to try to this is a wonder I'll
tell you what this portion we're going to look at in a brother
Tom read you could spend a lifetime on it it's absolutely amazing
what's in just this little portion of scripture so we're going to
look today at the birth of Christ, the birth of Christ. Open your
Bibles, if you would, to Luke chapter two, where Brother Tom
read there. And we're gonna read two verses
together. We're gonna have to stand up and read two verses
together. Verses six and seven. Verses six and seven of Luke
chapter two. Let's stand up and read this
together. And it was so, and so it was,
that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she
should be delivered. And she bought forth her firstborn
son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in the manger
because there was no room for them in the inn. Now, as I was preparing this
message, I was pondering that on the day Christ was born, there
was no doubt many children born into the world on that day. Just
like every day, there's many children born into this world.
But I'll tell you what, His birth was the greatest birth that this
world has ever seen. It was the greatest birth that
the world has ever seen. He was the greatest man that's
ever been born. that's ever been born. Some might
say, well, why? What makes him different? Because
he's God incarnate in the flesh. He's God come to save his people
from their sins. And did you notice what Brother
Tom read? He's born king, beloved. And what we sang in the song,
he's born king. He's king in glory. He's born
king. And what is he right now? He's
king still, isn't he? Our God is God. Our savior is
God. We weren't just saved by a mere
man. God himself saved us. The Word became flesh and dwelt
among us. Paul writes to Timothy, and he
tells Timothy, this is a great mystery. This is a great mystery. He says in 1 Timothy 3.16, and
without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God
was manifest in the flesh. It's a mystery. See, our little
finite minds, we can't understand this. We try to rationalize it
and look at it with our own view, but the Scripture itself declares
this. Great is the mystery of godliness. And I love what Brother Tom prayed
about revealing the Scriptures to us, because if we don't get
the Scriptures revealed to us, we won't learn anything. My hope
is that if you're here and you don't know Christ, is that God
would reveal to you your desperate need for Christ. And for whoever
will listen to this message as it goes out on the internet,
that God would reveal to you your desperate need for Christ,
because that's all He's done for us as believers, isn't it?
And He saved us from our own self. Do you know that? Think of this. We were saved
from the wrath of God. We were saved from the justice
of God, right? We were saved from the law of
God. We were saved from our sins. And we're saved from ourselves,
too. You know, we have three enemies,
right? The world, the flesh, and the devil. And which one's
the worst? The flesh, right? It is for me. But think of this. The scripture
says this, and without controversy, great is the mystery of God,
in whose God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit,
seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed in the
world, and received into glory. God himself becomes a man, right,
to save his people from their sins. to save sinners. Now, do I know who those are?
And do you know who they are? No. We don't have any clue. But I'll tell you a distinguishing
mark of them. Two distinguishing marks. Number
one, they're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And number
two, they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the saving of
their soul. So he says, well, how do I know
if I'm one of the elect? Do you believe on Christ? Are you trusting
him for everything, for your eternal soul? Are you not trusting? We don't trust in anything, do
we, Brother Tom, that we can bring to the table, because there's
nothing we can bring. Nothing at all. So he was seen. He was seen by the apostles.
And at the birth of Christ, remember, it was prophesied in Isaiah chapter
7, 14. Therefore, the Lord himself shall
give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and she shall
bear a son and call his name Immanuel. A virgin will conceive. How does a virgin conceive? By the power of God, the Holy
Spirit. See, you and I, everyone in this
room, we have an earthly father, don't we? Christ didn't have
one. The Holy Spirit conceived Christ in the womb.
Some say, come on, that's so far-fetched. No, he's God. The
Holy Spirit is as much God as the Father, and as much God as
the Son, and as much God as the Father and Son. If God is almighty,
and he is, if God is sovereign, and he is, if God could speak
the world into existence and all the stars, would it be hard
for him to have a virgin conceive? Nothing, any time. Nothing. That's easy. He already gives
life. He already gives life in the
womb. He's the giver of life, right? Why, oh my. There's nothing for him. But
this birth, this conception is like no other. It's like no other. Remember in Genesis 3, he used
to be called the seed of the woman? See, we're the seed of
man. He's the seed of the woman. I'll tell you what, it's exciting.
It really is. God saved us, Brother Brian.
God himself became a man. God did that. And we just read
about it. My, oh, my. And it was declared,
therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin
shall conceive and shall bear a son, and his name shall be
called Emmanuel. Like Tom said, God with us. God with us. the very creator
of all things. What would drive him to come
to this world where people despise him and hate him? You know how we see how much
the world hates him? There's not even room for him in the
end. The world's got no time for Christ. If you have an interest
in Christ, give God the glory. If you're saved and you have
an interest in Christ, give God the glory. If you're not saved
and you're starting to get an interest in Christ, give God
the glory. Because there's millions of people out there who have
no care. No care. Don't want nothing to do with
Christ. But have you got an interest
in Him? Oh, my. That's how it starts,
isn't it, Brother Brian? Oh my. So this is miraculous. And then
Micah tells us in the Old Testament, so we saw, we heard there in
Isaiah 7.14 that the virgin shall conceive. Then Micah tells us,
again in the Old Testament, the exact place where he would be
born. This is hundreds of years before he's even born. It says
this, but thou Bethlehem, Ephratiah, though thou be little among the
thousands of Judah, yet of thee shall he come forth unto me,
that is to be ruler in Israel, whose going forth have been from
of old and from everlasting. God himself shall become a man
and shall be born in Bethlehem. And notice what that verse said.
I'll read part of it again. That is to be ruler in Israel.
He's our king, isn't he, Tom? He's our Lord. It's a spiritual
Israel. He's everything. He's the ruler
of our lives. And we joyously accept this. You know, You ever notice when
we're young, and even sometimes after we're saved, we don't like
to be told what to do. Right? Get a little grind in
there. But we gladly bow to King Jesus,
don't we? We gladly bow our knee to him.
Isn't that amazing? We gladly submit to him. We gladly
trust our eternal souls to him. Oh my. See, he's ruler in our
lives. And you notice this too? Is he
a hard ruler? Someone tell me, is he a hard
ruler? He isn't, is he? He's so gracious. He's so full
of love. He's so full of mercy. Even when
I sin again and again and again, my sins are still all forgiven.
How merciful is the Lord to us, beloved. How wonderful is the
Lord to us. In His going forth and being
from everlasting, right? We're chosen in Him from before
the foundation of the world. He's been from, remember the
Word became flesh and dwelt amongst, in the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. That's from everlasting. Do you
know that the very one who became a man is also called in scripture? This is, I'll be honest with
you, this is one of my favorite titles of our King. He's called
the Ancient of Days. I love that. The Ancient of Days. He's from everlasting. What drove him to come here in
this sin-cursed world where people are shaking their fists at him
and have no desire for him? What drove him to come here?
I'll tell you what. The greatest love this world
has ever known. The love that Christ has for
his people, for his bride called his elect in the scriptures.
Right? Now we wonder as God's elect,
how could God love me? And then we wonder, how could
he love us with an everlasting, unchanging love, Brother Charlie?
His love, even before we were born, his love was set upon us. Even while we were running around
doing all the things we did. His love was never changed. I
was thinking about this. This love, see, days come and
go, right? Things change, don't they? Things
change in society. I was thinking about this this
week. This love has never changed. This love that Christ has for
us hasn't, Brother Tom, it hasn't even moved a fraction. And then we find out in John
17 that the Father loves us as He loves Christ. What? So it's the everlasting
love of God for His people that drove Him to come to this. We don't even have to say drove.
He willingly came. He willingly and lovingly laid
aside His glory to save us from all our sins,
beloved, to redeem us with His precious, precious blood. Do
you know any greater love than that? I love my wife, I love
my kids, I love you guys, but the love I have for all of you
doesn't even come close to the love that Christ has for us. And that, you know, the scripture
says it's the goodness of God that leads men to repentance,
right? You can whack a person over the
head with the scriptures all day long, it won't do no good.
But it's the goodness of God. It's God's everlasting, that
melts our hearts, doesn't it? That God would love me despite
myself. That God's love, Even though I know I am not worthy
of this love. Are you? I'm not at all. And yet he still loves us. My, that's incredible. See the hope that I preach in
Christ. It's the most wondrous hope.
It doesn't matter how black your sin is. It doesn't matter how
you've done the worst thing in the world, you know. The only
difference between me and somebody in prison for the most heinous
crime is the grace of God. It's true for all of us. In us,
in us, in us is the ability to do what Hitler
did. In us is the ability to do what
any other person done. I was watching a World War II
documentary. I read an article about the SS
troops who, when the Battle of the Bulge was going on, they came through and the colonel
who was leading them said, no prisoners. And they were just mercilessly
gunning down American soldiers. They'd capture them and just
kill them all. And there was, it was the trial,
I can't remember what that trial was called, but there was a trial.
And they all had signs on, numbers of which one they were. And I
was sitting there. And the one guy who had done
that, the colonel, was just a young man. I figured out that he was
about 28 years old by going to Wikipedia and all that. Just
a kid. Just a young man. And I thought,
that's in all of us. By nature. That's in every one
of us. People often say, you ever hear
professing Christians say, well, I would never have done what
those Jews did. You've heard me say this 100,000
times. I would never have said crucify him, crucify him. Yes,
we would. Yes, we would. But praise be
to God. There's forgiveness in God. the
most darkest sin, the most wicked thought we've ever had, the most
wicked deed we've ever done, washed under the precious, precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, cleansed by his redeeming blood.
That's why he came into this world. Turn, if you will, to
Matthew chapter 1. Look at this. Matthew chapter
1. Oh my, this is the most wonderful. Are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? Yeah, we're all a bunch of sinners,
whether we believe it or not, right? We're all a bunch of sinners. We just won't admit it. But the
born-again, blood-washed believer says, I know I'm a sinner, and
I'm saved by grace. But you know what? Before I was
saved, I didn't think I was a sinner. Did you? No. I know I did a few bad things. I knew that. And I was sorry when I got caught. Right? But I didn't know just
how deep sin ran through me. And so much so that everything
I did was tainted with sin. So when we fell on Adam, we totally
fell. And we come born into this world
dead in trespasses and sins. See, Christ was born holy. without
sin, or born in sin. Oh my, look at this in Matthew. Matthew chapter one, starting
at verse 18, look at this. Now the birth of Jesus was on
the wise when his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph. Before
they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Look at that, with child of the Holy Ghost. Brother Tom read
about that. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man, not willing to make her a public example, was minded
to put her away privately. Now, so, do you notice there
it says Joseph was a just man? Was Joseph a sinner? Yeah. It says he was a just man. Well, he was just because he's
looking to the Messiah. He'd been granted the same faith
Abraham been granted. Because the only way we can be
just is in Christ. There's no other way. But notice what it says is, he
notices his wife is pregnant. He doesn't want to bring attention
to it. He doesn't want to shame her, he loves her. But he knows he hasn't, or they're
not even married yet. He knows that they haven't got
together. Well, no, they are married, what am I talking about? But they hadn't made love yet. And so he knows that. But she's
pregnant. And the scripture says he was
gonna put her away, which just means that he wasn't gonna allow
society to pass judgment upon her. He was protecting her. And my oh my, look what it says. But while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared. Oh my. appeared to him in a dream,
saying, Joseph, thou son of David, look at this. I love these two
words. These two words are so important because God the Father
says this to us in Christ. Fear not. Fear not. Remember Mephibosheth
when he came to David? What did David say? Fear not. because of a covenant that was
made before Mephibosheth was even born, between David and
Jonathan. God says to we who are born again,
fear not, because of a covenant that was made before we were
even born, when God the Father gave Christ
a people. Oh, isn't that wonderful? Fear
not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for what she, sorry, for that which is conceived
in hers of the Holy Ghost. And she shall, look at this,
look at again these emphases, and she shall, it's gonna happen.
She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
Jesus. For he shall, look at that, not dependent upon us, Not if we walk an aisle. This is 2,000 years ago this
is gonna happen. He shall save his people from
what? From their sins. He did it, beloved. We believe on a work of Christ
that's already done. By God-given faith, we look to
a work that's been finished. And that was the perfect sinatonic
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have been redeemed by Christ. And you too, think of this, who
are the Lord's people for over 2,000 years. And actually, even
before that. Because he's the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, isn't he? But that which was
planned and purposed came to pass in time and space. We just
find out about it now when we're born again. We hear the gospel
and we believe. We find out about what Christ
has done for us. And there's absolutely nothing
in us that deserves it. That's what makes it so wondrous. that God who I sinned against, because that's who we've all
sinned against, that God who I sinned against would forgive
me of all my sins based upon nothing I've done. Isn't that amazing? Now, that's
amazing grace, isn't it? But based upon what Christ has
done in his perfect substitutionary life and death, in the shedding
of his redeeming blood, to satisfy God's law and justice in our
room and place, so much so, and I know I say this all the time,
I'm going to keep saying it, so much so that God says, I don't
remember your sins no more. We are the most blessed people
in this world, beloved. We are the most blessed people
in this world. Look at this. Now all this was
done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord
by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child.
She shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name
Emmanuel, which being interpreted as God with us. Then Joseph,
being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had
been for him, took unto him his wife. and knew her not until
she brought forth her firstborn son and he called his name Jesus. Oh my. Now he grew up, the Lord
Jesus Christ grew up in a village in Nazareth. At the age of 30,
he began to publicly proclaim his divine mission. And then
after his death on Calvary's tree and his glorious resurrection,
Up in the glory, he's now seated at the right hand of the Father,
having completed the work, having completed the mission of saving
his people from their sins. It's already done. Isn't that
marvelous, Brother Travis? Think it's been done 2,000 years?
We didn't even know about it. I was living my life, doing my
thing. Silly. but living for the flesh. And then God intervened. Is that
what happened to you? He intervened in our lives, didn't
he? My, oh, my. Saved us from all our sins. Born
again by the Holy Spirit of God. You ever think of this? Jesus
never traveled out of Israel. You know, here's the greatest
preacher in the world, and he didn't go nowhere. And yet, his message is proclaimed all
over the world. Because he's God. God in the
flesh. Do you know, do you ever think
of this? Empires have rose through the, pagan empires have rose
through the centuries. Greece, Rome, Persia, mighty,
mighty, the Medes and the Persians. Mighty empires, like I mean.
Huge empires. and they've had their religions.
Egypt also had a huge, right? All these places, they all had
their gods and they're all gone. And who remains? The one true living God, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there's been new gods that
have sprung up now. But they're all false gods. They're
not true. They're figments of our imagination. They have no power. And I don't
care what people think. There's only one way to glory. There's only one way to the Father. And his name is Jesus Christ.
Think of this, God himself, God himself said this, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the
life. No man or woman cometh unto the
Father but by me. That's God himself. Proclaiming
that he is the only way, despite what we think. Sometimes we might
think we're pretty smart. We don't know nothing when it
comes to spiritual things. We really don't. And you and
I who believe, we're learning, aren't we? But we're just scratching
the surface, aren't we? But that little bit we know,
oh, praise God. He saved my soul. He saved me. It's wondrous. It's absolutely wondrous. So
he never traveled outside the border of the small country he
was born in. He never wrote a book, yet more books have been written
about him than anyone else in the world. Oh my. He never invented anything,
yet all the inventions date their patents from the time of his
birth. He turned BC into AD. My, oh my. He never owned anything and yet
every man is eternally poor without him. And he's made the poor,
we who are spiritually poor, he's made us rich in Christ.
And I'm not talking what them word of faith people talk about.
We are rich. We have all spiritual blessings
in Christ, beloved. And all the promises of God are
yea and amen in Christ for us. We are the most wealthy people
in this world. We might not have paper money, but all our treasures
are in heaven, aren't they? They're in Christ. They're in Christ. My oh my. So he never invented anything.
He never owned anything. But again, every man and woman
is eternally poor without Him. And then He willing, He comes
to this earth, He lives a perfect life, absolutely sinless. See, He's doing that for you
and I, beloved, that we might be made righteous before God. He lives the perfect life. You
know, we get mad at people, don't we? We get frustrated with people.
Right? Even our own loved ones sometimes.
Right? We could be driving down the
road and blow up at somebody in our car that cut in front
of us or did something to us. Or we could just have a bad day
and be grumpy, right? Let's be real. Do you know it's easier to be
grumpy than it is to be joyful? I'll tell you what, I don't have
a problem being grumpy. I can make that up all myself.
But it's the Holy Spirit that works in us. And I'm not gonna
say we create that joy, because we don't. It's the Holy Spirit
that's in us that creates that joy. When we start thinking about
the things of Christ and what he's done for us and how blessed
we are above all people in this world, that all our sins are
forgiven, everyone, I mean even the blackest sin we can ever
think of is washed under the precious blood of Christ, we
become joyful. He's wonderful. Oh, what mercy
I've received. What grace I've received. What
forgiveness I've seen. What pardon I've received in
and through Christ Jesus, my Lord. And now we praise him. That's
amazing all in itself. But he, and the reason we do,
somebody asked, well, why do you love him so much? Why do
you praise him so much? Let me tell you this. Let me
tell you this. He willingly went to the cross
for me and for his people. Willingly left heaven to save
me from my sins and to save all who believe on him. Willingly. Think of this. He didn't stop
the man who crucified him. He could have said, you're dead,
and they'd all have dropped dead. He's laying there and they're
hammering nails through His hands. And He's allowing it to happen. That's love, because if He hadn't
done that, if He hadn't died on the cross, we would never
be saved. But remember, He shall save His
people from their sins. It was never in doubt in His
mind what He would do. He's going to the cross, and
I love this, I love this. His mind was upon us. His bride, the people He's going
to redeem. Remember, there's never been
a time when He's never loved us. There's never been a time when
his love for us has never changed. Now, did we know that? I didn't
know that. If you had said to me, if you
had said to me 40 years ago, Wayne, Jesus loves you, I'd have
laughed at you. But he did. And I didn't have a clue. That's what makes it so wondrous,
isn't it? That's what makes it so wondrous.
So there he is. He's allowing them to drive those
nails through his hands and his feet. He allowed them to plot
the crown of thorns upon his head. He allowed them to thrust
the spear in his side. He willingly dies upon the cross
to save his people from their sins. And that's the whole reason he
was born. That's the whole reason He came
into this world. What power is on display at the
cross? What power of restraint is on
display at the cross? And remember this, too, we've
talked about this. The eternal wrath of God that
was due us fell upon the eternal Son in our room and place. Because
if someone's in hell, they're in there for eternity, aren't
they? So the eternal wrath that was
due us and all of God's elect fell upon Him. I ask you, has
there ever been a greater manifestation of love than that? There hasn't
been, has there, Brother Travis? That He would bear the eternal
wrath that was due us, and not just us, but every one of God's
elect at the same time. And then he cried those wondrous
words that we rejoice in, brother, it is finished. The work's done. Finished means there's nothing
to be added to it, right? Why do we little human beings
think that we can justify ourselves before God by something we do?
We can't. We so can't justify ourselves
that God himself became a man to save us from our sins. Isn't that amazing? This is a
wondrous message. The message of Christ dying on
the cross is wondrous. What powers on display that the
Son of God would die for the sins of his people, that he would
willingly give up the ghost, willingly give up his life. Listen
to this. It was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness
over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened,
and the veil of the temple was right in the midst. And when
Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, unto thy hands
I commend my spirit. And having said this, he gave
up the ghost. He willingly gave his life up.
Willingly. Willingly. Isn't that amazing? You know,
he was born to die. He was born to die. We're born and
we live. He was born with the goal of
dying. Isn't that amazing? Let's look
at that text Tom read again. Look at this. Look at verse one,
Luke chapter two. It came to pass in those days
that they went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the
world should be taxed. Now this was not normal. This
didn't happen all the time. This decree went out from Caesar
Augustus according to the will and purpose of God. Because Mary
and Joseph must end up in Bethlehem. Because remember Micah? Proclaimed
that Christ would be born in Bethlehem. So look at this. An unsaved ruler, a wicked man,
says, well, I need to tax all the people in my empire. I need
them to go back to their home cities and towns so we can count
them all. And according to how many of
them are, we're going to tax them. Do you see how God's all behind
the scene orchestrating? Look at this. Here we go. We're
going to see God's providence at work, beloved. And thus, and this taxing was
first made when Cyrenus was governor of Syria. And all went out to
be taxed, every one to his own city. Now Joseph is living in
Galilee with Mary, look at this, in the city of Nazareth. And
Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth unto
Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem. It's
called the house of bread in the Hebrew. Who's the bread of
life? Christ. Look at this. This is
wonderful. Because he was of the house and
lineage of David. to be taxed with Mary as a spouse
wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they
were there, their days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
Okay, so the Messiah is prophesied in Micah to be born in Bethlehem
and to be born of a virgin, right? But Joseph and Mary live in Galilee. Well, all of a sudden, this unsaved
emperor again said, I'm going to tax everyone. And now we see
that Joseph and Mary are in the city of Bethlehem, the town of
Bethlehem, where David was from. And it says, her time had come
for her to deliver the baby, and the Messiah is going to be
born in Bethlehem, just how the Old Testament prophesized. Oh my. And she bought forth her firstborn
son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger
because there was no room for them in the inn. Again, as I
mentioned earlier, I remember several commentators saying,
our human hearts have no room for Christ in our natural state.
And this is a picture of how we as the world have no room
for Christ. No room for him. Don't want him,
right? And there were in the same country
shepherds abiding in the field. Now, as you were reading this,
Tom, as Tom was reading this, I was thinking something really
neat. Okay, so there's the world with no room for Christ, right? What are shepherds? Common people. Common people, aren't they? They're
not super rich, they're not super famous, they're just common folks. Not many wise, not many noble
we're called, but God had called the fullest things in the world,
common. Oh my, this is wonderful, beloved. See, salvation's not dependent
upon our standing or our social place. It's all dependent upon
the grace and mercy of God. And here's these lowly shepherds,
I'll tell you. People who, people who, people who, you walk by
them and don't even think anything of them. Oh, look at this. And they were
in the same country, shepherds dividing in the field, keeping
their watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of
the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round
about them, and they were sore afraid. Look at this. Remember those two words again?
And the angel said unto them, Fear not. Oh, don't you love
those words? Fear not. That's what God says
to us in Christ. Fear not. For behold, I bring
you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
And all people there, notice that, that's the Jews and the
Gentiles. Salvation is for Jew and Gentile
in Christ. Look at that. Isn't that wonderful? For unto you is born in this
day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Born
a Savior, born a King. And this shall be a sign unto
you, you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger. And suddenly, look at this, could
you imagine this? There was with the angel a multitude
of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, glory to God
in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. Do you know, they are declaring
the birth of the great peacemaker. the only one, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who we have peace with God through. We sinned against
God, we rebelled against God, but we've been reconciled to
God by the great peacemaker, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
why we must preach Christ. This is why we must. We have
to preach Christ. I don't have anything else for
you. And I know you like that, and I do, too. Isn't it wonderful? I'll ask you, is Christ enough? Someone asked Scott Richardson
one time, all you do is preach Christ. And he said, can you
put that on my tombstone, please? Just put it on my tombstone.
He only preached Christ. That would be wonderful. Oh,
my. He's all we need, isn't he? And
I'll tell you this, sinner friend, all that a sinner needs is Christ.
All that a sinner needs is found in Christ, and it's God who provided
him. Think of that. The very one we
sinned against provided Christ. Greater love has no man than
this. The man laid down his life for
his friends. And Christ laid down his life
for his people. It's glorious. Absolutely glorious. Brother Brian, can you close
us in prayer?