Please turn to page 1371 of the Bible's in the Seats. We're gonna be reading Luke 13, verses one through nine. We're sort of in the same theme as what we had been talking about with judgment, because last week, Jesus chastised the crowds for their unwillingness to see the signs of the times and called them to prepare for judgment. And this week he calls all men to repent and bear fruit again for the idea of coming judgment. So we're going to read the first nine verses of chapter 13. Now on the same occasion, there were some present who reported to him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those 18 on whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. And he began telling them this parable. A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. And he said to the vineyard keeper, behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down. Why does it even use up the ground? And he answered and said to him, let it alone, sir, for this year, too, until I dig around it and I put in fertilizer. And if it bears fruit next year, fine. But if not, cut it down. Let's pray. Father, it is with joy and gratitude that we receive the teachings of your son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Give us insight into his warnings and parable in this text, and help us to analyze the depth of our repentance and the fruits thereof. Make us receptive to the truth found in these scriptures, Lord. Bless our gathering with your presence. May it be glorifying to you, faithful to the text, and helpful for your people. Send your spirit to work in us now, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. So like I said, Jesus continues to prepare his audiences for judgment to come. And he's instructing them what to do. Exactly. And maybe you've noticed this when we've been at Luke. Jesus doesn't... get super complex in his lessons. He gives pretty simple lessons, such as today. He doesn't really give details about how these things happen necessarily, or how to do them necessarily. He just tells them what needs to happen. This is what you need to do, that sort of thing. And we, because we have the epistles, can then expound on those very simple teachings because we have his explanation from the apostles by his spirit. So we are going to do that. We're going to expound a bit today on the simple instruction from Jesus to repent and bear fruit. The interaction at the beginning of this chapter was actually started not by Jesus, but it was started by some in the crowd. They come and they report to him this heinous event perpetrated by Pilate. Apparently, some Galileans had come down to offer sacrifices, and for some reason, Pilate had them put to death, and then he mixed their blood in with the sacrifices. That seems to be the case. Something along those lines happened. And we don't really know anything else about it other than what is said here. But it is in line with Pilate's character, if you know much about him. And we do have similar events recorded by the first century historian Josephus. He was a Jewish historian. He has similar events that Pilate did. And this act perpetrated against the Jews by a pagan Roman ruler, of course, would have been intentionally inflammatory and offensive. He's sort of mocking their sacrifice, almost. And we're not real sure why they brought this up to Jesus. The crowd brings it up to him. We don't really know why. Maybe they were wanting him to talk about how this group of Galileans, well, they were particularly bad, and they really had it coming to them. They got what they deserved. Or maybe they were expecting him to react because the people that were killed by Pilate were Galileans, his home region. He was from Nazareth of Galilee, right? And maybe they were hoping to spark some kind of rant from him about the wickedness of the Roman rulers and how the Jews must rise up and overthrow them, some sort of zealous rebellion against the Romans because of this great offense that he would take at these Galileans. We're not real sure. But whatever the case may be, Jesus took the opportunity to teach a lesson on the universal sinfulness of mankind, which makes you kind of think that their motive was probably something along the lines of, these Galileans must have been pretty bad. Or maybe both, I don't know. The popular conception of the day, though, in their day, was to interpret disasters of that nature as sort of like cosmic justice for personal sin. Sort of like a mystical understanding of life today. It was basically the idea of karma. The sort of the new age idea of like whatever you get is what you had coming to you. You get what you deserve. The universe pays back what you deserve. I mean, they would put God into it, but they had this sort of idea of a cosmic justice. Think about Job. Think about what his friends said to him, how they responded to his misfortune. They could not conceive of him being singled out for such bitter providence unless he had been harboring some secret sin that brought it on himself. Essentially, if bad stuff is happening to you, Job, then you must have been committing some serious sin. Otherwise, this wouldn't happen. Eliphaz asked Job rhetorically. In chapter 4, verse 7, he said, remember now, whoever perished being innocent. Basically, look Job, if this is happening to you, then obviously you're guilty of something. You deserve this. So what is it? Come on, out with it, Job. What is it that you really were doing? Show your true character because you're not getting this unless you deserve this. Now there is an element of reality where you do in fact bear natural consequences to the types of sins you participate in. Sort of like if you take up the sword, you're going to die by the sword. Like the sort of the lifestyle that you lead is going to be the lifestyle that you experience. There is some truth to that, but that's not what Jesus is getting at here. He wants to confront this idea of karma, that you only get what you deserve. So he brings up his own example that they didn't mention. They mentioned these Galileans, but then he brings up his own example and This is some sort of tragic tower event. It sounds like a tower collapsed. The Tower of Siloam, we don't know a ton about it. Again, we don't have these details other than what's recorded here. But Christ's example is a little bit different. There's not an agent. There's not an acting agent with intent to kill. This is a tragedy of contingency, a coincidence of fate, we might say it that way. Now, we don't believe in blind fate. We're just saying there's not an agent acting that tried to kill these 18. Somebody didn't knock over this tower. It collapsed and killed these 18 people. And both of these two situations raise the same question. And that is, were these people that suffered these tragedies, were these people facing judgment for their actions? Did they befall those fates due to their egregious sin? That's the question that's raised by these. And Jesus does not leave it unanswered. He says, no, these Galileans were no worse. And the 18 crushed when the tower fell were no worse than the men that live in Jerusalem. And then he tells the crowds, you too will likewise perish if you do not repent. So as much as he was dispelling the idea of the innocent not being able to suffer, because he's saying, yes, innocent people will suffer in that sense, he's likewise dispelling the idea that there are innocent people. Pay attention to that. He doesn't say those that suffered those awful fates were innocent. He actually says everyone else is just as guilty. The men in Jerusalem are just as guilty. The other men of Galilee are just as guilty as the Galileans that were massacred. Just because someone does not experience some horrible event does not mean that they are innocent. I mean, we read that throughout the Psalms where David is praying and he's always like, how long are these evil men gonna continue to prosper? He sees it, evil men can prosper. Just because they're not befalling some awful fate in this life yet doesn't mean they are innocent. No one should think that tragedies only befall the worst sinners. That's providence that we do not get to interpret. I always think of like when natural disasters happen, Hurricane Katrina. Oh, well, this is because the New Orleans is particularly sinful. It's like, no, we don't have the right to interpret providence in that way. We don't get to say things like, well, God's doing this because they're the worst. No, we don't get that sort of insight into his provenance. And even more importantly, no one should think that they will escape eventual tragedy unless they first repent. And I don't mean by that that, well, every believer is going to experience some sort of gruesome death. some horrible car accident, or a PTO shaft accident, or get hit by a train, no, we're not talking about that. But clearly, the eventual perishing that Jesus is warning about is the eschatological judgment, the end times judgment that everybody is gonna face after any sort of death. They might die peacefully in their sleep, but they're gonna eternally perish if they do not repent. They will likewise perish. So he's telling them how to avoid that. He's urging them to repent so as to avoid that fate. You know what this episode really reminds me of? I'm confident most of you have seen this famous Paul Washer clip where he's talking to this large audience. I think it's mostly youth. And he's talking about American Christianity, saying how it's actually more based on a godless culture rather than the word of God. And he goes on to describe how so many in the church today even are deceived into thinking that they're Christians because their sin and their culture It's just like other supposed believers. It's kind of how they comfort themselves. Like, my Christianity doesn't look that much different than people around me. And then he goes on to say how true Christianity is not to be like the world, but instead to be like Jesus Christ. And as he's describing this, the crowd starts clapping and they start cheering, amening. And when it dies down, he literally, he points right at them and he says, I don't know why you're clapping. I'm talking about you. And it just falls dead silent. This entire auditorium just immediately silent. And then he says, I didn't come here to get amens. I didn't come here to get applauded. I'm talking about you. I know pretty much every reformed person has seen that clip. If you haven't, please Google it when you get home. And I don't rehash that moment to praise Paul Washer or to turn this text on you, like I'm talking about you. You need to repent. I mean, if you're an unbeliever, yes, obviously. But that's not what I'm trying to say. He was speaking to an audience of youth that very much needed to hear that. And I think he was guided by the spirit to say what he did, the way that he did. because he sounded very much like Christ sounds in verses one through six. It's that type of moment, I believe. The crowd's bringing him this news, they're expecting a sort of rah-rah reaction from Jesus, like, yeah, let's talk about this event, and they're almost like, they're on the same side, but Jesus says, yeah, that sounds pretty bad, but that's exactly what you can expect unless you repent. He's talking about them. He didn't come to get amens and applause. He came to tell them the truth, that judgment is coming and they will face absolute tragedy unless they repent. He tells them bad news. But then he also gives them the solution, repentance. So, if repentance is the escape of a tragic death sentence, then we better know what it is. And we need to know how it's real, how to know when repentance is real. And that's what his parable teaches in verses six through nine. He tells the story of a man with a vineyard, with a fig tree in the vineyard, and for three consecutive years, he has come to find it, to get the fruit, and there's no fruit on it. So he finally says, all right, that's it, cut it down. It's taken up space, it's depleting the soil of nutrients, but it's not producing anything, so cut it down. But the vineyard keeper suggests giving it one more chance, this brief window of time, one more chance while he helps its roots, kinds of digs around it, fertilizes it, gives it every chance it can get to bear some fruit. But if after that it still does not bear fruit and he says, yes, I agree, we'll cut it down. It's got one more year. And he doesn't give an outcome to the parable. He doesn't say, well, this is what happened to the fig tree. He just presents it. He uses it to set the parameters. There is a period of grace. There's a period of privilege, even, after which, if no fruit is produced, judgment will come. This parable shows the patience of God in bearing with fruitless fig trees. And it shows the need for genuine repentance. Repentance that actually bears fruit. As we read back in Luke 3.8. It's also Matthew 3.8. It's an easy way to remember this. Matthew 3.8 and Luke 3.8 say the same thing. It's John the Baptist telling the crowds to bear fruits in keeping with repentance. Because that's what real repentance does. Real repentance bears fruit. Also, as you can tell from this parable, the opportunity to repent and bear fruit will not last forever. We know that God could bring justice at any time. We can either die or Christ will return at any moment. At which point, this opportunity for repentance, this period of spiritual privilege is going to be gone forever. And this both applies on an individual level and on a corporate level. Because while the principles taught here clearly apply to us as individuals, this fig tree and Christ's warning were likely primarily geared towards Israel. Israel as a whole, as a nation. He's gearing them towards them. Because fig trees were frequently representative of Israel in the New Testament. And Jesus had been doing ministry for a few years, right? Sort of like that man with the vineyard. He's coming to see the fruit on his fig tree. There's nothing there. He's been doing ministry for years. And they still have not borne fruit. They haven't recognized him as the Messiah, in large part. That doesn't mean there's no Jews that have been saved. But in large part, as a nation, they have not turned towards their Messiah. He's found no fruit on the trees. He had come to Israel and he had found them largely fruitless in spite of their ongoing position of spiritual privilege, right? They were placed in the promised land. They were taken out of it and then even returned to the promised land as we read in Ezekiel 36. He's going to return them to the promised land and reestablish them as a nation. He did that. They're separated from other nations. They were in the privileged vineyard of the Lord, if you will. They received revelation, they had the law and the prophets, and it is reasonable for Jesus to expect Israel to be a place of true religious worship and godliness. They were to be a light to the nations. They were supposed to, everyone should have looked at Israel and seen this blessed nation that follows Yahweh. So when he comes, he comes looking for fruit. And yet he continually finds very little. Israel on a corporate level has not repented. They have not followed the Messiah. They are a fruitless fig tree. And we know from history that the threat that is made in verses one through six, they will likewise perish if they do not repent. That threat and the threat in verses six through nine, the fig tree getting cut down, both of those came true. We know that for a fact. In April of 70 AD, Emperor Vespasian sent his general Titus to besiege Jerusalem during the Passover, intentionally during the Passover, while the city was full of pilgrims. They besieged it. They refused to let anybody out. And then that made it overcrowded. It strategically depleted the water and food supplies more quickly than it normally would. And in August, that same year, they breached the last of Jerusalem's defenses, and they massacred, massacred, the remaining population. They destroyed the city and they burnt down the temple, utterly destroyed it. There are accounts about how the gold, I think I've mentioned this before, the gold within the temple melted in the intense heat of the fires and the gold melted and ran between the stones, after which the Roman soldiers overturned even the remains to get at that melted gold, not leaving one stone left upon another, just the way Jesus said. We'll probably get to this eventually, but he warned He warned his followers, when you see this nation surrounded, flee to the foothills. It's coming. He told them this was coming. There's not going to be one stone left upon another. It happened, literally. All these warnings came true. So the threat. that the Jewish people will likewise perish if they do not repent certainly came true. And they were cut off, cut down as a nation, as a people. They were removed from God's vineyard after years, years of rejecting the gospel that had been going out for over three decades at that point by 70 AD preceding these tragic events. Jesus dies somewhere in the early to mid-30s. He's resurrected. The gospel goes out. The church is planted for several decades. They had this point of spiritual privilege. They were there to witness the resurrection. He appeared to many. The church is sitting right there, starting right amongst them. They're being fertilized. The roots are being dug up and aerated, and they get this fertilization, and they don't do it. And the warning comes true. The threat comes true, and they are cut off. They are no longer the people of God. And the temptation for us is to think, those foolish Jews, they sure got what was coming to them. They had all kinds of privilege from God, and they still rejected their Messiah, and they persecuted the church, us, they made us suffer, our people. They got what was coming to them. Which yes, in a sense is true. But do we think we're better than them? Think we're better than Israel? Do we think that we will not be uprooted ourselves as if they're greater sinners than the rest of us? Because I tell you, unless we all repent, we will all likewise perish. The churches today that are not repenting will have their lampstands removed because they are following the way of the world and not the word of God. They're going to be like Israel. They're going to be cut down. They're not bearing fruit. They're not preaching the gospel. People are not being saved. They're not pointing people to Christ. They're not standing against the world. And God is not gonna put up with that. It does not do glory to his name. What's he saying in Ezekiel when he talks about bringing them together as a people of God and cleansing them? He says, it's not for your sake, it's for the sake of the holiness of my name. He's not gonna put his name on a people that don't bear fruit and live like he says to live. He doesn't put up with that. He'll bear with us fruitless fig trees. He's patient. But he will not bear with it forever. And he has warned us. And no one has an excuse. We know. So we know we cannot keep from being uprooted unless we repent. We will all likewise perish. We do not want to be like the people in the opening verses of this chapter that are all too ready to interpret that providence of 70 AD, this bitter providence experienced by Israel, as if they were worse and they deserved it more than we would. If we did something, we can do that same thing. We too have experienced years of spiritual privilege. As J.C. Ryle wisely said, where God gives spiritual privilege, he expects proportionate returns. A fig tree that is fertilized and in his vineyard getting taken care of ought to be bearing proportionate fruit. And all of us have been fertilized with the word. We've been raised in homes and churches saturated with the gospel. Who among us does not have immediate, easy access to the word of God? Do we have Roman pagan rulers bearing down our throats, threatening us, where if we're coming to church we might be murdered and have our blood spread out on the table of the Lord? No. We have immense spiritual privilege in the vineyard of the Lord. How many of us have not known since our youth the doctrines of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. So Paul tells the Corinthians, the doctrines of first importance, we know those. We know the commandment, the first and second commandment that we read every single Sunday, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, to love your neighbor as yourself. Who hasn't known that since your youth? We know not to believe in karma. That's basically You get what you deserve. We know that's not true. We know the gospel where Jesus got what we deserved. We are very spiritually privileged. We are very fertilized. Yes, we can look at first century Israel as foolish for denying Christ, but we best be bearing fruit and keeping with repentance lest we likewise perish. Let's honestly assess our lives to be sure that we are repenting continually and bearing the fruit that matches our proclamation of faith in Jesus Christ. And as long as we're here on this subject, and as long as we're here being called to repent and keep repenting, Let's close with a quick overview of biblical repentance. So we can be sure that we know what we're doing and that we can see it and know that it's real. We wanna be sure we know true repentance from mere empty words that sound like repentance. We get that sometimes, we hear people. We've sat in that room right back there and heard people supposedly repent and then go home and do nothing different. So we wanna be sure, what is genuine biblical repentance? And pay attention kids, you are in a point of spiritual privilege. You are being raised in the church and you have parents that are bringing you to church and you hear the gospel and my kids specifically, you're getting catechized tonight and you're gonna be asked, what does biblical repentance really look like? What are the identifying marks? It's a pop quiz that you're being warned about, so not a pop quiz at all, but it's gonna happen. All of you, kids pay attention too. Repentance begins with knowledge of sin. You have to know what you're repenting of. It's knowledge of sin. I'm a sinner. I've sinned against the great and holy God. I know that. Then comes sorrow for sin, a genuine regret that you've committed it and remorse for having done so. What's it say in Ezekiel when it talks about it? He will cause them to loathe their sinfulness, to hate it. And what do we do when we recognize that we confess that sin? We confess that we are sinners, literally saying sorry to God primarily, and then yes, to man as needed as well. You make restitution to man if you've hurt someone or something along those lines. But primarily, you repent to God. You have offended him, broken his law. And then, As that recognition has taken place, the knowledge of sin, the remorse and the regret and the confession, then you turn away from that sin. You leave it behind. You start leading a lifestyle that reflects a growing hatred of sin, that loathsomeness for that sin. You lead a life that reflects that. And you replace that sin in your life with a pursuit of Christ and good works. So you don't just turn away from something to nothing. away from sin and toward Christ. Literally, change and going out in the opposite direction. Repentance is a change. That's what real repentance looks like. It can be faked for brief periods, but that process repeats. For believers, with a deepening sincerity for our entire lives, we continually do it over and over. It's not the mere repentance of attrition. There is a repentance of attrition where you're sorry that you're going to face the consequences of your sins. You can see someone get arrested, and they break down and they cry. Well, they're not sorry that they did the thing, broke the law. They're sorry they got caught. This is how Esau repented with tears because of what he lost. He gave up his birthright, and he, well, I want to be blessed too, Father. He repented with tears. He's facing the consequences of his sins. He has sorrow. He's going to suffer. He doesn't have sorrow that he did something really, really stupid and rejected his birthright. That's a repentance of attrition. It's the kind of sorrow that comes from getting caught. It is a fear of punishment. It's being anguished over potentially losing your job, or losing your home, or your wife, or your kids, your family. Going to jail, dying. Some sins result in death. Whatever the natural consequences may be for our sins, when you're sorry that you're just gonna face those consequences, that's a repentance of attrition, and it does not please the Lord. But true repentance is repentance of contrition, which is genuine heartbroken sorrow that you ever committed such offenses against God. It is coupled with a desire for holiness to serve God out of gratitude as our hearts are molded by his spirit to despise the sins that we willfully committed. That sort of repentance is a gift of God. It is a gift of God. It is a product of God's grace to us. And that order is important. Grace comes, and from that comes repentance. Grace precedes faith and repentance. And some may object, well, how is that a gift? How can you say that's a gift? We're the ones repenting. How can something that we do be given to us? And the reason is, it is because it is produced through regeneration. It is granted by God's favor on us. He says in 2 Timothy 2, the Lord's bond servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness, correcting those who are in opposition. So that's, you have to be wise and good at correcting unbelievers and false. And he says, if perhaps God may grant them repentance. leading to the knowledge of the truth. Not perhaps they might come to their senses and realize it in and of themselves and convince themselves of the knowledge of the truth. No, God may grant them repentance. If a father gives his son a car and then the son drives that car, It doesn't make any sense to question how that car could have been a gift just because the son is the one that's driving it. What do you mean that car is a gift? You're the one driving it. You must have gotten that car. No. The father gave it to the son. The son gets to use it. It's a gift. That's what he does with repentance. He gives us a change of heart and we get to do that. We get to use that change of heart and it produces repentance. Biblical repentance is a change of heart. And that change does not come from the heart itself. We don't muster it up within ourselves. It is an effect upon the heart. It comes from outside of the heart to change it. It is regeneration that produces repentance and faith. We are saved first. Scripture describes it it is a removing of a heart of stone and replacing it with a heart of flesh and we read it in Ezekiel 36 where he's promising in the New Covenant Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh a changing of heart he's gonna do that and what's he say that he's gonna do that for so that you'll live a according to his ways so that you'll repent and be a different person. And what's the reason that he says that? For the sake of the holiness of his name. He's not gonna have a people bearing his name that don't live like they love the Lord. So he says, for the sake of my name, I will take a people, I will change them to be my people and act like my people. But the reason that happens is because of the grace that he gives. He will change the heart, and then He will produce those works in us. That's sometimes referred to as conversion. We say we've been converted, changed from one thing to another. Regeneration is the actual change itself, and repentance is the visible aspect of that change. Because you can't see regeneration. You can't see through our chest and see that a heart is different. Not that it's a literal heart, but you know what I mean. You can't see inward spiritual change, literally. You can't even see faith. You can hear it professed, but you can't see faith. but you can see the difference in the person. Repentance, repentance is visible in our lives. It's visible to the world. It's visible in the church. We see it. We see people changed. So this text is not teaching that we are saved by our work of repenting. It's not teaching that repentance itself saves us. It's teaching that genuine repentance is accompanied by works. Genuine repentance bears fruit. And fruitful trees are a description of the ones that do not get cut down. Some claim that we're adding works to salvation when we say that it's necessary that we repent. We're saying, oh, well, therefore, salvation's not by faith alone, it's by faith plus repenting, your work. But they don't understand the type of necessity that we're talking about, because we do say it's necessary to repent. Repentance is a necessary result of being saved, just as thunder is necessarily produced by lightning. And heat is necessarily produced by fire. It's a necessary product. It doesn't make fire fire. Thunder doesn't cause lightning. It's not necessary for lightning to be lightning, but it's a necessary cause. It's just like speaking of the necessity of faith. Faith comes from regeneration as well, but it's produced in us. It is a gift. It is a necessary product. And saying that repentance is necessary has no impact on the fundamental doctrine of justification by faith alone. Faith is the means by which Christ's righteousness is imputed to us. And we're not denying that. But repentance is a means by which we are sanctified. It displays it. It's how we are conformed to the image of his son, by being changed. You get closer and act more and more like Christ. As you turn from sin and toward him and pursue him, you're getting more and more like him. And both of those, faith and repentance, both of those are fruits of the spirit, results of grace, results of having been saved. In the fourth century, Augustine famously prayed this prayer. He said, oh Lord, command what you will and give what you command. He commanded faith and repentance. And Augustine is rightly recognizing a prayer. Give me that thing that you command. Give me the faith and repentance. And that prayer is what so offended the arch heretic Pelagius. He hated that idea of faith and repentance being gifts of God. He insisted that men were capable of both faith and repentance. And as a result of those self-accomplished works, ultimately, then they would receive God's grace. As in, every man is capable of faith and repentance, and if they do that, God will give you grace. And to that we say, no. No. Faith and repentance are a result of God's grace already having been extended. It is what saved people do. That's how we identify who has been saved. The called out ones, the ones that come out of their sin and darkness and to the light and follow Christ. That's how we recognize them. We believe and we repent, not to get saved, but because we are saved. God's grace comes first, and he extended it for the sake of his glory, for the holiness of his name, not for our sake. Although we clearly benefit, it is for his glory. Our fruit only comes as a consequence. Our fruit is both subsequent to and a direct result of God's grace. So we can read a text that implores us to act It implores us to do something, and we are still turned to the worship of the one true God when those actions have been undertaken. We don't look around and be like, here is a gathering of the ones that have said they believe and they have repented. Look at us. We're the good ones. That's not what we're saying. We're still turned to worship, even though all of us, most of us here, I believe, have done those things. Because if we had done them, if we have done them, and if we are continuing to do them, if our repentance is like what we described a moment ago, then the God who created the universe has set his immutable love upon us, and we will be his possession forever. So I hope you are rejoicing, because I'm talking about you. Amen and amen. Let's pray. Lord God, grant to everyone here repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth. If there are any here among us that don't believe or any here listening, grant them repentance. If we have already been regenerated as many here have been, Lord, then we ask for a deepening of our repentance, for the fruit to be born in our lives in keeping with repentance. Continue to convert us. So that the changes you work in our heart will be evident in our life. So our joy will be obvious to everyone. Make our Christ-likeness obvious and visible to the world. And do not let us see other sinners as worse than ourselves. I pray that we would never look at others as more worthy of judgment than ourselves. Keep us aware of our own personal need for mercy. We thank you for your gift of grace that resulted in faith and repentance in our lives. We thank you for our place of spiritual privilege, of getting to hear and know the gospel, having the word of God and access to that in our lives. We thank you for these gifts that we get to use, we get to practice and exercise. We take credit for none of the good in our lives, Lord. We instead give you all thanks and all praise for any Christ-likeness that is wrought in us. increase such blessings. All the more we pray these in the name of Jesus Christ, our patient vine keeper. Amen.