Who Am I?

As I sat and worshipped with you already this morning, I feel a little bit like the sermon is superfluous. It doesn't mean I'm not gonna do it or I'm not gonna shorten it. But the singing and the worship, so Christ-centred, magnificent. And that's what we're gonna look at this morning.

We're looking at the things that you have already sung, the things that you already know. And the way we're going to do that this morning is I have a question for you. Anyway, the question is, who am I? Now it's not who am I?

KJ's introduced me. I'm not interested in who am I. I want you to be asking yourself, who am I? Ashley, who are you? Sandy, Audrey, Ben.

I want you this morning to be asking yourself the question, who am I? And, you know, we often answer that question in very sort of shallow ways. You know, five foot two, eyes of blue. We might answer it in respect to our gender or our marital status or our occupation.

When I thought about this question preparing this message, I feel somewhat ashamed that when people said, who are you in a gathering, I've often said because I've been the pastor of this church, oh, I'm Bob Murray. I'm the pastor of this church. You know, we often put labels on ourselves and describe ourselves in those ways, and I wanna cut through all that.

Not interested in your gender, not interested in your marital status, not interested in what family you've come from, not interested in how successful you are. Who are you in the essence of your being? And so this morning, I have some other questions to help you with that. And those questions are gonna come from a document called the Heidelberg Catechism. Heidelberg Catechism is a document from the time of the Reformation, a wonderful teaching document, wonderful teaching document. And some people say, well, why would we have a thing—and let's say this is the Heidelberg Catechism.

It's in this book. But some people would say, well, I only want the Word of God. And of course, we all only want the Word of God, and it has to be the Word of God that speaks and is the authority in our lives. But the Bible is not like a textbook, is it? You can't look up something on salvation and chapter five is on salvation.

You can't look up giving and there's a specific chapter on that. The Bible is an organic revelation given in the life of the church, and so the church has summarised its teachings. In this case, this morning, we're looking at it as it comes to us through the Heidelberg Catechism. So we're using the Catechism as the framework. It'll be the Word of God that'll speak to you today.

That's the authority, not this, even though I think this is a brilliant document. So the Catechism has 52 Lord's Days, one for each week, and we're looking at questions one and two. And the first question is, what is your only comfort in life and in death? What a brilliant question. Much better than who am I?

Who am I? We all fluff around and say a whole heap of stuff. But look at the way this cuts. What is your only, only—what is your only comfort in life and in death? See how the Catechism sharpens the point?

You know, as a society, we don't like to talk about death. We carry on and we live as though we're gonna live forever, which is ridiculous. We need to be confronted with this question. What is your only comfort in life and in death? Ashley's already professed that for us this morning.

Fabulous. Praise God. But it's for life and in death. But there's another question that the Catechism has in Lord's Day One, and it's this, what must you know to live and to die in the joy of this comfort? So what is your only comfort?

We're gonna come back to that. Skipped ahead in the Catechism to question two, what must you know to live and to die in the joy of this comfort? How would you be—you just think about it just for a moment. The world in which we live, the world in which you live, perhaps your fellow students at school or university or in the workplace or whatever, if you come up to them tomorrow and said, what must you know to live and die in the joy, the comfort of the gospel of the Lord Jesus?

They'd think you were really a religious weirdo. But the truth is, this is absolutely necessary and central to be able to answer these questions. And so then the Catechism, when it teases out this answer, it's got three further questions. And one of them is this: you must know how great your sin and misery are. Oh, popular question.

Go to wherever you're going tomorrow, Jace. Go to work. Line them up. Do you know how great your sin and misery are? This is not a question that we ask very often, and it's not something that the world wants to hear.

But what does the Bible say about this situation? What does the Bible say about this? And so we would go initially to the book of Genesis. You remember in Genesis, God creates Adam. He's in the garden, and God says to Adam, you can do all these things, tend the garden, so on, but you cannot eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil or you will surely die.

It's interesting, isn't it, that's what God said into a perfect creation. Genesis 2:17. If you eat of that tree, if you transgress My command, you will surely die. And then in Genesis chapter three, we know what happened.

They ate of that tree. Satan came along. Oh, God didn't really say you can't do this, did He? He's still active doing exactly the same thing today, incidentally. But he says to them, they fall and the Fall of sin happens.

The apostle Paul summarised it beautifully in Romans 6, first part of verse 23. The wages of sin is death. In the garden, God said, if you do this, you will surely die. And then death came into humanity. You may recall that in Genesis chapter three, as God pronounced His curse upon the earth, one of the curses was that they would die.

To dust you came. To dust you will return. So the wages of sin is death. So at the moment, we're painting a sort of big picture, the big picture. And then the Bible really hits us.

Sin entered the world through one man, that is Adam, and death through sin, and in this way, death came to all mankind, all of humanity. Romans 5:12. There is a teaching in the Scriptures called representative headship. You'll see it, those note takers, Romans 5, 1 Corinthians 15. Death through Adam, life through Christ.

So we need to understand when we're thinking about who we are and where we stand in the history of humanity stretching back to the garden that we are part of a fallen humanity. You can use terms like original sin and all those sorts of things if you like. But we are part of a fallen human race which fell in the garden. The apostle Paul puts it this way in quoting from Romans 3, and he's quoting the Psalms and Ecclesiastes and a little bit of Isaiah. He says, there is no one righteous, not even one.

There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away. They've together become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one. Is that a popular message for today?

Is it a popular message for you? See, the point of this morning and part of the sermon this morning is for you to realise your total, utter indebtedness to God, your total, utter lostness aside from God. See, Ashley grew up in a loving Christian family, you know, going back generations. But when Ashley was born and when she was baptised in this actual church, what I should have done—I probably wasn't game.

I was probably afraid of your mother, Ashley. But what I should have done, I should have taken you in my arms and said, what a beautiful little bundle of total depravity. But it's true, isn't it? We look at little babies, oh, they're beautiful and they're lovely, and he looks like his grandfather and oh, it's just wonderful and all that sort of thing. But the truth is, you're conceived in sin.

Now, that's not a comment on your mother and your father in terms of their morality. We'll see a little bit about that in a moment. But there is no one righteous before God in and of ourselves. Not one. See, if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves.

The truth is not in us. This is the apostle John in 1 John 1:8. If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar. His Word has no place in us. See, this is the Word of God.

This is not in the Catechism. It's not even Bob Murray. This is the Word of God. This is what God is saying to you. If you claim to be without sin, you deceive yourself.

The truth is not in you. And if you claim that you've not sinned, you make God out to be a liar, and His Word has no place in your lives. That's how serious it is. Just for a moment, think about us as Christian people, as Christian people. In all honesty, do you sometimes—maybe you don't verbalise it, but sort of think or somehow feel a bit superior to some smashed-up drug addict, drunk, wife-beater, paedophile?

It's easy, isn't it, for us to feel a bit superior, somewhere a little bit up higher on the scale? You could even look around this church. We're not going to do it, but you could look around the church and say, yeah, well, I know I've got a bit up on him. See, the thing is, we sometimes grade things according to our own mind.

God doesn't. 100% purity, 100% of the time, we're all gone. All guilty. So I can say on the authority of the Word of God, right, look at it, I cannot see a holy person in and of themselves here. Matter of fact, I'll say even stronger than that, you deserve to go to hell for eternity.

As I do. If it wasn't for God's grace, that's where we'd all finish up. And there'd be no bitching about it, complaining. I haven't preached for a while, so look what king David wrote. I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Why did he write that? He understood that mankind, humanity had fallen in the Fall. Right from the jump. So what must you know to live and die in the joy of this comfort? Firstly, how great my sin and misery are. And then secondly, how I am set free from all my sins and misery. And again, I would have underlined all. Do you see it?

You've sung it. You've heard it. Some of us, like Ashley, since we were babies. All the way through. All the way through.

Taught all the way through. And then the Bible has some very confronting things to say at this point. We live in a secular world. We live in a nation which is adrift from its Christian roots. I read yesterday, just yesterday, on the ABC website.

I mean, the ABC, the national thing, yeah, we're all paying for it. An article by this young woman writing this article saying how she's beyond gender now. So I won't go into detail about what that means in her article and all this sort of stuff, but our nation is adrift. It's tragic. And part of the reason we are adrift is because we deny the fact of our sinfulness.

Remember those old, you know, Billy Sunday sort of preachers, those old sort of guys? Yeah, they'd come up. Oh, man. They would hit you hard with your sinfulness.

Have you ever read anything of the great revivals in Wales? Remember how the preachers would come and the people would be in tears in repentance. The story is told that when the miners, and particularly in the mining scene, when those miners came to have faith in the Lord Jesus, then they realised they had to bring back all the stuff they'd nicked. They could not build warehouses quick enough or big enough to hold it all. I mean, that's repentance.

And I wanna say that I think the extent of your gratitude to God, which you're gonna come to in about an hour, that we're gonna come to, is dependent upon how much you really genuinely, honestly own and understand how great your sin and misery are. If you think you're pretty reasonable, then you'll say—let's say you think you're about a 50-percenter. Okay. Never robbed a bank, never raped anybody, never done this, never done that. I'm like, yeah.

Okay. I've done a few things, yeah, I'm 50% okay. Then your gratitude is gonna be reduced big time. So let's leave that just for the moment and see how we're set free from all our sins and misery. And here is a confronting statement.

This is another statement the world will buck against. And Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Christ makes this exclusive claim. Not Buddha, not Confucius, not Islam, not whatever, whatever.

Christ and Christ alone. People don't like to hear that. That's the teaching of the holy Scripture. The Scripture says in 1 Timothy 2:5, there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. One mediator.

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. This is the clear teaching of the holy Scripture. Christ and Christ alone. In Romans 6, the other part of Romans 6:23, the first part we saw, wages of sin is death. Second part, the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Ashley, you've already proclaimed it. I thought they were pretty weak hugs, though. Like, Jason was pretty good. I wanted to get up and give you a real robust gospel hug. God has blessed you, young woman.

Amazingly. Absolutely, brilliantly. Not only in the family in which you've been born, but as KJ said, that the Spirit of God has been at work in you, and you, against the whole background of what the world is saying, which is, if they say anything about going to God, it's many roads lead—you know, pick your own. It's okay. No worries.

You said, uh-uh. It's Jesus. See, I don't really know you, Ashley, because I've been away for a fair while, and you might be very glad about that. But I don't know if you know how special it is what God's done for you. See, you're a bit like me in the sense.

Sorry, don't get distraught. But in the sense of—I too, I grew up in a Christian home. You know, taught all the way through and took it easy. And then somewhere on the track, God got a hold of me. You know, thankfully. You've been very blessed.

Very blessed. And what you said today, when you live that out, who knows what God can do? Who knows what God can do? So I've got a story about your old man. Yeah, I know.

Shut, drop your head, Campus. He knows what it is. And I haven't been here. A lot of you don't know me, so I'll tell you. You know, this church, from a human perspective, would not be here today if it wouldn't have been for Steve Campus coming together with old Jerry.

Jerry Hogan. I was the pastor of a church in Brisbane. We were responsible for down here, and my elders were hot to trot. They wanted this joint closed down.

Because there were only a few people and all the rest of it. All the rest of it. And at that meeting—see, Ashley, this is what can happen. See, we never know the outcome. See?

If we are faithful, who knows what God does? Your father sat at that table. He was maybe 23 or 24 years old. Bit of a pup, really. And there were experienced elders around that table that I knew, because I didn't want to shut it down, but they were going to shut it down.

And he gave an account of what it means to be the church and to be a believer in the Lord Jesus. And God used that on that night, that this church was not shut down. And we're here today. Okay. Steve's got a lot of other things on the other side of the ledger, but the thing is, what I'm trying to say, see, we don't know.

You be honest to God. You be faithful to God. Who knows what God does? Who knows what God does? Who can tell me what Genesis 3:15 says?

I think we should ask our pastor, shouldn't we? No, that wouldn't be fair. He knows anyway. In the garden, when God proclaimed His curse over the whole of creation and over Satan and then even Adam, when He spoke to Satan, God said, the seed of the woman will crush your head, but he will strike your heel.

The seed of the woman, the Lord Jesus, will crush your head, Satan, but you will strike His heel. We see that at the cross of Calvary. So, there in Genesis 3:15, a fallen world and God promises Christ. And I didn't even have to type up John 3:16 because it's over here. God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

What a great thing to have on the wall of a church. And we are reminded this morning that this is love: not that we love God, but He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin. That atoning sacrifice—technical word, propitiation. It means that Christ bore the righteous anger of a just and a holy God for the people of God. For you.

You're a believer in the Lord Jesus. This is all for you. So, the answer from that first question, what is your only comfort in life and in death, says that I am not my own. Very welcome statement to the world of today, isn't it? We're all self-made men and women, yet we've all got human rights.

It's all about self. Go on and buy it. You deserve it. All that rubbish. But for the Christian—sorry, Ashley.

It just fits. You're not your own. Ultimately, you don't belong to your mum and dad. Your grandparents, neither. You're not even your own person.

You belong to Jesus. You belong to Jesus. In body and soul, in life and in death. Amazing, isn't it? That little baby.

Right? And she was cute. Beautiful. Yeah. Very cute.

Takes after her mother, obviously. Growing up, all the ups and downs, and more to come. But you belong to Jesus. You know, when I first went into the ministry, one of the things that I was a bit nervous about was funerals. And what do you say at a funeral?

What do you say? You stand at an open graveside. And I had come over the years to appreciate that privilege and that honour, that the grave for the believer is not the end. It's not the end.

We belong to Him. We belong to Him. We are seated at the right hand of the Father. He was there as our representative because He chose us. He reached out to us.

Wasn't that Ashley's particularly brilliant? You've got Campus genes and all that. But the thing is, it's not you. It's not something you've done. It's what Christ has done for you.

And settled two thousand years ago. That's amazing, isn't it? It's amazing. He has fully paid for all my sin with His precious blood and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. I love that.

I love that statement. Not only fully paid for all my sin with His precious blood, but He set me free from the tyrannical, oppressive rule of the evil one. We are not under the rule of Satan. We are under the Lordship of Christ. Oh, remember that, Ashley.

Remember it. Sorry to pick on you, sweetheart, but it's the way it is. Get over it. He has set us free from the tyranny of the devil. Now, do you believe that?

Do you believe that? See, it's easy enough to believe it in a theoretical sense. Like, if I drop dead now, I know that by God's grace, He would take me home. Yep. Not because of any good that I've done, but because of what Christ has done for me.

But in the rough and tumble of life, see, Satan's gonna come and he's gonna say, did God really say that about you? Now I've got some mates here, friends from a long time ago. I feel pretty safe in picking on Gary Slabbat. But let's say hypothetically, let's say this week Gary does something particularly un-Christian.

Right? That's hypothetical, but let's say he does. What's gonna happen? The evil one is gonna come and he's gonna repeat Genesis all over again, and he's gonna say, oh, did God really say you've forgiven Gary? That must be about the 5,000th time you've done that or whatever it is.

But Gary, as a believer in the Lord Jesus, you're not under the rule of Satan. Satan has no authority over him at all. And so Gary would say to Satan, go, be gone, depart, leave, go from me in the name of Christ. I'm covered in the blood of Christ. I'm forgiven.

And then immediately, you'd go to your Father and say, I'm sorry. And what's He gonna say, Gary? What's He gonna say? Yep. See?

You're forgiven. I love you, son. I know. I know. It's amazing, isn't it?

It's amazing. So what we're gonna do now, we're going to go to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight. And through technological ability far beyond my own, it's likely to appear on the wall. Oh, beautiful. Thank you.

Very good. Romans chapter eight. Oh, hear this. Look, if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus, this is yours. Right?

This is yours. I don't care who you are, what you've done, what you're doing. If you're a believer in Christ, this is yours now, because God says to you, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life, capital S, set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.

And so, He condemned sin in sinful man in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature, but according to the Spirit. Verse 5: Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires. But those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death.

But the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, believer in the Lord Jesus,

you are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. Another way of saying that, if you belong to Christ, you have the Spirit. Verse 10: But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who lives in you.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation. But it's not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you receive the Spirit of sonship, and by Him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now, if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God, and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory. We're going to go back to the PowerPoint now.

But oh, brilliant, isn't it? You're itching to get up here and preach it, aren't you? So are you. I know you. Yes.

It's magnificent. It's beautiful, glorious gospel grace, and it's ours by God's gift. By God's gift. The Catechism goes on and says, He watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven. My catechism students over the years have had a little bit of fun with that with my cranium, but nevertheless, that's okay.

In fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Probably five sermons just in that. But He's yours. He's never going to leave you. He's going to be with you forever.

And no matter what you go through, it's going to work together for your salvation. That's big. Oh, that's big. You ask a few people who've been around the block a few times.

Life's hard. Satan's busy. Stuff happens. But God is still there. Do you remember our pastor's sermon from in January?

He said two things you must remember. Well, I'd have to stand higher to say the two things properly. Two things he said. God is always sovereign. What did you say?

God is always sovereign and in control. See, I've got to quote him correctly because he's right there. And the second thing he said, I'm not going to ask you, because he'd go home devastated if you haven't remembered, God is always good. Sandy and I had friends from Sydney here that Sunday. And without going into a whole lot of detail, they've been through a tragedy beyond belief in their life where one of their children was killed in an accident.

It was the fault of the wife's brother. It was just a terrible, terrible thing. Now I'm sitting there with my friends and KJ just bringing the gospel. It was real. Was great.

It was really good. But you've got stuff in your life too. Sometimes you think, God, where are You? I'm not much on bumper stickers, but I saw one once. If God seems far away, guess who moved?

Yeah. But He pledges Himself to us and will be with us whatever. The Catechism then asks a third question. So, how great our sin and misery is? How we're set free from all our sin and misery?

How we thank God for such deliverance. And it says this, because I belong to Him, Christ by His Holy Spirit assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for Him. What's the word in there that snags a little bit in your mind and your conscience?

I'm gonna suggest it's wholeheartedly. See, I don't know you. Let's just suppose I know nothing about any of you at all. But this morning, God has said, your sin is so great in My holy sight that you deserve to be sent from My presence into judgement and punishment forever. He said that to us, how great our sin and misery is.

But then He says, but I have loved you so much that I have sent My Son as the atoning sacrifice for your sin. So, we're in the pit, as it were. He takes us out of the pit, dusts us off by His grace, and He says, now come, live for Me. You sang it earlier. I didn't pick the songs.

Thank you, Benjamin. Good job. Well done. So yep. At least you're not a bass player.

The thing is that God is calling you now to offer up the rest of your life in His service. Now, sorry, Ash. It's gonna happen. Could I—you never ask a woman how old she is, but I'm gonna take a risk. Could you tell me how old you are, please?

17. Wow. Do you know, when I was the pastor here, Campus used to give me a big mouth about stuff. I would say, may God give me to be around when your two girls grow up, sunshine. And it's happened.

How good is that? How good is that? I'm told he's got a very big baseball bat with very big nails in it. You're 17. There are those among us who can't even remember when we were 17.

But God has a plan for you and for your life. In Ephesians 2:8-10, He says, it is by grace you've been saved through faith. This is not from yourselves. It's the gift of God. It's not by works so that no one can boast.

But we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do. He's in control. He's always good. He's got a plan.

And you are part of that plan. Do you know the answer to that? I think in part it is to realise how great your sin and misery is without Him, to realise how much He's done for you, and then say, Lord, here am I. Use me.

Here am I. The Catechism can be divided in three sections. It's following the division of the book of Romans in three S's. All good catechism students know: sin, salvation, service, or guilt, grace, gratitude, or death, deliverance, discipleship. And I put the discipleship up because our pastor has been reminding us of our leaders' desire for us to grow in discipleship.

But I have to ask you a question. Do you actually see yourself as a disciple of Jesus Christ? In my time of my ministry in Saint Mary's in Sydney, there was a young man who had an amazing work of God's grace in his life. And he came to me and he said, you know, I never knew I was a disciple. I thought they were just 12 blokes in the Bible.

You're a disciple. You're a disciple. So, you ask yourself, who am I? I think the better question is, who does God say that I am? Who does God say that you are?

Now when I was here, I used to have a whiteboard up here that I could draw on, and they've taken that away. Probably a good idea. So I've got myself a pen here that will—no. No. But I want to conclude, and, actually, you don't have to answer.

All right? You've said it all. You don't have to answer. KJ? Not interested in what you've got to say neither, brother.

And if I was technologically available, I'd be able to get—as you answer, I'm going to ask you a question, that question, and I'm looking for audible response. All right? I'm looking for audible response. And so how long the sermon goes depends on you.

What does God say that you are? What does God say to you? Come on. And we can just—it only has to be, you know, a word or this or that, and we'll just sort of go around and—You are my child. Thanks, Brian.

Forgiven. Forgiven. Loved. Loved. You are righteous in Christ.

Oh, you really are wanting to make me go back to the Catechism, aren't you? How are you right with God? How are you right with God? Question 60. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ.

Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God's commandments, of never having kept any of them, even though I am still inclined towards all evil, nevertheless, without my deserving it at all, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I'd never sinned or been a sinner, as if I was as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me. And all I need to do is accept this gift of God with a believing heart. Now, I'll let you off the hook with more answers. We'll finish there. But to just hear it again,

how are you right with God? Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God's commandments, never having kept any of them, even though I'm still inclined toward all evil by way of my sinful human nature, nevertheless, without my deserving it at all, out of sheer grace, unmerited favour,

God grants and credits to me—we'll finish with Ashley. God grants and credits to Ashley Campus the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if you'd never sinned or been a sinner,

as if you were as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for you. In the law courts of heaven, that book of life, Ashley Campus credited with the perfection, the satisfaction, the holiness, the righteousness of Jesus. And that's true for each and every—I know it's a reformed church, but could we have just a tiny little hallelujah?

Hallelujah. Let us pray. Almighty God, God of creation, God of incredible power and authority and holiness and majesty and glory and honour, we come before You in the name of Your atoning sacrifice, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, our Lord Jesus.

And Father, we come before You in His name because He is the only way to come to You. And we thank You and we praise You that in Your mercy and grace, O God, You sent Your Son, the Lord Jesus,

to pay the price, to suffer the judgement, to set Your people free. We thank You that You have given Your Holy Spirit into the hearts and minds and lives of Your people, into the church.

And we thank You that as we have gathered here today that You have reminded us through Your Word, through our singing, even the words of that old, old catechism that, O God, You are great, the God of covenant faithfulness and mercy. And so we pray that You would drive these truths deep within us, that we are not our own,

but that we belong to You. Give us, O Lord, that vision of old Isaiah, when he saw Your holiness and Your glory. He confessed his sinfulness, his unworthiness. You sent that picture of the Lord Jesus, that call from the altar: his sin is atoned for. And then You asked the question back then, and who will go for us? Whom will we send? And old Isaiah put his hand up and he said, Lord, here am I, send me.

O God, we do that now. We do that now. Thank You that You forgive us for our frailness, for our stubbornness, for our stupidity, for our forgetfulness. Strengthen us to resist the wiles of the evil one. Guide us by Your Word and Spirit, and bless us and bless this church.

We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.