Our scripture reading for today, Romans chapter three. I'm going to be reading the entire chapter, and my focus of attention is going to be verses three and four in the message. Hear now the word of the Lord, Romans chapter three. What advantage then hath the Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way, chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar. As it is written, that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. But if our unrighteousness command the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? I speak as a man. God forbid. For then how shall God judge the world? For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why yet am I also judged as a sinner? And not rather, as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say, let us do evil, that good may come, whose damnation is just. What then? Are we better than they? No. In no wise, for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous. No, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips. whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law. Here ends the reading of God's word today. May it have blessed your heart. You may be seated. As I return your attention in this ever so brief period of time to the opening verses of Romans chapter three, as I mentioned, I'll be looking at verses three and four. Although in fact, It is only God the Holy Spirit. It is only God the Holy Spirit, the ultimate author of these verses, I hope to open up to your edification and instruction, even salvation if needed. It is only the Holy Spirit that can keep you interested. It's only the Holy Spirit that can keep you interested and attentive to His holy word preached today. For if I thought that my ability to hold forth publicly the wonderful truth of the Word of God, the Holy Bible, was powerful enough to keep you attentive to the preached Word of God, I would be usurping a power that belongs only to the ultimate author of the Bible, God the Holy Spirit. And I would be a fool to think that I have the ability, because I can raise my voice and get animated, To think that I have the ability to overpower the world, your own flesh, and the devil himself, all who labor to block and hinder your believing attention to and reception of the preached Word of God today. Oh, may none of you be listening to any of these enemies of your never-dying soul as I preach to you today. But as I return your attention for this ever so brief period of time to the opening verses of Romans chapter 3, having considered the opening two verses last Sunday, where Paul addresses the fact that Old Covenant Israel had been blessed by God with being given the very oracles of God, the very words of God, even if the majority did not realize and respond correctly, that is, by believing that they had received such an amazing and glorious gift from God, and being filled with praise and thanksgiving for being given such a gift. What advantage then hath the Jew, or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way, chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. Paul knew what old covenant Israel had received from God, the very words of God. Yet the majority of old covenant Israel, especially when Jesus Christ walked on the earth, failed to realize and see the awesome blessing they had been given by God in his very words. Or I think I mentioned this last Sunday, when the Magi came down to find the Christ child, no one went with them to find Him. Even though they had the very Scriptures, they could quote, in Bethlehem of Judea, A sobering lack of faith and understanding that Paul addresses powerfully in verses 3 and 4 of Romans 3. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid! Yea, let God be true, and put every man a liar, as it is written, that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and might overcome when thou art judged. Old Covenant Israel had not seen correctly or believed that they had received this amazing gift from God in the very words of God. Shall their unbelief, shall their lack of faith in seeing and believing that they had received the very oracles of God, the very words of God, make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. Even as those professing to be Jewish today do not realize the supreme blessing they have in their possession in what is called the Old Testament. For if they were understanding and believing the portion of the Word of God they have in their possession correctly, they would all be confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and Messiah. Because what did Peter, a true believing Jew, declare to his unbelieving Jewish brethren on more than one occasion? that they showed that they had not realized the blessing or correctly believed the message revealed in the scriptures of God that they had received from God in the very oracles of God, the very words of God given to them by God, for they crucified, they crucified the very one, the very word of God showed them they needed to save them from their sins. And friends, don't fail to notice that Peter had no problem confronting his unbelieving Jewish brethren with the truth that they had crucified the one, the very oracles of God they had been blessed with by God pointed them to more than once. For what did Abraham say to Isaac in Genesis 22, 7 and 8? And he said, and Isaac spake and said unto Abraham, my father. And he said, here I am, my son. And he said, behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham said, my son, God will provide a lamb for a burnt offering. And who is that Lamb, friends? Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ. If anti-Semitism is declaring that unbelieving Jews had a hand in the crucifixion of Christ, then Peter, a believing Jew, is an anti-Semite. For notice what Peter says through his unbelieving Jewish brethren more than once is recorded by Luke in the book of Acts. Acts 2 verses 22 and 23, you men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Then after the lame man is healed in Acts chapter 3 verses 12 to 15, And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Son Jesus, whom ye delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. but she denied the Holy One and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. And then a third time, when Peter and John are brought before the authorities the next day, Acts chapter 4, and I'll read a few extra verses. Because of the comment I want to make when I reach verse 12, verses 5 to 12, and it came to pass in the morrow that the rulers and elders and scribes and Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest were to gather together at Jerusalem. And when they had set them in the midst, they asked him, by what power, by what name have you done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel. If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand before you whole. This is the stone which was set at not of you builders, which has become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." And notice, Peter, a believing Jew, had no problem confronting his unbelieving Jewish brethren with the truth that they had a hand in crucifying the Savior of the world. And the first unbelievers to hear the truth of Acts 4.12 were unbelieving Jews. And when there are those in the church of Christ in the 21st century who dare say that Jews don't need the gospel preached to them, they're heretics. And they have the blood of unbelieving Jews on their heretical words. The first unbelievers to hear the truth of Acts 4.12 were unbelieving Jews. Jews who had shown by their unbelief that they had not understood the great blessing they had received from God in His word, in His oracles that He had given them. For if they had understood this, they would not have crucified the Lord Jesus Christ." Oh, believer, if you truly confess Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior, Oh, how you have a reason. to praise and thank Him for His gift of saving faith. For if ever you wanted evidence of how soberingly disastrous to the soul of man unbelief in the truth of the Word of God is and ever will be, just consider what the ignorant unbelief of first century Jews resulted in them doing, crucifying their Messiah. And if those professing to be Jewish today truly understood and believed the blessing they have in what is called the Old Testament, as I said, they would all be confessing Christ Jesus as Lord and Messiah. But how many do? How many do, friends? Oh, the extreme folly of unbelief that is manifested, that is shown by anyone refusing to see the gift of the Lord, the gift the Lord has blessed man with in His written word. A blessing, as I sought to show last Sunday, that is being grievously denied and undermined by the widespread acceptance of corrupt and heretical theories of textual transmission and preservation, as seen in the number of almost Bibles accepted and used even in the churches claiming to be reformed. But what does Paul, under the infallible inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, do with the fact that the majority of old covenant Israel did not realize the blessing and gift they had been given and were entrusted with in what is called the Old Testament? Even as how many professing to be believers in Christ, I fear today, do not realize the blessing and the gift that the church has been given and entrusted with in the complete authoritative and sufficient written word of God, the Holy Bible, found in the providentially preserved Hebrew Masoretic text in the Old Testament and the Greek received text of the New Testament faithfully translated in the authorized or King James Version. The only English translation that should be used in the English-speaking churches today because it is the only translation commonly used in the churches that does not give any credence or support. to the corrupt and heretical theories of textual transmission and preservation displayed in the majority of almost Bibles today. But what does Paul do with the unbelief manifested by his unbelieving Jewish brethren? He answers this objection and in so doing reveals how you should be praising and thanking God for the gift of saving faith, of saving belief in the message of the Bible if you confess Christ Jesus as your only Lord and Savior in this place of public worship today. For if there is one thing that you should see that is the most dangerous thing to the never dying human soul of man, it is unbelief in the word of God. It is unbelief in the saving gospel of God. Something that Paul has no problem confronting head-on in verses 3 and 4 of Romans 3. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid! Yea, let God be true, but let every man a liar, as it is written, that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and might overcome when thou art judged. Believer, the fact that you are surrounded by unbelievers in your own family, among your friends, among your co-workers, should cause you to be asking God to have mercy on them for their wicked unbelief in the saving gospel of God. But against these soul-sobering displays of unbelief, are you praising the Lord? Are you praising the Lord for the fact that you believe the biblical and saving gospel of Christ? If you do, I pray that you do have true saving faith in Christ, for the true losers in the world today are all unbelievers who do not believe the saving gospel of Christ to the saving of their souls. Even as many of them foolishly boast of being unbelievers. Oh, how great is the blinding power of unbelief when unbelievers boast of being unbelievers. For there are no true benefits or blessings associated with unbelief. Did it help? The old covenant Jew not to believe that their Messiah had come? No. Their rejection and crucifixion of him and continued rejection of him as seen in how his believing disciples were treated led to their beloved Jerusalem being leveled by the Romans under General Titus in 70 AD. You want to see how soberingly dangerous and wrong unbelief in the saving gospel of God is and always will be? Just consider what happened to Old Covenant Israel in 70 AD. And the passionate desire of how many professing to be Jews today wanting to see a false temple rebuilt in Jerusalem is ongoing testimony to that ongoing unbelief in the saving gospel of God. despite what dispensationalists teach. You cannot misuse a gift of God and expect to be blessed by that misuse. For reading and studying the Bible and not seeing your absolute need of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to save you from your many sins is a testimony to the blinding power of unbelief, that deafening power of unbelief, that deadening power of unbelief that only God's gift of saving faith can deliver someone in the bondage of such unbelief from. For an unbeliever's display of unbelief in the saving gospel of God, friends, is not a problem for God. It's not a problem for God, as Paul powerfully declares in verses 3 and 4 of Romans 3. But it is the greatest problem of the nonbeliever, for their unbelief has blinded them from seeing how truly dangerous their unbelief in going on in sin and not believing the gospel is, unless given the faith to see how truly dangerous Unbelief in the saving gospel of God is and always will be. For unbelief, as I said, is not a problem to God, but it is a problem for every unbeliever. Why do I say this? Verses 3 and 4 of Romans 3 again. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar, as it is written, that thou might be justified in thy sayings, and might overcome when thou art judged. The unbelief you are surrounded by, believer, can't undermine or affect the true saving faith that the Lord God gives to those Christ died for in the covenant of redemption. And believer. If you truly confess Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior, believer, never stop being filled with praise and thanksgiving to God for your ability to see, for your ability to believe, for your ability to confess personally the saving gospel of Christ. For why do you see a beauty in the saving gospel of God above anything else? Because you have had your unbelieving eyes changed to see the glory of the Lord in the face of Jesus Christ. You have had your unbelieving eyes changed to see the glory the saving gospel of God. I once was blind, but now I see. How many sing that glorious gospel hymn in unbelief? If you can't put your name, your I in that statement, you're a hypocrite when you sing Amazing Grace. I once was blind, but now I see. Why, believer, do you never tire of hearing the truth of the saving gospel of God? Because you have had your unbelieving ears changed by the amazing grace and mercy of God. The unstopped ears to whom God has granted his gift of saving faith enjoys hearing and hearing again and hearing again the truth of the saving gospel of God. Tell me the old, old story. And I love so well. Why do you go to church? He's going to preach the gospel again. Praise God that he does. I need to hear it again. Tell me this story, most precious. Sweetest that ever was heard. Shall the unbelief that surrounds you and seeks to swallow you up, believer, overpower you? If you've truly believed the gospel of God, it is impossible. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. How does Paul answer the fact that believers are surrounded by unbelievers in the world? Will this make God's gift of saving faith to those for whom Christ died without effect benefit and blessing? It is impossible. For what are the first two words of verse four? After Paul broaches the subject of the sobering unbelief of his unbelieving Jewish brethren, and they're not realizing the blessing they had received from God in his very words. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? What's the next two words? God forbid. O believer, I repeat, never stop praising and thanking the Lord for true repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Will the faith that God gives to those for whom Christ died be without effect? It is impossible. God forbid. A powerful statement I will return to in a moment. But believer, face how truly disabled anyone who does not believe the saving message of the Holy Bible really is and always will be, unless the Lord grants them repentance and faith, enabling them to see their true lost condition in sin. and come from a truly regenerated heart, does cry out, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. For what does Paul tell Timothy to do in 2 Timothy 2 verses 24 to 26? And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. If God prevents you will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will. Friends, it takes the almighty power of God to deliver someone bound in unbelief by the devil. It takes the faith of God that he alone can give to someone for whom Christ died to deliver them from the soul destroying and blinding power of unbelief in the gospel. Men who boast of their unbelief in the gospel and the word of God refuse to face the true blinding and deafening power of their vaunted unbelief. And I mean no disrespect or no disrespect to or demeaning of anyone who knows the extreme trial of blindness or of deafness. or of the death of a beloved family member or friend. But all of these sobering things due to man's rebellion and rejection of God in the Garden of Eden illustrate the sobering reality of the unbelief that only foolish unbelievers boast of. Because if you were to take a blind person out on an evening, where there is a beautiful sunset. Would he be able to appreciate it with you? No. Why? He's blind. Why does the unbeliever not see the beauty of the all-glorious, saving gospel of God? Because his unbelief is blinding him to its glorious beauty. Shall the unbelief of the unbeliever make the faith of God, whereby a true believer in Christ is unable to see the glory of the Lord in the face of Jesus Christ without effect? God forbid. Oh, the wonder of the ways of the Lord. Paul saw Christ better after he was blinded by God on the Damascus road than when he had physical sight. Oh, what a blessing to every physically blind believer to know that they do not need to see Jesus with their physical eyes to see him with their eyes of faith. And oh, how many such physically blind believers, how many physically blind but seeing believers have a better sight of Jesus because their sight of him hasn't been ruined and marred by the blasphemous crucifixes and Christ-denying art acceptable in too many Reformed churches today. And I'd say that in any Reformed church. But shall the blind unbelief of the unbeliever make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. Oh, is this not your prayer to God, believer? That the Lord would grant to your unbelieving family members and friends the faith to see the beauty The glorious beauty, the awesome beauty of the saving gospel of Christ that they cannot see because of their unbelief. Second, or if you were to take a deaf person to a concert where a beautiful piece of music that has stood the test of time was being played and not the majority of contemporary noise being called music today. Would your physically deaf friend be able to appreciate and enjoy what you are hearing? No. Why? He's deaf. Why does the non-believer not hear the beauty and the all-glorious gospel message of Jesus Christ? Because he's deaf. Why doesn't he wonder and Why isn't he awed at that wonderful name given to Jesus by the angel? And thou shalt call his name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. Why they do not hear a beauty in the name of Jesus, instead use it profanely. And if you walk the streets of America, you know that name is used profanely. Jesus. Name above all names. Beautiful Savior. Glorious Lord. Emmanuel, God with us. Blessed Redeemer. Shall the unbeliever who finds no pleasure in these wonderful truths make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. Shall those for whom Christ died not enjoy singing the truths about their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, even when surrounded by unbelievers who display their unbelief on their lips by taking his glorious name in vain? God forbid. Oh, the number of times in a week you hear the Lord's glorious name taken in vain is a display of the truth that unbelief, not saving gospel belief, not saving belief in the gospel of God reigns in America today. Don't dishonor the word God by saying one nation under God. Because one nation under God would not be taking the name of God profanely. Or third, if you were to go to a graveyard of a departed friend and take something you really enjoy to eat, not Brussels sprouts, and were to try and get him to enjoy the sweetness of what you had brought. Would he be able to enjoy it with you? No. Why? Because he's physically dead. When a person finds no sweetness in the truths of the Bible and of the Lord Jesus Christ, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, how sweet. I didn't choose that hymn. I didn't choose that hymn. Somebody was reading my notes. Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take him at his word, just in simple faith. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good, but the non-believer instead mocks and ridicules the Bible and raises all kinds of foolish and futile objections against what the Bible teaches. What are they displaying? That they're dead in unbelief. They're dead in trespasses and sins. But will their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. God will always have a confessing, believing remnant of people on the earth until he returns. How large it will be is known only to him, but why does Paul tell believers alive at the return of the Lord not to worry, thus showing that there will be a believing remnant on the earth at the return of Christ? that the unbelief of the world will not make the faith of God's elect on the earth at Christ's return without effect. What does he say? 1 Thessalonians 4 verses 14 to 18. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep or go before them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. Oh believer, pray for those you know. Pray for those you know lost in the blindness, the deafness, and the deadness, and the bondage of unbelief. But don't let the devil deceive you into thinking that such unbelief will prevent the Lord granting the gift of saving faith to whomsoever he wants to, whenever he wants to. Did the fact that Saul of Tarsus was on his way to Damascus to destroy the church prevent the Lord from blinding him with the truth of what he was foolishly trying to do? No. Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. Now, before looking at what Paul writes after these two words, God forbid, unless I be accused of not dealing with mythical difficulties of how the translators of the King James Version chose to translate the opening statement of verse 4, God forbid. For Paul uses a two-word phrase in the Greek. That is the two Greek words that he uses nine other times in Romans. Once in 1 Corinthians and three times in Galatians. Luke uses it once in his gospel. And this is the first time this two word phrase is used by Paul in his letter to the Romans and is actually reinforced by the third word of the verse. The same word as the second word of the verse, but in a different form. But if you were to use Strong's Concordance or the online Blue Line Letter Bible program, you would find that the Greek word for theos, God, at the beginning of verse 4, or the other 14 times this great phrase is translated as God forbid in the authorized version, is not there. When God the Holy Spirit infallibly inspired Paul to write what he does ten times in his letter to the Romans, translated God forbid, he moved Paul to use the most powerful way in Koine Greek, the Greek Paul wrote Romans in, to express something negatively. He wanted his Greek understanding readers to understand how impossible the presence of unbelieving Jews was to the working of faith in those Christ died for. And simply saying no would not capture the force of what the Holy Ghost wanted Paul to express. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? No. A simple no is not adequate to the words that Paul uses. Paul is not simply expressing a simple negation. He is expressing something very negatively. For example, If a waitress comes up to you and asks you, do you want a cup of coffee? What would the simple negative response be? No. But what if you wanted to express your extreme dislike of coffee because you don't think it was good for you? You want a cup of coffee? God forbid. The waitress would clearly know you didn't want any and would tell her coworkers don't ask that zealot in birth booth three if he wants any coffee. Paul is not simply expressing a simple negation. He is using the strongest Greek phrase for negation. How do you translate that into English? With a simple no? No. God forbid. God forbid. Is the unbelief of a sinner going to prevent or hinder or stop God from granting them his gift of saving faith if it is his good pleasure to do so? God forbid. Yea, let every man be a liar. Let God be true. God is faithful to His Word, to His Son. The Father sent His Son into this world to die for the sinners given to Him in the covenant of redemption to die for. And He died for them in the fullness of time. And God the Holy Spirit is going to deliver those Christ died for from their soul-destroying unbelief and sin when He regenerates them and rescues everyone for whom Christ died from their soul-deadening, soul-blinding, soul-deafening unbelief. For I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed unto him against that day. Let God be true, but every man a liar. Let every foolish non-believer on the face of the earth deny the truth of the saving gospel of God. Let every foolish non-believer on the face of the earth say that the one and only saving gospel of God found in the Bible is not the only saving message given by God, whereby a dying sinner man must be saved. But is this display of their wicked unbelief going to change the truth that the saving gospel of God found in the scriptures is mankind's only hope of salvation and acceptance with God? Is it going to turn that truth into a lie? No, God forbid. It will never happen. It will never come into existence. And every true confessing believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is a testimony to how the false and dangerous How false and dangerous this popular soul-destroying lie is and always will be, because what does every truly saved sinner freely and without hesitation confess and believe? What do you freely and without hesitation confess and believe? If you're a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, dear, this day, what do you unashamedly confess? Salvation is of the Lord and not man. Salvation is due to the finished work of Christ alone, received by faith alone, to the glory of God alone, according to the scriptures alone. And every man, woman, boy, and girl who has lived, is living, or will yet ever live, will see this truth on the day no one will miss, the day of final judgment, where the truth of the one and only saving gospel of Christ will be understood, not only by those who savingly believed it in time, but those who did not. Yea, let God be true, but at every man a liar, as it is written, that thou might be justified in thy sayings and might overcome when thou art judged. No one on judgment day will be able to say that the saving gospel of Christ was not the only way of salvation. All will know it to their everlasting joy or to their everlasting sorrow. that they believe the one message given by God whereby we must be saved or did not believe it. What will this most certain of days reveal about you and reveal about me? Are you praising and thanking God for his gift of saving faith in the one and only Savior of this sin-cursed, unbelieving world? Or are you not? There is no third option. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Will a world of unbelievers make God's gift of saving faith to those for whom Christ died without effect? God forbid. Are you a living testimony to the truth that God saves sinners by faith alone, in Christ alone, and all the glory goes to God alone? I pray that you are. Let us pray. O Lord, our God, what an amazingly gracious, merciful God you are to enable your people to say, O Lord, our God, thank you for the gift of faith in your Son. And may we be ever praising you for it. In Jesus' name.