Finally, our sermon's scripture lesson comes from 1 Peter, a mere one verse, verse 7 of that chapter. Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Please join me in prayer. Holy Father, for us to understand your word, it is necessary that you would grant your spirit that we could do so. our ears get stopped up, our hearts clogged with our own sin. And yet, by your grace, you set us free from that sin. You open our eyes, you unclog our ears that we may see rightly, that we may hear correctly, and that our hearts would love what you put before us. So we ask, Father, today that you would send your Holy Spirit in great measure on this whole congregation, that as your people gather together, you would speak to them. that Your Spirit would dwell in them and the Word would come alive, that the Word would do its work in all of our lives and hearts. And I ask that For me, as the preacher, you would be kind and gracious to me and to your people, and you would grant your spirit that holy unction which comes only from above, and that you would enable me to speak with truth and passion and conviction. All of these things that we read today are true, and so we pray that we would believe them as truth and that we would hinge our very lives on the words that you speak. Speak to us, Lord, your servants are listening. We pray in Christ's name, amen. Be seated. If you're looking at the larger context of our verse today in chapter three of 1 Timothy, You'll see that Peter has just addressed wives starting at the beginning of the chapter, verse 3, but that really this goes back to his larger discussion starting in 2.13 on being subject to authority. He's discussed slaves and masters, wives before their husbands, and now, last but not least, he addresses husbands. And it's characteristic, it's notable that he has saved husbands for last. I said last, but not least, but it is kind of last and also least that he saved husbands for the very end. Why would he do that? Well, because he's speaking to a culture and a people where women are regarded as, to say second rate citizens would be a great advancement of their cause, third or fourth rate citizens. above slaves, but far, far below husbands in all regards. And so he addresses then, he turns the entire social order on its head, addressing the slaves first, which as I mentioned a few weeks ago, never happened in the household codes of which this is the type. Slaves were never addressed. They weren't regarded as moral creatures. with moral capability. They were simply animals to do what they were told. Peter addresses slaves first, and then wives, and then finally, at the very last, husbands, the head of the household. And so it's important to establish that he is, in fact, speaking to husbands. The word there, andres, can mean on its own humanity, people, or generally just man or mankind. It can also mean husbands. Oftentimes Greek words carry a whole range of meanings and it's only from the context that we can deduce which one is the best translation. We know it's husbands because he's in the context of speaking about marriage. He's just spoken to us about wives. But interestingly, the word translated in this passage, in verse 7 here, the women, it's a very unusual word. It's only found once in the entire Bible. It's a derivative of the word woman, but it has the effect of being most literally translated the female or the feminine one. So Peter is making, while he's addressing husbands and wives, he's also making general statements about the nature of men and the nature of women and general principles regarding their relationship together. So the word likewise there in our first verse, the first word of our verse tells us this. It also connects it with the previous section, which was about wives, and that connects it with the section before that regarding masters and slaves. So in the Roman world in the first century, husbands were not commanded to submit to their wives. They are also today not commanded to submit to their wives. You'll often hear Ephesians 5.21 cited, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. And that's often presented as evidence that everybody submits to everybody. Husbands submit to wives, wives submit to husbands, slaves to masters, masters to slaves. Mutual submission, though, doesn't work when it goes in two different directions, in opposite directions, in the same sense. Two persons trying to submit to one another in the same sense run into the same problem that two persons trying to dominate one another would have. Who ultimately wins? In the end then, even mutual submission would ironically create a power struggle. The purpose of submission and headship in marriage is not to dominate, is not to rule with cruelty, but rather to serve, as is, in fact, all leadership in the Bible. So how is this a likewise with regards to submission? What Peter is saying here is the wife submits to the husband and the slave to the master, but the master and the husband both submit to God. And here, Peter says, God is speaking through me. In other words, yes, men, you are the most important people in the society in which Peter is writing to. You rule over your wives, no doubt. But pay attention, says Peter, then, how you do it, because he's already told us in chapter 2, live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. says Peter, love the brotherhood, fear God. So our text today breaks up very easily. It's very easily outlined. Two words of instruction, one piece of reasoning, one piece of discipline. And with all things, maybe you're thinking, well, I'm not a husband or I'm not married. What does this have to do with me? Well, besides the obvious that perhaps someday, if you're not married, you will be. If you're not a husband, someday you may be. That's all true. But more importantly than that, all of this relates to the nature of God Himself. The mystery of marriage here, as described by Paul, is that marriage itself is the human institution given to us by God to demonstrate Christ and his church. And so, if you're not married, and even if you never are to be married, this is still a text of infinite value to you to understand who God is and how he relates to you as a bridegroom relating to the bride, that is the church. So, two words of instruction, one reason, and a word of discipline. The first word is to husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way. This is a good translation, I think, of the literal phrase, live with your wives in knowledge. The NIV says in consideration, but that seems to be to me too focused on good manners, just be considerate. If I was going to spin this out a little more dynamically, we tend to have the most literal translations available, close to it anyway. If we're going to make a little bit more of a dynamic translation on this, I would probably render it, live with your wives thoughtfully. In knowledge, we don't really use that phrase, but thoughtfully, to be a thoughtful husband. In the verses above in 1 through 6, Peter has made it clear that in marriage a woman submits to and obeys her husband. And we talked about that over the last few weeks, so you'd have to go back and listen to those. but that in a marriage relationship he is the one to ultimately make decisions for their family and she is the one to receive that instruction and leadership. The woman follows through even if it's not what she desired. Again, we're not talking about sin or abuse, but we're talking about decisions that a family would make, the general direction and tone of a family. The aroma, you might say, that comes out of the house. Is the aroma one of joy? An aroma of Christ? Or is it death? Is it misery? Is it anger? But what Peter is doing now is he is highlighting the situation. He's just put women in a position, remember, where he says, obey your husbands. So now Peter says, but husbands, don't take advantage of that fact. There's no room in Peter's description for thoughtlessness, for inattention, for dismissing a wife, whatever. That doesn't come up. Consider that Christ has all authority given to Him. All authority resided and resides with Christ. And what does He do with that authority over us? He commands us. He rules us. He instructs us. He restricts us and He does that always and only for our best, which coincides. Some people say, well, He does that for His own glory. Yes, but His glory always coincides with His best for us. In our relationship with Christ, He is the one who bears the difficulty. We are the ones who receive the benefit of that difficulty. Even in our obedience, we receive the benefit of freedom from sin, new life. His paths lead to great joy and not sorrow. Jesus knows what we need. He's entirely attentive to our prayer. And in fact, he knows us better than we know ourselves, doesn't he? He knows our needs before we know our own needs. And how often have you seen it that God has answered a prayer that you didn't yet quite think to ask, but in retrospect you wish you would have because then you could say, He answered my prayer. So what does that mean for a husband? It means that he uses his authority to work for his wife's benefit, sacrificing for his family, thinking about their needs to live in a thoughtful manner. So this, for example, comes into play with money. The wife says, well, you know, I think it'd be good if we had a vacation with the kids this summer. The kids need some new clothes. I need some new clothes. I'm down to just a few outfits. And the husband says, well, hmm, yes, yes. But you know what I'd like? A jet ski. I could tow it with me to work, jet ski after work, and then just come home. And he says, well, I'm the husband, I'm the authority, so I get to decide what to do, and I'm going to use my authority to buy a jet ski. And vacation's just going to have to wait. I've got a lot of fun I want to have. And then he goes and finds a jet ski, and unfortunately, it only seats one person, so he's the only one who gets to use it. This would be applicable in the same way as it comes to time, another thing that we can spend, in a sense. When the husband just goes out with his friends, just hangs out, just gets involved with his own hobbies and interests, and leaves his wife at home to take care of the children, to do the work of the home, but she never herself has an opportunity to spend time doing something that she enjoys. Or just to be away from the children for a little bit of time. I know you love your kids, ladies. It's actually okay to be away from them for a little bit of time. And if you feel like that's necessary, that's legitimate. That's okay. It's actually probably pretty healthy to have a little bit of time. A husband can use his authority to insist that his wife bear all the burden and all the difficulty while he indulges himself, but that is not what authority is for. It also comes up in your emotional life. Women are typically, and I don't think I'm saying anything controversial here, women are typically just different sorts of creatures, and they have different sorts of emotional needs. I have never yet heard of a groom crying on his wedding night. But I have heard stories of lots of brides crying on their wedding night. And husbands are saying, I don't know what I did wrong. She's like, you didn't do anything wrong. It's just emotional. And emotions just leak. They just kind of spring out of eyes. Now, if you're married, you probably know this. Are you thoughtful in light of that? You might be categorically aware. You might know, yes, women tend to be more emotional. My wife tends to be more emotional about these certain things. But are you really cognizant of that? Is that playing into your thinking, into your prayer, into your decision-making? Does it occur to you, my wife has different emotional needs here and I ought to be seeking to meet those even though they are not my personal needs? If you see she hasn't had a night off or a night out in months, has it occurred to you maybe I should do the dishes and she can go meet up with a friend? There's nothing inherently feminine about washing dishes. Jesus does not give us, and if you use the right soap, your hands get soft anyway, so it's a win-win. Listen, Jesus does not just give us what He needs, right? He doesn't just meet us with His needs, because what does He need? Does He need the forgiveness of sins? No. Does He need physical comfort? Not now, He doesn't. Does He need an emotional outlet? No. Does He need fellowship? He had fellowship perfectly with the Father and the Holy Spirit before time began. He doesn't give us what He needs. He gives us what we need. So then, husbands, if husbands are to their wives, as Christ is to the church, would it make sense that a husband would only give his wife what he needs? I don't have big emotional needs. No need to meet those emotional needs in her. I don't need to listen because I don't need anybody to listen. It's not really about what you need, though, is it? Our Lord could command us, he could use his authority to command us to do anything at all. And yet, he only commands us to what is good. That doesn't mean he only commands us to what is easy. The Lord Jesus often commands people to do things that are very, very hard. But of course, as he does that, he prepares and strengthens and enables them to do that. So to live with a wife by knowledge means respecting and understanding and leading from that knowledge and empathy and understanding of her experience as a woman, which is going to be a much different experience than your own. A husband is unfortunately, gentlemen, the last one to get his own way because he's the one with authority. And in the Bible, authority is used for other people. So let's move on to our second word of instruction here. Peter's second commandment to us is to show honor. Again, this is only following the Lord's example. All authority given to him, and he washes the disciples' feet. Leader of his disciples, and he does servants' work. And here, as Jesus washes the disciples' feet, he's acting in the role of slave to his own disciples. Again, the ruling paradigm in all Christian ethics, the strong shall serve the weak. Now this is not the view in shame based cultures, whether you're talking about feudal Japan or ancient Sparta or the Vikings, the rule in those societies was that the strong should dominate over the weak. You have entire societies based on that. Even China today, while growing in Christianity, still bears the legacy of a culture in which the strong ruled over the weak. The idea of chivalry could only come from a culture trying to work Christian values into itself. Do you know where you experience chivalry, where you experience a Christian culture, anytime you go somewhere that there's a line, a queue, and people line up in order. It might seem like a small thing, but in a place like China, the first person to get the bread is the first person in the door, and the first person in the door is the one who's strong enough to shove his way in there, to push other people aside, to make sure that he's first by virtue of his strength. In our society, we still have lines. We've decided that it's not going to be a matter of physical strength. It's going to be the chronological order in which you show up. And a little old lady, if she's ahead of me in line, it's still, people are outraged. It's like, what are you doing? You can't cut in line. Everybody gets indignant if there's a little old lady and some, you know, big college football player cuts in front of her in line. You know, I don't care. Everybody's like, get out of here, you cut her, you know. Everybody's like, shame, shame, we've got you now. That just doesn't happen because we as a culture still defend weakness. That is a singularly Christian ethic that thankfully still remains in our society. Chivalry is a codified way of the strong showing honor to the weak. Now that may sound pejorative. In what sense does Peter mean that women are the weaker vessel? Now, there's no better word for vessel But the meaning here is we just don't have a one-word translation. It's one of those words that requires a paragraph in English to explain the word. The best way to understand it is a person in their specific role. So a, well, we do this even with vessels. You might think of a water vessel. A water vessel in the ancient world was made for holding water, not for oil. And we tend to be a little more multi-purpose, but we still have the same idea. We have soup bowls and mixing bowls. And they're both vessels, but you don't eat oatmeal out of a mixing bowl, unless your wife is away and you haven't done dishes. We have water bottles. And we don't put coffee into those. And you might repurpose it to hold motor oil or water or apple juice. But when I say to my wife, hey, when you go to the store, buy the orange juice that comes in the milk jug. You all know exactly what I'm talking about, because you know what a milk jug is. And it doesn't matter what's in there, it's always a milk jug, right? So vessels have particular purposes. As Peter's discussing women here, he uses the word vessel because he's talking about their particular purpose, their role as a wife. And so indisputably, within the marriage, the woman has the weaker role. Now, women are typically physically weaker. If you read some of the commentaries on this, they suggest that maybe that's what Peter's after. But first of all, he's using the word vessel, which has specific meaning. And second, he just went and described her role. He just told us what that vessel is. And so the woman in a marriage has the more fragile role, the more delicate role. She is more easily broken. A husband who is using his authority in a poor way will tend to break his wife in a way that a woman will not if she's misusing her submissiveness. Oh, my wife is too submissive. It's really tearing me up. That doesn't often happen. So it's not an insult to women any more than it's an insult to say that a bone china teapot is more vulnerable than a sledgehammer. Of course it is. Each one is useful for its particular purpose. Don't drop a sledgehammer on the table when your guests come to visit, trust me. And if you want to knock out a brick wall, don't grab the teapot. The sledgehammer is the thing for that. You want to write that down in case you have any brick walls. What was it the pastor said to use to take out the brick wall? Honey, get the teapot. It was the sledgehammer. Oh, we'd like to provide helpful home care tips here. Something that is weak will break if it's used improperly. And so a wife whose submissive status is abused will inevitably be damaged. The irony here is that the more that she obeys God in her own role, the more vulnerable she becomes. This is why, ladies, it is of the utmost importance to choose a marriage partner carefully. How many women have decided, Christian women have decided that prospects being limited, they'll just marry an unbeliever. And he's perhaps a nominal Christian, maybe he'll go to church sometimes. He's enough to call himself a Christian and he'll do. And yet the more you follow God, the more you're united to God. the more vulnerable you become and the more inevitably an unbeliever will exploit that. Now this is written into the story of redemption. You should see this. I think you do. The Son of God became obedient to the point of death even death on a cross. As he obeyed the Father, Jesus himself became more and more vulnerable to suffer at the hands of the very men that he himself created. So it's always a Christian ethic to elevate the weak. Think of Paul's instructions to the Corinthians. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. He says, don't be a stumbling block to the weak. Don't destroy a weak conscience. He asks, who is weak and I am not weak? He says, help the weak. He tells the Thessalonians, don't despise the weak person. He tells the Romans that they should elevate and be aware and defend the weak in their conscience. What does one do with the weak in a marriage? Look at what we read from Song of Songs. What does the bridegroom do to his bride? He honors her. He praises her. He exalts her. She, in the position of the utmost vulnerability, receives the utmost praise. He honors her. It is the poor beggar, weak in every way, who enters into the joy of the Lord, says Jesus. It is the powerful rich man who dines now and suffers later. So the Christian regards the poor with special care. He regards the vulnerable with particular regard. The Bible points out to us widows and orphans for our peculiar attention. And when a man becomes truly thoughtful to the woman to whom he has pledged his life, he sees that she has willingly made herself vulnerable, that she is seeking to be submissive because she loves the Lord Jesus. He should say to himself, she's made herself delicate, vulnerable. She's put herself in a place to be easily broken for the sake of Christ. I must treat her carefully. I must be gentle. I must learn and understand so as to cherish this gift. That begins with honor. That begins with demonstrating care, doing things so that she doesn't have to do them. It unequivocally means that there's no physical abuse. I don't have any particular reason to mention this. I'm not aware of it here, but unfortunately, in today's day and age, it needs to be said that physical abuse, of course, in a marriage has absolutely no position or place. Likewise, with verbal abuse, there should be no insults, no violence in words. It's amazing to me. Sometimes men will say, well, I just I lost my temper. I lost my cool. It's amazing to me how many people can maintain their cool when they really actually want to. When I was in boot camp, There was a guy in with us, and he couldn't stop swearing, and it was worse because he had a Boston accent, and swears in Boston accents sound three times as bad as, like, Southern swears. He just cursed all the time. Anytime you're having a conversation with him, and finally I asked him, I said, I'm not a prude, man, but you swear all the time. Is there any way you could just, it's just so ugly. Is there any way you could kind of back off from that? He's like, no, dude, I can't help it. Man, it's just how I talk. And that's not really what he said. I'm not going to say that. This is church. But I said, you know, every time the company commanders come around, you seem to control it just fine. I've never heard you swear to them. He's like, yeah, well, dude, that's different. Yeah, I know. The problem isn't that you can't. control your temper, the problem is that you don't want to. If I took you before a judge, I guarantee you would not lose your cool. Everybody has a remarkable composure in court. Why is that? Because they honor the judge, because they recognize the power that he has over them. So it's not a problem of ability. It's a problem of honor. Even critical words. I understand sometimes in a marriage, critical words have to come out. Sometimes you have to correct your wife. You have to say, listen, we've been doing this, or I saw this. That's not really going to work. But think about how you correct someone for whom you have no regard. Someone in the parking lot. Hey, get out of my, didn't you see me? I'm here. I had my blinker on. Get out of my spot. versus talking to your boss, perhaps, or someone in some kind of authority over you. You say, listen, you know, I had, I saw we were doing it like this, you know, all of a sudden there's a gentleness that comes out. You're able to actually do that. It's a matter of honor. So, two commands and now one reason, very briefly, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life. Again, going against every standard in the ancient world, Peter says, your wives are equal with you before God. As I mentioned before, the Romans considered women to be far inferior to men, although there were indications that they thought that a marital relationship should be loving and tender. But in both practice and account, women generally maintained a far lower position in society than men did. There's a Jewish prayer in the Mishnah that begins, Lord, I thank you that I am not a woman. Among the Jews, to be a woman was also considered inferior. I would suggest this is a vast departing from their own scriptures as well, but that's what happens when you've got a lot of Mishnah and not a lot of Torah. Thank you. And yet here is Peter writing to the husbands last after he's honored the slaves with an address from the great apostle, after he's honored the wives with great instruction from the apostle, and now he reminds the husbands, they are joint heirs with you in the grace of life. There are two schools of thought in the evangelical world regarding women in the church. There's what we call the egalitarian school, and that is the idea that reading the Bible that women can be elders, women can be pastors, that there's a complete equanimity in all ways between women and men. What we believe and teach here is what's called complementarianism. It's a big word, but it simply means that women and men have complementary roles, roles that work together. but that they are not equal in the sense of their roles, that we don't all do the same thing, that one leads, one submits. This is true in both the home and church. And yet no one is claiming that there is any inherent inferiority to women. This is based on our doctrine of the Trinity. The Son Himself is equal with the Father. He is no less God than God the Father or God the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is not inferior in the sense of His Godship, and yet the Son submits Himself to the Father. Does that diminish His Sonship? Not at all. Does that diminish His Godness? Not in the least, he willingly submits himself to the will of the Father, and then he sends the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit goes at the Son's command. Does that mean the Holy Spirit is less God than God the Father? In no way. This has been established for many hundreds and hundreds of years now. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all equally God. The Son submits to the Father, the Holy Spirit sent by the Son. In the words of the Nicene Creed, proceeding from the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit. And so your wives are not inferior. A wife is not inferior. She's not less of a Christian. She's not less regarded by God. She is equal in all ways, in her salvation, in her prayer, in her sonship before God, because sons receive the inheritance of their fathers. she has a different role. And finally, one word of discipline. So that your prayers may not be hindered. This is hard for us to understand because we often don't think that God actually disciplines. We think that God doesn't actually bring his people to heal. It's not often taught or preached in the evangelical world, but you will find it everywhere in Scripture. And here Peter gives us one particular means by which God disciplines. He hinders prayer. So how can your prayer be hindered? Two ways come to mind in particular. The first I put on the front page of your bulletin. For God cannot be rightly called upon unless our minds be calm and peaceable. A very natural effect, when there is discord in a house, in a family, it becomes difficult to open our lips to God because there is so much discord. When there's chaos in a home, it becomes almost impossible to then address God with peace, with a clear mind. And so when a husband is not understanding towards his wife, what happens? When he's not thoughtful, it creates discord. It tends to gloss over. Husbands tend to get hardened in their hearts. When they're not being thoughtful, they're just plowing over their wives, and they tend to plow over a lot of other things in their lives as well, namely their own sin. When honor is not showed, When you can't show honor to the person that you live with, how can you show it to anyone else? This fundamental Christian ethic, what Peter is saying is, when fundamental Christian ethics are not pursued, how can you go to God in prayer? Those are hindered. But there's another way also, which we read in Psalm 21, which was our Psalm reading today. And if you were to turn to the last portion there, found on page 10, Your right hand will find out all your enemies. Your right hand will find out those who hate you. You will make them appear as a blazing oven when you appear. The Lord will swallow them up in His wrath, and fire will consume them." How can your prayers be hindered? Well, just as with children. Should you lead a little child astray, it would be better for you to find a big rock tie it around your neck, go out to the middle of the 205 bridge and chuck it off into the Columbia and follow behind it on a short chain. Far better the penalty for that than to lead children astray. Well, in the same way, God defends the weak if we do not. And should husbands take advantage of their wives, God outlines for us that He will not hear their prayers. that he himself will turn his face against an abusive or cruel husband." Think about David. What is the death penalty? I'm sorry, it's the death penalty. I just gave it away. It's the death penalty that is the penalty for murder and adultery. And yet in his sin with Bathsheba in which he committed murder of Uriah and he committed adultery with Bathsheba. impregnating her with the boy who would grow to be Solomon, I'm sorry, later with the boy who would grow to be Solomon, his first son, though, dying, and three other sons with him. Why didn't David just face the death penalty? Why wasn't David, why wasn't King David executed like the law says? Well, it's because David was the king. There was no one else who could enforce the law against him. Who would put the king to death? David's job was to be the chief law enforcement officer within Israel. And if his priests failed, if all of his judges failed to do their job, it was David who would have to bear the sword on the part of God. That was his job as king. But who could pass judgment on the king? They didn't have a parliament. They didn't have a divided government. Congress couldn't recall him. There was no one to do that. And so God asked him through the parable with Nathan in the story with the little lamb, what should happen to this man, this man who stole, the rich man who stole the little lamb of the poor man who cherished it? And David says, he should be required to repay fourfold. And then Nathan says, you are the man. And what happens to David? Four of his sons died beginning with the baby and following through Absalom and so on. No one could enforce the law against David except for God. As husbands it should fill us with fear. because there is no one else who is going to enforce this in your own home. It's true in an abject case of abuse or abandonment, either the civil authorities or the church or both could step in and bring a degree of discipline on those husbands. But in normal cases, this normal disregard, the thoughtlessness that can occur in homes, no one's going to see that except for the family. But don't think that it ever escapes the view of God. Your prayers will be hindered and God himself will set his face against you. And so, men, if you're seeing something that's wrong in your own homes, in your own lives, endeavor today to fix what is wrong. Consider that, go and apologize, repent to your family and repent to God and do whatever it takes to set it right. Get the accountability that you need. Ask for help. Come to your pastor, your elders and say, you know what? This has not gone well and I need help to be a better husband. If for nothing else, then you fear God. If you're noticing your prayer has been hindered. My life of prayer has been so poor. Does it have something to do with this? It might not, but it may. And finally, understand that honoring those who are weaker than you, to give away of yourself, to use your authority for the benefit of others, that makes no sense outside of Jesus Christ. It is only in Christ that you can see what it truly means to have power and to set it aside. It's only in Christ that you can know what it means to have strength and to use that strength for the benefit of others. And so above all, as you endeavor to fix anything that might be wrong in your own home, will you go to Christ? Will you rely on Him so that you might honor your wives? Will you rely on Him so that you could be thoughtful and understanding. He has the ability to reform and change, and he will do it. Amen. Holy Father, we ask that in your mercy to us, you would make this a church and make us a people who value this most fundamental relationship, the one on which all of society is built, a healthy home. We understand that not all here, Lord, belong to that, to a home like that. Not all here are even married or live with families. But for all, Father, we pray that we would understand who you are through this text, that you are a God who protects and defends the weak. You are a God who brings down judgment. You are a God who disciplines those whom you love. We pray that we would be quick to repent. You would grant us real love. You would grant us your kind discipline and that we would be quick to turn to new life, which we find in Jesus Christ. We pray this in his name. Amen. Please turn in your hymnal and stand, please.