The Grace of Salvation.

Premise:

You cannot understand the gospel unless you understand the grace of salvation:

Opening:

Good-morning again Connection Church! And Happy Resurrection Day! This is the Lord’s Day where we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. Christ died for our sins, then was raised to life on the third day. This is the true confession of the Christian church throughout history. In fact, one of, if not the oldest Christian Creed, the Apostles Creed says this.

I believe in God the Father, Almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord;

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,

Born of the virgin Mary;

Suffered under Pontius Pilate,

Was crucified, dead, and buried;

He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven;

And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;

The holy catholic* church; the communion of saints;

The forgiveness of sins;

The resurrection of the body;

And the life everlasting. Amen

Within this creed there are multiple vital things affirmed, and I think we can all see why this is so central to this morning. This creed is a confession of faith that the church has embraced for two thousand years. Yes there is some nuance within this creed. For example, that phrase “He descended into hell.” In reality, there a couple ways to understand that. The old word is “hades.” This was a way of affirming someone truly dying. Some do believe that Jesus actually went to hell, I do not. However, the creed is affirming that Jesus truly died.

We find contained in this very ancient creed very central tenants of the Christian faith. It affirms the trinity. It affirms the nature of Christ. It affirms the virgin birth. These are all central to being a Christian. You may deny these tenants of the faith, but it would mean you are not historically a Christian. You would be part of some other religion, not Christianity. Also contained within this confession is a very detailed description of Jesus’ death. The creed states that Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilot. It affirms that Jesus died by crucifixion, the Roman execution method. It affirms that Jesus truly died, and was buried. It then affirms again the true death of Christ by the phrase “He descended into hell” as I previously pointed out. The creed then affirms the resurrection of Christ on the third day.

Whereas the Creed dedicates only two lines to the birth of Christ, it dedicates four lines to the death and resurrection of Christ. It then dedicates anther line later on to the hope of our resurrection in Christ. This is not a long creed, but it dedicates much of it’s short length to the death and resurrection of Christ. Why is this? This is because of how central the death and resurrection of Christ is to the hope of the Christian faith. That is not to say that there is anything within Scripture and the story of redemption that is unimportant. However, just as Jesus affirmed there are some things in the Law of God that are more weighty, so the death and resurrection of Christ are some of the most weighty things in regard to redemption.

Introduction of the Text:

The moment we say that, we ought to ask why? Why is it so central to redemption that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again on the third day? As a matter of fact, why is it so important that Jesus died? Why did Jesus have to die? What is so significant about the death of Christ on the cross?

This is really the central heart of what we have been studying these past several weeks. We have been working toward this morning. Over the past weeks we have been covering three central truths to understanding the gospel. You cannot understand the gospel unless you understand these three things. And indeed, you cannot understand why Jesus died unless you understand these three things. What are these three? You cannot understand the gospel unless you understand the holiness of God, the depravity of man, and the grace of salvation. We saw briefly two weeks ago the unfathomable holiness of God. We saw last week the depth of our own sin. And this week, we must come to an understanding of the grace of salvation.

And yet, I recognize that most, if not all of us here are saved. I would say most of you have at least a good grasp on the gospel. So why study this? If this is something we understand, then why dedicate three weeks to this study? Why dedicate a week to study the holiness of God? We, as the people of God are the ones who treat God as holy. Why must we hear that He is holy? I have remarked many times that all Christians acknowledge they are sinners. Why do we need to study the depravity of man? And now, why must we study what grace and salvation are? We do this for several reasons. First, I cannot see your hearts. I do not know if you are truly saved. Second, even if we assume every one of us has the highest grasp on these things, we must constantly remind ourselves and each other of the truth of the gospel. As Christians, each one of us can fall into complacency or pride. The preaching of the gospel is a direct reminder for us to avoid these two pitfalls. I think if we are honest, we are all capable and often guilty of forgetting the gospel. We are prone to forget how beautiful the gospel is. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. When we are discouraged by never feeling good enough, the gospel lifts us up and encourages us. We are given grace by God. If we begin to stray into pride and think too highly of ourselves, the gospel reminds us that we can never work enough to earn God’s favor. Our pride is dashed against the gospel and we are reminded of the wonderful truth.

Even as Christians, we must remember this. We cannot understand the gospel unless we grasp the grace of salvation. We must understand that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We must grasp that we are saved by grace. And to do this, we must understand what salvation is and what grace is. We will be covering a lot of Scripture this morning, but if there were one single verse that encapsulated what this means it would be Romans 5:1.

Reading of the Text:

Romans 5:1.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Will you pray with me.

Prayer:

Our Father in Heaven, we have sought to deepen our understanding of the gospel over these past weeks. We started by attempting to learn of your Holiness. You are holy. You alone deserve to be called holy, holy, holy. We lift your name up, oh Lord. You alone are God. There are no others. You alone are good and gracious and holy. You deserve all glory and honor and praise.

Lord, we also know that we are sinners. We are sinful and by nature children of wrath. We have all broken your Law and stand guilty. Please have mercy on us. Forgive us our sins and lead us not into temptation. Help us to obey you.

Lord, now as we dive into your word and attempt to understand the grace of salvation, give us wisdom and understanding. Please open our hearts to hear from you. May we leave today with a greater understanding of the grace we have been given in salvation. And if there are any here who are not saved, may today be the day that they are saved. We ask this in Jesus name, amen.

Transition:

You cannot understand the gospel unless you understand the grace of salvation. But what does that mean. What is grace? What is salvation? These are the questions. So what is salvation?

What is Salvation?

This may seem like a rather redundant question to ask in church, but I don’t believe it is. I believe that this is a pivotal question that sadly, we can forget. Often I think we can hear the term salvation so often that we begin to glide over it. I was doing some reading this week and was reading a wonderful book where the author detailed being on a campus and having someone stop them and ask “are you saved?” In response to this question, the author blurted out, “saved from what?” To this the poor person who asked about salvation had no real answer. The person who posed the question “are you saved” was caught off guard and began to stumble of the response. But this is the question. Why do we need saving? From what are we saved?

The Christian claim is that we need salvation. But why do we need this? Salvation holds the idea of being spared or rescued from some calamity or disaster. Inherent within the idea of salvation of any kind is the rescue from a problem. If you are trapped in a burning building, you need salvation. You need to be rescued from the problem of dying in that burning building. The fire is the problem you need salvation from. So what is the problem? Why do we need salvation?

The Problem:

The problem that we need salvation from is two fold. On their own these two things are not necessarily a problem for us. But once you view them together, they are the worst problem for us. The two-fold problem for us is that God is holy and man is sinful. This is what we covered over the last two weeks. God is holy.

God is Holy.

Psalm 7:11 says, “God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day.” This on it’s own is not a problem. If God is uninterested and uncaring about anything we do, then there is no issue here. God is perfectly just. He is the ultimate good and righteous one. In Him is no sin or darkness. To this, most would say, “Okay, cool.” There is a general indifference to this fact. The Holiness of God is treated as a mere fact. It is treated as if it were something that affects nothing.

Most people, many even in the church, hear of the holiness of God as if someone is describing the surface area of one of Jupiter’s moons. “Okay, that’s interesting but it doesn’t affect me at all.” Our temptation is to view God’s holiness as something completely separate from our own lives. It is an interesting thought, but it doesn’t really matter. Psalm 7:11 says that God is a righteous judge. That is all well and good, so long as it does not affect us. But then we must ask, why does that verse end the way it does? God is a righteous judge. That’s nice. “And a God who has indignation every day.”

Why is God angry every day? What is God mad about? We are tempted to treat the idea of God being holy and righteous with complete indifference until we realize why He is filled with anger every day. So why is God so angry? God is angry because man is sinful.

Man is Sinful.

Indeed this is the second part of our problem. God is holy, and man is sinful. Romans 3:23. says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” And here is where the problem becomes clear. Once you combine the fact that God is perfectly holy and a righteous judge, and that we have all sinned, you see the truth. We are all rightfully under the judgement of God. And worse still is that we, in our sin, are hard hearted people who like our sin. We are naturally sinful. Instantly we see that our worldview of being mostly good instantly begins to crumble. We may lie to ourselves and say, “I’m a mostly good person.” But when we actually look hard at ourselves, we see that Romans 2:5 is true. “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,”

And yet, we may look for a loophole. Maybe God only cares about the “big”sins. Yes, we are all sinners, but hopefully God only cares about the big sins like murder or the like. Maybe if we are lucky, God doesn’t actually care about every sin. And yet, Romans 1:18 stands in condemnation of all mankind. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,” The wrath of God is against ALL ungodliness.

And this is the hopelessness. God is the perfect judge, and we are all guilty. And this is why we need salvation. We need salvation from God.

We Need Salvation From God.

And at this, there are many who object. Many even within the church are fine with language about needing saved from our sin. They are okay with language about needing salvation from hell. But trace those back. Why do we need salvation from sin? Why do we need our sins forgiven? We need our sins forgiven because we have sinned against the holy God and therefore deserve His wrath. Why do we need to be saved from hell? What is hell? Hell is the just, eternal punishment for those who have sinned against God. We need to be saved! Saved from what? We must be saved from God and His just wrath.

And make no mistake. We deserve that wrath. We deserve justice, but we do not want justice. Justice would be hell. We have all sinned against God. And God is a righteous judge. Does a righteous judge give unjust rulings? If a judge were to let off the guilty, they would be an unrighteous judge. God is a righteous judge. Therefore, God judges rightly. The guilty are punished and the righteous are blessed. But there in lies the problem. We are all guilty. We are all sinners. So is there hope?

Is There Hope?

If we were to stop here, no, there would be no hope. And yet, we know better than this. We read passages like Psalm 78:38 where it says, “But He, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; And He abounded in turning back His anger And did not arouse all His wrath.” Well, here is a passage that speaks of God turning away from His anger and wrath. We know that there is hope. But the question is, how do we attain this hope? What must be done for God to turn back His anger?

Transition:

And this brings us to the second point. We know what salvation is. Salvation is being saved from the wrath of God we rightly deserve. But now, what is grace?

What is Grace?

You see, what we need is grace. We need that undeserved favor. That is what grace is. It is being given what we don’t deserve. You see, we sinned. We deserve the wrath of God. But somehow, we need God to be gracious and give us life instead. We need God to give us grace. We need the punishment to be taken off of us. So what hope is there? Again in Scripture, we see a promised hope.

The Promised Hope.

What hope is there? God provided hope. God promised one who would come and pay the debt we owed. Listen to these words.

Isaiah 53:4-6, Surely our griefs He Himself bore,

And our sorrows He carried;

Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions,

He was crushed for our iniquities;

The chastening for our peace fell upon Him,

And by His wounds we are healed.

6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,

Each of us has turned to his own way;

But Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all

To fall on Him..

This one of whom Isaiah speaks is the Messiah. This promised one would bear our grief and sorrow. He would be stricken by God in our place. He would be pierced for our sin. He would be crushed for our iniquity. Our wound of sin would be healed through His stripes. Isaiah then says we all have gone astray into sin. But then comes the good news. God has caused our iniquity not to fall upon our own heads, as we deserve. Our sin falls upon Him, this chosen one.

This ought to fill us with joy! There is hope. There is one who is said to bare our sin in our place! We have no hope of being guiltless on our own, but here is a promise of one who will take our sin upon Himself. And yet there is even more hope! The good news is the fulfillment of the hope.

The Fulfillment of the Hope.

The Apostle Paul details this hope in 1 Corinthians 15:3-9. “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep.7 After that, He appeared to James, then to all the apostles,8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.9 For I am the least of the apostles, and not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”

What the blessed apostle is saying is that Jesus is the fulfillment of the hope promised by Isaiah! Indeed, when Paul says that Jesus died according to the Scriptures, he is speaking of the many passages like this one in Isaiah. Jesus died, was buried, and rose on the third day. He is the fulfillment of the hope of salvation. But now comes the question, how can I be saved?

How Can I Be Saved?

This is now the next most obvious question. Did the death of Jesus save every single person who ever did, does, or will exist? There are some people who say so, but they cannot back this up with anything Jesus ever said. In fact, Jesus talks more about hell than any other character in the Bible. It is clear from Scripture that not everyone will be saved. So what must be done to be saved?

Often when someone grasps the fact that God is holy and that they are sinners, their first question is “What must I do to be saved?” And this is a good question. However, what can we do to atone for our own sins? As we have already established, we cannot pay for our own sin. So how is salvation attained? And here we see that pressing need for grace. We need grace.

We Need Grace.

We have already seen that Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” But the very next verse says this. “being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;” What this is saying is that we are sinners, but God justifies us not by works, but by grace. Again, Ephesians 2:8-9 reiterates this. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;9 not of works, so that no one may boast.” What this means is that we do not save ourselves. Indeed we cannot save ourselves. God saves us.

We Cannot Save Ourselves, God Saves us.

No one who ever has been or will be saved is saved by their own merit. It is all by the grace of God. But how much grace is needed? How is the work divided? Do we split the load with God fifty-fifty? Obviously, we cannot make ourselves righteous, but maybe we can do some of the work. That is often the thought process. God has done His part, but now we must do our part. In fact, many preachers from many pulpits will say it like this, “God has done all the work! Now you must do your part!” It sounds good. We are working in cooperation with God. Yes, God has opened the door, and now we must get us and walk through. God has graciously given us the medicine we need to be healed, now we must sit up and take it.

And yet, this is not the picture we see in Scripture. What do we see in Scripture? In Scripture we see our complete inability. What we see in Scripture is not a cooperative effort. We see God doing the work. Listen to this passage and pay close attention to who the active party is and who the passive party is in salvation. Who does Scripture attribute the work to? Who is active in rebellion and who is active in salvation?

Ephesians 2:1-9 “1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

If humanity is portrayed as active in anything, it is death. We are actively dead. Who is portrayed as active in salvation? If you follow the argument of the text, it is God who is doing all of the saving work. He is not doing 99%. He is doing 100%. Who is rich in mercy? God. Who made us alive in Christ? God. Who seated us with him in the heavenly places? God. Who will show the surprising riches of Grace to us? God. Who gives us the faith to believe? God.

Why do I bring this up? Surely we all know this. If I were to ask every single person here if God saved you, likely you would all say yes. So what should we say? Why should we cover this? Well, let me ask you that same question slightly differently. Why are you saved? Not are you saved, not how are you saved. Why are you saved? What is it about you that sets you apart from your lost neighbor? Picture it this way, you are sitting in a gospel sermon. You hear the sermon and are convicted. You respond but the person sitting next to you doesn’t. You place your faith in Christ unto salvation. They leave lost. Why? A missions team knocks on your door and shares the gospel with you from a tract. You respond. Your next door neighbor who heard the same thing rejects them. Why? Why is that? What is it, fundamentally, that separates you from the lost person?

The reason I bring this up is that even in a room full of Christians, we can begin to miss this. I must remind myself of this every day. All of us must remind ourselves of this every day, every week. What is it that separates us from those people? What separates us from the lost? What is it that separates you from that lost neighbor? Why are you saved and they are lost? If we say, “I am saved because I...” We’ve missed it. We’ve missed the grace of salvation. If we say “I am saved because I” we have fundamentally misunderstood the gospel. We have missed it. Why are you saved and they are lost? There is only one way to respond. “I am saved because God...” We cannot say we are saved in any way because of us. We are not saved because we walked an isle. We are not saved because we prayed a prayer. We are not saved because we were better than them. We are not saved because WE did anything they did not.

To say I am saved because I prayed a prayer and they did not, is to say that you did something better than they did. I had faith and they did not. That’s a claim to do something they did not. That is a claim that on the fundamental level, we did something better than the lost. That is to say, “I have reason to boast.” If I did something better than the lost person, I have reason to boast. But we do not have reason to boast. I am not saved because I did anything. You are not saved because you did anything. We are saved because of the grace of God. God, in His grace brought us alive and gave us faith in Christ. Through the work of Christ, we are saved.

Summary:

And we need reminders of this. Sadly, our tendency as still sinful men and women is to begin to lose this concept. We begin to let it slip from our minds and hearts. If we aren’t careful we can begin to miss the idea that God is perfectly holy. We can begin to think that our sin is maybe not so serious as we previously thought. We can begin to think of grace as merely God doing most the work, but we did our part. We can forget these truths of the gospel. We forget what Romans 5:1 says. Romans 5:1 “1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”

If we aren’t careful, we can forget what Paul says just a few verses down. Romans 5:6-10 “6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

We need to be reminded of the truth that as Christians, we have been justified by God. It is not our work. We need the reminder of how deep and how dear our salvation is. God is holy. He was under no obligation to save anyone. Beyond this, we were sinners. We were guilty of treason against Him. And yet beyond this, God did save us! He paid the price we owed. Christ died in our place. Our sin was placed upon Him at the cross. We need these reminders. We must remember the glorious truth that our sin has been paid for.

We must be constantly reminded that we are Saved By Grace Alone, Through Faith Alone, In Christ Alone.

We are saved by Grace Alone. It is not some secret merit within us or anyone else that saves us. It is purely the grace of God. Remember, I am not saved because I did anything. I am saved because God graciously saved me.

We are saved through Faith Alone. We did not work to earn it. We did not obey God enough. We did not keep His law. We did not live up to His holiness. No, we are saved through faith. We aren’t saved through our actions. We aren’t saved through our goodness. It is faith in Christ that saves us.

We are saved in Christ Alone. There is no other sacrifice. Christ saves us through His death and resurrection. Jesus Christ died for our sins, satisfying the wrath of God. He was raised to life on the third day, proving that the sacrifice was accepted and complete. We now have hope for forgiveness and life eternal through faith in Christ’s finished work on the cross.

Application:

And this affects every single area of our lives! Christ died in our place, satisfying the wrath of God. The work is done! But what if you are here and you are not saved?

Repentance:

To you, the command is given to repent. Turn away from your sin. Are you here and under the weight of your sin? Are you weighed down in your guilt? Are you still dirty in your sin? Do you feel the burden of your own guilt on your shoulders? This is one question I often ask people. What do you do with your guilt? You are obviously a sinner. You know you’re a sinner. But what do you do with that? What do you do with your guilt?

If your sin is weighing you down like a great burden on your back, I have good news! At the cross, the burden will snap from off your back and roll away. Your sin will be removed. It will be taken from you. You will be washed clean. You will be given righteousness like a white robe to wear. Think of it. Nothing you have ever done wrong will be held against you. You will be forgiven. Can’t you just feel the joy that would bring.

Imagine that. Imagine hearing those words. Are you guilty of any sin? Are you a liar? Those lies are weighing down your soul like an anvil around your neck. But at the cross, your lies are taken from you. You are forgiven. Are you an adulterer? Are you guilty of sexual misconduct? That sin clings to you like filth on your skin. At the cross you are washed clean. You are forgiven.

At the cross, sin is removed. At the cross, filth is washed away. At the cross, you are forgiven. Why? Because Jesus died in your place. He paid the price you owed for your own sin. He took your lies, your hatred, you sexual sin. He died in your place and He gave you His righteousness. This is the beauty of the cross.

So are you here this morning and still in your sin? Are you here under the weight of your sin? Do you feel the Spirit of God pulling on your heart? Is the question rising up within you? Do you feel that question in your mouth about to burst out? What must I do to be saved? How can I be free from my sin? Blessed sinner, I have good news. You can be saved by grace, through faith, in Christ. There is no work that you can do. If you call out to Christ for salvation, you will be saved. Reject your sin. Turn away from it. Turn to Jesus. Romans 10:9- 10 says “9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” That is all. Confess and believe and you will be saved. You will share in joy unspeakable.

Joy Unspeakable:

This is what we as Christians have. We have joy unspeakable. Why does the death and resurrection of Jesus matter? Because of the death and resurrection of Christ, we are forgiven! Our sins are no longer counted against us! We are no longer slaves to our sin. We are free men and women before Christ. We are no longer under the tyranny of sin.

have you ever seen the celebration of people who have been set free from communist oppressive governments? Have you seen the videos of the Berlin wall falling? Have you seen the celebration of people liberated from oppression into freedom? That is but a fraction of the joy that is ours in Christ Jesus. In Christ, we are free from sin. We are not just free from outward tyranny. No, we are free from that internal tyranny. We are free from the sin that enslaves our very hearts and wills. We are free and alive in Christ! Our sin in no longer counted against us. The wrath of God has been satisfied. God’s righteous anger has been turned away from us and now we stand clean in the freedom and love of God. We are no longer enemies of God, but children of God!

And on top of this, no struggle of this life can sway us. We are free in the joy of salvation from any fear. Death has no hold on us. What is this morning if not the ultimate expression of joy. Christ is alive! He is not dead. Jesus is alive! The Tomb could not hold Him! He died, satisfying the wrath of God, He is alive in the life to come! And we have the promise of sharing in this life. Christ, who rose from the dead, has promised to raise us with Him. For the Christian, death is no the end. We are free forever in the joy of salvation.

Humility:

And think of this, we are free from all pride. We did not earn salvation. This was a gift. So we can live in peace and freedom with one another, free from all pride. There is no place for pride in us. I did nothing better than you. I do not stand before God free because of my work, and neither do you. In Christ, we are alive. In Christ, we are free. In Christ, we are unified. In Christ, we are redeemed.

1 Corinthians 15:3-9 “3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”

We are alive, we are free, we have hope. And,

We believe in God the Father, Almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord;

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,

Born of the virgin Mary;

Suffered under Pontius Pilate,

Was crucified, dead, and buried;

He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven;

And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

We believe in the Holy Ghost;

The holy catholic* church; the communion of saints;

The forgiveness of sins;

The resurrection of the body;

And the life everlasting. Amen

Prayer:

Communion:

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 “23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

Closing Hymn:

Closing Benediction:

Psalm 85:2-3 You forgave the iniquity of Your people;

You covered all their sin. Selah.

3 You withdrew all Your fury;

You turned back from Your burning anger.