I'll go to the Lord in prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for allowing us to gather together
by Thy providence and by Thy hand, and we just ask that the
Holy Spirit would illuminate the scriptures and teach us,
Lord, and guide us and direct us as we study Your Word, and
oh, it's so precious to Your people. And Lord, we won't learn
anything unless unless you illuminate the scriptures for us. And so
we pray that the Father, that the scriptures would be open
to us and that we would be directed and guided. And Lord, just grow
in our love for you. We love you and praise you in
Jesus name. Amen. Second Peter, Second Peter, chapter
one. We're going to read verses one
to eleven, verses one to eleven. The name of the message is confirming
your election and calling. Confirming your election and
calling. Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious
faith with us through the righteousness of God and our savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. according as His divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,
through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory
and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust. And beside this, given all diligence, add to your faith
virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance,
and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to
godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity,
which we know as love. For if these things be in you
and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he
that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off.
and have forgotten that he has been purged from his old sins.
Wherefore, the rather brethren, give diligence to make your calling
and election sure. For if you do these things, you
shall never fail. For so an entrance shall be ministered
unto you abundantly in the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. Our text today will be found
in verses 10 and 11. Now, wherefore, there in verse
10, as we know points to that which is already being said by
the Apostle Peter. Now Peter has told us, by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God, that we obtain God's gift of precious
faith. We obtained God's gift of precious
faith. How? Well, we know through the
miracle of the new birth. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. It's a work of God. And this precious faith
comes to us, verse one, through the righteousness of God and
our Savior, Jesus Christ. And Peter's also told us by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God, in verse three, that we are partakers
of the divine nature of God according to his divine power. It's God's
power that hath given us all things that pertain unto life
and godliness. We see that there in verse three. And Peter has
told us by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God that God's
elect are enlightened through the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
And we see all that being brought forth in verses two to seven.
And Peter has also told us by inspiration of the Holy Spirit
of God that God sends the spirit of his son into our hearts under
the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we
know from the scriptures that God, it's God the Holy Spirit
who takes the words that are preached and proclaimed. Because
the Holy Spirit is in us, is in us, and he's the one who teaches
us. We know he guides us into all truth, beloved. It's him
who guides us into all truth. He takes the words of the preacher,
who has the honor of preaching and proclaiming the truths of
the gospel. And what does he do? He reveals Christ to us.
That's what he does. He reveals Christ to us. Again,
look at verse three, and Peter has told us by inspiration of
the Holy Spirit that if we have Christ, we have all things that
pertain unto life and godliness. Peter has told us by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit that all the exceeding great and precious
promises of God are given to the believer, are given to the
believer. And we know that all the promises
of God are in Christ, yea and amen. They're all in him, nowhere
else. All into him unto the glory of God. Last week we looked at
what Peter told us by, again, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
that if God has given us true saving faith, we're to give all
diligence to add to our faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge,
and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and
to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness,
and to brotherly kindness charity. For if you have these things
in you and abound in you, they make you that you'll neither
be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're all part of the fruit
of the Spirit, beloved. The Holy Spirit works that in the believer.
It's not something that we can come up with naturally, not at
all, not at all. And we looked at that too. The
love that we have for the brethren is not a natural love to us,
to us. People, by their natural birth,
do not love the people of God. At all. At all. But we who are
born again by the Holy Spirit of God, we love the people of
God. We have sweet fellowship with
the people of God. Because we all have the same
Father, we all have the same Spirit, and we all have the same
Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 5.22 says this, But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such as there is no law. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. These
are things that the Holy Spirit of God works in us, beloved.
Galatians 5.22. And every born-again child of
God has the fruit of the Spirit. It's the work of the Holy Spirit
in us. And it's brought forth for the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it's God himself who works in us, both to will
and to do of his good pleasure. And the fruit of the Holy Spirit
abounds in us as we grow in the grace and knowledge and truth
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So with that in mind, let's look
at verse 10. Wherefore, the rather brethren, give diligence to make
your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you
shall never fall. Now we've already established
in this study that Peter is writing to true born-again believers.
He tells us those who have obtained like precious faith. It's a gift
from God. It's not something we earn. It's
not something we merit. It's a gift from God. We've obtained
it. It's been given to us by God
himself. And we're born again, again by
the Holy Spirit of God. We've been delivered from the
power of darkness, which is the power of Satan, into the kingdom
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we know there's countless,
countless numbers of professing Christians who have never experienced
the new birth. They've never experienced the
new birth. Many people profess to know Christ, but they've never
been born again. They've never been born again.
Peter bought before us that they're blind, they cannot see far off.
They make the cross of Christ of none effect by adding their
works to their salvation or in saying that they can make themselves
more holy by the things that they do. What are they doing? They're
adding to the perfect work. the perfect, complete work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The work of Christ needs absolutely
nothing added to it. Nothing. Nothing. It's perfect. It's perfect. It's complete.
It is finished. Now contrast the false professor
with the true believer. The true believer only trusts
in the perfect, redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
false professor trusts in their own works. They either trust
in the prayer that they prayed or they trust in something that
they're currently doing for their salvation. But the believer in
Christ trusts in the perfect redeeming work of the Lord Jesus
Christ, plus absolutely nothing, nothing added to it, nothing. We can't make ourselves more
holy, can we? Not at all. We can't save ourselves
from our sins. Not at all. But we know the one
who has saved us. We know the one who's made us
holy. We know the one who we're accepted in. Before God, and
that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all our wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. And the believer is absolutely
complete in Christ. Complete in Him. Just let that
sink in, beloved. We are complete in Christ. totally
complete in Him. Ask yourself this, is Christ
my life? Is Christ my life? Is He everything
to me? Is He my all in all? Peter brings forth in verse 10
that true believers are to give diligence to make your call in
an election, sure. or to examine ourselves. Let's
read verse 10 again. Wherefore the rather brethren
give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you
do these things, you shall never fall. Now the Greek word for
diligence here, the Greek word for diligence here is from a
Greek word which means to use speed, to make effort, to make
effort, to be prompt or earnest. to give diligence, to labor,
to study, wherefore the rather. So we are to give diligence in
the exercise of the graces mentioned in the verses before this verse, which are faith, virtue, knowledge,
temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity,
which is love. Then we see the true believers
give diligence to make their calling and election sure. They
examine themselves. They examine themselves to see
if they're in the faith. Turn, if you would, to 2 Corinthians
chapter 13. 2 Corinthians chapter 13. 2 Corinthians
chapter 13. Look at verses 5 and 6. Examine
yourselves. Examine yourselves. Whether you
be in the faith, prove your own selves. Know ye not your own
selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates. But Paul here, as well as Peter,
In our study here, Paul tells the believer to examine themselves. Examine yourself, whether you
be in the faith. Examine yourself. We believe,
as the scriptures declare, that we're dead in trespasses and
sins. Do you believe that? Do you believe that in your natural
state you were dead in trespasses and sins, that you had no hope?
Do you believe that? That's what the scripture declares. The true believer believes that
they're unable in and of themselves to come to Christ by faith, that
He must make us willing, that He must save us, that He must
draw us. We all know that a dead man can't
do anything. When someone dies and we see
them, they can't do anything, they're dead. Well, that was
our natural state, beloved. And the true believer believes
that was our natural state. We believe what the scripture
says. We believe what the scripture
says. So a dead man can't do anything and we believe that
it was God who by his grace gave us faith to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Or we never would have believed.
We never would have believed. We'd still be dead in trespasses
and sins if God hadn't saved us. We'd still be there. And we believe, as the Scriptures
declare, the true believer believes, as the Scriptures declare, that
we've been called with a holy calling. A holy calling. A personal, inward, efficacious
call from God Himself. An effectual call. That no one
can resist who's called. I hear folks say, oh, you can,
people can resist. When the Holy Spirit calls a
sinner to Christ, I'm telling you, you cannot resist. You're
going to flee right to Christ. You know why? Why? You know why
I know that? And you know why? You know, that is one of the
blood, blood, blood saints, because it happened to us, didn't it?
And we came, we ran to Christ. There was one minute when we
didn't want to have anything to do with him. And then all of
a sudden we start to get an interest in Christ and the things of Christ.
Oh, my. And then he called us and we
fled them. We fled them. And we believe
this call comes to us by the sovereign life-given power of
God the Holy Spirit. And that the flesh contributes
absolutely nothing to God's quickening. The flesh contributes absolutely
nothing to us being born again. It's all by the power of God.
And we believe, as the Scriptures declare, that our Creator became
a man. our Creator became a man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that
He established a righteousness for us. A righteousness that
we could never establish for ourselves. And that by His perfect obedience
to do the will of God, and we know He did it for His people,
for those who it says here in verse 1, that have obtained like
precious faith, that's who He did it for, beloved. That's who
he obeyed the law of God perfectly for. Are you one of the number
there? Oh, this is wonderful news, isn't
it? And the believer believes this.
Now, religious folks don't believe that because they're trying to
establish their own righteousness by their own works. But the true
believer believes it. We believe that all our righteousness
comes from Christ. All of it. He did it all. He
did it all. And we believe again that faith
is a gift from God. It's given to us by the sovereign
hand of God and that we never would have obtained this light,
precious faith unless God had given it to us. And it's wonderful
because what do we declare? What does a true believer declare?
Salvations of the Lord. From beginning to end, from Alpha
to Omega and everything in between. That's what we believe. And that's
what Peter said, make your call in an election sure. Do you believe
these things? Do you believe these things? Romans 5.19 says, for by one
man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. So we all fell in Adam. We're
all sinners. The believer in Christ, the Scripture
declares, by the obedience of one, of Christ, shall many be
made righteous. Righteous. The unrighteous is made righteous. The sinner is made holy. How? By the sacrifice of the sinless,
spotless Lamb of God. Our sins are imputed to Him,
and His perfect, spotless righteousness is imputed to us. The true believer in Christ believes
that. They take a hold of that. They
take a hold of that. And we've heard the Scriptures
declare and we believe that Jesus our Savior sanctified us and
perfected us forever by the sacrifice of Himself. Now we're still sinners
while we live on this earth, but we're complete in Christ,
Paul writes. And we believe that, don't we?
We believe that. We trust God. We believe what
God says in His Word. We don't question it, we don't
doubt it. And if we come to a portion where we're struggling, we bow
our knee to it, don't we? Because God said it. Because
God said it. And that's sure, because it's
in his word. It's in his word. We believe
that the Lord Jesus Christ was delivered for our offenses, but
we also believe that he was raised for our justification, because
that's what the scriptures declare. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that? If you don't, I pray God would
make it so. And we've heard and believe that that God, our father,
is the one who's delivered his son up for us. For us, he's the
one who freely gives us all things. He's the one who has so perfectly
justified his people through the redeeming work of the Lord
Jesus Christ that absolutely nothing can be laid to our charge.
Imagine that. Nothing. But this work is so
perfect, this work of God, this work of our Savior is so perfect
in redeeming our souls that absolutely no charge can be bought against
us. That's amazing grace, isn't it? That's amazing grace, beloved. It's wonderful. And the believer
rejoices in these truths. That's the question. Do you rejoice
in these truths? God's people rejoice in these
truths. We rejoice. See, Peter's just telling you,
make your election and call it and share. You believe these
things. And you know what? Here's another
point, too. The believer never grows weary
in hearing these truths preached to them. Never, never. Talked to three, four different
preachers in the last couple of weeks, and we were talking
about how the gospel never gets old. Never, ever, ever gets old. Never does. And for God's people,
don't get old. We love it. We absolutely love
it. Tell me more about Christ. Tell
me more about Christ. Now the doctrine of election
is hated by most religious people. They absolutely hate it. Just
talk to someone about it. And they hate it. They hate the
doctrine of election. But the people of God, it's wonderful
to us. It's wonderful to God's people.
Because we know that if he had not chosen us, we'd never chosen
him. Never. Never. And when we look at it Wednesday
night, we're forgiven for all our sins. Why? For Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. All in and
through the Lord Jesus Christ. So we make our calling and election
sure by believing God. By believing God. By believing
His word. By believing His word. By believing what God has revealed
to us through the preaching of His gospel. Do you rejoice each
time the gospel is preached to you? Do you rejoice every time
it's preached? Every time Christ is proclaimed?
Do you thank God for the privilege of having the gospel preached
each week? Of allowing us, look at this,
He allows us to have a church here in Elmont. There's other
places that don't have a church. Don't have anywhere to gather.
It's a great privilege and we should rejoice. And we as believers,
we believe what we hear, don't we? We believe what we hear.
Not everyone gets to hear the gospel. Think of all the cars
that go by as we're sitting in here. They don't care. They just drive
on by. But here we are, gathered together,
desiring to hear the word of God, wanting to hear about Christ
our Savior. That's a privilege, beloved.
That's a great privilege. And it's God who's allowed us
to gather together. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. So not everyone gets to hear
the gospel and then think of this. Not everyone gets to hear
the gospel with understanding. We've been given an understanding.
See, that's why it says, make your call and election sure. Oh, my. It's incredible. It's absolutely
incredible. So we who are the people of God,
we do not align ourselves with those who pervert the true gospel.
No, we preach and proclaim and gather together to hear the gospel
that gives God all the glory, don't we? That's why we gather
together. We gather together so that the
gospel will go forth and that this gospel gives all the glory
to the Lord Jesus Christ. All to him, all to him. Look at verse 10 again. Wherefore
the rather brethren give diligence to make your call and election
sure. For if you do these things, you shall never fall. Here's
a quote by our brother Henry Mahan. The primary concern of
every believer should be to make sure of his calling and election
of God. We cannot look into God's book
of life nor into his eternal decrees. So how are we to know
that we are chosen to life? If I seek first the Kingdom of
God, if I am determined to win Christ and be found in Him, if
to be called of God and accepted in the Beloved is my diligent
concern, if to grow in His grace and in the knowledge of Christ,
my primary object, I shall never fall. Not that I should never sin.
nor that I should never fall into sin, for there's no man
that lives and sins not, but I shall never totally fall from
the mercy and grace of God in Christ." End quote. In short,
the believer just keeps looking to Christ. We just keep looking. We come, we hear the gospel,
we love it, we proclaim, we rejoice over the truths of the gospel,
of God's grace, we rejoice that we have a knowledge of him, Oh my, we rejoice that we're
saved and that we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. It
is our desire as God's people to grow in grace. Turn if you
would to Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. Look at verses 8 to 11. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but dung, that I may win Christ." So everything that
he counted dear to him, now he counts as nothing compared to
Christ. And think about that. Compared
to Christ, everything else is nothing. He's everything to the
believer. He's our all-in-all, beloved.
That doesn't mean we don't care for our families and things like
that, but the things that we once loved have lost their luster. Have lost their luster. And be found in him, look at
this, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith, that I may know him in the power of his
resurrection, in the fellowship of His sufferings, being made
conformable unto His death, if by any means I might attain unto
the resurrection of the dead." Oh my. Every believer's desire
is to grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And these words before us, in
verse 10 there, it says, Wherefore the rather brethren give diligence
to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things
you shall never fall. If ye shall never fall. It's
just another way of saying that Christ, that God will present
us holy and unblameable and unapprovable in His sight, beloved. Here do
it. Here do it. If ye continue in
the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel which ye have heard. Colossians 1, 22 and 23.
There are warnings throughout the Holy
Scriptures, beloved, addressed to God's children to continue
in the faith. to continue in the faith. Warnings
that move God's people to give diligence to make our election
and calling sure. And also remember, that which gives the true believer
in Christ confidence is when the Holy Spirit brings the Scripture
truths close to our souls. Close to our souls. Now let this sink in here. He
which has begun a good work in you, in you, will perform it
until the day of Jesus Christ. What hope that gives the believer.
Philippians 1.6, what hope that gives the believer. Faithful
is he that calleth you, who will also do it. 1 Thessalonians 5.24,
very comforting, very comforting. And then Romans 8.37-39, for
we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. God
keeps his people. He don't let them fall. Now we
may stumble and fall in this life, but we will not fall away
from him. He keeps us forever. Forever. Turn if you would to
Romans chapter 7. Every day in our fleshy weakness
we fail, beloved. Every day in our fleshy weakness
we fail. We don't want to sin. And that's
the other thing too. The true believer don't want
to sin. We hate sin. We absolutely despise it. In
ourselves more than anybody else. But we're plagued with sin all
day long. I don't care how perfect a person thinks they are. They're
plagued every day by sin. Either in your thoughts, right,
or just interactions even. Oh my, my. I remember hearing Donnie Bell
one time, he's preaching a sermon, and he said, he said, good enough
pride in me to burn this whole building down. And he's right
in the middle of a sermon. My, oh my. Look at this in Romans
chapter seven. Oh, every day in our fleshy weakness
we fail. We don't want to sin, but we're
plagued by sin long. Look what Paul brings forth here
in Romans 7, verse 18. For I know that in me that is
in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For the will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For
the good that I would do, I do not. But the evil which I would
not, that I do. Paul's got a constant battle,
beloved. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do
it, but sin that dwells in me. I find in the law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the
law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members,
worn against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity to
the law of sin, which is in my members. O wretched man that
I am! That's a believer writing that.
Do you feel that way ever? Every believer feels that way.
Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? Well, we can't deliver ourselves,
can we? No, but look at this. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord, so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God,
but with the flesh the law of sin. Never forget that every
day we sin. Every day we fail. But for the
believer in Christ, never forget this. Underneath us is the everlasting
arms of God. The everlasting arms of God.
We're in His hands, beloved. We're in His hands all the time.
And He's able. He's able. We're not able. But He's able to keep us from
falling. That means falling away. He keeps
his people, and it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. I
remember one old preacher, reading from the 1800s, he said, he said,
he sins more going from his bed to the breakfast table to damn
a thousand souls. He said, praise God for the everlasting
arms of God. Praise God for God who keeps
us, who keeps us. Oh my, my, we sin, we don't even
know it. We sin, we don't even know it.
But we're kept by the everlasting arms of God and he's able to
keep us from calling. We're in the hands of the great
shepherd, beloved. If you're one of those who have obtained
like precious faith, you're in the hands of the shepherd, the
great shepherd, the great shepherd. He watches over us and what comfort
that brings us as believers. My, it's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. Now let's look at verse 11. For
so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For so an entrance shall be ministered
unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Every true born-again believer
has been translated into the eternal kingdom of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We walk By faith, beloved, not
by sight. We walk by faith, not by sight.
And never forget this, an abundant supply of grace and strength
is given to us, given to us as we go through this world. And
it all comes to us through Christ. It all comes to us through Christ,
the blessed Redeemer. And let us while we wait for
our Lord's return, whether it be at our death or whether it
be when He comes back, let us be diligent and dedicated to
the One who's loved us, the One who's loved us and gave Himself
for us. And let us trust the Lord Jesus
Christ, that He'll give us grace to help in time of need. And
always remember that as long as we're in this tabernacle of
clay, we'll be tested and we'll be tried by our all-wise God. by our all-wise God. He's conforming
us to the image of Christ. And the things that we experience
as we travel through this world, and remember this world is not
our home. It's not our home. The things that we experience
as we travel through this world, they're ordained by God. They're
ordained by God. They're for our good and for
His glory. We don't always understand that. We don't understand that, but
they are. But they are. And what comfort can be found
in these verses when a child of God can prove they're calling
an election. When a child of God proves they're
calling, that they've been called by an effectual call of grace,
then they prove their election. They prove that they're chosen
by God. Because God only calls those who He chose in Christ. For whom He did predestinate
them He also called. Turn with you, if you would,
to Romans chapter 8. We're closed with this. With
that in mind. Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. We'll start
in verse 28 and we'll go to verse 39. And we know, this is something
that God's people know, that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, them He also called. Note who's doing
all the work, beloved. In whom He called, them He also
justified. In whom He justified, them He
also glorified. What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up. for us all. How shall He not
with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Beloved, all our sins are bought
and paid for. And they were bought and paid
for at Calvary's cross. It is God that justifieth. Who
is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather that is risen, who is even at the right hand of God,
who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long,
we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through Him, through Christ that
loved us, for I am persuaded. Paul was persuaded of this truth.
He believed this truth. And as I said, God's people believe
these truths. For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And the believer
says, Amen. Amen. The believers called because
they were chosen by God in eternity. And an entrance has been made
for them. We're going to be in glory. Remember last week we
were bought out? so that we'll be bought in. It's
absolutely wonderful. It's all by God's grace. Heavenly
Father, we thank you for your goodness and mercy and grace
that you've shown your people. And oh Lord, may we all make
our election and calling sure. May we just examine ourselves
to see if we'd be in the faith. And Lord, we who are in the faith,
we do that and we rejoice. We rejoice that you have called
us with an effectual calling, an invincible calling, O Lord,
and that you revealed Christ to us. Father, we are so thankful
for your mercy and goodness and grace to your people. And we
are thankful. We who are your blood bought
saints, that we are counted in that number. Glory to you, O
Lord. All glory and honor and praise in Jesus name. Amen.