We resume our study this morning in Hebrews chapter four. So if you would turn in your scriptures to Hebrews chapter four. He would follow along as I read this chapter. Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also, but the word they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as he has said, as I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest. Although his works were finished from the foundation of the world, for he has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day, and God rested on the seventh day from all his works. And again, in this passage, they shall not enter my rest. Since, therefore, it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, he again fixes a certain day. Today, saying through David, after so long a time, just as has been said before, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken of another day after that. There remains, therefore, a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from his sight. but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. Let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. Now, I'm going to begin with a question for our children. And you know, whenever I address the children, I'm really addressing all of you to listen in. But you children, do you know what to ask yourself? Let me have everybody's attention. Everyone. You kids and do all of you know what to ask yourself when you read the word therefore in scripture? It's a real simple little ditty to remember. When you read the word therefore, you ask yourself, what is the therefore? Therefore, right? It's a springboard to something else. It's a type of word that propels you forward to the next point. It's a way of saying, now that you've understood this, let's go on to consider this. Now that you've understood that, let's consider this. All right, you follow along. Keep me on your toes. For instance, we could say, for instance, God has given your parents charge over you. Parents who love you. That's the principle. You are to honor God by loving and honoring and obeying your parents. So the one, the first is a principle and a springboard to the next point. Another example, you and a friend are paddling down river in a canoe and you see a sign and you see a warning sign that reads, danger, a thousand foot waterfall ahead. Well, that's the that's the truth. Therefore, you tell your friend, let's get out of this river and go back home. So the therefore is there for a reason. So Hebrews four begins with that word therefore. Now, let's be certain we remember what he just said before we go on to the next point. If you recall last week, Hebrews 3 was a severe warning. We're told the Holy Spirit, and we talked about how absolutely critical it is to understand the authority of the warning. The Holy Spirit says today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. We're also told to take care to not fall away from the living God. And he brought up the example of Meribah and Massah. That was the occasion when the people of God grumbled and complained to God, and it provoked God to anger. They did this at the beginning and the end of the 40-year period. And he says that for 40 years he loathed that generation. They utterly provoked him to anger. And it was evident by their lack of obedience, their lack of trust, and God promised them and said to them that because of their disobedience, because of their hard hearts, they would not enter his rest. Therefore, let us fear. That's how he begins chapter four. Let us fear that any one of you should also come short of entering his rest. And let me pause again here and just remind you what I reminded you last week, that we are not engaging in an academic exercise as passive observers. But we're entering into the text and heeding these warnings and understand that these warnings are coming to us. We're not passive, idle bystanders. And we're not just looking at grammar and looking at literature, we're looking at the very Word of God. And that warning that the writer of Hebrews gave to the first century Hebrew Christians is the same warning given to us. So therefore, let us fear. Let all of you and all of us here fear. Should we also come short of entering God's rest? The urgency of the warning is this, that for them, it's too late. For that generation who were wandering in the desert, it's too late. They miss their opportunity to trust Him and make it to the promised land. They miss their rest from their wandering. But God has given another promise of rest. And while there is opportunity to enter His rest, Do not harden your hearts and do not fall away from him. If you look at verse 2, for indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also had good news preached to them. But the word that they heard did not profit them. Why did it not profit them? It was not combined with faith. It was not mixed together with faith. And how easy is that for us to do as well? To hear it. To hear it over and over and over and over again, but not to enter into it with faith. He goes on to say later that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the confidence in things unseen. That's the definition of faith. So it's one thing to hear it, it's another thing entirely to believe it. And what marked the difference were the people who heard it and didn't believe it. So the question for us is to not continue in any dullness of spirit and dullness of these truths, but to ask yourselves, is what I'm hearing in God's Word mixed with faith? That's the catalyst of the power of God is the faith adjoining his word. Otherwise, it means nothing. It's just dead words on a page. So that was the difference, united by faith. Now, I want to emphasize for a moment the various ways that God describes those who are not in Christ, those whom he promises to judge In his anger, those who will be considered outcasts from him. So listen to the way that they are described in this passage in chapter three and four. Describes them as having hardened hearts. If we think about that, what just a couple of evidences, what do you understand is a hard heart? Anybody? Pardon? Pharaoh's heart was hardened. Lack of love. All of those. Right. Exactly. And he says that they always go astray in their hearts. You see a consistent pattern in the description of these people. They have hard hearts. They always go astray in their heart. And he also says they have an unbelieving heart. Discontentedness. So it's more than an intellectual disagreement. It's the seat of the affections. It's the very nature and the very person down in the depths of who you are, your nature. Do you have a heart for the Lord, or is your heart hardened? He explains or describes them as being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. He also uses this word, they're disobedient. And this is a key point as a descriptor of a wayward, unbelieving heart. All too often in our day, the distinction is made between obedience and belief, and there's the idea that you can believe but not obey, and this passage emphasizes the point that the two go together. You cannot believe and disobey. Disobedience is evidence of unbelief. The two go together. Next week, if I understand right, George is going to fill in for me and he's going to give a discussion on the weightier things of the law, which I'm sure will touch to some degree on this point of the difference between the law and grace and how it's been distorted. Now, another description in chapter four, verse two, the word they heard was not joined with faith. Without faith, the writer of Hebrews says later, without faith, it is impossible to please God. Absolutely impossible. If you do not have faith and what's the evidence that you do have faith from what we've talked about so far, what's the evidence of faith? Obedience. Now, can you have obedience wrongly placed and relying just on the law and what you're doing? Absolutely. But we're talking about a right and proper faith that is evidenced by obedience. Now, we're going to enter into a good portion of this passage now that comprises verses, let's see, Really, verses 1 through 11, where the writer begins to talk about the consequences of the warning. The consequences is what? As he said it. Do you remember? What are the consequences of falling away and having an unbelieving heart? As evidenced by the wandering Hebrews. You remember, they shall not enter my rest. And that's the that's the point that he's making. And that's the analogy that he draws is they did not enter my rest. And the warning is, is that if you hear the word and it's not united by faith, you, too, will not enter my rest. And he goes through a long discussion about the rest of God. So that's what we want to focus on now. There this is a little bit difficult to navigate through if you go line by line. But I think the way to approach it, at least the way that it helps me in my understanding, as I read through it, is that there are three key persons mentioned in this argument. He mentions God. He mentions David and he mentions Joshua. From Hebrews 316 through 318, that's when he introduced the the wandering Hebrews, we see that he establishes there this analogy that the promised land represents God's rest. Now, this point has been argued in discussions about whether or not the Sabbath continues as a weekly observance. And I believe that that analogy is limited. As with all analogies, what I mean is that some people will say the promised land is not representative of God's rest because once they got into the promised land, what happened? There was absolute unrest. So they will therefore say that you can't make that distinction that the promised land equals God's rest. But I think as we read this, this is so obvious that the writer is making that very distinction. that the promised land is analogous to the rest of God's rest. Now, not completely. Every analogy breaks down at some point or changes. He's making the simple point that the Jews left Egypt and they left that bondage and God promised them a land that is representative of paradise, of being with God as opposed to being with the world. So it's very clear that he's making this analogy that the promised land represents the rest for God's people. Now, the Holy Spirit, it says, through David. Now, David, we think, didn't write Psalm 95. But the Psalms in general are given attribution to being Davidic, David's Psalms, so I think it's a more general use of that understanding. The Holy Spirit through David. The Holy Spirit says today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as they did. The point is that your consequence will be the same as theirs. You will provoke God to wrath and he will deny you entrance into his rest. Now, what's the what joins these things together? Look at verse eight. For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken of another day after that. And you see why I say it's a little hard to navigate, you're going to have to to help me by paying attention, because it's going to be maybe a little bumpy as we try to understand this. The rest that God promised for his wandering people, but denied them, the rest that Joshua would have given them by leading them into the land was not the ultimate rest that God had in mind. Do you follow me? He's saying that if the promised land was the rest that God meant, then he would not have said through David in the Psalms, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, So there's a promise of rest that goes beyond the promise that was given to the Jews for the promised land. You understand? Right. And it's a matter of timing in the past. And he brings up God had said at the beginning that he he worked for six days and then he rested. So it's as if he's presenting this idea that God has entered into rest from his work. The promise to the wandering Jews that they also would have a place of rest. But then later, after the period of the Jews wandering, in the Psalms, David refers to another rest. So the rest, the promise of rest given to the Jews was not the end and not the purpose of the concept of God's rest. He's saying there's another rest for God's people. There's another promised time of rest. And he states this very clearly in verse 9. There remains, therefore, a Sabbath rest for the people of God." So, what he's telling us is that we find ourselves in a similar place as those wandering generation of Hebrews. God had promised them a rest. God is now promising us a rest. That offer was available to them at that time, but they forfeited it and they lost it. Our offer is now. The similarity and the parallel is that we are in a time of wandering in the desert, if you will. We are no longer in Egypt, but yet we're not in glory either. And the warning and the admonition is, let us not be like them. And do not forfeit your opportunity to enter into our promised land, into God's eternal rest. I would say that it's an error for people to use Hebrews chapter 4 in the debate of Sabbatarianism. There have been those, you know what I mean by Sabbatarianism, it's the belief that the weekly observance of a Sabbath day continues for the New Testament believers. Those that do promote Sabbatarianism, of which we would include ourselves, have used Hebrews 4 to defend that position, and then the other side will counter and say Hebrews 4 is absolutely not grounds for Sabbatarianism, and they would argue that it actually refutes Sabbatarianism. And I bring that up to say that, from my perspective, that debate shouldn't be entered into at all from this passage. I would say that the writer of Hebrews is not dealing with the observance of the weekly Sabbath period. And if you read the weekly Sabbath issue into this text, then I would say that you're guilty of what we call eisegesis, which is reading into the text something that's not there. I do not see at all that the writer of Hebrews is making any point whatsoever about the continuation of the weekly Sabbath for the new covenant believer. That's not his point. His point at all is not about that. He's saying that there's another promise of rest that God had in mind from the very beginning, which is an eternal spiritual rest in Christ. The Jews had a very physical and real example of that rest in the idea of the promised land. And he's saying, use that analogy, use that historical fact and that historical event to understand the spiritual truth behind it. They were told there's a promised land. They would enter that promised land if they remained obedient and faithful to God. They did not, therefore, they didn't enter His rest. And the warning for us is, likewise, that same promise of eternal rest is given to you. Do not harden your hearts. If you hear the voice of Christ, do not harden your heart. If you do, You will not enter my rest. with regard to the Sabbatarian controversy, that there have been times that people on both sides of the issue have divorced the moral law from the manifestation of God's character. And the issue here in Hebrews 4 is rooted in revealing the character of God. And if that is our central point, then we end up where we are, as far as Sabbatarianism is concerned. What I'm saying is you can argue Sabbatarianism without any connection to the character of God, and that is error. But let's look at this passage and see what this has to say about the character of God, and then we'll deal with Sabbatarianism. Right. It's a separate issue. Well, you're saying basically we could characterize this body as Sabbatarianism, but we're not using Hebrews 4 as the basis of our argument for honoring the Lord's Day. It has to do with George's other character of God and the Manchurian Confederacy. You know, from my personal study, it's not like the elders have conferred and this is what we've come to say about this particular passage. And if I'm there's some disagreement, I'm sure they'll talk to me about it. But I don't I don't think so. But we I personally I don't mind using this text as perhaps anecdotal or as a springboard to talk about sabbatarianism. But if we're following the text and the point, the argument that the writer is making has nothing to do with the weekly Sabbath, I could make the analogy that the Jews had a very real, visible expression of the type of the Sabbath to come in the promised land. And that was very real to them. And in the same way, the church today has a very real and visible expression of the rest to come in our weekly observance of the Sabbath, of the Christian Sabbath, of the Lord's Day, where the Lord's Day is set aside as a day of rest and worship. It was established prior to the Mosaic Covenant and it continues afterwards in the New Covenant. Just practically speaking, pragmatically speaking, if the church lost that unique identifier of the Sabbath as the day of the Lord, it would have great consequences upon the kingdom of God in our society. So I do think that the Lord's day, in one aspect, is a very real, physical type for the world to see of the rest that is to come, as well as for the believer, a reminder for us as believers that in the same way we have one day of the week devoted to the Lord, it's a reminder of the Sabbath rest to come. But he's not making that argument here. Right, because there's a hymn that really solidifies what you're saying. I can't remember the name of it, but one of the lines goes, it's about the Sabbath, and it says, from Pisgah's mountain we view the promised land. So like Moses standing there looking over to see the promised land before he died, that's what the Sabbath is to us. We sit here, we're looking forward to heaven and having a glimpse of heaven. That does prove whether or not we're Sabbatarian or not. OK, we've already established that our saboteurs are in place right now. Yeah. And as soon as we put that label on ourselves, we immediately draw attention to saying we're being legalists and we're trying to promote the works of the law, which rather than get into it, is just simply a distortion of our of our beliefs, why we do what we do. But. That's good. Yes. Also, I was just reading verse seven. I wouldn't assume that this was a sabbath day when you see it again. This is a certain day. Thanks again. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, whatever day that means a day. You hear my voice. Not quite right. He's not talking about this day, a particular day. It's a general term. It's a day in this time, right now, while there's still opportunity. Right. That's what I'm saying. I'm not talking about a specific day. Right. Exactly. Now, I want to move forward to the next section in Hebrews chapter 4. And that's verses 12 through 16. Verse 12 is a favorite memory verse for a lot of people. And it's an excellent verse to memorize as an isolated verse. There's a great amount of truth and encouragement in this verse. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. However, it will mean more to us and we can better understand the significance of this familiar verse if we understand it in its context. So verses 12 that I just read and 13, which is, and there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. What I want us to see is that verses 12 and 13 should invoke as much fear in us as the warning passage that we've been dealing with in chapter 3 and chapter 4. So this nice memory verse referring to the word of God should strike utter fear in us. Why is that? God is telling us that every single part of ourselves, and listen to this, from our actions that are done out in the open, our actions that are done in secret, the words that we mutter under our breath, The thoughts of our mind and even the very intentions and motives of our heart come into plain view in front of the all-seeing eye of God. Now, if we grasp the reality of that, that should cause us to fear. Understand what he's saying is that you and I may even wrestle to some degree with understanding ourselves. We may wrestle with our own motives. We may ask ourselves, why did I do that? We may be completely blind to factors in our personality. You know, smart comments, just the way that we treat other people, the way we were raised. Sometimes we're just totally oblivious to that. But what God is telling us is that every single aspect of who we are truly is laid bare in front of the all-seeing and holy eye of God. What we fail to see is very plain and open and laid bare before Him. And this is no matter that we will be allowed to ignore. We are laid bare to the eyes of him, the scripture says, with whom we have to do. We will have to face him. And get this picture in your mind, we will have to face him in the courtroom. Have you ever seen a courtroom? Have you ever seen somebody who's on trial? What do they do? They stand. up in front of the judge. And you have you have the witnesses and you have the gallery and you have a person who's marched into the courtroom and stands face to face, eye to eye with the judge. He's not ignoring the judge at that point. He has his full attention. There's no brushing off of God. There's no walking away. I think of how we may deal with people on a normal environment where there are people that bother us. Perhaps there's some tension between husband and wife. Perhaps there's some tension between parents and children. And there's the tendency to just walk away. But with God, there's no going to our bedroom and hiding. There's no plugging in our headphones, turning on the TV. There's no going shopping or watching a movie or going fishing to get away with and to not deal with the problems in our life. You will stand before him. You will stand before him face to face and you will give an account to him. For all of those thoughts, all of those intentions, all of those words that you muttered under your breath. I hate my parents. They make me sick. All that stuff, even the attitude, if it doesn't come out of your mouth, just the attitude. You know, go to your room and you walk off in a huff. Or you do what you're told, but you do it reluctantly. All of those little subtle attitudes. Now, I'm picking on the kids, but we husbands and wives know the same thing with all of our relationships. The point is that we are going to stand face to face to God. And the warning in Hebrews involves this too. That He sees you right now. Though you may be ignoring Him now for the moment, you are completely in His view. He sees you as you really are. Now, the wonderful thing about God is that He's telling you that you can deal with Him now, and you can be at peace with Him now, rather than later. Rather than being in that courtroom. There's going to come a day when you're in God's courtroom, but He's telling you rather than waiting until that time when it's going to be too late. If you're standing in front of Almighty God and the Judge, and you haven't come to be at peace with Him, at that point, it's too late. At that point, you will be pronounced guilty, and there is no turning back. And the goodness of God is that, and that's the warning of this passage in Hebrews, is He's telling you that now. He's telling you that's the situation now. Every single thing that you do and say and act, all of that is under God's complete view right now. And he's saying, do not harden your hearts against him while there is opportunity. While there is opportunity. Today is the day of salvation. Now, also remember that this passage is written to the believer. Everything that you do say, think and intend is laid before him. This is for the believer. But then he goes on to say, but remember that you have a high priest. Jesus, the son of God, remember he told us he's the propitiation of God's wrath. He's our intercessor. He's our intermediary. If we go back to the analogy of the courtroom, we're told that Christ is our advocate. He's our lawyer. So we have the mental picture, the imagery that if you are standing before God and you know without a doubt that you are guilty, What are you going to do as a guilty prisoner before the bar room of God? I just imagine you're going to look to Christ. Christ is your lawyer. And you're going to say, you've got to help me because I'm guilty as charged. And Christ is our advocate. He's the one that steps in between God and us. But that's for the believer. The believer has Christ as his advocate, as his high priest. And he's telling us in this passage that though you're under the all-seeing, holy eye of God, remember that you have a high priest. And this high priest knows what it is for us to be tempted. He understands our weaknesses. He too was tempted, but he did not sin. Then we have another therefore. Therefore, let us draw near. How? With confidence. With confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So the admonition to the Jews at this time and for us is this question. Are you thinking of abandoning him? Instead, Flee to Him to get the grace that you need to hold fast. The first thing we do when we sin and when we doubt and when we fall is to do what? To withdraw. One of the clearest signs the church has of another brother in Christ who's struggling spiritually is the fact that they start withdrawing. They're not coming. You know, some may say we're being too strict when we say, you know, come to the prayer meeting, come to the this, come to the that. It's because we know that it's a spiritual sign that if you're not joining with the saints, could it be because there is a spiritual withdrawing, that you're withdrawing from God and withdrawing from the people of God? And it's to encourage us to not withdraw. The writer is saying, brother, you cannot escape God. You cannot escape Him. Everything is laid bare before God. You can escape Him. You are not hiding from anyone. So do not draw away from Him, but rather draw near to Him. Yes, He is the Judge, and He is the King, and He is the Lord, but His throne is a throne of grace. Draw near and don't be timid, but draw near in confidence. He promises that he will give you mercy and you will find grace to help you. The absolute last thing you want to do is to abandon him. And that's why there's a great fear, the fear of abandoning him and falling away. David was talking to me last week. and making this very good point that God makes promises, and because of the character and nature of God, he will uphold his promise. So the warning passage is just as much a promise that doom and judgment is coming if you fall away, but likewise, there's the equally true promise that if you go to the throne of grace, you will receive help and mercy in time of need. And what's the greatest time of need? But when we start withdrawing from God, when we have failed Him and we have sinned, that's when our need to come to Him is the greatest. And He's saying, you have a high priest, you have an advocate. If you are a believer, come to Christ in repentance and faith and trust. Don't fall away. Now, boy. I'm probably just going to have time to touch on this, because we really need to stop for the matter of time. But I recognize that when we deal with the warning passages in Hebrews, that we're dealing with the question also of eternal security. I almost shy away from taking a new believer to the book of Hebrews because there's a tendency to read these warning passages and to begin to doubt your eternal security. And this is a great significant area of debate. How do we maintain balance of the promise of eternal rest at the same time, knowing that we sin, but also maintaining the severity of the warning, which is a clear reference to hell. You see the dilemma? On one hand, there's the eternal assurance for the believer. On the other hand, there's a strict, severe warning of going to hell for disobeying and not believing. How do we reconcile those two things? And it's a great struggle for the believer sometimes to deal with this. So how am I going to deal with that in two minutes? It's impossible. But I feel like I need to leave you touching on this, and we can talk about it more later. The description and analogy of the wandering Hebrews is for those whose hearts are hardened, who do not believe, who do not obey, and the warning is clearest for them. If you do not trust and believe Christ, the warning of eternal judgment is patent. It is clear. It is obvious. There is no getting away from it. Judgment is sure. However, the passage is written to believers. Now, the only way to satisfy this in my mind is to qualify the passage at this point and to say that there are those who profess Christ but may not be truly in Christ. There's the wheat and the tares. There are the sheep and the goats. This is seen in those statements, like in 4.1, those who have seemed to have come short. And then there are the conditional statements. Now, I know I'm going fast. Are you keeping up? The statements that say, if we hold fast to the end, that really bothers us because it's a conditional statement. If we hold fast, well, what's your reaction? But I'm not holding fast. I deny Christ. I sinned. I doubt. So there's that fear that welds up. The conditional statements, the deceitfulness of sin, have I been deceived in thinking that I'm not in Christ? So such statements strike fear in the child of God. And this is the very fear that I believe he's instructing us to have. Let us fear, he says, let us fear in falling away from the living God. Now, that fear of God, that fear of falling away from God prompts the believer to what? To be diligent. If you have that fear of falling away, good. That's what the writer of Hebrews is saying. Be diligent to enter his rest. So it prompts a right amount of self-examination. We're told that there's an all-seeing eye of God upon us. This fear, however, and self-examination can go too far and can become inordinate, what we refer to as navel-gazing, right? It's focusing on yourself only, exclusively. You can go too far as a child of God and it can become paralyzing and even stunt your spiritual growth. And I believe that the writer of Hebrews has that in mind in this passage. That's why he follows up and he reminds us of our high priest. He reminds us of our high priest. This should dispel any doubts that you have. We are told his throne is a throne of grace that we approach in confidence. So the purpose of the warning is to send you to Christ. That's the purpose of the warning, whether you're a believer or whether you are a doubting, weak point in your Christian life. The warning is to send you to Christ. in faith, in trust, in confidence. If the warning results in a paralyzing doubt and fear, now listen to this, if you're paralyzed in your spiritual life because of this doubt, then realize that what you're doing is you're not trusting Christ. Right? You're not trusting if you're fearing so much. No, fear can be a misplaced trust in your condition. Fear can be a misplaced trust that, in other words, if you don't fear, there's a problem. If you don't fear, then there's a problem. If you fear too much, there's a problem. Both of them are a lack of faith and trust in Christ. One is a trust in yourself, the other is a trust, a not trusting in Christ. Therefore, too much fear can be a lack of faith. A proper fear leads to diligence, watchfulness, and a steadfast trusting in the Lord. Now, I know I went through that really fast and it's really important, but hopefully that will at least kick into gear some thoughts and maybe we can address this issue, because this is not the last warning passage. So, let's go to the Lord now in prayer. Our Father in heaven, I pray that your Holy Spirit would take these truths and write them upon our hearts. It is so easy to go through the facts and to go through the text and to go through them at a rapid pace. But Father, we pray that by the Spirit, these truths would sink deeply into us and that we would have a right and godly fear of falling away from you. But Father, we also take courage in knowing that if we are trusting in Christ, that there is great confidence in coming to your throne of grace and mercy. So, Father, we pray that you would give us that grace that we need to have a healthy, right fear of you, and to not abandon you, to not fall away from you, but to come to you and to cling to you like we would cling to a life raft if we were afloat in the ocean. Father, may we cling to Christ. And if there are any who are not in Christ, may they hear this warning and know that today is the day of salvation. May they not put it off another moment. May they come to Christ. In His name we pray. Amen.