Matthew-011

Today, we continue our exposition of the teaching of our Lord Jesus in Matthew 4:17. We will read first what the Lord Jesus spoke to John the Baptist in Matthew 3:15, and then go on to Matthew 4:17 later.

Previously, we concentrated basically on the words, “Let it be so now,” that is, when John tried to prevent the Lord Jesus from being baptized, the Lord Jesus said, “Accept me now for baptism.” He submitted to John’s baptism, the superior submitting to the inferior and so express the essence of fulfilling all righteousness, that attitude of submission for God’s sake.

Biblical righteousness is: loving God with ALL and loving your neighbor as yourself

Today, we would like to concentrate on this word “righteousness.” Jesus was concerned to fulfill not some part of righteousness, not most of righteousness but “to fulfill all righteousness.” What does this mean? What does righteousness mean in the Bible? What is “to fulfill all righteousness”? Righteousness is not some kind of vague theological word. It is a very practical word in the Bible. Basically, righteousness in the Bible is to fulfill all that God has commanded us. This righteousness must not be understood simply in terms of keep­ing external commandments. You will remember the Lord Jesus said that all the commandments could be summed up in one sentence namely, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself.” That sums up the whole essence of righteous­ness. Right­eousness then, is a right relationship with God, defined in the Bible in terms of loving God with everything you have—your heart, mind, your soul, your strength—and loving your neighbor on the same basis as yourself, treating your neighbor like yourself. That’s very important. I repeat, righteousness has to do with our right relation­ship with God and our fellowmen.

So the Lord Jesus says to John the Baptist, “Accept me now as I submit to your baptism for the sake of fulfilling all righteousness.” Why? Because this was commanded by God; it is an ordinance of God. And every ordinance of God is designed to have a definite effect upon our relationship to him and to one another. Just look at the Ten Commandments, all the commandments are simply the matter of relationships to God and to the neighbor. It is vital for us to understand that you cannot disobey any Word of God without affecting your relationship to God and to your neighbor.

Today’s teaching: There is salvation apart from righteousness

Today, when we come to Matthew 4:17, we find that righteousness is at the very heart of Jesus’ preaching. He is a preacher of righteous­ness throughout the Gospels. Noah is described by Peter in his letter, 2 Peter 2:5, as “a preacher of righteousness.” In fact, no preacher in the Bible is anything if he is not a preacher of righteousness. Unfortunately, too often today, righteousness is no longer a theme in the churches. Today, it is a salvation apart from righteousness, a salvation of a righteousness that becomes something of a legal fiction, that is somehow imputed to you without any real substance in your life. In other words, you are declared to be righteous even though you have not become righteous. Let me say to you very honestly, this kind of legal fiction lacks substance in Scriptural teaching. And we shall examine the Scriptural teaching.

In fact, today, we are going to see the doctrine of salvation taught by the Lord Jesus put in a nutshell. It is my desire and intention that no one will leave this service today without clearly understanding what is the Biblical teaching of salvation. We have to return to the foundations of salvation from time to time. If you cross-examine Christians, even those who claim to have been Christians for many years, you will soon find that they are unable to provide a clear and comprehensible explanation of salvation without omitting many crucial elements of Scriptural teaching on salvation.

What is salvation about? How would you answer? The typical Christian response would be, “Salvation is connected to repentance, through which God forgives your sins. And you are saved because your sins are forgiven.” That is just as much substance on salvation that the average Christian can normally explain. In the Bible, there is a lot more to salvation than just a declaration of forgiveness. If you tell someone that salvation is simply about receiving forgiveness for sins—which is only part of it—you have not taught him or her the complete teaching of salvation. It is not surprising that he continues to sin and seek forgiveness, perpetuating an endless cycle. Eventual­ly, in his utter frustration of never achieving victory over sin, he decides to stop being a Christian altogether. I have encountered many people in this situation – living a life of constant defeat, unable to overcome sin and continuously seeking forgiveness week after week, as they should. However, they eventually reach a point of utter frustration, believing that the battle for righteousness is impossible to win. Is that the Biblical teaching of salvation?

We often cannot put it any clearer than this: Salvation is essentially apologizing to God. I repent for my sins, and God forgives me. We clarify that we are forgiven because Jesus died on the cross, and his blood cleanses us from our sins. And that is all there is to salvation. However, there is a long way to go.

If we have progressed slightly beyond that stage, we may also express, “Moving forward, we no longer rely on our own strength to lead a Christian life; instead, we rely on God’s power.” While this marks some progress, it still overlooks crucial elements.

The Biblical teaching is: No salvation apart from righteousness

Jesus preached righteousness. Noah preached righteousness. Each of the prophets in the Old Testament preached righteousness. And as we have seen, righteousness means a complete change in our relationship to God and to our fellowmen. Only when you begin to base your preaching on righteousness are you likely to be moving on the right track.

We read in Matthew 4:12 that John was arrested by Herod, and not too long afterwards, Herod put him to death. Jesus began his ministry after John the Baptist’s arrest. In other words, Jesus picked up the flag that fell from John’s hand, and you will discover that he preached exactly the same message as John the Baptist. Look at what John the Baptist preached in Matthew 3:2. His message is summed up in these words:

What does the Lord Jesus preach? In Matthew 4:17 we read:

It is the same as what John the Baptist preached word for word. Isn’t that remarkable! So when we understand what the Lord Jesus preached, we also understand what John the Baptist preached, except the Lord Jesus took the message spiritually deeper than John the Baptist could fully understand it at the time.

The Lord Jesus preached repentance. His first word was, “Repent.” Anyone who doesn’t bother to preach righteousness will not find much to say about repentance, because what is repentance? Repentance is simply turning away from sin and redirecting towards righteousness. You cannot even take a single step along the way without addressing righteousness.

Why should anyone repent if he doesn’t care for righteousness, if he is perfectly content with sin? If you say to the man on the street, “Repent,” he will say, “What for? I don’t mind my life of sin which is quite enjoyable.” He doesn’t care for righteousness, therefore, the word “repent” has no meaning for him. In other words, repentance is not the language for anyone who is not interested in righteous­ness. You are wasting your time if you tell a person who doesn’t care for righteousness to repent. Why should we repent? Both John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus go on to say, because the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of God is the same as the kingdom of heaven in the New Testament. The Jews used a circumlocution, the word “heaven” because they did not want to say the divine name, “God” out of reverence for God. “Heaven” (天) also often means “God” in Chinese. When we realize that the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, we repent.

When God’s Holy Spirit makes you righteous, you will experience God’s kingdom

What is the kingdom of heaven? Let us turn to Romans 14:17 to get Paul’s definition of the kingdom heaven.

Now observe this: righteousness, peace and joy. We are back to the word “righteousness.” These three elements are inseparable. With­out peace, joy cannot be achieved, and without righteousness, peace cannot be attained. Therefore, without righteousness, you don’t have either joy or peace. Righteousness is fundamental.

Many Christians say they have become Christians but experience neither peace nor joy. That is very easy to understand because right­eousness has not yet come into their lives. Without righteousness, there will be neither peace nor joy. Peace and joy cannot be attained without first passing through righteousness. I would like you to understand this very clearly. If you became a Christian at a winter or summer conference when the preacher asked you to raise your hand, and you think you are going to have peace and joy imme­diately, you are going to be disappointed. Unless righteousness has become a reality in your life, spiritual peace and joy are simply never going to be your portion.

Therefore, what is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is righteousness first and foremost, and then peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. It is very important to understand that it is God’s Holy Spirit who makes this righteousness, this peace, and this joy a reality in your life. So the Holy Spirit of God is the key to understanding the kingdom of God. In other words, the kingdom of God only becomes a reality in your life when the Holy Spirit of God comes into your life and establishes righteousness in it and consequently, peace and joy.

God looked for righteousness in the Old Testament

Everywhere we look in the Bible, righteousness is prominently evident. What did God look for in Israel in the Old Testament? All the prophets in the Old Testament preached righteousness. Now we see why John the Baptist preached righteousness. Those who have read the works of the prophets in the Old Testament will notice a consistent emphasis on righteousness throughout. You cannot miss it. If you look at Isaiah chapter 1, you will see the emphasis on righteousness. Isaiah denounces the Jews, admonishing them for having too much religion and too little righteousness.

I think we can say that is the same problem with the Church today – too much religion and too little righteousness, too much hymn singing, church-going, Bible-pounding, too much talk, and too little action. No wonder the non-Christians say, “Look at you Christians! How are you better than me?” And what do the Christians say? “It has nothing to do with being better. It has to do with believing this and that to be true.” That’s not the case at all in the Bible! Don’t try to escape the condemning finger of the non-Christian when he says, “You behave like a hypocrite, therefore, I don’t want to be a Christian.” Don’t say, “Salvation has nothing to do with the way I live, it has to do with faith.” That is hypocrisy! That is nonsense! The kingdom of God is righteousness, and if you don’t have righteous­ness in your life, you don’t know what the kingdom of God is about, no matter how much faith you profess.

The Jews never lacked religion. Nor did they lack faith in that sense of religion. Do the Jews believe in God? Certainly, they believe in God. Do they believe that God is one? Certainly, they believe that God is one. Do they believe the Bible is the Word of God? Certainly, the Jews believe the Bible to be the Word of God. What do you believe that they don’t believe? You won’t find a people more devoutly religious than the Jews, and yet Isaiah denounced them. Just read Isaiah 1:11-15.

Every day, a Jew crowds into the temple to bring his sacrifices and offerings. And every Jew prays the Shema—the fundamental Jewish confession of faith—three times a day. He never misses his prayers. Therefore, Isaiah said to the Jews on behalf of God, “You come to the temple every day, bringing your sacrifice or offering. And you faithfully mumble your prayer of the Shema three times a day. Take your sacrifices away! Who wants the blood of these animals? I don’t want your religion. What I want to see is righteousness in your life – when justice is done to the poor, so that he does not have his face ground in the dust; when the widow and the orphan are taken care of and not oppressed. Take your religion, your sacrifices out of the temple and bring me righteousness!” That is how the Old Testament prophets preached. It is not a comforting message. Just read the Bible.

You will see the same when you read Amos. God says, “When will you repent, Israel? When will you give thanks to me? I don’t want your sacrifices. I’m tired of them. Bring me righteousness. That’s what I want to see.” (cf. Amos 4:5). And in Amos 5:24 God says, “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

Jesus teaches: our righteousness is to exceed that of the Pharisees

But today, righteousness has been toned down. Salvation is made easy, just like the Jews thought it would be easy. Righteousness has never been easy. We cannot take righteousness out of the church or out of our message, if we are going to be faithful to God.

The Lord Jesus says in Matthew 5:20, “Except your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees….” The Pharisees are the most reli­gious people this world has ever seen. In the history of religion, there has never been a group more religious than the Pharisees, more scrupulous about religious details, and more careful about their outward conduct and performance. They fasted twice a week and prayed three times a day. Their religious behavior is unparalleled; you cannot rival them in this aspect. Yet the Lord Jesus said, “Except your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, you will under no condition enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Oh no! Little wonder that the churches also often think, “Who’s going to be saved? Let’s tone down the message!”

But the Lord Jesus goes on to warn, “If anyone weakens the require­ments of God’s righteousness one whit, that person will have trouble entering the kingdom.” You will read all that in Matthew 5:18-19:

Now let us consider, our righteousness is to exceed that of the Pharisees. You will remember that even Paul was not ashamed to call himself a Pharisee. He says, “I am a Pharisee,” not “I was a Pharisee” (cf. Acts 23:6). Do you know why he, as a Christian, was not afraid to call himself a Pharisee? It’s because the Pharisees hold almost everything in their doctrinal content as the Christians do. It is very surprising. If any of you would care to study this enormous work by Strack and Billerbeck, two German scholars, who wrote a commentary of the New Testament quoting from the Talmud, you will be astonished to see that the Pharisees taught virtually the same as the Christians do, point after point. Therefore, don’t deceive yourself into believing that the correctness of faith alone guarantees your salvation.

That is what the apostle James warned us about in James 2:21-22, 24:

Don’t think it is enough that you believe Jesus is the Son of God, the Christ. Unless your faith is translated into righteousness of life, your faith that is in the head will not save you.

Lord Jesus’ teaching of salvation: Be born of water and the Spirit

This brings us to the important essence. What is the Lord Jesus’ teaching of salvation? How can we have this righteousness? If the Pharisees could work so hard at religious scruples, and they could not save themselves by their effort, how are we going to be saved?

Don’t give me a slick answer of “faith,” because I want to have a definition of faith. The word “faith” is so widely used that those who often use it scarcely understand its true meaning. What is faith? Faith certainly is obedience and commitment. However, what is truly important is when you make that commitment to God. I don’t want to stress faith. I want to stress what God does in our lives. It’s not so much that faith saves us. It is God who saves us through faith.

The answer emerges when we put two verses of what the Lord Jesus said side by side. He said in Matthew 5:20,

He made another statement in John 3:5 that has an identical second segment:

I am sure all of you know simple mathematics. When the second part is the same, the first part also equates to each other. In other words, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees” is parallel to “Unless you are born of the Spirit.” It is there that we understand the whole secret of the Lord’s teaching. The only way by which our righteousness can surpass that of the Pharisees is through being born of the Spirit; God’s Holy Spirit transforms us.

Salvation is: God’s Holy Spirit changes you into a new person of righteousness

That is the whole essence of the New Testament teaching of salva­tion. It is not just a question of God forgiving us when you repent, of having faith that Jesus is the Son of God, who died for our sins and rose from the dead. These are all true, but you are not saved until the Spirit of God comes into your life and changes you into a new person. That is being a Christian. And what is this new person that you are changed into like? That person is righteous.

You might ask, “On what basis?” Let me read to you Ephesians 4:24 and see how clearly Paul understood the Lord Jesus’ teaching. If only Christians could understand what Paul taught. We can read from verse 22 which has to do with repentance. It is virtually a parallel of the Lord Jesus’ teaching.

There is the new man, the born again man! What is the new man like? It is created in the likeness of God! And what is the likeness of God? It is true righteousness and holiness. That is why I say, it doesn’t matter how orthodox your doctrines are, that you believe Jesus is the Son of God, who died for your sins, and rose on the third day, and so on and so forth. You may believe all these, but even the devil believes them! It is only when God’s righteousness enters your life through his Holy Spirit that you can be saved. Therefore, bear this clearly in mind: no matter how orthodox your doctrines, you will not be saved until God’s righteousness is in your life, until God’s Spirit comes into your life and makes you into a new person, who is created in God’s image, in true righteousness and holiness. That is salvation the Lord Jesus taught, and that is salvation as taught by Paul here in Ephesians. That is why Paul drives home the same point in Galatians 6:15,

Both circumcision and uncircumcision are nothing. Well then, what counts? He has cleared the board completely, emphasizing that only one thing matters: a new person, a new creation in Christ. That is what a Christian is about. Circumcision is nothing. Religious obser­vance doesn’t save you. You might say, “If religious observance doesn’t save me, I’ll be saved by faith apart from religious obser­vance.” Paul says, “Don’t make that mistake either. Uncircumcision will not save you either. Don’t think that because circumcision is of the law, and uncircumcision is not of the law, therefore it is superior. That is false. That is neither the Lord’s teaching nor mine. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision but a new creation.” That’s what salvation is all about.”

He says the same thing in 2 Corinthians 5:17,

 A new person! That is wonderful! If anyone wants to know what doctrine of salvation I preach, this is what I preach because this is what Paul, the Lord Jesus, and the Bible preaches. Let any man who says otherwise prove his case from the Word of God. I don’t care how religious you are—whether your father was a pastor or your grandfather was a bishop; I don’t even care if you are a pastor, or a bishop, or a priest, no matter how many theological degrees you have—I can say on the authority of God’s Word that, unless the Spirit of God has come into your life and transformed you into a new person in Christ, created in the image of God with true holiness, true righteousness, you are not saved. Religion won’t save you one whit! I will not be saved because I am a pastor, a Christian worker or a Bible teacher. That will not save me one whit. No, the only thing that will save me is God’s grace! And how is God’s grace expressed? God’s grace is expressed in his graciousness in that he takes a sinner like me, and makes a new person out of me. That is the Biblical teaching of salvation, and I hope you will understand it well because your salvation depends on it.

As Hebrews 12:14 tells us, “Without holiness (righteousness) no man shall see God.” God’s words cannot fail. He has made it very plain to us. Then how shall we enter into this holiness? As we saw, it is by the new creation, created with the true holiness that comes from God. There is always this same emphasis on holiness in the Lord Jesus’ and Paul’s teaching.

Christians must live in righteousness

Let me stress this point clearly for your understanding. Do you know what the Bible is called in the New Testament? It is called “the Word of righteousness.” Anyone who does not preach righteousness does not preach the Bible. It is as simple as that. Hebrews 5:13 says,

Those who are immature are unskilled in the Word of righteousness. In 2Timothy 3:16, Paul says that the Bible trains us in righteousness.

Paul also declares in Romans 6:18,

He is saying that if you are not a servant of righteousness, you are not a Christian. If you don’t have righteousness, you are not a Christian, I don’t care what kind of faith you profess.

Paul says the same in 2 Corinthians 11:15, that in order to deceive Christians,

He points out very plainly in verse 13, that the preacher of the Word of God is not a preacher at all unless he is a servant of righteousness. Therefore in order to get into the church, Satan and his servants will also deceive people by presenting themselves as such. Even Satan understands the Bible better than most Christians! He knows that if he is going to succeed, he too, must make some pretense of righteousness, like the Pharisees.

A Christian must become the righteousness of God by Jesus’ death

Then, I would like to draw your attention to one very striking verse, 2 Corinthians 5:21, which tells us why Jesus died, why God sent Jesus.

Why did Jesus die? Why did God send Jesus into the world? We must not stop reading half-way and think it is so that Jesus, who knew no sin became a sin offering. It is so that “in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Those are powerful words! Did Paul say, “so that we might have the righteousness of God”? No, he did not say that. Look carefully: it is “so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Anyone who does not understand the teach­ing of righteousness in the New Testament cannot expound this verse at all. We keep talking about “we have the righteousness of God.” We have nothing of the kind. We “become the righteousness of God” in Christ. It is what we are, not what we have, that saves us.

Righteousness is not like a passport that you have as a present, that you can tuck away in your pocket, and it doesn’t matter what kind of life you live, as it is so often suggested. It most certainly matters! Then on the Day of Judgment, regardless of how sinful and impure you are, you can simply present this passport and proclaim, “I have been given righteousness as a present!” You have nothing of the kind. Righteousness is not a present that you can wave around and say, “See, I’ve got the gift of God!”

It is vital for us to understand that you either become the righteous­ness of God, or you don’t have the righteousness of God. That is Paul’s as well the Lord as Jesus’ teaching. Don’t think that Christ’s righteousness is imputed to you as a present that you can put in your pocket, and you can also live your sinful life and get to heaven. No wonder “Christians” live in sin! They think that righteousness does not matter. That’s not Paul’s teaching. Paul says Jesus died for us so that in him we become God’s righteousness. It’s a powerful statement. He is saying that we become the very expression of God’s righteousness in the world.

Paul is saying the same thing as the Lord Jesus: “You are the light of the world,” that is, you become the light of the world. He doesn’t say, “One day, we hope you might become the light” or “I strongly suggest that you should be a light even if you are not one right now.” What kind of Christians are we talking to? Whether you like it or not, the true Christian is righteousness, because the Holy Spirit has come into him and changed his life and made him a new person. Wherever he goes, he is the expression of God’s righteousness.

That righteousness is God’s righteousness, not mine. I did not make myself a new creation. That is why we say it is by God’s grace, God’s power. He made me the new person that I am. I don’t have anything to boast about. I did not make myself the person that I am. If I am righteous, it is because God made me righteous by his Spirit, who is given to me. That is wonderful Christianity!

I don’t have to keep apologizing, “I’m sorry that I am this kind of Christian. I am bad. Be patient with me. God hasn’t finished with me yet. I’ve only been a Christian for 25 years, and I have another few years to live.” How long do you want to be a Christian before you can stop apologizing for being a Christian? It is God who makes us who we are, and if we are not who we should be, is the fault with God? Or is the fault with you because you have not put yourself in God’s hands, so that he can put his Spirit in you to mold you?

If you apologize, you are either suggesting that God does not do a very good job of making you a new creature, or you confess that you are not a Christian at all because you have not let him make you a new creature. Which of the two is correct? I suggest that it is you who have not let him make you the new creature you should be. God doesn’t have to apologize for his workmanship because when he makes a person a new creature, he makes a new creature. Look at God’s workmanship and it is good. And I would like to see more of God’s workmanship in the church when we don’t have to keep apologizing and saying, “I’m sorry, I don’t know the Bible well enough. That’s why I behave like a savage. I mean, sometimes I lose my temper.” What are you apologizing for? You have not surrendered your life to God, that is why God has not been able to change you. God’s workmanship is good. In Genesis, we read that he looked at what he had created, and it is good! God does not make any apologies for his work. It is we who mess up everything. I would to God we have a church today, that can be said that Jesus died for us, and he did not die in vain, that we are the very manifestation of God’s righteousness in the world! Let God transform this church! Let God transform each of us to be the kind of Christian that Jesus died to make us to become!

Righteousness should not marry with unrighteousness

The apostle Paul dares to speak of the Christian as righteousness! I don’t know how many Christians you dare to describe as the living expression of righteousness. Look at 2Corinthians 6:14. Have you ever been embarrassed by this verse? We often quote this to young Christians to tell them not to marry non-Christians. Why? It says here:

Paul understands that a Christian does not just have righteousness, as we saw, he is the righteousness of God. And so he says,

The Christian is light. He is not hopefully going to become light one day. He is light or he is not a Christian. It is as simple as that. The Bible has distinct lines with no blurry boundaries, making it easy to know when you have crossed them. You are either light and right­eousness or you are not a Christian. If you are God’s righteousness, what fellowship do you have with lawlessness? If you are not righteousness, you won’t understand the misfortune of marrying a non-Christian, as you don’t know the difference between the two.

Anyone who is a new creation knows all this immediately. He doesn’t have to have it drummed into him. He knows: “I am the manifesta­tion of God’s righteousness, of his grace in my life, therefore, I am not going to be married to lawlessness.” Paul can speak in absolute terms, which is refreshing in a day when Christianity has been diluted to the extent that clear distinctions between right and wrong are blurred, or where boundaries are set in the wrong places.

Righteousness is the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ teaching

By now, I think we have come to see why I said at the beginning, that righteousness is the key, the essence, the substance, the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ teaching. I hope you will understand well, not only that you might be saved, but also that when you go out to witness to others, you can point him to the path of life, and not be a blind guide to the blind, causing them to fall into the pit with you. Never again cheapen the gospel to say, “It doesn’t matter whether or not there is righteousness in your life. It doesn’t matter how you live. Just believe in Jesus, and God will forgive all your sins. God understands if you live in sin; He is very kind.” What kind of teaching is this? This is not the message of the gospel!

Salvation is: Becoming a new person of righteousness, like Jesus Christ

Remember clearly that salvation is about becoming a new person. It’s about God’s power transforming the sinful man to righteousness, transforming darkness into light. Paul says, “At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (Eph. 5:8). You “are” light in the world, not you “have” light. Paul speaks the same lan­guage as the Lord Jesus: “You are the light of the world” (Mt. 5:14). It is so clear when you understand that righteousness is the very foundation of Scripture. So when you tell others how to become a Christian, by all means use “The Four Spiritual Laws” if you like, but don’t stop there. Get into this Biblical teaching of the transformed person, the new creation, the new person. Salvation is the expression of God’s saving power in our lives, and you become God’s righteousness in Christ.

Such is God’s concern for righteousness that we read in 2 Peter 3:13,

That is a vision that kindled the apostle Peter’s heart. God is so concerned about righteousness that when he will make a new heaven and a new earth, righteousness will dwell there. Do you see what it means? Whenever God creates a new creation, whether it is spiritual or physical, it is always with the supreme purpose that righteousness dwells there.

Righteousness then, is to be like Jesus. In 1 John 2:1, the Lord Jesus is described as “Jesus Christ the righteous.” He is the righteous, he is righteousness. And we, as new people become like him, not because we are better than others or are good in ourselves, but because he died so that God can make us that way. We thank God for so great a salvation!