Could I invite you to turn to Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, in the 5th chapter, into verse 15. I don't know if that's alright, Ryan, but there's some sort of little echo going here. It may be fine. See how it goes. Ephesians 5 and verse 15. The Apostle Paul writes, Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. Let's pray together. Lord, we come before You at this hour, before Your Word, and we pray that all of us, every Christian, would come before You this hour, Lord, forgetting all the previous hours, forgetting all the future hours, and that we would sit before Your Word like Mary, to hear all that You have to say, or like Samuel, and we would sit before it obediently, saying, Speak, Lord, Your servant is listening. We pray that You would forgive us of our sins through the Gospel, and that through that, Lord, You would free us to stand before Your Word and to allow it to shine all over our heart, not fearing any condemnation from it, but only conviction from it, and knowing that all that we see in it is there not to condemn us, but to convict us, and to encourage us to run ever harder after Your ways, knowing they are all good ways. And all Your ways are well for our soul. So we look to You, Lord, and we ask for Your blessing on our minds, on our hearts, on our emotions, on our minds, on our wills, on all our relationships. And we trust that Your Word has the answer for them all. And we even trust in Your Word, Lord, that You've ordained preaching through imperfect men. So we pray to have the attitude of the Thessalonians to look through the failings of men trying to deliver the Word. And see the Word for what it really is, not the Word of man, but the Word of God. And that we would see You in this moment. and hear You. In Jesus' name, Amen. So... I feel like James White at the G3 that time. Testing. Testing, testing, testing. Still a little too hot, I think. Testing. Yeah. No, it's testing. Still a tad too hot. Testing. Testing, testing, testing. That's fine. Thank you all. So, we've made it the corner of a new year, and here we are also returning to this epistle of Paul, this great epic letter of Paul to the Ephesians, and lo, we're also at a new section. But it is the last new section that we'll come to in this letter. For though it commences here at verse 15, it's not until the very end of the letter nearly, all the way to 6 verse 20, that it closes, to be exact. And after that, you get the typical few verses of wrap-up of travel plans and a grace wish And that therefore means this is the last new section of the letter. So this is the pilot saying, ladies and gentlemen, we are now descending the aircraft. This is the beginning of the end and the end of the beginning, as it is said. Now you can see how 515 all the way to 620 is meant to be distinctly knit together unit by observing three things and that's what I want to cover today. In the spirit of Martin Lloyd-Jones who would always have a sermon introducing a new section so that we see it in its proper context and setting. See the whole before we engage with the parts and get a feel for it. That's what I want to do today, just introduce this section and give an overview of it. But the way I would like to do it it seems profitable to me, is to give three evidences or three reasons for viewing it as a distinct unit of thought. The first two being very quick and the third being the remainder, the bulk of the sermon. So the first reason that you can notice to remember to kind of remind yourself it is a unit is the bookends that you've probably never noticed before and you probably would have never noticed unless you did a study of the letter like we're doing. What bookends do you say? Well, notice in 5.16 the reference to the evil day. He says, making the most of your time because the days are evil. And then notice in 6.13, the pericope on the armor of God, you see the same thing. Therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day. So this sort of, as I said, brackets or bookends or any, you know, as I always use to illustrate it, Beauty and the Beast, it begins and ends in the ballroom. So a literary inclusio is kind of a way of beginning and ending at the same spot. It wraps up the thought, it encloses it. They call it bookends or an inclusio. So you see that there. What it shows us is Paul has not left the thought that he begins with in 5.16 at the beginning of it. So that's one reason to take it as a unit. The second reason is a thing to notice is on that view it would be ending with the armor of God section. But typically all take the armor of God section as one of the pieces of armor being prayer. So as including the section on prayer that begins in verse 18. Well, that section goes all the way to verse 20. So that supports this idea that this section, once you see the bookends linking 5.16 to the Armor of God section, well then the Armor of God section goes to verse 20. So the whole thing becomes clear that 5.15 to 6.20 is a unit. And the third reason which you want to spend all the rest of this sermon on is after you notice those first two. You notice that from 515 all the way through, there is a seamless, masterful flow of thought, where there is just one idea that flows all the way to the end. And you will see this, hopefully, today. And it's exciting how easy to remember and memorize it will be. I hope all the kids will remember this sermon. As a matter of fact, that might be the way I title it in the end, you'll see. So how do you see this overall flow of thought which any child could remember? So this is, we talk about memorizing scripture, here is a way to memorize a unit which you can never forget. So it begins, here's the flow, it begins with this opening statement, therefore be careful how you walk. And then, after that overall topic sentence is given, you get three contrasts marked by this not but formula. Not this, but this. So notice, not as unwise men, but as wise. Verse 17, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Verse 18, do not get drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. And on the third contrast, you get three commands, which are dealt with in these five verbs that follow in 19 and following. Speaking, singing, making melody, giving thanks, and submitting. Now, how do I know that these are to be interpreted as commands? Because they are participles in the Greek. It's a fact that English translations sort of juggle how to interpret them. That just means they end in "-ing", and that means they are verbs that are used as adjectives. to describe something. And in this case, they're used to describe being filled with the Spirit. They're used to lay out how to be filled with the Spirit, or what it looks like to be filled with the Spirit. So the imperative command, then, to be filled with the Spirit is brought forward, and the charge is in these five participles. So think of it this way. I'm told some people were doing driver's ed this morning. I already had this illustration in the sermon, so it works out. Suppose your teacher tells you, drive carefully, keeping two hands on the wheel, looking both ways, staying off your phone, remaining focused on the task, all these kinds of things. Well, you would understand this keeping two hands on the wheel, staying off your phone, keeping looking both ways as being the ways that you carry out the initial command to drive carefully. This is how you drive carefully. So he means for you, when he says drive carefully, to do it this way. The imperative charge is brought forth. in those other verbs. And similarly here, Paul is saying, when he says in verse 18, but be filled with the Spirit, and then he starts saying, speaking to one another, singing, making melody, giving things. In verse 21, it should be translated submitting. Not subject, not be subject, but submitting to one another in the fear of Christ. He's saying, this is what it looks like. to be filled with the Spirit. This is how it is evidenced and manifested that you're filled with the Spirit. But if you're listening closely, you say, Jeffrey, that's five commands. You said we had three contrasts, and on the third contrast you get three commands, so why say three if there are five? And I knew of this structure of Ephesians prior to this, and so I was uncomfortable with that as well. I thought, well, I don't want to impose a memorizing structure on the text just because it's helpful for me. if it's not the real meaning of the text, but then the more I looked at it, I saw why men throughout history and commentators have taken it this way, because you really could think of the first three participles, speaking, singing, making melody, as going under the one heading of singing. Why? Well, you notice in the text, the speaking is done to one another in Psalms. So this is a singing kind of speaking. And the making melody with your heart to the Lord is also done with song. So it is true that you could take these three and put them under that heading, and if you do, then what you end up with is three participles functioning as three commands, and those are singing, thanking, and submitting. That is what it looks like to be filled with the Spirit. It doesn't exhaust it. There's more. You may think, well, the fruit of the Spirit has more to say than these three. There's more, but get this, it's not less. There's more to being filled with Spirit, but it's not less than these three. There is more to what a Spirit-filled worshiper of God looks like, but it includes these three and all of these three. Why emphasize that? Because counterfeit worship always emphasizes one of these, but not the others. Always one, but not all three. Think of it as a molecule. You have to have all three. You have to have the protons and the neutrons and electrons arranged in this way. You lose a proton, you lose the molecule. It's no longer the same. I mean, you lose the atom. It's no longer the same element. So all three have to be there for the person to be spirit filled. They have to be singing. They have to be thinking. And they have to be submitting. So what would counterfeits look like? Well, you may have people who are singing. but not thanking. Because notice the thinking. It doesn't just mean being thankful, like an atheist. It says, always giving thanks for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father. Now Paul began the letter this way. You may remember back in chapter 1, Verse 3, He opened up by blessing the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is an Old Testament way of referring to God based on His actions. You may remember the Lord God of Israel, the Lord God of Elijah. the Lord God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. So the idea is that we know who God is in Christianity, not simply by his authoritative attributions about himself, nor simply by his covenant presence with us, but by his historical acts. We know him based on what he does in history, his actions. And so to know God as the God and Father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is because he revealed himself, he acted. specifically in their lives. The God of Israel is because He acted in their lives. The God of Elijah is because He acted in His life. So we say sometimes, like, what sort of person would do this sort of thing? And similarly, God is known by what He does. And it all culminates in the gospel because of his actions in Christ. And so now he becomes known chiefly. as the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because he has revealed himself in Christ. Which means you have this terminology in theology, they talk about the economical trinity and the ontological trinity. The economical trinity just means the trinity as you see it worked out in history. It means there's something about the way that this happened that brings the triune nature of God to mind. And then there's a section of theology where theologians think about the Trinity just in and of itself in eternity, the ontological Trinity, just the being of God. Well, what Paul is saying by referring to God as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Trinity grows up from the Gospel. Often the Trinity is viewed as this, you know, theologians and philosophers sitting around coming up with something that's hard to understand, that imposes a kind of rigidness on our fellowship and makes Christianity difficult, and majoring on something that causes problems. No, no, no, no, no. You see, God so loved the world that he sent, that he gave. The most basic verse of the Bible is Trinitarian. The Trinity is as down to earth as the virgin given birth in the stable, in the manger, in that setting. You see, the church has to think through, well, who is this? Who is Christ? Who is this person? And he's praying to another person, and he's been sent by that person. And then, so the act of the incarnation itself, and then you have the act of him pouring out the Spirit on Pentecost, so the coming of Christ and the outpouring of the Spirit sent by God gives you this idea. You can't really believe in the outpouring of the Spirit, in the incarnation of Christ, in Him being sent by the Father. All these things are part of it. And notice Paul is talking about thanking God in this way. This means truth. This means theology. But let me tell you how this happens. We know people, you could turn on the lights, you could turn on the strobe lights, you could produce the sweat, you could close your eyes, and you could lift up your hands. And there are groups of people who are known to be described like this. Those people really know how to worship. And we still describe them that way. No knowledge of the gospel. Wrong about who God is. Just paganing out like the men before Elijah, right before your very eyes, thinking that their worship manipulates and gets something from God. And we say, well, they don't have this, that, and the other, but boy, they have worship. Right? They really know how to worship. They are Spirit, the Spirit is among them. Denying historic Christian doctrines like the Trinity, oneness of Pentecostals, That's not a person filled with the Spirit. You can say it. It's a fact. The apostle has told us the marks of being filled with the Spirit. They are singing, yes, but not just singing. They are thanking God. Not turning off the mind, but aware of things. Think how often in this book Paul has made reference to the mind. I mean, he said in verse 18 of chapter 4 that they're darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is within them. But you did not, what, learn Christ in this way if you've heard of Him and have been taught? These are all things that get labeled as, what, unspiritual. thinking, intellect, knowledge. I mean, it's like anyone who wants to think accurately about God at all is automatically unspiritual. Because we all know being spiritual means turning your mind off and just emoting across the pew. and just falling off. As a matter of fact, that's what we apparently interpret as shutting your eyes and just shutting your mind off. That's not how Paul thought. That's why Jesus said, the Father seeks worshipers who worship Him in spirit and truth. So you have that form of it, if you don't have all three. Or you might have a person singing and thinking but not submitting. Singing and thinking but not submitting. These churches have people who their living is divorced from their worship service. And so they're out there and they can just be a rebel Everywhere else in their life, every other God-ordained authority structure, they kick against it. They're a rebel against it. They're not known for their submission in any other area. They can't submit to anybody. They can't ever listen to anybody. But boy, they just really love a good worship service. Paul would say, that's not a person filled with the Spirit. It's a fact. We can say it. And we should say it. And finally, this. This is maybe more home to us. Maybe it's not a person like that. Maybe you have someone who is You have someone who is pretty submissive because they just have a kind of personality. Or maybe we just, we mistake submissiveness because they just are apathetic. They just don't care enough about the issues to kick up any dust about anything. And so you say, oh, well, he's just very agreeable. But yeah, he may be agreeable because he doesn't care. about the gospel, or the truth, or the church, or anything. It's like nothing could ever aggravate it. Well, yeah, that'd be good if it were humility, but not good if it's apathy, right? And so maybe someone just looks like they, you know, are not rebellious, and they would affirm all the historic Christian doctrine, but they never sing. I have a spirit-filled relationship with Christ and I know Him very well. Well, that's good, brother. Let's go and give thanks to God and sing. Well, it's not really in the scene. It's not a person filled with the Spirit. It's a fact. We can say it. Paul says it. The mark of being filled with the Spirit is what he says here. It is singing the truth of the Gospel and living out the truth of the Gospel in obedience. That is the mark. There are other marks, but it's not less than these. Now let's back up and see what we have now. Remember what we're trying to see. We're trying to see the internal flow of thought here within this section so that we can really appreciate that it's a distinct unit of thought that we're beginning here. And what we've seen is after the opening topic sentence, let's say, in 5.15, we get three contrasts. On the third contrast, three commands, and now on the third command, you get three contexts. Wives to husbands, children to parents, and slaves to masters. In other words, You get your three contrasts there, and on that third one of being filled with the Spirit, now we get these, that telescopes into these three commands, which explicate what that means, and then on this third command, which is to be submitting to one another out of fear to Christ, you get three contexts of what that looks like, and this should help us with a semi-popular in the neo-evangelical culture today of a misinterpretation of submission. that happens. 521, it often gets argued, is the umbrella for the section on husbands and wives. And then that is used to argue for mutual submission within marriage. So they said, hey, he says, be subject to one another, so don't get this wrong. Hey, you're to submit to the woman also. It's not a one-way thing. And you get this modern cultural idea. We're a team. We're a team. We're equals here in our roles. You know, we work together, we negotiate, we Jordan Peterson it, we just negotiate and we figure it out. There's no distinct role, we're a team, the team model of marriage. But 521 is not the heading for the section on husbands and wives, it's the heading for wives to husbands, children to parents, and slaves to masters. It's the heading for everything all the way down to 6, 9. The need that fuels this view is like, whoa, we could abuse power. That's dealt with in the text. The idea that the person who holds the authority and holds the power could abuse it and they need a word spoken to them is already dealt with in the text. We don't have to abuse the interpretation of the text to do that. Notice the masterful flow of Paul here. He addresses the wives. that they are to submit to their husbands, and then after that, he addresses the husband. He addresses the children, and then after that, he addresses the parents. He addresses the slaves, and then after that, he addresses the masters. It's dealt with in the text. The abuse of the authority and how to properly handle the authority and that danger is dealt with in the text. Now, all of this means that when it comes to submission, as in outworking of being filled with the Spirit, this is what it looks like. Again, it doesn't mean that this exhausts submission in the Christian life. It is more than this. But it's not less. So, The next time I, or you, or someone says to you, they are filled with the Spirit. They are just absolutely filled with the Spirit. They are Spirit-filled worshippers. They have a special, unique, intimate relationship to God. How well is your submission to your husband? Because that's the symptom of it. How well is your submission to your parents? Because that's how you know. And what is your submission like to your employer? That's how you know. Submission to the God-ordained authority structures and trust in those institutions that God has ordained for the ordering of society is the mark of being Spirit-filled. Seeking to honor those little conversations of wives downing their husbands, this is not Spirit-filled. That's not seeking to promote submission and honor to the God-ordained structures. Interfering, meddling too much in one another's marriages, home life, Work even could be a dishonoring of these God-ordained structures. And if you are a husband and a parent and a boss, someone who is in a position of authority, how are you using your authority? That's the test of us being spirit-filled. Is it all heavy-handed leadership? Is it all exasperating shouts and yells and anger? And know this, you say, oh no, no, again, because again, you can be apathetic and that's why you're not shouting and yelling because you really don't care about the direction of your family. So it's not just the lack of that, you can ask, am I leading my family? Am I leading my children? Not just am I not hitting them, and being rude and mean and wicked with them, but am I nurturing them? Am I bringing them forward? Am I doing the positive? So not just am I back here, am I washing my wife with the Bible? Am I talking to her, encouraging her, affirming her value and the way she's supposed to look at herself? Do you think she's going to get it from Fox or CNN? Or the world? Am I speaking to my children about who they are and what matters in life again? Do you think they're going to get it from the world? So a passive man about these things is not Spirit-filled. So what do we have? We have an overall topic sentence in 515. Which let me remind you of the further context behind that. All the way back. This is the tenth specific action. All the way back to 425. This began. Where Paul starts laying out specific garments to take off and put on. which was an outworking of the general idea in verses 17 to 24 of chapter 4 that We need to be changing. We've been remade on the inside. There are things on the outside that need to come off, that need to put on to match who we really are, change our clothes idea of sanctification. And that was the second thing that was mentioned after verses 11 to 16, which is that we need to be growing, so growing and changing. And all of that was flowing from 4, 7, to 10, which is that the reunification of all things that God has begun in Christ, there's more left to do to finish the work, to bless the world. And that is going to come through the church growing, which comes through listening to truth like this as best you can, and then through changing, which looks like as we go through all of those that we went through. Telling the truth instead of lying to one another. Handling your anger in the right way. The words we say. bitterness and forgiveness, all those things that have been mentioned, which means this is the tenth thing that is mentioned. This is the tenth and final thing to do to change the world, to bless the world, to do good. The idea always enters in, the satanic idea. If we could just do this, then these relationships will go well. If we could just act this way, then this good thing will happen. No, no, no, never, no. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. And that most simple end. This is what we need. Whatever the topic sentence of verse 15, this is the last thing on Paul's mind he's saying. This is what you need to do. This is what you need to do. Be careful how you walk. And so, that's what we'll come to next time. But that is the topic sentence. And so, what do we have on this last topic sentence for this last section after the topic sentence? We get three contrasts. On the third contrast, three commands. On the third command, we get three contexts. Three, three, three. Sermon title. Memorization. How do you memorize Ephesians 515 to 620? It's 3-3-3. And it's telescopic, you could say. The three contacts telescope back into the third of the commands to be submitting to one another. And then those three commands telescope back into the third contrast. And in that third contrast, being filled with spirit, all of those three contrasts telescope back into the overall topic sentence. And being careful how you walk. So this is all of this just telescoped all into, be careful how you walk, and handed to us by Paul. If you want to bless your life and bless the people around you, and you want to further goodness and joy and happiness, this is what to do. I hope you can see how just a masterpiece, a literary masterpiece this section is. And maybe even your heart like mine began to see the beauty of it, and the desirability of it, and just wow. Never seen that group of verses like that before. How thoughtfully laid out. And then to think that you and I are going to get to study it, Go through it and have it wash over our life and see what it does. I mean, it's one of the most inestimable sections of Scripture in value. Here we have the classic teaching on how to know the will of God for our lives. People ask all the time, how do I know what God wants me to do? And discover, as it's dealt with by Paul, how to do it in this text. Here we have the classic teaching on being filled with the Spirit. Here we have the classic teaching on marriage. Here we have the classic teaching on education of our children. Here we have the classic teaching on employers' relationship at work. And here we have the classic teaching on the armor of God. This is an astounding section of Scripture. And no doubt, any Christian would be greatly changed after going through it. It's like going through a car wash or some production factory. You come out looking different. So what a privilege is before us. I hope this introduction has helped you to see it, get a feel for it, develop your interest in it, and look forward to it. But in light of this opening, that true worship is never one at the expense of the other, but always all three. Singing, thanking, and submitting. It's not hard to segue into the Lord's Supper that we're to take today. We don't want to turn our minds off. We're doing the Lord's Supper as an act of submitting, right? So you could say someone who has a spirit-filled relationship with Christ but never observes the Lord's Supper is not spirit-filled. Something's wrong. There's a brokenness there. And when we do it, we do it as Paul says here, giving thanks for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father. That means you're thinking about what He did. You're thinking about the truth that is revealed in those four Gospels. You're thinking about the incarnation and the announcement of Gabriel, and he was born, and the way he lived, and the way he died, and the way he rose. And then you're thinking about the epistles, and they're like the commentators, as we say, of what's going on down there on the field. It's like in the Gospels, you get the facts, and in the epistles, it's like the announcers. They're up here just giving you the play-by-play, and this means that, and this is what he's accomplishing there, and that's the way to... You don't get anything about dying with Christ hardly in any of the Gospels. You need the apostolic commentary of Paul to tell us that, what really happened on the tree. And after you go there, what do you see? Why take this? What are we thinking about when we take this? So let me end by sharing with you the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. You are a descendant of two people, Adam and Eve. You were made in the garden in paradise. He is your father. Not the one you think is your father. He's your ultimate father. And he's your ultimate federal head. He's your team captain. And he lost the coin dolls. And everything that happens to him happens to you and me. You say, well, I didn't decide that, neither did I. God did. It's covenant. Covenant of works made with Adam in the garden. If he obeys, he gets eternal life. If he disobeys, he gets eternal death and all who are in him. And that's why after the fall, you see murder come into the world. Sin come into the world. And death come into the world. You see, the first murder, you see, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died. The Puritans call Genesis 5 the tolling bell. You know, in the old days when they had a funeral, you would hear... That's how to read Genesis 5. And he lived, and he did all this, and he died. And I don't know how many times I've done it yet, but I hope it grips you again today for me to say to you and for you to think with me about the fact that we are going to die. You are going to die. One day, it's not someone else's funeral. It's mine. And it's yours. And there is nothing you or I can do about it. But there is one who was promised after that fall. Before the rubble even hit the floor and settled. Jonathan Edwards, in his book, The History of Redemption, says, there was held out hope to them so that they would not be overborn in sorrow. That God obviously had a purpose here because before the rocks of that kingdom fell, there was a promise of the second that was coming. And you can read 1 Corinthians 15. Have you ever read that where Paul says, first the natural man, then the spiritual? And he's like, the natural, there is a spiritual because there's a natural, meaning God was always looking forward. The first creation was never the plan. There's only one plan. And it's always been a new creation plan. That's why in Revelation the book says, the book of the life of the lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world. What do you need to have a lamb slain? Sin. Sin was included in the plan before the foundation of the world. There's a sense in which there had to be a cross because there was a garden, but there is another sense in which there had to be a garden because there was a cross. People are looking. Is it Noah? Maybe he will give us rest. No. Maybe he's the one. No. Is it Abraham? No. It must be David. Goodness? No. It is not him. And then there are kings coming. Is it him? No. Is it him? No. Is it him? No. And there are prophets. Maybe it's one of them. No. And then you get John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament. Are you the one or should we look for someone else? There's just this forward looking for someone and it is the messianic complex that's in every human while they just lodge celebrities and professionals and there is something within us that knows that we need a leader, we need a champion, we need a savior, we don't need an educator or a philosopher, we need redemption. of our bodies and of our souls from sin and death which no doctor, no physician, no psychiatrist, we are helpless in this age. It is called by Paul the present evil age and we are helpless in it. We are of all men most to be pitied, he says, without this truth. Because not only is death coming for us, you know it. And there is nothing you can do. But the truth in this book, and I know this is like, is this two sermons, the Lord's Supper sermon? But I don't know how long I will live. I'm not promised tomorrow. Think for me about this for a second. Look at how the New Testament begins. You have You have Christ presented, and He's baptized, and He goes through the Jordan, and He's called the Son of God. And He's in the wilderness, and He's tempted for 40 days. He's being presented as what? The true Israel, the true Son of God, the true obedient Son. And Israel was supposed to do what Adam didn't do. So He's being presented as the true Adam, the true Israel, the one who obeys, the one who is a champion, the one who carries and carries and carries. I was into powerlifting when I was in high school. Imagine you're just there and you're on the squat rack and there's more weight and more weight and more weight and more weight put on. That is what the life of Jesus is like all the way to the cross. It gets harder and harder and harder and harder and harder. We know this when we resist temptation. Is it easier when you go without a meal? The first meal? The second meal? The third meal? It gets harder. And so there is a sense in which because He was sinless, He was tempted more than any of us all combined. And he felt the pull. And the weight is put on, and the weight is put on, and the weight is put on. And I want you to think about us, and when you sin, and you're provoked, and someone just digs into you, and you can't stand it anymore, and your sin comes out. that he was treated like that, and spit upon, and everything, and he kept, kept, kept going. And Peter says he was entrusting his soul to Him who judges righteously. Justin mentioned this morning in prayer, to have Scripture in our mind that we might not sin. It was Him who did this. It was Him who did this. Peter tells us, when you read that Gospel, he's the commentator. He was entrusting. We know what he was thinking about. For the joy set before him, he endured it. He was trusting God all the way through every spit, every slap. And Paul tells us he goes all the way there. And the author of Hebrews tells us that he became perfect through what he suffered. He was made perfect. It's like this diamond. The righteousness of Christ is like this diamond. that is forged under pressure and the value just keeps growing until on the cross, what do you see on the cross? You see the law of God fulfilled. You see it all fulfilled right there on the cross. What is half the law of God? That whoever sins is punished. The soul that sins is punished and dies and there's nothing, there's just justice. And that's what you see on the cross. Have you ever seen the justice of God? It's not in Sodom and Gomorrah. It's on the cross. Where He was willing to punish His own Son. If anything ever showed that God has unbending justice, it is there. That He will never leave the guilty unpunished. It was there. But then what else do you see there? John says it's not just justice, God is love. There's this other side that you and I were under this great condemnation. But because God is also love, He was willing to meet the demands of His justice. For you, because He loves you so much. And so you see the mercy as Christ hangs there. This is the second person of the Trinity being displayed. This is the heart of God. There's nothing else to see in life. There is nothing else to go look at but this. You can go on vacations. You can swim into the bottom of the sea and climb Everest. There is no more beauty like this. And that is what my heart needs and your heart needs. And that righteousness there. As he's even insulted on the tree. And he obeys all the way. And that's what's given to us by faith alone for free. So the story comes full circle. You have a tree where God doesn't give us one thing. Doesn't give us one thing. And we think, and we still think it all the time. He doesn't love us. He's not good. He's not for me. It's not going to work out unless I freak out and do something. This is all going to be a great big mess. In the gospel, he uses the tree that causes the first Adam sins with this tree. The second Adam obeys while stapled to it. And then says, come unto me. Come to the tree. And he... You can't find a better story. What a plot! The very object we used as a reason to doubt Him, He says, give it all to you. Come to the tree. So now you get the plot. The plot of the whole Bible, the plot of history, is to display the beauty of God. And it comes shining through the cross. So the gospel is, you're in Adam, and all this terrible stuff has happened. I mean, it's like you're attached to this train and it fell off the tracks and you went with it and there's nothing you can do. You can pout about it. You can slander people about it. You can have a bad attitude about it. You are going to die. And you will be judged if you're not in Christ after that death. But God also sent him to be the second Adam, and he did. That is the good news. He did all of this. And so we don't need you to walk down an aisle and say a prayer. We don't need you to go do penance with the Roman Catholics. We don't need you to come perform and speak in a certain tongue. We don't need you to go be a good husband. We don't need you to be a good wife. We already know what you are. It's a sinner. You just need to keep coming to this cross and this tree and use that. Put the cross on your eyes and let that lens interpret your life. Old Fanny Crosby hymn, Jesus keep me near the cross. So anyone, anyone, anyone who's willing to worship the Lord Jesus Christ hanging on the tree for you, that is who the Lord's Supper is for. There's nothing else here to offer, and there's nothing else here anyone could offer. This is everything to live as Christ. So, you come, take the Lord's Supper, And we will end our service today and have the mealtime for those who are able to stay.