I love that song, Mercy Seat. We need to preach on that. Alright,
let's look at the book of Acts chapter 14. Acts chapter 14,
I want to read the first seven verses. Acts chapter 14. Let's read the first seven verses. It came to pass in Iconium that
day that Paul and Barnabas went both together into the synagogue
of the Jews and so spake that a great multitude, both of the
Jews and also of the Greeks, believed. But the unbelieving
Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil-affected
against the brethren. Long time, therefore, abode they,
Paul and Barnabas, speaking boldly in the Lord, which or who gave
testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and
wonders to be done by their hand. But the multitude of the city
was divided, in part held with the Jews, in part with the And
when there was an assault made, both of the Gentiles and also
of the Jews with their rulers, to use Paul and Barnabas despitefully
and to stone them, they were aware of it, made aware of it,
and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Laconia, and unto the
region that lieth round about. And there they preached the gospel. Wherever and whenever the truth
is preached, there is opposition to it. You look at every account
in Scripture, whenever a man stood to declare the truth, whether
it was the prophets or the apostles, there is great opposition to
it, and now more than ever, because there are more people. The truth,
the truth about God, the living and true God, whenever God is
declared as he is, the true God, the God of the scripture. Whenever
man is declared to be what he is, the truth about man, God's
word does not mince words about man, the truth about salvation,
whenever the truth is declared dogmatically, and the truth is
dogma, It's absolute. There are no gray areas. There's
opposition whenever, whenever, as here. Turn with me to Matthew
chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10 is the commission
of our Lord to his apostles. He's sending them forth to preach. He's warning them, though. He
warns them that they're going to encounter opposition. great opposition to the truth. In Matthew chapter 10, look at
verses 21 through 25. Our Lord says, The brother, even
a flesh and blood brother, shall deliver up the brother to death.
The father of the child. Children shall rise up against
their parents and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall
be hated of all men for my name's sake. Ye shall be hated of all
men for my name's sake." Verse 25, he says, it's enough for
the disciple that he be as his master, servant, as his Lord. If they have called the master
of the house Beelzebub, that is, a devil, how much more shall
they call them of his household? Fear not, though, he said, fear
not. Therefore, nothing is covered
that shall not be revealed. All shall be exposed before God. What I tell you, verse 27, what
I tell you in darkness, that is, in private, thus, me with
you, speak it in the light. What you hear in the ear, preach
upon the housetops. Don't be afraid. Verse 34, he
said, Think not that I am come to send peace on the earth. I
am come, I came not to send peace with a sword. I am come to set
a man at variance against his father. Bring division, that
is. A daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law, a man's foes shall be they of his own household."
So you see, our Lord said, you preach the truth, just declare
who God is, and men will hate you. But it's not you they hate,
he said, it's me. Men hate the messenger because
they hate the message. you're going to be opposed. Go
back to our text. If there's no opposition, if there's no opposition to the
preaching, there's no truth. It's not there. And you people here are well
taught. You know the truth. You hear
it over and over again. What the people out there in
the world are hearing every Sunday Week after week is this. This
is basically the gospel that men preach. God loves you. God loves everybody. God has
a wonderful plan for your life if you'll only cooperate and
let him. He'll do great things for you.
Where's the opposite? What's the offense in that? Do
you find that offensive? Well, you do. Because that is demeaning to
your God. But what would the world find
offensive in that message? God loves you, God needs you,
God wants you. What's offensive in that? Is
there any offense to that? No. Nobody's going to oppose
you if you say that. But if you stand up and tell
men the truth, that God may not love you, God may hate you. That
God doesn't need you. There's nothing about you that
God Almighty needs or wants. And he might save you and you
might not. It's all up to him. It's all completely in his will
and purpose. He can save you, he can damn
you. He doesn't have to save you. Now that's offensive, isn't
it? You're in God Almighty's hands
and there's nothing you can do about it. He's sovereign over
all. He has everyone, everything,
all souls, everything in his divine power. And he does all
things according to his will. Now, that's offensive, isn't
it? Men and women will hate you, but that's the God of the Bible.
If you tell men and women that they are valuable to God, that
they're of great worth, and they're created in the image of God, God can use them, but the Church
is not a Church without you, and just how much they can do
for God. Where's the offense in that?
Huh? Who would that offend? No one. Nobody will hate you for that.
They'll love you. They'll fill your pockets full of money for
telling them that. But now if you stand up and tell
what God's Word says about man, there's none good, no not one.
is none righteous, no not one. Even our best works are filthy
rags. And look up that word. And the
word calls us dogs, calls us worms, it calls us grasshoppers. They were of no more value to
God than grasshoppers. Those of you who know God's word,
you know what I just said comes from God's word. The inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as grasshoppers, He said, Lebanon is not sufficient
to burn the whole city and the people as a sacrifice. Now, that's offensive. That debases
the pride of man, man's self-esteem, does it not? That's offensive.
Men will hate you for that. I'm no worm preacher. Well, I
didn't say that. God did. Salvation is completely up to
them. That if they will just accept Jesus, He's standing outside
their heart's door, knock Him, He wants in badly. He wants to
be their Savior so bad. And if they'll just open their
heart to Jesus, that He'll just fill up, He'll just give them
everything their hearts could desire. And everything will just
be wonderful. Where's the offense in that? Who would that offend? Now isn't
that what the world is preaching? But if you preach that Jesus
Christ came down here with us and elect people given to him
by God the Father in a covenant of grace before the world began,
and he came down to save his people, not try, but to actually
save his people, particular people, chosen people whom God the Father
gave him. They're called sheep, the rest
are goats. And Christ came down here to save them, his elect. And he saved them, and he shed
his precious blood for them and them alone, and he redeemed every
one of them. And went back to heaven and sat
down. It's not standing, not standing outside anybody's heart,
but seated on a throne, reigning and ruling over all flesh, absolutely
confidently expecting everything to be done exactly as he wills
it and oversees it. And nobody can stay his hand
or question him. Men don't like a Jesus like that. Where's the offense in the message
today? But this is what the apostles preached. This is what the Apostles
preached all the way through the Book of Acts. This Book of
Acts is the story of the Apostles' preaching. And I've brought this
up to you before. The word love is never found
in the Book of Acts. Not one time. Not one time. Not one time did
any Apostle ever stand up before men and women and say, God love
you. Not one time. There's no offense in that. But the message of the apostles
everywhere they went is, God hath highly exalted his Son.
He's seated on a throne, and every, all flesh is in his hands.
Repent. Bow. Well, that's the message. And
it's offensive. It's offensive. The truth. The
truth. This was the message of the prophets.
This was the message of the apostles, as we noted. They were hated. The religious people especially
hated it, the Jews. They especially hated it. Why
do religious people hate the Gospel of Sovereign Grace? Why does a very moral, upstanding,
self-righteous man hate the Gospel of Sovereign Grace? Because it
puts him on the same level as a harlot in the street. It makes the most moral man who
ever lived dependent 100% on the great sovereign grace of
God to save him, just like a drunk in the gutter. And it says none of his morality,
none of his religion, none of his works, none of it ever accounted
for anything before God. None of it. If he's going to
be saved, it's going to be 100% by the sovereign mercy and grace
of God, just like that just like a thief. God saved a man who
was a thief and a murderer, hanging on the cross beside Jesus Christ,
who never worked a good work before he was dying or after. God saved him, took him into
paradise, said, you'll be on my right hand, standing there
with Abraham, with David, with Moses, the great saints of God,
who were all saved one way. The religious, the Jews, hate
that. They hate that. And the Greeks,
the professing wise men of the world, intellectuals, educated,
they hate it because the truth is a revelation. You can't figure
this thing out on your own. This thing is not for the wise,
but it's for babies. God hides us from the wise and
the prudent. Christ said, and reveals it unto
babe. That's a mystery until God reveals it. And that offends
man's pride of intellect. The truth, you'll be hated and
despised if you believe it, and especially if you tell it. But
some do believe. Now, some do believe. My God's
great. He said, My sheep will hear my
voice. My sheep will hear my voice. In the midst of this tumult,
you see, the story here is of the apostles preaching and it
raising the ire of hatred of religion. And all the people,
stirred up the people, they hated this message. But now some believe. Who? Who believed? Who heard? Who loved what they were hearing?
Well, here's a story here in Acts 14 of a man who heard this
preaching, who heard this gospel. He sure loved what he heard.
And this is a picture of salvation, this lame man. In verse 8, right
in the midst of this hubbub, the midst of the tumult, there
sat a man listening to the preaching. Verse 8, read with me. It says, "...there sat a certain
man at Leestrup." Now, stop right there. I love this word. There sat a certain man. Would you turn with me to John
chapter 6? Let's read what I paraphrased
a while ago. You see, God Almighty saves certain
individuals. God chooses certain persons according
to a certain covenant which he made before the world began.
And he made this covenant with a certain one. And he gave all these individuals,
these persons, Christ to come to earth and do a certain work
for them, a work of salvation. And Christ
did that work. He said it's finished. When he
hung on the cross, he said it's finished. And then he went back
to heaven, where he came from, and sat down at the right hand
of the majesty on high, and then he sends his spirit to do a certain
work. in these certain individuals. John chapter 6 verse 38, Christ
said, I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but
the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me. All he
hath given me. You see that? Of all which he
hath given me. This is God's will. I should
lose nothing," this is God's will, "...of all which he hath
given me." I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day, every one of them. Verse 40, "...and this
is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth
the Son," that is, sees his glory, the gospel, hears the gospel
concerning his Son, sees him, in the scripture, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day." Now go back to the text. So this is what
Christ came to do. He came to save these ones whom
God chose and gave to him. Salvation is certain. Salvation
is certain for certain ones. I'm not just making a play on
words here. I'm not trying to be clever. But it says this many
times, there was a certain man and a certain woman. All along
in the Scriptures it says that. Salvation is not by chance, it's
not by luck, it's not by the will of man, but it's according
to the purpose and will and power of God and for his glory. And
all these certain persons will hear the gospel. That's what
Christ said. He gave me these people to come save, and I did
that work. And this is God's will, too,
that everyone that sees a son. Now, that's the work of the Holy
Spirit. To come down and open the eyes and regenerate, give
life, see the truth. Now, here's a description of
this certain man and a description of everyone that really hears
the gospel. There sat a certain man at Lystra,
impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never
had walked." Now, read it again with me, okay?
He says that he was impotent in his feet. He was a cripple from his mother's
womb. He never had walked. God's word leaves no doubt as
to the state of man, the way God finds man, does it not? No
doubt. Is there any doubt that this
man was helpless? Does anybody in here doubt that
this man could not walk? He was impotent in his feet,
and he was born that way, and he never had walked. Now this is a description of
the elect of God. This is a description of all
whom God Almighty does this healing work of salvation upon. This
is a description of every person Christ came to save, and if this
is not you, then you're not saved. He said he was impotent. Impotent in his feet. His feet
were useless. He had feet, but he couldn't
use them. They were useless. He had no
power, no ability in his feet. There was nothing in his feet
that could make him walk. Nothing. They were useless. What
does the Scripture say about man? Everything about him. He's got a mind. Man's got a
mind. But it's useless. The natural man receiveth not
the things of God. They're foolishness to him. Neither
can he know them. The mind is devoid of understanding. It's impotent. It's unable to
think about God, only like a beast until God creates spirituality.
Until God Almighty sends the Spirit of God, gives a person
the mind of Christ, we're out of our mind. We're no better
than animals. Man isn't. All he thinks about
is eating, drinking, and other things. Rarely looking out. Rarely thinking about eternity.
Living for the present when he's got a whole eternity to spend
somewhere. The mind of man is impotent. The will of man. Christ
said, you will not come unto me that you might have life.
Man's will is not free, people. Man's will is not free. Christ
said, You will not come unto me. He said, No man can come
unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him. He also
said, It is not of him that willeth, but of him that runneth. It is
not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man. Man's
will is bound by his nature. He will only do what his nature
tells him to do. There's a scripture that says,
Can the Ethiopian change his skins? Can the leopard change
his spots? Neither can you do good what
you're accustomed to doing evil. Man's mind is impotent. His will is impotent. Everything
about him is powerless. Read on. It says he was crippled
from his mother's womb. He was born this way. with these
worthless feet was born that way. He came forth from his mother's
womb with worthless feet, and every one of us were born this
way. That's what the Scripture says, in Adam all die. We were born with an evil nature. We were born, David said, we
came forth from the womb speaking lives. David said, the psalm
says, God says, in sin did my mother conceive me. The scripture
says we're dead in sin, trespasses in sin. We're born that way.
We inherited our sinful nature from our great-great-great-great-grandfather
Adam. So we're born that way. People argue
against that. You know, the world hates that.
They hate this imputation of, or this inherited sin, original
sin, it's been called, original sin. They hate that. Let me give
you, let me warn those who hate this. You see, the Scriptures talks
about imputation. That means charging someone with
something someone else did. And Adam all died. People hate
that. I don't want to be held accountable
for what Adam did. I hate that. I don't want it
to be charged to me what Adam did. But Paul writes in the Romans,
you don't have to be just charged with that. You're a sinner yourself.
You're born that way. You sin. God's not only charging
you with Adam's sin, He's charging you with your own. But here's
a man that uses that argument. You see, salvation is about imputation. In other words, God Almighty
charges what Christ did to all his people. God Almighty charges
the holiness of Christ to all of God's chosen people. They
didn't do, they didn't work out holiness, but God Almighty charged
them with that and charged Christ with their sins and punished
them. So if a man won't won't believe imputation of sin, he
can't have imputation of right. In Adam all die. Paul goes on
to say, in Christ shall all be made alive. Everyone in Adam
is dead in sin, but everyone in Christ is made alive. So he was crippled from birth.
He was born that way. You don't have to teach your
children to lie, do you? Do you teach your children to
lie? Do you teach them to cheat? Do you teach them to be selfish?
Do you teach them these things? No, you spend all of your life,
until they're adults, teaching them not to do these things.
Trying to restrain their little greedy, angry little wills from
surfacing. Right? We're born this way. We're born
this way. Read on, it says he never had
Walt. He had impotent feet, he was
crippled from his mother's womb, and he never had walked, not
one step. He had never made one step of
progress in any direction. And that's us, folks. I don't
care what has transpired in our lives. the faith of God's elect. Without
God's saving grace, we have never made one step of progress toward
knowing God. Not one. No matter how religious
we were. Many, there are many, we know
many, there are some in our midst here, who lived a life in the
gutter, you know, lived an openly immoral life, and then got religion at some revival
or whatever, got religion. Some smooth-talking preacher,
you know, convinced them that they needed Jesus, and they got
religion and quit all their bad habits. They got real moral and
real self-righteous. But even after they quit all
their bad habits, quit all their meanness and all that, they still
hadn't made one step toward God, not one. God only accepts his
Son, faith in his Son. It says he never had walked.
Scripture says there's none that doeth good. No, not one. Not one. Not one step in improvement. Let me ask you, do you feel like
you've made any progress? Well, he never had to walk. All right, look at the next verse.
So this fellow, is there any doubt he couldn't walk? He couldn't
walk. All right, Paul was preaching,
and it says the same heard Paul speak. He heard him. This fellow
heard Paul speak. He was sitting there. How did
he get there? He didn't come. He didn't walk
there. He never had walked. Somebody
brought him there. In the sovereign purpose of God
Almighty, sovereign providence of God, somebody brought him
there. Like old blind Bartimaeus. Somebody
brought him there, sat him down there on the corner. Somebody
brought this fellow there. Maybe he didn't want to come.
Maybe he thought it was foolishness. What good is that? He was probably
a beggar like every blind Halton Lane person was back then, a
beggar, sitting on the street corner. That's where he went
every day. He was content in his place. And somebody said, come on, you're
coming with me. We're going to go hear the preacher. He probably,
Brother Kelly, he probably objected. I don't want to go. I'm happy
right here. I'm fine. Man, you're in a bad state where
you're at. There's only one thing that can
help you. I don't need that. I'm fine." Well, he got there somehow. Somebody
brought him back. And he was sitting there, and
he heard Paul speak. He heard. I don't mean he just...
Christ said many have ears to hear, but they don't hear. There
were many in that crowd that day that heard Paul speak. This
fellow heard. He heard. He heard Paul speak. The Lord said this. Now, here's
what the Lord said. He said, The hour is coming,
and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, and shall live. This man heard Paul speak, but
it wasn't Paul he heard. It was God's the voice of the
Son of God. This is how God speaks through
the preaching of the gospel. He heard him, not with these
ears only, but with the inner ear, the inner man. He heard
with a heart. This word touched his heart. Christ. He heard the gospel,
he heard. I don't know, maybe he was religious. He was lost, wasn't he? Maybe
he did come and hear all the time, but he never heard anything
until that day. He heard of the only one that
could meet his need. He heard of the only one that could make
a lame beggar walk. The only one who could make a
blind man see, a deaf man hear. The dumb man speak, he heard
about Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's what Paul preached everywhere
he went. So he heard. Verse nine says,
he heard Paul speak, who steadfastly beholding him. In other words,
Paul was looking at him. Paul was looking on him. Paul
was observing him. Paul was looking at his face.
A good preacher preaches to people. He doesn't just preach sermons. Preaching is communicating. Preaching
is conveying a message from the heart of God. Someone said preaching
is from the heart of God to the heart of a man to the heart of
the people. Preaching is not, oh, I've got
45 minutes, I want to give a dissertation on a certain subject. No, preaching
is good preaching. In the power
of God's Spirit, it touches the man's heart who's
preaching, who in turn wants the hearts of the people to be
touched. God forgive me, but I've preached
many sermons, you know, just to a sea of faces, but sometimes
he grants it. He looks at people. He looks
steadfastly on people and says, I wish you would hear this. I
wish you understood this. Do you understand this? Do you
understand this? I call names, and it embarrasses
some of you, but that's all right, because I'm preaching to people.
Paul did. He spoke to people. It may embarrass you, and I'm
sorry, I'm not trying to embarrass you, but I want you to listen.
I guarantee you this, when I call your name, you start listening.
Right? That's the reason I do it. Listen
to me. And often I call a name when I find somebody that's listening.
Brother Don Bell and I were talking about how people It's incredible
how people think they can hide from the preacher, and they actually
sit behind somebody's head. Why come? I've actually done this before.
Hey! We've all done that, you know,
for whatever reason. But Paul says, "...was steadfastly
beholden him." Would you listen to me? Paul looked at this man
and said, man, you're in bad, are you hearing this? I'm talking
about your only hope. And it says, he beheld him, and
look at this, this is what it said. He said, perceiving he
had faith to be healed. Paul was preaching, and there
were people out there gritting their teeth. If you'd see in
a public gathering of people, as Paul did, you'd see people,
and I've seen it, thank God not too much, but not too many teeth
grinders come in here, but they do. Can't get out quick enough. But I see it in their faces,
absolute hatred of this message. Absolute hatred. They despise
it and they wish I was dead. I've seen it. Preach funerals. of some of our brothers and sisters
whose family hated the gospel that they believed. And they
were sitting there looking at me like, if I had a gun, I'd shoot
you. I've seen them many times. And that's what Paul saw. He
looked on the faces of those who were indifferent. They weren't
there. They were counting the stars or whatever. They were
indifferent. He looked on the faces of those who were in a
daze. But he looked at this man, he's
looking around, he looked at this man, and this man's... He's listening. He's listening. He's hearing
Paul preaching the gospel, and here this man is, he's on the
edge of his rug or whatever he sat on. He's got hope in his eyes. He's
got need in his eyes. He's got desire written all over
his face. You can see it. You can see it.
He looks steadfastly. And it says, Paul perceived he
had faith to be healed. What does that mean? Faith to
be healed. He had faith to be healed. Now,
it's not that this was something the man had in him that Paul
recognized. And in other words, his faith,
he had something nobody else had, and it was going to heal
him. That's not what it's saying there.
What it's saying there is Paul saw the work of God had begun
in this man's heart. Faith in Christ. Faith in what?
Faith in Christ. Paul preached Christ. And this
man believed through Christ's love. His need. Believed that
Christ was his only hope. He saw that. Paul saw that in
this man's face. Clearly. A love for what he was
saying. A need for Christ's crucifixion. And he had this faith. The healing
had already begun. You see? Faith is not of yourselves,
Paul said in Ephesians. God said. I'm going to quit saying
that. Paul said. Peter said. God said
in Ephesians 2.8. By grace are you saved through
faith. It's not of yourself. It's a gift of God. Whenever
God Almighty comes in power through the preaching of the gospel,
the first thing He does is open the heart, open the ears, open
the eyes to believe. They believe what they're hearing.
They believe this God that's being preached. They believe
what they are. They believe Christ is their
only hope. That's faith. Faith is believing. Faith is
believing. See, this man hasn't done anything
yet. Faith is not a work. He hasn't done anything yet.
What has he done? He heard. And he believed. He had faith. He believed what he was hearing.
And it's a healing thing. It's a saving thing. It's not
the strength of faith, it's the object. Listen to me. It's not the strength of your
faith, it's the object. It's who you believe. I love this illustration. Brother
Todd Nyberg gave a similar one. There's a ship crossing an ocean. A ship crossing an ocean, and
on that ship are many persons, young and old, rich and poor,
black, white, male, female, Jew, Greek, many different persons
on that ship crossing an ocean. There's a man on that ship who
has absolute confidence in that ship, who's perfectly confident
that that ship will float. and he'll make it to his destination. There's a much younger person
on that ship who perhaps it's the first time they've been on
a ship. They're scared to death. Scared to death. They don't know
if that ship's going to make it or not. They're hopeful they'll
get to the other side, but they're just full of doubts and fears. What is it that determines if they get to the other side. Faith in the ship? Huh? Is the man with great confidence
in that ship, is he going to make it and the other fellow
not make it? The person with weak faith? In
other words, because that man believes strongly in the ship,
here's this fellow that doesn't have much confidence. What is
it that determines whether they make it or not? It's the ship. It's the ship, you see. It's
not the degree of your faith. It's not the strength of your
faith. It's the ship. It's Christ. And the weakest
faith, the most childlike faith in Christ, is saving faith. The
earliest faith, the beginning of faith, The simple beginning
of faith, the need for Christ, is saving faith. That's faith to be healed. The
need for Christ is saving faith. Saving faith. Faith in Christ,
not self. Don't have faith in yourself.
There's nothing to have faith in. Our faith is in Christ. It says, perceiving he had faith
to be healed. Read on. It says, Paul said with
a loud voice, with a loud voice, stand upright on thy feet. We can't. He's lame. His feet are used. Paul said,
stand upright on your feet. And I say unto you, come to Christ. Come, believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Believe. Come to Christ. Old
Brother Scott Richardson one time said, Come to Christ, but
don't move a muscle. You know what that means. He
said, Come to Christ, but don't move a muscle. In other words,
Christ is not down here. We don't have a mourner's bench
and, you know, the preacher. That's all so the preacher can
get a little credit for you. You know that? So we can have
this show of emotion. No, no, no, no. Christ is not
down here. Christ is in heaven. We have an altar, but it's not
down here. Hebrews says it's in heaven. Christ is our altar.
You come to him. And you can do that without moving
a muscle. My faith. It's the heart. Oh,
Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. With the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. But with the mouth, confession
is made. come to cry. And if he's done something for
you, you'll confess him. You'll confess him before man.
He said, stand up right on that feet. And what did he do? He
leaped. He not only stood, he leapt. He leaped. He leaped. We read that over in Isaiah 35,
didn't we? The lame man shall leap as a
heart. And I preached to people all
the time, I look upon them and I see, I think I see, it's not
infallible, but I think I see saving faith. I think I see people
that actually believe this, the truth, believe this message and
have a need for Christ who may not know what to do or how to
do it or how to go about it or just don't know what to do. And
all I can tell you to do is trust Christ and he'll make it clear
to you. and tell us about it. He'll leap.
He leaped. And you'll leap for joy when he speaks peace to your
heart. And he said he walked. He leaped up. And he walked. He started walking.
He never had walked. He never had walked up to this
mountain. Now he's walking. Now he's going
somewhere. He wasn't going anywhere before.
Now he's going somewhere. And it says we walk by faith. The believer whom God operates
on begins to walk as a disciple of Christ. Follow him with his
people. Follow him in Christ. All right,
let's sing in closing number 228. Number 228. My faith has found a resting
place. Is that it, John? Come up and lead us. Number 228. Let's sing the first
and last verses. 228, let's stand.