back in your Bibles to the book
of James chapter 4. I'd like to read a couple of
verses here this morning and then we'll turn to another passage. In James chapter 4 I want to
read verse 6 and verse 7. But he giveth more grace wherefore
he saith God resisteth the proud but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore,
to God. Resist the devil and he will
flee from you. Verse 10, humble yourselves in
the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up. Then I want
you to turn back, if you will, in your Bibles to the Gospel
of Saint Mark, Chapter 7. The Gospel of Saint Mark, Chapter
7. And I'll read beginning here
with verse 20 and read down through verse 23. Mark 7, 20 through
23. And he said, that which cometh out of the man, that defileth
the man. For from within out of the heart
of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil
eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from
within and defile the man. pride and humility. Before we
attempt... We read out of the book of James
that God resisteth the proud but he giveth grace unto the
humble. We read here in Mark chapter
7 in the 22nd verse in this catalog of evil things that are in the
heart of man The Lord Jesus says one of them is pride, one of
them is pride. Now I recognize that it's not
a sign of humility to declaim against pride, but this morning
it is my duty and responsibility as preacher of the gospel to
bring this message and I do not bring this message because I
believe that I am an example of humility. I'd like to be,
I surely would, but I do not bring this message preaching
down to anyone here this morning, but I preach out to you the word
of God and I hope that you'll receive it as from the Lord. I'd like to begin by saying that
of all the evils that reside in and arise from the human heart,
pride seems to be the most abominable. Pride is the ugliest monster
that dwells in the dark den of our sinful hearts. Yes, pride,
I believe, is the root of all sin. It's the root of all sin,
I say. It was pride that destroyed Lucifer. Pride led one third of the heavenly
angels in rebellion against the throne of God. Pride inspired
Adam, our father Adam, to steal the fruit off of God's tree in
the Garden of Eden. Pride brought the curse of God
upon man and upon the beast of the field and upon the earth
which God Almighty had created. And pride made the first son
of Adam, Cain, made him a murderer. Now compared with pride, all
the other evil passions of our hearts, it is my conviction at
least, are very easy to control. I say compared with pride, all
the other passions and evils of our hearts are easy to control. Now a man may control his sensual
lust, otherwise all men would be rapists. He may control his
covetousness, otherwise all would be thieves and murderers, would
they not? Now he may even control his envy,
otherwise we would all be at each other's throats all the
time. But where is the man who can
control the pride of his heart. Where is the man who has the
pride of his heart under control? Now there is nothing that we
detest in others so much as pride. We detest it when we see it in
others around us. Yet pride is the most persistent
evil of our own hearts. Pride is so natural to us that it grows in us like weeds
in a well-watered garden. You do not have to plant pride. It is as natural to men as mosquitoes
in a swamp. Everybody has pride. Now, if
you kill it, It'll always revive. It always will. You bury it,
and it'll resurrect. I'm talking about pride. I'm
talking about human pride. Now, when you think you have
it conquered, when you think you have pride conquered and
rejoice over it, the very rejoicing is pride, nothing less than pride. Now, the man who thinks he has
none has the most. It has 10,000 faces, and by perpetual
change, it's very hard to locate and destroy. You'll find it in
the rich, and you'll find it in the poor alike. You'll find
it in the pulpit, in the pew, and in the prison. In the old
and young, the beautiful and the ugly, the educated and the
ignorant, you will find this thing of human pride. And yet nothing could be more
inconsistent than the pride of man. What is it? Well, it's inordinate
self-regard, it's arrogance, it's egotism, haughtiness, disdain,
vainglory, vanity, it's deceit or conceit, I should say. Pride
is an absorbing sense of our own greatness and worth. Haughtiness, it thinks highly
of itself and poorly of others. Arrogance, it claims much for
itself and concedes little to others. Disdain, sees contempulously
the inferiority of others to itself. Vanity, it's eager for
admiration and praise and is elated if they are rendered and
pained if they're withheld. Pride, I believe, is indeed the
root of all sin, and it's not of the Father, but it's of the
world, and the world is passing away along with all the other
lusts. They that do the will of God
shall abide forever, 1 John tells us. Now, so as pride is the root
of all sin, so as it is, pride, I believe, is the root also of
heresy. It's the root of heresy. Now
men utter false doctrine because they're unwilling to bow to the
revelation of God. They're unwilling to bow their
knee. They're unwilling to bow their
knee to the Word of God, to the plain, unadulterated teachings
of the Word of God. Man thinks his own judgment,
he thinks his own reason or his own opinion is superior to the
Word of God. Now just recently, I read a comment
by a well-known TV evangelist, and he made this statement. He
said, God limited his omniscience and omnipresence so that man
could be free. Now that's what he said. Now
God, he said, chose to limit himself rather than to interfere
with man's free will. Well, what would make a man say
such a thing as that? What would make a preacher say
such a thing as that? What would make him to stand
before men and lay claim to such a thing as that? Well, it certainly
is pride. Pride is the root of Arminianism. Pride is the root of freewillism. And we must understand that the
religion of this world, be it Catholic or Protestantism, Liberalism,
Conservatism, Fundamentalism, or Atheism, is all really just
one religion. Just one religion. Its doctrine
is the dignity and the supremacy and the goodness of man. That's
what the doctrine of religion is. It makes man his own teacher,
it makes him his own ruler, it makes him his own savior, and
it makes him his own God. And man eats this up because
man is a proud rebel against God. I say that pride is the
root of all heresy. of all teaching that's contrary
to God, that lifts up man, that dignifies man, and brings God
down. Pride is the root of that. He
delights to hear. Man does. The proud rebel does. The religionist. The proud religionist. He delights to hear that God
is limited and he is free. He delights to hear that. He
wants to hear it. Now a proud man delights in hearing
that God's power and knowledge and grace and wrath are in somewhere
or another all under his control and are dependent upon him. I solemnly warn you this morning
to beware of any doctrine that promotes human pride. It is not
the gospel. If you hear a message that exalts
man, if you hear a message that seems to bring or set forth the
idea that man is sovereign and that God is under the, what we
might say, under the control of men and that men can do with
Christ or do with God as they please, then my friend, this
is not the gospel. I say to you, this is not the
gospel. Now in regards to this, I'd like
to say that the message of the gospel, that the message of the
word of God, the truth of the gospel, is a message which is
offensive. to the proud heart of man. I'm talking about where heresy
comes from. It comes out of the heart. Pride
comes out of the heart of man. It's one of the evil things.
Jesus said all these evil things come within and defile the man. Why is it that men will not listen
to the message of the gospel? Paul called his message the offense
of the gospel. Well, why did he do that? Why
did he call it the offense of the gospel? Now beloved our Lord
said marvel not at this if the world hates you. He said in John
16 they will cast you out of organized religion and whosoever
killeth you will think that he serves God in doing so. Now if what we preach If we are
preaching the word of God is not offensive to the religionist
and to the whirling, then it is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. I repeat, it is not the gospel. Now it's the pride of man that
will not enable him or allow him to bow his knee to the truth
of the absolute sovereignty of God in creation and in providence
and in redemption. This offends man's claim to free
will. Man says we will not have this
man to reign over us. His pride says we'll never bow
our knee to this man. We'll never bow our knee to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now the preaching of total depravity
and inability offends man's dignity and his claim to personal righteousness. He says we be not born of fornication. Remember that's what the Pharisees
said to the Lord Jesus. Now that is we be not born in
sin. We be not as other men. We do
not take our position with other men as being guilty as Adam in
the fall in the garden. We're not responsible. We are
not sinners as other men. We may not be perfect, they would
say, but we're not totally corrupt in God's sight. Now, beloved,
let me say that man's dignity is offended when we stand before
them and tell them that God says that they're born rebels, and
that they're born in sin, and that they went astray from their
mother's womb, and that they come forth out of their mother's
womb speaking lies, and that they have broken the law of God
willingly, and they have offended God, and they're guilty of sin. They're sinners before God. Now
then the gospel of Christ comes by revelation and this offends
man's natural wisdom. because he is so proud. Man knows,
you know, about everything. And I recognize that the college
professor knows as much as the farmhand does about the gospel
because neither one of them knows anything about the gospel apart
from the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Revelation. And so
when we preach that the gospel must be revealed to men, this
offends man's pride because he says we're as wise, we're wise
enough to know God, we're wise enough to discover the truth
about God, we're wise enough, we're just as wise as anybody
else, we're as wise as that preacher. But my friend, apart from the
revelation of the Spirit of God, nobody knows Jesus Christ, nobody
knows the truth of the gospel apart from the revelation. Now
then, when we preach effectual redemption, I'm talking about
this the offense of the cross here and how it offends man's
pride and how that his pride causes him to accept a doctrine
which is contrary to the word of God and causes him to stand
on a doctrine which exalts man and which dethrones God. Effectual
redemption Through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ
our substitute and sin offering offends man's pride because men
would have God to do all that he wants to do or all that he
can do, but there must be a work left for the sinner to perform
that we might share somewhat in the glory. Now man says, I
don't want you to preach that men are saved entirely by Jesus
Christ without any work on their behalf. My friend, this offends
man's pride because man wants to have a part in his salvation
and man feels that he can in some way or another assist, he
can in some way or another help God save him. But my friend,
we know that's not true. Salvation is altogether the grace
of God from the beginning to the end. Christ is salvation. Christ is altogether the Savior
of men's souls. But this offends man's pride
because it makes a man to appear as one who is unable, that he
absolutely has not the ability to assist God or to in any way
produce works that are acceptable unto God because he is a fallen
sinner and has not the spiritual ability to produce any work that
God Almighty will accept. as being a payment against his
sin debt. Now then, when we preach the
Lordship of Jesus Christ, this offends man's desire for recognition
here and hereafter. You know, I read in a church
bulletin one time about a church down south where it said that
this church, in this church, everybody is somebody. And I
thought to myself, wouldn't it have been better if they would
have put up there on the bulletin board or out there on the sign
in front, the Lord Jesus Christ is all, he's all, and we're nobody. We're nobody ourselves. And certainly,
my friend, this morning we want to in some way have recognition
in this world. We want to be recognized as being
somebody. But when we preach the Lordship
of Jesus Christ, it makes us nobodies and makes Christ all
in all. Grant, Lord, that we may sit
at thy right hand and thy left hand. Let us have a system of
rewards to distinguish us in some way from the beggar. We've
established our social levels here and we choose to continue
them in heaven. Let us have some kind of reward
system where that we'll receive recognition. No, my friend, Christ
is all. Christ is all. He is Lord of
all. Now then, I want to say a few
words then about humility. I've tried to show you that pride
is the root of all sin, and pride is the root of all heresy in
religion. Now let's talk a little bit about
humility. And I'd like for you to turn
in your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 20. the book of
Acts chapter 20 and I'd like for you to look here if you would
at verse 19 Acts 20 and verse 18 and 19 and when they were
come to him he said to them now Paul had called for the Ephesian
elders the elders of the church at Ephesus to come, and he said
to them, ye know from the first day that I came into Asia, after
what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the
Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations
which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews. Paul here
says that he served the Lord with all humility of mind. Now we claim, I think we do as
the people of God in this day to be servants of God, men and
women under the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ, men and women who
have bowed their knee to the Lordship of Christ, men and women
who have received the knowledge of Christ by the revelation of
God's Spirit in our hearts, men and women who respect the revelation
of God concerning himself, men and women who believe in the
doctrines of God's free and sovereign grace. Now if our profession
is true, If it is a true profession, if we truly serve the Lord Jesus
Christ, our heart's attitude before Him is one of humility. We are humble before the Lord.
Now, this is what I mean. This is what I'm saying. If I
am God's servant, if rebellion has been put down in my heart,
if God has broken the rule of pride in my heart and calls me
to bow my knee to Him. If the Lord has done it, the
purpose and the goal and the aim and the motive of my heart
in what I do here in this world is the glory of God. It's to
God's glory. It's to His honor. If I serve
Christ with humility, I will be honored to serve Him whenever
and wherever and however that He may allow me to do that. Humility is the acceptance of
the place appointed by God whether it is in the front or in the
rear. Humility is the acceptance of
the place where God places me. I'll not have to be prodded into
serving Him if I have a heart that is humble before the Lord. I won't have to be constrained
by threats of punishment or bribed by promises of reward to serve
the Lord. That is, if I have a willing
heart, I'll serve my Lord willingly. I'll serve him willingly. Now
humility, my friend this morning, beloved, humility is a matter
of the heart. It's a matter of the heart. It
is not, as many think, timidity and weakness and cowardness. That's not what it is. It's not
an unwillingness to be bold and decisive and uncompromising in
the cause of Christ, because Moses and Elijah and John the
Baptist, while they could hardly be described with such terms
as this, Can you imagine anyone describing John the Baptist as
being unwilling to be bold or one who was undecisive or one
who was compromising in the cause of Christ? Absolutely not. Now
humility is brokenness of heart before God over sin and out of
gratitude for his love and his mercy and grace to sinners in
Jesus Christ. That's what it is. Now I want
to give you this morning six characteristics of humility as
it's set forth in the Word of God. Now hear me out as I give
you these six things that are characteristic of true Bible
humility. I'd like to be humble before
God because God resisteth the proud. God's hand is against
the proud. And you know Benjamin Franklin,
I think it was, who said that he who spits against the wind
spits in his own face. God resisteth the proud. I once
read of a spider that tried to build a web on the moving hands
of a town clerk in Old England. Well, I do not think any spider
is that foolish. But far more foolish is the man
who resists the Lord, who is proud and resists God, and will
not submit himself and humble himself before the Lord. Because
the purpose of God will be done, and man ought to bow his knee
to that. He ought to submit himself to that. Now this humility, then
I want to be humble before the Lord because God gives grace
to the humble. He gives grace. He giveth more
grace. He giveth grace to that man whose
heart is broken before God over his sin and whose heart is filled
with gratitude toward God because of his love and mercy and grace
toward sinners in Jesus Christ. And so I want this Bible humility. I want to know what it is, and
I want it in my own life. And I don't want to live as a
proud rebel against God. I want to bow my knee every day,
every hour, every second of the day to the will of God as it's
revealed in the Word of God. And so listen carefully as I
give you these characteristics of humility. Number one, humility
is a hard realization My own remember I said humility is a
work of the heart. It is a heart realization of
my own Worthlessness before God by reason of sin Now if you were
to turn in your Bibles to the book of Job I wish you would
turn there to the book of Job at chapter 40 I want to read
here a few verses out of chapter 40 and a couple out of chapter
42 Moreover, the Lord answered Job
in chapter 40 and said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty
instruct him? He that reproveth God, let him
answer it. Then Job answered the Lord and
said, Behold, I am vile. What shall I answer thee? I will
lay mine hand upon my mouth. I'm talking about humility here
is a heart realization of our own worthlessness before God
by reason of our sinfulness, by reason the fact that we were
born sinners into this world. And Job said, behold I'm vile. Once have I spoken, but I will
not answer. Yea, twice, but I'll proceed
no further. Behold, I am vile. Now turn over if you will to
the 42nd chapter of Job and let's look at verse 5. verse 6 Job
42 verse 5 and 6 I've heard of thee by the hearing of the ear,
but now might I see of thee wherefore I abhor myself and repent in
dust and ashes I repent in dust and ashes Now then, I believe
that you can see what Job is talking about here and that he
has a heart realization of his own worthlessness before God
by reason of his sin. Now if you were to turn to Psalm
chapter 51, Psalm chapter 51, listen to the language of David,
I think that you would see clearly that this was David's attitude
also. In verse 4 and 5 of Psalm 51,
verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. a broken and a contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise." So I think we see clearly then
what humility is in its beginning. It is a realization in our own
hearts of our worthlessness before God by reason of our sin. Now the second thing is this.
Humility is a heart renunciation. of all personal merit and righteousness
before God. It is a heart renunciation. Now it's not a just simply renunciation
with the mouth, but it's one with the heart because humility
is a heart work. Now turn in your Bibles, if you
will, to the book of Philippians chapter 3, Philippians the third
chapter, and I want to read here I'll tell you a few verses concerning
some statements made by the Apostle Paul on this subject. He said
in verse four, though I might also have competence in the flesh,
Philippians three and four, if any other man thinketh that he
hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more, circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin
of the Hebrews as touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal,
persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in
the law blameless, But what things were gained to me, those I counted
loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss for the excellency and the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss. for whom I have renounced
all things, and do count them but done that I may win Christ,
and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith. Now the Apostle
Paul came to the place where he had to renounce all personal
merit and righteousness before God. Now it's an easy thing to
renounce our sin, but it's a very difficult thing to renounce our
merit and our goodness and our righteousness before God. Now the Christian is humble because
he had given up seeking good in himself to adore the one in
whom there is nothing but good. He seeks the Lord and he desires
to glory in that one who is good. Now, I say that it's very easy
to renounce our sin. Most people will be glad to give
up their sin, glad to walk off from their sin, glad to renounce
it, but what they esteem to be good, what they esteem to be
merit, they'd like to hold on to that. But my friend, I want
to tell you this morning that if God Almighty was to judge
us on the basis of our very best work, on the basis of the very
best thing we've ever done in our lives and that was to be
the grounds and the basis upon which we were to come before
God in judgment that every one of us would be sent to hell because
all of our righteousness are filthy rags before God and there
is nothing good about us that would commend us unto God. And
so we must renounce all of our personal righteousness and humility
involves that renunciation. Have you renounced all of your
righteousness? You say, well preacher, I've
dealt with my sin. I'm talking about your righteousness because
before God your righteousness and what you esteem to be sin
is the same thing if it gets between you and Jesus Christ. Christ is God's righteousness
and Christ is all the righteousness that God demands of you and I. Christ is salvation. He's life. And if you have him, you have
life. And if you don't have him, you're dead and you're dead in
sin. Renounce everything but Jesus
Christ. This is true Bible humility. Thirdly, humility is a part of
that inexpressible gratitude of the heart to God for His great
grace to me in Christ Jesus, which causes me to be forever
in His debt. I want you to turn back in your
Bibles to Psalm 116. Psalm 116, and let's look at
verse 12 and verse 16. Here the psalmist says, what
shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? What shall I render to the Lord
for all of his benefits toward me? And then in verse 16, oh
Lord, truly I am thy servant. I am thy servant and the son
of thine handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds. Thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to thee, in verse
17, the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of
the Lord. I'll offer to you the sacrifice
of thanksgiving. And so my friend, in the heart
of the true believer, the true believer knows himself and feels
himself. If a man has true humility before
God, he knows that his whole salvation, he knows that his
whole forgiveness and the justification he's received from God, that
is all together from God is a free gift and he has an inexpressible
gratitude in his heart to God for all of his grace and all
of his mercy. And he asked daily, what can
I render to the Lord for all that he's done for me, for all
the benefits which he's given to me. And the true believer
feels that he's in debt to God and will feel that forever. He'll
always be in debt to God. Now beloved, that's true humility.
I owe the Lord. He doesn't owe me anything but
judgment, but I owe the Lord. I am a debtor to God Almighty. I really am for His grace and
mercy in Jesus Christ. All right, now the fourth thing
is this. I'm talking to you about true Bible humility. Humility
involves a willing submission. and devotion, the devotion of
my heart to Jesus Christ. You remember in Acts chapter
9 and verse 6 when the apostle, or when Saul of Tarsus was struck
down and was converted and he prayed and said, Lord, what will
you have me to do? What wilt thou have me to do? There was a heart-willing submission
immediately When God saved him unto God, he wanted to know what
the Lord wanted him to do. Yes, there's a willing devotion,
there must be a willing devotion of myself to Christ as my Lord. A willing submission to his providential
rule and a willing determination to obey him whatever is the cost. Whatever is the cost to me, there
must be this. This is involved in humility.
There must be this willing submission and devotion to Jesus Christ. Alright? The fifth thing is this. Humility, gladly, true Bible
humility gladly ascribes all that I have and all that I am
to the free and sovereign grace of God in Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians
15 and verse 10, listen to these words. Listen to what the scripture
here says. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and
verse 10, Paul says, but by the grace of God I am what I am. and his grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than
they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Now, this scripture, my friend,
is very clear, very plain, that Paul ascribed everything that
he was, everything that he was enabled to do, as a servant of
God unto the free and sovereign grace of God in Jesus Christ. And true humility will do that. Now in the sixth place, and lastly,
humility if we have any as the people of God, if there is such
a thing in the heart of a child of God, if there is such a thing
in a believer, is the mind of Christ in me. It's the mind of
Christ in me which causes me to love my brethren and to esteem
them more highly than myself and prefer their honor to my
own and gladly give myself to their interest. It is the mind
of Christ in me. Now if you think God's thoughts,
you will never think highly of yourself. If you think God's
thoughts. Now that's what I mean when I
say if there is any humility in us, it is God in us. It is Christ. It is for us to
have the mind of Christ. I offer to you this scripture,
Philippians chapter 2. If you would please turn to Philippians
2 and here it is very clear. Certainly Jesus Christ is the
example of humility and the word of God. And I read beginning
with verse 3 and we'll read down through verse 8 of Philippians
2. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in
lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on
the things of others. Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus. who being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. So here we have the picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and we have the mind that was in him. And so if there be a humble mind
in any of us, certainly it is because we have the mind of Christ,
and we think God's thoughts, and we cannot any longer think
great things of ourself, but we must think as Jesus did, and
he bowed himself and humbled himself, and became obedient
unto the death of the cross. May the Lord be pleased to help
us with these thoughts concerning pride and humility this morning.
And if in your heart this morning you are resisting God and resisting
the revelation of God, if you oppose God and if you're against
God and His Word, my friend, I would remind you that the Word
of God says in Proverbs 18 in verse 12, that before destruction
there's a haughty spirit. Pride goeth before a fall. It
is humility that goes before exaltation. The Lord Jesus Christ
humbled himself, wherefore God hath highly exalted him. Humble
yourself therefore under the hand of God and he will exalt
you in due time, exalt you to full justification and life in
Christ, exalt you to full pardon in the Lord Jesus Christ, exalt
you to eternal life in the Son of God as you bow to the revelation
of God in Christ and to the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ in the
Word of God. Christ is life. Christ is salvation. Bow your knee. If you're here
this morning as a child of God and you say, I am a servant of
God, examine yourself in the light of these six characteristics
that I've given you of true humility. Examine yourself in the light
of these And ask yourself the question, do I have a true heart,
a true humble heart before the Lord? Am I walking in true humility
before the Lord? Is my heart truly humble before
Him? And if not, you better go back and examine your foundation.
Examine the foundation. Whether or not you really own
Christ. whether you've really been brought
out of the pit, whether you've really been lifted up and put
into the Lord Jesus, whether the flag of rebellion has been
brought down and been crushed in your soul and the flag of
peace has been put there by the Lord in your heart. May the Lord
bless this message to your hearts and to his name's honor and glory. Father, thank you today for this
privilege we've had to preach the word? Would you own the message? And would you bless it? And would
you use it, Father? And would you teach thy people
and encourage thy people through it? And would you, our Father,
use it to bring down any proud rebel here? to bow their knee
and to throw away their knife and their shotgun and to bow
their knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, to his lordship in their
life. Submit to him that they might
truly have a master that is good and gracious and kind and loving,
even the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray in his name and for his
sake alone, amen.