Hope for the Enemies of God (Micah 7:8-13)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:05.240 Please remain standing as we turn to hear God's Word from Mica Chapter Seven, 2 00:00:22.100 --> 00:00:28.820 excuse me, which you'll find in these verses, Mike a seven, verses 3 00:00:28.899 --> 00:00:39.289 eight through thirteen, is something remarkably similar to Psalm thirty one. A. 4 00:00:39.490 --> 00:00:43.210 Many of the same themes coming out here, but in a different way, 5 00:00:44.130 --> 00:00:50.640 and so let's hear them and be sensitive to the what the Lord says and 6 00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:59.000 the way in which he says it. Mica seven, verse eight. Rejoice 7 00:00:59.159 --> 00:01:03.679 not over me, Oh my enemy. When I fall, I shall rise. 8 00:01:03.159 --> 00:01:07.390 When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. 9 00:01:07.269 --> 00:01:11.950 I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, 10 00:01:11.950 --> 00:01:17.469 until he pleads my cause and executes just or judgment for me. He 11 00:01:17.549 --> 00:01:22.219 will bring me out to the light. I shall look upon his vindication. 12 00:01:23.140 --> 00:01:26.180 Then my enemy will see and shame will cover her, who said to me, 13 00:01:26.900 --> 00:01:32.019 where is the Lord, your God? Mys will look upon her. 14 00:01:32.780 --> 00:01:38.569 Now she will be trampled down like mire of the streets. A day for 15 00:01:38.650 --> 00:01:42.769 the building of your walls. In that day the boundary shall be far extended. 16 00:01:44.450 --> 00:01:48.280 In that day they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of 17 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:52.239 Egypt, and from Egypt to the river, from sea, to see from 18 00:01:52.319 --> 00:01:57.480 mountain to mountain, but the earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, 19 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:04.989 for the fruit of their deeds. Since the reading of God's word me His 20 00:02:05.109 --> 00:02:23.780 blessing be upon it, you may be seated. Was, I hope you 21 00:02:23.939 --> 00:02:31.289 remember from Mica. We are going over this passage, or perhaps reading this 22 00:02:31.370 --> 00:02:36.330 in the past. On Your own God's people, on God's city, is 23 00:02:36.409 --> 00:02:43.210 coming under his judgment and, as we considered last time, Mica expressed a 24 00:02:43.370 --> 00:02:46.960 very confident attitude in light of this judgment, which is a remarkable thing, 25 00:02:47.159 --> 00:02:54.199 isn't it to have the judgment of God coming upon you and yet having confidence 26 00:02:54.400 --> 00:03:00.830 towards God in the middle of that judgment? How does that work? How 27 00:03:00.870 --> 00:03:05.550 do you be confident and have peace before God, knowing that you are safe 28 00:03:05.669 --> 00:03:09.750 and secure, even as his judgment is about to reign down upon your city? 29 00:03:10.909 --> 00:03:15.060 You remember why the judgment was coming, why these enemies were going to 30 00:03:15.099 --> 00:03:20.379 come in and overtake the city? Was We're going to destroy it. It 31 00:03:21.939 --> 00:03:29.969 was because of their sins, because God's people had repeatedly disobeyed his word and 32 00:03:30.289 --> 00:03:36.530 disobeyed his law, and therefore we're coming under the curse laws which they promised 33 00:03:36.569 --> 00:03:40.330 to keep, laws which God command them, good laws, holy laws, 34 00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:46.000 and now they were about to see the disintegration of their society. God pronounced 35 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:53.360 his verdict guilty, and now was about to come his judgment. And yet 36 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:59.669 mica expresses and says on versus in verse seven, right before the passage we 37 00:03:59.789 --> 00:04:02.550 read first, we looked at last time. But as for me, I 38 00:04:02.710 --> 00:04:08.229 will look to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation. 39 00:04:08.590 --> 00:04:15.860 My God will hear me. Why does Mica think, and why do 40 00:04:15.259 --> 00:04:21.019 all of the faithful of the Lord believe that that they can look to God 41 00:04:21.220 --> 00:04:27.889 and be saved even from his own judgment? Is it because they have not 42 00:04:28.290 --> 00:04:33.490 sinned like everyone else? Well, we know that's not the case because in 43 00:04:33.610 --> 00:04:40.000 verse nine that we just read, we read I will bear the indignation of 44 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:44.439 the Lord because I have sinned against him. All right, so MICA is 45 00:04:44.519 --> 00:04:47.600 not standing up and saying, well, God's angry at all those other people, 46 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:51.439 but not me, so I know that I'm going to be okay. 47 00:04:53.910 --> 00:04:59.350 No, Michael looks to the Lord for a different reason, and that reason 48 00:04:59.629 --> 00:05:06.660 is that he knows God is going to save him from his sins, that 49 00:05:06.819 --> 00:05:13.660 God is going to rescue him through this time of judgment in such a way 50 00:05:13.819 --> 00:05:17.779 that he and all those who call out to the Lord for Rescue and salvation 51 00:05:17.860 --> 00:05:26.810 and safety will arrive on the other side of that temporal judgment safe, eternally 52 00:05:26.850 --> 00:05:30.769 safe. It's a confidence that even if he should die, even if a 53 00:05:30.850 --> 00:05:36.839 whole, even if he should lose his his mortal life, God will still 54 00:05:38.279 --> 00:05:45.000 protect him, God will still keep him, that he will participate in life, 55 00:05:45.879 --> 00:05:48.360 and we know, of course, that that is because of the resurrection 56 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:59.509 of the dead. This good news is what Mica has great confidence in. 57 00:06:00.389 --> 00:06:08.579 It is this news that we now come with this sense of confidence, more 58 00:06:08.660 --> 00:06:13.899 than a sense, a confident confidence, a assurance of the Lord and his 59 00:06:14.060 --> 00:06:19.009 protection that now mica, in and and the city in a way speaks to 60 00:06:19.250 --> 00:06:26.370 the enemy and gives them a word to hear and to pay attention to. 61 00:06:26.610 --> 00:06:31.490 David's prayer that we read and sang in Psalm thirty one is a prayer that 62 00:06:31.649 --> 00:06:36.079 look to the Lord and said Save me from this. But what what might 63 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:43.040 be God's word to the enemies? What might God's word be to the people 64 00:06:43.160 --> 00:06:51.350 that are coming to destroy and hurt God's people? And we have two things 65 00:06:53.829 --> 00:06:59.670 in our passage tonight, a warning and a promise of hope. Warning and 66 00:07:00.870 --> 00:07:08.620 a promise of hope. The warning comes in verses eight through ten. We 67 00:07:08.699 --> 00:07:13.699 can let the word of God here be are outlined for this evening, versus 68 00:07:13.819 --> 00:07:19.730 eight through ten. The warning comes out in this way. Rejoice, not 69 00:07:19.970 --> 00:07:27.089 over me, Oh my enemy, don't be happy. Don't be celebrating my 70 00:07:27.810 --> 00:07:36.040 downfall. Don't don't gloat over this. Why? Why is that? Because, 71 00:07:36.519 --> 00:07:39.720 well, there are several reasons. Let's go through them. One, 72 00:07:40.519 --> 00:07:47.750 it won't last. The fall of God's people is only temporary, though it 73 00:07:47.949 --> 00:07:54.189 be so complete that God describes it in a way that the land will sort 74 00:07:54.230 --> 00:07:57.870 of return to wilderness. Yet nevertheless, we read, when I fall, 75 00:07:57.910 --> 00:08:03.540 I shall rise, when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a 76 00:08:03.579 --> 00:08:09.060 light to me. This is going to come a to an end. The 77 00:08:09.379 --> 00:08:16.569 problem that people often have in this world as they think in a very limited 78 00:08:16.610 --> 00:08:18.889 way. This is true of all of us. It's true of the Lord's 79 00:08:18.930 --> 00:08:22.930 friends and the Lord's enemies. In our sinfulness, we think of everything it's 80 00:08:24.050 --> 00:08:28.639 like as right here, right now, and that this is everything that matters. 81 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:33.639 But even very dramatic things, even very terrible and and things that have 82 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:39.679 great repercussions, like a big stone being dropped in the water with lots of 83 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:48.750 ripples going out. Eventually those ripples smooth out. Things happen, things change, 84 00:08:48.149 --> 00:08:52.710 and the particular things that's going to change here is that when God's people 85 00:08:52.870 --> 00:08:58.700 fall, they shall rise. It's a temporary thing. Why is that? 86 00:09:01.179 --> 00:09:05.019 What is the message to God's enemies here and the peat enemies of God's Church? 87 00:09:05.139 --> 00:09:11.929 Well, the answer is that the Lord is on their side, which 88 00:09:11.970 --> 00:09:16.129 may not seem to be that way because he's bringing judgment against them, but 89 00:09:16.370 --> 00:09:20.769 nevertheless he has made promises to keep them, to protect them. The Lord 90 00:09:22.090 --> 00:09:26.399 is on their side. Well, this is important because there's a something of 91 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:31.240 a theological battle going on here, and it's not merely up in the head. 92 00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:35.399 Remember that, Paul says. Our battle is against spiritual powers of darkness. 93 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:39.029 It's always been this way. And so when the enemies of the Lord 94 00:09:39.070 --> 00:09:46.149 attack the Lord's people, they say what we have their words given in verse 95 00:09:46.230 --> 00:09:50.669 ten. Where is the Lord your God, or, more accurately precisely put, 96 00:09:50.789 --> 00:09:54.700 where is Yah Way, your God? Is what the text says. 97 00:09:56.940 --> 00:10:00.100 Where is your way? This, this one who gives you his name, 98 00:10:00.259 --> 00:10:05.299 this great I am, this Great Covenant Keeper, this one who supposedly brought 99 00:10:05.379 --> 00:10:07.970 you out of the land of Egypt, the one who supposedly took you through 100 00:10:07.970 --> 00:10:13.370 the Wilderness and conquered these kings Sion and og and the kings of Jericho and 101 00:10:13.570 --> 00:10:18.450 other nations. Where is he? Where is your way? Where is your 102 00:10:18.529 --> 00:10:20.799 God, as I bubble you to death? Where is he? Where is 103 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:28.480 he? Where is he right? But the Lord is on their side. 104 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:37.750 And because that is the case, those who once felt victorious and strong and 105 00:10:39.029 --> 00:10:46.870 powerful, both over the Lord and his anointed people and his anointed kings an 106 00:10:46.909 --> 00:11:00.179 ultimately King Jesus, they will be ashamed. At one point Jesus was put 107 00:11:00.220 --> 00:11:05.970 to death. The Great King of Israel will hung on a cross and over 108 00:11:07.090 --> 00:11:13.289 his head they mocked him. King of the Jews. The powers that be 109 00:11:13.529 --> 00:11:16.970 felt very powerful, arrested him. They finally did it, put him to 110 00:11:18.009 --> 00:11:22.240 death. They finally did it stop the mouths of his people and his disciple 111 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:28.720 scattered. We won, but did they? Of course they didn't. They 112 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:33.830 were all put as Paul a rights of Jesus, resurrection, to open shame, 113 00:11:35.029 --> 00:11:39.350 even of on the cross, Paul Rights. There was glory there in 114 00:11:39.509 --> 00:11:46.259 which Christ overcame these powers of darkness. God is on our side, God 115 00:11:46.460 --> 00:11:54.059 is on the side of his people. And so don't rejoice, don't have 116 00:11:54.500 --> 00:11:58.980 confidence in yourself when you find that you have success, or seeming success, 117 00:12:00.659 --> 00:12:05.929 over the Lord or and over his people, because ultimately that gloating, that 118 00:12:07.169 --> 00:12:13.289 rejoicing, that self confidence, will lead to your own shame and your own 119 00:12:13.409 --> 00:12:22.759 destruction. Verse Ten then my enemy will see and shame will cover her. 120 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:26.240 Who said to me, where is Yahweh your God. My eyes will look 121 00:12:26.279 --> 00:12:31.830 upon her and now she will be trampled down like the mire of the streets. 122 00:12:35.830 --> 00:12:45.059 This is why the Lord's people have great confidence. This is why we, 123 00:12:46.139 --> 00:12:52.100 in the difficult times of our lives, when we are under either the 124 00:12:52.259 --> 00:12:58.259 Lord's discipline or we are simply, by his Providence, on being trained and 125 00:12:58.570 --> 00:13:03.049 sanctified through the hardships of this life, and people might mock us and say 126 00:13:03.090 --> 00:13:11.929 where is your God, we can answer confidently and say I will look to 127 00:13:11.970 --> 00:13:18.799 the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God 128 00:13:18.679 --> 00:13:26.960 will hear me, he will, and we know that because God has said 129 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:31.909 so, because the very God who brings this judgment is also the God who 130 00:13:31.070 --> 00:13:35.190 says call unto me and I will hear you. It is the God who 131 00:13:35.269 --> 00:13:41.539 sent his son into the world to accomplish, through his death, by taking 132 00:13:41.659 --> 00:13:46.860 judgment on himself, our salvation, so that all who believe on him would 133 00:13:46.860 --> 00:13:50.259 raise with him all that would go would would all, all of us who 134 00:13:50.379 --> 00:13:56.009 rightfully come under God's judgment, would pass through judgment as he takes it on 135 00:13:56.330 --> 00:14:03.049 for us. Well, it comes to as this message of hope, or 136 00:14:03.490 --> 00:14:05.850 this warning, I should say, a comes to the Lord's enemies. You 137 00:14:05.929 --> 00:14:11.840 can see how quickly it transfers, or transforms I should say, into a 138 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:20.000 message of hope. So listen to verses eight through thirteen, again, hope 139 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:24.950 and warning mixed together. It begins with this strong note of hope, a 140 00:14:24.990 --> 00:14:30.549 day for the building of your walls. Now, and this the way he 141 00:14:30.629 --> 00:14:35.350 puts us here. This doesn't mean quick build up your walls, oh Jerusalem, 142 00:14:35.470 --> 00:14:39.580 to protect yourselves against the enemy. It's saying that on that day, 143 00:14:39.779 --> 00:14:43.179 on this grade and final day, these walls will be these are like enclosing 144 00:14:43.299 --> 00:14:48.419 walls, like the walls of a sheepfold because, and we understand that, 145 00:14:48.500 --> 00:14:52.490 because of partly because of this next phrase, in that day the boundary shall 146 00:14:52.570 --> 00:14:58.929 be far extended. These walls are more about building out than B building up, 147 00:15:00.850 --> 00:15:05.809 extending the walls of God's kingdom. In that day they will come to 148 00:15:05.970 --> 00:15:11.559 you, to Jerusalem, where from all the enemies, from a Syria, 149 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:15.600 the cities of Egypt, from Egypt, the river, see to see mountain 150 00:15:16.200 --> 00:15:26.629 to mountain. Mica does not speak something new here, all the way back 151 00:15:26.389 --> 00:15:33.549 the very beginning of God's covenant promises, when God established this people as the 152 00:15:33.629 --> 00:15:37.580 people, when he called Abraham out of the world and made a covenant of 153 00:15:37.700 --> 00:15:43.059 Grace with him. Do you remember what he did? Well, first of 154 00:15:43.100 --> 00:15:48.860 all, his name was Abram, which means exalted father. God, change 155 00:15:48.940 --> 00:15:54.370 that Abraham to or Nay, change that name Abram to Abraham, which means 156 00:15:54.929 --> 00:16:00.929 father of multitudes. He went from Exalted Father, which Pretty Great, to 157 00:16:00.330 --> 00:16:06.080 father of multitudes. Why? Because of this covenant that God was making with 158 00:16:06.200 --> 00:16:10.240 him. In genesis seventeen five, he says, no longer shall your name 159 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:15.080 be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made 160 00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:19.389 you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, 161 00:16:19.389 --> 00:16:23.629 I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 162 00:16:26.590 --> 00:16:32.669 And then when we read in Galatians, there are many, many places we 163 00:16:32.750 --> 00:16:37.580 could go to. But GALACIANS, chapter three, Paul makes this point that 164 00:16:37.779 --> 00:16:42.740 we've been hearing from Micah. Seven glaciers three, verse ten. All who 165 00:16:42.860 --> 00:16:48.889 rely on the works of the law are under a curse for his written cursed 166 00:16:48.009 --> 00:16:52.490 be everyone who does not abide by all the things written in the book of 167 00:16:52.570 --> 00:16:56.049 the Law and do them. That's why they were coming under this judgment. 168 00:16:56.649 --> 00:17:00.529 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, 169 00:17:00.970 --> 00:17:08.640 for the righteous live by faith. How does Mica know that he's going to 170 00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:15.950 be okay, that he's going to live? Because he knows that the righteous 171 00:17:15.029 --> 00:17:19.910 live by faith. If he were to go and he were to transfer himself 172 00:17:19.950 --> 00:17:22.710 unto the law and say, look at all these things I've done, I 173 00:17:22.829 --> 00:17:27.789 don't deserve this punishment, he'd be a he and that the other faithful would 174 00:17:27.789 --> 00:17:33.619 be under God's wrath just like everyone else, because right, justness doesn't come 175 00:17:33.740 --> 00:17:37.779 from the law, but knowing that righteousness comes from faith, from believing in 176 00:17:37.819 --> 00:17:45.730 the promises of God's that God had made to Abraham and to David many others. 177 00:17:47.450 --> 00:17:49.250 Mike a stands on that and knows that God will hear him, that 178 00:17:49.410 --> 00:17:56.769 God is he says, will vindicate him on the basis of God's own righteousness. 179 00:17:56.690 --> 00:18:00.359 Continue on in glaciers three, verse twelve. But the law is not 180 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:03.640 of faith. Rather, the one who does them shall live by them. 181 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:08.240 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse, from 182 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:12.069 a for us, for, as it is written, curse it is everyone 183 00:18:12.109 --> 00:18:18.630 who hang is hanged on a tree. Now listen to this, verse fourteen. 184 00:18:18.950 --> 00:18:25.509 So that, in Christ Jesus, the blessing of of Abraham might come 185 00:18:25.670 --> 00:18:32.700 to the gentiles, so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith. 186 00:18:34.460 --> 00:18:40.660 You see what the great promises? The great promise isn't that Israel's law and 187 00:18:41.299 --> 00:18:45.769 a covenant of Obedience is going to be established throughout all the world and then 188 00:18:45.809 --> 00:18:48.730 all the people will obey the law and God will be pleased and God will 189 00:18:48.809 --> 00:18:52.730 justify them. No, the promise is that this this this Gospel, this 190 00:18:52.930 --> 00:18:57.880 good news about righteousness coming through faith, that that news was going to go 191 00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:03.680 out into all the world and the gentiles would pour in and this kingdom would 192 00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:08.240 go would be established beyond anything that they had ever seen before. Talk about 193 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:14.430 rise or falling and rising again. You the you know you cut me down 194 00:19:14.509 --> 00:19:17.710 and I will rise stronger than ever before. That's the idea here. You 195 00:19:17.950 --> 00:19:22.109 cut down God's people here at this moment, you, nation of the world, 196 00:19:23.380 --> 00:19:30.420 just watch what happens. God will work through this to bring about this 197 00:19:30.660 --> 00:19:36.099 promise of faith, and through that these walls will be extended and all the 198 00:19:36.220 --> 00:19:41.809 world will be brought in to a kingdom that certainly loves the law, seeks 199 00:19:41.930 --> 00:19:48.089 the law, but from the heart, a law which God himself health has 200 00:19:48.170 --> 00:19:55.480 written there. So, turning back to Mike a seven, this is the 201 00:19:55.559 --> 00:20:02.920 hope for the world, the good news for both Jews. At that time, 202 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:07.630 we're about to come under judgment, and for the gentiles who, in 203 00:20:07.829 --> 00:20:12.309 God's Providence, were being used to judge them all. People, Jew and 204 00:20:12.549 --> 00:20:17.589 gentle were called, at this moment in history, in this particular work of 205 00:20:17.710 --> 00:20:21.700 God's Providence, to look at it for what it was, to see it 206 00:20:21.940 --> 00:20:26.099 for what it was and to turn to Yah way, not bail, not 207 00:20:26.220 --> 00:20:29.940 the father false gods, but to turn to Yah way, to the god 208 00:20:30.180 --> 00:20:36.769 of the God of Gods, the king of kings and him alone, because 209 00:20:36.890 --> 00:20:42.170 in for as verse thirteen says, the Earth will be desolate because because of 210 00:20:42.250 --> 00:20:48.849 its inhabitants, for the fruit of its deeds. But somewhere God was going 211 00:20:48.930 --> 00:20:56.279 to establish something new, something beyond what anyone could really fully articulate. But 212 00:20:56.440 --> 00:21:00.200 nevertheless, here it is, and one of the ways we see it is 213 00:21:00.519 --> 00:21:07.309 we understand this kingdom that would be established, is the boundaries of the kingdom 214 00:21:07.670 --> 00:21:14.990 being extended, and we are proof of that ourselves. No reason to pat 215 00:21:15.029 --> 00:21:18.109 ourselves on the back, but a reason to raise our hands and give praise 216 00:21:18.190 --> 00:21:23.660 to God. People very, very far away from these original events are sitting 217 00:21:23.700 --> 00:21:30.299 here Sunday night, on the day of the Lord's Resurrection, praising God that 218 00:21:30.539 --> 00:21:37.569 we can belong to Abraham and his family, as Paul put it in Galatians 219 00:21:37.650 --> 00:21:41.250 three, that we might receive the promised spirit through faith, that the blessing 220 00:21:41.289 --> 00:21:48.640 of Abraham might come to the gentiles, and has come to the gentiles, 221 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:56.599 which means that this prophetic word and Mike a seven is being fulfilled right here, 222 00:21:57.640 --> 00:22:03.950 right now among you, when we put our faith in the God who 223 00:22:03.990 --> 00:22:07.829 hears, when we put on the our faith in the God of our salvation, 224 00:22:07.349 --> 00:22:12.789 when we confess our sins rather than hide them, when we openly say 225 00:22:14.269 --> 00:22:19.059 I deserve judgment for my iniquities. Yet nevertheless I will look to the Lord 226 00:22:19.500 --> 00:22:29.059 for my salvation. We can know for certain that God hears us and that 227 00:22:29.180 --> 00:22:33.690 this great kingdom which he promised to Abraham, a great eternal kingdom which was 228 00:22:33.849 --> 00:22:41.690 promised to David, this Kingdom of Heaven, as Jesus describes it, is 229 00:22:41.730 --> 00:22:48.920 a kingdom we are now citizens of. And so that means that when we 230 00:22:48.279 --> 00:22:55.720 likewise are persecuted, when the church comes under attack, which it does and 231 00:22:56.319 --> 00:23:04.269 will and has, we can speak with these same words, the same note 232 00:23:04.309 --> 00:23:11.900 of confidence. We can speak to our enemies and say, don't think that 233 00:23:12.059 --> 00:23:18.180 because you find yourself successful in this moment, that this will be a victory 234 00:23:18.420 --> 00:23:26.569 for yours forever. Yes, I am hypocritical sometimes. Yes, we have 235 00:23:26.769 --> 00:23:32.369 sins in our midst. Yes, we do things we ought not to do, 236 00:23:32.650 --> 00:23:37.890 but we believe that the righteous will live by faith and we are turning 237 00:23:37.890 --> 00:23:45.279 daily away from our sins and into the arms of our Savior, who always 238 00:23:45.720 --> 00:23:52.960 saves us, who always brings us out of darkness into light. Let's go 239 00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:57.150 to the Lord now and asked that he would put this assurance, in this 240 00:23:57.349 --> 00:24:00.190 confidence, in this Gospel in our hearts