Now let us turn to God's Word. I'm directing you this evening
to pause this epistle to the Romans. And I'll read in chapter
5, reading from verse 6 through
11. Romans chapter 5. And we read
from verse 6 through verse 11. For when we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good
man some would even dare to die. But God commended His love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through Him. For if, when we were sinners,
or rather with, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to
God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we
shall be saved by His life. Not only so, but we also joy
in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received
the atonement. in particular those words in
the 11th verse and not only so but we also join God through
our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the Atonement. I want to take up that subject
then of the Atonement or the Reconciliation as he speaks of the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ here in these verses that we've just read through.
I have two points in fact that I want to try to open up. First of all to say something
with regards to alienation. The word atonement Also has the same meaning as
reconciliation. You'll see there in verse 11
that the marginal reading actually gives reconciliation. And in
the previous verse, verse 10, we have the verbal form of that
noun in the word reconciled. if when we were enemies we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled
we shall be saved by His life." And then he goes on to speak
of that that we receive from our Lord Jesus Christ even the
atonement or the reconciliation. And of course Reconciliation indicates that
the person who needs to be reconciled is one who previously must have
been in a state of alienation. Enemies have to be reconciled.
And so I want to take really two headings tonight as we consider
the content in particular of this 11th verse to say something
with regards to alienation and then something with regards to
atonement, and then we'll come to the application of these truths. First of all then, really to
concentrate for a while on our state as those who are alienated
from God. In the language of Colossians
chapter 1, alienated and enemies in our minds by wicked works. Now I'm sure you're well aware
that this word atonement is a word that has been coined of course
by a person and the person who coined that word was that great
man William Tyndale in his translation of the New Testament scriptures
back in the time of the Reformation He translated God's word here
from the original Greek into English and he coins the word
atonement and the work that he undertook cost him his life.
He was martyred because he wanted the the plowboy to have God's
word in his own tongue, what enmity against those who are
servants of Antichrist. And so much of our authorized
version has been taken from Tindale's translation. That's the great
beauty of the language that we have here in the authorized version,
the accuracy of the translation. We are so indebted then to the
work of William Tyndale, and here we have a word that he himself
coins. He made the word up. It could
be reconciliation. They're synonyms, the two words,
reconciliation, atonement. But what about this word atonement?
You can see just where he's coming from. What does he mean when
he uses the word? If I break the word down, it
means at-one-ment. It means to be at-one with God.
to be reconciled to God. When we were enemies, it says
here in verse 10, enemies were reconciled to God by the death
of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ in dying made an atoning sacrifice. God, we're told in verse 8, commended
His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Christ dies for those who are
God's enemies. Going back at verse 6, when we
were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the
ungodly. Christ has died for sinners,
He's died for ungodly people. He died for those who were so
very far off from God. What are we by nature? We're
those who are children of wrath even as others. When we come into the world we're
dead in trespasses and sins as the apostle says there in the
second chapter of Ephesians. Every man born into this world
is in that state of enmity. He's not the friend of God. That's
the fallen nature of men. And again, the language of Paul
there in Ephesians 4 when he speaks of Gentiles having the
understanding darkened, alienated from the life of God through
the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness. The
margin says the hardness of their hearts. This is the awful consequence
of sin. And of course we see it right
at the beginning. We see it there in the solemn account of Genesis
3, when Adam and Eve disobey. God has created the man in his
own image, after his own likeness. He's created the woman, given
the man a help meat for him. placed them in paradise and tested
them really with regards to that tree of the knowledge of good
and evil they are not to partake of it that's the commandment
of God in the day that they eat us hereof they shall surely die
and the tempter comes Satan that great adversary of souls that
great hater of God that hater of men the temptation comes and
they fall and immediately now they're in a state of alienation.
God was wont to come into the garden, we're told in the eve
of the day there was fellowship, there was communion between heaven
and earth. Here is that one who stands at
the very pinnacle of all God's works of creation. But Adam and
Eve know they've sinned. What do they do? They hide themselves,
they don't want to be where God is. They hide themselves in the
garden, or try to hide themselves. No hiding from God. And then
ultimately what does God do? Solemn words air at the end of
chapter 3 in Genesis. He dismisses them. Thrusts them
out of the garden. Sends them away into exile as
it were. That's man's condition. Your
iniquities. have separated between you and
your God, and your sins have hid his face from you. But I like the remarks of Professor
John Murray. He says this, you know, he says,
man is not just apart from God, but man is in real opposition
to God. The essence of sin, says Professor
Murray, is that man is against God. Man is a contradiction of
God. That's what sin is. The carnal
mind. Remember how Paul goes on to
speak of it later in chapter 8. Verse 7. The carnal mind, he says, is
enmity against God. For it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in
the flesh cannot please God. And what are we by nature? We're
in the flesh. We are in that awful condition.
Enemies of God. The very God that we are so dependent
upon. The God who has given us life. The God in whom we live and move
and have our being. Where would we be? But to this
God and yet we are all together opposed to him in our fallen
nature. Now that's man's condition. And it is the wonder of it of
course, God has not left man in that condition. God has made
a provision for the sinful sons of men. And He's done it in the
gift of His only begotten Son. That One who is the Son of the
Father in truth and in life. That One in whom the Father ever
delights. This is the wonder of the love
of God as the Apostle is setting it before us. God commendeth
His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died
for us. When we were enemies we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Oh, the wonder, you
see, the wonder of this great work that the Lord Jesus Christ
came to accomplish. And now Paul delights, delights
to speak of this. Here he is writing to the church
at Rome. He's instrumental in the establishment
of so many of the churches that we read of in the New Testament.
Wasn't instrumental in the establishment of this church, but he longs
to minister to them. He'll minister to all the saints.
But he writes to other churches, he was instrumental in the conversion
of sinners as he goes on those missionary journeys and the sinners
are converted to Christ, they are gathered together in local
churches. And then Paul He doesn't forget
them, He writes to them, He instructs them, He encourages them. And
how does He encourage them? Time and again He'll come and
He'll speak to them of this great work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
His sin atoning death. And think of the language that
we have there when He writes to the church of the Colossians. And there in the opening chapter
of that particular epistle in Colossians chapter 1 verse 20, having made peace through
the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto
Himself, by Him I say, that whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven. And you, you Colossians, you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, Yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblamable and unreprovable in his sight. Though in a sense
of course it's addressed to every church. It's addressed to us,
a church here in Portsmouth, where you gather together as
a local church. You, in Salem, that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
have reconciled. Christ has done the deed, the
work of Christ, He has atoned the sinner. Atone the sinner
to God. It's a wondrous thing, is it
not, what the Lord Jesus Christ has done by His death upon the
cross. and how perfect is that work
how that work all together answers the state of the sinner who was
alienated and is now reconciled because the atoning sacrifice
has been made in the old testament atonement also has the idea of
covering doesn't it? a covering and we we have Paul referring
to that in the previous chapter. In chapter 4 he refers to the
language of David in the 32nd Psalm. There at verse 6 in chapter
4, Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto
whom God imputeth righteousness without work, saying, Blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord will not impute sin. So, the sin is atoned for, the
sinner is made to be at one with God, reconciled to God, but his
sin is also covered. His sin is covered, and we see,
we see it so wonderfully in time, back in the Old Testament Scriptures. Remember the the furnishings
of the tabernacle. There in Exodus 25 where we're
told, aren't we, that the chief piece of furniture really is
the Ark of the Covenant. It's made of shitting wood, it's
to be overlaid with gold and it's a chest, it's going to contain
the two tables of the law. It's the Ark of the Testament. the covenant that God had made
with the children of Israel when he brought them out of Egypt
and brings them to Mount Sinai and there he descends on the
mountain and speaks the 10 words of the 10 commandments and they
become his people, he is their God and how soon they forget
Moses is in the mountain for 40 days, 40 nights receiving
other commandments and instructions and they grow weary and God has
told them not to make any graven images. But what's become of
Moses? Where's Moses? He's in the mountains.
And they're weary waiting and Aaron makes the golden calf.
And you know the account of Moses is sent down from the mount,
he has the tables of the Lord in his hand and he breaks them.
At the foot of the mount the covenant is broken. God will
cast them off, disinherit them and Moses stands in the breach
and pleads with God. God hears his prayer, he's a
mediator this man, what a mediator he was. God hears his prayer. Moses goes back into the mount
and there are new tables and God writes the commandments with
his finger upon those tables of stone and they're going to
be housed there in the Ark of the Covenant. And it's going
to be placed in the holiest place of all, the Holy of Holies, the
very center of their worship in the tabernacle. But in Exodus
25 there's the covering. The commandments there in the
Ark but now a covering. What is the covering is spoken
of as the mercy seat with the cherubim on each end of the mercy
seat and their faces towards the mercy seat looking down as
it were. But the interesting thing is that when we read the
measurements it's such a perfect covering. It's exactly the same
size as the ark. It covers all that's contained
in that ark perfectly. And it reminds us does it not
how that God's judgment is always to exactly fit the crime as it
were. We know that on the great day
of atonement every year the high priest was permitted to go beyond
that second valley would go into the Holy of Holies before the
Mercy Seat. The only time. One day in the
year, Yom Kippur, and he would take the blood of the sacrifice
and he would sprinkle upon the Mercy Seat before the Mercy Seat.
And it speaks of atonement. It speaks of reconciliation. That's the place where the application
of the blood is made. It's the throne of God. It's
a seat, it's a mercy seat, it's God's throne, the Shekinah glory,
God will dwell there in the midst of his people Israel. And now when we think of the
furnishings, that ark which contains all that the Lord is and all
the condemnation that the Lord speaks of by the Lord is the
knowledge of sin. I had not known sin but by the
law says the Apostle Paul and yet that law it's covered by
a mercy seat the blood-sprinkled mercy seat it's a wondrous type
that we have there pointing us to the Lord Jesus Christ and
all that he has accomplished and now in his death of course
the Lord Jesus is experiencing Alienation. Separation. If our sins separate
between us and our God, when God comes to punish the sinner,
I mean, isn't that the awfulness of hell, really? It's an eternal
separation from God. And God is made for man. He's
made in God's likeness. Or man is made for God, I should
say. is made in God's likeness and is made to have fellowship
with God and had his eternal separation. There's no unbelief
in hell. They know that God is. And no
fellowship with God. That's the awfulness of it. And what does the Lord Jesus
Christ himself suffer? He suffers separation. That awful cry that he makes
from the cross, we know that his sufferings were intense,
physical sufferings. Roman crucifixion, the most cruel form of punishment. A man hanging
on a cross, slowly bleeding to death. and Dale the Lord so suffered
not just those wounds when they drove the nails into his hands
and his feet and his side was pierced by the soldier's spear
but his back had been lacerated he'd been ridiculed by the soldiers
he'd been falsely accused by the Jews and Pontius Pilate,
his human judge, is so vacillating and all the Lord is suffering
awful sufferings physical, mental sufferings. But then the awfulness
of that cry of dereliction, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? What a mystery. What a mystery
in his dying, a mystery in his birth, we know that. Great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
Our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man. How
can that be that the Lord of Glory is there in a little baby? And that little baby is true
Almighty God. The mystery of it, the miracle
of it, that a virgin has conceived this child. And this human nature
that's been conceived by the Holy Ghost in that virgin's womb
is free from every taint of sin, that holy thing. born of the
Virgin, called the Son of God. Well, there's a mystery in His
death. As there's a mystery in His birth, how can God die? And yet, God man dies. We can't separate, we must not
separate the two natures. In all that the Lord Jesus does,
He's a person. He's the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
in that person there are two natures. He's God and he's man
at one and the same time. But there's some separation.
However, I like the remark that Luther makes. He says, no man
can say, my God, my God, who is wholly forsaken of God. You see, even when he's forsaken
there's still the language of appropriation, there's still
the language of faith, my God. He doesn't say God, God, he says
my God, my God. We can't understand it, it's
a great atoning sacrifice that the Lord Jesus Christ must make
and does make. when he offers himself in the
room instead of those that were given to him in the eternal covenant
when the sinner is reconciled to God but remember on that great
day in Israel the day of atonement it wasn't just the blood of the the goat that
was to serve as a sin offering, there was a second goat. There
was the scapegoat, wasn't there? Two goats. And of course we have
all the detail of what was to happen on that day recorded there
in the 16th chapter of Leviticus. All of that chapter is taken
up with the events associated with the day of atonement and
there in chapter 16 of Leviticus we read what Aaron was to do
with the second goat the scapegoat verse 21 Aaron shall lay both
his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over him
all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions,
and all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and
shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness.
And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into
a land not inhabited, and he shall let go of the goats in
the wilderness. and of course the type there
is this that there's a sacrifice being made without the remission
of sin there's no without the shedding of blood there's no
remission of sins the sacrifice has been made, the goat has been
offered as a sin offering but there's this other goat and it's
taken into the wilderness and released and it has its freedom
but it's been taken to a land of forgetfulness. And what does
it represent to us? Well, it shows how that the sin
of the people has been taken away from them, removed from
them. Oh, that's what God does through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Our sin is separated from us.
We have no sin. It's now buried in the depths
of the sea. It's removed from us as far as
the East is from the West. Infinity. North and South fixed
points on the compass. Not so East and West. You can't
measure the distance between the East and the West. And that's
how far God has removed our sins. We were separated from Him. We
were in that state of awful alienation. Now all our sins have been separated
from us if we're in the Lord Jesus Christ. What a wonder it is you see.
Separation from the guilt, the curse, the penalty of sin. It's
all gone. We are without sin. Because Christ has made the great
sin atoning sacrifice. And you know, oh that lovely
verse, how wonderful it is. Remember Jeremiah chapter 15
verse 20. Such a great text, isn't it? In those days, in that time,
when the Prophet used his language like that, we know what day he's
speaking of. It's the Day of Grace. It's our
day. What a famed people, these days
in which we're living. The Day of Grace, the acceptable
time, the Day of Salvation. The Throne of Grace, not a Throne
of Judgment yet. It will come, that awful day. The Day of Judgment, it will
come. But now is the day of grace in those days, and in that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for,
and there shall be none, and the sins of Judah, and they shall
not be found. Why? For I will pardon them whom
I reserve. Oh, when God pardons our sins,
you'll never find those sins again, they're gone. Now that's
what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. That's His atoning death
upon the cross. Though He has suffered in order
to accomplish that blessed deliverance, to reconcile the sinner to God,
those who were alienated enemies in their minds by wicked works
made nigh, made nigh by the blood of Christ. But let us come to
ourselves. How does this relate to us? What
is the application of these things? And I want to mention two things
as we begin to draw to a conclusion tonight. Two things. Surely we
are to receive these things. What do we read of here in this
11th verse? Through our Lord Jesus Christ
by whom we have now received the atonement. We receive it. It's a gift. It's a gift of God. The idea, surely the word received
precludes all notion of merit. We don't earn it. We don't win it. We simply receive
it. And it's a sovereign work of
God whereby we come to receive it. Think of the words of John
the Baptist, the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ. What does
John say? In the course of his preaching
there in the gospel, the gospel of John the Apostle, in chapter
3 and verse 27, the Baptist says a man can receive nothing except
it is given him from heaven. You can't receive anything except
it's given you from heaven. Here is the atonement. It's something
that we receive from heaven. We receive it from God himself.
Paul said to the Corinthians, who maketh thee to differ from
another? And what hast thou that thou hast not received? If thou
hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received
it? He's speaking of salvation. They've received it. It's not
of works in any sense. Of His fullness. of the fullness
of Christ of all we receive and grace for grace. It's grace upon
grace. It's not of works. Oh the wonder of it, how Paul
delights to speak of these things. Look at verse 17. He says, much
more they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. I love the language of the Apostle. Abundance of grace and the gift
of righteousness. That's what God gives to sinners
in the gospel. And we don't do anything to win
it. You see, the very notion that
we're performing our duties. And because we do our duty, we
receive something. Duty of faith, duty of repentance.
It's the gift of God. It's the freeness, the freeness
of the grace of God. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift. He didn't withhold his son, his
only begotten son. He gave his son to die for sinners. And what has the son done? He's
given his life. And we have more than that. He
gives us everything. God of salvation is the gift
of God. You say to me, surely salvation is experienced
by faith and repentance. But where do you get faith and
repentance from? Look at what Look at what Paul
is saying here in the context. In the previous verse he says,
when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death
of his son. The death of Christ, that's his atoning death, much
more being reconciled, the atonement has been paid, we shall be saved
by his life. So by his death there's atonement,
but there's salvation by his life. What is the life that he's
being spoken of here? This is his resurrection life. This is that life that he now
lives, that endless life. He's risen from the dead, he's
ascended to heaven. And his very ascension and his
presence there is a continual plea. He ever lives to make intercession. He is exalted a prince and a
saviour to give repentance to Israel. And the forgiveness of
sins, you want repentance, where can you get repentance? You have
to ask the Lord Jesus for repentance. Everything's a gift. You want
faith? Well, you know the words of Hebrews
12, 2, looking unto Jesus. The author and finisher of our
faith, faith in its totality beginning to end, comes from
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the language that he's using
there, we mention it many, many times. The force of that verb
to look, to look away onto Jesus. To look away from every other
object, we don't look to ourselves and anything that we do, we look
to Him. Saving faith is a complete denial
of ourselves, God turns them into destruction. And then says,
return you children of men. That's free grace salvation,
it's all. It's full in Christ, a full atonement
that was made. but it's also a free salvation. Where does it come from? Well, ultimately, it's the Holy
Ghost, isn't it? The application of salvation
is the work of God the Holy Ghost. That's how the Covenant stands.
Christ is the first elect of the Father. The Father has made
choice of the people in His Son. He has committed them to His
Son. The Son is the one who comes to pay the dreadful price of
their redemption. He comes to make the sin atoning
sacrifice, to reconcile them to God. That's the work of Christ. But then he ascends to heaven,
it is expedient that I go away, if I go not away the Comforter
will not come, but if I depart I will send him on to you says
Christ. He sends the Spirit, the Spirit is the gift of Christ.
And you know how Peter declares that on the day of Pentecost,
therefore being by the right hand of God exalted. having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed
forth this which ye now see and hear." All this is the best of
all His gifts. He's ascended on high, He's led
captivity captive, He's received gifts for man, yea, for the rebellious
also. All the gifts, but all this blessed
gift of God the Holy Spirit and now it's the spiritism who does
that great work he comes and the Lord speaks of it read John
16 you know the content he speaks there of the ministry of the
spirit his prerogative when he has come when he has come he
will reprove the world of sin of righteousness and judgment
he comes to reprove to convince of sin of sin because they believe
not on mercy Has the Spirit done that? Convinced you of your sin,
your unbelief. Convinced you of the impossibility
of faith. Taught you that faith, if it's
real, it's the gift of God. That's the only faith that's
saving. We're full of unbelief. And we have to learn that awful
lesson. What we are by nature, our total depravity, our state
of alienation. what professor Maurice says total
opposition to God that's where we are by nature but he doesn't just convince
of sin of unbelief he convinces of righteousness says Christ
because I go to the father and you see me no more or when we
see that when we see that that's where our righteousness is we've
got no righteousnesses our filthy rags and how poor John Bunyan
felt that and he wanted righteousness and I've said it many a time
he goes out doesn't he's in the fields he's looking into the
heavens and then he sees it he sees it that's where his righteousness
is before God the Lord was his righteousness the Spirit shows
us that And of judgment also, he convinces
of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. All
satans are defeated foe. Yes, he's the great tempter.
And he tempts us and we sin and we're ashamed and we can't even
make our confessions. How can we come and confess these
sins that we're forever committing? Oh, we're such hypocrites. And
he'll silence us. He's the accuser of the brethren.
He accuses the brethren day and night. he'll shut our mouths,
he'll try to prevent us from coming and seeking new grace
and repentance but he's a defeated foe the prince
of this world is judged all Christ's atonement is a perfect atonement
the sinner is truly reconciled to God and of course in that
16th chapter of John the Lord goes on doesn't he to speak of
another aspect of the Spirit's work and how amazing it is because
the Holy Ghost is God and is equal to the Father and is equal
to the Son and is to be worshipped and yet this ministry of the
Spirit he shall not speak of himself he shall glorify me he
shall take of mine and shall show it unto you Oh, that's the
blessed ministry of the Spirit. Surely those who know what it
is to have that blessed sealing
of the Spirit Christ is everything because He's the Spirit of Christ.
That's what He does. That's what He does. Here is
that then that is to be received. Have we, have you, have I honestly
truly before God received the Atonement. We can joy in that you see. We
also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have
now received the Atonement. All the blessed work of the Spirit
of Christ when He comes and we rejoice, all our rejoicing centers
in the Lord. And then, if I can just finally
remark, we're going to observe the Lord's Supper, aren't we?
And what do we do there? We come to receive again. We receive something, we receive
the elements. It's a feast, is it not? It's a feast of remembrance.
The Lord's given us this ordinance to that very end. In remembrance
of me, he says. Do this in remembrance of me. And we have it twice there in
1 Corinthians 11, 24 and 25. He says exactly the same thing
twice. In remembrance of me. We remember him. But it's also
more than a feast of remembrance. Surely it's a spiritual feast.
We want to feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. We want to know
the blessing of real union with Him. And that's really, I know
I've read that portion we were reading earlier so many times,
but what blessed truths are these? Verily, verily, this is John
chapter 6, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh
of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in
you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal
life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh
is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth
my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him."
Mark it. Union, you see. He has come to this world as
a man. He's bone of our bone. He's flesh of our flesh. He's
a real man. And yet he's always and never
anything less than God, but he's a man. And he identifies with
men. But here, you see, we're identified
with him. when we receive the atonement. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. As the living Father hath
sent me and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me even he
shall live by me. For the life which I now live
in the flesh, Paul says, I live by the faith of the Son of God
who loved me and gave himself for me. His life bound up in
my life, my life bound up in his life. Now this has got nothing
to do with any carnality. Nothing natural here. It's not
the Romish doctrine of the mass and transubstantiation that the
Lord is speaking of. He goes on, doesn't he? Verse
63, It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing.
The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are
life. It's a spiritual. It's a spiritual
feeding upon the Lord Jesus Christ that's being spoken of. It's no form of cannibalism. It's partaking of all that Christ
is. All that Christ has done. It's
receiving the atonement. And we come because we feel we
need to receive that atonement again, and again, and again,
and again, so we do it regularly. we come to feed upon the Lord
Jesus Christ all the great doctrine then that
stands before us and these lovely words coined all those centuries
ago by William Tyndale Atonement we join God through our Lord
Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the Atonement. May the Lord bless that truth
to us. Amen.