Thank you for directing your internet connection to the sermon audio page for Christ Orthodox Presbyterian Church. You can learn more about ChristOPC by visiting our website at www.christopcatl.org. ChristOPC meets for worship each Sunday at 11 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. Our sermon tonight this evening is 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter 1. verses 1 and 2, the opening greetings or salutations from Peter as he begins his second New Testament letter. If you remember from a number of months ago, we had finished 1 Peter, and now we begin a new series in 2 Peter. So 2 Peter 1, verses 1 and 2, hear now the holy, inspired, and inherited word of our God. Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you by the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Well, tonight we begin a new series in the book of 2 Peter. It's not one that I think many Christians run to as they seek to look for the doctrines of our faith, but it is one that I submit to you that is really all about your life of faith. In his previous letter, Peter instructed Christians on the nature of who they are as the elect exiles of the Triune God and how you live this life as a sojourner and wanderer in this world. looking, ultimately, to the kingdom of perfect righteousness that is yet to come. And now in his second letter, Peter, I believe, gets down deep into the core of your Christian life today. And he calls you and instructs you on what your life today is meant to be like as you await the coming of our Savior. It answers the question, in the between times, in this time between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ, how ought I to live? And the answer Peter gives throughout this epistle is he calls you to righteous and holy living by faith in Jesus Christ. The way you are to live your life in this age looking forward to the age to come is a life of faith which is marked by a life of righteousness. And as he calls you to this throughout his letter, he begins in verses 1 and 2 by giving you the very core and source of that righteousness. And the core and source of that righteousness is how God Himself, in His grace, by the strength of His might and out of His undying everlasting love for you, places Christ's own righteousness upon you. that God, in His grace, by the power of His Spirit, unites you to His Son. And as He unites you to His Son through a faith that is allotted to you by God Himself, Christ's righteousness is given to Christ's people. And as Christ's righteousness is given to Christ's people, It sows a new life in the people of God. Lives lived by faith, lives lived by grace, lives lived in the power of God that culminates in the kingdom of God, and lives that are marked with the righteousness of God himself. We see this evening from 2 Peter 1, verses 1 and 2, that you have the righteousness of Christ himself given to you by faith. And as you carry on living this life of faith, you are to continue in that righteousness. We'll see this in three parts this evening. First, considering the sender of the letter. Second, the recipients of the letter. And then third, how grace is multiplied through knowledge. Well, as is often the case in the letters of the New Testament, verse 1 begins with the identification of the sender of the letter and then continues with the recipients of the letter. In each of these, just like he did in 1 Peter, the apostle likes to jam-pack his introductions with the core theology and the core things you need to know about what he's about to say in the rest of the letter. And so first looking now at the sender, Peter begins by saying he is Simeon Peter, a slave, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Now that he calls himself Simeon Peter might stand out a little bit to you because you're probably used to calling him Simon Peter. What is going on here? It's not a contradiction and it's not a different Peter from the Peter you know and love. Simeon is really just a more Hebrew-like way of saying the same name, Simon. And so, if anything, the slight change to Simeon here highlights that this letter comes from the very person of Peter who is, if you recall, himself a Jew. And so it's a more Hebrew-like name. And so it actually kicks off this letter, which is all about a call to righteousness and faith in Christ on a very personal tone. It starts off as if you're not addressing him as simply that one apostle far off and away from you, but Simeon, the one that you know. You don't just, when you're thinking about Pastor Ken or some others, think of him as that far off person you've never met, someone so high and lifted up you can never have a relation with them. No. He's Pastor Ken. He's the one that you know and one who is part of your life. And I think it's the same thing here. In the title, Simeon, we learn that he is personal with these people. He knows them well, and they know him. But far more important than his name are his titles, where he calls himself a slave, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Well, his identity as an apostle is of little debate, and it's easy enough to understand, isn't it? He identifies himself as one who holds the apostolic office, as one who is commissioned by Christ to lay the foundation of God's revealed word to God's people, a foundation that is laid upon the very word of Christ and the teaching of Christ from the apostles. The Apostle Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 20 when he's talking about the nature of the church as the end time people of God and Christ, a temple made up of Jews and Gentiles together, that it is built up upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ himself being the cornerstone. And remember, it's also the Apostle Paul who begins most of his letters with the same accolade, that he is an apostle of Christ. See, for Peter to identify himself as an apostle is to show that he is one sent by Christ himself to reveal the word of God to the people of God. To lay the foundation of God's word that you need as a light unto your path, as a lamp unto your feet, so that you might know how you need to live in this life of faith. You see, this identification as an apostle is important for what he's about to do in his letter, isn't it? where he's about to give you the instructions and the callings and the pursuit that you are to have as Christians in this age. See, in Peter's letter, he is saying, you hear the very words and the very commands of your Savior, Jesus Christ himself. As you hear these words and these commands, you also hear of his wonderful promises, of the predictions, holy prophets, and the commandment of our Lord and Savior through your apostles, as he says in chapter 3, verse 2. The predictions and the commands primarily taking us to consider that kingdom of perfect righteousness in the new heavens and the new earth. And so by calling himself an apostle, he's telling you to tune in your ears to what I am about to say. Listen to the very words of your Savior and be encouraged and be strengthened to live the life of faith as you await the coming of Christ and the inauguration of the new heavens and the new earth. But Peter doesn't just call himself an apostle, does he? He actually first calls himself a slave or a servant of Jesus Christ. And I wanted to treat this one second because when we read terms like slave or servant, something in our minds automatically grates against that identity, doesn't it? I'm my own man, my own person. I am slave and I am servant to no one. Aren't you all Americans? Aren't you all free? Freed men? You see, we have a problem, don't we? Where one, we don't like to submit ourselves to others and call ourselves others' servants, let alone slaves. But also, I think we have a false notion of what it means to be a servant or a slave. Our ideas are tinctured with various acts of wicked slavery throughout the history of humanity. But if you're reading the Bible, if you're attentive to the word of God, then it with regularity identifies the people of God as the servants of God, even the slaves of God. Do you not remember the end of Isaiah 54 that we read just a little while ago? This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. And their vindication from me, declares the Lord. the identity of the people of God, as that we are the slaves of God, the servants of God. See, in the Old Testament, there's a hyper-motif of slavery, isn't there? In fact, the main event of redemption in the Old Testament is a redemption from servitude to servitude in the Exodus, where Israel suffered as slaves in Egypt and Pharaoh was a harsh overlord to the people of God. And in redemption, what did the Lord do? but he broke the bars and the yoke of slavery, as Moses says in Leviticus chapter 26. But he broke the bars and yoke of slavery in Egypt to what end? Well, to the end that the people of God will be brought to the service of God. You see, the question of the book of Exodus and the act of redemption in this event in history is really, who shall you serve? Will you serve Pharaoh in Egypt or will you serve the Lord in worship at Mount Sinai? The Lord saves his people. He brings them out of the yoke of bondage to sin and to misery and to Pharaoh and to Satan to place them in the privileged position to be servants of the living God. Moses himself called a servant of God. Says in Deuteronomy 32, 26, the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants. You see the parallels there? His people, his servants, they are one in the same. See, Peter is here putting at the front end of his very identity. that he is under the authority of Jesus Christ, that he submits himself to his Savior and to his King. And this really informs his identity and role as an apostle, doesn't it? Because his authority as an apostle is not because he is the most well-educated in all of the ancient world. It's not because he's the most well-spoken, the most likable, nor because he's the most faithful. This is indeed the same Peter that denied Christ three times. He is this because the God whom he serves has given him a distinct role for the benefit of his people. You see, while we struggle with these terms like slave or servants and lights of human history where those things have been done in sin, the reality is that being called the slave of Jesus Christ is the highest privilege, the greatest honor that you or I could possibly have. You see, this title places you in the company of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. It places you in the company of Moses and Samuel and David and Paul and Peter and James and Jude, all of whom call themselves the slaves of God. To be a slave of Jesus Christ is to be redeemed from the enslaving power of sin. to be redeemed from the curse of death unto a life of service in the worship of our Redeemer and our King. Psalm 34, 22. The Lord redeems the life of His servants none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. Let this be a banner across all of our lives that we are servants of the Lord. Well, upon identifying himself as the sender of the letter, Peter, this slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, he then moves on to address the recipients. However, he does so in a fashion that is a little bit different from other New Testament letters. See, most of the other letters identify the recipient as a place. Paul, writing to the Christians in Rome, for example. Or Peter, back in 1 Peter 1, he writes to the elect exiles, he says, in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, or Bithynia. Or maybe a letter might be written to a specific person, like Paul writes to Philemon. But that's not the recipient of Peter's letter, is it? We don't have a place, nor do we have a specific person. Instead, we are given a category of people. Peter writes his letter to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. See, by introducing his letter this way, What Peter does is he identifies the recipient of his letter as any Christian in any time and any place up until the day that Christ returns. He writes to all who have obtained this faith. He writes to you and he writes to me. What does it mean to be those who have obtained this faith? Well, the term translated obtained here. literally means for something to be appointed by lots. Now, that's far more confusing than something to be obtained. See, the casting of lots in our particular day and age sounds a lot like you've gone and darkened the door of a casino, that you've gone and you've just cast some dice and things are going to lie where they lie, something reflecting a thing close to pure chance or something that might be arbitrary. But this is not the role that casting lots plays in the Bible. To cast lots for something is actually about having a specific divine appointment for that particular thing. In Old Testament Israel, whenever they would cast lots, it was actually for God to, through the lots, to reveal His will to His people. It was a means of God's revelation. In fact, the primary position of the lots in the Old Testament are even named and placed within the High Priest vestments, the Urim and the Thummim, which are in place within. the breastplate of the garments of the high priest. They were used as a mode to determine God's holy will. It was a way that God could inform his people whether they should go to war or not go to war. It was a way that justice would be maintained in Israel as they would identify who was right and who was wrong, who had broken the law and who has kept the law. It was a way for God to appoint a specific thing for His specific people. And so by Peter saying that our faith is allotted, or determined by lot, is really talking about our election, isn't it? that the faith we have is a faith that we have obtained by the power of God, that is determined by the will of God. And that's why the ESV translates this otherwise ambiguous term as those who have obtained a faith, because it shows in us the reality that our faith is something granted to us, given to us by the power of God. But that translation, those who have obtained a faith, loses a little bit in translation, doesn't it? See, Peter could have just said, to those who have received faith by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, and he doesn't say that. Why does he use the language of casting lots? I think the answer lies in this. So when we're considering the doctrine of election, we need to understand it from two different angles. One is that there are those who receive the electing love of God that are the recipients of God's own sovereign electing love and power, who receive his steadfast love. But there's also the divine side, isn't there? Where God is the one who does the electing in his own sovereign choice. And Peter, by using the language of allotment here, draws our attention to the divine side of this equation. And he's saying your faith is not simply something you have received, although that is true, but it's something that is appointed and allotted by God himself. He is saying that the faith you receive, the faith that you have, is because God is the one who placed it there to begin with. Because God is the one who gave you this faith, who determined that you would be among His people. He's saying that our faith The faith of every Christian in every age is something ordained and applied by God. That your identity as slaves of Jesus Christ is so because he decreed that it would be so. And what wonderful hope and confidence this should give you. Your faith is something that is given to you and ordained for you by God himself. It is something anchored and ordained all the way back in eternity past. Your faith is not the product of your own will. It's not something you choose by simply being the smartest or most wise person. It's not something you've conjured up through your own imagination. It's not something you've worked your way into by being such a wonderful and nice person. You didn't make a pros and cons column and choose all the pros and ignore all the cons. It is a gift of the living God. God has appointed that you would have faith. And so the foundation, the steadfast anchor of your faith is not you. Your faith is not in your faith. Your faith is in the objects of your faith. You see, the sole reason why you would ever desire to love God, that you would long to live for Christ, that you would believe upon Christ, is because of God's own work to allot that faith to you. And it is because God allots that faith in you that you then lay hold of Christ by that faith, that you long to live for Christ, that you rest and receive Christ as your own, which we confessed just a little while ago is the principal act of saving faith. It is because faith is allotted for you by the ordaining power of God. that Peter continues as he does in verses five through seven, that you can make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue of knowledge, and knowledge self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. Rooted in the reality. of God's electoral love and work in you, the reality of this faith allotted to you by God. You therefore live the life of faith. You live a life of righteousness and holiness before the God who has appointed that very faith in you by His grace. Beloved, know well that your faith and your hope are in God. And because of that, your faith and your hope are secure, resting upon the foundation of God himself that can never crumble and that can never fade. Even though the mountains might fall, as Isaiah said in Isaiah 54, what can never pass is his steadfast love for you. The object of your faith is perfect. And it is that object that has appointed this faith in you. And that's why I think Peter continues to say that this allotted faith is of equal standing with ours. Now the ours here seems to be the apostles that Peter had just associated himself with. And so what does it mean for our faith to be of equal standing with the apostles. Well, let me say what he's not saying. He's not saying that we are equal to the apostles in the sense of their authority. That would go against the very identification of him as an apostle and make it worthless. It would also go against what Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 5, where he outlines the authority structure of the church. Nor is it to say that every Christian that ever gathers together is going to have the same level of faith. Remember, as we confessed a little while ago in Westminster Confession Chapter 14 and Paragraph 3, it talks about how there can be those who are weaker and stronger in the faith. And there are even times in our own lives as Christians where our faith waxes and wanes, where it is strengthened and weakened in light of our life. Paul will say in Romans 14 verse 1 that there are those weak in the faith. There is such a thing as the weaker brother and the weaker sister. So what Peter really seems to be saying here is not that the faith in all is equal in all, not that there is no authority structure in the church, but rather every Christian who trusts in God by the faith that is allotted to them. You all share, every single one of you, in the same blessings of that faith. There are those who are stronger in the faith and those who are weaker in the faith. There is an authority structure in the church, but Peter is drawing our attention to how all Christians alike receive the same benefits of salvation, which is Christ himself. And it's because you are united to Christ that you receive every spiritual blessing because he is our benefactor. The reason why our faith is of equal standing, the reason why we're all equal in this sense is because we all receive the same Christ. And so whether your faith is weak or your faith is strong, whether you're a mature in the faith or but a child in the faith, whether you've been a Christian for 20 years or 20 minutes, you have received Christ. Christ has been allotted to you. And because of that, you are in equal standing before God in heaven. Christ is yours through this allotted faith. And so if your faith is even feeling weak at this very moment, cast your eyes upon your Savior and find confidence not in your own strength, but rather in the strength of His might. Find confidence in your standing before God, not in how wonderful you are, or even in how faithful you are, but in how righteous and how wonderful and how faithful Christ is. I think that's what Peter draws our attention to here at the end of verse one, where he says that this allotted faith of equal standing is by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. I want first order in this line, I want you to see how Peter sees Jesus. The line, our God and Savior, I believe is a clear cut confession that Jesus is God. See, when he says God and Savior, he's using two titles to describe the one person of Jesus Christ. He's saying, God, that Jesus is your God and Jesus is your Savior. It is the perfectly righteous God, whom Jesus is as the second person of the Trinity, that saves you, who works by his own righteousness to appoint faith in you and redeem you from the state of sin and misery. Jesus is God, and God is your Savior. And for this faith to be of equal standing by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ means at least two things. First, and I think foremost at this point in Peter's letter, it means that our salvation and the way that we are made right with God is that Christ's own righteousness is what is given to us through union with him. When the Spirit of God works in us to unite us to Christ by faith, His righteousness becomes our righteousness. We are clothed with the righteousness and holiness of Jesus Christ, who is our God and our Savior. What makes you in right standing before God in heaven is not merely that your sins are atoned for on the cross. that is true and necessary and the good news of the gospel, but even greater good news for you is that in salvation, through this faith that is appointed to you and by the power of the Spirit uniting you to Christ, the perfect righteousness of Christ himself is given to you. To be made right with God, beloved, you need not only a sinless substitute, You need not only someone to go and bear the curse and judgment for sin that is due to us. You need to be made right with God. You need to have righteousness credited to your account. Simply having it wiped clean is not enough. And what Peter is saying is that by this faith allotted to you, you are given the righteousness of Christ himself. Christ is the one who justifies the ungodly, such that by faith in him you are accounted righteous, Romans chapter four, verse five. Again in Romans chapter five, verse 19, for as by the one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the one man's, that's Christ's obedience, the many will be made righteous. See, beloved, when you go before the throne of God in heaven and as you have pled the blood of Christ standing in your stead as the one who bore the curse of sin for you, you stand in the presence of God with Christ's own righteousness granted to you. Do you see now why Peter would say that our faith is of equal standing before God? It's because it is Christ's perfect righteousness that makes you right before God. It's the righteousness of God Himself to which nothing could ever be added or subtracted that has become yours in Him. That is what is appointed to you in this faith by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. That by God's salvific decree, you are declared righteous because of Christ's righteousness. Christ's obedience becomes your obedience. You receive Jesus. Well, how therefore ought you to live? It is from this standing of being made righteous in and with Christ that we see, second of all, the reality that we are brought from the state of sin, death, and misery to one of new life and new righteousness in Christ. You see, in Christ, not only are you saved judiciously or judicially in a forensic way as you were made right before the throne of God in heaven, but God also works in you in a renovative way, in union with Christ. Not only do you have a new and right standing before our God in heaven, But you have a new life. A new life of faith. A new life of righteousness. And that's really one of Peter's main points throughout the rest of his letter. In chapter 1, verse 4, he tells us how we have escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of depraved desire. We have escaped this corruption how? Because by God's grace, as we are united to Christ by faith, we receive this new life. Throughout this letter, as Peter carries on to enjoin and encourage Christians to live righteously and to live holy lives before the Lord, it's really recognizing the reality of who you are in him. That being made right with God in Christ changes you. It changes your life to be righteous as He is righteous and to be holy as He is holy. You see, one of the main things that Peter is writing against in his letter is a view called antinomianism. I think some would call that a gymnasium word. And anti, against, and nomian is from nomos, which means law. So this would be someone who's against the law or someone who stands against the need for Christians to actively pursue righteousness and holiness in their lives. Antinomianism would claim that due to the reality of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, and this faith being allotted to you by God alone, and since you are right with God, you actually don't need to be concerned with righteous living. You don't need to be concerned with the pursuit of holiness. It's really an abuse of the gospel of God's grace, isn't it? It takes the reality of God's wonderful mercy, grace, and love for His people and uses it as an excuse for sin. You see, this argument makes no sense to Peter. He believes the very opposite. It is precisely because you are made right with God, precisely because you are united to Christ that you have a new life in Christ, And therefore, you want all the more to be strengthened and encouraged to pursue righteousness and holiness today. Well, how do you do it? How do you pursue this righteousness and holiness today? Is it by the strength of your own might? Do you now that you have been saved by God's grace continue to live based on the works of your own hands? Well, the answer to that is no. You continue to do this by the very grace of God. That's what we see last of all here in verse two, that to live this life of faith by the righteousness of God in Christ, we need grace and we need it abundantly. Peter begins his letter, may grace and peace be multiplied to you and the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. In fact, this idea is so important to him that this is also how he ends his letter. In chapter three, verse 18, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. What does Peter say? He is saying that just as we are saved by God's grace, so also every single day of our lives of faith are lived by the grace of God. It is not as though you are saved by grace and then you are left to your own strength in this life. God's grace that saves you is the same grace that preserves you and keeps you throughout this age that is so frequently marked by suffering. by hardship, by persecution, and by temptation. We confessed it together a short while ago. There are times in our lives where even our own faith, our own holiness, our own desire to be Christ-like waxes and wanes. If we were left to the strength of our own hands, we would have no hope. But as we continue in this life of faith, we walk by the grace of God. It is the grace and mercy of God that set us to this narrow way, that established us upon this path. It is the grace and mercy and love of God that keeps us upon that path and doesn't allow us to fall away eternally or finally. He knows. He knows, Peter says in chapter two, how to rescue and preserve the godly. Isn't that what we learned from the life of Lot? The life that Peter uses to drive this point home here in this letter. That God knows even how to rescue us from ourselves and how to keep us even when we would so willingly run away from him. Also notice Peter's specific desire. it is that God's grace would be multiplied. That is his prayer before God for you this evening. His earnest desire as an apostle for your life of faith is to have a super abundance of God's grace. And the way you have this super abundance of God's grace that it would grow in your life and in your hearts, he tells us, is by the knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus. See, it's become commonplace in Christianity today, hasn't it? To pit faith and knowledge against one another. One is something that you feel as true, and the other is simply something you cognitively know. You have this blind leap of faith, but you must verify things by knowledge. But this is not biblical. By God's grace through faith, we know God. And as we come to know God more in our lives, it is the grace of God that also multiplies in our lives. Now this isn't in some mechanical way as simply by knowing your catechism all of a sudden you can tap a grace vat and get a little more grace. And it's not as though you can simply have some sort of rote knowledge without a life and heart of devotion before the Lord. But as you continue in this life of faith, you should seek to grow in your knowledge of who God is. And as you grow in your knowledge of who God is, as he has revealed to you in his words. you will increase in your relation with him and your trust in him and your loving upon him and God's grace itself will be even more deeply manifest to you in your lives. See, Peter drives this home many times throughout his letter. Let me just read a few of the following verses as we come to a close. Chapter one, verse three, his divine power. So the very next verse, God's divine power, has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness." How? He tells us, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to His own glory and excellence. You do not have a life of holiness and righteousness and godliness apart from a knowledge of God who is righteous. It doesn't work that way. It can't exist any other way than this one. Chapter 1 verse 5, for this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge. When you come to faith in Christ, it's not a baseline that you're meant to stay on for the rest of your life. You're meant to grow and to increase in that faith, to grow in your knowledge of who God is and your trust and your rest in Him. Chapter 1 verse 8. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, then they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Doesn't our Savior himself say it in John chapter 17, verse three, knowing God is eternal life. What God has given us in salvation through this faith allotted to us is himself. And Peter is saying that as His grace is multiplied in your lives, you will increase in your knowledge of God. And you would come to know more and more the God who loves you and who saves you. You see what it looks like to grow in the righteousness of God is also to grow in the knowledge of God. And so this evening, if you find yourself stalled out in your life of faith, if you find yourself struggling in the pursuit of righteousness and holiness, if the flame of love for God is growing dim in you, then seek to know God more. Run to his word where he tells you who he is and all of his promises. Flee to Him in prayer and plead that He would fan into flames the fire of faith that He has set within you and have a proper attendance to His sacraments that He uses to nourish and to build you up in the faith. And come. Come and gather with Christ's people. Hear the teaching and the preaching of His Word. That's why having a regular gathering of the saints faithful and dedicated to the teaching of God's word is so important. You can't live on a diet of mere morsels. Your faith would starve. Gather together with the people of God. Gather together with the people dedicated to the teaching of who God is and feast upon the word of God and come to know him more. For God promises through the strength of his own mind, As you run to his word, as you kneel before him in prayer, and as you partake of these sacraments, he, by his power and in his grace, will work to conform your lives more and more to the life of Christ. His grace will be multiplied to you by the means of grace. He will strengthen you, he will be with you, and he will guide you on the path that you are to go. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you that you are a God who elects and ordains salvation for your people, that as you do so, through this allotted faith, you are the one who gives your very righteousness to us. And Lord, we pray that you would cause us to come to know Christ more this evening, that we would believe upon him and live for him. We pray this in his name. Amen.