Why We Need Christmas (Part 4)

1:13First, first part of this series, we answered the question, we need to be reminded that we have a king to honor. Why do we need Christmas? It's because we need to be reminded that we have a king to honor. Second, we need to be reminded... That we need a Savior. If there's one thing that Malachi points to at the end of the prophetic history of Israel, you come down to this final point. They have, after all that has happened, they still do not love God with all of their heart, soul, and mind. In fact, they are defecting once again after Babylonian exile and everything. They're back into the land, and yet they're going down that same pattern of spiritual defection. The bottom line, as the prophetic word comes to a close, there is this sense: Israel needs a Savior, and we, mankind, need a Savior. Third part of this series, we looked at the fact that we need Christmas to remind us that we need a refiner. We need a Savior because we don't honor the king like we should, and so we need to be saved from that, but we also need a refiner so that our worship will become pure. That though we have been saved from our spiritual defecting heart, we need a refiner that will refine, sanctify us, set us apart so that we will give to him the pure gold, the pure silver of our lives. And today, I want to add to all this that we need Christmas to be reminded that we have a gift to open. We have a gift to open.

2:58Malachi. Remember, the book is about the spiritual disintegration of a nation, the spiritual and societal disintegration of a nation. Their spiritual defection led to the social disorder, which led to societal disintegration. That's the stream running through Malachi. And at the very end, there is this call to return. Return by paying tribute. Get the tithe right. Get the first part of your life right, and the others fall in line. If you won't take the first step and you won't get that first element right, then the rest is not going to fall in line. And at the close of the book, he says this in verse 4: Remember the law of Moses, my servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Herob for all Israel. In other words, look back to the law. Look back to what God has revealed there. And then he goes on in verse 5: Look ahead. I am going to send Elijah the prophet before the great coming day.

4:10There is this sense of law and prophets. They speak to one thing. They both converge at one point, and that is the man and the glory, Jesus Christ, that perfect image of God. So, as we take a little time this morning, I want to do just that. I want to remember the law of Moses. And certainly, the law of Moses is a mosque. Of Moses is the first five books of the Bible. That's the original, what we would call the Torah, and certainly a reference back to remember what God had said, remember the covenant. And even at the heart of the first five books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, at the heart of that is Exodus 20 and the Ten Commandments. Want to spend a little time there this morning. And if there's one thing I really wish for you all here at Emmanuel, is that you will spend time understanding the law of God, these first five books. If you will understand the Torah, if you will understand what God has revealed in these first five books, the rest of the scripture will fall into place much more easily. I liken the first five books of the Bible to like a border of a puzzle. You know, when you get a puzzle, you pull it out of the box, the very first thing you start doing is you put that border up. It gives you the framework. Well, that's basically what the law of Moses does. It sets out that biblical framework. And the latter prophets and the New Testament don't really go beyond what is already given in the book of Moses. Now, it gives you more detail, of course, but Moses looks from the very beginning to the very end of the days. And so as we take a few moments, This morning to journey through this, I want you to turn back to Genesis 1. But I want to talk to you on two levels. First, two things. I want to look at the fallen image of man, and then I want to look at the perfect image of God. And that's really the two main headings that we'll be looking at things this morning. First, I want to look at the fallen image. If you look at Genesis 1:26, and you can turn there and just keep turning as we go. But let me read to you the purpose of man, the purpose of man in Genesis 1:26. Then God said, Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him, male and female. He created them. You see, man was to be the physical image of the invisible God.

7:09Think about that. The physical image of the invisible God. You created to be a physical image of the invisible God. And as a consequence of being made in the image of God, man was given dominion over creation. Vast, great dominion, great freedom and great dominion. Because he's made in the image of God. So dominion is part of a natural consequence of being made in the image of God. God exercises dominion, and so does his image. And the only limitation that was placed upon man's dominion was that of his Creator. His dominion did not include having dominion over his creator. Man was to honor and to respect his creator. Man was and is to honor and respect his creator. And this limitation was expressed in a certain tree. If you look at chapter 2 and verse 16, the Lord commanded the man, saying, From any tree of the garden you may freely eat, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die. Limitation. There it is, the testing point, right there in the midst. You cannot have dominion over your Creator. You will always be the creature. He will always be the Creator. And man's job, man's duty, man's dominion, and all that God has placed under his feet is not to include the Creator Himself. Well, in chapter 3 of Genesis, see the fall of man, the fall of man. Let me just pick up the narrative there and Chapter 1 and verse 1. Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Indeed, has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden? The woman said to the serpent, From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said you shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die. The serpent said to the woman, You surely will not die, for God knows in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

9:37So there she is. She didn't quite quote it right, but she understood it was wrong. She understood she was not to eat of the fruit. Of course, her husband's orchestrating this whole thing. He's standing there right with her. Scripture makes it very clear. Paul makes it very clear that sin entered in through Adam. But the rebellion of man took on this form. You need to get this in your head. What happened? What happened there? You see, man believed that he could make up his own mind about what was right and what was wrong. As Eve stood there and Adam stood there, they're thinking, you know, we don't need God to tell us what to do.

10:18And the basic rebellion took on the form of a man's assumption. Man assumed that he possessed all the facts that he needed. He had all the mental and spiritual wisdom necessary to charge himself. Own course. That's the fundamental rebellion that rose up in man's heart. I know enough. I have enough information. I have enough mental capabilities. I have enough spiritual capabilities to make this decision for myself without God telling me what to do. That's man's rebellion.

10:51Verse 6. When the woman saw that the tree was good for fruit, for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Basic pattern. She saw, she took, and she ate. Regardless of what God says, it was good for food. Regardless of what God says, I can look at it. It looks pretty good. It's a delight. It's beautiful. Regardless of what God says, looks good. Beautiful. And it's desirable to make me wise. So I can make the decision myself. I want this. I will have it. I will take it, regardless of what God says. And this became the character of fallen man. This is the nature of a spiritual defecting heart. She took. She saw, she ate, regardless of what God said. Well, the result of the fall, well, as you know, was a world created by man. People ask, why is there evil in the world? Bottom line, the answer is because man refused to honor and respect his Creator. That is why there is evil in this world. Chapter 4.

12:27The result is: you see this world created by man just unfold. Very next chapter, this falling takes place. Look at verse 4 and verse 3. Remember Cain, this is the first recorded post-garden sin. So it came about in verse 3, in the course of time, that Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part, also brought of the firstlings of his flock and their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering. But for Cain and his offering, he had no regard. So Cain became, and get this, very angry. And in verse 8, and it came about when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel and killed him. The first murder. Envy, strife, and murder. Now in the stream of humanity. Going on, right out. Just keep reading down verse 19. There's another individual named Lamech. Verse 19, Lamech took for himself two wives. You see, here's that same mentality. Breaks, violates God's pattern for marriage. He saw, he desired, and he took. I want this. This is the way it's going to be. And he took, regardless of what God says or thinks. And in verse 23, Lamech said to his wives, Guess what? I have killed a man for wounding me and a boy for striking me. If Cain isn't avenged sevenfold, then Lamech 77fold. Basically, he's saying this: Look, I've killed somebody, and if anybody messes with me, he will be worse for him than God's vengeance upon those who took it out on Cain. In other words, he's saying, No one messes with me. Okay? And you get that you see this anger, strife, vengeance, competition. And so paradise was lost, and it was replaced by a violent world. And this is where Genesis takes us.

14:38Look in chapter 6, verse 5, speaking of Noah's world. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great. Now, that's a big word, great on the earth. And that, listen to this, every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That is where. Man goes. Only evil continually, this defecting heart. I don't need God to tell me what's right. I will go after what I want. And so the image had become a monster. The image that God had made had become a monster. It was a gross distortion of God.

15:31A severely marred image, grotesque, ugly, horrific, revolting, and disgusting. And so the beautiful garden had given way to a gladiatorial arena, as a war zone for competing desires. The only thing that kept one man's desires in check was another man who was more strong or more powerful or could figure out how to get what he wanted. It's not a place you really want to live. And it certainly did not reflect the God who created man. And so God mourned over the state of man. Look in Genesis 6:6. The Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. He mourned over the state that man had become.

16:27So God moved to destroy this foul image. In a worldwide flood. Look at verse 7. The Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land. And this is the principle of judgment. The image is not a true reflection of me, so he must go. Yeah, we understand this, right? Renee and Ceci, I see you're back. Hope you had a great honeymoon and ready to get back to work. At your wedding, something happened, or at your wedding reception, James back there, our fearless technical leader, came up with snapping pictures, and he takes a picture of me. And I think my wife was with me. He takes a picture, looks down, and goes, no. Delete. He didn't like the image. I don't know what. And I asked him if I could use this illustration. He said yes. And he said, I don't remember, so I get to embellish it even the more.

17:30So that's what happened. And I don't even know if he bothered taking another one after that. But anyway, but the point is, we understand this, right? We take a picture with our camera, we don't like the image that comes up, what do we do? Delete. I have one of my daughters, I have a cell phone that is a smartphone. I'm not sure that's the description I would use to describe it. But anyway, it takes photographs, and she can distort. She has this pinchant of. Distorting images and taking pictures of us, and I go through there and I look and I see these warped and distorted pictures on my phone. And I'm like, get rid of these. I was going to show you some of them, but they're so freaky that it would give you nightmares. I mean, give me nightmares. So I'm like, get these things off my phone. I mean, we understand. So get that warped image. Well, that's the way God is. Okay? We don't want to press this too far because he does more than just delete or annihilate.

18:29But the picture is they are not a true reflection. Mankind, fallen mankind with the spiritually defecting heart is not a true image of his creator. And so God moves to set things straight. And that is what he does. Well, salvation came for one family. In verse eight, but Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Salvation came to Noah because of God's grace. But Noah had to listen to the voice of God. He had to honor and respect God first by believing his word and then following his instructions. And this is exactly what obedience looks like: honor and respect. The very thing that Adam was to do and failed to do. In Hebrews 7:11:7, read these words about Noah by faith, Noah being warned by God about things not yet seen in reverence. Prepared an ark for the salvation of his household by which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

19:42But even after the flood, man's heart was not changed. It was still very much a world full of corruption, envy, strife, perversion, you name it, rivalry, murder, even sibling rivalry. It just on and on. So you fast forward to another family that God is going to deliver, and that's the children of Israel. Children of Jacob, 12 tribes. They're in Egyptian bondage. Move over to Genesis or Exodus 1. Exodus 1 and 11, just to give you a picture of this bondage. In verse 11, so they, the Egyptians, appointed taskmasters over them, the Israelites, to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithum and Ramses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied, and the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel. The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously, and they made their lives bitter with hard labor, and mortar, and bricks, and all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously imposed upon them. So they put them to work. You build up. Our cities. And then, in verse 15, the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives. And in verse 16, he said, When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon their birthstool, if it's a son, then you are to put him to death. And this is what mankind does to each other. There is a competition, there is a striving for desires. The Egyptians needed a class of people to build their cities. And they had no problem with compelling, making their lives bitter and hard, even to the point of killing their children. And this is what man does, one people group over another people group. Strife. You want to know where social disorder comes from, where civil injustice comes from? It comes from the wicked intents of the human heart that has defected from his Creator. And this happens on a large and national scale, one people group over another, but it also happens on a smaller scale within one people group, right? There's competition, strife.

22:07Even within a family, right? There can be this strife, competition, rivalry. And all this is because man lives to fulfill his fleshly desire over honoring God. This is the pattern of Adam fallen. I saw, I want it, I can determine what's right or wrong for me, and I'm going after it. That's it. That's the pattern. And every evil that has come upon humanity is a result of man's heart going after that. Well, the image of God is still a monster. And when God goes on to deliver the children of Israel from their Egyptian taskmasters, and then he enters into a covenant with them to be their God if they will be his people. And they were to listen to him, to honor him, and to love him, and to obey him. Very similar to what Adam was supposed to do. So God comes and he takes his people out. He saves this whole mass of humanity, draws them to himself, and he enters into a covenant that they would honor and respect him. And so he gives them the Ten Commandments. He gives them the whole law, but at the heart of the law are these Ten Commandments. And these Ten Commandments in Exodus chapter 20 are all about the image-bearer conforming to the Creator.

23:46The image-bearer is to conform to his Creator. And there's two aspects. I'm going to take these Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 through 1 through 17. I'm going to break them down into two general categories. I'm going to take the first. Five focusing on the relationship that God desires from his people, and then the second five focusing on the moral conformity that God wants from his people. In Exodus, the very first one, commandment number one, deals with other gods, right? Verse 20, verse 1. Listen to this. Then God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. So the relationship between God and Israel and man, you can extend that, but certainly that God desires for his creature is that his creature owes God loyalty, honor, and respect. Israel and the covenant relationship is to give God loyalty, honor, and respect. No other gods. Second commandment deals with idols. Verse 4, you shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. And what this means is man is not to go and make an image of God or what he thinks God looks like. He's not to go fashion his own idol. He can't do that and be right. Because, see, man is the image. So man cannot go and Make another image because man is the image. God does not want another image. God has already made an image of Himself, and man is not to go make another one.

25:43So man is not God, He cannot worship Himself, and man is the image, so He cannot go and make another. And in Psalm 115:8, Psalmist makes it very clear that those who make idols will become like them, and everyone who trusts in idols will become like the very idol they make. So it's forbidden. Man is not God, he cannot worship Himself, and man is the image, so he cannot go and make another one. God alone, loyalty, honor, and respect. Third commandment deals with God's name. You shall not take the Lord your God name in vain. And this means never use his name flippantly, cheaply. Do not associate his name with something useless. I mean, many of us, we get up, we go to church, and sometimes I think we don't take that really as reverently as we should. When we talk about we're going in to assimilate with God's people and we're going to exalt his name, sometimes I think we are guilty of not preparing our hearts, not taking that seriously, but just flippantly going through where it goes with anything, flippantly taking or cheaply associating God's name with something.

27:01Commandment 4 deals with the Sabbath, the daily pattern of man's work. Man was created to find fulfillment in his work. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you were to labor and work. Man's whole weekly cycle was to be patterned after God's creation. Then there are the parents. Verse 12. Honor your father and mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord God gives you. God wants all of his people to understand authority, whether it's authority that he has established himself or it is the authority that naturally emanates from his being. He wants mankind to understand authority and that man is to honor and respect his authority. That's the nature of relationship, that man owes God, exclusive, permanent, loyal.

28:03Second five commandments deal with the moral conformity. God wants his people to conform to his disposition, to his character. Commandment number six in verse 13 says, you shall not murder. Why shouldn't you murder? Well, because God loves to give life. Human life is precious to him, both physical and spiritual, and you bear his image, so you are not to go and take life. 7, you shall not commit adultery. Why not? Because God is faithful to his people. He is faithful to his word. He is faithful to his creation. Great is his faithfulness, says Lamentations 3:23.

28:45You bear his image. So you are not to be an adulterer. Stealing. Commandment 8, you shall not steal. Why not? Well, because God is a giving God, and he loves to give good gifts. He gives life, he gives sun, he gives rain, and he fills the earth with good things, things that are to be enjoyed. And you bear his image. So, yeah, do not steal. That's an understatement. Lying. You shall not bear false witness, verse 16, against your neighbor. Why not? Because God is truth. And his word is truth. In fact, Psalm 138, too, says he has exalted his word above his name.

29:30God speaks the truth. His word is truth. Coveting. Tenth commandment: You shall not covet your neighbor's house, shall not covet your neighbor's wife, his male servant, his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to his neighbor. Why? Why? Because God is generous. He delights abundantly to give good gifts to his children. And he is happy to bless. He doesn't get envious when somebody else is blessed. So, we're not to covet because you bear the image of your Creator. The antithesis to all this is the devil, right? He kills, he steals, he lies, he's an adulterer, and he covets God's glory. Could you imagine? I mean, this law is written to a really messed-up people. Could you imagine if you came into my house and you're sitting in on one of my quiet times with my kids, and we're sitting around the fireplace, and you happen to listen in, and you hear me saying, Okay, kids, I don't want anybody killing anybody today. You got it? I don't want anybody stealing from anybody else. Is that what a father heart? Yeah, of course I don't want them killing each other, but that's a gross understatement, right? It's like the law is for a very corrupt people and putting some boundaries on them. Look, it should go without saying that you don't kill each other, right?

30:57Well, the fallen image, it's corrupt, does not naturally honor God. Remember that. Remember that. That's what Malachi is saying. Let me look at the perfect image. We looked at the fallen image. I'm going to spend some time looking at the perfect image. And this is God's gift to mankind, right? At Christmas, as Christians, we celebrate the incarnation. The gift that God has given is the perfect image. What Adam. Gave us was that fallen image. And what God gives us in the incarnation of Jesus Christ is that perfect image. Hebrews 1:1 says this, God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days, he has spoken to us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also made the world. And he is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature. So here we go. We have an exact representation of who God is in the person of Jesus Christ. This is his gift to us. He is the perfect embodiment of love, the perfect embodiment of joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control. He perfectly embodies all of that and he communicates it perfectly.

32:28Even in his death, it says he, for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. You come to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. You see another picture of a mount. Here's Jesus. And he's speaking to his disciples, and he's calling for them to conform themselves to himself. Just like God on the mount at Sinai, calling people of Israel to be conformed. Though, here is Jesus. In verse 4, he says, Blessed are those who mourn. This is what he blesses. He blesses those who mourn. You remember God in Genesis 6:6, he mourned over the fallen state of humanity, and he set forth to do something about it, not just in judgment, but also in grace in saving Noah and his family. Well, Jesus mourned, and he blesses those who mourn. He loves those who mourn over the pitiful state of humanity.

33:34He mourned over the sheep, the children of Israel, like scattered, like sheep without a shepherd. He mourned the fact that they didn't recognize the day of his coming. He goes on in verse 5, Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. And he said in Matthew 11, My yoke is easy and my burden is light. You know what he blesses? The gentle. Blessed are those in verse 6 who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied, because this is the Father's heart. This is the Son's heart. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst, that righteousness prevails, not only in the earth, but in their own heart, that righteousness, that honor and respect that is due God, and what flows out of that. Blessed are those. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. There he is. There's the perfect embodiment. Of our God. Blessed are the merciful. He has compassion on the fallen and pitiful state of humanity. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. This is what he blesses. This is what he loves. He himself was guileless. In fact, as you look at his trial, they had the best minds in the Hebrew world of the day. You had the best lawyers, the best theologians, and they had the great motivation to pin something on Jesus. And so they taxed their entire mental capabilities to bring some kind of charge against him that would stick, and they couldn't get anything. That's how pure in heart he was. And he blesses that. He's the perfect embodiment of that. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. That is Christ. Perfect image, desiring peace, peace between God and man, peace between man and man.

35:29Verse 10, Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness. He knows what it's like to be persecuted because he is righteous, to be shunned, to be hated, to be despised. He's saying, Blessed. Blessed are those. You see, the perfect image was also the perfect substitute for humanity. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, He made him who knew no sin to be the sin on our behalf, so that we Might become the righteousness of God in him.

36:04The result of Christ's sacrificial love was that fallen man does not have to remain fallen, re-establishing righteousness within God's creation. Salvation is just that. It's the restoration of the fallen image to the beautiful image of God. And that is Christ's work. That is the work. He is a king, absolute, beautiful, perfect king. He is a glorious Savior. He saves that image that has been marred and that God is going to hit the delete button on. And he saves it, and he transforms it. He refines it so that it can radiate the brilliance and beauty of Christ. That is his work. The prophetic outcome is written in 1 Corinthians 15, 49, just as we have borne the image of the earthly, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.

37:02And it is a work of the Spirit, as Paul goes on in 2 Corinthians 3:18, but we all, with an unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. That is the work of the Spirit, transforming us into His image, the perfect image of God. Colossians 1:15 says, He is the image of the invisible God. And coming out of the image, That is the duty of mankind, that Paul goes on in chapter 3 and verse 5.

37:37Listen to this. What is your duty? That God has now intervened in our world, in the person of Jesus Christ. What is your duty? Therefore, Paul says in Colossians 3:5, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience. And in them you also once walked when you were living in them. But now you also put them all aside, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practice, having put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him. It's all about the image.

38:33You see, we cannot, when we do not obey God, when we do not obey him or follow his ways, we cannot be a good image of him, can we? Well, Scripture holds forth, beginning with the law, this fallen picture of humanity. It also points to the perfect image that will come in the likeness of him, Christ. So as we approach Christmas here, this season, it's important to remember we have a gift to open. We have a gift to open.

39:11John 9, 5 says that Jesus is the light of the world. It says, while I'm in the world, I am the light of the world. John 14, 6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. What does it mean opening? We're going to open a gift. We have a gift. What do I mean by that? If you're given a gift, what do you do with it? It's not yours. It could sit under the tree. Just the fact that he's given a gift to humanity doesn't mean that everybody opens it. What does opening it look like? Well, it says he's the light of the world. So you must walk in his light.

39:52It says he is the way. You must walk in his way. You must follow the way. It says he is the truth. What must you do? If someone gives you truth, you must believe. You must trust. He is the life. So what do you do? No one comes to the Father except through him. Well, you must come to him. He's the light. Stand in the light. He is the way. Follow the way. He is the truth. Believe in it and trust. He is the life. Come to him.

40:25You see, Jesus is the perfect king, the absolute savior, the complete refiner. And the most beautiful gift. And we are to respond by seeking to be conformed to that beautiful image. That is worship. And that is what God requires of us. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this perfect gift. Father, we thank you that you did not leave us in our fallen state, hopelessly destined, Lord, for your wrath, for your anger, because we do not bear your image like we should. Father, we thank you that you have revealed yourself as full of mercy. That, God, though we have not honored you as king of our lives as we should, that you are merciful.

41:20And Father, we thank you that you have sent your Savior, Lord, to save us from this spiritual, defecting heart and the penalty that goes with it. Father, I pray that you would take the liberty to do whatever you need to do in our hearts. Father, to conform us, to make us into the image of Christ. Father, and I pray for those here today that do not know you. Father, that they know that they bear the fallen image and that there is no hope except to endure your wrath. Father, I pray that today will be the day of salvation, that they will see in this perfect gift. The way, the truth, and the life that you have given to all of humanity who will put their faith and trust in your Son. Father, I thank you for your people, and I pray now that you would be exalted more thoroughly in our midst. If there is any crooked way in us, bring it to mind and lead us, teach us.

42:23We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.