I'd invite you to turn with me in the back of your Psalter hymnal to Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 4. You can find that on page 11, Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 4. Some of these themes that we see here in the Heidelberg Catechism will show up in Genesis chapter 6. The Heidelberg Catechism is a helpful summary of Christian doctrine, summarizes a lot of the essentials that we hold to as Christians. The catechism itself is not sacred scripture, but we believe that it reflects very helpfully and carefully the truth of scriptures and scripture is a very big book. It helps condense it and gives us a few key points to consider and to agree on as God's people. And so we'll confess together Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's day four, concerning the justice and the mercy of God. I'll say the question if we can say the answer together. But doesn't God do man an injustice by requiring in his law what man is unable to do? No, God created man with the ability to keep the law. Man, however, tempted by the devil and reckless disobedience, robbed himself of his descendants of these gifts. Will God permit such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished? Certainly not. He is terribly angry about the sin we are born with, as well as the sins we personally commit. As a just judge, he punishes them now and in eternity. He has declared, Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them. But isn't God also merciful? God is certainly merciful. His justice demands that the sin committed against His Supreme Majesty be punished with the supreme penalty, eternal punishment of body and soul. And if you would now please join with me in the scriptures to Genesis chapter 6. Genesis chapter six, I've been going through the book of Genesis with brothers and sisters at Living Hope and now that it's beginning a new section concerning Noah, thought it'd be good to jump in here and to consider with you a brief portion of Genesis as we think of the last days according to Noah, the story of Noah here recorded in these next chapters of Genesis six. This afternoon we'll just consider the first eight verses. Here now the reading of God's holy and inspired word. Now it came to pass when the men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful. And they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, my spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh, yet his day shall be 120 years. They were giants on the earth in those days and also afterward when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Then the Lord saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth And he was grieved in his heart. And so the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah. found grace in the eyes of the Lord. So far, the reading of God's holy and inspired word. We began our study in the life of Noah today, and we want to consider these last days, according to Noah, the last days of the world that existed before the great flood came. What was that world like? How bad was it really? How does it parallel to our world in the days that we live in? These are some of the questions we want to think about, not just today, but in the days ahead, Lord willing, as we consider the life of Noah. Mark Twain once said that the human race is such a mess that it often seems like a pity that Noah and his family didn't miss the boat, that God would just wipe out all of humanity. We're such a mess and, you know, we just should just get rid of it all and start over. And perhaps you might have a similar view to that. Up until this point in Genesis, we've seen the effects of sin upon humanity. God did not create man this way as we just confessed. God did not create man wicked and perverse. He didn't create Adam and Eve defective, but he created man in his image. God created man in true righteousness and holiness and knowledge that man might know God, his creator, that he might love him with all of his heart. And then he might live with God in eternal happiness for God's praise and glory. That's why you were created. That's why I was created. But we see that man was tempted by the devil and he robbed himself and he robbed all of humanity of this blessed inheritance of life with God. And if we've been reading Genesis up to this point, we've seen sin affect all spheres of our life. We've seen sin in the very beginning in Genesis 3 affect the sphere of marriage, the covenant of marriage. When Adam and Eve hid from each other in their nakedness and in their shame. In chapter 4, we see sin affect the family when Cain murdered his brother Abel. In chapter 4, we see sin affect society with this great figure named Lamech who took for himself multiple wives and who embodied a spirit of pride and arrogance seeking to make a name for himself and seeking to take the blood of anyone who would harm him. And here in our text, we see sin now affect the entire world. If we've been reading Genesis up until this point, we would be seeing the sin of man escalating and progressing until this point that we read up here in Genesis 6. This is really the final stage of man's rebellion, total depravity on a worldwide scale. And one of the questions we might ask is, how seriously does God take this rebellion? How serious does God feel about it? You know, often we might fall into thinking that God simply tolerates sin. You know, He could handle it. He's been tolerating sin for thousands of years. Maybe He grows used to it. Maybe He grows numb to it. You know, that's how you and I are. We grow numb and used to our own sins. We get numb and used to clicking on the news and seeing terrorist attacks or different things that happen. But we learn from this text that God doesn't grow numb to sin. He doesn't get used to it. God sees the evil of man on the earth, and we read it grieves his heart, and God always deals with sin. And this afternoon, I want to consider three things with you from this text. First, we want to consider the sinful heart of man. Second, the severe judgment of God. And third, the saving heart of God. the sinful heart of man, the severe judgment of God, but then lastly the saving heart of God. Notice first the sinful heart of man in verses 1 through 5. We see in verses 1 through 5 again wickedness began to escalate. In verse 5 here is really a summary of the evil that was going on in the earth. Look at verse 5 with me. Then the Lord saw that wickedness on the man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Now, that's not the kind of scripture that you will find on a Hallmark card or on a Dayspring card that you would get for somebody. That's not the kind of teaching about the heart that you'll hear out in the world in pop psychology or the way that the culture talks about the heart. But the Bible gives us a very sober assessment about the heart of man in its natural state, fallen in Adam. And what God's word says to us is that the heart of the problem for humanity is a problem with the heart. The heart of the problem with you and me is a problem with our hearts. And we see the heart of man in our text giving expression to these rebellious acts against God. And we see this first in verses one and two. It came to pass that when the man began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were good, and they took these daughters of men as wise for themselves, all of whom they chose." Now I want to admit up front, this is actually a very difficult verse. And we have to spend a little bit of time here thinking about a couple of views on who these sons of God are, because how you understand these sons of God will determine what you think the sins are that are in view here. And so very briefly, I want to look with you at these three particular views on this verse of what's going on here. The most popular view of these sons of God and who they are has to do with them being fallen angels. That's probably the most popular view in Christian circles today. that these are fallen angels who left the abode of heaven and who came down to earth and who intermarried or had intimate relations with the daughters of men. In Job, you might remember that this phrase, sons of God, refers to the angels. But this phrase, sons of God, is only used in Job for angels. In Genesis, it doesn't refer to angels in that particular way. It refers to angels as messengers. Moreover, I don't agree with this view because angels are spiritual beings. They're neither male nor female, so it would seem unlikely that they would come to earth and have these kinds of relations with human beings. You know, Jesus says that in heaven we're gonna be like the angels, not given into marriage or not having children. And so it would seem odd to ascribe this kind of behavior to angels. And moreover, this view, I think, is problematic because in the context of this chapter and in the chapter before, the focus is on human beings. Chapter 5 is a genealogy, and it's focusing on the human line of Seth. And so this chapter 6 is flowing out of that discussion of this line that is being brought about, and it's focusing on the particular sins of man. We see in verse 3, it's very clear. The judgment that the Lord says is that my spirit shall not strive with man forever. for he is indeed flesh." So for some of these reasons, I think that we should avoid that particular view. But another view that's held that is a little bit more persuasive that I had to wrestle with is called the Sethite view. The Sethite view. The Sethite view holds that the sons of God are descendants of Seth. That's the godly line that the Messiah would come through. That's the line that you'll read about in Genesis chapter 5. And the particular issue in the Sethite view is this. The Sethites were on the earth and they were intermixing, intermarrying with the ungodly line of Cain. The daughters of women are the daughters of Cain in this view. And so the Sethite line is intermarrying with the Canaanite line. And that's a bad thing because the godly line is intermixing with the ungodly line. And that's a persuasive view because it does justice to the fact that it's human sin. However, one of the big problems with that view is verse four. These giants, where do they come from? Giants here is translated in other Bibles and other translations Nephilim, that's the Hebrew word. It could refer to giants, big men or big people, but it has to do particularly with people who are men of renown or people who are great in the earth for their reputation. They're giants in what they do. And this view, the Sethite view, doesn't really do justice to how these two lines would give rise to these giants. So that's the second view. Hope you're not too confused yet. The last view that I want to share is the one that I personally hold to. I don't hold to it too strongly as if, you know, I wouldn't die for it because I think that there's some good things in the Sethite view. But the kingship view is the third view, that the sons of God refers to kings. And in this context, it would be referring to kings who are tyrannical or who abuse their authority. You know, throughout the scriptures, kings are identified with God or with the gods in general. You might even know how in the book of Romans, they're called ministers of God. They're closely related to God himself. He sets up the kings of the earth. This word for God, sons of God, could also be translated in the plural, gods. It's also translated in that way all throughout the Old Testament. It's the word Elohim, the general word for God. I wanna read with you a little bit from Psalm 82, which will help reinforce this point. The Lord in Psalm 82 is pronouncing judgment upon wicked kings of the earth, and he's holding them accountable for their actions. And this is what the Lord says in Psalm 82. God takes his place in the divine council. In the midst of the gods, speaking of kings, he holds judgment. And he says to these gods, these kings, how long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and the fatherless, rescue the weak and the needy, deliver them from the hand of the wicked. I said, you are gods, sons of the Most High. Nevertheless, like men, you shall die and fall like any prince. So I think what's going on here in Genesis 6, is that there are these men on the earth who are claiming a sense of deity from themselves, who are claiming a godlike status, and who are abusing their authority set up by God as kings to serve. They're abusing that authority and going out and taking for themselves any woman that they choose. They're polygamists in their view of marriage and taking multiple wives. And they're giving birth to these giants, these Nephilim, these other royal sons who will be men of renown, as the scriptures say in verse four, men who are mighty, men of renown. So that's the view that I would particularly hold. But the key thing to really keep in mind here is that rebellion is taking place here in massive scale, in a scale that incorporates the entire world. These sons of God, no matter who they are, are really pattering the original sin that you see in the garden. You notice that the sons of God pattern Eve in her taking of the fruit. It says that the sons of God saw the daughters of men. Eve saw the fruit of the tree. They saw that they were beautiful. Eve saw that the fruit was a delight to the eyes. And they took for themselves all whom they chose. Eve took of the fruit and she ate. You see these people, no matter who they are, patterning the original sin of Adam and Eve in the garden, showing rebellion against God, showing that they're following the counsel of the wicked and Satan himself and abusing God's authority. Yet in the midst of this sin, in the midst of the things that we see here going on in these first few verses, we see the patience of God. We see the patience of God towards an ungodly world. Notice verse 3. The Lord said, My spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh. Yet his days shall be 120 years. At first glance, as we read this verse, we might read that 120 years and think that it refers to the lifespan of people after the flood. is completed, that people's lifespans will shorten quite a bit. And that's true, they will shorten quite a bit. But many will live past 120 years even after the flood. And that's why I agree with Calvin on this particular verse who says, no, no, no, the 120 years refers to this window of God's patience leading up to the flood. And it's an amazing point if you think about it. God says he's gonna have 120 year window here where the spirit of God will strive with man and abide with man. Noah will preach the gospel, he will preach the judgment to come, he will build the ark and he will call the world to repentance for a hundred and twenty years and God will be patient and long-suffering with his creation that he loves and that he created. God is increasingly merciful and patient here as the world is growing increasingly wicked and rebellious towards God. It's a wonderful point to remember that God is not like us. He is not a man. He does not get angry like you and I get angry when we fly off the handle sometimes, when someone provokes us. God doesn't just lash out at people when someone wrongs us. But Scripture says he's a God who is gracious and merciful. He's slow to anger. He's abounding in steadfast love. He's a God willing that none should perish. but that all should reach repentance. And we see that in our Lord Jesus Christ. We see Jesus in his earthly ministry. When he was here with his disciples, he was patient with them in the midst of their sin, in the midst of their not understanding who he was, in the midst of Peter even rebuking Jesus, saying, you're not going to go to the cross. Jesus was patient with him, even restoring Peter after he denied him three times. Jesus was patient even with those who did not believe and who would never believe, even his own people Israel, Jesus extended invitation after invitation, calling them to come to me, calling them to come and receive life. As one theologian put it, God's patience is the silence of his justice, and it's the first whisper of his mercy. And so we see here this 120 year window of patience, of long suffering, where Noah would preach the judgment to come and the hope of salvation when He would call the world to repentance. And you and I here, beloved, are in a very similar spot, are we not? We live in this time before the final judgment. in this time in light of the cross and what Christ has done, what Paul calls the day of salvation. You and I live in that day. What a privilege to live in this day where we can hear the gospel and respond to it in faith. And that's what God calls each one of us here to do, to receive Jesus Christ and be reconciled to God. Because we're told in the scriptures that his patience will not last forever. God's patience will not last forever. As Matthew Henry comments on verse three, if the spirit is resisted and quenched and striven against, though he may strive long, he will not strive always. God gives us this window of opportunity to respond to him. But then we see what will come. What will come eventually is the judgment of God. We see that in verse five through seven, the judgment of God. The Lord saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth. In verse six, the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart. And so the Lord said, I will destroy man who I have created. the severe judgment of God. Do you ever look around and wonder if God is really concerned with all of the things, all of the evil that we see around us? You know, when you click on the news or you get another email showing that there's Christians being persecuted in different parts of the world who are being killed for their faith. Do you ever wonder if God cares about that? Why isn't He doing anything about it? Maybe you've asked that question. I've asked that question at times. We struggle with those questions. You know, when you see evil around you, when you see corrupt government officials, when you see sex trafficking, when you see the murder of children in the womb or the oppression of the poor, the list goes on and on of the evils that we see. And it's not just the evils that we see and can read about, but it's the evil that we see in our own hearts, in our own families, and our loved ones. Does the Lord see and does he care about what you and I do behind closed doors when no one else is watching, when we stumble and fall? Does the Lord see and care about those sins that we've committed that we're so ashamed to share with other people? We're told in verse five, the Lord sees, the Lord saw, that wickedness was great upon the earth. The Lord sees. And this verse, verses six and seven are really sad verses in many ways and showing what God sees and how he feels. If we have been reading Genesis up to this point, we would remember that when God saw things in the beginning, he saw them very good. After God created all things in the space of six days, after each day He created, He stands back, He sees, and it's good. It delights His heart. And after all of creation is completed on the sixth day, and man is there, the pinnacle, imaging God in true righteousness, holiness, and knowledge, He sees man, He sees it all, and He says, behold, it's very good. God loves it. And on the seventh day, He rests, and He comes into intimacy and communion with His creation. and the Sabbath rest. God is like an artist who paints this glorious masterpiece and he delights in his handiwork and he steps back with satisfaction, declaring it good. But now in our chapter, he sees something very different. He sees his image bearers, people like you and me, distorting that image, putting it in the mud. He sees the black ink of sin, as it were, spilt all over his masterpiece, all over his handiwork. Little children, how would you feel if one of your siblings came up to you and who took one of your paintings or your favorite drawings that you did and they took it out of your hand and they took a Sharpie and they began just to scribble all over it? Or husbands, how would you feel if someone came up to you and had a picture of your wife in their hand or your children and they just began to cut it up right in front of you? You would not like that. It would grieve your heart. You would say, don't do that. That's an image of someone whom I love. And that's what we do when we sin against God. We distort his image. That's what we have done by our sin. And we're told in verse six that the Lord is grieved by our sins. The Lord said, I'm sorry that I've made man on the earth and he was grieved. in his heart. This word grieved is a very strong word. In Genesis chapter 434 this word grieved describes the hearts of Dinah's brothers who find out that she was just raped. We're told that Dinah's brothers found out she was raped and they were grieved. They were indignant in their heart. It's a word that describes being filled with pain. It's the kind of pain you would feel if you saw your spouse cheat on you. Or if you see one of your children destroying themselves in sin as a parent, your heart would be grieved. Your heart would go out to them. And that's the kind of emotion being ascribed to God himself. Moreover, we're told twice in this chapter that God was sorry that He made man. The old King James says He repented that He even made man. What does that mean? You need to be very careful here. Again, God is not a man. Numbers 23, verse 19 is very helpful here. God is not a man that He should lie, or a son of man that He should change His mind. He has said, and He will do it. or He has spoken, and will He not fulfill it? Again, Malachi 3, verse 6, the Lord does not change. The Lord does not change. So what does it mean that God is grieved in his heart? What does it mean that he repents that he created man? Well, God here is coming down to us in language that we could understand as human beings. And he's accommodating to us, as Calvin says, to speak our language. It's like a dad coming down to his baby or his toddler and speaking baby talk to them so they could understand something about what dad is saying. That's what God is doing here. He comes down to our language to show us how much he hates sin. He speaks our language and says, I am grieved by it. I repent that I even made man. And the emphasis here is to show us that God is disgusted by our sin. He hates it. This kind of talk of God is what's called anthropomorphic language, which is simply ascribing human emotion to God Himself. But the Lord sees, and He's grieved by sin. And as Christians, God is still grieved by our sin as well, isn't He? Apostle Paul tells us that we can grieve the Holy Spirit. And we need to remember that the Holy Spirit isn't just some force going around the world. The Holy Spirit is a person, the third person of the Trinity. And when we grieve the Holy Spirit, we grieve God himself by our sins. When we follow the passions of our flesh. We always live as Christians, Coram Deo, before the face of God, he sees everything. Even those things that we're ashamed to confess to each other, the Lord sees them. Thanks be to God, he forgives them in Jesus Christ, he covers them. But God does not only see sin in our text, he does not simply show emotion towards sin as it were, but he does something about it. We see that very clearly in our text. He determines to blot out man. God is holy and just. And as a just judge, he simply cannot look over sin. He must deal with it. That's what we confess in Heidelberg 10. God is terribly angry about the sin that we're born with, as well as the sins we personally commit. And as a just judge, he punishes them now and in eternity. There's not one sin or evil act that has ever taken place in this world that will not be dealt with by God. God will deal personally with every sin that has ever taken place. And there's only two ways that God will deal with sin. There's only two ways. He will either deal with sin on the cross of Jesus Christ, for those who believe, or he will deal with sin before his judgment throne without a mediator, without someone to stand in between a sinful man and a holy, holy, holy God. Those are the only two ways that God will deal with sin. And we see how God is dealing with sin here in this chapter. The Lord says, I will destroy man from whom I have created from the earth. I'm gonna undo all of creation, all the beasts and all the birds and all of the creepy things. I'm doing away with it all, for I'm sorry that I've even made man." This word, I will destroy, is translated as, well, I will blot out in the ESV. It's a very strong word over in the Old Testament and even in the New, we read of that word, do we not? Of God blotting out people from the Book of Life, blotting out people from remembrance on the face of the earth. We remember how Israel sinned in Exodus 32, when Moses gave the law and they constructed the golden calf before God. And the Lord was ready, he says, to blot them out as a nation, to do it over. But Moses intercedes for the people of Israel, and he says beautiful words that our Lord Jesus says to us as well. Moses says, forgive these people, Lord, forgive them. If not, blot me out, blot me out of your book. Forgive these people, Lord. If not, blot me out. We see him interceding for the people of God. And so we see here in this text, the sinful heart of man that merits the judgment of God. We've brought it upon ourselves. We see the severe judgment of God, even though he's a God who's merciful and patient. Nevertheless, he is a God who will bring judgment. But we also see in this text, thanks be to God, we see in this text the saving heart of God. And we see that in the final verse as we conclude. But Noah, but Noah, he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This verse should shock us. You know, we can understand judgment and justice. That's how we feel when someone wrongs us. Someone wrongs your child or someone wrongs your spouse and brings evil upon them. Your natural inclination is to respond back with evil and with justice, bring justice on their head. We understand that. But this should shock us. But Noah, Noah found favor or grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah's not deserving of grace. If there's even a hint of sin in his heart, he's disqualified from eternal life like you and me. Noah and you and me are not those who can earn or receive grace, but that's what grace is. It's a gift, is it not? It's a gift that we don't deserve. It's a gift given freely by God's goodness and ultimately because of what he would do in Jesus Christ for us. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, not because he showed God how awesome he was and how holy he was, but because he looked to God's mercy. That's what we confess in the Heidelberg, in the midst of talking about the judgment of God, in the midst of probably feeling a little bit uncomfortable about the judgment of God to come, the catechism asks, but isn't God also merciful? Love that. In the midst of it, it's so pastoral. Isn't God also merciful? And we see that in our text. He is merciful and he shows grace. even to people who don't deserve it. Yet in the midst of God's impending judgment, we see salvation. And salvation often comes to God's people in the scriptures, in the context of judgment. Salvation isn't separated from justice. It's not a whole different thing. It comes often in the context of judgment. You see that in Genesis chapter three earlier in the story, when Adam and Eve sinned and they were banished from the garden, God pronounced a curse on them and on creation. But in the midst of the context of judgment, he promised salvation. I will send one to crush the serpent's head and undo the curse. The Lord Jesus Christ. In our text here we see again salvation coming in the midst of judgment as God is determined to destroy man, but He shows grace to Noah. With Israel, you remember, He showed them grace and favor as they walked on dry ground through the Red Sea, even as He poured out His judgment upon Pharaoh and his armies. And supremely, ultimately, finally, God shows in the context of the judgment of the cross, the judgment tree, when Jesus was there taking upon our sins, God shows supremely in that context of judgment, His grace and His mercy towards you and me. You see, God must deal with sin. The whole Bible is about how God deals with our sin in Jesus Christ. And in the context of His judgment for our sins as He took our place as the righteous Son of God, we find mercy, we find grace, we find a gift that we could never earn ourselves. And we receive it only by faith. For by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. And therefore the Lord says to us through the prophet Isaiah, don't miss this. Isaiah 43, I, I am he who blots out what? Your name? No, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own namesake. And I will remember your sins no more. God must deal with our sin. And the blotting out that we deserve has taken a place in Jesus Christ. So that in Jesus Christ, he blots out our sins. And he doesn't remember him or hold them against us anymore. As Thomas Watson once said, God blots out his people's sins. not their names. Thanks be to God. And lastly, in Jesus Christ, beloved, we not only have our sins blotted out, but we've had the problem of the heart dealt with. The Holy Spirit has given us a new heart, a new heart that now begins to worship God. to love God, to show devotion to God in the midst of a world that's growing dark, in the midst of a world that's hostile to Him. He gives His people new hearts through the gospel and by the Spirit to love God, so that when the Lord looks down on His church, though we're still sinners and have the old man warring against the new man, God does not look down on you if you're in Jesus Christ and see, verse five, that their hearts are only evil continually. You know what he sees because you're in Jesus Christ? He sees you as if your heart is wholly pure and as if you had been as perfectly obedient to the law as Christ was obedient to the law for you. Because by faith, you're clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and your sins have been blotted out. That's the gospel. That's what we have in Jesus Christ. Do you know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ today? Do you know it? Today is the day of salvation. Today, the window of opportunity is at hand. And Paul says the loving kindness of God is meant to draw you, to draw me, to draw each one of us to repentance. Therefore, all of us are to turn away from our sins, those evil inclinations of our hearts and the things that we're prone to, to turn away from our sins and to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. For the day of judgment is coming. We heard it in the call to worship, for he comes to judge with equity. The day of judgment is coming, but by faith, let us cling to our Savior, and in joyful expectation, let us sing these words. Come not in terror as the king of kings, but kind and good, with healing in thy wings. Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea. Come, friend of sinners, and thus abide with me. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we marvel at your plan of salvation. We marvel that you would be pleased to save people like us. Lord, how often we fall into thinking that we are worthy of salvation, or somehow we have earned it, or somehow, of course, you're a God who would save us, but we're reminded from this text that you are a holy, holy, holy God, and that you had every right to throw all of your creation into the judgment waters. And, Father, we're grateful that you didn't, though, that you found grace with Noah and favor with him, and we're thankful that you show grace and mercy and patience and love to us in Jesus Christ. We're grateful, Father, for the grace that we have in Christ and the new hearts in him. Help us, Lord, to respond in faith, to respond in obedience, to respond in loving you and witnessing to you in a world that is growing so dark. Help us, O Lord, to show that we have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. And hear us, Father, for we do pray in His name. Amen.