Would you take God's word and turn again this morning, please, to 2 Corinthians and chapter 5. Again, not in the sense of this morning, but again following on from last Lord's Day. Paul's second letter to the Corinthians and chapter 5. I'll read from verse 14. For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all died, and he died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. All things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Now, all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Let's ask God's help once again. Lord, because this is your truth, we ask for your light, that we may have light and that we may be heated, that our souls may be stirred, that our affections may be imprinted, that our minds may be taken up with truth, that our wills might be gripped and directed, that we might learn more and more to walk in your ways. Hear us, O God, and help us that without depending on human strength and wisdom, and so failing, we might find grace and strength in Christ to teach us and guide us, to move us in holiness. In Jesus' name. Amen. The paradox How strange is the course that a Christian must steer! How perplexed is the path he must tread! The hope of his happiness rises from fear, and his life he receives from the dead. His fairest pretensions must wholly be waived, and his best resolutions be crossed, nor can he expect to be perfectly saved till he finds himself utterly lost. When all this is done and his heart is assured of the total remission of sins, when his pardon is signed and his peace is procured, from that moment his conflict begins." The Paradox, Joseph Hart. the paradox that the battle really begins when the fight has been won. we've been looking at this new life that is in Christ Jesus. The new life that is fundamental, foundational to our whole experience of life in Christ, relationship to God. That life, as we saw last week, is the ending of everything that was old and the bringing in of things that are new. But it does not end on the first day that you breathe the new air of God's mercy any more than when you are born, your life is somehow static from that day on. There's always development, there's always progress where there is life. If you are in Christ Jesus, you are going to be a fruit bearer, and if you're not a fruit bearer, it's because you're not in Christ. You're a bed branch, not one in which the life of Christ is flowing. So to be in Christ, says the Apostle, is to be a new creation. And it involves this radical, this comprehensive transformation. Radical is from the Latin word radix, it means root. So right at the very core of your being. And all through your humanity a change takes place because the old is permanently gone, you're not who you once were, and the new is enduringly present, you have become a new creation in Christ. There's a new root then, and that's what we began looking at last Lord's Day. Dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. But where there is a new root, there is invariably this new fruit. Notice what Paul's already said in verse 15. Christ died for all, and he's speaking here to the people of God, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. So if you're a new creation, you have a new life, and it's a life that is no longer lived for yourself. The principle of selfishness has been fundamentally slain, but you have begun to live for him who died for you and rose again. It's the language that we find in Ephesians, that you are now to live and walk in newness of life. Everything about you ought to show that a change has taken place and that change is working out in everything. I think I'm right in saying that you can put food dye into the water in a bunch of flowers. And then those flower stalks will take up the dye and will begin to change then the colors of the flowers on the top. Now apparently you can cheat your flower purchasing that way. You can give the impression you've got these vibrant flowers. It's because they've been sitting in dyed water for a while. But take it as at least an illustration. that if the dye of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus is in the water of your life, that you will be drawing up that dye and it's going to spread through the bloom of your life. So it's going to bring that distinctive Christian colour. Be like those things that you put into a... They used to have paper, didn't they? Soaked in some perfume. You still smell it sometimes in some old homes. Maybe you've got some for yourself, but you can put a little perfumed carrier. I don't know what I'm talking about. I know what I'm talking about, I don't know what the word is, but you put it into your linen drawer, don't you? You put it into, maybe it's in with your underwear, it's in with the sheets or whatever it is, and it just permeates everything so that everything that you bring out of that cupboard or that drawer has the scent of that perfume upon it. And it might take a while. It might be faint at first, it might take a while to penetrate to the far reaches, but sooner or later that scent is going to be through every part of the contents. That colour is going to characterise the whole of the bloom. And that's what God is doing with the life of His people. And it's God who does it. It is the Father's design. It is the Son's life that we have. It is that resurrection power that was in Him and is now in us, applied to us and worked out in us by the Holy Spirit. So in Philippians chapter two, Paul brings those two things beautifully together when he reminds us that what God has done, we need to grasp. As you have always obeyed, beloved, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both the will and to do for his good pleasure. So Paul's not getting the order wrong here. He's saying you need to work out your salvation. This new life should make a difference in all of your life. And the reason why it should is that God is at work in you. That's where your desire for righteousness comes from. That's where your pursuit of righteousness comes from. You wouldn't want it if God hadn't given you the will. You wouldn't be able to get it if God hadn't given you the strength. But God is already at work in you, both to will and to do that which is pleasing to Him. and it is now your responsibility Christian to get on with the job of being the man or the woman that God has called you and saved you to be. You do not drift into holiness, you pursue it in the fear of the Lord and it's the evidence of salvation. now and ongoing. And you need to reckon with this if you are a Christian, because if you're a new creation in Jesus Christ, then everything is new. It's all become new, it won't ever stop being new, and it ought to be increasingly evident that it is new. You are charged from this point on to live no longer for yourself, but for him who lived and died for you and rose again from the grave. And that means you need to engage your minds. Too many Christians, I think, go through this world, and I can be as guilty of this as anyone else, without actually stopping to think about what it means to live a new life as a new creation. And that's why Paul exhorts the Romans, brothers, by the mercies of God, I'm pleading with you. that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. This is how you should be living, and that means that you must not be conformed to this world, but you need to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You need to pursue, to seek out and to work out what it means to be a new creature, to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And I know that I and you find it very easy, in fact a lot easier, either just to keep thinking the thoughts that we've always thought or to allow the world to do our thinking for us. And it's why we are not bearing fruit in Christ Jesus. Now in a sense, some of what I'm saying is backfilling the series we began a little while ago on life under God. Because talking with people in this and other congregations about those things, it seems to me that we need to make sure that we have this understanding, that we need to grasp just how transformative Christianity ought to be and how distinctive it is. how it sets us apart from the world in the way that we think, in the way that we feel, in the way that we act. And Christian brother and sister, if you are still thinking as you thought and living as you lived before you were a Christian, if you are still feeling the impress of the world upon you, you are sinning against your God. We need to start thinking, as it were, God's thoughts after him. We need to grasp what it means to have been made new in Christ. You need to change how you think. And that's hard work, is it not? How easy do you find it just to drop back into the rut of lifelong patterns? There are particular theological systems that leave people crippled for decades unless they learn to climb out of the rut. There are patterns of family life. There are patterns of sin. There are patterns of worldly practice. And we just, it's like sliding down a slope made of mud back into the ditch at the bottom. And it's only when God helps us up out and we struggle back onto dry and solid ground that we start to live like the people that God has called us to be. So you and I need to get out of the rut of worldly thinking. and we need to get back on the right path, the solid ground of righteous living. Our believing must change our behaving or we're not believing the way that we ought to. So this new life, there's a fundamental root If you have trusted in Jesus, you are a new man, a new woman. Praise God, that can never be taken away from you. And as a new man or a new woman, as a new creature in Christ, whatever may be your starting point, wherever it was that the Lord Jesus found you, That's the point from which, having been made new, you start bringing forth fruit for righteousness. The root is fundamental. The fruit is incremental. It comes by degrees as we start thinking about things that we haven't thought about before. That's why Paul can say to the Corinthians, and we mentioned this last Lord's Day, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And I think it's striking that a lot of those sins that Paul identifies tend to be the one that people will most say, but that's just what I am. That's my very identity. We excuse it today, don't we? Our fornication, our pursuit of sexual pleasure by telling ourselves that we're just animals and we're just designed to get out there and enjoy ourselves and spread the seed. That's what I am. That's my identity. Or idolatrous. God's made me with these desires. God's put this creaturely lust in my soul. This is what I pursue. That's how I define myself. Adultery. What am I supposed to do? I wanted that man. I wanted that woman. I can't fight those deep desires. homosexuals and sodomites. The argument there isn't it? This is what I am. Now today we've even moved to the point I can be something different every single day or every hour if I wish to, but don't you strike at my identity. This is my very nature. Thieves, but I wanted it. Covetous, I desired it. Drunkards, I can't beat the appetite. Revilers, my tongue speaks like this. Extortioners, such were some of you. My friends, however deep-rooted may be the sins and the patterns of sin that have characterised your life up to this point, they are no match for the grace of God in Jesus Christ. That's my only confidence as a pastor sometimes when I'm dealing with people who say, this has been what I have been for 30 or 40 years, either in preaching the gospel to them or in helping them to move from where they are to where they should and may be. That it's not my persuasiveness, not my power, not my capacity, and not theirs that is our confidence. You're a new creature in Christ. You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Brothers and sisters, the gospel gives us a remedy for the hopelessness that we can sometimes feel. If you sit here this morning thinking, I will never be able to change, that's a lie and you need to stop believing it. because God says, I can make new. And whatever you were, that now is dead in the past, because the old is gone, and it's gone for good. You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified. Because of the grace of God and independence on the strength of Jesus Christ and relying upon the inward working of the Holy Spirit, yes, there will be a fight, as we shall see, but Christ is winning in you and with you. Yes, you are not yet perfect. and you may still fight to keep out of the ruts of thought and feeling and behaviour that characterised you when you were not a Christian, but a work in progress. And God in his mercy has given us the scriptures for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that you might stop sinning and you might become a mature man of God, ready for every good work. So you think of how our Lord sent his disciples out into the world. Make disciples, as you go, of every creature. When you've made them followers of Jesus Christ, baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. But was that the end of their spiritual life? No. Then teach them to obey, to observe all the things that I have commanded you. They're new creatures, now teach them how new creatures live. Show them what it means to follow me. And where there's something that they didn't know or something that they didn't once do, teach them to observe that, to take to heart what God says about how we are to live for him. So there are three fundamental new principles. There's new faith. The child of God is no longer marked by fear and folly. We are no longer trusting in idols or in creatures for our security and our happiness. no longer trusting in ourselves, trusting in anybody else, looking for satisfaction in anyone or anything other than Jesus Christ. It is he who saves us and the root of faith will not wither and die where it is in Christ Jesus. then there's new hope. Paul's talking about these things in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, this reconciliation that is in Christ Jesus that brings us to him. And he says, we know that this house, this tent, if it's destroyed, we have a building from God. We're not in despair because we're no longer gripped by this world. We're not bound to be carnal men and women who cannot rise above the things of this life. We are not living hopeless, empty, pointless, crippled existences if we are in Christ Jesus. We're not short-sighted with regard to these things but we know that grace gives rise in due course to glory and our whole outlook has been transformed. We're not like people who now go wandering around hoping that we might find a few coppers lying in the gutters. We're believers who know that our hope is in heaven, that's where our treasure is, that's where our prospects are, that's where our God and Saviour awaits us. This isn't everything, and that is transformative. And then there's a new love. We once knew Christ according to the flesh, but now we know him thus no longer. That Jesus of Nazareth in Mark's Gospel, We know who he is. He is the eternal son of God who took flesh and blood, who suffered and died for us, who rose again from the dead for our justification, who's ascended up into heaven and whoever lives to pray for us, making intercession. And we love him. And we love his father and ours. And we love everyone who is loved by him. We're part of the body of Jesus Christ now, and we delight no longer in our enmity against God, boasting in a raised fist. We delight no longer in feeding ourselves the idle self that loves to dominate our souls, but now we delight in God and we serve others with a Christ-like mind. My friends, we cannot afford to underestimate how transformative these are and ought to be as new principles that are working out through our whole experience. To be a new creation is all-encompassing. It ought to be exciting and thrilling. It ought to lift us up. And these new principles should invariably lead to new practices. There should be new appetites. new appetites. Are you marked by new appetites or desires? No longer for sin but now for holiness. Let me give you a few examples. Here's Romans chapter 7 and verse 24. O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Paul has been talking there about the battle that he has been fighting, about the sense in his soul of desires for sins that he now hates. He's plunging us into the depths of spiritual reality. But he's saying that I don't want anymore the things that I want. Do you know that tension, Christian? I want it and I don't want to want it. What's going on there? That's the temptation of sin. I want something that I know God forbids. I don't want something that I know God delights in. And my soul is drawn either out towards what is good, what is wrong, or drawn away from what is good. And yet at the same time, there's a sense in me that I don't want this. Where do these lusts and these desires come from? Paul will say to the Galatians that the Spirit is lusting against the flesh, and the flesh against the Spirit. Where do your desires for holiness come from, brothers and sisters? Where does the appetite for godliness arise? It is from the inward working of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul, again, in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 10, he's talking about the appetites of the new man. I want to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death. That's who I now want. Yes, I'm ready, even eager, to suffer together with Jesus Christ, that I may be glorified together with Him. I don't want what this world dangles in front of me anymore. The bait that Satan uses I am learning to see is vile and it is foul. Or Hebrews chapter 12. The Apostle Paul is talking about pursuing peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. Holiness. Christian, do you want to be holy? You might say, well, not always, but that's the point. Fundamentally, yes, but I feel this battle in me. I feel this tension in my soul. But if you ask me what I'm thinking most clearly and feeling most purely and pursuing most carefully, yes, I want to be holy even as God is holy. As newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Do you have an appetite now for the word of God? I want to know what he says. I want it to have an impact upon me so that the Lord Jesus Christ is formed in me. I want to be holy as God is holy. I want to grow up into all things into Jesus Christ. And yes, there's a tension within me. And again, we'll speak of this shortly. But the fundamental desire, the new appetite which has arisen in my soul is for holiness like Jesus Christ. then there are new friends, not just new appetites, but new friends. Do you remember what Dinesha preached a few weeks ago from Psalm 1? Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. That's not who I'm with anymore. This doesn't mean that you hate people that you once knew. No, in one sense you love them more than you ever did, but you love them now with a pure love because you want them to know what you have. But you don't go in that path. You don't walk in that way. You don't sit in the seat of the scornful. The hatreds that the world has towards God and his people, you no longer chime with that. That doesn't work for you anymore. You hear their assaults upon God's truth. You hear the way they curse God's name. And rather than laughing and joking, you grieve in your soul. What did Paul say to the Corinthians in chapter 15 of his first letter? evil company corrupts good behavior. And you feel that. That if you run as you once ran, you'll get dragged down. That the jokes that you know you shouldn't find funny, you'll end up laughing at. That you'll have people who'll say to you, it won't be that long or we won't go that far. I've seen a young Christian man His friends went with him. And sadly, they were Christian friends, went to a cinema. And he said, my dad's told me that I'm not to watch any film with this rating. These are my options. Oh, but we all want to watch this one. And he got battered down. Took about 30 minutes until they persuaded him that disobedience to his father wouldn't be too bad. What was happening? Evil company was corrupting good behaviour. And you know what that's like, many of you, as your good resolves are chipped away at, and perhaps you end up being and doing something somewhere that even an hour before you would not have dreamed would be possible. Again, 1 Peter chapter four and verse four. The apostle there talks about the reality of this battle in our experience. That the world thinks it's strange that you don't run with them in the same flood of dissipation speaking evil of you. Very often that's a dodgy conscience. If you're a Christian, your life is a rebuke to sin or should be. And so people will speak evil of you because you're making them feel guilty. If you say, I won't do that, you're challenging why they would do it. And they think it's very strange that you won't pursue sin. They don't understand it and they do not get it. But for the believer, that's not the atmosphere where we belong anymore. That's not where we want to be. These are the excellent of the earth, said the psalmist in Psalm 16, in whom is all my delight. How do we know that we've passed from death to life? Asks the apostle John in chapter three in verse 14 of his first letter. It's because we love the brothers. New friends, new connections. Christians love those who love Jesus Christ. and we deliberately detach ourselves from those and that which will drag us down. Some of your friends don't even exist, but you meet them every day on screens large and small. and the way that they think and the way that they act and the way that they feel is having an impact on the way that you think and feel and act. When I went to university for the first time, I was staggered because people were living, so the way I thought, these people are living like it's a soap opera. Do you know why that was? Because they were watching soap operas. Soap operas need to be extravagant, don't they? but people need to have extreme events and extreme reactions. Nothing is low-key because that's entertainment. So nothing's low-key now in real life. You've got people to whom relatively low-key things are happening and they're reacting like Vesuvius is exploding in the background. Where did this come from? You know, my boyfriend said something unkind to me. Why are you crying for three hours in your bedroom so loudly that everybody in the house can hear? That's not a proper reaction. I'm not saying that boyfriends should be unkind to their girlfriends. That's an extravagant reaction. Where did you pick that up from? Why did you get this news from home? You'd have thought the house was on fire. It's because that's how you've been trained to think and feel by the company that you keep. You're living at an unreasonable pitch. New appetites, new friends, new guidance. Colossians chapter 2 and verse 8. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. Too often, we're still using the world's self-help books. I've known people who, when they were converted, they used to have a whole library of materials that were designed to help them through life. Very quickly they just became quite empty and pointless to them. Paul said to the Corinthians, let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. Again, in chapter 13 and verse 11, the Apostle Paul tells us, when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. Have you put away childish things with regard to your guidance? There have been believers who have come to me and they've been facing some real battles. Now please don't misunderstand or absolutize in the wrong sense what I'm about to say. But I have warned some Christians, do not go straight to the doctor. Because I can tell you what the doctor will do. The doctor will tell you there is a pill for that. and he will dull your senses so that you do not work through this righteously. There are times when some form of medication may be helpful to Christians in certain kinds of distress. There may be chemical and biological imbalances in our humanity that need to be properly addressed where the root of the problem is physical. But Christians do not simply medicate away their affections. They regulate them according to the scriptures. Christians do not reply on carnal counsellors. Christians should not be depending on human therapists in order to get through this life or to deal with the consequences of their previous experience. And very, very often we fall into the world's remedies for our issues and it takes away our sense of heavenly things. Now, I hope you're hearing me. I'm not saying Christians never take medicine for anything. I'm even not saying Christians never take any medicines or supplements to help with chemical and biological imbalances. But I know a man who says that in his congregation, I think it's two thirds or three quarters of the congregation are on antidepressants. Okay, so if I were to start this side, come to about here, all medicated to deal with issues. Because they went to the doctor and the doctor threw a pill. And it's not helping them to get better. You know that therapists have to be on therapy, don't you? It's one of the rules of the trade. Therapists don't have any vested interest in you getting better. Why? If you get better you don't need a therapist. You get trapped on the wheel. Where does a Christian turn to see truth in a sin-wrecked world? Where do we go in order to have our affections rightly regulated? What or who trains us with regard to our navigation through this world in terms of our thoughts and our feelings and our wills? The Word of God is able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. The Word of God is God's means of teaching and reproving and correcting and instructing in righteousness. And that does not mean just an impersonal rule book. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. My point then again is not that there is nothing in this world that can do a Christian any good. My point is that when it comes to your guidance, it is the word of God and the spirit of God that must come first. Too many believers are sunk down listening to the wrong voices. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. I can tell you now as a pastor, that if I meet with you in person once a month and try and bring the word of God to bear upon your soul, and yet you are filling your mind with self-help books and therapy sessions and counselling on or offline, then you are going to be swept away on a tide of thoughts that are often directly contradictory to what God says. I'm saying, from the scriptures, this is the way the world is and this is how God addresses it. And you are hearing over and over and over again, no it's not. The whole foundation, the whole pattern of thought is different. And if you are listening to the world's wisdom, 99% of the time, do you really think you will ever grow fruitfully in Jesus Christ? Brothers, sisters, it's the wisdom of God that we need. The wisdom of this world sometimes approximates to the wisdom of God and can be in measure helpful up to that point. But if you're listening to carnal wisdom, it's a castle that's built on sand. it will collapse beneath you. The last thing this morning, new attitudes. How would you characterize this world? I'd say fear. I'd say confusion. I'd say anxiety. People who have no anchors, no certainties, No confidences. What about the Christian? Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Now brothers and sisters, that's not easy, is it? when those troubles are pressing in, when they're filling your face, when it seems like there's nothing else to see, when you feel like the man, Haman the Ezraite, who wrote Psalm 88, like it's all darkness without light, like it's all questions without answers, like it's all death without life. Shouldn't you be afraid then? My friends, a Christian's troubles and fears send them back to Jesus Christ. Pour out your hearts before him, said the psalmist. He is a God who hears us. We are not to be conformed to this world. This world is panicking. This world is confused. This world is constantly distressed. It has no anchor points. One of the reasons, again, sometimes I will say, turn off your social media. Don't listen to the news for a week. Why? Because it's feeding the beast. You just get agitated. And actually, as we've said before, your social media feed finds out what you're looking at and feeds you more of it. It stirs up Your sinful fears, your sinful doubts, your sinful appetites. 1 John chapter 4 and verse 5. They are of the world, these false teachers. Therefore they speak as of the world and the world hears them. But we are of God. He who knows God hears us. He who is not of God does not hear us. We are settled. We are calm. We are clear. We know what is true. We cast all our cares upon him for he cares for us. And we have to keep casting all our cares upon him because he cares for us. And some of you will know that battle. You'll come to me one week and you say, things are really good. Everything's been grand. I haven't had any of these challenges or difficulties this week. My soul is lifted up and I'm full of joy. And I'll get a call on Monday. Pastor, everything's falling apart. Now what do I do? Cast all your cares upon him because he cares for you. But I did that on Thursday. I know, and you need to do it again. Because it sometimes feels, doesn't it, you push those cares away and it feels like they're sliding back towards you or something else comes in from other direction. My friends, we have to keep taking our cares to God. Dig them out of every nook and cranny, every crevice of our souls. Why? Because I am a new creature in Christ Jesus. The old things have gone. I am not dominated anymore by fear. I live as one who trusts in Jesus Christ. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. I have new attitudes as a Christian. I have a God in heaven who loves me and shepherds me. I have a guardian and a guide who will lead me and take care of me. I have an intercessor at the right hand of God who ever lives to cry out on my behalf. I have the Holy Spirit to lead me and to comfort me and to instruct me. I am no longer to be dominated by the fears and anxieties of a fallen world. I have new faith. I have new hope. I have new love. And so I have new appetites, new friends, new guidance. Don't worry friend, it's not a problem. We understand these things happen. I have new faith. I have new hope. I have new love. And those new principles have given me new appetites. Not for sin, but for righteousness. New friends, not the wicked of the world, but those who seek after God. New guidance, not the wisdom of the world, but the wisdom that comes from above. And new attitudes, not the confusion and anxiety of the world, but the truth of Jesus Christ that guards my heart, the peace that passes all understanding. Brothers and sisters, you should pursue these things. It doesn't just happen. God has done it. He is working in you, both to will and to do for his good pleasure. And consequently, you work out your own salvation with fear and trembling because of what God in Christ has accomplished. My friends, this is how deep it runs. There's more of this to look at, God willing, on another occasion. But we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. You need to stop thinking the way you did and to start thinking in accordance with the truth of God. Let's pray. Father, transform our minds, we pray, Lead us in righteousness, we ask. Out of new faith and new hope and new love, work in us new appetites, new companions, new guidance to be followed, and new attitudes to cultivate, for we ask it in Jesus' name.