Delighted to be with you once again. Please stand as we hear God's word. The first scripture reading is from Deuteronomy 7, verses 6 through 11. And then we'll go from that Old Testament reading into the New Testament, John chapter 3, verses 1 through 21. And remember, as I read, as you listen and follow along, that this is the word of God. Deuteronomy chapter 7. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations and repays to their face those who hate him by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today." Now, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with them. Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be? Jesus answered him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his work should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. Before we approach God's Word again this evening, let's look to Him in prayer. Our great God, we thank You for Your Word. It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. We know that we do not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from Your mouth. We thank You that all Scripture is breathed out by You and is profitable We thank You that You have given us this great Word that we might know You and know the Lord Jesus Christ. We confess that apart from You revealing Yourself to us in Your Word, we would be in the dark about so many things. We thank You that Your Word is alive and active and Your Spirit does His work with Your Word. And so we would ask for that this evening. We pray that Your Spirit would in our midst do your work through your word. Convict us of sin, train us in righteousness, thoroughly equip us for every good work, point us to Jesus Christ, we ask in Christ's name, amen. Well, please open your Bibles or keep your Bibles open to John 3, 16. We read the context of this verse by reading verses one through 21 of John chapter three. I think it's appropriate, especially appropriate perhaps in this first Lord's Day of the new year that we refocus our attention on such important truths as are contained here in this verse. You know, I was reminded as I was driving over here of a story that a friend of mine, a colleague of mine used to tell This is a man who had an office right next to mine when I was living in Philadelphia. He grew up in the Rocky Mountains for the first 20 years or so of his life, and he said that one of the most frustrating things about living in the Rockies, as he did, was that when he was learning to drive, and then when he was a teenager and was driving some more, He would always get stuck behind people who would go incredibly slowly around these mountains, and he couldn't figure out why. He never knew when they were going to stop or what they were doing. He knew that they were tourists, they didn't live there year-round, but it frustrated him, the way in which he'd have to sit behind these slow drivers. He said after he was about 20 his family moved away from that place and it was about a decade or more, about 12 years I think, before he returned to the place that he had grown up. And of course you might imagine that he was struck, really overwhelmed by the beauty of what he saw so that he realized that he now was one of those ones who was driving and stopping taking pictures and looking at every overpass. He said he stopped in his backyard, the yard that he had grown up in, and was just struck by the beauty. He said it was like a postcard, and he realized that it was his familiarity with this beauty that almost made him lose sight of the wonder of it. And I think something like that can happen with texts like John 3.16. You know, it wasn't uncommon when I was growing up, if you'd watch any kind of sporting event on television, or even attend any kind of sporting event, you might see someone holding up a sign that would say John 3.16. It was one of the most familiar texts. Even people who had never darkened the door of a church knew that this verse was important. Indeed, it is of critical importance. Martin Luther, the great reformer, said about this verse, it is it is the Bible in miniature. In other words, what he meant is that these few phrases in this little verse, John 3, 16, contained in his estimation the core message of the scriptures. And so it is to that core message, that great mountain peak of the Bible that we return this evening as we begin this new year. Just a reminder about the context here of what's been happening in John chapter 3. In John 3, we see Nicodemus, this teacher of the law, this Jewish teacher, approach the Lord Jesus Christ at night and put to him a few questions. He asks Jesus some of the things about what he's teaching, and he's concerned, he's interested in what Jesus' authority, where Jesus' authority derives from. He says, I know you must be from God because of the signs that you do, and he begins to Perhaps press him on this and Jesus turns the discussion around and begins to make some statements that to Nicodemus were very puzzling. He says things like, you must be born again. And unless a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. And you know from our reading, and perhaps from your own familiarity with this text, that this is confusing to Nicodemus. He doesn't quite understand what it is that Jesus is saying to him. He doesn't understand this idea of spiritual birth, of new birth from God. And Jesus begins to explain it further. He explains that it's a spiritual matter, that it's birth by and of the Holy Spirit of which He's speaking. And then He speaks of Himself being at the center of it. He speaks of the fact that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man will be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. In the broader context, if we look beyond John chapter 3, we see how this verse, verse 16, fits into the broader scope of what the Apostle John is doing in this book. John very helpfully at the end of his gospel tells us precisely why it is that he wrote these things under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He says that there are many things that could have been written about Jesus and many other things that had been written about Jesus, but he says these things have been written that you may have life in his name, that you may know him, that you may believe in him and believing you may have life in his name. Now, in this particular verse, this very familiar verse, John focuses on the love of God. In fact, you see the beginning of the verse, for God so loved the world. We might say that the first major point of this text has to do with the love of God, the Father. Of course, in many ways, that's a familiar theme if you've read the rest of John's writings, if you've read this gospel, or if you've read the letters that John has written. He writes very frequently about love. In fact, he refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. And in one of his later letters in 1 John, he says, this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. So that kind of love that John experienced and the love that he demands from believers is something of a major theme in John's writings. But this is something slightly different. Because in the Gospel of John, by my count, on seven occasions, John describes God the Father's love, but it's for God the Son. On 12 occasions, John describes how the triune God loves Jesus' disciples. Five times he explains how disciples must love Christ. And at least four times in this Gospel, He speaks about the disciples' love for one another. That's why this is a bit of a shock, not because John describes or discusses God's love, no, he does that throughout the gospel, but because what John says is, for God so loved the world. It's really the first shocking feature of this verse. Not that it describes God's love or discusses God's love, but the recipients of God's love, the object of God's love is in this case extraordinary. God so loved the world. Now why is it extraordinary? Well in the context of course it would have come as something of a shock to be sure to a man like Nicodemus. Nicodemus was no doubt familiar with texts like the one we read earlier from the book of Deuteronomy which talks about God's love for his covenant people, the way in which God chose these people, not because they were the greatest in number, but actually because they were the fewest in number, and poured out his love. It was out of his love that he chose the Jewish people. Any Jewish teacher like Nicodemus would have known this. But of course, that's not what it says in verse 16 only. It doesn't say God so loved the people of Israel, as Deuteronomy said. It says, God so loved the world. It expands this beyond Jews to Gentiles, Gentiles themselves. Now, as I said, this would have been a shock, no doubt, to someone like Nicodemus or to any reader of the Old Testament. I think in some ways it may come as a shock to some of us today when we think about this message that we have again and again in Scripture. God's love, not just for one type of person, but for people of every tribe and tongue and nation. God's love, we might say, for the world. This is such a sticking point that even when we get into the book of Acts, even after this message has been absorbed by Jesus' own disciples, it takes them some time, many years in fact, to work out the precise implications of what this says. And what's perhaps even more surprising about this is not just the context in the discussion with Nicodemus, but the context in the entire letter of John, because what John has told us from the beginning in his prologue is that Jesus came into the world, the word became flesh, and made his dwelling among us, but then it says he came to his own, and his own didn't receive him, they received him not. And so we know that in the context of John, What we're seeing here is a statement about God's love for those who have rejected Him, who have turned their backs on Him. If you go back to the beginning of the Bible, this is very clear. Again and again, we see after creation, men turning their backs on God, turning their back on the revelation that God's given to them. Isn't this even one of the great themes at the beginning of Paul's letter to the Romans? Paul says, since the creation of the world, God's invisible attributes, his divine power, have been clearly observed. Everyone's without an excuse, but what does he go on to say? He goes on to say that men have exchanged the truth of God for a lie. They've, in a sense, hardened themselves to this. They've turned their backs on it. Paul says in Ephesians, we are by nature objects of wrath, children of wrath, even as the rest. So it's not just here. that John is describing to us, telling us, teaching us, that God loves those who are not just of Jewish ethnicity, but Jews and Gentiles. But those Jews and Gentiles are those among whom they have, who have rejected God, who've rejected the God they know from creation, and who, as John tells us in many respects, have rejected even Jesus Christ. This is really shocking news and we can understand why it is that again and again the New Testament writers return to this, reminding us of the fact that the gospel needs to be offered to men of all places and of all backgrounds. That's the message of the beginning of John 3.16, God so loved the world But that's not the only shocking part of this verse. Not only did God love the world, not only are the recipients of God's love, sinful men and women, Jews and Gentiles, people from every tribe and tongue and nation, not only are those recipients somewhat of a shock, But in fact, what is an additional shock, perhaps an even deeper shock, is not only the recipients of God's love, but the depth of God's love as it is described for us in this verse. It's really something to note in the New Testament, when the New Testament wants to show us the fullest extent of God's love, to really drive home what it means to say that God is love. It doesn't just point us to the circumstances of our lives, however much those might be manifestations of God's love. No, when the New Testament wants to show us the depth of God's love, it does precisely what we see here in John 3.16. It shows us the Father's gift of His only Son. I want to make a comment here about the language that's used in John 3.16, that He gave His only Son. You might be familiar with this verse from another Bible translation, and you might have in your mind the word, only begotten Son. And that's perhaps a better translation because this word that's used here in John 3.16 to describe the Father's love and His gift of the Son does say that this is the Son who is the only begotten of the Father. In other words, it does teach us something about the intra-Trinitarian relationship that's on display. But nonetheless, I think we dare not lose sight of the fact that I think in this verse, it's not so much the relationship between the father and the son, the son being begotten of the father, but rather I think what's emphasized here is in fact what the ESV does emphasize, that this is his only son that he gave to the world. It's a description really of the depth of God's love for his people. And of course, if you think about this in the scope of the whole scriptures, your mind should be drawn, I think rightly should be drawn to this remarkable chapter that we have in the Old Testament in the story of Abraham. Perhaps you remember the story of Abraham, the many ups and downs he had after God called him and after God made these extravagant covenant promises to him. You remember that Abraham at various times stumbled and on many occasions showed great faith. But near the end of the account that we have in Genesis, the Lord asks of Abraham something really astonishing. In fact, a little disturbing, I think, because what the Lord says to Abraham near the end of the account we have in Genesis is he asks Abraham, he commands Abraham to take his son Isaac, this son whom God had promised to him, this son who was really a miraculous gift of God in his old age, and he says to Abraham, Abraham, I want you to take your son Isaac and I want you to sacrifice him on the mount which I will show you. And as we read the account, we see these moments of great poignancy. For instance, when Abraham and his son Isaac arrive at the base of the mountain, and Isaac inquires of Abraham, he asks him where the sacrifice is. He sees all the elements, all the instruments of sacrifice, but he doesn't see the lamb. And he asks Abraham about this. And of course, Abraham says, God will provide the lamb. And then we fast forward in the story and we see Abraham having tied his son Isaac to the altar. And we see Abraham raise the knife to kill his son in obedience to God's command. Book of Hebrews tells us that Abraham in his mind was realizing that God had the power to raise Isaac from the dead and perhaps that's what he thought God must be planning. But in any case, as he has the knife raised, God of course stops his hand. And then he says this, he says, now I know, now I know that you fear me. Now I know that you love me. Because you have not withheld your son, your only son. There is a sense in which after that event, After that test of Abraham, there could be no doubt of Abraham's loyalty to God. There really wasn't anything else, anything greater that God could have required of Abraham than his son. And what he saw was that Abraham was willing to sacrifice his own son. This is why in the book of James, James uses this as this perfect example of faith and works, of works showing the reality of faith. Because after all, how could anyone doubt Abraham's faith after he did that, after he did not withhold his son, his only son? You see, this is the logic that is applied throughout the New Testament when describing the love of God for his people. You remember what the Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter eight, reflecting on his own suffering. He's persuaded that nothing can separate him from the love of God and Christ. And he says this, he who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not, together along with him, freely give us all things? It's an argument from the greater to the lesser, once again. If God did not withhold his Son, his only Son, then how will he not graciously give us all things? And you see, that's the logic here in John 3.16. Not only are the recipients of God's love sinful, fallen humans, Jew and Gentile, But in addition, God so loved that world that He gave His only Son. There's an illustration that's often used. I've heard it used a number of times, but it's such a profound illustration that I think it bears repeating. It's from a small book written by a Yale theologian, perhaps not the most reliable theologian But he wrote a book in 1987 that was different from all the other kind of deep, philosophical, theological books that he normally wrote. It's a little book called Lament for a Son. And in that book, it's really a personal memoir of the way in which he processed the death of his son. His son was in his 20s at the time and died in a mountain climbing accident very suddenly. The way in which this theologian describes it is quite moving at times. And one of the most moving moments in the book comes actually at the beginning because he's describing his life, both before he lost his son and after he lost his son. And he says this, he says, when people ask me, he's describing meeting people at parties and other social events, academic events, when people ask me, who are you? Tell me about yourself. I say, not immediately, but shortly, I am one who lost a son. It had so deeply embedded itself, this truth in his heart, that this was now almost part of his identity. He couldn't describe himself to others without first starting there. And there is a sense in which when we come to the New Testament and address this great theme of the love of God, we are confronted with the same kind of reality. that he who did not spare his own son is the one whom we trust in. He who did not spare his own son is the one who loves the world. And this is the way in which his love is displayed. He so loved the world that he gave his only son. I wonder if you remember this truth about God when you're facing difficulty. So often, whenever we face trials and difficulties, we begin to doubt God's love for us, God's care for us as his children. We wonder when times are bad, whether indeed God does really love us. In fact, some will at times go so far as to say, I wonder if God has it out for me because of this series of difficult providences I've endured. But we know from the text of Scripture that for those who are called by God, for those who have a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, they can say that God loves them and that all things work together for their good. And the ultimate, in a sense, proof of that love of God is that he is the one who did not spare his own son. And so as we face difficulties, we need to recognize that we ought to look at that argument rather than the argument from our own circumstances which as we know fluctuate from day to day and year to year. Now, if that were all that this verse taught us, If that were the only message of this verse, that the Creator God loved this dark world and he sent his only son to it, if all it taught us was about the glorious incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, if all we had were these astounding mysteries, this astonishing display of God's love to contemplate, then that itself would be a paradigm-shifting truth for each of us. But in fact, in the remainder of this verse, we learn that the incarnation is not merely a display of God's love. It is also the means of our salvation from death and punishment and sin. And that really is the second major point of this verse, the saving benefit that is given in this gift of love. Now we see how this saving benefit is described for us. It's described for us, first of all, for those who believe, as the removal of a curse that whoever believes in him should not perish. Now, why is this so significant? Well, it's significant because the Bible, again, is very clear about the state of all of mankind apart from Jesus Christ, that by nature, we are subject to punishment. By nature, we are subject to death. By nature, we are subject to the wrath of God. For all have sinned, the Bible says, and fall short of the glory of God. And we know that this is true not just in our actions, but in the context of our nature. We see it from the very first chapters of Genesis. We see immediately after the fall, the increasing, ever-increasing effects of sin. We move from this event of the fall in Genesis chapter 3 to Cain's killing of Abel, his murder of Abel, and all that's wrapped up in it. And this ultimately leads us to the Bible's teaching about eternal punishment because of sin. The wages of sin is death. And the judgment ultimately that the Bible describes for those who are sinners, and that's everyone by nature, is what the Bible calls the lake of fire or the second death or hell. Revelation 20. He tells us very explicitly, if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. And so this news that whoever believes in Him should not perish has eternal significance for all of humanity. And it should cause us to grow in our gratitude toward this God who loved us in this way. Whoever believes should not perish. And it's not simply about this future judgment, although that's certainly included and that's certainly prominent in the thinking of this verse. But the Bible also tells us that there's a removal of a curse and of judgment right now. When the book of Hebrews talks about the incarnation of Jesus, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says this, since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, that is us, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. When it says they should not perish, yes, it is talking about the removal of this eternal punishment. forgiveness of sins that leads to eternal life and away from eternal death and hell. But also, because of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, we read that Jesus Christ destroyed the one who has the power of death and therefore removes from those who are in him, from those who believe in him, from the fear of death to which we would otherwise be in lifelong slavery. Indeed, I don't think it's a stretch to look at the history of human thought apart from Jesus Christ and to see that within it are always contained these ideas about the fear of death, driven by the fear of death. This is something that the incarnation of Jesus, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, removes the slavery to this fear of death for those who are in Him. And this is because We know that we live, and we can all see that we live in a fallen world, and we all know that it's true what the Bible says, that it's appointed unto man once to die, and after that to face judgment. In fact, you know, when we look at the apostolic preaching of Christ, and we look even at the way in which the apostles were taught to preach about Christ, the apostle Peter says very clearly that Jesus Christ commanded us to preach to the people and to declare to them that Jesus Christ is the one who is appointed as the judge of the living and the dead. And to him, all men must give an account. And that day is a fearful day for those who are outside of Christ. And yet it says, whoever believes in him should not perish. And yet after describing the removal of this curse, it also describes the gift of a blessing. And in this case, the blessing of course is eternal life. We have these pictures in the future of eternal death and eternal punishment. Oh, but we also have these glorious promises of the Lord Jesus for his people. Remember what Jesus says to his followers, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. just as those who are outside of Christ should fear death, should fear this eternal perishing. So those who are in Christ have eternal life to look forward to, life with the Lord Jesus Christ, the place that he has prepared for you and for me. And in the here and now, there's, of course, a great many blessings that accrue to us because of this eternal life. In fact, sometimes this word eternal life is used to describe the blessings right now. 2 Peter encapsulates this, although it does not use this precise language, when Peter says, you are partakers of the divine nature. And he goes on to say, he's given you everything you need, therefore, for life and godliness. It's not just that this eternal life is in the future, but the Bible teaches us it's a gift that is given to those who believe right now. This is what the Bible describes and what Jesus in fact has begun to describe in John chapter 3. This total change, this new life. You begin to see things differently. Your priorities change. There is a different hope and meaning and comfort and purpose. There's even the promise in the scriptures that those who are born of God, born anew, have this eternal life, are able to confront these sinful habits in which they have engaged. John says later in one of his letters, no one born of God makes a practice of sinning because God's seed abides in him. And he cannot keep on sinning because he's been born of God. part of the great gift of eternal life described in this verse. So the question then that remains in this verse is, to whom does God give this eternal life? And from whom does God remove this eternal death? Well, we know it's not based on ethnic distinctions. We saw that already. It's God so loved the world. And we know this is offered and given to sinners. Nicodemus might have assumed that the ones who received this, the ones who should not perish but have eternal life, were those who had done certain works. Certainly, we see the Apostle Paul seemed to think this early on in his life as a Pharisee. He says in Philippians chapter three that if anyone had reason to boast in the flesh, he has even more reason to have boasted in the flesh. No, but what does this teach? It teaches that this is granted by faith alone. It's whoever believes in him. It's not to those who perform certain rituals, not to those whose good works might in some fashion outweigh their bad ones. It's to those who believe. This is the call really that announces that attaches itself to this announcement of God's love. So then we have to ask ourselves this question, what does it mean to believe in him? As John 3, 16 puts it. And I think it's very helpful to think about this belief, this saving faith, in terms of three aspects. We could think of it, first of all, as there's a knowledge component to this belief. You have to know certain facts about the Lord Jesus Christ or else This belief will make no sense, there won't be any meat to it. And the way in which we grow in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, the way in which we actually find out who this Jesus is, to whom we're to believe, in whom we're to believe, is to read the scriptures. The scriptures are what teach us of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see this wonderful example of this in Acts chapter 16. The Apostle Paul is proclaiming the gospel to this woman Lydia, this very well-educated woman Lydia. And it sort of describes, moment by moment, the conversion of Lydia. And the first thing it says is, the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. You wanna grow in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? You need to grow in your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. You need to listen to the word of God as it's preached week after week. You need to look at the word of God for yourself. You need to know who it is that the Bible teaches us Jesus is. But it's not just knowledge of who Jesus is as the Bible presents him. It's also a scent, a kind of emotional attachment to these truths. So we know now who Jesus is, and now what the text would tell us is that we must attach ourselves to this. And that leads, I think, to the third component of it, which is a volitional component, an aspect of our will, a commitment of ourselves. We need to entrust our forgiveness, our hope, our eternity to the Lord Jesus Christ. personally entrusting our life decisions to the truth of his word. We incidentally see these last two steps also played out in the story of Lydia. It says that the Lord opened her heart and so she paid attention to what Paul said as he described these truths about Jesus. And then it says she was baptized and her household was baptized as well. And then she talks about And she makes certain commitments of her life. In fact, she says, if you've judged me to be faithful, come to my house and stay. And this is the kind of thing that the Bible would command for each of us. This is what it means to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I have to say, although I think it's already been emphasized by this text, that this is the only hope there is in the world. If you're an unbeliever, if you haven't trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ in the way in which I've outlined, recognize that it's really only through Jesus that these things can be had for you. It's the only way. It's through the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no other name, the Bible tells us, under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved, but the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we look at this verse as a whole, we can begin to understand as we scratch beneath the surface just why it is that that great Reformer Martin Luther said it was a Bible in miniature. We see that it's a revelation, this verse, of the grace of God. It's by grace alone that we're saved. We see it points us to the need for faith alone. Whoever believes in Him, should not perish. And of course, it's centered around Christ alone. He's the only Son of whom this verse speaks. And all of it, from beginning to end, is to the glory of God alone. It's God's love. It's God's gift. And it's God who keeps us from perishing and grants to us eternal life. So we read a verse like this and we have to respond by saying, come to Jesus. It's in Jesus that all of this is found. We remember perhaps the words of the great hymn as the hymn writer describes what it is to come to this Jesus. He says, nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling, naked come to thee for dress, helpless look to thee for grace, foul I to the fountain fly. And then he says what could have been said right after this, wash me, Savior, or I die. Let's pray together. Lord, we are grateful for this reminder of the truths of the gospel. Thank you for your word, for its clarity, for its power. We need these reminders constantly and so we ask for the ministry of your spirit even as we reflect on these things. And it's in Christ's name that we pray, amen.