You're listening to the teaching ministry of Harvest Fellowship Church in Boyertown, Pennsylvania. You can find out more about us on the web at www.harvestfellowshipchurch.org. We pray that through our teaching we may present everyone mature in Christ. Will you please rise for the reading of God's Word? Our reading this morning is from Romans 8, verses 26-31. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? This is God's word. Thank you. Lord God, as we anticipate Eternal glory you've promised in your word We are thankful. Oh Lord that you have rescued us Delivered us Set us free from the bondage of sin and death You have dealt well with your servant. Oh Lord according to your word. I And now, gracious Father, we ask that you would teach us, teach us by your Spirit, these incredible truths that you have passed on by your Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul, that they, O Lord, would transform our lives, sanctify us through the Word you've given to us this day, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Friends, I have always felt that normal, everyday life provided more than enough frightening experiences without ever having to visit one of the many haunted houses or chambers of doom that seem to pop up in just about every town across America this time of year. Multitudes of people multitudes unwittingly seek that adrenaline rush of terror through the amusement of the occult, all the while ignoring, ignoring the greater fear that is the fear of the awesome and holy God. In an addressing a group of believers who were wavering in their faith, the author of Hebrews writes these words. He warns them, saying, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. Now friends, I believe that beneath the surface covered up by all of the trappings of this present world, most every human being lives in a fearful reality that one day he will have to face the true and living God. Now, reading through the Gospels, we find the prohibition that is most frequently voiced by the Lord Jesus is, do not fear. Do not fear. He spoke these words to the people that he encountered, but more frequently, he spoke those words to his own disciples. And then again, reading through the Bible, whenever we read of an angelic visitation, in just about every case, the first words that come out of the mouth of God's messenger are, fear not. Fear not. Now listen to this quote from R.C. Sproul. He says, Perhaps Jesus' fondest words, fondness for the words, fear not, grew out of his acute sense of the thinly veiled fear that grips all who approach the living God. We fear his power, we fear his wrath, and most of all, we fear his ultimate rejection. Although we really don't want to think about it, we know that the worst catastrophe that could befall any human being is to be plunged eternally into the outer darkness of God's holy wrath. Our insecurity, only deepens when we ponder the depth of depravity and the wrath of God that we rightly deserve. My friends, the comfort, that great comfort that we so desperately need, the assurance that will calm our fears and transform our minds, is the assurance of our salvation. In order for that assurance to be made real, in order for that assurance to be effective, it must be a biblical view of our salvation. If we think that the Bible teaches the universal salvation of all men, then we may possess a false sense of security, reasoning that since God saved every human being, and since I am in fact a human being, then I must be saved. On the other hand, if we think that salvation is gained by good works, and we continually compare ourselves to those individuals who are worse sinners than we are, then once again we will live with a false sense of assurance. My friends, if we're going to live If we're going to live with the confident assurance of our salvation, then our salvation must rest solely, our salvation must rest exclusively upon the merits of Jesus Christ alone. Remember, the Bible teaches us that it is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as revealed in the Scriptures alone, and for the glory of God alone, that we have been saved, freed from all condemnation, adopted into the family of God, and sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Now my friends, there is no measure, there is no portion, there is no aspect of this great salvation that we could possibly accomplish by the works of our own hands. as adopted children of God, we now live by faith in the already not yet experience of the kingdom of God. And those who have been justified by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ already possess the spirit of adoption who confirms the fact that we are the children and even heirs of God. Although we don't yet experience the fullness of our eternal inheritance, we live in the confident assurance that God has given us His Spirit, and that Spirit then is the first installment, or the down payment, that guarantees our future glory. Our assurance greatly strengthened by the work of the Holy Spirit who is in us and works for us. Remember back in Romans 8 26 where Paul wrote and he said the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We don't know what to pray for as we ought but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And then in verse 28, as God's people, we can rest assured that despite the apparent chaos of this fallen world, and notwithstanding our own sufferings, God causes all things to work together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Now remember last week I said that the good toward which God is presently working all things together is defined for us in verse 29. It is the good of being conformed into the image of God's Son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Now one of the reasons why it is essential for us to gather together for worship on a regular basis is so that we might encourage one another and all the more as we see the day of the Lord approaching. That's Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 25. It is those sheep who wander away from the fold, those stragglers who lag behind the flock, who become easy targets for spiritual predators. Now because our circumstances often change, Our confidence and the assurance of our salvation must be built on something greater than those circumstances. It must be based on something that is better than our own experiences. In fact, it really must be built on the unchanging Word of God. So this morning in Romans 8, 29 to 30, the Apostle Paul delineates the five-fold work of God in bringing eternal salvation to his beloved children. Let's read those two verses and focus our attention on them this morning. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom He predestined, He also called. And those whom He called, He also justified. And those whom He justified, He also glorified. You're probably very familiar with these verses. But these two simple verses outline the sovereign work of God in our salvation from its inception in eternity past to its completion on the final day. The whole of our salvation is summed up in these five words that Paul has given to us through the Holy Spirit. From foreknowledge to glorification, our salvation is the work of God alone. These five glorious truths are so closely connected that they have rightly been called and accurately been described a golden chain of five links. Now the wording in this golden chain of redemption Well, the wording is a literary device. It's called a sortise. And this device could rightly be compared to a flight of steps. with five stairs in this staircase and those stairs, each one is firmly established or grounded in the previous step. So we have one step and then another one is built on top of that and another built on top of that and this is what Paul uses to try to explain our salvation as concretely given to us and ordained by God himself. Now, the wording of this golden chain of redemption, again, uses this literary device called sortis. And we find it, let me give you an example, in Romans chapter 10, beginning at verse 14, we find another example of this staircase of reasoning that Paul has given to us. He begins in verse 14 and he says, How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? You see that there. You see the staircase of reasoning that Paul is using. It is a logical progression of his thinking. Calling on the name of the Lord requires belief in the Lord. And believing in the Lord requires a hearing ear. And the hearing ear is useless unless there is someone to preach the Word of God. And a preacher then must be dispatched by God in order to proclaim the Word of God. If you were to remove any one of those links, Paul infers that no one would be able to call upon the name of the Lord if one of those links was removed. And the same thing happens here in Romans 8 verses 29 to 30. Paul employs the same kind of chain argument, if you will. So let's read it again and look for those stairs. For those whom he foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified. Now by laying out this golden chain in Romans 8, 29 to 30, Paul communicates what theologians have called in the Latin the ordo salutis, and that is a progression, the progressive order by which God brings about salvation in men and women of his own choosing. Our salvation began in the ages past, before the foundation of the world, with God's foreknowledge. And that foreknowledge is intrinsically connected with our predestination. And that predestination leads to the effective call of God in time and space. And that call of God results in our justification. And our justification assures us that we will in fact be glorified in the end. And remember, all of these words that we're looking at from predestination, to call, to justification, to glorification. All of these words are the sovereign, and we call it the monergistic work of God. It is the work of God alone. It's not synergistic. We have no part in these verses. God alone has foreknown us. God alone has predestined us to be conformed into the image of his Son. This is the work of God that is being described here and we have nothing to do with this. So fasten your seatbelts, because we're going to attempt to fly through all five of these links this morning. Let's begin with the foreknowledge of God. Now this doctrine of God's foreknowledge is one of the most misunderstood doctrines in all of church. We well-meaning Christians unwittingly bring the eternal omniscient God down to man's level as a creature of time with past and future. They do this by defining the foreknowledge of God as nothing more than God's advanced knowledge of who would eventually choose to believe You might liken this to knowing who's going to win the game this afternoon between the Eagles and the Buffalo Bills. And then going out and placing a bet on who you know is going to win the game. With the Eagles, the way they're playing these days, it's probably not a good example. But listen, there are those who say that God looked down through the corridor of time and saw who would believe in Christ and with that foreknowledge he chose or he predestined only those whom he knew ahead of time would choose him. Now friends, if that were true, and it's not, But if that were true, then salvation would not only begin with man's expression of faith, but man would then obligate God to grant salvation to those who exercise that faith of their own accord. In such a scheme, The divine initiative in salvation would be handed over to man and saving grace would be unnecessary because man had it within himself then to believe when we know that he is totally depraved. having no ability within himself to believe until God graciously, sovereignly works within that man bringing new life by the Spirit of God. Now my friends, That kind of humanistic view that I've been speaking about of God's foreknowledge, that robs God of His glory and it falls short of the revelation that God has provided for us in Holy Scripture. God graciously reveals His foreknowledge in the Old Testament where the term knowledge or the Hebrew word yadah refers to God's covenant love by which he set his affections on those he has sovereignly chosen. Consider the words that are recorded for us by the prophet Amos, referring to God's chosen people, Israel. When Amos writes in chapter three, verse two, he says, you only have I known of all the families of the earth. This is God speaking through the prophet, saying, you only, oh Israel, of all of the families of the earth, you're the only ones that I know. Now certainly this is not saying that the omniscient God who knows when a sparrow falls from its nest had no knowledge of any other people in the world besides the people of Israel. That would be ridiculous. Rather this word Yadah speaks of the covenant love through which God chose Israel out from among all of the other nations in the world and serves as an example of his electing grace. If you were to go back into Genesis chapter 4 verse 1, this same Hebrew word, yadah, to know, describes the intimate love relationship between Adam and his wife Eve. Genesis chapter 4 verse 1, now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain. And with this in mind, then it stands to reason that the knowledge of God should refer to his intimate love that he expresses towards specific individuals. And this foreknowledge of God would describe the love that God had for those individuals even before they were born. Listen to the words of Malachi, the prophet. Malachi chapter 1 verse 2 and 3. The prophet says, I have loved you, says the Lord. But you say, how have you loved us? Is not Esau Jacob's brother, declares the Lord? Yet I have loved Jacob and Esau I have hated. Now we understand from the next chapter that we'll get to in Romans, that God's love for Jacob was expressed before he was born. And the hatred for Esau was expressed before Esau was also born. So if we think that way, yada, being the love of God expressed, this foreknowing of God, the love of God that is expressed before a person is ever born or has ever done anything at all. We turn now to the book of Jeremiah where God uses the same wording where God's foreknowledge and covenant love are beautifully described to the prophet when God called him to ministry. In Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were born, I consecrated you, I appointed you a prophet to the nations. Now pulling that same meaning of Yadah from Genesis 4 to Jeremiah 1, we could rightly say that Jeremiah was loved by God before he was conceived. And in that love, God consecrated him. In that love, God appointed him as a prophet to the nations. If we look at Peter's writing in the same light, we could rightly say that the election of God's New Testament people is also based in the same special love that God had for the saints before they were born. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 1, Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. in the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood, may grace and peace be multiplied to you." Here we find that the foreknowledge of God is connected to the election of His beloved people. so my friends I would submit to you that the foreknowledge of God is the love by which God chose a people to be his very own and set them apart for the rest from the rest of humanity enabling them by the Holy Spirit to walk in the obedience of faith cleansed from all sin through the atoning work of Jesus Christ now from foreknowledge of God which describes the beginning of God's redeeming work, Paul moves immediately to predestination, which describes the final destiny of God's chosen people. He says this, he says, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined. Now the original word that Paul is using here, this original word for predestined, is the word pro-horizo. Now this prefix pro which means beforehand and the root word horizon is a word from which we get our English word horizon. Horizon when you sit on the beach and you look across the ocean and you see the farthest point where the earth is going to turn and that is the horizon. So literally, what Paul is saying here, this word means to mark out the boundaries, or to mark out the destination, to determine the outcome beforehand. So what this is telling us is that believers, as believers, Our eternal destination was determined before our journey began. From eternity past, before the creation of the world, God predestined in a display of His majestic glory that He would save a remnant of sinful humanity from the wages of their sin through the perfect life and atoning death and glorious resurrection of His own Son Jesus Christ. And having saved them, He would mark them out for a glorious future in which they would be transformed into the image of God's own Son. Now, think about this. Speaking on the day of Pentecost, Peter proclaimed the eternal decree and foreknowledge of God, whereby Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. You see, my friends, God foreknew and God decreed every detail within this great drama of redemption. And God orchestrated the events and the personalities of the players in such a way that they would accomplish the very purpose which He ordained before the foundation of the world would come to pass. In Christ, He ordained that He would come and take on human flesh, that He would dwell among us, and that He would give His life as a ransom for our sin, and that He would rise on the third day, and that He would be seated in heavenly places, glorified. So this same definite plan and foreknowledge of God whereby Christ came and died on the cross in our place has predetermined that all those who believe would be transformed into the image of Christ. And this transformation begins the moment that we are born of God. And that transformation continues to progress every day of our lives until it is finally completed on the day of the Lord. Right now, according to Paul's letter to the Corinthians, we all, we all, all who are born of God with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. But beloved, there is a day, there is a day on the horizon when this process of glorification will be finally completed. A day when we will put off this body of sin. A day when we will receive a glorious body that is eternal in the heavens. Speaking of that day, Paul writes to the Corinthians, just as we have born The image of the man from the dust and that's adam who was formed from the dust of the ground We shall also bear the image of the man from heaven christ who came the second adam who came from heaven now if we bear The image of adam now in this flesh we who believe will one day bear the image of christ fully and completely Now the purpose of this transformation is so that Christ would be the firstborn, would be the preeminent one among many brothers. And if you think about that in line of what God promised to Abraham, that his offspring would outnumber the stars of the heavens, and so it is that Christ is the preeminent one, and we are those stars that Abraham saw, the offspring of Abraham, those who would believe and be decreed righteous through faith, that is the faith of Abraham. In God's divine work of redemption, his sovereign predestination leads to his effectual call. And like predestination, God's calling is completely of His own initiative. God calls those whom He chooses. Paul makes this very clear in his letter when he's writing to his young friend Timothy, where he writes in 2 Timothy chapter 1, Now listen to verse 9. God who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of His own purpose and grace which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. His own purpose, His own grace. He called us. Now while this saving purpose of God was ordained before the ages began, His eternal plan intersects with the lives of His elect in time and space when He calls them to Himself. As I shared with you last week, When we studied verse 28, the calling that Paul refers to here in this passage is the inward, effective call of God that comes through the proclamation of the gospel. Let's remember that the outward call of the gospel, that proclamation of the gospel, goes out to all men. But as God uses that as a means of bringing those whom he has chosen to himself, then he calls, effectively calls, those whom he has chosen from before the foundation of the world to himself. He uses that outward call by bringing an inward call by the Holy Spirit to the heart of those whom he has chosen. while the gospel is declared boldly to all men. The irresistible call of God affects regeneration in those whom God has foreknown, those God has predestined for glory. The outward call is necessary. It is essential. As Paul said in chapter 10, "...how shall they believe on Him in whom they have not heard?" He's speaking of the outward call that is used of God to bring that inward call to His chosen. Now here in verse 28, again in verse 30, Paul was referring to the inward call, that irresistible call of God, which effectively draws his chosen people to himself. And remember again the words of the Lord Jesus I shared with you last week, which were, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them. This drawing is that inward call. Now turn with me to Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians and we'll consider how he describes the foreknowledge and predestination and the call of God that was active among those who believe there in Thessalonica. Chapter 2 verse 13 Paul writes and says but we ought always to give thanks to God for you brothers Beloved by the Lord because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved through Sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth To this he called you through our gospel so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ So we see that the foreknowledge of God expressed in his love and sovereign choice of these Thessalonian believers, that foreknowledge set them apart from the unregenerate population by the work of the Spirit and by belief in the truth. So we have the effective call of God, and we see that it is a call to salvation that came through the proclamation of the gospel. And that call prepared these Thessalonians for the glory that God had predestined that they should receive. Now, as we continue to scale this golden chain or ascend these stairway, this stairway of five steps of God's sovereign grace, we move from foreknowledge to predestination and from divine calling to justification. We've covered justification throughout this book of Romans. In chapter 8, verse 30, it says, those whom he called, he also justified. Now remember that justification is a one-time legal declaration in which God pardons a sinner of all of his sins. In justifying grace, God receives a repentant sinner and credits him with the perfect righteousness of Christ. God declares him to have a righteous standing now at the very moment that he or she puts their faith in Jesus Christ. And the basis of this justification is the perfect obedience and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, who became our representative when he put on flesh and came to dwell among us. Our right standing before God does not rest upon any righteousness of our own, but solely upon the righteousness of Jesus Christ that is imputed to us, that's given to us, that is credited to us by faith in Christ. Paul introduced this doctrine in chapter 3 of Romans. Let me read that just a little bit for you. Here in Romans chapter 3 beginning of verse 20 Paul says, "...for by the works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin." But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Friends, when God justifies us, it is immediate and it is complete. From the time forward, when we have been justified, we enjoy access to God through Jesus Christ, and we stand together having our feet firmly planted in the grace of God, robed in the righteousness of Christ, and rejoicing in what God has promised as a future glory. Romans chapter 5 verse 1 Therefore since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God So we see that the sure and steadfast hope of glory causes us even now to rejoice in the finished work of Christ. And with this, we come full circle to the final link in this golden chain of redemption. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. as with foreknowledge, predestination, calling, and justification. So glorification is inseparable. It's inseparable from all of the other elements of our salvation. In saying that those whom he justified, he also glorified, Paul establishes what is an unbreakable connection between our justification and our final glorification. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul made a similar connection between the effective call of God and our final glorification. When he wrote these words, he said, So we see here again that the calling of God and the final glorification are intrinsically connected. So, justification and calling both connected to glorification. Now if we know that God has called us the witness of the Holy Spirit in us whereby we cry out Abba Father the witness of the Holy Spirit in us wherein we are putting to death the deeds of the flesh and we have these things of God at work within us and we know that those who are justified he will glorified or he has already glorified as the wording really goes those who he called he's also glorified So we see that we can stand on the firm foundation of Christ and the finished work that began in eternity past. being foreknown, or as we would say now, foreloved. God loved us before the foundation of the world. And because He loved us, He set the horizon before us that His love would eventually lead to our being transformed to the image of Christ and living eternally in His glory. And in the glorious presence of the father and so it is that this chain is unbreakable This chain is sure and steadfast In the book of Philippians chapter 3 verse 20 Paul writes and as believers our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a savior the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Now here we understand that even now as blood-bought citizens of the kingdom of heaven we can anticipate a glorious day when we'll put off this body of sin. and we will put on a new body that is eternal in the heavens. And so that's what Paul tells the Corinthians as he's teaching them about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because Christ was raised from the dead so we understand that we also who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will be raised eternally with him also. First Corinthians 1551, behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. Now that all here is speaking to the saints of God, those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We will all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. for this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory." And my friends, all of the promises of God in Christ are yes and amen. The promise of our eternal glory is yes and amen in Christ. Those who have been called, those who have been justified through faith in Jesus Christ will most certainly be glorified. Let me read you one more quote, a quote from Martin Lloyd-Jones. He said this, he says, the conclusion we must draw therefore is that the act of glorification is irrevocable. It is absolutely certain. Nothing can cause it to fail. For it is the action of God. God has glorified us. And if God has glorified us, how can we ever fall from grace and salvation? How can anything ever change our position? In other words, because we are in the purpose of God, our eternal future is certain and sure. This is the Apostle Paul's way of giving us complete certainty and assurance. He says that if we are certain of our calling we can be certain of our ultimate glorification. If God has called us it means that he has justified us and if he has justified us it means that he has glorified us because if we are in any one of these positions we are in them all. They are joined together dissolubly, irrevocably, as links in a chain forged by God Himself. Oh, that we would think the way that that man thought. Friends, let's bring this to an end where we began earlier this morning. contemplating our fears and considering the assurance of our salvation in the light of God's unchanging Word. To cast off fear and to live in the confidence of our salvation, we must understand that our salvation is firmly established on the perfect life, the atoning death, and the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ alone. Romans 8, 29, and 30 is abundantly clear. Believers can live in the assurance of their salvation because God has predestined them to eternal glory. And each individual who has been called by God and justified through faith in Jesus Christ can be assured that he was loved by God before the foundation of the world and marked out ordained by God unto eternal life. This is the work of God in Christ for you who believe. If you are here this morning and you aren't sure, you're not sure that you believe. then I would call you to repent, to repent of your sin. Look at the facts that God has given to us in his word, his great love for us in which he sent his one and only son. He could have allowed us all to go parading right into the gates of hell and yet for his own glory and not because of anything that any of us have ever done, he chose in love to rescue a remnant of people that he might be glorified throughout all of eternity through those people who will be trophies of his grace monuments of his love forever displaying the wonder of who God is to the heavenly realm finally I would say Luke chapter 12 verse 32 sums it up for us in a very succinct way where Luke writes and he says, writing the words of Christ, Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. We read this these words of Christ in light of Romans 8 29 and 30 and we see we see the father's good pleasure in setting his love upon us before the world was ever created in setting out a predestined predestined glorious future for us. Whenever we found out that we were pregnant, I know I wasn't, my wife was, but whenever we found out, we began to rejoice. Rejoice at the gift of God that he'd given to us in a child. Contemplating the future that this child might have in our home. Praising God and loving that child before we ever set eyes upon him or her. Recognizing that it is God, it is God who calls for years and years and years praying that God would call our own children to himself. Proclaiming the gospel to them because we know that's the means of grace by which God calls. praying for them, asking that God, that God himself would be glorified through their lives as they yielded up to him. And so it is, and so it is, that even in having our own children and the love that we set upon them, it's just a small taste of the love that God has set upon his own children before the foundation of the world. Father we thank you. We thank you that we have been the recipients of this amazing amazing unending love. We thank you that in your divine wisdom you devised a way of salvation that had nothing to do with us because there was nothing that we could do. We were helpless we were hopeless and yet you in your love chose us and sent your son that you oh lord would be glorified and that christ christ would be the preeminent one throughout all of eternity oh lord god we praise you we give you thanks for this great salvation you've provided in christ we bless you in jesus holy name amen