MOSES’ FINAL SPEECH AND THE IMPORTANCE OF OBEDIENCE

Looking at Deuteronomy, let me begin with a simple story of three absent minded sisters. The first sister wanted to bathe, so she walked upstairs, turned on the tap, filled the bathtub, stepped right into it, and then she forgot if she was going to bathe or if she had finished bathing. So, she shouted for help. The second sister then said, “ayoh, my sister always so forgetful.” So, she walked up the stairs, but as she was walking up the stairs, she forgot if she was going up or coming down, and she shouted for help. The third sister then said, “ayoh”, my sisters are always so forgetful. Thankfully, I’m not like them. Touch wood.” And she knocked on the coffee table, and then she turned her head to the front door and said, “Come in.”

Absent mindedness is certainly not what you can say about Moses, because Moses just about to die at 120 years old, still had a very sharp mind. He was crystal clear about his goal to encourage the people of Israel to obey God. These were his last words, his farewell speech, and he’s urging his people to cross the river Jordan, to enter the promised land. And he’s going to do that masterfully via three speeches, or at least a speech in three parts. In chapters one to four, that’s the first portion. Then chapters five to 26 the second portion, and 27 to 30, the third portion. So, 30 chapters of speeches. Of course, you have the tail end, administrative matters, poems, songs. But his speech is essentially found in these 30 chapters. The bulk of it is in chapters five to 26 right in the middle, and it is a focus on what Israel is to obey God in. The tail ends focus on why they are to obey God. What are the motivations? Why do you do it? And the difference is that the first three chapters focus on a look back at why they are to do so, some of the events that have transpired that Moses would use to spur them to greater obedience. And then right at the end in chapters 27 to 30, Moses would urge them to look forward. And so here Moses is teaching them to obey God. Why do you need to do it? What are the areas you have to obey in? And again, ending off with a motivating call for them to do so. Now, of course, we’re not going to cover everything this morning. We’re just going to look at chapters one to three, which is essentially part of the first speech. We can’t go all the way to chapter four. We’ll leave Chapter Four to next week that call, that urge, that persuasion. But in chapters one to three, you see a kind of travelog, a kind of detailed itinerary of what they have gone through as a nation, because Moses here is going to give them reminders for faith and obedience. He is going to very selectively pick out three events to remind Israel of and these three events are very, I think, deliberately put together to encourage them to obey God. So, let’s go straight into what these three events are.

RECOUNTING THE COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM

The first is a recounting of a covenant. Let me try to get back is a recounting of the covenant. The word covenant is an agreement, a promise. You may use the word a pact, but God made a promise. God made a deal. God made a covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, with Jacob, who are the fathers of Israel. We read that in verse eight. See, I have set the land before you, the promised land. So, guys go in, cross the river Jordan and take possession of that land. Why? Because this is a land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them. So very simple, God has set His love upon you guys. Long time ago, God chose your father, Abraham, made a covenant with him, promised him this land. So, guys now go and possess the land, because God has set His favor and love upon you.

You remember the man, Abraham, isn’t it, one of the famous characters of the Bible, and God actually assured Abraham about his goodness to him many times. The first time we read is in Genesis, chapter 12. Abraham, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” Well, you say, maybe first time he didn’t hear properly. Never mind. Few years later in chapter 15, God said to Abraham, “Go out and look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” You have so many children that they are like the stars of heaven. And besides that, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldees to give you this land to possess.” I’m going to give you the land. And of course, you know, Moses and Israel, several hundred years later, they will stand at the brink of this land that they are about to inherit. And the third time God reminded Abraham was in Genesis, 22. Here God swore, he makes an oath. “By myself I have sworn, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven.”

So, God has promised great things to Abraham. I’ll make your name great. I’ll make you a great nation. I’ll give you a great land. And God said, I will give this to your offspring. And God gave all these not because Abraham was a great guy. Abraham was an idol worshiper as far as we know. He was part of Ur of the Chaldees. His father would worship idols. He is very likely to be an idol worshiper to begin with. Abraham was a liar. We read about his lies in Genesis. So let me say this God showed favor to Abraham not because he is Mr. Perfect, not because he is Mr. Holy, not because he is so good a man, but because God is good. All of us are sinners. And if God shows favor to anyone, it’s not because we deserved it or earned it, but because God is good. God is gracious. God is merciful. And so, God chose Abraham to set his love upon him, upon his son Isaac, upon his grandson, Jacob, and upon the nation of Israel, who will come from Jacob.

Now, did God bless Israel? Jacob’s people? Oh, yes. I think Moses hinted of it very strongly when in verse 10 he says, “The Lord your God, has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as numerous as the stars of heaven.” You see this Genesis language, stars of heaven and Moses is intentionally saying, “Guys, we are going to cross the river Jordan, obey God.” Why? Because God has blessed you. God has blessed you, just as he said so, just as He swore to your father, so now “Go in and take possession of the land.” So, you can follow the logic of Moses. He speaks about how Israel is organized as an army. He speaks about how Israel has a justice system. God has multiplied you guys, to such a degree that His promise of the land should never be doubted. So, he gathers Israel just about 40 days before he is going to die, urges them to obey God, because God has set His favor and love upon them.

Can I say at the same time, whilst we are very distant from Moses, in terms of time, we are also, today urged in Scripture to obey God. Actually, all of the Bible is given so that we may benefit from it, so that we may learn from it so that we may live rightly according to it. So, we are transported, I hope, by the Spirit of God, to also sit at the feet of Moses, to hear him say to us, “Obey God” and from the covenant, be reminded that the reason why we obey God is because He loves us. It’s because He has set his love upon us. I remind you last week that the Christian faith is very unique, because every other religion says you’ve got to work your way to deserve God’s love. But do you know that the Christian Faith says no one can ever earn God’s love? No one will ever be good enough. No one can deserve blessings from God. Instead, the Christian bible teaches God blesses because he is merciful and gracious. He chooses unconditionally to show grace to you and me by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross. Jesus did not die for anybody who deserves his death. No one deserved the sacrifice of Jesus, but He came. He was sent. He died because God is gracious. And when you and I understand this amazing, generous love of God, and you believe it, and you receive it into your life, I think you will be grateful.

There is nothing, nothing that should thrill our hearts more than “God so loved the world he gave his only Son so that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” And this gratefulness should then power our obedience to God, godliness, and it is only such kinds of godliness that ultimately brings glory to God. It’s “Grace” motivated godliness that brings glory to God, and I think that’s how the New Testament writers also urge their readers. The Apostle Paul says, “I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God that you should present your bodies a living sacrifice.” Why should Christians give their lives to God? Not to earn salvation, not to earn His love, but because you know He loves you, you know He sent His Son for you, you know the mercies of God. And because God first loved us, we love Him, and we give our lives to Him.

There is a preacher called Bryan Chapell. He used to think that being a pastor is a hard job because it’s always telling people to do what they do not want to do. Sometimes that’s how you look at your preachers, your pastors, right? He nagged me again. Tell me to do something I don’t want to do. Well, that’s how he thought his job description was. Until later, he understood the gospel, the love of God, and he changed his mind. He realized that being a pastor is a great job. It’s a great calling, because it’s telling people how much God loves them. And then see how people love God and do what they delight to do anyway, it’s a totally different mindset. Why? Because when someone believes in God’s love in the Gospel, their hearts are changed. In Gospel Light, we have a very simple three-word slogan, “Know, Grow, Go.” To know Christ means to believe in Jesus, to be saved. The first “S”. To grow in Christ means not only are we saved, but we are becoming more and more like Jesus. We call that sanctification, second “S”.  The third is to go. Not that if you don’t know or grow we ask you to get out, but go means we are out to serve, the third “S”.
But I want to say that it’s important to get this in the right order, because I’ve noticed in Singapore, at least, many Christians are very concerned about ministry. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s very important that Christians should serve and minister and be part of ministries. It’s a terrible thing to be a Christian so called who only consumes and does not seek to give or to serve, because it’s more blessed to give than to receive. So, I’m not running down going or serving, but I’m saying I see some neglect personal growth and just substitute that with service. I don’t think that’s a very good idea, because the Bible tells us it’s only when we are abiding in Jesus that we can be bearing fruit. So, it’s abiding first then abundance. It’s only when you take care of your roots that you will have your fruit. It’s only when you have the depth that you will have the breadth of ministry. I’m grateful many of you serve in this church. Many are right now cooking downstairs, teaching the children, doing ushering work. A lot of you serve. But I say to you, please do not neglect your personal growth. Don’t skip worship services and say to yourself, “Oh, it’s fine. I’m serving. I’m active here. I can always catch up online.” I think it is a very different mindset when someone says my spiritual growth is priority, not that I want to be inward looking, but I know I got to take care of my abiding before I can be abounding.

After all, there is this classic story, isn’t it, of two sisters, one busy, busy, busy, and she was so stressed, and she was so anxious, and she was so distracted, and she burst out blaming her sister and blaming Jesus. But there’s this other sister, who seems to be quite “cho boh” [a Hokkien phrase to mean “doing nothing”] but Jesus said, Look at Mary. She has chosen the necessary part because she’s sitting at my feet. So, I urge Gospel-Lighters today, you got to know God’s love. It’s very hard to serve on an empty. It’s very hard to have a car run on an empty tank. Many of you are running on empty every week. You just come and work and work. I know in Singapore we pride ourselves in productivity. We pride ourselves in the work we churn out. But in the Christian life, empty tanks will result in a burnt-out vehicle. So, fill your hearts with God’s love. Hear the preaching of God’s word that should lead us to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Know, and grow and you will go very far, I think.

And so, Moses reminded Israel of God’s love, God’s favor, God’s covenant. See, God has blessed us. So, guys, let’s go and enter the Promised Land. How did Israel respond? Well, sadly, the second thing Moses is going to curate out of their whole history to highlight is a story of disappointment, of failure, of unbelief, of rebellion, because Moses is going to highlight the incident where they collapsed in their faith. They absolutely sinned against God. I read about this viral trend, social media trend in Chongqing, where motorcycle riders will ride beside a lady and he will then grab the lady with one hand. Well, not easy. Ride and then grab lady with one hand. And around her waist, pick her up, put her on a bike, and they will ride past this Raffles City complex in Chongqing, not Singapore. Raffles City complex to the tune of a love song, and it becomes a viral video trend. Well, someone in Singapore decided to try that she flew over to Chongqing, got grabbed by one of the young hunks, and she appeared in the news because “A lesson learnt:  Singapore-based woman fractures rib while attempting viral Chongqing motorcycle trend.” Maybe she is a bit too heavy, I do not know. But grabbed by the side, the ribs cracked. Wow. Got to go the hospital, to do a scan. And so, on her social media post, she says, “Everyone, if you’re thinking of coming to try this motorcycle trend out, please be careful.” She is giving a public service announcement. Be warned. You want to do this?  Be warned.

THE FAILURE OF ISRAEL TO ENTER THE PROMISED LAND

And Moses, in a sense, is warning Israel. You want to disobey God? Be warned! Because he recounted what happened some 38 years ago, when they were about to enter the promised land. They sent out 12 spies to look at the promised land, to look at what kind of a land it is, to look at, maybe the enemies, to do an Intel report. So, they went and they saw that it is truly a luscious land. There are abundant fruit. It’s a land that flows with milk and honey. Gorgeous, beautiful. But at the same time, they noticed that the people there are huge. There are many of them, and they live in fortified cities walled up with gates and bars. And so, they came back. They said, “Oh, the land is great, but no chance.” It’s mission impossible for us. We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are. You know, how big they are. They are the Nephilims. They are of great height, and we seem to them like grasshoppers. They are this strange breed of true giants. Israel. God is mocking us. There is no way we can ever possess the promised land. So, the whole of Israel, hearing this report, wailed and groaned and murmured saying, “Oh, I wish we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in the wilderness!”  Why come here now and die? So, they say, “Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” [Numbers 14:2-4]. Why did God hatch this diabolical plan to kill us, to murder us with a sword? Let us go back. Let us find a leader and return to Egypt. It’s better to be slaves to Pharaoh than to die at the hands of the Amorites. Oh, Joshua and Caleb were heartbroken. They were the only two out of the 12 who did not bring back this bad report. They said, “…do not rebel against the Lord. Do not fear the people of the land, because they are bread for us.” [Numbers 14:9] Why? Because “…the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” Oh, but the rest of Israel wouldn’t hear. They were hardened in unbelief. They decided that they would stone Joshua and Caleb.

And so, God, in His wrath, killed all the 10 spies and said via Moses that none of them, in the first generation, 20 years and above, will enter the promised land. They will all die, and their carcasses will remain in the wilderness. To just show how “Ti Ki”, you know what’s “Ti Ki”, “Iron teeth”. It’s a Hokkien way of saying someone who is very obstinate. To show you how “Ti Ki” Israel was, Israel after hearing all this, agreed to go and fight. So, they mustered an army to try to enter the Promised Land. God said to them, don’t go. The Lord is not among you. But they still go. And so, they were beaten, we say in Chinese, Da Bai or Luo Hua, Liu Shui, I don’t know how to translate that the flower come down and the water flow out. They were beaten comprehensively.

MOSES’ WARNING AND THE LESSONS LEARNED

They failed utterly, and this collapse is repeated by Moses here, so that they will learn not to follow in the same footsteps of unbelief.

There’s this Straits Times, article about 10 speeches our former Prime Minister, Mr. Lee gave in Parliament. Of course, he gave more than 10, but these are the 10 most significant ones, one of which I will highlight here, is triggered by a response or a query or suggestion by a nominated MP. He was suggesting whether it was time for Singapore to move beyond race and to treat everyone as an equal. I think Mr. Lee was riding on his physio bike. He heard it. He cannot “tahan”. The next day, he had to give an address. So, the next day, Mr. Lee delivered one of his last major speeches in Parliament, because he wanted to bring the house back to Earth. They were getting a little bit idealistic, unrealistic to imagine that we are now able to treat everyone as an equal. He said that equality is an aspiration, something we can aspire towards, but not quite reality as yet. He recalls in his speech, the racial riots circa Singapore’s independence, there was a merger with Malaysia, and with that merger, the Malays become majority, because many in Malaysia are Malays, and if Singapore is part of Malaysia, the Malays are majority. And round about that time, there were a lot of racial riots. So, he recalls the context of racial riots. And he said after independence, after we separated from Malaysia, our Malays in Singapore were apprehensive that now that we are, or were, the majority the Chinese now, after the separation, become the majority, because we are now not linked to Malaysia. So naturally, the Malays become the minority here. And they were apprehensive, because they were concerned, if we, that is the Chinese, would now, in turn, treat the Malays the minority the way a Malay majority used to treat us. And so he said, The Constitution of Singapore enjoins us to specially look after. It’s not equal. It is particular care, special care to look after the position of the Malays and other minorities. It comes under Articles 152 and 153. He goes on to say, in his speech, we explicitly state in our constitution a duty on behalf of the government, not to treat everyone as equal. He is not saying we despise anyone, but he is saying we must take special care of the minorities. You suggest to the Malays that we should abolish these provisions in articles 152 and 153 and you will have the grave disquiet. If we do not recognize where we started from and that these are our foundations, we will fail.

You know, that’s what a leader does. A leader makes sure you understand why things are what they are, because if you do not know the history, you will repeat the mistakes. It will repeat itself. And Moses is saying you got to know where we came from. And if you do not learn from history of how your fathers rebelled against God, we will likewise rebel against God, and we will end up with carcasses in the wilderness. So, guys, I gather you for the last time, to urge you to obey God, because God loves you. He has promised good to your fathers. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. I gather you to urge you to obey God, because if you don’t, we are going to be in deep trouble.

But let me say this again. This is not just Moses and Israel. This is also what the New Testament authors would urge us in. The apostle Paul, for example, made mention of this generation of Israel, saying with most of them, God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. The first gen who rebelled against God learned from them, because he goes on to say, Now, these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did. That we should not cower in fear before the giants. What happened to them is not just instructional for second generation Israel, it’s instructional for Christians today, for the Corinthians, and for you and for me,

Not just the Apostle Paul, the Hebrews author likewise makes mention of this incident in Hebrews chapter 3, speaking about their bodies falling in the wilderness and how they were unable to enter because of unbelief. And a Hebrews author then turns this illustration to apply to his readers, saying, therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. He speaks about a rest of salvation. He speaks about the rest that Jesus brings, a rest in God, an enjoyment of the blessings of salvation, and he urges them in verse 11, let us therefore to strive to enter that rest. Let us cross our Jordans. Trust God to defeat the giants and let us not fall by the same sort of disobedience.
So, the Bible commands us to face the giants, to face our giants, not to cower in fear. But you ask today, what are the Giants in my life? Some of you may say the giant at home is my wife or my husband or my boss. He’s so ugly. I hate him, but I got to fight him. Is he my giant? I say to you, no.

The giants here do not refer to people, nor to sickness, nor to circumstances. I think biblically speaking, the parallel is that the Promised Land is a picture of the blessings of salvation and the Giants there are the sins we are to fight against. We, as Christians, are called to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. We are called to mortify the flesh, to put away sin, to strive towards holiness, because that’s how, because without holiness, no man shall see God. And it is this working out our salvation, sanctifying, purifying our lives, fighting the anarchists, fighting the giants, that we can say God, not that I am perfect in my battles against sin, but I have been consistent. I have seen progress, and that is how I know you are in my life. Because without you, there is no way I can fight any anarchy, any sin. But now that there is this track record over the years, I have tremendous assurance You are in me. So, we are all called today to fight sin, the anarchists, so that we may finally, one day inherit the crown of life.

GOD’S GRACE AND THE CONQUEST OF SIHON AND OG

So, we see the collapse. Learn from the mistake. But finally, the third thing is, in spite of the failures of Israel, God is gracious. He never gave up on Israel. He never forsook them. But instead, Moses now reminds them of a tremendous conquest, or set of conquests. And that’s where chapters 2 and 3 come in. Chapters 2 and 3 speak about the saga of Sihon and Og. You say, who in the world is Sihon and Og? Well, they are two powerful kings on the east side of the River Jordan. Before they are to cross Jordan into the Canaan, into the promised land, there are these powerful kings they have met along the way, and Moses reminds them, you know how he fought against these two kings. And Moses said, “…Sihon, the king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him. for the Lord, your God, hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate.” I want you to notice something about this language. This is language that is similar to the language applied to Pharaoh. Remember that? So, for the first generation, the super power they had to come up against is Pharaoh. He is the powerful king. But for the second generation, there is a pharaoh-like figure in Sihon. They stood in front of Sihon. God overcame Pharaoh, and now God would likewise overcome Sihon. No sweat, no problem at all. “The Lord our God gave him over to us, and we defeated him and his sons and all his people.” (Deuteronomy 2:33) Not only Sihon, but Og. Remember, Og the giant king, some people portray him, draw him, depict him to be a giant. And they are not wrong, because the Bible tells us Og, the king of Bashan, was a remnant of the Rephaim. And Moses here will give us the detail of the Rephaim as people who are as tall as the Anakim, super giants. Just for information, this Og would have a very special bed, not water bed, but a big bed. He’s the bad guy on a big bed, because it says that his bed is made of iron, nine cubits long. How much is a cubit? It’s generally from the tip of your middle finger to your elbow. That’s about 45 centimeters. So, nine cubits will work out to be about four meters. He has a four-meter long bed. I think most condo here cannot make it. Whole house used for his one bed. The king of Bashan is a giant. The Book of Amos would tell us they are like cedars, tall as cedars. But again, no matter how big, no matter how walled up their cities are, how many bars, how many gates? No problem, “…the Lord our God gave into our hands Og also,… and we struck him down until he had no survivor left.” (Deuteronomy 3:3) (Chinese Idioim: Also, the flowers come out and the waters flow.) They were absolutely defeated. And so, Moses said, I commanded Joshua, “Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. So will the Lord do to all the kingdoms into which you are crossing.” (Deuteronomy 3:21) God defeated Pharaoh. God defeated Sihon. God defeated Og. Can’t you trust God to defeat all the other kings in Canaan? That is the logic. Sihon and Og were mere dress rehearsals. That’s all. It’s no sweat. You can trust God. So, Moses charged Joshua. You can’t go in, but Joshua will. But make sure Joshua knows all this. Encourage them, strengthen him, so that you may possess the land. So, Moses is not an absent-minded man. And next time you read Deuteronomy, don’t say to yourself this Moses, (Dialect words for “Long-winded”) “Cheong Hei, Lor Sor, Mem Chee Hei Gong Mei.” Don’t know what he’s saying. Please don’t think of him as a muddle-headed man. He’s sharp. He’s crystal clear. He calculated and deliberately curated these three incidents to remind Israel to faith and obedience.

THE BATTLE AGAINST SIN AND THE ROLE OF GOD

Today, you may stand before giants. You know, God loves you, and you should possess Salvation The blessings therein. You know that if you live on in sin, you may turn out to be a hypocrite, but you say to yourself, I know it’s good to fight sin, but I can’t. I have no power to do so. So, I surrender to pornography. I surrender to bitterness. I surrender to covetousness. I surrender to my anxieties. I surrender to my sulkiness, grouchiness, I can’t fight sin. I want to remind you the battle is the Lord’s. If you learn anything at all, who gave the victory? Was it Israel? No, it was never Israel. Israel was never a good military people to begin with. They were not trained in the art of war. The secret source, the only reason why they had victory is God, and the only reason why you can fight sin in your life is God. What does it mean then to trust and obey? I suggest to you, as we have done in our church, just four letters to end off our sermon. A, B, C, D.  Gospel Light is always very simple one. A, B, C, D. How can I live a life that is triumphant over sin? A, B, C, D. Do you know what’s A, B, C, D?  “A”, acknowledge, acknowledge that you can’t, don’t (Hokkien for “Trying to be smart) “Kay Kiang.” Don’t say, “Oh, this sin, I can conquer it. I’ll do it right now.” That’s the beginning of failure. That’s a bit like Israel saying, “Oh, God is not with me. Doesn’t matter. I’ll still go and conquer Canaan.” No!  “A” is critical. Acknowledge “I can’t.”

“B”, believe that God can. “C”, call upon God, pray and ask him, “Lord, I am powerless against pornography.” “I am tempted to click and to move and to move and to move.” “Lord, when I see my husband, I cannot take his face. I want to kill him.” I really can’t!”  Great!  “A”, you’ve got it there. Believe that God can give you the grace to forgive. Call upon God to give you the grace to forgive, and just go forgive and do good to him. “D” is just do it, but make sure you do your A,B,Cs first. And as Piper would say, this is how we act the miracle, the fact that we can conquer any sin, is a miracle. But it is not without your participation. You need to do it. But I say to you, before you do it, do your A,B,Cs and lean on the everlasting arms of God.

THE PROMISE OF A NEW HEART AND REPENTANCE

Maybe today you’re here with us. You say all these reminders for faith and obedience, good. I guess, the Christians can understand that it is about God’s love, that it’s about the folly of Israel. Don’t fall into the same trap and that God fights for us, but, you know, I don’t really want to. I don’t really want to obey God. Now, I know I’m going to hell for my sins, but I don’t really want to. I just can’t find it in me to want to obey God. I say to you, there’s good news here, because if you can only even just recognize that there’s a beautiful promise that talks about your heart. At a heart level, God says, one day “…the Lord will circumcise your heart.” (Deuteronomy 30:6) He’s talking about Israel, but he’s also talking about people, beyond Israel.  There’s this promise where God will circumcise the heart of people so that you will love the Lord. I’m saying that if you disobey God in your whole life, you will face a wrathful judgment. But you today can repent, humble yourself and say, “God, please have mercy on me. Give me a new heart that will obey you and wash my sins away.” I think God will do that, because this is his promise, and this is what Jesus came to do, to pay for our sins and to give us the work of the Holy Spirit that we might be changed and saved.

May God bless you today to know him and have a new heart. Let’s bow for word of prayer, Father, thank you again for this morning, we can hear Your word. We pray that sinners would come to you for the gift, the amazing gift of forgiveness and of a new heart. And I pray for the church to be motivated to obey you, because you are worthy. Thank you. We pray all this in Jesus’ name Amen.