Please open your Bibles to the Epistle to the Romans, Romans 9, verse 20. The title of the sermon today is, The Lord knoweth them that are his. The Lord knoweth them that are his. As you may notice, this is the fifth sermon on Romans 9. Last week, we ended with Romans 9, verse 20, and today we're going to pick up right there again at verse 20. So let's start reading there. Romans 9, verse 20. God's or Paul's response to people who may have not appreciated so much what he said so far. Nay, but O man, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why has thou made me thus? Who is this that dares to criticize God? Allow me to review what we have learned so far to the superficially uninformed, to the superficially informed unbelievers. The first objectionable statement that they might find in this chapter is in verses six and eight, where God says, They are not all Israel, which are blood descendants of Israel. And the other one, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted to the seed. Who then are the children of the promise? This leads us to the second objectionable statement found in verse 13. There, God says, as it is written, Jacob have I loved. But Esau have I hated. The reason most people find this objectionable is because God said this of Jacob and Esau when the children were not yet born, neither having done any good or evil. Why did God state this in such a manner that it sounds to our ears as cold and without feeling and without love? Why? God gave the reason why he did that. He says, you see that there, in order that the purpose of God according to election might stand. In other words, here's an example of what election is. God decides whom he is going to love and save to be in heaven for all eternity. And God decides whom he's going to hate and condemn to hell for all eternity. God does that for all the people in the world. And God decided that before they could have done any good or evil. And God decided that a long time before they were born. God decided that before the foundation of the world, according to Ephesians 1 verse 4, which says, according as he has chosen us in him, that is in Christ, when? Before the foundation of the world. That is what election is. This is what God says. If any preacher or Bible teacher gives you another explanation of what election is, then you'll know that his message is false. A false gospel. Because God gave in Jacob and Esau a perfect example of what election is. This was the purpose of God in stating it this way in Romans 9 verse 13. And when people object to this, we should read to them the following verses. Let's go on, Romans 9 verse 14. What should we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore, for that reason, hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. Here again, those of the elect, all the Jacobs in the world, who will find that God has mercy on them. according to verses 15 and 16. On the other hand, those who are the reprobate, all the Esau's in the world, will find that certain portions of the Bible are just unacceptable to them. Their minds remain in unbelief. Their hearts have been hardened, according to verse 18. Who hardened their hearts? God did, according to verse 19. Do people object to this concept of God? Absolutely. They say, actually in verse 19, Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? In other words, they say, Why does God find fault with me if God has hardened my heart? And if God has foreordained all that I do, and if I cannot resist his will, then why does God find fault with me? Then God would be unjust to cast me into hell, because all I do is simply what he makes me do. But how do people dare to contend with God? They make God guilty in this case, instead of themselves. And God answers them here. God says, how dare you criticize what I do? You are a man, a speck of dust. You should repent in dust and ashes like Job. Why do you contend with Almighty God about things that you are not able to understand? Shall the thing formed say to his maker, why have you made me this way? Who are you to reply against God? Realize who you are talking to. When we criticize God's Word, now just question what it says. When we criticize God's Word, we must realize that we're taking on Almighty God. Like I said last week, our God is irreprehensible. It means God cannot be blamed for anything He's doing, since He is just and righteous in all that He does. We're going to come back here a lot, so put a marker here in Romans 9. And turn to the prophecy of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 18, verse 1. Jeremiah 18, verse 1. We have here the historical parable of the potter and the clay. The nation of Judah was under the rule of King Zedadiah. We're almost there in our Bible study. Who was a very wicked king. It was under his reign that We'll read about it in 2 Chronicles 36 verse 14. The chief of the priests and the people transgressed very much after the abominations of the heathen and polluted the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. It's not just the king, it's the people and the priests. God sent Jeremiah to this wicked nation with the message that we now read in chapter 18 verse 1. the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter, So he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. So this is the primary object lesson to Jeremiah and to the nation of Judah. God is portrayed here as the sovereign potter, and the nation of Judah is portrayed here as the clay in the hands of the potter. God molds the clay as he will, in whatever shape he designed it to be. Here we see the hands of God are portrayed as the providence of God, a very fitting metaphor. What was God going to do with the nation of Judah at this point? And what was God's message to the nation of Judah? The first message was that God is the sovereign creator of everything. The second message is that God demands to be worshipped by humans. and therefore God demanded that the nation of Judah repent of their idolatries and false worship practices. So let's read on Jeremiah 18 verse 5. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter, saith the Lord? Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and destroy it? If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to build and to plant it? If it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them. In other words, God said that he would not destroy the nation of Judah if they would repent of their evil ways and return to Jehovah their God. But we know the outcome of this story. They would not repent and God destroyed the nation. God sent the Babylonian armies, which destroyed Judah and Jerusalem, just like Pharaoh. King of Egypt did not repent because God hardened his heart. So God hardened the hearts of the people in Jerusalem and Judah. Well, sure, there were a few exceptions. but the nation as a whole did not repent, and God destroyed them because they would not hear. God worked through the sins of the people to accomplish his purposes. How can it be that people accuse God of unjustly casting them into hell? God's will is wrongly confused with his precept. God's will is wrongly confused with his precept. While God accomplishes through the wicked what he has decreed by his secret judgment, they are not excusable as if they had obeyed his precept, which out of their own lust they deliberately break. Let's take an example. The betrayal of Judas Iscariot was not right simply because God himself willed that his son be delivered up to death. We cannot ascribe the guilt of this crime of Judas betraying Christ. We can't ascribe that guilt to God. Just as we cannot transfer the credit of redemption. Because Judas sent him to judgment, so Judas should get credit. No. It doesn't work that way. Therefore, who does not tremble at these judgments where God works even in men's evil hearts, whatever he will. And yet God leads them over to their own desires. God also puts some reprobate in the church. Every church has them. We in this congregation should tremble if we are under the hearing of the word, and yet we do not do what God commands us. It means that we don't believe God. When we pick and choose which of God's commandments we will obey and which we will not slide. Then we're just like the congregation of Judah who chose what they desire to obey. Let's not imagine that we shall escape God's judgment. So, yes, that judgment may not come immediately. In fact, it may come so slowly that we're not even aware that God is no longer among us or that our God is no longer in our families. Please turn back to Romans chapter 9. And now we'll go to verse 21. Talk about the same love. You may have noticed from this study in Romans that we're developing a concept of God which we perhaps have not seen before. Romans 9 is just as much the word of God as the statement that God is love. It's true, God is love. But it's equally true that God hates the reprobate. So let's look here at the hands of God or the providence of God. Here's the fifth example of who are the children of the promise and who are not. We read in Romans 9 verse 21. Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel under honor and another under dishonor. God, as the sovereign potter, has authority over the clay. He is the potter and we are the clay. As long as God is speaking only about the elect, we are at ease. God has nothing but good to say about his elect whom he will draw irresistibly into his holy heaven. Those are the vessels under honor. But that's only half of the information in this verse. God also makes vessels unto dishonor. What are those? These are the reprobate whom God is not going to save. Are there many reprobate? Those in Jerusalem and Judah at the time of Jeremiah were mostly reprobate. And in the surrounding nations, the fraction of elect was much smaller. God did that. God has absolute power over the clay. But why did God use those words of the same lump? This is a reference to Adam. Adam was made from a lump of clay. Adam actually means dirt. Because he was taken from the dirt. And Eve was made out of Adam. So the entire human race comes out of Adam and Eve. Therefore, the lump that's called Adam is the lump that God is referring to here in Romans 9.21. Out of that same lump, God is able to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor. For example, of the first two sons of Adam and Eve, Cain was a reprobate, and Abel was an elect child of God. God purposely chose the same lump in reference to Romans 5 verse 12. Keep your marker here, but let's go to Romans 5 verse 12. There in the passage of verses 12 through 21, God introduces us to the representative principle. Today we'll only use that one verse from the passage. We read that in Romans 5 verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin And so, death passed upon all men. For that, all sinned. Adam sinned when he ate the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Symbolically and literally then, the entire human race was in the loins of Adam when he sinned. Therefore, the entire human race was represented in Adam. Every one of us inherited a sinful body and soul from Adam. Adam was our first representative, and he remains our representative after the flesh. To those who become saved, God gave Christ to be our representative after the spirit. Christ became our second representative when we became born again. Just like we were initially in Adam when Adam sinned, and thus we all were subject to judgment by being co-contributors to Adam's sin, So likewise, we were in Christ when Christ was crucified. And thus we endured the judgment of the equivalent of an eternity in hell with Christ and in Christ when he suffered for the guilt of all our sins. For that reason, God cannot send us to hell again because we have already endured hell for our sins in Christ as our representative. This is how all mankind came under God's judgment for their original sin. But some enjoy salvation when they have heard and believed that they endured God's judgment for all their sins. Let's go on in Romans 9, verse 22, where God speaks about the vessels of wrath. Romans 9, 22, what if God willing to show his wrath and to make his power known endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. All people, either conceived or born in this world, are conceived or born in a state of sin, which leaves them in a state of condemnation before God. If God would send the entire human race to hell, God would be absolutely righteous. If God then desires to bestow his favor upon some, who can fault God for doing so? To the human race, God will say, from Matthew 20 verse 15, Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am good? Here in Romans 9.22 we read that God is willing to show his wrath. Therefore he shows his wrath on the reprobate. What an awesome and sovereign God we have. He sovereignly makes the choice whether to save someone from eternal damnation or whether to pass him by. And if God passes someone by, this action of God will most certainly send this person to eternal condemnation in hell. which this person so justly deserves. Those are the reprobate. They are called the vessels unto dishonor, and they're also called the vessels of wrath. To each one of these vessels of wrath, God shall say, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. God says that these are vessels fitted to destruction. In the eternal counsels of God, before the foundation of the world, God decided to create them for his own purposes, knowing full well that these would be sinners. And God condemns them for their own sins. God is not the author of their sins. Now, can we understand this? Absolutely not. But God declares this in his word, the Bible. And we have to humbly submit to God's infinite wisdom. The counsel of God is incomprehensible. We cannot understand it. And yet God's unblameable justice shines forth in the condemnation of the reprobate, as well as in the salvation of the elect. God does not give a reason for his choice of divine election. or divine reprobation of people, because it's not fitting that the things contained in the secret counsel of God should be subjected to the judgment of man. Men should simply believe God and glorify Him in whatever He does. So when we get into apologetics, what a foolish thing. We cannot explain why God does things and everything He does. It's not in our capacity. And then we read that God endures with much long-suffering. So what's long-suffering? Is that patience? What's the difference between long-suffering and patience? Well, long-suffering means self-restraint in the face of provocation. Self-restraint in the face of provocation. God does not hastily retaliate or promptly punish because long-suffering is associated with mercy. Therefore, long-suffering is an attribute of God. On the other hand, patience means that a person does not surrender to circumstances or collapse in the face of trial. You do not surrender to circumstances or collapse in the face of trial. Patience is the opposite of despondency, and patience is associated with hope. Therefore, patience is not used of God. It's an attribute of man. Please turn in your Bibles to the prophecy of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 30 verse 12. Isaiah 30 verse 12. The historical background for the people referred to in Isaiah 30 is about the same as for the unbelievers in Romans 9, who voice objections when they hear the whole counsel of God spoken from his word. God says to them, this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord. And then we read in Isaiah 30 verse 12, Wherefore, basically for this reason, thus saith the Holy One of Israel, because he despised this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and stay there on. Therefore, this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall whose breaking comes suddenly at an instant, and he shall break it as the breaking of the potter's vessel that's broken in pieces. He shall not spare, so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a shard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit. In verse 12, paraphrased, God says, if you do not do what God says, then you do not believe God's word, which means that you despise his word. Therefore, you put your trust in Egypt, which is the house of bondage, leading you to oppression and perverseness. Whereas you should have trusted in the Lord to deliver you from evil. Then in verse 13, God compares the wicked to a wall, a high wall with a crack. And the wall is ready to break and fall. In verse 14, God shall break this wall like the breaking of a potter's vessel that's broken completely in pieces. The vessel represents the nation of Judah, which is also pictured in that fashion in Jeremiah 18 at the potter's house. God shall not pity anyone. So there shall not be found a fraction of the nation or a fraction of the potter's vessel that can be used for taking fire from the fireplace or taking a little water from the well. Historically, the nation of Judah was totally destroyed. But how does that apply to us? If we despise God's word, that also is our end. In other words, it's not possible that someone criticizes the word of God and is saved at the same time. God's judgment shall come upon that person, but God has more to say about the potter's vessel. Please turn to Psalm two, verse nine. Psalm two, verse nine. God's judgment in Scripture is expressed in many ways. In Psalm 2, the Father says to the Son, Thou shalt dash them in pieces. But there are other verses that deal with this destruction, and they're listed there in your outline. We read in Psalm 5, verse 5, Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. In Psalm 7, verse 11, God is angry with the wicked every day. In Psalm 11, verse 5, the Lord tryeth the righteous, but the wicked and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth. And in Proverbs 6, verse 16, these six things that the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him. But let's look at Psalm 2, verse 9. Psalm 2 verse 9, thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Here again the picture is of God as that heavenly potter who has made vessels unto honor and vessels unto dishonor. The vessels unto dishonor are vessels of wrath fitted to destruction and Christ will be their judge. In this picture, the Lord Jesus Christ expresses the wrath of God on these vessels of wrath by breaking them in pieces like a human potter breaks rejected earthen vessels in his potter's field. But this destruction of the vessels does not mean annihilation, but hell forever. The second death. All right, let's go back to Romans 9. We're up to verse 23 as we get to the vessels of mercy. In Romans 9.22, we have read that God is willing to show his wrath, therefore he shows his wrath on the reprobate. But we read in Romans 9.23, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory. God is willing to show his mercy, therefore he shows his mercy on his elect. What an awesome God we have. He sovereignly makes the choice on whom he will shower his love and his mercy. And look at whom God is using as instruments of his mercy. God calls us his instruments of mercy, his vessels of mercy, because that's how we are used by the Lord to spread the true gospel to all those whom the Lord shall call unto salvation. This is our mandate. There are no secret Christians. and look at whom God is using as instruments of his wrath. The peddlers of false gospels are the instruments or vessels of wrath that are used by the Lord to spread his wrath to all those who remain in darkness. All the reprobate. In turn now to the second second epistle to Timothy. Timothy chapter two verse nineteen. You may remember the title of our sermon today is the Lord knoweth them that are his. That does bring us great comfort. Like our God is immutable, does not change. So God's promises are also immutable. Let's see that in 2 Timothy 2 verse 19. 2 Timothy 2 19 Nevertheless, the foundation of God stand it sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his and let everyone that name of the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earth and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man, therefore, purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel and honor. sanctified and neat or appropriate for the master's use and prepared to every good work. Verse 20 tells us in the church, in the great house of the living God, there are both elect and reprobate. God does keep the wheat and the tears growing together until Judgment Day. Both vessels under honor and under dishonor are present in the best of churches. But if the reprobate are vessels under dishonor, they have that dishonor confined to themselves. They do not bring disgrace upon the house by their presence. But verse 21 tells us that we must separate ourselves from those whom we perceive are polluting our mind or our morals. It is from them that we must purge ourselves. But we have no power or ability of our own to do that. because we are drawn to sin. We must pray to the Lord to cleanse us instead of vainly trying to do it on our own strength. Alright, back to Romans 9 again. Romans 9, now we're at verse 24. Who are these vessels unto honor? Who are these vessels of mercy? It's not the Jews only, but it's even us. We read that in Romans 9.24, even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. You notice after the cross there's no difference between Jews and Gentiles. Instead there is equal treatment for all nations. Let me summarize what God is teaching us here in Romans 9.20-24. God tells us that we should not question God or question his word. We may ask questions about his word, but not question the authority of his word. It is our job to be submissive to God and to his word. The Bible. This is God's way, and God's way is the only way. When God called us, God also made known to us who he is and what he does, and how great his love is for us and how great his plan of salvation is. For example, can we understand what rich means unless we also have the poor in the world? Can we know what salvation is if there would not exist at the same time damnation? How can God's grace be known without the existence of God's wrath? How can we see if we're in the kingdom of God unless we were blind to begin with? How can the elect be identified unless the non-elect, the reprobate, are also present? How can the love of God be known if the hatred of God is not also known? How can the righteous be identified if the wicked are not also present? How can goodness on the earth exist without evil also being present? How can we admire the wisdom of God if we have not at the same time the puny wisdom of man? I could go on and on. You can keep adding that list, that contrast. We need to understand that God, in his wisdom, created the reprobate. Because God loved the elect so much that he was willing to do for them what God has no pleasure in. Do for whom? When God says I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, that's an absolutely true statement. It doesn't mean that God will not put the wicked to death, what God says is he hates all workers of iniquity. That's an absolutely true statement, but it does not mean that God derives pleasure in putting to death all the workers of iniquity. For example, when God says it pleased the Lord to bruise him, which refers to putting Christ on the cross, It does not mean that God derives great pleasure in afflicting his only begotten son with the equivalent of an eternity in hell. There are certain things that God must do to preserve his integrity as an absolutely righteous judge. Things which we cannot understand because we are not righteous to begin with. But isn't it wonderful that God's righteousness can be absolutely dependent on. Isn't it wonderful to know that God's promise to impute the righteousness of Christ to everyone who believes can be absolutely depended on? Therefore, we should be praising our God. How great is our God? Let me give you an example of how great our God is from the realms of astronomy. Ready for your mind to expand a little? We know that the sun is a great distance from the Earth. In fact, it is such a great distance that if something happens on the surface of the sun, it takes about eight minutes for us to see that the change has taken place. The sun is 93, approximately 93 million miles away, and light travels at 186,000 miles per second. Now if you take those facts, you can figure out how long it takes for the sun to get here. When you see the sun rise, it's actually eight minutes past that. But the light hasn't gotten here until then, so we don't see it. So that's how far the sun is from us. But let me take a step into outer space and suppose that I could stand on the farthest planet of our solar system, which happens to be Pluto. It takes the light from the sun about five and a half hours to reach the planet Pluto. Do you remember as a kid you had to make some of these scales so the Sun was over here and had to be this big and then you got to Mars and then Venus and the Earth and you went out the solar system? If the Sun was here and the Earth was one inch away from it, 93 million miles, one inch, Pluto would be 41 inches. Okay? Got that visual? Now keep that little scale because I'm going to use it later. That one inch for the distance from us to the sun. And then how far the universe is. Ready? Take the light from the sun five and a half hours to reach Pluto. If I could stand on Pluto and look at the sun, the sun would appear in the distance as a small dot. A bright star. That's an incredibly great distance. It's actually 3.7 billion miles away. And yet the force of gravity from the sun is enough to keep this Pluto planet in its orbit. Now I'm taking another step into outer space. Ten times farther than Pluto. Where would I be? Out in empty space. Nothing around me. Only God is there. The sun would appear in the distance just like another star, a small one now. Since there's no matter around me, let's take another step out into outer space. A hundred times the distance to Pluto. Where would I be still? Empty outer space, nothing near me, well except God. Okay, I'm going to take another step, this time a thousand times the distance of the sun to Pluto. Where would I be? I've got to be in other galaxies and solar systems. I've got to be out there, right? Nope. Still in empty outer space, nothing near me. And I'm still closer to the Sun than any other star. This shows you how empty outer space is. Let me take one more step. It's 7,000 times the distance from the Sun to Pluto. Now I finally arrived at the nearest star, Alpha Centauri. That takes 106 years for the light from Alpha Centauri to get here. So it may have burned out before we were born, and we won't know yet. So you think of that distance. Well, that's a giant step to be 106 light years away. Can the force of gravity from the Sun still be felt there at such a great distance from the Sun? Does the position of Alpha Centauri depend on the gravitational force of the Sun? The answer is yes. There are billions of stars out there which are held together by their mutual gravitational forces and together they form one giant galaxy, the Milky Way. But the Milky Way is only one galaxy. There are billions of galaxies in outer space which are separated from each other at much greater distances than the distance of Alpha Centauri to the Sun. By the way, the farthest known object in the universe is 13.5 billion light years away. God must have created that with the light already here. Because it's not 13.5 billion years since God created the universe. By the way, that is 900 trillion times the distance to the sun. 900 trillion times the distance to the sun. So if our earth was one inch from the sun, how far away would that farthest object be? 14 billion times the actual distance to the Sun, that 93 million miles. Remember, Sun to Earth? One inch. Now you go all the way to the Sun, and 14 billion times that, that's how far away the next, the farthest object is. And who made it? Who controls it? Who makes everything work together? the harmony of the spheres that all spin together. The Lord, by wisdom, has founded the earth. By understanding, hath he established the heavens. Proverbs 3, verse 19. Can you get some indication, appreciation of how great and how wise God really is? Our God is greater than the universe. And our God's wisdom is infinite. How can we, mortal, finite creatures, which are less than nothing in the scope of all this, speak up to God and criticize him for what he's saying in the Bible? God says in Isaiah 55 9, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Is this God that we have who created us for his good pleasure? Is he entitled to make his own decisions? Can we criticize God when he informs us of his decisions? Absolutely not. We are to praise him and to thank him for not casting us into hell, which we so justly deserve. We must plead with God that he would save us and mold us after his will. Would you turn, please, to number 452 in your hymnal. Number 452 in your hymnal. This is the song we're going to be singing next. And again, I'm going to read through the verses like we've done the last few weeks. We should sing with the choruses of the elect in heaven and even here on earth. Have thine own way, Lord. Have thine own way. 452. Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me after Thy will. While I'm waiting, yielded and still. Have Thine own way, Lord, have Thine own way. Search me and try me, Pastor, today. Open mine eyes, my sins show me now as in Thy presence, humbly I vow. Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way. Wounded and weary, help me, I pray. Power, all power, surely is thine. Touch me and heal me, Savior divine. Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way. Hold o'er my being absolute sway, control. Fill with thy spirit, then all shall see Christ only. always living in me. Amen. Let's turn to the Lord in prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for the awesome majesty of who you are. And Lord, as we read your word, help us to understand as best we can with our limited, finite minds, the infinite wisdom that you have. And let us never doubt or question, but simply try to figure out more and more how we can explain to others what you have done, not why you've done it. Lord, thank you for the gift of salvation, for the justice that you have already proclaimed on us and given to us through the death of Christ on the cross for our sins. Lord, help us in appreciation and understanding the little that you've given. give all of us ourselves back to thee. Lord, we pray that as we sing this song, we will mean it, we'll understand what we're saying. And we thank you for your word and pray that it goes forth powerfully today. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.