In 'The Wrong Fear' sermon by Peter Allison, the speaker reflects on the story of Barnabas and the contrasting narrative of Ananias and Sapphira from Acts 4 and 5. The sermon highlights the deep fellowship and sharing within the early church community, termed 'koinonia,' driven by great grace that fostered boldness in gospel preaching and provision for those in need. Barnabas is presented as a model of selflessness and faith, whereas Ananias and Sapphira are depicted as driven by the fear of man, leading to deception. The sermon stresses the notion of right versus wrong fear, emphasizing the importance of fearing God rather than man. Grace, as opposed to works, is central to the sermon, highlighting that grace is undeserved favor given to sinners. The sermon illustrates that both sinners and righteous individuals are susceptible to hypocrisy and fear of man, using examples like Barnabas, Peter, and Hezekiah to show how fear and pride can ensnare believers. It calls for self-examination, confession of sins, and reliance on God's grace for sanctification.

Please turn to Acts chapter 4. We're going to read beginning at verse 36. This account of Barnabas is like a Janus. We saw last week, It was an example of the koinonia fellowship that the church there had, this sharing. But it's also going to be a contrast to the account in chapter 5.

So beginning Acts 4.36, And Joseph, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles, which is translated, son of encouragement, a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira his wife sold a possession, and he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the Apostles feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control?

Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God." And then Ananias hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things, and the young men arose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened, And Peter said to her, Tell me whether you sold the land for so much. She said yes for so much.

Then Peter said to her, How is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.' And then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things." These testimonies are our heritage forever. They are the rejoicing of our heart.

Heavenly Father, Your Word is truth. Sanctify us by Your Word this morning. Grant faith to us that its hearing might be mixed with faith. And grant us, Lord, obedience. May we tremble at the warnings of Your Word, as well as rejoice in the promises to us.

And I ask that you would sanctify my sinful lips, that from a vessel of clay the gospel of your grace might be proclaimed to us this morning. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, after hearing this passage, the account of Ananias and Sapphira contrasted with that of Barnabas. It's easy to think that Ananias and Sapphira were hypocritical thieves and liars, and Barnabas was a man of faith, and we should be like Barnabas, and not like Ananias and Sapphira. While that's not entirely wrong, I think that really misses the great contrast in these two examples.

And I would submit here that the contrast between these two examples is not so much between the good deeds of a righteous man and the evil deeds of an unrighteous couple who fell into sin. The contrast is between the right fear and the wrong fear, and the consequences of that. The right fear and the wrong fear. Let's look at this contrast. We have this situation in this church that was described and we looked at in more detail last week.

But we saw great grace was upon the church. Great grace was evident in this great koinonia, this fellowship that is in the church. This sharing of their faith, their food, and their possessions. That's what koinonia is. It's a sharing.

It's a tying together. It's a binding together. And this great grace led to great boldness in sharing the Gospel. The apostles had great boldness in preaching in the face of persecution, in the face of threats, in the face of imprisonment and death. They had great boldness to repeatedly tell the Jews, the Jewish leaders and the people, that they had crucified their Messiah.

That they were murderers. So we see great boldness in preaching. We see also this great grace results in great provision to meet great needs. Barnabas sharing all the proceeds from the sale of his property with those in need is this example that Luke gave of the koinonia fellowship, the koinonia in the church. Close relationships, generosity, sympathy, understanding, selflessness, sacrifice.

This was all a part of that church. And Ananias and Sapphira are included in this number upon whom there is great grace. Ananias and Sapphira are also generous. They gave half of their property for the poor. Sometimes we forget to remember that.

And Calvin said, It's not a small virtue for a rich man to bestow half of his goods to feed the poor. It's not a small virtue, what they did in giving half of their goods for the poor. But what we see here is the fear of man. Ananias and Sapphira desired others to think of them with the same honor with which they thought of Barnabas. They wanted to enjoy the same recognition, the same status that Barnabas had in the Jerusalem church.

But they knew they weren't like Barnabas. They knew they didn't have the same koinonia heart that Barnabas did. They weren't willing to gladly give all the money from their property to help the poor. They knew that. They loved their money too.

They didn't hold it with the same open hand that characterized these others like Barnabas. And so they conceived a plan to make themselves look like they had the same gift of giving as Barnabas. At least look like it to other people. See, they feared the people. They were more concerned about what people thought than what God thought.

And so their plan was to sell the property and give some of the money to the church and say that they had given all the money. Or at least in some way to get people to think that they had given all the money. But of course, Proverbs 29 tells us that the fear of man brings a snare. It brings a snare. Those who trust in the Lord are safe, but those who fear man, who fear what people think, who live based on what people are thinking of them, who are worried about that, the Bible says that brings a snare.

And it's snared Ananias and Sapphira. The third aspect of this situation is that it is grace that is upon them. It is grace that is upon them, upon this church. And grace is the opposite of works. Romans tells us grace is the opposite of works.

So when Luke says that great grace was upon this church, he's saying that's the opposite of works. Grace is a favor that is not deserved. Grace is what is shown to sinners. The righteous don't need grace. See, grace, that's why grace is the opposite of a work.

A work is what is owed to you. A work is what is due. It's what you've earned. Grace is a favor that you haven't earned. A work is some payment or favor that you have earned, that you are owed.

So Paul says in Romans 11, And if by grace, then it is no longer of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, then it is no longer grace, otherwise work is no longer work. You see, you can't have both. It's either earned and you deserve it, and you're getting it because you earned it, and that's work. If it's grace, then you didn't earn it and you didn't deserve it.

You're getting it unmerited. And so to say that grace was upon them means that they were all sinners. They were all sinners. Every one of them. And this fullness and this richness in their relationships, this sharing with one another, their boldness for the Gospel, this wasn't their own works, This wasn't the fruit of their own righteousness.

This was the result of grace, favor that they weren't owed. Because they were all sinners. Barnabas was a sinner exactly like Ananias and Sapphira. In Galatians, Paul recounts how Barnabas is carried away by the same hypocrisy that in fact Ananias and Sapphira hear in this passage. In Galatians 2, Paul says, when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face because he was to be blamed, for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles.

But when they came, meaning these people, these circumcised Jews, when these Jews came, then he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. Barnabas, in this example, fell into the exact same sin that Ananias and Sapphira did. He feared what the Jews thought. He feared what other people would think of him, what the Jews especially would think of him, those who were circumcised, those from who he was, he was a Levite, so he was of the circumcised, and he feared what those people would say if he was eating with the Gentiles and living like the Gentiles and not following all the Levitical ceremonial requirements.

He feared what they would think of Him. And He's carried away with the exact same hypocrisy that's ensnaring Ananias and Sapphira. Even Peter, the one who prophesies in this text, the one who is through the Spirit uncovering something, even Peter is a sinner, carried away with the same hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira. So the contrast in this text is not between a sinner and a righteous man. The contrast, because they're both sinners.

Everyone in this passage is a sinner guilty of the exact same sin of hypocrisy as recorded in the Scriptures. And if this kind of hypocrisy affects all of these, it affects us too. It's ubiquitous, isn't it? It's interesting, just the last Lord's Day we went singing, went to sing along Messiah. And After the singing time, they had some ushers at the back who were gonna collect an offering for some charitable organization.

And my wife gave me a dollar. It was all she had in her wallet. I wasn't gonna give anything, but she gave me the dollar. And immediately, what did I do? I started having the fear of man.

What if I put a dollar in? What are they going to think of me? So I covered it up so you couldn't see. It's crazy, but that's what the fear of man does. It is ridiculous.

It is ridiculous, but it's ubiquitous. So this contrast here is not between a couple who sinned and a person who didn't. The contrast is between people who tried to hide their sin and those who uncovered their sin and sought the grace of God to deal with it. The contrast is between those who feared God and the judgment that follows sin on one hand, and those who feared what people would think of them, more than they feared God and His judgment for sin. We don't know whether Ananias and Sapphira are elect or not.

They could be elect. They could not be. The text doesn't really say. But these sins we do know, Peter was elect, Barnabas, these sins affect Christians and non-Christians alike. See, the contrast is between those who are rooting out and destroying the sin in their lives, and those who were covering the sin in their lives in the vain hope that if they covered their sin, no one else could see it.

They wouldn't have to deal with it, and they could keep on living with it. And that's why it's so important, as James says, that we confess our sins to one another and pray for one another so that we can be healed. It's those who cover their sins that are ensnared, that fall. It's those who uncover their sins that God covers our sins. It's interesting, right?

When we uncover our sins, when we confess our sins, when we root them out, then God hides those and He doesn't remember them. But when we seek to cover them, then God has a way of uncovering them. And so What happens here? What happens? Let's look at this situation.

Satan finds an opportunity, a foothold within the church. He's not been successful attacking the church from without. He's not stopped the preaching of the Gospel by persecution, by jail, by threats of death and other dire things. And so he moves to an internal attack. He moves in the hearts of this couple.

Just because Satan moved in their hearts doesn't mean that they were not believers. We don't know. The Bible doesn't say. But we do know that Satan can move the hearts of believers. David, you remember, was moved by Satan to number Israel.

Out of pride. Satan moved him to do it. We know the Bible says that Satan used Peter to tempt Jesus on one occasion. After Peter had given that great confession of who Christ was. And Jesus acknowledged that what He said was true.

Then Satan took that occasion to use to move Peter, to tempt Jesus away from the cross. And Jesus turned to Peter and said, get behind me, Satan. Because He knew Satan was moving in Peter. Satan puts thoughts into our minds. He can't read our minds, but He and His demons and unclean spirits are able to assess the situations that we are in.

They can see where we are. They can hear what's being said. And they are able to place thoughts into our minds. But that doesn't excuse us. We can never say that the devil made me do it.

Satan can put a thought in our mind, but We are responsible for what we do with that thought. We are responsible for whether we reject that thought, whether we do as Christ did and rebuke Satan, saying get behind me, Satan, or whether we take that thought and run with it. Think about it. Mull it over. Enjoy it.

We can't defeat Satan's thoughts that he puts in our mind ourselves. And to do our great harm that we try. We need the power of the Holy Spirit. This is a spiritual warfare. It's not flesh and blood that we're fighting against.

And we need to use the tools that God has given us, that He's made available in His grace to overcome these thoughts that Satan can put in our mind, to rebuke the evil one, to recognize that that thought has come from outside of us. And instead of trying to push it away ourselves, to use the name of Jesus Christ to rebuke Satan. And the promise of Scripture is that as we resist Satan, he will flee from us. I think there are many believers that fail to avail themselves of the tools and the resources that God has given to us in this matter. And we suffer needlessly with thoughts that were not ours.

Maybe even feeling guilty for thoughts that weren't ours. Or we fall in thinking of those thoughts and in taking them on board. Because our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. When Satan puts a wicked thought in our hearts, it may resonate with us. Satan moved Ananias to lie against the Holy Spirit.

This sin followed great spiritual victory. The church was multiplying. The apostles were preaching with great boldness. The church was popular. It was esteemed by the people.

So it was so popular that the enmity and the anger And the rage of the Jews against the Gospel was restrained because they feared the people. They had the same problem. They feared the people. And so they didn't do what they wanted to do. So The church was on the ascendancy.

It was growing, multiplying. The Gospel was successful. They were living in this wonderful time of Coeneneo, this work of the Holy Spirit in their midst. And it was out of this context that Satan moved in Ananias and Sapphira. Because one of our greatest vulnerabilities to Satan's attack is following great spiritual victories.

It's happened many times to God's people, to eminent saints in the Scriptures. Remember Hezekiah? That king, that godly king who did so much good. Remember when the king of Assyria came to attack them when he carried off the northern empire? Northern tribes of Israel, the ten tribes.

He came to Jerusalem. He actually attacked a number of cities in Judea. There was nobody in all the earth that could stop the Assyrian army in this period. They were the biggest, baddest people on the face of the earth. And they came up to Jerusalem.

And they surrounded the city. And they're mocking the city, saying, your God can't deliver you from this, from us. Nobody else in the earth has been able to stop us. Who are you? Don't let Hezekiah tell you otherwise.

You're going to eat your own waste, they said. And Hezekiah's officers said, oh, don't talk in Hebrew, talk in Aramaic. We don't want your words to discourage everybody. And they said, no, no, we're going to keep talking in Hebrew, because that's what we're here to do. Remember what Hezekiah did?

He took this letter that he got from the Rapshaka, this blasphemous letter, exulting against Israel. And he went to the temple and he spread it out before the Lord, and he prayed to the Lord that the Lord would deliver the country. And God did. You remember He sent his angel of death to Sennacherib's army, and he destroyed in one night, overnight, 185, 000 soldiers. When Sennacherib got up the next morning, his army was dead.

And he didn't even have enough people to bury the dead soldiers. He went back home in defeat, and he was murdered by his own sons a little bit later. That was a great spiritual victory. But then Hezekiah fell into pride. 2 Chronicles says, The Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and from the hand of all others and guided them on every side, and many brought gifts to the Lord at Jerusalem and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations thereafter." He's the guy who defeated the army that no one else could defeat.

Yes, they brought him gifts. Yes, he was the big man on the earth at that time. But Hezekiah chronicles because I'm to say did not repay according to the favor shown him. Grace. That was of grace.

That wasn't Hezekiah's might that killed that army. It wasn't his military genius that defeated Sennacherib. It was the grace of God in spiritual victory. He didn't repay the favor shown to him for his heart was lifted up and therefore wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem. And it was in those days that the book of 2 Kings tells us that he got sick and God told him you're going to die.

And he turned his face toward the wall and he prayed to the Lord saying, Remember now, O Lord, I pray how I have walked before You in truth with a loyal heart and have done what was good in Your sight. And he wept bitterly and God heard his prayer and he turned Isaiah around. He said, You go tell Hezekiah that thus says the Lord God of David, your Father, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears, and I will heal you. He said, on the third day you should go up to the house of the Lord, and I will add to your days fifteen years, and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria and I will defend this city from my own sake and for the sake of my servant David." And then Hezekiah asked for a sign and God gave him a sign. And Hezekiah said, you know, It's not a big thing for the shadow to go down 10 degrees in the sundial.

It always does. It's always going down. That's what it does every day. But He said, let this shadow go back 10 degrees. And it did.

God granted them that sign. An amazing sign. It baffles people still today. What happened? How do you make this son go back?

And then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart. He and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, because God came to him and said, because of the pride in your heart, I will destroy this city." And that's when Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride in his heart. And so the wrath of God did not come on that city in the days of Hezekiah. It came a little later. So, Satan took this opportunity of great victory in the church to tempt the church and to attack the church.

And He led Ananias and Sapphira. He put the thought in their heart and they acted on it. So they're fully responsible. We can't say that Satan's responsible for this sin and in some way relieve them of any responsibility. They are fully responsible for what Satan led them to do.

They embezzled funds. He kept back part of the proceeds from the sale of the land. Now, it's not explicit in English, but the Greek word that's translated kept back means to put aside for one's self. What isn't yours? Another dictionary defines it as to rob, to misappropriate, to make a secret reservation.

You secretly take something and you keep it. There's a difference between breaking into somebody else's property and taking something and keeping something that you rightly have access to and hiding it. That's called pilfering or embezzling. Embezzling is somebody that takes money that they rightly have access to, but they keep back some of it. That's what this word means.

It's the same word used in Titus 2 where Paul instructs Titus to exhort bond servants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering." And that's the same word. Not holding back what isn't theirs. And so this isn't just saying that well, He sold his property and he kept some of the money. It's saying he sold the property and embezzled some of the money. He pilfered it.

Peter said because it was yours, when you sold it, it was yours, you could do what you will with it, all of it. He could have lawfully kept back as much as he wanted. The fact that this uses the word embezzle or pilfer on what he kept back means that there was some commitment, there was some communication to the church that this was all of the money. Maybe he made some kind of promise. Maybe he just led people to believe that it was all of the money.

But whatever it was, it doesn't say and it's not the important thing. The important thing is that there was a communication in some way to the church, a commitment to give them all the money from the sale. So once he's committed to give all of it, then it wasn't his to keep back. So you're keeping back part of it, they're pilfering and bezeling. And in doing this, they lied to God.

Peter says you haven't lied to men, but to God. It may seem like a little sin, but this was a vow, a commitment that they had made to God, to the church, to the apostles. And God is holy. And God struck him dead. As soon as he heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last.

And great fear came upon all those who heard these things. This isn't the first time God has struck people dead for seemingly little things. You remember Uzzah? The man who was on the cart as they were carrying the ark back to Jerusalem after it had been in the land of the Philistines, and then it was at somebody's house. And they weren't carrying it properly on poles by the Levites.

There was in a cart, and the oxen stumbled, and it looked like the ark might fall out of the cart. And Uzzah, desiring to preserve this ark, which was very precious, special, he reached out his hand to stabilize it, and as soon as he touched it, God struck him dead. Because he had not honored the Lord. Nadab and Abihu did something very similar in not obeying God. And after it happened, God said, By Those who come near Me, I must be regarded as holy.

And before all the people, I must be glorified." You see, God, as Hebrews says, God is a consuming fire. A consuming fire. And God does judge sins. Every sin will be judged according to God's perfect justice. Thessalonians talks about this When God comes again in taking judgment, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and those who do not obey the Gospel.

You see, every sin will be judged. That judgment is either paid for by Jesus Christ as He bore the wrath of God on the cross. Or men will bear that wrath. But so that we realize and understand the seriousness of our sin, God gives us these examples. These are gracious examples.

Gracious examples because they impress upon us the seriousness of our sin. And the result is that great fear comes upon everybody who sees this. This is the right kind of fear. The fear of God. I think, Lord willing, we're going to look at these two fears, the fear of God and the fear of man.

But they use the same word. And yet, they're two very different things. They use the same word because fundamentally they are at root the same. To have fear is to give regard, to put weight on those words. And when we fear people, we put weight on the words of people.

When we fear what people think, we're putting weight on their thoughts. When we fear God, then We put more weight on what God thinks of what we're saying and doing than we do on what the people, what other people think about what we're saying and doing. See, when we fear God, then we're willing to confess our sins because we more fear God's view of our sin than we fear the shame that other people may hold us in for those sins. You see, in the grace of God, there is deliverance from the shame of our sin. Now, Sapphira, his wife, comes in.

Some men come in and they take out Ananias and bury him. And three hours later, his wife comes in not knowing what had happened. So she obviously was in on this plan. The Bible says she was. It says Ann and I did it, his wife being aware of it.

So she was just expecting him to come back, and when he didn't come back after three hours, she thought that was long enough, she went to the Apostles. And it says that Peter answered her. Peter answered her. Well, the question she asked is not recorded there. It's just that Peter answered her.

So that implies there was a question. She came and asked a question. Probably something about where her husband was, or had anybody seen her husband, or something. She probably came there, one out of concern, because she hadn't heard from her husband. But also, she probably wanted to get there near the church and be praised for her deed of alms, which she figured had been well publicized by then.

Three hours later. So she shows up and she asks a question. We don't know what it is, but she asks a question. She gets an answer, which is not what she was expecting. Peter asked her, well, tell me whether you sold the land for so much.

See, Peter gave her an opportunity to uncover her sin. He gave her an opportunity that he didn't give really to Ananias. Ananias had plenty of opportunity. But he gave her a chance here. He asked her a question.

Did you sell the land for this much? She's had three hours, right, to think about this since Ananias has left. She could have acknowledged her sin, uncovered it, and probably been forgiven. And lived. But she didn't.

She said yes, for so much. Peter tested her. Peter tested her to see what was in her heart. To give her another chance to uncover her sin. Maybe your parents have tested you.

Maybe as parents you test your children in that way, to see what's in their heart. Because that's what's important. The Lord does that with us as well. Tests us to see what's in our heart. When she said, yes, I've sold it for this much, Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?

To test the Spirit of the Lord. And immediately she fell down at His feet after He told her that the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out too. So a great fear came upon all the church and all who heard these things. See, there is this veil of flesh that we seek to cover our sins, and it keeps us from fellowship with God. It's painful to uncover our sin and to confess it.

But God is serious about sin in our life, as this example shows. God is serious. And if we are the Lord, He will deal with us. A.W. Tozier in his book Pursuit of God has a really wonderful treatment of this veil of flesh that covers us, that we want to cover our sin with.

And I'd like to just read what he says about this. He says, God formed us for His pleasure, and so formed us that we as well as He can in divine communion enjoy sweet and mysterious mingling of kindred personalities. He meant us to see Him and to live with Him and to draw our life from His smile. And we have broken with God. We have ceased to obey Him or love Him, and in guilt and in fear have fled as far as possible from His presence.

And the whole work of God in redemption is to undo the effects of our fleeing from His presence and to bring us back into a right and eternal relationship with Himself. Hearts that are fit to break with love for the Godhead are those who have been in His presence. And those who have looked with opened eye upon the majesty of God to penetrate, to push in in sensitive living experience into the Holy Presence. This is a privilege. To penetrate, to push in.

It's a privilege open to every child of God. And with the veil removed by the rending of Jesus' flesh with nothing on God's side to prevent us from entering, why do we tarry without? Why do we consent to abide all our days just outside the Holy of Holies and never enter at all to look upon God? And the answer usually given is simply that we are cold. But that doesn't explain all the facts.

There is something more serious than coldness of heart. There's something that may be back of that coldness and the cause of its existence. What is it? What about the presence of a veil in our hearts? This veil is not a beautiful thing, and it's not a thing about which we commonly care to talk.

But, he says, I am addressing the thirsting souls who are determined to follow God. This veil is a veil woven of fine threads of the self-life, the hyphenated sins of the human spirit. They are not something we do, they are something we are. And therein lies their subtlety and their power. To be specific, these sins are self-righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-admiration, self-love, and a host of other things like them.

They dwell too deep within us. And they are too much a part of our nature to come to our attention until the light of God is focused upon them. Let us remember when we talk of rending the veil, we are speaking in a figure. And the thought of it is almost poetical, almost pleasant. But in actuality, There is nothing pleasant about it.

In the human experience, that veil is made of living spiritual tissue. It is composed of this sentiment, quivering stuff of which our whole beings consist. And to touch it is to touch where we feel pain. This veil. To tear it away is to injure us, to hurt us, to make us bleed.

To say otherwise is to make the cross no cross, and death no death at all. It's never fun to die. To rip through the dear and tender stuff of which life is made can never be anything but deeply painful. Yet that is what the cross did to Jesus. And it is what the cross would do to every man, every one of us, to set us free.

Let us beware of tinkering with our inner life in hope ourselves to rend the veil. God must do everything for us. Our part is to yield and to trust. We must confess, forsake, repudiate the self-life and all those hyphenated self-sins, and reckon it crucified. But we must be careful to distinguish lazy acceptance from the real work of God.

We must insist upon the work being done. We dare not rest content with a neat doctrine of self-crucifixion. What we won't uncover, God does. May God give us His grace, His sanctifying grace, to not only see the sins within us, but to uncover them before the mercy seat of God and at the foot of the cross and to put them under the blood of Christ. Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, we so thank You for Your death on the cross that removed the veil that stood around the Holy of Holies, that tore it from top to bottom, bottom to top, that made possible our coming to your throne of grace. Lord may you tear away that veil of flesh upon our hearts that would hinder us from full and abundant communion with You. That would hinder us from seeing the sin in our life and being serious about it. Or that would lead us to conceal it instead of exposing it. Father, we want to walk in the light, to be children of the light.

And we want to know the power of your resurrection, of your crucifixion and your resurrection. We ask, Lord, for your grace to live as you have made us and called us to live in sweet fellowship with you And to appropriate all of the resources and all of the blessings in Christ's crucifixion, in His death and burial, and in His resurrection and ascension, where He is even now seated at Your right hand. We claim, Lord, Your promise that You will never leave us, nor forsake us. We ask these things in Jesus' name, Amen. Psalm 130b.

O say can you see, by the dawn's early light, That so proudly we hailed at the twilight's But from the depths I cry to you, God, let my voice be heard on my heart. Of my heart. How we were here, through the day we're bound, when this day drew through my fleeting birth. Lord, as death through our cleaners. For present, if you were good, our days in passion our gazing passion of our own.

I part again with thy will, so that you may be with me at all. So let you fill with perfect hope. Calling thy soul, thou angel of the Lord, And from his birth thy hope is found. Way