Principles of Position Lesson 14
Mike Doyle · Jul 17, 2016
Principles of Position, No. 28
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926536311718

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

So we're in less than 13. And Russ says that we got through. We're down to question six. We finished. Oh, we finished seven. Guys are faster than I am. So question eight. Well, maybe we ought to set this up a little bit. We've been dealing with questions that have to do with identification and growth, spiritual growth, and we're investigating kind of what spiritual growth is, what the attitude of someone like the Apostle Paul is about those that he ministers to. It's almost like childbirth, rebirthing. And we talked about why it was so important that God identify us with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. And we talked about if you're not established in the identification truths, It's really tough to be fruitful. I know there's a lot of busyness that goes on in Christianity, but to be really fruitful, I think you have to be established.

Because what would be the basic reason why, if you're not established in identification truths, yet you're a really good Christian worker, why you wouldn't get very far? And why you wouldn't be very fruitful? Why wouldn't you be? I think it would be because you would be depending on yourself too much.

Okay, you're depending on yourself. Anybody else? If you don't know identification, then what's the default position in terms of what you're working on? You're working on self. And what are you trying to do to self? Make it happy. Yeah, you're trying to make it look like and act like a Christian. If you do not know you were crucified, buried and resurrected with Christ, you have no clue. You know, you read all this stuff and you're given sermons and books and all this stuff about how you should act like a Christian and what you're attempting to do is to get the old man to function like the new man.

How successful are you going to be in that endeavor? You're not going to be. You can't be. First of all, the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, their foolishness unto him. He can't know them, whether he wants to or not, he just can't.

Two is that the new man in Christ doesn't need any help, and there's a whole new operating principle in the new man, which is grace. What's the operating principle of the old man? law, which law forces you to look at yourself. Do you understand why? Because you always have to check and see how you're doing. It's like the speedometer in your car. You're always checking to see if you're over the limit or not. Where grace, you don't ever have to check.

All you have to do is rest in the provision that God has made for you. So when you know that you've been crucified, buried, and resurrected with the Lord Jesus, it changes not only what you understand, but it also changes the modus operandi in which you function and live as a Christian. So, what does God do if we refuse his path of the cross? What does he do? And we're talking about believers. What do you think he does?

Let's say that And I've met a lot of people who said, well, you know, I studied those identification truths and give me a break with that. Or I was Saturday, Friday, I was at the gym listening to this David Jeremiah and he's trying to explain Colossians 3, 1 through 3 and identification.

He hasn't got a clue. He hasn't got a clue. Because he says identification allows you to work on the old man and make him better. He said, you've died to the bad stuff of the old man, but now you get the chance to work on the good stuff. He doesn't get it.

So if you refuse the path of the cross, and what's the path of the cross? Death, burial, resurrection, ascension and seeding. All of that is the path of the cross. But the death part is the most important part because it separates you from all that you were in Adam. And as we've talked about, identification separates you from a lot more than just yourself. Give me some of the other things it separates you from. world. What else? Law? Sure.

The power of Satan over you. He's still there blowing smoke in your ear, but he doesn't have any power over you anymore. So, let me read a couple of things. When we are self-centered and refuse the path of the cross, we think little of others and everything of ourselves. It's interesting. Christians are really, really good at sort of putting holy water on a sentence like that and make it look like I'm not really thinking of myself when in fact I am. And if you're walking in the Spirit, you can bust them any time. Just watch what they do. We scheme, fight, maneuver, and even pray to abide alone.

But the Lord Jesus has established the principle of whosoever will, will save his life, shall lose it, no fruit, no harvest. Whosoever will lose his life for my sake, always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, the same shall save it, shall see it multiplied and harvested in others. So if you desire, as you grow spiritually, one of the cool things that happens is that we, from a default position, are self-centered, right? I mean, we don't have to learn how to be self-centered. We are. You want to see self-centered? Come downstairs with me at 1015 with the kids. They're wonderful kids, but they're self-centered. That's all about them, right? And watch how they operate.

And then, as you're privileged to watch God work in their lives as they go along, they begin to start some of them do, start caring about somebody else. And I genuinely care about them, not so that they'll like them back, but they just care. And that's the characteristic of the new life in Christ. And you can see that in adults and kids, as the principles of spiritual growth are implemented by the Spirit in a person's life, they slowly but surely become less and less self-focused, self-important, and begin to be more and more focused on others. And it isn't because they tried. It's just the way life is. You don't wake up and say, OK, Lord, I've worked really hard for 16 years. Now, starting today, I'm going to be other-focused.

And the reason for that is that as you get to know the Lord Jesus more intimately, like any person that you really love and you get involved with, you really are interested in what they're interested in, right? I mean, when you're married and you love your spouse, it's important to you that you are interested, whatever their interest is, interests you, just because it's their interest. It's the same way with the Lord. As we grow, we find, I wonder what He's interested in. Yeah, He's growing me up, and I know it's not about me, it's about Him. So when it becomes about Him, I begin to think, What's his deal? What's he focused on? What is he focused on? What's he focused on? His body. Isn't that cool? He's focused on his body all the time. Every one of you and me. All the time. So guess what? You're going to think, oh, that's cool.

I've learned that lesson. That my Lord is focused on the body of Christ. So am I. I'm interested in what's going on with them and how the Lord is working with them and what He's doing. And it doesn't matter whether the sheep stink or not. You're in the game. And it's gracious. There's no strain. And you don't have to be smart. You just have to love. And the love comes from the new life.

So that's what God does if you refuse the path of the cross. Look what you lose. So if you refuse the path of the cross, the spirit says, well, you know, Ralph really did upset me, so I'm not going to deal with him anymore. I'm just going to let him go his merry way. Is that what he does? No, he never stops. He never stops. And why doesn't he stop? The work isn't finished. is love, so he constantly loves. OK.

Think about this. From a positional standpoint, how does God view you? Where are you? What are you doing? In Christ you have a position. So it would be totally inconsistent with God not to deal with you that way. Do you see that? It would be totally inconsistent with you as a parent not to try to grow your kid up. Right? It just wouldn't work. It doesn't fit. So, the camper is back. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. It's a conditional verse.

And you do, you realize, I mean, if you have any awareness of all about old man, new man, and who you are and who you were, there comes a time, I think, when you realize, well, you know, those guys down at Holly Hills are kind of weird, but I love all of them. What does that teach you?

I have passed from death to life. I'm doing what's normal in the body of Christ. I'm not trying, I just do. It's like when one of us will get sick or get in a very tough position and that love comes reciprocally towards you and it blows you away. It really does. You think, wow, that whole bunch of flunkies down at Holly Hills are praying for me and they care about me and they love me. And I know that they do. And they're holding me up.

And so that's the way the body of Christ is to function. I keep emphasizing it's not stressful. It isn't. It's just the way the life of Christ is. So, let's go to 9. How do we become willing for the Spirit to take self into death? I'm going to read it again because I want you to think about what the question is asking. How do we become willing for the Holy Spirit to take self into death. The Holy Spirit patiently uses everything and everyone in his process of bringing us to the grain of wheat stage.

When we are self-centered and carnal, he applies the appropriate pressures So you who have pressure in your life, you shouldn't be surprised. And it's the appropriate pressure. Have you ever noticed how what God would do in a pressure in my life would be totally different from Joe or totally different from Wayne? But because it's my pressure, it's perfectly suited to me. Ever notice how he does that? Because I can handle Wayne's problems no sweat. He looks at me and says, what's the big deal with Doyle? He can't, you know. I don't know why he's having such a trouble.

It's because everything that happens to us is suited to us. Like Monica. What's happening with her is suited to her. You see that? And so as we pray for people in the circumstances, we must realize that God and His sovereignty has suited out all of that for that person, and for that person, and for that person. And it's perfect. to bring them along. You see that? So, Donna?

So why do we pray about trials? I don't know, because we're immature? I don't know. What do you think? I think it's okay to pray about trials as long as you recognize what to say. If you listen to the trials, like I never pray that Monica would get well unless it be God's will. I've been praying, we've been praying for two years or so for Norm, Avery. Is his trial suited to him?

Yeah. We pray that we'd like to see him again, come hang around with us. I think that's perfectly suitable. But I think there's an understanding that whatever the circumstances are, are suited to them. I think it's ridiculous for us to say, God, you need to stop doing that. Because if he suits a trial just to you, who am I to say, no, I don't think that's the right thing, you better stop. I think it matters how you pray.

They do. And for our believing, too. Yeah. Most of the time I think, boy, I'm glad I don't have your troubles. No kidding. But there is a growth in that. We're watching how the Lord is leading in their life and it's affecting our life. You learn so much just by, you know, every believer in the Body of Believers Union, they've all got something going on. Because the Spirit of God doesn't neglect any of us. He's growing us all up. And His greatest tool is need. And a lot of times we don't recognize, oh, that's the need just for them.

And we should pray about that. I can remember way early, oh my goodness, 30 years ago, when somebody in our family was pregnant and she was in the hospital with blood clots and the word went out. We have to pray for her that God do something about the blood clots, right? So I'm alone in bed at night and I'm praying and I'm thinking, wait a minute, maybe God wants those blood clots. He's got something to teach her.

So that's how I prayed. I couldn't tell anybody for five years that's how I prayed. But it just made real sense to me. Wait a minute, this is God's doing. Did He create it so we'd all pray, you know? And then here's the other nonsensical deal. If we can get more people to pray, God will listen. Which one gets the code just right? It's so dumb.

Well, now I've learned, through Wayne and my daughter, that you just can't keep praying the same thing over and over. I mean, even my daughter, she says, you know, I have to let go. And you just can't keep saying, well, in the beginning, yes, oh, please heal him, you know, help him. But now it's more like... Sure. Or it's, I think it's, you know, where do your prayers, where do you get them? Something happens and now you think, oh, I ought to pray. So how do you know what to pray about? The circumstances? How do you know what to pray about?

The Holy Spirit should have a say in it. Sure. He has a say in it. We should pray from God's throne down to the circumstances. Which means we ought to find out what his attitude is about this. And a lot of times you'll find that it's okay to pray for their healing, but when Paul got the thorn in the flesh, what's the first thing he did? He went to God and complained. He said, I want this gone. This is not neat. After three times, what was his attitude? Not my will but yours. Not my will but yours. Glory in my suffering.

So what? As death works in me, there might be life in others. See? And so that's an understanding. So the Lord sets up a situation where you have to go to him. Right? And you think you got all the answers. I'm going to go and ask him to do A, B, and C. But every time you go to him and talk to him, you start to get an understanding about, what is really going on here?

And how would you really have me pray about this? It's almost as if you're emptying your heart so that the Lord can fill it. So even though the prayer may be repetitive, a day long, however long that prayer is, the Lord is actually using that to empty you so that your focus can be on Him. And I don't think he, you know, what is he doing in terms of each one of us?

He's teaching us to go to him about stuff. To go to him to be instructed as to how he would have us function. Not, listen to me God, I've got something here, you know. And he may say, well, you know, we're going to pray about something else. I got that handled, you know. So, I can't, maybe put it this way. Now Stanford made a very interesting application. He said as a young believer, and I don't know how you describe what a young believer is in terms of time, they will pray to God to fix a circumstance and he'll fix it immediately.

And he does it to encourage them. But then there comes a day that they pray and he does not do what they want him to do. And they sweat and they whine and they cry and they pray louder and they get their buddy to pray and nothing happens. What's he doing?

He's teaching us that he is going to change us in the middle of the circumstance and not move the circumstance. That's really important for us to learn. that God is about changing us in the circumstance so that we are intelligent, spiritually intelligent about things and about people and about circumstances. And we learn that part of spiritual growth is I'm not a baby anymore, I don't run to mom every time something happens and she fixes it. Well you got to grow up someday and you realize that well God has got other purposes for our life and my life that are beyond my sucking my thumb. And oh Lord, fix it.

So, in line of how do we become willing for the Holy Spirit to take self into death? The first thing is, I think, is we begin to see, and listen to this next part, and hate the self-life for what it is. You start to go down that road in Romans 7 where it says, In me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing. And we avoid that and try to run away from it as often as we can because we think, Boy, if I admit that in my flesh dwells no good thing, I'm losing my identity. I'm losing who I am as a Christian. No. My sin nature is irrevocably corrupt.

And I have to come to the realization that I learn and begin to hate the self-life. Some of you guys are slow learners and I've been watching you for years. We never speed it up. Well, you know, if you weren't so fragile, God could really get busy with you. No, I'm kidding.

So, at the same time, when we begin to see and love the Lord Jesus just for who He is. So you've got the two-edged sword here. You have the appreciation of hate for the self-life and an appreciation or a love for the Lord Jesus for just who He is. Those are the two big principles.

Not I, but Christ. We have lived all of our lives about me. About me. It is, after all, about me. Right? And we begin to find out that me is not so cool. And it's the Spirit working in us to teach us that me ain't so cool. That I am irrevocably, in Adam, not redeemable. I have been condemned. In replacing me comes the Lord Jesus Christ and I begin to see Him, behold His glory and a love for Him and He starts slowly to become the center and the focus of my very existence. It isn't about me anymore, it's about Him.

So we shouldn't be surprised when the Spirit of God is working to show you, you, at the same time show you Christ. I think He shows you Christ first and as you grow in Him, you get a little bit more good look at you and you learn to reject you. Reckon yourself indeed dead unto sin, that's sin nature, and alive unto God. So if you understand that principle, it makes the process, at least from your perspective, go a little easier because you know what God's doing.

You're not surprised. Oh, I see what you're doing. Okay. I'm on board. Have any of you ever gone to God and said, don't stop. Keep going. This is not really cool, but it's alright with me wherever we're going. I want to go. Whatever you have to do, you do. And even if I complain, don't listen to me. You ever been there with the Lord? It's important.

So then it is we become willing for the Holy Spirit to take self into death in order that Christ may be formed in us. Positionally, self has already been to the cross. Conditionally, we've got to learn it. And don't you find it interesting that we won't learn it conditionally unless we give God the go-ahead. And we give Him the go-ahead by just believing His position.

Do you see that? Do you see how that works? He did everything on the cross in Christ, separated us from Adam to Christ. But conditionally, he's working it out. And he does not work it out without our cooperation, without our going along with it, without our saying, OK, let's move ahead. I see what you're doing and I trust you. I believe you. You don't see this word in the Bible, but I think it's an appropriate word.

It's called appropriation. How do you appropriate something? If you're in the military, Ralph, how do you appropriate something? You fill out a piece of paper and give it to somebody and then you sit and wait for it to show up. So the appropriation in the Christian life is faith.

It's believing God. And as you believe Him about your position, the Spirit of God opens the door for the Spirit of God to get busy and to move you into, from a conditional standpoint, the position that you already have. Does that make sense to you? That's how it works. We are assured and know that God being the one who labors in us, all things work together. and are fitting to a plan for good to those who love God, to those who are called and designed to His design and purpose.

So, have you had anything happen to you in the last week where you said, oh, this can't be your design, God? I'm sitting out on I-25 on Friday night and there's a hailstorm and my brand new car gets hammered. I'm thinking, Lord, I paid a lot of money for this car. Now I'm thankful that the windshield didn't break, because the lady right in front of us hammered her windshield.

And that hailstorm was just right at the Tech Center. It didn't go anywhere else. It was right there. Well, yeah, it did go somewhere else. I was at Mary's, and then I left. That's just when it started. I have a question. Does anyone ever say, you know, like, I want God to be, you do whatever you have to do to grow me up. And then something happens. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I didn't mean it. No. Yes. Absolutely. I didn't mean that far.

There's there's a thing. I think there's a little paper called the padded cross. Some of you probably read it. There's God talking to a guy, and the guy says, well, you're going to have to walk the walk of the cross. And the guy says, well, have you got any of those modern crosses? The ones made out of plastic? The nice smooth ones, you know?

I don't mind doing that. And lighter weight than wood. Yeah. And he said, no, the only one we got is that rough sawn one down there. That's it. Oh, I can't carry that. That's too much for me. Oh, and I have to die on that thing? Yeah. You mean you don't have one with a little padding on it or something? That's what we're doing. We're always looking for the padding. Padding wouldn't help if you couldn't breathe anyway.

Right. So yeah, I think that's right. I think there does come a time in a believer's growing life when he does say to the Lord or she does say to the Lord, you know what? I want to know you and I don't care what it takes. You go for it. And you did the right thing in crucifying me. That was the right thing to do. I don't want you fixing me up. I'm glad I was crucified and I'm buried and now I'm resurrected. Boy, that is really, let's go with that plan. Don't fix up the old man like he was going to. No way. And it isn't how you feel about it.

For those whom he foreknew, of whom he was aware and loved beforehand, he also destined, from the beginning, foreordaining them to be molded into the image of his Son, and share inwardly his likeness, that he might become the firstborn among many brethren."

Romans 8, 28, and 29 from the Amplified Bible. Kind of cool how they did it. Isn't it interesting how God is so careful to tell us what He's doing? Those that I foreknew, those that I knew would love me and do love me, I have predetermined that they are going to be conformed to the image of my Son. Why is that so important to us, to be conformed to the image of Christ? Why is that so important to us, or should be? I guess nobody knows, huh? The big secret, maybe we ought to pray about that.

In what person does the Father find all of his satisfaction? The Lord Jesus Christ. So wouldn't it make spiritual sense that if he conforms you to the image of Christ, the Father may find all his satisfaction in you? Absolutely. I think God knows what he's doing. You see that? So he positions us in Christ and then he takes it upon himself to conform us to the image of Christ conditionally. Why? So he can say, you're my beloved son. I find no fault with you. You've been presented to me holy and blameless. And I find exactly the same delight in you that I find in my own son, the Lord Jesus. Kind of cool, isn't it? Really cool.

True or false? When Christ died unto sin, out of the realm and reign of the principles of sin, we as sinners died unto sin in Him. True or false? Anybody say it's false? True. The answer is true. It's true. Positionally, we as sinners died unto sin in Him. It's true. Second one, since we were identified with him in his death and thereby were freed from both the penalty and the power of sin, we know that we arose with him in his resurrection. It could not be otherwise.

True or false? Absolutely true. Three, God provides the facts before he calls for faith. How many say it's true? I got one false. So what do you think your answer is? True. Yeah. He does provide the facts before he calls for faith. He gives you the information first and your response to the information is faith. Just believe him. Didn't he tell you ahead of time that you were crucified, buried and resurrected? Yeah, he did. He doesn't tell me the circumstances. He's not supposed to. He tells me about himself. About himself and what he's done.

That's right. Like in the first chapter. That's right. He's not telling me about what's coming down the pipe in my life. Right. That's probably a good thing. Otherwise we'd be all worried about that and take our eyes off him. That's right. That's exactly right. Yeah, that's exactly right. But he does.

Notice how he gives us the information first, and then he asks us to believe. Why? Because you've got to have an object for your faith. Well, and if he didn't tell us, there's no way you can make that up. Yeah, so I think Bob and Wayne and I are going to sit down and we're going to figure out this gospel thing, right? Think we'd come up with this plan?

It just occurred to me that in the life of Paul, which we have as an example, the Lord revealed himself to Paul first, and instantly he said, My Lord, may he recognize it. And then after Simeon came and gave him his sight, and God restored so he could see, He took him and he showed him the things that he would suffer for his sake. And the things he was going to have to teach, which was totally new. We were talking about the way God works with us. Paul is an example of first he showed him himself. First to see the glory. And then he showed him the ministry that he had in mind.

I think that's right. And I think experientially for us sometimes what will happen is that God will show you a tremendous positional truth. It's like a top-of-the-mountain experience, right? But then the Spirit of God is going to take you all the way down to the bottom, and you're going to walk every step all the way back up so that you know. And that's really important. Why is that important? Because if your focus eventually is going to be on other people in the body of Christ, you've got to understand where they are. You've got to understand what God's doing with them.

And you have walked that path of spiritual growth, and you know. And so what do you do? You walk beside them. You don't push them or drag them, scold them or yell at them. You walk beside them because you know what's happening. You know, you're not surprised. Last one. If we are self-centered and comfortable in our Christian life, there's not going to develop a deep heart hunger to see others become grains of wheat. True or false? True.

So those of you who are comfortable, as we used to say in a Marine Corps, stand by. That whirring sound you hear is a torpedo heading right for your ego. Okay, so I think we've got time to move into the next lesson. Everybody have a 14? You did good in your mail. I did? I get everything. Sometimes you get lucky.

So we're going to talk about a couple of things I can set this up with. We're going to talk over the next little while about conscience and sin. That's going to be the topic of stuff for, oh, there's probably three chapters in the book that we're studying that have to do with sin and conscience, and I think it's a really, really critical thing to talk about. So the first thing, want to tell me what a conscience is?

Jiminy Cricket. Jiminy Cricket? What did you say? Jiminy Cricket is a conscience. What do you think it is? The Greek word is... I don't think you are at the right age to understand Jiminy Cricket. Isn't Jiminy Cricket a Disney character? Yeah, it's Pinocchio. He played the role of Pinocchio's conscience. Oh, he did?

I'm old enough to know that, I just forgot it. So, let's take a stab at what a conscience is. The word is sunadososos, I think is how you say it. It's feminine now. It means to be conscious of. It is one's own witness, one's own conscious coming forward as a witness. Where'd you get your conscience? Think so? Did Adam have a conscience? Yes. Before the fall? No way. No. No way. You can't have a bad conscience. Yes, you can. So listen, did Adam have a conscience before the fall? No. Oh, he didn't need it. Didn't need it. He was innocent, right? Right.

So, but when he took a bite out of that piece of fruit, what did he get? Well the Bible says he got the knowledge of good and evil. Now he's got a conscience. And society and the world they teach us that. It denotes an abiding consciousness whose nature it is to bear inner witness to one's own conduct in a moral sense.

Donna? Would you say it's subjective, right? Totally subjective. Is that the first spell? Yeah. It's totally subjective. In Titus 115 it says, to the pure all things are pure. But to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. Like Wanda was saying, you can have a bad conscience, yes you can. Would you say conscience is self-awareness? No, I think it is self-awareness.

Would you say that the faculty of the soul, which distinguishes both right and wrong and prompts one to choose the former and avoid the latter, It excuses your behavior or it accuses you. Okay? There's a scripture I just remembered from years ago. We spend our day either accusing or excusing. Now I don't know where that is. Yeah. We recognize a couple of things here.

One is that the fallen Adam and all of his descendants have this thing called a conscience. Did the Lord Jesus have a conscience? No, he didn't. Think about what was the motivating factor of all his actions, his activities. What did he say? I only do what I see the Father doing.

It eliminates the conscience. So, conscience can be good, can be responsive, can be helpful, or it can be just terrible. Like we all are so upset about Islam going around killing people. It doesn't bother their conscience a bit. They think it's perfectly fine because they're a little book of Koran. tells them it's okay, and so they buy it. Shooting you in the forehead is no big deal, as a matter of fact, probably a plus.

And if you study anthropology or the study of man's cultures, you find all kinds of cultures that Certain things are right in this culture that wouldn't be right in this culture. All based on conscience. So, let's dwell for a second on the conscience of the natural man. Is the conscience of the natural man reliable?

No. Why not? Because it's of the old man. Because it's the old man? It's yourself judging and what then? Why isn't it reliable? Is it faulty? Yeah, it's faulty. Why? Because of sin. Because of sin. So it's not reliable because of sin. So because man lives in a sinful condition, It renders the conscience an unreliable guide. But boy, do we rely on it. And we get the, well, I don't feel like... When you hear that, what you're hearing is someone who's checked their conscience and their conscience is telling them...

I mean, we are abhorred about all of the amorality that goes on in our country now. What's the right term? The LGB, what's the last letter? Do their conscience bother them? Nope. How about the people that are pro-abortions? Does their conscience bother them?

Obviously not. The conscience of the natural man is not reliable because of sin. Here's a couple of factors. One, because of heredity. Where did you come from? Definitely. Social and religious training. I came out of Catholicism. My conscience is different than a Baptist. Not much. Well, my conscience about the Virgin Mary would be totally different than any other religion.

My conscience about Mary appearing to people and giving them instructions, where a Presbyterian would say, well, you're crazy. And the last part is the environment you live in. The conscience of the unbeliever has an erratic range all the way from good to very bad. But either way, it's ground of reference is wrong since it's centered in the self-life. So we'll pick up with question three next week. And if Courtney comes back next week, you can tell them we got through a whole lesson and started another one.

And Mike is still smug? What's that? I said, and Mike is still smug? Still smug. I'm still growing spiritually. Someday I won't be so snug because I'll be dead. Let's close. Dear Father, how we thank you for your word and how we thank you for the truth and how careful you are to cause us to grow in the knowledge and grace of your dear son, the Lord Jesus. And we pray in his precious name. Amen.