The word of God teaches with
unmistakable clarity the absolute sovereignty of God in his purpose. God's total independence from
things created in all that he does. God has from eternity ordained
all that comes to pass. He makes apology to no one, gives
reason to no one, for what he does. And the Lord God Almighty
having ordained all that comes to pass in time before the world
began chose a people whom he determined to save by the sacrifice
of his son and the power of his grace. It's called the election
of grace. And God before ordained the condemnation
of all who perish Let no one be mistaken. Let no one be mistaken. The scriptures speak plainly
that God ordained men to that condemnation. There are vessels
of wrath and vessels of mercy. But do not ever imagine, do not
ever imagine that God arbitrarily predestined some to be saved
and some to be lost, some to be saved and some to be damned.
or that men perish because of the purpose of God in predestination. The scriptures are very plain
and clear. Men and women who go to hell,
go to hell because of their sin and God's judgment upon them
is the result of their sin. If you perish in your sins, you
will perish shoving God out of your way. If you perish in your
sins, you will perish because you will not bow to God on his
throne. You will not believe on the Son
of God, but rather you cherish having your own way of rebellion. Every man by nature recognizes
that God has a controversy with him. A controversy that only
God can settle. And that fact that God has a
just controversy with man causes every man by nature to live in
a constant indescribable terror of God. Fearing God. I don't mean fearing God with
reverence. I mean fearing God being afraid
of him. Because the human race is a people
laden with iniquity. Every man, woman, and child in
this world is dreadfully afraid of God. God, in judgment, will
meet them in his wrath. And men know it. Men know it. They try to suppress the truth
of God. They try to suppress that voice
of God in their conscience. They try to suppress that which
God has revealed in them and written upon their hearts by
nature. They hold down the truth of God
in unrighteousness and rebellion. But no man can silence the voice
of his own conscience. It can't be done. Men live in
dread of God. afraid of God because they're
conscious of their own guilt, depravity, rebellion, and sin,
and recognize they deserve the wrath of God. They may deny it,
they may cuss God, they may cuss you for saying it, but men recognize
that they stand before God guilty, and if God meets them in judgment,
as he surely shall, they will be forever punished for their
sins and punished justly because God has a controversy with the
human race. Let's read about it in Isaiah
chapter 1. What is this controversy that
God has with man? Isaiah chapter 1, verse 2. Hear,
O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. And
this is what he said. I have nourished and brought
up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his
owner, and the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know. My people doth not consider.
Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers. The children that are corruptors,
they have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One
of Israel under anger. They're gone away backward. Why
should you be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. From the sole
of the foot, even to the head, there is no soundness in it.
but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been closed,
neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is
desolate. Your cities are burned with fire.
Your land, strangers devour it in your presence. And it is desolate
as overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left
as a cottage in a vineyard. as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers,
as a besieged city, except the Lord of hosts had left unto us
a very small remnant. We should have been as Sodom,
and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Man is terrified
of God because we are a people laden with iniquity. That's the
title of my message, A People Laden with iniquity the message
of God Delivered by his prophet Isaiah in this text was spoken
directly to Judah and Jerusalem concerning the sins that that
nation and Their leaders had constantly practiced provoking
God to wrath provoking God to wrath not by their adultery and
fornication and theft and murder and all those evil things, but
rather these people provoking God to wrath by the very practice
of their religion by which they pretended to be worshipping and
serving God. Matthew Henry suggests and probably
correctly that this sermon from God given to Isaiah was preached
in the reign of Ahaz when Judah was invaded by the kings of Assyria
and Israel the Edomites and the Philistines who slew many and
carried many into captivity. But I'm not here to talk to Judah
and Jerusalem. That nation and that people turned
away from God, despised his word and crucified his son, the Lord
of glory. And therefore, they have long
since been destroyed and left in spiritual desolation, forsaken
by God. Our Lord said, your house is
left unto you desolate, empty and barren. The scriptures tell
us because of unbelief, they were broken off because God sent
his prophets and they would not hear them. God sent his word
and they would not hear it. God sent the revelation of the
gospel and they would not believe it. God sent his son and they
said, let's kill him. God said, all right, I'll leave
you alone. I'll leave you alone. But these
things were not written in the book of God for those Jews alone. They were written for us. This
book is God's word. When you read the word of God,
read the word of God, seeking by the direction of God to apply
it to yourself and to this generation. This is God's word to us. Jerusalem
and Jerusalem, Judah and Jerusalem in this passage of scripture
simply are representatives of men. They represent you and me. This is not God's controversy
with Judah alone. This is God's controversy with
every nation in the world. This is not God's controversy
with the Jews alone. This is God's controversy with
every person in this world by nature. Our text describes God's
controversy with man. You may not like it. You may
not want to hear it, and you may even get upset with me for
declaring it. But every word that I speak to you in this message
will be but the echo of your own hearts and consciences by
nature. I'm going to preach to you only
what your own conscience tells you is so. It tells you every
time you will hear it. These things are so may God the
Holy Ghost speak to your heart. God has a just controversy with
man, a controversy that must be settled. It is a controversy
that must be settled, but only God can settle it. Only God can
settle it. Let me show you three things.
in these eight verses of scripture. First, Isaiah begins his message
by telling us of the goodness of God, which all men by nature
despise. Hear, O heavens, and give ear,
O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have nourished and brought
up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his
owner. And the ass is master's crib,
but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. The
prophet speaks for God and begins his message. Hear, O heavens,
and give ear, O earth. Though he spoke in God's name,
with God's authority, and by God's power, Isaiah knew, and
I know, that unless God intervened, the stars of heaven and the animals
of the earth were more likely to hear and respond to his words
than the fallen sons of men. The very lights of heaven condemn
the darkness of men. The fruitful field condemns the
barrenness of man. Hear, O heavens, and give ear,
O earth, for the Lord has spoken. When the Lord God speaks, though
he speaks by a man, we would be wise to hear with attention. Isaiah was a true prophet of
God. That which he spoke was the very
word of God. Now hear what he says. The Lord
God declares, I have nourished and brought up children. How
can that apply to all men? We hear folks talk about all
being being the children of God. Well, that's not true with regard
to the family of God and the grace of God and the church of
God. God's elect are his children by adoption and by grace. But
there is a sense in which all men and women, all the human
race are God's children. Turn over to Acts chapter 17,
if you will. Acts chapter 17. Paul is preaching to folks who
thought they were wise, brilliant men. But they were idolaters
and they had altars to every God imaginable, even to the unknown
God. They might have missed one. And
Paul speaks in Acts 17, verse 24, God that made the world and
all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth
and dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshiped
with men's hands as though he needed anything. seeing he giveth
to all life and breath and all things and hath made of one blood
all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth and
hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their
habitation. All the human race sprang from
our father Adam and God before appointed the bounds of our habitation. every person on the earth every
part of humanity and he determined the days we would live on this
earth that they should seek the Lord if happily they might feel
after him and find him though he be not far from every one
of us for in him in him we live and move and have our being in
God in God We live and move and have our being. Now Paul is addressing
folks who didn't know God from a billy goat. He says in him,
we live and move and have our being. As certain also of your
own poets have said, for we also are, we are also his offspring
for as much then as we are the offspring of God. We ought not
to think that the Godhead is likened to gold or silver or
stone graven by art and by man's device. We recognize that God's
providence is especially for his elect. We know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to God's purpose. God's providence in
all its details, everything about it is designed for his elect. But the goodness of God in his
providence extends to all men. Turn to Psalm 145. Psalm 145.
I want you to see this. The goodness of God extends to
his whole creation. Psalm 145, verse 8. The Lord
is gracious. and full of compassion, slow
to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all, and
his tender mercies are over all his works. Now, there's no such
thing as common grace. There's no such thing as common
mercy. No such thing as God, in some
sense, loving all men. But the psalmist states plainly
that the Lord is good to all and to make us understand that
he's talking now about creation and creatures. His tender mercies
are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee,
O Lord, and thy saints shall bless thee. God causes his son
to shine upon the just and the unjust. He sends his reign upon
the righteous and the wicked. Not all men know the goodness
of God that you know. Not by a long stretch. In fact,
very few know such goodness as people who live in this land
know. Very few do. God has been good to you. God has been good to us as a
people as in this portion of the world in this state in time. He's nourished you. He brought
you up as a father nourishes and brings up children. God made
you. God sustains you. God provides
for you. God alone keeps you out of hell. That's goodness. That's goodness. Every morning we awake. We awake
by an act of God's goodness. Every night we lie down, we lie
our heads upon our pillow in the goodness of God. And if you
would meet with trouble, that too is an act of God's great
goodness. For it is God warning us of judgment
to come. And the goodness of God, the
apostle tells us, leads to repentance. That is to say, the goodness
of God ought to bring us to God. The goodness of God ought to
lead us to repentance. But man by nature hardens his
heart. You who yet believe not live
with your hearts steeled against God and despise his goodness. All being since the fall of our
father, Adam, have despised God's goodness. Look what it says.
They have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and
the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know. My
people doth not consider. Here the Lord God charges the
whole human race with three infinitely evil crimes. The charges God
lays against every fallen man. Charges by which judgment is
sure to come. First is treason. Treason against
the throne of heaven. Treason against God our maker. Treason against the sovereign
of the universe. They have rebelled against me. All rebellion. Doesn't matter
whether you're talking about the rebellion of a son to his
father. the rebellion of a daughter to
her parents, the rebellion of citizens to government, all rebellion
against authority is rebellion against God. They've rebelled
against me. He charges the race with ignorance,
not ignorance in the sense of folks who don't know, but ignorance
of a willful kind, willful ignorance. God sheds light and we cover
our eyes. God speaks and we stop our ears.
Willful ignorance. Israel doth not know. And then he charges us with ingratitude. My people doth not consider. How hard our hearts by nature
are, despising mercy great. We live by our creator's care.
and all his goodness hate. Now that's just fact. Second,
Isaiah describes the universal depravity of all mankind by which
we provoke God and call for his wrath unceasingly. Verse four. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden
with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors,
They have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One
of Israel into anger. They're going away backward.
Why should you be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint from the sole
of the foot, even unto the head. There is no soundness in it,
but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been closed,
neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is
desolate. Your cities are burned with fire.
Your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate
as overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left
as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers,
as a besieged city. Sin is both a crime of the heart
and the disease of the heart common to all men everywhere
in all ages. The universal malady of the human
race. Ah sinful nation. That's a cry
of lamentation. That's a cry of lamentation.
Ah sinful nation. But it is the cry of God Almighty
speaking by Isaiah. It is God bemoaning men. God bemoaning men. I'm reminded of our Lord's words
as he stood over Jerusalem. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. How
often I've gathered there, but you would not. Behold, your house
is left unto you desolate. God speaks and says, Ah, sinful
nation. He speaks with holy indignation
against our race and announces the sure consequence of sin.
Our sin and guilt is set before us here in verse four in unmistakable
terms. What the Lord God says of the
nation of Israel is true of us all. For all men are really but
one nation, one race, one family sprung from one father, our father,
Adam. And in Adam, we all sinned. And
in Adam, we all died. Our guilt and depravity is an
inexcusable wickedness. Here, the Lord God tells us seven
things about our sin. Mark them. First, he tells us
about the depravity of our race, a universal depravity. Ah, sinful
nation, sinful nation. Apply it to any nation in the
world. Apply it to every nation in the world. apply it to all
the nations of the world. We are a sinful people. The depravity
of man is universal. There is no place where it's
not demonstrated, no time in history when it's not evident.
We are all, secondly, full of sin. Not only is our depravity
universal, it's total. A people laden with iniquity. I used to load freight for a
living. I worked in a trucking company on the docks loaded freight. Worked for two or three different
companies at various times. And we had to load a lot of freight. I worked part-time, so to keep
my job, I had to move 38,000 pounds of freight every eight
hours. That's a lot of freight. And do you know why those trucks
you get behind on a mountain run so slow and you get so aggravated
with them? Because they're absolutely loaded to maximum capacity. That's the way we are, all of
us, with sin. Loaded to maximum capacity. A people laden with iniquity. That means, Elizabeth, you couldn't
possibly be more wicked. And the one talking to you couldn't
possibly be more wicked. Couldn't possibly be more wicked.
We don't outwardly display the evil. But there's no possibility
that we could be more evil, just as evil as any other human being,
just as evil as all other human beings. And then third, he tells
us that sin is our nature. We are a seed of evildoers. We're the sinful seed of sinful
stock. a seed of evil doers. We often. In hardness, look at
a child has some difficulty in behavior and remember what his
daddy was like, and you say, well, like father, like son.
That may or may not be the case in the child's behavior, in the
child's personal conduct in this world or in the way the child
turns out. But this is a fact. You and I
are a seed of evildoers. We are the corrupt seed of a
corrupt man named Adam and like father, like son. We're all alike. Then fourthly, he tells us that
we, the seed of evildoers, are all propagators of corruption. Children that are corruptors. Children that are corruptors. How so? By natural generation
and by corrupt influence. Josh is sitting there with that
beautiful girl on his lap. And you want to do everything
you can to do her good, don't you? Everything you can. And
everything you do corrupts. Corruptors. Corruptors. Corrupt by birth. And in our
best efforts, with our influence on men, how we corrupt. How many times have you parted
from the company of family or friend, or just a casual acquaintance,
and you intended to benefit them. And you think, oh, I wish I hadn't.
I wish I hadn't said that. I wish I hadn't done that. I
wish I hadn't behaved like that, because by what I said, by what
I did, by my behavior, rather than helping the one I wanted
to help, I just corrupt them. Children that are corruptors.
Fifthly, originally and primarily, he tells us our sin is forsaking
of God. They have forsaken the Lord. Man by nature lives like this
toward God. Here is God. All is goodness,
mercy, grace, and glory. All is majesty and wonder and
holiness and purity. And we turn our back on him.
And will not, will not acknowledge him as God. Sin, sixthly, provokes
God to anger. They have provoked the Holy One
of Israel. They have provoked the Holy One
of Israel. Little boys just naturally have
a mean streak in them, I reckon. At least this one did. If I should get in a place when
I was a boy, go to a zoo, or find a dog that was pinned up
and he couldn't get to me, you know what I'd do? I would take
a stick and aggravate the daylights out of him. I've done it with
lions, long as they were in the cage. Just aggravate the daylights
out of them. And they just roared, angry. That's what he's saying. you
live continually poking a stick in God's eye. Poking a stick
in God's eye by unbelief. Provoking God so that we, by
our rebellion, provoke God to anger. And sin is the constantly
increasing degeneracy of our hearts. They are all going away
backward. Isaiah's description Seems very
much like that which Paul gives in Romans chapter 3, doesn't
it? None that doeth good, no, not one. No fear of God before
their eyes. God's servants, you see, in all
ages agree. They all say the same thing.
They all see eye to eye. Everywhere you turn in this book
where men speak of men. Everywhere you turn where faithful
men speak of men. They declare all men guilty of
sin. All men justly condemned because
of sin. All men helpless to change their
state and condition before God. Next, look at verse 5. To make
us see the evil consequences of sin, the Lord God describes
it as that from which we cannot be retrieved by any form of correction. He asked a question. Why should you be stricken anymore? Why should I bother with you
anymore? You will revolt more and more. God threatens. God threatens. I have warned you and warned
you and warned you. As forcefully, as plainly, as
frequently as God would allow, of the judgment of God impending.
But it doesn't change anything. It doesn't change anything. It
might make you afraid, but that's all. Though God punishes the
heart of man, it's still unchanged. God comes in acts of judgment. We see it. We see it as a people.
We see it as a nation. You turn on the television, watch
the news, pick up the newspaper and read the newspaper. Every
day these days, We hear about more and more terrorism. We hear
about more and more ungodliness. We read about war. We find folks
being bombed to death, find folks being murdered, slaughtered senselessly.
These things are warnings. Warnings of judgment. They are
displays of judgment. Yes, the judgment of God. Now,
let folks say what they want to. Let folks say what they want
to. That destruction that took place on 9-11 was a judgment
of God. hurricanes and floods and pestilence
and disease are judgments of God because of sin. But they
are just warnings, warnings, and nobody pays any attention.
Only the blood of Christ can remove the guilt of sin. And
only the grace of God can subdue the power of sin in the heart
of man. If God should shut the door against
you and forever cast you aside in reprobation, It would be no
more than you deserve. Let's look one more time at this
passage in Proverbs chapter one. Proverbs chapter one. This is
the thing I'm trying to stress. Judgment is always just. Judgment is always just. You read the passage that Brother
Allen read to us last week from the pulpit here. in Revelation
19, 18 and 19, and you see men cast into hell. And then you
hear God's saints in heaven say, hallelujah, hallelujah, the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. How can that be? How can that
be? Because one day soon, David,
you and I are going to see things as God sees them. We weep at the thought of folks
perishing under the wrath of God now. But if you perish under
God's wrath, there will be no tear shed for you in eternity. Not in hell and not in heaven. Because we recognize God's judgment
is just. He sends no one to hell, who
has not fully earned his wrath. Look at Proverbs 1, I'll show
you how. Verse 23, the Lord God says in this book of wisdom,
turn you at my reproof. Turn you at my reproof. Behold,
I will pour out my spirit unto you. I will make known my words
unto you. He said, you turn to me. You
turn to me. I've reproved you now, shown
you your sin. Turn to me and I'll pour out
my spirit upon you. Well, I just, I can't, I can't
turn to God. He won't have me. Turn to me.
I'll pour out my spirit upon you. Turn to me. I'll make my
words known to you. I'll cause you to understand
my way. Read on. Because I have called
and you stuck your fingers in your ears. And you shoved your
face fist in my face. You've refused. Because I have
stretched out my hands. Underline that word because.
Bill Rodgers talk about the reason. This is the reason. I stretched
out my hands and no man regarded. But because you have said it
not all my counsel. What did God say? Let's just
throw that away. You said it not all my counsel.
Because you would none of my reproof. I also will laugh at
your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh.
When your fear cometh as a desolation and your destruction cometh as
a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then
shall they call upon me. But I will not answer. They shall
seek me early, but shall not find me. How come? For that they
hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would
none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own
devices. in the deep, dark pit of hell. There's a man by the name of
Judas who today eats the fruit of his own way. I see there a man by the name
of Korah filled with his own devices and all the multitudes
of the damned eat the fruit of their own way. filled with their
own devices. We don't. For the turning away
of the simple shall slay them. The prosperity of fools shall
destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me,
if you'll turn at my reproof, if you'll hear my words, whoso
hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from
the fear of evil. Now I've spoken the things I've
spoken concerning your conscience. Screaming guilt. Terrifying. With authority for two reasons,
I read it in this book. And I know what it is to be terrified
of God. Utterly terrified of God. So
fearful of God with a sense of guilt and sin. The only thing
that kept me from committing suicide as a young man was the
fear of everlasting damnation. Terrified of God. Terrified of
God. But whoso hearkeneth unto me
shall dwell safely. Now listen. Here stands a man
who is now quiet. from the fear of evil. Quiet? How is that? Quietened by the blood and righteousness
of God's darling son. God now is satisfied, the just,
to look on Christ and pardon me. In verses five and six, Isaiah
tells us that sin is the fatal disease of our race. He compares
it to a deadly disease spreading through the body, covering every
part, which will surely end in death unless God intervenes.
Why should you be stricken anymore? You'll just revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick. The whole heart faint from the
soul to the foot, even to the head. There's no soundness in
it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores have not been
closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. The
whole head is sick. Reason and judgments perverted.
The whole heart is faint. The affections of our hearts
are all unclean. And this malady so overspreads
the mind and the body and the soul of man that there's no soundness
in it. No sound principles about humanity. No sound thoughts. No sound judgment. No sound words, no sound desires,
no sound works. Everything about us festers and
stinks and rots with the leprosy of sin. And there's none who
can help unless God himself helps. The wounds can't be closed. The
sores can't be bound. The leprosy can't be healed.
And sin, as it has brought judgment to Judah and Jerusalem. It is
sin that brings the wrath and judgment of God upon people today.
Look at verse 7. Your country is desolate. I read this verse of scripture
again just before coming over here this afternoon. And I think
maybe for the first time I read it just as those talking about
the United States of America on May the 8th 2060 Your cities are burned with fire
Your land strangers devour it in your presence and it's desolate
as overthrown by strangers and the daughter of Zion those who
profess to be God's people is left as a cottage in a vineyard
a Forsaken abandoned cottage as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers
as a besieged city But these temporal judgments, these things
that we look at and wonder what's happening, what's happening? Why has God done this? Why has
God done this? These are but warnings of eternal
judgment. And eternal judgment is the just
reward of sin. The wages of sin. The wages of sin is death. And you're going to be paid what
you're owed. Either in a substitute or in
yourself. Christ Jesus paid the debt. All
the debt I owe. The wages of sin is death. If
you go to hell, It'll only be because you fully deserve the
wrath of God. This is God's controversy with
man. But there's good news for sinners. There's hope for men,
even for the fallen sons of Adam. In verse nine, Isaiah proclaims
a third thing. He speaks about the marvelous
election of grace, which opens a door of hope. Except the Lord
of hosts, had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have
been as Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. In every age, God's people in
the world appear to be a small remnant. God has a multitude that no man
can number. I know that. take into consideration
all things, oh, what a multitude of God's elect, but at every
time in human history, at every age in human history, God's elect
is but a small remnant. But thank God there is a remnant,
a remnant according to the election of grace who must be saved. Who is that elect remnant? All
who seek the righteousness of God by faith in Christ Jesus. All who seek righteousness by
their works, by their hands, they perish under the wrath of
God, provoking him with ungodliness and sin to his face. But the
saints of God, those who are chosen of God, they seek righteousness
from him by faith in Christ Jesus, the Lord. And this is because
God chose us. Election shuts the door of mercy
against no one. Election opens the door to many. Were it not for God's election,
were it not for God's election of some, a small remnant from
eternity, we would all perish like Sodom and Gomorrah under
the wrath of God. Will you turn back one more time
to that text we read this morning in 2 Thessalonians. Look to the rock from which you're
here. And the whole of the pit from which you did. And remember what God's done
for you. All children of God. All children of God. Look at
your families, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. Look at
your neighbors. Look at the folks you work with.
Look at the community around you. Look at the world around
you. To you, Mark Daniel, of all people,
God's been gracious. To me, of all human beings, God's
been gracious because of his free electing love and favor. We're bound to give thanks all
way to God for you. Brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God had from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. whereunto
he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. We who know God know God by grace
only because of his choice of us. And you who perish, if you
perish at last in hell, will perish because hell is the only
place for you. Perish under the judgment of
God. You can't do anything with a
mad dog but kill him. And God's described the race
as a race of wild beast and mad dogs. That's where we live. That's where we live. Our God, our God. Thank you for
your electing favor. Oh God, thank you. for your matchless,
free grace. Thank you for stopping us in
our mad rush to hell, for intervening, revealing your son in us, giving
us life and faith in Christ. And what you've done for us,
we beg of you, our God, to do for sinners in this place tonight.
For the glory of your name. Amen.