Pursue Peace and Holiness

Hebrews 12 and the Call to Endurance

We continue our study this evening in the book of Hebrews, chapter 12. Hebrews, chapter 12. I am reminded of a statement that was made sometime last year after a Sunday morning service. Brother Broyles came over to Pastor Frye and I and he imbued us with some wisdom.

I had never heard before. He said, I just want to remind you, as it has been well said, sermonettes make for Christianettes. Now, I had never heard that before, but I have a lot to get through this evening.

So, something tells me we will not have a sermonette this evening. At the same time, I also realize that there is a limitation. I well remember the fact that when I preached in Spurgeon's Church in London a number of years ago, that they had embedded in the very pulpit itself a clock that reads for 40 minutes.

Evidently, Spurgeon said you should not go over 40 minutes. Something tells me he did, but he evidently said that. And when the pastor introduces you as he leaves the pulpit, he hits the clock and starts it and it counts down from 40 minutes.

So, I was uncertain. I sort of did this a few times to see if there was a trap door down there to see what would happen if you went past 40 minutes, but it was effective. I never went past 40 minutes, but we will see how that works this evening.

Hebrews chapter 12, you know this morning we looked at verse 11. And so, now we have the practical application. I am going to try, believe it or not, to get through verse 17. That's five verses, which for a Reformed Baptist is just probably heretical, but I'm going to attempt it anyways.

Though there is one section that I know I am going to be tempted to bog down in, and so we'll see how disciplined I can be. Hebrews chapter 12,. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

Strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.

That no one is sexually immoral and holy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

Spiritual Fatigue and Straight Paths

And so here is a strong application after the section on discipline, that we must apply these words, we must live in light of these words. The same thought process continues on through the text and will help us to understand a couple of the phrases that seem somewhat difficult to us at first blush.

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees. Again, we just had a discussion of the gymnasium and training, and I suppose I hadn't thought about doing this, but it seems rather obvious what is being said here.

Have you ever seen a runner at the end of a marathon? Not the ones who win, the ones at the end of the line of the marathon. I remember watching TV coverage of the Kona Ironman once, and I remember watching this poor, I think it was a woman, who had bonked.

When you bonk, when you run out of all the glycogen in your system, you're just, I've been there, I've done it. You start saying things and doing things, you think you're dying. It's a weird, strange experience.

And you see this person, and when they start off, they run like this, and now the hands are down and the knees are weak, and they're falling and stumbling all over themselves, and sometimes they're crawling just to try to get across the line.

We've all seen that happen. And at the end of a strenuous workout, possibly, you will see, in a prize fight, for example, I actually happened to see one, I don't know how, I think I was looking for cycling, I ended up finding a boxing match or something.

And at the beginning, they've got their hands up and they're very active in their defense, but as they get tired and tired and beaten up, the hands start coming down and opportunities for slipping through and hitting that one shot start to arise.

We all understand how this works. And so what the writer is saying is lift up your drooping hands, strengthen your weak knees. There is evidence, spiritually, of some fatigue on the part of these individuals and the congregation as a whole, and make straight paths for your feet, probably drawing out of the book of Proverbs at that point, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

The idea is, especially when it talks about making straight paths, there's a very interesting term that's found in the New Testament, orthopodeo. It means to walk straight in accordance with a rule. And it's what Paul says Peter wasn't doing.

They weren't walking straight in accordance with the gospel when they separated away from the Gentiles and only had fellowship with the Jews. They weren't walking straight. The idea is that when you're in a race and you see the end, you're not going to be doing this number to try to get to the end.

I remember a couple of years ago, I was riding an Altura to Tucson, and we turned that last corner, and you could see, in fact, just a few months ago in Altura to Mesa, you can see the finish line way, way down there.

You still got a ways to go, but you can see down the way. You can see it's there. Well, I'm not much of a mathematician. We have a rocket scientist amongst us, and maybe this doesn't work in space, but here on good old terra firma, the best way to get to that finish line is pretty much a straight line.

You know, heading off this direction and going this direction, that's not the best way to get there. And so that's what's being said here. Make straight paths to your feet, so what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

So, in other words, there needs to be, in the congregation, an effort to push forward toward the goal. Remember what Hebrew is all about. People who are having this pressure to put upon them, to step aside, to give in, to go back to the old ways.

What's being said here? As a people, as a group, as a congregation, we're to be encouraging one another to keep going toward that goal. Sometimes we can't tell when someone is swerving out of the way.

Sometimes we can. And we don't have to be like some people. When you get the feeling that someone is swerving out of the way, you just walk up and smack upside the head and start rebuking them and calling down the fire of heaven.

Sometimes it's just a word of encouragement. It's a well-seasoned word that can be very well used in that particular situation. But the point is, since we all experience discipline, then we are to encourage one another to continue on that proper path.

Pursuing Peace and Holiness in the Congregation

In fact, verse 14 then says, to strive, to pursue two things. Two things we are told to pursue, to strive for in this text. First is peace with everyone, and then strive for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Let's talk about the first. First, strive for peace with everyone. Well, what's the context? Is that telling us that we are to be striving for peace with everyone outside the fellowship or within the fellowship?

Well, there's a sense in which it's both. I mean, blessed are the peacemakers. There is to be a sense in which Christians are having obtained peace with God should be one of the greatest sources of peace for anyone else.

But I would suggest to you that given what we're looking at here, and given that the congregation is the primary focus of what we just saw, that that's still the primary focus. That there needs to be a striving for peace within the Christian congregation.

That when we see other brothers and sisters in Christ, we have confidence that these individuals are fellow heirs of eternal life, that we are to strive to have peace with those individuals. Now, you look at someone like the Apostle Paul, and what does his life show us?

Well, anyone who lives a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. He talks about the pressure that was his from the inside and outside of the church. We see in 1 John the prevalence of false teachers, divisions.

How in the world do we find that balance as to who we are to seek to have peace with? Well, as you know, I sort of live my life in that realm. And I am not going to claim to have perfectly found the proper balance or anything like that.

But I certainly have had to give it a lot of thought. And for me, the real issue is the centrality of the gospel. And not even the centrality of a perfect knowledge of the gospel. I have close relationships, believe it or not, even with people who call themselves Arminians.

Yes, I do. And with people who would disagree with me on issues of spiritual gifts and all sorts of things like that. Because I am absolutely convinced they believe in the gospel. Now, do I think they are absolutely consistent?

No. Am I perfect in my theology? No. Do I strive to be as consistent as I can be? Yes. Will I find out someday that I had blind spots? Yes, I will. The great danger for many of us in our circles is the danger of hyper-Calvinism.

And the hyper-Calvinists, there are certain things that identify hyper-Calvinism. Especially the idea of looking for evidences of regeneration before speaking the gospel to someone. Which obviously we see the errors in something like that.

But the attitude of hyper-Calvinism is always found amongst those who think that if you and I disagree on anything that we would consider to be important, not definitional, but important, well, your theology must be perfect before I can accept your proclamation of profession of faith in Jesus Christ.

There is one little problem with that. That would have left, if we lived that way, then we would never have fellowship with a new believer. A new believer is not perfect. They are ignorant in many ways.

And really, once you see where that attitude goes, you have to keep drawing the circle smaller and smaller and smaller until, basically my experience is, hyper-Calvinists end up standing on one foot.

I've got to stay in this circle here. And there's nobody else in that circle. And you become very cut off from other people. The balance, the balance we must strive for is to be good witnesses of what we believe is true without becoming Pharisees who wrap ourselves in robes of self-righteousness and perfect doctrinal precision so that we cut ourselves off from other believers in Jesus Christ with whom we will spend eternity.

Now, living in a day where there's so much false teaching, living in a day where there's just so much apostasy, you've got to draw the line someplace. But my suggestion is we draw that line with as much ink in the pen as we can possibly find.

Because if we don't, we might find ourselves drawing that line and excluding fellow heirs of eternal life. Now, strive for peace with everyone. That's not only true in our relationships with other believers, but especially within the congregation itself.

That is why those of you who are members of the church know that one of the questions that you are asked in that interview that we have with the prospective members is, do you have anything against anyone in this church?

Do you come into this church and you're already bearing a grudge? Because what we're going to see here is that this is all about what's going on in the congregation. And it's the congregation that's being addressed here.

And these are all things that we are to be encouraging one another about. And so when we see divisions or strife or anything like that, we are to be peacemakers. We are to be seeking to cause people to live in harmony with one another and have peace with one another and love one another and pray for one another.

And in my experience, Limited as it is, a church that is focused upon the important things, focused upon the glory of God, focused upon the reality of the gospel, focused upon the centrality of the word of God, when we have our focus toward that finish line and how to get there, it's amazing how it helps with the interpersonal relationships.

The churches that have all the caterwauling going on because, well, you have the special singers, but Miss X has gotten to sing three times so far this year and Miss Y only twice. And so now they won't even speak to one another and it's causing all sorts of divisions.

Man, I've seen that kind of thing. I have seen that kind of thing. And I am so thankful that we don't have that kind of thing, mainly because we don't have anybody to sing. No. There's actually some wisdom in avoiding some of that stuff.

Keep it simple, saints, or stupid, depending on which direction you want to go with that. But there is a sense of maturity and focus in our congregation as to making sure we keep going the right direction.

I have so many times seen churches that just seem to be focused on all these little things. And when you've got your focus the right direction, you're not going to be so easily offended by a perceived slight on the part of other believers.

So pursue, seek after, strive for peace with everyone. But here's where I might get bogged down and I'm going to try not to. But I want to be very, very clear in this second object of what we are to be striving for.

Strive for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Now again, I think contextually, especially as we look at the next verse when it talks about failing to obtain the grace of God, root of bitterness, we're going to find that that is speaking to the congregation.

And specifically that phrase, root of bitterness, comes from Deuteronomy chapter 29. We'll look at it in a moment. So we're talking about communal living here. We're talking about within the body of faith, within the body of Christ, that there is to be a striving for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

What marked off the congregation? We're reading through it right now. Brother Burless happened to mention Deuteronomy 28. Deuteronomy 28 and 29 are the blessings and the cursings. It's a good section to read because it's talking about to the congregation, this is what's going to mark my holy people off.

You are to be holy unto the Lord. And we already know that the book of Hebrews has used that language of us. That we are to be a holy people. And so when it talks about striving for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord, that is addressed to everyone in the congregation.

Any teaching that says you can be a Christian without striving for holiness is a heresy from hell. It is a soul-destroying, church-destroying heresy. It is falsehood. And it is all over our land. It is all over our land.

Even in allegedly conservative Bible-believing churches. And I want to go on record for all of my enemies who pursue everything I say and write to find some means of accusation. There are entire websites out there devoted to people.

These are people that teach that repentance is necessary to salvation. They're heretics. These are people who teach that the Lordship of Christ is central to the purpose of God and Christendom. They're heretics.

Please make sure to link to this sermon. I want to make sure you get my name right. Because there is no way to look at this thing called the Bible without hearing it saying that we are to strive for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Holiness, Grace, and the Reformed Understanding of Salvation

All sorts of pictures. From the time of Moses to the people of Israel. Of what happens when you call a people to be holy but only a certain number of them are. Think of the apostasy that happens over and over.

And even during Moses' time. Even when Moses is still with the people. How many times has God striked the people with a plague and this many thousands were cut down and so on and so forth. What do we see from that?

And what is the writer trying to say to the Christian community? Is he trying to promote works salvation? Am I promoting works salvation? I am not. Oh, you're saying we have to strive for holiness. The only way that you can avoid the works salvation systems of man while at the same time doing justice to the constant repetitive call to holiness and righteousness on the part of Christians is to recognize what we believe.

And that is that God is the only Savior. That God saves freely. That He saves perfectly. That Jesus Christ is the only perfect Savior. That He is able to save all those the Father gives to Him. That His death in their behalf is perfect in their behalf.

We are united with Him so that the holiness we have, the sanctification we have in the sight of God is ours solely and only in Jesus Christ. We cannot add to it. So then why are we striving for something we already have?

Because it is the purpose of God to conform us to the image of Christ. And when He takes out that heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh, that heart of flesh beats to be like Jesus. It beats to be holy.

And if it doesn't, then that's not a heart of flesh. It's still a heart of stone. The only way to balance, the only way not to fall off into the libertinism and the easy-believe-ism, or on the other side, into the work-salvation systems of man is to believe all of what Scripture teaches.

And we believe that the only balanced way of expressing that is what is found in what we profess in regards to the Reformed faith. Because it guards against both and takes seriously texts like this. Those in the work-salvation camp, they can't hear John 639 and see Jesus being able to actually save His people perfectly.

They can't have a Jesus like that, because that takes the power of salvation out of their hands. But then the people over on the other side, the anti-lordship people, the chief grace people, can't look at this and think that's for every single Christian.

So we have to be balanced. But the fact of the matter is, it's far easier to understand how Christians in a modern, lax age, an age of great sin and degradation and morals and ethics, can look at verse 14 and just skip right over the idea of striving for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Am I striving to add something to what Christ has done for me? No. But I look at my life and I recognize all the places. I recognize all the places where I am not yet like Jesus. Where I don't respond like He responded.

The first thought in my mind is not what He would have thought. The first words from my lips are not covered with grace as His were. We are all in that process of being conformed to the image of Christ.

We all have to ask ourselves the question, do I pray to hate my sin? Or do I pray just to avoid getting caught in my sin? It's not the same thing. Oh, if you preach holiness, you're going to be called a Pharisee.

You're going to be called someone who's preaching work of salvation. All the rest of that stuff, I am not. I am not in any way saying that I can add to the work of Christ. I am not saying that I by myself can pull myself up by the bootstraps.

But I am saying this. That the powerful gospel of Jesus Christ does not leave us wallowing in love with our sin. And anyone who presents a message like that is a false teacher. And that's one line I will draw.

I have to. Because the word is so clear. The word is so clear. See to it, verse 15. That's actually the term for being a bishop. Episcopos. See to it. Overseer. That's what the episcopos is. It's the episcopacy.

The oversight. The bishops are part of the episcopate. They're the elders. See to it. So this is a command to the congregation that no one falls short of or fails to obtain the grace of God. Wow. That sounds so, ooh.

Can you Calvinists preach that? You better believe we can. We must. This is addressed to the congregation. How many times have I looked out upon this congregation? Have I especially addressed you young people?

Christianity is not something that's passed down genetically. You can't live off of your parents' faith. Don't sit in these pews that have been soaked in the teaching of the word of God without having dealings with the God that has been spoken of so often in this place.

Don't think that because you hear or because you understand certain doctrines that that's enough. You can know all about God, but until you have that relationship, until there's repentance and faith, there's no eternal life.

There's no forgiveness. See to it that no one falls short, fails to obtain the grace of God. We should be exhorting one another. This was in the context of these people being told, go back, go back. And so the people of God are to be pulling together and encouraging one another and bearing one another's burdens and saying it's the grace of God that upholds us.

It's the grace of God that causes us to keep moving forward. See to it that no one fails. Don't close the eyes to the evidence. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.

Root of Bitterness, False Profession, and Esau

We've talked about this root of bitterness. Look at the text in Deuteronomy chapter 29. Deuteronomy chapter 29, verse 14. Now not with you alone am I making this covenant and this oath, but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of Yahweh our God, and with those who are not with us here today, for you know how we live in the land of Egypt and how we came to the midst of the nations through which you passed.

Moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which they had with them. So there will not be among you a man or woman or family or tribe whose heart turns away today from Yahweh our God to go and serve the gods of those nations, that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.

It shall be when he hears the words of this curse that he will boast, saying, I have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land with the dry. Yahweh shall never be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of Yahweh and his jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven.

Wow. Like I said, Deuteronomy 28, 29. Blessings, curses. Blessings, curses. So what's the context here? When you have a community of faith and a root of bitterness grows up, what was the context? We read all of it.

Idolatry, unbelief, false profession. What have all of the warnings in Hebrews been about? Remember Hebrews chapter 6? It's been a while. Remember Hebrews chapter 6? Ground that is cursed, even though the rain falls on it, brings forth more fruit.

Here's the same idea, same concept. You have people within the congregation, they're really not a part of the remnant, and oh, they can cause tremendous problems. Isn't it amazing? Doesn't it say something about us as individuals?

That we tend to look upon the one person that loses faith and goes out from amongst us, and we're more damaged by the observance of that than we are by the 99 faithful people who have been around us for years.

We don't seem to take nearly as much encouragement from the fact that we see individuals in whose life God obviously has been active and He's sustained them through so many difficulties. We don't take nearly as much encouragement from that as seeing the one person that goes out.

And that one person going out can cause so much damage. Now, Pastor Frey and I have talked about it a number of times, but the reality is that we elders are frequently the last ones to hear the real reasons.

Oh, when people want to leave, what they tell us and what they tell you are frequently two very different things, let me assure you. We get the, oh, we just feel the Lord leaving us elsewhere. Whereas you guys in the private Facebook message, the text message on the phone, get, I can't stand this tide, whatever else it might be.

Sometimes it is that deep of a reason. And eventually it comes percolating and filtering back, but it is amazing. When someone becomes disaffected, they're no longer looking to the finish line. They're no longer looking to help encourage others to make it.

Now all of a sudden it's all about me and my perceived hurts. And wow, I guess they just want to take as many with them as they can. See to it that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble.

It can involve false teaching. It can involve idolatry. It can involve sexual sin. It can involve gossip, all sorts of things. It springs up and causes trouble and by it many become defiled. We've seen it happen, not so much amongst ourselves, but we should never, ever, ever think that we are immune to these things.

That no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau who sold his birthright for a single meal. Do you know that afterward when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

Esau, Apostasy, and the Danger of Presuming on Grace

Now you might be sitting there going, well, I don't remember the sexually immoral part with Esau. There's two things. Jewish writings of the period prior to the time of Christ had come to the conclusion that Esau was and I think they had come to that conclusion based upon the women that Esau married.

He didn't marry really within the faith. He didn't mind marrying women who basically had pagan backgrounds. And so it is quite possible that because that had become the settled opinion concerning Esau, that because he had had such immorality toward women in not caring about what they were about just by their physical beauty or something like that, that this was what gave rise to the cavalier attitude he had toward his birthright.

He didn't really care about the promises of God. He didn't really care about the covenants in that sense. And that carelessness because of sexual immorality then led to the carelessness that was his about the blessings and hence to his final spiritual destruction even to the point where though he wants to repent, no chance was found for that and that should give you an echo back to a preceding warning.

Remember the preceding warning? Hebrews chapter 6, no place for repentance there. This kind of apostasy, this apostasy where one has trampled underfoot the blood of the Son of God, that kind of apostasy, that going back and offering the sacrifice, clearly demonstrates that the one who does so, never in Christ, no changed heart within that individual.

And here is the warning that no one is sexually immoral and holy like Esau who sold his birthright for a single meal. He is raised as an example of someone who is in the midst of the promises of God. He certainly had a daddy that had explained things to him.

It wasn't that he was ignorant because of the desires of his heart, the desires of the things of the world. Even once he saw his own destruction, there was no opportunity of repentance for that individual.

Strong words, strong words. But clearly that's why I think there is one consistent theme in the New Testament when it talks about this sin. Remember what John said? He said, there is a sin unto death.

I do not say that you should pray about that. Remember that? What's the sin unto death? Well, the Roman Catholics have messed all that up and come up with the idea of menial sins, immortal sins and all the rest of that stuff.

That's not what he is talking about. John is talking about the same thing that the author of Hebrews is talking about here. You go back, you offer the sacrifice. You say, this animal's blood is what I will trust in, having once professed to trust in the blood of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 6 says it, Hebrews 10 says it, Hebrews 12 says it, 1 John 5 says it. Now, theologically, what I would say is God would never allow one of his people to do that. That's the point. It's not that it causes a problem, but it has happened.

It has happened. You say, well, it can't happen today. Well, not in the sense of offering a sacrifice at the temple, no. But you don't think that there are people who, having made profession of faith, live their lives in such a fashion as to offer that sacrifice again?

By their actions, by their attitudes, by their settled rebellion? I think it happens. I think there comes a point in time when all the tears in the world cannot change the state of a person's soul. He was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

Folks, if you can hear that kind of language, and all you're thinking about is what you're going to eat after the service, you're in danger. You're in danger. Those are strong words. If we believe that these words were penned under the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God, they've been preserved for the people of God down through the ages, then we need to take very seriously what this text says.

God is not to be messed with. You do not play around with the grace. When the Scriptures say, now is the day of salvation, and you keep putting it off and keep putting it off and keep putting it off and think, well, you know, I'm going to wait until I've experienced this fulfillment of sinful lust and this exciting thing in life.

There may come a day. There may come a day when you may seek repentance with tears. You've been rejected. Now, do I know when that day happens? Can I look into someone's heart and see that? So what's my constant exhortation to anyone?

Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. Repent. Turn. But I know that my words cannot undo the judgment of God. And there are times when God gives people over. He gives them over. Do not, do not presume upon the grace of God, any one of us.

Any one of us. We must hear these words. We are dealing with a holy God. He will not be mocked. His grace is incredible. The power of Christ to save is awesome. It's amazing. There are many today who will say that because of that.

You know, there are people who teach something called post-mortem evangelization. That's becoming a real popular thing. The idea that, well, you've heard of Rob Bell, right? Rob Bell, Love Wins. What a great title, Love Wins.

But we all want love to win, don't we? Who could argue with a title like that? Love wins. But you see what that ends up meaning in some people's thinking is that love is just going to keep trying and keep trying.

And death is not enough to stop it. And it's going to keep trying. And eventually, God's just going to wear everybody down. It may take a long time, even in hell itself. But God's intention is to empty it out.

And love's going to win. Everyone's going to be saved. And, boy, that has a lot of attraction. A lot of attraction. It cheapens God's love. It turns it into a sickly sentimentality. In fact, just yesterday, one of the best-known pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention tweeted out that God's love for the lost is identical to God's love for the saved.

It can never change. A lot of us responded by saying, so God's going to be eternally bummed. He's going to be eternally upon the parapets of hell, looking in with the very same love for those in hell that he has for those that are bowing before him in love and adoration before the throne.

His heart torn and destroyed over those in hell because he has the very same love, because God cannot have a differentiated love. Someone put it really well. They responded to this by saying, you know, tomorrow's Mother's Day.

I wonder if that pastor is going to demonstrate his love for his wife by taking out his neighbor's wife for Mother's Day. Probably not. Because he has the ability to differentiate between the love he has for his wife and his neighbor's wife, but somehow doesn't think God has that ability.

Theology matters. These are strong words. We must take them seriously. We must hear them. If you have fallen into spiritual malaise, you're just sort of floating along on the stream, here God would reignite that fire, that passionate fire that you know you once had.

Or if you sit here this day, and you're looking at me and going, I don't know what this guy's talking about. I don't have any desire for holiness at all. And I say to you, today is the day of salvation.

You're old enough to understand what I'm saying. You're old enough to have dealings with God. As a very young man, you need to bow to me in repentance. If you can understand what I'm saying, you can hear me.

With His holiness in your sin, knowing that only Jesus Christ is the way of salvation. Don't let it be something you know about. Let it be something you've experienced. Don't put it in exhortation. Our gracious, you heard your word.

We truly hate our sin, because we love you, we love righteousness, we love holiness. May you by your Spirit, write upon our hearts this truth. May we take seriously the call to be holy as you are holy.

May we understand what that means in this coming week. May we recognize the many ways in which in our speech, our action, our dress, our lifestyle, we have been seeking to be more like the world than like you.

May all this cause us to rejoice in the power of the Gospel, in the sovereignty of your kingship. We truly take seriously your calling upon our Lord. Our Father, if there be any amongst us this day, any who sit here right now, they've heard the Gospel.

They may have even professed it in one way or another, but they know in their heart, they've never truly repented, agreed with you about their sin, turned from that sin and turned to the only Savior. And repentance and faith may now be the time.

That by your Spirit, you draw them to yourselves. Lord, may it be now. Let them not put it off. Lord, we thank you for your word, that you have preserved it for us, that you've given us a desire to study and learn it.

May we now be obedient to it. We pray in Christ's name.