little different than in your bulletin we're making a change and turning actually to Isaiah's prophecy chapter 5 and then to John chapter 15 so Isaiah chapter 5 and we'll read the first seven verses regarding Jehovah's vine or vineyard Israel Isaiah 5 verse 1 Mel let me sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved regarding his vineyard. My well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out its stones and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst and also made a wine press in it, so he expected it to bring forth good grapes. But it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge please between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? And now, please let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned, and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will lay it waste, and it shall not be pruned or dug, but there shall come up briars and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression, for righteousness, but behold, a cry for help." And now to John's Gospel, chapter 15. Let's hear the words of our Lord Jesus. I am the true vine, and my father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. And they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified that you bear much fruit. So you will be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you. Abide in My love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I've spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. This is the word of the trying God. Let's pray now and ask for the help of God by his spirit in the preaching of the word. Let's all pray together. Gracious God and everlasting Heavenly Father, we praise You that You have not left us comfortless. You have given us Your Word and You've sent us Your Spirit. And Lord Jesus, now as You are ascended at the right hand of the Father, we pray that You would speak to us by Your Word and Spirit, that indeed we would be rooted and built up in You, that we would take hold of this vital and precious doctrine of union with You, Oh God, there are depths here that we confess that we cannot plumb. We are weak and insufficient for the task. Our minds are... shallow. Our love is so often cold. Our understanding is distracted. Lord, forgive us, cleanse us, and help us by your Spirit. Give us focus as we approach your Word. Help us to sit under it as those ready to be instructed. Work in us that deep fruit of humility, and oh God, in all things we pray that we would be your disciples steadfastly abiding in your love, the love that you have brought us into through Christ by your Spirit, and that we would produce great fruit for your glory, Heavenly Father. We ask all this in Jesus' name, amen. We turn to John's Gospel, chapter 15, for a seventh and final sermon on these I Am statements of the Gospel of John. If you're tracking with me a bit here, you might notice that I've skipped chapter 14, or apparently skipped chapter 14. We actually studied that one first at some point last fall, Jesus' statement. that He is the way, the truth, and the life. So we're coming this evening to the seventh and final of these statements in John's blessed gospel, where our Lord Jesus tells us so much of who He is, but also of His great design, of God's great design in Christ to grant us union with Him. That blessed doctrine of union with Jesus Christ. And this is a vitally important doctrine for you and me to get a hold of. Perhaps you've wondered, and in many ways rightfully so, will I make it? Will I persevere to the end? In the face of opposition outside? In the face of the remaining corruption that's deep in my heart? In the face of the attacks of Satan? The hardships that come into my life, will I make it to the ends? There's a popular word today to describe something that's actually been happening for all the centuries of the church. Something you've probably heard this word, deconstruction. This idea of those who once professed faith, living and vital faith, they professed to truly know Jesus Christ and love him and repent of their sins. But yet they've, as it were, deconstructed and turned aside, going out from the visible church renouncing their faith in Christ. There's an older and better word for it, and it is apostasy. To fall away from, as it were, one's profession of faith in Christ. Of course, we know from Scripture that it's not possible for a true child of God, a true believer, to fall finally away. All those whom God in His infinite grace has chosen, Those for whom he sent his son into the world to redeem and those to whom he's given his spirit will persevere to the end. There are many who profess to know Christ, who have a profession of faith in him, that sadly, that profession will prove to be a false profession. As John the apostle tells us, they went out from us because they were not of us. Sobering, indeed. And perhaps you've wondered, In the face of all my weakness, in the face of remaining sin, and even hearing of those, maybe you know someone, a close friend, or even a family member who professed to know and love Jesus Christ, but sadly they've turned their back on the Lord. And you've wondered, how can I persevere to the end? How can I continue to lay hold of God's promises and walk with Him as my faith, that living and that abiding and true faith? This is a question that no doubt the disciples themselves were asking here in John's Gospel. Here as our Savior instructs His His disciples in this farewell discourse, he's dealing with disciples who their world is, as it were, coming unglued. They've witnessed and in just short order, the miracle that we studied this morning of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, that last and greatest sign, as it were, in that section of John's gospel, they have They've known, obviously, of the plot to kill Jesus that we read of later in John 11 and then on into chapter 12. The Lord Jesus has instituted His supper just a few moments before and given them this shocking revelation. One of you will betray me. And as they sit around the table wondering who possibly it will be, no doubt the question in all their minds is the Lord Jesus Himself has said, I'm going away. I will suffer. I'm going to leave you. No doubt the question in all their minds is, can I make it? Will I persevere to the end in the face of all of these things? We have great comforts in this farewell discourse, among them that Jesus says, it's actually better for you that I go away. Because if I go away, I'll give you My Spirit. And My Spirit is the comforter, the helper, the one who will come alongside, the one who will guide you into all the truth, the one who will bring My peace and give it to you, the one who's going to be poured out upon you. But yet the disciples are shaken and they're caught up in the current of the gospel of the gospel of John here is as irresistibly and unmistakably the gospel narrows in on the sufferings, the death. the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the momentum of the gospel is all moving like a swift river current as it narrows and as that current runs faster and faster. The gospel is moving invariably to the departure of the Lord Jesus, to his sufferings, his trials, his death on the cross of Calvary. In fact, there's a statement that's often used to describe the Gospels as passion narratives with extended introductions. The reality that these are Gospels that particularly set forth the passion, the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. What he would accomplish in his death in particular and all that goes before points to the same. And as the disciples are being caught up in that current, no doubt the question on their hearts and in their minds is, will I make it? And so here in John 15, and particularly these opening verses, we have the precious doctrine that Christ sets before them of union with himself. And I believe that it is this doctrine that if you can get a hold of it, Christian, that this will undergird, this will, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, this will be the bedrock of your faith. Union with Jesus Christ, that He indeed is the true vine. You are the branches. You're united to Him inseparably. Nothing, no power of hell, no scheme of man, death or life or things present or things to come, nothing can separate you from that true union with Jesus Christ, the vine. We're going to study these opening verses down to verse eight or so. And of course, using the broader context, narrowing in on the statement of our Savior, I am the true vine. We're going to study very simply this picture. We're going to look at at the vine. We'll look at the branches and we'll consider the fruit, a very simple outline and approach to these opening verses. The vine, our Lord Jesus Christ, of course, the branches, we as the saints united to him, and then the fruit that we are to bear. So first is this matter of the vine, that if we seek to really get a hold of this blessed doctrine of union with Christ, we first need to understand what he's saying when he proclaims, I am the true vine. drumbeat that's gone through the gospel. We've studied it six times already, but again, our Lord Jesus is saying something about His identity and His mission. He's saying unmistakably, I am the Son of God. I am the Word made flesh. I am equal with the Father. I'm nothing less than the eternal Son of God, the eternal Son of the eternal Father. Father, this is the you really cannot miss it here in John's gospel and all of these statements as our Savior proclaims his deity, who he is, but also. He proclaims his full humanity. He proclaims his role as mediator. Perhaps to help you, and I've not pointed this out yet, but as you think about these various I am statements, and even the youngest children should remember some of them, where our Lord Jesus says, I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. I am the good shepherd. As the gospel is punctuated with these statements, it's helpful to remember what happens back in chapter 1 of John's Gospel. Here's this man, John the Baptist, who's testifying, who's appointing to our Lord Jesus Christ. And very interesting, in the opening chapter, verse 19 of John's Gospel, we read this. This is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? He confessed and did not deny, but confessed. I am not the Christ. John the Baptist comes at the end of a long list of prophets and of priests and of kings, the ancient leaders of Israel who all one by one point to the better, point to the coming King, point to the true man, the true God man. And it's as if John here at the very beginning of the gospel says, I am not the Christ, but he's soon to come. We all point to him. And so when you read, our Lord Jesus proclaim about himself, I am the bread of life, and all the way through to I am the true vine, he's saying, I am the one. I am the God-man. I'm the true King. And particularly tonight, I'm the new Israel. We read in Isaiah chapter 5 about the failure of Israel as the vine of God, the one whom He has acted as the vinedresser. He brought, as it were, His vine out of Egypt, transported the vine, and did everything necessary to support her life and her prosperity, her true spiritual health. in the land of Canaan. He plants the vine and does everything necessary. We read in those opening verses of Isaiah 5. But yet, what did Israel do as the vine of God? Rather than bringing forth those good grapes, those grapes that would make the best wine, that would be fruitful for God, that vine brought forth wild grapes. as it were, a great failure, not on the part of the vinedresser, not on the part of Jehovah, but on the part of the vine, to live in communion with God, to keep His law, to worship Him, and to love Him with heart, soul, mind, and strength. And because of this, the Lord brought great judgment upon his vineyard, Israel. We read of the same theme, there's numerous places in the Old Testament where we could go, but Psalm 80, notably, also picks up on this theme of Israel as the vine. Verse eight of Psalm 80, you have brought a vine out of Egypt. You have cast out the nations and planted it. We've studied in adult Sunday school in recent weeks, the book of Joshua, the book of Judges, the nations, the pagans cast out of the promised landing and God planting his vine, doing everything necessary for it to prosper. But yet what's happened? Its hedges are broken down. The boar out of the woods uproots it. Verse 13 of Psalm 80. The wild beast of the field devours it. And there's this prayer in Psalm 80. Lord, look down from heaven and see and visit this vine and the vineyard which your right hand has planted and the branch that you made strong for yourself. Interestingly, in the same Psalm, maybe you've noticed that we've sung this Psalm in recent weeks, and perhaps you've noticed this in reading, that then the prayer shifts from praying that the Lord would visit and establish his vine to this prayer, let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, upon the son of man whom you made strong for yourself. Why that change? Well, all of this, the imagery here in Psalm 80, pointing us clearly to the man of God's right hand, the one whom he makes strong for himself, the one who proclaims in John chapter 15, I am the true vine. I'm the new Israel. I'm the one who loves God fervently, who always walked in the ways of Jehovah, the one who stood firm in the hour of His own temptation in Matthew chapter 4, the one whose meat and drink was to do the will of His Father in heaven, the one who never failed to obey God. and to keep His commands. Again, with all of these I Am statements, we have the glory of Christ set before us as this new Israel. He is the bread of life. Unlike the manna that could never bring true and lasting life to the people of God, Jesus is the bread of life. He's the light of the world. Israel was created, it was placed, designed to be the light of God to the Gentile nations, to set forth the glory of Jehovah, placing it on display. Jesus says, I am the light of the world. I'm the true lamp, the true light of Jehovah. Unlike the false shepherds of Israel, the wayward ones, the hired hands, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. And we could go, we could keep going. But here, culminates, all of this culminates in John 15. Jesus certainly is true God of true God, the eternal son of God. He's also the new and better Israel. He is the true vine. We are the branches. He is the one who never failed to delight in the ways and the commandments of God. the one who never failed to keep the commandments of God, the one who never failed to love God fervently. So as we consider this matter of our union with Him, that we are the branches united to the true vine, we learn this lesson. that it is His image as the vine that's being pressed upon each of us as the branches, that we together are being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ, into the pattern of His obedience, that just as He learned obedience through suffering, when we suffer, we learn obedience in the same way, that we're being pressed by the Spirit into that mold which He has already set as the new Israel, that His Life and His godliness and piety is the pattern for you and for me. I am the true vine, Jesus says, and my Father is the vinedresser. Echoed again in verse 5, I am the vine, you are the branches. Also, throughout these verses, we see the theme of our union with Him, that we are in Him. I hope you picked up on that as we read through these verses. Verse 2, every branch in me. Verse 4, abide in me. Verse 6, if anyone does not abide in me, me. There's again that this continual refrain, you're in me, you're united to me. This is exactly the same doctrine that the Apostle Paul will pick up in his epistles. In Ephesians chapter one, for example, that we are in Christ, that God has blessed us in Christ and heavenly places. Romans chapter six, that we've been baptized into Christ, that just as He died, we have died. Just as He has been raised, we have been raised. Just as He lives, we live. We are the branches, He is the true vine. We're united to Him. There's also here a theme that I've mentioned in preaching on these I Am statements, but I'll mention it once again here, that Christ is the only true vine. that all of these glorious truths about Christ, as he uses these simple pictures to illustrate, he's proclaiming, I alone, I alone am the source of salvation. I'm alone the source of eternal life. I alone am the forgiver of sins. I alone am the revelation of God for your salvation. So you find salvation in Jesus Christ and in no other. And this yet connects, doesn't it, to this blessed truth of our union with Christ, that it's only in Him, it's only in Him that you will grow in grace. It's only in Him. connected to Him vitally by the grace of the Spirit, that you will receive everything you need to do war with sin, to put sin to death, to grow in the various graces of the Christian life, to be increasingly conformed. It's the only way you're going to make Him better. He is the only way that you will make progress in the Christian life. Getting hold of who Christ is as the true vine and your vital relationship with Him. So I call upon each of you to go deep in this doctrine of union with Jesus Christ. Our Christian experience and our Christian life is not a do-it-yourself project. It's not that Christ brings us salvation, brings us the forgiveness of sins, and then, as it were, cuts us loose, as it were, to sanctify ourselves. No, our union with Christ or even our sanctification is still a vital benefit of all that we have connected to Him. He's our head. We are His body. He is our husband, our heavenly bridegroom. We are His bride, Ephesians 5. He is the cornerstone. We are the building. And we are the branches. He is the true vine, the source, the foundation, the all in all. of your Christian life, your growth and grace, and your progress in becoming increasingly sanctified. Abide in me and I in you, Jesus proclaims. But then we come to this matter of the branches, those whom the Father is the vinedresser, has connected to Christ as the true bond. How are we to conceive and think of ourselves as branches united to him? Well, it's again a simple picture that our Savior gives us. I'm the true bond, my Father is the vinedresser, the, as it were, the vineyard owner, the one who can look out at the vineyard that he's cultivated. and see the kind of grapes, the kind of fruit that he desires. You're the branches and you are to bring forth fruit. A very simple picture. How are we then to participate in this blessed union with Jesus Christ? Our Savior is clear. Abide in me, and I in you. The clear command here in verse 4. You abide in me. You remain. You continue. You don't seek for this sanctification anywhere else. You remain in my love. You continue in this union. The Father stands back of this blessed union. The Father has united us to Christ, not present here directly in John chapter 15, but all surrounding in the context is the promise of the Spirit. The Father, the vine dresser, uniting us to Christ as the vine by the grace of the Spirit, cultivating then fruit in our lives. We as the branches participate in this union. We abide in Christ. What does it mean for you, brothers and sisters, to abide in Jesus Christ? Perhaps you might have heard strange ideas about this idea of abiding, an idea of an emotional experience, a kind of letting go and letting God. That's not what our Savior is calling us to. He's calling us to an act of obedience. He's calling us to believe in Him and then follow Him to an active Christian life, nothing passive in view here. Certainly, it's clear that all of our privileges come to us from God's free grace. It's the work of God's grace, the work of the Father. in His Son, by His Spirit, that's united us to Christ. But then having that union, we then persevere. We abide in that love as we continue in faith, continue laying hold of the promises of God, continue to persevere. So you might ask, well, how do I do that? How do I abide in this love? How does the text help us? note here very clearly the the instrument by which we persevere, the instrument by which we abide in this love. Verse 3, you are already clean, Jesus tells his disciples, you are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. And then verse 7, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. How do you abide in the love of Jesus Christ? You lay hold of the word. The Reformed Church, in her understanding of sanctification and of union with Christ, has always lifted high the instrument of the Word of God. There's a means of grace by which you lay hold of Jesus Christ and remain in Him as the true vine. the way that you as the branches that apart from Him would wither and die away, that there's a means by which you remain, and that you can abide, and it's through the Word. This Word comes first, as we read in verse 3, and establish the relationship. Faith comes by hearing. and hearing by the Word of God, Jesus is saying, you're already clean, you're already set apart to Me, you're already united to Me because of the instrumentality of the Word, the instrument in God's hands that He used through preaching, in the case of the disciples, the Word that Christ Himself in person spoke to them, the Word that you, brothers and sisters, have heard in the preaching of the Gospel, the word that you heard that awakened you to your sin and misery, and then the word by which you came and you embraced Jesus Christ as he is freely offered to you in the gospel. It's the word that is the instrument that God used to bring you into the union, and then verse 7, it's the words of our Lord Jesus Christ that enable you to continue to abide in this love. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. You abide as you lay hold of the words of Christ in preaching. This is really setting forth the primacy of the word in the Christian life. And getting back to that question that I raised at the beginning, how are you and I going to make it to the end? in the midst of others who turn their back on the Lord, in the midst of, and not just others, we examine ourselves and we know something of that hidden, deep corruption of our own hearts. How are we going to make it to the end? You keep holding on to the word of our Lord Jesus Christ for all that you are and all that you have by the grace of the gospel. Delight in the word. Every time you hear it preached, ask that God by His Spirit would mix it with faith in your hearts. You children, pray that the words of our Lord Jesus Christ would abide in you, that you would love our Lord Jesus Christ and that you would love His Word, that you would lay it up in your hearts, that it indeed would be a lamp to your feet, and a light to your path. That it would be that, as Psalm 119 tells us, that way by which you're cleansed. How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed to your word. That the word of our Lord Jesus Christ would remain and abide in you. and the Word that particularly tells you of, yes, your sin, and yes, the fact that you're dead in trespasses and sins, but the Word that tells you that there's a Savior who is Christ the Lord, that there's a Savior who proclaims to you, I am the bread of life, the One who will satisfy the deepest cravings of your soul, that there's One who's proclaimed, I am the life of the world, who dispels your darkness and brings you light in himself, that there's a good shepherd who will hold you, from whom nothing can snatch you out of his grasp. You lay hold on the Word. How can you abide in Christ? You abide by taking hold of the Word, by listening to it every time you hear it preached, by taking it up privately, reading it, delighting in it, memorizing it, meditating, turning it over and over and over in your mind, speaking with one another around the lunch table or dinner table, of what you learned in the preaching of the Word, regular, consistent family worship, heads of homes, where you're opening the Word, delighting in the precious Word of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's given us a means, this primary means of grace, the Word, by which we abide in Him, and He, by His Spirit, abides in us. This is the blessed instrument, the blessed way that we hear his word, that we lay hold on eternal life, and that we don't drift away. And then there's great fruitfulness. Great fruitfulness. There's a simple picture of vine, the branches, and then fruit. And this is the great desire. This is what Israel didn't do, what they really couldn't do. their role as the vine of God in the Old Covenant, but something that you and I can, by the grace of Christ and by the power of His Holy Spirit given to us, fruit to the glory of God. Verse 2, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He takes away. A sobering warning. Those who want to act like a branch, but yet are not united in true living faith, that branch is taken away. The one who has no living, vital relationship with the vine. But, then to verse 2, every branch that bears fruit, He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. the pruning work of the Heavenly Father, to produce the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, under the glory and praise of God. As Paul would write in Philippians, that even in your afflictions, even in the hard things that your Heavenly Father brings into your life, He's desiring fruit. He's desiring good grapes, as it were, to be produced in your life. all, as we read in verse 8, to His glory. By this, my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples. Remember, sobering words of verse 5, that he who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. There's no chance, no hope of bearing this fruit apart from vital union with Jesus Christ. We had a bit of a freeze, of course, earlier in the week. Perhaps some of you were active as you saw those warnings come up on your phone about a freeze warning. You were very careful to put blankets around some of your early budding and blossoming bushes and other plants. My family was not. And we have a few azaleas that are missing quite a number of blooms. And we're reminded in a vivid way that And there must be a vital connection to the vine in order for fruit to continue. That the branch that freezes up, withers away, has no life in itself. You sever it, you cut off one of those branches, and it's dry, dead wood. And so we are apart from Jesus Christ. If you would bear this fruit, you must take hold of union with Christ. Understanding what God in Christ has done to bring you to him, and then laboring out of that union, out of gratitude to God, for this fruitfulness. What are the particular kinds of fruit? Well, the context is helpful. Peace. Verse 27 of chapter 14, just over a page. Jesus says, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives you do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. That great fruit of peace that God by His Spirit produces in our hearts, peace with God, peace with one another, and peace in a world that is unsettled, uncertain, and at war with one another. The great fruit of love. Verse 9, as the Father loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. Just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love, the sort of love that that looks like wholehearted, trusting obedience to God. We don't separate love for God and obedience to him. What does love look like? It looks like the perfect life of our Lord Jesus Christ, that walking transcripts of the law of God, the mold into which you and I are being pressed. Verse 17, these things I command you that you love one another. There's peace, there's love produced in the Christian life, love for God, love for one another, and then fullness of joy. Verse 11, these things I've spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. It's beginning to sound a lot like Galatians chapter five, and those blessed fruit of the Spirit that grow out of union with Christ, that union affected by the Holy Spirit, these graces, these graces of which you and I are utterly incapable on our own, but graces and fruits that are invariably produced by union with Jesus Christ. If you know him, and you love Him, your life increasingly will be characterized by peace, peace with God, peace with one another, a desire to preserve peace, joy not in circumstances or in how much money you have or how outwardly blessed you think your life is, but joy in God, that fullness of joy that's found in Him alone, and love for God and love for one another. The end of all of these things is not merely your own comfort in the building up of the church, but the goal in all of this is the great glory of God. So that God triune can look out on His church and see a fruitful vine growing in fruit abundance to His own glory and praise. that God would receive the glory in the eyes of a watching world, that Christ would be high and lifted up as the true vine, the one who has done everything necessary to bring us to the Father and has given us His Spirit. This text here in John 15, as it presents to you and presents to me this blessed doctrine of union with Christ, it is the model for our sanctification, that we would be a fruitful and faithful people, even in dark days. May the Lord be pleased. to grant us grace to abide in Him, His words working their way deep in our hearts and lives, and may He get great glory. May that be your prayer. Pray fervently that you would be, along with the Apostle Paul, that you would be filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. This is what it means to be a fruitful disciple, And this is, by God's grace, what it means to persevere. As Israel of old failed to do, as Judas Iscariot failed to remain, failed to abide, and as many in our own day fall away, may God grant us His Spirit, that we would abide in His love. May we hold on the words of eternal life and bear fruit for the eternal glory and praise of God triune. Let's pray. O Lord, our God, we thank you that you have taught us this blessed truth of union with your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord Jesus, we acknowledge you and praise you as the true vine, and we ask that you would grant us grace to be increasingly conformed to you, that we would abide in your love, that we would see, comprehend more of your great love for us, that we would take hold of these things by faith, that even as we hear your word preached and as we study it and as we give ourselves to it, we ask that you would fill us with a greater sense of your great love, that we would know what it is to be united to Christ, and that we would persevere in grace to the end. O God, we pray that we would indeed be rooted and built up in Christ. Keep us from the snares of the wicked one. And Lord, we pray in all these things for Your glory, that You, Heavenly Father, would be glorified in our faithfulness and in our fruitfulness. both now and world without end. Oh God, we confess our great need that without you we can do nothing. So be with us by your word and spirit for the glory of Christ. We ask all this in his name, amen. And now lift up your heads and receive the blessing of our triune God. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you his peace. Amen.