Father, even the Spirit of truth
which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. And ye
also shall bear witness because you've been with me from the
beginning. Our Lord Jesus comforts his people. He comforts his people. The gospel is the gospel of good
news. It's the gospel of great joy.
And it's comforting. He comforts his people. He comforts
his people. He commands his preachers and
all of his witnesses in Isaiah 40 verse 1, he says, comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. That's his command. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
cry unto her, speak to her heart that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned. For she hath received with the
Lord's hand double for all her sins. He says, comfort my people. That's a comfort right there.
God has a people. They're his chosen people. And
he says, comfort ye my people. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem.
Speak to their hearts. Don't speak above their heads
and don't speak at them. Speak to their heart. Speak to
their heart. And here's the good news. Here's
the comfort. Declare to her that her warfare
is accomplished. It's accomplished. Remember when
Moses and Elias was in the Mount of Transfiguration and the Law
and the Prophets bearing witness and they bear witness to the
decease that Christ should accomplish at Jerusalem. That's what he
did. He went there and accomplished our warfare. The warfare of God's
people is accomplished. Why? What did He do? The Lord
hath pardoned our iniquity. He's pardoned our iniquity. She's
received with the Lord's hand double for all her sins. He satisfied
God. He went to the cross and He satisfied
God in place of His people. And God's pardoned our iniquity. He blotted out all the sins of
His people. He blotted them out. There's
no record, past, present, or future. Think about that. That's
comfort. No record of your sin, past,
present, or future before God in His book. And rewarded us
double for all our sins. He's given us perfect righteousness. Perfect righteousness. The Lord
restored that which He took not away. That's what the law required.
Double restitution. He restored us double for our
sin. He's given us a standing better
than what we had in Adam. He's given us eternal life so
we can never fall. That's comfort. And that's what
our Lord here, when He's speaking to His apostles that night, we
see Him fulfilling this scripture. He's comforting His apostles.
And He's comforting His people today, just like He was that
night. So that night that our Lord was
betrayed, that's what He's doing. He's comforting His people. He
said, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in Me. And He's comforting them here
now by saying that He's going to depart. And when He goes to
be with the Father, He's not going to leave His people alone.
He said, I'm sending you a comforter, another comforter, He said in
another place. I won't leave you comfortless,
He said. I will come to you, and He comes to us through the
Spirit of the Lord, through the Spirit of God, and He comforts
His people. And how does He comfort His people?
Verse 26, He said, When the comforter has come, whom I will send unto
you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeded
from the Father, He shall testify of me. He shall testify of me. He'll bear witness in your heart
of me. The Spirit's one with the Father
and the Son. He's the third person in the
Godhead. He's the advocate for Christ
in the hearts of His people. That's what the word means. And
He comes into the heart sent from the Father, sent by our
Lord Jesus, and He testifies. He bears witness in our heart
of the Lord Jesus and what He's accomplished. He shall testify
of me. And this is how he comforts us,
this is how he strengthens us, this is how he keeps us believing
in Christ, this is how he keeps us persevering in faith, this
is how he turns us from our sin and keeps us looking to Christ.
This is the work of our Lord. It's a spiritual work that he
works in the heart of his people. And this is how He keeps us bearing
witness of Him alone. Preaching Him alone. This is
mainly what He's declaring to His apostles. This is how they
were going to continue preaching His gospel. Was by the Spirit
giving them this boldness in their heart. By giving them confidence
in their heart. By testifying of Christ to them
personally. Look down at verse, John 16,
12. I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot
bear them now. Howbeit, when He, the Spirit
of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. For He shall
not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear that shall He speak. He's going to get His Word from
the Father, from the Son. And He'll show you things to
come. He shall glorify Me. For He shall receive of Mine
and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath
are Mine. Therefore said I that He shall
take of Mine and shall show it unto you. There are some in religion
who speak more of the Holy Spirit than they do of the Lord Jesus
Christ. More than they do of the Father, and they're always
trying to show that they possess some gifts of the Spirit over
other folks. Well, that's not so, because
if they really did, they would preach Christ. Because the Spirit
makes His people, the Spirit testifies of Christ. and makes
his preachers preach Christ. He shall glorify me, Christ said.
Whatsoever he hears, that shall he speak. He'll receive of mine,
he'll show it to you. And what will be the result? Look back up now to John 15,
verse 27. After he said the comforter will
come, he's gonna show you, he's gonna glorify me. John 15, 27,
and you also shall bear witness because you've been with me from
the beginning. Now, that's great comfort to these apostles. That
would be great comfort to these apostles. He's declaring that
the Holy Spirit shall bear witness of Christ in their own hearts.
Now he's going to show us he's going to bear witness through
their preaching in the hearts of others. But first, he's going
to bear witness in their hearts. If God's going to use us to preach
his gospel and to spread this word, he's going to have to speak
into our own hearts and teach us Christ and give us boldness
to preach Christ. So he says that's what he'll
do. He's going to bear witness in your hearts because you've
been with me from the beginning. They were eyewitnesses of Christ
and all his works. This is what he told them. After
our Lord was crucified, they met up and they went as far as
Bethany and they were thinking about leaving. Getting out of
Jerusalem. You can't blame them. They just
saw their master crucified at Jerusalem. And he came to them
And he said, go back to Jerusalem. Go back to Jerusalem. Go back
to that place where they hate you and they just nailed you
to a cross. Go back there. And he said, you
shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon
you and you shall be witnesses unto me. Both in Jerusalem and
in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the
earth. He's telling them, you're not just going to bear witness
of me in Jerusalem, you're going to bear witness of me in Samaria,
you're going to go forth in all the world preaching the gospel.
And this power to do this, to go back there and preach in the
face of all that hatred, was the Spirit of God working in
them that Christ had sent. Now why is Christ declaring these
things to his apostles? Why is he telling us these things?
Why do we need the Spirit of God to bear witness of Christ
in our hearts? Look at John 16.1. These things
have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended. When our Lord said this that
night to them, the apostles really didn't have any idea how they were going to be hated.
They really didn't have any idea what they were going to face
as they went forth to preach. You start out preaching and you
have an idyllic, rosy outlook on how it's gonna go. And it's
not long, you find out it's just not that way. It's just not that
way. The way God's gonna do it, it's
just not how we think He's gonna do it. But this shows Christ's
love. He's comforting His people. He's
telling them beforehand what to expect before it comes, so
they won't be surprised. They'll remember this. And that's
what He's done for us. Hasn't He done that for us? The
Lord said, these things I've spoken unto you, that in me you
might have peace. In the world, you shall have
tribulation. Why do we act like it's a surprise?
Why do we act like it's a surprise? The Lord's told us, you're gonna
have tribulation in the world, in our flesh, and in the world,
and within and without. But, he said, be of good cheer,
because he's overcome the world. He's overcome and He's going
to make His people overcome. He's overcome. We have in Him
and He's going to keep us overcoming in Him through faith by the Spirit.
So He tells His apostles, and He's speaking to us, what to
expect. He says that we'll be hated. We'll be hated for believing
and preaching salvation by Christ. Verse 2. They shall put you out
of the synagogues, neither time cometh, that whosoever killeth
you will think that he doeth God service. And these things
will they do unto you because they have not known the Father
nor me. But these things I've told you
that when the time shall come you may remember that I told
you of them. And these things I said not unto
you at the beginning because I was with you." He was with
them. He didn't have to tell them this.
He was their protection when he was with them. Men came and
wanted to lay hands on him. They couldn't touch him. His
hour wouldn't come. He showed when they came to arrest
Him. He showed it was only by Him permitting them to arrest
Him that they could arrest Him. Because when He said, whom do
you seek? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. And
they fell backwards. But now He's not going to be
with them. And He's saying, you're going to be hated. You're going
to be put out of the synagogue. That was a big deal. That was more than just being
cast out of a local assembly. You lost all your rights as a
Jew. You got blacklisted in the community.
They wouldn't do business with you. They'd shun you. They'd shun you. That happened
to my grandfather. When the Lord saved him, he started
preaching the gospel. They blacklisted him in the whole
town. Put it in the paper that he was
a heretic. And he had to move completely out of the community. And all the apostles but John
were eventually killed for preaching Christ. The religious world did
this, our Lord said, thinking they were doing God's service. Thinking they were doing the
will of God. Serving God. Paul, when he was Saul of Tarsus,
he did the same thing. Go to Acts 26. Look to your right
there. When he was Saul of Tarsus, he
did the same thing. Acts 26 verse 9. He said, I verily
thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to
the name of Jesus of Nazareth, which thing I also did in Jerusalem. And many of the saints did I
shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests.
And when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.
And I punished them often in every synagogue, and I compelled
them to blaspheme, and being exceedingly mad against him,
I persecuted them even unto strange cities." You see the grace of
God? That's what Paul was doing. And
yet he was one of Christ's elect. Christ laid down his life for
him, justified him, put away all that's in. And he saved him. He sent the gospel. He came.
Christ came in person, arrested him, and he sent him down to
Nazareth to declare to him what Christ had done. Those that crucified
the Prince of Life. Now you think about this. We
talked about this paradox a little bit Thursday night. Those that
crucified the Prince of Life. God and human flesh. They did
so because of their zeal. for the law of God. That's a
frightening thing to think about. You and I could do something
like that out of a zeal for God. The Jews answered him, we have
a law and by our law he ought to die because he made himself
the son of God. The Pharisees, now think about
this, In the name of obeying God, in the name of keeping the
law of God, they sent men to break the legs of our Lord so
they could get Him down off the tree so they wouldn't break the
Sabbath day. Do you think of the paradox of
that? Here is the righteousness of the law hanging on the cross. We got to break his legs and
get him off the cross so we can do the righteousness of the law.
Was that the righteousness of the law they were doing? No. Not even close. Scripture was
written that not a bone of his would be broken, typifying the
fact he will not lose one of his people. And so he had already
yielded up the spirit when they came. They didn't break a bone
of his. But they killed the prince of life in a zeal to keep the
law of God. Paul said, Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel as they might be saved.
That wasn't his heart when he was persecuting in the name of
Christ and giving his consent to kill men, was it? He was doing
that for the zeal of the law. Then when God broke his heart,
he said, my heart's desire And my prayer to God for them is
that they might be saved. It's a different spirit, isn't
it? This is the righteousness of
faith. This is the faith working by
love. The newness of spirit God puts
in the heart. I pray that God will save them.
I bear them record. They have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge. They're going about to or being
ignorant of God's righteousness or going about to establish their
own righteousness and have not submitted themselves unto the
righteousness of God. Because Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. How could
Paul have this desire in his heart toward people who did what
they did to Christ? Because he did it. And the Lord
showed him mercy and saved him. That's how he could have that
heart toward them. How did Christ fulfill the righteousness of
the law? We see what's not fulfilling the righteousness of the law
to accuse and condemn Christ of being a heretic and being
a blasphemer and being a sinner and nailing him to the cross
and killing him because we're going to keep the law. Now that's
not keeping the law. What did Christ do? to fulfill
the righteousness of the law. What is the spirit of the law?
What is newness of spirit? What does the law require? He fulfilled both tables of the
law perfectly on the cross by faith and love. By faith he believed
God. He trusted His Father. He is
representing His people. All His people are in Him. And
here we see the perfect faith by which His people are saved.
He believed God. He is going to the cross. And
He knows what He is going to bear. And He knows how dark it
is going to be. And He knows God is going to
leave Him there in the darkness. He knows this. But here is His
faith. In Isaiah 50 and verse 6 He said,
I gave my back to the smiters. my cheeks to them that plucked
off the hair, I hidden out my face from shame and spitting,
for the Lord God will help me. Therefore shall I not be confounded,
therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that
I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifies me. Who will contend with me? Let
us stand together. Who is my adversary? Let him
come near to me. And when He gives you faith,
newness of spirit, believes Christ. You believe He's all your righteousness.
You believe Him that He's all your righteousness. And you say,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect is God
to justify. Who is He that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea, rather that's risen again, who makes
intercession for His people continually. That's what faith is trusting.
So we believe Christ to bless the word we preach in the hearts
of His people no matter how you oppose. You keep trusting Him. You trust one another to Christ.
You intercede for one another. And wait on the Lord to work
in the hearts of one another. We believe Him and we trust Him.
He has delivered us already. He's justified His people. He's
made His people righteous. And we trust He shall save us
today. And we trust He shall save us
tomorrow. And He shall not have a bone
of His body be broken. He will bring us into glory with
Him. And in love. That's the fulfillment
of the law, love, and a perfect righteous love for God and for
His people. There His people are hating Him. Some of the very ones that put
Him on the cross saying, we're keeping the law, we can't stand
to be around you, get you out of here. Some of those very ones
doing that to Him. He loved them. Guilty. And he willingly went before
God and took all our sins. All the burden he bore it. Every bit of the burden he bore
it. All your sins, all your iniquities, all your trespasses, all of them. All of them. Who knows the heap
of just one child of God that He saved? The heap of sin. All
the sins of His people. He was made to bear them. He
was made sin for us. He willingly did it. And because He's justly bearing,
He's bearing the sins of His people. God justly. And He was
willing for this to happen. He willingly. bore the curse,
the condemnation, poured out his blood till he died. That's the perfect faith and
perfect love. That is the righteousness of
the law. That's the perfect faith and love Christ is. That's the
perfect righteousness He is for His people. We're not looking
to our faith. We're not looking to our love
to save us. That's the perfect faith and love that fulfill the
law, that God's pleased with. We've lay owed to Him by the
faith He gives. Our faith's just very small,
but we trust in Him. We trust in Him. But He puts
this love in your heart. He makes you walk in newness
of spirit to see. When you look to Him, you see.
He fulfilled perfect righteousness for us by burying our sin, covering
our sin, putting our sin away, putting it behind His back, and
covering us in His righteousness. That's worlds apart from the
Pharisees looking for sin and constraining men and condemning
men and casting them out in the name of obeying the law. Go over
to Isaiah 58 verse 1. Our Lord here sends Isaiah and
he says, verse 1, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice
like a trumpet and show my people their transgression and the house
of Jacob their sin. Well, they must have been doing
something pretty immoral. No, they seek me daily. They delight to know my ways.
as a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinance
of their God. They ask of me the ordinances
of justice. They take delight in approaching
the God. But here's what they say. Wherefore have we fasted,
say they, and thou seest not. You get what's wrong here? They're doing it to impress God.
They're doing it to get God to give them something. Wherefore
have we afflicted our soul? And you don't take any knowledge.
Behold, the Lord says, in the day of your fast, you find your
pleasure. Your pleasure is in what you're
doing. It's not in Christ. You're exacting all your labors.
You're counting them up, all yourself and what you've done.
And not only that, you're exacting them of others. Behold, you fast
for strife and debate, to smite with a fist of wickedness. You
should not fast as you do this day to make your voice to be
heard on high. Is it such a fast that I've chosen?
A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head
as a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Without
call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this
the fast that I've chosen? Listen, to loose the bands of
wickedness. To take the yoke off, my people. To undo the heavy burdens. To
let the oppressed go free. That you break every yoke. Is
it not to deal thy bread to the hungry? Who's our bread? It's
Christ. Take the yoke off and preach
Christ. Give the bread. to the hungry.
Bring the poor that are cast out, that the Pharisees have
cast them out, you bring them to your house. Isn't that what
Christ did the whole time He walked this earth? Those the
Pharisees cast out have nothing to do. When they cast that blind
man out, what did our Lord do? He found him. Gave him sight. When thou seest the naked, That's
somebody who's sinned. That's somebody who's fallen.
That's somebody who doesn't have a righteousness. When you see
him naked, cover him. That's what Christ did for us.
Hide not thyself from thine own flesh. Hide not thyself from thine own
kindred. Then shall thy light break forth
as the morning, thine elf shall spring forth speedily, thy righteousness
shall go before thee, the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. You'll have some peace in your
heart, you'll have some rejoicing in your heart when this happens,
the light will shine forth in your heart. Then shalt thou call
and the Lord shall answer, thou shalt cry and he'll say, here
I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the
putting forth of the finger, and speak in vanity, and if thou
draw out thy soul to the hungry, satisfy the afflicted soul, then
shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon
day. And the Lord shall guide thee
continually. That's what He told His apostles. He's going to guide
you into all truth. He's going to satisfy your soul
in drought. It doesn't mean you're not going
to go through some drought. But He's going to satisfy you
in drought. Make fat thy bones. Thou shalt be like a watered
garden, like a spring of water whose waters fail not. And they
that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places. Thou shalt
raise up the foundations of many generations. Thou shalt be called
the repairer of the breach. the restorer of the paths to
dwell in. If that's wrong, if it's wrong
to call on God's people to trust Christ and believe Christ and
be merciful to one another and love one another when you just,
that's so sinful that you, it's just everything you can do to
bear their burden. Take the yoke off, give them Christ to pray,
preach the gospel to them. If that's wrong, I'll just be
wrong. I'll just be wrong. I don't think
anybody ever perished for doing that, for believing Christ, trusting
Him and declaring His name and waiting on Him to work in our
own heart and in the hearts of one another. That's what the Lord worked in
His apostles. They believed Christ, they loved one another, and they
preached Christ. When He sends one of His servants
in newness of spirit, they're going to believe Christ and they're
going to love us. His servants are going to trust
Christ to work in their heart, by the Spirit, through the preaching
of the gospel. So you know what they're going
to do? They're going to keep preaching Christ and Him crucified.
They're not going to turn from it. They're not going to waver.
They're not going to be turned by men. They're going to keep
preaching Christ and Him crucified. Because this is the dynamite
that broke their own heart. And they know it's the only dynamite
that's going to break the hearts of His people. And the Spirit's
going to make His children hear the gospel of Christ crucified.
He's going to lift our head to behold Christ on the cross. And
with that look, He's going to break our heart and melt our
heart and give us that same newness of spirit, that oneness of spirit
with Him to believe Him and to go forth in newness of spirit.
That's what the Lord promised. Not only would the Spirit bear
witness in their hearts, He would do it in the hearts of those
to whom they preached. Look here back in John 16 and
verse 7. I'm not going to go through this
in detail. We're going to look at it another
time. But He promised that not only was He going to do this
in their hearts, He was going to do it in the hearts of those
to whom they preached. Verse 7, He said, Nevertheless,
I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if
I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if
I depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He has come, He
will reprove, He will convict and convince the world. That
is His elect scattered everywhere. He said you are going to go into
all these places preaching the gospel. And He said in the spirit
as you preach He is going to convict and convince mine elect
in this world of sin and righteousness and of judgment. Of sin because
they believe not on me. He's going to make His people
behold all these works and all this religion and all this has
been going on. You haven't trusted Christ. That's
what He'll make us see in our heart. When you believe Christ,
you have no sin. When you believe Christ, you
are just, you are righteous in Him. And that's what He's going to
make you see. He'll convince you of righteousness
because I go to my Father. There's one reason Christ is
seated at the right hand of the Father, because He's the righteousness
of God. He fulfilled all righteousness
and He is the only righteousness of His people. And they'll convince
you of judgment because the Prince of this world is judged. When
He convinces you, He settled judgment on Calvary's cross.
Men can't bring you under that yoke of bondage anymore. Oh, they can try, and you will fall
into that, and your flesh will try to bring you into it, but
the Spirit of God is going to keep you knowing. Your judgment
is settled at Calvary. He is going to purge your conscience.
He is going to keep you knowing. Because that is the only way
we can worship God. If we are still trying to settle
judgment by something we do. We need to believe in Christ. So the Spirit testifying of Christ
in their own hearts and giving them power. You know what they
did? They went right back to Jerusalem. after Christ was crucified,
and stood before this religious host who had crucified their
Redeemer, who hated them with everything they had, and thought,
you are a bunch of imposters, you are a bunch of blasphemers,
you are a bunch of sinners, you all were just fishermen, you
have not been in religion like us. And they stood up and preached
Christ and Him crucified to them. You think of Peter. Peter stood
by a fire and denied the Lord three times when a damsel asked
him, Aren't you one of them? No, I'm not. But when the Spirit
of God gave him boldness, he went back and stood up before
a multitude who had crucified Christ. Listen to what he said.
Go to Acts 3. I'll show you this and we'll
close. Listen to what he said when he was used of the Lord
to heal that man at the gate called Beautiful. And they were
all amazed. Listen to what Peter said. Acts
3.12. This is the same Peter who denied
Him. Listen to this now. This is Christ
working. This is the Spirit of Christ
working right here. Acts 3.12. And when Peter saw, he answered
unto the people, You men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? And why
ye look so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or our
holiness we had made this man to walk? Peter said, We didn't
do this. The God of Abraham, and of Isaac,
and of Jacob, the God of our fathers have glorified his son
Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied him in the presence
of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. That's pretty
bold. You wonder if they wondered if
Peter was preaching to them. Have you ever not thought the
gospel was being preached to you? It's always preached to
you. And he said to him, you denied the Holy One and the
just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you and killed
the Prince of Life whom God hath raised from the dead wherever
we are witnesses. And His name, through faith in
His name, hath made this man strong, whom you see and know.
Yea, the faith which is by Him, by Christ, hath given Him this
perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And now, brethren,
I wish that through ignorance, I want that through ignorance
you did it. As did also your rulers. With
those things which God before has showed by the mouth of all
His prophets, that Christ should suffer, He hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted,
that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord. And you know what
the Lord did? Peter preached at Pentecost,
and a little while later, right there, they went on preaching.
And at Pentecost, the Lord said He made good on His promise.
He testified not only in the hearts of His apostles so that
they preach Christ and Him crucified. He did it in the hearts of His
people. And He gave them faith and they believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ. And He went on doing that, adding
to the church, daily such as should be said. And here's the
good news. Our Lord does not stop convincing
us and convicting us of sin when we're not believing Him. Aren't
you thankful? Because we're like that man that
cried out, Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief. And he never
stops convincing us, you're not believing me right now. Believe
on me. I'm your righteousness. I've
settled judgment for you. I've crushed the serpent's head.
The accuser's put down. I've made my people righteous.
But the Pharisees couldn't have that message preached. Why? It
took all the work out of their hands and gave it all to Christ. That's the rub. But Christ made
good on His promise and He's still doing it today. He's saving
His people through the preaching of the gospel by the Holy Spirit,
giving us faith to believe Him and continue in Him. And He'll
keep doing this until He's saved each and every one. Alright,
let's go to Him. Father, we thank you for this
word and pray, Lord, you continue to keep us and bless us by your
spirit. Keep the gospel going forth and
make us hear it, rejoice in it, be comforted by it. Lord, if
we're not comforted, it's always our own fault. It's always us
looking to ourselves and looking at the flesh. Lord, turn us from
ourselves. Make us see Christ and what you've
accomplished. Make us really believe you, really
rest in your righteousness, really trust you that you have settled
judgment for your people. Make us believe it personally.
And Lord, we ask you to send your spirit forth and bless the
word preached. Bless it to the hearts of those
that don't know you. Give them life, give them faith,
keep them. Lord, any that are troubled,
that are cast down, would you send your spirit and revive.
Revive us again, revive us again. We need it over and over. Renew,
renew, renew. Lord, keep renewing us. Keep
renewing us by Your Spirit. We thank You, Lord, for the free,
free forgiveness we have in Christ. Thank You for that perfect faith
and love by which He justified us. And we pray, Lord, You keep
us walking in newness of spirit. Forgive us we just fail, fail,
fail. Lord, we pray that You keep returning
us back to Him and keep us resting only in Christ. Thank you for
your grace. Thank you for Christ Jesus. In
his name we ask it. Amen.