Let's go to our Lord in prayer. Our Holy Father, as we reopen your holy scriptures, we do so with a holy anticipation fixed upon you, our great eternal God, that in this moment, as we hear your word proclaimed, as we hear it expounded, Father, we pray that you will give us the ears to hear it, that we'll not hear it in vain, that your word of truth that goes forth will not fall upon deaf ears and hard hearts today, but we trust in the Holy Spirit to accompany this means of grace that is your preached word to accompany this means with great power. That our eyes will be open, that we will behold wondrous things out of your word today. That for some we'll bring them to a true saving conversion in Jesus Christ our Lord. that for others who are your saints, your people, great comfort will be given, great edification, great conviction, that we will grow more and more today, Lord, by the truth of your word preached and the power of the Spirit, we will grow more in our most holy faith. growing up more in Christ. We ask these petitions, holding them before your throne of grace, even now, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ and in his name, we do pray, amen. Well, I invite you to take the word of God and let us turn to the gospel according to John. John chapter 12, John chapter 12, we're gonna start reading at verse 27 to verse 34. John 12, 27 to verse 34. These are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, starting in verse 27. Jesus says, now is my soul troubled And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name, that a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said an angel has spoken to him. Jesus answered, this voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. So the crowd answered him, we have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? And so reads the infallible, the inerrant, the all-sufficient Word of the living God. This morning we are returning to our teaching series in the gospel according to John after a five-month hiatus. But our re-entry in John's gospel is not starting at the beginning of a chapter, but instead we're stepping into the middle of a chapter. And specifically, we are picking up in John 12 in verse 27. What this means then is that it would be most important to recapture the context in which we're finding ourselves in verse 27. To begin with, it is the week of Passover for the nation of Israel, wherein the nation as a whole had gathered for this annual anticipated feast. Now when Jesus entered Jerusalem at the start of this feast, which was on Sunday, his entry was met with all the fanfare and excitement of a national hero who was about to liberate Israel from Rome. After meeting Jesus with the Jewish symbol of military victory by the waving of palm branches and hailing Him as the Messiah with their recitation of Psalm 118, the vast crowd were basically offering Jesus the kingship of Israel as they believed that His Messiahship would bring freedom from Rome and world domination. But the Jews were missing the true mission Jesus had come to fulfill, despite the fact that he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey instead of a horse. Fulfilling prophecy by the manner of this entry, as to the mission of his first advent, Jesus did not come to make war, but peace. Ergo, were the donkey symbolized as an animal of peace, contrary to the horse which was mounted by a conquering king of war? Sadly, however, the Jews did not see what was so obvious in front of them. Their fanaticism for freedom from Rome was the only salvation they believed they needed. They therefore rejected the true salvation Jesus offered and thus rejected their only hope of true freedom, which is freedom from sin. Now among the Jews during this Passover feast, John informs us that there were also Greeks who had traveled to Jerusalem to worship as well. These Greeks would have been God-fearing Gentiles who had actually become proselytes to Judaism. But the reason John sheds light on their gathering at the Passover was due to a question, indeed a request, they were incessantly asking the disciples, which was, sir, we wish to see Jesus. Hearing of this request, Jesus responded in verse 23 here in John 12, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. What Jesus saw and what the Greeks were seeking was a clear indication that the climax of his mission had arrived. Thus he declares the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. This hour of glory to which Jesus was truly speaking was none other than where he would be at the end of this very week outside the city of Jerusalem on Calvary's Hill, nailed to a cross, dying for every sinner the Father sent him into the world to save. No greater glory was on display for Jesus than this. And so following this prophetic declaration, Jesus went on to assert the necessity of his own death. He says in verse 24, truly, truly I say to you, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. In the same way, a seed must be buried in the ground and decay to give birth to a plant, so the Son of Man is glorified and bears much fruit through his suffering in death. In other words, without the cross, there is no salvation. Despite then what the Jewish crowd was demanding from him and what his own disciples were hoping as well, Jesus came not to receive a crown, but to embrace a cross because he came to save his people from their sins. And the only way this salvation would be accomplished was by the laying down of his life in behalf of all whom the Father gave him to save. This is because only By the death of Jesus Christ are sinners justified by God, forgiven by God, reconciled to God, and made to be at peace with God. Jesus' death on the cross, therefore, was the hour of his glory as it displayed how God would retain his justice and yet justify guilty sinners who deserve his wrath. This then is the context before us leading up to our study this morning of John chapter 12, verses 27 to 34. Now, from this passage, we're going to underscore four principal highlights that stand out in this historical narrative. There is first, the son's anguish. Second, the father's answer. Third, the cross anticipated, and last, the crowd's abandonment. Let's look first at the son's anguish. Reading verses 27, 28. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father saved me from this hour, but for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. The opening words here in verse 27 should frankly cause us to wonder and marvel. Now my soul is troubled. Now my soul is troubled. This verb translated troubled comes from a Greek term that means literally to shake or stir up, but figuratively, it carried the idea of severe mental and spiritual agitation. It speaks of someone under great disturbance and horror used here in the perfect passive construction. Jesus is expressing what has been an ongoing internal anguish of something that is pressing an insurmountable weight of devastation on his soul. But what could be troubling God's eternal son to this degree wherein he recoils in revulsion. Jesus reveals his anguish in the next statement. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I have come to this hour. What is troubling the soul of Jesus is what he will be facing at the cross. As we've already made very clear, this hour our Lord speaks of is the hour of His death. It is the divine purpose for which He has come into this world. A purpose that is to save His people from their sins by His atoning death as their substitute. Yet the very thought of this and what it will entail for Jesus in his humanity, not deity, but in his humanity, causes him the deepest revolting anguish. This clearly shows us that when our Lord faced the cross, he did not look at it as some detached, emotionalist, stoic with a stiff upper lip. Jesus did not go to Calvary with no feelings whatsoever. No, he says, my soul is in ongoing turmoil. He was feeling every bit in the depth of his soul of what he knew he was going to face. And only a few days from this very moment, the cross is coming. It's coming. But what really troubled Jesus about the cross? First and foremost, we must understand, and listen very closely to this, we must understand that it wasn't the physical agony he would have to endure. It wasn't that. As great as he suffered physically, By the excruciating torture and method of a Roman crucifixion, this is not what caused his human soul so much trouble. So what was it then? By his death on the cross, he would bear the full weight of God's wrath for our sins. he would bear the full weight of God's wrath for our sins. This is what gave his soul so much trouble. All the punishment, all the condemnation, all the suffering associated with our sins. Jesus at Calvary would take upon himself becoming a curse for us as he endured God's judgment that we deserved. The very thought of this repulsed our Savior to a measure that none of us, and I mean absolutely not a single one of us, could possibly understand. This is beyond our comprehension. We can't wrap our minds around this. But this explains why on the night of his betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, Luke 22, 42, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Do you remember that? Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. What did the cup represent? But the wrath of God. the wrath of God that Jesus is going to have to bear for our sins and our salvation. And yet, here he is on the very night preceding his crucifixion praying that if the Father is willing, would he remove this cup. And this petition, listen to me, this petition must not be misinterpreted as weakness on our Lord's part. Oh, no. No, no, no. No, this is not weakness. Rather, in the sinless humanity of God's incarnate Son, the sinless humanity, Nothing could be more agonizing to his holy human soul than the unjust cruel and shameful death that awaited him as our sin-bearing substitute. And this is why I say you and I cannot understand this. We cannot understand this because, well, we're not sinless. But following our Lord's personal confession here in John 12, 27, over how troubled his soul is with what he will have to endure at the cross, I want you to quickly notice what this confession is followed by. Look at it. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Despite his anguish of soul, Jesus shows us his faithful resolve in absolute submission to his Father's will. Shall he cry out to the Father, save me from this hour, as if there could be another way that he could save his people from their sins? This was obviously the conflict he felt in his humanity, thus his later petition to the father to remove the cup if he were willing. But no different than what we see Jesus resolve in his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane when he says to the father, nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. So here too in John 12, 27, what does Jesus affirm? But for this purpose, I have come to this hour. The sense of these words can be understood like this. But I know that for this cause, I came into the world and have reached this hour. to suffer as I am now suffering, and to agonize as I am now agonizing, I do not refuse the cup, as you will for me to drink it, I will drink it, but I tell you, Father, my deepest feelings over it all, yet with entire submission to your will. That's the sense of what he's expressing here to his father. The last thing we see in our text is very critical above everything. We see what motivated Jesus. What motivated him in everything he did to fulfill the divine purpose for which his father sent him into the world. He prays, Father, glorify your name. Glorify your name. And brothers and sisters, this is what it's all about. It's all about the glory of God. This is what it's all about. This has been the chief end for everything Jesus has said and done up to this point, and it will remain His solitary goal with everything the Father has purposed His Son to carry out in saving His people from their sins. Nothing, okay, you need to understand, nothing would turn Jesus away from glorifying His Father. This was the driving motive for it all. And yet, and yet, his soul was troubled. His soul was troubled. The anguish was very real. He felt it, and he felt it to the full because of what he would have to endure. but from the son's anguish. Let's now notice in the second place, the father's answer. Reading the second half of verse 28 to verse 30. Then a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, an angel has spoken to him. Jesus answered, This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Here we have only one of three occasions recorded in the Gospels where God the Father spoke audibly. Only one of three occasions. The other two occasions were at our Lord's baptism and on the Mount of Transfiguration. But here, here we are literally in the final week of our Lord's earthly life. The cross is up ahead at the end of this week. And so to authenticate his eternal son once more, to affirm him once more, the Father speaks where all can hear. I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. What does this mean? What God the Father says is obviously in response to what Jesus had just prayed. What did our Lord just pray? Father, glorify your name. So, in response to that, the Father says, I have glorified it and I will glorify it again. The fact that God the Father answers in two different verb tenses is what's important for us to see. On the one hand, the Father declares, I have glorified it, I have, past tense, referring to the many and various ways God glorified his name from the birth of Jesus Up until this very point in time, by the perfect obedience Jesus rendered to his Father, all the miracles he performed, the infallible teaching he gave, all of which has put on display the coming of God's kingdom. In the whole of Jesus' earthly life, God was glorified by the undeniable favor and approval he bestowed on his incarnate Son. But on the other hand, the Father says, and I will, glorify it again, which in the future tense is very clearly pointing to what Jesus will accomplish by his death on the cross. But remembering that what God the Father has said was audible, and thus in the presence of all those in the crowd, their response is nothing but confusion. Some of them believed it had thundered, while others said an angel had spoken to him. Clearly, God's audible voice was loud like thunder, but the communication, the communication that God the Father gave, it gave these bystanders a sense of the divine. a sense of the miraculous, hence the reply of some believing an angel had spoken. Yet for the majority of them, and this is what we need to see and understand, for the majority of these Jews standing there, they could not discern at all what was really said, which is why what Jesus says seems on the surface Very puzzling. Look at what our Lord says. Again, this voice has come for your sake, not mine. This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Since the Father spoke in answer to Jesus' petition, how could Jesus say that what was said was not for his sake? Well, the answer to this question should be really easy to understand. Jesus as God's eternal son had no need to hear his father's audible voice to know if his prayer had been answered. He also did not need his father's reassurance that the glory of God was manifested in all that his son said and did. No, what God the father spoke at this moment in time was for the sake of those standing there, however, It wasn't for all of them without exception, hence the confusion, by the majority. As one writer said, the voice came to strengthen the faith of the disciples that they might hear directly and with their own ears both that the Father had indeed answered Jesus and what that answer was. It was for the disciples, the Lord's own people. And what an incredible monumental assurance did our Lord's disciples receive in this moment in time from God the Father concerning even more The authentication and affirmation of God's eternal Son. Well, considering the Father's answer and the Son's anguish, let's now move to our third highlight from this text, which is the cross anticipated. The cross anticipated. Reading verses 31 and 32. Now is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. What Jesus anticipated with joy when he looked at his work on the cross was three divine victories. Three divine victories he would in fact accomplish in the first place. The cross of Christ would bring judgment on the world. The cross of Christ would bring judgment on the world. Jesus says, now is the judgment of this world. How so? In two ways, specifically. First, by exposing the sinfulness of sin. By exposing the sinfulness of sin. Why did God's eternal sinless son die in such a cruel humiliation and beyond that suffer the wrath of God? Well, the answer is sin. Sin. Observing this fact, J.C. Ryle wrote this. He said, terribly black must that guilt be for which nothing but the blood of the Son of God can make satisfaction. Heavy must that weight of human sin be which made Jesus groan and sweat drops of blood in agony at Gethsemane and cry at Golgotha, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Sin is no small thing. But of course the world, the world writes sin off as only a small thing. The world we live in has fallen and sinful, excuses sin itself as something merely dysfunctional. All sin in our day comes under categories of psychology. which can be treated with medicine and excused since people are really only victims and not responsible for their actions. That's how the world treats sin. But at the cross, God in the death of his son exposes what sin really is as nothing but evil and what it really deserves, which is divine judgment. And in this way, the cross of Jesus judges the world. But secondly, the cross of Jesus judges the world by exposing the world's wicked attitude toward Jesus himself. I wonder how many of you have ever really thought about this. Why was Jesus nailed to the cross? Why was the sinless son of God sent to the cross? Well, the first answer to this, from God's side, Jesus was sent by divine commission to save his people from their sins. But on man's side, Jesus was removed by a world that hated him. In fact, think of it this way. If you really want to understand this world we live in, Whether it's now or 2,000 years ago, when Jesus historically was here and went to Calvary, if you really want to understand this world, consider what the world did to Jesus Christ. Just consider that. He lived a perfect life of truth and love. Healing and teaching the people. How did the world react to this? They killed him. They killed him. Doesn't sound like a great world we live in, does it? It's not. It's fallen. It's sinful. It's under the wrath of a holy God because of all of the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. And so God sends his sinless son into this world who takes on sinless humanity because he was without sin. He was perfect. And everything he did was perfect. Everything he said was perfect. His life was without sin. And how did the world react? How did the majority react? They killed him. There is your understanding of the world we live in, right there. Sinful man, apart from God's saving grace, would kill Jesus over and over if left to their own wicked devices. No wonder then that our Lord anticipated, he anticipated the cross by saying, now is the judgment of this world. In the second place, the cross of Christ would overthrow the ruler of this world. The cross of Christ would overthrow the ruler of this world. Now this reference to the ruler of this world is describing Satan himself. What's so ironic though is that where Satan appeared to get his greatest triumph at the cross, it was in reality his greatest defeat. It was his greatest defeat. Since Satan reigns through sin and by this power he enslaved sinners to the bondage of sin and guilt, yet at the cross, Jesus broke the devil's power by removing our sin by paying in full the debt of our guilt before God. In this way, Satan was in truth cast out. He was dethroned. As Colossians 2.15 assures us, Christ disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. And the context there is what Jesus did at the cross. The kingdom of darkness where Satan rules received a mortal blow at the cross from which there will never be recovery. There will never be a recovery. Satan and his legions are living on borrowed time because of the victory Jesus won at the cross. And get this, they know it. They know it. As Revelation chapter 12 and verse 12 reveals, the devil knows that his time is short. I think we should often remind ourselves of that text as God's people. The devil knows his time is short. He's living on borrowed time. He is a defeated and dethroned enemy. And that is all because of what Jesus did at the cross. In the third place, The cross of Christ emanates omnipotent power to draw sinners and reconcile them to God. Looking at verse 32, Jesus declares, and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. Now here is the greatest victory of all which Jesus accomplished at the cross. Listen very closely. By his atoning death, he made a sure and certain way for sinners to be saved from their sins and justified by God. There is saving power in the death of Christ by which the Holy Spirit applies to all people that have been given to Christ to redeem. In other words, all that the father has given to his son, who have been chosen by God for salvation will be saved because they will be drawn effectually to Christ, receiving all the benefits that his atoning death secured for them. So when Jesus says here that he will draw all people to himself by virtue of his cross work, he is clearly not referring to all people without exception. Our Lord Jesus Christ is not a universalist. No, when he speaks of drawing all people to himself, he is referring to all people out of every nation, tribe, and tongue. That is to say, Jesus is drawing all different kinds of people to himself because God's elect come out of every tribe, tongue, and nation. Just read Revelation 5, 9, Revelation 7, 9. There's a good reference to that. So then the intention and the design of everything Jesus would do on the cross by his death procured redemption for a peculiar, particular, specific people. Not everyone in the world. Only God's elect. Only God's elect. Jesus did not come, he did not come into this world to lay his life down for a gamble. His death is not a gamble. a roll of the dice on the part of God to see, well, who's going to accept what my son did? Maybe somebody will. Maybe someone in the world will accept what he did. No. No, he came on a divine mission to save a particular people whom the father from all eternity had given to his son as a gift of love. And Jesus speaks of these very people in John 6, 37. All the Father has given me will come to me. It's not if they might come, maybe they'll come. Now, there's no contingency there at all. They will come to me. They will. Because they've been chosen, elected from before the foundation of the world. Everything Jesus did, not only by his death, even by his life, everything he did was to save his specific people, the elect of God from their sins. And that, brothers and sisters, that's who you are. That's who you are. This is what Jesus anticipated by his death on the cross. Three things, according to our text here. The world is judged, Satan is cast out, and God's elect are all saved. Our last point to highlight from John 12, 27 to 34, is the crowd's abandonment. The crowd's abandonment, reading verse 34. So the crowd answered him. We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Or a better rendering, what kind of Son of Man are you talking about? Well, once again, we see Jesus here facing the vitriolic unbelief of the Jews. Since He did not fit their model, He did not fit their ideal of the Messiah, they dismiss Him right out of hand. And in these words, they cannot and will not believe that the Son of Man must be lifted up. In other words, that the Son of Man must die. their reading of God's law, their reading of the Old Testament scriptures leaves them with the impression that the Christ, that is the Messiah, remains forever, which means that the Messiah will never see death. But then we have to ask the question, well, have you ever read Psalm 22? Have you ever read Isaiah 53? I mean, we could just start with those for starters. Those are just starting passages. But those passages and many others prophesy very clearly that the Messiah will have to die for the transgressions of his people in order to redeem them. But this was not the Messiah the Jews were looking for and this was not the salvation that they believed they needed. So they rejected. God's eternal Son, made flesh, who is none other than their long-awaited Messiah. Their sin in all its unbelief blinded them to the truth of who Jesus Christ really is. And thus closes the historical narrative of John 12, 34. Well, in closing our study on the whole, what are some takeaways we can glean from John 12, 27 to 34? I'm gonna leave you with two, and they are printed in your bulletin so you can follow right along. Two big takeaways from this teaching. First, while we will never render perfect obedience to God in this life due to our remaining sin, Yet to be always aiming in the direction of total submission to God's will should mark our life in Christ more and more as we grow. Let's listen to that again. Just follow right along with me. While we will never render perfect obedience to God in this life due to our remaining sin, yet to be always aiming in the direction of total submission to God's will should mark our life in Christ more and more as we grow. This means that what we see in Jesus in his resolve to fully submit to the Father's will no matter the cost. Remember what he said in the Gardening of Gethsemane, not as I will, but as you will, Father. Seeing that, we then, following our Lord's example, we should trust God for the grace that we have in Christ to deny ourselves and carry our cross following our Lord wherever he calls us to go. And therefore, whatever he calls us to do. And while such obedience will never be perfect, is if I need to stress that, but I'll stress it, such obedience will never be perfect, yet it will be real, it will be sincere, despite how much we stumble and fall along the way. Our sanctification, according to the teaching of Scripture, is a progressive work. It is a progressive work, but it is a work in this life wherein we should be able to say with conviction as we are growing, able to say with the Apostle Paul in Philippians 121, for to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. So again, while we will never render perfect obedience to God in this life due to our remaining sin and we wipe the sweat off our brow with that, to be always aiming in the direction of total submission to God's will should mark our life in Christ more and more as we grow. Second takeaway. Saving faith not only finds its confidence in who Jesus Christ is as God's eternal son made flesh, in what Jesus did to save sinners by his life and death. Again, listen to this. Saving faith not only finds its confidence in who Jesus Christ is as God's eternal son made flesh, but also in what Jesus did to save sinners by his life and death. This means that to believe on Jesus Christ for salvation is to trust equally in both his person and in his work. to trust in His person and His work. So that when it comes to what Jesus did by His death on the cross, if we have saving faith, then we trust fully in the sufficiency of the atoning sacrifice Jesus procured, believing that by it, we are justified, we are redeemed, we are reconciled, we are forgiven. In other words, trusting in Jesus Christ to save you is trusting in his atoning death for your sins. Trusting in Jesus Christ to save you is trusting in his atoning death for your sins. I'll put it to you in the negative. There can be no saving faith in Jesus Christ If you do not believe that his death on the cross was enough to save you from the condemnation your sins deserve and to reconcile you to God. Hear that again. There can be no saving faith in Jesus Christ if you do not believe that his death on the cross was enough to save you from the condemnation your sins deserve and reconcile you to God. What were the last words Jesus said on the cross? His last words were, it is finished. It is finished. But did you know that There are people in the visible church who don't believe it's finished. They don't believe that the work has been done, the work is fulfilled. That what Christ did by His death, satisfying the wrath of God to the full for our sins, And by his death, justifying us and reconciling us to God and redeeming us from our sins. And purchasing by his death the full forgiveness of all our transgressions. There are actually people in the visible church, people who would claim to believe in Jesus Christ, in fact, If you really questioned them, you would discover that the things they believe about who Jesus Christ is is actually true and accurate. But when it comes to his work on the cross, they do not believe it's enough. This is where they fall short of having true salvation. This is where they fall short. They believe that, they definitely believe that what Jesus did was necessary for their salvation. And they'll argue that, oh, it was necessary. He had to go to the cross. He had to atone for my sins. That was necessary, but, but it wasn't enough. More has to be done. What more has to be done? Well, by me, of course. I have to add to what Jesus did. It's gonna take my merits as well. My merits to truly make what he did sufficient and really to get me in the kingdom. You know, Paul the apostle dealt with that. He dealt with that with the Galatian churches. by those false teachers called Judaizers who were saying that what Jesus did to save you is not enough, you also need to obey the law. You also need to obey the law. So it's grace plus, grace plus your works. Well, then grace is out. If it's grace plus your works, well then you've overturned grace. And Paul was having to address this in some of the harshest inspired language that the Holy Spirit gave him to write to a local church. Because what he said to the Galatian churches right from the start of the letter was, who has bewitched you? You have departed from the gospel to another kind of gospel, which is no gospel at all. God alone saves. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Salvation is of the Lord, period. We do not add to it. We do not take from it. And therefore, what Jesus did by his death on the cross is absolute, infallible, certain, and sure, and totally sufficient to save you and keep you saved for eternity. And so to believe and trust in Jesus Christ to save you, You are believing and trusting if your faith is true. If it's saving faith, you are believing and trusting in everything he did to save you, and you're saying by faith to him and in him, Lord Jesus, thank you. What you did is enough to save me. I don't need anything else. What you did is enough. May God build greater assurance in His people today that what Jesus Christ the Lord actually accomplished, what He actually procured by His death on the cross, it is sufficient. It is sufficient for your salvation. May we thank God for this today. Amen. Let's pray. Our holy, righteous, gracious Father, we thank you again and again and again for the sending of your eternal Son into this world. taking upon himself a human nature to be our one and only mediator, our one and only saving, redeeming mediator between you, Holy Father, and us. We thank you that in Jesus Christ, our Lord, and because of him, we are reconciled to you. And you have forgiven us all our transgressions by the death of your son as you very plainly and clearly revealed to us with great assurance in your word. And Heavenly Father, I pray that for any here today have had strong doubts about this, who are struggling with the very assurance of their salvation. Lord, may you take what has been expounded with clarity to them, the gospel of the son of your love, and turn their hearts towards Christ and his cross. Turn their hearts to see afresh and anew the sufficiency of the atoning work of your eternal son on Calvary's Hill. And Father, we pray too that for those in our midst that have yet to truly turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in saving faith, Father, will you have great mercy on them today? Will you give them, give them the gift of saving faith? We pray the Holy Spirit will regenerate them even now and draw them effectually to Christ. We pray, Father, that in your great mercy and kindness and love that today will be the day of their salvation, that they will no longer go. They will not take another step further in the darkness of their unbelief. but they will be made alive together with Christ. Even now we pray. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and for his sake, amen.