In verse 14, he says this, Acts
22, 14, The God of our fathers hath chosen
thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that just one,
and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. The title of my
message today is, How God Saves His Elect. How God Saves His
Elect. The Apostle Paul was you so mighty
of God, and suffered so much for the cause of Christ. Our
Lord told him right away that he'd suffer great things for
his sake. And some believe that his conversion
was unusual, something out of the ordinary. Well, it really
wasn't. And some think that maybe there
was something special about him is why God saved him, something
real distinct about him, what he would be, what he would accomplish.
Well, if that was so, his salvation wouldn't be by grace. It would
have been because God saw what he would be or would do. When
Paul himself said, for by grace are you saved, through faith,
and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. And so, you
see, his salvation Wouldn't have been by grace if God saw something
in him that was something special. And his own testimony says, by
the grace of God, I am what I am. By the grace of God. And I believe,
I believe if we'll look at how the Lord saved Paul here, we'll
see that this is the way he saves all of his elect, all of his
people that he chose in Christ before the world ever began.
And the first thing that shows us how God saves His elect is
first of all, He was saved because of God's sovereign election.
Look there in verse 14. He says, The God of our fathers
hath chosen thee. That's the first thing that happens.
God's sovereign election. God sovereignly chooses His people. And when did He choose them?
In Christ before the world ever began. Is that not right? You
know, that's the first thing that he heard from Ananias when
Ananias came to him. Saul, brother Paul, he called
him brother Saul. The God of our fathers hath chosen
you. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob hath chosen you. And you know, and here's the
thing about it, God saves the unlikely. Look back over here
with me in Acts chapter 9, just a moment. Let me show you a couple
of things. God always saves the unlikely. And here in Acts 9, verse 10,
look what happens. Here he's talking about his conversion. And when God has slowed him down,
and he says here in verse 10, There was a certain disciple
at Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision,
Ananias, and he said, Behold, Lord, And the Lord said unto
him, Arise, and go into the street which is called straight, and
inquire in the house of Judas, for one called Saul of Tarsus.
For behold, he prayed, and hath seen in a vision a man named
Ananias coming in, putting his hand on him, that he might receive
his sight. Now listen to what Ananias says.
Then Ananias answered, Lord, O Lord, I have heard by many
of this man, How much evil, evil he hath done to thy saints at
Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from
the chief priest to bind all that call on thy name. Now that's what kind of people
that you think, if anything good done evil, much evil to thy saints. Not just evil, much evil. And
back over here in Acts 22, look what it says about him. He said
about himself in verse 7, and here's his testimony before a
multitude of people who was trying to kill him. And he said here
in 22 and verse 4, and I persecuted this way. How bad did you persecute
this way, Paul? And that's what he called this
way of following Christ, of trusting Christ. I persecuted this way
unto death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women,
As also the high priest doeth bear me witness, in all the estate
of the elders, from whom also I received letters unto the brethren,
and went to Damascus to bring them with their ground unto Jerusalem."
What for? To be punished. To be punished
for being a believer. To be punished for trusting Christ. To be punished for worshiping
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so you see, beloved, Look
in Romans chapter 9 with me just a moment. You know, I've quoted
this so many times. And God always chooses the unlikely. I mean, you know, all you've
got to do is just look at yourself, and you understand quickly how
that the sovereign, elect, and grace of God chooses the one
who's distinct. There's no way God saved me.
There's no way God saved him. That's the man that God does
something for. That's the man God does something
for. And it's the high-minded Pharisees and the legalists that
God passes by. And here he says in Romans chapter
9 and verse 11, look what it says. For the children, being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, now listen
to it, that the purpose of God, according to election, might
stand not of works, but of him that calleth. It is said unto
her, the elder shall serve the younger, and that is as written,
Jacob hath a love, but Esau hath a hate. God's purpose of election,
and the scripture said, as many as were ordained, predestinated
unto eternal life, what did they do? They believed. They believed. And let me tell you something
about this thing of purpose. I remember years and years and
years ago, I was praying and I was asking God to teach me
whether salvation was on purpose and what part we had in it. And
I carried a Bible with me about everywhere I went and one day
I was set. I opened my Bible and I was reading. And I was
reading out of 2 Timothy. And I was reading down through
there and I got down to verse 9 just like a light come on.
Just like a light come on. God who has saved us and called
us with an according to His riches and God who has saved us and
called us by His grace which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. And it says there that God on
purpose, God according to His purpose, and I began to read
the scriptures in light of that word purpose, that God said His
grace and purpose which was given us in Christ before the world
began. And I began to look at that word purpose. And God, everything
He did, He did on purpose. Who He had purposed, and who
shall disanother to the call according to His purpose. For
whom He did foreknow, He did predestinate them, He predestinated
God. Everything God does, He does
on purpose. And beloved, here's the thing
about the purpose of God. There's no chances with Him,
no accidents with Him. He don't open a door and give
you an opportunity to walk through it when you get your opportunity.
If anything happens in this world, it's on purpose. There's no accidents. And you're saved on purpose.
If God saved you, He saved you on purpose. And you know when
His purpose was? Giving you in Christ before the
world ever began. God said in this life, God said,
if you're alive before you spawn in your belly, I move you and
ordain you to be a prophet to the nations. And on, as many
as were ordained or predestinated." Now, you take the word chosen,
elect, all of these, all on purpose, God's purpose, and you go through
the Scriptures. The word Christians is mentioned
three times. Twice in the book of Acts, once
in 1 Peter. Believers, called believers,
two times. Do you know how many times the
word elect is mentioned in the Scriptures? Fourteen times. Then right to the elect with
your head. You know, and people say, well,
that just don't seem fair. You certainly, certainly don't
want God to treat you fair, do you? That guy's looking for something
fair. You know what? Life's not fair.
It's not fair this, not fair that. I hope and pray by God's
blessed mercy and grace, I never get what's fair for me. No, no. And I thank God that
he, you know, election don't shut the door. Election open
the door. If words, or what a person was,
or merit, or worth, was worth anything, this apostle Paul would
never have been saved. He was a persecutor. God would
have sent him straight to hell. There was lots of Pharisees that
were just like him, that hated Christ the same way. And they
called him a devil and they persecuted him even unto death. But you
know what? Our Lord said to them, how shall you escape the damnation
of hell, you generation of vipers and serpents? And He turned around
and saved a Pharisee of Pharisees. Who made the difference? Who
made the difference? And let me tell you something
else he was saved. Now look in Galatians 2.20 with me. He was saved not only by God's
sovereign election, Somebody said to Spurgeon one
time, said, you know, you ought to just preach to the
elect. And he said, since you believe so strong in election,
he said, I would if I knew who they were. You know, but the
election is not a political affair for you. An election's not like
this business, you know, you won't know you're there, and
you know when you get to heaven, there'll be a sign over the door
that you found out you was one of God's elect. The elect go
in this door, and the rest of them don't get to go in. That's
not when you find out your election. You find out your election on
this side of eternity. And if you're saved, you came
because God chose to save you. And you chose because God purposed
to save you. And you're saved because it pleased
Him to save you. And according to His good pleasure
given in Christ, that's why man's saved. And folks got to find
that out. They've got to learn that. They've
got to be confronted with it over and over and over again.
And I'll tell you, the next time somebody tells you that don't
sound fair, I say, you surely don't want God to treat you fairly.
And then secondly, look here in Galatians 2.20 with me, just
a moment. He was saved by the merits of
Christ's blood and atonement. Look what he said here. I am
crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in
the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. You see, he's telling everything
in here, and this is a Everything in here, he's identifying his
life by what Christ did. By the death of Christ, by the
love of Christ, by the crucifixion of Christ, and he was justified,
he was cleansed, and he was made righteous by what Christ did.
Not what he did. He said, I'm crucified with Christ.
When was he crucified with Christ? When Christ was crucified, that's
when he was crucified with Christ. But I'll tell you what, beloved,
but He is out persecuting believers. As Christ was crucified, He went
after people who trusted Him. And yet He turns around and says,
when Christ died on the cross, I died with Him. When Christ
suffered on that cross, I suffered with Him. When Christ bore sin
on the cross, I bore sin. He bore my sin. When He died,
I died. See, our union with Christ is
complete and perfect in every way. When he, that Paul says,
the life that I live, what do I live it by? By my flesh? By my strength? By my resolve? By my own purpose? By my own
free will? By my dedication? By my devotion? No, the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live it by who? The faith of the Son of God. who loved me, and not only that,
but He died for me, gave Himself in my place, in my stead, in
my sin, in my wrath, in my judgment, in my justice that should have
been mine, He went and gave Himself for me. And when you can say
He gave Himself for me, you say that Christ died for you. And
until you say He gave Himself for me, you can't say that. And
I'll tell you, I can put my sign and say, I'm crucified with Christ
and put my name in there. And oh beloved, God counts us
all as one with Christ. We were chosen in Christ. Crucified
with Christ, buried with Christ, raised again with Christ. And
oh, God counts us all with one in Christ, and Christ's one with
us in all of His doing in His death. That's the only way in the world
it can be. Christ suffered God's justice.
So a God being a just God, and He justifies him that believes
in His blessed Son, and casts it alight with His Son, and puts
all their eggs in one basket in His Son, Then God could not
justly come back and punish us again if Christ has already been
punished. Is that not right? And oh, He died under sin once. And you know if He died under
sin once, if we are in Him, we died under sin one time too. And then look what He said here
in verse 16 of Galatians 2. I was talking to a dear, dear
pastor. Well, Daniel Parks this week. And I was looking at this
message, and I was looking at this verse, and I asked Daniel,
and I said, I told him what I believe it said. And he said, boy, I
agree with you 100 percent. But look what it says there,
in verse 16. Now, this is something. You're
talking about comfort, and a man's got to know his ground of confidence
before God, his justification before God. Knowing that a man,
knowing this, that a man is not justified by the works of the
law. Knowing that. There's no doubt about it, knowing
that. But how then is a man justified? But by the faith of Christ, of
Jesus Christ. Now what does that mean? By the
faith of Jesus Christ. It didn't say there faith in
Christ. It didn't say there by our belief
in Christ. By our trust in Christ, it says
there by the faith of Jesus Christ. What does that mean? That means
that we say by His faithfulness, justified by His faithfulness.
He was raised for our justification. You see, it's His faithfulness.
Now, let me tell you something. You think about this. Everything
that God accepts, it must be perfect in order to be accepted.
Is that not right? You've got to have perfect faith,
perfect repentance, perfect obedience, perfect love. Perfect submission. Perfect love for your neighbor.
Everything. If it's got to be perfect to
be accepted, where are we going to get this perfection? Everyone prays. By the faithfulness. Christ was faithful. He was faithful. And so his faith
is prayer. He obeyed the Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, I
have finished the work thou gavest me to do. And so he was faithful to the
law. He said, which of you convinces
me of sin? He was faithful to all of his
people. He said, of all that thou hast
given me, I have lost none. And he was faithful to the Father.
He says, Father, I do always those things that please me.
And he prayed one time. He said, I'm not praying for
my sake. I'm praying for these everybody
around here that may know that you hear me always. And he was
faithful to the Word. I mean, he says, the Word that
I speak, they're not mine, but the Word of Him that sent me.
And he is faithful to the covenant. And that's why it says, Father,
glorify thou me. I finished the work, and when
he cried out on the cross, it is finished. Everything that
God required perfectly was done and accomplished and fulfilled.
Now I've got perfect faith. Not in me, but I've got it in
Christ. That's why the best we can do
ain't nothing. It's the best Christ can do.
How good do you have to be in order to be saved? You've got
to be as good as God. Where are you going to get that
goodness at? Huh? You've got to be sinless to know
that before you can even approach God, where are you going to get
sinlessness at? That's why this free will works religion that
says you've got to give up this sin and give up another sin and
stop this sin and that you're going to be out of one sin and
Christ will leave you behind. But listen, beloved, if that
soul, there's not one soul on the top side of God's heaven
going to go to glory. Every single one of us this morning
has sinned enough. One of us. Take one of our sins,
the sins that we've done this morning, distribute them around
among us. Enough to send every one of us to. But you know what? God's not looking at us. And
ain't you thankful for that? He's looking at His blessed Son.
With His spotless garments on, I'm His holiest, God-told Son. Now that'll be some point that
nothing else in this world will do. I'll tell you that. And that's why I've been back
in Galatians 2.22. Now back there he says, there
he said we live by the faith, the faithfulness of Christ. And
then he said also, I live by the faith of the Son of God. I live by my faith in that Son
of God. I trust Galatians 2.20. I live
by the faith of the Son of God. I mean, I live by my faith in
Christ. He's everything I need. He's
all I'm looking to. And I don't look to nobody else
to justify me. I don't look to nobody else to
cleanse me. I look for no other righteousness. I look for no
other strength. I look for no other help. I look
for no other standing. I look for nothing else but what
I have in Christ. That's what he's saying. And
then let me show you, not only was he saved by God's sovereign
election, we talked about how God saves His elect, saved by
the merits of Christ's blood and His atonement. And thirdly,
he was saved by the Holy Spirit's effectual, distinguishing, irresistible
cause. Look over here in Galatians 1.15. Saved by God's, by the Holy Spirit's
effectual, distinguishing, and I say irresistible cause. Now, there's people that resist
it. I'm resistant. But God overcomes the resistance. In the day of His power, what
He does, He makes His people willing. Is that not right? Look here in Galatians 1.15.
Look at this effectual call. But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb, now watch this, and called
me, by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, not just to me, but
in me, that I might preach him among the heathen. Immediately
I conferred not with flesh and blood." Oh, here's an effectual
call. Now, see, he is separated from
his mother's womb, but he was in his thirties when he was over
there punishing those believers, putting those men and women in
prison, persecuting to death. He persecuted them until they
were dead, until they were slain, they were slaughtered. And here,
he says, God separated from my mother's womb. That's what he
does with all of his people. But there was a day on the Damascus
road when he called him, called him, and how come he called him? By his grace. By his grace. And oh, an effectual call is
the sweet work of the Holy Spirit throughout God's holy word. You
take Noah. Why was Noah, out of all the
people on the face of the earth, out there? God said the evil
of a man's imagination was only evil continually. Noah was no
different than anybody else. He was the son of Adam. But the
scripture says that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
And Abraham. He'd walk over there and work,
bagged down Iraqis that were outside of it, down the river. And the scripture says that God
called Abraham and, go out, he went out knowing not where he
was going. Sovereign grace called him, the effectual calling called
him, and I ain't going to go. Let me ask my wife if she wants
to go. Let me ask my children if they want to go. No, God says,
Abraham, go out. Abraham went out. And Jacob,
God called him one day, and I tell you, when he called him, he got
a hold of him, and there was no way in the world that Jacob
could have resisted the call that God gave him. I mean, he
was laying there asleep one night, and here comes a man who got
ahold of him. Hey, Jacob didn't get ahold of
the man. The man got ahold of Jacob. Once that man got ahold of Jacob,
and he seen Jacob seen that he couldn't win. That's when He
says, no, that there's some power, someone bigger than me, and that
was the Lord Jesus Himself who laid hold of me. And He says,
now since you've got a hold of Me, He said, I'm not going to
let you go. Isn't that the way it is? When
He gets a hold of us and calls us and lays hold on us, we say,
now that you've got a hold of Me, I'm not going to never let
you go. I'm going to cling to you because
I'm going to cling to you. I got nobody else that can bless
me. Nobody else can change my name. Nobody else can change
the way I walk but you. And look, you know where Daniel
is. Everybody knows where the book of Daniel is. Daniel, you
go to the book of Daniel, go to your right so you can get
to the book of Hosea, chapter 11. Look here, we're talking
about effectual, distinguishing, irresistible power. Zacchaeus, come down. Lydia sat by the riverside,
been going down there worshiping for years, Hosea 11. And she got down there, and one
day Paul was preaching, and the Lord, the Lord opened, opened
her heart. Lazarus, Lord, he can't hear
you. He's dead. Lord, don't roll that
stone away. He's been dead four days, and
he stinks. He stinks. And nobody will smell
that corrupt, stinking body. Leave that stone there. Roll
that stone away. Lazarus, come forth. And look what it says here, talking
about Hosea 11. In verse 3, talking about this
effectual call. I taught Ephraim also to go,
what's this now? Taking them by their arms. But they knew not that I healed
them. Now watch it. He took them by
the arms. And I drew them with cords of
a man. What cords of a man? The Lord
Jesus. With bands of love. That's how
He took us by the arms. And I was to them as they that
take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid Me down to them. I
fed them and took care of them. That's why He would come and
get us by the arms. And not only that, beloved, as
you say, by effectual call, but His call is a pattern. His call
of God is a pattern. Now back in Galatians, I mean
Acts 22. Let me show you a couple of things
about this call here. Sovereign, effectual call of
God. Irresistible call. First thing
it was, it was a distinguishing call. Now in verse 14, he said
again, the God of our fathers hath chosen thee. Distinguished
him from everybody. He was with a whole bunch of
people. I mean, he was with a great caravan of people. But he says
the only one chosen out of that bunch was him. It was a distinguishing
call. And not only that, but it was
a personal call. It says there in verse 7, And
I heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, I know my sheep, and none of
mine. I know my sheep. He calls Zabias by name. Call
Lazarus by name. Call Saul by name. Called Abraham
by name. Called Noah by name. He called
his people by name. Saul, Saul. It was a personal
call to him and him alone. And oh, not only that, but it
was a humbling call. Look what it says there in verse
7. And I fell under the ground. Oh, this idea that you get saved
and you jump up and start screaming and hollering. You can't find
anybody in the Scriptures that God, when God revealed Himself
to them, they went. Isaiah said, Woe is me! Abraham
fell down and worshipped. And, oh beloved, he fell to the
ground. Zacchaeus come down, and I'm
telling you, beloved, when God calls a man, He puts him down.
As old Scott Richardson said all the time, He makes his head
quarter into dust. When those lepers came off the
mountain, the Scripture says they fell down before Him and
worshipped Him. This idea that you could walk
up and talk to God on the same terms? Mary got up to tell me
this morning, maybe some of y'all have seen this, this preacher
that prayed at this NASCAR event, you know? Some of y'all might
have seen that. That was the most blasphemous
thing I ever seen. That was just absolutely horrendous. Somebody wrote this morning,
that's one of the best prayers that's ever been prayed. The
best. No, that's the most blasphemous,
God dishonoring thing. That's a mockery. It makes a
mockery of everything that's called God. It makes a mockery
of everything that's holy. This idea that, you know, you
get up in front of a bunch of heathens and get down on their
level to pray. We're in front of a holy God. Splash holy. Infinitely holy. And we're nothing but dust and
ashes. And to think that He would do
anything for us, and we want to stand up and think we're equal
to Him and can talk to Him just any way we want to and say anything
we want to about His Son? No! We're going to walk softly. We're going to walk reverently.
We're going to walk humbly by God's grace before Him. And we're
going to stay down. We're not going to get up. We're
going to stay down. That's why religion says, stand
up for Jesus. God says, get down before Him. The world says, get up. Pull
yourself up by your bootstraps. Make something out of yourself.
And God says, He says nothing. You are nothing. The inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. And I tell you, this business
of knowing God and worshiping God, you come from the heart,
and I mean you're going to get down. And a man that won't get
down, he don't know God. And God put this man, this proud
Pharisee, who said he was a Pharisee, a Pharisee, a righteousness of
the law, blameless. God put him down. And you know
what? He stayed down all the days of
his life. And when he got ready to leave
this world, you know what he said about himself? I am nothing. Now, buddy, when you call yourself
nothing, Ain't nobody can make you do that but God Himself. What in the world does God need
us? What does He need me for? The
Apostle Paul had his time, he's gone. Peter had his time, he's
gone. Luther had his time, he's gone.
Calvin had his time, he's gone. Supersia had his time, he's gone.
Scott had his time, he's gone. He'll be going to have his time
and he'll be gone. I'll have my time and I'll be gone. But
will God's work go on? Will God's gospel go on? Will
God continue to save His people? Sure He will. He'll still be
calling them by name and He'll still be humbling them. And all
beloved, he fell to the ground. And then the first thing he says
was, Who are you, Lord? Who is this? And the Lord told
him exactly who he was. He says, You know, why are you
persecuting me? And he said, Well, who is it
that I am? He said, And look what he said about himself. I
am Jesus. And he didn't say, I'm Jesus,
the Son of God. He didn't say, I'm God manifest
in the flesh. He says, I'm that Nazarene that
you hated so bad that you didn't recognize as God manifested in
the flesh. That you didn't recognize that
I put away all sins. I am Jesus of Nazareth. That
nobody from Galilee that you thought was a nobody. That's
who you're dealing with right now. That's who you're dealing
with. And then not only that, but the
irresistible call. Look what he says down in verse
10. And I said, what shall I do, Lord? What shall I do? I don't know
what to do. Here I am. I'm blind. I'm on
the ground. You're talking to me. I've persecuted
you. I've despised you. What shall
I do? I don't know what to do. I don't
know where to turn. I don't know what can I do for
myself. And the Lord told him where to go, what to do, and
he went right there and stayed until God came to him. Huh? And, oh beloved, his call came
when it pleased God. Ain't that what I just showed
you a minute ago in Galatians 1? When it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb. He called me by His grace. And
he was saved. This man was saved. One of God's
elect was saved by faith in Christ. by believing on the Lord Jesus
Christ, by trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want you
to notice this about him. He was saved without any preparation
on his own part. Did he prepare himself for the
grace of God? Did he prepare himself to join
the church? Did he prepare himself for baptism? Did he prepare himself for believing?
Did he change his attitude? Did he change his way of living? Did he quit some bad habits?
No, no. He had power in his pocket to
go take men and women and take them back to Jerusalem and punish
them. There was no preparation. And I'll tell you something else,
he was saved at once, just like that. Just that quick. Just like that. He was just going about his business. Just going about our business
and one day, God called us. One day we're in darkness, then
we're in light. One day we're dead, then we're
alive. Oh beloved, he was saved from
death, He was saved from darkness. He was saved from the dominion
of sin. Paul had a double darkness. And some of you all can relate
to this and I can't. He has had a double darkness.
He had the darkness that he had naturally in Adam. And then he
got in religion, became a Pharisee. Then he was in the darkness of
religion. And that's why the Lord says, How great is, if the
light be in you, how great is the darkness. If the light in
you be darkness, how great is that darkness. And Paul had light,
but it was dark. So he had a double darkness.
And he was saved. Saved by grace and grace alone. He was a persecutor. And he was
saved, while you turn to 1 Timothy, he was saved by faith. that was wrought in him and given
to him. That's what he says, you know.
He says, you know, God who saved me. For by grace are you saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of
God. And he was saved by the work of the Holy Spirit of God
in him. And Paul called himself a pattern.
I preached on that here a while back. Before God saved him, Paul
was a pattern of God's long-suffering grace. And when God saved him,
he was a pattern of God's sovereign saving grace. He says here in
verse 13, 1 Timothy, who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor
and injurious. Oh my, blasphemer, a persecutor,
I was injurious, I injured people everywhere I went, but I obtained
mercy. I did it ignorantly. I was living
in unbelief. Well, Paul, I thought you said
you had a righteousness according to the law of blamelessness.
And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith
and love which is in Christ Jesus. The faithfulness of Christ and
love that He gave me in Christ. And this is a faithful saying.
Everybody ought to believe this and accept this, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And Paul says,
you know how I know that? Because I'm the chief. I'm the
chief. Now watch this. Howbeit for this
cause I obtain mercy, that in me first,
in me first, Jesus Christ might show forth all those of us for
a pattern. You think you're a bad sinner.
You think you've lived a horrible life. You think there ain't no
hope for you. For a pattern to them which should hereafter believe
on Him for life everlasting. And then look what He does. Now,
unto the King, eternal, immoral, invisible, the only wise God,
be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Ain't that what we say, now unto
the King? Now unto the King. Our Father, O gracious, gracious
God in Heaven, O we bless You for Your Gospel,
bless You for the truth as it is in Christ, and that You taught
us this truth. That we've learned Christ. That
we've learned Him. You told us, Lord, to take your
yoke, that you'd give us your yoke and we would learn of you. And you told us that we have
learned of you, been taught by you. And we bless you for that. God meet the needs of these dear
saints today. Save your people in this place.
Meet with us tonight. Give glory and honor and grace
to your people and glory and honor to yourself. We ask these
things in Christ's name. Amen.