All right, now if you would,
let's turn back to Isaiah chapter 49. This passage, beginning at
verse 13, where we left off the last time, from here to the end
of the chapter, and actually on into the 50th chapter, and
it's hard to believe that we've almost covered 50 chapters of
Isaiah. I began to wonder if it's even
possible with me to get that far, but the Lord helped us. But here in this part of this
portion of Scripture, as you know, the first portion had to
do with Christ the Messiah, the calling of the Gentiles, His
people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. And now what
we see is the restoration of Zion. You know what Zion is. You know, basically, geographically,
physically, Zion was the highest hill in Jerusalem. And so it
was the most prominent place. It went by different names, but
that's okay. But Zion was the place of prominence,
and therefore in the true church, in the true church which Zion
represents, it's the place of prominence for the glory of God
in Christ. And that's what Zion is. It's
the place where God dwells in His Shekinah glory. It's the
place of prominence not for men, not for preachers, but for Christ,
the Redeemer. And so when we speak of Zion,
we speak of the church, but we speak of the church as the pillar
and ground of truth, which is the emblem and the representation
and the fruit of the glory and the majesty of Christ and His
finished work on the cross. This is what Zion is. I was listening
earlier on television. I flip around and listen to preachers
every now and then. There was a fellow talking about
how we should support Israel. And don't get me wrong, I'm all
for supporting Israel. But I'm all for supporting any
country when they're in the right and when they're in need. And
that's the way it should be. But he said this. He said that
after he'd been preaching for several years, He took a trip
to Israel and he came to Jerusalem and went to the wailing wall
and saw a man there weeping at the wailing wall. He was a Jew.
And he said the Lord spoke to him and said to him to support
the Jews. Now he's not speaking of politically
or economically. He's speaking of religiously.
And I could just imagine what the Apostle Paul would have said
if somebody would have said to Paul, now we've got to support
the Jews. He would have been appalled at
that. I'm talking about in a religious way now. Our Lord said, beware
of the doctrine of the scribes and the Pharisees. He called
it leaven. You see, they rejected the Lord
Jesus Christ. We cannot support anybody religiously
who rejects our Savior. Now, can we? And I'm not just
picking on the Jews. I'm talking about anybody, any
nation, any religion, any denomination. If they reject our Savior, we
cannot have fellowship with them and support them and lock hands
with them as if we're going in the same direction. We serve
the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus of Nazareth is my God. Jesus of Nazareth is my Savior. Jesus of Nazareth died for my
sins, was buried and rose again the third day. Jesus of Nazareth
is ascended into the heavenlies, and he's seated at the right
hand of God, ever living to make intercession for me and for you
who know him. Jesus of Nazareth is coming again
to judge this world in righteousness and gather his people unto himself. Now, we cannot fellowship with
and support anyone who denies Jesus of Nazareth. We're talking
about the restoration of Zion tonight. The restoration of Zion
is totally founded upon, dependent upon, and brought about by Jesus
of Nazareth. Now, this man said that he went
to the Wailing Wall, and God spoke to him, and he said he
went there He went there as a Christian. He came back as a Zionist. That's what he said, a Zionist.
And I'm here to tell you, he's no Zionist according to the Scripture. But you know I am. I'm a Zionist. Now how many of you here know
Christ and rest in Him? If you know Christ and rest in
Him, you know what you are? You're a Zionist. When did you
become a Zionist? I'll tell you exactly when you
became a Zionist. It's when God the Holy Spirit
brought you to see Christ and Him crucified and believe on
Him. Because that's when you were brought to Mount Zion. That's
when you were brought into the Kingdom by experience. You were
chosen from the foundation of the world. You were justified
in Christ. You were redeemed at Calvary.
But in time, God the Holy Spirit met you on your road to Damascus,
wherever that was, and brought you down into the dust and showed
you your sin and brought you to the glory of Christ and what
He accomplished on Calvary for your whole salvation. Then you
became a Zionist. That's when you became a member
of the church, so to speak. Not when you were baptized, but
when you were brought into the kingdom. Now let's look at this
passage here. He starts out with the Lord's
faithfulness to His people, Zion. He says in verse 13, he says,
"...sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, and break forth into
singing, O mountains, for the Lord hath comforted His people
and will have mercy upon His afflicted, singing in joy because
of salvation established in the Messiah." That's what the first
12 verses related here now. Isaiah 49, 1-12 spoke of salvation
established for sinners by the Lord Jesus Christ, what He accomplished
by the grace of God and by His power to put away our sins, redeem
us, and to bring us to God. And here's the singing that breaks
forth. The Lord hath comforted His people. That's comfort in
Christ. There's no comfort before God or from God apart from Christ
for sinners. That's why Simeon called Him
the Consolation of Israel. Remember, we read that last time.
Simeon lifted up that child and he said, he was waiting for the
consolation of Israel and he said, I'm ready to die, mine
eyes have seen thy salvation. And the consolation of Israel
described as His people, God's people, that is the people of
His choice, they're called His afflicted people, they need mercy. That's why we say, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision."
Being a physical Jew or being a Gentile means nothing here.
But a new creation, the creation of God, created in Christ Jesus
unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should
walk in them. And he said, "...and those who
walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy upon
the Israel of God." Zion. Zion. He's restoring us, you
see. But look at verse 14. When he
talks about his faithfulness to his people, he doesn't laud
their faithfulness to him. But Zion said, the Lord hath
forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Now remember, here
it is. Zion, the place of God's people
by association, Christ's church, God's elect Jew and Gentile,
The mission of Christ was to both Jew and Gentile, so this
song has all heaven and earth singing here now. But even in
the song of praise and joy for salvation by the Messiah, by
Christ, Zion doubts God's love and God's care for her. The Lord
has forsaken me. My Lord has forgotten me. You
know, this is a great example of how sometimes our faith is
so, so pitiful. Aren't you glad that salvation
is assured and secured by His faithfulness and not our own?
We do believe. That's the gift of God. We have
a heart of faith now, but we still have to contend with this
flesh. And there are so many times that we live in doubts
and misgivings and worries and cares that amount to nothing
more than just unbelief. And just like Zion, that's us
now. That's how we know we're in Zion.
The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgot me. That's
our view of things. When we get our eyes off Christ,
that's the way we feel and think. What does that tell you? It tells
you we should never get our eyes off Him. Keep your eyes on Him. Run the race looking continually,
not just periodically. Not just when you think you need
Him, because I'm going to tell you something, we need Him every
second. Every step of the race, we need Christ. Looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. So think about
it. Our salvation is secure. Not
because we believe. Because we don't always believe
now. Somebody said that the believer,
the regenerated child of God, is not in unbelief. We're not
in a state of unbelief, but we still have unbelief in us, don't
we? We're not secure in our salvation because we believe. We're secure
in our salvation because of the object of our faith, Christ and
Him crucified. He keeps us. He'll never leave
us. He'll never forsake us. And what
He's told His disciples? Here we're saying, He's forsaken
us. He's forgotten. He said, I'll never forget you.
Always remember. That song Brother James sang,
The Lord Remembers Me. Well, He never forgets me. There
may be times I forget Him. But you see, our security is
His faithfulness towards us and to His Father. Not our faithfulness
to Him. And you know, you think about
it here. When it's speaking of the physical nation of Israel
in their captivity in Babylon, you know, they would wonder,
well, does God really care about me? Does God really care about
us at all? Have you ever wondered that in
your own life? I have. Well, the rest of this
chapter and Isaiah 50 is going to answer that question. Does
God really care about Zion? Does God really care about His
people? Look at verse 15. Listen to what
he says here. Can a woman forget her sucking
or nursing child that she should not have compassion on the son
of her womb? Yea, they may forget. Yea, will
I not forget? Yet will I not forget thee? God
would no more forget his children than a mother could forget her
nursing child. You see, the Lord's love and
care for his people is greater. And that's what he's saying there
in that last line. Yea, they may forget. You know, it's possible.
that a mother could forget her nursing child. But God is saying
my love for you in Christ is greater than that. Do you know
that's why most people in religion who name the name of Christ today,
they really think more of their own love than they do God's love.
They say God loves everybody and He's trying to save everybody
if you'll just let Him. You don't even think that towards
your children or your grandchildren. If you have the wisdom and the
power and the love to save them, you do just that no matter what
they did. Isn't that right? You wouldn't
say, well, honey, you better get out of the middle of the
road there if you want to. You might get run over by a truck,
but I don't want to step on your dignity now. I don't want to
take away your freedom. Any grandparent or parent who'd
say that to a child is a nut. Children ought to be taken away
from them. But that's the way most people think of God's love.
But He says, no, He says, yea, they may forget, yet will I not
forget thee? God will never forget His children.
He loves us. Jeremiah said, He loved us with
an everlasting love in Jeremiah 31. That's an eternal love. That
love never stopped and will never stop. That love has nothing to
do with the worthiness of its object. That's why it's agape
love. That's why it's divine love.
has nothing to do. You say, well, they don't deserve
my love. Well, we never deserve God's
love, yet He loves us. Now, He doesn't love us in spite
of His justice. He sent His Son, the Son of His
love. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. And that's so. Look at
verse 16. He says, Behold, now listen to
this. See if our minds go together here in this next verse. I bet
they do. Listen. Behold, I have graven thee upon
the palms of my hands. Now, where did your mind go?
To the palms of the hands of our Lord, where those nails went
in. For what? To pay for my sins. To pay for
your sins. How much does His love outshine
the mother's love for her child? He said, I will engrave you upon
the palms of my hands. That's why God the Father sent
His Son into the world in the fullness of the time, made of
a woman, made under the law to redeem them who were under the
law. We who deserve death and hell, We who were rebels and
spat in the face of God, He sent His only begotten Son to suffer
and to bleed and to die, obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. To do what? To satisfy His justice
and to fulfill His love in the salvation of Jacob's sinners
who don't deserve it and haven't earned it. And he said, Thy walls
are continually before me. That's a reference, I believe,
to the walls of Jerusalem. You know why God really could
never forget us? It's because He can never forget
His beloved Son. He can never forget His Son.
who would die for our sins. He'll always remember His covenant
of redemption in His Son, and therefore He'll always remember
the people of His covenant. And He says, your walls are continually
before Me. You know, the walls of Jerusalem
spoke of health and strength and prosperity and security for
God's people. God is always mindful of the
condition of His people. Even when we, Zion, even when
we think He's forsaken us, even when we think He's forgotten.
You know, to think that God forsakes you and forgets you, it's casting
off on His character and His glory. It's unbelievable. But
God never forgets us, and He still loves us. He's proven it
with the palms of His hand, and His nail-scarred feet, and the
blood and water that poured out of His side, and the suffering
unto death that He experienced on the cross of Calvary, even
to the point of saying, my God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken
me? What love? We can't even... I tell you,
we've just seen the surface of that. We can't even imagine what
that kind of love is really like by experience. We can only just
stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene. Excuse me. But we're always safe
in Christ. He is our refuge. The psalmist
over and over again speaks of Him as our refuge. He's our city
of refuge from the avenger. And so we're safe in Him. Now
look at verse 17. He says, Thy children shall make
haste, thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go
forth of thee, In other words, the Lord will bring back the
exiled captive sons of Zion to the promised land. He did that
physically for the nation Israel when He delivered them from Babylon
and brought them back to their land. And He says that's going
to be an ornament to His people. Now look at verse 18. He says,
Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold, all these gather
themselves together and come to thee. As I live, saith the
Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all. as with an
ornament, and bind them on thee as a bride doeth." Now, he's
going to bring his people out of exile. He's going to restore
Zion. As I said, physically, he did
that for the nation. Spiritually, he does it for spiritual
Israel. He restores us out of our captivity. We're going to talk a little
bit more about that in just a moment. But the Son sets us free from
our captivity, our captivity to sin, to Satan. Under the curse
of the law, He removes that curse. And just like those whom the
Holy Spirit regenerates, they will hasten to Zion. In other
words, we'll enter the city of God. We'll ascend unto His mount,
unto His glory. We'll become citizens of the
kingdom of heaven. We'll become children in the
family of God. And we'll do it readily. We'll
make haste. We won't leave the world and
all of its pleasures regretfully. We won't be like Lot's wife.
Leave the place, but leave the heart there. But we'll come in
repentance and faith. And all who oppose and persecute
the church will cease." That's what he's talking about in verse
17. But then he talks about all. He says in verse 18, and don't
miss this, he says, all these will gather. All these will come
together and come to thee. All of them. Now, he's speaking
here of those who come into the church, young converts. They're
the crown, the glory and ornament of the church. Aren't you so
glad when God brings one of His sheep home into the fold? I hope
you are. I hope you're not one of those
saying, well, man, why do you have to bring Him here? I hope
not. What you ought to be saying is,
why do you have to bring me here? Think about that. You know, the
Bible says that there's more rejoicing in heaven over one
sinner that cometh to repentance. Shouldn't we be rejoicing whenever
God brings one of His... whenever the shepherd goes out
and gathers one of those sheaves and picks him up and brings him
into the fold? And what he's saying here is
that person is an ornament. that we're going to clothe ourselves
with. In other words, even such who are endowed with the graces
of the Spirit and the glory of Christ. And he says, all these. Now, when the people in Isaiah's
day heard that, all these, they may have been a little puzzled
by that. Because the number, actually
the number of those who return from captivity later on, was
very, very small in comparison to the number that went into
captivity of the physical nation of Israel. I mean, the whole
nation of Judah, Jerusalem, the city of Jerusalem, they all went
into captivity. And there was a lot of them.
I don't know how many, they may say so in some scriptures. But
the book of Ezra, chapter 2, tells us that the return was
about 42,000 Jews. That's a rather small number
compared to the ones who went out. Well, when Isaiah was prophesying
here, he had in mind more than just those who returned. He had
in mind all of God's people all over the world, the nations will
be coming. He'd already prophesied of that.
It's not going to just be the physical seed of Abraham. There's
a remnant there. There's a remnant there. He said
if the Lord hadn't left a remnant, they would have been like Sodom
and Gomorrah. The whole nation would have been destroyed. There
wouldn't have been anything left of them. But there was a remnant.
But the all that's going to return, spiritually speaking, prophetically
speaking, is all of God's people out of every tribe, kindred and
nation. That's what he's talking about. The whole earth will be
full of the knowledge of the Lord, he says. And he says in
verse 19 that the land of Judea will be too small to contain
all of them. In other words, there are going
to be so many that this little land of Palestine is going to
be too small. This is what this language means.
Look at verse 19. He says, For thy waste, and thy
desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even
now be too narrow by reason of the inhabit, or be more than
it can hold. And they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The
children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other,
shall say again in thine ears, The place is too straight, too
narrow for me. Give place to me that I may dwell."
Won't be able to hold them. What's he saying? He's saying
that God has a people that's not just contained in a physical
land called Judea. He has some in Kentucky. He has some in Georgia. Some
in North Carolina. He has some in England. Some
in France. All over. All over. and throughout
the generations. So there, beginning in verse
19, here's what he's saying. God cares for us, and He promises
and affirms blessings for all Zion. Not just one portion of
it. Not just one segment of it. Not
just one race or one nation, but all Zion. Their land that
was destroyed by the enemy will be flourishing with God's people. And it's a picture of bringing
in of both Jew and Gentile from all over the world to inhabit
the Church, the Kingdom of God. Now it began in Judea, it began
in Jerusalem when the New Covenant was instituted and Peter stood
up and preached that great message in Acts chapter 2. He was standing
right there in Jerusalem and he preached it to all nations
even right there to the point that they had to speak in other
languages by the power of the Holy Spirit to hear the glories
of Christ and Him crucified and the grace of God in salvation.
And what a beautiful time it was. And then they preached again,
and then Stephen preached, and they began to be scattered out
because the land couldn't contain them. And God began to raise
up churches in the Gentile world. And eventually, over generations
of time and space, it got to us. And we're experiencing the
same blessings and fruits of Zion that Isaiah the prophet
experienced, that Jeremiah the prophet experienced, that all
the Old Testament believers experienced. The same gospel, the same Christ,
the same righteousness, the same Holy Spirit. All of it. What
a glorious time. We're all Zionists, you see. Look at verse 21. He says, Then shalt thou say
in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these? seeing I have lost
my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and
fro. And who hath brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone. These, where had they been? Think
about what he's saying. Instead of complaining, like
they did back in verse 14, Oh, the Lord's forsaken me. Oh, he's
forgotten me. Instead of going through that
rigmarole, What they're going to be saying, they're going to
be standing there in amazement and they're going to say, where
did all these children come from? Where did all these people come
from? They're coming out of the woodwork. And it's clear that
this birth of these children that they're speaking of here,
my lost children, desolate, a captive, removing to and fro, it's a miraculous
birth of many children because the ones who are asking this
question are widows. They've been left alone and they're
barren without children. They can't have children. And
that's two ways that indicate that the children will not come
by natural means. These are not the physical seed
of Abraham. Where have they come from? Well,
that can only be answered in reference to one who's able to
raise the dead. One who's able to give life.
Where did they come from? They came from the Lord. They
didn't come from the loins of Abraham physically, but they
came from the Lord and their children of Abraham spiritually. You see, what's happening here
is when Zion asks the question, Or when Zion makes the complaint,
oh, the Lord has forsaken me and forgot me, oh no, Zion, it's
just the opposite. There's so many of them out there,
you can't count them, and you're wondering where they come from.
You know they didn't come from you because you're barren and
you're widowed and you're desolate. Where'd they come from? They
came from God. He's multiplied a people who
were once ruined and desolate. Once Zion can say, I was left
all alone, later she's unable to account for all the children
that she has. Children born of God. Born not of the flesh, born
not of the will of man, but born of God. And just like the nation
Israel itself was of a miracle birth, Isaac who came forth from
Abraham and Sarah, the child of promise, Well, let me tell
you something, Zion, spiritual Israel, God's people, will enter
the nation and the kingdom of God by a miracle birth, the new
birth. They're children by electing
grace, they're children by justifying grace, they're children by redeeming
grace, and they're children by regenerating grace. And that's
why Paul spoke of the circumcision of the heart in Romans 2 in verse
28 and 29. He's not a Jew which is one outwardly,
but he's one inwardly who's experienced the circumcision, not of the
flesh made with hand, but of the heart. That's the work of
the Spirit within in the new birth. Bringing a sinner to faith
in Christ and to rest on His finished work, His blood and
His righteousness for their whole salvation. That's why He says,
children of the promise that are counted for the seed. Not
children of the flesh, but children of the promise. Who are the children
of the promise? Those who believe the promise.
They've been born of a miraculous birth. If you believe the promise,
you are the product of a miraculous birth that had nothing to do
with the hands of men or yourself. It was of God. Look at verse
24. Well, verse 22 rather first.
He says, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine
hand to the Gentiles. Now you see, he includes the
Gentiles in this Zion now. And set up my standard to the
people. What is God's standard? It's Christ. Lift up Christ.
Just like the serpent on the pole who represented Christ. The Son of Man must be lifted
up. to bear our sins and to put away, to bear away our sins,
to put them away, to make an end of sin, to establish righteousness,
and we hold Him up. God holds Him up in our hearts,
and we hold Him up in our message. He's our standard, and He's to
the people. And they shall bring thy sons
in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders,
and kings shall be thy nursing fathers. And their queens, thy
nursing mothers, this is all nations, you see, coming in.
That's what he's speaking of. And even kings. And they shall
bow down to thee with their face toward the earth. They'll come
to Zion, bowing down to Zion. Not because they're worshipping
the church or worshipping the denomination, but because Zion
is the product of God's grace. They're bowing down to God. They're
worshipping Christ. And he says, they'll lick up
the dust of thy feet, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord,
and they shall not be ashamed that wait for me, that trust
in God. Well, look at this last part
now. God will liberate Zion from her captives. Listen to what
he says here. In verse 24, he says, shall the
prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful, or the just, or
the righteous captive delivered? But thus saith the Lord, even
the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of
the terrible shall be delivered." Now underscore this in your Bible,
this next line, "'For I will contend with him that contendeth
with thee, and I will save thy children.'" Do you see that? That's redemption there. That's
salvation. Now listen to what he's saying
here. Let me put this in perspective for us. What if the captives
that he's speaking of, you know, he mentions back here the mighty
one, the captives of the mighty shall be taken away. He mentions
the righteous captive. What if the captives are held
righteously, justly? In other words, what if their
captivity is them just getting what they deserve? You know,
we all know of stories about people who've been charged, accused
and charged and put in jail falsely. But what if that's not the case
here? And it's not. What if they're held because
that's where they belong? That's what they deserve. In
themselves, they're sinners. They're guilty. What if that
happens? That righteous captive. Well,
here's what you've got to understand. God does not set all captives
free. You hear what I said? God does
not set all captives free. God has captives too. His hell
is not empty. All of God's people are sinners.
So if He sets free guilty captives, then how does He do it? How in
the world can that happen? Because God is a just God. He
always judges according to truth. He must be just. He must be righteous,
no matter what He thinks or does, because He's God. He can't think
of me righteously without it being true. So how can God do
that? Well, He must deal with the matter
of justice. Salvation cannot come by God
setting aside justice. Well, we know the answer to that.
That's the gospel. On the cross of Calvary, the
Lord Jesus Christ satisfied God's divine justice against His people. That's how He did it. God dealt
with all the sins of all of Zion, all His people, at one time on
the cross of Calvary. Didn't take him two or three
times. And it didn't take him two or three different ways.
He did it the only way he could do it, because he's God. And
he did it one time on Christ. And you know what? He did it
justly. Well, verse 25 tells you exactly what he means. For
I will contend with him that contended with thee, and I will
save thy children. This speaks of the justifying,
redeeming work of Christ on the cross. That's how God contended
with Him that contends with us. Our sin. Our depravity. The law that pronounced us guilty
and defiled and deserving of wrath. Satan who accused us. He contends with us. But God
contended with Him. God contended with the law. God
contended with the curse. God met it head-on in the God-man,
Jesus Christ. And He saved His children from
their sins. On the cross, Christ endured
what our sins deserve. The holy, consuming fire that
descended on Christ on the cross. And when the Lord says, I will
save thy children, it's more than just liberation from human
enemies here. It's liberation from the wrath
of God and the bondage of sin. When Christ died, we died. When
He was buried, we were buried. When He arose again, we arose
again. Isn't that right? He justified us in Christ. On one ground could God contend,
and that's on the ground of the blood and righteousness of His
Son. And then He sends His Spirit in time and He liberates us in
our hearts and in our minds and our affections. And He brings
us to see the glory of He who contended with those who contend
with us. Well, look at verse 26. He says,
And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh, and
they shall be drunken with their own blood. as with sweet wine,
and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour, thy
Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." That shows that God's wrath toward
his children was consumed by the Lord Jesus Christ. God's
wrath against his enemies will be their lot eternally. But you
notice how he concludes this section with four descriptions
and identifications of himself This says that the Lord will
save, and then ends with four labels, four identifications,
four characterizations of Him. He's the Lord. Jehovah, our Savior. He's your Savior. That's what
it says, thy Savior. The Savior of His people, Zion. He's our Redeemer. How did He
save us? He had to pay the price. That's
what redemption is all about. He had to pay the price of our
salvation. So He's not just our Savior,
He's our Redeemer. God had to contend with the law. He had to contend with Satan
who brought the accusation. He had to contend with our sin
that was held against us in His person and in Adam. And He became
our Redeemer. He paid the price in full. Jesus
paid it all. And He is the Mighty One of Jacob. He's the Savior of sinners. What
kind of people did He redeem? Well, the only kind that needs
redeeming, Jacob's. Sinners who cannot save and cannot
redeem themselves. God justifies the ungodly. Now, that's the restoration of
Zion. And it's all by His grace in
Christ.