Take your Bibles and turn to Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. So we began chapter nine in the first three verses as a lament, a deep lament from Paul. He testified that he had great sorrow and continual anguish in his heart. Why? Because his fellow Jews were cut off from Christ to the point he was so in anguish to the point he could say, I could wish myself were cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. And last week we got into verses four through five as he begins to elaborate on the great spiritual privileges of the Israelites. First of all, they are Israelites. And then they have, and he says, to them belong. And he lists six things, the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. This morning, we're going to do the last three of those, and then we're going to also, Lord willing, go through verse 5. If I had to outline this little passage, it would be something like this, verses 4 and 5. First, we get the big picture. They are Israelites. Then we get the specifics, those six things that he mentions at the end of verse 4. And then the next part I call setting the stage. He talks about the patriarchs, or the fathers. He's building up to the climax, which is the Christ. So let's read verses one through five. I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscious bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. Let's pray. Father, this morning, I pray that as we read this, as we think about it, we would understand the great privileges that you gave your people, the Israelites. But Lord, don't let it be lost on us that we also have great spiritual privileges. Guide us in our thinking by your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen. So, diving right in to where we left off. We talked about the adoption, the glory, the covenants. I'm not going to review that this morning. Let's come directly to the giving of the law. Now, when you first read this, you might think it's just a repetition. If you just flip back in your Bibles to chapter 3, you might think it's just a repetition of the first two verses of chapter 3. 3.1. then what advantage has the Jew, or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God, and so they were. They received the oracles, the things the Lord spoke, basically His word, His law. the Jews had those things. You might think he's saying the same thing here, but he uses a totally different word. He doesn't use just law. If he wanted to say to them, belong the law, he could have done that easily enough. But instead, he uses this word. It's only used here in the New Testament, and it literally means to give the law or to place the law. And so we want to think specifically about not just the fact they had the law, but that he placed the law, he gave the law. It was theirs, the giving of the law. So let me ask you a question. How did the Israelites first get the Ten Commandments? Now think about this a minute. How did they first get the Ten Commandments? Well, God, that's good. How did God first give them the Ten Commandments? That's right. He spoke it. A lot of people think, well, he gave it to them on the stone tablets. He did give it to them on the stone tablets. But before he did that, he spoke them. If you'd like to turn Deuteronomy chapter Do I have this right? I believe it's chapter 4 Deuteronomy chapter 4 now I could read this in Exodus or I could read it in Deuteronomy 5 the reason I'm reading it out of Deuteronomy 4 is to emphasize This this was the unique Privilege of the Israelites and he emphasizes that in the passage Deuteronomy 4 beginning in verse 32 For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other whether such a great thing as this has ever happened and was ever heard of. Did any people ever hear the voice of a God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard and still live? Or has any God ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord is God. There is no other besides Him. Verse 36, out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might discipline you. And on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire. They heard God speak. And what He emphasizes, Moses emphasized in this passage, that has never happened to any other people. It is very unique to you as Israelites. As we've gone through these specifics in verse 4, It's true of all of them. This has only happened to you, to the Israelites, and to no one else on the earth. So keep that in mind, this unique privilege they have of the way the law was given to them. God spoke it. And then he goes to the worship. Translations will differ a little. Some will say the service. Some will say the temple service, some will say the service of God, and so on. And we even use the terms like that. We call this a worship service. But he's talking basically about how God gave them elaborate instructions about worshiping them. To the Israelites belonged the worship. You remember, if you go and read the book of Exodus, you cannot miss this. chapter after chapter after chapter he tells Moses how to build the tabernacle and then chapter after chapter after chapter he tells how the tabernacle was built he gave them very elaborate instructions about how they were to worship him it was all centered around the priesthood What could be more important than telling people how he wanted to be worshipped? And that's what he did. He did it only for the Israelites. This was their unique privilege. Now, just to illustrate how important this was, I'll remind you of a little story. You can read it later in Numbers 16 and 17. There was a man named Korah, and Korah was a rebel. And Korah has some friends, Dathan and Abiram mainly. And they grabbed 250, they convinced 250 leaders in Israel. And they come to Moses and Aaron and say, who do you guys think you are? You're not the only people that the Lord speaks to. You're not the only holy ones. And boy, they let him have it. And God was so upset, he was ready to destroy those people. And Moses did what he usually did, he fell on his face before the Lord. And he didn't destroy him right away, but after some events, Korah and his leaders, I want to read it to you because I want to make sure you understand this. Then Korah assembled all the congregation against them, that is against Moses and Aaron, at the entrance of the tent of meeting. In other words, they were able to convince all the people that they were right and Moses and Aaron was wrong, were wrong. God was so upset, he told Moses, separate yourself from these people because I'm going to destroy them. Again, Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and pleaded for the people. So finally what happened is God said, get away from these people. God wanted to destroy him, but Moses and Aaron interceded. He said, get away from these people. And then an earthquake swallowed up Korah, Dathan, Abiram, their families, and anybody else that was foolish enough to remain close to him. You would think that would be the end of the story. That's not the end of the story. The next day, all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron saying, you have killed the people of the Lord. They were pretty bold. And the Lord told Moses, get away from the midst of this congregation that I may consume them in a moment. Well, he did consume a bunch of them, almost 15,000 of them before Aaron rushed in. interceded for the people now the Lord wasn't finished he said I want to make it so this people will never again grumble about the place Aaron has in the priesthood and so he told Moses he said you get the you get the people the leader of each tribe you have them bring their rod and write their name on the rod and so they did so there were 12 of them one for each tribe and one was Aaron and he had his name there And he took all the rods and he took them into the tabernacle overnight. Because the Lord had said, the one who is mine, he's talking about the priesthood, his rod will bud. Well, the next morning Moses goes in. Not only had one rod budded, but it had produced ripe almonds. Whose rod was it? The rod of Aaron. That is why When we later talk about the Ark of the Covenant, you remember what was in the Ark? It was the stone tablets, a pot of manna, and the rod of Aaron that budded to ever remind them that the priesthood belonged to the family of Aaron. I give that illustration to say, God was serious about the instructions he gave about how to worship him. No man-made rules would substitute for God's instruction and so it is today. There's only one way to worship God and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no real worship outside of Christ. Now let me rush on to to the promises, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. Now you can probably tell the promises go very closely with the covenants. We talked about the covenants that God made with Abraham and so forth. Generally we would see this as the covenants being the broader and then the promises being the more specific things within the covenants. Many people believe that the promises refer specifically to the promises of the coming Messiah and I would have a hard time arguing with that and we could go through all those we know all through the Old Testament we read these promises even beginning way back in Genesis 3 of the coming of the Messiah but if you'd like to turn back to Ephesians 2 John read it for us a little while ago but in Ephesians 2 11 and 12 he brings together the covenants and the promises let me read it for you again Ephesians 2, 11 and 12. This is after the first 10 verses where he gives that great picture of how we were dead in our trespasses and sins, but God, because of his love for us, reached out and he saved us by grace through faith. Then verse 11. Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ. alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world." Now, you can see that because they were aliens from the covenants and the promise, they were without hope and without God. Great promises we have in the scripture but these promises he's talking about are unique to Israel we talk about the promises of the Messiah the Messiah was promised to whom to the Israelites to the Jewish people and they look forward to his coming and we're coming back to that and we'll say a lot more about that in a little bit so We've dealt with those specific things, and now I want to spend a little more time in verse 5. Let me read it again, verse 5. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ. Now that word Christ, that's the Greek word. The Hebrew is Messiah, but this is a Greek, so he's talking about the Messiah. Is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. Paul has purpose in what he's doing. He says first, they are Israelites. And then he says, to them belong those six specific things. It's like he's ascending a staircase. He's moving up. He's moving toward a climax. And here I say he's setting the stage. To them belong the patriarchs. Now, I don't know what comes to your mind when you think of patriarchs. I don't think this is a good translation in the ESV, and let me tell you why. There is a word, patriarch, we get our English word from the Greek word, it means ruling fathers, and it's used four times in the New Testament. This isn't it. This is simply the word fathers. Translated that way, I know it is in the King James and New King James, I'm not sure about other translations, but I'm gonna use it, because it's what he literally says. to the Israelites belong the fathers. Now the question is, who are the fathers? Who is Paul talking about when he talks about the fathers? One translation puts it like this, if I can find it. I can't find it. But the idea is these famous fathers of the Jews, When we think about them, and same with the word patriarchs, we think, first of all, or I think of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Over and over, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, we read that phrase, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And certainly the Israelites would always go back Think about these particular fathers Abraham was a father of the Hebrew nation And we saw last week how the the covenant that God made with Abraham he renewed it with his son Isaac He renewed that with Isaac's son Jacob We don't read a lot about Isaac but we certainly do about Jacob. And we talked about that last week, so I'm not gonna go back over that today. Now, some would say we shouldn't limit it, the fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And I think there's good reasons for that. Some would say, well, what about Joseph? Wasn't he one of the fathers? After all, about a fourth of Genesis is devoted to the life of Joseph. What about Moses, the great lawgiver? What about David? The great king. My opinion, I would be stronger on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and even David, than I would Joseph and Moses. And the reason is, is because of the context. Where is he going? Verse five, to them belong the fathers, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, the Messiah. Of what tribe was the Messiah? Speak up, I can't hear you. You gotta be loud. Judah, thank you, Rhonda's loud. Of the tribe of Judah. Well, certainly that was true of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because Judah was the son of Jacob. What about Joseph? No, he wasn't in that line, he was the brother of Judah. What about Moses? No, he was a tribe of Levi. Now David, whom Paul has already mentioned, and we'll get to this later, he's already mentioned David back in chapter 1. David was of that lineage, and Matthew and Mark go to great lengths to point that out. So, you can accept that or not, but certainly the fathers were these spiritual giants to whom the Israelites looked back. Why do you think Paul points to the fathers? Now he said they are Israelites, they have these six great privileges, and to them belong the fathers. I think it's because the fathers, they had great intimate relationship with God. We see that, like with Abraham, about how, in Genesis, we read again and again, we've read some of them lately, how God would come and speak to Abraham and giving the covenants and the great promises. Don't see so much about Isaac, but we see it in Jacob. You remember, I mentioned it a couple weeks ago, how Jacob was a con artist in his early years. He conned his brother out of the birthright and then the blessing, And then he fled for his life because he knew Esau was going to try to kill him. Finally, he comes back and he's waiting to meet Esau. And that night is when we read in Genesis 32 about how Jacob wrestled all night with the angel. And his life was never the same after that. These fathers had great intimate experiences with God. And I think that is what Paul is getting at. Of course, underneath, it's like Paul is saying, but you, most of you Jews, you don't have that. Because you're not a part of God's great purpose that we're going to start talking about in verse 6. Now, now we come to the climax, the Christ. He's been building toward this all through verses four and five, and now he comes to it. Let me read all of verse five. To them belong the fathers, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. So, after he talks to them about the fathers, then he challenges them with the truth That they've always believed that the Messiah would come through their lineage. Did the Jews believe that the Messiah would be a Jew? Yeah! For not to believe that was a non-believer! I mean, that's what the Jews were banking on. As if the Messiah, one of their own, would come and make all things right. Now remember, Paul is talking about the great privilege of the Israelites. This one tops them all. Of all these other things, the Messiah is one of yours. This is your brother, in a sense, in the same way that Paul was their brother according to the flesh. And he uses that term here. Notice, according to the flesh, the Messiah comes through your race. He is one of you. a direct descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through the line of David. Now, at this point, there is great conflict. Paul doesn't have to spell it out and say, this Messiah is Jesus of Nazareth and you're missing him. They know well where Paul is coming from. They can read between the lines. They know exactly what Paul is saying. What privilege that the Messiah would be one of their own, but there's a major problem. Paul is saying Jesus is that Messiah, and you Jews have rejected Him. Now again, there were some Jews who turned to Jesus as Messiah, who embraced Him, but the overwhelming majority did not. The nation as a whole rejected Jesus. you'd like to turn to John chapter 1 I'll probably quote this verse again I may have already mentioned it but John chapter 1 I want to read to you verses 10 through 12 and you know something this is a The chapter that starts out in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God and then down in verse 14 He's going to say the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. He's obviously talking about Jesus now go back to verse 10 He speaking of Jesus he was in the world and and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Now let's think about that for just a minute. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. Now this is general. He was in the world, he was among all peoples. The world was made through him. You go back up to John 1, 3 and it says that. And yet the world did not know him. They did not recognize him for who he was. Now, then he comes to verse 11, he's not done. He came to his own. I grew up on the King James. He came to his own and his own received him not. The word own is used twice in this verse. The first time, it's neuter. It's not talking about people. One translation says, he came to his own land and his people did not receive him. That's probably pretty good. He came to all Jewishness, his land, all these things, the culture among the people, these people who had all the privileges. He came into that And his own people did not receive him. Doesn't say this time did not know him. It's an advance on that. They did not receive him. Now, they couldn't give as an excuse. We didn't know any better. Paul is driving that home here in Romans 9 verses 4 and 5, which is an excellent commentary on John 111. They had all the advantages of being Israelites. If anyone in the world should have received Jesus as Messiah, it was Paul's fellow Jews. So, on the one hand, while verses 4 and 5 is a list of privileges, there's a sense in which it is also an indictment against the Jews. He's come now to the real issue. In spite of all these privileges, the Jewish people looked at Jesus of Nazareth and they did not receive Him as their Messiah. Now, you'll notice that is not the end of verse 5. Let me read it all again. To them belong the fathers, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, the Messiah, who is God over all, blessed forever, Amen Christ is described as being God over all and being blessed forever Now there are people some Bible scholars who do not like that translation Now, I have to acknowledge that translations will differ. The King James and the New American Standard read like this, who is over all, God bless forever, amen. They change the position of the word God, but it comes out about the same place. Who, that is Christ, is over all, God bless forever, amen. The New Living Translation isn't real literal, but let me read you the whole verse. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned, and he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise. Amen. That's what the overwhelming majority of translations will say something along that line. Let me read you a couple of others. The Good News reads like this. They are descended from the famous Hebrew ancestors, and Christ, as a human being, belongs to their race. May God, who rules over all, be praised forever. Amen. Or the contemporary English version. They have those famous ancestors who were also the ancestors of the Christ. Pray that God who rules over all will be praised forever. Amen. Do you see the difference in those last two translations? They break off after According to the flesh is the Christ and then they make the rest of the verse a benediction to God the Father I pray that God who rules over all will be praised forever. May God who rules over all be praised forever. There is a tremendous difference, because if it's like the ESV and the King James and New King James and New American Standard read, all of this, who is God over all, blessed forever, refers to the Messiah, to Christ, to Jesus. But a lot of people won't allow that. And part of the reason is some of them will say, well, this idea that Jesus is really God doesn't come to a couple hundred years later, garbage. The real reason that some give, they would say, Paul does not directly say that Jesus is God. Now, I want us to think about that a little bit. We must understand that for a Jew to think of any man, including Jesus, as God, It was just out of this world. How could you do that? They grew up on Deuteronomy 6, 4. They said it every day. The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You read the passages out of Isaiah where it says, there is no other, over and over and over. There is one God, there is no other. The Jewish people grew up on this, and now for a man in the flesh to claim to be God? How could a Jew ever believe that? And yet we find it in the New Testament. We sang it this morning. The angel came and said that there would be a son, and his name will be called Emmanuel, which means what? God with us. We could read it again in John 1, 1, 2. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. You say, well, that's not Paul. Well, let's turn over to Titus chapter 2. We could read others, but let me just read for you Titus chapter 2. Many of us are familiar with this passage, beginning in verse 11, Titus 2, 11. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He calls Him our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. But even if Paul never anywhere else said that Jesus is God, that wouldn't prevent him from saying it here. We gotta take the text for what it says and not bring our own opinions to the Word. Now, the clearest reason that we can be confident that these words, God over all, bless forever, amen, refers to the Messiah, to the Christ, to the Lord Jesus, is this. It's in the context. I want you to turn back to Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one. And I'm just gonna start right at the start of the letter, and I want you to listen carefully. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle. set apart for the gospel of God which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son who was descended from David according to the flesh now get that in your mind descended from David according to the flesh he was of the line of David as a human being Read it in Matthew 1, Luke 3. Now he goes on, verse 4. Jesus Christ our Lord you see what he does he talks about Jesus first from the human side Descended from David, but then he goes to the divine side declared to be the Son of God in in power according to the spirit of holiness and it was declared by his resurrection from the dead. So you get Jesus as human but also as divine. Now when you come to 9 verses 4 and 5, why should there be any difference? He's saying the same thing. Let me read it again. To them belong the fathers, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ. Humanly speaking, Jesus, the Christ, came through the Jewish people. He was a Jew. He was a real man, according to the flesh. But then, on the other side, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. He wasn't just a human being. He is God! Now we know that. Paul is clearly teaching that. And this is his greatest indictment. Yes, the Israelites had all these great privileges. But nothing compared to the greatest privilege of all. Not only did the Messiah come through their race, but the Messiah is God. They're not only rejecting Jesus when they're doing so, they're rejecting God. Because remember what Jesus said? He says, if you don't honor the Son, you don't honor the Father. John 5, 23. Let there be no question. Jesus, the Christ, is God over all, and he is blessed forever. One other thing, kind of a tidbit. I don't know, a hundred years or so ago, a major theologian did a study of this, and it's very convincing. He says, this is not a benediction to the Father. When you study the benedictions in the Old and New Testament, benedictions to God the Father, he said the word order is always blessed Then God for instance we know Ephesians 1 3 blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ? Blessed be God here. What do we have God blessed the word order is exact opposite there is no reason for Him to suddenly break off from talking about Christ and give a benediction to the Father now if you go back to chapter 1 Some people have said well, it's parallel to chapter 1 let me just read for you 124 and 25 therefore God gave them up and the lust of their hearts to impurity to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and Worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator of Who is blessed forever. Amen. See those words? Who is blessed forever. Amen. Exactly like chapter 9. So people will say, well, see? It's to the Father. Well, here it is, obviously. He says, the Creator. Who is blessed forever. He's not talking about God the Father in the context of chapter 9. He's talking about the Messiah. And He says, Who is God over all, blessed forever. It's clear He is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, so in these last two weeks we have elaborated on the great spiritual privileges that the Israelites had. That is what makes it all the more tragic that they were not embracing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now as we go through the rest of chapter 9, I want you to keep this in the forefront of your mind. But let's not leave the passage 2,000 years ago. We talked about this last week. Do we, though we are not Jews, do we have great spiritual privileges? And did we do? Do we know anything about Jesus, the Messiah? Yes, we do. We know that He is God. We know that He was sent by the Father to rescue us from our sins. We know that He lived a sinless life, that He went to the cross to be the propitiation for our sins, taking the wrath of the Father on Himself that we might go free. We know all this. Now, think with me for just a moment. Romans chapter 2. You might want to turn there. Romans chapter 2. We've been through this, but I want to remind you. In chapter 1, he's talking primarily about the pagans. And then he gets to chapter 2, and he changes his tune. He's going to shift to the Jews. Romans 2 1 therefore you have no excuse old man every one of you who judges For in passing judgment or another you condemn yourself because you the judge practice the very same things We know that the judgment God rightly falls on those who practice such things do you suppose oh man you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself that you will escape the judgment of God now verse 4 or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance Do you presume, do you assume and act on something that is not true? Do you presume on the riches of His kindness? Now, the Israelites, that's exactly what they were doing. Their view was something like this. We are Israelites. We are God's people. God blesses us. God has poured out his goodness and kindness on us. And even when we've messed up, God has been a God of forbearance and patience with us. We must be doing well because look how God blesses us. That's what it means to presume on his kindness. That's what they were doing. Listen to what he says to him in verse five. But because of your hard and impenitent heart, you were storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. So I want to say to us here this morning, great spiritual privileges. But may we never presume upon the kindness and forbearance and patience of God. When God is kind to you and gracious to you and blesses you, He's not giving you a pat on the back and saying, oh, you're doing so fine. His kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. Unless you say, well, I've already repented. This is not a past thing for those of us who are in Christ. This is life. Repent and believe the gospel again and again and again. God's kindness is meant to lead us to repentance. Because when God is gracious to me and so kind to me, Surely I must say, Why, Lord, you see my heart? You see all the ugliness in me, and yet you pour out your grace on me. Surely, Lord, it's to lead me to repentance, that I might humble myself before you and cry out to you, my God." Let's pray. Father, we know there are people in this world, they read the record of your son, Jesus, and they cannot, they will not, embrace the truth that he is God over all, blessed forever. And were it not for your grace in our lives, we'd be in the same place. Thank you for opening our minds and hearts to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray this morning for people we know. Maybe there are Jews among them, certainly many Gentiles. But people who at this point are cut off from the Christ, the only Savior. Oh God, give us the kind of burden that Paul had. And many of us can testify that there was a time When we were hard and impenitent, we would not yield to you as Lord. Thank you that you were patient with us and worked on us, changed us from the inside out that we might receive the truth. Now I'll just give you a little time to meditate on these truths right now. Father, we want to thank you this morning for the Apostle Paul. Thank you that by your Holy Spirit, you gave him the guidance he needed to record these great truths that bless us so richly. Thank you. What we've heard, what we're learning, may we not take it lightly. Lord, you tell us that the more you give, the more responsible we are, but we also understand that You have privileged us greatly with these truths. Use them to transform us day by day for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.