All right, brethren, we're going
to be in Isaiah 54. Isaiah 54. Title of this message, the covenant
of my peace. That's what the Lord calls for
his everlasting covenant of grace, the covenant of my peace. Read
here, Isaiah 54, verse 9. It says, for this is as the waters
of Noah For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no
more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth
with thee. Now, we all like to hear things. Do you like something that's
sure? If it's a good thing and it's a sure thing, we like that. In this world, everything that's
of this world, there is nothing that is sure. The world is constantly
changing. Everything is constant. God has given something that
is sure is immutable, unchangeable, never changing, always the same. And it's the covenant of his
peace, covenant of his peace. And here's why I'm sure that
could be in verse five. But I make their The Lord of hosts is his name. That means he rules everything. Everywhere. In heaven and earth. Everything. Seen and unseen.
The Lord of hosts is his name. He needed to be saved from the
curse of the law. He's God's redeemer. We have to be holy to be accepted
of God. We have to be perfect to be accepted
of God. He's the Holy One of Israel. He is the God of the whole Earth. The God of the whole Earth, something
He calls. We need one who's powerful in
all lives to call out His sheep from the four corners of the
world. And He is that one, the God of the whole Earth. Now, in looking at God's covenant,
God's covenant is sure because God does all of the works. He has left nothing in our hands.
If He left one word for salvation to be in our hands, we may cease
to be sure. God performs from Alpha to Omega. all the works of salvation are
of our Lord. That's why His covenant that
He makes to those He calls is sure. It's ordered in all things,
and it is sure, because God fulfills every covenant promise. I like
how in Romans 4, He's telling us why salvation is by faith. And this is why he said, it is
a faith. I need my grace. Again, the promise,
the covenant might be sure all the same. See, faith is just
to save me, to save me. Faith is trusting him to do all
the work in salvation and therefore it's through faith that the covenant
promise of God might be sure to all his elect see. And God goes above and beyond
in his scriptures, brethren, to make us know and to assure
us of his covenant promises, to assure us that they are unbreakable,
and that nothing will change His covenant toward us. God goes
above and beyond to make sure we know that. God's willing that
we have some assurance. We can tell that by how many
times the Lord over and over speaks of His covenant and how
He swore and how He made an oath and how He assures us over and
over that His covenant will never change. It's all in and by His
Son. Now, I wanna look at three things
here. The first is we're gonna see how Noah and the Ark pictured
Christ and the covenant we have due to Christ. And secondly,
we'll see why it's so sure. And then thirdly, we will actually
look at what God promises us right here in this text. First
of all, God declares his covenant with Noah pictured God's covenant
grace. The Lord's telling us right here
in our text that that's what Noah and the ark and the covenant
he made. It was to picture his covenant
of grace. He says in verse nine, for this is as the waters of
Noah unto me. For as I have sworn that the
waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I
sworn that I would not be wroth with thee nor Jesus. And Noah pictured the
Lord Jesus. The ark and Noah both typified
Christ. Now by God's grace, Noah built
the ark. He obeyed God and he built the
ark. He was a sinner like you and
me. He did that by grace. But brethren, our Lord Jesus
came down obeying God. He came from heaven to this earth
in obedience to God the Father. He took on him the form of a
servant and he obeyed God. From the day he was born to the
day he cried it is finished and gave his spirit to the Lord.
He obeyed God and it's his obedience by which we're saved. Not mine,
not yours, it's his obedience by which we're saved. Our Lord
Jesus went to that cross and what he did in going to the cross
is the love, the righteous love that the law requires. It's what
the law requires, is righteous love. And that's what you see
on Calvary's cross. Perfect love to God the Father
and perfect love to his people. And he did it by laying down
his life, pouring out his blood unto death. He did it to declare
God's righteousness, how that God's just and a justifier, And
in the process, he did it to justify his people and make us
to righteousness of God in him. You see, it's not, we want to
obey the Lord. When he gives you a new heart,
you want to obey him. And you would keep every law
of God if you could. And in your heart, in the new
man, as Paul said, with the mind, I myself serve the law of God,
but with the flesh, the law of sin. But it's not our obedience
that saves us. It's the obedience of the Lord
Jesus, his perfect righteousness. And that day that that flood
came in Noah's day, that was God's judgment of the whole earth
in that time. And that's what the cross was.
The cross was judgment day for this world. That was the day
the devil's power was taken from him as far as God's people. Christ,
when he was going to the cross, he said, now is the judgment
of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. By God the Father's grace, God's
elect were in Christ. Of God are you in Christ. chose
us in Christ in eternity. So we were in Christ when he
went to that cross, just like Noah and his family were in the
ark. God shut them up in that ark.
Well, God's people were in Christ. All his elect were in Christ.
And when Christ died, we died. Before God, we really died. The law required death because
we sinned against God. And in Christ, on the cross,
we died that day. And because Christ put away all
the sin of his people, he took away all the devil's power. The devil's the accuser of the
brethren. And he removed every sin of his
people, made us perfectly righteous before God, before the law, so
that the devil cannot accuse us to God. You know, you don't
find, it's useless to accuse a dead man who has already suffered
the death penalty. It would be useless to accuse
a man who is perfectly righteous before the law. That's so of
God's people. Just like when that rain came
down and the floods were beneath in Noah's day and engulfed, immersed
that ark, Christ was immersed in the judgment of God. And everybody
outside of that ark died. They all died in that flood.
But those in the ark, the ark saved them. And all God's people
were in Christ, so that when he bore that flood of God's judgment,
we bore that judgment that day. When Paul said, I am crucified
with Christ, that's how every believer should regard it. It's
not as if you died, I am crucified with Christ. I, just as real
as I was in that garden and I sinned in Adam, I was in Christ and
I died in Christ. I died in Christ. Now, I want you to look with me at
a couple of scriptures. Look with me first of all at
John 16. John 16. God judged his elect in Christ
on Calvary. Just like that flood came down
on that ark, God's wrath, the flood of his justice came down
on Christ, and he judged us in Christ. Now look here, by his
death, that means our judgment is settled. Our judgment is settled. The day of judgment for God's
people, for you that believe him, the day of judgment will
simply be Christ manifesting that we're righteous by him.
because our judgment was settled at Calvary. And this is what
the Spirit of God convinces us of when he calls us. Look here,
John 16, eight. The Lord said, when he has come,
when the Holy Spirit has come, he will reprove the world of
sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, because
they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go
to my father and you see me no more. And of judgment, because
the prince of this world is judged. That's what Christ accomplished.
He honored and magnified God's law, and he did it on behalf
of his people. He finished the transgression,
he made an end of sins, he made reconciliation for iniquity,
he brought in everlasting righteousness, he sealed up the vision and the
prophecy, and he entered into God's presence and anointed the
most holy. That's what Christ did for his
people. Now Noah, turn with me now to
Genesis 8. Noah and his offering pictured
Christ as well. Now, you get the picture here
that whenever the flood water subsided, it's like Noah ascended
up out of that flood, and the first thing he did was build
an altar, and he made an offering and a sacrifice to God. Look
here in Genesis 8 and verse 20. And Noah built an altar unto
the Lord, and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl,
and offered burnt offerings on the altar, and the Lord smelled
a sweet savor. Now you see our Savior in that. When Christ arose out of the
flood of God's judgment, He arose up to God and he made an offering
and a sacrifice to God. Scripture says, Christ also hath
loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet smelling savor. Just like Noah made this offering
and God smelled a sweet savor, that's what Christ did on behalf
of all his people and God smelled a sweet savor. And look here
now, that's when God made this covenant with Noah and his family
were blessed because of Noah. Well, God's promise is to Christ
and we receive the blessings because of him. Look here, Genesis
8, 21, and the Lord smelled a sweet savor and the Lord said it in
his heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's
sake. For the imagination of man's
heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I again smite any
more everything living as I have done. While the earth remaineth,
seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter,
and day and night shall not cease. And God blessed Noah and his
sons and said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the
earth. Our Lord Jesus Christ, God made
this covenant with Noah and blessed him and blessed his family. Noah was the head of the family.
Well, Christ is the head. He's head over all things to
the church. God's covenant is with his son, and Christ fulfilled
everything he promised the father, and the father fulfills everything
he promised the son. And because of this covenant,
you and I are blessed by our Lord Jesus, blessed by him. It's all of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the second thing I want
you to see is This promise is sure and God would have us to
know it's sure. God has sworn, he has sworn in
covenant to his people because God's covenant is confirmed,
it is settled, it's ordered and sure in Christ and by Christ. That's what makes it sure. Look
here again in Isaiah 54, 9. He said, this is as the waters
of Noah unto me, for I have sworn, as I have sworn that the waters
of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that
I would not be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee. You probably
already know where I'm gonna have you turn. Go with me to
Hebrews 6. Now, I'm trying to show you that
this covenant is sure, and I'm showing you that God would have
his people to know it's sure. You know, God's, we're not being
given the spirit of bondage again to fear. God says, comfort ye,
comfort ye, my people. And he would have us assured
that this covenant is sure and certain. Look here, Hebrews 6
and verse 13. When God made promise, and when
you read the word promise, it's covenant. That's what the covenant
is, it's God's promise. When God made promise to Abraham,
because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself.
God the Father and God the Son are one, so when God makes this
covenant in our hearts through Christ, it's God swearing by
himself. He swore by himself, saying,
surely, Blessing, I will bless thee. And multiplying, I will
multiply thee. And so after Abraham had patiently
endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater. You swear by something greater.
and an oath for confirmation, to confirm it, to make sure you
know this is a confirmed promise. An oath for confirmation is to
them an end of all strife. When a man enters into an oath
and he swears by something greater, that ends it. It's confirmed. Well, wherein God, willing more
abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of
his counsel, confirmed it by an oath. There's so much in that
verse. I love how he calls us the heirs
of promise. That's what we are, brethren,
the heirs of covenant. We're the heirs of God's promise.
But God, you see, he's willing more abundantly to show us the
immutability of his counsel. It never changed. This covenant
will never change. He confirmed it by an oath. So
that by two immutable things, two unchangeable things, in which
it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation,
strong, be consoled in strength, who have fled for refuge, lay
hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an
anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, in which entereth
into that within the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered,
even Jesus made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. You see that God is willing for
his people to be assured for this Covenant to be, for us to
know it's confirmed in Christ, is sure and steadfast in Christ.
It's a covenant of grace. God didn't, he didn't base, he
didn't put a condition on you and me. It's all of God's grace. It's all established and worked
by God, the triune God in Christ. Go with me to Galatians 3. I'm
just trying to show you some places where The Lord shows us
that this covenant was first of all to Christ, and because
he fulfilled everything that was promised, it's sure to us. Look here now. Galatians 3.15. Brethren, I speak after the manner
of men. Gonna give you a earthly illustration. Though it be but a man's covenant,
yet if it be confirmed, no man disannuleth or addeth thereto. Now, to Abraham and his seed
were the promises made. He said not, and to seeds as
of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. You see, the promise of God is
first to Christ. Christ, think of it like this. You have God and you have Christ. You have the one perfect man
who represents all God's elect, and he fulfilled everything promised. Everything required in the law,
he fulfilled it perfectly. And so he represents this to
God. And because God's pleased in his son, all the promises
are sure in Christ. Now look what he says here. And
this I say then, that the covenant that was confirmed before of
God in Christ, the law, which was 430 years after, cannot disannul,
that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance
be of the law, if it's of your works, it's no more of promise. But God gave it to Abraham by
promise. When Christ sends the Spirit
and he calls us, he makes us believe the word of God. You
start believing the word of God. You see all these promises that
God has made and he declares to us that they're yes and they're
amen in Christ because of Christ's finished work of redemption.
And you believe God and God continues to assure us in the heart through
the gospel. If you want to turn there, 2
Samuel 23 5, these are David's last words. This is what God
makes us to know. 2 Samuel 23 5. This was his last
words. He said, although my house be
not so with God, we are depraved sinners in our flesh. And our
earthly house is not so with God. Regeneration didn't change
what we are in our sinful nature. It's going back to the dust.
But thank God it's been crucified in Christ. Although my house
be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and sure, for this is all my salvation. and all my desire, although we
make it not to grow. The covenant God makes in our
hearts, brethren, when he calls us, when you're born of God,
it's not conditioned upon your works. It's not conditioned on
your works. All the works were performed
by the Lord Jesus. Every work God requires of us
was performed by the Lord Jesus. God's covenant is a covenant
of free grace. means it was unmerited by us,
we did nothing to earn it. It's free and it's sovereign.
God gives grace to whom he will. And because it's of God's free
and sovereign grace, and because it's all in the Lord Jesus Christ,
there's nothing you and me can do to mess it up. Isn't that
the best news? We can't mess it up, brethren.
Nothing will change it. God chose His Son to have all
preeminence, and the way He's gonna have all preeminence is
by saving everybody the Father entrusted to His hand. He will
not lose one. He laid down His life, He bought
us with His precious blood, and He will have His purchased possession. And nothing about you and me
will change this covenant of grace. It's everlasting because
Christ is everlasting. Go with me to Jeremiah 33, 20. Listen to what the Lord said
right here. Jeremiah 33, 20. People are so worried, you know,
about the earth and we saw in Genesis 8, the Lord said, as
long as this earth remains, there's gonna be seed time and harvest.
Now let's see how he uses the climate to show us how sure his
covenant is to us. Jeremiah 33, 20. Thus saith the
Lord, if you can break my covenant of the day and my covenant of
the night, and that there should not be day and night in their
season, then may also my covenant be broken with David, my servant,
that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne, and
with the Levites, the priests, my ministers. And David knew
that son that was gonna reign upon the throne, he looked past
Solomon. He knew that son was the Lord
Jesus. Peter declared that on the day
of Pentecost. He saw the Lord Jesus Christ. David said, this
covenant's ordered and sure. It means God didn't leave anything
up to us. Christ did it all. The righteous,
God requires we be perfectly righteous. Christ is that righteousness. He is the righteousness of God.
and by His work He made all His people, the righteousness of
God in Him. God requires holiness, that means
perfection, purity. It has to be W-H-O-L, a whole,
complete. That means your heart can never
have had a sinful thought whatsoever. Well, the Lord Jesus, as our
text showed us, He's the Holy One, and He is the holiness of
His people. He's our righteousness, and He's
our holiness. And God requires perfect faithfulness,
perfect fidelity to him. He's called the faithful one.
He is the only one who's perfectly faithful to God, and it's by
his faith we're saved. He's the author and finisher
of faith, brethren, for every one of his people. That's why,
if you wanna look at 2 Corinthians, that's why Paul said this right
here. I like how he said this, too, because And so of our gospel,
brethren. 1 Corinthians 1. He said, verse 18, as God is
true, our word toward you is not yea and nay. For the Son
of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even
by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay. That's what
you hear preached in the world. When they put some aspect of
salvation in your hand, be it your will, be it your work, be
it your faith, something you do, it becomes a yea and nay
gospel, which is not another. It brings in possibility of failure. if it puts one work in your hand.
But because it's all in Christ, it's not yea and nay, but in
Christ it's yes. For all the promises of God in
him are yea and in him amen unto the glory of God by us. We give
him all the glory. David said this covenant is all
my salvation. And brethren, this covenant is
all our salvation. And you know what? Christ is
the covenant. He is salvation. That's what
God said in Isaiah 42. If you got Isaiah, Mark, he said
in Isaiah 42, six, he's saying this of Christ. He
said, oh, I'm in sunk. I gotta get it in the right book.
Isaiah 42, six. He said, I the Lord have called
thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep
thee and give thee for a covenant of the people. For a light of
the Gentiles to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners
from the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison
house. That I am the Lord, that is my name and my glory will
I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Christ
is the covenant. That's why David said, when he
said, this is all my salvation, he wasn't just talking about
a theology and a doctrine. You know, men like to argue over
the various covenants in the scripture. When David said, this
covenant's all my salvation, he was talking about Christ the
covenant. He's all my salvation. He is all my salvation. The person
who came and laid down his life for me. Truly my soul waiteth
upon God. From him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation,
my defense. I shall not be greatly moved.
That's what David said. Here's another Psalm of David.
He said, Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there's none upon
earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart fadeth,
but God's the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Christ is our salvation. He said, my soul thirsteth for
thee, my flesh longer for thee in a dry and thirsty land where
no water is to see thy power and thy glory as I've seen in
the sanctuary. Don't you want to see the Lord
Jesus? Brethren, one of these days we're going to meet our
Redeemer. We're going to know him like
he knows us right now. While men are talking about all
these fantasies they have about what heaven will be and riches
and all that stuff, we just want to see our Redeemer. We want
to know our Savior. He ruled everything to make sure
you would be conceived in your mother's womb. He introduced
your mother and your father. And he protected your mother
till you were born. And then he looked over you the
whole time you were in darkness. And then he brought you under
his gospel and he spoke life into you and peace and showed
you this covenant is ordered and shared by everything he's
done. And every step of the way, he's kept us. He's provided everything
we need. And he's going to keep us until
that day when, soon as you draw your last breath, he's going
to say, come on. And you're going to be with him
just like that. And one day he's going to say to your flesh, long
after worms have destroyed your body, he's going to say, come
forth. And you're going to have a new
body. a new body glorified and we will be perfectly conformed
to him and every single work from the beginning to the end
you know who we're going to give glory to him alone him alone
now lastly let's go briefly i just want to show you what is the
promise what does he promise to do we've seen we've seen the
picture of noah We've heard the Lord declare it's confirmed in
Christ, it's sure to us. Now, what is God's promise? Well,
there are a lot more than are listed here, but here are some,
and this right here is really what we need all our day. He
promises that he's gonna gather all his people. He said in verse
seven, he said, with great mercies will I gather thee. That means
all his people scattered and lost and dead and he's gonna
send the gospel, he's gonna gather everyone up. And if you try to
stray, he's gonna gather you with great mercies, never ending
mercies, brethren. Doesn't that give you hope for
your children? That gives me hope for my children. If they're
his, he will gather them by his great mercies. And then he promises
us everlasting kindness. He said in verse eight, the second
part, with everlasting kindness, and the word is faithfulness,
with everlasting faithfulness, will I have mercy on thee, saith
the Lord, thy Redeemer. The Lord, thy Redeemer, the very
one who laid down his life for us, promises, I'm gonna give
you everlasting kindness. I'm gonna be everlastingly faithful
to you. He is faithful. He'll never cease being faithful
to us. When I was reading this and looking
up the words, and I saw kindness means faithfulness, it made Lamentations
3.22 jump out with more, assurance. He says in Lamentations
322, it's of the Lord's mercies that were not consumed because
his compassions fail not, they're new every morning, great is thy
faithfulness. That's what this word kindness
means, his faithfulness to us, brethren. And then he promises
us he's not gonna be angry with us and he's never gonna condemn
us, never let us be corrupted, verse nine. He says, So I've
sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. He'll
never be angry with us, and the word rebuke thee means corrupted
or condemned. Christ bore the fury that we
deserve. The fierce fury of God's anger
was poured out on him, so he's not gonna be angry with his people.
It may seem to us like he is, but he is, he's being merciful
to us and faithful to us to correct us and keep us. And because our
Lord was made a curse and redeemed us from the curse, he'll never
let us be cursed. He'll never let us be corrupted
and condemned because he satisfied justice for it. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, to them
who walked after the spirit, not after the flesh. But his
covenant's different from Noah's. The covenant with Noah is gonna
last as long as this earth lasts. but his covenant knows no end. His promise knows no end. Verse
10, for the mountains shall depart, Isaiah 54, 10, the mountains
shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall
not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace
be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. I'll just
give you this, you don't have to turn. Jeremiah 32, 39, he
said, I'll give them one heart, And one way, that they may fear
me forever for the good of them and of their children after them.
And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will
not turn away from them to do them good. I will not turn away
from them to do them good. I will put my fear in their hearts
and they shall not depart from me. He gave Noah, go with me
to Revelation 10. He gave Noah that rainbow. When you see the rainbow in the
sky, God gave that as a token, as a token that he'd never again
destroy this earth with a flood. But do you remember God said,
when I look upon the rainbow, I will remember my covenant.
Well, we have something better than the rainbow. We have Our
Lord Jesus seated at God's right hand. And look what it says about
him. Revelation 10.1, John saw another mighty angel come down
from heaven. This is Christ. He was clothed
with a cloud and a rainbow was upon his head. and his face was
as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire, and he had
in his hand a little book open, that's the book of providence,
and he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot upon
the earth. Christ rules all providence. If it comes to pass, it came
to pass because of our Lord Jesus, and he's ruling all providence
just for you who are his people. Everything that's happening is
happening for you. You may not understand it, and most of the
time we don't, but everything that's coming to pass is for
the good of his people. He said, I will not turn away
from them to do them good. God told Noah, he said, I will
look upon it, and I'll remember the everlasting covenant between
God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the
earth. God looks upon his son, and he remembers this covenant,
and he'll never turn away from doing his people good. Now listen. Go back with me to Isaiah 55.
If you've never believed on Christ, you that are sitting here right
now, you've never trusted the Lord Jesus, I want you to hear
what he says. I pray God this hour would give
you a heart to cast all your care on Christ. Because here's
what he says, Isaiah 55. I've been telling you about these
sheer mercies of David and how God made this promise to David.
Listen to what he says here. Isaiah 55, three. He says, incline
your ear and come unto me. Here and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. All these precious
promises I've been talking about and all this certainty of salvation
we've been hearing our Lord declare in this book, he says, you incline
your ear. That's how faith comes. He said,
here. That's how life comes. He says,
here, and you shall live. When he speaks that command,
and he says here, you're gonna hear, you're gonna have life,
and you'll believe him. And he said, and I will make
with you the sure and everlasting covenant, the sure mercies of
David. Now, for you that believe, go with me to Habakkuk chapter
three. For you that believe. I don't care what comes to pass
in this world. I don't care how bad it looks.
I don't care how troubling the providency is. I don't care whatever
the Lord takes from you, however dark it may get. By God giving you faith and making
this covenant to you, you can say exactly what Habakkuk says
right here. 3 in verse 17. He said, although
the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the
vines. The labor of the olive shall fail, and the field shall
yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from
the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. Yet I
will rejoice in the Lord. I will join in the God of my
salvation. The Lord God is my strength,
and he will make my feet like Han's feet, and he will make
me to walk upon my mind high places. That's certain, brethren,
because of this covenant of our Lord. He will save, he will keep,
he will preserve, and he will have us all gathered around his
feet in glory and praising him for all eternity. I pray he make
those that have never believed believe on him now. And I pray
you that believe he would assure you in your heart of these covenant
mercies, unchangeable and unchanging and everlasting because of Christ
our covenant. It's the covenant of peace, covenant
of his peace. All right, brethren, we're gonna
close tonight in prayer rather than have a closing hymn. So
let's go to our Lord in prayer. Our God and our Father, what
a blessing that we can call you Father. Lord, thank you for your
tender mercies. Thank you for putting this whole
work of salvation in the hand of our Redeemer. And thank you
for this unspeakable gift, our Lord Jesus, your dear son. Lord,
we pray for our children that you would be
gracious. Lord, we pray you would call each one in your time as
it pleases you. We know our true children are
those that you're gonna regenerate and call to faith. And we pray,
Lord, you would do that. We have mercy, Lord, we pray. Be with them and protect them. Make us faithful witnesses for
your great name to them. And Lord, bless your word to
their heart. We beg of you, Lord. And Lord, we pray for our brethren
here, each one, that you would continue to bless us and keep
us knowing that you truly are our salvation. This covenant's
ordered and all things ensure Lord, make it to be truly all
our desire. Make Christ to be our one desire. Lord, we thank you. Thank you
for salvation, free and full and complete in Christ. Forgive
us, Lord, for our sins and our unbelief, for our unfaithfulness. Lord, our sins are ever before
us, just like David said. We want to please you. We want
to serve you. But Lord, our sins are always present. Receive us
in Christ, wash us for his sake and keep us for his sake, Lord,
in his righteousness and his holiness alone. Thank you, Lord. We pray these things in Christ's
name. Amen. All right, brethren.