Well, our scripture reading this evening comes from Romans again. Used to when I stand up here, I guess, at this point. Romans chapter three. We're gonna look at verses nine through 20. It's right in the middle of a few things, so I think I'm gonna start to begin reading at chapter three, verse one, but the sermon will focus on chapter three, verses nine through 20. Let's give attention then to God's holy word. 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. But if some were unfaithful, does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? by no means. Let God be true, though everyone were a liar, as it is written, that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged. But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say, that God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? I speak in a human way by no means, for then how could God judge the world? But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come? As some people slanderously charge us with saying, their condemnation is just. What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin. As it is written, none is righteous, no, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Well, this evening we continue our series in Romans 1 through 3, and we come to the concluding passage in what we could call the negative portion of these chapters. That is, the portion of Romans 1 through 3 that seeks to prove where God's righteousness is not seen and how one is not justified. But of course, to make sense of this conclusion, we need to recall a little bit about what's come before. We rewind a touch here. In Romans 1, 18 through 32, Paul has described a situation in which the wrath of God is already visible now in the lives of some people, those whom God has already handed over to unrighteousness in the way that he goes on to elaborate there. Then in Romans 2, Paul considered two sets of claims, two sets of claims of people that think they are distinct and different from those in Romans 1. And they think they're distinct and different because of what is visible in their lives as distinct from the wrath visible in other people's lives. The one man claims particularly the patience of God, quite evident in his own life. The other claims the written law as his possession and circumcision, that the law and circumcision distinguish him as a Jew. Then Paul went on to show that none of those things actually make an ultimate difference in their lives before God himself. Then in Romans 3, 1-8, Paul described the true advantage of the Jew, which is not something visible at all, but something invisible within the heart, namely repentance. Repentance like David's repentance in Psalm 51. Now in our passage tonight, Paul will bring this negative part of his argument full circle. Whereas Romans 2 helped prove what having the written law as your possession does not show, doesn't show God's favoritism towards you in a saving way. Here in our passage, Paul will now show what the written law does show or display for us, what knowledge it does provide. And that knowledge is this. that the human predicament is a lot worse than people often think. That the problem for mankind is not just that we sin, the problem is that apart from Christ, we are in bondage to the power of sin. And that this power is something that the law of God cannot itself overcome. What we'll explore tonight then is how the law shows that the power of sin is much greater than its power. the law itself testifies to how the power of sin is greater than the power of the law itself. In other words, that the law cannot provide a remedy or a solution or a superior power that would rescue us from sin. You see, the law of God did many things for God's people in the Old Testament. It gave them a clear written statement of God's will. unlike any other in the world. That they would not have to wonder what they were called upon to do. What does God want from me in my life? And the law also gave them numerous practices such as circumcision and a strict dietary code and a whole array of holiness practices to separate them off from the Gentiles. Here would be a special people distinct from all the others with a clear and detailed description of exactly what to do. And it's a blessing. It truly is a blessing. like no other nation had ever had. If there were ever going to be a utopia, this would be it. Separate and distinct, people walled off from others by all these different various practices, given this clear, detailed, written description of exactly what God wants us to do. And as we'll see tonight in the end, what the law still finds in those who possess it, the condition that it describes among the people who had it, is abundant evidence of sin. Abundant evidence of sin. As many benefits as the law provides, It can still do nothing effective to overcome and reverse. sin's corrupting and enslaving power. And this shows, Paul says, how desperate the human condition really is underneath sin's dominion. Our problem is not just that we sin various times, that's a problem, but our problem is that apart from Christ, we're in bondage to sin. Sin corrupts us through and through, inwardly and outwardly. And in a situation like that, a solution truly cannot come through the law, must come through something entirely different. The next passage later in Romans 3 shows, of course, where that solution comes from at great length. It comes through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, as verse 24 says, and we'll get to look at that at more length later, Lord willing. Here, however, we have to see what leads to that as well. The law gives knowledge of sin's power. Now as we turn and look at our passage in more detail here, let me just say that there are quite a few interpretive problems that arise here. And I usually try to steer by those and not go into them, but some of them come up right directly in our English translations in this case. So we're gonna need to be a little bit patient. I know that that sounds scary coming from me in particular, but really I'll try to be as efficient as we can. You can be the judge. But the situation in the passage here, the fact that it contains these difficulties, the fact that there are quite a lot of questions that arise, and we'll just look at a couple of them that we have to look at. I want us to just reflect on that for a second, though, and think about this, brothers and sisters, because it's important to remember that reading Scripture really does require a lot of effort and a lot of perseverance. Because God has not chosen to give us a word, a Bible, in which every part is easy and obvious. This is part of what makes reading the Bible a spiritual discipline. The task before us, put here before us by God to read scripture, disciplines us. It chastens us. Scripture resists easy explanation sometimes, and so we have to work at it. Sometimes this can be very counterintuitive to us, especially in our age of convenience. Can't there just be a scripture app that packages it all up very neatly, makes it all simple? Well, we can use a lot of different things that do help, thank the Lord, for all of the helps that we have, but we can't ever replace scripture itself. God wants us to wrestle with his word at times, doesn't he? God wants us to develop that perseverance that we need as we come across things and say, wow, that's difficult, that's tough, that's hard to understand. I've been in Proverbs recently with Pastor Hollister. I remember that Lady Folly is the one who says, everything's easy, right? I've prepared everything ahead of time. This will be nice and simple. It will be all pleasure. Come, enjoy. No work here, no difficulty, right? Lady Wisdom says what? Get wisdom. Work at it. find it, strain after it, listen, persevere. That's what we often do here in God's Word. Well, again, turning to our passage, we begin, obviously, in verse 9, where your English translation probably says something like this. What, then, are we better off? And I hate to tell you, but the first set of problems comes right there. The first challenge has been who the word we refers to. Are we better off? Some translations, like the one I read from, the ESV, insert the word Jews here. It doesn't appear in the original, but they'll read, are we Jews better off? And that interpretation has been very common. But there are a couple problems with it, and given what the ESV says, I felt I needed to address it at least a bit. One of the problems is that the other most recent occurrences of the word we, where you look in the context and you say, well, who's we, right? The other recent occurrences refer to Paul himself, like in verse 8. Paul talks in verse 8 about how we are blasphemed and how some say that we say, let us do evil that good may come. Each of those uses of we or us in verse 8 specifically refer to Paul, maybe with some other Christians along with him. And so I'm going to take the we in verse 9 also to refer to Paul, not to Jews in general. Now, the second problem that comes up right there at the beginning of verse 9 is a bit more important, perhaps. It's what does the word translated here, better off, actually mean in the Greek. Scholars debate whether it means better off, or worse off, or protecting ourselves. You can see how those are pretty different. Two of them are actually the opposite of each other. For those of you who have studied Greek, the issue here has to do with what voice the verb is. By form, the verb is either middle or passive, but many people suggest that while it's middle in form, it's actually active in meaning. And sometimes Greek verbs can do that. But again, an example of why studying God's word takes work, and if you want to study it in greatest detail and with the most clarity, you need to study it in the original language. It's part of, of course, why we have seminaries and the like. Now again, most English translations say, are we better off? But this is probably not correct. For one thing, on most readings, It tends to put verse nine into tension with what Paul said earlier, and that's why we read that again. Remember that back in verses one and two, Paul asked, what is the advantage of the Jew? And he answers, much in every way. So if verse 9 then says, are we Jews any better off, as most people take it to be saying, and then he says, not at all, doesn't seem to fit very carefully. It seems like quite a lot of tension or contradiction. But there's another reason and a more decisive reason why the translation better off is really not better off. I just made that up just now for Dr. Strange's sake. And the reason is that the Greek word there in verse nine never has the meaning better off when it's in this form. In other words, just for again, for those of you with Greek, it's never middle with an active meaning, just isn't ever attested anywhere else. So it's not really a good, very good argument. to say that this is what it means here. Instead, in my view, the most likely translation is to say, are we protecting ourselves? Are we protecting ourselves? And the case for this, I think, is a little bit better than are we worse off, but we won't get into that. Now, if we take it this way, are we protecting ourselves, then the question in verse 9 continues Paul's efforts to defend his reputation just like he was doing in the prior verses, verses 7 and 8. In verses 7 and 8, Paul noted some accusations that people have made against him. And he shows how those accusations are clearly wrong, given his view that the actual advantage of the Jew is repentance, just like David's repentance in Psalm 51. And in verse 9 then, Paul seems to be asking another question. He's saying, the question goes like this. Are we saying all of this about David just to protect ourselves? In other words, does Paul really believe that Jewish advantage is repentance? Or is he kind of just saying that right now to shield off some of his critics? We could say it this way. Is he just saying it in order to cover his backside? Taking the question that way also helps us understand his answer a bit better, I think. His answer is, not at all, for I have charged before that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin. Now, in the previous sermons in this series, we've seen that Paul has not actually charged all with being under sin previously in this letter. The prior argument doesn't read in quite that way. In fact, he's actually noted quite a few people in the prior argument especially in Romans 2, who seem to be righteous as far as human eyes can tell, and he's emphasized how God's righteous judgment in its entirety is hidden from our eyes right now and only to be revealed in the future. So when he says we've charged before, it doesn't seem to refer to what he's said before in this letter, but what he's said before generally in his ministry. In other words, Paul is insisting that what he's saying here in Romans about Jewish advantage and David and David's repentance is consistent with what he's already on record as having said before in his ministry. This is my message. I'm not being inconsistent, as many people often charged Paul with being. Read Galatians. My message here and before has always been, Greek perfect tense, again, for those of you keeping track at home. My message has always been, even before, that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin. Taken together, then, verse four, sorry, verse nine unfolds something like this. What then? Are we just protecting ourselves by saying this about David's sin? Not at all, for we have always charged that both Jews and Greeks are under sin, even before. Now all of this hopefully helps show a bit about how our passage connects to what comes previously But what we really need to focus on here comes in that last phrase, under sin. That, brothers and sisters, is the theme of the whole passage. That phrase is what the whole passage revolves around. What we need to appreciate about that phrase is that for Paul, being under something in the way he describes here means being under its dominion, being under its influence, its sway, or its power. You can see that somewhere like in Romans 6, 14, where Paul says that Christians are not under law but under grace, and so do not stand underneath sin's dominion. But similarly here, and focusing on verse 9 of our passage, Paul's introducing a very important concept, namely that apart from Christ, all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin. They're not just people who sin sometimes, they're actually captive to sin. They're held in bondage to it, stuck in it without remedy. The proof that Paul presents for that claim, all are under sin, how do you know? The proof comes in what follows in verses 10 through 18, where Paul cites a whole host of passages from the Old Testament. There we see in verses 10 through 18 that the law itself testifies about the condition of those who possess the law. Verse 19 spells out that's exactly what Paul's doing here. What difference does having the written law make? Well, let's see what the law says about those who have it. What does the law find when it looks out in its arena where the people who possess it in its written form? Does it find a noticeable and important improvement in the human condition? There may be some minor differences here or there, I suppose. But is there any ultimate difference of kind, a difference of any saving significance? No, indeed, because we can see what the law says when it describes those within its own realm of influence. 1st Paul gives an extended description from Psalm 14 of the good that not even one person in the law does in the way that's necessary to deserve God's blessing. And so verse 10 says, there's no one righteous, no, not one. No one understands, no one seeks for God. Then in the absence of even one who understands and does what's right, he says, all have turned aside, verse 12. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Now notice that in verses 10 through 12 together, The law expressly denies that the conditions earlier described in chapter two for deserving eternal life, the law denies that anybody has met them. Remember that in chapter two, verses six through 10, Paul describes exactly what would be necessary to receive blessing according to works. Blessing that you deserve. Those conditions, chapter 2, 7 and 10 in particular, are that a person seek only what is right, not being self-seeking at all, and that a person do only what is good, not doing evil at all. Well, has anybody in the Old Testament done this? Has even one person achieved such a thing through the help of the law? No. The law itself states it, Psalm 14. And in verses 13 through 18, Paul surveys what the law does find among those who have it. There's not one who does the good or seeks the good consistently. What is there? Well, there's a mass of people whose throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin and misery. In the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. You may notice in verses 13 through 18 that we have a catalog of various body parts. and what people are doing with them. In fact, that catalog scans across the human person from the top to the bottom and back again. Starts at the top with the throat, tongue, lips, and mouth. It goes to the bottom with the feet and then it returns back up to the top with the eyes. In an ancient Greek, Greek literary convention. This is a way of saying that they are corrupt all the way through, from top to bottom and everything in between, the whole body. Of course, verse 11 also described these people's inward state, what they were doing with their minds, what they were doing with their hearts. The net effect of all these verses, then, is to find evidence of sin in every single part of man, even for the people who had the law, even for people who had the law for centuries, separated out in their own nation, from top to bottom, inwardly and outwardly. Theologically, we call this the doctrine of total depravity, and you may know that phrase. That doctrine teaches that no single part of the human constitution remains unaffected by sin. But every part of who we are, inwardly and outwardly, is corrupted by sin, is influenced, affected by sin. There's no exception here. There's no inward core of ourselves that we can look to. If you really peer into our deepest motives, we're good. Really? No. The law says there's not one who seeks in the way that they ought to. There's not one who understands in the way that they ought to. Total corruption. Nothing in ourselves remains unaffected by sin. This provides clear evidence, all these verses together, of how we're stuck in sin, we're enslaved to it. If not one person under the law has done all that is necessary for blessing, and if not one of those having the law is unaffected by sin through and through, then what has the law really done? Not provided a solution, but it has provided a clearer description of the problem. That's what verses 19 to 20 go on to say. Now we know that what the law says is it says to those under the law, so that every mouth is stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. In other words, if having the good holy law of God does not itself produce the conditions necessary for blessing, the conditions necessary for eternal life, and it doesn't produce it in even one person over the course of centuries, then surely every other claim that human beings would wish to make, to boast about anything, is cut off, is silenced. Part of the point here for Paul is, look back to Romans 1. They're the really gross people, right? The people in whom we can already see God's wrath displayed. They do such horrendous things. We're over here with the law. Really better off, right? Our throats are just an open grave. Poison under our lips. feet quick to rush into evil. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Now what? Paul says, if the good and gracious law of God, if having a clear description of exactly what you should do doesn't solve the problem even after centuries, then the problem is deeper than you might think. It's not that you don't know what to do, it's that you can't do it apart from Christ. Because you are enslaved to sin if you are not in Christ. Not a knowledge problem. People like to say that today, that people just don't have enough education. If they had enough education, if we just educate people on what to do, then our society would be better. Now, of course, I'm pro-education, that's good, I actually teach, I should be pro-education. But let's not be silly here. Education, knowing something, doesn't solve our problem. That's what Paul says here. Mere knowledge doesn't get it done because we're stuck. with sin affecting every part of who we are, and we can't get out of it. God can tell us all day long what to do, but if we don't have Christ and the Holy Spirit, we won't do it. Because we can't do it. Because Adam has fallen, and we're in him, and our beings are now fallen and corrupted. And so if the law of God of all things is not the solution, not something that we can do and then boast in doing, then every other claim to pride and boasting is cut off at the knees as well. That's what verse 19 says. Anything else you might wish to boast in, anything else that people at your school or at your work want to boast in, anything that people of other religions or in other countries might like to boast in, futile. Anything that we can point to in ourselves apart from Christ. Every single boast outside of Christ is always a boast about ourselves. about who we are or what we have or what we've done that makes us better. Every single boast outside of Christ is about that. You can read any religion you want. And other than the Christian gospel, they are all about that in some way or another. Islam, do the five pillars. You're such a righteous person. Right? Better than most, better than lots. I did all five pillars. Or maybe even better, if I die in the middle of Jihad, then I've done something really good that secures my blessing. Buddhism, if you just think the right way, more or less, it's what it boils down to. Just be detached from the outward world and think the right way. But we can't think the right way. We don't think the right way. Some way or another, every boast outside of Christ is a boast in what I am or what I have or what I do that makes it fitting that God should bless me. It makes sense that God would bless me. That's what our flesh wants to say. This passage shows that the law holds up an accurate mirror to us, and it tells us the truth about our actual condition. how false every boast is outside of Christ. Brothers and sisters, the problems are many with trying to boast outside of Christ. One of the problems is that, left to ourselves, we like to look at ourselves with a very, very generous eye. We overlook everything that we do wrong. We don't overlook what other people do wrong, but we overlook what we do wrong, and we exaggerate everything that we think we do well. Left to ourselves, we also like to invent our own standard, make up our own grading process. And of course, it's always a very dumbed-down standard, isn't it? I'm really better than most people. So, is that what God said to do? Go out and be better than most people, and then you'll be fine. I'll let you into heaven. Is that what Romans 2 says? Seek and do the good, period. No bad, no self-seeking. I'm sure that nice people will get God's blessing, people with good intentions, people who try hard, people who can hold down a job, people who are good citizens, aren't criminals, People who are the ones that aren't the real problem in society, like some people are. But, you know, like we are, like we're trying to help at least. I'm sure that people like that, meaning what? People like me, will be fine. So we've defined our own standard. People who go to church, people who go to a reformed church, people who are successful in life, whatever. But the law doesn't let us get away with that. The law of God describes the true standard of God's evaluation. And then it points out in us if and when we don't keep it. And so it says to all of these other false standards, no, no, no, no, and definitely no. And now we're stuck. Without Christ, at least, we're stuck. You want blessing apart from grace? Do you want a blessing that you deserve and that you earned? Okay, then seek what's good every single time. And do what's good every single time. Do that and you'll live. Oh no, right? Law is a mirror. tell us to look into it carefully. And I dare say that most of us, especially the older we get, feel a little discouraged when we look in the mirror too closely. You know, I think of myself as thinner than that, as having nicer skin than that and a little bit more hair. The law does this for us about our true moral condition, not just, of course, outward things like appearance. Tells us God's actual, true, perfect will for humankind. And it says don't, it's not just don't murder, don't be angry. And it's not just don't commit adultery physically, but don't lust. Not just don't steal, but also don't covet. And beyond that, worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve. Honor His name, keep His day holy, respect your parents, and also love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. How are we doing here? Is this going well? Now where's our boasting, right? That's Paul's point. Centuries of time with the law, centuries. And what does the law find in the people who possess it? Sin in every single part of who they are. The problem is bigger. The problem is that we're enslaved to sin without Christ. Law here is showing, Paul is showing us what the law's true benefit is. The law will not ever purify us so that we can be justified before God. Verse 20 says that as much. All flesh, Jew or Greek, will not be justified through the works of the law. What the law does for humanity will never be enough to earn the verdict Righteous. The law is like the best athletic trainer ever, right? Come on, we'll do this, we'll do that, we'll get in shape. God gave Israel extra laws, ceremonial laws that we don't even have to follow anymore. To discipline them. To separate them from all the evil people around. And what happens? Well, the evil's in here, isn't it? Not just out there. the law actually provides them is clear knowledge of the power of sin and how impossible that power is for us to overcome ourselves. Cataloging the sin of those who had the law, the Old Testament period in particular, the law makes this very plain. It's not just that we sin sometimes. It's that apart from Christ, we're under sin's power. We are sin addicts. We sin perpetually. We sin habitually. We sin in every single part of our being. Apart from Christ, we have an unsolvable sin problem. The law comes in and it says, see, look at the mirror. Now you know how bad the prognosis is. Law describes God's moral standard in detailed written form. We look and say, what help did that do for Israel? Did it produce an improvement in the human race? A better race of people after centuries? Are we making progress? No, we're not. Not one righteous person, not one. So the conclusion given up front in verse nine, Jews and Greeks are all under the power of sin. Or verse 20, here's what the law provides, knowledge of sin, particularly knowledge of sin's power. The law does us a great service in that. You have a very bad, almost incurable disease, you want to know, need to know, because there's only one solution. Of course, it is in Christ. The solution for people who are enslaved to sin is not a clearer description of what they should be doing. That's what the law provides, right? A clearer, in Israel's case, written description of exactly what they should do. But the solution for people who are enslaved to sin isn't that. Because people who are under sin's dominion aren't able to do what they should be doing, even if they know exactly what that is. People enslaved to sin need to be redeemed, saved, rescued by somebody else. They can't do it themselves. That's what's so clear here. You and I can't do it ourselves. The law helps make clear that there are two and only two ways to receive blessing from God in the world. You can get it on the basis of what you've done, if what you've done is perfect, or you can get it in complete contrast to what you've done if you get it by grace, a gift. something that you not only don't deserve, but you deserve the opposite of it. What you deserve is punishment. What we all deserve is hell. I don't want what I deserve. That's not gonna help me. So we remind ourselves again of this fact tonight, brothers and sisters, we remind ourselves of the absolute separation between grace and deserving something. grace and works, but life through the law, doomed to fail. Remind ourselves to stop saying even subtler things than that, perhaps. Stop saying to the Lord that we will improve and we'll do better, and then we'll come to him for his blessing. We won't ever come, because it won't ever work. if you're out there on your own trying to say, well, I'll do these things first. I'll get my house in order and then I'll come, and then it'll be right that I come, right? Because it'll be okay. It'll be okay to bless me because I've done some things, right? No, not right. Unless it's gonna be perfect, and it's already not perfect, right? And this passage teaches us that it will never be perfect on our own. as we're stuck and enslaved in sin on our own. Sin itself is just too strong for somebody apart from Christ. We always have to come to God, not because of who we are or what we've done, but despite who we are and what we've done. come acknowledging that we simply do not deserve blessing. We deserve the opposite of blessing. But we come knowing that our God is also a God of grace, a God who loves to pardon and to bless those who humble themselves before him in faith and repentance. Why repentance? But what else do we have? What else do we have to offer? We don't have anything to offer by faith because we have to receive and rest in Christ alone for salvation, turning away from our sins to Christ, trusting in Him. We come to the Lord trusting in what Christ has done for us in our place, redeeming us out from under sin by paying the actual price that our sin deserves, right? Death, dying in our place. We owe an infinite debt, and Christ pays it. That's redemption. That's getting out of slavery, right? That's being freed from the power of sin and its condemnation. And in its place, in place of all of our sin, he gives us a true and a perfect righteousness simply as a gift, because there's no way else to receive it. We can't pay it back. We haven't done anything to deserve it. It's a gift, or it's nothing. Thanks be to God that it's a gift. It's the only way in all the world, brothers and sisters, that fallen sinners can receive blessing, to remember that. Every claim to the contrary is silenced by the law and by the cross of Christ. Let's give up every other pretense. Give up every other supposed boast and confidence. Give up other ways of trying to think highly of ourselves in and of ourselves. Give up comparisons, brothers and sisters. Comparisons to other people. Well, at least I'm not this. Well, at least I'm not that. Maybe, I don't know. But the law shows you what you are. bad enough. Let's not come before the Lord with those false thoughts. By ourselves, we're not okay. We're not. God's standards are ones that every single mere man in the history of the world has failed to fulfill. And we're included in that. So we come to God only by grace, the end of all boasting, the shutting of every mouth. We're sinful through and through because we're enslaved to sin apart from Christ our Redeemer. So we look to him. Speak at length, more length about that next time. But we look to Him, we come before the Lord always only for mercy, resting upon Him alone for the opposite of what we deserve. Everything else is an illusion. Everything else is self-deception. But in the Lord is redemption, full and free. Thanks be to Him, let's pray. Gracious God, we are thankful that you don't allow us to simply deceive ourselves, but that your word is so persistent to expose the truth, because we need that. But we thank you even more that your word is so persistent to proclaim your grace in the gospel of Jesus Christ, that he is the redemption for our sins. We rest in him tonight. Pray that all here would do so, we ask in Christ's name, amen.