Please remain standing for the reading of God's Word. I want to invite everyone to open up their Bibles and turn with me to Proverbs 5, verses 1-8. Proverbs 5, verses 1-8. This is going to be the text for our sermon and also our scripture reading this morning. So, hear now the words of the Triune God. My son, be attentive to my wisdom. Incline your ear to my understanding. that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge. For the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil. But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, and her steps follow the path to Sheol. She does not ponder the path of life. Her ways wander, and she does not know it. And now, O son, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Well, over the last couple of weeks, we have taken a couple of classes in God's University of Wisdom, which is the Book of Proverbs. I see a couple of new faces with us this morning, and just to sort of catch you up, our sermon series has been through the Book of Proverbs, and so far we have learned the foundation of wisdom, which is the fear of the Lord. We've learned how to acquire wisdom as well, which is through the source of all wisdom, God's Word. We are to read it, we are to study it, we are to memorize it, we are to pray it back to God. This is the way in which we receive wisdom. We have learned the wisdom that is found in trusting the Lord. God provides in prosperity and pain. This Lord's Day, however, our lesson is about the wisdom of faithfulness, or the wisdom that is found in fidelity. Fidelity in your marriage, fidelity to your God, to our God, and fidelity even to our future spouses. Specifically, Proverbs 5 is a warning about the consequences of adultery. More generally, Proverbs 5 is a forewarning about sexual sin. In our culture, I think all of us would agree, our culture needs this lecture more than ever. We live in a time of unparalleled access to sexual sin. And while sexual temptation, sexual sin has always existed since the fall, since after the fall, the temptations have never been more available and on display than they are today. Joe Rigney, one of my favorite more contemporary Christian authors, writes in one of his books, quote, first century Christians had to deal with temple prostitution. Victorians faced brothels, but not every Christian had a brothel in their pocket. That is what Joe Rigney writes. And so while Christians today face a unique challenge to pursue holiness, the wisdom of God and the warnings that we find in his word never change about the subject of sexual sin. His commandments are given to us in love and therefore are good, and it's when we abandon God's design for sex and marriage, that folly and calamity will soon come. And so we will walk through our passage under three headings this morning. We'll look at the way of fidelity, the way of calamity, and the way of proximity. And so beginning with our first heading, the way of fidelity, read with me verse one. And it reads, my son, be attentive to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding." Now, here are familiar words that many of us have read and seen if you've been with us through our series in the Book of Proverbs. And once again, we have another moment where this loving father appears before his son. He pauses. He takes a deep breath and imparts wisdom to him. The wisdom that he is imparting to him is about adultery. It is about fornication, which is fornication being any sexual sin outside of marriage. Fornication is sort of the general topic here. This is what the father is trying to address with his son. And it is without question that this father would have been obedient to God's commandment in Deuteronomy chapter 6 where parents are instructed to teach the commandments of God to their children. And with that being said, I just want to clarify. Just because Proverbs 5 is a father speaking to a son does not mean that this chapter does not apply to women. The father of Proverbs 5 most certainly imparted this wisdom to his daughter as well. And so therefore, as we're coming to Proverbs chapter 5, as we're walking into it, I want us to just be aware that this is speaking both to male and female, both genders. I know men have a particular sexual inclination, that we have a more disposition to sexual sin, but nevertheless, I want just to make that clear, Proverbs 5 is for both genders. Nevertheless, the father would have taught his son about marriage, that one day he would leave his mother and his father, and become one flesh with one woman. The father would have also taught him about the Seventh Commandment, which says, He would have warned his son about the consequences of breaking the seventh commandment, which was the death of both parties. I want us to listen here to Leviticus chapter 20, verse 10. Leviticus is a book about the purity and the holiness that God's people should pursue. And it says this, if a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. And dear saints, Leviticus chapter 20, this passage here, this text, is a reminder that the consequence of sin, which is our failure to conform to and also our transgression of God's law, is death. The consequences of sin is death. However, I also want us to note that Proverbs 5 is not so much about the knowledge of the Seventh Commandment. It's not so much of a reminder about the punishments that one will experience if they violate it. Rather, it is a father imparting to his beloved son wisdom about how to fight sexual temptation in this life, which will surely come. The father isn't an idealist. He doesn't think that this world would ever bring sexual temptation to his children. He also doesn't think that his son won't fall into fornication, because he grew up in a godly Christian household. Rather, the father understands that his son will be tempted and he is prone and will feel the pull to fall into sexual sin. And it is the reason this father wants his son to be attentive and incline his ear towards his wisdom, to listen with a heart to obey, to listen with a heart to fight the sexual temptation that will surely come in this life. Dear Saints, verse one is a reminder to you and me that the Christian life is a battlefield. You may have memorized the Westminster Shorter Catechism, what is sin? You may understand that the consequences of sin is death, and may be able to articulate God's law very well. You may have even the ability to articulate the gospel in a very, very profound way. However, the warning here is that it is altogether something different to wage a holy war against our sin, and especially sexual sin in this world. Sexual temptation and sin, we've read the Bible, has made the wisest and strongest men utter fools. Solomon, the primary author of Proverbs, the wisest man to ever exist, became a fool because of sexual sin. 1 Kings 11 tells us that Solomon loved himself some women. It has a list there, Moabite, Ammonite, Edenite. Sidonian, Hittite, the list goes on and on and on. It even says that he had 700 wives and 300 concubines. In 1 Kings 11, verse 2, it says that Solomon clung to these that he loved. And what was the consequence? Well, if you look at 1 Kings 11, it says, and his wives He's already outside the design of marriage, God's purpose for marriage, having multiple wives. But it says here, and his wives turned away his heart, and that he was not wholly true to the Lord his God. Verse six even says that Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. And because of his insatiable love for women and sexual sin, The Lord brought about his downfall. We can read a little bit about that in the book of Ecclesiastes. But dear saints, the Christian life is a battlefield, and we need to be aware that we are in a three-front war against the flesh, the devil, and the world, to pretend that the Christian life is but a playground. and that this war is not to be taken serious, and that sexual sin isn't something that we should be playing around with, or that we can play around with, that is. It is utter foolishness, and it will lead to our demise. The flesh, even when indwelt by the Holy Spirit, will thirst for the cup of sin. The devil, knowing the weakness of man, will forward that which will make us fall. And the world, really having no care for Christ and what he has to say, will happily promote a lifestyle contrary to God's law. And so if we do not incline our ear and become attentive to Proverbs 5 and God's wisdom about what he says about sexuality, about marriage, about fornication, then we will become fools and we will also fall as well. It is the will of God that we take sexual temptation and sin seriously. Many people will ask the question, well, what is the will of God for my life? And there's the secret will of God, and there's the will that is towards His people that is found in His word. And the one thing, dear saints, that we can be sure of is that a life that fights sexual temptation, that lives a life that is within the bounds of God's design for sexuality and sex, is His will. I want us to listen to 1 Thessalonians 4, where Paul writes, For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality. that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passions of lust. Dear saints, purity, sexual fidelity to your wife, to your future wife, to your God is God's will for your life. That is one thing that we can know. And I want us to continue to verse two. Father says that you may keep discretion and your lips may guard knowledge. In our first sermon of our series, we went through the seven facets of wisdom, the different facets of wisdom that we could find in the Book of Proverbs. This was in Proverbs 1, verses 1-7. And the final facet that we looked at was discretion. And this is the same word that we find in verse two. And in the Hebrew, this word means, it's sort of describing to be careful, it's to have a thought-out plan. It conveys the act of paying close attention, sort of being strategic. And really, discretion is the difference between impulsivity and a thoughtful execution. The aspect of wisdom that the father wants his son to use here is specific, and it is discretion. He wants him to be careful. Now, I want us to look at the phrase, your lips may guard knowledge. This is the next phrase, and it tells you and I where the father wants his son to use this discretion in his life. And this phrase is uncommon in the Bible. You don't find it a lot. However, some scholars suggest that it is a euphemism, which are words or phrases that substitute for more blunt or harsh terms. So what are some modern examples of a euphemism? Well, today, if someone has gained weight, they might say, well, I'm big boned. If someone says, well, you know, someone who may be short, they might say, well, you know, I'm vertically challenged, right? Or since we're on the subject of sex, we might substitute that phrase, that word for the phrase the birds and the bees, right? So some sort of euphemism is what some scholars think is happening here with this phrase. And I think the evidence is compelling, that the phrase your lips may guard knowledge is actually a call to protect the intimate knowledge and experience of sex. Tremper Longman, an Old Testament scholar, writes, there may be a double meaning here since lips are used not only to speak, but also to kiss. Another scholar by the name of Golden Gate says the reference of knowledge is a standard euphemism for sex. And I think we see that in the book of Genesis. We go to Genesis chapter four, verse one. It will say that Adam knew Eve. It's this intimate knowing through sex, in the context of marriage. You see that multiple times, all throughout the Bible. Lastly, J. A. Kitchen, another scholar, says, And so suffice to say, what the father is telling his son is this. Plan your days and live your life in such a way that you do not impulsively fall to the temptation of sexual sin. Guard this intimate knowledge, experience, for the proper time and context. Save sex for marriage and keep it this way. Well, dear saints, this wisdom is foolish to the world. the world is going to say, don't keep discretion. The world's gonna say, don't guard your lips from knowledge. And today, the promotion of this wisdom finds its roots in the sexual revolution of the 1960s, a movement with one of its aims being the liberation from the biblical sexual ethic. The proponents of this revolution desired to broaden, and I would even argue destroy, the boundaries of acceptable sexual behavior. But, The reason for this revolt was because of also a sinister lie, a nefarious lie that undergirds really this revolution. And it was this. That sex isn't just something we do, but it is something that we are. Or put another way, sex is the foundation to human happiness and is definitional to human identity. And if you believe this notion and you take this notion to be true, there's a logical conclusion here. And that is this, that to find fulfillment in our identity, man needs to liberate themselves from the chains of God and his law, which is viewed as an oppressor and a suppressor of our happiness in this life. It is the reason why the world says, don't use discretion. Don't guard your lips from knowledge. It's the reason why sitcoms and movies portray marital infidelity as romance and fulfillment. It's the reason why young men are encouraged to find their masculinity through sleeping with as many women as possible. It's the reason why feminism promotes or promises that in sexual promiscuity is where you will increase your self-esteem. Feminism promotes that empowerment is found in a modesty. It's the reason why pornography is endorsed as healthy and absolutely normal. Dear saints, even though the world is shifting more and more away from a biblical ethic, we need to remember, first and foremost, that God's commandments are good. Deuteronomy 10, verse 12 speaks about this. It reads, Now Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all of his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good. God's commandments are not given to fulfill his needs, nor are they given to us to improve upon his goodness. Neither are these commands arbitrary, simply just to make our lives miserable, Rather, God gives us his commands such as do not commit adultery for our own good. And we can know that they're good because God is good. We know that they are good because God knows us better than we know ourselves. And we need to remember this because the world will continue to tempt us to believe that there is more satisfaction in disobeying God than obeying him. that God is oppressing and withholding you from happiness in this life is Satan's oldest play in his playbook. This is the sinister lie that set death and destruction into motion in paradise. And the truth is, when we leave God outside of the subject of sex, what follows is calamity and not happiness. And how so? Well, let's go ahead and move to our second heading, the way of calamity. Read with me verse three. For the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil. For the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil. Now here we're introduced to the forbidden woman. She appears many times in the book of Proverbs. In other Bible translations, she is called the strange woman or the foreign woman. And she is strange because of her unwillingness or, sorry, rather, willingness to operate outside of the moral law of God. And she is foreign not in the sense of her ethnicity, that she's foreign to Israel, but rather because she is someone that you do not know. Simply put, this woman is an adulteress or an immoral woman. She is someone who lures others into sexual immorality and away from the path of wisdom. Now, I want to make a clarification here, as well. The forbidden woman can also be a forbidden man, as well. So, once again, this is speaking about both genders, but just because the father is speaking to the son does not mean that it doesn't apply to females, as well. And the Father uses two metaphors we need to look at, and it's to help the Son discern the forbidden woman. He uses two metaphors, and it's that her lips drip honey, and second, her speech is smoother than oil. And what these two metaphors describe are really just seductive speech. What the Father is saying this is, the forbidden woman will tell you everything you want to hear, and deliver them in such a way to allure you to know her. Everything you're going to hear is going to sound sweet, and her words are going to smell like fine oils. However, read with me verse 4, but in the end, she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Now, unfortunately, I have some literal experience with wormwood. Years ago, I dealt with some serious gut issues, and after some testing, they actually found that I had some parasites and some issues with my gut, and among one of the treatments was actually a prescription of wormwood. I had never, I didn't, I always read it in my Bible, didn't know it was actually a thing that people took today. And in the ancient Near East, wormwood, just like today, has some medicinal uses. And let me tell you the experience. There's really no words to describe how that tastes. It is the most bitter, disgusting, I'll just leave it there, thing that you could drink. The Greeks actually named Wormwood, the Greek word for undrinkable. Not even the lowest of life forms want it. Wormwood was actually used and placed in between clothes or around clothes to keep out moth and maggots and insects from actually destroying the clothes. and also just for it to kill off parasites. I mean, you gotta know it tastes awful, right? But in the Old Testament, wormwood is used to describe everything from bitterness and affliction to remorse and punishment. In Revelation, wormwood is used to describe the aspect or the calamity that will fall upon the earth. And so suffice to say, the father is telling his son this. Son, the forbidden woman is going to present something that looks like honey, but it's going to taste like literal death. The father even says that her words are sharper than a two-edged sword, and in the Hebrew, that word, two-edged or double-edged in some translation, just simply means with mouth or a mouthful. And the image, really, that the father is trying to paint is an image of a beautiful woman, and she might be dressed nice, and she looks great and wonderful, and there's honey on her lips. But when you look into her mouth, you will see teeth full of swords ready to devour you. This is the image that the father is trying to portray to the son. And dear saints, verses three and four give us a lot to meditate upon, give us much to consider. And here are at least five things to consider given verses three and four. First, these verses are a reminder that the fall into sexual sin is subtle. One pastor or preacher once said, the deadliest sins do not leap on us, they creep on us. Verse 3 warns us the temptation into sexual sin begins really with the foundation of relationship, which is words. Communication is the first step into fornication. It begins with hearing words of respect from another woman that your wife won't say. It starts with hearing words of care from another man that you never hear from your husband. It begins with interactions with the opposite sex that make you feel understood in the workplace. Single women, it's going to come from a charming man that's going to tell you you're beautiful. Single men, it's going to come from a text late at night. And I just want to make a clarification here. What I'm not saying is that men and women cannot talk with each other. What I am saying is that we need to be vigilant about the nature, frequency, and really emotional content of our conversation, especially within the realm of marriage. Sin is subtle, and we need to be cautious about the words that we use. Second, the consequence of sexual sin is always the opposite of what it promises. When it comes to sexual sin, it always promises pleasure. When it comes to sexual sin, it's going to promise happiness. However, we need to remember that while sin will present itself bright as the morning, in the end, it will be dark as night. Sin will promise joy, but it's going to deliver wormwood. Third, sexual sin will lead you in places you never intended to go. Proverbs 7, verse 22, verse 23 speaks about this. This is also in the context of sexual sin. Speaking to his son, he says, all at once he follows her, and as an ox goes to the slaughter. When it comes to sin, We often never believe it will lead us to death, or the destruction of our families, or of our reputation. We think we can control the direction that we're going with it, but rather, in the end, we will realize that it is ultimately controlling us. This is the danger of sexual sin. Fourthly, sexual sin will hold you much longer than you ever plan to stay. We think we can control the sins of our lives, We think we can be the ones to get away with it, one of the first people to ever do it. We think we will be careful and cautious that no one will fall out, but eventually we will fall into our own sin. We will fall into our own trap. And this is the truth. This is what the father speaks about to his son in Proverbs, same Proverbs, but in verse 22 he says, the iniquities of the wicked ensnare him and he is held fast in the cords of sin. Sin is nothing to pet and put back in a cage. sexual sin will eventually grow and it will grip you. And fifth, and finally, sexual sin will hurt more people than you ever imagined. Proverbs 5, if you look at verses 12 through 15, warns that if you continue in sexual sin, you will wake up one day in sorrow and regret and say, how I hate a discipline. and my heart despised reproof. I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors. I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation. Dear saints, these are the temporal consequences that one will experience in their hot pursuit of sexual sin, in fornication. However, not only is there temporal consequences, I also want us to note here that there are also eternal consequences. I want us to read verse 5 here. This is about the forbidden woman, and it says, Now the lifestyle of the forbidden woman, it's heading in a particular direction. This describes someone who's unrepentant, who has made a practice of sin. And the destination is Sheol. It is the residence of those who have lived and died, especially prior to Christ's coming. It is a intermediate state wherein souls are dealt with according to their lives on earth. In the Greek, or the Greeks, rather, they called Sheol Hades. Sheol is a place where there is no return. Job 7, verse 9 says he goes down to Sheol, and he does not come up. It is a place of darkness. The psalmist writes, It's a reference to Sheol. It's a place of torment, as well, for the wicked. In Isaiah 14, verse 11, speaking to God's enemies, The New Testament teaches that everyone in Sheol, or Hades, will be thrown into the lake of fire, which is the realm in which we know as hell. That is the eternal state. It is the destination of all those that did not look forward to Christ before his coming. Jesus describes hell as the unquenchable fire, the eternal fire, being in outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. But not only do we know that the forbidden woman or man, right, this person who makes a practice out of sexual sin, where their eternal destination will go, Proverbs chapter 5 actually gives us the reason for why they're going. And simply put, the forbidden woman, she does not know God. She did not look forward to the future promises of the Messiah. Look here at verse 6. She does not ponder the path of life. Her ways wander, and she does not know it. In other words, her immoral behavior is the fruit of never considering the author of life, who gives the path of life. Because she lives a life with less God, her life becomes Godless. Because she does not fear the Lord, her life is one of wandering. One commentator writes, she lives in the moment. If pleasure calls her to the left, to the left she goes. If something allures her to the right, she staggers after it. There is no thought for tomorrow. And because she rejects God, her final destination is into Sheol, and ultimately, in the last day of judgment, into hell. And the unfortunate part, if you look at the text, she doesn't even know it. She doesn't even know it. Now, dear friend, sexual sin is serious not because a single act of sexual immorality causes you to lose your salvation. Rather, the seriousness of sexual sin is found in its persistence, pattern, and practice. If there is anything that is evident that you might not be saved, it is the practice of sin. And this is just not coming from me. This is actually coming from the Word of God. 1 John 3, verse 6 says, everyone that practices sin does not know God. And it is the reason why Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6, verses 9 through 10, don't be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality will enter the kingdom of God. They will not enter the kingdom of God. Dear saints, this is very serious warnings about the consequences of sexual sin. Let's move to our last heading here, the third heading, which is the way of proximity, verses 7 through 8. Read with me. And now, O son, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your way from her, and do not go near the door of her house. While the fight to defeat and mortify sexual sin, the sin in our life, needs to be holistic, Verse eight is a foundational strategy in our war against sexual sin. And the strategy is this, never willingly put yourself in a position to be tempted. And the reason why we're never to put ourselves in the position is because we often want to see how close we can get to the edge of the cliff. We often want to see how close we can get to the sun without being burned. And it's the reason why the father tells his son In Proverbs 6, verse 27, also as well about warning about the sexual sin that may come to his son's life, he says, can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on hot coals in his feet and not be scorched? In other words, if you get close enough to the edge, you get close to the sun, you will be burned. Sexual sin will burn you. We are not to be like David. looking out on his roof, letting his burning passions and lust consume him. Rather, we are to be like Joseph who, when sexual temptation came through Potiphar's wife, he fled because he could not sin against the Lord. Clean, useful lust, as Paul would say in 2 Timothy, is God's wisdom to you and me today. We also need to consider that we also need to be aware of how close sexual sin comes to our mind, how close we go to it. Fornication is just not a physical act. that one commits, but rather it is first and foremost one that is committed in the heart. Jesus says, even if you lust after another woman, you have committed adultery in your heart. You're saying, all this text is calling us is to be vigilant about the temptations of sexual sin. And what does this actually look like? Well, today this looks like deleting certain apps from our phones, making sure there are filters on our Wi-Fi, deleting certain contacts, avoiding certain places with certain people, and removing even certain films or music. The question for you and me this morning is how serious we will take God's wisdom and warning. We may continue to pray every Sunday, lead me not into temptation, Lord, but are we also taking obedient measures to never come close to sexual sin's door? That's the call for us this morning. Well, before we end, I want to share some encouragement to us that may have, for some of us, that may have a heavy heart this morning, after sort of everything that has been said. The subject of sin and hell and sexual sins are subjects that are, without question, convicting and burdensome, no? There's a reason why many churches and pastors avoid this topic altogether. It doesn't feel good for the congregants. Definitely doesn't bring more people in. However, Juan Carlos and I would not be faithful if we did not confront and address these sobering realities, these realities which the Bible speaks so clearly about. And this morning you may be carrying the guilt of your own sexual sin, whatever that may be. Maybe you even recognize that you've made a pattern and practice out of sin and now you're sort of in your mind working out your salvation with fear and trembling. Others right now might be having a sense of shame, deep sense of shame. And if this is you right now, I want to remind you of something important, something to consider. In the Old Testament, God promised to deliver all the righteous, all those that look forward to Christ and even believe in Him today, out of the realm of Sheol. God said in Hosea chapter 13 verse 4, I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death. O death, where are your plagues? O death, Sheol, where is your sting? That might sound familiar to some. If it sounds familiar, it's because Christ's life, death, and resurrection fulfilled this promise for us. those who have fallen into sexual sin. And it is the reason, dear saints, and even unbelievers may be in this room, that Jesus says, this is the reason why Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives in me, believes in me, shall never die. And dear unbeliever, if you feel the weight of your sin, even though your sin be great, I want you to know that there is a greater Savior. that there's no sin too wide that Christ can't cover, no sin too heavy that he can't lift, and no person so sinful that he cannot redeem. And it is because of his resurrection that you could be more sure of your resurrection unto eternal life than you are to rise in the morning and say, with other Christians, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? There is salvation and redemption and freedom in Christ from sexual sin. And to your saints, this is to the Christians, for those who have fallen into sexual sin, maybe we've waged war against it within our life. What I want us to call us to do is confront your faithlessness with God's faithfulness. Confront your faithlessness with God's faithfulness. Our faithlessness will cause us to despair. Our sin will ignite a sense of hopelessness in our minds. But never forget that though we are faithless, God is faithful. And he has sent his son to die for our sins and to redeem us. One of my favorite hymns is Before the Throne of God. And just with myself when I am in despair, in hopelessness, I'm always reminded by God's faithfulness towards me by one of the stanzas. And it says, this is a lyric, a stanza, Before the Throne. And it says, when Satan tempts me to despair and tell me of the guilt within, of word, I look and see him there, the one that made an end to all my sin. We need to remember that, dear saints. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for your word. We thank you, Lord, for your wisdom. Lord, let us not be Flip it, Lord, with these commandments, with these exhortations, Lord, but let us truly come to take measures, Lord, that will keep us sexually pure, sexually faithful, Lord, to our wives, sexually faithful to our future wives, sexually faithful to our Lord and God. Help us to understand the gospel, Lord, that there is forgiveness, even in this realm, which is so touchy, which is so weighty, Lord, which is so burdensome, Lord, We also know that you lift that burden, Lord, through your perfect life, death, and resurrection to redeem your people, Lord. Through your work, we have been freed from the penalty of sin and also of its power. And help us to remind that. Help us to believe that. Help us comfort our faithlessness with God's faithfulness. We ask all these things in Christ's name. Amen.