If you would open your Bibles
with me to Psalm 40. The words of this Psalm are clearly
the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. The writer to the Hebrew showed
us that when he quoted verses six through eight and telling
us the words of this Psalm are the words of our Savior. That's the way we looked at this
entire Psalm last Wednesday. But John, I want us to look again
and look at the first five verses of this psalm and see these verses
as the words of a sinner who's been saved by our Lord Jesus
Christ. And this is what I want us to
see in these five verses. When God saves a sinner, everything
is made new. That sinner is made a new creature
and old things are passed away. All the old things he used to
hope in and trust in and put confidence in, those things are
passed away. I titled the message, newness
in a sinner saved. Here's the first point. When
a sinner is saved, that sinner gets a new cry. Verse one, I
waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard
my cry. Now, you and I really can't say
that we've ever waited patiently for anything, can we? We've had
to wait for things, but we didn't do it patiently. It's just not
possible for our nature to be patient. But when a sinner is
saved, God saves a sinner, that sinner is going to wait on the
Lord. They're going to wait on the
Lord to save them. Nobody will ever be saved until
they quit. Just got to quit. Whatever it
is that you're thinking, just quit. Just quit it. They're going
to have to quit working to earn salvation. They're going to quit
trying to do something to make God happy with them, to make
themselves an object, a candidate for an object of grace. And they're
going to have to wait. They're to wait on the Lord to
save them without any input from them whatsoever. Now, the only
reason anybody will wait on the Lord to save them is they find
out by God's grace, they don't have any other hope. I got no
other hope. So I'm forced to wait on the
Lord. I'm shut up to just one hope,
God's grace. So I'll wait on him. Look over
it to Psalm 123. David gives us here in the Psalms
a couple of illustrations of waiting on the Lord. Psalm 123,
verse 2. This is what it is to wait on
the Lord. Behold, as the eyes of servants
look under the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a
maiden under the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon
the Lord our God. Until that, he have mercy upon
us. Now this is just waiting. and
looking to the Lord. Because we've got no other place
to look. We've got no other place to hope.
We can look to Him expectantly, waiting on Him. I just thought,
waiting on Him to save. I just thought of this. No illustration
is perfect, but we've got these two crazy Yorkies. And every
time, I mean without exception, every time Janet sits down to
eat at the table, they think it's time for me to get something.
And they'll sit and stare at her, not silently, not patiently. They're barking there, you know,
but they just, they will not take their eyes off of her because
they have a hope, have an expectation. I'm going to get something good
if I just wait. That's what David's saying right
here. As a servant looks to his master, waits upon his master.
This is how we look and we wait until the Lord have mercy upon
us. Look over a page of Psalm 130, verse 5. David says, I wait for
the Lord. My soul doth wait, and in his
word do I hope. Here's the reason that I wait
is because in his word, I find hope. I wait. He says in verse
6, my soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for
the morning. I say more than they that watch for the morning.
This is waiting earnestly for the Lord with great need. And
everybody that waits upon the Lord, that looks upon the Lord
like that, none of them were ever disappointed. Look at verse
7. Let Israel hope in the Lord.
For with the Lord, there's mercy. And with him is plenteous redemption.
He shall redeem Israel from all of his iniquities. So we look
to the Lord. We wait upon him. And when we
wait upon him, when the Lord saves us, he gives us a new cry. Now that cry is always to the
Lord. It's always about the Lord. It's
never about our strengths or our abilities or our ideas. It's always a cry to the Lord
about the Lord. And here's comfort for God's
people. The Lord hears the cries of His people. Now you cry to
the Lord, He hears the cries of His people. It may not be
a very intelligent cry, but He hears. He understands it may
be a very weak cry. Matter of fact, it will always
be a very weak cry. But the Lord hears the weakest
cry of his children. David said the Lord inclined
unto him. He'd been way down. So he'd be near enough to hear
and near enough to help as his child cried out with this weak
cry. And here's first of all, our new cry. After the Lord saves
us, our new cry is a cry for mercy. We're like blind Bartimaeus,
crying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy upon me. They tried
to hush him up, but he cried the louder, didn't he? Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. And scripture says, the
master stood still and commanded he be brought to him. Everyone
God saves cries for mercy, because mercy is the only plea of sinners
God. And the Lord hears. Second, our new cry is a cry
for salvation. You remember the disciples were
out fishing one night and they saw the Lord walking on the water
coming to them. And Peter said, Lord, if it's
you, bid me come walk on the water to you. And the Lord said,
oh, come on. And Peter stepped out of that
boat and started walking on water. And as long as he was looking
to the Lord, he walked on the water. Peter did what every one
of us would do. He started looking at the wind
and the waves. He took his eyes off the Savior.
He started going down like a rock. Nobody had to teach Peter how
to cry in those stormy waters. Lord, save me. It's a cry for
salvation. And immediately, the Lord stretched
out his hand and called him. Everyone God saves is going to
cry for salvation. They're going to beg to be saved.
They're going to find out salvation is not me deciding to accept
Jesus. Salvation is not Jesus died for everybody and he died
for me and all I got to do is accept it. No, they're going
to find out this cry for salvation is begging God to save me even
though I don't deserve it. We'll answer that cry. Thirdly,
our new cry is a cry for deliverance. You remember the children of
Israel were in bondage in Egypt. And they cried to the Lord for
430 years, 430 years. One day, the Lord appeared to
Moses at the burning bush. And he told Moses, I've heard
the cries of my people. Now he heard them all along,
but now he's heard the cries of his people. And he said, I've
come down to deliver them. Everybody God saves is going
to cry like that. They're going to cry to be delivered
from bondage, from bondage to sin. And they're going to keep
crying until the Lord hears, until He comes down to deliver.
Because we've got no other cry, but that He would come deliver
us. And fourth, our new cry is a cry to the Lord in time of
affliction. Now I want you to look over at
Psalm 107. Our new cry is a cry to the Lord
in affliction. Every different kind of affliction,
our only plea, our only hope is to cry to the Lord that he
deliver us. Psalm 107 verse 3. Gather them out of the lands
from the east and from the west and the north and from the south.
They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found
no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted in them. Then cried they unto the Lord
in their trouble. And he delivered them out of
their distresses and led them forth by the right way that they
might go to a city of habitation. Now look down at verse 10. Such
as sit in darkness in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction
and iron because they rebelled against the words of God and
contend the council of the most high. Therefore, he brought down
their heart with labor. They fell down and there was
none to help. And then they cried when they
saw there was none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord
and their trouble. And he saved them out of their
distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of
death and break their bands in Sunder. Go to verse 17. Fools, because of their transgressions,
because of their iniquities are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth
all manner of meat. They draw near to the gates of
death. Then they cry unto the Lord and their trouble. And he
saved with them out of their distresses. He sent his word
and healed them and delivered them from their destructions.
And then verse 23, they, the go down to the sea and ships
that do business in great waters. These see the works of the Lord
and his wonders in the deep where he commanded and raised at the
stormy wind, which lifted up, lifted up the waves thereof.
They mount up to the heaven. They go down again into the depths.
Their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and
fro and stagger like a drunken man, and they're at their wits'
end. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble. He bringeth them out of their
distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so the waves thereof
are still. Then they're glad because they
be quiet. So he bringeth them unto their desired haven. See,
in all these different situations, times of affliction, the only
hope we have is to cry to the Lord. And if we're in trouble,
it'll just come naturally to us to cry unto the Lord. We don't
need to figure out how to solve the problem. We just cry to the
Lord. We don't have any ability or
strength, any way to have any input in this situation. We just
call on the Lord because only the Lord can deliver. Only the
Lord can help. Only the Lord can make the heart
still and quiet. And fifthly, our new cry always
involves a cry of thanksgiving. We're still there in Psalm 107,
look at verse eight. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. And those very same words are
repeated in verses 15, verse 21, verse 31. Oh, that men would
praise the Lord for his goodness. Oh, that men would learn to thank
God for all of his blessings to us. Look over in Luke chapter
17. Here's a really market example. What David's talking about here,
Luke chapter 17. Verse 11. And it came to pass as he went
to Jerusalem, they passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
As he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men
that were lepers, which stood afar off, and they lifted up
their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. When he saw them, he said unto
them, Go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass
that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, one
of the ten, when he saw that he was healed, turned back and
with a loud voice glorified God. fell down on his fate, his feet,
giving him thanks. This man was a Samaritan. Jesus
answering said, were there not 10 cleansed? But where are the
nine? There are not found that return
to give glory to God, save this stranger. And the master said
unto him, arise, go thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole. Oh, may God make us like this
man. this one leper, so that we're the ones crying with a
loud voice, thanking and praising God for who He is and what He's
done for us. And then last, our new cry will
be a cry of service. You remember after Isaiah saw
the Lord high and lifted up, he saw Him in His glorious train
filled the temple. He saw those seraphim flying
around the throne of God, crying, holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. And Isaiah saw that. First thing
he did was put a hand over his mouth, didn't he? Then he said,
after that angel came and touched his lips with that coal from
off the altar, he said, here am I, send me. That is the cry
of an object of God's grace. It's not the service of a slave. It's a servant of a son. Lord,
send me. Use me in your service. Jan and
I were talking the other day about Brother Cody Groover. Every
time the man prayed in his home or in ours, every time he ended
his prayer, Lord, use us in your service. That's this new cry,
the cry of the object of God's grace. Lord, send me to tell
others about you. Use me some way to spread your
gospel. It's a new cry. All right, second,
back in our text, verse two. When a sinner is saved, he gets
a new foundation. This is what we just sung about.
He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry
clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. I
told you this last week, but let's review. At the time that
David was writing here, the jails that they had were just deep
holes in the ground. The only opening was the prisoner. He'd just look up there at the
top. That was the only opening there. It was a door, it was
a window. It was the only opening. And that opening was open to
the weather all the time. Rain, it snowed, sunshine, whatever.
Down that pit it went. And they never cleaned that pit
out. They just left it the way it was. Just dumped prisoners
down in there. I guess pulled them up whenever they'd done
their time. But the bottom of that thing was just a muddy,
filthy mess of mud and human waste. And the muck would get
so deep you'd just sink down in it. You could just hardly
foot up out of it. You couldn't move around down
there. There's just no foundation. You just couldn't get a foothold.
The walls were slimy and straight up. You couldn't climb out. And
Davis said this is a horrible pit. It's not just horrible in
the filth that's at the bottom of it. The word horrible means
a noisy destruction. That's the noise of religion.
The religion of self-righteousness. It's just all of us crying out
how good we can be, trying to brag on ourselves and tell everybody
how good we can be. It's just the noisy destruction
of self-righteousness. And the muck at the bottom of
that pit is the only, it's a picture, the only foundation we're ever
going to have if we're trying to get to God by how good we
are. It's the same foundation the foolish man chose to build
his house upon. He chose to build his house on
the shifting sands of man's work. There's no strength to it. There's
no stability to it. It's not going to hold anything
up. So it's always going to end in destruction. That house is
going to fall flat every time. And the more we try to build
upon our good works, the more we get down there in that pit
and that deep miry clay trying to dig our way out, the deeper
and deeper and deeper into the muck we're going to go. That's
a horrible pit. Everybody God has ever saved
knows that pit. It's a horrible pit. You're so
far down, you can't see God. You can't see Him. You can't
know Him. You can't hear Him. You think He can't see or hear
you. That pit is so deep you can't get out of it even if you
want to. And I can tell you how depraved, how awful, how dead
our sin nature really is. Until God saves us, We're not
trying to get out. We like it in the pit. We like
trying to work our own way out of it. And that pit also is a
picture of eternal death because of sin. It's the pit of God's
justice, and there's no way out of it. The only way out of that
pit is for the Lord Jesus Christ to come down to the bottom of
it where we are and pull us out. See, when the Lord saves a sinner,
He always scrapes the bottom of the barrel. He always goes
to the bottom of the pit in the deep miry clay down there at
the bottom and pulls his people out. Now they're just not words to
express the compassion of the Savior. To leave the splendor
of glory and come down in the bottom of that pit where his
people are. To pull them out. Because He doesn't just go down
there and pull His people out. He doesn't just come down there
and stay for a minute and pull His people out. In order to take
His people out of the pit, in order for them to be delivered,
Christ our Savior has to take the place of His people at the
bottom of the pit. He has to be in that pit and
suffer all of God's justice against the sin of His people. That's
why the Savior can say, deliver them from going down in the pit.
I found a ransom. I am the ransom that delivers
them from the pit. And the Lord delivers his people
from the bottom of that pit. He sets them outside the pit.
He sets their feet on a new foundation on himself, on the rock Christ
Jesus. Now Christ is the only good foundation
there is for our souls. He's the solid rock. Everything
built on those shifting sands of man's works is always going
to fall. There's no stability to the foundation.
But everything built on Christ will stand forever because Christ
is our rock and our rock is not like their rock. Our rock will
never fail. He'll never crumble. Whoever
trusts in this rock will never be guilty, will never be ashamed.
That's why David said, I shall not be moved because God put
me on the rock and he'll never be moved. Anyone standing in
that miry clay of man's work, they're always just, they're
going to be miserable. They got to be the most miserable
people on this earth, constantly trying to prop up that corpse,
that dead man's corpse of their religion. They're always falling
down, always sinking deeper and deeper and deeper in that miry
clay. But anyone whose feet is founded on Christ will be able
to stand before God and accept it because of the perfection
of Christ, our foundation. Thirdly, when God saves a sinner,
they get a new way. David says at the end of verse
three, he established my goings. Now before the Savior pulls us
from the pit of corruption, we have a way, but it's a gross
way. It's the way of man's works.
It's the way of that deep miry clay. Our ways before God saves
us were the ways that seemed right to our dead, depraved mind
and made perfect sense to us then. The only problem was those
ways were the ways of death. But after the Lord pulls his
people out of the pit, he sets our feet upon Christ. We've got
a new foundation and we've got a new way. And our foundation
and our way are both the same person. They're both Christ.
He's the rock. He is the way. He is the way
of the believer. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
way. He's the way to God. Would you come to God? There's
one way. Come in Christ. Christ is the way of salvation.
Do you desire salvation for your soul? There's one way to come. It's to come in Christ. Christ
is the way of forgiveness. Would you have God forgive your
sin? There's one way he can forgive your sin. It's in Christ. Christ
is the way of righteousness. He's the only righteousness we'll
ever have. He's the way of holiness. Christ is the way of peace. He's
the way of joy. He's the way of eternal life.
He is the way. And happy is everyone who finds
this way. All right. Fourthly, when a sinner
is saved, we get a new song. Verse three says, He hath put
a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Now this
new song is really the old, old song of redemption in Christ.
But it's new to us when the Lord first reveals Christ to us. We
may have known the words to Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art
all your life. I don't ever remember learning
the words to those songs. As far as I can remember, I've
always known them. But after we see Christ, oh,
we sing those words new. We sing them from a new heart.
We sing them with a new, clear view of Christ. Look over Psalm
98. Before we knew Christ, let's
just be honest. Tell you what we'd sing about.
We'd sing about ourselves. We'd sing about what we've done
for Jesus. Or we'd sing about the blessings. We'd sing about
heaven. Oh, we all get to heaven. Nobody seems to be interested
in being made like Christ. We all get to heaven. But after
we know Christ, all we can sing about is Him. Psalm 98, verse
1. Oh, sing unto the Lord a new
song. Here's the new song. Verse 1,
for he hath done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm
hath gotten him the victory. See, this new song sings of all
the marvelous things that Christ has done, how he saved his people
from their sin. He won the victory over sin,
death, and hell with his holy arm, the Lord Jesus Christ, and
set his people free. Verse 2, the Lord hath made known
his salvation. His righteousness hath he openly
showed in the sight of the heathens. The second verse of this new
song sings of salvation in Christ. It's the salvation that Christ
accomplished by himself, by himself. This new song sings of Christ,
our righteousness. We're not singing about our good
deeds anymore, are we? No, we're singing of his righteousness.
We say with the apostle Paul, oh, that I may win him, that
I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ. righteousness which is of God by faith. That's our song. Verse three, he hath remembered
his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel. All the
ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. This new
song sings of God's mercy. God saved us even though we didn't
deserve it. That's mercy. He didn't save
us because we're any good, because we're better than anybody else.
No, he saved us because we're the worst at the bottom of the
pit. God saves sinners because God's merciful. Always sing of
his mercy. Verse four, make a joyful noise
unto the Lord, all the earth. Make a loud noise and rejoice
and sing praise. This new song is the cry of thanksgiving
we talked about earlier. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. And this new song is the song
that the redeemed will sing through all of eternity. You can read
it for your own self as you're very familiar with the Revelation
5 verse 9. They sung a new song saying worthy
is the lean. Now, Lord saved you. He's revealed Christ to you.
You know the words to it now, don't you? You know the words
to that song. But there, you're going to sing it new. All with
a new vision. No longer seeing Christ by faith,
but face to face. No longer having to sing it in
these weak bodies of clay, but singing it in perfection, in
body and soul there. We get a new song and we're going
to sing it for eternity. And fifth, when a sinner is saved,
we get a new trust. At the end of verse three, he
says, many shall see it in fear and shall trust in the Lord.
Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust and respecteth
not the proud, for such as turn aside to lies. Now, saving faith. Saving faith is to trust. It's to depend upon Christ to
be all it takes to save me. If I trust Christ, if I have
faith in Christ, I don't feel any necessity to add any of my
own works to make myself worthy. I just trust Christ to do that.
And the only way we'll ever trust Christ, the only way we'll quit
looking at ourselves and trust Christ alone is if we see Christ
with the eye of faith. David gives us a pattern here
that leads to faith in Christ. It's seeing, fear, and trust. First seeing, David said, many
shall see. Well, who are these many? The
many that will see Christ. They're all of God's love. They're
all going to see Christ. God's going to give them eyes.
Eyes of faith that see Christ. And when they see Christ, they'll
fear. Many shall see and fear." Everyone
who sees Christ fears the Lord. They reference Him. Now, how
can I tell if I fear the Lord? Is fearing the Lord thinking,
oh, I better, you know, keep the law, I better keep the Ten
Commandments, or God will punish me, I better live a moral life,
or God will, you know, deal with me some way? Here's how you can
tell if you fear the Lord. I fear the Lord if I know He's
to be worshipped, no matter what He does with me. If He delivers
me from the fire furnace, I'll worship Him. And if not, I'll
still worship Him. He's God. And if I fear the Lord,
I'll beg Him for mercy. I know I don't deserve anything
from Him. I fear Him. I reverence Him.
So I beg Him for mercy and then wait on Him. That's fearing the
Lord. Third word is trust. Everyone
who sees Christ by faith and reverences Him will trust Him
to be all of their salvation. If God will show me who Christ
is, if I see Him for who He is, then I will trust Him. I'll trust
Him and Him alone. How can I have any trust in myself
if I've seen myself in the light of who He is? I can't. And how can I not trust Him if
I've seen Him for who He is? The Lord Jesus Christ is God. He is God. He's the Creator. He's the Almighty. He's the Savior
of sinners. He's Jehovah, God my Savior. How could I not trust Him if
I've seen Him for who He is? I will trust Him. I won't have
any confidence in the flesh if I've seen Him for who He is.
So God saves a sinner, we get a new cry. We get a new foundation,
we get a new way, we get a new song, and we get a new trust.
And last, when God saves a sinner, we get new works. Verse five. Many, O Lord my God, are thy
wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which
are to usward. They cannot be reckoned up in
order unto thee. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more
than can be numbered. Now, before the Lord saves us,
Here's how we think about good works. We think if we do enough
good works, God will be pleased with us. So that tells you we
think we can do good works. Now, we know we do some bad,
but we think that the good and the end, you know, outweigh the
bad and God will accept us. But when we see Christ, we suddenly
realize, I don't have any good works. What I thought were good
works really are filthy rags. They're rags that are defiled
with sin. I don't have any good works of
my own to count on. So I'm back to being shut up
to Christ. That's when I'll depend upon Christ and rest in Him,
in His work, when I see I don't have any of my own. I hesitate to ever say that,
I don't ever want to say this, that we rest in His work. We
rest in Christ who finished the work of redemption. I don't have
any other argument. I don't have any other plea.
It's Christ alone. It's got to be His work or I
have none. Look over at Psalm 71. If we ever see Christ, that'll
be the end of us mentioning our works anymore. Psalm 71, verse
15. Well, verse 14, David says, but
I will hope continually and will yet praise thee more and more
My mouth shall show forth thy righteousness and thy salvation
all the day, for I know not the numbers thereof. I will go in
the strength of the Lord God. I will make mention of thy righteousness,
even of thine only. I'll make mention of thy righteousness,
of thy works. David says, for I know not the
numbers thereof. Back in our text, he said, there's
so many, if we try to count them, we Wreck them up in order. We
couldn't even count them all. If we just spend our time talking
about Christ our righteousness, Christ our Savior, salvation
in Him, we're never going to run out of material. We're never
going to run out of messages to preach talking just about
Christ. Christ's work of redemption is
greater than we can ever number. We can never exhaust the subject,
but salvation is deeper. It's richer. It's got more meaning
to it than just trusting the work of someone else. If we have
faith in Christ, we have union with Christ so that his work
is our work. If we have faith in Christ, we're
joined to him by faith. We have actually done what the
Lord Jesus Christ did. His obedience is our obedience. The only way I can stand before
God accepted is if I'm perfectly obedient. And the obedience I
have before the Father is the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The obedience he worked out as a man when he fully obeyed the
law. That's how his people are made
righteous. So trusting in Christ will cause his people to be zealous
of good works. Now these works, they're new
works. They're not like our old works. How are our old works
under the law? Well, they were the works of
a slave. They're work of a servant that's always trying to earn
righteousness, always trying to earn something. But the believer
has new works. We're not trying to earn anything.
We've already been given everything in Christ. We already have everything
that God has to give a sinner in the Lord Jesus Christ. So
our works are new works. They have a new motive, a new
goal. We're not trying to earn anything from God. These works
come from a thankful heart for what Christ has done for us.
I told you this Sunday, the only people who are zealous of good
works are people who are saved by sovereign grace. That's the
only people who are zealous of good works. Everybody else is
zealous, but they're zealous to do the bare minimum. They
just want to do enough to get by. But everybody who's saved
by sovereign grace, everybody's under the law. They want to do
enough so that they meet that bar. God will accept them. Everybody
who's saved by sovereign grace wants to do everything they can. They're not looking for a bare
minimum bar. They want to do everything they can for the glory
of Christ and the good of his people. That's why they say with
Isaiah, Lord, hear my word. Send me. Send me to preach. Let me support the gospel. Let
me help. Let me comfort someone. Let me
do whatever it is I can do. Whatever gifts you've given me,
let me use them in your service. That's what we'll do. That's
what we'll do if God saved us by His grace in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We'll do that because in Christ,
we're a new creature. Everything's made new. And all
those old things, all that old way of trying to earn something,
passed away. We serve God with a heart of
thanksgiving and love. All right, let's bow together
in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for these words that you showed us everything is new when you
save one of your children by your grace. Father, how we thank
you. How we thank you for not leaving
us to our own way, to our own cries about our own selves, that
you'd shut our mouth till we cry unto thee. for mercy, for
salvation, for deliverance. So we cry unto thee in praise
and thanksgiving. How we thank you you didn't leave
us at the bottom of that, the muck and the mire, that pit.
That you didn't leave us in the deep mirey clay, but you pulled
us out and set our feet upon the rock, Christ Jesus. You established
our goings in him. Father, how we thank you. Father,
I pray you bless your word that's been preached tonight. Bless
it to the glory of our Savior. Bless it to the salvation of
your people. Bless it so that we see our need
of Christ and that we see He is all we need. Father, bless
us, we pray, for your great namesake and for the good of your people.