First scripture reading this morning, and especially that in connection with baptism, we turn to Exodus chapter four. Exodus chapter four. In the preceding verses, Jehovah God has called Moses from out of the burning bush to be the mediator and deliverer of Israel in bondage under Pharaoh. And Moses answered and said, but behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice, for they will say, the Lord hath not appeared unto thee. And the Lord said unto him, what is that in thine hand? And he said, a rod. And he said, cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent. And Moses fled from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses, put forth thine hand and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand. that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob hath appeared unto thee. And the Lord said furthermore unto him, put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. And he said, put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again, and plucked it out of his bosom, and behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. And it came to pass, they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. It shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river and pour it upon the dry land. And the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, who hath made man's mouth, or who maketh the deaf, dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind, have not I the Lord? Now therefore go. and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say. And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee, and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. Thou shalt speak unto him and put words in his mouth, and I will be with thy mouth and with his mouth. and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto thy people, and even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs. "'Moses went and returned to Jethro, his father-in-law, "'and said unto him, "'Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren, "'which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive.' "'And Jethro said to Moses, "'Go in peace.' "'And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, "'Go, return into Egypt, for all the men are dead, "'which sought thy life.' And Moses took his wife and his sons and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand. And the Lord said unto Moses, when thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand. But I will harden his heart that he shall not let the people go. And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn. And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me. And if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. And it came to pass by the way in the inn that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go. Then she said, A bloody husband thou art because of the circumcision. And the Lord said to Aaron, go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went and met him in the mount of God and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him and all the signs which he had commanded him. Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. And Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed. And when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped. The text for this morning is verses 24 through 26. And it came to pass by the way in the inn that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son. and cast it at his feet and said, surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go. And she said, a bloody husband thou art because of the circumcision. This incident from the Old Testament that we consider this morning occurred after Moses was called by God from the burning bush and on his way to Egypt to carry out the will of God concerning his demands to Pharaoh to let his people go. For the past 40 years after Moses had fled from Egypt for fear of his life, he had been shepherding sheep in Midian for his father-in-law Jethro. There in Midian sometime during those 40 years, he had married. He had two children. Gershom and Eleazar, with his wife Zipporah. And then one day, the Lord spoke to him from a burning bush, called him to be a deliverer and savior of Israel on the Lord's behalf, to represent him to his people Israel, and before Pharaoh, whose heart he would harden. Moses, who is initially reluctant even to the point of angering the Lord, but then encouraged by the Lord, by the signs he had given him of his office and his promises to Moses, takes leave of his father-in-law and with his wife Zipporah and with Gershom and Eleazar sets off for Egypt. After speaking to him and showing him signs and wonders from the burning bush is not done with Moses yet. He meets Moses in the way while he's staying at an inn, perhaps the first night. But that meeting is not a friendly meeting, not the friendly meeting that Moses had experienced next to the burning bush. In this meeting, the fiery, hot wrath of God's anger itself is directed at Moses. God comes upon Moses as an enemy, comes, as we read, to kill him, his own servant Moses. And the reason, the reason for this violent attack of Jehovah God upon his servant Moses is a serious sin on the part of Moses. Moses has been derelict in his covenant duties. This confrontation, this angry confrontation of the Lord, which is the result of Moses' own dereliction of duty, is written in the Holy Scriptures, as we just sang, as a lesson for us. There is a real danger for us who live in the New Testament, a real danger for us even as elect, regenerated children of God, A danger that is not limited merely to those who are members of the church only formally and who hardly attend church, but even the New Testament Moses is in the church. A lesson for us against the dereliction of our own covenant duties. There is a danger that even the most faithful in the covenant, those who are even on their way in obedience to God, must be met by God in His anger because of a severe sin, the same severe sin of being derelict in our covenant duties. It can even take the same form. dereliction in giving the covenant sign to our children. We consider this morning, this warning, a warning against dereliction of covenant duty. A dereliction of covenant duty. And we notice in the first place, the serious sin. In the second place, the angry confrontation. And finally, the blessed response. The reason for the angry even killing, for we read God intended to slay him, I will do that, is a serious sin on the part of Moses. That sin is that Moses was guilty of carrying out, that is, he was derelict with regard to the obligations of the covenant. what we call the demands of the covenant or his duty in the covenant of God. He had failed to carry out those demands, had failed to carry out the will of God. What he had failed to do is to circumcise one of his sons. We can infer that it was the second son, Eliezer, because we know that he had circumcised his firstborn son, Gershom. The reason for this failure, this failure of Moses, is we are told opposition by his Midianite wife, Zipporah. They were not one in spiritual matters. He had married her, but they were not one. The truth that God had revealed to Moses had been the faith and life of Moses, But Zipporah did not share in that, at least to the extent that it did with regard to Moses. That's evident. That's evident when the Lord comes. He doesn't even speak. And she immediately understands the reason why the Lord is there and picks up a sharp stone and circumcises Eleazar, which subsequently averts the anger of the Lord so that he lets him go. That the issue is the failure of Moses to circumcise his son is evident when she says twice, a bloody husband thou art to me. And scripture explains that it was because of the circumcision. There is no doubt either as to the reason of this failure and even the opposition of his wife. She was opposed to the pain and suffering that that demand of the covenant would cause her second son, she had witnessed that bloody rite being performed on her firstborn. She saw the pain and suffering that it caused and said, never again. And she opposed it. And Moses succumbed to her opposition. No doubt, as many mothers do, in fact, most mothers, They are protective. And she thought that being a good mother was a matter simply of protecting her son from anything painful to the flesh, anything that would cause suffering. And furthermore, that if she did that as a good mother, then her son would turn out to be a good son. This is a lesson for us because such things are not unusual today in the church either. It is not unusual. that a man who believes in God's covenant promises, with whom God has made his covenant, with someone who God has given his covenant sign, marries someone and they agree to join the church in that marriage, but nevertheless they are not united in their faith, they are not united in their understanding of the covenant. They are not united in their goals and in their life within that covenant. And oftentimes, when that unity first manifests itself is when the children come. And the demands of the covenant now need to be applied in the children's life. This opposition isn't unique. in that it always takes the same form where a husband is faithful and a wife opposes the demands of the covenant. It can work the other way around also. But nevertheless, it often happens that way. And God speaks to the husband and confronts the husband as the head of the home and the head of the marriage. And it can take even the same form. Opposition to the administration of the sign of the covenant. We read in the form this morning, since baptism has come in the place of circumcision, therefore children are to be baptized, are to be baptized as heirs of the kingdom of God and of His covenant. The Reformed view, the biblical view of the sign of baptism is that it must be administered. And yet it happens. It happens in church. It happens even in Reformed churches that subscribe to this form and to our creeds where baptism is not administered because of opposition of a spouse. It can also take the form of opposition to other demands of the covenant, the main demands of the covenant even, which we read in the form concerning the rearing of the child. Parents, we read in the form, are in duty bound, duty bound to further instruct their children herein and promise to do that to the utmost of your power. Yet it can happen, perhaps, that a child is indeed brought by both parents to baptism, recognizing the importance of the sign. And yet, there's opposition, perhaps, about where to baptize that child. There's opposition in the marriage about bringing the child to church, church attendance. There's opposition or disagreement in the home over the house rules, over the frequency and type of discipline, about exactly what the child will be taught in the home or what schools the child will attend. And often, and often it is for the same reason. There is a parent, often a mother, who in an attempt to protect her child from anything painful, anything that would cause the flesh to suffer, opposes the demands of the covenant, sees those demands of the covenant as inflicting unnecessary pain, as a form of abuse. There's disagreement over faithful church attendance because after all the sermons are long and boring for children. There's disagreement about the learning of catechism because it is too much work for a child. There's disagreement about the application of discipline because it too causes suffering. There's disagreement over the sending of children to Christian schools because it's too expensive That child can't adapt to the needs of my particular child. And besides, at the school, there are bullies who may hurt my child. Again, regardless of where the opposition comes from, in the case of Moses, it was Zipporah. Moses caved, but it was Zipporah. God nevertheless confronts the husband. If in fact it's the husband who is neglectful of his covenant duties and the wife who is faithful, then even more so woe to the husband, because it is the husband whom the Lord will confront, whether the opposition is from the wife or not. And the Lord will confront the husband, because in the covenant, he is the head of the home. He is the head of the marriage. He is the one whom the Lord will speak to. And if one is neglectful in the covenant with regard to the covenant duties, whom the Lord will confront, and confront with considerable anger, even confront as to kill. Make no mistake. Why? And the answer is because neglect or dereliction of one's covenant duty is a serious sin. If anyone doubts the seriousness of such a sin, one need only to look at the Lord's anger in his wrath against Moses as an elect, regenerated child of God, and even one whom God has appointed an Old Testament mediator, an Old Testament type of Christ. Consider that. And now compare God's attitude, compare God's behavior with how we, how we are tempted to look at Moses and Zipporah and their behavior. We should admit that we would easily minimize and excuse such behavior. We would say to ourselves, well, after all, it happened only once. He did administer the sign to the other son. It's not like this is a habitual problem in the life of Moses. He is a faithful man. He has faithfully labored for the last 40 years for God, even as a lowly shepherd. It's not like he actually did anything sin. It's, well, he just didn't do something. in something rather seemingly minor. It's not like he actually abused his covenant child. It's not like he actually neglected to care for his covenant child and provide for him or abandon him. It's not like he was teaching Eliezer lies and Gershom lies, but he just didn't do something. And then what he didn't do was administer a sign. It's just a sign. It's not the real thing. It's not the reality. It's not like he denied the work of the Spirit. We would say it's understandable what he did. How difficult is it to live in a marriage where a wife opposes the demands of the covenant where there's really any opposition? Isn't it understandable to say, She's the one I have to live with. Isn't it better just to get along, especially when it's just a sign? Even more so when, as Zipporah shows herself to be a rather strong-willed woman and not at all afraid to call her husband out in her own eyes as a bloody, bloody husband. Seriousness of the sin is that it's a form of breaking God's covenant, breaking the covenant that God had established with him even through Abraham, which we read about in Genesis 17, verse 7 in the form. God had made a covenant with him. God had forged a relationship of loving friendship with him. God had said that he would be the God of Abraham, that he would be the God of Abraham, and God and Abraham then would be his child. He had formed a covenant, a covenant of grace with Abraham. A covenant of grace because Abraham himself was not worthy of God's friendship. And a covenant of grace especially that showed itself when God made a covenant not only with Abraham, but with his seed. The result being that Moses himself was in the covenant and a covenant child of God. God had shown that covenant of grace and was even showing it was a covenant of grace by not establishing his covenant with every physical child born of Abraham, as history made clear. Made clear with Ishmael, made clear with Esau, and was becoming clear with regard to the nation of Israel itself. But nevertheless, God established a covenant with his seed. God was pleased to call his own children from Abraham's own physical seed. A covenant of grace also because he, like all fathers, Abraham, Moses, all fathers would give forth children unworthy of God's covenant faithfulness, sinners and depraved. Now the sign of that covenant was circumcision of all males on the eighth day. It was a sign that God had made a covenant with Abraham and his children. A sign that among Abraham's children were God's own elect children. And God was that, not then when they became adults, but already as children. It was a sign that in this covenant of grace, God graciously would also save children as children. would enter their hearts by His Spirit, regenerate them, give them faith, and cause them to grow up even as children in the fear of His name. It was a sign also of God's grace through the shedding of blood, that they were made the friends of God, not because they made themselves as such, but because God would send His Son to pay for their sins with his own life. That was the sign of circumcision and the sign that Abraham had neglected. The seriousness of the sin was that in rejecting the sign, Abraham was rejecting the reality of that sign. Abraham was saying by his behavior, it's not necessary for there to be a shedding of blood for me to be in this covenant. I am in this covenant my way, or I am in this covenant by virtue of my physical birth from Father Abraham. It was a rejection of the fact that Christ must come, God must send a mediator, God must send a deliverer, and His blood must be shed for the blood of Abraham and Moses. That was the seriousness of the sin. That was the seriousness of His dereliction of covenant duty. His breaking of the covenant was not what many suppose it be. It was a failure to keep his part of a contract so that now the covenant is null and void. If that were in fact the case, then God indeed would have killed him. If that indeed were the case, then God indeed would have rejected and cast off Moses forever. But the very fact that God is there, oh yes, there in his anger, showed the graciousness of the covenant and the seriousness of Moses' sin. What his sin was, was gross ingratitude and gross abuse of that grace of God. That's what dereliction of covenant duty is. And that's why it's a breaking of the covenant. What it is, is to use the very graciousness of God's covenant as an excuse not to carry out one's covenant obligations. That's what it is. It is to say, I really am not thankful for the graciousness of God's covenant. It is to say, the graciousness of God's covenant is such that it really doesn't matter what I do or what I do not do. And so God confronted him. The result of Moses' dereliction of his covenant duties was a very angry confrontation of God. And we should do justice to that. God, we read, met Moses, and God sought to kill him. We need to do justice to that anger of God, even in the light of what we had read earlier, how that God had become angry when Moses kept coming up with excuses not to go see Pharaoh. This is at another level. That is an amazing, even an astounding statement that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. Now that does not indicate that it was God's sovereign plan to actually kill Moses. It does not indicate that God indeed was going to do that and then changed His mind. We know that, even as God is going to command Pharaoh to let his people go, but his sovereign eternal plan is that Pharaoh indeed will not let the people go, but his heart will be hardened, and Moses will be an instrument with that. Nevertheless, we must do justice to the language of the text, to the facts, God indeed is the sovereign, eternal God, and if God actually intended to kill Moses, he would have killed him. Besides that, this is the God who had revealed himself graciously to Moses in the burning bush, even preserving him in that holy environment. This is the God who had just endured all the objections and excuses of Moses, why not? to be the leader, to be the mediator, to be the deliverer of his people. So we know, in fact, what God's real intentions were. Nevertheless, God says what he says for a reason. Why is that? Well, God wants us to understand that he indeed did manifest himself to Moses and Zipporah in that capacity. That's what they saw. What they saw was God as their enemy. What they saw was God in a rage, angry, one who was threatening them with death, as one who had so laid hold upon them and was ready to slay that it's only when Zipporah picks up the stone and circumcises Eliezer that we read God lets him go. Evidently, God had revealed himself visibly in some way, in some way that there was no mistake with regard to Moses and Zipporah of God's intentions. And we mustn't simply dismiss that. God did not intend for Moses simply to look at God and say, well, you're really not angry. No, God wanted to confront Moses with the seriousness of his sin, as well then subsequently confront him with the grace of his covenant that he was abusing and unthankful for in his dereliction of duty. So astounding is this when we read it that perhaps we might say to ourself, well, that's Old Testament Jehovah God. This is God before Jesus has shed his blood. Surely now that Jesus has come and shed his blood, surely now that we have the reality and reality such that there is no more circumcision, God would not behave this way toward us. When we neglect our covenant duties, would we? The answer is yes. Yes, this is a lesson. And the lesson is God indeed does still confront his covenant people this way when they neglect their covenant duties. Yes, this is still a lesson for us to be warned and to heed even as the sign of the covenant since Christ has come did not go away. Oh, it changed. There is no more shedding of blood since that one great shedding of Jesus' blood so that now the sign is the administration of water and administered in a way that highlights the work of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God does this today by making us to know in our own heart to making us to know in our own conscience he is severely displeased and angry, even we might say seeking to kill us when we neglect our covenant duties. God will do that by causing trouble. in our marriage or our covenant home. Now, that doesn't mean that every trouble in marriage or in our covenant home is the face of an angry God confronting us with our sins and the neglect of our covenant duty. Nevertheless, when there is neglect of one's covenant duty, God will unmistakably appear in some way to us that is unmistakable in our own heart and conscience. You can count on that. God will do that. So serious is the neglect of one's covenant duties that God may actually even cut off children or cut off us in our generations. That happens too. That happens too because of stubbornness. It can happen. where there is not the reaction as there was of Zipporah or Moses. Where God appears in the home, God appears perhaps particularly to the husband. God makes clear what it is that's not being done and what he expects, and there is a stubborn refusal. There is still the unbelief that says, I will protect my child. I will not let any of these demands of the covenant, which I think are really unnecessary and are harmful, and bring pain and bring suffering to be inflicted in my home and upon my children. So that even though God points out, perhaps in a very angry way, the results of being neglectful in church attendance or catechism instruction. God reveals He's angry about that. God reveals He's angry about opposition to the Christian school, God reveals He's angry about the failure to teach the truth of God's Word. He's angry about the fact that the parent, or a parent, allows their children to be friends with the world and to do whatever they want. Angry over the lack of discipline, and the result of that continued, persistent refusal is the child is lost. That happens, and that happens today. Why? What's the explanation for that? Well, again, we need to go to the seriousness of the sin. If you want to understand the deep anger of God, you have to understand the seriousness of the sin. First of all, take note that what Moses had done was dishonored God's name. In fact, he dishonored the very grace and sovereignty of God's name. Note God's covenant name is used here. Notice who it is who confronts Moses. It is the Lord, that is, Jehovah God. And it's that name more than any other that God wants to reveal. That's the name by which he appears in the burning bush. That's the name that he tells Moses to present to the children of Israel. That's the name that God says, now you tell them I sent you. Why? Because that name, the I Am that I Am, is the name that reveals God as the eternal, unchangeable One, and thus also His covenant has that character. It's His covenant name. That's the name where God reveals when I establish a covenant. When I make someone my friend, they are my friend. And they are my friend to the point where they obey me and they follow me. They are my friend. For Moses, for Moses now, to not circumcise his son, to carry out, to fail to carry out his covenant duties, is to dishonor that name. See, it really doesn't matter. It doesn't really matter if I obey God or not. God is gracious, God is sovereign, and what he's teaching is the exact opposite. Not only did Moses' actions dishonor God, but they dishonored the sovereignty and grace of God in his work. Notice, God meets him in the way. God deliberately meets Moses as he is about to carry out the great work of God, saving and redeeming his people. That's God's way of saying, it is especially at this point that your neglect of your covenant duty dishonors Me." Why is that? Because now in the failure of Moses to carry out his duties, in his own dereliction of duty, it becomes public. It becomes known. Here is Moses. He's going to preach the name of God. He's going to present the I Am to the nation and to Pharaoh. And yet, in his own life, His own life says, and God isn't powerful enough to make me to obey him. Or he publicly declares, such is the grace of God that it just allows us to do whatever we want, whenever we want, according to our own dictates and will. It's really a powerless grace, an ineffectual grace. You see, God knew that. And so God confronts Moses angrily, especially in the way. He understands what Moses' failure is going to mean to the testimony of his work. Also perhaps because he wants Moses to reflect on this as he goes forth, and have Moses reflect on the power of God's grace that's evident even in that confrontation. But it's especially this that he dishonored. If you combine the concepts, you will see it clearly, and that is he dishonored God's Son, Jesus Christ, and his work. He dishonored the forgiveness of sins through the washing of sins away by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. The fact is that the death that threatened Moses, the death that God threatened upon Moses was indeed applied to someone. Moses did deserve death. Our problem is we don't think so, but he did, and God did indeed apply that death. He sought to kill someone and kill someone he did, and it was his own son. That's the death that was being pictured in the sacrament, the Old Testament sacrament of circumcision. And God was also pointing out that the forgiveness of sins comes in the way of repentance. That's the way in which we show we're believing in Him, we trust in Him for the forgiveness of sins. And that too is why God is there. So important is repentance with regard to forgiveness that God appears. If it were not, God would have just left him alone. All this emphasizes the seriousness of neglecting our own duties in the covenant inasmuch as they're breaking the covenant, inasmuch as they dishonor God's covenant, inasmuch as they dishonor God, inasmuch as they dishonor His very grace and sovereignty in the covenant, and how serious is it, especially we do it with an appeal to grace. When we literally say in our own heart and soul, it doesn't really matter how I discipline my child, how I rear my child, how I engage in my labor with regard to instruction and discipline and catechism teaching, It doesn't matter how I regard the good Christian school, because after all, God's covenant is sovereign and gracious, and that is the exact opposite of the truth. The truth is revealed in God's confrontation of Moses, whereby he sought to kill him. Now the truth is in that, because God did in fact not kill him, God, in fact, worked a blessed response. God, in fact, by that graciously worked repentance in Moses. And even Zipporah, he works new obedience. He works sorrow of heart. That's what happened with Moses. Now, what's really amazing is when you look, Moses didn't do anything. We're not told about what happened in Moses' heart. We're told what Zipporah did. And what's interesting about Zipporah is there's more lessons to be learned because it's evident from her reaction she didn't really repent. Now, she changed her behavior. She does what often can happen when we're confronted by God and dereliction of our duty. We follow the letter of the law. In disgust, she circumcises Eleazar immediately and throws the foreskin on the ground and hollers at Moses and calls him names. You can see she's bitter, she's angry, she knows. But that too is evidence of God's gracious character of His covenant. You see, if you look at the history, you'll discover that she's bitter and angry for a while. So bitter and angry, Moses has to send her home. Send her home with the two children. Send her home to wait for him until Israel is delivered, and they meet again at Mount Sinai. And then you see a different woman. You see, a woman that God uses, God gives a place to her in the covenant. God gives to her two children a place in the covenant. Her two children, raised by her, become great priests and representatives of God. God even includes her father in the covenant. And he enjoys the great covenant blessings of God. It's the way it works with us too, beloved. It's the way God works his blessing yet today. You can expect that in the way of heeding his warning to us when we hear his voice today and harden not our hearts in the day of provocation as is Holy Scripture. Perhaps we might even be inclined to say it's better to obey the letter of the law than to do nothing. But the point is, this is what God works. This is part of what we ought to be thankful for. We ought not resent when God says to us in our own heart and conscience with considerable anger, what are you doing? Do you understand what you're doing? Perhaps comes again if perhaps we're foolish enough to say, yeah, Lord, but it's all of grace. He will work it. He will work sorrow of heart. He will work repentance. He will work it so that we say, yes, Lord. I'm sorry, because we realize exactly the truth that is covenant of grace. If the fulfillment of the covenant depended upon our carrying out our covenant obligations, then we're all lost, of course, isn't it? And when we realize to carrying out of them His gratitude and thankfulness for what God has done, then we realize, too, the seriousness of our sin, how much this dishonors God, and we give ourselves to Him. This is exactly what it means, beloved, when in God's covenant promise, He promises that He will be our God. That's what it means. When God says, I will be your God, He means, I will be your God such that you will be my friends. And my friends are my friends. My friends are those who even if I have to come in anger, reveal myself as seeking to kill them, they are my friends and they will act like my friends. They will behave like my friends. They will be with me and live with me. That's what we celebrated this morning. That's what we must remember this morning. And that is why even much of our form taught the same truth about our covenant duties. Amen, let us pray. O Lord, our God, we thank thee for thy word and the warning given from Holy Scripture, even from Jesus himself. That the sign of the covenant demands, it demands that we live in covenant faithfulness to Thee. That we simply not administer the sign, but we live according to the sign. And especially the sign would administer to infants lays upon us the duty, the solemn duty and obligation as those who truly are thankful for thy grace and thy sovereignty to teach our children such, to raise them and rear them and train them in that way. Forgive us, Lord, where we have sinned, but also correct us, so that the very truth found in the form is also evident, that when we fall into sin, we must not despair of thy mercy, nor continue in sin. These things we therefore pray, in Jesus' name, amen.