From the manger to the cross, the rugged cross of Calvary, the road that Jesus walked for you and me all alone. By the world forsaken still he shed his blood for me. From the manger to the cross, the rugged cross of Calvary, the story in the Bible, it's a message that is true, the life our Savior lived on earth is told. Found upon the pages of the Master's book of truth, every word so precious to my soul.

From the manger to the cross, the rugged cross of Calvary, the road that Jesus walked for you and me all alone. By the world forsaken still he shed his blood for me. From the manger to the cross, the rugged cross of Calvary. No earthly treasures did he own, he sought no wealth or fame, here he was the path he had to trod. No earthly treasures did he own, he sought no wealth or fame, here he was the path he had to trod. Here he suffered many things the world knew him not, he died upon the cross the Son of God.

From the manger to the cross, the rugged cross of Calvary, the road that Jesus walked for you and me all alone. By the world forsaken still he shed his blood for me. From the manger to the cross, the rugged cross of Calvary. Thank you for that good song, Ray, a new one from Ray Brown. I asked him what he was going to play and he said, you don't know it. So now I know it. 

Well, good morning to everyone. Such a beautiful morning. We were driving on the icy Highway J this morning, but the frost was in the trees and the sun shining. It's just a beautiful, beautiful morning. Looks like good weather to come too, so we're thankful for that. 

We're going to be looking at Romans 8, 8 to 10 this morning in a message I've titled, Love One Another. I read a story this week of a man named Glenn Ford, and Glenn Ford was convicted of murder in 1984 and was sentenced to death in Louisiana's courts. But he was recently found to be innocent of the murder for which he was convicted. For over 30 years this man sat on death row for a crime that he did not commit; and now he's being set free. 

Can you imagine what it must be like for him to be set free, to be a free man, to come and go as he pleases, to wake up in his own bed, to be out of that jail cell where he spent the better part of his life? It's something to be set free. But there's a greater freedom than physical freedom, temporal freedom from a jail cell. Jesus said in John 8, 32, "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." In Galatians 5, 1 Paul said, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." 

We often talk as Christians about having been set free, having liberty in Christ, but what does it mean that we are set free? What does it mean that we are no longer bound? What is it that we are now free to do? I read a very, I think, profound quote this week from a man named Philip Brooks. I have no idea who he is, but I like his quote. He said, "No man in this world attains to freedom from any slavery except by entrance into some higher servitude." There is no such thing as an entirely free man. 

Is our freedom in Christ simply anarchy, where we are able to do anything we want, whatever we want, whenever we want, or have we in fact entered a higher servitude? Our text today in Romans 13, 8 to 10 will answer all of these questions and show us the purpose of the freedom that we now have in Christ having been justified by faith. 

On your outline, you'll find four points for our text this morning. First, we're going to look at good versus evil; second, internal versus external; third, faith versus works; and fourth, self versus love. 

Well, in order to really understand how we come to the admonition of Romans 13, 8, we must go back in the book of Romans and refresh our minds as to the scope of our salvation in Christ. Our first point this morning is good versus evil, and this speaks to our philosophical understanding of mankind in our world. We find the truth, the biblical answer, in Romans 1, 18 to 3, 20 concerning this point. 

We see in the world of humanism the persistent lie that man is basically good, that we all have a spark of benevolence inside waiting to be flamed into a roaring flame of goodness. This is what the world teaches. I thought sure that was an Oprah Winfrey quote, but I couldn't find it, so I'm not sure who said that. The world cries that man is basically good, but when we look around us, we have to ask ourselves, good at what? The truth is that man is basically evil, and this is what we learned in those first chapters of Romans. 

In chapters 1, Paul showed the evil nature of the pagan man, the drunkard, the prostitute, and in chapter 2, he showed that the self-righteous religious man is no better. Perhaps he is worse because he sits in judgment of the pagan man, but he himself commits the same sins. And in chapter 3, Paul gathers all men into one in his summary statement in verses 10 to 18. 

Listen to this accurate characterization of man. Verse 10, "As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There's none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become useless or unprofitable. There's none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues, they have practiced deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." What a description of our world, of mankind. The truth is that man is basically evil. He is not basically good, and this is the first step of understanding in our journey to Romans chapter 13, verse 8. 

Paul further makes this clear in Romans 5, 18 to 19. "Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous." Now here we find the true assessment of man's spiritual state, his heart condition. The man born in Adam is born a sinner. He was made a sinner in Adam. Because of Adam's one-time act in the garden, his choice to disobey and sin against God, Adam fell, and he became a sinner. God, in response to Adam's sin, cursed the whole creation, as Romans 8 tells us. He subjected it in hope. 

And all men born in the lineage of Adam, the federal head of mankind, are born sinners by nature. So while religion assesses the problem of man as outward, as an external problem of actions, the Bible rightly assesses the problem of one that is internal. Men sin because they are sinners in their nature, in their heart. Men are not sinners because they sin. This is a very important distinction because it gives us a correct assessment of the problem, allowing us to come to a clear conclusion concerning the solution. 

Paul says in Romans 5 that if men were made sinners by one unrighteous act of Adam, then it is logical that the answer would be the one righteous act of the man Christ on the cross. This is what Paul states in Romans 5.19, "For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous." And this leads us to our second point: it's internal versus external. 

While the religions of the world continue to try to conform the outward actions of man into conformity by some law, God, through salvation in Christ, transforms the heart of the man in Adam, recreates him on the inside, placing him into Christ. 2 Corinthians 5.17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new." You see, when Jesus talked about setting man free by the truth, He was talking about the bondage of the man in Adam to law, to sin, to death. These things hold man in bondage. The condemning power of the law, the reigning power of sin, and the overwhelming fear of death. 

But having been justified by faith, having been saved in Christ, we see in Romans 6 and 7 that God has crucified that old man in Adam, that He has united him to Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, that He has been made free from law, sin, and death. I'd like for you to turn to Romans 6 with me because we have an opportunity to look at Romans 6, so we should. 

Romans 6 at verse 1. Just listen to these words again as we refresh our minds, as we review the truth concerning our salvation and who we are in Christ. Romans 6.1, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized"—that word just means placed into, has nothing to do with water here, it means to place into Christ—"those of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were placed into His death. Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection." 

Look at verse 6. "Knowing this, that our old man, that man in Adam, was crucified with Him, that the body of sin, the physical body controlled by sin, should be rendered powerless or done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more, death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lusts, and do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace." 

We see in these wonderful words that in our union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, we have been regenerated. We've been born again. We've been given a new heart, and our relationship to sin and death and law has changed. We are free from sin. Death no longer has dominion over us. As Hebrews says, Jesus has set us free from the bondage to fear of death. And we also see as we move into Romans chapter 7, the great truth that we have died to the law. We are no longer under the law. 

Romans 7.5, "For when we were in the flesh, when we were in Adam, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter." 

When we were in the flesh, that is when we were in Adam, the sin in us was aroused by the law, and it worked in our members, the members of our body, to bear fruit unto death. This is simple. It's simple to see in any man, even a young child. Just tell your two-year-old, "Don't touch that." What will immediately happen? There will be a desire that will rise up in that child to touch whatever it is that you just gave a law forbidding. This is the sin principle. This is the sin that dwells in every man. You don't have to teach a toddler to be greedy. You don't have to teach her to hit other children in order to keep her toys. You don't have to teach them these things because they come naturally by their nature. 

So Paul says when we were in Adam, the sin in us was aroused by the law and our outward action with the members of our bodies was producing fruit unto death. Now look at verse 6 in Romans 7 with me, please. Paul says, "But now," these are the contrast words, the adversative, the wonderful words, "but now, we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter." 

Because of our death, our crucifixion with Christ, we are no longer under the law. We are no longer ruled by an external ineffective force. The law could never bring righteousness because it did not deal with the internal problem of sin. But Christ, in the salvation that He provides, permanently changes who we are, changes our relationship to sin and law and death so that now we can live in a new way by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, by Christ's life in us. 

And how do we do this? How do we make this practical in our day-to-day life? Now we're getting mighty close to Romans 13.8. We do this not by works, but by faith. And this is our third point. A man must come to Christ by faith alone. We understand that. We rejoice in that. He must understand his condition in Adam, that he's a sinner by nature. He must understand his evil heart and his inability to live up to God's perfect standard in His law. He must see his need for a Savior. 

And then he must repent and believe. Repentance, you remember, is defined biblically as turning from whatever we were trusting in and turning to Christ. Paul summarizes this beautifully in 1 Thessalonians 1.9, describing how the Thessalonians received the Gospel that he preached. He said, "For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you," listen, "and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." 

In order to be saved from sin and death and hell, from the wrath of God for our sins, we must come to Christ in faith alone, trusting what He did on the cross, His finished work, His full payment for my sin and yours. We must trust Him alone. But this is also true for the Christian life. Our life in Christ is not one of law and works, but faith, of a branch abiding in a vine. And as we abide in Him, we see Him produce fruit in and through our lives. 

We now live under a new covenant, not by the letter, but by the Spirit. In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul says, "You are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read by all men." Clearly, you are an epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh, that is of the heart. And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves. He says, "But our sufficiency is from God." 

He goes on to call the law a ministry of death and a ministry of condemnation. And to talk about the glory of the new covenant in the Spirit. We now live a new life in a new way, because in salvation, God dealt with the true inner problem of sin, indwelling sin which dominated and controlled us in Adam. And He gave us a new heart and a new Spirit and put His Holy Spirit in us. 

Paul summarizes this truth well in Galatians 2.19. This is a passage that the pastor quoted this morning. In 2.19, he says, "For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." 

If a man could become righteous, if he could be good enough to attain to the perfection that God requires to enter His heaven through religious rites and rituals and laws and religion, then why did Christ have to die? Why did God have to give His only begotten Son to die a cruel death on a cross if I could be made righteous through the law? You see, no one can ever be made righteous through their own works. Because on the inside, every man is a sinner. And therefore, he manifests that sin in his life by his actions. And thus, every man is a lawbreaker and deserves the punishment for breaking God's law, which is eternal death.

But, having been justified by faith, having died to sin and the law and to the power of death, I now no longer as a believer in Jesus Christ live an external set of laws and religion, but I live one day at a time by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing who I am in Him, knowing, reckoning the truth that He has set me free from law and sin and death. And now, by His life and power in me, by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in me, I can now live a life of fruit-bearing, of bringing glory to God one day at a time by faith—the just shall live by faith. 

So we see the truth that man is basically evil, not basically good. We see that the issue is internal, not external. Man sins because he is a sinner. He must be born again. He must be changed on the inside. He must be made righteous in order to have a change on the outside. And we see that this comes about not by the works of the law, but by faith in Christ alone. We live one day at a time by faith and trust in Him, not by our goodness or merits or accomplishments. 

I always say we need to preach the gospel to ourselves every day, so I just preach the gospel to you because I believe it's important to refresh our minds and to remember the scope of our salvation in Christ. 

Now, our last point is self versus love. And that brings us, my brothers and sisters, to Romans 13.8 in the context that we just went through, the context of the book of Romans and the truth of our salvation in Jesus Christ. Based on these truths, these mercies of God, Paul says, "O no man anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law." 

The transition statement, the bridge from our text last week is the statement, "O no man anything." Paul has just been telling us that we must pay our bills, we must pay our taxes, our customs, give honor to whom honor is due. We need to be people who obey those in authority over us, and that includes paying taxes and keeping short accounts in our relations with men as well. So Paul says we are to owe no man anything. 

Now, just as a point of clarification, don't believe this teaches that we cannot borrow or that we cannot lend. There's a multitude of Scriptures on lending and borrowing and interest. Remember, though, that the borrower is slave to the lender. So we shouldn't borrow unless there's a necessity. What this is saying is that we are not to be those who do not pay their bills, but rather we are to meet our obligations. It is the wicked who borrow and do not repay. That's the meaning here. 

And this forms a bridge to what Paul says in our text: "O no man anything except to love one another." Jesus has promised to set us free. He promised that the truth would set us free if we believe Him, if we trust Him. Paul proclaimed again and again our liberty in Christ. We asked at the beginning of our message, what does it mean that we are free? What is it that we are free to do now in Christ? And the answer is found here in our first verse. 

The old man and Adam was in total, complete bondage. Bondage to law, the penalty of the law, spiritual and eternal death because of sin. He was in bondage to indwelling sin, that power in him that ruled and reigned over him in every area, every facet of his life. He could not do good. He could not be good because he is not good. Thus the carnal man, the man in Adam in bondage to fear of death, which he knows deep in his heart that he deserves, that he dreads, he fears the death that he knows will come. This man and Adam is in a hopeless state and because sin dominates and controls him, there's one thing that he cannot do. He's so self-focused. He's so self-consumed. He's so self-centered. There's one thing that he cannot do. 

He cannot do agape, self-sacrificial love. The motive of the lost sinner is always one of self-preservation. And thus even in his works of philanthropy, of charity, he sins. He does not trust God. He does not depend on God nor thank Him. And thus his motive is self, self-serving, self-promoting, self-preserving in everything he does. To sacrifice self for the good of another, expecting nothing in return, is foreign to the world, foreign to the man in Adam. 

At the end of Romans 5 and verses 20 to 21, that passage we looked at earlier, Paul gives us the purpose of God's saving work in our lives. Why did God save us? What does this salvation do for us? What does it set us free from and what does it free us to do? Romans 5.20 says, "Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more." 

Listen now, these are your purpose words. Why did God save us? "So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." In Adam, man lived under law, dominated by sin, headed for death. But in Christ, the new man lives under grace, in righteousness unto eternal life. As sin reigned in death in Adam, even so grace reigns in life through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We have been set free from law, from sin, from death, so that we might now live to God. 

We are free, my friends, free to do something we could never do before in Adam, and that is to obey Jesus Christ. And what is the commandment of Jesus Christ? What is it that God wants us to do that He would go to such great lengths in order to free us to do it? I want to show you this in one more place. Be patient, I just want to drive home the point. Turn over to Romans 7 with me, please. 

Now in Romans 7, further down in the chapter, we see a picture of the man in Adam under law and dominated by indwelling sin. Romans 7, 14, Paul says, "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, a slave to sin, sold under sin. For what I am doing I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice, but what I hate, that I do." 

Look at verse 21. "I find then a law, a principle, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God, according to the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin." 

Here is the man in Adam. Here is the man dominated and controlled by, sold under sin. Look at Romans 8, 1. We see a great contrast. "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." 

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," look at this, "has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God did. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh." 

Here's your purpose again, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the man in Christ, the man who lives by the Spirit indwelling him, there is no condemnation. He's been released from the penalty and the power of the law. He is free from the law and the principle of sin in him, from the controlling power of indwelling sin. 

You see, the law couldn't do it. Religion couldn't do it. The law only tells me what I must do; it does not give me any power to do it. But Jesus, He did it. He came in the flesh and conquered sin in the flesh where it dwells, and He fulfilled the law. He conquered death and hell by rising from the dead. So Jesus did this work in me when I turned to Him in faith. And He did it with an express purpose in mind. To release me, yes, but also to empower me by His life in me. 

Look at verse 4 again. "That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." What is the righteous requirement? What is the fulfillment of the law? Look at our text in Romans 13.8. "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law." Verse 10 says it again. "Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." 

Christ has set us free by the truth through faith. He has set us free to do something we could not do in Adam. Obey Him, serve Him, glorify Him. Now what is it that He has commanded us to do? What is His message to us, His command to us in this new covenant? In John 13.34, Jesus said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another." 

In 1 John 2.8 again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you? Because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. "He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him." And listen to 1 John 3.23. It makes this so clear. "And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another as He gave commandment." 

This is the commandment of the new covenant, to believe Jesus Christ and love one another. This is the fulfillment of the righteous requirement of the law, love. This is what we owe to all men. This is what we could not do in bondage in Adam. This is what Christ has set us free to do in Him, to obey His commandment to love one another. 

In verse 8 of our text, Paul says, "Owe no one anything except to love one another." The tense here indicates that this is a debt that we will always owe. We must continue to pay, to love one another. Jesus has not only set us free that we might love, He not only poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us, He not only empowers us to love, but He also is the very motivation for our love. 

1 John 4.19 says, "We love Him because He first loved us." 2 Corinthians 5.14 says, "For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus that if one died for all, then all died. And He died for all that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again." 

Listen to Romans 5.6, "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, and perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates, He shows us, He manifests His own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." 

Why do we love? Because Jesus loved us and demonstrated that love at the cross. Our life is one of thankfulness for what Jesus has done, for His great love for us. And He has poured that love into our hearts, and He pours it out through us to others. That is what the result of our salvation is, my friends. I wonder if you've thought about this. What is it that we are to be doing? What is the Christian life all about? 

We are to believe Jesus. We are to abide in Him one day at a time, that we might love one another. We love the brethren. We minister to one another. We serve each other. We encourage each other, exhort and rebuke and correct. We point each other to Christ. We love the Lord. We worship Him and praise Him and give thanks to Him and witness for Him. We love the lost. We seek to preach to them the good news of the Gospel, to love them, to minister in any way we can to them, to give our very lives, as Paul said. 

My friends, this is who we are. This is the natural outpouring of our new life in Christ, and Paul says this is what we owe to all men, love. In verses 9-10, Paul lists some of the commandments. He says, "For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet, and if there's any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law." 

His point is that love is the fulfillment of the law. Love does no harm. These commandments speak of not doing harm to our brothers, to any man. If we are exercising love, if we love a man in the active sense, if we are showing love to men, then we don't kill them. We don't commit adultery against them. We don't lie about them. We don't covet their goods. You see, love does no harm. 

If we are focused on Jesus and believing Him, and that love is being poured out through us, then everything else will be taken care of. This is agape, self-sacrificial love, and this is a love that only believers can extend because of the love that has been extended to them by Christ. 

Turn over to 1 Corinthians 13, please. Let's read this great chapter. As we close, 1 Corinthians 13. Paul says, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 

Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. 

But whether there are prophecies, they will fail. Whether there are tongues, they will cease. Whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. 

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three. But the greatest of these is love. Paul has been teaching us since the beginning of chapter 12 what it means to present our bodies a living sacrifice to God. How this relates to our relationships in our families, in the church, and in the world, even relating to those in authority over us. 

He's putting shoe leather on Christian doctrine here. What it means that I am in Christ. And what it means that I now love. I love all men. I am willing to sacrifice myself, my interests, my resources, my life for the good of the brethren and for the salvation of the lost. No man in this world attains to freedom from any slavery except by entrance into some higher servitude. We are free from law, sin, and death. And we are now slaves to God. But we are bond slaves, willing servants. It's our deepest heart's desire to serve our Lord who died for us. 

This is my life. To serve and honor and glorify God because of the great love that He has extended to me in Christ. The free gift of salvation that He has given through faith in Jesus. This is my command. This is my desire. This is my privilege one day at a time to believe Jesus and to love one another. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we're so thankful for Your truth, Your Word. Thank You that it all fits together, Lord, and it teaches us the same great message over and over. Thank You that You've delivered us, Lord, that You've saved us through Jesus Christ. Thank You that it's by Your grace through faith alone. Nothing that we have done, that Christ has finished the work. And thank You that now You live in us to empower us to live a new life, Lord. Just pray that You help us to trust You, to believe You. Help us, Lord, to serve You, to glorify You, and help us to love one another as You have commanded. In Jesus' name, amen.