Well we come to John chapter
15. I'm continuing in John just for
a little bit longer, might not go all the way to the end, we
might go back to Psalms as I did say some months ago. But for now we'll stick with
John and we'll be in John chapter 15 and the first seven verses
this morning. The union of the vine and the
branches. You see the abundant life of
which Jesus spoke arises, so that's it, the Christian life
is abundant life. He said, I am come that they
might have life and have it more abundantly. That abundant life
arises from eternal union between God and his people. It's an eternal
union. God is not waiting to see who
will choose him. He chose before the beginning
of time. He chose a multitude in Christ
that no man can number of every tribe and tongue and kindred.
And that multitude was united with Christ. And that life that
he gives is to that multitude, that elect multitude. And by
that union, by that union and the work of God in Christ, the
sin-redeeming work of Christ, hell-deserving sinners, which
is what we are all, each and every one, hell-deserving sinners
are justified. They're made just, they're made
just in Christ. They're sanctified, they're made
holy. Out of this world, out of the
kingdom of Satan, made holy and fitted for God's kingdom. And
that union is pictured throughout history, throughout scripture.
The picture of Israel with God, a people chosen out. It's a picture
of the multitude that God chose in Christ. A little nation, picture. Little flock, a picture of the
union that there is between Christ and his people. It was pictured
in the temple. You know, each and every stone
was all fitted into the right place, but they all depended
on their union with the chief cornerstone. from which the whole
structure got its integrity and maintained its integrity. And
then it's pictured in the Church of Christ, which is called the
Body of Christ. and he is the head of the body. That union between Christ, how
more united can you be than the head and the body? You know,
medieval methods of execution were very effective. It involved
severing the head from the body. The union is between the head,
who is Christ, and the body, which is his church, his people.
It's pictured in marriage between a husband and a wife. I know
in the days in which we live, the most awful, dreadful, wicked,
evil perversions are done to that most blessed state of matrimony
that God gave as a picture of Christ and His Church. But the
husband and the wife, it's a picture of that union. They're no longer
two, they're one flesh. They're counted as one. Christ
and His Church, they're counted as one. When the Father looks
on the Church, He looks on the Son, because they're united,
they're together. The goal, the goal of all of
this, the goal of this Christian life, the goal of what we believe
as the gospel of grace, the goal of it is sinless perfection in
eternity. The eternity of bliss, which
is God's heaven. The intimate, unending communion
between God and his people. I will be their God and they
shall be my people. But it starts with the life of
God in the soul, apprehended by faith in time. Now, in this
space-time creation, it starts, that life which culminates in
eternal glory starts with the life of God in the soul of the
sinner, saved by grace, Apprehended by faith, where do you get it
from? Were you better than anybody else? No, it's the gift of God.
Not of yourselves, lest any man should boast. Faith, not of yourselves,
the gift of God. He gave it, the Holy Spirit gave
it, when he quickened and made his people alive, those who were
dead in trespasses and sins, by an act of pure sovereign grace. You has he quickened. You people,
you believers, He's made alive. The Holy Spirit has come and
given you spiritual life where there was no spiritual life.
You who were dead in trespasses and sins, He has made alive. How has He made you alive? He's
put His Spirit within you. He's put new life within you.
He's given you the new birth from on high. There's a new man,
there's a new being in you. There's a dual nature, the old
nature of the flesh, which continues to the end till we leave these
bodies. But there's a new man there, which, as Stephen said
in his prayer, cannot sin. As John tells us, that man cannot
sin. But here we are now, left in
this world, Jesus, a couple of chapters on, chapter 17, he says,
I pray not that you take them out of the world, but that you
keep them from the evil. They're left, we believing people,
are left in this world, in this alien territory of sin. of corruption,
of lies. You know, we've seen it so vividly
in the last couple of years. Those who are supposed to be
paragons of virtue and truth, those who are supposed to be
principled, have systematically lied to us and deceived us and
spread evil. And we're surrounded by the thorns
of life. You know, when man fell in the
garden, God said, this creation will bring forth to you thorns
and briars and thistles and things that will go against you to hinder
and frustrate. And We wonder how we can stay
the course here, as believers, with a sure hope of heaven, yet
in a world which is so against us, a world which is so frustrating
because of sin. We wonder how we can stay the
course. We wonder how we can live the life, live the life
that God intends for us, how we can bear the fruit of accomplished
salvation, how we can attain the goal of God's kingdom. Well
here, in these verses, Jesus teaches the apostles, it's the
apostles he's speaking to, the eleven, Judas is gone, You know,
you're all clean, but not all of you. Judas, he's gone now.
Here he is with the 11 apostles. Jesus teaches the apostles the
necessity of vital fellowship with him. And when I say vital,
I mean vital, living, living fellowship, active living fellowship
with him. And those words apply to us just
as much today. Think about the situation. Jesus
has told them that he must leave them physically. They've had
three and a half years of intimate fellowship with him, hearing
the most blessed words ever heard by man, seeing the most gracious
demeanor ever witnessed by man, seeing powerful miracles of God
performed before their very eyes. They couldn't deny it, so powerful.
But he must leave them now, physically. And three and a half years, you
know, it's a short time in some ways, but it's a long time in
other ways. You know, they've spent three
and a half years with him. And he's taught them about the
kingdom of God. And he's taught them, although
their understanding was lacking until after he had returned to
glory and the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost, and they
understood and he brought to their minds the real meaning
of all these things, much of which they didn't understand.
He's taught them about redemption, paying the purchase price from
the curse of the law. You know, the curse that says,
the soul that sins, it shall die. And how is he going to pay
the price that the law demands? The law demands that the soul
that sins, it shall die. He is going to stand in their
place, and he is going to die. And the life is in the blood,
so it's his precious blood. The blood of a lamb, without
blemish and without spot, perfect Lamb of God is going to be shed
to pay the price of the sins of His people to the justice
of God. And it must be accomplished.
His hour has now come. They've come to this point. Without
it, without Him doing this, without Him going to that cross and dying
and rising again, without it, whole people of God throughout
all ages remain under the law's curse. Read Revelation, read
chapter 12, see how pivotal is that child coming from the woman
and redeeming his people by his blood and being lifted up to
heaven and how it defeated Satan, the accuser of the brethren.
See there how it's so clearly portrayed before us. Without
Christ doing that, the whole people of God, the great multitude,
remain under the curse of the law without hope. But how are
they now? going to continue without Him.
It's only accomplished if He goes away. How will they continue
without Him? In the last chapter, in chapter
14, He promised a Comforter, and He'll say more about that
in chapter 16. He promised a Comforter, the Holy Spirit. the One whom
He will send, who won't just be with them where He physically
is, you know, the body of Jesus, the living body of Him, there
with them that they could touch and feel and eat with and commune
with, but the Comforter, the Holy Spirit of God, everywhere,
without limitation. of time or space or position
in this the comforter they will he will send him to them but
how will they know him how will they know he has come so as he
goes out this in end of chapter 14 arise let us go hence as they
go out he speaks of the vital relationship between them and
himself and who is he He is their God. He is our God. This man is our God. This man,
made for a little while lower than the angels, is very God
of very God. He is the one true God, manifest
in the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God. displaying all
of the fullness of the glory of God, for in him bodily, bodily,
in his body dwelt the fullness of the Godhead. There was nothing
lacking, there was the fullness of the Godhead, but for a little
while lower than the angels, for the purpose of the suffering
of death, that he might redeem his people from the curse of
the law. These disciples of his, these apostles, and all subsequent
disciples of his, must be as united with God as a fruit-bearing
vine branch is united with the vine rootstock. You know, it's
a horticultural picture, isn't it? We have plants in our garden
called clematis or clematis, depends how you want to pronounce
it. But sometimes you accidentally sever a stem. You don't need
to look far or wait a long time. Literally, within minutes, within
half an hour, the stem that you have accidentally severed is
limp and dying and dead. because it's lost its contact
with the rootstock. The sap from the root, the life-giving
root sap, is not flowing up that branch anymore because the branch
has been severed from the root. How quickly it withers when it
doesn't receive that sap. If the branch of the vine is
to bear the fruit of the vine, the grapes, it must be united
with the rootstock. It cannot be anything other. Without it, it's dead, it's worthless. The fruit is the fruit of the
vine, of the rootstock. The fruit isn't the fruit of
the branch, the branch just bears the fruit. The fruit is the fruit
of the vine. Yes, He, Christ, must leave them
to accomplish redemption and qualify them and all His people
for glory, but they must remain vitally joined to God just as
a vine branch must remain joined to its rootstock if it is to
remain fruitful. What is the meaning of these
verses? Just read them with me now, these first seven verses.
I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman. Every branch
in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away, and every branch
that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more
fruit. Now ye are clean through the
word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except
ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye
can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he
is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them
and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide
in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will,
and it shall be done unto you. Do you know there's much misunderstanding
of those words there, much misunderstanding. Many try to prove the possibility
of a true believer losing his or her salvation. They try to
prove the dependence of salvation on the works of the professed
believer. Verse 6, fruitless branches are
cast out and burned. So therefore they say, well there
it is. If you're an unfruitful branch because you haven't been
bearing the right quality of fruit, you're going to lose your
salvation, you're going to be cast out and burned. But one
born of God's Spirit loved with everlasting love, redeemed by
the blood of the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of
the world, Revelation 13 verse 8, the one given faith to see
and to believe God's truth is kept by God for eternity. So don't interpret verses like
these, which people love to do, Religious legalists love to do
it. Don't interpret them without seeing what the rest of scripture
comments on these. For example, for example, John
chapter 10 verse 28, just a couple of pages back, Jesus said, I
give unto them, unto who? Unto his people. I give unto
them eternal life. The clue is in the name. I give
unto them temporary eternal life. You can't have such a thing,
can you, as temporary eternal life. He gives them eternal life. that will never end, and they
shall never perish. But what if they stop being fruitful
as branches on the vine? They shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Just turn to Romans chapter 8,
just for a moment. Romans chapter 8 and verse 35.
So this is just after, who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect, God that justifies, who's going to condemn, Christ
has died, Christ has paid the penalty. Then verse 35, who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall anything separate
us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, troubles come
along all the time, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or sword? Shall the things that happen
in this veil of tears, this sinful world, this kingdom of Satan,
shall those things sever us from our eternal relationship with
Christ? The answer is obvious. No, of
course not. as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all
the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yes,
all sorts of things that are trials happen to us, but nay,
in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that
loved us. For I am persuaded, now listen
to Paul's persuasion, I am persuaded, I am utterly convinced is what
he means, I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things
to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. I think that saying that if you're
in Christ from before the beginning of time, you're in Christ all
the way through to eternity. You will not be lost. That's
just to name two scriptures. I could have named many, many
more. Not one of the multitude Christ saved can ever be lost. So what is it to be a branch
that is taken away, or purged, or cast forth and burned? We need to examine the text carefully
to be clear what Jesus is teaching. in this vital moment in the history
of redemption. He's about to go to the cross
to accomplish redemption. What is he teaching here? We
need to be clear. Now, I'm a great fan of the King
James Version of the Bible, as you know. But there's aspects
of this translation here, and this isn't because I'm any Greek
scholar of course, but I read people who are, who were, and
I believe what they've said. We need to be clear about what
the translation really should be, and what it is really teaching.
He paints a picture of his people bearing the fruit of God in this
fallen world. What is it to bear the fruit
of God? It's to live a life which is in tune with the principles
of the Kingdom of Heaven. It's an attitude of life, it's
a principle of life that is the principle of God's life, the
life of God in the soul of man. That's what it is, to be fruitful
in gospel grace, in knowing God. Strong to do exploits. The people
that do know their God shall be strong to do exploits. It's
knowing God, being in Him, abiding in Him. He paints a picture of
his people bearing the fruit of God in this fallen world,
on their way to eternal glory. I'll say it again. These people
bearing the fruit of God, the life of God, in this fallen world,
on their way to eternal glory. Now, pictures really help. with weak human understanding,
don't they? Often. When I used to teach physics
many, many years ago, teaching electricity was often difficult
to do because to many, many young minds, and to many older minds
as well, it's complicated. What do you mean by volts and
amps and ohms and resistance and all of this sort of thing?
And so what I used to do is do a picture. I used to paint a
picture that was, well, you understand about water flowing in pipes,
don't you? You understand about depth of water and speed of water
flowing in pipes. And on that basis, ah, see what
you mean. That's what it's like with electricity.
Yes, in a way, it's like that. It's a picture. He paints a picture
of a vine and a branch bearing grapes. A vine and a branch bearing
grapes. Here's the picture of the grapevine.
The grapevine. The grapevine. I know they grow
more grapes here in this country and actually make some quite
nice wines now with them. But the grape, the vine, is such
a fruitful plant. It's a plant that produces such
joyous fruit. You know, if you just pick it
straight off the vine when it's ripe, that luscious sweetness
of all that sugar and flavor. And growing very often in very
poor soil as well. If you've been to Mediterranean
countries, to places where vines are common, often you'll see
the best vines producing the best wine growing in dreadfully
poor soil. You couldn't grow potatoes in
that same soil, it's just too poor. But it's productive entirely
because of the union of the branches with the root. That's where it
comes from, these heavy, heavy clusters of grapes. It's the
branch's union with the rootstock that causes that to be fruitful.
Christ himself is that life-giving root. He said, I am the true
vine. I am the true vine. He is the
reality. All the others were pictures.
There are pictures. Israel was a vine in the Old
Testament. It said Israel is the vineyard
of God and the people are the vines of God. But they were a
very poor picture of the truth of God. A very poor picture.
He is the true vine. He is the reality. Christ is
that life-giving root. The reality of which Israel as
God's vine had been but a picture in the Old Testament. God the
Father, my Father, is the husbandman, the cultivator, the gardener.
the one who cares for it. He's constantly caring for the
vine and its branches. He watches over it. He prunes
it. He ties in wayward shoots when
they're falling down. Verse two, if a branch bears
not fruit, he taketh away, it says there. And every branch
that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, it says there, that it may
bring forth more fruit. If a branch becomes unfruitful,
he, do you know, That isn't a very good translation, taketh away. A better translation is, lifts
it up from trailing on the ground. If a branch becomes unfruitful,
he, the father, the cultivator, lifts it up from trailing on
the ground. And he purges it. Purging gives
the implication of severity, of punishment. No, the better
word there is cleanses it. It washes the dust off it. It's
like getting the hosepipe and washing the dust in the soil,
that the leaves can breathe more easily and do their job more
easily. He cleanses it. The cleansing is this washing
of dirt and defilement from the leaves. It's a regular thing. It's a thing that needs doing
often in dusty climates. It reminds us of John chapter
13 and verse 10. You know, when Jesus was washing
the feet of the disciples, Peter in verse 9 says, First of all,
Peter says in verse 8, you're not going to wash my feet. And
Jesus said, well, if I don't wash you, you have no part with
me. And Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, not my feet only,
but also my hands and my head. And Jesus said to him, you're
already washed. You're already washed every whit,
you're clean every whit, but you need your feet daily to be
washed. You need your feet, the defilement
of this world needs to be washed off. This is what this is talking
about, purging it. It's the washing off of the daily
defilement. It reminds us of that washing
of the feet in chapter 13. Because verse 3, Now you are
clean, better would be already you are clean. Why are they already
clean? Why are the sheep of his pasture,
why are the fruit-bearing branches already clean? Because of the
redemption accomplished in the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation
of the world, about to go to the cross in time to accomplish
it. Already you are clean. Every
wit it said in chapter 13 verse 10, by the washing of water by
the word. It's the Word of God that comes
daily and washes the defilement of this world from you, from
His people. Fruitfulness... is the outworking
of the life of God in the soul. It's the fruit of the Spirit.
You know what it is. Look, in Galatians chapter 5,
you know, there's all the works of the flesh, which we don't
need to be reminded of. Just general evil and sin. But,
verse 22 of Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit is, listen,
the fruit of the Spirit, the grapes that the branches bear
by virtue of their union with the root-stock which is God,
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, believing in God, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. That's the fruit of the Spirit.
That is the fruit. And it depends on abiding in
Christ. It depends on abiding in Him.
It's essential. For He says in verse 5, without
Me you can do nothing. Without Him Without that abiding
in Him, you can do nothing as a child of God, as a believer,
as a citizen of His kingdom in this world. What is it to abide?
To abide is to stay doing, to continue doing, to stay in that
place, in that situation, to stay doing that which has been
started. What has been started? The life
of God in the soul of man. Abide in Me, continue, continue
in it, continue doing that which has been started. And it's an
exhortation, isn't it? Verse 4. Jesus says, abide in
me and I in you, consciously. Think about it. Abide in me and
I in you. Abide in me. Think about it. It's a conscious thing, and this
is an exhortation from Him. It's an encouragement to constantly,
consciously continue in communion with Christ. You know, a daily
thing, an ongoing thing. So what do we make of verse 6?
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and
is withered. And men gather them, and cast
them into the fire, and they are burned. What does he mean
there, in the light of other scriptures that we've looked
at? The context, the commentary of other scriptures on this.
If any one of the branches, any believer, continues out of fellowship
with me, he is cast forth as a branch, i.e., the father, the
cultivator, strips the lax believer of the gifts and opportunities
which he failed to improve. What do I mean by a lax believer? One who has let active fellowship
with Christ slip. That's it. One is a true believer,
but he's let active fellowship with Christ, daily fellowship
and communion with Christ, he's let it slip. He hasn't continued
to abide in Christ. The Father strips that one, that
lax believer, of the gifts and opportunities which he failed
to improve as a believer. Now you say, is that in accord
with the rest of Scripture? Yes. Think about salt losing
its savour. You're the salt of the world,
you believers, but if the salt had lost its savour, it's trampled
underfoot. It's like the warning of 2 John
and verse 8 of 2 John, where he says this to them, warning
them, admonishing them, exhorting them, encouraging them. He says,
look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have
wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Don't lose the
fruit of that union with Christ. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
3 and verse 15, where Paul is speaking primarily about
preachers, they were having a kind of a beauty contest of preachers,
who was the best preacher and which one do you follow, and
what does this other one follow, and I know which is the best
and the highest and the greatest. And he says, it all depends what
you're preaching, but you can apply it to works in general. In 1 Corinthians 3 and verse
15 he says, In other words, preachers who were not preaching the true
gospel of Christ and Him alone, that will bear little fruit,
and it will be burned up as wood, hay and stubble. It won't be
the pure gold of gospel grace. And that man's work shall be
burned. and he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved,
yet so as by fire. It's this kind of skin of the
teeth, if you like. Just like Lot was in Sodom, you
know, Lot dwelt in Sodom. He went that way because he saw
such rich pickings there, he saw such prosperity there. And
in the end, because of the sin of that place, all his worldly
fruit was burned up. All of his worldly fruit. But
he himself, you know what the testimony of Scripture is of
the New Testament about Lot? You know what it says of him?
Righteous Lot. Righteous Lot. What made him
righteous? The grace of God in Christ. He was saved. Lot was
saved. You read the account, it's not
a pretty account, but Lot was saved. you know, the works were
burned up, the branches, the fruit-bearing branches were cast
aside. The fruit of God in life, of
one en route to the celestial city, Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress,
it entirely depends on ongoing vital union with Christ, of fellowship
with Him, of dependency on Him. As that union grows and thrives,
so the fruit comes naturally. Don't let legalists tell you
satanic delusion this, that it all depends on the quality of
your works and the goodness of the things that you do. No, it
depends on the strength of that union with Christ growing. Grow
in grace and the knowledge of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Grow in that and the fruit comes naturally. But how should I abide
in Christ the true vine? And let's just finish with this,
abiding in the union of Christ and his people. Christ exhorts
his people to abide in him. That's a daily, conscious effort. Do you get it? It's a daily,
you know, what do you do every day for the good of your body?
You eat food, you breathe air, you drink liquid, all things
that are good for your body. You need the same attitude to
fellowship with Christ as in any relationship. to prosper
and to thrive, it needs work, it needs effort. Marriage flourishes
when a husband and wife don't just wait to feel good about
each other, but they make a positive effort. Marriages go wrong because
they go, oh, I don't know, the feeling's just gone, we've just
fallen out of affection for one another, because you didn't work
at it. The exhortation of scripture is husbands, love your wives. Well, won't I love her anyway?
If she's a pretty girl and does as she's told, won't I love her
anyway? No, no. Husbands, positively, love your wives. And vice versa. It's an active, daily exercise. active, and so with the relationship
with Christ. Abide in me. I am the true vine. Ye are the branches. Abide in
me. Exercise belief. Read God's Word. Pray to Him. Pray to Him. I don't mean all
the time stopping, but I mean as you're going about your business,
conscious that you're in fellowship with God. Seek fellowship with
brethren, because together, you know, this is the thing about,
you know, you've heard the illustrations many times about the coal being
taken out of the burning fire and put on the hearth, and when
it's on its own, it gradually fades and it goes out. When it's
in the fire, it keeps glowing, because they keep each other
warm and functioning and burning, and so it is with fellowship.
Use means of worship. Use, in these days very much,
listen to messages online. Spend time meditating on the
things of God. Partake with brethren. We're
going to partake together in communion shortly, sharing the
bread and the wine, reminding us of the vitality of that relationship
and union with Christ. I could say so much more. Time
is gone. I'm just going to summarize with
what we read at the start of the service in 2 Peter chapter
1 verse 2. Grace and peace be multiplied
to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord
according as his divine power has given unto us all things
that pertain unto life and godliness. Note that, get that underlined
first. His power His divine power has
given to us all things that we need for life and godliness as
we march onwards towards the celestial city, and it's through
the knowledge of Him that's called us. As he says at the end of
this epistle, growing grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And whereby, by the power of God, are given unto us great
and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of
the divine nature. Wow, there's a promise, isn't
it? having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust. What an escape! And beside this, right, here
we go, abide in me and I in you. Beside this, giving all diligence,
work at it. Consciously. Strive at it, day
by day. Add to your faith. You believe
in God? Add to your faith the virtue
that goes with that. And to virtue, knowledge. Growing
grace and the knowledge of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
And to knowledge, temperance. And to temperance, patience.
And to patience, godliness. And to godliness, brotherly kindness.
And to brotherly kindness, charity or love. And if these things
be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be
barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar
off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
Wherefore, the rather, brethren, Give diligence to make your calling
and election sure, for if you do these things, you shall never
fail. It's saying essentially the same thing. Abide in me and
I in you. Abide in Him. Seek that fellowship. Seek to grow in that grace. We need this vital daily union
with Christ. Otherwise, our profession is
just fruitless head knowledge. What will you do? What will I
do? You know, Joshua, as I often quote, asked the people in Joshua
24, choose you this day whom you will serve. Will you seek,
as Moses shunned, the pleasures of sin for a season in Egypt,
which is this world all around us? Or will you, as Moses, choose
the reproach of Christ? the scorn that the people of
this world have against the people of Christ, the reproach of Christ.
Because what you're actually seeking is what Abraham sought. I know I'm mixing all the examples
up, but it's all there in Hebrews 11. Will you seek daily, daily
that city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Amen.