Alright brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to Isaiah 48. It begins here, and he says, Hear
ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel,
and come forth out of the waters of Judah. This is the Lord's
word to His people in Israel, You remember we've been seeing
how the Lord was sending them into Babylon to chasten them,
to correct those that were truly His elect. And this is His word
to them. And He says, Hear you this, O
house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are
come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the
name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not
in truth nor in righteousness. For they call themselves of the
holy city and stay themselves upon the God of Israel. The Lord
of hosts is His name. All in Israel call themselves
the name of Israel. You know, everybody in Christianity
calls themselves Christians. All in Israel claim to be redeemed
by the Lord. They all claim to come out of
the waters of Judah. Everybody that claims to believe
Christ claims that they were redeemed by the Lord. They all
swore by the name of Israel and stayed upon their God and zealous
for Him, making mention of Him. But the Lord said most in Israel
did so, but it was not in truth or in righteousness. It wasn't
from the heart. It wasn't from a new heart that
He gave. When God's true saints hear that, when we hear the Lord
say this to Israel, we say, Lord, is it I? Is that
me? You remember when the Lord said
that one of His apostles will betray Him, those that were His
true apostles, each one said, Lord, is it I? Is it me? Because God's saying, seeing
ourselves, that could easily be us. And we ask the Lord continually,
Lord, do I really know you? Am I yours in truth and in righteousness? Don't you find yourself asking
the Lord that? Verse 3, God says, now this is
important. Watch this. He said, I've declared
the former things from the beginning. And they went forth out of my
mouth and I showed them. I did them suddenly and they
came to pass. You know that's how God does
everything that comes to pass. He determined everything about
the salvation of His people in eternity from the beginning.
He determined the end from the beginnings. I've declared the
former things from the beginning. And then He began declaring it
from the beginning of time how He would save His people. He
said, they went forth out of my mouth and I showed them. Right
there in the garden, God slew a lamb instead of slaying Adam
and Eve. He slew a lamb in their place
and covered their nakedness with the skins of that lamb. He said,
I showed it from the beginning. He declared in Genesis 3.15 that
the Lord Jesus is the seed of woman who would bruise the serpent's
head and deliver his people. And then He showed it. He showed
it in Abel's lamb. He showed it in all the Types
and shadows of the Old Testament. He kept showing and showing and
showing. This is how I'm going to save my people. Throughout
the ages. And then He said, I did them
suddenly and they came to pass. Then one day, He'd been showing,
showing, showing, showing. Declaring it from the beginning.
I'm going to save in my Son, the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God.
And then one day suddenly, Christ came. And He did it. In the fullness of the time.
God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive
the adoption of sons. And then suddenly, one day, you
heard it. You heard it being declared and
you heard it being preached. And then one day, suddenly, because
you're sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your heart,
crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore you are no more a servant,
but a son. You begin to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. God
declared it from the beginning, from eternity. Then He started
declaring it from the beginning of time. He showed it in all
the pictures in type. He showed it to us in the gospel.
He preached it to us in the gospel. And one day suddenly, He entered
the heart and made you know, I've done it all. That's how
the Lord does everything that comes to pass. Why did God choose
to save His people this way? What made God determine and purpose
everything He would do in salvation from eternity, show it all in
those pictures and types and preach it through the gospel
and then Christ come forth and accomplish it and then He reveal
it in His people. Divine revelation, He reveals
it in us. Why? Why did He do it this way?
Verse 4, because I knew that thou art obstinate, And thy neck
is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass. I have even from the beginning
declared it to thee. Before it came to pass, I showed
it thee. Lest thou should say, mine idol
hath done them. and my graven image and my molten
image hath commanded them." That was her. See all this? He said, will you not declare
God is true at every mental hour? You've seen it now. Will you
not declare salvations of the Lord apart from any works of
man? God's people will. He said, I've
showed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and
thou didst not know them. They're created now, and not
from the beginning, even before the day when thou heardest them
not, lest thou shouldst say, behold, I knew them. Yea, thou
heardest not. Yea, thou knewest not. Yea, from
that time that thine ear was not open, for I knew that thou
was deal very treacherously and was called a transgressor from
the womb. God saves. The way He saves. Choosing His
people in eternity. Christ entering surety ship to
be the surety of the covenant for His people. He declared through
the preaching of the Word. Showing it in all the shadows
and types. And through the Gospel that's
been preached since Christ came. And He saves through this Gospel.
Revealing it in our hearts. For this reason right here. God
said, because I knew. He said, I knew that every sinner
fallen is a transgressor from the womb. I knew. He said, if
I didn't do it this way, you'd praise yourself. That's what
he's saying. This is the knowledge of God
we're looking at right here. He said, I knew. I knew. Before time, God determined the
end from the beginning, and here's why He did it. Verse 4, because
I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew,
and thy brow brass. God, He didn't choose His elect
based on any good or evil in us. And He didn't pass by Esau
based on any good or evil in Esau. He did it simply because
He would. He did it simply because He would. Now don't misunderstand
what I'm saying. The sinner that he chose that's saved, we're
saved entirely by the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
has to be a righteous work. And sinners that are condemned
are condemned because the wages of sin is death. Men earn condemnation. But as far as God determining
the end from the beginning, choosing whom he would, passing by whom
he would, God didn't base that on us at all. He did it because
he would. But that still doesn't change
the fact that God knew from the beginning every sinner would
fall in at Him. He knew. He said, I knew you
were going to be obstinate and self-willed and treacherous. I knew it. Why did He know it?
Because it was His purpose. We read about how He chose His
people in Christ, blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in Christ, that we should be holy without blame before Him
in love. Why did He do that in eternity? Because He purposed
we would fall and Christ would come forth and be the Savior
and save us. All of it was determined in eternity
from the beginning, and God did it this way because He knew we
were going to be obstinate. We knew we would fall, and He
knew that. God didn't... He wasn't surprised
by Adam's fall. He didn't say, Adam, if you eat
of this tree. He said, in a day you eat it,
thou shalt surely die. God declares it right here in
our text. He said in verse 3, I've declared the former things
from the beginning. They went forth out of my mouth
and I showed them. I did them suddenly and they
came to pass because I knew. I knew. Thou art obstinate, thy
necks an iron sinew, and thy brow brass. God's not a creature
of time like us. What God knew from eternity God knows right now about every
one of us. And what He knows right now about
every one of us, He knew it from eternity. God knows all things,
all at once. That's God, isn't it? That's
bigger than me and you can even get our little minds around.
He knows everything. Scripture speaks of Him looking
down from heaven, but it's just a picture of Him knowing everything.
He gives us, what do they call this, a morphism or whatever
it's called. It just means he gives himself
some attributes of a man, the invisible God, so that we can
enter into what he's doing. He said, the Lord looked down
from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand and seek God. They're all gone aside.
They're all together become filthy. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. God didn't have to wait for the
fall to see that and know that about us. God knew it from eternity,
because he purposed it all. He purposed it all. Now that
doesn't change the fact that Adam's fall was his own fault.
He's guilty. That doesn't change the fact
that our sin is our own fault. We're guilty. But none of it
is a surprise to God. God knew from eternity. He purposed
it. before God sent Moses. We see
it in time. When he called Moses, before
he sent Moses, he told Moses beforehand, he said, Pharaoh
is going to harden his heart. He's not going to hear anything
you're telling him. And he said, and then I'm going
to harden his heart. He said, even for this same purpose
did I raise up Pharaoh. See, it was all in God's purpose.
God knew, I've raised you up for this purpose that I might
show my power in thee, that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth. Therefore have thee mercy on
whom ye will have mercy and whom ye will be ardent. Nothing new
with God. See, he could say the same thing.
Adam, for this purpose I raised you up so that you would fall
and plunge everybody into sin and death so that I might declare
my name and show my power in saving my people through my son.
I'm telling you, there's a lot of folks in religion that's so
concerned about preaching man's responsibility that they just
can't receive that. That God knew everything from
the beginning and purposed everything that came to pass. But it's so. It's so. This is what he knew
about every unregenerate fallen son of Adam. And this is what
he knows now about men. I knew thou art obstinate, your
neck is an iron sinew, your brow brass. He said, I knew you deal
very treacherously, I knew you was called a transgressor from
the womb. But now listen, and this is what me and you need
to understand. God knew this about you who he
sanctified and made holy and created a new man in. He knew
this about your flesh and he knows this about your flesh now. by God creating a new spirit
in us. We know it now. Look over at Romans 7. God said,
I knew, and He makes you to know. And God's people know this. We
know this about ourselves. We don't know it in the totality
of it, but we do know this about ourselves by God's grace. Romans
7, verse 18, Paul said, For I know. God says, I knew. He knew from
eternity. I knew what you'd be in your
sinful flesh. But by the grace of God creating
a new man in Paul, Paul said, I know by His grace. Now I know
that in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. I know
it. To will is present with me in my new man. He's given me
a will. But how to perform that which is good I find not. For
the good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not,
that I do. Now if I do that I would not,
it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." God
said, I knew. I knew about that sin that would
be in you. Paul said, now I know something
about it too. I find in the law that when I would do good, evil
is present with me. Oh, Paul, he's just excusing
his sin. That's all he's doing. That's
not what he's doing. That's a new man in which is
no guile being honest before God about what he really is. I'm sin. And when I do good,
evil is present with me. Verse 24, O wretched man that
I am, Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Unlegitimate sinners won't
hear this. They won't confess this. Because
they got a spirit that's nothing but obstinate. Their neck's an
iron sinew and their brow's brass. They won't hear this and confess
this. Oh, that was me before I knew Him, but now I'm not like
that anymore. That's what they'll say. But
you that God made new, He's made you know this about yourself.
God said, I knew you'd be obstinate, self-willed, your neck and iron
sitting new, your brow brass. Let me ask you this, you that
know the Lord, let's all be honest right here before God. You got
a new will in you to please God and honor God, and if you could,
you wouldn't sin, and you're longing for that day that you
will be free from this body of death. But do you not find that
there is also a man in you that is self-willed and obstinate,
that wants to have his way? God says in our flesh we are
as sinful as the worst un-regenerate sinner in this world. That's
what He's saying. And do you not find a self-righteous Pharisee
in your flesh that knowing this in your new man will still end
up and say things like this? Well, I wouldn't do that. How could they have done that?
What is that? What makes us say things like
that? That ain't nothing but self-righteousness. Just self-righteousness. Carl said, Thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judges. For wherein thou judgest
another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judges doest the
same thing. The more God shows us this about
ourselves, don't you find that the more and more you see that
everything that you would condemn in somebody else is in your flesh?
It's all there. And we do the same things. Self-wise. We boast that we're self-wise.
How many times have you said this? I knew that would happen. You ever said that? Well, I knew
that would happen. No, we didn't. No, we didn't. We're not God. We didn't know
what would happen. You don't know what's going to happen next
hour. I don't either. We have to say, if the Lord will,
we'll do this or that, because we don't know what the Lord's
going to do. That's what He says here. Verse 6. Thou hast heard. See all this?
Will not you declare it? Will not you confess it? So I
showed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and
thou didst not know them. You didn't know. Men say, well,
I always knew the Lord. I always believed the Lord. No,
you didn't. No, you didn't. They're created now, God said,
not from the beginning. Even before the day when thou
heardest them not. Lest thou shouldst say, Behold,
I knew them. Yea, thou heardest not, yea, thou knewest not. Why, from that time thine ear
was not opened. I knew that thou would deal treacherously,
and was called a transgressor from them. What's this treacherous
dealing he's talking about? What's this transgression he's
talking about here? Taking the things that belong
to God, and the things that God determined from beginning, and
the things that God works, and the things that God revealed,
and applying it to ourselves. And act like we had something
to do with it, and we knew it. That's exactly what he's talking
about. But now, by God revealing what we are, we know what God
knew, at least some of what God knew. about ourselves, we can
say Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom
I am chief. We know this. Every man in his
best state is altogether vanity. Has God opened your ear and made
you know that? He has when He reveals Christ to us. From eternity, from the beginning
of time, When time had begun, when He had created time, God
began to declare what He'd do. He began to declare what Christ
would accomplish before it ever came to pass. He showed us, over
and over and over, He showed us. Because God knew, unless
He did it this way, we would praise our idol. That's what
he said, verse 5, I have even from the beginning declared it
to thee, before it came to pass I showed it thee, lest thou should
say mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten
image hath commanded them. That's what we'd all done, brethren.
If God didn't save this way, by divine revelation, by Him
doing all the work, by God making us to know by His grace, and
making you see. Now we can look at these scriptures
and see everything God has done for us, He said it from eternity. He showed it over and over today.
Now we see that. Now we have to praise Him because
He told us everything He did beforehand, then He did it, then
He revealed it to us. And we say, truth Lord. But if He hadn't have done it
this way, who's the idol we'd have praised? Some of you sitting
here probably never had an idol. You probably never had a little
statue. Maybe some of us did, but even if you didn't, who's
the idol we would have praised? Self. That's all a graven image
is. It's just an extension of a man's
vain imagination. We'd have praised self. Why didn't
God choose his people This is what the world says. This is
religion doing what God said, I forbid my people to do. This
is why he saves the way. He said, because I knew this
is what you do. Religion says, God chose me because he foresaw
I'd believe him. What is that? That's a man praising
his image, his idol, himself. Let me ask you this. How is it
God says, faith is the gift of God, Not of works, lest any man
should boast. I give you faith. You don't have
it unless I give it to you. How can God say that, and that
be true, and it be true that God foresaw I'd believe Him?
God doesn't foresee you to believe Him. God gives you the faith
to believe Him. But see, that's just a man. He
hadn't opened his ear and revealed this to him. And so that's a
man saying, Oh, my idol did this. God knew what I'd do. No, no,
election couldn't have been based on God seeing goodness or works
in you. God said, I knew you'd praise
your idol and deal treacherously. That's what he said he knew about
you and me. So it couldn't have been what God foreknew about
us. He said, I knew you'd deal treacherously, praise your idol. From the beginning God declared
and He showed us salvation. He's only in and by His Son. Salvation is not of your works
and mine. It's only in and by His Son because
God knew if He didn't save this way, He knew we would praise
our idle self. We'd attribute it to us. God's
election was all of God's grace not to do to any merit in us
for this reason, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand not of works but of Him that calleth. See, God purposed from eternity
to make Christ wisdom to us. And that's what we're dealing
with here. In this passage, we're dealing with God making Christ
wisdom to us to behold. Only God knew. Only God purposed
what He would do. God worked it. God brought it
all to pass. And then He makes you know by
making Christ wisdom to you. So then we stop praising ourselves
and we glory only in what the Lord did. Look there at verse
6. Thou hast heard, see all this,
will you not declare it now? I have showed thee new things
from this time, even hidden things. And you didn't know them. I have
shown you hidden things that you didn't know. They are created
now, not from the beginning. Even before the day when thou
heardest them not, before you knew anything about them, I did
these things. Lest you should say, behold,
I knew them. God says, I knew you was going to brag on your
wisdom if I didn't say it this way. I knew you'd say, oh, I
gave myself, I studied hard and I learned and I came to the knowledge
of the doctrines of grace. Oh, I started out believing a
lie, worshiping a Jesus that's as worthless as a stump. But
in a little while, I've elevated to a new degree of knowledge
and I came to the doctrines of grace. God said, I knew that's
just what you do. That's why I don't save that
way. I came and made Christ's wisdom to you to make you know
me and truth. Go over to 1 Corinthians 1. You
see, there's not any self-made, self-wise, self-taught theologians
in God's church. Not in Christ's church. Why? Because by making Christ's wisdom
to us, the Lord destroys that in you. He doesn't completely
destroy it in you, but He at least makes you know that's all
your old man of flesh is, is a self-taught braggart. But He makes Christ's wisdom
to you. But He's not going to have debaters and disputers in
His church. He's made us to see our wisdom
as foolishness. Look here, 1 Corinthians 1.20.
Where's the wise? Now, He's talking about in the
true church of God. Now, we're not talking about
just the local assembly. We're talking about His true
people in whom Christ has made wisdom. Where's the wise? Where's the scribe? Where's the
disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? He has to you that Christ has
made wisdom to. Why'd God do it that way? This
is what our text is declaring right here. For after that in
the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. That's
what he's declaring. I had to reveal it to you. He
said over there, He said, I've showed thee new things from this
time, even hidden things, and you didn't know them. Look at
1 Corinthians 2.7. We speak the wisdom of God in
a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the
world unto our glory. God said, I knew from the beginning
what you'd be. So I determined it all from the
beginning. I purposed it all and worked it in my son before
I ever even made the time. None of the princes of this world
knew it, for had they known they would not have crucified the
Lord of Glory. But as it's written, I hath not seen nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man the things which
God hath prepared for them that now love him. But why do we now
love him? Because God hath revealed them
unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yea,
the deep things of God. Do you get what I'm trying to
show you, what our text says? Look back over there, Isaiah
48. God opened our ear. That's what he called. He opened
our ear. Verse 8, Yea, thou heardest not, yea, thou knewest not. Yea, from that time, that thine
ear was not opened. You see, before your ear was
opened, he said, you didn't hear me. You didn't know me. Your
ear wasn't open. Sinners make their boast that
they came to God by their will. They learn God, they learn the
doctrine, and they learn... God says to His child, to you
that know Him now, to you who He's opened your ear, He says,
I knew that's what you would say. That's why I didn't let
you come to an understanding of Me by your wisdom and your
knowledge and your will. You get that? That's what He's
saying. The Spirit of God opened our ear. Remember the willing
bondservant? They brought him to the doorpost
of the house and they took an awl and a hammer and they pierced
his ear. They put an awl through his ear
so he'd have a distinguishing mark now that he belonged to
the master. Christ said that about Himself.
He's the preeminent willing bondservant. He said, Thou hast opened mine
ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave
my back to the smiters and to them that plucked off the hair
of my beard. I did that because I knew, Lord,
You're faithful. I knew You'd justify me. I knew
You'd fulfill every covenant promise to me. And then he comes
to you and me, dead in our sins, boasting in our idle self that
we knew and we know and we brought ourselves to this knowledge.
And he comes and he opens your ear and he says to you, you didn't
hear me before. You didn't know. You knew not
because your ear wasn't open. Now you know. because of what
I did in you." You know what men will stop doing then? Men
will stop saying, oh I knew, I knew. Men will stop saying,
I didn't know a thing. I didn't know a thing. The Lord
opened my ear. Christ said, no man can come
to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him, and I'll
raise him up at the last day. He said, it's written in the
Scripture, they shall all be taught of God. God's going to
have to open their ears and teach them. And he said, therefore,
every man that's been taught of God and has learned of Christ,
Christ said, they do one thing, they come to me. Because now
they know. Their ears have been opened.
Their ears have been opened. See, when the Lord said we're
His workmanship, you know, He said, He gave that scripture
in Ephesians 2, I just said it, He said, By grace are you saved
through faith. That's not of yourselves, it's
a gift of God, not of works as any man should boast. And he
said this, for we're his workmanship. That's what God's declaring in
our text. I saved the way I saved because my people will be my
workmanship. You didn't know, you was praising
your idols, and I saved the way I saved, so that you would know
I did it all. You're my workmanship. I created
you in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus did all the works.
I created you in Christ Jesus unto good works, which I before
ordain that you shall walk in them. What do you walk by? We
walk by faith, not by sight. That's what He's talking about.
He said that right after He said, He gives you faith, His workmanship. He ordained this good work that
you will walk by faith. So He did all the work and He
keeps you walking by faith. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest in causes to approach unto thee, that he may dwell
in thy court, will be satisfied with the goodness of thy house,
even of thy holy temple. That's what He does. Willing
in the day of His power. God saves by revelation. That's what this opening of the
ear is. He saves by revelation. He makes Christ's wisdom to us.
He does it through the preaching of the gospel. And He declared
in 1 Corinthians 1, why does it? So that no flesh or glory
in His presence. Where's the scribe? Where's the
wise? Where's the disputer of this
world? You know what all that is? You know what it is when men
get together and they want to debate doctrine and they want
to out-doctrinate the other one in what they know and how much
they know? It's man glorying in His flesh. That's all it is.
Christ said, that's not going to be in my child. because no
flesh can glory in my presence. They are not going to say, I
knew anything or I know anything by my understanding. They are going to give me all
the glory. And it keeps us dependent on
Christ. It keeps us needing the gospel
this way because we see He did it all through the gospel. Do
you see that? Think of the unchangeable love
of Christ our Savior now. Think of this. When He says there,
I knew you would deal treacherously and I knew all this about you.
Christ knew this about us. About all the elect of God that
God the Father trusted to Him. The Father showed Him His whole
purpose. He knew it all in one moment. They're going to fall.
They're going to be haters of you. They're going to boast in
themselves. They're going to become religious
and bow down to their idols. And they're going to reject you
and despise you. And they're going to give themselves
to glory. And they're going to try to steal your glory. They're
going to do all that against you. And Christ knew every bit
of it. and entered into a covenant with
the Father and said, I'll do everything and save them. I'll
do the works. I'll go and lay down my life
for them and I'll take all their sin of all their boasting and
their bragging and their pride and their rebellion and their
dealing treacherously and their iniquity and all their idol worship.
I'll take all that sin that's theirs and I'll be made that
sin for them. And you can pour on me the curse
they deserve. and I'll put every bit of that
sin away. Not only that, Father, according
to your promise, you'll raise me from the grave and sit me
at your right hand and I'll send the gospel to them in power and
I'll pray the Holy Spirit and send the Holy Spirit to them
and I'll open their ear and reveal to them everything I did and
make them know I did it this way because I knew what you are.
And I knew what you'd say and I knew what you'd do. So I did
it all in grace. I did it all so you would praise
and glorify me only. He knew all of us. He knew us.
He knew everything about us. And he did all that for us, brethren. That's unchangeable. Sovereign,
redeeming love. That's saving love. That's regenerating
love. That's preserving love. He still
knows what our flesh is. He still knows that in our flesh
we would take the glory right now if He didn't subdue our sin
nature and keep showing us our sin and showing us His mercy
and grace, keep us looking on Him. And yet He loves us everlastingly,
unchangeably, unbreakably. My little children, these things
write unto that you sin not. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. He said, I knew from eternity.
I know right now. I know everything about you.
I know what you are in your flesh. He goes before the Father and
says, Father, I put it away. Justice is satisfied for that
child. Let's show him mercy." The Father's
delight in his Son. He says, let's show him mercy.
Let's be merciful to him. We're just to be merciful to
him. That's why he tells you this.
Whatever your problem is, whatever your problem is in this world,
Christ is the cure. He's the cure. He promises this,
because His love doesn't change, because He's known from the beginning
what we are, but He's known how He'd save, and He's brought it
all to pass now. He promises you and me, as your
days are, so shall your strength be, because He's your strength. He's your strength. We're going to see more of this
as we go in this passage, but I just wanted to take that little
bit right there and show you. This is why God does it all.
Because He said, I knew. I knew. Let's go to Him. Father, thank You for this Word.
Father, we thank You that You didn't leave a thing in the hands
of Your people. Thankful that You determined the end from the
beginning. You showed it to us. You preached it to us. You brought
it all to pass for Your people. And You came and opened our ear
and revealed it to us. Lord, keep us from boasting in
ourselves. Keep us from putting confidence
in ourselves. Keep us looking, trusting, believing You. Lord, this is what humbles us,
this is what keeps us meek at your feet. You know everything. You bring
us to where you brought Peter. Lord, you know. You know. How thankful we are that you
knew and yet you loved us and you loved us simply because what
you would be to us, what you would work for us. Lord, thank
you. Thank you for revealing Christ
in us. Forgive us, Lord, for our boasting and our pride and
our sin. In Christ's name we ask it. Amen.