Habakkuk opens his prophecy with
these words as a foretaste of the coming of the gospel. The
burden which Habakkuk, the prophet, did see. O Lord, how long shall
I cry and thou wilt not hear? Even cry out unto thee of violence
and thou wilt not save. Why dost thou show me iniquity,
and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are
before me, and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked,
and judgment doth never go forth, for the wicked doth compass about
the righteous. Therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. Behold ye among the heathen,
and regard, and wonder marvellously, for I will work a work in your
days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. Behold
ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously, for
I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though
it be told you. Now Habakkuk's lament about the
state of the nation and the world around him at the time of how
he cried unto the Lord because of the sin and the wickedness
and the violence all around is a lament that we could cry today. The law is slacked and judgment
doth never go forth and the wicked doth compass about the righteous. Therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. Oh how the wicked vaunt themselves. Oh how their hand is raised up
against almighty God. How few regard God and His ways
in our day and generation. How wickedness is seen on every
side. And how this vexes the child
of God as it vexed Habakkuk. For God seems to be allowing
these things to go on. And judgment seems to be held
back. and foolish men are led to believe
that they can rage against God and do what they like with impunity. Why do the heathen rage and the
people imagine a vain thing? The psalmist says. The people
go on in their mockery of God and their mockery of the people
of God and in doing what they like as though there is no God
and God's judgment is held back but God promises that there is
coming a day when he will do a great work that you would not
imagine Behold ye among the heathen, you heathen, you who rage at
God, you who mock God, behold and wonder and regard and wonder
marvellously, for I will work a work in your days which ye
will not believe though it be told you. I will bring things
to pass which are unbelievable which are remarkable, which are
beyond comprehension, and which the fools of sinners that we
are will not and do not believe. We can't believe these things,
and yet God promised them, and God brought them to pass. In
Acts chapter 13, the apostles go forth preaching the gospel
and declaring to a fallen and a sinful world at that time and
in that generation of what God had brought to pass. This which
Habakkuk prophesied of had come to pass in the death and the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the people in Christ's generation
wicked as that former generation and wicked as today's generation
put Christ to death and they thought they'd silenced God they
thought they'd silenced this message and yet in reality they
had brought God's purposes to pass because in destroying this
man in taking this man Jesus Christ and nailing him to a tree
and crucifying him in putting him to death they brought to
pass all the promises of God that he determined to bring to
fulfilment, they brought them to pass, God would send a saviour,
God would provide a sacrifice and that man would bear the sins
of his people and in laying down his life, he bore the sins of
his people, he suffered under the wrath and condemnation of
God. and He set His people free. Those who crucified Him, those
who called for Him to be crucified, those who sought to silence Him,
thought they had gained a victory, thought they had won, thought
they'd put this man who claimed to be the Son of God to death,
thought they'd heard nothing more from Him, but in putting
Him to death, He wrought a victory over sin and the devil and Satan. He delivered his people from
their sins. And on the third day he rose
again victorious from the grave. He was resurrected. He conquered
death. And he sent forth the message
of his gospel. through the mouths of his apostles
to the four corners of the world to make known that of which Habakkuk
prophesied. Behold ye among the heathen and
regard and wonder marvellously for I will work a work in your
days which ye will not believe though it be told you. And in
coming to these people the apostles preach of Christ and preach of
his death and preach of his resurrection and warn those who despise that
what they are preaching is a fulfilment of what the prophets declared
is a fulfilment of what Habakkuk declared They say, Be it known
unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man Jesus is
preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that
believe are justified from all things from which he could not
be justified by the law of Moses. from which ye could not be justified
by the law of Moses. Now therefore, lest that come
upon you which is spoken of in the prophets, behold ye despises
and wonder and perish. For I work a work in your days,
a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare
it unto you. They say plainly unto their hearers,
if you reject this message, if you shut your ears to it, if
you try to silence it, you're doing what Habakkuk said you
would do. You're being amongst those who
despise this message. And yet, God has brought it to
pass. Behold, look! Look, you who despise
it! Look, you who reject it! Look,
you who bury your head in the sand and hope it will go away!
Behold! Wonder! Look at this! And if you remain in your hatred
of the truth, If you remain in your unbelief, you will perish. Because God works a work in your
days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man
declare it unto you. God has done something remarkable, truly remarkable. He's offered
up His Son, and taken away the sins of his people. He saved
them by stretching forth his mighty hand and his son, though
he was crucified and slain by you who despise him, has risen
again from the dead. And his message has risen up
from the dead. His message has come forth from
the grave. You cannot quench it. you try
to take him and his message and put it in the ground and here
it is and it's come forth in power unto you and you today
may take the gospel and shut your ears to it and try to bury
it and try to silence it and try to silence those who come
and preach it but it will come forth out of the grave with greater
power and with greater force and if you remain in your unbelief
and if you continue to despise you will perish because it is
you setting yourself against Almighty God and you cannot win
And you cannot prevail, no matter how many there are of you, no
matter how much power you may think you have, no matter how
much freedom you may think that you have in this day and age
to declare your ideas. You are setting yourself up against
Almighty God and you will perish. What a warning. to us in this
day. Each and every one of us who
shuts our ears to the Gospel and who tries to go another way
and declare things against the truth of Almighty God. How many
there are in this day and age who would go another way, who
would say these things are not true. who would preach another
message, another ideal, another way of living, another idea of
what is right and wrong. I would think that because the
sun rose up this morning and I got out of bed and I'm still
alive and saying these things, they think that because they
can do this, and you think that because you can do this, that
you have a freedom and a liberty which will continue. When the reality is that the
freedom and the liberty you have is a freedom and a liberty that
God has given you to put a noose around your neck. You heap up
coals upon your own heads. Behold ye despisers. Look at the gospel. Behold the
truth. Hear the word. For if you despise
it, you will perish for God works a work in your days a work which
ye shall in no wise believe though a man declare it unto you though a man declare it unto
you Though we come and preach this message unto you, though
we say unto you plainly that God sent His Son Jesus Christ
into this world to save sinners like you and me, to save sinners,
to deliver them from their sins, though we say unto you that eternal
life and salvation is to be found in Christ and Christ alone, ye
cannot believe it. I work a work in your days, a
work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare
it unto you. No matter how plainly stated
it is, no matter how true it is, your natural blindness and
sin means you cannot believe it, and you will not believe
it. So you despise it, and you seek
to silence it, and you seek to silence the messengers of this
gospel. And in doing, you set yourself
up against Almighty God. Oh how foolish we are by nature. What a foolish generation we're
living in that thinks because Christians and the Gospel have
been marginalised and set to a side because they're not everywhere,
because we can't hear them, because we shut our ears to them, because
we listen to other things. And other people and other messengers,
they're out of the way, they're in the past. What a foolish generation
to think that because you try to trample these things underfoot
and bury them and ridicule them that they are not true and that
they will not come to pass. These things are true. Habakkuk's
prophecy concerning Christ came to pass and the disciples quote
him as a reminder to that generation and to our generation that these
things spoken of Christ came about and they continue to come
about God continues to preach his gospel in the darkness of
this world he continues to send forth the light and if you continue
to despise and reject it you will perish Acts chapter 13 starts off with
the disciples travelling forth. They were sent forth by the Holy
Ghost. They came to Salamis and preached
the Word of God in the synagogue of the Jews. And then when they
had gone through the isle unto Paphos they found a certain sorcerer,
a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus. which was
with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man,
who called for Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the word
of God. But Elymas, the sorcerer, for
so is his name by interpretation, withstood them, seeking to turn
away the deputy from the faith. So they come to this island and
they come to the deputy on the island and the deputy wanted
to hear the message they had to preach. He wanted to hear
the word of God from them. He had an interest. But here
comes this sorcerer, Elimas, who did all he can to turn the
deputy away and to silence these preachers of the gospel. He withstood
them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul,
who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his
eyes on him and said, O full of all subtlety and all mischief,
thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt
thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now,
behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt
be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately
there fell on him a mist and a darkness, and he went about
seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he
saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine
of the Lord. Now what a thing to come about.
Paul speaks directly to this enemy of the truth. He speaks
filled with the Holy Ghost, setting his eyes upon him. He speaks
directly to him. Here was this man, this sorcerer,
who did all he could to prevent others from hearing the truth.
And Paul sets his eyes upon him and says, O full of all subtlety
and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all
righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways
of the Lord? And now behold, the hand of the
Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun
for a season. how directly he speaks to him. And how directly would we speak
unto you, you who follow in his footsteps, you who despise the
truth, you who would prevent others from hearing the truth,
you who would say, don't listen to them, don't listen to that
message, go this way instead. You who, like this sorcerer,
are full of subtlety which you gain from your father, the devil,
the serpent, the father of lies, that subtle serpent that comes
along and casts doubt upon the Word of God. Hath God said, is
it true? full of all subtlety and all
mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness,
wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? Well,
will you not? Whoever you are and wherever
you are, listening to me today, are you like the deputy who wanted
to hear the word of the Lord? and who, when he saw what was
done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.
Are you hungry to hear the Word of God? Do you want to hear the
Gospel? Do you want to hear Jesus Christ? Do you want to know Him? Do you
want to know salvation? Do you want to know where you're
headed when the years of your life come to a close, for your
life is brief? Where are you going? Where will
you be in eternity? Do you want to know? Do you care? Does it matter to you? Or are
you like this sorcerer, an enemy of all righteousness, a child
of the devil? full of all subtlety and all
mischief, who does all he can to silence the truth. Are you
like him? Do you try to close your ears
to this message? Do you shut your eyes to this
message? Do you block it out? And do you
not only try to avoid it yourself, but do you try to prevent it
going forth that others might hear it? Do you try to prevent
others from hearing this message? Do you speak all sorts of evil
against it? Do you call it hateful things? Do you say that it's evil when
it's truly good? And you promote evil and call
evil good and good evil? These disciples who went about
preaching salvation and the love of God in Jesus Christ, do you say that they preach hate
and condemnation? Do you take the love of God and
turn it into hate? And do you take the hate of man
and turn it into love? Do you take the righteousness
of God and say it's evil? And do you take the wickedness
of man and say it's righteous? Do you seek to pervert the right
ways of the Lord? You're one or the other. You're
either like the deputy who was hungry to hear the word of the
Lord and in the end believed. Or you're like this sorcerer.
He does all he can to destroy and oppose and silent and pervert
the right ways of the Lord. You're one or the other, there's
no neutral reaction and there's no neutral place. But what became of that sorcerer? What became of him? What became
of this man who despised? He was blinded. He set himself
against God, he set himself against the apostles and their message
and in so doing shook his fist against Almighty God and Paul
filled with the Holy Ghost said, the hand of the Lord is upon
thee. And thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And if you're like him today,
that's exactly the state you're in. God have blinded your heart
and blinded your understanding. Oh, you might be able to walk
around in this world for the few moments that you live here
with your eyes open, seeing what you can see and touching what
you can touch and having what you have in this world for a
brief moment, but you're blind. And when you pass from this world
to the next, your blindness will have condemned you, except and unless you are brought
to hear this message as the deputy heard it. Behold, ye despisers,
and wander and perish, for I work a work in your days, a work which
ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto
you. Look, behold, look at this, look at this message. Look to
Jesus Christ and wonder. And if you despise, and if you
reject, and if you close your eyes and shut your ears, you,
like that sorcerer, will perish. And yet God has done this great
work. And that is why the apostles
came to Paphos and to Antioch and to all these places to declare
it. They came first to the Jews. And they declare unto the Jews
what God has done through His Son. We read from verse 16, in
the synagogue on the Sabbath day, the rulers of the law, the
Jews, said unto the disciples, said unto the men, if you have
any word of exhortation for the people, say on. And in verse
16 we read, then Paul stood up and beckoning with his hand said,
men of Israel and ye that fear God, give audience. The God of this people of Israel
chose our fathers and exalted the people when they dwelt as
strangers in the land of Egypt. And with an high arm brought
he them out of it. And about the time of forty years
suffered he their manners in the wilderness. And when he had
destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their
land to them by lot. And after that he gave unto them
judges about the space of 450 years until Samuel the prophet. And afterward they desired a
king. And God gave unto them Saul the
son of Sis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of
40 years. And when he had removed him,
he raised up unto them David to be their king. To whom also
he gave testimony, and said, I have found David, the son of
Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. Of this man's seed have God,
according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus. When John had first preached
before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people
of Israel, and as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think
ye that I am? I am not he. But behold, there
cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to
loose. Men and brethren, Children of
the stock of Abraham and whosoever among you feareth God, to you
is the word of this salvation sent. For they that dwell at
Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the
voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they
have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no
cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be
slain. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and
laid him in a sepulcher. But God raised him from the dead. And he was seen many days of
them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are
his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad
tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers
God have fulfilled the same unto us their children in that he
have raised up Jesus again as it is also written in the second
psalm thou art my son this day have i begotten thee And as concerning
that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to
corruption, he said, On this wise I will give unto you the
sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another
psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption. For David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep and was
laid. unto his fathers and saw corruption,
but he whom God raised again saw no corruption. Be it known
unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man Jesus is
preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that
believe are justified from all things from which ye could not
be justified by the law of Moses. Oh what a declaration unto these
Jews of who Christ is and what he did. They should have known
him. They should have known him at
his coming. They read the scriptures in the
Sabbath every day and they did not know. And yet he came and
he fulfilled all the prophets. And they in taking him and slaying
him fulfilled the prophets in condemning him. And though they
found no cause of death in him yet they desired Pilate that
he should be slain. What a cutting message to hear. You had him come in your midst,
and you slayed him. And in doing so you fulfilled
all that the prophet said of him. But God raised him from
the dead. And God said of him, Thou art
my son, this day have I begotten thee. You sought to destroy him,
but God brought him to life. You sought to silence him, but
God glorified him. You sought to bring him to nothing,
but God raised him up over all. And so speaking, they quote from
Psalm 2, that Psalm in which we read, why do the heathen rage
and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth
set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against
the Lord and his anointed, saying, let us break their bands asunder
and cast away their cords from us. These despisers, these sorcerers,
you and I by nature. The heathen rage against God
and they imagine vain things. The kings of the earth, the leaders,
the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
his anointed, saying, let us break their bands asunder. Let
us get rid of these old laws that we don't like and bring
in our own laws and our own ways. Let's change the values by which
we live. Let's get rid of these traditions. Let's get rid of the gospel. Let's get rid of the truth. And
live our own way. But what folly! What foolishness! For he that sitteth in the heaven
shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. and he shall speak unto them
in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure, saying,
Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare
the decree the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son, this
day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I shall give thee
the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a
rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's
vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings,
Be instructed ye judges of the earth, serve the Lord with fear
and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son lest he be angry
and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in him. What a message! David wrote it
way back then in the Psalms. Habakkuk repeats the same thing. The apostles repeat the same
thing. And God in his gospel says unto
you in your day and age the same thing. O ye kings and ye rulers,
kiss the son lest he be angry. turn unto Christ from your wicked
ways and your wicked decrees and your wicked laws and your
wicked judgments lest he destroy you for you think you can silence
Christ but God has raised him from the dead he said thou art
my son this day have I begotten thee He rose Him from the dead. He brought Him to life. All mankind
raged together. The heathen gathered themselves
together and they took the Son of God. They took Jesus Christ
and they nailed Him to a tree and they slew Him. They thought
He's gone. He's dead. He's silenced. We've won. and God raised him
from the dead and generation after generation after generation
has attempted to do the same thing and you in your heart attempt
to do the same thing you think that if you silence Christ if
you shut your ears to his message if you shut your ears to the
truth if you silence the preachers of the truth and the people of
God and shut them away then you can prevent this Saviour from having the
victory. And yet God will raise Him and
raise them and raise the message from the grave. He will beget
His Son. He will bring Him to life. He
will bring His people to life from the dead. He will bring
His Gospel up out of the grave and bring it forth again in power. The more you try to put it back
in its box, the more it will come out in power. The more you
try to shut your ears to it, the more God will declare it.
The more you try to silence it, the louder the voice becomes. Behold ye despisers, and wonder,
and perish. For I work a work in your days,
a work which ye shall in no wise believe. And that work begins
with the gospel coming forth unto you and declaring unto you
glad tidings, because despite your hatred, Your hatred of the
truth, your hatred of God, your hatred of Christ, and your hatred
of the gospel, despite your heart's hatred of these things, they
are glad tidings. They are good news for you, for
you to hear. They are glad tidings. They concern
the Son of God and His saving grace. They concern the love
of God. You may be filled with hatred. You may be moved by motives of
hatred even though you speak of love. All you do is designed
to silence the truth and to silence Christ and your desire, your
motives might be motives of hatred but God's message is a message
of love. Christ came into this world to
save his people and he will save them, everyone. And if you're
one of them, no matter what you do, you will be brought to life. God said of Christ, thou art
my son, this day have I begotten thee. And if you're one of God's
sons in Jesus Christ, no matter what you do, there will come
a day when he will say unto you, thou art my son, thou art my
daughter. This day through the gospel,
through the power of Christ, I have begotten thee. I've brought
you to life. I've caused you by the gospel
to be born again. Because I gave my own son as
a ransom for you. Because he suffered for your
sin and your rejection. Because he took your enmity,
he took your unbelief, he took your despising of the truth and
he bore the wrath of God in judgment against it. Because I judged
him and not you. Because I love you. in Christ,
will he say that of you? These apostles came unto these
people and said, we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the
promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the
same unto us, their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus
again. As it is also written in the
2nd Psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Has
he sent you such glad tidings? Does he say unto you by the Spirit
of God, Thou art my Son, and I've brought you to life? Because
of what Christ my Son did in his death, burial, and resurrection
for you a sinner. He did not allow his son Jesus
Christ to remain in the grave. He did not allow him to suffer
corruption. He brought him up from the grave,
living, in order that he might save his people from their sins.
And though that people, like the heathen around them, may
despise, and like this sorcerer, they may do all that they can
to prevent the truth, to turn away others from the truth. They
may withstand all that they can. They may be full of subtlety
and all mischief. They may be childs of the devil. They may be enemies of all righteousness. They may seek to pervert the
right ways of the Lord. You and I may. But if God sent
forth his glad tidings unto you to declare his love in Christ
unto you, then nothing you can do will prevent you from ultimately
turning from your wicked ways and falling down upon your face
before God and saying, have mercy upon me, a sinner. because it's
God's work. It's God's work to save sinners. It's God's work to proclaim his
gospel and you cannot stand in its wake. Behold, I work a work
in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe. No,
you won't and I won't because we can't, we don't, we despise
by nature. But if God changes your heart,
If God sends the glad tidings and causes you to be born again,
causes you, a dead sinner, to live, then you will believe. Because He will give you the
belief, He will give you the faith, and He will cause you
to believe. And He'll cause you to be forgiven
of all your sins. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man Jesus is preached unto
you the forgiveness of sins, because he took away the sins
of his people. He bore the judgment of their
sins. Did he bear yours? and by him
all that believe are justified from all things from which they
could not be justified by the law of Moses nothing you could
do could change it you couldn't cleanse yourself from your sins
your keeping of the law of Moses couldn't cleanse you from your
sins but this man Jesus in bearing the judgment of that law in bearing
the wrath of God took away your sins if you're His, and brought
in the forgiveness of sins, and brought in a free justification
and the righteousness of God. Beware therefore, lest that come
upon you which is spoken of in the Prophets, behold ye despises
and wonder and perish. For I work a work in your days,
a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare
it unto you. These Jews who opposed the disciples
here, the apostles, and stirred up enmity, except God had mercy upon them,
they perished. And God sent forth the Gospel
to the Gentiles. You're hearing this message. because of their enmity. You're
hearing this message because of their unbelief. The gospel
came into all the regions of the earth because the Jews would
not hear and God had promised that he would send it forth to
all people, to those who weren't his people. The word of the Lord
was published throughout all the regions. But the Jews stood
up the devout and honourable women and the chief men of the
city and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled
them out of their coasts. And they shook off the dust of
their feet against them and came unto Iconium and the disciples
were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost. Oh what a contrast
we see. How often men, religious men,
shut their ears to the truth but how the gospel goes forth
unto everyone for whom Christ died it cannot be silenced it
cannot be stopped it cannot be quenched you may despise it but
behold you despisers and wonder wonder wonder at what God has
done wonder at the power of the gospel O you, whoever you may
be throughout all the earth, high or low, great or mighty,
or nothing, wherever you are and whoever you are, wonder because
God is on a throne and God has wrought his gospel and God has
sent forth his gospel and Jesus Christ will save everyone for
whom he died. Everyone for whom he died will
hear this message and you cannot prevent it. You cannot prevent
them hearing. You cannot prevent the power
of the gospel bringing forth its work. Everyone for whom Christ
died will be brought into everlasting life. They will hear God saying
to them, Thou art my son, my daughter. This day I have begotten
thee as I begat Christ. You're one in Him. You're one
with Him. I gave Him for you that He should
live and you should live in Him. This message will come in power
to every child of God throughout all the earth and when the last
one hears and the last one believes then the end will be brought
in and you who despise will be brought to nothing and perish
but you who are filled with the Holy Ghost from on high and brought
to believe and hear will be filled with joy. Oh where are you? Are you like that deputy who
when he saw what was done believed, being astonished at the doctrine
of the Lord? Or will you be like the despiser,
the sorcerer upon whom the hand of the Lord came and who was
blinded forevermore? Have you been blinded with him?
Are you so deaf that you hear nothing? Are you so blind that
you see nothing? Are you so foolish that you understand
nothing? Or has God, in mercy, brought
the Gospel unto you, and opened your ears, and touched your eyes
to see, and granted you understanding, and given you life and faith
in Jesus Christ to see and behold the Saviour? crucified for sinners
who was laid in the grave but whom God brought forth in power
whom God raised again and of whom God could say thou art my
son this day have I begotten thee have you heard? do you believe? do you know? Jesus Christ and the power of
his gospel. Amen.