Ferrier, George: Christs Intrinsic Righteousness

And I'd like to think about you, with you this morning, is the righteousness of our Lord Jesus. In First John chapter two and verse two, there's, or verse one, there's a phrase, Jesus Christ the righteous, and, uh, he's eternally righteous. We have the truth about the Father mentioned in Deuteronomy thirty two and verse four. He is the rock. He is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of truth and without injustice, righteous and upright is he. And the righteous, righteousness speaks of the fact that always doing the right thing and, and, and the perfect thing, and the God does that because it's in line with his character. But the Lord Jesus, being eternal God, God the Son, is also righteous. And it says in John one and verse eighteen, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him. And that word declared, uh, signifies the fact that he perfectly declared him. And so when people saw the Lord Jesus, they saw God. They saw the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, perfectly manifesting his Father. In J- in John seventeen in verse six, the Lord says, I have manifested my name to those you have given to me. And the na- a name in scripture has the idea, especially pertaining to God, speaking of his attributes and his character. And the Lord Jesus, uh, exhibited the character and attributes of the Father because he is eternal God. And so the Lord Jesus, one of those attributes is righteousness. He is the righteous one. He's always righteous. Showing again the, the s- the, the, the equal, uh, standing and equal in all ways with his Father, he said in John chapter ten and verse thirty, I and the Father am one. So let's just, um, look at a number of places, uh, in the Lord's life that s- shows and speaks of his righteousness. And let's for our first passage, and I'll be asking you to turn to a few, uh, we turn to Matthew chapter three and verse thirteen, and this is the baptism of the Lord Jesus. Matthew three and verse thirteen, and here we s- read, then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him, and John tried to prevent him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and are you coming to me? Can you imagine that? Having this, uh, responsibility and the joy of baptizing eternal God, the Lord Jesus. But Jesus answered and said to him, permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. And then he allowed him. When he had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were open to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon him, and suddenly a voice came from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. You know, people were coming to be baptized because that was the way to accept the, the, the Messiah. It spoke of this in the Old Testament prophecies, uh, to prepare the way of the Lord, and the prepare the way of the Lord for the return of the Lord to set up his kingdom was, was to, uh, to repent. And so bapti- baptism, when Israel was coming to, uh, different individuals coming to be baptized, it was, it was, if they were doing it truly, it was showing they were going to repent, uh, and to to receive their Messiah. So why did the Lord Jesus, who is the righteous one, who is without fault, the one who is holy, why did he need to be baptized? Well, he gives us the reason. He says, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. He was identifying with sinners. The one who is holy was identified with sinners, and this was a picture of it. And on the cross, he was numbered with the transgressors. Even though he's holy and without sin, by many, and we spoke, uh, me- uh, often this morning about things being hidden, they didn't see the beauty of the Lord, and they just thought of him as a common criminal. He was numbered with the transgressors as he bore our sin. Another reason, of course, is that he was going to bear our sin, and so he was, this was a picture of what he would do at Calvary in baptism. He, he would die, and he would be buried, and he would re- be raised again. And of course, when we are baptized, we are identifying with the Lord Jesus and, and, and portraying that when Christ died, we died, and when Christ was buried, we were buried, and when Christ rose from the dead, we rose from the dead with him. It's a positional truth. And so it was to fulfill all righteousness to, uh, to his identification with sinners and to picture what he would soon do at Calvary. And then we turn to, uh, the next chapter, chapter four, and verse one. and, um, this is a well-known passage to us when the, and we don't have time to unpack it, but this is the Lord's temptation, and it's interesting that he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. This was the will of God. He w- like, often in our sinfulness, we will go, uh, and because of our actions, we are tempted. The Lord Jesus was being tempted by the, or by being led into the wilderness as a, by the will of God, by the Spirit, to be tempted by the devil. Could the Lord Jesus sin? Of course not. He's the Holy One. He's the eternal God. He's the righteous one. If there was any chance that the Lord Jesus could sin, then he wouldn't be the righteous one. And there would be no confidence even now, the Lord Jesus still a man in heaven. We would wonder, could he still in heaven at some point sin? It's impossible. He's the eternal God. So when he was tempted, he was not attracted to the temptations, and and these things in this passage all speak of the same things that Adam and Eve were tempted with, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life that John talks about in First John chapter two. These, uh, things that we are tempted by. But the Lord Jesus, when they were suggested by the devil, each one of these things, he quoted the word of God. He wasn't attracted to what the devil was suggesting. He was repelled by it. He's the righteous one. He was a- it was distasteful, it was abhorrent to him because he has no sin nature within him. He was be tempted- he was tempted without by the devil, but there was no sin nature within that was attracted to the devil's temptation, like we have still today, even as believers, we have a sinful nature that is a, is attracted to the devil's suggestions, and even without his, uh, uh, suggestions, sometimes we, our sinful nature will rear up in all its evil nature. But the Lord Jesus was repelled by it, and this is an indication that he is the righteous one, because he suffered over it. He suffered over the fact that the devil, uh, tempted him with these things. Uh, it says in the book of Hebrews, he suffered the contradiction of sinners. That's not only their opposition, but just their, their sin itself. He was repulsed by it. He is the righteous one. And then we turn to the book of Luke, chapter twenty two and verse sixty six. And here we see that the Lord displayed his righteousness at his trial, as he was being unjustly tried. And it says, um, uh, verse, uh, sixty uh seven, if you are the Christ, tell us. But he said to them, I tell you, if I tell you, you will by no means believe, and if I also ask you, you will by no means answer me or let it go. Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God. This was a, a, a declaration of deity, not only because he would be sitting at the right hand of God, but the very title Son of Man is a declaration of deity. Yes, it speaks of the fact that he became human, one of us, but there's another a- aspect to that title Son of Man, which the Lord Jesus used more than he used the title Son of God. And we see that in the book of Daniel, uh, it speaks of the, of the eternal God, the Son of God, uh, in Daniel chapter twelve, that we see that the, um, that the Lord Jesus is the Son of Man, the Son of Man. And so when he used that title, any of the Pharisees and other leaders who were, were well versed in scripture, if their hearts were opened to the truth, they would recognize that when he was calling himself the Son of Man, he was calling himself God. They, they in fact recognized that, but they didn't believe it, because then they say, are you then the Son of God? They saw the connection when he said, Son of Man, are you then the Son of God? And he said, you rightly say that I am. And by doing so, he was declaring his righteousness, that he was the eternal God. And then we go to the cross. Isaiah fifty three and verse eleven. He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. The Lord Jesus here is called prophetically by the word of God, the righteous servant. The righteous servant, and his labor of his soul, all of it, including Calvary, by it he shall be satisfied. And we mentioned that this morning, he would be satisfied because he was obeying the perfect servant, obeying the Lord, showing his love for God, as well as providing a way of salvation for each one of us. He would be satisfied. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame. He's the righteous servant. You know, on the cross, the Lord Jesus was our substitute. And we have to always be careful. Uh, sometimes people will think on the cross the Lord Jesus became a sinner when he bore our s- our sins, or that he had, uh, became sin, a misunderstanding of the verse that says he became sin. But that verse is speaking of the fact that he became a sin offering. Even on the cross, as our sins were laid upon him, he was our substitute. He took the penalty for our su- our sins. He was our substitute. Even then, he was the righteous one. He had to be righteous to bear sin. And so on the cross, even though he said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? God turned away from him because he was bearing our sins. And so he never stopped being righteous, even on the cross. He never became a sinner on the cross. He was the holy one who was our substitute as he bore our sins. And so we, we see that, uh, pictured, um, you don't have to turn to it, but Matthew chapter eight, verses one to three. As the Lord came down from the mountain, a leper came to him, and he said, Lord, if you are willing, I know you can heal me. And the Lord Jesus, with tenderness and love, said, I am willing, be healed. He touched a leper according to the law, that would make the Lord unclean. According to the law, then the Lord would have to take the necessary, uh, steps that the, that was required in the law, and to separate himself and, and go through some procedures and then show himself to the high priest. The Lord Jesus didn't need to do that. The Lord Jesus could t- touch a leper. A- any other, uh, Israelite touched a leper, they would be unclean. The Lord Jesus didn't need to, because it pictured his righteousness, his holiness. Our substitute bore our sins without becoming sinful. He suffered the law's curse without defiling himself. He took away our sin, yet there is no sin in him. From eternity to the cross, back to heaven, and through all eternity, he is Jesus Christ, the righteous. And then we go to another, uh, thing that happened on the cross in Luke chapter twenty three. Luke chapter twenty three. and verse thirty four, The Lord Jesus said, for Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they divided his garments and cast lots. The Lord Jesus, he, uh, he forgave the sin of crucifying him. That's what he was doing. He was forgiven that particular, what they were doing. And there were two particular men that were exceedingly guilty, and they often are lost in when we think about, uh, those like Pilate and, uh, others. And these are the false witnesses. You don't need to turn to it, but Deuteronomy nineteen and verse fifteen to nineteen gives the rules for when an accusation is made against someone, and it says there must be two or three witnesses, and that's why the Jews knew they had to bring at least two witnesses. But there's a little bit more in that passage in Deuteronomy, uh, nineteen. and it's this, that if anyone brings a false witness against anyone, whatever they were planning to do or whatever the law demanded would happen to that one they were accusing, if these witnesses were found to be false, then that penalty would be imposed upon the false witness. These false witnesses, and we t- if we turn to Matthew chapter twenty six— these false witnesses deserved to be crucified for what they had done, because they were bearing false witness against the Lord. And we see in verse fifty nine of Matthew twenty six, that they were seeking to put the Lord Jesus to death. And again, this speaks of the Lord's righteousness, because in verse sixty they couldn't find anyone. They they were trying and trying to find some witnesses, but they found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last, two false witnesses came forward, and they said, this fellow said, I'm able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days. And all through this, the Lord k- kept his silence, and they said, tell us, are you the Son of God? And in verse sixty four, nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming on the clouds of heaven. And so again, he made a declaration of his deity and this, uh, fact that they couldn't find any false witnesses, again declaring his righteousness. But the Lord forgave those two false witnesses. The Lord forgave them. They deserved to be crucified, in a sense, in his place because he was innocent. The righteousness of our Lord Jesus. And then we have the two robbers, the two thieves on the cross. And in Luke's Gospel, chapter twenty three and, uh, verse thirty nine, Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed him, saying, If you are the Christ, save yourself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong. And then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, assuredly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. The Lord Jesus said that he had done nothing wrong by saying that today, not only would he be in paradise, but the one who was a sinner would be there with him. Christ died for both of those thieves. Christ died for both of them, but only one died with him. One of them died with him and went to paradise. One of them died and went to a lost eternity. I hope everyone here this morning is included in that company that will, that have died with Christ at Calvary, and when they die, and when we die, we go immediately into the presence of the Lord. One of them died with him, and that speaks of the Lord's ability to save, and only a righteous one could do that. And then we see his intrinsic righteousness verified in resurrection. Again, um, Isaiah fifty three and verse eleven, he says, by my righteous servant, by his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many, for he will bear their iniquities. The Lord Jesus bore our sins on the cross, but to all those who believe on him, he justifies them. That's a legal term. It means to declare one righteous. Every one of you here this morning that knows the Lord Jesus as their savior, the eternal God has declared you eternally righteous. Who shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? We have been declared righteous by the eternal God, and because of the work of his righteous servant. And it's the Lord Jesus who will receive all who call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, the righteous servant. Let's d- and let's just turn over to Romans chapter four. I know I'm asking you to turn to a lot of passages this morning. But it says in Romans four. in verse twenty three, or verse twenty two for context, speaking of Abraham, and therefore it was accounted to him for righteous. Now it was not written for his name, for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him, but also for us. This righteousness shall be imputed to us who believe in him, who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. In order for the Lord to impute his righteousness to us, he had to be righteous. And so because he can declare righteous, he can save all who call upon him since his resurrection, therefore, uh, he is the righteous one. He is the one who can give us his perfect righteousness. And the verse twenty five is very important. It says, who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification, or in other words, raised for our justification. You see, the Lord Jesus, if he would only have died for our sins, he could not be our savior. In order for him to be our savior, he had to be risen from the dead. This is the main message in the book of Acts, that the the the the apostles and his believers and disciples, they went forth and proclaimed the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the the Pharisees and the opposition that they received would not have cared if he, if they said Jesus died for them, died for my sins, that that would be okay with them. But the fact that he preached that this one that they hated, this man, and, you know, I, I often read, you know, we're to pray for the people of Israel, and, um, we pray, um, and the Lord is saving, uh, Jews here and there, but largely they are in blindness today, and they can't even name the name of Christ. This morning we had the wonderful privilege of lifting up our praises and speaking how, how sweet the name of the Lord Jesus is. Jesus is the sweetest name I know. But Jew- most Jewish, as certainly Orthodox Jews, can't even say his name, and they refer to him as this man. I, I, I, I read Israel My Glory magazine, and uh, this man's gone to be with the Lord, but he, he was a Jew saved back in the nineteen forties, and he, he, he would evangelize in Jerusalem, and he would encounter people, and, and I was reading recently that, that, that they referred to, are you speaking about this man? People don't see the beauty of this, what's going on inside here, as we mentioned this morning, and they see the em- the out- outside of the building, and they don't see the beauty, as our brother beautifully shared, they don't see the beauty of the Lord Jesus. Many don't, and many Orthodox Jews don't. But in order for us to be saved, he had been perfected. He had to re- had to be reached his ultimate, um, goal, as it says in Hebrews five nine. he had to be perfected as Savior before he could be the author of salvation to all those who obey him. And in order for that to happen, we had to have a live Savior so that he could be our great high priest. He had to rise from the dead. He had to be risen from the dead, and it showed that God was satisfied with his sacrifice. That- that- that's speaks to the truth of propitiation, that God is satisfied. He's propitiated with the work of his son. And so we need a- a living savior, and this morning, praise God, we have a living savior this morning. He showed his righteousness in his resurrection. He also showed it in his ascension. Uh, Psalm one ten and verse one, a very familiar verses. My Lord, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. And the Lord Jesus, um, uh, explained that in Matthew chapter twenty two, that it was speaking of him. But if you turn to John sixteen, we see why he ascended. John sixteen, a very familiar passage. This is the Lord in the upper room. Uh, he's going to tell that he's going to, he's prophesying that he's going to s- send the Holy Spirit in a future day, after his resurrection. And in verse seven, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you, but if I depart, I will send him to you. And when he is come, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin because they do not believe in me, of righteousness because I go to my father and you see me no more, of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judge. Just notice verse ten: of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you see me no more. The Holy Spirit will convict, and every one of us have come to know the Lord Jesus as our Savior. We have come to recognize that he is different than us. He's the eternal Son of God who became man, but yet remained a- apart from sin. He's the eternal righteous one. The reason the Lord Jesus has gone back to the Father is that he was rejected. He came onto his own, and his own received him not. And he declared his righteousness by declaring the Father's name, but yet they called him a drunkard. They called him a sinner. They called him, uh, uh, uh, all kinds of, uh, terrible thing. They saw him as an imposter. They saw him as a liar. They saw him as unrighteous. But the father had a different verdict. The father said, you call my son unrighteous? I'm going to show you what I think of my son. After his perfect work at Calvary, I'm going to raise him from the dead the third day, and forty days later, I'm going to bring him home, back to me. The Father would not have wanted the Lord Jesus if he was unrighteous. He wanted him because he loved him. He was the son of his bosom. He was the perfect servant, and he was fit for heaven because he is the righteous one. This morning, you and I, who have been born again, we have been clothed with the righteousness of the Lord Jesus. We have been made fit for heaven. Somebody said this morning, quite correctly, that, um, that we're, we're not worthy, we're, we don't belong here. Th- this is true. We... nothing in us is beautiful. It's the beauty of the Lord Jesus, and the more we look upon him, and the more he changes us to be more like him, people will see something special, something beautiful. Not us, but the Lord Jesus Christ, the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Father wanted to enjoy that intimacy that he had from all eternity, and it was always in the plan of the Lord. The Lord said before Calvary in John seventeen, I- I'm returning to the Father. The Lord Jesus knew that. He knew he would be raised from the dead. He had faith that he would be raised in the- from the dead the third day. The Lord's righteousness declared in his ascension. And then finally, our last one is Christ will judge in righteousness because he is the righteous judge. In a future day, Second Timothy four and verse eight. This is something that we as believers will experience. second Timothy four and verse eight, and it's the judgment seat of Christ. The Father has committed all judgment to his son, it says in John chapter five. And so the Lord Jesus has been tasked with judging every single human being that's ever lived, but they're not all one judgment. You and I are going to be privileged, but it's also an awesome thing to consider that we are going to be before the Lord Jesus at the judgment seat of Christ. And Paul talked about that in two Timothy four verse eight. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge. That means when we stand before him, we can have complete confidence that the Lord will be perfect in judgment. That whatever he he gives us will be perfect. Because you see, the judgment seat of Christ is a time of evaluation for rewards for our fruit here on earth. It's not a time to be judged for our sin. The Lord's not going to bring up our sins at the judgment seat of Christ. He's going to re- uh, look at our service since we became a believer, and we will, uh, get our reward. And, and the biggest reward, in my view, will be h- have the Lord say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. The Lord is a righteous judge, and he, Paul says, will give me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearing. This, of course, speaks of a specific, uh, crown, but it applies to all our, our rewards that we will receive at the judgment seat of Christ. And so we will have this privilege of being before the Lord to be rewarded for our service. And when I think about us being rewarded for our service, it almost seems not fair to the Lord because he saved us, he's changing us. Someday he will completely glorify us, and anything that we do on this earth is be- that's valuable. We we have the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Each one of us as believers have one or more of those. That, so the Holy Spirit, as we submit to him, he enables us to serve, and then we serve in the power of the resurrected Lord. And so without him we can do nothing. But when we are in frailty and weakness, when we depend upon him, he can do great things through us. The Lord Jesus is what no wonder says that we will cast the crowns back to him. Now, as we serve the Lord, we're not under any delusion that we're doing anything great. We we aren't under any delusion that we, uh, are doing it in our own strength, and when we try to, we will fail. I've always tried to pray much about, um, when I'm serving the Lord and to and preaching and, and to ask for the Lord's guidance and fellowship of the Holy Spirit and to examine my life, is there anything hindering that? But I do remember maybe two or three occasions when I was acting in the flesh, and it's a terrible, lonely place to be because you know there's no power. You know, there's power in the word of God, and he, he can so use what you're saying, but you just sense there's no power and you, and you're alone. I don't wa- I don't want to ever be alone when I'm serving the Lord, and we don't have to be. He said, I will never leave you nor forsake you, but if we want him to be with us, uh, to be yoked with us in our service, we need to depend upon him to- to be in his will. And what a joy it is to serve our Lord as we- as we are joined to him, and just let him be the driver, let him be our strength, and just recognize that we are nothing but empty vessels. We have this treasure in, uh, in earthen vessels, and, uh, as John said, let, let, uh, I, let I, I will decrease so that the Lord will increase, you know, and that's what we want. We want the Lord to be seen in, in us so that the world, uh, says in second Corinthians chapter four, for God who called light out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And that's what, in the earlier verses, it speaks of them being blinded, and the only way for that blindness to be taken away is for them to see the reality of the Lord Jesus Christ in us. But there's another judge- judgment which we close with, and again, the Lord Jesus will be that judge, and it's found in Revelation chapter twenty. You see, we won't be at that judgment, because this is the judgment of every single unbeliever from every time period, whether it's the time of of Adam or Moses or Abraham or the prophets or the Lord's time in the New Testament or in our time, and including the tribulation period and the millennial period, there will be people that will be unbelievers, that people that are born that are unbelievers. Every time period in history, as it as time and history are wrapping up, and before we go into the eternal state, though it says in verse eleven, then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, that's those still dead in their sins, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. See, that's different than our judgment. We're not, uh, for salvation, we're not going to be judged for our works. We'll be judged for by, for our works for s- for reward, but they are being judged for their works for punishment. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. That speaks of the fact that, that the unsaved will be resurrected. Um, uh, death speaking of their body and Hades speaking of their spirit. They they will they will be j- resurrected to receive their judgment, and they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades, their whole their body and spirit were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, which is eternal death. It's eternal death. That's what the second death is. Anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. None of us wants to be there, and praise God, if we know the Lord Jesus as our Savior this morning, we won't be there. But if anyone here in our gathering this morning has never trusted the Lord Jesus as their Savior, today the good news of the gospel is the day of grace that you can today be saved, so that you never have to experience this eternal death to be forever cast out of the presence of God. Thinking of Cain, uh, says Cain went out from the presence of God after he was marked. He chose to go out from the presence of God, and everyone that's at this judgment will be- have chosen to be there. They have rejected the- the God's offer of salvation, the one who loved them and- and- and sent his son, and the Lord Jesus who is judging here, he will get no joy in doing this, but he must, and you know why? He is the righteous one. He's eternally righteous, and he must always act justly, and the only just thing he can do at this judgment, at the Great White Throne judgment, is is to depart from me because he has no other choice. He's the righteous one. They rejected him. There's no other savior. There's no other way to God. The Lord Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes unto the Father except through me. There's no other way, and if we reject the one way, the only way, all that's left for us is judgment. I hope this has been an encouragement to you and a, and a help and a brought more sweet thoughts of the Lord Jesus. I, I just enjoyed so much the s- thoughts from all the brothers this morning and, and those leading in hymns like Shane and brother, um, Halsband and a brother over there and, and, and uh, Mark and everyone that shared this morning the thoughts of the beauty of our Lord Jesus, and I hope these thoughts have been uh, beautiful to your hearts as well as we considered him. Dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you for the Lord Jesus. We thank you for his perfect righteousness. We thank you that in eternity he was righteous. Uh, when he became man, he didn't s- stop becoming righteous. He was the the God man who remained holy because he was still God. And Father, uh, during those thirty years of obscurity, he was righteous. That's why at his baptism, uh, he could say, the Lord, Lord could say from heaven, this is my son whom I am well pleased, because up to that time he had been well pleased with him. Later on, it was repeated two times, and Father, you are eternally satisfied with your son. Father, help us to depend upon him. Help us to allow him to guide and direct our lives as we enjoy the fact that his righteousness has been imputed to us in a positional sense, and oh, how we look forward to that day when we are glorified, when we shall see him as he is, and we will be with him, and then we will be, uh, perfect like him, and we will have perfect righteousness for all eternity. And we ask that you will bless each brother and sister here, that you would help them in the tasks and the ministry they have ahead this week, Father. And if there's anyone here this morning that's never trusted the Lord Jesus as their Savior, we pray that today would be the day that they would recognize that time is short, and now is the day of salvation. And we pray this in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.