17 in our Bibles this morning and we just want to read two verses we just got started in chapter 17 last week And the subject of offenses, and the Lord Jesus Christ gave a tremendous warning about offending the little ones, all right? And we talked about that. There's a lot of things going on in our society today, unfortunately, that are offending. And by that, the Bible, the word offend means to cause to stumble, to cause to sin, to cause to go out of the way. The children of our society are certainly being bombarded with all kinds of things today. We need to be aware of that and we need to have a burden and care for the young ones and help guide them in the scriptures and on the right path. Praise the Lord for that. To me, there's no greater excitement than young people who are saved and who are on fire for the Lord. We started praying, and on Wednesday nights in our prayer request sheet, there's always a little section where we pray for God to continue to raise up a new generation of faithful men. And God doesn't have to do this for us, but since we've been praying that way over the years, we have met seven of those young men. God has brought them my way. And so, and praise the Lord for that. And I just thought I wanted to put you on the spot, but he's ministering the Word of God, and so may the Lord use you, brother. And all the young people that he's going to raise up, you're a lot younger than I am, so you're young, all right? And Maya, everybody's young, just about in here. But anyway, today, a different, kind of related, but a different subject. In Luke 17, verses 3 and 4, Jesus says this, take heed yourselves, if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. And so the message for today is sin and forgiveness. All right, let's pray. Father in heaven, we're thankful that you are a forgiving God on the basis of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done on the cross. And help us, Lord, as we look into these two scriptures here and a couple other ones that relate to it. And I pray for the help of the Holy Spirit in looking in the word today, that it might be a help, it might be a blessing. Lord, it might be an encouragement or it might be a challenge to those who need to be challenged in this area. So help us, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. So four, notice as we introduce the message, four key words in verses three and four. Now they're not mentioned, all four of them are not mentioned in both verses, but in the order in which they appear, they are the words trespass, rebuke, repent, forgive. Those are four words that are key to what the Lord is going to be talking about today. And as it is with everything that the Lord Jesus Christ says, these are not just suggestions, these are commandments. This is the Lord's instruction to his people. So our message this morning is entitled, simply this, Sin and Forgiveness. A particular type of sin, not specific sins, we're not going to get into that necessarily this morning, but the idea of one person sinning against another. So we're going to take a look at that. First of all, let's take a look at Christ's exhortation in this passage. Notice the attention. that he demands. The beginning of the verse says, take heed to yourselves. Speaking to his disciples, it says in verse 1. So primarily for them. So because of that, I want to say right off the bat that the word brother here, we're going to use it in the biblical sense of a fellow believer. It's talking about believers here, by Brother. So, he says this, take heed to yourselves. And when you see the word take heed in the Bible, it's the idea of being on guard paying attention, even devoting and applying oneself. And so again, the Lord is saying, don't let this pass over our heads. We need to pay attention to this and take it to heart. Take heed to yourselves. In other words, take it personally. We need to apply it to ourselves when and if it is applicable. Then there is an action. He says, if thy brother trespass against thee. Again, fellow Christian, a brother in Christ, a fellow believer. Trespass against thee. In other words, sin against you and me personally, if that happens. Now, you're very familiar, if you do any kind of hiking, or hunting, or fishing, as you do that, you may be walking in the woods sometime, and you come across a sign. And it says, posted. No trespassing. And I'm very, very, when I find one of those signs, I get out of there as quick as I can. I never do that. I mean, I never purposely go on somebody else's property. But I like to go on the streams. I like to do a little bit of fishing in the streams. And so there's places where it says, stocked trout waters, fishing permitted. And then you might go upstream a little ways, and there's a sign, no trespassing, no fishing. And so I don't know all the ins and outs of that. I have friends who say it doesn't matter. They don't own the creek. But I say, you know what? The sign says don't come in here, so I'm not coming in there. And so that's a tremendous mood, interesting mood, when it applies to sin. You know, the Bible talks about sins, it talks about iniquities, it talks about evil doings, it talks about wickedness. But sometimes it uses the word trespass. And it's very similar to that sign out there. It means, don't go here. Don't go there. So when we trespass, the idea there is that we go where we're not supposed to, and we get off the trail. So getting off the path. The word trespass is a word that means any act contrary to the rule and law of God. How many times in the Old Testament did God exhort Israel, turn not to the right hand or to the left. Stay on the path. The Bible says in Psalm 23, he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. And so trespass, that's when someone does a wrong act. anything contrary to the will and to love God. A similar statement is found in 1 John 3, 4. Whosoever commits sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. So it's violating or breaking any of God's command. Now, so we mentioned in the message last week, Jesus said offenses will come. We're not living in a perfect world. We do not exist. Christianity is not a perfect realm. Churches are not perfect because they're made of people. And so people may sin against you. They may sin against me. I may sin against another believer. The Bible says when that happens, first of all, notice who the onus is on. If a brother trespasses against thee, rebuke him. Rebuke him. In other words, tell him about it. Point out his sin. And actually, the word rebuke, a synonym for that word, is to reprimand. Tell the person. Now, in Matthew 18, it says the first thing you do, you go to that person in private. If somebody does wrong to you, the Bible says you go to that person in private. Get this, you don't go to the pastor first unless he's the one that sinned. You don't go to the deacons and say, hey, somebody did this to me. No, the Bible says you go to the person first. So that's what we're gonna just, that's what we're gonna say here. rebuke him, let him know what he's done, and make sure it's actually a sin. I didn't like the way you looked at me today. No, we've got to get over such trivialities and stuff like that. It's got to be an actual sin, but they do. And then it says this, if he repent, if you repent, To repent in the Bible is a word that means to change one's mind, to change one's thinking. When he's talking about repentance here, he's talking about acknowledging wrongdoing and expressing regret. So true repentance, as Jesus used it here, is saying, yes, I realize that. I realize I've sinned against you. I'm sorry about that. And of course, we need to be sorrowful. Now Nathan, the prophet, rebuked David, even though David didn't sin against him personally. But Nathan went to David and pointed out his sin. And David said, I have sinned against the Lord. And he wrote at least two Psalms, Psalm 32 and Psalm 51, in his repentant state before God, begging for cleansing, for forgiveness. And Nathan said, the Lord has put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. David could have been put to death for what he did. But he repented. And so the Bible says here, if you repent, forgive him. So, depending on who it's talking about, when the Bible talks about God forgiving, it means that He remits, He cancels, He puts it away, it's gone. So similarly, if somebody sins against your law, and you come to them and say, this is what you've done, and they repent, then you forgive them. In other words, you let go. That's the idea. It actually means to let go or put away. Those are some of the meanings of the word to forgive. We are not to, by the way, that word forgive is as opposed to hanging on to or keeping. We're not to hold on to it or carry a grudge or be bitter and so on, but forgive. Now again, these things, there has to be repentance. That's what the Bible says. We cannot forgive each other if it's not acknowledged, if we don't rebuke the person, and if they don't say, I repent, then the next step doesn't happen. Just like God, we have to confess our sins. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now Jesus said, that if we don't forgive others, God won't forgive us. In the sense of this, our fellowship with God will be broken. Now there's a sense, when we accept Christ as our Savior, every sin, past, present, and future, is under the blood, it's forgiven, we're saved, but there is the practical aspect that sin breaks our fellowship with one another, breaks our fellowship with God, hinders our usefulness, hinders our service, hinders our life, and there's a lot of scriptures that talk about the effects of sin, unconfessed, repentance of sin, unforgiving sin among believers. So we need to take this very seriously. Now, verse 4, he says, and if he, in other words, the same brother, trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. So their part is to repent. Our part is to forgive. Now as you probably know, the 7 in the Bible is the number of completeness or perfection. And so the idea to forgive seven times in a day is the idea of complete forgiveness. Keep on forgiving. It's the idea of consistency, a consistent, forgiving spirit. Now, I would like us to look at Matthew 18 regarding this statement where he talks about seven times in a day. Because in Matthew 18, the Lord expands that. And by the way, it's not saying, well, if he does it eight times, then I'm off the hook. No, it's just saying, whenever he repents, you forgive him. And so Jesus is assuming, again, it's the idea of complete forgiveness. Most people won't do it seven times in a day, hopefully. But now, in Matthew 18, he's talking about forgiveness and things, and actually talks about If a person refuses to hear the individual, you take one or two more. If they still don't hear it, you bring it to the church. And that's one of the aspects of dealing with sin in the church, church discipline, that type of thing. But the point is to avoid that if possible. Now, so wind down through in Matthew 18, verse 21. Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how off shall I think my brother sin against me? And I forgive him till seven times. Now Jesus said seven times in a day, but now he's taking it beyond that. Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven. 490 times. Now, and he goes on in this chapter and talks, gives a parable of two men who owed a great deal of money. And one owed 10,000 talents, which would be today's money, millions of dollars. And he didn't have anything. He asked the Lord for mercy. And the Bible says, verse 27, then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave the debt. A huge debt. Never could pay. Verse 28, but the same soon went out and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him 100 pence, a couple of dollars in today's thinking. took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou ow'st. And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet. And he saw him saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not. They went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. Now remember, the one who cast the guy into prison was the one who the Lord forgave him an enormous sum of money. He went out and grabbed ahold of his fellow-servant and had him put in prison. Verse 31, So when his fellow-servant saw what was done, They were very sorry. By the way, that's a word, that should be an attitude when someone says, sorry, very sorry, alright? And came and told them to the Lord all that was done. Then his lord, after he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desirest me, neither wouldst thou ask me to. Shouldest thou not also have had compassion on a fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, that till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my having a father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. So one of the big points of the parable, obviously in the parable, the Lord represents God. And just like this one fellow owed him 10,000 talents, our debt of sin to God is enormous. I mentioned, I did some calculations, and if we just sin once a day, if we sin once a day and we live 70 years, we'll have sinned over 25,000 times. That's just once a day. Twice a day would be 50,000. So on and so forth. So in other words, we have a huge sin debt, and God forgives us when we come to Christ. We're forgiven. I mean, that ought to make you excited. The fact, we're forgiven of all our sin. And they say, but we're so much like this guy in the parable. Somebody does one little thing to us and we're ready to hang them. And that's not right. That's what they're saying. That's a wrong attitude. In fact, those sins will ruin our fellowship. God will deal with us. is the idea in that. And so that's the exhortation. Now let's take a look at the example of Christ. Real quickly, this could take hours and hours and hours to look at the example of Jesus Christ. But I want us to take a look at a couple of things in Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9, Jesus in his life. Jesus in his life. as he was on earth. Matthew chapter 9 verse 1, And as he entered into a ship, passed over, came into his own city, and, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee. And, behold, some of the scribes said unto themselves, This man blasphemeth. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For it is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven, than ye are to say, Arise and walk. But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins. Then saith he to the sick of the palsy, Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. And he rose. And he departed to his house. When the multitude saw it, they marveled and glorified God which had given such power unto men. Of course, these people, most of them didn't realize yet that this just wasn't an ordinary man. This was the Son of God, God in the flesh. But notice he forgave. And then we can, Jesus said, we know people by their fruit. We can see the evidence of faith, but Jesus saw their faith. I want us to go over to another one, John chapter 8, very familiar, and there's only really a couple of episodes on earth. where this is said about an individual, where they came to Christ, or this particular woman, she was caught in the act of adultery, she was dragged to the Lord, and the point was, nothing to do with sin or forgiveness or condemnation. The Bible says they did this to test him, they were trying to find something wrong. We're going to skip all that for time's sake, and we're going to take a look in John chapter 8, and So verse 7, remember they kept pestering him about what to do with this woman. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said to them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And then he stooped down and wrote on the ground, And they which heard of being convicted by their own conscience went out one by one, being at the eldest, and went unto the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee. Go, and sin no more. So when the Lord Jesus offers forgiveness or gives forgiveness, he also gives the power over sin. He said to the woman, go and sin on those. Don't do it again. Don't keep doing the same thing. So he exercised and spoke of forgiveness in his life. But I want us to turn to the book of Luke. And he also did this at his death. All right? At his death. Luke chapter 23, a very very familiar passage of scripture. Luke 23 and verse 34, as Jesus is being crucified, Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they parted with Raiment and cast lots. Interesting, isn't it? After he prayed for God to forgive them, they continued doing their evil. But he said, forgive them, for they know not what they do. They didn't realize. What they were doing. The interesting thing is that they didn't understand that they were actually going along with the plan of God. They were facilitating. God chose to use these men to crucify the Son of God and fulfill God's plan for Jesus Christ to be our Savior. But again, that didn't excuse them for what they did. And so they needed forgiveness. And they would have gotten it. if they would have repented and turned to Christ. The Apostle Paul, I obtained mercy, he said, because I did it ignorantly, in unbelief, and Paul was persecuting Christians, thought he was doing God's work, and so God forgave him, and so on. Later on, I want us to mention, I want us to think about something. Matthew chapter 27, please keep your place in Luke 23, because we're going to come right back to it. But in Matthew chapter 27, as Jesus hung on the cross in great mercy and grace and love, the greatest display of love that's ever been shown, the people mocked him. You know that. The people mocked him. And it talks about that. Matthew 27 and verse 44 says, The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. Notice thieves plural. At the beginning of this whole thing, the beginning of Jesus' crucifixion, the Bible says that both thieves rebuked him. Both thieves reeled on him, blasted him, cast the son of his teeth, what the multitude was saying. But then we come to Luke 23, and something happened. At some point, during their time on the cross, one of those thieves repented. And there are many things about this passage in Luke 23 and verse 39. But one of the things that is so precious is how this thief came to acknowledge his sin. And not only his sin, but he confessed he deserved judgment and death. I'm afraid in today's world, in our country especially, somehow people aren't getting that. People are not seeing themselves as condemned, lost sinners who deserve the judgment of God, and in fact, including hell, the lake of fire. Now, let's see what, let's see how this all works out. Luke 23, 39, and one of the malfactors, one of the thieves which were hanged, roared on him, saying, if God be Christ, save thyself and us. There's a lot we could say about that. People who just only call upon God when they're in trouble, and God doesn't do what they want, so they're done with God. He failed me, blah, blah, blah. They don't see themselves. This thief on the cross, he had no reason. I mean, he was getting what he deserved. We understand that. When somebody says, I just want what's coming to me, I say, no you don't. If you only knew what you're saying. We know how long we deserve from God. But the other, look at verse 40. The other thief rebuked him, saying, Dost thou not fear God? Folks, the word fear means to have a deep reverence for God. And it's actually the word is a wholesome dread of displeasing Him and a wholesome desire, a heartfelt desire to please Him. Moses described it this way, I exceedingly fear and quake when you saw God. So, but he says, don't you fear God? It's interesting, isn't it? Seeing God in the same condemnation? So, he took it, this thief, I mean, it's really something how the Lord worked in his heart. He came to the point where he looked beyond the Roman crucifixion. He looked beyond being punished for his crimes. He says, we're in the same condemnation. So in other words, he didn't say, don't you fear Caesar? We're getting a sentence for a crime. He said, no, don't you fear God? We're in condemnation. And I love this. verse 41, and we in deed justly, that is rightly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. We're getting exactly what we owe, what we deserve because of our deeds. And then to Jesus, or indicating Jesus, that this man has done nothing amiss. He's done nothing wrong. That is, he's never sinned. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me, and thou comest into thy kingdom. And so he said that. And in agony, he was being crucified too. He was in pain. He was in agony. But he was able to say, Lord, remember me, and thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. And of course, that same day, it was a lot. He's confessing Christ as Lord. He's talking about the kingdom, all these things. And Jesus said, I'll do better than that. You'll be with me today. So when they died, their spirits went to paradise. All right, now. I just want to take a look at a couple of them. Number three, let's take a look at Christ's instruction in the Word of God. And so we're going to look at some verses in Romans and in Colossians. And so please turn, and we'll get through these as quickly as we possibly can. But I do want to pass on the opportunity to speak about the Bible, what the Bible says in Romans about sin and forgiveness. We need to realize and understand where we are as humans. Where are we naturally, by nature? When we're born into this world, how are we born? Well, the Bible says we're born in sin. Now, Romans 3, verse 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All have sinned. Everybody in this room has sinned. I've sinned. Everybody. Every human being who's ever been born, whoever's alive today, whoever will be born in the future, all have sinned, come short of the glory of God. We all fail to glorify God. We fail to measure up to God's purpose for creating us, to glorify Him, the glory of God. And then verse 24, being justified freely, in other words, by being declared righteous freely, that is, without cost to us, by his grace, by his unmerited favor, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation. Propitiation means a satisfaction of God's holy demands upon sin. a means of forgiveness, through faith in his blood, faith in the blood that he shed on the cross, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just, and would justify of him which believeth in Jesus." And so he's talking there, when he talks about sins that are passed, he's talking about the sins under the Old Testament. through the forbearance of God. When they offered their sacrifices, God covered their sin, God forbear. He did not execute judgment upon them because of the time when Christ would come and remit those sins. Hebrews also talks about the sins that were under the First Testament. Now, so at this time also, His righteousness, that He might be just. He's fully just. His justice has been satisfied. That's what that word, propitiation, means. Therefore, He's just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. So because God's demands on sin were fully satisfied by Christ, therefore He can give forgiveness. He can declare us righteous because of what He did for us. Romans 6.23. Many of you, maybe most of you know this. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The penalty of sin is death, spiritual death, physical death, eternal death. In that order, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, God said, the day thou wast around thou shalt surely die. Adam ate the fruit, lived another 900 years. But he died spiritually immediately. And we praise the Lord in Genesis chapter, the end of the chapter, God provided for forgiveness for Adam and Eve. And so it is with us. The ridges of sin is death. And so because we are sinners, we are condemned, just like that thief on the cross. We're condemned. And so, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5.8 says, but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5.8. So Christ took our place. He took your death and my death upon himself. And when it says he died for us, it means he died in our place and for our benefit so that we can be forgiven of our sins. And in Romans chapter 10, 9 And if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth on the righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. We call upon his name, call upon the name of Jesus Christ to save us from our sin. realizing again that we are sinners and that there's nobody else, no other way for our sins to be forgiven except through the Lord Jesus Christ by calling upon Him. Now I want us to look, and I realize we've gone through these very quickly, but the Word of God can still speak to hearts, and I pray that it will if there's anybody here who has not yet trusted Christ as Savior. And one more passage here along this line is Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1, starting in verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet, or made us fit, to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. See, it's all by the grace of God. It's God's gift. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, through the blood that he shed on the cross. And the book of Hebrews tells us that he offered his blood to God as a payment for our sin. And that blood also washed away our sins, according to Revelation 1.5. and other scriptures. And so the question is this, have you received God's forgiveness of sin? Have you seen yourself as the sinner and condemned in no other hope except through Jesus Christ? And so the Bible tells us that, that He died for us that we might be saved. And as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. Now, so, forgiveness of sins, it's an amazing thing. There's hundreds of scriptures, Old Testament, New Testament, you know, Psalm 103, As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. And many, many wonderful verses like that. So the question is, do you have it? Do you have the forgiveness of sins? Have you trusted Jesus Christ? Have you seen yourself as the sinner without hope? all apart from the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're not sure about that, you don't know where you stand, we'd love to be able to take the scriptures and show you more of what God's Word says. It is the Word of God. Paul wrote that faith, so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And so then, one last passage in Ephesians chapter 4. to follow up on what Jesus said in Luke 17 about forgiveness in Ephesians chapter 4. We'll start in verse 29. Bible says in Ephesians 4.29, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. and be ye kind one to another. Again, fellow believers, be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. That's the standard. God forgave us if we're saved, if you're saved this morning, God forgave you for Christ's sake because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross and he says on the basis of that We need to forgive one another when there are sins. And we need to have that heart of forgiveness because He forgave us. And I don't know. I'm sure of this. I know one thing for sure. Nobody has ever sinned against me as much as I've sinned against God in my life. And same with you. So you understand that. And I don't know if any of you have these thoughts, but I've had people say, oh, I can't forgive. I don't even go there. I say, you know what? You have to. You have to. And I'm sick of these, whatever, therapists, they try to make it easy and just let Jesus forgive them through you. And I understand that, but that's not the advice we give. You have to. You must forgive. You know, you must, by the grace of God, find it in your heart to forgive, all right? And thank God that we can do that. All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, thanks for the time we can spend in thy Word this morning, and we're thankful for our dear Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is such a joy, Father, to open these scriptures. and just proclaim what the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, what he did for sinners like me and sinners like us, and a world, as the hymn writer put it, a world, for a world of lost sinners was slain. Thank you, dear God. Thanks, Jesus Christ, for what you've done for us. And Father, in a few moments, we're going to be reminded in a very special way that Jesus did for us. May we focus upon that and upon Him. And Father, you know our hearts today and if there needs to be forgiveness between people or any of those things, Lord, that you would just bring it to pass, cause it to happen, and we pray these things. Help us to be willing, dear Lord, to do whatever we need to do in order to be clean and to be pure in my sight in this particular regard. of sin and forgiveness among one another. And we'll thank Thee, Lord, for all that's accomplished. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, let's take our hymn books. We want to sing a little bit before we go into the observance of the Lord's table. And I'm finding my place here in the Bible. And hymn number 201. 201, he is able to deliver thee. Praise the Lord for his grace. And so after the service, if anybody needs help along this line that we've talked about today, salvation or forgiveness, any of those things, we'd love the opportunity. So please keep that in mind. 201, let's say the first and the third verses, he is able to deliver thee. ♪ Tis the grandest thing through the ages run ♪ ♪ Tis the grandest thing for a mortal tongue ♪ ♪ Tis the grandest thing that the world has sung ♪ ♪ Our God is able to deliver thee ♪ ♪ He is able to deliver thee ♪ Our God is able to deliver thee. Verse 3. Let the tidings roll to the guilty heart, to the sinful soul. Look to God in faith. He will make thee whole. Our God is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. Our God is able to do Amen. Let's pray and then we'll go into the Lord's Table. Father, thanks again for that word to us today and for our dear Savior and the great salvation he's provided. I just want to pray, Lord, that your Spirit would use the word to work in every one of our hearts. And thank you for that lovely, wonderful hymn that we've just sung. And thank you, Father, that you are able, Jesus Christ is able to deliver. And we're thankful for all those millions down through the centuries that have been delivered through the great work of Christ. So help us now. May we focus upon him as we enter into the observance of the Lord's table. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thanks. Please be seated.