Mercy & Justice - Romans 9:1-33
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
We reentered our series in Romans and I am personally excited to know that by the end end of 2023, we'll have covered the entirety of the letter of Romans. That is a lot. It has been, at times, like drinking from a fire hose, or trying to. Yeah, there's so much to dive into, many more conversations to be had, there's so much more study that we all need to do on our own. We've just kind of, hopefully, loosened the soil, so to speak. And now, we'll have covered, by the end of the series, all of Romans, but there's still so much more to dive into and dig and just wrestle with. But I wanted to remind us again, 'cause some of you are newer here and didn't know that we started in Romans at the beginning of this year. And so, kinda put some things before us again that we've covered long ago.
And that is that this letter of Romans was written by the apostle Paul to the early church in Rome to believers. And they are dealing with all sorts of questions and issues and trying to figure out what does faith look like, what does being a church look like. And there's some reoccurring issues that Paul is trying to address and sort out, and one of them is that, is an issue that revolves around who gets to be saved, and this issue of Israel, and Israel's relationship to Jesus and their eternal destination. Last week, Pastor Chris talked about it being all good. You guys don't have to say it this week. No, there we go, it's all good. And it's all good because of Jesus and God's love for us, the salvation that only comes through Christ. And because of that salvation, the eternal perspective that we get to have, knowing that we'll be with God in heaven one day, is really a good message. If you haven't listened, you should go listen to it. A good message from a very encouraging passage in Romans. And now following that, Paul is anticipating questions from the readers. I don't know if you remember this, but this is kind of what he does. He'll say something and because he's not there in person, because they didn't have a phone call or Zoom to set up, like, "Hey, I'm going to tell you a bunch of stuff, and then if you have questions come," he's like, "I've got to do it all at once. So I'm just going to assume that you're going to ask these questions." And so he's set a bunch of things in chapter 8, and now he's just anticipating certain questions, and he's going to answer those questions. So he's saying, "Well, if it's all good, then what about Israel? Is Israel all good too, since they are God's people? if they are God's people, then why do they have to face judgment? And if this sounds vaguely familiar, it's because Paul has addressed this before in this letter, and therefore we have addressed this in our series before, but each time it's from a slightly different angle.
And today, in chapter 9, the tone of these questions is, "Is God good if Israel gets punished?" Is God a good God if Israel also faces the wrath of God? Just a heads up, scholars say that chapter eight, the one we just finished last week, if that's the most important chapter in Romans, chapter nine is the most difficult chapter because it deals with God's sovereignty and goodness and his mercy and justice. I just want to remind us that Paul didn't write any of this to be divisive, but to encourage believers about who God is and what he does. Often people pit God's mercy and justice against each other, or don't feel like they can coexist at the same time. But let's remember that all of who God is, and all of his character is good. He is a good God, all of him. We are finite creatures trying to understand our infinite creator. So that can be hard for us to comprehend sometimes. How does mercy and justice work? But let's assume, let's start at the place that God is a good God. So we're going to dive into our chapter this morning. Like I said, he's asking some questions. And the first question that he's going to ask is, "Did God fail?" Did God fail Israel? I want to read our first couple of verses here.
We're going to be in Romans 9, starting in verse 1. "I speak the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit. I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption of the sonship. Theirs is the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God overall, forever praised. Amen. It is not as though God's word had failed, for not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Lord, because they are his descendants, are they all Abraham's children? On the contrary, it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. For this was how the promise was stated, at the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son. Not only that, but Rebekah's children were conceived at the same time by her father Isaac. Yet before the twins were born, or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose and election might stand, not by works, but by him who calls, she was told the older will serve the younger, just as it is written, Jacob I love, but Esau I hated. All right, there's a lot, chapter nine, difficult chapter. In the first five verses, Paul is in anguish over why more Jewish people do not believe in Jesus. He's anticipating the church in Rome asking the question, "If it's all good, if we are more than conquerors," going back to the last chapter, "then why aren't more Jews saved? If the Jews were God's chosen people, the Israelites, why did so many of them fail to believe in Jesus?”
And to probe even deeper in that question, he's really getting at the thought that we we humans love to ask, which is, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that more Israelites don't believe? Is it the Jews' fault, or is it God's fault? Did God fail the Israelites? In those first five verses, he's explaining that God is not at fault. He's reminding the church that the Jews had everything on their side. They had the adoption into the family of God available to them by heritage, which means They grew up in the culture hearing about God, God as their God. They had all the stories of how God had worked and all those Old Testament stories. They had all those available to them. They had the covenants between them and God. They received the law of God. They had the temple, they had the promises of God, and they are the family from which Jesus came. So they had every opportunity to know Jesus, to receive Jesus, but they did not. And this deeply pains Paul. He shows this Christ-like mindset by saying, "If I could, if I could be cut off, "if I could be the sacrifice, and if I was cut off, "but it meant that every other Israelite, every other Jew, "be a part of God's family, I'd do it." But it sadly doesn't work like that. And he knows that, he's in anguish over it. But he's saying that Israel had so much opportunity, and that makes the reality of their situation, some of them being separated from the family of God that much more painful. So again, who's at fault? Is it the Jews or is it God? And he says in verse six, "It is not as though God's word had failed, "for not all who are descended from Israel are Israel." Paul's making it clear, it's not God's fault. Let's answer the question right now. It's not God's fault. He did not fail Israel. He's reminding the people that, this goes all the way back to the Old Testament. There's a distinguishing factor being made between those part of the lineage of Abraham, of those who embraced faith and those who didn't. It says in verse eight, in other words, it's not the children by physical descent who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.
And Paul points to Abraham's promised son Isaac as an example and the two sons that Isaac had. Both Jacob and Esau were natural descendants of Isaac, promised to Abraham. but only Jacob bore the promise of nationhood. See, Jacob was one who embraced faith in God, and Esau sold his inheritance and embraced sinful impulse rather than faith. So Paul's making the distinction that not all of Israel has their faith in God. Some have embraced sin, and that's sinful impulse. To say that God is at fault for more Israelites not believing is to question the power and sovereignty and goodness of God. And Paul wants to be clear that God did not lose Israel, that somehow God was not powerful enough to keep them, but instead Paul is saying that they chose sin and rejection of Christ. Paul's relaying the truth that God has never had a peaceful relationship with the Esau's of this world, those who routinely choose sin over God. But God has a peaceful relationship with the Jacobs, those who are embracing their faith in God. So first question, did God fail and who's at fault? God did not fail, but Israel, the Jewish people, are at fault. Second question that Paul anticipates the church asking is, is God unjust? Let's continue reading in verse 14 when it says, "What then shall I say? Is God unjust? Not at all. For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh, "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden. Alrighty. Remember, God is good.
Paul's asking the question, "Is God unfair in how He dispenses His mercy?" Is God unjust? Let's just pick apart that question and what's at stake here. By definition, mercy is something that is undeserved. You don't deserve mercy, it's a gift from people, or in this case, from God. So God is completely fair in whom He gives mercy to. He is all wise, He is good, and He is completely fair in who receives His mercy. Paul then quotes Exodus in this quote of Moses, and the scene here really quickly is when God is introducing Himself to Moses for the first time. In fact, it's the first time He's introducing Himself to anyone. Before this moment in Exodus, people just refer to God as the God of Abraham, the God of Jacob. He doesn't yet have a name. They just know that Abraham and all of his of his descendants worship this God. Well, when Moses has taken the Israelites out into the desert, and then Moses is up on the mountain, and he says, "God, I wanna know you. "Can we meet face to face?" And God says, "No, we can't do the face to face thing. "You can't handle that. "But I will tell you my name, and I'll tell you who I am." It's a very powerful, it's a whole 'nother sermon. I can't get into it all, but this is the moment that Paul is quoting. And God says to Moses, "My name is Yahweh, first time." And he says right after that, so that's my name, and this is who I am. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It's the first time that we hear who God is and what he does. And so we know in this conversation that Paul is referencing now about Israel and who receives salvation, this is exactly in God's character. This is who he's been always. He doesn't say it's only gonna be Israel that receives salvation. He implies that some will not experience His mercy. Paul then follows that question with, is God unjust in holding Israel or anyone accountable in rejecting His offer of salvation? And he answers this with the example of Pharaoh from Egypt, in this time that Moses had appealing to Pharaoh to let God's people go. Do you remember that scene? It's going back to Exodus in the Old Testament. Israelites are enslaved, and God sends Moses an heir and says, "Hey, I want you to go ask Pharaoh "to let my people go." And there's an interesting play here throughout Exodus of what happens to Pharaoh. The scene is about who is rejecting who. Who rejected who first? Did Pharaoh reject God first, or did God reject Pharaoh first, hardening Pharaoh's heart. So to answer this question, it's kind of like a case study that Paul brings into the middle of his argument here. He says, if we wanna talk about a little bit about how God works, we gotta go back to Pharaoh 'cause this is gonna make it clear. Who rejects who? Does God reject people or do people reject God? And so let's really investigate, and I just wanna, we don't have to turn there. But in Exodus, this is what happens. Moses goes to Pharaoh, and this is kind of the order. Yeah, this is so good. There's so much to cover. This is what happens. Moses has this conversation multiple times about on behalf of God, going to Pharaoh and saying, God wants you to let his people go. In the first five times, Pharaoh hardens his own heart. It says in chapter seven of Exodus when Moses and Aaron go, and they show that they are messengers of God. There's this whole scene with a staff and it turns into a snake and then Pharaoh's like, he experiences this and it says after that, "Pharaoh hardened his heart." And then the first plague comes, or the plague of frogs comes, and after that plague comes, it says that "Pharaoh hardened his heart." His own heart. Then the plague of gnats, chapter 8, "Pharaoh hardened his heart." Then the plague of flies comes, "And hardened his own heart. Now, the next plague happens. It's the plague of dead livestock, but all of Israel's livestock lives. All of the Egyptian livestock dies. This is, again, just God reaching out to Pharaoh saying, "Hey, I'm being serious. You better let my people go." And this time, Pharaoh did not harden his own heart, but it says that his heart was unyielding, which means he wasn't going to stop. He wasn't going to let go of his position of being against God. And then we see what God does.
The next time is the plague of boils, nasty things all over the bodies, and God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Then right after that, Pharaoh hardened his own heart. It says in Exodus 9, 34, "When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again, and he and his officials hardened their hearts. Then we go back, I'm just gonna lay it out, the whole case study. The next part is that God hardened his own heart, or yeah, hardened Pharaoh's heart. And by this time, Pharaoh has developed a pattern of ignoring God, hardening his heart, facing another plague, and still not yielding to God, not changing his mind. And he even says that he has sinned. He knows that he is against God, and yet he is entrenched in his ways. And then, after the plague of locusts, he is crying out for Aaron and Moses to ask God for forgiveness. He says, "I can't handle this anymore. Please ask your God to stop these plagues." He recognizes that he has sinned. And so God takes the plague away. But God hardens Pharaoh's heart. And then there's the plague of darkness and the plague of the firstborn, and after all those, God hardens Pharaoh's heart. Let me fast forward a little bit, and Israel is let go. Pharaoh says, "Yes, go. I can't handle any more of this." And so the Israelites have left the Exodus. They have left Egypt. And in chapter 14 of Exodus verses 5 through 6, we hear this. When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds. pattern of sin comes back. They changed their minds. They had been in line with God's will. Yes, let the people go. But then Pharaoh changed his mind, and he gathered up his army and his chariots. And then a couple of verses later it says that the Lord hardened his heart so that Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, would pursue the Israelites. So I say all that. Here's the tally. Five times Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Four times before God even did anything. and then five times that God hardened Pharaoh's heart.
Why do I share all this? Why is this important? Why does Paul bring it up? It's to help us see that Pharaoh's own choices and God's justice are in line. God's hardening of Pharaoh's heart comes only after Pharaoh has done it first. So God doesn't reject anybody who doesn't reject him first. Their own choices of rejecting God are in line with God's punishment, justice, and wrath. Hopefully we understand this helps us see a picture of God's mercy and justice at work, and how God operates, and when He does harden someone's heart, or spare someone, like it says in this chapter in Romans that God spared Pharaoh for this very purpose that his glory might be seen, when he does that, God is still good. Even if he doesn't save or redeem that person, God is still just and he is still merciful. God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy. So is God just and holding people accountable to their decision. Yes, yes He is. This also shows that salvation is grace from beginning to end. It's Jesus who first reaches out to us and it's only by His grace that we are saved. Jesus reaches out and then we have a choice to respond to the reaching out of of God in a positive way, moving towards Jesus, or in a negative way, moving farther away from Jesus, like Pharaoh did. God first came to him through Moses saying, "Hey, I want you to do this." And Pharaoh took the step away saying, "No, I don't wanna do that. "I'm going farther away from you, God." All right, let's come up for some air for a second. How we doing? That was a lot. Even me right now, I'm like, did that make sense? I hope it made sense. I hope that that provided some clarity as to the conversation that Paul is having in Romans and clarity to how God operates. We know that God is perfectly just and we know that people harden their hearts towards him first, and then God can harden their hearts after that. We also know that God didn't fail.
So, our last question, is God good? And this comes from verses 19 through 24, which read, "One of you will say to me, "then why does God still blame us? "For who is able to resist his will?" And Paul says, "But who are you, a human being, "to talk back to God? "Shall what his form say to the one who formed it? "Why did you make me like this? "Does not the potter have the right to make out "of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use. What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath, prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory? Even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles." So this last question is, you know, again, a bunch of questions that Paul's gonna answer. says, "Is God's decision to only save some inconsistent with His goodness? Is God still good even though some will face His wrath?" And again, I want to pause just as Paul does here and remind ourselves, do we think we are wiser and smarter than God? Paul says in verse 20, "Who are you to talk back to God?" We have to approach the situation trying to understand God rather than already assuming that who He is and what He does is faulty. We also have to remember that God's ultimate end is His glory. God's glory is the most important thing in the universe, and it's what He cares about most. Yes, He loves us, He cares about us a lot, but in a way that only God can, He is all about His own glory. I'm giving all these reminders because the truth is, this is such a tough conversation.
Paul knows it and acknowledges it. And the answer to this question is this, and if you only hear one thing today, let it be this. God is glorified when his mercy is at work, and God is also glorified when his justice is at work. There's usually two reactions to that. Some of us are comforted knowing that God is glorified in both. We appreciate his mercy and we appreciate his justice. We like his justice both equally. Yes, God is glorified in both. For others, it's uncomfortable to hear about God being glorified in His justice and when He exercises His wrath. But it's necessary for us to wrestle with this, these truths of who God is and what He does, and to recognize that He is still glorified even when He is being just and exercising judgment. In verses 23 through 24, Paul is getting at the point that God is God, He is perfect. And even if He did, kind of this hypothetical, if He did, in choosing to show His wrath upon someone like Pharaoh, did all that just to make His glory known, wouldn't He still be good? Is God still allowed to do that? Yeah, He is. Now, the early church wasn't necessarily questioning what happened in Exodus, but are wondering again about Israel and why more of them are not believers. They are wondering, did God predestine Israel to fail? Did God raise up his people just so that they could not accept him? And if so, if that's the case, then is God good in that? Why would God do that? Why would God purposely just raise up a bunch of Israelites to have them not accept Jesus?
And so Paul wraps up this chapter by countering that thought, by reminding the people that Israel rejected Jesus because they refused to humble themselves before God. They refused to receive salvation by faith. They thought they could do it themselves. They thought they could earn it. They thought they didn't need God, which is the age-old, going back to the garden, the original sin, when Adam and Eve took the fruit. "I don't need God. I can be a God. I don't need Him." That's what Israel struggled with, too. Think of all the rejection and sin that Israel did since leaving Egypt, in the desert, having to wander for 40 years because they were not submitting themselves to God, all the problems with the judges and kings and being captured by foreign nations and being in exile. Israel had developed a pattern, just like Pharaoh, of saying one thing but sooner or later sinning against God and rejecting God, hardening their hearts. Their mindset was we can do it on our own. And if we think of the time of Jesus, think of the Pharisees with all their rules and regulations trying to earn their way to heaven, when the whole time all they needed to do was entrust their lives to God. God did not predestine Israel to fail. Rather, chose to reject God and then Jesus over and over and over again. Paul presents this evidence from Scripture that this is always how God has operated, and there's even evidence that God knew this was going to happen, and He foretells about it. So he, in verses 24 through 26, he's referencing Hosea. He says, "I will call My people who are not My people, and I will call her My loved one who is not My loved one." And in the very place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," they will be called children of the living God. So he's saying that God will have compassion on whoever he wants to have compassion on, and that person doesn't have to be an Israelite. That can be a Gentile. That can be someone not of the chosen people.
And then Paul quotes Isaiah referencing that even back then, God was letting people know that only some of Israel will It says in Isaiah, or in our chapter, "Though the number of Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved, for the Lord will carry out His sentence on earth with speed and finality. It is just as Isaiah said previously, unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah." So Paul is relaying to the church in Rome, this is nothing new. The salvation that Jesus brings, it's been talked about for hundreds of years, and the The reactions of the Israelites and the Gentiles was already known by God. And God told us through the prophets that this is how it was going to be. Only some of Israel would believe, and God would then start to welcome Gentiles and other people into his family. He's again emphasizing that becoming a part of God's family has nothing to do with heritage. Just being an Israelite does not mean that you are a part of God's family, but it's all about to do with if you're embracing faith in God. The truth is that while some may be questioning if God predestined Israel to fail, in reality, even though it was Israel who failed and hardened their own hearts, and yet God continued to intervene in his people's lives, continued to have mercy. And if he hadn't, if God had just left Israel alone, it would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah. And any reference in the Bible to Sodom and Gomorrah is a reference to the most evil town and cities ever, towns and cities so evil that they needed immediate destruction. God wiped them off the face of the earth. So he's saying God knew that Israel, not all of Israel was going to believe, but that didn't stop God from still having mercy and continuing to reach out. And if God had just let Israel go, if He had just taken His hands off and said, "You know what? I'm done completely," they would have ended up like Sodom and Gomorrah. That was the route that Israel was headed. They were headed to such evil. But God is so good to continue to reach out to Israel again and again and again. Salvation is only obtained through Jesus, not what Israel thought in trying to earn their way. Israel pursued the law instead of pursuing Jesus. And Paul explains all this to say that God is good, God did not fail and God is just.
So Paul has answered his questions. And what about us today? What should our response be to Paul's words in the letter of Romans? Well, very quickly, there's three things that I think we should have because of this truth right here. And the first is a spirit of humility, a humble heart. Let's not make the same mistake that Israel made, thinking that they could do it on their own, and in so doing, rejecting Jesus. Let's admit our need for God every single day, and live dependent on His Spirit. Let's not harden our own hearts, but remain open and desiring of God's influence and guidance in our lives. We need to have a humble heart. Recognize who is God and who isn't, all of us. Remember our place. Remember that even in seeking to understand God and his ways, we start from a place of knowing that God is good. Be a Jacob, like from this passage right here. Someone who embraces faith in God. Don't be an Esau, someone who gives into sin routinely over and over again. So church, do you have a humble heart? Do you recognize God's goodness and his justice and mercy? Even if you don't fully understand how that works, do you still worship Him and worship the God who is perfectly just and is perfectly merciful? Secondly, be comforted. Know that the work that God has begun in you is one that He will finish. He won't give up on you. Even when you have moments of hardening your heart, we all do it. We have moments where we turn away from God and say, "Oh, I want to do it my way. I'm hardening my heart. I'm entrenched in this moment of sin. Know that He still extends grace and mercy and love to you. God desires and strives to have relationship with you. He wants to bring you closer to Him. So if you're sitting here wanting to know God more, continue to step towards Him, move towards God. When He's reaching out to you, have a positive reaction. Don't turn away. And be comforted in knowing that when we serve and worship God, we are bringing such joy to Him. We worship the One who has defeated sin through His Son, Jesus Christ. So are you comforted in knowing that Jesus is at work in your life? Are you comforted in knowing that He won't give up on you?
Even when you have moments of hardening your heart, he still wants you and he's still pursuing you. And then lastly, our response should be of sharing our faith with other people. When you are a part of God's family, you begin to take on the heart of God. And the heart of God is one who wants people to know him. So we should want other people to know God. That means that you need to share with others what God is doing in your life. It doesn't mean that you're sharing as a perfected work. None of us are perfect. We still are struggling. Life is still messy. We're all works in progress. But we know that God will never give up on us, and we can share that with others. Say, "Hey, God's not giving up on me. "He's still working on me." And I think God wants to work in you too. You just share that God has reached you, and He wants to reach others. You share what you know of God. You don't have to worry about having all the answers. You just share what you know. You testify to what God has done in your life, as little or a lot as that may be. Today's passage is a heavy one, and it's dense, and maybe you're walking away with more questions than answers. But share what you know. Share what you've learned. And be okay with saying, "I don't know." Someone has a question like, "I'm not sure. I'm figuring that out myself." the very beginning of this chapter, Paul says he was in anguish for more people not knowing Jesus. I'll be honest, I struggle with this. I want to have the heart that Paul has, being in such pain and anguish and despair over people not knowing Jesus. Sometimes I feel like my attitude is a little too, I'm just too, it seems like I'm okay with it. I'm like, "Okay, well, if they come to know Jesus, if Jesus is at work, I want to be like Paul. I want to say, "No, I'm upset. I want people to know Jesus. I want to be motivated to reach them, to act out in love and have a desire that they would come to know Him, and I want to be a part of that. I want God to use me and other people coming to know Him." So our prayer as the leadership and pastors of this church is that you are transformed. You continue your transformation in being more like Christ. That God would use all of us for this church and for this surrounding community, that His glory would be known, that God would be glorified and His glory would be saturated here. We are those instruments to reach this community, to reach people in our lives. Don't think it's not you. It's you. God wants to use you.
So let's do that. Let's do this together. Let's do this in faith. But to reach the people in our lives and our community for Jesus with confidence and humility, those things can be done together, recognizing that it is so important that people know who God is. Let's pray. God, thank you for your word and for tough passages like Romans chapter 9 that make us think, that make us pause, and make us try to figure out who you are, God, and how you work. And I pray that in our hearts, in everyone's hearts here who's wondering that, I pray that would still give us peace. That would not be unsettling or upsetting, that we can't really figure out how you're perfectly merciful and perfectly just at the same time, but that you would give us peace in that. Knowing that you are infinite, we're finite. We're not going to fully understand all of who you are, but that doesn't keep us from wanting to pursue you more, to know you more, knowing that it won't be until heaven that we fully, fully understand you. God give comfort to those who are unsettled right now, who need your peace. I pray that your spirit would come to them and comfort them, Lord, that they would know that you are at work in their lives. God, we also pray that you would give us humble hearts, that we would continue to live our lives knowing that You are God, we are not. Help us to keep that perspective. And God, we also pray that You would give us confidence and motivation to share our faith. So often we can just be content with our faith being just, "It's just about me and You, God. I'm just going to go about my day to day, just worried about me." But God, You've put people in our lives. put people in our lives that need to be reached and we can't keep thinking that someone else will do it. So God, stir in us a desire to be a part of the work of your kingdom. We love you God. We come before you humbly and with joy and expectation that you are going to be working in us and through us. We pray this in your son's name. Amen. Thanks for listening. And if you would please take a moment to subscribe and leave an encouraging review to help others find our podcasts on whatever platform you are listening on. We hope you have a wonderful day. We'll catch you next week.