I would invite you once again to open your copy of God’s Word or the Bible in the seat back nearest you to Titus chapter 3 and give your attention to verses 4 through 7.

 

Before I read and expound God’s Word for our mutual edification as well as our mutual praise of our heavenly Father, I want to point out to you the significance of this passage. You’re going to hear it, and I want you to be ready for it. I would challenge you, in fact, to commit this reference to memory or outright memorize these four verses altogether because they are going to help you answer the most basic yet profound question of the Christian faith: what is the gospel? Too frequently, professing Christians panic since there is no one text in the Bible that outlines the gospel according to all its fullness. There is no verse that reads, “The gospel is this, and when you proclaim the gospel, you must say X, Y, and Z.” However, there are various presentations of the same gospel in differing contexts all throughout the New Testament.

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For those of you who take notes, here are one dozen passages that you would likewise do well to commit to memory:  Isaiah 53:4-6; Romans 3:23-24; Romans 4:4-5; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Galatians 3:13-14; Ephesians 2:1-10 (Most of you are likely already half way there having, or part way there, having memorized verses 8 through 10. Just back up several verses and add to it.); Philippians 2:6-8; Colossians 1:19-20; Colossians 2:13-14; Hebrews 2:14-17; 1 Peter 2:22-25; and number 12, the passage that we will examine today, Titus 3:4-7.

 

I have a very simple goal today. I want you to see the gospel, I want you to hear the gospel, I want you to experience the gospel, to know the gospel, to be transformed by the gospel, and to never again say that “I don’t know what the gospel is. I can’t proclaim it. I can’t speak it because I don’t know."

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If you were present and paying attention in Sunday School—our adult Sunday School hour, that is—then you know that these four verses have a special meaning for another reason. It’s because this is also one of several Trinitarian texts in the Bible. So, if I had to pick out of those twelve gospel passages that represented a rich presentation of the gospel, this would be one of them. Because it is the good news, the gospel of our salvation, from God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit! Makes it all the more meaningful in our scripture memory.

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With that said, let us taste and see that the Lord our God is indeed good as we give our concentration and the mediation of our hearts to this brief passage. I will begin reading in Titus chapter 3, verse 1. Just to remind you of the context and then conclude then in verse 7. Hear the Word of the Lord:

Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to slander no one, to be peaceable, considerate, demonstrating all gentleness to all men. For we ourselves also once were foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, despicable, hating one another. But when the kindness and affection of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not by works which we did in righteousness, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by His grace, we would become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:1-7)

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This is the reading of God’s word. Would you join me once again in prayer?

Almighty Father, I am so grateful for this passage this Lord’s Day. This is great news – the gospel of salvation for sinners like us. For sinners like me. We are justified by your grace, Lord. Help us to see the fulness of that as we meditate on these texts this day. That we would see that it is by no merit of our own – there is nothing in our hands that we can bring that makes us worthy before You. What a glorious gospel that is indeed, that You are merciful and loving and gracious toward sinners. Lord, I ask that you would help us all to grow in the fulness of this gospel. For those of us who are indeed in Christ Jesus, and Your Spirit is in us, that we would never again fear proclaiming the gospel, but that we would know it fully – we would know it clearly and we would keep it with us wherever we go, spreading it so richly and freely, just as you have so richly forgiven us. Let us likewise proclaim this good news. Help us to understand it well this day. Help me to proclaim it well. Let us remove all side thoughts and distractions. Help even these little ones that are here today to receive this gospel, that they would hear how God our Father is gracious and merciful to save. That they would be delighted to understand that Your Holy Spirit washes us in regeneration, and they would receive the grace of the Son. That it would be transformative in their lives through the regeneration of Your Spirit. Let them be transformed by this good news of salvation. Help adults as well, Lord. For those who are here today in this hearing who have yet to be transformed by this gospel, let today be that day in which they believe in You. That they trust in the good news of salvation. That they would trust in no other name given under heaven among men, by which we ought to be saved, and it is the name of Jesus. In whose name we pray these things. Amen.

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I find that it was no mistake that the apostle Paul placed verses 4 through 7 immediately after verses 1 through 3. God so moved him, as a ship is moved about by the wind in its sails, and Paul placed this contrast here for the saints on the island of Crete, and by extension, us. They needed to know who they were before salvation and who they are after this gracious gift – a gift that transformed them as heirs of the kingdom of Light; this contrast likewise demonstrates the power with which they could be zealous for good works and fulfill them. So often, we can think, “Good works, good works, good works will get me into heaven”. That is a lie. You never find that in the scriptures. In fact, you find the exact opposite. You find how men who are moral men, what you might call good men, do not enter the kingdom of heaven. Because even if from their own measurement their good works outweigh their sin, one sin has made them guilty.

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As I mentioned just a few moments ago, it’s my goal therefore this Lord’s Day to help you answer this question: what is the gospel? I believe Paul helps us to answer that question in four primary ways, and those are going to be the headings I will use this Lord’s Day. I put them in sentence form because I want them to be practical in your help. So, it might make you pause or give you a little bit of panic that I’ve stepped away from our traditional Baptist alliterations. But I did that despite perhaps my better judgement, and what I’m hoping will help you answer this question – not only in your own mind, but as you proclaim the gospel to unbelievers. I will—rather than giving them to you all up front—I will say them and repeat them for you as we go.

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First, what is the gospel? The gospel is the good news that sinners are saved by the heavenly Father’s mercy. You need to understand that the gospel is the good news that sinners are saved by the heavenly Father’s mercy. That’s how this brief passage begins. Verse 4 and the beginning of verse 5: “But when the kindness and affection of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not by works which we did in righteousness, but according to His mercy."

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Verse 4 opens with when this mercy was so perfectly demonstrated. From the perspective of our finite minds as we are bound within time, it was, “when the kindness and the affection of God our Father—God our Savior appeared.” The question is, "Well, when was that?" Was it when God put His bow in the heavens to let us know that he would never again destroy the whole earth by a flood? Was it when God delivered Israel in this mass exodus from under the cruel hand of a wicked Pharaoh? Was it when Nehemiah was provisioned and protected in building—rebuilding rather—the walls of Jerusalem? Those were certainly kindnesses of God and His mercy was evident there, but none of those are what Paul had in mind. The kindness and affection that appeared was the incarnation. When Jesus came down from heaven to do the Father’s will. We saw this kind of language once before. Perhaps, you remember it from Titus chapter 2:11: “for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men." Well, what was that grace of God? It was Christ Jesus. So, too, is that what we find in verse 4, “the kindness and affection of God” was Christ Jesus. We’ll come back to that kind of qualification in just a little while.

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So, until then, let’s keep first things first. The main point here is in regard to these three words: God, the Father—pay attention to this—He saved us. Have you ever meditated on that thought? He saved us. That’s what Paul is telling Titus and the saints who are on Crete. Those who are Christians, God saved you. There’s no confusion here about who is the source of salvation. There’s no confusion here about who has definitively completed that action. And there’s no confusion here about the objects that are saved. It’s not a wall, it’s not a building, it’s not a vehicle. It’s no other created thing. He’s saving people. Paul is telling the saints on Crete that it was God the Father who saved them. Everything else is going to be destroyed, and put away with and made anew. But you, your soul can be saved. God specifically intentions whom He will save. The scriptures affirm this time and time again. ”And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers; and those whom he predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified” (Rom. 8:28-30). God saves!

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And to be certain, again, even in this epistle to Titus, that there is no confusion regarding whether you are saved according to any merit of your own. This is actually how verse 5 starts. We rearrange it grammatically in English to help us make better sense of it, but in the Greek, it actually starts this way: “not by works which we did in righteousness, but according to His mercy." The opening part of that statement is the negation of your righteousness. There’s nothing there! God’s salvation is an act of mercy. What does that mean? It means God saved us by withholding the punishment that we rightly deserve.

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You can’t get that wrong.  Far too many people today are blinded to this truth due to the hardness of their hearts. You can not earn salvation! I was reminded of that at last year’s Trunk or Treat outreach. I tried to impress upon a little girl, she was maybe four or five years old, and she came up to the trivia table. The rule was you need to answer three Bible questions correctly to get one of the big candy bars. So that was - I wasn’t trying to deceive anybody. I clearly wanted them to come answer Bible questions, and their reward was a big candy bar. And this little girl, bless her heart, got no correct answers to any of the questions that I asked her. And at the end of the third question, what does she do? She stuck out her bag and asked for a big candy bar. So, to teach her a lesson I grabbed the candy out of her…no I didn’t. But I did try to teach her a lesson. I asked her some follow-up questions. Do you deserve this candy bar because you came out tonight? And she said yes; and I said no. Do you deserve this candy bar because you got dressed up? No! There was only one way to deserve the candy bar. And it wasn’t how you figured it out. You didn’t get it. You didn’t understand it. We can’t earn it in how we dress up, or even simply by showing up.

There is a parallel to salvation that’s even more rigorous! You can’t earn it because “whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in  one point, one jot or tittle, has become guilty of all” (James 2:10); and we have "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Every single one of us stumbles. And not only do we stumble in one point, but we also stumble in many! And the scriptures therefore teach that we are guilty. There is no balancing act; it’s either innocent or guilty, holy and righteous or sinful and wicked. And if you stumble, you are not holy and righteous and free. Whether we have outright stolen or outrightly murdered, engaged in sexual immorality or we’ve done these things in the deceitfulness of our hearts, you and I have violated God’s Law, and what we do deserve for our guilt is God’s wrath and punishment because, “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23a). But the good news of the gospel is that God our Father is merciful to save sinners. And that’s an amazingly divine contrast that is juxtaposed between verse 4 and verses 1 through 3!

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Second, what is the gospel? The gospel is also the good news that sinners are saved by the washing of the Holy Spirit. The gospel is the good news that sinners are saved by the washing of the Holy Spirit. God saved us. He saved us (verse 5) “through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit."

 

You’re all very familiar with the concept of washing. You wash when you bathe. You wash when you clean dishes. You wash, perhaps, your vehicle; maybe you have washed windows. In each instance, what do we do? We take water, we mix it with some cleaning agent, and apply it to what has become dirty or outright filthy. Children, are you paying attention? (You too, adults.) Wash with soap and water and apply it liberally because the washing of soap and water does what? It makes you physically clean. And that’s a good thing. Nobody likes to eat from a dirty plate or nobody likes a stinky friend. So, we continue to wash day after day - meal after meal. We eat, we get dirty, then we wash again.

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The washing of the Holy Spirit is even better. It surpasses what can be accomplished with merely water; in a one-time washing, we need to wash a plate again, and again, and again. But with a one time washing of the Holy Spirit, our soul is regenerated and continually renewed. Unfortunately, there are, again, there are many who misunderstand this imagery of washing and thus confuse the purpose of what we call a believer’s baptism. Turn with me just for a few moments to the book of Acts. We’ll start in Acts chapter 1. The book of Acts, right after John’s gospel, right before Romans. Hopefully you remember that this book was Luke’s record of the acts of the apostles. I heard one pastor say we should rename these first and second Luke. His gospel and the book of Acts. Seems fitting. Starting in chapter 1, this is what we find:

 

The first account, O Theophilus—[the first account being the gospel of Luke]—I composed, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up to heaven, and after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over forty days and speaking about the things concerning the kingdom of God. And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:1-5)

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“You were baptized with water but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now”. That promise was fulfilled. Then some days later, we find, this actually occurred in Acts chapter 2, starting in verse 1:

 

And when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues like fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4)

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For the apostles, their washing of regeneration came like tongues of fire. Notice how it’s contrasted back in chapter 1, with the baptism of water immersion. We find the same thing taking place just a few chapters later. Chapter 8, in Acts chapter 8. Starting in verse 14 we read:

 

Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For He, [the Holy Spirit], had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus [or into the name of the Lord Jesus]. Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:14-17)

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Don’t be confused by these descriptive texts. You cannot infer that baptism of the Holy Spirit requires the laying on of hands or something like tongues of fire coming down from heaven, based on these two examples. How do we know that? Well, because later on in the book of Acts we see this occurring in a different way. So these are not exhaustive of what that entails. If you keep turning and to look into Acts chapter 16, we find another instance. When Paul and Silas were imprisoned, a great earthquake happened. You remember this? It opened the prison doors, and it took place why? Because Paul and Silas were doing what? They were praying and singing hymns of praise to God. As we pick up that account in Acts chapter 16, starting in verse 27, we find:

 

And when jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!" And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them out, he said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your house." And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his household. And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly with his whole household, because he had believed in God. (Acts 16:27-34)

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The jailor believed in God, “through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” and was subsequently baptized by water immersion. There is a distinction here. We have no need to be confused what this washing is. You’re not looking for a baptism by immersion and then a second baptism at some point in your faith to which the Holy Spirit will be given to you. They’re separate. What we see in this gospel is not only punishment withheld from the sinner in a salvation that is according to God’s mercy, but it is an entire transformation that takes place in the sinner’s soul according to the Holy Spirit, causing him to be born again! Again, this is an amazing and a divine washing!

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Third, what is the gospel? The gospel is also the good news that sinners are saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. The gospel is the good news that sinners are saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. We already saw this back in Titus chapter 3 verse 4, but we see it again in verse 6: “When the kindness and affection of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not by works which we did in righteousness, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”

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I won’t spend much time on this because this is the aspect of the gospel you are most familiar. No doubt, and arguably so, you are intimately familiar with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and its relationship to the gospel. We sing of it all the time, right? “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.” “Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that is greater than all my sin.” “His love has no limit; His grace has no measure. His pow'r has no boundary known unto men. For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!”

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The grace of Christ is God’s kindness and affection toward sinners like you and me. Again, do you understand that? When you complain about why Jesus has not yet returned, do you understand that His grace is greater still? It hasn’t run out. There are those who will receive his grace. There is still more grace to be poured out in His kindness and affection. When you think about who has received this great salvation, do you understand that it was something you didn’t deserve? That’s why it is called grace; it is God’s unmerited favor. Not only has God withheld punishment from those who deserve it by placing that punishment upon His only begotten Son, but by this very Son He has dispensed rich grace—abundant grace—to those very sinners.

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There is no greater love than this. The love that God has demonstrated while we were yet sinners; the kind of love for the world that whosoever would believe upon this gracious Christ would not perish but have everlasting life.

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It’s very good that you are familiar with that kind of gospel. I just simply want to clarify one thing for you. As we see it here in Titus chapter 3, and it’s that you shouldn’t hold too narrow a view of what grace is. I think too often you think of it as the act of regeneration itself. And it certainly is a gracious act, but that’s not the extent of grace. This is a robust doctrine. Here, the emphasis of Christ being richly gracious was specific to Him pouring out his Spirit. “According to God’s mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our savior.” It’s not to draw your attention on the newness of life—though again, that’s a true dimension of grace—but it’s to draw your attention on the means by which that grace has been delivered to you. From Christ to His Church. From God to His creation, that is through the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the Helper. The grace of Jesus Christ in one sense then, is that He pours out His Holy Spirit richly.

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Fourth—and finally—what is the gospel? The gospel is the good news that sinners are saved to eternal life. The gospel is the good news that sinners are saved to eternal life. We find that in verse 7 God saved us, “so that having been justified by His grace, we would become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

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I suppose some would try to say there could still be some confusion at this point, although, when you study the whole counsel of God, this confusion quickly fades away, and I would say and argue that verses 3 through 6 have dispelled that as well. Nonetheless, some might think, if I were to perhaps distort these truths just slightly, the gospel that we have examined thus far is somewhat incomplete. Maybe it’s lacking, or it leaves room for the possibility that this salvation as great as what I’ve tried to communicate from God’s Word is still missing something.

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The thought goes like this: “Sure, it is good news that the Father withholds a repentant sinner’s punishment. No more punishment. That’s good. It’s good news that the Holy Spirit has washed him clean in regeneration. That’s good news. And it is good news that the Son gives the Holy Spirit richly according to His grace. That’s good for now, but what is next? They would argue that it’s an incomplete gospel. And we would say, “not a chance.”

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 This rich salvation is not merely here and now; it is through the hope of everlasting life. It also extends into eternity! The Triune God’s salvation of sinners is a salvation from sin unto eternal life. The faith of salvation has made us heirs to a heavenly kingdom, a kingdom that cannot and will not be shaken. We hope for that kingdom. We long for that kingdom. We pray earnestly for that kingdom: “Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.”

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We’re heirs of that kingdom. But again, have you, do you understand that? How is that possible? How can it be that a sinner like me, a sinner like you, would be such an heir? We are welcomed into glory and perfection? We have hope of eternal life. It is only because what the scripture says; we have been “justified by His grace.”

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Again, that word, those words rather, “having been justified”, it comes from a single Greek word. It’s a participle— it’s like what we think of in English as typically the "-ing" words. More specific than that, though, it’s passive in form. It shows us that we’re not the ones doing the justification. We are the recipients of or the not the cause of that action. It's being taken on us, not by us. And again, this word is a legal term. It’s a binding term. A contract that has been finalized and won’t be overturned. And in this case, the verdict is this: a guilty person—a sinner—has had his sentence cleared. It’s been paid; it has been paid in full; and it’s been paid in full by someone not you. Namely, the Lord Jesus Christ!

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That’s a sure payment and that is exactly whey those who have been saved according to this good news can be securely welcomed as “heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

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As our time of corporate worship draws near a close this Lord’s Day, I want to impress upon you just once more the significance of this gospel. I think, perhaps, I’ll do that in three ways.

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First—and this is for all of us—there is no other good news of salvation. There is no other gospel. As I mentioned at the onset, there are certainly other presentations of the gospel, but there is not a different one. It is only this gospel by which men will be saved. It is only this gospel that demonstrates the mercy of God the Father, the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, and the rich grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can find salvation in no other name. You will find salvation in no other way. There is but one way, and it is by this glorious gospel. And further than that, If anyone “should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to the gospel” that is proclaimed here, “let him be accursed” (Gal 1:8)! Whether it is an angel from heaven or it is me myself, when you hear a different gospel, that is NOT the good news. This is the good news of salvation.

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Second—and this is specifically for the church, for those of us who have been transformed by this gospel—whether you’re a member of this assembly or not, the church needs to be clear on presenting the gospel. Initially, that means we need to know the gospel. We need to know the gospel well to be clear about it! And I trust that the Lord’s Spirit has so challenged you today to cling to these truths and be reminded about this gospel that has led you in transformation. A gospel that tells us that  sinners are saved by the mercy of the Father, by the washing of the Spirit, and the grace of the Son, unto the hope of everlasting life.

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We have to be clear about its fullness rather than proclaiming a limited gospel or a narrow gospel. How often have you heard, “yeah, I know I’m saved because I hope for eternal life”? Well, that’s only one dimension of this gospel. If you’ve not been transformed by the Spirit and you don’t believe that it was by God’s mercy or the grace of the Son, then I’m not certain that you have such a hope in eternal life.

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And we also need to have clarity when calling sinners to respond to such a presentation. Here’s what I mean by that. Too often you will hear well-intended Christians who ask questions like this: “Have you accepted the gospel?”; “Have you received the gospel?” Slightly better than the former but still missing the point. Nowhere in the text do you find that idea. Search the scriptures and see that that kind of language is entirely absent from the sinner’s perspective of salvation. What do we find when the jailor who asked Paul and Silas what he must do to be saved, they didn’t say, “You must accept Jesus” as though he was receiving some kind of trinket or award. Paul and Silas said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved!” Likewise the incarnate Christ, who proclaimed this gospel, proclaimed it this way: “Now after John had been delivered up into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel’” (Mark 1:14-15). Our calling for sinners ought to be the same as we proclaim the gospel. It’s not, “do you accept this good news?”, “Did you receive this good news”? No. It is, “Believe the good news! Do you believe? Do you trust in this gospel?”

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Thirdly—for those of you who are thinking like this jailor, “What must I do to be saved?”—you must repent and believe in this gospel! Repent and believe that the mercy of the Father and the washing of the Spirit and the grace of the Son is so powerful that it means you have hope of everlasting life as one who has been justified by that grace. You will be welcomed as the Father welcomes his Son. And unless you have been washed in the regeneration of His Spirit, unless you have been born again, unless you repent and believe in this Jesus Christ, you cannot see the kingdom of God. So, consider these things while you still have time to do so. Don’t delay, because Jesus is coming soon. He will come quickly like a thief in the night when you are unaware and unexpecting. Believe in this Triune God who has revealed to us and given us this gospel of salvation.

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Would you join me now in praying that God would so transform and renew us to the praise of the glory of His grace?

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Let’s pray. Almighty Father, we are so grateful that you have revealed to us this good news of salvation. I’m grateful for this passage that has given us such a robust look and a robust understanding of salvation—how one God, the Triune Godhead in each His three persons, is intimately involved in this good news. We can say, “Yes, and amen!” to the grace of Jesus Christ, but this doctrine is so much fuller—so much richer—than that; and that alone is so remarkable and wonderful. Lord, help this church—the saints of Portville Baptist Church—be a people that grow in the fullness of this gospel; that we would understand it with great clarity; that we would never shy away from saying what the good news is, but we would know with all certainty that the good news of salvation is that You our Father are merciful to save, that You the Holy Spirit are so wonderful in washing through regeneration and renewing, and that You the Son are so gracious in kindness toward us in pouring out Your Spirit; and that it is so rich that we would be welcomed as heirs according to adoption, adoption as sons and given this hope of everlasting life. Let us proclaim this gospel richly and freely and let us be elated when one lost sinner is found through this gospel proclamation. For Your glory, for our edification and the good of those who hear this gospel. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.