All right, we'll be in Romans
1. Good morning. Romans 1, our text
will be in verses 14 to 16. Romans 1, 14 through 16. Now, what we see here in our
text is that Paul, the apostle, is motivated by love. He's motivated by love to preach
the gospel to them who are at Rome also. And the reason why
he's so motivated to preach this gospel, which Christ has commissioned
him to do, is because there is one way of salvation, one hope
of salvation for sinners, and that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the salvation whom God
has provided. And so, he's purposed, God has
purposed this salvation to be brought to light to his people
through the foolishness of preaching. We preach this Gospel because
it's through this foolish act of preaching, which no man wants
to hear, but that's how God has purposed to communicate this
Gospel of our salvation, to bring it to light through the preaching
of the Gospel. And Paul knows this, and he knows
how important it is. And therefore, he's willing to
sacrifice his own life, to lay down his life to preach this
gospel. When you hear a gospel preacher
you know that man, he's given up something, he's made some
sacrifice to come and preach this gospel, but he's made willing
to do so by the power of God because he knows and understands
there's no other way for the people to hear except the preacher
be sent, except God send a man to preach this gospel. And the
Apostle Paul is certainly no exception to that because he
traveled the world willing to be beaten and sacrificed and
hated by all to bring this message to the beloved of God, that they
would hear that word for them. Our title is, No Shame in Preaching
Christ. No Shame in Preaching Christ. We'll have two divisions. First
we'll see Paul being motivated by love, and then not ashamed. Not ashamed. Alright, so verse
14. Here we see the heart of Paul
in this, in this necessity to preach the gospel. He says, I
am debtor. I'm a debtor to do this. This
is his heart being revealed. And it's to the Greeks and to
the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise, I'm a debtor. Now, when we think of religion
today, alright, we often have an image conjured up in our mind
of someone who's judgmental, condemning, and telling you what
you're doing wrong. And that's not necessarily to
strip the sinner. There's nothing wrong with stripping
the sinner of having something to glory in. That's not the problem.
But what religion does is they do that but point you to your
flesh. They turn you back to the flesh.
They turn you to the law to fix yourselves. Get yourselves right
now. You need to fix this. You need
to stop doing that. Make yourselves moral. And that's
what religion does. And a God-sent preacher will
come and he will strip the sinner down through the preaching of
the gospel, but it's that you may be clothed upon with the
righteousness of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one whom he
sent to be the very righteousness of his people. So that's what
the God-sent preacher will do. And this is Paul's heart, to
come and preach that gospel whereby sinners would be clothed upon
with the righteousness of God that is only through the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the only righteousness
God accepts, because it's the one that He's provided. for the
people. It's the only way for us to be
saved. If there was some other way to be saved, God would have
provided it, but it's only through Christ, and we learn of this
through the preaching of the gospel. And so this is Paul's
heart. He's indebted, but it's not a
legal debt. He's not obligated by law to
come and preach the gospel. He's made himself willing because
he loves the Lord Jesus Christ. He knows this is salvation. and
he loves those to whom he has said. He's seeking out those
people whom Christ has laid down his life for, so he's made himself
a debtor for those people. And he says later in Romans 13,
verse 8, owe no man anything but to love one another, for
he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. So, Paul's willingness
is to come and preach this gospel to all without exception. Without
exception. He's going to preach to all without
exception, saying, I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the
barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. So, in terms of preaching the
gospel, we're seeking out needy sinners. The reason why I'm up
here preaching is to seek out needy sinners, the lost sheep
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When I'm saying things that are
offensive to our flesh and stripping the sinner, I'm not doing so
just because I want to offend people. I'm preaching the gospel
because that's what God does. I'm preaching His word because
He strips the sinner down of having anything to glory. and
trusting in their works, because the last thing I want for any
of us is for you to stand before God in that day of judgment in
your own works, having confidence in your own righteousness. Because
it's not going to be a happy day for those who stand in their
own righteousness, justifying themselves before God. We are
only justified and only sanctified and saved through the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the salvation He's provided. And so until the Lord makes that
known to us, the preaching of Christ is but light bread, something
that we loathe and despise and grow tired of hearing. We don't
want to hear of Christ. We want to hear something, preacher
give me something, the glory of in my own flesh. That's what
the sinner wants in their flesh. And God is going to strip us
down from that, if we're His, and show us the glory that He's
provided in the Lord Jesus Christ. Alright, it's in Christ. Alright,
so it's to needy sinners, whoever they are. Turn over to 1 Corinthians
1. 1 Corinthians 1, and we'll see
this. Go to verse 26. 1 Corinthians
1, 26. And Paul says this. For ye see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called." And you notice that we see that God is
purposefully bringing salvation to those that are weak, those
that are despised of this world. It's to shame those that think
they're something. It's to shame those that believe
they have some kind of stature and attainment with God, and
it's to shame them. It's to show them God doesn't
need your power, your wealth, your influence. You're, you know,
these things that man delights in, alright, but the weak things.
So, in verse 27, that God hath chosen the foolish things of
the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
and base things of the world, and things which are despised
hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nothing
things that are." So it's to strip us of our vain confidences.
Why? That no flesh should glory in
his presence, but of God. Are ye in Christ Jesus? Not our religious works are we
in Christ Jesus, but of God's own grace and purpose he puts
his people in the Lord Jesus Christ, who of God is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Why? So that according as it's
written, he that glorieth let him glory. in the Lord. So that
means we're going to be stripped of those things which we naturally
have confidence in. And those things which we naturally
think, this will speak well for me, this recommends me to the
living God. No, the Lord's going to strip
us of those things that we're trusting in. that we would find
all our hope, all our confidence and joy in the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's not a matter of our wisdom,
our wealth, our stature, our intelligence or anything like
that. It's according to the grace of God that he willingly pours
out upon his poor needy sinners to bring them to a knowledge
of the salvation Christ has provided for them there on the cross.
Our Lord said in Matthew 11, 25, and 26, Speaking of this, it says, At
that time Christ said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, for thou hast hidden these things from the wise and
prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes, ignorant sinners
just like us. who know Him and know that we're
nothing. And we're thankful that He stripped us down and brought
us to nothing to find our all in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even
so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight. So it's part of God's will that
through this foolish act of preaching, None of you wants to sit here.
The last time we had to listen to somebody lecture us and preach
to us was when our dads did it, usually, and we didn't want to
hear it. We grew tired of hearing it, but that's exactly how the
Lord did it because this is the only time when there's no debate
and we're sitting and just hearing what God has to say. We're not
thinking about what we're going to say back, we're just listening
to what He says to us. And it says in 1 Corinthians
1 21, for after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. Alright, so it's through that
preaching because it's not that that preaching saves us. It isn't
the act of preaching that saves a sinner. But when the Spirit
is pleased to attend the preaching of that Word, He's going to cause
that man to know the gospel first, and who's preaching it, because
he's going to speak by the truth. He's going to exalt and lift
up the Lord Jesus Christ, not man in his works. He's going
to exalt Christ, and as the Spirit is pleased to attend the preaching
of that word, He's the one that brings it home to the heart.
He gives faith, light, and life concerning what God has done
for the sinner in Christ. And the Spirit gives faith to
that sinner to say, to know, Lord, it's for me. I can't save
myself. You showed that to me in the
Gospel, and you showed me that salvation is in the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. And so he works that faith, that
light in the sinner. Not because they've done anything.
Paul said in Romans 10, 17, and you could be turning there, he
said, so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word
of God. So that's why he teaches that
preacher that same word, that preacher saved by the same gospel
as every sheep is. We're all sheep and we're all
saved by that same gospel. I'm not here because I'm something
special or done anything to earn this. I'm a sinner just like
all of God's people are sinners. I'm saved by the same gospel,
the same blood, the same righteousness. All the Lord Jesus Christ. God is stripping sinners of glorying
in themselves, and he says, look at verse 3 and 4, Romans 10,
3 and 4. 1st Paul is speaking to the religious
Jews there, and he says, for they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
now here's the problem with that, they have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. because Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believe. And so,
the Lord sends this gospel to teach us, to show us, and reveal
to us that it's not by our works of righteousness. It doesn't
matter how religious they seem, that's not what God has purposed
for us to do to save ourselves. When we do works I mean, he said
in Exodus 20, yeah, Exodus 20 verse 25, he said, if you're
going to build me an altar, and that's a good religious work,
right, building an altar to God, he said, if you build me an altar,
do not use hewn stone. Don't cut it. Don't lift up your
tool upon it and start chiseling it, because in the day you do
that, You've polluted it. You've defiled it with your own
works. You thought adding something
of your own skill and power and might and wisdom to this work
is going to speak well for you, and it doesn't. And so you said
that you've defiled it. And it's to teach us and show
us It's not our works that save us. It's going to be by the grace
and mercy, the work of God alone apart from the sinner's works.
He does all that for us and so that's what he's teaching us.
He's revealing that to us through the preaching of the gospel because
One, we're trying to bring to God polluted works. But two,
by bringing our own works, we're saying, God, thanks, but no thanks. I'll do this myself. I'll work
harder. I'm going to work a little harder
and try and do this right. And we think in our minds that
that's somehow going to please God, as if God helps those who
help themselves, right? The thing that we were taught
when we were little kids, which is a lie. And that's not how it
works. God helps those who can't help
themselves. And He provides His grace to
those who aren't coming to Him in their own works and their
confidence. They're coming in Christ alone. So, for that reason, God sent
His Son to be the very righteousness of His people, so that we're
cleansed, His people are cleansed of their sin by the blood, the
shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. who went to that cross
in place of his people, bearing their sin in his own body, bearing
his people in his own body. They were put in Christ by God
the Father as an ark to protect us from the wrath of God, to
deliver us from the wrath of God, so that the wrath of God
was poured out upon our sin as it was there laid upon Christ,
the Lamb of God, as our sacrifice to pay the price in place of
us paying the price, right? He died under the wrath of God
that we should not die that second death from which no man shall
be recovered. That's eternal death in hell.
Christ delivered us. He suffered that penalty. And
because he is the Lamb of God, he paid it perfectly because
he himself is righteous and perfect and holy, and therefore God receives
his sacrifice, receives his work, and laying down his life for
his people. It says in 2 Corinthians 5 21, for God hath made Christ
to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. All right. So therefore God regenerates
his people. He's the one who brings this
life to us. He's the one who gives us life
regenerating us by his spirit because we're dead sinners and
we don't know these things naturally. We don't believe these truths
naturally, but he gives us life by his spirit, whereby we hear
through the preaching of the word what Christ has done, and
he gives us light and life and faith to believe what he's accomplished
for us. It's the new creature by his
spirit coming upon us and giving us life so that we hear and believe
what Christ has done for us. It says in Romans 10, Romans
10. We're going to look at a few
more verses here in Romans 10. Look at verse 8 through 11. But
what saith it? The righteousness of faith, that
is. That's what he's talking about. The righteousness of faith
saith, speaketh on this wise. All right. What does the righteousness
of faith say? That the word is nigh thee, or
near thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the
word of faith which we preach. 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, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. And I know many of You
brethren, all of us really in dead religion come with all kinds
of baggage and we think, is it really that simple? Is it really
faith? Is that all that there is? Is
there something more I've got to do? Do I got to feel something
more or do something more? No. If you know, if God has convinced
you and caused you to hear and know that you are a sinner, offended
Holy God, and that there is nothing you can do to save yourselves.
And you've also heard that Christ is the Savior, and you believe
that He is the Savior, sent of God to save His people, and that
He died in place of His people, and God raised Him from the dead,
showing that God accepted His work, His sacrifice, and you
believe it. Believe it. Rest right there
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Rest. And that means that he,
because he's the one that's giving you that faith to believe you're
a sinner and to believe that he's the Savior. Rest there in
him. Believe him and trust in him
and just keep drinking that, that word because it's that,
through that nourishing word that he grows, bathes in Christ. into adults in Christ. He grows
them up, he raises them up in Christ in that manner, alright?
Now God has a people of every tongue, tribe, and nation, alright? And that's why Paul's saying,
whosoever it is, I'm going to preach this gospel. And he says
in Romans 10-12, Romans 10-12, for there is no difference between
the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Call upon him. You that tremble and know that
you're sinners and are fearful, call upon the Lord, he says.
Call upon the Savior. It's Christ that is provided
of God as the propitiation, the means of forgiveness for his
people. Call upon him and you shall be
saved. and that's because he gives it
to you. If you're calling upon him, it's because he's giving
you that faith and that life and that hope in him. So Paul,
in love, he carries this gospel of Christ, wheresoever the Lord
is pleased to send him. And you think about that and
how amazing that is when you realize just how unvalued the
preaching of the word is. People don't appreciate the preaching
of the word. I mean, we see it even here amongst
us on some mornings and some Wednesday evenings. It's not
heavily valued as something that necessary to do. And so, when
you think about it, And Paul certainly knew it, and yet he's
willing, whatever it takes, to preach to as few as there are,
to preach that gospel and bring that gospel of salvation even
to them that are at home, knowing he could die for it, be persecuted,
hated for it, die on the way to doing it, or die for doing
it. Alright, as he said, to the brethren
when he was going to Jerusalem, he said, why are you crying and
trying to stop me? He said, I'm ready not to be
bound only, not to be put in prison for this, but also to
die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that tells us just how much a matter of life and death this is. It's a matter of life and death.
This is the only way of salvation through Christ. And we know the
hardness of our hearts, we know the the fickleness of this flesh
and the weakness of the flesh and God's provided the preaching. He's provided His Son and the
exalting of His Son and the lifting up of His Son for that purpose,
to feed His sheep and to comfort His sheep and to... to strengthen
the sheep in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, for that purpose, Paul
has this heart of love and willingness to be sacrificed to bring this
message to the Lord's people. And he does it gladly. Because
that's how God brings repentance and faith to his people. Alright
now, so this brings us to our next point. And that is the reason
why people don't believe it. And the reason why men don't
preach salvation by Christ. Go back to Romans 1. Romans 1 verse 16. And Paul says four. Romans 116,
for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. Now many are, the reason why
Paul says I'm not ashamed to preach it is because so many
are ashamed of Christ. They're ashamed of Christ and
of his gospel. You know, there's many professing
believers, and when they have an opportunity to speak the gospel,
they don't speak the gospel. They don't want to share because
they're afraid of persecution and being hated and judged for
it or getting into trouble for it. And Peter says, 1 Peter 3.15
says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, not your own
flesh, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready
always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason
of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. And Peter's
just saying, just be honest. When you have opportunity, be
honest in regards to what Christ has done for you. Thankfully,
it's not our job to make them believe. You don't have to twist
their arm and shove it down their throat. And if they say, please
stop, stop. Because they don't want to hear
it. You don't have to feel like, well, I better keep pushing this
issue down their throat. That's where you get into trouble
with your responsibilities at work and things like that. But
you can be honest and tell them what Christ has done for you
and leave it there. I was a manager too and I sat
in all the, when the lawyers came out, because they would
send them to all the managers to tell them all the things you
can do and you can't do and what's legal and what's not legal, how
you're going to get in trouble or fired and how you're not.
And you could tell people the truth. You could tell people
what you believe. It just got to a point where you had to to
end it and and let it go and so with my staff when I had opportunity
I just preached it I just declared it and their mouths would drop
open and and then you know I was done because I knew it's gonna
be you know if I keep going it's gonna then but I said what I
had to say and that was it and then the Lord you know would
lay it to their heart if it pleased him so but I didn't tell them
they had to you know I told them if you if you're to be saved
You believe this. This is the truth. If you will
hear what I'm saying, the Lord God will have mercy upon you.
If you're His, you'll hear it. But most didn't. Most of their
mouths just dropped open and they just didn't agree. But anyway. So, be honest. And then, sinners
are saved, you know, by the truth, not by a lie, not by trying to
protect their feelings. It's better to say nothing at
all than to change the truth to a lie, because no one's saved
by the lie. And if you do suffer for it,
Peter says in 1 Peter 3.14, But if ye suffer for righteousness'
sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither
be trouble. Alright, so that's one form of
shame. The greater form of shame, this is what Paul faced in his
day. More than anything, it was from religious persecutors. Because
religious persecutors are ashamed of Christ. They're ashamed of
grace. They're ashamed of preaching
the gospel and trusting that God really does save sinners
by the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. So when Paul preached,
he preached grace. not works. He preached Christ,
not the law, and for that reason he suffered persecution. He told
the Galatians, speaking of his countrymen, he told the Galatians
in 511, saying, I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision,
If I'm still preaching law or turning you back to the law,
why do I yet suffer persecution? Because then is the offense of
the cross ceased. And Paul did not teach the law. He didn't spend his days and
hours teaching people the law. He preached grace through the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that in raising and exalting
Christ and glorying in Christ, he knows that it's the Spirit
that dwells in his people and gives them life, whereby they
now walk in faith by the Spirit. That's why we don't have to turn
people back to the flesh, i.e. the law. We keep preaching Christ
because Christ teaches us and instructs us and guides us. And
most churches today, what do they do? They might mention a
little bit of Jesus in the beginning, but then they labor every time
they meet. They labor telling you what you
must now do. And they turn you back to your
flesh. They turn you back to the law for you to know how to
live. They don't, because they don't
trust Christ. They don't believe that preaching Christ is sufficient
to save and rule your lives and turn you through faith and by
His Spirit. They just don't trust Him. They're
ashamed of Christ. And they don't want to preach
Christ because it's an offense to the flesh, right? It is offensive
to hear that none of our works can do anything for us. God had
to send his own darling son to this earth in the flesh to do
for you and me what we cannot do for ourselves. And that's
an offense to the flesh. And because people get angry,
preachers don't want to preach it because then they're going
to be persecuted and they're not going to be liked by people.
And preachers don't typically like that. A lot of preachers,
they're not real preachers, but they just want to be people-pleasers. But turn over to 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 3, 2 Corinthians 3, and go to verse
3, and this tells us exactly what Paul preached. 2 Corinthians
3, 3, and he says, for as much as ye, the people he's writing
to, for as much as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of
Christ ministered by us. That means he's preaching Christ.
They're not the epistle of Moses' law, they're the epistle of Christ
because he's preaching Christ and now they're walking in faith
to Christ, believe in Christ. And he says, written not with
ink, not with your works of the flesh, but with the spirit of
the living God. Not in tables of stone, but in
fleshy tables of the heart. I remember hearing that there
are some that teach that the law is permanent and forever
because it was written on stone. And Paul tells us right here,
it's not in tables of stone. that we're looking to. It's in
the fleshy heart that God writes his law, his word, in our hearts. Now the law had to be fulfilled,
and it was fulfilled. Every jot and tittle had to be
fulfilled, and it was fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ, because
we can't keep it. And now he doesn't turn us back
to the flesh to try and keep it now. Just because we know
the truth, he keeps us looking to Christ. We're his epistle. And so he teaches us and guides
us and leads us. Alright, and look at verse 4.
And such trust have we through Christ to God were. Alright,
so the God sent preacher is so confident In the Lord Jesus Christ,
he preaches the Lord Jesus Christ. If I was not confident in Christ,
I would start preaching law. And I would whip you, and beat
you, and tell you you better start doing this better, and
stop doing that, and do this, all through the law. I wouldn't
preach Christ, I would be preaching the law, because that means I
don't have confidence in Christ. But Paul says, Such trust have
we through Christ to God, that we preach Christ. It's testified
where our confidence is by what we teach. What I'm saying to
you, you know, because I keep preaching Christ and not the
law. And then he goes on and says,
not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as
of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. Again, if I thought
that I was sufficient, I'd speak about my flesh. I did it, why
can't you do it? That's where my sufficiency was.
But because it's in Christ, that's why we preach the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so we don't glory in self. Because to lose that glory in
self, it's because they are ashamed of Christ. They don't think Christ
really saves completely. They say, God, how is it possible
that you could save your people through your Son, Jesus Christ,
apart from anything the sinner does? I don't believe it. And
so they start preaching law and the flesh, alright? But, we see,
verse 6, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament,
not of the letter. He didn't call us to be teachers
of the letter, but of the spirit, for the letter killeth, but the
spirit giveth life. And then Paul refers to, in verse
7, he calls Moses' law, he calls it What do you call it? Administration of death. Yeah,
verse 7 there. Administration of death and then
verse 9. Look at verse 9, 2 Corinthians 3, 9. And if the ministration
of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of
righteousness exceed in glory. Now here's why I want you to
see that, that ministration of death and that ministration of
condemnation that had some form of glory in its day. Alright,
but look at verse 17 now, 2 Corinthians 3, 17 and 18. He says, now the
Lord is that spirit. and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty. We've ceased preaching the law
for sanctification and for justification, because Christ is our righteousness.
And he says, verse 18, but we all, with open face beholding,
as in a glass, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. And we
are changed into the same image from glory to glory. From looking
to that law which had a form of glory, And looking into that
mirror, the perfect law of liberty in Christ, beholding Christ and
by His Spirit and His power through the preaching of the Gospel,
we behold the glory of Christ, our righteousness, by whom we
stand before Holy God without fault. So we cease to look to
that former glory, which is no glory compared to the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ for all our righteousness. and all our
hope and standing of assurance before God who is perfect and
righteous in all his ways." Alright, so we look to him, as it says,
even as by the Spirit of the Lord, not the law, but by the
Spirit of the Lord who does this for us. And so that's why Paul
was not ashamed to preach Christ. Because Christ is our righteousness. And that's how we behold our
righteousness, is through the preaching of the Gospel. So with
Christ, all you who believe Christ and trust Him, you shall stand
before the throne of God without shame. Your nakedness is covered
with the robe of Christ's righteousness. And all you who say, no, I will
do it myself, you'll stand before the throne of God in shame, in
being naked and having no covering for your sin because our works
are filthy and corrupt and full of holes and shall not cover
us in that day before the Lord Jesus Christ. Alright, so back
in our text, just to close, Paul says, verse 16, For I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to
the Greek." To that man dead in his religion, or that man
dead in his works in the world, in the wisdom of the world, God
has his people in all those places, and he calls them out through
this gospel. Therefore, we're not ashamed to preach the gospel
of Jesus Christ from this pulpit. And wherever we go, we'll preach
this gospel, knowing that this is how God saves his people,
by Christ. I pray the Lord will help us
to believe it and to preach it without shame. Trust in him.
Let's pray. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your mercy, for your power, your might, and your grace,
which has revealed Christ to us, Lord. For apart from your
spirit and apart from your life, which you give to dead sinners,
Lord, we have no life apart from you. Father, help us to behold
Christ, to glory in him. And when we have opportunity
to glory in Him, and when we have opportunity to preach, to
lift up and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord, and that You would
be pleased to save Your people and call them out of darkness
into the glorious light and truth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. It's in His name we pray, amen.