our brother.

To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus. Called to be saints with all who in every place call on the name, and here it is, of Jesus Christ our Lord. Both theirs and ours.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus. That you have been enriched in everything by him in all utterance and all knowledge.

Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you. So that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who will also confirm you to the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Lord, we do pray that as we consider these magnificent few words, all wrapped around the glory and reality of Jesus Christ our Lord.

That you will pour out your Holy Spirit, enlightening our hearts and minds. Showing us the majesty of Jesus Christ our Lord and showing us some of the phenomenal wondrous blessings that are ours in him.

Lord, we pray for you to build us up in faith and hope and love and that we might grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord through this great passage of scripture. We pray in Jesus name, Amen. The title Jesus Christ our Lord actually appears four or five times in those nine verses and four or five other times in portions of that great title, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jesus: The Name of Salvation

Let's take a few minutes, since this occurs so often through these nine verses, take a few minutes and just consider each aspect of that glorious phrase, Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus, let's consider that great name.

It's the name of our Lord, the name of our Lord. It's the New Testament corollary to Joshua in the Old Testament. Joshua, Yeshua, it would be Yeshu in the New Testament and in English it would be Jesus or Spanish Jesus.

This is a great name. This is a name above all names when applied to Jesus of Nazareth. What a name. The name actually means Yahweh is salvation. Yahweh means I am, the great I am. The eternal creator God is salvation.

That's the gospel right in one word and the word is Jesus. There's no other name like it. And it speaks of, of course, this great salvation that is ours. When you hear the name of Jesus, it's about salvation.

It says I am is salvation. The true and living God is salvation. What a great salvation we have. The merciful, gracious, rescuing work of God on our behalf. That's what's being spoken of in that great name Jesus.

And one way to just take a sweeping glance at it, really, is to think of our great salvation in the terms of from, unto, and through. Salvation applies in those directions. We have been saved from, from sin, from hell, from condemnation, from alienation with God.

Saved from self. Saved from futility. And really, the list could go on and on and on. There are a lot of things we're saved from and every one of them. We can praise and thank the Lord Jesus Christ for that.

But we're actually saved unto greater things than we're saved from. We're saved unto righteousness, which is greater than sin. We're saved unto heaven, which in its magnificence is greater than the horrors of hell.

We're saved unto justification, you know, declared not guilty, which is greater in magnitude than all the condemnation we rightly had before in ourselves in Adam. We're saved unto identification with Christ Himself.

No longer is our life defined by ourselves and the futility of the self life. All of those things we're saved unto in that mighty name of Jesus. But along the way, we can certainly be thankful that we're saved through all kinds of things by our Savior.

We're saved through trials. There's no way to live on a sin-scarred, fallen planet with an enemy of our souls and not have trials. Everyone has trials. By the way, for some folks, that's an astounding revelation.

The enemy likes to keep us isolated as long as he can, believing one of his great lies. He has many. One of his great lies is nobody gets things messed up, troubled, and in so many trials like you do.

You know, he wants to give all of us the first prize in that and keep it quiet, you know. No, nothing has overtaken you but such as is common to man. But our Savior saves us through, rescues us, delivers us through the trials of life and the testings of life.

Often people want to know, this difficulty I'm in, is it a trial or a testing? And almost always it's both. The enemy wanting to tempt us and tear us down in some kind of trial. The Lord wanting to use that very conflict as a testing in our lives to exercise our heart and soul in faith toward the Lord.

We get saved through battles, through attacks of the enemy. All of that. From, unto, through. All of it. All of it. Just a quick snapshot, really, of this great salvation which is all tied into the very name of our Savior, Jesus.

The great I Am is salvation. No wonder. It's the name above every name. No wonder when you introduce that name in any situation, it just changes things. Have you noticed that it's almost like a lightning bolt, you know?

You can talk about the Buddha, or a sports hero, or money, or fame, or scheming you've got, you know, or boasting yourself, or tear down others. You can talk about all kinds of things and people go, yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe even engage with you some, you know.

And you say the name of Jesus, it's like, boom! Where did that come from? It came from eternity past and heaven above. And it's the name above all names. It's the only name by which we must be saved. What a name.

I think we come to love that name the longer we know Him and walk with Him. Jesus Christ our Lord. And He is the Christ. This Jesus that we follow, He is the Christ. He's the Messiah, would be the term of the Old Testament, which means the Anointed One.

Christ the Anointed King

He's the Father's promised Divine King. The One who would bring an everlasting kingdom. And the One who wants to work the reality of that kingdom in and through our lives. You know, those who know the Lord, those to whom Jesus is King and Savior, they're citizens of His kingdom.

And the Lord wants to work the reality of that kingdom through our lives. We live in America. That is a kingdom of man. It's an earthly kingdom. Many blessings from God upon it. Many problems, no doubt, as God looks upon us.

But there are all kinds of things that pertain to that kingdom, you know? And when you live in that natural kingdom of man, those impact you for good or bad, for blessing or battle or problem through your life.

Well, way more important and more real than that is the kingdom of heaven. And the Lord wants to work this wonderful everlasting kingdom and all of its realities into our hearts and lives and homes and families and relationships.

Jesus, our Savior, He's the Christ, the Anointed One, promised by the Father and by the Spirit upon Him, He came, carried out His mission of purchasing this great salvation. And He wants to establish by the power of His Spirit upon our lives the realities of the kingdom.

He wants to anoint us. He wants to transform us. He wants to use us. He wants to empower us. He wants to make Himself and His ways known in and through our lives while we're here upon this earth. And it happens by the same means that He served on this earth.

By the power and work of the Holy Spirit. When we say Jesus, we are talking about this grand, great Savior we have. When we speak about the fact that He's the Christ, we're speaking about an anointed King in our lives with an everlasting kingdom and our desire to serve Him by the power of the Holy Spirit.

A kingdom where the King is the Anointed One is kind of a tip-off on how the kingdom is to operate, you know? The way it was seen in His life in the Gospels, promised by the prophets of old, elaborated on by the apostles through the New Testament epistles.

All of those realities only available by the work of the Holy Spirit. That's how this Anointed One wants to work in our lives. He wants to pour out His Spirit upon us. Pour out, you know, flood, fill, and overflow our lives with the presence and work of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ Our Lord: Submission to the Master

Jesus Christ is also our Lord. He's our Master. He's our Ruler. He's the One that the Scriptures teach us actually owns us. You know, people talk about take charge of your life. Hey, wait a minute, we don't have a life anymore.

We don't own one to take charge of. We've already given someone else charge of our lives. And that's Jesus Christ the Lord. He's the Master. He's the Ruler. He's the One to whom we should turn for all decisions of life, for every direction in life.

You know, people in many places plot out what they want to get out of life, and they set their targets and their goals, and they try to put their pathway toward their goals together. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ already has all of that arranged for us.

He knows what He wants to do with our lives. And we're not our own, we've been bought with a price. When we said, Lord Jesus, forgive me a sinner, come into my life, we were entering into a kingdom and a domain in which we are not to rule, rather He is ruling.

But what a blessing to put that responsibility in His hands, knowing He's all-wise, and He's all-knowing, and He's all-loving, and He's all-powerful. What a Master, what a Lord to have over our lives.

And because of who He is, and what He wants to do in our lives, and He's the only one who is able to do it, He's the one who should get all of the glory and honor from our lives. Praise the Lord that He uses us, He'll make us instruments in His hands, and we can actually, in the name of the Lord, by the power of His Spirit, in the light of His Word, we can actually be a blessing to other people.

How phenomenal that is. But let's not forget where all the credit must go. I mean, if someone says, you know, this blessed me, or that blessed me out of your life, well, that's wonderful. But you know, the bottom line response, in one way or another, would be an echo of, well, praise be to the Lord, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

The Corporate Meaning of “Our Lord”

And notice that little word, our. It gives insight into an aspect of these realities that you don't catch when you just say another truth, Jesus Christ, my Lord. That's a great confession. And if you have never made that confession, this is a great time to do it.

The only greater time than right now was before right now. But those opportunities are gone. So this is the greatest opportunity of your life to make that confession, Jesus Christ, my Lord. All of these things we have reflected upon concerning this great phrase, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

All of these truths that Jesus is the Savior. He is the anointed King, the Christ of the everlasting Kingdom that He wants to invite you into. And He is the Lord. He's the ruler of all the universe. And He's paid a price on the cross to redeem you, to purchase you back, to fellowship with God, out of which we all fell in Adam and then reconfirmed in our own rebellion and self-indulgence.

And I would encourage you, if you've never bowed your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, I just encourage you to even do it right now. We'll continue to study for the saints, that is the brethren, the family of God, which is surely almost everyone that's here, gathers here because they know the Lord, want to love, worship, honor, and serve Him and get in His Word and be fed and nurtured and edified and equipped.

We're going to continue to study, but if you would take this step now, if you have never done it, you're going to have a far better time in the Bible with us. You won't be beating your wristwatch or saying, why did I ever, ever let them bring me?

Well, if you're here and you have not trusted the Lord Jesus as your Lord and Savior, all of us would just urge you concerning that. Those of us who have, I think would all agree, it was the most phenomenal, first wise decision we ever made and the best decision we will ever make.

And we just encourage you, come on in the family of God. Don't be intimidated by us. Past us, there's God Himself. We're not some religious elite, believe us. In and of ourselves, sinners saved by grace, desperate, guilty, far off from God, had our own agenda, were rebels, were in enmity with God.

And probably many, many, many of us, including myself, never imagined that the day would come we'd be publicly together boasting about the Lord Jesus Christ. How do you enter in? By relationship with the one who is the Savior, Jesus.

A simple prayer, heartfelt, expressing the reality, you see, of your need of Lord Jesus, forgive me a sinner is fully sufficient. You might say, well, that's just so simple for something so magnificent.

Yeah, that's why it's called grace. If you want a heavy load of works, pick any other religion in the world. In fact, the Christian faith, it's hard to call it a religion when you list it with what man has come up with.

All the religions of the world, man's efforts to get where he wants to get forever, bliss, nirvana, heaven above. Only this message of the scriptures, only the message of Jesus Christ, the Lord, only that reality has a kingdom where the King himself is God and he comes from glory to rescue us and take us home with him.

There's nothing like it. Jesus Christ is Lord. This passage adds, our Lord, Jesus Christ, our Lord. He's not just my Lord individually, though each of us have a glorious blessing in confessing that. He's also the Lord and master of us in a corporate sense, corporate meaning a body, a group.

Jesus Christ, our Lord. He's the Lord and master of all of his children in common. We share this reality together. That's a huge issue. That's why at your fellowship time, it ignites here as you gather together.

We don't have to have, what do they call them, ice breakers? This is not a frozen kingdom, thank you. We don't need ice breakers. We just need little plugged up dam removers, you know, like the work of the Spirit saying just go ahead and love that person, you know.

And whoosh, the realities of the kingdom of heaven just ignite in a three minute conversation even. It's also why it's kind of hard to turn off that tap and come back and focus on the Word together because it's so precious.

It's so real, you know. It's not just a human buzz. It's like if you listen carefully, spiritually speaking, you can hear the kingdom of heaven as the saints just share their hearts with each other and ask how are you doing and praise the Lord, here's what he did and how about that thing we were praying about?

Well, here's what God's done, you know, here's another thing. It's life from the Lord and we share that together, see. This is not an isolationistic religion. We're not looking for a monastery to go off and hide in and not be heard by anyone, quite the contrary really.

Though certainly moments of solitude you can validate in the Word and your own heart longs for them at times. But we share this together. Jesus Christ, our Lord, he's the Lord and Master not only of each of us but of all of us as a group.

Whether that group is the whole body of Christ worldwide, I like to think about that group. Sometimes the world looks on the church, it must look like it's all chopped up in little pieces. It's not a steak, it's a hamburger, you know.

It's just chopped up and chopped up and chopped up. But you can get past all of that in just one confession of the heart, you know. Lord, we who are many are one body in Christ. You believe that? You can just enjoy the reality that it's Jesus Christ, our Lord, from here around the globe.

Sometimes folks call in on the radio and say, you know, which is the best denomination and why are there so many denominations? There aren't all denominations of sin and things like that. Not if your heart says and believes and embraces and behaves like this.

Romans 12, 1 Corinthians, we who are many, we Christians, are right now already one body in Christ. Well, what about all those labels? Well, it helps us find each other maybe, you know. But it doesn't make us some elite group above and beyond anyone else.

Jesus Christ, our Lord. He's the Lord over all of us together, the whole body of Christ. He's the Lord over individual marriages and families, husbands and wives, children, grandchildren. He is the Lord over campuses.

He's the Lord over ministries and churches. He's our Lord. It adds a magnificent aspect to this great phrase, Jesus Christ, the Lord. He's our Lord. So as Lord and Master, His will should prevail in our lives together, not just individually, but together, covering how we relate to each other, how we treat each other, in what areas and arenas we include each other in action or concern or burden or prayer or cooperative venture.

He is Jesus Christ, our Lord. And He is the Lord and Master who wants to work among us and between us. Those who stay in isolation from the body of Christ do not know the wonders packed into that one little word, our.

Jesus Christ, our Lord. Well, with just those few moments of reflection on that great phrase, Jesus Christ, our Lord, let's consider right here in the passage some of the wondrous blessings related to this glorious phrase, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Sanctification: Set Apart as Saints

Blessings that come to us because we know this one, Jesus Christ, as our Lord. Sometimes we overlook how rich we are in Christ when we're distracted by the lack or need or our lack of wealth in earthly terms.

Here's one, verse 2, we are sanctified, called to be saints, to the church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. Boy, there's a shocker, but an encourager.

We're the church of God. We're believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus. Now we can be called saints, sanctified means set apart for. We are set apart for God now through Jesus Christ, our Lord, and we can rightly call each other saints.

It's one of the great descriptive terms of Christians. In fact, it's used often in the New Testament, saints. It's used more than the common word that's used, which is what? Christian, commonly among the believers.

Christian is often the most used term to describe our status. You can only find that like three times in the New Testament, but you can find saints all kinds of places and times. We're set apart now from the world, the flesh, the devil himself.

We now belong to God. That makes us saints. Being a saint doesn't mean that we're perfect in every word and deed and attitude. It means we're set apart. We belong to God. We are holy in Christ by His work on our behalf.

What a blessing. If someone called us sinner, you know, we maybe wouldn't even struggle with that. You know, you got me. Yeah, you know me. But if someone says, how is it, how do you like being a saint?

You know, we're thinking, me? Yeah. We who deserve to be called nothing but sinners, we're now set apart from the world. We're set apart in Christ Jesus unto God. And it's right. God calls us saints, and we can call one another the same.

To our blessing and His glory. Here's another one in verse two. We can call in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Called to be saints with all who in every place call in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.

Calling on the Name of the Lord

This. This group of saints as well as that other group of saints. All who call upon the name of the Lord. In every place. Boy, this is a huge thing. For us to press on as believers, to grow, to be protected by the Lord, to develop in wisdom and maturity and fruitfulness, we need to do that with those who call upon the Lord in every place.

You know, when people move and change geography, they need to be sure that there's a real vibrant option there to identify with another part of the body of Christ. We need each other. We're sheep. You don't send a little lamb or even a mature sheep out in a field of wolves on their own.

And this whole world is a field of wolves. Have you watched the news lately? It's astounding. One story after another, well, the thief and his wolves struck again. You know? And you can track it out in the business world, in the military world, in the political realm.

I mean, this is a field of wolves and we're sheep. But what a blessing, what a privilege. We can go through our pilgrim trek down here on earth calling upon the name of the Lord and do it with those who do the same thing.

Well, that's the way sheep should live because really, this is all the sheep staying together, calling on the name of the Good Shepherd. No problem for sheep to make it in a world like this if they stick close to one another and through that are reminding one another, let's just keep calling on the name of the Lord.

And think of that. Think of the names we've called on through our lives. Some a shame, some an insult to God, some a foolish decision on our behalf. But now, in Christ Jesus, we can call on the name of the Lord.

We can actually cry out to the true and living God any place we are, every day of our lives and He's right there to hear our cry because we're included among those who truly know what it means to say He's Jesus Christ our Lord.

Grace as the Basis of Christian Life

And then verse 3 and 4, grace, the grace of God has been given to us. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus.

What a phenomenal treasure we have in the grace of God. Now that our confession is Jesus Christ our Lord, we have grace abundant. I commend to you the study of that great truth, grace. It's one of those that you can commit a lifetime to and just keep realizing the more you learn how much you underestimated the magnitude of the grace of God.

Yes, we're saved by grace, Ephesians 2, for grace is the means. Saved by grace through faith, grace. The undeserved work of God on our behalf, bringing to us that which we could never deserve or earn or manufacture or replace with anything else.

And that's how we start out with God. Lord by your grace forgive my sins. Thank you by your grace you died on the cross for my sins. Then as you get into the word of God as a born again child of God, watch for it.

If you're just somewhat new in the Lord or new in getting really into the word, watch for the grace of God as you read the word of God. You're going to be amazed. It's everywhere. And it was not just about how to start out with God, it's how to go on with God.

2 Peter 3 .18, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The grace of God, the manifold grace of God comes from the God of all grace. It is beyond measure. God caught my attention, oh, 30 plus, nearly 35 years ago on this great subject, having been saved 41 years ago, the Lord caught my attention on it decades ago.

And I must say, I'm still seeing that it's greater than I previously thought. It's just permeating the pages of scripture. And all of that is ours to draw upon. How do you draw upon riches that you don't deserve that only come from God?

You seek Him, you trust in Him, you ask for what's needed from Him. You know, you turn to Jesus Christ, our Lord. He's the God of all grace. Verse 5, we are enriched by Him. That you are enriched in everything by Him, in all utterance and all knowledge.

Enrichment Through Christ

Oh, the richness that is ours in Christ. You know, people devote, many people, many, many people, maybe you could say most people devote much of their life to the pursuit of riches, even those who never, ever get anything but a minus quantity of them.

There are many people who are in major debt and have been most of their lives, but still the dream of their soul is to accumulate earthly riches. Now, God has given riches to many, Abraham and others, many who have followed Him, but you can't serve two masters.

You can't live for riches and live for God. You can live for God and He might add riches, but you can't live for both. But here's the truth. Those who just live in and for and with Christ, they have already been enriched in everything by Him.

The things that matter, the everlasting things, love and joy and peace and heavenly purpose, friendship with God, fellowship with God. These things, we're enriched in these things, they're ours. These things are our realm to walk in, to grow in, to traffic in, to communicate in and to share and bless others with.

We are enriched by Him when we're able to say He's Jesus Christ, our Lord. Then verse 6, oh, this is a great one. Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, we who can say truly Jesus Christ our Lord, we can have the testimony of Christ confirmed in us.

It's one thing to say Jesus Christ is my Lord. It's another thing when other people look and watch and say, wow, Jesus Christ is your Lord, isn't He? What's the difference? Well, one is our own personal testimony and praise the Lord for that.

If we have bowed before the Lord Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we can make that testimony and we should. Jesus Christ is my Lord. But when others say that, what's added? A confirmation. Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.

What a blessing that is. In our own lives, when others look on and say, I see the Lord at work in your life. In fact, by the way, that's the way true Christian living is supposed to develop. In the religions of man, it's man striving to accomplish something in the sight of God.

In this kingdom of heaven, this unique one and only kingdom of God, where Jesus Christ is Lord, where He rules that kingdom. It's not us trying to manufacture something for Him, it's He comes to dwell in our hearts and lives.

Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Ephesians 3, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. And from the core of our being, where He resides by the work of His Holy Spirit, He wants to work in us, changing us, and let that flow out through us.

You know, like Jesus said, from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, you know? And you think the way the mouths of the world speak. And then if they get embarrassed in the way they speak, and they want to change it, they've got a program that's kind of somewhere up here by their lips, you know?

All this stuff's going on down there, but I better not say it. There's the boss. I better not say what I'm thinking, you know? But in the kingdom of heaven, the Lord is changing us from the inside out.

And Jesus said, from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. We just say, Lord, touch my heart, change my heart, fill my heart with love and joy and peace and righteousness and goodness and kindness.

Then we won't have to be guarding our lips everywhere we go. Jesus said, implied guard your heart. Proverbs says, guard your heart diligently, for from it flow the issues of life. So the Lord wants to dwell in our hearts, work in and through our lives, and there'll be confirmation all around.

People will see the Lord in us. And of course, that's to their blessing and to His glory. And then verse 7, we are gifted to serve Him, so that you come short in no gift, you know, to serve the living God.

Spiritual Gifts for Service

The living God gives us spiritual gifts. You can find them in 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, Romans 12, a lot of places in scripture, 1 Peter 4, many mentions of spiritual gifts. Isn't God good? He doesn't say, equip yourself, come up with something by which you can serve me.

He saves our souls, gives us eternal life, comes to dwell in us, then gives us these special enablements. They're actually called charismata, from which we get charismatic. But the core word of that is charis, grace.

Spiritual gifts are gifts of grace, specialized arenas of God's grace that work in and through us. You know, you might be serving the Lord in a certain area, and then they say, how do you do that like that, you know?

Stop back and think, well, I guess God has just called me to it and has gifted me in it and must be working through it. What else can I say, you know? I know when I stand to teach and preach the Word of God and think of where I started without Christ and even kind of, you know, making fun of a lot of preachers because I was, you know, worldly.

I'm talking about with my worldly high school and university buddies and think, wow, who would ever dream that I would stand and teach the Word of God? Well, only God. If we went one after another, it'd be amazing how many of us are doing things for the glory of God in the name of the Lord that we couldn't even have dreamed we would back at the beginning or let's say even before the beginning, before the days of Christ.

Waiting for Christ’s Return

He gifts us to serve Him and that unto His return. Verse 7, waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Waiting for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. For those who can truly say, Jesus Christ our Lord, and they're in the Word of God hearing from the Lord about the Lord and His ways and His plans and His purposes and His timetable, they notice, ooh, He came once, He promised to come again.

And it stirs in your heart a desire. And you look at the chaos in the world, the danger in the world, the devastation in the world, and you couple that with the growing portrait of Christ that is being drawn in our hearts and minds by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God as we study it.

You see the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see the bankruptcy of the world. Then you see the promise that He's going to come back. And where does it lead you? Waiting for, yearning for, eagerly interested in the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You end up praying like the Bible ends, come quickly, Lord Jesus. You know, if you, if you love someone, you know someone, and they're gone away, and yet they may be back someday, you yearn for what? To be with them again.