1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:07,280 Good morning Trinity, it's always a joy to be here with you 2 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:14,760 on Sunday morning. My daughter Isabel has joined us 3 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:20,800 for the early car ride and she's making the the long commitment 4 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:25,120 to Sunday school and 2nd service as well. 5 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:32,360 Maybe lunch afterwards, we'll see how she does bring you 6 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:37,880 greetings from my congregation, Grace Covenant in Bloomington. 7 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:43,440 I, I think this is the maybe the fifth time that I preached at 8 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:46,120 Trinity. So it's, it's good to recognize 9 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:52,120 many faces now as I come in. I, I also have a, another 10 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:57,480 connection that I, I hope will warm your hearts, which is that 11 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:02,520 I was recently in Cambodia where I got to spend some time both 12 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:07,280 with Katie Jacobson and also with Brennan and Becca 13 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:10,120 McCafferty. Becca is a daughter of this 14 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:13,040 congregation. So that was, that was a joy 15 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:18,280 during the Sunday school hour. I'll be sharing a little bit 16 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:22,440 about the work that I do with Training Leaders International. 17 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:25,920 And as part of that, I'll, I'll say some things about our time 18 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:29,960 in Cambodia. So stay tuned, but but not now. 19 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:33,480 For now, I'd like us to go to First Peter. 20 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:41,160 First Peter is a a book that is written to the church, to book 21 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:48,080 to the church, written by the apostle Peter, of course, and 22 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:53,760 written to a group of churches. These are named the very 23 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:57,480 beginning of the first chapter group of churches that are 24 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:02,880 located sort of in West Asia over around modern day Turkey, 25 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:08,400 something like that. And although he he writes to 26 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:13,040 believers who are in a very specific place and at a very 27 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:15,760 specific time. This is also a letter that is 28 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:19,720 written to the church more broadly, and indeed even to us. 29 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:23,600 For although these are churches in West Asia that he's writing 30 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:27,440 to, he is also addressing them specifically as what he calls 31 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:32,880 elect exiles. And then as we'll see in the 32 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:36,200 passage that we're going to read together, he calls them as well 33 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:40,520 sojourners and exiles. That is, those who are not at 34 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:45,040 home, those who are still looking for a home, waiting for 35 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:49,280 their home, as the author to Hebrews would say, those who are 36 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:53,000 looking for a city whose builder and maker is God, that's them. 37 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:56,800 That's us as well. And so while this is a specific 38 00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:01,880 letter written to a specific church at a specific time, it's 39 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:06,160 also a book for all Christians, all of those who are living 40 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:10,480 between the times, who are looking for something more in 41 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:14,800 their lives, even as they, as Peter says, undergo various 42 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:22,680 trials in this age here and now. So let's hear from the Apostle 43 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:25,560 Peter. We're going to turn to chapter 44 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:34,240 2, and I'll read the first 12 verses Peter writes. 45 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:41,040 So put away all malice, and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy 46 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:45,960 and all slander, like newborn infants long for the pure 47 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:51,240 spiritual milk that buy it. You may grow up into salvation, 48 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:58,280 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good as you come to 49 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:00,800 Him. A living stone rejected by men. 50 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:06,320 But in the sight of God, chosen and precious, you yourselves, 51 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:11,320 like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to 52 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:14,640 be a holy priesthood. Offer spiritual sacrifices 53 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:19,760 acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, for it stands in 54 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:22,880 scripture. Behold, I am laying in Zion a 55 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:27,400 stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes 56 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:32,680 in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who 57 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:37,720 believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the 58 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:42,160 builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of 59 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:48,600 stumbling and a rock of offence. They stumble because they 60 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:51,400 disobey the Word, as they were destined to do. 61 00:04:52,840 --> 00:04:59,080 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, 62 00:04:59,960 --> 00:05:04,440 a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the 63 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:08,480 excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness and into his 64 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:12,840 marvelous light. Once you are not a people, but 65 00:05:12,840 --> 00:05:16,960 now you are God's people. Once you have not received 66 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:22,600 mercy, but now you have received mercy well, that I urge you as 67 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:28,400 sojourners and exiles, to abstain from the passions of the 68 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:32,120 flesh which wage war against your souls. 69 00:05:33,280 --> 00:05:37,400 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when 70 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:41,200 they speak against you as evil doers, they may see your good 71 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:47,600 deeds and glorify God. On the day of visitation, as 72 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:53,640 First Peter reminds us, the grass Withers, the flowers fade, 73 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:55,440 but the word of the Lord remains forever. 74 00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:59,760 Let's ask God for His blessing, this word. 75 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:03,640 Amen. Father, we do pray that You 76 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:08,280 would shine the light of your Spirit upon us, that You would 77 00:06:08,280 --> 00:06:10,920 give U.S. Open ears, that You would give 78 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:15,880 us fertile minds and hearts to be able to receive the Word that 79 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:17,920 you have given to us in first Peter. 80 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:22,680 Help us, Lord, to receive this living and imperishable seed, 81 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:27,600 and we pray that as You water it, it would burst forth into 82 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:30,920 new life in each one of our hearts as we are conformed to 83 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:34,280 the image of your Son. He sings, we pray in his name. 84 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:40,400 Amen. Sometimes I find that it's 85 00:06:40,840 --> 00:06:44,560 helpful to begin a sermon by being a little bit 86 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:48,120 controversial, stirring up a little bit of discord and 87 00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:52,120 dissent. I I find that people sit up a 88 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:54,880 little bit further in their seats, sometimes scooting 89 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:58,240 forward a little bit, paying a little bit closer attention. 90 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:02,320 And so in that spirit, I thought I'd begin today by mentioning 91 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:07,480 Tom Brady. Tom Brady doesn't stir up quite 92 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:10,640 the the controversy that he did a few years ago. 93 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:14,240 And that I think is actually on point. 94 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:20,440 Whatever you think of Tom Brady as an athlete or a person, 95 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:25,400 according to Wikipedia he is quote widely regarded as the 96 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:26,920 greatest quarterback of all time. 97 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:37,080 And so that settles the matter in 2005, after Brady and the 98 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:40,920 Patriots had won, if you don't care about National Football 99 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:42,760 League, that's OK. This is this is still going to 100 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:47,000 work. After he had won his his third 101 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:50,520 Super Bowl by the age of 27, remarkable. 102 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:59,440 He he sat down with Steve Croft, journalist for 60 minutes and he 103 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:01,840 recorded what is now a famous interview. 104 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:04,920 If you if you've never seen this or listened to it, you, you 105 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:08,440 might take the moment to do so. It's, it's, it's really 106 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:15,960 something in that interview. At one point, Croft asked Brady 107 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:20,160 to reflect upon the work that he put in and what he had 108 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:25,360 accomplished. And Brady, ever the word Smith, 109 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:28,480 responded in this way. In part. 110 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:33,440 I said, why do I have 3 Super Bowl rings and still think 111 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:35,559 there's something greater out there for me? 112 00:08:37,039 --> 00:08:39,520 I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, hey, man, this is 113 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:42,760 what it's about. I reached my goal, my dream, my 114 00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:43,760 life. And me. 115 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:46,520 I think, God, it's got to be more than this. 116 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:49,840 I mean, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be. 117 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:53,120 I mean, I've done it. I'm 27. 118 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:58,000 What else is there for me? Well, that's a really good 119 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:01,360 question. What else is there for me? 120 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:07,640 Well, for Tom Brady, how about 23 seasons in the NFL? 121 00:09:08,560 --> 00:09:11,320 Not 3, but seven Super Bowl rings? 122 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:13,760 How about a supermodel for a wife? 123 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:17,960 But all these things come to an end. 124 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:23,840 Tom and Giselle broke up. She married a Brazilian jujitsu 125 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:27,880 instructor last year. Tom's not going to get any more 126 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:28,960 rings. That's it. 127 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:34,320 And while he had remarkable physical longevity on the field, 128 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:40,200 Tom Brady is on the the slow slope towards death and 129 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:44,280 obscurity. In a few years, he will be the 130 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:48,840 answer to a trivia question, not a matter of controversy. 131 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:56,800 In that interview, Brady said that one thing scared him. 132 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:03,280 One thing. Retirement, he said Seven months 133 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:06,400 of the year I'm on the field and I know what I'm for. 134 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:11,720 And then the offseason comes and I don't have a purpose anymore. 135 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:16,600 So retirement is like the offseason but without an end. 136 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:19,680 And that scared him because he had no purpose. 137 00:10:19,680 --> 00:10:22,120 Now we know that's not true, right? 138 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:25,720 As Christians, we know that we we do have a purpose offseason 139 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:30,000 or on to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. 140 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:33,960 But maybe sometimes when we are asking that question that why am 141 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:37,320 I here question, we're not so much asking the existential 142 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:42,120 question as we are asking the question, why am I here now? 143 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:47,600 What am I supposed to do now, here, in this place, at this 144 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:51,480 moment in my life? What we're really asking is what 145 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:56,760 we're supposed to be doing here, not here. 146 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:03,080 Maybe that's even what Tom Brady meant, given the benefit of the 147 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:06,840 doubt. What am I supposed to be doing 148 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:11,320 with these remarkable skills and gifts that I've been given? 149 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:19,200 What are they for right now? And ask this in a in a different 150 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:22,720 sort of way, we could, we could ask the question if, if God 151 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:29,320 loves you in Christ, God loves you in Christ, why doesn't he 152 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:35,560 just take you to heaven? What are you doing here? 153 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:40,000 Why doesn't God take you to heaven where Christ is? 154 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:44,800 Or better yet, why doesn't Christ come to earth instead of 155 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:48,840 us spending all this time seemingly spinning our wheels, 156 00:11:49,320 --> 00:11:54,040 not knowing to do with, not knowing what to do with the 157 00:11:54,040 --> 00:12:00,320 little that we have care so much? 158 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:05,200 Why has God left us as sojourners and exiles? 159 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:10,000 Well, today I want you to see two things from first, Peter. 160 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:13,680 I want you to see first of all, that he has left you in this 161 00:12:13,680 --> 00:12:18,200 world because you are chosen and precious to him. 162 00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:21,280 That's why he has left you in this world. 163 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:25,480 The second thing I want you to see is that God has left you in 164 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:33,840 this world so that you live and speak the transforming power of 165 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:39,680 the gospel to others. Those two things are really the 166 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:42,080 heart of what I'd like to say today. 167 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:48,160 The first word in our passage is. 168 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:58,000 So this means that this chapter builds upon what came before. 169 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:01,400 The word so indicates that what's coming next is a result 170 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:05,040 of what came before. So what came before? 171 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:09,840 Well, and first Peter chapter 1, Peter explains that Christians 172 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:12,880 have been chosen by God before the world's foundation, that 173 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:18,680 they are, as he says, elect exiles, chosen exiles living in 174 00:13:18,680 --> 00:13:24,920 this world and in them the seed of the word of God. 175 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:28,520 The preaching of the gospel has taken root. 176 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:34,600 Didn't used to be the case, but then they heard the word of God 177 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:38,160 and that seed took root within them. 178 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:44,160 As a result, Peter tells us in verse 3 of chapter 1 they have 179 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:47,680 been born again. We think of that as a as a John 180 00:13:47,680 --> 00:13:50,280 phrase, but it's actually a Peter phrase. 181 00:13:50,720 --> 00:14:00,200 Just as much that hope, that hope that they have because of 182 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:05,640 the seed in them is that as their Savior lives, so will they 183 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:13,040 live, that they will one day join him for all of those who 184 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:16,120 are in Christ. Peter uses the language of a 185 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:19,960 building to describe this. He says as Jesus is the 186 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:25,040 cornerstone, so we are all built up with him like living stones 187 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:30,720 into a spiritual temple. All of those who are in him who 188 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:37,360 are connected to Jesus have hope that on account of Christ's 189 00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:42,520 sacrifice, if we, if we trust in Him alone, if we rest ourselves 190 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:47,280 upon Him, that we will be justified, declared righteous 191 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:50,560 and acceptable to God, received into his fellowship. 192 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:54,400 But more than that, not just justified, but adopted, brought 193 00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:57,120 into his family and made children of God. 194 00:14:57,120 --> 00:15:00,960 And as children of God heirs as well, that we have a hope for 195 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:06,200 the future and inheritance that will be ours in the heavenly 196 00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:14,400 places. And yet these rich blessings, 197 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:17,680 rich as they are, and yeah, we don't, we don't experience the 198 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:19,480 fullness of them right now, do we? 199 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:24,240 It's it's like Paul says that we we don't get them face to face 200 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:26,360 quite yet. Right now we get them. 201 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:28,720 King James Version calls it a glass. 202 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:33,240 Darkly right, a foggy mirror. We only experienced these in a 203 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:36,320 in a tenuated, limited sort of way. 204 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:39,000 Why? Well, because we're sojourners 205 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:43,240 and exiles, as 2/11 puts it. We're not home yet. 206 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:47,320 We're waiting. We have a future hope that 207 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:51,480 someday we will experience fuller, richer, deeper 208 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:58,880 fellowship with God. But according to Peter, as we 209 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:04,400 endure the time of our exile, we are in transition. 210 00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:11,400 An important part of what this time is about, this time between 211 00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:14,680 the times between our being born again and our receiving that 212 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:18,320 heavenly inheritance, a large part of what that time is about 213 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:20,800 is actually our becoming more like God. 214 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:27,800 Peter says that because he is holy, we should be holy. 215 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:33,320 I want you to. I want you to notice what that 216 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:37,960 means. Notice the logic that lies 217 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:41,760 behind that. It means that there is a gap 218 00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:51,640 between who God says we are in Jesus and what we actually do on 219 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:55,960 a day-to-day basis. There's a gap between those two 220 00:16:55,960 --> 00:17:00,440 things, who God says we are and what we actually do, how we 221 00:17:00,440 --> 00:17:06,760 live. Peter says that we are a chosen 222 00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:10,760 race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own children. 223 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:17,280 And yet the very Christians to whom Peter is writing struggle 224 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:20,240 with all kinds of sins. Look, in verse 1 of chapter 2, 225 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:25,839 he mentions the sins of malice, of deceit, of hypocrisy, of 226 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:30,760 envy, slander. These churches must been a must 227 00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:34,160 been a mess with people like that in them. 228 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:42,320 You know what the 17th century Puritan preacher and author John 229 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:46,320 Owen said? Owen said be killing sin or sin 230 00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:49,720 will be killing you right there. There's no middle ground, 231 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:54,320 there's no Armistice, there's no alliance with sin where you live 232 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:59,960 and let live. And Peter isn't pulling punches 233 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:02,160 either. He says if you are in Christ, 234 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:06,720 you need to get rid of those old habits and you need to put on 235 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:09,600 Christ more and more. So here we are at the beginning 236 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:13,640 of a new year, first Sunday in 2026. 237 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:17,880 This is a great day to commit yourself to putting off sin and 238 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:24,720 putting on Christ more and more. In a second letter, Peter will 239 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:29,640 encourage, exhort his readers quote to make every effort to 240 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:34,120 supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge 241 00:18:34,120 --> 00:18:36,760 and knowledge with self-control and self-control with 242 00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:40,400 steadfastness and steadfastness with godliness, godliness with 243 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:44,000 brotherly affection, brotherly affection with love. 244 00:18:46,360 --> 00:18:48,520 That's what a church should look like. 245 00:18:49,360 --> 00:18:52,320 That's what it looks like to be holy, because he is holy. 246 00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:56,000 And I hope that we can all acknowledge every single one of 247 00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:01,280 us in this room, that we are still growing up, that that gap 248 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:06,360 exists for us between what we are called to be like and what 249 00:19:06,360 --> 00:19:09,360 we are actually like. We are still growing up. 250 00:19:09,360 --> 00:19:13,160 We are still being built up into the salvation we've been given 251 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:15,680 in Christ. We are, as Peter says, like 252 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:23,120 newborn infants, and that means that there's a gap, a gap 253 00:19:23,120 --> 00:19:28,480 between God, between what God says we are and what we do. 254 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:31,720 And I'm going to call this the sanctification gap. 255 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:34,640 So that's our language, the sanctification gap. 256 00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:37,240 Do you know that word sanctification? 257 00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:42,920 Sanctification is the process whereby the Spirit of God works 258 00:19:43,120 --> 00:19:47,440 in the hearts and lives of the people of God in order to make 259 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:51,920 them more and more, bit by bit, slowly and progressively more 260 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:56,120 and more like Christ in every area of their lives. 261 00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:59,920 That's the process of sanctification. 262 00:19:59,960 --> 00:20:04,080 God sanctifies our minds so that we have a true biblical 263 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:07,520 understanding of who He is and who we are in relationship to 264 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:09,600 Him. He sanctifies our hearts so that 265 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:12,680 we learn to order our loves correctly, to love the right 266 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:18,240 things in the right way. He orders he, He sanctifies our 267 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:24,040 our tongues, our our hands, our feet, so that what we believe 268 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:28,080 rightly and what we love correctly issues forth in deeds 269 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:33,640 and in words, ultimately in love. 270 00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:38,680 And all the sanctification happens downstream of the Word 271 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:42,160 of God, because we are born again by the living and abiding 272 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:46,760 Word of God. 123 says that we are made more and more like 273 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:50,000 Christ as we receive the spiritual milk of God's Word. 274 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:54,120 That's 22 in our passage today. And over time that 275 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:58,280 sanctification gap shrinks. It becomes smaller and smaller, 276 00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:01,560 but in this life it never completely disappears. 277 00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:06,560 We are always in the process of becoming holy as He is holy. 278 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:10,320 And I hope that you feel that in your life. 279 00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:16,400 If you think that you have made it, you are deeply mistaken 280 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:21,920 about who you are. Even Tom Brady could see that as 281 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:25,520 much as he had accomplished, there was more. 282 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:29,360 He just didn't know what that more was. 283 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:34,800 We should always feel that distinction in the 284 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:37,760 sanctification gap. We should feel the process 285 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:40,640 working out in US. In other words, God says that he 286 00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:43,760 has adopted us as his children. But even the best of us fail to 287 00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:47,760 live up to our identity. We don't always conform to the 288 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:53,680 image of our elder brother, our chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ. 289 00:21:53,680 --> 00:22:03,720 And and Peter's readers, perhaps us too, might sometimes draw a 290 00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:07,240 false conclusion from this. We might make an error as we 291 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:09,240 reflect upon what this all means. 292 00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:14,080 We might think, wow, God's love for me must be just a little bit 293 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:19,440 iffy, a little bit uncertain. Clearly, he's left me here to 294 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:24,960 prove that I'm worthy of being part of his family, of receiving 295 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:28,880 that heavenly inheritance that we talked about earlier. 296 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:34,640 And of course, sure as shooting that sort of thinking leads to 297 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:41,240 another area, it leads to an error that says God must be 298 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:47,600 disappointed in me. God sure must be disappointed in 299 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:50,560 me. Look at how often I fail to live 300 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:54,960 up to that high calling. Look at how much malice and 301 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:58,320 deceit and envy actually characterize my life instead of 302 00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:03,160 brotherly affection and love. You must look down on me. 303 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:08,240 You must see an embarrassment because I don't measure up. 304 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:14,440 Christian, I want you to understand that the fact that 305 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:18,200 God has left you in this world is a sovereign or in exile. 306 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:21,200 It's not a sign that he's displeased with you. 307 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:26,360 It doesn't indicate any lack of love towards you. 308 00:23:26,360 --> 00:23:29,960 It doesn't mean that you're embarrassing or shameful or 309 00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:34,280 disgraceful. In fact, it's just the opposite. 310 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:42,120 If you are in Christ, then you are chosen. 311 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:48,520 You are precious to God. He loves you and He delights in 312 00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:55,160 you just as much and to the same extent as He loves and delights 313 00:23:55,360 --> 00:24:00,080 in His Son, Jesus Christ. God isn't ashamed of you. 314 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:03,080 He doesn't avoid you. He runs towards you like the 315 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:05,680 Father in the story of the prodigal son. 316 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:10,760 He wraps his arms around you. Listen to the promise of God. 317 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:18,200 Whoever believes in him, whoever believes in Christ will not be 318 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:20,480 put to shame. That's verse 6. 319 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:25,120 Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame, Dishonour, 320 00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:27,680 shame, embarrassment. Those are qualities that 321 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:33,080 actually mark out those who deny their need for a saviour, who 322 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:36,600 say I've got everything under control, I don't need anything 323 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:39,960 more. Not from you, not from God, not 324 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:42,360 from anyone. I'm in control. 325 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:47,560 God isn't ashamed of you, Christian. 326 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:51,600 He's not waiting to see if you measure up. 327 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:57,000 You want to know why He hasn't taken you out of this sinful, 328 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:00,680 broken world? Why He hasn't completed that 329 00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:02,840 process of sanctification in you yet? 330 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:05,480 It's because you are so precious to Him. 331 00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:09,000 Because you are so precious to Him, He has actually honoured 332 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:12,000 you in a special way. He is making you His chosen 333 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:18,600 instrument to proclaim His excellencies, to bring glory to 334 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:24,600 His name to those around you. To those around you. 335 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:33,840 He's using you to bring glory to His name as those around you see 336 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:37,480 you. This isn't an honour that He 337 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:44,360 gives to any other creature. Only to you, Christian, does 338 00:25:44,360 --> 00:25:50,240 this honour belong. Just as he called us out of 339 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:56,520 darkness, he calls us to call others out of darkness and into 340 00:25:56,520 --> 00:26:00,400 the marvellous light of Christ. How do we do this? 341 00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:05,240 How do we fulfill this, this amazing honor? 342 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:10,200 How do we, how do we participate in the process of proclaiming 343 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:14,760 Christ's excellencies? Peter tells us to do it in two 344 00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:17,200 ways. He tells us to do it in Word and 345 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:21,680 in deed. in Word, He says we speak God's good news to one 346 00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:29,720 another and to non Christians. Note, however, we don't come up 347 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:34,720 with the message that we speak. It's not our message about who 348 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:41,240 God is and what He's doing. We don't imagine the glories of 349 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:44,800 God and tell the story that we find in our own heart. 350 00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:48,840 No, First, we are fed upon, shaped by the word of God, that 351 00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:52,560 spiritual milk of God's word, and as a result we learn to 352 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:57,720 speak who God is. We learn the message from the 353 00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:02,880 Word of God. Look at look at verse 9 in our 354 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:06,600 passage right down towards the end of that verse. 355 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:13,320 It's our proclamation of God's excellencies, but that 356 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:18,560 proclamation is response to God's call to us. 357 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:24,720 God speaks 1st, and our proclamation is a response to 358 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:29,760 his word to us. So we we speak in Word God's 359 00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:32,960 excellencies, but we also act in deed. 360 00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:37,280 More and more as we are shaped by that word, as we're conformed 361 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:40,920 to the image of Christ, we behave in a way that matches who 362 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:45,840 God says that we are. The sanctification gap shrinks 363 00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:52,640 and people see that even the process of confessing our sins, 364 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:56,880 of repenting for wrongs done, of approaching a brother or sister 365 00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:01,320 or even a non Christian and saying to them, I did something 366 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:04,160 wrong, I don't want to confess that to you. 367 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:11,840 Even that is part of the process of proclaiming the excellencies 368 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:19,880 of Christ in Word and in deed. We learn to love one another 369 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:25,800 earnestly from a pure heart. We learn to behave honourably 370 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:29,240 even towards those who hate us. That's actually where Peter goes 371 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:33,400 after this passage in the rest of chapter 2 and in chapter 3. 372 00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:39,000 In those hard relationships, he says that's where you need to 373 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,760 press in with the gospel of Christ and show the way that 374 00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:49,920 Christ is transforming you. This brings us back to that 375 00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:54,200 sanctification gap. Why has God left his children in 376 00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:56,680 this world as sojourners and exiles? 377 00:28:56,880 --> 00:29:02,960 And specifically in this unfinished state, this weird way 378 00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:07,320 in which we are neither fish nor fowl, living in between the 379 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:12,320 times, born again but not yet having fully inherited our hope. 380 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:19,120 Why did he put us on display as unfinished works of art? 381 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:25,080 Especially given that the world is filled with harsh, mean 382 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:31,840 spirited and bitter art critics ready to criticize us every time 383 00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:38,680 they see an imperfection We remember. 384 00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:42,600 Of course, the God wasn't under orders to begin our Christian 385 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:48,600 lives at a point of immaturity. He didn't have to regenerate us 386 00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:54,120 as newborn infants who grow up more and more toward maturity 387 00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:57,680 but never fully achieve it in this life. 388 00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:04,680 What if he had regenerated us as complete masterpieces? 389 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:11,520 Van Gogh's or Picasso's walking around for everyone to see. 390 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:16,280 Why not just start us at a point of perfect holiness? 391 00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:20,000 Wouldn't that be a way to shut the mouths of the critics? 392 00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:26,240 I think, I think This is why. I think it's because God is 393 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:31,520 displaying his grace and power, His goodness, his kindness, his 394 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:35,000 mercy. He's displaying all these things 395 00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:42,560 by letting people around us see how He makes you and me more and 396 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:49,680 more like Jesus Christ. As we are slowly conformed to 397 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:54,960 the image of Christ, people around us learn something about 398 00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:58,960 who God is and what He is about in this world. 399 00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:07,400 Look at look at the beginning of our passage, verses 1 and 2. 400 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:12,560 Peter says so Put away all malice and deceit and hypocrisy 401 00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:15,480 and envy and all slander, like newborn infants. 402 00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:20,760 Long for the spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into 403 00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:24,640 salvation. There are two commands here. 404 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:33,360 Put away and long for. Put away and long for it says 405 00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:38,080 Put away all malice and deceit and hypocrisy, all envy and 406 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:40,800 slander. Put them away. 407 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:45,600 These are all, these are all communal sins. 408 00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:49,400 You can't envy if there's no one to envy. 409 00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:54,240 You can't slander if there's no one to slander or no one to 410 00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:58,520 slander them to. These are all communal sins, 411 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:03,160 Peter says. They don't have any place in 412 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:11,880 God's family. Instead, He calls us to live 413 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:18,840 together as a holy royal nation that is aligned with the 414 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:22,880 cornerstone. Why does He do that? 415 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:29,240 If you drop down to the end of our passage to verse 12, I think 416 00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:34,440 you see it there. It says keep your conduct among 417 00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:40,240 the Gentiles honorable so that you get that that's a 418 00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:43,880 consequence, right? So that when they speak against 419 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:48,120 you as evil doers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God 420 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:55,560 on the day of visitation. God uses the conduct of 421 00:32:55,560 --> 00:33:02,160 Christians to lead others to glorify God and when Christ 422 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:05,760 returns on the day of visitation, there will be people 423 00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:09,320 who have trusted in Christ because they saw God working in 424 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:13,960 your life and bringing you more and more to maturity in Christ 425 00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:18,320 as you engage in what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called life together. 426 00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:27,080 The life of God's people is a display case for God's glory for 427 00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:31,960 all the mean spirited art critics of the world who 428 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:38,640 sometimes will see it and recognize the beauty of the one 429 00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:45,280 who is at work in this mess. When the Church Father 430 00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:50,800 Tertullian in the 2nd century explained why it was the case 431 00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:53,720 that Christians were turning away, excuse me, that that that 432 00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:57,480 pagans were turning away from paganism and running towards 433 00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:00,040 Christ. He explained it by saying it's 434 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:01,760 the way that Christians treat each other. 435 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:05,920 He put these words in the mouth of those pagans. 436 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:13,120 He said they say see how they love one another, See how they 437 00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:16,960 love one another. That was the testimony that 438 00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:21,040 turned people away from paganism towards Christ. 439 00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:24,679 It's still the testimony that in this neo Pagan world that we 440 00:34:24,679 --> 00:34:30,800 live in now turns people away from error and towards the truth 441 00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:35,480 of Christ. So brothers and sisters, put 442 00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:39,080 away your evil deeds, and especially your evil deeds 443 00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:41,360 towards your brothers and sisters in Christ. 444 00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:46,440 Kill those sins, as Owen reminds us, Crush them. 445 00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:48,800 This is what we've been called to. 446 00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:54,480 And since you can't do that on your own, ask God for help to do 447 00:34:54,480 --> 00:35:01,160 it. Brothers and sisters love one 448 00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:04,680 another. Don't treat each other as 449 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:12,280 objects to fulfill your desires, but as those who are precious to 450 00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:16,160 God and who therefore must be precious to you as well. 451 00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:21,440 What's the first command? Put away? 452 00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:27,080 The second command is long for long for says specifically to 453 00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:31,920 long for spiritual milk. Now that's the word of God. 454 00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:35,520 It's very clear in the context what Peter is talking about. 455 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:39,480 So if put away is a command to get rid of sin, then long for 456 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:42,840 spiritual milk is a command to add something to your life, 457 00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:46,200 specifically to add the Word of God to it. 458 00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:52,000 God's Word is the essential tool for shrinking that 459 00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:55,760 sanctification gap. It's not just enough to get rid 460 00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:59,680 of bad things. You must also add things that 461 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:03,280 glorify God. And you can't do this without 462 00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:06,240 God's Spirit working through His Word. 463 00:36:08,840 --> 00:36:13,520 The Word has the power of taking your eyes off of yourself. 464 00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:16,760 That's where Tom Brady's eyes were at. 465 00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:21,440 The Word is the power of taking your eyes off yourself and 466 00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:24,720 putting them on Jesus. When we listen to the Word with 467 00:36:24,720 --> 00:36:28,440 ears of faith, the love of God shines in our hearts. 468 00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:34,880 He gives us what Paul calls the knowledge of the glory of God in 469 00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:43,960 the face of Jesus Christ. The 19th century Scottish 470 00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:48,160 Presbyterian preacher of Dundee, a man named Robert Murray 471 00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:52,840 McShane. McShane, who had a way of saying 472 00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:58,120 profound things in simple ways, said for every one glance at 473 00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:03,280 yourself, take 10 glances at Jesus and we say, yeah, I know, 474 00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:06,040 preacher, I know. But think about that. 475 00:37:07,040 --> 00:37:11,960 For every 10, for every one glance at yourself, 10 glances 476 00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:13,960 at Jesus. That's about the right ratio. 477 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:18,040 We spend far too much time thinking about ourselves, 478 00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:21,640 looking about ourselves, reflecting upon ourselves, and 479 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:24,520 not nearly enough time looking at Jesus. 480 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:27,480 So, brothers and sisters, look at Jesus. 481 00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:34,640 As Peter puts it, come to him so that you may be built up. 482 00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:39,600 And when you struggle to put away your sin, go to the 483 00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:42,840 spiritual milk of God's word and look at Jesus. 484 00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:45,320 Look at him because he's beautiful. 485 00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:50,640 He is captivating in a way that nothing else is. 486 00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:53,720 The more that you come to him, the more that you look at him, 487 00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:55,800 the more you want to be like him. 488 00:37:57,520 --> 00:38:00,960 And friends, if you're here today and you've never looked to 489 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:05,800 Jesus, whether you came here kicking and screaming because 490 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:09,600 your mother-in-law made you or because you're genuinely curious 491 00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:15,480 about what Christianity is and what life in Christ is like, 492 00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:22,760 well, here's what I have to say. Jesus is unlike any other 493 00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:27,640 addiction. The more that you have of him 494 00:38:28,240 --> 00:38:32,480 instead of becoming enslaved, the more that you have of him, 495 00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:40,240 the healthier, the freer, the the more yourself you actually 496 00:38:40,240 --> 00:38:44,880 become. Tom Brady. 497 00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:52,040 Come back to the beginning here at the end, at least at the time 498 00:38:52,040 --> 00:38:54,680 that he gave his interview, I'll be charitable. 499 00:38:56,040 --> 00:38:59,640 He was a man who did not understand what he was for. 500 00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:04,600 He didn't understand why he was here. 501 00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:11,320 His vision of life was one in which his identity was primarily 502 00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:14,480 focused upon himself and therefore primarily 503 00:39:14,480 --> 00:39:16,880 characterized by enslavement to football. 504 00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:22,080 During the seven months each year when he was playing, he had 505 00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:24,800 a goal, he said. You've got something you're 506 00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:28,600 trying to accomplish, and when that's done, you don't have 507 00:39:28,600 --> 00:39:30,240 80,000 people screaming your name. 508 00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:34,120 You know what's it going to be. I've heard of a lot of 509 00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:37,240 astronauts go to the moon and come back and they're so 510 00:39:37,240 --> 00:39:40,040 depressed because there's nothing they can do in their 511 00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:44,000 lives that can ever fill them up in the way that that does. 512 00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:51,320 Start of a new year is a great time to reorient your mind and 513 00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:59,200 heart and actions, to remind yourself of what's true and to 514 00:39:59,200 --> 00:40:01,360 live it out. Here's what's true. 515 00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:06,400 There are no longer 80,000 people screaming Tom Brady's 516 00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:09,440 name. He's sliding towards death and 517 00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:13,840 obscurity. But in Christ we are being built 518 00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:19,000 up as a spiritual house to offer spiritual sacrifices. 519 00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:24,400 That is an eternal purpose. It's one that promises to get 520 00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:28,760 better and better as we move toward and then beyond the day 521 00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:33,880 of visitation. Jesus came to save us 522 00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:37,240 absolutely. If you place your faith in Him, 523 00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:40,000 all your sins will be forgiven and God will declare you 524 00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:42,440 righteous. He will accept you into His 525 00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:45,760 family. He promises you full fellowship 526 00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:51,760 with Him for eternity. Jesus also came to sanctify us. 527 00:40:55,200 --> 00:41:03,080 And if you, if you turn to Christ because you are chosen 528 00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:08,400 and precious in him, he will make you, He is making you more 529 00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:15,760 and more like his Father, working in your life so that you 530 00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:18,840 may glorify God on the day of visitation. 531 00:41:20,560 --> 00:41:23,480 So here's my final word of exhortation to you. 532 00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:26,120 To you who are chosen and precious to God. 533 00:41:26,640 --> 00:41:29,160 Behave in a way that fits who you are. 534 00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:34,480 Put away your sins long for the spiritual milk of God's word. 535 00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:42,240 Why should you do that? Not so that God will love and 536 00:41:42,240 --> 00:41:44,680 honour and accept you. He already does. 537 00:41:45,360 --> 00:41:50,200 He already does. But do it instead. 538 00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:55,600 Because God has loved you, He has loved you with an eternal 539 00:41:55,840 --> 00:41:59,080 and inexhaustible love. Amen. 540 00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:05,000 Oh Lord, we pray that you would help us to receive that love 541 00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:08,080 which you have offered and extended towards us in Christ. 542 00:42:08,840 --> 00:42:13,120 Help us, Lord, in response to put off all of the sins which 543 00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:19,400 entangle us and instead to put on Christ more and more to long 544 00:42:19,400 --> 00:42:22,880 for that spiritual milk. And as we do, oh Lord, I pray 545 00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:27,080 that you would use the life of Christians, especially the life 546 00:42:27,080 --> 00:42:33,520 of Christians together in order to draw attention to the 547 00:42:33,560 --> 00:42:37,840 excellencies of your name, to your glory, that others might 548 00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:41,160 see and believe and come to confess him. 549 00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:44,920 We pray these things in Jesus name, Amen.