Baptism and Membership Service of Kelsey Hueni

Well, baptism and membership in a local church are not man-made ideas. They've been given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the head of the church.

His last words spoken on earth to his disciples were these. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. And just a few weeks later, the Lord Jesus poured out his Holy Spirit upon his church. And Peter stood and preached to the gathered crowd.

And he charged them with the death of the one whom God had exalted as Lord and Christ. And they were stabbed in their hearts, convicted by the Holy Spirit.

And they cried out, Brothers, what should we do? And Peter says, Repent and be baptized, every one of you. In the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

And those who accepted his message were baptized. And about 3,000 were added to their number that day. And so there's both baptism and church membership according to the mind of Christ for his church until he comes.

So Kelsey comes tonight just as the 3,000 came to be baptized and to join the church of Jesus Christ here.

Grace Fellowship Church. Grace Fellowship Church. Grace Fellowship Church. I'm going to ask Kelsey to come now and to share with us her testimony of God's grace of salvation. I knew I would cry as soon as I got out here.

Before I wanted to read, I did want to just say that I'm completely humbled to be standing here in front of all of you today. And I don't think I've ever been at this vantage point.

And it's such a blessing. When I moved back home just over a year ago, or just under a year ago, I knew God had been working in my heart.

And I hadn't really shared it with anyone yet because I had been down that path before. And it's humiliating to think that God's working in your heart and to find that you really have an unrepentant heart. So I kept it to myself, and I found that I feared all of you so greatly when I came to church.

And I couldn't figure it out. I thought it was a socializing thing. I was just afraid of talking with new people or something. And I think I found pretty quickly after a couple months that the real fear was seeing the reflection of my sin in your eyes.

And I knew the weight of my sin. It was just huge. And even though it wasn't that you were looking at me and thinking of my sin, I just saw myself.

And I had to share that with you because that realization is what sent me running to the cross. And I never questioned my salvation after that.

But I learned, or at least I finally understood, the idea of how God can use other believers to be channels of his grace to others.

And I had to share this part with you just because you have all played a huge role in bringing that grace to me. And I just thank you so much for whether you've talked to me or not.

You've all played a huge role in it. I just picture it. I'm a visual person. And I picture my life like a quilted blanket. And you've all played huge parts of that.

And it's woven in me. And I love you all for that. And I thank you. And I wanted to say something to the unbelievers here, too, because my heart is aching for you as well.

Very literally, I sat in these seats before for years. And I'm sure I've seen dozens of people come in and out of here being baptized. And it didn't affect me.

And my heart wasn't moved to it. And then I moved away. And I went to Chicago. And there you hear testimonies in other churches that are much more horrific but show God's grace that much more alcoholics and drug addicts.

And I couldn't relate. And, again, I would shut down. My life, according to the people that I surrounded myself with, was pretty normal.

And the rebellious things that I would jokingly share with them that I did were very small in comparison to what they'd been through. And so they were very quick to share with me that I was normal.

But to those of you who are not believing today, it's not normal to sneak out of your parents' house or to date someone that your parents forbid you to date.

And if you were saying that you're living by this law, it's not normal. And it doesn't make you a good person, even if, by comparison, you feel as if you are.

And so I just challenge all of you that aren't trusting the Lord to face your sin. You hear the word day in and day out in this church. And the churches that I've been to, I can tell you this is the biggest blessing, this church.

But if you're not facing your sin, then you're not seeing what you need in Christ and what he's offered for you. And I think justification is the greatest gift that's been given.

And actually, I would probably say, after listening to MacArthur, that the perseverance of the saints is the greatest gift that we've been given. Because I serve an eternal king. And he has set eternity in all of our hearts, believers or unbelievers.

You will face eternity. And whether you are in heaven or whether you are in hell, you will be there forever. And to know that the rest of my life, whether I sin or not, I am saved and I will live with Christ is the greatest joy of my life.

And I feel like Coaleth and Ecclesiastes. And I could share with any of you, I've been down those different paths that I've looked for different parts of things for joy.

And nothing brings you joy but the Lord. So, I want to read my testimony to you now. I had to share that first part, though, because I realized I didn't have that in my, I didn't have it in my written testimony.

And I don't know that I even really had recognized that God had used you all in my lives in that way as I wrote my testimony. I knew that he had saved me. But I wasn't in tune to that quite yet.

So, okay. To forfeit all the riches in the world, I would do a thousand times a thousand in seeking Jesus Christ for my salvation.

I had been lost in the world, making dutiful attempts at setting my own path as a wandering soul. I lived each day without purpose, wondering in circular arguments if I was depressed or just in need of something else or something more.

I felt trapped as a sinner in a supposed-to-be Christian home. All through school, I fell on the path of intelligent, God-fearing cousins and sisters. As subsequently in my heart was pure bitterness.

I was aware of the particular woes to me as a sinner who had heard the truth and refused to repent, and it had its momentary effect. No lasting burden of guilt, however.

I left my home and sought to create my identity. I did this by abandoning inhibitions in my all-but-withered conscience for the sake of feeling like myself. I lost because I was lost.

As a sinner without a convicting conscience, my greatest regret was dusting off my Bible for church each Sunday, to pay restitution to myself for the week, all the while subconsciously redeeming myself for my sin.

I wouldn't leave church happy or resolved, but I left with a sense that I had paid my dues to my past of being brought up in this church. The devil had such crafty ways of making me feel I was okay, and almost as if Christ owed me salvation for being a decent person.

That was my relationship with him. I do my part, and you do yours. My view of him was so small and of little significance to my self-fulfilled huge life. So it was of nothing of my own doing, as I was full of such immense darkness, when God took hold of my heart and shook me at my innermost being, and brought me to my knees in wrenching repentance.

I saw the gravity of my sin with new eyes. I felt like the vile creature I was, sinning in everything I did and said. My life was an act before Christ. I don't have a moment or a day that I can turn to and say that this is the day that Christ saved me, but I knew that he had been stirring my heart to see my sin going back to about a year ago.

That was when I began feeling depressed. I had no purpose to my life, and routines were beginning to torment me. Each day was just a battle to face myself in the mirror.

I had spiritually, mentally, and emotionally hit my destitute end, and then there was Christ on the cross, offering his full salvation from my sure, damned fate in hell. The beauty and justification is that though...

Though I may deal daily with the battle of self-loathing, for these unspeakable offenses against the Lord, Christ says in his word that these sins have been forgotten, and he has not a mind that literally forgets any of my transgressions, but no, it's greater than that because while he knows the most intimate details of my life, and when I sit and when I rise, he loves me with more affection than any love, and he will remember my sins no more.

It was at the cost of his blood, his great redeeming power, that I am washed white as snow, no longer any guilt or shame, and freed from the dominion of the devil.

Her many sins have been forgiven, for she loved much. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. This is from Luke 7, 47 and 50. And in this story, Jesus shares with Peter and the Pharisees that those with greater debt have more love and greater faith.

While love does not earn forgiveness, her forgiven soul has produced love, and her faith has received salvation. Today I'm convicted of my sin.

I long to be Christ-like and to live as a light in the relationships I have, old and new. My end and purpose each day is to better know the Lord by his word, glorify him with my obedience to his laws, and spread the good news of his promises.

This is my testimony to you today as a new person, that I long to serve our king and bear the fruit of a believer. I long for you as my brothers and sisters to join with me in increasing his majesty by recalling to one another his righteousness, all for the sake of furthering his kingdom.

I know that salvation is freely offered and wholly undeserved. I have been given the greatest gift, the gift of eternal life with my Lord in a perfect form amidst all other God-fearing souls.

I will continue to fail him and sin because of the fall, but from Psalm 19 comes the song in my heart. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.

The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my rack and my redeemer. Our Father, we stand in awe of you tonight and of your wondrous grace that has broken into the life of another sinner and arrested her and stopped her from her own self-destructive way and has brought her safely home to Jesus.

How kind of you, how good of you, how gracious of you. We remember our own testimony again in hers. We all stand before you, washed in that same blood of Jesus, rejoicing together that we are the body of Christ, purchased by Jesus' blood.

What a wonderful plan that you've not just left Kelsey to herself or any of us to ourselves, but have bound us together, that as we're united to you, we are united to each other.

You've heard her intention to serve you and you know her weakness. But Lord, you've promised that as you've begun a good work in her, that you would continue that good work until the day of Jesus Christ.

We hang upon you for your promise and ask you to help us all to fulfill our responsibilities to each other and to Kelsey, to encourage her, to lift her up in prayer, to speak the word of God to her, to set an example before her, to learn from her, to serve together, and so to demonstrate that we are Christians by our love for one another.

Hear us and answer us and glorify yourself among us, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Turn in your Bibles to the book of Colossians.

Colossians chapter 2. Colossians is all about Jesus.

And tonight is all about Jesus. Kelsey, your life from now on is all about Jesus.

When you repented, when you cried out to Jesus and when you went down into the waters, you gave up your old life. And you gave up every right you had.

You know the requirements for discipleship. If anyone wants to be my disciple, he must take up his cross and follow me. So your life is nothing now.

Your rights are nothing. Your agenda is nothing. Your plans are nothing. Your pleasures are nothing. Your thoughts, your freedoms, are all gone. And so your life is all about Jesus.

And brothers and sisters, the same is true for you. Amen. And Paul tells us the same thing in Colossians 2. So if you're there, look at verse 6.

So then just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord. We're going to stop there for a moment. We've received Jesus as Lord.

So if you're a brother, if you're a sister, if you've been saved, you now have a master. Think about that. You have a master. You have a Lord.

Lord. And we live for one reason. And one reason only. And that is to please Him. And that could be a very daunting task. It is a very daunting task.

But Paul doesn't leave us there. Here in the passage that we're going to look at tonight from verses 6 through 15, he tells us the plan, how we can continue to live in Christ and for Christ.

And he tells us how we can do it. Where that power that we need to do it comes from to make our lives all about Jesus. And then, magnificently, Paul anchors the whole Christian life in the gospel.

So that's what we're going to see. The plan, the power, and then the gospel. Well, let's look again at verse 6. So then, just as you receive Christ as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and build up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

So what is the plan for continuing to live in Jesus Christ and for Jesus Christ? It's found in those four words. Rooted. Rooted. Built up. Strengthened.

And overflowing. So if you're going to make your life to be all about Jesus, then you have to be rooted in Him. Your reasons for living have to be in Him.

The reasons that you wake up have to be His reasons. And the reasons that you go to work and that you go to school, it has to be Jesus. See, Jesus isn't one of several priorities for the Christian.

And He's not the first of several priorities. He is the only priority. Every other priority must find its purpose in Him or its sin.

Because our lives are to be all about Jesus from now on. And so, we need to be rooted in Him. Like a plant driving down into the soil.

Like a plant root thrusting deeper into the dirt. We have to be going down deeper into Jesus. And we have to grab a hold of that soil more and more.

Like a root grabbing hold of the dirt and not letting go. And when the wind blows, we don't let go. We grab harder. So we have to be rooted in Him.

We have to be, not only that, we have to be built up. So we're not only going deeper into Jesus. We have to be going higher and level by level going higher and higher into Him.

And so do you see Paul's point? Living for Jesus means that you're going lower and you're going higher. You're filling your life with Him. And there's more of Him to know.

There's more of Him to discover. There's more of Him to enjoy. There's more grace to reach. And so Kelsey, make it your goal from here on out to fill your life with Jesus. To grow in your knowledge of Him.

Your faith in Him. We all need to examine our lives. Constantly examining them to rearrange them. To make sure that our priorities are right so that we're consistently and persistently going higher in Jesus.

And Paul said it when he was an old man. One thing I do. This is the one thing I have in mind, Paul says. Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, is that still your ambition? That I want to press on? That I want to know Him more? Are you being bogged down in the world? Are you getting bogged down in the world?

Are you growing cold and careless? Then remember these words. Press on. Press on. You have to build your life higher in Jesus. Level by level.

Not only that, but we are to be strengthened in the faith. It's unclear whether Paul is talking about the faith, the objective facts of the gospel, or if he's talking about that subjective faith that all believers have, that personal faith.

It's probably the objective faith, the facts, the knowledge of the gospel. But there's really no strengthening yourself in the faith without applying it to yourself.

It does no good to have it up here, but not to apply it in your life. And so we have to make it our ambition to be strong in the faith, to know the faith and apply it to ourselves, to find all the different ways that the gospel fits into our lives.

So in other words, grow in your understanding of Jesus. And so make it your aim to grow in the gospel and to see how it applies in your life. See, weak doctrine produces weak Christians.

And strong doctrine produces strong Christians if they apply it to themselves. And so make it your ambition. Kelsey, make it your ambition. Brothers and sisters, make it your ambition to become strong in the faith, to live in it more every day.

And then if you do, you'll be overflowing with thankfulness, with thanksgiving. Living for Jesus is thankful living.

It's gospel-based living. It's a life that is bubbling over with thanksgiving. And so why will we love Jesus more and more? Why will we want to know more of the gospel?

It's because we've tasted and it is so delicious and we're thankful for it. Jesus has been so good to us. And because he's been so good to us, we want to fill our lives with him.

The Christian life is not based on rules and duty. It's a life that flows out of thankfulness. There are rules.

There is duty. But it's not drudgery. We don't do those things because we have to. We're so thankful for what God has done for us that we want to obey his commands.

So, rooted, built up, strengthened, and overflowing with thankfulness. And the final piece of this plan to know how to keep living in Jesus Christ, you see it in verse 8.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world, rather than on Christ.

Kelsey, you stand at the very beginning of hopefully a long Christian life. and there are people that are going to try to take you captive to enslave you to lies again, to kidnap you with those lies.

And those lies depend on human reasoning, human thought, human philosophy, human ideas. They rest on the basic principles of this world.

And that word basic principles, it means the basic elements. It means the ABCs. And so these are the ABCs of the world. This is the basics of how they think. And you know if this is from the world, then it's anti-God.

It's anti-Christ. And so don't be caught. Don't let anything steal you away from Christ. Did the world save you? Did the world love you?

Did the world give you beauty and holiness? No. So don't go back to the world. Once he's taking you out of it, don't be taken captive again.

Don't go back to its way of thinking. So fill your minds with Jesus Christ. Your philosophy is Christ.

Your wisdom is Christ. Your tradition is Christ. And so don't let anything move you from Jesus Christ. It's either the ABCs of the world or you found every single thought you have on Jesus Christ.

And Paul says don't be captive again. Don't go back into slavery. Make your life to be all about Jesus. Anchor your thought life in Jesus.

Well, that's the plan. That's the plan for continuing to live in Christ. That's how you're going to make your life to be all about Jesus. But how can we do that?

How can we do that? How can we live that way? And you might say, I have a plan, but I don't have the power to carry it out.

And Paul says you're wrong. You're wrong. You don't have to carry off this plan in your own strength. You have all of God helping you to carry out this plan, to live for Jesus.

Look at verses 9 and 10. For in Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

So let's look at this word fullness. In Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form. What does that mean? It means that in the person of Jesus Christ, all of the mercy, all the power, all of the grace and wisdom and love and richness of God dwells.

It's all in Him. Everything that it means to be God is found in Jesus Christ. And so Jesus is God in the flesh. Everything, all the fullness of God is in Him.

All the attributes are in Him. All the power. He possesses the fullness of deity. And in the same way, look at what it says. You have been given fullness in Christ.

The power to live the Christian life has been given to you by God. The wisdom, love, grace, mercy, richness, every resource, every resource that we need to live for Jesus is yours.

It's God's gift to you. And so God hasn't put you at the beginning of the starting line of a marathon and said, well, I'll see you at the end. It hasn't been like that.

He's filled you with everything you need to run the race. And so He's given you those marathoners legs. And He's given you those marathoners lungs.

And He's given you that marathoners determination that when He hits the wall at mile 18, He's going to keep going. He's given us everything that we need in Christ.

And so actually we need to change the picture a little bit. God has put us at the starting line and He has given us everything that we need to run the race to finish well, but He's given it to us in someone else.

So God says run the race and here's how you're going to do it. I'm going to put you on top of Christ. I'm going to tie you to Christ. You're going to ride piggyback on Christ and He will give you everything you need.

Do you need love? Jesus has it. Do you need determination and perseverance? Well, Jesus has it. Do you need mercy and wisdom? Jesus has it. Do you need help to grow?

Go to Jesus. Jesus has everything that we need. Every resource that we need for the Christian life is flowing through Jesus to us. and it says, and He's the head of every power and authority.

In other words, no one, nothing, neither angel nor demon nor sword nor famine, nothing in all the earth can stop us because Jesus has conquered over everything and He is the King and He is running with us.

And not only do we have fullness in Christ, not only do we have every resource in Jesus Christ, look at verse 11, in Him you were also circumcised in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with circumcision done by the hands of men, but with the circumcision done by Christ.

So not only has God given us fullness in Christ, He's put away the flesh. He's cut it off of you. And once you were defiled, that's what circumcision basically meant.

It was the mark to distinguish between the clean Jews and the unclean Gentiles. And Paul is saying that once you were defiled, once you were in your sin, but now things are different.

God has cut away the flesh and you are clean. So you were once enslaved to sin, and you were under its power. And Kelsey, you said in your testimony, I felt trapped as a sinner in a supposed to be Christian home.

And all through school, I followed the path of intelligent, God-fearing cousins and sisters, and subsequently in my heart was pure bitterness. You were trapped.

You were defiled. And you were in the power of the flesh. And to do good only produced bitterness. But things have changed, haven't they?

And brothers and sisters, things have changed for you. Our religion was no different. When we did good, it either produced in us bitterness or pride.

God. But then we were born again. And God unseated the flesh from the seat of power. He took it off the throne and he marked us with Christ.

And so we were washed, we were cleansed, we were clean. And is the flesh still there? Yes. But it doesn't rain any longer.

The old is gone and the new has come. And so there's new power to live. Power that wasn't there before. Look at verse 12.

Having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead. Do you see where the new power to live for Jesus comes from?

It's not ordinary human power. It's resurrection power. In baptism, the old you was buried. The old you, the depraved, unwilling, unable to please God, the old you was buried.

You died. And that's what we saw pictured here this evening. The death of the old life and the resurrection of new life. And so the old is gone.

It's drowned in the waters. It's washed away. It's buried. And so now there's new power to live. Because we were united with Christ by faith.

So as he rose, we rose. And as his resurrection life is in him, it now flows through us as we are connected by faith.

And you see it there. This burial and this resurrection was through faith in the power of God. Our faith lays hold of Christ and through that channel all the fullness of Christ comes into us and we are united with him.

As he died, we died. As he rose, we rose. And you can't say then that I can't do this life. I can't do this Christian life because you can. You can because what God has done for you.

And cutting off the flesh and giving you resurrection life. life and you can because what he's done in you of giving you that new life. You can because you're united with Jesus Christ and you can live for Jesus because Jesus lives in you.

And you live on his power. His resurrection life is in you. And you can't say I don't have what it takes to overcome this sin.

It's not true. You can because of Jesus Christ. You can because you don't face that sin with your own resources.

You have fullness in Christ. You have resurrection life in Christ. And so all the joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control, everything that we need, we have in him.

And so sin does not reign in you. Christ reigns. You've been washed, you've died, and you've come up a new person and now you live.

But even more than that, Kelsey, you should be asking yourself, what could my life be? What could I be?

What kind of Christian life could I have? because you are not limited by your own power. Your only limitation is Christ's power. And so there is no end to the degree of holiness that you could see.

Your obedience and your love and your sacrifice are only limited by what Jesus Christ has because you're united with him and you have fullness and you have power to live a Christian life.

And brothers and sisters, we might need to regain a vision of what is possible for the Christian life. So look at the world. There are millions and millions of people going to a Christless eternity every year.

people and there are thousands and thousands of children starving every day. And there's over 2,000 people groups without a Bible and a language that they can understand.

And God has given us power in Christ Jesus to go. To go and to give and to live and to die for Christ's kingdom.

kingdom. We are weak, but we are strong in the strength that God provides. See, we have resurrection life flowing through us, through Christ, and he hasn't given us that resurrection life to live a comfortable life now.

We have a mission to finish. We have the mission that God gave his church. we have the power that it takes to live a truly different life.

And we have everything that we need to live that truly different life in Christ. So we've seen, you've seen the plan, and you've seen the power.

Now let's look how Paul anchors all of this in the gospel. look at verse 13b. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us.

He took it away, nailing it to the cross. The question Paul is answering here is, what is this new resurrection life like because of the gospel?

What difference does the gospel make in this new life? And Paul says it's a forgiven life. He forgave us all our sins. He washed away all our sins.

He didn't count our sins against us. All the evil things that we did, all the shameful, embarrassing, disgusting things that we did, the depraved things are gone.

They're washed away. And blessed is the man whose sins God does not count against him. But how can God just do that? How can God do that and be just?

Because of what he has done. Because he took the written code, the law, that condemned us, and he nailed it to the cross.

See, when measured against the law, we are found guilty. guilty. The law says, do not lie, and we lie. And the law says, do not commit adultery, and we commit adultery.

And it said, you shall have no other gods besides me, and we commit idolatry. And so, in the law's eyes, we are guilty. In God's eyes, we are guilty.

But God took the law, and he nailed it to the cross. what does that mean? How does that help us? Remember, we saw it this morning in Matthew as we were reading through it.

Jesus had a board nailed above his head when he was on the cross. And it said, this is Jesus, the king of the Jews. And it was written to humiliate Jesus.

And it was written to humiliate the Jews. And at the same time, it was to tell everyone what he was dying for. He was dying because he claimed to be the king.

And that was the charge against him. And so here we are. We have a charge against us. The law says we are guilty. And so it's standing in our way.

It's opposing us. It won't let us in. So what does God do? He takes the law and he nails it to the cross. He takes it and he nails it above Jesus' head.

And so all of our sin, all of our guilt, all of the charges against us, he nails above the head of Jesus Christ. And so Jesus dies for our sins.

He dies with the charges that were against us on him. And we walk away free. And so you are forgiven. You are forgiven.

And that's how you should live. not only that, but this new life is a triumphant life. A triumphant life. Look at verse 15. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

We've talked about the world, we've talked about the flesh, and now we talk about the devil. Satan doesn't want us to live for Jesus. He doesn't want our lives to be all about Jesus, and he opposes us wherever he can.

And Paul said it, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, and against authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

So what hope can Kelsey have? What hope can any of us have with Satan opposing us? That cunning old serpent was too much for Adam and Eve and their innocence.

So how can we hope to stand? It's found here. Our hope is in Jesus, our champion. On the cross, Jesus Christ disarmed Satan.

Disarmed him of what? disarmed him of the law. Satan only has one weapon against God's people, and it's the law, and it says they are guilty.

And so as long as he had that, he could hold it out and say, look at them, they are guilty, you cannot bless them, you cannot help them, they are guilty. So Jesus tore the law from his hands, he disarmed him, and he nailed it to the cross.

And so what can Satan say now? There are no charges left. So who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus who died is at the right hand of God and is interceding for us.

And so Satan may rail against us, but he is a serpent without fangs. Christ has disarmed him, and even more than that, this word, it means to strip.

Christ has stripped every authority and power bare. So he's left them naked as a spectacle for everyone to see.

So imagine a conquered king being marched through the streets of Rome completely naked with a chain around his neck.

And there on the other end of the chain leading him like a dog is the conquering general. And that is the picture. Jesus is our mighty champion and he disarms Satan.

And so Christ's triumph is complete. It's complete. And so Satan is beaten. He's a beaten, embarrassed foe.

So will Satan oppose us? Yes, but he does it from the dust. And will he bark at us? Yes, but he does it from a chain.

And so he can do nothing to jeopardize our place, our position, our lives. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble our hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. And this is what God has done for his people. He's embarrassed our enemies.

He's forgiven our sins. He's taken our charges and he's nailed it to his cross. And he's filled us with fullness in Jesus Christ for everything that we need.

Every grace and every power is in Christ and he did it all through his son. And that is the gospel.

it's not what Kelsey has done. It's not what any of us have done. It's all what Jesus has done. His victory is complete and so we can rejoice in it.

how do you get that victory? How do you make that gospel yours? You come just as you are.

Just as you are. Kelsey came just as she was and Jesus took her in and accepted her. I came just as I was and Jesus took me in and accepted me and many of you here have come just as you were.

sin guilt shame everything just as you were and he took us in. Some of you need Jesus.

Some of you must have Jesus. And so now the door is open. It's wide open. Whoever wants him can have him.

And so take him. Get in while there's time and come just as you are don't clean yourself up. Don't make yourself better. Just take it all to Jesus.

Your good works and your bad works and confess yourself to be a sinner in need of a savior. And we can do it even as we sing him 431 just as I am.

Our heavenly father we thank you for setting forth your son for us to see to know to love to believe in. Thank you for sending him. And we saw something this morning of how costly that love must have been.

How painful it must have been to see your son receiving! I don't think we will ever know what that love is all about and how deep it is that you have for your son.

Thank you for calling us to be united with him to receive all the love and grace that he deserves to be poured out on us.

Thank you Lord Jesus for winning every blessing that we need every grace that we need to live this life and I just pray that you would make us see what you have given us and not only what you have given to us but why you have done it so that we would declare the praises of him who brought us out of darkness who called us out of darkness and into his wonderful to use our gifts and our graces to extend your kingdom to worship you to make our lives to be all about the Lord Jesus Holy Spirit thank you for interrupting our lives for being that voice of the lion that makes us here for giving us a new heart for boring new holes in our ears so that we could hear that call and thank you that you have poured out the love of

God into our hearts that you have flooded our lives with the affection the purposeful wonderful love of God into our hearts I pray that we would know that love and rely on it I pray that specifically for Kelsey that you would give her strength to understand that which is beyond understanding the height and the depth and the width and the length of your love for her and will you help her to rely on that love and live in that love and we ask these things for your glory for your praise you have done it and it is marvelous in our sight praise your name and we pray in Jesus name amen amen