Please remain standing with me. And if you have your Bibles, please turn to the book of Isaiah chapter six. Isaiah chapter six, we'll be taking a look at verses one through seven. Isaiah chapter six, verses one through seven. God's holy word reads. In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the terrain of his robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above him, each having six wings. With the two, he covered his face, and with the two, he covered his feet. And with the two, he flew. And one called out to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory and the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, woe is me, for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the king, the lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongues. He touched my mouth with it and said, behold, this has touched your lips and your inequity is taken away and your sin is forgiven. Let us pray. Heavenly faithful father, we come before you ready to receive your word. For I know I'm not worthy to preach this text, Father, of your holiness. But yet, it's a text that we must all hear, including myself, to be reminded of of your holiness, Father. You are a holy God. You deserve to be feared. We must be in reverence in all of you, Father. I ask that your word does a convicting work for all of us as we get a glimpse into your holiness, that we may not disintegrate because of our sinful nature. Be with me, Father. Guard the hearts of your people. Let your name be highly exalted today. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Isaiah chapter six it's if you've seen the the title there it is the holiness of God and as I was going through some passages I was really drawn to Isaiah six. I feel it's something that the church must be hearing constantly, frequently, often about the holiness of God. And again, I really don't even feel that I am even worthy of even who is right. Who is worthy of talking about the holiness of God? No one. But yet we would do our best that only his word gets all the glory and the word, his word does all the work. And so just to give you a little bit of the background here, what's going on in Isaiah chapter six. This is really regarding the southern kingdom. It's a split kingdom. We have the northern kingdom. We have the southern kingdom. And King Uzziah is actually he reigned for over 50 years. It's been estimated it's been about 52 years of his reign. And those were, in a sense, just like Solomon, maybe not quite as glorious, but those were some of the most glorious times in the southern kingdom of Judah under the reign of King Uzziah in Judah. uh it was uh the southern kingdom was strong commercially in trade uh they had a strong military state uh things were going very very well for the southern kingdom and you have to keep in mind after just a constant reign of wicked kings they finally get king azaiah for 52 years things are going well but then there's a pivotal turning point in the king and the death of king azaiah What happens is he begins to think highly of himself as a king, and he attempts to assume the priestly duties, those duties that only are for a high priest. What does he do? Well, he lights incense at the altar. He disobeys the law of God. And what happens? Well, God judges him with leprosy, and he dies. You know, here's a king who attempted to assume the office of a priest. Brethren, there is only one who can assume the office of a priest, of a king, and a prophet. That is the Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory. Only Him. but even going back to the reign of King Uzziah and just the flourishing of the southern kingdom, Judah was going through a spiritual decline. Yeah, things may be going great as far as a nation or even a kingdom, but what matters is, are these people following the law of God? Are they seeking to go after God? That was not the case. Materialistically, they were doing very, very well, but spiritually, they were on a steep decline. And to give you a little bit of a glimpse as to what we see here and what kind of decline this is, stay in Isaiah and turn with me to chapter one. They had become very calloused. They had hardened their hearts to God. They had fallen away to idolatry, to worship other gods. And in Isaiah chapter one, we'll take a look at verses 10 through 19. Here's the beginning of Isaiah. It says, hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah. What are your multiplied sacrifices to me? Says the Lord. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of the fed cattle. And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats. When you come to appear before me, who requires of you this trampling of my courts? Bring your worthless offerings no longer. Incense is an abomination to me, new moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies. I cannot endure inequity and the solemn assembly. I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts. They have become a burden to me, I am wary of bearing them. So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your deeds from my sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. And then he turns the corner. I love what he says here. Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as wide as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land. And if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword. Truly the mouth of the Lord has spoken." And here's judgment now that has fallen upon the Southern Kingdom. But even through the message of judgment, God is merciful and he calls his people to repent. The death of King Uzziah was a pivotal point. Again, as I stated, it was very pivotal. Yes, he had died. It was a great king by an earthly standard, but it was a time of mourning for the southern kingdom. They lost a great king, but nevertheless, judgment had now come to the doorstep of the southern kingdom. So let me take your attention now to verse one. Says in the year of King Uzziah's death. I saw the Lord sitting on a throne lofty Exalted with the train of his robe filling the temple And this verse, especially the first part of verse one, is I wanna at least give you the outline, the sovereignty of God. And you might wanna ask, you know, how is it that you see the sovereignty of God in verse one, right? In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted. Here we see the picture of an earthly kingdom for Judah. And what from an earthly perspective as to what would be a glorious kingdom and then immediately in that same verse? We see the picture changed to a glorious heavenly kingdom How can we dig deeper into this? The text is saying that no matter who is king even with the death of King Uzziah One of the great kings is arguably the top five kings of these people No matter who is king. God is always on his throne And we can apply that even today For worldly leaders even no matter who is president. It doesn't matter God is king and he is still on his throne. He rules over everything over nations over his entire creation You know back in ancient times with ancient kings just to give you a little bit of a background They did everything to enhance their appearance. Uh, they had they would have their thrones raised up So then when when the people would come around the throne, they would have to be they would be forced to look up at the king They were they were clothed in this beautiful clothes and robes that with the long train and all of this was a sense of pomp It was a sense of of of circumstance everything that is going on around this this king of the people. In the second part of verse one, infinitely much higher than that, immensely higher than that, we see the kingdom of Almighty God. the kingdom of almighty God. You know, sometimes when we get caught up in the appearances of world leaders and kings, even at this time, I'm reminded when I was listening to R.C. Sproul, how when Queen Elizabeth was being coronated in the 1950s, how the media just made a huge buzz around this. They just talked continually about her gown and the train of her robe and how it was just so long and beautiful. And it was multiple people that had to carry it. Immensely above that, we see that the Lord is sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted with the train of His robe, filling the entire temple, filling all of it. If you can picture that in your mind, what a glorious sight that is. It is the great throne of God. His train, the robe of His train, it fills the entire temple. We see a picture of this also in Revelation chapter 4. Now, you don't have to turn there. Revelation 4, 2 and 3, it says, A throne was standing in the heaven. And one sitting on the throne and and he was and he who was sitting was like a jasper stone And a sardius in appearance And there was a a rainbow around the throne like an emerald in appearance. This is the throne of almighty god everything here in this earth falls extremely short to that kind of throne but what is going on around here in verses two and three we see the seraphim stood above him each having six wings with two he covered his face and and with two he covered his feet and with the other two they flew One called out to another and said holy holy. Holy is the Lord of hosts The whole earth is full of his glory the foundation the foundations of the threshold Trembled at the voice of him who called out while the temple was filling with smoke What a majestic scene this is. This is the holiness of God The radiance of God's holiness is so incredible that these seraphim have to cover themselves because it is too much to bear to the eyes. Such a glory of God cannot be seen by man ever. But we do see that Moses did get a small glimpse of this, the tiniest glimpse of this. Turn with me to Exodus. In Exodus chapter 33, we'll be taking a look at verses 18 through 23. After all the marvelous things that Moses had seen regarding the miracles that Yahweh performed, not just in front of him, but the people, we come into verse 18 in Exodus 33. Then Moses said, I pray you show me your glory. Show me your glory. And he said, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. But he said, you cannot see my face for no man can see me and live. Then the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me and you shall stand there on the rock. and it will come about when my glory is passing by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take my hand away and you shall see my back. But my face shall not be seen. And this is now the tablets are given and you skip down to chapter 31 verses 29 and 30. And it came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai. And the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses's hand, and he was coming down from the mountain, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with him. So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near to him. And this is moses catching the reflected part of god's glory the reflected part the back side of it And imagine what what isaiah must have fell even in this vision and back in isaiah and six we see that the seraphim not only are covering their face because it's blinding to the eyes but but they're covering their feet they're also covering their feet this is a sign of reverence in the midst of holiness as everything is trembling all around them they are covering not only their face but also Their feet this this reminds me of exodus 3 5 where where moses is approaching the the burning bush and if you guys remember What is what does Yahweh say? Stop remove the sandals from your feet For you are standing on holy ground You're standing on holy ground That is the presence of God in the midst of holiness. The acts of removing one's sandals or covering the feet is an act of humility before a holy God. More importantly, what are the seraphim saying? They're saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. There is no other attribute that you see in scripture that is repeated three times. You hear a lot of messages that God is love and he is, that God is mercy, he is, that God is gracious, he is, that God is patient, he is. He is all those things. The reason he is those things is because everything hinges on his holiness. That is the one attribute throughout all of scripture that is repeated three times. Three times. It doesn't say that God is love, love, love, or that He's mercy, mercy, mercy, or He's patient, patient, patient, or forgiving, forgiving, forgiving. No, what the scripture tells us explicitly is that God is holy, holy, holy. He's he's sacred. He's completely set apart. He's unlike you and me. He's unlike us He's he's completely separated from his creation. And the reason for that is because of his holiness is why he is completely separated from everything else. You know that the use of the holy, holy, holy is also referred to as a trihagion. This is a repetition in names or expressions. It's more common in Jewish tradition or in culture. When you see something repeated more than once or three times, it means pay close attention, even when the Lord Jesus Christ would say, verily, verily, right? He's grabbing your attention. If there's anything for us to grab our attention to is that God is holy. He's holy and he's holy. But another perspective of this is this can also be implied to the attribute of all three members of the Godhead. Holy, holy, holy, for the Father is holy, the Son is also holy, and by even in His whole name, the Holy Spirit is holy. All three members of the Godhead are holy. I also want to take your attention to the word Lord. You see their capital L. O. R. D. The tetragrammaton. This is what it is referred to. This is Yahweh. This is the covenant name of God to his people in the Old Testament. It is Yahweh. Yahweh is holy, holy, holy. Whenever you see capital L, O, R, D, all in caps, it means Yahweh. Some of the translations, the LSB brings that out. It is Yahweh. But even in verse one, you see Lord, and you see capital L with lowercase O, R, and D, and this is Lord. This is the Hebrew name of Adonai. This is the sovereign one, supreme. supreme, highly exalted, which is fitting because even though King Uzziah is dead, the one who still reigns is the one who is sovereign and supreme over all creation. Adonai and Yahweh are still on the throne. But even to go deeper into this, who is it that Isaiah sees here? Who is it? Yes, it is Yahweh, but to go a little bit deeper into this, turn with me to John chapter 12. In John chapter 12, we see this passage in Isaiah being implemented to the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 12, I want to take your attention to verses 35 through 41. John 12, 35 through 41. The text reads, so Jesus said to them, for a little while longer, the light is among you. Walk while you have the light so the darkness will not overtake you. He who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the light, believe in the light so that you may become sons of light. These things Jesus spoke and he went away and he hid himself from them. But though he had performed so many signs before them, yet there were not believing in him. The whole context here is the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 38, this was to fulfill the word of who? Of Isaiah, the prophet, which he spoke, Lord, who has believed the report? and to whom has the arm of the lord been revealed for this reason they could not believe for isaiah said again he has blinded their eyes and he hardened their hearts so that they would not see their eyes and perceive With their heart and be converted and heal them Don't miss this these things isaiah said because he saw his glory and he spoke of Him he spoke of him. So who did isaiah see? He saw the exalted jesus christ on his throne yahweh He saw him on his throne, and along with John 12, we see multiple new passages regarding the Old Testament of Yahweh, and they get usually attributed to the Lord Jesus Christ. And let me give you one example and turn with me to Romans in Romans chapter 10 as we see an Old Testament passage of Yahweh being attributed to the Lord Jesus Christ in Romans chapter 10 We'll look at verses 9 through 13 But close attention to verse nine. It says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as what as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, a person believes resulting in righteousness. And with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation. For the scripture says whoever believes in him will not be disappointed or be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all abounding in riches for all who call on him. And don't miss this in verse 13. For whoever will call on the name of Who of the Lord will be saved the whoever will call upon Yahweh Will be saved it matches perfectly with verse 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord you will be saved You will be saved You know, this glorious scene that Isaiah is envisioning back in Isaiah 6, it is the exalted Christ, you know, with everything trembling around Him, the foundations of the threshold, and the voice of Him who called out while the temple was filling with smoke. You know, there's a parallel passage. There's two occasions where two people see this vision similarly. One, we see this in Isaiah 6, which we're going over now, where Isaiah sees the exalted Yahweh on his throne, and this gloriousness around the throne, and the seraphim saying, holy, holy, holy is God Almighty. The second person who sees this is John, the Apostle John. Turn with me to Revelation. Revelation chapter 4. There's two occasions. This is now the second one, and it comes at the end. Revelation 4. Revelation 4, we'll look at verses 1 through 11, as I try to explain to you how just as Isaiah was taken up in a vision, and so was the Apostle John taken up, right, in a scene in heaven. Chapter four of Revelation, verse one says, After these things, I looked and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of the trumpet speaking with me, said, Come up here and I will show you what must take place after these things. Immediately, I was in the spirit and behold, a throne was standing in heaven. and one sitting on the throne. And he who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald appearance. And around the throne were 24 thrones. And upon the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting, clothed in white garments and golden crowns on their heads. Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne, there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal in the center. And around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like Like that of a man and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, there we go again, are full of eyes around and within and the day and night, they do not cease to say what? Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come. And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne to him who lives forever and ever. the 24 elders who will fall down before him who sits on the throne and will worship him who lives forever and ever and will cast their crowns before the throne saying worthy are you oh lord and our god you receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and because of your will they existed and they were created amen This is the second parallel scene of what happens in Isaiah. But I want you to take a note of this. There's one thing that happens to Isaiah that doesn't happen to John. And we'll see that in verse five a little bit later. But the record of John falling and this torment due to his sinful nature does not happen to John. It does not happen. He doesn't say woe is me and he's before the throne, but it does happen to Isaiah Now why is this? Well, because the Apostle John had already seen God He already saw God the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 14, 9, as John, as the Lord is talking to Philip, Philip is asking, Lord, show us the Father. And what does Jesus say? Oh, Philip, if you have seen me, you have what? You have seen the Father. The Apostle John, he's now doing the work of God, of what he was put here to do. As we go back to Isaiah 6, Isaiah is being commissioned now to do that work, where John had already been commissioned as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. One commentator Actually, let's turn back to me with me to Isaiah chapter six, as we start to turn the corner now and we take a look at this manifestation of everything going on around the throne and the foundations and verse forces and the foundations of the threshold tremble at the voice of him who called out while the temple was filling with smoke. And then I said, woe is me, for I am ruined. God's great holy power is now manifested physically. Everything is now trembling. Everything, not just the person of Isaiah, but everything around. Everything. One commentator says, each of these experiences stresses the infinite distance between the world of man and the realm of God. That's what it's like to be in the presence of God. And there's holy smoke that is filling the temple. And we see this somewhere else also. Turn back with me to Exodus. We were just there, but in Exodus 19, we see this holy smoke that's being filled in Exodus 19. We'll be taking a look at verses 16. Exodus 19, 16 through 25. Exodus 19, 16 through 18. So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to see God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke. Why? Because the Lord descended upon it in fire and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace and the whole mountain quite quaked violently When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder Moses spoke and God answered with him Answered him with thunder the Lord came down on Mount Sinai To the top of the mountain and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up Then the Lord spoke to Moses go down warn the people so that they do not do not break through the Lord Did they so that they do not break? through to the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. Also let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves, or else the Lord will break out against them. Moses said to the Lord, the people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you warned us saying, set bounds upon the mountain and consecrate it. Then the lord said to him go down and come up again you and Aaron with you But do not let the priest and the people break through to come up to the lord He will break forth upon them. So moses went down to the people and he told them He told him this is a glorious scene again of just everything shaking and god's presence Causes not only mankind to tremble but all of creation all of creation trembles before a holy God and if that happens Turn back with me to Isaiah 6 We naturally see that verse 5 will happen How does Isaiah respond to all of this Then I said, woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. This is the response of the prophets, of prophets. R.C. Sproul says the holiness of God is traumatic to unholy people. It is traumatic. Righteous men, even through all of scripture, have trembled before a thrice holy God. All of them have trembled. There's nothing nonchalant about being in the presence of God. I know a lot of us like to speak of, oh, if I could be in the presence of God now, I'm like, brethren, realize what you are saying. Now, we will be in the presence of God, but by His grace, we will have an advocate there, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you will not be alone with your sin, and you will not have to say, woe is me, if you are in Christ. There's nothing nonchalant about being in the presence of God. He is holy, holy, holy. I'm reminded back in Job, in chapter 40, where Job now musters up the courage to question God. And what does Job do after God responds to him? He lays his hand over his mouth after realizing the mistake that he made of questioning god almighty. Who are we? We're just his creation And as isaiah says this woe is me What is he saying? Woe is me for I am undone Or he says I am ruined some translations have it for I am undone Nevertheless, it's a sense of of self-appointed judgment Uh now isaiah sees that he's now doomed before a thrice holy God. There's doom upon himself, judgment upon himself. You see the translation, some said, woe is me for I am ruined, for I am undone. Nevertheless, this carries the implications of having a sense of disintegration before a holy, holy God. It's a sense of somebody falling apart mentally. Picture that. You know, if you've ever had these encounters with friends that you've had from a long time and they're maybe not in the best of places, they've gone through some trials and you may say, yeah, they're completely falling apart. Times that a hundred and you have Isaiah a man falling apart mentally completely Why because he realizes that he is a man of unclean lips What is the significance about the lips? I'm a man of unclean lips. Well, the significance is this that in Luke 6 45 and The Lord says that out of the heart, the mouth speaks. So if there's sinfulness in your heart, it will come out of your mouth. The Lord also says that it's not what's inside, what goes inside the mouth that defiles man, but it's what comes out. Why is that? Because what comes out is usually the sinful nature of the man, of the woman, right? And even Romans 3.13, it says, their throats are an open grave. With their tongues they keep deceiving. And the way that the prophet Isaiah, one of the most righteous men in the entire southern kingdom, responds this way, woe is me. Woe is me. What is that? It's a realization of sin. It's a realization of sin. The righteous man that Isaiah was now realizes his own sinful nature. You know, the first step to any true confession of sin is having an understanding of the holiness of God. You want to understand how sinful you are? You have to understand how holy God is. Everything hinges on the holiness of God. If we understand that we are sinners, then we must understand that God is holy. If we understand that and we realize that we are in need of a Savior, it's because God is holy. And the only reason we can appreciate the work of Christ upon the cross for that substitutionary atonement for sinners is because we understand the holiness of God. And this is the glorious gospel. We must understand that we are sinful individuals. And if you are outside of Christ, friend, I beg of you that you must come to know that one day you will be like Isaiah, and you will stand before a thrice holy God, and it will just be you by yourself in your sinful nature. And every sin will be accounted for. It doesn't have to go down that way because the Lord has provided a way for you for you to escape the wrath to come the judgment to come. He sent forth his son to the cesspool of sin who lived a perfect life a life that none of us could ever lived. And he died a substance. They put him to death. He died a substitutionary atonement death upon a cross. He died as a sinner, even though he himself never sinned. He died he was buried. He rose again on the third day Not only did he raise he was raised on the third day. He's now at the right hand of god Of god almighty and he is interceding for all of his people You want to know why the apostle john didn't say woe is me because the advocate was there by his side May the advocate be by your side on that day of judgment That when God sees you, he sees a finished work of Christ upon your life. That the righteousness that you have is not your own, that it is a perfect righteousness that is imputed upon your life. It is an imputed righteousness that we need, brethren. Will you be alone with your sin on that day, or will you have the advocate, the Lord Jesus Christ, who paid it all, that you may not have to say, woe is me. Man needs the forgiveness of sins. There's nothing else more than we need in this world than the forgiveness of sins. Now Puritan Thomas Fuller once said, he that falls into sin is a man. He that grieves at it is a saint. And he that boasts in it is a devil. And English pastor William Marsh added, he that forgives is God. Brethren, we need the forgiveness of God and in 2nd Corinthians 5 21 It says that he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf So that we might be the righteousness of him in Christ Jesus Back in Isaiah 6 as we close and in verses 6 and 7 We see that Yahweh acts Verse six says, Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongues. He touched my mouth with it, and he said, Behold, this has touched your lips, and your inequity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven. Yahweh here acts. He sees the repentance of Isaiah. Now there's nothing more than we need. You want to know what the responsibility of a sinner is? Repent. Repent. Once we repent, God then sees that repentance and he acts. Really, he acts even before that in regeneration. But God here acts when he sees the repentance of Isaiah. The burning coal here is a symbol of the cleansing need, the purification of Isaiah. He says, I am a man of unclean lips. He needs to be purified of that. He needs to be cleansed of that. And his sin is now forgiven. His sin is forgiven. Brethren, if you are in Christ, know this. Your sin is forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. Yes, we see a text like this in Isaiah 6, and we see the holiness of God, and the judgment upon the sinner before a thrice holy God, and everything, the smoke is filling, the glorious scene of everything. And I have to remind you of this, that our God is not just a God of holiness, but He is a God of mercy and grace. He's gracious, He's merciful. Now turn with me to Psalm 103. Psalm 103. It's a glorious thing to be forgiven by God. Psalm 103, eight through 14. The text reads, the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding and loving kindness. He will not always strive with us, nor will he keep his anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins. Amen. nor rewarded us according to our inequities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is the loving kindness towards those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far he has removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord Yahweh has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame. He is mindful that we are but dust. He knows that, brethren, that we are but dust. We must humble ourselves before a holy God. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you peace. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for our time together. Thank you for your word that is able to change our hearts, that we may look more and more like your son, Jesus Christ, that we may live a life that is That is glorifying onto your name father We also want to pray at this time for our pastor and his family that you please heal them Bring them back as quickly as possible and any other of our of our members here who are sick and who are down right now Please be with them comfort them give them strength and we look forward to seeing them again. We love you We pray all these things in your glorious son's name in Jesus name. Amen