Let's open our Bibles up to Hebrews chapter 7. We'll purpose today to finish this chapter and looking at verses 17 through the end of the chapter 28. Let's pray. Father, I pray, God, please work through these words, God, in our hearts, through the work of your Spirit, O Lord, that our minds would be transformed, that our hearts would be encouraged, and that we would serve you with a pure heart, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Look in 17, where he testifies, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. But there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God. And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest, for these priests were made without an oath, but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord swear and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made surety of a better testament, and they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. But this man, because he continues forever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice, first for their own sins, and then for the sins of the people. For this he did once when he offered up himself. For the law makes men high priests which have infirmity, but the word of the oath which was since the law makes the son who is consecrated forevermore." As we think about this, I look at verse 25 and it says that He is able to save to the uttermost. He is able to save to the uttermost. And that's what I want you to see today. We'll come to that point in our conclusion in verse 25. But in the seventh chapter, we see the three betters, right? Last week we talked about the three betters. In verse 7 you have the better priesthood. In verse 19 you have the better home. In verse 22 you have the better covenant. Last week we covered the better priesthood as we went through verses 1 through 16. And now today I would like to look at the last two betters, which is a better hope and a better covenant. Ultimately we're actually going to be looking at four betters, because you don't necessarily see the word better used, but you see it in contrasting what is of the lesser. We'll get into that in a few minutes. But all three of these vetters are contrasting the same basic principle. It is a contrast between the ceremonial law and the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what he's contrasting in this chapter. And all these vetters are doing that. Now we should understand that the ceremonial law was a great stumbling block to these Jews. For they had lived under this system for 1,500 years. And it was given to their forefathers through Moses from God. So this was the big thing for them to leave that system and to forsake that system that they had been in for 1,500 years. And it was not easy for them to forsake it, to forsake the way of their forefathers and the way of tradition. And I think that throughout history, And today, that's a common problem amongst men. The common problem, not necessarily that we have to leave the Jewish ceremonial law, but the religion of our forefathers. That's a stumbling block. And many people will believe in Jesus as long as they can add him to their existing system. And it brings to mind the Roman Catholics And what a sad situation so many are in that cannot escape this false religion of their family. And for these Jews it was even worse because it was the religion of the whole nation. And it was a system of religion that God used for his purposes for that time. But the Levitical priesthood was only temporary. But the priesthood of Jesus Christ, as we will see, is eternal. Therefore, the temporary must be done away with, and the eternal takes its place. And we also see the sacrifices of the priests were temporal. But that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is eternal. It eternally expiates sin. Or it eternally satisfies the judicial consequences of sin. Sin has eternal consequences. And sin has eternal consequences for two reasons. I'm not going to get too much into this because it's outside of our text. But sin has eternal consequences for two reasons. Number one, because when a person breaks God's law, they are offending an eternal God, and God's justice is eternal. Secondly, because that person who never repents will remain in an eternal state of sin, or in an eternal state of rebellion against God. But the law was and is only able to correct the carnal man. The law today, the civil law, still has its purposes, right? It is to control the sinfulness of man. If there was no civil law, what would we have? We would have lawlessness, which would be just rampant sin. So the law has its purpose to control sin in the natural way, but the law also has its purpose to reveal to us the character of God and to reveal to us the character of man. It reveals both to us. It reveals to us that God loves what is right, and that we, by nature, love what is wrong. But as we think about that, go to verse 18 in Hebrews chapter 7, for there is verily a dithonally of the commandment going before the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. Look at the first line of 19, it says, for the law made nothing perfect. Why is the law weak and unprofitable? I thought in Romans 7.12, what does it say in Romans 7.12? That the law is holy and good and right, but here it says that it's unprofitable and useless, basically is that word. Well, I would say that it's weak and unprofitable for two reasons. First, again, you have the ceremonial law and you have the moral law. You can break the law down into three parts. Some break it down into five or seven. You can break it down into three basic parts. You have the ceremonial law, where the Jews in the Old Testament went through the ceremonies that God had ordained that were pictures of what was to come. That's called the ceremonial law. You have the moral law, which is basically wrapped up in the Ten Commandments, and what the Ten Commandments mean, not just the Ten Commandments, but the spirit of the Ten Commandments. You have the moral law, and then you have the civil law. The civil law was established by God, which is the civil government. Right? And that keeps the flesh in line. It keeps the carnal man, the sinful man in line. So basically you can break the law up into three parts. The ceremonial, the moral and the civil. And the law is weak in the moral sense and in the civil sense because the flesh is weak. Romans 8, 3 and 4 tells us what? For what the law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh. That's Romans 8.3. It was weak through the flesh. The flesh was weak and the law was right. But more closer to the context of our chapter 7 of Hebrews, he's talking about what law? He's mainly talking about the ceremonial law. You'll see that when you get into Hebrews chapter 9 very clearly. He goes through all the ceremonies in Hebrews chapter 9 and 10. and in other places. So mainly in this chapter, and in this book, he's addressing what part of the law? He's addressing mainly the ceremonial law, but not exclusively the ceremonial law. He's also addressing the moral law, definitely in this chapter and in this book, but he's primarily the ceremonial law. So the first, it is weak, the law is weak primarily in the context of Hebrews 8 through because the ceremonial law is expired. In other words, the ceremonial law was only useful for a time, to point to what was to come. And once that fulfillment came, which was Jesus Christ, then the ceremonial law was disannulled, it says. It was done away with. So the law was weak, ceremonially, because it was fulfilled in Christ. its purpose had been used and now God had a new purpose that was in Christ and that was the purpose all along actually it was that the old would show what the new was to come but the moral law is weak and unprofitable Paul calls it beggarly in Galatians because of who we are because we cannot keep it because the flesh is weak It cannot perform the requirements of the law. And look at this statement at the beginning of verse 19. What does it say? For the law made nothing perfect. We should not run through that small statement. But it says for the law made nothing perfect. That shows us something. This word perfect shows us that the standard is what? The standard is perfection. The standard is perfection and the law cannot make you perfect. If the standard is something other than perfection, then maybe the law works. If the standard is something other than perfection, then maybe there is something I can do to merit God's favor. I'm sorry. Francis, I need you to be quiet. Okay. Maybe if we're not perfect, if perfection is not the guide, then maybe we can gain God's favor some other way, other than through Christ. Although Matthew 5.48 says that be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. This way of thinking that perfection is God's standard is a huge problem. in the human way of thinking. We are so self-centered in our thinking that we think that we are the ones that determine the universal standard of righteousness. Do you know what the standard of most people is? We hear it all the time. I heard it yesterday, I know at least once, but the standard for most people is nobody's perfect. Nobody's perfect And when someone excuses themselves by saying no one's perfect, they are accusing God of being unjust or unfair in judging people for their sin, or judging people on that standard of perfection. Paul deals with this argument. You can read that on your own in Romans chapter 3, verses 5 through 6, Paul deals with that argument. But this argument of nobody's perfect shows that the natural man judges right and wrong on a curve. So people say, well, everybody knows right and wrong. On a human level, yes. To a degree. I mean, how can we even say that? Because it's on a curve. What's wrong to one person may not be wrong to another person. Or it may not be wrong to the same degree. Like a guy was arguing with me yesterday saying that A partial lie is not a lie, and there's nothing wrong with that, right? And then another person might argue that a lie is a lie no matter how small or big it is, all in a natural plane. So, no, people do not naturally know what right and wrong is, because they judge it on a curve. And how a person views other people. And if God's standard for righteousness is on a curve, then maybe I'm doing pretty good. Actually for most people they're doing great in their own eyes because of their curve. And because their curve has a double standard. And their curve has a double standard. I think this is a problem in all of our minds and hearts. I think even as believers we can do this and we must be careful of it. I would say don't look at the person next to you because this applies to each one of us. For without the work of God in our hearts, this double standard is there. I think even Christians do it. We have one standard for us that is easy, and we have one standard for everyone else that is difficult. We excuse ourselves when it comes to certain things, and then we condemn someone else for doing something of a lesser offense. We need to be able to discern this in our hearts and to repent of it because it is a common trait. It is a common trait and I think it even exists in Christians. I think it definitely exists in Christians. I think we need to mature out of it because it's so easy for us to look at someone else and have one standard and then have another standard for ourselves. It's just a common human trait that we all do. And the thing that will help us is when we see that God's standard is perfection. And if God's standard is perfection, how can I ever accuse anybody else? Because I will constantly be seeing my own shortcomings, and at the same time, if I'm born again, I will be constantly seeing Jesus Christ. In other words, if perfection is the standard, then Christ is the answer. And He is the only answer. He's the only answer for my life, and He's the only answer for your life. But perfection is the standard. It is God's standard. God is holy. God is separate from sin. He is separate from sin. He cannot associate with one single sin. Perfection is the standard. The law cannot give me hope that I am perfect. My system of religion or thinking that I am a good person may give me hope of getting to heaven in one sense, but it will never give me hope in the face of God's law, because God's law requires perfection. And when I face God's law, I will see that inwardly I am vile. and vile before God. If you say that you are not, you simply have never seen yourself in the light of God's law. You have only seen yourself in comparison to other people. For the law can never make you perfect or acceptable to God, but the bringing in of a better hope does. That's what I want you to see today, that the bringing in of the better hope does. Give us this great hope. I plead with you to leave this way of thinking that thinks you can please God in any way by what you do or by who you are. But you can only be made perfect by the bringing in of a better hope. That's what it says in 19. Look at the rest of 19. It says, but the bringing in of a better hope did. by the which we draw nigh unto God." It makes us perfect! For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing up of a better hope did! It does! It does make us perfect! In Christ, this better hope is Jesus Christ in verse 17. And in verse 17 it tells us that Jesus Christ is the priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, our Lord Jesus offers eternal salvation or eternal perfection to whoever will receive it through Him. And just as we mentioned earlier that the sinner is a sinner for all eternity and will suffer the eternal consequences, the saint has been made righteous in Jesus Christ and will be righteous for all of eternity and enjoy the eternal blessings of being righteous. There is no hope of me ever obtaining righteousness or perfection in who I am or what I do, but at the same time there is a great confidence and expectation of reward in the believer because he knows he is righteous because of Jesus Christ Because Christ is righteous. And the believer in Christ has his righteousness. We have the righteousness of Christ. If you are in Christ. Does that mean for some here, they may think, well, I seen you sin last week, or I seen this person do that last week, and they're believers. It doesn't mean that the saint never sins. It simply means that the righteousness of Christ in Romans 4 has been imputed to the believer. God sees me, God sees anyone in Christ as perfect. Jesus Christ took our sin on the cross and He gives us His righteousness as a free gift in Romans 5.18. It's the gift of righteousness and that's incredible. that God would not see my sin. That's amazing to me that God, because of what Christ has done for my sin, if God overlooks sin simply because He's merciful or simply because He loves me, that would make God a compromiser. But if God overlooks my sin because His justice has been satisfied in Christ, that makes God holy. And holiness and mercy can never be separated. they can never be separated there is and there's no hope outside of Christ but there's all hope in Christ there is all hope in Christ and it says at the end of verse 19 that it brings us close to God or nigh to God this is astounding that I would be brought close to God to come into His presence to come into the presence of God through this hope, through this hope that we have in Christ. Now everything that I just said I would like to put into a format for you in the last 20 minutes here or so, however long it takes, to help you grasp what is being said in this chapter. And I want to give you four points, four things that are eternal and perfect in this Better Hope. Four things that are eternal and perfect in this Better Hope. Number one, we have an eternal and a perfect High Priest. Which this kind of encapsulates the whole chapter, but it's specifically seen in these concluding verses. Number two, we have an eternal and perfect Covenant. which you'll see in chapters 8 through 10 is really focusing on the New Covenant. Number 3, we have an eternal and perfect sacrifice and ultimately, praise be the name of God, we have an eternal and perfect salvation. Because of 1, 2, and 3, We have, in Christ, an eternal and perfect salvation. Or we could say that all of these things are better. Even though the word better is not directly used in reference to the first and third point that we made here, we can clearly see in this chapter that our High Priest, Jesus Christ, is what? He's better than the Levitical priesthood order. And that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is better than the sacrifice of bulls and goats. And that the salvation through Christ is better than any system or any religion that's on earth. And first of all, though, let's go through these four points. First, in these final verses of chapter 7, we have an eternal and perfect high priest. Look in verse 17, what does it say? For he testified, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. It says forever. In verse 24 it says, but this man, referring to our Lord, continues forever. He has an unchangeable priesthood. An unchangeable priesthood in verse 24. And look how he says this man, that's going to be important in a couple minutes. Why is Jesus referred to as our High Priest? The High Priest is the one who would go to God for the people. He was the one who would stand between God and the people. And now we have this eternal High Priest that stands between us and God the Father. It is Jesus Christ the Lord, our righteousness. We have an eternal high priest and we have a perfect high priest. Look at verse 26. For such a high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. This referring to his humanity. And in this verse we have five descriptions of our Lord. Two or three of them sound very similar. But first, He is holy. He is holy. He is perfectly obedient. And in total submission to God's will. Yes, Christ was holy because He was God. But this is referring to His holiness as a man. His holiness as He was on earth. Think about the holiness of our Savior. His practical holiness was unrivaled. He lived every second of His life to do the will of His Father. That's the essence of holiness, of practical holiness, is to desire and to do the will of the Father. And Jesus lived every moment of His life to do the will of His Father. He never spoke one word that was not pure, and for the promotion of the Kingdom of God, He was never motivated even once, but for a love for God. And ultimately, when it meant the ultimate sacrifice, what did He say? Not My will, but Thy will be done. Jesus Christ's holiness as a man is awesome. He most certainly is the perfect man. But how do we view holiness is the question. Holiness is being in submission to God's will. And Christ was perfectly in submission to his Father's will. He is holy. He is harmless. He never did or said one thing that was not for the good of the other person. That's what it means to be harmless. He never did or said one thing that was not for the good of the other person to whom he was addressing. Yes, Jesus at times used very sharp words at times. But by those words, he was always motivated. to see the good of that person. It reminds me of Matthew chapter 23. Read Matthew 23. He calls the Pharisees snakes and vipers and dead men and rotting corpses. He calls them all these things and is very direct. And the words are very sharp. And what happens at the end of Matthew 23? 35-37 Jesus goes up to the mountain and he looks over Jerusalem and he weeps. He's broken. He's filled with compassion because of these stiff-necked people, because of these hard-hearted people. And when he told the Pharisees what he told them in Matthew 23, he did it for their good. He did it because that's what they needed. And if they would have adhered to what he said, they would have been changed. But they would not. Their hearts were hard. Jesus was harmless. He never did one thing that was not for the good of the other person or for the good of God's will. He is holy. He is harmless and undefiled. Undefiled means never touched by evil. Undefiled from the sin nature. He was born without sin, never given to evil passions. He was undefiled. He had no desire but to please God. He was separate from sinners. Jesus loved sinners, but only in order that they might be converted. Think of Matthew chapter 9. It says that Jesus looked at the multitudes and what happened? He had great compassion on the multitudes. He had great sorrow, pity over the multitudes. But he was among sinners, yet he was separate from sinners. He was separate from this world. He was separate from this world. James 4.4 says, Know ye not that the friendship of this world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world is the enemy of God. We love sinners because we pity them in their sad condition that they are in. And we help them through the gospel and even by feeding them and clothing them. But we are never to become one with these sinners in a way that we are one with God's people. And Jesus was perfect. He was the perfect example of this. He went to sinners. He fed them. He helped them. He preached the gospel to them. He wept for them. But he would not be a part of them. He would not be a part of their sin. He was separate from sinners. He was separate from sinners. And I think that's an important line for us to draw. Especially today. Because we must go to sinners. But we must be separate from the world. We must be separated from the world. and worldliness, for James told us that whoever is a friend of the world is an enemy of God. And Jesus was perfect in this manner. He was separate from sinners, and because of His holiness, His harmlessness, He being undefiled and separate from sinners, or separate from worldliness, it tells us in Philippians 2.9, wherefore God has also highly exalted Him and given Him a name. that is above every name. The name of Jesus has more glory than heaven itself. Do you see that? Look in verse 26. At the end of the verse it says, "...and made higher than the heavens." "...and made higher than the heavens." We have a glorious High Priest. He is King of all. He is above all in every way. He is above all in beauty. He is above all in holiness. He is above all in wisdom. He is above all in love. He is above all in grace. He is above all in truth. He is above all in power. And He has all authority. in heaven and earth. He is Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, the eternal and perfect High Priest. This is who we have as a High Priest, Jesus Christ, the perfect one, the eternal one, who stands between us and God. Is Jesus Christ standing between you and God this morning? Or is there something else? Or do you think you can approach God on your own merits? Or do you think God will somehow overlook your sin and bypass your sin? My friends, we have a great hope today. And that hope is in our eternal and perfect High Priest, Jesus Christ. He was made this great High Priest through an eternal and perfect covenant. Look at verse 20. which is our second point, and as much as not without an oath he was made priest, those priests were made without an oath. But this, with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord swear, and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made assured of a better testament, or a better covenant, This new covenant is the main theme you'll see in the next three chapters. So we'll get more into that into the coming weeks. You'll see from verse 22 of chapter 7 to the end of chapter 10, he keeps talking about this new covenant, this new covenant. that we'll get more into in the coming weeks, but Jesus Christ was not a priest because he was born into it as the natural priests were, but he was made this great high priest by the decree of God. These verses are directly referring to Psalm 110 verse 4, which says, The Lord has sworn and will not repent thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. It says the Lord has sworn and will not repent. Jesus Christ is the priest of the new covenant, the covenant of God's grace. These priests of Levi were the descendants of the priests before them. But this priest, the high priest of the new covenant, is the priest of promise. The priest of promise. He is the fulfillment of the prophetical scripture. God has willed and chosen that it should be this way. And who can thwart the will of God? Who can change what God decrees? We have an eternal and perfect High Priest. who has been placed there by an eternal and perfect decree. We'll get more into that in the coming weeks but let's end today by looking at the last two points which is the eternal and perfect sacrifice and the eternal and perfect salvation. Go to Hebrews chapter 10 You could just turn your Bible one page or two. Hebrews 10, verses 5 through 10. We have a perfect and eternal sacrifice. This was the primary job of the priest. The primary job of the priest in the Old Testament was to do what? It was to bring the sacrifices to the altar. And if you look in Hebrews 10, in verses 5 through 10, it says this. Wherefore, when he comes into the world, he says, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not. But a body thou hast prepared me in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, Sacrifices an offering, and burnt offerings, and offerings for sin, thou wouldst not, neither had pleasure therein, which are offered by the law. Then he said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He takes away the first, that he may establish the second, by the which we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all." Once and for all. The primary job of the priest is to offer sacrifice. Look in verse 27 of chapter 7, it says, who needs not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifices, first for their own sins and then for the people's. For this he did once when he offered up himself. When he offered up himself once for sin. But Jesus Christ was the final sacrifice, for He is the perfect Lamb of God. He is and was without sin, and He eternally existed. And because of these two facts, He is the sacrifice that ends all sacrifices. Or we could say that this meritorious deed before God ends all other meritorious deeds that apply to salvation. And if you or anyone else thinks that they are pleasing God some other way, but other than through Christ, they are despising the work of Jesus Christ as the final sacrifice. Jesus Christ is the final sacrifice. If anybody approaches God any other way, they're doing despite to what He has done. Jesus Christ, the final sacrifice, because He is perfect, He is the perfect sacrifice, and because He is the eternal sacrifice, He is the perfect sacrifice, and He is the eternal sacrifice. Therefore, He ends all other sacrifices. There is no more sacrifices. This is the final sacrifice. When Jesus died in John 19.30, what did He say? He said, tetelestai, in the Greek it means, it is finished. It means paid in full. It has been paid in full. Think about it. Think about this. It would be impossible for God to credit sin to His people. For the final payment has been made. Jesus paid it all. That's amazing to me. That it would be unjust, and it's like you tremble a little bit even saying it, but it's true. It would be unjust for God to credit my sin to me. because Christ has paid it all. He cannot. He cannot. Because the perfect and eternal sacrifice has been made. The perfect and eternal sacrifice has been made. And this brings such joy to the believer that our sins are forgiven, that Jesus has paid it all. And it should bring hope to the unbeliever to run to Christ. To see that all of your sin has been paid for if you will trust in Him, if you will believe in Him and who He is and what He has done on your behalf. And that brings us to our final point, which is that through our eternal and perfect High Priest, because of God's eternal and perfect decree, and because of our Lord's perfect and eternal sacrifice, we have in Christ an eternal and perfect salvation. Look at this in verse 25. We'll close with this verse. Wherefore, he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them. He is able to save to the uttermost, it says. We can be confident today that if our hope is in Jesus Christ and in Him alone, in who He is and what He has done on our behalf in His life and death and burial and resurrection. If that is your only hope, then that is a great hope. It is the hope that we have of eternal life. And it is a perfect salvation because it is in Christ. It is in one who is eternal. And it is in one who is perfect. It is in Christ. And we have great hope today. It is a better hope than any other way. For there is only one other way. And that is through your works. There is no other way. You're either coming to God through Christ, or you're coming to God through your works. And like it or not, if you're not trusting Christ, you're coming to God through your works. But I'm here today to tell you that this perfect salvation is found in Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ saves to the uttermost. He takes the man in the lowest state as a poor, wretch and lifts him up into the glories of heaven and to the glories of the presence of God. The word uttermost means full or entire. This is a complete salvation that is in our Savior. It is a complete salvation. For now, we may only see salvation in part. For now, in 1 Corinthians 13, I believe it's 13, where he says, for now we see in part, but then we shall see the whole. We will see Him face to face. So for now, we only see our salvation in part. We know Christ has paid for our sins. We have this great hope as believers, but it's still only in part, because I'm still struggling with sin in my life. There's still things in my life that I've grown over, that God would remove, but we only see it in part. But for those who know Jesus Christ, we are earnestly waiting and confidently hoping in the completion of our salvation. We are patiently waiting for that day when we will lose these bodies. Not in the completion as far as Christ has completed it and finished it. But we are still being sanctified and we are waiting for that day when we will be glorified when we will lose sin completely and we will be in the presence and the glory of God with Him forever. We are patiently waiting for that day when we will lose these bodies of sin and death and have our glorified bodies in heaven forever with Christ, with no more sin, no more pain, no more sickness, only eternal bliss with God forever, praising Him. This is how He saves to the uttermost. He saves to the uttermost, to the completion of salvation through the perfect sacrifice of Christ, because Christ is perfect. He's the perfect High Priest, and He's the eternal High Priest. And praise the Lord this morning. I am so excited about the Lord Jesus and what he has done for me and what he has done for the believers here and what he is doing for us and our future expectation of being completed to be without sin and to be with Christ forever. And it is a total salvation. He pays for our sin, delivers us from sin, and ultimately takes away the sin. And that we will be with Christ forever. And this is our great hope. It is a far better hope than trying to keep the law. By far. There's no comparison. Come to Christ. Trust Him. Look to Him. And you'll have this hope. Let's pray. Dear Father in Heaven, I thank You for Your Word. I thank You for sending Your Spirit and through the power of your spirit men have penned down your words. We praise you and thank you God that we today can read them and know them. I pray God that these things would be real in our lives, that we would understand the eternal effects of salvation and the permanent effects of what Christ has done. I pray God that it would be real in our lives, that we would have great hope and joy in you, God, and I pray that you would save those here. God, please have mercy on those here who do not know you. God, please work that they would have this great joy in you, Lord Jesus. I pray that you would be glorified through it. In Jesus' name, amen.