Please remain standing and turn with me this morning to James 2, verses 14-26. James 2, verses 14-26. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving him the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one, you do well. Even the demons believe and shudder. You want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works. And the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. You may be seated. Join me in prayer. Father, we thank you for this portion of scripture. We pray this morning that your Holy Spirit would make this word clear to us, that we would be alert and attentive to the hearing of your word this morning. I pray that you would work in my proclamation of it in spite of my weakness in doing so. In Jesus' name, amen. Before we dive into the last part of this chapter two this morning and we're gonna look at verses 18 through 26, the very end of this second chapter, I wanna talk about a couple of big picture issues with James's letter here. And we often just focus in on just a few verses a week and really look into those verses. And we've been, sometimes we have to step back and we have to look at the bigger picture. And we've been looking for many weeks now at what is true faith? pure and undefiled religion from the end of chapter one versus a worthless religion, or now James begins to talk about dead faith versus true faith. And with comparison and contrast, James uses many examples to try to give his readers examples of what true faith really looks like. And that should be a little bit concerning to us in the church because if James goes to such great lengths in his letter here to point out true faith from false faith in the early church, what about true faith versus false faith today within the 21st century church, 20 centuries later? And that is the first point I want to discuss this morning, is that James, in this letter, is speaking about those who are in the church who do not have a true faith. Just like in 1 John, when we went through that letter, there were many warnings in that letter against false teachers and false teaching regarding the nature of who Jesus was, they got Jesus wrong, and those teachers were inside of the church. Here, James is speaking against a wrong kind of faith within the body of Christ. This is not a call by James to look out into the world, to look at those outside of Christ, those who do not profess to have a faith. and contrast those who don't claim to follow Christ to those who are in the church, those who love Christ, those who are followers of Christ. That's an easy distinction. There are those who would say, no, I don't love Christ, I don't follow Christ in our world. James here, though, is contrasting in his letter those within the visible church. The visible church is what we see with our eyes, not only of those of this congregation who attend on Sunday and may be members, but also those who gather around in churches around our world Sunday after Sunday, the visible church, those that you can see. And the visible church we know can include those who are elect, who have been called by God, and those who are non-elect. We see in many of Jesus' parables things mentioned like bad seed being sown among the good seed and that growing up together. The invisible church consists, in contrast, the invisible church are all of those whom God has called to himself, those who are elect and belong to Christ. So James, here in this letter, is basically saying there are those within the body of Christ who have a saving faith, who have a true faith, those whose faith is real and is not dead, and there are also those within the church, within the body of Christ, who claim to have a faith. They say they do. But he says, because of these examples, it is dead and it is not a true faith. There's a warning of repentance here that James is bringing out. Like the first part of this chapter where James warns his readers not to show any partiality within the body of Christ. Don't be judges with evil thoughts amongst yourselves. And then we have this contrast between those who say they have faith and James says, but then they don't show it by their action or their faith does not lead to action. Our illustration last week in the first part of the second half of this chapter is the one who hears of physical needs within the body of Christ, specific needs of food and clothing, and does nothing to help those needs, nothing to try to help. So faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead, dead faith. May we not be those who think that we have faith, but it is not a true faith. And I want to be very clear about this. If you ever have doubts, and Michael brought this up in Sunday school, and we all have doubts at times, if you are ever concerned and you think, you know, I'm not really sure that I have a real faith, I would love to visit with you about your faith. Please don't be the one who wonders but never seeks help or seeks answers. Talk to myself, talk to one of the session members about your faith, or even about your struggles with faith. We all struggle. Call me, email me, grab me after the service, let's talk about our faith in Jesus Christ. Second, I want to make sure, the second point I want to bring up before we dive into these verses, and make sure we're all on the same page regarding what James is saying about faith and works and the relationship between those two things. It's very apparent in our world today, as well as in James' time, that when people talk about faith and works, they're not talking necessarily about the same things or how they go together. And we don't want to confuse them. We don't want to confuse our justification which is an act of God's free grace where He pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight only for the righteousness of Jesus Christ that is imputed to us and received by faith alone. That justifying act that God does. Justification, our salvation itself, is an act of God. It is God who saves us. He is the one who pardons all our sins. He is the one who accepts us as righteous, not because of anything within us, not because of our righteousness, not because of our works, our good deeds, but only because of the righteousness of Christ, and we receive that righteousness, Christ's righteousness, by faith alone. In justification, faith stands alone. That's where we get that sola from the Reformation, sola fide, through faith alone we have found salvation. But there is also our sanctification, as we are believers in Christ, and sanctification is the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto our sin and to live unto righteousness. God renews us, He gives us the ability by His Spirit to put off our sin and to strive to live righteously. We can now obey God's commands, obey His Word as Christians. Two very separate things, justification and sanctification, but they go together. Sanctification is what is shown by works, and that is what James is saying when he says that faith is not alone, it is accompanied by works. Now there are only four ways that we can really view the relationship between faith and works. And three of them are wrong. Ways that people say that faith and works go together, and there's only one right way of faith. Number one is the view that works alone, devoid of any type of faith, produce salvation. Meaning I can earn my salvation by the things that I do. Now there are many people in our world today who believe that if they're simply good people, or if they do enough good deeds versus bad deeds, then they will somehow earn salvation or earn a way into heaven. Surely God will let me into heaven based on what I've done, apart from any faith at all. Now, no Christian believes today that works without any faith leads to salvation, but there are many in our culture today who are very dependent and think that they rely upon their works to save them. Being more good than bad in their own eyes is their own standard, but it's a very slippery standard because they themselves are the ones who then determine what is good and what is bad, what is right and what is wrong. So that's the first view. Works alone, devoid of faith, produce salvation. That's a wrong view. Now number two, the second view, is that faith and works together, working together, produce salvation. This would be the view of the Roman church and also some Christian groups relying upon Jesus, faith alone, and, not alone I guess, faith and something else. Jesus plus the sacraments, baptism, the Lord's Supper. Jesus plus my good deeds that I keep doing. Jesus plus something, faith plus. And this is also a wrong view because we know that we are not justified before God because of anything within us or anything that we do externally as well. Number three, faith only. produces salvation. And this is a little bit different than the Sola Fide, which we talked about faith alone, and we believe that to be true. But this is that mere mental ascent that I talked about last week, a faith that is just a knowledge-based faith. Yes, I believe these certain facts. Of course I believe in Jesus. Doesn't everybody believe in Jesus? Melissa and I actually had a friend, and this is going back 20 or 30 years now, who actually believed that she was a Christian based solely on the fact that she was born in America. She believed that with her whole heart. I was born here. Of course I'm a Christian. She had a strong faith. Faith alone, she believed. I am a Christian. But that faith is not a saving faith, that type of faith. Or we can have a historical fact, like I mentioned last week. We can believe all these facts about who Jesus was and how he lived, and even that, yes, he was a person who truly died, and maybe I believe in the miraculous, so I believe he rose again, but still not have a saving faith. It's just a mental knowledge. Or a faith in doctrine, I also brought up last week. You know, I've memorized the catechisms or the commandments. I believe them to be true, so I'm good. I believe those truths. I have all this mental knowledge. I can believe that this book, the Bible, is true and still not have a saving faith. We don't just rest in a mental ascent, something we think, sort of faith alone. And that leads to the final view. Faith leads to salvation and then works will follow. And this is what truth-saving faith is. Those who are connected to the vine, Jesus Christ, that we read about in John chapter 15, those connected to the vine will bear fruit. Scripture tells us that. So when we get to these verses today where we go, okay, how do we reconcile James with Paul or other parts of Scripture? We see that James is looking at the works in a believer, these good deeds, as evidence of a regenerate life. Ah, I can tell this person truly believes because in their sanctification the Holy Spirit is allowing them to do these things. Here is how one is shown to be a true believer in Christ. The fruit will show itself. We see this mentioned in various places in Scripture. One is in Romans 1.5. Paul writes, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations. Paul says, the obedience of our faith, our works, is a natural byproduct, a natural result of our faith. Or in Galatians 5, 6, Paul writes, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. Faith working through love, not a dead faith, not a faith that does not work through love. The one who sees his brother without clothes and daily food and whose faith loves his brother enough to attempt to meet that need is a faith that is working itself out through love. So with those two things in mind, James is speaking in this chapter about a true faith versus a false faith inside of the church. And now as we look at the proper relationship between faith and works, we can say, yes, we believe as Christians that faith alone in Jesus Christ alone saves us. And we can also say with James confidently at the same time that faith without works is death. Those things are not opposites to one another. They go hand in hand. Verse 18, James writes, but someone will say, you have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith apart from works, and I will show you my faith by my works. James brings up this hypothetical someone here. Someone, says, who tries to separate faith and works. You have faith. I have works, as if they can be separate at all. And I think we've already covered the fact they must go together, but in that proper order. They must work hand in hand. There is no option to show someone faith apart from works. James says, I will show you my faith by my works. And it's not merely a boasting in the works of man. James is not saying, look at all these great things I'm doing. I feed the hungry, I donate to all the right charities. James is not looking for a pat on the back or to try to inflate his ego or his pride here. He's basically looking at these believers, and if you remember, at the very beginning of this letter, he addresses it to the 12 tribes in the dispersion, those who are claiming to follow Christ, probably Jewish believers in Christ, and he's saying, I'm not sure that all of you have a true faith. There's not evidence in some of you. There's something lacking. Now imagine James or the Apostle Paul visiting a church. They come and visit a church and they're looking around and they see all these needs in the body of Christ. and then nobody cares about the needs that are there. The people act like they don't even like each other, let alone trying to look out for each other. You can imagine that Paul or James would probably have words to say to those church members, and we read many of those words in scripture, but they would be thinking, what are you doing? Why are you helping this obvious need that is right here in front of you? Why are you showing partiality amongst yourselves and dividing yourselves? What's the problem? Do not rely on your intellect to save you. Do not separate faith and works that cannot be done. So there's a great pastoral concern that's going on here with James. This is not a just for your information, in case you're interested type of letter, any more than the book of 1 Corinthians is when Paul points out many problems and sins that he sees within the church and he desires those people in Corinth to repent. James is concerned with these people who claim to follow Christ. that they really do follow Christ. And shouldn't we be concerned in the same way as well as believers? Which is why I said earlier, if you ever have any questions at all concerning or concerns about your faith, talk to myself or one of the elders of the church, because we are responsible to shepherd this flock of God that is under our care. And we long that all are growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the very next verse, we have very strong evidence of James's Jewish audience to which he is writing. In verse 19 he says, you believe God is one, you do well, even the demons believe and shudder. Now those words God is one are a reference back to the Hebrew Shema in Deuteronomy chapter six. Deuteronomy chapter six verse four says, hear O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one, and that passage, that familiar passage goes on. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul. The Shema was prayed by devout Jews morning and evening ever since the exile. So as James addresses this letter to the 12 tribes in the dispersion, those who are in exile for their faith, this reference back to Deuteronomy chapter six is very deliberate. You believe that God is one. You followers of Christ, you believe that God is one. But not only is there a reference here to this history of the Jewish people, but that this monotheistic belief is exactly the same type of belief that demons have. R.C.H. Lenski in his commentary writes, the only kind of faith without works that one may have is like that of the demons. The only kind of faith without works that one may have is like that of the demons. James pulls no punches here. Even the demons, he says, believe like you do who claim that God is one. They believe that God is one, that there's only one true God, and they shudder. Not a shudder of revulsion, but probably a shudder of fear. And the belief of demons is not only monotheistic, they know and believe there's only one God, but they also believe that Jesus Christ is the unique son of God. In Matthew 8, 29, we read of Jesus' encounter with two demon-possessed men. And it says, and behold, they cried out, what have you to do with us, O son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time? The demons not only believe, or not only know that Jesus is the Son of God, but they know what is coming and they are afraid. They shudder. Mark 3, verses 11 and 12. And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, Jesus, they fell down before him and cried out, you are the Son of God. And he strictly ordered them not to make him known. Luke 4, 41. And demons also came out of many crying, you are the son of God. But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ. James says, you believe in one God, you do well. We should believe that God is one. Deuteronomy 6, 4 is true. There is only one God. But even the demons believe that much and they shudder. Even the demons believe in one God. Even demons believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That type of faith, a mere mental knowledge is not enough. The demons do not have a saving faith. Mere belief is not Christianity. That is not pure and undefiled religion. And the focus here is not on the demons, but on the lack of true faith. And it's amazing that there are those today who merely think, in our world today, But the faith of demons is enough. I believe in one God, the creator of all. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son. So surely that's all there is to faith. James, by this reference to the faith or the belief of demons, shatters that idea completely. Monotheism is not enough. A stated belief in Jesus Christ as God's son is not enough. Even the demons believe those things. Think about that. Even the demons are orthodox on those two items. They know the truth and they shudder because of it. Perhaps many others who are suppressing the truth in our world today about God shudder because deep down inside they know the truth about God and yet they seek to reject that truth. So now we've had two examples by James of a dead type of faith. The one who sees his brother or sister in need and does not make any attempt to try to meet that need of food or clothing. and the one who simply has the faith of demons, one who says, yeah, I believe that there is a God. Now James is going to move on and give us two examples of true or living faith in the remainder of this chapter. Verse 20, he says, do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? James calls the person who tries to separate faith and works foolish, and he labels this type of faith not only dead, as he will repeat those words in the last verse of this passage, but that type of faith is also useless faith, it is not good. So the first example of a true faith here is the example of Abraham in verses 21 through 23. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness and he was called a friend of God. We cannot, we dare not take these scriptures out of context, these few verses here, just like we can't take any verses out of their context. We know what James has been writing in this letter up to this point. We know that he talked about the gospel and regeneration early on, so James is not contradicting himself here. Here is the second instance in this chapter of James writing to a Jewish rather than a Gentile audience. He doesn't explain in this letter who Abraham is. In fact, he just simply refers to him as our father Abraham. You're supposed to know those who are reading the letter. To those whom James is writing know this Abraham to whom he is speaking. They know who Abraham was. They know what Abraham did. James refers to Genesis 22 where we read about that sacrifice of Isaac and how Abraham demonstrated and showed his true faith in God by being willing to give his only son in obedience to God's command. We also read of this in Hebrews 11 verses 17 through 19. by faith Abraham when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, through Isaac shall your offspring be named. He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. Now in contrast, when Paul is speaking about Abraham in the book of Romans, he appeals not to Genesis 22, but Paul appeals to Genesis 15. When God made that covenant with Abraham, and he spoke to him about his descendants, and Abraham believed God, Genesis 15, six, that he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. In Romans four, verses one through three, When then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. God gave Abraham both the ability to believe God and the ability then to obey God. Where people often criticize James is when he says, it was not Abraham our father justified by works. James uses the word justified here, but he does not confuse faith and works and which one follows the other. He is not saying that Abraham earned his salvation through what he did, rather that his faith was shown as true by what he did. His works proved They demonstrated his faith. James even uses the word completed. His faith was completed by his works. Now justification is one thing, God alone justifies, and sanctification is another thing, and man works with God in the process of sanctification, dying more and more to sin, and living for righteousness. It is that obedience to the believer, our obedience that is imperfect in this life, which shows evidence or fruit of a saving faith, so that someone can look at our lives and say, there's justification for their faith, there's evidence for their faith. So don't confuse what James is saying when he says justify. So we have one example with Abraham, the great father of the faith. And then James states his final example in verse 24, where actually he ends this section, he says, you see, because of what he said about Abraham, you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith. Wait a minute, I thought we just talked about how we're justified by faith alone. So let's look at the word justified here as shown to be just. A person is shown to be just or justified by works and not by faith alone. Paul would say that trusting in your own works for salvation is deadly. Paul would say trusting in your own works for salvation is deadly and that is true. that to be true. We cannot trust in the works of the law or good works of any kind to save us. We cannot contribute one thing to our salvation. It is God alone who saves. James would agree with Paul, but James would also say in light of his letter here that resting on an empty or dead faith is also deadly. Trusting in a faith that does not show forth fruit is deadly. Relying on mere mental belief alone that does not show itself and manifest itself through works is deadly. In the next verse of this chapter we come to the final example that James gives and that is of Rahab in verse 25. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? Now here is the third example in this passage of James addressing his Jewish audience. He gives very few details about Rahab. He assumes that they know the story. In one verse, that doesn't tell you and I a lot about who Rahab was or what she did. So let's fill in for us the details a little bit. In Joshua chapter two, we read of Joshua sending spies into Jericho. Now these spies lodged in the house of a prostitute, Rahab, in the city, and the king of Jericho heard that there were spies in his city, so he sent word to Rahab, bring out the spies. So Rahab lies to the king, says the spies have left, I encourage you to send men out after them, maybe you can catch them, search for them. Meanwhile, she's hidden the spies up on her roof under stalks of flax. In Joshua chapter 2 verses 8 through 13 we read, Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt. and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you. For the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. Now then, please swear to me by the Lord, that as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father's house. and give me a sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death. And the man said to her, our life for yours, even to death. If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the Lord gives us the land, we will deal kindly and faithfully with you. And the story goes on that the spies tell her, tie a scarlet cord in your window and everyone that you have in your home with you will be spared. And the people of Israel come into the land and God miraculously defeats Jericho and Rahab and her family are spared and they become a part of the people of Israel and Rahab is a part of the lineage of Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 11 31 we read, by faith, Listen to those words. By faith, Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. If you notice in the section in Joshua 2 that I read, this was no mere negotiation with Rahab. She wasn't saying, I know you're gonna defeat us, so I just wanna save my skin. I wanna save my life and my family. She was not motivated out of fear, but she was motivated by faith. The men of Jericho were afraid of the Israelites. She stated as much. They had heard what God had done. They knew that the Israelites were a threat. And Rahab relates all of these things to the spies. But notice again what she says in verse 11. For the Lord your God, He is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. Rahab feared God rather than man. And that's why she chose to protect the spies and lie to the king. That this is the true God of heaven that you follow. And she wanted to be a part of those people who followed God. Rahab showed her faith, her belief by what she did. And God used her in his plan of redemption, of redemptive history. God worked in her, giving her a true faith that caused her to act. Look at the simple faith of Rahab. And there is significance of James using these two examples of faith from Israel's past. Israel would very gladly boast in the faith of Abraham, our father. That's what the Jews in Jesus' day were doing, boasting in their lineage to Abraham. Abraham was revered, he was respected for his great faith. Abraham was a man to be looked up to. Jesus stated in Luke 3 verses 7 through 9. He said, therefore, to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come, bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the roots of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Jesus himself tells the Jews of his day not to claim Abraham as their father if they do not produce any fruit that is in keeping with repentance. If your faith is not shown by your actions, you cannot claim Abraham as your father. But then James, knowing of the boasting of the great faith of Abraham, this great man of faith brings up the other example of a woman who may not have been revered all that much because of her faith. Rahab was a prostitute. Rahab was not one that the Jews would have been proud to compare themselves to. I have the faith of Rahab. And James points out her simple faith in the God of heaven and earth. Verse 26, the last verse of the chapter, for as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. James' audience are perhaps those who grew up with a semblance of belief. Their Jewish background gave them the information regarding Abraham and Rahab. They grew up around the faith, but perhaps never had that faith personally. Faith without works is dead. It's not true faith. The two go hand in hand. We read in Revelation chapter 20, verses 11 through 15, Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. From His presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Just like Matthew chapter 25 that we've discussed the last two Sundays, this picture here in Revelation of the final judgment, Revelation 20, speaks of the dead being judged by what they had done, being judged by their deeds. Faith without works is dead. You and I understand how those two things work together in scripture. We don't look at the judgment as those in the world do and say, if only my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds, then I'll be in heaven. That's not what it's saying. No, God saves those who are his elect, his choice by his decree. And those who are the elect people of God will produce fruit in keeping with repentance. I asked you this morning, how is your faith? Is your faith just a mental assent? I believe certain facts about God. I believe certain facts about Christ. Or is there evidence of God's saving faith in your life? And once again, if you ever have any questions about your faith, please don't hesitate to ask. And remember from chapter 1 that we can ask from God wisdom. James 1.5. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God. who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him." Please join me in prayer. Father, we thank you for your Word. We thank you that you draw people to yourself, that you and you alone are the one who saves us. And as you save us, as we are justified in your sight by the righteousness of Jesus Christ, You also give us the Holy Spirit who works within us and enables us to bear fruit, enables us to obey your word, enables us to show love like we should. And even though we do it imperfectly, we don't love you, our God, with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength as we should. We fall far short of that in our Christian walk. And we don't love our neighbor as we love ourselves as we should. We fail in that as well. Help us to do a better job of loving you. and loving our neighbor, and to looking to you alone for the strength that we need day by day. We thank you for that saving faith for which James speaks of. We thank you for the great examples of faith in scripture. From those mighty people of faith that we admire because of their great faith, Abraham offering his only son up to you, knowing that you are a faithful God and true to your promises. And Rahab, one who was not even a part of your people at the time, who saw that you were the God of heaven and earth, and was willing to protect the lives of those who serve God. We thank you for faith, that gift you give us. In Jesus' name, amen.