1 Corinthians 6 verse 19 starts
with a question. What? Know ye not that your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have
of God, and ye are not your own? And we all know the condition
of this church. They were a mess. They were a
mess. That's why Paul asked this question.
Because they were acting like they had forgot. I remember reading Don's commentary,
Christ and All the Scriptures. Each chapter is a brief commentary
on each book of the Bible, a great book. But I'm sure it was in
that book that Don made this statement concerning the chapter
on 1 Corinthians. There wasn't a church in history,
or at least at that time, in worse shape than this church
was. They were just a mess. What,
it deserves reading again, verse 19, what, know ye not that your
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which
ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with
a price. Ye are bought with a price. That's
why you're not your own. Therefore, therefore, since you've
been bought with a price, And what a price, oh my, what cost
it was to redeem us. What a ransom God demanded. And Jesus paid it all. But you
are bought with a price. Therefore, in light of that,
glorify God in your body while you live, and in your spirit,
which are God's. He owns everything about you.
Again, notice that And verse 19 begins with this question,
what? Know ye not that you're not your
own? And I hope, I hope that you and
I have no question about that. That we know who we belong to. As Bobby sometimes sings, I am
his and he is mine. Let me begin my message by reading
a quote that I ran across the other day, or a brief, more than
a quote, but a brief part of an article written by James Smith. James Smith pastored the church
New Park Street Chapel that young Spurgeon came to afterwards at
the age of 19. James Smith's writings were as
popular as Spurgeon's at one time. But this is what he wrote
in the article that I read. It is sometimes profitable to
look back and to see what we were and what we were likely
to be. I would change likely to we would
absolutely be if the Lord had left us alone. Louis, aren't you thankful God
didn't leave you alone? You know what a mess you were,
and every one of us. Nor is it less profitable at
times to look around and dwell a while upon what the Lord has
done for us. It is also very pleasant to look
forward and anticipate what we shall be when the Lord has fulfilled
in us all the good pleasure of His goodness and crowned His
work of grace with glory. Let this then be our employment
for a few minutes. And may the Holy Spirit make
our meditation beneficial. I thought that would be a great
introduction and that's my prayer, that he will make our meditations
this morning beneficial. The title of my message is bought
and paid for, I believe. I believe that's the title. I
thought of others. Bobby, if any of these sound
better, because Bobby puts it on free grace, as you know, with
the title and text of the message. Owned by another and thankful. Private property. Bought and
paid for, as I said, in blessed ownership. But bought and paid for. Paid in
full. I could not help, I could not
help thinking, when I was looking over this text, to be owned to
be owned by somebody? To be owned like men owned other
men? They were their property? Slaves? That was anything but blessed
or pleasant. Oh, but to be owned by God Almighty,
that's a whole different picture, isn't it? To be owned and be
the property of Jesus Christ to be bought and paid for with
the price of his precious blood? Oh, that's blessed ownership.
That's glorious ownership. I've got three thoughts, and
the first is this. From verse 19, you are not your
own. That's a blessed truth. That's
a fact. You remember a TV show years
ago. I think it was called Dragnet.
those detectives, and that one little tight-lipped fellow when
he was interviewing somebody and they'd get to rambling, he'd
say, just the facts, please, just the facts. Am I remembering
that right? Just the facts, ma'am or sir.
Here's a glorious fact, written by the immutable finger of God
Almighty, can never be erased or defaced, tampered with in
any way. Ye are not your own. That's a
truth just full of comfort. Full of comfort. I'm glad I'm
not my own. Aren't you? Aren't you? I'm glad I'm not my own. And
then the second thing, verse 20, as we mentioned. The reason
why we're not our own. For you or because you're bought
with the price. Now that reason is full of assurance. The first thought, full of comfort.
The second one, full of assurance. And we'll be brief on those two
because the third one I want to spend most time on. Sweet
consequences, some sweet and sure necessary, necessary consequences
of those two truths. If those two things are true,
then these things are true as well, the fruit of that. But
first of all, a truth full of comfort, blessed ownership, Ye
are not your own. You remember, on one occasion,
our Lord told the religious people, the Pharisees, the Sadducees,
the somebodies, the who's who on the religious page. He looked
at them and said, you are of your father the devil. Wow. Wow. Our Lord told the truth, didn't
he? He was the truth. He didn't pull
punches. He didn't pull punches. He knew
their heart. He knew their plotting. He knew
their hatred. He knew what they claimed. We
be of God. God's our Father. We don't know
who you are. I think implying at one time,
you were born of fornication. You don't know who your Father
is. That's what they told the Lord Jesus Christ. But we know
who our father is. And our Lord looked at him and
said, God's not your father. If he really was, you'd love
me. I came forth from God. God sent me. If you knew God,
you'd know me. If you loved God, you'd love
me. You're of your father the devil. Think about that and then think
about this. that we are the children of the
living God, not the devil. We're not his property. We're
God's property. God's our father. Remember what
our Lord said when he arose and Mary Magdalene appeared to him?
He said, you go tell my disciple, no, my brethren, you go tell
my brethren that their big brother is saying he's going back to
their father. and His Father, and their God,
and His God. Yeah, we are of our Father, the
Lord God Almighty. In Deuteronomy chapter 32, we
read these words. The Lord's portion is His people. Now we read that God is our portion,
but there we read that we're the Lord's portion. Isn't that
comforting? Isn't that comforting to know,
Lester? We belong to God. We belong to God, my soul. The
Lord's people, the Lord's portion, rather, is his people. by his
own sovereign choice. Now, I know most churches just
hate that. Just hate that. Well, so be it.
We can't do anything about that, but it's still so. We're his
by his sovereign choice. He chose us. He chose us to salvation. I think I mentioned, maybe in
the reading the last few weeks or maybe not, how in the world
could God Almighty do anything else? People talk like God all
of a sudden has an idea that he never had before, that he
does something today that he didn't determine. What kind of
God is that? How could he do anything other
than choose and purpose everything? He's God Almighty. He chose his
people by his own sovereign choice and he set his love upon them.
No, he loved them and chose them in Christ. before the foundation
of the world. We are his by his free, unrestrained,
undeserved, glorious election of grace. Aren't you glad? We're
also his not only by his choice, but by his own purchase. We're
bought with a price. We're not only His when He chose
us in Christ, we're His when Christ came in the fullness of
time to ransom His redeemed. We're His by purchase. He's paid
for us to the utmost farthing. Like we sometimes sing, and I've
quoted already a couple of times, may quote it before a few more
times before the message is over. Jesus Christ paid it all. Paid it all. You know, I know
we're living in a day where paper is just about as obsolete. You don't get paper bills in
the mail anymore. Everything's automatic. That's
okay, I guess, as long as it works. But remember the days
when you would get a car? I remember it. And you'd have
36 payments in that little booklet. Now they even go further. But
usually, in those days, it was 36 or so. My soul. And it was tough. Making those
payments. But each time you'd make one,
you'd tear it off, give them the coupon, or mail it in with
your check. You remember how good it felt
when you made the last payment on that car, or house, or whatever
it was that you had been making payments, perhaps struggling
to make them for all those months and years, and they stamp on
that title or that deed, paid in full. Wow! Didn't that feel good? What about
when Jesus Christ bought us with his own precious blood, and according
to that covenant of God's everlasting grace, he stamped on that deed,
paid in That's exactly what he did for
us by his own precious blood. Let me give you another example.
I didn't have that other one about car and house written down.
I did this one. I bought a ring a couple weeks
ago and I've got proof of purchase.
She's got it on her finger. But I've got a paper at home
that says I bought that. I bought that. It's hers. It's hers. I've got proof of
it. And you remember when that prodigal
son in Luke 15 came to himself? He'd been down to that filthy
hog pen. God brought him down. God put
him there. Or otherwise he'd have never
come to himself. He'd have been satisfied with righteous living.
But God brought him down. And he climbs out of that hog
pen and he says, man, what am I doing? At my father's house,
the servants have better than this. I'm going to arise. That's what grace does. That's
what grace does. It brings us down in order to
lift us up. It strips us, and it's a painful
business but necessary in order to clothe us in the perfect righteousness
of Christ. It makes us willing in the day
of His power. That's what happened to the prodigal.
And he said, I'm going to arise. Oh, remember that day when you
said that? I'm going to arise. I'm getting
up, and I'm going to the Father. And he arose and he had recited
what he was going to say, I guess as he was walking down the road
probably stinking. What am I going to say? How am
I going to convince my father to take me back after everything
I've done? And he's reciting it. You remember
reading that. I'll tell him, Father, I've sinned against heaven
and against you. I'm not even worthy to be called
your son. Make me one of your servants.
Hire me as a servant. That'll be good enough. I don't
deserve any more. And while he was yet a great
way off, the father saw him. Was he on the rooftop looking
down that road every day, looking for that prodigal son to come
home? I believe he was. I believe He was. And that's
God. God likes to show mercy. God's not reluctant to show mercy.
God doesn't save people unwillingly. He gave His Son for sinners. And the Father sees Him. Can
you visualize this? This is a picture of God's grace.
A picture of God Himself. And He runs to meet Him. And
the son begins to recite what he memorized. He can't hardly
get any words out before the father says, bring forth the fatty calf. Put a robe on my son. Cover up
this stench. And put that ring back on his
hand. That ring of reconciliation. that ring of sonship, that ring
that shows he's mine. He's my son and I'm his father. And let's have a party. This
deserves a celebration. And they begin to make merry
because this my son, he was dead and he's alive again. He was
lost. And now he's come home. Old Bunyan
said he was such a rebel, he doubted that God would have mercy
on somebody like him. And he said so far from being
rejected when he arose and came to the Father, there was a party
in heaven that old John Bunyan had come home. That's God's grace. And not only are we His by purchase
and choice, we're His by conquest. And we just about dealt with
that already, didn't we? By His reigning grace that abounds
over sin, like we just sang about. I was a sinner. I'm only a sinner
saved by grace. But God, oh what a battle went
on in our souls. when God Almighty got us lost. I'll tell you what I said at
the first. I won't come. Lester, I won't come. I won't
come to Christ. I'm not going to do it. I mean,
I just won't do it. And Christ said, oh, you will.
You will come. All that the Father gives me
will come to me. And when I came, I was no longer
unwilling. I was more than willing. Nobody
had to drag me to an altar and tell me, put words in my mouth
and say, repeat the sinner's prayer. Man, I was Lost, undone,
and stripped, asking everybody I knew that claimed to be a Christian,
what must I do to be saved? I don't know. I don't have a
clue. Grandma, tell me what to do.
Get you a Bible, get you a haircut, and touch not, taste not, and
handle not. Well, we know that didn't work. But God wouldn't
let me go. He conquered me. I'm his by conquest. I'm his property. He chose me. He paid the price for me with
his son's precious blood. And in time, he conquered me
by his grace. Just like Paul on that Damascus
road. He brought me down. You're looking
at a rebel. I won't get into what a mess I was. But I was
a mess. I was just a mess. Drugs. I won't get into that. But God
brought this rebel down. He made this rebel willing in
a day his power. And I thank him. I don't thank
him enough, but one day I will. One day I will, Lester. One day
I'll never quit thanking him. That he brought me down. We are his by conquest. Now, secondly, the reason we
are not our own. Verse 20, here's the reason.
For or because you're bought with a price. Remember what I
said? Ah, the first one was full of comfort. The second one is
full of assurance. Assurance. We're bought with
a price. And that assurance, people had
strange ideas about assurance. They look to get assurance about
what they do. How many verses did I read today? How many Sundays in a row have
I gone to church? Is it any wonder they don't have
any assurance? Is it any wonder they're miserable?
And you can put anything in there, anything you want to put in there,
As being a reason for assurance, if it's not based upon this,
you're bought with the price what Jesus Christ did, not what
you do, not what you ever did, or ever will do. Our assurance
is based on Him. It's not dependent upon anything
I've done. Man, I wish I, as I think what
Scott Richardson said, I wish I half believed that. I wish
I half believed that. Because when troubles arise or
doubts flood my soul, I go right back to trying to find assurance
about what I've done. Oh, wretched man that I am. That's
just part of the battle, isn't it, that Paul described in Romans
7. The religious Pharisee, if you tell him, and we have him
around today, That our assurance is not based upon anything we
ever did. Was it Donny two weeks ago that
told us everything about it is outside ourselves? What Christ
did, what God did, not what we've done. But the Pharisee, and you've
experienced this. You tell people you're saved
by grace. And that grace can never change, that grace God
will never retract. He doesn't repent of his gifts.
That is, he doesn't take them back. And you tell a Pharisee
that, and I've had them tell me, and you have too. Oh, that's
terrible. That's just horrible. Don't tell
believers that. Don't tell believers that they're
free from the law. Don't tell believers that their
assurance is based not upon anything they do, but upon what Christ
Jesus has done for them. Or you can't tell them that.
You'll give them a license to sin as though somebody needed
a license to sin. In Titus chapter 2, listen to
this. Paul said, are you listening?
Are you listening to this? Titus chapter 2. This is what
grace does. Religion won't do this, but grace
does. It doesn't try to do it, it does
it. And I think of another verse
right now, and then I'll quote Titus. If any man be in Christ,
any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed
away. Behold, everything becomes new.
If anybody claims to be in Christ and they're not a new creation,
they're lying, they're deceived. That's just a fact. I don't care
who they are. But Paul said concerning the true grace of God, the grace
of God has appeared, teaching us. denying ungodliness and worldly
lust, we should live soberly and righteously in this present
world. And God's people do. God's people
do. In 1 John chapter 3, Behold,
what manner of us the Father hath bestowed upon us that we
should be called the sons of God. Then in verse 40 it says,
Every man that has this hope goes out and sins, lives like
he wants to. No. Every man, every true child
of God that has this hope purifies himself even as he is pure. That's what grace does. That's
what grace does. That's what God's grace does.
Granted, granted, a believer, for whatever reason, not being
well instructed, their own negligence of God's Word, for whatever reason,
not knowing this will certainly be a cause of needless, and I
highlighted that, needless doubt, anxiety, and frustration for
a child of God. If he's not looking to Christ
for all his assurance, what else can there be? As the old hymn
says, I think it applies here, Oh, what peace we often forfeit.
That's true. That's true. We've all done it.
Oh, what needless, my soul, needless pain we bear. That's true too. All because we do not carry everything
to God in prayer. However, however, as Paul said,
that doesn't alter my misconception of God's grace? My, for whatever
reason, my lack of assurance doesn't alter or change or make
void or frustrate the blessed promise of God's grace. We are
still bought with a price. I like that, don't you? It's
not dependent upon... I want assurance. And I want my assurance to flow
from the only place it can, looking to Jesus Christ. I want to lie
down tonight and not base my assurance on what I've done today,
on how well I preached or how much I prayed or whatever. I
want to look before I fall asleep up to heaven and by God's grace
see my glorious substitute and know that I am accepted and to
be loved and there's nothing going to change that. Nothing. That's where your assurance lies.
Bought with and paid for. Remember when God demanded payment? Remember when God demanded payment
and we had nothing to pay, Lester, remember that? Remember when
God got you lost and he convinced you, he demands a perfect righteousness
and holiness and you didn't have anything to pay with. You were
a bankrupt sinner, just like our Lord taught in Luke 7 to
that self-righteous Pharisee as he sat in his house. And you
know what? I hope this won't be a shock
to you. It is to most of the religious world because they
don't have a clue. But God did then and now still
demands payment. How's that? What do you think
of that? Not of the believer because Jesus
paid this for them. In Acts chapter 17, Paul's on
Mars Hill with all those philosophers, Just smart, smart, smart people. Dumb as rocks, as far as God
was concerned. You remember, Paul, as he walked
up through there, they had all those monuments up, and they
had one there that said, in case they missed one, to the unknown
God. Yeah, they were real smart, about
like most folks today, the smart people. And Paul said, listen,
God's not dwelling in temples made with hands. I saw your inscription
on that monument to the unknown God. Let me tell you who he is.
Let me tell you who he really is. And he said he concluded
his message this way. Some of them hated it. Some of
them clung to Paul afterwards and listened. But he said God
has appointed a day. This is Acts 17 and 31. God Almighty
has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness. not by Baptist standards, not
by Calvinistic standards. He's going to judge the world
in absolute perfect righteousness by that man that he had appointed,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's proved that by raising him from
the dead. There's a day appointed right
now, if I can use the expression, on God's calendar that he's going
to bring everyone before him and demand an absolute righteousness,
perfect obedience to his law in words, thought, and deed,
and everybody that can't produce it, everybody that's not done
it, is going to be cast into hell. How about that? Now how
many people believe that today? They think somehow people have
the silly notion, and I'm not talking about the drunk out there,
I'm talking about people sitting in most churches. They think
that when Adam fell, that grace and Christ lowered
God's standards. Adam fell and couldn't keep God's
law, couldn't obey God. So therefore, Jesus Christ came
and did something to make it easier. He took God's standard
of perfect righteousness and brought it down here so fallen
man could get over it. Absolutely. You've heard people
talk that way. They think that's what grace
is. They think that's what Christ did on the cross, made it easier.
Absolutely not. When our daddy Adam fell and
we fell in him, he lost his ability and we did too. He even lost
his will to love God supremely and to obey God supremely. But
listen to this. Listen to this shocker. God still,
then and now, demanded that he, Adam, and you and I, Still keep
his commandments. Still obey him. Because Adam
couldn't do it, God didn't say, well, let's just back up and
rethink this thing. I'll lower my standard, Adam,
to meet your fallen abilities. Of course not. Of course not.
God didn't do that like most people think. Lower his righteous
claims to meet Adam's fallen nature. No way. No way. John Bunyan called Mount Sinai,
God's law. He said, man, I found out that's
a hill too high. I can't climb it. He couldn't
climb that high hill. He couldn't keep God's law. But
God's law must be kept. The precept, the keeping of it,
it must be kept or none will be saved. The penalty, the broken
law, it must be satisfied or none will be saved. Behold! Behold! Behold the Lamb of God! In the fullness of time, God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them that were under the law. And he did so by living a perfect
life, keeping every precept of God's holy law, every jot and
tittle. I didn't come to destroy the
law, I come to fulfill it. And he did it in his life. And
he was doing that as our substitute as well. That's put to our account,
that perfect life of obedience to God's law. And then he went
to the cross. And I'll repeat it again. Jesus
paid it all. And thank God for that. Let me
read you a verse in Job chapter 33. Then he, that is God, then
God is gracious unto him and saith, deliver him from going
down to the pit. Why? I found the ransom. I found the ransom. You're bought
with a price. I found the ransom, God said.
Remember, just a few weeks, I think, before our Lord was crucified,
he told his disciples. The Son of Man didn't come to
be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life, what did
he say? A ransom for many. A ransom for
many. And not long after that, He went
to the cross and he gave his life a ransom for many. Many. My righteous servant, Isaiah
53, shall justify many, not the world, many, because he shall
bear their iniquities. He'll bear them away. I'm looking
at the clock. I remember one time, I hadn't
preached for a while, I can't remember the reason, but Bruce
Crabtree had me up to his church And he was there, and I preached,
and I mentioned the liberty I had, and he said, well, Larry, you
were just full. You were just full. You were ready. Let me not wear you out. Let's come to these blessed,
sweet, and sure necessary consequences, and there are so many, I'll just
mention a few. The fruit of what we just read.
If we're not our own, and we're bought with the price, There
are some sweet, sure, necessary consequences. He, Jesus Christ,
our mighty God and Savior, climbed that high hill that none of us
could of God's holy law, and He fulfilled it all. I've gotten
ahead of myself. I said that, didn't I? But it's
worth repeating. He paid the full ransom, price
of redemption, with this sweet and sure consequence. God made
him to be sin for us, he who knew no sin, that we, his people,
might be made the righteousness of God in him. As he told that
bloodthirsty mob that night in the garden, if it's me you seek,
let these go their way. That's a sure and certain consequence. And isn't it sweet? Isn't it
sweet? That's exactly what the Lord's
Supper that we're going to observe in a few minutes, that's exactly
what it's about. It pictures what our Lord did.
The shedding of his precious blood, giving his body. And we
celebrate it. We celebrate it. We don't take
this like we're mourning a funeral, we celebrate the Lord's Supper. We remember him who loved us
and gave himself for us. Another blessing flowing from
our great high priest is like that bushel he talked
about. Shaken down, shaken down. With what measure you meet, it
shall be measured back to you. Like that bushel shaken down.
You know why? So they could get more in it.
Shake it down, put more in it. That's what God's grace does.
He giveth and he giveth more grace. Until God changes and
stops loving those he loved with an everlasting love, Until he
stops loving those, he'd chosen his son, which would be the same
thing as saying he stopped loving his son. Until that happens,
the very expression is absurd. Until that happens, we're loved
and we'll be in the Father's house with Jesus Christ forever. Now, that's got to float you
both. We're going to heaven. If we're
His, oh yeah. It'll be through storms, it'll
be through trials, it'll be through heartaches, but we're still going
to be with Him in glory because we're bought with the price.
We shall soon, like Israel, who was redeemed in Egypt, set free. They were redeemed first and
then they were set free. The Lord shall one day say to
each of his redeemed ones, come, you have dwelt in this land long
enough, like he said to Beth not long ago. You've been here
long enough. You've dwelt in this land long enough. It's time
to come home. John, Revelation 4, come up hither. The last time I saw Brother Lowell
and talked to him, if you recall, I was struggling whether to leave
or not because he had had a second surgery. I think the day before. And I was supposed to go to a
family reunion. And a sister in Idaho, she only
comes every other year, the only time I see her, but anyway. And
all my brothers and sisters are still living. And mom, 89 years
old. But I thought, I can't leave.
I can't go up there. I can't go to West Virginia. I assumed, Brother Loyal, you
know, the surgery, the first one was pretty tough and I thought
the second one, he's just... But I went down. I was there
when he went to surgery. And then the next morning I went
down. The day I was planning to leave. And, man, I was surprised
at how good he looked. He just looked good, Louie. And
we talked and we chatted. And he said, Larry, go on to
West Virginia. I'm fine, go on to West Virginia. But he said,
if I don't see you when you get back, I'm gonna see you in heaven." And he was in heaven before I
got back. The last time I saw him and talked
to him, I was getting ready to go to a family reunion. And while
I was there, he went to a family reunion. He went to heaven. Paul said,
In 1 Corinthians 15, and I love this, and I'm coming to a close. He said, we shall be changed.
Oh, don't you like that? We shall be changed. In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, we shall be changed. Not only this
body, but everything about us shall be changed. I'm not going
to think like I do now. I'm not going to doubt my God
like I do now. I'm not going to offer to Jesus
Christ that which costs me nothing like I do now. I'm going to love him with an
unsinning heart. Oh yes, we shall be changed. I was going to not mention who
sent me this email. I didn't want to embarrass them,
but I don't think it will. Bobby. It was such a blessing. I saved it. I saved it. I sent
her an email last Sunday just thanking her for keeping the
mayhems and the fine meal she had and invited us to. And I
told her, I think I said something like, Bobby, are you still rejoicing
in that service we had? What a blessing. The next day
she replied, and I just want to share a portion of it. It
just fits, I think, with the message. This was part of her reply to
me. It was indeed a blessed time for me, Larry. I am so privileged
that the Lord allowed me to host Paul and Mindy Cumming. It's
been a long time and oh, how times have changed. all their children are now grown
and time marches on. Every time I make that statement
lately, I'm reminded we are marching to Zion, all of us, and there's
no going back. Oh, how privileged I've been
over the years to have met and kept the people I've been privileged
to know. So very thankful, Eric, so very
thankful. Yesterday's lunch was indeed a time of enjoyable eating
and fellowshipping together There was a time I could do that with
no problem and be hopping with energy, but those times are fast
fleeting for me, I'm afraid. They are for all of us, dear
Bobby. Me too. That's tough to admit,
but me too. But what God has given to me,
I am so thankful for and feel honored to have been permitted
to do this once again. And she closed it this way. Now
we move on to Thanksgiving. That's past. Then Christmas. And we continue, we continue
to march to Zion. Because God leads his dear children
along. Three verses of a hymn and I'm
done. Instead of singing the closing
hymn first, you fellas just come and pass out the wine and the
bread, and then we'll sing. Thus, thus, when the Christian
pilgrim views by faith his mansion in the skies, the sight his fainting
strength renews and wings his speed to reach the prize. The thought of home his spirit
cheers. No more he grieves for troubles
past, nor any future trial he fears, so he may safe arrive
at last." Listen to this last verse. It is especially sweet. "'Tis there," he says, "'I am
to dwell with Jesus, with Jesus in the realms of day. Then I shall bid my cares farewell,
and he shall wipe all my tears away." Now may we remember him
who loved us and gave himself for us. God bless you.