The Family

My assignment this evening was to address the issue of the family, and I think it's incredibly relevant during this season. You may be aware of this, but I find that some people are not. But during the COVID nineteen lockdown, all over the world, domestic violence is up. Several fold. UH. Child abuse. Is up most physical abuse and sexual abuse of children is up several fold. Suicide is up all over the world. You know, people are in the midst of economic ruin. UH. Pornography is at an all time high. Read an article today in the Economists UH about the boom in the pornography industry because people are on lockdown and isolated, and the people who tend to consume that kind of material are people who self isolate. Anyway, Now, these and other dynamics are occurring. On a smaller level. There are tensions that are arising between husbands and wives and parents and children, and between siblings. There's frustration that has arisen. And all of these things bring us around to a reality that's always been there but now is heightened. And that reality is this. If you want to know who a person really is spiritually, don't watch them at church, don't watch them at work. Watch them at home, because there are people who go to work every day and they are model employees, but when they get home, they are individuals who come to church, couples who come to church and sit next to each other and smile all pretty. And they fought like cats and dogs all the way to the parking lot, and they immediately shut it down so that they could put on a shelf for everyone in the congregation. Oh, yes, we know how to pretend. But the place where we are who we are, the place where the masks come off, now literally as well as physically, the place where the masks come of. Is at home. And what this means is that over the last several weeks and months, those of us who belonged to Christ have had an opportunity to examine ourselves, and some of us have been rather disappointed in what we've found. As the tensions rise, as the uncertainty rises, as we live in close quarters and we don't get to pawn our children off on someone else but have to be with them all the time, all of a sudden we see, well, there's a passage scripture that I believe shed some light on the significance of this and can be helpful to us. It's found in perhaps an unusual place you might not think of it. Genesis chapter forty two. In Genesis chapter forty two, at the beginning of the chapter, if you remember chapter thirty seven, we're introduced to Jake and his sons and the Jacob is one of the worst fathers in all of scripture. He makes choices between his sons. He pits his sons against each other. He makes choices and has favorites. He gives gifts to his favorites in a way that exposes this reality to the other siblings. He chooses these favorites. Based upon which of his wives gave birth to the children. His two favorites ended up being the two children that were finally born to the wife whom he loved. Remember there was Ray children and there was Leah. He gets fooled by Laban and he has to work seven years to get the second wife. But the wife who he loves is barn and she finally gives birth. She gives birth to Joseph Benjamin. The other boys despise Joseph because Joseph's mother is the favorite, and they don't like their mothers being mistreated or despised in favor of her, and because Joseph is the favorite, and he gets this multi colored coat that is the symbol of him being the favorite. And on top of that, he has. These dreams, these dreams that in his mind seem to point to him being a great man and lording it over his brothers, and so finally, fed up with him, they decide to murder him. To catch that, they decide to murder. Him, And listen, I am not speaking about those events that happen between brothers. Anyone who has siblings and grew up with siblings, if you grew up with siblings in your house, you had a moment where one or. Both of you said, I'm going to kill you. However, earlier on in the text, Joseph's brothers had wiped out an entire village because of what they did to their sister. You see, it's one thing when one sibling says to another sibling, I want to kill you. It's another thing when a mass murderer decides, a mass murderer who's already murdered multiple people, decides that he's going to commit murder. And that's what happened. Joseph's brothers some of whom had committed mass murder had decided to kill him, but God spares his life life sends him to Egypt as a slave. After a while as a slave, he ends up as a prisoner, and after a while as a prisoner, he ends up in the palace with Pharaoh. Pharaoh has a dream and he interprets the dream. There is a famine that comes, and so grain is set aside during the seven years of plenty, so that during the seven years of famine there is grain in Egypt. And in chapter forty one, Joseph's brothers come to Egypt, all but Benjamin. They come to Egypt, and they have to deal with Joseph, but they don't know that it's him. And before revealing himself to his brothers, Joseph tests his brothers. And the way that he tests his brothers is quite telling. The way that he tests his brothers indicates that Joseph understands the point that I made earlier that if you really want to know who someone is, you find out who they are at home. So there are seven tests here in chapter forty two. I'll list these for you and then we'll look at them in turn. Test number one did you kill Benjamin? That's test number one? Did you kill Benjamin? Now, remember Benjamin is the biological full sibling of Joseph. The others are half siblings, but Benjamin has the same mother and so was favored by his father. So that's test number one. Test number two, will someone volunteer to go? Test number three? Will someone volunteer to stay? Test number four? Will someone come for simeon? Test number five? Will they steal the money? Test number six? Have they earned Jacob's trust? And test number seven have they earned Benjamin's trust? He said, Joseph doesn't just sit down with his brothers and identify himself and say have you changed? He actually examines them through these tests to determine whether or not that change has taken place, because Joseph knows what we all know. You can sit down and have a conversation with someone and they can tell you exactly what they want you to hear. You can watch someone outside of their most intimate relationships, and they can put on a show for you. Matthew, Chapter seven, Verse fifteen to twenty. Beware of false prophets who come to you in cheap's clothes but inwardly are revenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Our grapes gathered from thorn bushes, figs from thistles, So every healthy tree bears good fruit. We looked at this earlier. This is the point. What fruit do you bear, and specifically, what fruit do you bear with those people who are closest to you Two Corinthians thirteen to five. Examine yourselves to see whether you're in the faith test yourself or do you not realize this about yourself, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail to meet the test, but to examine ourselves. And I want us to use this as an opportunity to do that. I want us to use this text and these seven tests to examine ourselves. But I want us to look at our own response in the last weeks and examine ourselves Philippines two, twelve and thirteen. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and tripling for this God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. And so we look at these seven tests and examine ourselves and ask ourselves the question. Have you been changed? Have you been changed? Now? These tests are divided up into what I see as four different areas. The first is this, do the sins of your past continue to characterize your present? Do the sins of your past continue to characterize your present? Because if you belong to Christ and you have been changed, then the sins of your past do not continue to characterize your present. And this is found in the first test. If you look at verses twelve to sixteen, the question essentially is have you murdered Benjamin or is Benjamin still alive? Look at verse beginning at verse twelve of chapter forty two. He said to them, know that. They said that, you know, we just came here to buy grain. That's why we're here. He said to them, No, it is the nakedness of the land that you have come to see. And they said, we, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. And behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more. But Joseph said to them, it is a lie. Joseph said to them, sorry, it is as I said to you your spies. By this, you shall be tested by the life of Pharaoh. You shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Imagine this from Joseph's perspective. There's a group of ten Hebrews who show up. Ten brothers who show up. He hasn't seen them in decades, but he knows them. He knows precisely who they are. They don't recognize him because their assumption is that he's dead. But there are ten of them, not eleven like there should be, There are only ten of them. Then he approaches the these ten who were going to kill him but instead put him in a pit and sold him. And he looks and he counts, and not only does he count, but he ticks off the names. And just as he fears, there is one who is absent. And the one who is absent is the one who shares with him the one thing that caused them to hate and despise him. He was born of the same mother, and now he's not here. What question has to run through your mind? Did they kill Benjamin? Did they kill Benjamin? Are these men who stand before me still characterized by the sins that characterize them in the past? Or have they been changed. If they've been changed, then Benjamin can be brought here, and I won't believe that they've been changed unless and until I see my baby brother brought here. This is test number one. Do the sins of your past continue to characterize your present one Corinthians six, verses nine through eleven. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor our dolagers, nor adulters, nor men who practice almosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed. You are sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the spirit of our God, God changes those who belong to him. Have you been changed? Or do the sins of your past continue to characterize your present? Have you been changed? Or do you continue to make excuses for your sin? Have you been changed? Or would the people who knew you before you claim to be a believer recognize you all too well because of the same things that characterize you. Now that used to characterize you, then, have you been changed? Does this mean? Does this mean that when you become a believer, that all of a sudden you know that you never struggle anymore. This all of a sudden, you just immediately quit everything. I'm always leery of people who give those kinds of testimonies, you know, the person who says, you know, I used to smoke cigarettes, or I used to drink and get drunk, and you know, and I became a Christian and all of a sudden, that second, I never had a desire for it again, I just be honest with you. My knee jerk reaction to that is probably not true. Probably not true, because that's generally not how sanctification works. Am I saying that it's not possible for that to happen? Of course, I'm not saying that with God all things are possible, But that's usually an exaggeration meant to make someone's testimony sound more miraculous. That's generally not how sanctification works. And the reason it bothers when I hear that is because I know that there are people out there whose testimony is not like that, Because that's generally not how sanctification works. And then all of a sudden people are out there and they say, well, I must not really be saved, because that didn't happen to me. I struggled, and I struggled, and I struggled, and every once in a while, when I think it's completely done with, I sometimes struggle again. But apparently when you're really saved, just like that, no sas sanctification is a process. Listen to our confession, Second London Baptist Confession, Chapter thirteen. I'll read these three paragraphs because they're incredibly important on sanctification. They who are united to Christ, effectually called regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, are also farther sanctified really and personally through the same virtue. We talked about that this morning. You're not justified by one virtue and then sanctified by another virtue. It's the same virtue, his word and spirit dwelling in them. The dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened. Notice the phrase more and more weakened, not immediately taken away, more and more weakened and mortified, and they more and more quickened and strengthened into all saving graces, to the practice of all true holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord. It is a process, It is progressive, It is almost never immediate. Paragraph two. This sanctification is throughout in the whole man, yet imperfect in this life. Thereby it is still some remnants of corruption in every part. Whence ariseth a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh for the rest of your days. Sanctification is an ongoing process. It doesn't end till we get to glory paragraph three. It's incredibly important in which war. Although the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail, don't miss that, Saints, that remaining corruption sometimes gets the upper hand. It doesn't mean you're not a Christian. Yet, through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome. And so the saints grow and grace, perfecting holiness and the fear of God pressing after a heavenly life, and even their obedience to all the commands which Christ as Head and King in his Word has prescribed to them. We grow in grace, We grow in grace, and we seek to be characterized by the sins that characterized us in our past. Does that mean that we never have a stray thought? Absolutely not. But it means that we grow in God's grace and those things are weakened and mortified, and we in turn are strengthened in this process. And so I'm asking you not have you been completely free of any thought or deed during this lockdown that might have been a remnant of your past. But I'm asking you what are you characterized by? What are your character rised by? You see, the person who was characterized by fits of rage and anger before they come to Christ, when they come to Christ, it doesn't mean that they'll never be angry again. However, that same individual who used to have a fit of rage and anger and let it go to the full and never. Feel sorry about it. Now that individual, under the influence and power of the Holy Spirit, has anger well up in them and may even say or think things that remind them of who they used to be, and immediately they're overcome with grief and run to the cross because they've been changed. Because they've been changed, saints, listen to me, Listen to me. When those things happen in your life. There are two possible responses. Response number one is oh, I must not really be a Christian. Response number two, I might not be what I ought to be, but thank God I'm not what I was. Amen. God is good. Sanctification is an ongoing process. We don't achieve perfection this side of glory, but we grow in grace and we cease to be characterized by those things that characterized us in our past. So that's the first test. The first test, do the sins of your past continue to characterize you in the present. Here's the second, the second group of tests. Have you learned to love your brothers? Have you learned to love your brothers? There are three tests here that go to this question. Test number two, will someone volunteer to go? Test number three will someone volunteer to stay? And Test number four will someone come for Simeon? Look with me back in our text beginning of verse sixteen, sixteen and seventeen, send one of you and let him bring your brother while you remain confined that your words may be tested whether there is truth in you or else by the life of Pharaoh. Surely your spies, and he put them all together in custody for three days. Will someone go? Will someone go? Now? What do you learn from this test? Well, if there is mistrust within the his family, then the conversation will go something like this. I'll go. I know you won't because I know if you go, you won't come back for us. I'll go. Really, you think we trust you? No, No, I'll go. No. They see, that's how the conversation goes in a family where they hasn't been changed, because remember, they believe that they've murdered their brother. They put their brother in a pit, and he's never been heard from again. And they went home and they told their father that he's dead. They believe that their brother is dead and that it's their fault that creates mistrust. Verse eighteen. The second test. On the third day, Joseph said to them, do this, and you will live, for I fear God if you are honest men, Let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go. Carry grain for the famine to your households and bring your youngest brother to me, so your words will be verified and you shall not die. So, first, will somebody volunteer to go? Secondly, will somebody volunteer to stay? Again? This test makes all the sense in the world, because if the mistrust is still there, if they are still characterized by the same things that they used to be characterized by, who's going to volunteer to stay while the others who left Joseph in a pit decades ago go back home? Ah No, because I remember when we all came home and told our father that an animal must have killed Joseph. I know what you lat are going to do. You're gonna leave me and you're never gonna come back. No, no, no, no, no, not me. I am not going to stay. You are not going to do to me what you did to Joseph. And they said to one another, in truth, we are guilty concerning our brother, and that we saw the distress of his soul when he begged us, and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us. And Reuben answered them, did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen? So now there comes a reckoning for his blood They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them, and so the argument began. But Joseph doesn't give up. There's a third test in this category. Verse twenty four. Then he turned away from them and wept, and he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took in from them and bound him before their eyes. There's the third test. Test number one, will somebody volunteer to go? Test number two, will somebody volunteer to stay? Test number three? Will they come back for Simeon? He takes Simeon and he sends them home with grain, which means they can go home and not starve. Don't miss this. Joseph doesn't say, I'm going to keep the grain here so that you have to come back for your brother. No, no, no, Joseph says, I'm going to send you with your grain, so that, if you're unscrupulous men, you could leave him, feed your families, and allow him to stay here in prison. Because I want to know have you learned to love your brothers? This is another mark of the believer Saints thirty four and thirty five. A new commandment I give to you that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are My disciples. If you have love for one another, this is a mark of the change that God has wrought in our hearts. Philippians two, verse three and four. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. This is a work of the spirit of God in the heart of the believer. It's a work of the spirit of God that turns us from self interest to selflessness. There's a work of the spirit of God. We see this, and this is the test. And so I ask you, have you learned to love the brethren? And I mean this in two ways. Number one, have you learned to love the brethren? At home? Have you learned to love your husband? Have you learned to love your wife? Have you learned to love your children? Have you learned to love your parents? Have you learned to exercise that love within the context and confines of your family life? Where you get on each other's nerves because you can't go anywhere have you learned that. God does that. God's grace that does that. And I believe, by God's grace, this is a tremendous opportunity for us as believers to be witnesses to a lost, hurting, and dying world. I've heard from so many people who are sick and tired of their children, who can't wait till the schools reopen because they can't wait to get rid of their children, who are sick and tired of their spouse being home all the time, sick and tired of being in the same place with them, sick and tired, and cannot wait until they can separate again. Beloved, May that never ever be true of us. May we, by God's grace, be marked with brotherly love and familial love within the confines of our home. May those around us look at us and say, I don't understand how you do it. I don't understand how there's so much peace and harmony in his home because we're at. Each other's throats. Because by God's grace, there is. A transforming work that happens, and it teaches us to love. One John five, one through five. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith. What is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the son of Christ? Or who is it rather that Jesus is the son of God. This is the fruit that God bears in the heart and the life of a believer. This ability that He gives us to look beyond ourselves and our own self interest and to love the brethren, not only in our homes, but also in the church. It's interesting, I wonder how many of us have a yearning for the brethren in the church, have yearning for fellowship. Is going to be very interesting as all of these things open up, because there are going to be a number of people who've become accustomed to not being around the brethren and are not going to come back. A number of people who accustomed to the virtual and prefer it because they on love and want to be around the brethren. If that's you, check yourself God in repentance, because that's not from God. When God gets a hold of us, we learn to love the brethren. For some of us, both in the home and in the church, this has been an opportunity for us to recognize us that we are in desperate need of the transforming grace of God in our lives because we're not nearly as godly as we thought we were. Some of us are part of those statistics. Non Believers aren't the only ones who've lost their tempers, who've hurt one another. In word, indeed, beloved. If that is you repent, turn to the cross, confess your sin, cry out to God for forgiveness, and rest in the transforming work of Jesus Christ. Thirdly, the third category of tests, do you exhibit godly character when no one is looking? Do you exhibit godly character when no one is looking? And we see this in test number five. Test number five is will they steal the money? Verse twenty five, and Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain and to replace every man's money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them. Then they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed. And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack. He said to his brothers, my money has been put back here. It is in the mouth of my sack. At this their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, what is that God has done to us? And notice how they interpret all of these things. What does Reuben say? Earlier? Ruben says, this is a reckoning. God is getting us. God is paying us back because of what we did to Joseph. Now they find this money in their sex, and they know what this means. What this means is, wait a minute, we're now thieves. We're now thieves. We took the green and we didn't pay for it with thieves. Now we know we gave the money, but now this money is back. So what is their response? Supernaturally, the money has been put back in our backs. God is setting us up to die as thieves. But he wasn't. Joseph was merely asking the question have you been changed? Because if you've been changed, you'll be changed in secret and in private as well as in public. What has God done in your heart in the secret places? And this goes back to what I said earlier about the explosion of porn graphy, the sheer explosion of it, because people are at home, time on their hands, and they're surfing and they're bored, and one click leads to another, clique leads to another, and then clicks turn into habits. Perhaps it's not pornography. Perhaps it's obsessing over social media and engaging there in a way that you would not if people were looking at you eye to eye. But you see, when God gets a hold of his people, he changes us, not just for the sake of watching eye eyes, but it changes us from the inside out. There is one last question to be answered, and there are two tests given to answer this question, and this may be the most poignant of all. The fourth question is have those closest to you seen a change in your walk as well as your talk? Have those closest to you seen a change in your walk as well as your talk? And there's two questions to be answered here. Number one has Jacob learned to trust you? And number two, has Benjamin learned to trust you? Look beginning of verse thirty five, as they empty their sacks, Behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob their father, said to them, you have bereaved me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more. And now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me. Then Reuben said to his father, kill my two sons. If I do not bring him back to you, Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you. But he said, my son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. By the way, Jacob hasn't learned his lesson, Listen to the way he speaks about Benjamin. Benjamin is one of twelve. As far as he now knows, Benjamin is one of eleven. His twelve son is dead. But listen to the words that he uses verse thirty eight. But he said, my son shall not go down with you, as though they're not his sons, for his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to take, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to she old by the way, if Simeon dies, I'll be fine, But I can't lose Benjamin because he was born of the woman whom I loved. Do you see this No, this one can't go with you. He is still playing favorites. But that last question is an important one. Have those closest to you seeing a change in you? Because see, here's what Joseph knows. If these men have not changed. Jacob is not going to send Benjamin because Jacob won't trust them. And if these men have not changed, Benjamin, who's a grown man now, is not going to go with them because he won't trust them either. So if he sees Benjamin again, he will know both of these things. Number one, that they've earned Jacob's trust because Jacob allowed Benjamin to go, and number two, that they've earned Benjamin's trust. Here's what you need to know as things stand right now in the story. The answers to these questions. Is no, no. Will someone volunteer to go? No, will someone volunteer to stay? No? Will they come back for Simeon? No? No. Will they keep the money? Yes, they found the money, and they kept going. They went all the way home. Has Jacob grown to trust them? No? Has Benjamin grown to trust them? No? No, they haven't changed. They haven't been transformed. Jacob hasn't changed. Jacob hasn't been transformed. The family is as dysfunctional as it has ever been. But the good news is that's not the end of the story. Eventually they do come back, and eventually Joseph tests them again, and this time he takes Benjamin, and this is their final test. Do they hate Benjamin like they used to hate me? Because if they do, they will leave, and they will leave Benjamin here. And that's fine because I'll have my brother with me and the rest of these murderers can leave. But that's not what happens. What happens is Judah stands up and Judah offers his life in exchange for the life of Benjamin. Not only are we seeing transformation in the family and transformation in an individual, but we're seeing something far more significant than that. This great exchange sends ripples throughout history. You see, we look at this part of the Bible and we think that Joseph is the key character here. Joseph's not the key character here. Joseph is central in this story for one reason and one reason only. Joseph is sent to Egypt so that the famine does not kill the promised seed, the seed that was promised in Genesis chapter three after the Fall, when God says to the serpent, I will put enmity between you and the woman, in between your seed and her seed. You will bruise his heel, but he will bruise your head. And the rest of the Bible is the search for this promised seed. In the next chapter, you have a murder, the first murder, the seed of the serpent king kills the seed of the woman able and John's the one who tells us in first John three that came was the seed of the serpent. And then all of a sudden you have Seth, who was born. The godly seed is restored. And then in the next chapter you have ten generations from Adam to Noah through the godly line of Seth. Eventually we come to meet Abraham, Abraham, who's the promised seed. This son of Tera Abraham has two sons, and it's not the older, but the younger who is the promised seed. And then Isaac has twins, and again it's not the older but the younger who's the promised seed. It's Jacob. And then Jacob has twelve sons, and we can't figure out who the promised seed is because they're all ruined. That is until the. Day that this great exchange takes place, when Joseph offers his life in exchange for the son whom his father loves. Now that theme ought to sound familiar to you, but I don't want to rush because that theme replays itself again later with another descendant of Joseph by the name of David, when David finds himself looking over a valley when there is a giant who is threatening the people of Israel, and. David goes down into the valley as a. Representative of the people of God and wins victory on behalf of all of the people of God against Goliath the Philistine, because symbolically, Israel was in him as he fought their adversary, and his victory was their victory. Why is this significant Because David. Is Judas's great son, But Judas's great son David has an even greater son who puts these two things together. David's greater son, Jesus does what both Judah and David did. On the one hand, like Judah, Jesus offers himself as a substitute a sacrifice in the place of the one whom his father loves, his bride the Church. And on the other hand, Jesus dies and takes on our adversary, and he defeats sin and hell and the grave and the devil on behalf of all of those who were in him in that valley. You see, Joseph is not the key figure in this story. Judah is. Joseph went to Egypt so that Judah wouldn't starve. Judah couldn't starve because David had to be born, and David had to be born so Jesus could be born, so that the Redeemer could come. See. The only way and the only reason. That these questions could possibly be answered in the affirmative about any of us is because judas greater son Jesus died on the cross on our behalf, nailed our sin to the tree, so that God might be both just and the justifier of the one who places faith in Jesus, and that through him, through his work on the Cross, we might be justified, adopted, sanctified, and one day glorified. Have you been changed? If you have, it is only because of the person of work of Christ. Have you been changed? If you have not, The only way that you will ever answer that question in the affirmative is to flee to the cross and flee to Christ, who is indeed your only hope. Let's pray, Father, we thank you for reminding us once again the glorious reality of salvation through the person of work of Christ, for reminding us once again that we are not perfect, but He is, and that because he is, we too can be grant by your grace, that Your spirits work in us might manifest fruit, that we would no longer be characterized by the sins of our past, that we would turn outward beyond ourselves and love the brethren. That we would be righteous and secret and not just pretend to be righteous in public, And that those. Who know us best. Would recognize the work that Christ has done because we are indeed and truly transformed. This we pray in Christ's name and for his sake. Oh Yeah,