Returning to Genesis 21. Genesis 21, and I'm going to
begin by reading two verses, 9 and 10. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar,
the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking Wherefore,
as Sarah said unto Abraham, cast out this bondwoman and her son. For the son of this bondwoman
shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And that word even was added
by the translators. And as I understand it, what
it means is equal with Isaac. He'll not have a part in the
inheritance with my son Isaac. Now the Apostle Paul, thankfully,
speaks of this very passage. And it's in Galatians chapter
4. And when we do finally turn there,
leave a marker there, we're gonna see, be in some verses in Romans
and in Galatians this morning. And Paul speaks of this in chapter
four, verses 22 through 31. And what he tells us is that
this historical, factual thing that really happened here, this
domestic dispute, if you will, it really happened, but he tells
us this is an allegory. This is an allegory. There's
a lot of things that happen to the patriarchs. There's a lot
of things that happen to our brethren in the scriptures that
are not recorded in the scriptures. But there are certain things
that the Lord puts in the scripture because they are an allegory. When the Lord puts something
in the scripture, it's not just to fill space. It's not just
meaningless little details. He gives us these things because
they're teaching us something. They're teaching us of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it speaks of the redemption
of the Lord Jesus Christ for his people. You can count on
it. Everything that's in this Word
is speaking and testifying to, bearing witness of, and glorifying
the Lord Jesus Christ and He's teaching His people something
of redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ for His people. These
words are a blessing to us. Now an allegory in this sense,
but this allegory is using His characters. The allegory takes
characters such as Sarah and Hagar, such as Isaac and Ishmael
to teach us something, another meaning than what's just here
presented. There's something else going
on here and it's teaching us of the gospel. It's teaching
us of the gospel, some spiritual gospel truth. And that's specifically
Christ and redemption. Now in this case, this allegory
is given to show believers our complete and total deliverance
from the law of Moses. This is what this allegory is
teaching us. We have freedom, deliverance
from the law of Moses. That doesn't mean that we're
without law. It means that we're without the law of Moses. We're
not under the law of Moses. That's not our righteousness.
Our law is the law of faith, the law of the Spirit, the law
of life and liberty in Christ Jesus. But this allegory is showing
us that we've been delivered from the Law of Moses. We have
here two women and two sons, and this speaks of two covenants. Two covenants. Sarah pictures
the covenant of grace, and her son Isaac pictures the children
of promise. Children of promise you that
believe God you that believe the Lord Jesus Christ are It's
a testimony that you are children of promise. It's not your testimony
It's God's testimony in revealing and manifesting faith life his
spirit in you He's showing that's my child. They're a child of
promise. I love them and and I save them
before the foundation of the world. And I'm bringing it forth,
bringing that life forth in them. Hagar pictures the covenant of
works, and her son Ishmael pictures the people who are going about
to establish their own righteousness by their works. They think they
come to God in what they do or don't do. And they're in bondage. They're in bondage. And so the
Lord here is teaching you that believe. He's saying, don't come
to me mixing law and grace. It can't be done. My people do
not come to me. I don't receive them with a little
bit of grace and a little bit of law, a little bit of what
I do and a little bit of what you do. No, we don't mix law
and grace. And that's what we do by nature.
We try by nature, this corrupt, vile, sinful, wicked nature,
we would come to God. Mixing a little bit of this and
a little bit of that, because we think, well, that sounds good.
That seems to make some sense. I think I'll do that. And the
Lord says, no, don't come to me in law. I've provided everything
for you in my son Jesus Christ. I've saved you in grace. And
he draws us in grace and in love and in mercy. And so sinners,
what we're seeing here, is that sinners are either saved entirely
by grace or entirely by the law. And they are mutually, what's
called mutually exclusive, meaning that if one is true, the other
cannot be true. It is not true. And if this one's
true, then the other one's not true. It's one or the other. They're exclusive of each other.
You can't come in both. And so the Lord is showing us
what he's saying in this word is that he saved by grace in
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how he saves sinners.
That's how he saves his people. Salvation is not in something
I do or that you do for yourselves. Salvation is by the doing and
dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how we're saved, by Christ
and Christ alone. When he went, when he came for
his people, he went to that cross. And He died as the Lamb of God,
as their shorty, as their substitute, bearing their sins. And He died
and was buried, and He rose again for our justification. God declaring,
He's salvation. Look to Him. He's the one I've
provided. He's salvation. He's our righteousness. This might be a little heavy,
but go to Romans. Romans chapter 6 is where we're
going to begin. I want to show you a few verses
here. This is a nice flow of verses
that you can go back to and this shows us and speaks to our deliverance
from the law. So let me just take a few minutes
here and we're going to be in Romans. I'm going to show you
four passages from Romans that show that believers are free
from the law. So beginning at verse 14 and
15. Romans 6, 14, for sin shall not
have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under
grace. He's speaking to believers. You're
not under the law of Moses. You're not under the law of sin
and death. You're under faith. You're under the law of grace.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not
under the law, but under grace? God forbid. No. We're not lawless. We're under the law of grace
and faith. Now, go over to Romans 7. Romans 7, verses 1 through 4.
We're not under the law, but under grace. Now, Paul says,
know ye not, brethren? For I speak to them that know
the law, how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as
he liveth. right when you sign up to the
law when you with Israel say all that the Lord hath commanded
us here from Mount Sinai we will do you're saying I'm on the hook
for the whole thing every jot every tittle there's no excuses
I can't wiggle this way or wiggle that and say well you know that
doesn't work for me no when you say I'm under the law You're
under the whole of the law and if you venture down one little
part of it, you're now responsible for the whole thing along with
its curses. Along with its curses. Now, Paul
gives us a little example here to help us understand what he's
saying. He uses an example that we're familiar with, verse 2
and 3. For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law
to her husband so long as he liveth. Right? We don't allow,
even here in America, you can't be married to two different people
at the same time. A woman can't be married to this
man and that man. And a man, I know there's a few
weird places, but a man is not married to this woman and that
woman. It's one and one. That's it. That's what it is. And it says, but if the husband
be dead, she's loosed from the law of her husband. She's not
married anymore. Verse 3 So then, if while her
husband liveth she be married to another man, she shall be
called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she
is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though
she be married to another man. Now here is what he is getting
at verse 4. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the
law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another,
even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring
forth fruit unto God. What the gospel is declaring
to us is Christ Jesus has severed us from that law that kept us
in bondage to it. And when we were bringing forth
fruit, it was fruit unto death. It was done in bondage, in fear,
under tyranny, in worries, in doubts, being afraid. That's
how we did it under the law of Moses. It's the law of sin and
death. You better be perfect or else you're going to hell.
That's what the law says. If you're not perfect in everything,
you're not going to make it. Well, Christ severed us from
that law by the death of himself. And we, the scriptures tell us
in Romans 6, 6 that we were crucified with him. We died with him so
that that law has no more say over us. We are now free by Christ
to be married to Christ and in that covenant of grace we bring
forth fruit unto God. He has freed us to be married
to Him under that covenant of grace. Now turn over to Romans
8 verse 1-4. Romans 8 1 there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus right you're
married to Christ you've done nothing wrong you're not under
the law anymore there's no condemnation who walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit for the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus which is what we're now under hath made me free from
the law of sin and death. For what the law, that law of
Moses, could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh,
God sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh and
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. so that he broke those
chains which had us fettered under that law of sin and death.
We were bound and could not set ourselves free by our works. He came and snapped those chains,
broke them apart, and brought us to himself. He did that. He
delivered us. That the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh
and not bondage, but after the spirit and the liberty of Christ. Now finally, go to chapter 10,
verse 4. Romans 10, 4. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth." In other words,
Christ has accomplished in us what the law could not do. Christ has done that so that
he's our righteousness and our acceptance with God. What the
law was pointing to, righteousness, but couldn't get us there, Christ
did it. He's the end of the law. And
therefore we have no more part. The law is nothing to say to
us. Christ has accomplished that righteousness which God has purposed
for his people. That we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. And so now believers You that
hear this word, whose heart is turned from the flesh and looking
to Christ for all your salvation, that's how we come to God. In
Christ, we come in Him. We don't come holding the hand
of Moses. That's adultery. We're not coming
with Moses. We're coming holding onto, being
held by Christ, our husband, our Savior, our God, our all. We come in Him. And so salvation
is of faith. It's either faith or it's of
works. It's one or the other, and the
Lord tells us it's of faith. It's of faith. Believers come
to God through faith, looking to Christ our Savior, all our
salvation. Only a dead letter professor
continues to come to God, holding on to the law and a little bit
of what he heard of Jesus and grace and trying to mix the two.
Sarah said, cast her out. Cast out the bondwoman. She has
no part in the inheritance with my freeborn son. She has no part. And so this allegory is revealing
to us these two covenants. These two covenants. Let's talk about the two covenants.
This will be the heaviest part of the message here. In Galatians
4, verse 24-26, let's read what Paul says here. This is speaking to those two
verses we read there in Genesis 21, 9 and 10. Paul says, Which
things are an allegory? For these are the two covenants,
the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which
is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia, and answereth to, or stands with, or resembles
Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
They rejected Christ, and they said, no, we're sticking with
the law of Moses. This is our righteousness, and
we're not changing. We're not being moved from this. And he's saying they're in bondage.
But Jerusalem which is above, that is heaven born, is free,
is free which is the mother of us all, that is you that believe,
you that answereth to, stand with, resemble Christ and His
people, you that come to God in Christ, you are free born.
And so the Lord shows us in scripture that he deals with men in two
covenants. One of two covenants. And that's
what the scripture says. One is the covenant of works. And that requires man to work,
to labor, to spend, to sacrifice, to keep on Working and working
and working and striving and striving and laboring and spending
and spending and sacrificing Non-stop, it's all on you. The other is a covenant of grace
And that one doesn't look to man. It looks to God and God
provides everything necessary in that covenant with all its
blessings God does everything for his people and so Paul tells
us that Hagar that the Egyptian, the bond woman, the Egyptian,
she represents the covenant of the law with all its works and
ceremonies done by the flesh under that law of sin and death. Under that law of sin and death,
when Paul writes of it in 2 Corinthians 3, you'll see he calls the law
of Moses administration of condemnation and administration of death. It's under the law of sin and
death because when Adam sinned, sin entered the world and he
became defiled and corrupt and death passed upon him and all
his seed in him. And so we can't do it. We fall
short trying to work a righteousness for ourselves. Therefore, we
die. We die eternally. That's second
death, as well as this first death. So when Moses was given
the law from Mount Sinai to Israel there, what it said was, do this
and live. You do it, you get it right,
you'll live. But if you don't do it, you die.
That's as simple as it is. Just like we saw that man picking
up sticks on the Sabbath day. He was killed because he broke
the law. That's what the law says. That's
how it's supposed to be meted out. And so the law requires
perfection, but it gives you no aid, no sucker, no care to
doing what the law requires. It gives you no strength, no
ability to do it. It just tells you this is what
you're to do. And you're on your own to figure
it out, to try and muster up a strength to keep it and to
do it. And so what the law does, the
purpose of the law is to make known to us we are sinners. We are law breakers. We are transgressors,
trespassers, full of sin, and iniquity. When we're weighed
in the balance, you see the iniquity, the inequity. We don't measure
up. We're found wanting. coming up
short. And this is what the scriptures
say in Romans 3 20. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is
the knowledge of sin. And so it shows us where we're
wanting and it's all over the place if we're honest. It shows
us just how far short we fall but it gives us no remedy. It has no cure for the disease
that slain me. My flesh is weak, it's corrupted,
it's defiled, it's ruined. I'm undone. I'm undone before
holy God. It shows you what you're lacking,
but it can't tell you where to get what you need. And it can't
give it to you. And it gives you no strength.
So this is what Hagar represents. She's the law. And that leaves
us short of what we need. She's in bondage. And she keeps
her children in bondage. She's still a handmaid, an Egyptian
handmaid. And she was the wife of Abraham,
the second wife. She's still a handmaid. She's still a bondmaid. She's still in servitude. She's in bondage under the law
of sin and death. And her son Ishmael. He can't
do anything about it. He can't change it. He's also
the son of a servant, of a slave, and he can't set himself free
or change that. And so what the Lord's bringing
out to us, and I touched on it a moment ago, is in Adam, when
Adam came forth, he was under that covenant of works. And Adam
did not fulfill that covenant. He broke it. He broke it, and
that's when sin entered, and death through that sin, and he
was defiled, and all his seed in him. He died spiritually. He looked at God as his enemy
and was fearful and afraid of God. And he ran the other way.
And that's why all of us by nature come forth hating the true and
living God. We'll worship an idol, no problem.
But not the true and living God. He's in complete darkness to
us. And so we died in trespasses
and sins in Adam, which is spiritual death. And that leaves us in
bondage under the law. Under that covenant that Adam
was under, we come forth under that. And we can't do it. We can't break the chains. We're
like Ishmael, unable to change the fact that we are in bondage. We are children of the bondmaid. And as Sarah said, He ain't having
part with my son, my free born son, the son of promise. He has
no part in his inheritance. Cast him out, cast him out. So Christ, the last Adam, that's
what scriptures tell us, he's the last Adam, he fulfilled the
covenant between him and the father. He established it in
perfect righteousness. Therefore it remains established
and all its blessings with him. our remaining in place with Him
and with His seed forever. And this is the covenant in whom
believers come, by which we come to the Father. It's the covenant
of grace made before the foundation of the world and established
by the blood of Christ, by the faithfulness of Christ. Listen
to 2 Timothy 1.9 1 9 and 10 speaking of our Lord who
had saved us and called us with an holy calling not according
to our works not according to that old covenant but according
to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began that's important before the world
began but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior
Jesus Christ We didn't know it, but now we do. When Christ appeared,
and when he appeared not only then, but when he appears to
each one of his people in the appointed hour, now we know it. Now these things have come to
light for us to know it's not by the law. It's not by my works.
It's by his grace. It's by Jesus Christ, who hath
abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel. That's where he makes us known
to his people in the preaching of the gospel. So this covenant
now, thanks be to God, cannot be nullified or changed by what
we do or don't do. We don't change that or affect
that. It's established in the blood
of Christ. between him and the Father, and
you his seed in him." We receive all the blessings, but it's established
by Christ. Galatians 3, 16 and 17 says,
Now to Abraham and his seed where the promise is made, he saith
not into seeds as of many, but as of one into thy seed, which
is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant
that was confirmed before, this is When it says, before the world
began, this is what I'm talking about. That covenant that was
confirmed before of God and Christ, the law which was 430 years after,
cannot disannul that it should make the promise of none effect. So in the first sense, we can't
change this. We can't undo what God has purposed
to do. We can't make it or change it
or prevent it. Christ willingly did what we
cannot do. He did it for His beloved bride,
His beloved people, whom the Father chose and gave to Him
before the foundation of the world, so that we are set free
by the blood of Christ. And this is now made known to
you in the preaching of the gospel, to declare to you Christ, to
tell you, look to Christ, believe on Him, and thou shalt be saved.
And He causes His people to hear that word and to believe Christ
and to trust Him. Now listen to what our Lord did.
Here's the details, the sacred details of what Christ did for
His people. In Isaiah 53 verses 10 through
12. Just stay with me. 10 through
12. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. He hath put Him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, And he shall
divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. And he
bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. And so brethren, just as your
eyes are looking to Christ now, that's where this covenant looks.
It's eyes are entirely upon Christ and what he did. and as the sacrifice
of His people to the Father to satisfy His holy justice, to
deliver us from that damnation and condemnation for our sins
because they're put away. Christ paid the price. It's done.
It's settled. There's no more debt that we
owe. We are set free from that covenant. He severed that dominion
of sin that was over us. It's broken. It's gone. It's
put away so that we are set free from that prison and are sent
into the arms of Christ by the grace and power and glory of
God through his Holy Spirit which drives us out of that death and
drives us into the arms of our loving husband and Savior. That's
where we are now and so he established it securing all the benefits
and this is the life that he's given to you now. It's all given
to you freely in Christ. you that believe." That's the
manifestation that it's for you. He's making it known. And Sarah
represents this covenant of grace. And so Hagar, the bondmaid, she
did bear the first son. She bore Ishmael before Isaac
was born. But who was the first wife? Sarah
she was the first wife and she bore the son of promise which
was which promise was made before This way for you before Hagar
and Ishmael ever came into the picture that promise was made
God told Abraham I shall give you an inheritance and in your
seed all nations of the world shall call you blessed therefore
Sarah told Abraham Cast her out. She has no part here She came
after. She has no part. She's not even
with Isaac. He's not going to partake of
the inheritance as co-equal with my son. He's not a co-equal with
my son. Cast him out. He has no part
in this. He doesn't supersede that. And
so the picture here is that when the world was created, in time,
that covenant of works We read of that covenant of works in
Exodus, don't we? Very early in the scriptures here, we read
of that covenant of works. But, the covenant of grace has
prior claim on the people of God. Because it was given before
the foundation of the world. That God promised to save His
people. He gave us to Christ, to put
us in Him, so that we are His people. His purchased possession. Therefore, when grace was revealed
after, just like Isaac came after, that covenant of works has nothing
to say. Hey, wait a minute, what about
us? You can't do that. Nope, you got nothing to say.
This goes back to that first covenant of promise. Second covenant,
this covenant of works cannot nullify or undo what God has
promised to do by his promise. And so, same thing, when Isaac
came, all right, Isaac was born, or Ishmael was there, but he
was the product of the flesh trying to effect that inheritance.
But it can't undo what God promised. He's not gonna change it. It
can't, it can't change that. And that's good news for sinners
who ruin and defile everything. So Hagar was nothing more than
a handmaid of Sarah. Even so, the law was given to
serve the covenant of grace. The law was our schoolmaster
until Christ, that we should be saved by faith. It's done
now. It's got nothing. Let it go.
Cast it out. Cast it out. It's a bond made. It served its
purpose. Cast her and her son out. They
have no part. They're not co-equals with Isaac,
my son. I gave you a lot so everything
I say from here on is just gonna just be to support that it's
just gonna support it I'm not giving you nothing nothing new
here so just just listen so these two covenants they give rise
to two totally different religions don't they they give rise to
two very different, very contrary religions. One's of grace, and
the other is of works and the flesh. One is in bondage, the
other one is set free in liberty, the liberty of Christ. And they're
contrary, so we don't come in both. We don't come in both.
Romans 11, 6 says, if it be by grace, then it's no more of works,
otherwise grace is no more grace. If it be by works, then it's
not of grace, otherwise works wouldn't be of works anymore.
And so this is why Paul is so clear in Galatians 5, 1 through
4, so as to cut off anyone that would try and come in bowl, to
correct them. They say, don't. Don't try and
come in grace while holding on to the law. You can't do it.
And so Galatians 5.1 says, stand fast, brethren, stand fast in
the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul,
say unto you that if ye be circumcised, if you start going down that
path under the law to make yourselves a little more holy and a little
more acceptable with God, he says, Christ shall profit you
nothing. Don't do it. For I testify again
to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the
whole law. Christ is become of no effect
unto you. Whosoever of you are justified
by the law, you're fallen from grace. And so what he's saying
is any church, any preachers telling you, well now you got
to go under the law, right? That's good that what Christ
did and you believe on Christ, that's well and good. But now
you got to go to the law for your sanctification. to improve
on some things, to do things a little better than what you're
doing. Come on, let's go to the law. He's saying that's Hagar,
that's bondage, that's taking you away from Mount Zion, that's
taking you away from Christ. Listen to what Galatians 4.25
says again. This Hagar is Mount Sinai is
Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is and
is in bondage with their children." Where is Mount Sinai in Arabia?
It is outside of the promised land. It's outside of the inheritance. It sits out there. It's not in
here, in the land of promise, an inheritance given to us in
Christ. It's outside. And that's where
bondage is. That's where the children of
the bond woman are out. They're not free. They're living
under tyranny and fear and doubts and worries and afraid and keep
looking to the flesh because they have no confidence in Christ.
That's not salvation, that's bondage, that's fear. And so that's where they'll remain,
in that outer darkness, except God gives them repentance. But
Sarah's children are free, and her children come to God in grace,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look again at Galatians 4, 26
and 27. But Jerusalem, which is above,
is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written,
Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not. Break forth and cry, thou
that travailest not. For the desolate hath many more
children than she which hath a husband. That verse there,
that last verse, is Isaiah 54 verse 1. That follows that sacred
ground that detailed for us all that Christ did as the Lamb of
God. and sacrifice unto the Father
for his people. That verse there saying rejoice
you that were barren, you that had no children, that follows
what Christ did. That's speaking of the life that
he works in his people in bringing forth that fruit unto God. Not
in bondage, not fruit unto death, but fruit unto God that rejoices. You're alive, you live. for Christ's
sake what he has done and so that's the rejoicing brethren
that's the the salvation that we have here's the last point
the two sons and this won't be long two sons we look at Isaac
and Ishmael when Isaac was born and when he was weaned The son,
Ishmael, had to go. Free and slave could not both
be heirs together. They didn't receive the same
inheritance. And these two sons here are used by the Holy Spirit
to picture that bondage with the legalists that they're under
and trying to work for their salvation and the freeborn son
who comes to God Grace by faith in Christ. So let's read Galatians
4 28 through 31 Now we brethren as Isaac was are the children
of promise if you come to God in Christ That's of grace. If you come looking to him trusting
him all his righteousness believing him That's that's grace and it's
because you're children of promise and But as then, he that was
born after the flesh, Ishmael, persecuted him that was born
after the Spirit, or Isaac, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what
saith the scripture, cast out the bondwoman and her son. For
the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the
free woman. So then brethren, we are not
children of the bondwoman, but of the free. And we see that.
We see that in the two religions in which men come, we even see
the flesh of Ishmael in this flesh. We see that and creeping
in and trying to bind us as well. Cast it out. Cast it out. That's
not your inheritance. Christ is your inheritance. We
come as Isaacs, free born. And so the Son of the Spirit
is free, born of the grace of God in Christ, before the foundation
of the world this was given to us. and him. We cannot come to
God as free men and in bondage and receive that. We come free
in the Lord Jesus Christ alone because Christ is all our joy,
our blessing, our rejoicing, our peace, our comfort, our hope. So then brethren, it's not of
him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that showeth
mercy. It's of mercy and grace, brethren.
And I know that's heavy, but it's a blessing. It blessed my
heart. And as we hear it, it comforts and clarifies that which
we struggle with in this flesh all the time. Always looking,
thinking there's something more we need to do. No, trust Christ. You need more of Christ is what
you need. More of his grace. Come and hear
the Word and rejoice in what He's done. And give thanks for
what He's done for you. Amen. Alright, let's pray and
then be closing the hymn. Our gracious Lord, we thank You
for Your grace. Lord, we thank You for Christ,
our Savior, that You put us in this covenant before the foundation
of the world, this covenant of grace and mercy. Lord, we thank
you. We pray that you would bless
us. Lord, help us to hear it, to
receive this word, and to believe the Lord Jesus Christ in him
alone. Lord, give us of your spirit.
Lord, lead us by your spirit and your grace and your power,
looking to Christ, walking by faith in him and him alone. Lord,
we pray that you would bless this word to the hearts of your
people. It's in Christ Jesus name that we pray and give thanks.
Amen.