Live Joyfully in Christ’s Finished Work

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Kathleen Nielson
Good to be with you. We get to do something wonderful. In these three sessions of teaching from the book of Romans, we get to stop and fix our eyes on the Triune God. We get to find rest for our souls in God Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we get to start now with Jesus. When I was asked to give this talk, that email came and said, Would you be willing to talk about Jesus? And I immediately responded, yes, I would love to talk about Jesus. So that’s what we get to do. Let’s talk about Jesus. We’re beginning in Romans five with a focus on Jesus Christ, the Son, and the grace given us in him. I have one main goal for this session. This is what I pray that we would go away marveling at how much more we have been given by grace through the Lord Jesus, we heard from James that God gives more grace. Well, Paul will tell us more about more grace in Romans five more and more, may we end marveling at Grace that abounds all the more in Christ our Lord. How much more is kind of a refrain that keeps appearing and reappearing in Romans five, the apostle Paul is like, someone who’s received a gift. And the more he turns it around and looks at it, the more he says, Well, let me tell you what’s wonderful about this gift, this and not only this, but and that and that, and more and more. If I were to stop and tell you about Indonesia, today, where my husband and I spent a great deal of time, I might start by talking about what a lush, beautiful country it is, with a gorgeous assortment of flowering trees, and fruit, fruit like you’ve never seen before. In other places. mangosteen snake fruit lychee fruit, passion fruit, ROM Bhutan, which looks like big hairy strawberries, less fruit. But then then I’d say, oh, but not just that, there’s more, you should see the islands of Indonesia. They say there are 17,000 islands and with all the different coastlines and villages and towns and cities and languages. But then I’d say Oh, but not just that you have got to meet the people. The people are the most beautiful gracious people you’ve ever met. But then I say all but even more. I mean, you should meet my daughter in law who’s from there. She is just the most lovely young woman. But I’d really quickly add Oh, but then there’s my one year old granddaughter, you’ve got to meet her. You’ve never seen big dark eyes like she has. And I would just go on and on with more and more.

Kathleen Nielson
Now, just take a quick first look through Romans five with me before we jump in from the beginning. Look, for example, just look at the end of verse two. Paul has just stated that we believers rejoice in hope. But verse three breaks in not only that, he says there’s more. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings. Verse nine. Look how the Moors start to build up. He writes in verse nine, since therefore we’ve now been justified by His blood much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. But then in verse 10, he goes on, we’ve been reconciled by Christ’s death and much more. He says, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life, but he keeps going, Look at Verse 11, where he breaks and more than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. But that’s not all. There’s more. Look at verse 15. There Paul is comparing Adams trespass that brought sin into the world with Christ’s free gift of grace that brought salvation. And he writes there in verse 15, for many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, of bounded for many, for 17 makes the same comparison. If, because of one man’s trespass death range through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of Grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. But that’s not all. There’s more. Look in verse 20, comes the climax stick. How much more when Paul writes that, where sin increased, Grace abounded all the more, we’ll get there. But first, it’s just good to taste the feel of Paul’s writing. In this section, he’s developing a typical Pauline argument very logical, but into his logic breaks this continual wonder at how much more there is to this gift, more grace, more than we could ever imagine. I pray we go away from this session, marveling together at the abundance of grace who’ve been given in Jesus, grace that abounds all the more how much more? Think of how many things have been limited in your life in recent months? Just think about it, limited travel, limited exposure to people and places limited human touch. That’s been a hard one, hasn’t it? limited supplies of this or that, and on and on. Even though other countries and people experience much greater limitation than many of us do. We are all experiencing new limitations. And it often feels constricting, doesn’t it? Well, here in the Word of God, we are appointed to a supply Unlimited, overflowing more and more of what really matters eternally through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, just a bit of context, before we begin, and you can imagine what I’m going to say having been assigned to speak from Romans five, I’m going to say that we should never study Romans five without studying the whole book, beginning with chapters one to four, the context is crucial. So first, let’s briefly note the context of the whole book. Romans is an epistle written by the Apostle Paul to set forth the gospel of grace for the church to proclaim to all the nations. That’s one way to state the big theme of Romans in simplest form. In Romans, the apostle Paul sets forth the gospel of grace for the church to proclaim to all the nations, Paul is setting forth the gospel of Jesus Christ, that a unified church is to proclaim to the world for the glory of Christ. And how do the parts of this book hold together? For a summary of the main sections of Romans, I think nobody does it better than theologian Christopher ash. Ash says, first of all that chapters one through four of Romans, explain coming under grace. And then chapters five through a explain living under grace. Let me say that one more time, chapters one through four, explain coming under grace. And then chapters five through eight, explain living under grace. So the first four chapters of Romans set forth the truths of justification coming under grace. And then beginning with chapter five, where we are focusing, Paul begins to set forth what it looks like to live under this grace in Christ that has justified us. Now the later chapters in Romans will show the overflow of this grace through the church. But here in chapter five, we’re talking about living under this grace. So you can see then that when chapter five begins with therefore, it’s a big, therefore, it refers to the truth of grace that have been laid out in Chapters one through four verse one says, Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, that is faith in Jesus Christ who has died in the place of a sinner to deserve God’s wrath. That’s the justification that Paul has been explaining so far. I want to stop here and say that if any of you who are listening, either here in this room or online, if any of you do not know this grace in Jesus Christ, then today is a good time. Today is the best time to stop and ask God for it. He gives this grace freely in Christ, enabling us to acknowledge our sin and our need for rescue from the guilt and punishment of that sin. Jesus took our sin on himself, died in our place to save us we come to God by faith in Christ our Savior who not only died, but who rose for In the grave who conquered death so that in him we can have eternal life. And so that we can live under the grace that this book of Romans is talking about, you can ask God for this grace. As chapter five begins to explore what it’s like to live under grace, it turns out to be really amazing grace, more amazing than we could ever imagine. Chapter Five has two main sections. First, verses one through 11 Give us the overflow of grace in our hearts. And then verses 12 through 21 Give us the overflow of grace in the human race. So verses one through 11 are the more personal benefits of grace, the overflow of grace in our hearts. And then verses 12 through 21 of the larger benefits for all humanity. Both sections set up logical arguments and in both, as we saw, Paul keeps breaking in with these exclamations that show how much more there is to grasp. Once we begin to see the reach of this grace, first into the depths of human hearts, verses one through 11, and then into the whole human race, verses 12 through 21. So let’s start with the first section verses one through 11. Let’s read these verses this is the word of the Lord.

Kathleen Nielson
Therefore since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly, For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps were a good person, one would dare even to die. But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since therefore we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God? For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life, more than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation. In this first section, Paul shows what it’s like to live under grace by explaining grace in relation to the past, the present and the future, whatever direction we turn in luck, as believers we find what grace more grace, verse one starts by addressing the past we have been justified by faith. That’s what has already happened. When by God’s grace, we believed in Jesus who took our sin and died in our place, we have been justified, we’ve been made righteous in God’s sight. But the ramifications for that past act spread into our present reality. Verse one goes on we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Having peace with God means we are now reconciled to God or we should say God is reconciled to us His wrath has been poured out on Jesus in our place. God’s act of reconciliation stands now because he did it. And it can never be undone. The whole section ends with again, emphasizing this reconciliation. See there in verse 11. This is where we live now as those who have now received reconciliation. Back in verse two, Paul goes on to explain what this present peace with God looks like. Verse two through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand we have access. We don’t have to cower and beg and plead as we try to come into God’s presence. We get to stand there, we get to live there. That special section of the temple called the Holy of Holies is no longer shut off from us when Jesus died, you know that curtain was torn apart. And by faith we belong there by faith in Christ in whom we draw near as part of the family. We have access by faith into this grace verse two says, we get to live in Grace like air we breathe in deep, and it never runs out. For you as a believer, I think the question is not only do you know about this present access to God by faith, but are you living in this present reality? Are you living under this grace that gives you access right now to the God of the universe, through this Risen Lord Jesus, who is at this moment interceding for you in that holy place, giving you continual access, welcoming you in? Are you enjoying this access? Do you think of yourself as living in God’s presence? Do you think of Christ and speak of him

Kathleen Nielson
often, like, like you would somebody who’s in the room with you? The Scottish 19th century preacher, William Symington, wrote about this constant access to God that we have through Christ, in Simon Ted’s words, and I quote, not a day, not an hour goes by without us having business in the court of heaven. requests to make sins to be pardoned, needs to be supplied iniquities, to confess with shame, blessings, to acknowledge with gratitude, don’t you love that not an hour goes by, without us having business in the court of heaven. I don’t know about you. But if my cell phone access is cut off, for even an hour, I tend to be seriously bothered. Now a little lost really anxious to get the connection fixed. Maybe we need to think a little more about just what we believers have access to. But then there’s the future. We’ve got past justification and present reconciliation with full access, and then future hope. There at the end of verse two, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. This is the complete framework of our lives culminating in hope of glory that is of full shining in God’s fully revealed presence with no sin present anymore. That’s why it says rejoice in hope of the glory of God, because we are overjoyed to think of the glorious inheritance waiting for us when we see Jesus face to face. And finally, when Jesus returns to the earth, and we get to live with him, and with all his saints in the new heaven and earth, do you rejoice in that hope? Does that help shape your desires now? Is this framework of past, present and future the framework that holds your life together? Now? When you look back? What do you see? Do you see grace? When you look around you in the present? Do you know grace? When you look ahead, Are you overwhelmed with the grace that will be fully revealed? If we are regularly doing business in the court of heaven, as that Scottish preacher put it, then our eyes will adjust to that heavenly perspective. And no matter what direction we look, we’ll find grace. You know, we don’t find grace all by ourselves, do we? The pronoun that Paul uses in this passage is the first person plural. It’s we, we as God’s people hold on to this framework together, we look back together to God’s work of justification of a people for Himself throughout biblical history. We look back together every time we share the Lord’s Supper. Every time we hear the word of truth preached in our local congregations. Every time we study the Bible together, we’re looking back together right now. And we’re enjoying access by faith together right now into this grace in which we stand together. And we’re rejoicing in future hope together, helping each other know the strong, secure framework of past, present and future grace in which we all live as followers of Jesus. We do this as a people together, strengthening each other along the way. But that’s not all. There’s more. Verse three says not only that, not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings. Paul says we don’t rejoice just in future hope. We rejoice even now in present suffering. Why? Because of the process of grace in us that he explains in these verses. It’s similar to the process unfolded in the book of James, as verse three suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character character produces hope, all of which happens as we live in this grace given to us in Jesus, the overflow of grace is that powerful, even in suffering on the way to future glory.

Kathleen Nielson
In the middle of this first section, Paul stops to revel in this overflow of grace in our lives in verses five through eight here in the center, he stops to talk about God’s love poured out for us. God’s love is at the heart of this little midsection. bookending it sort of in verse five, and then in verse eight, God’s love is the key to experiencing this overflow of grace, even in suffering. Verse five completes the process of suffering that ends in hope, saying that hope does not put us to shame that is, hope will never fail, or let us down. Why? Because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who’s been given to us. We could spend a whole rest of our time on that verse. If you’ve put your faith in Christ, your justifier by God’s grace, then according to this verse, God has poured his love into your heart by giving you His Holy Spirit to dwell in you. Your heart has been changed. Your heart is now a holy place. Our hearts together as God’s people, His Church are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. We live in grace in His very presence together. God loved you. He loved me so much that he poured his own life into our hearts. It’s a picture of such abundance here, love poured out. But how did God do that? verses six to eight explain how and if you look at those verses, you see one word repeated over and over again, what isn’t? Die. This love was poured out to us through the death of God’s own Son on the cross and such love. Not for wonderful us or worthy us, but what weak, ungodly us For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. We could humanly imagine dying for a good person, Paul says But verse eight, God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us there it is the key. God poured His love out for us at the cross as Jesus died for us at that God appointed climax of redemptive history. And through faith given to us by God’s grace, we receive that love and receive God’s life, through His Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the risen Christ who died for us. That’s the heart of this section. That’s the so much more of the section. That’s the abundant love the overflowing grace that not only holds the framework of our lives together, but that transforms even present suffering into rejoicing. Now, before we get to glory, you know, one of the days is I was working on this talk, I had a lovely break with a few of my granddaughters as we kind of gathered around my kitchen island. They stopped by after school just for a quick visit, I can still see them gathered, and they were they were devouring bowls of big juicy strawberries and raspberries. As we talk to their mouths, we’re kind of getting a little red. And so as we were chatting, my third grade granddaughter, volunteered to say her Bible verse of the week, and I said I’d love to hear it. And lo and behold, out of her mouth came Romans five, eight. But God shows His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. I had been studying and studying this passage. And then as I heard those words come out of the mouth of a child. It sounded so simple, and so beautiful. It’s deep. But it’s clear and it’s simple.

Kathleen Nielson
A child can get it we can get this and this is the heart of what we need to get God shows His love for us this way. Well, we were still sinners, Christ died for us amazing. The final verses of this section nine to 11 kind of review the past present future framework of grace with added wonder as Paul puts them all together. Verse nine puts the past and future together since therefore we have now been justified by his blood there’s the past, much more shall we be saved. There’s the future by him from the wrath of God, based on our past justification, how much more certain and how much more amazing is this future hope of facing no wrath at God’s final judgment. But then he goes back and reviews the timeframe, again, one more time wondering even more deeply versed and For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God, by the death of his son, there’s the past, much more now that we are reconciled. There’s the present show we be saved by His life. There’s the future, we’re saved. Now, yes, but we will finally be saved in the end. But that’s not all. The section ends with more than that, again, even more than all the past, present and future truths on which we base our lives as believers. There’s this present overflow right in the midst of an overflow of rejoicing right now, as we live in grace, even while suffering, verse 11. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Both of the big parts of this chapter and using the words through Jesus Christ our Lord. That’s the point of grace. It’s all about what Jesus has done by dying for us on the cross there’s, there’s a grace we get to live in and fully rest in right now in our Lord Jesus. We live in that grace as individuals saved by faith in Jesus and we live in that grace as a people called out by him to be his own. So the chapter broadens. Now, it moves from this first sections, more personal overflow of grace in our hearts, as we’ve seen in verses one to 11, to the second sections, larger overflow of grace in the human race, for all who believe, as we’ll see now in verses 12 through 21. Now, just one quick note, it is true both for the section we have just discussed and for the second section, that hours and hours should be spent expounding these texts. The verses are so dense with rich theological words and complex phrases that call for careful loving analysis. Trying to cover Romans five in one session is like trying to eat up all the big buffets from a month long cruise on the first night.

Kathleen Nielson
What we are doing in this session is is an overview that aims to get the main point right and the main flow hopefully, we will all be going back to the book of Romans regularly and in detail to study these beautiful doctrines of grace. But hopefully an overview like this can help us remember the beautiful big picture of the book, and encourage us to keep going back to dig in deeply. With that said, let’s read verses 12 through 21. This is the word of the Lord. Therefore, just as sin came into the world, through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned, for sin and deed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who ascending was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the One who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass, for if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if because of one man’s trespass death range through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ, therefore is one trespass led to condemnation for all men. So one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience, the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience, the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, Grace abounded all the more, so that as Sin rained and death Grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. This second section shows the overflow of grace in the human race by comparing two men, right, Adam and Christ. The main point is that through Adam’s trespass, sin and death entered humanity, but through Christ’s free gift of grace came righteousness and life for those who believe Christ is like a second Adam, in that what he did also affects many coming after him. Both of them serve as a kind of head of an entire flow of people with Christ reversing the deathly flow that Adams started. But of course, the two men will not be equivalent, there’s going to be a how much more here as well. The second section, as you probably noticed, has three main paragraphs. First, verses 12 to 14, Adam brought death. Second, verses 15 to 17, Christ brought something different. And then third, verses 18 to 21. Look at the parallel look at the parallel. Let me repeat that one more time. First, 12 to 14, Adam brought death, second, 15 to 17, Christ brought something different. And then third, verses 18 to 21. Look at the parallel.

Kathleen Nielson
First paragraph begins verse 12. With another therefore, it’s pointing back to the need for reconciliation that we humans had because of our sin. And where’d that sin come from? Paul tells us it’s from Adam, the representative head of the human race through whom as verse 12 says, sin came into the world and then spread like the worst virus imaginable, spread to all human beings, infecting the whole human race forever. Now, we know of course, that Eve, Adams wife sinned first. But we also know that God gave to Adam the law, about not eating from that tree. God gave the Law to Adam first and to Adam alone. And we know that after they both sinned, God called Adam to answer for that sin. Adam was the responsible, his historical representative of humanity, both as we read it in Genesis and as the Apostle Paul explains it in the New Testament. Now in verse 12, Paul is obviously leading into a comparison, just a sin came into the world through one man, but he gets kind of quickly sidelined, as Paul tends to do, right. And he does not complete his comparison until way down in verse 18. We’ll get there. In this first paragraph, verses 12 through 14, he never gets farther than telling us about Adam, and how Adam brought sin into the human race, even before Moses before the law was given officially to condemn people, even then people were sinful death reigned from Adam on, says, Paul. But the second paragraph of this section starts out with a big but this paragraph starting verse 15, contrasts Christ with Adam, telling us that Christ brought something very different. Notice that in verse 14, Paul calls Adam a type, a, a pattern, or a model of the One who was to come that is Christ, the second Adam. Christ. The second Adam undid what the first one did, but but he did much more. The first Adam brought sin and death to rule all humanity. The second Adam, Christ brought the free gift of grace that is righteousness and life to those who believe in Him. Five times in this little paragraph, we come across the words free gift, do you see it? Free gift, that means grace? That’s what grace is right and undeserved gift when we could never pay for the words free gift and grace just thread their way physically through these verses standing out against the trespass of Adam. It becomes clear that the grace that comes from Christ is not just different From the depth that comes from Adam, it is much more amazing it is so much more.

Kathleen Nielson
Verse 15 begins the contrast, the free gift of Christ is not like the trespass of Adam. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ abounded for many. The point is that the power of grace to give life is much greater than the power of sin to bring death. Now, many commentators advise us not to get caught up in the terms many and all throughout the sections, we have to take them in context, understanding that Paul sometimes uses them interchangeably. And of course we understand from Paul’s complete teaching that literally all human beings have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, whereas only those who by Grace put their faith in Christ are made alive in him all those in the sense of all whom God calls. Again in verse 17, were asked to contrast the death that ranged through one man Adam, with much more abundant grace and free gift given through the one man Christ. And here the contrast is extra striking. Did you notice it? For in verse 17, on the one hand, death reigns. But look, what is it that rains on the other hand, or rather, who rains pictured as raining are those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness. In other words, God’s redeemed people are raining through the power of the one man, Jesus Christ. So on the one hand, and death takes over and rains, on the other hand, how much more wonderful, the whole family of restored human beings rain, all made new and righteous through the death of the one perfect God man, Jesus Christ, the second Adam, whose work is so much different, so much greater than the first one, that we can hardly use enough expressive words to express it. We’re meant to read that second little paragraph and just marvel. Finally, in the last paragraph, verses 18 to 21, we stand back and look at the parallel. Paul is summing up here, contrasting the first and the second Adam. Therefore verse 18, begins and Paul proceeds to set up the to Adams look at them one more time, as one trespass the first Adams led to condemnation for all men. So one act of righteousness, the second Adams leads to justification and life for all men. Verse 19, as by one man’s disobedience, the first Adams, many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience, the second Adams, many will be made righteous, the parallel is so clear, but the conclusion interprets the parallel and lets us see how much more weight and glory there is on the side of the second atom, they are not equal. Verse 20, makes it clear even when the law came and showed up sin for the evil it is that sin could never overcome grace, where sin increased, Paul says, Grace abounded all the more. Sin can reign in death, Paul writes, but grace reigns through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Jesus comes life that overcomes death. It is greater. Sin is deep and dark, but grace is greater. Whatever you’ve done, as you sit listening today, God’s grace is greater than your sin.

Kathleen Nielson
Where sin increased, Grace abounded, all the more. Nothing can overcome the grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord, these verses should cause us to marvel at the abundance of grace, overflowing grace for us to live by now, as the first sections of this chapter showed and Grace here in the second part that overflows. Think of it from our Savior to all the human beings who trust in Him through faith in God’s Word. We have a picture here. We’re given a picture of the human race divided into two parts, but not divine. Did according to the divisions with which we often struggle. These days, contemporary sociologists and political theorists are fond of dividing humanity into all sorts of different groups for various purposes. But here, according to the apostle Paul, other sorts of divisions are actually overwhelmed by this one great division between the children of first Adam, and the children of the second. Paul’s energy in the book of Romans is not only to make this division clear, but to show the free gift of grace in Christ that God is offering to all the peoples of the world, all the nations, and that those who are privileged to live in this grace, get to proclaim to all those who need to hear about it. So one main question to take away from Romans five, are you amazed at the grace of God that abounds more and more through Jesus? In the midst of all the limitations of your sinful self and this sinful world? Are you overwhelmed by how much more grace there is moment by moment in our Lord Jesus who died for us whose love has been poured into our hearts? Does this grace, past, present and future not only hold your life together? But do you even rejoice in God in the midst of the hardest parts of the flow right now? Because you’ve been reconciled forever to God in Christ? Are you living in grace? Are you doing business every hour in the court of heaven? Do you marveled to yourself at the truth that there is right now more grace in Christ, our Savior even more? It doesn’t run out. But even more than that, do you marvel at this flow of grace and human beings around you? And even all over the world? Do you have eyes for what God is doing as he makes his grace abound all the more in people of all nations who are coming to him and filling out this redeemed people he’s calling to himself in Christ? Do you long for the sin that rains in the children of the first Adam, to be conquered by the abundant grace offered as a free gift in the second Adam in the Lord Jesus? Are you showing and telling that grace in every way you can, more and more we can draw on that grace and live in it and tell it to the end and it will never run out? Where sin increased, Grace abounded all the more. We’ll be saying it to the end and for all eternity, let’s go out of your Sangha today. How much more through Jesus more grace? Let’s pray. Lord, God, thank You that well, we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Thank you for your grace to us in Jesus may we rest in that grace. Thank you for the abundance of that grace, grace that abounds all the more for all the nations of the world. Give us a heart we pray to receive this grace. lives that show it and tongues that proclaim it near and far, for the glory of Jesus we pray, Amen.