We will read the entire chapter this morning. The text for the sermon is verse 11. This is God's holy and inspired word. Go to now, ye rich men. Weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and ye shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth. And the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived in pleasure on the earth and have been wanton. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist you. Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it until he received the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned. Behold, the judge standeth before the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath. But let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay, lest ye fall into condemnation. Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. And if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him, let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins. So far we read God's Word. As I said, let's consider this morning verse 11 of this chapter. I'll read it one more time. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. 11 in the Lord Jesus Christ, the sermon that I'm going to preach this morning on James 5 verse 11 was a sermon that I originally preached on the occasion of the confession of faith of a young adult of the congregation. And I mentioned that in the introduction because it shapes a bit. the perspective from which this text is explained. The occasion, as we're well aware of, of a confession of faith of a member of a congregation is certainly one of great joy. It's one of great joy for the congregation as a whole in which we rejoice to see the next generation being raised in the fear of God's name and confessing their faith in Jesus Christ. It's one of joy for family of those who make confession of faith, and it's a time of joy, of course, for the one who makes confession of faith. Not because it is a time in which one says, look at me, but it's a time in which one sees the goodness, faithfulness, of God to one personally, to one's family and to a congregation as a whole. Confession of faith is a time of joy. But I mentioned in the introduction to that sermon, in light of this text, that it's very important for youth in the congregation, growing up in the day and age in which we find ourselves today, to have a sober mind. And what I mean by a sober mind is what the Word of God often means by the word sober. A clear thinking mind. Clear thinking as to what life is really all about. And what life going forward is going to be like. And it's from that perspective that I preached this text on the occasion of a confession of faith. Because though it is a time of tremendous joy, a young adult who makes confession of faith needs to know what's ahead of them. The next generation needs to know what lies ahead on the path of a Christian. And the reality of the life of the Christian is that it's very, very hard. It's one in which there is suffering. And it's one, therefore, in which what is needed is the gift of God of patience. Clear thinking in that regard. Clear thinking as you look ahead and you say, what is my life going to be like in light of this confession? And in light of being a disciple of Jesus Christ? And though filled with joy, yet clear in mind that this is what it's like. It is to suffer the hardships that God may be pleased to send one in their life. Requiring, therefore, the very thing that Job was singled out in James 5, verse 11 as having. Namely, the spiritual gift of patience. And so it's from that perspective that we look at this passage as it applies to youth, but of course also applies to all of us in our life of suffering. Let's consider this morning learning from the patience of Job. We'll take note of three points this morning. The first is the suffering of earthly life. The second is the patience of the believer. And last, coming from the beginning of the verse, the happiness of those who endure. In James 5, the apostle is bringing his book to a conclusion. And he has a section in this last chapter on the general subject of patience. Endurance. And that begins in verse 7. When he leads with these words, Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. And that theme of patience is the main idea of verses 7-11 of James 5. And he comes to the end of that section and he gives his readers, he gives us to us this morning, two examples that we can look to for what it means to be patient and to endure under suffering. The first example is verse 10. James says, think about those prophets Remember what they went through. Read the book of Jeremiah, for example. Filled with examples of what he went through as the mouthpiece of God. Thrown into prison. Thrown into the pit. He knew what it meant to suffer. And James says, look at them. Learn from them. As an example of what it means to endure affliction. And then he follows that with a second example, and that's our text. Verse 11, Ye have heard of the patience of Joel. James writes, you have heard of the patience of Job. He knew that the churches to whom he was writing were familiar with the Old Testament scriptures. They knew what the life of Job was all about. And the exact same thing can be said about us today as those who know our Bibles well, and our youth and our children even who are here with us this morning. who know their Bible history well. You hear verse 11 and you know what Job is all about. And the point of James saying, you have heard of the patience of Job, is not just you have heard of it and you know about it, but it's this, learn from it. Just as you learn from the examples of the prophets, learn from the example of Job. And by the grace of God, that's what we do this morning. We learn from what we know about the history and life of the Old Testament Saint, Job. I'm not going to go into great detail on this point, but it is worth mentioning in order to make one main point of application. And that is the fact that our perspective this morning is that Job, who is referred to in our text, was a real, historical man. Contrary to those out there who may say that everything you read in that book was a made-up story, a fable, in order to teach about spiritual truths. In contrast to that, we maintain this morning that Job was a real man. And that when we read the book of Job in the Old Testament, we are reading history. So that everything happened exactly as we read it in the book. Everything from the suffering that he endured, to the counsel that was given to him by his friends, to the restitution of his earthly possessions in children at the end of his life. All of it took place exactly as we read it. Now that's incredibly important, not only because it maintains the historicity of the Bible, but here's the main point of application. It's incredibly important for the main point of this text. For what you and I need this morning. What we need to know this morning is that this really happened to Job. That He really suffered in the way that it's described in the book. And that there is a God who is our God that worked in that man faith so that this man, through that suffering, persevered. Because when I know that, I know that I and you as the children of God, who've been given faith and who have to suffer, will also persevere with patience through it. It wouldn't do us any good this morning if we had to read about the example of Job and say, it's just a story. It's a fable in order to teach spiritual truths. That's not what we need. This is what we need. He was a real man. He went through things that you go through and that I go through. But this is what God did to him and for him. He gave him the patience of faith. And therefore, was happy as one who endured. The importance of maintaining the historical reality of Job. is exactly that. Wrapped up in that is the very comfort and hope that the passage provides for us. There is something, of course, that stands behind what the text says when it says that there was a certain patience that Job had. And the thing that stands behind that, of course, is that Job suffered. There is not this need for patience apart from the reality of suffering. And so in the first point of the sermon, we reflect upon the suffering that this man Job experienced. As we said earlier, we know the history of Job well. And so at this point in the sermon, I'm not going to belabor the suffering that he went through, but simply run through the highlights of it so that it's before our minds. Number one, Job lost all of his material possessions. As we know, Job was a very wealthy man. All of his wealth in that day wrapped up in his livestock. And all of that livestock, gone. Suffering number two. Job loses all of his servants. Except the one who is spared in order to bring back to him the news of what happened to the others and being taken away. And sometimes we can glance past that. and go quickly to his children, but don't minimize the significance of that. Not just from the point of view of losing those who cared for his livestock and his possessions, but Job was a godly man. He was an upright man. He loved his children, but he also had a genuine concern and love for those who worked for him. And here's Job losing all of his servants except one. Suffering number three, Job loses to death the 10 children that God had given to him, seven sons and three daughters. We can understand what it means to lose children. I do not know you as a congregation well, but certainly, this is what God's people experienced. The death of children. And we always say, what a hardship to lose a child, or maybe two children. Job in one day, loses the ten children to death that God had given to him. Suffering number four, was the sickness and the earthly pain of the body that Job was afflicted with. boils from the bottoms of his feet to the top of his head. So bad that when his friends came to comfort him, they looked at him and they didn't even recognize him as Job. We read in the beginning chapters of the book. Tremendous, terrible, earthly pain and suffering. And then number five. the heart of the suffering that Job endured, what exacerbated it all was the fact that he had his friends, his comforters come, and they gave him miserable advice that only made it worse. Yes, he needed to hear it. And yes, God worked through it. But that doesn't take away from the pain it must have been to hear those words come out of the mouths of his friends. And not only his friends, but even at a point, his wife. This was the fact of the suffering that Job experienced. But now when we reflect upon the suffering that Job experienced, it's important to remember a couple main points about it. That's the fact of it, but this is an explanation of it. in two main ideas. Two things that are tremendously important as we think about what we will in the remainder of the sermon. Number one, with regard to the suffering that Job experienced, it all took place under the absolute sovereign control of God. The opening chapters of the book are at pains. And then the end of the book is at pains to make that point crystal clear. God is God. God is sovereign. And yes, there are means. There was the means of the devil. There were the Chaldeans and the Sabeans. There was the wind that God sent that tumbled down that house with the ten children in it to their death. Means That God, as sovereign God, employed so that His will was carried out. As we think about the suffering of Job, that point, especially God's absolute sovereignty in everything Job experienced. And then number two, with regard to the nature of Job's suffering, it was not a suffering. that came as a result of particular grievous sins that Job may have been walking in. That was the word of his friends to him. Job, you're experiencing this because of what you have done in walking in the ways of sin and evil. And in response to that, he rightly defended himself. And what we read at the beginning of the book was true. Job was an upright man. He feared God. He eschewed evil. He wasn't sinless, but he was blameless. He was a godly man. So that everything that he was experiencing, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 that we went through, he was not experiencing as the specific, concrete judgment of God for those particular sins that he may have been walking in. As we think about the suffering of Job, God is sovereign. And it was not for particular sins that he walked in. Now beloved, as we think about Job's suffering, we need to transition of course to the life that we may live. And this is where the perspective of a confession of faith comes through in part. Because one of the things that is very important for the youth to grow up realizing and understanding is that there is a lie out there that is spoken and heard by the next generation of Christians growing up in this world. And it's a lie that stands at odds to the reality and truth of what the Christian life is all about. And the lie is this, that this is what life is all about. Life is about doing what you want to do. Life is seeing out there all of the experiences and the pleasures that this world has to offer and taking them in. And that you have control over the pathway that you walk in being able to live the life that you want to walk with all of its joys and all of its pleasures and all of its experiences that this world has to offer. And that that at its core is what life on this earth is all about. And I say again, it's very easy for all of us, but especially for the youth that is growing up, to believe that lie or aspects of that lie. When one's health is good, when one's mind is clear, when one's relationships are strong, when one's means are many so that much can be done, When one's time allows for it, it's very easy to begin to think, I'm in control of my own life. And it's all right there at my fingertips for what I want to do and what I want to experience in this life. But the reality is that life is hard. According to God's will, life is hard. And that the pathway that we are to walk on as Christians is one in which there is affliction and suffering. So that when it comes, when it comes, we're not shocked by it. We're not surprised by it. Because we're not letting that lie and illusion that we can believe be the governing way in which we think about our Christian life, but we know with a clear, sober mind, this is what it's like. It's a life in which there is hardship and there is suffering. Why? Partly because of what James is talking about in the context of our passage. The context of our passage is the coming of the day of the Lord. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord." To be a follower of Jesus Christ, knowing that He is going to return one day, means suffering. to be a follower of Jesus Christ, in which life is about not living for yourself, but denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following Him, so that the world knows this man, this woman, is a Christ follower, means suffering. And we know that as the day of the Lord approaches. As in our own context, in the United States, we see the increasing of the cup of iniquity and lawlessness abounding. And what is good being called evil and what is evil being called good. And with that mark upon you, of a follower and disciple and believer in Jesus Christ, what that is going to mean As the spirit of Antichrist increases, it's suffering. You have to face the question, if you're a 15 year old right now, what is it going to mean to be a Christian 30, 40, 50 years from now if the Lord Jesus Christ does not return in the context of what we are seeing happening in the world today. It's exactly the type of stuff that James is referring to in this passage. But then added to that, as to why the perspective on life, the clear thinking perspective of life is not the lie that I explained, but the truth of this, is exactly because of what we said about the nature of Job's suffering. It was under the sovereign control and plan of God. And that may be God's will for you. You don't know what the pathway lies ahead looks like. Right now, the health may be strong, the mind may be clear, the relationships may be strong, the means may be there, and the time is there to do what you please with. But you don't know what God as Sovereign God has in store for you. Apart from any sins that you may commit, but simply Because God has said, I'm going to bring you to heaven one day. But your path to heaven is this path. This path, as it was for Job, was a path of suffering. And so how will we respond? When the relationship that we thought was going to work out and lead to marriage all of a sudden isn't there anymore. Or the relationship of a boyfriend or girlfriend that you so desire to have is not coming to pass. Or all of the means that we have in the bank account and in our portfolio are all of a sudden gone. And the job that was once there is no longer there. And the marriage in which you want a family or many children means no children or only a child or two. And the loved one that you love is taken from you. And the body of your health is gone. And your body is ravaged with pain and sickness. Then what? How do you respond? And how do you go forward? And that's where we learn from the patience of Job. We learn what patience is. And especially, how good God is in Jesus Christ to give us what we need through the sufferings and hardships of earthly life. And so now we consider the patience of the believer. That's what's singled out with regard to Job. And that word patience has as its root idea a certain constancy, steadfastness. The other word that we read in the context captures it well. endurance. It's the resolve by the grace of God to press on through the sufferings and hardships that we may experience. The figure that is a helpful one that the writer of the book of Hebrews uses in Hebrews 12 verse 1 is that of running a race. And the type of race is not the sprint down one side of a track. It's not even the marathon, it's the ultra-marathon. Where it just keeps going, and going, and going, and you need to just keep putting one foot in front of another, in front of another, as you press on through the twists, and the turns, and the downs, and the ups, and all that the path brings before you. Hebrews 12 verse 1, run with patience. The race that is set before you. Job was given by God patience. Now this is incredibly striking. And helpful. Because when you think about what Job went through, you realize he was not sinless. As he endured the sufferings that God sent to him. He was patient. Of course he was patient. The Holy Spirit inspired James to single out Job as an example of patience. Certainly in harmony with his suffering that we explained in the first point, but also because of the simple fact that he was given by God patience. He was patient. That's what the text says. But he wasn't sinless. That's striking. Even as he went through the sufferings with patience, he revealed weaknesses and he revealed sins. Very early in the book, cursing the day of his birth. Throughout the book, wrongly, continuing to ask God the question that God was not going to give him an answer to, which was, why? Why do I have to go through this? Job did not have it all right. And Job was not completely sinless through his sufferings that he endured. And I say again, that's striking. And it's also helpful. It's helpful because we realize that even when God gives the fundamental gift of patience, we're still weak. We're still sinners. No one says through the sufferings of earthly life, I've got this figured out. It's all good. No, there's all kinds of sins associated with that. All of which need the covering of the blood of Jesus Christ. And God is so gracious to forgive those sins as He was for Job and his sins. But it's also helpful, very helpful, as we walk with each other through the sufferings of earthly life. Because when we see our loved ones suffer, and even through it have faith, have the patience that we're talking about, you'll still see weaknesses. You'll still see sins. And it's this that allows us to be long-suffering with them as we walk with them through the dark valleys of this earthly life. Patient? Yes. Sinless? No. But God does give to the believer patience. A certain steadfastness and constancy to endure through the afflictions. And that is clearly evident in the life of Job and even in the book itself. And the way in which that evidences itself is the faith that Job had and the confession that Job continued to make throughout the book and throughout his life as he endured the sufferings that God had sent to him. The patience That steadfast resolve to keep going through the suffering arises out of a faith, a belief in who God is that allows you to say, I keep putting one foot in front of another until God is pleased to take me home. And that's why, in part, As I said in the original sermon that I preached on this text, it's appropriate for a confession of faith. Because the patience is directly related to the faith of the believer. Let's listen to that. Let's hear what Job said, which was the expression of his faith that showed that God had given to him the gift of patience. We all know very well Job 1.21-22 Or rather, 20 and 21, Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. What an amazing Confession of faith in response to what had just happened to him in losing everything, his servants and his children. Listen to what he said to his wife, who at the beginning did not display that same confession as Job did. Job 2 verse 10, what? Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil? He knew something about God. He believed something about God. Good from Him, but also the hardships that he just went through. Job 13 verse 15 Job 13 v. 15, Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. Job 19 v. 25, And 26, given by God the faith that knew the bodily resurrection from the dead. Job very early in the history of the Old Testament confessed the truth that one day in his flesh he would see God. Job 19.25-26, For I know that My Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after My skin worms destroy this body, yet in My flesh shall I see God. Why can't I press on? Because even if this body goes to the grave as it would, and the worms destroy it and eat it, I know In my flesh, one day, I will see God. Job 42. Last one. 2 and 3. I realize this is the end of the book after the Lord teaches him, having humbled him. But nevertheless, part of the faith that kept Job going I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not things too wonderful for me, which I knew not." A confession about the sovereignty of God. So, beloved, what is the path of patience? The path of perseverance? It's to go forth by faith. And to flesh that out a little bit, it is, number one, to know fundamentally and most importantly, every morning when you wake up, God is God. When you wake up in the morning, and you see this mountain that you have to climb in this day, Seemingly impossible to put one foot in front of the other so that it feels like a millimeter in front of the other foot. Hardly able to move forward. You wake up and you say, and you believe, and you know God is God. And He knows what He's doing. He knows what He's doing in this world. He knows what He's doing in the church. But when you wake up on that morning and you see that mountain, you say, He knows what He's doing in my life. And that's the way we want it. is in the end what we don't want is that it be what we think is best. We puny, sinful creatures, that's not what we want. This is what we want. We want to know that God knows what He's doing. And He does. Because He's God. He's our God. And we say in that morning when we see that mountain, He's my God. That's faith. By which we persevere. and are patient. And it's to know by faith in the second place that the nature of that God, of who He is to me in Jesus Christ, is this as we read in the text, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. that this is who God is. Yes, at the end, the Lord was pleased to restore everything to Job, which had significance in the Old Testament as it pertains to the blessing of God upon him. But understand that God throughout the entirety of this episode with Job revealed His tender mercy and compassion. Two words very similar to each other. Main idea, the love and the mercy that God showed upon Job. And that was evident through all of the book. You want to see the tender mercy, love, and compassion of God upon Job, consider this. Consider the fact that the sufferings that he went through never destroyed him. Destroyed him in the sense that it ripped him apart from his God. It couldn't. It never can for a child of God. When God sets His love upon one of His children in Jesus Christ, that love endures. And that love is forever. So that all of the sufferings He went through and you go through can never be of such a nature that it rips you apart from God. And it didn't to Job. That was the compassion of God upon Job. And then you consider this, what we've talked about already, that through it all, he had a faith. A faith that confessed God. A faith by which he persevered. And where did that faith come from? And how was that faith maintained? It was the work of God in him. And it was the goodness and the compassion and the mercy of God. So that in the end, God, through the entirety of this episode with Job, showed His love to him in keeping him and preserving him and ultimately restoring to him children and riches. This is the point. That the faith by which we persevere is the faith that knows God is God and the faith that knows this is who God is to me. He's a God of tender mercy and compassion. It's a faith, therefore, that knows Jesus Christ. That the most clear, powerful evidence of His love for me is that that Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross. And that that Jesus paid for the sins that I have committed. Sins that make me worthy of none of this mercy and compassion. But sins through His precious blood that are forgiven. And as I have the Lord Jesus Christ, then I know God's love is upon me. And if God's love is upon me, as I face this mountain day after day, He will keep me. He can do nothing but keep me. And He will preserve me through it all. And of faith, number three, by which we know that on the other side of this life, there is glory. You see, when you have a God-given faith, You see things. Shall we say you see through things or past things. You see the mountain. It's real. All of the suffering. We're not making that up. But you're able to see right past it. To the day when God is pleased to take His people home to glory. Because that Jesus Christ that you believe in is the Jesus Christ who Himself ran His race. And who knew that His race meant going to the cross. But for the glory that was laid up in store for him and the joy that he would have at God's right hand, a little glimmer of which he had on the Mount of Transfiguration, he endured. He went to that cross, suffering the shame, and having done it, he went to heaven. And he says, I will bring you, in Father's house of many mansions, right back to myself. And the faith by which we persevere in patience is the faith that knows that there is an end to all of this. And that God has said for me personally, and for those around me, my path to that Father's house of many mansions is this path of suffering and hardship. When I wake up and know God is God, Christ is my Savior and there is the hope of heaven. Then, by God's grace, I put one step in front of the other. And I patiently persevere through what God has sent to me in my life. And so all of that stands in contrast to what the way of patience and perseverance is not. It's not, oh, I've got the strength within me. I'm going to buckle down and just get through it. It's not that I'm going to hold out for this hypothetical day in the future when all of this stuff is going to go away that I'm going through. It's not I'm going to turn to this sin or that drug or that bottle in order to get through it. And if we do, And God brings us low. We remember, tender mercy and compassion to forgive so that He leads us back to say, no, not that way. Not that way. That's the way of misery. But this way. Keep your eye on me. Who is God in Jesus Christ with the hope of glory to come. And here's the absolute wonder of what it means to be a Christian. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Happy. Not just because it's the truest happiness at the end when God brings us into glory. but even happy, blessed, right now, in the here and now, through the suffering and affliction we may endure. I say again, that's an absolute wonder that the Christian is able to say, and does say, through it all, I'm blessed. I'm happy. Because as a Christian, we don't say that my blessedness and my happiness is for the affliction to go away, for the riches to accumulate, for the experiences to be had. That's not where it is. But my blessedness and happiness is in my God. And in my Savior, Jesus Christ. And all those things can go away and perish, but this will never go away. He is mine and I am His. So that no matter what we may go through, by God's grace, we are able to say and do say, it's ok. I'm content. I'm at peace. God knows what He's doing. He's shaping and molding me and those around me. And He has said, I'm going to bring you home. But the only way to do that is for you to go down this path. So that blessed and happy, and this is what Christians do, we're able to come here with the mountains staring us in the face, so to speak. And what are we able to do? What do we do? We pray. What is our prayer? It's worship. What do we do? We sing. What are our songs? They're expressions of happiness and blessedness. It's the absolute wonder of the Christian life. That in the darkest of valleys, in the biggest of hardships, we are able to say, in God through Jesus Christ, I am happy. And I am blessed. Let us learn this morning, beloved, from the patience of Job. And let us worship this God and give thanks to this God. That the faith that He works in the hearts of His children is a faith that can never go away. in a faith by which we endure by His grace through the sufferings of life such that we say, by faith, I am blessed and I am happy. May God so help us and so work in us so that we have the spiritual gift of patience, the very patience of Job. Amen. Father in Heaven, we confess that Thou art a good God to us. Us who are weak sinners. Because even as we hear this sermon, we realize our weakness. That through the sufferings, there is much sin. Murmuring, complaining, even bitterness. But yet, we know and are reminded this morning that none of those sufferings ever can separate us from Thy love. And that when Thou dost work faith in the heart of Thy children, it is a faith that can never be ripped away and taken away. So that Thy people do truly persevere in patience. Father, especially for the youth, Work in them a clear perspective on the life of the Christian. And may they, in their youth and as they grow older, go forth with the patience of Job. The patience of the believer. Hear our prayer, Father. Forgive our sins. For Jesus' sake, Amen. Let us sing now, number 162. The two stanzas got our strength of 162.