Transforming Sin and Transforming Grace - Mark 14:1-11
Thomas Baber
Summary
Sin transforms the human heart, leading to rebellion against God and a hardening disposition that rejects sacrificial devotion to Christ, as tragically exemplified by Judas. God's transforming grace, however, is revealed through the Son of God's sacrifice on the cross, which destroys the works of the devil by demonstrating divine love and atoning for all guilt. By fixing one's eyes on the cross, believers are saved and sanctified, enabling them to respond with zealous, self-sacrificial love for Christ, mirroring Mary's devotion.
Transcript
0:00Please open your Bibles to Mark chapter 14. I'm going to be looking at the same passage we did last week, and this is something we do unusual. If you're here this week and were not here last week, we covered this passage in a little more in a true expositional fashion. This morning, I want to go back and maybe pick up some thoughts, follow-up thoughts that I have out of this passage because of the critical nature of what this passage represents. I don't think we should just lightly go by something like this without digging in a little deeper. So this morning is going to be a little more of just really looking at transforming sin and this transforming grace that we see carried out in the two lives represented in this passage. It's more of a shop talk. It's more of a saying, okay, look, let's not let this be us. So let me just read this, collect our thoughts, where these thoughts will be, or the passage where these thoughts will be coming out of, and we'll just go from there. Now, the Passover and unleavened bread were two days away, and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize him by stealth and kill him. For they were saying, not during the festival, otherwise there might be a riot of the people. And while he was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper and reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster vice. A very costly perfume of pure nard. And she broke the vial and poured it over his head. But some were indignantly remarking to one another, Why has this perfume been wasted? For this perfume might have been sold for over 300 denarii, and the money given to the poor. And they were scolding her. But Jesus said, Let her alone. Why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish, you can do good to them. But you do not always have me. She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for the burial. Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her. Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went off to the chief priest in order to betray him to them. And they were glad when they heard this and promised to give him money, and he began seeking how to betray him at an opportune time. We've turned a corner in the Gospel of Mark. The last word in chapter 13 is, be on the alert. Watch out. Pay attention. He's just told them everything that was going to come in the future, or everything he saw fit to reveal to them. And the closing statement is, Be on the alert. Watch out. There are events that are going to come to distract you. There are events that are going to come to discourage you. There's going to come events that just are here to knock you off your feet and ruin your devotion to Christ. Be on the alert for all. That. But this exhortation to be on the alert for things that are coming from the outside is also important to apply to the inside as well. And certainly, as we come into Mark chapter 14, the corner has been turned and we're going to the cross. This section of Scripture takes us immediately to the cross, very quick fashion. The teaching's over, and we've got the cross before us. But before we move on, I wanted to take the day to just think about these two individuals. There's two individuals that are represented in this passage: there's one who is transformed by his sin, and that is Judas. And there is one that is transformed by grace, and that is Mary. Again, Mark does not give Mary the name, but the other gospel writers do. But the idea for Mark is that he's giving us the emphasis of the act, not the person. And it's these two individuals that I want us to pause and give consideration to. And look at your own life. What is transforming you at this moment? You are either being transformed by the grace of God and being conformed into a person like Mary who is happy and pleased to sacrificially devote herself to Christ, or you are being transformed by your sin and going down the path of Judas, who would sell Jesus out very cheaply. Two people, one transformed by God's grace, and the other transformed by sin. One became an eternal monument of sacrificial beauty, which pictures the bride of Christ loving her husband, sacrificially pouring herself out, and the other became an eternal monument of a treacherous monster. What's transforming you? So that's what I want to look at this morning: just looking at this transforming sin. What happened to Judas? It's a profound question. He was an insider, he walked with Christ. There's never been a person in history that had been given so much light, yet ended up so dark. And here's Mary, on the other hand, she was an outsider, picking up snippets of Christ here and there throughout her life, and yet a grace took hold of her life and it transformed her. So it's a very profound question. And I want to look at this transforming sin with the express purpose so that you will recognize the pattern in your own heart and that you will not be transformed by your sin like Judas was. It has a hardening effect. The author of sin, Satan. His name means adversary, opponent. See, when you hear the word devil in the Bible, that refers to the slanderer. That's what devil means, a slanderer. So when you slander somebody else, you're acting like the devil, slandering, defaming someone. That is his name. But also, Satan is his name, which means adversary, one who opposes. And rebellion, rebellion, it comes about because one is not content with the current ruler. And that was Satan. He was not content with the current ruler. He was not content to be in his station that God created him to be in. He was so enraptured with the beautiful perfection that God had made him that he wanted more and more and more, and he wanted to elevate his throne above God. He was not content. It's like Satan wanted God to keep serving Satan, keep adoring him with beauty. He wanted God to be his servant. Satan wanted God to build Satan's kingdom. And this is clearly personified in Judas. And the gospel writers are very clear that Judas was possessed by Satan himself. He was not merely just overcome by his pursuit of money, though he was, or his pursuit of personal ambition, though he was overcome with that. And these may have been the doorway, the enticement, nor was he possessed by merely a demon, but Satan himself. Luke 22:3 makes it clear. It was Satan who entered him. John 13:27, it was Satan who entered him. Satan himself. So when we look at the life of Judas, we're looking at Satan incarnate.
7:30It's important to understand that Satan didn't manifest himself as a monster. He didn't take over Judas, and all of a sudden, these fangs come up, hair grew out, his fingernails, and he started talking in a growling voice. That was not the activity or the manifestation of Satan. He posed as a devoted follower of Christ, somebody that you'd never suspect. When Jesus mentioned that he was going to be betrayed, the other disciples thought it may have been themselves before they thought it was going to be Judas. That's how unsuspecting he was. He looked, I mean, he had made the sacrifice. He had followed Christ all those years. He did what so many others in our congregation today would never even do, or those standing here today would never do. He made a sacrifice. He followed Christ, but he did so in the hopes that Jesus would build his kingdom. See, Judas wanted Jesus to build Judas's kingdom. He wanted to be adorned with splendor and the honor of a great kingdom and all that went with it. He knew who Jesus was. He saw who Jesus was. And there is some personal gain in following Christ. Yeah, go to Jerusalem, set up your kingdom, and I'll be right there among with you. There was some personal ambition that was at the heart of Judas. The basic problem with Judas is that he didn't love the king, he loved himself. He didn't love what the king stood for. He didn't love Christ's kingdom. He didn't love the idea of the government of righteousness and truth and holiness because Judas himself was a thief and a crook. You see, he had no interest in a righteous kingdom. As I mentioned last week, you know what wrestling with God looks like and losing? Judas. Judas is one who struggled with God and he lost. You see, wrestling with God and losing is when you want your kingdom to be above God's kingdom. It's when you struggle with the place that God has put you in, the section of life, or whatever, your circumstances, whatever it may be, or whatever you want that you don't have, or whatever, and you struggle and you turn the struggle to God. God, why have you done this to me? Because, see, at some point in your life, you're going to realize God isn't here to establish your kingdom. And then what are you going to do at that junction? What are you going to do? Are you going to become angry at God and take him on, like Judas did, like Satan did? And it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. At some point in your life, you're going to have to come to the realization that God isn't here to build your kingdom. And what are you going to do? Which route are you going to go? Are you going to go the trusting, loving, yielding way to God, or are you going to rise up, hardness in your heart, and take him on? I see this in the children. Let me talk to you, children. Listen, God has placed you in a place, and he has put people over you. He has given you parents who love you and who are committed to you. But he has put you there. And when you go against your parents, you are bucking the very system that God has placed you in. You're bucking God Himself. And when you raise your throne above your parents, or it could be your desire for success, or you could put it husbands, wives. God has placed us in a place. We're not to battle that. I want you to understand what Satan's goal is for your life, and that is to destroy the sacrificial devotion to Christ. Anything in your life that would be yielded sacrificially to him, his goal is to stop that. And as you look through scriptures, this is what his activity was. I don't know why he couldn't just leave Adam and Eve alone. What did Adam and Eve ever do to him anyway? His life could have gone fine without harassing them at all. There's no good reason. There is no good reason why he sought to turn their hearts against God and sought to turn God's heart against them. There is no good reason. That's why we call him evil. It's irrational. It's self-serving. It doesn't make any sense at all. So we put the label evil on it because that's. The nature of evil. I mean, why in the world do you come to this passage? Why does Judas get all bent out of shape over Mary's sacrificial offering? Why did that burn him up? I mean, it didn't touch him at all. Why did he feel compelled to speak up? It didn't change anything of his life. But what it was is he didn't think Christ was worth that kind of sacrificial devotion, and he thought he was because his goal, the reason he wanted that money put in the coffers, is so that he could help himself to it. He thought Christ wasn't worth all that, but he certainly was. You get the picture, what he hates. It's something internally that he just hates. He hates sacrificial devotion to Christ, and where it happens, he steps up and comes in. It's the one thing he hates the most. And this is the one thing he wants to keep you from, is sacrificial devotion to Christ. Loving Christ with all of your heart, soul, and mind. His tactics. He uses false teaching to do it. He'll use distractions to do it. He'll use division in the body. Anything that can keep this church as a body from loving Christ totally and sacrificially, or anything on an individual level, he will seek to keep you from sacrificially devoting yourself to Christ. Whether it's through jealousy or coveting something else, like. Like this guy we just looked at, or through worldly pursuits, whatever it may be, his goal at the end of the day is to keep you from sacrificial devotion to Christ. Whether it's persecution, temptation, all of that. The bottom line is what he wants you to do is elevate your sin and your personal ambitions above God's. And so that way, your relationship with God is going to be naturally a struggle because God's morality is going to be superior to your morality. And if you have elevated your morality above his and said, God, I know you say this is wrong, but I'm going to do it anyway, it puts you at odds. And the effect is if you love your sin more, you get to where you love God less and virtually hate God.
14:17If Satan can get you to elevate your kingdom, your personal ambition, whatever manifestation of that is, if he can get you to elevate yourself above his kingdom, he has the effect of setting you at war with him. And you certainly will not sacrificially love him who you're at war with. Well, the results of this transforming sin, I mean, it's a deep issue. It's a deep issue. And where are you? But the results, look at Judas, a liar. You can see it personified. He's a thief, treacherous. He's a master at these. He saw sacrificial devotion to Christ as foolish, a sin. Sinful waste. You hear this in our society so much. I hear over and over just that motherhood is a waste. Ministry is a waste. Pouring yourself out, your resources to Christ is a waste.
15:17And yet that's exactly what the spirit of Satan says: that sacrificial devotion to Christ is a waste. Well, he's going to bear the penalty for his sin. He goes down in history as that premier example of one who elevated himself above God. This is humanity at its worst. Nowhere do we see in the pages of Scripture where somebody has been given so much light, yet squandered it and waste it. But this is what sin does: it transforms you into a monster. Do not follow that path. You may not have as near grand of an opportunity like Judas, but nonetheless, your sin crystallizes hardness, and your expression will be full, and it will mature. So, the exhortation, and why we're taking time on this passage, is to exhort you, application, don't go down the road of Judas. Don't go down the road of Judas. That's what transforming sin does. The second thing I want to look at this morning is transforming grace. The corner, that is what transforms us not into the object or into a monster, but into this beautiful picture of the bride of Christ.
16:30And the author or the means of this transforming grace is the Son of God. Yeah, the triune God is certainly involved in salvation. It's the Father's will. The Holy Spirit is the affecting agent. But it is the Son of God by the means. And His sacrifice is the means by which it is accomplished. If you look at what's happening in Mark chapter 15, we could even, or 14 and 15, we can call this the Holy of Holies section.
16:56Chapter 14, you get the Passover and Gethsemane. Judas betrays him. The motion, everything has been set in for the crucifixion. He goes before, he is arrested, he is tried, and he is crucified in chapter 15. And then in chapter 15, 37, Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And at that moment, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. It's like his sacrifice. You see, the picture of the Holy of Holies, Christ is moving towards the cross, takes his offering into the Holy of Holies, if you will, and the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion, who was standing right in front of him, saw this, the way he breathed his last, he said, Truly, this man was the Son of God. Now, the emphasis has shifted. Remember, Peter made the confession, thou art the Christ, or you are the Christ. Well, now the confession is turned or developed even further. He is the Son of God. Son of God. You see, Christ is the title. It's his position. He is the Messiah, the ruler, the headship. The Son of God is who he is. The Son of God had the very same nature as God. It's very important that we understand that God Himself came to us. The broken relationship between man and God, God Himself came to the table. God Himself came and He laid out the terms of peace. And it was very costly to Him. That peace, look, unless He came cutting through the sinful darkness of mankind, unless He came from there, there's no hope of reconciliation. And so God Himself came. You see, a statement from heaven had to be made about man's condition before we could ever respond to Him in love. So why? Why was the Son of God sent? Well, Genesis 3:15 makes it very clear that He was prophesied of old to come and crush the head of the serpent. 1 John 3, 8 says this, that the Son of God appeared for this purpose to destroy the works of the devil. To destroy the works of the devil. This is why the Son of Man, or the Son of God, appeared. And what are the works of the devil? Very simple. First work was to get God to hate man. Second, make man hate God. Destroy it completely. That was his work. But the Son of God appeared to destroy these works. One thing's true, by the outpouring of God's love on the cross, it demonstrates forever that Satan failed to make God hate mankind. No matter how gross and how foul his sin became, God loves mankind. And God poured himself out for man. Jesus went to the cross as a demonstration of God's love for mankind. Romans 5:8 says, But God demonstrates his own love towards us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. This is God's answer from heaven. Though man has sinned, God does not hate man. And it's important to understand that it was God who designed the cross, not Satan. It was God who designed the cross. Acts 2:23 says that this man was delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. Christ was delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. You see, it was God who designed the cross, that he would take that which was most precious to him, break it, and pour it out for the sins of the world as a lavish expression of love for all of humanity. Look at 14, verse 1 and 2. They have this murder plot going on. The Passover and unleavened bread were two days away, and the chief priests and scribes were seeking how to seize him by stealth. For they were saying, not during the festival, otherwise. Otherwise, there might be a riot of the people. In other words, the Pharisees and the chief priests had decided that they were not going to put him to death during the Passover. They had come to that conclusion there could be a riot. So, nix that, we'll have to get him later. But you know, the cross was determined by God, the time and the place, and the hands. Satan's whole goal was to keep Jesus from going to the cross. You can see this early on in Herod's desire to destroy all the children. The temptation in the wilderness was all about coming about a kingdom without going to the cross, without making that sacrificial devotion and poured out love according to the Father's will. This was the temptation.
21:44All the way. But then, it was God who was orchestrating these things. Judas was not innocent by any means. God used the hands of godless men and the sinful inclinations of Judas's heart to bring about what God had desired. And that was the cross as an expression. Judas is responsible, for sure. Yet God is sovereign even over Satan, sin, and salvation. He's the Lord of all. It's very clear that God's love for mankind was poured out. Satan did not make God hate mankind. Well, then, second work of Satan is to make man hate God. And how does he do this? Well, first of all, Shame him, cover him with the guilt of his sin. And then you see this right out of the picture of the garden, where after Adam has understood that he has sinned, they go and they hide to try to get away from the presence of God. Well, that's exactly what he does. As you partake in sin, all of a sudden the guilt comes on, right? You really botched it. Even God can't love you right now. You ever heard that before? And so it has the effect of driving you away from God. That's his work, to drive you away from God. But it was clear that, according to Isaiah 53:10, that God poured him out as a guilt offering. God was pleased to crush him, to put him to grief as a guilt offering. The greatest miscarriage of justice in all of human history was upon Jesus Christ. From a human standpoint, he was completely innocent. Even Pilate said, Look, I don't find any fault with him. Still figures out how to put him to death, right? I mean, what kind of justice system is that? It's a complete miscarriage of justice, but also on God's part, completely unjust.
23:40He had spotless life. There was no basis that he should die whatsoever. The greatest miscarriage of justice ever. And so his blood cries out for satisfaction. His blood, how can you make this right? His blood. Pays for the guilt of all of mankind. It's so amazing. It's so great. That blood, it cries out for satisfaction. And so God is pleased to make him a guilt offering. So there is no basis for you to carry your guilt around at all, except for sin. Your refusal to look at the cross is why you continue to carry your guilt around with you. Look, that's the best remedy is the cross. The cross. What was stated on the cross? So you can come to him clothed in righteousness. Let him carry it. Well, see, the cross also broke the disposition or the love and disposition to sin. You can't look at the cross for very long and understand what God did for you and continue walking in sin. A natural response is, oh, what great grace. Oh, what great love. How could I ever, ever walk in a life that offends you, oh God, give me the grace and give me the strength to walk in your way completely, totally, perfectly, as a response to what he has done. You see, Jesus opened the door for man to love God with all of his heart, didn't he? Because God sacrificially first loved us. Listen, you cannot sacrificially love God with the kind of devotion that Mary had unless first you understand. That he sacrificially loves you. And that is the beginning of how you can respond to him. And this is the response of the bride. You love me with this kind of love. I'm going to love you with this kind of love. Give me the grace. Give me the strength. Give me the mercy, Lord, that I can love you as you ought to be loved. That is what grace does. It transforms us. But understand that Satan's goal is he doesn't want self-sacrificing devotion to Christ. That's really where he gets down to it. He doesn't want you to get to the level where you're just pouring your heart out consistently for Christ. He doesn't want you to get there. And he's going to throw all kinds of things at you. Why? Because he's evil. There is no other explanation. Why he wants to interrupt this relationship between you and God doesn't make any sense at all. He's evil. But Jesus came to destroy this cancer in the hearts of people so that they could love God with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength. So that deep struggle within. Look at the cross and do not be deceived any longer. God's plan for you is good. Look at the cross, his poured out love for you. It is good. You may not see it right now, but it is good. Walk in his ways. Accept his morality as your standard. Accept your position in life as his gift to you to express your sacrificial devotion to him. Look, it doesn't matter where he's put you. What is important is that you sacrificially give yourself back to him as a response to his love for you. That is what is important. And that's the one thing that Satan seeks to keep you from. Well, you look at the result of this transforming grace, and you see it in Mary. She was loyal, contrasted with Judas' treacherousness. She greatly valued Jesus over great treasure versus Judas' cheap sell-out. Her act was beautiful, his was ugly, hers was genuine, his was deceptive, hers was wise, his was the foolish waste of tremendous opportunity. She is the one who is exemplary for all time. Titus 2:11 says this, For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and get this, and to purify himself, a people, for his own possession, zealous for good deeds. You see, what his work is, is to remove that cancer that keeps us from sacrificially devoting ourselves to Christ so that we'd be zealous to pour our lives out for him. You only get one life. How are you going to pour it out? It's going to be poured out. Out. How are you going to pour it out? The question I have this morning is, what is your trajectory? Are you being transformed by sin like Judas? Or are you being transformed by the grace like Mary was? How do you become like Judas? Just do nothing. Follow the inclination that's already in your heart. The poison is in you. You know, it's very interesting. How does one become like Mary? Very interesting question. It's not by works at all. If I had left you this morning and said, now go out and be like Mary, none of you, that would be a burden way too big for any of us to carry, right? So how do you get from where you are to be like Mary? By one thing, by focusing upon the person and cross of Christ, the cross. You know, in Numbers 21, there's this very interesting event in the life and history of Israel. And I'm just going to read it to you. They set out, as they were wandering through the wilderness, they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient because of the journey. After God had brought them out of Israel, then they were wandering around going to the promised land, and they get very impatient. This is a long walk. And then the people spoke against God and Moses. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we've loathed this miserable food. In other words, why in the world did you? Bring us out. God, what are you doing? Why did you bring us out of Israel? I mean, out of Egypt, why did you bring us to this place? This is a long road, and this manna you've given us, it's awful. They're totally hating their circumstances. But their wrestle is with God. You see, Israel's wanderings are a window into our own souls. That's what we're seeing on the pages of Scripture. This is our tendency. After all the good that God has done for us, to then, God, why this? Why am I at this stage? God, what are you doing? God, this isn't working out like it should. You sound just like Judas, wanting to raise your kingdom above his. That's exactly what they did. And then, this is what the Lord did. The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. So the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned because we have spoken against the Lord and you. Intercede with the Lord that He may remove the serpents from us. And Moses interceded for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and it shall come about that everyone who is bitten when he looks at it will live. And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a standard, on a pole, and it came about that if any serpent bit any man when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. Very interesting and odd event. What was God teaching?
31:30People got bit. The poison was within them. And our natural inclination would be what? Okay, get out the snake bite bit. Make the little X on there. Suck that poison out. Get to the hospital. That would be fix yourself. That would be our instruction, right? God's is very different. Look, the remedy is not within you. The remedy is out, is without. And so as they looked, they were healed. What does this poison give us a picture of? It's a picture of that bitterness against God, that spiritual impatience that many of you have, and all of us will experience at one time. This is that poison that hardens the heart, that transforms you to be against God. And the solution, there's only one solution: the cross. The cross. Look at the cross. Whenever you're in doubt at all, does God love me? It's stated very clearly, yes, on the cross, yes, dramatically, lavishly, beyond belief, amazing love. Look at the cross. Look at what he says on the cross. Look at what he cross covers. You cannot stay in your shame. This is the way of transformation. The solution is to look at the cross. John 3:13, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, and he says, Look, no one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended from heaven, that is the Son of Man. The only way you're going to be saved is from heaven. In verse 14, he says this, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. You get the picture of this context of John 3:16 is the standard, Moses lifting up the serpent and Jesus being lifted up on the cross. It is there and only there to which the salvation and healing of the soul happens. And the same cross that saves you from sin is the same cross that sanctifies you and moves you to that place of just love, self-sacrificial love for Christ. And that's what he's doing. And as we just walk through the Gospels and you see Mary, you see her in Luke 10 and 38.
34:01Jesus was traveling on. He entered a village and a woman named Martha welcomed her into her home. And she had a sister called Mary who was seated at the Lord's feet listening to his word. This is what we see of Mary. Always, she's there in the shadows, sometimes more prominent, but she's always looking, enamored with the person of Christ and his work. That's transforming grace. See, brothers and sisters, Jesus delighted to give us the cross. So that we could delight in going to the cross. It was his gift. So that you and I could delight in the cross and all that it says. Hebrews 12 says this. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. With joy he went to the cross. Because that was the way of a transformed humanity. That is how you become like Mary. Focus on the cross. Focus on Jesus. The same grace that saves, the same grace that sanctifies. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the promise that while we were yet sinners and helpless, that you die for us. And Father, we thank you for this picture into the deep parts of the human heart, that which transformed Judas and that which transformed Mary. And Father, we pray for divine protection. God, that you would superintend all that's been said here and all that is going on in the hearts here before us today, and that you would draw us to your grace. God, that you would protect us from the evil way, from the evil that's within our own heart. God, and that those who do not know you this morning would know you, would come to know you, cry out to you for salvation, and those who have walked with you for many, many years. Father, I just prayed for a renewed strength to be more and more sacrificially devoted to you. Lord, you give us one life. May we be good stewards. May we hold nothing back, for you are worthy of it all. You are worthy of it all. Lord, you've given us far more than we could ever give back. And Lord, we begin to see the beautiful relationship between your bride and yourself. Sacrificial devotion on your side, sacrificial devotion on ours. And though we are weak and frail, we know that this is what your Spirit does. And so we pray for the power and the grace, God, to love you with a sacrificial love. In Jesus' name.