In his commentary on the Psalms, pastor and Bible teacher James Montgomery Boyce laments the fact that the concept of wonder and amazement has, he says, for the most part, vanished from our culture. He writes these words, many good things from the past are disappearing in today's modern and post-modern society, and one of them is wonder. People used to have their sense of awe incited by some new or unexpected thing. They had expressions like wonder-working, seven-day wonder, and wonders never cease. They read books like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, or watch movies like It's a Wonderful Life. He says nothing seems wonderful anymore. There's no mystery in anything. Everything seems commonplace, predictably dull. Now, Beuys goes on to blame the loss of this sense of wonder in our culture, in part, he says, on two things. One is technology, which he says, and I quote, gives the impression that all reality is explainable and everything we can imagine can be done. And then two is television, which he feels in analyzing and seeking to explain so many things, he says, it robs all of us, but especially our children of a sense of wonder at that which is mysterious and unexplainable. But having singled out technology and television as two culprits somewhat responsible for the removal of wonder in our world, Boyce then immediately states this, he says, yet the real reason is not technology or television, it's a loss of awareness of God, who alone is truly wonderful and the source of every other wonder. If God goes, what is genuinely wonderful goes with him. And you know what? Boyce is absolutely correct. In removing God from our culture's consciousness, we have removed the concept of wonder and mystery and awe, which he alone evokes in us. Consider how often the Bible uses the word wonder. or wonderful in describing God and His works. For example, in 1 Chronicles 16, 12, and there are many places that echo the same truth, His deeds are called wonderful. David said, remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth. His name is called Wonderful, Isaiah 9, 6, for a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on His shoulders, and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor. His miracles are called signs and wonders. 2 Corinthians 12, 12. The signs of a true apostle, meaning that a true apostle could do this, were performed among you with all perseverance by signs and wonders and miracles. His creation of us, of human beings, the Bible calls wonderful. Psalm 139 verse 14, I will give thanks to you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works and my soul knows it very well. But although all of the Bible attest to God's wonders, I want you to know it is in the Psalms in particular, the Psalms that mention his wonders more than any other book in the canon of scripture. If you look this up, if you go to a Bible dictionary or you look up a concordance and just look up the words wonder or wonders or wonderful, you'll see more times than not those words are found in the Psalms. And there's a good reason for that. Why? Because Psalms is the official hymn book of the Bible. It's filled with inspired songs that tell us how wonderful the Lord is. Why? So that we will respond in worship, bowing down, adoring Him, responding in submission and in awe of who He is. And that's why the author of Psalm 119, which we've been studying for a while and writing about the place of God's Word in the life of a believer, he's not failed to tell us that the Bible, the Word of God, is wonderful. Now it was a while back that we saw these verses, but two times he mentions it. In verse 18, he says, open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from your law. Then a few verses later, in verse 27, he says, make me understand the way of your precepts so I will meditate on your wonders. But having told us in just these two brief statements that the Word is wonderful, we have come this morning in our study of Psalm 119 to a place where the psalmist devotes an entire stanza, a paragraph, a unit of thought, to telling us why the Word of God is so wonderful. And I want to read it to you again, starting verse 129. He says, Your testimonies are wonderful, therefore my soul observes them. The unfolding of your words gives light, it gives understanding to the simple. I open my mouth wide and panted, for I long for your commandments. Turn to me and be gracious to me after your manner with those who love your name. Establish my footsteps in your word and do not let any iniquity have dominion over me. Redeem me from the oppression of men that I may keep your precepts. Make your face shine upon your servants and teach me your statutes. My eyes shed streams of water because they do not keep your law." Now, as you can see from these verses, the psalmist begins this stanza by declaring to God, this is his statements to God, that his testimonies, he says, are wonderful. And by this, by this word wonderful, he simply means that the word of God is extraordinary. It's marvelous. It's special. It's something that evokes awe and amazement in him. So it's wonderful. And because God's testimonies are so wonderful, He says that His soul observes them. This man was so impressed about the wonderful character of the Word of God that he tells us he felt compelled to obey the Word. See, this man didn't simply admire God's Word for the sake of beauty and depth and the profound truths that it teaches and then just walk away from it, as one would do with a beautiful piece of art. You look at a piece of art, It's beautiful, you admire, and then you walk away from it. He didn't do that. No, his admiration for the Word brought him to an admiration for the God who wrote the Word, who inspired the Word, which led him to obey whatever God said. So the psalmist begins this stanza by saying that God's Word is wonderful. But I want you to notice, as you look at this verse again, what he doesn't say. I want you to notice that he doesn't say in this opening line in what particular way the Word is wonderful. For example, we might question in our thinking, is he referring to the perfection and the inerrancy of the Word of God? That there are no mistakes, it is perfectly infallible. Is he referring to the unity and the harmony of the Word of God? Is he referring to the power of the Word to transform lives? Is he referring to the precise way in which prophecy is given and fulfilled? Is he referring to the fact that the Word of God continuously points us to Jesus Christ? It is centered around Christ. Well, as wonderful as these truths are about scripture, and they are, we know that the psalmist does not have these issues, these theological issues, in mind when he says that the Bible is wonderful. And the reason we know this, we know that this isn't what he had in mind, is because he tells us what he has in mind in the rest of the stanza. See, after he declares that God's Word is wonderful, he then spells out in the verses that follow exactly how the Word of God is wonderful. And as I said a moment ago, although the issues of inerrancy and harmony and power and prophecy and Christ-centeredness, those are significant, wonderful theological features of God's Word. That's not what the psalmist has chosen to address. The psalmist has chosen to be very, very practical in telling us some very everyday helpful reasons for why Scripture is so special. And in doing this, this man has done a great service for us, because his words on the wonders of the Word remind us to pause in our lives and consider just why God's Word is so extraordinary and why we should love it and admire it above everything else in life and why we should let it impact and affect our daily lives. See, here's the challenge that we face as those who believe in Jesus Christ and therefore as those who accept the Bible as the Word of God. We believe the Bible, we love the Bible, we place ourselves under the authority of the Bible, but due to our familiarity with it, we can tend to treat it as something rather common, something ordinary, and then take it for granted, to the point where we just aren't in awe of it anymore. And so often where this leads us is to ignore it. We just ignore it. That should never be. Concerning this familiarity, This problem that believers tend to have with scripture Bible teacher John Phillips writes this, Most people, even Christian people, ignore their Bibles just as they ordinarily ignore the stars. Stars, he writes, are a spectacular phenomenon, but we are so used to them that we scarcely give them a passing glance. Someone has commented that if the stars came out only once every 500 years, people would certainly wait up all night to see them. They would never stop talking about the marvelous sight. But as it is, the stars are such a common sight that people generally ignore them. He goes on to say they do that with the Bible. It's our mother tongue. We have a score of versions from which to choose. It's available in any bookstore for a few dollars. There are societies organized to give it away free. Most Christians have several, if not dozens, of copies in their home. We take it for granted. Martyrs gave their blood to make it available to us. Scholars gave their lives to translate it. Yet, We so often yawn over it or let our thoughts wander when it's read. I find these very convicting words, and you probably do too. So today, as we begin to study this stanza, we're going to learn from the psalmist why the Word of God is so wonderful. And hopefully in doing so, it'll start to remove that yawn from our faces and those wandering thoughts from our minds when the Word of God is read to us, or we read it, or we hear it preached. So why is the Word of God so wonderful? Well, the psalmist gives us three reasons, with the first one being this, and this is what we're going to focus on this morning, just this one reason. The Word of God is wonderful. Why? Because it gives us understanding. Verse 130. The unfolding of your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple. Now, with these words, the psalmist tells us that one of the wonders of God's word is that when unfolded, it gives insight. It gives understanding to all who are simple. Now that is the basic, the surface, meaning of what the psalmist has said in this verse. However, when one probes beneath the surface, which is what we do, we see some profound truths about the word that should thrill our hearts, cause us to be in awe of God, and His word. First of all, the Hebrew word that the psalmist uses for unfolding, sometimes it's translated entrance, as in the entrance of your words, has the basic thought of opening. Opening, as when someone opens a door and lets some light shine in. In fact, the history and the imagery of this Hebrew word refers to exactly that, a door letting light in. The word goes back to the days when the Jewish people lived in tents, and the only opening in their tent was just this little flap of animal skin that served as the door. So when the flap was open, the natural light from outside came into the tent, illuminating, flooding everything inside. That's precisely what the psalmist says the Word of God does, and why it's so special, why it's so wonderful. He's telling us that when Scripture enters our minds, either by reading it for ourselves, or having it read to us, or hearing it preached in a sermon or a lesson, it gives light, meaning that it gives understanding, the light of truth. But the question we face is this. Light and understanding of what? I said truth, but specifically what are we talking about? Listen, the Word of God lets light and understanding into our minds of everything that we need to live a life pleasing to God. It throws light on everything pertaining to godliness, how to walk in fellowship, with the Lord, how to resolve conflicts with others, how to be a godly husband, how to be a godly wife, how to be a son or a daughter who honors their parents, how to respond to suffering and trials and problems, how to evaluate our motivations, why we do what we do, how to evaluate our goals, our ambitions, how to be a godly kind of employee or employer, and on and on and on it goes. See, according to the Bible, God's Word doesn't simply speak with authority, it also speaks with total sufficiency. Meaning that what the Bible says is all you need to live a godly life. Nothing more is needed for godly living. You don't need to consult any other self-help book or a professional expert on how to deal with problems relating to your behavior, because the entrance, the psalmist says, of God's Word gives you all the light you need on how to behave in any and every situation. 2 Peter 1.3 says the same thing. Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. Did you get that? Everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. Peter says that you have been given everything, without exception, everything you need pertaining to life and godliness. And that it comes through knowledge, meaning what? The knowledge of the Word of God. If you look again, though, at what the psalmist says, if you look back at verse 130, you'll notice that he actually explains the phrase, the unfolding of your words, by the words that follow. He actually is his own commentary, where it says it gives understanding to the simple. That's his clarification of what he's talking about. So what we now have to determine is what he means by the term simple. Does he mean simple-minded, as in being slow-witted? Someone with a low IQ, a limited intelligence, is that what he's talking about? Well, sometimes this word is used in the Bible in that sense, in a derogatory negative sense like that, but that's not the case here because the context doesn't indicate this at all. The Hebrew word for simple means open-minded. And the thought is that those who receive light from the Word of God on how to think and live in a way that pleases God, these are those who are open-minded to His truths as opposed to those who are closed-minded to them. In other words, the only people who benefit from the Word of God giving them understanding are those who are teachable. those who want to learn from God, those who are willing to submit to His truth, submit to Him. Now, we might be inclined then to think that this simply means that Christians are those who are open to the truths of the Word of God, and non-Christians are those who are closed to the truth of the Word of God. And for the most part, that's correct. For the most part. However, Sad reality is that there are some Christians who are not open to God's Word. Because they aren't willing to humble themselves by submitting to certain truths of the Word of God. Now, that's not to say that they don't believe the Bible. They believe the Bible to be the Word of God. In fact, if they didn't, it would prove that they weren't Christians. All Christians believe the Bible is the Word of God. They believe in the inspiration of the Scriptures. But there are certain believers who are close-minded and even argumentative about certain doctrines and teachings of the Word that are clearly spelled out in Scripture. For example, it could be a teaching that has to do with sexual morality, which they resist, sometimes twist and try to reinterpret. Why? Because they refuse to obey God's standards for sexual behavior. Or it could be a teaching that has to do with marriage, because a husband is unwilling to love and to lead his wife, or perhaps a wife is unwilling to submit herself to her husband. Their reason for not being open to such teaching is simply because out of their stubborn pride, they don't want to obey it. They don't want to lovingly lead. They don't want to submit. I recall many years ago speaking to a husband and wife who came to me for counsel. In our meeting it came out that the wife was refusing to have sexual relations with her husband. So I pointed her to 1 Corinthians 7 verses 3 and 4. This is what it says. The husband must fulfill his duty, meaning his sexual responsibility, to his wife and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise, also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Now, after I explained to her the meaning of these verses, her response to me was that, she said, this isn't how I interpret it. Now folks, this is a clear command from Scripture. It's a clear command from God that husbands and wives are to engage in regular, ongoing sexual relations because when they were married, they relinquished the right to say no to their spouse because they gave up their bodies to each other. There is no question that this is the accurate interpretation of these verses. In fact, I have never read any Bible teacher, any pastor, any scholar who takes it other than that. And the only reason this woman resisted this truth and reinterpreted it, decided to twist the obvious meaning of the text, is that she didn't want to obey it. So she altered its meaning, in her mind at least, in order to fit her desires, which wasn't to have relations with her husband. This is the opposite. The complete opposite of being open-minded so that the light of God's Word enters our thinking and affects our behavior. But it's not only in the areas of morality and marriage that Christians can be close to the truths of God's Word. One area of biblical truth that I have observed is a constant source of contention among some believers is the doctrine of God's sovereignty the doctrines of grace, often labeled Calvinism. His teaching seems to evoke all kinds of arguments and resistance from believers who see things differently to the point where they feel so strongly in their opposition that they are ready to brand Calvinists as heretics. Now, I don't want anyone to misunderstand what I'm about to say. Inevitably, someone will, but it is my desire that no one misunderstand what I'm about to say because I certainly can appreciate it. when well-meaning and sincere believers in Christ have a hard time embracing the doctrines of Calvinism. I appreciate it when believers have honest questions about it. I understand we're all at different levels and stages in our understanding of Scripture. No new believer understands Calvinism. It's all new. And I completely understand that it's not an easy doctrine to receive when you hear, especially for the first time, that God has chosen only some to salvation and not others. But regardless of how hard this doctrine might be to initially receive, it's important to at least recognize that this is what the scriptures clearly say. For example, we read in Ephesians 1, verses 4 and 5, Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. Can I read that again and you can see what Paul is saying? Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will. That's rather clear. That's in black and white. It's clear. And then, of course, we have another passage, Romans chapter 9. I'll read to you verses 15 and 16. Understand it's in the context of stating that in Israel's history, God made certain choices concerning who he would save and who he would not save. Paul writes this, for he says to Moses, Meaning, God says to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then, it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. Now, I completely understand that many Christians have a hard time with this. One reason is they've been raised and nurtured in churches that didn't teach them about God's sovereign role. in salvation, but only emphasized man's responsibility to trust Christ. So I get it when a believer has a hard time with verses like these about God's unconditional election. I really do. I get it, especially in light of the fact that there are many other verses that speak of God's promise that all who trust Christ will be saved. Romans 10, 13, for example, for whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. And then you have all these verses in the Gospel of John that say, whoever believes in Christ will have eternal life. However, listen closely. It's one thing to struggle with the doctrine of election and have honest and sincere questions about it. But it is quite another thing to see these truths plainly written out in Scripture and then decide to outright reject and dismiss the doctrines of sovereign grace altogether because you don't agree with them, and then deny that this is what the Bible is even saying just because you don't like it, or it doesn't make sense to you. That's a serious problem. That's a serious character problem. because it reveals a heart that is closed as well as resistant to the Word of God. So I'm not talking about the Christian who's just not sure, but they're open. I'm talking about the Christian who has seen truths like this in Scripture and says, no, no, that can't be. I don't accept that. My God would not do that. This is very similar to the situation that the Apostle Paul brings up in Romans chapter 9 as he talks to an imaginary individual who defiantly objects to the doctrine of election and even accuses God of wrongdoing. Notice what Paul says that leads to this objection being made. We move on to verses 17 and 18 of Romans 9. He says, for the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I raised you up to demonstrate my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. So then he has mercy on whom he desires and he hardens those whom he desires. Now, understand this. Both Moses and Pharaoh were sinners. Both of them were murderers. Both of them committed murder. But God sovereignly chose to be merciful to Moses, but not to Pharaoh. In fact, scripture says that he hardened Pharaoh's heart. Now understand this. This hardening is not in the sense that he created unbelief in Pharaoh's heart or forced Pharaoh to go against his heart's desires. But rather, he hardened his heart in the sense that he just chose to let Pharaoh's heart alone. so that Pharaoh's heart became harder and harder because God just didn't intervene. He didn't intervene mercy in his life. In other words, the Lord simply allowed Pharaoh to do what his sinful heart wanted to do all along and God didn't change it. And what did his heart want to do all along? Resist God and rebel against his command to let my people go and leave Egypt. In that sense, God hardened Pharaoh's heart. God, being sovereign, certainly has the right to do this. He has the right to show mercy to Moses, but not to Pharaoh. After all, He's not in debt to anyone so that He owes them mercy. Mercy is totally His divine prerogative to bestow on whomever He chooses to bestow it on. He's God, not us. But notice the objection of Paul's imaginary character in verse 19 of Romans 9. And more than a mere objection, notice the rebellious attitude behind the objection. Verse 19 says, "...you will say to me then, why does he still find fault? For who resists his will?" Now, this man reacts by accusing God of being unfair. as to hold anyone responsible for their sin and unbelief when it is God Himself who has sovereignly determined who will believe in Him and who won't. This man isn't open-minded. He's not honestly asking a question about a hard doctrine because he wants to understand it, he wants to believe it. Not at all. He's accusing God of being wrong. He's accusing God of being unjust, unfair. And that's why Paul responds to him with a stunning rebuke in verse 20. He says, on the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, why did you make me like this? Will it? Paul rebukes this man by saying that his question stems from a heart of wickedness, and that he has no right to speak to God this way, because a piece of clay has no right to reject the way that the potter, meaning God, deals with him. Listen, when the writer of Psalm 119 says that the unfolding of God's Word brings light and understanding to the simple, it implies that as believers we are to be simple like that. We are to be open-minded to the truths of Scripture, regardless of whether or not we fully understand them. This is why the Apostle closes his argument of Romans chapter 9 and 10 and 11. He closes at the end of chapter 11 by exalting the wisdom and the knowledge of God, telling us it is beyond man's comprehension. He writes, starting in verse 33, these marvelous words, Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who became His counselor? Or who's first given to him that it might be paid back to him again. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. Concerning these incredible verses, John MacArthur has these amazing words to say, which really brings home the point that Paul is making concerning how we need to submit to the doctrine of God's sovereignty in election, even though we don't fully understand it. MacArthur writes, and you say to yourself, well, this doesn't quite seem right. I'd like to talk to God about it. Oh, really? Who became his counselor? Did you make an appointment to give him counsel? You have suggestions? Do you understand God is perfectly independent? He's gotten along very well at this point without you, without your suggestions. You think God is in your debt? You think He owes you an explanation of everything that you'd like to have an explanation for, even though an explanation wouldn't satisfy you? Because you couldn't comprehend it if you got it, and that's why He doesn't give it? I mean, don't you really want some things to become everlastingly clear only when you get to heaven? I mean, doesn't that add an attraction to heaven? Absolutely. Listen, I appeal to you. I urge you. If you are a believer in Christ, then make sure that you have an open mind to the scriptures, to all of it, so that you don't allow your hardness of heart to cause you to reject a biblical truth just because it doesn't suit your lifestyle, it doesn't suit your desires, because it doesn't make sense to you, even though you can see it in scripture. Submit your mind to the authority of the Word of God. Let it light up your thinking and your life. So why is the Word of God so wonderful? Because if we're open-minded, as we should be, it brings us understanding. It brings us understanding and understanding of who God is and how to please God. How to live wisely. And I hope that you don't take this wonderful blessing this blessing of God's Word for granted, this blessing that says, I give you light, because you know what? No one else in the world but a true Christian has this kind of divine enlightenment. According to the Bible, unbelievers walk in darkness, which leads to all kinds of foolish beliefs and ungodly behavior. For example, in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 17 through 19, which by the way, we will start to unfold tonight in our study, Paul writes this, so this I say and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that's in them, because of the hardness of their heart. And they have become callous, having given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. Paul says, unbelievers walk in darkness. What kind of darkness, though? Now, he talks a little bit about greediness, impurity, sensuality, but it's in Romans chapter 1 where Paul gets very specific about this, and I want to read it to you from verses 21 through 31. Now, the context is he's going back to the ancient world, saying when they saw the power of God in creation, even though they knew that God existed, though they knew He was powerful, they said no to Him. They weren't thankful. They didn't bow their hearts to Him. They didn't submit to Him. Paul goes on to say, Verse 21, for even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart, notice, was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lion, worshipped and served the creature, rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." For this reason, God gave them over to degrading passions, for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural. And in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire towards one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper. being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice. They are gossip, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful. Folks, this is the fruit of darkness. This is what it produces. This is what a lack of divine understanding produces. Idolatry and false religions. Sexual perversion. Greed. Murder. Deceit. Arrogance. Rebelliousness towards parents and every other authority. Being unreliable. Unloving. Unmerciful. This sounds exactly like our society. Because it is our society. It is our culture. It is a pompous, arrogant world that thinks that they are enlightened and progressive and have all the answers when in reality they walk in darkness because they are closed to the wonderful truths of the Word of God especially. And in particular, the truth that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh who died on the cross to rescue sinners. They reject it. So the Word of God is wonderful, because it gives light, it gives understanding to us. Never take that for granted, because everyone else in the world walks in darkness, in their own futile thinking, their own speculations, their own opinions. So what effect should this have on you? What effect should it have on me? On every believer? How should we respond to such a blessed thought that the entering of God's Word into our minds gives us understanding about God and His Word, His truths, that no one else in the world has? There is only one response that God wants from you, and it is the response that the author, the writer of Psalm 119 gave. Verse 131, I opened my mouth wide and panted, for I longed for your commandments. Knowing that God's Word gives light and understanding, the psalmist said, like a thirsty, dehydrated animal gasping for water, he says he opened his mouth and he panted for the Word of God. He doesn't take the Word for granted. He doesn't yawn when he hears it. His mind doesn't wander when he reads it. No, he can't live without it. He can't get enough of it. He wants more of God's commandments because he wants more light. He wants more understanding. He longs to know more about God so he can obey everything that his word says. Is that true of you? Do you take God's word for granted? Or do you long for it like a panting animal longs for water? If not, then you need to ask God to give you a renewed desire and longing for the Word. But you will never pant for the Word unless you are open-minded to receive and apply it to your life. So examine your heart. Is there any clear command in Scripture that you are resisting? You know it's there. You know what it says, but you're saying no to it. If that's the case, shame on you. Then repent. You're dishonoring the Lord. You're out of fellowship with Christ. Is there anything in the area of morals? Anything in the area of your marriage? Anything in the area of ethics? Is there any doctrine? You see it. You see it written in Scripture, but you're resistant to it because you don't like it. You can't understand it. If any of this fits, if any of this is the case, then repent and be restored to the sweetness of Christ's fellowship. If you don't know Jesus, what I can tell you is this, cry out to God to be merciful to your soul. Open a Bible and start reading in the New Testament about Jesus Christ because He's the one, the only one, who can and will save you if you will repent, turn from your sin, and trust Him as your Lord and your Savior. It's only by the word of God that you'll have any understanding of who Christ is and what he did on the cross to save sinners like you. He died as payment for the sins of sinners. So come, trust him. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that the word is so wonderful. And Lord, we pray for every true born-again believer here that they will be open to your word. If we've touched on areas, Lord, that are convicting and things out of place. I pray that no one would leave here still resistant, but that you would break down that resistance and they would say yes to you, regardless of their feelings, because it is always right to obey you. So I pray for an openness in every area and every doctrine. And I pray that you would help us, Lord, to never yawn at the word, to never be so familiar with it that our minds wander, but to To never take the word for granted, but to pant after it. To love it, Lord. Because we love you. We can't separate you from your word. And so we thank you for enlightening us. Lord, we thank you that we no longer walk in darkness. We thank you that whereas our lives used to be everything about what we think, now it's what you say. And I pray and we pray for those in our midst, either present here or listening at home, watching at home perhaps, listening on CD, I pray that you will open hearts to the gospel, To those who still walk in darkness that you would bring them Transfer them from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light the kingdom of your dear son that they would be saved We pray all of this in Jesus name. Amen