You can trust a God like that. I think most of us don't struggle a lot with the greatness of God and His power to do anything. I think we struggle with whether God's willing to turn that power and help us. Not the greatness of God, but the goodness of God holds us back from actually trusting Him, and we find it difficult to believe His promises. We find it difficult to trust Him enough to follow Him because we're not sure that He's actually going to come through. Not because He can't come through, but we're not sure He will. We struggle with the goodness of God, and that struggle is actually something the human race has been tormented by ever since the Garden of Eden. Last week, as Jesus was teaching in the temple precincts at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, He talked about the tragic cost of unbelief, because before Him were a number of those who refused to believe. We found that despite the strong opposition from those who refused to believe Him, those that actually wanted to kill Him, that some who heard Him teaching that day actually did believe. There is a remnant that is putting faith in Him. And we pick up again with the account in John 8, beginning in verse 31. We're going to read down to verse 47 this morning. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. They answered Him, We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free? Jesus answered them, "'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever, the son remains forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are the offspring of Abraham, yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my father, and you do what you have heard from your father.' They answered him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did. They said to Him, We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, even God. Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I came from God, and I am here. I came not of My own accord, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear My word. You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why? Do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not of God. powerful, powerful passage, and as I worked with it this week, I think my one regret is that we have so little time to really focus on it, this really powerful, really helpful passage. In verses 31 to 33, As we look at this contrast between those that are slaves and those that are actually free, true disciples of Jesus continue in His Word, verses 31 to 33. This is both the means by which they continue and it is a description of who His true disciples actually are. True disciples of Jesus continue in His Word. In verses 34 to 38, the Son sets sin slaves free. The Son sets sin slaves free. If you think about it in the first point, we're looking at the truth that Jesus delivers And those that actually believe that truth keep paying attention to that truth. And the second, we're talking about His power to save people. The Son sets sin slaves free. And then finally, 39 to 47, children of God or of the devil show who they are. They show who they are. You can tell the difference. So, we're going to spend a good bit of time on these first verses, because they provide the basis for everything else. This is tightly connected. We've divided it out, because it helps us think through it, but it all goes together. True disciples of Jesus continue in His Word. We read in verse 31, So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, If you abide in My word, if you remain in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Now for some weeks we have been in John chapter 7 and chapter 8. I want you to remember that these chapters record the teaching of Jesus from the midpoint of the Feast of Tabernacles, which, by the way, has been going on. It's a fall feast. It's been going on in Israel just this past week. The midpoint of the Feast of Tabernacles to the end of the week-long festival. He's teaching in the treasury area of the temple precincts where the most number of people would be present, both men and women. His audience is a mixed multitude, including sincere worshipers, friends that hang on his teaching, and enemies who want to arrest him and kill him. If we don't remember the range of people in front of Jesus as He speaks these words, the verses we've just read are going to be confusing to us. Like, who is He talking to? Some try to explain how those who believed in Jesus, in the verse 30 that preceded, that we ended with last week, and are described as those who believed in Him in verse 31, they try to explain how those who believed in Jesus can be also of their father the devil. And they note that John has talked about superficial belief. In John 2, 23 to 25, John makes this description, now when he, that is Jesus, was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, and this is early on, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. Remember, signs are miracles with a message. They tell you something about God, tell you something about Jesus. Tell you something about truth. But Jesus, on his part, did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. There were those who superficially believed in Jesus for a time, but it was not a reliance on him, and he knew who those people were. He knew who truly relied on him. He knew who didn't. And that's why John 3 goes on to record that Nicodemus was different. He came seeking Jesus, having seen the signs, to learn more. And later in the Gospel of John, we learn that Nicodemus has trusted Jesus and is willing to actually be identified with Him, for he comes with Joseph of Arimathea to take care of Jesus' body after the crucifixion. Realize he's just been crucified, executed by his enemies, Nicodemus and Joseph, both part of the ruling body of the Jews, are willing to identify themselves with this man who's just been executed by their peers. It was a great act of faith. Well, Nicodemus was in contrast to these superficial believers. He went on to find out more about Jesus and to trust in Him. So, were there superficial believers in the crowd there in the temple precincts as Jesus delivers these words in John 8? Well, certainly there were. Certainly there were. But even superficial believers, whether those who would eventually turn away or those who would press on like Nicodemus to full reliance on Jesus, could not at this time also be desiring to kill Him. That doesn't make any sense. Yet John reveals that some in the crowd want to do just that. That has been the case for at least a year, according to John 5. A year earlier, these Jewish leaders, these enemies, decided they wanted to kill Jesus. So what you've got, Jesus is talking to a mixed multitude. There are new believers. There may be superficial believers. there are enemies, and there's everything in between. With such a mixed multitude, what will set true disciples, true followers of Jesus, those that learn from him so they can teach others, those that watch him so they can imitate his lifestyle, what will set true disciples apart from superficial believers and murderous enemies? What is going to make the difference? It's important that we ask that question and we answer it because every time the people of God gather to hear the Word of God, there is a mixed multitude. The larger the crowd, the more likely it is. wheat and tares together, those who truly believe and those who do not, those whose faith is temporary and superficial, and those who are fully relying on Jesus to the end, those who treasure His words and those who reject Him, those who love Jesus and those who hate Him. On any given Sunday, any of those people might be represented in the crowd. So what sets the true disciples of Jesus apart from the rest? Look at verse 31 again. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples. To abide is to remain. It's to make it the place where you're going to stay. It is. In fact, when Jesus says in John 14, in my Father's house are many rooms, many dwelling places. This is based on this Word. There are many places where you will stay. You're making it your home. To abide is to remain and to continue. True disciples of Jesus continue in His Word. They camp there. They persevere in what He has taught. False disciples fall away from His Word. And the Scriptures are quite frank about this reality, and we shouldn't be shocked when it happens. In Matthew 13, in the parable of the sower, Jesus explains, as for that which was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the Word and immediately receives it with joy. yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the Word, immediately he falls away. He finds out that while he was very joyful and trusting in Jesus, that the Word of Jesus that he's committed to ends up making problems for him. So to avoid the problems, he gives up the Word. I mean, I've seen people Just, I mean, you would be shouting hallelujah, you're so sure they trusted in Jesus, that they had repented, maybe they wept, they're just full of joy at trusting Jesus, and the next week, they won't even let you in the house. What happened? I don't know. I don't know what happened, but I know that that is not a true disciple of Jesus, because true disciples remain in the Word. And that's why, you know, we've been studying this for some time in Hebrews 3, take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it's called today, that none of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. Or in 1 John, let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise He made to us, eternal life. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you have received from him, that's the Holy Spirit, abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. He's not saying that we don't need any teaching. He's saying you don't need anybody to teach you something new that's different from what you heard in the first place. But as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you, abide in him. I've noticed in recent years, and it's actually not, it's just, we've experienced more in recent years, it's happened throughout church history, throughout human history, that rather than holding fast to the words of Christ, professing believers who are experiencing struggles with doubt sometimes start paying attention to other voices rather than to Jesus' words. A true believer can struggle in their faith. Sometimes those people are especially conscientious, especially sensitive to their own sin, and they feel their unworthiness, and they struggle. And so they dive deeper into the Word to try to get things clear before God and try to make sure. But there's another group that when they struggle, Instead of going deeper into God's Word, they abandon God's Word. They spend less and less time in God's Word, and in time leave it all together, leaving them to fill their minds with the lies that began to undermine their faith in the first place. Look, you cannot survive this world of lies and deception, if you don't keep yourself immersed in the truth that Jesus taught. If you stop listening to Him, you will lose your bearings and your faith, because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. So, if you're really struggling, Don't let go of the words of Jesus. If you want to survive the struggle, keep filling your mind with His teaching, with the teaching of His sent ones, His apostles. If you stop listening to Jesus and all you listen to is other voices, how can you say you're struggling to maintain your faith? You're not struggling, you're giving up. Truly, born-again people can't do that for long. The Holy Spirit who indwells them won't let them. So, I know, I know that in this room, with all these folk, I know there are any number of us that are struggling in different ways, and some even at deep faith levels. make sure you struggle in a way that will rescue you rather than destroy you. From Eden onward, we have been tempted and seduced as human beings to listen to teaching that contradicts the Word of God. True disciples of Jesus. Hold on to what Jesus teaches over against all substitutes. We're particularly prone to this in our day because we live in a time when every voice in the world has access to us, and we spend a lot of time listening to what people are saying. In 1 Timothy Paul says, if anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound that is healthful, the opposite of harmful words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. Second John 1 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. Paul warned the elders in Ephesus in Acts 20, I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them." This has been going on ever since Satan beguiled Eve. It has been going on throughout church history to this very day. Just recently, Andy Stanley in his large church, very popular, so-called evangelical preacher, defended his church's recent unconditional conference in an effort to minister to families whose children suffered with same-sex attraction, and they ended up pursuing a homosexual lifestyle. We should help such families, absolutely. That's a great test. we should seek to help those that have been given themselves to the practice of homosexuality. But Stanley chose practicing homosexuals in a same-sex marriage to come and teach the church how to minister to people that were caught in this lifestyle. He argued that those with same-sex attraction had prayed for God to remove their desire so that they could align themselves with the biblical design of one woman and one man in marriage for a lifetime. And he said, our church still holds to that. But he said, God did not answer their prayers. They tried then to live a celibate lifestyle. But he said, that was not sustainable. And that is why they entered into a homosexual marriage. Stanley argued that the church needs to welcome such people, which he revealed his church has done for years now. He declared that he rejects the version of Christianity that looks only to the Scriptures and to prayer and that people that do that are the ones driving people away from Christianity unnecessarily. Instead, he argued, we need to listen to and learn from brothers and sisters practicing homosexuality unrepentantly. He didn't use the word Okay, so can a genuine believer fall to the sin of homosexuality? Yes, just like every other sin. Can a genuine believer continue to live unrepentant of a sinful lifestyle? No. The church needs to help them repent and be restored He goes on to say that the reason their church has taken this stance is that Jesus draws circles, not lines, and that that is what we need to do, too. Well, Jesus isn't drawing circles in our text this morning. He's drawing lines. Slaves, free. He'll go on to talk about children of the devil and children of God. And what distinguishes the two is what you do with God's Word and what you do with your sin. The gospel of Jesus is for sinners. It casts a circle wide as the world, but it does not leave us there, else it would not be the gospel. It wouldn't be good news. It calls us to repent from sin and to trust His Word. It offers us hope because Jesus has the power to make us free indeed. Jesus offers truth, not lies. Jesus makes us no longer slaves to sin. So preachers like Stanley, that's Andy Stanley, not his dad, who's with the Lord, has rejected not just some version of Christianity. He's rejected the only Christianity there is. He's rejected the gospel. He has ditched clear words from Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 6 and the book of Jude and the Sermon on the Mount and Hebrews. What he's teaching does not match the words of Jesus or the words of His Apostle. His version of Christianity does not match the Word because it's not Christianity. Stanley's gospel is this, if you can't stop sinning, if it's just too hard, then go ahead and give in. No need to turn from it. Jesus accepts you as you are and leaves you as you are. And we will affirm you and include you in our church family. Now, it's tricky. See, it's tricky, because you say, well, shouldn't we love such people? Absolutely! Jesus loves these people. Jesus loves me. I am a sinner by birth and by choice, as you are. But I need a Savior from sin. I don't need somebody else to say, well, there, it's going to be okay, and leaving me. In my sin, my sin is killing me. I need someone who will offer me hope." This unrepentant gospel is no gospel. It's a lie. It affirms sinning, unrepentant sinning, as a Christian way to live, and it attacks genuine biblical Christianity. That's falsehood. And as we're going to go on to see, that's actually the way Satan talks. He accuses the brethren and belittles the truth. Satan is the father of lies. Remember what he said to Eve? How did he start? Has God really said? Like, you've got to be kidding. Has God really said? And then when Eve told him what God has said, and that you would surely die if you ate of this tree, he said, you won't surely die. This boldly denies what God has said. And he said, God knows. God knows that if you disobey Him, you'll be fulfilled. You'll be like God. The path to fulfillment is the path of disobedience. That was Satan's lie. Preachers who talk like Satan are not God's children. We're going to see that. They are wolves in sheep's clothing because there's only one gospel. If even an angel from heaven comes with a different gospel, Paul says, let him be accursed. All substitutes for Jesus' Word, however popular they may be at the time, lead people into deception and slavery. They have no power to save. They deceive and destroy instead. It's not loving to peddle such lies. It's just the opposite. Now, I want to make it really clear, because I know that a number of you have been touched by this particular area. This is not about just the one particular area of sinning. This is the question of what does God do with our sin. Let's say I struggle. I struggle with temptation toward adultery. And I've asked God to take that away, and He just won't do it. So I've decided to go ahead and practice it. Let's say I struggle with greed. And I've asked God to take that away, and he just won't do it. So I've decided to go ahead and live a lifestyle of stealing from others. Let's say I struggle with anger and hatred. People have done me wrong. And I've asked God to take that away from me, and he just won't do it. And so I'm going to go ahead and practice a life of murdering people. I mean, pick any sin that you want, anything that God has declared as wrong, and to say that somehow God has no power to free me from it, or that I'm struggling, that that means God has no power, or that God wants me, therefore, to give in, and that, therefore, I should affirm those. I mean, we're gonna have a help group now for all of you who are now practicing adultery because you can't keep from doing it. We're going to have a support group for you. Come on. Don't call that Christianity, because it's not. It's not about classing people. It's about what we do with sin. John 8, 32, and you will know the truth if you continue in Christ's words, and the truth will set you free. When you pay attention to what Jesus teaches, you tap into reality. You experience the absolute truth of God. You become convinced of it. It has powerful effect on your life. The Holy Spirit of God takes the Word of God and empowers you for holy living. He regenerates you. He transforms you. We experience this effect of the good news in this life. It's the God-empowered process of sanctification. We become more and more like Jesus. we still battle sin. But we battle sin because we have the Spirit of God teaching us to battle sin and to keep on fighting. Those who capitulate to sin and turn from what the Word clearly teaches have adopted a strategy that enslaves and destroys people rather than setting them free. Now, some in the crowd that day didn't get what Jesus was saying. In verse 33, they answered him, We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free? Well, any Jews in the crowd could have said something like this, but in the following verses, it will become clear that those intent on murdering Jesus were the ones making this claim. Now, the Jews had suffered many seasons of bondage during their history. The Egyptians, the Philistines, during the Judges period, multiple nations, Assyria, Babylonia, Medo-Persia, and now Rome. So, what these Jews are likely referring to is not political bondage, but spiritual bondage. Ever since they returned from the Babylonian captivity, they've been set free from slavery to idols. They were descendants of Abraham and worshippers of the true and living God. And it's going to become clear that that's what they're talking about. They're talking about their spiritual freedom. Like them, it's easy to find our spiritual safety in our religious heritage. rather than in our true relationship to God. It was common in the first century for Jews to think their ancestral connection to Abraham, the father of the faith, made them secure. It's the same for people today who grew up in the church or went to a Christian school. It's not uncommon for people, especially religious people, to think they are free when they are not. So, some questions for you, and there are many we could ask, but in what ways are you continuing in the Word of Christ? What are you doing to root yourself in what God actually teaches, what Christ actually teaches? And what false versions of the gospel do you need to guard your heart from? I gave one example today. It's one of many. There are a thousand versions of falsehood. There's one gospel. And what are some false reasons today that can make people feel they belong to God, make them feel secure? All right, we've spent a lot of time on the first point. Not to worry, I'm going faster on the rest. At least according to my notes, it's faster. In verse 34, we want to look at the Son setting sin slaves free. Jesus answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever, the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are the offspring of Abraham, yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I've seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your Father." So Jesus cuts to the core issue. If you practice sin, You are a slave of sin, and slaves have no permanent home in the Father's house, only those connected to the Son. Only Jesus, the Son of God, then can set you free from sin and make sure you abide in the Father's house forever. If you reject His Word, you cannot be free from your sin. You cannot be right with God, because God the Son and God the Father are in perfect harmony. Jesus was teaching and doing everything in line with His Father. He was on mission from the Father to rescue people who would believe Him. And those Jews who desired to kill Him were doing everything in line with their Father as well. And it wasn't Abraham, it was Satan himself. There's a tight connection between being set free from sin and trusting in the words of Jesus. And the opposite is also true. There is a tight connection between rejecting the Word of Jesus and remaining a slave to your sin, because only Jesus can set you free. If you reject Him, you are powerless to gain your freedom. Now, the reason these enemies of Jesus wanted to kill him was because they refused his word. They refused truth. They refused reality. They couldn't even hear it. Their sinful hearts inflamed their desire to murder, to silence the one that was exposing them, and marked them as foreign to the family of God and slaves to sin. Their blood connection to Abraham and even their inherited religious practices from Abraham could not rescue them from bondage to sin and slavery to Satan. Do not think your family heritage will save you, nor will your church affiliation. I mean, you can stand before God at the end of the days and say, look, there's my name in Alexio. I was a member of Hampton Park. Won't do you a bit of good. Not in terms of whether you're in or out, not in terms of who you are, You must have Jesus. You must trust the truth He delivers. So, how does your lifestyle reveal that Jesus has set you free from slavery to sin? I'm not saying you never sin, I'm saying this is not your pattern. How does your lifestyle reveal that, and in what ways do you show that Christ's words have found a place in your heart? 39 to 47, we see the distinction between the children of God or of the devil. They show who they are. They answered him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you'd be doing the works Abraham did. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. That's not what Abraham did. You are doing the works of your father did. They said to him, we were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, even God. Abraham was declared righteous before God because he believed God. His subsequent deeds demonstrated that faith in God. And the true spiritual children of Abraham also believe God, and they show their trust in God by their actions as well. God the Father was speaking through God the Son, Jesus Christ, and these enemies of Jesus refused to believe Him. That was not like Abraham at all. Rather than believing Jesus, they hated Him and wanted to silence Him. Their sinful response to Jesus exposed their true spiritual state. They are not spiritual descendants of Abraham, nor are they children of God. Now, they declare, we are not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, even God. Now, some see this as casting aspersion on Christ's birth. But these men seem to be focusing on spiritual birth, not physical here. Idolatry is called spiritual adultery in the Old Testament, and the Old Testament also refers to God as the Father of His chosen people, especially in context of judgment on their sin and their need to be restored. For instance, Deuteronomy 32.6. Do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Is He not your Father who created you, who made you and established you? Or Isaiah 63, 16, You, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer, from of old is Your name. Or Isaiah 64, 8, Now, O Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter, we are the work of Your hand. But God is clearly not the Father of these men. else they would love Jesus whom the Father sent, and they would gladly listen to His Word, because His Word is truth. So Jesus goes on to say in verse 42, if God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God, and I am here. I'm right in front of you. It's easy to talk about a God you love that you can't see. What about the God that you can't see? I came not of my own accord, but He sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It's because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, does not stand in the truth, because there's no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he's a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not of God." The devil specializes in murder and lies. He lied to Eve and murdered the human race when Adam and Eve yielded to his temptation to reject God's command and to seek fulfillment their own way. Children of the devil prefer lies to truth, and they pursue harming others rather than benefiting others. These religious leaders, despite all their Bible knowledge and their religious standards, hated the truth and specialized in lies. They hated Jesus and desired to murder Him. Their devotion to lies and murder marked them as children of the devil, not of God. Their heart-level desires were precisely in line with the heart-level desires of Satan himself, and their character was the same as his. Jesus spoke only truth. He did only what was righteous, no sin whatsoever. Anyone who rejects Jesus, therefore, prefers lies over truth and sin over righteousness. Anyone who is of God, one of His children, desires the truth, receives it, loves righteousness, and practices it. I mean, really, if you're gonna throw Jesus' words to the side, I mean, how can you do that to Jesus? How can He be who He claimed to be and you treat Him that way? John says in 1 John, whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him. He cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother." Love is what sums up the law. Love sums up righteousness. The righteous thing, the loving thing, is to do the righteous thing. So how are you living out your commitment to the truth of God? In what lies are you tempted to believe? In what ways do your thoughts, words, and actions show beneficial love instead of malicious hatred? You know, this gets down to just our regular relationships with people. How do I treat people? How do I speak about them? How do I show them kindness? How do I deal with the truth? What do I do with truth? Am I a truthful person? True disciples of Jesus continue in His word. The Son sets slaves to sin free, sets sin slaves free, and the children of God, or the children of the devil, show who they are. And the question, I mean, we're left with, this is a powerful passage, like, okay, which group do we belong to? Has Jesus set you free? Are you listening to his words, or are you setting them aside in favor of something else? Jesus is telling you the truth. If you choose something else, you're choosing a lie. And Jesus will set you free. If you choose something else, you'll be left a slave. Who wants to be a slave? Who wants to live in a state of unreality versus reality? God in his kindness and love has shown the light of truth to us in the face of Jesus Christ. And he says, come, believe me, trust me, and I will set you free. Slaves are free. Let's pray. God, thank You for Your Word, and Lord, help us be faithful to hold on to it. Lord, there are things that can happen to us and voices that we respect that can start to pry us away from our trust in You. Oh, God, may these things not succeed. Preserve us, Father. Help us persevere. Help us hold on. Help us endure to the end as those that are your children, as those that have been set free, as those who are children of the light, of the truth, and not of the darkness. For it's in Christ's name we pray.