Hebrews 13, verse 5. Let your conversation, your deportment,
your thinking, everything about you, be without covetousness. And be content with such things
as ye have. For He hath said, the Lord hath
said to the believer, to those who trust Him, He has said, I
will never leave thee nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say,
the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto
me. In his book, the rare jewel of
Christian contentment. Jeremiah Burroughs gives this
description of contentment. He says it's that sweet, inward,
quiet, gracious frame of spirit which freely submits to and delights
in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition. You can see
why He calls it a rare jewel. A rare jewel. Hebrews 13.5 says,
Let your conversation be without covetousness. Covetousness is
the opposite of contentment. It really is the opposite of
contentment. There's peace with contentment.
There's unrest with covetousness. There's peace with God with contentment. There's great fear of God with
covetousness. With contentment, there's a peace
in this world, in whatever lot I'm in, whatever state I'm in.
But with covetousness, you who may Have your eyes wide open
for the world and be wanting to get everything you can. Hand
over fist and get as high as you can in this world and as
big a name as you can for yourself in this world. You don't know
it now, but you want to do that because you're scared to death
of meeting God face to face. That's the only reason. You're
proving you're a big old scaredy cat is what you're proving by
that. Did you know covetousness crucified the Lord Jesus Christ? You remember the king of Assyria.
We saw in a lesson or two a few weeks ago how he was representative
of Satan and the enemies of Christ. And how God allowed him to enter
Israel and destroy Samaria. But was he content with that? Was he satisfied with that? He
said, shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols,
so do to Jerusalem and her idols? He wanted to go to the very throne
of God, which is typified by Jerusalem, and dethrone God and
set Himself there. That's what covetousness does.
The very root of covetousness is evil against God. That's what
it is. It's the want of self-sufficiency
apart from God. Apart from having to depend on
God. What happens when you have some
kind of windfall where you get a bunch of money all of a sudden?
You feel safe and secure all of a sudden, don't you? Why?
Because of that money. Because of yourself. Whereas
contentment is knowing that all our security is in Christ alone.
Whether we have something or don't have something, we've got
security and peace and assurance of an eternal well-being in Him. It can lack nothing. And that's
why we read, the love of money is the root of all evil. while
some coveted after they've erred from the faith and have been
pierced through with many arrows. And it's not just money. It's
anything that we think we can get our hands on or that we can
have to ourselves that will cause us to be self-sufficient or a
little more self-sufficient. And it vents itself in many ways,
but it's the love of that Whatever that thing is that makes us feel
self-sufficient, apart from a dependence upon God. That's at the root
of what covetousness really is. It wants the opposite of God.
The opposite of what God has given. The opposite of what God
has said. The opposite of what God has
performed and is doing. It's a desire to dethrone God
and set ourselves in His place. That's why the Lord said this.
He said that so clearly. Listen. No servant can serve
two masters. For he will either hate the one
and love the other or else he'll hold to the one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot serve God
in this world. And the Pharisees who were covetous
and heard him say that, you know what they did? They said, That's
opposite to the way we think. And they derided him for it.
That's proof right there, brethren. It's the opposite of God and
truth. That's why the psalmist said, incline my heart unto thy
testimonies and not to covetousness. That's true. Inclining our heart
to God's Word and inclining our hearts to covetousness are poles
apart. Totally opposites. Well, and
since covetousness opposes God, it also opposes brotherly love. It's the opposite of brotherly
love. The commandment says, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant,
nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything
that is thy neighbor's. How is it that we can be content? How is it we can show love if
we want our neighbor's house, our neighbor's wife, his servants,
or anything that our neighbor has. How can we be loving him
if we want what he's got? And I can assure you of this.
I can assure you of this. The world And those in the world,
those of the world may befriend you and they may appear to you
that they want what you want. They want what's best for you,
but they want what you have. And if they got a step on your
neck to get it, they more than gladly do it. That's what you're
going to get if you go after this world and try to live in
this world and think you're going to find some kind of satisfaction
in this world. You'll be like Satan himself
who wasn't satisfied with Samaria, but said, I want to go to God's
throne. You'll never be satisfied. Never. Well, and yet, the motto
of our generation, the motto of the world we live in right
now, what is it? I'm going to get what's mine.
I'm going to get what belongs to me. What belongs to you and
me is hell. That's what's our right. We got
a rightful claim to it. And if you go after this world,
you're staking your claim to it. The wicked boasteth of his
heart's desire. What do you hear all over the
news and all over television and all over anywhere you look,
any media, any form, any award show, anything that promotes
this world, what do you hear? The wicked boasteth of his heart's
desire and blesseth the covetous. Says, this is what I want, this
is what I'm going to have, this is what I'm going to do, because
I want to be like that one who did it and got everything that
he wanted. Boasts of a heart's desire and exalt those and say,
because I want to be like that one that did the same thing.
Got everything that's in his heart's desire. And you know
what the Lord says about it? I abhor them. I abhor them. That's, I hate them. I hate them. That's Psalm 10.3 if you want
to go home and read it. But now here's what we read,
Hebrews 13.5, let your conversation be without covetousness and be
content with such things as ye have. John the Baptist under
the Holy Spirit gave this definition of contentment. Then came also
publicans to be baptized, and these were, you know, tax collectors.
They went out to get people's money. And they said unto him,
Master, what shall we do? And he said unto them, exact
no more than that which is appointed you. That's a good definition
of contentment. Exact no more than what's been
appointed to you. And then the soldiers likewise
demanded of him, saying, and what shall we do? And He said
unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely,
and be content with your wages. Be content with such things as
you have. When you hear these definitions
of contentment, do you begin, you who know the Lord, do you
begin to think of yourselves and say, I'm far more covetous
than I am content? Do you begin to see that? We
do it without even giving it a second thought. We just walk
back there into that back room. I've been preparing this message
for a week. We just walk back in that back room and there's
a brand new microwave boxed up back there. And the first words
out of my mouth was, I don't need a new microwave. But this is one of the ways the
Lord gives us this rare jewel of contentment. As we begin to
realize just how covetous we are, rather than content, We
have to ask ourselves, why then is the Lord so gracious to me
in spite of me? Why is he so gracious to me in
spite of me? It's because of what the believer
has. You have a Father and a Savior
in glory who does not remember your sin anymore. You have been
made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, your substitute. The believer has been made joint
heirs with Christ. The believer has been born again
and has a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and
that fadeth not away, that's reserved in heaven. And you're
kept by the power of God until that salvation is revealed to
you. The triune God who made heaven
and earth has said to you who believe, be content with such
things as you have for I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. Now that's having something.
If you young people want to seek for something, you want to set
out and set your heart on finding something, find out Him who promises
all those who trust Him that I will never leave you nor forsake
you. Then you have found something.
Then you are more rich than any of your friends, anybody in this
world or of this world that you can look at and think, boy, now
that one's rich. You'll be far more rich than
any of them if you have Him. Whenever Jacob was out there
in the middle of the desert, let's look over at this. Genesis
28.10. I don't want to take... Genesis
28.10. Let's look at a few of our brethren
and see how the Lord made promises to them. In Genesis 28.10, Jacob went
out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a
certain place. Everything Jacob sees here, is
typical of Christ Jesus the Lord. Jacob's a new convert. He gets real excited about what
he's found out here, and he thinks it's this place, this land, and
this soil, and this desert is the gate, and all these things.
But everything here is talking about Christ. Look, that's the
certain place. And he tarried there all night
because the sun was set. And he took the stones of that
place, and he made him a pillow, and he laid down in that place
to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder. Christ a ladder
set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and Behold
the angels of God were ascending and descending on it Behold the
Lord stood above it and said I'm the Lord God of Abraham thy
father and the God of Isaac the land whereon thou lies to thee
will I give it and to thy seed and thy seed shall be as the
dust of the earth and thou shalt spread up spread abroad to the
west and to the east and to the north and to the south and in
thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be
blessed and Behold I am with thee and will keep thee in all
places Whither thou goest and will bring thee again into this
land for I will not leave thee until I have done that which
I have spoken to thee of And Jacob woke up out of sleep He
woke up out of sleep and he said, listen to what David said, this
is a revelation like the believer has when he beholds Christ is
the way to heaven, to access to heaven. That's how God's angels,
His redeemed ones ascend and descend speaking with God and
how the heavenly host ascends and descends and how we have
access, true access to the Father and that access is Christ. And
the Lord says in him, I'll be with thee, and I'm going to give
you the land. Not that dry desert over there,
but Christ Jesus. I hope in the 11 o'clock hour
we're going to see that the land is Christ. That's the land we're
returning to. That's the land we're being brought
into. That He sees all this, and listen to what Jacob said. Verse 16, Surely the Lord is
in this place, and I knew it not. There's some of you sitting
here who have no idea that the Lord is in this place. He's in
this place. We pray He's in this place. And
we trust He is because He promised He would be if He said, if I've
gathered two or three together, I'll be there with them. They're
going to be gathered because He gathered them. And where He's
gathered them, He'll be there with them. And He's in this world. He's working and moving everything
in this place. And there's some of you who just
don't know that. And he was afraid and he said, how dreadful is
this place? This is none other but the house
of God. This is the gate of heaven. He
had seen the house of God all right, and he had seen the gate
of heaven, Christ Jesus himself. And he thought, boy, this place
right here where I'm laying here tonight, this is it. This is
the door, this is the gate right here. And Jacob rose up early
in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put for his
palace, and he set it up for a pillar, and he poured oil upon
the top of it, and he called the name of that place Bethel.
Look at verse 20, and here's what he vowed. This is what you'll
vow if Christ ever comes to you and reveals how safe and secure
his people are in him. This is what you'll do. Jacob
said, if God will be with me and will keep me in this way
that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on
so that I come again to my father's house in peace, That's what the
Lord just told him. And he said, if God's going to
do all this for me, what he's saying is, God has said He will
provide everything for me. And he said, if He's going to
do that, He says, then He'll be my God. He'll be
my God. And he said, The Lord will be
my God. And this stone which I set up
for a pillar shall be God's house, and all that thou shalt give
me I'll surely give the tenth unto thee." Look over at Joshua
1 verse 5. Listen to the Lord's promise
to Joshua. These are just a few reminders.
These are witnesses the Lord has given us, faithful brethren
that have gone before us, that the Lord's promised and fulfilled
His promise too. And they're witnesses to us. This is what he said to Joshua.
Joshua is getting ready to go into an unknown land, someplace
he's never ever even been before. And this is his promise to him.
When you come to Christ, when you first come to an understanding
of Christ, you're in uncharted territory. You're about to leave
that land that you've been in behind you, and you're about
to go into a whole new uncharted territory you've never been into
before. There's a lot of adversaries, and there's a lot of enemies
that they would come in contact with, and that the new convert
will come in contact with. But listen to the Lord's promise
to Joshua. There shall not any man be able
to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with
Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee. Be strong and of a good courage. Let me show you another one.
Turn to Psalm 37. Psalm 37. This is why we can have this
encouragement, this assurance from our Lord, and be strong
and of good courage. In Psalm 37.23, David said this,
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. The man that that
Christ has made good by his own holiness. That man's steps are
ordered by the Lord. And he, the Lord, delighteth
in his way. And that man delighteth in his
way. He has contentment in the way the Lord directs his steps
in. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. For
the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. And he said, I've been
young and now am old. Yet I have not seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed, his children, begging bread. He is ever merciful
and lendeth, and his seed is blessed. Depart from evil. David's speaking of the evil
of covetousness and all its fruit. And he says, and do good. Be
content and trust God. Trust God. And dwell forevermore. For the Lord loveth judgment,
and forsaketh not his saints. They are preserved forever, but
the seed of the wicked should be cut off. Look over at Romans
chapter 8, and let me show you this judgment of the Lord, and
show you why this thing is sure. Our text tells us to be content,
because the Lord said, I'll never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
David said he's a God of judgment. He will not forsake his saints.
He delights in them. This world exists for them, for
their sake, for the glory of His great name. Now look, this
is the judgment that the Lord loves, and this is why the Lord
loves that which is right, and this is our seal, the believer's
seal, that Christ, because of Christ Jesus, the Lord will do
us right. Look here, Romans 8.32. He that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? God freely gave
his chosen seed, his son, and his son freely gave his life
to purchase them a ransom. to buy them out of the oppression
and the captivity they were in. And how shall he not with him
also freely give us all things? And then he says, who shall lay...
And now look, here's these all things. We're going to deal with
two things here. Judicially, legally before God, and temporally,
right here on this earth. Look, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Satan is called the accuser
of the brethren. And all his messengers are the
accusers of the brethren. A good way that they give themselves
away is to always accusing folks of something. Everybody else
is always wrong and needs to be disciplined with them. But
now look, Christ took away the sin of His people. And in doing
so, He took away the sting of death. And in doing so, He took
away Satan's power and delivered His people out of captivity.
There's now no condemnation to them because Christ condemned
the condemnation through His death. And if someone wants to
lay charge against one of you who believe on Him, They have
to take it up with your advocate, with your counselor, who is at
the right hand of God, who lives to make intercession for you. Who is He that condemneth? Who
lays anything to the charge of God's elect? Now, look in verse
35. Because He did that, as you walk
through this valley of the shadow of death that we're in, as you
walk through this earth, who shall separate us from the love
of Christ? That was love that performed
that, that made His people righteous. Who's going to separate us from
that love? Shall tribulation, trials, distress, you get to
where you don't have something, you're doing without, you don't
have those things, those necessities you think, and you get stressed,
or persecution, somebody comes up against you, or famine, you
don't have bread, Or nakedness, you don't have clothes? Or peril,
or sword? Shall any of those things separate
us from the love of Christ? As it is written, for thy sake
we're killed all the day long, we're counted as sheep for the
slaughter. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. You see, the believer can never
be separated from that which is God's good pleasure to provide
for him and to be his protector and his shield and his deliverer
because those things may cause our love for him to wane and
they may cause us to to the waiver. But it don't affect the love
that He has for His people. And that's where our security
is. The same love that went to the
cross and bore the sin of His people at Calvary is the same
love right now from Heaven's glory is protecting His people
every single hour of every single day. And He says this, In all these things, we're conquerors
through Him that loved us. I'm persuaded that neither death
nor life. Now that pretty much sums up
our life. We're going to live a little while and then we're
going to die. That's the long and short of it. That's all you're
getting. You're going to live and then you're going to die.
And no matter how much you've accumulated in that time that
you've lived, when you die, You're just going to face God naked
and have to deal with God one-on-one. Or either you're going to face
Him in Christ, your substitute, and have an advocate with the
Father. But he says this, He put away our sin, and therefore
I live, like Paul said, not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the
life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God
who loved me and gave Himself for me. The life the believer
has really is Christ in us. It really is Christ living in
us, one with Him. Can I explain that to you? I
can't. I can't. I can't explain to you
what it's going to be like when we're conformed to Him, body,
soul, and spirit, and are so one with Him that you can't tell
us apart any more than you can tell He's in us now. I can't
tell you. But He says it, and I believe
Him. And I believe Him because He's in me. And you believe Him
because He's in you. And otherwise, we won't. We'll
sit there and listen to this, just blank and waiting to get
out and just consume and covet and lust and kick up our heels
in hell. But listen now, if Christ is
the life in us, the struggles of this life can never overcome
us because He's overcome the world. And greater is He that's
in you than is in the world. Don't you see that? That's how
we're more than conquerors through Him. through Him that loved us.
Whether we live, we live unto the Lord. Whether we die, we
die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore we
die, we're the Lord's. It's a good place to be. And
then he says here, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature. Why would an angel want to separate
us from the love of Christ? The one who transforms himself
into an angel of light wants to separate us from Christ. And
that's who all these powers and these things present, things
to come, and height and depths and all these creep, that's who
they represent. Paul said, put on the whole armor
of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Well, you want
to know what the armor is? You want to know what the armor
is? Here's our armor. He spoiled principalities and
powers and he made a show of them openly triumphing over them
in it. And he's gone into heaven and
he's on the right hand of God and angels and authorities and
powers have been made subject unto Christ our captain. They can't do anything but what
he lets them do. That's it. You don't realize
it, you folks, the ones that don't believe, I just believe
we would fall out in just utter horror and fear if we knew the
enemies of hell that have got the ones that don't believe surrounded
and trying to keep Christ from them. I believe we would be amazed
to see these powers and these principalities that we wrestle
against that we don't have any idea even are about us. And same for the believer that
you're hedged about and our gods are consuming fire so that they
can't get to you. Nothing can harm you. And that's
why he says here in verse 39, who shall be able to separate
us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?
Here's the judgment of God that he delights in, and here's where
contentment rests, right here. For you who believe, this is
it. All things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is
God's. Now that right there, Reminds
me like of a telescope, you know, just all things are yours and
you're in Christ Christ is in God and you're protected Got
to go through God get to you Well, let's get back to our text
now finish it up here I Let your conversation be without covetousness,
and be content with such things as you have. For the Lord hath
said, I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee, so that we may
boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man
shall do unto me." You know why the Lord gives these admonitions
to let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with
such things as you have? Like I was saying before, as
we continually behold our inability to just work up in ourselves
that we're just going to be content and not covet. We behold our
absolute inability to do that, and yet He tells us to do it.
And so, we come to Him. And coming to Him, we discover,
just like He said, that we have boldness to come to His throne
of grace to find help in time of need. We find that we have
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. We discover
that it's in Christ that we have this boldness, this liberty,
this access with confidence by the faith of Him. And in that
process of being drawn to Him because of our absolute total
inability, we call on Him. And calling on
Him, we find in Him the full assurance of faith that says,
Christ will do everything for me. And this is the obedience
we're being called into right here. That's why we're given these
admonitions throughout scripture, is to bring us to call on Him,
to confess Him, that we're trusting Him alone to do this for us.
And then in Him, we find He's our contentment. To be able to
just trust Him to do this for us. What, what, what this? All. Is Christ your all? Then you're trusting Him for
all, aren't you? So that we may boldly say, say
with full assurance, the Lord is my helper. And I will not
fear what man shall do unto me. Now let me say one last word
about this helper. He's not a help in the sense
that he'll work with you in a co-effort if you'll work with him to get
this done. That's anti-Christ. That's the
God of this world. If that was ever the case, we
would have no hope at all and no contentment ever, because
that God's only as strong as we are. If Christ is your helper,
then it's not that he helps you not to be covetous, but that
he himself is the cure for covetousness. And it's not that Christ will
lend a hand to help you be content, but Christ Jesus is both the
inexhaustible mind and the rare jewel of contentment Himself. He's the fountain, the source,
and He Himself is the contentment. Let me give you some scripture
on that. When Abraham was fearful, the Lord didn't say, I'll be
your helper and I'll give you a shield and I'll give you a
reward. And you work with me to help
this so you're not fearful." No, the Lord said, I am thy shield
and thy exceeding great reward. I am that. Look with me at Deuteronomy
32, 29. Happy art thou, O Israel, who
is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy
help, and who is the sword of thy excellency. You see, He is. He is the sword. He is the excellency. Look at another place, Psalm
18.1. We read, this is to the chief
musician, a psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who spake
unto the Lord the words of this psalm in the day that the Lord
delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the
hand of Saul. And he said, I will love thee,
O Lord, who helps me have strength, my strength. The Lord who helps
to be my rock, is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my strength in whom I will trust. I'll just be content. My buckler and the horn of my
salvation and my high tower. Let me show you where this Text
in Psalm and Hebrews is taken from Psalm 118 6 Psalm 118 6
And you'll see here This is where this is being quoted from the
Hebrews verse 6 is coming from this this chapter or verse Psalm
118 6 And this is what the Hebrew writers telling us. This is what
the Lord has said to you believer The Lord is on my side I will
not fear what can man do unto me." Now listen, the Lord taketh
my part. You know what happens if somebody,
if you were, if you tried out for a play and you won the leading
part in a play? And at the last minute, somebody
came in and said, we're going to give it to somebody else.
They're going to take your part in this play. You know what happens? They got the part. You didn't. He says, when it comes to fighting
all my enemies, the Lord steps in and He takes my part. He takes
my place. Even with those that He's given
to help me, the whole army, He takes my part with them that
help me. That's what it is to have Him as a helper. He's doing
the work. He's doing it. Contentment is
realizing and resting in the fact He's doing it. He's doing
it. I don't have to want for anything.
I've got all. I've got Christ my all. I've
got it all. I've got everything. And that's why He says it's better
to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It's not
a co-effort. It's all Christ or nothing. Well, let me tell you this, and
it says here, and I won't fear what man does to me, and I'll
just close with this. You know what man does to us,
what we do to ourselves, and what men around us do to us? It's called peer pressure. It's
called keeping up with the Joneses. It's called being conformed to
this world. We make ourselves think. because of all the influences
and all the stuff that's coming in from outside, we make ourselves
think that we really need whatever it is we don't have or we need
to get rid of whatever it is we do have that we don't want
to have, rather than just being content in whatever state we're
in. And it's because Let me give you an example. What I'm going
to say to you is not used as an excuse for rebellion. It's
not to be used as an excuse for laziness or a matter of blind
fatalism. You know I don't mean that. But
if you don't have something right now, even though I may think
I should have it, Even though I may think it'd be more honorable
for me to have it. Even though I may think that
I could honor Christ more if I had it. The truth is, if I
don't have it right now, I'm not supposed to have it right
now. If it would bring honor to God's darling son for me to
have whatever it is I have or whatever it is I have that I
think I shouldn't have, then he would give it to me or take
it away from me to glorify his son. And you can think on that
and contentment rests right there and says, I can rest there. I can rest there. Uncle Laban
knew this. Me know Uncle Laban knew this.
You know what he said about Jacob? He said, I don't want you to
go, Jacob, because the Lord's blessed me for your sake. That's a type of Christ. If the Lord's blessed you, he's
doing it for Christ's sake. Laban knew a little bit about
that, but Laban looked at Jacob like you'd look at a lucky rabbit's
foot. He said, I want you to stay here, Laban, because I'm
getting blessed because you're here with me. His wasn't contentment. His was covetousness. I'm liking
what I'm getting because of that. But rather than contentment knows
that God's going to give you just what He's going to give
you or He's going to take from you just what needs to be taken
from you to glorify first and foremost His Son. And when He
makes us to behold that, that is the good for which He's done
it. It's not so we can have the thing or not have the thing.
It's so that quiet spirit of contentment can be in us. And
we're resting on Him. Just resting on Him. So let's
read our text one more time. Verse 5. Therefore, brethren,
let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content
with such things as you have. For the Lord hath said, I will
never leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say,
the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto
me. All right, let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for this word of great, great comfort and this word of great,
great mourning to those who yet go on after this world. Lord, we ask that you be merciful to those who are among us who
don't yet know you, that you might be pleased in your time
and according to your promise to shed this light into their
hearts that they might behold Christ in whom we are eternally
secure. Lord, we thank you for this peace
that you've given us and this contentment, and we cast ourselves
upon your care. We cannot work this in ourselves,
Lord. And we thank You. Now we do thank
You. You have given us Christ Jesus.
What else could we want? Lord, let us never forget it.
Let us ever be mindful in every situation, in every trial, in
every facet of our lives that our life is Christ. And we're in Him. in you, safe
for all eternity. We thank you for these things
in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.