It's probably about time. I don't
know. My phone's up there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, actually, I'm not sure where
Sister Mac is from. So, I'm not sure. But, um, she's a little girl and I'm a little girl. So, okay.
Yeah. So, let's go. I don't think this is the inside
of it. You just did it wrong. Anyway, I've never gone over that. No, no, no. It's
fine. It's fine. You have him, I don't. Yeah, I inspected him and I spoke
to him. What's up, man? Do you want to go say hi? Nah, I'm good. I'm going to head out Wednesday. Good to go, Eric? Let us begin our morning service
by standing and singing out of your hymnals. Number 77, Son
of My Soul, 77. Son of my soul, thou Savior dear,
it is not night if thou be near. O may no earth or cloud arise
to hide thee from thy servant's eyes. ? And a soft news of kindly
sleep ? ? My weary eyelids gently sleep ? ? Be my last thought
of sweet rest ? ? Forever on my Savior's breast ? ? With me from o'er to leave ?
? For without thee I cannot live ? ? Abide with me when night
is nigh ? ? For without thee I dare not die ? ? Be near to
bless me when I wait ? ? E'er through the world my way I take
? ? Abide with me till in thy love ? ? I lose myself in heaven
above ? You would turn to page 351, near
the cross. 351. ? Near the cross there a precious
fountain ? ? Free to all the healing stream ? ? Close from
Calvary's mountain ? In the cross, be my glory ever. Till my raptured soul shall find
rest beyond the river. ? Near the cross a trembling soul
? ? Love and mercy found me ? ? There the bright and morning star ?
? Treads its beams around me ? be my glory ever, till my raptured soul shall find rest Hear the cross, O Lamb of God,
bring its seeds before me. me. Hoping, trusting ever Till I
reach the golden strand Just beyond the river In the cross, in the cross, be
my glory ever. Till my raptured soul shall find
rest Thank you. Good morning everybody. I will
be reading this morning out of Isaiah chapter 55. Isaiah chapter 55. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which that wish is good. And let your soul delight
itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto
me. Here in your soul shall live,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for
a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
And behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou shalt knowest not,
in nations that knew not thee, shall run unto thee because of
the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath
glorified thee. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake
his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him
return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him. And
to our God, for we will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not
your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
thoughts than your thoughts. For the rain cometh down, and
the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the
earth, and maketh it bring forth, and bud. that it may give seed
to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall my word be that
goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please. And it shall
prosper in the thing wherefore I send it. For you shall go out
with joy and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the
hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the
trees of the field shall clap their hands. instead of the thorn
shall come up the fir tree, instead of the briar shall come up the
myrtle tree, and that shall be to the Lord for a name, for an
everlasting sign, that that shall not be cut off. Father, we thank you for allowing
us to assemble here, Lord, in times that we have today, that
you still provide the ability to come together
and worship you, Lord. We pray that you'd look upon
our church as we are making decisions and doing things that we need
to be doing, Lord, that you would guide us and direct our hearts,
Lord. We pray that you'd calm our minds
this morning, Lord, from all the distractions that we have.
And give us this time, Lord, give us your spirit to look to
your son and to trust on him alone. We pray for our pastor,
Lord, that you would give him the words and the heart this
morning to direct us and look over us, Lord. Amen. Alright brethren, we're going
to be in Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, we'll be looking
at verses 32 through 39. Romans 8, 32 through 39. Now the apostle here sums up
the chapter that we've been looking at the last few weeks and you
can see how he's overwhelmed in his expressions at the love
which is witnessed in God providing, God sparing not his own son for
the salvation, for the provision of all things needful for his
people in His Son Jesus Christ. And so Paul asks, first let's
look at verse 31. Paul asks, saying, what shall
we say to these things? Right? If our God has given so
much, if He's given everything to His people, We see that He's
given everything to His people, which is a blessing and a help
to us. It's for our good. It's for our
provision. It's for our sanctification. It's for our salvation. We've experienced in Christ,
as the Spirit reveals it to us, He's shown us the eternal love
of God. He's blessed us with the Divine
Calling of God, effectually drawing us, causing us to hear, revealing
faith in us. He's shown us the substitutionary
debt of our Savior for us, how that we are justified freely
by His blood, and that we are now accepted and glorified in
Christ, And He's told us that He's determined to personally
glorify you, that hope in Christ, to glorify us with Christ in
that day. So brethren, we see our God's
given us His own Son. So that if God be for us, who
can be against us? Who can be against us? Is the
law going to stand up and say, no, come no further? No, the
law's been honored in Christ. Christ has honored the law for
His people. Is divine justice going to prevent
us from drawing near to Him? No, the divine justice of our
God is satisfied. Christ has satisfied the justice
of God for His people. What about the accuser of the
brethren, that evil one? He's been, his head has been
crushed, he's been cast out, he's been put down, his mouth
is shut, he's got nothing more to say against the people of
God. So none can be against us so
as to prevent or to undo or to frustrate the love that God has
for His people. Nothing can frustrate or turn
the love of Jesus Christ that He has for His people. Nothing's going to undo that
or change that fact, that truth, that blessed promise of our God
in His Son, Jesus Christ. Rather, Paul tells us that we
are more than conquerors through Him that loved us, through Him
that loved us. And that's our title is inseparable
love, inseparable love. And I first want to look together
with you at the foundation, the foundation of our hope. which we know is Jesus Christ. And then as we move through these
verses, we'll see a series of questions that Paul asks us to
consider and to think of. And then we'll see how the Lord
wraps it all up in the fact that we are more than conquerors through
Jesus Christ. More than conquerors. Alright, first let's look at
the foundation. Let's look at the foundation.
Our experience in Christ this fall. teaches us, reveals to
us that bringing all things to account, all things in creation,
all the hardships, all the trials that you can bring to bear in
your mind, in your conscience, examining these things, you see
that God has completely secured His people. He's provided everything
necessary for them. so that we are comforted by the
love of Christ. We are comforted by the promise
of our God to us in His Son. And we have this foundation of
Christ, so that whatever the weight is that is brought to
bear upon us, we can sink no lower than Christ. We can go
no lower than Christ Himself allows, because He Himself is
our foundation. He's the promise. He's the perfection
of God's grace and mercy for His people. We have a foundation
with Him, it's Jesus Christ the Righteous, and in Him we are
certainly saved, we are secure, we are provided for, God has
made all things ready in His Son Jesus Christ. Paul told Timothy,
For the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal the Lord
knoweth them that are His. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. Meaning, that knowledge is, as we saw last week, His
foreknowledge. God foreknew His people. And
we saw how that foreknowledge is His love for His people before
the foundation of the world. Before we did any good or evil. Before we did anything worthy
or to turn God's favor toward us, apart from us completely,
our God loved us in His Son, Jesus Christ. And it moved Him
to redestinate us. It moved Him to justify us. It
moved Him to call us and to secure us and the blood of His Son Jesus
Christ. And so our God reveals to us
this very day that though we ourselves sat in darkness and
in complete ignorance, apart from us doing anything, He's
revealed this salvation to us by His Spirit in His Son Jesus
Christ. Turn over to Titus 3. Titus 3,
and we'll pick up in verse 3. It is true. Paul confirms what I just said
about us being in darkness. He says we ourselves also were
sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts
and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating
one another. But after that, With all that
being so, with all that being the case with us, after that,
the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through
Jesus Christ our Savior. that being justified by His grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."
So brethren, this is the gracious, kind, merciful, wonderful salvation,
the unspeakable gift which God has provided for us in His Son,
Jesus Christ. So, when you're troubled, when
you're weary, When, from all your perception, you're alone,
and afraid, and fearful, remember this foundation that our God
has given us. In our text, Romans 8, 32, He
that spared not His own Son. Think of that. Think of that,
brother. That God should spare not His own Son, His own Beloved
Son, for people that sat in darkness and ignorance. That though we
didn't deserve any of His grace or mercy, He provided His Son
and spared Him not, but delivered Him up for us all. What has God withheld from His
people? What has He withheld from us?
What has He kept back that is lethal and precious for our salvation? Paul asks us to consider carefully,
how shall He not with Him? He spared not His own Son, but
gave Him to His people, for His people, gave His life for our
life. How shall He not with Him also
freely? give us all things. He gave Christ
to His people freely, apart from any works of righteousness. How
shall He withhold anything from us that is needful and necessary
for our provision, for our safety, to deliver us into the arms of
our Savior in that great and fearful day? He has already sealed
this promise to us of His grace when He spared not His own Son. He sent His Son because He must
come and do for us what we cannot, could never do for ourselves.
Not before salvation, not after salvation, but in all things,
Christ was provided to provide a complete, full satisfaction
to God in justifying His people freely from their sins. He was forsaken. He was punished. He bore the wrath of God in the
place of every one of his darling, elect, chosen children, those
whom he set his love upon before the foundation of the earth. I'm going to read a few verses
from Isaiah 53, and we know that chapter. Isaiah 53, that holy
ground where we see what our Savior did for us. Isaiah 53,
and I'll read verse 7, because it shows that we who suffer,
we see our Savior suffered for us, before us. He went before
us. It says in Isaiah 53-7 that He
was oppressed, He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shears is done, so He opened
not His mouth. And we're told down in verse
10 of that same chapter that it pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. him to grief. We feel grief. He hath put his own darling son
to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days. This is declaring to us that
not only did our Savior die for his people, but he was raised
again, for he sees his seed. He sees what he accomplished.
The Lord prolonged his days, and the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand, so that the salvation which he is
determined to bring to you, brethren, which he has revealed to you
in your hearts through faith, He shall bring it all to pass. He shall complete that work which
He has begun for His people. He shall see the travail of His
soul, and shall be satisfied. And the Father is satisfied with
Him, and all His people are satisfied with the salvation that God has
provided. Our God faithfully strips us
through various trials and afflictions, through hardships, and reminding
us of our own weaknesses, and showing us our constant need
of Him. It's all for our good. It's all
for our benefit. It's all to turn our eyes away
from self and to look to the Savior, to cry out to Him, Lord,
help me. Have mercy upon me. I can't do
it. Though I tried, though you're
worthy of everything I have, Lord, you see what a weak sinner
I am. Have mercy upon me, Lord. And
we have this promise. He spared not his own son to
put away our sins. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. for ye shall bear their iniquities. He bore our sins, brethren, to
deliver us to stand before that throne of Almighty Holy God,
faultless in that day. He gave Christ to be our surety,
our representative, our advocate, our sanctification, our justification,
all things needful. Christ is there for His people. Why did He do this? we are told
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting
life. He's talking to a Jew. He's talking
to Nicodemus who thinks along with all the other Jewish people
in that day thought that when the Messiah comes on the necks
of the Gentiles and conquer them and the Jewish people by birth
through Abraham alone would be the inheritors of God's glory
and kindness and grace. But no, Christ says, I have my
sheep in another fold, they're outside, I'm gonna bring them
to the fold, I'm gonna bring them in with my sheep here, and
they shall be one sheep, and one fold, one flock, right? And
that's what we see there in verse 17 of John three, for God sent
not his son into the world to condemn the world. Oh no, he
has his sheep scattered throughout the world, and so the son has
gone forth, he's not gonna step on all their necks, but He's
going to save His people and deliver them into the fold of
God, right? So that the world, the Jews and
the Gentiles, in Him should be saved. So if God so loved us
that He gave His Son and spared Him not, if the Son so loved
us that He willingly sacrificed Himself unto the Father, He made
an offering of Himself to the Father to propitiate His wrath,
to make atonement for our sins and iniquities, to sanctify us
and to make us righteous, to stand before our God. What shall
He not do for His people? What shall He not provide for
your good and for your comfort and for your people? Our Lord
shall withhold nothing from us in all our needs. Our Savior
said in John 10, 27, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them. I foreknew them. I love them. I love them and they follow me.
He's going to ensure that we hear His voice. He's going to
bring us under the divine call. We may, like many others, hear
the outward call, but we shall hear it in the heart, hearing
the voice of Christ our Savior, delivering us from the prison
of darkness, delivering us from the veil of blindness over the
heart, to make us to see the glory of God in the face of His
Son, Jesus Christ. He says, I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Because that's inseparable love. That's inseparable love. We're
not going to be separated from the love of God. We're not going
to be separated from the love of Christ. So brethren, that's
the foundation undergirding our security. It's not how well we
can hold on to Christ. It's not how well we serve and
do this or that. It all comes down to what our
Savior has done. It's all on Him. He's the one
bearing the weight of our salvation on himself. He's done this all
freely for his people. All right, brethren, so with
that foundation, Paul begins to ask a series of questions
for us. And these questions are meant
to provide to us comfort and peace and assurance. It's not
to trip you up. It's not to throw you off. It's
to comfort you. It's to give you peace and assurance
that God has done everything necessary for your salvation. Look at verse 33. He first asked,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Is there anything that you could
be charged with? If we're honest, is there anything
that we could be charged with? Are we not guilty of sin? Are we not guilty and found out
of foolishness? foolish thoughts, wicked thoughts,
foolish deeds and actions. We don't keep ourselves perfectly.
We could very well be charred. Are we not worthy of condemnation?
Yes, in ourselves we are. In Adam, that first birth, that
natural birth in the flesh of the seed of Adam, we're corrupt. we come forth corrupt, dead in
trespasses and sins, having no spiritual life, no capacity to
serve the true and living God, no knowledge of Him, no desire
to know the true and living God. But being willfully disobedient,
we will go on in our ways, if not for the grace and the mercy
and the power of God's grace upon us. The psalmist said it
this way, David said, for I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin
is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have
I sinned and done this evil, and thy slave. But thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest."
I'm not going to try and muddy it. I'm not going to try and
tell you that I'm righteous in myself, that I've done anything
to earn or merit God's favor. All my hope is in what God has
provided for me and my son when he willingly sacrificed himself
to put away my sin. Behold, David says, I was shaken
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. When we're
conceived in our mother's womb, it's with the corrupt seed of
Adam. Our father's corrupt seed, and
his father's corrupt seed, and his father's corrupt seed, all
the way back to Adam, where we became defiled and corrupted
and deceived in transgression. And so brethren, though we were
born first in Adam's corrupt seed, this old man, therefore,
is dead because of sin. It's not because of works of
righteousness that we've done, but Christ our Savior has answered
all the charges. Our sin is pardoned in him, all
for his people. We're told that it's God that
justified it. God justified us. Who's going
to condemn us? Who's going to stand up and condemn
us? God justified us. And being justified, by faith
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So brethren,
be comforted and assured, there's no charges that will stand opposed
to you. And then Paul asks, who is he
that condemned him? Right? If Christ took all the
charges to himself, who can condemn us? If he died our death, if
he died on the cross for his people, who can condemn his people? This was for the elect, and he
says, He said, well, Peter says, you and I were redeemed. You that believe and hope in
Christ and have no hope in yourselves, have nothing to boast in of yourselves.
He says, you were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily
was ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in these last times for you. And so brethren, our Lord Jesus
Christ was sacrificed for his people as their substitute in
their place. But it follows, right? And he
was buried for his people. But it follows rather that he
is risen. He is now risen, Paul tells us.
And brethren, that's every bit as effectual for our salvation
as Christ's death. God has accepted the sacrifice
that His Son made to Him on behalf of His people. It shows us, it
declares to us that He is successful and accomplished our salvation.
That there's nothing to fear. He's done all the work. It reveals
to us that our salvation is complete. Otherwise, if Christ didn't rise
from the dead, we're yet dead in our sins. We've got everything
to fear and everything to be afraid of. Don't ever let anyone
tell you that the resurrection of Christ isn't that important.
Don't ever let someone tell you that, well, it doesn't really
matter if you did. Yeah, it does. It does matter. Because it's
the very declaration to us that God has accepted the sacrifice
of His Son, and that in that He Himself was raised, so we
too shall be raised to look for His coming, to rejoice in Him
by His grace. All right? If Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain, Paul tells us. We are yet in your sins. All right, now we also hear that
He's even at the right hand of God. In other words, He's gone
before us to prepare a place for us. He's provided all things
that we may come before Him and stand before Him in that day
for us. And He sits at the right hand of God on the throne of
God. We're told that this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on
the right hand of the throne of God. Alright, now we're also
told here that he also maketh intercession for us. These are
attributes. He's ever before the Father,
and when the Father sees Him, He's immediately reminded of
the sacrifice that He made for us, so that as our High Priest,
He's the one who offers up. He's the one that sanctifies
and offers up our prayers, all our needs, our fears, our praises,
our thanksgiving. He's the one that offers them
up to the Fathers so that they are heard. What did that blind
man that was healed say in John 9? We know that if any man sins,
that if any man is a sinner, God hears him not. We don't hear
a sinner. So how is it that God hears us?
Because Christ has put away our sins. He's the one who offers
up our prayers to the Father so that the Lord hears us. There's one God and one mediator
between God and man. The man, Christ Jesus. All right,
so with all this abundance of provision, having all these proofs,
Paul asks us in verse 35, who shall separate us from the love
of Christ? Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Not what shall separate my love
of him. Who shall separate us from his
love for us? Nothing. Nothing, there's no
spiritual attack, no mental or physical hardship that we could
experience that are gonna divide us and separate us eternally
from the love of Christ our Savior. Paul asked, shall tribulation
separate us from his love? No, he's the one who sends the
afflictions and the troubles and the trials for our good,
right? He's the one that sends them.
What about distress or persecution? No, He's the One who's appointed
our sufferings. He's the One that makes us to
partake as our Savior. They are sufferings that we might
know Him and be acquainted with Him. What about famine or nakedness? Shall these things separate us
from the love of Christ our Savior? Will Christ be ashamed of our
poverty? left glory and all the riches in heaven and became poor
for our sakes? Will he be ashamed because we
have nothing and because we might be stripped and brought low in
this earth? No, he won't turn from us. He
never turned from Paul, who was poor and hungry and shipwrecked
and cast out. He won't turn from us either,
brethren. What about peril or sword? Shall the husband So none
of these things will turn His back on us. or cause His love to betray us
in any way. For the gifts and calling of
God are without repentance. And He says, I am the Lord, and
I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. He doesn't destroy us because
His love for us changes not. All right, then in verse 36,
Paul quotes from Psalm 44, 22, saying as it's written, For thy
sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep
for the slaughter." we have troubles, right? The
fact that things happen to us that cause us to stop and say,
what now? What's going on now? What's happened?
What have I done? No, no, no. It's not what we've
done. The Lord isn't punishing His
children. There are times when He chastens
His children, right? There are times when He chastens
us, allows us to go and to fall into things that we ought not
to be in. And He chastens us to teach us,
to humble us, to show us again our need of Him and not to think
more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. But the Lord
has shown us that he's not turning from us. We see, actually, throughout
the scriptures, many examples of the hardships and the troubles
that the saints went through, which all worked to the glory
of God, which all worked for the good of the church, which
all worked for their preservation and their keeping and our instruction. These things happened for our
instruction. to turn us to Christ, to show
us Christ prevailing in every kind of situation throughout
history for this church. Our Lord said to us in John 16,
1 and 2, These things have I spoken unto you that ye should not be
offended." Don't be offended. Whatever we go through, whatever
the Lord has determined shall be done, don't be offended. His
love for you hasn't changed. You've got hope in Him. His love
hasn't changed for you. He's provided it for your good,
for your keeping, correct? They shall put you out of the
synagogues, yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will
think that he doeth God's service. because there are those who hope
in His grace, who boast of the salvation of God in Christ, apart
from any works that we've done. And then there's those that say,
no, no, we've got to do something. We've got to earn this. We've
got to include our works in what we've done. But our hope isn't
in that. Yes, we bear fruit, but it's
of Him. It's of His spiritual seed. And so our boast, our constant
boast, is of Christ. And all those that boast in self,
and boast in the flesh, and boast in their wisdom, they shall come
to know when the Lord comes to deal with his enemies." Alright,
now what we have here, what we've been looking at is, Paul says
these things because it's for our encouragement, it's to engage
us, it's to animate that very faith which He has given us is
to inflame our hearts in love for Him, to rejoice, to be overwhelmed
at the unspeakable gift, the hard-to-describe gift, in human
words, of what our God has done for us in His Son Jesus Christ. I don't think we'll ever be able
to fully declare it, in all its worth and glory until we stand
before Him in that day and see Him on the throne and know, I
can't believe how foolish I was and wasted all this time to myself,
seeing now Him who loved me and did all this for me in grace
and mercy. Alright, so Paul affirms this
very thing. He says in verse 8, 37, May in
all these things, All these things, God has made it known to us that
we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. We're more
than conquerors. These things aren't preventing
us. These things aren't stopping
us. These things aren't turning Christ's love from us. And we're
not going to be overcome by the hatred of the world, by the troubles
of this flesh, and Christ's love for us isn't weakened, or diminished,
or changed, or turned in any way. So that we are confident,
rather, not in self, not that we're going to keep ourselves,
but we are confident in Him who called us. Confident of His power
to call, to strengthen, to keep, to strengthen and to keep us
in all things. And He'll prevent what needs
preventing, and He'll allow what needs allowing. And in all these
things, He shall provide for us. His grace is sufficient. He's given us His Spirit. He's
revealed this to us. That's how we know these things.
It's by His Spirit. It's by His mercy and grace to
us in Christ. So He's provided everything.
He's made us living stones. in the body of this church, living
stone. All right, so let me read verses
38 and 39. Paul says, I am persuaded that
neither life, rather, that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord." That's all things in creation, whether of this
world or not. It doesn't matter where they
are, whether they've come already or they're yet to come. Nothing
shall turn or separate Christ's people, His sheep, whom He's
called to Himself. Nothing shall turn His love from
us. And He shall keep us ever looking
to Him trusting Him, awaiting His return. So brethren, we have
every reason to rejoice this day. Be glad in what our God
has revealed to you, in sparing not His own Son. What shall we
say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also? free to give us all things. So remember that, brother. Remember
that in everything you go through every day, whether you're happy
or sad, or things are going well or things aren't going well,
remember that He's provided His own Son. If you spare Him not,
there's nothing that He's withholding for your good and your comfort
and your peace and Zion. I would think that we could speak
with the tongues of angels. I don't think that we could speak
of anything more glorious, more gracious, more wonderful to our
ears than to hear the salvation our God has provided to us in
the Son of Jesus Christ. I pray that you bless that word
to your hearts, to be comforted in the Son of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord, Father, we
thank you for your grace, your kindness, your mercy, your power
shown to us in your Son, Jesus Christ, and the salvation that
you've provided. Not that we've earned it by works
of righteousness that we have done, but that your Son has faithfully
earned it for us, all by himself, doing this work faithfully, as
a fit savior, as a kind and loving husband, as a gracious Lord. Father, we thank you for all
that you've done and provided for us. Help us, Lord. Open our
hearts, open our eyes to see what you've accomplished for
us in Christ. Lord, those that are struggling,
those that are weak or sick or fearful, set our hearts upon
Christ. Oh Lord, that you would reveal
him to us. Deliver us from the prison of darkness. Deliver us
from the bondage of sin. Settle us in Christ, Lord. Father, help us. Help us to remind
one another of these things. To speak of these things to one
another and to encourage one another. Lord, we pray this in the name
of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn, 236 Amazing Grace. 236. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
am found. Was blind, but now I see. was grace that taught my heart
to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils,
and snares, I have already come. His grace hath brought me safe
thus far, and grace will lead me home. When we've been there ten thousand
years Bright shining as the sun We've no less days to sing God's
praise Than when we first begun