I take your bowels again, turn
with me to Psalm 49. Psalm 49. Let's begin our reading
in verse five. Scripture says, wherefore should
I fear in the days of evil when the iniquity of my heels shall
compass me about. They that trust in their wealth
and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother,
nor give to God a ransom for him, for the redemption of their
soul is Precious and it ceases forever Now I've entitled this
message precious redemption precious redemption Yes The psalmist here
is encouraging himself that he should not fear. He is surrounded
by the multitude of enemies, surrounded by those whose houses
are against him and their houses are rising, they're becoming
wealthy, powerful. He's encouraging himself not
to fear. And he says that in verse 6,
because they trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude
of their riches. We live in such a wealthy land. There has not been in the history
of mankind as much dispersed wealth as there is in this land
that we live in. There are more millionaires today
in this country than have ever been in the history of any nation. This is a wealthy nation. These
wealthy men, I can't sometimes when I think about their wealth,
I can't wrap my mind around it. I don't really understand that
much wealth. I mean, we live comfortably.
In most countries, we would be considered wealthy. We have houses
to live in. We have running water. We have,
you know, things that people just don't have in other countries. And we consider ourselves poor. So I really can't wrap my mind
around it. But listen, men in this country are so wealthy that
they can buy all kinds of extravagant things. Extravagant boats. and cars, and houses, palaces,
mansions, I mean, I know a man that's, you know, just somebody
I met, he sold his house for multi-millions of dollars. You
could fit like 20 of my houses in the heads. I can't wrap my
mind around it. They're given the best tables,
they eat the best foods, They can buy servants and listen,
they can rule people. If you have money, you are able
to manipulate and rule over people. Wealthy men are very powerful. They are powerful men. They make
laws or they pay men to make laws. They buy off judges. They set criminals free or they
condemn them. Whatever they desire to do with,
they have money. Wealth of this world, they can
do anything. The wealthy of this world tells
us that everything has a price. That's what men believe, really.
You ask a wealthy man that, he'll tell you everything has a price.
Everything has a price. You just name it. Friends, I'm
going to tell you something tonight that no man, I don't care how
wealthy he is, could ever purchase this. And that is redemption. To redeem his soul before a holy
and just God, I don't care how wealthy or powerful he is, this
is a priceless thing. Redemption. Wealth of this world
can buy power, fame, and earthly possessions, even people. But one thing it cannot buy is
redemption. Look at this. Look what God says. And He's telling us, you read
that at the beginning, He said, Listen, you whole world, you listen to
this. In verse 7, None of them can
by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom, or
him. How foolish, then, is it for
us to envy the world? How ignorant it is to covet the
things and the riches of this world because they are passing. This whole text is telling us
this, that these people, they think that they're storing up
a name for themselves. They think that when they die,
their name is somehow going to echo through eternity. God says the minute their light
goes out, their name goes out. And they can carry none of what
they got with them. Having riches in this world only
leaves a void in sinful men. The more they have, the more
they want. That's just our nature, friends. That's just our nature.
Solomon said a man that has silver is not satisfied with silver.
He's just not. The sins of the flesh and the
wealth of the world cannot satisfy. It promises peace. It promises
joy. It promises contentment. But
the end of these things is death. That's all. He says, listen, you high and
low, you rich and poor, you listen to that. We all have one place
we're going, the grave. I don't care how rich you are.
You can't stop this. Rich, poor, powerful, and weak. We all end in the same place. The sins of this flesh and the
wealth of the world cannot satisfy. The end is as bitter as wormwood
and sharper than a two-edged sword. I remember a long time
ago, a long time ago there was this, I say a long time ago,
in the 90s I guess it was. Doesn't seem long to me. But
it was, it's been a while. I remember this comedian, he
was a very famous man, very funny man, very talented man, very
gifted man. And he had an interview just
before he died. It wasn't a few weeks, a few,
about a month or so before he died. And he said this in the
interview. He said, I have everything a
man could want. And by all means, outward means,
he did. He had riches. He was a rich
man. He was a very wealthy man. Very
famous man. His wife was a beautiful woman. He had wonderful children. Children
were gorgeous children. They all seemed to be intelligent
and delightful. And it wasn't long after that,
his wife went in the room, shot him in the head and killed herself. It went to eternity. What did
all his fame and fortune buy him? Nothing. The moment he went
out into eternity, he found out his riches and fame did not redeem
his soul. Our Lord Jesus asked that question.
He said, what does it profit a man if he gained the whole
world and lose his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange
for his soul? There may be wealthy people trusting
in their wealth. And there are. I'm not kidding. There are people who are really
trusting their soul into their charity. They give, give, and give, and
give, and they're trusting somehow this is going to move the scale
of God's justice in their favor. They're really trusting, and
that's foolish. We know this. Anybody who has
any inkling of the Word of God knows that that's foolish. Why?
Redemption can't be bought. But I'll tell you what. There
are millions and millions more trusting in the riches of their
own righteousness. You may be poor monetarily, but
there are millions who are poor and without any means of physical
wealth, but yet they believe themselves to be spiritually
wealthy in self-righteousness. They are trusting in the riches
of their works. to redeem their souls. Some men
think if they can make some effort of charity, something to help
the poor, while others are looking to their own works and obedience
to the law, they think that somehow they can redeem themselves. You know what they're doing?
To redeem something is to buy it. That's it. They think that
my works and my obedience somehow by favor with God, that I can
redeem my soul by my works. But listen, it doesn't matter
what men think. What does God say about this? Well, you just read it. None
of them can by any means redeem his brother. Can't redeem. There
is no earthly means by which you can redeem a soul. God said, I will by no means
clear the guilty. I'll tell you, there's some who
are educated in scripture and they know God is holy. They know
he will not accept earthly redemption price. They know that Jesus came
in order to pay the price for sin, but they believe that they
must add something to His work, to His redemption. They hear
that Jesus, they say, I will sing of my Redeemer, and then
they go ahead and they say, well, Christ redeemed me, but I have
to contribute to His offering. I have to contribute my works.
They falsely believe that Christ died for all of the sins of all
men, and then they must exercise their will in order to complete
the redemption price. We paid for the redemption, but
I didn't really complete until I give my acknowledgement of
it. I'm not really redeemed until
I accept it. You know what the apostle says
about that in Galatians. In Galatians chapter 5, these
people in Galatia, they thought they just needed to be circumcised.
They thought that Christ's offering was sufficient to a point, but
yet they had one thing that they had to offer in this matter of
redemption, justification. Paul says in Galatians 5 verse
1, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath
made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage,
talking about the law. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to the whole law.
Christ has become of no effect to you, whosoever you are, that
are justified by the law, you are fallen from grace. There's
no mixture of grace and works. There's no way. And the scriptures
are very clear. They draw that line very clearly. And so freewill works religion
cannot redeem a man. Why? Because the price is too
small. It's not enough. Free will is never enough. You
know what they do then? They have to add the law. This
is why they must turn to the law as a rule of their life.
Friends, man is born dead in sin. This is who we are. We are born dead in sin, our
mind is dead, and we cannot understand this. Our will is dead so that
we could not even come to Christ when we hear it. Even because we don't know him.
Christ told us this about ourselves. No man has the ability to come
to me. No man can come to me. Except
the Father which has sent me draw him. Man does not need help
in this matter of redemption. He needs to be redeemed. He needs a resurrection of the
soul. He doesn't need a pat and a push. He needs life. He doesn't need to re-educate
himself in religion, nor does he need to make a decision. Listen,
decisions have already been made. God has made the decision. The decision of death has already
been made. When Adam sinned, death came. That decision's made. You don't
get to come into this world and make a decision whether you're
dead or not. That decision's made for you. You're dead. Anyone
who is outside of Christ, you are dead. You are dead in sins. And listen, this matter of life,
this matter of redemption, the decision's already been made.
The Lord will give life to whomsoever He has chosen. And whomsoever
He has chosen, He Himself will redeem. And whomsoever He redeemed,
He will call them to life, and they will believe on Him, and
He will keep them in faith until He brings them to Himself. What part of that decision do
you have? I know this, in John 1 it says
this, He came into His own and His own received Him not. He
came to His own people and they rejected Him. He came to His
own temple and they rejected Him. He came to His own land
and they rejected Him. He came into His own and His
own received Him not. But as many as received Him,
to them He gave the right to be called, the privilege to be
called the sons of God, which were born. Not of blood, not
by family relations. No Christian is made by family
relations. Not by the will of man, not by
the will of somebody else. I can't will someone to be redeemed,
to be saved. Nor by the will of the flesh.
I can't will myself to be born again. So whose will is it? But of God. Many has received
him, you were born not of blood, nor the will of flesh, nor the
will of man, but of God. So spiritual birth and faith
is not an action of man's will, but an act of God's will. And
for man to boast in their will is just foolishness, is just
as foolish as trusting in your wealth. To trust in the wealth
of your self-righteousness is just as foolish as to trust in
the wealth of your money to save you. It's foolish because neither
the wealth of your obedience nor the wealth of your money
can afford redemption. Look at our text again. None
of them can redeem his brother or give a ransom to God for him.
Why? Oh, verse 8. Look at this. God's telling you why. There's
no way. redemption of their soul is costly. The word precious means costly. And once redemption is made,
listen, it ceases forever. And so let me ask you this, how
precious, how costly is redemption? How much does it cost to redeem
a soul? How much of a ransom must be
given to God for a soul? When we say something is precious,
we say it is precious because it is rare. It's rare. It is of extreme and
irreplaceable value. And so I've got two things, three
things I want us to see tonight. How much does redemption cost?
What is the price? If a man is to be redeemed from
the corruption of his nature, the sin of his soul, how much
does it cost? What is the price? Secondly,
we're going to see this, that only God can provide it. Only God can provide it. And
when God provides it, that's the end of it. There's only one
redemption price, and once it's paid, it's paid. Let's see this. How much does it cost and what
does it require? First of all, I want you to see
that this price requires a spotless offering, a spotless And when
Adam sinned, he was then unable to understand or know how to
please God. What was the first thing our
father did when he felt his sin, when he knew his nakedness? We
know this because this is what we all do. He went and found
some leaves, he worked with his hands, sewed them together, made
coverings for him and his wife. And for a moment, they felt this
was enough to redeem them. They felt the price was enough. Until when? Until God showed
himself. When God came walking in the
cool of the day, they knew this was not sufficient. They ran
and hid themselves from God. They tried to cover their sins
with the works of their hands. When God appeared, this was not
sufficient. And listen to me, neither is
the work of our hands sufficient to cover ourselves before God.
I don't care what you do. There is no price you can pay.
There is no work you can do. But what did God do? God, in
mercy and for His own glory, had already provided a surety
for them. He had already provided someone
who was going to pay the ransom for them. We know this, that
Christ was always purposed of God to pay the ransom. He was always in the covenant
of grace to be the surety. And then God told Adam about
it. He told him in a small And a
very small message. Consider this message. The seed
of the woman shall crush the head of the serpent. That thing
brought sin and tempted you? God's going to kill it and his
sin. How? by the bruising of this
one's heel. The seed of the woman, Satan
is going to bruise his heel and this is going to be the redemption
price. He was speaking about how he
was going to redeem them. And then what did he do? Remember
that God made the first sacrifice, right? God killed that innocent
animal and used his skin to cover their nakedness. It was a picture
of what Christ was going to come to do. And so God instituted this ordinance
by that. Without the shedding of blood
is no remission. He made a sacrifice. He took
the innocent to cover the guilty. Friends, God who is holy and
just, I want you to understand he is the offended party. A man
walks around thinking he's the offended party. And so man starts
to make up what it is that he needs to do for God. God is the offended party. And
listen to me. God is telling you what he requires. Death. The soul that sinneth,
it shall surely die. There's a payment. God who is holy and just as the
offended party. He who created all things, made
all things without sin, perfect. And it was man who sinned. And
by this one man came sin and death and spiritual bondage. He was the representative of
his whole race. And so when he sinned, we sinned. When he became a slave to sin,
so did we. And this truth is told in scripture. Wherefore by one man sin entered
into the world, and death by sin. So death passed upon all
men. For all have sinned. Therefore
we come into this world speaking lies. And what the scripture
tells, we came forth from the womb speaking lies. Joanne, I
know you taught your daughters to lie. You had to. because they
were just honest girls. No, we're born liars. There is none righteous. You
get this? None righteous. No, not one. There is none that
understandeth. There is none that doeth good. So the true cost to buy out a
soul from the slave market of sin is too high because we are
all guilty. We are all guilty. God will not accept just any
offering for sin but it must be a blameless offering. It must
be an offering but it must be a blameless offering. The scriptures
bear this out In many types and places, but I think the best
place to look is the Passover lamb. The Passover lamb is a
picture of Christ. You remember the children of
Israel were in bondage and they needed to be redeemed. They needed
to be bought out of Egypt. They were in bondage and they
could by no means free themselves. What a picture of us. We, by
nature and bondage, can't free ourselves. We cannot buy ourselves. There's no price we could pay
to God. But God, according to His covenant,
promised to the seed, to Christ. He promised them that after 400
years that He would set them free. And He did this by the
blood of the Passover lamb. The Lord tells the men of Israel,
He said, take a lamb, take a lamb, and this lamb must be very specific,
without spot or blemish. It must be a perfect lamb. A male of the first year, and
it must be taken from the sheep and from the goats to redeem
a soul. It must be by an offering that
is acceptable to God. It must be a spotless offering. A sinless offering. Let me ask
you this. What could you offer to God that
is not tainted with sin? There is nothing we have touched
that is not tainted with sin. God requires a spotless, a sinless
offering. Yet we know this, that of all
the thousands and thousands of spotless lambs that ever were
slain by those high priests, that none of them could remove
sin. None of them actually redeemed
anyone. This spotless offering is only a picture of the only
one who is able to fit the bill, Jesus Christ. He is the only
spotless. land. And this spotless land
must be taken from among the goats and sheep. What does that
mean? He's got to be taken from among the lost and the saved.
He has to be taken from among men. This redemption price. Man is the one that brought sin. Man is responsible for it. Therefore, it must be by man
that redemption comes. So Christ who would come to redeem
Israel must come into the world and be without sin. Tonight,
I desire to show you the spotless Lamb of God. If there is any
who need to be redeemed, I'm telling you, you cannot redeem
yourself, but behold the one that can, the one that has, the
spotless Lamb. the divine person of Jesus Christ,
one with God. And yet in order to redeem us
from the bondage of sin, he must be a man. Scripture says, who
being in the form of God, being in the nature of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. made of himself no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant. And being found in
fashion in the nature of a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. I like that. When the Passover lamb was chosen,
they had 14 days to look at it. 14 days God gave them to go over
that lamb to make sure that it was spotless. When Christ walked
upon the earth, don't you know that that was the 14 days? His
whole life, they combed over him trying to find a spot. And what did they find? He said, the prince of this world
hath found nothing in me. You say that, the prince of this world surely
can find a lot. in me, but have found nothing
in him." To be redeemed we needed a spotless offering, a righteous
offering. Christ came into the world as
the only righteous man. He was tried of the religious
rulers of the people. He was tried of God and found
there was no sin in him. You see how precious this is?
How rare? How rare is Christ? How rare
is this man Jesus? He had no sin. There was no sin in this man. Hilat, when he got done judging
him, what'd he say? I find no fault in this man.
Okay, go kill him. But that's true, he found no
fault in him, no man. could find fault in him. And
no man can be set free from the bars of sin without righteousness. It was sin that gives death its
sting, and the strength of sin is the law. God's law, therefore,
must be fulfilled. Righteousness must be fulfilled. The law to us only exposes sin. It can't redeem us. redeem us. The law will only
free us if we were righteous. You can only be free from the
law if you are righteous. In Isaiah chapter 1 and verse
27 God promises Zion shall be redeemed with two things, judgment
and its converts with righteousness. The only way that a man is redeemed
is he must be made righteous. How precious then is righteousness?
How rare is it that there was only one man in the whole universe
that obtained the righteousness of God by his obedience? That
man is Jesus, the Son of the Living God. came into the world as the spotless
offering. And by his spotless obedience,
he obtained righteousness for all he was to redeem. Second,
redemption must be bought with blood. Again, without the shedding
of blood is no remission. The Israelites were commanded
then to take the lamb and kill it. To kill it. Take it in the midst of the congregation
and kill it. Take its blood and put it on
the doorposts. And that night when God came
through, when justice came through, everyone who had the blood, he
passed over them. Why? Because the blood redeemed
them. The blood redeemed them. Not
only was Jesus to be the spotless offering, he was to be a lamb
slain. This was always the purpose of
God. It was always the purpose of God to redeem us by him. Even
so, to redeem all of God's saints, he must have offered his blood
for the redemption price. Therefore, behold the costly
redemption of the soul. in the substitutionary death
of Jesus Christ. What does it cost to save and
redeem the soul? There was only one price God
required, and only one price God would accept, the sinless
Son of God being crucified for our sins. The sinless Son of God being
our substitute You see, justice could never
free us from our sins by righteousness alone. Because we have sinned. If you were to take righteousness
and put it on us, it would be contaminated. Except you first
expiate our sins. You must remove our sins from
us. And then you are able to robe
us in the righteousness of Christ. Sins must be punished. We were
really guilty of them. So behold in the redemption of
God by the blood of Jesus Christ, we see in this the wisdom of
God. How God could be just and still justify the ungodly. You see how narrow the gospel
is? That it's only by Jesus Christ. There is no other redemption. There is no other offering we
could give to satisfy the justice of God. This is why hell is eternal,
isn't it? They are constantly paying, constantly
paying, constantly paying, and they are never paying anything. They can never redeem themselves.
So the only hope of redemption that was God should offer his
only begotten son, the only one who could please the father,
the only one whose blood was sufficient to satisfy the justice
of God. So Christ came down from heaven
for this purpose of redeeming his people. Scripture says he was wounded
for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him and by His stripes we are healed. Behold His hands, His feet, His
side, His head as the blood flowed down. What was the purpose? He
was redeeming us to God. He was paid for our sins. Do you see this, that you're
not getting into heaven without payment? Your sin must be paid for. Either
by your hands or by the hands of another, it will be paid. This alone was a transaction
between God and His Son when He took the guilt of our sins
and made them His own. For He hath made Him to be sin
for us who knew no sin. You want to know what it cost? That's what it cost. When God imputed our sins to
Christ upon the cross and He bore our sins in His own body
on the tree, the sinless Son of God, who knew no sin being
made sin, satisfied forever the justice of God. Therefore, He
said in no uncertain terms, it is finished. Redemption paid. Paid. God satisfied. God satisfied
with His redemption, with His payment for sins. Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians
chapter 1, verse 6, actually verse 7, in who? As
we read verse six, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein
he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have, what? Redemption. You who believe on
Christ, you want to know this? You have redemption. How? Through his blood. That was a
price. It's been paid. the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of his grace. Behold, the only acceptable offering,
how rare is this, there's only one, there's only one offering
God purposed to accept and there's only one offering God accepts
for the redemption of the soul. It is the righteousness and the
blood of Jesus Christ. That's it. That's how rare it
is. That's how precious it is that
there's only one who has offered it. And God has accepted it. Now then, the question then comes
this, how can I be redeemed? I just showed you who the redeemer
is. I showed you the price that he paid. But the question is,
how can I be redeemed? Am I redeemed? That's a question
I want to know. This redemption we know is only
purposed of God, accomplished by Christ, and given by the Holy
Spirit, and we know it is only given to the elect. I know that. I know that's true. Well, who's
that? Who were purposed to be redeemed
and who were actually redeemed? I'll tell you this, those who
are redeemed are those who are by nature in the bondage of sin
and need redemption. All of the elect understand this.
I need to be redeemed. I know I cannot redeem myself. I know redemption is so precious
that only Christ can redeem me. Therefore, all of the elect Trust only in Christ as all our
redemption. All our redemption. Over in 1
Peter chapter 1 and verse 18, it says, For as much as you know,
that you are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold. You know that. I don't care how wealthy you
are, you can't redeem yourself. I know that. from your vain conversation received
by tradition of your fathers. I know I can't be redeemed by
that either. I know this is my only hope,
but with the precious blood of Jesus, as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. Hey, there's a first one, right? Who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you, who by Him do believe in God that raised Him
from the dead, gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might
be in God." See, you have purified your souls in obeying the truth
through the Spirit. What is your obedience of the
truth? Your obedience is faith. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Have you obeyed that? How? Through the Spirit. That's how
you've obeyed that. Through the work of the Spirit.
To unfeigned love of the brethren. So you love each other with a
pure heart, fervently. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. So every one of these elect,
they hear the word of God and by the spirit of God, they are
convinced that they cannot redeem themselves. They are convinced
that Jesus is the only spotless offering, that his blood actually
satisfied God, that God raised him from the dead and set him
upon the throne because of his success. And we trust in his
perfect redemption. Those are the ones that are redeemed.
If you believe on Christ, you may confidently confess, I am
the elect of God. I am redeemed. I am redeemed. And notice this last thing. This
redemption, once it is paid, it ceases forever. Wouldn't it
be unjust if you paid for something and then someone come back years
later and say, you know what? I'm just going to add something
to that. Now, I know you bought it, but
you know, I know we agreed on a price, but you know what? I
just don't like it. I'm not satisfied with it. I'm
just going to add to it. We all know that's unjust. We
probably going to happen, but we know it's unjust. Listen. When Christ offered himself
to God, God was forever satisfied. No more payment is required. It ceases forever. It ceases forever. All those
who are redeemed by the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ
are redeemed forever. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins, sat down forever, sat down forever, expecting
his enemies to be made his footstool for by his one offering. He hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. Scott, you are perfected
forever. How? How in the world were you
perfected forever? You are! You are perfected forever! I know you can't look in the mirror
and say that. We confess. That's true. We confess that
we sinned. But my hope is not in my sinning
less or if I sin more. That has nothing to do with my
redemption. My redemption ceased forever. God is completely satisfied. He has perfected forever those
who are sanctified. He has perfected us forever.
Once for all, O sinner, receive it once for all. Brother, believe
it. Isn't that what we have trouble
with? Isn't this why we fear? We fear. Often times we doubt. Imagine that kid inside that
house with the blood on the door. Can't see the blood. He had to
trust his father exclusively. Dad, are you sure the blood,
are you sure that lamb was spotless? He had a stake in it, didn't
he? That firstborn, he had a stake in it. Dad, are you sure that
blood, you sure you shed it right? You sure you put enough on the
door? I know we feel that way. You
sure are sufficient for me. I don't feel redeemed. I don't deserve to be redeemed. So then it got nothing to do
with it. The redemption of the soul is
precious. And to you, who believe, is not
the Redeemer precious? Is He not of more value than
anything in this world? To you who are redeemed He is. I have something that no
man could purchase. I have something that I could
not buy or no man could buy for me. Notice what he says this and
notice his comfort. Look at verse 15 in your text
and we'll close with this. Listen, listen. He said, talking about
all those rich people, he said, they're going to, they're going
to, you know, they build their houses and expect to continue.
But here's this hope. He said, but God will redeem
my soul. from the power of the grave.
This is why we can be confident in the midst of every affliction,
every trial, every difficulty, every storm. Because when we
die, it's not over. God will redeem me from the grave. Why? Because he paid the redemption
price. I'm his. I am bought. Lock, stock, and
barrel. I'm his. He owns me. Is that a pain in
you to say, I'm me? No, he owns me. My life is his. He bought it, every bit of it. And he will get what belongs
to him. That's my hope. I'm kept. I'm
kept. Why? I've been redeemed. And
bought. All at a price. The precious
blood of Jesus. Therefore we sing of our Redeemer,
don't we? We rejoice in our Redeemer. Pray God give us hearts to rejoice
in Him. Be so thankful. Man, you starving to death, why
you smiling? I'm redeemed. You died, what's
your joy? I'm redeemed. God give us hearts to rejoice
in. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. Father, thank you for your gracious
gift. The rarest and most precious
thing that you possessed was your son and you gave him. In love, the son redeemed us. In love, he called us in the
midst of our bondage and freed us. Give us faith, love, and hope
only in the precious redemption of Christ. Refresh your people
with this, in Jesus' name.