Well, just a number of days ago was the sentencing of Larry Nassar. Some of you will know that if you've been following the news, the former MSU and USAG sports doctor who was criminally convicted for life as an abuser of the worst kind. And many were heartbroken by testimonies of victims over four days. There were also an indictment on the broken system that didn't stop it. There was one person that started it and ended it and stood above it all by emerging from the brokenness to speak the truth in darkness and to darkness. Her name is Rachel Den Hollander. And the judge called her the bravest person I've ever had in my courtroom. She was the first to come forward of what became 150 plus survivors of Dr. Nasser's abuse and assault. And the last one to speak, she was. And as she sat down or went to sat down, there was a standing ovation for more than half a minute in that courtroom. How many of you got to see or hear Rachel Denhollander's testimony? Okay, not very many of you. It moved me to tears to hear it, to watch it, even to read it. and to see her heroic and articulate stand for justice and for change and the grace of life. She asked the judge movingly to consider this in the sentencing. How much is a little girl worth? How much is a young woman worth, she asked. She says, I ask that you hand down a sentence that tells us what was done to us matters, that we are known, we are worth everything, worth the greatest protection the law can offer, the greatest measure of justice, that we are not alone and not unprotected. And let it be a warning of what it looks like when the adults in authority do not respond properly to disclosures or fail to create or enforce proper policy and fail to hold enablers accountable. She said, let it be a moving forward as a society. And she addressed MSU and USAG and needed reforms of systems and society for others who are vulnerable and victimized. And she also took time in her remarks to address those who might doubt God as a result of this type of evil, and to which she quoted C.S. Lewis. And she brought in This was all nationally televised, God's standard of good and evil and moral absolutes. And the most powerful and emotional time of her testimony was when she turned her remarks and she looked directly at and spoke these words directly to her abuser in the room and she spoke of her faith. And she spoke of grace alone that enabled her to face this and face him. She said, quote, this is part of her remarks, I have experienced the soul satisfying joy. She's speaking now of her personal relationship built on sacrificial love and safety and tenderness and care. And she says, it is a joy that you have cut yourself off from. You have fashioned for yourself a prison that is far, far worse than any that I could put you in. And I pity you for that. And earlier she had pointed out, you brought your Bible into the courtroom. It is on that basis that I appeal to you. The Bible you carry says it is better for a stone to be thrown around your neck and you thrown into a lake than for you to make even one child stumble and you have damaged hundreds. The Bible, she says, carries a final judgment where all God's wrath and eternal terror is poured out on men like you. Should you ever reach the point of truly facing what you have done, she said, the guilt will be crushing. And that is what makes the gospel of Christ so sweet, she said, because it extends grace and hope and mercy where none should be found and it will be there for you. I pray, she says, you experience the soul-crushing weight of guilt so that you may someday experience true repentance and true forgiveness from God, which you need far more than forgiveness from me, though I extend that to you as well. You spoke of praying for forgiveness, but Larry, if you have read the Bible you carry, you know forgiveness comes from repentance, which requires facing and acknowledging the truth about what you have done in all of its utter depravity and horror, without mitigation, without excuse, and without acting as if good deeds can erase it. You chose to pursue your wickedness no matter what it cost. others and the opposite of what you have done is for me to choose to love sacrificially no matter what it costs me. And she went on to explain and again this is all by live broadcast the biblical definition of sacrificial love in her words portrayed of God himself loving so sacrificially that he gave up everything to pay a penalty for the sin that he did not commit. And by his grace, I too choose to love this way." Close quote. That balance of law and grace is as good as any I've heard from any pulpit. And she preached the gospel to a bigger audience on TV nationally and then virally, and she said it better than any can in eloquence and experience that love is a choice by grace, undeservedly, sacrificially, costly grace. There's not many pulpits that will today speak as clearly as she did on depravity, eternal wrath and hell, and forgiveness by true repentance and what that looks like. The judge said to her, your words have grace and great hope. Where did she get that from? Well, if you would turn with me to the book of Ephesians. I know of no better introduction to or illustration of Ephesians chapter two and this concept of grace alone. We're gonna be back in Philippians next week, but God's grace alone explains that scene. Rachel prayed and sang what we sang, amazing grace, with her family before her court appearance. And she amazed many when she spoke of how sweet the gospel could sound to guilty sinners and how it can save wretches. Only experienced sinners Grace can be extended grace like that. And only grace that's been experienced can be extended in the face of such deep hurt personally. Even while judicially it is right for criminals to be locked away and not allowed to ever hurt others again. But to offer forgiveness as she articulated doesn't erase consequences of sin even when true repentance has taken place. But grace is the only possible explanation of forgiveness being offered where none should be found. Sola gratia, grace alone is the sole hope to heal those who have been abused and those who have abused themselves. It is only the wonderful grace of Jesus. who, while he was being abused on a cross, called out, Father, forgive. And he taught his followers to, quote, love your enemies, pray for those who abuse you. What we're gonna see in Ephesians 2 is it's not just the most blatant criminals in society. We all need Grace we are all among those in need of grace and Ephesians 2 verse 3 says we were among them. He says we all Once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved. And then he says it again in verse eight, for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not your own doing. as a result of works so that no one may boast. Since Reformation Sunday and in celebration of the recent 500th anniversary of the Reformed faith recovering God's grace from dead religion, we've been taking the first Sunday of each month to look at these principles of first importance, these banners on the wall behind us, and we come to sola gratia, which is Latin for grace alone, only grace. One of the versions for Ephesians 2 verse 5 has this, it is only by God's grace that you have been saved. And in history, sola gratia was a battle cry against the Roman Catholic teaching of salvation by grace and works. And it is still the key issue with cults and others who are also professing Christians who don't believe that it is by grace alone, salvation by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. Grace alone is what we're looking at here today. And we often define grace as kindness or favor that is unmerited and that is on the undeserving. But we can actually take it further than that. It's not just on the undeserving. It is actually for the ill-deserving. It is actually for the hell-deserving. It's not just that they don't deserve this. They deserve the exact opposite. We were among those, Ephesians 2 very clear says, we deserved wrath as the rest. But verse 7 says we get immeasurable riches of His grace instead in Christ Jesus. For all those who have come by grace through faith to Christ. The exact phrase grace alone isn't used in this passage but I would argue it's even stronger than grace alone when verses 8 and 9 say it is not our own doing. It is the, and then it goes on, the gift of God, as if that's not clear enough. And then if that's not clear enough, it is not based on anything we do. And if that's not clear enough, it's so that we can't boast or take any credit for any part of it. It is all of grace from start to finish. Or as we sang earlier, we are saved by grace alone, undeserved yet freely shown. No accomplishment on earth can achieve the second birth. Glory be to God alone. Amen. But we need to start back in the context in chapter 1 to see how grace starts. We'll be looking at this theme in Ephesians 1 through 2. In Ephesians 1 verse 2 begins, grace to you. This is how Paul begins all of his letters, he's writing to the believers here, and he starts with the, they're already saved, they already have saving grace, but he starts with this daily grace that needs to keep coming to us. Verses four through five then talk about saving grace, and verse six says, it is all to the praise of his glorious grace. with which He has blessed us in the Beloved, or has freely bestowed on us in the Beloved, or has made us accepted in the Beloved, that's in Christ. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace. And so we're considering here the five pillars of the Reformation. Sola gratia, grace alone, is what we're looking at here today. We see that in verses six through seven. And solus Christus, we'll look at that next month. In Christ alone, we have redemption and forgiveness. That's also in verse seven. And then sola scriptura, we can see that, that scripture alone is authoritative and sufficient for salvation. In verse 13, we read, in him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, It's the word that brings us salvation, but it's also, he'll say in chapter six, this is what we need for our daily battles, the sword of the spirit, which is the what? The word of God. And so the word of God is what we need in our daily life as well. Sola fide means faith alone. We're justified by faith alone. Verse 13 says that happens when we believe. That's what we, we were sealed, we were saved. by faith and solely deo gloria, glory to God alone. Verse 14 ends with this phrase, to the praise of his glory. And if you read verses three through 14, you could say to the praise of his glory alone. We'll start to finish. So I wanna look now at some points of grace as well that we can see in this passage. And the first one is, and I'm gonna use an acronym, G-R-A-C-E to help us follow. We see in the flow of Ephesians, God's choosing grace. God's choosing grace verse 4 even as he chose us in him Before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace, and he's explaining this grace and begins with He choosing us. He chose us. Not to the praise of my great choice for Him, it's to the praise of His grace. Even as He chose us. Romans 11 verse five uses the same word and says we are chosen by grace. And it's unconditional here. It's not conditioned on or founded on what he found in us or would find in us. It says he chose us before the world was founded. And verse five says it's according to the purpose of his will. It doesn't say according to the purpose of our will, but we need to also see this is not a cold, impersonal doctrine. I like the new American standard wording of verse five. According to the kind, Intention of his will or new King James if you have it has his good Pleasure and this this picture here is we read it the father's choice in verse 4 in love at the end of the verse set in motion his adoption of us in verse 5 he chose us a child being adopted doesn't choose his dad and And as an adoptive father, I can look back on this. In love, I chose beforehand and predetermined, in a sense, to set a plan in place to adopt my son to myself before he understood who I was. And later, even as I showed him love, he wasn't initially happy with me, which is normal. But over time, he came to love me, even though he would have never known me if I hadn't done that before. But that's just an earthly analogy of what the Apostle John says this, What manner of love the father that's God the father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God and that is what we are he says and and he goes on to say we love him because he first Loved us We weren't initially happy with him we weren't lovely We need to remember this. We weren't lovely in our sin, but He chose us. And He chose to love us by adopting us sola gratia. So we can sing, Oh how I love Jesus, because He first loved me. That comes right out of 1 John 4.19. wonderful grace of Jesus. We can also say reaching the most defiled. That's what we were. We were the most defiled. And by its transforming power, it makes us God's dear child. Here's how we say it in our what we teach statement. We teach that God and there's a lot of this comes right out of Ephesians this text before the foundation of the world for his own glory did elect as an act of free and sovereign grace. This election was in no way dependent on his foresight of human merit works faith or decision. And also man's responsibility is equally emphasized and balanced in scripture. And if you want to study those scriptures more, we have that. That's what we teach available at the kiosk or online, but you can study those scriptures more. But we also see man's responsibility, this is also in scripture, is equally emphasized and balanced in scripture. in scripture and sovereign grace in this way does not make us robots it does not make our love not genuine any more than when you bring someone into your family and choose to love and welcome them before they know you and and love you that doesn't mean their love is not genuine when that comes about but this this adoption image that he is giving us here shows us there's a plan of grace behind this all for for dear children and it revolves around God's own beloved son the end of verse six says this is all in the beloved and so in the beloved God can look at us as he sees us in Christ he sees Christ he sees this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and so because of this truth of being in Christ when he sees us he sees the beloved. He sees one in whom He is well-pleased based on His performance and not based on ours. And so this is a very freeing and liberating and glorious truth. But there's another, a second part of it and that is redeeming, forgiving grace in verse 7. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. This wasn't just a little bit of grace, He is lavishing, He is pouring His grace upon us. And it starts with redemption through His blood. This grace upon grace flows down through the precious blood of Christ. And there is power in the blood, not just potential power in the blood, there is actual power in the blood. Those who are redeemed are actually forgiven. It doesn't just make it possible, it powerfully makes it happen. God's children are actually redeemed, and look at the verse, and forgiven. It says, we who have redemption also have forgiveness. Redeeming grace includes forgiving grace. Those are not two totally separate things all Who die in their sins? We can know where we're never redeemed and so particular redemption is part of what we teach you that the death of Christ redeemed a particular people The way the Bible uses this word redeemed. Not everyone is redeemed. I That word is limited in scripture to those who are or will be saved, or in verse seven, those who have forgiveness of sins. And this is something that we also need to understand. The sacrifice of Christ is not limited in its value or sufficiency or worth, but it does have a particular intent for his sheep, for his own, for his friends, for the many. There's many statements like that in scripture. And right here, if you look at Ephesians 5, just right here in the context of Ephesians, you can see in the same context this idea, Ephesians 5 verse 1, look at it, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. The us that Paul's writing to are the believers, chapter one, verse one. And he calls them here beloved children of God. Verse 25, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Not the world, the church in particular, His bride in particular. he gave himself up in death for. And a husband is called to love his own wife in a particular way, different than how he relates to the rest of the world, just as Christ loves his bride. And it's not just a general love for all. In a particular way, he did particular things for her. So there's not a universal redemption, but the gospel is sufficient. The gospel is to be offered for all, but it is efficient only to redeem those who believe we have this concept in scripture of the kinsman redeemer and he chooses his bride and he woos her and he wins her heart he lays down his life for her he he loves her and wins her heart and he does all this not because she was so beautiful. That's where the human analogy breaks down. A man might do this for someone he loves so much, but in our case, we were not beautiful. Christ does this, this passage says, to make the church beautiful, verses 25 through 27. He does this not because we're beautiful, but to make us beautiful. And I know we have questions about that. Why he chose this particular bride, the text doesn't say. I can't say beyond what scripture says, but I can say this I can say this based on what God's Word says he didn't choose Me based on something good in me or about me it is sola Gratia and it is despite my sin and so there are mysteries as we think about these things, but for me the biggest mystery is why would he Why would He do this for me? And I think you might have mysteries in your mind, but let that be the greatest mystery. Why? Why am I saved? And I would encourage you not to explain that mystery away by explaining that there was something inside you that was better or different than others. Just give Him all praise and all glory for Sola. Gratia and there's a third point that actually I think helps Understand this and that is absolute need for grace Absolute need for grace. Why do we need to be chosen and redeemed? Because if you don't understand this then it won't fit as well together chapter 2 verse 1 Paul goes on in these first two chapters to say and you were Dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked in other words spiritually you were and I was a dead man walking Dead in the realm of sin means spiritually dead as a result of sin dead to the things of God and We're active in our sin over here, but towards God we are dead. Paul says we walk in sin, so obviously in our sin we're active, we're alive toward our sin, but we're dead in our sin toward God. And that's our natural state, toward God, unless something supernatural happens. Dead to God means no response to God, no movement to God, no choosing of God, no doing anything toward God. I think total inability is a good name for this doctrine of complete spiritual deadness. Spiritual blindness would be another term. Absolute lostness. And we see as we keep reading chapter two that it doesn't just corrupt our actions in verse two, but our thoughts in verse three, our desires and our will. And so in verse two, we see the world, the flesh and the devil, they influence us, but we are ultimately responsible. He'll say in chapter four, it's actually our willful, hardhearted, callous, blinding, stubborn sin. That is the unregenerate. And so we articulate it this way, fallen man cannot do anything to save himself, to please God or to change his totally depraved condition apart from sovereign grace and left to himself he does not even truly want to. And that would be pretty bad news for all of us if not for verse four, but God. but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive. And so that takes us to a third or a fourth point. And that is the grace that we see here is calling to life grace. There's other terms that are used, but I think this calling to life, resurrecting or regenerating grace, this is what makes grace amazing. Grace isn't just giving us a lift Grace is giving us life, it's giving life to non-life. It's not just giving us a remedy for a disease, it's giving resurrection for a dead spiritual person. It isn't just making, saving grace doesn't just make sick people better, it makes dead people alive. That's what he is saying here, because we didn't need medicine, we needed a miracle. But, but God, Look at verse five. Look at verse five. When we were dead in our trespasses. made us alive. That's God made us alive together with Christ. He's the actor. We're the ones being acted upon. Made us alive together with Christ. And then you either have a dash or maybe a parenthesis here. In other words, by grace you have been saved. He made us alive together with Christ. In other words, by grace you have been saved. Or in other words, and he raised us up with him. And so you've got right in the middle here, saving grace, By grace we're saved. That's sandwiched between this first statement, we were made alive when we were dead, or we were raised up with Christ, and he's using the same language from just a few verses earlier in chapter one about the resurrection of Christ, the literal, physical resurrection of Christ, just as much as God's power was needed for that, God's power was needed for our resurrection, our being made alive, our being raised up. In other words, by grace you are saved. And that grace that we're saved by is regenerating grace. It's, we could say, sight creating grace. It's new heart making grace to bring in other scriptures. We say sometimes the dead people, a dead person does nothing, but that's not actually completely true. Dead people do nothing but stink. And so we're not just passively staying in the, we're continually decaying. We are continually corrupting towards God. But this is what makes grace amazing. This is what makes grace sweet sounding. We could even say sweet smelling. I was blind. I once was blind. But now I see, I didn't just come to see on my own, I was blind, but now I see by his amazing grace. It wasn't that I first responded in faith, then I got life, it was I got life, then I responded. I can't explain it all, but I can explain it in the words of verse eight, for by grace you have been saved through faith and this, this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. All of it is the gift of God. In the grammar, that's the whole process. Salvation by grace, including faith, which is not just of my own doing. It is part of God's gift. It's God's doing, God's gift. including faith, it's not just of what I worked up, it's all of grace, and you could use another acronym for G-R-A-C-E, God Resurrecting a Corpse Eternally. That's the grace, and that might not be a flattering image here, but that's the image Paul is giving here, God Resurrecting a Corpse Eternally, to the eternal praise of the glory of his grace, which takes us to the, the E in this acronym, eternally persevering grace. He says in verse nine, it's not as a result of works, which by the way is good because if it depended on our works to get saved or to stay saved, we would not, but he says not a result of work so that no one may boast, but don't stop. Therefore we are his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. He's working in us. We are his work and he is at work and he is working in us to produce these works. So saving grace is not a result of works, but it will result in works because of God's workmanship, because of God's working. in us, and because of what grace is creating in us and in Christ. And God's grace includes, and this is very good news for us, it includes, because if we didn't have this last point and all these other things he had done for us, but then now it was up to us, we would not make it there. I know I wouldn't. But his grace includes the preservation of believers. And we can talk about the perseverance of the believer, but we need to understand that he preserves us by grace so that we can persevere by grace, so we can't lose this so great a salvation. It is grace that has brought me safe thus far, and grace, what, will lead me home. That's future grace. If you look back at chapter one, verse 13, He says, in him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance. A seal in Bible times meant security. That was one of the primary images here. This is eternal security. of believers by the Spirit, and all of it at the end of verse 14. Again, He does this all to the praise of His glory. to the praise of His glory. One of the ways we know we've understood this rightly is if we can say when we get to the end of it, thinking of all that, it is all to the praise of His glory. And we don't need to try and go back there and try and find somewhere where we can put our own credit or glory in there. We just say it to the praise of His glory. Soli Deo Gloria. These are the doctrines of grace. God's choosing grace, redeeming, forgiving grace, absolute need for grace, and calling to life grace, and then eternally persevering grace. And I want to look at now these doctrines of grace applied. What should this mean for us in the book of Ephesians? Paul connects later in the book what he has said in the beginning of the book and God shows us in love by grace and chapter 5 verse 1 says we are to be imitators of God. Remember back at the beginning, Rachel Denhollander said this, by his grace, I too choose to love this way. And if you know more about that story, which I'm not gonna get into here, but if you know more about that story, when she says those words, listen, if she, if she by grace can say those words as she is speaking, to her abuser. Don't say you can't choose to love someone. As you think of someone you're struggling to love right now, I can assure you it is not what she and others endured, or in most cases, I can't say that. There may be someone that's coming to your mind who has horrifically hurt you in the past, but the bottom line is, if she can say that by grace, we can by grace as well. God chose, in Ephesians 1, according to the purpose of his will, and biblical agape love is a choice of the will. It's not dependent on feelings. It's not dependent on the response of the one loved. It's not dependent on whether or not they deserve it. The love that we are called to show in relationship, in Ephesians 5, is a choice by grace to show love in action to the praise of the glory of God's grace freely given to us in His beloved Son. And so I would ask you, who is coming to your mind right now as someone that is very difficult to choose to love? And how can you choose by grace to show love in some way. Second point, redeemed, forgiven people must be forgiving people. And that ties in, and that might even be a part of what some of us need to work through in that last question. those who know our Redeemer. That must affect how we think and what we say. The scripture was read earlier. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable or pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my rock, my Redeemer. But if you haven't known this personally in your life from God, Rachel was right when she said forgiveness comes from repentance. It comes from facing and acknowledging the truth about what you have done without excuse, and there is grace there for you. She said, I pray you experience the soul-crushing weight of guilt so that you will know and experience true repentance and true forgiveness from God, who she says, loved so sacrificially that he gave up everything to pay the penalty for a sin that he did not commit. Amen, sister. And sister or brother here, if you will face your sin, no matter what you've done, if you will look for mercy to the face of Jesus and turn from your sin and trust him as your sacrifice and as your substitute at Calvary, there is forgiveness and there is grace for you. The vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus, a pardon receives. And then in Ephesians 4, after you experience that heart-changing kindness forgiving you, Ephesians 4.32, if you look at it, it says, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another as God and Christ forgave you. Therefore, be imitators of God. That's beloved children. I think of Psalm 103, one of my favorite psalms. It says God as a father has compassion on his children who he loves. And it says this, he forgives all your sins. And He redeems your life from the pit. And He crowns you with love and compassion. It goes on, the Lord is gracious, slow to anger, and it goes on through all of this, but the idea there is He crowns you. We must be reflecting that redeeming, forgiving grace, even as a crown that is visible to others and a crown that shines that others can see. If He has given us, He has crowned us with these things, then we need to, Live those out. Others need to see it in our lives. Absolute need for grace also. applies daily. Believers are not totally depraved. We are no longer totally depraved or enslaved or blind or dead or any of those things. We have a new nature in Christ. We need to always understand whether scriptures are talking about believers or unbelievers, but we still absolutely need grace. We absolutely need grace and we need to praise the Lord for the immeasurable riches. of His marvelous, infinite, matchless grace that He continues to freely bestow on all who believe. Because without His grace, I still have inabilities, I still have insufficiencies, and even my strengths cannot match the challenges that are beyond my reach. But there is a wonderful grace of Jesus that reaches me. There is all-sufficient grace for even me. And it is greater far than all my sin and shame. And I didn't just need grace to make me rise from my spiritual deadness. I needed God's grace to rise from my bed this morning. And so did you, whether you realize it or not. And it's good to meditate on where we were before God's grace, where we would be but for God's grace. And to be able to say, by the grace of God, I am what I am. If there's anything good in me, I know that's by His grace. If there's anything bad in me, I know that's my responsibility. Whatever else might be confusing about these great truths, if you get that down, anything good that comes in me, I give God the glory. The things that are bad and remaining in me, I need to take responsibility for and look to His grace in either case. But we need sustaining grace as much as we need saving grace. Ephesians 2.12 calls us to remember. Remember when we were separated from God. Remember when we were without hope and without God in the world. And Rachel Denhollander said, Facing that utter depravity is what makes the gospel of Christ so sweet. John Newton used this analogy. The doctrines of grace and the way he saw them were not a club to beat someone over the head with or to debate with, but he saw them as a sweetener to put in his tea. That's what people in England do more than us here, putting it in his tea so it would permeate in right measure. He's the one who said, amazing grace, how sweet. And then calling to life grace is also applied by my Paul. He says in another place, if you are risen with Christ as in Colossians, seek those things that are above. And that includes what we speak with grace in your hearts to the Lord, giving thanks. And he says this, Colossians 4, 6, let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt. And I think I've shared this before. To think of that analogy is before we serve it up to think, have we sprinkled some grace on what we're about to say? before it comes out to put some salt, some grace on it. Here in Ephesians 4, verse one, for those who were called to life, he calls us to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called. And in verse 29 of Ephesians 4, it includes our speech. He says, nothing should come out of our mouth unless it is, quote, good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear. And I can assure you that very verse, that very principle right here, there's gonna be temptations, not just today, but maybe on your way home, and before too long, or even as you're interacting with others, before you even leave church, there's gonna be temptations for things to come out of your mouth that may not be fitting the occasion, or as you're driving home, things that aren't giving grace. Boy, if we could just, this one principle, this one verse, if we could just put that into practice for the next seven days, What a difference it would make in the next seven hours. But here's what the proverb says, gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul. We know we can't call anyone to life savingly like Ephesians 2, but the proverb says a gentle tongue is a tree of life. It says death and life are in the power of the tongue. And it mentions life giving reproof will dwell among the wise, and then eternally persevering grace should lastly motivate us to persevere by grace. To keep on, as Rachel Den Hollander said, choosing to love sacrificially, no matter the cost. Persevere in grace. Persevere in grace that is greater than all sin. And I'll close with how Ephesians closes. Chapter 6 verse 18 tells us to keep on praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end. Keep alert with all perseverance. I encourage you if you can to come back tonight where we're going to basically seek to put that very verse into practice as we persevere and as we pray for our church and our body. Let me close with verse 24. Grace be with all. who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. And all God's people said, amen. Let's pray. Our gracious God, we thank you for your amazing grace. And I pray, Lord, that you would transform us, that you would transform me. that the areas where we recognize we need your grace, that we would not forget those things, that we would not quickly move on from here and miss what you have said to us. I pray, Lord, that you would continue to transform us by your grace and for your glory. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.