I am a poor wayfaring stranger Traveling through the world below Yet there's no sickness, toil nor danger In that bright world which I go I'm going down in my father I'm going down, no more to roam I'm just going over Jordan I'm just going over home I know dark clouds gather round me I know my way is rough and steep And beautiful fields lie just before me Where God redeemed his vigils keep I'm going down, my mother That she'd pick me when I come I'm just going over Jordan I'm just going over home And I'll soon be free from every trial This foam will rest beneath the sod And I'll remain calm in self-denial And enter in my home with God I'm going down in my father In his praises evermore I'm just going over Jordan And I'm just going over home I want to wear this crown of glory And I come home to that bright land I want to shout salvation's story In concert with the blood-washed choir In concert with the blood-washed band I'm going down in my father In his praises evermore And I'm just going over Jordan And I'm just going over home Thank you, Doug, for that good song. Good morning to everyone. I had a verse come to my mind this morning. Hebrews 13.8 says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And I was thinking about the history of mankind and all the difficulties and troubles and times that man has probably thought that it was the end of the world or that things were going very badly. I thought about the 1300s and the Black Plague, in 1918 and the Spanish Flu, and World War I, World War II. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So nothing has changed. And for those who believe, for us, nothing has changed as to our purpose in this world either. And we're still here to fellowship, to encourage one another, to study His Word, to be witnesses in this world, and to occupy until He comes. So that's an encouraging thought to me, an encouraging verse I wanted to share with you this morning. Last week, we started to really dig into this first chapter of 1 Timothy and see that Paul was greatly concerned about some of the teaching going on by established pastors in the church in Ephesus. He gave Timothy a mission, a command, to stay in Ephesus and charge these men that they teach no other doctrine than the truth of the gospel of grace and salvation through faith in Jesus alone. The departure from this central core doctrine of grace and faith was a desire to be teachers of the law. These men were drawn away to a legalistic sanctification, binding the believers with law and distracting them with fables and endless genealogies, the words and ideas of men, which was causing division, rather than godly edification, which is in faith. And this heresy was a major problem in the church in Ephesus, and it is a major problem in our day as well. If we do not understand and teach salvation by grace alone through faith alone, and if we do not understand that this includes all aspects of salvation, justification, sanctification, and glorification, then we will run amuck into a fruitless effort to live up to an external standard that can only end in disappointment. The law cannot sanctify; it cannot produce holiness in us. Rather, it is the life of Christ in us lived out through us as we look to Him, trust Him, and abide in Him moment by moment through faith that we can bear fruit and bring glory to God. So the issue was law teaching, the desire to make the moral law of God a rule of life for the believer, and Paul wanted Timothy to charge these men to stop teaching law and to teach the doctrine of grace and faith, the gospel of Christ only. The law is not for a righteous person, Paul writes. It is for the man in Adam, to show him his sin, to stop his mouth, to convict him of his guilt, and to bring death, leading him to the Savior through faith in Jesus. And after faith has come, Paul says in Galatians 3, we are no longer under the schoolmaster, the tutor that led us to faith in Christ. So this is an important and clear section for us to study and to apply in our time in the church today as well, because it is the great tendency of man, even the man who has been born again through faith in Christ, to want to go back and build again that which he has destroyed, to turn to law-keeping and self-effort in an attempt to please God. But this is not God's way. His way is the cross, is death, is recreation, is regeneration of a man, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a life lived by faith. I have been crucified with Christ; it's no longer I. Notice that word I, it's no longer I, no longer self-effort, no longer my strength and striving and seeking to keep the law to please God. It's Christ in me. The life which I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. So we see in the first part of chapter 1, a clear commission given to Timothy to reign these men in, or to get rid of them, if they will not cease law-teaching and get back to the gospel for salvation and for life, a life lived by the grace of God through faith. In our text today, we're going to see Paul's personal testimony of God's grace in his life in turning him from a self-righteous religious zealot who persecuted the church; he calls himself the worst sinner of all time, into the greatest evangelist and teacher and preacher of the gospel to the Gentile world. And what Paul is going to tell us is that it was all by the grace of God. Let's look at our text in 1 Timothy 1:12. And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy that in me first, Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. I have four points for you this morning in the outline. First, we're going to look at mercy. Second, exceeding abundant grace. Third, a faithful saying. And fourth, glory to God. I'd like to begin by asking you to turn to Romans 1. Romans 1 at verse 18. We're going to read a section here that we're familiar with in Romans 1. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Because what may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even His eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse. Because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God nor were thankful but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lust of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. Well, this passage defines for us where religion came from. I wonder if you've ever thought about the myriad of religions in our world. I've often thought about how difficult it must be for the lost man in our world to come to faith in Jesus Christ. Of course, the root of this is his pride and unwillingness to repent of sin and to realize his utter need and dependence on the grace of God. But think about the confusion in our world brought by religion. What is true? Who is right? Where is the clear message of the gospel? Romans 1 teaches us that religion was invented by men. They know God. Deep down, they know the truth. His power and wisdom are evident all around in creation. The evidence externally and internally is overwhelming. But because they love their sin, because they do not want to submit to God and His authority over them, they have designed their own gods, gods who are corrupt like them, so that they might assuage their guilt, might attain some level of performance within their religion and deceive themselves into thinking that they are good enough. This is the essence of religion. Men create a God who is corrupt like them and will overlook their sin and make a system of rules and rites and rituals that they can participate in, something they can do to earn their salvation. And this is what had happened to Judaism coming up to the time of Jesus and the time of Paul. The rabbis, the Pharisees, and Sadducees had so twisted the Old Testament and God's purpose and intention in setting aside the nation Israel as a witness for Him, as His own special people, and the intent of the law given to Moses, having added to and changed its very purpose, that they had created a works-righteous, man-centered religion to the nth degree. This is the system in which a young man named Saul was educated and raised, and he became the most zealous, self-righteous religious man that there ever was, even to the point of persecuting the church. Listen to Paul's words of testimony in Galatians 1 verse 13. He said, For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. Saul of Tarsus was the most zealous religious man in Judaism. In Philippians 3 verse 4 he says, Though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so. Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless." When it came to religion, to self-righteousness through law-keeping, when it came to zeal, to really giving oneself entirely to the works and traditions of man, Saul was it. He was the pinnacle, the epitome of the religious man. Now turn over to Acts 7 with me, please. Acts 7 is the great sermon of Stephen. He was the first martyr. His sermon before the Sanhedrin. And Stephen gives these religious rulers a great history lesson concerning the nation Israel and the coming of the Messiah, and he ends his sermon with a stinging indictment of the Jewish leaders and nation, proclaiming that they had killed their long-awaited Messiah, and they didn't appreciate that, as we see beginning in verse 54. Acts 7, 54, when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at Him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven, and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, Look, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at Him with one accord. And they cast Him out of the city and stoned Him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with this sin. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Now continue in chapter 8, verse 1, it says, Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Saul was a persecutor of the church, arresting, ripping men and women and children from their homes, committing them to prison, consenting to their death. He was, in fact, persecuting Christ. And if you turn over to Acts 9, we'll see that. Acts 9 at verse 1, Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, Who are you, Lord? Then the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads. Jesus makes it clear that in persecuting the church, Saul was actually persecuting him. And Jesus says it's hard for you to kick against the goads. Goads were sharpened sticks that were used to prod the oxen in plowing a field. When the oxen would kick, they would kick against the goads, the sharp sticks, and this taught them not to kick. Jesus says to Saul, this religious zealot, the greatest, most self-righteous man of his time, perhaps of all time in the world of religion, it's hard for you, it's difficult for you to go against the truth, to kick against the goads. This zeal was eating him up. And God was bearing down on Saul with the truth of the gospel of the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. This is true of every religious man, but the problem is that most do not take their religious faith to its logical end. Most religious men do not consume the whole buffet, but rather take their religion a la carte. They believe what they want to believe. They take parts and pieces and further conform to their own life and desires and pride to a level they can meet to make themselves feel better, to assuage their guilt. Saul ate the whole thing. He took it hook, line, and sinker. He took his religion to its logical end and was seeking to destroy Christ and His people, but it was hard to kick against the goads. The truth has a way of winning, of eating at a man. And that's why it takes a willful suppression of that truth, as we saw in Romans 1, to continue in religion. What we see in our text today is that Saul of Tarsus did not continue in Judaism. He did not continue the persecution of the church. He cast away his entire life in religion, counting it as dung, and placed his faith entirely in Jesus Christ. Paul received mercy. Verse 12 of our text, and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. When Jesus struck Saul down on that Damascus road and brought him to a point of self-confrontation with the law, with religion, with the reality of who he was fighting against, Saul received mercy. You see, this is what every man needs, mercy. God's mercy is not giving us what we deserve. What did Saul deserve? He was so religious, so zealous; he did it all, gave it all according to the flesh. He was perhaps the most righteous man in all the world. He was like the Mother Teresa or the Pope of our day, the most religious. And what did he deserve? He deserved death, hell, punishment forever in the lake of fire. Why? Because he was a sinner. In fact, in our text, he says that he was the chief, the first, the foremost of sinners. Here we had a guy that the world regarded as the most righteous of religious men, but who God saw as the greatest sinner. Interesting, isn't it? He was a sinner in his nature. He was a man like all other men born in Adam, a sinner by nature. Romans 5.18 says, therefore, as through one man's offense, that's Adam's sin in the garden, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation. Religion tells us that we do bad and we do bad and we do bad, therefore we become bad. So the solution of religion designed by men is to do good and do good and do good so that we might become good. But God says in His Word that the problem is not that we do bad, but that we are bad. The problem is a corrupt hard drive. It's on the inside, a desperately wicked heart, indwelling sin, dead in our trespasses and sins in our nature, the very essence of who we are. This is why Jesus said, it is not what goes into a man that defiles him, but what comes out of him. And this is also why He said to Nicodemus, the ruler of Israel, you must be born again, born of the Spirit, born from above. You must be recreated on the inside to fix the problem. The sin that man commits on the outside is only a manifestation of who he is on the inside. So Saul, along with every other man born in Adam, you and me included, my friend, stands condemned before a holy God and deserves the punishment for sin, which is eternal death. And because this is true, what we need is mercy. Paul says, I received mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. We saw in our study of the book of Hebrews, particularly in chapters 6 and 10, that there were those who have full knowledge, who have heard and understood the condemnation of all sinners in need of a Savior to die in our place for our sins, who have given an intellectual assent to the gospel, have full understanding, even profess to believe Jesus, and then choose to reject Christ, to turn away and spurn His grace, His free gift offer of salvation through faith in Him alone. These are what we call apostates. This was not true of Saul. He said, I did what I did in ignorance because of unbelief. And thus God showed him mercy and offered him salvation in Christ. It reminds me of Jesus when the crowds called for His death and He hung on the cross and He said, forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do. God showed Saul mercy on that Damascus road, and more importantly than that, He offered him exceedingly abundant grace. Romans 5.20 says, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. As abundant as the sin of Saul was, the chief of sinners, God's grace was more abundant. Where sin abounded, His grace superabounded. And this is the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the reason that He came. Verse 15 in our text in 1 Timothy says, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtain mercy that in me first, Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Jesus is long-suffering. He's patient. He desires that every man be saved. He came into this world to save sinners. The word translated chief means foremost or first among us. Paul was the foremost sinner in that he persecuted the church. He persecuted Jesus Christ. But the truth of the gospel, the good news message is this. This is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. Religion, my brothers and sisters, is not good news. Because whatever law or work that man sets up for salvation, no man can attain. No man can keep perfectly, and that is the very thing that law demands. That's why Paul calls the law the ministry of death, the ministry of condemnation in 2 Corinthians 3. That's why in Romans 4 he says the law brings only wrath. The law was never given to save us. It cannot save us because of the sin that dwells in man. For if there could have been a law given, Galatians says, which could have given life, then righteousness would have come through the law. But the truth is that God has found all men to be sinners, to be breakers of His law, deserving of the penalty of death. The good news is that God has shown to us mercy and given to us grace in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus came into the world to save sinners. You remember back in Romans 1 we read that men made gods like themselves, corrupt gods, who would not punish their sins, and then design religions around them, hoping that they can attain to the righteousness according to their works. But Romans 2 tells us that God judges according to truth. And here's the truth. I am a sinner. I as Paul and every other man who is born in Adam has sinned and broken God's law and the penalty for sin is death. I don't need religion; I don't need law; I need mercy and I need grace. And that is exactly what I have in Jesus Christ. God became a man, He took on flesh, He lived a perfect and sinless life. He did not sin; He did not deserve to die, but in His grace, He chose to die for me in my place. He took my penalty, my punishment for me in my place, He died paying the full debt for our sins. And not only do I find mercy in Christ, not getting what I deserve, but I find grace, getting the gift of eternal life, a new life now and the promise of heaven with Him forever. I get what I do not deserve. And all this through faith and faith alone. Let's go back to verse 14 in our text and listen to Paul's words, his testimony of God's grace. 1 Timothy 1:14, And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtain mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Paul was the foremost sinner, persecuting the church, and yet God's grace was for him. Jesus died for him. Paul loved to give his testimony as he does here in Timothy, to show that the law has no place for the righteous man, but it is grace and faith and love that we have in Christ. In Acts 9 we saw the account of Paul's conversion. But he gave testimony of that in Philippians 3 and twice more in Acts. I want to just look at a couple of those passages to see the clarity with which Paul explains salvation by grace through faith apart from the law. That's his main intent in 1 Timothy 1. Let's turn over to Philippians 3. This is one of the clearest passages, Paul explaining how he came to faith in Christ. Philippians 3:1, Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation, for we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so, circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him," look at the words here, "...not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." There may have never been a clearer testimony than here in Philippians 3, Paul was a zealous, the most zealous religious man, doing all the religious things, keeping the law outwardly, having the right pedigree, all the things. And he says that he counted it all as dung, for the sake of knowing Christ Jesus, not having his own righteousness which is through the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God, a gift from God, imputed to the man who believes Jesus Christ. This is how a man can be made righteous; this is how a man can be made right with God by grace through faith because of what Jesus accomplished in His one-time death on the cross in my place, in your place, for our sins. Now let's go over to Acts 26. Paul gives his testimony again here before King Agrippa, Acts 26:9. Indeed, I myself, speaking to Agrippa, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priest, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme, and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priest, at midday, O King, along the road I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. So I said, Who are you, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness, both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now send you. Look at why Jesus sent Paul. To open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me. And how would Paul do that? Through the preaching of Jesus Christ, so clear in his ministry and his letters. And look at verse 19, he says, Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Paul was not disobedient. He chose to believe Jesus. When confronted with his sin, when confronted with his total inability and wrong-headed thinking in religion, when he heard the gospel truth and understood it, he was not disobedient but placed his faith in Christ and the greatest sinner became the greatest preacher of the gospel of all time. Paul's testimony was one of mercy, of God's exceedingly abundant grace, based on the faithful saying that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And the truth that we see in God's plan of salvation is that because of grace, God gets all the glory. Even in verse 12, as Paul talks about being placed into the ministry, we see that it is God by His grace who enabled him, who prepared him and equipped him and continually gave him strength and knowledge and wisdom and words. Salvation is by grace, and the life that I now live is by grace as well. And in this way, God gets all the glory because it is God who does it as we trust and abide in Him. Now, 1 Corinthians is perhaps one of the clearest passages explaining this. As Paul writes to the Corinthians in chapter 1, I want to begin at verse 21 and read down into chapter 2, 1 Corinthians 1:21, For since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty, and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised, God has chosen. And the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in, Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that as it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord. And in chapter 2, Paul says, when I came to you, I didn't come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. And here's the purpose, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. This is God's plan. This is Paul's testimony of God's grace. In 2 Corinthians 3, he says, you are our epistle written in our hearts. You're 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, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. The purpose of Paul's testimony in the context of 1 Timothy 1 is to reinforce the truth that the Christian life is not one lived by law, that the law is not for a righteous man, but God's plan is for us to live by the grace of God, by the Spirit living in us, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. God's plan for salvation, for coming to Him, is by grace through faith. And God's plan for the Christian life is a life of faith, trusting in His grace and power to accomplish His will in our lives for His glory. When God placed Paul into the ministry, He enabled him. He strengthened him. He maintained him by His grace. He created the opportunities. He gave him the message. He revealed to him what he needed to know. And Paul went out and preached Christ. And Paul said, I have been crucified with Christ. It's 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. This is Paul's consistent message throughout the New Testament, and it is clear here in 1 Timothy 1 as well. We should teach no other doctrine but the gospel doctrine of grace and faith leading to godly edification. That is the charge that Paul gave to Timothy to give to other men, and this is the charge that we have today at Living Hope Church as well. Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank You that You consistently teach us through Your Word these great truths of Your grace and Your plan of salvation and Your plan for the Christian life. What You've done in Christ to save us, to pay the penalty for our sins, to unite us to Him in His death, burial, and resurrection, raising us to newness of life, giving us a new heart and a new spirit, dwelling in us, Your life in us, and thank You, Lord, that this life is one lived by faith. I pray that You'd teach us and help us to really believe these things and count them to be true, and to know that You're in control, that we can trust You, that You're working out Your will in our lives. In Jesus' name, amen.