Today I want to talk to you about
salvation. And I want you to turn in your
Bibles to Philippians chapter 1. Last week I spent a great deal
of time on one verse here, verse 6 of Philippians chapter 1. The
title of the message was God's good work in you. And I suppose
this will be part two of that. I just couldn't get past it because
there's more I want to say about this issue of salvation. Where
the Apostle Paul here, writing to the believers at Philippi,
he expresses his confidence in God, verse 6, being confident
of this very thing, that he, that is God, which hath begun
a good work in you, will perform or perfect or finish or complete
it until the day of Jesus Christ." Now, that same thought was expressed
by the psalmist over here in Psalm 138 that I read at the
opening of our service, the very last verse. It's the same confidence,
and I think that's significant. I know it is because what we
see here is the same God who saved sinners in the Old Testament
is the same God who saves sinners today in the New Testament. And
the psalmist says in verse 8, the Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. Now think about that in line
with what Paul said in Philippians 1.6. The Lord will perfect. He didn't say I will perfect.
He didn't say you will perfect. He said the Lord will perfect. that which concerneth me," and
he says, "'Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever.'" Now, there's
the issue. Jeremiah prayed it's of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed, but he says, "'Thy mercy endureth
forever,' and then he prays, "'Forsake not the works of thine
own hands.'" Now, what works is he speaking of? I'll tell
you, he's speaking of a sinner saved by the grace of God there.
That's the Lord's work. The Bible says in Ephesians chapter
2 and verse 10, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them. We're his workmanship. If any
man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Who created it? God
did. Salvation is the work of God,
and that's what Paul is expressing here in Philippians chapter 1
and verse 6. I'm confident that God, who began
the work, He's the beginner of the work. He'll be the one who's
the completer of the work. So when we speak of salvation,
we're speaking of the work of God, not the work of man. For
by grace are you saved. through faith, and that not of
yourselves." It's the gift of God. It's a work that God gives. It's not a work that you earn.
It cannot be earned. For by deeds of law shall no
flesh be justified in his sight. And the two verses here, Philippians
1, 6 and Psalm 138, 8, tells us this, that salvation is the
work of God not only in its beginning, but in its continuation. and
in its ultimate completion, its perfection, its finishing. Salvation
is not conditioned on the sinner. It's conditioned on the sinner's
substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches that Christ
is both the author and the finisher of our faith. It says he is able
to save them to the uttermost that come unto the Father by
him. And these verses are speaking
of salvation completed. You know, there's no such thing
in the Bible as a salvation that only goes part of the way. There's
no such thing in the Bible as an unfinished salvation. I hear
these preachers talking about you can be saved and then lost
again. No, sir. The Bible teaches that
those who claim to be saved and then reveal later on that they
never were saved were never saved to begin with. If God began the
work, he'll complete the work. That's the nature of our God.
And I'll tell you something. It's dishonoring to God to think
of him in any other way. God never started anything that
he didn't finish. Now, we started a bunch that
we didn't finish. My wife gets on me all the time
for being a procrastinator, you know. But I just know there's
a certain time and place for everything. And when it's time, it'll be
time. That's the way I feel about it. She just doesn't know all
the time. But you see, God's not a procrastinator.
Everything in its set time, according to His purpose, and whatever
He begins, He finishes. He never started a work. That's
what this is speaking of. Salvation completed by God in
His grace. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
by His grace in Christ Jesus. It cannot fail. Paul said, In
2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 12, he said, I know whom I have
believed, and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I committed unto him against that day. I'm not able, and you're
not able, but Christ is. Have you been saved? Am I saved? What a word. You ever been asked
that question? I think I told you about the
preacher down on the corner of Winchester and 13th that was
holding up the sign. Are you saved? What is it to be saved? Most
people do one of two things with that term. Salvation or saved. They make it less than what it
is or they make it more than what it is. You want to know
about salvation, you better go to God's Word. It's the Word
of life. It's the Word of salvation. When
God says He saves sinners, He means it. He means He'll perform
it, He'll perfect it, He'll accomplish it, He'll finish it. He'll bring
it to completion. And all of this teaches the eternal
security of the saved. The eternal security of the believer.
God preserves us by His grace. The Bible says, Now unto him
that is able to keep you from falling. Now listen to me. Can
you keep yourself from falling? No, you can't. Neither can I. We fall a thousand times a day,
more. But God keeps us from falling
and He's able to present us faultless before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy to the only wise God, our Savior. Be glory and majesty, dominion,
and power both now and forever. All of these things. And he says
here in Philippians 1, 6, he's able to do it until the day of
Jesus Christ. That's the day of our glorification. That's the day when we will be
made what we are right now in Christ. What are we right now
in Christ? We who know Christ. We who are
saved. We're perfect in Christ. Well,
the day of Christ here is the day that we will be made perfect
in ourselves. glorified, be perfect. Well, are you saved? Am I saved? Well, salvation is a big word.
I'm not talking about the number of letters in it. I'm talking
about the truth of it. Let me give you these things
about salvation according to the Scriptures. Number one, everybody
needs salvation. There's not one man or woman
who has ever been born on earth of Adam or whoever will be born
on earth of Adam who doesn't need salvation. We're born lost. That's right. We fell in Adam, our representative,
our substitute under the law in the Garden of Eden. And as
a result of our fall and condemnation in Adam, we receive that sinful
human nature that keeps us in opposition to God and His way.
Everybody needs it. Secondly, why do we need it?
Because salvation is from sin. That's what salvation is. Somebody
says, well, it's to be saved from hell. Well, that's true.
But it's sin that puts sinners in hell. Salvation is from sin,
and the problem is we're all sinners. All of us. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. There's none righteous, no, not
one. That's what we are by nature, by practice and thought, word,
deed, every part of us. Sin. I heard it, you heard it,
some of you've heard it for 50 years. There's only two types
of people here on this earth. Is that what you heard? Huh? You remember it? How many times
you hear it? There's only two types of people
here on this world. Sinners and sinners saved by grace. That
cuts her right down the line. Sinners and what? Sinners saved
by grace. That's it. So we're all sinners. And then thirdly, here's another
thing about all needed because all are sinners. Thirdly, no
sinner has the power to save himself. You don't have it. I'm going to tell you something.
If God, if the gospel were this, if it were God says, I'll come
99 and 44 100 percent of the way and you do the rest, you'd
be lost forever. That's what the Bible teaches.
That's what you say, where does it teach that? Well, it teaches
it all over from Genesis to Revelation. But James 1, for example, to
be guilty of one sin is to be guilty of all. To break one commandment
is to be guilty of all." How many sins does it take? One. The problem is that one is all
and all is one in this matter of sin. You stand against God
or you stand with God. Sin demands death. That's what
the Scripture says. Sin, S-I-N, for as the wages
of sin is death. And no sinner can save himself.
I said it before, by deeds of law shall no flesh be justified. To be saved is to be justified.
That means to be declared and accounted righteous before God. Well, no sinner can be justified
by deeds of the law, for by grace are you saved through faith and
that not of yourselves. The gift of God, not of works,
not by works of righteousness which we've done. Here's the
fourth thing about it. Salvation is of and from the
Lord and by Christ. It's of his name. The Bible says,
neither is there salvation in any other, for there's none other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh
unto the Father but by me. Salvation is by grace through
Christ. It's of the Lord. Every part
of it. Salvation is not conditioned
on what you do or don't do at any time, at any stage, to any
degree. Salvation will, in a large part,
determine what you do and don't do. But it's not conditioned
on or based on or caused by or earned by what you do or don't
do. Do you understand what I'm saying? Don't do to be saved. Do because
you're saved. The law says Do and live. The gospel says live and do.
You see the difference? The motive, the reason. Here's
the fifth thing. Salvation is eternal life. That's
what salvation is. It's eternal life. And all life
is in Christ who is life. This is life eternal that they
might know thee. The true and living God in Jesus
Christ whom thou hast sent. Eternal life doesn't speak just
of the length of it, it speaks of the quality of it. Eternal
life is to know Christ. Here's another thing, the sixth
thing. Salvation is coming to the Father accepted, accepted. A holy God who accepts a sinner. How? Through Christ. That means
to be accepted. The Bible says we can only be
accepted in the Beloved. And the Bible there is very plain
and very clear. It's not to be made acceptable.
In other words, salvation is not putting us in a position
where we, if we'll do our part, will be accepted. It says we
in Christ are accepted. In fact, it says we have access,
free, unlimited, unhindered access into the Holy of Holies, the
very presence of God, through the blood of Christ, through
his righteousness alone. I'll give you another thing about
salvation. Seventh thing. Now listen to me very carefully
on this one. Everybody wants salvation. I believe everybody wants it.
I believe even the atheist wants it. One of the most famous atheists
in the world, a French philosopher named Sartre, he died in despair,
clinging, clinging to life. clinging to life. What would
you want? Salvation. I believe God has
said it in the hearts and minds of every man, eternity. I don't care what you do or what
you say, where you go, how you act, you know there's a life
to live, a death to die, a judgment to face, and an eternity to spend.
You may spend your life denying it, but you know it's there. And everybody wants it, but here's
the problem. By nature, we all want it on
our own terms. We don't want it on God's terms.
What are God's terms? Grace in Christ Jesus. We want to earn it. We want to
think we've got it anyway. We want to be born into it. We
want to work for it. We want to use the Lord as a
pedestal to stand up and brag about what decisions we've made.
But we don't want it by grace. Men hate the light. And then
here's another thing. Now listen to me on this one
too. Anyone who desires and seeks
salvation God's way by grace in Christ shall be saved. Anybody
who wants it God's way can have it and will have it. God has
never and will never turn away any sinner seeking mercy in Christ. You say, but preacher, you don't
know what I've done. I don't, but God does. And you
see, I'm not the one you have to deal with. You may think it
is, but you're not. It's not. Believe me. You're
not the one I have to deal with. You see, in judgment, I'm not
going to be accountable to you, and you're not going to be accountable
to me. It's God alone. You say, you don't know what
thought just shot through my head just now. I don't, but God
does. You don't know what I'm thinking. God does. And God has
never and will never turn away any sinner coming to Him seeking
mercy in Christ. Whosoever will. That's what the
Scripture says. Now, by nature, men won't. But God makes them willing in
the day of His power. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, this is the work of God.
This is salvation. If you've listened to any at
all, you know that man does not have the power or the desire
to be saved. Not this way. It's the work of
the Lord. Let me give you these things
about salvation. Salvation, the work of God, reaches from eternity
to glory. Now, this is what Paul said,
being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun
a good work. Now, he says a good work in you.
Now, this is a good work. He's speaking of salvation. First
of all, salvation is a work in eternity. Listen, it was purposed in the
mind of God before you were ever born, before this world was ever
created. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 9 says, speaking of God
who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."
It's a work of God in eternity, and there's the source and the
cause of salvation. God determined before the foundation
of the world to save a people through his Son. He conditioned
all of their salvation upon his Son. He chose us, gave us to
Christ, and he purposed to make us like his son." Now, that's
what the book here says about salvation. Secondly, salvation
is a work of God in redemption and justification. Galatians
chapter 4 says, but when the fullness of the time was come,
God sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive
the adoption of sons. You see, those whom God purposed
to save are sinners, and God cannot save sinners apart from
His holy law and justice being satisfied. Therefore, He conditioned
our salvation on Christ, placed all the responsibility upon Him,
and sent Him into the world to pay the debt, to pay the price.
What is the price of the law against sin? That's why the Bible
says without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness
of sin, no remission, death, wages of sin. Now either you're
going to die eternally for your own sins, which will never be
paid for, or somebody who's able, who's appointed of God, and who's
willing will die in your place. And the only one that God sent
and appointed and who's willing and able is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the substitute for sinners. It was on that cross that he
paid for the sins of his sheep. He said, I laid down my life
for the sheep. He put away their sins. He bore
them away. He took them away. He was made
sin for us, Christ, who knew no sin. Sins were charged to
him, and he drank damnation dry. He finished the work, and he
brought forth an everlasting, eternal righteousness whereby
God, a holy God, could be both a just God and a righteous Loving
Father, just and justified, our justification in Christ, our
sins imputed to Him, charged to Him, His righteousness imputed
and charged to us right there on that cross. God the Father
legally accounted our sins to Him and His righteousness to
us. It's an act of redemption. The
work of God. You weren't even there in person. individual. If you were in Christ,
you were there in him by representation and substitution. That's right. That's what we confess in believer's
baptism. When he died, I died. When he
was buried, I was buried. When he arose again, I arose
again. He was my substitute. Here's the next thing. Salvation
is a work of God in providence. What is providence? Well, that's
God's government of things. God's in control. He didn't just
wind this world up and just let it go and walk off and say, well,
I'll see you fellas later and see what happens. No, he's vitally
involved and in control of this world. And in salvation, what
he does in his work of providence is he protects his people all
through their lives. You who know Christ, you who
are saved, look back in your past life as unbelievers. How
many times? Looking back on it, you see that
God delivered you from death. Isn't that right? That's because He had His providential
protective hand over you, and He protected you and He kept
you until an appointed time when He providentially, by an act
of God, brought you under the preaching of the gospel. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God." The gospel of God's grace in
Christ. The person and work of Christ.
You see, God uses this light of the gospel to reveal Christ
and expose our sinfulness. And he makes his power unto salvation
known to our hearts. And that's the next thing. Salvation
is God's work of regeneration. That's the new birth. You must
be born again. In the book of Titus, chapter 3 and verse 4,
it talks about the kindness and love of God our Savior toward
man appeared not by works of righteousness which we've done,
but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration
and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. That's the new birth.
That's a work of God. That's not a combined work of
God and man. That's God's work totally. Those
who are born again are born by the Spirit from above, by the
Word of God. It's a sovereign act of the Spirit.
They received Christ, and they were born not by blood, not by
physical inheritance, not by the will of men, not by the will
of the flesh, but of God. Born again. Now, that's mainly
what Paul was speaking of here in verse 6 of Philippians 1.
He speaks of God's good work in you. You see, salvation in
eternity, salvation in redemption at the cross was a work done
for us. Salvation by providence was a
work done for us. We wouldn't have come on our
own. But this is the beginning of God's good work in you. This
is the subjective work, the inward work, the heart work of the Holy
Spirit giving us spiritual life. and bringing us to faith in Christ
and true repentance. It's a moral, subjective act
wherein God brings a sinner to Christ and repentance from dead
works. Sheds abroad in that sinner's
heart the love of God in Christ. Shows us our sins. It's a convicted
heart. The Bible calls that the circumcised
heart. A heart pliable, made fleshly,
not in the sinful sense, but in the pliable sense. It'll bend
to the will of God. It's a heart that is convicted
over sin and sees the need of grace and mercy. I'll tell you
what, you see a sinner begging for mercy who sees he has no
hope in himself, for himself, by his own works, and he comes
to God. beating on his breast like that old publican, saying,
God, be merciful to me, the sinner. That's the one. That's the new
birth. I need Christ. And I can't find
any relief elsewhere. Somebody asked me one time, how
do you know if it's the Holy Spirit working in your heart?
I'll tell you exactly how you know. Don't walk out here without
knowing this. And it's not hard, it's not real theological, it's
not real deep, it's just simple. If you can find relief, hope,
rest, peace, salvation, anywhere but in Christ and Him crucified,
it's not the Holy Spirit. But if your only hope is in Christ,
the Son of God incarnate, who died for my sins on that cross,
who gave me the only righteousness that I have before a holy God
in Him, If He's my only rest, my only peace, that's the work
of the Spirit. Driving sinners to Christ. Come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give
you rest. What's that mean? That means you go to Him, whom
to know is life eternal. You can't find any peace in the
denomination, in anything you've done or ever will do, in mom
and dad, or in any preacher. You find peace only in Christ,
who is your peace. You find it anywhere else, that's
the flesh, not the spirit. So, salvation is a work of regeneration. Now, it's God's work next. It's
God's continual work of preservation and perseverance. Look over at
Philippians 2 and verse 12. Look at verse 12. He says here,
Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in
my presence only, But now, much more in my absence, work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling." Now, some people
jerk that verse out of its context and say, see there, salvation
is a work you do. You work it out. That's not what
that verse is saying. That word, when it says, work
out your own salvation, what it's talking about is live out
your salvation. Live as one who's been saved
by the grace of God, and do it with fear and trembling. What
is that fear there? It's not a legal fear, not being
scared, but it's a worship, with fear, worshiping, respecting
God, knowing who He is. He's the same God who will, as
Paul wrote here, we're confident in, who began the good work in
you and who will perfect it to the end. And that trembling there
means this. I'll tell you exactly what I
believe. The understanding is this. Now, you believers, you'll
enter into me with this. Think about it. Don't you tremble,
tremble, even with the thought of being without Christ? That's what he's talking about.
Oh, Lord, whatever situation, Lord, you put me in, in this
life, And I'm going to tell you something, this man here, this
Paul the Apostle, he was put into some bad situations. You
know, after the Lord saved him, the first time that he got up
to where he preached the gospel, and I want you to think about
this, you talk about encouragement for evangelism, when after God
saved him, he was Saul of Tarsus, after God saved him, and the
next chapter in the book of Acts talks about Paul going out and
preaching the gospel, And it said the Jews were stirred up
against him and wanted to kill him and they had to take him
and they had to hide him and let him down out of the building
in a basket and take him out of the city. Now, don't you know
Paul wanted to get up and say, Lord, what is going on here?
I mean, look, I'm preaching the gospel. And what happened? There wasn't a great revival.
They had to protect me and sneak me out of the city so I wouldn't
get killed. But you see, here's the point. Whatever situation
you're in, whether it's sickness, health, whatever it is, poverty,
riches, whatever, salvation's of the Lord, and we're to live
out of His fullness. That's what work out your own
salvation means. Live out of His fullness. Live
as a believer. Live singing that song, my hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest praise, but wholly lean on Jesus'
name." That's what he's talking about. But look at verse 13,
that sets it all together. That gives you the whole complete
picture right now. Verse 13, "'For it is God which
worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.'" What's he talking about? Salvation
is a continual work of God to preserve us as we persevere in
the faith. And that's the Holy Spirit's
continual work of indwelling us. By God's truth, He establishes
our hearts with grace in Christ, motivates us unto love and gratitude
and obedience and godly sorrow over sin and the assurances of
grace that we find in the Word of God and in Him alone. Salvation is a work of God in
glorification. One day we're going to be delivered
from this world. One day we're going to be delivered
from the presence and the influence and the power of sin to contaminate
us. Paul wrote in Romans 13, 11,
and that knowing the time that now it is high time awake out
of sleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we believe. He's speaking of our final glory
in heaven. Now all that's the work of God.
And when he goes back here, look back at Philippians 1, 6, this
good work in you, that new birth by the Holy Spirit, which is
salvation, applied to us personally, experientially, and in time.
For us, the new birth, in our experience of it, now salvation
began back in eternity, but for us, in our experience of it,
it's the new birth. That's the beginning of it for us, as we
experience it, as we know it. The Holy Spirit is called the
earnest of our inheritance, that is, the down payment of the glory
to come, the purchased possession, and from that new birth we grow
in grace, we grow in knowledge of Christ. And let me tell you
something about that. First of all, it's a lifetime process.
Now, it is. It's a finished work in that
we're born again. We don't keep being born again
every day. Sometimes we might feel like we are. But it's a
lifetime process, it's growth. Secondly, it's never perfected
or completed in this life. Now, our justification in Christ
is perfected and completed, complete in Him. But this process, this
work in us is never perfected or completed in this life. And
let me say this. It's not that what God does in
us is imperfect in its nature. Everything God does is perfect.
But it's not yet perfected in me. You see, sin still contaminates
everything I do. Now it does. It does. Thirdly, God will not stop until
the work is done. He won't stop until the work
is done. His goal is our conformity to Christ. Look back here at
Romans 8. the passage that Brother Jim read. It will not stop until the work's
done. And then God directs all things,
all things, good things, bad things, to complete this work
and make us like Christ. Look here, verse 28. We know
that all things work together for good to them that love God. You see, we love God because
we, and we know that because we've come to Christ. He is the
love of God. He's the love of God incarnate.
And it says, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
That word called there means summoned. You've been summoned.
You know, you don't turn down a summons. People argue over
whether the gospel is an invitation or a command. Well, it's both.
But here he's talking about sinners being called to faith in Christ
by the power of the Spirit in the new birth. You've been summoned
and you didn't turn it down. That's the invincible, irresistible
call of the Spirit. Verse 29, for whom he did foreknow,
that's he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
There's the goal of salvation, that we might be like Christ in ourselves. We're not there
yet, but we will be. We will be. And he says in verse
30, moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called. Now the
word called there means named or identified. When God chose
his people, he identified them and named them in his purpose.
And those whom he named and identified, called them he also justified."
That took place at the cross when Christ took our sins away
and gave us his righteousness. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. In other words, if Christ died
for your sins, you will be glorified. That's what that's teaching. Well, what are we going to say
to that, verse 31? Well, God's for us, who can be against us?
The world's against us. Satan's against us. We've all
got enemies. But if God's for us, they're
nothing. That's what that's saying. That's
not saying you're not going to have enemies and you're not going
to have people against you. It just says, in light of God being
for you, that's nothing. Nothing. And here's the proof. He says in verse 32, well, if
he spared not his own son, if Christ died for you, but delivered
him up for us all, that is, all those who are called, identified,
summoned, How shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
The term there is saying this, that if God gave you his son,
it's impossible for him not to give you all things. Because
with Christ you have it all. He is all. You have him, you
have it all. You can't have him and then be
lost. So verse 33, who shall anything to the charge of God
elect? It's God that justifies. If God declared me righteous
in Christ, Whatever charges man or Satan or my own heart might
bring against me mean nothing. Verse 34, who is he that condemneth?
It's Christ that died. If Christ died for you, you can't
be condemned. Yea, rather, that's risen again.
He's risen again and who's even at the right hand of God who
also maketh intercession for us, pleading the merits of his
blood and righteousness on your behalf even now. And then verse
35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Think about
all these things he mentions here. Tribulation, that's trouble. You ever been in trouble? Well,
if you're one of his, that didn't separate you from his love. You
may have lost sight of it. Many times we do. Distress, that's
inward distress. You ever been under distress?
I tell you, take the DI off of that and I think I'm a living
example of it. Distress. But that doesn't separate us
from the love of God. Persecution. Persecution comes
in many forms. It can be physical, but it can
be mental. You know, a person can murder your character just
as much as he can murder your body. I'll tell you what, I've been
in places where I just bat rather than murder my body and leave
my character alone. He said famine, that's nakedness,
that's hungry, naked. peril and danger or sword under
the knife. He says, as it's written, for
thy sake, for Christ's sake, we are killed all the day long.
We're counted as sheep for the slaughter. That's the way it
is with a believer. That's what he's saying. May in all these
things we're more than conquerors. Now look at this. We're more
than conquerors. How? Through him that loved us. He
didn't say you're more than conquerors because you have such a great
love for him or you're so much better than everybody else or
you're a super Christian. It's through Him that loved us.
You see, it's His love for us that keeps us, not our love for
Him. And Paul said, I'm persuaded. Same word he used when he said,
I'm confident, over in Philippians, that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
nothing in creation, is what he's saying, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God. which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Amen.