We'll turn, if you will, to the book of Revelation. This morning, Revelation chapter three. I'm going to read their verses 14 through 22. This is the message to the church in Laodicea. If you'd like to use the Pew Bible, you should be able to find that on page 1030. Let's stand for this reading of God's holy word. Revelation chapter three, beginning at verse 14. This is God's word. And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write, the words of the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say I am rich, I prospered and I need nothing. Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love I reprove and discipline so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." As far as the reading of God's word, you can be seated. Well, if you haven't been with us in our evening services as of late, then this text and this sermon might seem as though it's dropped out of nowhere, but it's not. We've been considering in those evening services the seven addresses in Revelation chapters two and three, the seven letters to the churches. In Revelation, and as I said at the beginning of the service and the announcement, we won't meet for evening worship tonight, nor for the remainder of the year, with that exception of Christmas Eve. We were finished with evening services for a couple of months, and yet we had one church left in that series, so we had to finish it somewhere. And as we just finished a series in the morning in Hebrews, it's very rare that we come to the end of two series simultaneously. It seemed like a good place to fit this in and to go ahead and finish our series in the churches of Revelation. As far as those churches go, there are seven of them. They are addresses, these letters are in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. from the Lord Jesus Christ, the king and head of the church, to seven real churches in Asia Minor, which is modern-day Turkey. The first letter is addressed to the church in Ephesus, the church that we know the most about from scripture. Ephesus was a port city on the Mediterranean Sea. What follows is an order. that a courier, a delivery person, a mailman of sorts would have taken those letters from Ephesus and then would have taken the route up to Smyrna and over to Pergamum and down to Thyatira and Sardis in Philadelphia until eventually you get to the last city which is Laodicea. That's where we've come to this morning, the letter to the church in Laodicea. In these letters, the Lord Jesus reveals himself to his church with a self-description. He does that here in verse 14. He does it in all. It's the same pattern that we find in all the letters. He reveals himself through this self-revelation, self-description. He is telling them who he is in that. And then he proceeds to tell them what he knows. I know your works. The Lord knows all things about his church. He knows their situation, their circumstances. He knows what they have done. Usually, well, I shouldn't say usually, in many of the letters, he provides a commendation. There is something good to be said and he does that even if he has to follow that with a rebuke. In five of the seven letters, he does have something against the church that he calls them out for a reproof or a rebuke for them. And then there is a call to repentance and that call to repentance is followed with a promise of what will come to those who repent or who continue in faithfulness. The term that he uses over and over is conquer, to the one who conquers, following him as the true and mighty conqueror, the one who overcomes. They are promised blessing and then it finally closes with this statement, let him hear, the one who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit is saying to the churches. That's the basic structure that we find in these letters. It's the word of Christ, which is the word of the Holy Spirit speaking to his church and the churches, those churches in Asia Minor in the first century, as well as all churches. We should desire to hear what Christ, the Lord, the King, the Head has to say, what the Spirit has to say to the church. We should desire to hear that and to take heed so that we receive the blessing that is promised. We are not the church in Laodicea and neither are we the church in Ephesus or any of the other churches. These letters were addressed specifically to them. And yet as we hear what the Spirit says to the church, we can say this as well, can't we? That if the shoe fits, we need to wear it. If the Lord, by his word and spirit, is speaking to this church, through by speaking to those churches with an extended application to us. And we find ourselves needing to repent or needing to encouragement to continue, as he writes, to those who are persecuted. And we need to hear and heed what the Lord is saying. Well, what we find here this morning in the church to Laodicea is an address to a lukewarm church. We find here what a lukewarm church is and what a lukewarm church must do. And what we'll see this morning as we consider the address, the message to the church in Laodicea is this, that lukewarm churches must honestly receive the Lord's assessment and follow his directives for repentance. Lukewarm churches must honestly receive the Lord's assessment and follow his directives for repentance. We'll consider this statement in three headings. We'll see in verses 14 to 16 that lukewarm churches must receive the true assessment. We'll see in verse 17 that lukewarm churches must reject their own judgment. And we'll see in verses 18 to 22 that lukewarm churches must respond to the Lord's directives. So receive, reject, and respond. Lukewarm churches must receive the true assessment, must reject their own judgment, and must respond to the Lord's directives. Let's see first how lukewarm churches must receive the true assessment in verses 14 to 16. As we said at the beginning, the Lord reveals himself. There is a self-disclosure in all of these seven letters and it's no different with Laodicea. He says, the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. This is how he reveals himself. In the first chapter of Revelation, John received this glorious vision of the exalted Christ. In some of those letters, begin with that self-description, that self-disclosure, the revelation of Christ to his church, revealing who he is, some of them speak to that vision in chapter one, allude to that. Others are an allusion or a reference to Old Testament texts. This is the latter. This is an allusion to an Old Testament passage of scripture. a number of them but primarily Isaiah chapter 43. In Isaiah 43 the Lord is calling Israel his witnesses. They were to be his witnesses to the world but as you know they failed in that witness. They failed as a nation and yet there is a renewal of Israel that's promised. We've been seeing that for the last couple of weeks, haven't we? In our Sunday School series, Exodus, Old and New, which speaks of this new exodus that is to come. In Isaiah chapter 40 through 66, that last portion of Isaiah that is altogether glorious, it speaks of a renewed Israel. Though they had failed in their mission to be a light to the Gentiles, there is a renewed Israel through a new exodus. They are getting ready to go into exile to Babylon and yet the Lord will call them out again so that you will not say in the latter days as the Lord our God who brought us out of the land of Egypt. No, you'll say as the Lord our God who brought us out of the land of Babylon. There's a new exodus coming. And in that new exodus, it is spoken of in terms of a new creation. At the end of Isaiah, the Lord says, Behold, I make new heavens and a new earth. And in the midst of all of that, Israel, who was unfaithful, is now going to be the faithful witness to the nations. And as you saw this morning, that identity of Israel, corporately as a nation, Though they had failed, Israel is going to now be faithful and that identity narrows in on a single individual who encapsulates and is all that Israel as a nation should have been. So that the servant of the Lord, there are those servant songs in Isaiah, the servant who is Israel, but who is the faithful Israelite, a single individual who embodies what the nation should have been. It's through him, through this one who will actually be in Isaiah 52 and 53, a suffering servant who will subsequently be exalted in glory. It's through him that Israel will become faithful and the new creation will be inaugurated. That's a summary of Isaiah 40 to 66 and what we find here in verse 14 as Jesus describes himself as the faithful and true witness is really a further summary of that passage. that Jesus Christ is the faithful one. He is the true and faithful witness. He is the amen, the true. He is the one who is the beginning of God's creation. Of course, as John 1.3 says that he made all things. It's through him that all things were made and without him was not anything made that was made. He is the agent of creation. But Christ is in that context that this passage is alluding to in Isaiah. He is the beginning of the new creation. He's the one who brings it about. As we read in Deuteronomy this morning, the first fruits were to be brought to the Lord of the crop that the Lord had given, provided for his people. Christ, Paul says, is the first fruits of the new creation by virtue of his resurrection from the dead. The new creation began with Christ's resurrection. He is our exalted head, has entered the new creation as he's ascended to the right hand of the Father in resurrected glory. This is who is speaking to the church here, the true witness. He's the one who alone is qualified to give this accurate, true assessment of the situation in Laodicea. If we are going to be faithful witnesses, we must follow after his pattern, the one who is faithful. Well, this is what the faithful and true witness says, the one who speaks God's truth, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what he says. I know your works. He says this to each of the churches in all of the addresses. Nothing escapes his knowledge, nothing is unseen from his all penetrating vision. For some of those churches, as we said at the beginning, there is a commendation that is given. The Lord says, I know your works. And he begins with a word of commendation, even if it's going to be followed by a reproof or rebuke. But here in Laodicea, you notice there is no commendation. There's nothing good to be said for this church. What an indictment. Can you imagine that? If the Lord were to send a letter to our church, our particular congregation, he had nothing good to say. Kevin sent me the intern evaluation for Presbytery. It's coming up. He has to fill out one, and I have to fill out one. Maybe some of you may have some of this sort of valuation in your own work. What if you're filling it out, and it says list your strengths, list your weaknesses, and your supervisor has to do this. List your strengths and your weaknesses. Though you're not supposed to know about what your supervisor says, it gets back to you. That list the strengths of this person, and your supervisor says they have no strengths. Kevin, that has nothing to do with your evaluation, of course. Think of that, though. How devastated would you be? And yet here the Lord of the church writes to his bride. Can you imagine hearing that? You're hearing this read to all the churches who are around you in Asia Minor and you hear some of their strength, some of their commendation. And you get to your church, the last one. What's the Lord going to say about us? And there's not a good word to be said. And this is the Lord whose judgment is true. It's not a supervisor, it's not a person who can be flawed, who can be jaded in their thinking. These are true words. But what does he say about them? He says they're lukewarm. They're neither hot nor cold. And so being lukewarm, he will spew them out of his mouth. You ever had that experience where you grabbed, maybe you were sitting next to someone and you grabbed the wrong drink, and they weren't drinking the same thing you were drinking, so immediately it was a shock. You didn't expect that. Or maybe you take a sip of milk from the fridge and you have that little taste. It's starting to go sour. I remember a commercial several years ago. A man comes home and his roommate is eating cottage cheese. And he looks over and he says, when did they start putting cottage cheese in a milk carton? That kind of thing just sort of turns your stomach, doesn't it? Well, this isn't about being sour, but it's that sort of thing, and some of you have that. I apologize if it tripped that wire here just a moment ago, but some of you have that gag reflex, don't you, where an unfamiliar taste or texture just trips it. Well, this is what this is what the Lord Jesus is saying. This is the taste that the church of Laodicea leaves in his mouth, that he wants to spew them out of his mouth. And again, he spits them out, why? Because they're lukewarm, neither hot nor cold. Now, I don't think he's saying that he wishes they were hot in the sense that they were sort of on fire and fully committed or that they were cold and that they were indifferent and cared nothing about him. Coldness, indifference to Christ is never something that's commendable in the scriptures. Cold water is beneficial, isn't it? That's what you want on a hot day when you're thirsty. You want a drink of cold water that's refreshing. But hot water has its benefits as well. I think we might be able to understand this a little bit with the surrounding geographical and historical context. There were two neighboring towns to Laodicea. The one was Heropolis. It was six miles to the north and it had hot springs. And that hot water from those hot springs were used for medicinal purposes. And then 10 miles to the south of Laodicea was the city of Colossae. We know of this city. There was a church there that Paul writes to, Colossians. Actually, interestingly enough, both Laodicea and Hierapolis are mentioned in the letter to the Colossians. Colossae was known for its cold mountain springs. That's how its water was supplied. So you have hot water in Heropolis, you have cold water in Colossae, and these are good things. But in Laodicea... The water was said to have been piped in from some five miles away and by the time the water made it to the city, it was not hot, neither was it cold. It was lukewarm and it did at times make people nauseous, the kind of thing you want to spit out of your mouth. The church has taken on the same characteristics of the city's water supply. When the Lord sampled them, They did not provide refreshment like a drink of cold water. They did not provide benefit that you can find from hot water, but rather they were lukewarm. And the Lord says, because you are neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth. So lukewarm churches, first of all, must receive the true assessment. The assessment that comes from the Lord of truth, the true and faithful witness This is the Lord's assessment, his appraisal, his judgment. They're lukewarm and truly his assessment is all that truly matters. So lukewarm churches must receive the true assessment. The second thing we see now is in verse 17 that lukewarm churches must reject their own judgment. We've seen the Lord's appraisal of them but what is their own? Verse 17, you say, this is what they said of themselves. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing. But then that's followed again by the truth, isn't it? Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. You see, if they were to fill out that self-evaluation, they would have had plenty of strengths to write on it, though the Lord listed none. Maybe they would have even been the kind of church that, you know, if someone's doing their own evaluation or filling out their own resume, what are your weaknesses? They sort of disguise it as strengths. Well, I work too hard. I care. I'm too passionate. I care too much about people. This is what they did as far as their strengths go. The Lord says, this is what you say, right? You say I'm rich. I've prospered, I don't need anything. From their own perspective, things seem fine. It's interesting that as you read the letters that are addressed to these churches in Revelation that the ones who actually are doing well, they're the ones who are facing persecution. They're the ones that by all outward standards and measurements, you would say they have it pretty rough. Churches like Smyrna and Philadelphia, those who were not compromised, they face persecution. The Lord said to the church of Smyrna that you're going to be imprisoned for a time. And yet this church, by material standards, who seems to be doing well, is the one that the Lord has nothing good to say about. Now from what we understand with the surrounding culture and this is sort of the general consensus is that, and I really have become convinced of this myself, that the problems, though they're not specifically stated, we have to try to understand the best we can the situations that were taking place there. It seems that what the Lord has to say negatively about the churches has to do with what we might call syncretism. It was the idea that you could be faithful to Christ while also dabbling in the idolatrous practices of the culture. And all of these cities in Asia Minor were known for pagan worship. The Roman gods, the imperial worship of the Roman emperor, the Greek gods, and ancient gods, the gods of their own territories, and the Egyptian gods they had brought in. A melting pot of deities, as it were. And what we read about certain practices that Jesus calls out, the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, for instance. These are those who seem to teach this compromised position. this syncretism. So that's generally the understanding that the issues that Jesus is taking up with the church is that it involves idle worship and compromise to some degree. Now to complicate it a little more, there was also an economic factor here. In some of these cities, there were trade guilds. And so in order either to maintain gainful employment or to to sort of build a network where you would have work if you were a craftsman or a tradesman, you likely had to be a part of one of these guilds. And each trade guild, each trade had its own patron deity. And so the trade guilds would participate in idolatry at their events, in their associations. It would include some form of idol worship, some nod to the God, as it were. their patron deity. So you see, if you refuse to participate, it's not only religiously, but also socially, economically, professionally, culturally, you're ostracizing yourself from potential work opportunities, from financial stability. And the fact that the church in Laodicea, by those standards, seems to be doing so well, seems to indicate that they were participating, they were compromised. You say I'm rich, I've prospered, I have need of nothing. They thought they were okay for some reason. So apparently, materially speaking, they were comfortable. No wonder so many have drawn parallels to the American church. But they thought they were fine. The Lord tells them what they actually are. Wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. It's the opposite of the church in Smyrna. Church in Smyrna was their poverty, materially speaking is mentioned. Jesus says, I know your poverty, and then he follows it up, but he says, you are rich. Here's a church that materially speaking had nothing and yet Christ says they're rich in faith. And now we have a church that materially speaking has everything and Christ has nothing good to say but to say actually what seems to be the reality isn't. There's nothing under the surface. This was the true appraisal. Now, we typically think, though, like the church in Laodicea, don't we? We think when things are going well, materially speaking, that everything's OK. We wonder when we don't have this material comfort and prosperity, we wonder what's wrong. How can we fix it? But this wealth was only surface level, it was for show, there was nothing truly underneath it. They were laying up treasures where moth and rust corrupt. They're in danger here. Paul says in Philippians that he learned in whatever state he's in to be content. Whether in plenty or in want. And we need contentment and trust in the Lord, and of course, in both of those things, because there are temptations in both of those things. There are temptations for the rich. But there are also temptations for the poor. And so when we're materially speaking, when things seem to be going well, like they were here in Laodicea, we have to be watchful. Some of you know that quote attributed to Cotton Mather, the American Puritan. He said this about America, faithfulness begat prosperity and the daughter has devoured the mother. There's a way of once we're prosperous, once we're comfortable of forgetting the Lord, of not being watchful, of cooling in our zeal, of trusting in our material goods and becoming what we find here, lukewarm. You remember the prayer of Proverbs? Essentially this, Lord, don't let me come to poverty so that I'm tempted to steal. But don't let me be rich so that I say, who is the Lord? And forget him." See, there are temptations, there are ditches on both sides. Sinclair Ferguson says this way, when we put a grip on the blessings, we take a tight grip on the blessings, it's often then that we lose our grip on Christ. My dad has a new bulldog puppy, and playing with the dog in his yard, she likes to fetch things. You throw the Frisbee at her, and she goes and takes off and gets it, and she comes back. If you've been around bulldogs, you know that they have that jaw that just locks, right? It's part of what makes them dangerous, too. You go to pull the Frisbee out, and she will not let it go. You can't hardly pry it out of her mouth without actually hurting the dog, but she has another toy. And so you think, well, maybe if I throw this toy, she'll drop the Frisbee, and I can throw that again. So you throw the other toy, she still has the Frisbee in her mouth, and what does she do? She takes off running, and while she has the Frisbee in her mouth, she's trying to pick up the other toy. Jesus says you can't serve God and money. You can't serve two masters, you'll love the one and hate the other. And if we love, if we serve the master of material prosperity, and we focus our grip there, we'll often lose our grip on the Lord. And we're a lot like that dog who can't pick up two toys at the same time. Well, they were comfortable, but they were lukewarm. And at a church here that is, as we find, self-sufficient, proud, complacent, it's a church that is disgusting to the Lord's taste. It makes him want to vomit. And this is not imposing something on the text. This is what the Lord says. I'll spit you out of my mouth. You know, it is one thing, though, to be lukewarm. But it's another thing to be self-deceived because they didn't see it. Children, you know the story of the emperor's new clothes? I'm sure most of you do. This is exactly what we have here. The emperor is told how wonderful and fancy these clothes are. The only thing is the one who's wearing them can't see them. They're only visible to everyone else. And so he thought he was wearing these nice, elegant clothes and he was naked. And he was the only one who didn't know it. He needed somebody to tell him, well, this is a church in Laodicea, isn't it? They think they're rich and prosperous. They say we were comfortable. We're rich. We have need of nothing. But what does Jesus say about them? No, you're naked. You're poor. You're blind. You're pitiful. You're wretched. The Lord saw it for what it was. It's one thing to be lukewarm, but it's a total other thing to be self-deceived in our lukewarmness, to think we're okay. That's where true danger is. If you realize you're lukewarm and you're called to repentance and you run to Christ, you're in a good place. But if you're self-deceived, you're in a dangerous, dangerous place. So not only must they hear the true assessment, they must also reject their own judgment. And if our appraisal of ourselves does not match the appraisal of the word of God, we must repent. We must come under that true assessment. Now we see the final thing here, what must they do? The lukewarm churches must respond to the Lord's directives. Lukewarm churches must respond to the Lord's directives. That's what we see in verses 18 to 22. What does he say about them? Is that it? You're lukewarm, here's the judgment pronounced, it's over, you're doomed. No, that's not what the Lord says. He offers them hope through repentance. The same church that he has nothing good to say about is offered hope. They're offered the most good. They're offered restoration and communion with the Lord. They're often offered a share in his reign in verse 21. To follow him and to sit on the throne. Isn't that incredible? So what must a pitiable, poor, wretched, blind, naked church do? Lukewarm. Well, the Lord says, you need to come to me to purchase those things you need. Verse 18, I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire. Remember, they thought they were rich, but they were poor. Jesus says, come to me for pure gold. That is a gold that is Refined by fire, it's tested, the impurities are removed. These are true riches. Come to me to correct your poverty. He also says, come to me, I counsel you to buy from me white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen. White garments. These are those that are like one of the other churches he wrote to. They're said not to be soiled. They're not stained. That is uncompromised. And then he offers them also salve for their eyes so that they could see. Laodicea was known for its school of ophthalmology. And here Christ is saying, you're blind, but I'm giving you something for your eyes so that you can see the truth. You see, what they must do is follow the Lord's directives for repentance. To put it another way, they must hear the diagnosis from the great physicians penetrating x-ray vision and they must follow the prescription that he provides for their healing from their spiritual sickness. You know, I hear people throw around this phrase when they're speaking of someone being confronted or maybe somebody decides to get serious. They say they had a come to Jesus moment. I hate that. I really do. Because there's no comparison for it. The come to Jesus moment is coming to Jesus. This is the come to Jesus moment, right? He says in verse 18, come to me. I counsel you to buy from me these things that you need. That's what's taking place here. It's interesting that they're counseled to buy it. But the very thing he's offering is in other places in scripture offered freely. Isaiah 55, come without money and without price and buy these things for me. Come to the well. What does the end of Revelation say? Come to the water of life and drink freely. Because we might ask. How can this church or how can I, if I see myself as one who is lukewarm, who thought that I had everything and realize that I'm poor, impenetrable and miserable and naked, if I don't have the currency to buy the things I need when I thought I was rich and you're telling me I'm actually poor, how can I purchase them? How can I afford them? But that's the whole point is to see that you can't, but to see who provides them. Christ says, come and purchase them from me. In other words, all that you need is provided in Christ and you must cast yourself upon his mercies to receive what you need. Again, if you're self deceived and you think you can afford it, then you can't. But if you come to this place where you are, as Jesus says in the Beatitudes, you're poor in spirit, you're utterly destitute, you acknowledge your spiritual bankruptcy before the Lord. That's how you buy it. That's when you see it's a free gift offered to you to take. That's the currency you need to purchase these things. to see your need for Christ and to go to him for it. If you think you can't afford it, you're trapped in this very problem of self-sufficiency. But it's Christ's bounty from his riches that he offers this gold, it's his righteousness that he promises to clothe you with, it's his healing. that he promises to clear your vision. So find what you like in Christ. Though he's had nothing good to say about them, yet he has the very best to say to them, for them. In verse 20, many people see this allusion to the Song of Solomon, where the bridegroom is standing at the door, wanting his bride to open the door. To love his bride. Open the door to me. This is what Christ is saying. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me. Isn't this a wonderful promise coupled with verse 22 that the one who has an ear to hear, let him hear. The one who can hear Christ knocking. Who has the ear to hear and who opens the door. The Lord promises his presence. His intimate, sweet communion, that if you will hear and heed his word, that is to say, as verse 21, conquer, to overcome, to repent, to follow these directives, you will receive the blessing that is promised here, which is a share in his reign. I will cause him to sit on my throne as I sat down with my father on his. This turn of events is almost too good to be true, isn't it? From what Christ has said about them previously, I'll spit you out of my mouth, you're wretched and poor and pitiful and blind and naked, though you're self-deceived, that now he will say, listen, I'm knocking on the door and if you'll open, if you'll hear what I'm saying, if you'll come to me for what you need and be done with your self-deception, that you will have all of these riches provided to you. How incredible is this? But this is who our God is, the God of grace, altogether true. He doesn't mince words here. He tells it like it is. He is the true and faithful witness and yet he is altogether gracious. See, lukewarm churches and Christians also must honestly receive the Lord's assessment. They must follow his directives for repentance. And so that's the question for us. Are we willing to hear the Lord's true assessment? from his word, by his spirit, to reject our own appraisal, to embrace his. Have you ever been reproved or rebuked by the Lord Jesus Christ? Or when you read the word of God, is it always agreeable to you? Do you always find that it says the things that you want to hear? If that's the case, then you may be self-deceived for him because it seems that you have created a God after your own image. In your own likeness. The question is, do we really want to hear what the Lord says to us or do we put our fingers in our ears so that we can't hear it? Do we prefer to go on in our self-deception? You see the mark of Spiritual genuineness, a mark of growing in maturity is a willingness to hear even hard words from the Lord. When the Lord says, this is what the Spirit says to the church, when the Lord says, I have something to say to you and it's not good. It is a hard word, but we say, say on, Lord, for your servant is listening. Because we know that this is true and what the Lord says to us is intended for our good. Why does the Lord do this? Does he take pleasure in just saying harsh things? Don't miss verse 19. We'll close with this. It isn't that the Lord is just taking pleasure in saying things to upset his church, to trouble him. He says, those whom I love. I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. He chastens his church because he loves his church, but he loves her in truth. And he desires what is best for her, and what is best is that she repent. To follow his directives, to hear his voice, because this is the way of knowing and enjoying his favor. his riches, his presence, his communion. Let's pray. Father, we come to you with thanksgiving for your word, which is true and faithful. We come having heard the words of the one who is faithful and true. The ones of the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of your creation. Oh, Lord. We ask that we would reject our own judgment of ourselves but rather bring our appraisal in line with your word. We ask, O Lord, that we would be willing to hear truth from your word and submit to it. and that we would follow your directives for repentance and know that it is in your love that you say these things to us and that it is intended for what is the very best. May we know the intimacy and sweetness of your communion and may we know the blessing of sharing with you and your kingdom, which is a kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy. So grant us ears to hear, O Lord, and grace to come to you for what we need. May we hear what the Spirit says to the church. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.