I'd like us to turn together
to the chapter that we have been looking at in Ephesians chapter
6 and the text you'll find in the
first part of verse 14. Stand therefore having your loins
girt about with truth. You'll have noticed in the chapter
that we read together there was a discussion between the Pharisees,
the Jews and the Lord Jesus Christ. They were accusing him of being
a liar. They were saying that they knew
the truth. And the Lord Jesus Christ is saying that he knew
the truth because he had seen God, he had been with God and
he had come down to the earth and was going back to glory. And so he knew the truth. And the truth is very important
for us to lay hold of. If we do not have the truth then
we are in the lies. And so we have to work out what
is truth. That is the question that was
put to the Lord Jesus Christ in his trial. What is truth? And we live in a world that is
constantly changing. We live in a world where there
doesn't seem to be any truth and something may be true, they
say, for one person and it may not be true for another person. And what may be true to me may
not be true to you. But there is an ultimate truth,
a truth that does not change, a truth that is fixed for all
the time from time before time and till the the end of time
and that is the truth of God's holy word. the truth of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the truth of the gospel, the truth of the of the
Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us that God himself
he cannot lie, it is impossible for him to lie, he is He is a God who dwells in the
light and in him is no darkness. And we have looked at over the
past few weeks of the work of Satan. And Satan, who is the
king of the kingdom of darkness, he is a deceiver. He is a liar. The truth is not in him, the
scripture tells us. And so there is that constant
opposition to the truth. And so if you hold the truth
then you're constantly being approached with other truths
to try and draw you away from the true truth. People come with
things called half-truths or they twist the truth or they
bend the truth or they hide the truth. And these are all the
works of Satan seeking to keep people in the darkness, to keep
people in the blindness of this world and to stop them from coming
to the truth, the Lord Jesus Christ, the truth of the holy
word of God. And so the scripture tells us
that the Christian who has been taken from the lies who has been
able to see the truth of the gospel the truth of the word
as he's come into the light he's to be girt about he's to have
a belt of truth round about him and those of you who were here
the other week will remember that there is that image in the
apostle's mind. He has the image of the soldier
at his jail cell but he also has the image of God. The image
of God who reveals himself in the Old Testament as a warrior.
and the Lord Jesus Christ as the warrior, the captain of the
army of the hosts of the Lord. And he was girt about with truth. And so as he views this warrior,
as he views this soldier, he sees that part of the armour
is a belt. Part of the armour is a belt.
And he says that this belt is the belt of truth. But again
he begins the verse with stand. Remember that in the other verses
preceding it he's speaking about standing, being ready, being
on the defensive, not being unequipped but standing firm for the opposition
that is going to come. And so the Christian again needs
to be ready ready at all the times for any form of opposition,
any form of lies or deceit or trickery of Satan that he may
be able to withstand it and oppose it with the truth. Those of you
who listen to the news during this week you will have seen
that Ukraine pushed forward into Russia and it took them by surprise. I think they took something like
a thousand prisoners and their troops they weren't ready. They
weren't expecting what was going to take place and so they weren't
standing as they should have been standing. They weren't equipped
as they should have been equipped for the advancement of the enemy. And so there are many believers
that are like that. We are not standing, we're not
ready for when the enemy does advance on our lives and we're
taken by surprise and we fall into some sin, we fall into doubts
and fears, we're overcome by opposition and we crumble at
the attack of the enemy. We're not equipped with the truth
of the word to combat the advancement of the deceits of Satan. And
so we crumble and he makes an advancement upon us. Just as
Ukraine pushed into Russia, the soldiers, they weren't ready.
If they were standing firm, if they were waiting for any opposition
of the enemy, they would have been ready to attack. But they
failed. They failed to stand. And so
the believer is to be ready with a belt of truth. The belt, if we look at the old
style of dress, for those in the times of Christ, and even
we look at the Arabs and the Muslims, they wear those long
gowns down to their feet. And obviously they are no good
for running. They are no good for fighting. They are just used
for day-to-day use, walking from here to there. But when the time
comes when they need to run, when the time comes when they
need to fight, they have to gather up all that cloth and tie it
into their belt and so he says gather up the loins or gather
up your clothes and tie them into your belt that you may be
ready and be equipped for the events of the day for the warfare
that you are passing through. And so the Christian is to gather
up his doubts and his fears and those things which hang loose,
those sins that so easily beset him and gather them up into the
truth of the word and tie that belt on tightly. If you look
at those images of the Roman soldiers you will see hanging
from their belts that they're very decorative. And they were
used for a distinction to distinguish who
they were. So they could not have their
armour but they would walk still with this belt and people would
be able to acknowledge them that this is a soldier. You know the Christian life should
also be distinguished. People should look at us and
they should acknowledge or notice that we are different, that we
are people of the truth, that our lives are encompassed by
truth, that we are trustworthy people, that the things that
we say can be trusted, that we are reliable people, our lives
are distinguished by the fact we are truthful in a generation
that delights in lies. And so this belt distinguished
the soldier from any other civilian. They knew him by what he was
wearing. The belt also was somewhere where
they would hang the sword. We know later on as we read that
it is the sword of The sword of the spirit which
is the word of God and so the sword of the spirit hung upon
the belt of truth. And so the sword was there for
protection but also the belt held also the breastplate. We
read about the breastplate of righteousness, that armour that
the soldier wore on his chest, it rested upon the belt. And that belt, Paul says, is
the belt of truth. And it's the first piece of armour
that is to be put on. It's a vital piece of armour,
a vital piece of the armour clothing in which the sword hangs off
and the breastplate sits upon. so it must be put on first. The truth of the word of God
must be the centre of the life of a believer. The believer is
a person of truth for they have come out from the lies and they
have come into the truth. The truth of the gospel has set
them free. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse
13 it says in whom ye, we'll go from verse 12, that we should
be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ in
whom he also trusted that after he heard the word of truth the
gospel of your salvation in whom also after he believed you were
sealed with that holy spirit of promise which is the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possessions
unto the praise of his glory. And so he says there that you
trusted in Christ, you saw Christ and you believed in him, you
believed the truth of the word that he is the saviour and you
trusted in him, you heard the word of truth and the gospel
of your salvation. And we see that in that discussion
that Christ is having with the Pharisees and the Jews, they
are reasoning with him that you don't know the truth. And Jesus
is saying, I speak the truth. And that is how it is today.
This book is either the truth or it's a lie. Jesus is either
the way to God or he is not the way to God. Jesus is either the
son of God or he's not the son of God. He's either a man who
spoke the truth or a man who told lies. And what hangs upon
these two things is your eternal destiny. If Jesus is the truth,
if Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life, and you
say, no, you're not, then you're saying he's a liar. But if you are wrong, if Jesus
is speaking the truth, and you reject that truth, then you're
going to hell. Jesus says, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. If God's word is a lie, it's not reliable, then don't
believe it. But if it is the truth, which
it declares to be the truth, then what the things it is saying
are true. And if you don't believe it,
you're going to hell. And so what hangs upon this truth
is your and my eternal destiny. Because if this word is right,
then what it says is about eternity and judgment and Christ and your
and my sin is also right. What it says about the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only way is also right. And we declare that it
is right. That the word of God is truth
and the gospel is the truth and the only way of salvation. And the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the gospel that is the truth that declares about
the truth. You see when someone preaches
the gospel they are preaching about the truth. They're preaching
about the Lord Jesus Christ who is the truth. And he's preaching
about a way that brings somebody into a relationship with God
through the Lord Jesus Christ which is the truth. And so the
apostle says, after you heard the word of truth. Now we have
all sat through many many sermons We've all read from the Word
of God and I want to ask what has that truth, how has it affected
you? Has the truth of the Word of
God had any effect upon you in your life whatsoever or have
you rejected it as a lie? Because if you hear it you must
make a conscious thought in your mind either it's a load of rubbish
or it's the truth. I'm going to forget about it
or I'm going to lay hold of it. You must think about what is
being said in your mind and you either reject it or you receive
it and if you receive it then your life will be altered by
the truth and if you reject it then you will continue on in
the darkness of this world. And so it is the truth of the
gospel. And the truth of the gospel is
actually quite painful. You know sometimes the truth
hurts and the gospel hurts. There was
a preacher who you all know I'm sure, Mr Spurgeon, and he said
the law of the gospel is like a needle going through a garment. It's painful. So you've got to
know that you have sinned against God. You've got to know that
you are not as good as you think you are. You've got to know that
if you continue on in the pathway that you are on at this time,
you are going to fall under the judgment of Almighty God. And
that's painful because it shows you who you are. It shows you
that you are sick. It shows you that you are not
as good as you think you are. And so the gospel has a law.
It's painful. And as that needle goes through,
it is painful. But then there is the silk of
the gospel, the silk of the precious promises of the Lord Jesus Christ
that those who believe the gospel, those who believe the truth of
the word of God, they are brought into fellowship with God. The
needle is painful, but the silk is smooth. When you go to the
doctors, You want the doctor to tell you the truth. You go
there and you say, I've got some issues with my heart. It's making
some funny noises. It's quite painful. You don't
want him to say, oh, don't worry about it. It's just normal to
feel like that. You just ignore it. That would
be nice. And you would go away thinking,
well that's good. I don't have to worry about that anymore. Just
continue on in my lifestyle and I don't have to worry about those
pains and that deep breaths and stuff like that. But he's told
you what you want to hear. But the truth might be painful. The truth might be that you've
got a serious heart condition. You've got super high blood pressure
with high cholesterol and you could have a heart attack any
minute. But he doesn't tell you the truth. He just tells you
it's all all right. But if he tells you the truth,
the truth is going to hurt you. You're going to be upset. Your
life is going to change. Your lifestyle is going to change.
Your heart is bad. You've got issues. You could
have to have an operation. And that's going to be painful. You could choose to believe him
or you could choose not to believe him. You could look at him and
say, well he's a doctor, seems to know what he's on about and
I'm going to believe what he says and I'm going to go through
with the medical procedure that he's suggesting and I'm going
to believe him. Or you could reject him. You
could say, well he looks like a bit of a young doctor, doesn't
probably know what he's on about and I'm going to ignore it. You
can choose whether you listen to him or whether you don't listen
to him but the truth may hurt. Just because the truth hurts
doesn't mean that the truth is wrong. And the truth of the gospel
hurts and it should hurt because it shows you that you are sick,
that I am sick and that we're in need of a doctor. And that
doctor is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only one that can help
with this type of sickness. The sickness is sin and it runs
through our whole bodies. It affects every single part
of us and even our souls and it will damn us ultimately in
hell. But Christ, the scripture tells
us, came to save sinners, not the righteous. Those who are
unaffected by the proclamation of the law, who think themselves
they're okay, he didn't come for those. If you're good enough,
then just continue ignoring the gospel, continue ignoring the
Lord Jesus Christ, continue ignoring the word of God and continue
on on your broad road that leads to destruction. Jesus came to save sinners and
if you find yourself to be a sick sinner then Jesus came to you,
came for you. The scripture tells us that it
is the truth of the gospel and sick sinners need that medication,
they need the truth. Like the doctor prescribes medication
so the Lord Jesus Christ prescribes a medication. It is believe upon
me and you will be saved. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
cleanses us from all sin. It is applied to the life of
those who believe and they are cleansed. They are in the truth. The truth of the gospel. it penetrates
into the darkness. I've said to you before if you
go down into a cellar and the lights are off you can't see
anything. But you put on the light and you can see the cracks
of the building, you can see the damp, you can see the defects. Those things were already there
but you just couldn't see them until the light comes on. And
we can't see our sin until it is presented to us through the
light of the gospel and the Holy Spirit illuminates our life to
how God sees us. And it is the truth. The truth
hurts. The darkness conceals the truth. Satan conceals the truth but
the gospel is the light of God unto salvation and it reveals
the truth of who I am, who you are and who God is and the beauty
of God's holy word and those that have come out of the darkness that are girt about with truth
they follow the truth They follow the truth. They no
longer want to walk in the lies of Satan. They no longer want
to walk in the darkness of this world. They want to follow the
truth. Jesus says in John 10, my sheep
hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. and I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them
me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out
of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. And Jesus says, my sheep, those
who hear the truth, they follow me. Jesus tells us, doesn't he,
himself, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Nobody comes to
the Father but by me or through me. That's the truth. The truth is exceedingly narrow. Jesus is not a way to God. It's not, well, the Muslims,
they can do their way and get to God. Or the Buddhists can
do their way and get to God. Or the atheists can do his way
and get to know God. Jesus is the way, the only way
that a person may get to God. Even if you don't believe in
God, you will still see God. Your belief or unbelief does
not make God disappear. The gospel is not a fairy tale.
It is the truth. And Jesus says that there are
two ways to enter into eternity. There is the broad way or there
is the narrow way. Matthew 7 it says, enter ye in
at the straight gate or in the narrow way for wide is the gate
and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there
be that go therein or thereat because straight is the gate
and narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that
find it. And so we know that lies and
the works of Satan, it is broad. There are multitudes of people. You can do whatever you want.
You can go wherever you want. You can cut a cross. You can
walk this way and that way. And the lies are varied and changing. But the way to God through the
Lord Jesus Christ is a narrow way. It's only one way. And it's narrow because the gospel
is narrow. Christ is narrow. And the way
to heaven is narrow. You can't just do whatever you
want to do. You are a follower of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You are a disciple of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You are a soldier of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And your life is girt about with
truth. And so the way, it is narrow. It's not a half-truth. You can half-heartedly follow.
The gospel requires complete commitment and surrender to the
Lord Jesus Christ. You're either following him or
you are not following him. You're either on the narrow way
that leads to life or on the broad road that leads to destruction.
You cannot straddle You cannot follow Christ on a Sunday and
then on a Monday go and do whatever you want. Christ has bought his
people through his blood and he owns them. He owns all of
them, every single part of them and they follow him and they
are wholeheartedly committed to him and they are believers
of the truth. It is not a truth for me and
not for you. We live in a day that is very
strange. That something may be true for
one person. They say, oh it's your faith
instead of the faith. Many ways to God. The truth changes. We know that
the truth of the world does change. But the ultimate truth that has
eternal consequences does not change. Christ is the truth. Christ is
the way and God's word is the truth and it's unchanging. And
so they follow truth. They also hold the truth. If any of you have read Pilgrim's
Progress, you'll know that as Pilgrim was on his journey, he
came to a house. And he was invited in, he knocks
on the door and he is invited into that house. And that house
symbolizes, I've forgotten the name of it, the house symbolizes
the word of God. And he enters in and he's shown
first into a room. And on the wall is a picture. And he looks at the picture and
there's a man there holding a book in his hand and he says he has
a book in his hand and the truth of the word of God on his lips
and a crown above his head, the world behind him and looking
onto God. that he had the truth in his
hand which is the word of God he had the truth of the law of
God on his lips and so the believer is girt about with truth he is
following the truth and he is holding the truth of God in his
hands John 17 17 says thy word is truth thy word is truth Those of you who have ever read
Psalm 119 will know that it is a psalm based upon the psalmist's
love for the Word of God and he wanted to be absorbed with
the word, he wanted to meditate upon the word, he wanted to follow
the word, he wanted to behold wonderful things out of the word
of God and so the believer is someone who is girt about with
truth but also they are holding the truth of God in their hands
and they are absorbed with the truth. Psalm 119 verse 11 it
says, thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin
against thee. Verse 43 and 42. So shall I have wherewith
to answer him that reproaches me, for I trust in thy word. And take not thy word of truth
utterly out of my mouth, for I have hoped in thy judgments. 142. Thy righteousness is an everlasting
righteousness and thy law is truth. And so the psalmist saw
something in God's Word of unchanging. He saw that it was the truth,
an unchanging truth. And round about him he saw things
that were constantly changing, lies and deceit and darkness. Yet he found within the Word
of God a lamp unto his feet and a light unto his pathway. He
found sweetness in the Word of God that satisfied his soul. He wanted to meditate upon the
Word of God. He wanted to follow the word
of God he would delighted in the ways of God because the truth is sweet to
the believer. Constantly we are oppressed with
lies from outside but we can come back always to the unchanging
truth of the word of God and read about the truth that is
in Christ Jesus and to meditate upon the great love of God that
he has towards his people. Not only do they have the truth
of the gospel not only do they follow the truth but they're
also indwelt by the truth. You see we read didn't we of
in verse 10 that the strength of the believer is not in themselves
Their strength is of the Lord and the power of his might and
that strength comes from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit
in their lives. We could never advance one foot
in this world, in the Christian pathway, without the power of
the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the strength
of the believer, the one who enables him to persevere and
to overcome the opposition, the one that helps him to stand in
the face of great temptation and persecution, the one who
enables him to hold up the shield of faith as Satan fires his mighty
fiery darts at them. In John 16, When Jesus is explaining to the
apostles that he was going to go away, he comforts them by
telling them that he's going to give them the Holy Spirit. John 16 verse 13. Howbeit when
he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you in all truth,
he shall not speak of himself whatsoever he shall hear that
shall he speak and he will show you things to come he shall glorify
me for he shall receive of mine and show it unto you all things
that the father hath are mine therefore said i that he shall
take of mine and show it unto you and so the promise is given
yes i'm going to go i'm going to ascend up into glory and that
was the truth Christ died to bear the sins of many and then
he rose again on the third day and then ascended up into glory
and there he is today. And so he spoke the truth. And
he says, when I am gone, I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit.
And so that is the truth. And for the Holy Spirit came
on the day of Pentecost and filled the apostles and they proclaimed
the truth of the gospel and multitudes were brought from darkness to
light and were saved and were indwelt by the Spirit of God,
the Spirit who is the Spirit of truth. God is truth. In him there is no darkness.
And so Christ is truth. And the Holy Spirit is also truth.
And he will guide you in the truth. He will guide us through
the scriptures, which is the truth. He will illuminate the
Word of God for the people of God. And he will enable them
to lay hold of the truths of the Word of God, to find comfort
in the Word of God. If this book is a load of lies,
why then does it change people? Why is it sharper than a two-edged
sword? Why is it like fire in the bones? Why does it break the heart in
sunder? Because it's powerful. It is
the truth and the truth always eradicates lies. People say we
want to expose the truth. We want to dig down and find
out what really happened because the truth exposes. And the truth
is what is comforting. We want to know what really happened. And as we see all those people
that were arrested because of the riots recently, they want
to get to the bottom of what happened. The judges and so forth
want to know the truth. And so they will reel up the
video evidence and question the people and find the truth. So that when the truth is presented,
judgment can be given. And so the believer has been
given the Holy Spirit of truth to enable them to walk the narrow
way that leads to life, following the Lord Jesus Christ and taking
the things of God and revealing them to us, taking the truth
and dividing it up that we may feed it. And so they have received
the truth of the gospel they are following the truth the Lord
Jesus Christ and they want to be near him they want to walk
worthy of him and they hold the truth of God in their hands the
truth of God upon their lips and they are indwelt by the holy
spirit of truth. In the book of Corinthians 2nd Corinthians chapter 4, verse 3 it says, But if our gospel
be hid, it is hid from them that are lost, in whom the God of
this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest
the light, the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine upon them. For we preach not ourselves
but Christ Jesus the Lord for ourselves and your servants for
Jesus sake. And so it's the light of the
glorious gospel that shines within the heart as the Holy Spirit
illuminates the truth of the word. It shines within the heart
of that person and they see their sin. They see I'm not as good
as I thought I was. All my religion is as a filthy
rag before a holy God. And they see themselves. But not only does he light upon
their sin, he also shines a light upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And
their eyes are turned from themselves and they view the Lord Jesus
Christ and they turn away from their sin and they believe upon
him. And it's a glorious gospel, the
gospel of Christ. And so the truth of God brings
you out of the darkness, out from the wrong way and brings
you on to the right way. The word of God can be trusted. It declares itself to be the
truth It's an unchanging truth. It has an effect upon millions
of people whose lives have been transformed by the truths that
are written within this book. In the world we cannot even trust
the news. Every news channel claims to
be telling you the truth or telling us the truth. One news says one
thing, one the other and you don't really know who to believe
anymore and who is telling the truth. And it can be discomforting,
it can be worrying and concerning because you don't really know
what is happening. Who is lying and who is telling the truth?
But the Word of God is never lying. It is the truth. It is the anchor for our souls. We read John 8 verse 32, and ye shall
know the truth and the truth shall make you free. We read,
we sang the hymn of John Wesley or Charles Wesley and he says,
my chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth
and followed me, followed thee. We have rammed down our throats daily,
liberty, freedom. But there is no freedom in this
world. They are chained to Satan. They are chained to sin. They
are not free. They are slaves of their master
who is holding them in darkness. They believe that they are free,
but they are not free. They are just slaves of Satan. Charles Wesley said, my chains
fell off. And every believer can declare when they heard the
truth of the word of God that their chains fell off. They were
released from the power of sin and the bondage of Satan. And they came to follow the good
shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, on the narrow way that leads
to life. And they are free. free to follow. An unbeliever
looks at the Christian life and they see bondage, they see suppression,
they see boredom, they see no freedom. We don't see that. We don't want what they want.
They see drunkenness as freedom. They see going where they want
to go as freedom. But our freedom is being freed
from sin and being able to follow the beloved shepherd of the sheep
the Lord Jesus Christ and being girt about with the truth. So
believers We're in a difficult time. And so as a belt needs
to be belted up tight to make us ready. And so we are to put
our belts on tightly to be immersed in the word of God walking closely
to the Lord Jesus Christ having the word of God in our mouths
in our hearts and on our lips that we may combat the lies of
Satan and do not be discouraged. because greater is he who is
in you than he who is in the world. We are indwelt with the
Holy Spirit of God we are temples of the Holy Spirit of God and
therefore buckle up follow Christ and walk worthy of our calling,
standing firm and resisting the opposition. Wherefore take unto
you the whole armour of God that you may be able to withstand
in the evil day and having done all to stand, stand therefore
having your loins girt about with truth. Amen. Let's sing our final hymn this
morning from Gadsby's hymn number 270. Gird thy loins up, Christian
soldier. Lo, thy captain calls thee out.
Let the danger make thee bolder. War in weakness, dare in doubt. Buckle on thy heavenly armor.
Patch up, knowing glorious peace. Let thy courage wax the warmer
as thy foes and fears increase. Hymn 270. Tune 652. Gird thy loins up, Christian soldier,
and thy captain calls thee out. Let the danger make thee bolder. and weakness, death, and doubt. Walk alone, thy heavenly Alma,
hatched up now in glorious peace. Let thy courage wax the warmer
as thy foes and fears increase. Find a golden petal round thee,
truth to keep thee firm and tight. Never shall the foe confound
thee, while the true blame tames thy fight. Righteousness within thee rooted,
may appear to take thy boat. Earth-net righteousness imbued
in thee, the breastplate of my heart. So in causeful preparation,
in the thought of promised dread, at the herb of free salvation,
as the helmet for thy head. Then is set with their disciples
Will the spirit, dearly sown, Call thy way to us, our dear
root, Our faithful, dear motherland. But when danger's curse hath
written, and thy soul grows near to death, when assaulted so by
Satan, when object of shield of faith, Furry darts of fierce
temptation, Intercepted by thy heart, There shall lose their
faults in patience, Faith in love and courage in heart. Who to speak thou be not able,
always pray and never rest. As a weapon for the feeble, be
his sword and wield it best. Ever on thy captain calling,
may thy first condition end. He shall hold thee up when falling,
or shall lift thee up when Dear Lord and almighty God, we
again thank thee for thy word, the truth. We thank thee for
the truth of the gospel, we thank thee for the truth of thy holy
word and we pray that the truth may rest in our hearts, we may
hold it in our hands, that we may speak it from our lips and
we ask that it may be as a defence for the lies and deceit that
we see round about us. Do help us Lord to wield the
truth of thy word, the sword of the spirit. We ask that thou
equip us for the advancements that we need and the oppositions
that we face. We pray that we may stand and
be made ready. Do then take us home in peace
and in safety and do bring us here this evening according to
thy will. And now may the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and the communion of the Holy Spirit, rest and abide with us
each now and for evermore. Amen.