If you'll put your finger in 1 John chapter 3 and then turn back to Romans chapter 8 for our Bible reading this morning. Finger in 1 John 3. There's just a part of a verse we want to read there. The main portion will be taken from the book of Romans chapter 8. Chapter 7, of course, is the struggles of the new man and the flesh within the heart of Paul, the things he Does not want to do, he does. And the things he knows he should do, he doesn't. There's a battle going on, a war he calls it. Flesh against the spirit. And he realizes that only through Jesus Christ can he ever win that victory. And that victory will be won. We leave all the struggles and the doubts of chapter 7 to come into the assurances of chapter 8. That's what chapter 8 is all about, the assurances. The Lord will save His people. We want to break in, please, at verse 12, Romans chapter 8, verse 12. Let's hear God's Word. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and of children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. Now over to 1 John, please. Chapter 3, verse 1. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. And God will add His blessing to the public reading of His Word, for His name's sake. Now, please bow your head with me just for a moment. Would you ask the Lord to speak to you this morning? Let's all pray. Our God and our Father, the words of young Samuel, come to mind as we began to preach Thy Word. Speak, for Thy servant heareth. We do pray that Thou wilt speak through Thy Word this morning, that the Holy Ghost will bear witness with that truth in our own hearts, that He will illuminate the Word of God for us today That He will remove ignorance. That He will deal with coldness and deadness, if that is there. We pray, our God, that Thou wilt now shut us in with Thyself. Make us aware, keenly aware, that Thou art here. And Thou art here to bless us. We pray this in the Savior's holy name, Amen and Amen. One of the most thrilling and far-reaching truths about the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation is that it brings about an irreversible change in the lives in whom He works. As we have already seen numerous times in this series on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, He is the regenerator. He is the recreator of those who are dead in sin and therefore dead to God. They have no spiritual life whatsoever. Not a smoldering ember, not a spark. They are completely dead in sin. But when they are born again by a sovereign act of the Holy Spirit, They become new creations in Christ Jesus. And that regeneration by the Spirit effects a change that impacts their entire Christian life. That is what Paul means when he says that old things pass away. Behold, all things become new. The old way of doing things, the old order of life, the old way of thinking, the old way of living, it undergoes a very drastic change. It's like being born again, new life, a recreation. So drastic is that change produced by the Holy Spirit in the new birth that the Word of God says that everything, everything becomes new. He is truly a new man. The old man has been crucified with Christ, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, a new man comes into existence, and that new man is a changed man. Now, this change that salvation brings into our lives is twofold. It brings a moral change and it brings a legal change. The Lord makes a real moral change within us. Prior to being born again, prior to that act of the Holy Ghost where He brings us from death into life, there was nothing but filth, depravity, sin, corruption. He changes all of that and brings about a change in our moral nature. We are changed from being sinners into saints. We are changed from being unholy to being holy. We are changed from being dead to sin and dead to God to being alive to righteousness and alive to God. We are brought out from being under the dominion of sin, the captivity of sin, the bondage of sin, and are brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Freedom from the dominion of sin. And now, by that act of the Holy Ghost, we are under the reign, not of sin, but of grace. The reign of grace. Grace rules in our hearts. Grace. But it does more than that. Not only does it produce a moral change, but there is a change in our legal standing before God. Prior to being saved, our legal standing before God, that means legal, law, legislation, there's the word, there's the time. Our legal standing before God was one of condemnation. We were guilty of transgressing His law. We were criminals against this King. Rebels against the Lord. But when we're saved, the Lord effects a change in our legal standing to one where we have complete acceptance in the sight of God. We're no longer guilty. We're no longer treated as criminals. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation ever, ever, ever, because the legal standing has been changed, justified. is the Word. In theological terms, the change is illustrated in these two changes, moral and legal, by noting the difference between sanctification and justification. Sanctification is the change that God works in how we live. The change that He works is a moral change. We do a 180. in how we live in this world, how we walk, how we talk. Everything about us changes. Justification is that change that God makes in our standing before His law. The law condemned us because we sinned. We broke the law. It condemned us, and it must. Divine justice must condemn sin. But through that wonderful grace of God, we are declared to be righteous, acceptable to God. Let me just pause here and say that understanding this and believing this and embracing this is foundational to the Christian's ability to glorify God and to enjoy Him. As I have said over the years, the more we enjoy God, the more we will glorify Him. The more our joy, our real joy is found in the Lord, and not in our circumstances, and not in people, and not in things, but in the Lord, the more our lives will glorify Him. And the more we glorify the Lord through our living, the more we will enjoy Him. And one of the fundamental ways in which we experience this chief end of our existence, why we're here in this world, is to know and believe and embrace what God has done for us through Jesus Christ in saving us. There's no little magical wand that anyone's going to wave over your life and all of a sudden you're going to enjoy the Lord and be able to glorify Him. That will come through understanding the truths of the Gospel. Ye will be enabled to glorify God the more you understand the gospel, the more you understand Christ's person and Christ's work for you, and then you'll know what real happiness is. And that happiness will deepen. There's nothing more glorifying to the Lord than a happy Christian. Remember, please, that a happy Christian is a holy Christian, and a holy Christian is a happy one. That moral change, that legal change, all work together. How you glorify the Lord when the world can see you happy, the world can see you rejoicing, the world can see that calm and heavenly frame, even though your world has come crashing in around you. You see, there's something different. He's not like everybody else. She doesn't act like everybody else. That glorifies Him. It magnifies His grace. I read with interest this week of a young girl, she's now 20 years of age, who has been a movie actress. I don't normally read about movie actresses because that doesn't interest me, but this article interested me. She's been a movie actress for the last 11 years. At nine years of age, she was given by her parents, kids will love this, She was given a weekly allowance in our money of $75. 75 bucks a week. You kids like to have that money every week? Do not hit your mom and dad up for an increase in your allowance after this service. It wasn't until she was 17 years old, just three years ago, that her father sat down with her and told her she had a fortune in the millions of dollars. She said that when she heard that bit of news, she felt very emotional. I should say so. You've been living on $75 a week and you find out you have tens of millions of dollars. Imagine that. For years, she lived with no idea of her wealth. But when she finally did find out, it stunned her. And brothers and sisters, I think there are a lot of Christians who have lived for years not knowing the riches they have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not knowing the spiritual wealth that really belongs to them through Him. They know that they're saved. They know that they're going to be in heaven when they die. But there is so much more to know than that. It's in knowing about those riches we possess that are ours already. We read it this morning as, blessed us with all heavenly blessings, all spiritual blessings, and heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And as the more we know that, we possess that, not only are we delivered from pursuing the riches of this world, which too many Christians are taken up with, trying to make as much money as they can and get as comfortable as they can, We're delivered from that because we see the real riches. We see what really matters in life. It saves us from that. But we are unable to experience the joy and the peace and the usefulness that comes with knowing what we have and what we are in Jesus Christ. The real riches. The things that really matter. Because you know what, folks? It will not matter when you are on your deathbed and you are struggling to get the next breath. It won't really matter how much money you have in the bank. It won't matter how big your house, how expensive your car or your clothing. The only thing that will matter is, am I in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ? It won't matter You could be a world traveler. You could have gone everywhere that man could go and enjoy all the pleasures of the world. But it will mean absolutely nothing, nothing when it comes time for you to enter into glory. The doctrine before us this morning is a case in point. Paul says in verse 15 of Romans chapter 8 that we have received the spirit of adoption. The Spirit, the Holy Spirit of adoption. It was his grasp of that very truth that caused John, as an old man, to write, Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. As we continue in our study in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, I want us to begin begin to look at one of the most neglected truths of his ministry as it is captured in that phrase, the spirit of adoption. I've got three points worked out so far. I don't know if I'll go beyond that. I won't get them all today. I want to deal this morning with the what of our adoption and then the wonder of our adoption. These are going to be introductory messages. This will be an introductory message to the section on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit being the spirit of adoption. I want to deal this morning with the what of the adoption and the wonder of the adoption. First, the what of our adoption. What is it all about? What does Paul mean when he speaks of the believer's adoption? He's referring to a legal procedure a legal procedure that was found in the Roman Empire. The Jews knew nothing, absolutely nothing, in their society, in their culture, in their government, their civil government, about this procedure of adoption. But Paul, as you know, was a Roman citizen, and he is one who lived in the Roman culture, and therefore he uses this idea to convey something very important to the people of God. Under Roman law, a father owned his son, almost like he owned a slave. How do you boys think about that? Not that they were a slave. Don't get any ideas, dads. But there was ownership. The difference, of course, being that his son, unlike his slave, the son was a legal heir to his estate. That legal bond between a father and a son could not be easily severed. And in the Roman Empire, It took a specific legal action for the son of one family to be transferred, to be adopted by another family. It wasn't willy-nilly. That's the imagery that Paul is using. Four things happened in that adoption process. Number one, the one being adopted had to be purchased by the family that was adopting him. Purchased. Secondly, the adopted son was given full acceptance into that family to such an extent that he had equal legal status with the home-born son, if there was one. Thirdly, the adopted son assumed all of the rights and the privileges and the obligations of a legal son and heir. And fourthly, the whole procedure was solemnly witnessed before the law. And this is what Paul was referring to when he says that God's people have received the spirit of adoption. The literal meaning of the word translated adoption here in Romans 8.15 is son-placing. Compound word, first word son, second word is place or to put something. The placing of a son. We have received the Holy Spirit of son-placing. This speaks of what the Father does. What the Father does, we'll get to the work of the Holy Spirit down the road, But it speaks of the work of what the Father does when He places someone who has been born again into the family of God. You see, well, let's go back in time several hundred years and see what the Westminster divines said about adoption in that well-known document, the Confession of Faith. Now, before reading their answer to this what question I have raised this morning about what is our adoption all about, let me define a term that they use that the children might not know. You're going to hear the word in a moment, vouchsafeth. Vouchsafeth. To vouchsafe something, is to graciously condescend to give something, to grant something, like a privilege. It's not used, of course, so much in our day, but we would vouchsafe a secret to someone. That means you have given the privilege of knowing a secret to somebody and no one else. You have vouchsafed it to them. You have condescended. You have agreed to graciously give them something. So, in chapter 12 of the Confession of Faith, they said this, All those that are justified, God vouchsafeth in and for His only Son, Christ Jesus, to make partakers of the grace of adoption, by which they are taken into the number and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God. The shorter catechism. That goes on, by the way, for a few more sentences, but the Shorter Catechism gives a very succinct definition. Adoption is an act of God's free grace whereby we are received into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God. We're received into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God. Do not confuse this with the new birth, regeneration. We are not born into the family of God. We are born into the kingdom of God, as we saw from John chapter 3 with Nicodemus. By the new birth, we enter into the kingdom of God. We see the kingdom of God. But it is by adoption that we enter the family of God. OK, OK, OK. What's the big deal, somebody says. I'll tell you what the big deal is. It is through this adoption that you have been made a son of God. It is through this adoption that you have been made a joint heir with Jesus Christ. It is through this adoption that you have become truly rich. Truly rich. Men may say, so what, as far as the value of this doctrine to them are concerned. They may neglect it and fail to lay hold of its mind-altering and, yes, life-transforming power. But the Holy Spirit does not slight this doctrine in the New Testament. The consistent emphasis of the Holy Spirit in scripture regarding the status of the people of God is that they are, and you keep seeing this over and over again, the children of God, the children of God, the children of God. The Holy Ghost is emphasizing that. Shouldn't we? Shouldn't that be an emphasis in our understanding of the gospel? Our adoption? He keeps reminding us that God is our Father and that we are His sons. How often do you find in Scripture that imagery of a father and child in expressing the relationship that the redeemed have with the Lord? So much of Christ's teaching about Himself. And his relationship to his father is used as a basis of what he teaches us about our relationship to our father as sons, as daughters. He uses his relationship as son to teach us about our relationship as sons. In other words, the Bible's teaching on our adoption into the family of God is critical. It's critical for our thinking. It's critical for our living. It's critical for how we face life. Yet how often do we think about it? That brings me to the wonder of our adoption. The wonder of it. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. I want you to see in the first place the nature of this wonder. The nature of it. Here's John's response when he thought about his being placed as a son in the family of God. Behold! What manner of love! He's an old man now. He's an old man. When he writes this epistle, well into his nineties. He has been walking with the Lord For well over 60 years, this was the young man, you recall, who had the privilege in the Last Supper to lay his head upon the bosom of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I sense that this was something that John regularly did. But what is it that is still thrilling him in his old age? I am a son of God. I am a son of God, how much he must love me to make me one of his sons. He's an old man and he hasn't gotten over it. He's astounded. What is filling and thrilling John's heart He wants that to fill and thrill the hearts of all of God's children, including your hearts, if you're His. Behold. It's a red letter word. It's a marker. Whether in the Old or New Testament, when you see the word behold, what's about to follow is something, something of great significance. Look! Look! He wants them to understand and to rejoice in this stupendous and this amazing love that the Father has for His people who would not only save them, you know, that would be enough. If He just saved us and delivered us from hell, that would be enough. But He doesn't stop there. He goes so far as to make us, to place us in His family as His sons, To own us as His sons. Indeed, He goes so far as to make us joint heirs with Jesus Christ. That we are on equal legal standing with Christ Himself. As accepted in the eyes of God as Christ Himself. Treated by the Father as He would treat His own well-beloved Son, Jesus Christ. That's adoption. John knew that if this truth was grasped and thought upon over and over again as he had done, obviously, for sixty plus years, then it would change their thinking. And it would mold their lives. And it would guide their steps. Is it any wonder that he writes, Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us? The literal rendering of the original language, you want to hear it? Behold, from what country is this love? From what country is this love? The same word is used in Matthew chapter 8 verse 27. Christ has just stilled the wind and the waves just by speaking to them. The disciples say, what manner of man is this that even the wind and the waves obey his voice? What manner? What country is he from? What realm is he from? It's a different realm altogether than the realm that we know. What manner of love is this? It's from a realm that we know nothing about. The best love that we know in human relationships is nothing like this love. What manner of love? What realm is this love from? It's from the realm of the heaven of heavens. It is a love that is truly out of this world, but has come into this world. This love of the Father is something that has broken into this world of sinners who had no love for Him. It comes from another world, another realm. Where can this kind of love be found among us? Behold this love. This love is divine love. This love can only come from heaven because it's only found in the love of God the Father. that we, we should be called the sons of God. I fear we've lost the wonder of our adoption. I'm afraid there's a ho-hum about it that shouldn't be there. We have lost sight of how amazing it really is. John didn't. This old man. What country is this love from? That God the Father would actually take those who were, He calls them, sons of wrath, children of wrath, and make them sons of God. Place them in His family. Alright, let's just pause here. Let's just hit pause for a moment. You purpose to adopt a child. I want to know if you go look for the most wretched, the most rebellious, the most wicked, the most offensive child you can find. Tell me you do. You don't. God did. Every one of them rebels. Every one of us, blasphemers. Every one of us, polluted by sin. Wanting nothing to do with Him. Not wanting to be adopted. Not wanting to be in the family, but quite content to be in the family of Satan. Had no interest in being a Christian. No desire to be holy. And the scripture says we have been predestinated under the adoption of children. Predestinated, meaning he knew everything about us. He even knew how we would act after we became his children. How there would be on more than one occasion we would act like a child of the devil than a child of God. And still he placed us from eternity as sons into his family. What country is this love from that we should be called the sons of God? The daughters of the King. joint heirs with his only begotten Son. Now that leads me to say the second thing about this wonder, and that is the nourishing of the wonder. If we've lost the amazement of what it is to be adopted by God, to be placed as sons and daughters in his family. If that is your case this morning, it means that this wonder has not been nourished. That's the long and the short of it. It has not been nourished. It's something you have to nourish, like everything else about the Christian life. It needs constant nourishment. If it's not nourished, it grows weak. It fades. It declines. Don't water your plants and you see what happens. Don't eat your meals and watch what happens to you. Same thing happens here. You lose the wonder. It declines if it's not nourished. The Christian life, you know, is a life of absolute wonder. Now, sometimes we get really cynical. Yeah, she's a wonder, alright. He's a wonder, alright. We don't mean it positively, but not here. The Christian life is an absolute wonder. It's staggering, if you think about it. If you really think about it, it's staggering. When the Lord's people are living right, when they are nourishing their spiritual life, It's a wonder to them that they've been born again. I'm born again. I was going to hell. I was among those who were on the broad road. And I would have gone there if the Spirit of God had not regenerated me. And now, as we saw last week, the Holy Ghost Himself is actually living inside me. He is there. If you're His, He's in you today. You're a vessel of God. You carry around God. Who? Us. You. You. You who lost your temper this week big time. You who used your tongue to say unkind things. You who failed to use that tongue to pray. Who failed to use those eyes to read the Word of God. Yet you had time for everything else. You had time to read the paper. You had time to read the internet. You had time to talk to people. You had all the time in the world. But you didn't have time for Him. have the Spirit of God living in you. And he's quite happy to have it that way. Forever he abides. It's a wonder, is it not, that we hate the things we used to love. And we love the things we used to hate. We didn't have any interest in holy things. We didn't have any interest in prayer. We didn't have any interest in hiding God's word in our hearts and memorizing the scriptures. We didn't have any interest, any hard interest, in obeying the Lord and pleasing Him. All we lived for was to please ourselves. It was me, my, I. But it changed. And now you hate it when you just smugly satisfy yourself. And you see that at least when you see it. When you see your selfishness, you hate it. And you want to pray. Let me tell you something, if you're saved, you want to pray. I don't say you're faithful, it's just a minute. But I'll tell you one thing, you want to. You want to. I'll get to this next week, but He has sent forth the Spirit of adoption into our hearts, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. You want to pray. You've grown about your prayerlessness, but did you groan before you were born again? I throw not. Did you miss reading the Scriptures when you didn't read them before you were born again? Not on your life. Did it grieve you when you had lustful thoughts? Lustful eyes? You relished it. You took pleasure in it. You sought more of it. But you've been changed. Man, you've been changed. That's a wonder. That's astounding. It's marvelous. You'll never be the same. You'll never be the same again. It's a wonder that we have been adopted. And it's a wonder that should grow. That should grow more and more precious and marvelous as the years roll on, as it did with John. It should. But the reality, I'm afraid, is that God's children lose the awareness. They lose the awareness of their adoption and they lose the wonder of what it means to be called a son of God or a daughter of God. They have to confess that they understand, the Lord's people do, very well the words that we sang this morning of William Cowper. Where is that blessedness I knew when first I saw the Lord? Do you remember how it was when you first got saved? You were walking on air. You couldn't wait to tell other people. I got saved. Things are different and changed. Where is that blessedness I knew when first I saw the Lord? Where is that soul-refreshing view of Jesus and His Word? And that is exactly what the devil aims for in your life. To steal away the wonder of your adoption. To steal it away. To take away the wonder of it all. You want to know why? When there's no wonder, there's no worship. Worship brings in adoration, coupled with humility. Wondering. What manner of love is this? Humbles the soul at the same time. It causes it to lift itself up to God. That's worship. No wonder. No worship. It just becomes routine, a tradition, something that you do Sunday by Sunday. No wonder. No warfare. No resisting the devil. Big deal. I'm a son of God. But my, when you wonder at that, when it's something that strikes you as a John, it's a great argument to war against the devil. No wonder, no work. You won't work for the Lord. It'll be a burden to you. Quite the different one. I'm a son of God. By the change He's wrought in me. What privileges I have. It means I must have great obligations as a son of God if he's adopted me. As we go back to Roman law. I must work. I must work in the kingdom. I must labor. I must make sure my priorities are right in life. That first things first and what comes first is the work of God. You lose that wonder. Not what's first. It's relegated to second, third, fourth, fifth place. No wonder. No witnessing. You won't say anything to anybody. Friday night was a night out to a local restaurant, one of those all-you-can-eat places. I had a child that had a birthday. There was this little Filipino guy who directed us to our seats. And he came up with his little handmade, what he called bookmarks, a little piece of yarn sticking out. It's about this square with a little landscape scene on it. Andrew and Aaron were up at the bar. I mean, the salad bar, the food bar, not the, it wasn't that kind of a bar. And he said, what are their names? I said, Aaron and Andrew. Oh, Bible names. Aaron was the brother of Moses, and Andrew was Peter's brother. He said, are you a Christian? Oh, yes. His eyes just lit up. He's been there 11 years, began to talk about how the Lord was a Roman Catholic. Moved from the Philippines in the 70s and went from San Francisco to Columbia. Started attending a church, a Baptist church, and got saved. Been there in the last 11 years. My, what a testimony he has. It was just so natural for him to talk about the Lord. He's devised this way of, you know, bookmarkers. He goes to the tables looking for an inn to tell them about Christ and what He's done for them. He used to pray the Rosary. No more! No more! He says. No more Rosary. It was so refreshing. He wasn't ashamed to talk about the Lord. He was still amazed that he was saved. No wonder. No witnessing. Is that maybe why we witness so little? Do we blame it on personality? and not where the blame should be placed. No wonder, no waiting upon God, no prayer. You've lost the amazement of what it is to be a son of God, a relationship with your Father to whom you must talk. Therefore, this wonder Over our adoption is something that's got to be nourished because this is our natural tendency to lose the wonder. Who are you talking about? Preacher or layman, that's the tendency to lose the wonder of it all. So it's got to be nourished like those plants in your home that need water right now and they're famished. You got to nourish them. How? First, by realizing that since the one whom we have received is the spirit of adoption, he is the one who must keep the wonder alive. No matter how old we get, we are dependent upon the Holy Spirit to keep that wonder of our adoption healthy. The spirit of adoption. But that means something. The Word of God is abundantly clear on this. The Holy Ghost works through channels. He works through means. He works through means. We call them means of grace. Grace comes into our lives. That nourishment I'm talking about comes into our lives through certain ways. To live as an adopted child of God, in the wonder of it, means that we must live daily in the scriptures, daily meditate upon the doctrines of grace, daily think upon God and our relationship to Him as a son, as a daughter. It's got to happen, folks. This has got to happen. Why in the world do you think it is so hard to get to the place of prayer? and spend serious time there? Tell me why you think it's so hard. The flesh hates it first, and the devil hates it second. You have the wonder revived upon your knees. And in the Word of God, as you see that, the Lord speaks to you. Light shines upon the Word of God. He talks to you. And the wonder of it all comes back again. But if you're not daily nourishing it, feeding it, you're not daily feasting upon the Word, you're not daily drawing from the Lord in prayer the grace that you need, guess what happens? You grow cold and you grow careless and you lose the wonder. John lived in fellowship with the Lord, and so he said, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. The illustration is so plainly seen in the two men on the road to Emmaus, walking along the dusty road, depressed, defeated. Their joy was gone. Unbeknownst to them, this man draws up. They knew he was a man, but didn't know it was Jesus. He began to talk with them. Beginning at Moses, he begins to expound the truths, the doctrines concerning himself. And they testify, did not our hearts burn within us? That's what I'm talking about. Tell me, tell me, tell me, when's the last time your heart burned within you? As you read the Word of God? As you were in the place of prayer? When's the last time you just marveled, I've been born again, I'm a son of God. I'm a daughter of the Lord. Would you answer? You tell me. Preacher, if you only knew, it's been a long time. Preacher, I was singing with you this morning, Where is that blessedness I knew, and that was describing me. I don't even know what it's... I can't even remember what it was like to be thrilled with being saved. Well, I'll assure you of one thing. You haven't been nourishing your Christian life. You've been spending a lot of time doing all kinds of other things that just aren't important. Not as important as this. You haven't been. That's the long... I've got to be honest with you. That's the long and the short of it. There's no exits here, there's no side doors you can jump out of. It comes right down to that. We are so dependent upon the Holy Spirit to keep that wonder alive. But the Holy Spirit works through means. In this area at least. Our Father, which art in heaven, Our Father. Now, Lord, write these words upon our hearts for His namesake. Let's seek the Lord together. Let's all pray. Father, we thank Thee for the time to spend walking in the Word of God. We thank Thee for walking with us this day. We ask Thee that Thou wilt preach on in our souls. Lord, we pray that Thy Spirit will nourish the amazement of being a child of God within us. Deal powerfully with those things that have robbed us of this nourishment. Spirit of God, that will only happen as Thou dost work. Work on, we pray. Be gracious and merciful to us. Forgive us for grieving Thee. We thank Thee for Thy tender mercies and Thy endurance, that Thou dost still love us and art working in us. Use Thy truth this day to nourish our souls. We ask it in the Savior's name and for His sake. Amen and Amen.