Dr. Kevin DeYoung | No Partiality

Sunday Morning, May 10, 2026

Given by Dr. Kevin DeYoung | Senior Pastor, Christ Covenant Church

No Partiality
Romans 2:11-13

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Let's ask for the Lord's help. 

Gracious heavenly Father, we have already heard in this book that your wrath is now being revealed – at present being revealed – against ungodliness and unrighteousness. We have already heard several times that we, your fallen creatures, are without excuse, perhaps even storing up wrath for the day of judgment by hard and impenitent hearts. But we have also heard that there is a righteousness not our own. And we have heard the good news that the gospel is the power, your power, unto salvation for everyone who believes. And so, our simple, heartfelt prayer this morning is that we might be among those who believe. We would not be impenitent and hard-hearted, storing up wrath, but we would believe and so know the gospel power for our salvation. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen. 

Our text is Romans 2:11-13. I'll start the reading at verse 6. 

“He will render to each one according to his works. To those who by patience and welldoing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek. But glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality, for all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.”

I don't want to brag, but when I fly American Airlines, I board in group two. Pretty special. Some of you fly even more, and you go in group one or first class. Or, I don't even know if I've ever met you – your picture should be hanging somewhere – if you are ConciergeKey, and you're one of the billion-mile frequent flyer travelers. It's always a little bittersweet if you get that next status level, because it gives you amazing perks like sitting on the plane longer. You do get to have luggage, though you never want to fly with luggage, but when I get to the end of that cycle – little embarrassed to admit that sometimes I – okay, all the time – I look, and I see how close I am to the next status, to the Platinum Pro. So, this past year, I was a few loyalty points short. Well, you don't want to just go on the plane just for that. So, but now you can go through the airline online store. So, I went there, and you get points that way. I says, "Is there anything remotely that I need?" So, I bought a bunch of cat food to just put me over the top, so I can board in group two instead of group three. It's very special. Now, when I have the blessing of flying with my wife, you won't be surprised if you know Trisha and you know me that she is always eager to let other people go in front of her on the plane. I am not. I am ready, pacing, ready to go when they start calling group one. I'm ready to get right in the line, because I’m not group two for no reason. And we agree on most things, but my wife and I do not agree on airport etiquette – how fast one should walk through the airport. I'm a very, very fast walker. And how early to get in line so that you can be ready to get your seat, because you never want to have to make your – with all the riffraff, all the hoi polloi in the back of the groups seven, eight, and nine. It's just unseemly to have to board with those people. So, you get on, because you have the status. That's the whole point. Somebody – and once in a while if I get a bump to first class, I just come home, and I say, "I feel like I belong there. I just feel like really belong there" – someone treats you special. It's not that special, but it's a little bit special. And you get TSA PreCheck, and now they have Pre-check Touchless, probably invented by a Dutch person. No, no, nobody. You just go right through. You don't have to show anything, and you just get on, and you get to move through quickly, and there you are when they call group two, and you get to stand up, and when my wife travels with me, she gets to ride in on my coattails though she doesn't deserve it. She gets to be group two, because we're supposed to get special perks. The whole idea is, “Finally someone treats me with partiality.”

Now that's fine for airlines to have their loyalty points. We understand in the military it's going to be a very deliberate system of discipline and rank, and it's fine in life. Lots of times you make your way in life by connections. We all find that to be true. It is who you know who gets your resume to be looked at or gets you in the door or gets you in the club. That's the way life works. But before the law, there is supposed to be no partiality. Now, we understand that we live among fallen people, and that's not the way things always work, but that is the goal. That's the ideal. That's why if you ever see the statue of Lady Justice, she usually is holding scales to balance right and wrong and give a fair measure and holding a sword, because justice executes and administers what is right and punishes the wrongdoer. And then, usually, Lady Justice has a blindfold, because justice is supposed to be blind to the person who you are, where you came from, where you went to school, who your mommy or your daddy is or you don't even know them, and how much money you make, and whether you're my friend or not. Justice is supposed to be blind. That's the ideal, and that's God's standard. If it's true as an ideal before the bar of human justice, it is absolutely always true before the bar of God's perfect justice. 

We've been dealing with a courtroom scene here in Romans chapter 2. Paul is explaining how God, the judge, judges human beings. And we've seen three principles. I haven't enumerated them as such, but we've already seen two, and this morning we come to the third principle. So, you see in verse 2, here's the first principle by which God judges. Verse 2, “We know that the judgment of God rightly”– Rightly. “According to truth” is how you could translate it literally from the Greek, that God judges according to truth. So, that's the first principle. God always judges according to truth. He doesn't make mistakes. He doesn't have to guess. He doesn't have to rely on circumstantial evidence. He sees all. He knows all. And yet, amazingly, verse 4, he's patient. He waits. Your heart may be hard, and then it renders his justice even more justified that he has waited so long, and yet there is impenitence – human beings storing up wrath for themselves. So, he judges rightly. 

The second principle we saw last week in verse 6, “He will render to each one according to his works.” And I made the argument, though there are good arguments on both sides, that that paragraph (7-10) is not about the judgment according to works to see if we have the evidence of having been justified, though that is taught in the Bible. But rather, I argued that 7-10 is the same point that we'll see here in verse 13, that only those who are doers of the law will be justified – namely, none of us. God judges according to works. He will repay to each person what he deserves. No one can say after God administers his justice that I'm somehow being treated unfairly, or I am not getting what I deserve. God judges rightly, number one. He judges according to works, number two.

And here's the third principle: verse 11, “He judges without partiality.” That is, he is no respecter of persons. Now, this Greek word translated “partiality” occurs in Greek literature, as far as we can tell, for the very first time in the New Testament. In fact, there's almost no other use of this word outside of the New Testament. It seems that Christians coined this word from a phrase made up of two words in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, that this was such an important idea for Christians in the early church that they made up this new Greek word. And it comes from two words, as far as we can tell, in the Greek translation of the Old Testament meaning “to receive the face” or “to regard the face.” And you can understand how that is translated here as “partiality.” If you are partial to someone, you are making a judgment by receiving their faith, by regarding their faith, by external appearances, by who they are, perhaps someone special. Sometimes if I speak at a conference, and I'm not paying attention, and you're supposed to wear the wristband, and they'll have people walking into the conference hall, and there's guards or volunteers there and everyone checking for the wristbands, and then I don't have one. And then it's always the next moment, am I going to feel rather proud when they say, “Oh, wait a minute. Oh, you're one of the speakers. I’m so, so sorry” – or, just as often, no idea who I am and then that's good for my humility, and they might say, “You still need a bracelet,” and I got to go in and find one. Usually there's somebody there who says, "Well, I think he is about to go on, so you should let him in." And I get to go in. And that's partiality, a respecter of persons. You didn't have the requirement. Oh, I see. You can go in, and you've all had similar experience. But when it comes to the judgment seat of Christ, you cannot talk your way out of it. Some of you are talkers, good talkers. You probably sell things. It's good. And you know how to be friendly and affable, and maybe you've talked your way out of some real jams. Well, you're not going to do it here. Maybe you got a nice smile or nice hair. Not going to help you on the day of judgment. Or maybe you don't care about those things, but you have connections. You have a pedigree. You have somebody famous in your family or somebody who gave money to the school, or you're a part of some club, and many times in life you mention that connection, oh by the way, and you name drop, and it gets you in some special place. None of that will help you or help me when we stand before God, who judges rightly, according to what we've done and without partiality. He does not regard the face. He does not look upon us and all of our special attachments or supposedly special connections. Impartial, absolutely. 

Many of you, if you follow golf, you know this famous illustration. In 1956, President Eisenhower, who was a member of Augusta National and golfed there often and had a habit of hitting a wicked slice that would slam into a 60-foot pine tree on the left side of the 17th hole, was tired of hitting that 60-foot pine tree, and he made a motion at a meeting and demanded that the pine tree be cut down. He's a member of Augusta National. He golfs there all the time. He is the sitting president of the United States. He did sort of save the world as commander, supreme commander, of the Allied forces that won World War II only 10 years ago. You know the story. “No! I don't –. No. You saved the world. You're the president of the United States. The tree stands.” I think it did have to come down, or it fell down, several years ago, but it was called “Ike's tree.” Do you think the law of God is less demanding than the law of Augusta National? You think there's more respect of partiality? Eisenhower gets no favors for a tree to be chopped down. You think that we'll stand before God, and he owes us a favor? 

I want you to notice about God's impartiality – I want you to notice that this is a judgment that falls upon the individual. This is very important. We have lots about the importance of community life as Christians. That's true. We just welcomed new members. We believe about the importance of the body and fellowship, all of that. There's lots of good theology. But when you stand before God, Romans is making it absolutely clear you don't get to stand there with your friends. You don't get to come and stand before him with your family. You don't get to say, "I'd like Nana to come. She always went to church. She prayed. She was a great Christian.” Notice verse 6, “He will render to each one” – each singular individual person – “according to his works.” Look at verse 9: “There will be tribulation and distress for every human being.” Verse 10, “but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good.” Paul is underscoring that this judgment scene is not a group project. Some of you loved the group projects in school, because you got to sort of have somebody else do all the work, and you get their grade. I hated group projects at school. Felt like I was doing all the work. You can see why – I see why you're trying to get status on the American. We're getting insight into how our pastor's mind works here. This isn't a group project, when you stand before the judgment seat. This is not a fantasy sports league where you can just sign up for someone else, and if they do something right, you get points. This is not a team sport. Yes, we ought to be into the communal, the corporate life of the body of Christ, the significance of fellowship, maybe even in a right sense that it takes a village or it takes a church – it takes the body of Christ to come around, alongside the family. But when it comes to that moment of judgment, it's you. It's me. By yourself. By myself before the judge. 

You could almost think of this as a sixth sola: Scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, and judgment alone. You stand before God in judgment, and he will render according to your works. Not whether someone paid something. Don't believe in indulgences. Don't believe in purgatory. There's one judgment. Here it is, once for all, and you are rendered according to your works – what you have done, alone. There are so many times in the Bible where God's people presumed upon some special privilege or thought they had some special status. And this, though we know it's the wrong answer, this lives in every one of our hearts. It lives in my heart, lives in your heart. Sometimes it's the presumption that you have a family connection. Think about Nadab and Abihu. They were sons of Aaron, the first high priest. They were struck dead in Leviticus chapter 10 for offering strange fire that God did not authorize. And Aaron wasn't even allowed to weep for his sons, as if to reinforce the lesson there, that your sadness is not as significant as God's glory being blasphemed. Or think about another priestly sons, Hophni and Phinehas, sons of Eli the priest. They were killed for eating meat that they weren't supposed to eat, for being greedy with the people who brought in their sacrifices. And it says they slept with women who were dedicated to the service of the tabernacle. Maybe they thought to themselves, "We're the priest's sons. There go Hophni and Phinehas." Just like years earlier, Nadab and Abihu, “Surely we are something special.” And the family connection did not save them from their disobedience and from judgment. Or you think about a religious artifact. If you have something that you cling to, a special memento. Some other traditions have the veneration of relics or icons or something that you hold onto that you think is some conduit of spiritual power, and in 1 Samuel 4, that was the ark. Now, they were commanded to build the ark. The ark was God's idea. And the ark was a symbolic representation, so it's not that we can't ever have a memento or something special, but they thought, “As long as we have the ark, we can't be defeated.” They thought they were special before God's eyes, because they held on to this religious artifact, and they were wiped out, or at least for a time defeated by the Philistines. 

Or perhaps its appearance. We already read this text about when Samuel was looking for David. Earlier, the first king, Saul, it said that he was more handsome in appearance than any other man in Israel, and he was a head taller than everyone. When Saul was made king, everybody said, “Obviously that's the – I mean, that is our looks-maxing king.” Did I use the right phrase? I don't know. That guy is all about it. He's a head taller than everyone. He's the best-looking guy in the kingdom. And it didn't help him. All the people may have still looked at him and said, "Oh, but he looks like a king. Look at how handsome, and the jawline and the hair." Think about later – David's son, Absalom. Half of the kingdom went after Absalom, because he had the beautiful, flowing locks and was so drop-dead handsome in the kingdom. What good did that hair do? It got him tangled up in a tree before he was killed. Appearance is not going to help you. If you think you have pretty privilege, enjoy it for a time. It’s not going to help you before the judgement seat. 

Or maybe it's a religious building. Again, we love – I love religious buildings. I love religious architecture. I think churches are places set apart for some of the most important things in all of life. Baptism, weddings, funerals, to hear the Word of God. So, these are special buildings. And yet, we should not think because we have a building that that makes us right with God. Jeremiah 7:4 – Jeremiah says, "Do not trust in these deceptive words. This is the temple of the Lord." The temple of the Lord. The temple of the Lord. Because Jeremiah said, "God is coming for judgment." And you know what? The people said, "Uh-uh, not us. Have you seen our temple?" There are people all across this city. They may have the most beautiful church building. They may have an endowment that can keep them running forever and ever. They may think, "Well, I go to that church. It's a beautiful church, this historic church.” The temple, the temple, the temple, Jeremiah says. That’s not going to help you when judgment comes. 

Or God's people often thought that because they were the chosen people, the treasured possession, they were Israel, not the nations, that God would surely not judge them. How many times did the prophets have to tell Israel, "You keep asking for the day of the Lord like it's going to be a good day for you, and it's not.” The day of the Lord is the day when God comes to judge the wicked. And all throughout the Old Testament, God's people are saying, "Yes, bring it on. We want the day of the Lord. This is when God's going to come, and he's going to judge the wicked." And the prophets had to say, "You're right, and are you so sure you're not one of the wicked?" Judgment begins with the household of God. Or think about in the New Testament, how often this is a theme in Jesus’ ministry and teaching. You think of the parables of the laborers in the vineyard. Remember those chaps that got pulled in from the street corner to work in the field, and they were going to get a denarius, a day's wage, and they were there for 12 hours. And then people came all along at different time, and then some came in at the 11th hour. They worked 12 times as much as these yahoos, and they each got a denarius, and they grumbled. And you know what the lesson is? Jesus was teaching them, first of all, about the Gentiles coming into the kingdom, because the Jews thought, “With all that we've been through, all the persecution we've been through, being slaves in Egypt, being captives in Babylon, being oppressed by so many people, now these Gentiles-come-lately get the same denarius that we get?” Jesus was teaching the lesson, “no, this doesn't work by longevity.” Or the Pharisee and the tax collector, as if God grades on a curve: “I thank God that I'm not like other men.” Now, he didn't say, "I thank God that I'm perfect, but I'm not like other men. And I fast and I pray and I give." God grades on a on a curve. And I'm not perfect, but if you compare me to most people – isn't that deep in our hearts? Or not even deep, it's right there on the surface of our hearts. Most of us go through life, and we know better than to say it, but we think, “Yeah, yesterday was not a great day, and that raising my voice was not so good, and I had that one wild season, and I'm not proud of that.” But we think in our heads, “I know what a lot of people are like, and so by comparison, I'm still doing okay.” Jesus said that man did not go home justified. Or remember the rich man in Mark chapter 12, and he says to Jesus – he's very impressed with Jesus. Jesus gives him an answer about the commandments, and this man says that he's kept these commandments. And this man, he understands that Jesus is someone special. He understands something about God. He understands something about the moral universe. He understands something about the law. He's got a lot of things going, and you remember what Jesus says to him? “I tell you the truth. You're not far from the kingdom.” So good news, you're close. Bad news, you're not in. Close counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, though most of us don't use either of those anymore. 

Close. That's what a lot of us think. As long as I'm close on the day of judgment. As long as I got a lot of things right. And Jesus says, "You're not in the kingdom by being close." Or what about Simon Magus in Acts chapter 8? Simon the magician. Simon the sorcerer. Later in church history, the buying and selling of church offices would be called simony after this man, Simon, because he was rich, and he had money, and he thought he could buy the power of the Holy Spirit. Some people think that they can get their way in, that money makes things happen. It just does. It always has, and it always will, except on the day of judgment. Okay, God, I know I've – but let me make you a deal. Let me take out my checkbook. Let me tell you about how I can benefit you. God is no respecter of persons. Your money will not work there. You've all, you know, you've heard the little joke about the man who stands at the pearly gates before St. Peter, and he's tried to lug up, all the way to heaven, all of the gold that he's accumulated. And St. Peter says, "You brought pavement?" You know, you don't need it there. Doesn't help you. 

You notice verse 12 lays out the human race in two categories: those without the law and those with the law. And here we are thinking about the Mosaic law. So, this is another way of saying Jews and Gentiles, Jews and Greeks, just like we've seen several times in this book. Paul uses a similar expression in 1 Corinthians 9 to talk about how he tries to win those under the law and those without the law. There's two categories, and he gives us two important lessons. Here's the first one: God will not acquit you on the day of judgment because you are a religious outsider. Now, this is important. You knew the insider one is coming next, but this one's important, too, because some people think, "Surely God won't judge me, because I haven't had the advantages that so many other people have had. Kevin, you're talking about all the people who got the airline status or got the grades or the looks or the money or the house. I don't have any of those things.” Well, notice what it says here: “They will not be judged by the law” – that expression comes at the end of verse 12, and it's conspicuously absent in the first half – “but they still will perish without the law.” So, these Gentiles are not punished – listen carefully – they're not punished for failing to keep the Mosaic law, about which they knew nothing. So, you say, "Well, then they're saved." No. Think of the whole argument Paul has been making. These Gentiles did not receive the special revelation of the Mosaic law, and so they are not judged by that law, but they are judged by all the other things they did know. That's what Paul has been saying. Chapter 1, verse 19, “What can be known about God is plain to them.” Verse 21, “For although they knew God.” Verse 20, “His invisible attributes have been clearly perceived.” Or at the end of the chapter, verse 32, “Though they know God's righteous decree.” And next week's sermon, verses 14 and 15, “They have the law written on their hearts” – accusing them or defending them, showing that, in their conscience, they still have some awareness of God's requirements. They may not have received all of the 600 laws or the Mosaic Covenant, but they have written on their hearts – you might say written in the stars, written upon their own constitution, as made in the image of God – some knowledge. So yes, religious outsiders, and they too are shown no partiality. Because people think sometimes, well, I didn't grow up in a Christian family. No one brought me to church. I wasn't taught to be religious. I didn't have many good examples. You don't know what it was like. I grew up in a terrible family. I didn't have any privileges. I was dirt poor. I was overlooked. I was discriminated against. I never heard about right and wrong. Well, it's true. Some of us have very different courses to navigate in life, and it's not to make light of those differences. But notice here, you still had the law written on your hearts. There's no partiality for the Gentiles. God does not judge based on what you felt or how hard you tried or how you compare to others from your situation. His judgment is according to what you do. That's the point of verse 13. You see the “for” at the beginning of verse 13 is connecting it to verse 12. Did you do it? Now, as God cares about us and loves us, and as we counsel people, of course, it matters where we're from and what sort of family we've been to and how people maybe have mistreated us, but when you stand before this judgment seat of God, there's no partiality. There's no God saying, "Well, I know you've had a really hard go of it. I know you've been through a lot. I know you didn't have an opportunity, like some people did, to hear about Jesus. Well, you're going to hear about him this morning. God will not acquit you because you are a religious outsider. 

And then second, he will not acquit you because you are a religious insider. And this is often the greater temptation. People like us, we know the right theological answer in the head. We know God doesn't play favorites. We know all that. And yet, we can't help but feel in our hearts that we do come to the courtroom, the divine courtroom, with some advantages – your history, your tradition, the good books that you've read, the family you're a part of, maybe leaders in the church or the denomination or the community or the business world or politics. Or maybe you have an advanced degree, or you've given generously to the church or to good causes, or you've simply been around a long time. I bet it's the case for many people in a church like this that there is some place that you go to where you are given preferential treatment. It might not even be wrong. You know someone. But there's some place that you go to, and it's because of the college you went to or the money that your parents gave or because you look good or you're taller or you're stronger or because you know someone who's in the know – there's some place that many of us go, not everywhere, but someplace where you and I are given preferential treatment. Again, you wouldn't verbalize it, but you sort of think to yourself, “I'm kind of a big deal.” Because of the job you have, where you live in town, who your parents are, the people you know, the sort of vacations that you take, the places you've been to, the travel you can afford, the clubs you belong to. And all of those may be common grace blessings from the Lord. No need to be ashamed of them, but don't think that they give you any advantage before the judgment seat of Christ. And our biggest temptation is that we think, I've been around spiritual things. Surely being around spiritual things – I live in Charlotte, after all – I'm around spiritual things. Surely that counts. That's why verse 13 is so important. You cannot stand before Christ on the day of judgment and talk about what you have heard. It says you will be judged not by what you heard but by what you did. This is the first time, verse 13, in Romans we have the verb – the all-important verb – “to justify,” and we see what the word means in the context of verse 13. It refers to the judicial verdict of God to regard a person as righteous before him. A judicial verdict of God to regard a person as righteous in his sight. And the mere fact that you and I know some truth will not help if you have not obeyed the truth. How does that work if you get pulled over going 70 miles an hour in a 45? “Yes, officer. I have heard many times that the speed limit is 45. I am a very glad hearer of the law. In fact, I don't want to brag, but I helped pass the legislation right here on this street to make this 45. In fact, I have given many important lectures on the significance of traffic laws and how they reduce fatalities. Oh, officer, I am quite familiar with the laws of our local ordinances and our state. So, I'll be on my way.” Does that help very much to be a hearer, to stand before the judge and say, "Your honor, I know I'm accused of many heinous crimes, but I want you to know I have a law degree, and I practiced law for 15 years, and I can explain the statute in great detail, and I have read many scholarly articles on this particular aspect of the law." Now, in those ridiculous circumstances, you would never think to say that, because you understand in making that argument you are making things not better, but worse. Oh, so you have heard? It's not enough to be around spiritual things. Some of the Jews thought, “We've been around it. We have the law. We've been around all the sacrifices. We've been around this whole thing, and we have the food, and we have the holy days.” Paul is saying, "No, no, no. Hearing doesn't count. You won't get in by your nation, by your family, by your profession, by your connections, by your abilities, by your looks, by your reputation, or by being very familiar with the church and sermons and Bible studies and Christian books.” 

As you and I stand before the judgment seat of God, he will not be looking by way of comparison. He does not judge you according to how hard you tried or how close you got or by tracing your family history or by whether the world considered you an important person or a community leader or whether you went through life with many friends and many accomplishments. The standard for all of us, without partiality, will be his perfect and holy law, written in creation, written on your hearts, and written most clearly in the Word of God. The law must be fulfilled. Only doers will be justified. That's what God will be looking for – that one thing. Is this man or woman who stands before me – can I say that he or she was a doer of the law? He kept it continually. She obeyed it down to the letter of the law, from the heart, in every circumstance, day after day, year after year. Yes, this one is a doer. You may enter my heaven. I'm not feeling very confident to stand before God, hoping to be a doer. Maybe some of you grew up in the Mormon faith, maybe a Muslim, or maybe a Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, maybe a legalistic fundamentalist background – whatever species of religion that reinforced to you, you stand before God and he acquits good people. Well, you know what verse 13 says? You're absolutely right. And you know what everything in Romans up to this point says? No chance. That's what verse 12 and 13 – if you grew up without the law, you're going to perish. If you grew up with the law, well, that means you're only going to be judged by that law, because being a hearer doesn't save. You have to be a doer, which means it is the cry of the penitent, faith-filled, born-again child of God, in thinking about that judgment seat, to cry out from our hearts, “Don't look at me! Don't look at me. Look away. Because if you expect to see a doer, you will not see a doer.” That's the heart. That's everything that Paul is driving for, that you and I would have our mouths shut. Say, if he's looking for doers, who can stand? How can this judge, who must be just, the law must be fulfilled, and I'm not a doer? That's the good news that's coming, and it will come and come again and again. Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith” – faith, by faith, not doing, by faith – “we have peace.” All those other religious impulses, you won't have peace. You won't have peace. There's a lot of religions that will claim that they'll help you to live well. They won't help you die well. This is what you want when you have to come to the end. “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” To stand before God, and on that day everything in the heart of the Christian will want to cry out, “Look at him! Look at him. Look away, because you judge with complete fairness and partiality, so don't look at me. Look at Christ.” And by clinging to Christ, there is hope, there is salvation, there is eternal life. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, we give thanks for your holy Word. Would you convict us, lead us to Christ? We're not doers. Not the doers that can be justified. We want to live a life of grateful obedience, but when it comes to the bar of your perfect justice, we know we cannot measure up. We thank you for the gift of your grace. We thank you for all of the advantages you've given us. And yet, help us not to rely on those – only to rely on Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.