Welcome to Unveiled Faces, a Redeemer Presbyterian Church podcast. Please enjoy our feature presentation. Well, perhaps you've heard the story just a little over a year ago. There was a couple from Washington, D.C. who decided to quit their day jobs and travel around the world by bicycle. Their name is Austin and Lauren. And they chronicled their journey by blogs and social media, trying to demonstrate the kindness of man wherever they go. In one of the blog posts, just this past April, blog post number 22, Ahsan wrote this, You're led to believe that the world is a big scary place. People are not to be trusted. People are bad. People are evil. I don't buy it. Evil is a make-believe concept which we've invented to deal with the complexities of fellow humans holding values and beliefs and perspectives different than our own. Badness exists, he goes on. Sure, but even that's quite rare. By and large, humans are kind, generous and wonderful and kind. No greater revelation has come from our journey than this very fact. Well, just this past summer, July 29, while the couple was biking through ISIS territory in Tajikistan, a car rammed them off the road and five men walked out of that vehicle with knives and stabbed them to death. Evil is a make-believe concept. Well, if evil is a make-believe concept, likewise sin then must be a make-believe concept. But the only problem with that is that reality and experience often prove us wrong, and oftentimes it is too late to correct that, just as it was with Austin and Lauren. In our passage this morning, Ephesians 2, verses 1-7, I want to consider with you three realities about sin. and then three realities about salvation. You see, the Apostle Paul is writing in order to encourage the believer. If you look just earlier in chapter 1, verse 18, he says that this is his desire. He prays that the eyes of their heart may be enlightened, so that they may come to know the riches, the hope of their calling, and the riches of the glory of their inheritance in Christ. And the way that we can come to understand the riches and the glory of our inheritance in Christ is if we first come to understand our condition apart from Christ. And this is where the Apostle Paul begins in verse 1 of chapter 2. Now, no one can deny that the world has problems. Sinful men might not want to call it evil. But even someone so naive as Austin and Lauren must acknowledge that there is badness in this world. Wars, corruption, poverty, immorality, sickness, death. The most God-hating sinner must acknowledge that the world is not as it ought to be. But at the same time, what do we do? Well, we refuse to take the responsibility and we try to shift the blame on something other than ourselves. We say that society really is the problem, politics, circumstances, lack of education, bad examples. But man himself is all right. He's okay. In fact, he is good. No one is perfect, it is said. It is the various external circumstances that have brought us to where we are presently in this world. But what a contrast that is when we look at the Word of God as it describes and gives us a true picture of who man really is. And it begins there in verse 1 of chapter 2. God is speaking to us through the Apostle Paul and he is telling us that how and what the world is really like apart from Christ. More importantly, what man is like apart from Christ. And he says that man is not basically good But basically, fundamentally, man is bad. Man without Christ is not crippled spiritually. He's not alright, but he just needs a little boost from God. No, the Apostle Paul says that man is dead in trespasses and sins. Dead in trespasses and sins. And this is the first reality which we must come to recognize and deal with about sin. That sin is deadly. Now you know from your catechism that by definition, what is sin? Sin is lawlessness. Sin is the breaking of God's law. That is to put it negatively. But positively, sin is autonomy. Sin is being a law unto yourself. It is saying that, no God, not you are God, but I am God unto myself. And we know from scripture that the wages of sin is death. And that is why sin is deadly. Now, it is deadly, of course, in a physical sense. We know many examples from the Old Testament, especially where sin has led to death. You remember Lot's wife. You remember how she, by simply disobeying and churning back, was churned into a pillar of salt. Or what about the sin of Achan? How he took some silver and gold from Jericho and such that when Israel went to conquer Ai, they were not able to do it. And him and his whole family were stoned and burned to death as a just punishment of God. And then in the New Testament, you remember Ananias and Sapphira, right? They donated a large sum of money to the church, and yet they lied to the Holy Spirit about how much they donated, and they were shrugged dead there on the spot. And so sin is deadly physically, but more importantly, sin is deadly spiritually. And this is what the Apostle Paul is really focusing on here. And you He made alive who were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked. How can one be dead and yet walking? Well, it is because he is spiritually dead. This is what happened to Adam, right? The Lord said that on the day that you eat of the fruit, you will surely die. Did Adam die instantaneously, physically, after he sinned? No, but he died physically. He died spiritually. There is that separation that entered into humanity between God and His creation. a separation that is called spiritual death. Romans 8.7 says that the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. To be spiritually dead is to be unable to please God. And spiritual death, we know, leads to eternal death. That's why Paul calls us, before Christ, being the sons of disobedience, in verse 2, and the children of wrath, verse 3, that is, destined for wrath. Sons of disobedience destined for wrath, because spiritual death leads us to eternal death. It is not that we seek to exist, but it is that the wrath of God If we are not found in Christ, we'll abide upon us forever. And so the first reality about sin is that it is deadly. Secondly, sin is all-encompassing. We see that in verse 2. The Apostle Paul says, "...in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who is now working in the sons of disobedience." Walking according to the course of this world. What does that mean? Well, that phrase, the course of this world, is more exactly translated or precisely as the age, the aeon of this world. It is the spirit of this world. The Germans have an exact term for this. They call it zeitgeist. Zeitgeist. One commentator describes it as that floating mass of thoughts, opinions, maxims, speculations, hopes, impulses, aims, aspirations at any time current in the world. It is a world without God. It is a world where I say, I am my own God. It is a world after the fall. And Paul is speaking here about something which Augustine described as men after the fall. If you know Augustine from the 4th, 5th century, he described men in, he divided men's condition into four states. First state is men in the garden. Second state, men after the fall. Third, men in Christ. And fourth, men in glory. In the first statement in the Garden, Augustine described us in relation to sin as able to sin and able not to sin. After the fall, Man is unable not to sin. In other words, he can only sin. In the third state, man in Christ once again has the ability not to sin. And then man in glory, unable to sin. For we know that when He comes, we will be like Him. And Paul here is focusing on that second state. This is where the world in which we live. Man after the fall. Man after the fall. head, heart, and hand, as the Puritans put it. All the faculties of man are corrupted by sin. All the impulses which we have been given in order to glorify God are no longer used to glorify Him, but are used to rebel against Him, to oppose His will for our lives. This is known as the doctrine of total depravity. And when we say that man is totally depraved, we do not mean that he is as sinful as he can possibly be, but we are saying that in all his faculties, in the totality of his nature, he is corrupt and in rebellion against God. No one seeks after God, Romans 3.11. There is none who does good, not even one. And in relation to God, the perfect and holy and pure being, there is nothing good in man. Only perversion and corruption. This is the reality of the world in which we live in. And we have to come to grips with this, brothers and sisters. Romans 1 says that man is in such rebellion against God that he suppresses the truth in unrighteousness. You can imagine having a large beach ball and trying to push that under the water as it's pushing back at you. The knowledge of God, His righteousness, pushing right back at us, and yet we don't want to see it. That is the nature of sin, and we know the three influences of sin. Paul gives them out here in verse 2. It is, one, the world, the devil, and flesh. Satan is that prince who is the prince of the power of the air. He is the god of this world who has blinded the minds of the unbelievers that they might not see the glory of the gospel of Christ, 2 Corinthians 4. And we know our own flesh also. We indulge in the desires of the flesh and of the mind. The Apostle John in 1 John 2.16 describes it as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. All three of these powers are together at work in our lives, waging war against the Almighty Himself. The world is trying to push us into its mold. Satan is energizing the spiritual, the demonic realm, and we, in our own sinful nature, go right along, and by our own sinful impulses, desire to sin continuously. And so sin is deadly, and sin is all-encompassing. And finally, sin is universal. Notice what the Apostle Paul says in verse 3. He includes himself into this equation. Also, we all once conducted ourselves in this manner, or we all once lived in such a way. And the question arises, how can the Apostle Paul compare himself to a pagan people like the Ephesians? Even his former life, how can he compare two radically different, on one hand, backgrounds? You know that the Jews had the law of God. They were the covenant people of God who were not characterized by such blatant and outward immorality as the Gentiles like the Ephesians. Especially Apostle Paul, you think about how he describes himself in Philippians chapter 3, a Hebrew of Hebrews, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee, a zealot of the law. And yet he says that we all once conducted ourselves in this way. How so? This is because the Apostle Paul is recognizing that the problem of our condition is not so much the particular sins which we commit, but the sinful nature which we inherit from our first parents. And we see this most clearly, we read it even this morning, Matthew 5, verse 27. The Lord says, you have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery, right? The seventh commandment. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Sin comes from a sinful heart, a sinful heart that propels us to sin. This is why the Apostle Paul does not hesitate to include himself into this same list. A sinner just like the Gentiles, a sinner who is a sinner by nature. And so we see that sin is universal. It is irrespective of Jew or Gentile. You see, my sins might be different and are different than your sins. The Apostle Paul's sins are different than the sins of the Ephesians. Perhaps I have not killed. Perhaps I have not lived in outward adultery. Yet my sinful nature and your sinful nature is the same in all conditions. Now there is such a thing as civil virtue, we do want to recognize that. We see it when a mother sacrifices for her children. We see it when a rich CEO might donate a million dollars to charity. But in reality, in all these circumstances, the bottom line which we must consider is how do these things measure up to the law of God? What is the first commandment? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. And so the question which we must ask, why did that man donate that a million dollars? Was it because of his gratitude to God? Because of a worshipful heart that he wanted to give back what God has given him? Or perhaps he wanted to boost his self-esteem. Perhaps he wanted to gain popularity within the community, a clearer guilty conscience. Whatever it may be, our hearts are very deceptful. Isaiah says in chapter 64, 6, that all our righteousness, even all our righteousness, are like filthy rags. You see, for God it is not enough for us to do good things and to exercise, show civil virtue. Those things which we do must be done with a worshipful heart, with a heart that desires to please God and to love God. And brothers and sisters, even we as children of God who have been born again, must recognize that this sinful principle remains in us such that even in our greatest sincerity, there is often, and I would say always, mixed motives of why we do what we do in the worship of God. And so the Apostle Paul is recognizing that at the heart the problem with us is a sin nature. And hence he says in verse 3 that we are by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. By nature, that is a key word which we must understand. In the lexicon, you can find a definition that this word nature is a condition or a circumstance that is determined by birth. A condition or a circumstance that is determined by birth. Put negatively, the point that the Apostle Paul is trying to make is not that we become sinners through some kind of a process over a period of time. It is not the outward influences that make us sinners. No, we have a sinful nature. And this sinful nature is a universal reality. Regardless of your age, regardless of your condition and upbringing, you are born into this world with a sin nature. King David says in Psalm 51.5, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. In sin did my mother conceive me. So says the greatest king of Israel. What then can be said of us whose thoughts and intents are said to be only evil continually? We are all born into this world with the same nature, and this condition is universal. And therefore, as we have already seen, we therefore are children of wrath, destined for wrath. This is what we can accomplish. This is who we are within ourselves, living an immoral, living an adulterous, living a rebellious life against the Creator Himself, who has made us in order that we might glorify Him. And so, in summary, with the first three verses, we see that sin is deadly, it is all-encompassing, and it is universal. So, I want to ask the question, have we come to recognize who we are apart from Christ? Perhaps you've been a Christian for many years, but you've never really wrestled with who you are apart from Christ, such that you might know it on paper, you might know that There is a doctrine called total depravity, but in your day-to-day life, as you look at the world around you, do you really believe it? Do you believe it about yourself? Do you see the ugliness of sin? Do you see the heinousness of what we have gotten ourselves into? If you do, then the verses that follow, verses 4 and 7, are truly good news. The good news of the gospel are only good news as we come to understand the bad news of the gospel. And the bad news of the gospel is that we are dead in sin. That sin is deadly, it is all-encompassing, it is universal. And if you have come to see that, I want to present to you the good news of the Gospel. Verses 4 to 7, I want to look at three realities about salvation that God brings. I want to look at the author of salvation, the act of salvation, and the apex of salvation. Psalm 62.11 says, Once God has spoken, twice I have heard this. that power belongs to God. And we see the sovereign power on display for us in verse 2 of Ephesians chapter 2. It is seen in this simple phrase, but God. But God, you were living according to the desires of the body and the mind. You were walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. But God, and how many different conditions characterize this life? You were a drug addict, perhaps, living your life for the next high, a drunkard, intoxicating yourself, trying to tune out the difficult realities of life. But God." Or perhaps you were a well-off businessman, trusting in your bank account, living for the next paycheck. And you said to yourself, self, you have many goods laid out for you for many years to come. Take your ease. Eat, drink, and be merry. But God. Or perhaps you were like me, a son born into a Christian home. From childhood, you knew Christian things. You didn't hang out with the wrong crowd. You attended Christian services. You knew Christian terminology. And as far as others could tell, you were a Christian. And you trusted in your own righteousness. But God, Salvation is of the Lord. And the first reality of salvation is that the author of salvation is God Himself. We have seen what we have accomplished on our own in the first three verses, and now we see what God is accomplishing. But God and this work of regeneration, the act of bringing a sinner from death into life, is something mysteriously wonderful, brothers. And it is only something that divine intervention can accomplish, something that God alone can do. The psalmist says in Psalm 113, Who is like you, O Lord, who humbles himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He makes the barren woman abide in the house as a joyful mother of children. God does this because He is a merciful God. We see it there in verse 4. And not only a merciful God, He is rich in mercy. He has an abundant supply of mercy. Our God is a merciful God, brothers and sisters, a merciful God who is rich in mercy. According to His nature, He delights to show mercy. Micah 7.18 says, Who is like you, O God, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of his possession? He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy. In mercy. And yes, God is rich in mercy partly because of it being His very own nature to be merciful. But I think the Apostle Paul here speaks of the richness of His mercy also because of the depravity of our condition and the greatness of our sin. That's why it requires great mercy in order to save rebels like you and I. Our sins, they are many. His mercy is more. The greater the sin, the greater the mercy. It is the mercy of God that also compels us to be merciful to those who mistreat us, to those who do not respect us, or who mock us because we are Christians. Think of someone like David. How many times he had the opportunity to take the life of his enemy, King Saul, and yet every time he decided to show mercy to him. And as the children of God, a mark of a true believer is that he is merciful, like the God who has showed him mercy. And God is merciful, we read on, because of His great love. By God who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us. Paul does not simply say, because of His great love. Notice he says, the great love with which He loved us. Brothers and sisters, do you recognize how great the love of God really is? It is that agape love, one commentator puts it this way. It is that kind of a love which is called out of one's heart by the preciousness of the one loved. A love that impels one to sacrifice oneself for the benefit of the object loved. And that's good. But I want to take that a step further and read here a definition from Berkhoff. He says that love is that perfection of God by which He is eternally moved to self-communication. A perfection of God in which He is eternally moved to self-communication. Think about that, brothers and sisters. Self-communication. You know, we live in a society where love has been so perverted and it is so difficult to think about love without it being infused with all sorts of foreign and false ideas of what love really is. But God's love is such that He decides to communicate Himself to us. It is not something that we can demand. It is not something that He owes us. But His very love is that He decides to communicate Himself to us. Those of you who are married here, brothers, you have a wife. Think of the day when you met her and you laid your eyes upon her and you saw her beauty. You saw something lovable in her that drew you to her. Yet the love of God is not like that. By contrast, God loves us when there is nothing lovable in us. God loves us when we were rebels against Him. Now that's a love you cannot see in this world. Even we as creatures, even as children of God, it's a love which we struggle to really demonstrate. To love something or someone when there is nothing lovable in them. But our God, who is merciful, who is rich in mercy, is a God who loves us so much that He loves us even as we were rebels. God is then the author of our salvation. Secondly, we want to look at the act of salvation. And I call it the act of salvation for a particular reason. When you read Ephesians 2, verses 5 and 6, you might come to the conclusion that the act of salvation really is the act of God bringing us from death into life. Even when we were dead in trespasses, He made us alive together with Christ. And that is true. It is true that God brings us from death into life. And that is a glorious reality. That a new principle of life is instilled in us when we are regenerated. But I think the Apostle Paul is getting at here something even more deeper. Look with me there at verses five and six again. He says that, even when we were dead in trespasses, He made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You see, with the Apostle Paul is really getting at here. It's not so much even regeneration as the mystical union that the believer has with their Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The mystical union where God unites His people to His Son in Him, with Him, together. Look at those words. Those are the words that emphasize this reality. Hodge defines the mystical union as that intimate, vital, and spiritual union which the believer has with Christ, and by virtue in which Christ is the source of their life and strength, of their blessedness and salvation. This is not something that is for the extra-spiritual and the saints, as the Catholic Church calls them. No, union with Christ is something that every believer has. If you are not united to Christ spiritually, you are not regenerated. And the wonderful thing about all this is that union with Christ precedes even our regeneration, as you know, the order of salvation. It is because we are united to Christ that He brings us, God brings us to life, as He brought Christ to life. We see this because what the Apostle Paul describes in regards to Jesus' bodily resurrection and enthronement, he uses three compound verbs there, made alive together with, raised up with, and seated with. All these realities of Christ's historical resurrection and enthronement are said to be true of us spiritually. That only as we are united with Him can we be resurrected. Can we be co-joined heirs with Him in heaven? Made us alive together with Christ. And in fact, we must be united to Christ not only in His regeneration physically and enthronement physically, but we must be united to Him in all aspects of His earthly life. Those who are in Christ have been crucified with Christ. They have died with Him, they have risen with Him, and they are seated with Him in the heavenly places. This is the objective reality of everyone who is in Christ. But secondly, there is also a subjective or organic reality of the believer that he has with Christ. It is what our Lord Jesus Christ describes in John 15. He says, Abide in me, and I in you, as the branches cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. So neither can you unless you abide in Me, for apart from Me you can do nothing. On the one hand, objectively, we are united to Christ in our positional relationship to God, that we are called children of God. But subjectively and organically, brothers and sisters, this is what we must come to recognize here on earth. He is our substance. He is our spiritual food that nourishes us day by day, that enables us to fight sin and to live for righteousness. It is by virtue of that organic relationship and union which we have in Christ. that we are able to do to grow in sanctification. The Apostle Paul himself later in chapter 4 of Ephesians will go on to describe this organic union as a picture of the body. In chapter 4 verse 16, it says that it is from the whole body that is fitted and held together by every joint supplied that causes the body to grow and build itself up in love. The blood that flows through your head is the blood that flows through your hand. And Christ being our spiritual head is in that sense united to us and we are His hands and feet. Is that not the case? And so, we need Him for our spiritual nourishment, day by day. You don't try to rationalize this, but you seek to apprehend it to your life. There is a mystery about it, and we should not shy away from mystery. We are not to fall into mysticism, but we are not to shy away and recognize that there is mystery in the Christian life. Burkhaff says that this vital organic union with Christ is that union which enables us to appropriate on our part what is given to us in Christ, and to enter ever increasingly into conscious enjoyment of the blessed union with Christ, which is the source of all our spiritual riches, And so, the act of salvation which God performs is in uniting us to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, I want to look at the apex. Verse 7, the apex, the goal, or the culmination of salvation, if you like. Why did God do this? What is the end purpose of God's redemptive design? Verse 7 says, It is that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. This is the great goal and the plan of redemption. The Apostle Paul says that it is to put the surpassing riches of God on display for the ages to come. And that word, to show, has this reflexive idea in it, in the original, such that he desires to show it to himself. He desires to put it on display to himself. What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. The glory of God is His own ultimate end in our salvation. And it must be our desire as well. And we've seen this in, if you have read chapter 1 of Ephesians, as Paul describes the Trinitarian formula or the Trinitarian gospel, he keeps mentioning that this is really the ultimate end of all that God is accomplishing. In verse 6, He says that the Father elects us to the praise of the glory of His grace. In verse 12, He says that the Son redeems us to the praise of His glory. And then in verse 14, the Spirit seals us to the praise of His glory. And here again in chapter 2, verse 7, St. Paul once more summarizes to the Ephesians the reality. He says, brothers and sisters, I want you to know that what God is doing by uniting you to Christ is desiring to put His own glory on display for the ages to come." And literally, that expression, the ages to come, is in the present. the ages that are coming, the ages that are coming. And it is a reference not only to the second coming of Christ, but it is a reference to Christ's resurrection and enthronement in the context and all the ages, all the time that is to follow. And he even puts it there in the plural, not the age to come, but the ages to come, emphasizing that eternal destiny, the eternal goal. Ages upon ages, like wave after wave, God will be demonstrating His glory through us. He wants us to be His trophies of grace. He wants us to demonstrate His love and power in this world, not only in the age to come, but in all time in which we are living even now, in the ages to come. Virgin says it most eloquently. He says that eternity itself will not improve upon the gospel. When all the saints shall be gathered home, they shall still talk and speak of the wonders of Jehovah's love in Christ Jesus. And in the golden streets they shall stand up and tell what the Lord has done for them, to listening crowds of angels and principalities and powers. the exceeding riches of His grace. God is rich in mercy. We've seen that in verse 4, right? Rich in mercy. And here in verse 7, we see that He is exceedingly rich in grace. You see, God's mercy, God's grace is an outflow of His love. And He's first of all loving, showing His grace to creation, and then merciful, extending His hand to those who do not deserve it. I'm sure most of us have had the opportunity to stand at the shore of the ocean. And you look out into the horizon, you look to the left, you look to the right, and you think you have a sense of how great the ocean really is. And then you forget that there is depth to it as well. And it's something that really baffles the mind, something that we really can't comprehend, even a physical reality like that. And so much more, the grace of God is as a vast ocean, which we will be diving deeper and deeper into in the ages that are to come. No matter how great your sin, if you are here and you do not know Christ, you can be assured that His grace is much greater. It is but a drop in the ocean, your sin compared to the grace of God. Our sins, there are many. His mercy is more. And so God is rich in grace. He is abundantly rich in grace, and He is a merciful God. And all this, as we've seen, is an outflow of His love. I want to conclude by reading a song to you. It was written by F.M. Lehman, a pastor from the early 20th century. He wrote a song entitled, The Love of God. The first two stanzas read as follows, It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell. The guilty pair bow down with care. God gave his son to win. His erring child he reconciled and pardoned from his sin. When years of time shall pass away and earthly thrones and kingdoms fall, when men who here refuse to pray on rocks and hills and mountains call, God's love so sure shall still endure, all measureless and strong, redeeming grace to Adam's race, the saints' and angels' song." Lehman wrote these first two verses, but he was still looking for a third stanza. And perhaps you've heard this story. It is said that when he was visiting an insane asylum, written on one of the empty or vacant rooms were these words, which became the third stanza of the song. Could we with ink the ocean fill? And were the skies of parchment made? Were every stalk and earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade? To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky. O love of God, how rich and pure, How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure The saints' and angels' song. The Apostle Paul says, you were dead in your trespasses and sins, but God, who is rich in love, has made you alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. May we relish in the love of God, which He has shown to us in Christ. And sinner, if you are here and you do not know Christ, hear the call even today. that there is hope and there is life in no other name but Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. I invite you to pray with me. Our Heavenly Father, You are a God of love. You are a God of salvation. You are a God who chose to communicate Himself to us poor rebel sinners that we were. You have taken us from death to life. You have given us eyes to see the beauty of Christ and the glory of the gospel. Lord, we pray that these words might be treasured within our hearts. And not only within our hearts, that we might be ready to go out of this place and proclaim the goodness, the love, and the mercy which you have shown in Christ Jesus. May our lives truly be trophies of grace on display in this dark and dying world. Lord, give us the boldness that we need when we do not have ourselves and one another. Give us the strength to persevere amidst all the trials of this life. And we know, Lord, that those who love you, those who are called according to your purpose, we know that everything works together for good. Give us the faith that believes and trusts in You. Give us the hope that does not waver. I pray, Lord, that You would bless this congregation. I pray that You would be with Your people here as they seek to live their lives and they seek to build their families around Your Word, around the gospel liberty of Christ. Be with us even now. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. This has been a presentation of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. For more resources and information, please stop by our website at visitredeemer.org. All material here within, unless otherwise noted. Copyright Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Elk Grove, California. Music furnished by Nathan Clark George. Available at nathanclarkgeorge.com.