The Order Of Salvation (Part 3)

All right, good morning. I'm very much looking forward to continuing through our study today of the order of salvation. We're going to conclude today, but it's by no means over. everything we've looked at has only been in a very I hate to say it but somewhat superficial fashion. Each of these things that we've discussed in the last two weeks and even today there's so much more that could be learned.

There's so much more that could be understood and so much more that we can live in accordance to. There's so much more we can rejoice in together. So I just want to encourage you again today and let you know what our goal here is in this. I want to give you an outline. So we have a common understanding as we read God's Word, so that we understand what God's doing to save people out of their darkness and sin.

Of all the weeks, today, I think that our study will help us read the New Testament. It will help us read God's Word. Today we're going to look at sanctification, perseverance, and glorification. And I think what we're doing today is more like a tour guide gives his tourists a book of the major sites so they can identify the Eiffel Tower when they see it.

It's something like a naturalist giving a field guide to his hikers so they can identify, okay, this is a butterfly, that's a tree. So as you go through the hike, you can start making sense of things. Before we go any further, let's bow for a word of prayer and ask God to bless our time in His Word. Father, again, we come before you. We are needy people.

We need you to teach us. We need understanding. We receive so many worldviews, so many thoughts, so many ideas. We have so many ideas pitched at us each week. We're so easily persuaded by so many messages in the world around us and even in our own hearts So please as we study Instruct us according to Your Word I pray that You would teach us now In Jesus name Amen So in the first week, our focus, if you remember, or if you're here for the first time today, I believe, is it in the bulletin again?

I didn't look closely enough. The Order of Salvation? Thank you, Sharon, for doing that. You can see the nine steps of the Order of Salvation. This is just, again, a cursory guide. It's a linear theological, logical progression through the order of salvation, starting in election.

The first week we looked at our inability, how we're dead in our trespasses and sins, and how God, out of sheer mercy, makes us alive and calls us to believe in Him. The focus that first week was those two words, but God. We stand in awe of His mercy and His love to love sinners and to call them out of death and to give them life through election, through His effectual calling, and through regeneration.

Last week, if you were here, if you remember, we focused on faith. That in response to that Gospel message, our response is a response of faith. In conversion, we repent and believe. We repent of our path and we put our faith in Jesus. And then in justification, we learn that we're justified. We're made righteous before God out of sheer faith. by believing in Jesus, by entrusting our lives to Him, having forsaken our sin, He justifies us and makes us not just innocent in His sight, but positively righteous.

And it's that same faith through which God adopts us as His children. As we read in John 1, but to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. So conversion, justification, adoption. And today, we're concluding by looking at sanctification, perseverance, and glorification. As I studied these and devoted thought to them and time looking at this, it's overwhelming.

I was completely overwhelmed with trying to give you something that you could take with you that would be useful to you. And I pray that it is useful to you. And the reason for that is because you can hardly read a page of Scripture without seeing these ideas in it. This is the Christian life. Having been awakened to the Gospel, having been made alive made right before God and adopted as His children we enter into this life of actively pursuing Christ I think as we understand these things more and more, we'll be able to read our Bibles more effectively.

We'll be able to understand more and more what God's doing in our lives and understand more and more how to walk in step with His Spirit and in step with His truth. So to first define these things, I thought we could use the Olympics as an illustration. So sanctification is like an athlete putting on his country's uniform. You know during opening ceremonies, and you know in each event, who that athlete is competing for because of their uniform.

That uniform sets them apart. Sanctification, though, is not just the uniform. It's also that athlete playing the game. in a way that represents his country. None of us want to see, even though we don't have much to do with the decision-making process, none of us want to see one of our United States athletes give up. None of us wants to see that. And they also would say, perish the thought.

I'm here representing my country. I'm going to play until it's over. Perseverance, then, is just that. Perseverance is the athlete playing until the game is finished. And glorification, of course, would be having the athlete has played in a way that's for the prize. The athlete wins.

Glorification is the podium. It's the ceremony. It's the giving of the gold medal and the playing of the anthem and the glory that showers down. Now in terms of our spiritual walk, sanctification, in sanctification we have our eyes fixed on God's holiness. that's at the heart of our sanctification we're focused on God's holiness and on his calling in our lives to be holy like him if we're his children we should be like him in perseverance what we're focused on is God's worthiness and God's promises that we look somehow past the struggles the temporary struggles that we face and we see God's worthiness we see his promises and in glorification of course, we see God's glory and His power.

And how generous He is to share that with His saints Now our text for today I thought we could focus in Philippians chapter 3 So if you turn there with me Philippians chapter 3. I'm going to begin in verse 1. It was going to be the scripture reading for today, but I wanted to spread it out a little bit. So Dennis read Romans 8 for us, which we're going to come to in a little bit.

But Philippians 3 starts this way. Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. to write the same things to you as no trouble to me and it's safe for you. Look out for those dogs. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

Paul says, though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already made perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own.

But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward toward what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God and Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame with their mindset on earthly things.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. I hope you could see as we read that I hope you could see sanctification, perseverance and glorification we see sanctification and Paul recognizing in verse 12 I'm not perfect right now I'm not at the point of perfection I've not been glorified yet but what I do is I press on I have this progress I press on to make it my own perseverance, I'm pressing on to make it my own why?

Because of what God's already done in my life. Because Jesus Christ has named me His own. He says in verse 14, I press on toward the goal for the prize, glorification. I press on for glorification of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Perseverance, I press on toward that goal. Verse 17, sanctification.

Brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. Walk in the way of holiness. Grow in that. Verse 20, but our citizenship is in heaven. That's an emphatic word in this sentence. That comes from verse 18 when he says, many, as I've often told you, are enemies of the cross of Christ, but our citizenship is in heaven.

We've been sanctified. We've been set apart. We don't belong here. This isn't our native country anymore. and from it we await a savior the lord jesus christ perseverance we're waiting we're waiting faithfully for this sanctification to be complete for us to be glorified verse 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body so let's take a closer look at each of these first sanctification sanctification is defined for us as a progressive lifelong work of god and man that frees us from sin and makes us more like Christ.

Sanctification is a really common word in the New Testament. Between sanctification, the word and its related terms if you see the word sanctify saint or holy or holiness it all in the same realm of ideas It the same word used in different ways So we have a focus on God's holiness. It comes from the idea of being set apart from something. Set apart especially for God's use.

And it's rooted in God's own holiness. God's own holiness is the starting point of our growth in holiness, of our sanctification. Turn with me, if you would, to 1 Peter 1. Now again, we're going to be turning to quite a few passages. These are more systematic in nature. So once again, I just want to remind you that if you want to just sit and listen, that is good.

If that helps you listen, you're welcome to do that. If you want to jump around with me, you're welcome to do that as well. 1 Peter 1, verse 13. Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.

Since it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy. You see, our holiness as believers is rooted in God's holiness. And if you notice in this text, it's based on our adoption. It's as obedient children that we're called to holiness. There's this idea that our holiness as God's children is based on the fact that our Father is holy, and children are like their Father.

So our holiness is rooted in God's holiness. Now there are two ways that sanctification, two major ways that sanctification is talked about in the Scriptures. And I want to point this out to you. It's a bit instructive rather than just preaching. I don't know how inspirational this is, but it's going to help you as you read the Scriptures to think about what is sanctification.

The first is definitive or positional sanctification. This is like that athlete putting on his uniform. This is God setting us apart and making us saints. Paul tells the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 2, he calls them saints. And if you read the rest of the letter, they don't look very saintly. so on what basis can Paul call them saints it's because strictly because they've been regenerated and made alive and accepted the gospel and faith and repentance they are holy they set apart so there this definitive or positional sanctification that God does in us He sets us apart apart from anything that we do But then there's another aspect of it that's ongoing, or what we call progressive sanctification.

A lot of times when you hear people talk about sanctification, they mean progressive sanctification. That's what we talk about most commonly. Although the scriptures give a lot of emphasis to definitive or positional sanctification. So I'm going to turn, and you can turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10. This is one place where we see both kinds of sanctification.

I want to point this out to you so you can see these in a text of Scripture. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 10. And by that will, that's the will of Jesus to do God's will, by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Notice past tense. We have been sanctified. Through whom?

Through Jesus, especially through the offering of His body. We've been sanctified. Past tense. That's definitive positional sanctification. But then look at verse 14 of the same chapter. For by a single offering, what was that offering?

It's Jesus. The body of Jesus on the cross. By that single offering, He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. There's the ongoing and progressive aspect. So we see that sanctification is a reality that we live out based on what God's done in our lives. The other place I would direct your attention is Colossians 3.

We see it really clear here. Colossians 3, verse 12. Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. Notice, they're already chosen. They're already beloved by God. Put on then in light of who God's made you.

In light of that, we could tell the Olympian. In light of that uniform you're wearing, compete well. 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 he goes on. Talking about our growth in holiness, our pursuing Christ is based on God's work in us first. Now, it's not as though God says though that here's your proof of citizenship here your card your green card your proof of membership now go out and don mess anything up It not like his work stops at positional and leaves progressive to us Rather, sanctification is what we call a synergistic work.

You guys know what synergy is? Things can be antagonistic. Things can push against each other or pull against each other. Like if you pull your arm out straight and you try to flex your tricep and your bicep at the same time, your arm's not going to move. but when you pick something up and bring it toward yourself, all of those muscles in your arm are working together in synergy to accomplish that right?

And so we see in progressive sanctification it's not antagonism it's not that we work against God it's not even that we're doing it alone it's not even just us by ourselves we see that it's God working in us to produce holiness in us we say that the evidence that God is at work in your life is that you are at work. Even in the working out of our holy status as God's holy people, He is at work in us. And Paul actually said as much in the book of Ephesians, that book we were just in for the chapter 3 that we read together, he says in Philippians 1 verse 6, and I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you, He who set you apart to begin with, He who regenerated you and called you out of your darkness, He who began a good work in you, he will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

And he also says in chapter 2, Philippians 2, let's see, verse 12 and also verse 13. Therefore, my beloved, as you've always obeyed, so now not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now, if he stopped there, that would make me uncomfortable. If he stopped there, he would be telling me it's up to me to work out my salvation, to grow in holiness.

But he goes on and says, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. And that shows us something else, that holiness is not just an outward thing. My growth in holiness affects every part of my being. It affects my intellect, the way I think about life. It affects my emotions, the way I react to situations in life. And it affects, obviously, my behavior, the works that I do.

God's at work in me as his child to bring me into conformity. We read it in Romans 8, to the image of His Son. And He does this through His Spirit. God sends His Spirit, the same Spirit that regenerates us, is at work in us to make us more and more holy. Now there's some mystery in that. I don't know if we can completely figure that out, like which part of it, when I'm doing things, which part of it's God and which part of it's me doing it.

I don't know that we're even meant to try to figure that out. I think as we do righteous things, as we grow in holiness as God's people, that's God at work. Now think about it, even though it's a little bit difficult to understand, think about what would happen if it was all on us and not God working in us. Well, I would either be delusional and arrogant, thinking I was holy in my own strength.

Or I would give up. I would be honest and I would despair. Because there's no way I could grow in the holiness that God requires. Imagine though that it was all God and not us. Imagine, this is a really common theology. It's popular actually to let go and let God in terms of sanctification.

But if it's that way, if it's all God and not us, if we're not putting effort into our holiness, into our growth in Christ, our sanctification, then we would become absolutely passive. But what God calls us to as His children is to live lives as His children. We talked about that first week. Did we have anything to do with our, now I'm talking physically now, our conception?

No, thankfully, no. I don't know anything about that. What about our gestation? Nope, I didn't have anything to do with that. What about our birth? Nope.

But once that baby is born, that that child craves milk. Right? That child craves love and affection, the kind of care that he needs. And that child grows and starts learning and growing to maturity and learning how to take care of not just him or herself, but others also. That's a beautiful analogy that God gives us in His Word for what sanctification looks like.

As we grow in Christ, God's at work in us. It is a once-for-all event. God sets us apart as His holy people, but it's also an ongoing struggle for holiness. And I want to read for you a quote. This is a book called Acting the Miracle. It's a book on sanctification that was published recently, edited by John Piper and some of the guys he works with.

But I found this quote really helpful, and it ties in with the rest of the message today. This is the way it goes. This is David Mathis writing in the book Acting the Miracle. He says, The beginning and end of Christian sanctification is none other than Christ himself there is an initial relationship with Jesus that first sets us apart definitively sanctified and gets the gears going for progressive sanctification But a deepening relationship is the heart of sanctification and knowing Jesus is the great goal of our sanctification.

We're going to see as we progress here that the purpose of our sanctification is not just that we'd be holy, it's that we will be like Christ and we'll know Him. That's the great hope of every Christian. Next, perseverance. Perseverance is defined for us as all those who are justified will be kept by God's power and persevere as Christians to the end of their lives.

And we're focused here on God's worthiness and on God's promises. Notice the first part of this definition says we will be kept by God's power. We read that today in Romans. We won't read the whole thing, but I'm going to turn there to Romans 8 and look at 29 and 30. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. There is in this text no break between those who God calls and those who God glorifies. So of course, those he calls will persevere. They're kept by God's power.

They will persevere. Through the rest of that chapter, we see these questions asked. What in the world could separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? Nothing. Nothing is powerful enough to take us from God's love if we're his children. Jesus says as much.

We read this in weeks past. John 6, 38 through 39. I'll just read this for you. I'm not going to take time to turn there. If you want to, you can. But John 6, 38 through 39.

Jesus says, for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but to do the will of him who sent me and this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day. And again, powerfully Jesus says my sheep hear my voice and I know them. This is John 10, 27 through 29. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.

I give them eternal life and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. and he explains why my father who has given them to me is greater than all and because of that no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand so part of perseverance is God keeping us we give thanks we give him glory because He protects us and keeps us Nothing in this creation can separate us from His love He's greater than all. So, we have a phrase in this that people say, and I want you to think about it.

What do you think about the phrase, once saved, always saved? Is it possible for someone to lose his or her salvation? Those are questions we wrestle with, right? I mean, even scriptures say that there will be people among us who look like they're believers and then they'll walk away and prove they never were. I think biblically, some better questions to ask and some better things to think about are these.

What does it mean to be saved? And what is the evidence that you're saved? See, to be saved is to be called out of darkness and into Christ's wonderful light. It means we're on a new pathway. Having repented of our old ways, we strive to live in the new. Having repented of our old ways, we bear fruit in the new ways.

Saying once saved too easily makes us think back to a decision in our lives. As if some decision we made years ago, on its own, applies to today. Scripture never says that. Scripture never says that a one-time decision 30 years ago will save you today, if you're not persevering. God's Word doesn't put emphasis on past decisions, but rather on present dependence and present devotion.

There's a story. I think I knew who it was, but I'm not sure, so I won't share names. There's a story that I've heard shared. It's this. The person asked the question, when did you trust in Christ? thinking, when, you know, historically, how old were you? What were the circumstances in your life?

How many years ago was it? When did you trust in Christ? And the answer, the response was, well, today. That's biblical. That's biblical saving faith. It's a faith that constantly depends on Christ.

Because Jesus tells parables of the seed that sprouts up quickly. You could mark the day down where that seed sprouted up quickly, but then it had no root and it shriveled. But the seed that represents the gospel growing in fertile soil is the seed that grows up and bears fruit You see while it true that God keeps his people and none of them will be lost because of his great power we also feel the weight of persevering as Christians to the end of our lives.

It's also true that we experience this perseverance throughout the hardships and temptations of life. In Matthew 10, Jesus is telling his disciples before sending them out, he says, Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. Life's going to be really tough.

But the one who endures to the end will be saved. One of John's favorite ways of describing this is the word abide. In the Gospel of John and also in 1 John. In John 8, 31-32, Jesus says to the Jews who believed in him, if you abide in my word, abide means to keep with it, you are truly my disciples. That's proof that you're truly called out and regenerated, that we abide in Christ's word.

And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. And I do want to take some time, if this is a place where I will turn, 1 Peter 1. I want to look at this because this verse blends the two together for us in a way that we need to understand. How is it that God keeps me, and yet it's my responsibility to persevere? 1 Peter 1, beginning in verse 3.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. Verse 5 is where I want to focus our attention. Who by God's power are being guarded?

God protects his. He's greater than all, and no one is snatched out of his hand. But he does this through faith, for salvation ready to be revealed at the last time. Precisely the way that God keeps his people close to him is through the faith that he gives to them, and the faith that they exercise. You know, perseverance is forward-looking. There are two ways to compete. you can compete not to lose or you can compete to win you know about this? you can compete just to win And not to lose, not to be embarrassed, not to fall off the bus.

Or you can compete to win and to be a victor. And perseverance is the latter kind of competition. Remember, when we read in Philippians 3, we read about Paul. He says, I want to know Christ, not so that I don't die. He says, I want to know Christ so that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. He's looking ahead to the life. he looks not to the condemnation of those outside of Christ but rather to the prize and the process of getting to that prize through Jesus Christ we're not called to grow by just being fearful of condemnation that's on the back end we know that if we go too far that warning applies to us but the way we grow in Christ is by looking ahead and straining for the prize like the Olympian who wears his country's uniform and competes hard in order to win the gold medal that's perseverance and finally glorification glorification is when that athlete is on the podium the gold medal the anthem playing God will finally remove all traces of sin from the Christian and give him a resurrection body and here we're focused on God's glory and on his power you know it's tough to persevere when there's no end in sight when I was a teacher my students would have a really hard time studying in January because the end is nowhere close to end sight.

When I ran track, I hated running the mile. Especially the two mile. Eight laps around. When you're on the fifth lap in the two mile, you're hurting, but the end is nowhere in sight. We have to have the end in sight, and glorification is the goal. To persevere well and to grow in holiness, we have to have in our sight glorification.

Those same students who are struggling in January, especially the seniors, would have a really difficult time doing anything for me productively in May. I had one student, his name was Micah, he was a great, I loved Micah, he's a nice guy, he's going to be an EMT and paramedic He didn think he needed Algebra 2 and quite honestly I agreed with him And he was willing enough to put up with my class He didn't kick against what I tried to teach him too much, but he would take every opportunity not to focus on Algebra II, but instead he was also taking at the time some exams for his preliminary EMT license. He had spent as much time and energy on that as he could, and on his girlfriend, Kaylee, who's also a beautiful woman of God, because he loves her and he sees that as something in his future.

Algebra 2 is not in his future. Working as a paramedic and having Kaylee's in it. So he's putting his energy into that. And likewise, we as Christians, how many times do we end up living for the things of this world because we're not seeing past Algebra 2? How many times do we relish in completely useless knowledge? and completely useless activities. God's people, read the New Testament, you'll see that God's people are characterized by a longing for glorification.

A longing for, in brief, full adoption as children of God. Right now we have the spirit of adoption and we understand it in a certain sense. But waiting for the full adoption. All of creation is groaning for the sons of glory to be revealed. we're looking forward to resurrection bodies that aren't corrupted by sin we're looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness reigns and where there's no more weeping or crying or tears there's not enough time today to go into the extent of all that awaits for us but I do want to point out briefly that glorification affects us in our sanctification 2 Peter chapter 3 We looked at this a few weeks ago.

Actually, excuse me. 2 Peter 3, verse 11 and onward. Since all of these things are thus to be dissolved, he's talking about the heavens and the earth melting away. Algebra 2 will be over and it won be useful to you anymore essentially In light of that what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness You should be growing in sanctification, because nothing else is going to last.

Waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, persevering, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. I want to grow in holiness because that's the only thing that's going to last.

I want to grow in holiness because that's what the new world is going to be characterized by. And also Matthew 6, where Jesus says, don't lay up for yourselves treasures on the earth. Why not? Why not? Because they perish. Moths devour, rust corrodes, and thieves break in and steal.

But store up for yourselves treasure in heaven where moths don't destroy and rust doesn't destroy and thieves don't steal. It's glorification, having our eyes fixed on the prize will teach us what it means to be holy and to persevere in Christ today. Without that end goal, without that end goal, we won't be able to sustain our marathon run to that goal.

We won't be able to persevere like God wants us to. We won't be able to grow in holiness. 1 John 3, 2-3, Beloved, we are God's children, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as he is pure. You see, God has done what we never would have done.

As our Creator and as our Redeemer, He chose us before He said, Let there be light. He sent His gospel call into the world. He regenerated us so we could respond to that call in repentance and faith. Through that faith and through the offering of Jesus Christ, He justifies us in His sight so we're not just innocent, but positively righteous before Him.

And through that faith, He adopts us as His very own children And as His children we grow to be like Him in holiness and godliness He never lets us go but keeps us by His great power exercised through our faith that He given to us. And He's promised to us in spite of everything we ever did to contribute to it, which was nothing. We fought against Him in spite of all of our rebellion and all of our sin and all of our animosity toward Him, He promises us glory for all eternity with Himself.

Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed. You have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. Father, we thank you for your work in our lives. Father, I pray that you would bless us now.

Bless us now with greater understanding of these truths, that our lives would not be characterized by the things of this world or even the life patterns and structures, the thought patterns of this world, but that we would be revolutionized as your people as we meditate on your ways and what great things you've done to save us. I pray for each of my brothers and sisters in this room that you would grow us all in godliness in conformity to the image of your son and still in us the great hope of your redemption. May we persevere for your glory.

And I pray, Father, again for those who are here who don't know what it means to be your children, who don't know what it means to be regenerated. We pray for your saving work in their lives that would recognize their need and call out to you in faith and repentance. We praise you now and thank you in Christ's name. Amen.