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The Bible Study – Our readings for Saturday, June 8 are Proverbs 5:1-23 & John 12:20-36a. The Bible gives us God’s inerrant Word as Law and Gospel, both in the Old and New Testaments. The Law shows us our sins, the Gospel shows us our Saviour. In Proverbs we read: 20 Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? 21“For a man's ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and he ponders all his paths. 22 The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin. 23 He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.” How many today turn from God and His Word in the Sixth Commandment. God forbids sexual relations outside of marriage. The Lord, our Creator, gives us His Law for our benefit. The Bible tells us that marriage, a gift from God, is only between one man and one woman. Those who deny these truths are in rebellion against the Almighty, as are those who deny their Saviour. In our Gospel reading a group of gentiles have been called by the Holy Spirit to seek Jesus. This is significant. “’Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven: ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’ 29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’ 30 Jesus answered, ‘This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.” God calls us through the power of the Holy Spirit to faith in Christ, regardless of nationality or ethnicity. In this account we hear God the Father testify both to His authority, and to His only Son, who the Father has sent on a mission – to save humanity from its sins. That victory will be won through the cross, a death Christ speaks of in this passage. Satan and the secular world will see this as a defeat. In reality, it is the defeat of satan by the once and for all atonement for sin. We receive the benefit of this payment for our transgressions through faith, which itself is a gift from God. God the Father sent the Son. The Son sent us the Holy Spirit. It’s the Holy Spirit that works faith in Jesus as Saviour within us using God’s means of grace, Hs Word and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Let’s spread the Good News of salvation through Christ, and pray for the lost. Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto http://christlutherantoronto.org/sermons/dealing-with-doubt