God’s Judgement and Gospel (Rom. 2:1-16)

Let us bless and greet one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”  The title of today’s message is, “God’s Judgement and Gospel.”  This week, next week, and last week all will contain words like “Judgment” and “Wrath.”  Why is God continuously giving us these words?  It’s because there’s no way to avoid these except for one.  So, if your life is in one path of answers, then that will be the answers for all of your life.  There’s not two ways; there’s only one way.  If there’s two ways, that’s too confusing.  There’s only one way.  So, God is telling us that there’s nothing else that will ever work.  

Last week, we received the Word, the reason why nonbelievers are in God’s wrath is because of their Original Sin.  In other words, they are in a spiritual state where they do not want God in their hearts, and that brings God’s wrath.  As a result, instead of worshiping God, they worshiped the creation God made, but they are not actually worshiping creation; they are worshiping the devil.  Then, of course the more they worship idols, the more they are filled with evil spirits.  Yes, there are visible idols people bow down to, but it’s whatever I value and think is precious inside.  If I prioritize that above God, that brings God’s wrath, so people go even towards homosexuality, and that desire of not wanting to put God in our hearts results in all of the spiritual, mental, and physical problems of the world.  

1. Person who judges others

  1) Condemning yourself (Rom. 2:1)

    (1) Do the same things (Rom. 2:1)

    (2) God’s judgment (Rom. 2:2)

    (3) Based on truth (Rom. 2:2)

In today’s scripture, we are no longer talking about the Gentiles, but God’s judgment towards the Jews.  The Jewish people believed they were the chosen people of God, and that they were righteous, so they judged and criticized nonbelievers.  God is saying in response that, “You will be judged by the same standards with which you judge others,” and even that will bring about God’s judgment.  The Jewish people received God’s law, and it would be fine if we could live according to God’s law, but there isn’t a single person who can follow God’s law.  There is not a single person who can live by God’s law except for Jesus Christ.  However, the Jewish people were criticizing and judging other people, claiming that they were living righteously while others were not, and God is saying that they, too, will be judged.  

  2) God’s kindness (Rom. 2:4)

    (1) Lead you to repentance (Rom. 2:4)

Rom. 2:4 says that God has not yet brought about His wrath, and it is because God is waiting for you to repent.  

    (2) Contempt for God’s patience (Rom. 2:4)

    (3) Stubborn and unrepentant heart (Rom. 2:5)

In Rom. 2:5 it says, “Because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up against yourself on the day of God’s wrath, when His righteous judgment is revealed,” so even though you are not feeling that judgment now, it will come later.  This was the message given to the Jews.  

  3) Day of wrath (Rom. 2:5)

    (1) Day His righteous judgment will be revealed (Rom. 2:5)

    (2) Storing up wrath (Rom. 2:5)

In Luke 18, there’s a parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, and tax collectors were hated by everybody.  There’s a parable where the Pharisee and the tax collector go to the Temple to pray.  Luke 18:11, the Pharisee stands up to pray, “God, thank You that I am not like other people, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all that I get,” so he is standing before God saying, “I’m righteous.”  But the tax collector stood at a distance; he could not even approach or look unto heaven, and he beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”  To this, Jesus our Lord says, “I tell you that this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified before God, for all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all those who humble themselves will be exalted.”  God has given us the law and the gospel, has called us as a nation of priests, but they say they are righteous.  

But the Bible says that God does not desire our sacrifices because we go before God with our righteousness, and that is not what God desires. God wants humility.  If you ask God to give you mercy, it means you confess you’re a sinner.  Today if you want to have victory in worship, you must know who you are.  If you think, “I don’t have any problems, everything I do turns out well,” then that person does not need grace.  We need to acknowledge that, “Even if those things are true, I still need God’s grace.”  There are people who go to church for a long time and have a lot of knowledge of the Bible, they never miss worship, they give all of their offering and tithe, they do all sorts of things, then it’s easy to think, “I’m okay, because of everything that I’ve done, I think I’m a good person in front of God’s eyes,” but that’s what the Pharisees did, and God is saying, “You don’t know who you are.  Your very nature rejects God.”  You need God’s grace and God is waiting for you to realize your wrongdoing.  

If you go before God’s cross, it means you’re asking Him for mercy; it means, “I’m a sinner, I cannot live without God’s grace,” that is the one who receives God’s grace.  But if everything is going well, there are no problems, and you think you’re living your walk of faith well, that is when problems begin.  So, for humans, our spiritual arrogance is frightening.  When do we get spiritually arrogant?  When everything goes well, when there are no problems at all, then we get spiritually arrogant.  You start to think you’ve accomplished this on your own, and you stand before God like that.  Then, without a doubt, God will make you confirm, God will absolutely make you confirm that you are the creation and God is the Creator.  “You think you’re happy because your life has no problems?  I’ll show you what’s real,” but nowadays, people say, “My life is good if I don’t have problems.” Then, that means if you do face problems, your life is in despair.  But for the people who know and enjoy the gospel, it doesn’t matter to them whether they have problems or not, because I live by faith in Jesus Christ, and God wants us to have that faith—the faith that goes before the cross every day. The one who confesses, “I need the cross of Jesus Christ every day,” that is the one who is blessed.  

    (3) Repay each person according to what they have done (Rom. 2:6)

In the scripture we’re reading, the Jewish people are flinging their righteousness before other people, criticizing and judging others, but God is warning them that they will be judged.  However, God is judging their stubbornness and their unrepentant heart.  God says He will repay each person according to what they have done. You will reap what you sow.  If you continuously plant and sow the gospel, then you will reap the fruits of the gospel.  But if you keep on planting the seeds of your own righteousness, thinking you’re great, then you will reap God’s wrath.  God is telling us that there’s not a single person on earth who can stand correctly before God.  

2. Principle and standard of judgment

My entire family is nonbelievers, and I’ve heard people say things like, “They are storing up wrath in heaven,” but for me, when I was a nonbeliever hearing those words, I thought, “That’s such a rude thing to say.”  There was a pastor’s son who would easily say, “Those nonbelievers are storing up God’s wrath,” but from my perspective, I was thinking, “You’re only a believer because you’ve received God’s grace; those nonbelievers need God’s grace, too.”  But because this person had gone to church for such a long time and he was a pastor’s child, he thought, “Oh, it’s rightful.”  The nonbelievers are suffering because they have not received God’s grace of the gospel, but instead, this pastor’s child is criticizing them saying, “They’re storing up God’s wrath,” and in my heart, that he also needs to go to a mental hospital in order for him to come to his senses.  The only reason he’s not the same as the people he’s judging is by God’s grace.  

  1) Principle of judgment – Actions

Later on, this guy turned out exactly like what he was saying, that’s the characteristic of Pharisees.  If you go to church for a long time and you think that you’re righteous based on all the actions and right things you’ve done, “Oh, look at me, I give my tithe and I fast twice a week.”  He’s essentially saying, “I’m the most righteous one,” but actually this is piling up God’s wrath.  You will come to realize that you cannot live even one breath without God’s grace.  

    (1) Those who are self-seeking and follow evil – Wrath, anger (Rom. 2:8)

Then, what is the principle and the standard of God’s judgment?  It is obedience.  It is what we do in our lives.  God will repay them for what they have done, and what they have done is in Romans 2:8, those who are self-seeking, who reject the truth and follow evil.  For them, there will be wrath and anger, it means they are self-seeking, meaning they are only looking for people who agree with what they want.  Those people do not follow the truth because they only follow their greed and their desires.  

    (2) Those who don’t evil – Trouble, distress (Rom. 2:9)

Rom. 2:9 says, those who do evil, there will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil.

    (3) First for the Jews, then for the Gentile (Rom. 2:9)

First for the Jew, then for the Gentile, so God pours judgment and His standard is what we have done.  To do evil means you live your life regardless of God’s Word.  Even if this person lives a very morally and ethically good life, if they live their life regardless of God’s Word, they are wicked.  

  2) Everyone who does good (Rom. 2:10)

    (1) Persistence in doing good – Eternal life (Rom. 2:7)

    (2) Glory, honor, peace (Rom. 2:10)

However, in Rom. 2:10, God says there is glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, so even here, the standard is what we do.  We do not live our walk of faith by our knowledge, but we live based on what we believe.  Then, when we talk about what we do, there are some people who take it very oppressively and legalistically, those are the people who are living their walk of faith with their brain. As soon as we go out into the world, we have to do things; we can’t just not do things, we’re always doing something, but what’s the basis of your actions?  It must be good.  Then, what is “good”?  There is nothing that is good other than the gospel.  Only Jesus Christ on the cross is “good.”  So, the people who believe in the goodness of the gospel and those who act upon that faith will receive God’s glory, honor, and peace.

But there are some people who know the gospel, but their lives are irrelevant to the gospel.  We should be living our walk of faith, walking with the Lord of the Bible, receiving His guidance, but they only know the Bible and live irrelevantly.  Those people are good at talking about it because they know it with their brains, but when you look at their lives, they do not receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they live however they want to.  So they don’t like worship, but they say they know the gospel and enjoy it so much.  Those people are waiting for God’s wrath.  One day when the time schedule is at its limit, God will work.

When I used to go to LA Community College for ministry, I met with a student and asked, “Are you still living your walk of faith?”  She said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve gone to church,” and they told me, “Even if I don’t go to church, it’s not as if disaster strikes,” and those  words were so shocking to me.  This student thought, “If I stop going to church, I’m going to be struck by lightning, or something bad will happen, but when I stopped going to church, nothing bad happened,” but that is what God is telling us today.  God doesn’t act immediately.  He waits and warns you and warns you.  If you remain in your stubbornness and refuse to repent until the end, there is the day of God’s judgment. For nonbelievers, God allows them to remain as they are, but for children of God, He will never allow them to stay like that.  Because God has already claimed you as His child and He has responsibility over you, He will not let you stay like that.  There are some people who say, “Before I believed in Jesus Christ, I was successful, my business did well, but now that I believe, nothing happens well. Is my business failing because I go to church now?”  In the past, you did whatever you wanted, but now that you are a child of God, you must follow God’s ways.  

So, in today’s scripture, what we do means we must be inside of God’s guidance.  God wants you to act within His wisdom and power. However, even after we receive salvation, we relentlessly go back to our old ways.  That is what God wants us to stop.  It means we need to act by the gospel. When we actually live our lives, we follow God’s will and plan.  That’s how God originally created and designed us, that’s what it means to be God’s image.  The image of God means we are not God, but they think the image of God is trying to act as if they are God themselves, living however they want, and God is bringing back control.  People think, “Now that I believe in God, can I do whatever I want?” But doing whatever you want takes you into disasters, and that’s why God is interceding, but when God intercedes, you say, “I don’t have freedom, I’m being oppressed,” and I think maybe you need a little more time.  If you think that you’re being chained up right now, you’ll realize what it really means to be imprisoned.  You’ll realize what it means to really be imprisoned when you’re so demon-possessed, you cannot even control your own thoughts.  

We’re inside of Christ so we don’t recognize how great of a blessing this is, and this is how believers become like Pharisees.  For nonbelievers, they don’t even have God, so they have no choice but to rely on their strength; even right now, every time they wake up, they have to rely on their strength and knowledge, and they face limitations and despair.  They live with a constant, heavy burden.  Nonbelievers live in God’s wrath, but you’ve received this gospel and are not thankful for it?  That’s strange.  Many people who have gone to church for a long, long time are like this.  It’s not all of them, but it’s the characteristic; they don’t have a sense of how tremendous this is.  Worship is a habit for them, and they’re inside of blessings, but they think that it’s rightful. This is not rightful.  If this is something we accomplish, then yes, but because this is from God’s grace, it is not from me.  

Even among pastors, there are pastors who have multiple generations of pastors or elders, but I was a nonbeliever, so I’m pretty rare.  But the people who come from a long line of pastors and elders, there’s a lot to learn.  Because they’ve grown up in that kind of a family, they don’t know the world at all, they‘ve never experienced it.  They’ve never wandered out in the world or gotten lost, they just lived within the faith of their parents and became a pastor.  When I listen to them talk, there are times they sound so immature or naive to me, they don’t know the world.  And they don’t realize, they think it’s rightful or obvious that they should be within God’s protections and blessings, and it is rightful because they are children of God, but they have no idea how nonbelievers are living, so of course they don’t get along; they become like Pharisees.  “Oh, because I’ve always been born into this family, I’ve always been chosen, so of course I’m righteous and better,” but then their faith becomes rotten, they become so numb, because they’ve grown up all their lives inside of the church, they even have theological terms and they’re stuck within that frame of religion, then God will wait and then one day, come down on them.  It’s not because it’s God’s hobby, He wants them to change.  

That’s why God says, “I do not desire sacrifice, I want obedience.”  God doesn’t want your habitual worship or sacrifice.  God wants you to know who you are and ask Him for mercy.  There’s one mystery for you to have victory in worship today.  For the people who have a genuine heart, “God, I cannot live without your grace,“ they will receive God’s grace and have victory.  However, if you come to church last week and every year, and it’s always just a habit, then you’ll never receive God’s grace. You must receive God’s grace to have the power of creation. God’s grace must be upon your business in order for you to have this development of creation take place.  Without even you realizing it, there are problems embedded in your subconscious, and you must receive God’s grace to be healed.  These are things God is telling to the Jews today. 

    (3) Jews, Gentiles – God does not show favoritism

There is no favoritism between the Jews and the Gentiles, God does not show favoritism because this person is a Jew and that one is a Gentile.  God does not show favoritism because, “Oh, you’ve gone to church for a long time,” but “You haven’t gone to church for a long time.”  Then, there is a standard for His judgement, so what is the standard for that?  

  3) Standard of judgment

    (1) Sin apart from the law – Perish apart from the law (Rom. 2:12)

Rom. 2:12 says, “All who sin apart from the gospel will perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged under the law,” so the standard is the law.  For the people who don’t have the law, but they break the law, what about them?  They’ve been given a conscience.  Even if somebody is a nonbeliever who has not received God’s law, they have a sense of conscience to know what they shouldn’t do, so there are no excuses.  

    (2) Sin under the law – Judged by the law (Rom. 2:12)

For the Jew who received the Law, the Law is their standard and you have to keep that Law 24 hours every day.  You’re not supposed to keep the law once in a while, it must be 24 hours a day. If you don’t keep the law even one second, then that’s hell, but the Pharisees think they’re righteous?  That’s a misconception.  They think that they’re righteous because they go to church? That’s not true.  What God desires is for us to be with God, always in His grace.  So, what you love the most, what you think is most precious, God will give you a problem with that, because we were created to only worship God, but instead, you’re worshiping God’s creation, so God will give you a problem with whatever you value the most.  “For me, I don’t want only God, I want something that I think is precious, what I desire and value,” God is waiting then.  God is continuing to wait but if you stay stubborn, then one day, God will judge.  If you love your child more than you love God, then God will intercede with your child.  If you love money more than God, God will touch your money.  If you love your health more than God, God will do something with your health, and the reason is because you’re living with the wrong standard, and God wants to show you so you can come back to the right one.  

   (3) Those who obey the law are righteous (Rom. 2:13)

Rom. 2:13, it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but those who obey the law who are declared righteous.  The Jewish people heard the law, but that’s not what it takes to be called “righteous.”  Do you live by the law?  We’re not able to, that’s why we must go before God with a heart, asking for mercy by the blood of Christ.  In these scriptures, God is showing us that every single human being, whether they are a Jew or a Gentile, needs God’s grace.  So, whatever is inside of your heart: money, children, success, it is not an answer.  

3. Only Gospel

  1) Cross – Christ

There is not a single way to avoid God’s judgment, except for only one: the cross of Jesus Christ.  That’s the reason why Paul had to go to the Roman Empire to proclaim the gospel.  

    (1) Set aside the law – Blood of Christ (Eph. 2:15)

Eph. 2:15 says that Jesus has finished the law.  He has finished the law by His death on the cross.  Because there is not a single person who is able to be righteous by the law, Jesus Christ has finished it with His body. 

    (2) Put to death with the cross – Reconcile (Eph. 2:16)

He has put to death on the cross and reconciled them with God.  

    (3) Preached peace – Gentiles, Jews (Eph. 2:17)

Eph. 2:17, by doing so, He preached peace to you.  The number one characteristic of the gospel is the peace God gives you.  If you hold onto money as your idol, you will not receive peace; you will receive worries, concerns, stress.  If you hold onto your children above God in your heart, then you will worry about your children.  But if you place Jesus Christ inside of your heart, then God’s peace will be upon you.  All of the mental problems and the problems of addiction in the world today, there’s no solution, no matter how much money or policies we make.  The American government can’t do anything about it, but when the peace of Christ comes upon you, the depression will flee.  Your addiction cannot endure the peace of Christ.  In other words, once you get a taste of this gospel, nothing else tastes quite as good.  Even when you go to a restaurant, if you taste food that is so good, then you can’t go anywhere else. There are some people who will go to Europe just to eat lunch and come back.  Then, there are some people in Korea who will fly to Japan to get some expensive sashimi or fish, why do you think they do that?  Because they’ve tasted something that is so high caliber that nothing else can satisfy them.  

The gospel is the same way.  If we experience the gospel and the peace of God, nothing else can compare, even drugs.  People are so obsessed with money because the feeling of making money feels really great, it does, but if you experience the grace of the gospel, then even money feels like nothing, but most people know the gospel but they’ve never experienced the gospel, so they’re not able to act on it or enjoy it, so automatically, they go back to their past ways, and when they’re alone by themselves, they keep going back to wanting to play with whatever they enjoyed before God.  Your life is bound to go in the direction of your experiences and tastes.  If you’ve tasted drugs, you’ll remember, there’s nothing else in life that was like it, so even though you want to quit and you know you have to, you can’t because you’ve tasted it.  And honestly, gambling is even worse.  But to organize everything, if you’ve truly experienced the taste of this gospel, nothing else will compare, and God is telling you this to give you this blessing.  

  2) New creation (2 Cor. 5:17)

2 Cor. 5:17 says that through Jesus Christ, we are a new creation.  Imagine a very old car but the engine is brand new, that’s what it is.  What does this mean?  

    (1) Old person – Died with Christ (Gal. 2:20)

It means that I’m the same person, but the old “me” that used to live as my own master has died on the cross with Christ.

    (2) New person – Life of living with Christ

Then, who is the new “me”?  I’m a new being, now I’m changed so I live a life of faith, living with faith in Christ in me.  But people keep falling into a misconception, they keep going back to their old dead self, but that’s no longer you.  Who is the real “me”?  I am the one who lives by faith that I am united with Christ who lives in me.  But you keep going back to something that is not even you?  That’s how Satan always lies.  So, always proclaim this: “That ‘me’ is already dead on the cross, that’s no longer me.  Who am I?  I am the one who lives by faith, that Christ lives in me.”  But we keep getting tricked by lies.  That’s not you anymore, that “you” is dead.  People will keep talking to you about the old “you.”  You tell them, “That me is dead, the ‘me’ in front of you is a different ‘me,’” but the devil keeps attacking you, “The old ‘you’ isn’t dead yet, go back” so even though you’ve received the gospel, you’re not able to enjoy it because you’re being deceived by lies.

Today, I am with Christ and today, the Lord will guide me and work upon me, and I live, not by my power, but by the power of Christ in me, that is the new “me,” that is the true “me.”  If you keep getting trapped in the limitations of your past, you can’t enjoy this new self. 

    (3) In Christ joined together – Temple (Eph. 2:21)

Eph. 2:21 says we are joined together to become a Temple for the Lord. 

  3) Salt, light of world – Evangelism, Missions (Mt. 5:13-14)

Mt. 5:13-14, we’ve been called as the salt and light of the world. A lot of people don’t want to be the salt, they only want to be the light.  Salt is only salty when it melts away to something, but people don’t want to melt away, they only want to shine off, so they say, “I only want to be the light,” but folks, we must die on the cross so that the saltiness of Christ may be revealed in the world through us.  We ourselves cannot be salty; we must die and melt away, that’s when the saltiness of Christ may be revealed.  When we were born, we were in darkness.  Jesus Christ came to earth as the Light and the world did not recognize Him. We were in darkness and we tried to shine the light? Of course we cannot.  If you really want to shine the light, there’s only one way: you have to die.  Then, through my intellect, through my emotions and my will, the salt and the light will be revealed through me, that’s what it means to be the image of God.  The image of God is not the main object; the image of salt and light cannot be the light and salt itself, but you’re trying to force yourself to be the light and salt using legalism? Of course it will never work.  

    (1) Holy Spirit – With (1 Cor. 3:16)

We were created so that the Lord reveals Himself through us, but if you hold onto your own stubbornness, you will not reveal light or salt, only rottenness and corruption.  That’s why the Lord promises to be within us, fill us, work upon us, and guide us.  He promises to dwell within us and fill and work upon our thoughts, emotions, and will.  If you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, you must be emptied of yourself.  

    (2) Holy Spirit – Guidance (Jn. 14:26-27)

If you’re holding onto your own thoughts, you can never be filled with the Holy Spirit.  If you’re holding onto your own stubbornness, the Holy Spirit can never fill you.  You have to entrust your life entirely to God, then God will work from that point on.  He will work as the light and the salt.  He is the light and the salt of the world.  There are some people who don’t want to go into the world, they want to take their salt and light into some mountain to be alone, but that is not aligned with God.  

    (3) Filling, Works of Holy Spirit – Witness (Ac. 1:8)

We must go into the world as the salt and light.  But the people who are afraid of the world are afraid because they are the image but they’re trying to be the main object.  Wherever you go with God, even if it is the valley of the shadow of death, you will never die.  Though I am hard pressed on all sides, I am never crushed because the Lord is with me.  Even if I am faced with depression and addiction and mental problems, they can never overcome the Lord Who is with me.  So, stop focusing on the addiction or the mental problem or depression, but instead, focus on Christ Who is with you and the problems will go away on their own.  So, where will you focus?  You must focus on Christ Who is the Truth.  Everything, all keys are from that, from Christ. 

Conclusion

1. Do not judge, and you will not be judged (Lk. 6:37)

In conclusion, Luke 6:37 says, “if I do not judge, then I will not be judged.”  It says, “Do not judge and you will not be judged.”

2. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned (Lk. 6:37)

“Do not condemn and you will not be condemned.”

3. Forgive and you will be forgiven (Lk. 6:37)

“Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” 

4. Give, and it will be given to you (Lk. 6:38)

“Give, and it will be given to you, in abundance.”  You will receive in abundance.

5. For the measure that you use, it will be measured to you (Lk. 6:38)

But if you measure and calculate, then what you receive will be measured and calculated.  So, we must be able to cover over others’ sins with the gospel, but if you’re trying to reveal others’ sins, God will reveal your sin.  If someone in your family did something wrong, you wouldn’t go spreading rumors about it; you would try to help them hide it.  But the reason you’re able to embrace them is because you’ve received that from God yourself.  We are not able to embrace or cover others.  But if we continuously receive forgiveness and grace from God, then we can forgive and give grace to others, and they will do the same to us.  So, the Church is unity, of love and forgiveness, and we cannot do this on our own, and that’s why we must receive God’s grace.  

Message Prayer

Let us pray holding onto the Word we have received.  

Offering Prayer and Newcomer Blessing

God, we thank You.  We thank You for saving us who were lost in disasters, darkness, and confusion by the gospel.  We pray that You will give us the grace every day to confirm who we are within this gospel.  Please give us Your grace to walk with you 24 hours, every day, so that we may receive Your glory, grace, and peace.  May You give us the grace to become the salt and the light of the world.  We have returned Your material blessings as offering.  We pray that everywhere it is used, it will be used to save the world, and we believe You will work upon the hands that have given this offering with the blessing of economy that will overflow in abundance.  In Jesus Christ’s name we pray, amen.  

God, we thank You.  Lord, we pray You will bless our new visitor so she may receive the Word of God and that this Word of God may be revealed of the salt and light of the world in Virginia as she continues to live with this Word fulfillment.  In Jesus Christ’s name we pray, amen.

Announcements
1 Church meeting today at 12:30PM.

2. Offering can be given to the church venmo: @Antiochmissionchurch

Benediction

Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, guidance, fellowship, and working of the Holy Spirit, be upon the heads of all the people of God, the people of all nations, and the future generations who desire to walk with God and be the salt and light of the world through the glory of God and the power and grace, be with them from now until forevermore always, amen.