Friends, take your Bible with, if you will, turn with me this morning to Ephesians 1, verse 19. Ephesians 1, verse 19. Our sermon text this morning will be Ephesians 1, 19 to verse 21. Ephesians 1, verse 19 to verse 21. Friends, the title of this morning's sermon, Sovereign, Unfailing, might, sovereign, unfailing might. Ephesians 1 verse 19, friends, the word of God says, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of His great might, that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. Dear ones, this is the Word of God. be to God. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank You for Your Word. For by Your Word, You reveal Yourself to us. You declare to us Your nature, Your character, Your purposes. You reveal to us the glory of Your Son. And we thank You, Father, for the treasure of Your Word. We pray that You would send Your Spirit this morning to equip to enable, to enlighten our minds to these truths, and we pray as you take these truths from our minds that you would set them aflame in our hearts. Stir us, Father, we pray, by your Spirit, to more love, adoration, and thanksgiving to you. Teach us to trust your sovereign and unfailing might and to live for your glory today and for as many days as you have appointed for us. For you, O Lord, reign. Father, all this we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Dear ones, trust, trust God who preserves his people in the same sovereign, unfailing power by which he raised Christ from the dead unto eternal glory. Friends, the very first line of sacred Scripture, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep and the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. Friends, God created the world by sovereign effectual might, sovereign power. Of His own infinite being, of His own super almighty strength, God spoke, and at the word of His command, things which did not exist came into being. He commanded that there be light, and there was light. Friends, this is sovereign might. We see this in creation. Friends, we create things, do we not? We build a house, but we need resources. We need wood, we need stone, we need metal, and more than that, we need tools. We need hammers and saws, we need screwdrivers, all manner of implements. We need labor, strength, energy. All of this we cobbled together to create, to build something like a house, but God needed none of that. At His own word of command, by this sovereign effectual might, He brought into existence the things which did not beforehand exist. Friends, all throughout sacred Scripture, we see one thing. very clearly that the Lord God who is is the Lord God who reigns. He is the Lord God omnipotent. Omni meaning all, potent, power, all power. He reigns. Friends, in its most simplest sense, what this means is this. Everything which God intends to bring about, He is able to do. All that God wills, He is able to accomplish. Even according to the very means that He has appointed. Friends, We serve a God who reigns and rules. And friends, what Paul's going to do in this section is he's going to take these doctrines that we all affirm, every Christian will affirm that God is sovereign and he has all power, but he's gonna take it from here to here. He's gonna take it from the abstract down to the practical. How does this sovereignty impact the life of believers? And friends, what I'm gonna set before you today is that it should lead you to trust God. to believe and hope in Him, these truths of His sovereign effectual might ought to be fuel on the fire of your devotion that this God who raised Christ from the dead has raised you from spiritual death unto spiritual life. And if He is able to raise Christ and enthrone Christ, He is able to save, to keep, and to preserve you unto glory so you can live today with absolute joy and confidence in your God. So friends, as we look at the text, we look now at verse 19. Now remember, this is a section of verses 15 down to verse 23, and this is Paul's prayer. Remember, Paul said, Church of Ephesus, I've heard all about you. Reports are coming to me from every corner about your love for the saints and your faith. in Christ Jesus, and I have rejoiced as I have heard these. And in my heart, Paul says, I pray for you. Out of my love for you, I pray for you. And he begins to list all of these prayers. This is a sample. It's not everything Paul prays for the church, but these are three things that Paul is desperately pleading that God the Father would do for the church at Ephesus and would do for the church universal. These are the same prayers that we ought to pray for our church, and in fact, I would say these are the very prayers that Christ himself prays for the Father as our high priest and intercessor. What does he pray? Well, he prays that the Father would give us his Spirit by which we have been born again and by which we are being sanctified. The Spirit of God takes the things of Christ and makes them known to us. The Spirit reveals the truth of God, the glory of the Father in the face of Jesus Christ. So he prays for the Spirit to equip, enable, embolden, and empower the church. We are completely dependent upon the Spirit of God to prepare, to motivate, to lead us into all truth. But these truths, as we saw last week, are Having been the eyes of our hearts enlightened, we might know the hope to which God has called us and the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints. And here's the third particular petition, 19, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe? Now remember, Paul is writing under the inspiration of God, the Holy Spirit. So as Paul is sitting here writing, God is delivering this word to Paul, and Paul, out of the joy, the love of his heart, he is writing the very words that at this moment he must write, he wants to write. These words are flowing from his pen, and he says, and he begins to describe the power of God. And what is the immeasurable greatness of His power? Immeasurable. Now, this is a verb, an action of quantifying, of ascertaining the dimensions of something. We discern properties of particular things. We look at height, depth. We look at width, length. this measuring, but here Paul says that this power of God is immeasurable. It can't be quantified. You can't put it in a box. You can't begin to grasp all of it. Now, friends, sometimes things are immeasurable, and it's because they're so insignificant, so little. Friends, you know, in manufacturing, they talk about trace elements, right? You make something, and it's like, well, you know, there could be this little bit of that, or this and that. And if they're in small enough quantities, they're insignificant. They don't really cause any problems. These are trace elements. So, is Paul here saying that God's power is so immeasurable, it's so little, it's so inconsequential that we ought not to even worry about it? No. Paul says, the immeasurable greatness. Now that word greatness is speaking of the glory. It's speaking of the some power to subject, or having control over. In other words, this is subjecting, ruling, sovereign power. As we see in Hebrews 2, verse eight, where the author of Hebrews is speaking of the authority which the father vested in his son, that God has put everything in subjection. under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him." So this power which Paul ascribes to God is the power to subject, to control, to have dominion over. Friends, when we talk about this might of God, this sovereign power, it's a might that is comprehensive. that God is ruling over all things. Even that word for power there. We get the word dynamite. We get the word dynamic speaking. This is the ability to affect or to do work. Friends, remember when the Bible speaks of the sovereign power of God, simply put, it means that God is able to do and to bring about all that He wills. He orders the end from the beginning and all the means in between. Not only does God have the sovereign power to bring every promise He has made to you to pass, but He is able to do it by any means which He so desires. So friends, Paul wants us to understand that the power which God has is immeasurably great. He rules all things completely and altogether. But how does he wield that? Paul says that he is wielding that sovereign effectual might for those who believe, for the church, for the disciples. Friends, we've spoken in the past that The goodness of God and the sovereign power of God actually go hand in hand. And it's only because we know God is both good and sovereign that we can trust him when he makes a promise. If God were good, we could believe that when he made us a promise, he intended to keep it. If God were good, we know that he has no deceit. The Bible even says God can't lie. God always speaks the truth. God is good. But friends, if God were only good, but he was not wielding and ruling the world with sovereign power, Because there could be some matter molecule in the universe, something outside the reign and control of God that could destroy the best laid plans and purposes. But friends, it's because God is wholly good and wholly sovereign that you can say, Lord God, when you make a promise, I can believe it. I can treasure it. I can hold on to it. When you say to me, Father, that all those who repent and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, you will save, Father, I know that's true. Father, if you make a promise to me that you are working all things together, the good, the bad, the ugly, the pain and the pleasure for your glory and my good, Then I can say, Father, even though I can't see how that might be in this moment, I know that it must be so. Friends, for the church, God wields his sovereign, unthwartable might for our ultimate benefit. Friends, we talk in theology of the providence of God, the doctrine of concurrence. Concurrence means con, with, current. You think of a river current alongside. That God even uses concurrence. and ordains the evil that he hates for the good that he will bring out of it to his glory. I'll give you a text. This is Acts 2, 22 to 24. Remember, Peter is preaching at Pentecost. He's preaching a sermon, and he's describing how the sovereign purpose of God to bring of sinful men. These sinful men did what they wanted to do. They crucified Christ, but in so doing, unknowingly, unwittingly, they were the agents, the instruments of the divine purpose. Look at Acts 2, 22 to 24. Peter says, men of Israel, Hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know, this Jesus, notice what he says, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. What is Peter saying? Peter's saying, according to the definite plan, that is God from all eternity said, my son, this is the hour of your passion. This is the hour of your betrayal. This is the hour of your death. This has been ordained. It's been on the calendar of God from all eternity. And Christ says, yes, I will come and live and die for my people. And the Spirit says he will apply that redemption in the fullness of time. It was set in stone before the foundation of the world. And God knows it because he decreed it. But look at the next part. You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. Look, Peter looks at the people in Jerusalem and he says, you're guilty, friends, of crucifying the Lord of glory. You are guilty before a holy, eternal, sovereign God. for condemning his innocent, guiltless son to death. You crucified him and killed by the hands of lawless men. See, God appointed even the evil which he hates for the good that he will bring out of it to his eternal glory. And again, where you see this most full, most pointed, that evil, even the betrayal of Judas, because in the end he was working a good purpose, to bring redemption to his people, to purchase our salvation, all to his eternal glory. Friends, let these truths sink into your minds for a moment, because what this should do is it should give you a whole broad view of God, of how holy, good, and faithful He is. Dear Christian, do you think what mighty hand holds you fast? Do you ponder what immeasurable power, great power secures you in Christ through faith, which He has granted you as a gift of His mercy? If the Father has chosen you unto salvation in Christ, there is nothing in all the world that can separate you from Him. Even you cannot separate yourself from the Savior with whom you are one in the Spirit. Friends, God's faithfulness is demonstrated not only in His good character, but also in His sovereign power to bring to pass every promise He's made. Perfect goodness and sovereign might are indispensable to the glory of God. So friends, what do we make of that? Well, friends, the Bible teaches us that God is sovereign and that creatures, moral agents as we are, are free. But we are free under God's authority. We are never free from His authority. All things are in submission to God. He rules with unfathomable might. by which he mysteriously and yet perfectly brings all that he wills to pass in the manner which he has decreed it to fall out. See, friends, you are free. You are free. You have real freedom under the sovereign rule of God. We are responsible, therefore, for the choices that we make. Yet we are secondary causes by which God brings his will to pass in which he is first. Friends, God is sovereign. He decrees even the evil of men and devils, which he hates and which he himself cannot perform for the good that he will ultimately bring out of it to his everlasting glory. See, friends, we think that these two principles are butting heads. We think that man's freedom and God's sovereign rule are, they just can't coexist. One's got to give. You know, the old quote, Spurgeon was once asked, how do you reconcile God's sovereignty and man's freedom? And Spurgeon says, I never reconcile friends. Because they're not budding hands. In fact, they're both taught in the scripture and understood properly. They unveil the glory of the gospel in its fullness. Dear friend, you are free under the authority of God, and you are accountable to God for every word and deed, everything you have thought, everything you have failed to perform. Friends, you are accountable to this God. You are free. You make real choices. You always choose according to what you want. Friends, we always do this. The mind, the will is the mind choosing what the heart wants. Everything I am desiring at that moment of choice, I choose. Now friends, this is a mystery. how God's sovereignty intersects with man's freedom, but it doesn't mean that it's nonsense, and it doesn't mean that we can't seek to understand it more clearly. There are certain views of men's freedom which run contrary to the Word of God. For instance, if man ever says that he is outside the sovereignty of God in any respect, that runs contrary to Scripture. But friends, it's a mystery, which means we can't draw a diagram of it. but that doesn't mean it isn't true. Mystery means we cannot plumb the depths or reason out completely, yet we are shown enough to know that it must be so. God has said it. Therefore, we trust and order our lives in submission to him. Friends, I'll give you one verse to ponder. This is Proverbs 21.1. Proverbs 21.1 says, the heart of the king is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord, he turns it wherever he wills. Now you notice that. Proverbs is making it very clear when Cyrus the Great chose to send the Jews back to rebuild Jerusalem, that was God moving and directing Cyrus. Cyrus did what Cyrus wanted. He was working above and beyond and through these free actions. of responsible moral agents was the unthwartable, immutable, effectual power of God. Now what does that mean for us? Friends, what hand holds you? What power bears you up? What God loves and redeems you? And He can wield everything in the universe for His glory and your good. Friends, you have nothing to fear. If you fear God, you have nothing to fear of man or devils or sickness. What immeasurable, great power. Friends, how do you view the power of God? Do you recognize it as sovereign mind? Dear saints, if your present pain has hardened your heart, remember who it is who has called you in his grace. That same sovereign might that spoke the universe into existence holds you fast. A God in his glory holds his people. Rejoice and give the sovereign Lord of glory the honor due his name. Dear Christian, because of the sovereign might of God, we can persevere. We pursue holiness in hope, because if God reigns over all things, you can rest. He will save his people, and we go with joy and a humble heart that we are chosen instruments to bring about the salvation of sinners. You know, he chose to use us. He chooses to employ us as instruments to bring the gospel. And that's a responsibility we have before God. And we must be faithful in how we share and how we make disciples, how we live lives of holiness. And it's also a great privilege. But God is wielding all things. This sovereign effectual mind, Paul says, is being wielded for those who believe, for the church. So friends, praise the Father who secures his people in Christ by his sovereign mind. Verse 20, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. According to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. So Paul then gives us an illustration. Where do we see a display of a sovereign from his incarnation, which was miraculous. God himself took upon himself a human nature. You see the sovereign hand of God in Jesus's life as he's performing miracles, as he's healing the sick and raising the dead. We see that sovereign might, but we see it very acutely in the resurrection. Friends, you know, doctors can do a lot. Doctors can prescribe lots of medicine. God has given doctors and medical professionals lots of wisdom to treat the various illnesses and pains that we have, but no doctor can raise the dead. That is beyond the scope of human ability. We might be able to resuscitate them if they've been dead, you know, 30 minutes or something, but we can't raise the dead. God raises the dead. God who gives life to all things, who sustains all things and preserves all things is able even to raise his son from the dead. This is sovereign might. according to the working of his great mind. Again, notice the language Paul used here, immeasurable greatness, great might. He wants us to see just how powerful God is. And it was effectual because he was able to raise Jesus from the dead and seat him at his right hand in the heavenly places. You know, friends, we often, Glory in the resurrection, and we should. The resurrection was the crown. Christ accomplished his work. But friends, we don't often think of the ascension. In fact, we kind of... Sometimes we long, we say, wow, wouldn't it be great if Jesus could be right here in the flesh with us, if I could just see him and talk with him as Peter and James and John, and I think every Christian truly longs for that, and we will have that in heaven. We'll have that beatific vision where we will see him as he is and love him and worship him, but dear ones, Jesus said, it is better for you, church, that I go. Because when Jesus was going, he was going to his coronation. He was being seated. We call this the session, the ruling. Christ was seated at the right hand of the Father. Look again now at verse 20. Seated him at his right hand. Now friends, this is a demonstration of power. So Christ is, he's not just getting any old chair, he's getting a throne. Friends, this is what Daniel saw in his ninth vision. When Daniel and the Holy Spirit saw the Ancient of Days upon his throne, and one like the Son of Man coming on the Shekinah cloud of glory, being ushered by the heavenly host into the very Holy of Holies, into the very throne of God, Daniel was seeing the coronation of Christ. That's what happened in heaven when Jesus went When he left this world and went to the right hand of the Father, he was receiving a crown and a kingdom. The glory he had with the Father in the beginning would be restored to him. This was his exaltation, and he sat down to rule. Friends, the kingdom of God is Jesus is reigning now. The kingdom of God has begun. He's reigning over His church. He's reigning over the world in righteousness. He is gathering in His sheep. We're waiting on its consummation. We're waiting on the fulfillment of that. We live in this time where we don't yet see all things in subjection to Christ. But He does reign. He shares in that same sovereign, effectual might which belongs and because he's seated at the right hand, now he intercedes for you. He's continuing that high priestly ministry, praying for you. His church praying that the Father would continue to pour out his Spirit upon you, to save and to sanctify and to satisfy you. It was good, very good, that Jesus be taken into heaven. He's seated at the right hand. The right hand is the hand of might, hand of rule, hand of authority in the heavenly places. Friends, Jesus is reigning. Now, friends, this is such central verity to the gospel that Christ has not only been raised from the dead, but that he is reigning. We believe in a resurrected, reigning Lord Jesus. And so friends, sometimes people will come and they'll say, well, you know, I believe that Jesus was a good teacher. I like things I read in the Sermon of the Mount, you know, and so I'll take that. Jesus is a good moral teacher, but he's not God. He's not alive. Friends, that's not the Jesus of the Bible. The Jesus of the Bible is more than a good teacher. He's the Lord of glory. He's the Savior of all who trust in Him, and we have the blessed hope that the Christ who has been raised and is reigning will return for His church at the end of days. But again, the resurrection of Christ reveals many things, but it does point out the sovereign power of God. If God was able to raise His Son and enthrone Him in glory, how much more is He able to care for the likes of us? meet our very needs? How much more is He such a dear and present Savior? Friends, the sovereign power of God and His effectual might, it's not meant to be just an abstract doctrine. The Bible directs us, the Gospel leads us to apply these truths to our lives. I am under the reign and rule of a sovereign king. And there's nothing outside his control. Nothing in my present circumstances is outside of that rule and authority. He is governing all these things. That sets you free from fear, friends, because you can trust God. You can look to Jesus and see him as the ultimate apologetic. Christ is reigning, Christ is comforted, Christ is enthroned. Dear friends, we have that present hope. So is that your hope, dear ones? Are you hoping in the Lord Jesus, who was crucified, dead, buried, raised on the third day, went into heaven and reigns? Are you trusting in him as your Savior? Are you following him as your King? because outside of Christ there is no redemption, no salvation for sinners. So friends, hope in the Father as you behold the resurrected reign, Lord Jesus. When you come to the Scriptures, friends, and you are thinking of your relationship to Christ, hope, hope in the Father. Say to the Father, Father, you are so glorious, so powerful to raise and to install Christ, you will care for me. You'll care for our church. You'll bring about all your purposes. We have hope because our God is sovereign. Verse 21, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. Paul again wants to showcase for us the power of the Father in exalting Christ, and what glory and authority the Father has given to Jesus. Now remember, friends, in the universe, all authority is like a line. It comes from God, and it's accountable to God. This is the circuit. All authority is from God, and it's all accountable to God, and that's all authority. That's fathers and mothers, that's school teachers, that's policemen, that's politicians, Kings, they don't have any authority apart from God. Friends, all authority is from God. Authority which exists is not only given by God, but those who have it are accountable to God. So that means politicians will be accountable to God for the authority they wielded. Pastors will be accountable for how they wield their authority. Business leaders will be accountable for how they wield their authority. Friends, But who's at the tippy-tippy top of this chain of authority? Well, it's God himself who has given all authority to Jesus. He's far above. He supersedes any other authority. And look at what Paul does here. Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. Paul wants to make sure we get the point. He's saying there's not a rule, there's not a king, there's not, And the authority, there's not any power that can thwart what God has done or authority he's given to Christ. And there's no other dominion. Friends, sometimes we can have a pretty dualistic sense of good and evil. We import this idea that Satan and God are in an eternal struggle, right? And that they're co-equal, you know, good and bad, constantly fighting it out. But friends, that's not the biblical picture. Friends, Satan is a creature. He's a powerful creature, but he's just a creature. He is nothing in comparison to God. The devil cannot do one thing apart from the sovereign permission of God. The devil, as one author says, is God's devil. They're not on equal plays at all. Not at all. Good and evil aren't duking it out and we have no real assurance who's gonna win. We know from the beginning that God's going to win. He's already won. Christ has already been raised. He's already reigned. All authority's been given to Christ, friends. The church can rest under that authority. So friends, You know, as powerful as the devil is, he is still under the authority of Christ. Now, again, there's kind of two ditches here. One is you give him too much power and authority, and you begin to think that he's responsible for every illness, for every conflict, to every distress, which he can't be because he's a creature. He can only be at one place at one time. Or you don't, you just ignore him. and say, well, you know, he doesn't exist. But he really does exist. And scriptures say he's a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. So, friends, we have a real struggle against the world and the flesh and the devil. It's a real spiritual struggle. We fight a spiritual warfare. And even though we are struggling, dear friends, remember, God has provided for you a treasury of perfect grace in his Son. You are under that mighty hand. Friends, God is sovereign, and that's good, because it means we can trust him. We can trust that there's no maverick molecules in the universe, that no scheme of man, no strength of the devil, nor plan or purpose will ever thwart a sovereign purpose of God. So, dear friends, again, you and I are coming under this authority. As long as we are hard in our hearts, as long as we're saying, I don't need Jesus, I'm gonna be the God of my life, we are living our lives in rebellion against Him, there's no rest there, friends. Scripture says that there is no rest for the wicked. The wicked, those who are estranged from God, constantly live their lives flowing from one passion and one pursuit to another. Nothing satisfies. They have no real security. They have no real peace. They are like the foaming waves of the sea. Because, dear ones, you were made to find rest under the good, sovereign hand of God, under that faithful power which was manifest in Christ, your Redeemer, and by which he still reigns and rules over you. And this is why Jesus can give that good gospel invitation, that for every poor sinner who has been awakened, born again, and he's beginning to see the vanity of his life and the guilt upon his soul, Jesus says, come, all you who labor. and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. Friends, outside of the reign of Christ, there is no rest, there is no security, there is no comfort. But Jesus says, underneath there's rest, enjoyment, security. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart. and you will find rest for your soul. Friends, if today you're weighed with a burden of sin, if you understand that you are guilty before a holy, sovereign God who has every right at this very moment to send you to an eternal hell, and you have been awakened to the severity of your circumstance, flee to Christ. flee the vanity of this life and come under Jesus, because he says he is a good master, a strong, faithful, loving, tender Lord, under which sinners are secure and satisfied. And dear saint, this is what we need to remember. What hand holds you? What good, faithful, sovereign mind secures you in Christ? And let that embolden you this week. Let it strengthen you that everything that we do for the glory of God is not in vain. Friends, we talk about God's sovereign, effectual mind. We might say, well, I guess that leaves no place for us. What do we do? Are we chopped liver? No, friends, God has appointed us as the instruments. We get to be the means by which other people hear the gospel, get to see the gospel power lived out. They can see the word of Christ in us. We are the instruments. We are the vessels. We're put on display, as it were. We're actors on the world stage and the light is shining upon us. And God has said, these are my redeemed, my beloved ones. And he's showing us off to the world in holiness and splendor. We have no power in ourselves to save sinners, but we're chosen to be ambassadors for Christ. God making his appeal through us. And so friends, if I know that God is sovereign and that by his might he saves sinners by his grace alone, then we can go to the world and we can tell them about Jesus. We can urge them to repent and believe. And we know that some will come. Some will believe, some will be saved because this effectual power will bring them safely to Christ. It also means, dear ones, that when you are oppressed, when there are folks that are speaking slanderous words about you, when there are folks that are hurting you, you can remember the sovereign hand of a holy God. I am under that hand, he'll ride the scales, he'll be my avenger, he'll be my vindicator, even as he vindicated Christ. Friends, we have been given a great responsibility to live for the glory of God, to bear witness to Christ, and to trust him with the results. So friends, follow Christ. today with joyful confidence, trusting his absolute cosmic authority. Remember how Paul closes his Romans chapter eight. He says, I am convinced that neither height nor depth, nor length nor width, nor things present or things to come, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Friends, this light holds you, secures you, strengthens you, bears you up. Every day, you're reminded of his great, mighty love for you. So let's pray. Father, we thank you that you are sovereign. We pray that You grant us grace by your spirit to order our lives in submission to your rule. Lord, we do confess that our hearts are so fickle. Lord, there's so much sin remaining within us. Yet we know, oh God, that there is more grace in Christ than sin in us. There is more power in you than there is sin in me and in the world. And Lord, you have purpose that in the fullness of time you will gather in all your church You will come and bring justice and righteousness to complete upon the earth. You will establish your people with you in a consummated kingdom. Lord, how we long for that day when your glory will be so perfectly displayed. Father, equip us, Lord, to live our lives under your sovereign hand, to follow Christ with joyful confidence. Lord, all this we ask in Jesus' name.