Isaiah 55, verse 3. Let's just look at 3B, that is
the second part of the text. And I will make an everlasting
covenant. I'll make an everlasting covenant
with you, even the sure mercies of David. Now, my friends, you
listen carefully to what I'm about to say. The word covenant appears in
the Bible. You want to make a guess how
many times? Over 250 times. Covenant, covenant, covenant,
covenant, covenant. And the average person doesn't
have the slightest conception what it's talking about. And
it's fatal. Our God is a covenant God. We
better learn this. He talks about his covenant with
Noah. He made a covenant with Noah.
He would not deviate one way or the other, Tom, from that
covenant. He said to Noah, there will be eight souls saved, so
as by water. I'm telling you, 120 years all
man has. My spirit will not always strive." Got 120 years. Made
a covenant with Noah. When Noah stepped out of that
ark, God put a rainbow in the sky, didn't he? And he said,
here's another stipulation of that covenant, another part of
it. I will not destroy the world
again by water. Don't worry about it. You can
forget it. We might have a little flood
down here on Greenup Avenue, but it ain't going to destroy
the world. But God said, I'm going to burn it up. He made
a covenant. He made a covenant with Abraham.
It talks about the covenant God made with Abraham and to his
seed. Now, you can rest assured, I
don't like the word contract. I don't like the word contract
any more than the other folks like, but it's a covenant, and
the Scripture says covenant, agreement, if you will, promise
by an oath. He said, Abraham, to your seed. He said, took Abraham out one
day and said, count the stars. That's an impossibility. He says,
so shall your seed be. That's my covenant. And that
seed, listen to me, that seed, don't get wrapped up in your
premillennialism to the point you think that that seed is the
Jewish nation. It's not. That seed is Christ
and everybody in Christ. He's not a Jew which is one outwardly,
he's a Jew which is one inwardly. Circumcision is not of the flesh,
it's of the heart. We are true Israel who worship
God in the spirit, who with Joyce in Christ have no confidence
in the flesh. And don't you look for our Lord
Jesus Christ to allow Israel to put that temple up and start
those sacrifices again. It'd be the greatest blasphemy
against his name that's ever occurred. And don't you look
for our Lord to sit on a throne over there in that little village
surrounded by a wall and rule the world. Forget it. He has
a people out of every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue unto
heaven. That's the Jew. And that's Israel. And God made a covenant with
Abraham, and that's Abraham's seed. It's Christ and everybody
in Christ. I'm telling you the truth. That's
what the Word said. And God made a covenant with
David. with David. Just as sure as you're a foot
and a half high, God's covenant with David is going to be fulfilled.
Every jot and tittle of it. The son of David is going to
sit on the throne forever. And there are other covenants.
But there are two main covenants. Will you listen? There are two
main covenants with which you and I have to do. I know that I am vitally involved
and affected by the first one. And everybody here is. Everybody
from this pulpit to the back of the wall, from this wall to
this wall, every son of Adam is involved in this first covenant.
Now, there are two covenants. I'm not greatly taken up with
the covenant with Noah or with Abraham or David or these others
or Daniel, but I am concerned with two covenants. And if you
will, you'd be wise to be concerned about them also because they
vitally concern you. The first one, the first one,
I have a vital part in and I hope by God's grace I have a part
in that second one. I'm sure of the first one. That
first covenant is called the old covenant. It's called the
first covenant. It's called the covenant of works.
It was a covenant made with Adam. Now you put that down. It was
a covenant made with Adam and with his sons, and it's summed
up in four words. The covenant of works, the covenant
God made with Adam, the covenant God made with the human race
in Adam. He made it with Adam, not with
Christ, with Adam, the first Adam. He made that covenant with
Adam and it's summed up in four words. This, do, and live. That's the summary of it. That's
the whole heart of it. That's the foundation of it.
This, do, and live. There it is. That's the covenant
of words. That's the covenant God made with Adam. It was doomed
to failure. It couldn't succeed. It was doomed
to failure. It failed because it was made
with the creature. made with a creature, a finite
creature. It was doomed to failure. We
did not keep God's commandments. It was doomed to failure from
the start because it was made with a creature. And the covenant
of works is broken. It's broken. It's smashed. It
no longer has anything for us but condemnation and wrath. That's
all it has for you. That's all in the world it has
for you. This covenant of works has nothing for you or me. This
do and live has nothing for me but wrath and condemnation. The
soul that sinneth shall surely die. Be sure your sins will find
you out. The wages of sin is death. Now
that's the first covenant. It was made with Adam. It was
made in the garden. It was based on four words, this,
do, and live. Adam broke it, and when he broke
it, you and I broke it, and the consequences of that covenant
fell upon us, and that's death. God says when you eat, you die.
Now wait a minute, listen to me. You can roll that covenant
up, and you can cast it aside, because it can do you no good.
It has nothing for you. Now watch this. Whether it's
in one word to Adam, free. It'll do you no good. Whether
it's in ten words to Moses from Sinai's mountain, it'll do you
no good. Or whether it's in a hundreds
of rules and regulations given to Israel in Deuteronomy and
Leviticus. all these different things about
the fields, and about people, and about marriage, and about
families, and about workmen, about laborers. This covenant,
whether it's summed up to Adam in one word, tree, don't eat
of the tree, eat of it and die, or whether it's summed up in
ten words to Moses, from Mount Sinai, or whether it's summed
up in all the way through the books of Genesis through Leviticus,
all these rules and regulations, by the deeds of the law, either
in Eden, Sinai, or the plains, by the deeds of the law, shall
no flesh be justified. Forget it. Turn to Romans chapter
3. Now that's so. Forget it, what
the law could not do. in that it was weak through the
flesh. It can't save, it can't justify, it can't sanctify, it
can't cleanse, it can't present us to God. No way! That covenant
is rolled up, it's cast aside, it's broken, it's smashed, it's
forgotten, it's powerless except to damn. And it can't do that. God does that as a result of
the broken covenant. Look here at Romans chapter 3.
Now verse 19, we know And we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth, the mouth of the babe or the mouth of the
elder, that every mouth, the mouth of the pauper or the mouth
of the prince, every mouth may be stopped. What do you mean
stop? No alibi, no excuse, no self-justification,
just shut your mouth. Let's just shut your mouth. In
the presence of God, just shut your mouth. Before God's holiness,
just shut your mouth. Before God's law, just shut your
mouth. And all the world may become
guilty, guilty, guilty before God. No trial. There's no use having a trial.
We're guilty. But thank God. Look at this back
here again. Now that's that first covenant.
I don't have time to spend the time I ought to spend on it.
because I want to get into the new covenant, but that's that
covenant. It's made with Adam. You say, how could I be involved
in a covenant made with a fellow 6,000 years before I was ever
born? Well, you've got one problem with that. If you persist in
opposing that identification, then I in turn will ask you,
how could you be involved with this new covenant made with Christ
before the world was born. You see, if you don't have imputed
guilt, you can't have imputed righteousness. If you don't have
imputed sin, you can't have imputed salvation. God deals with two
men. I'm telling you this, it's just
so. It's scriptural. In Adam we die, in Christ we're
made alive. As we born the image of the first
Adam, we'll bear the image of the second Adam. By man came
death, by man came resurrection. And he's not talking about you,
he's talking about those two Adams. As by one man sin entered the
world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men. When God
made the first covenant with Adam, agreement, contract, whatever
you will. But God spoke to Adam and when
He said, this do and live, He was speaking to the whole human
race right then. Every son of Adam that's ever
been born or will be born, God said, eat it and die. We ate
it, we all die. And then over there in the book
of Romans chapter 5, somebody objected. What about infants? Well, Paul said this, Somebody
said, where there's no law, there's no sin. In other words, an infant
doesn't have these rules and regulations. How can he keep
them or break them? Paul said this, he said, if that
infant wasn't a sinner, he wouldn't die. That's exactly what he said. The very fact that that baby
gets sick and dies is proof that that child is under the condemnation
of the broken law. Sin causes death. If there were
no sin, there'd be no death. If there were no sin, there'd
be no sickness. So death passed upon all men. Don't go out and
tell people I'm saying infants are lost. I'm not saying they're
going to hell. I'm not saying that. I'm simply
saying that they are sinners. They are sinners. Now here's
Isaiah 55. Look at it again. God said, I
will make a new covenant. I'm going to make a new covenant
with you. Now watch this. Let me give you
four or five points here. This covenant, first of all,
is a covenant of grace and not of works. It's an agreement,
it's a covenant, it's a contract of grace alone. It's not based
on this do and live. It's a covenant of pure, free
grace. It's going to be the gift. Everything
God has in this covenant will be a gift. Free grace, covenant
of grace. Secondly, it's a covenant made,
it's a covenant far, the unworthy and not the worthy. So thirdly,
it's an unconditional covenant as far as I'm concerned, the
creature's concerned, all the conditions are going to be met
by God himself. Fourthly, it's an everlasting
covenant. It'll never be revoked. It'll
never be replaced by another covenant. Now that covenant God
made with Adam was replaced by another covenant. It was replaced
by a covenant that was older than that covenant. The reason
the everlasting covenant is called a new covenant is because it's
newly revealed. It wasn't newly made. It's the
covenant with Christ before the world began. This covenant of
grace, this contract, this agreement of grace was made before the
world was made. It was made before the covenant
of works was made, but it wasn't revealed. It was hidden in the
secret counsels of God. And then in the fifth place,
this covenant is ordered in all things and sure. There are no
ifs, ands, or buts, or maybes about it. It's sure, it's definite.
David said, the last words David spoke before he died, he said,
Although my house be not so with God, God hath made with me an
everlasting covenant ordered in all things, in every jot and
tittle, ordered in all things, not some thing, big thing, great
thing, all things, ordered in all things and certain and sure,
this is my salvation, this is my hope, this is my desire. And
then this covenant is filled with the sure mercies of David.
It's flowing, it's outflowing with goodness, sure mercies,
not Perhaps, not probable mercies, but it's absolutely abundantly
outflowing forth sure mercies. You see that? Now let me come
over that. I'm not going to try to be repetitious
and I'm going to call this one more time. You see, God in His
infinite wisdom, in His infinite purpose, and in His infinite
knowledge before the world began, made an everlasting covenant.
It's everlasting both ways. Covenant, agreement, before the
world was ever made, before God said, let there be light, before
God laid the foundations of the earth, God made an everlasting
covenant. When there were no men and there
were no angels, the covenant was made with His Son, Christ.
Christ was the surety of that everlasting covenant. His blood
was the blood of that everlasting covenant. He was the Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. God chose His people,
gave them to Him from the beginning, chosen in Christ before the world
began. That covenant, that agreement,
that contract, call it what you will, but it was hidden in the
secret heart and counsel of God, unrevealed, unmanifested, untold. All right? There it is. God then
made the world. God made the world, made man.
And he made a covenant of works with that man and with his whole
race, with every human being in Adam. And he said, Adam to
Adam, this do and live. I'll make a covenant with you.
You're a prince, you're a king, you have dominion over the fowls
of the air, the fish of the sea, the beasts of the field. Walk
before me. But don't eat the forbidden fruit.
You are a God, but I am the living God. You are a king, but I am
the king of kings. You are a creature with power,
but you're still in submission to me. Forget that and be damned."
That was the covenant. Adam broke it. I could just read
you so many scriptures on this. Turn first of all to Romans chapter
5. Romans chapter 5. Now watch this. Romans the 5th chapter. Representation. Representation. Romans chapter
5, verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, came through that one man, and death
by sin, and so death through imputation, impartation, identification,
that death, spiritual death, passed upon all men. That's where
we got it. Turn to Romans chapter 5 verse
17. Just the first part. As by one
man's offense, death reigned. Verse 18. Therefore by the offense
of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners. Alright, just hold that right
there a minute. You say you didn't read the rest of it. I'm dealing with
the covenant of works. Now God says, I'll make with
you a new covenant. It's already made. And why'd
God call it new? Newly revealed. See that, Jim? It's newly revealed. The new
covenant would mean nothing until the other is broken. There's
no need revealing a remedy until somebody says it. There's no
need revealing a cure until you've got a disease. And so God then
revealed a new covenant in Christ. And let me tell you this. And
you just hold your seat there, and I know 90% of the preachers
in the United States will fight this until their dying day. But
it's so. Almighty God, that covenant of
grace and mercy and salvation, pre-justification, pre-sanctification,
pre-redemption, was not made with you. It was made with Christ
on your behalf. And that's so. The Almighty God
didn't come to you the second time. He came to man the first
time and He said, do this and live. Man said, I won't have
this God reign over me. Don't eat of the fruit. I'll
eat of the fruit and be like God. Well, the Lord has no more
proposals to man. No more. Do no good. He said,
what good would it do? You'd only revolt more and more.
You're sick from the sole of your feet to the top of your
head. There's nothing in you for God to appeal to. There's
nothing in you to respond to God. You will not come to me
that you might have life. The Ethiopian can't change his
skin, the leopard can't change his spots, and you can't do good
that love evil. He said, I come in my Father's
name and you won't have me. Let another come in his own name
and him you will have. The natural mind is enmity against
God. The natural mind hates God and
loves sin, loves self. No use God appealing to men.
So God made a covenant. an agreement, I'm going to save
a people. They're going to have a perfect
righteousness. And he made it with us, or on our behalf, with
his son. And he said, My son, I give to
you a people. Out of all of Adam's race, I
give to you a people. You're taught to take not on
yourself the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham. I give
you a people. They'll be as the stars of the
sky and the sands of the seashore, and you'll be their surety. You'll
be their representative. You'll be their righteousness.
You'll be their justification. I'm going to put them in your
hands, and you're going to the earth as a man. You're going
to be born of woman, just like they were. You're going to nurse
at a breast, just like they did. You're going to grow up in a
home, just like they did. You're going to be under the
law of the home, the law of the land, the law of the church, and the
law of God, just like they were. and you're going to fulfill it
as the God-man perfectly, then I'm going to lay on you their
sins, and you're going to pay their debt, you're going to be
buried and rise again, and come back up here and sit down, and
my Spirit will call them out one at a time. And thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power." Now the religious
world hates that like they hate the devil. But my friend, that's
so. I'm telling you the truth. I'm
not telling you because it's popular. I'm telling you because
it's so. It won't make you popular, will it? But it's so. God didn't make an agreement
with you. He didn't say, now if you do
this, I'll do that. If you'll take the first step, I'll take
the next one. If you'll come so far, I'll meet you halfway.
God's done with you. God's done with dealing with
men as far as covenants are concerned. God made a covenant with Christ.
It's just one covenant, and that's the everlasting covenant. And
he made that covenant with Christ. Now look back at Romans 5, let
me show you that. Romans 5, verse 17, verse 18. Therefore, by the offense of
one, judgment, wrath, condemnation, death came upon all men, all
men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one.
Not many men, not your righteousness, yours, yours. Righteousness of
one, the obedience of one, the holiness of one, one man, the
free gift came upon all men under justification. You hear what
that's saying? That's saying one man, sin, and
everybody died that were identified with him, that were in him, that
were in his loins. This is what this verse is saying.
When one man's sin, death, and judgment, and condemnation came
upon all men, one man, that's Adam, when one man obeyed God's
law, when one man obeyed God's law perfectly, loved God with
all his heart, mind, soul, and strength, his neighbor more than
himself, for he gave his life, kept the law in every jot and
tittle, when that one man fully obeyed, justification passed
upon everybody identified with him. That's what that says. That's representation, that's
federal headship, that's what the scripture teaches. Look at
the next verse. For by one man's disobedience,
one man, Adam, many, thee many, is the correct
translation there, were made sinners. When did I become a
sinner? When one man died, that's when
I became a sinner. That's when you became a sinner.
You can't get clean water out of a rotten fountain, you can't
get a clean son out of a rotten daddy. That's the reason Christ
was not the seed of man, he was the seed of woman, that he might
not partake of the Adamic sin. He was born without sin because
he was born without the aid of a father, human father, born
of the heavenly father. If he had been born of a human
father, he'd be the same shape you and I are in, he'd be in
hell right now. But he was born of the seed of woman. And by
one man we were made sinners. Look at the next line. So, in
the same way, by representation, by the obedience of one, shall
many be made righteous. Now, brother, sisters, I don't
know how to make that any plainer. Let's try again. Let's go to
1 Corinthians 15. This is the covenant. There's
a covenant, covenant. God said, I'll make a covenant,
an everlasting covenant. What part could you have in an
everlasting covenant? You weren't even around. That
everlasting covenant was made with Christ on your behalf. 1
Corinthians 15, 21, look at it. For since by man came death. That doesn't say by men, it says
by man. Let me give you a clue. The Scripture
says there's one God and one Mediator between God and, how
do you read that? Man. That says men. Christ is the Mediator between
God and not mankind, but men. It reads like that. All right,
when he says this, and he says in verse 21, since by, he didn't
say by men came death. He says, by man, that's one man,
the whole race in one man. By man came also the resurrection
of the dead. For as in Adam we die, even so
in Christ we're made alive. Try 1 Corinthians 15.45. Look
at this. 1 Corinthians 15.45. It says, so is written. The first atom. The word atom
is red. It comes from red earth. It comes
from man. God made man out of the red earth. So it's written the first man,
Adam, was made a living soul. The last atom, a quickening spirit. Only two atoms. Howbeit that
was not first, which is spiritual. What it was first, Christ was
before Adam, firstly revealed. You see that? firstly revealed. That was not firstly revealed,
which is spiritual. But that was firstly revealed,
which is physical or natural, and afterward that which is spiritual.
Now, the first man is of the earth, earthy. The second man,
just two men, is the Lord from heaven. And as is the earthy,
so are they also that are earthy. Every one of us are in Adam.
We're all flesh and blood and bones. And as is the heavenly,
such are they that are heavenly, spiritual. And as we have borne
the image of the earthy, thank God, by his grace we'll bear
the image of the heavenly. Now, brethren, let me tell you
this in summing that up. I'm aware that we're living accountable,
morally responsible men and women. I know that. I told my Sunday
school class that this morning. I'm aware that rebellion is punished
and faith is rewarded. great is thy faith. I have not
found faith like this in all of Israel. So Christ will bless
faith. He will deal with sin. I am aware
that God has commanded all men everywhere to repent and believe
the gospel. He that believeth shall be saved.
He that believeth not shall be damned. But I boldly declare,
standing on the certain foundation of God's Word, that our justification
before God is not by our obedience in any shape, form, or fashion.
It's by the obedience and righteousness and death of Jesus Christ. That
God Almighty dealt with Christ and because Christ paid my debt,
it's paid. Because Christ Jesus bore my
sins and put them away, they're put away. I didn't do anything
about it. I was absolutely passive in the
matter. I received it as a free gift
of God, performed and worked out by the obedience of His dear
And the same thing is true of my perfection and sanctification. It was worked out, perfected,
performed by the obedience of Jesus Christ. My Lord came into
this world as a man and walked this earth in absolute perfect
obedience, in perfect love, perfect faith, and perfect righteousness.
And it was imputed to every believer. It is charged to our count. It
is reckoned to our count as if we did it ourselves. And in Christ
we did it because we are one with Him. And before God, I'm
as perfect as Christ. In His sight, I have no sin. My sanctification in Christ is
perfect. In me, it's not yet perfected
by any means. It will be, but not yet. But
before God, I have a perfect sanctification, my redemption.
My redemption in His sight is in Christ. It has nothing to
do with my works. His Word. Now this is so. And I know a lot of people say,
well if that be so, let's just live like we're pleased. That's
exactly what I want you to do. Live like you're pleased. How
do you please to live? Paul said he want to be like
Christ. He want to be like Christ. I want to show you something
now. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1.30. 1 Corinthians 1.30. 1 Corinthians 1.30. It
says here, but Of Him are you in Christ Jesus. Of God are you in Christ, who
of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. Jesus Christ is made to me, all
I need, of God and before God, all I need, that according as
it is written, he that gloweth, let him glow in the Lord. Now
turn to 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. Now listen to this. For He, God,
hath made Christ to be sin for us in our stead, in our place. He knew no sin, Christ had no
sin, that we might be made in Him the righteousness of God. What is the righteousness of
God? That's the perfection and holiness of God Himself. with his spotless garments on,
I'm as holy as his Son." That's so. You've got to be perfectly
holy or God can't have anything to do with you. He can't receive
you, he can't fellowship with you, he can't call you his Son.
You've got to have the nature of God to be the Son of God.
I wish I could make this clear.
Turn to Colossians 2. I'm going to continue this message
tonight. I'll get straightened out on my sermons. One of these
days, I just got too much material. You know, we get our material
and we pray for liberty, and God gives us, and we try to cram
all our material into God's liberty, and it won't fit, so I'm going
to just quit. Colossians 2, verse 9, listen. For in Christ dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily in a person, Jesus Christ. And you are complete in Him. That's what I'm trying to say.
And do with it what you want to. We'll come back tonight and
do a little more with it and make it a little clearer. What
I'm going to show you tonight is this. As a result of that covenant,
they're not only redemptive blessings and blessings of justification
and blessings in regard to God's dealing with us, but they're
blessings that flow to the believer, these sure mercies of David,
that enable us to love God, to know God, to walk before God
in holiness and righteousness. I want to show you tonight how
that the man who is in Christ is not only a son of God, but
he is actually, by the power of God, a new creature right
now in Christ Jesus. He walks before God and before
others as a new person. The Pharisee does what he does
out of a sense of duty. The redeemed person does it because
of the indwelling person and the love and relationship he
has with that person. Those are the sheer mercies.
But I do want you to see this with all my heart. God is a covenant
God. And if I were you, I recommend
you do this. I don't recommend anybody believe
anything because I say so, by your concordance. One of those
strong analytical concordance is complete. And look up the
word covenant. Covenants and covenanted. Almost
300 times, Richard, 300 times. God talks about a covenant, a
covenant. And a covenant is like Paul Edward
and I have established a covenant. He'll say, now, son, I'm going
to do this. This is my oath and my word.
That's my agreement. Just shake hands on it. He expects
me to do it. And Almighty God made some covenants.
He made one with Adam. He said, do this and live. And
he meant it just like that. He meant it. It's so now. It's
never changed. Do it and live. You who would
be under the law, do you hear it? Do it and live. It's all
right. You want to stand before God
on the basis of your holiness? Do it and die. Because you can't
do it. But God made a covenant with
Christ. Gave Him a people. He assumed full, absolute, unchangeable
responsibility for those people. I'll bring them home. And I'll
work out everything that needs to be worked out and fulfilled
on their behalf, and I'll bring them home, pure and holy, just
like myself. I'll raise them from the dead
and bring them home. And he said, all that the Father
giveth me, I'll lose nothing. That's so. And you better study
it. You say, I don't believe that.
I'd study it before I said I didn't believe it. It's all right to
say you don't believe it, but I sure would give it more than
15 minutes' thought, because it took God longer than that
to do it. I'd give it more than 15 minutes' thought. I tell you,
what they're preaching today is not working. It's not giving
anybody any hope or peace. I've made my peace with God.
I didn't. Christ made my peace with God. This is so great and magnificent
and wonderful and beyond human comprehension. It's a mystery,
the mystery of godliness. Yet it's all revealed in Christ.
It's all right there if we just see Christ. If we can just be
brought to have eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to understand,
your magnificent glory and holiness and majesty and power and our
own inability and our lost condition, our sinfulness, and see Christ
as our surety and our representative, our federal head. Everything's
in Him. And Father, help me to point out tonight, this doesn't
lead to lasciviousness. This doesn't lead to carelessness.
This doesn't lead to indifference. It leads to godliness. It leads
to a greater love and a greater appreciation and a greater thanksgiving
and a greater dedication to your glory when we see the magnificence
of your glory in Christ Jesus, what he's done for us, what he
is to us, what we shall be by his grace. give us understanding,
deliver us from this perverse generation of human wisdom, this
perverse generation of people who look to their own thoughts
and their own ways and their own understanding and walking
in the darkness of their foolishness with all their clichés and religion
and what-if, all these things they don't understand, stumbling
over strong delusions, resting the Scriptures twisted into their
own destruction. Lord, enable us to lay hold on
the Word like it is. Offer no apologies for the Word.
Deliver us from custom and tradition and heritage and denominationalism
and all these pitfalls that have damned me in so long. And give
us an open heart and an open hand and an open ear to hear
from God, an open eye to see Your glory. identification with
Christ. Don't let us miss him. Satan
is so deceptive, leads us from the oneness of Christ, the simplicity
of Christ, to complications of our own wisdom. Lord, help us
to save ourselves from this perverse generation of religious unbelievers. Speak to this congregation by
your power and by your Spirit. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen.