Now let's turn back to Ecclesiastes
chapter 7. Ecclesiastes 7. And if you followed
along as Brother Bill read this passage in the first 14 verses,
I took the title of the message from verse 13. Consider the work
of God. And you can look at that in several
ways. Certainly we who believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ, we who have been saved by the grace of God,
we are to spend our time and certainly our worship services,
but not just our worship services, but our time considering the
work of God and not considering our own works. And I think about
that passage in the book of Hebrews where it talks about consider
the apostle and high priest of our calling, consider Jesus Christ. And that's what we're going to
do. But as you read through this passage, as it starts out, look
at verse one, a good name is better than precious ointment.
The day of death, follow along with the thought that he's going
through here. Now, this is by inspiration of the Spirit. I
always emphasize that as I preach these things because, you know,
I know there are things in the scripture we don't just pick
up on and grasp right away, but you need to understand that it
was the Holy Spirit who inspired Solomon to write this. And so
he says the day of death following the thought is better than the
day of one's birth. That doesn't sound right, does
it? I mean, we celebrate birthdays, but we don't celebrate death
days, do we? And the thing about it is, if
you think about it as the work of God, and that's one thing,
one part of what Solomon is saying here when he says, consider the
work of God. Certainly, yes, we consider God's works. But
he's talking about considering these things that Solomon is
saying as the work of God. That puts it in a whole new light.
And think about that passage, you know, blessed in the sight
of the Lord is the death of his saints. Precious in the sight
of the Lord. And we'll look at that in just
a minute. But look at verse 2. He says, it's better to go to
the house of mourning. You know what mourning is? That's
sorrow. That's sadness. Go to the house of mourning than
to the house of feasting. Feasting, that's joy and gladness.
Well, one thing I can tell you about sorrow. And that's this,
if he were writing today, he wouldn't be found on the Christian
bestseller list. They just wouldn't want to read
because that just doesn't sound like modern day religion. Where
everything is health and wealth and joy and how to be happier
and how to live your best life now, and when you think about
death, I mean, you know, death is almost something that I mean,
we all spend our lives trying to avoid the day of death, per
se, but in religion, you know, basically the idea and the thought
is, well, if you get sick, you don't have enough faith. And
that's the kind of operation that people are going along in
religion. But Solomon, by inspiration of spheres, putting this thing
in a whole new light. You remember back up in chapter
six that we studied last time. He showed something that we don't
think of by nature, and that's this, that prosperity may not
always be good. That which man by nature automatically
sees as a blessing, which has to do with everything that God
gives a person in this life, whether it be riches, health,
or whatever, a large family, a long life, that that may ultimately
be a curse. And many times, we might even
say most of the time is. Because prosperity sometimes
is a greater trial than adversity. Because prosperity, you know,
that's what he said, you know. Think about the book of James.
When the book of James, he says, is any sick among you? Let him
pray. Is any merry? Let him worship God. Let him
sing psalms. And usually when we are very
prosperous, the last thing we think of in the flesh is God.
We think about doing our own thing, acting upon our prosperity. Well, here in chapter 7, he's
showing the opposite. That adversity may not always
be bad. That which man sees as a curse
may ultimately be a blessing. And that's what he's talking
about. But in order to see that, you not only have to consider
the work of God, you have to see this as the work of God.
Sovereign God. And I want to show you that.
Look at how he starts out. He says, a good name is better
than precious ointment. A good name is a good reputation.
And that precious ointment, some commentators, or some translators
rather, translate it as perfume. Either way, what it is in the
scripture, it's really kind of indicative of wealth. Just like
that, you remember when the woman brought the box of ointment,
the alabaster box of ointment and broke it and anointed our
Lord's feet with that ointment and anointed his head and all
that. And Judas popped up and said,
man, that's expensive. We could have sold that and given
it to the poor. And that's what he's saying here. A good name
is better than riches. That's what he means by that.
A good name is better than wealth. And then he says, the day of
death. Now, what is the day of death? That's how we finish the
course. Remember, Paul said, I finished
my race. I'm ready to be offered up as
a drink offering. I fought the good fight of faith.
That's how we finish. And that's better than the day
of birth. That's how we start. And I'll tell you one thing you
can find out right now. That's especially true for believers
because how are we born? We're born in sin. That's how
we start. dead and trespasses in sin. Just because you have an infant
doesn't mean you've got innocence. Not in the sight of God. There's
a distinction there. But that baby is born in sin.
That's how we start. Born dead and trespasses in sin. But if we're believers, if God
saves us by His grace and brings us to Christ, how do we finish? We die in the faith. We die in
Christ. We die blessed of God and we
go to be with him. We see him as he is. Scripture
says that's better than how we started. And I believe that's
what Solomon is referring to, that the day of death is better
than the day of one's birth. And it would apply practically
to everything here on earth. You know, how a person starts
in any endeavor is not as important as how they finish. Isn't that
right? But it's especially true for believers. I think about
Revelation 14. Let me read this to you. Revelation 14, verse
13. This is talking about believers.
When John, receiving that revelation from the Lord, he said, I heard
a voice from heaven saying unto me, write, blessed are the dead. which die in the Lord from henceforth,
yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and
their works do follow them." And I think that's significant.
You notice there it doesn't say their works go before them. It
says their works do follow them. Their works are the fruit of
grace, not the cause of grace. Their works are the evidence
of salvation, not the ground or cause of salvation. Our works
don't save us. But the works that God does through
us by His Spirit, through Christ, evidence His grace. Now, he says
a good name is better than precious oil. It's important to have a
good name among men. And certainly we as believers
ought to. We ought to have a good reputation. We ought to work
on our reputation. We ought to work on making sure
that we do have a good name among men in our business dealings,
in our family dealings, in honesty, in all of these things. But I'm
going to tell you something. The only way that a sinner can
really acquire a good name, eternally and spiritually, is to trust
and live for and glorify the name, the one name that is above
every name, Jesus Christ the righteous. That's really the
only way. That's the best name you can
have. If everybody would forget your
name, but only remember that he served the Lord, or he worshipped
the Lord, or he was a sinner saved by grace, that's the best
name you could ever have. Jesus Christ, you know, I think
about that. His name in Jeremiah 23 is described
as Jehovah Sid Canoe, the Lord our righteousness. And anyway, if you'll compare
that to Jeremiah 33, verse, I think it's verse 15, 16 or somewhere
around there. Somebody might have to look it
up for me. But Jeremiah 33, it goes back and it's talking about
the church, the bride of Christ. Now, you know, when a bride marries
her husband, she takes his name. And that's symbolic not only
just of a name switch, but of the fact that he becomes fully
responsible for her well-being. Her husband. That's the classic
definition of a marriage. It kind of goes out the wind
in a lot of modern marriages, but that's what it's about. And
that marriage is to be a picture of Christ and His church. Ephesians
5 tells you that. But in Jeremiah 33, it's talking
about the church, and it says, "...and she shall be called."
the Lord our righteousness. Why does that mean? It means
she's married to Christ. She took His name, the name above
every name. Her righteousness is in Christ. That's the robe that she wears.
It's of His making. It's of His works. It's of His
doing. And I'll tell you, there's no better reputation, no better
good name than you can have. And that's the only way that
our day of death The way we finish will be better than our day of
birth. In fact, if our day of death
is not in the Lord, passing from this life into glory to be with
Christ forever and ever and ever, it had been better, Solomon says
this, Job said it, others have said it, it had been better for
us never to have been born, having been born in sin. So we all start
in sin. But we're going to finish in
Christ if He's our hope. And then look at verse 2. He
says, It's better to go to the house of mourning than to the
house of feasting, for that's the end of all men, and the living
will lay it to his heart. He says in verse 3, Sorrow is
better than laughter. You know, that doesn't sound
right, does it? Well, you've got to understand what Solomon's
talking about. For by the sadness of the countenance, And the countenance
in the scripture is how you look, that's your facial expression.
You know, I'm told sometimes that my facial expression says
one thing when I really mean it to be another, but I just
can't see. I have to carry a mirror all
the time. You all wouldn't want to see me around with a mirror
all the time. But I can't hardly, sometimes my facial expression
will be different than how I feel or how I want to express myself.
But the sad countenance, he says, the heart is made better. Verse
4. The heart of the wise is in the
house of mourning. That's the house of sorrow. But
the heart of fools is in the house of mirth, the house of
joy. What's he talking about? Well,
what he's talking about here, I believe, is the exact opposite
of Luke chapter 12 and verse 19. Now turn over here just for
a second. Luke chapter 12 and verse 19. Now you know, I grew
up watching these commercials on
TV where there was a commercial where it was a beer commercial
and they talk about grab for all the gusto you can get. And then you know they had these
cigarette commercials all you had to do was smoke a cigarette
and it was spring. And then they have these perfume
commercials on too and the woman puts that perfume on I mean she
is it. That's all it takes, ladies.
You know, we'll give you what you want. We'll make you what
you want to be or what you ought to be. And of course, you see
all kinds of commercials like that. Well, over here in Luke
chapter 20. And people will immerse themselves
in that kind of thinking. Well, you know, this is the story
that the Lord told of a rich man. And He said, He told this
story because a man was arguing with his brother about an inheritance. In verse 15 of Luke chapter 12,
he said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness. And
he said, For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things
which he possesseth. Now, you know, there's a lot
of people who do their best in this life to make a good name
for themselves by what they own. What kind of car they own, how
big of a house they own, what kind of job they have. You know,
a lot of times the first thing we ask a person, and this is
not necessarily bad to do, but I'm just making the point here,
the first thing you ask a person, what do you do? And we kind of
elevate a person's reputation with certain jobs and certain
incomes, things like that. But a man's life consists not
in the abundance of the things which he possesses. That's what
he's saying. And so then he tells this story,
verse 16, "...as spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground
of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought
within himself, saying, What shall I do? Because I have no
room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, This will I do.
I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there will
I bestow all my fruits and my goods, and I will say to my soul..."
Now look at verse 19 here. What Solomon is saying in Ecclesiastes
7 is the opposite of this, the opposite philosophy. And this
rich man says in verse 19, So thou hast much good laid up for
many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. And
you know, Paul mentioned that to the Corinthians. Eat, drink,
and be merry, for tomorrow you die. And then it says in verse
20, But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall
be required of thee. Then whose shall those things
be which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure
for himself, and is not rich toward God. Now go back to Ecclesiastes
7. In that light, Solomon's saying,
now it's a lot better to go to the house of mourning and sorrow
than to go to the house of feasting. That's what he's talking about.
You see, he says in verse 2 there, he says, for this is the end
of all men. In other words, death comes to
us all because it's the wages of sin. Why do we die? The body is dead because of sin,
Romans 8.10. The wages of sin is death. The
soul that sinneth it shall die. And we must die that death, but
we don't have to die eternally. We don't have to live our lives
as if this is it. Eat, drink, and be merry, for
tomorrow you die. No, there's a judgment to face.
There's an eternity to spend. So what does he mean, it's better
to go to the house of mourning? You look at this world and all
that it has to offer, all that it promises, You look at your
own sinfulness, my sinfulness, the sinfulness of mankind, the
sickness, the results and the consequences of sin, and rather
than just forgetting it and walking along in your life trying to
accumulate everything you can get, eat, drink and be merry,
no, no, no, mourn, mourn and sorrow over sin. That's what
he's talking about. But now he's not talking about
the kind of mourning and sorrow that leads to utter despair.
But he's talking about the kind of mourning and sorrow that motivates
a sinner to seek beyond this world, beyond himself, beyond
his own works, and ultimately leads that sinner to seek mercy
in Christ. That's what Solomon's talking
about. That's better than going to the house of feasting. A lot
better. Because I'm going to tell you
something, there's joy in that mourning, that mourning being
Christ, the Son of Glory. It's like our Lord said in Matthew
chapter 5 when he started the Beatitudes, blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. That poverty
of spirit, you may be the richest man in the world, but if you
don't see your poverty of spirit, you'll never come to the house
of God, to the house of Christ. He said, blessed are they who
mourn, for they shall be comforted. How are we going to be comforted
in the house of mourning? By resting in Christ. and his
blood and righteousness for the salvation of our sins. Deuteronomy
32 and verse 29, Moses told the people of Israel, he said this,
oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they
would consider their latter end. The psalmist in Psalm 90 and
verse 12 said this, he said, teach us to number our days that
we may apply ourselves unto wisdom. And that's what he says in verse
4 here of Ecclesiastes 7, the heart of the wise is in the house
of mourning. a heart of the wise, sorrow over
sin. And we find wisdom in Christ,
for He is our wisdom. To them which are called, He
said in 1 Corinthians 1, Christ, both the power of God and the
wisdom of God. For Christ of God is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Look at verse 5 of Ecclesiastes
7. Now, you notice here the pattern?
He's saying it's better than, better than, this is better than
that, this is better than that. And he says in verse 5, it's
better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear
the song of fools. You know what the song of fools
normally is? It's normally flattery. Fools will tell you what you
want to hear, not what you need to hear. So it's better to hear
the rebuke of the wise. He says in verse 6, for as the
crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool.
This is also vanity. You see, these rebukes, What
he's talking about are gospel rebukes, not legal rebukes. You know the difference? A legal
rebuke, that is a correction. Somebody saying, now this is
wrong in your life and this is what you need to do. And I hear
preachers on TV doing that all the time. And here's the steps.
Well, they've always got steps. Step one, step two, step three.
You know, I don't see that in scripture. This is basically
in the scripture, I mean, it's so simple that a child can understand
it if God gives him the understanding. It's look to Christ and rest
in Him. Get your mind off yourself. And
all these steps put your mind on yourself. Think of self. Go within yourself. Find out
what's wrong and here's step one, step two, step three of
how to get rid of that. But that's not what the scripture
says here. You think about it, but a legal rebuke now, a legal
rebuke is one that stirs people up to trying to solve their own
problems by their works. That's a legal rebuke. A legal
rebuke is one that will motivate you to trying to establish a
righteousness of your own. A legal rebuke is one that will
stir you up trying to end sin and fight sin and have the victory
over sin by your own power. and your own goodness. A legal
rebuke is one that stirs you up to trying to make yourself
holy in order to either be blessed of God or rewarded by God. But a gospel rebuke has one way. The way, the truth, and the life.
And it will drive you one place for rest, for righteousness,
for life, for glory, for forgiveness, For victory, we sang it, victory
in Jesus, in Christ. Now that's the gospel review.
And in that sense, it's better. Oh, it's so much better. That's
talking about conviction, you see, of the Spirit. Especially
in the gospel. Not a false gospel. That false
gospel will give you a false peace and a false refuge, a false
sense of assurance. Look at verse 7. He says, Surely
oppression maketh a wise man mad, and a gift destroyeth the
heart. As Brother Bill said, there's
a couple of different ways of thinking of this, and some commentators
say that the gift in the heart is destroyed by the oppression. Others say that the gift there
is a bribe. And it could be. It could be a bribe. Either way,
it's not good in that sense. Oppression makes a wise man mad. What's he talking about? When
someone oppresses you, or attacks you, You know, it's hard for
the human spirit to bear that. It is. I know from experience,
and you do too, when someone lies on you, when they try to
destroy your reputation or your character. And incidentally,
you know what the Bible calls that? Murder. That's murder. When you murder
a man or woman's character or their reputation, that's hard
to bear. And you know what you want to
do, don't you? You want to strike back. You want to get back. Look at verse 8. Now, he says,
and a lot of that better is the end of the thing than the beginning
thereof. My first reaction is usually, let's go get them. Let's
strike back. But he says, and the patient
in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Do you know
personal vengeance is a matter of pride? You see, my personal
vengeance, my sense of vengeance, I want to get back at them. It's
not a holy thing. Now, we can say, oh, it's righteous
indignation. Not in you it isn't. And not
in me. Because, you see, they stepped
on my toes. They got at my pride. That's
the problem. See, that's why I want to strike
back. And you know how I know that? Because the Bible says
in Romans 13 or Romans 12, that vengeance belongs to the Lord. Now, if I take it, I'm saying
it belongs to me. That's pride. It doesn't belong
to me. It belongs to the Lord. And you
know, in vengeance that belongs to the Lord, it's not a matter
of pride at all. He's God. It's a matter of justice
with him. Strict justice. And so, he says,
it's better to be patient. Let this thing go now. Don't
strike out at first. Because the patient in spirit
is better than the proud in spirit. And so he says in verse 9, be
not hasty in thy spirit to be angry. For anger resteth in the
bosom of fools. Now, you can let it weld up.
I do it and you do it. But it's foolish to do it. Harbor
it. Let it seethe and boil like a
pot. That's what we do, isn't it?
Vengeance belongs to God. But now here's one thing that
helps. I believe this helps us all. Consider this. That God
has not and will not take vengeance upon his people. When we deserve
vengeance. And you know why? Because Christ
took all the vengeance of God upon Himself in our state. He did. And that's what he's
talking about here. You know, again, the believer's
end is better than his beginning. I think about that a lot. Look
at verse 10. He says, Say not thou what is
the cause that the former days were better than these? For thou
dost not inquire wisely concerning this. Reminiscing about the past
and how much better the past was, or you think it was, will
not cure the problem. In fact, Paul says that. Turn
over Philippians chapter 3. Think about this. And I'll tell
you, this is a good Christian philosophy right here. You ever sit around and you wish
things were the way they... you wish things today were as
they were yesterday? You know that's not right. Because
I want to tell you something now. Here's the whole theme of
the night. Consider every day as the work of God. God knows
what He's doing. He knows better than me and better
than you. I'm going to tell you something. In this building tonight, there's
not a hair out of place in God's sovereign will. Do you know that? That's an amazing thing to think
about. But here's the thing about, we're
just not in control. God is. But look here in Philippians
3. He says in verse 13, now what
Paul's talking about here is final glory. Don't apply this
to anything else. He's talking about persevering
in the Christian faith and final glory. He's not doubting his
own salvation here, and he's not trying to get us to doubt
our salvation if we're looking to and resting in Christ. And
the reason I say that is because I've heard preachers use this
verse here. To say, now see, I'm being saved, but I'm not
saved yet. Well, let me tell you something
about being saved. I'm going to deal with this in
our sermon series I'm doing on Sunday morning on salvation.
If you're being saved, and the scripture does speak of salvation
as an ongoing process, but if you're being saved, that means
you are saved. Because who's going to save me?
God is. Who's going to keep me? God is.
Who's going to bring me to glory? God is. I was telling Brother
Gerald and some of the men in the study, you know, we need
to emphasize the intercessory work of Christ. The Bible says
he ever liveth to make intercession for us, that when we sin, we
have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
You know what that means? That means as long as Christ
is on the throne, we who are in him are safe and secure. The only way that we can lose
our salvation is for Christ to be dethroned. And that's why
I say that those who believe you can lose your salvation,
they try to dethrone Him all the time, but they're not successful.
It won't happen. But look at Philippians 3, verse
12. He says, "...not as though I
had already attained." Now, what's he talking about? Either we're
already perfect or completed. Now, I'm complete in Christ.
He said that, and Paul wrote that in Colossians 2 and 9 and
10. He said, for in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, and you are complete in Him. All right, we're complete
in Christ. But in myself, I'm not yet perfect. In Christ I am. In Christ, I'm
as righteous as I'll ever be based on His righteousness imputed,
accounted to me. That's the whole ground of my
salvation. I'm justified before God. In
Christ, nobody can charge me with sin. In myself, I have all
kinds of people charging me with sin. And I charge myself with
sin. Because my heart charges me,
my conscience. But God is greater than my heart.
1 John chapter 5 says, He's greater, He knows better, He sees me in
Christ. He sees me washed in the blood,
under the blood, and I'm clean in His sight in Christ. He sees
me as fully and completely justified in the righteousness of Christ.
Christ was made sin, I've been made with the righteousness of
God in Him. And so I stand in Him complete.
But now on this earth, as I go through my daily life, and that's
what Solomon's talking about now. Here's a man struggling
with sin. He says, I have not yet already
attained, or perfect. But verse 12 of Philippians 3,
But I follow after, if that I may apprehend, that for which also
I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Now Christ has apprehended me.
He's got a hold on me. And I want to see him as he is,
but he says in verse 13, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended,
but this one thing I do, now listen to this, forgetting those
things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which
are before, I press toward the mark of the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus. Now that prize is final glory
in Christ, being totally red. of all the pains of sin. Go back
to Ecclesiastes 7, and look here, he says in verse 11 here, he
says, verse 10, say not thou, what is the cause that the former
days were better than these? For thou dost not inquire wisely
concerning this. Don't keep thinking about the
past, but look toward the future. And then he says in verse 11,
wisdom is good with an inheritance, and by it there is profit to
them that see the sun. Those who see the sun there are
those who are still living. And if you learn to be wise and
thoughtful about life, it has advantages for you. That's what
he's saying. And of course, that ultimately leads to the wisdom
of eternal life in Christ. Search the scriptures. When then
you think you have eternal life, there they which testify of Christ.
The Scriptures are able to make thee wise unto salvation as they
lead you to Christ. Verse 12, he says, for wisdom
is a defense and money is a defense. Literally what he's saying there
is that wisdom is protection in its way, just as money is
protection in its way. If you have money, you are protected
against financial ruin while you have that money, while you
have that financial security. But wisdom, Wisdom is better
security than that money. You see, if wisdom, you can lose
all the money you ever had or ever will have, but if you have
wisdom, it will never leave you. And think about that in terms
of Christ, who is our wisdom. He says, but the excellency of
knowledge is that wisdom giveth life to them that have it. Christ
is our wisdom. He is our life. He gives life
to His people. Verse 13, he says, consider the
work of God. Now all these things that he's
been talking about, you consider this as the work of God. Wisdom
and knowledge, he says, for who can make that straight which
he hath made crooked? Wisdom and knowledge from and
of God is infinitely better than earthly wisdom and knowledge.
The power of God is infinite. Who can make straight what God
has made crooked? This crookedness here is a symbol
of everything that we call adversity. all the problems of life, painful
experiences, injustices, mistreatment, poverty, sickness, accidents
as we see them, whatever. And his question is, who can
straighten all out what God's made crooked? Who can straighten
all this thing out? Well, God can. God can and does
work all things after the counsel of His own will. He works all
things for good to them that love Him who are the called according
to His purpose. He can take that point of adversity
No matter how low you go, or how low He brings you, and He
can make good come out of it. He can do that. You can't. I
can't. But He can. And He did that. Ultimately.
Think about the cross. Such adversity that our Savior
went through. And what good came out of that?
The redemption of His people. Our redemption, full and free.
The payment of our debt. This is the work of God. Think
about it. It's the work that God does for
his people. Consider it. All this life that
we go through, and ultimately our salvation, consider the work
of God, but consider it as the work of God, who works all things
after the counsel of his own will. And then he says in verse
14, in the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of
adversity consider. God also has set one over against
the other to the end that a man should find nothing after him.
Now, what that literally means is this. When he says God has
set the one over against the other, what he's saying is God's
in control of it all. He sets one, the time of joy
and the time of adversity over against the other. We see them
as opposites. We see them all as working against each other,
but they don't because God's in control. It's for his glory
and our good. And when he says, so that to
the end, that man should find nothing after him, what he's
saying there is to teach us that we're not in control of the future. That's what that literally means.
Now, you think about it. Now, somebody said one time,
he said, well, if everybody would just do what I want to do, we'd
get along fine. Well, we've got How many I want
to do's in this audience tonight, you know? Whatever happens. That's conflict. But God's in
control, and our way is to be submitted to Christ, not our
own way. This is the issue. This is the
better things, you see. To see things in the light of
God's glory. To see things in the light of
Christ. We don't control the future. You may be on the mountaintop
tonight, and tomorrow morning you may be in the valley. But
who can make that strait which he hath made crooked? Who can
take that adversity, that low valley, that problem, that sorrow,
and make good come out of that? Not any preacher. Not any rich
man. Not the wisest man on earth in
earthly wisdom. But only God in Christ can do
that. So what's the answer to the whole
thing? Turn to Him. Trust Him. Trust in the Lord. And lean not unto your own understanding. Trust Christ for all salvation.