← Back to sermon library

Five. Psalm 65. Beginning in verse one, to the chief musician, a psalm of David, a song. Praise is awaiting you, oh God, in Zion, and to you the vow shall be performed. Oh you who hear prayer, to you all flesh will come. Iniquities prevail against me. As for our transgressions, you will provide atonement for them. Blessed is the man you choose and cause to approach you that he may dwell in your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, of your holy temple. By awesome deeds and righteousness, you will answer us, oh God of our salvation. You who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth and of the far off seas, who established the mountains by his strength, being clothed with power. You who still the noise of the seas, the noise of the of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples. They also who dwell in the farthest parts are afraid of your signs. You make the outgoings of the morning and evening rejoice. You visit the earth and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide their grain, for so you have prepared it. You water its ridges abundantly. You settle its furrows. You make it soft with showers. You bless its growth. You crown the year with your goodness, and your paths drip with abundance. They drop on the pastures of the wilderness, and the little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed with flocks. The valleys also are covered with grain. They shout for joy. They also sing. Amen. Well, please turn in your Trinity Himnel to him number 173. Number 173. Will stand as we sing together. [Music] of children. [Music] The King of Isra [Music] [Music] And before the wee thass of praise to thee now I except [Music] their praisees we all good and gracious all glor to the redeemer king to the lips of children. Amen. Well, let us pray. Blessed God and holy father, we gather again on this Lord's day to worship you. We come before you now to acknowledge that you are the great and the living God, the true God, the one who has made this world, the one who governs the world, and the one who has redeemed his elect out of the world. We praise, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for so great a salvation. And we praise you that you've set apart this one day in seven where we can come in from out of the world and we can find our rest in you. And we would ask tonight that as we sing and as we pray and as we look to holy scripture all of this would redown to the praise and the glory of your great name. We would ask that you would bless us and help us to come in an acceptable manner and to do so with uh fear and reverence and with great joy for no there is no better place for the saint of Christ to be than in the presence of his God and in the presence of the people of God. The scripture says that you love the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. And the scripture says that this is the place where you dwell in a special way, your new covenant people, the the church of the living God. So our father, we thank you for all of this, all of your kindness and your provision and your goodness to us. And we would pray that tonight as we worship, it would be for your praise and honor. We ask that you would forgive us now for all of our sins. Whenever we consider your holiness and your righteousness and your majesty and we compare ourselves in light of that, we see our own sinfulness and our waywardness. So we would cry out with the the the men of old that you would indeed have mercy upon us, that you would forgive us of all of our sins and our unrighteousness. We have your law. We see your word. We have the Holy Spirit. and we are called to let our conduct be worthy of the gospel. To our shame, Lord, it's not always the case that that is the way it is. So, we confess our iniquities and our transgressions, pleading the blood and the merit of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for the promise that if we confess our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So, wash us and purify us even now. Plunge us into that fountain that is open for sin and uncleanness. We ask for any and all who have come here tonight that are outside of Christ. We pray that this would be the day of salvation that your Holy Spirit would come and take the word of God and apply it to the heart and bring the conviction of sin and point sinners to that sufficient one that Lord Jesus Christ through whose atonement sinners can have everlasting life. We would ask as well that you would look with favor upon each and every one in this church and the the various temporal needs. The Lord Jesus taught us to pray not only for forgiveness and for protection from the evil one, but he taught us to pray for our daily bread. And we have many people in our midst that have ongoing trials and difficulties. And we think in particular tonight of Josh and Nicole Slutwe. We ask God that you would be their portion and their lot. That you would draw nigh unto them and that you would bless and encourage their hearts and strengthen them and cause all things to work for good in this situation. We also pray for Mrs. Van Shake that she would continue to heal and recover, that you would watch over her and return her home and just continue to bless her and Mr. Van Shake as well. Be with Don Newfeld who's got this ongoing uh trouble with this blood clot. We know that you are sovereign over all things and the great physician. So, we just commit our brother into your gracious care, into your merciful hand, and we pray that you would watch over him. We also ask tonight, our father, that you would bless other churches in this community. We thank you that we're not alone here. We thank you that we're one small part of a larger hole. And we would pray for the churches in Chilowak that do preach the truth. We pray that you would prosper them and bless them and cause their churches to be places marked by peace and unity and love. We would pray God for their pulpits, that the gospel would go forth, that many souls would come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and that the people of God would be strengthened and would grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus. We pray that for the entirety of this nation, we see a nation much like the days when Isaiah prophesied where men call good evil and evil good. We see all sorts of sin and all sorts of crime. We think specifically of abortion and sodomy and euthanasia. We would pray, Lord God Almighty, that you would send forth your Holy Spirit upon the churches that you would revive us and cause us to be a prayerful people. Cause us to be a people of the scripture. Cause us to be faithful witnesses in this generation. And may we indeed hold forth that word of truth and point sinners to the Lord of glory. and we would pray that you would awaken those who are dead in their trespasses and sins. As Isaiah prayed elsewhere, he asked that you would ren the heavens and that you would come down. We know God ultimately healing does not lie in the the the hands of the hearts of the minds of the politicians. We know that ultimately healing and and blessing come through the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So we pray that word would run swiftly and be glorified. And we pray that a whole host of men, women, boys, and girls would turn from their useless idols to the true and the living God. That you would do this for your glory's sake. And also our father, we do pray for your hand upon the the civil magistrate, upon the governing authorities. Paul tells us to pray for them that we may lead peaceable and quiet lives. God, if their hearts are not changed and and bent toward allegiance to Christ, we pray that you would restrain them and keep them from further acts of lawlessness. And we do long for days when these sins that have been mentioned are criminalized instead of legalized. We know that righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. And we see the effects of such things. And our father, we do pray as well for nations outside of our own. We think specifically of those peoples that suffer for the cause of God and truth in other countries. We pray for Asia Bby and we know that her case is before the the high court in in Pakistan and we pray that she would receive favor. We pray that she would be released and free to go home to family. You would watch over her and protect her and and the many others like her. Lord God, we just pray for the people that are suffering in prisons. those who have been dispossessed from homes, those Lord God who have been abandoned by their own countries. We pray that they would realize their citizenship is in heaven, and that they would have great grace from on high to be able to deal and to to persevere in the midst of such trial. Our Father, we thank you again for this time to gather. We pray that you would continue with us now. Help us as we sing and pray and read and hear scripture that we would do so with a with a a focused heart and a focused mind that we would take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and that we would worship you in spirit and in truth as you are worthy. And we pray in Jesus holy name. Amen. Well, turn with me in your trinity himnels again to number 440. Hymn number 440. We'll stand as we sing together. [Music] Mercy immortal praise. [Music] shall be [Music] blessing and all [Music] receive our [Music] Sal can be removed. Thy death was made for all my people. Perfectly oy. That day my enterress [Music] [Music] of our sust. [Music] to my praise Lord [Music] with [Music] resto complete. [Music] Amen. We can turn in your Bibles to Ezekiel chapter 23 for our scripture reading this evening. Ezekiel 23. We picked up or we read the first half last week or the first 21 verses where the prophet under God introduces this uh story or this account rather of two sisters a hollah and a holy ba. Samaria is a hola and Jerusalem is a holy ba. So the northern kingdom represented by this sister Ah and the southern by a holy ba. Remember that Aha was judged and cut off for her wickedness against the living and the true God. The argument is that the younger sister or rather the southern kingdom should have learned the lesson and should have not engaged in the same sorts of activities. The prophet is prophesying at the time of the Babylonian captivity and so or just before and as well during. And so he is calling Judah to repentance, calling them to reflect upon the fact that they are in the mess they're in because of their own sin and unfaithfulness before God. So, beginning in verse 22 of Ezekiel 23, therefore, a holy ba, thus says the Lord God, behold, I will stir up your lovers against you, from whom you have alienated yourself, and I will bring them against you from every side, the Babylonians, all the Calaldanss, Peacah, Ka, all the Assyrians with them, all of them desirable young men, governors and rulers, captains, and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. And they shall come against you with chariots, wagons, and warh horses, with a horde of people. They shall array against you, buckler, shield, and helmet all around. I will delegate judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments. I will set my jealousy against you, and they shall deal furiously with you. They shall remove your nose and your ears, and your remnant shall fall by the sword. They shall take your sons and your daughters and and your remnant shall be devoured by fire. They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewelry. Thus I will make your you cease your lwdness in your harlotry brought from the land of Egypt so that you will not lift your eyes to them nor remember Egypt anymore. For thus says the Lord God, surely I will deliver you into the hand of those who you of those you hate, into the hand of those from whom you alienated yourself. They will deal hatefully with you, take away all you have worked for, and leave you naked and bare. The nakedness of your harlotry shall be uncovered, both your lwdness and your harlotry. I will do these things to you because you have gone as a harlot after the Gentiles because you have become defiled by their idols. You have walked in the way of your sister. Therefore, I will put her cup in your hand. Thus says the Lord God. You shall drink of your sister's cup, the deep and wide one. You shall be laughed to scorn and held in derision. It contains much. You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow. the cup of horror and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria. You shall drink and drain it. You shall break its shards and tear at your own breasts. For I have spoken, says the Lord God. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, therefore you shall bear the penalty of your lwdness and your harlotry." The Lord also said to me, "Son of man, will you judge Aha and Aholiba, then declare to them their abominations? For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and even sacrificed their sons whom they bore to me, passing them through the fire to devour them. Moreover, they have done this to me. They have defiled my sanctuary on the same day, and profaneed my Sabbaths. For after they had slain their children for their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it, and indeed thus they have done in the midst of my house. Furthermore, you sent for men to come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent, and there they came. And you washed yourself for them, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments. You sat on a stately couch with a table prepared before it on which you had set my incense and my oil. The sound of a carefree multitude was with her and seans were brought from the wilderness with men of the common sort who put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads. Then I said concerning her who had grown old in adulteries, will they commit harlotry with her now and she with them? Yet they went into her as men go into a woman who plays the harlot. Thus they went into Ahola and Ahab, the lwd women. But righteous men will judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands. For thus says the Lord God, "Bring up an assembly against them. Give them up to trouble and plunder. The assembly shall stone them with stones, and execute them with their swords. They shall slay their sons and their daughters and burn their houses with fire. Thus I will cause lwdness to cease from the land that all the women may be taught not to practice your lwdness. They shall repay you for your lwdness and you shall pay for your idolatrous sins. Then you shall know that I am the Lord God. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for the word of God. We thank you for this vivid description of spiritual adultery and and what it means to be idolatrous before the living and true God. As we consider these things, help us to see the new covenant application best described by John at the end of his epistle. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. God, help us not to think this is something confined to the northern or the southern kingdoms and the BC era, but may we see it as something very real and a real temptation for us and cause us to guard our hearts from such spiritual adultery. Help us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Help us to be devoted to you, Father, Son, and Spirit, and help us to pursue those things that are pleasing in your sight. God, apart from Christ, we can do none of this. So we pray that you would supply the Holy Spirit, that you would keep us by your power, by your might, by your sovereignty, and cause us, Lord God, to always live dependent upon your great and glorious grace. And we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, for our final hymn before we look in more detail at God's word, we can sing number 402. Number 40 will stand as we sing together. [Music] Praise the sound like I was lost. But now I see my heart and my fears. How precious that grace we dil. and I am [Music] [Music] already shall and mortal shall cease. My [Music] sh of joy and peace, thous. Thous. [Music] [Music] Well, please turn in your Bibles to Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1. This morning, we were reminded concerning the doctrine of justification in our time of studying the confession of faith. And then in the morning's sermon, we considered that principle herum. It's a Hebrew word that the Apostle Paul uses the Greek form of in this particular section that I want to look at this evening. So it kind of ties up two themes today. First, the importance of the gospel and doctrinal fidelity and allegiance to the truth of God Almighty. And then what will become of those who do distort or those who pervert the gospel? I do want to read beginning in verse one uh Galatians chapter 1. Paul, an apostle, not from men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead, and all the brethren who are with me, to the churches of Galatia. Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel which is not another. But there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed as we have said before. So now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondervant of Christ. But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace, to reveal his son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood. Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia and returned again to Damascus. Then after 3 years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and remained with him 15 days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother. Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed before God, I do not lie. Afterward, I went into the regions of Syria and Silosa, and I was unknown by faith to the churches of Judea, which were in Christ, but they were hearing only. He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy. And they glorified God in me. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our father in heaven, we thank you for the scriptures and we pray now again for the ministry of your holy spirit. We ask that he would guide us and lead us and direct us into truth and cause us to hold fast to the truth and never to let it go. We know God that many since the days of the apostles have perverted the gospel of Christ. We see such perversion in our own day and our own generation. And we would pray that by your grace and for your glory, we would seek to hold fast these truths. That we would treasure them. That we would indeed proclaim them and declare them as well. We would guard them and fight for them. And we just ask for the Spirit's help, the Spirit's aid in understanding and in keeping these truths. Forgive us again for all of our sins and transgression. And help us to honor and to glorify you. And we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Jay Gresum man in his sermons on the book of Galatians. There's a a book published by solid ground Christian books. It covers Galatians 1:1 to I think Galatians 3:17. And originally these were printed in Christianity today in the days that man lived. I wonder if Christianity today uh publishes such solid stuff as man on Galatians. But he says that the epistle to the Galatians is a pmic. And a palemic means when we launch an offensive, when we guard the faith and we propagate the faith and we declare the faith and we do so with a vigor and an earnestness and a desire to defend it. He says, "The epistle to the Galatians is a pmic, a fighting epistle from beginning to end. What a fire it kindled at the time of the reformation. May it kindle another fire in our day. Not a fire that will destroy any fine or noble or Christian thing, but a fire of Christian love in hearts grown cold. Perhaps one of the best helps to reviving a heart grown cold to a believer is a fresh dose of the gospel. For how can we gaze upon the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and not be refreshed and reminded at what he went through on our behalf? And that as a result of that, as a result of his active and passive obedience, the fact that he obeyed the law perfectly, all the commandments of God, Jesus never fumbled, he never misststepped. He never engaged in anything wicked. From the prohibition against idolatry to the prohibition against covetousness, our Lord fulfilled exactly and entirely and perpetually the the law of God. That's the active obedience of Christ. The passive obedience is his death on Calvary, his bloodshedding. And as the catechism says, justification is an act of God's free grace wherein he pardons all of our sins and receives us in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ uh uh imputed to them and received by faith alone. And how we can look at that and not be refreshed and reinvigorated and dare I say revived is beyond me. So we ought to look at and appreciate this book of Galatians from time to time because as man says it is indeed a fighting epistle and what it's fighting for is the truth of the Christian gospel. Well, I want to focus primarily on Paul's words in verses 6 to9. Paul expresses his astonishment. He expresses his amazement and I want to look at that first. The astonishment of the apostle in verse six. Secondly, the defection of the Galatians in verse 7 and then the uh curse upon heretics in verses 8 and N. But note in the first place he says, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel. Now in some senses what we find here in Galatians is a little bit different than what we find in the opening of other of Paul's letters. He certainly greets the church. Notice in verse two, he says, "All the brethren were with me to the churches of Galatia. Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ." So, it's not devoid of, it's not absent of a greeting to the church, but it's not really developed. It's not really long. It's not really flowery as is often the custom. I don't mean flowery in a bad way, as is the custom uh the custom of the Apostle Paul. For instance, in the book of Corinthians, a book where Paul has to deal with some serious departures from the Christian faith, Paul spends a lot longer uh calling them beloved and and speaking glorious and wonderful things to them before he gets into addressing the particular issues. And I think the difference here in lies because what Galatians is is uh setting forth is that there was a perversion of the gospel itself. In Corinthians, there was an issue concerning sanctification. In other words, there was a whole host of things that Paul would have to deal with. There were people that were eating meat offered up to idols, other people having a problem with that. There were people engaged in sexual immorality. There were people engaged in, you know, uh, uh, strange behavior with reference to the Lord's supper and all those sorts of things. Those errors concerning sanctification, Paul most certainly treats and he deals with. But it is intriguing that when the gospel is at stake as it was in the book of Galatians, he greets them briefly, but he gets right to the point. He gets right out of the gate to the issue and he says, "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel because the issue plaguing the churches of Galatia was called the Judaizing heresy." Now, the Judaizers did not teach salvation by works. This is an a common misunderstanding. It was not the case that these Judaizers came to the churches of Galatia and said, "Forget all about this faith stuff and just obey the law of Moses. Forget all about what g uh what Paul is saying about this Jesus of Nazareth and just fulfill the law of Moses." That's not what the Judaizers said anymore than Roman Catholicism teaches. We're saved by works alone. That's not what Romanism teaches. They affirmed faith plus works. That's what the Judaizing tendency was. Yes, it's good to believe in the Messiah. Yes, it's good to believe in the one whom Paul preaches. Yes, you need to look to Jesus. But you also need to add to it these particular ceremonies of the Mosaic law represented in this epistle by circumcision. But Paul's argument will be that if you indeed choose that path, then Christ is of no avail to you. It's either by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, or it's by your works. There's no conglomeration. There's no synthesis. There's no third path. It's either Christ or you. And that's the problem plaguing the churches in uh uh Galatia. So Paul says, "I marvel. I am amazed. I am astonished that you are turning away so soon." This is probably the first letter written by the apostle. After the first missionary journey, the first missionary journey, he goes up to the region of Galatia. It wasn't one particular city. It was a a region. And there he planted several churches. Not long after his departure, these Judaizers came in again. They said, you know, believe the gospel or believe rather what Paul teaches in terms of Jesus as the Messiah, but you need to be circumcised. You Gentiles need to become Jews also. It's not enough that you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You also must be circumcised. You must hold to the Jewish faith as revealed by Moses. So Paul says this happens soon. The brother is gracious. The brother is loving. The brother is kind. But the brother is firm. We need to appreciate that about the truth of the gospel. Very often persons who fight for truth are deemed intolerant. Well, we ought to be intolerant when it comes to heresy. We ought to be intolerant when it comes to departures from the faith. We ought to be intolerant when men's souls hang in the balance and false teachers come along and try to pedal some gospel that is no gospel. We ought to be we ought to engage in a blessed intolerance. here man. He says, "Certainly the point of difference between the uh between Paul and the Judaizers was no trifling difference, no matter how trifling it may seem to the modern church." See, sometimes we look at such things and we say, "Oh, you know, they just like to spill a lot of ink. They like to fight. They like to debate. They like to go on Facebook. They like to go on Twitter over something that's not really that important." Most recently, it's been the consideration of the Trinity. The doctrine of the triune God has come under attack and good men are seeking to defend it. And then you've always got these people that have this Rodney King sort of theology. Can't we all just get along together? Can't we all just love one another? No. Our love must rejoice in truth. Our love must be grounded in the truth. If we deny for a moment the trinity or we t uh tamper with the trinity or we start to posit some defective view of the eternal subordination of the son of god, we need to repent. We need to recant. We need to get our act in order. These are not trifling things. There's a lot of trifling things that we can get bogged down with in the Christian church. I don't doubt that. But the doctrine of the trinity is not one of them. The deity and the person of Jesus Christ is not one of them. The hypothatic union is not one of them. And certainly the gospel of our Lord Jesus is not one of them. So man says it was no trifling difference no matter how trifling it may seem to the modern church. He says it was the difference between a religion of merit and a religion of grace. That's what's at stake when we don't affirm salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. When we don't affirm chapter 11 in the second London Baptist confession of faith. When we don't see that the ground of our acceptance with God, our justification relies not upon Christ and us but upon Christ alone. We are seeking to approach God with our own works. The Lord will not have that. And that's what Paul condemns here. Man goes on. He says, "The Judaizers teaching required a man to earn at least a part of his salvation by his own keeping of God's law." Paul saw clearly that to follow such teaching was to do despite or despite to the cross of Christ. If we have to fill up even the slightest gap by our own works, then we are still lost in sin. I don't think we fully appreciate Paul's argument in Galatians or in Romans. I don't think we fully comprehend the exclusivity of faith alone that it does not entail our works added to it to commend us to God. Machan goes on for the awakened conscience sees clearly that our own works are insufficient to bridge even the smallest gap. Brethren, have you done enough good works today to bridge any sort of gap other than that which you know separates you from hell? If you are honest with yourself in light of the revealed will of God or word of God, you cannot for a moment think that your works can somehow sufficiently merit favor with God. If you think so, you have a defective understanding of who God is. You have a defective understanding of who you are, and you need to come to scripture to learn the difference. He goes on, "We must trust Christ for nothing or for all. To trust him only for for part is the essence of unbelief. There are two ways of being saved according to the Apostle Paul." One way is to keep the law perfectly. You're perfectly free to try that. Let me know how that works out for you. You can call me in about 5 seconds and tell me it didn't work out. I couldn't do it. Love to God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. and love your neighbor as yourself. Do you actually think you can get beyond 5 seconds? You know, we try to love God and 3 seconds in we're thinking about a cat video we saw on YouTube. We try to love our neighbor as ourselves and then we concoct how it's going to benefit me. Brethren, the idea that man can somehow fill that gap is completely reprehensible in light of holy scripture. So man says one way is to keep the law perfectly. That way is closed because of sin. The other way is to accept the gift of salvation which Christ offers us freely by his cross. The two ways cannot both be followed. That is the burden of the epistle to the Galatians. You can't mingle them. You can't combine them. You can't synthesize them. It's either your personal exact entire and perpetual obedience to the law or it is Christ. You don't mingle the two. You'll end up with neither. He says a man must choose as the way of salvation either law or grace. In bidding men to choose the latter way, the apostle was contending for the very heart of the Christian religion. So you see when he says, "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel." Realize that the Judaizers had not shown up at the churches in Galatia and said, "Don't listen to Paul. Don't do what Paul says. Work your way to heaven. Just do what Moses commands and you'll find acceptance with God." That's not what the Judaizers said. As I said earlier, that's not Rome what Roman Catholicism teaches. It's not works alone. No papist would actually think that they can earn their way to uh uh heaven by their own uh by their own works. It's a mingling. It's a conjoining. It's a conflation of justification and sanctification. It's a collapsing the whole ball of wax. So that we need our faith in Jesus and our faithfulness before Jesus in order to commend us to God. That is, as Paul says, a different gospel. Now, note secondly, the defection of the Galatians. Verse seven, he calls this different gospel, not another. He's not actually affirming when he says a different gospel that there's two out there. Select which one you may. You can choose rather A or B. Whichever one floats your boat. That's not what he's saying. He further identifies, further defines, further amplifies by saying in verse 7, which is not another. There is one gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is one way of salvation. Jesus was not kidding when he said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." The Bible is exclusive. Paul says, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation, for everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith that as it is written, the just shall live by faith." There's not two gospels. There's not three gospels. There's not a fourth way to approach God. You know, again, I think this is common in our own generation to just hanker after God and whatever fits, whatever works, whatever accommodates itself to our liking and to our desire. That's what I want. Well, you may want it all you want, but there's no granting it in terms of the Apostle Paul and the gospel of our Lord Jesus. This is the Jud Judaizing heresy when he says which is not another. just for a couple of specimen passages to see what was affecting these churches. Notice in Galatians 3 at verse one, Galatians 3 verse 1, Paul says, "Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?" Just by way of an aside, can I try and illustrate something for you that we affirm and confirm as confessional Baptists? We affirm the abiding validity of the second commandment. You're not to make graven images. You're not to have pictures of our Lord Jesus. Growing up as a young papist, we always had the picture of a of a certain ancient neareastern man hanging on our hallway uh our hallway wall. after Palm Wednesday, mom would put the palms behind the frame. I I don't know what the significance of all of that was. The Bible prohibits that. The Bible forbids that. And in this particular instance, how was Jesus portrayed before the eyes of the churches of Galatia? It wasn't the Jesus film. It wasn't the Passion of the Christ. It wasn't the children's Bible story book that had pictures of this ancient neareastern fellow. It was through preaching. It was through the apostolic proclamation of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We don't need other media. We don't need dreams and visions. We need preachers that are spiritfilled, men of prayer, men who handle accurately the word of truth to go out and preach the truth. That's always been God's way. Paul affirms it in 1 Corinthians 1:21. For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through what? Through the Jesus film, through the Jesus puppets that they sell at some Christian bookstores. Through the foolishness of the gospel or through the foolishness of the message preached, that's the emphasis. And Paul says, "The for whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified." He goes on in verse two, "This only I want to learn from you." Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain? If indeed it was in vain. In other words, we are saved by grace through faith. And we need to maintain that 4:21 and following he parallels the two covenants, the two sons of Abraham. Notice as well in chapter 5 at verse one, he says, "Stand fast, therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed, I Paul say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing." He's not talking about circumcision visav a cultural practice because he had Timothy circumcised when he went into Jewish regions. So we know that Paul isn't anti-ircumcision. I don't you know I don't know where Paul was in terms of the actual practice of circumcision but in terms of a cultural norm he does not forbid it. In fact, he has Timothy circumcised so that no offense would be given to the Jews. That's not under discussion and dispute in Galatians. What circumcision represents is the gateway into Judaism. And when we circumcise ourselves, or rather are circumcised with a view to acceptance with God, as Paul goes on to say, we have become debtors to keep the whole law. It's not just that one aspect, but rather if you choose the path of law, you better get busy. That's the point. He is not condemning it as a cultural practice, but as a practice associated with religious significance that somehow this gentile, it's good. He believed, but he must also keep the ceremonies of Moses in order to be accepted by God. When there is religious significant significance attached to lawkeeping, we have abused the grace of God. That's the point. Indeed, I Paul say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You see, there's only one way of approach. It's either your own personal exact entire and perpetual obedience to the law or it's grace alone through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone. The moment you try to mingle the two, you destroy the gospel. He goes on to say, you who have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law, you see that's the point, justification by the law. Paul in 1 Timothy 1 says, "We know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. An unlawful use of the law is seeking acceptance with God by obedience to it." I hope nobody ever mistakes that in this church. I hope you don't get the idea. Well, they're reformed and they affirm covenant theology. They preach the whole law. They affirm the whole ten commandments, even the fourth commandment, much to the chagrin of many around us today. But we don't teach that you are saved by that law. I hope you got that. I hope you realize you are justified freely by his grace. Grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. That's why we say amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. We're not Judaizers. Amazing grace and circumcision. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. We're not papists. Amazing grace and the sacraments. How sweet the sound. We're not the new perspective on Paul. We're not the federal vision. We're not the covenantal noms. How uh amazing grace and our faithfulness. How sweet this sound. No, it's amazing grace that is in that is that in which we rejoice. It's not the law. We preach the law in its place as the means by which the Holy Spirit sanctifies his people as well. We preach the law pedagogically. You ought to look at the law if you're a sinner because it shows you your wickedness and your waywardness and your absolute need for the Lord Jesus Christ. But in terms of the law for salvation, that is not what we preach here. He says in verse four, you who have you have become estranged from Christ, you who atte you who attempt to be justified by law, for you or you have fallen from grace. Now, that's not an Armenian proof text. Oh, there it is. You can fall from grace. No, that's not what it is. It is not a a battlecry of Armenianism to teach, hey, there it is. We can be in a state of grace and fall from grace. What's the fall from grace? In the context of of of Galatians, it is to mingle works with uh faith. That is to fall from grace. That is to turn our back on the way of salvation provided by God through Christ. That's the falling from grace. It is to depart from the gracious salvation offered in the Holy Gospel. When we seek to gain acceptance with God through circumcision, somehow that means we have fallen. John Edy describes this uh phrase. He says Christ's method of justification is holy of grace and those who rely on law and merit are in opposition to grace are fallen out of it. The clause has really no bearing on the doctrine of perseverance of the saints or on their possible apostasy. It's a different context. The fall from grace is to turn one back on the gracious salvation that the gospel communicates and embrace the works of the law. Amazing grace and the works of the law. How sweet the sound. That's the fall from grace in the context of Galatians Fiser and his wonderful marrow of modern divinity. If you read one Christian book in your life, it would probably do you well to read that book. He says, "So that if you desire to be justified before God, you must either bring to him a perfect righteousness of your own and wholly renounce Christ, or else you must bring the perfect righteousness of Christ and wholly renounce your own. Christ Jesus will either be a whole savior or no savior. He will either save you alone or not save you at all." Notice in verse seven what the apostle goes on to say. This is what's grieving as well in amplifying this idea of a different gospel. In verse 7, he says, "Which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ." Now, I don't doubt that there's some dim bulbs out there preaching who haven't done enough study and just really don't know what they're talking about. But there's actually people out there that want to pervert the gospel. There are people that are out there that actually want to distort the truth. There are people out there that are trying to harm the the the church of Jesus Christ. Now, they may do it for money. They may do it for popularity. They may do it because they just despise the truth as it is in Jesus. But do it. They do. This is what the apostle says. He says, "There are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ." One commentator says, "To tamper with the gospel is to trouble the church." Indeed, the church's greatest trouble troublemakers now as then are not those outside who oppose, ridicule, and persecute it. The church's biggest problem has never been the pagans or the heathens around them. It's the pagans and the heathens within it. He says, "But those inside who try to change the gospel." Conversely, the only way to be a good churchman is to be a good gospel man. The best way to serve the church is to believe and to preach the gospel. Martin Luther said that work which is built up long uh built up of long labor may be overthrown in a night. A man may labor half a score of years to build up some little church to be rightly ordered. And when it is so ordered, there creeps in some malrain, yay, a very unlearned idiot, and he in one moment overthrows all. He's not lying. Guy gets into the teaching position and he starts to preach Jud uh the Judaizing heresy. He starts to preach Romanism. He starts to preach the new perspective. He starts to preach the federal vision. What does that do to people? What does that do to souls? I'm of the mind and I am absolutely convinced that if you get your mind wrapped around chapter 11 in our confession which accurately teaches the doctrine of justification by faith alone, there is no more comfort for the Christian. There is no more happy place to be than to understand that your acceptance with God is based on the doing and the dying of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so some malbrain as Luther calls him comes in and he starts to say, "Yes, faith, but your faithfulness as well." Again, faithfulness and sanctification. Be faithful. Work out your own salvation and fear and trembling. But we're not talking about sanctification here. We're talking about our acceptance with God, our justification. And to introduce into that construct the idea of faith plus works is to destroy the church. That's why the reformation occurred. Why do you think these men reformed or sought reform or they revolted? Because the gospel was at stake. Praise God it happened then. Because I'm not sure it would happen now. As long as, you know, we have peace and comfort and safety and all that sort of thing, then then everything's okay. Why would we make a big deal out of such little things? The introduction of works and merit into the gospel of grace is a perversion of the highest order. Now notice in the final place, the curse upon heretics, verses 8 and N. This morning I mentioned that the principle wherein Israel was to utterly destroy the Amalachites. The Hebrew word is called her. H E R E M transliterated. The Greek version is anathema. In fact, the Septuagent whenever it comes to that Hebrew word her translates it anathema. The word literally means something under the band, something devoted. It can mean uh it can have a positive sense as well. And it can mean devotion. I think it means that in in uh Luke chapter uh Luke chapter 21:5. It's translated by the New King James as donation. It's something handed over. It's something given over. Well, in the negative context, it means devoted to destruction. Under the ban. Do not take that stuff, Achen. It was under the ban. He wasn't supposed to take that wedge of gold. He wasn't supposed to take those garments. When Joshua and the children of Israel marched around Jericho, they were told not to take the stuff. Saul in 1st Samuel 15 was told not to take the stuff. It's under the bent. It's devoted to destruction. It is condemned. The New King James here translates it a cursed. So, we see that for the Apostle Paul, this is no small thing. It's no trifling matter. This isn't a difference in esquetology. Paul is not pronouncing anathema on you if you're a premillennialist. Paul is not preaching anathema on you if you're an amillennialist or a postmillennialist. He's not preaching uh pronouncing anathema on you if your view of church polity differs. If you're a Baptist or you're a Presbyterian or or even an Episcopalian, he is not pronouncing anathema with reference to those things. It's the gospel. It's the truth of our salvation. It's the reality of how a sinner is accepted by God in Christ Jesus. So notice verse eight. He says, "Even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be anathema. Let him be accursed." I think the NIV has it. Let him be condemned. Let him be devoted to destruction. Let him be under the ban. You see, this is no small thing. This is an important message. You can't mess up the gospel. You children, you young people need to listen and pay attention when it comes to the gospel. You need to understand the way of acceptance with God is not faith plus it is faith alone in Christ alone by God's grace alone. That is the the way of acceptance with our holy God. It's important. It's crucial. In fact, it's the most important thing you'll ever learn. I'm sure math teachers and history teachers and and and English teachers have that, you know, most important lesson for you. Really got to get this down. You really have to understand this. That ain't nothing. Now, don't go home and burn your math books and your English books and history. Pastor Butler said it's nothing. You got to get the gospel right. This why we have confession study. This is why we preach exposiitoily. This is why we seek to educate the people of God in the truth of God because apart from it, there's hell in the future and there's hell in the present when men don't understand. Romans 5:1, what's Paul's deduction or implication or conclusion after highlighting the doctrine of justification by faith? Romans 5:1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Where does peace with God come from? It comes from this blessed truth that Christ lived, Christ died, Christ rose again, and all who by grace look to him in faith will have everlasting life. That's peace. That's blessed peace. That's the comfort that the soul in Christ truly knows. Paul says, "Even if we if it could be the case that Paul would show up and preach like a papist or preach like a Judaizer, if we or an angel from heaven, if it could be that a holy angel would descend and fall behind a pulpit and say faith in Christ plus circumcision, if any of these things were to happen to you, let him be accursed." There's no apostolic immunity. There is no angelic immunity. There is no immunity. Period. The gospel embodies a doc embodies the doctrine of Christ's life death and resurrection to tamper with that to twist to that that to add from it add to it or detract from it is to tear it apart and destroy it as I said the word employed is anathema means something like devoted to God either positively or negatively the context suggests which Luke 21:5 translated by the New King James as donations you see the connection This is something uh set apart. This is something devoted. I bring it to the temple and I present it to God. That's a positive use. But we see that same concept. Something set apart, something devoted. Something in a negative use is under the ban. It is devoted to destruction. It's interesting because it's used in several places by Paul in the New Testament and they're typically gospel uh uh or they're all connected to Christ and his gospel. Look at Romans nine just to see the the the usage by Paul of this word anathema to see what Paul condemns. Paul as I said is a very gracious, very charitable, very large-hearted man. In fact, at times in the book of Corinthians, you say, "Wow, man, he really is nice." You notice he never unchurches the church at Corenth. How many of us would have said, you know, we might as well hang a hang a clos sign. Imagine if you're Paul and you got a letter from the Corinthians. Yeah, we've got some questions. We have a guy who had ancestral relationships with his father's wife. We've got people that are engaging in, you know, prostitution or with prostitutes. We've got people that are engaged in all manners. If I was Paul, I'd probably be inclined to say, you know what, it's best just to cut your losses, sell the building, see if you can comp something, you know, maybe give it to another, you know, charitable uh uh tax uh free charitable organization. Paul doesn't do that. He never deurches the church in Corenth. And they had issues. When we get to this though, he is really, really fighting. But look at how he uses this word in Romans chapter 9 specifically in verse three. For I could wish that I myself were a cursed anathema from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh. That shows his heart. That shows his love. That shows his pastor's compassion. I could wish that that I would be anathema. I would be devoted to destruction. I would be under the ban. I would be cut off for the sake of my countrymen. In this, he reflects Moses who prays something similar back in his day. Notice in 1 Corinthians 12 verse three. 1 Corinthians 12:3. Another use of anathema. Therefore, I make known to you that no one speaking by the spirit of God calls Jesus a cursed. And no one could say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. No one speaking by the spirit of God calls Jesus a cursed or anathema or devoted to destruction or under the band. Notice in 1 Corinthians 16:22, a text you've often heard me refer to is one that makes the impregatory Psalms of David look like a walk in the park. A lot of people don't like the impregatory Psalms of David. They don't like the fact that David asks God to smash the teeth out of, you know, of of wicked men. He doesn't they don't like the fact that David in Psalm 109 asks that the wicked uh their wives become widows and their their children become orphans and they go begging in the streets. They don't like David when he says that the righteous will dance in the blood of the wicked. That that's somehow offensive to our modern sensitivities. And notice what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 16:22. If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be a cursed. Let him be anathema. Let him be devoted to destruction. Let him be under the ban. Let him be condemned to hell. And then its use here in Galatians 1 8 and9. So I think you see by definition and by its usage elsewhere just how serious an offense the perversion of the gospel is. One popular dictionary says, "He who preaches a false gospel is delivered to destruction by God." Again, it is not a matter of an act of church discipline in the sense of excommunication. The church uh the curse exposes the culprits to the judicial wrath of God. Now, certainly Paul's not saying to the churches, if you have a heretic, just let him go. No, certainly deal with him. Jesus commends the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2 because they tested those who claimed to be apostles and were not. We need to keep men out that are not qualified via or visav 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. John Edy says, "The preacher of another gospel exposes himself to the divine indignation and the awful penalty incurred by him is not inflicted by man. He falls into the hands of the living God." Paul rehearses. Paul repeats. Paul says again in verse 9, he says, "As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. The one preached has changed to what you receive. The improbability is lessened. We or an angel from heaven has become anyone and the future possibility has become a present supposition. In other words, Paul is dealing in concrete reality with the churches of of Galatia because these Judaizers had followed on the heels of Paul and they said, "Yes, believe what Paul says and be circumcised and take on the ceremonies of Moses and do what God's law says concerning Judaism." So that's our exposition. Just a couple of lines of application and then we conclude. In the first place I mentioned earlier that there ought to be a blessed intolerance in us when it comes to the gospel. Again here man he says to the men that dominate the life of the modern church it would seem to be a subtle hairsplitting distinction at the most. Surely they would say Paul ought to have made common cause with those Judaizers who had such a zeal for righteousness and furthermore exalted the Lord Jesus Christ so high. As a matter of fact, the apostle did nothing of the kind. What he actually said with respect to the Judaizers was, "Let them be anathema." He seemed to have none of the modern virtue of tolerance at this point. You see, we can be large-hearted, charitable, and have a great big tent when it comes to a host of things, but not the gospel, not the Trinity. It's not the case that we can have fellowship with Unitarians. We cannot have fellowship with those who teach Jesus is a creature. We can't have fellowship with those who affirm this idea that we are commended to God, at least in part by the works we bring to the table. The Apostle Paul tells us we cannot we must be intolerant. Now, we should be nice about it. I don't know that we need to beat well, we don't we don't beat people up, but we certainly need to be intolerant when it comes to the truth of the gospel. Secondly, because we're only popping into Galatians this one night, I think in many respects, Galatians 2:21 essentially summarizes the entirety of the book. After a discussion of justification by faith alone, visav verse 16, the reality that it is apart from works, he goes on to highlight certain aspects. And then in verse 20, he reports something of his own life, his own experience, not in terms of practical living, but in terms of the doctrine of justification. He says, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live." I I think we often wrench 220 out of its context and put it in the context of sanctification. And oh, isn't Paul just a model Christian in the way that he lives his life? He's still in the in the doctrine of justification. still trafficking in the truth of what it means to be accepted by God apart from works on the basis of faith in Christ. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I love the personal pronouns employed by Paul. You cannot say this tonight. Then I bid you to flee to Christ. This is the glory of the gospel. This is the beauty and the wonder of it all that a man, a woman, a boy or girl by grace alone through faith alone can say of Christ, he loved me and he gave himself for me. Have you by grace entered into that state where you confess Jesus Christ as Lord to the glory of God the father and you see his doing and dying for you? That's one of the chief and cardinal points of our blessed religion that our beloved Lord Jesus does this for us. Notice 2:21 capping off his argument in this particular context. He says,"I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." That is the death nail to Judaism. That is the death nail to to to Romanism, to the new perspective, to any h concept of our faithfulness commending us to God. If righteousness comes through the law, then why did we need Jesus? If we could somehow gain acceptance with God by our own doing, then why the cross man again the verse or this verse is the key verse of the epistle to the Galatians. It expresses the central thought of the epistle. The Judaizers attempted to supplement the saving work of Christ by the merit of their own obedience to the law. That says Paul is impossible. Christ will do everything or nothing. Earn your salvation if your obedience to the law is perfect. Or else trust holy to Christ's completed work. You cannot do both. You cannot combine merit and grace. If justification, even in the slightest measure, is through human merit, then Christ died in vain. John Calvin says, "For if we do not renounce all other hopes and embrace Christ alone, we reject the grace of God." You can't mingle these things. It's not a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Christianity isn't syncric. Luther said, "For whoever seeks righteousness apart from faith in Christ, whether it be through works or satisfactions or afflictions or the law of God, is nullifying the grace of God and despising the death of Christ even though he may speak otherwise with his mouth." And then, brethren, we need to exercise caution. I would suggest we need to beware of doctrinal indifference. doctrinal indifference. This whole idea, as we've touched on before, yeah, just a trifling thing. It's no big thing. It doesn't matter. It does matter. Our lives depend upon it. We ought to beware of doctrinal imprecision. Why do we study an antiquated confession of faith? Because precision marks that confession of faith. See, we don't have the luxury of of gambling with our souls. We need to be correct. We need to understand the truth. Imprecision in terms of doctrinal understanding leads to imprecision in life. It leads to a loss of comfort. How do I know if I'm accepted by God? How do I know if I've done enough good works? How do I know if I've merited his salvation and his favor? There's no Romans 5:1 in a scheme apart from justification by faith. There's no way we could say, "Therefore, having been justified by faith and our works, we have peace with God." No, no, no, no, no. We need to be aware of doctrinal imprecision. We need to beware of doctrinal departures. There's some are some obvious ones visav Romanism. That's the whole purpose or one of the reasons why there was a Protestant Reformation. Departures from the truth. We need to identify them. And the way that we identify them is by knowing the truth. I imagine the banker is able to spot the counterfeit because they know the truth. They don't have to study every counterfeit out there. They just have to know the truth. We have to know the truth and then we'll be able to spot those departures from that that truth. We need to beware of doctrinal compromise. Well, you know, we'll just go ahead and look the other way and and and entertain this particular No, no, no. It's not going to happen here. We're not going to compromise. God willing, pray for your pastors. Pray for all of us that we never compromise. That we go to our graves holding fast the truth of the gospel. And we need to beware of doctrinal novelties. I'm getting to the point where I don't trust much that is in our generation or coming out. I mean, there's a lot of good theologians, a lot of good men, so I do guess I trust much. But we need to beware of novelties. If it ain't been discovered yet, it's, you know, likely it's probably for a good reason it hasn't been. And then we ought to appreciate with reference to the gospel, it is divine in its origin. It is the message of Christ's life, death, and resurrection. It is for sinful men. It is received by faith alone. Its consequence is sanctification in its recipients and it ultimately brings glory to God. As Luther described, he calls it the joyous exchange. The joyous exchange referring to that whole exchange, our sin upon the Savior, the Savior's righteousness imputed to us. He says, "The rich, noble, pious bridegroom Christ takes this poor, despised, wicked little in marriage, redeems her of all evil, and adorns her with all his goods." I quite like that. He adorns us with all his goods. And the means by which we come into saving contact with his savior is faith. Faith alone. Look, as scripture says, and you will live. Banish the thought that it's you and Jesus. If it's not Jesus, it's nothing at all. You need the Lord Christ most high. And the only way is to look to him, to believe on him, and to come to him. Well, let us pray. Our father in heaven, we thank you for this fighting epistle. And we thank you for the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ has wrought a perfect salvation for sinners, and that the Apostle Paul tirelessly preached it, wrote of it, propagated it. Help us as the church of Christ in this generation to do the same. Help us to hold it fast. Help us to not compromise or depart or tamper with or add to or take away from, but cause us to be faithful with reference to the truth as it is in Jesus. We pray you'd open eyes and hearts to the truth of the gospel and by the power of your Holy Spirit bring men, women, boys, and girls out of darkness into marvelous light that they may behold the face of our Lord Jesus Christ and all of his glory and ability to save sinners. And we pray these things in his most blessed name. Amen. Why don't we close by singing the doxology? You can find that on page Roman numeral 16 in your Trinity himnel. The doxology will stand as we sing together. Praise [Music] him. Praise him. praise father and holy [Music] ghost to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest and by the prophetic scriptures made known to all nations according to the commandment of the everlasting God for obedience to the faith. To God alone wise be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Please be seated.