In 2nd Chronicles chapter 24,
one chapter back, the scripture sets forth the history of what
I just read in chapter 25. We're looking at a king in chapter
25 named Amaziah. But Amaziah's dad was the king
before that, and it says in 2 Chronicles 24, Joash. Now that was Amaziah,
the sons. This is his dad, Joash. Joash was seven years old when
he began to reign. He reigned 40 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Zebiah
of Beersheba. And Joash did that which was
right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the
priest. And Jehoiada took for him, that
is Joash the king, two wives. And he, the king, begat sons
and daughters. Now, I'm not going to look in
chapter 24. If you'd like to read chapter
24 later, I advise you to do so. But I'm going to give you
some history and come back up to where I was, where we read
a few minutes ago, and I'll go on from there. But just to bring
you up to where all of this comes up to before we start in chapter
25, Joash. Now I'm going to try to not confuse
anybody like I confused myself. You know, a lot of times you
read in the Old Testament, read all these Old Testament names,
and you kind of think, OK, now who is who? Joash. is the dad. His son's name is Amaziah. That's
the son, the king. There was a priest during the
days of the dad, Joash. His name was Jehoiada. Now when
Joash, the king, the dad, was a young boy, Jehoiada, the priest,
found out about a plot where a wicked woman, the mother of
Ahab, you remember Ahab and Jezebel? Okay, the mother of Ahab wanted
the throne. Well, what she was going to do,
she was going to wipe out all the royal blood of which Joash,
the dad, as a young child, was in line to be the king. Well, the priest during the time
of the dad, Joash, Jehoiada, he found out about it. And he
hid a bunch of the kingly, you know, those that would be in
line to reign, you know, of which this king right here, Joash,
when he was a little boy, he got hid by this priest. And when Joash grew up having
been protected by this priest Jehoiada. Now here's Joash the
king. Now he'd grown up from a little
boy and now that same priest that protected him is the priest
still. And this man Joash, the dad,
he found out concerning the temple needed to be rebuilt. And so
here again, all of this is in chapter 24. So he instructs,
the king instructs, he wants the priest and the Levites to
go out and gather the money. He said go out and gather money
and repair the house of the Lord. But the scripture says that they
didn't hasten to do it. So the king decided, he said,
I'll tell you what I'm going to do. He said, I'm going to
take it and I'm going to place a collection chest outside the
gate of the house of the Lord and as the people come by you
just give whatever you want to give. Well, they did. They gave, they gave and they
filled up that chest that came in there and they emptied the
money and they set it back out and it says in day by day, They
were just, you know, collecting the money. Well, they did. They
finished the house of the Lord. And the scripture sets forth
that as long as Jehoiada, the priest, was still alive, they
offered burnt offerings unto the Lord all the time. But then the scripture says,
and this is in 2 Chronicles 24 verse 17, you can just look at
this, the scripture says, Well, it's starting in verse 15, 2
Chronicles 24, 15. But Jehoiada waxed old, full
of days when he died. 130 years old was he when he
died. They buried him in the city of
David among the kings because he had done good in Israel, both
toward God and toward this house. Now after the death of Jehoiada
came the princes of Judah and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto
them. Now what happened was after the
priest Jehoiada that had raised up that little boy, protected
him. God raised him up, put him on the throne and that king Joash,
he rebuilt, got the rebuilding of the temple and Jehoiada the
priest was still there and everything was going well. But Jehoiada
the priest died. When he died there were some
princes in the The men of Belial is what they were. And they came
in and they came to the king, King Joash now, and they started
buttering him up and flattering him. And he hearkened to their
desires to start worshiping idols instead of God. And it says the
worship of God's house was abandoned. They quit doing it. And this
is the same boy, Joash, the king. But even in the midst of Joash's,
the king's rebellion, God sent prophets to warn him of what
he was doing. But Joash wouldn't hear it. And scripture declares that there
was one prophet in particular. Zechariah was his name. He was
Zechariah now, this prophet. You know who his daddy was, was
none other than Jehoiada, the priest that had been there. That
priest had a son, his name was Zechariah, and now here he is,
he's a prophet. And he goes to Joash to talk
to him about his transgression. Look in 2 Chronicles 24 verse
20. And the Spirit of God came upon
Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest, which stood above
the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress
ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? Because
ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you. And the word of the Lord through
this prophet made the people mad. And they were mad, Joash
was mad, and what happened was they stoned that prophet, the
son Zachariah, the prophet. They wouldn't hear what God had
to say and so they stoned him. And the very son of the man that
had protected Joash, Joash the king was in on this. And so as
he was dying, He's being stoned. Look over in verse 22. Thus Joash
the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had
done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, this
is what that prophet said as he was dying, the Lord, look
upon it and require it. He said that prophetically. It's
what he's saying to them. God's not going to forget this.
God's not going to forget what you're doing. Well, a year later. Go home tonight and read this.
It's a wonderful story. A year later, because of the
king's rebellion against God, Joe Ashes, because of his rebellion,
God raises up the country of Syria. and they came against
King Joash and killed all those men that had come over to him
and buttered him up. God killed them and they left
Joash, they didn't kill him at that moment, but they left him
badly, scripture says diseased and greatly wounded, and then
they left him And after they left him, some of Joash's own
servants, now that he's all beaten up and he's defeated and all
the stuff that he had has been taken and sent back to Damascus
and some of his own servants, now he is sickly, very sickly
now. He's going to come to the end
of his life now. And some of his own servants, Scripture says,
come in while he was on his bed and killed him. They buried him
in the city of David. Now, that was the history of
this Amaziah's dad. That's what happened. All of
this happened. That was the life of Amaziah's dad. Should have learned something.
Let's see what God has to say concerning this thing. I've got
three points, three short points that I'd like to bring out out
of this between verses 1 to 9 in chapter 25. of 2nd Chronicles. Here's the three points concerning
this King Joash's son, Amaziah now, who's the king. Here's the
first point. We got a great warning from the
Lord concerning our walk of faithfulness toward God. God warns. Now this is how the Lord deals
with His people. Now these three points, this
is how God deals with all His people. He sends them warnings. Warnings toward faithfulness. Now you know, the Scripture warns
us. Warns us against rebellion. Warns
us to faithfulness. He warns us and He promises us. Promises His faithfulness. Now
listen to these two warnings and a promise. Here is my first
point. We have a great warning concerning our walk of faithfulness
toward God. My second point's gonna be this,
there's an exhortation to us against trusting the arm of the
flesh. The Lord said, don't do that, don't do that. And then
thirdly, we got a great promise that settles a believer's heart.
We'll look at that in just a second. All right, let's look at first
point. Great warning concerning faithfulness before God. In 2
Chronicles 25, here's what we read a while ago. Amaziah, now
the son. of Joash. He was 25 years old
when he began to reign. He reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoadam
of Jerusalem. He did that which was right in
the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart. Now that word perfect right there
means sincere. He did that which was right in
the sight of the Lord, but he didn't do it with a sincere heart. Now hold your place right there
and turn back toward the front of the Bible. 2 Kings chapter 14. Same story is being dealt with,
but it gives us information here that we need. Same boy is being
talked about right here. 2 Kings chapter 14 verses 1-4. In the second year of Joash,
son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, reigned Amaziah, the son of Joash,
king of Judah. He was 25 years old when he began
to reign, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name
was Jehoadam of Jerusalem, and he did that which was right in
the sight of the Lord Now over in 2nd Chronicles it says, but
not with a perfect heart, not with a sincere heart. Now here's
how the Spirit of God moved for this writer to write this book
and say the same thing. 2nd Chronicles he said he didn't
do it with a perfect heart, with a sincere heart. Here he says,
he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not
like David, his father, King David. He did according to all
things as Joe Ash's father did. How be it the high places were
not taken away as yet the people did sacrifice and burnt incense
on the high places. Now what was he doing? He did that which was right. Every time I read that in scriptures,
He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. He did
that which was evil. Every time I read that which
was right in the sight of the Lord, it always lifts my heart.
Boy, I tell you what, to have that epitaph left of your faithfulness,
He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. That's
what I'd like to be said about me. But it says he didn't do
it with a perfect or a sincere heart. Here it says he didn't
do it like King David did. Now, let me tell you something.
David did some, there were some horrible things that were done. And you know that. Every time
you read in a scripture, any reference in the scriptures concerning
when David took Bathsheba. You know what it says? It always
says, you know, he took Bathsheba and Uriah's wife. Always a remembrance,
isn't it, Neil? Always the wife of Uriah. Anytime you think about King
David and you think of Uriah and Bathsheba, you think he took
that man's wife, had her husband killed. But the scripture says that David
was a man after God's own heart. David served the Lord with sincerity. He was sincere. He was a sinner,
just like we are. But Almighty God has set His
affection on him. Aren't you glad for that word
of encouragement? You know, I'm thinking, look,
as I've said before, I don't have anything to be proud of.
You know, myself, past or now. But, here was a man, David, that
walked, he walked after the Lord and he fell. And God sent a prophet
to him. And that prophet came to him
and he said, you know, told the story. You know, man came, looked,
needed a lamb. He had all kinds of lambs. But
he took this guy's one over here and David said, you show me who
that is. I'll have his head. And Nathan said, you're the man.
You're the man. You could have had all the wives
in this kingdom, and you took another man's wife, and you killed
him. You're the man. And David, under
the inspiration of God's Spirit, penned Psalm 51. My sin is ever before me. Against
thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.
Scripture says that Amaziah, he did that which was right,
and we're going to look at a couple of things here, but not with
a perfect heart. He did that which was right over
in 2 Kings, but not like David. He did do it sincerely. Whenever
God sent a prophet to Joash, Amaziah's dad, to tell him what
you're doing is wrong, what did they do? They killed the prophet. And Amaziah, The Scripture says
over in 2 Kings, he did the same thing as daddy did. We are sinners, and we know it,
and we admit it. But I'm telling you, Almighty
God has been pleased to show mercy, and we don't glory in
our sin. God forbid that we should glory.
Shall we sin that grace may abound? God forbid. But David, a man
after God's own heart, he walked sincerely. He admitted what he
was. In Amaziah now, the scripture
says, back in 2 Chronicles 25, he did that which was right. Well, what did he do, that which
was right? Well, look at 3 and 4, verses
3 and 4. 2 Chronicles 25, 3 and 4, And it came to pass, when
the kingdom was established to him, that he slew his servants
that had killed the king, his dad. Remember that? After Syria
came in there and they left his daddy all broken up and diseased
and everything, bedridden. Some of his own, some of Joe
Asher's, that boy's dad, came in there and killed his daddy.
Well, what did he do? Well, as soon as he got on the
throne, guess who the first to go was? The guys that had killed
his daddy. But he slew not, verse 4, he
slew not their children, but did as it is written in the law
in the book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying, the fathers
shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die
for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin. That's
in Deuteronomy 24, 16. That's just basically what it
says. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. We're not sinners because of
the imputation of Adam's sin to us. We were born in sin, but
you know why we're sinners? Because we sin. We sin. All have sinned. The Scriptures
declared that men would not die for their children's sins and
vice versa. And so he did that which was
right in the sight of the Lord. He killed the men that killed
his daddy. They were deserving of death.
But he didn't kill their kids, because the scriptures forbid
it. So therefore, at least outwardly, he made an outward appearance
of doing that which was right. But later, later, Amaziah, the
son here, his insincerity toward God began to show. And he didn't
do. as David did with a sincere heart.
He didn't continue in the worship of God. He did something that
David did. He's going to number the people.
Remember when David did that? We looked at that just a week
or so ago. God asked him, said, what do you want me to do? He
said, I'll leave it up to you, Lord. He sent him three days
of pestilence. God killed thousands, 70,000
I believe, 70,000 men, until God stayed the plague. Well,
here's what this man did. He, after he had gotten some
victories in battle, I tell you the first thing he did, he disregarded
the outward worship of God. And God sent a prophet to him
and told him about it. Now here's the difference now
in this man and David. The Spirit of God kind of gave
us a comparison between these two men. Look at 2 Chronicles,
same chapter, 25. Look at verse 14, 16. Came to
pass after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites
that he brought the gods. Now listen to what he did. He
brought the gods, little g gods, of the children of Seir. Now
these are the gods of the people he just defeated. Okay, he goes
in and You know where I'm going. He goes in there and he takes
those gods and sets them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself
before them and burned incense unto them. Wherefore, the anger
of the Lord was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent unto him
a prophet, which said unto him, Why hast thou sought after the
gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people
out of thine hand? And it came to pass as he talked
with him. Now listen, God sent a prophet
to ask Amaziah. He said, Amaziah, let me ask
you something. You went over there and defeated these people.
And you took their gods, their little g-gods, that couldn't
protect them from you. And you brought them over here
and you set those gods up and you're bowing down to these gods
that couldn't protect them? Have you thought this through?
And look what he says in verse 16. It came to pass, as he talked
with him, that the king said unto him, Art thou made of the
king's counsel? Forbear! Stop preaching to me! I'm not going to hear this anymore.
That's what he's saying. Why shouldst thou be smitten? Then the prophet forbear and
said, I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou
hast done this and hast not hearkened unto my counsel. Amaziah exhibited
the heart of a thorny ground-hearer. One, that it appeared for a while
that he was sincere, but then the thorny ground here, the cares
of this world spring and chokes out what he thought or what appeared
that he had. Give it time. Unless God keeps
a man or woman, they're going to quit. They'll leave. God sent a prophet to this man,
this king, Amaziah, and he said, You couldn't protect him, what
are you doing? He said, you better hush. Who are you to talk to
me like that? I'm the king, don't you realize?
And the prophet told him, he said, God's going to destroy
you. I'm telling you, God's people take heart. Same thing, when
God sent the prophet to David, David's heart was smitten. And
he said, I've sinned against God. Like that prodigal son.
I've sinned against God. I've done it before you. I've
done it. Make me as a hired servant. I'm
not worthy. Not this man. God's people, they take heart
to make their calling and election sure. They seek the Lord. They pray, God keep them. Keep
me from being deceived. Lord, don't let me be deceived.
Just the thought of being deceived means I didn't know it. I thought
it was another way. Lord, don't let me be deceived.
Paul the Apostle declared in 1 Corinthians 9.27, I keep unto
my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means when I
have preached to others. Man, how many times I've read
this scripture right here. I thank Carl. Now here I am preaching.
When I've preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. God's people, they're assured
of the one in whom they believe, but they're not presumptuous.
They know that they have real enemies, this flesh, sin, Satan,
and they're watchful. They're watchful. Amaziah gave
an outward testimony of faithfulness. He was going to execute justice
on those men that had killed his daddy. He wasn't going to
kill their children because that's what the law said. I'm not going
to do that. That's what the law said. But then he did something
that when he was confronted by God's prophet, he resisted again. I'm going to look at one other
thing about him in a minute, but look at that same toward
the end of the chapter of 2 Chronicles 25. He did something that he
shouldn't have done and he lost. Look at verse 27 and 28 of 2
Chronicles 25. It says, After the time that
Amaziah did turn from following the Lord, they made a conspiracy
against him in Jerusalem. He fled to Lachish, but they
went to Lachish after him, slew him there. They brought him upon
horses and buried him with his fathers in the city of David.
That's the end. That's the end of everyone that
rebels against God. They're not going to win. You're not going to win. Here
was a man that God had set on the throne and God sent prophets
and sent prophets and sent prophets and just wouldn't hear, wouldn't
hear. And he lost. So the Lord gives us warning. We all have a warning. Every
believer tonight has a warning toward faithfulness. Do you love
me? Lord, you know I do. You feed
my sheep. Follow after me. Follow after the Lord. Here's
my second point. An exhortation against trusting
the arm of the flesh. Same chapter, 2 Chronicles 25.
Before Amaziah completely exposed his rebellion and ended up dying
because of it, here's something that happened. in verses 5 and
6, 2 Chronicles 25 verses 5 and 6. Moreover, Amaziah gathered
Judah together and made them captains over thousands and captains
over hundreds according to the houses of their fathers throughout
all Judah and Benjamin. And he numbered them from 25
years old and above and found them 300,000 choice men able
to go forth to war that could handle spear and shield. And
he hired also 100,000 mighty men of valor out of Israel for a hundred thousand talents
of silver. Now here's what he did. He killed
those guys that killed his daddy, didn't kill the children, because
that's what the law said don't do. Then he decided he was going
to get his army all built up, you know, before he had gone
over and even went to war against Seir and took those gods. This
is what he was doing. He was building up this army.
But he didn't think he had enough men. I only got 300,000 men. I'm going to kind of, you know,
pad my hand a little bit here, and I think what I'm going to
do is I'm going to hire me some mercenaries. So he assembles
all of his people, 100,000, but then the scripture declares that
he He was going to hire him some men out of Israel. But here was
the problem. Look at verse 7. There came a
man of God saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with
thee, for the Lord is not with Israel to wit with all the children
of Ephraim. Now, Ephraim, who was the brother
of Manasseh, a rebellion. And Ephraim always
set forth those that represented religious apostasy. Hosea 4.17, Ephraim is joined
to idols, let him alone. So Amaziah is going to hire him
100,000 more men to kind of get his army all built up so he's
got plenty Plenty of men. He's going to do it. He's going
to pay them. He paid them. Went ahead and
paid the price. 100 talents of silver. I just looked it up to try to
figure out about how much did he pay. About $1,650,000 would
be about, roughly speaking, in our money today. I'm going to hire me 100,000
men just to go to battle against this country right here, and
I'll give you $1,650,000 to do it." Well, God sent him a prophet. He said, don't do it. Don't go. Scripture says in verse
8, but if thou wilt go, Do it. I'm telling you, this prophet
says, I'm telling you that God has sent me to tell you don't
take those men out of Ephraim. They're Israelites, but they're
rebels against God. Don't look to the arm of flesh
to try to figure out what you're going to do. If you do, If you
do, verse 8, if thou wilt go, then do it. Go ahead and be as
strong as you possibly think you can with your 400,000 men. God shall make thee fall before
the enemy. Why? Because you've trusted in
the flesh. You've trusted in the arm of
your flesh. God has power to help and to
cast down. Now that right there. I'm telling
you, I could take that verse of scripture right there and
we could just preach a message out of that. God has power to
help. God Almighty, number one, has
power. God has power. The scripture
says forth, God Almighty, all power, Matthew 28, 18, is given
unto me in heaven and earth. Now when that prophet said, God
hath power, the Lord qualified that statement. He said, I have
all power. Somebody say, well yeah, God
has power, but Satan has power too. All power is given unto
me, and since he has all power, as we've said before, how much
is left? None. All power. He has all power. God has power in creation. Listen to John 1, 3. All things
were made by Him, and without Him was not anything that was
made, made. He's all powerful in salvation. John 17, 2. As thou hast given
Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given Him. He's all powerful in providence.
When He calmed the raging sea, And his apostles look at it and
they said, what manner of man is this? For he commandeth even
the winds and water and they obey him. And then he's all powerful
concerning our needs. But my God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. The
prophet came to Amaziah and he told him, he says, God hath power
to help Listen to this, let me just read this to you. Isaiah
41, verse 10. Isaiah 41, 10. Fear thou not,
for I am with thee. Now listen, listen to this. Fear
thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee. Yea,
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. God hath power to help. And he said, God hath power to
help and to cast down. Listen, I'll read this to you.
Jeremiah 6. Jeremiah chapter 6. Verse 13
to 15. For from the least of them even
to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness. From
the prophet even unto the priest, everyone dealeth falsely. They
have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly,
saying, Peace, peace. When there was no peace, Were
they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No. They were not
at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they shall
fall among them that fall. At the time when I visit them,
they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. This prophet came to
Amaziah and he said, Amaziah, listen to me. These men that
you've hired, don't take those men that you've hired and paid
them that money. He said they are rebels against
God. Don't look to those rebels against
God to bolster your army and think that you are going to make
it better for yourself. God is all powerful. God can help you. God can cast
doubt. If you go with those men, you
are going to lose. Look not to the arm of flesh.
Don't. I need to hear this. You do too.
And then lastly, here's a great promise that settles and comforts
the heart of God's own. When the Lord sent that prophet
to Amaziah to warn him against the battle, he came and told
him, he said, now Amaziah, if you go with those men that you've
hired, that you've already hired, You already gave them the money.
You didn't seek God. You didn't ask at the Lord's
hand. You didn't seek the Word of the Lord. You got them already
hired. And if you go, it's not going
to go well for you. And here's what he was concerned
about. Verse 9, And Amaziah said to
the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents
which I have given to the army of Israel? Yeah, but what about the $1,650,000
that I sent them? What about all that money that
I've poured over? And then that's when the prophet
told them, he said, Jehovah is able to give thee much more than
this. You're worrying about You're
worrying about the money, and I'm telling you that God's going
to defeat you. He's cast you down if you rebel against God,
and you're worried about the money that Almighty God says,
God can give you. Oh my! Has the Lord saved us from the
power of sin? and given us much more. That's what I entitled this message
tonight. Much more. That's what he said.
The Lord is able to give thee much more. Much more. The Scripture declares in the
Lord saving us from the power of sin, moreover, the law entered
that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. He has given us in having saved
us out of our sins. He's granted us something. He's
granted us faith to believe and to trust Him in the midst of
these trials. 1 Peter 1.7 says that the trial
of your faith, and how often has our faith tried? and proven
to be sincere, proven to be that which causes us to trust the
Lord, that the trial of your faith, that faith being much
more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried
with fire, should be found unto praise and honor and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ. Now let me ask you this in closing.
If the Lord has been pleased to everlastingly love a people. Choose those people and put them
in Christ. If Christ has eternally purposed
to betroth them unto himself and promises, promises And the
Father has trusted Him. I will finish the work that you've
given me. And the Father trusted Him. Saw
the Lamb slain from the foundation. Knew it so. Chosen us. Christ came into this world and
redeemed us. Redeemed us by grace, power,
blood. Regenerated us by His Spirit. Called us out of darkness under
the preaching. Raised up in assembly. put you
here by the grace of God, taught you the gospel, gave you faith
to believe Him. Let me ask you this. If God's
been pleased to call us, save us through His precious Son,
grant us faith, send His Spirit, seal us, teach us, keep us, secure
us, give us faith to believe Him, do you think He's going
to fail to provide for our daily needs? until He's pleased to
call us home. If He's given us all of that,
listen to this, if you then, being evil, know how to give
good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father,
which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask of Him? God sent a prophet to this rebellious
king, and He told him, He said, don't take Don't take those that
you hired. They're rebels against God and
God's not going to use them. You take them now, God's going
to put you down. I'm telling you right now, God,
you're going to lose. And you know what happened eventually?
He did. What about the money? The prophet said, the Lord is
able to give thee much more than that. I'm reminded of a story I told
you one time. Don Fortner's daughter, Faith,
married a man named Doug. And he's a delightful, delightful
man. Some of you may know him. And
Doug came to Don one time. He said, can I borrow your crescent
wrench? Don said, I gave you my daughter.
Don't you think I'd give you a crescent wrench? The Lord is
able to give us much more. Oh, as we're exhorted to faithfulness
in the Lord. To not look to the arm of flesh
and to remember the promise of God. God is able, all powerful. Oh, may the Lord teach us afresh. through this blessed passage
of Scripture, to behold the wonder of God's sustaining grace to
His people for Christ's sake. Amen.