Greetings in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Good morning to everyone. It's good to be with you today once again. Rejoiced in fellowshipping with you yesterday evening, and we rejoice being together in the Word of God, and we I look forward to being in God's Word today as well. I'm really looking forward to a number of the sessions today, and particularly the session on gratitude after this one. Something very important in our lives that we need to learn to be a people that are thankful. And then in the afternoon as well, dealing with technology, social media. And so all of us, maybe most of us, have dealt with social media in one way or another, and we need to learn how to live social media underneath the Lordship of Christ. That will be later on. And then I work a lot with young people as well, so perhaps some of you who are family members will be interested in the session later on entertainment, what can guide and direct us to watch movies in a proper way, read books in a proper way, and so forth, and dealing with sports and so on. So we'll be looking at that as well. But we begin now to lay another foundation, and that is the norm of the Christian life. We laid the foundation yesterday of sanctification, or of being born again, and also union with Christ. And so today, we are going to look at the norm of the Christian life. And so if you have your Bibles with you, if you would turn to the book of 1 Peter, in chapter number one. First Peter, chapter number one. And before we read God's word, let's pray. Our gracious Heavenly Father, there are so many authorities that vie for our attention and our loyalty. from Hollywood to the banks to fashion to pop culture and music to the politicians. They all want us to follow them. They want all of us to live by their authority and by their norm. And then there are those who want us to believe that there is the standard, that there is no norm, that there is no absolute truth. But Lord God, we know that there is absolute truth in your holy word in your divine person. And Father, may you help us today to turn to you as little children, to be ready to submit to your word, to your person, to your gospel, so that we might live by what you say rather than by our autonomous reason or by our culture or by our feelings. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Holy Spirit, have mercy upon us. and help us to learn this important lesson today. In Jesus name we pray, amen. So we're reading 1 Peter 1 verses 13 through 16. Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, Do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. That is God's holy word, blessed be his holy name. So as I said yesterday, we looked at the foundations of the Christian life, of regeneration and union with Christ, Before we can live the Christian life, we must have the Christian life, we must be Christians. Well, if God has given us the Christian life by His grace, through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, what then is the norm, the standard of our Christian life that God has given to us? There is a study in the field of ethics called deontological ethics, which raises the question of obligation. What ought we to do? What ought we to do? Deontological comes from the Greek word deon, meaning duty, and the word logos, meaning word. So the question is, What word defines what we ought to do? What word defines our duty? And we could spend all morning speaking of the isms that are prevalent in our culture, that vie for our authority, that say, this is the standard that tells us what we ought to do. That is the standard that tells us what we ought to do. But rather than looking at that culture this morning, we want to look at the truth, at the truth. God himself is the ethical norm. Jesus Christ in his incarnation is the ethical norm. And God's holy law is the ethical norm. So let's look first of all at God Jehovah himself as the ethical norm. And we find that here in 1 Peter 1. We know that we're born again to a living hope. We know that this has come to us from Jesus Christ. And we know also from verse number 12 that the Holy Spirit has been sent from heaven to us. And the angels in heaven long to look into this gospel of Christ, which redeems sinners like you and me. And now we have that Holy Spirit in our lives. And so we can prepare our minds for action, we can be sober-minded, we can set our hope fully on the grace on Jesus Christ. There's now the possibility and the blessing of us learning to be obedient children and not being conformed to our passions and lusts and our former ignorance. That we can be holy as God himself is holy. There is the norm. There's the standard, there is the plumb line that is set before us. We can be holy as God is holy. He is, Jehovah God is, first of all, the ethical norm. And we know that God Almighty is the ethical norm for a number of reasons. Number one, God's person is the center of all of life. The Westminster Shorer Catechism question number one says, what is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. God Almighty, the triune God, is the center of all of our life. He is creator and redeemer, the eternal, holy, self-existent God whom all men know and to whom all men are accountable. God is the standard that measures everything we do, everything we say, when we do it, when we say it, because God is present in every moral situation you or I face. He is present in every part of our lives, for he himself is omnipresent. The Bible says in Psalm 33, verse 13 through 15, The Lord looks down from heaven and he sees all the children of man. From where he sits enthroned, he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth. So he's the center of all of life because he is omnipresent and knows all things and is with us and present in every situation. We also know that God is the ethical norm because God's very nature is normative for holiness, and here I am focusing on God's moral excellence, particularly three attributes. First, God is holy. Leviticus chapter 11 verse 45, Leviticus 11 verse 45, or pardon me, verse 44, explains this very well. Let me read it to you. For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy For I am holy. You shall not defy yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground, for I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. See, God is holy. We're not to defile our lives by anything that is ungodly and wrong, because God is holy. Be holy, for I am holy. And of course, we could mention many other scriptures like Isaiah 6 and Psalm 99, which tell us that God is holy. And the refrain in the Bible repeatedly is, for you who are redeemed, be holy, for I am holy. Look to me, God says, and live like me. And this is what Ephesians chapter five and six tell us so wonderfully that we are to be imitators of God. because God is holy. Secondly, the second attribute I want to focus on more particularly this morning is that God is light. 1 John 1 verse 5 tells us of this, that God is light. 1 John 1 in verse 5 reads this. This is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Our Lord says this in John chapter number one, in John chapter number one and verses four through nine, in him was life, that is in the Lord God Jesus, and the life was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. Now, the fact that God is light refers to his majesty, to his glory, to his awesome, wonderful, glorious person. But it also refers in the Bible, another way, in these passages that we read, it refers to his moral purity. Do not walk in darkness, but walk in the light. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. So when I refer this morning to this attribute that God is light, I'm referring to his goodness, his rightness, his truth, his absolute moral purity. And we are to walk in that light as Christians. And this has a direct impact on our Christian lives. Christians are to walk in the light as he is in the light, 1 John 1, 7. God's light is our ethical guide, as it says in Psalm 119 and verse 105. And thus, being born again in God's light, we should not walk in darkness. And let me read this to us from Romans 13 and verse 12. The night is far gone, the day is at hand, so then let us, Christians, Let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and in jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provisions for the flesh. Because we're born again, we're children of light, walk in the light. Walk in the light of God, putting on Christ, putting off the flesh. Walk in that light as you use your computer. Walk in the light of God as you use your social media. Walk in the light of God in your marriage. Walk in the light of God in your parenting, in the light of your relationships. Walk in that light. And we think of this, young people. I haven't forgotten you during my preparations. The Bible teaches you, covenant children, that you are God's people. The promises of the gospel are upon you. And we have one reality that has always been in the family of God since the beginning of the church in Adam and Eve, and that is that the people of God are not to mix with the people of the world in marriage. So we, the church, are the children of light, and we are taught this, do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness, or what fellowship has the light, the people of God who walk in the light of God, what fellowship has the light with the darkness? And young people and parents, I understand, sometimes are People meet people from the world and. There's an attraction. And I realized that that that relationships get built and we as Christian parents and as Christian friends, we must come to those people with kindness and truth with love and understanding. And not bash them, but we do have to come to them and be kind and show them that children of light walk in the light. And God has always said that we shouldn't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. And so you see that God is light has practical implications to our Christian living because God is the norm of our Christian lives. There's this third attribute I want to bring out and that attribute is that God is truth. In Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse four, Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse number four, there we read in Moses' song, Deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse four, the rock, his work is perfect. For all His ways are justice, a God of faithfulness, and without iniquity, just and upright is He. So God is truth. All His ways are upright. All His ways are clear. All His ways are pure. All His ways are righteous. All His ways are holy. All His ways are without iniquity, without sin and absolute perfection. He is the truth for goodness, for rightness, for ethical blessing. He is the truth. In Isaiah 65, verses 15 through 18, we read that God is the truth in this way, Isaiah 65, verses 15 through 18. There it says, you shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse and the Lord God will put you to death. But his servants he will call by another name so that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth. And he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth, because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes. And there it speaks of the people of God who return to the Lord. When they return to the Lord, they bless themselves with the God of truth, with the God who knows what is right, with the God who knows what is holy, with the God who is perfect love and perfect kindness and perfect peace. And we could go on and name all the other moral attributes of God, the God who is right, the God who is without sin. So God is the truth. You see, he's wise. He knows how we are to live. God reveals his truth, his doctrine, his right living, his will. Again, this directly impacts our Christian lives. How? Well, let's look at God's truth in creation. That's just one. Particularly, we want to look at his creation ordinances. A creation ordinance of God is this, it's God's decree, God's purposes, which order creation. It's God's word that is in the warp and woof of creation, that is sown throughout creation. Right from the beginning, in Genesis chapter number one and chapter two, God gave us these creation ordinances. And they never change because God does not change. And these purposes, these ordinances, these decrees that God has woven into the fabric of creation are to be done God's way, for they are given by the God of heaven and earth, the God of covenant. And what are they? Marriage. Marriage is between a man and a woman. Homosexuality is an abomination against God. And we have to put down any homosexual desires or tendencies in our lives. We have to put it off. It is against God's will and nature. Dominion and labor. We are called to be good stewards. This is woven within the fabric of creation. We are called to work for God's glory. And so Christians, we are to be good workers, not lazy. We are to be a people who are diligent, who redeem the time, who give themselves to good works, all in the name of the Lord. And then there's this also woven into the fabric of creation, and that is worship and the Sabbath day. We're to worship God, God's way. God prescribes in his word the way he is to be worshiped because God is the norm. And we're to worship on the Lord's day. God instituted the Sabbath in Genesis chapter number one that has been within the fabric of creation since the beginning. And it changed from the last day of the week to the first day of the week in the resurrection now in the new covenant. But the principle is still there. There's something wrong when we don't worship on the Lord's day. There's something that gets out of kilter. Even society in Dartmouth and in Halifax, everybody takes Sunday off because there seems to be a time, and everybody knows it, that we should have a day of rest. But they don't want to give that day of rest to God, which is what we are to do, but they want to do their own thing. And so it becomes an act of rebellion. And yet, when we don't worship the Lord His way on His day, it just, it just, it jolts us, it puts us out. I mean, isn't it awful, in one sense, when you are ill with a cold and you have to miss church? You just, something's missing in my life today, you know? Because you don't have the encouragement that comes usually when you attend worship. Well, God and His truth has given us these things, marriage and dominion and labor and worship, and they're all to be done according to God's truth. So God and His holiness and His truth and His light and His person are the norm. The triune God, Jehovah, is the one that we are to follow and whom we are to imitate. We are to listen to His word as little children by faith, turning to His way. But then we come, secondly, to Jesus Christ as the ethical norm. And what I mean here is we know Christ is God of very God, second person of the Trinity, but it was Christ who became incarnate, God in the flesh, to reveal to us the very image of God. Of course, we must be holy as God is holy. We know that already from 1 Peter 1.16 and from the first point the sermon this morning. Well, this holiness of God is revealed to us in a very special way, not only in the creation ordinances, not only in God's person as he reveals himself in nature and in our conscience, but it is particularly revealed to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, we see God the Father. He that hath seen Christ hath seen the Father, the Bible teaches us. And when we look at Jesus Christ, we see holiness. John Owen put it this way, it is the holiness of God as he is in Christ and as in Christ represented unto us that gives us both the necessity and motive unto our holiness. If Christ is our mediator and Savior, and we are united to Him by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit, we must be holy, but also that we will be able to be like Him, and of course, that we will enjoy being holy. Because Jesus enjoyed being holy. Jesus enjoyed doing the Father's will and following after God's example. And so when we're connected to Jesus Christ, this is the work of the Spirit in our lives. But to be a little bit more particular, let's look unto Jesus this morning. What kind of a man was Jesus, the God-man? By faith, the incarnate Lord kept God's commandments. Christ himself lived by faith in his humanity. Hebrews chapter two is very clear about that. And John read part of it. I think that he read part of it. But notice in Hebrews chapter two, verse 11, it says, for he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, I tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation. I will sing your praise. And again, this is Jesus talking. I will put my trust in him. What is saying there is that Jesus in His humanity had faith in His Father. He lived by faith. He lived out this faith in keeping the commandments of God. He lived out this faith by keeping the commandments of God. John chapter 15 and verse 10. John 15 and verse 10 tells us this. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love." In his humanity in the incarnation, Jesus kept the Father's commandments. Jesus loved his Father, and what is it to love God but to keep his commandments, 1 John 5, verse 3? Think of Jesus' temptation to deny God's ethics in the wilderness. The devil came to him and tempted him. The devil tempted him to forsake God's standard, God's person, God's truth, God's light. And Jesus resisted. Jesus did not live by bread alone, but he lived by the word of God. Jesus did not tempt God, but he submitted to God. Jesus did not have false worship, but he worshiped God in spirit and truth. He obeyed the word of the living God in the desert, and he obeyed the word of the living God all through his incarnate, in-flesh life. What kind of a man was Jesus Christ? He was a man who obeyed God's word out of love in his heart. We think of 1 John chapter number two, And verse one, it says, my little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And then it says in Romans chapter number five, that he obeyed, he lived a life of obedience and righteousness. You see, Christ was righteous in his humanity. He lived a life of perfect obedience to God and earned righteousness for us. This is the kind of man Jesus was. Look unto Christ. What do you see? You see the God man. Look unto Christ. What do you see in his incarnation? He was a man who loved God and loved his word and obeyed. But also, secondly, what kind of a man was Jesus? Well, Jesus Christ, in his humanity, obeyed the Lord God, his Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is our empowerer to live in Christlikeness, and this was true of our Lord in his humanity, too. It says in Isaiah chapter 11 verse two that he relied on the Holy Spirit of God. It says in John chapter three that the Spirit of God was not given by measure unto Christ in his humanity. The Bible teaches us that Jesus as a man increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man by the power of God the Holy Spirit. The Spirit was given without limits to him, and in the Holy Spirit, he as a man continually, repeatedly offered himself up to God as a sacrifice. And the Bible says in Hebrews chapter number nine that it was in the strength of the Holy Spirit that he gave himself even to the death, death on a cross. So God the Holy Spirit was in Christ the man in flesh, And Christ, the God-man, gave himself to the Spirit, yielded to the Spirit. That's the kind of man he was. And so, my friends, Christ is the norm for ethics, too. We are called to and enabled by the Spirit to walk in His way, and His way was to walk in the way of the commandments of God because He loved God, and to serve and obey God and walk in the commandments of God yielded to the Holy Spirit. There are two scriptures that really bring this out and I want to read them to you. The one is Colossians and chapter number two and verse six through seven. And I'm reading a lot of scripture during these talks because I want you to see it for yourself from God's holy word. There it says this in Colossians 2, verses six through seven. Therefore, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. Rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. And then in Ephesians chapter five, verse one and two, Ephesians 5, verses 1 and 2, but let's read verse 32 of the previous chapter. It says this, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God and Christ forgave you. Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering, as a sacrifice to God. So Christ is the standard. walk in the way of Christ. You see, in the gospel of being born again and being united with Jesus Christ, the image of God has been restored in us and is being restored in us. And so we are called to imitate Christ. We are in him who is the truth and the life. And He is in us who is the truth and the life. So the norm, the way we are to live, is Jesus. And that's why we're always admonished a number of times, beloved, in the New Testament, to look unto Christ, to learn more of Christ, to study the word of the gospel, to see Christ, so that your life can be patterned after His life in the power of the Holy Spirit. Isn't that what we're told in Philippians chapter number two, where it is said that we are to be kind to one another, tenderhearted, in honor, preferring others better than yourself, and let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. In other words, you're to have the mind and life of Christ. So God, the triune God, is the ethical norm. Jesus Christ is the ethical norm. And then lastly, God's holy law is the ethical norm. Now, so that we understand this point correctly, we need to remember three fundamental points. One is this, God's law cannot make us Christians. God's law cannot justify nor release us from the bondage of sin. God's law commands and demands proclaiming what the will of God is. God's law pronounces blessings upon obedience. God's law pronounces judgment and curses upon those who disobey God. God's law exposes and convicts of sin. God's law excites and provokes sin in us. But God's law can never justify a sinner. It's so plain. Here in Galatians chapter three in verse 10. For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, curse it is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them. Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith. But the law is not of faith, rather, the one who does them shall live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, curse it is everyone who is hanged on a tree, so that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith. We are not justified by the law. To offend in one point is to offend in them all. We are guilty sinners under the sentence of cursed because in our sinful nature we will not and thus cannot obey God's law. If we're going to live a holy Christian life, God's miracle of grace must come to us first. As I said last night, we must be born again. And we must receive faith from the Holy Spirit so that we can receive Christ and thus be united to Christ. Because God's law cannot save us. God's law is only a tool in God's hands actually to bring us to Christ the Savior. Romans 3 tells us so plainly that the law of God is a way that we can see Christ. It points us to Christ. Galatians 2 tells us that God's law points us to Christ the Savior. I mean, it was the law itself that taught the Apostle Paul not to seek God's righteousness through law works. The law serves us to bring us to the Savior. It allows us to see that no one, not self, not law, can save us, and it shows us Christ. And the third thing we need to remember is this, that God's moral law, though it does and cannot save us, it does not save us and cannot save us, and though that moral law must be used in preaching to point men and women to Jesus Christ, we need to also remember that the moral law remains a rule in the life of the believer. It's not a legalism. It's not, you have to do this in order to be saved. but it's the grace of law for the Christian. It's the law as God's word for the people redeemed and grateful to God. You see, the moral law carries over into the new covenant and our life in Christ. The moral law carries over into the new covenant and our life in Christ. The Bible teaches very clearly that the moral law predates the Mosaic Covenant. The moral law was in the Garden of Eden. It was during the time of Seth. It was during the time of Enoch. It was during the time of Noah. It was during the time of Babylon and the people after, or Babel, and the people after that time and after the flood. It was present during the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God's Ten Commandments, His ethical moral law, were present. It's written on the conscience of all human beings. This moral law reflects the very character of God. Is God ever going to support lying? Is God ever going to support worshiping other gods? Is God ever going to support adultery? No, because God is light and truth and holiness. And so he gave us his word and his word reflects his eternal character. And so when we come to the new covenant in Christ, God didn't change. And so we still have the moral law. The Ten Commandments are not abrogated because Christ has come and redeemed his people, no. The Ten Commandments are still part of the Christian's life because in Christ, the law is written on our hearts. And by faith, we establish the law in the new covenant. As I said yesterday, now that we are in Christ, the Ten Commandments are closer to our lives than ever before. They're written in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. And as it says in Romans 3 verse 31, by faith we establish the law. And as we will read at the Sunday morning sermon tomorrow from Romans chapter number eight, that in the power of the Holy Spirit, now we can keep the law. Not perfectly, I understand, it's not a sinless perfection, but there is a growth in grace. a growth in grace that occurs because we're enabled by the Holy Spirit to take what is written in our hearts, the Word of God, and live it out to His glory. Therefore, my friends, God's moral law is in our hearts and a rule of our lives because we have been redeemed by faith alone. We're saved by faith alone, by Christ alone, but never by a faith that remains alone. Faith equals justification, plus works, is the Reformed teaching. The Reformation Study Bible explains it this way very well, so you teenagers or you young people, you might understand it a little bit more clearer. God's moral law is to guide the regenerate into the good works that God has planned for them and predestined for them. The law tells God's children what will please their heavenly father. It could be called their family code. Christ was speaking of this third use of the law when he said that those who become his disciples must be taught to do all that he had commanded, Matthew 28, 20, and that obedience to his commands will prove the reality of one's love for him. The Christian is free from the law as a system of salvation, but is under the law of Christ in grace as a rule of life. We think of 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 21. There we read this. To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I may win those outside the law." So you see, we're never outside the law of God, never outside that. We're always in that, and now we're in it under Christ. And then we think of Galatians chapter 6 and verse 2, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. And to bear one another's burdens and fulfill the law of Christ is really to live out the second table of the law, the Ten Commandments. Honor your father and mother. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet. Sinclair Ferguson put it like this. God's law is not a means to salvation, but the law is the gracious way in which our salvation takes us. It is the moral shape that salvation takes. The law is not a motor car to heaven, an automobile to heaven. It is in and of itself, and separated from grace, lacking in engine, lacking oil, lacking gas, lacking in wheels, lacking in road, but it is in the hand of God a map for those who are in the car of salvation going to heaven. And God is with us and a passenger, and he is the person who sits as a map reader with the law of God in his hand, directing us how to live on our way to heaven. So God's law is the ethical norm. So in conclusion this morning, what ought we to do? As born-again people united with the Lord Jesus Christ, what is right and wrong for us? The world cannot tell it to us. Where then do we go to know for us who are people of the Lord what is right and wrong? Is openness to everything the norm to determine right and wrong? And young people, you know this in public school. I have one son who's almost finished, and he is in his last grade in grade 12, and he talks to me about how everybody, and not the young people so much, but all the teachers, are encouraging young people to be open to everything, open to everything, open to everything. And when he talks with some of his friends, his friends are actually confused because it's shocking to a person, even when they're young. You mean I can do everything? You see, it's really a conflict to the law of God that is written in the conscience of every human being, and our consciences are usually tender the younger we are, so when these adult teachers in all their ungodliness say, be open to everything, that it kind of smarts in their heart, and they know that there's something wrong with it. Should we be open to everything, young people, adults? No. Because you know this already, even before I say it, that if you live that way, it will be unbearable evil. Unbearable. Well then, should we be tolerant to everyone and everything? That's said in our world too, be tolerant. Well, that will destroy all decency in society as well. So there has to be a norm, there has to be a standard, and there is. It is God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and all his glorious attributes. It is Christ, the God-man, who reveals to us God, who saved us by his life. And it is the word, the law, of the living God. That is the ethical norm. What ought we to do? We look to the triune God. We look to Christ. We read his word. And in the power of the Holy Spirit, we yield to what God's word says. Amen. Let us pray. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all of the earth. We thank you so much for your truth, for your light, for your holiness. We thank you, dear God, that creation reveals your glorious attributes, that you are not a God who is backward, not a God who is against nature, not a God who is confused. You're a God who is upright, orderly, full of beauty, full of truth, full of that which tends to a life We thank you, God, that you gave to us Jesus Christ and we beheld his glory, the glories of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth. So we look at his life and we see holiness. We see goodness and love and peace and blessing and kindness and all that is right and good. And Lord, we thank you that he came to be our Redeemer. And Lord, you gave us your word as well, your holy law, an expression of your person, and your divine kindness, giving to us those 10 commandments, the summary of your holy will, and then the law of loving our neighbor as ourselves and loving you with all of our being. In your kindness, you You spoke to us as well. These are the directives by which we are to direct our lives. And Lord, you make us alive to them when you give us the new birth and union with Christ. And in that new birth and union with Christ, we have the Spirit of God in our lives. And Father, You make us alive to You and alive to Christ and alive to Your Word to follow it. We love Your Word. We love Christ. We love You. In this life, what we really hate, God, is sin and our own disobedience. That frustrates us so much. And we look forward to heaven when we'll be removed even from the very presence of sin We'll be following your directives perfectly with joy in our heart. Oh, we look forward to that, Heavenly Father. But while we're living in this life in that car towards heaven, help us to always look to you who are with us in that journey and yield to you and yield to your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.