The first commandment of promise
is that children should obey their parents, for this is right,
and that they would live long on the earth, which really, if
you just paraphrase that, it means that their life will go
well. If children do not learn to honor,
to obey their parents, then their life is gonna be miserable. And
we can see that at the family level, and this is obviously
God-given delegated authority, isn't it? So when, and this is
very practical too, when a parent speaks to their child, they should
speak to them as someone who is also under authority. A parent
doesn't say, I expect you to do this just because I said so.
Well, there's some truth to that, but it's not the complete truth.
It's better to say both you and me. are under God's authority. And God has placed me in authority
over you, therefore it's important that you obey your parents, because
God said so. And if we both live by what God
says, then we're both in subjection to God's authority. And so it's
important that children learn that, and not just because there's
several mistakes I think that I've seen parents make. One is
that they just demand obedience. Just because they said so or
another one is they try to reason with their children in order
to persuade them to obey Just because they have a greater intellect
the most the time at least until they're about five years old
They're going to win most of the arguments But after that
it's going to be a struggle and since our children are just like
them at some point in their life They're going to grow tired and
the children are not going to grow tired and there's going
to be Arguments and it just goes endlessly on and on and at the
end of the day the children were going to learn that the only
reason they needed to obey mom and dad is because they were
smarter than them and so there's no authority in the world. It's
just whatever you want to do. Everyone does what's right in
their own eyes. So there's just a breakdown in
society when children do not learn to obey their parents.
And more generally, more generally than parents, it's important
that children are taught to obey all authority, all God-given
authority, which includes not only their parents, but those
whom their parents have enlisted for their children's own good,
like their school teachers. And so mom and dad will explain
that to their children, that when I send you to school, I
expect you to respect the teacher, not to talk back to the teacher,
not to make faces at the teacher, not to show your unsubmissive
side, your ugly face, but to show submission. And don't just
do it because I said so, do it as unto the Lord, you see. And
this is always the theme, teaching our children and teaching ourselves
that whatever we do in our submission to authority, we do it as unto
the Lord. And by that I mean, we do it
as if we're obeying God, because this is God's given authority,
His delegated authority. So those are some of the authorities. And then, of course, we have
the authority of servants and masters, which we don't have
so many today. But there are employers, the
masters, and the employees, their servants. And in that sense,
the employees should not have this attitude that I'm going
to be complaining all the time about my work conditions and
all this other stuff, but just simply do what they do quietly
with singleness of heart, it says in Ephesians chapter 6,
singleness of heart as unto the Lord. Again, whatever you do,
whether it be in word or in deed, do it to the glory of God, not
for men. And if we would hold that, if
the Lord would enable us to hold that by faith, then we would
trust God to take care of the authorities that we are in subjection
to. All right. And then there are
civil authorities in our own cities, state, our federal governments. There are authorities there,
and you can see their authority when you have to pay taxes, and
it rankles us, it irritates us to have to pay taxes, but it
shouldn't. We benefit, don't we, from those God-ordained,
delegated places of authority. We may find fault with our leaders,
and we may even speak against them. I don't think it's right. I've done it and I stand corrected. But the point here is that we're
to submit to them as unto the Lord. These are ordained roles
that God has placed men and even in some cases women in, in order
to perform his will on the earth. Of course, there's always the
account of the case where, well, what about that ruler who's wicked?
What about some head of a country that we know that's a corrupt
country? Maybe it's that country or this
country. We can name all the countries
and their leaders, but the point is, yes, there will be wicked
rulers. But consider the cases God has
given in Scripture. Remember in Babylon? Who was
the ruler there? Nebuchadnezzar. What did God
tell Israel to do? You go there and submit yourself
to them. And so when Daniel and Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego
went to Babylon, they didn't rebel. They submitted. Daniel
spoke very honorably, very respectfully to King Nebuchadnezzar. But also,
we learn in that particular example of how we are to behave towards
those rulers who are unjust and who require us to do things that
God has told us not to do, or keep us, try to keep us from
doing things God has told us to do. And what is, what was
the, in the case of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel
chapter three, he said, they said to him, we're not careful.
in how we answer you, O King." And they told him that basically,
if you throw us into the fiery furnace, God is able to deliver
us. But we are not going to bow down
to your image. So they made it clear that they
were serving the Lord. And when the ruler demanded them
to do what God had told them not to do, Or in the case of
the Apostle Peter and the Apostle John, when the rulers told them
not to preach in Christ's name, in both cases they essentially
said, we're going to do what God has said. Whether it's right
for us to obey men rather than God, Peter told those rulers,
you judge, but we're going to obey God. Okay, so it's clear
that if the rulers require us to do what is against God's will,
or if they keep us from doing God's will, that we're to disobey
the ruler at that point because we serve the Lord. And we're
to pray for grace to enable us to do that with wisdom and strength
so that we do it in the power and for the purpose of exalting
God's name and not our own case. We don't want to parade We don't
want to make a show. We don't want to use that as
a way of driving a wedge between others and the government. We
just simply want to obey the Lord in our hearts. OK, so those
are some of the practical matters. And then there's also authority
in the church. And I want to address that just a minute here
in Hebrews chapter 13. If you if you wanted to look
at that, Hebrews chapter 13 and verse seven, it says, I'll just read it to make sure
I get it word for word, just like it says. In Hebrews chapter
13 and verse 7, it says, remember them which have the rule over
you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith
follow, considering the end of their conversation. All right,
so clearly, according to this scripture, there are those in
the church who have the rule. And those who do have the rule
have this as the thing that God has told them
to do. Notice, "...who have the rule over you, who have spoken
unto you the word of God." How do they rule? What is their activity
in their rule? It's speaking the word of God. And this is the way that God
runs his church, through his word. And so the minister in
the church is simply telling, if he's faithful to God's stewardship
given to him, is telling what God has said. And then they say,
it says here, whose faith follow. Notice, to follow their faith
means to follow what they say as they, and then it goes on,
considering the end of their conversation because they, if
they're the Lord's people, they not only say what God has said,
they believe it and they act accordingly. Okay, so that's
important. And what he's really doing here
is he's taking away the excuse. They've told you, they've shown
you, now you need to obey that. And what does it mean then to
obey these rulers? Does it mean that, like I've
been at churches where the pastor tried to tell husbands and wives
that they should be separated because I guess the wife wanted
to do this and the church wanted to do that. I mean, the wife
wanted to do what the church said and the husband didn't or
something, so the pastors were telling the wives to separate
from their husbands. But that's not right. So there was a division
between the husband and wife because of this particular pastor. It wasn't that kind of obedience.
It's not the kind of obedience where a preacher or a teacher
says, okay, you need to have this kind of a job, you need
to shop at this kind of a store, you need to wear these kind of
clothes. That's not the point. A preacher
is not a micromanager who's going to tell you what to do in all
of the details of your conduct. That's not the obedience he's
talking about here. He's talking about obedience that comes from
the persuasion of the gospel being preached. When the gospel
is preached, the Lord persuades the hearts of his people. And
being persuaded then, we believe what God has said. And our hearts
are not directed to the man, but to the Lord himself, so that
we are taught to follow Christ. A person who is in a place of
authority in the church, if they're doing their job, is going to
lead people to Christ, not to himself. So John the Baptist
is a classic example. He must increase. Christ must
increase. I must decrease. So if we remember
that, then we can see here that this exhortation in Hebrews chapter
13 verse 7 is taking all of the book of Hebrews and saying, look,
these men who are preaching the gospel of Christ's accomplishments,
that as the fulfillment of scripture, and the accomplishment of your
salvation. They're preaching to you the word of God. Now be
persuaded of it and believe it, and in obedience to the word,
believe Christ, follow him, okay? All right, and then he says that
in verse eight of Hebrews 13. He says, considering the end
of their conversation, and then he immediately says, Jesus Christ,
Jesus Christ. Notice, he takes the message
of the rulers, which is Jesus Christ, and he says, Jesus Christ,
the same yesterday, today, and forever. This is the way he runs
his church, the preaching of Christ and him crucified. Okay,
so when we look at this psalm, Psalm 82, it's about authority.
It's about the correction, the accusation God had against those
who abused their authority and failed, neglected to do what
God told them to do. And it's about authority in general,
but especially in the church where the gospel is preached.
All right, so we see that God accomplishes His will through
delegated authority. We see that God's authority should
be obeyed as we obey the Lord. We should obey the authority
as unto the Lord. We do it for the Lord's sake,
in honor of His word, in honor of Him, in faith, trusting Him
to fulfill His will in our submission to authority, whether it be our
parents, or wives to their husbands, or our faith in the gospel, faith
in Christ, or paying taxes, or obeying the law enforcement,
the officers of the law, or whatever it is. We just try
to be submissive in all things lawful. And if the government
or somebody else requires us to do what is opposed to God's
word, then by God's grace we'll resist that in the fear of the
Lord. And then, this clearly shows
us that God accomplishes His will in this way, but we also
see that men are sinful. This psalm is about that. Men
who are in the place of authority are sinful men. Notice in verse
six of this psalm, I have said you are gods, and all of you
are children of the Most High, but you shall die like men. They're
gonna die, because they failed to do what God gave them to do.
They're going to be held accountable. God is going to hold those he
put in authority to an account. And that's what he's saying here.
You're going to die like men. So these men were sinful because
they're going to die. The wages of sin is death. And
since these men were put in authority by God, then we see that God
puts those in authority who are mere men, who are even sinful
men, and who even neglect their duties and abuse their authority
for their own self-interests and their own self-serving motives
and for the purposes of either advancing themselves, gaining
praise, taking honor to themselves. Remember Herod, he was eaten
by worms when he took credit for being so great, speaking
so well. Or Nebuchadnezzar, remember Daniel
told Nebuchadnezzar that he was going to be driven out like an
ox and eat grass and his body was going to be wet with the
dew of heaven. because God was going to humble him as a result
of his pride, and God did that. And at the end of that, that's
when he said that the Lord rules in heaven, and on earth he does
whatever he wants in heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and no one can say to him, what are you doing? So that's,
you can see how God puts men in authority who are mere men,
who are sinful men, and who can die, because it says here in
verse six, you'll die like men. Okay, so that helps us understand
what is coming next in the study of this psalm. And I wanna go
to John chapter 10, so you can see this. In John chapter 10,
Jesus quotes from this psalm, and it's difficult to really
understand what he is, how his quotation from this psalm enforces
or reinforces the, the rebuke he had to these men who were
accusing him and who would ultimately kill him. In John chapter 10,
in verse 26 of John chapter 10, Jesus tells the Jews, In verse
24, the Jews came around him and said, How long dost thou
make us to doubt if thou be the Christ? Tell us plainly. They
were accusing him of being at fault for their own unbelief,
which is ludicrous. But anyway, in verse 25, Jesus
answered them. He said, I told you. I told you
I was the Christ, you believed not. The works that I do in my
Father's name, they bear witness of me." So his own works were
enough to tell them plainly that he was the Christ and his words
also he had told them. Verse 26 he says, but you believe
not because you are not of my sheep. This is the reason they
couldn't believe they weren't Christ's people. As I said unto
you, my sheep hear my voice, those who are my sheep do hear
my voice, in other words, they hear my doctrine, and they understand
it, and they believe it, and I know them, because he knows
all of his sheep, and that's the reason they hear his voice,
he calls them, and they follow me. That's what faith is, faith
is following Christ. And verse 28, and I give to them
eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. So in that statement, the Lord
Jesus is saying, look, these people who are my sheep, I'm
going to call them, they're going to hear me, they're going to
know me, I'm going to know them, they're going to follow me, I'm
going to give eternal life to them, they will never perish,
I'm going to keep them, I'm going to hold them, no one is able
to take them from me, to pluck them out of my hand. And then
he goes on in verse 29, building his case, my father which gave
them to me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them
out of my father's hand. So in this statement, he doubles
down. He says, not only will I do this,
but my father. So he's putting himself and his
father in the same purpose and in the same work, which is to
save his people, the sheep, to keep them, to save them, to give
eternal life to them, to call them, and that they would believe
him. All this is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ for his
sheep. All right, that's what he brought them to, and then
he really brings the conclusion into a very simple statement,
I and my Father are one. So when he says, my Father, he's
saying, I'm the Son of God the Father. He's declaring plainly,
I am the Son of God. And as the Son of God, and as
Christ, I'm one with the Father. one in will, one in work, one
in word, one in sheep, one in salvation, one in power, because
he's able to keep these sheep and save them, and one in glory,
one in nature, equal with the Father. That's what he's saying
here. The Son is equal with the Father. And so that's when the
Jews took up stones again to stone him. It says in verse 32,
Jesus answered, many good works have I showed you for my Father.
He reiterates, I'm the son of God, in that statement. For which
of those works do you stone me? There was nothing wrong. Christ
had done nothing wrong. Why are you stoning me? Which
work? What did I do that was sinful,
in other words? And they said, the Jews answered,
saying, for a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy. And because that thou, being
a man, makest thyself God." Okay, that's their accusation. You
are merely a man, and you make yourself God. Now the Lord Jesus
is going to show them from Psalm 82. He's going to silence them,
really. He's going to put their arguments
so, He's going to so disarm them in quoting Scripture and bringing
what He said here in John 10 to bear upon them to powerfully
convince them of many things, not the least of which is, yes,
I am God, yes, I am the Son of the Father, the Eternal Father,
the Eternal Son, and the Christ, but also that you are refusing,
you are rejecting my word, which is the word of the Father, the
word of God. And I want to show you that by
considering what is said here in John chapter 10 in a comparative
way, by taking the things that Christ says here and laying them
side by side with what these men were and their thing. First of all, in this chapter,
in John chapter 10, The Lord Jesus begins by saying he's a
good shepherd, and he's the shepherd of God's sheep. But these men,
he says, were hirelings, and they did not care for the sheep.
So there's the contrast, you see. Christ, the good shepherd. These men, they're not shepherds,
they're hirelings. They just do the job to get the
money. And he's the good shepherd over God's sheep. And these men
were thieves and robbers in chapter 10. He says in verse 1, he that
enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some
other way, the same as a thief and a robber, He that enters
by the door of the sheep is the shepherd of the sheep, and so
on. And he goes on to say, verse five, a stranger they will not
follow, but will flee from him. They know not a stranger. And
he says in verse eight, all that ever came before me are thieves
and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I'm the door.
If any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and
out and find pasture. The thief comes not but for to
steal, to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they might have
life. and that they might have it more
abundantly. Okay, see the contrast here? The contrast between the
Lord Jesus Christ and these Jews. You are the hireling. You're
the thief. You're the robber. You seek to
kill and to destroy. I came to give life, and not
only life, but abundant life to the sheep. And I'm the good
shepherd, I'm the door. If anyone comes in, coming to
God the Father by me, he shall enter in, and I will lead him
in, and I'll bring him in, I'll bring him out. Out to green pastures,
out to rest, out to safety. So he has this liberty through
Christ. All right, so that's the first
thing. The contrast between the hirelings, which the Jews were,
the thieves and the robbers, those who come to steal, kill,
and destroy, and the Lord Jesus, who is the good shepherd over
God's sheep. He's the door by which these
sheep come to God, the one by whom they go in and by whom they
go out to find pasture. And then he comes to give them
life, whereas these others came to kill and to destroy. The sheep
know Christ's doctrine, they hear His voice, but they do not
recognize the voice of strangers. These men are strangers, they're
strangers to the sheep. And they're strangers because
they were not sent by God. They assumed the place of God-ordained
authority, but they did so by usurping that authority for their
own self-serving reasons. They wanted the sheep to give
to them. They didn't give to the sheep.
They wanted to take from the sheep. Christ came to give, to
give himself for the sheep and then give them eternal life and
abundant life. to bring them to God, to give
them green pastures, the green pastures of Christ and him crucified
in the gospel and the rest through his spirit to trust him, all
those things. The Lord Jesus Christ obviously
cares for the sheep and loves the sheep because he laid his
life down for the sheep. His father, if you look at verse
36 of John 10, he says, say ye of him whom the father has sanctified
and sent into the world, So His Father first sanctified Him and
then sent Him into the world. So we see that God the Father
set apart His Son, the Lord Jesus, I should say His Son, to be Christ. and gave him this title, Christ,
in order to fulfill that role as one under the authority of
the Father, you see. So when we consider this now,
let's read when Jesus answered these men, when they said, because
we're trying to stone you, we're going to stone you because of
your blasphemy, because you being a man made yourself God, in verse
33. Then in verse 34, look at this. Jesus answered them, is
it not written in your law? Because obviously it was for
them. I said, you are gods. So this is clearly a quotation
from Psalm 82. He says in verse 35, if he, the
Lord, called them gods, small g-o-d-s plural, which is the
same word that's used throughout scripture, for God, God himself. And so he gave them that title.
And he said, if he called them gods unto whom the word of God
came and the scripture cannot be broken, then, okay, so here's
the way the argument unfolds. He says, listen, these men in
Psalm 82 were called gods. They were merely men. and they
were clearly sinful, and they were subject to death. So they
were temporal, sinful men. He says, if he called them gods,
to whom the word of God was given, came to them in this way of authority,
to rebuke, to accuse, and to hold them accountable, and the
scripture can't be broken, then, say ye of him whom the Father
has sanctified, Now, the men in Psalm 82 were sinful men,
but God sanctified the son and then sent him into the world.
So he is not just a man, he is eternal. because he was sanctified
even before he came into the world. He was set apart. God
chose him. God ordained and appointed him
to be the Christ and God anointed him. He prepared a body for him
and then he anointed him with his spirit. without measure,
and sent him to perform his will, to finish the work God gave him
to do, to speak his words, and to testify, and then to, having
completed that work, to ascend, rise again from the dead, take
his life up again, ascend to heaven, and take his place at
the right hand of God. So are you saying, you sinful
men who have neglected the role that you claim was yours by God-given
delegated authority, as mere men, as sinful men, as men subject
to death who are accountable to God because they failed to
do what God said. Are you saying now that the one
who is not a mere man, but the eternal Son of God, and who as
the Son was set apart and therefore had to stoop to make himself
of no reputation in order to take upon himself the form of
a servant and as a man become obedient unto his father as he
says in verse 17 in this same chapter the father loves me because
I lay down my life no man takes it from me I lay it down on myself
I have power to lay it down power to take it again and this commandment
have I received from my father so God set him apart for this,
sent him into the world, enabled him by his spirit, and then he,
in obedience, perfect obedience, fulfilled that job, that authority
that God gave him to do in laying down his life as a servant. And
then, furthermore, that he would speak his own father's words
clearly He was the Son of God, and that because He was the eternal
Son of God, are you saying then that these sinful men in Psalm
82, who were called gods by God Himself in Scripture, that I
am blaspheming because I as the eternal Son of God sent by the
Father, and before I was sent, sanctified, set apart for this
purpose, to accomplish His will, to magnify His name and the salvation
of His people? Are you saying that Somehow I
am blaspheming? No. In fact, this is driving
home the fact that Psalm 82 cannot be fulfilled by a mere man, but
only by the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, and that's the message
of Psalm 82. And so he says here, to finish
this part here, are you saying that I'm blaspheming because
I said I am the son of God? If I do not the works of my father,
believe me not, but if I do though you believe not me, believe the
works that you may know and believe that the father is in me and
I am in him. So he's saying to them, look,
I have this authority. I have the authority of God as
the Son of God, but I was ordained and I was set apart by God for
this, and I've come to you as a man, the Christ of God. You
better listen, you better listen, because if you refuse to submit
to me, you'll die like men, and there won't be any salvation
whatsoever. So if you're going to oppose the Good Shepherd,
then you oppose your own salvation, you see. If you refuse to submit
to the Lord Jesus Christ, you refuse to submit to God the Father
who sanctified and sent him. These are his words. So you can't
say he's blaspheming by saying who he is as the son of God and
since God sent him and scripture calls those temporal sinful men
gods, then how much more is it right that he himself says, I
am the son of God? All right, back in Psalm 82.
I'm just briefly going to have to close with this, but I want
you to see this. This is the glorious gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ in this psalm. So this psalm is talking,
therefore, ultimately about the Lord Jesus Christ who would fulfill
the role of authority that God gave him, and that role was to
save his people from their sins. He would have power over their
sins by laying his life down, bearing their sins under his
own ability as the Son of God to bear up under those sins,
and to lay down his life, and then as the Son of God to take
up his life again. and therefore justify his people.
He would fulfill this role, this will God gave him to do, and
he would do it as the ultimate one who was given this authority
for God to accomplish his will and his work in the world. Because
that's what this psalm is about, how God accomplishes his will
and his work. And so here in Psalm 82, just
to close on this, he says in verse two, how long will you
judge unjustly and accept the persons of the wicked? That's
what they're supposed to judge justly. They're not to accept
the persons of the wicked, but they were doing the very opposite,
these sinful men. So what would the Lord Jesus
Christ do then? And what do the preachers of the gospel do who
are also men under Christ? Well, they're going to judge
justly, and they're not going to accept the persons of the
wicked. So how do they do that? Well, there's only one way that
God is going to judge justly. and his name be glorified. It's
through the righteousness of God, which the gospel is. The
gospel teaches us, is revealed in the gospel, the righteousness
of God, which is the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ unto
death and fulfillment of all of God's law. And in putting
away of the sins of his people and enclothing them in this very
righteousness so that When God's people trust and look to Christ
only as their righteousness, what are they doing? They're
submitting. They're obeying the One God has given all this authority
to. Jesus said, this is the will
of Him that sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes
on Him should not perish, but have eternal life. And I'll raise
Him up at the last day. So that's the will, that's the
work, and God teaches us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So
if the Lord says this, from Romans chapter 8, if God himself says
this in Romans 8, who can lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? It is God who justifies. And
who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
who is risen again, who is even seated at the right hand of God,
who also maketh intercession for us. If that's what God is
saying, then what will those who are under God's authority
say? They'll say what the Lord says,
won't they? And isn't that what this means
here, to judge justly is to declare that in Christ the righteousness
of God is manifested because God is both just and the justifier
of the ungodly in the blood of his son. And so, in verse three
he says, defend the poor and fatherless and do justice to
the afflicted and needy. The poor and fatherless, the
afflicted and the needy, those are poor sinners who hear the
gospel. And the gospel comes to them about the Lord Jesus
Christ, who was sent of God, sanctified and sent by the Father
in order to lay down his life for the sheep. And they hear
his voice and they believe him, they come to him, and they could
never be happier than to trust him and know that he who laid
his life down for them is the Lord of glory. able to do all
of His will, and so they trust Him, and they want Him to have
the glory too, because only He can. He's done the work, and
only He can do it. And so, in verse 4, deliver the
poor and needy, rid them out of the hand of the wicked, And
you can see this throughout scripture, how the Lord Jesus Christ came
to the aid, to the help, and the defense of those, like in
John 8, the poor woman taken in adultery, and so many other
places where the Pharisees and scribes accused them, and he
defended them, and he stood in the gap, and he bore their sins,
so that he could remove those sicknesses that afflicted them,
because he bore them himself. And he did it according to the
will of God. He did it to the honor of God's law. He did it
to the honor of God's own name. And that's a faithful man. That's a faithful servant of
the Lord. And that's why this psalm is
so powerful. And so at the last verse he says,
Arise, O God, Judge the earth, for thou shalt inherit all nations."
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of every person and the
Lord of all. But specifically, He's the God
and the Lord and the Savior of God's elect. And they love to
have it that way. And the difference is, as we
saw in John chapter 10, those who hated the Lord Jesus Christ
did not believe Him. And they could not, ultimately
they could not because they were not his sheep. Because the Lord
Jesus said, only the sheep hear my voice and they follow me. All right, may the Lord cause
us to follow Christ, believing him, trusting him, and doing
all for his name's sake as the scriptures teach us to do. And
in the process of doing that, trust that even in these places
of authority that God has given to us to humble us, because we
need humbling. I'm speaking to myself. to humble
us and to teach us to obey the Lord in these things that he
would give us that grace. Let's pray. Father, thank you
for your word. Thank you for your goodness in
everything you do. Lord, we admire who you are,
sovereign And yet you give to the Lord Jesus all your work
to do and all your glory to be His glory because He fulfilled
all your work. And help us to also glorify you
in Him by trusting Him and following Him as your dear sheep. We pray,
Lord, this grace by your Spirit enable us to trust Christ, to
love Him and to follow Him all the days of our life. Don't let
us go. We pray, hold us fast and keep us. Deliver us from
the wicked. and defend us and cause us, Lord,
to receive the proclamation justified by the blood of my Son. In Jesus'
name we pray. Amen.