For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore. Let us turn in the reading of God's will for our lives, Deuteronomy chapter 5. And as we think about God's commandments, we're thinking about that, which we will be thinking about in our sermon this morning as well. God speaks to us. He spoke to David in even particular and special ways. And he continues to speak to us clearly. And one of the clear ways that God speaks to us is in His commandments, in His moral law. Let us hear the word of God. We'll be reading from the second giving of the law, Deuteronomy chapter 5, beginning at verse 6. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey. or any of your livestock or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long. and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, and you shall not steal, and you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, and you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. Then in summarizing the law, our Lord has surely said to us, the first and greatest commandment is this, that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. People of God, we have God's clear commands, we know that the 10 commandments are just a 10 part summary, that the word details what those commandments include. And so we'll continue reading, what does the word of God require in the commandments as summarized in the Westminster Confessions. So if you would turn with me to page 957, in the back of the Trinity Psalter hymnals, We are now up to the Sixth Commandment. We're not reading all the questions and answers, but we're focusing on the ones that speak about the duties required. And we may come back in some time and focus on the questions and answers on the sins forbidden in each commandment. But for that which is required in the Sixth Commandment, we have question 135 of the Westminster Catechism there on page 957. And the question is, what are the duties required in the Sixth Commandment, which is, you shall not kill? Answer, the duties required in the Sixth Commandment are all careful studies and lawful endeavors to preserve the life of ourselves and others by resisting all thoughts and purposes, subduing all passions, and avoiding all occasions, temptations, and practices which tend to the unjust taking away of the life of any. By just defense thereof against violence, patient bearing of the hand of God, quietness of mind, cheerfulness of spirit, a sober use of meat, drink, exercise, sleep, labor, and recreations by charitable thoughts, love, compassion, meekness, gentleness, kindness, peaceable, mild, and courteous speeches and behavior, forbearance, readiness to be reconciled, patient, bearing, and forgiving of injuries, and requiting good for evil, comforting succoring the distressed and protecting and defending the innocent. So the sixth commandment, as all ten commandments, as given in Deuteronomy 5, Exodus 20, that is just the summary. God would have us to be defenders of life, preservers of life, and quick to love and all that is included in love and quick away from anger. People of God, as we consider what God calls us to, let us come before our Lord in a prayer of confession this morning. Lord, God Almighty, we consider the works of the flesh. We know, we know this will, this sinful nature, which will continue to lurk inside us until you would remove us from this earth and take us to yourself. Lord, we know that the call to put off the works of the flesh and put on the fruits of the spirit is a call which you lead us in by your spirit, which we grow in by your grace. But Lord, we fall short of your perfect standards and your perfect love. And indeed, Lord, we are all sinners. who are in complete dependence upon you, we all completely rely on the righteousness of Jesus Christ alone. So, Lord God, forgive us our sins. In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen. Let us sing together. You may remain seated as we sing 25B, a psalm of confession. Lord, to you I lift my soul. 25B stands as one, two, three. Lord, to you I lend my soul. Oh, my God, I trust your name. Let my foes not mourning hold. Let me not be put to shame. Truly God, who made for you, will be ever more to shame. Those who watch and be betrayed, they will ever be ashamed. truth. You are God, my Savior true. All the day I wait for you. Lord, we pray for you. ♪ And remember not thy sin ♪ ♪ For your good, merciful Lord ♪ ♪ And Abba is the Lord ♪ ♪ He instructs all those who stray ♪ ♪ All the weak he leads upright ♪ ♪ He will teach his holy way ♪ ♪ All his paths are set past love ♪ ♪ He is faithful in his way ♪ God is faithful and God has always been directing us and all of scripture directs us to the one who is perfectly faithful and so Luke chapter 24 Jesus is teaching his disciples about how all of scripture old and New Testaments direct us to him Luke chapter 24 verses 44 to 48 and then he that is Jesus said to them that is the disciples these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything written about me and law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And so repentance of our sin and the life in Jesus Christ has been preached and is preached and will be preached and it is true. We are sinners but there is forgiveness of our sins in Jesus Christ as we repent and come to him whom all of scripture is about. People of God let us come before our sovereign and saving God in a word of prayer this morning. Let us pray. Lord God Almighty, we pray that you would hear our prayers to you. Lord, when we are in times of distress, that we would come and that we would speak our situation to you and that you would preserve us from dread of the enemy and that you would hide us from the secret plots of the wicked. Lord, we know that tongues can be like swords. We know that tongues can give bitter words that are like arrows which pierce, shot as though from ambush. Lord, we know that words carry power to hurt. And so Lord God, we pray that We would be hidden in you and in holding fast to you that we would not be led astray, that we would not be buried under evil tongues with evil purposes and with secret snares. No, Lord God, we pray that you would teach us how to search out justice. And that you would teach us all the power of the tongue. And that we would consider not only our need for protection in you from the tongues of others, but that we would know that we each have a tongue, which is like a rudder, a small thing, which can direct a large ship Our tongues are small things which can be used for great destruction, which can even be used to blaspheme your name, but can also be used for great encouragement and for praising your name. Lord God, let us know these things and let your influence be upon us and the use of our tongues and let your protection be upon us from tongues that would seek ruin. Lord, we pray that we would rejoice in you and take refuge in you as you only speak truth and justice and you only speak in righteousness Lord God, we pray that we would consider your character and your goodness, even as we look out and we see our own sins and we see the effect of sin, which from the time of the guard until now has led to destruction and murder and warfare and strife. And we see that, we see that in the news reports, we know that it is true in countries like Ukraine right now where there is so much destruction and so much pain and hunger and all these things. And Lord, we know there are other countries in this world which are war-torn or tyranny-torn in all kinds of ways. And Lord God, we know that there will be wars and rumors of wars until you come again. And so Lord God, we pray that you would bring peace, that you would bring measures of care to these, that you would help those who are who are helpers, that you would bring food to the places where it needs to go, that you would bless even an offering that we might take here this morning, that you would bless efforts to relieve pain and hunger, to bring various persons to safety across borders. Lord, we pray that you would bless these labors that are being done on many different levels. And we pray, oh Lord, that We would always be taught to hide in you when we would see such things and that the people of Ukraine and the people of Russia would be taught these things in a special way even now and so Lord God We we pray that your your truths would be leading us to to know that there is a good purpose in you and that though this world is cursed by sin, you have the plan of redemption for individual souls and finally for the whole world. And we pray that in considering your word, we would be reminded of life in you and that we would have faithful preaching of the good news this very morning and that we would hear and heed your word to us. And so it is that we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. If you would turn with me to 63B, from Psalm 63, 63B. And then let us stand together to sing all the stanzas of 63B. ♪ O my God, most generous King ♪ ♪ My God, my Saviour and Prince ♪ ♪ Within my holy house of sin ♪ ♪ To see thy glorious reigns ♪ ♪ The heart of thee I long to touch ♪ ♪ And not yet satisfy ♪ ♪ I wander in a desert land ♪ ♪ Where all the streams are dry ♪ ♪ Is more than life to me ♪ So I will bless Thee while I live ♪ And live Thy prayer to me ♪ With Thee my soul is satisfied ♪ My darkness turns to light And joyful meditations fill the watches of the night. My Savior, Thee thy sheltering wings, my soul delights to dwell. Still closer to thy side I press, For near thee all is well. My soul shall conquer every foe, Upholded by thy hand. My people shall rejoice in God, my saints in glory stand. Amen. And let us turn to our text, our scripture reading for this morning, 1 Samuel chapter 23. page 313 in most of the pew Bibles. 1st Samuel 23 verses 1 to 14. David is Still in flight from Saul, will remain such for some time yet. But he is in the land of Judah, having heeded the commandment through the faithful prophet Gad, back in chapter 22, verse five. So now we come to 1 Samuel 23, verse one. Now they told David, behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are robbing the threshing floors. Therefore David inquired to the Lord, shall I go and attack these Philistines? And the Lord said to David, go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah. But David's men said to him, behold, we are afraid here in Judah, how much more than if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines? Then David inquired of the Lord again. And the Lord answered him, arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand. And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their livestock and struck them with a great blow. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. When Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, led to David to Kayla he had come down with any fought in his hand. Now it was told Saul that David had come to Kayla and Saul said, God has given him into my hand for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars. And Saul summoned all the people to war to go down to Kayla to besiege David and his men. David knew that Saul was plotting against him, and he said to Abiathar the priest, bring the ephod here. Then David said, O Lord, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah to destroy the city on my account. Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down as your servant has heard? O Lord, the God of Israel, please tell your servant. And the Lord said, he will come down. Then David said, will the man of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the Lord said, they will surrender you. Then David and his van, who were about 600, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the expedition And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand. So far the reading, the grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our Lord endures forever. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, there are some things which must be revealed and are revealed in an unfolding manner to the people of God. There are other truths related to our infinite God, which are beyond our finite nature. There are things about God that we can never plunge the depths of. There are things that we can never know completely. But when we consider some of the things that God has revealed and given to us, there are words from God which come in simple yes or no terms. There are answers which God has given directly. There are commandments which God has given directly. Now for David, we see that he had a special means of inquiring before God, of hearing yes or no answers from God. And we're going to consider not only these yes or no answers, but also other yes or no answers and yes or no ways that God speaks to us, his people. And so we'll consider yes or no from Keilah to the two pivotal gardens in the history of the world and then into our own present circumstances. And we'll do this with this theme, to seek and heed yes or no answers from God. So first, yes or no in Keilah. Now, Keilah is a city that's only mentioned in one other chapter in the Old Testament. It's mentioned in Joshua 15, verse 44, and it's one of the cities which is part of the inheritance of Judah. But Keilah is on the edge of Israelite territory. It is only a few miles straight east of the Philistine city of Gap. And so at this time, it's a border town. In fact, the men of David do not even think of it as being part of Judah, or perhaps they say that to themselves in an effort to make their conscience feel better for not wanting to go there. And so in verse three, they speak as though it's not part of Judah anymore. Indeed, the attitude of David's men here relate to us in verse three indicates that they consider that they're in enough danger already. Basically, they're saying, look, we're already in flight from Saul. We're already in enough danger. Let's try to at least remain neutral with these Philistines. Let's stay out of Keilah. Let's stay out of a battle with the Philistines. Let's just worry about trying to save our lives from Saul, who is in pursuit of us. But David, David loves God's people, and he is not concerned as much with the feelings of his soldiers and friends as he is concerned with the will of God. And so he hesitates only enough to ask twice, repeating his question from verse 2 and verse 4. But God's answer is firm. David should go to Keilah. and fight the Philistines there and David will obey this command from God. Now, David is not yet the crowned king, he is the anointed king. What is the duty here? It's the duty of protecting God's people against the foreign army. So what we see is not just one town being protected by a band of soldiers. It is David taking up his responsibility of kingship. He's saying, no, I must go. I must go and protect God's people. But then that leads us to the question, where is the crowned king? If the Philistines make off with all of the harvest of the people of Keilah, and that's what they're doing, it's harvest time, verse one, then this is gonna be a hungry city of the people of God. And the Philistines are gonna think that they can start just doing this all over the place. Where is the crowned king? Where is Saul? Shouldn't this be his job? Well, it should be his job. But what happens when we get consumed? with our own enterprise. Well, then we would no longer care about the duties which God has actually given to us. Instead, we would be solely focused upon our own ambitions and goals. And for Saul, that is the goal of capturing David. It's not like he can't take an army to Keilah. When he hears that David is there, that's exactly what he does. He takes up his army, and he goes after David. He summoned all his people to war, verse 8, when? When he knew David was there, verse 7. And he's thinking, this is my chance. He has trapped himself in a place with only one entrance, the end of verse 7. He says, David has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars. In the Hebrew, it's literally two gates and one bar. In other words, there's This is a city with a huge fortified wall. It's a border town. And there's one double gate with one bar to lock it. This is my chance. David has shut himself in. He's in Keilah. I can trap him there. I can besiege him there. I can get my man there. And so he takes all his people to war. Again, as it says in verse 8, a standing army of Saul is at least 3,000 men. The detail we're given in 24 verse 2. We know from earlier in 1 Samuel that the drafted army could be many tens of thousands. Whatever it is, David's force, even though it's grown from 400 to 600 men, as we're told in verse 13, it is not enough. David would indeed be greatly outnumbered and trapped. So goes the human plotting of Saul, but David, Unlike Saul, does not rely only on human reports. We see throughout this text that both David and Saul have good human intelligence networks. They both have their scouts. But David does not only have his human intelligence networks, he's also relying upon his inquiries before the Lord. And now, verse six tells us Abiathar has joined David in Keilah. So who is Abiathar? Well, he's now the high priest. And so the high priest has an ephod, which is not just the regular ephod, but is the high priest's ephod. We'll talk about that a little bit more in point three. But the point is that David now has an even more sure means of inquiry before the Lord. He has not only the faithful prophet Gad who has been with him, but now he has the high priest and the high priest Ephod, and David is going to take advantage of this. He is going to use the means he has to seek and inquire direct answers from God. Now, at this point, We're going to come back and talk about this a little bit more later. But at this point, let's just pause and think about the fact that the kings of Israel had means by which they could inquire direct questions to the Lord through the high priest. And often, they did not do that. Let's just think about the narrative of the Old Testament. I hope we read our Old Testaments and think about the fact that this is not done very often. There's a way to ask direct questions to God, especially for the king, especially through the high priest and his breast piece of judgment, and it is very often not done in the history of God's people. Well, David, does use these means here. He does seek out the will of God, and in so doing, he knows that it is time for him to escape. He might have been tempted to wait just a little while so that he could take out some vengeance upon the people of Keilah before he left. I mean, think about this for a moment. How would you respond if you were just told that you would be betrayed by a person that you just sacrificed a great deal to protect and that's what David's being told here. This is people of Keilah that I just marched in and fought against the Philistines to deliver them. What are they going to do? Are they going to betray me? Yes, they're going to betray you. And what does David do? He says, all right, Lord, you want me to go? I'm going to go. He doesn't stop to take out personal vengeance. He just obeys God and goes. This is the shape of David's obedience. The anointed king, who has the service of a faithful prophet, Gad, and the new high priest, Abiathar. Now let's come to our second point. Yes or no in gardens. And people of God, for our second point, we're gonna step away from the narrative of 1 Samuel for a moment, for one point here. And we're going to consider the theme of responding to the will of God at pivotal moments in the history of the world. For the greatest curse was brought upon the world in a garden when our first parents said no to the will of God. But the work of redemption is completed in a special way after our Savior inquired of the will of God in a different garden and said, yes, Lord, your will be done. That terrible no to God, which is a yes to the devil, is recorded in Genesis chapter 3. Eve questions God. She looks at the tree. She knows what God has said. God has given a clear yes or no answer regarding that tree. And the answer is, no, you shall not eat of that tree. But what does Eve say to the clearly revealed will of God? She says no to what God has commanded. She says yes to temptation. And she goes her own way. And then Adam, the head of the human race, joins with her without any argument. He also says no to God. What do these no's to what God has clearly commanded, what do they lead to? Well, they plunge the entire human race into sin and death. And as man is the stewards of God's creation, it plunges the entire creation into groanings and sufferings and pain and death. It was just one no. But it was a no to the will of God. And it plunged us into sin and death. Now, there is a yes to the will of God, which is recorded for us in the Gospels. And there was a temptation in the Garden of Gethsemane. There was a temptation to know, and Jesus did know, the great agony of the cross, and in knowing that great agony, to say, I cannot do it. But Jesus does not give in to temptation. What does Jesus Christ say? He says, Father, if possible, remove this cup from me, but not my will, but yours be done. Jesus Christ says yes to the will of God. And here is where death is changed to life. And so that the no of our first Adam, which plunged us into death, is changed into life that we have in Jesus Christ alone as he says yes to the will of God. And where Adam and Eve eight of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and in that eating plunged us into death Jesus said yes to drinking the cup of the wrath of God as he was nailed upon the tree and taking that wrath upon himself gives us life. There is a no to the will of God which plunges us into death. There is a yes to the will of God which gives us life as we would repent and believe in Him. To say yes or to say no to God, it is those responses which stand at the pivot points of history. Dirk Bergsma, he was a professor at Westminster West. He recently passed away. He said it this way, Gethsemane was the second Eden. The second Adam in the second Eden endured the rejection of the father that the sin of the first Eden caused. But Gethsemane is also the reverse of Eden. And the first Eden Adam forsook God, and God had to evict him from the garden, for fellowship was broken. In Gethsemane, God forsook the god man, the second Adam. And man, in the form of an unbelieving mob, evicted the divine son from the garden. It had to be. He who bore man's sin must bear its penalty. Alienation from God. Forsaken. and death. There was no other way and it was the Father's will." End of quote. People of God, it is the yes of Jesus Christ to the will of God that gives us life. And so let's move then to our third point and think about yes or no in Wupon. Think about yes or no in 2022. Think about yes or no in our circumstances. And as we begin this point, we'll think back to the narrative and think back to the way that God gave yes or no answers in the past and then the way that God gives yes or no answers in the present. Well, for David, We know that he regularly inquired of God, and we know that from the testimony of Ahimelech in 22 verse 15. He says, it's today the first time that I have inquired of God for him, that is for David. Now, how exactly did this work? We don't know exactly how this all worked. We know that there were different inquiries that could be made of God. We know that especially the king, could make a special kind of inquiry through the high priest and his ephod. And we know that there were times when God could choose not to answer. And so, for example, in 1 Samuel 28, verse 6, we'll read that Saul does decide he wants to try to inquire of God again, but God will no longer speak to him. And so we have... a number of details but we don't even know exactly how this all worked. I would like you to turn with me to Exodus chapter 28 because remember Abiathar is the high priest now and so the inquiries that David made before in the temple and the inquiries that David makes even in the beginning of chapter 23 Presumably, he's making those through the prophet Gad, who's still with him. These are not even the same as the special inquiries that he'll now make with Abiathar and his ephod, the high priest's ephod, which is described in Exodus chapter 28, verse 30. Exodus chapter 28, verse 30. And in the breastpiece of judgment, you shall put the room and the human they shall be on Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord thus Aaron chill bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the Lord regularly we don't know exactly how this works some have described it as a kind of sacred casting of lots. What we do know is that the high priest's ephod and the high priest's breast piece of judgment was special and it had this urim and thumim. And that would be what Abiathar is using in 1 Samuel 23. And it could give yes or no answers from God. Again, it's It's amazing that the kings of Israel did not use this as often as they should have and could have. But this is something that David now has available to him, and he's going to take advantage of it. To which we say, well yes and amen. You have a way to get a straightforward yes or no answer from God when you inquire? Let's do that. Again, too often, that does not happen in the history of God's people, but David here is going to do that. Let's just see. I am the anointed king. God has given me the high priests to be in my service. I am going to take advantage of the Urim and the Thummim and inquire in a special way. Now, notice in verse 12 and 13, eleven and twelve the answer is is more than one word in english they're really one word answers from god in the hebrew uh... and there are other tax which make it even more clear that this movement through limits it's a kind of straightforward yes or no answer from we say what is this was this happened with us The Urim and the Thummim seem so far away. We don't even know exactly how it worked. And we don't even know exactly how it worked. And we don't have it anymore. So what does this mean for us? People of God, has God not, in his revelation, given us many yes or no commandments? Remember, in the Old Testament, this seeking out of God and inquiring of Him and asking of Him, the overall history of the kings of Israel is that this was simply not done as often as it could have, should have been done. You know, there is a temptation to not seek out the straightforward yes or no answers that God gives to us. But let's do this for a moment. Turn with me to the New Testament. We're gonna look at three different chapters. We're gonna start with Hebrews chapter 13. Please open your Bibles and seek the pages with me and turn to Hebrews chapter 13. Let's go seeking. Now it is true that there are commandments of God which are given to individuals It is true that there are commandments of God which are spoken within the context of the Old Testament nation and the Old Testament ceremonies. But we read God's commandments in context, and we know that there are many commandments which are plainly, directly, in a yes or no manner given to all of God's people for all time, including us right here in Wampanoag in 2022. Hebrews chapter 13, verse four. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. You see, we might inquire of God, and we might ask, can we live together before marriage? To which we would find a plain answer, no. But that's just what everybody does nowadays. And it's not, you shall not commit adultery because nobody's married yet. The answer is still no. Plainly. Directly. The Bible does not only speak clearly about adultery but also all forms of sexual immorality. In Hebrews 13 and other places. Now turn with me to Matthew chapter 5. Some of you might know what's coming. Because you see, we might say, as long as I only sin in my mind, I'm doing just fine, right? We might inquire of God and ask that question. But what happens when we seek out God's answers, when we go to God's word and to his revelation? What does he say about sins in the mind related to adultery well he says this. Matthew 5 or 28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. What does God say about sins in the mind when it comes to murder. He says this in Matthew 5 or 22 but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council. And whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. But Scripture speaks about such a thing as righteous anger. So sometimes I can be angry in my heart for my own sake and for my own cause, right? The very few rare circumstances of righteous anger in Scripture are always of righteous anger concerned for God. and being zealous for God, we cannot be angry for our own cause. In other words, the answer is no. And when we start to make excuses, the answer is still no. And if we are seeking out God's answers in His Word, He speaks to us plainly, directly. Will we be like the Old Testament kings of old and have a way to inquire of God directly and just forsake it? and try to pretend that the Urim and the Thummim don't exist? Or will we take the means that God has given to us and will we inquire of Him? Will we seek out what He has spoken to us plainly and say, Lord, lead me. Teach me how to be righteous. Teach me what you require of me. We might inquire of God and ask, Since wine is sometimes mentioned in a positive way, I can at least sometimes drink as much as I want, right? Well, let's turn to one more passage. Let's turn, seek out God's direct answers. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter six. 1 Corinthians chapter six. We seek out God's will. We want to know God's word. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 9 to 11 lists a number of vices and included in that is drunkenness. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 beginning at verse 9, or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. But we're still gonna struggle with sin. Well, yes, and the Bible tells us that very clearly and plainly in other places, but that does not mean that we should just live in sin and think that it's okay. We seek out what God has said to us. And when we seek that word out, what does God say? Should I change my behavior when I'm living in sin? Yes, you should. Am I saved? by my own righteousness? No. We're only saved by the yes of Jesus Christ to the will of God in the garden. But the yes of Jesus Christ is the yes of our Savior and our Lord. He both saves us from our sins and as our Lord speaks to us in the ways that we are to serve Him and love Him. And it is plain. We just need to seek it out. These are just a few examples with references to a few different texts. There are many other straightforward yes or no answers from God. Let us not make excuses. Oh, you know, some commandments in scripture are, you know, they're specific for individuals. I can't be sure if this one's for me. You know, some commandments are related to these Old Testament ceremonies and they say some very specific things about the nation of Israel and the Old Testament and how they relate to other nations. And, you know, I think that just makes it confusing to ever tell what kind of commandment God is giving to us. Oh, brothers and sisters, let us never use these excuses which are really just laziness. I can't read the Bible in its context to seek out what God is telling to me plainly. and pride. I don't want to determine and seek out the will of God because I want to determine my own way. It is all a big hide and seek game from God. Instead of excuses and trying to play hide and seek from God like Adam and Eve tried to do in that garden so long ago. Instead of hide and seek, let us seek and heed. God still speaks to us plainly and clearly. We're only saved by the yes of Jesus Christ. But our Savior is our Lord who has given us many yes or no's by which we can live as his servants to his glory and for his will. Amen. Let us pray. Oh, Lord, God Almighty.