All right, brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to John chapter 16. John 16. Let's go to the Lord before we begin.
Our gracious Lord, we thank You for this day. We ask You, Lord,
now to teach us, make us to truly see How much we need You to give
us faith. How we need to be found in Christ
alone. And Lord, would You, by Your
grace, show us fully what Christ has
accomplished for Your people. Forgive us, Lord, of our unbelief
and forgive us of our sin and forgive us of our slowness to believe. Increase
our faith. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Alright, now, every believer
can see ourselves in the apostles. The Lord said in verse 5, But
now I go my way to him that sent me. He declared this to the apostles
over and over. Not just that night, but even
prior to that night. And that night he declared it
repeatedly. Now I go my way to him that sent
me. I'm going to the Father that
sent me. Verse 5, He said, And none of
you asketh me whither goest thou. Well, didn't Peter, back there
in John 13, 36, didn't Peter say, Lord, whither goest thou?
He asked him that, didn't he? And then Thomas said, Lord, we
know not whither thou goest. How can we know the way? Wasn't
he asking him the way? The Lord said, none of you ask
me whither goest thou. They hadn't asked in faith. He knew their heart. He knew
exactly what their heart was. And they had not asked Him in
faith. They hadn't really asked Him wanting to know. If they
would have, they wouldn't have been troubled. But here's why
they didn't ask Him. He said, verse 6, But because
I've said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. They were focused on the earthy.
They were focused on the temporal. They were focused on the fact
Christ would not be with them bodily. They heard him say that.
He wouldn't be with them bodily. They focused on the trouble Christ
told them was coming. And it filled their hearts with
sorrow. And so they missed the good news. They missed the gospel
he was declaring to them. They missed him declaring everything
he was going to do for them. They were focusing on the carnal
and they missed the spiritual and they didn't hear Christ declare
how profitable this was going to be for them for Him to go
to the cross and then go to the Father and send the Holy Spirit. Now each of His believing people
are just like Him. We're far too much taken up with
the carnal. We're far too much taken up with
what we can see. And when the storm comes upon
us, we focus on the temporal. Sorrow fills our hearts. And
we may go to the Lord in prayer, but unless the Spirit of God
is making us to pray as we ought, we don't really ask him. We really
don't. We focus on the outward, and
it makes us forget the spiritual good news Christ has preached
to us. We forget what he's taught us
in the gospel. The Lord's saying to them what
he said that night when they were in the storm. This is what
he says to us. Why is it you have no faith?
That's what he's saying to them. Oh, ye of little faith. We so
much think the blessings are in what we can see. And they're
not, they're spiritual. And we're gonna look more at
that next week, Lord willing. I have pretty much a message
prepared for that. I wanna preach it with the second
part down here next week. But I want you to see how gracious
and how compassionate the Lord is. Here they are, sorrows fill
in their heart. They haven't really asked him
in faith, where the goest thou? They're just looking at the temporal. Verse seven says, nevertheless.
Nevertheless, what a gracious, compassionate Lord, while we're
in our unbelief and with so little faith, and he says, nevertheless,
I tell you the truth. Nevertheless, I'm gonna still
tell you the truth. I'm gonna still preach the truth
to you. It's expedient, it's profitable for you that I go
away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto
you. Our thoughts are not his thoughts
and his thoughts are not our thoughts. They thought it would
be unprofitable for Christ to go away bodily. He said it's
expedient, it's profitable for you that I go away. They thought
if he goes away bodily we won't have his presence with us, we
won't have his comfort with us, we'll be orphans, we'll be left
alone. He declares just the opposite. He said, if I go not away, the
Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will
send him unto you. The Spirit of God must make Christ
our wisdom. So we stop everything else and stop interjecting
what we know and just submit to him and hear what he teaches. If he had given those apostles
what they deemed to be best, it would have been most unprofitable.
But he didn't give them that. He didn't give us that. Now,
there's many ways it's profitable that he sent the comforter. If
he hadn't sent it to the father, if he remained bodily, he would
have continued to be in one place at one time. Now, he's God. And
even when he was in the earth, he's God, but if he stayed in
a body, he would be one place at one time. He wouldn't be with
all his people at once. But by going to the Father and
sending the Spirit, he's with his church wherever he's gathered
two or three together. Anywhere in the world, he's with
us, and he's in each of his people personally by the Spirit. You
see how much more profitable that is? And then it was profitable
because Christ, through the Spirit, accomplished even greater works
through his apostles and through his church when he went back
to glory and sent the Comforter. He said that back in John 14,
12, verily, verily, I say unto you. He always, when he says
verily, verily, it's something very, very important. And he
said, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he
do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I
go to my father. It's through the spirit that
he worked these greater works. But especially the Lord speaks
here of the need for the spirit to teach us, for the spirit to
teach us in our heart, each of his people. The blessings of
God are spiritual. They're spiritual. They're seen and they're experienced
only in the new spirit he gives by the spirit of God. They're
spiritual. They're experienced through God-given
faith in Christ. The just shall walk by faith. The just shall walk by faith.
This is how he's gonna have to, he has to make us walk by faith
and he has to keep us walking by faith. Every Old Testament
saint, every Old Testament saint that was ever saved was saved
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They were born of the
Spirit of God, given faith to believe on Christ, and they walked
by faith. That's so of everybody he ever
saved, then and now. But after he ascended, he sent
the Spirit, and he started to work in his church in a far greater
way than he did before he went to the cross. And through the
Spirit, he teaches us Christ is our righteousness. He is our righteousness. That's
what he teaches us through the Spirit. He teaches us to believe
on Christ and to walk by faith, not by sight. Now, the Spirit's
work is to reprove. He says here in verse 8, when
He's come, He will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. He'll reprove, He will convict,
He will convince. Now, some think this only means,
speaks of what the Spirit would do in general. in vindicating
Christ and convicting the Jews of their wrong and convicting
unbelieving sinners of their wrong. And he certainly will
reprove and rebuke unbelievers, but it won't be savingly. Our
Lord said, they will hate you and think they do God's service
for killing you. And that's one of the reasons
is because they are reproved and rebuked by the gospel, but
it doesn't save unless the spirit gives life. But this is certainly
what Christ works in the hearts of his elect throughout the world.
And the world here means not just the Jews only, not just
his elect Jews. He is speaking of them, but it
means his Gentile elect throughout the world. Only those that he
redeemed Will the Spirit convict and convince, savingly, and bring
us to faith in Christ? Only those He redeemed, but that's
who will certainly have this work done in them, because no
man can understand the truth of sin, the truth of righteousness,
and the truth of judgment, unless the Spirit of God teaches in
our heart. We have to hear this by the Spirit
of God. Natural men, just look at Christ,
natural men didn't understand sin. They regarded Christ as
the sinner. They didn't know righteousness.
They regarded themselves and committed themselves as righteous
by their works. And they didn't know anything
about judgment. They unjustly judged the prince of life and
nailed him to a tree. So we have to be reproved. Reproved
means to convict, to rebuke, to convince, to convict and to
convince. To rebuke, convict and convince.
And a man is convinced when things are made so clear to him that
he has nothing with which to object. He stops objecting. As long as we object, and as
long as we butt, and as long as we have some rebuttal, we
haven't bowed to Christ and trusted Christ only. But this is what
the Spirit will do. He'll make it so plain in the
new heart, spiritually, that He'll shut our mouth, and He
will bring us to believe on Christ and confess Him. Now let's look
at these three things. He says of sin, verse 9, The
spirit will reprove of sin because they believe not on me. Now until
we've been convinced by the sinner, by the spirit, until we've been
convicted and convinced by the spirit, sinners think their sin
is only in their sinful sins. Now God has to teach us that
any sin is sin. He has to teach us our sins all
together. that they're sins, or men won't,
we'll see sins in others, but we won't see sins in ourselves.
And he has to convince us our sins are sins. But, until he
does this work in the heart, men think their sins are only
their sinful sins. And men will try to clean up,
and they'll try to reform their life, and they'll begin to try
to keep the law outwardly, and they will think they're righteous.
You may have heard this, may have read it. George Whitefield,
one time, a person came to him and he said, preacher, I'm such
a sinner. And he began to just go down
the Ten Commandments and confess all his sins and began to confess
everything he had done and all just the vile sins he had committed. And he stopped and George Whitefield
said, is that all? And he started naming some more,
and went through some, you know, just all these vile things he
had done, and he stopped, and George Whitefield said, is that
all? And finally he said, I've told
you all these terrible, horrible sins, what do you mean is that
all? He said, you haven't confessed your sin yet. You hadn't believed on Christ. He says He'll convince of sin
because they believe not on Me. The Spirit is going to make His
child know that we are sin and that everything we do is sin
because we have not believed on Christ. Romans 14.23 says,
Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Whatsoever is not of faith is
sin. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. We must believe
on Him. And without being born again
of the Spirit, we're flesh, and flesh cannot receive the Word
of God and cannot bow to the Word of God. Flesh hates God. It just hates God. And until
the Spirit regenerates us and gives us faith in Christ, we
don't see that we are sin. We are sin. And without faith
in Christ, to whom we've brought to believe on Christ and cast
all on Christ, everything we are is sin, everything we do
is sin, and the only thing we can do is sin. That includes
our sinful sins and our self-righteous sins. All our very best deeds,
all our very best works, all the things that men praise us
for and say are good works, are nothing but sin. if we have not
been brought to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. While we're
in that state of flesh, we'll compare ourselves with others,
and we'll think ourselves better, and we'll think ourselves righteous,
and we'll self-justify because we've compared ourselves with
others. But we won't condemn ourselves. Look over at John 3, and look
at what the Lord said. John 3, verse 18. He that believeth on Christ,
this is Christ himself speaking, he that believeth on Christ is
not condemned. But he that believeth not is
condemned already. because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation,
that light is coming to the world, and men love darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that
doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. And until the Spirit brings us
to believe on Christ, no man will confess that he is sin,
that his very best deeds are evil. No man will until the Spirit
of God makes us see. We have to be brought to say,
not just we are all as an unclean thing, we have to be brought
to confess personally, I am the unclean. My righteousnesses are
filthy rags. They fade as a leaf and my iniquities,
all my righteousnesses come short of the glory of God and like
the wind they've taken me away. The Spirit convinces us we are
sin, that everything we do is sin, when He shows us we've never
believed on Christ. Then the commandment comes, and
then sin revives, and then we die. Then whatsoever things we
thought were gain become utterly lost to us. Look at the next
verse, John 3, 21. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they
are wrought in God. Doing truth is coming to Christ
the light, Christ the truth in faith. True faith comes to Christ
confessing, I'm only the sinner. All my works that I've ever worked
are sinful. And all my works by which I'm
saved are worked not by me, they're worked by Christ alone. That's
what faith is confessing. They're wrought in God, wrought
in God my Savior. By one man's obedience shall
many be made righteous. Faith confesses it's by his obedience
alone that I'm made righteous. True faith confesses Christ is
the author and finisher of my faith. I'm trusting His works. I'm trusting His doing. I'm trusting
what He's done for me. It's all wrought in Him. And
true faith even confesses, He gave me the life, the new spirit,
the faith, the repentance to see this about myself and to
see it about Him and to come to Him. Everything's of Him. And true faith confesses, I'm
crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I. It's not even
me that's keeping me faithful, but Christ liveth in me. And
the life I'm living, believing Him, walking by faith, is one
way, by the faithfulness of the Son of God, the same One who
loved me and gave Himself for me. So this is what the Spirit's
going to have to teach us first. Never have believed on Christ.
Everything we thought was gain, everything we had in the plus
column is a strike against us. We trust in that. We're not trusting
Christ only. And then secondly, the Spirit's
going to approve of righteousness. Verse 10, he says, John 16, 10,
he, John 16, 10, he says, he reproves of righteousness because
I go to my Father and you see me no more. Now once we see that
we don't have any righteousness, how are we going to see it? It's
going to be by being made to see Christ is the only righteousness. the righteousness of God. He
is that one God has provided, and the way we're going to see
He is the righteousness of God, we just see a man at first. We
just hear about a man at first. But when God makes us really
see, really understand that He is at God's right hand, that's
when we're made to know He is the righteousness of God. There's
only one man that ever walked this earth that did the law and
lived by it. And he is raised to God's right
hand and God's pleased with what he did. And that declares to
me and you, he is the righteousness of God. Because he's gone to
the Father. Just like Pharaoh, he was pleased
with Joseph's knowledge. And everything that Joseph said
he would do. And Pharaoh exalted him to his
right hand and gave him power over the whole land. And God's
pleased with Christ's knowledge. He's pleased with Christ's one
offering. And He's satisfied with what Christ did. And He's
raised Him to His right hand and given the God-man power over
all flesh in heaven, earth, and hell. Over angels and all powers
and principalities and everything. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge. Shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
And he was raised again for our justification. That was God declaring,
taking him up into his arms, sitting him at his right hand,
and declaring, making his people turn by the Spirit and behold
him and know he is the righteousness God's pleased with. always did
that which pleased the Father, did it from a holy heart, did
only righteousness, and He is the righteousness God is pleased
with. And it's only when we've been convinced that Christ alone
is righteousness, that God's received, that the sinner will
see we have no righteousness in us. We've never done any. Never done any. Never will do
any. We can't make ourselves righteous.
The spirit has to convince us Christ is the righteousness of
God, or sinners will think they can keep the law of God. God declared through Moses all
the blessings and the curses of the law. And the Lord said,
do and you shall live. When God said that, he didn't
mean any sinner could. Everything God said, if you'll
go read it, it's all true. And it does not mean you and
I can do what he said do. The Israelites had already broken
it when God gave it. They were breaking it as he was
giving it. And they broke it many times
after that. God gave the law to shut our mouths, to bring
us to Christ that we might be justified by his righteousness
through faith. Now look at Deuteronomy 30. I
want you to see this. And God declared through Moses
before it came to pass, he declared this clearly, that due to their
disobedience, God would scatter Israel into the world. God declared
that. And then God would have compassion
and he would turn the captivity of his elect and he would gather
them. And that's what Christ is declaring
when he said, I'm going to my Father and I'm sending the Spirit.
And he's going to convince the world of sin, of righteousness,
and judgment. He's saying, I'm gathering my
elect that I've scattered among the Jews and among the Gentiles.
I'm gathering them. Look at Deuteronomy 30 verse
6. After saying all that, he says this is what the Lord would
do when he gathered his people. And the Lord thy God will circumcise
thine heart to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with
all thy soul, that thou mayest live. That's what Christ is saying
he's sending the Spirit to do. He's going to circumcise the
heart of his people. so that we actually have faith and love
the Lord so that we may live. It's by Him circumcising the
heart. Verse 8, He says, And thou shalt return, obey the voice
of the Lord, and do all His commandments which I command thee this day.
Now look down at verse 11. For this commandment which I
command thee this day, it's not hidden from thee, neither is
it far off. It's not in heaven that thou
shouldest say who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it
to us that we may hear it and do it, neither is it beyond the
sea that thou shouldest say who shall go over the sea for us
and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it. But the
word is very nigh in thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that
thou mayest do it. We're going to have to do that
law. Now go with me to Romans 9. Does the Lord, is He saying
that His regenerated child will be able to keep the commandments
of the Lord? Now remember, the only way you've
ever kept the commandments of the Lord is if you kept them
in perfect righteousness. The Pharisees read that. They
had that word we just read. They read that. And they said,
we'll do that. And they believed they hadn't
done that. And you know what it resulted in? They rejected Christ
and nailed him to a cross. And Christ said, they're going
to do the same thing to you if you preach this. So the Lord,
since they rejected him, the Lord sent the gospel to Gentiles
who did not even have the law. And they obtained righteousness.
They didn't even have it. How'd that happen? Romans 9 verse
30. What shall we say then? That the Gentiles which followed
not after righteousness have attained to righteousness, even
the righteousness which is a faith. But now look at this difference.
But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath
not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore, because they sought
it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. They
thought do it meant you do it. They didn't hear it after Christ
came any different than they heard it before Christ came.
After Christ came, they still thought it meant you do it. All
right, look at Romans 10, verse 1. Brethren, my heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved,
for I bear them record. They have a zeal of God, but
it is not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God,
for Christ is. He is the righteousness of God.
He is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that
believe it. Now Moses described the righteousness which is of
the law. Now here's what's required for
that. That the man which doest those things shall live by them.
That's what Brother Rob read Thursday night. That was a covenant
of works clear as a bell. God said, if you do these things,
you'll live, and if you don't do them, curse is coming on you.
That's a covenant of works. If you do, then this will happen. If you don't, this will happen.
That's a covenant of works. That's what the law of Moses said. The righteousness which is of
faith speaks on this wise. Here's what we just read Moses
say, and this is what Moses meant. This is how Moses was saying.
Say not in thy heart who shall ascend into heaven, that is to
bring Christ down from heaven. We just read Moses write that.
Or who shall descend into the deep, that is to bring up Christ
again from the dead. But what saith it, the word is
nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is, The
word of faith which we preach. Here's the doing of faith. That
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. That's what Moses was saying.
God's gonna circumcise your heart. so that you do all these commandments.
How? You're going to believe on Christ.
You're going to believe unto righteousness. And with the mouth,
confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Moses gave the law with
all its commandments, but he didn't give any grace and he
didn't give any ability to keep it. But grace and truth came
by our Lord Jesus Christ. He came and fulfilled the truth
of the law, satisfied it in perfect righteousness, and then he gives
the gospel with one command, and he gives the grace to believe
him and be righteous by him. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be down. If I'm trying
to put anything of my hand with the righteousness that God will
accept, anything of my hand, I'm looking to it at all, at
any point, trying to come to God and expect to be accepted
of God because I'm doing God's commandments. Oh, I'm not doing
them for righteousness. Be careful. Be careful. You ain't doing them. Christ's
the only one that ever did. But when will the sinner be convinced
this is so? When the Spirit reproves him
of judgment. Look here in verse 11, John 16,
11. He said of judgment, he'll reprove
of judgment, he'll convince and convict of judgment because the
prince of this world is judged. When the Spirit's convinced his
child that we believe not on Christ, So everything about us
is sin when he's convinced us that Christ is the only righteousness
of God because he's seated there at God's right hand. The spirit
will enter in and he will convince us Christ has settled judgment
for his people. The very fact Christ, the spirit
can enter into his child and convince us of this, the very
fact that he's gonna turn you and show you Christ and convince
you in your heart that judgment was settled at the cross is the
proof itself that he judged the prince of this world on the cross.
How did he do that? Our Lord Jesus put away the sin
of his people. He bore our sin and put it away. The devil has nothing to accuse
with, no power whatsoever. toward his people. He's satisfied
with his people. God's satisfied with his people
in Christ. His law's honored perfectly.
It can't be honored more than it is. Christ came to fill it
full, and it is full. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
seated there at God's right hand, so God's just to show mercy to
his people. The judgment's been settled.
If you and I can keep the law, and if we teach sinners they
keep the law, we're going to have to bring the law down. We're
going to have to just enforce the law outwardly. But the law
is not just outward. The law's inward. Ever self-righteous
thought, ever angry thought, ever just being a little miffed
just a little bit, guilty. There's only one, there's only
one that fulfilled it and it's Christ. And He went to that cross
and He bore our judgment for not doing it ever one time so
fully that God is completely, totally, thoroughly satisfied
with His people. And when the devil tempts you
and the devil accuses you due to your sinful flesh and due
to your shortcomings and due to your unbelief and due to your
coldness and due to your indifference, Christ is there at God's right
hand, and God will never impute iniquity to one for whom he died.
He'll never impute sin to one for whom Christ died, because
Christ bore it. He's gonna keep you in faith,
trust in Christ to satisfy justice for you. Keeping your trust in
Christ is your righteousness, that your sins are forgiven,
and God will not lay sins to your charge. God's saying this.
God says who shall lay anything to the charge of God shall lay.
He says that to you. He says that to me. He won't
let it happen, believer. It's God that did the justified. Who's going to condemn? It's
Christ that died. It's Christ that's risen again
and is seated at God's right hand and is making intercession
for His people. Christ will vindicate His child. He always does. He vindicates
us in heaven and usually vindicates us in the earth. He sits as the
lamb slain. He's the lamb who's not only
the lamb, he's the lamb who's the king who's able to vindicate
his children. The perpetuity of our justification
is due to Christ sitting at the right hand of God forevermore. The intercessor preventing any
sin from being laid to the charge of his believing child is Christ.
He's our advocate with the father. He's our propitiation with the
father. He's our king that stands just like he stood between the
Pharisees and that adulterous woman. He stands between the
accuser and his children. And he will always turn them
away. And he's our righteousness to silence our own fleshly conscience
in us. He will silence it and make you
know. there is now no condemnation.
And from then on, when he does this, he's going to keep us looking
to Christ, and it's to Christ that he continues to turn us
to rest and to trust him by faith. Look here at verse 12. I'll be
quick. I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot
bear them now. If you believe him right now
wherever you are in faith, you're right where you're supposed to
be. He's got a lot more to teach you, but you can't bear it right
now, just like they couldn't. But He will. He will. Howbeit
when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into
all truth. The Greek is the truth. Christ Jesus said, I'm the way,
the truth, and the life. And look at the next word, that's
exactly what he's saying. For he shall not speak of himself,
whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he'll show
you things to come. He shall glorify me. He'll receive
of mine and show it to you. All things that the Father hath
are mine, therefore said I that he shall take of mine and show
it to you. In your seasons of coldness, in your seasons of
indifference, and your seasons when you're overcome by your
sinful flesh, and your seasons when you've overcome by unbelief,
the Spirit of the Lord is going to do just what He did the very
first hour. He's going to come in power and
convict us. We're not believing on Christ.
He's going to come and make you behold Christ as you're righteous
and seated at God's right hand. And he's going to purge your
conscience to make you know Christ Jesus has settled your judgment.
God's forgiven your sin. Now look to Christ and walk by
faith. And he's going to use brethren,
and he's worked this in to remind you of it. That's how he's going
to do it. Through brethren, he's already done this in. And then
when they're in the same place, he'll give you the strength to
do it to them and teach them. And he's going to keep his people
doing that. And everybody else, they aren't broken and repentant
and come to him and bow. He's not going to do this for
him. He'll cast him out. But he's going to keep doing
it for you. You're going to be puffed up sometimes and not trust
him and try to be self-righteous or whatever. He'll just do it
again. He'll show you. You're not believing me. He'll
show you again. I'm your righteousness. He'll
show you again. I've settled judgment. That breaks
the heart. That humbles the heart. That
makes you mourn. And when you've mourned, you've
repented, you've come to Him. You know when David sinned, who'd
he go to? He went to God. And what'd he
say? Against thee have I sinned. This is all in relation to Christ. That's what we see. And He keeps
you looking to Him. The very one we sinned against,
and do sin against, is the one who keeps showing us, I've saved
you. I'm going to keep saving you.
And I'm not letting you go. And this is what he'll keep doing.
Believe on Christ. Trust Christ. Believe on Christ.
And remember this, the just shall live by faith. Keep looking at
Christ, keep believing Christ, and keep reminding one another
of this good news. Amen. Father, thank you for this word.
We pray, Lord, you bless it by your spirit. Work this in us
now that we heard and asked that you would keep us, keep working
it in us. Keep us, continue to believe
in Christ, resting in him. Forgive us, Lord, our sins. We
ask it in Christ's name. Amen.