Well, I invite you to open again to the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 31, in the back of your Trinity Psalter hymnals, page 886, page 886. Let's read responsively again as we're considering the keys of the kingdom. What are the keys of the kingdom? The preaching of the holy gospel and Christian discipline toward repentance. Both of them open the Kingdom of Heaven to believers and close it to unbelievers. How does the preaching of the Holy Gospel open and close the Kingdom of Heaven? According to the command of Christ, the Kingdom of Heaven is opened by proclaiming and publicly declaring to all believers, each and every one, that as often as they accept the gospel promise in true faith, God, because of Christ's merit, truly forgives all their sins. The kingdom of heaven is closed, however, by the proclaiming and publicly declaring to unbelievers and hypocrites that as long as they do not repent, the wrath of God and eternal condemnation rest on them. God's judgment, both in this life and in the life to come, is based on this gospel testimony. How is the kingdom of heaven closed and opened by Christian discipline? according to the command of Christ, those who, though called Christians, profess unchristian teachings or live unchristian lives, and who, after repeated personal and loving admonitions, refuse to abandon their errors and evil ways, and who, after being reported to the church, that is, to those ordained by the church for that purpose, fail to respond also to the church's admonitions, Such persons, the church excludes from the Christian community by withholding the sacraments from them, and God also excludes them from the kingdom of Christ. Such persons, when promising and demonstrating genuine reform, are received again as members of Christ and of his church. So far from our catechism, which we believe is a faithful summary of Christian doctrine, useful for sort of setting the background of teachings like what we're looking at here in Matthew 16, verses 13 through 19. It says there in Matthew 16, verse 13, Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they said, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, we focused earlier on the serious groundwork of Lord's Day 31, discovering again what was lost. We kind of talked about the idea of the keys of the kingdom and how, in many ways, they're lost or obscured by the way that we are living in the church and the way that we're teaching and preaching in the church. And, um, so now reforming the church in light of the keys of the kingdom, if we've found them, uh, we have to, we have to put them to practice. We have to use that authority and access that Christ has granted appropriately. And so we want to talk about using the keys that God has given. Uh, Christ has given the church, the keys of the kingdom, gospel preaching and discipline for opening and closing the way. to the kingdom of heaven. And we want to talk about sort of the use of the key of preaching and the use of discipline. Now in Matthew, Peter proclaims the gospel truth about Jesus Christ. He is the son of the living God. He is the Christ, the very Messiah. And at this, Jesus declares that this blessing has come from the Father in heaven. It cannot have come from this sinful world. So Peter, he has perceived something spiritual and something heavenly given from God the Father, and he didn't learn it by his own strength, and he didn't learn it from this wicked world. And to this important apostolic confession of faith, this apostolic witness, we believe And we, as it were, are the foundational witness. We believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. The apostle Peter and the other apostles with him, as he's often sort of the first among equals, he's the spokesman of them in many ways in the Gospels. Peter and the apostles with him, they're given the authority to open and close entrance into the kingdom by way of gospel preaching and discipline, binding and loosing by way of this message and the application of it, you know, as it relates to, to discipline. Uh, so the catechism first speaks about how preaching opens the kingdom. When the truth about Jesus goes out through the legitimate preaching of the gospel, the door to God's kingdom is opened wide for those who believe. Peter preaches the truth about Christ on the day of Pentecost, and thousands of believers pour through the doors, right? Thousands are saved that day, and it's as if the door is unlocked to them, and many of them who are cut to the heart at that time, they believe, and they enter by way of that preaching. Though they were guilty of crucifying the author of life, not deserving entrance. Instead, God had given them the spirit of repentance and forgiveness, and the door is open to sinners by God's design. That's a beautiful thing. In Acts chapter eight, the Samaritans believe when Philip goes and proclaims Christ to them, where there was no opening Now the door suddenly swings open and there's joy in that city, great joy it says. These people were despised by the Jews and spiritually estranged from God, having a different place of worship and different practices. They were a dead end race of people. So it appeared, right, they had nothing. And now they have entered into Christ by way of the preaching of Philip, the apostle. In Acts 10. Peter preaches the good news of peace through Jesus Christ. He is Lord of Jew and Gentile, and the Gentiles believe and are grafted into Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit by means of the proclamation preaching of the gospel. They are the far off ones, according to Acts 2. They're the far-off ones, the Gentiles. No one left the door unlocked for them before, and now wherever the message is preached and proclaimed, the door to heaven opens for those who believe. And they're released from slavery to the power of this world and the prince of this world, and they come in. to the power of Christ, those who believe receive forgiveness of sins through His name, Acts 10 and 43. These examples of gospel proclamation set the tone for how we understand preaching even here in West Sava. We want our church to show by proclaiming that today, even now, is the time of God's favor, by proclaiming that the door remains open. So long as Jesus delays his return, there is still time. Even now, for those who live far from God to come in, and those who have been sinning against Him to repent and turn to Him. Even now, you can come in to God's life, His hope, His love, His joy, and no one who comes with repentance and faith in Jesus Christ will be turned away. But all those who repent and believe will come in. God will forgive and receive as many as believe his word with joy. There's no quota, there's no limit. God hasn't whispered to me or anyone else, well, it's only X amount, so don't go too hard on it, because it's like we're gonna run out of space. There's no quota, there's no denial based on background check. Those with the dirtiest kinds of sins need not apply, and if we find out about you, you can't be here. We're here to preach good news that Jesus has cracked open, has torn the curtain open, so that we have access to the very holy life of God. What used to be a dead end is now open, and it's true also here. We're here to make sure that the good news remains plainly in front of our community and that anybody who came in to talk with us about the gospel, they would learn about it, they would have access to it by way of the preaching of the gospel. So our public ministry is a lamp for that same purpose. I want you to value the preaching-centered worship that we have more than before. Remember that our preaching presence in this community is to make sure that that door remains open and that people have access to the kingdom of God and they're not shut out. Tragically, often we're criticized as Christians as though as though we only exist to make other people feel bad. If you ask the media, it's like Christians exist to tell people how horrible they are and especially to tell women that they're bad apparently. We exist to deny science. We're like the anti-science, anti-woman club based on what the news would say about us. We exist only to tell people that they're cursed and horrible and we're better than them. That's the caricature of us. That's the slander of us. And if we fit the bill, then we better repent. If we really are hypercritical people, always angry all the time, and we relish the thought of telling people that they're cursed and damned to hell, if that's exciting to us as our number one job, to bring other people down and tell them how awful they are, then we should repent because that's very empty of the love and the compassion and the hope and the zeal for the lost that we're to have. But so long as there's daylight, the true actual mission of the church is to shout that there's good news. Good news. Our sins no longer define us. Our sexuality does not define us. Our money does not define us. Our politics do not define us. We can have new life and a new identity, and it's in Jesus and him only. And it's not just for this life, but for eternity. and all of the sins that gall us, He forgives and removes. And that witness is to remain alive and open here with us. Our doors are open for the purpose of preaching salvation in Christ. Yes, repent, but believe and be saved. Of course, repent of your sins, but believe and come in and be forgiven and have the life that Jesus offers at His expense. And we're to bring in our neighbors and our family and our friends so that they may enter in as well. And every one of us should invite a new person as often as we're able. Think of another person and appeal to them. Come worship with me. Come know the Lord. It can be that simple sometimes. You should come to church with me. It could be that simple. It's not always that simple. But you know, how many times, how many times have people told me, you know, hey, you know, I wasn't a Christian and then my friend or my neighbor or my family member said, like, you should know the Lord. And I was like, okay. And it really was as simple as you should come to church with me. And they did. We should be sticking our neck out to invite others to know the Lord and come into the orbit of the preaching of the gospel. And this is, you know, this is one, you know, one way of looking at the church that's so important. It is important, small as we are, weak as we are, that nevertheless, we maintain an open witness for the gospel every week for how many years? This church is going to be 150 years old pretty soon. That's awesome. That's really a wonderful gift from God. In that way, it's very joyful to be a part of the Christian church. It's not our burden. It's not a drain. It's not a judgmental nightmare. No one could ever have been saved unless the good news was preached to them. Think of Romans 10. You know, how will they hear unless someone preaches to them? And how can they preach unless they're sent? you know, this chain of, you know, we need faith. Well, how does anyone get faith? We, you know, we can't believe unless someone tells us. God has willingly sent messengers into the whole world for the purpose of proclaiming the salvation of Jesus. If he hadn't done so, and if he hadn't given his spirit to empower that message, then none of us would have his life. We should start from that attitude and work outward. I have this because Jesus handed the keys to the apostles. He handed them the authority to preach and teach in his name and to apply, even in discipline, to make sure that it was clear. He handed them that authority. You do this as my messengers. Apostolo literally means I send. The apostles are the sent ones. How can we bring good news to many, to everyone? I maintain earlier that many churches don't do discipline, yet many point to church discipline as the reason they hate organized religion. I hate organized religion because of some disciplinary issue or problem gone bad in a previous church. Or it's the reason their parents stop attending or whatever. But remember that preaching, preaching, proclaiming the Bible, that's the start. That's the true starting point of all discipline in the church. That's really important. Preaching closes the kingdom of God when we proclaim publicly that unbelievers and hypocrites who say, I believe, but don't actually live it or do it or want to do it at all, who pretend but don't change their hearts, they're shut out from the kingdom of God and they can't fool him. They might be able to fool us for a while, but God knows immediately and when it's preached, those who say one thing but do another, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. That's binding, and that's where it starts in discipline, and then it becomes clear by the fruit of their lives over time, the hypocrisy, and maybe they're challenged by the church in discipline, but the root of it was here with the word. No liar, no hypocrite, no unbelieving heart escapes the scrutiny of God's spirit, and that will come out in time. So all discipline begins with the word. Every bit of it begins with the word. As long as we do not repent according to the word of God, we cannot enter his kingdom. Even before a friend or another member or an elder begins to point out sins which require repentance, like stop it and turn around repentance in our lives, the word of God already testifies to us that we're walking outside the lines of his law. We're walking outside the boundaries of his commands. God's word cannot be broken. God's word cannot lie. And it teaches us how to have self-discipline and self-control. When believers listen to the preaching of the gospel with soft hearts, then we practice self-discipline. You know, nothing ever became a church disciplinary issue that didn't first start with a person saying, I know it's right, but I don't wanna. I heard what God said, but I won't. And our self-discipline was beaten down, you know, until we seared our conscience. Until we, you know, until we wore down our conscience so that it didn't even put up a fight anymore. Self-discipline is the first kind of discipline that comes just with hearing the preaching of the gospel. That's why I say preaching and discipline are a piece, because just to hear it is to be self-disciplined when our hearts are soft and ready to receive it. So we won't allow unbelieving attitudes to overtake our spiritual life, proud attitudes to stifle our obedience. In Jesus' name, we will root them out ruthlessly from our hearts. Just like the Bible says, we're to put sins to death, we execute them on sight for the sake of living a pure and holy life. We're to be ruthless about rooting out sin. If I become aware that I'm living in anger, if I become aware that I hold grudges, if I suddenly realize, I have to be ruthless about killing that attitude and changing. Now God's word closes the door on every kind of sin. And now the thought is, the church then is meant to be a place that reflects conformity to Christ and the holiness of Christ. We're not going to try to smuggle in through the church doors, as it were, through the borders defined by God's word, anything that doesn't belong. Even though God's word says that kindness belongs inside the church, And anger is outside. I'm still going to smuggle in gossip. I'm still going to smuggle in grudges. I'm going to smuggle in an angry attitude. Even though God's word says the love of money doesn't belong in the spiritual church, I'll try to smuggle in pride, priority of place, favoritism, a place judged by wealth and worldly standards and make the church just like everything else. Every other thing is like that. Now the church is too. What do you know? Though God's word says that impure sexuality belongs outside in the world, and his people should be pure. You know, I'll justify, justify pornography, justify lust, homosexuality, sympathy for sexual sins, to avoid conflict, right? Even if we say, oh, I don't do those things, but I still approve because I don't want to be roasted by my friends and neighbors and family members if I stick my neck out of line and say, look, I don't believe that that's right. It's immoral to live this lifestyle. It's immoral. All of this stuff that's being crammed down our throat in this country, transgender ideology and all the twisted sexuality and hyper-sexuality of our culture. Oh, we desperately want to avoid the furnace of scrutiny of those who say, that's wrong, it's just wrong, it's evil, it's not right, it will not stand in God's eyes and it can't enter God's kingdom. We're more afraid of the furnace of the judgment of our culture than we're afraid of the actual undying worm and undying flame of hell. And that's a fact. And God's judgment will win, and the judgment of this culture will not. It will not prevail. That's why we sang out of Psalm 2, I've set my king to reign, and he is going to dash them to pieces like pottery with a rod of iron. They're going to come groveling to him and they ought to kiss his ring as it were. They ought to kiss the sun and understand what it means that he will reign and they will not reign for eternity. All of this self-justification, even immodesty. We're talking about now God's word closing the door on these things, and the church acknowledging that that is right, that that is holy, that that is so, and it will stand forever. The word of God will not waver. So the question becomes with church discipline, one or the other has to go. Either Christ is dethroned, or his word stands and that kind of living is thrown out of the church. That attitude, that lifestyle, every kind of sin, and every person who sympathizes with it, you know, that's it, out. Submit to him or depart. And discipline then is all about that thought. One or the other has to go. And Christ is not stepping off the throne to give it up to us or to anyone else. Preaching should show Christ clearly in his authority at God's right hand. It demonstrates his commands clearly. It shows his attitude. It demonstrates his self-sacrificial, cross-bearing life and death and resurrection. These are plain. We preach Christ crucified. And preaching that holds up that standard with regularity, it helps us so that we can't ignore sins. We can't pretend about them. We can't bury them. because God's word is showing, it's exposing what fits and what doesn't fit. So those who regularly sit under the preaching of the gospel, they will have the healthiest footing from which to handle sinful problems. You've got scores of people out there, hosts of people out there who are like, it's me and my Bible and God. No church, I hate the church, I don't want anything to do with it, I just want me and God and my Bible. And what do you know? By themselves, they twist and bend and skew God's standards in a way that favors themselves. Over time, being alone. has its poor effect, being independent from the body has its poor effect. They start to twist and bend and skew and the lack of accountability and the lack of a straight edge and a serious submission, not just to God's word with only their mind involved, but with the holiness of the church as a corrective. It causes problems and troubles for them. It skews their thinking. We're not meant to be independent, but each to the other. We belong to one another in the body and all together to Christ the head. Think of Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12. That helps us. It helps us when it comes to discipline, not to ignore sins or downplay them or pretend about them. all together sitting under the preaching, and then just having one another say, well, I heard the same thing you did. Didn't you hear what God's word said about this, and why is it that we're going opposite directions? That kind of accountability really matters. With the Spirit's help, then we'll all be well-equipped for good service. We'll all be well-equipped for rooting out sin. We'll be well-equipped for God's kingdom. And in this way, God's judgment would be no mystery to us. it won't come arbitrarily on peaceful and unsuspecting people who are just trying to live a good life. And that's how people often characterize discipline. They're like, oh no, I was just minding my own business and living the best life I knew how when God's discipline came like a meteor out of the sky and smashed me and destroyed my life and I'm so angry because I never saw it coming. And I just wanted to be good and I got smashed by God's discipline. And you know, how dare the church do this to me? And so on. Those who respond with repentance to the message of Christ's life and death, his crucifixion, his resurrection, they will have forgiveness and peace with God. But those who ignore Those who ignore His commands, those who put off repentance, those who put off God's will and His purposes, they will be subject to God's anger and condemnation. declaring that you don't want to hurt anybody and you just want to live and let live or I'm just focusing on my degree right now or I'm just trying to do my best. I just put my head down. I'm just trying to make money and provide for my family or whatever. That kind of talk does nothing to open and close the kingdom of God. It opens and closes by our response to every word that comes from the mouth of Christ. It opens and closes according to our repentance and faith or rejection of the message of Jesus and Him crucified. So though many have denied discipline, it is actually a natural, organic, grass-fed, grass-finished, raw result of preaching Jesus Christ. I heard from him, now I need to do what he has commanded. I heard from him, and now to love him, I need to obey. That's the long and short of church discipline. God's words are living and active, and they have application for others, but especially for me. That has to be our attitude. And the surprise response of many purportedly pious people, try to say that 10 times fast, purportedly pious people. I'm making this up on the spot. I didn't write that down. It's not in my notes at all. Purportedly pious people, they hear God's word, but then it boils down to something like this. I know that's what the Bible says, but I can't believe we're actually doing it. There's shock with church discipline. It's like, I know that's what the Bible says, but we're not actually doing that, right? Are we really enforcing these things? They're shocked. You know, we're going to actually do what we say? We're taking this seriously? When did we start taking this seriously? I didn't get the memo. You know, I'm religious, but I'm not that religious. This is the sort of attitude that we get about the binding commands of God. Exercising the binding and loosing, forgiving and withholding of forgiveness, it was clarified further in Matthew 18, which maps out the process for discipline and restoration in the church. You have to think really hard about those words. If anyone, though called a Christian, professes or lives in an unchristian way, that's the summary in our catechism of this thought. It's a family matter, it's an internal matter that this is the way Christians deal with Christians in Matthew 18. No discipline ever came upon a person who didn't first have a real profession of their faith and a commitment to the way of Christ. Are you baptized? Have you made a public profession of your faith? Are you a counted and accountable member of the Church of Jesus Christ? Is it your desire to sit at the table and eat and drink of Him in communion with other Christians? Would you say openly, publicly, that Jesus is your King, that He is yours and you are His? If this is your testimony, then discipline is for you. If not, then Christian discipline is of no concern to you because this is an internal matter for the church. Preaching is for you and it urges you constantly to repent, and to believe and to grow in faith and to grow in true fellowship and obedience in your walk with God. So for those who say yes to that, for those who say I want him and I am his and he is mine, I do believe and Jesus is mine, discipline works in this way. A person who claims that they already know the way to walk with the Lord Jesus, they initiate discipline themselves when they claim one thing but do another. So discipline is initiated the minute that we become hypocritical. And it gets heavier and heavier until we repent, and that's the way it's designed. We claim one thing, but then we do another. That's when discipline is truly initiated, because we've heard and we've said, I believe, and then we break our vow. We break our confession and our commitment. That was a public commitment. Next, their brothers and sisters notice, we notice other Christians repeatedly notice and say lovingly, but firmly, you're saying one thing, brother, sister, you're saying this, but you're doing the opposite. You say you believe, you say you belong to Christ, but you're doing the opposite. And they might repeatedly admonish this person. according to Matthew 18, to win their brother or sister back into the fold, to win them back to a proper, healthy Christian living. They urge that person to abandon the contradiction. Repent, turn around. You're living in adultery. You're clearly stealing. You're saying that you love Jesus, but your harsh and crude attitude and language or whatever says something else. You're saying that you're a child of God, but you've abandoned your own sons and daughters. You're thanking Jesus for His mercy, but you withhold generosity and mercy from others. Make a change. Repent. Honor Jesus. Correct your life. Correct your doctrine. Notice the person refuses. They refuse to abandon these errors, though they've been pointed out repeatedly with multiple witnesses. They've been pointed out in a way that demonstrates how they're going astray from that Christian confession of God's word. It's repeated hardness of heart, calls for discipline, church discipline. Then the matter is reported to church officers, according to Matthew 18. If they refuse to listen, even when they listen with witnesses, then it's to be told to the church. And not just like, hey, church walls, hey, leaders of the church, that's the idea. Those who have been specifically authorized for this task, the task of shepherding and discipline in the church. So now it's told to the church, and the church officers then are to admonish this person clearly, lovingly, biblically. Their authority and character in God's word being proven so that this person can't just say, oh, it's because they, you know, they're manipulating me or they can't say, oh, you know, you have no business in this matter. You know, now it's, it's, it's really, it's gone beyond that. You know, the leaders of the church to whom they have, they have also vowed to be obedient and submissive. Now their judgments and their wisdom in the matter should be honored and followed in the name of Jesus. And so their elders are convicted that this conduct, you know, stands opposite, stands apart from what God has called us to be and to do as Christians. Well, then that's another step. So if the elders then make that judgment that this matter is critical for the faith, that what you're doing is actually in violation of the truth of Christ and of our commitments and love to him, then that's a serious matter. If that's the case and the person will not repent, Such a person may no longer take the sacrament, right? They're now removed from community and communion in that way. They're no longer allowed to take the sacrament and they're excluded from membership in the congregation. So long as they persist in unbelief, and that's the key, they persist in their sin and in unbelief, they do not get the benefits of membership in the church, and that's very serious. And so long as they persist in unrepentance, they cannot claim to be a healthy part of the Christian congregation or to share in the benefits of Christ. And that's very important in Matthew 16, so important that we understand God in heaven who sits on the throne of the universe endorses that judgment. What you have bound on earth is bound. It's bound in heaven also. And that's where this creates controversy. Who cares? I can go to the church down the street. I can do whatever I want. I can go to some other church and they'll serve me communion. They won't even ask. But guess what? God knows. Guess what? The king of the universe understands that spite of his word, of his authority, he counts, he knows. The very God of the universe endorses that local church. in their judgment, as weak as they are, as unsophisticated as they are, even if they were untaught fishermen. Bill has such an advantage. He has such an advantage when the fisherman stuff comes up. But it's one-to-one. Even if they were untaught fishermen, like the Sanhedrin said of the apostles, we marvel, because the only significant thing about them is that they've been with Jesus And so they have this authority that is unexplainable, except that they've been with Jesus. Well, so it is, the local church, their elders are unimpressive in every way, their pastor, unimpressive in every way, and yet the very Jesus who sits on the throne in heaven affirms that judgment, and the way of salvation is locked, and the table and the benefits of it are locked to that person. This is the significance of Matthew 16 and of Matthew 18 and the idea of church discipline, that it's not just a matter of people getting advantages over people. It is really a spiritual matter that has to be taken seriously or we cannot be saved. God's principles do not change and his word does not err. Generally speaking, You know, men protect demonstrably wicked actions with, you know, self-proclaimed exemptions instead of repenting. We want to justify ourselves, but this doesn't fool God at all. And in the church, we shouldn't be fooled. And we should not give in to worthless religion. You know, what is genuine repentance? It seeks to honor God and undo the damage caused by our sins. Genuine repentance seeks as much restoration as possible for sin. We want to put those sins behind us and at such a distance that they're not a threat anymore. And we want to undo the damage that we've done. If we've stolen, We work to restore what we've stolen. If we've broken trust, we work to rebuild trust and be trustworthy. If we've torn down others, we work to undo that damage and build them up. If we've given our hearts to worldly things, we smash those idols and we cling to Jesus all the more. Are there sins of which you need to repent? Today is the day. Are there damages that you've done that you need to make genuine restoration? How will you begin? And if you need help to begin, talk to me or talk to one of your elders. How can we start to undo the unrepentant sin and the sinful damage that we've done? And God will give us the spirit and the courage to do so, to be self-disciplined, and stay far away from the kind of hardness of heart that calls for church discipline in a more official way. God is never fooled. His church is not handcuffed or hogtied by the immaturity and the foolishness of those who say, you know, who cares? I'll go to another church down the street. I can take communion anytime I want anywhere else. They're not even going to care or ask. God is not fooled by any of this. We have to do what's necessary to honor God by carrying out the ministry of preaching and discipline day by day, week by week, year by year. We pray that a person will see the severity, the truly disturbing severity of distance from God, of being cut off from the table and repent. We pray that this temporary hardness of heart in people will soften with God's help. and the person who's under discipline will return to Christ. And rather than hold a grudge, we will welcome them with open arms, truly happy that they have been restored, not relishing that they've been destroyed. You know, I can't wait to watch them explode. We relish the thought that they would recover, that they would turn around. And we have to be ready then to welcome them in repentance. Genuine repentance leads to genuine restoration. We need to honor Christ then diligently in our hearts. humble ourselves so that we never blow by stop sign after stop sign. This is the thing about Christian discipline. Everyone's worried about the discipline. And really we should be appalled at this thought. Blowing by stop sign after stop sign after stop sign. I know what I read in God's word, I blew past it. I know what the church is preaching, I blew by it. I know what my Christian friends said to me, I blow by it. I know what the elders have said, I blow by it. That's so serious, that repeated hardness of heart, rather than have things remain out of joint, like it says in Hebrews, we need to recover. and let discipline, although it's unpleasant, have its good result. Then we will honor God the way that he truly desires, that we would hear and obey, that our love for him wouldn't just be talk, it would be action. We'll love him and never despise his correction. And in that way, our growth and development as disciples will turn into wisdom and maturity that will last forever. Amen, let's pray. Our Father in heaven, We thank you for the wisdom that you have revealed through your son, Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord, that he has borne the punishments, that he has borne the torments, that he has suffered and submitted even to death for the sins that we committed. And Lord, we pray now that we would learn from him Never again going the way of slavery to sin, never going the way of darkness and death, but instead growing in the humble walk of faith. Lord, we ask that we would quickly soften our hearts, quickly turn away from sin, quickly find your word to convict us, and Lord, hasten to turn away from sin and towards those things that lead to life. Lord, all of this, Lord, we ask in Jesus' name, Jesus who is able to lead us and to illumine our path, we pray according to his love and truth, amen.