We'll be looking at verses 65
through 72 tonight. We had a good day Sunday. I was
truly glad to have been in this place. The Lord blessed his word.
He seemed to be with us in our worship services. And as usual,
you all seem to be hesitant to leave this place, enjoy talking
to one another. That's a good sign. Everyone
that comes here notices that, that you people enjoy being with
one another, enjoy standing around talking about the message and
talking with one another. And this week, the weather's
been wonderful. It's just been unseasonably warm and wonderful.
And a day or so ago, when I was preparing this, I just got off
the phone with Todd Nybert. And they'd been holding a meeting
there in Lexington with my pastor and Brother Don Bell. And he
was talking about what great, what wonderful services they
were having, how the Lord was blessing there, and how that
one man felt like the Lord was dealing with him. And Todd was
certainly rejoicing in that. And immediately this verse came
to my mind. Without knowing, without really
realizing that this was going to be the first version in our
next study here, but it came to my mind and my heart. Thou
hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word. Thou hast dealt well. It's just as the people said
there in Mark 7. He's done all things well. Done all things well. All is
well. All is well. You say, but I've
got problems. All is well, because primarily,
chiefly, it is well with my soul. All is well. God reigns. Christ
rules, Christ intercedes in our behalf. Sin is vanquished or
put away. The gospel runs well and is sweet
to me. It is well. All is well. God has dealt well with his servants,
with his people, just like he said he would. I want to show
you a few places where God promised to do well by Psalm 128. Turn
over there. It's just like God said it would
be, just like he promised. For all who fear him, all who
seek him, all who worship him, all who believe his Son, it will
be well with them. Psalm 128. Let's read all six
verses here. Blessed is everyone that feareth
the Lord. Supremely blessed is everyone
that feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat
the labor of thine hands. Happy shalt thou be, and it shall
be well with thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful
vine by the sides of thine house, thy children like olive plants
about thy table. Thus shall the man be blessed
that feareth the Lord. The Lord shall bless thee out
of Zion, or that is, the church. Thou shalt see the good of God's
people all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children,
thy grandchildren, and peace upon God's people." Turn over
to Ecclesiastes real fast, wouldn't you? Ecclesiastes, look at chapter
eight with, it is well, all is well with God's people, just
like God said it would be. Look at Ecclesiastes eight, verse
twelve. Though a sinner do evil, Now you can take this two ways. You could apply this to those
who prosper, the wicked that prosper like David spoke of in
Psalm 73 and other places, that the sinner or an unbeliever prospers,
yet it will not be well with him. Or you could apply this
to us. We're sinners. And though we do evil a hundred
times, our days be prolonged, yet we even have eternal life
in Christ. Yet surely I know this, that
it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him."
That's a promise of God. Look at Isaiah chapter 3 quickly. Isaiah chapter 3, "...thou hast
dealt well with thy servant according to thy word," just like you said
you would. God's servants being all those
that fear him. Isaiah 3, all those that believe
his Son. Isaiah 3, look at verse 10. Isaiah 3, 10. Say ye to the righteous,
and who might that be? Because there's none righteous,
no, not one. It's the righteous in Christ,
those believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Say to them, tell them
this, it shall be well with him, and they'll eat the fruit of
their doings. So according to God's Word, these are the blessed
and sure promises of God who cannot lie. God will not lie. Because God's word is settled
in heaven and it will not be repented of. So comfort yourselves
with these words. It's all according unto his word,
it'll be well. He has done well by us. Exceedingly well. Back to the
text. Now he says, teach me good judgment
and knowledge. Teach me good judgment and knowledge.
Give me sound spiritual discernment. Give me wisdom in the things
of God. Give me, above all else, a saving
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That will direct all of my thoughts
and all of my acts. Holy Spirit of God, teach me,
lead me. Guide me. I want you to notice,
as we go through these verses tonight, he says it three times.
He talks about the need to be taught. Teach me. Teach me. Teach me good judgment and knowledge. And the Holy Spirit of God is
the teacher come from Christ. Turn and read that to you real
fast. Christ said over in John 14, verse 26, He said, The Comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name,
he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your
remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. So teach me, Holy
Spirit. Good judgment, good spiritual
discernment. and knowledge, knowledge of Christ. Show me Christ. Teach me Christ. Let me have a living, abiding
heart, faith, and cry. And look at this. He says, I
have, for I believe thy commandments. Teach me more. Teach me good
judgment and knowledge, for I have believed thy commandments. I
do believe. I was so overcome one day, and
I was out working in my yard and took a little break, and
was sitting down and reading a passage, and I was just so
overcome with the thought that I do believe these things that
I'm reading. Here's this old, old book. The last entrance into that book
was more than 1,900 years ago. And yet I believe it, I invest
my very soul, everything about me in this old, old book. Everything, and I believe it.
And that's what Paul said to young Timothy in chapter 3, verse
16 of 1 Timothy. He said, great, without controversy. Great is this mystery of Godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
He did come. Christ did come. The Son was
sent. A child is born, and yes, the
Son is given. The Son of God did come. That's
the mystery. He was manifest in the flesh,
and he was justified in the Spirit. He lived a perfect and holy life
for us, and he was seen of angels, seen of God's preachers, witnessed
by angelic creatures. He was preached unto the Gentiles,
that's us, this little Jew all the way across the ocean. made
such an impact upon the world, yea, the universe, that that
message came all the way across the ocean to some Gentiles like
us in the midst of a little mountainous community like this. Preached
unto the Gentiles and here was the mystery that I was overcome
with, believed on. I believe, I rest, I trust, I
submit, I commit my soul, the souls of my family, our very
lives to that man who lived 2,000 years ago in a faraway land called
Israel. That's a mystery. That's a mystery. And received up into glory. Great
is this mystery. I believe thy commandments. I
do. And they're not grievous. They're
not grievous. Look with me at 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Paul talks about knowing your
election. Do you want to know that? Do
you want to know whether or not you're a beloved child of the
Most High God? Well, Paul says you can know.
We hear First Thessalonians chapter one. Verse four, he says, Knowing
brethren beloved your election of God. Everybody seems to argue
that point, I want to want to find that I want to know that
answer to that question. Am I elect or am I not? Well,
here's here's proof. Your election of God is known
because our gospel came, there's the first thing, the true gospel
came to you. It bypassed a few other people.
You received the gospel, it came unto you, not in word only though,
most every, had they not all heard, yes, they're without excuse. The sound has gone throughout
the world. Men have heard at least bits and pieces or at least
one gospel message here. They've seen it in the paper.
They've heard it, a tape perhaps, whatever. They have heard it,
but it came to you. Not just in word only, but in
power. Life-changing, soul-saving, heart-rending
power. And in the Holy Ghost, the Holy
Ghost continues to teach you these same things and not let
you go astray in other areas. And with much assurance. That
is, you believe, you trust, you rest in Christ and you have peace
there. And you know what, and he says, you became followers
of us. Lord, God's people, fellowship
with the saints. Look over 2 Thessalonians 2. And you're bound now because
of God's good dealings with you, because this mystery, this gracious
gift of God, this gift of saving faith, and it is a gift. You're
bound. You must be bound now to give
thanks. Verse 13, 2 Thessalonians 2.
We are bound to give thanks always to God. Brethren, beloved Lord,
because God has from the beginning chosen me to salvation. Me, through, and this is how
he did it, these are the means, sanctification, a setting apart
of the spirit that blows where it lifted all of a sudden, just
one day, it blew on me. Why me? Because even so, it seemed
good to the Father. It pleased the Father. Through
sanctification or setting apart a divine choosing, election of
the Spirit, yeah, we're bound to give thanks to God for that.
We wouldn't have chosen him if he hadn't chosen us. And belief
of the truth. I do believe. I help my unbelief, but I do
believe. However small it might be, I
do believe. Do you believe, Terry? You don't
feel like it's much, do you? You feel like your faith is so
weak, not even the grain of a mustard seed, but you do believe. That's a miracle. That's a miracle. There's a lot of people, most
people, Reject, despise what you believe. Despise it. Hate
it. Detest it. Abhor it. Wish it
would be gone. They will not have this one reign
over us. The one whom we love to have
it so. Right? Bless God. He's done well
with you. He's dealt well with his servants,
hasn't he? But give him this saving face.
Verse 67. He said, Before I was afflicted,
Before I was afflicted, I went astray. Before I was afflicted. I'm going to look at this in
a little different light, perhaps, than you've thought of it. What's
the first affliction God brings upon his children? The first
affliction. He doesn't reveal himself to
a person and then all of a sudden afflict them with cancer or great
troubles and trials and so forth. The first affliction that God
brings upon all of his people is afflict them with a sense
of their own sin. The word afflict means to bring
down, right? Those that God debases, abases,
He's going to exalt. That's the first thing God does,
is break us, depress us. The word afflict means to depress,
to abase, to humble us. And that's the first affliction
that God does to all of His people. And you better believe, before
I was afflicted, I went astray. I went my own way, the way of
self-righteousness, the way of religion, the way of sin, whatever
way it might have been, but it was a way that I thought was
right to me, but it was all wrong. And it would have ended in my
death and my destruction, but thank God He afflicted me with
His Word, with His law, and brought me to a sense of my own unworthiness
and sinfulness, brought me down low, down low and afflicted me. with a sense of who I am, who
God is, and my desperate need of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is righteous. He has shed blood. That's the
affliction we need above all else, right? The first affliction,
and the last, and all in between, is to be humbled in the sight
of the Lord, afflicted I believe it was Thomas Manton that said,
John Trapp, that's who it was, he said, Christ will only be
sweet to you when sin is very bitter. Christ will only be sweet
to you when sin is very bitter. So that's the first affliction
that he presses upon us. Affliction of sin and our utter
helplessness and hopelessness before God. And then he afflicts
us with trials and tribulations and sorrow and so forth for our
good. We'll go into that a little more
in a moment. But he says, now I've kept thy word. Now have
I kept thy word. There's such a marvelous correlation
here in Psalm 119 with what Christ said from John 14 through 17. He continually talks of keeping
thy word. They that love me will keep my
commandment. Who is it that loves me? Those
that keep my words. If a man will keep my word, my
Father and I will come unto him, we'll have fellowship with him,
we'll commune with him. Keeping the word. What is the
word? Who is the word? The first keeping
of God's word is trusting God's Son. The word made flesh. Now, because God afflicted me
with sin, and didn't allow me to go my own self-righteous way,
that is, astray, now I look to Christ and Christ alone. I keep,
I trust, I depend upon Christ by God's grace. I have received
by faith, I keep, I cling to, I trust in, I wrestle with, I
seek the Lord Jesus Christ. I receive him by faith into my
heart by God's grace. The Lord dealt well with us,
hadn't he, and given us a sight of Christ. And all of these afflictions that
take place in our lives, the trials, the privations or troubles
we experience, are good dealings. They don't seem like it at the
time, but they're good dealings from a loving heavenly Father
who is but chastening his well-beloved children. If you be without chastening,
you're as bastards, the Scripture says. But God is chastening,
instructing his well-beloved children for their good and for
their conformity to Christ. And that's what these things
are all about. Everything. The Scripture says, Romans 8.28,
there's not a person in here who could not quote that. But
all things truly, we know that all things truly work together
for good to them that love God, who are called according to His
purpose. What might that purpose be? To conform us to the image
of His Son. All things, everything, everything,
good or evil, God brings to pass. I like that. He brings it to
pass. It came, but it'll pass. But
he brought it to pass for our conformity to the image of his
Son. Even Christ, the firstborn among
many brethren, was made perfect through suffering, right? Exactly. Verse sixty-eight. Oh, he's good. Thou art good, and doest good. He is good. He's holy. He's just.
He's true. He's righteous. He's merciful.
He's gracious. He's loving. He's compassionate. He's long-suffering.
He's tender. He's kind. He's great. He's forbearing. He's forgiving. Keep on. He's
good. Everything about him is good.
He's good, and all he does is good. The judge of the earth
We'll do right. We'll do good. We'll do righteously. He never does unrighteously.
He never does but what is good. There's none good but God, and
everything God does is good. The very name, the very word
comes from God. God is good, and we thank Him
for our food. That's the first little child
prayer you utter, and it's a good one, because God is good, and
we must thank Him for everything. Everything He does is good. Thou
art good, and doest good. Teach me thy statutes. Teach
me thy statutes. Teach me. Principally, teach
me, Lord, that everything you do is good. That's what I need
to learn as much as anything else, that everything that God
does and everything that happens, God does, directly or indirectly. That's the first thing I need
to learn. The first lesson I need to learn as a child is that it's
the Lord. Let him do what he will. Let
him do what seems good. That's the first thing he needs
to teach me in his statutes, that he's good and everything
he does is good. Whether I esteem it that way
or not. That's the way a child is, though, isn't it? A little
child who's so lacking in understanding. At times feel like the parent
is unfair. Perhaps treating them harshly.
We feel the same way about God sometimes. Admit it. Am I punishing
this greater than I can bear? No. It's good. It's good. He does good. God's good. God
is good, and everything he does is good. So that's the first
thing he needs to teach me by his Holy Spirit, is that whatever
he does is good. It's right. It's just. And he needs to teach me from
his statutes, from his word, that Christ is the object. Christ is the universal purpose
Christ is what God has appointed, or rather who God has ordained. Christ, everything in my life
is ordained or appointed by God Almighty to conform me to the
blessed image of Christ. Like a whittler who takes an
old raw block or chunk of wood and begins whittling it and turns
something beautiful into it. Well, we're an old raw block
of wood, and God whittles us by trials and afflictions and
this and that and the other, whatever he deems necessary to
make us, to mold us, to conform us to the image of Christ. Like
the fellow said to the whittler, when he whittled out a nice-looking
old hound dog, the fellow said, How do you do that? How do you
make those old hound dogs? The fellow said, Well, I don't
just rightly know, he said, but I just cut off everything that
don't look like a hound dog. And that's what God does to us.
That's what God is doing to us. He cuts off everything that doesn't
look like Christ. That's what it's all about. Verse 69. We need to learn that lesson,
though. And whatever God cuts off from us is good. It's right. It must not be Christlike.
It must not be for our good to conform us to the image of Christ. Whatever it may be. Right? Now,
the proud, he said, verse 69, the proud have forged a lie against
me. Now, the proud, who's that? I don't know of a prouder bunch
than the false preachers. The wicked, proud, and plentiful,
false prophets, P-R-O-F-I-T, messengers of Satan, Christ said,
ministers of righteousness, man's righteousness, they're preaching
a lie. They are preaching express exactly
the opposite of what I just preached to you. That everything is of
God. No, the devil did that. God's
not willing. You know, God wouldn't want to,
God wouldn't allow this to happen. That's a lie. Didn't God say
he works all things out of the counsel of his own will? Huh?
Exactly. That's a lie when they preach
against that, against God, lie against God, it's blasphemy against
God. It denigrates God's power and
wisdom and authority and sovereignty. It's a lie against my soul, it'll
damn my soul if I believe the lies they're preaching. But thank
God, he says, I'll keep thy precepts. Whatever they may say, however
good it may sound to me, God's the only one that's good. His
word's good, and that's what I believe. I'll keep God's precepts.
You can have their little books on how to live the Christian
life. I'll take this book right here. You can have their books
on talking about the victory. I'll take Christ, who is my victory. I'll keep thy precepts with my
whole heart, with my whole heart. How do I know the gospel is true?
How do I know that Christ is Lord and I am his? Well, I believe God's word. I
do. I keep his precepts. I believe.
I keep them. I've taken them to heart. I really
believe them with my whole heart, sincerely within my heart. And
the song says, you ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. He's
borne witness with my spirit that I am his. Now these fellas
can say all they want to, but they're not going to convince
me otherwise. I'm persuaded. I'm firmly persuaded. I know
whom I have believed and am persuaded. He's able. Verse 70. These proud religious Pharisees,
these false prophets, their hearts is as fat as grease. Their heart is as fat as grease."
That's a strange verse, isn't it? Their heart is as fat as
grease. Their heart, as the Scripture
says, is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
These fellows even believe what they're saying. They really do,
don't they? Yes, they do. They really believe
their own lies. That's how desperately wicked
their hearts are. And along with what this is saying
here, this heart is as fat as grease, there's a little analogy
here. These false preachers and those
who follow them or hear them or believe them, they've got
heart trouble in the worst sense. They've got heart trouble. They
have not been operated on by the Holy Spirit to give them
a new heart, a heart that beats first and foremost. And this
is the primary evidence of a true child of God, of a heart work.
Their heart beats first and foremost and primarily and the loudest
for the glory of God Almighty. Whatever it may say about me,
whatever it may say about man, it first beats for the glory
of God. Not even for others, but for God first. His glory.
Jealous. for God's glory, zealous for
the truth. That's the principle work of
the Holy Spirit upon the heart, the first work. Let God be true,
and every man a liar, even me. And they have not, these people,
these preachers and their followers, have not been operated on by
the Holy Spirit to give them a new heart that beats for the
glory of God. that loves the gospel of God's
sovereign grace, and that is the gospel and there's no other.
God's sovereign, electing, effectual, saving grace. Their heart does
not beat for God's sovereign Son. They do not, they will not
have this want, this sovereign, omnipotent Lord to reign and
rule over them. Their heart does not beat for
him. Oh, they have a little flutter
and a few palpitations for a baby in a manger. But their heart
does not stop in fear and awe and reverence to this Holy Son
of God, this Lord who sits on a throne, does it? Oh no, as
fat as grease. You see, they've got a heart
problem. Peter said their hearts have been exercised only by covetous
practices. In other words, only what they
can get out of this God or this Jesus, right? Their hearts, the
only exercise their hearts have done in going out to God is covetousness. Gimme, gimme, gimme. Right? Not glory, glory, glory. Gimme,
gimme, gimme. Yeah, I'll do this if you do.
Their hearts have only been exercised to covetous practices, therefore
they've got hardening of the spiritual arteries. And it's
cut off all oxygen to the brain. And they have no understanding
of who God is, who Christ is, who they themselves are. And
they're spiritual imbeciles. No judgment, no knowledge. And
it'll take a great work of God Almighty, an operation by the
great physician himself, to do a reversal, to do a triple bypass
on these heart's fattest group. I talked to a nurse one time,
and if any of you want some impetus or some incentive to lose weight,
this might do it. I talked to a surgical nurse
who said when they operate on extremely obese people, she said
they have to change the sheets. the operating sheets and so forth
all over the table three and four times. In order to get through
the layer upon layer of fat and grease, she said it is literally
like the gristle and the grease or big fat. You see fat on a
piece of meat that you eat? She said some people have that
much to get through, to get to their heart to work on. And that's
the reason sometimes fat people don't get through the operation.
It's such a traumatic thing upon their whole body. It takes so
much time just to get to the heart. And it'll take a miraculous work
by God Almighty to cut through the grease, cut through the fat
of the natural man's heart. Like I said, a triple bypass.
Man is bound, is hardened by Satan, sin, and self. He needs a bypass, doesn't he?
He needs to be cut off. He needs to be altogether rerouted
by God. Transfusion. Whose blood? It means Adam's
blood is taken out and Christ's blood transfused with him. But,
he says, I like the buts in Scripture, verse 69, verse 70, their heart
is as fat as grease, but I delight in God's law. I delight in it. And again, this is such a miracle
because my heart was fat as grease when he started on me. that he
just, according to his good pleasure, he just decided one day to operate
on me. Thank God he did. Thank God he
did. I delight in his law. By the
grace of God, I am what I am. But I delight in his law, I really
do. And I've got, by God's grace,
a new lease on life, thanks to the great physician. Thanks to
my heart transplant, took out that stony heart and gave me
a heart of flesh. Thanks to the donor, I'm a recipient. And who might the donor be? Christ. He gave his life that I might
live. He gave his heart. It burst asunder
that I might have a new one that will beat everlastingly. Verse 71, it's good for me that
I've been afflicted. Oh, yeah. Afflicted by sin, afflicted
by trials and tribulations. It's good for me. Best thing
that ever happened to me is when God made me start feeling bad.
Yes, it is. Best thing that ever happened
to me is when God first started making me feel real guilty, without
hope, without help, without strength. Do you remember our text? I don't
even remember when I preached it. Over in 2 Corinthians 12,
where Paul talked about glorying in our infirmities. The word
means felt weaknesses. He said, I'll glory in my infirmity,
because when I'm weak, he's strong. The power of Christ rests upon
me. Glory. The best thing that ever happened
to me is when God made me start feeling bad about myself. Isn't
that 180 degrees what these ones who have forged a lie are saying?
They say you need to feel good about yourself. Todd Nybridge said, he said preachers
are all the time telling him that he needs to learn how to
forgive himself. He said, I don't have any problem
with that. I easily forgive myself. I can
justify anything I do. But I tell you what I need is
I need God to make me feel real bad about myself. That's what
I need. Because most of the time I feel
real good about myself. And that's when I'm in danger.
And it's good for me that I've been afflicted by God, by God's
Holy Spirit and by God's providential dealings and trials and afflictions.
That I might learn by statute. The surest, most certain lessons
that our children learn in the course of raising them are ones
that are under the chastening rod, right? Not the ones we reward
them with this, with coupons. We've been in the coupon giving
business. When she does something, we give
her a coupon. Well, in a few short years, those coupons aren't
going to mean much, you know. Coupons. Daddy, I want money. I want green, you know. But I
tell you, the things that they learn, the lessons they learn,
are the severe ones. They're the ones that will stick
with them from now on. And that's what he seems to be
saying here. It's good for me that I've been
afflicted that I might really learn. Thy statutes." God's statutes,
God's dealings. Verse 72, the law of thy mouth,
God's decrees, the law of His mouth, His decrees concerning
me, it's the best thing that ever happened to me. Oh, it's infinitely better than
if I won the lottery. Oh, my soul. That'd be a trial. Spurgeon said to that woman one
time, she came up to him and said, Brother Spurgeon, she said,
I just won me 10,000 pounds. Rejoice with me. She was a Scottish
woman. He said, Madam, I will pray for
you. I'll pray for you because you'll
be gone on down the road spending your money. And like Solomon
said, keep me from riches too much because I'll go after you. That's where my heart will be
and that's where I'll be. That's where my thoughts, my
mind, my affection, everything will be on those riches. But
keep me from poverty lest I steal. And the law of God's mouth, God's
word, God's decrees concerning me are better unto me than thousands
of gold and silver. God in his goodness and perfect
wisdom deals with his children for their ultimate happiness. Let me read you this. I'm going
to put it in Sunday's bulletin. This is great. Joe Terrell wrote
this. Listen carefully. And I'm going
to let you go, I promise." He said, one of Satan's most subtle
deceptions, particularly with young people, is that fun and
happiness are the same thing. He said, I haven't got a thing
to say against fun, but it's a very dangerous thing to confuse
fun with happiness. or to think that fun leads to
happiness. Fun is something we do. Happiness, happy, is something
we are. All men seek happiness, and there's
nothing wrong with that. In fact, salvation ends in perfect
happiness. But Satan deceives us by confusing
fun with happiness. And by that lie, he has kept
us, kept many busy all of their lives pursuing happiness by fun. You follow what he's saying there?
He said by that lie he's kept a lot of people busy by pursuing
happiness by having fun and preventing them from finding happiness,
true happiness, in Christ. But when the fun is over and
you're still not happy, you never were happy. And you never will
be happy until you're made happy in Christ. Many in hell will
be able to truthfully say, well, I had fun. But only those with Christ are
going to say, I'm happy. Isn't that good? And God in goodness and wisdom
is dealing with his children for their ultimate happiness.
And sometimes he makes them miserable right now for their ultimate
and eternal happiness. Thou hast dealt well with thy
servant. according to thy word. Teach
me that. Whatever may befall, whether
good or ill, teach me that. It is good, it's good that I've
been afflicted, that I might learn, that I might learn from
my Heavenly Father. Stand with me. We'll be just
a minute. Heavenly Father, we rejoice,
we thank you, we praise you as much as lieth within us for this
word of comfort. Or rather, you take your Holy
Spirit and comfort us with these words. Enable us to take these
words to heart and rest upon them and find joy in them and
peace and comfort. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
you've said. And these words are great comfort
to us if you will apply them to our not only our hearing,
but to our hearts. May we be good heeders, hearers,
listeners, and doers of Your Word. We thank You so much for
bringing us here, and we hope that it's been a profitable time
to Your people. We pray these things for the
glory of God, for the glory of His Son, and our good. In the
name of Christ, amen.