So Lord, may you graciously help
me, I return your prayerful attention to James chapter 1 and reading
verses 5 and 6 for our text. James chapter 1, verses 5 and
6. If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth
not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven
with the wind and tossed. James chapter 1, verses 5 and
6. As we look at this instruction
from the book of James, this book which is a very practical
epistle, it seeks to bring godliness into a very practical dimension.
It does not want us to have faith and not demonstrate that faith
in the way we live. It says clearly that we should
demonstrate our faith by the way we live. And if we cannot
do that, it questions whether we do have the faith in the first
place. The Epistle of James is then
very practical. And what we have before us, I
want to look at first of all the context to this instruction,
if any of you lack wisdom. What is the context that these
words are written in? Well, then to move on to the problem, the fact of lacking
wisdom. So we have the contacts, the
lack of wisdom, and what should we do then? There's an exhortation
in that lack of wisdom to ask of God. There's also then a promise
that God will give what we ask as a promise. And then moving
on into verse 6, there's then this qualification to the promise,
but let him ask in faith. So we have an outline of what
we want to look at, God willing, tonight. So let us begin with
the context. Where do these verses lie? What
comes before them? If any of you lack wisdom, what
has come before? Well, if we look in verse 2,
it says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers
or many different temptations. So the context of verse is falling
into divers temptations, into many troubles, into many difficulties. So we have these difficulties
that are in the path. This is written to the Church
of God, written to Christians that are walking in difficulties,
that have their faith being tried, we read. Knowing this, that the
trying of your faith worketh patience. Something is going
on in the hearts of these Christians. They're being tried, they're
being tested. It's not easy for them. There's things coming along
which are difficult for them to cope with. And we need to
understand, you see, that the purposes of God and the purposes
of Satan are completely opposite in the trials that come into
our pathway. You think of Peter. Jesus said
to Peter, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift
you as wheat. Satan's purpose was to ruin Peter
and to cause him to fall. But you see Christ's purpose
in Peter and God's purpose with his people. He said to Peter,
and when thou art converted, when you've come and repented,
as it were, and come back to yourself and know the truth again,
when thou art converted, strengthen. the brethren. There was going
to be a positive outcome. And there we have Peter on the
day of Pentecost being the one that spoke and was used in those
3,000 souls being saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation
on that occasion. Satan's purpose is to ruin He
would bring you into temptations to make you fall, to make you
compromise your faith, to make you think that you can't keep
your faith and keep your face, as it were, keep in with other
people. So it would try and make you
compromise, try and make you in some way deny the Lord. This
is what Satan wants to do with the trials. But you see, God's
purpose is the trial of your faith. which worketh patience. So the background then is trials
and difficulties and testing. But let patience have a perfect
work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. So the context is trials and
difficulties. And what do we find when we come
into trials? You take it naturally if you
had somebody that was quite good at maths, perhaps. They said,
yes, I'm pretty good at maths and I can do these questions
and so forth. And all the time, nobody challenged
him with a particularly hard question. He could strut around
and say how good he was at maths. But as soon as you got to a point
where somebody threw at him a very, very hard mathematical challenge
and he was unable to solve it, He would then suddenly start
to realize that he lacked wisdom. He'd have to say, well, I studied
it to this level, but then that was as far as I got. There was
a limit to my knowledge. If any of you lack wisdom. So
when we're in the trials and the difficulties, it brings to
the surface that we don't know always what to do. We don't know,
we're not as sure as it were of the Word of God and what the
Word of God says on all the different issues that face us as we perhaps
thought we were when nobody questioned us on is this or that or something
else true. If any of you lack wisdom. So in our daily path, in the
trials, there is a lack of wisdom that we find. Now it says if
any of you lack wisdom. Now that's not to say that there's
a group of people that don't lack wisdom. And if you don't
happen to, there is this group of people that if you happen
to be amongst them it would be nice but they lack no wisdom.
They know everything. No, I rather feel that this is
saying here, if any of you lack wisdom. if any of you come to
realize your lack of wisdom. You see, we all come short. There's
all limits to what each of us know. We are finite, and we can
do a certain amount, but there always comes an end to the length,
the breadth, the depth, the height of our knowledge. Not so with
God. If any of you lack wisdom. it's
our wisdom to realize that we lack it. The man who realizes
that he doesn't know everything is often one that knows more
than somebody who's arrogant and thinks they know everything
that is to be known. So if any of you lack wisdom,
you see, admitting your lack of wisdom and coming to God and
asking for help in your lack of wisdom, it is humility. It's showing that you realize
that your wisdom compared to God's wisdom is so small and
so unable to help you in the trials that you're facing, in
this trial of your faith, in these questions that are being
flung at you, and these situations in life, in the family, in the
business, in the workplace. amongst Christian brethren? What
should you do in a given situation if any of you lack wisdom? And so often we feel in a trial
that's a perfect description of us, if any of you lack wisdom. We don't know which way to go. We don't know which path to take. We can't fathom, as it were,
the rights and the wrongs of all the different options and
possibilities and different ways of looking at a certain problem. if any of you lack wisdom. So there's a side of not having
knowledge to be able to understand and cope with a problem in hand.
We don't know what to say to our children. We don't know what
to say to the colleague at work. We don't know what to say to
somebody who's asking us many questions about Christian ethics
that we can't easily solve. We don't know what to do if any
of you lack wisdom. I believe there's another aspect
that perhaps we don't readily understand as much as the one
I've just explained. I think most of us, if we come
into a problem and realize we don't know the solution, we've
probably all experienced that. But I believe there's another
lack of wisdom that we have as we're going through the trials.
And the lack of wisdom is this, as I understand it. is that we
focus on the trial as just something that we've got to get through
and get over and then get on with our lives. In other words,
it's just an obstacle in our way and the whole purpose of
this trial is just to get over it so we can then get on with
our lives. We want to be Christian people,
as it were, rejoicing in the Lord and knowing Him and enjoying
His favour. That's what we want. And yet
there's these troubles in the way There's these disappointments,
there's these depressions, there's these sadnesses, there's these
criticisms, there's all these difficulties, and they get in
the way. And it seems that they're in
the way of us progressing in the Christian life. You'd probably say, if I was
to ask you, do you really want the love of God shed abroad in
your hearts? Is that what you really want?
And I hope if you're in a good spiritual way at all, you'd say,
this is what we want. We want the love of Christ shed
abroad in our hearts. Well, these trials, these difficulties,
these difficult questions, well, they don't seem to have much
in common with the love of God being shed abroad in our hearts. If any of you lack wisdom, in
Romans 5 and verse 3, we have similar words to what we have
in James. And not only so, this is Romans
5 verse 3, and not only so, but we glory in tribulation also,
knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience,
and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
which is given unto us." I said, wouldn't you love the
love of God to be shed abroad in your hearts? Actually, where
that text comes is exactly in the pathway of trial. This is where it comes in the
Word of God. It doesn't say when you're sitting,
as it were, in your deck chair, in your ease and in your luxury,
and then all of a sudden the love of God will be shed abroad
in your heart. No. It says, and not only so we glory in tribulations. in difficulties, in sadnesses,
in disappointments. And I ask you, honestly, yourself
as well, those who are Christians and those who have really known
something of the blessing of the Lord, I ask you to look back
in your life And I wouldn't be categoric here, but when have
been the most precious times in your life? When has God blessed
you most? When have you, as it were, had
the sweetest time with your God, with his love in your heart and
desiring to lay hold upon him with the arms of faith? Perhaps, was it not? when perhaps you're in great
trials as well, great disappointments, great sadnesses, great things
that you're wading through, you see there's a link. And this is where it comes back
to what I said, if any of you lack wisdom. We lack wisdom because
we do not connect the difficulty. with the fruit that God can bring
out of that difficulty. We disconnect them. We purposely
disconnect them. We don't want to connect them.
We want them separated. We want the love of God shed
abroad in our hearts. We don't want the trials. And
that's why in verse 2 it says, My brethren, count it all joy
when you fall into divers' temptations. Temptations that you didn't bring
yourself into. Last time I was here I was preaching
from Matthew's Gospel regarding the disciples that were constrained
to go in that boat on that night when they went across the lake,
the Sea of Galilee. Jesus prayed on the top of the
mount and they were alone and a storm came and they were instructed
to row to the other side. And they were toiling in rowing,
they were in great trouble. They didn't. It wasn't their
sin in any way to be in that boat. They were instructed to
go in that boat and they were doing what they were told. And
yet they fell, as it were, into one of these temptations, one
of these difficulties. But if you recount, what was
the end of that account? When Jesus came back in the boat
and the storm stopped, and they realized who it was, he'd be
walking on the water. We read that they worshipped. Now how important is worship
to you? I don't mean worship as in just happening to be in
the house of God. What I mean is worship is when
our hearts go out in adoration to God. We want to set him up
as high as we can. Our hearts go out and say, my
Lord and my God. They suddenly realize, we read
that when he was feeding the 5,000, they didn't really grasp
this miracle. But on the boat, when he stilled
the storm, then they realized that he was the Son of God. Thou
art the Son of God. So we come into trials. We feel our lack of wisdom to
deal with the trials, to answer. We're told in the word of God,
he who handleth a matter wisely shall find good. We need wisdom
to rightly handle those around us, those in the church, those
outside the church, those our work colleagues, our families,
our friends. We need wisdom in all these aspects. But is it wisdom just to get
out of the trials so you can get on with your life? Or is
it wisdom to realize and patience to realize that God is using
these things not just to get out, get over the initial problems,
but for our good? You see, it's like that. Perhaps
you could liken it to children being told to go home and do
their homework at school. They're meant to go home and
study or do so many maths questions and so forth. Now, the child
thinks, well, I've got to get all these maths questions done,
I've been told I've got to do 20 of them, and I've got to get
on and do them, and so forth. But we can easily think that
the whole purpose, therefore, is to get those sums done and
get them back handed in, and that's the end of it, that's
the purpose of it. But really, if we stand back, do we as a
nation really need to compute sums by little children? Do we
really need little children computing sums? Can a computer do those
same sums? Do we really need children to
do it? No, the purpose of getting them to do it is so that they
learn by doing it. And yet, you see, we lack this
wisdom in our spiritual pathway. We think that we're just As it
were, answering a problem, if it comes our way, we're dealing
with the situation just because it needs dealing with, but not
seeing that there's a benefit and a blessing and a reason why
God is doing it for our learning and for our spiritual good and
for our instruction. And therefore, you see, we read in the Proverbs, despise
not therefore the chastening of the Lord. Don't despise it. Don't despise this. And that's
why it says, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations.
Not because we love trial. Paul says, no chastisement for the time seemeth
to be joyous, but grieveth. Nevertheless, afterwards. No
chastening for the time seemeth to be joyous, but grieveth. Nevertheless,
afterwards. it yieldeth the peaceable fruits
of righteousness. So there's an afterwards, there's
a reason. It's not just to get through
the hurdles, there's a purpose in it. You're trying to learn
and trying to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ. And God's purpose you see in
it, Satan's purpose in it, is to ruin your faith, and to make
you give up, as it were, to give up on the Lord, to give up in
serving Him, to turn back and walk back and walk no more with
Him. That's his aim. But it's not
God's aim. God's aim is to bless you. and
to bring you into a place of blessing. And you see, therefore,
we can look at these difficulties differently. My brethren counted
all joy. You say, how can you count that
joy? But can we not count it joy when
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts? If you've had
it, there's nothing to compare with it. There's nothing to compare
with the love of God being shed abroad in our hearts. There is
no, as it were, blessing that we can receive that outweighs
that. And therefore, you see, we are to use, we are to think wisely of
our trials if any of you lack wisdom. Lack wisdom in the actual
performing of the things that are put in our pathway to do,
to know how wisely to answer people, we do need wisdom, absolutely
we do. But we also need wisdom to have
a right attitude in our trials. That it's not just a case of
getting over this hurdle, and over that hurdle, and over the
next hurdle, and then we can just go on with the plane sailing.
No, we are to be growing grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. So the problem is our lack of
wisdom, both in dealing with problems and our lack of wisdom
in seeing the wisdom of the trials, seeing that God is using these
things. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to those who are the called according
to his purpose, so that we can be formed in the image of God,
conformable to the image of God. That's his purpose. So if any of you lack wisdom,
let him ask of God. So there's an exhortation here.
If we lack wisdom, feel our lack of wisdom, we're encouraged,
we're commanded to ask of God. Ask and ye shall receive. Seek
and ye shall find. There's an exhortation here.
to travel from our emptiness, from our lack of wisdom, from
our lack of understanding, to the one that is able to supply,
the one who is fullness itself. He's not lacking in wisdom. He
knows everything about every problem that ever existed. He
knows every molecule that's ever existed. Let him ask of God. that giveth
to all men liberally. We have the liberality of God,
that he is out of his fullness. He giveth and giveth and giveth
again, out of his fullness. And we read, and upraideth not. That means he does not frown. with disapproval on the one who
is asking and saying, well, you shouldn't need so much wisdom,
you should have more wisdom of your own or you've come too many
times. No, this one is not going to
be reproached or to be discouraged or to be belittled for coming. and he upbraideth not, and it
shall be given him." So we have then a promise, you see. We have
an exhortation that we are to ask God for wisdom. This is what
we're to do. In our lack of wisdom, we're
not just to roll around and say, well, I haven't the wisdom, I
haven't the understanding. We're to go out of our emptiness
to this fullness that there is in Christ. Let him ask of God
that giveth to all men liberally. and upbraideth not." He does
not reproach us for what we're doing. He does not despise us.
He does not belittle us for coming. And it shall be given him. There's
a promise here, you see. We have this elsewhere. If ye
then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your Father in heaven give the gift of the
Holy Spirit to them that ask him? You see, God is able to
give, and it shall be given him. This shall be performed, the
Lord will give us that wisdom, that patience, you see, wisdom
to answer the trials in the various places that we need, so that
we may answer the matter wisely, but also wisdom. So that instead
of keep thinking of get out of this trial as quick as possible,
and kicking against the trial, and saying, well as long as I
say the right things, I hate this trial and I want to get
out of it. No, we want to have that patience, you see, to say
that God is in control. God brings about this trial. God is in control, it's not man,
it's God. God is in control. and it shall
be given him." So we have a gracious promise that God has said that
he will give wisdom to those who ask of him. But then we have
a qualification on that in verse 6 and 7 and really into verse
8. A qualification on this statement. In other words, yes, we are to
come and ask God for wisdom, but we're to come and ask in
a certain way. And that's what verse 6 says,
but let him ask in faith. Without faith it is impossible
to please God, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like
a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let
not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. So we have here
a Qualification. So who will receive when they
ask in faith? Who will be able to receive? Well, we are to come and ask
in faith. And it says here, nothing wavering,
for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea. Now, you could
take verses 6, 7 and 8 to read along the lines that unless you
have full assurance of faith, you will not receive what you
ask for, in verse 5. And I am very certain that this
is not how we should take it. Some time ago when I was preaching
here, we looked at Mark chapter 9. Mark chapter 9, which was
regarding a boy that was poorly and his father had brought this
boy to the Lord Jesus. And in Mark chapter 9, in verse
23, Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are
possible to him that believeth. Talking to the Father this is.
And straightway the father of the child cried out and said
with tears. This is verse 24 of Mark 9. And straightway the father of
the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief.' And
we read that the Lord then healed that child. The Lord didn't then
say, well, if that's what your wavering faith is like, we shan't
be doing anything for you. No, he was blessed that child
and restored. And I think this is very important
to realise, the difference between the the ebbing and flowing of faith,
as it were, and what is being referred to here by James. But let him ask in faith nothing
wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven
with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that
he shall receive anything of the Lord. So this is very discouraging
if we take this to mean that only if you have full assurance
of faith can you ask for wisdom and receive that wisdom from
God that giveth to all men liberally. I believe rather what this is
speaking of here in verses 6, 7 and 8 as Verse 8 says it really quite
clearly, a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
So I believe what it's speaking about here is you have somebody
that's, well I'll try God this week, I'll cry to God about this
problem this week, and if he doesn't answer I'll go to somebody
else, I'll go to some other God, I'll go somewhere else with my
problems. Now that's double-minded. Now
that's being unstable in all our ways. Now you see, the Psalms
are so full of the trial of faith and how there is that ebbing
and flowing of living faith. And therefore if we read these
words to be the ebbing and flowing of living faith, and those who
have ebbing and flowing are not able to ask for wisdom, it is
indeed a very sad situation. But in Psalm 62 we have these
words, verse 5, My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation
is from him. You see the Psalm is there. He
still has his problems, he still has things that he can't understand,
still has problems that are too great for him. You take Job.
Job was a man who had been greatly tried, and there was many things
Job couldn't understand. If you listen to and read what
he says, many hard speeches, and many things that he really
couldn't fathom in what God was doing. And yet at times there
was these rays of spiritual light would beam from him as he said,
I know that my Redeemer liveth. And though he slay me, yet will
I trust in him. There was that confidence in
God, confidence in that one who was able to deliver him. Job
we do not read that went to others to be delivered. He did not give
up on God, though he could not understand. what God was doing. And therefore, if we know something
of the trial of your faith and the power at times of unbelief,
and yet, you see, our heart is wanting to cling to God still
in it all. I remember a wise comment I felt
that our old pastor LSB Hyde used to tell a story of a woman
who was a member of a church and been a member for many years.
And she was at one time quite down spiritually. And she went
to see the pastor and said, I think you better take my name off of
the church register. I just don't feel the nearness. and the presence of God as I
used to, I feel far off from God. And the pastor said to her, I'll
take your name off on one condition. And she said, what's that condition
then? He said, if you promise me never to pray to God again. And she said, I can never promise
that. And you see sometimes we have to have the sort of the
negative to throw us back to realize that that woman, although
she felt low, although she felt far off, she could never agree. that she would not pray to God.
And you see that show deep down. She knew where the source of
her blessing was. She knew where the true blessing
was. Yes, she couldn't find it. Job
couldn't find it. I go forward and I go backwards,
but I cannot behold him. Yet he knoweth the way that I
take, you see. And I don't believe this should
be confused then. with what is going on in verse
6, 7 and 8. But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering. For he that wavereth is like
a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. Yes, there
is the ebbings and flowings of faith. There is the high points
of faith and the low points. You think of Elijah on the Mount
Carmel, dealing with those 400 prophets of Baal, such a mighty
man. And yet, only a few days later
or a day later, he was fleeing from Jezebel. the ebbings and
flowings of a child of God. They're not always, as it were,
in the full assurance of faith, and yet they're to come in faith,
and they're to come unto the Lord. But I feel the strongest
example of this is really in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Those words that he uttered On
Calvary's cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? There was this pathos in his
cry, this concern. Why hast thou forsaken me? But
he was not going to anybody else. He was still going to God. He
does not say, I don't know if I have a God. My God, my God. He knew that he had God. He knew
his God. And yet he could not, as it were,
we cannot understand it all. But there was this grappling
with what was going on at Calvary. as he was enduring the hidings
of his father's face. But he was still strong in faith,
you see. His faith was still centered
on the same object, it was still in his God. Though he could not
now call him his father. He does not say father, he says
God. The only time recorded in the
Bible where he refers to God in prayer as God rather than
his father. My God, my God. Why hast thou
forsaken me? And you go through this psalm.
Why art thou so far from helping me? And from the words of my
roaring? This was the, as it were, the
waves and the billows that were going over our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. But yet the point of his faith
was firm. It was fixed on God. And therefore
he was not a double-minded man that was unstable in all his
ways. He was one that was passing through a bitter, bitter cup.
He was drinking that cup of the sufferings that all of his people
should have endured throughout a never-ending eternity. He was
bearing that cup and he was feeling the separation that that cup
brought. It brought separation, you see.
God, the Father, could not look upon sin with agreement. And
when it was found in his beloved son, he could not, as it were,
he did not cry from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. No, there was silence. There
was silence. And yet, God was still his God. God did bring him through. He
went through death, but then was raised again. the third day,
given a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee shall bow." So we have in the Lord Jesus one who
knew the depths of the trial of faith. To be tempted of the
devil, we read, he went through just after his earthly ministry
began. He was led 40 days and 40 nights
to be tempted of the devil. He knew, as it were, the difficulties,
the temptations, the ebbings and flowings, as it were. And
yet, his centerpiece was God. He did not look to others. He
did not go to other gods. He did not go to other men, as
it were, to satisfy his need. And nor should we. But let him
ask in faith, nothing wavering. Don't look elsewhere. My soul,
wait thou only upon God. No, you can't understand how
God is going to appear. You can't understand why you
are where you are. Job couldn't, and many of us
cannot always understand why God is doing what he is doing.
But you see, that's why we need wisdom. If any of you lack wisdom,
Let him ask of God wisdom to realize that he is too wise to
err, and oh, too good to be unkind. I think of those words in Isaiah
49. It says, I can't just put my eyes
on it, but it talks about the one, But Zion said, the Lord
hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman
forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion
on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will
I not forget thee. And you see we need this wisdom. in the trials, not to lose sight
of the one who's behind it. It's not just this person that's
come into your life that everything's gone upside down because of.
It's God. God is behind it. God is at the
beginning and he'll help you through it. And what's the purpose?
Don't let forget us what the purpose is. That the love of
God is shed aboard in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given
unto us. What more blessings could you
want? But it's not found, as it were, in an armchair. It's
found in tribulation. We glory in tribulation, also
knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience,
and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the
love of God is shed aboard in our hearts. There can be no greater
blessing. to have Christ in us the hope
of glory. The glories of God in our heart
make this world grow strangely dim. And therefore, may we be given
grace in our difficulties to count it all joy when you fall
into divers temptations. No, we don't find them easy.
We don't naturally love them at all. We naturally shy away
from them and I'm not saying we should desire to bring them
upon ourselves. But may we be given wisdom. to view them as
coming from a fatherly hand. And that fatherly hand has an
object of blessing, to bless his people with the love of God
to be shed abroad in their hearts. And therefore he puts them through
the furnace, he puts them through the trial, so that they may come
and be as that shock of corn ripe for the harvest, that they
shall go into that melting pot, and it will destroy and burn
up all the dross. They fear it will burn up everything. But you see, God will put them
in that refining fire to burn up all that which is not right,
and so that they will be made conformable to the image of his
Son. And beloved friends, what more
could you want for? What more could you desire? I
shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth
not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith. Yes,
faith that is imperfect, faith that that, as it were, at times
cannot see through it all, but a faith that is set on a single
object. In the psalm, Psalm 4, it says
this, There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord,
lift thou up the light of thy countenance. Others are looking
elsewhere, looking at every different place to find good, but the Lord's
people, they look to Christ. Lord, lift thou up the light
of thy countenance, and it will be well. May the Lord add his
blessing. Amen. Kind and gracious Lord God, to
give us true wisdom, that we may order our cause aright, that
we may rightly cope with all that comes in our pathway, Lord,
but also that we may have a right view of trials, that we may realise
that they are sent by the hand of a loving God and that we are
to be given grace under those things, that naturally we would
do the opposite. Lord, we pray that we may, by
God's grace, grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ, and that we may be favoured to know
the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. Bless us then, we
pray, pardon and forgive our every sin, and may the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father's love, and the fellowship
of the Eternal Spirit be with and abide with us each, now and
for evermore. Amen.