of our Lord, knowing that we're
fully dependent upon You to give us an understanding. Show us the Lord Jesus, our Savior,
in this glorious Old Testament book. We're so thankful, Father,
for Your Word, inspired by the Holy Spirit, given of old to
men such as Jeremiah. We're thankful for the faithfulness
of this man in preaching the very truth of God. And may we who stand behind the
pulpit, may we be as bold as was this servant of the Lord.
They would never be hesitant to set forth the very truth of
God. In this day of false religion,
in this day of so many wrong voices that people are listening
to, let us sound out a good, clear note of truth. Life in
Christ. God is sovereign. The Savior
redeemed His people. The Spirit of grace effectually
regenerates and calls sinners unto Himself. Lord, let us be
faithful. It is, for us as a congregation,
a great privilege to be entrusted with this wonderful, glorious
gospel of grace. Keep us ever true to the truth. Give us grace to take a stand
and having done all to stand for the Word of God. Bless thy people who sit before
me and those who are watching by way of the Internet. Lord,
encourage us in the truth. Encourage us to faithfulness
as we labor in the Word of God. in the midst of a heathen generation. We're thankful for your word,
a promise that your gospel will not return unto you void. It shall always accomplish your
purpose. So be pleased this evening, Father,
to speak through us and speak, Lord, to us. to the glory of
the name of your Son. Amen. This man, preacher Jeremiah the
prophet, he's known as the Weeping Prophet. He was actually born
as a priest. His father was a man by the name
of Hilkiah. And so he was in the lineage
of the priesthood. But God called him to be more
than a priest, but to be a prophet. He was guided by the Spirit of
God to address the people of Israel and to tell them that
they were going to suffer many harsh things because of their
ungodliness and because of their idolatry. They would suffer famine. They would suffer an invasion
from a foreign power. They would experience devastation
of all their crops. And they would experience captivity. And all because of their forsaking
of the Lord. Because of their idolatry. And
his heart was troubled. Troubled over the unfaithfulness
of the priests. Troubled by the unfaithfulness
of the prophets. Troubled by the unbelief of the
people. Troubled by the idolatry that
just swept through the nation. But he was God's man. He was
God's prophet. in the land of Israel in his
day. He was the voice of God to the
nation. And I've studied and you've studied
quite a bit about all the prophets of the Old Testament. In my mind,
in my opinion, he's the most courageous. He was a valiant
soldier for the truth of God. I can't think of any preacher
in the Old Testament who suffered more opposition, who endured much discouragement than this man, Jeremiah. He began preaching when he was
a very young man. He began to minister during the
days of King Josiah, who was a king of the southern kingdom,
although Jeremiah ministered mainly to the northern kingdom.
He was God's spokesman. He was God's prophet to the nation
through the reigns of four kings of Israel, right up until the
Jews were carried away captive into Babylon by the will of God. He faithfully served the Lord
and his generation by the enabling grace of God, and he did so for
more than 40 years. And he did so right in the face
of relentless opposition and that persecution that so many
poured out on him never let up. He wept much. The next book of the Bible is
the Lamentations of Jeremiah. And I hope to begin preaching,
perhaps even next Sunday evening, on those Lamentations of Jeremiah. His heart and soul was in great
turmoil His heart was heavy because of the iniquity of the people. He preached the impending judgment
of God, but he never ceased preaching.
He never backed down from his duty. All through his ministry,
he was greatly opposed, but he never, never quit. He never failed to set forth
the word that God put on his heart and in his mouth. They put him in jail multiple
times. They beat him. They stoned him. They accused him of treachery
to his own country. He told the people, he said,
listen, you're going to be taken over by the Babylonians, King
Nebuchadnezzar. And he said, here's the best
thing you can do, is go with them without a fight. Just go. Because he said, if you stay
here, you're going to die. And the leaders of Israel, they
rose up against him and said, this man needs to be killed.
From what you've said, our army is going to lose all heart. You're
telling us to just go willingly with the Babylonians. This man
needs to be killed. Well, they didn't kill him, but
they did put him in a dungeon in the miry, miry clay. Wasn't any water in there, but
it was deep and dark. But he had a friend. Always good when the preachers
of God have a friend. The man's name was Eli Mellick,
and he was an Ethiopian eunuch. He saw what they did to Jeremiah. And he went to the king. He said
to the king, this man's going to die of hunger. He's down there
in the mire. He's down there in the dungeon.
There's no way for him to get out. You need to get him out.
He's going to die. He's the voice of God to our
country. And so the king said, take 30
men with you, and you go ahead and rescue Jeremiah. And this
man, Eli Melick, he went to the mouth of this hole in the ground. He said to Jeremiah, I'm going
to throw some rags down to you. You put them up on your armpits,
and we're going to lower ropes to you, and we're going to pull
you up. You got them on your armpits, we don't want you to
be hurt. And ever so tenderly, they pulled
Jeremiah up out of the mire. He was mocked and he was derided. Eventually, he was carried away
captive into Egypt. And it is said, according to
Jewish historians, not according to the Bible, but according to
Jewish historians, that he was stoned to death in Egypt by some
Jews who followed him. He spoke of that coming captivity
by the Babylonians, and it came to pass. But all through these difficulties
that he faced, He kept liberally, liberally speaking of the coming
Savior. He spoke of Him as being, in
chapter 2 and verse 13, in chapter 17 and verse 13, as the fountain
of waters. He said, you've forsaken Him.
That's the problem. You've forsaken the fountain
of waters." Who is the fountain of waters? The Lord Jesus Christ. That last day of the feast, Jesus
stood and cried saying, if any man thirsts, let him come unto
me and drink, and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. He told that woman at the well,
you drink of the water that I'll give you. It'll take care of
you forever. You have everlasting life. Well,
Jeremiah spoke of Him being the fountain of waters. In chapter
8 and verse 22, Jeremiah mentions Him as the physician. He's the
great physician. Isn't there a physician in Israel,
he said? Yes, there is. There's a doctor
for sin-sick souls. He's the Savior. He's the Lord
Jesus. His specialty is saving the lost. He has the remedy for that which
is our disease. The remedy is by his stripes
we're healed. In chapter 31, he spoke of the
gathering shepherd. He shall gather his sheep. God
said, I've scattered my sheep all around the world. And you
know, God has. His sheep are scattered everywhere.
He's got a people out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue.
They're scattered everywhere. But there's a shepherd, the good
shepherd who gave his life for the sheep. And he is the gathering
shepherd. And he's still doing that. He's
still gathering the sheep unto himself through the preaching
of the gospel all around the world. He's got sheep. Don't
be discouraged. The Lord knows what He's doing.
And He's rescuing the lost ones. He goes after the lost sheep.
Wherever they are, He'll send them a preacher. He'll send them
the Word of God. Don't worry about that. Our business
is just be faithful preaching the gospel. The shepherd will
gather his sheep unto himself. It is absolutely impossible that
one of the sheep would ever be lost. He chose them unto salvation. He redeemed the sheep. I'm the
Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth His
life for the sheep. That's what He said. And now
through the preaching of the Gospel, He's gathering the sheep. He gathered you, didn't He? What
did He use? He used the preaching of the
Gospel of the grace of God through Jesus Christ the Lord. In Jeremiah chapter 23, he preached
about the righteous branch. The righteous branch. He's coming. A branch off David. Oh, he didn't look like much
to people. But this righteous branch who
came forth from David was not only David's son, but David's
Lord. That's who Jeremiah preached.
And in chapter 50, verse 34, he said, he's the redeemer, the
redeemer. He preached redemption by the
bloody death of this coming son of God. And back in chapter 23,
he said, here's who he is. He's the Lord, our righteousness. That's who Jeremiah said. How
many times have we heard that from this pulpit? How many times
from your lips have you heard the words, the Lord our righteousness? God used Jeremiah to preach that
message and then write it down. That's who He is. And that's
the name by which we're called. The Lord our righteousness. And here's what God did. He promised to Jeremiah That
He would indeed save a remnant according to the election of
grace. That He would bring them unto Himself. That He would put
His people in what would be to them awful conditions. To bring
them, He would use those things to bring them to the end of themselves. And then He would save them. Jeremiah need not be distressed. No other preacher of the gospel
should ever be distressed. I know Isaiah bemoaned the fact
that so few believed the truth that he preached. He said in
chapter 53, Lord, who hath believed our report? We have a good report. We have a good message, a message
of grace, a message of redemption, a message of atonement, a message
of reconciliation, a message of righteousness. We have a good
message about a God who saves by His grace. about the Savior
who redeemed His people by His bloody death, and about the Spirit
of God who effectually calls sinners unto Himself. We have
a good message. And Isaiah says, who has believed
this report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? Brother Isaiah, don't be discouraged. Rest assured. The God who chose
a people unto salvation and who had their sin debt paid by the
God-appointed Savior, He will bring them unto Himself by effectual
grace. He will save His people. Our
mission is not to grow the church. Our mission is not to, what they
call, plant churches. I hate that expression. It's
very popular in religion today, church planters. We were watching some, or Nancy
was watching on her iPad or whatever, and I heard This guy said, and
what do you do for a living? The MC or whatever. I asked this
guy, I said, what do you do for a living? He said, I'm a church
planter. And the MC said, what in the
world is that? Yeah, I asked the same thing.
What in the world is that? Our business is not to plant
churches. You see, here's religion today.
They're looking for numbers. and want bigger, more. That's
the goal. Our Lord Jesus said, I will build
my church. That's what He said. I will build
my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Well, what's our duty then? What's our responsibility? To
sow the seed. Preach the truth. Tell people who God is because
they don't have the foggiest idea. He's not at all like who
they assume Him to be. It's like God told Israel, you
thought I was altogether like unto yourself. He said, I'm not like you at
all. Oh, the ignorance, the ignorance of this generation concerning
the identity of God, the power of God, the authority of God,
the holiness of God. They don't know. That's the reason
they speak so lightly of God. That's the reason they have no
problem blaspheming His name. They have no understanding of
the greatness of God, the glory of God. They should be in awe
of God. They should be in reverence of
God. Where is the reverence today?
Where are those voices that say, fear God? You'll hear too many
of that. It's just love God. Just love
God. Well, I'll tell you what, you'll
come to love God when you come to fear Him. That's a reverence
for God. Be still and know that I am God. That's what the Lord said. Where are those preachers who
speak of the effectual atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ? They
talk about Jesus Christ trying to do something or other. He
tried to save you. He died to show you how much
He loved you. The pitiful Jesus they preach,
He can't help anybody. But I'll tell you what, the Lord
Jesus Christ, His atonement was effectual to the salvation of
His people. What do you mean by effectual?
Got the job done. Did what He set out to do. The
angel said, Joseph! Yes. Call His name Jesus. For He shall save His people
from their sins. And I'll tell you what, when
Mary gave birth to that little boy, Joseph said, I'll tell you
what his name is going to be. I don't want to hear any arguments
from anybody. His name is Jesus. For He shall. He shall save His people from
their sins. And the Spirit of God, His work,
The Spirit of God's not trying to do it. Don't you get weary
of people saying, well, I think the Spirit of God, I think God's
trying to tell me something. Where in the Bible do you ever
read of God trying to do something? Get weary of hearing stuff like
that, don't you, Adam? It gets old. But I try to be
patient with people because they don't know any better. The reason
most people today, even religious people, the reason they're so
ignorant is because they've been preached to by somebody who is
equally ignorant. They don't know. They don't know. But I'll tell you this, people
in Jeremiah's day, they knew. They didn't like the message.
But they knew. They knew what he was saying.
They heard Him. But the Lord told Jeremiah, He
said, I'm going to bring My people in. Don't you worry about that. Don't worry about it. Let me
just give you a few references. I don't have time to read them
all. Go back to chapter 23. Let me just show you a couple
of things here. A couple of references. Chapter
23. Look at verse 1. Look how it
starts off. Chapter 23, verse 1. Woe be unto
the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture,
saith the Lord. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God of Israel, against the pastors that feed my people, you've scattered
my flock and driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold,
I will visit upon you the evil of your doing, saith the Lord."
That's what God tells Jeremiah. And I will gather the remnant
of my flock. I like that. That's a promise
to every preacher. This is a promise to every local
church. God says, I will gather the remnant
of my flock out of all countries whether I have driven them and
will bring them again to their foes and they shall be fruitful
and increase. And God says through Jeremiah,
I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them. And
they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they
be lacking, saith the Lord. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and
a king shall reign and prosper. and execute judgment and justice
in the earth. A king, who is that king? It's
Christ Jesus the Lord, who is prophet, priest, and king. Now
he's always been the king, but as the God-man, he earned the
right to reign by his successful substitutionary death upon the
cross of Calvary. And in verse six, in his day,
Judas shall be saved. And Israel shall dwell safely. Both Judah and Israel here indicates
the true Israel of God. All of the elect of God. They
shall be saved. They shall dwell safely in the
refuge for sinners of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is His
name. You want to know who He is? This
is His name whereby He shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Therefore, verse 7, behold the
days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, the Lord
liveth which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of
Egypt. In other words, they won't be saying, well look what the
Lord did back yonder years and years ago, but the Lord liveth. which brought up, and which led
the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and
from all countries, whether I have driven them, and they shall dwell
in their own land." In other words, we won't be talking about
only what God did for people back in the past. People will
be talking about, look what God's done for us. He drew us. He rescued us. He saved us. Look at chapter 24, verses 6
and 7. Jeremiah, don't be discouraged. God gives him these encouraging
words, and He gives us these encouraging words today. God
says, for I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will
bring them again to this land. I will build them and not pull
them down. I will plant them and not pluck
them up. And I will give them a heart
to know Me. Isn't that encouraging? Just
keep on being faithful and preaching the gospel. Because God's going
to give to somebody a heart to know Him. To know what? That I'm the Lord. That I'm the Lord. I'm not trying
to be the Lord. I am the Lord. I'm Jehovah. I'm the great I Am. And they
shall be my people. You've got to love the Lord's
shalls. and I will be their God. For
they shall return unto me with their whole heart. That's the
promise of God. Can I give you one more? Look
at chapter 30. Chapter 30. Look at verse four. Chapter 30. These are the words that the
Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus
said the Lord, we have heard a voice of trembling, of fear,
and not of peace. Ask ye now and see whether a
man doth travail with child. Wherefore do I see every man
with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all
faces are turned paleness. Alas, for that day is great,
so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob's
trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come
to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break
his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers
shall no more serve themselves of him. I'm going to break your
captivity. I'm going to break your captivity
to Satan. I'm going to break your captivity
to sin. I'm going to break that captivity
to the world and you shall no more serve them. Look at verse
six, but they shall serve the Lord their God and David their
king. Read that, Christ their King,
whom I will raise up unto them. And therefore, since he's gonna
raise up Christ unto them, and since Christ will save, verse
10, therefore, fear thou not. Oh, my servant Jacob, saith the
Lord, neither be dismayed, O Israel, for lo, Lo, hear me, I will save
thee from afar and thy seed from the land of their captivity.
And Jacob shall return and shall be in rest and be quiet and none
shall make him afraid. Watch it, verse 11. And here's
why we won't be afraid. For I am with thee, saith the
Lord. To do what? To save. I'm with you to save. Though
I make a full end of all nations, whether I have scattered thee,
and He will, He says, yet I won't make a full end of thee. He's going to set in on judgment
on all the world, but not on us. Why not? Our sins have already
been judged in our Savior. He said, but I will correct you
now, in measure, in measure, and will not leave thee altogether
unpunished. For thus saith the Lord, thy
bruise is incurable, thy wound is grievous, there is none to
plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up, thou hast no healing
medicines, All thy lovers have forgotten thee, they seek thee
not. For I have wounded thee, and
I've wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement
of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity, because thy
sins were increased. But I won't save the remnant,
he says. Well, I could go on and on, but
let me just give you a few thoughts from this verse of Scripture.
I want to look at chapter 31, verse 3. Chapter 31, verse 3. And here are words of comfort
for Jeremiah. Let me read the first three verses. At that time, saith the Lord,
will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they
shall be my people. Thus saith the Lord, the people
which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness,
even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. And Jeremiah says,
the Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, yea, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness. Have I drawn thee? The text says
the Lord appeared. The Lord appeared, he hath appeared. He hath appeared in the Old Testament. All through the Old Testament,
he appeared as the lamb in Abel's sacrifice. He appeared as the
ark in Noah's day. He appeared to the captive Israelites
by way of the Passover lamb. He appeared as that only safe
passage, that one passage through the Red Sea. He appeared to the
redeemed people of God as the pillar of cloud to guide them
through their wilderness journey. He appeared to the thirsty as
the water from the rock. He appeared to the hungry as
the bread of life. He appeared to those who were
bitten with fiery serpents as the brazen serpent. And so our
Lord Jesus used that as an object lesson and said, as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up. That whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. He appeared to His people
through all the Old Testament sacrifices, for they all announced
the appearing of the Lord Jesus. The text says, the Lord hath
appeared. He appeared in this world 2,000
years ago. That baby in the manger, that's
God's appearance here. God come down to save helpless,
hopeless sinners. We couldn't make ourselves righteous
with God. So our Lord Jesus came to do
what we could not possibly do. Establish righteousness. You've got to be righteous. You've
just got to be righteous. Righteousness was established
by his faithfulness, by his obedience unto death, even the death of
the cross of Calvary. He appeared. Paul says he appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Now he appears in
the presence of God for us as our advocate and mediator. and soon He will appear again
in glory and every eye shall see Him. We look for His appearance. Titus 2.13 says, looking for
that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our Savior Jesus Christ. We're looking for another appearance
of our Lord Jesus. I remember People used to say
to my dad, my dad would quote this, he'd say this from the
pulpit, he'd say, people say, are you looking for the undertaker?
And he said, no, I'm not looking for the undertaker, I'm looking
for the upper taker. That's who I'm looking for. And
that's who we're looking for. Oh, it may be that the undertaker
will get us. It may be. But that's all right. Because that means the Lord has
just made an appearance to us and said it's time to come home.
The Lord hath appeared. He hath appeared. And the text
says, the Lord hath appeared of old. I like that. The Lord hath appeared of old.
The word appeared means more than you think. You look it up,
it means considered. Observed. Regarded. The Lord hath appeared of old. He hath considered. He hath regarded. He hath observed. Think of this. He observed you
from of old. When nobody existed but God,
He appeared. He observed you. He saw you. He looked at you. He considered
you. What does that mean? It means
that before the foundation of the world, God considered, He
regarded, He observed Jeremiah and all of his Jeremiahs. He
chose us in love and in grace. Jeremiah was a vessel of mercy,
and so are all of us. He considered him. He considered
him, though he would fall in Adam, he would be raised by another
representative man, Christ Jesus. Oh, how amazing is that grace
that regarded us of old. And then the text says, the Lord
hath appeared of old unto me. That's what it says. Unto me. This is personal. This is personal. This is the Lord's personal appearance
to a sinner. You know, our experience of salvation,
the Lord doesn't just save us all at once. It's an individual
thing, isn't it? Very private. God deals with
us. He appeared to you. He appeared
to you. He appeared to you. He appeared
to me. He made Himself known to me and
to you. When I wasn't looking for Him,
when I didn't have any interest, when I was wrapped up in religion
thinking that I was alright. I'm fine. I can quote a bunch
of verses of Scripture. I've been to Bible college. I'm
a preacher. I know. And then, this one who
of old appeared, he appeared unto me. And that's different. That's different. Because when He appears to you,
He comes in effectual, sovereign, saving grace. Some of you know
exactly what I'm talking about, and I'm fearful that maybe some
of you don't. Oh, that God would deal in grace
with you, individually. The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me. The Lord spoke to my heart. Someone said, I used to hear
the preacher. Now I hear the Lord speak when
the preacher's preaching. I used to see just a man behind
the pulpit, but now I see the Savior by faith, the one of whom
He speaks. I used to only hear the voice
of a man. Oh, but now, thank God, I hear
the voice of God in my heart. That's all the difference in
the world. If the only voice you ever hear is my voice or
Bill's voice when he preaches, if the only voice you've ever
heard is Henry's voice, you're in bad shape. You've got to hear
the voice of Him who wakes the dead. He's got to come to you
and as He said to Lazarus, Lazarus, come forth! He's got to appear
to you. to you. The text says, the Lord hath
appeared of old unto me saying, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. What a sweet message that God
comes to us with this message. It's a message of love. You see, the gospel is a love
letter. from the Lord to His people,
from the shepherd to the sheep, from the Savior to these unworthy
sinners. This is the love of the past.
God loved me when I didn't know anything about God. He loved
me before He even made this world. As long as He's been God, He's
loved me. That's forever. This is a love of the past. God commended His love toward
us. He demonstrated His love toward
us. He evidenced His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. This is the love of the present.
He loves me still. He loves me still. His love is
like Himself, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. His love is like His very being. Unchanging and unchangeable. Nothing can destroy the love
that God has for His children. And let me say this, lest anybody
is unsure about this. He has always loved His people. He has never hated His people.
He's never had negative thoughts toward His children. He's always
viewed us in the surety of the covenant of grace. He's always
viewed us in Christ Jesus. He's never been mad at us. He's
never been angry with us. He's never been upset with us
because He put us in the person of Christ Jesus and there we're
safe. We're as safe as God Himself
could make us to be. And we've always been there.
One with Him. And this is a love of the future.
He'll always love us. Well, what if I mess up? There's no if to it. You do mess
up, you will mess up. There's no if to it. But He's
not going to stop loving you. Because He didn't love you because
of anything you did. And He's not going to stop loving
you because of something you do. That's not the basis of His
love. He loved you because He would.
And He loves you in Christ Jesus. And this love of God is sealed
with one word. Yay! I have love made. Yes! Do you love me, Lord? He says, yes! And the word yea
rings out through all the universe! Yes, I love you! Well, that settles
it, doesn't it? And he says, therefore, because
I love you, with loving kindness have I drawn you. I just pulled
you to Myself. I love this word, drawn. It means
to pull with mighty power, to lay hold of, to seize. Invincible
grace lays hold on you and God seizes you and He brings you
unto Himself. No man can come to Me except
the Father which has sent Me. Terry Redd, draw Him. And I'll
raise Him up at the last day. Oh, that God would draw everybody
here, draw you to the Savior in omnipotent power and with
authority. Where did He draw us to? He draws
to His Son. Where did He draw us out of?
Out of the miry clay, out of false religion, out of the captivity
of Satan. And watch this. Look at verses 18 and 19. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning
himself thus. Thou hast chastised me, and I
was chastised. As a bullock unaccustomed to
the yoke. Watch these words. He said, Turn
thou me, and I shall be turned. For thou art the Lord my God.
Verse 19. Surely after I was turned, I
repented. Why does anybody repent? Because
the Lord turns them. See, Christ has been exalted
for to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sin. You
can't believe Him. You can't repent apart from Him
giving you the gifts. of believing Him and repenting. Turn me, Lord, and I'll be turned. Because if I turn myself, well,
I'll turn again. I'll turn back like many have
done. Go back like the hog to wallowing
in the mire. But Lord, if you turn me, I'll
stay turned forever. Oh, these are encouraging words
to Jeremiah, and they're encouraging words to us tonight, aren't they?
Though these were written hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Thank
God for His faithfulness and for His great salvation to us
through our Lord Jesus. Let's pray. Thank You, Lord,
for Your everlasting love for Your covenant people. Thank You
for pursuing us. Thank You for coming after us
in almighty grace and power. Thank You for redemption. Thank
You for election. Thank You for calling regeneration. Lord, thank You for this great
salvation that is all of you from beginning to end. And we
would not dare endeavor to take one bit of glory from yourself. Salvation is of the Lord. And
we bless you. We thank you. We honor you this
evening. We go our way rejoicing in the
goodness of God to us continually. Your everlasting love to your
covenant people. We're thankful and we rejoice
in you, Lord. We'll go our way, trusting in
you. For Christ's sake, amen. you you