Well, our text this morning is from Colossians, the third chapter, verses 1 through 17. So I'll read that, but before we do, let me pray. before we enter God's Word. Heavenly Father, we thank you again this morning that we can come to your Word, Father. We thank you that you give us true truth, true knowledge, Lord, not only of who you are, but who we are as well. I pray this morning that as we enter your Word, Spirit, convict us, mold us, shape us, and turn our gaze heavenly where it belongs, oh Lord. Encourage us, Lord, by the power of your Spirit, and illuminate these truths to our hearts. Change us by your word. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So hear now God's word from Colossians 3, verses 1 through 17. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these things the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all. Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which you indeed were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Thus far, the reading of God's holy word, and may God add his blessing to the reading of his word. I may be seated. Well, good morning again, and happy Father's Day. Definitely want to take a moment just to say happy Father's Day, and fathers are a very important part, but most importantly today, we are thankful for God, our Father, and the fathers in our lives who have shaped us and guided us. Well, I too, just like some of the elders here, just returned from the General Assembly, and it was an honor to participate in the 50th this year. Our denomination celebrated its 50th anniversary, a testimony to God's work in our denomination. So may God continue to bless our denomination, His church, for His glory. Well, in Memphis, Tennessee, there is also a location there called the Lorraine Hotel. Some of you may know this spot, but that balcony stands silent today. It's a place where, in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. He was 39 years old, and it was 105 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. In a famous speech, King, with the statue of Lincoln behind him, declared, five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But a hundred years later, the Negro is still not free. Well, to this day, our country wrestles with these issues of racism and injustice, but Keene envisioned a day where that would not be so. He envisioned a day where we might savor the bonds of brotherhood among all peoples, and he sought to shed the shackles of bondage that still gripped the nation in the 1960s. His gaze was laser focused on this objective. His identity was secure in Christ. Now God's decree of salvation Christ has liberated us from the bondage of sin. Yet we still also wrestle with sin. Sin still distorts our vision, it clings closely to us, and it sours our taste. But like Cain, we know we are free in Christ. Christ is the victor. But sometimes, if we're honest, it doesn't always feel that way. Our flesh and the influence of others distorts what we see as reality. And Paul, too, is keenly aware of this. And that's why he's writing to these young believers in Colossae. There were some erroneous teachers who were adding things to their plate. Man-made religion, legalism. Well, if you are in Christ, if you are a Christian, you will do X, but it's not found in Scripture. There was distortion there. How to eat, how to speak, how to act. And much of this false teaching that is in Colossians came from syncretists, which is a fancy word to mean they conflated Scripture with culture. So they're bringing in their own desires, cultural desires, and merging it with Scripture. That's what's happening here in Colossians. And Paul issues a very stark warning here because their true faith was threatened by these teachers. And he shows the stark contrast, as we'll see, by using several different motifs throughout this letter and specifically in our text. Earth and heaven, old man and new man, death and resurrection, light and dark. He's contrasting all of these things to show them the truth. A clear worldview to the Christian is vitally important. how we see and experience the world and ourselves. I don't think we really have to argue or defend at the point that syncretism, this conflation of scripture and culture is a grave threat to the church and our own hearts as well. It's a poison that distorts God's truth and our faith. Our flesh turns our gaze outward instead of heavenward. We wrestle with these realities, and our flesh seeks to lead us astray in sin and identifying with the world. And perhaps we need to look no further than our culture, our nation's neo-sexual ethic. Express yourself to your heart's desire, however you want. Choose your orientation, choose your gender, Choose your identity. It's yours to choose, to pick. That is the world's, that is our nation's identity. That is what they proclaim. But Paul is very clear here. This self-worship is idolatry, which breaks the first commandment. And Paul here again is giving a contrasting vision. Christ has conquered our sin, and he's bestowed a new identity and orientation to our lives. It's done. It's complete. And that orientation is heavenward. And it has far-reaching effects. It's an identity that sets our vision. It's an identity that calls for us to continually shed sin And beautifully, as Psalm 16 describes, it's one where we can savor our liberation that we have in Christ Jesus. Friends, this is the heart of the gospel. This is the beauty of the gospel. And while we could spend weeks on these 17 verses, I had the fun task of trying to condense 17 verses into one sermon this morning. But we will hit some of the wavetops here. Specifically, I wanna highlight how the gospel radically alters our manner of living and all that we do. So first, set our vision. So our physical eyes give us vision, okay? I'm stating the obvious here. We rely on them for viewing things, for seeing all, and we interpret much of the world by what we see. Now, how many in here have been to an art museum? All right, a fair number. And perhaps you like art museums, perhaps they are boring to you. But if any of you are art fanatics, which I am not, but am beginning to appreciate it, Rembrandt was a man who deeply wrestled his entire life. with the realities I think we find here. This light and darkness, he wrestled on his journey with the Lord. But he painted a masterpiece called The Storm on the Sea of Galilee. Now some of you may have that image in your mind now if you've seen this. If not, I encourage you in the coming days to find it online and take a look at it. But it's a painting that's taken from the gospel accounts. When I first gazed at the picture, I was immediately drawn to the disciples in the boat that were in the light. They were frantically fighting the storm, a fearful look on their eyes, wondering whether they were going to live or die. And these men are in the lighted portion of the painting. And the other portion, perhaps less noticeable, is a little more dimly lit. And the depiction of Jesus, he's sitting there peaceably with several disciples who are gazing at him. But Jesus is intimately aware of their predicament. The vision of these disciples is towards Jesus rather than fighting the wind and the waves. But the painting has more than just meets the eye. Rembrandt is capturing something that we all, as humans, have to wrestle with. Mark 4.38 says, and this is the account from Mark, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Frantically, these disciples ask a question I think we, too, ask. After Jesus calms the storm, he says, Why are you still so afraid? Have you still no faith? Now our sail through life is tempest. We also have battering storms with small breaks of sunshine here and there. But where do our eyes gaze in those moments? Are we hurried in fighting the storm and wrestling the wind and the waves? Or do we simply sit with Jesus and gaze at Him seated upon the throne? Paul here draws our vision heavenward. We are to seek heaven. That is where Jesus Christ is, seated upon the throne. Verse 1 and 2 again says, if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. And this idea here, seeking and setting, I think are vitally important to us to grasp. It means a serious consideration to realize one's objective, one's desire. And I think our hope resides where our vision is cast throughout life, where we gaze. And again, Paul is framing this in terms of the contrast, heaven and earth, death and life visible and hidden. Presently, Christ is seated in heaven at God's right hand in an honored position. And he's advocating for you and I just as we read, just as he did on earth in John 17. His session, which means his seated reign. He reigns and exercises rule over all things. No storm, no tempest troubles him. He doesn't twitch his fingers or move his arms when things seem to go a little haywire. He's seated on the throne. And consider this too, a human, the God-man, sits upon the throne. Isn't that beautiful? And in fact, our fate, because our life is hidden in Christ, if you know Him, our fate is inextricably linked with Christ. And then now look at verses three and four, it says, your life is hidden with Christ in God, and you also will appear with him in glory. This means that we have a new, a set identity that's not changing with a flavor of the ice cream of the day. Our identity is set by Christ and it's permanent. It will last forever. Our self-description now is simply an adopted son or daughter of God. Sure, we might be fathers, we might be husbands, sons, daughters, we might work at this specific company, but our identity is with Christ. And those who are with Christ receive all of his benefits. His resurrected body, we will receive that one day, new life, holiness, righteousness, and knowledge. Brothers and sisters, you do not choose your identity if you are in Christ Jesus. Christ has already done so. And that's beautiful. And this identity must shape our worldview. It must set our vision. And since we are with Christ and He is our identity, our gaze looks towards Christ, seated in heaven, not seeking in vain earthly hopes that will fade. And I would encourage you, as we all know, don't trust your physical eyes. It's a very difficult thing to do as humans. But trust your spiritual eyes, gazing towards his word, gazing towards Christ, towards God, because your life is hidden with him. One day, we will behold Jesus face to face. Now Paul, again, he's intimately aware of this skewed vision that we have, and he helps us here. Hence the command, the idea here behind these verses, to have a singular gaze, seeking and setting our sight upon heaven. For example, our gaze on the road. Now, I don't want to hear about your stories coming to church, but our gaze, our focus, our vision on the road should be on the road when we are driving. But how often are we distracted? Oh, here's a text message. Wow, that's a really beautiful house. Or another driver cutting you off. You're wondering if they're gonna get around you. But our view is often skewed. It's often distracted. And I think this is true in life as well. So how do we train our vision? Well, the Word here helps us, and first, I believe immersion of our minds in the Word of God will set a proper orientation of our minds and our hearts. Jesus is the logos, the Word, and knowing the Word is knowing Christ. When God's Word is hidden in our hearts, When we recall the truth, when the waves smash against the boat that we're on in life, we can be still and know that he is God. Our thinking directs our living. Secondly, we must give serious consideration to our routines and our habits. Perhaps it's small things such as praying for that driver instead of cursing him, It may be seeking to honor a parent who you do not feel deserves honor. You see, when we know and immerse ourselves in the word and seek heaven, this naturally changes our routines, our habits. And third, we gain a singular gaze in living by scripture alone. Being immersed in Scripture helps us to live freely as Christ has called us. And the Colossians wrestled with this perennial problem of legalism as well. And we too fight it in our own community, in our own circles. We cannot consider the rules of man as divine. We live by Scripture alone. This was a highlight of the Reformation. We cannot bind another person's conscience where scripture does not. God establishes the rules and the right way of living. We do not. And this includes, for example, where you might shop, the person you need to vote for, and the beverages you can consume are not divine commands. And at the very least, for all of us, Paul calls us to seriously evaluate and train our daily vision. But this is difficult. And we are safe in Christ. That is our foundation. Jesus is the rock of our salvation. Identity confusion and crises are a hallmark of our age. I don't think you have to really dig too deep to find that out. It's an age where identity blows with the wind and are chosen from a thousand different flavors. A deathly pall hangs over the identities of our nation and many in the world. But this cultural air can infect us as well. We're not immune to it. It's like the smoke that we had recently. It fills the air. It may be that we tolerate acceptable sins, such as impatience with others, perhaps that driver, cohabitation of couples who even plan on getting married, or holding just a little resentment against each other. Everyone and everything is seeking to claim the throne of your heart. But Paul reminds us, Christ sits on the throne and he is our victor. He is our identity. And just as God assigns our gender, He assigns the Christian's identity, Jesus Christ. Our identity is safe in Jesus Christ. Our life is hidden with Christ in God. Don't seek identity elsewhere because it's been given to you. So whether the world confuses your identity or your own flesh attempts to deceive you, trust that you are hidden with Christ who is your life. That is what our text tells us this morning. Now after Paul addresses our spiritual vision, where to set our eyes and our identity, he explains this contrast. He goes into more detail of this contrast of earth, what is earthly, and what is heavenly. So let's look at this next section, verses five through 11. Paul is calling us to shed, to lay aside our sin. We are commanded to slay sin. Paul begins this contrast here in five, says, put to death therefore what is earthly in you. It doesn't align with your identity. It doesn't align with the family you belong to. He then provides these two lists, and we often see these lists in Scripture. The first set in verse five deals primarily, I think for a number of reasons, with sexual sins, and even as the ninth commandment, covetousness, involves as well not coveting another's wife. And the second set in verse eight, I think, includes some of the manifestations sin. Desire gives birth to sin, as James warns us. That's why our thoughts are so important. Sin is first a rebellion against God, but also against others. All sin is idolatry since it places the desire of self over God. When we claim we know better, which is what happens when we sin, we are placing ourselves over what God says is good and right. Now listen, if you are in Christ, you are a new creation. You are free. There is not a battle between sin and God in your heart. Christ is the victor, you belong to Christ, period. Sin does not have control or authority over your heart because Christ has redeemed us. He has conquered sin and death on the cross. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The way of sin here, Paul speaks about it in past tense. Verse seven, in these two, you too once walked. And in verse nine, you have put off the old self and you've put on the new self. Christ has slain sin and death. But that's not what we often feel going about life. You see, sin does not comport with who we are. It would be like turning on your faucet at home and having sewage come out of it. That's obviously something wrong. So when we sin, we are not living by the manner that accords with our identity. And I think this interface, we feel that sin sometimes has control over us. It's because of our own flesh. We still exist in our flesh. Our body is not yet glorified. Our desires are not yet wholly pure. So sin still clings closely to us. And our mouths still bless and curse and set a forest ablaze. But I want to encourage you, do not view sin as a big bad bear that you have to listen to. When temptation comes and threatens you, maybe even perhaps you feel threatened, your salvation feels threatened, consider it dead. because Christ is the victor. Christ has slain and conquered sin and death. Sin exerts no authority over you. The old man is dead, and this is reference to Adam, and the new man, which is Jesus Christ, is a restoration to the image of God. While we are still weak in our sin, there is strength in our restoration. This is beautiful, look at verse 10, which is being renewed in the knowledge after the image of its creator. Now this knowledge is specifically the knowledge of truth, capital T truth, God's word. Christ is the founder, he's the victor and renewer of his truth in your life. Now, in life, we experience this as a process called sanctification. Growing in maturity, growing in Christ-likeness, a restoration to the image of God. Knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. And this, brothers and sisters, is why we must immerse ourselves in scripture. It renews our mind, it renews, that's how God uses it to renew our knowledge. Now, rattlesnakes are dangerous, dead or alive. I don't know if any of you have had an encounter with a rattlesnake. Thankfully, I did not when we were at Fort Bliss. But a few years ago, a Texas couple were out doing some gardening, of course, like any couple, enjoying their garden, when a four-foot western diamondback rattlesnake reared its head. The wife screams, she's frightened as any reasonable person would be, and the husband, the heroic husband rushes over, takes a shovel, hi-yah, got him, severed, decapitated that snake. The husband slew the dragon that threatened his wife. What a good man. Mission accomplished, raise a glass. Well, after several minutes, you still have a mess to clean up, right? So the husband, well, what's the best place for this? Throw the snake in the trash. He reaches down, and again, this is several minutes later, the snake's head bites, digs in its fangs, and envenomates the husband. In fact, It was so bad he had to pry the fangs out of his hand. That's how hard the snake bit. The wife called 911 immediately. They rushed to the hospital. He had septic shock and internal bleeding. And soon after, he went into a coma. He was in a coma for four days. Well, after 26 vials of antidote in four days, he came out of this coma. The bite, though, had lifelong implications. His body was still damaged from this bite. A reptilian expert says that a snake's nervous system causes reflexes in the snake for a long time after its death. The dead snake head can still bite you, and I love this little phrase this expert said, and the other half will still rise and rattle, even after the snake's death. Jesus has slain our sin, but it still bites, rises, and rattles. Though we are dead to sin, it still reflexes and envenomates us at times. Sin rises and rattles, attempting to make us believe that it threatens our salvation, that it still somehow has a grip on us. And as we work and keep in the garden of life, snakes do abound, even though they were severed and conquered by Christ. The antidote to sin, the antidote here is the knowledge of truth. It's Jesus Christ. He is renewing our knowledge. And in order to shed sin, we need to see sin clearly, to be aware when we're working and keeping in the garden of life as we're called to do. We must be aware and see sin clearly. And Paul identified some of these here, which we read. These sin snakes, so to speak, anger, malice, sexual immorality, impurity, and so on. You see, each of us have big sins that we know, hey, stay away from those. I'm not gonna touch those, I know about them. Maybe it's adultery, cheating, I'm definitely not gonna murder, because we know that's a big one, or embezzlement. These are clearly wrong. So we see that sin, that snake, and we walk away. Those are easy to shed from our lives. But there are common sense, I think, that we are lax to guard against. Maybe anger when your child doesn't listen, dirty or crude jokes in the workplace or with one another, or impure thoughts that seemingly hurt no one. Or it could even be more sinister and covered with a veil of commonality. Slander against someone else. Slander is self-serving, even if one feels that it's for the common good. Well, if I paint this person in this light, it's really for their good. Slander against someone, especially in the household of faith, is slander against Christ's name. Jesus is not only head of the church, but he has put his name upon his church. And when we slander someone else, we slander Christ. So in all of this, we need to learn to see sin. Don't fear when it rises and rattles. Jesus's victory is our victory. We do not play with dead snakes. And for real, any children in here, do not play with dead snakes. because we can still get bit. Sin still affects us until the consummation of all things. And though a bite can occur, we have to remember that Christ has assured our victory. He has given us the antidote. And Christ's victory calls us to see our restored image properly. As we mature in the faith, we get bit, so to speak, less and less. God renews our mind in His Word. Even right now in the hearing of God's Word, He renews your mind. He renews you in knowledge. In your family worship, God is renewing your mind. In your conversations, thanking God, praising God in your homes or with one another, he's renewing your knowledge of him. He's restoring you to what is right and fitting, the creational design. And just as desires and thoughts give birth to sin, as James says, so too does a renewed mind in Christ give birth to a new vision, which is life in Christ. God works daily. He's always at work advocating. Spirit is always at work to renew us in knowledge and holiness and righteousness back to the image of God. Renewal happens both in individuals and together as the body of Christ. That's why scripture calls us to confess our sins to one another because this also is renewal. We confess, we assure one another of Christ's victory and God's work in our lives. And we grow in maturity when we do these things. As the body of Christ, Perhaps most beautifully, we learn to savor our liberation. And that's what we also read in Exodus 19. Paul's contrast here, he's contrasting darkness and heavenly light. We shed sin and put on Christ. And verse 12 is an echo of our common, corporate, body of Christ image here, a set-apart community. As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. Do you hear the echo from Exodus 19 that we read? We are Christ's treasured possession. He confirmed this on the cross. This is why we are a new man in Christ, and that renewal brings about compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, forgiving each other, and above all of these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Love drove Christ to the cross, and it's to be a hallmark our community because we are chosen and beloved. We are God's own treasure. So these verses not only contrast the previous verses 5 through 11, but I think they also contrast the church from culture. The Western world, as I've already said, prioritizes and prizes self-identity above all else. It is the penultimate goal of life, to express yourself how you choose. Its love is simply a recognition of those identities and others, saying, I see that and I applaud that. Perhaps that's why June is Pride Month. because our nation values identity above all else. But the church, on the other hand, bases its identity upon Christ, which is everything opposite of the self. Our identity is found in someone else, namely Jesus Christ. We lose all of ourselves so that we may gain all of Christ. Love of the church is defined by Jesus recognizing our rebellious identity and giving his life for ours. And this, my friends, is why Paul calls us to put on these things. Because Christ is our all. We are not our own. We are bought with a price. Christ's blood. So savor Christ. Savor the liberation that we have in Christ. And for those dead snakes in the garden of life, stand victoriously over them because they're dead. Christ owns you. He is the victor. And because Christ is a victor, you too can stand victoriously over sin. Now verses 15 and 17 tell us the characteristic marks of this community, our church, the greater church, which shaped and should shape our hearts and our homes. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you, richly teaching and admonishing, singing with thankfulness. Do everything in the name of our Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God. You see, we do everything in the name of our Lord Jesus, since he has done everything for us. Our victory, our freedom, our holiness, our goodness, anything that we have of any value is because of Christ. And when we give thanks to God for it, we're savoring. that redemption, that liberation that we have. We do this here this morning in gathered worship. We do it around the dinner table. We do it when we confess our sins to one another. You see, all of these verses echo Genesis 1 and 2. It says, God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. Male and female he created them and said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Jesus's victory on the cross renews us into this image, this creational image that God made us. We can bear with one another, and bearing the fruit of forgiveness, bearing the fruit of compassionate hearts and humility, because of Christ, we can bear these good fruits now. Now, I think though that part of the challenge is that most of us lack the ability to savor something good. You may be in the same camp as me here, but what I love is the innocence of children. Now, my daughter, Abigail, knows how to savor things. I have learned a lot from her, but she knows how to savor a s'more. She waits intently and patiently, watching me roast that marshmallow. for the several minutes that it takes, smash it together, give it to her. Oh, pure delight. It just comes up. She will eat it with absolute joy. A crumb falls to the ground. Ah, it's fine. I'm enjoying this cracker that's in my mouth. The marshmallow is all over her face, and I've seen it on her arms and her legs. I've had to give her a bath sometimes. But she does this and her smile widens. It's pure delight. She doesn't care about how messy she is. She doesn't care about stuff that's falling to the ground. She doesn't care about what's happening. She is savoring that s'more as it should be. All of its wondrous gooeyness. Now it takes her 15 minutes to eat one of these s'mores. And what am I doing that 15 minutes? Check on her, you know, look, oh, she's enjoying that. I mean, I'll put away three or four s'mores in 15 minutes. And I'm sure many parents feel that way too. I'm eating it. I'm not letting any crumbs fall to the ground or any gooeyness get over my face. I wanna eat it, you know, properly and rightfully. Yeah, it's good, it's good. Okay, next one. I'm not really savoring the s'more very much. So Abigail's helping me learn how to savor a s'more. I enjoy s'mores for seconds, not minutes. Abigail's enjoying them for minutes, even running into bedtimes. But perhaps this is why Jesus says the kingdom of heaven belongs to children. It gives us a glimpse into savoring Christ, his redemption. And if you're like me, we savor our redemption, I think sometimes on a functional level, knowing cognitively we are saved. Yes, knowing the right stuff, the right answers, but we miss out on the pure enjoyment and savoring what Christ has done for us and delighting in it in daily life. You see, when the body of Christ is strong, we savor well together. Enjoying Jesus's forgiveness in your own life means you're gonna enjoy forgiveness among your brothers and your sisters. Treasuring God's love for you spurns you to treasure others as well. This is savoring Christ and his liberation of us. We are called as a body to put on these things Paul tells us. they should characterize our body of Christ here locally. And just as Abigail's savoring of the s'more is infectious to mommy and daddy, again, I'm learning this, so is kindness, forgiveness, and compassion. Those are infectious among us. We learn to savor. When we see someone else savoring these things, we too learn to savor what Christ has given to us. And this portion that we have here makes for healthy hearts. Our hearts are nourished when the word of Christ is our portion. And singing with one another in thankfulness in our hearts to God, Christ's victorious peace rules our hearts as it does all the time. But small thoughts and actions also affect heart health. Instead of complaining about someone, perhaps forgive them, perhaps pray. Perhaps you were hurt by a family member or friend recently, or maybe even years ago, and that seed of resentment or bitterness has grown up, and now it's bearing fruit, it's in your garden. In word and deed, honor Christ as Lord with thankfulness, because you can do such a thing. You bear the name of Christ. We do as his body. So these elements, setting our vision, shedding our sin, and savoring our liberation, it's kind of a tall order for us, and Paul knows that. But thankfully, the God-man, Jesus Christ, advocates right now to the Father on our behalf, just as he prayed in John 17. I am praying for them. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth. And for their sake, I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth. Fellow Christians, indeed, the lines have fallen for us in a pleasant place. We have a beautiful inheritance, and at the Lord's right hand are pleasures forevermore. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you, O Christ, have come, and that you did not want your own will, but your Father's will to be done. and that you went to the cross, bore our sin, our death, and God's wrath, Lord, and you rose victoriously by God the Father. So we thank you, Lord, and we pray that for any in here, all of us who struggle with sin, Maybe there's perennial weeds that continue to come up or snakes that continue to bite. Father, I pray that you would help us to experience more victory over those. We pray that we would rest alone, sit with you, Lord, and enjoy your victory. So be with us, encourage our hearts, and may your word dwell richly in us for the sake of your glory and our good. In Jesus' name. Amen.