The Blood That Secures Salvation

Welcome to Built on God's Word, the preaching and teaching ministry of Highland Park Baptist Church in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.! Pastor Mike Scrivani preaches on Hebrews 9, verses 15 through 28.

! The mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promise eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

Where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.

Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hesap, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.

And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to offer repeatedly since the foundation of the world.

But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

May God add a blessing to the reading of his word. Would you please be seated? Amen. In church, we often sing about the blood of Jesus and the cross upon which his blood was shed.

To those outside of the faith, these songs and the significance that we as Christians place on Jesus' blood may seem strange, even unsettling, since blood is often viewed with discomfort.

But to those who are saved, singing about the blood of Jesus reminds us of the great price he paid to wash away our sins.

I grew up in the church singing the hymn, Nothing But The Blood of Jesus. And that song asks, What can wash away my sin?

What can make me whole again? And answers, Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And the chorus goes, Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow.

No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. We also sing a hymn whose title is a question. Are you washed in the blood?

The refrain asks, Are you washed in the blood? In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb. Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Another older hymn that we sing is, There is a fountain filled with blood. And it states, There is a fountain filled with blood. Drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

The church I grew up in had bright red carpet in the sanctuary. And I remember singing these songs about Jesus' blood while standing on what looked like a sea of blood and being confused that my parents wouldn't let me play video games depicting any kind of blood.

But people are often shocked and they're sickened at the sight of blood. Yet in the church, we sing about Jesus' blood and we glory in it.

We express our gratitude to Christ in worship as we thank Him for shedding His blood to make us whole by washing away our sins.

If a person who was unfamiliar with Christianity and what the Bible says about blood and sacrifice asked you, What's the deal with Jesus' blood?

Why do you sing about it? How can blood wash away sins? How does that work? If someone asked you those questions, how would you answer? Well, Hebrews 9, 15-28 gives that answer.

It explains why it was necessary for Jesus to die and shed His blood on the cross as a sacrifice to atone for our sins.

The word blood appears 21 times in the book of Hebrews, 12 of which appear in chapter 9 alone, and 7, one-third of those references to blood in this letter, are contained in our passage this morning.

This text explains why it was necessary for Jesus to shed His blood on the cross in death and what His sacrifice accomplished for those who are called to receive the promised eternal inheritance in Jesus, who is the mediator of a new covenant.

And so the main idea for this morning's sermon, Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant whose unrepeatable sacrifice purifies those called to salvation from sin and secures their eternal inheritance.

Last week, I preached on chapter 9, verses 1-14.

And in verses 1-10 of chapter 9, the writer of Hebrews reviewed the earthly tabernacle and how it provided limited access and temporary cleansing from sin under the old covenant.

In verse 7 of chapter 9, the writer of Hebrews mentions how the high priest did not enter into God's presence in the Holy of Holies empty-handed. He brought the blood of an animal sacrifice to atone for the people's sins.

In verses 11-14 of chapter 9, he summarizes how Jesus, through His sacrificial death on the cross, entered the perfect tabernacle in the true Holy of Holies, heaven, providing complete access to God and permanent cleansing from sin.

Under the old covenant, the high priest entered the earthly tabernacle with the blood of an animal sacrifice, which was offered according to the law and provided an external purification for sins.

In the new covenant, Jesus, as our superior high priest, offered a better sacrifice, Himself, which eternally purifies those who are saved by His grace.

And that brings us to verse 15 in the word, therefore, in chapter 9. In comparing and contrasting the limited and restricted access to God under the old covenant and the unrestricted access to God through Christ in the new covenant, our passage this morning explains why Jesus had to die, why it was necessary for Him to shed His blood, and how His sacrifice mediates a new and superior covenant.

Jesus does not mediate a renewed covenant, a refurbished covenant, or a remodeled covenant. It's new.

His unrepeatable sacrifice permanently purifies those who are called to salvation from sin and secures their eternal inheritance in Him.

At Highland Park, our mission statement is that we exist to develop disciples of Jesus Christ who delight in Him and demonstrate His goodness as we declare His gospel to our neighbors and to the nations.

My goal this morning is that this sermon will develop you as a disciple of Jesus Christ. That the reality of what it means that Jesus shed His blood for you will cause you to delight even more in Him, knowing that your sins have been fully, totally, completely, and permanently atoned for.

That you will delight in Christ because in Him you have an eternal inheritance that is undefiled, unstained, and preserved in heaven for you.

And I hope that these truths will spur you on to love and good works, to demonstrate the goodness of Christ and that you will choose to more passionately serve the living God as a living sacrifice in obedience to Him.

That as a church we will declare the gospel, the good news of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. And we'll declare that news to our neighbors and to the nations that others would know Jesus savingly too and that they would delight in Him with us as well.

Our passage this morning covers three principles as the Holy Spirit teaches us how Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant whose unrepeatable sacrifice purifies those called to salvation from sin and secures their eternal inheritance.

If you aren't a Christian, you're in the right place. God is calling you to be a Christian today and I hope that He opens your eyes, your ears, and creates within you a new heart that beats for Jesus Christ and delights in His unmatched majesty.

So the first principle we see in our text comes from verses 15 through 22 and it's the problem. The problem. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

Verse 15 again says, Therefore He is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promise eternal inheritance since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

A mediator is someone who stands in the middle, who is there to reconcile estranged parties. Our problem is that we have all sinned and that all of our sin is ultimately committed against our holy God who justly punishes sin.

Isaiah 59, 2 says, But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

Romans 3, 23 tells us, For all have sinned, all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. We have all sinned.

We have all sinned against God. Our sin separates us from God, and our sin must be punished by God because He is sinless, holy, and righteous. Thus, if God was to save us and bring us into His eternal presence, we need a mediator, someone to bridge the gap, to bring us into God's presence, which requires a change within us, not within God.

In His love and grace, God sent His only Son, Jesus, as a mediator to mediate a new covenant which was inaugurated through His sacrificial death and results in an eternal inheritance for those who are called to salvation in Him.

Under the terms of the Old Covenant, God made temporary provision for the sin of His people through animal sacrifice.

The animal's blood shed in sacrifice temporarily restrained God's righteous judgment towards His people's sins. Leviticus 17.11 says, For the life of the flesh is the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.

Romans 6.23 tells us that the wages of sin is death. This has always been the case since sin entered this world. God's perfect justice demands a life for a life.

We read about that in Genesis 9.5-6, Exodus 21-23, and other places. Animal sacrifices were a stopgap, and as we saw last week in Hebrews 9.9-10, they had to be repeated over and over and over and over again.

They could not fully atone for sin. Under the Old Covenant, sacrificial death was necessary for redemption, for forgiveness.

The writer of Hebrews further emphasizes this connection between death and the covenant in verses 16-17, using the example of a will as an analogy.

Or, he says in 16, for where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.

The writer of Hebrews does something here linguistically that our English text doesn't show. The Greek word translated as covenant in verse 15 is the same Greek word translated in our English Bibles as will in verses 16-17.

So, why the change in our English translations? Well, I think it's because in verse 15 the word is used religiously, hence the word covenant, but in verses 16-17 it's used legally, hence the word will.

A will legally comes into effect or is activated when the person who made it dies. You could be the stated recipient of a million dollars, millions of dollars, and the recipient of items and lands that are worth millions of dollars, but none of it is truly yours until the testator, the person who makes the will and signs the will, who owns all the things in the will, dies.

Only then are those riches transferred to your account. The writer of Hebrews' point is that Christ's death activated this new covenant with its eternal promises, which is given and received by those who are called by Him to salvation.

As we read in 2 Corinthians 8-9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you, by His poverty, might become rich.

Through His death, Jesus, as testator, has secured our salvation and eternal inheritance with Him in the presence of the Father in heaven forever. By His death and resurrection, as the God-man, Jesus serves as the mediator between God and man, bringing us from death to life, from poverty to wealth, from orphans to adopted children, from slavery to sin to freedom from it, from sinners to saints, from those destined for hell to those destined for heaven.

Only Jesus, being fully God and fully man, could permanently accomplish what the Old Testament sacrifices could only temporarily provide.

As the God-man, as our mediator, His blood sealed a new and superior covenant for us. In verses 18 through 22, the writer of Hebrews reviews the Old Covenant system, animal sacrifices, the shedding of blood in the tabernacle, later in the temple, and how these rituals foreshadowed, pointed to, Christ's superior sacrifice whose better blood inaugurated the new covenant with infinitely greater results.

Again, verses 18 through 21 says, Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hesap and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.

And in the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. The first covenant referred to here is the Old Covenant. It was put into effect.

It was activated with blood. The stipulations of the Old Covenant were articulated in the law which Moses spoke to all the people in Exodus 24.

Exodus 24, 3-8 records that event. Moses came and he told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered him with one voice and they said, All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.

And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain in twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the people of Israel who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord.

And Moses took half of the blood and put it in the basins and half of the blood he threw against the altar. He took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people and they said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do and we will be obedient.

And Moses took the blood and he threw it on the people and said, Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words. The inauguration, the activation of the old covenant was a bloody affair.

As verse 21 says, From that point forward, the blood of animal sacrifices was sprinkled on everything used in worship of God in the tabernacle and later in the temple.

all the finely crafted tapestries, all the beautifully designed furnishings overlaid with gold, the priests in their garments, everything dripped with blood.

Why? Verse 22 tells us, Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Again, the problem is our sin which separates us from our holy God. And as Romans 6.23 says, The wages of sin is death.

Year after year on the day of atonement, day after day in the tabernacle and later the temple, blood was shed. Some historical sources from this time period tell us that in the southwest corner at the base of the altar there were two holes in the ground and they served as drains for all the excess blood that was in the temple.

From these holes, the blood flowed out of the temple and down into the Kidron Valley where it was eventually used as fertilizer. If you were a Jew living in Old Testament times under the Old Covenant, you'd go to the tabernacle or the temple and you'd see blood everywhere.

Everywhere. Blood sprinkled, blood flowing everywhere. Blood covering everything. These visuals etched into the minds of God's people that this was the cost.

This was the price. One life substituted for another to atone for sins in order to receive God's forgiveness.

Pressing into their minds that the consequences of their sin is death. Bloodshed is the price for forgiveness.

Kent Hughes said, the Old Covenant sailed on a sea of blood for two reasons. first to emphasize the seriousness of sin. The Bible takes sin seriously more than any other religious scripture.

Sin alienates one from God. Sin is rooted in the hearts of humanity. Sin cannot be vindicated by any self-help program. Sin leads to death and it will not be denied.

The second reason he says is the costliness of forgiveness. Death is the payment. It will either be Christ's life or ours. This is God's world.

We are God's creatures. He makes the rules and thankfully for us in his grace he provides a solution for our problem.

God established the tabernacle and the old covenant to provide temporary purification for his people. But all of that all of it pointed to and foreshadowed his final solution through the final provision of his son Jesus Christ who put away our sin by the sacrifice of himself.

And that leads us to the second principle the provision. The provision Jesus appeared once for all to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

The old covenant was inaugurated with the blood that was shed resulting in the death of animal sacrifices to atone for the sins of God's people.

Again, this was a temporary provision. But in Christ, the Son of God, a better provision has been made that completely puts away our sin for good under the new covenant.

Verses 23 through 24 again say, Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rights, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

For Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

Just as it was necessary for the old covenant to be activated by blood, so it was necessary for the new covenant to be activated in the same way.

The earthly tabernacle and all of its furnishings were copies of heavenly realities. They were shadows of the substance. The presence of God in heaven didn't need purifying from sin.

We do. We need purifying. Listen to what Peter, writing to Christians in different churches, says about them in his introduction in 1 Peter 1 1-2.

He introduces himself, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the knowledge of God, the Father, and the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ, and for sprinkling with his blood, may grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Those who are saved, who have faith in Christ, who trust that his blood shed on the cross atoned completely for their sins have been sprinkled in the spiritual sense, purified by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit under the new covenant.

In that same letter, Peter goes on to talk about how salvation brings transformation, that as Christians, we now conduct ourselves as obedient children pursuing holiness.

In verses 18 through 19, he says, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

We did not send a mediator to God. We were all straying like sheep, going our own way, which was away from God.

But God in His love and in His grace sent His only Son to be our mediator, to purify us with the infinitely better blood of Himself, bearing our sins, shedding His blood on the cross, that we can be totally forgiven by faith in Him.

Isaiah 53, 6, prophesying of Jesus' coming and what He would do for us, says, and we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to His own way and the Lord has laid on Him, speaking of Jesus, the iniquity of us all.

Jesus' better sacrifice, better blood, and better death fully atoned for our sins. In His resurrection, He ascended to heaven now to appear in the presence of God the Father on our behalf.

As our mediator, He lives to make intercession for us. us. We read about this in Hebrews 7, 25 when we were there.

Romans 8, 34 says, Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

In Christ, the accusations of the enemy don't hold up. Even the accusations we level against ourselves as we strive against our flesh and fail at times in our battle with sin cannot undo what Jesus has done to save us, redeem us, purify us, and forgive us of all of our sins.

1 John 3, 19-20 says, By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before Him. For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and He knows everything.

In Christ we have a better provision. A better mediator, a better sacrifice with better blood, and unlike the repeated sacrifices and bloodshed of animals under the old covenant, our new covenant high priest sacrificed himself an offering that he only performed and needed to perform once because it is totally sufficient to put away our sins once and for all.

verses 25 and 26, again in Hebrews 9. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own.

For then he would have to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he, Jesus, has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

I was recently gifted a devotional book by Charles Spurgeon. On Thursday, before I sat down to write this sermon, I read day one of that 40-day devotional.

Spurgeon writes on day one on John 1.29, which records John the Baptist's testimony of Jesus. I want to read to you what he says after I share John 1.29, it's long, but it's Spurgeon, so it's good.

John 1.29 says, the next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Spurgeon says, lifting up his hand and pointing to Jesus, John the Baptist cried, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

He did not say, behold the great example. He did not even say, behold the king and leader of a new era. The first point that he dwells upon and which wins his enthusiasm is the Lamb of God.

This is different from what John would have said about all the lambs that he had ever heard or read of since the first appointment of sacrifice. He remembered the first of the flock which Abel offered and the sweet smelling sacrifice which Noah presented.

He knew the sacrifices of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was familiar with the Lamb of the Passover supper and those of Israel's high festivals. He remembered the thousands of offerings that had been presented by David and by Solomon and by other kings in the great national acts of worship.

But passing them by as if they were all mere shadows, he points his finger to the man Christ Jesus and he says of him, this is the Lamb of God. What does the Lamb do?

What blessed words. He takes away our sin. Where did he take it? I will tell you, as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

He took the sin of all believers away so completely that it sank into the bottom of the sea. God has cast it behind his back and it will never be mentioned against us anymore forever.

There is no such thing now as the sin of the saints. Christ has utterly annihilated it. He came to finish transgression and to make an end of sins. And if he made an end of them, they are gone forever.

John the Baptist's one business was to bear witness to Christ. You cannot account for John except by Jesus. The one reason for John's existence is Jesus.

I wish it might be so with us. May our lives be such that they cannot be understood apart from Jesus. For this purpose we were born and for this end we have come into the world that we may bear witness to the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is one mediator, one sacrifice, one way to be purified of our sins and have them completely put away from us.

And it's through the one provision of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who willingly paid the price, shedding his blood on the cross to put away our sin, to bring us into the presence of our holy God.

What can wash away our sins? Nothing. nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Now the third principle, the promise. The problem, we've got the provision, now the promise. Jesus will appear a second time to save those who eagerly await him.

let me first say here, verse 27 makes it clear that there is no such thing as reincarnation.

we live and then we die and then comes judgment. There is no reincarnation, there is not nothing after death.

We live our earthly existence before our holy creator and when we die we meet him as judge. This is bad news for those who have rejected Christ's provision.

And friend, if that's you, you are in the right place. Today, you have heard the gospel and Jesus is calling you to come to him.

He's calling you like he called those to come to him in Matthew 11, 28-30. Come to me. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Why wouldn't you come? Why wouldn't you come? Why wouldn't you surrender to him the sin that is killing you, that is making your life miserable, that is separating you from your holy creator?

Why wouldn't you come? Why wouldn't you come to Jesus who gave his life, who shed his blood to atone for sins, that in him you would have eternal life, receiving his infinite sacrifice, and who will put away your sins forever?

Why live for what perishes when you can live in the abundant life of Jesus Christ? Come to Jesus and live.

For those of us who have been gracious to be saved by faith in Christ, he's coming back. Not to deal with your sin, he's already done that.

That part has been taken care of. When he comes back, he's coming to take you home. He's coming to complete the work that he began in you when he was gracious to save you.

Your salvation, brother, sister, is past, present, and future. In the past, Jesus shed his blood on the cross making perfect provision to put away your sins.

In the present, he's sealed you with the Holy Spirit. he's anchored you to himself. You are in him and he will never leave you or forsake you.

And in the future, when he returns, you will be saved out of this sin cursed world. You'll be glorified, you'll be totally sinless, no more battling the flesh.

And so as we read, we should be eagerly waiting for him. And he's given us work to do as we wait for him. Developing disciples of Jesus Christ who delight in him, who demonstrate his goodness declaring his gospel to our neighbors and to the nations in the hope that they will know Jesus saving way too.

As believers, how should we adjust to what we've heard? Well, I think this, in Christ, it's not so much an adjustment, but a remembrance of who you are in Christ.

In Christ, you have access to God's presence, peace with God, and purpose for your life. In Christ, you have access to God's presence, peace with God, and purpose for your life.

life. You have access to God's presence now, to go to Him in prayer, to go to Him confidently, to go to Him when you read His Word and to feast on His words of life, to be in His presence.

You have access to Him now, and you have peace with God now. No fear in this life, no fear in death, in Christ you are His.

He will not leave you or forsake you. And you have a purpose for your life, to serve Him as you eagerly anticipate His return. And so don't waste your life.

Don't waste your time. He doesn't want us to be lazy waiters, but active waiters. Develop disciples of Jesus Christ, who delight in Him and demonstrate His goodness declaring His gospel to our neighbors and to the nations, that they too will behold Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

This is the application the writer of Hebrews urges his readers to make. This is where all of this information is taking him and it comes in Hebrews 10, 19 through 25.

I'm going to close with that text. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way He opened for us through the curtain that is through His flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more.

As you see the day, Christ second appearing, drawing near. I'm going to do something different as I end or close the sermon as I did last week for you to pray, for a time of quiet just for you to reflect.

Reflect on these truths that have been shared that are found in God's Word. Reflect on the problem that we all have, which is our sin. Reflect on the provision that Christ has made through his own sacrifice, expressing gratitude to him and reflect on the promise that he's coming back.

So I encourage you to do that. And then I'll close with us in prayer. Let's go to the Lord. Amen. Amen. Lord, we have all sinned and fallen short of your glorious, righteous, sinless standard.

Lord, you would be just to let us go our own way and suffer the eternal consequences of that.

But God, in your grace, you've provided a way. You've sent us your Son, our mediator of a new covenant.

Lord, the things that you told your people under the old covenant, the promises that you gave them that one would come, a final sacrifice would be made, was a hope that they looked forward to and trusted in.

Lord, we now as your new covenant people, we live on the other side of that fulfilled promise. We know that Jesus has come. we know what he's done.

And so, Lord, we just say thank you. Thank you for being gracious to save us. Thank you, Lord, for taking our sins upon yourself on the cross.

Thank you for dying in our place for our sins. Thank you for shedding your blood to put our sins away and to make complete and final and permanent atonement for us.

And, Lord, we rejoice that you rose again, that your sacrifice was totally sufficient, that you live today as our intercessor.

God, you will be going to be to be thrown at us, even ourselves, that they won't hold up because you have accomplished salvation for us.

And so, Father, I pray that as your people, we would be more diligent, more determined to live our lives for you, to be the living sacrifices that you've commanded us to be, that in all of our ways we would acknowledge you, and that we would point others to you, that they would know and delight in you as well.

So, Lord, thank you. Thank you. we love you, and we ask these things, in Jesus' name, amen.

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