Dear children and young people, if you could have been there on one of the days of creation, one of those first seven days of that first week of creation, you could choose which day you could have been there. Which one would you have wanted to see? Would have been that first day when God spoke light into the darkness and unleashed there that glorious light that has been there ever since? Would it have been the fourth day when the Lord hung in the heavens, as it were, that powerful sun and said, rule the day, or that beautiful moon and said, rule the night, and he made the stars also? Or would it have been the sixth day when the Lord did so much, made the animals, countless animals and formed also Adam and Eve from, Adam from the dust of the earth and Eve from his side and breathed into Adam the breath of life. Those are spectacular things, aren't they? But how about the seventh day when the whole creation that God had made On this seventh day, which God sanctified, somehow he made that known to them, that it was all for the worship of his name. And the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the entire creation, including the animals, and Adam, and Eve, they worshipped God. And the praise and glory of God swelled from that whole creation to God upon the throne. The angels, the archangels, and all of creation praised God harmoniously. What a day that would have been, don't you think? And you know, that seventh day, that Sabbath day, the Lord sanctified it in order that in a continual way every single week ever since then even till today the Lord gives us this day of rest in the worship of his name and especially after the fall, and because of our sin, that there's still a place of rest, still a day of rest, still a God of rest, who gives rest. Also today, what a wonderful truth and wonderful grace, as we hope to see from our text passage, Luke 13, 10 through 17, together with Lord's Day 38 which was read to you. We want to see how the Lord works true rest in our lives. And at this time I read verses 12 and 13. And when Jesus saw her, this woman, he called her to him and said unto her, woman thou art loosed. from thine infirmity, and he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight and glorified. God, may the Lord do that also in our midst and in our hearts today. Our theme looking to the Lord this morning is remember to rest, truly. And we'll see, first of all, This infirm woman, this burdened woman, will see a great rest giver, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we'll see what true rest is, as opposed to false rest. So remember to rest. We'll see, first of all, this infirm woman, and we'll see a reminder that we need to rest. We'll see, secondly, this great rest giver, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we'll hear a reminder that Christ alone gives rest. And then thirdly, we'll see true rest, which is the Lord saying to us, remember to reject all substitutes for true rest. So remember to rest. Well, in the passage before us in Luke 13, the Lord Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. He has set his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem because he knows he will suffer and die there. And yet, he's crisscrossing through the whole land of Israel and even across the Jordan in the land of Perea one last time in order that everyone might know that Messiah has come, that God has sent his prophet, that all the promises of redemption are being fulfilled. And the Lord Jesus, during his ministry, had frequently gone to the synagogue. He did so every week, probably, unless he was providentially hindered. And of course, we don't read of every time that he went here, but this is the last time in his earthly life in which he was in a synagogue. And the synagogue, of course, just like the church today, was a mixture. In this sense that there were many who simply came out of custom or superstition. They simply came to hear rules and try to obey them. Simply to satisfy their conscience. There were many like that. Even among the scribes, the Pharisees, the leaders of the synagogue. But there were among them, there were also people who waited for the consolation of Israel. Who had by the grace of God this desire. to know God, to fear God, to hear his word. And this is the synagogue before us in Luke chapter 13 this day. And Luke, who was a physician, by the way, he focuses by the Holy Spirit suddenly on one of the congregants on this particular Sabbath day in the synagogue. He writes there, and behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity 18 years and was bowed together. If anyone is 18 here today, as long as you have lived, this woman had this infirmity, this burden. And so this was for a long time that she was in this condition. And there's three things we want to see about her as we just look at her as the text focuses on her. First of all, children, her frame was completely pulled together. She was not just slightly bent over, but the original says here that she was completely bent over. Meaning that her skeleton had contracted in such a way that she was just focused on the earth. She never could look up. Scholars tell us that this may be the condition of kyphosis that still happens today. But just imagine that for 18 years you could never look up. You could never look into the face of someone. You could never look up into the sun. What a condition. And unfortunately, probably, people mocked her, which is, of course, a horrible thing to do. And none of us should ever do that to someone who looks different as suffering from any kind of infirmity, whether seen or unseen. And yet we see here in this passage, as with all Jesus's miracles, we see a picture of what Jesus sees and what Jesus has come to address. And his miracles showed what compassion, what mercy he had on people of all kinds of conditions. But they were also messages to the people themselves and to those who saw these miracles of what God in Jesus Christ does in our world. which is a world of misery, a world of sin, and a world of the consequences of sin. And so what we have here in this woman is really, in a certain sense, a picture of the many who go through life burdened, buckled together under a weight that cannot be seen in most cases, and yet which so weighs them down. but it is hard for them to look up. Perhaps that's you here this morning. Just like the woman in that synagogue, you too have come to church, and perhaps not physically, but spiritually, mentally, or emotionally, you are exactly like this woman, just bent over for many years, perhaps, in this same condition. And in a certain sense, every sinner left to himself or herself is exactly like this. With the burden of transgression, heavy laden, overborn, the psalmist says. Oh sin is indeed a heavy burden that weighs us down and keeps us from looking up into the eyes of the Lord. But we know in the case of this woman that there was indeed even more to her situation and condition because we're told here that this woman had been bound by Satan. Look at verse 11. She has a spirit of infirmity that comes not just from physical factors, but Satan had bound her, verse 16 says that specifically. And Luke, who was a medical doctor, he understood as he hears the reports of this, this is more than just a physical condition. Satan has been at work here. Well, that puts this into such more graphic light, doesn't it? Imagine being captive to Satan, bound by Satan. Shuffling around every day, as it were, on the leash of Satan, who has bound you. And again, this is a picture of natural man. of all of us by nature. The Bible tells us that Satan has bound us, 2 Timothy 2 verse 26, and taken us captive at his will, left to ourselves, whether we realize it or not. Sin binds us to Satan. But the third thing the text highlights regarding this woman here on the Sabbath day in the synagogue is that there was nothing that she could do to straighten herself up. Look at verse 11. And she could in no wise lift up herself. Luke here, by the Spirit, underlines this. This woman is utterly incapable of doing anything to better herself. And that's indeed exactly the parallel with sinners like you and me by nature. We can't loosen ourselves from Satan. We can't straighten ourselves and rid ourselves of the burden of transgression. We can't of ourselves just look into the wonderful face of God. We don't have the power to do it, no matter if we even had the will to do it, so to speak. If we wanted to, we can't, we're bound, no matter what we try. And yet what an amazing thing that this woman has found her way to the synagogue. We don't know all that was in her heart that day. Maybe because of the many years that had passed, she had very little to no hope in her heart at all, but she's there. She's there in the synagogue. And that is indeed what the Lord in his word wants his people to do. He wants them to be under the teaching, under the instruction of his word. That's one of the parts of the fourth commandment. We read about it in Lord's Day 38 where it tells us as it explains the fourth commandment. It says that the ministry of the gospel and of the schools be maintained. In other words, there ought to be Christian teaching. The truth of God needs to reach us and it needs to reach this world because it is through the preaching of the gospel. It is through the truth of the word of God that a difference can come in people's lives, blessed by the Holy Spirit. And it makes it so personal, doesn't it, here? And that I, especially on the Sabbath, that is on the day of rest, diligently frequent the church of God to hear his word. That's what this is ultimately about in the first place, to use the sacraments publicly to call upon the name of the Lord in prayer and contribute to the relief of the poor. That's part of what the early Christians also did on the Sabbath day, on the Lord's day. You can read of that in 1 Corinthians 16 verse 1, where they came and they laid aside their gifts for the poor. And so this is the first thing that the Lord is requiring of us as he reminds us to rest. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you've labored, but this seventh day, remember, don't forget, remember to rest. It's amazing, isn't it, that the Lord has to tell us, that he has to remind us to rest. With no other of the commandments does the Lord say that. He never says, remember not to kill, remember not to commit adultery, remember not to covet, no. But with the fourth commandment, it's as if the sinner is so bound to the slavery of sin that the Lord has to say it, remember now, remember now, don't forget. Remember to rest. Remember to rest in the first place by coming under my word and hearing my voice amid all the voices that you hear in this world. Hear the rest giver's voice. Hear the one who is able to make a difference with that burden and with that fight against Satan and with that inability that you have to make anything better. Well, congregation, this day in the synagogue, they had a most amazing preacher. None other than the Lord Jesus Christ. None other than one who had been anointed from heaven by the Holy Spirit. He had announced it already years before he had said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. For he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, to preach liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. And that preacher has come to this synagogue where this woman is, as we now see in our second point, the true rest giver. Well, congregation, we have already seen that it's very possible to come to church with heavy burdens. Many here have exactly those, burdens relating to their families, burdens relating to their health, burdens relating to the providence of God in their life, burdens relating to their emotions or a sense of their own unworthiness or sin. And perhaps you've come many, many times, and you're still as bent over as you've always been. Well, today, the Lord is here through his spirit and through his truth. And he does what he did for that woman in the text, which is, again, three things. First of all, we notice here that Jesus sees her. Notice that in the words of our text, when Jesus saw her. Now, don't skip over that so quickly because the Lord Jesus Christ didn't pass over her. He saw her, and he saw her in a way that really no one else saw her. Indeed, he saw her suffering, but he saw beyond her suffering to her captivity. And as the Bible says elsewhere, he is acquainted with all our way. There's nothing that is hid from him. The Bible makes clear that the Lord knows you. He knows your down-sitting and your uprising. He understands your thoughts afar off. He knows your thoughts before you think them or feel them. And when the Lord Jesus sees this woman, He sees so much than what we see when we see a person in church, even if we know something of their suffering. Because the Lord knows things from the inside out. We read this, for example, In Exodus 3 verse 16 where the Lord comes to his people enslaved in Egypt from which he'll deliver them but it says there in Exodus 3 verse 16, I have come down to see their affliction. And so too here in our text, the Lord sees this woman's burden and her infirmity and the spirit with which she is heavy laden. You know, the Lord sees us as well. Every one of us has a burden, whether we know it or not. Perhaps some here are very carefree. You don't think anything is bothering you, anything is burdening you at all, but the Lord sees you too. And he sees a burden that you don't see and you don't feel. And that's the burden of your sin and of your guilt. He sees that. And like you read later in this chapter as he cries out over Jerusalem and says to Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you? As a hen gathers her chickens under her wings. Judgment is coming. Your desolation will be great. And I see it. I see it so perfectly, so profoundly. I see what you don't see. It's hidden from your eyes just now, but I see it. I know it. There's someone else here who's perhaps come very weighed down by their sins. Well, my friend, the Lord sees that as well. Perhaps you can relate to Psalm 40, which says that my sins are more than I can count. that your iniquities have gotten hold upon you so that you're unable to look up. You know that can happen in life, that you grow despondent, you don't think there's any hope for you. Someone else, yes, but not you, not with all that you've done, not with all that you have rejected in terms of the Lord's calls of mercy in your life. Oh friend, the Lord sees also that and sees that particular burden. but also other burdens, burdens that providence sees fit to place in our lives that make you indeed go buckle down and you look to this earth and you're focused on this earth. You can't straighten yourself out to look up. Just imagine children seeing just down all the time, just the dirt, the dust, the tar, just all of that, and never able to look down on. Some people spiritually, that's them. They always see dark. They always see death. They always see this. They can't look up. And they can't do it. Maybe you say, you know, you just have to pull yourself up. You just have to focus on the positive. They can't because they're bent down. But you know, the Lord doesn't just see you, whoever you are in your affliction and with your burdens, but the Lord calls you, as he called this woman here, verse 12, and he called her to him. In other words, seeing her, his voice speaks what his heart wants to speak. He calls that particular woman to himself. And the amazing thing is this woman, despite her infirmity, despite her being buckled together, she comes. I picture her kind of like in the back of the assembly. Not sure, maybe she sat up front, but whatever it is, she shuffles to a place where she can get to the Lord Jesus, and the whole place is focused on her. But that's exactly how it is, isn't it? The Lord says in his word that he calls his sheep by name. He knows them, and they hear his voice. And under the preaching of the word, they hear his voice speaking to them. Poor one, burdened one, needy one, sinful one, shamed one, broken one, I see you, I know you, come. That's what he says, come. And she comes with all her burden. She comes. She comes before his very person. And his voice doesn't stop. His voice didn't just call her here to make a spectacle of her, to raise her hopes only to dash them, to crush them. No, he continues to speak to her and he says, woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. What a powerful statement. There's no tentativeness in it, no uncertainty. There's no education lesson here about woman. There's a few things that if you could do them, you would be helped. No, there's just this powerful word, woman. Thou art loosed of thine infirmity. Psalm 107 says he sent his word and healed them. And this is exactly what happens here. The word of Christ heals her. She's loosed. That power that buckled her together, she's freed from it. That captivity that Satan held her in, those chains snap. Thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And there's a third thing that this rescuer does in her life. He doesn't just see her. He doesn't just speak to her. but he also touches her, that's what it says here. And again, Luke, who is a physician, he understands the importance of touch, and so he laid his hands on her. In other words, he was not in any way ashamed to touch her, but he touched her, and in the instant as his hands touched her, the spirit of infirmity, which had a hold on her for 18 years, it left. The devil had to give way because the power of Christ's hands was in evidence. And right there in an instant, this woman who for 18 years hadn't been able to stand up straight, she stands straight and she can look into people's faces and she can look into the sun. But in this moment, the first thing she can do is look into the face of the one who heals her, the one who frees her, the one who gives her this rest that she has not had As I said earlier, these signs, these miracles of Jesus were signs of what he does still today through his gospel in our lives. With an eye to our soul and an eye to our body as well, to our whole persons. And in Leviticus 26 verse 13, we read something that Jesus is fulfilling today in our passage to this woman. Leviticus 26 verse 13, I am the Lord your God. which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their bondman. And I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you to go upright." That's what the Lord does. He did this way back in Egypt when, just picture those slaves carrying those bricks. They would have been bent over. If you could have seen those Israelites as they were enslaved in Egypt, they would have all been buckled down. That would have been their posture most of the time in fear, intimidated, oppressed, and just working slaving hard. And that's exactly what this woman also was in. And this is exactly what every sinner left to himself or herself. That's the condition that we're in. Buckle down, and the Lord says, I am the Lord which frees, which liberates, and which gives us to stand upright. I wonder, congregation, do you know something of that? Do you know what that is to hear? the voice of the Lord Jesus, to be under His look that sees you and doesn't condemn you. and who also speaks to you in the gospel, so very personally. Yes, he's speaking far and wide, but you hear your own name. He's addressing you. You know this fits you exactly, and your need is such that you don't worry about others. You don't look at others. It's you and him, and he says woman. Or he says, man, you are loosed from your infirmity. Do you know something of that? Because if you know something of that, then you know something in principle of that Sabbath rest which God gives to his children. And as our catechism summarizes really the teaching of scripture so well, it says, secondly, that all the days of my life I cease from my evil works and yield myself to the Lord to work by his Holy Spirit in me and thus begin in this life an eternal Sabbath. I ask you today, have you yielded yourself by the Holy Spirit unto this freeing voice of none other than the Son of God who's come down in our nature and who frees us from sin and from that working that we do to try to be free from sin. That's Sabbath. That's true rest when the Lord Jesus comes as he does also this morning and he gives you that rest not only that you come to church to hear his word indeed that's important that's the way those are the means that god uses but when in the process he says you know you've been working for yourself you've been working for sin you've been working for satan all these many years whether it's 18 or 38 or 80 years i want you in my service which is a good service, which is a service of which I say my yoke is easy and my burden is light. No longer work for them, no longer work for religion, no longer work to earn something. But I, the Lord, have come down to free you and to free you from your burdens and to make you to stand up right. And thus begin eternal Sabbath. You know, when you read in the book of Revelation and other passages when the redeemed are around the throne, they will see him as he is. That means they'll look full in his wonderful face. Without shame, without sorrow, without sighing, they'll see him. And they'll cast their crowns at his feet. And they'll serve him. Don't think that in the eternal Sabbath there is not a serving of the Lord. His servant shall serve him. But oh what a wonderful service that is. What a lovely service that is. To be the servant of the Lord. But that can start now. And that starts now by God's grace. And thus I begin that eternal Sabbath by grace. and then by glory. You know, congregation, when the Lord Jesus spoke these words, thou art loosed of thine infirmity, he knew full well that speaking those words to that woman, he would himself be bound. not many days later. He knew it. He had set his face to go to Jerusalem, and a few months later, he would be there in the garden, and captors would come, and they came with their chains, and they were ready to bind him. And he said to them, holding forth his hands to be bound, he said, here am I. Let these go their way. In order that it would be fulfilled, he, for me, He bound that I might be freed. And not just bound, but he was given over, especially in his suffering on the cross, he was given over to the forsakenness of hell in which he says, for example, in Psalm 22, the bulls of Bashan come past me about. He was given over there. to the principalities and the powers. And though He would defeat them, the real suffering that that involved for the Son of God on my behalf, on your behalf, sinner here today who looks out of all your need to Him, see in Christ everything. For He sees you, and He knows you, and He does it all. And on the cross, He was bent over, humanly speaking, reverently speaking. He was bent with the weight of the transgression of sinners the world over. All sorts of sins imputed to Him. He was the sinner in the sight of God in order that He might by His Word and Holy Spirit, He might say, thou art loosed. of thine infirmity. And he straightens his people, doesn't he? What's justification? It's we are made legally in the presence of God. The Lord can hold the standard of his law right next to us, and he sees no iniquity in his Jacob. Legally speaking, in the judgment of God, we conform perfectly to that upright standard of God. Now we are not that, at all. We could never attain that by ourselves, and we are not that. But God, for the sake of Christ, He sees it so, and He declares it to be so, because the sin that was imputed to the Lord Jesus Christ, my sin, His righteousness is imputed to me in justification. He makes us to go upright in terms of how He sees us, in terms of our status and standing before us. And in sanctification, He makes us also to look up and to look up into His presence, into His face. In a certain sense, sanctification is this, is that I now can stand before Him once again in garments not my own, dressed in righteousness that is not my own, but I can look Him in the face. And He, by His Holy Spirit, He is conforming me to the image of Christ. And that process begins now. And I long to be more conformed to the image of Christ. I long to look into His face. No longer is it to run from God. though I still often sin in many, many ways. But in beginning there's that longing to look into His face, which has made such a difference in my life. And when the Lord does that in your life, you can know it. You can know it by this, because what does the woman do? It says there that she glorified God. In that moment, she, together with the many who watched it, who registered that this was none other than the power of God in Jesus Christ that was at work. They glorified God. And so the Son of God here in that synagogue there, He receives glory and honor, which is what the Sabbath is all about. They praised Him. They glorified Him. There's none like Him. And that's what the Word of God says the Lord is doing. This people have I formed for myself. They shall show forth my praise. That's what that woman did. And that's what we are called to do also on this Sabbath day is to praise the Lord who has done such wonderful things for us in the gospel, loosing us and making us to stand upright. Do you know this rest giver? Do you know this rest in your own soul, something of it, in principle, one day in full? Well, this brings us to our third and final point, and that is reject all substitutes to true rest, or simply true rest. Well, as wonderful as the narrative of our text has been up till this point, it's not the end. Because all of a sudden, in this synagogue, where all these wonderful things had happened, there's all of a sudden a voice that speaks. And it's a sinister voice. It's a dark voice that speaks awful words. And it comes not from a demon-possessed man. It comes not from some worldly man. It comes from the ruler of the synagogue. He answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day and said to the people, there are six days in which men ought to work. In them, therefore, come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day." What's happening here? Well, clearly the glory of God is not upon the mind of this man. With this woman and these people glorifying God, he is occupied with something else. And here forth from his heart and through his mouth, there's something so very different than we saw from the heart of Christ and the mouth of Christ. We have really chains being put upon the whole situation, upon the whole people. This man himself is in bondage clearly, and he wants others to be in the same bondage that he is in. Now many of these rulers of the synagogues were Pharisees or scribes, and many of them were known for exactly this, heaping burdens upon people which they were unable to bear. And you know, you don't need to go far for that. Very sadly, the church is a place in which Satan comes and he gives all kinds of religious things that sound biblical and sound like they are God's will and yet what they're doing is chaining people up in every possible way. Don't be surprised of that. Sometimes we think, oh well I'm in church so everything must be must be wonderful, everything must be right, everybody here must be serving God. Sadly, that is not the case. In this particular synagogue, the ruler of the synagogue is in great bondage, and he's binding everyone around him, at least seeking to, and he is serving Satan in that way. But the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't let this man and his statement ruin all that has happened. In fact, he speaks very forcefully to this man's basic problem. Notice what he calls this man, thou hypocrite. In other words, he's saying, man, you're wearing a mask and I'm taking it off right now, which he does with this word, thou hypocrite. In other words, man, you're here, and you might be the ruler of the synagogue, but you don't know an ounce of what grace is. In fact, you don't even know your misery whatsoever. Because if you knew it, you wouldn't be doing what you're doing to yourself and all the people around you. Do you see that these all-seeing eyes of Christ, which saw that woman, see also this man and the bondage that he is in and they see the hypocrisy that marks him. This man has never come to see the weight that is upon his shoulders. He doesn't see that spiritually he is buckled together and in essence the fact that he's still alive is a miracle of God's Upholding mercy in his life and long-suffering. You know, was this man ever converted? We don't know. But I wonder this. Has the Lord ever put his finger on your heart? You who are in bondage to religious rules, thinking that that's what it's all about. Has he ever put his finger on your heart and said these words, thou hypocrite? You know, that can be a blessing to you when the Lord does that, when he unmasks you to the legalistic religion with which you're spending your days and which will not avail you at all. and you're binding others around you as well because of the bondage that you yourself are in. You know, that exposure to hypocrisy, also in the hearts and lives of God's people. We need it again and again, and that's part of what happens on the Sabbath day as we're under the faithful preaching of the word of God, and God comes with the light of his word. He comes, and yes, on the one hand, he heals. That's the wonderful thing, and we pray for that, but at the same time, he also exposes those domains of sin and hypocrisy that there are. Thanks be to God He does that. And may He do that also today by His grace and for the purpose that He Himself will strip away everything and that we become sinners who love bondage, who love darkness rather than light. And with that burden, of transgression, heavy laden, overborn. We need nothing more, nothing else than for this rest giver to see me, to call me, to loose me, and to be glorified by me. And the Lord Jesus shows too how earthly minded this man is. He says there to him, if you had an animal that fell into a pit on the Sabbath day, you would be concerned. You would reach and call a few friends and you'd get this sheep, you'd get this ox out of the pit. In other words, when breaking the Sabbath in your own mind suits your own aims, you do it. If it's for an ox, sure. If it's for a sheep, sure. But that tells me, too, what you think about this woman, who I see as a daughter of Abraham, who Satan has bound these 18 years. And if the needs of animals may and must be met on the Sabbath day, how much more not the needs of people, of men and women in their need, whatever they are, You see, congregation, the Lord in the Sabbath command, he certainly not only allows works of mercy and works of necessity, things that we do in order to help people legitimately. He not only allows them, but he commands them as well that we would use this day in ways that would bring honor and glory to him and show the mercy of God in Jesus Christ for those who are truly in need. This man is focused on animals, thinks more highly of his animals than of this woman in the synagogue, in his synagogue, who's under a heavy burden. Well, congregation, doesn't this show us that false rest is so close? and so easily taken by us as a substitute for the true rest which alone can be found in God. I wonder this morning, as the Lord's speaking, and he's speaking, what is he saying to you? Be loose from your infirmity. Yes, may God loose, bound, burdened souls today, all because of himself. There's hope for you, my friend, who think, you know, it's been 18 years or more. There's no more hope. There's hope in Jesus. There's the deepest, the highest hope to be found in him. And he speaks his hope from his word even today. But could it be that the Lord is also unmasking us to false rest, to substitutes, which we must reject? And when we see them for what they are, and we see this rest giver who is everything, you know, that would be a wonderful Sabbath. You know, I said at the beginning, children and young people, maybe that first week, maybe that seventh day would have been the most spectacular day of all. Maybe today, maybe today, it would be an even more spectacular day than that first Sabbath when God says, through Jesus Christ, through his word today, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. Go, stand upright, face Jehovah and his power, and go in his strength. all his days and serve him with gladness of soul and begin the eternal Sabbath even here by glorifying his grace. Amen. Let us pray.