English classes today, but man those sentences are overflowing with depth and rich meaning. Other people however take volumes of words to say only a little bit and they just go on and on saying more and more words without really adding much meaning to what they're saying and sadly I am one of those such persons. So I invite you to open your Bibles to Romans chapter 4 where we will find Paul using his ability to unpack after packing in truckloads of meaning into just a few verses, and where I will attempt to use my ability to explain them with the many, many words of my ability. What was mentioned previously in our study of chapter three, that three verses 27 to 31 state certain implications of the gospel. So in 3, 21 to 26, we had that most beautiful of paragraphs about the gospel and how God has made righteousness, made it manifest apart from the law and how it is the righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus for all who believe. And then 27 through 31, deliver certain implications of the gospel, which is by faith alone. And now, as we get into chapter four, we see illustrations of these truths, of these implications from the end of chapter three, and we see deeper explanations of them in the scriptural example of Abraham. And so therefore, you can draw lines between what's in chapter three what's in chapter 4. So 3 verses 27 to 28, which taught us that justification by faith alone humbles the sinner and excludes boasting, well that finds illustration and further explanation in chapter 4 verses 1 through 8. Also, chapter 3, verses 29 and 30, which taught us that justification by faith alone unites believers and excludes distinctions, well, that finds illustration and further explanation in chapter 4, verses 9 through 17. And this is where we'll find ourselves today and next Sunday, Lord willing. And then finally, chapter 3, verse 31, which taught us that justification by faith alone upholds the law, well, we find that illustrated for us in the whole of chapter four, as Genesis, the first book of the law, is referenced and explained. So we see all of those things taking place in chapter four. So in a sense, what we have here is a biblical case study of those three implications. seen in the life of Abraham. So it gives you some frame of reference for how this is structured. James helped us work through the first eight verses of chapter four last week in the matters of boasting and good works and resting in the finished work of Jesus. And today, with God's help, we're going to cover verses 9 through 12 of chapter 4, and this will be part 1, and then next week, part 2, verses 13 to 17. So, let's read the gospel implication that's in view for today. This will be from chapter 3, verses 29 and 30, and we'll see that in our case study of Abraham. So, 29 and 30 say, Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. So these verses insist that all people, Jews, Gentiles alike, are made right with God in the same way because God is one. And there's only one way to be found righteous before God. One and only one way. And that's justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ Jesus alone. Well, has it always been that way? Or is this singular way of justification or being made righteous, is this a new development that came along with Jesus coming in the flesh? Or maybe to ask it another way, are the New Testament believers justified by faith only, irrespective of whether they're Jew or Gentile, whatever their background? while the Old Testament saints were justified some other way, perhaps through works of the law and circumcision. Has the gospel of justification by faith only always been the only way to be made right with God, or have there been other paths to righteousness? And the answer to this is very important for us to understand our Bibles. We'll get our Bibles wrong if we get this answer wrong and the answer will guard us against wrong teaching about who God is and how God works, who He is and His ways. And those wrong teachings are always trying to creep in to the church. It will also guard us against humanity's many attempts to add works to salvation. Some sort of way to add some sort of work that we can boast in is always prevalent. And this will guard us against that as well. So let's pray. We'll read our passage for today and unpack it together with God's help. So Lord, we bow before you this morning. This is your infallible, inerrant, inspired word that you have given to your people and you have preserved and in which you reveal truth. Just like our Lord Jesus prayed, sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. And so Lord, we pray that you would open our eyes to see. Open our minds to understand. Work mightily by your Holy Spirit through your word. That we would see and believe and be built up in the faith. and that we would see how we are left humbled and you get all the glory. So I pray that you would fill me with your spirit and overcome my weaknesses by working through your word that it would go forth to accomplish your purpose. And if any here have their hope in any other place, than Christ alone. And I pray, Lord, you would draw them to yourself this morning. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Romans 4, verses 9 through 12. These are the very words of God. Is this blessing then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised so that righteousness would be counted to them as well. and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. We thank God for his word and just for clarity of vocabulary, he's referring to the circumcised, that's the ethnic Jews who are religiously following in that tradition. And then when he speaks of those who are uncircumcised, that's effectively everybody else. So here's a summary of the main point of the text. Righteousness by faith alone is for all people and all times. Righteousness by faith alone is for all people and all times. And just to expand that a little further, there has only ever been one way to be made righteous before God. The example of Abraham illustrates this for us because he was justified by faith prior to receiving circumcision, and as we'll see next week, prior to the law being instituted. Before any of that came about, he was already justified by faith alone. So this makes Abraham the father of all who believe. It's much broader than perhaps we have seen it before. So my prayer is that God will give us great clarity through this passage so that we can be firmly planted in the gospel. And he's been laboring in this book so far for that to be the case. We firmly planted in the gospel and that we can be protected from many errant teachings and practices that we encounter. And perhaps even some that have been so long ingrained in our experience that we don't recognize that they're wrong. So the passage, it begins with a question in verse nine. The answer comes in verse 10 through the first part of verse 11. And then we're given an explanation of the purpose in second half of verse 11 into verse 12. And so we're going to divide our study along those same lines. Number one will be the question. Number two, the answer. And number three, the purpose. So we'll start there with number one, the question. This is verse nine. Let's look there again together. Is this blessing then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised? So this question that he begins with refers to the blessings of the previous few verses, verses six through eight, which were quoting David as he wrote in Psalm 32. And it's the blessing of sins forgiven and covered. It's the blessing of the Lord not counting our sins against us, not reckoning them to our account. It's the blessing of having Christ-imputed righteousness through faith, and God considering Jesus' actual earned righteousness to be ours. And oh, how I hope that warms you with joy down to your toes. And I hope that we have not already forgotten chapters one to three. And we've not already forgotten that inescapable guilty verdict for all humanity. I hope that's still fresh. in our minds as we encounter this reality of the imputed righteousness of God, the blessing that he's talking about of having sins forgiven. I hope that as we keep digging into these gospel points and these finer points of the gospel, that it becomes even more beautiful rather than a drudgery and boring and why can't we just keep it simple? I hope that the more we unpack the gospel, the more beauty that we see and the deeper love that we have and the deeper desire of worship that we have for God and that we would delight even more fully in the glory of God as revealed in Jesus. And so I hope that from deep within we can respond to what David says there in verses 6, 7, and 8 with amen and with excitement and praise to the Lord. What a wonderful blessing it is that we would have sins And we could sing with Charles Wesley, amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, should die for me? Yet the question is raised here in verse nine. Is this blessing of righteousness by faith only? Is that for the Jews only? Is that only for the circumcised? I mean, after all, the scriptural evidence that we have been taken to is Abraham. He says there in the second part of verse nine, four, we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. And Abraham received that blessing of forgiveness of which David spoke, but Abraham was the father of the Jewish people. And Abraham received the sign of circumcision as the sign of God's covenant with him and his descendants. his offspring, so does that not mean that this justification by faith is for the Jews only? For those descended from Abraham who have been circumcised? Were the Judaizers right in Acts 15.1 when they insisted that unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved? Is that correct? Well, to gain the needed perspective, let's do like he told us to do in verse 3 of chapter 4 and ask the question, what does the scripture say? And let's take a few minutes and go back and look. What does the scripture say in Genesis, in the relevant passages that Paul is going to draw on and what he is drawing on to give us the answer to this question because he's going to answer it by referring directly back to Genesis. So let's take a minute, hold your place there, and go back to the book of Genesis. There's a few key verses that we'll read in a few of these chapters to help us get the perspective so we can see where the answer comes from. So let's start in Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12, now before his name was Abraham, He was known by the name Abram. The Lord would later change his name. So we find in Genesis 12, we'll read verses one to four, and just try to just grab these bits of information from these passages and hold them in your mind as we go forward. So he says there, now, the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." These are promises that God is making to Abram. He's establishing a covenant with Abram and he continues to add detail to this covenant as we move along. So let's turn now to chapter 15. Chapter 15, verses 1 to 7. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Some time has passed now. And he says, fear not, Abram. I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great. But Abram said, oh, Lord God, what will you give me? For I continue childless. And the heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus. And Abram said, behold, you have given me no offspring. And a member of my household will be my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him. This man shall not be your heir. Your very own son shall be your heir. And he brought him outside and said, look toward heaven and number the stars if you are able to number them. Then he said to him, so shall your offspring be. And he believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness. And he said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess. So we see more of those covenant promises from the Lord, the promise of many offspring without number. He's going to be the father of a great multitude, as we'll find out in a minute. And he has promises of his offspring possessing the land of Canaan. And then verse 18 and 19, same chapter. On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. And then chapter 17. We're keeping these details in our mind, we're keeping the order in our mind. Chapter 17, starting in verse 1. Then Abram was 99 years old. When he was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram. So this is, he was 75 when the Lord appeared to him at first, in chapter 12, and now he's 99. And the Lord said to him, I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly.' Then Abram fell on his face and God said to him, Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations." That's key phrases there. I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make you into nations, plural, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you. and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. And God said to Abram, as for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you." A sign of the covenant between me and you. So those are the relevant passages. So let's keep them in our minds as we now move into verse 10 back in Romans, Romans chapter 4. getting into verse 10, and we'll see how the apostle interprets these scriptures. So Romans, let's start reading in the end of verse 9 and go into verse 10. For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? And so with these questions, the Apostle Paul is drawing our attention to an open Bible and looking at the timing of these different scenes in the life of Abraham. When God had granted him justification by faith, Genesis 15, 6, and approximately 14 years later when he gave him the sign of the covenant, namely circumcision, in Genesis 17, 10. So which came first, he asks? Justification by faith or circumcision? Verse 10, it was not after, but before he was circumcised. And this is the key verse of our whole passage. This is the clarifying detail on the place of circumcision as it has to do with justification. And frankly, it's the key detail when it comes to any other religious ritual or rite or practice that we have and how it relates to our justification. So contrary to what the rabbis had been teaching, the scriptures demonstrate here that circumcision had nothing whatsoever to do with Abraham's justification. At least 14 years before he ever received the sign of circumcision, the Lord had already counted it to him as righteousness, had already reckoned or accounted him righteous by faith alone. Abraham believed God, verse 3, and it was counted to him as righteousness and nothing else is included there. So Abraham's obedience to be circumcised was actually a fruit of his righteousness, not the basis for it. And good works of any kind are the fruit of justification, not the basis for justification. We are not justified by works. So perhaps at this point, we could ask ourselves, why is it necessary for Paul to take this time explaining this from the example of Abraham? I mean, after all, didn't he already show us this? Didn't he already show that circumcision is irrelevant to justification back in chapter 2, verses 25 to 29? Yes, he did already show us that. But I think going to Abraham in this way addresses many issues. for the original audience and for us today. So here's at least four examples of how him going to Abraham and the example there, how it helps with many issues that we might face. So one, the example of Abraham is a particularly powerful one for the Jewish people. I mean, there is no person who is more highly esteemed in the Jewish ancestry than Abraham. He was the patriarch. Yes, even when the other patriarchs are listed, he's the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Abraham always has that first position. And so to be Abraham's descendant was to be something special. And frankly, this is partly why the Jewish people as an ethnic group have been so unwilling to assimilate all throughout their history. And it has made them a target of such violence all throughout history. It's because they were the children of Abraham and they were not going to release that special status. And for him to show the truth of the gospel, illustrated in Abraham's own life, is a powerful lesson for the Jews. Perhaps you know someone who is of that descent or that faith, and you want to share the Christ with them. He's showing us how we can do that. Second, the Jewish people who had not yet believed were blind to the truth of the scriptures. As he put it in 2 Corinthians 3, it's as if they had a veil over their eyes. Every Sabbath that Moses would be read in the synagogues, there's a veil, he says there, keeping them from seeing. Just like that veil that Moses wore when he would come down from Mount Sinai and his face would be shining. who says 2 Corinthians 3, 15 and 16, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. And so the Jewish people had failed to see the testimony of the law and the prophets. We just said that the gospel upholds the law, and the law and the prophets bear witness to it, chapter 3. And they had failed to understand this, that Jesus and His good news of justification by faith alone was the point of the whole thing. They'd elevated the physical lineage of Abraham and the ritual of circumcision to such a level as if you had those, that indicated that you're justified and right with God. Circumcision was a defining element of their understanding of salvation. So he labors to show them how that's wrong in the life of Abraham. And he does this out of a heart that's broken for the Jewish people. And I wonder if we share. Paul's desperate desire for the lost to be saved, like he did in chapter nine, how he longed so strongly for the Jewish people to embrace the Lord Jesus, to believe and to be saved by faith in Christ. And so he labors here, writing with all this detail to show that the gospel of which he is not ashamed is the message all along. This is what the Jews were supposed to understand and to expect all along. But there's a veil over their eyes, and the veil remains for so many even today. A third reason, even after Jews began to embrace Christ as Lord and to be saved in those early days, and you can read about that in the book of Acts especially, even then the old man still lingered. I think we can Uh, identify with that very keenly ourselves. Even after coming to Christ, that old man, that old way still lingers. We even sing about it and how we're prone to wander. Lord, I feel it prone to leave the God I love. Same thing for them. And this struggle with the old traditions and the old beliefs gave occasion for Jewish Christians to confuse the gospel. It gives the same for us. And to mix the gospel with former ideas of works righteousness. So we saw that in the quote from Acts 15.1, the teaching of the Judaizers. We even see that in Apostle Peter. He stumbles at one point in Galatians chapter 2, and that momentary stumbling that he had back into old traditions misled Jewish believers. And it says even Barnabas was led astray. And so Paul rebukes him openly to stop the damage that that tendency was causing. And so the gospel must be worked out in this kind of detail and explained in this kind of detail to guard against those contaminating influences of the flesh. And then a fourth reason is that going to the ancient example of Abraham reveals to us that the way of righteousness before God has always been the same way. There has only ever been one path to justification. And that's always been by grace alone through faith alone. And this is a strong corrective to the Jews of Paul's day. And this is great hope for all people. For God so loved the world, He gave His only Son that whosoever believes in Him, not just the Jews or not just those who have been circumcised, but whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. As we sung just a few minutes ago, because of this, fear is gone and hope is sure. Christ is mine forevermore. Justification in the sight of God comes through faith alone. There's no room for boasting here. And God gets all the glory. And that's the way it's supposed to be. So whatever religious ritual or good work we might substitute or whatever heritage we might try to claim has nothing whatsoever to do with being made right with God. If that's something that you see in your own heart as a tendency, don't be deceived. It's faith alone, in Christ alone. Christ has earned our righteousness in His perfectly righteous life. We don't add anything to it. Don't forget chapters 1 through 3. Our works are the problem, they're not the solution. Jesus' works are the solution, and God graciously counts that righteousness as ours, as a free gift. to be received by faith alone. So then, what purpose did circumcision have? Why was it there? What did it indicate? See, it brings it up. This is an important, confusing issue for the audience in that day, and our versions of it, what we substitute in there, is a confusing issue for us. So what did circumcision indicate? Let's look at verse 11. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So the answer is found in two important words that he has for us there in verse 11. The text says that circumcision was a sign and a seal. So let's take each of those for a minute, a sign and a seal. So we need to zoom way out again, get your broad view, your panoramic view of the Bible again. In the big picture the primary way that God interacts with humanity is through covenants. It's been said that the covenant is one of the most important notions in the Bible, and that the biblical covenants make up the backbone of the storyline of the Bible. This is how God has interacted with mankind throughout redemptive history, is through covenants. There are several major covenants in the Bible. Just to give you a couple examples, the covenant with Noah, with Abraham here, with David, the covenant with Moses at Sinai, and through Christ, the new covenant. And when God makes a covenant, he often gives a sign. of the covenant. That word means a token, a mark, a reminder of the covenant promise. Perhaps the clearest example for us to look to would be the covenant with Noah. From Genesis 9, the Lord says to Noah and his family, so that's everybody, it's the only ones that are left, he says, I establish my covenant with you that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." And God said, this is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all future generations. So this is God's making a covenant with all of humanity from that point forward. This is a global covenant. And he says, this is the sign of it. I have set my bow in the cloud and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the Earth. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. And so this sign, so God makes a covenant relationship, he makes this promise to us, he initiates it, he establishes its parameters, the blessings and cursings and all of this, and he establishes that with us, and he gives us a sign, a marker, a reminder of the covenant. In that case, it was the rainbow. In Abraham's case, it was circumcision. So circumcision was that token reminder of the sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham, particularly that he, though old and childless, would be the father of a multitude of nations. that his descendants would inherit the land of promise, and that through Abraham all the families of the earth would be blessed. And that takes us all the way down to Christ. So, a sign. And then also a seal is the next word. And the word translated here as seal refers to something that confirms or something that authenticates. It's like the impression of a signet ring that would authenticate a document as being authentic, being really from the king, for example, if it's the king's seal. And Paul says that God gave Abraham the sign of circumcision as a seal, as an expression of authentication of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So, put them both together. Circumcision is a reminder, it's a sign of the covenant God made with Abraham, and it's a seal. to authenticate the righteousness that he received by faith only while he was still uncircumcised. There has only ever been one way to be made right with God, and that's justification by faith only. grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone, apart from works. His circumcision was not adding to it. It wasn't creating his justified status. It was a sign to remind him of the covenant. It was a seal to show him that he really did have that justification by faith only. And believer, you too have a sign and a seal of your justification by faith alone. Baptism, and particularly believer's baptism by immersion, is the sign, and the indwelling Holy Spirit is the seal of your justification by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ. Ephesians 1, 13 and 14. In Christ you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory. You're justified by faith only, you're sealed by the Holy Spirit, and the sign to represent that, to remind us of that, is baptism. Unlike circumcision, though, which Abraham was commanded to give to all of his physical descendants because that Abrahamic covenant was to his physical descendants also. And so all of his physical descendants were to have that sign of the covenant. Baptism in the New Testament and in the New Covenant is given to believers only. So all who were physically descended from Abraham received the physical sign of circumcision as a sign of the covenant with Abraham. Whether or not they shared in his faith, And all who are spiritually united to Jesus by faith only, who are spiritually sealed by the Holy Spirit, they are the ones that receive baptism as the outward sign of that inward justification that God has already worked, that we already have. That's how we say it, right? It's an outward sign of an inward reality that God has already accomplished. So if this raises new considerations for anyone about your own baptism, maybe your own need to be baptized, then come to your elders and we'll work through those details with you. But we could keep going down that road and say a lot more about that, but we don't need to veer from our text at hand. And so we've seen the question that he raised, we've seen the answer that he has given, and then now we're moving to our third point, the purpose. Verses 11 through 12. What was the purpose of this timing of Abraham's justification prior to his being circumcised? What is it that God was revealing there? Verse 11. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well. and to make him the father of the circumcised, who are not merely circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. So first, verse 11, because Abraham was justified by faith prior to his circumcision, This makes Abraham the father or the leading example or to use a New Testament term, the first fruits. He's the exemplar of the uncircumcised who also believe like Abraham did. Genesis 17, four, behold, my covenant is with you and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. all nations who would believe." This is the same language in Jesus' Great Commission to the church, go forth and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. So God has always been after a multi-ethnic bride. a church from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. That's always been the goal. He's always been after people from all nations. And so no matter who you are or where you're from or what your background is or what the color of your skin is or who your mama is or your daddy is, If you share in the faith of Abraham, then you are Abraham's offspring, the true Israel, and part of that faithful remnant that God has kept for himself. And second, from verse 12, because Abraham received circumcision as the sign of the covenant that God made with him, and as a seal of his justification by faith only, it also makes Abraham the father of those who are circumcised. But he's careful to include not merely circumcised, but also walking the footsteps of the faith of their father. So he's the father of the circumcised in so much as they share not merely in the sign, but also in the faith that Abraham had before he received the sign of circumcision. So all Jews who have been adherents to their historic faith, they're circumcised as a sign that they're physical descendants of Abraham and heirs of the covenant promises made to Abraham. But not all Jews had Abraham as their father. Romans 9, 6 through 8, not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. And not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring. It takes more than that. But through Isaac shall your offspring be named. This means that it's not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise who are counted as offspring. Romans 2, we've already read this, 28 and 29, for no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly. Nowhere is circumcision outward and physical, but a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision's a matter of the heart, by the spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man, but from God. And in Galatians 5, 6, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything. but only faith working through love. So faith is the key element, and it always has been. Abraham was a father of those who believe, just like he believed. I guess that old nursery song that we learn is really quite a good theological primer. Father Abraham had many sons, and many sons had Father Abraham. And if we believe, then I am one of them, and so are you. So let's all praise the Lord. We know that we've gotten through all of this, and I've said Abraham a lot this morning. But this passage is not actually pointing us to Abraham as if he's the hero. He's the illustration of righteousness by faith only, and God is the one who grants that. wonderful gift, that blessing that David was writing about. So this passage ultimately points us to faith alone in Christ alone, apart from anything else, apart from anything we might add to the equation. So you too can be a child of Abraham and share in God's free gift of righteousness, which is for all people at all times. To be received by faith alone in Christ alone apart from works. Will you repent of your sins and trust in Jesus? Trust in the Savior. I point you to him. Let's pray. Lord, I pray that you would do your work through your word. and help us to see the glory of the gospel. The majesty of Christ Jesus who has accomplished it all. He paid it all. And the gift is free to those who would believe. I pray that you would grant repentance and faith. That you get the glory in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Hymn number 343, if you'd like to turn there. This hymn really points to our next, the ordinance that we'll take through communion here after we sing. It points to what Christ has done on our behalf and points to the faith that we have, that belief in Christ