I just have about 30 minutes
to bring this message this morning, and I want your undivided attention.
And turning first of all to Isaiah 45. We're turning to Isaiah chapter
45. Now, I believe, I really do, that
most of us, believers and unbelievers, have a very poor idea of the
grand and great design of God in regard to his Son and his
redemptive purpose. I really believe that so few
of us, believers and unbelievers, have really laid hold upon God's
great design and purpose in redemption. Now, here are four things unquestionably
In Isaiah 45, beginning with verse 23, now listen to it. We'll
give these just briefly and to the point. You jot them down
or underscore them in your Bible. Verse 23, God said, I have sworn
by myself. He can swear by no greater. I
have sworn. The word is gone out of my mouth
in righteousness, and it shall not return. Now, we ought to
lift up our ears. pay careful attention, God said,
I've sworn by myself, the word's gone out of my mouth in righteousness,
I won't take it back. Number one, that unto me every
knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear. Now, this is not
an isolated verse of scripture. If you'll turn to Philippians
2, I know people can take an isolated text and they can prove
about anything they want to. But this is not an isolated scripture
here. In Philippians 2, I want you
to look at this. You say, what's he saying? He's
saying this, the Lord Jesus Christ must reign in sovereign, supreme,
eternal dominion over all things, all creatures, and all creation.
That's what he's saying. Jesus Christ is King of kings
and Lord of lords. And he said, I've sworn it, I've
declared it, I won't take it back, every knee is going to
bow, every tongue is going to confess that he's Lord. Now,
God has decreed that. Look at Philippians 2, verse
9, verse 9, "...wherefore God hath also hath highly exalted
Christ, giving him a name which is above every name, that at
the name of Jesus every knee will bow." Now, notice these
words are in italics of things. When things are in italics, that's
supplied by the translators to help us a little, but in this
case I don't know whether it helps us. He said, If the name
of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven, in earth, and under
the earth, and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, God said, I've sworn
that. That word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness,
and it's not coming back. My friends, I know a lot of preachers
out here saying, Will you bow to Christ? Will you acknowledge
Christ as Lord? Will you surrender to Christ?
Will you submit to the royal claims of King Jesus? That's
not the question. That belief is not the question.
Do you know what the question is? When will you submit? It's
a lot different. When will you bow? It's not a
question if you'll bow or will you bow. It's when will you bow. That's what God is saying here.
I have sworn, the word has gone out of my mouth, it will not
return. I'm saying this, he said, every
knee is going to bow. Every angel, every man, every
demon, every devil is going to bow. Every knee. In heaven, in
earth, and under the earth. Isn't that what he said? Every
knee. Now, that's the first thing laid down. Now, we can just face
it. That's true. You can do what you will with
it. That's so. That's it, Mike. Everybody's going to bow. So
it's not a question of will you. It's a question of when are you
going to bow. Are you going to bow here in submission and faith
and repentance, or are you going to bow in hell? But you're going
to bow. I promise you that. I promise you. Here's the second
thing he said. Verse 24, Now, one say, in the Lord have
I righteousness and strength. Now, here's the amplified version,
I think it helps. I don't apologize for being narrower
here. I'm as narrow here as I can be. I don't apologize for being a
little radical and a little uncompromising in this regard right here. Listen
to the amplified version on this statement right here. Here's
the second thing God said. Only in the Lord. Only in the
Lord shall any man say, I have righteousness, only in the Lord. I have salvation, I have victory,
and I have strength. He said, I've sworn this, this
word has gone out of my mouth, it won't come back, it won't
return. Every knee is going to bow in
earth, in heaven, and under the earth. And every tongue is going
to confess that Christ is Lord. One day. And secondly, he said,
I declare this, I sworn it, I state it, it will not return, I won't
take it back. Only in the Lord Jesus Christ
can any son of Adam say, I have holiness, I have righteousness,
I have victory, I have salvation, I have strength, only in Christ.
Outside of Christ We are an unclean thing. We all do paid as the
lead, and even our righteousness is a filthy rag. Listen to these
scriptures. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid, Christ Jesus. There is none other name
under heaven given among me and whereby we must be saved. Our
Lord said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh
to the father but by me. There's one God and one mediator,
one advocate between God and men, and that's the man Christ
Jesus, one, one, one. One way, one truth, one life,
one priest, one mediator, one advocate, one redeemer. Now,
I'll be as narrow as I can on that, because it's truth, and
it cannot be questioned. There's one hope of righteousness. God said, I've sworn it. I won't
take it back. This is my design and purpose
and redemption that every need, every creature is going to own
my Lordship. And only in the Lord, Jesus Christ,
does any man have any righteousness. We get quite a number of TV letters,
and I try my best to read all of them. Marty takes care in
answering and sending tapes. Last week we sent over 200 tapes.
And I took a number of letters along on the last trip to answer
them. But I believe this letter I have in my hand sums up what
I've tried to do, what I've, on every telecast, made an effort
to state and to preach. And this dear lady, she caught
the message. God taught her the gospel. I
want you to listen to this letter. Somebody said you ought to frame
it, because that's the summary of all that you have in the ministry.
That's what you're hoping to attain, to accomplish. She addresses
me and then she says, it was quite by accident, or so I thought,
that I started watching your telecast one Sunday in May 1982. I started to turn the TV off
as you were coming on, but my husband said, leave the program
on. Isn't it good that the husband
still wears the pants in the home? And she left it on. Everybody wouldn't have. But
she said, I've been watching your telecast ever since. I thank
God we have at least one God-sent preacher on television. I must
say that you've helped me more than any preacher I've ever heard.
There have been many things that you've helped me to understand.
Now here it is, listen. One of the first things. And,
Darwin, this is the first thing. This is where you start. You
needn't go anywhere else until you start here. One of the first
things you help me to see is that Jesus Christ is my righteousness. Jesus Christ is my righteousness. Isn't that what he says here?
Surely, shall one say, only in the Lord have I righteousness.
Jesus Christ is my righteousness and not my works. I thank God
for that, because I have no works, I have no righteousness, I have
no goodness, but I do have someone in whom to trust, the Rock that
is higher than I." That's worth the cost of that program this
moment. That's worth the cost of that program. Here is the
third thing. Paul was that dogmatic. He said,
If any man preach any other gospel, let him be accursed. If anybody
comes to you, he said, I don't care if it's an angel from heaven
and preaches any other gospel, let him be accursed. Christ is
our righteousness. Here is the third thing. Watch
this. Middle of verse 24, Isaiah 45, Even to him shall men come,
and all that are incensed against shall be ashamed." Are you with
me? Almighty God said this. He said,
I've sworn it by myself, I'm not taking it back. Ebenezer
is going back, sooner or later. In Christ is our righteousness
and only in Christ. Only in Christ is our holiness.
Here he says the third thing. He said, Even to Christ shall
all men come. Men that were his enemies, men
that were incensed against him, they're coming to him. And they
are coming ashamed. They are coming ashamed. Now,
that can be taken in two ways. It can be applied in two ways.
He says this, all men are coming to Christ. They are all coming
before Christ. And they are coming to own his
Lordship, and they are coming ashamed, because all men have
been his enemies. Most men still are. When we were
enemies, Christ loved us and gave himself for us. When we
were enemies, When we were aliens, and this is what he said, all
men, everybody is coming to Christ, everybody is coming before Christ.
And all are coming to own his Lordship, and all are coming
in shame. Those who come to him in grace,
like some of you have come, we have come ashamed, confessing
our sins. Confessing our sins, confessing
our sins and seeking his mercy. Lord, I'm ashamed. The publican
is a picture, an enemy of Christ, an enemy of his word, an enemy
of his law, an enemy of his kingdom, but he came, but he wouldn't
come down to the front of the building, he stopped back in
the back of our hall and would not lift his eyes to him. I'm
ashamed! He said, God be merciful. That's shame? Isn't that a shame? They all shall come to him. All
men are coming to him, all men are coming to him, all men. And
there is going to come a shame that were incensed against him,
that were his enemy. And he stood back there and he
wouldn't lift his eyes to heaven, and he smote on his breast and
he cried, O God, be merciful to me, a sinner. God said he
went home justified. But the rest of them are coming,
too. They're coming in judgment, and they're coming to hear him
say, Depart from me, I never knew you. And I'll tell you this,
they'll stand before him ashamed. And they'll cry not to him, but
to the rocks and the mountains to pull on us and kill us and
hide us from the peace of him that sitteth on the throne, ashamed
in the light of his immaculate, infinite holiness. Hide us from
him! You see what I'm saying? God said, I've sworn, and my
word will not return, that all men are coming to Christ. They're
either coming to Christ, and they're coming, bow down, they're
coming ashamed. They're not coming proud and
haughty, demanding their deserts and demanding what their merit
or their reward. They're coming ashamed. Even
in grace our heads are bowed, our hearts are broken, our spirits
are grieved, and we kiss his feet and fall at his feet like
the harlot and bathe his feet with our tears and kiss his feet
and anoint them with all the precious gifts that we have.
But at his feet is where you find mercy. One fellow kissed
him on the cheek. Who was that? Judas. He was right
up there on the level with Christ and called him friend and kissed
him on the cheek and went to hell. But those who find mercy,
even his enemies, even those incensed against him, and we
were, and if it weren't by our first grace, we would be now.
But they're coming to him, they're coming. A shame. Let me show
you something in Hebrews. Turn to Hebrews 4. You say, that
mean me? Oh, yes. Yes, sir, that means
you. That means you and God have committed all judgment to the
Son. The Father judges no man. He has committed all this to
the Son. Everything is in the hands of the Son. In Hebrews
4, verse 13, neither is there any creature, any creature, heaven,
earth, or hell, that is not manifest in his sight. All things are
open. All things are naked. All things
are bare and open. All things are without God's
help. Every imagination, every word,
every motive, all things are open unto the eyes of him with
whom we have to do. You ain't got no choice. That's just plain. That's the
reason I say most folks, believers and unbelievers, they have God
out there somewhere, remotely located. And once in a while
he kind of looks down here to see if everything is still running.
Oh, no. He said, I've set my King in
the holy hill of Zion. He's established and he's set.
His kingdom ruleth over all. His kingdom covereth all the
universe and every creature in heaven, earth and hell. And at
his name and at his knee and before his feet, every knee will
bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord. And everyone that finds righteousness
and holiness and acceptance with God will declare, Only in the
Lord, only in the Lord have I righteousness and salvation and victory and
strength, only in the Lord! Because I've come to him in shame,
bowed down and broken, grief-stricken, I've kissed the sun. And those
who come not ashamed of their sins and confessing their sins
and seeking their mercy, they go through life with a proud
look and a haughty spirit and an arrogant attitude. God said,
I've sworn that I'll come to the sun and in shame. They'll want the rocks and mountains
to crush them and cover them over and hide them from his face. All right, here's the third,
fourth thing. He said, I've determined it in the Lord, in the Lord. Oh, you see how everything's
in Christ? Sovereign reign and dominion, righteousness, judgment. And now justification. In the
Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified. What's he saying
here? He's saying this, I'm determined to save a people out of that
rottenness of mankind. I'm determined to have a people.
I'm determined to populate heaven. All Israel, and he calls them
Israel. Israel, you say, that's talking about the Jew. Oh, no.
Now, turn to Romans 9. Let me show you that's not talking
about the Jew, when he says, "...all Israel shall be justified,
all Israel shall be saved." Watch Romans 9, verse 6. Not as though the Word of God
had taken none effect. They're not all Israel which
are of Israel. They're not all Israel which
are of Israel. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they children, but in Isaac shalt thou seed
be called." We're talking about God's Israel here. There are a lot of names for
God's elect, God's jewels, God's sheep, his brethren, his people,
and Israel. And all Israel shall be justified
by whom he foreknew, He predestinated to be conformed to the image
of his Son. Whom he predestinated he called, whom he called he
justified. All Israel shall be justified.
Whom he justified, look, and they shall all glory. Not a one
of them is going to miss out. They shall all glory. They are
all going to glory in him. They are all going to raise their
voices in praise to him, every one of them! And he says, I say
it, I won't take it back. I've spoken it in righteousness,
I swear by myself because I can swear by no greater, every knee
is going to bow. Only in the Lord is there righteousness.
In the Lord there is judgment. Everybody is coming to him, in
grace or in judgment. And he said, All Israel is going
to be saved. All Israel. All of them are going to be justified.
He said, All that my Father giveth me will come to me. And him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. I came down from heaven
not to do my will, but the will of him that sent me. And this
is the will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath
given me I lose nothing." They began to murmur, and he said,
"'Murmur not among yourselves. I said unto you, No man can come
to me, except my Father which sent me, draw him. And they shall
all be taught of God, all of them, all Israel. And those that
have heard and learned of the Father, they're coming! Eddie,
they're coming. They're coming. I'm looking for
God's sheep. I've got a message for God's
sheep. And bless your heart, some of them out there are listening
And it's not by accident that TV is on. It's not by accident
God crosses their paths. It's not by accident that this
good news comes their way. It's not by accident that they
shut up the faith in Christ. It's not by accident, she said,
that's what I thought. It's by the purpose of God. Let
me show you another letter here. I couldn't help from getting
this one and making a copy of it. Some of you may identify
with this. She said, Thanks so much for
your ministry on television. The Lord used you in our family's
life so many times. I stayed home from church today
because I'm so depressed. I've been depressed for so long
it's frightening. I am blessed abundantly. I have
no worldly reason at all for being so hopelessly depressed.
Your sermon today touched me deeply. It seems to be that my
minister is always telling me to straighten up, straighten
up. God won't love you unless you get your act together. I
don't know what my act is or should be. I just know I'm depressed. I've got good news for that,
dear lady. I've got good news. It's not your act, it's his act,
the act of Christ. That's what I'm trying to preach.
And she sat in here talking about her preacher's message on, God
won't love you unless you get your act together. Then he's
never loved a son of Adam since the first one fell. Because none
of them ever got their act together yet. She said, I don't know what
my act is. You don't either. But I know
who he is. And he's my hope and my refuge
and my strength. I want you to turn now to Isaiah
1 just a moment. Now, those four things, you can
bank on that. You can do what you will, say
what you will, believe what you will, but God said, I've sworn
it. I've sworn it by myself. And he said, the words got out
of my mouth, and I'm not taking it back. They're going to bow. He said, they're going to bow.
Every creature in the universe is going to bow to Christ. And
he's the only righteousness. Now, you can go around here boasting
of your goodness and righteousness and your this, that and the other,
works and all that, go on. But only in the Lord have I righteousness. And he's going to judge all men.
They're coming to him. They're coming to shame. And all history is going to be
justified. Now, watch this. I want to bring just four points
in closing. Number one, there's a call here,
and he says in chapter 1 of Isaiah, verse 18, Come now, and let's
reason together. Come now! Let's come now! Come on! Let's gather, sit at
the feet of Jesus. That's what we were just saying.
Let's gather. Come on! Come on! Come now, let's reason
together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
I'll make them white as snow right now. And though they be
red like crimson, they'll be as wool. If you're willing and
obedient, you'll eat the good of the lame. But if you refuse,
if you refuse and rebel, you're going to be divided with the
soul. Here are four questions. Who's he calling? First of all, they're sinners. Though your sins be as scarlet,
Now, I don't mean to harp on this. Somebody says, well, here
he goes on total depravity. All right, I don't mean to harp
to excess on this, on the sinfulness of human nature. But let me tell
you something. Let me say it again. It's most certainly true
that men and women will not seek mercy until they need it. Now,
Richard, that's certain. They're not going to do it. They're
not going to seek mercy until they need it. They're not going
to seek God's grace until they need his grace. They're not going
to seek God's grace until they see their guilt. Our Lord established
that principle all the way through the New Testament. He said, I
didn't come to call the righteous, I came to call sinners. He set
that principle all the way through the New Testament. He said, they
that behold don't need a physician, they that are sick. There's joy
in the heavens over one sinner that repented. Christ came to
save sinners, of whom I'm speaking. They said he's a friend of sinners.
Now here in chapter 1, I read this to you a while ago, you
remember it probably, but nowhere in the scripture do we have a
more vivid description of ourselves. First he says we are rebellious
children. Some of us, some of you out there
know something about what it means to have a rebellious child.
It'll crush your heart, it'll break your heart. But he said
in verse 2, he calls on heaven and earth to listen to his complaint.
He said, Give ear to me, I burn up children!"
And they rebelled against me. That's what he called his rebels.
Then secondly, he said, verse 3, we're ungrateful. He said
even the dumb ox knows his owner. Even he serves his owner. He
met an old dumb ox over there. He'll do what he, he'll put the
yoke on and plow the field, pull the cotton. And the dumb ass,
the donkey, you see, dumb as a donkey. Donkey ain't dumb as
you and me. He knows his master's curriculum. He comes home to
eat. He comes home to eat. But you
can't rope, tie, drag people to the table of the Lord to eat.
But he said, My people are ungrateful, where are the nine? He said,
verse 4, Ah, sinful nation, they're just loaded, laden, laden, loaded
with iniquity, as full of sin as an egg is of meat. Do you know how full an egg is? Pinch it and find out, it'll
pop right out. That's how full we are of sin, loaded with it. You can cut into our minds and
find sin, into our hearts, into our souls, into our flesh. Verse
5, he said, they are immune to correction. Why should I stricken
them? Why should I smite them? They just revolt more and more.
Judgment doesn't bring a man to God, it just drives him away
from God, makes him gripe a little bit more. Pour it on, God said,
pour it on, but it won't move them. It won't move them because
their whole head is sick, their thoughts, their whole heart is
faint, their affections are perverted, no use whipping them. Just go
ahead and bless them until they go to hell. From the sole of
their feet to the top of their heads, there's not a trace of
goodness in us. But in the next few verses, he said, they're
awful religious. They're awful religious. They
don't know God, but like Saul of Tarsus, they're awful religious.
As Spurgeon says, they'll keep Friday, they won't eat meat,
but they'll steal it on Saturday. They're careful about their ceremonies,
that's what their prayer is, and all these things. Oh, my
soul, when will we get some understanding of our sins? I'll tell you when,
when we get some understanding of God's holiness. That's when
we'll get some understanding. Well, that's who he's calling,
folks like that. Folks like that. Well, who's
calling? Notice this. He says, Come now
and let us reason together, saith the Lord. This is the Lord of
hosts. He calls himself by several names in this chapter. He said,
verse 2, The Lord hath spoken. Verse 4, The Holy One of Israel.
Verse 9, The Lord of Hosts. Verse 19, verse 20, For the mouth
of the Lord hath spoken. It's not the voice of a man that's
calling here. It's the voice of God. And what's
he calling about? Well, he invites you and me to
a conference. He says, Come, let's reason.
What is reason? Think. It's hard to get folks
to think. We don't like to think. He says,
let's think, let's consider, let's reason, we'll go think
about our sins. I'll tell you this, the conference
is not to determine if we got them. The conference, Mike, is
to determine what we're going to do about them, because he's
already described us. This conference, come, let's
reason together. It's not to determine whether
or not we've got any sins, or how severe they are. But the
thing we're going to meet with God about is, what are we going
to do about them? Well, he said, though they are
red like crimson. Could I show you something? Turn
to Matthew 1. Could I show you something in
the word of God? And I know this crosses the grain of our thinking,
and it's not really popular, I know that. Did you know that
our Lord's entire love and purpose and effort to redeem is directed
toward If there's somebody here this morning and you're sitting
there saying, well, he's preaching to the good people, he's preaching
to the religious people, he's preaching to the folks, but I'm
such a sinner. I look over my past, my present,
my future doesn't look much brighter, and I look over my birth and
my nature and my thoughts, and I think about my thoughts while
I was here already in this service this morning, and I'm such a
sinner. My friend, come now, saith the
Lord, let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet."
Can we make that as scarlet, red like crimson? But you know
here in Matthew 1, when he gives the generation of Jesus Christ,
look at chapter 1, verse 1, the book of the generation of Jesus
Christ. This is the lineage of Jesus
Christ. These are the people from whom
he came. This is his family tree. My uncle
down in Alabama made a family tree of the Mayhems, and he was
real proud of the family tree. He got all the different heroes
and everything and put them in it. But our Lord's family tree,
there are only, as far as I can see, 3 women mentioned in this
family tree. And not many folks would be too
proud of them. Verse 3, Judas begat Perez and Zarah of Tamar. Tamar is called here, but it's
Tamar. You know who that is? This Tamara
is a young lady that committed incest with her father-in-law
because she got mad at him because he wouldn't give her a son like
he promised her when her husband died. She played the harlot and
sold her flesh to him and bore twins by him, and they are in
the line of Christ. Look at the next one in verse
5, and there is Rahab, Salmon begat Boaz, the great kinsman-redeemer. You know who his mama was? is
Rahab the harlot. That's who Boaz's mother was.
The guy out there on the white horse that's telling Ruth she
can pick up where she wants to, God used him as a picture of
Christ, the kinsman, Redeemer, his mama was a harlot. And then Boaz begat Obed, and
Obed is the great-granddaddy of David, of And Ruth was a Moabitess
pagan idol worshiper whom God brought out of Moab up to Israel. You know which one of David's
sons God picked to be the king? He wasn't the son of Micah or
Abigail, he was the son of Bathsheba. And this is what I'm saying.
I'm trying to say to you, our Lord's a friend of sinners, and
he doesn't do this by accident. Sarah's not in here, Rebecca's
not in here, Rachel's not in here, go on down the line, they're
not in here. Godly, commendable women. But
what our Lord is saying in the scripture, and he's trying to
say this to all of us, and we'll learn it one way or the other.
He's the friend of sinners. He lived in Egypt, my son shall
come out of Egypt. He went down in Samaria and brought
one believer back, and that was that woman of Samaria. He went
down into Jericho and brought one back, Zacchaeus, the worst
one he could find. He went down into the Gadarenes
and found the demoniac. He went to the cross of Calvary,
and thousands of people surveyed his death and watched him die,
and he saved one blessed sinner and as a thief. So it may be
somebody here this morning has a need, and our Lord said, the
Lord of Hosts says, Come! Now! Let's reason together. Though your sins be a scar. Well,
here's the third question. What's he going to do about it?
He said, I'm going to make them white as snow. Now, there's no
way that a man can describe the blessings of justification. In
Christ we have a perfect righteousness before the law, in Christ we
have a perfect standing before the throne, in Christ we have
a perfect inheritance as sons, in Christ we are unblameable,
unreprovable, perfect in God's sight. With his spotless garments
on, I am as holy as his Son, because he by obedience worked
out a perfect righteousness and by death worked out a perfect
justification. So near to God, nearer we cannot
be in the person of his Son, we're as near as he. Now, if
you're in Christ, you're perfect. If you're by faith in Christ,
you're perfect. If you're not in Christ, I don't
care if you're in religion, you're in the Baptistry, you're in the
Baptist Church or the Methodist or Presbyterian or whatever,
you're in doctrine, you're in theology, you're in morality,
you're in all these things, you're as lost as you can be, because
if in my Son is righteousness. Though your sins be as scarlet,
scarlet, red like crimson, I'll make them as white as the snow."
Here is the fourth question I close. When are we to come? Look at
it, look carefully, come when, come now. Let come ye sinners
heavy laden, bruised and mangled by the fog, if you wait till
you're better, you'll never come at all. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor fitness fondly dream." All the fitness, he said, what it
takes to get in there is to feel your need of him. All the fitness
he required was to feel your need of him. Our Lord Jesus meets
the need. He said, verse 19, if you be
willing, if you be willing, let me show you something. There
was a man standing before our Lord one day with a withered
hand. a withered hand, been withered all his life, injured and buried.
And our Lord looked at him, and he asked for mercy, and our Lord
said to him, Stretch out your hand. He couldn't. But, Darwin,
he did. He did. On the command of Christ,
he stretched. He stood by a man one time that
had been on the bed thirty-eight years, thirty-eight years, And
he asked for mercy, and our Lord said, Take up your bed and walk.
He couldn't, but he did. He did. He came to a young girl
who was dead, dead, and the people were standing around lamenting
at the weight, dead. And our Lord stood by her bed,
put his hand on her and said, Maid, arise. Arise. She couldn't. She did. She did. And that's what I'm
saying to you. You could if you would. That's
exactly right. You say, I just can't come to
Christ. You could if you would. You do
whatever else you want to do, I guarantee you that. You could
come to Christ if you would. You're just going to sit there
and make excuses for the rest of your life until you hear him
say, Depart from me, I never knew you. But where our Lord
issues a command, he gives the ability. If you have heard his
voice saying this morning, come, now, now, let's reason together,
though you sin be a scholar, I'll make them white as snow.
If you're willing, you'll eat the fat of the lamb. But if you
are disobedient, he said, judgment will fall on you. Our dear Father,
honor the word for your glory. Bless you to the hearts of the
people. For Christ's sake we pray, amen.