The Way of Forgiveness of Sins

Introduction to the 'Simple Signposts' Series and Sermon Purpose

0:00 Last Lord's Day evening, we began what will be a relatively brief series of messages entitled Simple Signpost to the Celestial City. Taking the term Celestial City from Bunyan's Immortal Pilgrim's Progress, used as a graphic synonym for heaven, this series of sermons will be an attempt to preach and to apply some of the most simple and clear texts in all of the Word of God, which indeed constitute signposts to heaven. Texts which address the great issues of sin and of grace. Texts which call us to repent and to believe. On the Lord Jesus Christ.

0:59 Texts which contain the heart of the whole message of the Bible concerning the great and pressing question, What must I do to be saved? And if you ask, why am I embarking upon this series of messages, focusing upon these simple, basic gospel texts, I answer, unashamedly, that I do so for two reasons. First and foremost, it is because I desire to preach that gospel which is the power of God unto salvation in the faith and hope and, I trust, biblically grounded expectation that God will be pleased to call many to Himself through the preaching of the Word, particularly from the ranks of the church. Second and foremost, it is because I desire to preach those of you who are here, through no choice of your own, you are here because mom and dad mandate that you are found in the house of God, but you are not only here under the sound of the Word, your name is brought daily, sometimes many days, before the throne of grace with earnest prayers

2:24 that you would be brought to know Jesus. Jesus Christ, in a saving way. And I feel it only right that every generation rising within anything that claims to be a gospel-preaching church should have its walls reverberate with these great epitomizing gospel texts which God has, through the history of His church, often made, in a very special way, the instrument of His love, of imparting saving grace and mercy to sinners. But then I have a second purpose, and that is in keeping with the function of a pastor-teacher, namely to help equip the saints unto this particular work of service, namely communicating the gospel to others as God gives you opportunity. And I want to furnish you with a working knowledge, and acquaintance with the kinds of texts that you ought to use in your witness to others and be able to sit down and to open them up and one-on-one or one in a group of a family proclaim the blessed saving word of salvation and mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Recap of First Signpost and Introduction to Paul's Sermon in Acts 13

3:50 Last week our first simple signpost was composed of the very words of the Lord Jesus Christ. As found in John's Gospel chapter 14 and verse 6, in which our Lord declares, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes unto the Father but by Me. And while I have yet to hear of any who points to that message as the instrument of His conversion, I am delighted to say that during the week one of our members called me and said, Pastor, I'm so thankful you preached that text. I was able to preach it at the bedside of my dying lost father. And I had a clear gospel message to preach to him as I gave to him in the solemn scene of a death bed the very message that was preached in my ear. Preached in my ears on Sunday night.

4:58 Well, tonight we're going to fix our attention upon another simple signpost to the celestial city. A signpost taken from a sermon preached by the great Apostle Paul. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have heard an apostle preach the gospel? As I have read biographies, I have wished that somehow I could be shot into a time capsule and taken back to some of the open fields in England and hear the great Whitefield preaching Christ with such passion, with such earnestness and burning, almost seraphic eloquence.

5:42 I have wished that I could have heard Spurgeon as I have read his biography and read accounts of everything from the captives to the captivating, mellifluous voice with which he spoke to the earnest, tender passion with which he pleaded with sinners. But I must confess that beyond the yearning to hear Whitefield and Spurgeon and other greats of the past, I have wished that I could have been somewhere to have heard Peter preaching, to have heard Paul or one of the other apostles. Well, in the book of Acts, God has given us a few at least shorthand summary statements of several of the sermons of these great apostles. And one of them is recorded in Acts chapter 13 and it is to that chapter that I direct your attention and from which we shall, God helping us, discover another of these simple signposts to the celestial city. Here in Antioch of Pisidia, we have the record of Paul's sermon preached in the synagogue beginning in verse 16 of Acts 13 and continuing through verse 41. And it should not surprise us that this sermon has three very clearly marked divisions.

Structure of Paul's Sermon in Acts 13

7:11 Now, not all of the recorded sermons or all of the shorthand versions of the sermons have clear divisions, let alone clear division, three clear divisions. But this one does indeed have such divisions. You will notice Paul begins in verse 16 and Paul stood up and beckoning with the hands said, Men of Israel and ye that fear God, hearken. Here is a man determined to be heard.

7:43 He raises his hand to gain their attention and then he solicits the commitment of their ears. He harkens and then through verse 25 he sets forth the history of Israel up through the coming of John the Baptist in preparation for the coming of the Lord Jesus. So his first heading of his sermon in the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia focuses upon Israel's history in preparation for the coming of Jesus. Then in verses 26 to 37 his second heading is the history of how God fulfilled his promises to Israel in the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Notice in verse 26, Brethren, children of the stock of Abraham and those among you that fear God, he is again addressing his audience. He is fearful perhaps he has lost their attention and he raised his hand and said, Men of Israel and you that fear God, listen. They were perhaps getting a little weary so like a good preacher he calls back their attention and says, Brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, those among you that fear God, to us is this word of salvation sent forth.

9:10 And then he gives the history of how God fulfilled his promises to Israel in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Then his third heading begins in verse 38. Be it known unto you therefore, brethren, having completed his statements with respect to the history of the death and resurrection of Jesus, he now makes an announcement that the great blessings of salvation are now available to men and how, they can obtain them. Be it known unto you therefore, brethren, that through this man or more literally this one is proclaimed unto you remission of sins and by him every one that believeth is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken in the prophets behold ye despisers and wander and perish. For I work a work in your days a work which you shall in no wise believe if one declare it unto you. Here then in verses 30 to 48

An Urgent Appeal to Young People

10:36 is that portion upon which we shall see etched a simple signpost to the celestial city. And I want to make a direct appeal as Paul did not to men of Israel and you who fear God but especially to you children and young people within these walls tonight. If I were to say to some of you teenage guys who are very much aware of the great shock wave that went through the athletic world upon the news of Michael Jordan's retirement Hey guys! All of you guys with hoops to whom Michael was your idol of idols listen to me and if you follow my directions I can guarantee you in six months you can jump and soar and dunk and make people ooh and ahh and pack away the millions like Michael. Would you listen to me? You thought I wasn't just giving you a line would you really listen to me? Would it be important enough to you you who lie upon your bed and fantasize about the first time you're going to be able to just touch the rim let alone stuff it down from two and a half feet above the rim

12:03 and I were to say to you listen to me guys I'm going to give you a sure fire rate in six months you'll be Michael's replacement. Would you listen? There are some of you that would. I were to say to some of you young women listen to me listen carefully if you listen to me carefully I guarantee by the time you're 25 you'll be marrying a guy handsome enough to be a movie actor strong enough to make Arnold Schwarzenegger look like a wimp wealthy enough to make the Rockefellers go on welfare would you listen?

12:46 I'll say to you guys if you listen to me I guarantee you by the time you're 25 you'll have the dream woman on your elbow a ring on your finger and yours on her would you listen? in other words what's important to you? what would you listen to? if I could hold it out and say at the end well I say to you kids and young people listen I don't care whether it's Michael stuffing the ball through the hoop from two and a half feet above it whether it's wealth and fame and money there's a time coming when all of that will be dust and ashes and only one thing will matter and it will be whether or not you stood before this sign post and took its directions only once did you stand and read and by the grace of God all of the memories of Michael Jordan and the Rockefellers and the wealthy and the beautiful and the bold and all the rest have passed into nothingness and the awesome eons of eternity

14:15 will have broken in upon us with everlasting bliss or everlasting horror and torment kids young people children women in the name of the God of heaven who has given you a never dying soul come with me and gaze intently upon this simple sign post to the celestial city and the first thing we notice as we stand before it is this that the forgiveness or the remission of sins is the central blessing held forth in the gospel when we get excited about the gospel when we get excited about the gospel when we get excited about the grace of God what is it that lies at the very nerve centers of the gospel that gets us excited well if you will look at our sign post we read in verse 38 be it known unto you therefore brethren that through this man is proclaimed unto you not how to proclaimed unto you remission of sins and in those words there appears on our simple sign post to the celestial city the truth that the forgiveness

Signpost Line 1: Forgiveness of Sins is the Central Blessing

15:41 or remission of sins is the central blessing of the gospel now the gospel is like a many faceted diamond it has many planes and it shines in many ways because our needs as sinners are many and there is no need that we have as sinners which is not addressed in some marvelous facet of gospel privilege in Christ however shining out of the deepest center of that diamond and radiating to every plane of every facet is its most marvelous provision and that is the blessing of forgiveness of sins and hence when the apostle in his sermon there in that synagogue comes to bring that sermon to a conclusion having demonstrated in his first heading how God prepared the world through the history of his ancient people Israel for the coming of his son and how under his second head his son had come in fulfillment of those prophecies and had died and been raised from the dead now on the basis of that mighty redemptive activity of God he says be it known

17:07 here is the great blessing procured by all of this work of the mighty gracious saving God throughout human history this central blessing of the gospel even forgiveness or remission of sins and our Lord Jesus had this estimation of the gospel for when he commissioned his own as recorded in Luke chapter 24 notice how it takes the central place Luke 24 in verse 45 then opened he their mind that they might understand the scriptures and he said unto them thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance unto remission should be preached in his name among all the nations beginning from Jerusalem as they are commissioned to preach the gospel what is the central blessing they are to hold forth it is the remission or the forgiveness of sins that word for remission comes from a verb that means to send away and means nothing less than the complete removal of our sins

18:34 from the reckoning of God and from God's dealings with us as a righteous and holy judge and when sin is removed we have no more guilt and when guilt is removed there is no more wrath and there is no more condemnation and God delights to extol how thorough is that central blessing under the gospel when he uses such language as we find in Psalm 103 and verse 12 as far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us we have a north pole we can locate it precisely we have a south pole but we have no east or west pole and one can chase the east to the west or the west to the east and never overtake the one with the other as far as east is from west so far has he removed our transgressions from us in that wonderful word in the prophecy of Micah chapter 7 and verse 19 he will again have compassion upon us he will tread our iniquities underfoot

19:59 thou will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea think of it we are told in some places miles deep is the ocean God says he will cast our sins into the depths of the sea of his forgetfulness or in the language of Psalm 130 and verse 4 if thou O Lord shouldest mark iniquity O Lord who could stand if you should gaze upon iniquity with a view to calling it to remembrance and in calling it to remembrance view it in terms of its just guilt and deserved wrath were God to call to mind one act of iniquity and deal with it in pure justice and righteousness one act of iniquity would be enough to forever damn us but the Psalmist exclaims there is forgiveness with complete total irreversible irrevocable forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared so then as we think of this signpost to the celestial city in Paul's sermon we must first of all see that it sets before us

21:27 the central blessing of gospel provision and privilege in terms of forgiveness of sin and I say by way of an aside to you my dear preacher brother and brethren while I trust we are increasingly committed to proclaiming the whole counsel of God and are prepared to defend every particle of God's truth with our life's blood if necessary and while we with our people must range over the full wide field of inscripturated revelation let us never never never get so cicated that we do not come back again and again and again and again in our own secret place with God in the selection of our hymns and in the selection of our to take our posture as joyfully forgiven sinners proclaiming to our fellow sinners that there is a way for their sins to be forgiven in this simple signpost to the celestial city there is first of all this statement forgiveness of sin is the central blessing held forth

Signpost Line 2: Forgiveness Found Only in the Real Christ

22:54 in the gospel this Paul says is what we proclaim unto you that through him there is remission of sins but then there is a second line on this signpost that we are considering tonight and it is this that this forgiveness is found only in connection with the Christ of Old Testament prophecy and New Testament history now you must not miss that it is not enough to see on the signpost there is forgiveness for needy sinners look at the second line it says this forgiveness is found only in connection with the Christ of Old Testament prophecy and New Testament history you see that in the text look at it again be it known unto you therefore brethren that through this man or this one proclaimed unto you remission of sins and by him everyone that believeth is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses through this one and by him now to whom is the apostle referring well if we read back

24:21 through the first two heads of his sermon it is very plain to whom he is making reference it is the Jesus who was the great magnet of all of the Old Testament prophecies it is the Christ of Old Testament prophetic foresight and utterance the prophet speaking of the coming one who would be the deliverer of God's people under his second heading he is demonstrating that it is Jesus of Nazareth to whom John pointed and bore witness of whom David had spoken that his flesh would not see corruption it was this one verse 31 who was seen for many days of them that came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem who are now his witnesses you see what Paul has been saying he has not been holding up some nebulous ephemeral mystical Jesus concept some new age that you can make him whoever make him so as you find meaning by having trust in him never in this simple sign post to the celestial city there is clearly printed the statement forgiveness of sins is the central blessing of the gospel

25:48 but then underneath it printed with equal clarity is this statement that this forgiveness is found only in connection with the Christ of Old Testament prophecy and of New Testament history for the simple reason that true forgiveness deals with the true God and with real sins that can only be dealt with with the real Christ of real biblical revelation we are not dealing with philosophical ideas kids we are not dealing with religious theories the very God the consciousness of whom you cannot drive from your mind though it would make life a lot easier for some of you if you could the haunting awareness that he is there wherever you go in the secret chambers of your thought life he is there the conscience is activated when you think those thoughts of dishonesty and lust and meanness the conscience is there the eyelash of God brushing over your moral consciousness for that is what consciousness is the eyelash of God it is not some inherent thing programmed in from the primeval slime it is an evidence that you are an image bearer of God all be it a marred image bearer and you kids listen to me

27:16 do all the nonsense that says your sense of guilt when you do wrong has been imposed upon you by your mom and dad in your church and if you are going to come of age to sear your conscience and go to hell you dear young people listen carefully that is real guilt you feel because there is a real God against whom you have committed real offenses and the only way for those real offenses against a real God to be really dealt with is that there is a real Christ who came into this real world by a real womb of a real woman named Mary and who was born in a real stable and who lived up in a real place grew up in a real place called Nazareth and who as a real man of maturity was plunged into the real water of a real river Jordan and was really and truly anointed with the Spirit and with power and went about raising really dead people and healing really sick people and opening really deaf ears and blind eyes and went to a place called Gethsemane and wrestled with a real cup not a physical but a real cup full of the wrath of God against the sins of men a cup so ugly so full of the stench and vileness of the seething wrath of God against our sins

28:44 that our Lord sweat as it were great drops of blood while he was seeking to embrace with his whole soul what it would mean to live with that cup and he went to a real place called Gabbatha and a real place called Golgotha and real nails were put in his hands and in his feet and upon a real cross he was lifted up between a real earth and a real heaven and a real vial upon him until he cried my God my God why have you abandoned me because there is a real hell that was poured out of heaven upon the Son of God when he hung on the cross and he said I will go if you miss the signpost dear young people we are not dealing with ideas and notions and religious concepts we are dealing with the stuff of reality just as real as that little lip you stuck out and pouted when you broke the fifth commandment yesterday when mom asked you to dry the dishes and you wanted to go play with your dolls that was a real pout that was a real defiance of the real law of the real God who tells you to honor your mother and your father that will bring upon you real wrath and a real hell forever unless you get God's real way of real forgiveness through the only real savior that is there is the signpost it tells us forgiveness of sins

Signpost Line 3: Forgiveness Received by Faith Alone

30:12 is the great and central blessing set forth in the gospel it tells us secondly that this forgiveness is found only in connection with the Christ of Old Testament prophecy and New Testament history but then there is a third line on this simple signpost look at it in our passage Paul goes on to say be it known unto you brethren that through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins and by him everyone that believeth is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses what's the third line on this simple signpost it's this this forgiveness is received in Christ by faith alone this forgiveness is received in Christ by faith alone and again for our preacher brethren you kids hang in there for a minute I'll come back to you the English translation somewhat weakens the crucial emphasis of the original Alexander suggests this very helpful translation and from all things from which you were not able to be justified in the law of Moses in this

31:39 one believing is justified you see the emphasis upon everyone believing is held to the last to give it tremendous impact upon the mind and the spirit from all things from which you were not able to be justified by the law of Moses why that's all of my sins do not justify me forgive me pardon me give me acceptance with God with reference to one of my sins from all things from which I cannot be justified by the law of Moses in this one yes in this one but how in this one everyone believing is justified the third line upon this simple signpost of the celestial city says in Christ by faith alone one very perceptive writer has perceived the reality of this text and spoken as follows in these two short verses we have the book of Romans and Galatians in a nutshell justification by faith alone sola fide is an endless

33:06 inexhaustible theme the way to salvation so slowly and with such difficulty prepared for us slowly through the time of preparation in the old covenant head one of Paul's sermon with difficulty through the bitter suffering and death of Jesus head number two in his sermon yet so short and so pleasant for us to travel short for all we need do is to embrace the cross of Christ by faith pleasant for here we find remission of sins life and salvation now I don't know what else to call that but beautiful that's not only true dear people that's beautiful think of what it meant for God to procure salvation head one of his sermon traced out history spanning centuries head number two focused upon history involving the blood he swept and the agony and the forsakenness of the son of God and the miracle of resurrection but on the ground of that I can have full free eternal irreversible pardon for all of my sins remission of

34:31 all his sins how upon believing upon hear the text by him and that justified yes it will always be a penitent faith in which the sins for which I seek forgiveness will be detested and loathed and forsaken it will be a submissive faith that disposes me to embrace the Lord Jesus not only as my sin bearer but my sovereign and my master yes that is true and we take second place to none in affirming and defending dear preacher put a big burn penitent faith submissive faith faith that leads to a holy life faith that leads to a sincere embrace of the Lord that's all true but he dares say by grace have you been saved through faith

35:58 he dares to simple signpost to the city right in a sinner is that it is told it takes it receives provided by another therefore it is likened to drinking of the water of life it is likened to eating of the bread of life it is likened to looking upon the serpent of brass it is the unique capacity of faith to have nothing in itself upon which to rest and to go totally out of itself into another to find that other and that other is the Lord Jesus and you dear children one of my greatest fears and you young people is that because you have been soundly and properly instructed and catechized and doctrinally sensitive

37:26 and you must be and ought to be if we parents are to do our task but my great fear is taking what should have been your means of blessing and salvation and use obedience and repentance and I can't sort my you with this you should only be able to do for yourself or for a mother or a child or a child in a world that is full of sin prepared to throw yourself kids into the lap of jesus and say jesus everything that has to do with my sin problem i'm willing to entrust it to you i'm willing to entrust it to you in the light of what you did when you died on the cross and rose from the dead oh jesus everything that has

38:39 to do with cleansing me from my sins of lying and pining and disobeying prepared to go to christ and reeking with the foul stench of your sins and say lord jesus take a stinking rotten foul smelling sinner like me and wash me in your own precious blood cleanse me in that blood that you shed upon the cross lord jesus i'm prepared to entrust myself to you to do all the saving this signpost on which the words forgiveness until blessing gospel you this forgiveness of biblical history it also says that this salvation is received in christ

39:55 by and that's the great building block of the building block of the god have something that takes a full and an adequate savior faith alone is the part who is the water of life but now i look at the fourth line there i post and it is this look at it in the text by him every one that believes is justified from all film which you could not folding

41:02 lay down a number of pieces of the word comprehends the meaning of the word ay that there is no looks in the dot within the size of its price come to in negó

42:22 applied with the promise moves to one by word to go out we could bring you have been it tools was to go out local get you in our is in fact that the q� the Prophet said The Father forgot we have violated his meaning of the Scriptures and hasyears just loving them in our hearts they did not chicken out at all managers and we've had the same bruises. he would not follow the sect towards us in bad faith to be misguided you'd preach to accusation To God, we could get you in on mom and dad's apron strings. There's no one who doesn't for the power to bring his children in. I've never asked for powers.

43:25 There's one thing I could ask God for. Lord, give me the power to bring my kids in. But God hasn't given you that power. They've got to go in on their own.

43:37 You children, you've got to go in on your own. You've got to go in on your own. You've got to stand by the simple signpost. And you've got to see that the God hits from to all what keeps.

44:26 There is to lay hold of Christ and not to lay hold of him in the word and promise of the God. Don't wait for it. You won't get it. And if you think you've got it, it will be a spirit of delusion.

44:44 You hear me?

44:57 With all your heart and begin to live in the concept in the day of the Lord Jesus as you go on believing. Oh, dear children.

Signpost Line 4: Forgiveness Sincerely Offered to All

45:32 Complicated in the Christ of biblical revelation. Forgiveness is found in Christ only to those who believe. Forgiveness is sincerely offered to all. And you are urged to believe. But then, as I look down at the bottom piece of that simple signpost, there's an asterisk. And you know what it says?

Signpost Warning: The Damning Sin of Unbelief

46:36 It says warning. Warning. This simple signpost concludes with a warning. Look at it in the passage.

46:47 Behold or beware therefore. Verse 40. Beware therefore. Beware is a word of warning.

46:55 You come up to a house. You're going to a friend's place and it says beware of the dog. Beware of this danger. The word beware means there's a danger lurking about.

47:09 And this simple signpost ends with an asterisk on the bottom and a warning. Beware therefore. Beware for lest that come upon you which is spoken by the prophets. Behold you despisers and wander and perish.

47:24 For I work a work in your days. A work which you shall in no wise believe if one declare it unto you. And here the apostle takes a quote from the Greek translation of the Old Testament. Called the Septuagint from Habakkuk 1 in verse 5.

47:44 Habakkuk had predicted judgment. On unbelieving Israel. And Paul concludes his gospel sermon. His simple signpost to the celestial city.

47:56 With an asterisk and with a warning. And the warning is against the greatest sin of all. And you know what the greatest sin of all is? That will keep you out of heaven.

48:11 It's not the sin of lying. There'll be many, many forgiven liars in heaven. Thank God I'll be one of them. There'll be many forgiven murderers in heaven.

48:23 There'll be many forgiven adulterers and homosexuals and pedophiles and child abusers. And every vile kind. But there's one kind of sinner that won't be in heaven. You know what that is?

48:38 An unbelieving sinner.

48:42 The crowning damning sin is the sin of unbelief. Beware therefore Paul says. Lest that come upon you. Spoken by the prophets.

48:54 Behold you despise and wonder and perish your days. Which you'll in no wise leave if one declare it unto you. In other words. They were listening to the word of the prophet.

49:09 In a spirit of cynical unbelief.

49:13 And he says. Such unbelievers will perish. You know the New Testament counterpart of that don't you? He that believeth not shall be damned.

49:24 He that believes not the wrath of God abides. Upon him. And I would conclude our study of this second simple signpost to the celestial city. By saying to every one of you kids and men and women and friends gathered here tonight.

Final Exhortation to Embrace the Offered Savior

49:40 Look at the asterisk on that sign. We've looked at the four simple statements that constitute this signpost to the celestial city. But here's the warning. Beware.

49:53 Beware. That was nice. And I like that imagery of the. Signpost.

50:00 And that was clever how he. My friend. With the Savior. Or without him.

50:33 Believe me in either case. It's unbelief about what God says you are. Or unbelief about what he says his son is.

50:44 And you've got to believe what God says you are. A hell deserving sinner. Whether you're three years old or 30 or 90. And that Christ is the only Savior suited to any sinner.

50:58 Three. 30 or 90. Don't go out in unbelief. But embrace the offered Savior.

51:06 Sand by that signpost and say oh God thank you for planting it in your word for bringing me near it in the preaching. Oh Lord I see beyond the preacher and beyond my mom and my dad and the friends and the visitors around me. Oh Lord I see that I stand before you. Covered.

51:30 With my sins. I see that there's no way to have been removed unless Christ takes them away. I see that Christ alone can take them. Christ is willing to take them.

51:42 And I want them taken. What do I wait for. Just as I am. Without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me.

51:53 And that thou bits me come to thee. Oh Lamb of God. I come. Just as I am and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot.

52:06 To thee whose blood can cleanse each.

52:12 Oh Lamb of God.

52:17 May you make haste to Jesus. Let us pray.

Pastoral Prayer

52:30 Our Father how we thank you for your holy word. Thank you that you have given us in the scriptures. A sure and a certain word. Revealing your saving mercy to hell deserving sinners.

52:49 And as we have stood before this simple sign post. Pointing us to a better world. And how to be prepared to meet you and stand before you. May your spirit take the truth concerning Christ.

53:05 And make it effectual to bring some this night. To embrace the Lord Jesus. Oh God renew us in the confidence that we ought to have in the gospel. Renew us in our expectation that you will make it in our day.

53:24 Your instrument of power unto salvation. May we dare to let it loose in all of its pristine simplicity. And all of its saving beauty. Oh Lord.

53:38 Deal with us your people. That are sinfully silent. That tongues will be loosened. That we may as you give us opportunity and as we make opportunities.

53:51 Be bold to speak forth. So glorious a message of life and salvation. Thank you our God for this day in your courts. Thank you for your presence.

54:03 Thank you for your people. Thank you for all of your institutions. All of your ordinances. Oh Lord our hearts are full.

54:13 We give you praise and ask your continued blessing to rest upon us. As together we commit ourselves and your word to your care. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.