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includes me. To get the gain of it you must put your, trust in

His finished work; there is no other way of salvation. Behind it

lies the love of God in all its fulness. Oh how it ought to affect

every one here, the love of God in all its preciousness. Are you

not thankful? Is there any heart here so stony, so hard, that it

is not thankful? The presentation of the love of God in

expression in the death of Jesus ought to break down every

heart here. I am sorry for anyone who does not yield his heart

to Christ.

There is not much future for you if you do not. The future is

glorious if you do; you will spend eternity with Him; spend

eternity with the One who has shed His precious blood in order

that you might know salvation.

Well, I come to Colossians. Paul does not stop at the relief of

the sinner, the fact that God has met every liability against us

and has justified us on the principle of faith so that we are

completely cleared from all the guilt that lay upon us. These

are important things to understand what it is to be justified, that

is, set up the presence of God as if you had never sinned at

all, and set up in dignity in His presence. But then we are to

know reconciliation, a big word for some of the young ones to

understand, but it means this, that all distance between

yourself and God has been totally removed in the death of

Christ and you are brought near to God Himself. Not only has

God met everything that lay against us in our sinnership, but

He brings us near to Himself in order that we might know His

heart of love: That is what Paul is telling the Colossians here—

“Giving thanks to the Father”; you are brought into a family. It

is a wonderful thing that everything that lay against you is

taken account of and discharged, but now you come to know

the Father. It is a wonderful thing to belong to a heavenly

family,

“Giving thanks to the Father, who has made us fit for sharing

the portion of the saints in light’”. We are not fit naturally for the