Now, we'll take our text from the Gospel according to Luke. We'll mainly be considering a passage from Matthew, but we'll take our text from Luke and a well-known prayer that the Lord offered on the cross. Luke chapter 23 and verse 34. were told in the previous verse when they came to Calvary that they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. And then in our text, Jesus said, or he prayed, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. And with that as your text and keeping that in our minds, can you just turn back to Matthew chapter 27, which is where we'll be focusing particularly with God's help. Matthew 27. Now, just a couple of Lord's days ago, we looked at one of the so-called seven sayings of the cross. Christ spoke on seven occasions, and they've all become very well-known sayings. The one that we looked at was the last one that he spoke immediately before dismissing his spirit into the Father's care. Father, into thine hands I commit my spirit. And today, with the Lord's help, I want to look at the first saying that Christ uttered on the cross, which he spoke as they were nailing him to the tree. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. I think perhaps the first thing to note about this saying or this prayer is that it was intended for a particular group of people and that was the soldiers that were actually crucifying him and nailing him to the cross. That's really very clear in the passage itself. were told that they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right, the other on the left. Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they divided his garments, and they cast lots. The reference all through is to what the soldiers did in the act of the crucifixion. in the dividing of his garments and the casting of the lots, especially for his tunic. So the prayer is directed towards the soldiers. And even here in Matthew, if you look at verse 35, you've got your Bibles open at Matthew 27, and at verse 35 we read that they crucified him, dividing his garments and casting lots. So the they here, the they who crucified him, is not a reference to the crowd, it's not a reference to the Jewish authorities, it is a reference to the Roman They crucified him and they divided his clothes. In fact, all the way through from verse 27 to 37, 10 verses, it is the soldiers that are doing everything. Now, can we just read these 10 verses again with that simply in our minds? Because I'm going to look with you at these soldiers and how a great work of grace was done in their lives. But let's read these 10 verses again noting that they are all referring to the soldiers. Verse 27. The soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around him. And they stripped him, and put a scarlet robe on him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand. And they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews. Then they, the soldiers, spat on him, took the reed, and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they took the robe off him, put his own clothes back on him and led him away to be crucified. Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, and him they compelled, as they had the authority to do so as Roman soldiers, they compelled him to bear the cross. And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, place of a skull, they, the soldiers, gave him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when he had tasted it, he would not drink. Then they, the soldiers, crucified him, and dividing his garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, they divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. Sitting down, they, the soldiers, guarded, or kept watch over him there, and they put up over his head, the accusation written against him. This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Now, when you read that, without focusing on the soldiers, you are liable to think of the day in a general sense. This is what the people did to him. This is what was done to the Lord. But when you bear in mind who is doing it, it draws your attention to the evil of the actions of the soldiers. And that, of course, marvelously draws attention to the great grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in praying for them. Even at the point of nailing him to the tree, Father, he says, forgive them, for these, they do not know what they are doing. And it's one of the wonderful things that is true in connection with the cross of Christ, that two things abounded there. As Paul says in the letter to the Romans, where sin abounds, grace did much more abound. And that is supremely true on the cross. Sin never abounded as much as it did at Golgotha. never such an accumulation of sin upon the earth as there was then, and never such a great manifestation of grace and mercy. We're familiar with the Lord from his throne, as it were, on the middle cross, forgiving the great sinner on one side of him. But equally great is his forgiveness of these Roman soldiers who had done nothing but mock and abuse and crucify him because, forgive them, he did. When Christ asked this forgiveness from God, God granted it. People are often confused about this prayer because they wonder if Christ offered a prayer that wasn't actually answered. Now, no such thing ever happened. Psalm 21 tells us in any case that God never refused the request of his lips. Never. And this is no exception. Christ's intercession for these sinners who did not know what they were doing was a prayer that was marvelously answered by God. And I want today and tonight, with God's help, to consider this prayer with you. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And to look first this morning at what they actually did, and tonight, what Christ did for them, praying for them and obtaining forgiveness. What they did, and what he did or what they did to him and what he did for them. Now, when we look at what they did to him, what we see is a terrible series of evil things. First of all, they mocked him because when the formal trial was over, they took him into Pilate's and they removed his clothing. None of this was necessary, but they dressed him up as mock royalty. That's their own choice. Pilate never told them to do it. No instructions from anybody, but they dressed him up as mock royalty. They stripped him and put a scarlet or purple robe on him. They just put a feeble staff in his hand, something like a cane, meant to be a scepter, but of course a ridiculous kind of scepter. They took the time and made the effort to find thorns and to plate them into a crude crown that they would pull over his head. And they bowed the knee in front of him and said, Hail, King of the Jews. They mocked him. Now, we have to be very, very careful that we don't mock the Lord, that we don't mock God, mock his house, mock his people, make fools of anything that belongs to God. were warned in Psalm 1 against sitting in the scorner's chair. I remember reading many years ago, just shortly after I was converted, how Spurgeon commented on that and said that not many people are ever reclaimed from the scorner's chair. And what he meant by that very simply was this, that it's one thing to be in sin, it's another thing to go deeper in sin, and at last, It's another thing still to reach the place where you hold the things of God in scorn, in mockery, and in contempt. You know yourself when someone has reached that point, you fear for them. Because in mocking the things of God, you are defying God. You're defying him to intervene. It's as though you're calling upon him to cut you away and to call you to the judgment seat at once. There was a famous, well, famous where I come from, put it that way, but there was an incident of that at a wedding feast where someone was mocking God and mocking the things of Christ and a piece of bone became stuck in his throat and he died there and then. And it solemnized the people at a wedding. It solemnized the people to think that the last words spoken were words of mockery and of contempt. But it's one thing to remember, thankfully, that at least these people did not know what they were doing. Paul himself says that in spite of his own sin, which was so terrible, when he was persecuting God's people, even trying to strangle the Church of Christ at its very birth, he says, I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly. and in unbelief. It's as though he's drawing attention to the fact that it would be so much more different, so much different if he was doing it willfully, knowing exactly who the Lord was and perhaps even having tasted something of the powers of the kingdom of God himself, having turned from darkness to light, how much worse it would be. But he says God knew and bore in mind that I did it ignorantly and in unbelief. Now he's still culpable. It's still a sin. It's still something to be brought before the judgment seat of God and to be dealt with. But at least they know not what they do. But they mocked him. As well as mocking him, making a fool of him, bringing him to shame and disgrace, As the Lord says, you know my shame and my disgrace. They also physically abused him. We're told that they spat upon him and that they took the cane that they had placed in his hand and that they struck him with it, even around the head. And when they had finished striking him, they put his clothes back on him. They abused him. How terrible a thing to do. how wicked and evil a thing to do, and again how defiant a thing to do. But at least they knew not what they did, or to whom they did it. And then, of course, as well as mocking him and abusing him, they crucified him. There they crucified him. And in drawing attention to the act of crucifixion, the writers of the Gospel draw particular attention to three things that the soldiers did. First of all, they offered him a painkiller. Now that seems perhaps to you and to me on the face of it to be a kind but it's not as simple as that. And to understand that, I think perhaps we need to first of all clear up a confusion that may be in our minds between two distinct drinks which the Lord was offered on the cross. The first drink was offered to him at the beginning of his sufferings. when they offered him wine that was mixed with myrrh and with gall. I'll explain that a little later. But that drink, our Lord refused. Mark tells us that he tasted it and then refused it. The second drink was offered six hours later when he was just about to dismiss his spirit. He said, I thirst. And we're told on that occasion that they dipped a sponge in vinegar and gave him that vinegar to drink. The Lord took that. At least he took enough of it to moisten his lips and to loosen his tongue. When he had said the previous saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The people around him, the Jews, didn't understand what he said. The speech was so indistinct that they thought he was calling upon Elijah. Now, they knew their Hebrew far better than any of us knows Hebrew. But that tells us how indistinct the Lord's words were. Now the Lord had two more things that he wanted to say, and he wanted them heard very clearly. It is finished, and into thy hands I commit my spirit. So he proclaims his thirst. And at that point, they give him vinegar to drink. Now both these drinks are given to Christ out of contempt. out of contempt. In Psalm 69 and verse 21, he tells us again how precious these Psalms are. How precious they are. We can't say that enough because of how they enter into the Saviour's soul, or to put it another way and better, how the Saviour opens up his soul to us. It's a remarkable thing, but in the Gospels you see Christ from the outside, you watch him move, you hear him speak, but you don't know what his thoughts and his feelings are until you turn to the Psalms where it's turned inside out. And he tells us there, in a string of things that are contemptible and done with spite, that they gave gall to me for my meat, and vinegar when my thirst was great. At the start of my sufferings they gave me gall, and at the end they gave me vinegar. Now, these two drinks were given in contempt, but not by the same people. The first drink was given by the soldiers. Now, it wasn't unusual for soldiers to give a painkiller, but in most cases, as I understand it, it had frankincense in it to take away the bitterness of it, because gall is a very bitter thing. It's like bile. It's a terrible tasting thing. and frankincense would sweeten it. Interestingly, what's in this one is myrrh, which is itself bitter. To add myrrh to gall is just to make a horrible, horrible drink. It's a revolting drink. Significantly, that's the one that the soldiers offered him, just to add to his shame and to disgrace. was not offered by the soldiers. The second drink at the end of his sufferings was offered by some of those who stood there when they heard, said, he is calling for Elijah. And one of them ran, took a sponge, filled it with vinegar, put it on a reed, and offered it to him to drink. But the other said, leave him alone. Notice there's no soldiers involved here. leave him alone, let us see if Elijah will come to save him.' And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit." I wonder, friends, if at this sixth hour, at the ninth hour, when the Lord had been on the cross for six hours, I wonder if at this point the soldiers are backing off. I believe with all my heart they are backing off. because the Lord is working in their hearts. It's an amazing thing to think that those who had abused him and mocked him, crucified him and held him in contempt by offering him gall mingled with myrrh are now standing back and taking no more part in the degradation of the Lord. I believe that there is a reason to that, as we'll see. So the first part of the crucifixion is offering him the painkiller. Now you'll notice that Christ doesn't take it. He doesn't take it. When he had tasted it, he would not drink it. Now why would he not drink it? Well, he wouldn't drink it, friends, because his sufferings were unique. and they were meant to be unique, and they were appointed for him by his own father. There was a covenant engagement between father and son, and when the son came into the world, he knew exactly what it was that was to be in his cup. He knew the sufferings, and the sufferings had to be endured precisely as the father prescribed them, and a painkiller wasn't a part of that. In other words, the cup of Gaul and Myrrh was not part of the cup that the father had given him to drink. No sweetness in that, just the bitter dregs thereof. So tasting it, he knew immediately what it was on its taste, and he would swallow none of it. He refused it. Can we not say there that he refused it more for our sake than for his own? Of course we can. Certainly he refused it out of obedience and love for his father, but that in itself is connected with his love and desire to save our souls. covenant agreement in the first place was to save sinners. That's the reason. The reason to enter covenant with his Father and the Spirit too is to save souls. And so it's for your sake and mine that he did not take a painkiller. And that is to be thought in connection with the fact that there was no pain like his. no pain like his. The fact that these sufferings are unique and the reason for not taking a painkiller is unique is important because you now and again hear people saying that we should follow the Lord's example and not take painkillers at the point of death. I knew a woman who was a good woman who refused painkillers when she was on her deathbed because she said the Lord did. Let me say that in all honesty I think her motive was very, very good and insofar as it went it was admirable because she didn't want her mind clouded as she was going into eternity. Again, I admire that spirit and I think we all should. But sometimes we need to be careful that we are not, as the scripture says, righteous over much. The numbing of pain is something that the Lord would have us as a mercy. Can we just say that the Lord took no painkiller in order that we might have such relief ourselves? because there's no doubt that the Lord means us to have our pain alleviated, and that's part of his grace and his kindness. And sometimes the pain relief that we take does cloud the mind. Morphine famously clouds the mind, but again, remember in connection with that that Proverbs tells us to give strong drink to him that is ready to die. Now that is the equivalent of a painkiller. The previous verses are warning against the abuse of strong drink. But then it immediately says, to give strong drink to him that is ready to die. In other words, there is a place for it, something that makes a person able to endure great pain. So I'm only saying that. I mean, it may be possible that none of you ever have such a thought, that you shouldn't take a painkiller or something, because the Lord refused it. And while that's admirable, it's not a teaching to be drawn from this passage. Unique sufferings. unique sufferings to be borne by him as a punishment on your behalf and mine, no painkiller. That has nothing to do with whether we should take painkillers or not. The second thing in connection with crucifying him is that they divided his garments in verse 35. They crucified him dividing his garments and casting lots. So before they actually put him on the tree, they strip him. This is the second time they stripped him. They had stripped him in the praetorium to put the royal robe on him. But of course, they took that off. Well, that's technically the second time they stripped him. Took it off him, put his own clothes back on, and now they strip him again, the third time. It was Roman practice that the soldiers got to keep any possessions that belonged to anyone crucified. And so they divide the garments and they cast lots. Until, of course, they come to the tunic and they said, let us not tear it. but let us cast lots for it. Now some people have assumed, because they say let us not tear it, that they were in the practice of tearing the other pieces and giving a piece to everyone. But there's no point in tearing everybody's clothes up. When it says that they divided his gardens, it doesn't mean they tore them, but that they divided them out, they shared them. There wouldn't have been many gardens, probably four or five. and each soldier got one, and there was nothing much to them. Nothing much to the sandals, nothing much to the outer robe, nothing. But there was something to the tunic, and the tunic was so important that they were in a quandary as to what to do about it. And obviously someone perhaps suggested that since it was so precious that they would just tear it up and each person take a bit of it. It's a little like what the mother of the child said when Solomon was judging the two women who were in front of him arguing about who was the rightful mother of the child. And Solomon said to divide the child in half. And of course, the true mother said, no, let her take it. Of course, the other mother said, no, she said, fair's fair, let it neither be mine nor yours, but divide it. Someone, of course, knows who the true mother is. Here, reason prevailed and said, we're not going to tear this up. Let's cast lots for it. Why? Because it was so valuable. Now, there's a spiritual reason why it's valuable for us, which I'll come to in a second. But obviously, its spiritual significance had nothing to do with the Roman soldiers. They were not interested in that. But they were interested in the garment. Because the Lord's clothing was ordinary clothing with the exception of the tunic. Every time it's referred to in scripture, the word used in connection with it indicates that it's a precious garment. A garment that was doubtlessly made for him by the woman who followed him closely in his ministry. We're told that there was a select group of women, some of them at least were very well off, who ministered to himself and to the apostles when they were going from town to town and preaching. And this one was particularly valuable. It was valuable because of what it signified. John tells us that it was a tunic that was woven in one piece. Woven in one piece, without seam at all. Just a simple space left for the head to go through and for the tunic to lie on the body. Without a seam, woven in one piece. Now, why does John mention that? Why is it just John that mentions that? Well, these are good questions, and they're fair questions. But you'll notice that John is the Gospel writer who lays most attention on the priesthood of Christ. It's very dear to him, and it's very much to the fore in everything that he writes, that our Lord Jesus Christ is the great high priest of our profession. Now the only quote that we know of in the scripture that was woven without a theme and that consisted of one single piece was the priesthood quote in Exodus 28 and 32. We read that you shall make the robe, there shall be an opening for the head in its middle It shall have a woven binding around its opening, that's like a kind of collar around it, like the opening in a coat of mail, so that it does not tear. The importance of it being in one piece had something to do with it remaining in one piece. There mustn't be a tear in this garment. And the reason John draws attention to this is because it is as a priest that Christ is going to the cross. Can I perhaps put it this way? His prophetic ministry is, in one respect, over. The words that the Father had given him to speak, he has spoken. And now his lips are shut. He is going like a sheep to the slaughter. like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is done, so he opens not his mouth. There's nothing to say. Even the few words that he utters from the cross are not spoken really as a prophet, but as a priest. Even this one, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. So it's the priest that comes before us now. We've marveled at the prophet, and at the words which were spoken, And no man ever spoke like this man. But the time for speaking is finished. It's now time to take the priestly robe and to go to the cross as a sacrifice for sinners. And that's why he wears this garment. And so when anyone ever tells you that the Lord was poor, or that he wore poor clothing, always remember to point this out. that he wore an expensive garment that was coveted by the soldiers and they cast lots for it. And of course here they are unconsciously fulfilling a scripture that had been written a thousand years before by David. A thousand years before that holy man of God spoke and how much did he understand of what Certainly it was no reference to himself. At no time in his life did anyone cast lots for David's clothes. In fact, virtually the whole of Psalm 22 cannot be put to anything in David's life or experience, but for my garments I cast lots. for my vesture, they divided my garments and for my clothing or my vesture they cast lots. How accurate that is. They shared some of it and cast lots for some of it. How exact it all is. Sometimes when we read Old Testament prophecy we can only marvel at how the detail is fulfilled. Everything, the I is dotted, the T is crossed when the time comes for fulfilment. There's a spiritual significance in the fact that they wouldn't tear it, because you'll remember in the Old Testament, the priestly clothing was not allowed to be torn, therefore God did not allow this garment to be torn. Didn't allow it to be torn. You'll remember that in the sacrifice of the lamb, not a bone was to be broken. Not a bone was to be broken. signifying the wholeness and the integrity of the sacrifice, signifying that the purpose and resolution of Christ was not broken by everything that he endured on the cross. The priestly garment is the same. It's not allowed to be torn because this is a perfect priesthood. This is a perfect suffering. This is a perfect offering for sinners. This is a perfect intercession. Even the prayer itself, Father forgive them for they know not what they do, is a perfect prayer, uttered at the perfect time and uttered in the perfect spirit. Because everything involved with the Saviour is without spot, it is without blemish, it is to his glory and to his praise. And again, the soldiers subconsciously fulfilling scripture and subconsciously declaring the glory of the one that they are crucifying. So, in crucifying him, they give a painkiller in contempt and then they divide his garments amongst themselves. as though they could own anything that belonged to him. How much in reverse everything here is. You have people who posture around as though they're in authority, and you have a man condemned to die, and the reality is just completely the reverse. The one they're crucifying is the Lord of glory, and their judge, and their jury, and here they are as though own him. The third thing they do in crucifying him, they, the soldiers, is that they hang the title upon the cross. This is Jesus, the King of the Jews, or this is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Some people say, why does one gospel have a slightly different title than another? Well, two reasons for that which I would be happy with, either one of them. One is that one is just giving the substance of the title, the other is giving it absolutely word for word. The other is that perhaps they weren't the same in the three languages. It's possible that the Latin one had the words of Nazareth and the Greek one did not, or that the Hebrew one did and the Latin one did not. We don't know. These are trifles. These are silly trifles. We know that above the Lord's head were written, in one language at least, that this is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Why is it in three different languages? Well, we can't help note the way that God is overruling the wickedness of people, and that again is what the cross is all about. I mentioned that at the beginning, where sin abounds, The most evil act ever committed on the face of the earth was what? It was the crucifixion of the second person of the Trinity. There is no more evil act committed than the crucifixion of the Son of God. But there is no greater goodness and grace than the forgiveness that flows out of it. glows from that act of evil. Astonishing. And you can't help but notice that there's a kind of tribute to that in the fact that every time people do evil, God turns it for good. That even includes the names and the titles that they give to Christ. They give them titles of shame and they become titles of glory. They make a mock crown for him on the cross. That's what it was meant to be, with two members of his nobility on either side and a crown still lying on his head. But that's his glory. He does handle it as a king. Absolutely he is a king. This is a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Absolutely. Absolutely. He is a friend of tax collectors and sinners. This is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of Jews. Absolutely. He is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. You mean it is a shame. So look at the king. Oh yes, we look at the king. We look at the king. We look at our king. in his shame and in his disgrace and we own him and acknowledge him to be our king. And by putting this title at the top of the cross, it's meant to be his shame, but it's not, is it? And it's strange that the Jewish authorities had a kind of premonition about that and they said to Pilate, we don't want that written. Because he had supervised the writing, he said this is what's to be written. We want written. He said, I am king of the Jews. Pilate says, what I've written, I've written. I'm not here to be dictated by you. I think he had had enough of the Jewish authorities by then. But that's God's superintendence of the whole thing. So when you look at this, it's in three languages, the three great languages of the ancient world. Can we say that Latin is the language of law and government, always has been, Greek is the language of culture and of science and philosophy, and Hebrew is the language of religion? It's as though God is saying he's king of all, king of everyone, king of everyone everywhere, king of all things, all disciplines, all arts, all cultures, all sciences, king of heaven and earth, King of kings, Lord of lords, that man who hangs there suspended on a cross. So these soldiers are crucifying the Son of God. Now, if you are mocking the Lord and abusing him and crucifying him, and there's a sense in which we all do, there's a very real sense in which we all do, you wouldn't be surprised if God would intervene and strike them dead, especially as they reach the point where they're putting the nails in the sacred body and hoisting him up and attaching the one part of the cross to the other. And how shocked they must have been at the voice they heard from the one who was saying nothing, nothing at all. But at the very point of execution, Father, they said, forgive them, for they know not what they do. That must have struck them. Must have struck them hard. And one of the reasons it must have struck them hard is because nobody ever spoke like that. Crucifixions were notorious for their ugliness, for their brutality, the way in which they stretched out a person's life in agony and weakness, sometimes for days on end. And it was often said that the people who were crucified were reduced to absolute torment. They would use up the last remnants of their strength in kind of cursing and condemning everybody that had a hand in what had befallen them. It was just all wickedness. And this is what comes from his lips. We know from experience how hard it is to forgive. We all know that. Very, very difficult to forgive. Especially difficult to forgive people who are actually in the act of wronging you. Usually forgiveness is something that we associate with time, with an opportunity to process, an opportunity to pray, And then we forgive. It's another thing altogether, while you're being mocked and abused and crucified, to shout out, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And as I mentioned earlier, this is not a nameless prayer. It's not a general prayer. It's not a catch-all prayer for everybody in front of him because there would have been plenty in front of him who never received forgiveness. This is defined and targeted at those who are nailing him to the tree. And tonight, God willing, we'll see how the prayer is answered. Let's call on God's name. O Lord, O God, truly no one spoke like this man, whether in life or in death. And even upon the cross, the few words that he utters are words that transcend all others. How wonderful to think of a priest who is dying as a spotless sacrifice, and who simultaneously makes such a glorious intercession. We are thankful that he does not just pray for them, but along with that he also prays for all who are his own, that they may come and taste and see that God is good and who trusts in him is blessed, because it is while we were all yet sinners that Christ died for us, so many of us not knowing what we were doing. We pray then that you would bless these thoughts and meditations to us and help us to prepare with them for the evening service of the sanctuary. In the precious name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen. Let's bring our worship to a close in Psalm 22 again. Psalm 22. At verse 14. Like water I'm poured out. My bones, all out of joint, do part. You notice they're not broken, just dislocated. Amidst my bowels, as the wax, so melted is my heart. My strength is like a potsherd dried. My tongue, it cleaveth fast unto my jaws. Unto the dust of death thou brought me hast. For dogs have compassed me about. the wicked that did meet in their assembly, me enclosed, they pierced my hands and feet. I, all my bones may tell, they do upon me look and stare, upon my vesture lots they cast, and clothes among them shared. We'll sing verses 14 to 22, God's grace, we'll stand to sing. I walk the path, for some I know, some I know not, but here I am, and there's my path. My strength is my hour. My strength is my hour. O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Namaskar. Namaskar. I hold my bones with heav'nly grace. Namo'valokiteshvaraya Namo'valokiteshvaraya But be not far, O Lord, my strength is driven to Thee. Consort my soul from passion, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Oh.