Told me I had to hit the record
button. I forgot to do it my Romans chapter 9 Romans chapter
9 And our text will be found in
verse 30 and verse 31 The apostle says what shall we say then? This is what he's going to say
to all he had said before that the Gentiles which followed not
after righteousness, listen, they have attained to righteousness. What kind of righteousness? Listen,
even the righteousness which is of faith. But, counter to
that, Israel, this is national Israel, the Jews, Which followed
after the law of righteousness, what was the conclusion of that?
They had not attained to the law of righteousness. Verse 32, why? Wherefore? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by works of the law. For they stumbled
at the stumbling stone. Now here in this text, The apostle
is again making another conclusion. I like this, it kind of gives
us pause. He's stated some very important things. He's answered
all the objections to God's sovereignty. Is God unrighteous? Does His
word fail? No. Is He unrighteous? God forbid. Seeing that God is sovereign,
and you're saying, how then can man be responsible? He answers
that question, he says, well, who are you? Who are you to reply
against God, because you can't understand it. This is the truth. God has vessels of mercy, and
He has vessels of wrath. God's long suffering to those
vessels of wrath. Yet God is also merciful to the
vessels of mercy. And we discussed this, how then
are they distinguished? We know that's true. God's love
Jacob hated Esau. God loves the vessels of mercy
and hates the vessels of wrath. What's the distinction? Even
us who are called, we are called. Both Jew and Gentile, in verse
25 through verse 29, the apostle again refers to the Old Testament
as proof of what he just said. I love this. The election is
not a New Testament doctrine. It's an Old Testament doctrine.
It's what Paul's been telling you this whole time. This is
not something new. I'm not springing this on you.
This is something God has said in His Word from the beginning.
Salvation is of the Lord 100% of God And he says I'm going
to do something great. I'm going to take people who
aren't my people I'm going to take my take Pete take these
these those that are not loved Those that are not my sons. You
know what I'm going to do. I'm going to make them my people
I'm going to make them loved and I'm going to make them my
my children That's what God does in mercy. And you say, well,
what are we going to say to this? What are we going to say to God's
sovereignty, God's electing grace? Well, what is the conclusion
of election? That's what he's getting at.
What's the end result? Now, we know God chose a people,
we know Christ died for those people, we know that the Spirit
is going to call those people. To what purpose? How is He going
to take people who are not His people and make them His people?
How is He going to take those that are not loved and make them
loved? How is He going to take children
of wrath and make them children of the living God? Listen, one
word, righteousness. The only way these things could
be is if these people are made righteous. If you're not righteous, you
can't be God's people. If you're not righteous, you
can't be loved of God. And if you are not righteous,
you can't be the children of God. The conclusion then of election
is righteousness, and that's what he's dealing with. He's
dealing with the righteousness of God. And the conclusion, the
end of election is righteousness. All who are chosen will be called,
and all who are called come to faith, and all who believe obtain
righteousness. What he's going to say about
these Gentiles, listen to me, every believer can identify with
this. Everyone who is called can identify with the Gentiles. Paul said these Gentiles, they
didn't seek after righteousness, they weren't trying for it, and
yet they got it. Can you identify with that? You
weren't seeking it, you weren't looking. Then God gave it to
you. And that's what we read in this
text, the Gentiles attain righteousness. Well, think about this, the Jews
who sought after righteousness didn't get it. They tried. They were very sincere,
but they didn't get it. Now let us for a few minutes
look at the righteousness that these Gentiles had. We're going
to look on how they attained it. We're going to look at the What righteousness did Gentiles
have? They didn't have any. Then we're going to look at how
they attained righteousness and then we're going to look at how
the Jews missed it. Now first of all, to talk about
righteousness, you've got to understand what it is. You've
got to understand righteousness is not what men think righteousness
is. When I say, what is righteousness,
some people will say, it's moral, it's morality. To be righteous,
you have to be moral. You have to be a good father,
or a good wife, or a good child. You've got to be a good citizen. Now it is true that If someone
were righteous, they would do those things. What are you talking
about? You're not talking about essential righteousness. You're
just talking about the actions of righteousness. You're using
an action to describe righteousness. And so no doubt these actions,
these are actions of a righteous man, but this righteousness goes
much further than actions. What is it to be righteous? Listen
to me very carefully. To be righteous is to be free
from all sin. That is what it means to be righteous. If you have sin, you cannot be
righteous. Paul tells us this in Romans
6. He says, In Romans 6, 18 he said, you
being made free from sin have become the servants of what?
Righteousness. You see, you can only serve righteousness
if you are free from what? Sin. In verse 20 of chapter 6 he said,
when you were servants of sin, listen to this, you were free
from righteousness. You didn't have any righteousness.
When you serve sin, you were free from righteousness. I like
what Ezekiel, God said to Ezekiel. He said, the righteous man is
righteous until the day he sins. And the day he sins, listen to
what God says, all his righteousness does not help him. So you could be righteous from
your birth. Say that if it were possible
you were to be righteous from your birth until this day. And this day you committed one
sin. Listen, all of your righteousness
is gone. That's what it is to be righteous. Now, our text tells us that the
Gentiles The Gentiles were said to have attained righteousness. That word means to seize upon
it. With great force they got it.
Wait a second. How can they have attained righteousness
with great force when they weren't even seeking after it? Well,
it's not their force that attained it. It was the force of God.
It was God's power by which they attained righteousness. It took
the power of God to make them righteous. So righteousness that they seized
upon is what? Perfection, holiness. We who by nature are vile sinners
with no knowledge of God or His law and yet they attain righteousness? That's astounding. So how did
they attain righteousness? Well, first of all, I want you
to know that the Gentiles did not attain righteousness of themselves. That's what Paul's telling you.
He said the Gentiles which sought not after righteousness. What
is he saying? He said this righteousness that
they got was not in them. It was not of them at all. They didn't even look for it. They followed not after righteousness.
Now, when this text is written, we don't see this, and I hope
you see this when you see Jew, Gentile, and you see this tension
in scripture. I want you to understand, in
the Jewish mind, there were only two people in all the world,
a Jew and a dog. You talk about the most racist
people that lived, and they had every seeming right to be. They
had all of the benefits. God told them that the Gentiles
were dogs. And they called them dogs for
good reason. Now, they didn't call them dogs because they didn't
deserve it. The Gentile nations were vile
nations, friends. They were pagan to the core. They were wicked, evil. They
would offer human sacrifices. They worshipped rats. They worshipped
goats. They worshipped dogs. They worshipped
the sky, and the sun, and the moon, and gods of gold and silver. They were vile creatures. And
they hated the Jews. They hated, despised God and
His people. And for the most part, these
people were left to themselves up until Christ came. You consider
that in light of how many Gentiles heard the gospel, there were
very few. Now, there were some. That was gracious, wasn't it?
I think of old Jonah. You talk about a person hate
his mission. God said, go to those Gentiles and preach this
message to them. And he didn't want him preaching
to them. You know why? He said, I knew you'd have mercy on them. And think about that. A preacher
going and saying, man, I don't want to go because you're going
to have mercy on them. That's what Jonah did. They were hated. But I'll tell you what, these
people deserved a lot of that hatred because they would have
nothing but to destroy the nation of Israel. That's all their desire
was. You see those Muslims over in
the Middle East and how they're fervently hating that little...
They've always been like that. They've always been hated. So
the Gentiles were much left to themselves to follow after their
own way. Paul describes them in Romans
1. Look at Romans 1. Look how he describes the Gentiles. He said in verse 18, For the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness.
Why? Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God has showed it to them. For
the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even the eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse."
Now what's God saying? He's saying, look, I showed them my power
in creation. Can you not see God's power in
creation? Is anybody missing that? Nobody in the world ever
missed God's power displayed when the sun rises, runs its
course, and sets. And the moon comes up, and the
stars comes up, and the weather. They knew they couldn't control
any of that. They knew God must have done. Now, what did they
do with this truth, the Gentiles? Because that when they knew God,
they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became
vain in their imagination. Their foolish hearts were darkened,
professing themselves to be wise. They became fools, changed the
glory of God into the uncorruptible God into the image of made like
and a corruptible man and birds and four-footed beast and creeping
things. Listen, wherefore God gave them
up to uncleanness through the lust of their hearts to dishonoring
of their own bodies between themselves who changed the truth of God
into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than
the creator. I'll tell you what, that is a vivid description of
this nation. That is a vivid description of this country that
we live in. They take what is known of God
and they make it like man. They want to make God more like
themselves. And so what does this say? The
Gentiles, they truly represent all of us
now. This is a truth. By nature, these
Gentiles were no different than any one of us. We are all born
in this state of depravity. Complete and utter hatred of
God. Taking the things that are known
of God and trying to mold a God after our own image. I don't
like that. This is what the Bible says.
I don't like that. So what do they do? Well, they
just mold it into what they want or make it more palatable to
themselves. These Gentiles, they're like every one of us. Unrighteous. Unrighteous. Look at Romans 3. Now Paul, he says the same things
about the Jews in chapter 2. The Jews had all these wonderful
things and yet they still were sinners. Now what does Paul conclude
about everybody? Look at verse 10, as it is written, how many is righteous? There is none righteous. Can
you get any clearer than that? Does that stumble you? Does that make you... Is that too high above us to where
we can't attain that? How many is righteous? None! Well, how many seek after God?
None that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of the way. They are together. You put them all together. You
think, well, maybe if we put all of our good works together,
we can avail something. Nope. He said, you put them all
together, it's unprofitable. Why? There's none that doeth
good, no, not one. So we all, like sheep, have turned
to our own way. Isn't this how man is, to turn
to his own way? Why do you think opinionated
religion is popular? They like to get in these Bible
study groups. You know what they do? They read
a text and they all give their opinion and they all go home.
That makes you feel good, doesn't it? My opinion is just as valid
as someone else's. So righteousness is sinless perfection
to which no man then has ever attained, listen, or can ever
attain. This is the truth about us by
nature. So these Gentiles, just like
us, we confess that if we're to have righteousness, it's not
of ourselves. You know that about yourself.
Well, secondly, look what they attained. They that did not have
righteousness, what did they get? Look at your text. He said that the Gentiles which
followed not after righteousness, what? Have attained to righteousness. Even the righteousness which
is of faith. If we have no righteousness,
then where is all the righteousness? Who has all the righteousness?
God. God alone, listen to me, is essentially
righteous. God does righteous things because
why? He is righteous. You do sinful
things because you are sinful. It's essential who you are. That's
why you do sinful things. God does righteous things because
God is only Righteous Ezra 915 O Lord thou art Righteous he
said you are You are essentially in yourself perfectly righteous And Isaiah said behold we are
before thee in our trespasses Ezra knew exactly how this thing
is he said We're in our trespass. That's the only thing belongs
to us. The only thing belongs to you is sin. That's the only
thing that is essentially yours. Righteousness, God describes
himself as righteous, holy, just. Why? Because he alone is righteous
in all his ways. Do you believe that? Do you believe that, that God
is righteous in all His ways? I'll tell you what, let something
cross your flesh and see what happens. If that flesh does not
kick up dust, going along and all of a sudden
tragedy, what do you do? How in the world could this be
righteous? I have this poem or saying in my office and I read
it often because I need it often. God is sovereign in all things.
Let me not preach sovereignty and then complain of my lot in
life. It is totally inconsistent with
the gospel of God's grace. Have you complained? Well, if you haven't, I have.
I just let you know. Maybe you haven't. Maybe you've
been very good at this, but I have not. I can't tell you the number of
complaints that I raise every morning. God help me to know
you are righteous and to submit to your sovereign way because,
listen, it's righteous! It's right! And anything that opposes your
way is evil. And because God is righteous,
well listen to this, He demands that you be righteous. I know people say, well that's
not fair. We were born in sin. Well, Adam, you know, he's really
to blame for this, isn't he? That's what you've got to say.
The man, I didn't even start this. It's Adam's fault. You
know what Adam said? It's Eve's fault. That's what
we do. We don't shift the blame. Okay,
regardless of whose fault it is, listen to this. Did God lose
the right because Adam lost the ability to be righteous, did
God lose his right to demand Adam to be righteous? No. God doesn't lose His right. He
demands this of you. Listen to me what He demands.
He demands you to be sinless. Perfect. Listen to what the psalmist said.
Who shall ascend unto the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in the presence
of the omnipotent holy God? When you die, listen, you will
stand before His judgment. What does He mean by stand? That
you get to stay there. If we are brought before His
judgment, immediately if we have sin, we are consumed. How are
you going to stay there? How are you going to merit His
favor? Listen to this, He that hath clean hands. What does that mean? that all
your works are righteous. We talked about actions of righteous,
okay, being a good father, a perfect father, a perfect mother, a perfect
child, a perfect citizen, a perfect worshipper and lover of God continually. That's what it is to be perfect.
If you got clean hands, anybody got clean hands? But it goes
deeper than that. He said, And he that hath a pure
heart, not only actions, but motive. What about your motives? You may do something good, but
was your motive pure? So who's going to stand before
God? Only those, listen to me, are
as righteous as God Himself. No one else. So what then do you need? Seeing
that there is no righteousness in you, and God demands you to
be righteous, what do you need? I need righteousness that I can't
provide for myself. I need righteousness. I need
righteousness that I can't produce. If you're lost this morning without
the Spirit of God, You won't be convinced of this. You don't
have any need for righteousness. It's no value to you. What I'm
saying to you is of no value. It's useless to you. Why? Because you don't understand
your state. You don't understand your true, your condition. You don't really understand.
If you did, you wouldn't know what I know. I need righteousness
that I can't provide. And I would not be able to stop
until I had it. My hope the Spirit of God will
convince you of this. Now, all men in their conscience
know they need righteousness. Now, I'm not saying you don't
know in your mind what I just said is true. In your conscience,
look at all the religions of the world. They strive after
righteousness, don't they? Name a religion that doesn't
strive after righteousness. Name one. even the Gentile gods demanded
some form of righteousness. Why? Because God has written
His law in the heart of every man, knowing they need righteousness. Now look, I have presented a
very dark backdrop here for a very good reason. This is the Gospel.
The Gospel must be prefaced by this dark backdrop. All men are born dead and cannot
produce righteousness that God demands. Is this your case? Now listen, this should be very
personal. Is this your case? Not the case
of your children or someone else. Is this your case? You know you
need righteousness. When I learned depravity, the
doctrine of depravity, I knew this, everybody was depraved.
When God saved me, I knew I was depraved. There's a difference. Do you need righteousness? Well,
then here's the question. How did they attain righteousness? Seeing it wasn't in themselves,
God demands it, and they can't provide it, well, how did they
get it? That's an important question.
How do I get righteousness? Well, there are two schools of
thought. There are two schools of thought as to how a man attains
righteousness. Both of them are in our text. A man either attains righteousness
by works or by grace. And there is no middle ground. All religions and beliefs concerning
righteousness fall into one of these two categories. You either
believe that righteousness comes by the grace of God, by the power
of God, or you believe grace or righteousness comes by your
works. Now, how do I know there's no
middle ground? Well, we're going to cover this later in Romans
11. Listen to what Paul says. if
it is of grace. Listen to what he says. It is
no more of works. Why? Otherwise, grace is not
grace. If it is of works, then it is
not of grace. Otherwise, work don't mean work.
You can't mix these two. You can't say, well Jesus Christ
saved me by grace, but I'm going to sanctify myself by my works. No. You've made it all works.
What Paul said. I know people turn their head,
they smirk at me and they walk away. I don't care. It's either of grace or it's
of works. It's never a mixture of two. The moment you mix one
thing, what does it become? Works. So how are you getting righteousness?
Is it by grace or works? Listen, the first one, works.
This is what the Jews did. Look at verse 31. He said, but
Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, listen
what happened, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. These who believe in works, they
believe that righteousness is attained by doing something meriting
God's favor in some way some measure. That's how the Jews
missed the righteousness of God, even though they were looking
for it. They were striving for it, yet Paul said they didn't
find it. My friend, righteousness never
comes by the law. I cannot state this more emphatically
than the Apostle Paul has stated it multiple times over. He said,
therefore, by the deeds of the law, listen to this, shall no
flesh be justified in his sight. Is that clear? Well, how about
this? Paul says in Galatians chapter 3. what Paul
says. Now, in Galatians, they just
wanted one law. They were just wanting one law.
Circumcision. That's it. They want to believe
on Jesus Christ. Salvation is by grace. Yes, Paul,
we believe salvation is by grace. But, to make this right, you
have to be circumcised. Now, what does Paul say in Galatians
3? Look at verse 10. He says, As many as are of the
works of the law are under what? Curse. Anybody want to be under the
law? Any law? In commandments, sacrifices,
Sabbath worship, tithing, hear that a lot. Anybody want to be
under the law? You're under the curse. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things written in the
book of the law to do them." So the conclusion is what? We've
all broken the law. There's no hope for us under
the law. Many poor souls have resting
their eternal state on how sincere they are. Well, Iím doing my best. Okay, listen to me. God doesnít
want your best. He demands perfection. That may work for mama and daddy
and grandpa and grandma for you to do your best. Why? Because
theyíre just as wicked as you are. Godís not wicked. Godís not unrighteous. God is
righteous. What does He demand of you? Perfection. He doesnít want your best. I
believe if I'm just really willing, if I'm just sincere in trying
to obey the law as best I can, God is going to give me some
measure of merit. Listen to me. No. It doesn't matter how sincere
you are. Go to Matthew chapter 5. I'll
show you some people who are sincere about the law. Matthew
chapter 5. Look at verse 20, what the Lord
Jesus Christ said about this. He said, I say unto you, except
your righteousness shall exceed, that means to be above, better
than, the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall
in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now I want you to
understand the power of that statement because it's very powerful.
Listen to me. There were no, there were nobody in this world
had more zeal for the law of God than a scribe and a Pharisee.
These people were, nobody has been more sincere than they were.
These guys studied the law from their youth. They memorized it. Anybody memorize the law? 630
something commandments? These guys did. They knew every
one of them. They'd write them on their sleeves.
They'd write them on their clothing. When it come time to give 10%,
they would count the leaves on their plants to make sure they
gave 10% to God. Now Jesus said this, Accept your
righteousness is better than that. So what does sincerity have to
do with righteousness? Nothing. You can be as sincere
as you want to. If your righteousness is not
better than that, you shall in no case enter the kingdom of
God. Paul said, I bear them record,
they have a zeal. What's wrong with their zeal?
They don't have any knowledge. I thought of this illustration.
My mom's in Texas, and I said, you know what? What if I determined
I'm here in Indiana, and I want to go to Texas? Man, and I'm
sincere. I really want to get there. And
I start heading north. I drive all night. I am determined
to get there. Am I? No. So it doesn't matter how much
you determine to be righteous, you're never going to get there
by the law. The law can do nothing but condemn
you. It can't help you. It can't help
you. Well, how then is righteousness
attained? Look at this, look how the Gentiles
got it because that's the only way it's going to be attained,
by grace. We know it's not by works, not by sincerity, not
by zeal, not within yourself. Righteousness, you don't have
any. You can't attain it. You can't work for it. You can't
merit it. You can't earn it. Then how do you get it? Only
one way. By the grace of God. The unmerited favor of God. Look
at that. Can't you see the unmerited favor
in verse 30? The Gentiles, look at what it says. They sought
not after righteousness, yet what? They got it. They were zealous in sin. They didn't know God. They didn't
care about God. They didn't want God. They didn't
want to be righteous. And you know what? God says,
I'm going to give it to them. Why? They didn't merit it. Well,
that's it. That's the purpose. Grace. Grace. Notice this, he said they attain
to a certain type of righteousness, the righteousness which is of
faith. Faith. How is righteousness attained? Listen to me. Faith. Faith. Not what you think it is. Faith
does not contribute to the righteousness. In other words, righteousness
is not up here. And then if you just reach out there and grab
it by faith and pull it into yourself, then you can have it. You know what that does? It makes faith a work, doesn't
it? Faith is not a work. It is a gift of God. For by grace
you are saved through faith. Now listen, you can't have righteousness
without faith. Faith is necessary. Where does
it come from? Well, it comes from the same
place righteousness comes from. It comes from God. It doesn't
come from you. If you believe, why do you believe
and others don't? Was it in you? No. God gave you,
for by grace you are saved through faith, and listen, that not of
yourself. It is a gift of God. And what? Not of works. Even
your faith by which you receive righteousness is not a work. It is a gift of God's grace.
But I really want you to know where righteousness comes from.
It doesn't come from you. It's got to come from somewhere,
right? Look at Romans 3 again, verse
22. I'm going to tell you how righteousness
is made. That's what Paul is going to tell us. Look at verse
21. He says, But now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifest. You mean righteousness without
us obeying the law? Yeah, that's right. Righteousness
without your obedience to the law. It's clear. It's manifest. The prophets witnessed of it.
Here it is. Even the righteousness of God
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. So how is righteousness
made? By faith. Not your faith. His faith. Isn't that wonderful? Jesus Christ, when He came into
this world as a man, He did righteous. Because why? He was righteous.
Just as naturally as you sin, He was righteous. Isn't that
astounding to us? We don't know anything at all
about that. But he could not sin because he was righteous. And all the while, what was he
doing? He was meriting your righteousness. When he died on Calvary, what
were his final words? It is finished. What's finished? Righteousness.
It's finished. It's done. Tied up in a bow. All set and ready for you. It's
yours. Then in time, what does He do?
Because I wasn't born righteous. I just told you that. I'm not
born righteous. How then am I made righteous?
I attained it by power and force. But it wasn't mine. It was His
power. It was His force that gave me
righteousness. I was going this way, and he
conquered me. Isn't that true? You're going this way and you're
sin. You were trying to get to Texas, going north. What happened?
He arrested you. He said, no, this is the way. Who's the way? Christ is the
way. He's my righteousness. And so
then this righteousness is attained by faith. And what does our faith
look to? It doesn't look to my faith,
does it? I don't look to my faith for righteousness. You know why?
Because my faith in itself is so mixed with unbelief. Rather, what does faith do? It
looks to the object, which is Christ. So how do I know I attain
righteousness? Because He attained it. And by
grace, He attained it. By grace, I've received it. It's mine. It's mine. I attained a righteousness. This is the result of election.
God always purposed for you to have this. There was a lot of
time you didn't know about it, didn't want it. God one day gave it to you. That's grace. What about the
others? Wherefore, why did the others
who were so sincere not attain it? Verse 32, because they sought
it not by faith. Righteousness never comes any
other way. They sought it not by faith,
but as it were by the works of the law. What are they really
stumbling at? When somebody desires to be saved
by law, what are they really stumbling at? Paul said you're
stumbling at Christ. To what Christ is to us, He's
a foundation stone. But to them, He's a stumbling
stone. Someone come here and really
seemed to enjoy the gospel of God's grace for a while. When I told him he was free from
the law, he stumbled. Why? He would not let go of the
law. He believed that the law had
some measure of meaning toward his salvation in Christ. What
is he really stumbling at? Me? No. He stumbled at this. Christ is all. I bow to that. I don't stumble
at it. I'm thankful for it. I give glory to God for it. Christ
is all. He's all my wisdom, all my righteousness,
all my sanctification, and all my redemption. Why? God made
Him that. So I'm like those Gentiles. I
wasn't looking for righteousness. And yet by the force and power
of God I have it. And everyone who does not try
to attain righteousness, everyone who tries to attain righteousness
by the law, they're going to have the same problem the Jews
had. They're never going to obtain
it. Can anyone say they've ever,
anybody that wants to be under the law, can you ever say you've
obeyed the law? You can't with a straight face. Because you know you have it.
And yet men still won't come to Christ. Isn't that something? I pray that God blesses to you
that have come to Christ. Know this, you have it. You have
everything God requires. Everything. You lack nothing
God requires. Christ earned it. Now does this not stir love and
appreciation? and thanksgiving and desire to
do service to God? Of course it does. If you've
been saved by grace, you know it does. I pray God will bless
us. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. Gracious Father, dismiss us with
your own blessings. Thank you for the righteousness
that we have that's in Christ. Merited by the faithfulness of
Christ, by the obedience of Christ, and given to us by the Holy Spirit
in the new man. I pray that there be any outside
of Christ even today that you would draw them to yourself.
Give them faith to believe and cease to try to work for
their salvation, but only lean on Christ alone. This is your
your salvation. It is a work of your hands. I
pray you would do it for your own glory in Jesus' name. Amen.