Let's open our Bibles again to
John chapter 18. I have a very important message
this morning. Not like they're all not important.
Any message from the Word of God is important. The Lord just
laid a particular burden on my heart about this message. that
He would bless it to our hearts, that He would enable me to present
it in very clear terms. I want every man and woman, boy
and girl, here this morning to, as carefully as you can, listen
to this message. If God will give us ears to hear,
we'll understand the gospel by the time I'm done here in less
than 40 minutes. We're going to understand how
God saves sinners if He gives us ears to hear this message.
I've entitled the message, The Truth of Substitution. I have
four points. First, the truth of the Savior.
Second, the truth about man. Third, the truth about who God
saves. And fourth, the truth about how God saves sinners.
Now verse 37, our Savior tells Pilate, he's come to bear witness
unto the truth. Pilate therefore said unto him,
art thou a king then? Jesus answered, thou sayest that
I'm a king. To this end was I born, and for
this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. Now
the Lord Jesus came to bear witness of the truth, the truth of who
God is, that God is holy. God is just. God loves sinners. He came to bear truth to the
wisdom of God. He came to bear the truth of
the justice and the grace of God. We could never known the
truth of those things without our Lord Jesus Christ. And he
came to bear witness to the truth of who man is. We see that man
really is dead in sin. When we see Christ, the only
perfect man to ever live. He came to bear truth about the
scriptures. Now at this time, all the people
have is Old Testament scriptures. Well, none of those scriptures,
Old Testament or New Testament, none of them, not one single
solitary verse of the scriptures is written to give us the law.
Not one verse of the scripture is written so we have a law that
we can keep and earn our own righteousness, not one verse.
There's not a single verse with the purpose written in God's
word to tell us how to live, not one. The scriptures are written
to point us to Christ. The law was given to show man
that he can't keep the law, that he's a sinner through and through.
So we must look to Christ to do for us what we cannot do for
ourselves. That's the truth of the scriptures.
We never would have known that if Christ didn't come and tell
us and show us, be the fulfillment of all those scriptures. Then
we looked at this last week. Christ came to bear the truth
about his sovereign kingship. Christ is king of all. And then
this is our subject this morning. Christ came to bear truth, witness
to the truth of how God saves sinners. God saves sinners by
grace. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Now grace has something to do
with truth. because grace and truth came
by Jesus Christ. And when we learn the truth of
substitution, we're going to see how grace and truth are tied
together. So here's our first point, the
truth about the Savior. Verse 38, Pilate saith unto him,
what is truth? And when he had said this, he
went out again unto the Jews and saith unto them, I find in
him no fault at all. Now Pilate says, what is truth?
What he's saying is, is there really just one truth? Or is
truth just as man perceives it? You know, one man thinks this,
and one thinks this, and they're both truth to them. No, that's
not the case. There's one truth. There's only
one truth. And the question Pilate should
be asking is not what is truth, but who is truth. Here's truth
standing right in front of Pilate. And Pilate is asking him, This
truth you perceive, this truth you came to bear witness of,
is it really worth dying for? The only way you and I will ever
see the truth of God is in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He must die so that we see the truth of God. There's no other
way for it to come. And the judge in this case is
Pilate. And he went out and said, pronounced his sentence, what
everybody knows to be true. There's no fault, there's no
sin, there's no speck of a weakness, a bad spot, nothing. There's no fault in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus lived a life of
absolute perfection in what he did, in what he thought, in motive,
He was perfect in word, deed, thought, perfect holiness. Look
at 1 Peter 1. Pilate found no fault in the
Lord Jesus Christ because there is none. 1 Peter 1 verse 18. For as much as you know, You're
not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. He's perfect. Look in 1 Peter
2, verse 22. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. He's perfect. Now 1 John 3, 1 John 3 verse 5. And you know
that he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no
sin. The Lord Jesus Christ had no
sin. He wasn't even acquainted with
any sin. And everybody knew it. The angels knew it. The angel
that came to tell Mary that she was with child called that child
in her womb that holy thing without blemish. The demons knew it. Mark chapter one, that man possessed
with the demons, the Lord came up to him and those demons said,
I know who you are. You're the holy one of God. The demons knew he was without
blemish. Judas knew it. In Matthew chapter 27, after
he'd betrayed the Lord and he saw the Lord was condemned, he'd
come back, he'd want to give him the money back. You know
why? He told him, I betrayed innocent
blood. This man's innocent. There's
no sin in him at all. The Lord gave the dying thief
eyes to see it. He told that other, they were both mocking
the Lord at one point. Then this fella quit. He quit
mocking. This fella didn't. And the thief
had been silent for a while. He told the other thief, you
know, we ought to close our mouth. We're getting what we deserve.
This man, this man in the middle, he'd done nothing amiss. Perfectly
sinless. That centurion who watched our
Lord die, maybe he was supervising the whole affair. In Luke 23
verse 47, after our Lord gave up the ghost, he said, certainly
this man was a righteous man. There's no sin in him. That's
why Pilate could find no fault in him. Look at John chapter
14. Pilate couldn't find any fault
in him. But you know, people greater than Pilate had tried
to find fault in him before, and they couldn't either. Satan
could find no fault in him. In John 14 verse 30, Hereafter
I will not talk much with you, for the prince of this world
cometh and hath nothing in me. Satan himself found nothing in
our Lord. Look over in Acts chapter 13. Well, Satan's evil and wicked,
Pilate's a heathen. Neither one of them could find
any fault in our Lord. You, the Pharisees, could find
no fault in him either. Acts 13, verse 28. And though they found no cause
of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be
slain. They desired him to be slain even though they couldn't
pin one single solitary charge on him. He's innocent, perfectly
sinless. And this is the first clue to
my second point about who man really is. You'd think that man,
mankind, would love the perfect, holy Son of God who never did
anything wrong, who never did anything but good and help people,
who never did anything but tell people the truth. But man hates
Christ in all of his perfection. That's our second point, that's
the truth about man. Look back in our text, verse
39. But ye have a custom that I shall release unto you one
at the Passover. Will ye therefore that I release unto you the king
of the Jews? Then cried they all again saying, not this man,
but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. Now
man is the opposite of Christ. There's no sin in Christ, nothing
but righteousness in him. Well, there's no righteousness
in man, nothing but sin in man. And our nature is pictured by
all these different people we see around the cross at the crucifixion
of our Lord. Pilate knew the Lord Jesus was
innocent. He knew it. Yet he scourged him
anyway. Now scourging, I mean, whipping
a man is bad enough. But you know how what a Roman
scourging was, in that whip was all these pieces of rock and
broken glass and pottery and they'd rake it across the back
of the victim, just tear the skin off of his back. Pilate
did that to a man he knows is innocent. I mean, how wicked
is that? Then Pilate allowed Christ to
be crucified, even though he knew he was innocent. Look at
Matthew chapter 27. Pilate left no doubt, he knows
Jesus of Nazareth is innocent, but he crucified him anyway. Matthew 27 verse 24. When Pilate saw that he could
prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water
and washed his hands before the multitude saying, I'm innocent
of the blood of this just person. He's just, see you too, crucify
me if you want. How wicked is that? A judge to
put a man to death, even though he knows he's innocent. That's
the very definition of wicked. That's you and me by nature,
how wicked we are. And look in Luke chapter 23.
Pilate knew the Lord Jesus was innocent, but he sent him to
be judged of Herod anyway. I'd never really seen this before,
like I saw it this week. Luke 23, verse seven. And as soon as he, Pilate, knew
that he belonged under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to
Herod, who himself was also at Jerusalem at that time. Now,
when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad, for he was desirous
to see him of a long season, because he heard many things
of him, and he had hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.
Now he's happy to say, hey, oh, this is wonderful. I've been
wanting to see this man. Then he questioned with him in
many words, but answered him nothing. And the chief priests
and scribes stood and vehemently accused him. And Herod, with
his men of war, set him at naught and mocked him and arrayed him
in a gorgeous robe and sent him again to Pilate. At the same
day, Pilate and Herod were made friends together, for before
they were at enmity, between themselves. Herod mocked and
tortured a man he was happy to see. I'd hate to be the guy he
wasn't happy to see, wouldn't you? And then Pilate and Herod
became friends. They hadn't been friends before,
but now they became friends. Why? Because they could agree
in their hatred of the Lord Jesus Christ. They could agree they
hate Christ no matter what other differences they may have had,
they could agree on this. We hate Christ. that they hated
Christ because of who they are. Not because Christ did anything
wrong. We've already established that. It's because of the wickedness
of their nature. You see, man is all sin. We are
nothing but sin. Our every thought is not just
controlled by sin. Our every thought is sin. Our
every action is not just controlled by sin. Our every action is sin
because that's what we are by nature. And that means that man
by nature Hates God's son. Now, by nature, that includes
you and me. This is the nature that we're born with. You think
I'm taking that too far? Do you really do you think I'm
taking that too far? Look in Luke chapter 23. You
may still be there. Luke 23 verse 20. This is man's
nature. Verse 20 pilot, therefore willing
to release Jesus. spake again to them. But they
cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. And he said unto them the
third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause
of death in him. I will therefore chastise him,
and let him go. And they were instant with loud voices, requiring
that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of
the chief priest prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence, that
it should be as they required. And he released unto He released
unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison,
whom they desired. But he delivered Jesus to their
will." That's man's will right there. To crucify, to kill the
Son of God, to be done with him. In Matthew chapter 27, verse
20, the chief priest persuaded the people to ask Barabbas and
destroy Jesus. It wasn't just good enough to
kill him. Destroy him. That's man's will. Our will is
to prefer sin rather than holiness. We love darkness rather than
light. We prefer a man like Barabbas
to the Lord Jesus Christ because that's our nature. That's the
truth of man. Third is this. The truth about
who God saves Despite this truth about man that applies to every
one of us, to every son of Adam, God in his mercy is going to
save somebody. Who's he going to save? I can tell you, God
saves sinners, real bonafide sinners who are the worst of
the worst. God only saves the chief sinners,
only. Now all men are sinners, but
all men don't know they're sinners. No one will ever admit that they're
a sinner apart from God's grace, but God saves everyone without
exception who knows they're a sinner. And that's what's pictured in
our text. Look at the back of our text, John 18 verse 40. Then
cried they all again saying, not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. Barabbas
was an infamous criminal. Matthew calls him a notable prisoner. Luke tells us that Barabbas was
guilty of insurrection against the government. He's also guilty
of murder. John tells us Barabbas was a
robber. It just didn't mean he didn't
sneak in and steal something. He took it by force. He'd knock
people in the head, you know, and take what the, he couldn't
just take what they had, they had to cause them injury too.
Violent man. And Barabbas is a picture of
everyone God saves. Everyone God saves is a notable
prisoner. Ask them. They'll all tell you,
I'm the chief of sinners. Everyone God saves is guilty
of insurrection against God's government. If it were up to
us, to our will, we'd take God off the throne. We'd be our own
God, as that was Adam's problem in the garden, and it's our problem
today. We'd take God off the throne if we could. And even
now, after God saved you, you've got to admit that's still the
desire of your old natural heart. That old natural heart is unchanged. And we'd take God off the throne
if we could. We're guilty of insurrection.
Everyone God saves is guilty of murder. We're guilty of murdering
God's son. The cry of our heart is crucify
Him. That's the cry of our heart.
Destroy Him and give us Barabbas. We're guilty of murdering God's
Son. We're guilty of the murder of
others. Our Lord said to be angry with someone without a cause.
That's to be guilty of murder. I mean, you think it in your
heart, you're guilty. We're murderers. And everyone
God saves is a robber. We've robbed God of His glory.
We're guilty of robbing God of His glory every time we don't
give God credit for everything that happens. Guilty of robbing
Him. We try to establish our own righteousness,
earn our own salvation, we're robbing Christ of His glory.
And we've robbed our own souls of life and happiness by insisting
on rebelling against Christ. We're guilty of being robbers.
Now look in Mark 15. Is there any hope for Barabbas? Today, I'm very afraid we take
Brabus and we put him in a intervention program, see if he can't rehabilitate
himself. Can we rehabilitate ourselves? Mark 15 verse 7. And there was
one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made
insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the resurrection. Where was Barabbas? He lay bound. He can't get out of it. There's
no way of escape. Barabbas is helpless. That's
you and me. We're bound by sin. We can't
escape sin. We can't quit sinning. We can't be rehabilitated. We
cannot escape the results of sin, which is death. We're sinners
and we're helpless to do anything about it. Barabbas is so sinful. Other sinful men, these men crucifying
our Lord, they're wicked men. Other wicked men have determined
the only thing we can do with Barabbas is put him to death.
He deserves to die, and if we don't put him to death, he's
going to turn our whole world into hell. Guilty. That's us by nature. The only thing God can do with
this flesh is put it to death. And if God doesn't put this flesh
to death, we're going to turn everywhere we go into hell. But
this is who God saves. I mean, can you believe this
awful, horrible description? Yet this is who God saves. That's
the truth of our Savior. That's the truth about man. And
that's the truth about who God saves. Now here's our fourth
point. The truth about how God saves
sinners. God saves sinners by substitution. By Christ dying as a substitute
for his people. It's no accident that this scene
is taking place at the time of the Passover. You remember the
first Passover? They're the children of Israel. We're down there in bondage to
Egypt. Pharaoh wouldn't let them go. God came and told Moses,
Moses, I'm going to work one more miracle, one more plague,
and Pharaoh's going to let you go. They're going to thrust you
out. He said, Moses, take a lamb. I'm going to pass through the
land, beat you, and I'm going to kill every firstborn in every
house in the whole land, man and beast. I'm going to kill
every firstborn. But you take a lamb, you set it up for four
days, you watch it, you make sure that lamb's perfect, doesn't
have any blemish, no spot. At the point in time, you kill
that lamb, you slit its throat, catch the blood in a basin, you
put that blood on the doorpost, go in and shut the door. You
roast that lamb and you eat it with fire. Remember, roast it
with fire and you eat it. With your loins girt, your shoes
on your feet, you're leaving. And everywhere I see that blood,
I'll pass over you. I won't kill the firstborn if
the lamb died in his place. That lamb died in every home,
every Israelite home, that lamb died as a substitute for that
firstborn. And that firstborn lived because
there was death in that home, the death of the substitute.
Well, here's the last Passover. Christ our Passover is being
sacrificed as a substitute for His people. And His people are
going to live because Christ dies as their substitute. Now
who is Christ a substitute for? He's a substitute for sinners.
Christ died for sinners. Christ died that sinners can
have eternal life. And that's what Obravis is. He's
a picture of that in our text. Now I wondered about this and
nobody seems to know, where'd this custom start? At the Passover,
we're gonna release a prisoner to you. Where'd that custom start?
I don't know. But I know why that custom started
for this Passover. That custom began how many years
ago for this Passover. So you and I would have a picture
of salvation in Christ the sinner substitute. Now you can imagine
How Brabus's day began. He tied, bound up, laying on
the floor of a cold, dark, damp dungeon. There he lays with all
his gang, all those that made insurrection. He knew judgment
day would come. He'd been tried. He'd been sentenced.
Today's the day. Sentence is going to be carried
out. The night before, he hadn't slept much. I'm sure he didn't,
because he knew what was going to happen. He knew that he would
be crucified, that he would be taken, laid on this hunk of wood,
whatever shape it was, I don't know. But I know that nails are
going to be driven through his hands and through his feet. That's
painful. And then they're going to pick
that pole up and set it down in a hole in the ground. And
his body is going to be wracked with pain. And there he's going
to hang, naked, people making fun of him in just horrible,
awful pain. And more than likely, he's going
to hang there for days, suffering. When they nailed a person to
a cross, often it took days for that victim to die. He's going
to die a long, slow, painful death. There he was that morning,
laying on that cold floor. He could hear that crowd outside.
They're bloodthirsty. He could hear their cries. Now
he couldn't hear Pilate's questions. Pilate's just one man. He couldn't
hear his questions. All he could hear was that crowd
shout, give us Barabbas. Crucify him. Let him be destroyed. That's all he could hear. He
could hear that crowd. They're a big crowd and they're
yelling at the top of their lungs. He could hear them. Fear running
up and down his spine. He heard those guards start walking
down the hall. Maybe he heard their body armor
clanging. One of them was walking with a spear. He heard that spear
clanking on the floor as he walked. He heard that jailer, the keys
begin to rattle on his side. He took them out. He had them
on a string, took those keys out, stuck it in the door. He heard that lock turn, that
heavy door swing open. And fear gripped Barabbas' heart. That guard walked over to him,
I'm sure roughly, picked him up, untied him, shoved him in
the back. He said, go on. Get out of here. You're free to go. Brabus says, what? He said, you
heard me. Get out of here. You're free
to go. Guard probably upset. He's probably looking forward
to torturing this fella. And Brabus says, but why? Why are
you, is this some trick? Why are you telling me go free? The judge said you're to be released.
And this man Jesus of Nazareth is going to be crucified. Can you imagine Brabus walking
out? He comes out into the sunlight. He hadn't seen sunlight in a
good while. And Brabus could have written that song we love
so well. I was guilty. Nothing to say, no defense. And
they were coming to take me away. But then a voice from heaven
was heard that said, let him go. Take me instead. Oh, I should have been crucified.
I'm the one who should have suffered and died. I should have hung
on the cross in disgrace. But Jesus, God's son, took my
place. Those rusty nails that they used
on our Lord, they were meant for me. but Christ took them
and he let me go free. How does God save sinners? What's
pictured here? It's substitution. By Christ
taking the place of his people. The innocent takes the place
of the guilty and the guilty goes free. The innocent dies
and the guilty goes free. Not exactly. Matter of fact,
not at all. That would be unjust. For the
guilty to go free and the innocent to be taken, that would be wicked. We already saw how wicked it
is for the judge to send a man to death even though he knows
he's innocent. That would be wicked. It'd be just as wicked
for the judge to let a man go free when he knows he's guilty. God's the righteous judge. He's
not a wicked judge. That's not the way God saves
sinners. Then how can sinners go free?
Here's the truth of substitution. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
become a man and earn a perfect righteousness as a man for himself. He's already holy. He's already
righteous. He didn't need to earn a righteousness
for himself. He earned that righteousness as a representative of His people.
He earned that righteousness so He could impute that righteousness
to His people. Christ made His people not guilty. He made them guilty or innocent
of every charge because His righteousness, which is perfect, imputed to
us, is our personal righteousness before God. And then Christ was
made guilty of the sin of His people. That's not pretend. He
was made sin for us. God did what only God can do. He made the Holy Son of God sin
for His people, and He made His people righteous. My sin, in
all of its horribleness, became the Lord Jesus', and He
became guilty of that sin, and His perfect righteousness became
mine. So that God says I'm innocent. Now the great transactions taking
place. The innocent goes free. And the
guilty suffers the full wrath of God against sin. God said
I will by no means clear the guilty. You ever wondered what
that means? I will by no means clear the
guilty. It means that God's going to
have to make the guilty innocent. And that's what he did when he
imputed the righteousness of his son to his people. When God
forgives sin, what does scripture say? He's faithful and just to
forgive us of our sin. He's just to forgive us. God
in justice cleanses us from all unrighteousness because he made
his people innocent in the righteousness of Christ. When God saves sinners,
He does it in justice. God didn't lay aside His justice.
He's not the wicked judge. God is a just God and a Savior. He saves His people in justice
through the death of the substitute. Look back in Luke chapter 23
again. The death of the substitute demands that the sinner go free. The justice of God demands the
sinner go free based upon the death of our substitute. Luke
23 verse 16, I will therefore chastise and
release him for of necessity, necessity, he must release unto
them, must release one unto them at the feast. This is a necessity. God's justice demands the sinner
go free. if Christ is our substitute.
How does God save sinners? Substitution. How does God save
sinners? Sovereignly. Christ chose who
He would die for. He didn't die for everyone. He
didn't die to give everybody a chance. Christ died for His
elect. He died to save His elect. Christ chose to die for gravis. Brabus's gang was not spared.
Maybe those two thieves crucified on either side of our Lord, they
may have been in Brabus's gang. They weren't spared. But Brabus
was the ringleader. Brabus was the leader of this
bunch. The chief of the sinners lived because Christ died and
paid his debt. That's the truth about substitution. And the truth of substitution
gives even the chief of sinners a good hope by grace. A substitution
doesn't give good folks any hope. Substitution gives sinners hope. Now, I'm at home. I come out
of study. Janet and I frequently, always, we talk about the message.
I tell her I got it. I believe the Lord's giving me
a message. She said, what is it? I tell her. She asked me
this question. Do you think Barabbas is one
of the Lord's own? Dale and I were talking about
this Wednesday night. Could Barabbas be one of the Lord's own? I don't
know. Scripture gives us absolutely
no clue. But I sure hope so. I sure hope
so. Because that gives hope to me.
I sure hope so. I can imagine how Barabbas' day
started. And I can imagine, it's just
my imagination now, I don't have any scripture for this, but I
can imagine how Brabus's day ended this day. He came out of
that prison. This big goes on. If anybody's
interested in this, Brabus is. And he went and watched. He watched
the Lord Jesus suffer and die in his place. And old Brabus
had to think, That should be me, I'm guilty,
that should be me. Could Barabbas have watched the
Lord Jesus suffer and die in his place and not have some questions? He had to have some questions.
Maybe he looked around and somebody standing by there, he said, who's
this Jesus fella? He said, well, he's the man there
on the middle cross. He said, what do you know about him? Who
is he? What can you tell me about him? Well, I don't know much. I don't know much about him.
Heard some things, but I don't know much. But now he's got some
disciples. They all run off, but a couple
of them come back. He's got some, there they are. John, Peter,
there they are. Maybe Brabus went and found them.
And after that crucifixion, what a story. Peter or James or John
could tell him, this man was the son of God. I don't know
if that happened or not. I'd like to hope it did. And
if it did, you know what drew Barabbas to Christ? It was Christ
being lifted up. That's what our Lord said in
John chapter 12, verse 32. He said this would happen. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all unto me." That word means in italics.
The translator should not have added that. I will draw all.
You could put, I'll draw all sinners. I'll draw all Barabbases. That's the people I'll draw to
me. Why was Barabbas drawn to the Lord Jesus? Because he was
lifted up as his substitute. And my friends, this is the truth.
All men are sinners who deserve eternal damnation. But in His
mercy and grace, in His wisdom, God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, to be the substitute for sinners. He sent Him to be
the substitute for God's elect, those He chose to save. And those
elect, every one of them, they're saved because Christ, our substitute,
died in our place. He was made to be guilty of the
sin of His elect. And He shed His blood to put
the sin of His people away. And those elect are saved through
the substitutionary death of Christ. That's the truth. This
is also the truth. You come to Christ for salvation.
Now come to Him. And if you come to Him for mercy
and for grace, for salvation, for your sinful, helpless, wretched
soul, He will never cast you out. And you'll find out, oh,
I came because he drew me. Oh, I came because he was lifted
up as my substitute. But you come, you come because
you're a sinner in need of the Savior and he'll not cast you
out. That's the truth of substitution. Alright, I hope the Lord will
bless that. Let's bow in prayer. Our father. We bow before you
in thanksgiving, not even knowing how to thank
you for the unspeakable gift of your son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
to be the substitute for sinners, to bear our sin and our guilt,
and to suffer the full wrath of God, to drink the dregs of
the cup of God's wrath dry. so that there is no fury left
for anyone that Christ died for. How we thank you for righteousness,
that you've given us freely the imputed righteousness of our
Lord Jesus Christ that makes us accepted. For we stand perfect
before your all-seeing eye. Father, we're thankful. We're
thankful that you've given us this gospel to preach, this gospel
to believe, preserved it, protected it here for these many years.
And Father, I pray that you continue in your mercy and your grace,
your goodness to your people, to continue the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ to be preached from this pulpit, that this would
be a place where a Barabbas can come. Guilty, vile, deserving
your wrath. but receiving mercy at your hand
because of Christ our substitute. Father, bless your word to the
hearts, each heart that's here this morning. Let us take these
things home and feed on them, meditate upon them and give thanks
for them. It's in the precious name of
our Lord Jesus Christ and for his glory we pray, amen.