Let us hear God's word, Revelation 2, verse 18. And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, these things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire and his feet like fine brass. I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience. And as for your works, the last are more than the first. Nevertheless, I have a few things against you because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants, to commit sexual morality, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual morality, and she did not repent. Indeed, I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts, and I will give to each one of you according to your works. Now to you, I say, and to the rest of Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. But hold fast what you have till I come. And he who overcomes and keeps my works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations. He shall rule them with a rod of iron. They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels, as I also have received from my father. and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Amen. As we begin here today, I want you to think of ways that you rule in your life. Now, all of us, of course, are to rule over ourselves. self-government, self-discipline. Some of us have been put in place to rule in our homes as parents, as husbands. Some of us maybe have a job where we are ruling, we are overseeing people under us. And some of us maybe, if not now, maybe at some point, rule in society, maybe in some kind of way locally or whatever it may be. So as we think about these ways in which we rule, let us come now to these words of Jesus here in this way. Now this message began with referring to our heavenly existence as believers, like we've seen with all the messages so far. And then we see an indication that Jesus is God's son who sees all things and that he rules over all. Jesus then commended some of the believers of Thyatira for their growth and godliness, but He condemns others for following Jezebel and even permitting Jezebel to mislead with her compromising with the world. And He indicates that He's patient with her, but He will judge all who combine truth with falsehood, like when Yahweh sent Israel into exile even. So last time, we see Jesus encouraging all who are not following Jezebel, and he commands them to strive in their godliness and continue to hold on to what has been given to them. So we come now here to his next thought, and that's verses 26 and 27. Verse 28 is certainly related, but it's just a bit much for us to try to cover all that here this morning. So we'll do verses 26 and 27. So, verse 26 again then says, But hold fast, excuse me, that was verse 25, verse 26, and he who overcomes and keeps my works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations. All right, now, first of all, notice that we have a change here in this message. In the first three, if you look back at verse seven, you'll notice that the he who overcomes or to him who overcomes, that's at the end and that the call to here preceded it. Same thing in verse 11. He who has an ear comes first and then he who overcomes. And then also in verse 17, the same thing. Well, now it switches. And for this one and the remaining three messages, it's this order. The he who overcomes part comes first, this challenge to overcome, and then the call to here is last. Okay? So as you look forward in chapter three, you can see that in verses five and six, and in verses 12 and 13, and then verses 21 and 22. So this obviously raises the question, why the change? Well, that's a good question. Not quite sure how to answer this, and I'm certainly not alone. We can just say it changed and not think any more of it, but I'm inclined to go in this direction. I've mentioned to you already how this message is in the middle of the seven messages, and it's the longest of the seven messages, and so it seems like this transition here is also given here to highlight the importance of this message. Again, not that the other ones are unimportant, But this call here by Jesus not to compromise with the world is so significant that even in this way, it's changed to help highlight that point. But whatever the specific reason, obviously Jesus had a reason, and this seems like maybe the best idea. All right. Now, the second thing to observe is this. Notice that we have He who overcomes and He who keeps. Of all the other six messages, it only says, he who ever comes. This is the only one that has both, or at least an additional thought with it. And so every one of them so far, he who ever comes, it moves right into the promise. I will give him to eat of the tree of life. Or in verse 11, he shall not be hurt by the second death. But here we have this double he who. Okay, so first then, the one we've talked about, he who overcomes. That word can be translated as conquer, he who conquers, he who perseveres to the end. And as I've said now for the fourth time, this is basically referring to our sanctification. He who fights this battle against sin and is more or less successful. Okay. We are in a fight against the world, against the devil and against our flesh, our old Adam. And so sanctification basically is this battle. And on the one hand, we are fighting to say yes to righteousness and we're fighting against evil and saying therefore no to those evil things. And especially here, we are saying no to the temptation to compromise with the world. And so he who is overcoming this temptation, he who is persevering, not giving in to these things. Well, then secondly, we have he who keeps my works until the end. So the biggest question here is what are the works of Christ? What are we talking about? Well, last week, remember we talked about the burden. that he places upon us. We talked about holding on to what we have, and it is likely that those two ideas are talking about the law of Christ, what he has given to us to keep as his people. If you look at verse 19, of course, we have the word, I know your works. And then later in the verse, your works the last or more than the first. In verse 22, we have the word works again at the end of the verse, unless they repent of their deeds. It's the same word though there. And then in verse 23, end of the verse, I will give to each one according to your works. So we keep having this word works and here it is again. We likely should put all these ideas together then. The work of the believer, the work of Christ, the works that are done, the works that are not done. We're going to be judged according to what we do. Well, Jesus, of course, He did the works of God. He obeyed perfectly. He was righteous in every way. And so his works, my works that he's talking about are referring to the ones that he has kept, which means he's kept everything. He's kept all of them. But then closely connected to that then is that we are going to act like him. So if we use verse 19 here for a moment to refer to the works of Christ, Jesus loves like they love, but of course he loves perfectly. He loves the Father. He loves us, his people. Jesus, of course, lived by faith perfectly. He serves us, and he patiently has endured suffering so that we might live. And so we could use these words to talk about the works of Christ here this way. But the point is simply this, he who overcomes, he who keeps the works of Christ, he who overcomes the desire to sin, he who overcomes the desire to compromise, and he who is acting like Christ does with righteousness and holiness, well then there will be blessing, there will be reward. Now, a few qualifications here, of course. We are not talking about being perfect like Christ. If we could do that, we would not need Jesus. And so obviously when he says, keeping my works, he is not saying that we are perfect like Jesus, because nobody can do that. But Jesus has done it for us. And so therefore also, we are not talking about works salvation. For all the emphasis here on works in this message, Hey, we're not talking about earning your way to heaven. We are talking about Jesus who has worked for us and then us trusting in him and therefore living in light of his grace. Another caveat here too. We don't want to go down the path of like the Catholic church, for example, who say that Christ did some works and we need to finish his works. They, of course, use this idea that Jesus accomplished whatever it was, 75% of the works, and we need to finish it. We need to keep these seven sacraments. And if you don't do enough in this life, you can go to purgatory and do some more, and eventually you can go to heaven. No, that's not what we're talking about here. What Jesus is saying is for those who are acting like me, For those who do not compromise, for those who are working righteousness, then there is blessing. And our works as believers demonstrate, of course, whether or not we have a true faith. Totally different way of saying the same thing. Think of what we see in Leviticus several times, for example, that we are to be holy as God is holy. And so if we are doing that, then there is reward. All right. Now, before he gets to the reward, he has this prepositional phrase here, until the end. Now in verse 25, we saw it, till I come, same idea. We cannot be godly like Christ only for a limited time. We can't just do it here on Sundays when we come to church. We can't just do it for a few minutes in the morning or the evening in our private devotions. No, there is no limited aspect here of obeying Christ, but all the time, 24-7, 365, from now until we die, or now until Jesus returns. Joe reminded us in his prayer here a moment ago, Speaking of Frank's brother, that any one of us could die today, depending on God's providence for us. And we are to persevere until the end, whatever our end is, whenever our end is, and maybe we're alive until Jesus comes back. But this is what Jesus is talking about. The person who is overcoming, the person who is keeping his works, his law, until the end, That is the person who will receive blessing. And so notice then, sanctification isn't just a battle. It's a war. Sanctification isn't just a sprint. It's a marathon. It's a way of life. And if we do this, again, not perfectly, that's why we need Jesus, but if we strive to live for Christ, There are blessings. And so I asked them this question, as I've done before, how are you doing? Are you conquering? Are you persevering? Are you overcoming? And not just occasionally, but does it characterize you? Yes, there's going to be failures, there's going to be sin, but what is it that characterizes you? Does compromise characterize you? Or does holiness characterize you? What is your life described as? If someone were to say something about your life, what characterizes you? Does repentance characterize you? Because we fall so far short of perfection, repentance needs to characterize us too. Does perseverance and obedience characterize your way of life? Well, if it does, then Jesus promises some things here, okay? And notice how it begins here first. It says, Now you remember I mentioned, I believe it was a couple of weeks ago now, that Jesus references himself in this message 18 times when you include all the pronouns and so forth, which is far more than what we've seen so far. We've seen two or three times or maybe five or six, but here 18 times. Jesus is the one who is giving this reward. He is not delegating this responsibility to somebody else. Okay. It's not Peter at the pearly gates is going to reward us. Jesus himself will reward us. And so therefore the reward is sure. The reward is certain. Okay. He's not going to forget about it. He's not going to misplace it. He's not going to change his mind. Nobody's going to bribe him to do something different. Jesus is the one who gives the reward to his people who persevere to the end. And therefore also Jesus gives this reward justly. Okay. We all have experienced in one way or another, somebody receiving a reward that was not done justly. Okay, we've seen it, maybe at work or family events or something like that. Some reward is given. Maybe it's just a pat on the back. Maybe it's financial reward, whatever it is. And you know, we were like, well, you know, if you really knew what that person was like, you wouldn't give them the reward. We've all experienced that. But because Jesus is the one giving the reward, it's always going to be done justly. We don't have to worry that he's going to give an award to someone that doesn't deserve it. And we don't have to worry that Jesus is going to somehow miss our efforts at godliness. And so note the encouragement here. Jesus is the one who is giving. Now we've seen this in the last three messages, but again, with this emphasis on Jesus here in this message, it highlights the point even more. Now, the other thing to observe here is notice it says, to him, I will give this reward to him. No, that's an individual. And what we've just talked about, he who overcomes, he who keeps my works till the end. The reward here is for us individually. Jesus is not woke. He's not part of the neo-Marxist, you know, just give everybody a reward kind of a thing. No. Jesus is going to reward individuals based on what they have done. The key word we keep hearing today is merit. Well, okay. As long as we don't understand that to mean work salvation, but how we are working as people of God, Jesus looks at us individually, right? Look at verse 23. I will give to each one of you according to your works. Okay, and so note this emphasis. All right, now notice then there are two rewards that Jesus mentions here. The first is this power, and the second is in verse 28, the morning star. But as I mentioned earlier, we'll save that, Lord willing, for next time. And so, first of all here then, Jesus says, I will give to this person power over the nations. Your translation may use the word authority. Okay. Same idea here. Now, of course, when we think of the nations, we think of unbelieving nations. In particular, you think of rulers wielding their power harshly over the people under them, and especially against God's people. Hey, maybe you've heard just, I just heard about it this week, but just recently the Chinese government has said again, as they've done in the past, that they're going to crack down on all non-approved churches. Okay, there are five denominations that are approved, and of course they're approved because they just speak the communist doctrine and not the truth. But the ones who are actually preaching the truth, they're not approved. And so they're going to crack down on them again, like they've done before. You know, this is what we expect. Or maybe you've heard about what happened in Australia, that if you actually pray for someone to change, to be converted, that you can go to jail for that. Or maybe you've heard the example in Britain. of the guy who was standing, I think it was about a couple hundred yards away from an abortion clinic, standing there, quiet, head bowed, praying against abortion. He got arrested for it. These are just a few examples. But, you know, this is what we expect. The power of the nation, the authority of the nations against God's people. The world hates godliness. And we'll oppress those who strive for godliness. Satan, of course, hates when we seek to obey Christ. Our flesh resists sanctification. But Jesus says, I'm going to give you power. Now, let me do a couple things here. First of all, let's speak broadly, but let's also speak immediately. And then we'll look at his specific point. You know, when we overcome, when we fight in this battle, this war, when we are running in this marathon, as we become successful, that actually gives us authority to be even more successful. Now think about this. Of course, God changes our hearts. He gives us a spirit. He strengthens us so we can do righteousness. But the more righteousness we do, the more strength we're given, right? He is growing us in grace, giving us more power and authority to do what is right. And this is something that happens right away, okay, upon conversion. And so as we are striving unto righteousness, the old man loses his power. The allure of the world fades. Satan's temptations become less enticing and even the power of evil, described a moment ago with some of these nations, those things become less threatening to us because we realize that's just temporal and there are more important things. We can bear it more easily. And so we can apply this idea right now, we can apply it even in these broad senses here in our sanctification. But Jesus specifically says, I will give you power over the nations, over the unbelieving world. And so even though those unbelievers may wield the sword against us, even though they may abuse their authority by requiring people, in particular God's people, to participate in sinful behaviors and believe false things, even though they may force us in these ways in order to have food to eat or participate in civil society or to live in a certain neighborhood or go to a certain school or have a certain job or whatever it happens to be. Okay. Jesus says, I'm going to give you power. In fact, true believers have more power than any of these earthly powers. We have greater authority. Now, of course, that authority on the one hand is not fully displayed yet. It is an authority that exists, but authority isn't necessarily seen or accepted by the unbelievers around us. We may see some of that in the future, but again, Jesus' point here is at the very end when he returns, that's when the fullness of this authority is going to be given. So think for a moment of Israel and when they were in Egypt, they of course were oppressed by this earthly power for however long it was, a hundred years, 200 years, however long it was. But God then, through the plagues, gave Israel power over Egypt for a period of time, right? They plundered the Egyptians on the way out. Think of the Philistines, that over time they oppressed God's people. Well, God gave David, in particular, power and authority over these evil people. Think of Babylon, right? Obviously taking Israel into exile. And yet, especially through Cyrus, we see Israel having authority. You could even talk about Daniel or Mishael and Azariah and Hananiah. These men, they had authority over Babylon, even at that moment. But we do see it over time sometimes that the power of the wicked just fades away and God's people rise up and rule. But again, you see what I'm doing here. I'm trying to make some immediate connection, some broader connection, but Jesus' main point here is, I will give Him power over the nations, and this in particular is when He comes back. Let's turn here to a few passages. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 19 here first of all. All right, Matthew 19, Jesus is speaking to His apostles. And if you look at the end of the chapter, verse 28, it says, So Jesus said to them, Assuredly, I say to you that in the regeneration, right? So now the new heavens and the new earth, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, You who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel." And so obviously the immediate point here is the apostles are going to sit on these thrones. And we'll talk about that in Revelation 4. So then verse 29, and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lambs for my namesake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. Many who are first will be last, and the last first." Now, obviously, the authority point is spoken specifically of the apostles. But then he expands it to refer to anyone who has laid aside things of this world in order to follow Christ. The blessing here is eternal life, but certainly included in that is the idea of rule. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 6. Here's another example, 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 3 in particular. Know what Paul says here. Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life. And so at some point we're going to be given authority over angels. But notice what he also says, we also are having authority now in this world. And so he's like, you know, deal with your problems is his main point here, but we have authority now. It isn't just in heaven. It isn't just that we're doormats and we just, you know, grin and bear it. Hey, we have authority now, but ultimately at the end, we'll have this authority here too. All right, so then if you come back to Revelation and turn to chapter 5 a moment, this is when everyone is singing to the Lamb. If you pick up in verse 10, Revelation 5, verse 10, the subject here is you referring to the Lamb. And you have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth. Now, your translation may use they and them instead of we and us, but it's the same point. Jesus has made us kings. He has made us to rule, partly now, fully in glory. And so as believers then, we are kings. We are kings under Christ. We rule. We have authority over evil. And so don't act like a bunch of wimps. We have authority. And so when Jezebel comes to tempt you, when your old man says, you know, I really want to do these sinful things, you're not a wimp, you're a king. You have authority. And don't just say, well, that'll be someday in heaven. No, we have authority now. Use that authority to turn the other cheek. Use that authority to submit even to evil. evil rulers and people. Use that authority as you face oppression. But remember that we're the true rulers because of Christ. And so whether it's sin or the world or our flesh, even the devil, we have authority over these things because of what Jesus has done, because of who we are in Him. We are kings. So, you know, we often talk about the priesthood of all believers. And obviously this has to do with what we see in Hebrews 10, for example. Even Joe made reference to it, alluded to it in his prayer here a moment ago. Because of God saving us through Christ, we have access to God. We're priests. We can come before him in prayer. We also talk about the prophethood of all believers, and this is the idea that we all are to proclaim the Word of God to others. Now, we're not going to tell the future, we're not going to give new revelation, but we take the revelation that's been given in His Word and we proclaim it to others. We're all to be prophets in this way. Not just me, but every one of you. And then here, thirdly, we're not just priests, we're not just prophets, but we are kings. And so the kingship of all believers obviously is what Jesus is talking about. And what I'm saying is that's true now, not just at the end. And so live that way. Don't let sin control you. Don't let wickedness overcome you. Now, we may have to submit in the midst of it, okay, against evil rulers, but we have been given this authority. And because we have been given this authority, we can persevere. As we persevere, we're given more strength, right? You see it works together. We can also talk about the cultural mandate, the Great Commission, and all these things factor into this discussion here. But again, Jesus' primary point is if we persevere to the end and use this strength in the right way, then He's going to reward us with a future full power and authority over the nations. So as we look here at chapter 2 then, we come now to verse 27. And here now he quotes from Psalm 2. It says here, he shall rule them with rod of iron. They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels. And then he ends the verse and says, as I also have received from my father. All right, let's turn to Psalm 2 then a moment. Of course, we read from this earlier. And you may recall when I preached through this, whatever, a couple, three years ago now. Psalm 2, there are four parts to it. So first of all, verses one to three. Why do the nations rage at the people plot of a thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed saying, let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us. All right. Again, this is what the nations do. This is what the world does. God has established rulers, right? Romans 13, He has put them as responsible leaders here to wield the sword, to punish the evildoer, and to praise those who do good. Peter says the same thing in 1 Peter 2, okay? But that's all they're supposed to be doing. This is what God has given to them. They're not to be controlling markets or the economy. They're not to be directing education or own national parks or provide national banks. That's not their job. And so when Caesar starts doing things God did not ordain him to do, he then is throwing off these bonds, these fetters that God has placed upon him. And he rages against God, he rages against God's people and so The magistrate then becomes what we see in Revelation 13. Instead of serving God, he is serving the dragon. Instead of being a servant, he is now a beast. So, verse four now. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision. Then he shall speak to them in his wrath and distress them in his deep displeasure. Yet I have sent my king on my holy hill of Zion." So when God sees these evil nations rejecting his authority, he just laughs. It's kind of like when we watch our little toddler trying to assert their authority over us. We just kind of laugh about it. You can't do that. But we also see God bringing punishment. He judges them. And one of the ways he judges these evil authorities is by setting his own king on the throne in Zion. And that, of course, is referring to Jesus. And so note verse seven, then I would declare the decree. The Lord has said to me, you are my son today. I begotten you ask of me and I'll give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them to pieces like a Potter's vessel. And so God establishes his King and his King rules. His King is his son. And he has given authority to his son over all these things. And so it ends then verses 10 to 12. Now therefore be wise, O kings. Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear. Rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son lest he be angry. And you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in him. These wise rulers will listen to the son. They will kiss him. They will give him respect. They will fear him. They will submit to him. And when they do, then they will receive blessings. All right. So here's our broad point of Psalm 2. And you remember, as I preached through it before, that initially this is referring to David. Initially, even referring to some of the sons of David, but ultimately it's referring to Christ. He is the King. He is the authority, the governor, the ruler, okay? Now, obviously here in verse 9, this is the verse that Jesus quotes, okay? You shall break them with a rod of iron, dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. But as you come back here to Revelation 2, do you see what he's done? At the end of verse 27, Jesus basically says, hey, this is referring to me. And God has given me this authority. God has given me this power. But I'm giving it to you. So Jesus is the son of David. He is the son of God, right? Verse 18, we see that name used there. But we are sons of God. We are kings too. Vice-regents, yes. Princes and princesses under Christ our king. But we have the same kind of promise here. You know, when we watch the news or listen to it or read it or something like that, you know, we are constantly being told that as Christians, you have no authority. We don't want you to be a part of our secular society. Hey, we're hearing all this about terrorists right now and illegal immigrants and so on and so forth. But as you're watching these things and reading about these things, remember what God thinks about these authorities and how we fit into that as His people. Let's not just buy into this idea that Christianity is just a spiritual thing and we're only going to see this fulfilled in the new heavens and the new earth. There are applications for it now. But Jesus is emphasizing the end here. And so Jesus is the overcomer who rules and shepherds these nations with this rod of iron. But He is now saying, if you are overcoming, then you too will rule and shepherd these nations with this rod. Now, that word there for rule is also the word for shepherd. So there seems to be some benevolence there, not just smashing them to smithereens, but being salt and light. I mean, there's all this aspect here that we can include. But Jesus is emphasizing the conquering. And so we're going to use this rod to smash the unbelievers. Kind of like a dropped pot. I'm sure we've all dropped a pot or a glass or something like that a few weeks ago or something. Noah had a big jar of water and dropped it. And it went everywhere. You know, water everywhere, shards of glass everywhere. I mean, we've probably all done that or seen someone do it. Right? That's the image. And remember Thyatira, one of their guilds was pottery. So certainly they would understand this image. And so Jesus is saying to us, to us individually, I'm giving you this authority if you persevere to the end. The authority has been given already so that we can conquer the old man. We can have godly families, godly churches, but it's limited. It's partial. And it's not going to be fulfilled ultimately until he returns. So let's turn then to Revelation 19, where we see this then applied directly in this way. We've referenced this passage several times now. Let's do it again. Chapter 19, verse 11. Now I saw heaven open and behold a white horse. And he who sat on him was called faithful and true and in righteousness. He judges and makes war as is referring to Christ. He is the one given this authority, the son of David, the son of God. Now verse 12, his eyes were like a flame of fire. Oh, we've seen that here in this message, right? Verse 18 and on his head were many crowns, right? So he's king. He had a name written that no one knew except himself. Remember, we saw that in the last message. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God. So there's a reference to his atoning death. All right. But notice it's not just Jesus who comes at the end to conquer the nations. Verse 14, and the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. Or if we use the language here in this message, those who are overcoming, those who are keeping the law of Christ, his works, those who are righteous, who are holy, who are godly, well, we're part of this army too, because we are kings under Christ. And we then are going to go forth and we're going to conquer the nations. And so note what it says next, verse 15, and out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, and with it he should strike the nations. And he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. Obviously a reference to Psalm 2. Remember the sword coming out of his mouth? That's the long sword. It's referring to his words. And so then for, uh, The next part then, He Himself treads the wide press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His side a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. As you keep going through here, you'll see all these nations are destroyed, the beast, the dragon, the false prophet, all of them cast into the lake of fire. I guess the dragon is not until chapter 20, but you get the idea. All evil is going to be judged. by Christ and by us. We're going to join with him. So again, you see, I've been trying to do two things here. On the one hand, I'm wanting us to realize we have this authority to some degree now. And to some degree, we have authority over the nations now. The fullness of it, of course, won't be until the end. But don't sit around thinking that you're just a pushover, that you don't have authority over sin and over evil. You do. If you're a child of God, you have this authority now. Now, how we wield that authority is an important question. I talked about turning the other cheek and submission and so forth. That deserves far more discussion. But what I want us to see here is this authority that Jesus is talking about is something that you have this very moment. Wield it well. Use it to fight against sin and to fight against the desire to compromise. And the more you do this, the stronger you'll get, the more you'll persevere. And in the end, we will ride in with Christ and we will conquer all wickedness. Can't wait for the day. It's going to be a great day. And we get to be a part of this. But only if you persevere, if you do not compromise, and so forth. All right. Well, as always, we couldn't say much. But we'll pick up here in two weeks, because next week, of course, is Easter. And we'll talk then about this morning star. and what in the world Jesus means by that. So let's pray together. Our Father God, we thank you again for your word. We thank you for what you have given to us here. Lord, may we internalize and digest this truth. So the next time that we are tempted to look at things we shouldn't look at, or say things that we shouldn't say, or respond to somebody's sin aggressively and selfishly, or whatever it is, remind us, Lord, that you have given us power to do what is right. It's not just something in the future. It's something that we have now. Our hearts are changed. Your spirit is in us. You're growing us in grace. Enable us, Lord, to wield this power unto holiness and godliness. But Lord, also give us wisdom as we face a world that hates us and hates you and fights against all these truths. Help us to respond as you did, to respond well. But Lord, also give us patience, endurance, to persevere to the end. And Lord, we certainly yearn for that day that you will come back and all wickedness will be done away with. And that we too could ride in on these white horses and we could conquer the wicked and we can smash them to pieces. Lord, we yearn for this day. And again, we ask that you would enable us to persevere until that day. And so, Lord, again, we thank you for your amazing grace, your amazing blessings that you give to us, things we certainly do not deserve. May we then live in ways that reflect these truths and honor you. And so we pray for your strength in it and that your kingdom would advance and that we, as your citizens in your kingdom, would be honoring and pleasing to you in all things. We pray all these things said in Jesus' name, amen.