We now turn to our scripture reading. You can find our scripture reading for this morning in Ezekiel 36. And we begin reading at verse 16 till the end of the chapter. Ezekiel 36, verse 16 till the end of the chapter. Let's pay attention to God's precious word. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their own doings. Their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. Wherefore, I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it. And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries according to their way, and according to their doings I judged them. And when they entered unto the heathen, with they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the Lord. and are gone forth out of his land. But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake. which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them. And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes." And I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and I will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them. Ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers and ye shall be my people and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses and I will call for the corn and I will increase it and lay no famine upon it and I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field and ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen. And shall ye remember your own ways, evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourself in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, in the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities, I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded, and the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become the garden of Eden. and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced and are inhabited. Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I, the Lord, build the ruined places and planned that that was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it. Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired by the house of Israel to do it for them. I will increase them with men like a flock, as the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts. So shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men, and they shall know that I am the Lord." Thus far, God's precious word to us this morning. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Puritans believed that we should, as they called it, improve on our baptism. In other words, they believed that we should make use from the fact that we are baptized. The Puritans believed that the promised privileges in baptism should be used and improved in various ways. For instance, Thomas Boston believed that we should use baptism against temptation and in our struggle against sin. This morning, we would like to particularly focus on how we can use and improve and enjoy the benefits of baptism in sanctification. About that, Boston said, improve baptism to the vigorous exercise of, and growth in holiness. Because, or since, thereby ye are engaged in newness of life, as ye are raised from the dead. Were you dedicated unto God? Does not that say you should be holy in heart, lip, and life? So baptism teaches us we should be holy. We are to be holy. And that's what we consider this morning. And we do that from our text, Ezekiel 36, verse 25-27, where we read, Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, And ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh. I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments. and do them. We do this in conjunction with Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 26, question and answer 70, which you can find at page 55 in the back of your Psalter. There we read, what is it to be washed with the blood and spirit of Christ? And the answer is, it is to receive of God the remission of sins freely for the sake of Christ's blood which he shed for us by his sacrifice upon the cross, and also to be renewed by the Holy Ghost and sanctified to be members of Christ, that so we may more and more die unto sin, and lead holy and unblameable lives. Our theme is this this morning, with the Lord's help, enjoying the reality of our baptism. We have three thoughts by receiving salvation, secondly by renewed spirituality, and third by renouncing sin. First of all then, enjoying the reality of our baptism by receiving salvation. And we read our question just a moment ago, where it said that we receive God's remission of sins freely for the sake of Christ's blood, which He shed for us by His sacrifice upon the cross. And this is what we have extensively tried to lay out in last week's sermons, so I don't want to repeat that all here. But let me just briefly summarize what we have learned last week. Baptism is a visual picture of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Moreover, it's also promises that God wants to be our God. God's promises are shown to us in a visible way. What is this picture? The water pictures free forgiveness for all who believe. So in other words, what we could say, what we have been discussing is justification by faith. And that is exactly repeated in this first question, first part of the answer of question and answer 70. What I would like to underline this morning is the part of the answer that says baptism is to receive of God the remission of sins. And though it's our obligation to believe the promises of God in order to experience the reality of baptism in our own lives, it is from the beginning till the end God's grace working in us. It's God's work. It's to receive of God remission of sins. And that's also what our text focuses on this morning. Our text. Ezekiel 36 verse 25, Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean. From all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments and do them." Who is acting in this text? The people of Israel to which the promise came? No, they are reacting. God is acting here. He is the one promising and He is the one working this out in our lives. In the lives of those who were in captivity in those days of Ezekiel, but also by extension in our lives. Seven times we hear here in this text, I will, I will, I will. God is speaking His promises, but He immediately shows that enjoying the spiritual reality of those promises, the meaning of baptism, the spiritual reality of it, is completely His work. He will wash us and we shall be clean. He will take away the idols out of our heart and we shall serve Him. In other words, it says Jonah said it in the Valley of the Will, salvation belongs to the Lord. It's His work. Maybe there is someone this morning that says, well, isn't that a bit discouraging? No, it's not discouraging because the most discouraging news, children, on earth is that when we have to save ourselves, that's the most discouraging news. And God's people sometimes have to discover that over and over. We can only truly enjoy What baptism pictures? We can only truly enjoy salvation through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ when God works it in us, because then it gives us rest. When He works it. As soon as we think we have to do something ourselves, we cannot enjoy it anymore. We cannot enjoy it anymore, because what happens? It becomes hard work. It becomes drudgery, slavery, captivity. The people of Ezekiel's day were brought in captivity because they loved to serve the idols of the world around them. And when we look to our own hearts, know our own hearts a little bit, and look around us, nothing new under the sun in 2017, is it? They felt comfortable living apart from God. How many of us this morning are there that feel comfortable living apart from God as well? They were not only in physical captivity, in physical bondage as it were, but they were spiritually captive to the idols of their time. And Ezekiel shows that Whatever he prophesied, whatever he said against the people, their problem was their stony heart. Their heart was unresponsive. It was dead as a stone, children. And so, they did not respond to God's words, they did not respond to the richest promises, they did not use them, they did not respond to God's love nor to His judgments. Maybe someone says, I've come to church and that's kind of my heart. That's a bit like me. I've heard the gospel so many times, but it seems to do nothing with me anymore. It's not doing anything with me or not doing anything with me anymore. Maybe you have had some impressions in the past and you're trying maybe now to live a decent life and your heart seems dead and unresponsive to the things of God. What is the problem? It's probably the same problem as in the day of Ezekiel. What was their problem? Idols. The world around us is so attractive. Or self. to please your own self. There's something that you love more than God Himself. Now, what is your need? What was their need? Was it to try harder? To believe harder? To pray more? To appear interested in church? And when we speak with others, speak a bit more about religion? Is that what is going to save you? No. What we need, congregation, this morning, and God's children need that by renewal, over and over, we need God to come and save us. We need God to come and pour out His cleansing water over us, and we shall be clean. God needs to come and wash us from all our sins, from all our idolatry. We need to be delivered from the idols of the world around us. and the idols of our heart, so that we have a responsive heart. He must do it, otherwise it will never happen. But the amazing thing is that with the Word of God that we read this morning, He has promised to do it. And so we may, as it were, put our finger with the text this morning and say, Lord, do it again and again. Bring us out of our spiritual captivity. Give us personal revival, personal cleansing, a deep and abiding sense that we have been forgiven because of the blood and the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That we have faith. It's God's work. God needs to come and enliven and quicken us. His amazing grace has promised to do it among us. But you may wonder, what happens when He comes and does it? When we look to Ezekiel 36, He not only cleanses us from our sins, forgiving us, but when God comes and saves, we are also renewed. He creates something different in us. And when that happens, we to a greater extent experience what baptism is all about. Because, let's think about it for a moment. Even if God would only forgive us, you and me, our sins, would you be satisfied with that? Would I be satisfied with that? Would I be fine to stay as I was? Would it bring glory to God? Would it change us? I hope you understand the answer is no. I hope, children, that you understand how important it is that we not only need forgiveness of sins, that's not enough. For then we would maybe be kept out of hell and then our forgiveness would be a kind of fire insurance to keep us from the flames of hell. When God saves us, there is more needed and more to enjoy. And mind you, receiving salvation and cleansing from our sins is a true blessing. And what a joy is that! What a joy can that give to believers and how we need that right now, again and again. But if that would be all that the Lord was doing this morning, all that the Lord was doing in our lives, it would be half work. So what else does does baptism point us to that we need to enjoy? And the answer is spiritual renewal. Let's look at that in our second thought. Enjoying the reality of our baptism by renewed spirituality. The Catechism puts it like this. It asks what is it to be washed with the blood and spirit of Christ. So it asks for the true meaning of baptism. And then, I skipped the part that we just considered, and then we read, "...and also to be renewed by the Holy Ghost and sanctified to be members of Christ." So God does more than just delivering us from our sins. He renews us by His Holy Spirit. What does that mean? Let's look at two passages to understand this from a scriptural perspective. First of all, the next verse in our text, Ezekiel 36, 26. There God promises, a new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh. I will give you a heart of flesh. What do we read here? Besides forgiveness, which is so clear from verse 25, and washing, He takes away our stony heart and He gives us this new heart and a new spirit, the Holy Spirit. What does it mean? It means that God renews us inwardly, our inward life, our soul. our thoughts, our desires, our will, that's all included in the heart, the new heart. Ezekiel showed that the people in his day had this irresponsive heart. If we live outside of the Lord Jesus Christ and His sacrifice, we have such a similar heart toward God. Children, maybe you wonder, what does it mean to have an irresponsive heart? Here is an example. Don't you have that sometimes that your dad or mom calls you, and you have heard it? For instance, Johnny, could you please clean up your room? Or Janet, please wash your hands. You've heard it, but you don't respond. You have no desire to listen. You have no desire to act upon your parents' request. That's what it means to be irresponsive. At that moment, you just want to do your own thing. And so it's spiritually. The Lord calls us. The Lord speaks to us. The Lord warns us. The Lord shows the way we should go. But we don't respond. What's our problem? Our problem is this stony heart. No, the Lord says here in our text, I wash you of your sins. But I will do something more. I will do something more. I will take away this stony heart. Instead, give you a new heart and a new spirit. A heart of flesh. A heart that responds to me. A heart that beats in love toward me. A heart that desires to serve me. You see, dear congregation, the Lord does more than only forgive sins. The Lord does more than only wash us. He changes us from the inside out so that we are truly spiritually renewed. That's also what we see from Titus 3. We start reading at verse 4 where we see, not by works of righteousness which we have done are we saved, but according to His mercy He saved us. By the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed or poured out on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Just like Ezekiel, Paul here in this text shows that God saves His people, saves us on the basis of His mercy, His goodness, His kindness, His love. And then he says this about how salvation works. First, through the washing of regeneration, and then second, through the renewing of the Holy Spirit. In other words, Paul here says, he speaks here about this bath, the bath of regeneration, so that we are renewed, so that we are made alive. In other words, Paul speaks here about the fact that God changes us through a cleansing. the cleansing of regeneration, but then also He renews us, just as Ezekiel pointed out. He sends us His Holy Spirit to live in us through the renewal of the Holy Ghost, Paul writes. It's similar to what Ezekiel wrote, a new heart will I give unto you, a new spirit I will put within you. That is what changes us around. That is God's work in us. That is what ultimately also connects us, draws us close to the Lord. Because our catechism shows that there's more happening. Because catechism speaks about the fact that believers are sanctified as members of Christ. What does that mean? To understand this, we need to see Romans 6, verse 4. And there we read, therefore we are buried with Him. And then again we hear about cleansing and baptism. We are buried with Him in baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. You see these same elements coming all back, washing, renewal and new life so that we can walk in the ways of the Lord. Paul in the previous chapter said we need to be disconnected from Adam and we need to be connected to the new Adam, Jesus Christ. That's all His superabounding grace. And then in this text He continues then to explore that connection. He says, how are we connected? We are connected in His death, in His cross. We're connected. We draw by faith His benefits of the forgiveness of sins. But also in His resurrection, that new life, that new principle in us. He conquered sin, death, and hell. at the grave, and He rose victorious, and that power, that victory over sin, death, and hell is, through faith, yours, dear believer. And you can draw from this inexhaustible fountain of grace. Isn't that a tremendous comfort for every believer? Your and my righteousness does not depend on my feeble efforts to live a holy life. No, our righteous standing is secure in the Lord Jesus Christ and His work. When we draw from it by faith, then we are united to Him. We are linked up with Him. And our catechism puts it like this, we are members of him. And in the original Dutch and German catechism, they say that we are members of Christ in the sense as a limb, a part of the body, is part, a limb is part of a body. And there they use even the word limb in the original. So what they are saying is, Christ is the head, He is the control center of your life, reverently speaking He is the brain, and He steers into your life, strength and health in your body, as you are a member of Him in His church, He gives this virtue in the body, this life, this strength, this resurrection power, so that you can live in accordance with His law. That's the picture here. Christ is really working in us as His body. through the power of His Spirit. True faith connects us to the Lord Jesus Christ so that we even can say that we become, as it were, part of the Lord Jesus Christ. His Spirit lives in us. Because in Christ the sinner died to sin. By faith we are then influenced by that indwelling Spirit. and we become members of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what He does when He spiritually recreates us, when He gives us life, new desires, a new heart, and a new spirit within us. When we read in the Catechism about becoming members of Christ, we become part of Him. Oh, how we need that work. to be done in our hearts and in our lives. If we read in Ezekiel 36 that He promises it and that He will do it, then we still come to the next chapter and what do we see? The picture of the valley of the dry bones. The picture of the valley of the dry bones. All dry, dead bones. And how is God going to do that? to make these dry bones live. Can these dry bones live? God says, prophesy, Ezekiel, prophesy, prophesy, and prophesy toward the Spirit. And then what we see, God makes these dead, dry bones and brings them together, puts limbs on them, and gives them flesh and skin around them, And then they are still lifeless there. But then God comes with the powerful working of His Holy Spirit and makes them stand up, a whole army, a whole army to serve God and to praise God. And that's what God did for the people of Israel in the sending of the Lord Jesus Christ. But also, that's what God does in every person who is made spiritually alive. He makes them stand up. to serve Him acceptably through the power of the Spirit. This is a tremendous comfort for every true believer. And this is a tremendous comfort even when you're outside of Christ and you have to say, I'm as dead as those dry bones there. God comes with His Spirit and He is able, far more able than what we think He can ever do. That's what God does, spiritually recreating. So, let's summarize. What did we see here? God does more than forgiving us. He plants in us this new principle, this new heart. He gives us His new Spirit, that Holy Spirit that connects us to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we become members of Him. We become members of Him. What a comfort! to know our desires are changing, if you know something about that, your desires are changing, because there is an indwelling spirit in every believer. We belong to Christ, and we draw from His perfect work, not from our feeble efforts. And that He lives through us, through His Spirit. Really, He lives in us. Do we believe it? Do we realize how highly privileged we are if we know something of the Lord Jesus Christ? We not only enjoy the washing away of our sins, but in His kindness, in His love, He poured out over us the washing, cleansing, His Spirit, as Titus 3 puts it. He gives us these new desires, these holy desires, these new motives, a renewed will. But maybe you ask, how do I know that then? How do I see that in my life if I have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? Here is a question to consider before the Lord's face this morning. Do you have changed desires? Are your desires really changed toward God? Do you really desire to serve the Lord? To love Him with all of your heart? Not just desiring to receive forgiveness, how great and how beautiful that is. But to have cleansed motives. Do you see your desperate need for a changed heart? And is that often your prayer? Lord, quicken me according to Thy Word. Quicken me! Make me alive! Is it your desire to know the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, if you can say yes to these desires, you tell me from whom these desires come. Do they come because you make them up yourself? Or do they come because the devil likes to work these things in you? Or are those desires that the Lord works in our heart? You answer the question. These are the three possibilities. Are you working up yourself and then it's difficult work? But the devil doesn't want us to have these motives and desires and changes. It's because the Lord's Spirit works in us. Let's answer that question before His face. I'm not asking whether you are as holy as you could possibly be, or whether you're not still perfect and not stumbling in sin. I ask you, what is the direction of your life? Is it Godward? Is it your desire to live out of the perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you consciously live before God? A positive answer to these kind of questions will determine whether God is working with His Spirit in you, whether you have received that indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and whether you then are enjoying what baptism is picturing, what baptism is really all about, this renewed spirituality. So ponder it and answer these questions before God's face. May that be true for all of us. Search me, O Lord. Know my heart. See my thoughts. May we all know that. Lord, searching our hearts, knowing our thoughts, if in paths of sin you are straying, was it your prayer? Lord, lead me out, lead me out of these paths of sins, make me to go in the ways of life. May you do that for us. So we saw that we do not only enjoy the reality of baptism through forgiveness in the cross, We saw also that we enjoy baptism if we see God through His grace renewing our minds and hearts and wills and affections for His own glory, changing our hearts. But finally then, we also see that we enjoy baptism, the reality, the truth of it in our hearts and our desires, when we learn to renounce sin. and fight sin in the power of that very same indwelling spirit that He has promised to give us. Renounce sin in the power of the Holy Spirit. And that's what we consider now in our third thought. the reality of our baptism by renouncing sin. Let's read the last part of the answer. We're considering what is it to be washed with the blood and spirit of Christ. And then the final part of the answer says that so we may more and more die unto sin and lead holy and unblameable lives. So the first thing that we see here is that there is progression in the life of a believer. There's progression. According to the Catechism, it says here, the more and more die unto sin. So there's a progression. It says, Proverbs 4 puts it, the path of the just is a shining light, it shineth more and more unto the perfect day. But the opposite is also true there. The way of the wicked is as darkness, and they know not what they stumble at. But the believer then sees more and more where he stumbles at. It becomes more and more light. So there is progression here in sanctification, for sanctification is what we are talking about here. How does progressive sanctification then work? Well, there are three things. First of all, sin becomes more and more clear, as we saw from Proverbs 4. Sin becomes more and more clear, and it becomes more and more abhorred off. Often we are painfully aware of it. It's interesting to notice that in Ezekiel 36, That after God has given all these promises, and that God is going to work among them, to restore them, to rebuild them, to rebuild their country, to change their hearts and lives. That then, after that happened, we read verse 31. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourself in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. You see, God makes us more and more aware of that wickedness in us, because He is shining with His light in our hearts to search it and to know it. and to make us known so that we would abhor our sins. It's one of the things. The way becomes more and more clear. Second, but God does also do the other side. God's goodness, His mercy, His grace becomes more and more clear and even sweeter to us. We see more and more it's His work alone. And He is, through His Spirit, working it out in us. It's alone Christ's work. Nothing of me. Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to the cross I cling. That's two. And three, as we then look over and over to the Lord Jesus Christ, what does He promise? He promises us when we look away over and over that He changes us into that same image of the Lord Jesus Christ. That image is more and more impressed upon us. Do we always realize it? Often we don't. Most of the time we don't. But we may trust that the Lord never forsakes the works that His own hand began. And so our baptism is linked to sanctification in this last part. In sanctification, in the cleansing more and more of our hearts and the directing into a new life, entrance into a new life. But there are two sides then to sanctification, that's also what the catechism points us to. There are two sides, die more and more to sin and live more and more holy and unblameable lives. We have two words for this, mortification and sanctification. Mortification, putting to death of sin and vivification, which means to make a life. to live through the power of the Spirit, not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. Romans 6.4 shows us both of these sides. We are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised, the other side from the dead, by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. dying to self and arising from the dead through the perfect work. So there is this new principle working in us, this resurrection power, this walking in newness of life in accordance with God's commandments. And the putting of sin to death, that's what God works through His Spirit. Maybe you are asking, how can I do that? I struggle with that. How can I then do that really in my life? What are the weapons that I have? Well, you're connected to the Lord Jesus Christ. You draw from His perfect life. He lived a perfect life in your place. And you draw from His sacrificial death. His work on the cross says that all your sins are forgiven, and that He gives you His Holy Spirit, and so then you become strong in Him. You become strong against sin in His victory. Romans 8 puts it like this. We are more than conquerors through Christ, for through Him that loves us. More than conquerors. This is very important to understand. We can only fight against sin, against Satan, against worldliness and everything in us and around us from victory. The victory is already won in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The victory is through faith ours. Let us through faith stand armed and protected by the work of Lord Jesus Christ. Children, I have a question for you. If you would go and look at soldiers, which group of soldiers would be more hopeful? The first group, those who have been defeated over and over and over again and have lost battle after battle and fought many, many battles. Don't you think they will be discouraged? This is what happens when we do it in our own strength, when we try to live a holy and pure life in our own strength. Defeat after defeat after defeat. But there is a second group of soldiers. Second group of soldiers, they have won the battle, they have promised that they have already the promise for winning the future battles. They will be won as well. Who will be hopeful? Second group, isn't it? Don't you think? Here Paul says that the believers in Christ are more than conquerors. They have battles to fight, but they fight in Christ Jesus and they know the battle is already won. Isn't that encouraging? Isn't that encouraging? Have you ever noticed that in Ephesians 6, the Lord says us to struggle, to wrestle against flesh and blood, but the only thing that He commands us to do is take all those pieces, hope, love, breastplate of righteousness, to take them, put them on, and to stand there. That's the only thing that the Lord commands us to do. He doesn't necessarily command, we have this battle against flesh and blood, but that's what He says we should do. We should dress ourselves with the perfect righteousness and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and stand. And when we will do that by faith, we are able to kill sin and live in growing holiness. Just as the Lord promises also in Ezekiel, in our text, verse 27, And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments and do them. It's possible. It's possible through the power of the Lord alone. The Lord has promised to do it and to strengthen us when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, also for sanctification, when we draw from His perfect work and dress ourselves with that as it were. And we can keep His judgments. Walk in accordance with His Word. Walk according to His Word. Walk in a holy life. Believer, see how rich you are in the Lord Jesus Christ. And yes, often we feel poor in ourselves. And that's not wrong. Your weakness is only there in yourself. And it makes you realize how weak you really are and that you are nothing in yourself. Look then away. Realize that you then look away. You need to look away. Look at His work. Believe that His Holy Spirit indwells you. Be assured that Christ's power against sin is in you. Embrace those promises for yourself. Live by them. Enjoy what you have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Beloved, this is the reality behind baptism. This is what it's all about. This is what it pictures. Let's ask ourselves honestly, are we among those in whose life it's evident that God is alive and working and active through the power of His Spirit? Can we humbly say, yes, I believe, I know something of power against sin, to put sin to death? What a joy! What a joy! Praise the Lord for His goodness to the children of man. And please, let us not live under our privileges. Let us please not think that God is somehow stingy and is never with us. Yes, life can be difficult. Yes, life can be so confusing sometimes, the things that happen around us, but we can make it even harder for ourselves when we think ill of our gracious Lord. Let's enjoy what we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, the promises that He gives to us in baptism. Congregation, this is what every true believer has in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you who are outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, wouldn't you desire to have this too? Wouldn't you desire to have this too? It's truly enjoyable life. Yes, painful in the sense of killing sin. That's not nice. Dying to self. Dying to your idols. No, that's not nice. But really, There is no better life. There is no better life than to live as a true Christian. True Christians are really alive. Not only here, but forever, because they have eternal life. Oh, come then, plead God's promises given to you in baptism. Plead them. Pray that God makes them real. Forgiveness. Eternal life. Changed hearts. Shouldn't we fear the Lord together? Don't you want to be changed? Don't you want to be saved by the Lord? He's able to do it. Plead those promises, I will, I will, I will. He's so worth it. Come to the Lord. As we conclude, we would like to turn back where we began. The Puritans believe that we should improve on our baptism. And one of the ways they said was that you should be thankful for baptism. Thankful for baptism. Let me remind you, whether you are enjoying the reality of baptism right now or not, God is worthy to receive your thankfulness for baptism and for His promises that He makes to you. So let us do that together as we close this service. that we might experience also the reality in sanctification. Let's pray to the Lord. Amen.