Let's open our Bibles again to
Ephesians chapter 2. When we began studying through
the different books of the Bible, I even then looked forward to
this study, the book of Ephesians. I just love this letter of the
Ephesians. I read it often. It's very encouraging
to me, instructive. In this letter, the apostle Paul
makes salvation in Christ. so clear, crystal clear. He begins,
we read that in chapter one, he begins showing us where salvation
begins. It begins with God's electing
love. He shows us redemption in Christ the Son. He shows us
regeneration by the Holy Spirit. He talks about the unity of all
believers, no matter where they come from, even if they're natural,
natural born enemies, Jew and Gentile. They all have unity. They're all together. They have
one heart, one faith, one Lord. And he talks about the application
of God's grace in our hearts by the new birth. And he gives
us examples of this truth that grace in the heart, Christ in
the heart, must affect the believers walk through this world. What
I want us to see this morning is the glory of salvation in
Christ, how that God saves and he glorifies dead sinners. The title of the message is From
Death to Glory. How can I get from death to glory? How can I get from death in Adam
to life in Christ? Well, first of all, if we're
going to understand how do I get from death to glory, we're going
to have to understand our death. We're going to have to understand
how is it that we became spiritually dead in sin. In verse 1 of chapter
2, Paul says, And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses
and sin. That phrase, hath he quickened,
you'll notice it's in italics. That's been added by the translators.
And I think that they didn't, that wasn't correct to add that.
I don't think they correctly conveyed the meaning of this
scripture. Now, certainly Paul is speaking
to save people. He's speaking to people who have
been born again. But that's not how we began life on this earth,
is it? No, we began life on this earth dead, spiritually dead. So let's read it the way Paul
originally wrote it. And you who were dead in trespasses
and sins. What Paul's telling us is that
all men, all men and women, boys and girls, adorable babies that
are born, we love, they're born into this world a spiritually
dead corpse. When he speaks of being dead
here, he's not talking of being newly dead, just recently died.
He means decayed, ugly, stinking and rotting dead flesh. And that
corpse, that dead, stinking, rotting corpse is offensive. It's offensive to the nose. If
you've ever smelled rotting flesh, it's offensive to the nose. A
dead corpse is offensive to the eyes. We bury somebody right
quick. In Mexico, they don't have the
embalming and different things like we have here. They've got
to bury that body in 24 hours because it's going to be offensive. Offensive to the smell, offensive
to the sight. We've got to put that thing in
the ground because it's tough to look at decaying, worm-infested
flesh. And that's what we are spiritually.
We're offensive. How is it that we became dead
and so offensive in God's sight? What all happened in Adam did.
Paul, we looked at this a couple weeks ago in Corinthians. He
told the Corinthians that in Adam, all died. In Adam, all
men and women, all his descendants died. When Adam sinned, you and
I sinned. When Adam sinned, he became guilty. So did we. We became guilty when
Adam sinned. And when Adam died, all of us
died to it. We died spiritually because Adam
is our representative. We were all in Adam at that time
because every one of us is going to descend from Adam. And when
we descended from Adam, we received his nature, didn't we? So not
only did Adam make us guilty, when Adam sinned, we received
a sin nature from Adam. He made us guilty and he also
gave us a nature of sin. And there's no denying that we're
born with this nature of sin. We show we have this sin nature,
that we're born with it, we come equipped with it. It's standard
equipment, this sin nature. And we show we have it in two
ways. First, we show this nature of sin, nature that loves sin,
because by nature we just naturally follow the way of Satan. Look
at verse 2. Wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. Now that verse shows us how horrible
sin is. Sin is not just a mistake we
made. You know, if we had time to think about it, I wouldn't
have done it. Sin is satanic. It's the opposite of God. In
the garden, our mother Eve was deceived by Satan, and we're
just like her. Our nature follows Satan's way,
his way of rebellion. It makes sense to us, just like
it made sense to Eve to eat that fruit. It was beautiful to the
eye, something to be desired, she ate it. Sin, rebellion, looks
beautiful to us. We follow it naturally. Looks
good, we want to have it. Now Satan is the prince of the
power of the air. God, for a time, for this time, has given Satan
permission to operate in this world. And we willingly follow
him. And that just shows you what
a horrible thing our sin nature is. It follows Satan. And all
of us are born with that nature. A believer, when we're born into
this world, is born with the exact same nature that the children
of obedience operate in right now. We're children of disobedience. We're not tricked into being
disobedient. No, we do it willingly. It's the way that we desire to
go. So first, we see our sin nature that is controlled by
Satan. And secondly, we see our sin
nature. It's a sinful, depraved nature because what does that
nature desire? It only desires sin. It never desires Christ. It desires
Sin, not righteousness. We're slaves to both sin and
to Satan. Look at verse three. Among whom
also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lust of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Now
that word conversation there is citizenship. Sin, is where
we lived. It's our citizenship. And we
liked it there. We weren't trying to move. No,
we liked it there. Because sin is something that
we do willingly. Paul says we fulfill the desires,
the lust of the flesh, everything that the flesh desires. And just
it's not just something we kind of want. It lust after it. It
needs it. Just like your body needs food
and water. And we're controlled by that
nature. so that we can't get enough sin.
The flesh can't get enough of it. We drink iniquity like water. We drink iniquity like a thirsty
man drinks water because that's what our flesh, what our nature
desires. You see, we can't only blame
Adam for making us guilty. Now, Adam did, without a doubt,
make us guilty, but we can't only blame him, can we? No, by
nature, we love sin. We follow after it. all we desire
so that we are guilty of every sin. Whatever sin it is you think
of, you and I are guilty of it because we've either done it
or we've thought about it. The desires of the flesh and
of the mind. The mind's thought about it.
The flesh has desired it. And what did our Lord tell us
about sin? When we desire something, when we think about it, we're
just as guilty as if we'd actually done it. And the only reason,
you may think, well, I haven't done all these horrible sins.
I haven't killed somebody. I haven't, you know, all the
different horrible sins you can think of. You know the only reason
we haven't acted on it? The only reason. God just hasn't
given us the opportunity to do it. If he ever puts us in the
opportunity, we'll do it. Because that's what we desire
by nature. So don't tell me. that salvation, sanctification,
somehow I can clean myself up and keep my salvation by just
quit sinning. I can't do it. If I've got to
wait for God to save me once I quit sinning, I don't have
any hope. That's all I can do is sin. And that makes us a child of
wrath. Not only do I feel wrath toward
God. Boy, the moment Adam took that
fruit, He quit loving God and started hating God, didn't he?
And that's the nature we have. I feel wrath toward God, but
even more than that, I'm a child of wrath because I deserve God's
wrath. Our Lord said, John 3, verse
36, He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the
wrath of God abideth upon him. That makes us children of wrath.
We deserve God's wrath because of our sin. So we're dead, aren't
we? We're dead in sin. The dead aren't
going to follow God. They're not able to follow God.
They're dead. The dead won't love God. They've got a nature
that hates God, not loves God. The dead aren't going to love
the gospel when they hear it. No, they'll hate it because they're
dead. And I'll tell you where that leaves us. All we're waiting
on is for this life to end and God to send us to hell. That's
what we deserve. And that's what God ought to
do. He ought to send us to hell and put us out of His sight,
just like we take a corpse that's dead and bury it out of our sight
because it would become offensive to us. By nature, in our sin,
what we deserve is for God to put us out of His sight, put
us in hell forever. Now, if it weren't for our second
point, this would be a mighty short message, wouldn't it? That's
where the story would end. If it weren't for God's mercy. Look here at the second point.
We deserve wrath, but God's merciful. But God, verse four, who is rich
in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us. Now, mercy is God
not giving us what we do deserve. We deserve wrath and condemnation,
don't we? But God doesn't give that wrath
to his people for this reason. He's already poured it out on
our substitute. In this phrase, but God, that's the hinge that
the whole gospel swings upon, but God. Eternal life swings
upon this hinge, but God. On this side, there's nothing
but death, but God. On this side, there's nothing
but life and forgiveness and peace. The door of salvation
swings upon this hinge, but God. We deserve to be cast into hell
forever. But God has saved His people
because of His eternal mercy and grace and love for His people.
You and I are dead in sin, but God gives life to His people.
You and I are disobedient, but God gives His people the obedience
of Christ. We're separated from God in Adam,
aren't we? But God has reconciled us to
Himself by Jesus Christ. We're born under the power of
Satan, under the power of the prince, under the power of the
heir. But God crushed Satan's head in Calvary, put him out
of business when he crushed his head and set us free. By nature,
we're children of wrath, children that hate God. But God, in the
new birth, gives a new nature, a new heart that loves God. By
nature, we're children of wrath. We deserve God's wrath. But God
poured out all of his wrath against the sin of his people upon Christ
our substitute, so that God has no fury left for any of his people,
because he poured it out upon our substitute. I'll give you
a couple examples of this from scripture. In the flood of Noah,
all men deserve to die. God said, all men are wicked. The thoughts and intents of the
man's heart, all men are just evil continually. of God. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Joseph. Remember how horribly
Joseph's brothers treated him? They sold him off into slavery
and told his father he's dead, got an animal's blood and put
on his coat of many colors. Oh, how horribly they sold their
brother into slavery. The fellas who ISIS descended
from are passing by on a bunch of camels and that's who they
sold their Your baby brother. You know the story. God raised
Joseph up to sit on a throne of Egypt. Those brothers hungry
came there looking for food. And Joseph told them, boy, thank
you Lord. You meant it for evil. You meant
to do this. But God meant it for good. But
God. David said in Psalm 73 verse
26, My flesh and my heart fails. Can you identify? My flesh and
my heart fails. But God is the strength of my
heart. Man, one day God sent his son
to this earth. God allowed man to get a hold
of him. One day, God allowed man to get a hold of him. And
man showed our hatred for Christ when we tortured him. Put him
to death and put him in a tomb. Peter said, at Pentecost, but
God raised him from the dead. Look at Romans chapter 5. Romans the 5th chapter, verse 6. For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die, yet perventure may be for
a good man, some would even dare to die. But God committeth his
love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, while we
were yet rebels, while we yet screamed our hatred of God, Christ
died for us. Aren't you glad God's ways are
not man's ways? But God commended His love toward
us, and while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He died to
put away the sin of His people. And that's the gospel we preach
in. This is the gospel we preach over and over and over again.
Because Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3 verse 6, I planted Paul's water,
but God gave the increase. That's why we keep faithfully
preaching God's gospel, because He's going to give the increase.
Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10. One more scripture on this point,
but God, this is a good scripture for this congregation to read
at this time under trial, pressure, sorrow. First Corinthians 10
verse 13. Now you get ahold of this. There has no temptation taken
you, but such as is common demand. but God is faithful. He will
not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able, but will
with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may
be able to bear, but God. Oh, that's a sweet phrase, isn't
it? You see, salvation is not, well,
I'm a sinner. I've done some things that aren't
good, but I, but I decided to accept Jesus as my personal savior.
Salvation is not, I'm a sinner, but I've decided to let Jesus
into my heart. No. Salvation is not that at
all. The experience of salvation is
this. I'm a sinner. I'm a child of
wrath. I'm a rebel. But God is merciful. But God. I'm dead in sin. I can't. I don't lack the ability. I don't
have the desire to come to God. But God is the one who decided. to save me by His grace. And
that's exactly what He did. See, salvation is not man's decision
at all, is it? But God. Salvation is God's decision,
what He has determined in eternity past to do for His people. And
in eternity past, God determined mercy for His people. We deserve
wrath, but God, the character of God is rich in mercy. God is wealthy. in mercy. He abounds in mercy. So there's
enough mercy. There are plenty of mercy for
every sinner who needs mercy. He's rich in mercy. He gives
it richly and freely. He can afford to. He's got an
ocean full of it. He's rich in mercy. We deserve
God's wrath, but God is rich in mercy. We're children of wrath,
but God God loves His people anyway. There's mercy and there's
love. God has love for sinners. He
loves His people with an eternal love, an everlasting, unchanging
love. God loves His people, Paul says,
with a great love, a great love. God's love for His people is
so great, we can't find the ends of it. We can't find the links
of it. We can't find the breadth of
it. We can't find the depths of it. His love for his people
is a great love. You think of the love of God
for sinners. It had to be great love, love
that doesn't have a bottom, love that doesn't have an end, that
would move the father to send his only begotten son, the son
of his love, to be the savior of sinners. And if he's going
to do it, he's going to have to be made flesh. He can have
to humble himself to be made what the creature is, flesh. Only love, only great love would
prompt the father to make his son endure such humiliation.
And the son, he had great love for his people. It was great
love that moved the son to become a man, to be made under his very
own law, to work out a righteousness, to obey the law and work out
a righteousness that he'd give to his people. Try to imagine
how humiliating it was for the lawgiver to have to become the
law keeper, to be made subject to his own law. He did that because
of his great love for his people. Indeed, in great love, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, that God had determined an eternity past
to save a people. And they determined that in order
for those elect to be saved, Christ the son is going to have
to pay their sin debt. He's going to have to pay it
by making their sin his. The holy son of God is going
to have to be made sin. And he's going to have to pay
for that sin. He's going to have to satisfy justice for that sin
by suffering and dying in the place of God's elect to put their
sin away. Greater love hath no man than
this. that a man lay down his life for his friends. Yes, our
sin is great. It's willful. It's horrible. It's the depths of depravity. What great sin. And I promise
you, you just imagine your sin. How much ever we imagine it,
I promise you, it's much greater than that. But no matter how
great our sin is, God's mercy and God's love for His people
is greater than all of our sin. Mercy, great and rich in mercy,
great in love. Thirdly, we're born dead in sin.
God's rich in mercy, great in love for his people, and God
in great power gives life to his people. He gives life to
dead sinners through the new birth. Verse five. Even when
we were dead in sins, have quickened us together with Christ. By grace,
you're saved. Now what does this mean, Paul
says, we're quickened together with Christ. Well, first of all,
it means this, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the representative
of his people. So everything that the Lord Jesus
did as a man, his people did anyway. When Christ lived on
this earth, he obeyed God's law perfectly, didn't he? He just
went through his life and in thought in deed and heart and
desire. He was the opposite of us. He
kept God's law perfectly as a man. And when he did that, all of
his people did it in him. When Christ lived and he obeyed
God's law, so did we. So that God looks at us and says,
you're righteous. You've obeyed the law because
what Christ did, we did in him. And then when Christ went to
the cross, And he died to satisfy the law. The law demands death
for sin. So Christ, our representative,
died. When he died, all of his people died in him. So the law
is satisfied. If you're in Christ, if Christ
died for you, the law is not looking for you anymore. The
law doesn't have a wanted poster out for you and seeking to find
you and destroy you because the law is satisfied. You've already
died in Christ. And then when Christ rose again,
everyone he died for, all those who are in him, we were raised
in him because Christ is our representative. So we're quickened
together with Christ. When he was raised, so were his
people. But secondly, it means this,
that we're given, God's people are given the life of Christ.
We're given the nature of Christ in the new birth. Adam, way back
there in the garden, He made us guilty by his sin, didn't
he? Well, in the same way, Christ made his people righteous through
his obedience. When Adam sinned, he gave us
a sin nature. We receive the nature of our
father and our natural birth. In the same way, when we're born
again, we receive the nature of our heavenly father. We receive
a holy nature, the nature of Christ. So now, the dead in Adam,
have been given life in Christ. Life through the new birth. And
I'll tell you, the only explanation there is for that is grace. For by grace are you saved. So
God's given his people, he's given life to dead sinners. But
you know, he doesn't stop there. Fourthly, God has glorified his
people. And I said that right. Has glorified. Already. Look at verse six. and
hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. Now, you notice Paul, you know,
I wasn't a great English student, but I believe I can understand
the difference between least present and past tense. He's
writing past tense there, isn't he? He's writing like this has
already happened. And we think, well, I haven't
been raised up to sit in heavenly places. I'm still walking around
down here on the earth. I have been raised up to sit
in heavenly places. I'm sitting right now in the pew here. What
is he talking about? Is Paul talking about an experience
that he's had that I haven't? No, it's not what he's talking
about. Paul did have experiences we'll not have, but that's not
what he's talking about. Paul is talking about the experience
of every believer in Christ. Just like when the Lord Jesus
was obedient to the law, you who believe are obedient in him.
The Lord Jesus died to satisfy the law. Every believer died
in Him. When He was raised, we were raised
in Him. In the exact same way, we're
in Him. When Christ descended back on
high and He sat down on the right hand of God, He sat down because
the work was finished. We who believe sat down in Him. You see, it's already done. The
mercy of God and the love of God mean something. If God has
determined mercy for you, God has set his love upon you, then
you will, without a doubt, spend eternity in glory in the presence
of the Savior. That's so certain. That glorification
of God's people in eternity past, before the world was ever created,
God said, I'm going to choose a people and I'm going to put
them in my Son. Before the world was ever created,
In the mind of God, it was done. That's how sure this salvation
is for God's people. It's already done. God sees his
people as already glorified in Christ, even though we're sitting
here in sinful flesh. I'll show you that Romans chapter
eight. This isn't the only place Paul speaks of this in the past
tense. Romans chapter eight, beginning
in verse 28. For we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, then he also called. And whom he called,
then he also justified. And whom he justified, then he
also glorified. Now Paul is speaking in the past
tense there, isn't he? It's already done, already glorified
in Christ Jesus. Now that being true, what are
we going to say? Verse 31. What shall we then
say to these things? If God be for us, if God's purpose
and mercy and grace and love, if God be for us, who can be
against us? If God be for us, nothing can
stop our ultimate salvation and glorification. God has already
glorified His people. We're born dead in Adam. God
set His mercy upon us. He gave us life in the new birth,
and He's already glorified us in Christ. So here's the fifth
thing. Here's why God did all that.
Here's why every sinner that God chose, every sinner that
Christ died for, they will without a doubt be taken from death to
glory, because God did it all for his glory. God purposed all
this. He's accomplished all this so
that in eternity, Christ, his son, will get all the glory.
Verse 7, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding
riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Heaven's not going to be a permanent
vacation for everybody there. We're not going to rest and float
around on a cloud playing a harp and drinking a cold drink. Heaven
is going to be God's trophy caves. Heaven is going to be where God
is going to display to the universe his trophies of grace. God's
going to say, look what I did. Look at these who were born.
They were born dead, stinking, rotting corpses. They were born
following the way of Satan. They were born fulfilling the
lust of their sinful flesh and their sinful mind. But look what
I did. I made them righteous. They were
born unrighteous and adamant. I made them righteous. Look what
I did. All that sin and rebellion, I
washed it away through the blood of the sacrifice of my son. I
gave them life. I sent them a preacher. He preached
the gospel to them. You know what I did? I gave them
faith to believe it. And they looked at my son, they
cling to my son. And while they were on their
journey below, I brought them through every danger, every toil,
and every sin. I protected them at every turn
to bring them the eternal glory. And we who will be there, you
know what we're going to say? We're going to say he's right.
He's absolutely right. He gets all the glory. Look at
Revelations chapter 4. That's going to be our song.
We're going to sing it. We're going to find so much joy
in what God's done for His people. We're going to sing it. Revelation 4 verse 11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things
and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. Look across
the page at chapter 5 verse 9. And they sung a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof,
for Thou hast slain and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood,
out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation, and hast
made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on
the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts and
the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten
thousand and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy
is the lamb that was slain to receive power, riches, and wisdom,
and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every
creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the
earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them,
heard I saying, blessing, and honor, and glory, and power,
be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the lamb
forever and ever. And the four beasts said, amen. So be it. And four and twenty
elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth forever and ever. That's God's trophy case, where
Christ gets all the glory and not one person there is going
to say, look what I did. I've worked so hard down there
on earth, sent all this material up to build me a big mansion.
Look what I did. Not one person. Not one person. Every one of
them is going to say, Oh, look what Christ my Savior did. Look
what He did for me. Here's the thing about trophies.
Trophies never boast about what they did. Trophies always boast
about what the champion did. And that's what we'll do in glory.
The trophies of God's grace and glory are going to say, look
what Christ my champion did. Look what Christ my Savior did,
how He brought me from death. the glory here at his feet. Scripture
tells us that we'll reign with Christ in glory. Not one person
is going to say, look at me. I'm reigning now. Look at all
those people down there in hell who had me under their boot here.
Now I'm reigning. Not one person is going to say
that. Everybody there is going to say, look at our king. Look at that one who sits upon
the throne. Look at our Savior, the one,
the Lamb as it had been slain, sitting on the throne. Let's
sing His praise. How He was crucified for me.
How He set His eternal love and mercy on a wretch like me. How He cleansed me from all my
sin. How He gave me His life. How
He brought me here to worship Him. Tell you what I want to
do with my eternity. That's what heaven is. It's His
trophy case. And that's why God's going to
get all the glory for it. Because He did it all. I'll tell you
the reason God's so merciful. He's merciful to dead sinners. He's merciful to the very worst
so that we see how truly glorious God's mercy is. The reason that
God gives life to dead sinners. God never gives life to those
who are injured. and limping around. God never,
God never even gives life to those who are on spiritual life
support. God gives life to dead sinners,
stinking, rotting, decaying dead sinners so that the power of
his glory, life giving glory will be seen. God created hell
for the glory of his justice and God created heaven for the
glory of his grace in Christ Jesus. One day, we're gonna sing
that new song. But really, it's gonna be an
old song. It really will. It's gonna be
a song God taught us here on earth. Now we'll sing it there
with a new heart, with a new body, in perfection. But don't you desire to start
singing it now? When I was a little fella, and
I couldn't form words very good, my mother would play You know,
when she plays some of the hymns, I like to sing along. You know,
I couldn't sing the words very well, but I think it was good
to start singing them then, don't you? And now we sing. Mike comes up here and leads
us and it helps. You know, he can drown us out.
I can't sing very good. But I like to sing his praises,
don't you? I think we ought to start now.
What mercy, grace, and love and power our Savior has put on display
for His people. Save His people from their sins.
Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how can we ever thank
You for the unspeakable, the blessing
we can't even put into human language. That you set your eternal
love and mercy and grace and care upon your people. To take them out of the fallen
lump of Adam's sinful, wretched, dead humanity and put them into
your son. That you send your own precious,
darling son to humble himself to be made a man. to be made
a servant, to do for your people what we could never do for ourselves.
And that you'd send him to the cross, that you'd make him sin
for your people, that you'd make him to bear all of the sin of
all of your people, and that you'd deal with your son in strict,
absolute justice, to put away the sin of your people. And that
you'd send us a preacher that you'd send us a gospel preacher,
preach your word, that you'd give us faith to believe. A miracle
of grace that anybody believes this gospel. It's only because
you've given us faith to believe. Father, we thank you. Until such
time as you call us home in glory where we'll sing your praises
perfectly, where we'll see you face to face. Father, until that
time, we pray you'd make us faithful. to the cause of Christ here on
earth, that you make us faithful to preach your gospel. Your people
are going to believe it. This is the gospel you use to
call out your people. This is the gospel you use to
reveal Christ to them. This is the gospel you use to
feed, edify, and comfort your people. Make us faithful to preach
it. Make us faithful to look to and
preach Christ and Christ alone. And until such time as you call
us home, Help us to sing your praise. Oh, you're worthy of
all of our praise and adoration. Give us a heart of thanksgiving
and praise and cause us to sing your praises as you ought to
be praised. For it's in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ we pray and we give thanks.