Well, I had another message that
I was planning on preaching tonight, but as the Lord sometimes does, I've been drawn to Nehemiah chapter
9. Brother Jake and I on, I think
it was Friday night, spent about an hour and a half studying this
chapter, and I think we're going to be here for a couple weeks.
So, it's a wonderful chapter. And there's so much in this. I think tonight we'll just do
the first 12 verses. Let's turn to Nehemiah chapter
9. The name of the message is a cloud and a fiery pillar. Cloud
and a fiery pillar. Now here in this portion of scripture
that we'll look at tonight, we'll see the people of Israel confessing
their sin throughout this chapter. We're only probably going to
make it to verse 12, As we study this chapter we see that Israel
confessing their sin and there's references to the Lord Jesus
Christ and God's sovereignty. It's very clear and it's proclaimed
and acknowledged by those who are speaking in this chapter.
Let's read verses 1 and 2. Now on the 20th and 4th day of
the month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting and
with sackcloth and earth upon them. And the seed of Israel
separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed
their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. So this fast
is appointed with a view to implore the pardon of God. And what it
was for was for the mingling. The Israelites had mingled with
the idolatrous nations of the earth, and the law of God commanded
them not to. Remember the Lord told them when
you go into the land, don't mix with them. Don't mix with them.
Well, they had. They had. And so this this fast
is is for that they're they're they're seeking the Lord's pardon.
And we see that as we study this chapter. And remember what Scripture
says for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness
and and what communion has light with darkness. And so this is
why the Lord had warned them, because he knew they would be
carried away. He knew they'd be carried away. And note, they
confess their sins and iniquities of their fathers. And what do
we do when we're born again? We confess our sins and iniquities,
don't we? Before the Lord. We say, Lord,
I'm a sinner. I need you. I need you. Look
at verse two, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities
of their fathers. And then look at verse three,
and they stood up in the place and read in the book of the law
of the Lord. their God, one fourth part of
the day, and another fourth part that they confessed and worshiped
the Lord, their God. So note here the order of the
fast. It stated they read the word, then they prayed. And this
is the way they divided the service. This is the way they divided
the fast. Then stood up upon the stairs
the Levites, Jeshua, Benai, Kadamiel, Shebaniah, Oni, Sherabiah, Benai,
Shannon not now and cried with a loud voice unto the Lord, their
God. And no, no, they cried unto God
who they sinned against. They cried out to him. They cried,
what do we do as born again believers, we cry out to he who we've sinned
against. We cry out to him. And again,
let us always remember that our sins are against God. They're
against him. Then the Levites, Jeshua, and
Kadmiel, Bani, Hashbaniah, Sherabiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah
said, Stand up and bless the Lord your God forever and ever. And blessed be thy glorious name,
which is exalted above all blessing and praise. And they are said to stand before
the Lord, but several commentators said that through the shame of
their sin and the awe of divine majesty, they would have their
faces looking down to the ground. They're repenting. They're repenting. And we have a reference to that.
Turn, if you would, to Luke 18, 13. We see this in the New Testament. And is this not so of us when
when God reveals what we are to us and when he reveals who
he is? We're sinners and he's holy and
he's righteous. And look at Luke 18, verse 13,
where we see the publican. Now we know the Pharisee. What
did he do? He kept his head up and he was boasting, wasn't he?
Well, I thank you. I'm not like that publican. Oh,
I fast, and I tithe, and I pray. Remember? He was boasting in
what he does. But look at the publican. Look
at the publican. He's been convicted of a sin. And the publican, standing afar
off, verse 13, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote upon his breast. He wouldn't lift his head up.
He'd been humble. and smote upon his breast, saying,
What God be merciful to me as a sinner. He's repentant. And no, let's go back to to Nehemiah
and note in verse five, it says, Bless the Lord, your God forever
and ever. Bless the Lord, your God, forever
and ever and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above
all blessing and praise. Let we who are the people of
God, let we who are His blood-washed saints, let us bless the Lord
our God forever and ever. And we will, won't we? We bless
our God while we're here on earth for what He's done for us, and
when we get the glory, we'll bless Him, we'll praise His name. He's the center and object of
worship in heaven, and we'll be looking to Him. We'll bless
His name. We'll bless the Lord our God
forever and ever. We'll give Him all the praise
and glory. Why do we do that? For the great things that He
had done for us. The great things He had done for us. And this
is what the Israelites are here doing. As we study this chapter,
we'll see them continuously remembering His mercy towards them. And he,
read this chapter on your own too, he is so merciful. Continuously. And they go through
the history of how merciful he was to Israel. It's incredible. And as I was reading it with
Brother Jake, and studying it, you just see a picture of us.
We who are redeemed. Because we know that he was so
merciful to us, and so long-suffering to us, wasn't he? All the time. And He still is. He still is. God is faithful. He's faithful. Even when we're not, He's faithful.
He's faithful. And that gives the believer great
hope. Great hope. And so they're blessing
the Lord for His mercy and for His pardoning grace. And this
gave them reason to hope. Look at, Blessed be thy glorious
name. The Lord's name is exalted above
all other names, isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ, His name
is the name above all names. All names. When you think about
His perfections, we bless His name. When you think about His
holiness, we bless His name. When you think about redemption
through Christ and Christ alone, we bless His name. He's wonderful. He's wonderful to the believer.
And when we think upon the great mercy which He has had upon us,
what do we do? We bless His name. We thank Him. We glorify Him. We praise His
mighty name. And His name is glorious, isn't
it? It's a name far above all other names. You who are His blood-bought
people, praise His name. And we say, blessed be thy glorious
name. Then Nehemiah 9, 6. Thou, even
thou, art Lord alone. Well, there's a statement right
there before us. He's Lord. And Lord there is self-existent. He is sovereign. He is God. Thou hast made heaven, the heaven
of heavens, with all their hosts, the earth and all things that
are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, thou preservest
them all, and the host of heaven worshipeth thee. So again, thou,
even thou, art Lord alone, art Lord alone. He's Jehovah, the
self-existent one, the true and living God. But note here also,
we see a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. You may say, where? Turn, if you would, to John 1,
verse 1. And I'll read Nehemiah again.
This, thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all
their hosts, the earth and all things that are therein, the seas and all that is therein,
and thou preservest them all, and the host of heaven worship
thee. Look at John 1. There's a reference right there
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because we know from John chapter
1 that He's the Creator of all things. He's the Creator of all
things. By Him all things consist. In
the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and
the Word was God. Now we know further down in the
chapter it says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. So
the Word here is the Lord Jesus Christ. The same was in the beginning
with Him, with God. All things were what? Made by
Him. And without Him was not anything
made that was made. In Him was life. and the life
was the light of man, and the light shineth in darkness, and
the darkness comprehended not." Note there, all things were made
by Him, without Him was not anything made that was made. Now turn
back to Nehemiah. Nehemiah 9, verse 6, "...thou,
even thou art Lord alone, thou hast made the heaven of heavens
with all their hosts, the earth and all things that are there
in the seas and all that is there in and thou preserves them all
in the host of heaven. Worship thee. Who does the host
of heaven worship? Christ, Christ. Oh, my, our great
God. And no, it's the Lord who preserves
by his almighty power. Look at it says, and thou preserves
them all. He preserves his people. He preserves people until it's
the time for them to die, doesn't he? All by his almighty power. Every human being has an appointment,
and they will not miss it. They will not miss it. And think
of this, too, as the great protector of the whole creation. He preserves
all things. God's providence extends to all
things, both visible and invisible. And what God made, He'll preserve. He'll preserve. Turn, if you
would, to Ecclesiastics chapter 3. Ecclesiastics chapter 3. And think of this. Think of this
in light of our salvation, right? Our salvation is everlasting
salvation because it's in Christ, right? It's in Him. Look at this in Ecclesiastes
3, verse 14. I know that whatsoever God doeth,
what? It shall be forever. So that
means if God saves a sinner, now let this sink in, beloved.
If God saves you, If He has saved you, when God saves a sinner,
it's forever. Isn't that wonderful? It's forever. Nothing can be
put to it, nor anything taken from it. And God doeth it that
man should fear before Him. Salvations of the Lord, period. And those He saves, He keeps. They shall be with Him in glory. And we who are redeemed, we rejoice
in this precious truth, don't we? It's so comforting that our
salvation's not based upon us. And those of us who came out
of religion, remember they told us, well, it's all about what
you do. No, it's all about what He's
done. It's all about what He, and what God does is forever.
Forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. And now, let's look at the next
verse. They start to recall the history
of Israel, and how God is merciful to his people, despite their
sinfulness. Look at this. Thou art the Lord,
the God, who didst choose Abraham, and
broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and givest him
the name of Abraham. Now notice, our God is a choosing
God. People don't like to hear that,
do they? We know that. Especially people in religion.
They want a God they can control. And that's a little g. Our God
is absolutely sovereign. He does as He pleases. He chooses
whomever He will. Look at what it says here. Thou
art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abraham, and broughtst
him forth out of the Ur of the Chaldees, and givest him the
name of Abraham. Right here before us, we see
God's distinguishing grace. He chose Abraham. He chose Abraham. And beloved, He chose His people,
in eternity, in Christ. God's favor to Abraham here was
distinguishing. Did Abraham deserve this? No. Did we who are redeemed, did
we deserve the mercy and grace that we received? No. No. And he, think of this. I was
pondering this as Jake and I were looking at this. He chose Abraham,
right? And he left all those around
Abraham in idolatry. What has he done for us? We who are redeemed, the same
thing. We were chosen in eternity, redeemed by Christ, and he plucked
us from the midst of where we were. He chose Abraham, but left all
those around him in idolatry. And He chooses us in Christ,
and He's left all those others that we knew and grew up with,
left them in their sins. God's grace in Abraham was powerful. It bought him out of the Ur of
the Chaldees. And we look at Abraham and we
see free grace glorified in him, right here before us. We see
free grace glorified in Abraham, in what God has done for Abraham. And we see that the covenant
God, the covenant that God made with him, and it was a sure covenant,
wasn't it? It was a sure covenant. Why?
Because God will do that which He says He'll do. And we know that Abraham was
faithful before God, that he believed God, But let us always
remember that Abraham's heart was faithful because God had
given him a new heart. He is born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. God had done a great work in
him. And let we who believe always
remember that we, just as Abraham, have faith in Christ because
of what God has done for us. It's him who's made us to do. We have not faith in anything
we do. Faith is not of ourselves, it's
a gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Therefore, we conclude this.
Salvation's of the Lord. It's of the Lord. It's His doing.
He's the author of it, He's the finisher of it, and He's everything
in between, isn't He? As we grow in the grace and knowledge
and truth of Him, until He takes us home. It's His work. And we marvel in this. Now, remember
too, Abraham was steeped in idolatry. The land of Ur was steeped in
idolatry. He was an idol worshiper. And it's the Lord who brings
him out of that. Look at our text there. Thou art the Lord,
the God, who didst choose Abraham and broughtest him forth out
of Ur. He had no ability to come out
of that on his own, did he? No. Just as we have no ability
to come to the Lord on our own, but He makes His people willing
in the day of His power. And notice it says here, too,
and gave us Him the name of Abraham. Turn, if you would, to Revelation
2, verse 17. And we had a whole message on
this. And this was a great cross-reference. Give us Him the name of Abraham.
What does He do for us? Look at Revelation 2.17. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. And the only way
we have an ear to hear is because the Holy Spirit has given us
ears to hear and eyes to see Christ. Look at this. To Him
that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna. That's
Christ. Christ is the hidden manna. and will give him a white
stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth,
saving he that receiveth it. And when we studied that passage,
I had brought forth that hawker, brought forth that the name on
that stone is the Lord our righteousness. It's the Lord our righteousness.
Because it all centers around him, beloved. It all centers
around him. We who believe are given to eat
of the hidden manna, which is Christ Jesus our Lord. given
a white stone with a new name written on it the Lord our righteousness
Let's go back to Nehemiah chapter 9. We'll look at verse 8 And
look at it says in and found his heart faithful before thee
Made us a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites,
the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perzites, and Jezebites,
and Gershites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and has performed
thy words, what? For thou art righteous. For thou
art righteous. And note the Lord performs that
which he says he will do. He does. He does. You know why? Because he has
the power, he has the authority, and he has the ability to do
it all. We lack the power to come to
Christ, we lack the ability to come to Christ, and we have no
authority to come to him, do we? No. But praise God, he comes
and seeks out his lost sheep. Oh my. So it's the Lord alone
who performs that which He says He will do. He has all power. And note in
the latter part of this verse, for thou art righteous. Our Lord,
our God is righteous in all His ways, and in all His works. And is this not what we profess
as believers? We profess this, don't we? You're
righteous, Lord. I'm so unrighteous, but you're
righteous. And the only reason that we who
believe are righteous in the eyes of God is because of the
righteousness of Christ. That's the only reason. Oh, He's
righteous. He's holy, beloved. And He's
a covenant-keeping God. And it is He who has kept and
fulfilled this covenant. assisting Joshua to conquer the
land. It's Him who took the people into the land of Canaan and put
Israel into the possession of it. And in reference to verse 8,
which says, Thou art righteous, let's turn to Psalm 92, verses
14 and 15. Psalm 92, verses 14 and 15. Remember, they profess thou art
righteous. Look what it says here in Psalm 92, 14 and 15. They shall still bring forth
fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing
to show that the Lord is upright. He is my rock and there is what? No unrighteousness in him. He's perfect righteousness. Now let's look at verses 9 to
12 back in Nehemiah. Verses 9 to 12. Again, they're
accounting now the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. And we
know that Israel was delivered from Egypt all by the mighty
power of God, all by His providential hand. And we see that. He delivered
them. Just as He took Abraham out of
the Ur of the Chaldees, He bought forth the Israelites. He bought
forth His people. And what a picture. We have,
of how He leads us through this world, this wilderness that we
live in. One day, one day we'll be home
with Him. One day we'll be in the promised
land, which is, Canaan is a picture of heaven, beloved. We'll be
in glory with Him. Look at verse 9. And didst thou
see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their
cry by the Red Sea? Note that God hears the cry of
His people. He hears our prayers. He hears our prayers. And then
look at verses 9 and 10. And show us signs and wonders
upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people
of his land. For thou knowest that they dwelt
proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a great
name, as it is this day. And thou didst divide the sea
before them. He divided the Red Sea. So that
they went through the midst of the sea on dry land. Imagine one of the Great Lakes
just opening up and you walk right across to Canada. Or wherever,
you know. This is what happened. This truly
happened. It's a miracle. It's God who's done this. And their persecutors thou throwest
into the deep as a stone into the mighty waters. So God showed
himself. Look at what we see here. God
showed himself far above the enemies of his people. And we
see that in the latter part there. And their persecutors thou throwest
into the deeps as a stone into the mighty waters. Oh, what great deliverance. the
people of Israel saw on that day. And even to this day, the
name of God is glorified for that wonderful work. Even today,
we stand in awe of that, don't we? As believers. And this great deliverance was
done miraculously by God with signs and wonders. the deliverance
of the Israelites and the destruction of their enemies. Now think of
this, who were thrown into the deep, irrecoverably, just, and
I was thinking about this with Brother John, you were on the,
think you're out in the middle of the ocean and you throw a
rock in the ocean, it's irrecoverable. You'll never find that rock again.
And that's what God did with the enemies of Israel. Just as a stone thrown into the
depths of the sea. All the power of God. And note
it was the Lord who delivered them. The Lord delivered them. It was the Lord who led them
and protected them through the wilderness. And it's the Lord
who delivered them into the promised land. What a picture of the salvation
of a sinner. Taken. Taken. Out of Egypt. Think of this though
before that. Passover lamb. The blood is applied
to the land. A picture of redemption through
Christ and his blood. Then the Lord takes his people
out of Egypt. It's a picture of him taking
us out of the world. We're still in the world, but
but we're not of the world. We're not of the world. And then
the Lord leads and guides them through the wilderness. What
does he do for his people? He leads and guides us through
the wilderness of this world, doesn't he? And then he takes
them and guides them into the promised land. This is what he does for us.
He delivers us into the promised land, beloved heaven. when we
die, when he takes us home to glory. And the believer says,
praise you the Lord, praise God for his goodness. Look at verse
12 now. Moreover thou let us them in
the day by a cloudy pillar and in the night by a pillar of fire
to give them light in the way wherein they should go. God is
so merciful, beloved, that he will never leave his people.
He'll never leave His people. He'll never forsake them. We
see that right here. He guides and directs His people
all through their lives. He's the all-protecting One.
The all-sovereign God. And it is He who keeps watch
over us, just as He did with the Israelites. Turn, if you
would, to Exodus chapter 13. Exodus chapter 13. And I'll read Nehemiah 12 again.
Moreover, thou lettest them in the day by a cloudy pillar and
in the night by a pillar of fire to give them light in the way
wherein they should go. So they travel that night too.
They travel that night. Look at this in Exodus 13, 21
and 22. And the Lord went before them
by day in the pillar of a cloud to lead them the way, and by
night in the pillar of fire to give them light to go by day
and night. He took not away the pillar of
the cloud by day, nor the pillar of the fire by night from before
the people. And note here in Exodus 13, 21,
it's the Lord who goes before them. He goes before them. And this is He who is called
the Angel of the Lord. He's not a created angel. He's the Angel of Jehovah's Presence,
beloved. No one in the New Testament is
the Word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord
Jesus Christ. Who went before all the armies
of Israel. He's their King, their Leader,
and their Commander. And it says here, and the Lord
went before them. He went before them. Does he
not go before us? Oh, what a great God we have. And no, he went before them by
day in the pillar of a cloud to lead their way through the
Red Sea and through the wilderness and through a way which was untrodden
and trackless. And the path was difficult. It
was sandy. And as a path was made, it'd
be covered over by sand, several commentators said. It'd be covered
over by sand. It could be seen no more. Now,
this cloud was not an ordinary cloud. It was an extraordinary,
supernatural, and miraculous cloud. John Gill comments this
way about the cloud. It was in the form of a pillar
rising upward towards heaven in the lower part of it. It was
more spread and covered the camp of Israel for besides the use
of it to show the way through a trackless wilderness. It was
a shelter and protection from the scorching heat of the sun
in a sandy desert. They were protected from the
elements. And the cloud pictured Christ.
Turn if you would to Isaiah chapter 4 verse 5. The cloud pictures
Christ. And also put your finger in Revelation
chapter 10. Isaiah chapter 4 and Revelation
chapter 10. Isaiah chapter 4 verse 5. And the Lord will create upon
every dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies
a cloud, and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire
by night. For upon all the glory shall
be a defense. And then look over in Revelation
chapter 10. And I saw another mighty angel
come down from heaven clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was
upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet
as pillars of fire. Christ guides us and directs
us all through this world, beloved. All through this world. He's
a light unto our path, isn't he? He's a light unto our path. And it's the Holy Spirit of God
who illuminates his word for us. And our Lord is a constant
guide and shelter to his people. We can we can rest in that truth. I love that song we sing. He's
a shelter in the time of storm. He is. He's a shelter for his
people and Christ shelters and protects his people. Think of
this from the heat of of his fiery law. The fiery law of God. Christ shelters and protects
His people from the flaming sword of God's justice, which must
be satisfied. Christ shelters and protects
His people. He died as our substitute. When
He died as a propitiation for His people, when He satisfied
God's wrath and justice for our sins, did He not shelter and
protect us? Yes, He did. And is He not our
only refuge? from our sins, the only refuge. He's a shelter in the time of
storm for his people, protecting us also from the fiery darts
of Satan and from the persecution of wicked man, which is sometimes compared to
the violent heat of the sun. He is a pillar of fire by night. to give his people light when
they travel at night. They did sometimes in these hot
countries. They traveled at night because
it was cooler. It was cooler. And the pillar of fire gave them
light. Gave them light. When the moon was concealed and
it directed them which way to go. Christ is the light and the comfort
of his people. And by His Spirit and Word, He
illuminates, guides, and directs His people what to do and where
and how they are to walk, either by day or by night. And it is
He who directs us. It is He who guides us in this
journey through the wilderness of our life. So let us glean
from this portion that the Lord is ever present with His people.
That's what we see here. He's ever-present with his people.
Always. And the cloud and pillar of fire
were a symbol of the divine presence. Which is with his people both
in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Turn if you would
to Zechariah chapter 2 and then also in Matthew chapter 18. Oh, he's ever-present with his people.
Both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. And remember, true spiritual
Israel in the Old Testament were His elect. Just as we who are
spiritual Israel in the New Testament are His people. His elect. One
body, beloved. One spirit. One faith. And one Redeemer. The Lord Jesus
Christ in Him alone. Look at Zechariah 2, verses 4
and 5. And said unto him, Run, speak
to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without
walls, for the multitude of men and cattle therein. For I say
unto the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and
will be the glory in the midst of her. The Lord is a wall of
fire around about his people, beloved. He's a wall of fire. And he's in the midst of us,
isn't he? Look over in Matthew, chapter 18, verse 20. For where two or three are gathered
together in my name, where? There am I in the midst. Doesn't say a hundred. Doesn't
say a thousand. Praise be to God it says two
or three. Two or three of God's people gathered together in my
name. There am I in the midst of it. And just as he lightened the
way for the Israelites at night, he lightens the way for his people,
doesn't he? Turn if you would to Luke. Luke
2, verse 29. We'll read the words of Simeon. Luke 2, verses 29-32. Lord, now lettest thou thy servant
depart in peace, unto thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation. And he's holding Christ. He's
holding the baby who's Christ, God incarnate in the flesh. And
he says, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Which thou hast prepared before
the face of all people. And look at this, a light to
lighten the Gentiles. and the glory of thy people,
Israel. Let we who are redeemed, let
we who are God's blood-bought people whom he purchased on Calvary's
cross by his death upon the cross, let us leave here today pondering
the gracious protection of God's people. the gracious protection
of God's people, God's elect, by Christ, from all our enemies. From all our enemies. As the
clouds stood between the Israelites and the Egyptians, when they
passed through the Red Sea and kept them safe, kept Israel safe
from the Egyptians, as well as being a refreshing and protecting
source from heat, So Christ protects His people in this life. As a
pillar of fire was to give light to the children of Israel and
direct them in their passage through the wilderness in the
nighttime, so Christ will be the light of His people. The
light of His people by the illuminations of the Holy Spirit of God. Through
the preaching of the gospel and through the studying of His word,
beloved, He delivers He shelters, He protects His people, and He
does this all by the working of His almighty power. And He
saves whomever He wills, the people of His own choosing. And
as I said, just like Abraham was chosen out of all those people,
and all those others were left in our idolatry, we see such
a picture of what God has done for us. He chose us. He redeemed
us. He regenerated us. He called
us with an effectual call. And now we praise His mighty
name. And He does all that by the working of His almighty power. Christ Jesus, our Lord, is the
great shepherd and bishop of our souls. And we who are born-again,
blood-washed saints, we marvel, don't we? We marvel at His mercy
towards us. We marvel at His grace which
has been given to us. And we praise His mighty name. Gracious Heavenly Father, we
thank Thee for the time that we could spend in Thy Word. O Lord, we see Thy protecting
hand, watching over Your people, guiding, directing Your people. And in this passage, we see how
you take care of your church. You guide and direct us. Israel
was a picture of the church, and we see that. You called us
out of the pit of sin that we were in. You redeemed us with
thy precious blood. You bought us out of that situation.
We could never have bought ourselves out of there. And we marvel at
the mercy and grace which has been bestowed upon us in Christ
Jesus our Lord. And it's in your name, Lord,
we pray. Amen.