We're taking our Bibles, please, and turning to the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 5. If you're just joining us this morning, we've been focusing on the greatest sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount. And a great gathering has come to follow and hear the message that the young rabbi from Nazareth is sharing with them on this day. And as we open our Bibles to Matthew, Chapter 5, we discover that this young rabbi was willing to step on a few toes. He deals with very, very sensitive issues. Beginning in Matthew 5 and verse 21, he has begun a homiletic device to capture the attention and move the minds of his audience along. You know the device well now. He says, You have heard it said, or it hath been said of old time. Six times he brings a new theme to their attention with those familiar words. He speaks to them about their tempers. You have heard it said of old time, thou shalt not kill. But I say to you, if a man is angry with his brother without a cause, you have heard it said in old time, Jesus says, that you should not commit adultery. But I say to you, when he talks to them about their trustworthiness, we come to the end of Matthew chapter 5, this morning the 43rd verse, And as we focus our attention in Matthew chapter 5 verses 43 to 48, we discover the Lord speaking again on the matter of personal tensions. And my, how we need to listen, because we live in a world that is filled with relational tension. And so the Savior speaks to our circumstances when he says in verse 43, Now you've heard that it's been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. For he maketh his Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans do the same? And if you salute your brethren only, What do you more than others? Do not even the publicans so? Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect. Last week we discovered that the Lord was challenging his hearers to respond in kindness, not in kind. He spoke to them of the need to give up certain rights that would seem to many to be fundamental. He spoke to them and said, you've heard it said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. He said, now you need to give up your right of revenge. Then he continued and said, resist not evil. Don't resist the evil one. Don't find yourself like a ram on the hillside, locked in a battle with someone who is resisting your desires or your way. Give up your right to resistance. Then you remember the familiar words of someone smite you on the right cheek, turn the left. Here the Lord says, give up your right to self-respect. It seems in the previous discussion, the Lord has focused on how we react. Now in the verses that we've been reading, He's focusing on being proactive. He is challenging us to bring to our relationships a proactive love, reactions set aside, proactivity of demonstrating love to others always to be our desire, C. G. Montefiore, a Jewish commentator and scholar, said, this passage that we've read this morning is the central and most famous section of the Sermon on the Mount. Barclay, in his commentary on this text, says, there is no other passage in the New Testament which contains such a concentrated expression of the Christian ethic of personal relationships. This morning, I'd like us to focus on verses 43 to 48. As we learn to love without limits. Love without limits. Let's ask the Lord to bless as we look into His Word. Father, I pray now that You'd use Your Word this morning to challenge and build Your people for the work that You've called them to do. Lord, we are to go out into this world as lights in a dark place. That our light not be under a bushel. That we as a city on a hill might be seen. We desire to be challenged this morning, Lord, to better demonstrate the love of Christ from our hearts to those who may receive Him. So, Lord, I pray today that You would cause hearts to be tender and attention to be riveted, that our wills would be submitted to do Yours, and, Lord, that You would allow the Word of God through the power of the Spirit of God today to chisel upon us in this place the very image of Jesus Christ. Lord, we confess that the text before us is a challenging text. and our toes have often been bruised as the Spirit of God has brought it to our attention. So, Lord, I pray that you'd give me a sensitive spirit, that you would allow me to be a vessel fit for the Master's use, that through my tongue and the words that you give this morning, that you would allow me to be a blessing to those who perhaps find themselves in hurting relationships. Lord, help them not to be stubborn, but rather that they would be submissive to the Spirit of God that Your best and Your blessings would be known in our homes, in our neighborhoods, in our city. And Lord, yea, through our witness to this city roundabout, find Your will in our hearts today, Lord, and may it be powerful in doing it. And we'll thank You for it in Christ's name. Amen. Ernest Shackleton, the 5th of December, 1914. Perhaps you remember the story. With 28 individuals, he boarded a boat called the Endurance. Appropriately named. They were on an Antarctic expedition. Six weeks into their expedition, they would find themselves locked in the ice. For the next nine months on board that frozen vessel, they would eke out subsistence, hoping for spring. Spring came in September. And with spring came the breaking up of the ice. And as the ice broke up, it began to break up the endurance. Finding themselves abandoning ship, On ice floats, hoping for land, the party that set out with Shackleton would not step on land for over 400 days. After having come back with all parties on board safely returned, a real miracle, Shackleton was asked what was the most terrible moment he had in the entire journey. This is what he recounted. He said, I remember a night in an emergency hut. All of us thought we were all sleeping. That day we had doled out the last of our biscuits. And in the night I saw movement. I saw a man that I trusted more than I trusted any other who began to move toward the bag of biscuits that was one of his companion's bags. I quietly watched. And as I watched, I discovered this man that I trusted so well opening the bag that was his companion's bag. I could barely breathe, said Shackleton. And then I saw something that is hard for me to recount. I saw a man take his last biscuit and put it in his friend's bag. Shackleton said, I dare not tell you the man's name. I felt that act was a secret. between himself and God. Down deep in the heart, man has this knowledge that he is never more godlike than when he gives. There's something wonderfully sacred about sacrifice. And when we love unconditionally and when we love sacrificially, we love in a godly manner. For God so loved the world. And the God that we worship this morning is Himself love. As we focus our attention on Matthew chapter 5, the 43rd to the 48th verse this morning, the disciples of the Lord are challenged to learn to love without limits. Christ's followers are being told in the text that we read today that they should aggressively show kindness to those who are aggressively unkind. How is this possible? How may I love without limits? How can I accomplish this which is clearly the will of God in my life? Well, as I've studied this text this morning, the Spirit of God has convicted my heart, and I trust He'll convict yours as well. that I need to always be willing to make five very spirit-led, very significant decisions in order to be one who would love without limits. Let me walk you through the decisions that the Spirit of God requires of us if we would faithfully follow the challenge that the Lord has given to us in the text. The first decision that I discover here is that I must reject the counsel of the world if I would love others without limits. Verse 43, you've heard that it had been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. By now, you're familiar with that introduction to the next theme that the Lord is developing. He uses that same introduction six times. You've heard that it had been said. But this time, rather than quoting word for word the Old Testament like He has previously done, He very deliberately cites a common theme that has developed in the culture in which he lives, they had modified the Old Testament commandments. And so we discover Jesus in Matthew 5 and verse 43 deliberately misquoting the Old Testament. Let me quote the Old Testament for you. As you look at verse 43, listen to Leviticus 19 and verse 18 and ask this question. What has been left out? Leviticus 19, verse 18, the Old Testament says, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Look at verse 43. Something's left out. Thou shalt love thy neighbor. But the standard by which we're to love our neighbors has been left out by the common culture of Christ's time. There is no love thy neighbor as thyself. And so the standard having been abandoned, there's no measurement. by which we can be convicted. Oh, and then we read this final phrase of verse 43 that's never found in the Old Testament. That final phrase, hate thine enemy. No. Proverbs 25 and verse 21, the Old Testament says, if thine enemy is hungry, give him to eat. Listen, here's what the people in Christ's day had done. They had modified the revelation of God by leaving out and adding to Deuteronomy 4 and verse 2 says thou shalt not add unto nor take away from this law that's been delivered. When a person takes away from God's revelation or adds to God's revelation, that person or that culture becomes a law unto itself without the foundation that God would have us to enjoy. And so it was in the times of Christ that the Pharisees, the religious teachers of His day, actually said, listen to these words, if a Jew sees a Gentile fallen into the sea, let him by no means lift him out. For it is written, Thou shalt not rise up against thy neighbor, but this man is not thy neighbor." So the Lord worked very carefully and very deliberately to teach His disciples, as He told the story of the Good Samaritan, that everyone qualifies as your neighbor. And the standard of love toward that neighbor ought to be as you would love yourself. And there's no addition which the culture would expect, which is here cited by the Savior of hating your enemy. Those hearing the Sermon on the Mount are being struck by first the fact that the Savior knows their common culture, and second, the fact that Jesus willingly brings them back to biblical revelation. Listen, when culture comes into relationship and culture says, hate your enemy, and it does, It usually goes like this. It doesn't matter who you step over on your way up. Why should I do something for him? He's never done anything for me. When culture gives its opinion and we follow culture as to how we relate to others, we find ourselves prejudiced. We find ourselves partial. We may even find ourselves involved in ethnic cleansing. For after all, the 43rd verse could be used by one who, as a tyrant, would say, he's not my neighbor, he's not my blood kin, he's not of my association, therefore I have the privilege of hating him. Now, if you're going to love without limits, you're going to have to live in a counter-cultural way. You're going to have to say, I'm not going to add to God's Word. I'm not going to take away from God's Word. I'm going to live by God's Word. I need to make a decision to reject the counsel of the world. You'll find people who will counsel you to walk away from relationships, to stubbornly hold a grudge. They will sometimes seemingly sympathize with the circumstance that you found yourself in. and tell you that you have a right to be angry, and you have a right to walk away, and you have a right to burn a bridge. You will never find such counsel in God's Word. But unfortunately, you may even find such counsel coming from God's people. If you're going to love without limits, it begins by making a decision, I'm going to reject the counsel of the world and hold exclusively to the counsel of the Word. There's a second decision that's discovered in this text if we would love without limit. We need to decide to respect the commands of the Lord. Decide to respect the commands of the Lord. These words in verse 44 are very powerful words. Jesus says, I say to you, He puts His authority before His commandments, and four times He speaks in the voice of the imperative. Present active imperative. He cannot be any more forceful that he is in verse 44. He says, Now listen up. I say to you, and he deals he deals with our disposition. Love your enemies. He deals with our expressions. Bless them that curse you. He deals with our action. Do good to them that hate you. He even deals with the private times of our personal intercession. Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you." Four commandments that can change your life if you will decide to respect the commands of the Lord. So let's look at those commandments a little bit more carefully. Command number one, it has to do with your disposition. Love your enemy. Right now, in your heart, have a spirit that is willing to engage in kindness those who press against you. The word that's used here for enemy is one who is habitually hateful toward you, who is odious in your sight, who resists your desires. Jesus says, I want you right now, and in an ongoing fashion, to have a disposition of kindness toward that individual. I don't feel like it. Right. That's why the Greek language ever so precisely has four words for love. You remember them. There is the word storge, family love. That's not the word used here. There's the word eros, erotic love. That's never used in the New Testament. There's the word philos. We get our word Philadelphia. That means brotherly love. That's not the word used here. You know by now what the word used here is, don't you? It's the word, help me, agape, which means sacrificial love without limits. The Lord says, I want you to willingly enter into relationships, even when you don't feel like it, and make a decision being predisposed to love those who are most unlovely. Many of you know the story of Corrie ten Boom. The first 50 years of Corrie ten Boom's life were lived in relative peace. The daughter of a clockmaker and a watchmaker in Holland. One sister, Betsy, she and Betsy together, spinster daughters of the watchmaker living over the watchmaker's shop in Holland, when World War II broke out and everything changed. Her godly father, having a heart for the Jewish people, decided that they would build in their home a hiding place. If you've not read Corey Ten Boom's book, The Hiding Place, it's a worthy read. Building a place where Jewish people could be kept from the concentration camps put their family at risk. They prayed, believing this was God's will for them. They risked all. And the day came when they were found out and father and Betsy and Corey together were arrested. They were processed at Ravensbrook. Processing meant the total stripping of all clothing. What a shaming moment for two virtuous Christian ladies as they stood in the horror of being arrested and looked round about them at the few Jews and the few from Holland who willingly resisted the German occupation. Through the difficult times of imprisonment, Corrie's father and her sister Betsy would both die. Corrie would survive, and my, how God would use her, as a testimony to hundreds of thousands of God's grace and God's kindness. She tells the story of going to a church service to share with those in the church service her testimony. These are her words. She says, I came into a church service in Munich, and as I stood on the platform, I looked out, and the man who was in charge of processing us at Ravensbrück, the SS officer, was there. He came up to me as the church was emptying. He was beaming and bowing. He said, How grateful I am for your message, Freulein. He said to think that, as you say, he has washed my sins away. His hand was thrust out to shake mine. I kept my hand by my side. Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man. Was I going to ask more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me. Help me to forgive him. I tried to smile. I struggled to raise my hand, and I could not. She continues on. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. So again I breathed the silent prayer, Jesus, I prayed. I can't forgive him. Give me your forgiveness. As I took his hand, the most incredible thing happened from my shoulder along my arm. She says through my hand, a current seemed to pass from me to him while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it's not in our forgiveness any more than our goodness that the world's healing is hinged, but on his. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives along with the command the very love itself. And I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Is God seeking this morning to change your disposition towards someone who has really hurt you? Jesus says by way of command, love your enemies. The second command is this, bless them that curse you. It has to do with your expression. If your tongue is to be a tree of life, it must not be used to curse others. We serve the Lord who when He was reviled, reviled not again. A lady came to Billy Sunday after a meeting and she said, I tend to spout off from time to time. It's usually a short outburst and then it passes. Billy Sunday very wisely said to her, so do shotgun shells. A woman came to John Wesley. She said, my talent is to speak up, to share my mind. John Wesley wisely said to her, ma'am, I believe it would be a wise decision for you to bury that talent. How are your expressions? How about your actions? Do good to them that hate you. I was involved a number of years ago in negotiating for land for a church with a neighbor who had said, we will never sell this land to the church. Oh, he was belligerent. Over time, he softened to the point of meeting with some of the members of the church and considering the possibility of selling the land. And then over time, without us meeting with him, he went to one of the members and said, if they offer me this much, I think I'll sell it. On the day that I signed the purchase and sales agreement with that difficult neighbor, He said, do you want to know why I'm selling the land? I said, I sure do. He said, let me tell you why. He said, I've lived here for over 50 years. Had a farm here all those years. He said, and then your church came in. He said, and you've got this Christian school and they're kicking their balls over my yard. He said, I live here on this corner and I've always watched the boys and girls going to school, not just to your school, but to the other schools. He said, let me tell you what I've discovered over the years. He said, when your children kick their balls over my fence, they never climb my fence. They wait until there are enough of those balls to come and knock on my door and say, pardon me, can we go and pick up our balls? He said, when Christmas time comes, they stand on my porch and they sing me Christmas carols. They've given me little gifts at Christmas. In the morning, when they come into school, they say, good morning. In the afternoon, they say, goodbye. I've never seen children like this. He said, let me tell you why I'm selling the land of the church. I want kids like yours playing on it when I'm gone. You know what changed his heart? Their constant activity of loving kindness. The Bible says, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good to those that hate you. Are you involved actively? You've got a Christmas list. You've checked it twice. You know who you're giving gifts to. Does it include some enemies? The Lord here in this passage says, pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you. It has to do with your intercession. Spurgeon said, prayer is the front runner of mercy. Stephen would pray, Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. Jesus from the cross would pray that same prayer. Bonhoeffer, who would die in the German concentration camp, when he read this text, pray for them who despitefully use you, said, this is the supreme demand. Through the medium of prayer, we go to our enemy. We stand by his side. We plead for him to God. Jesus says, love your enemy. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. And when he says, pray for them that despitefully use you, to be despitefully used means that someone verbally assaults you. and persecute you, that means someone is constantly pushing you in a direction that causes you to live in fear. For that person, the Lord says, be praying. It's Christmastime. It's probably well for us to remember at Christmastime some stories of Christmas past. 1914, no man's land. You remember perhaps the story. Flanders Fields in World War I was raging. The soldiers had no idea that that war would rage for another four years. The Pope had actually gotten involved and recommended to the generals that a truce be called for Christmas. Of course, his counsel was not heeded. Somewhere there along the trenches, someone had the idea of putting up a sign, peace for Christmas. Other signs followed. And soon that 60 yards between the military forces became a place where candles and Christmas trees were set up. And all along the line, those who were fighting for France and for England, and those who were fighting against them from Germany, all along the line they declared a Christmas truce. And you could hear in the coldness of those trenches, in the muck that was a desperately difficult war, Germans singing in their native tongue, the carols that were familiar, not the words, but the tunes familiar, and the Englishmen picking it up. It said that they actually on Christmas Day had a soccer game. The Tommies, that's the British. against the Fritzes, that's the Germans. The Fritzes won three to two. They had to be pulled to go back into battle, but for a time there was peace on earth. The poet looked at the story and said, O ye who read this truthful rhyme, from Flanders kneel and pray. God spread the time when every day shall be as Christmas Day. You look forward with time with your family, God spread the time in our hearts when we understand that love needs to be without limits. We have to enter into the commands of Christ to accomplish it and allow the conviction of the Spirit of God to move us to godly action. I have a decision to make. I have to decide to reject the counsel of the world and decide to respect the commands of Christ. There's a third decision I discover in this text. It's here in verse 45. I need to decide to reflect the character of God And I need to explain that. That you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. By doing these things, you become the children of God. That's a complex text. There are those who actually come to verse 45 and say, keep the golden rule, you'll be a child of God. But that's not what's being said here. The tense of the verb is very important in the way that the Lord Jesus was speaking. It could really be translated this way. that you may prove yourselves to be the children of God, that you may prove yourselves to be in a relationship with God. You see, the Hebrew language did not have the adjectives that we enjoy. It was more limited in adjectives. And so one of the ways that description was given, he is a son of. He is a son of righteousness. He is a son of joy. It means he has the character of. The Lord is using that analogy, that picture in verse 45, when He says, now if you will heed My commands, you will reflect the character of your God. When I was a child and I picked up the phone and said, hello, people would say, hello, June, how are you? Thinking I was my mother. It really began to bother me at the age of 15 and 16. Now my voice has changed and people think when they hear me, when I pick up the phone, they're talking to my father. I've had both sides of the spectrum. I hope that when people meet me by my conduct and when they meet you by your conduct, they will say that one is a child of God. Reflect upon the character of God as Jesus describes it in verse 45. He maketh the sun to rise on the evil and the good. Right now, this moment, He let the sun come up on those who have blasphemously shaken their fist in His face. He sendeth the rain on the just and the unjust. Does God favor us because He feels like it? God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The Lord, in His kindness to us, wins us from our sin. It's the graciousness of God that brings us to repentance. And God, in His kindness, knowing that the world has crucified His Son upon an old rugged cross at Calvary, yet lets the sunshine and the rain come, lovingly giving to those who are unlovely, providing for us a model that we in our lives would live to reflect the character of our God. Are you living that kind of life? Do people see through you, your Savior? Making a decision to love without limits is making a decision to reflect the character of God. There's a fourth decision that's discovered in this text. It is this, to decide to receive The commendation that God has promised. Verse 46, For if you love them which love you, what reward do you have? Don't even the publicans do that? If you salute only your brethren, what do you more than others? Don't the publicans do that? I circled in verse 46 the word reward because I wanted the Spirit of God to press it upon my heart. If you love those that love you, what reward is there in that? I want to receive the commendation that God has promised. I want to live in light of the fact that one day I can hear, well done, good and faithful servant. There are those who wrestle with the whole concept of biblical rewards. I wrestle with it as well. I wrestle with the desire of receiving one, don't you? And the text to which we've turned, the Lord says, there are rewards to be given to those who graciously reach out. Give, and it shall be given to you, good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over. Love your enemies, Luke says. Do good and lend, hoping for nothing again, and your reward shall be great. You will be children of the highest, for He is kind to the thankful and to the evil. Are you living with the commendation of the Lord in view if you're saying stubbornly, Pastor, I'm not going to be kind to that person. I've lived across the street from that person for so long as to know it's not worth my while. You're missing an opportunity to receive the commendation that God delights to give to those who willingly follow His commandments. There's a final decision to be discovered in the text. The 48th verse, again a confusing verse. Be therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. In verse 48, I discover that I need to decide to recognize the completed work that God can do. Let me explain. See the word perfect? It's the Greek word teleos. It means to be mature. It means to fulfill the purpose for which I was made. And so in this text he says, decide to recognize the completed work that God does. Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. God's purpose in you right now is to teach you to love like Jesus loved. God's purpose in you right now is to make you an Abraham who would love a lot, to make you a Daniel who would love a Belteshazzar. God's purpose in your life right now is to make you a Joseph who can love a brother who has desperately hurt him. That's God's purpose. That you may be perfect or mature, even as your Father in Heaven is always fulfilling His perfect purpose, for He alone is love. The story is told of The Duke of Alba, who in 1567 was chosen by Philip of Spain to watch over the southernmost kingdom, the Duke of Alba was a wicked man and hated the reformers, and so he persecuted them at every opportunity. Many Christians died because of the Duke of Alba. One Christian was arrested. And in his incarceration, somehow he was able to escape. And as he escaped, he ran for his life, his persecutor behind him. And as he saw a lake with thin ice on it, he took his chances. He ran across the creaking ice. And as he got to the other side of the ice, he heard a scream. And the soldier that was chasing him had plunged down through the ice into the cold waters. The Christian who was running had now a decision to make. Moving on meant freedom. going back, meant the risk of his own life to save an enemy. I think you know what he did. The love of Christ constraining him, he went back out into the thin ice to save a soldier who was running after him. I don't know what's running after you. I don't know the circumstance that the Lord has put in your life. But I know this on the counsel of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, who was a friend of sinners, We have no choice but to read this text and say, Lord, I want to learn to love without limits. I want to know what it means. to decide to reject the counsel of the world and stand for your counsel, to receive those commands that you've given me and love my enemy and bless those who have cursed me, do good to those who have hated me, and pray for those who despitefully use me. I want to reflect the very character of my God who has told me He will reward me publicly for those mercies that I share privately. I want to recognize His completed work in my life. Lord, I am so humbled. When I hear you say to me as your disciple, I need to learn to love even without limits. Will you stand with me, please, as we pray? Father, I pray that You would allow us from Your Word today to drink deeply enough as to be changed, not to go out from this service saying, well, it was a blessing to be in the house of the Lord, blessing to see brothers and sisters in the faith. But, Lord, to seize this moment, and as You've convicted hearts, that we would find that peace that passes understanding by agreeing with God, turning and repenting and going the direction that God points us toward in His Word. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed and no one looking around this morning. I wonder how many of my uplifted hands would say, Pastor Phelps, the Spirit of God is speaking to my heart today. about a relationship broken, about a situation, a circumstance. I just can't get away from it. I know that the Spirit of God this morning had me in the spotlight. I don't want to leave this service without acknowledging that by an uplifted hand and saying, Pastor, pray for me. I'm raising my hand before God today that God will do a work in my heart. There's someone in the balcony. There's several on the side. Any others this morning? God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. Anyone else? God bless you in the back. Thank you. Anyone else? Pray for me today, Pastor. God's doing a work in my heart. Folks, this is a tender invitation. We're mindful of that. There may be some who need to come and on bended knee, drive down that stake and say, on this day, December 18th, I did business with God and I want to go out from this place with a commitment that I'm going to learn to love without limits. That's a commitment you need to make. We would certainly respect that and encourage you to come and on bended knee, cry out to God. In a moment, I'm going to pray for those who lifted their hands, but there may be someone in this room this morning who's never come to Christ as Savior. I have good news for you. The God that we preached this morning and Jesus Christ that we serve today loves you without limits. No matter how difficult your life, no matter how desperate your circumstance, no matter how deeply in sin you've fallen, Jesus Christ can cleanse you and give you a garment of righteousness and love you throughout eternity. But you have to respond to His love. He said, I love you when He died on the cross. He proved He's God when He rose from the dead. And this morning, you can say I love you to Jesus by coming and grabbing Pastor McGeer by the hand and saying, I want somebody to talk to me about how I can know for sure I'm going to heaven when I die. How I can know the love of God in my life. If that's your burden this morning, in a moment we're going to invite you to come. Our instruments in a moment are going to play number 223. Now just leave thy Throne in thy kingly crown, and thy Caymus to earth for me. And as they play, if you need to come, you come. And I'm going to pray now, as I promised, for those who raised their hands. Lord, all around this room there were hands that went up. We have already forgotten who put them up and could not even see many who lifted them. But I'm so thankful this morning, Lord, that you see our hearts, that you know the thoughts and the intents of the heart. and that you walk among us, dear Savior, today, for two or three have gathered and more in your name and dedicated this service to your glory and are so overjoyed by the counsel that you give and so convicted by it. And so, Lord, this morning, I pray that you do a sincere work in hearts that have been made tender today by your word, that they go out from this place to reach out to others, that love would be without limit. And Lord, for some who need to come today and on bed tonight pray, we invite them to do so in Your name and invite Your attendance to their need.