More Union With Christ

Excellent. That is such a blessing to hear that. I think it's a blessing for us to sing it. So remain standing and I will read from today's passage. 1 Peter 3, starting at verse 13. Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?

But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

You may be seated. So we've been going through 1 Peter. for about 26 weeks now. I think we've taken about three weeks on different things. So it's about the 23rd sermon. And we're about halfway finished, maybe a little past halfway. And what Peter did in chapter 1 is told us to be holy.

And what I taught when we were in chapter 1, and Peter said to be holy as God is holy, is that Peter would effectively spend the rest of the letter telling us how to be holy. Thus, we have what I'll call almost cyclical repetitions of Peter telling us to do things. And so what Peter tells us in this passage is repeating things that were previous. So it's not necessarily all sorts of new revelation.

If you've listened to the other sermons, this will not be a big wow factor kind of thing. This is just what Peter's already told us for the most part. And so as we get into 1 Peter 3, 13 to 16, one thing I want to point out. Hi. one thing I want to point out is that 1 Peter 3.15 is a pretty famous verse in Christianity there's a lot of people that look at 1 Peter 3.15 and they see where it says be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you and that's kind of like the apologist's verse okay so if you meet anyone that calls himself an apologist almost they will very often refer to that verse and I'm not going to make a big focus on that today I do think we should all be Christian apologists I think that we should be ready to make that defense but I don't think that's the focus of the passage in the same way that I've heard it taught in the past by people who teach it for that purpose.

So last week when we read, Who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? We reviewed Psalm 34, and what we saw is the affliction of the saints in there and that God would ultimately deliver them. And one of the things I said is that Peter, I think, is referencing the fact that if you are generally doing good, that there's literally very few people that would want to harm you.

It's the way the world tends to function is that it only works when people do things God's way. So even in a godless society somewhere, what do you normally see? You normally see laws against stealing. You see some form of marriage that involves the only marriage that can procreate, man and woman. You see laws against harming others, murdering them. There's usually some respect for elders involved.

That's what the fifth commandment teaches us. So doing things God's way, generally speaking, works for cultures. And so people in those cultures that do things well, that do good things, generally aren't harmed. This is what we're taught in Romans 13. That's the general way things work. Now, we live in a sinful, sin-cursed world.

And there are bad people that do bad things, even to good people. and then there's whole societies that start to become very wicked. And if you're not sure of one, of an example, maybe the United States is either on its way there or some of you would say we're already there. So I didn't want that to be too veiled for you. But we're still at a point where we are, it is possible that someone's going to come in here and do something bad to us tonight.

I think we all agree that we don't think it's entirely probable though I think people would be having meetings and saying we better lock the door once the clock starts 3 o'clock and we need to make sure we have a security team I think that we're we don't find that as probable as in some parts of the world I think we'd be more shocked if it happened right now and that's a testimony to how good we have it right now but when Peter says now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? I think that he also could be referring to the fact that there will be people to harm you. And the people who will harm you are the God-haters.

People who hate Jesus Christ. Not openly, not consciously some of them, but people who are living in their sin and rebellion against God. They see the way that you behave, they see your good works, and rather than be thankful for those things because they know it actually good for them They actually hate you because you shining the light of Christ on their dark life So you don't have to open your mouth and tell people, I'm doing this because I believe in Jesus and He saved me and He's holy and all these things.

A lot of times you can just lead a pretty decent life and people will hate you for that because it exposes their darkness. so Peter transitions into saying even if you should suffer for righteousness sake in verse 14 you will be blessed and then he says have no fear of them nor be troubled but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy and what he's doing is he's quoting Isaiah chapter 8 right now so turn to Isaiah chapter 8 with me. And we're going to spend the bulk of our time here. And we're going to try to get into the context of what Peter was thinking about when he was penning this letter.

So remember, Peter was a Jew. Peter was well versed in the Old Testament. He didn't understand everything very well, as evidenced by some of his responses to what Jesus did. And then God used Peter in a wonderful way to write scripture. He used Peter to preach to people to see people saved. When Ananias and Sapphira lied to Peter God saw it as lying to the Holy Spirit.

And so here we are and Peter is going to teach us from Isaiah something in 1 Peter 3. And let me give you a tip. When you're reading the Bible if an author of the Bible quotes another author of the Bible that is meaningful he's not just doing it because it sounded good and it's good literature so maybe he'd sell more books that's not why it happened when the Holy Spirit in the New Testament through the Apostle Peter is drawing attention to something that he wrote in the Old Testament that was in a different context at a time he is either giving us a meaning of that text that maybe was a little bit veiled to us at the time because we didn't understand it yet or at the very least he's giving us more applications of that text that we should understand chapter 8 of Isaiah I'm going to start at the beginning and I'm going to read probably the whole thing then Yahweh said to me take a large tablet and write on it in common characters belonging to Meher Shel Hashbaz and I will get reliable witnesses Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberakiah to attest for me and I went to the prophetess this is his wife and she conceived and bore a son then Yahweh said to me call his name Meher Shel Hashbaz So if you guys are debating baby names, be careful if you're playing the just open the Bible and point game, pick one.

Because if you get to Isaiah 8, you're going to have a tough name. Okay, yeah, it's also not a really positive name. So, for before the boy knows how to cry, my father or my mother, the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria. So the name was a curse. It was predicting a curse. Yahweh spoke to me again.

Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the river, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks. and it will sweep on into Judah. It will overflow and pass on, even reaching to the neck.

And its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land. O Emmanuel. So up to this point, this is leading into the text that Peter's going to quote. God's declaring that the army of Assyria is going to come, and it's going to conquer. So he says, you refuse the waters that flow gently. So God had given them gentle waters.

But instead, he uses this analogy, these strong waters are going to come, rise over all its banks, and it will sweep into Judah, reaching even to the neck. People will be, you know, when you get in a pool and you're kind of up to your neck and you're on your tippy toes trying to make sure you can still breathe. You know, it's this idea that you're in dangerous waters It's deep enough to drown in.

And you have to take care of yourself, lest you perish. And then Isaiah writes at the end of that verse, and I love this, he says, O Emmanuel. So turn back a page to Isaiah 7. It's in Isaiah 7 where we first see, in 7.14, what most of us know as a Christmas verse. It's not a bad one to memorize. He says, Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. That means God with us. And Isaiah says Emmanuel in verse 14 of chapter 7. Then he says Emmanuel again in chapter 8, verse 8. and he's telling he's reminding the people who this is going to come upon them this judgment is going to come upon them he reminding them God is with us though Remember this when the terror comes God is with us Then there's a little quote, it says, be broken you peoples, verse 9, I'm back in chapter 8, sorry, verse 9.

He says, be broken you peoples and be shattered. Give ear all you far countries. strap on your armor and be shattered strap on your armor and be shattered he's announcing right after the reminder that god is with his people he's announcing to the far away people that they'll be shattered they may they may win for a moment they may win a battle they may have a a temporary kingdom they may have a what is by man's perception a very long kingdom in this world. But they'll be shattered.

He tells them, strap on your armor twice. Strap on your armor and be shattered. You're going to be fighting. You'll never rest. Only the people of God rest. Everyone else, they think they rest.

They buy nicer cars, they buy trinkets. Right? What do people do in the United States now, right? People constantly do whatever they have to do so that they can think that they have peace and vacation, right? So if you get pregnant and you don't want a baby, you kill your baby, right? You try to get more money.

You go work for more money. You keep working and working and working. And if that doesn't work, you get a credit card. You get more. You steal. You elect somebody who will steal for you. it's another tactic of the wicked but only the people of God will have rest we have to put our armor on but what armor do we put on? we put on the armor of God there's no fear there we're not worried about sudden attacks from evil as if it could ultimately cause our issues cause us to perish eternally or something literally the best thing that could happen to any Christian is the worst thing that could happen to somebody in this life, pretty much.

So we have rest because God is with us. Isaiah continues in verse 10. Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing. Speak a word, but it will not stand. And he says, for God is with us. And so Isaiah does a play on words here.

He doesn't actually say Emmanuel again. And this isn't Emmanuel translated. He actually says God is with us, which sounds a lot like Emmanuel, but he says it differently. And it's one of the neatest things I find when I find a teacher that can explain Hebrew, because I don't know it myself, or if I even just do a little bit of research. Sometimes there's so many word plays they do.

And another guy that did them was Samson. He did some word plays that were pretty funny, actually, if once you hear what they are. But you miss them in English. But he says take counsel together. He's telling these far away countries, hey, you guys can all get together against my people. It'll come to nothing.

Because God is with us, Isaiah is saying. But it's still going to happen. So Peter has this context in mind. God is with his people. His people will never ultimately be destroyed. God will always be with his people.

All day long we are killed. We are led by like sheep to the slaughter. and yet nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so now, Isaiah says in verse 11, For Yahweh spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people. saying so Isaiah is in the midst of heathens he's in the midst of non-believers here okay he says do not call conspiracy all that this people call conspiracy and do not fear what they fear nor be in dread well there that's what Peter's quoting Peter said have no fear of them nor be troubled.

Here he says, do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. So first of all, he warns his people, don't call conspiracy everything that the people around you call conspiracy. So I am neither a conspiracy theorist nor somebody that assumes that all conspiracies are not true, just because somebody claimed it. It is most certain that people conspire together to do evil.

There were a number of prophecies about what was going to happen with Trump and the inauguration that didn't come true that have left a lot of people who believe some conspiracy theories a little bit lost right now. And so, God has warned his people, do not call conspiracy what these people call conspiracy. What you have to remember about conspiracy theories is that God is sovereign.

So even if somebody is doing some kind of evil deed behind closed doors, yada yada yada, which I agree has happened in the past, there have been previous things that people called conspiracy theories that were ultimately proven to have been true. But that's not to be your focus or your concern. It's what God's trying to tell you. When the people around you are all freaking out about a conspiracy to overthrow an election, or a secret island where there's pedophiles or whatever it happens to be.

I'm not saying they're all true or not true. I don want to get in that debate at the podium at least But what I going to tell you is that not what you supposed to be overly concerned about I can assume that wicked men in high places are doing more wickedness than I could even imagine right now. Because I know the heart of man, not because I'm a conspiracy theorist.

I can also know that the way that I have any impact on it is not to worry about it or be anxious about it. And it's probably not to go storming into a pizza place or whatever all the different things that happened. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, God bless you. I wish I didn't know some of it. Okay? But it's happening around you.

There's people around you who are believing one thing or another. And you're just told, no, be separate. This is what the whole thing is being about. Remember Peter said, be holy as I am holy. He's quoting the Lord as I am holy. Be separate.

Do not call conspiracy all that the people call conspiracy. Hey, an enemy country is coming. don't worry about it being a conspiracy. They're coming. What are you supposed to do? He says, do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But Yahweh of hosts, so now he's talking about the Old Testament, God, Yahweh, the name of God in the Old Testament, the one that constantly communed with his people, him you shall honor as holy.

That's exactly what Peter told us. He said, honor Christ the Lord as holy. sanctify the Lord God in your heart your job in order to let God be your fear the end of 13 and to let him be your dread is to let him be your sanctuary and you do that by sanctifying the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart and he tells us in verse 14 he will become a sanctuary and a stone of a fence and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken.

They shall be snared and taken. Now, if you've been following along with 1 Peter, and if you take my suggestion that you should probably read 1 Peter at least every other week, you would remember that in chapter 2, Peter says, so when I said chapter 2, I probably wasn't clear. I'm referring to 1 Peter 2. That Peter said in verse 7, So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. they stumble because they disobeyed the word as they were destined to do.

Well, that's exactly what Isaiah prophesied. He will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel. This is what they were destined to do. The Israelites as a nation, and this is going to shock some of you, it shocked me when I first understood this. They were never God's people in the way that we mean it when we say that phrase.

God dealt with them as a nation, but God's people have always been the elect of God throughout the world and those who believe in him. And when Jesus the Messiah came and he displayed himself perfectly, because he's perfect, and he revealed himself sufficiently to all those who even understood the Old Testament. They did not believe him because they did not love him.

They did not recognize him because they did not believe him. They stumbled on the one that you're supposed to make your sanctuary. They were clinging to the law of Moses. They were clinging to the Old Testament. and yet their fear and their dread was not in his son who he reveals perfectly in verse 14 John Calvin said this is Isaiah 8.14 I'm sorry I bounce back and forth and in my mind it makes perfect sense because I'm like here and I'm not sharing it clearly sometimes So we're back on Isaiah 8, chapter 14.

Isaiah chapter 8, verse 14. And John Calvin writes this. This is a remarkable passage and cannot be sufficiently called to remembrance, especially at the present time, when we see the state of religion throughout the whole Christian world brought nearly to ruin. many boast that they are Christians who are strongly alienated from God and to whom Christ is a stone of stumbling the papists that he's referring to Roman Catholics insolently and proudly boast of his name though they profane the whole of his worship by superstitions and bring upon it dishonor and reproach among those to whom a pure worship of God has been restored there are very few who embrace the gospel of God with sincere regard so now he's talking about Protestants among those to whom a pure worship has been restored he says there are very few who embrace the gospel of God with sincere regard he had this problem in the 16th century wherever we turn our eyes this is still Calvin very sore temptations meet us in every direction and therefore we ought to remember this highly useful instruction that it is thing if a great multitude of persons and almost all who boast that they belong to the church stumble against God.

He says, yet let us constantly adhere to him, however small may be our numbers. At the time that we often look back fondly on, not that any of us lived at this time, but we look back on this Protestant Reformation as this wonderful time of faithfulness and recovering truth of the Bible. And guys like John Calvin are writing that most of Christendom wasn't even Christian.

But we're going to move forward anyway. Isaiah, a couple chapters before chapter 8, was told he would preach to a people who will not hear and they will not see. and God said go preach to them anyway. And sometimes that's what we're to do. Sometimes that's your suffering. Amen. Back to Isaiah 8, verse 16.

Isaiah writes, Find up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples. I will wait for Yahweh who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. And I will hope in Him. God's face is hidden from the nation of Israel at this time. They're not sensing the presence of God. They're not sensing the prosperity of God.

There's a believing remnant there. But how many times in your own Christian life have you felt distant from God? yet something in you knew he was still your God something in you knew you were still Christian he still loved you but you knew you were distant that there was a time that you could recall that everything was better with you and God what's that song Andy walks with me and he talks with me you know it's like you felt really close to God and then another day comes and you start to even question if you're really a Christian And I know some of you probably even had to struggle with that. Where because of your circumstances, because God feels distant to you, suddenly you wonder if He really is distant.

And it's not a terrible feeling to have, to have to wrestle with a little bit. But even as a Christian, you can sense God's absence in your life. but Isaiah gives us the antidote to that despair that we feel. And this is what Peter's pointing you to. Isaiah says in verse 18, Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are signs and portents in Israel from Yahweh of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

Turn to Hebrews chapter 2. Keep your finger in Isaiah. We're going to go back there. It always drives me bananas when a preacher makes me flip around and doesn't tell me to save the spot. So I'm trying to help you out. In Hebrews chapter 2, remember the book of Hebrews is another book of the Bible written about Jesus.

There's 66 like that. But this particular one is about Jesus. Most people believe it was a sermon that was preached and somebody would have transcribed it. If you read enough of the New Testament, in my opinion, it sounds a lot like Paul. so whoever wrote it had to be buddies with Paul and probably heard Paul preach a lot at the very least. I've heard some neat arguments for who wrote it.

But in Hebrews chapter 2 in verse 10 the author says, For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. So who's the founder of our salvation? Jesus Christ. he's the author and perfecter of our faith he came into this world and says he was made perfect through suffering which is an interesting phrase when you also know that the same book says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever So there things you got to work out there You have to do something called Christology where you study Christ to try to understand how you can talk about this God without becoming a heretic, but also talking about him in a way that exalts him and not avoiding the conversation because you're afraid to say something wrong.

So you have to study. but in 11 he says for he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source that is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers saying I will tell of your name to my brothers there's an Old Testament quote in the midst of the congregation I will send your praise and again another Old Testament quote I will put my trust in him and then one more Old Testament quote and again, behold, I and the children God has given me. Anybody know where that one's from? Okay, I was hoping somebody would know.

We just read it. Isaiah 8.18. He says, behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are signs and portents in Israel from Yahweh of hosts who dwells on Mount Zion. Jesus Christ is happy to call you his brother or sister. I think sometimes we all imagine this Jesus Christ sitting there, and hopefully you don't imagine this because it's really blasphemous almost, but I think in our minds sometimes we get this impression that Jesus didn't willingly go to the cross.

Like he was made to go or something? And you're his participation trophy or something like that. I don't know what we think sometimes. Jesus Christ loved to go to that cross for you. And he did it so you could be called his brother or his sister. So that in those moments that you feel separated from him, you can remember a preacher's words that said you're not.

The reason you feel separated from him is just simply sin. Sin in this world clouds your ability to sense things as they really are. It's not even necessarily your sin. you may feel separated for all sorts of reasons that aren't even your own doing. And so the reason you come back to church every week, the reason you take weekly communion, Lord willing, the reason why you wake up every single day and you have a time of prayer every day, and you study the Bible every day, and you read the Bible every day, and you work on a scripture verse every day to memorize.

The reason why you do these disciplines all the time is not because Christianity is some religion of works where we really like to work hard and we're going to change the world and all these things. That's part of it, some of it, but a lot of it so that in the days when you don't feel so good, you don't feel that separation is strong. So that when the suffering comes, rather than cry out, where is my God?

You know where your God is already. And you trust that He sent that suffering for your good and you're ready to deal with it and you're prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the hope that's in you now. And now you're able to look at the person, the persecutor himself, and you're able to say, I want to forgive you. And like Stephen, when they were stoning him to death and he said, Lord, lay not this charge at their feet.

And rather than start to question whether God is real in the tough time, you'll know it even more. So that you can be like some of these guys that back in the day when they were burned at the stake were singing hymns. until the fire reached their throat. God is with you at all times. That's what Emmanuel means. He was called Emmanuel. It's a phrase defining that He's with you.

That's His name. You've never woken up and talked about Emmanuel. You talk about Jesus, right? I always thought that was weird. It says that he shall be called Emmanuel. And I always thought, well, that wasn't literally taken.

Well, it's not meant to be. He's with you. He's the most important person in your life. And if you don treat him that way you going to suffer just from that And if you treat him that way you going to suffer Because there are people who are zealous who will harm you if you zealous for doing good Let continue I want to do a little more in Isaiah 8 Verse 19 is really interesting.

He says, when they say to you, inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter. Should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? When people start suffering because the Assyrians are coming, this is a real situation that happened. We're not pretending that Isaiah 8 didn't happen or that it's only about the church in the New Testament age, but this really happened and people would start to consult different things.

Well, God's not helping us. So while God's not helping you, if you're not prepared to make a defense for your faith, you're going to go consult somebody else. We have all sorts of false gods that are happy to be consulted by you today. I know some of you may be fans of Donald Trump. I know he did some good things for our country. He's certainly a better president than Joe Biden will be and already has shown to be.

But Donald Trump's spiritual advisor was Paula White, a famous false prophet. A prosperity huckster who has made her living off of stealing millions of dollars from people, selling them something that they cannot have, and leading them to a false god. That's the kind of person that a country in distress turns to when they don't turn to God. Now they're turning to a different god, the god of abortion and transgender rights and all these other things. but the Christian in the midst of all these people is to rely on their God and rely on his word should not a people inquire of their God should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living I think in context some of it has to do with people the spiritists that would be mediums that would call up dead people necromancy basically is necro means death but I think it's also referring to the fact that spiritually alive people cannot gain anything spiritual from spiritually dead people.

There is no really good teacher out there who is not a Christian who you can learn from, who is not simply saying things that just so happen to be scripture. You should be consulting Christians for your help. When you're in distress, you need pastoral help. You need a local church that can help you. you need a spouse or a husband that's willing to speak the truth to you, or a wife or a husband, children, you need to go to your parents.

There isn't a TED Talk on earth that has a fraction of what one page of the Bible can teach you. The Bible's big. You have to read the whole thing, and you have to read it over and over so that your mind can start to take every captive, every thought captive to obey Christ. Okay, we walk in the flesh, but we do not wage war according to the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are spiritual and have power to demolish strongholds.

We demolish strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God. And we take every thought captive to obey Christ. You do that by knowing the scripture, by hiding it in your heart. So, look, if you're going to come to this church and you're going to ever ask me questions about stuff, the answer you're going to get is going to be the word of God.

So if you want to know what the horoscope says, there's places that will sell you that. And there's all sorts of other things that are being peddled today that are really nothing more than a horoscope, and I'll be happy to tell you what they are. And they're deceptive. The devil doesn't show up with a book that says, hey, not God, read this. Everything's hidden right now as God, so that people will still seek it. but Isaiah says to the teaching and to the testimony talk about the Bible, God's word, he says if they will not speak according to this word it is because they have no dawn it because you haven been born again that you don teach the Bible to others when they have a problem it because you haven been born again that you think AA is the answer to someone alcohol problem rather than becoming born again and following God word repenting.

And so we need to watch out for people. We need to watch out for people with the label Christian teacher who lead you away from what God's word says. Who give you devices that sound good like oh, this could help this situation, but in reality are not the way God intended us to do things. So Peter tells us, back in 1 Peter 3, tells us that we are not to fear those who try to do harm to us.

Don't be troubled by them. but in your heart honor Christ the Lord is holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. And you do that by meditating upon your union with Jesus Christ. If I wanted you to walk away with one thing, Isaiah 8 was a long chapter, and chances are if you're like me, you haven't read it for a while, unless you happen to be studying for this sermon, if you even just read the Old Testament once a year or something like that you wouldn't see Isaiah 8 very often in your life but what Peter wants his people to understand while they're in Pontus, Galatia and Asia Minor over there, while they're away from the heart of Christianity that was there at the time all they have is these fragments of letters and they have maybe an Old Testament and they don't have a whole bunch of rabbis who studied it for years.

I mean, Peter got saved and Paul got saved and these guys had a bulk of the Bible memorized already and they'd already studied it and known what it said. They knew the history and stuff. I got saved and I had never read probably past about Exodus 15. I'd started the Bible a few times as a non-believer and just couldn't stick with it. And Peter's writing to these people and he's telling them, you are so united with Jesus Christ that even the worst suffering that could come to you cannot harm you in fact you should not be afraid of it to the point where people will be compelled to even ask you how are you so hopeful the bad guy who's about to do the bad thing may even be swayed by that that is what Peter wants to encourage you to think about your union.

I want you to think about it. Your union with Jesus Christ. You've been adopted into His family because of His death, burial, and resurrection, His glorious ascension into heaven. And if you have not, if you have not become a Christian yet, if you can't say, I'm born again, Jesus died for me, I'm sure of it, that's the call. Repent. turn to Him today trust that this God who's going to destroy all His enemies one day chose to crush His only Son once one time and one time only to make a perfect sacrifice for anyone who would come to Him so pray with me, Father in Heaven Your Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path we thank you for the really amazing beauty of the authors of the Bible commenting on other parts of the Bible teaching us what things meant and what they mean illuminating for us your scripture we pray that you would let this word dwell in us richly let it be something we meditate upon let it be a healing balm for hurting saints today let it be an exhortation to those who have not yet believed so we ask you to comfort our hearts and save those among us who have not yet tasted and seen that you are good in Christ's name I pray, Amen