Good morning, everyone. I invite you to come in and find a seat as we get ready to start. I know everybody wants to say good morning to everybody. But if we could, let's find our way and we're gonna go and get started with our worship this morning. I just wanna say good morning and welcome, welcome to the Sunday gathering of the Evangelical Free Church of Oroville. It is a joy and a blessing to be gathered as the church this Lord's day. to not only gather for corporate worship, but as you can see, we're gonna come to the Lord's table and celebrate communion this morning. So it is our hope and our prayer that our time of singing praises will ready our hearts to receive the Lord's supper a little bit later and to receive the preaching of the word that will take place this morning. So let's begin this morning with reading The scriptures, we're gonna look at Psalm 145 verses one through seven together. And the unchanging and holy word of God says, I will extol you my God and King and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. And his greatness is unsearchable. Our generation shall commend your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness. Let's pray this morning. O gracious and almighty God, who sits enthroned in the heavens and whose majesty is over all the earth, we thank you for the privilege of gathering together this morning. We desire to meet with you and to bring you an offering of praise. Guide us this morning in our worship of you. Draw us close to you that we might sing of your goodness. It's in the name of your precious and holy son, Jesus Christ, that we pray. Amen. I invite you to stand with us as we sing this morning. We're gonna begin with the hymn, Rejoice, the Lord is King. Rejoice! The Lord is King! Your Lord and King adore! Mortals give thanks and sing and triumph evermore! Lift up your heart Lift up your voice Rejoice again I say Rejoice Jesus the Savior reigns The God of truth and love When He had purged our stains He took His seat above Lift up your heart Lift up your voice Rejoice again I say Rejoice His kingdom cannot fail. He rules over earth and heaven. The keys of death and hell are to our Jesus, give. Lift up your heart. Lift up your voice. Rejoice again, I say rejoice. Rejoice in glorious hope. Jesus the judge shall come and take his servants up to their eternal home. Lift up your heart Lift up your voice Rejoice again I say Rejoice Lift up your voice Rejoice again I say Rejoice Amen, it's good singing this morning, church. We're gonna do a song that we did at Easter. It was a newer one at the time. Hopefully you maybe remember this a little bit, but just as we, again, like as I mentioned before, just preparing our hearts for the Lord's table, we're gonna sing this song called Behold the Lamb. ♪ See Him there, the great I Am ♪ ♪ A crown of thorns upon His head ♪ ♪ The Father's heart displayed for us ♪ ♪ Oh God, we thank You for the cross ♪ ♪ Lifted up on Calvary's hill ♪ ♪ We cursed your name and even still ♪ ♪ You bore our shame and paid the cost ♪ ♪ Oh God, we thank you for the cross ♪ Behold the Lamb. The story of redemption written on His hands. Jesus, You will reign forevermore. The victory is Yours. We sing Your praise. Endless hallelujahs to Your holy name. ♪ Jesus, you will reign forevermore ♪ ♪ The victory is yours ♪ ♪ Offer up this sacrifice for every sin ♪ ♪ Our Savior died, the Lord of hosts is risen ♪ Our God has risen from the grave. Behold the Lamb, the story of redemption written on His hands. Jesus, You will reign forevermore. The victory is Yours. We sing Your praise. Endless hallelujahs to Your holy name. Jesus, You will reign forevermore The victory is Yours When the age of death is done, we'll see your face bright as the sun. We'll bow before the King of kings. Oh, God, forever we will sing. Behold the Lamb, the story of redemption written on His hands. Jesus, You will reign forevermore. The victory is Yours. We sing Your praise, endless hallelujahs to Your holy name. Jesus, You will reign forevermore. The victory is Yours. You reign forevermore. The victory is Yours. He reigns forevermore. The victory is Yours. What love could remember, no wrongs we have done. Omniscient, all-knowing, He counts not their sum. Thrown into the sea without bottom or shore. Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more. What patience would wait as we constantly roam? What Father so tender is calling us home? He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor. Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more. Praise the Lord, His mercy is more. Stronger than darkness, new every morn. Our sins they are many, His mercy is more. ♪ What riches of kindness He lavished on us ♪ His blood was the payment, His life was the cost ♪ We stood meet the dead we could never afford ♪ Our sins they are many, His mercy is more ♪ Praise the Lord ♪ His mercy is more Stronger than darkness, new evermore. Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more. Praise the Lord, His mercy is more. Stronger than darkness, new evermore. Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more. Amen. You may be seated. All right. Oh, here we go. All right, guys. We are here this morning. Isn't it nice to have all these chairs and all the people in it? Amen. What an awesome way to start our day. Please bear with me. I've got quite a bit to do here. Our mission committee is pleased to announce our missionaries of the month, Steve and Marlene Strickling. They have a prayer card that will be given out at the end of the service. And Mike's got his, okay. So please think of them, pray for them. They've got some prayer requests and we can help them with that. Women's Ministry will have a weekly prayer meeting this week on Thursday, June 10th from 6.30 to 7.30 at the Hansel home. Pastor Greg's house please see Carol or Peggy Schultz if you have any questions. All women are invited to come and pray. The women's ministry is encouraging all women to get involved in reading and discussing the group this discussion group this summer. They are reading the book A Place to Belong Learning to Love the Local Church by author Megan Hill. If you'd like to join this group please contact the women's committee. members of the women's committee the king's men we're having uh... in a meeting tuesday june eighth from six to eight this meeting is available to all men age sixteen and older please come enjoy the dinner uh... fellowship bible study and uh... the final word mike freddie if you have any questions please contact him uh... what he would like because of for uh... preparing the food and having the correct amount of food. He's hoping that anybody in here today that plans on being there Tuesday would raise their hand. That'll give us a good idea of what we've got going on there. Got one over there. Okay, great. Mike, got a count? Okay, thank you. We anticipate more folk, but come get great food, great fellowship, can't go wrong. They're also having a breakfast Saturday at June 12th, I'm sorry, June 12th at 8 a.m. Where are they having a breakfast, Mike? Oh, it's gonna be here in our kitchen here. Yeah, okay, and if you have any questions, please talk to Al Marrer, and he will help you out. It is something very important for this church to have the men to gather and come together under his leadership. Youth will be having a mission trip to Paradise. Now, this is pretty awesome. June 13th to 18th, we could really help in blessing this city. Anybody that would like to help with these folks, please contact Brian Bell. Paradise, as you know, is devastated, virtually wiped off the map, and there's a lot of help that needs to be accomplished, and we have been doing a lot of that. We're going to have a baccalaureate service today, a short one after the sermon for our graduates, and we would encourage all of you to stay and encourage them and tell them what a great job they've done. Yeah, fellowship time is back. Coffee and treats after the sermon. As always, we could use some folk to help with that. It's not hard to do. You can be trained quickly. It's not much time involved. Please pray about it and see if maybe you can help in that area. Pastor's class. I'm very pleased that that class is fairly full but it can take more people. He's doing a journey through the Bible discovering the New Testament. I can tell you that this is really informative uplifting and would really encourage you folks to come and do this. This is right after our service. Offering box is in the back of the room. Please put your offerings there. And if you want to designate anything other than, you know, to the church, please write it on the blue envelope. We as a deacons group are encouraging some special giving today for the deacons group so we may serve our church body even better. The invocation today is Psalm 1. If you would stand for the reading of God's word. If you can stand. Psalm 1. Blessed is a man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He's like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. nor of sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." You may be seated. We, as always, have some prayer requests. One of the ones I would like to mention right out of the gate is for Dorothy Houston and her family. Many are probably aware of her struggles. We want to thank God for his blessings and provision for our church. His fingerprints are seen all over. There's growth in our ministries and new people coming. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for the many teachings, ministries you have at EFC, your spirit guide and direct each one. May your spirit guide and direct each one so all is done according to your word, building up the saints. Thank you, Lord, for the success of our youth ministry. May this be a summer of blessings for all of the youth involved with this. May their hearts be captured by love and truth of Christ. Pray for the trustees of EFC. As they serve us in maintaining the facilities, may they also seek to serve in unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. Pray for the women's ministries. May the Lord mobilize and encourage women to make this a summer of growth in the Lord and fellowship with one another. Lord, let us pray for the Kingsmen and their activities this week. May the Lord gather the men and church together for worship, teaching, and fellowship. May the men be strengthened to walk with the Lord and lead their families well. Let's pray for the government leaders who are over us. May a spirit of humility come upon them as they make decisions that affect us all. We pray that we will promote righteous projects and do all things for the common good. Lord, we pray for those currently ill, hospitalized, and or recovering from illness, surgery, or injury. Pray for the homebound in our church. May they feel connected to us through the online services. May God use the church to ignite special awakening and revival in our land. May the Lord stir our hearts to confess our sins, turn from our wicked ways, turn from idols, and to seek his face more and more. May our church grow in holiness, unity, joy, and sacrificial service for one another. We'd like to pray for the folks that are online with us. It's a special provision, and we pray that they can be with us. And if they can't, that they will be blessed as we are here. Lord, we pray for our pastor, for his words, for his heart, that you may guard his teaching and protect him and his family as he gives us his service, Lord. Lord, we pray all this in your name, Jesus, amen. As beneficiaries of the Homestead Act in the 1800s, a group of pioneers were making their way across the central states to a distant place, which was then known as the Great Western Frontier, opening up 150 acres that they had been given as part of that historic act. They traveled in covered wagons driven by oxen, and as you can imagine, progress was slower than they would have liked it to have been. And one day, on a particularly dry and windy day, you can imagine their horror as they noted a long line of smoke in the west, stretching for miles across the prairie. And soon it was evident that the dried grass was burning fiercely and coming straight towards them. Now, they had crossed over a river the day before, but there would be no time to try to retreat to race back to the river before the fire was upon them. But one man had an understanding about what needed to be done. and he immediately gave the command to set fire to the grass behind them. And then when the space was burned over, the whole company moved back upon that land. As the flames roared upon this group of pioneers, a little girl cried out in terror, are you sure we shall not all be burned up? The leader replied, my child, the flames cannot reach us here, for we are standing where the fire has already been. What a wonderful picture of the security of the believer in Christ, that the fire of judgment has already come over us because we have gone to the cross, where the wrath of God was poured out on his son for our sake and for our sin. And as we reflect on the Lord's table and on what Jesus accomplished for his people, it is good for us this morning to remember what it means. that the sacrifice of Jesus was intentional, it was planned, it was designed, it was purposeful. In a recent work entitled, From Heaven He Came and Sought Her, authors David and Jonathan Gibson remind us of what happened on the cross. They write, Christ died as someone for some people. He died as king for his people, as husband for his bride, as the head for his body, as the shepherd for his sheep, as the master for his friends, and as firstborn for his brothers and sisters, as the second and last Adam for a new humanity. He died in our place. that we who trust in him alone for our salvation might live for his glory, both now and forevermore. And so we gather this morning at this table, recognizing our need of a savior and those who trust in Jesus alone for their salvation, for the forgiveness of their sins, who recognize that at the foot of the cross, they stand in territory that has already been burned over. They're welcome to come and join. It is for those who are at peace with God because of Jesus Christ, who are at peace with each other because of the body of Christ that Jesus purchased, that we might come joyfully and freely in a united manner as the one body of Christ, drinking from the one cup, eating of the one loaf, at the one table, fed by the one Father, because of one great salvation. And if that is you this morning, then please join with us freely and observe what is happening and taking note and entering into the joy of what we are doing this morning. The servers will come and they will distribute the cups. And as they do, we're going to remember and recognize and rejoice in what the Lord is doing. And we're going to do that by singing. Singing as one people, raising one voice to our one God for the one gospel that we have. And as the elements are passed out, you might find it helpful to go ahead and prepare ahead of time, ripping off of the first seal so that you're ready when it comes time to serve the bread. I'm going to read the instructions we are given from the Apostle Paul in his letter to the church in Corinth, 1 Corinthians 11. For this I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that in the night the Lord Jesus died, he was betrayed and took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also, he took the cup after the supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For whoever eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. I'll ask our brother, Rob, to pray for the distribution of the elements. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we humbly come before you now to your table. Lord God, we come before you, Lord, humbling ourselves, knowing that we are sinners. Lord, you purposely, willfully went to the cross to die for us. Lord, we remember. We gather to remember. Lord God, you purposely love us. You purposely were beaten, pierced. and died on the cross for us. Thank you, Lord, that you love us so greatly. Lord God, we thank you that your body, your blood represents, that the elements that we take represent that. And Lord God, that we can remember you in all things. Lord, knowing that your elements and your mercy and your grace, Lord, proved our salvation. We're forever grateful, in Jesus' name, amen. As the elements are being passed out and we sing, this song may be new to many of you. So take this time as we're learning this together for, as Pastor mentioned, that self-examination and reflection. And as you pick up on the melody and the chorus, which says, we remember you, and remembrance leads us to worship. And as we worship, our worship leads to communion. And you can sing that with us as we learn the song. Oh, how could it be that my God would welcome me into this mystery? Say, take this bread, take this wine. Now the simple made divine for any to receive. By your mercy we come to your table. By your grace you are making us faithful. Lord we remember you. And remembrance leads us to worship. And as we worship you, our worship leads to communion. We respond to your invitation. We remember you. See His body, His blood, know that He has overcome every trial we will face. And none too lost to be saved, none too broken or ashamed, all are welcome in this place. ♪ By your mercy we come to your table ♪ ♪ By your grace you are making us faithful ♪ ♪ Lord we remember you ♪ ♪ And remembrance leads us to worship ♪ ♪ And as we worship you ♪ ♪ Our worship leads to communion ♪ ♪ We respond to your invitation ♪ ♪ We remember you ♪ ♪ In dying you destroyed our death ♪ Rising you distort our life Lord Jesus come in glory Lord Jesus come in glory Lord Jesus come in glory Lord Jesus come in glory Lord, we remember You And remembrance leads us to worship And as we worship You Our worship leads to communion. We respond to your invitation. We respond to your invitation. We remember you. For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Let us take and eat in honor of our great King. And as we carefully remove the second seal. And in the same way, also, he took the cup after the supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Let us take and drink in remembrance of the one who gave his life that we might live. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. So as we remember the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and as we await his glorious second coming, may he strengthen us and find us faithful to proclaim his death until that glorious day. Please hang on to your cups if you can, or put them in a little holder in the chair in front of you or drop them in the wastebasket as you go out. Now, before we continue in our service this morning, we're going to do something a little special. I would like to invite RJ and Michelle and Levi and Logan Angle to come forward. And perhaps if you've heard, RJ has taken a new position that we're bringing him and his family to Utah. And they have been a wonderful part of our family for a long time. And we thought it was fitting that we send them off with our love, with the blessing of this church. And so would you please join with me as we dedicate them to the Lord? Father, we thank you for the honor and privilege that we have had of having this dear family with us for so many years. We thank you that they represent a sign to us of a legacy of a life well lived, for their grandparents are here, the parents are here, and the grandchildren are here. And we pray that we would remember that as a sign of what you desire to do in each and every family, passing on that gospel truth from one generation to the next. But Father, we now commit them into your care, freely, joyfully, and yet wistfully, Because we know, Father, that you are the one that has raised them up and you are giving them a new frontier in which to serve you. And, Father, it will be a difficult one, as they will have to face the teeth and the heart of the Mormon church. But, Father, we know that a risen Savior is more than able to conquer the hardest of hearts. And so we pray that you would very quickly lead them and settle them into a Bible-believing family there. that you would go before them to help them build relationships with neighbors and colleagues, that very quickly, Brigham City would become home, and that R.J. would be a light in the new office place in which you are sending him. And so, Father, this family, this church family presents this small family into your care and asks that you would guide, protect, and lead them, that you would be glorified, that your kingdom would be proclaimed, and that we know that you will be with them. And so we say thank you, in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. At this time, the children can be dismissed to their Sunday school classes, and you are invited to stand for our next song of worship. When I fear my faith may fail, Christ will hold me fast. When the tempter would prevail, Christ will hold me fast. I could never keep my hope through life's fearful path. For my love is often cold He must hold me fast He will hold me fast He will hold me fast For my Savior loved me so He will hold me fast Those he saves are his delight Christ will hold me fast Precious in his holy sight He will hold me fast He'll not let my soul be lost His promises shall last Brought by Him at such a cost He must hold me fast He will hold me fast He will hold me fast For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast For my life He bled and died, Christ will hold me fast. Justice has been satisfied, He will hold me fast. Raised with Him to endless life, ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ Till our faith is turned to side ♪ When He comes at last ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ He will hold me fast ♪ For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast He will hold me fast He will hold me fast For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast Father God, we thank you for your sovereign rule over us, Lord, and that you secure us, Lord, and we just pray now that you would guide our hearts in hearing from your word today. It's in your name we pray, amen. You may be seated. Good morning. Warm greeting to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a joy to be in his house week by week and to be in his presence, to be with God's people and get ready for what we'll do forever, enjoying his presence and worshiping him and experiencing just the sweetest of fellowship. Lots of opportunities this week, as you've already seen, for us all to get engaged, men and women, and a couple of weeks, the youth. serve one another and we're looking forward to a summer of growth. And I hope that's what it will be. That is certainly the prayer that I offer daily that as a church we would be growing. And I was sharing with the elders on Thursday that I have been praying for a stirring of God's spirit among us for a year and a half. And I'm going to tell you this morning how I've been praying. So perhaps you might be led to be praying with me. Four things that I've been praying specifically for. The first one is hunger for God's word. In a world with messages a thousand a second that we could potentially listen to, there's only one that really needs our attention. That's the word of God. So I've been praying that we'd have a growing hunger for God's word. Secondly, that we'd have a hatred for sin. Compromises at every corner, opportunities for falling into spiritual danger everywhere. We need to hate sin. Like God hates sin. That means all of the junk that we still kind of play with and coddle in our hearts. Thirdly, I've been praying for a desire for holiness. After all, God is holy. It's his fundamental characteristic. If we want to become like God, we need to, in fact, be growing in holiness. And then fourthly, I'm praying for compassion for the lost. The greater Orville area has between 80 and 90,000 people. Many of them do not go to church on a regular basis. Opportunities for us to be a light, right, in our own community of sharing the good news of the gospel in the midst of the difficulties. So those four things I've been praying, I commend them to you. I will continue to pray because I believe that God is able to do a great thing as we continue to pound the doors of heaven and ask Him to move. In a colorful parable, the late Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon gives a colorful illustration, as I've said, of the bondage of sin. He said, there was once a tyrant who summoned one of his subjects, a blacksmith by trade, called him into his presence and ordered him to make a chain. The poor man had to go to work and forge the chain. And when it was done, he brought it into the presence of the tyrant and ordered that it be taken away and made twice its length. He brought it back again to the tyrant who once again ordered that it be doubled. And back he came when he had obeyed the order and the tyrant looked at it, then commanded the servants to bind the man in foot with the chain and cast him into prison. This is what the devil does to men, Spurgeon said. He makes them forge their own chains and binds them with it in hand and foot, holding them in spiritual bondage. I think from this story we learn the importance that who we serve matters because who we serve and how we serve will determine our outcome. The people of Israel did not always choose well those they would serve. Though they had received the direct commands of God and were the direct beneficiaries of His grace and goodness, they continually made bad choices and turned to wrong things in their daily life. In the beginning of our series on the Book of Judges, last week we saw that it did not get off to a particularly good start as they moved into the Promised Land. The temptation to compromise was at the door, and they all too often decided to take that easy road of compromise than the far tougher road of obedience. Well, as we continue this week, we're going to complete chapter one of the Book of Judges, and then move into chapter two. And in doing that, we will see the first complete round of actions of the tribes of Israel and get an assessment from the Lord about what has happened and what he's going to do as a result. May the Lord give us ears to hear what he has for us in this passage that he himself inspired. Now, if you're able, I invite you to stand once again for the reading of God's word. I'm going to read from Judges 1.27 down to 2.5. And the almighty and holy word of God says, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth She'an and its villages, or to Anak and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Iblium and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages, for the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not drive them out completely. And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gaza, so the Canaanites lived in Gaza among them. Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or the inhabitants of Nahalal, so the Canaanites lived among them, but became subject to forced labor. Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Akko or the inhabitants of Sidon or of Ahlab or of Aqsib or of Helba or of Aphek or of Rehob. So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out. Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh or the inhabitants of Beth Anot, so they lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and Beth Anot became subject to forced labor for them. The Amorites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the plain. The Amorites persisted in dwelling in Mount Harris, in Aijalon, and in Shalbint. But the hand of the house of Joseph rested heavily upon them, and they became subject to forced labor. And the border of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Akrabim from Selah and upward. Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim, and he said, I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall break down their altars, but you have not obeyed my voice. What is this that you have done? So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their God shall be a snare to you. As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. And they called the name of that place Bohem, and they sacrificed there to the Lord. Father, these are difficult words for us to read. And so would you give understanding that we might learn what you would have for us today, as your Holy Spirit teaches us now, for Jesus' sake, and in his name, amen. Please be seated. As we saw in the first part of the book of Judges, and as we'll finish today, from chapter 1, verse 1, to chapter 2, verse 5, serves as a type of introduction and summary of what is happening in the early stages as the people of Israel enter into the promised land. Now, there will actually be a second introduction that will take place in chapter 2 verse 6 and go into chapter 3, and we'll take a look at that next week. But the one that we have been entertaining the last two weeks is giving a statement of facts as what has happened. But as we read between the lines, and as we look at specific words that are mentioned in the text, we can see what has happened and what is the meaning. As we looked last week, we saw the early results of the efforts of some of the tribes of Israel and their encounters with the inhabitants in the land of Canaan. We looked briefly at Judah and Simeon and Joseph and Judah, and we saw that at times they did pretty well, but not perfectly, for they quickly turned to compromise and did not do what God had specifically commanded them to do. Now, of the four tribes, Simeon did the best. They at least cleaned out some of the cities, and that is exactly what God had commanded them to do. Benjamin, we saw, was far weaker, did not drive out the people of Jerusalem. Joseph did not drive out the people either. In fact, they made an agreement with the people of Luz, who then went out and started another city in enemy territory named Luz. Compromise will always be costly. We saw the beginning of the downward trend. One tribe did manage to clean out some of the cities. Another did a partial cleaning, but not completely, allowing the inhabitants to remain as servants. And it will get worse as we continue in our next section today. The trajectory of compromise will continue to grow. Now, as we said last week, The Book of Judges, unfortunately, is not an ongoing series of highs and lows. It's a series of plateaus and then descent, plateaus and then descent. If you can imagine like an auger digging down into the ground, with each turn it just gets deeper and worse. It shows the great need of the people to repent, but also the great faithfulness of God to keep going after His people. As we begin to consider what is happening in these first two chapters, we need to consider that it's not so much a military failure, though it was. It was a religious failure. The people of Israel allow a spiritual cancer, as it were, to remain among them, and it will not end well for them. And so as we work our way through this book, which is admittedly a difficult one, that's perhaps why it's not tended to as much in pulpit ministries, but it is God's word. It is one of the books he put in the library that we know as the Bible, that we would know what he wants us to know in its completion. And he has a reason for giving it to us. It might be that the messages and lessons of the book of Judges are not what we will see among the popular programs and cultural prophets that we see today. But it is a message that we need to hear. The book of Judges reminds us that all is not good, and even more importantly, all are not good. We see over and over again the doctrine of total depravity. We see over and over again the doctrine of original sin, that man is born in sin, that he inherited from Adam, that he is in the guilt of Adam, and that he is utterly lost without an intervention of God through the power of his Holy Spirit in bringing about the new birth. This book will show us the real nature of humanity that is in a constant state of rebellion against God. Well, with that, we look at our first major point, and if you've not already done so, please take out your bulletin and look at the sermon outline, take notes, review this week. It's important for us to learn, to share with others what we are learning. But we see our first major point, the failure of the people, which will take us to the end of chapter one. One of the things that I really appreciate about the Bible is it shows people as they really are. It's not a book of fairy tales, not a book of legends, not a book of folklore. It's a story of a faithful and unrelentingly loving God who has to deal with people who never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. And as we see ourselves in the responses of the people, And we should, because we're made of the same stuff. We do well to give thanks to a God who is merciful and kind and loving to people just like us. But first, in these first three verses, verses 27 down to 34, we see that it's a bad scorecard. After seeing the first four tribes in the previous section, we see now the other six who went into the promised land. And I encourage you to keep your copy of God's word open in front of you because we're just going to march down through the passages that are there. As we saw four of the tribes last week that went into the promised land, we're going to look at the other six, perhaps I should say the other five and a half, because the half tribe of Manasseh will remain on the other side of the Jordan River. And we will see the names of some of those that will be the enemies of God's people all throughout the book of Judges. The different tribes among the Canaanites and the Amorites. And you can see it right in front of you that the tribes of Israel and their activities are listed in order. Manasseh, we are told, does not drive out the inhabitants of the land. They had a large area but little success. We're told that they were able to subdue many of the Canaanites to forced labor, but that is a far cry from driving them out of the land. And certainly bringing them under submission would have required some time and effort. But by only bringing them into submission, it makes me wonder if there wasn't some type of calculation going on to determine that it was easier to enslave them than to drive them out completely. The text doesn't tell us, but It's not a far stretch to think that such is the case. They were called to drive them from the land, not force them to work the land. Seven times in this passage, we are told that the tribes of Israel failed to drive out the inhabitants. No tribe would escape scrutiny or judgment. In verse 29, Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites and did not even force them into labor. They allowed the Canaanites to live among them. Zebulun doesn't drive them out, but it did subject some of them to forced labor. Asher does not drive them out, and there is no forced labor. According to one count, seven of the 22 tribes in the territory of Asher remained under the control of the Canaanites. In fact, it gets even worse. We are told that they were allowed to live among the Canaanites. Naphtali does not drive out the inhabitants, but there is forced labor. And then we get to Dan. which is perhaps the most pathetic. They make no progress at all. They're forced to remain in the mountains and are kept from even coming down into the plain. They tried, but they're pushed back. Now, we said last week that Judah had to be the first tribe because there was a promise in Genesis 49 that a ruler would arise for Israel out of Genesis 49. Genesis 49 also had something to say about Dan, where Dan would be as a serpent or a snake But his guile doesn't help him here. Think of what is happening here. Because Dan failed to dislodge the Amorites, they did not get their inheritance. Now we will see later in the book of Judges, at some point they moved on to seek an inheritance somewhere else in the land, but that only sets us up for further tragedy. When the providence of God Joseph will not allow the Amorites to take over and eventually forces some of them into slave labor. They hold the line against the enemies. And as a result of Joseph stepping in and holding back the Amorites, Joseph enlarged its territory. It ended up taking some of the territory that belonged to Dan. And I think that can happen to us today. Listen carefully. If we have been gifted If we have been given responsibility, if we have been given talents to use for the service of God and for the proclamation of His kingdom, and we do not use them for His glory, the blessing that was intended to be ours might be given to another who is willing to obey and will obediently follow what God has given. Has God asked you to do something that you have been resistant in doing until now in your life? My friends, stop it. Now is the time to obey and do it. Don't miss out on the joy of obedience to His Word and to His ways. It's a bad scorecard, but that's not the end of the story. It actually goes from bad to worse. Because if you had noticed, there's four levels here of results. That's what causes us to look carefully at the words of Scripture. At the first level, some of the Canaanites are allowed to exist, but they're subdued. At the next level, more Canaanites are allowed to live among the Israelites, but they're subdued. The next level is that some Israelites are allowed to exist with the Canaanites in a sort of stalemate. The last level is that the Israelites are held at a distance by the Canaanites and not even allowed to live among them. Let's look closely at some of the verses here. When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor. Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites, so the Canaanites lived in Gaza among them. Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants, so the Canaanites lived among them, but became subject to forced labor. You see, some are in labor, some are not under labor. Asher did not drive out the inhabitants, so the Asherites lived among the Canaanites. Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants, so they lived among the Canaanites. The Amorites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the plain. It's not a good situation. Now, an interesting note in what is happening in verse 33, it shows that the people of God were involved not just in a military conflict. but in a cultural one, in a religious one, because we're given the name of two prominent gods and the pantheon of gods among the Canaanites. Beit Shemesh. Beit, you recall, is house. Beit Shemesh. Shemesh is the sun, the house of the sun. Or Beit Anet, meaning the house of the goddess of war. These were two of the great gods of the Canaanites, and they're mentioned here. But all of Israel was to cleanse them all out and cast them out so that would no longer be Beit Shemesh, but the whole land would be Beit El, Beth El, the house of the Lord. Compromise, my friends, is always costly. So as one commentator looks at what is happening in chapter one so far, he says the emphasis has gone from conquest to coexistence. The language never changes, does it? Conquest to coexistence. And what happens with coexistence? Over time, it's the people of God who lose. because they do not deal with sin, they do not properly obey what God has commanded, they do not do what they are told, and in the coexistence, they begin to adopt the behaviors and practices and methods of the culture instead of transforming the culture with the behaviors, methods, and practices of the redeemed people of God. So the Israelites will learn the hard lesson that to coexist with evil, is bad, it won't work, you need to stamp it out. And it's the same for us today, my friends. We are told what? We are told to crucify the sinful passions of our hearts. We are told in our hearts to set apart Jesus Christ as Lord. We are told to put to death the deeds of the flesh. But all too often, instead of putting to death the deeds of the flesh, we look for sin management programs. And it doesn't work. And that first step of compromise leads to a second, leads to a third, leads to a fourth. It will go from bad to worse. And then we see the cost of disobedience and failure. From the standpoint of military and economic security, Israel failed. They were denied the most desirable parts of the land. They didn't take over the most strategic mountaintops or the most fertile valleys or the coastal plains. They got the rest of the land instead of the best of the land. If only they had obeyed and trusted in the Lord's power instead of putting their focus in the wrong areas. And so look at verse 36. What is the context? The context is one of the distribution of the land of promise to the tribes where God says, I will drive them out. And what do we have instead? Do we have an emphasis on the borders of any tribe of Israel or of Dan itself? The chapter ends by giving the borders of the territory of the Amorites, the enemies of God. And so without stating the word itself, there is judgment here on the disobedience of God's people. As Pastor Tim Keller says, God's people have become less brave than the people who do not know Him. May it not be said of us today that that's the case. Those who are zealous for the things of this world, dedicate themselves to pushing their agenda, pushing their morality, imposing their will. Are we the ones who will engage in the battle or do we withdraw to the hills? Now, there has been some success in chapter one because they are in the land. It's starting. but it's not nearly to the extent promised, not nearly according to what had been commanded, and coexistence was not what the Lord commanded. He ordered the clearing of the land. That's a warning to us today, my friends, that we can have some outward signs of success, but still be failures in the eyes of the Lord. We can put our minds on the wrong things, focus on the wrong objects, the wrong outcomes, the wrong results. It's all superficial, driven by marketing plans or things of that nature, and forget the actual principles that God has called us to, a holy people set apart to be light and salt in a sin-sick society. So having looked at the failure of the people, let's look at the response of the Lord. The response of the Lord. And that'll take us into chapter two, verses one to five. And as I've said in the past, at times our chapter divisions fall in unfortunate spots. Because oftentimes our chapter divisions interrupt passages that should be brought together. Now God has given a command. The people have not done what God commanded, so God now is going to bring an accounting, thus God sends his envoy. Now the word that is translated as angel can also be translated as envoy or messenger. And the reason why I chose envoy here is I want us to understand it as someone that is coming with a divine message with divine authority. I don't want us to think of popular ideas of angels with wings and halos and all that. We're talking about someone that is sent from the presence of God with divine authority. And this will be the first of three times in the book of Judges where God will directly address his people. And this angel here is, according to one commentator, the means by which Yahweh addresses his discernment and indictment of Israel. Now, the other occurrences of God speaking directly to his people will happen in Judges 6 and in Chapter 10. And we'll look at those in more detail when we get to those passages, but there'll be a progression. In Chapter 2, we have an envoy or a messenger or an angel from the Lord. Then in Chapter 6, it's as if we have a prophet from God. And then in Chapter 10, it seems as if God himself is appearing. And so what's happening here in chapter 2 verse 1 is there's a type of judgment on Israel. It's not the day of judgment. We know that that's to come. But it is a type of judgment. Because instead of them reshaping Canaan into the plan of God, Canaan is reshaping them into the plan of man. So this expression is to get our attention. The angel of the Lord, which is mentioned 19 times in the book of Judges. Three other times the term angel of Elohim, the angel of God, is mentioned. It's likely the same angel that appeared to the people of God in Joshua chapter 5. And we'll get there in just a moment. But let's consider briefly this angel, this envoy. Whoever he is, he has a close connection to the Lord. He speaks the words of the Lord, it seems as in first person as if he is the Lord himself speaking. But there's something else going on in the history here. For if the people had been paying attention, they would have gone back to earlier declarations of the prophet Moses in Exodus 23 and in Exodus 32. God promised to send his angel ahead of the people as they went into the land. And they were told, you must obey him. Now we have an angel here making this appearance in Judges chapter 2. Now usually when a prophet comes we have something along the lines of, thus says the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, but here this angel is speaking as if it's the Lord himself speaking. Look at some of the statements. You can see it, can't you, in your copy of God's word, verses one and two. I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said I will never break my covenant with you. It is just for this reason that some suggest that perhaps what we have here is a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. I think that is certainly possible. I wouldn't make my case based just on this verse, but there are instances in the Old Testament where this mysterious figure appears that speaks in the first person on God's authority with God's promise of judgment and promises and all of the rest, and it's possible But we'll stick with the clear text which says an angel or envoy or messenger coming from God with a message that they are to listen to. So God sends his envoy. Second, what is the importance of Gilgal? Because we are told that this angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal. Now this language of going up is movement. It's the idea of a being that is moving and there certainly is the idea of evaluation. You might say judgment in the air. This angel comes from Gilgal and it's at this point now we might get an idea of this significance by looking at Joshua chapter 5. In Joshua chapter 5 the Lord appears to Joshua and he tells the men they have just entered into the promised land and he says you now must be circumcised so that you are marked as set apart as you enter into the promised land. And that was the incident that happened in Joshua chapter 5. And now I want to begin reading in Joshua chapter 5 beginning in verse 8. Now when the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. And the Lord said to Joshua, today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day. While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho. And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land on leavened cakes and parched grain. And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land, and there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. This is an important moment in the history of the people of Israel. Gilgal was that first campsite that they arrived at after crossing the Jordan. The word Gilgal means to roll or to roll away. And we're told in the text, God says, I have rolled away from you the reproach of Egypt, the reproach of being in the wilderness. And so after this ceremony of circumcision in Joshua 5, In a recognition that God is renewing the covenant with the people, they celebrate the Passover. God says, deal with the sin in the camp. And it's at that point that an angel of the Lord appears to let them know that God is in control. And Joshua doesn't know who this one is, who's called the commander of the Lord's army. And he says, are you with us? Are you against us? And he said, no, I'm not for you or for you. I've come, I'm taking over. I'm in charge. The Lord is in charge of all this. That's what happened at Gilgal, where God had shown his mercy to them, had renewed the covenant, had forgiven their sins, had showed a lot of grace, just as he had done in the wilderness. And now they're in the promised land, and they've had their first go at it. Now the angel appears to them from Gilgal. It's as if God is taking them back to the beginning and saying, let's roll. There's a stinging rebuke in the air. He has already commanded them to conquer the land and they're not doing so. And so he will announce his verdict. How can we learn from that today? Well, maybe there's a lesson we can draw from it. Have you seen the Lord do great things in your life? Have you seen him answer your prayers? Have you seen him provide and protect? Have you heard his promises through his word on your journey in Christ? Has he taken care of you? Think of who we are. In Christ, God has taken away our shame. He has rolled away the shame of our sin, our rebellion, our rejection. He has circumcised our hearts through the Spirit of God, and he sends us out to be his ambassadors to all that we encounter. What are we doing? How are we doing? Are we doing what he's asked us to do, or are we presuming upon his grace. After all, that's what he does. He's gracious and he's forgiving. So this angel comes from Gilgal, comes to Bochim. We'll look at that in a few minutes. It means the weepers. There's no town by that name back then. It was a nickname for Bethel, which already came into the picture in chapter one. We'll consider that more later. But weeping fits with the context because this angel, this envoy says, there will be pain. The angel of Yahweh appears and affirms that it is God who honors his covenant. It is God who remains faithful. It is God who keeps his promises. All of the initiatives of God, but the blessings and privileges would be theirs if they would but obey. And this angel speaks with divine authority, and I've already read the verses, but I'll read them again. I brought you into the land that I swore to give to you and your fathers. I said, I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall break down their altars. Why is that so important for us to listen to? Because this was a prohibition against idolatry of any sort. It was a prohibition of compromise of any sort with the Canaanites. And we know that because the weight of what is said here is added when we realize that the same word for covenant here is the same word used in Judges 1.24 to describe what Joshua did with the man and his family from Luz. You shall not make a covenant with the people of the land. But Joseph made a covenant with the people of the land. Thus, the angel announces the anger of the Lord. But you have not obeyed my voice, it says at the end of verse two. What is this you have done? You did not defy human will, O people of Israel. You defied the divine will. Defy the divine will. There's heat in this expression. When God gives the verdict, the decision is made. There's no room for excuses or pleas. It was not their lack of strength that was the problem. It was their lack of faith in the God of almighty strength. And it's the same for us today. It's not our lack of strength that is the problem. We're weak. We're fallen. We're needy. We're helpless. And you know what? That's what makes the gospel such good news. When we were yet helpless, Paul says, Christ died for us. The problem is not our lack of strength. The problem is our lack of faith and the strength of God. God had already made a covenant with Israel and commanded them not to make a covenant with the people of Israel. He had said it to them in Deuteronomy 7. When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and listen to the names here because they come up in judges, do they not? You are entering the land to take possession of it and clears away many nations before you. The Hittites, the Gergesites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you. And when the Lord your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show them no mercy. You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you and he would destroy you quickly. But thus shall you deal with them. You shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their ashram and burn their carved images with fire. They can't be in two covenants at once, one with God and once with the people of the land. Now, with those words ringing in our ears of Deuteronomy 7, let's go back to Judges chapter 2. And what did the angel say? and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land, you shall break down their altars, but you have not obeyed my voice. What is this that you have done? It was not a question of we can't, it was a question of we won't, because they weren't putting their trust in the Lord. My friends, I'm convinced that God will never put us in a position where we cannot obey Him. That is not to say that we will not be put in difficult circumstances. That is not to say that we will ever be forced, we will not, people will not tempt us or try to force us to disobey him. But we are told ahead of time that persecution is a reality, and it's been a reality for 2,000 years in the history of the church. We are told ahead of time by the Lord Jesus, if they hate me, they will hate you also, but prepare ahead of time to stand firm. So how will we respond? Do we recognize that we are bought by the precious blood of Christ, that our names are written in the Lamb's book of life, that our time here is but for a fractional moment in light of eternity? Do you really want to stand in front of the eternal one and said, sorry, Lord, I was a coward. When he has done everything for you through his son. If God has commanded us to do something, He will see that we can do it, but he may also put us in a time where we have to show it by obeying, even paying the cost. The angel here is not saying, well, blame God for the lack of faith or blame God for the lack of courage. He says, no. What does he tell him? He says, I brought you up out of Egypt. I brought you into the land. So he's saying, because I've done it, this is what you are to do. He is to be the Lord of every aspect of our life. The angel of the Lord is reminding us a halfway commitment is no commitment at all. We don't accept that in human contracts. We deeply frown upon it in human marriage. Why do we expect God to accept it in our covenant relationship with him? So, he speaks with words that should cause our blood to go cold. So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides. You hear what he's saying? I said I would drive them out before you. You no longer obeyed. Therefore, I'll no longer drive them out before you. You are going to learn a hard lesson that to tolerate evil is to be in league with evil. And the pressure to compromise is all around us, my friends. So what is the solution? The solution is to not try harder by imposition of law. The solution is to preach the uncompromised gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, using wisdom to live that out day by day in a sinful world. That means, then, we need to be listening more to the voice of God than to any other verse or voice out there. It was said of one of the Reformers that if you cut him, he would bleed by baleen. such he was as a man of the word. That should be us. That we listen so much to the word of God, to the preached word of God, we memorize it, we teach it, we learn it, that if we are ever persecuted, all that comes out is gospel truth and the power of the word of God. The angel goes on and says, their God shall be a snare to you. And the word for snare here means to lay bait, And that's what idols are, my friends. They lay traps to try to pull us into their compromise. And we'll look at this more and more as we go through the book of Judges. But the people of Israel will become more and more attracted to the way the Canaanites did things, that they fall into their snares and their traps. But what happened was, Not only did they lose so many blessings, not only did they not inherit the wholeness of the land, they lost their integrity, they lost their identity because they became more like the people of the land than they became like the Lord their God. We too need to be vigilant over our minds, over our hearts, over our behavior to tear down the altars that this culture so consistently tells us we need to build. And oftentimes an altar is something that started out as a good thing. And look at the good things that God gives us. Money. Family. Marriage. Work. Possessions. Plants. Pets. Many of these things are just wonderful blessings of the Lord, but if not careful in how we behave and how we think and how we do, we can very much put more emphasis on what we expect from those things. when it is only God that can give us what we truly need. None of those things are ultimate. All of them are to be used to help point us more and more to what is ultimate, our great God. And it's my hope that our first identity will always be a child of God, a possession of the Lord Jesus Christ, a disciple of the King of Kings, more than any other identity we may be tempted to grab onto. And lastly, we close with, it's too late for tears. We're told that as soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words of the people, they lifted up their voices and wept, and the name of the place was called Bochim, and they sacrificed to the Lord. Bochim, as we have said, means weeping or weepers. It's judgment. It's too late. It's very similar to what the people of Israel had already done in Numbers 13 and 14. God says, take the land. They saw the giants in the land, said, we can't. God said, okay, you're gonna wander the wilderness of 40 years. Okay, let's take the land. They're defeated. They weep. It's too late. God had already commanded. It's hard to offer a bribe to God after the judgment has been given. They wept. But there was no proof of change or obedience. and the rest of the book. There was no proof or fruit of authentic repentance. There was more remorse of sin of having been caught and having paid the price. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones is one of the great preachers of the 20th century. He was from, he was a Welshman himself, part of the United Kingdom, and he said this, it is very easy to make a Welshman cry, but it needs an earthquake to make him change his mind. They've been brought to the point of tears over the pain of their sin. But there's no evidence in all that follows that there was actually repentance that led to a change in behavior, which is what repentance is. And as we explore in weeks ahead, there's gonna be a tension that goes on. It goes on all throughout the Old Testament, frankly, because the question is, will God give up on His people? Because He's promised to be faithful to them. Or will He give in to His people? But He's a holy God. How can He turn His eyes away from sin? And that tension hangs in the air over the Old Testament. And the signs and the shadows that the prophets and the priesthood and the temple all represented find their fulfillment in the Messiah who is to come. The one whose sacrifice and victory we celebrated this morning at the cross. where wrath and mercy meet. Everything was pointing forward to that. So what are some things as we think about this passage in this upcoming week? What are some things that we can take away from it? First is that lack of faith leads to terrible consequences. When God asks you to do something, it's not a negotiating ploy. It's a commandment from the King of Kings. Let each believer pull his own load. What I mean by here is we saw already in chapter one and we saw in Joshua that each tribe was given specific commandments and they needed to fulfill them. It's the same for us today. God has given us tasks and talents and treasures and opportunities and we need to fulfill them. Thirdly, root out the idols in your life. We all have them. Don't kid yourself. We need to ask God to do that hard surgical operation in our hearts that we would seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and then all these things might be given unto us. But don't wait until it's too late to repent. There are many examples in the scriptures where people waited too long and lost the blessing that could have been theirs. God is showing you something, don't try to negotiate out of it. Take it to the cross. You have a great advocate, the Lord Jesus Christ. And just confess it and say, let's move on, God. Forgive me, cleanse me, use me for your glory. Because our God is still a God of judgment. And so we want to be found in him and the methods that he has given. And that's what we celebrate as we come together around the Lord's table. And forever and ever, our plea will always be the same. Nothing in my hand I bring, only to thy cross I cling. We're accepted solely but eternally because of what God did on the cross through his son on our behalf. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that the entire word of God is inspired and useful for teaching. thank you that you remind us that you still are God and we still are creatures and that's a good balance for us to remember because father we want to thank you for your grace and mercy but thank you for loving us so much that at times you spank us so that you get our attention so that we turn to you because we don't want to lose intimacy with you we don't want to lose fellowship with you we don't want to lose the rewards and blessings that you have prepared for us And so, Father, we turn to you and say, thank you for your mercy. Will you be merciful still? And this week as you lead us, Father, would you lead us to deeper levels of repentance, of rooting out sin and idols in our lives, that we would consider our lives as nothing if we might have the glory and the reward that is in Christ Jesus. And then, Father, as you work on us and in us, Would you fill our hearts with delight? Delight that we have been touched by the surgeon's hand that brings great healing. And then we're able to experience in a greater way the joy and the blessings that you have for us. Oh God, may it be as we plead with you now in Jesus' name, amen. I invite you to stand as we close out our service by singing, be thou my vision. Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. ♪ Naught be all else to me save that Thou art ♪ ♪ Thou my best thought by day or by night ♪ ♪ Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light ♪ Be Thou my wisdom, be Thou my true word. I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord. Thou my great Father, I Thy true son. Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one. Be Thou my shield and my sword for the fight, Be Thou my dignity, be Thou my might, Thou my sole shelter and Thou my high tower. Raise Thou me heavenward, O power of my power. Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise. Thou mine inheritance, now and always. Thou and Thou only. be first in my heart. High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art. ♪ High King of heaven, when victory is won ♪ May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's sun ♪ Heart of my own heart, whatever befall Still be my vision, O ruler of all. Heart of my own heart, whatever befall. Still be my vision, O ruler of all. And now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. Let us go in peace. Have a wonderful Lord's Day. Thank you. You did fantastic.