2 Timothy chapter 3. We will be in verses 6, 7, 8, and 9 this evening. We'd best read the entire first nine verses. But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come, for men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power, avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women, weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Janus and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also opposed the truth. Men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress, for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Janus and Jambres' folly was also. Thank You again, Lord, that You've called us into this place to gather in Your name, to enjoy this fellowship, and to hear from You. We pray, as always, that Your Spirit would be our teacher, and that You would give us understanding in our minds and in our hearts. And we ask it in Christ's name. Paul continues to warn Timothy about the enemies of Christ, His people, and His message, His gospel. And we recall as he wrote this final letter to Timothy, he was in prison, second time. He's facing imminent execution. He and all of the rest of the apostles were all being martyred at this time. And the mission of the gospel was going to fall to this next generation, including Timothy, be it to them to continue the building on the foundation that had been laid by the apostles and prophets. So he continues to exhort Timothy to sound doctrine, preach sound doctrine, stand firm against false teaching, and be an example of godly life among the flock of Christ. And Timothy, you're going to have to do this in the face of both false teaching and suffering, persecution that is to come. In verses 20 through 26 of chapter 2, Paul reminded Timothy, despite all of these obstacles, the firm foundation of God stands. It's built on God's eternal decree, on God's eternal will, the covenant of redemption between father and son. It's built on his election of a people to call to himself to live with him in eternity. It's built on the work of Christ, and it's built on the gospel. So the gospel is going to go forth despite the persecution, despite this error that will be preached throughout the days of the church. Our mission is to win the lost to Christ. and to disciple believers, to encourage one another. And as we seek to gather the sheep of Christ, we must seek to avoid quarrels, must treat people with kindness, gently correcting, Paul says, those who are in opposition. And then he said, Realize, though, in the last days, meaning this whole time from Christ's first advent till His return, difficult, perilous times will come. And so, Paul is, again, he's not talking about the final few weeks before Christ returns, as some would erroneously read this. He's talking about the entire period of Christ's church, and we see that in verse 5 when he tells Timothy, you've got to avoid such men as these that I'm talking about. And we looked at Hebrews 1.1. He spoke of the last days as the time in which God spoke to us in His Son. In these last days He has spoken to us in His Son. 1 John 2.18, children, it's the last hour. When Paul wrote that in the last days difficult times were going to come, he was warning Timothy. These difficult times are going to come in Ephesus in the first century during his lifetime. And he says, you must avoid such men as these. And then in verses 2 through 5, Paul wrote of the evils that will characterize these last days, the evil men who will be present throughout these last days. And he listed 19 items, and we went through them all last week. There's a similar list, by the way, in Romans chapter 1, verses 29, 30, and 31. But it's these evil men, false teachers, who in great measure make these last days so difficult. Men will be lovers of themselves and lovers of money, and we just read through all of these. And the issue is men are more focused on love of self than they are on love of God. Paul finished that list with lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. And again, you suppose that such men will exist only in the final days before Christ comes back? Hardly. Men and women have been marked by these characteristics from the fall of Adam. So men love themselves rather than God, rather than their neighbor. And we know, not only from Scripture, but from experience, that the natural state of men is one of self-indulgence, self-gratification. We don't have to be taught to love and serve ourselves. We have to be taught to love God and others. And money is what enables men to serve themselves, to fulfill their fleshly desires. And that's why it's number two on Paul's list here. And so at the end, though, Paul returned to his starting point. All these sinful traits that he listed here in verses two through four flow from men's love of self, from self-indulgence, from the desire for and the pursuit of self-gratification. Now if anybody doesn't remember when those things described you, we should all think back probably. Because that's how we all come into the world. Under the influence of Satan, under the influence of the course of the world, and walking according to our own lusts. But when God does a work in a person, he gives him a new heart, a new life, and then he tells us, now I've enabled you to walk in the newness of that So, these men, who are of all these traits, are described as having a form, a semblance or appearance of godliness, but have denied its power. Today we see a form of godliness all around us. Roman Catholic Church, very formal, a lot of pomp and circumstance. We also see it in heretical sects like Christian Science, Jehovah's Witness, Mormons. We see it in pagan religions such as New Ageism. In secularism, form of godliness, a form of righteousness. All of the secularists tend to see themselves as very righteous. more righteous than those of us who worship the Lord Jesus Christ. In so-called Christian lands, the world adopts many Christian forms, talking about God and religion and morality. We have a national day of prayer. Is it to the God of the Bible? No, it's to Allah, it's to Confucius, it's to Buddha, it's to all of these pagan gods, as well as, on the part of true Christians, the one true God. So many, even when we have this national day of prayer, a form of godliness, many are praying to gods of their own imagination. Pagan Greeks, pagan Romans, American Indians, all had forms of godliness, but without the power of God. And where do we find the power of God? In the gospel. Romans 1 16, the gospel is the power of God for salvation to all who believe. to the Jew first and then to the Greek. The gospel is where the power is. In the Word of God is where the power is. Administered to us by God the Holy Spirit. Now, verses 7 and 8 of chapter 1, Paul assured Timothy, all Christians have been given God's Spirit, who endures believers with this power. And he asked Timothy, you've got this power and I want you to join with me now in suffering for the gospel. He reminded Timothy that it's God in his power who saves sinners and gives us life, imparts life to us. And he cautioned Timothy to avoid these men that he's described now in verses 2 through 5. Avoid such men as these. The pastors of the Christian church, Calvin says, will have to deal with wicked and ungodly men throughout. the time of this age. Just as the prophets had to in the ancient times. They came after Jeremiah. They came after Isaiah. They came after all of them. Just as they came after Christ and opposed Christ. Look at how the Pharisees treated Christ. Well, Christianity is treated that way in the world today. Paul had to face numerous attempts on his life. Timothy would as well. So there's a job to do for all of us. So now verses six through nine, Paul's focus turns specifically to the enemies of Christ in first century Ephesus. And the necessity that Timothy be prepared to stand against them and to hold to the truth. And you know the application for us is really obvious here. We too must stand for the truth and stand against untruth. So those who are described here in verses 6 through 9 are among those who've just been described in verses 2 through 5. Look at verse 6. For among them, among those people, those wicked men, are some who enter who are infiltrating, present tense, sneaking into households and taking captive. Weak-minded women, weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, or motley lusts, as one translates. Now, Paul's not speaking of all women here. Let's not come to that conclusion. That's not what he's talking about. He's not suggesting that all women are weak-minded or silly, as some translate. He's not suggesting all women are weighed down with sins. But some are. Some are. And they are the targets of the wicked men, the false teachers who seek to take them captive by their deceptions, by their false doctrine. Look, men seek to gather up followers after themselves. That's what wicked men do. That's what unregenerate men will do. Gather up followers after themselves. Now, Paul's writing about men who were doing these things in that time in Ephesus. But this kind of danger was present not only in Ephesus and not only in the first century. In Galatians chapter 2 verse 4, Paul wrote this. But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in. who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage. Bondage to the old Jewish sacrifices, exactly what these Torah Club people are doing. The first fruit of Zion is to bring people back into the practice of these obsolete rituals. And they were, notice, secretly brought in. Deception is the mark of these people. Second Peter 1.1. But false prophets also arose among the people. Here it is again. Just as there will also be false teachers among you. Now who's Peter writing to? Well, Peter is writing to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. He's writing to Christians all over. False prophets arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you in these places. And look at the words again, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies. You see what the pattern is here of these men. It's a pattern we first saw where? Where did we first see secretly deceiving words in Scripture? In the Garden of Eden. And who did he go to did he did Satan go to Adam? Who'd he go to? He went to Eve It was Eve who was deceived. It's Eve who was deceived Why did he go to Eve? Because he thought she'd be an easier target for whatever reason and she was she fell prey did God really say that He just doesn't want you to be like him False prophets, Peter says, also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality. Now why would somebody follow the sensuality of a false teacher? They want to. And what is it that attracts them to the false teacher? He's telling them stuff they want to hear. He's promising them stuff. As we'll see. Because of them, the way of the truth will be maligned. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Now, are there really people today who are posing as preachers of the gospel and going on TV and asking people to give them money, to send them all their money? They're all around us. You know, you'd think this wouldn't be the case. That people who are Christian pastors, or at least present themselves as such, are doing this. Because of their what? Because of their greed. They exploit you with false words. And their judgment, Peter says, from long ago is not idle. Their destruction is not asleep. And then Jude 4, verse 4, For certain persons have crept in unnoticed. Here we go again. We've got this secret deception. Those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our Lord into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. What's licentiousness? Well, generally speaking, it speaks of sexual immorality. But you've got two sides of this. You've got people saying, you've got to go back and obey this law like they were doing in Galatia. You can't be saved just by believing in Christ. You've got to perform all the rituals of Judaism. And there are religions today who say, look, believing in Christ isn't enough. You've got to perform these rituals we have. Then the other side is saying look the grace of God means you can do whatever you want. You're already saved It doesn't matter how you live two sides of error Well in those days they entered houses to capture weak women Now there's an interesting word here the word for a woman is gune Greek this word is Gunai Karya, it's a diminutive of literally little women, childish women, weak women. It's used here with a negative connotation. So it is the immaturity and moral weakness of these weak-minded women that make them susceptible to the false teachers and as Jim said the promises that they make. Tell them what they want to hear. This would seem all strange to us if we didn't realize this is going on a million fold today. People send money to these charlatans. They send hundreds and thousands of dollars to these charlatans because they're telling them something they like hearing. The false teachers, what do they do? They employ flattery, they employ superstition, false promises, and other deceptions. And Paul says here, they enter houses of weak women, presumably single or widowed, or whose husbands are out at work. Probably when their husbands are not at home, is the idea it seems here. They're visited by these peddlers of strange doctrines. Now, going door-to-door was a very normal thing in those days. Today, it's not so necessary to go door-to-door to reach somebody with falsehood, is it? All you got to do is get on the YouTube, put it out there. Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons still go door-to-door. And this was the evil practice in Paul's day. It began in the Garden of Eden, and it's going to continue until Christ returns. And today, you know, you think about operations like the Home Shopping Network, others, that are aimed primarily at women. Today, many are far more prone to seek to sell just their wares for money rather than focus on converts to some philosophy. But that's not Paul's focus. He's not focused on the deceitful commercial marketeers. He's focused on the false prophets and teachers. And so the practice, which still goes on today, the false prophets of today, do show a close resemblance to these men of Paul's day. Still today, men who visit women in order to ensnare them fail to take sin seriously. They often deny everlasting punishment. And they tell people what they want to hear. They will surround themselves with teachers who will tickle their ears. And so what they're preaching usually is a religion, a false religion that's false because what its intention is to satisfy the flesh, not to feed the spirit. So men wormed their way into houses and practiced this falsehood, and they come with the novel doctrines which offer an easy way out. Even if you're a believer in God and recognize your sin, you could be susceptible to these men if they promised you a way of forgiveness of your sin, a way that you wouldn't be punished for your sin. And there's only one way for that to happen, and that's believe in the gospel. So today though they enter through TV and the internet and radio still. Only the, and I can't think of a third group, the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons still go door to door. Not necessary to do that to deceive weak women today, or men, and persuade them to follow false doctrines. And though it may be called Christianity, it's actually another religion based on another gospel. So Paul says here, weak-minded women, and I would add and men, are led captive because false prophets of this sort, through their various tricks and deceptions, gain their ear partly by prying into their affairs, partly by flattery. You know, the way to get somebody's attention is to talk to them about themselves. Get them to talk about themselves. It's not all that secret. They're not successful with all the women either, by the way. Many are far too sensible to become dupes of these false prophets. And, you know, Paul, lest he be called some sort of misogynist, he had a very important role for women in the church in Ephesus. 1 Timothy 3.11, he talks about the necessity of women fulfilling requirements of godliness. Same thing when he talked about the widows in 1 Timothy 5, 9, and 10. He's saying it can't be put on the list unless they are godly women, unless they're prayerful women who seek God. But there's always the women who can be taken in by the charlatans. And they exist both inside and outside the church. And these are the ones who can be captivated by charlatans and their false message. And so he says they're not only weak, they are heaped up with sins. They're living sinful lives. Now, there's a lot of discussion among the theologians about what sins he's talking about, and Paul doesn't tell us. But the expression speaks of a multitude of sins, which begin to bind the conscience and sear the conscience. It puts them in a state of spiritual disorder. So they're susceptible. If you're lost in sin, you may be susceptible to hearing the gospel and responding. You also may be responsible to an easier way out. An easier way to deal with it. So even if they're afraid of the consequence of their sin, they're not necessarily ashamed of them. And they just want to not bear the burden of their sin. So they're targets for that reason. Third, such women are led on by various impulses. And she's talking about sinful impulses. One translates it motley lusts. So they're not only overwhelmed by their past sins, they're still being led by a bunch of sinful desires. When the Holy Spirit comes and resides in you, and you come to believe in Christ, those sinful desires should begin to ebb. It's a work for each one of us. It's a work of sanctification that God is doing in us. And He works in all of us at a different pace. But one of the marks of the new birth is you turn to hate your sin. You don't like the sin you were involved in. Well, these women are involved in sin. They're burdened by their sin and they are still being subject to various lusts and impulses. And he doesn't specify what they are. But they all flow from a couple things. What does all sin flow from? Love of self. Love of self. From a desire for self-gratification. Whether it's a lust for money, whether it's sexual desire, or for the honor of men, to get the acclaim of men, to gain recognition, all of these are sinful desires. Paul says these weak women are led on by many lusts. Some see these as basically dealing with sexual sin, but there's a lot of sins here that he's talking about. When he says various, he's talking about a number of different kinds of sin. And, you know, you're not worried about your sin unless what? What kind of people are worried about their sin? Yeah, people who are concerned and who know, wait a minute, there might be a judgment for this sin. There might be a punishment that awaits me. And people who know that their sin is wrong. So if I can come to you and say, look, you don't have to go through this whole Christian thing, but you can deal with your sin in this way. And believe me, they're out there. People will fall for it. And Christ just says, all you've got to do is come to Me and follow Me. Take up your cross and follow Me. So some of these would be even believers. Some may be even Christians, or at least think they're Christians. Some are in churches, certainly. But women of this kind don't feel comfortable in churches where true repentance is preached as the cure for sins. Now, a fourth characteristic of these women. They are always learning, but they're never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. See, we can sit there and study and get all kinds of information. We can read book after book. We can read the Bible 10,000 times and not come to a knowledge of the truth. That requires that God do a work in us. These women are of a type that's always learning. They're avid for learning. They fancy the so-called wisdom of new ideas. See, new ideas are a real danger point. Somebody says they've got something new about Christianity. Go out there, get on your motorcycle, and go away as fast as you can. People get attracted to secret inner wisdom. All the lore of what the spiritualists come up with. I mean, how did New Ageism catch on? And this worship of self, and this idea of pantheism, that God is in everything. Not God isn't the person we meet in scripture. He's just in the trees, and he's in the grass, and he's in the wood. People will buy just about anything. These women are the type who will do exactly that. Want to check what's the newest thing? What's the newest thing? They enthusiastically are listening to these guys who are peddling this garbage. They're learning things that are placed in front of them. Whatever it is that they're taught, okay, I learned that. I got it. I know all about what Shirley MacLaine's preaching. But none of the things they're learning have the power to bring them to the knowledge of the saving truth. Only the gospel can do that. They're not learning and embracing by faith the one truth that can save them from their sin and from its penalty. So they accumulate information. but not the knowledge that saves. They may become learned in the old Jewish myths and geologies. And remember what we've been reading here. These false teachers, many of them were teaching the old myths and genealogies. They may have learned from some of these false teachers they should never eat certain foods. Or they may have learned some new schemes to make money. They may have learned that Jesus was going to return in 55 AD. Or they may have learned that he was going to return in 1848, as William Miller claimed. Or in 1849 when he got it wrong. Or they may have learned that Jesus was going to return in 1988. They may have learned that Jesus was going to return in 2000. And they take all this and accumulate it and become an expert in knowing what year this one said and what year that one said. And of course all of it is useless, ridiculous false information by false prophets. So they're always learning false, useless information. They're like some of those of whom Paul wrote in Ephesians 4 14 Who he described as being carried about by every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men by the craftiness and deceitful scheming Having nothing solid in themselves. They're tossed about in all directions. They learn as people do who are just under the influence of curiosity. Who have a restless mind. But they never get to the truth. They think themselves very wise oftentimes. You know, when somebody says of somebody, she's very spiritual, that person is going to be looked at as a great intellect, very spiritual, really in tune with the universe. These people are put up on a pedestal. They think themselves wise, they're thought of as wise, but they don't even begin to know the truth. The very falseness of the teaching is what renders them unable to learn the truth. Terrible consequences that these women never really learn the truth. Because Paul's desire is not to castigate these women, his desire is to tell Timothy, you've got to warn these women about this. We're now seeing the same phenomenon with the heretical first fruits of Zion teachings and the very largely female Torah clubs they've spawned. They catch weak women who feel that biblical Christianity has not satisfied them. I need something more. It has not worked for them. Yeah, I tried that. Christianity isn't something to try. It's a way of life. It's a way of surrender of your life to the Lord Jesus Christ who came down to earth, the Son of God Himself in human flesh and went to a cross. This isn't something to try. This isn't something you're looking to work for you. And so such women are easily persuaded to return to the obsolete practices of Judaism. Why? In order to feed. They're going to do these rituals, works, that can't save in order to feed their spirituality. These men who have been propagating this for the last 30 years, by the way, just came around 30 years ago, right back to Galatians and the Judaizers, need to be exposed. I appreciate that Randy Powell made an attempt to do that. Because this stuff leads people nowhere, but back to that which could not save them. Beginning just 120 years ago, Pentecostalism and other forms of excitement and entertainment began to replace the true gospel and the preaching of the Word of God as the focus of the Christian worship service. And they've captivated millions in virtually every denomination there is. They've drawn them away from God's truth. And today, both weak-minded women and weak-minded men are being taken in. And it's by the millions. And so, while the purveyors of these doctrines no longer go door-to-door, by and large, millions are reached every day by purveyors of falsehood through TV, through radio, through the Internet. And legions, I mean legions of false prophets and false teachers populate all three mediums. Verse 8. Paul gives us an example. He's showing these men were predecessors. Janus and Jambres. Just as Janus and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also opposed the truth. Now, Moses came with the truth. These men who are following in the footsteps of Janus and Jambres are men of depraved mind, Paul says. They are rejected in regard to the faith. Paul likens the false teachers to these men who opposed Moses and who opposed the divine truths. Now, who were these two men? Well, their names appear nowhere in Scripture, but they do appear in the Jewish writings. And they are believed to have been the Egyptian magicians or some of the Egyptian magicians and sorcerers who opposed Moses before Pharaoh and tried to replicate the miracles that Moses was doing. And the names were widely known also in the pagan writings at the time. So when Moses told Pharaoh, let my people go, then proved his divine commission by performing genuine supernatural works through the power of God, Pharaoh's magicians. And as I said, Janus and Jambres came to be known as two of them. Whether they were or not is almost irrelevant. People thought of them that way. They performed counter miracles. And Paul cites the example of those magicians who, whatever their real names may have been, they were known by these names, Janus and Jambres. So they would have been known, and the work that was attributed to them would have been known, to at least some of the Jewish members of the church in Ephesus. And maybe to some of the false teachers who specialized in what? Myths and genealogies. So here we have Janus and Jambres, and they're mentioned not so much because of doing magic works, but as examples of men who stood in opposition to the truth. So they withstood Moses, God's own servant. And they helped to harden Pharaoh's heart against the voice of God. In exactly the same way, false teachers oppose themselves to the truth, hardening the hearts of their targets against the blessed saving truth. They're of the same character. They're men of corrupted, depraved minds, Paul says. And if the mind is corrupted, it places an obstacle to the truth reaching the heart. We're transformed. We hear the word of God spiritually. But when the mind is corrupted, it creates a great obstacle to that. So Paul is mentioning them to remind Timothy, we don't have to wonder that this is happening. It's always happened. It happened in the Garden of Eden. It happened in the days of Moses. It happened in the days of Christ on earth when he was opposed by the religious leaders of the day. And so it's going to happen in your time and in your church, Timothy. These men, they pretend to bring true doctrine, claim the church and its ministers have falsified the doctrine, they gain followers, they prove dangerous to Christians. And when you call a false teacher on his false teaching, they will react to the truth in a beast of loud objections, as though you are the one who is misguided. But they're heretical and blasphemous if they're not preaching the Word of God, and these men clearly weren't. And so the Holy Spirit, through Paul, has given Timothy and us this warning, and this has been the whole thrust of this letter. Watch out for the false teachers. in two letters to Timothy. Here's how Paul has spoken. He's spoken of the false teachers as men whose teaching leads to foolish, ignorant, useless speculations, who do not lead people to saving faith, men whose consciences are seared as with a branding iron, men who are conceited and have a morbid interest in controversial questions, men who engage in worldly and empty chatter which leads to ungodliness, and men whose talk will spread like gangrene, and who for a time are able to attract followers to themselves. Paul says something interesting in verse 9 as he concludes this section. He says, "...but they will not make further progress. For their folly will be obvious to all, just as Janus and Jambres' folly was also." See, eventually Janus and Jambres could not perform the miracles that Moses was doing. And so they were exposed. And eventually, what did Pharaoh do? Take your people and get out of here. And the people gave them all their jewelry and property. He insisted they go. Paul promised Timothy here, they shall be exposed and disgracefully ruined. We see them today. They do have an audience for their folly. And it may seem like they're never going to be exposed. But remember, we're just living here in a little 30-year cutout of time where we're watching these things. We'll be gone, and so will they. And they will be exposed. There'll be others to follow them. We have this myopic viewpoint that has, well, they're looking, he's still having success, but it'll end. Their lack of understanding, their lack of truth, their deception, their falsity will become clear. God's true children should be the first to see the folly of them, but others will see it too. I don't know whether all is used as a figure of speech here, like when they said all Judea went out to John the Baptist, but the point is Yes, they're successful in deceiving at first, and they obtain applause, acclaim. It appears nothing is going to stop them. But their deceptions are always exposed, certainly as before true believing Christians who believe the Word of God. Because the Lord opens the eyes of those who seek Him, so that they begin to see what may have been concealed by the deceptions for a time. And so, to encourage Timothy in this, Paul reminds him, look, the deception of Janus and Jambres also became evident. And Paul says the same is going to happen with regard to these false teachers. So while the time of each individual false teacher lasts only for a season, there's going to be more deceivers to follow them. This will be the way. He said in the last days, this is what's coming. It's going to be a mark of this whole period. They'll flourish for a time, then they're detected, then they fade away. But the true doctrines of God, they never fade away. In God's doctrine, there's no deceit. There's only life and truth. This is a battle for the truth that's been going on for many centuries, and it's going to continue until Christ returns. So we need to be vigilant. We need to know what the Bible teaches us. We need to read it. We need to avail ourselves of sound preaching. We need to be on guard against that which opposes the Word of God. And we must be willing to stand in the breach for the truth, for God's truth, the only truth, the gospel that can save anybody. You're here because you believe that truth. And the warning is for all of us. Let us be vigilant. Let us be thankful for what God has done in opening our eyes. And let us stand firm. Let us pray. Lord, we know we are of all people most blessed that by your grace you've opened our minds and hearts that we can know the truth and believe the truth and understand the wickedness of our hearts and our need for cleansing, our need for an atonement for our sins that we could never provide ourselves. So, Lord, we again thank You that You have sent Christ, that He has paid for our sins, and that He has filled us with His Spirit, that we might be guided by Your Word and by Your Word alone. Lord, grant that we would always cling to Your Word and to resist that which is contrary to it. In Christ's name, Amen.