That's the pride killer. When I survey the wondrous cross,
I pour contempt on all my pride. I want you to open your Bibles
this morning to the book of Romans. to the eighth chapter. And the title of my message, my subject, is Walking in the Spirit. One could only wonder how many
things that men have preached on over
the generations, speaking on that subject, walking
in the Spirit. Look with me in verse 1, first
of all, where the apostle writes, There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus
who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Now this ought to interest us
very much. Because in this first verse,
the Apostle Paul speaks of those to whom there is no condemnation. The opposite of condemnation
is justification. And that is the theme and the
often subject all throughout this book of Romans. Those who are not condemned are
justified. In other words, they are not
condemned before God. They have no condemnation where
it really counts. Men are always condemning. And men and women will always
condemn us. But if we have been declared
righteous by God, if we have been declared righteous by God
justly, nobody else counts. Paul speaks of those among Adam's
race. in whom there is no condemnation. And he not only says that concerning
them, he tells us spiritually where they are. He says, to them
which are in Christ Jesus. I've heard people speak of positional
salvation as if it was less than real salvation. But I'm telling
you this morning, it's the only kind there is. It's the only
kind that Paul speaks of in all his epistles. It is that salvation
which belongs to those who are in Christ Jesus. How did they come to be there? They are there because God, in
His sovereign grace and mercy, put them in Christ Jesus. And that means that he views
them, God views them in Christ Jesus and only in Christ Jesus. It means that they have been
accepted by God, as Paul writes in Ephesians 1, because he has
made them accepted in the Beloved. They were chosen in Christ by
the Father before the world began. They were in Christ Jesus when
He went to that cross and was crucified. They were in this
union of grace with Him before God. And when He died, they died. When He rose, they rose. And by God's grace and by the
work of His Spirit, they're in Him by faith. They believe in
him. They trust and rely in him. And he gives us two characteristics
here of those spoken of. And he says of these, he says,
who walk not after the flesh. Are they yet still in the flesh
physically? Yes, they are. Do they have the
same workings of the flesh that Paul speaks of elsewhere? Yes,
they do. When he says, I know that in
me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing. They walk not, nevertheless,
after the flesh, but rather they walk after the Spirit. And if you notice there in that
verse, it is not simply Spirit in a generic sense or even in
us personally, but the Holy Spirit, capital letter. They walk not
after the flesh, but after the spirit. In other words, these
two walks here are contrasted. They are contradictory one of
the other. They are opposites. And therefore, they manifest
two opposite things. These who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit, they are not condemned. Say what you will about them,
spread rumors about them, measure them up in your sight, point
out all their faults, which will be many, But they are not condemned. And here's the evidence. They
walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. And Paul speaks of this as being
a comforting and a blessed and a wonderful thing to know. He's writing to these that in
chapter one he describes as these saints of God. But how is it, or how did these
who are not condemned, how did they come to the knowledge of
this? How do men and women come to
the knowledge of this? How do they come to have peace
in the matter of their sins? How do they come to have assurance
as to their spiritual state? How did they come to have peace
in their conscience in the matter of their sin? How did Paul, how
did this man Saul of Tarsus, how did he come himself to know
the assuring blessing of being not condemned? We'll look at verse 2. He says,
for the law of the spirit of life in Christ, in Christ Jesus,
hath made me free from the law of sin and death. In other words, by his own testimony
and in his own case, Something made Paul free from the condemning
principle which is the law of sin and death. Something made him free. And something will make all of
God's people free from this principle of works and obedience to law
and laboring to establish a righteousness and to make amends for our sin. Something set him free from that. Because as long as you labor
under that principle, As long as you labor under that thought,
that way, that law of sin and death, that law through which
sin can only wind up with death, you're in bondage. You're in bondage. And so the
apostle says something made him free from it. Something made
him free from that principle of law, do and live. And that was not only what he
was by birth naturally as a Jew, but it was what he had gone on
and somewhat perfected being a Pharisee. What in the world
could ever deliver him from that? When the more he sought to do,
the more he sincerely tried to do, the more that he actively
did, the more that he labored to please God and do the things
for which God would accept him and recommend him, the more that
he tried to make up himself for his sins and his failures, The more in bondage he was. And
the more in bondage I was. And the more in bondage you'll
be. So what is it? What is it that
delivered him from this and delivers all of God's people from this? This liberty and this peace came
through what he calls the law of the spirit. In other words, here is a principle
that could do nothing but condemn him, that can only condemn you
and I because we're sinners. And yet here's another principle
by which he's set free from that, by which he can now have peace
in the face of that. by which he can now, rather than
be rejected by the thrice holy God, he can be received by the
thrice holy God. So there can be no doubt that
what he refers to in this verse as that law of the spirit, he
says, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ, One law brings forth this life,
the other ends up in this death, and this life of the law of the
spirit of life in Christ can only be the gospel. It can only be the gospel of
Christ crucified. And if this is what sets men
free, if this is what brings sinners to liberty before God
and to this state of no condemnation, to this state of being justified
by God, the knowledge of it and the receiving of it and the blessed
comfort of it, then where the law is emphasized, which he calls
the law of sin and death. Wherever that law is emphasized
or wherever it is added to the gospel, that's not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit never leads and
directs men and women to doing in order to be saved. The Holy
Spirit never does anything to lead men and women to Sinai. I used to hear that all the time,
that God takes us first to Sinai, to His law, to be condemned,
and then He takes us to Calvary to be forgiven. Where in the
world did we get that? As a matter of fact, in Hebrews,
the apostle says just the opposite. He says, we're not come to that
mount that burned with fire, to that mount of mosaic law,
we're not come to that, but we're come to that holy mount Zion. So wherever. Men set forth this
law of sin and death, wherever that parts of it might be joined
with the true gospel, that is not the Holy Spirit. Paul didn't say a combination
of the two made me free. He didn't say the addition of
the law to the gospel made me better. or improve me. He said it was the law of the
spirit of life in Christ that made me free. You see, as I said, these are
two distinct and opposite principles, and they cannot in any way be
combined They were never meant by God to be put together as
making up the sum of his salvation and good news. They can never
be joined to each other. And when one is put to the other,
it's no longer what it was. I've said for a long time, grace
is the most easily polluted thing in this world. Because when men
and women are preached, are confronted with salvation by grace plus
any little thing, just like Paul says, grace is
no longer grace. There's never any peace. There's never any rest for our
souls. There's never any hope brought
about through what we might seek to do or add to. But the principle
of the gospel, this law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus,
simply is this. It is salvation and righteousness
and peace in Christ alone. In Christ alone. Can we trust in that? Can we
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? Are our sins in their totality
and in their magnitude so great that we wouldn't even consider
just trusting Christ alone? Or are we so good, imagine ourselves
to be so able and so good and so therefore able to add or approve
upon that that we can't trust Christ alone. Either we'll trust Christ and
Him crucified, we'll rest in who He is and what He has already
accomplished, or we won't ever rest. Oh, we might kid ourselves
for a while. We might try to think, like that
songwriter said in his foolish song, something about me and
Jesus having a good thing going. But in our heart of hearts, when
we lay down on our beds at night, when we're by ourselves, when
we're confronted with danger, when we feel a pain in our heart,
When we see the signs of a terminal disease come upon us, we'll never
for one second have true peace and rest, which is what that liberty is. You see, he says there's no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. And as is so often spoken of
in this text and others, when they talk about walking in the
spirit, most preachers and people are talking about conduct of
life. Do you think for one minute?
that you can walk in your conduct in life on your best day, doing
the very best you can, do you think for one second that you
have or that you ever could please God? You see, the truth is, if we
imagine that to the least degree, there are two things that we're
totally ignorant of. And the first one is what we
are as sinners. And the second thing is who God
is. Infinitely perfect, holy, cannot
by any means clear the guilty of purer eyes than to look upon
sin. Must punish sin, the soul that
sins shall surely die. When Paul talks about walking
in the Spirit, he's not talking about their conduct of life,
but he's talking about the principle upon which men stand before God
either lost or saved, either condemned or not condemned. I'm going to tell you this this
morning. If we are trusting Christ alone, we'll have rest. We'll have rest. You say, well,
I used to read those Puritans and they said, you know, all
our days we'll be in this state of wondering, not knowing, maybe
knowing, having hope, not having hope. They'll live all their
days. Some people live all their days
and have no assurance. That's a lie. I'm just telling
you that's a lie. Because you cannot help but have
hope if you're trusting Christ alone. It's just impossible. And if we don't have hope, if
we don't have some measure of assurance, then the obvious evidence
is that we in no way are trusting Christ alone. Now we're going
to struggle with some things. Number one, that very principle
that Paul talks about here. That is by nature, our natural
way of thinking is that we can do something, that we ought to
do something, that at some point we will do something to please
God and He'll accept it. Then some of us were raised up
in religion wherein we were just taught that, that living, holy
living and so-called godliness and all these things, that these
were the things that gave forth the true evidence that we're
really and truly a Christian. If that's your evidence, that's
your hope. And God pointed out all through
his Old Testament scriptures, all these people who were believers,
but they failed. Were they at that time without
any evidence, without any hope? I'm telling you, every moment, every time, that we are not looking
unto Jesus as the author and finisher of faith, we can't have
any assurance. We can't have any hope. If we're looking to this principle,
upon which for God to count us lost or saved or condemned or
not condemned, if it is this same principle, which is set forth in the law.
Maybe you only go to it like you go to a buffet lunch and
take parts of it out. But it either all stands or falls
together. It cannot in any way be a mixture
or parts because the only thing that law ever does is expose
our sins. Look down at verse 3. For what
the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. Problem's not with God's holy
law. The problem is with our weak
sinful flesh. God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the
flesh. He walked before God in human flesh and
by his sinless perfect character, conduct, all these things, he
condemned sin in the flesh. But why was that? In order that he could be that
sacrifice for sin. He had to be the sacrifice for
sin. And the law can only expose us,
the law can only condemn us to death. Hold your place and turn
over to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. And look down at verse 10. You see, Paul is combating this
very thing when he writes to the churches in Galatia. Verse
10 he says, For as many as are of the works of the law are under
the curse. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. Now you can hang the Ten
Commandments up on your wall at home, post it in the city
square, the county square, hang the commandments up. But all it says is cursed. Cursed. Because it's not that we admire
the law. It's not our admiration of the
law. It's not our saying it's God's
law. He says, Cursed is every man
that continues not in the things of the law to do them. You see, there's a big difference
in having the Ten Commandments on your wall. and doing all the
things of the law. Next verse. But that no man is
justified by the law in the sight of God, it is what? Evident. I know lots of preachers, I don't
think that's in their Bible. That statement can't be in their
Bible. Because they, week after week,
they bombard people, congregations, with books, with sermons, with
all these things, always pointing them to obedience to the law. Oh, you say, but they say we're
saved by grace. It sometimes doesn't matter what
you say. It might be what you say after
you say what you say. It doesn't matter what you say
sometimes. Error is revealed by what you
don't say. And these preachers, they can't
stand up and preach salvation by the free grace of God in Christ
crucified alone. It would choke them to walk out
of their pulpits after saying that. They have to put a but. They have to add an appendage
onto the end of it. They have to bring in some principle
of law which can only expose sin and bring forth death. Paul says, but that no man is
justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident the just
shall live by faith. In other words, the experience
of God's grace, the experience of justification, of being counted
righteous before God in the Lord Jesus Christ, the experience
of that, the reality of it, the comfort of it, the blessing of
it, doesn't come through working, but through believing. Believing. But if in our hearts we are still
entertaining that little notion that in some way, some little
part, some little thing, we're either going to add to God's
salvation or improve it, if we bring it one work beyond free,
marvelous grace, We have no hope. Look in chapter
2 and verse 16. I like it in scripture where
the apostle, maybe Paul or John, he begins with words like knowing
or and we know. Who's that? It's God's believing
people. Knowing. that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ,
even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified
by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, for by
the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." If you can't be justified by
the works of the law, What does that leave you? Condemned. Condemned. You see, there's no
middle ground here. We're either going to be condemned
or not condemned. We're either going to be declared
righteous by God or we're going to be, like Paul said of his
own people, still going about to establish our own righteousness. Not going to be any middle ground. James said, for whosoever shall
keep the whole law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all. There's something about us, we
want to take the Ten Commandments and we'll say, well, I might
have slipped on this one and I've totally fallen on this one,
but I'm doing pretty good on the rest of them. No, it's altogether
perfection, holiness, or it's sin. You see, the law was given, not
so that the law could be preached, in order to bring about conviction
of sinners. That's a foolish notion, because
the Pharisees were involved with the things of the law all the
time, and there's nobody more self-righteous than them. But
the law was given to Israel, to this nation, that through
this nation of people, God would show to us the impossibility
of our obedience to us in saving us. And I was thinking about this
this week, I thought, the law's like an x-ray. Friday I got one of those little
things where they put the jelly on that little magic wand, you
know, and they rub it all over your heart, and they look at
it on the screen, and this man's taking pictures and all this
kind of stuff, and then they check my carotid artery all up
and down it with this magic wand, the x-raying showing exactly
what was going on. But you know what? If there'd
been a problem, that x-ray wouldn't have fixed it one bit. No. That's the way the law is. It may show us by standing up
beside of us. If God enables us to see the
truth and reality of it, it may show us our faults. But it won't save us. It won't
provide a way for us to be saved. But you see, this is the way
that we naturally think we can be accepted by God. And this
is the reason why so many false religion flourishes. And this
is the reason why so many works preachers are applauded. Why? Because that's what we want
to be told. That's the way Israel was. They
kept saying, Moses, you ask God what he wants us to do, and we'll
do it. He did and he told them, but
they never did it. Just give us the law. Give us
some rules, some regulation. Give us something to go by. You see, God calls all our works,
all our attempts to save ourselves, all our attempts to improve ourselves
with regard to our standing before Him, He calls them dead works. He says that the way that seems
right to you is the way of death. And we never escaped this apart
from omnipotent grace. If grace was only a benevolent
attitude in God, if grace was just God willing to be gracious,
we'd all perish. Because left to ourselves, we'd
always be trying on this principle, and we'd always be condemned.
And there are a lot of people who are so convinced naturally,
and false religion has so convinced them more thoroughly, and these
preachers have beat it into their heads more fully that this is
the way it is. Christ said, they're going to
stand one day and say, we've done many wonderful works in And he'll say, depart, I never
knew you. You see, that's what sovereign
grace is about. It is not only God's right in
himself to save whom he will, but it's God's ability Irrespective
of how they are and what they are, it has to do with God's
ability to save them. Somebody says, Christ has done
it all, and now it's up to you. That's the biggest problem of
all. Well, we've only got one thing
left that you're to do. That's the problem. Well, if
you'll take the first step, dead people can't take a first step. It takes a mighty work of the
Spirit of God to work in our hearts and in our minds to give
us true faith, open our understanding Think about this man that God
uses to write this. Think about this man, Saul of
Tarsus, and then think about all these foolish, worn cliches
of false religion in our day, all these things that people
are telling, preachers are telling people in our day. Think about
all those stupid statements and apply them to the Apostle Paul,
or as he was then, Saul of Tarsus. You know how he responded to
it? The same way he had responded
to the truth, he was on his way to kill Christians. But Paul has been made free from the law
of sin and death. He's been delivered. He's been
made free. He's been released from this
bondage that's so natural to us and so Satan added to us. He's been delivered from this
whole principle and notion of being able to do anything to
be accepted by God or to remove condemnation. So He's free. He's free. Turn over to John chapter 8. Because in John chapter 8, if
you look down at verse 31, it says, Then said Jesus to those
Jews which believed on him, If you continue in my word, then
are you my disciples indeed. That wasn't a condition, that
was an evidence. And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. Wait just a minute now. What's
this talking about being free? when they answered him, We be
Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, Ye shall be
made free? Are you calling us enslaved? Are you saying that we're in
bondage? We're Jews. We're Abraham's seed. to show you how blind and how
stupid sin leaves us. They were even in physical bondage
to the Roman government right then. And Jesus answered them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant
of sin, and the servant abideth not in the house forever, but
the Son abideth ever. And if the Son, therefore, shall
make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Free indeed. I know that you're Abraham's
seed, but you seek to kill me because my word hath no place
in you." In other words, the one true
principle of liberty, the one true principle of peace, the
one true message of deliverance, which is the word of God, he
said, it has no place in you. I speak that which I have seen
with my father, and you do that which you have seen with your
father.' They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. And Jesus saith unto them, If
ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham."
What was that? Believe on Christ. But now you seek to kill me,
a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of
God. This did not Abraham. You do
the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, we be
not born of fornication. We have one father, even God. Jesus saith unto them, if God
were your father, you'd love me. For I proceeded forth and
came from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do
you not understand my speech, even because you cannot hear
my word?" You are of your father the devil, and the lust of your
father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When
he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar,
and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth,
you believe not, me not. And that's why you're still in
bondage. And these were some of the most outwardly moral,
zealously religious people that have ever lived on the face of
this earth. And he said, my word has no place
in you. You don't believe what I've told
you, and I'm the truth embodied right here in front of you. My
very presence on this earth is the clearest evidence that no
man or woman can by themselves save themselves by their doing. They have to be saved by my sacrifice. But all who are saved by his
sacrifice, they have no condemnation. No condemnation. It's kind of like, I thought
about it, we're like a one-armed man who's told that he has to
unlock two locks on different sides of the same door at the
same time in order to enter. What's the problem? His ability. His ability. He can't do that.
But just like us, he might try for hours and days to try to
do it. You've never done that, have you? Face a problem that
in the back of your mind you knew you couldn't do this by
yourself, but you had to try. Why? Pride. Pride. You see, only the God-man can
do what was necessary to justify us, and that is to shed his sinless
blood in the payment to divine justice for our sin. He must
at the same time meet our needs as a man and meet God's needs
as a sinless divine man. So he became flesh. Look back
at our text in verse 4. that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit." Now, in dealing with sinners, what did the righteous law require? I'm talking about those who've
already sinned, Already fallen, already disobeyed. What did the
righteous law demand? Death. You see, Christ didn't come into
this world to do a remake. He came into this world to pay
the penalty. to die the death that was necessary
as the surety of his people in order to save them entirely and
eternally. If he put by the sacrifice of
himself away all of their sin, then there can be no condemnation. You can't be condemned if you
have no sin. You can't require the payment
of a debt if that debt has already been paid in full. And divine
justice would never require at the hand of any who Christ died
for anything at their hand, but rather would require that they
receive all the blessing, that they receive liberty. Hebrews 2 says that those he
came to save were all their lifetimes in fear of death. But he's the captain of salvation. And being the captain of salvation,
this salvation of God, which is the salvation of a sinful
people, he had to suffer. and he had to die. But when he
did so, he delivered these who through fear of death were in
bondage all their days until until God brings to them, and
them too, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. And by that gospel, by that declaration
of what Christ has done in righteousness, say to them, the Son has made
you free. Free. Why? This is the spirit of life
in Christ Jesus because Christ says the spirit of God would
do what? Take the law and beat you over
the head with it? Take some principle that you're
to obey and do and set you on a course of trying to save yourself? No. He said, he'll take the things
of Christ and show them to you. And when we are enabled by God, to believe. When He gives us
faith to believe His Word, believe on Christ Jesus, then we're walking
by faith. And when we're walking by faith,
we're walking in the Spirit, because He reveals the object
of true faith. Verse 5 says, For they that are
after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are
after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. They do mind. In other words, they're thinking
about. They're working for. And I thought it to myself. What
am I minding? What am I thinking about as to
my standing before God, my acceptance before, my righteousness before
God? What am I minding? What am I
concerned about? What am I emphasizing? What am I leaning on? What am
I finding my comfort in? Those who walk after the Spirit,
they find everything in Christ and only Christ. Paul said, we
preach Christ crucified. God forbid that I should glory
in anything save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What is our hope? What is the
basis upon which we would seek assurance or evidence in our
mind? The old hymn writer said, my
hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And I dare not trust the sweetest,
the best appearing frame, support, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Verse 6, For to be carnally minded
is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Carnally minded. I know what
that conjures up in most people's thinking. Wicked thoughts. Vile thoughts. Immoral thoughts. I know you don't have any of
those. But in truth, do we ever escape
those? Doing the best you can. Before
you can even think about it, it's popped in your mind. The
meanest. The most wicked. The most corrupt. Before you
can even think about it. Before you can even try to put
it out of your mind. But that's not what he's talking
about here. He's saying to be carnally minded is to trust,
depend on any other thing or one except Jesus Christ. You say, preacher, that's just
too simple. No, that's just the gospel. His work, not ours. His person,
not ours. To be carnally minded is what? Death. Why? Because in the next
verse he says, because the carnal mind, the natural mind we're
born with, is enmity against God, for it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be. You go back and you read
Roman chapter 7, and this is essentially what Paul says. He
says the preaching of a works principle, the preaching of the
law and these things, he said it's like holding a red flag
up in front of a bull. What's that bull gonna do? You
keep holding it out there and shaking it, he's gonna charge
it. And if I wanted to have a congregation of fornicators,
liars, thieves, drunkards, adulterers, I'd just be on those subjects
all the time. And sure enough, I'd probably be the first one. Just read Romans 7. Paul said
the motions of sin get stirred up Just like those children,
if you keep telling them not to do this and not to do that
and not to do the other thing, so many of you are parents, some
of you teachers, some of you work with children one way or
the other, just keep telling them not to do something and
they'll do it or bust. That's what Paul's saying. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. That's just it. Paul rejoices here. He says to
these that he writes to, but you are not in the flesh. but
in the Spirit. If so, be that the Spirit of
God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he's none of his." Well, preacher, I feel
like I got the Spirit. I feel like the Spirit indwells
me. Evidently not, if all you are doing is seeking to save
yourself or add to the finished work of Christ. But he says, if Christ be in
you, the body is dead because of sin. But the Spirit is life
because of righteousness. Because of Christ's righteous
work. Because life has been given to
us through Jesus Christ and Him crucified. His death has been
made life to us. Because it made an end of our
sin. But if the spirit of him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from
the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that
dwelleth in you. Any subduing of the flesh, any restraining our fallen nature, our lust, our pride, All the, any of that that ever
takes place is because we've already been
made free in the Lord Jesus Christ. And because the same spirit that
reveals the truth of Christ and salvation in Him alone, that
same spirit is the spirit that works in us and deals with this
mortal body to restrain it. Some people think they've been
made better, but not in this flesh. One day,
I do look forward to it. But the only restraints upon
our natures is by the Spirit of God. And he works on the basis
of what already has been done for us. revealed to us that we've
been made thankful for. You read Galatians 5, and he talks about that continual
conflict, not between two natures, but between our nature and the
Spirit of God. But no matter what it is, God
must come to our death and give life. Walking in the spirit, trusting nothing of ourselves
and everything in Christ. In Christ alone is all my hope,
all my plea. His blood that was shed for me. Father, this day we pray, preserve
your people from these flesh exalting, works mongers,
whether in pulpits or pews. Set them free. Calls us, as the
Apostle says, to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ
has made us free. And calls that liberty to free us in all of our conduct,
in our character, to see, to glorify the one who saved us
freely by your grace. Help us. Work by your spirit
in our mortal bodies until that hour that you make
us liken to yourself. and receive us without any of
these hindrances to worship you and to enjoy you
and have fellowship with you forever and ever. May we be enabled to walk in
the spirit until we walk with you in your holy heaven. We thank
you and we praise you in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord,
our only hope, our only righteousness. We ask it in his name. Amen. Amen.