Today, I want to look with you
at the first of the parables that our Lord spake immediately
after he healed the man with the disease of dropsy. And what dropsy is, it's a swelling
up of water. I think it's called edema today.
And it's a swelling up of water. It just collects in you, and
you don't pass it. You can't get rid of it. And
it just increases and increases until you die. And this we saw
how it gives us a picture of the swelling, the puffing up
of men with pride and arrogance and remaining that way without
the grace of God, we die. We die in our sins. And so our Lord gives this parable.
He's still at the house of the chief Pharisee where he was eating
a meal with them. And what I want to do is read
this parable together. It's six verses here, beginning
in verse seven. Sorry, it's four verses, five
verses. And he put forth the parable to them which were bidden,
when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms, saying unto
them, When thou art bidden, If any man to a wedding, sit not
down in the highest room, lest a more honorable man than thou
be bidden of him. And he that bade thee in him
come, and say to thee, Give this man place, and thou begin with
shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go
and sit down in the lowest room. that when he that bade thee cometh,
he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou
have worship in the presence of them that sit at meet with
thee. For whosoever exalteth himself
shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Now, if your first thought in
reading this parable is that this is an instruction to us
of how to be humble, I understand. It can read like that on its
face. But we know the gospel of our
Lord. We know the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and therefore, our Lord is not teaching men
how to appear righteous, how to look religious before men. He speaks against that. He's
not teaching us to have a show of voluntary humility in will
worship. The Lord Jesus Christ would never
do that, especially given the fact that he's addressing self
righteous Pharisees who considered themselves to be righteous before
God, who believed themselves to merit the favor of God. They excelled at hypocrisy. They
excelled at a show of vain, dead-letter form of religion. And so he wasn't
giving us a few pointers of how to conceal our hypocrisy. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
Savior of men. There's a thought out there in
the world, born of this flesh, that teaches that Christ is a
good man, or that he's a prophet, or that he's a signpost that
tells men how to improve themselves, how to be a better version of
you, and that by you doing better, that you save yourselves. That
is a lie. That is a wicked, damning lie
from hell. The Lord isn't teaching us how
to be better versions of ourselves. This whole race of men born of
Adam's seed were ruined in the fall. We are sinners born dead
in trespasses and sins, and we cannot save ourselves. We don't
need a little tweaking. We need a complete salvation,
a complete deliverance from what we are by nature in this wicked
dead flesh. And so our Lord is describing
what a new man born of grace will do, not by his power, not
by the strength of his flesh, but by the power and grace of
God. to make us new creatures, to
give us a new birth, not born of Adam's corrupt seed, but born
again of the righteous seed of the Lord Jesus Christ, whereby
we hear God and worship him in spirit and in truth, not in dead
letter form and a vain show of humility that only has behind
it a cold, dead heart. that thinks of itself more highly
than we ought to think. So our Lord is describing here
the work of salvation that He performs in the heart of a sinner
to deliver them from death and hypocrisy. Now, let's turn to
Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2, let's
go there and look at the first 11 verses. Now Paul is writing to the church,
he's writing to professing believers who profess the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't profess their own
righteousness, but profess the righteousness of Christ. And
I know this because verse 1, Philippians 2.1, he says, if
there be therefore any consolation in Christ. if any comfort of
love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies."
And he's describing here manifest fruits of the Spirit. He's talking
to people that are born again. He's describing those that are
bearing, have the manifest fruits of the Spirit of grace in us.
The flesh doesn't bring these things forth. Not in spirit and
in truth here. These are believers born again
of Christ's seed. If any consolation of Christ,
he is the consolation of the believer. He's the peace that
we have with God. When I look at my works, I don't
find any peace here. When I look to Christ, that's
where I am given rest and peace and hope. of my salvation, not
because of what I am or what I do. These things come and go,
feelings come and go. It's trash. My hope is the Lord
Jesus Christ and his righteousness and the promise of God made unto
us in his word through Christ, what he accomplished for sinners.
if any comfort of love." Doesn't what Christ did in the sacrifice
of himself for his people, for his bride, that testifies of
the love of God? That he would bear the wrath
of God against himself for his bride, for his people. to put
away her sin, if any fellowship of the Spirit, to know the mind
of God, the mystery of God, hid throughout ages from man who
didn't know or understand what God was speaking of when He spoke
concerning His Son from the beginning of the book to the end. But now,
through the preaching of the Gospel, we hear and understand
what God has done for us, not by our works, but by His darling
Son, Jesus Christ. If any bowels and mercies, again,
these are not described in the works of the flesh in Galatians
5, these are a testimony to the fruit of the Spirit wrought in
living souls, those made alive by our God. Paul then says here, to you,
you that hear, you that have faith and hope and love in the
Lord Jesus Christ, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded,
having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let
nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness
of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look
not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things
of others." And that word there, that phrase, on the things of
others is not the way we would think of it in the flesh. Okay,
I'm going to get up in people's business and I'm going to tell
them how to improve their lives and do better with themselves.
That's not what he's describing here. He's talking about an undertaking
that the Savior has undertaken by himself to provide all that
we need to stand before the throne of God faultless. without sin,
meaning without our works, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the flesh, but the righteousness of Christ, his
righteousness. He has undertaken this burden
for his people to bring us to the Father in perfect righteousness,
in his righteousness. And so Paul does that very thing. He turns us to Christ here, verse
five, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,
who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon
him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. You think about what the son
of God did. who dwelled with the Father for
all eternity, in light, in glory, in worship, being worshiped by
the host of heaven for all eternity. And he laid aside his glory and
took up the weakness of this flesh and came in the likeness
of sinful man, but without sin, being perfect under the law,
perfect to his Father. to accomplish the salvation of
his people perfectly, to provide everything that we need perfectly
in himself. Nothing remaining for us to do. In other words, all that we need,
he provides it and gives it all by his spirit in his child. It's not about what we do for
the Lord, it's what the Lord has done for us. And our boast
is of Christ. Our boast is not what I'm doing,
but what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for me, a sinner, unworthy,
undeserving of his grace and mercy. and being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross, whereby through his blood he
purged the sin of his people. He removed the stain of sin that
we had brought upon ourselves by our works and our doing. He
shed his blood for the forgiveness of our sins through his atonement
on the cross as the surety of his people. Meaning he came on
purpose for his people to satisfy her debts, to pay them in full,
in full there, to obtain eternal life for us with the Father. Wherefore God hath also highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, because
he took the place of his people in the lowest place, we now see
and behold the exalted Savior. He is exalted above all, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven
and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father. praising him for his wisdom.
We didn't think of this. We didn't go this way by nature,
by our flesh. God did this. And he performed
it entirely, not waiting and hoping, I hope that they get
it right. I hope that they cooperate. No. In power, he sent his son. And he changes the heart. He
delivers us from death and bondage, his people, and brings us to
Christ, effectually working this salvation in our hearts. Who
does God give the highest place to? His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's at the highest place. And
so, when a man in his ignorance, puffed up in his dropsy, if you
will, his pride and arrogance and ignorance, he seats himself
in the place of honor and glory and thinks, by my works I have
merited the favor of God. I'm doing so good and I'm doing
better than everybody else and I've got it together. got it
together and I'm doing well here." Christ is saying that one is
going to be ashamed in the day of judgment. He's going to find
out that he's not as high and mighty as he thinks he is. That
his works are not shiny and wonderful, they stink. They stink. And he's going to go with face
full of shame down to the lowest place. He's going to understand
then when he begins with shame, as Christ said, to take the lowest
room. So low. How low? In hell. His place in hell. That's the
lowest room. That's the lowest place. Christ
on the throne will say in that day, depart from me ye that work
iniquity. And what he's describing there
is their religious works. He calls it, you that work iniquity. All your righteousnesses are
filthy rags, is what the Lord shows us. We that think that
we come to God by our righteousnesses and our goodness, that we're
going to find out the works of iniquity. Because why? It's a
denial. It's a rejection of the righteousness
of God given for the salvation of his people in Christ. Christ
the righteous. He's the righteous one, not you
and I. He's made us righteous by his grace and power and glory. Now, I want to use this outline
that our Lord gives us here in this parable to teach us the
lesson of grace that he's revealing, that he's speaking to, declaring
to these Pharisees and those that are sitting there hearing
him preach this word. And it concerns the salvation
of sinners. So first he says in verse 8,
so this is back in Luke 14, In verse 8, he says, when thou art
bidden of any man to a wedding. He's describing a wedding here.
And then down in verse 10, he says, when thou art bidden, go
and sit down in the lowest room. When you're bidding to a wedding,
go and sit down in the lowest room. Now, they're not currently
at a wedding. This is the Sabbath day. They
were bidding to eat a meal at the chief Pharisee's house. But
our Lord here, in this parable, uses a wedding. Thou art bidden
to a wedding. Well, the wedding that all men,
all men and women, are bidden to is the wedding of the Lamb
of God to His Bride, the Church. We all hear, through the preaching
of the Gospel, That is the bidding to the wedding there, through
the preaching of the gospel. As our Lord said, go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. You tell everyone. You don't
judge and discern who's the elect and who's not. We don't know.
Usually the ones we think are the elect, we're wrong. We're
wrong about ourselves. And the ones that we think that
they'll never believe, those are the ones that oftentimes
hear and come. It's not the self-righteous that
hear, it's the sinner. It was the publicans that drew
near to Christ. It was the sinners that drew
near to Christ, that rejoiced to hear His word, because they
had no righteousness of their own. That's what the Lord does.
He calls sinners to repentance. And so we tell them of the Lamb,
who he is, this is the son of God. Why he came? Because we
are fallen sinners in Adam and we cannot save ourselves. We've tried, we had the law,
we tried, we worked, we labored, we strove, we sacrificed, we
did all we could, the best of the best of the best of us, and
we all come short of the glory of God. For all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. For the scriptures have declared,
all under sin. It's clear when you read this,
you can see everybody in here is a sinner. These aren't great
people. These people have problems just
like us. They're sinners, just like we are. And yet here they
are. And the Lord revealed himself
to them. He came for sinners. Christ came for sinners. And
we declare what He did for His bride to put away her sin by
the death and sacrifice of Himself made unto the Father to atone
for our sins. To put them away. And promises,
and I'll give you life. I'll make you to know what I
did. I'll declare. And you'll hear it. And you'll
believe it effectually in your heart because I will do it. give
you my word, I will do it. You shall not come short of that
which you seek. And you seek it because of the
grace of my God, of my Father, to give it to you in me. I've
come to give it to you. I've come to do all that you
need to do. And so we declare his death,
and we declare his resurrection, and that you that believe are
justified from all things which you could not justify yourselves
with under the law. He's done it. He's done it all,
brethren. Christ Jesus here, he's the bridegroom of this wedding. He's the groom of this wedding
that he's speaking of here in this parable. And here he is,
the bridegroom, standing right before them, these Pharisees,
these self-righteous Pharisees. And he's telling them, when you're
bidden of any man, Whatever man that is that comes and tells
you, bids you to this wedding, that declares Christ to you through
the preaching of the gospel, through the faithful preaching
of the gospel, you hear him. Because it's probably going to
come in a way that you didn't expect it. It's going to come
by somebody that you think you're not qualified to say these things.
Who are you? It's going to come in a place that looks like this.
It doesn't even look like a church. It just looks like a plain old
building that belongs to somebody else, because it does. It's not
even ours. But when that call comes, when
thou art bidding, he says, go and sit in the lowest room. You think about that for a while.
What is he talking about, in the lowest room? What does he
mean? And first, just remember, though, the bidding comes at
an inconvenient time. Most of the time, you're not
thinking you even need this. It's coming at a time inconvenient.
I got so much going on. I got to take care of things.
I don't have time for this. It comes at an inconvenient time.
The person that's doing the bidding, you're like, who is this person?
Who is this person telling me these things? They got no business
doing this. You might even think, I already
got the invitation. I've already RSVP'd. I've done
everything I need to do. I walked the aisle. I prayed
the Romans prayer. I gave my heart to Jesus. I was
baptized. I'm on a membership role somewhere
in some church. Man always looks to his works,
to what he's done, and thinks everything's all right between
me and God. But Christ says, when you hear
the gospel, to come to the wedding of the lamb and his bride, go
and sit in the lowest room. Go sit in the lowest room. Who's
going to humble themselves in that manner? If he's just talking
about this world, this whole world would be happy to let you
go sit in the worst chair in the room. Sure, go ahead. You
could take that. I have no problem with that. The world's happy
to let you take that lowest place. But who's going to humble themselves
in the manner which our Lord is speaking here? Because man
doesn't humble himself. Man won't humble himself. Man
is proud and arrogant, and he's stuck up and high on himself.
A humble man is a man that is humbled by God. If you are truly
humble, you've been humbled by God. The father chastens his
children, whom he loves. He humbles his children. He brings
his children low in themselves. And our Lord is addressing men
here who exalt themselves, who think very highly of themselves
for what they've achieved under the law of Moses. And they're hearing Christ speak,
this man, and they hate him, and they hate the Father who
sent him. They despise Christ, and they fancy themselves to
have attained. We've earned this. We've got
the highest seats. We come to the highest seats
because we've earned it. We are the best of the best,
and we're consistent in it, and we're so good. And the only way
they will ever come down to such a low room, as Christ is speaking
of here, is by the grace of God. By the grace of God given to
you. freely given to you by sovereign
almighty grace. Not because we've earned it,
not because we deserve it, because we don't, but freely given for
his child because the Lord is going to make his children to
see my works stink. I don't have anything to boast
of before God. I need a savior that saves entirely
because I cannot save myself. And so the place that we see,
the place that we're headed for, is the lowest room, the lowest
room. And from my own experience and
the experience of others who have shared it with me, when
the Lord is doing a work on his child and he brings them low,
what we find, the place that I deserve, is hell. The low place
I deserve, the low room I deserve from my works and what I've done,
what I've earned is death, eternal death under the wrath of God.
That's the low place. That's the lowest place there
that we deserve. And the Lord brings His child
down low to know what I am in this flesh, to know what I've
earned, what I deserve by my works. And the Lord knows how
to make and does make His child mourn for their sin. They take
that low place. Lord, what have I done? I'm a
fool. Lord, I don't deserve your mercy.
I don't deserve your grace. I think I've sinned and done
despite the Spirit of God, and I've got no place. I'm cut off.
How often have the people of God been assured that that's
it? I think God hates me. I think
he's done with me. I've just spurned his grace and
sinned willfully and done wicked things. Who am I to think that
God should be merciful to me. But that's what the Lord does.
He makes his child to know, I'm the guilty one. I'm the sinner.
I don't deserve his grace. I got nothing to boast of. Lord,
save me. Have mercy on me. All these years
in ignorance and in darkness, Lord, save me. Have mercy upon
me. David prayed in Psalm 51, verse
4, against thee. Thee only have I sinned. and
done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified
when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest." If the Lord
condemns me and casts me to hell, he's just. He's just in doing
it. And he makes his child, when
they're bidden to the wedding feast, to take that lowest place. He's showing you those that are
bidden. Because this is what he manifests in his child. He
makes us to know our need of Christ. Otherwise, we'd hear
the call, just like the world does often, and they think they've
got it. Oh, I just fixed a few things.
I changed a little bit. I repented of this, stopped doing
that, started doing this. And everything's good. And they
just go right on up. And they've never taken the lowest
place, because they've not heard. They've not been shown these
things by the spirit and grace of God. Men come in ignorance,
and we've all come in ignorance. We all have. All of us have started
on our way and think we know it and have it figured out, only
to learn, I don't know anything, as I ought to know. The more
we learn of Christ, the more I see what a vile, wretched sinner
I am in this flesh. And I know that many of you would
say the same thing. The more I know, why is it that
I get worse and worse and worse? I feel worse about myself now
than I did when I first started. because the Lord has shown me
what I am by nature, what I am in Adam, and I need him. And so he does that through the
faithful preaching of the gospel, and he chastens us and strips
us of vain confidences in the flesh. As Paul said, that the
children of God have no confidence in the flesh. That's because
they've been learning, stripped and beaten and brought low in
themselves, lest we find out on the day of judgment that You're
not supposed to be up here. You're going to go down with
shame and take your low room then. And so he humbles us now,
making us to know how that Christ suffered. that my sin is so vile
that I am so dead in myself that the Son of God had to come down
here, because there's not a law given that could save me, that
I could save myself with, that the Son of God had to come down
in the likeness of my flesh and suffer and die in my room instead. And work this, give me a new
birth entirely from Adam, because that's how awful I am. He does
that. He makes us to know that in spirit
and in truth. And let me just give you a few
examples of those in scriptures that the Lord is humble. Jacob
confessed back in Genesis 32.10, he said, I'm not worthy of the
least of all your mercies. I'm not worthy of any of these.
Even the smallest one, Lord, I'm not worthy. Job was made
to say, behold, I am vile. Job also confessed, he said,
I've heard of you at the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye
seeth thee, and I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
I hate myself. for what I see in seeing you. And in that same light there,
Isaiah, when he saw the Lord high and lifted up and his train
filled the room, what was his confession after seeing the Lord,
Jesus Christ, seated on the throne? He said, woe is me, for I am
undone, because I am a man of unclean lips. And I dwell in
the midst of an unclean people. What am I going to do? I don't
even know how to fix this or get out of this. I'm undone.
And then Paul cried, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? And he thanked God for Jesus
Christ. And he confessed to Timothy later, he said, this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I am chief. And his earlier epistles
didn't start off like that. He confessed he was a sinner,
but the more he grew, the more he saw of his sin and eventually
came out saying, I'm the chief of sinners. I don't know anybody
worse than me. Because I know the things that I know, and yet
I'm still a sinner. I still see the sin and the lust
in my members. This flesh hasn't improved or
gotten any better. And so all these sinful men whom
we call blessed of God, their names are here in the scriptures,
and the Lord testifies of their goodness. These men who we call
blessed, who are seated in The heavens now with Christ, what
do they do? They sat down, every one of them,
in the lowest room. They sat low and just stood in
that for as long as the Lord left them there to see what they
are in this flesh. And that's what our Lord is telling
us to do. When thou art bid him, go and sit down in the lowest
room. You go sit with Jacob where you
saw Jacob. and Job, and Isaiah, and Paul,
and all my servants. You go take that low place. But he does it in such a way
that we don't think about it. We're just plunged there. We're
brought there by his grace and power. And so this is what follows
for those who, by the grace of God, go and sit down in that
lowest room. And this is the second thing
that our Lord teaches us here in this parable. second of two
things I'm showing you here. So he says in verse 11, for whosoever
exalteth himself shall be abased. All right, if you won't take
the lowest room, if you won't take that place, you'll be put
there in the day of judgment. And he that humbleth himself,
he that does take that lowest room, he shall be exalted. He shall be brought up. And so
this is the promise to all who lay aside the merits of their
works, who don't look to their sacrifices, who don't look to
their religious, and they're going to churches and doing this
right and stopping that and doing this better and trying to be
nicer. We don't have any confidence in those things, no confidence
at all, because for every good thing I can show you, I can show
you hundreds of more evil things. and things that just wreck every
hope in that. So it's those that come with
no confidence in the flesh to save themselves, who give up
all their righteousness, that they might be found in the righteousness
of Christ. Those who are humbled and brought
low themselves and the Lord is saying that one that sinner that
one who sees what they are and takes that that low place who
says I deserve not heaven I deserve hell for my works that one he
says Almighty God shall raise you up he'll lift that one up
that has taken that lowest place. For God promises, he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted. And the truth is, that one that
humbles themselves, that one has already been helped by God,
because that's why they're humbled. Because this flesh doesn't humble
itself. This flesh doesn't want anything to do with that. Sure,
put on a show, pretend, look good in front of other people,
sure, we'll do that. But when it's done in truth,
even when we wish we could get out of it, and we're in that
valley of darkness and undone, the only reason why we're brought
there is because God in mercy has brought us low in ourselves.
He's humbled us that we might see in truth our need of Christ. Not as a pretend, not as vain
religion, not just trying to say the right things, but knowing
what the Lord has done for me, undeserving me. And so it's his
spirit and his work of grace that does this for his people.
And this goes back to what our Lord promises in his word for
his people. In Zechariah, the prophet Zechariah
12.10, it says, and I will pour upon the house of David and upon
the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplications. And they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced. And they shall mourn for him
as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness
for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. And so by
the spirit of God being poured out upon his people, that spirit
of grace and supplication, we mourn for our sins. We take our
lowest, the lowest room. We go down in ourselves humbled,
not by a manufactured humility, but because the Lord has done
it in us. And he says in Zechariah 13, in that day there shall be
a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. You that are citizens
of spiritual Jerusalem from above, that fountain is open for you.
And the Lord, he brings us low for a time. lest we should think
too highly of ourselves. But he promises, I'll open up
that fountain. I'll show you the fountain. I'll
bring you to the fountain. And I'll plunge you in that blood
and cleanse you of your sins, of your fears and doubts and
worries. And I'll raise you up. I'll lift
you up and set you on high in heavenly places where the Lord
Jesus Christ is seated. And so he does this to set our
affections on Christ. To take our affections off this
flesh, off this world, off this life, and set them wholly upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. Because you that have Christ,
you have all. All. You may not have everything
that this world has, but you're made willing to go without these
things because you have all. in Christ Jesus, in Christ. And so it's only through the
blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ that we will
ever hear these words. And look at verse 10 again, Luke
14, verse 10. But when thou art bidden, go
and sit down in the lowest room, that when he that bade thee cometh,
and he may say, Unto thee, friend, go up higher. We want the Lord,
our Savior, our God, to say to us, friend, go up higher. Then
shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at
meet with thee. And so our Lord Jesus Christ
is the only one that can take a sinner condemned because of
their sin in the lowest place, down in the depths of hell, as
it were. We know it. This is what I've
earned. This is what I deserve. And he comes and says, friend,
I'm up here. You're not going to stay down
here. I've got a place for you. You come up here with me at the
head table. in glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he does this in peace,
in fellowship, in comfort, in confidence, not because we did
it, because we fail, but because he did it. And he gives us his
word, and he gives us that comfort in our hearts. So trust Christ
Jesus our Lord. He's faithfully declaring to
us here in this parable to us, not just the Pharisees. We're
the Pharisees by nature. He's declaring to us. all that
we need to hear, that we may be exalted of the Father, for
Christ's sake, and what He has done and accomplished in us. And I'll just close with these
two verses from Proverbs 25, verse 6 and 7. Solomon said,
put not forth thyself in the presence of the king, and stand
not in the place of great men. That is, fancying yourselves
to have justified yourselves by your good works, by your perfection,
and your religion, and all that you've done. Don't come before
God looking to what you've done and think that you're something.
For better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither, than
that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince
whom thine eyes have seen. All shall see Christ. All are
going to confess that he is wonderful, that he is Lord of all. He's
perfect and beautiful. And you don't want to go away
from His presence on that day to the lowest place, because
the lowest place there is hell. We're begging Him to reveal Himself
to us today. And by His grace and power to
humble us today, put us low, and that He today, in the day
of grace, will say, come up, Hither. Come up, child. I did
this for you. This is for your good and salvation.