Auto-generated - may contain small errors. Always verify with the audio version.
1 Samuel chapter 12. Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and his anointed.
Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes?
If I have done any of these, I will make it right. You have not cheated or oppressed us, they replied.
You have not taken anything from anyone's hand. Samuel said to them, The Lord is witness against you, and also his anointed is witness this day that you have not found anything in my hand.
He is witness, they said. Then Samuel said to the people, It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your forefathers up out of Egypt.
Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your fathers.
After Jacob entered Egypt, they cried to the Lord for help. And the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your forefathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place.
But they forgot the Lord their God. So he sold them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines, and the king of Moab who fought against them.
They cried out to the Lord and said, We have sinned. We have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you.
Then the Lord sent Jeroboam, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel, and he delivered you from the hand of your enemies on every side so that you live securely.
But when you saw that Nahash, king of the Ammonites, was moving against you, you said to me, No, we want a king to rule over us.
Even though the Lord your God was your king. Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for.
See, the Lord has set a king over you. If you fear the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God, good.
But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against his commands, his hand will be against you as it was against your fathers.
Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes. Is it not wheat harvest now?
Now I will call upon the Lord to send thunder and rain, and you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king.
Then Samuel called upon the Lord, and that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel.
The people all said to Samuel, Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.
Do not be afraid, Samuel replied. You have done all this evil, yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.
Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless.
For the sake of his great name, the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.
As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you, and I will teach you the way that is good and right.
But be sure to fear the Lord and to serve him faithfully with all your heart. Consider what great things he has done for you. Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.
Fear comes in all shapes and sizes. February 2006, a polar bear came into the tiny village of Ivivik, Quebec, and headed toward a group of children playing hockey in the street.
Lydia angered you. Mother of one of the children saw what was coming, and she charged at the 700-pound polar bear and began to slap and kick and fight the bear until help came.
Lydia is barely five feet tall, and she said, I weigh about 90 pounds on a wet day. Fear sends us into action.
Fear also paralyzes us. There's a little boy in the concert, and his job is to recite a number of lines, and now that he's in front of everyone, he freezes.
He can't speak. He can't move. His feet are bolted to the ground. Someone has to carry him off because he can't do his part.
Fear is a powerful emotion, and 1 Samuel 12 is about fear. We read of Israel's sin. They wanted a king. They wanted a king because they didn't believe in God, as if God had never done anything to fight for them.
They left Egypt in ashes because the Lord fought for them. And in their unbelief, they rejected God, and so God confronted them, and we read that.
It was July or August. It was sometime in the wheat harvest, and it thundered, and it rained when Samuel prayed.
You might say, what's the big deal? I think that it's very much missed on us, but in July in Israel, it doesn't rain. I'm not talking about it just rains a little.
It doesn't rain. Jerome, the early church father, he lived in Bethlehem for 22 years, and he wrote, commenting on this passage, I have never seen it rain in July.
So as the rain fell, and as the thunder echoed in their ears, they became shockingly aware of their sin.
Here is a God who can turn nature on its head. Here is a God who can flip the seasons at a word, and we have sinned against him.
It says, the people stood in awe of the Lord. They were terrified. And then Samuel says something very strange. He said, do not be afraid.
But then later, he says, fear the Lord. Do not be afraid. Fear the Lord. Fear.
That's what I want to talk to you about today, and I have three points this morning. First is a terror that is right. Second is a terror that you can't stay in.
And third, a reverence that is always right. So first, we're going to see a terror that is right. Israel has rejected God.
It's a full-scale rebellion and asking for a king. It's unbelief. God has thundered and rained upon them should they be terrified of the Lord. Should they be terrified at God's wrath?
Absolutely, yes. God is a God of absolute purity, absolute goodness. And sin calls out of God his deepest disgust, his deepest anger.
See, so often we think of God as a judge who's received some laws and he judges based on this law as if it's something apart from him. But the law is his law.
The law represents his greatest loves, his greatest concerns. And so sin is not breaking arbitrary rules. And that's how we often think of it.
Sin is just breaking these lists of rules that God just made up. No, the law is a representation of his being. It's a representation of him. And so to sin, to break that law is not impersonal.
It is an attack against God himself. And so sin is not impersonal. It is profoundly and absolutely personal. Because we sin against a person.
And that would be one thing if he had no power. But his wrath is as great as he is. And when he pours out his wrath, he leaves nothing behind.
He leaves nothing back. The terror of hell is that God is there. He's all there. And he's completely angry.
There's no escaping his anger. There's no escaping a sense of his displeasure. The heaven of heaven is God. And the hell of hell is God.
God. Is it right to be terrified of God if your sins are uncovered? Absolutely. If you have any sense in your head at all, the only response can be fear.
When Jonathan Edwards preached that famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God in Enfield, Connecticut, the people moaned. The people cried out in anguish.
Why? Because the Spirit of God came and opened their eyes to see their danger. Edwards wasn't working their feelings over.
He was a pretty plain preacher from all accounts. He wasn't good at whipping people up into an emotional fury. The Spirit of God came and opened the eyes of the men to see the reality that I am a sinner.
I have sinned against this God and I and he is angry and I am in his hands. So the danger is real.
So sinner friend, the danger is real. Even now you are in danger. The Israelites had rejected God and you have too. You've lived for you.
The essence of sin is living for you instead of living for God. And so if you live your life that way, will God stand by? Can he stand by? Can he do nothing if your whole life is an offense to him?
No, because you've done it all in his sight. You're not far away. You're in his hands. And so is there a reason to be afraid? Is there a reason for Israel to be afraid on this day?
Yes. As long as their sins were uncovered, they had every right and every expectation and every reason to be afraid. as long as God counts your sins against you, as long as he sees that on your record, that on your person, you must wake up.
You must wake up. You have to get into Christ. There's only one name under heaven given among men by which men can be saved and it's Jesus Christ. Only he can save you.
You have sinned. You need a savior. You can't save yourself. You're in the hands of an angry God. The only hope you have, the only hope there is, is Jesus Christ.
And so this is a terror that is right. It is right. But should you stay there? No, you should get into Christ. Should you stay there?
No, you should not. You should get into Jesus Christ. And after you are in Jesus Christ, after his blood has covered you. So Christians, now I'm talking to you, you have trusted in Jesus.
You've given your life to him. He's taken you and he's brought you to himself. He's united you to himself. Should you go on feeling this fear? Should this terror of punishment dominate you?
Well, this is the terror that you can't live in. This is a terror that you can't stay in. And this is our second point. This is why Samuel says, do not be afraid.
He brings comfort to them. He says, do not be afraid. Well, why say don't be afraid? They've sinned. They've sinned against God. He's angry. Yes, but in their fear, they were only looking at a certain side of God.
They were only looking at his justice. They were only looking at his majesty. Here's a God who can turn over nature. They were only looking at a certain side of God.
And you see that, that this is what they're focused on. This is what they're zeroed in on. God is a God of anger. He's a God of wrath. And you see that. What do they say?
Pray that we don't die. It wasn't a fear that had yet hoped in God. It wasn't a fear that had yet embraced God's mercy, had trusted God's mercy, had trusted God's grace.
It was a legal fear. It was a fear that came from the broken law. And so all they saw was we've sinned and God is angry, but they weren't believing yet in God's goodness to them.
They just hoped to escape. They don't feel close to God. They feel far away. You see that in what they say. Pray to your God, not pray to our God.
Pray to your God. Paul in Romans 8.15 calls this a spirit of slavery to fear. A spirit of slavery to fear.
It's a fear that sees only our sin and only God's holiness, only God's justice. It's a fear that sees God as a displeased master.
It's a fear that zeroed in on punishment. And John talks about it in his first epistle. He writes this, there's no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear.
Because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. So there's these two contrasts, fear and love.
And where the one is, the one can't be. Where love is, fear can't be. And where fear is, where fear dominates, love is eclipsed, it's in the dark. And so yes, we must see our guilt, but we must go further than that.
Christians, we have to go further than that. That's what John is saying. God's love, a sense of God's love must dominate our heart and drive out this fear.
And until that happens, until the gospel and the goodness of Jesus Christ, until the sufficiency of Jesus, that he is enough, he is good, his work on the cross is enough, God has really loved me, until a sense and a weight of that falls upon us, we'll be stuck in this in-between place.
Maybe some of you are here at this in-between place, and it's a miserable life. It's knowing your sin, and yet not knowing, not really knowing, God's love and God's forgiveness.
Samuel says, do not fear, you can't stay there. Why not? Some people think it's a good idea to stay in this kind of place, but Samuel didn't agree with that.
He says, do not fear, you can't stay here, because surprisingly enough, this fear that you would think would make you obey God, would make you do everything to stay close to God, actually has the exact opposite effect.
you see that in verse 20, and this is what Samuel is concerned with in this passage. Look at verse 20. Yes, you have sinned, you've done all this evil, yet do not turn away from the Lord.
Then in verse 21, do not turn away after useless idols. Now why would he say that fear if it wasn't a genuine possibility, a real possibility?
See, if they stayed in this kind of fear, and if you stay in this kind of fear, it's not going to make you obey or love God more, it's actually going to turn you to idols.
It was actually going to turn Israel to idols. And it's so important to understand what is going on here, what's going on at the heart level here? Because the very same things can easily happen to us.
My brother Stan actually mentioned it. If they stayed in this fear, it wasn't going to make them obey God or love God. Well, how does this work?
Why does terror lead to idols? And the reason is that idols are safe. Idols give us a false sense of security, a false sense of comfort. We can control them.
We can manipulate them. We can use them and get rid of them. We can pick them up and make ourselves good. We can satisfy and keep them happy.
See, they are the trees that we hide in, like Adam and Eve hid in the garden. They're the trees that we hide behind to keep us away from God. So test yourself to see if this isn't real.
Test yourself if this doesn't happen in your life because I know it happens in my life and I don't think I'm alone. You've disobeyed. Maybe you've disobeyed in a big way.
Maybe you've strayed and it's been a slow fade away from God. And now here you are. For some reason you're far away from God. You're feeling distant from Him because of your behavior, because of your sin.
And what do you do? What do you do sometimes? Don't you flee to your idols? Don't you flee to your food? Try to eat to make it feel better.
Maybe the internet. Mindless entertainment. Just sit in front of the TV. Maybe you bury yourself in something good. Maybe you have a pity party.
See, anything to stay away from God. Anything to keep that distance because we feel like going close to Him is dangerous. He's angry at me.
There's no hope of being a forgiveness, we tell ourselves. And so these idols, they can give us a false sense of peace, a false sense of acceptance. Rather than going to Jesus Christ, we turn to these idols because they provide an easy way out.
Well, why do we do that? Why do you do that? Because at least at the moment, you don't see Christ as enough.
you don't see Christ as willing to receive you out of your sin. God's love is thin to you. It's unreal.
It doesn't feel like it's enough to satisfy you, to bring you close. And so you sinned, and so you go online and you just start clicking. Maybe nothing bad. Maybe something bad.
Maybe you just click away. Just mindless preoccupation. Anything to stay away from God. God. And you see, this legal spirit that just sees me and my sin alone before a God who judges.
The spirit of bondage. If it doesn't turn us to Christ, if we don't leave it and go to Jesus Christ, we will stay there and turn to idols.
John Murray, he put it like this. We must remember that the dread of judgment, this fear that we're talking about, this dread of judgment will never of itself generate within us the love of God or hatred of the sin that makes us liable to his wrath.
Even the infliction of wrath will not create the hatred of sin. It will incite to greater love of sin and greater enmity against God.
Why are people in hell suffering the wrath of God and yet not turning away from their sin, not stopping? Why do they just keep going more and more? It's because this fear of judgment will actually turn us to hate God more and more.
And so if we stay in this fear, if we live in this fear, a Christian, if you're dominated by this fear, it will actually incite you to sin and enmity against God.
And that's why Samuel says, do not be afraid. You have to leave that fear behind. Do not be afraid. You can't stay here. But Samuel goes on and he says, fear the Lord. That's in verse 24.
He says, do not be afraid. Verse 24, fear the Lord and serve him faithfully. Now this is our third point. Here is a reverence that is always right. It's always right.
So do not be afraid. Fear the Lord. Is that a contradiction? Is that a contradiction? Is that like saying be afraid?
What's the difference? Well, the first fear, it sees only God as displeased. It sees me without Christ. It sees me without the gospel.
I don't relate to me. I'm not identifying with Jesus Christ. I'm just thinking about me and God and my performance, my behavior, what I've been doing. But what Jesus has done is not there and that's not in the picture.
But the fear of the Lord, fearing the Lord that Samuel talks about here, it takes in all of God. It doesn't look at one side of God.
It doesn't believe just one thing of God. It believes all that the Bible reveals. It takes in God's faithfulness. It takes in God's love. It takes in God's goodness. It takes God's compassion and mercy and pity.
And see, it brings in more of God. It includes all of God. By faith, we believe all that the Bible says. And so this is a reverence, this is an esteem that comes from feeling the weight of all of God on my soul.
It's a worship that embraces God as he is revealed in Jesus Christ. As Jesus is clothed in the gospel and comes to us, we experience this fear, this esteem, this respect of God that is different from that terror that we talked about.
And so, yes, I have sinned, but Jesus Christ has covered all my sins. And it's this fear that's the beginning of wisdom that Proverbs talks about.
It's this fear that is the whole duty of man, Ecclesiastes says. It's the whole duty of man because it's all about worship. Worship's at the heart. So, of course, it's all about the whole duty of man.
And this is what Samuel's talking about. Now, where does it come from? We've seen where the spirit of bondage comes from. But where does this fear, this reverence that Samuel talks about?
Where does it come from? Look at verse 22. It comes from a place of security. It doesn't come from uncertainty. It comes from a place of security. For the sake of his great name, the Lord will not reject his people.
The Israelites thought, we've sinned, it's done, we're over, he's done with us, he'll destroy us. The only hope we have is if Samuel begs for us. Samuel says, don't be afraid, the Lord will not reject his people.
This reverence doesn't come from wondering if God will accept you. It doesn't come from wondering if God loves you, if God is committed to me or not. It comes from knowing that I belong.
I belong. I'm his son. And that's what Paul says in Romans 8. Remember, he said, we don't have the spirit of fear anymore, the slavery anymore.
Instead, he says, you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you receive the spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, Abba, Father.
The spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Where does this reverence and this esteem come from? Not from wondering if he still loves me.
Not from wondering, will he accept me? Am I still his? Does he not like me or not? It comes from the Holy Spirit that says, you are God's child.
That's God himself speaking right into your own heart. You're my child. My standing is from Christ. We're his, and he's our father because of what Jesus has done, and he won't leave us.
He won't forsake us. He's taken us to himself. He's made us his. And that fear, it comes from realizing that he would do that for us.
That he would make sinners his very own. And that's when you feel the glory of it. To the degree that you see your sinfulness is the degree that you will appreciate and cherish your adoption.
If your sin's a little thing, then I'll guarantee you that your adoption is a little thing. If you think little of adoption, you think little of your sin.
It works backward the other way, too. What do you think of your sin? Well, how much do you cherish your adoption? Little adoption, little sin.
Now, the reality is this kind of love is shocking when it hits you. love. And these are sweet times. It grips the soul and it makes us say, what kind of God is this?
What kind of God is this that he would love a wretch like me? This is out of my realm of experience. There's no category to fit this in. He's awesome.
He's awesome in his love. So this fear comes from knowing that I belong. where does it come from? Look at verse 24. Be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart.
Consider what great things he has done for you. Where does this esteem come from? It comes from considering what he's done for you. So why had they, let's go back, why had they asked for a king in the first place?
Well, because they weren't remembering what God had done for them. They went after the idol of a king because they weren't remembering what God had done. He had saved them out of Egypt.
And so Egypt is just in shambles after God gets done with them. They forgot all that. Remember how the Egyptians are like, here, take our gold, take our silver, you want my earrings?
Go, just go. Get out of here. That was God fighting for his people. That was God being good to his people. They forgot all that. He heard when they cried. He heard their cry and he had compassion on them.
And then he forgave them again and again in the time of the judges. We read about that. But none of that was in their minds. Their salvation was small.
The glory and the grace of God was small to them. And so Samuel says, consider, think about what he's done. If you are in the spirit of bondage where you just, God is just looming over you, Christian, the remedy is to think, to think about what he's done.
How much of that are you doing? Do you just have a route from your sin right into the idol and it takes you forever to get back to God? Do you like to play around with your idols for a long time because you're afraid?
Or are you stuck in the spirit of bondage? Is God a looming terror to you? Well, what do you need? You need to remember what he's done for you. So we go to the cross of Jesus Christ and there we see God's beloved son, his precious one.
And there he is and he's wracked with pain and he's bleeding and he's suffering under the wrath of God.
The deepest stroke was the stroke that justice gave and he's bearing sin's curse and he's cut off from God and he's bleeding and he's crying out because he's thirsty.
He's the water of life and yet he has nothing to drink. He's the living one. He's the lawgiver and yet he's condemned. Is that a God that's far off, Christian?
Is that a God who doesn't care about you? That you can't be certain of? Or consider the promises of God for you. I will live with them and walk among them.
I will be their God and they will be my people. I will be a father to you and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
Promises, those promises to be your father, to be your God, that has a direct line to reverence.
So where does this fear that is the soul of godliness come from? It comes from thinking about what God has done for you. It comes from thinking about God's promises to you. How real, how solid, how life-giving, how satisfying they are.
It's from his promises to you, from the cross. Well, what else can we say about this fear that Samuel talks about? Well, it's a fear that works. Remember, we talked about there's fear that paralyzes, there's fear that sends into action.
This reverence is a fear that it's not a terror, but it does send us into action. It doesn't paralyze us. The spirit of bondage actually paralyzes you.
But this fear sends you to work. Fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. So this fear doesn't paralyze us, it sends us to work.
And so when the weight of God's glory, when the weight of God's goodness, when the weight of God's salvation and love and holiness and justice, when all that weighs on your soul, when it's almost palpable that you can feel how great he is, then you want to serve him with all your heart.
You will not do the bare minimum. You can't do it because he deserves the best. And I will give him the best. He's so great. So this fear serves God, but it also turns away from sin.
Verse 25, yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away. What was the opposite of persisting in evil? The opposite was fearing the Lord.
It's impossible to be amazed at God's greatness, at God's love, at God's power, and say, I'll just do whatever I want. I'll just do what pleases me.
Those two things don't go together. They can't go together. And so the people that reason he loves me, he'll forgive me, I'm secure, I'm loved, to, well, I guess I'll just do whatever I want.
Guess my sin doesn't matter all that much, only show how little they understand grace. And they only show how little they understand their sin.
See, they're still thinking of sin as just a bunch of arbitrary rules. And now God's fine with me. So what does it matter? They don't see the personal-ness of sin.
And they haven't really felt like God is their father yet. Because who would ever do that to a father who loved them?
So imagine just a poor, desperate child. Alone, helpless, orphaned, needy, impoverished.
And a man travels hundreds of miles and finds him and loves him and adopts him and showers him with love. He brings him into the family. He puts his name on the will.
He gives him a permanent place in the family. And then he says, no matter what you do, I'll love you. When you're bad, I'll love you. When you're good, I'll love you. Now what about if that boy said, well, my father will always love me, so I'll just go break his heart.
I'll just do whatever I want. It doesn't matter. He'll forgive me. What's wrong with that picture? Well, you would say, you missed the father's heart.
You were hearing the words, you were hearing what he said, but you were missing his heart. You see, this makes all the difference in the world. And I don't think there's anything more practical than this.
And so let me show you how it works itself out. And I'll do it in a story. So imagine that you were born a servant in a castle. And your job was to bring the food, set the food before the king.
And he's a great king, glorious king, majestic king, powerful king, the most powerful one in the whole world. and he held your life in his hands.
He executed men every day in his justice. And he had a certain way that he liked things.
And he had guests over often. And he wanted his table and his food just a particular way because that way it's a reflection on him. So he wanted a good table that looked good.
And so there you are, a servant in that house. He's a great king and there's expectations. He's a particular king, there's demands. Now let me ask you, in what state of mind would you serve him better?
So we're talking about your state of mind. We're talking about your heart. What's going on here? In what state of mind would lead you to serve him better? Now if you saw his requirements and said, I have to do these things or he'll punish me, he's always watching me, he's always breathing down my neck, as soon as I fall he's going to slam me down and get rid of me.
Would that kind of attitude lead you to a happy service? Good service, quality service? Well maybe for a little while it might. You wouldn't have your heart, but outwardly it would look good.
would. But eventually not. Eventually not. Because think of how you would feel. How would I feel? I would be very nervous all the time.
My hands would shake when I brought the food to him. And it wouldn't help me at all carefully bring out the dishes because I'd be so worried that I'm going to spill something. If I'm going to spill something, well I'm going to spill something.
And it probably wouldn't make me serve him with much joy. I would do anything. Anything to not be there. Oh I'm sick today, I can't go in.
Oh you want to take my shift? You can take my shift. You can take my place. I don't want to go in there. I don't want to be with him. I can't go to work. I'm afraid to serve him. Do you see Ashley that fear would probably even do more than that.
It probably do more than that if I could get away with it. It might make me want to escape altogether. First chance, the first open door that I can get out the castle and make my way out of there, I'm gone.
And sometimes I would say I wish he didn't exist. My life would be better if he wasn't in it, if I was never born in this castle. How different would it be if you loved, you revered the king, and he knew that besides being powerful, being majestic, being glorious, dishing out, dealing out justice, that he was wonderfully patient, completely kind.
He was generous and giving. Yes, he was powerful. Yes, he was majestic, but mixed with all that was an abundance of love and goodness.
Now, how would his expectations look then? See, before his expectations would be bad because, well, they're just ways that I can mess up, but now his expectations would be different. He likes the dishes this way?
He likes his food cooked that way? Okay, that is good. Now I know I can serve him better. Oh, he doesn't want it done that way? Okay, I won't do it that way. He deserves my best.
He deserves the best I can give. And you wouldn't want to make a mistake, not because you're afraid that he would banish you, but because he deserves your very best.
I don't even want to slip up on accident. And if you loved him, then you would have joy in your work. You get to serve the king every day.
You get to wake up and you get to give him your little service. You get to be with him. You get to be near him.
You get to set his table and you get to bring joy to his heart. His smiles there to live for. They bring joy to your heart and go away.
Go away? Desert him? Never. He's my king. I'll never leave him. He's where life is. He's too glorious to leave.
See, there's two kinds of fears. In 1 Samuel 12, we see both kinds. And the question I want to ask is which fear dominates you?
What fear marks your relationship with God? Lord, I that you would search out our hearts and help us to answer these questions.
and if we are in the place where we have uncovered sin that we are out of Jesus Christ I pray that you would open our eyes for there are people here who have never given themselves to Jesus have never laid down their arms have never fallen into his arms I pray that you would show yourself to be majestic and holy pray for my brothers and sisters that labor in the spirit of bondage and slavery to fear Jesus come in and sweetly call them away Father come and show them that you are their father and spirit I pray that you would testify to them that they are loved I pray for those who have come to know more and more of this reverence I pray that you would take them deeper into your glory deeper into your goodness deeper into your justice so that they can look at all of you and find a reason to praise you thank you for what you have shown us in the gospel pray that you would now do your work in our own hearts in Jesus name
Amen