Good morning, EFC. You can make your way in from the foyer. Come in and take a seat. That would be great. It's always a blessing to be gathered in the house of the Lord together. We can be encouraged that no matter the situation, no matter the circumstance we find ourselves in, We are talking a bunch this morning, aren't we? Hello, hello, hello. I'm not speaking loudly enough. Welcome in. Make your way in, please. We're going to go ahead and get started. So on that note, let's stand as we read. We read scripture here out of First Chronicles. Twenty nine. Therefore, David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said, Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel, our father forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you and you rule over all in your hand, our power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name. Let's pray. Lord, we're thankful that you do rule over all, and everything that happens does not take you by surprise. We thank you that you are in control. You are the God of all comfort, and I pray that you would be with us, you would encourage us, you would use this time to strengthen your people, and we would be encouraged and go out and serve you this coming week. In your name we pray, amen. Let's start out this morning by singing You Are Holy. You are holy. You are mighty. You are worthy. Worthy of praise. I will follow. I will listen. I will love you. all of my days and I will sing to and worship the king who is worthy and I will love and adore him I will bow down before him and I will sing to and worship the King who is worthy. I will love and adore Him. I will bow down before Him. You're the Prince of Peace. I will live my life for You. You are holy. You are mighty. You are worthy. Worthy of praise. I will follow. Yes, I will listen. I will love you. all of my days and I will sing to and worship the king who is worthy and I will love and adore him I will bow down before him and I will sing to and worship the king who is worthy and I will love him, adore him. I will bow down before him and you're the prince of peace and I will live my life for you. Cause you're my prince of peace and I will live my life for you. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. All thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky I see. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God in three Persons, blessed Trinity. God in three persons, blessed Trinity. Who else commands all the hosts of heaven? Who else could make every king bow down? Who else can whisper and darkness tremble? Only a holy God. What of the beauty demands such praises? What other splendor outshines the sun? What other majesty rules with justice? Only a holy God. Come and behold Him, the one and the only. Cry out, sing holy, forever a holy God. Come and worship the holy God. What other glory consumes like fire? What other power can raise the dead? What other name remains undefeated? Only a holy God. Come and behold Him, the one and the only. Cry out, sing holy, forever a holy God. Come and worship the holy God. Who else could rescue me from my failing? Who else would offer His only Son? Who else invites me to call Him Father? Only a holy God. Only a holy God. Behold Him, the one and the only. Cry out, sing holy, forever a holy God. Come and worship the holy God. Come and behold Him, the one and the only. Cry out, sing holy, forever a holy God. Come and worship the holy God. Please be seated. Good morning. Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God Almighty. You know, a couple of those songs mention how holy God is. It's fantastic for us to sing that. It's great singing this morning. If I am the first, hopefully, to tell you this morning that Jesus loves you. I hope you know that. Hopefully you go throughout your week knowing And remembering what I'm telling you right now, that Jesus loves you. He cares so much about you, and so do we, and so do we. In Awana, we've said that for many years, huh, Tim? Jesus loves you. We want to remind those kids, we want to remind each other all the time. So, greetings to all. Good to see you all here this morning. Special greetings to those online. Welcome, thanks for joining us. It's great to be here with you all. Any visitors here this morning? It's not too painful to raise your hand and we just want to welcome you. Any visitors here? Yes, welcome over there. Maybe we can give a clap and can we clap for them? Thank you so much for coming. Great to have you here with us this morning. Thank you so much. Anyone else? Anyone else here this morning visiting for the first time? Okay, very good, very good. Well, good to have you once again. All right, a few announcements here. Let's see here, we're gonna start with the Women's Ministry invites all women of EFC to a special gathering on Saturday, October 9th, from two to four. They are holding a seminar on the ancient art of cultured food. So come ready to chop cabbage and discuss important ideas together. So please see a Women's Committee member. Is there a Women's Committee member here? Maybe she could stand real quick. So someone to go to. Yes, is that you, Carol? Right here, oh, there she is. Okay, very good. Peggy's over here. Hopefully most of you guys know Peggy, Peggy Schultz. All right, so yeah, so please see her if you have further, you know, for further information. The Kingsmen. The Kingsmen is continuing with their Wednesday evening dinner and Bible study at Joe Canacci's from six to eight. Joe, right? So if you don't know Joe, he's right up here. Very good, so see Joe if you want to do that. Dinner will be included. So that is, Let's see here, or Michael Ferretti too. You can see Michael Ferretti as well for that. So that's from six to eight and that's right, dinner is included, right? Fantastic, okay, very good, very good. Kingsmen, continuing with the Kingsmen, next large group meeting will be Tuesday, October 19th from six to eight in the church foyer, so right out here. Dinner is included as well. That's a great time. I went to it last time. It's a great time of music, good time of testimony. There's great food, good encouragement. If you have not been to one of the gatherings of the Kingsmen, please put that on your calendar. It's a great, great thing to go to. So yeah, very good. The missions committee announces that the EFC ministry partner of the month is Linda Reed, our very own Linda Reed here. Very good. She serves in a ministry to prisoners through arm. Please pick up your prayer card. So one of the one of these right here. So please pick up a prayer card for Linda as you leave the service today and remember to pray for her during the month. So great Linda. Thank you so much for serving in our own community here. That's fantastic. It's time to get ready for the family fall festival on October 15th. So mark your calendars for that. UFC joins with OCS a great partnership there in celebrating the harvest and God's goodness to us. There are games, food, and fellowship. So, but of course we have need for that. There is a need and it's candy. So kids love candy and I know I love candy too. I'm trying to stay off the candy a little bit, but yeah, but candy. So if you could, please buy some candy and donate bags for that event. Okay. If you enjoy a time of fellowship, so right after the service, then please consider helping in the ministry. We need volunteers to ensure that there will be coffee and snacks each week. So a couple of weeks ago, I helped with serving there. What a great thing to do to serve others. But I learned how to make coffee. So I was back there making coffee. I know a lot of people love coffee. But if it's something that you're thinking, hey, how do I serve this church? How do I serve one another? That's a great thing to sign up for and help out in serving, you know, for snacks and food and whatnot after this time. And then, of course, there's Awana as well. Awana is underway, meeting each Wednesday at 545. This is a program that trains children in biblical truth and builds their character in the Lord. So parents there is still time to get your kids signed up. So Tim Giordano is in the back right there back by the door if you need to see Tim about signing up your kids or if it's a ministry you're thinking about serving in. You know one of the years and years ago when my wife and I came to the church here that was the first ministry we served in I believe it was Awana and it was a great time of serving in the Cubbies program and that's of course there's Sparks there's TNT great you know great number of programs there to to serve in. So continuing on with the announcements, pastor's class, A Journey Through the Bible, Discovering the New Testament will be held today during the discipleship hour in room one. So note the change. So it's in room one. And I'm terrible with the room numbers here, pastor. Where is that? Just straight across from here, right? Okay, so just follow the crowd. And yeah, room one. All right, so today he'll be talking about, they'll be in Galatians. and discuss Paul's principles for defending the gospel. So it says that there is room for you in this class. So the room is getting bigger. Right. Is that right. We're getting. OK. Very good. Very good. Oh one off. OK. So there's a. And also please if you notice there are some trash cans in the in the sanctuary here. There's one by the offering box back there. There's a couple by the doors. So after communion today if you could just put your communion trash in there, that'd be fantastic. I was asked to announce that. I got it this time, very good, very good. The offering box is in the back. If you feel led to give to that, please do so. And today's, there's a special offering for the deacon's fund. So if you want to designate your giving to the fund or any of your church ministries, please indicate that on the blue offering envelopes that you hopefully will see in your chairs there. And please don't forget to sign the enrollment, you know, Attendance forms, the attendance forms that we have on the on the chairs as well. All right. So a lot of announcements there. I hope I got them all. Our invocation passage today is Psalm 133. If you could please open up the word of God to Psalm 133. I would like to invite you to stand for the reading of God's holy word. Psalm 133, you know, I sure appreciate the pastor. Last time we celebrated communion together and how he shared with us how important it is to be unified. And, you know, in Christ, we should be unified and hopefully nothing separates us. So Psalm 133. And the holy word of God says, behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. Amen. It is like the precious oil on the head running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore. Please be seated. Let's go to the word in prayer. Heavenly Father, we praise you, dear God. Holy, holy, holy are you, dear God. Lord God, we thank you so much for all the blessings that you bestow upon us, your display of mercy for your wonderful Son, Jesus Christ, for your provision, Heavenly Father, your holy, righteous, and loving God. Dear God, we confess our sins to you now. Lord, we have not loved you as we should, We have not served others as we should. We've held back from trusting you completely. We confess, dear Heavenly Father, that we are far too afraid, angry, selfish. May the blood of Jesus clean us, cleanse us, dear God. and may your grace empower us to live for you and your kingdom above all. Help us, O Lord, to know you more. Please forgive us. Dear God, we pray for revival this morning, for in our church, dear God, revival, a spiritual awakening in our land we so desperately needed. May the Lord, you, Lord, stir our hearts to confess our sins, turn from our wicked ways Turn from idols, dear Heavenly Father, and seek your face more and more. May our church grow in holiness, unity, and joy, and sacrificial service for one another. Dear God, watch over our hearts. Protect us, dear God. Dear God, we lift up the ministry of Awana as they kick off their new year, dear God. May you use this ministry to minister to children, dear God, to raise up a new generation of leaders, of soldiers for Christ, dear God. May we profess Christ wholly and truly in that ministry. May the Lord bless those who teach and serve the children in that great ministry. Lord, may it be a great outreach to this community. Lord God, we wanna lift up our, Pastor Brian, dear God, and his family, as they mourn the loss of Brian's mother, Melinda. She died suddenly last week, dear God, and Lord, you are the God of all comfort, strength. Lord, may you strengthen them and encourage them during this time of grief. Lord, I wanna lift up our own pastor, his family, dear God, as they grieve for the loss of their dear friend, Scott. Dear God, Grief is very difficult. The only way to get through it, dear God, is with you. Through you, dear God. Lord, please be with these families. Be with Scott's family, dear God, right now. Lift them up. Lord, we pray for comfort and strength and encouragement, dear God. So, Lord, we also want to lift up Linda Reed. Dear God, in her ministry here in this community, she's our ministry partner of the month, and may the Lord, you Lord, give her wisdom and strength as she reaches out to those in Butte County Jail. Lord, may those in bondage to sin hear about the freedom that they have in Christ. And Lord, may we never forget the persecuted church, the persecuted church in China, North Korea, Iran, and so many other places on this planet, dear God. May you encourage them, protect them, dear God, strengthen them. Lord, they are your children. They're underground church, dear God. May they stand firm in the face of hostility and persecution. Dear God, may you watch over your children and tear down evil designs of the enemies, Lord God. Lord, we want to lift up our leaders in our own community, dear God. Lord, I'm thinking of Chuck Reynolds, our mayor, Sheriff Honey, so many other leaders, dear God, that are doing their best to serve this community, protect us. Lord God, there's great fear, there's anger, there's uncertainty across our land. Lord, many of our leaders in our land, dear God, do not know how to meet the challenges. Lord, may you grant our leaders humility, so they recognize their responsibilities before God, before you, dear God, to govern justly and rightly. Lord, please grant them wisdom as they govern those under their charge. And Lord, I do want to lift up the pastor and the elders of this church as spiritual undershepherds. Lord, please bless them. Lord, may they help them to teach others and train others and serve others, and Lord, May they pray for the saints at EFC well and diligently and often. Dear God, Lord, please protect them and their families. Lord, we also want to lift up those who are ill, hospitalized, homebound. Lord God, may you touch them with your mercy and your comforting grace. Dear God, we also pray for those who have not attended recently. Lord, we pray for unification of the saints. May they return to us. to the fold and overcome any temptation that they may have to stay at home. Lord, we want to lift up the offering to you as we give, dear God, as we give joyfully to you, dear God. Lord, we want to ask your blessing upon that offering, Lord. May you multiply it. And Lord, may it go forth to magnify your name. And Lord, I want to lift up our pastor. As he delivers the sermon this morning, dear God, please protect him, protect his tongue. Lord, may he speak truth. Lord God, we thank you for your word, the word of God, the holy scripture, Lord, that he'll be preaching from. In Jesus' name and all God's people said, amen. A woman, we good? Come on down here. Okay, all right. A woman was waiting at an airport one night with several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shop, bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop. She was engrossed in her book, but happened to see that the man beside her, as bold as could be, grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between, which he tried to ignore to avoid a scene. She read Munchkin cookies and watched the clock as the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock. She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, thinking if I wasn't so nice, I'd blacken his eye. With each cookie she took, he took one too. With only one left, she wondered what he'd do. With a smile on his face and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half. He offered her half as he ate the other. She snatched it from him and thought, oh brother, this guy has some nerve and he's also rude why he didn't even show any gratitude. She had never known when she'd been so galled and sighed with relief when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate, refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate. She boarded the plane and sank in her seat and sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her bag, she gasped with surprise. There was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes. If mine are here, she moaned with despair. Then the others were his, and he tried to share. Too late to apologize, she realized with grief that she was the one, the ingrate, the thief. We come to the Lord's table today because we are all cookie thieves. Not of some baked goods, but of those who've tried to steal from the glory of God. We've wanted attention for ourselves, recognition for our accomplishments, acknowledgments that we're actually pretty good, or at least that we're not that bad. We're all too often quick to recognize the sins of others, their mistakes, their failures. We confess their sins instead of confessing our own. We've propped ourselves up in our own sense of self-righteousness and goodness, declaring ourselves to be on the right side of the curve. but we've compared ourselves to the wrong standard. Jesus Christ came to the earth as the God-man, the one who left the glories of heaven, who is worthy of all majesty and praise and came to live among us mere men for 30 years or more. He was falsely accused, wrongly understood, trampled underfoot, publicly humiliated, savagely beaten, and hung on a cross. He endured all of that so as to purchase men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And yet they're the ones who still fight to claim some glory for themselves, who want to play a role in their own salvation, who want to be seen as somehow good. As Jesus gave his life, he cried out, it is done. How dare anyone think they can add to His finished work? Yet this morning we can receive the eternal life that He offers. We can rejoice in what He has done on our behalf. We can celebrate that it is all because of Him and not because of anything we have done. Those who do not know Christ can repent and believe and therefore they can come and eat. with the knowledge that the only thing we contribute to our own salvation is the sin that makes salvation necessary. From beginning to end, salvation is completely a gift of God. If this morning you recognize the poverty of your soul, but you recognize the gift of the Savior, and you've come to Him for forgiveness, then join us this morning and eat and drink from the Master's hand. The time around the table is a time to reflect, to remember, to rejoice in what Christ has done. And it's this morning, just as sure as you are sitting here, you are sure that you are saved uniquely by the grace of God showing you through Jesus Christ. If you're trusting in him alone and his work on your behalf, that you are clothed in his righteousness, not your own. then come and eat, come and join, there's room for you. If you're not yet sure that that's where you're at this morning, then please refrain and reflect on your status before a holy God. If you are harboring anger or bitterness towards a believer this morning, then please refrain because you see the table is a place not for the self-righteous or the indignant, but for the humble and the forgiven. We take instructions from the mouth of our Lord in Matthew 26, beginning in verse 26. Now, as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, take it, eat, this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. Servants are going to pass out the elements in just a moment. As they do, we're going to hold them until it's time to eat and drink together as a symbol of our unity in Christ around the one table with the one host, the one Father who invites us. And then we're going to sing during that time as well as a reminder that if we are in Christ, we've been purchased at a great cost, even his precious blood. And he has bought us that we might be unified. And so we will sing, and then we'll eat, and then we will drink. Brother Jerry, would you pray for the distribution of the elements this morning? Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the gift of Jesus Christ, your son, for our sins, that you see his righteousness in us. And Father, as we take this cup and eat this bread, we do so in remembrance of our Lord and Savior and your love and his love for us. We thank you for these things in Jesus' name, amen. I'm forgiven because you were forsaken. I'm accepted. You were condemned. I'm alive and well. Your spirit is within me because you died and rose again. I'm forgiven. How can it be? ♪ That you, my King, would die for me ♪ ♪ Amazing love, I know it's true ♪ ♪ It's my joy to honor you in all I do ♪ ♪ I honor you ♪ ♪ I'm forgiven because you were forsaken ♪ I'm accepted, you were condemned. I'm alive and well, your spirit is within me because you died and rose again. Amazing love, how can it be that you, my king, would die for me? Amazing love, I know it's true. It's my joy to honor you in all I do. I honor you. You are my king. Jesus, You are my King. Jesus, You are my King. Jesus, You are my King. Amazing love, how can it be that You, my King, would die for me? Amazing love, I know it's true. It's my joy to honor you. Amazing love, how can it be that you, my King, would die for me? Amazing love, I know it's true. It's my joy to honor you in all I do. Let me honor you. Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread. And after blessing it, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said, take and eat. This is my body, let us eat in honor of our great king. And he took a cup. And when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, drink of it, all of you, for this is the blood of my covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Let us drink in honor of the one who gave it all for us. For I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. One day we will have that great privilege of dining with the master. in His presence. But until that day, let's remember the day that Christ died for us, rose for us, ascended for us, and remember even now that He is interceding at the Father's right hand. At this time, the children can be dismissed. I invite you to stand, rise for our next song, and as you're going out in the service today, please dispose of the communion cups. We fall down, we lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus. Greatness of mercy and love at the feet of Jesus. We cry holy, holy, holy. We cry holy, holy, holy. We cry holy, holy, holy is the lamb. We fall down, we lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus. The greatness of mercy and love at the feet of Jesus. We cry holy, holy, holy. We cry holy, holy, holy. We cry holy, holy, holy is the lamb. And we cry, holy, holy, holy. And we cry, holy, holy, holy. And we cry, holy, holy, holy is the lamb. Please be seated. Good morning. Just a couple of administrative items before we get into our time of the word this morning. I received an announcement yesterday that unfortunately I should have added, but I didn't. It's from Melissa Bell, and it concerns the Fall Festival, Fall Family Festival. There are sign-up sheets Out on the desk, out on the foyer, the long desk that is the Welcome Center for those that would like to help promote that event and serve at that event. So you can sign up there. Alyssa would appreciate it because we're going to need lots of hands on deck to pull off a successful outreach festival that involves both the school and the church. And Brian asked me to convey the following. On behalf of my dad, my sisters, and all my family, I want to thank you all for the outpouring of love and support that you have shown us during this difficult time. Your prayers have been felt all the way in Mississippi. We do not grieve as those who have no hope as we trust in the promises and faithfulness of Jesus Christ. We also know that our hearts are so grieved because the Lord has blessed us so much. Thank you for allowing us this time to be with your family and we look forward to being back with our church family soon. Please continue to pray for us, especially my dad, in the coming days. With much love, Pastor Brian, Alyssa, Ethan, and Nathan. And though it was just referred to briefly in the pastoral time, if you did not get the note, Brian's mother suddenly passed away this week, unexpectedly, and so Brian and the family went to Mississippi to be with her. They had the funeral yesterday. Brian told me that it was very God-honoring, Christ-centered, uplifting service, even as they speak through tears. And I've just been made aware that perhaps some of you would like to help defray some of the costs for the Bell family as they had to suddenly travel. There will be a special love offering taken today. The deacons will be collecting that. So if you see one of the deacons and you want to help the Bell family during this time, you can do that. And as also was alluded to during the pastoral prayer time, I want to thank you for praying over the past month for my dear friend, Scott. But last night at 8.30 our time, he went into the presence of the Lord. And it is good. And God is still good. And his truths are still with us. This morning as I sent a text message, a voice text message to the family, I just read from John chapter 11. where Jesus says, I'm the resurrection and the life, and he who believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? And I said, because Scott believed this and said yes. He's in a good place. And because we who know him and love him believe this, we know we'll be with him one day. And so thank you for praying over this past month. journey for us to depend upon the Lord, to lean upon his grace, and to learn to let go by faith that God's ways are always good. Scott's wife Valerie has kept a beautiful testimony during this time in the last several days, has said, his ways, his timing, for his glory. And we know that on this side of heaven it is just a veil of tears. But one day we will pierce that veil. And the new heaven's the north. And the resurrection of the body and the hope of eternal life is our hope. And so that still is our hope. And it still is true. We gathered around the table this morning. And that's why we gather. Because we needed a savior. because we are sinners, but what a gracious Savior that offers hope both for now and forever. Sorry it's so heavy this morning, but sometimes in family meetings it gets a little heavy. But God is always good, and we will always praise His name. Now, human beings are incredibly creative. Not always for good, but they're incredibly creative. But sometimes they can be a little too creative for their own good. One humorous incident involves Sir Robert Watson Watt. Now, it's probably not a name that you have heard of, but you certainly know his most famous invention, radar. And so it was very ironic one day when the inventor of radar was arrested for speeding. He had been caught in a radar trap, which we all know is a reality on certain stretches of roads. And shortly after this irony, Watt wrote this poem. Pity Sir Robert Watson Watt, strange target of his radar plot, and this with others I could mention a victim of his own invention. Now we recognize in that story that sometimes we can be our own worst enemies, that our own plans, our own ideas may come back to haunt and bite us. And this certainly was true in the case of Israel in the book of Judges. Time and again, whether it involved the people or the priests, whether it was this tribe or that one, whether it was one judge or another, They thought that they could rely upon their own wisdom, their own efforts, which often brought the worst of consequences for them. So it's not so funny when the saying, each one does what is right in his own eyes, ends with the conclusion, each one paid the price for his own foolishness. But that is what sin does. Well, today, after a long road, we come to the end of our study in the book of Judges. It's been challenging, some of the chapters more difficult than others. We have seen in living color the failures and foibles of Israel to obey God, to take over the land of Canaan. And as we get to the end of this book, chapter 21, we are reminded again that God alone is the hero of the story. But because His name is Yahweh, the I Am, the Living One, He is a covenant-keeping God. And because he's a covenant-keeping God, as bad as it has been, when we get to the end of the book of Judges, Israel still exists. Well, in chapter 21 today, we will see some last efforts of Israel to do things their own way, only to bring upon themselves more selfishness and difficulty because of their sin. By the time we get to the end of this book, we are so glad that God is good and that His methods are a lot better than the futile efforts of men. I invite you to stand, and one more time, if you can, in honor of God and His word. We'll read just the first part of Judges chapter 21, but we will go through the whole chapter today. And the truthful and inspired word of God says, Now the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, no one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin. And the people came to Bethel and sat there till evening before God, and they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly. And they said, O Lord, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that today there should be one tribe lacking in Israel? And the next day the people rose early and built there an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the people of Israel said, which of all the tribes of Israel did not come up in the assembly to the Lord? For they had taken a great oath concerning him who did not come up to the Lord to Mizba saying, he shall surely be put to death. And the people of Israel had compassion for Benjamin their brother and said, one tribe is cut off from Israel this day. What shall we do for wives for those who are left since we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them any of our daughters for wives? Now, Father, once again, we have read your word. And once again, we are in need for you to instruct and teach us. And once again, our hearts are needy. Would you give us ears to hear and eyes to see? that we might know that we have met with the living God this morning as we go through your word. To that end, we pray for Jesus' sake, amen. Please be seated. And our first major point this morning as we work our way through Judges chapter 21, we come to the pain of rash oaths, the pain of rash oaths. We see that Israel is in turmoil. As we saw last week, most of Benjamin has been destroyed with only 600 men who are left who are hiding in the caves of Raman. And now as we begin this chapter, the author does a flashback, as it were, to what the Israelites had decided at Mizpah before the battle with Benjamin had begun. They had vowed to wipe out the evildoers of Gibeah. As we read last week, this painful experience that happened in Gibeah with very sinful behavior. The Israelites had vowed to wipe out these evil men and those that helped them. But Benjamin had said, no, we will not give over the criminals. And so Israel decided to take on the entire tribe of Benjamin. Now, on the one hand, they were right to want to exact justice. But where they went wrong was they allowed their desire for justice to overflow into a bloodthirst for vengeance. Perhaps because they'd already been defeated massively in two battles, they were embarrassed, having suffered losses at the hands of the Benjaminites. And so after they had their strategy in that third attempt where they surrounded the city in an ambush, and brought men to come and confront the Benjaminites, and then led them out of the city, and they sacked the city of Gibeah. They just kept on going, pursuing the Benjaminites on the roads, and the wilderness, and the surrounded towns. They were simply just to exact judgment against the evildoers, but in a fit of irony, the Israelites set out to do to Benjamin what they were supposed to do with the people of the land. As they came into the land, God gave them clear instructions to wipe out the inhabitants of the land, because that was what God had given them as an inheritance. But they failed to do that. We saw that in the first part of Judges, which set the tone. But here, what they failed to do with their enemies, they tried really hard to do to Benjamin. That was their first vow. We will attack those evildoers and those who help them, and expanded it to the entire tribe. The second oath is of a similar manner. When they say, we will not give our daughters in marriage, sorry, I put Bethlehem, it should be Benjamin, to Benjamin. And as the grammar and the context make clear, this was a vow that was made before the battle. That's why the author begins in chapter 21, going back to Mizpah, where they came together, they're abhorred by what they have heard, and in the heat of that anger about this injustice that has happened in Israel, they make a vow, we're going to punish them, and there's no way we're giving our daughters to people such as them. But was this of the Lord? Had the Lord given them these oaths? Very clearly, God, as he instructed his people, gave instructions for marriage, that marriage was to take place among and within the people of Israel because they were to be in the same faith and in the same way of worshiping the Lord. God had not eliminated any of the tribes from that commandment. Now today we recognize that marriage of believers in Jesus Christ is to take place with other believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, but that does not mean that certain believers are to be automatically or systematically ruled out. Believers in the Lord are free to marry in the Lord, even with those from other countries and cultures, provided that they are worshiping the living God as the one true God. So what Israel's doing here is ironic at best. Because earlier in Judges, in spite of the command of God, some of them did intermarry with the Canaanites and the people of the land, which was clearly not allowed by God. And now here they're giving an oath where they are not allowing their daughters to marry within Israel. And of course, that's not required by God either. You see the confusion when each one does what is right in his own eyes, which is the verdict of judges. In some ways, it just proves the saying that if a man wants to make a fool of himself, he will always find plenty of help. So in their bloodlust against the people of Benjamin, Israel had wiped out the women, wiped out the children. All that were left were these 600 men that are hiding in the caves. Effectively, they have wiped out an entire tribe. Be careful what you say in a heat of anger. Be careful what you say in the heat of the moment. Proverbs warns us about making a vow and then only later reconsidering it when we realize what it is we've actually committed ourselves to. But the sad fact continues that Israel was a people that was not following the law of God. For even in the law itself, there was an allowance if you have made a rash vow with your mouth. There is a way to get rid of that vow. You go to the priest, you confess your sin, and you make a guilt offering. And so there was grace in the law that allowed for one who shot his mouth off in the heat of the moment to go and make things right. And here it was a tribe who said what they shouldn't have said in the heat of the moment, and now they feel like they are obligated to keep it. But as we've seen again and again through the book of Judges, most of the rules that they vowed themselves toward or they bound themselves to were man-made vows and man-made religion. always leads to painful consequences. So here we are in this great tragedy that is Judges chapter 21. And now they begin, as the smoke has cleared and the dust has settled, and they begin to analyze what is it that they've done, they now realize we have almost cut off completely a tribe from Israel. And so in verse three, they begin to weep and cry out in bitterness about what has happened. But notice what they do not do. They do not weep over their sin. They do not weep over the sins of the nation. They're just weeping over the results of what they have done. They even cry out to the Lord. They say, oh Lord, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel that today there should be one tribe lacking in Israel? It's almost like an accusation. Like somehow this was God's fault. This is what God done. It's like a protest. There's a tribe that's missing and they want to extricate themselves from responsibility. Now yes, as we saw last week, God did say, you can go and punish them and I will give you victory. But you'll recall it was only after he punished them twice with a great loss of life, as if he's calling them to reflect upon what you're doing. This is not something you enter into without deep reflection. And they are the ones that pushed it to this level. They are the ones that killed the women and children. They are the ones who left but a relative handful of the tribe. They can't blame God for this. But they cry out to the Lord, and you notice the Lord doesn't say anything. And I think in this case, we can see silence as judgment. And so in their response, they go to verse four, and the next day, they arose early and built there an altar and offered sacrifices and peace offerings. It's like they're trying to get God to answer them, trying to get God to give them a response to go along with them, but human efforts can't coerce God into action, and God keeps His silence. And so they turn inward, and they say, and the people of Israel said, which of all the tribes of Israel did not come up in the assembly to the Lord? And they called this the Great Oath. It was a great oath because they all took it, we said last week, as though they were one man. It was the great oath because they thought, after all, everyone in Israel would do this. But even when they took the oath, they said, we will only punish the evildoers. We see that in chapter 20, verses 8 to 11. And it became a bloodbath when Benjamin refused, and the slaughter was on. And now they go on and they mourn the fact that they said one tribe has been cut off. This is a very strong term. It leads literally to be hacked off. It's used in other places in the Old Testament to talk about the cutting off of an animal horn. or of a human arm, or the cutting off of a tree limb. Yes, this tribe has been cut off, but not completely. So they're looking at the catastrophe that they have caused, and they say, well, we have these 600 men here, what are we going to do? They need wives, we need to keep the tribe going, but we can't give them our daughters. And so they're bound by these two oaths that they have taken that, at least in my mind, do not have clear sanction from God. as I look throughout the text, because God does not say, I ordain this. But they want to come up with their own solution of a problem that they have caused, and so now we get to the savage solution. A savage solution beginning in verse eight. And they said, what one is there of the tribes of Israel that did not come up to the Lord to mispah? And behold, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh, Gilead, to the assembly. And when the people were mustered, behold, not one of the inhabitants of Jabez Gilead was there. So the congregation sent 12,000 of their bravest men there and commanded them, go and strike the inhabitants of Jabez Gilead with the edge of the sword, and also the women and the little ones. This is what you shall do. Every male and every woman that has lain with a man, you shall devote to destruction. And they found among the inhabitants of Gilead, Jabesh Gilead, 400 young virgins who had not known a man by lying with him. And they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. Then the whole congregation sent word to the people of Benjamin who were at the Rock of Rimen and proclaimed peace to them. And the people had compassion on Benjamin because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. So they ask in verse seven, what shall we do? They ask in verse eight, who did not come up? They even have to repeat the question. It's like there was a roll call. Did the different groups come? Check. Check. Oh, we notice there's one tribe that did not come. And so they decide to move against this tribe. So here's the reasoning in all this. Jabesh Gilead was not at Mizpah. At Mizpah was where they had decided that they would not give their daughters to Benjamin under the great oath that they had taken. By not joining in with them, they would think that Jabesh Gilead would be supporting Gibeah and what had happened there. So Israel sends 12,000 men to destroy them. And this way they could both punish them for not joining in and provide wives to help rebuild Benjamin. It's all a very clever solution. Israel can claim to be punishing those who did evil while they can also cover up the fact that they had gone too far. I think this is another instance of each one doing what is right in his own eyes. They have to solve this problem that they have caused, and so they can pick on this one tribe. They can declare them guilty and subject them to the penalty so they can solve a problem while others have to pay a terrible price. This attack was convenient, but to them, they needed to restore a tribe in Israel. After all, they couldn't give their daughters to this tribe, but they were willing to give the daughters of others to this tribe. So they quickly moved against Jabesh Gilead. Of course, they would not have expected this attack. They're living at peace with Israel. They're not expecting attack from other Israelites. And they decide to put all the inhabitants to death, the married men, the married women, the babies, and they leave alone the women who are virgins, 400 of them who will be the rewards of war. Now, how they know their status, we are not told. There were traditions in how they would test that. The text doesn't give us any clue on that. All we know is that these women, the bounty of war, are brought to the camp at Shiloh. You see that in verse 12, which is in the land of Canaan. Shiloh is where the tabernacle was. It would be seen as a neutral site. But by this time, Shiloh and all of the surrounding areas should no longer have been in the land of Canaan. They should have been Israelite land. It shows that Israel, by not obeying from the beginning, continues to perpetuate disobedience and sin, and as it were, still living in a foreign land, living too much like foreigners, instead of living in the land that God had given them. to inherit. These are not problems that came from the outside. As we saw last week, these are problems that came from the inside. Oh, if Israel were only Israel, there wouldn't have been all of these problems. But I think Dr. Keller gives us a good warning at this point by saying, if only the church today were the church, how much would things be truly different? Tim Keller says, these chapters are a picture of how societies not centered on God must function. Worshiping something other than the true God, deciding by themselves what seems right and logical and reasonable in their own eyes, and then wondering why things never seem to get much better. And then deciding that if God does exist, he doesn't care much for people. Does that not sound like a verdict on our culture today? And in fact, has been a culture, a verdict on cultures down through the centuries. But Israel has collected these 400 virgins. It's time to deliver them to the men of Benjamin. So we are told they call the men who are hiding in the cave at Rimon, and they are told that they proclaim peace to them. In the times of the ancient Near East, marriages would be used as a type of peace offering. It's what often got Israel in trouble. You think of Solomon, who would enter into covenant agreements with other nations and marry their wives. And by these so-called peace agreements, it brought a lot of heartache among the people of Israel. But here, this peace offering would accomplish two things in the eyes of those who were planning it. There would be wives that would be provided for Benjamin. that could begin to rebuild Benjamin, and it would be a gesture of peace that the hostilities have now come to an end. Israel said, we're not gonna intermarry with Benjamin, but we have to find them wives, so they did, and all we are told is that there was not enough of them. The details are hidden. of what were very real human experiences, very real emotions. They're not recounted at all. They're just said they took the 400. Everyone else is gone. Hey guys, here they are. The solution was savage. That's not all that Israel would do. Next we see the snatching at Shiloh. Then the elders of the congregation said, what shall we do for wives for those who are left since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin? And they said, there must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel. Yet we cannot give them wives from our daughters for the people of Israel had sworn cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin. So they said, behold, There is the yearly feast of the Lord at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel on the east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem and south of Lebanon. And they commanded the people of Benjamin saying, go and lie in ambush in the vineyards and watch. If the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and snatch each man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin. And when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, grant them graciously to us because we did not take for each man of them his wife in battle. Neither did you give them to them, else you would now be guilty. And the people of Benjamin did so and took their wives according to their number from the dancers whom they carried off. Then they went and returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and lived in them. And the people of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family. And they went out from there, every man to his inheritance. So 400 of the 600 men now have wives. You can only imagine the process of who would be determining whom among the 400 would go to the men and who would get the wives at that time and who would have to wait. This is a terrible soap opera taking place here. But what about the other 200 men? I don't see here, my friends, that they're seeking the Lord in all this. Yet they go on and say the Lord made a breach. But that seems disingenuous to me. They say, the women are destroyed out of Benjamin. Do you notice the passive voice? The women are destroyed. They don't say, we destroyed the women out of Benjamin. They brought the problem upon themselves, and now they need a solution. So they say, what shall we do? And you can imagine them thinking, we need another 200 women. Where are we gonna find 200 women? You can't go on eBay and get a discount. So they repeat their rash oath that we will not give a wife to Benjamin. So they're accumulating one human problem upon another, which is not making it any better. And then we notice that word, Behold. In verse 19. Pay attention, guys. We've come up with a solution. There's a yearly feast at Shiloh. They have given you a specific location and where it is, by what road, what region, where they can go. But we don't know what feast this is. In Deuteronomy 16, it very clearly says that the men of Israel are to go up three times a year to the tabernacle, to the temple. We're told what feasts they are, the men who are to come, what they are to do. There's no feast mentioned here. Which one? Moreover, the women were not required to go up to the feast during the time of Deuteronomy 16. But here, not only are they there, they're dancing. There's no mention of dancing anywhere in any of the feasts as they're given to us in the law. It seems like the details as we see them here do not match what is happening and what is required of the Lord in Deuteronomy 16, based on what we see here in Judges 21. And then we have a mention of a vineyard. No feast that was ever mentioned was mentioned somehow celebrating in a vineyard. Is that a key based on all that's happened in the book of Judges? Maybe it is. So even if this is a feast of the Lord, which is after all what it says, it is a feast that has somehow been twisted out of shape by their disobedience. So the plan of attack is on. Go wait in the vineyards. Wait for the women to come out dancing. No interpretation is given about how they're to dance, what the dance was for. Perhaps this is far more related to the things of Canaan than the things of God. They're coming out of a vineyard. It said, when they come, the men rise up, snatch yourself a wife, and take her to the land of Benjamin. And then we have a whole series of action verbs of what they are to do. They are to take them, carry them off, return home, rebuild, and live in those villages. Now, nowhere in here, which is all what we've seen all throughout the book of Judges, is any mention about what the women thought. And all throughout the book of Judges, we see that women are victimized again and again and again at the machinations of men. You know, we talked today about having a bucket list, you know, things you want to accomplish before you kick the bucket. I'm pretty sure no one has on his or her bucket list to be kidnapped and carried away. But again, in the eyes of the Israelites planning this, this seemed right in their eyes. It seemed right in the eyes of these Benjaminites that they would go and do this. They might have used the name of the Lord. They might have claimed to be doing these things in the name of the Lord. But there seems to be very little that is actually based upon the character of the Lord. Yet we'll see at the end that God still shows a lot of grace in all of this situation. But it's tragic. We need to feel the real human tragedy that goes on because of very real human sin. And once again, in the book of Judges, women and children are sacrificed for the benefits of men when the biblical norm is that men are to protect and care for women and children. So we're just told the scene, the girls come out to feast. And then suddenly, the scene turns very difficult. And in our own minds, perhaps we can imagine what it must have looked like. Suddenly, men come running out of the vineyards, and grabbing a wife, and hoisting her over his shoulder, and dragging him off. You can almost hear, can't you, the echo of the screaming, and the yelling, and the fighting, and the clawing. and the cries of disbelief that such a thing is happening. This was not a peaceful and edifying scene, but it was right in the eyes of these men. The irony is so rich, it just hangs in the air. Here we have this tribe that had almost been wiped out in an ambush, now using an ambush to regrow their tribe. We have the men of Israel who had said they would not give their daughters in marriage, but now force others for a second time to give their daughters in marriage. So on a human level, the women are dragged off, the men have wives, the problem's solved, right? But something tells us this is just not right, that the very tribe that had been punished for the brutal mistreatment of one woman That very same tribe is now being encouraged to perpetuate this brutal treatment among many women. We're told that they went back, each one to his family and tribe. That's all it says. In verse 23, we can imagine there was a lot more. Verse 24, and the people of Israel departed there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and they went out from there, every man to his inheritance. There was nothing else they could do. This was a violent scene. But notice the cleverness once again in their response. After all, we know somebody comes and takes our daughters It's gonna get a reaction. And it got a reaction. And the leaders of Israel planned for that reaction. You see that? They say, well, when their brothers and fathers object, as they surely will, they've got it all planned out. Oh, hey, brothers, just be gracious to us after all. You didn't give them away. You didn't violate the oath at Mizpah. They were taken from you. Had you given them away, they said we would be here to punish you, but they were taken from you. Be gracious with us. Because this happened, you know, during war, there's no reason for you to be at war with us. We're not to be at war with you. It's all very clever somehow and so dishonoring to the people involved. And so we find Israel acting strangely like Benjamin and encouraging Benjamin, or acting strangely like Benjamin when it wanted to wipe out Benjamin for what Benjamin had been doing. There's just so much that's painful about this. So much pain in this chapter. There's a lot of pain in this book. Sin is always a painful ordeal. And there's just an uneasy feeling. The book ends with this uneasy feeling hanging over the chapter. Something's not right. And we know that because we get to the sorrowful conclusion. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. For the fourth time, we see this verdict. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Earlier in the book, it was said Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord. These two things mean the same thing. To do evil in the eyes of the Lord is to do what is right in your own eyes. It was true of both people and priests, of the deliverers and judges throughout the book. It began with Israel being told they were to take over the land. It ends with the sad verdict that they're still in Canaan, all too much like the Canaanites, not enough like the Israelites. They would declare Yahweh to be their king, but time and again, they refused. And time and again, they have to pay a price. It's painful. It's painful to read through these stories, but it's part of God's holy word to point us to the fact that we need the Lord's table for what it represents, that only it is God who is holy and just and does all things well. And lest we be quick to point our fingers, if we do any of the surveys that talk about how Christians live, not just in our own country, this is a global phenomenon. And we see how Christians spend time, spend money, make decisions, where they go, how they buy, how they do different things. Are they doing really what is right in their own eyes? Or are they seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness? It's one thing for us to say that Jesus is our King, but do we live under His kingly rule moment by moment and day by day? And so we need to let the book of Judges challenge us that we can also be undone by our own sin and selfishness. And it turns us to a great Savior that is so quick to cleanse and to wash and to empower and to uplift. Dr. Daniel Block, a longtime scholar at Wheaton College, wrote a commentary on the book of Judges And concludes by saying, no book of the Old Testament offers the modern church as telling a mirror as this book. And he goes on and says, from the jealousies of the Ephraimites, to the religious pragmatism of the Danites, from the paganism of Gideon, to the self-centeredness of Samson, from the unmanliness of Barak, to the violence against women by the men of Gibeah, all the marks of Canaanite degeneracy are evident in the church and her leaders today. And all we have to do is just look at the church news of what's going on to see that that's the case. But he goes on and he says, the book of Judges is a wake-up call for a church more abundant, its own selfish pursuits. And he concludes with a plea. May we heed the call of truly godly leaders and let Jesus Christ be Lord of the church over congregations and their leaders who until now do what is right in their own eyes. Now, that's the bad news. But here's the good news. The situation would be hopeless if it weren't for one thing. We've seen a lot of terrible things in the book of Judges, but at the end of the book of Judges, Israel still exists. And there's a testimony to the grace and goodness and covenant faithfulness of God. And you know what, my friends? It's good news for us today because we're the church that Christ has founded And we mess up, and we flail at things, and we have our foibles and failures, but His grace is more powerful than our sin. And that grace that is more powerful than our sin is to lead us to daily repentance of our sin, to turn us away from doing things our own way that we might have, as it were, the eyes of God. to see things as they are and that we'd be committed to living holy lives because we have sang this morning several times, he is holy, holy, holy. And he has said, you shall be holy for I am holy. So as we come to the end of the book of Judges, what are some points of application that we can take with us to remember the message of the book as we get ready for what is to come in future weeks? The first is that we need to understand that Judges is part of God's revelation to man. It is holy and good and true and we need it to understand His holiness and His will for us today. I am so glad that God in His wisdom gives us a book that shows the warts and sin of His people so that we see the beauty and majesty of our Savior. But Judges comes with a exhortation. It shows what happens when man does not acknowledge God, but trust in his own ways and wisdom. And we're all prone and tempted to do that, to trust in our own ways, our own wisdom, wisdom that we gather from those around us. And so we need to be warned by the book of Judges that we are prone to trust our own eyes and experience more than the revealed Word of God. Yes, oftentimes our experience help us understand the Word of God, but we interpret our experiences through the prism of the Word of God, not the other way around. And Judges reminds us that God is always in control and He will not be manipulated by the sinful choices of man. And so it's better just to do it His way from the beginning. It avoids a lot of problems afterwards. Judges reminds us that God's grace and mercy are always at work. Listen, man's chaos does not mean God's absence. So as terrible as what we've seen in Judges 21 is, God somehow was still orchestrating it so that his purposes would be fulfilled. Just ask the Apostle Paul, who after all was a descendant of the tribe of Benjamin. Is God Not able to redeem something, there's nothing he can't redeem. His plans will go forward. So even when it seems the darkest, his grace and mercy are still at work. Because his faithfulness is not put away by man's unfaithfulness. And so, just as Israel would exist, the church will exist because Jesus Christ said, I've come to build my church and not even the gates of hell will prevail against it. And so as messy and as ugly and as disappointing at times as the bride of Christ can be, it is still his bride that he's going to watch over and sanctify and purify and embrace to himself one day. But Judges leaves us longing for more, does it not? It leaves us longing for a good king. And the kings would come, and the kings would remind us that we still need yet a greater king, and so it would only be David's greater son, even our Lord Jesus Christ, who could be the true king of our lives, who is the only truly faithful one from beginning to end. whose deliverance is perfect and eternal and sure, who alone can fully cleanse our hearts and our consciences, and who can bring us out of the pit of sin and darkness into the light of life. And are you not glad that you are in Christ today? On coming weeks, it might change a little bit based on some news of this week, but eventually we're going to get to the Book of Ruth. And the book of Ruth was written during the time of the judges. It certainly refers to the same events. And when I say that God's grace and mercy is always at work, even in the darkest of times, Ruth is going to give this beautiful display of God's covenant faithfulness as Redeemer, as Deliverer, as Provider. And we'll see that even in the midst of that dark time, God was pushing forward the Messianic line. So that as we study, we will say, oh, God truly is the hero of every story. Let's pray. Father, as we contemplate these great truths, with the Apostle Paul, I say, who is worthy of these things? But I thank you that it's because Jesus Christ was our perfect righteousness, our perfect obedience, our perfect holiness. that in Him we are qualified now to be in the communion of saints and in the kingdom of God. So Father, would you stir in our hearts such a love for you and your word and your truth that sin would just become a bitter taste in our mouths that we no longer want to have. And thank you that by the power of your Holy Spirit we can overcome and break bondages and habits and behaviors, because your grace is more powerful than our sin. Father, may we not be those who do all things according to what is good in our eyes, but may we be those who, having our eyes enlightened by the Spirit of God, that we may look at the Word of God and say, God does all things well. Holy and just are His ways. And may we walk in them, bringing great glory to our Father, as we pray in the name of His Son, through the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name. Thank you, Pastor Greg, for bringing us the word. Our final song is Victory in Jesus. So we will. I know it's a well-known song. We're going to sing it slightly differently than we have in the past. So don't be surprised. You could all stand and sing. I heard an old, old story How a Savior came from glory How He gave His life on Calvary To save a wretch like me I heard about His groaning Of His precious blood atoning And I repented of my sin To win the victory Oh, victory in Jesus My Savior forever He sought me and bought me With His redeeming blood He loved me ere I knew Him And all my love is due Him He plunged me to victory Beneath the cleansing flood I heard about his healing Of his cleansing powers revealing How he made the lame to walk again And caused the blind to see And then I cried, dear Jesus, come and heal my broken spirit. And somehow Jesus came and brought to me the victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. He sought me and bought me. With His redeeming blood He loved me ere I knew Him And all my love is due Him He plunges me to victory Beneath the cleansing flood I heard about a mansion is built for me in glory. And I heard about the streets of gold beyond the crystal sea. singing and the old redemption story. And some sweet day I'll sing up there the song of victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. He sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew him, and all my love is due him. He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood. Remember, if you're able to help the bells with a love offering, you can give that to one of the deacons as you go out. And if you're staying around to be my Sunday school class, it'll be in room one this morning. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, let us go in peace. Have a great Lord's day.