And if you have a Bible, I'd like to invite you to turn with me to John chapter 6. I'd like to consider this passage once more with you, especially the last part. But once again, we will take this as the starting place and consider more broadly the teaching of our Lord Jesus in his evangelistic message. on our human inability and the corruption of our hearts, minds, and desires, and consciences through sin. Here in John chapter 6, the Lord has made his appeal to the people in so many ways to come to him to have life. I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger. He who Believes in Mishel, never thirsts, and it is that which is offered freely to all. And yeah, we pick up here in chapter 6, we'll take it here from verse 57. As the Living Father has sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. For he who eats this bread will live forever." These things he said in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. Therefore, many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, This is a hard saying. Who can understand it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples complained about this, he said to them, Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life, but there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and who would betray him. And he said, Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by my Father. From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, Do you also want to go away? But Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered them, Did I not choose you? The twelve and one of you is a devil. He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray being one of the Twelve. Amen. Let's pray once more. Gracious Father, we pray that you would give us an understanding of this teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, the difficult matters, these sayings which were the cause of so many of the disciples at that time turning back and walking with him no more, and yet also the cause of those disciples who understood being much humbled and committing themselves to the only one who has the words of life, that who is the Son of God who has ascended to your right hand. O Father, this doctrine is destined to be to some a stumbling block and a rock of offense and destined by others to be the revelation of that precious cornerstone on whom we have built our faith. And so we pray that we might be in that second category all and understand your will for us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Brothers and sisters, in the days of Elijah the prophet, there was hardly anyone that you could anticipate being saved less likely to find God's grace. the Naaman, the Syrian general. Syria was Israel's arch enemy, a people that had been at war with Israel. It was the world's superpower in the day, bent on conquest. And at the head of that conquest, at the head of the action against Israel, was a man named Naaman. a man who had no humble bones in his body, a man who was a leper. And yet even as a leper, when he was told that there was a prophet in Israel who would be cleansed, who could clean him, make him clean, he was angry when he heard how he was going to be cleansed. He was very angry that he was not going to be cleansed in the way he wanted, in a more spectacular and dignified way. And yet it was to this man, this unlikely man, that God's grace came in those days. And I find that very encouraging because, friends, there is no one beyond the reach of God's grace. There is no one that has such hardness of heart that we are surrounded by, perhaps, or even among our friends and family. There is no one whose heart is so hard that it cannot be subdued by the mighty, sovereign, free grace of God. No heart is too hard to be melted by the Spirit of God. And so perhaps if you're here tonight and you felt my heart is so hard, I just don't know if there's any hope for me. My sin goes far too deep. My hardness is helpless. If you've ever had that thought, you can take courage in Naaman because God has power to bring every heart into his kingdom. Now, due to an interesting turn of events and some political intrigue, this name in the Syrian, I say, he goes to the prophet Elisha for healing. And he comes with this great entourage and a fortune in gold and silver and other things. And he rides down the street in regal splendor with horses and chariots and a fortune in his train. And when he arrives at the prophet's door and knocks there, The prophet won't even go out to see him. He just sends a messenger saying, this is what Elijah says, go wash in the Jordan seven times and you'll be clean and restored. Close the door. Here is the second most powerful man in the world standing outside the prophet's door. A man whose pride could easily have caused him just to level Elijah's house and the whole city in a second. Elijah won't even get up from his desk. He won't meet him at the door. And you may say, why would Elijah treat Naaman this way? Why would he offend his pride so fully? The Prophet, you see, was going to make a very important point to Naaman, which was essential, perhaps not for his healing, but for his salvation. And here it is. You are not in any position to demand anything of God. Naaman, you can't tell God how you want to be healed. God doesn't need your money. God doesn't want anything from you. You cannot command God. You cannot buy your deliverance. Naaman, you think that you have got a lot to offer God? You think God needs you? The truth is you need Him. And this fortune that you brought with you and all your royal officials means nothing before Him. Naaman was, of course, used to being in a position where he dictated everything in life. There was nothing else that he didn't have control of. It was his decision how he could dispose of his hundreds and thousands of men, how he should dispose of his fortunes, how he would organize his household and servants. But God had sent Naaman something that he could not control, his leprosy. And God was showing them that in the real issues of life, Naaman was not in control. but dependent upon God. And God had his prophet in this way pointed out to him in order that it might begin to melt his heart. For God had a bigger purpose, not just to heal the man, which he did, but to expose the fact that Naaman needed God. God was in charge. God was the one who is sovereign. And if Naaman was ever going to be saved, he had to learn who God was, and he had to learn who he was, and take a different posture. He had to puncture his pride and self-importance. Naaman was not in any position to dictate to God the terms of his healing. His only plea was for mercy. He couldn't even pay. He simply had to humble himself before the Lord. Now, when Naaman heard this word, if you know the story, he was furious. He could have gone on any pilgrimage or gone and fought any battle. He wanted to do something great. If he had to dunk in a river, he said, why couldn't I dunk in that nice clean river, Parfar, back home? Why dunk in the muddy Jordan? He was greatly offended because he wanted to be healed in a great way or to do something great for which he would receive healing. But we read in 2 Kings 5 that his servants came near and spoke to Naaman and said, My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then when he says to you, wash and be clean? So Naaman went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. And then, if you remember the story, not only was he cleansed from his leprosy, his heart was broken. And he came back to the house of Elisha, a completely different man, humbled, saved, gracious, saying, there is no God on earth except for this God. And he asks the favor of taking some cartloads of earth back that he might have some land of Israel on which he might kneel and give thanks to the God of heaven and earth. The lesson being for Naaman that God gives grace to the humble, but resist the proud. For Naaman to receive grace, he first had to pour contempt on all his pride." And so you see the wisdom of God in having his prophet be so rude to him, in pointing out that he's really in no position to claim anything or to dictate anything to God, that he could bring nothing to God. that he would simply have to receive mercy. Can you see the wisdom of healing him in such a way that his pride would be affriended, that his desperate situation would become clear, and that he would at last realize that he could contribute nothing but had holy to receive mercy, and that in a humble way. Well, if you can see God's wisdom in dealing with Naaman, all this by way of introduction, You can see the wisdom of our Lord saying in his evangelistic message so strongly in so many ways in this section. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. No one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by my Father. All that the Father gives to me will come to me." And how in these and many other words he speaks words that are words of healing and yet words that are intended to cut the pride of man down to the ground, to expose man's true condition, to show that man is not at all in the place of demanding anything or bringing anything to God or doing anything for which he would be rewarded. that he must completely rely upon God's mercy. This is the doctrine that goes by the name, at least in the 20th century, perhaps not the best name, but I think we're stuck with it for the moment, total depravity. The doctrine that men are by nature hostile toward God and unwilling to come to God until he makes them joyfully willing. This taught not only in some of the verses I just mentioned, but all throughout the Bible. particularly by our Lord in the Gospel of John in his evangelism, John 8, 43. Why don't you understand my speech? Because, he says, you are not able to listen to my word. He who is of God hears God's words, and therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God. Do you think that's a very strange thing to say in evangelism? That you can't come to God unless it is granted to you? That you can't even understand the word unless you are of God? A strange thing. John 10 verse 26 and 27, you do not believe because you are not of my sheep. As I said to you, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. A strange thing. Unless it's your purpose to show people their true condition and to humble them before the Lord. Now, by way of review, some people say that the doctrines of sovereign grace, as they are called, just stifle evangelism. If you believe that God is sovereign, well, why would you bother evangelizing? If they're going to be saved, they're going to be saved no matter what. And we said this is a ridiculous doctrine. We don't hold this in any case in any of our We believe that God is sovereign over the harvest and yet doesn't stop us from planting because the God who's ordained the end has ordained the means. And we said in every other way, this is a foolish objection and not at all taught in the Bible. The doctrines of grace certainly don't stifle evangelism. And other people have said, like Dr. J.I. Packer, that the doctrines of grace are an encouragement to evangelism. And we said, oh, that's certainly true. Gave several examples from the Bible of that. But I went even further and said, not only that, the doctrines of grace are a tool for evangelism, a tool that is used to humble the pride of man. You don't need it for the woman at the well. You don't have to bring out the big guns for her. But for the namens of the world, for the Nicodemuses of the world, for the people who begin to murmur and will not accept the word of our Lord Jesus, for the people whose pride is standing in the way of their salvation, the doctrines of grace are a mighty tool, revealing to man his true condition, that you don't have the key to the jail cell of your sins. God is holding it, and you need to cast yourself on mercy You don't hold the cards. You must confess that salvation is all of the Lord. These doctrines, as I showed you also, have been used mightily, in times of revival especially, to bring many people to the Savior. This message, which does sound strange, I think, especially to modern ears, prevents a kind of evangelism where people never have to bow the knee. Now what I'd like to do today, moving forward, is to show you that not only is this a doctrine, total depravity, not only is this a doctrine that is useful in the Bible for evangelism, as we've said, but also very, very useful in discipleship. It has an importance in making converts, yes, but it has a very important use in making the kind of converts that the Father seeks. And I'd like to run with you fairly briefly, not at length at all, through six different ways that this doctrine is used in the Bible in order to help us now, as Christians, to live a proper Christian life as the disciples of Jesus. Sorry, no notes all that today. Have to do without them and make your own, but let's start with Depravity and humility. One that I've already referred to in many ways, but depravity and humility. As I've already indicated, total depravity is a doctrine that humbles us. It humbles us at the point of conversion. And friends, my point to you today is, it still humbles us. It compels us even now, as Christians, to say with Paul, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells. It is the death of self-reliance. It compels us to say with Paul, a few verses later, O wretched man that I am. It is a doctrine that continues to be useful to God's people, to bring them a sense of proper humility, that we would not only remember who God is, but who we are, that he has saved people, people who are still in their flesh, rebellious. There's a new principle at work in us by the Spirit, he goes on to say, and that which has victory, nevertheless, we must still confess that we are a people marked with a scarlet T. Total depravity. All right. Now, instead of making us feel good about ourselves or proud about ourselves, instead of feeding our, I don't know, what's the modern thing here? Self esteem, thank you so much. This has the opposite effect. It does make us feel a true humility, a gospel humility. And perhaps not surprisingly, in our age of self-esteem, contemporary evangelism and preaching does politely ignore this doctrine. And, you know, if you're trying to market the gospel to the broadest possible audience, we might assume that we might lose some sales by telling the customers that you're all totally depraved. So we might tend to skip over this doctrine and tailor our message to say something more positive, right? Norman Vincent Peale, right? Perhaps the power of positive thinking? Personally, I find Peale appalling, but Paul appealing. Well, so quietly we de-emphasize the bad news of the depravity of our nature. And the result of this is that we do believe that we have something special of goodness and worth, spiritually speaking, within. The truth of this doctrine is that every faculty of our humanity is tinged with the stain and corruption of sin. Or in the words of Romans 3, we considered last time, sin affects our throat, our tongue, our lips, our mouths, our feet, and our eyes. That is to say, all the parts of us. It's pervasive like a drop of poison in a glass of water. Not that the whole glass is poison, of course. Not that the whole life of every individual is as bad as it could be. That's definitely not the doctrine. But it does mean that our intellect, our will, our emotions, our desires, every part of us is affected. So that just as Adam in the garden felt that perhaps God was not so good and that his word was not so wise, that the judgment might not come and that the devil was worthy to be obeyed and so forth, that man has inherited this nature. to do the same. In every part of us, sin affects all that we do now, and what we approve and what we disapprove of. Romans 1 verse 32. It has the effect on our consciences of searing and hardening them. 1 Corinthians 8 verse 7. Even our good deeds and our virtues are defiled by our sins. Isaiah 64, 6. And the Bible, therefore, describes us as spiritually dead, blind to the glory of God in Christ. No one does good. No one seeks after God. There is none righteous, no not one. The fear of God is not in them. And so, apart from the regenerating work of the Spirit, we are still dead and blind and unwilling to come to God. And so, this is a doctrine, I've already belabored it too much, that brings us humility. A very good virtue for a Christian and a simple Christian at that. Why? Well, especially in light of our second point, depravity and dependence. If we have so little trust in ourselves, it causes us, therefore, to cling to the Lord. to reach out to Him and to say with the psalmist in Psalm 119, Lord, hold me up and I shall be safe. 119 verse 117, Lord, hold me up and I shall be safe. Or what is the hymn that we sing of Robert Robertson? Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here is my heart. Oh, take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. We say, Lord, we know that in our flesh nothing good dwells. Lord, You preserve us. Lord, we depend upon You. The knowledge of the truth of this produces a complete, humble dependence on God and a spirit of prayer. It teaches us that we are not only dependent on God for the first step of our salvation, but for every step, for all spiritual life and health, not in our conversion merely, but every step of the way. And therefore, we should take warning that we are still In us, the deceitfulness of sin dwells. Remember how Jesus tells Peter, Peter, watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. There are these two contrary principles in you, Peter. And Peter, if you are to stand in light of the temptations coming, you need to go with the spirit. You need to watch and pray. lest you fall into temptation. You need to depend upon the Lord in light of what is in you. So although the reign of sin over us as regenerate people has been broken by Christ, we still remain utterly dependent upon God, both for forgiveness and our daily sanctification. Here's a nice quote from Thomas Watson, if you'll allow me. Let original sin make us walk with continual jealousy and watchfulness over our hearts. The sin of our nature is like a sleeping lion. The least thing that awakens it makes it rage, though the sin of our nature seems quiet and lies as fire hid under the embers. Yet, if it be a little stirred and blown up by a temptation, how quickly it may flame forth into scandalous evils. Therefore, we need to always watch carefully. I say to you all, watch." Mark 13.37. A wandering heart, needs a watchful eye." So, depravity and humility. The flip side, depravity and dependence. We move on to depravity and compassion. Depravity and compassion. When Peter did fall that night, after you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren. This is going to be a use to you to be able to strengthen others. Your fall is going to make you a more useful, humble, compassionate, effective minister of God's grace. You will be able to strengthen others after you have fallen from me. And if the doctrine of total depravity teaches us watchfulness in relation to our sins, it teaches us compassion in relation to the sins of others. Christians who hold to this vigorous doctrine of total depravity will understand that we are not morally superior to anyone, oh, maybe by a little bit here or there, but that we are not, therefore, to think that we are someone or to boast in ourselves. In fact, ordinarily, the Lord is pleased to call people who are, all things considered, more sinful, in order that his grace might shine more clearly in them." Paul, the primary example of this. Countless others I could give you in the Bible. Some good moral people, plenty of sinners who will display God's grace. Well, John Bradford, was once passing a group of criminals, led out to their execution. And the reformer, English reformer, John Bradford, is recorded as saying, but for the grace of God, there goes John Bradford. And there was a man who did understand this doctrine of depravity. He understood that what separates me and that person is entirely God's grace. And this is the intention of the scripture in this doctrine. 1 Corinthians 4 verse 7, Who makes you to differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? And if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? Or you remember Paul's instructions to Timothy. Timothy, the servant of the Lord, must not quarrel, but he must be gracious, gentle, able to teach, if perhaps God will grant them repentance. You must not argue with people in an incompassionate way. Jonathan Edwards writes, "...this doctrine teaches us to think no worse of others than of ourselves. It teaches us that we are all, as we are by nature, companions in a miserable, helpless condition, under which a revelation of divine mercy tends to promote universal compassion." Compassion. the practice of our evangelism, depravity and evangelism. In our evangelism, the doctrine of total depravity is a reminder that conversion is a supernatural work of the Spirit of God. That is to say, we are completely powerless. to say anything that will convert anyone, that no one will repent and believe apart from God, and that we are as likely to be born again as we are to reenter our mother's womb and to be born, as Nicodemus puts it in John 3. More about this later when we talk about effectual calling, but it does remind us in our evangelism that what we are doing is that we are simply giving the word that God has given that he is doing a mighty work. And this should encourage us because the work is his and not ours. Fifth, depravity and ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism. What is that? You know what the word ethnocentrism means? It means believing that your race or ethnic culture is superior to others. It's something that even still lingers in the world of Christians, though it should not. But for a time, God had chosen to work in the world through a certain people whom he had chosen, namely the Jews, the seed of Abraham. But rather than making that people humble before God, that he had chosen them, as he explained, it's not because you were so great, but because the Lord loves you. Rather than making them humble and thankful, it tended to promote pride in them. And the fact that they were God's chosen people didn't lead them to boast in God, but eventually to boast in themselves and to thank the Lord that they were not as other men. They were special people, as circumcised people. And God is the God of the Jews. Now, Paul uses this doctrine in Romans 3 as soon as he goes down the list of total depravity and says that all are alike under sin. He concludes, what then, are we better than they? Are we Jews better than the Gentiles? Not at all. For we have previously charged that both Jews and Greeks, that they are all alike. under sin. And therefore this is the destruction of ethnocentrism. that no one can boast that they are any better than anyone, the Jews over the Gentiles or anyone else. Here says Paul, therefore, there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and is in all. And we are God's chosen people, therefore, holy and beloved. Therefore, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, There is no more place for racism or ethnocentrism, for God has demolished these long-held animosities and divisions and the spirit of pride, one people over another. Well, we were in the right here, and you were in the right here, and we did this, and you did that. The doctrine of total depravity says that we have all fallen short of the glory of God and that God has been gracious and merciful to all of us. And if there is to be any reconciliation or peace or hope among the nations, I think the total depravity is going to have to have something to do with it because the Bible teaches that this being preached and reflected in the church will bring down the dividing wall of hostility. that Jews will not boast against Greeks or Scythians or Parthians against slave or free but Christ is all and is in all and therefore it is the end of ethnocentrism as preached by Paul in Romans 3 and Colossians 3. Sixth, and finally, this doctrine is useful to us in worship. I already covered this in our previous sermon. I'll simply add this in. Not only does it have us praise God for His mercy in our salvation, we praise Him for keeping us and for blessing us with mercy and grace even to this day. David Brainerd, the great missionary to the Native Americans, he said this of the great revival in 1745 about what he preached to such great effect, those doctrines which had the most direct tendency to humble the fallen creature. to show him the misery of his natural state, to bring him down to the foot of sovereign mercy, and to exalt the great Redeemer. These were the subject matter of what was delivered. These things which bring men down to the foot of sovereign mercy, then cause all to exalt the great Redeemer." So, You might, though, after hearing all this, say, OK, well, I appreciate this doctrine has some practical use. I still don't know if it's wise to bring it out before anyone. You might be tempted to ask the question, wouldn't this make people less likely to believe, to tell people that their natural fallen condition is so blind and hard that it's entirely of God's mercy and that you can't even have faith with the gift of God. you might say that it would make people less likely to believe. It might make men more likely to believe if man was put in the place of sovereignty and God was put in the passenger seat. Isn't the message given basically, look, it's up to you. If you do this, then God will do that. You're in control. What does he say? That God has cast a vote for you, the devil against you, and now it's up to you and so forth. Wouldn't this make people less likely to believe? And that is, I think, a fair question. And that really is the psychology of all this. This is what's behind the fact that it's not preached like Jesus preached. That the evangelistic messages that are heard from the pulpit are different from that of our Lord Jesus. I ran into a man who's a professor of religion over at Radford University. He's doing his PhD work on Robert Dabney. He himself was trained a Methodist. And he said, I don't understand Dabney. He believes in evangelism, but then he believes in all these doctrines of sovereign grace and election and predestination and all that. He says, you're a Presbyterian. Can you explain this to me? And I turned him to a couple places in John, including John chapter six. And I said, well, you see how our Lord is preaching His evangelistic message. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And right in the same passage, of course, the one who comes to me I will in no wise cast out. Here is our Lord preaching the doctrines of grace in evangelism in the same breath. Now I said to him, have you ever heard preaching like that? He said no. I said, alright, well maybe you have a hard time understanding how they fit together, but first I want you to see that in the Bible that they fit together. He said, alright, I do see that. I don't understand how they work, but I do understand that they are there. And I said, well all we're trying to do in the Presbyterian Church is to preach Jesus' gospel. And not to explain all the mysteries, but to be able to give what he says. But the question that's still lingering in his mind, and the question that maybe lingers in others' mind, is this going to turn people off? Wouldn't this make people less likely to believe? Wouldn't this offend people? And that is not the right question. Because I do think that if you leave out these difficult doctrines, people would be more likely to respond positively to your message. In fact, I think that you could water it down so much that practically anybody might respond to it. Even the devil might say, oh, it doesn't sound so bad. The question is not, what would make people more or less likely to believe? The right question, where I started off today, is, what would make people biblical Christians? What will make people more likely to glorify God and be thankful? To be more humble? To be more watchful? To be more devoted to their God and Savior at all times? And so forth. I'm not asking would the message make more converts. I'm asking would it make the kind of converts that God desires. And to answer that question, I'd like to give you some J.I. Packer. Although he quotes, I'm afraid, almost no scripture, I think he understands the matter very clearly. And this elder statesman of the church is able to give some perspective and say some things that perhaps I won't be able to say. So let me read you his analysis briefly as we conclude. The Old Gospel has... Excuse me, let me back up for a second here. What is the result of preaching the gospel by leaving out the doctrines of grace? This position has two unhappy results. The first is, it makes us misunderstand the significance of these gracious invitations of Christ. Not as expressions of tender patience of a mighty sovereign, but the pathetic pleadings of impotent desire. And so the enthroned Lord is changed into a weak and futile figure, tapping forlornly at the door of the human heart, one that he is powerless to open. This is a shameful dishonor, writes Packer, to the Christ of the New Testament. The second implication is equally serious, for this view, in effect, denies our dependence on God when it comes to the most vital decisions. It tells us that we are, after all, just what sin taught us that we were. The masters of our fate, the captain of our souls, And it undermines the very foundation of our relationship to our Maker. We can hardly wonder that the converts of the New Gospel are both irreverent and irreligious. This is the natural tendency of the teaching. The Old Gospel, however, speaks very differently and has a different tendency. On the one hand, in expounding man's need of Christ, it stresses something that the New Gospel ignores, that sinners cannot obey the Gospel any more than the law without the renewal of heart. On the other hand, in declaring Christ's power to save, it proclaims Christ as the author and chief agent of conversion, coming by His Spirit as the gospel goes forth to renew men's hearts and draw them to Himself. Accordingly, in applying the message, the Old Gospel, stressing that faith is man's duty, also stresses that faith is not in man's power. but that God must give what he commands. It announces not merely that men must come to Christ for salvation, but also that they cannot come unless Christ himself draws them. Thus, he concludes, it labors to overthrow self-confidence. to convince sinners that their salvation is altogether out of their hands, and to shut them up to a self-despairing dependence on the glorious grace of our sovereign Savior, not only for their righteousness, but also for their faith, too. Amen. Let us pray together. Our gracious Father, You sought us when we were strangers, Then we were sheep wandering from the fold of God, as we sang earlier this evening. Seek your servant, a straying sheep. For all we, like sheep, had gone astray. Everyone had turned to his own way. But you have laid our iniquity on Christ. But you have sent that Good Shepherd to seek us out. You have called us and found us. And by Your grace, we have returned to that shepherd and overseer of our souls. Bring us again, we pray, to that wonderful and glorious Savior. Prone to wander, Lord, we feel it. Prone to leave the God that we love. Here is our heart. Seal it for Your courts above. Lead us again to cling to Him, to live in Him, to lay hold of Him. We would see the King in His glory and beauty, the majesty of His love and the generosity of His grace. We pray that we would decrease and that He would increase. We pray that you would give us a new spirit of dependence, of worship, a new confidence in evangelism, and a healthy reminder of that glorious grace that our self-despairing dependence upon ourselves might give way to our confidence in a sovereign Savior, not only for righteousness, but for faith itself. O Lord, we believe. Help our unbelief. We pray it for Christ's sake. Amen.