Romans chapter 6. Grace that
is greater than my sin. Keep that in mind as we go through
this morning's message. Grace that is greater than my
sin. Do you think you would know the
greatness of our Lord, of His grace, if you didn't have any
sin? I want you to think about that
for just a moment, because each and every one of us have walked
in that day where we did not know our sin. Oh, people knew
that they did things wrong. They knew the difference between
good and evil, didn't they? We knew the difference between
good and evil, didn't we? Yeah. Yeah. But did we know? Did we experience? the greatness of our Lord's grace
towards us. Are you with me? In Romans chapter
6, I want to look at one verse for just a moment. Mark your
spot here in Romans because we'll end up back here towards the
end of the message. Look at verse 17. Romans chapter 6 and verse
17, we read these words inspired by the Holy Spirit for Paul to
write, But God, but God be thanked that ye were the servants of
sin. But ye have obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which was delivered you." Now be sure you
don't miss that little word that we read there at the very first,
that word, but. That word, but. But what? But all of that stuff
that Paul had just written in chapter 6. But all that. Even though all
of that, but God be thanked. Our text opens with it and it
refers us back to what Paul had just told us about all that we
have experienced in God's saving grace. All that we confess to
be as far as believer's baptism, as far as Christ's accomplishments
for us in redemption, as far as God the Holy Ghost and what
he has provided for us by his grace and regeneration. And the
blessed assurance that God has given to every sinner who trusts
his dear son, that sin shall never have dominion over us again.
Paul brings out how we're redeemed. We're redeemed by the blood of
Christ. Not by the works of men, but by the blood of Christ. He
brings out that we've been saved by the grace of God. He brings
out that we are dead indeed to sin. He brings out that now we
are alive and that we live unto God, and that Christ is our life. We live in Him. But all those
wonderful things that Paul had just brought out about the saved
sinner, all the wonderful blessings that you and I have experienced
as those who have been saved from the sin that we walk in,
you notice it said walk, because we still have sin in this flesh.
But even the sin that's in this flesh, if we belong to God, has
been paid by our Savior. When He went to that cross, He
paid it all. Oh, for the wonderful grace of
our Lord to give Himself perfectly as our substitute. After Paul
brings all that out, he says, but God be thanked. God be thanked
that ye were the servants of sin, Oh, what a great reason
saved sinners have to give thanks to our God and live in His glory. But God, but God be thanked that
we were servants of sin. Every saved sinner has great
reasons to give thanks for God, for His infinite wisdom, for
His matchless grace, for saving us precisely as he has from sin. Robert Hawker wrote this in commenting
on the verses that we just read. He says, for myself, if I know
anything of my own heart, I hope that I can truly say I hate sin. For the world. No, I'm sorry. That I hate sin. That I would
not willingly nor willfully commit a single sin for the world. Yea,
I loathe myself, writes Robert Hawker, in my own sight for sin,
the sin of my poor fallen nature, and sin becomes more and more
bitter to me as I grow older, as Christ becomes more precious.
But with all this I say, I would rather be... Listen to the words,
because this is what Paul is saying to us in those very verses.
I would rather be a sinner saved, and saved in such a way as I
am saved by the blood and the righteousness of our Lord Jesus
Christ, than to have never known, to have never known what true
sin is. This is what Paul is telling
the Romans here. I thank God. But God be thanked. that ye were servants of sin.
I'm thankful that the Lord has taken me and shown me what I
was. If He hadn't shown me that I
was blind, I'd still be blind. If He hadn't shown me that I
was full of sin from the top of my head to the bottom of my
feet, I wouldn't know the grace of God, the wonderful grace of
Jesus. Now, you and I, and those who
may be online hearing this, those of you who have been saved by
God, who see His grace as wondrous as it is, who have experienced
the wonderness, the wonderfulness of His grace in saving you from
your sin, you know that Paul's not suggesting here it's okay
to sin. You know that he's not thanking
God because I sinned. He's thanking God for showing
him his sin. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And there was all, every one of us, at
one time or another, walked this earth thinking that we were OK. We were that guy who stood up
in the church and said, I'm not like those people. I do this. I do that. Look at all the stuff. Oh, yeah, I know I did a little
bit of that over there. But I did this. That covers that. God's
children see themselves as that beggar on the side of the building
over pounding against his chest. Yeah, I'm a sinner. But I'm a
sinner saved by grace. There's our joy! We were talking
about this in Bible study this morning, 2 Peter 1, verse 2. Grow. You know, I just want to
make sure I want to read that right, so let me just put it
over here. You don't have to. Grace and peace be multiplied unto
you through the knowledge of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Before you know who the Lord Jesus Christ is and the greatness
of His mercy and grace to you, you've got to know what you are.
You've got to be brought down to what you are. Folks, we are
sin. Plain and simple. We come into
this world sin. We come from our mother's wombs,
speaking lies. I know. And if you're a child
of God, you know too. If you're hearing this Word for
the first time and the Lord is convicting your heart, showing
you that you are, God bless you that He may reveal unto you His
Son, our Savior, our Substitute. Paul thanks God that we were
once the servants of sin, but are now in the obedience to Christ. He thanks God that we were once
lost and now are saved. That we were once unregenerate,
but now we've been regenerated by the grace of God. That we
were once dead in trespasses and sins, but now we live, we
are alive in Christ Jesus. Some may ask, are you saying
that the Apostle Paul would thank God that we were once in drudgery,
in the drudgery of Satan and doing his words? That's exactly
what he's saying. If I hadn't known where I was,
I'd still be blind to the things that He's shown me now. When
you sing that song, The Wondrous Grace of Jesus, does it mean
something to you? Is it just the tune that is good? Oh, it's a nice tune. You know, there's a lot of rock
and roll songs that I really like the tune to, but I couldn't
tell you a single word. I can tell you the words to that song.
What about the song Amazing Grace? Does it mean something to you?
If you're a child of God, it does. I remember when I first
started singing that song for the first time with the heart
of God. I couldn't get through it. I didn't know what was going
on, but I couldn't get through the song. It wasn't that the
song made me sad, it made me just blessed. Blessed to tears. Can I say that? Can I call it
that? Blessed to tears? That God would have mercy on
me. One who deserves nothing but
His wrath. And I wouldn't have seen that
blessing if I didn't see my sin first. So yeah, like Paul. But God be thanked. God be thanked. Don Fortner wrote this. He said,
just as poison is sometimes made a medicine for healing and sickness
of the body and is made the means of health for our souls. The
sin and fall of Adam and our sin and fall in him laid the
foundation for the revelation of Christ as our Savior and Redeemer.
He says, do you imagine We could ever have known our blessed Christ
as our Savior and Redeemer had not our shame and sin afforded
an opportunity for the display of His glory? No. We couldn't have. We'd have gone
through that doormarked death getting exactly what we deserve.
Blind to the truths of God. Let no one misunderstand, folks.
I make no excuse for my sins. They're mine. And I'm not proud
of it. I'm shamed. They shamed me. And I try to turn away from them.
We don't make excuses for our sins. We don't attempt by any
means to escape from our responsibility of sin or to charge God with
it. It says in James 1 verse 13,
God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man. Sin is ours. Salvation is His. But our great God is so infinitely
wise, so infinitely gracious, that He turns our greatest misery
into our greatest good, and sovereignly overrules our sin to make it
an occasion for our eternal blessedness. Isn't that what Romans 8.28 says?
We've talked about that before. We've talked about that, even
our stumbling. is for our good. Why? Because it brings us back
to the Lord Jesus Christ. To a child of God, we see our
weakness and our inability to do what we should. Therefore,
we look to the One who is able. Does not Romans 8.28 say all
things? Jonathan Edwards wrote these
words. He says, divine wisdom has found out a way whereby the
sinner might not only escape being miserable, but that he
should be happier than before he had known sin. Yea, then he
would have been if he had never sinned at all. Folks, by our
redemptive work of Christ Jesus the Lord, the sins of God's elect
are turned into a means of an accomplishment and accomplishing
a greater happiness for all of us, a greater joy, an everlasting
glory that we could never have known if we had never known the
depth of sin. It says, where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. That doesn't mean that we should
go out and sin more to get more grace. That means simply this,
that as we go through life and we see the greaterness of our
sin, which is great indeed, it magnifies the wonderful grace
of Jesus that paid for that great sin. The wonderful blood of our
Savior that was laid down and shed for our sakes. It magnifies
God's grace is what it's saying. It magnifies the wonderful grace
of Jesus. If we had not known sin, then
we wouldn't have this wonderful union that we have with Christ
right now. A sinful man is brought into a nearer union with God
and the Person of Christ, our substitute. A union that we could
never have enjoyed had we not known sin. Had we ever sinned,
Christ would not have been our surety. I remember a lady got
up and walked out of here one time, and I've shared this with
several of you many a times. I'm not that kind of a sinner.
She grabbed her granddaughter and walked out of the church.
Said it where everybody could hear it. I'm not that kind of
a sinner. You and I were just like that. Every one of us. I didn't need to go to church
on Sundays. I wasn't that bad of a guy. Oh, yes I am. And if you're a child of God
who has seen the sinner that you are, you're sitting there
shaking your head right now saying, absolutely, that's me. That was
me too. But now, we could not have had
a union with Christ, but now God has assumed our nature in
the person of his son, therefore, We are members of His body. As assuming our nature, He died
in our place. Christ our brother and our husbandman. He who is our brother and our
husband is our surety, the one responsible for us. He's like,
nevermind, I don't know that one well enough to quote it,
so I'll pass by that. And we are the sons of God with
Him. Our temporary separation from
God by sin has been made the means of our eternal union with
God in His Son, the Lord Jesus. Look over at the 17th chapter
of John for just a moment. Like I said, Mark Romans chapter
6. We'll come back to that. But turn over to John chapter
17 for just a moment. This is our union. This is talking
about our union with Christ. We wouldn't know this union if
we didn't know the sin that was within us. In John chapter 17, we read these
words beginning at verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. Now that's through those who
go out and preach the word of God. Those who share their experience. Those who share the grace of
God in their lives with those around them. That means all of
us. Don't we do that with our unsaved
loved ones? Our loved ones who still walk
in darkness? Don't we share with them who our Lord is? My son
and my daughter have absolutely no desire to hear anything about
the Lord Jesus, but whenever they're around their dad, they
will hear that my Savior is the one who's in control of everything.
Oh, that's such a bummer about what's going on back there in
the White House. Don't worry about it, Brandy. God's got a
handle on it. Most people are in that office
because God put them there. My son and I, we have conversations
about that stuff all the time. Don't worry about it, son. God's
still in control. He always has been. He always
will be. Folks, we are all witnesses to
those that the Lord crosses our path with. That's what that's
talking about. You never know how the Lord might
use what you say to somebody you love to bring them to a church
where they'll hear the Gospel preached for the first time.
How often has our Lord called somebody out of the darkness
they walked in, just showing up to a funeral? Pastor Gene
has shared with us a couple of different times where somebody
at a funeral has come away afterwards and said, you know, I've never
heard that before. That's exactly what Scripture says. You're right. The Gospel of Christ is free.
Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain. Oh, my Lord has paid it all.
Back in John chapter 17 again, that they all may be one, it
says in verse 21, that they may be all one as thou, Father, art
in me, and I in thee. This is that personal union that
we would have never known about. We would have never known it
existed if it hadn't have been the fact that we were shown the
sinners that we are. That they all may be one as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee. That they also may be one in
us. that the world may believe that
Thou hast sent me. And the glory which Thou gavest
me, I gave them, that they may be one, even as we are one, I
in them, and Thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one,
and that the world may know that Thou hast sent me, and hast loved
me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved me." This is the union.
Do you see the wondrous grace of Christ? in revealing what
we used to walk in, revealing the dark, deep pit that we were
all born into, the pit of sin. Without knowing what we were,
we would have not seen the glory and the knowledge of who God
is. Saved sinners, by reason of our sin, have greater and
fuller knowledge of God. We have greater knowledge, greater
and fully knowledge of His glory, greater and fully, fuller knowledge
of His grace, His justice, His holiness, His love, greater than
we could ever have possessed had we never sinned. We see the
glory of God in the face of Jesus, our dying substitute. And we
see the glory of God in His death, The death that we have to love
that God commended towards us. This will be our theme in heavenly
places forever and ever. Revelation chapter 1 verse 5
and 6, and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and
the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of
the earth, unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins
in His own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God
His Father, to Him To Him be the glory and dominion forever
and ever. Amen. Think about this next piece,
this next point. If you didn't know the depth
of your depravity before the Lord gave you life, if you had
no idea the depth of your sin, could you ever know the magnitude
of His love for you? Could you ever know what it means
that God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son? Could you know the depth of that
if you didn't know the depth of your sin? You see where Paul's
going with all this? God be thanked. There was a time
I served the evilness, the wickedness that was in my flesh, that I
served sin, but thank you God that I no longer serve that.
I serve my Savior now. I serve Him not as good as I'd
like to. In fact, not even a speck of
what I'd like to. But I serve Him. Not that sin
that used to reign in this body. Those of you who have been called
out of darkness, tell me this hasn't happened to you once or
twice. You know, I used to do that all
the time. Now, I'm going to say, you're thinking to yourself.
You're thinking to yourself. You know, I used to do that all the
time. You know what? That would not
be pleasing to my Lord. Turn away and walk away from
it. Have you ever done that? Have you done that since the
Lord's called you out of darkness? I have. Maybe only twice, but
still. There was never a time before
the Lord called me out of darkness that I did that. Was there ever
a time for you? Oh, we thought maybe. No. Aren't you thankful the Lord
has shown you that? You're laughing over there because
it makes you happy. That's right. I did do that once before. I
did act like that once before. Thank God I don't anymore. I
cry out for mercy. Guess what? God is merciful to
us, isn't He? He shines the light of His Son
in our hearts and shows us that it's Him that we need to look
to. It's Him that saved us. It's
Him that shed His blood for us on that cross. It's Him that
paid that price that we owe God. It's Him that took our wrath. The wrath that we have earned
and deserved has been laid upon Him. And He took it perfectly. making us perfect in His sight. If we had never known sin, could
we have ever known the depth of God's love? I want you to
turn over to 1 Corinthians. I want to read several verses. If we had not known sin, we would
have not known the great love that God has for His people,
the great forgiveness each and every one of us. Are you in 1
Corinthians? Look at chapter 1. 1 Corinthians
1. Look with me at verses 26-31. And we're going to go through
several verses here, so try to keep up if you can. I'll try
not to go too fast. 1 Corinthians 1, beginning at
verse 26, we read these words, For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many mobile, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty, and the base things of the world and the things which
are despised hath God chosen, yea, and the things which are
not to bring to naught things that are. that no flesh should
glory in His presence, but of Him, of God, are ye in Christ
Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom." We're talking about
the wonders of the Lord showing us our sin that He might show
us His grace and the great love that He has for us. God has made
unto us This Lord and Savior Christ Jesus' wisdom, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption, that according as it is written,
he that glories, let him glory in the Lord. The true child of
God turns away from the glory of this flesh. We have no confidence
in this flesh. We give our Lord and Savior glory
for everything we can. Do we do it perfectly? No. But
we rely on His perfection. Look over at 1 Corinthians 6. If we had not had the sin, our
natural sin revealed in its totality to us, we could have not known
the love of God for us. Look at 1 Corinthians 6 verses
9-11. Know ye not? that the unrighteous shall not
inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of
God. And such were some of you. You know why I didn't say all
of you? Because you could probably go through that list and say,
I've never done that. But I think the Lord's list here is pretty
thorough. You've done something in that list. Such were some of you. But. Don't you love my God stuff?
But God. That just shows you He's in charge.
He's sovereign over everything. But God. Nothing's going to stop
His hand. Nothing's going to turn His way.
That's our peace. That's the peace we grow in as
we go about this life learning more about Jesus. growing in
grace and in the knowledge of our Savior. That's what it says
in 2 Peter 3. Last verse. I know that only
because we read it this morning. But ye are washed, but ye are
sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
and by the Spirit of our God. Now turn over to 1 Corinthians
6. You're in chapter 6. Look over verses 19 and 20. What? Paul says what? Know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have
of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which
are God's. Now turn over to 2 Corinthians,
if you would, and look at chapter 5 with me. We'll look at two
more sections of verses, and then I'll bring this to a close.
2 Corinthians 5. Could we know
the depth of our Lord's love for us if we didn't know the
depth that He went to to pay that price for us? 2 Corinthians 5, beginning at verse
14, we read these words, "...for the love of Christ constraineth
us." Because we thus judge, and if one died for all, then we're
all dead. And that he died for all, that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him which died for them and rose again. Now turn over to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5 again. Let's look at verse 16 through
21. Henceforth know we no man after
the flesh. Yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet now henceforth know him no more. Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." That's the same
thing as saying, once you were blind, now you see. We were blind
to what sin was before, but now we see it clearly. God be thanked
we can see it clearly, because we see the grace of God even
more clear. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
to us the ministry of reconciliation. to wit that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, now with all that in
mind. Today, as we walk in the path
that God has put before us, now then we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's
stead, be ye reconciled to God, for He hath made Him, God the
Son, to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteous as of God in Him. Folks, if it wasn't for sin,
if it wasn't for the fact that God had shown us what we were,
Could we have in faith, true faith, in who God is? Fallen man, saved by grace, have
a greater, more sensible dependence upon God than he could otherwise
have had. That lady had no sense. She had
no sense about God as her savior. She thought to herself, I don't
need your God. I'm not that bad of a sinner.
That's exactly what I said a moment ago. Forty years, John walked
this earth. I don't need God. Son, will you
come to church? Mom, what do you want for your
birthday? Will you come to church with
me this week? Mom, I do that on Mother's Day. Don't worry
about me. I've got my own relationship
with God. I don't need Him all the time. That's what I said. If I didn't know my sin, Would
my faith, would it be true faith in Him? Do you know that God
is glorified in you and I as we are dependent upon Him? How
often have I shared this with you? You're going down the road
and the lights start turning red on you. Oh, I just want to get
over to McDonald's and get some nuggets. Please, I'm hungry.
Before God saved you, did you ever stop and think, maybe the
Lord's keeping me from running into something? Did you ever
think that? I never did. If it wasn't for
the Lord showing me my deplority, deplorable-ness, whatever you
want to say there. I don't think I said the right
word, but I think you got the idea. If He hadn't shown me my
weakness, then I wouldn't be looking to
Him as my strength. It glorifies our Lord when we
know in our hearts and recognize in our hearts that He is Lord
of all things. That's giving God the glory.
Even over the red lights, that's giving God the glory. Did you
ever notice that in Genesis 2.17, the forbidden fruit to eat, It
was called the tree of knowledge and good and evil. Oh, how are
you going to know good if you don't know evil? God is the one
who planted that tree in the midst of the garden, isn't he?
Did he not plant it knowing? Did he not plant it knowing Adam
was going to eat of it? In the day that thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt surely die. Not if, but in that day. That day's coming, Adam. That
day's going to be here. And when you eat of it, you're
going to die. God be thanked. God be thanked for showing me
what I was. Because in showing me what I
was, he's showing me now what I am. I'm a child of the most
high. I'm saved by His grace. Folks,
you can walk in joy. Walk with a smile on your face,
understanding this, that our Savior has taken all of our sins
upon Himself. In our Lord and Savior Christ
Jesus, we are perfected. In him. Back in our text. Back
in John chapter 6, verse 17. Sorry, Romans chapter 6. I made
a mistake. We're going to actually read
one more after this. But read with me through 23. Let's read
our text in verse 17 and continue right through to verse 23. But
God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have
obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine, that form of teaching,
the teaching of the gospel, the preaching of God's truths, that
form of doctrine which was delivered you, being then made free from
sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. Paul goes on to
say, I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity
of our flesh. For as ye have yielded your members,
servants to uncleanness and to iniquity, unto iniquity, even
so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants
of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those
things thereof that ye are now ashamed of? For the end of those
things is death, but now, being made free from sin and become
servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness and to the
end of everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord." Look over at verse 20 of chapter 5. Moreover, the law
entered that the offense man might abound, but where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. If we had not been shown the
depth of our sin, could we trust Christ? You see, faith in Christ
is the obedience that Paul speaks of in the 17th verse. I ask you,
will you obey that form of doctrine? Will you set before you in the
gospel, trusting Christ alone to be saved, or will you go on
trusting your own good works, your own self-righteousness, or your will, until you find
yourself forever damned in hell? Look at Luke chapter 17, verse
36 through 50, and then we'll bring this to a close. Luke chapter
7. beginning at verse 36. And one
of the Pharisees desired him, desired our Lord, that he would
eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's
house, and he sat down to meet. And behold, a woman in the city,
which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meet in
the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
Verse 38, "...and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and
began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them away with the
hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with
the ointment." Now when the Pharisees, which had bidden him, saw it,
when the Pharisees spoke, he spoke within himself, that means
he thought it, he didn't actually say it, he thought it, This man,
if he were a prophet, thinking of Christ, would have known who
and what manner a woman this is that touches him, for she
is a sinner. Listen to the Lord's response.
Verse 40, And Jesus answered and said unto him, Simon, I have
some what to say to thee. And he said, Master, say on.
There was a certain creditor which had two debtors. The one
owed 500 pence and the other 50. And when they had nothing
to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which
of them will love him most?" We're talking about self-righteousness
and sinners. This Pharisee was going about
on his good works. He was approaching God on his
good works. He knew he owed God something,
he just didn't know how much. That girl, that woman who was
a sinner, knew how much she owed God. She knew she had nothing.
So she gave Him everything she had. Simon answered, verse 43,
and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most, he said
unto him, thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman and
said unto Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house,
thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she hath washed my
feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou
gavest me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in hath
not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not
anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore,
I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she
loved much, but to whom little is forgiven. The same loveth
little. And he said unto her, thy sins
are forgiven. And they that sat at meat with
him began to say within themselves, who is this that forgiveth sins
also? And he said to the woman, thy
faith has saved thee. Go in peace. I want to ask you
one last question. Have you any sin in your life?
Do you seek a Savior? Come to the one who saves. Come
to Christ Jesus and believe on the true and living God, our
Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. Amen.