Turn with me, if you will, to
Exodus chapter 10. Exodus the 10th chapter. This will be my last message
to you before our conference. I leave Thursday to go out to
California. We're preaching out there Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday. And we will have no service here
next Tuesday night. I have a work time on Thursday
evening next week and then Friday conference starts. I've asked
eight men to come and preach the gospel of God's free grace
to you in Christ Jesus the Lord. The message you will hear from
those eight men is the message you hear from this pulpit three
times a week, every week, and that's the way it's been all
the time we've been together. And if God gives me grace and
you, that's the way it will be until I have drawn my last breath
and preached my last message. We know no other message and
there will be no compromise no matter what. No matter what. I received an email earlier this
morning from a friend who was asking me about something. some
denominational preacher who claimed to believe grace but kind of
wanted to redefine things and restate things. That's another
word for compromise, truth. I said to him, I'll tell you
what you do. You offer him $100 for every time he's preached
on particular redemption or God's sovereign election or divine
predestination in the last year and I promise you no money will
leave your hands. I know the denomination. It's
just coffee shop talk that is useless, meaningless theory.
God keep me and keep you from so viewing the gospel of his
grace. Tonight I want to preach to you
on the subject of particular redemption. The title of my message,
All or None, Particular and Defectual Redemption. And this is what
I want you to understand. All for whom Christ shed his
precious blood at Calvary shall be saved by his almighty grace
or none shall be saved by his blood and by his grace. There's
no in between ground. Either he is an almighty omnipotent
effectual Savior or he is no Savior at all. He is a false
God and a false Christ and I am found a false witness of God
for proclaiming him to you and we are yet in our sins and have
no hope before God. I want you to see clearly As
it's set forth in the scriptures, particularly in this 10th chapter
of Exodus and the deliverance of the children of Israel out
of Egypt, I want you to see clearly the glorious efficacy of Christ's
salvation in the deliverance of his people. When we use the
word redemption, we tend to think about it as being that which
took place at Calvary. But redemption involves more
than being delivered from the judgment of God legally. It involves more than being delivered
from the curse of the law legally. Redemption involves deliverance. It is deliverance on the ground
of justice. And redemption is not finished
until deliverance is accomplished. You understand that? The price
of redemption was finished. The work of redemption was finished. The cost of redemption was paid. Our sins were put away. But until
the deliverance is finally accomplished, redemption is not finished. And
I'm here to show you and declare to you that Jesus Christ shall
indeed save his people from their sins. Every sinner for whom he
died at Calvary, he shall deliver by the power of his grace through
the work of his spirit, finally into life eternal and into life
everlasting in resurrection glory. So redemption involves not only
the shedding of Christ's blood for the satisfaction of justice,
but the sanctification of our souls by the renewing of the
Holy Spirit and at last by resurrection glory and that too by the Spirit
of our God. The Lord our God said to Pharaoh,
you can read it in Exodus 9 verse 16, in very deed for this cause
have I raised thee up. Pharaoh, not the Pharaoh who
favored Joseph, though it was true of him too, but this Pharaoh
who despised the children of Israel and knew not Joseph. God
says to this Pharaoh, whose heart he hardened, I have raised thee
up for this cause, for to show in thee my power, and that my
name may be declared through all the earth. God was determined
in mercy and grace to deliver his children, the children of
Israel, his covenant people, from the bondage of Egypt and
from the tyranny of Pharaoh. Both the time of their bondage
and the time of their deliverance was appointed by God in the covenant
he made with Abraham more than 400 years earlier. This covenant was made with Abraham
long before these Israelites were ever born. You can read
about it in Genesis 15. And as you well know, the whole
affair typically represents redemption and salvation, the complete deliverance
of our souls from sin and Satan by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
let me call your attention to several things by way of introduction. And this time, I'm going to break
my cardinal rule. I'm going to spend a little time
with the introduction and the message will be very brief. Number
one, God ordained Israel's bondage in Egypt. It was that which came
to pass by the purpose of God exactly as God intended. But he didn't force Israel to
go down to Egypt. Now it's important that you understand
this. God ordained the bondage of Israel and Egypt for 400 years. But he did not force Israel to
go down to bondage. We read in Genesis chapter 42
and verse 1. Jacob sent his sons down into
Egypt and he did it willingly. Freely, voluntarily, without
any constraint for just one reason, Jacob saw that there was corn
in Egypt. Just that simple. Well, if you
believe in predestination, you have to believe that God forced
them to go down there. We believe what God says in his word. That much and no more, that much
and no less. We dare not, we would not, we
wish no one would ever vilely ascribe to God sin. God is not the author of sin. Did he predestinate it? Absolutely. Does he control it? Absolutely. Does he rule it? Absolutely.
Does he use it? Absolutely. But men do what they
want to in their wickedness. The only ones whose wills are
altered are those who are given a new will in the new nature. And God governs the will of the
wicked as well as he does of his angels in glory. Jacob went
down to Egypt because he wanted the corn that was in Egypt and
so it was with our father Adam God ordained Adam's fall and
I'm thankful he did He ordained the fall of the whole human race
in our father Adam, and I'm thankful that he did But God didn't force
Adam to sin Adam did what he did willingly and Because he
defied God's right to be God and he chose war with God rather
than strife with his wife over the tree of life. And he plunged
us all under the wrath of God by his one transgression, our
transgression in him. And thank God it was that way.
We fell in a representative man. And that representative man was
typical of another man who was yet to come into the world, the
last Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we are raised from death
to life by the grace of our God. Adam, with a willful act of rebellion,
plunged the race into darkness and death and condemnation. I'll give you another example. when Judas betrayed the master. Was that according to God's purpose?
Well, you know it was. It's written in the scriptures.
When the Jews rejected him, was that according to God's purpose?
The prophets stated it plainly. The prophets did not state what
God looked out in the future and saw would come to pass. They
stated what God ordained must come to pass. Our Lord Jesus
said, He must go to Jerusalem and must suffer many things at
the hands of the Jews and the Romans and must be delivered
to death and must rise again. How come? Because that's how
God obtained our redemption. That's how he performed the work.
But he was delivered into the hands of the Jews by Judas' harsh,
cruel, proud, covetous betrayal. And he was delivered by the Jews
into the hands of the Romans to be crucified because they
hated him. And this they did by their own
will. Acts 2 23. And they did it by
the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God. Well, buddy, I can't
understand that. I never claimed to understand
God Almighty. He's a bit bigger than me. and
a bit bigger than you, whether you know it or not. If you can
get him fitted into your puny brain, he's not much. He's not
much. Here's another thing. Long before
Israel went into bondage in Egypt, long before ever they went down
to Egypt, God provided a savior, a savior by whom he would both
preserve and deliver his chosen people. When Joseph was just
a young man, He went out one day to see about his brethren.
Joseph was his father's favorite. And his father had made him a
coat of many colors. And Joseph just had to wear it.
He just had to wear it. Boys, look what daddy made me
while you were out here. And Joseph wore the coat of many
colors, but he also had a word from God. he had declared to
his brethren that his father and his brothers would all bow
down before him. And they couldn't stand it. For
twenty pieces of silver They sold him to a traveling caravan
of Arabs, and he was brought into bondage, at last brought
into Egypt, sold there again, and he was put in prison until
at last in God's providence he was lifted up, placed on the
throne with Pharaoh, and made prime minister over all of Egypt
because of a dream Pharaoh had. A dream Pharaoh had because God
put it in his head to dream it. And he brought seven years of
plenty and seven years of famine. And Joseph gathered everything
up, gathered everything up that was needed to survive during
those years of famine. And in time, his brethren were
brought down to Egypt and their father. And you know what they
did? They bowed before Joseph. Just like God said. Just like
God said. And when his brothers found out who Joseph was, they
were scared. Joseph said, don't be afraid.
I'm Joseph. I'm Joseph. And when their daddy
died, they came to Joseph with a false report because they were
scared to death. Joseph's going to get us now. And this is what
Joseph said to them. I'm in the place of God. I'm in the place of God. As for
you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it under good
to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive. You know who Joseph represents.
He represents our mighty Joseph. The prime minister of the universe,
Jesus Christ, our Lord and our King, our Savior, into whose
hands the triune God has given power over all flesh to give
eternal life to as many as the Father has given him. And this
was provided for us long before Adam's transgression. Long before
we ever sinned in our father Adam, we were saved in our Redeemer
Jesus Christ. Long before we transgressed,
the sacrificial lamb was provided and accepted, the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. Long before sin entered into
the world, he by whom sin would be conquered and in whom he would
be glorified in the fall as well as the recovery of man from sin,
stood before God, accepted, and we accepted in him. This was
done from eternity. Before we came under the curse
the Lord God said deliver him from going down to the pit for
I Have found a ransom Here's the third thing at the appointed
time At the time God had ordained and promised He graciously brought
all the children of Israel out of each turn over to chapter
12 for a moment Exodus 12 verse 40 Now the sojourning of the children
of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was 430 years. Now if you happen to be someone
who remembers reading Genesis chapter 15, you'll automatically
think to yourself, now wait a minute, God said he was going to send
them down there for 400 years. Here he says 430 years they were
there. How come the discrepancy? No
discrepancy. God just wisely throws some cans
in here for goats to chew on. That's all. He fixed it so folks
who want to despise him will have an excuse by which they
will justify themselves in their own obstinacy. Well, what's this
mean? After 430 years and it came to
pass at the end of the 430 years, even the self same day, it came
to pass that all the host of the Lord went out from the land
of Egypt. They dwelt in Egypt for 430 years. But their affliction in Egypt
was 400 years. Those 30 years they lived under
the prosperity of Joseph's influence when they first came to Egypt.
The bondage began and the affliction began when Joseph had died. And
they came out of Egypt exactly on time. Not one day early, not
one day late. Not one day early, not one day
late. And that's exactly when Christ
redeemed us with his blood. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. When the fullness of time was
come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the
law to redeem them that were under the law. And exactly at
God's appointed time, he calls each of his elect out of darkness
and bondage and death. When will God save a sinner? At the very moment he ordained
from eternity and you're not going to hurry it up and hell's
not going to slow it down. God saves his own exactly when
he will. People somehow get the notion
through the influence of Arminian free will, works, religion, and
through the influence of our own carnal Arminian proud hearts
who think we can control God's work or somehow influence God's
work and hurry God up, get those, oh, we got to do something or
somebody's going to go to hell if we don't get it done. God's
people, God's chosen, everyone shall be called by his grace
at precisely the time he has ordained. He raises up nations
and tears them down according to that purpose. Here's a fourth
thing. God appointed the time of Israel's
bondage and provided for Israel's deliverance, and he accomplished
it. He accomplished it exactly according
to his purpose for the glory of his own great name. God saves sinners the way he
does, through all the experiences he brings them through, using
the instruments he has ordained to use. at the precise time and
in the precise circumstances he has ordained so as to get
the most glory to himself. And that's all right with us,
isn't it? Would you have it any other way? Not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, unto thy name be the glory for thy mercy and for
thy truth's sake. This is what the psalmist said.
Nevertheless, he saved them for his namesake. That's why he saved
us. Turn to Romans chapter nine for
just a moment. Let's look at this word God gave to Pharaoh
again, as is given to us by the Holy Spirit in the ninth chapter
of Romans. Verse 15. And if you read the chapter with
the least bit of attention, You can't help but to notice that
as you read Romans 9, 10, and 11, the Holy Spirit here mixes
together. all the experience of God's people
in time, mingling with the experience of God's people in time, the
raising up of Israel as a nation and the casting off of Israel
as a nation, raising up Pharaoh and destroying Pharaoh, all to
show us that the purpose of God according to election must stand. And the Apostle concludes this
section of Romans in Romans chapters 9, 10, and 11. He gets at the
end of chapter 11 and he said, Who hath known the mind of the
Lord? Who hath been his counselor about
him? For of him and through him and
to him are all things to whom be glory both now and forever. Now look what it says right in
the middle of this passage beginning in chapter 9 verse 15. He saith
to Moses, he had just spoken about Jacob and Esau, illustrations
of election. Now he speaks about God's predestination
and his providence. He says to Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. So then it is not, that is God's
election, God's purpose, God's redemption, God's salvation,
is not of him that winneth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that my
name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore, this
is the conclusion of the matter, hath he mercy on whom he will
have mercy. And whom he will, he hearteneth. The fact is, had there been no
bondage, there would have been no deliverance. Had there been
no wicked Pharaoh on the throne, there could have been no mighty
conquest of it. Had there been no pursuing army and no Red Sea,
there would have been no song of redemption on the other side
of the Red Sea. But God ordained it all. that
he might be glorified and so it is with us. God wisely and
sovereignly ordained the fall of men in our father Adam and
the redemption of his elect in Christ the last Adam. to the
praise of the glory of his grace. As God raised up Pharaoh and
hardened his heart so that he might be might drown his wicked
carcass in the Red Sea and be honored in doing so. Even so,
he ordained the fall of Lucifer and made him the prince of the
power of the air that Jesus Christ might overthrow him at the appointed
time of mercy and demonstrate himself Lord over all by the
power of his own might. And in the end, like the overthrow
of Satan and his armies, the final overthrow of Satan and
the armies of hell shall show forth the praise of his great
glory. And it shall come to pass, as
David sang, all thy works shall praise thee, O Lord. I can't tell you how anxious
I am to see that. All thy works shall praise thee,
O Lord, and thy saints shall bless thee. I've seen some of
you go through some heart-wrenching
times. My heart's been wrenched for
you, and I can't imagine the experience you've had. I can't
imagine it. I can't imagine it. But when
God gets done, when God gets done, you will bless him for
it. You will bless him for it. All
thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, and thy saints shall
bless thee. Now, let's go to Exodus chapter
10. Let me give you the context,
and I'll be working my way down. to verses 24, 25, and 26. Moses is sent back to Pharaoh
to perform two more plagues upon the Egyptians. The eighth, the
locust. The ninth, darkness. Three days of darkness. And these things God did to teach
us of his grace. In verses one and two, we read
the commission that God gives. It says, I've hardened Pharaoh's
heart. And he says, I'm doing these
things. Look at verse two. That thou
mayest tell it in the ears of thy son and of thy son's son,
what things I have wrought in each Oh God give us grace to
do that. Generation after generation proclaiming
the gospel of His grace. I do not suggest or imply or
think that our sons and daughters after the flesh have any claim
upon God and His grace. They do not. But it is With us
today, as it was with Israel of old, we are to proclaim God's
goodness generation after generation, and God will gather our sons
and daughters, spiritual sons and daughters, unto Him in His
mercy and in His grace. And in proclaiming the truth
generation after generation, proclaiming Christ to men, the
Church of God stands as the pillar and ground of truth in this world. Bobby, God's given us the privilege
and the awesome responsibility of holding forth the light of
the gospel in the generation we live in, for the generation
to come. That's how he passes it on, by
his word, as it's proclaimed, generation after generation. He sent the locust, and Pharaoh
hardened his heart. He tried to make a bargain with
Moses. His servants said to Pharaoh,
they said, Pharaoh, can't you see the land is destroyed? Send these Jews out of here.
Get rid of them. And Pharaoh tried to make a compromise
and Moses wouldn't adhere to it. And he walked out and the
locust came and devoured everything in Egypt. And finally, Pharaoh
came and said, pray that God will take away the locust and
I'll let you go under these circumstances. And Moses said, I know you're
lying. I know you've hardened your heart. And he went out and
spread his hands before God and God took away the locust. And
Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to let Israel go. And
so Moses brings, by the commandment of God, Three days of darkness. Felt darkness. Can you imagine
darkness you could feel? So dark that no man could see
another man. Man and woman laying in bed side
by side couldn't see each other. Darkness. Darkness. That's nothing
compared to the darkness awaiting the damned in hell forever and
ever. The spiritual, mental, conscious
darkness of the wrath of God Almighty. And again, we're reminded
of God's distinguishing grace upon his people. Because the scripture tells us
in verse 23, all the children of Israel had light in their
dwellings. The psalmist said, light is sown
for the righteous. And where there is light, there's
gladness for the upright in heart, walking in the light of Christ
Jesus, our Lord, the light of life. We walk in righteousness
with him and righteousness by him and walk in gladness and
uprightness before him. And now look at verse 24. And Pharaoh called unto Moses
and said, go ye, serve the Lord only. Makes one more stab to
compromise. Let your flocks and your herds
be stayed. Let your little ones also go
with you. First he said, take the men,
leave the women and children. Now he said, take everybody,
just leave your flocks and herds. And Moses said, thou must give
us also sacrifices and burnt offerings that we may sacrifice
to the Lord our God. One of these days I may have
some liberty to preach on that. Egypt must provide for God's
people that with which they worship and serve him throughout their
generations. This world helps God's church. Much as she tries to destroy
it, she only helps. Much as she would rid the world
of the name of Christ in Christianity, all she does is help. Much as
she would rid the world of every thought of God, all she does
is help. Thou must provide. Thou must
give us sacrifices and burnt offerings that we may sacrifice
unto the Lord our God. Our cattle also shall go with
us, ours and yours. There shall not an hoof be left
behind. For thereof must we take to serve
the Lord our God. And we know not with what we
must serve the Lord. until we come thither. There shall not an hoof be left
behind. There's two things I want you
to see. I'll send you home. Number one, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes
in the saving power of his spirit to the sinner and calls the sinner
to faith in himself, He demands and will accept nothing less
than total surrender. Total surrender. Lock, stock,
and barrel. He will have me, or he'll have
none of me. And the same is true of you.
In our baptism, we confess, you can read it in Romans chapter
six, were crucified with Christ and
buried with him. More than 40 years ago, I lifted
my hand to God and to his people and to this world in the waters
of believers baptism and I said I'm dead to this world. I died with Christ and now he's
come by his spirit, called me by his grace, and I've raised
up with him to walk with him in newness of life. He's my Lord
forever. And this is what the Lord says,
if any man come after me and hate not his father, his mother,
his brother, his sister, yea, and his own life also, he cannot
be my disciple. What does that mean, hate? Larry
Chris, does God expect you to hate Nancy and those boys and
that daughter and those grandchildren? No. Does Christ demand that I
hate my wife? I'm talking now in the sense
that men commonly use the word hate. No. No. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. When he says,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. He is not suggesting
somehow that God back in eternity as an augur somehow arbitrarily
just decided he would despise Esau and harm Esau and do everything
for Esau. Esau's evil. He said, I'm gonna
leave Esau alone. I'm going to ignore Esau. I'm
going to give nothing to Esau. I'm going to just leave Esau
totally out of any care or concern. That's the word. And Larry Brown,
God demands that you hate that woman in just that way, and yourself
too. In other words, my life, my time,
my energies, my money, my wife, my daughter, my son-in-law, My
grandchildren, nothing I have is mine. Nothing. Nothing. I am just a steward
holding a few things in my hands trusted to me with which to serve
my God. The rich young ruler discovered
this quickly. Go and sell all you have. Come
and follow me. Well, I don't think I will. Blessed Savior, give me grace
and I will. That's what I want. I don't pretend by any means
that surrender to Christ in this world is perfect. It never is. But it is entire. Mr. Spurgeon said Christ will not
be co-proprietor of any man. He will not have one part of
the man and leave the other part to be devoted to Satan. Moses
said, there shall not an hoof be left behind. Lord, that leper said, here I bow.
at your feet. I'm a leper. And I've got no
right to be here. But Lord, if you will, you can
make me whole. Here I am. Do with me what you
will. Oh, God, give me grace. Every
moment of my days. so to bow before my Redeemer. And that which he demands, he
performs. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. No man, no woman, no child of
Adam will ever bow to Christ. Nobody will. Nobody will. Absolutely. Nobody will ever bow to Christ
as Lord and worship Him as Lord until made willing to do so by
the Spirit of God. Not you, not me, nobody. But He makes His own willing.
And he continually makes them willing, day after day, and soon,
that which we will, we shall have. Our Lord said to that woman,
we saw it Sunday morning, or you'll see it next Sunday morning,
I'm sorry, I'm thinking about the lesson I prepared. That Syrophoenician
woman, oh woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee. even as thou wilt. Let me tell
you what I will, David. I will be totally committed to
Christ. Totally committed to Christ. Totally consecrated to him. Oh God, tear every rival idol
from my heart that dares to rival by Redeemer, and soon it shall
be. When we see Him, we shall be
like Him. Here's the second thing. That
total surrender, that total surrender of every chosen redeemed sinner
is the result of total deliverance by Jesus Christ. Turn to John
chapter 6. The Lord Jesus will save all
his people. Every sinner given to him as
a covenant surety before the world began, he shall save his
people from their sins. Either so, or he didn't. No alternatives. No in-between grant. Our Lord
Jesus Christ was given a people. For whom he assumed total responsibility
in the covenant of grace and he shall save them John 6 37
All that the father giveth me shall come to me And him that
cometh to me. I will in no wise cast out For
I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will
of him that sent me And this is the father's will which has
sent me That of all which he hath given me, I should lose
nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And
this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which
seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting
life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Isn't that interesting? Those the Father gives him in
time, He had given him in eternity and those he had given him in
eternity and gives him in time Come to him in time and he will
raise them up and they're all the same people at the last day
verse 44 No man can come to me Except the father which has sent
me draw him And I will raise him up at the
last day If the father draws you You'll come and he'll raise
you up at the last day. It is written in the prophets.
And they shall all be taught of God. Every man, therefore,
that hath heard and learned of the father cometh unto me. The long and short of it is this.
As our covenant mediator and our surety, as Jehovah's righteous
servant, he was given commandment of his father to save his people
from their sins. And this is what he says about
that. Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also
I must breed. And they shall hear my voice,
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. They shall be saved. The Lord Jesus put away the sins
of his people by the sacrifice of himself. completely put them
away. Atoned for all our sins. Satisfied divine justice. and
to suggest that there are some in hell for whom he died is to
blaspheme his name and destroy the gospel. This is the most
important, most crucial issue of divine revelation in all the
book of God. Jesus Christ either effectually
redeemed his own or we are false witnesses of God. It's just that
simple. And those who deny it are false
witnesses of God. It's just that plain. All those
who were given to Him in eternity shall come to Him because His
deliverance is accomplished when He sends His Spirit to loose
them and let them go. You see, deliverance, redemption,
is the ransom of our souls and the loosing of our souls and
the liberty of our souls at last in resurrection glory. We have
every reason to believe God and rejoice in His goodness. He's
in absolute control and He accomplishes all things according to His will.
Let us therefore give all praise to Him and go forth every day
proclaiming the gospel of his grace, knowing that his word
will not return to him void, but he will call out his own
by the gospel we preach and give life and faith to whom he will.
In other words, failure to God's people is an impossibility. There shall
not an hoof be left behind. We're not seeking the salvation
of the world, we're seeking the salvation of God's elect, and
they shall be saved. Let us be faithful to the work.
William Carey, father of the modern missionary movement, gave
an address I just read about in the New Focus magazine about
the responsibility of proclaiming the gospel to the heathen. And
he stood before me and he said to folks believing exactly what
I just preached to you, attempt great things for God
and expect great things from God. Not a hoof shall be left
behind. Amen. Our father. Our God. Thank you. For your sovereign purpose of
grace. For free redemption. In Jesus Christ our Lord. We ask for. Every effort of our
hands. For every responsibility. You
have trusted to us that you will make us faithful and you will
bless it to the saving of your people and the glory of your
name. As our friends gathered with
us in just a couple of weeks from all over the world, God,
will you be pleased to make your word effectual to the hearts
of each one? call out sinners for your namesake.
Raise up men to proclaim the gospel of your grace. Pour out
your spirit upon us. And we pray that you'll carry
the light, the flame, the blaze of your glory from this place
around the world for Christ's sake. And we do remember and pray for
the Josh. Thank you for their service.
God go with them, keep them, protect them. As for our nation, we recognize that this nation
is but a political nation, a nation of wicked, ungodly, men who deserve your
wrath. But you've been pleased for so
long in this day, this generation, and for so many preceding us
to use this nation to preserve the light of the gospel. And we ask that in the perilous
times before us, you'll be pleased to intervene and rule our rulers,
govern their thoughts, and graciously order the affairs
of the nation for the cause of your people, the furtherance
of the gospel, and the glory of your son. And we thank you, oh God, we
thank you, for making us part of a better nation, an holy nation, a royal priesthood, chosen, redeemed, called, and
loved of God Almighty. Ask for Dan, Mary Ann, that you'll
be pleased, Father, to minister to them, Bob and Sally. And I ask for Brother Larry and
Ron, as they prepare to preach the gospel here Sunday, God,
pour out your spirit upon them. Flood their hearts with the gospel. For Christ's sake, I pray. Amen.