That should work, hopefully, Lazar. These are the ones that we have in front of us. All right. Go! Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Well, good morning, everyone. If you want to come in and find a seat, we will be starting our worship this morning with Psalm 39. Yeah, if you want to turn your Bibles to Psalm 39, we will read starting in verse 1. To the choir master, to Juduthim, a psalm of David. I said I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue. I will guard my mouth with a muzzle as long as the wicked are in my presence. I was mute and silent. I held my peace to no avail and my distress grew worse. My heart became hot within me as I amused the fire burn. Then I spoke with my tongue. O Lord, make me know my end, and what is the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting I am. Behold, you have made my days a few hand-breaths, and my lifetime as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath. Surely a man goes about as a shadow. Surely for nothing they are in turmoil. Man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather. And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. Deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not make me the scorn of the fool. I am mute, I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it. Remove your stroke from me. I am spent by the hostility of your hand. When you discipline a man with rebukes for sin, you consume like a moth what is dear to him. Surely all mankind is a mere breath. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry. Hold not your peace at my tears, for I am a sojourner with you, a guest like all my fathers. Look away from me that I might smile again before I depart and am no more." So Psalm 39 asks us to think about the brevity of life. The world, by contrast, does not like us to think much about this at all. Especially things like life, death, and eternity. It's not easy for us to think about the end of our lives. Partly because what's here is all we know. This is our life, right? This is what we've been living around. But David also knows that there's something beyond this life. Living our lives that God has given us the same way as the wicked do is not the answer for shortness of life for the days God has given us. Living a life of devotion to God is his answer. The only way to experience the fullness of his life is to acknowledge that it is short and to live fully sold out to Jesus Christ. Jesus said he came to give us life and life abundant and it may be a life that is hardship In fact, most certainly will. But it will be a life that has purpose, meaning, accomplishment, and most of all, a relationship with Christ that brings salvation and hope. As verse 7 says here, O Lord, for what do I wait? And the answer is immediately supplied. My hope is in you. Trust Christ. Put your faith in Him as you live this life. And no matter how short or long or how easy or hard, it will be a life of abundance and is simply the precursor to life eternal. a life eternal with no more pain and suffering. That is what we as believers have to look forward to. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this day you've blessed us with and the ability for us to gather here today to worship your name. Lord, what a great God you are that you allow us to do these things, to give praise to your name. Lord, I pray as we hear from your word today, as we hear from this psalm, as you hear your word preached, as we sing, Lord, it would all be done to your honor and glory that we would grow in the knowledge of who you are today that would change our lives. Lord, that you would speak to each one of us today and draw us closer to who you are, to knowledge of you and a life of obedience and holiness. Lord, be with us. Let us sing your praises today, Lord, as we gather, as we sing, as we worship you, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Jerry, won't you stand up? We're going to sing a psalter of that to a tune you're hopefully quite familiar with, Amazing Grace. Ready? Teach me the measure. Can you put it to the first one? This might be a different Sunday, because that wasn't one of the songs. It's all good. So it's one right before that, brother. That's the one. You betcha. Okay, well I guess we can sing. What's the key of that? See, we didn't practice being on my vision. What song is this? It's a psalter. Okay, yeah, we did Psalm 39, so I guess there was a little bit of a stage. That is the psalter from Psalm 39. Interesting. Well, I don't know how that one goes. Well, let's go to the next one. Unless the Hay Wars want to come up with us. I don't even know that one. But I know there is a fountain. Let me get the music so I can play that right to not mess everything up. Here we go. So this is the song. There is a fountain filled with water. Mountain filled with blood, drawn from the angels' veins. And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains. sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains. From our dying we rejoice to see that fountain in His name. As wild as he, wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. As my last dream washed all my sins away. E'er since my faith I saw the streams, thy flowing rooms sublime. ♪ Redeeming love has been my King ♪ ♪ And shall be till I die ♪ ♪ And shall be till I die ♪ ♪ And shall be till I die ♪ has been my plea, and shall be till I die. Dear dying man, thy precious blood shall never lose its power. Be safe to stand no more. Be safe to stand no more. Be safe to stand no more. Please be seated. Thank you. I'd like to take your Bibles and turn to the second last chapter in the book of Revelations, chapter 21, where as we find ourselves reading through the New Testament, we find ourselves in the book of Revelations, and we're coming close to the end. Chapter 21. Satan has been defeated in the previous chapters, as John foretells. Now we see in verse 21, is revealed to John a new heaven and a new earth. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city in New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. Also he said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of water of life without payment. And the one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. Then came one of the seven angels, who had the seven bowls of the seven last plagues, and spoke to me, saying, come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb, and he carried me away in the Spirit to a great high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper clear as crystal. It had a great high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed. And on the east three gates, and on the north three gates, and on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles. of the land. And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies forescore, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement. which is also an angel's measurement. The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh crystallite, the eighth burl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysophrase, the 11th, Jackin, and the 12th, Amethyst. And the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Each of the gates made of a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass. And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord, the Almighty, and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it. For the glory of the Lord gives its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day, and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations, but nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Remembering that the Book of Revelations is written for persecuted Christians, it was to bring them comfort and to give them hope and give them strength to persevere in their times of trouble. And if we read this chapter truly, it gives such glorious revelations of what is to come that all we can do is read it and just marvel at what God is going to provide for us. It is amazing what God is going to give us. A new heaven, a new earth. No sin, no tears, no trouble, no difficulties, no worries, no anxieties, No governments to worry about, no health units to worry about, no troubles at work, nothing. We will live in perfect peace. And it will all be because of what Jesus Christ has done for every one of you, if you're saved here this morning. We can only realize the beauty of that heaven, that new heaven, through Jesus Christ. So I just ask this morning, consider, where are you going? This chapter also outlines the end for those who do not believe. They will be thrown into everlasting torment and hell. The Bible asks for people to repent of their sins, to turn to Jesus Christ, to trust in Him and Him alone. That's what we ask you to do this morning. If you're here and you're unsaved, whether you're young, whether you're old, it matters not. Repent and turn to Jesus Christ this day. And look forward to that glorious hope that's revealed to us, especially in this passage of scripture as well. Let's go to prayer now and just ask the Lord for his blessing. But first of all, as the elders, we would just like to say a great thank you to all those who came out yesterday to help with the work that was done in destroying and rebuilding that part of the building. And I was just thinking as I was reading, you know what? We won't have to do this in heaven. It won't. be a work that we will have to do. So but we praise and thank those who actually took part yesterday and took the day off to come and to put in so many hours of labor as well. So let's just go to God in prayer and just ask for his help as well. Father, I just want to thank you for your word. Lord, we've gone through all the previous chapters showing us father that satan will soon be totally put to death we recognize lord that he has been conquered once already but yet lord his reign is still here he still is limited in his powers but father he is still there but there's a coming that day father when you will blow the trumpet, and Father, the righteous will be raised up with you, and the unrighteous, Father, will go to their end of never-ending torment in hell as well. And so, Father, I pray that you would help all of us this morning to just examine our own hearts and to make sure, Father, we know where it is we will end up on the day of judgment as well. All of us, Father, we recognize are wicked, sinful creatures. And within all of us, Lord, lies this lurking desire to do the things that we ought not to do. And so I plead with you, Father, that by your grace and your mercy, even now, you would cleanse every one of our hearts. and that we would be able to come to you now in worship, and that we would come to you, Lord, with clean and pure hearts. And Father, we could just look upwards and see you standing, sitting there at the right hand of the Father on the throne of grace as well. So come, I pray, minister to us through your word. Give us much encouragement this day. Thank you, Father, for all that you have done for us. We pray as well as your word goes out in many other locations for the Falls in France, Lord, as they minister there. Continue to use them in a very powerful way, Lord, to speak to the many millions of people there who yet do not know you. It's a very pagan nation, Lord, but use their simple message, the simple message of the gospel, Lord, to bring sinners to yourself as well. So encourage their hearts this day as they worship you, Give them the ability to know your presence with them at all times as well. We pray for the youth ministry here as well, and we ask that you would just guide all those who need it. Help them, Lord, and give them much desire, Lord, to see these young ones come to faith in Christ as well. There would be time of fellowship and just enjoying one another's company and activities and whatever, but help them as well, Lord, just to open up the word and to share all that is necessary for salvation for these children as well. We ask that you would be with our government, and we thank you, Father, for them. We thank you for the fact, Lord, that you have put them in place. And Lord, we just pray that you would just work in their hearts. And especially, Lord, more than anything, we ask, Father, that you would save them, every one of them, that you would draw them into your kingdom. Lord, we know that just because we would have maybe a good government that does not bring about salvation. But we plead with you for their souls, because without their knowledge of you and their repentance and faith, Father, they are doomed for eternity in hell as well. So Father, I plead with you, come and save all of these men and women that are in governments, both federal, provincial, municipal, cities, wherever it is, Father. Save them, we pray. Work in them and allow your Word to penetrate deep into their hearts as well. Father, we want to thank you for all that you have done for us as a church in providing your word to speak into others' hearts as well, and for the baptisms last week for Tina and Nella. Lord, we thank you for the blessed time we had around them as they went through the waters of baptism. We pray that you would continue to uphold them and keep them and just provide the needed grace and peace, Lord, just to walk on a daily basis, knowing how you will lead and guide them in everything they do as well. So thank you, Father. We just pray as well that you would just bring about many more conversions and that we would be able to baptize even more. And we thank you, Father, for those that have already shown a desire to be baptized. We pray, Lord, that that number would increase as well and that you would just, again, continue to save your people and fill your church, Lord, and allow us, Lord, the ability just to lift your name up and praise you and thank you for your goodness towards all who you save as well. And Lord, we just pray that as we open up your word that you would, again, bless Ryan, strengthen him, Lord, give him the simplicity of word and the message, Lord, so that what he's about to say, Lord, would come across, Lord, in a manner that would be totally understood but it would be directed by you and you alone. And Father, that you would be glorified in everything that he says as well. So help us all, Lord, just to draw close to your throne of grace, Lord, and that truly our hearts would just be lifted up this day in adoration for who you are and what you've done. Bless us now in the name of Jesus Christ, we ask. Amen. But before the preaching of the word, we're gonna sing a couple of songs, if you're able. Stand. The most glorious part of actually Revelation 21, not so much the streets of gold or the pearly gates, it's the Lord Jesus Christ. We will see him face to face. We will see him even as he is. And of course that has relevance to our life as we saw in 1 John 3 a couple months ago. He who has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he himself is pure. So our hope is not so much that we're not going to work. I'm actually convinced we might be doing work, but we can have a discussion later. Because it's Genesis 1 and 2 perfected, and we'll be able to tend and worship, maybe even get our hands dirty and enjoy work, which is such a chore in this fallen world, as fallen people. You're going to have to play my guitar. It's horribly out of tune. Christ alone my hope is found He is my light, my strength, my song His cornerstone, His solid ground Here we go. ♪ Who took our flesh ♪ ♪ Coldest were caught in helpless faith ♪ ♪ His gift of love and righteousness ♪ ♪ Scored by the ones he came to save ♪ ♪ With arms that crossed as Jesus died ♪ ♪ The wrath of God was satisfied ♪ For every sin our Him was made, here in the death of Christ I live. In the ground His body lay, Light of the world by darkness slain, Then bursting forth in glorious gain, Up from the grave He rose again. ♪ He stands in victory ♪ ♪ Sin's curse has lost its grip on me ♪ ♪ For I am his and he is mine ♪ ♪ God with the precious blood of Christ is mine ♪ No guilt in life, no fear in death. This is the power of Christ in me. From life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell. Here in the power of Christ, I'll stand. Our final tune before preaching of the Word, Ten Thousand Reasons. that will be our eternity, gazing upon him in his beauty with fuller and fuller revelation of his majesty. Jonathan Edwards, I think, was right. That will make heaven so glorious that we'll never, as it were, come to an end of understanding his greatness, because it's infinite. Everything about him is infinite. As we come to learn more, we'll enjoy him more, and then we'll enjoy him more, and it will be infinite and increasing bliss. We tune our guitars down, and they don't hold the tune when you quickly tune them down, so you're going to have to bear with a couple of strings that are out of tune. You can tell them on vacation tomorrow, right? Oh Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul, worship his holy name. Sing like never before, oh my soul, I'll worship your holy name. The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning. It's time to sing your song again. Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be singing. Yes, the Lord, O my soul O my soul Worship His holy name Sing like never before O my soul you. ♪ I will keep on singing ♪ ♪ 10,000 reasons for my heart to find ♪ ♪ Bless the Lord, O my soul ♪ ♪ Lord, O my soul ♪ I'll worship this holy name Sing like never before Know my soul I'll worship your holy name In dawn and day when my strength is failing The end draws near and my time has come. Still my soul will sing your praise unending. 10,000 years and then forever. Oh, my soul. Oh, my soul. Worship his holy name. Sing like never before. Oh, my soul. I'll worship your holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name. Please be seated. And if you're able, you can open up your Bible. to 1 Peter chapter 2 as we continue through our exposition. When you found it, please stand as we read God's sacred, inspired, infallible, all-sufficient word. As a family, we're working through 1 Kings and our devotions after our meals. And we read just yesterday about Elijah after the great showdown on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal and all of these Israelites who were halting, limping between two positions. And there's this great triumph, which is followed in the next chapter, 1 Kings 19, where Elijah's a little bit despondent. Some people might even say depressed. And what God wants to do to encourage Elijah is to show him that he's at work. But it's not in the earthquakes. It's not in the storms. It's in his word. In his word that will surely come to pass, whether for judgment or for salvation. And that's what Elijah needed. He needed to be reminded that God's power is demonstrated, not so much in all of the signs and wonders that we're always looking for. Elijah, the still, small voice, That's the demonstration of God's power. The gospel is the power of God for salvation. So I just wanted to encourage you that as we're reading maybe familiar verses, not to sort of listen to them the way we always do. We can get so accustomed to them and just think, oh, this is just words on a page. But we saw in chapter one, the word of the Lord abides, remains, endures forever. This is the good news that is being preached to you, which God uses to regenerate his elect, sanctify them, enable them to go out and to be His spokesmen and women, to go out and to shine as a light to be that faithful priesthood, representing God to the nations and pleading with the nations to come to God. Well, I haven't even read, so let's get at it. Verse 11 to verse 17. Beloved, urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which are waging war against the soul, keeping your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they revile you or speak against you or slander you as evildoers, seeing your good deeds, they may glorify God on the day of visitation. Be subject to every human institution because of the Lord, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For thus is the will of God, that by doing good, you should muzzle the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but as servants or slaves of God. Honour everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the Emperor. Well, this is a very, very important passage in our day and age, so let's pray that God would give us grace as we unpack it. The elders were praying and in the pastor's office, that this would actually unite us. Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 have been some of the most divisive texts in Scripture. Not only are they divisive, they're quite dangerous if read wrongly. So we have to be careful of the two ditches. We'll navigate those and hopefully stay on the Scriptural straight and narrow. But let's pray for God's blessing upon the preaching of His Word. Father, how we're thankful that you don't commission a man to try his hardest to come up with a clever, motivational speech to get your people through the week, but Lord, you give us your word. You give us the living manna of Christ who's revealed in your word, and so as we saw weeks ago, We ask that we would feed upon the pure spiritual milk, and it would increase our craving, and it would give us everything we need for life and for godliness. That as your growing children, we would be nourished to obey you, to understand what is your will to empower these good works, to do righteousness before a watching world that is skeptical and even slanderous. of your bride, Jesus. Father, I pray that we would not just learn something, but we would be empowered and motivated to go out into this world as your holy priesthood, offering up our spiritual sacrifices to you, Father, through Jesus Christ. So, O Lord, we pray, help us to bear fruit, even in the realm of civil authorities. Help us to know what it looks like, to fear God, and simultaneously to honor the emperor. Would you show us what Peter is teaching these sojourners, these exiles, these visitors of how they ought to live during the short time of their exile as they eagerly await the salvation of their souls, as they long for the return of Christ. Father, we believe we're in the same circumstances. as we see an increasingly hostile culture and government that seeks to oppose Christ and His reign. Would you show us how we are to live? Especially, Lord, with all kinds of sanctions and restrictions and shutdowns. How is your bride to conduct herself, Lord Jesus? Would you speak to us this morning? This is not just Jeopardy time to learn some facts We want to live in a manner worthy of your calling Christ. So speak through this servant As he tries in the power of the Spirit to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ from the Word of God Help us all God and save Even this morning we pray in Jesus name Amen Please be seated So let's do a quick review, verses 11 and 12. Help me out here. He addresses his audience not only as the beloved, those whom God has set his affection upon, his electing love upon. All of those things we saw in verses 4 through 10 are summed up in being the beloved of God. And here is now the inspired apostle coming alongside and urging exhorting, encouraging these believers to live in a manner that commends the gospel. But look in verse 11, I urge you as, it's very important, circle those words, hos in the Greek, as in the English, as obedient children, live as sojourners and exiles live, and we need to remember our identity. Yes, we're loved by God, we're elect, but we're also exiles. The Hebrew word is ger, and that would be someone who has a temporary stay. Okay, and so we need to remember that we saw last week that we're sojourners. That we're awaiting a new heaven and a new earth that we read about providentially in Revelation chapter 21. That this current world, this age that we live in, this is not the inheritance we're longing for. We have a heavenly inheritance. That's verses four and following of chapter one. That we have this new and living hope, but it's not this world. So how do we live in between? When our citizenship, says Paul to the Philippians, is in heaven, and we're eagerly awaiting from heaven a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he'll transform all things, not just our lowly bodies, but also, says Peter in his second epistle, a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells. How do we live then, in between? We don't belong to this world, but we're still in it. And Jesus uses that phrase in John 17 as he prays for his people, that they are in the world, but not of it. And so there's the danger that we have, I think, Peter's audience has. Who cares about this world? It doesn't belong to us. We can litter. And I'm not getting all environmental on you, but sometimes Christians have that. It's like, this isn't our inheritance, so who cares? Who cares about kings? Who cares about laws? We serve the king and we obey his law. And what Peter's trying to do is help the Christian to live this balanced life as we're waiting for Christ to return to set up his new heavens and new earth. So remember, if you're in Christ, until he returns, you are a sojourner and an exile. So live accordingly. Now that's a general statement. What do you mean live accordingly? How do I live under a tyrant like Nero? Or Trudeau? Or perhaps an NDP government that comes in in a year and a half? How do we live? Do we isolate ourselves? Do we seek to bring down the system? Do we raise our fists and fight? No, Peter says that's not how we are to conduct ourselves. Remember, the world is not our enemy. It's our mission field. And this helped me. I was thinking about it. Every Saturday, Christina talks with her family scattered all over the earth. She has a sister who lives in Indonesia, and she has a sister who lives in North England, hoping to go to Scotland. And how do they live as missionaries? Sometimes we think missions is just what people do that we give money to who go across the sea. But think about that. If you know missionaries, how do they conduct themselves in Africa? Or my friend Caleb in New Guinea? Does he cling to his rights? Or does he forsake those rights that the elect might be saved? That's 1 Corinthians 9, 24. The very last verse of 1 Corinthians 9, Paul says, I'm an apostle. I can cling to my rights, but that's not my mission. My mission isn't to be comfortable. My mission as a spiritual priest, Romans 15 says, is to offer up people to God. As he preaches the gospel, they become, as it were, the offering to God. And Peter's saying the same thing. Live in such a way so that when Christ returns, when he visits in judgment and salvation, people might glorify him. And so you should say, I want to live that way. As an obedient child, I want to obey my father. As a sojourner and exile, I want to live wisely in this crooked and perverse generation. And part of living in this age until Christ returns is living under ungodly government at times. We can gripe and complain, but I don't see Peter advocating for that. Be subject. Those are hard words. Submit yourself. Cultivate a spirit of submission. Some would translate it. We're going to see this verb repeated over and over, so if you don't like it, tough. Because this is the one verb that Peter is going to sort of focus on in the practical exhortational section of the letter. Be subject, verse 13. Look in verse 18. Slaves, be subject to your masters. Chapter three, verse one. Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands. Chapter five. You who are young, you are to submit or be subject to the elders of the church. So this is, I think, what God is saying. You are to have a submissive spirit. Now, of course, we're going to get into what happens when the government is commanding sin. We're getting there. But don't jump there so quickly. Every commentator I read said that this should be the norm. It should be our natural inclination and impulse. Insofar as the government is not asking or requiring sin or something that completely contravenes God's clear word, we should be willing to be subject to it. Why? Because we're trying to win them. We don't want to be seen as those people who are always trying to fight the system. That doesn't commend the gospel. And yes, there have been many cowards over the last 15 and 16 months who are completely letting the government dictate how they should live. Yes, that's wrong. I've seen some people under the banner of Christ almost trying to fight the system. And I don't think that commends the gospel either. And so we need to navigate the scriptural balance. He's writing to believers. If you're a believer, you can do this. It might be hard. But He has given everything to you that you need for life and godliness. You can actually carry out God's will by the power of the Holy Spirit. That's Romans chapter 8. Look in chapter 4, 1 Peter. I just want to show you this. Because you're going to say, it's so hard. Exactly. Which is why you need to feed on the pure spiritual milk. You need to go back and let God shape your way of thinking. But not only shape your way of thinking, but empower you to live. Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of what? Of thinking. Meditate. How would God have you live? Don't just react with the knee-jerk impulse to resist. For whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. So as, here it is, to live for the rest of the time. That's this exile, right? In the short time we're here, Psalm 39. Maybe you'll be one of those rare people who makes it to 100. That's still short. Right? Christ is coming back. And in comparison to eternity, how long we're here is very short. So as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for what? For human passions. But for what? But for the will of God. This is the will of God. We just read that in the text. That by doing good, can you do good? According to Peter, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you can. For the time has passed for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality. See, that's how the old man would react. We saw it last week actually, look at it. Verse 12, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable. so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds. There should be a contrast. There's passions that wage war against your soul, verse 11, but you can overcome them. Why? Go to chapter one. I'm just helping you to see what Peter's saying. Look in verse 14. As obedient children, do not be conformed to what? Passions. Most people just think immediately, that must be sexual passions, and it includes that. We saw that in chapter four. But it's also this passion to want to fight against authority, whether it's government authority, or a wife who wants to fight against her husband's authority, or it's a church member who wants to fight against the elder's authority. It's just in us to rebel. That's a passion, and it needs to be kept in check. It needs to be mortified if it's a sinful, sensual passion. As an obedient child, don't be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. This is how we used to live before we knew God, 1 Thessalonians 4. But now that we have come to know him, or rather are known by him, says Paul to the Galatians, we can live differently. But as, or like, the one who called you as holy, you also be holy. Just help me out. We think holy is walking around with like a spiritual monocle, you know, and a spiritual tuxedo. No, holy is different. And so when you see people, even conservatives who are screaming and railing against the government, who I think is bringing communism in, we should be different from them. We're not to be cowards like the liberals who let people walk all over us, but we're not to be bucking the system. There should be a difference, a holiness about us, kind of like Christ, whom Charles is going to preach about as the true example of what it looks like to live in a holy manner, even in an unholy world. So let's just get at it. The command, and we're going to just have this as the heading for the next couple of weeks. Be subject, hupa tasso. Hupa in Greek means under. Tasso is a military term used to align things, to organize in rank, in order. So you organize in rank underneath of someone. Here it is, a governor, who is underneath of an emperor, who is ultimately underneath God. We're gonna get there, don't forget the last one. A lot of Christians, they lived the last 15 months as though the governor was at the top. No, God is at the top. You respect the government, you fear God. I think the opposite happened almost. People tried to respect God while they feared the government. But the first thing we're to do as citizens under a government that is maybe not Christian is nevertheless to be submissive, to put ourselves under the rank of someone else. It's interesting, though. You're not gonna see it in the English, but it literally says, be subject to every creation, every man creation, you could translate it, every human creation. It says institution, but that's not the Greek word, xysis. Bless you. It always means creation. What is Peter doing here? He's reminding his audience that even the emperor, who regards himself as supreme, is nevertheless what? Created, and therefore subject to the Lord of Spirits. So you can submit to him because he's not God. You can submit to him as a human because God has put him as a human there. Remember that. Our leadership are created by who? By God. Be subject to every human creation. Now, let me give you a little quick background. Have you ever heard of the emperor cult? You have to study the first century. But back then in Rome, Caesar was not merely just their king. He was to be regarded as God, or as Lord. See, and this is where the Christians ran into a little bit of trouble. See, if the Christians wanted to avoid any kind of trouble, all they had to do was just give a little statement like this. Caesar is Lord! But that's not the Christian creed. That's not what you confess at your baptism, as you give a pledge to Christ. that were for love by God in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Christ. Christ is our God. Christ is our Master. And so we need to remember that the government is merely a creation, including Caesar. Caesar thought he was God. What does Peter say? He's just a human. That he's, humanly speaking, no better than a slave. God has appointed him to be king. But he's not a superhuman. He's not on a higher level. He's still a human creation. To which the Christian would say, then why should I submit to him? For the Lord's sake. See, slow down, just read it. Be subject to every human creation, literally because of the Lord. That Christ is instituted in his common grace, government, for a society that is meant to be orderly. Government is a common grace. It's not always run the way it should, but Romans, actually turn to Romans 13. A lot of people love to quote this. This is a bit of a digression, but that's okay. Let every soul be subject, hupotasso, exact same Greek word, to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God. Who put the governing authorities there? You're like, I sure didn't, I didn't vote for them. Okay, but keep going back, who ultimately put him there? Right, Joe Biden is a wicked man. If I lived in the States, I would never, I'd rather die than vote for him. But who put him there? Oh, the liberals did. Okay, yes. Romans 13 says that God did, perhaps even as an act of judgment upon a godless, Christ-rejecting nation. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God and those who exist. They have been instituted by God. Okay, and so if you're bucking against that authority, ultimately you're bucking against God's. Some of us who have older kids who can become babysitters free of charge, they receive authority from us. And we're expecting our younger children, whom they're watching, to submit to those older ones that we have put in place. Now, if you have an older child who is a little wretch, and starts to cause sin and wreck havoc, of course they don't need to submit to them. But insofar as they're carrying out their ordained purpose, you expect the little ones to submit to them. And that's the general rule of government. Insofar that they have been commissioned to bring about order and to praise good and punish evil, submit to them. Now, when they get out of line and they reject their God-ordained institution, okay, then you can start to question. But normally speaking, maybe it's wearing a seatbelt or doing the speed limit or paying your tax. There's some Christians like, why do I pay? I'm not paying tax. I have a citizenship in heaven. Why am I wasting my money on earth? Pay your taxes. Why? Because I don't think it's causing you to sin. Right? Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed. And those who resist will incur judgment. Why? Because God ordained that government punish evil. So if Christians do evil, they will incur judgment. Common sense. Right? If you give the spank spoon to the kid and say, yeah, if they disobey, you can spank them. Not the best analogy, of course, but. Why? For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. So if you do bad, fear them. Why? Because normally, God institutes government to take care of the evildoer. And I know you're all waiting for me to spin and say, but what happens when they punish good and they encourage and reward evil? We'll get there. But just let the text deal with us first. Everyone always wants to jump right away to the exceptions, but this is to be the general principle. Be subject. to every human creation because of the Lord. Government is God's doing. Even in a fallen world, he still allows for some semblance of sanity and orderliness through government. And we could say the same here. Canada, it's not perfect, right? It isn't. I don't love it. But first Peter says, be subject because of the Lord. Whether it be to the king, or the ESV rightly translates the emperor as supreme. It's that Greek word where you get hegemony from. Or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. And again, this is the way governments should function, okay? So insofar that the emperor or his governors are carrying out their commission, submit to them. Let me take another digression here. This has helped me think through it for the last 15 months, and it might help you. That God is at the top, right? Here's the pecking order, or chain of command, if you will. God's always at the top, right? Christ is ruling. And then there's these spheres that we're part of, okay? And we're awaiting a new heaven and a new earth. But until then, there's different spheres of authority, and they've all come from God. Now they can be abused by sinful humans, but insofar as they work in common grace, the way God designed them, there should be submission. So let's deal with the first one, government. We'll call that the sphere of civil authority, okay? Yes, Christ is overall, and we're in Christ, but he still instituted government, and we need to submit to them insofar as they're carrying out their commission. The next one, family. Okay? God has also made leaders within the family. Who is it? I know this is gonna hurt. It's the husband. It's the father. And this is the way God has designed it. And insofar as that husband is carrying out his commission, the wife and children ought to submit. And there are exceptions, I get it, but everyone wants to jump to them. Now, the government will have to give an account as stewards over that sphere. Husbands, you think it's awesome? You have to give a much stricter account before God. For your wife and for your children. Yeah, get it all. Ha! Careful. You're the leader and God has a much stricter accounting. He carries all those decimal places. Okay, so you've got civil authority. You've got what we'll call the family sphere. And then there's the ecclesial. See, the Christian lives in all of these simultaneously. Who are the heads, or who are the leaders, or who has God entrusted to be stewards over the church? The elders. See, and I want you to think about this, because what I found in the last 15 or 16 months is that everybody was just sort of focusing on Romans 13. The government says this. I must do it. What happens if what the government says is different than what your dad says or is what's different to what your pastor says? See, it's not as easy as we'd like. The pastor's teaching that God commands us to gather. Now you have to think. You can't just throw around Romans 13 or 1 Peter 2. We need to fear God. And you can't, for the Lord's sake, disobey Him. I'm gonna stay home and not gather. I'm going to forsake taking the Lord's table, for the Lord's sake. You can't do that. Are you following with me? You submit to them for the Lord's sake, but submitting doesn't mean sinning, right? If the dad tells the child to sin, does the child say, well, I guess I gotta submit, Ephesians 5, I guess I gotta do it. That's what the church did. What if the pastor asks you to sin? What if the pastor starts telling, this is what your meal plan is going to be? He's like, hey, stay in your lane, pastor. Stick to the Bible. If the pastor in his sphere is asking you to sin or go against conscience, do you obey him blindly? Absolutely not. Trust me, I'm a pastor. People love, they're looking for any excuse to not listen to the pastor. And so what you need to do is actually put things together and say, what is God's will for me? That will flavor and tincture what it means to be subject to every human institution for the Lord's sake. So does God have commands for his church? Yes. What happens when the government, who is ordained to praise good, instead punishes good? Is it good to gather? It's dangerous. Whenever I don't plug my computer in, it shuts down, so I have no notes. Is it good to gather? You can jump out. I'm not going to bite your head off. Why is it good? because God commands it. See, this is what I want to challenge people with. Let God define agathos and kalos. Those are the Greek words for good. See, the government, they have a counterfeit good. They're always wanting to say, this is for your good. And we should say, okay, I will balance that. What does God say is good? What does God say is right? I'm just trying to help you think. I'm not saying you need to think the way I do, but this is what the elders wrestled with. Can you feel the tension that we wrestled with? See, this is what they were commanding us, and they're saying this is for the good of society. But when we opened our Bibles, we saw a higher authority with a better definition of good, which is why we did what we did. And I hope we could still say we were submissive, or had a spirit of subjection, or we were willing, as it were, to still honor them, even if we disobeyed them. Because you know what, your pastors are gonna have to stand before God. Remember that third one, the sphere of the church? Your elders are gonna have to give an account. Are we going to fear God or fear man? That's our wrestling. Before you slander someone like Pastor Tim or Pastor James, think about maybe that they understand some of these texts. It was grievous. Stick to the text, stick to the text, stick to the text. Be subject. for the Lord's sake, because of the Lord, to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. When they're doing that, submission, it's a lot easier. Verse 15, for this is the will of God. Should I move? Should I take that job? Should I ask her to marry me? How many kids should we have? Those are all, of course, important questions when trying to discern the will of God for your life. But here we're looking at a citizen theology, or we might say a citizen missiology. When it comes to seeking to win the world for Christ, to shine as lights so that they might glorify God on the day of visitation, this is God's will. And this is what it looks like to be winsome, to be, as it were, seeking to win the world for Christ, that by doing good. That Greek word is used twice here, and we saw it in the previous. God wants you to do good, not for your salvation, but from your salvation. Ephesians 2.10, we saw it. You're saved by grace through faith. It's the gift of God, not a result of work, so that no one may boast. for you are God's new creation. Predestined for what? Good works, that you should walk in them. Titus chapter two, we're to be a people who are peculiar, who are zealous for what? Good works. Go and read Titus chapter three. These good works, these fruits, are beneficial to society, even unbelievers, even in God's calming grace. So this is God's will. Do good. Don't just avoid doing evil, but actually do good. That others might see it and glorify your Father who is in heaven. That others might see it and glorify Him when Christ returns because they have repented of their sins. This is the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence. When I was reading it, I said muzzle. That's probably a better and more literal translation. That's what you would do with that Greek word to a dog. Put a muzzle on it. Some of you look at the clock and you wanna know what that Greek word is and wish you could do the same to your pastor. But what they have here is a society that is slandering them. Okay, when they slander you, you are to not slander them back or revile them or have deceit come out of your mouth. No, you are to return their slander with good. Some of you wish you could punch someone in the mouth to shut them up. You know how you shut someone up? Right? Oh, that's so ignorant what they're saying. What a foolish thing. You shut them up by doing good. And it's in the present tense. So you keep doing good. It's not just, hey, I did my one good work. Hopefully that will silence them. No, no, no. Keep doing good so that you might muzzle them. All that ignorance that is spewing out of their foolish lips is countered by good works. How many good works? Until Christ returns, just keep doing good. But they keep slandering me. That's what they did to Jesus. It's okay. This is God's will then. Keep doing good. And you say, it's hard to. Which is why we said, God has enabled you to. You can do the will of God. What is the will of God? To do good. Think about that. If your neighbor's being nasty to you, you should be praying. What does it look like to do good to them? Can I shovel their driveway? Can I be friendly to them? Winsome? Or do I return evil for evil, tooth for tooth, eye for eye, insult for insult? So I want you to pray about that. You're seeking to win your neighbors. Remember, you're a missionary. Imagine if you were in Tokyo, or in North Korea, or in India. How would you live towards people who were slandering you? Right, when we went on the missions trip, you're super winsome, even if they're being nasty to you. But for some reason, when we return back to Canada, it's like, okay, that was just the mission thing over there, now I can be a jerk to them, because I'm back home. No, this is God's will, because we're all missionaries. Verse 16. Live as people who are free. Okay, this is one of those gospel paradoxes. You're elect and you're exiled, same time. God loves you, you're elected, and yet at the same time rejected. Elected and loved by God, rejected and hated by the world, together. Here's another paradox. You're free in Christ, you're a slave for Christ. You can read that in 1 Corinthians 7. Or Paul saying that even the physical slaves were free in the Lord, and even those who were free as their masters were nevertheless slaves to Christ. Or saying that they both happen simultaneously. And therefore, as someone who is free, you can use that freedom to actually defer for a greater good. That's what Paul does in 1 Corinthians 9. I have these rights as an apostle. What does he do with those rights? He gladly gives them up. Why? Because he wants to see people won to the Lord. He had rights as a Jew, but he was also a Roman citizen. He was an apostle. He could have had a wife. Sometimes he's like, check out Peter. What's the matter? How come I don't? Okay, I'll stop complaining. I'm free and I use my freedom not to exploit it for evil, but to actually exploit it for good. Christ didn't hold on to his rights, he gladly gave them up Philippians 2. Why? That he might carry out God's will, that he might glorify God through his submission, through his obedience. This is hard to serve those who are slandering you, isn't it? Which is why Peter says, grace to you and peace be multiplied. Are you suckling at the pure milk of the Word? Feeding on Christ, growing up into Him, walking as He walked. See, Christ did all these things, and by the power of the Spirit, through His Word, we can increasingly start living this way. How are you to live? Free. Taxes aren't free. That's not the freedom Paul's talking about. You're free, actually, to hupotasso, to put yourself under, because God is at the top, and so you can gladly submit. A wife can do that. Am I saying a wife is less than? No, Peter says no, you're not less than the emperor, and wife, you're not less than your husband. This is just God's orderly way. Submit to him, and pray for your husband. So live as people who are free. What does freedom look like? I would encourage you to read Romans chapter six. Before you were enslaved, and how did you live as a slave to sin? More sin! But when you're born again, you're now free to live for righteousness, leading to sanctification and its end eternal life. I think that's Romans 6.22. So this is your freedom. You're free to be lazy. You're free to trash the government. You're free to complain or you're free to revolt. But who is the freest man who ever lived? Jesus. And we're gonna see who for our sake. He became sin and he gave up even as it were his prerogatives and quote unquote freedoms to bring us to God. And that's what we should do if we're being made into his image. Live as free, doing whatever it takes to bring others to God. Unfortunately, because they were giving way to some of those sinful passions that characterize their own life, they were using this quote-unquote freedom as a cover-up for evil. Using it as an excuse, you could translate. Cover-up is the literal, but they're using it as an excuse for evil. Saying things like, we serve no one but God. I never forget when me and Marvin did a pastoral visit, maybe like eight or nine years ago, and there was a brother, he was saved, but we're like, you need to submit to us. And that's always hard, right? A husband knows this, right? Because the world we live in is anti-authoritarian. So humbly, we're just saying, you need to submit. And he quoted Hebrews to us. I'm only gonna submit to the Lord of Spirits. To which he said, yeah, but in that same chapter, the Lord of Spirit says to obey your leaders. And so sometimes Christians were doing this back then. No king but Jesus. And so they're gonna stick it to Nero. And Peter says, don't do that. Allow some of these things that are uncomfortable, because you want to win them. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Or, you could translate that, but using your freedom as a slave of God. It's very compact in the Greek and there's lots of words you have to add. But exploit your freedom. the way a slave would. Okay, so remember I said in verse 11, to live as a sojourner and in exile. Okay, now go down to verse 16. Now you're to live as, that's that same word, circle it and then draw a little, right, go through and circle all the as. As an obedient child, as a sojourner in exile. Now here, as a slave, better translation than servant. You're slave of God. That has bad connotations in the world we live. I get it. Go and read Exodus 21. Bondservant. Do you remember the slave of the Hebrew in Exodus 21? At the end of his term, the seven years, he was free to go. But if he had a good master, there was an option he could carry out. Anyone know where I'm going? It was like me trying, you know, he could say, I am better as your slave than I would be free apart from you. And so I am going to willingly ask you to drive an awl through my ear to the door. Now that's commitment. Why would he do that? I stepped on a nail yesterday, that hurts. I'm gonna milk it for like months. I got my, well, too late now, I got my ear pierced in high school. Yeah, I know. Didn't feel good. And I still carry the shame of it to this day. But this slave so loved his master and saw all the benefits of being a bondservant, of being his slave, that he would say, I gladly give up my freedoms because to be your slave is actually more freeing than being out in the world quote-unquote free. That's what Peter's saying. He's borrowing that Old Testament analogy. Peter's full of Old Testament allusions and I think he's alluding to that. You're a slave. You get to do what God says. He's given you everything to do what he has you to, and you get the great joy of using now your freedom to live as his slave. Let that sort of be the question you ask before decision. Would a slave of Christ do this? As a representative of Christ, right, you could give the slave your credit card, as it were. You could make purchases. Slaves had a lot of duties back then. Is doing this consistent with being a slave of God? Verse 17. Here's the verse you should memorize. It summarizes what I've been trying to say. Here is sort of a generalization of how you are to live as a sojourner, exile, and slave of God. Four imperatives. Everyone, honor. That's the order in the Greek, including the emperor or his governor. See, they're all the same. You can honor a Mormon even though you disagree with them, or a Muslim, or somebody who's pushing transgenderism on you even though you disagree. Now, see, this is going to get me into trouble, but that's okay. You can honor them because they're made in the image of God, but that doesn't mean you agree to them. and do everything they say when it obviates what God has commanded, but you can still respect them. You don't have to mock them. How ignorant, how foolish. That was us before we knew Christ. Brokenness manifests itself in so many ways. That's just one of many. And it's becoming more predominant, of course, and more militant. Yes, you can still honor them. And I need to check myself. Am I laughing at some of this stuff? I am, and I need to repent of that on YouTube. I saw the two transgender guys trying to breastfeed their baby. It's insane, it's Romans 1. I shouldn't laugh at them, I should weep. So here's how you should live as a pilgrim. Michael Horton has a book called Pilgrim Theology. Verse 17 is your pilgrim theology. Everyone honor, love, or literally the brotherhood be loving, present tense. So everyone you honor, but there's a special love, and we saw that before. You love your brothers. Thirdly, fear God. That's the most important one. You got A, B, B, A. It's a chiasm. Hebrews love to use it. Don't think number one. Honoring everyone's important, but it flows out of this other one. The God fearing. Fear hell. If you fear God, you will be able to honor those made in his image, as broken and sinful and wicked as they are, you can still honor them. Even if you contradict them and rebuke them. So, September comes. September comes. and they say you need to shut your church down again. What do you do in light of 1 Peter 2 and Romans 13 now? You remember the spheres of authority that pastor tried and probably failed miserably to explain, but you remember that above them all, God, I fear God. Can I submit to what they're asking under fearing God? If not, then you need to think through that. Sometimes I wonder if pastors feared God. If churches feared God. It doesn't say fear the premier. You're not gonna stand before him ultimately. Maybe before a judge. But one day, we're gonna stand before him. Respect everyone. Can I fear God and still respect my premier at the same time? Absolutely. And I hope you can too. Can I fear God and love my brothers even if they disagree with me on things like masking or vaccines? This is the pilgrim theology. Everyone, honor. The brotherhood, be loving. The God, fearing. Honor the emperor. Okay, I'll leave that to you to sort of put that together. Let me just close then this way. In the first century, The unbelievers had all kinds of accusations against Christians. They called them atheists. I don't know if you're familiar with this, but the reason that Christians were called atheists is because they refused to worship all of the gods. They're just like, well, just add one more up, just like when you go to India. And they would say, no, we're exclusive. There's only one God, one Lord, 1 Corinthians 8. And so they called them atheists. And so they were slandered as atheists. They were slandered as cannibals. The Lord's Table, going back to John 6, eat my body. And so one believer would be at a service and they'd hear the pastor saying, yeah, we're eating of Christ's body. And so they were slandered as cannibals. They were slandered as licentious. When they baptize people, they say, yeah, they go and they baptize naked people. And they have all kinds of orgies and stuff like that. Now, that wasn't true. One of the main slanders, though, is that they were insurrectionists. that they were these people who were on this mutinous path to overthrow Rome. Okay, and so by doing good, you could show that the true God is the one we worship. We can also show that we don't eat humans, we feed on Christ, the pure spiritual milk, and that we're not licentious, but actually we're orderly, and we're not seeking actually to overthrow the government, but to honor it with our prayers. Good deeds. So think through this. How do we honour the government with our good deeds? I'll leave that for you. But you should be saying, can I honour the government in this way? But what happens when the government steps outside of its lane? Should my wife submit to me if I'm causing her to go against what God says? You can answer, right? No. If I'm causing my wife to sin, she should have a submissiveness about her, but still be able to say, I fear God, not you. I will respect you, even if I disobey you. Same thing with a pastor. Same thing with government. Okay? So we can hold these things in tension. God is the king. We're citizens of heaven, but until Christ returns, our feet are still trotting upon this earth, and we need to find that balance. Not revolting, not rolling over, but fearing God, feeding on his word, and living as pilgrims ought. Is that helpful? I hope so. Just say yes, and I'll pray. Good. I don't know why I'm saying good. It might be that you just want me to stop, and maybe that's good too. If you have further questions, talk with the pastors. We're wrestling with it. We're not just trying to take a side and to be militant and to be part of this club. We're just men wrestling with open Bibles on our knees because we want to fear God, and we want to honor everyone, and we want to love you guys. Really, we want to love the brotherhood. Our decisions are not made out of ease, but hopefully out of love for you, fear of God, and respect for our neighbors. Let's pray. Father, we're thankful that your word that you have given us, whether in 1 Peter or in Romans or in Leviticus, wherever we find ourselves, it is life-giving. and it directs your pilgrims on their way. I think of even Psalm 119, I'm a sojourner on earth, hide not your commandments from me. And so Father, we would say, hide not your commandments from us. Help us to run to them. We will run in the way of God when you enlarge our hearts. And so Father, would you help us with an open Bible as we keep in step with the Spirit's leading? to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, as we seek to balance all of these plates. It's hard, and sometimes we make mistakes, or we overcorrect, or we skin our knees. God, we just want to honor You, and we want to be winsome in this world. And Father, it seems as if persecution is perhaps on the horizon for Christians. who stand up and say, homosexuality is a sin. It's a forgivable sin, but it's still a sin that needs to be repented of. And that transgender surgeries are harmful and do so much evil. Even part of me is just wondering what will happen if someone hears this in a year. And we're gonna be slandered. And people are gonna say that we're working against the good of the government. And that we're bringing disorder and chaos and revolt and insurrection. So Father, would you, by the Spirit, give us grace to be devoted to good works? And as people slander us and accuse us and say all kinds of untrue things against us for the sake of Christ, would you help us to endure by doing good deeds? Trusting that you have an elect people, maybe even within government and parliament, ultimately knowing that you're watching. Help us, Lord, to love the brotherhood, to have this Romans 14 mindset that there's still disagreements and we're still wrestling together. We're still at various stages of our understanding of how we are to live in 2021. So would you help us? Father, we pray that in all that we do, you, even above man, would be honored. and submitted to. Lord, we love you. We pray that as we seek to obey you, your blessing would be upon us and that you would be pleased, Lord, to save your elect as we go out as lights in this dark world. Please, Father, be gracious to us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Wasn't that long. By the look of some of your faces, I thought I was preaching for like 80 minutes. Well, stand up. We're going to sing Psalm 100 together, acapella. I'm selfish. I love you guys. And I thought, I always think like this. So pray for your past. I'm like, what happens if I die before I come back? The last song I want to sing with you is the psalm of Thanksgiving, Psalm 100. And of course, you know it's to the melody of praise God from whom all blessings flow. Let me just give us the notes. When you play guitar and it's out of tune, it's terrible. So let me just find a note that will work here. All people that on earth do dwell, sing to the Lord with cheerful voice. ♪ Concerned with fear His grace foretell ♪ ♪ Come ye before Him and rejoice ♪ ♪ The Lord ye know is God indeed ♪ Without our aid he did us make. We are his folk, he doth us feed. And for his sheep he doth us take. O enter then his gates with praise, Approach with joy his courts undue, Praise God and bless his name always. ♪ For it is simply so to do ♪ ♪ For while the Lord our God is good ♪ ♪ His mercy is forever sure ♪ is truth that all times firmly stood, and shall from age to age endure. Amen. Grace be with you. May you truly serve him in a manner that is worthy of his exalted name. You are dismissed. God bless.