He Came and Preached

Introduction: The Purpose of Doctrine and the Context of Ephesians 2

0:02 Will you follow, please, as I read just several verses from the second paragraph in Ephesians 2, the portion that has been the focus of our study for some weeks now, this second paragraph in which the Apostle gives to us this tremendous contrast between what the Ephesians were prior to the coming of the Gospel and what they now are, particularly with reference to their position, the Gentiles, their position with reference to the visible people of God. And I remind you that the purpose of this contrast is not simply to pass on religious information. The very truths of this paragraph form much of the basis of many of the exhortations in the realm of practical Christian duty and responsibility in chapters 4 through 7, 6. And we must be reminded again and again that Christian doctrine and Christian doctrine alone forms the true basis of Christian practice. And the Apostle would inflame the hearts of the Ephesian Christians with new dimensions of devotion to their Savior by this description of what God in grace has done for them. Only as their devotion is kindled and deepened,

1:29 will they run in the way of the directives in the area of practical concern that he later on sets before them in the epistle. Reading now from Ephesians chapter 2, verses 11 through 17. Wherefore remember that once ye the Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and break down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself of the two one new man, so making peace,

The Procurement and Proclamation of Peace

2:45 and might reconcile both in one body unto God through the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. And he came and preached peace to you that were afar off, and peace to them that were nigh. In seeking to gather the materials of this paragraph into some kind of structure in our own minds that will help us to follow the thought patterns of the apostle, I trust it has been obvious to all of us that there is a marked division after verse 12. Verse 12, 11 and 12 describe the former condition of the Ephesians, particularly with reference, to the Gentiles. And verse 13 then forms the transition showing the contrast between their former and present status. Verse 13 is the summary statement, and having given that summary statement, verses 14 through 18 are an expansion, an exposition, an affirmation, of all that is included in the brief statement, to verse 13. For several weeks we studied verses 14 through 16, which contain a statement concerning the procurement of peace.

4:12 There was now no peace existing between Jew and Gentile. There was a condition described in the text as a middle wall of partition. The enmity, the bitterness, the suspicion, all of those things that characterize the relationship, the relationship of Jew and Gentile were such as to keep them poles apart. And yet in this text the apostle tells us that Christ by his work upon the cross has abolished that middle wall of partition.

4:47 He has procured peace between Jew and Gentile, but he has also procured peace between Jew and Gentile and God. And so the emphasis falls in verse 16, upon Jew and Gentile both being reconciled in one body unto God through the cross. And so peace has been procured in the two dimensions in which it was most desperately needed. Peace between Jew and Gentile, peace between all men and the living God.

5:23 Now we come today to verse 17, a verse which moves in its concern from an explanation, from an explanation of how peace was procured to an explanation of how the peace procured was proclaimed. And so if verses 14 to 16 are a statement concerning the procurement of peace, verse 17 is a statement concerning the proclamation of peace. And he came and preached peace. Notice then the emphasis falling upon proclamation.

The Agent of Proclamation: Who Preached Peace?

6:05 And as we attempt to think our way through the text, and I don't know if we'll complete our study this morning, I want you to consider with me, first of all, the agent of this proclamation. Who is the he in the text? And having established the identity of the agent of the proclamation, or who preached the message, we shall then focus, we shall then focus our attention in the second place upon the substance of the proclamation. What was proclaimed?

6:39 And the text says he came and preached peace. Having then identified the agent of proclamation, or who preached, having expounded on the substance of the proclamation, or what was proclaimed, we shall then consider the recipients of the proclamation, or to whom was the message proclaimed, to those that were far off, and to those that were nigh. And it's one of those texts that very naturally and neatly divides itself. The work of the preacher in divisions is quite simple, although the work in exposition and application is the point of labor.

7:22 First of all, then, the agent in the proclamation. He came and preached peace. Well, who precisely came, or precisely who came? Well, in the text, reading it in its setting, it's obvious that the answer to that question is that it is the Lord Jesus himself, and none other, who came and proclaimed to the Ephesians the very peace which he himself had procured.

7:55 In other words, when the apostle tells us in verse 14, that Christ is our peace, he is concerned to show us that not only is Christ our peace, because he and he alone procured the peace through the blood of his cross, peace between Jew and Gentile, peace with God, but he's concerned to show us that Christ is our peace, because he is the proclaimer of the peace that he proclaimed. So, one more thing to know, we are the Lord of all, Johnrikey, who's been a 받 cough in the temple yesterday, and then I look at our practice, we are the Lord of our life. And we lived in the church. And we lived in the church. And we lived in the church.

9:00 who has destroyed by his own death the enmity, who has reconciled us to God. It is Christ himself who is the great proclaimer of this peace. In other words, the apostle desires that the Ephesians clearly understand that it was not enough for peace to be procured by the death of the Son of God. There is a sense in which it is proper to say a peace procured but not proclaimed is as good as a peace never procured.

9:38 May I repeat that?

9:41 It is proper to say that a peace procured by the death of Christ but a peace not proclaimed is as though the peace had never been procured. And this is exactly the reasoning of the apostle in Romans chapter 10, for he tells us that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, but how shall they call on him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they descend?

10:15 Faith comes of hearing and hearing by the word of God. And the apostle brings together the absolute necessity of the procurement of a way of access being joined with a pronouncement or a commandment of God. Or a proclamation of the way of access. Or men cannot by faith enter into the benefits of that which is procured.

When and How Christ Preached at Ephesus

10:40 And just as he is concerned to show us the necessity of the proclamation or the procurement will come to naught as far as the experience of men is concerned, he is concerned to demonstrate that Christ is central both in procurement and in proclamation. Well, if that's the proper understanding of the text, then two practical questions should already be present in your minds. Question one, when did Christ come and preach to the Ephesians? And secondly, how did he come and preach to the Ephesians?

11:17 When did Christ come and preach at Ephesus? You say, I've read the gospel records and never did I read that he ever left Palestine. How could Paul dare to say he came and preached peace? To you who are far off and to you who are nigh.

11:35 Well, some have attempted to explain this by saying, well, it's only in a very loose sense that Christ came. He came by his incarnation to humanity in general. And since the Ephesians are a part of humanity in general, why therefore Christ came and preached peace to them? Others would say he did so in terms of his own ministry on earth before and after his crucifixion.

12:00 And so instead, some loose sense Christ came and preached. Well, that will not do justice to the language of the text. The text says that it is the Christ who broke down the middle wall of partition, who reconciled Jew and Gentile in one body unto God. It is this Christ who came and who preached.

12:22 When then did he come and preach to the Ephesians? Well, he preached to them after his earthly life, after his death. He preached to them after his own resurrection and ascension and before the conversion of the Ephesians. For a better translation of the language in the original would be this.

12:49 And have come, he preached peace.

12:56 And the having come follows the work described in verses 14 to 16. That coming of Christ is subsequent to his breaking down the middle wall of partition, subsequent to his reconciling both Jew and Gentile unto God, and prior to the actual conversion of the Ephesians. So somewhere between his resurrection and ascension and the conversion of the Ephesians, Christ came to Ephesus and he preached. Well, you say, I don't find any record in the book of Acts that he came down.

13:33 He came down from heaven and preached. Are you resting upon some extra-biblical materials for that history? No. And that brings us to the second practical question.

Christ Preaches Through His Appointed Servants

13:45 Precisely how did Christ preach at Ephesus? And this, to me, is one of the most glorious, one of the most amazing statements and concepts in all of Holy Scripture. Christ came and preached at Ephesus through the instruction, through the instrumentality of his appointed servants who came to Ephesus in his name and under his authority. Will you turn to Acts chapter 1 and verse 1?

14:17 If we are to have a proper view of what the Apostle is saying in Ephesians 2, it is necessary that we grasp the concept bound up in Acts 1 and verse 1. The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, in all likelihood a reference to the gospel according to Luke, the former treatise I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach until the day in which he was received up. After that he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit unto the apostles whom he had chosen. The gospel of Luke is a record of the beginnings of the deeds and sayings of Jesus Christ.

15:12 It is a record of that which he did while present in the flesh as the God-man. The intimation being that the present treatise is a description of the continuing works and teachings of Jesus Christ. So that though he is no longer present in the flesh to do, to do and to speak, he is present by the Spirit, resident in his church and in particular speaking through and working by means of the apostles and their companions. It is Christ himself who carries on the work which he began.

15:59 If we understand that, then the words spoken by our Lord in several of the gospel records, I trust will take on new significance, words such as those found in Matthew 10 in verse 40. He that receiveth you receiveth me and he that receiveth me him that sent me. Whoever receives you whom I duly commission and send forth in my name, receiving you is a receiving of myself. Said the Lord Jesus.

16:40 Luke chapter 10 and verse 16. The gospel of Luke chapter 10 and verse 16.

16:49 He that heareth you heareth me and he that rejecteth you rejecteth me and he that rejecteth me rejecteth him that sent me. The Lord is commissioning the 70 in this context and he says as you go out to preach, though there are many miles, between you and myself, because I have commissioned you, I have given you the message to preach, I send you forth in my name and under my authority, reception of your words is reception of my person and my words. Rejection of you and of your words is rejection of myself. John 13 and verse 20.

17:35 We find a similar emphasis. John 13 and verse 20. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that receiveth whomsoever I send. Now notice, from the 12 in Matthew 10 to the 70 in Luke 10, our Lord says here is an abiding principle.

17:58 He that receives whomsoever I send. Whenever the Lord Jesus duly commissions a man and sends him forth in his name, and under his authority, whoever receives the one sent of Christ, receives Christ himself. And he that receives me, receives him that sent me. This is what lies behind the statement in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 20.

18:29 We then, the apostle says, as a duly commissioned representative of the Lord Jesus, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We beseech you in the stead of Christ, standing in the very room of Christ, our lips being the lips of Christ, our words being the words of Christ. We beseech you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God. How then did Christ preach at Ephesus?

19:05 He preached at Ephesus when according to the record in Acts 19 and Acts 20, Acts 18, Paul and his companions came and entering into the synagogue, reasoned from the scriptures, opening and alleging that Jesus was the Christ. Later on, when driven into the school of Tyrannus, the record tells us that the word of God was preached and all that were in Asia heard the word of God. That's how Christ preached to the Ephesians, both the Gentiles who were afar off from the commonwealth of Israel, from the covenants of the promise, and the Jews who were near in terms of privilege. Christ preached to the Ephesians, the far off and the near, when in the person of his duly commissioned representatives the gospel was preached, when Paul and his companions brought not their own notions, not their own philosophy, not their own insights, but they came to proclaim the message of Christ, the message summarized by the apostle in Acts 20, when he reviews his ministry at Ephesus and says, I kept back nothing that was profitable, but I've taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews and to Greeks, those that were afar off and those that were near, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Application 1: Comfort for the Timid and Doubtful

20:35 Having, I trust, opened up to your satisfaction the meaning of the words, having come, he preached. I want to pause now to apply this concept, this principle in several directions.

20:52 The assertion that Christ, the procurer of peace, also became the proclaimer of peace, reflects at the same time one of the most staggering, astounding, sobering, and yet comforting truths in all of the word of God.

21:15 First of all, this concept should form the basis of tremendous comfort to the timid and to the doubtful. Am I speaking this morning to people who have reason to believe that you're Christians? You're like Mr. Fearing and Mr. Ready to Halt with some degree of weak faith you've laid hold of Christ as he's offered in the gospel. But there are many times when the accusations of your conscience and the chambers of memory bring up your past and present, and sins to such a degree that such gospel promises as these seem so distant and so unreal. Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

22:08 O everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And those times when conscience is very much awake and when memory is throwing up into the process, present consciousness, past and present sins, those words of gospel promise seem so dim. They seem so distant. They seem as it were almost but shadows.

22:31 And you say, if only. If only I could have the Lord Jesus Himself stand three feet away from me and look into my face and say to me, look, I know all about your sins. I know everything that your conscience is troubling you about and more. I know everything that the banks of memory are throwing up into consciousness plus ten thousand times more than your own memory can recall.

22:59 You say, if only the Lord Jesus standing three feet away could look at me and say that and yet say, but my promise is sure. Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. You say, if only I could have from the lips of Christ Himself so certain, so sure, so unequivocal a word of promise let my doubts rage like a storm upon the sea but having had Christ stand three feet away from me having had these physical ears receive the vibrations that were forced up over His own larynx and out from His own lips that would be enough to calm all of my fears. My friend, listen.

23:45 When I stand before you this day and say in Christ's name whoever comes shall not be cast out it is as certain a word as though Christ Himself stood in this building and spoke those words audibly to your sin-smitten conscience.

24:13 That's the concept that is bound up in this verse. When the Apostle came to Ephesus a town filled with pagan idolatrous worship a town filled with We read something of the account of the tumult and the uproar over the worship of the goddess Diana. When he came preaching repentance toward God which implies that he held up the holy standard of God's inflexible law. He indicted men as being guilty criminals who had violated that law who had taken his word a bit in their teeth and had run headlong in the direction of their own designs.

24:54 Many in that area came under the smart and the sting of a conscience awakened by the law and they saw that the throne rights of the living God had been defied. They too felt the pang of conscience that many of you feel. They knew something of the terrors of the preview of the day of judgment which is all Holy Ghost conviction is. It's just a preview of the day of judgment.

25:19 There is brought home to the heart with power the indictments of God. What brought them consolation? It was this hook-nosed Jew who preached faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who stood and proclaimed not in his own name upon his own authority but in the name of Christ proclaimed no matter how deep no matter how long you've been involved in this course of self-will and sin and breaking of God's law God in Jesus Christ has come to sinners. Christ has borne the wrath of God against the sin of God.

25:55 Against the sins of his people he has given us his servants a commission to preach that he is a willing he is an able and a sincerely offered Savior to the vilest of sinners. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And Paul says when I, Paul and my companions preach that simple message of repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ all you Ephesians never forget who procured the peace came and preached that very peace that he procured it was Christ in his own words John 10, 16 other sheep I have which are not of this fold them also I must bring and how does he bring them? They shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold one voice a shepherd how is the voice of Christ heard to those other sheep? He never went to them. He said in the days of his flesh I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

27:09 He never preached beyond the confines of Palestine but he says they'll hear my voice even those other sheep that are afar off. My friend if you've been brought to embrace the gospel of Christ it's because you've heard the voice of Christ and when you're tempted to doubt the validity of the gospel of the promise come back to that very principle it is Christ who has come dare I doubt the word of my Savior?

Application 2: Conviction for the Careless and Indifferent

27:39 I say an understanding of this principle can be the means of comfort to the timid and to the doubtful but oh listen to me this morning it ought to be the basis of conviction and holy terror to the careless and to the indifferent my friends listen when I stand in this place when any duly recognized office bearer in the church of Christ preaches in the name of Christ the gospel of Christ and Christ is sincerely offered and set before you and the command to repent and to believe is given in his name listen you're not dealing with the preacher in all of his obvious in all of his evident earthiness in all of his all but too obvious sinfulness and weakness as a creature my friend listen it is none other than Christ himself who offers himself in the gospel and when you turn away in impenitence and when you turn away in unbelief you turn from the Son of God himself he that rejecteth whomsoever I rejecteth me perhaps you've left this place the place where you've met more frequently for worship

29:08 months in and months out when from these pulpits is gone forth an earnest sincere to flee to Christ in the name of Christ the commandment full of grace oozing with grace is gone forth to repent and to believe the gospel you've comforted yourself but well you resisted and turned off and were indifferent to another one of God's servants who got a little bit a little worked up about the gospel oh my friend listen to me your dealings are not with these servants your dealings are with the Christ in whose name we come to you the one who is the arbiter of your eternal destiny who holds in his hands the sentence depart ye cursed or come ye blessed my friends when Christ is preached you have dealings with Christ doesn't it strike fear to your heart if you sit there today in impenitence we're not playing games we're not involved in religious rhetoric he comes today and he preaches and he preaches nothing but himself he comes to you

30:38 in all of his person in all the wonder of his saving work for sinners your dealings are with him and it will not do to comfort yourself that you're kind to his servants imagine with me if you will by way of illustration a king a gracious a kind king and in his kingdom there is a man who set himself in opposition the authority to the rules the government of the king the king has every right to send out his troops and to seize this man and to commit him to prison or even to death because of his foul revolt against the government of the king but the king because he is a beneficent kind gracious forgiving king , determines that he will show mercy to that rebel subject of his and so he brings into his court those whom he commissions to find this rebel and to come with terms of acceptance gracious terms coming to this man and announcing in the name of the king that if he will return from his ways of rebellion and anarchy once again submit to the gracious government of the king the king will not deal with him in justice but will deal with him in mercy and will pardon

32:07 and reinstate him to the full status of a citizen in his kingdom imagine the man finding consolation in the fact that when the ambassador comes bringing this message from the king he welcomes him into his home he provides him with the best of his food he treats the ambassador like a king but when the ambassador asks for some response he is not he responds to his mission he says let's forget the message from your king let's just you and I be buddies the ambassador says but sir I've come with an urgent message from my king his wrath hangs above your head he could at but a snap of his fingers summon legions of his soldiers and to come and apprehend you and utterly destroy you in all that you have and are and I plead with you in the name of the king confess your wrong acknowledge your willingness to return to his government to submit to his laws and you have the promise of reinstatement to his favor the man is adamant he says look I like you I like the message you brought in terms of showing some kindness but I want nothing to do with the terms you go back and tell the king that you and I are on great terms the man returns to the palace and he comes into the presence of the king and the king asks for an account of how his mission has gone

33:36 and he says sir I was kindly received the man spread the table with the finest of his food he treated me with all the dignity of the royal palace behind me he treated me as one who was an envoy an ambassador of the king and he goes on to tell the king all of this but the king says yes yes yes well and good but what was his response to my message at this the ambassador hangs his head and says he wants nothing to do with the message the king is angry he is about to summon the king those who are in charge of his soldiers and the ambassador says oh but king but king he was so kind to me he was so sweet to me king he was will that do anything to turn away the wrath of the king many of you reflexively are shaking your heads no of course not you see the point of the illustration oh listen to me boys girls men and women it is not enough that when you leave this morning you shake the hand of the ambassador and show kindness to his person to his person to his person to his person appreciate every ounce of kindness that has ever been shown to this hell deserving rebel sinner but my friend I do not come in my own name I come to you in the name whose laws whose glory be smirked of rebellion

35:06 and selfishness and carnation and I come in his name saying that that king will seize upon you and destroy his feet and plead for mercy and I will and I will and I will and I will and I will and I will and I will and I will and I will and I will in the one way that mercy is extended to sinners you leave this place unconverted I hope the conviction upon your conscience is so heavy that you will not be able to tolerate coming by the door and daring to shake the hand of the ambassador while you go out with a clenched fist to his king he came and preached peace he comes in the preaching of his servants it is Christ who is the all his authority who bids you repent and believe the gospel but not only is this truth calculated to comfort the timid and the doubtful to convict the careless and the indifferent but oh how it's calculated to constrain to urgency to boldness in preaching and knowing that there are a number here who have varying

Application 3: Constraint to Urgency and Boldness in Preaching

36:34 degrees of aspirations for the work of the ministry may I for your sakes understand score this principle what greater constraint can there be to urgency and boldness in preaching than the knowledge that Christ preaches by means of his servants to know that when we stand in his name not as self-sent prophets we've been willing to wait for the head of the church to make our calling and equipment clear with reference to our being recognized oh this bearers in his church we've not run unsent we've not whispered as it were in our own ears our own call we've waited upon God and in the sobriety of the knowledge that Christ works by ordinary means to set apart his servants to preach his name and his word as his representatives we have waited and in his time the call has come the inward and the outward and the door of opportunity has been extended to us and we stand with five with ten or five thousand we open up the scriptures and we're careful to be accurate with the words of God oh what incentive to urgency and to boldness to believe

38:04 that it is Christ who speaks through me it is Christ who calls his sheep that will be by means of his unworthy servant oh my dear young men when this grips us we don't play at preaching we don't pray play at trying to be clever we are not concerned with elegance in the pulpit from such curses may God deliver his church we're not concerned with ministerial propriety we're concerned with one thing that we rightly represent our blessed Lord that we rightly represent his person his work his compassion his earnestness his holy anger his coming judgment and I say to you men aspiring to the work of the ministry if there's one thing that ought to be on the top of the list of the things for which you pray it is this pray that God will make real to you this grand and glorious truth of Ephesians 2 17 he came and preached peace and Christ himself will ordain

The Substance and Recipients of the Proclamation

39:29 to come to men and preach through me his servant well we only got through the first division of the text and I think that's enough for this morning I commend to you the latter part of the text for your own careful study what is the substance of the proclamation I'll give you just the heading to whet your appetite for the next I trust for our next study he came and preached peace the substance in general is the gospel a literal translation would be he came and proclaimed as good news he gospeled peace is even a more literal rendering so the general content was good news the specific was the declaration of peace peace with God peace between Jew and Gentile and to whom does he give to all men those that are far off and those that are near God willing in the next study we'll focus our attention upon those two areas of concern but I would close with this one thing I trust riveted to your consciousness and by the spirit's work I trust buried in your conscience says that the agent of true gospel proclamation is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself when we understand that when we

Final Applications and Prayer

40:58 begin in some measure to grasp it then our doubts and our fears in the face of our sins and weaknesses and failures doubts and fears which reach out for some certain word of promise will reach out to the very words that we've heard preached in our ears in this place him who comes I will in no wise cast out that's the word of Christ Christ himself speaks it to you in the preaching of his word when you begin to try to find comfort that you're sweet to his servants and nice to his people and yet you're indifferent to the claims of the Savior himself may conviction may restlessness holy disturbance be the portion of every man woman boy or girl who has not cast himself upon the Savior when we speak in his name may sobriety urgency boldness be our portion one final word of application I hadn't intended to give but I believe it needs to be made you see why all attempts to turn gospel preaching into living room entertainment are such an abomination in the sight of God you see why the whole idea that evangelism is turning a platform into some kind of semi entertainment to make people feel at ease so that we can somehow kind of slip Jesus

42:28 into them no no my friend what is more awesome more glorious more sobering than to know Christ comes in the preaching of the word of God and the issues of heaven and hell pivot on what is done with what he preaches sobriety earnestness seriousness will mark all true proclamation of the gospel not because we've read the Puritans and they were sober no no my friends but because we believe our Bible he came and preached peace that's why when he preached through Paul Paul's tear ducts were the very vehicle through which Christ showed his earnestness and his compassion Paul could say I warned you day and night with tears that's why Paul's very personality at times was carried out of itself and he says if we be beside ourselves it is unto God there are times when people said Paul slipped his lid and there are no doubt times when some think that of some of his servants who live today that's alright it's serious business my friend to have Christ come and preach to us may God grant that we shall hear

43:58 and embrace and follow the word of the Son of God let us pray oh Lord how we thank you for your word when we've meditated upon such portions as has been our privilege to do this morning we confess again that these things are too high for us we cannot attain unto them surely there never would have entered into our thoughts any such things as these but we thank you they've been revealed unto us by the Spirit speaking through the apostolic writers oh God we thank you for this glorious truth that we've been meditating on this morning he came and preached peace oh God write it upon our hearts may the holy fruits of confidence or fear whatever measure of fruit is needed in every single heart oh Lord you alone can bring that fruit and we cry to you that in mercy

45:26 you would do that today oh God break down the pride and the stubbornness of those who resist the overtures of mercy in the free preaching of the gospel may the voice of the Savior find them and arrest them and bring them broken in repentance and faith to his own feet and oh Lord help that timid doubting struggling believer oh Lord bring home with power the word of your promise to all who come to your son and for those who are in varying degrees of preparation for and aspirations after the work of the ministry Lord mold their minds and hearts into the pattern of this tremendous truth that we've looked at today oh God give to this nation and to the far corners of the earth an army of men who preach self consciously aware that Christ preaches through them hear us oh God we pray may the benediction and blessing of your own presence rest upon us and abide with us throughout all the hours of this day through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen