If you're a believer, hasn't
the Lord proved Himself to you? We're kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation, but we're kept, we're kept by
the Lord. How many times has he proved
himself to the believer? Over and over and over again.
You know, this past week, you know, we heard a message from
Don Fortner on Wednesday. And Andy, Sunday morning. Aaron, Sunday night. And old
Matt, you had the Sunday school. You know, even in our own undershepherds
absence, the Lord's proved himself and fed us and been good to us. We're thankful for you and Janet
being here with us and look forward to hearing you preach tonight,
Frank. Turn with me, if you would, to
Ephesians chapter 2. As you're turning, let me tell
you, as always, what a joy it is for me to be here with you. Janet, I always look forward
to our visits with you. We thank God for you, for your
faithfulness, for your love and faith in Christ all through the
years. I've entitled the message this evening, From Death to Glory. I pray that this evening the
Holy Spirit will be pleased to show us how it is that God saves
and ultimately glorifies dead sinners. How can I get from death
How can I get from death in Adam to glory in Christ? That's what
I want us to be able to see this evening. And if we're going to
answer this question, how do I get from death to glory, we've
got to begin at the beginning. We've got to begin with how is
it that we're born spiritually dead in sin? How is it that we
died in the first place? Look at verse 1 of Ephesians
chapter 2. And you hath he quickened. who
were dead in trespasses and sins. Now, you'll notice the phrase
there, hath he quickened, is in italics. It's been added by
the translators. This is not the way that Paul
originally wrote this verse. Now, Paul is speaking to save
people. He's speaking here to people
who have been born again. But that's not how we began life
on this earth, is it? No, we began it dead. That's
what Paul is telling us here in the way he originally wrote
this verse. Let's read it how he originally wrote it. And you
who were dead in trespasses and sins. What Paul is telling us
here is that all men are born into this world as a spiritually
dead corpse. Now this is what I know about
a corpse. A corpse is offensive to us. A corpse is offensive
to the nose as a body decays. It stinks, doesn't it? There
is no smell like decaying, rotting flesh. A corpse is offensive
to the nose. A dead corpse is offensive to
the eyes. Nobody likes to see, nobody likes
to look on decaying, worm infested flesh. Janet and I went to see
a movie last night, I just thought of this, and there was this,
she's brushing up her nose, there's a body there laying dead, just
on the movie screen, you know, and she went, a dead corpse is offensive to
look at, isn't it? That's why we bury it underground. That's what you and I are spiritually.
That is the closest illustration I can think of of what we are
spiritually. We're offensive, spiritually
offensive to God. Well, how is it that we became
so offensive? How is it that we became dead
and offensive like this? In Adam. In Adam. Paul told the
Corinthians that in Adam, all die. Now, when Adam sinned, Adam
died. And when Adam sinned, all of
us sinned, too. All of us sinned in him. And
all of us died in Adam, too, because Adam is our representative. All of us were in Adam, because
every single one of us is going to descend from Adam's loins.
We were in Adam. He was our representative. What
Adam did, you and I did. So we're guilty in Adam. That's
where we became guilty, in Adam. And when Adam sinned, not only
did we become guilty, we also received a nature of sin from
Adam. Adam made us guilty of sin and
Adam gave us his sin nature. When Adam sinned, he died. And the only nature he had to
pass on to you and me was a dead sin nature. And that's the nature
we received from our father. And when we're born into this
world, 6,000 years later, we're born in this world, there are
two primary ways Paul gives us here that we clearly demonstrate
we've got this in nature. The first one is we follow Satan. Look at verse 2. Wherein in time
past you walked according to the course of this world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience. Now you read that verse and that
shows you how horrible sin really is. Sin is not a mistake that
we made. I really should have done that
or I could have done that. That's not sin. Sin is satanic. Sin is the opposite of God. Now we know our mother Eve was
deceived by Satan, wasn't she? And in a way, we're still being
deceived by sin. To this day, we're being deceived
by sin. Sin deceives us into thinking
that there's joy and there's pleasure in sin. But there's
not. It's deceiving us. But when we
sin, when we commit sin, you make no mistake about it, we're
not deceived. We're doing it willfully. We're
willfully. Our nature willingly follows
the way of Satan's rebellion against God. Now that's how horrible
our sin nature is. It follows the way of Satan.
It loves the way of Satan's rebellion. It follows Satan, not God. That's
how horrible this nature we've received from Adam is. And every
person who's ever been born, born of Adam, the exception is
our Lord Jesus Christ, he was not born of Adam, but every son
of Adam is born with this sinful, dead nature. including every
believer sitting here tonight. That's the nature we were born
with. We've got the very same nature that the children of disobedience
have in the world right now. All you've got to do is turn
on the news tomorrow night. You're going to see some horrible,
awful thing somebody did somewhere. Be careful looking down your
nose at them. Even though you're a believer, you still got that
same nature. When God saves a sinner, that
nature of sin is unchanged. We have, we carry around with
us that very same nature of sin and disobedience that every rebel
has right now. So we're not tricked into being
disobedient to God. We do it willingly. It's a willful
disobedience. We're no better than any sinner,
any sinner. So first of all, we're controlled.
We show this sin nature by being controlled by Satan. Second,
we show this sin nature because we're controlled by the sinful
desires of that nature. All we desire by nature is sin. We're slaves to sin and to Satan. Look at verse 3. among whom also
we all had our conversation in time past, in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. That word conversation is citizenship. We lived in sin, and we liked
it, and we had no intention of moving away. No, we liked it
there. Our sin is willful. We fulfilled
the lusts. We fulfilled everything that
our sinful nature desires. Every sinful desire of our nature,
we did everything we could to fulfill it, to have it. Everything
we do is controlled by a nature that cannot get enough sin. We drink iniquity like a thirsty
man drinks water because our nature can't get enough of it.
You see, we can't blame or just blame Adam for making us guilty,
can we? Now, without a doubt, we were
made guilty in Adam. But we love sin by nature, don't
we? All that nature desires is sin. So you know what that means? We're guilty of every sin. Personally,
guilty of every sin. We've either done it or we wanted
to do it. And God says that makes us guilty. And you may think, well, I haven't
acted on some sinful desire I have. I haven't done some horrible
thing somebody else has done. Well, the only reason you haven't
done it is God hasn't given you the opportunity to do it yet.
That's the only reason that our nature desires to do it. And
I wish I could just scream and get the attention of all these
false prophets and tell them, stop telling me to quit sinning
and God will save me. Stop telling me to quit sinning
and God will bless me. I got no peace there. I can get
no encouragement there because all I can do is sin. And that
makes me what the Apostle Paul called a child of wrath. Not
only do I feel wrath and hatred toward God, but I deserve God's
wrath. Isn't that what our Lord said
in John 3, 36? He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. But the wrath of God abideth
on him." Everything we do deserves the wrath of God. Children of
wrath. So that's us. We're dead. Born
dead in sin. And the dead are not going to
follow God. They're not able to follow God. They're dead.
The dead aren't going to love God. Their nature hates God.
The dead won't love the gospel when they hear it because they're
spiritually deaf. And what they can hear with the
natural ear they hate anyway, that's us. Well, then all we're
waiting on is for this life to end and God send us to hell because
that's what we deserve. God should just send us to hell
and put us out of his sight just like we bury that offensive dead
corpse out of our sight. Isn't that right? That's what
we deserve by nature. And this would be a short message.
if it wasn't for our second point. We do deserve God's wrath, but
God is merciful to sinners. Look at verse four. But God,
who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved
us. Now mercy is God not giving us
what we do deserve. We've just seen what do we deserve.
We deserve wrath. We deserve damnation. We deserve
punishment. But God does not give that wrath
to His people because He's already poured that wrath out upon Christ,
our substitute. Now, that's mercy. God giving
His Son what we deserve so He can give us life. That's mercy.
And I love this phrase that begins verse 4, but God. But God is the phrase, is the
hinge that the whole gospel swings upon. Eternal life swings upon
this hinge, but God. On one side, there's nothing
but death. On the other side, there's eternal
life. The door of salvation for sinners swings open in mercy
on this hinge, but God. Yes, we're dead in sin, but God
gives life. Yes, we're disobedient. Yes,
we are willingly disobedient. But God gives us the obedience
of Christ. Yes, we're separated from God
and Adam, but God has reconciled himself to his people in Christ
Jesus. Yes, we're under the power of
Satan. Yes, we willingly follow the way of Satan. But God crushed
Satan's power at Calvary, put him out of business, and set
his people free. Yes, by nature, we are the children
of wrath. Yes, by nature, we hate God.
But God gives his people a new heart, a new nature that loves
God, that follows him, that's obedient to him. Without a doubt,
by nature, we're children of wrath, even as others. We deserve
God's wrath as much as anybody in history has deserved God's
wrath. By nature, you and I deserve God's wrath. But God poured out his wrath
against the sin of his people on Christ our substitute, and
he poured it out fully. So that God himself says, there's
no fury left in me for any of my people. I poured it out on
your substitute. Let me give you a few examples
of this from Scripture. The flood of Noah. All men deserve
to die in that flood, didn't they? God looked down, he saw
all men were wicked. All men were nothing but sin.
Their thoughts, their actions, everything about them was nothing
but evil continually. Everybody should have died in
the flood but God. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord and he was spared because that ark took his wrath,
bore his punishment and carried him safely, didn't it? Remember
Joseph? What do you think about how Joseph's
brothers, his own brothers, treated him? My goodness, treated him
so ugly, spoke so evil of him, stripped him naked, threw him
down in a pit where there was no water, and then sold him to
ISIS as they came through on a bunch of camels and sold him
off into Egypt where he suffered. And they finally found out Joseph's
sitting on the throne in Egypt. He's in control of their life. And they thought, well, he spared
us while our father was alive, but now our father's... He'd
just been sparing us for our father's sake, for Jacob's sake. And they thought, boy, we're
gonna get it now. And Joseph told his brethren, don't you
worry. I'm gonna take care of you. I'm gonna feed you. I'll
shelter you. You meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good, as it is this day to save many people alive.
Now I ask you, what is it that you're going through right now?
I mean right now. You came out of the world today
to come here to hear the gospel. What is it that you're going
through right now? You're suffering a trial that's painful to the
flesh? It seems evil, doesn't it? But
don't you worry. God means it for good. Somebody
treating you horrible, they're treating you awful, and just,
you wonder how they, do you wonder how they get away with it? Don't
you worry about it. There's no doubt, they mean it
for evil. But God means it for good. Now you trust him, but
God. David said in Psalm 73, verse
26, my flesh and my heart faileth. Boy, can't you identify with
him or not? That's the truth. I'm a failure. My flesh, my heart
faileth. My faith is so fickle and weak. But David went on, he said, but
God is the strength of my heart. My strength's not me, it's him.
God sent his son to this earth, and one time he let man get his
hands on his son. Man took him, they tortured him,
they crucified him, and they crucified Christ in hatred for
God. But what did Peter tell those
men at Pentecost? Yeah, you killed him. Yeah, you
put him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead.
Look over Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. Verse 6, For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die, yet perventure for a good
man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Aren't you glad God's ways are
not your ways? We wouldn't have died. We wouldn't
have saved people that Christ saved. He saved the worst. Aren't
you glad God's ways are not your ways? Here's a word of encouragement
for you who preach and teach. I don't think anything is as
depressing as those hours after you preach and you think, That wasn't worthy of the Lord.
I just don't have it in me. The Apostle Paul said, I've planted
and Paulus has watered. You keep planting. You keep watering. But God gave the increase. God
blessed his word. You just keep preaching it. Look
at 1 Corinthians chapter 10. This is a word of comfort for
the child of God in deep waters and dark places. First Corinthians 10, verse 13.
There hath no temptation taken you,
but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able, but will
with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may
be able to bear it. You trust in the Lord. Yes, your
heart will fail, your strength will fail, but God is the strength
of my heart. He'll preserve you. He'll keep
you. He'll protect you. See, that's salvation. It's but
God. Salvation is not, yes, I'm a
sinner and I've done some things I shouldn't have done, but I've
decided to let Jesus into my heart. Yes, I've been a rebel,
but I've decided to let Jesus be my personal Savior. That's
not salvation. Salvation is, I'm a sinner. I'm the sinner. I'm the sinner
who deserves God's wrath, and I can't do anything to get God
to save me. I can't do anything to make him
have mercy on me. I deserve his wrath, but God
is merciful. I'm a child of wrath, even as
others, but God decided to do something for me. I'm bad. I
can't do anything for God, but God decided to do something for
me by his grace, and he did it. He's accomplished what he purposed
to do. You see, salvation is not man's
decision. Salvation is God's decision,
and that's good news for a sinner, and I know the flesh hates to
hear that, but that's good news for a sinner that salvation is
God's decision. God does for sinners what we
cannot and what we will not do for ourselves but God. But God, Paul says, who is rich
in mercy. Now, we deserve God's wrath,
but God is rich in mercy. God is wealthy in mercy. He abounds
in mercy. How much mercy is that? I can't
describe it, but I can tell you this. There's plenty of mercy
for every sinner that needs mercy. You come to him. You won't drain
his mercy. We deserve God's wrath. But God
is rich in mercy. We're children of wrath. Our
carnal mind is enmity against God. We hate God by nature. But
God loves his people anyway. God loves his people with a love
you and I really can't understand. It's an eternal love. It's a
never-ending love. Not never-ending from here to
eternity, but never-ending as far back as you can go and as
far forward as you can go. It's a never-ending love. God loves his people with such
a great love, you and I can't find the ends of it. We can't
find the length of it. We can't find the breadth of
it, and we can't get to the bottom of it. It's measureless love,
and I'm glad. Because it took great love to
save great sinners. And God is great in love. It
was great love that moved the father to send his son to be
the savior of sinners. It was great love that the father,
and you parents, you think about this. What would you do to humiliate
your child to save your enemy? What would you do? The father's
love for sinners is so great, he sent his son to clothe himself
in the weakness of human flesh so that he could be their representative,
so he could be their sacrifice. It was great love that moved
the son to agree. I'll become a man. I'll take
on me flesh so that I can become obedient to my own law, so I
can work out a perfect righteousness that I'll give to my people.
It was great love. that the Father and the Son in
covenant mercies agreed that in order for God's elect to be
saved, Christ the Son is going to have to pay their sin debt
by the Holy Son of God being made sin for His people. And
then suffering and dying in the place of God's elect, shedding
His blood to put their sin away. Our Lord said, greater love hath
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
He laid down his life that he might redeem his people. We just
sang it. No one but Jesus ever loved so. Our sin is so great. And however
great you think your sin is, I promise you this, it's greater
than what we think it is. It's greater than we can imagine.
But God, But God's mercy and his love for sinners is far greater
than our sin. Now, how do we get from death
to glory? Here's the third point. We're born dead in sin, but God
gives life to dead sinners by the new birth. Look here at verse
5. God loved us, he loved his people
even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ. By grace you're saved. Now, what does this mean that
God has quickened us together with Christ? I'm sure it means
many things, but I know two things that it means. First, it means
this. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
representative of his people. Everything he did as a man, his
people did in him. When Christ lived on this earth
and he obeyed God's law perfectly, so did we who believe. God says
we're righteous. God says we have obeyed the law
because we obeyed it in the person of our representative, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Then when Christ went to the
cross and he died, so did we who believe. We died in him. So you know what that means?
The law satisfied. You know, people are so scared
of the law, so scared of God's wrath. If you believe in Christ,
if you died in Christ, The law's not looking for you. The law's
satisfied. You already died in your representative,
the person of Christ. And then when our Savior rose
again, so did we who believe. We were raised to new life in
Christ Jesus, our representative, because we're in Him. That's
what it means. We're raised quickened together
with Christ. Secondly, it means this, that
God's people are given the life of Christ. They're given the
nature of Christ in the new birth. Now, Adam, he made us guilty
by his sin, didn't he? Well, in the exact same way,
Christ made his people not guilty by his obedience. When Adam sinned,
he gave us his sin nature. We received the nature of our
father when we were born, a sinful nature. But when a believer's
born again, we receive a new nature. There's a new man born
who never existed before. And that man has the nature of
our Heavenly Father. This flesh has the nature of
our fleshly Father. I have the nature of Frank Tate
Sr. That's all he had to pass on
to me. A child of God has the nature of a spiritual nature,
the spiritual nature of our spiritual Father, our Heavenly Father.
And that nature is a holy nature. So now, the dead in Adam, have
been given life in Christ. And the only explanation you'll
ever find for that is grace. By grace, you're saved. It has
to be grace, doesn't it? I can't earn it. I can't deserve
it. It must be by grace. The dead
have been given life. But God doesn't stop there. Our
fourth point is this. God has glorified his people.
already has glorified Him. Look at verse 6. And hath raised
us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. Now, I have to tell you, when
I was in school, English was my weakest subject. That was
always the class I was going to get the worst grade in. But
I think I know the difference between present tense and past
tense, future tense and past tense. Paul's talking here in
the past tense, like this has already happened. And we think,
but now wait a minute. I haven't been raised up to sit
in heavenly places. I'm still walking around down
here on this earth. I've not been raised up to sit in heavenly
places. I'm sitting right here in the pew, and I've come out
and slogging through this world of sin and wretchedness and ugliness? I haven't been raised to heavenly
places. What's Paul talking about here? I mean, is he talking about
having an experience that I haven't had? Should I worry that God
hasn't saved me? Not at all. What the Apostle's
talking about here is the experience of every believer in Christ. Now, just like when the Lord
Jesus was obedient to the law, Every believer is obedient in
Him. And just like when the Lord died, every believer died in
Him. And just like when Christ arose,
every believer arose in Him. Well, in that same way, when
the Savior sent Him back to glory and He sat down on the right
hand of God because His work was finished, when He sat down,
you who believe sat down in Him. That's our experience in Christ. You see, it has to be that way.
The mercy of God and the love of God mean something. John,
God's love's never wasted. His mercy never wasted. The mercy
of God and the love of God for sinners mean that those sinners
will without any doubt be glorified in eternity. That's so certain. It's already done. God sees his
people as already glorified in Christ. I'll show you that in
Romans chapter 8. Here's another place the apostle
talks in the past tense. Romans chapter 8 verse 28. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called,
them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified." See, Paul's talking there in the past tense
because it has already been done. And because it's already been
done, we can say, verse 31, What shall we then say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? If God be for us
and His purpose is already accomplished, who can change it? Who can be
against us? Now, here's the fifth point.
Here's why every sinner that God chose to save will be taken
from death to glory. Here's the guarantee of it. because
God did all this for His glory. God purposed to do everything
this way so that throughout eternity, His Son will receive all the
glory. Now, if the purpose of God fails,
if He set His love on one sinner, He set His mercy upon one sinner,
and He failed to save him, He failed to glorify him, His Son's
not going to get all the glory. His Son is going to be ashamed
in front of all creation. you can rest assured that's not
going to happen. His son is going to have all
the glory. Verse 7, that in the ages to
come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. Now, you know, we don't know
a lot about heaven, but here's what we do know. Heaven will
not be a permanent vacation for everybody that's there. Heaven
is not going to be us strumming on a harp while we're floating
around on a cloud drinking a cold drink. That's not going to be
heaven. Heaven is God's trophy case where God is going to put
on display all His trophies of grace and He's going to say,
look what I did. Look at them. They were dead
sinners and I gave them life. I put their sin away through
the sacrifice of my Son. I made them righteous through
the obedience of my Son. I gave them the life of my Son.
And I brought them through every danger, toil, and snare. I brought them through safely.
I brought them all the way from death and Adam, from the muck
and mire of their nature to eternal glory. Look what I did. and every soul that's there is
going to say, Amen. Look what he did. Look in Revelations
chapter 4. This is going to be the subject
of our song. It's the giving Christ all the
glory. Look what he did. Look what he
did for me. Revelations 4 verse 11, this
is the same. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things,
and for thy pleasure they are, and they were created. Thou art
worthy to receive glory and honor. Look over at chapter 5, verse
9. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take
the book, and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain,
and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred,
and tongue, and people, and nation. And you have made us unto our
God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.' And
I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the
throne, and the beasts and the elders. And the number of them
was ten thousand times ten thousands, and thousands of thousands, saying
with a loud voice, Worthy is the land that was slain, to receive
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and
glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as
are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying,
Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. And the
four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders
fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. That's
heaven. is God's trophy case, where Christ
gets all the glory, and not one person there is going to say,
look what I did. Oh, I sacrificed. I gave. I was faithful. Nobody there
is going to say that. They're all going to say, look
what Christ did for me. And in eternity, we'll never
get over it. Because salvation and the ultimate
glorification of the sinner is something that Christ did by
himself. Our works don't contribute to it at all. And if you look
back in our text, Paul makes that very clear in verse 8, Ephesians
2 verse 8. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. No, we're not going to boast
accepting Christ our Savior. He's going to get all the glory
because He did all the work of redemption. He did all the work
to guarantee our glorification. Heaven is God's trophy case where
He's going to display His trophies of grace. And here's the thing
about trophies. Trophies never boast about what
they did, ever. Trophies always boast about what
the champion did. And no one in glory is going
to say, look what I did to get myself here. I decided for Jesus. I decided to believe him. Nope. Everyone in glory is going to
say, do you got a few minutes? Let me tell you about the Savior.
Let me tell you about what he did for me, how he brought me
from shame and death to glory. Scripture tells us that the believer
will reign with Christ No one in glory is going to say, look
at how I'm reigning. I bet all those people down there
at work that treated me so bad bet they're sorry. Now look how
I'm reigning. Nope. Everyone in glory is going to
say, look at our king. Look at our savior, the lamb
slain in the midst of the throne. Let's shout his praise. That's
heaven. And the reason God did all that
is for His Son. So His Son will get all the praise
and all the glory. The reason God's merciful to
dead sinners is to display how truly glorious God's mercy is. His mercy is not for good people. It's for the worst of the worst.
Are you the worst? God's mercy is for you. The reason
God gives life to dead sinners, He doesn't give life to sinners
who are on life support. He doesn't give life to sinners
who are hanging on by a thread. God gives life to dead sinners
so that he can display the glory of his power to give life to
the dead. God created hell for the glory
of his justice, and he created heaven for the glory of his grace
in Christ Jesus. So if Christ died for you, there
is no doubt you will be with Him forever and eternity. And
there will be, I promise you, there will be some rough roads
between here and there. There will be. But the path of
every believer, no matter which way it winds, and ups and downs
and difficult places, the path of every believer all winds up
in one place. glory with Christ because that's
his purpose for his people and he's going to accomplish it.
Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for this blessed portion of your word you've just allowed us to
look into. How we thank you for your infinite
mercy and love to your people in Christ Jesus. How we thank
you for your purpose of mercy and grace that you put away the
sin of your people through the sacrifice of your own precious
son, that you call your people out by the gospel, that you give
life, that you give faith to believe Christ and look to him
to rest in him and him alone. And Father, we're thankful for
this precious promise of ultimate, final glorification, to be able
to spend eternity having our heart's desire to worship you
perfectly, to behold our Savior face to face, and to forever
In perfect body, perfect voice, perfect soul, in ultimate perfection,
sing his praises. Father, we're thankful. I pray
you'd cause your word to bring glory to your name and to comfort
and strengthen the hearts of your people as we continue through
this journey here below. Cause us to continue to look
only to our Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his name and for the
glory of his name we pray and give thanks. Amen.