So from our Bibles again to Romans
chapter seven. Title of the lesson or the message
this morning is four lessons from the law or lessons from
the law. I hope you recall last Sunday,
we looked at Paul's illustration that compared a bad marriage
to our relationship with the law and that illustration. We were the wife who'd been mistreated
by her bad husband, which was represented by the law. And that
marriage was a sad marriage, a bad marriage. It couldn't produce
any joy, couldn't produce any peace, couldn't produce any love,
and couldn't produce any life. But now Paul wants to make this
clear to us. That was just an illustration.
You can't take illustrations too far. You have to be careful.
Don't stretch them too far. You'll stretch them out of perspective.
Paul knows someone's going to hear that illustration and think
that he's saying the law is bad. And that wasn't Paul's point
at all. His point was not that the law is bad. His point was
this. The point of the illustration
is our sinfulness and our inability to keep the law. There's nothing
wrong with the law. The problem is our inability
to keep the law. And now Paul gives us four lessons
from the law. And these are lessons we've got
to learn if God's going to save us. He'll teach them to us if
he's going to save us. The first lesson is this. The law is discovering. It's by the law that we discover
who and what we are. Verse 7 of Romans chapter 7.
What should we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. I had not known sin but by the
law. For I had not known lust except the law had said thou
shalt not covet. Now, can we say that the law
is sinful? Can we say, well, it's the law's
fault that I sin? You know, if it wasn't for the
law, I wouldn't be guilty of sin. We can't say that, can we? Paul says in verse 10, the law
is holy and the commandment's holy and just and good. So we
can't say the law is my problem, can we? I can't say, well, if
it wasn't for the law, I wouldn't be guilty of anything. God forbid
we'd say that. God's law is not the problem.
You know, just blaming God's law is just doing the same thing
our father Adam did, just blaming God for my sin. We can't do that. The law is not the problem. God's
law is not the problem. I'm the problem. My sin nature
is the problem. And Paul uses the law to prove
this, that it's my nature, my heart of sin that's the problem.
And he does it by quoting the 10th commandment. Thou shalt
not covet. Now, have you ever wondered why
Paul chose that commandment here? Why didn't he quote, thou shalt
have no other gods before me? You know why he didn't quote
that? Because old Saul would have said,
I never worshiped an idol. I'm innocent of that. Why didn't
he quote, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God
in vain? Because old Saul would have said, the Lord's name in
vain has never escaped my lips. And it probably hadn't. Why didn't
he say, thou shalt keep the Sabbath day? Why didn't he say, honor
your father and mother? Why did he say thou shalt not
kill or thou shalt not commit adultery? Thou shalt not murder?
Why didn't he say those, quote those commandments? Because Saul
would have said, all those have I kept from my youth up. He would
have said, I kept those things. Because Saul's like all of us.
By nature, we think those commandments all have to do with outward action.
We'd say, I never took a knife and killed somebody. I've never
committed the act of adultery. So I'm innocent of all those
things. Now that would be a mistake because the law requires more
than outward obedience. The law requires inward perfection.
And that's why Paul quoted the 10th commandment, thou shalt
not covet. Because thou shalt not covet
doesn't deal with any outward action, does it? It deals all
with heart desire, doesn't it? And even Saul of Tarsus had to
admit, yeah, I broke that one. I broke that one. I saw somebody's
house that was nicer than mine and thought, I wish that was
my house. You know, we see somebody's nice new car and thought, oh,
I wish that was my car. Paul probably saw somebody's donkey
and said, well, that's a nicer one than mine. I wish I had that.
You know, that's a young, strong donkey. He envied somebody's
gifts. Paul was just soaring upward
through the Jewish religion. But he saw somebody else have
some gifts. He saw somebody else get some honors. He said, boy,
I wish that would be mine. It's covetousness. We do the
same thing. That nature of covetousness is
we cannot help but break that commandment. Because we cannot
stop the wicked desires of our heart. You just can't stop them.
You might be able to stop those sinful thoughts and desires from
coming out. But you can't stop them from
being in your heart, can you? You can't stop those just sinful
thoughts that just fly through your, you don't even want to
think them, but they just fly through your mind. You can't
stop them because it's our nature. You may be able to not act upon
a sinful desire, but you can't stop desiring something sinful
and corrupt, can you? That's our nature. And when the
Holy Spirit showed Saul the meaning of that commandment, thou shalt
not covet. Suddenly he understood the whole
law. He'd been able to quote the law
by heart from the time he was a little guy. He could quote
those 10 commandments just like that. But quoting the law by
heart and knowing it by heart is two different things. Suddenly
he knew in his heart what it meant, that the law is spiritual. Not just the 10th commandment,
but all of the commandments apply to our thoughts and the desires
of our heart. Look back at Matthew chapter
5. This is taught all through Scripture, but here's a place
our Lord taught us just so plainly, so clearly. You cannot mistake
what He's saying here. Matthew chapter 5, verse 21. You have heard that it was said
by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall
kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you,
here's a lawgiver, I say unto you, that whosoever is angry
with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.
Whosoever shall say to his brother Rekha, whosoever shall call his
brother a vain fellow, you're being vain, shall be in danger
of the counsel. But whosoever shall say, thou
fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. See, the lawgiver is the
one that gave us the proper interpretation and meaning of the law. It's
not just outwardly killing someone. It's that desire. It's even just
the desire to call him a fool, to insult him. The lawgiver says,
that makes you guilty of murder. Look down here at verse 27. You
have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt
not commit adultery. But I say unto you that whosoever
looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with
her already in his heart. The lawgiver said the problem
is in the heart. The desires of the heart makes
us guilty. And if we're honest, every person
here will say, I'm guilty. If the law ever shows us, lets
us discover who and what we are, we'll see the problem is not
just that I commit sin. The problem is what I am. It's what I am. then there can't
be any hope of salvation in me because the problem is what I
am. There can't be any hope of reconciliation with God in anything
I do because I am sin. Everything I think, everything
I say, everything I do is sinful. The problem is not the law, is
it? The problem is with me. All the law is doing is showing
me an accurate picture of who I am. Janet had some old pictures
out the other day. We got a picture of Savannah
and Clark going to get their wedding, their marriage license.
Janet found a picture when she and I got our marriage license
30 years ago. And she said, boy, things have
changed. And I thought, what are you talking about? And then I
went and looked in the mirror. And I saw somebody who's older,
grayer, and whiter than that fellow in that picture. Well,
I can't be mad at the mirror. The mirror just gives me an accurate
picture of what I am. That's what the law does. We
can't be mad at the law. All the law does is makes us
discover what we are by nature. Well, then the thing that follows
is the second, the second lesson of the law. The law is humbling. It's humbling to find out what
we are and what we really are. Verse 8 in Romans chapter 7.
But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all
manner of concupiscence. But without the law, sin was
dead. Now Saul of Tarsus thought he
was righteous. He was, some people think he
is the rich young ruler. I don't know if he is, but if
he's not, he certainly is just like him. He'd have said the
exact same thing the rich young ruler said. Why? All these have
I kept from my youth up. And Saul was so confident in
himself, he'd have said, I'll keep anything else you throw
at me too. He was confident. But when the Holy Spirit came,
and showed him what the law really said. See, he says here, without
the law, sin was dead. When I didn't know what the law
was, what it really said, I didn't think I had a problem with sin.
But when the Holy Spirit showed me what the law really says,
oh, that sin is what I am. Sin is what's in my heart. Old
Saul was humble, wasn't he? He was literally and figuratively
brought into the dust. Just brought lower than a snake's
belly. humbling to find out what we
really are by nature. When Saul saw that the law spoke
to the heart, that not only can you not do these things, you
can't even want to do them. When he saw that, when he saw
if you just want to do these things, you're guilty of the
whole law. He suddenly found himself desiring every sin, just
anything evil. He strongly desired it. That's
what he says here, the concupiscence. Concupiscence means to desire
or to lust after. When he found out the law said
you can't even desire sin, suddenly he found himself just desiring
everything wicked and vile and sinful. Saul found out his problem,
not just coveting, his problem is a sinful nature that loves
sin, that drinks iniquity like water, that that's all it wants.
and to truly find out that's what we are. Oh, that's humbling. That's humbling. And this is
how sinful our nature is. Our sinful nature uses the holy
law of God to make us want to sin even more. You talk about
depraved. Our nature, our sinful nature,
takes the holy, perfect law of God and makes us want to sin
all the more. Now that's humbling, isn't it?
And until we see what the law really says, we don't think we
have a problem with sin. Sin's no real problem, yeah.
I didn't do as good as I should have done today, but I can do
better tomorrow. That's what we think until we
know what the law really says. But as soon as we see that the
law demands inward perfection, that you can't even desire sin,
suddenly that's all you think about. That's all you desire.
And we cannot stop those sinful desires, because sin is what
we are. Not what we do, but what we are.
And you know this is true about yourself. As soon as somebody
tells you, you can't do that, that's all you want to do. As
soon as somebody puts a sign on a door that says, do not enter,
that's all you want to do. As soon as somebody puts up a
gate and says, I've got a club here and you can't come in. That's
how private clubs charge all this money. They say, no, you
can't come in. And you just keep offering more and more and more
money until they let you in. Because if somebody tells us
we can't do something, that's all we want to do. That's what
the law does to us. Now, the law is a bridle. It's
meant to lead us in a good direction. But as soon as the law puts that
bit in our mouth, we're like a wild horse. We're trying to
spit it out. against that vial? Because we don't want to go that
direction. We don't want to be told what
to do. Before we know what the law really
says, we think we're okay. I don't need somebody telling
me what to do. I'm okay. Before we know what the law reveals
about ourselves and we're humbled, we think we've got a free will,
that I can decide to accept Jesus and be saved if I want. Somehow,
we think I can choose not to sin tomorrow. Yeah, I sin today,
but until we know what the law really says, we think, well,
tomorrow I'll do better. The law reveals to us, I am sinning. All I want to sin, all I'm capable
of is sin. And that's humbling. And I'll
tell you what's worse, what's more humbling. It's my will to
sin. I refuse to seek righteousness.
I refuse to seek salvation. I refuse to seek mercy at the
feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said in John 16, that's
when the Holy Spirit really convicts us of sin. When we see, I would
rather try to, even though I know I can't keep the law, I'd still
rather keep trying to keep the law and earn my own righteousness
rather than believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
when the Spirit really convicts us of sin, because we won't believe
on Him. Now that's humbling. Conviction
of sin is humbling. It brings us low. To find out
it's not just being convicted of what I've done, but being
convicted of what I am. That's much more humbling. And
it's painful. It's painful to find out how
weak and frail and unable to do anything that we are. It's
painful to find out how dependent we are on somebody else. None
of us wants to be dependent on somebody else. By nature, we
don't want to. But this is the point that God
brings every sinner he saves. God's got to get us lost before
he saves us. I've heard preachers say, you
know, that's the thing in preaching is I got to get you lost. I can't
do that. God's got to get you lost. He's
got to get me lost before he'll ever save us. And he uses the
law to humble his people by showing us what we really are by nature.
Well, then the next lesson that follows closely on that heel
is this. The law is killing. Look here in Romans 7 verse 9.
For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment
came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking
occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me."
Now we have been spiritually dead a long time. We all died in our father Adam.
So when we were physically born in this world, we're born spiritually
dead. Our problem is we're dead. And
because we're dead, we don't know we're dead. You can't teach
a dead man anything. Just go to the funeral home,
pick out somebody laying there dead in the casket and try to
teach them something. You can't do it. A dead man, he doesn't
know anything about him. He doesn't know he's dead. He
doesn't know he stinks. He doesn't know what's going on around him.
He doesn't know anything. He's dead. Now we're alive physically. but we're dead spiritually. So
we can't hear. We can't know. We can't love.
We can't believe any spiritual truth just because we're physically
alive. Don't think that means we're
spiritually alive because we're not. Paul says, now I thought
I was alive spiritually. I thought I was earning eternal
life before I knew what the law really said. But as soon as the
Lord taught me what the law really says, I found out I'm dead. And the problem wasn't with the
law. The problem was I can't keep the law. So I can't earn
life. Now God is just. If we could
keep the law, God would accept us. He'd give us life if we could
keep the law because he's just. But we can't keep the law. This
is what the discovering law, the lesson teaches us. We can't
keep the law. So the law demands we die. The law is killing. Justice demands
death for sin. But now dead people don't see
that. Dead people can't understand that. And because we can't understand
that, we are easily deceived. So easily deceived because we're
dead in sin. Now sin is deceptive. You young people listen to me.
Sin is deceptive. This world is deceptive. It promises
you life. but you only ever get death from
it. It promises you joy, it's only
ever going to bring you sorrow. I promise you that's so. It promises
fun, but brings sorrow. It promises life, but brings
death. Our sin nature tricks us. It deceives us into thinking,
I'm pretty good at that. I'm keeping quiet. And maybe that's not really at
the heart of the problem of some of us here. If especially you
young people, if you're like me and I was your age, you think,
yeah, I'm pretty good. I'm pretty good. I'm better off
than all my friends because I've talked to scriptures. I've memorized
the memory verses. I know these things. Our sin
nature tricks us. It deceives us. And because we
can't keep the law. Because no matter what we think
about ourselves, we're not good enough. We've all sinned and
come short of the glory of God. The law demands we've got to
die. The law is killing. If you think
that you're keeping the law well enough for God to accept you,
there's only one reason you think that. Sin has deceived you into
thinking it's not as bad as it really is. Unless God intervenes
in His grace, you're going to die in your sin. The law can
never give a sinner life. can only give us death, because
we're not perfect. The law demands perfection. The
law can't lead a sinner to life. It can only lead us to death,
because we're not perfect. The law can't be our rule of
life. Don't look at the law to find a pattern for how you're
supposed to live, because I tell you, if you follow the pattern
of the law, if that's what you're following, I'll tell you where
it leads you. It'll lead you to hell and not heaven every
single time, because for a sinner, the law is killing. Here's the
fourth lesson of the law. The law is revealing. Revealing. First of all, the law reveals
that there's nothing wrong with the law. The problem is me. Verse
12. Wherefore, the law is holy and
the commandment holy and just and good. The law is holy. There's
no problem with the law. The law reveals the holy nature
of God, his perfection, because it demands holiness and perfection.
The law doesn't command anything bad. The law commands holy things. And if you could do them perfectly,
you'd be holy. The law's holy. And the law's
just. The law only demands just things. The law will give everyone exactly
what they earned. Exactly. Because the law is just. It'll give strict justice. If
we could keep the law, God would give us life. That would only
be just, wouldn't it? But if we even think about breaking
one law, one time, the law is going to demand that we die. And that's only just too, because
God's holy. It's sin against an infinite
holy God. The law is just. And it's good. What's wrong with the law? Does
the law ever require you to do anything bad? No, it's good.
The law was given for the good of man. You'd think how horrible
it would be if there were no law. If there was no threat of
justice, there'd be nothing to restrain men on this earth. And
this earth, we'd make it hell in a moment. I mean, the crime
rates are going up because there's no justice in our country anymore.
The law's good. Everyone would just be better
off if we do what the law says. The world would be a better place.
But we can't do it. That's what the law reveals to
us. So the second thing the law reveals is how great of a sinner
we really are. Verse 13. Was then that which
is good may death unto me, God forbid, but sin that it might
appear sin working death in me by that which is good. The sin
by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. Now it's not
the law's fault that I live under a sentence of death. It's my
fault. It's not Adam's fault. It's not
my parents fault. It's my fault because I am sin. And the purpose of the law is
to show me the exceeding sinfulness, the exceeding vileness and filth
and wretchedness of my sin, of who I am. Now that's a whole
lot more than knowing everybody's a sinner. You know, we kind of
justify ourselves. Well, you know, everybody's a
sinner. I'm just not as bad as some folks. Finding out the exceeding
sinfulness of my sins is a whole lot different than knowing everybody's
a sinner. It's finding out I'm the sinner. I'm the sinner. That's
what the public and the temple knew. God be merciful to me,
the sinner. It's like I'm the only one. My
sin is enough to damn this world to hell. And the only, you know,
the Apostle Paul, he was a smart man, a well-educated man. And
he uses this three letter word, sin. And even the Apostle Paul,
with all his education, can't find a word to describe how awful
sin is, other than sin. Because there's nothing worse.
He just said, I am exceeding sinful. And when I see that,
you know what I know? There's nobody worse than me.
That's why Paul said I'm the chief of sinners, because I am
exceeding sinful. There's nobody worse than me. That's what the law reveals about
me, the truth about me. But now here's the third thing
that the law reveals, and this is where we've been coming to
the whole message. This is the third thing the law
reveals, and it's the most important lesson the law can teach us.
It's the whole purpose that God gave the law. The law reveals
that the only hope there is of salvation for a sinner like me
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the lesson of the law.
The law shows me what I am. It takes away all hope in me.
It humbles me. It kills me so that I see. I don't have any hope of salvation. I don't have any hope of earning
anything from God in anything that I do, anything that I say,
because it's all exceeding sinful. So the law reveals there's just
one hope. Quit looking in yourself. There's
no hope there. The law reveals the only hope we have is the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is the man who kept the
law. And every sinner God saves is brought to this point in its
desperate times. It's a time of crisis. Conviction of sin makes us desperate. I said this earlier, God's got
to get us lost before we'll be saved. God's got to make us desperate. I mean, desperate before we will
ever cry out and beg for mercy. Isn't that true? Nobody will
ever beg for anything unless they're desperate. Isn't that
right? I am a As I was preparing these notes, I thought, it's
shameful how proud I am. If I was hungry, I mean, I was
hungry, but I thought I got some scraps of food at home. I would
not beg for a meal. I mean, if I was hungry, but
I thought I could do something to get some food tomorrow to
earn some money, earn that penny to get some bread for tomorrow,
I would not beg. for food. I would not do it.
I'm too proud. The only way I'd beg is if I
was so desperate, I'm going to die right now without it. That's
the only way I'd beg. We've got to be broken. Oh, God's
got to break us. And He'll do that for everybody
He saves. You think about poor old blind
Bartimaeus. Why did he sit there in his rags crying out, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy on me? Why did he do that? He
knew he was blind. He was desperate. Now the people
around him said, Bart, they've seen him for years and years
and years sitting there begging. They said, Bart Mays, be quiet.
Just shh. Be still. Be quiet. We'll give
you a dollar later. Yesterday a dollar would have
done him. Today it won't. Bart Mays, be still. He cried
out to the Lord, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.
And they came to him and said, be a good cheer. The master's
come and he's calling for you. You know why he was just begging
like that? Why he refused to hush up and
just keep the social norm, keeping everything looking pretty. You
know why he did that? He was desperate and his only hope was
passing by. Your only hope is passing by
right now in the preaching of the gospel. That Syrophoenician
woman, you ladies think about her. She came to the Lord, down
at His feet, begging Him for mercy for her daughter. Begging
Him. He ignored her. He just ignored
her. She kept begging. Then you know
what He did? He called her a dog. He said,
it's not right for me to give you anything. You're not a Jew. It's not right. You're a dog.
She kept begging. A desperate person will say,
that's true, Lord. I've been humbled. You showed
me what I am. I am a dog. I'm your dog. I'm begging for table scraps
from my master. She must not have been much of
a women's liver, was she? Why would a woman sit at the
feet of a man begging him like that? He insulted her, ignored
her. Why would she do that? She's
desperate. Her only hope is the master. My hope and your hope, the only
hope we have is the master. The purpose of the law is to
make us desperate, to teach us who and what we are so that we'll
be driven to Christ. God gave the law. Let's use it
lawfully. You must be able to use the law
lawfully. Right? Paul told Timothy, use
the law lawfully. It's good if a man use it lawfully. To use the law lawfully means
to use it right. To use it like God intended it
for it to be used. How do we use the law lawfully?
By seeing what the law says about us. Being humble, being broken,
being killed, and making us run to Christ for mercy and grace. This is what the law shows me.
Christ is my only hope. I can't be righteous by anything
that I do. The only way I can be righteous is in Him, is in
His obedience to the law. The only way I can be cleansed
of what I am, of my exceeding sinful nature, is to be washed
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, for Him to give me a
new heart. That's the only way I can be cleansed. And once the
law teaches us There's no hope in me. Once the law teaches me
who and what I am, then all of the rest of my doctrine is going
to fall right into place. It surely will. Once the law
teaches me what total depravity is, I'm going to see it's not
you all that are totally depraved. It's me. And once I know I am
totally depraved, I'll have no problem loving God's electing
mercy, His electing grace. I need God to choose me without
me having to meet any conditions whatsoever. I need God to choose
me freely because I'll never choose Him because I'm totally
depraved. If I'm totally depraved, I mean,
I'll be desperate. I need Christ to die for my sins. I don't need Him to die as an
offer for me to see if I'll accept Him or reject Him. I need Him
to die for me as an offering to God, to put my sin away, to
pay my sin debt. And that's exactly what Christ
did for His people. He died for them. And when He
did, He put their sin away. He didn't die for every son of
Adam. He didn't die and make himself an offering to the creature.
He died as an offering to God. Christ died for his people and
their sin is gone. What happened at Calvary is not
an offer. It's a transaction. The great transaction is done.
The sin of God's people has been put away by the sacrifice of
Christ. That's the only way my salvation
can be secure. Then if I'm totally depraved,
I need, I mean, I'm in desperate straits. I need the Holy Spirit
to irresistibly call me to Christ. Because if I'm left to my own
devices and the choice of my nature, you know, if somebody
can tell me, well, just, you know, choose Jesus and make the
decision and walk the aisle and say this prayer, you know, you'll
be saved. I can't afford for the Spirit to wait on me to make
a decision. Because that's just not going to happen. It's one
of my new favorite phrases. That's just not going to happen.
A few months ago, I went to a high school basketball game to see
my niece, Colleen. She was a cheerleader in the
game. My nephew, Gavin, was there, and he was scared of the buzzers
and the people yelling and all this stuff. So I thought, well,
let's go for a walk. I thought, take him for a walk
out in the hallway, and he'll still hear the crowd and the
buzzers, but it'll be quieter. He'll slowly get used to it.
So we walked all around the school. And I said, well, Gavin, do you
want to go back in and see if Colleen's cheering? He looked
up at me, stuck his hand in his pocket, looked up at me, and
he said, Frank, that's just not going to happen. Well, I found out later where
he got that phrase from. That's his daddy's phrase. It's
his daddy's phrase to put an end to all discussion. This is
it. There's no more asking. There's
no more wondering. Everybody be quiet. It's just
not going to happen. Let this be the end of all discussion. I cannot afford for God to wait
on me and make a decision. I need Him to come where I am
and irresistibly draw me to Christ. Let that be the end of all conversation.
I need Him. If I'm totally depraved, I know
this. I need God. I'm in desperate
straits about this. I need God. to keep me by His
purpose, by His power, by His grace, by His love, because I
can't do it. If He leaves me alone for one
nanosecond, I'm going to fall straight into hell. I need Him. And the more I grow
in grace, I'm not growing up, I'm growing down on my own estimation,
so that I need Him more, and I rest even more and more and
more upon Him. That's the lesson of the law.
The law is not sin. The law reveals our sin, our
inability. So we see Christ is our only
hope. He's a good hope. He's a sure
hope. The lesson of the law is don't
try to keep me. Run to Christ who did. Run to
him. I pray the Holy Spirit. He's
able. I pray. In His mercy and grace, He'll
cause every one of us this morning, before we leave this building,
before we leave these chairs, to run to Christ. Run to Him.
Salvation's in hand. Alright, let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how we thank You
for this lesson, this lesson of the law that teaches us who
and what we are. to make us run to Christ, to
remove all hope of any goodness, any soundness, anything at all
good found in us, but that we would run to the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I pray that you this
morning would be our teacher. Don't let us just hear the words
of a man. Don't let us be influenced by
the words of a man, motivated by the words of a man, but Father,
be our teacher this morning. Apply this lesson to our hearts,
that we know who and what we are, that it remove all hope
in ourselves, that we would quit ever looking to the law to find
out anything, but cause us to look to the Lord Jesus Christ
and rest in Him. Father, for His glory, for the
glory of His name and the good of His people, we pray this blessing.