Let us turn once more to God's
Word in the chapter we were reading, John chapter 12, rather John
chapter 14, and reading from verse 12 through to verse 14.
John chapter 14, reading verse 12 through 14. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also,
and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto
my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in
my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in
the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my
name, I will do it. see a prayer in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Previously at verse 6 we have
the familiar words of the Lord, I am the way, the truth and the
life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. One God and one mediator between
God and men, the man. Christ Jesus. And so we have
here prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We were thinking
of prayer on Thursday evening. I sort of say something of what
I term the impossibility of prayer. Strange title you might say.
And yet, do we not prove it to be so true? the difficulty of
prayer many times and we were looking on Thursday at those
words of Elias in Job 37 and verse 19, teach us what we shall
say unto him for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness. Many times we cannot order our
speech because of the darkness of our own minds. Now we need
one then to teach us, and here we remind it that there is one,
and the one who teaches is also the one of course who is the
only mediator. The Lord Jesus is our High Priest,
not only in the sense of making the sacrifice, the necessary
sacrifice for the remission of all our sins, but having accomplished
that part of his priestly work, now entered into the veil where
he ever lives to make intercession for us. And how comforting are
the words that we've just read. We have this repetition at the
beginning of verse 13. At verse 13 Christ says, in my name that will I do. And then he repeats himself in
verse 14, if ye shall ask anything in my name I will do it. Why is there such repetition? Why is there such repetition?
Because of our foolishness. Remember what the Lord says to
those two on the road to Emmaus who are fools and slow of heart
to believe all that the Prophet hath said. We're so slow to believe
really the Word of God and so we find the Lord does repeat
Himself. Precept must be upon precept,
precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a
little and there a little. And we see here something of
the wonder of the grace and the goodness of God when in order
to establish our faith He is pleased to repeat His teaching,
and repeat it not just once or twice, but many, many times. And yet whilst we recognize in
this something of the kindness of the Lord to our unbelieving
hearts, yet also there is something very solemn when the Lord repeats
Himself. He tells us, doesn't He, in the
Gospel, that men are to give an account for every idle word. We speak many idle words, but
the Lord never speaks an idle word. Every one of his words
is weighted. And so, whilst there's comfort
in the Lord's repetition, there's also some solemnity. It should solemnize our hearts
that the Lord has to deal with us in such a fashion as this.
Well, let us come to consider these words that I've read, and
you will see again the text running from verse 12 through 14 begins
with the Lord uttering a double verily. Literally it says, Amen,
Amen. In other words, so be it, truly. I say unto you, he that believeth
on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works
than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever
ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may
be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my
name, I will do it. In some ways, here we might say
we have the paradox of praying, the paradox of our prayers, because
we see two quite contrary things. There's limitation here, and
yet on the other hand there's largeness. And those are really
the two points that I want to take up for a while as we consider
this portion of God's Holy Word. The limitations. Now, you might
say, well surely in a sense there's no limitation. What does the
Lord say? Whatsoever. Whatsoever ye shall
ask. And then again in verse 14. If
ye shall ask anything. And these pronouns are indefinite
pronouns, aren't they? Whatsoever. Anything. Surely there's no restriction
there. There's no limitation at all. It's whatever. It's all things
that you might ask. But when we look more carefully
and closely at what the Lord is saying, we see that these
pronouns are linked to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
a limitation. It's what we ask in His name. It's what we ask in His Name,
that's the important thing, that's the limitation. His interests
are really to govern the content of all of our prayers. Everything
that we say is to be in terms of Himself. His honour, His glory. And we have of course that patterned
prayer that the Lord Jesus Christ taught His disciples And remember
the first three petitions of that prayer, the Lord's Prayer
we call it, and He says when we pray we are to say, our Father
which art in heaven, we are to acknowledge in the opening words
of that prayer our relationship to God, we are coming to Him
as that One who is our Father, He is the One who has made us,
not we ourselves, but He's not only that One who is our Creator
God, He's that One who in His mercy and in His grace is the
Savior of His people. The intimacy of the relationship
and yet also the thought that He is the High and the Holy One,
that He dwells in the heaven of heavens, that high and that
holy place, and we are very much those who are of the earth, and
this world that lies in wickedness. So we come and address Him as
our God, our Father which art in heaven. Then the first three
petitions. We begin of course by praying,
Hallowed be thy name. That's the primary thing that
we desire of God, that His name might be honoured and glorified.
Hallowed be thy name. And then thy kingdom come is
the second petition. We want to see his kingdom established. We want to see men bowing to
his authority. We certainly desire, if we are
sincere in our prayers, that we should be those who would
bow to his kingly office. Christ is not only that one who
is our great high priest. He is King of Kings. He is Lord
of Lords. thy kingdom come and then the
third petition of course thy will be done in earth as it is
in heaven this is how we are to pray and it all centers in
the Lord God himself the honor of his name the coming of his
kingdom the accomplishment of his good will his eternal purpose
this is what we are to make the chief concern in all our approaches
before him. And we not only have the instruction
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the disciples had come to him and
they asked, teach us to pray. As John taught his disciples
to pray. John the Baptist had obviously taught his disciples.
And they want the Lord to teach them. But he doesn't just teach
them by words. but he also teaches by example. What a remarkable
example of prayer we have when we consider the Lord Jesus Christ
in all the agonies of his praying there in the Garden of Gethsemane.
If ever a man prayed, it was there in the Garden that we see
the man Christ Jesus wrestling with his God and his Father in
his prayers. He is contemplating all of that
work that lay before him, that work that he had covenanted to
accomplish in the eternal purposes of God. He knew, he knew what
was before him. And when his hour was come, he
had set his face to go to Jerusalem, he would be obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Oh, but what a death it was that
he was to die, if thou be willing, he prayed, to take this cup from
me. Oh, he would, that he might not
have to drink that bitter cup and the dregs of it. But you
see, his human will is in perfect submission to the divine will
there in the garden. If it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, he
says, but thy will be done. God's will is sovereign, and
we see that so clearly in the praying of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is to us the great example
of the life of faith. If Paul is a patented end that
should hereafter believe, as he says in the opening chapter
of 1st Timothy, we've considered again recently that Paul is the
patent believer. is a pattern to them who should
hereafter believe but what does Paul say? Be ye followers of
me even as I am of Christ it is Christ who is the supreme
pattern of what it means to live the life of faith and in all
his life here upon the earth he must be about his father's
business this is his great burden, his great concern to do his own
will, but the will of him who has sent him, and to finish his
work. God's sovereign will, then, is
that that he's paramount, where there is real prayer. But we
might then ask the question, well, if God's will is so sovereign,
and must be accomplished, Why pray at all? What's the point
of prayer if God is sovereign and God has purposed all that
He is going to accomplish? Well, we have to remember this,
that the Lord God has not only ordained the end, but has also
appointed and ordained the way whereby He will accomplish His
purpose. God deals with every detail,
you see. The hymn writer says, prayer
was appointed to convey the blessings God designs to give. The longer
they live, should Christians pray, for only whilst they pray
they live. God has appointed prayer, it's
God's own ordinance. And it's by means of our poor
prayers that God accomplishes His eternal purpose. those words
in Isaiah 45 11 when he says to Israel concerning the works
of my hand command ye my oh God you see accomplishes his purpose
in answer to the prayers of his people and we have a remarkable
example of that of course in the the prayer of Daniel there
in the ninth chapter of the book of Daniel that prayer, we've
looked at it on previous occasions, that remarkable prayer. There
are many prayers recorded for us in the pages of Holy Scripture
and Daniel 9 is one of them. We're told the circumstances
aren't one. It's the first year of the reign of Darius, the seed
of the Medes. the Medes and the Persians. And
there in verse 2, in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel,
understood by books the number of the years whereof the word
of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, he's obviously reading
in Jeremiah 25, that the Lord would accompany 70 years in the
desolations of Jerusalem. and I set my face unto the Lord
God to seek my prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and
ashes and I prayed unto the Lord my God and made my confession. And so his prayer follows. But how is it that he comes to
pray? He is guided, he's directed by
his reading there in the word of the Lord, reading the book
of Jeremiah the prophet. Understanding, you see, that
that period that God had spoken of, quite specifically, was now
fulfilled. And that word is going to be
accomplished. But how will it be accomplished? It's accomplished
through the prayer of Daniel. And when we come to the end of
the prayer, how he is answered. Gabriel While I was speaking, he says
in verse 21, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision
at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about
the time of the evening oblation. And what does the man Gabriel,
it's the angel Gabriel, what does he say? Verse 23, At the
beginning of thy supplication the commandment came forth, and
I am come to show thee that thou art greatly beloved. Therefore
understand the matter and consider the vision." At the beginning
of thy supplication, before they call, God says, I will answer.
While they are yet speaking, I will hear. That's the amazing
thing. It's not that God is, in that
sense, subject to the prayers of His people, but He will make
use of their prayers. It makes use of their prayers.
It's before ever Daniel has uttered a word that the angel is sent,
the commission is received. And he comes from the presence
of God and he comes to assure Daniel that his praying is not
in vain. This is how we are to pray then. We are to recognize that there
is a limitation in our praying. It must be in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ that if we really come in and by Him who
is the Mediator, we will come in the Spirit of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now that one who of course is the Mediator of the New Covenant,
that one who comes to execute, to accomplish God's eternal purpose,
that great purpose of grace in the salvation of a multitude
of sinners so there is a limitation really that's not probably not
the right word to use but when we contrast that with what I
also said we'd consider our second point the largeness the largeness
of prayer and isn't that really what is being emphasized throughout
the words of this text, these three verses. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, either believeth on me, the works that I do shall
he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because
I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in
my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in
the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my
name, I will do it. Or there's a largeness here.
We can think of the language of the Psalmist in Psalm 118. How the Lord answered me and
set me in a large place. Doesn't the Lord bring his people
into a large place? Or when we come to see something
of the wonder of God They are coming to a king. Large petitions
we did bring. We just sang those words of John
Newton. The Lord, when he brings his
people to real prayer, there's an enlarging. There's an enlarging
there. And do we not prove it when we
do feel enabled in some measure to pour out our hearts We feel
so straightened in ourselves, so shut up sometimes in the narrowness
of our hearts, our unbelief. But when we're favoured with
that season of real communion with God, how enlarging it is.
Now two things here as we think about the largeness of prayer.
There's the gift of the Holy Spirit. and there's the glory
of God those two things for us to consider Christ's greatest
gift of all of course is that of the Holy Spirit and does he
not go on to speak of that with regards to his own prayers verse
16 I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter
that he may abide with you forever He is the Lord in these chapters,
these familiar chapters, 14, 15, 16, in these discourses as
He comes to the end of His ministry. And He is preparing His disciples
for the solemn truth that He is going to leave them. He is
going to die. He is going to accomplish all
the work that was given to Him in that covenant and He must
be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. All our
salvation, of course, is there in the doing and the dying of
the Lord Jesus. How He has come as that One made
under the Law of God and how He has fulfilled it, He has honoured
it, He has magnified it in respect to every commandment of the Law. He has wrought a righteousness
by a sinless life of complete submission and holy obedience. But He's not only honored and
magnified the Law in respect to all its precepts and commandments
but also in terms of all its dreadful penalties. He's borne
the punishment that was due to those who were the transgressors.
The soul that sinneth it must die. There must be the shedding
of blood. Without the shedding of blood
there's no remission. There must be sacrifice. And
Christ has made that great sacrifice. and here he's preparing the disciples
for that dreadful event he's going to leave them or they'll
see him again, he will rise again from the dead he'll show himself
to them by many infallible proofs over over 40 days as we're told
there at the beginning of Acts but then he will ascend to heaven
but ascending to heaven he will then send the Holy Spirits. And here as we see in that 16th
verse he speaks of his prayer to that end, I will pray the
Father and he shall give you another comforter. that he may
abide with you forever even the spirit of truth whom the world
cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but
ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you I will
not leave you comfortless I will not leave you orphans it says
in the margin I will come to you and so it is on that blessed
day of Pentecost the descending of the Spirits, Christ sending
Him, being by the right hand of God exalted, Peter says, to
those who gathered there at Jerusalem, being by the right hand of God
exalted, He has set forth this which ye now see and hear. And what will be the consequence? Well, we have it here in verse
12. the works that Christ has done,
well the apostles are going to do the same works. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, either believeth on me, the works that I do, shall
he do also. These men, these believing men,
they will do the same works as Christ did, and so he was. Their ministry really is a continuation
of the ministry of the Lord Jesus. And as Christ's ministry is authenticated
by the miracles, the great works, so their ministry will also be
authenticated. Remember what we're told there
in the opening verses of Hebrews chapter 2. Therefore we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at
any time we should let them slip. For if the words spoken by angels
were steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great
salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord? and was confirmed unto us by
them that heard him, God also bearing them witness both with
signs and wonders and with diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy
Ghost according to his will." Well that ministry of Christ
that was authenticated by the miracles is going to be evident
also in the ministry of his apostles. God will bear them witness with
signs, wonders, diverse miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost. All their ministry is authenticated. The same Spirit that's there
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and God didn't give the Spirit by
measure unto Christ, it was such an infusion of the Spirit and
now Christ was able to accomplish miracles he cast out the demons
by the Spirit of God, well they'll do the same but they'll also
do something greater that's what it says neither believeth on
me the works that I do shall he do also and greater works
than these shall he do because I go unto my father and observe
what it says The word works really is, it's one of those words introduced
by the translators. It's not there in the Greek.
Literally, having spoken of the miraculous works that he has
done, that they'll also do, but then he says, and greater than
these, greater than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father. No, it's not so much to think
of greater miracles. No, these are different works.
These really are spiritual works. It's not so much that it is tangible,
the outward evidence of the Spirit of God, but it's the inward work
of the Holy Spirit. It's that that the Spirit accomplishes
in the souls of men and women, and it's associated with the
coming of the Spirit of God. Well, remember what we are told concerning the coming of the
Spirit. What do we read there in the
opening chapter of the Acts? Well, first of all we are told,
aren't we, how they were just 120. in Acts chapter 1 and verse 15
the total number of the disciples was 120 and then when we come
over into the second chapter and we read of the day of Pentecost
and the descent of the Spirit how many are converted? 3,000 it says 3,000 souls And then later in Acts chapter
4 and verse 4 on another occasion we read of 5,000 men. Quite specifically
men, it doesn't mention women, doubtless there would also have
been women and maybe more women than men. But 3,000 souls on
the day of Pentecost 5,000 men alone there at the beginning
of Acts chapter 4 and then when we come into chapter 5 we read
of multitudes both of men and women. Oh surely these are the
greater things that are being spoken of here in this verse. and see what the Lord says greater
than these shall he do and the reason because I go on to my
father because the Lord Jesus has gone
to his father in heaven, he has accomplished his work here upon
the earth and we go back to chapter 7 where
Christ is there in Jerusalem on the feast of the tabernacles
and it's a great day of the feast remember and he speaks of the
spirits, speaks of the coming of the spirits and what would
be the consequence in the souls of men and women There in chapter
7 verse 37, In the last day, that great day of the feast,
Jesus stood and cried, saying, If a man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. And then that remarkable parenthesis
in verse 39, We are told, This spake he of the Spirit, which
they that believe on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was
not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified or because
I go unto the Father because I go unto the Father when Christ
accomplishes his work there's that great outpouring of the
Spirit whilst He granted the Spirit without measure at the
time of his baptizing. So, in a sense, this whole day
of grace has been baptized with the glorious coming of the Holy
Ghost on that day of Pentecost. And again, now the Lord is bringing
this out continually in these chapters. Look at what He says
in verse 7 of chapter 16, nevertheless I tell you the truth. it is expedient
to you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will
not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you it's
because he has gone to the Father and so observe what we have here
in the verses before us this morning Is there not a connection
between the coming of the Holy Spirit and prayer? He speaks of the coming of the
Spirit in terms of these greater works, these greater things.
Because I go unto my Father, and then He says, And whatsoever
ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may
be glorified in the Son. If he shall ask anything in my
name, I will do it. There's a connection between
the spirits and prayers. The greater things, in a sense,
are the answer that we get to our prayers. Because Christ has accomplished
His work, Here upon the earth he has entered heaven, and there
he is the great high priest before the throne of God, but he's not
left us comfortless. He's granted us that gracious
ministry of the Spirit. We think of the language of Romans
8, we know not what to pray for as we ought. It's the Spirit
who helps us in all our infirmities. And this is why often we are
dark in our own minds because we have to learn our complete
and utter dependence upon the Holy Spirit. How can we pray
without the Spirit of God? Or remember what we're told concerning
the disciples on that day. There may well have been only
120 disciples. But we're told when the day of
Pentecost was fully come they were with one accord in one place. they were with one accord in
one place previous to that we're told of those 120 in the opening
chapter of verse 14 have they all continued with one accord
in prayer and supplications to God or they were a praying community
And that is the evidence, is it not, of the work of the Spirit
amongst the people of God. They will be moved by the Spirit
to plead with God, to pray to God. The Spirit is there where such
prayers are being made and yet we also have that remarkable
promise of the Lord Jesus Christ himself In Luke 11 and verse
13, how much more shall your heavenly Father, Christ says,
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask? If we're praying we
already have the Spirit and yet in our praying we're to continually
ask that we might know more and more of the Spirit. come thou
best of all donations. God can give or we implore says
Toplady in the hymn. We're going to sing that hymn
of Toplady's present. Oh, but what a prayer is that.
Come thou best of all donations. And we need to pray that God
would grant us to know more and more of the Blessed Spirit's
greater. Greater than thee shall he do
because I go unto my Father. And if I depart and go unto the
Father, I will send him, I will send the Spirit unto you, says
the Lord Jesus Christ. Or we're not to think, you see,
in terms of greater miracles. There are those, and they profess
to be Christians, they profess to be evangelical, they want
to see remarkable works, miracles. But that's not what the Lord
is speaking of. The greater works are those associated with the
Lord's ascent into heaven, his session
at the Father's right hand, his sending of the Spirit. They're
the standing miracles of Christ's spiritual kingdom. I came across
that expression reading a sermon of one of the old Scots divines,
John Love. He spoke of the standing miracles
of Christ's spiritual kingdom. What is that? It's experiencing
salvation. It's when the Lord comes and
does a work in the souls of men and women. And that's more glorious. That's more glorious than all
the mighty works that we read of that were performed by the
Lord Jesus here upon the earth. that authentication of his ministry,
that authentication of the ministry of his own disciples. There are
greater works. Christ's kingdom is really a
spiritual kingdom. His kingdom is not of this world.
He says the kingdom of God is within you. And there we need,
if we know anything of that inward kingdom, we must know we need
that gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit. and here then we
see something of the largeness of prayer because we have the
Spirit of God or we have the Holy Ghost and we're not to grieve
the Spirit of God or God forbid that we should ever be guilty
of that grieving God's the Holy Ghost but then also here with
regards to the largeness of prayer doesn't Christ speak of it all
being to the glory of the Father In verse 13 he says, Whatsoever
ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may
be glorified in the Son. If we have the Spirit helping
us in prayer, when we come to this last clause in verse 13,
do we not have all the persons in the Godhead? We pray in the
Spirit that the Father may be glorified in the sun. Think of those great words that
we have we often refer to the or part of the passage really
at the end of Ephesians chapter 3 and I want to turn to it because
I don't want to get get it wrong relying on a poor memory those
last two verses now unto him that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the
power that worketh in us. Unto him be glory in the church,
by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." So when we pray, this
is what God is able to do. And it's all to the glory of
God. It's God's glory in the church,
by Jesus Christ, world without end. When we think of the economy of salvation, God's purpose,
the covenant of grace we might say, when we think in terms of
that covenant, that inter-trinitarian covenant, between Father, Son
and Holy Ghost. Remember how it is the Father
in that covenant who sustains the majesty of the Godhead and
it is the Son who stands as that one who is the surety of all
the elects. Now of course Christ when we
think of Him in His eternal Sonship He is equal to the Father. We
never lose sight of that blessed truth. Father, Son and Holy Ghost
are co-eternal and they're co-equal. There's no superiority, no inferiority. We might speak in terms of the
first person, the second person, the third person in the Trinity,
but the second and the third person are equal to the first
person. There's no priority. no inferiority they're co-equal
and doesn't the Lord in a sense remind Philip of that here in verse 8 Philip says to the
Lord show us the Father and it's a fight as us Jesus said unto
him have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not
known me Philip he that hath seen me hath seen the Father
O sayest thou then, show us the Father. Believest thou not that
I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak
unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth
in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father,
and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very work's
sake." Well there is an equality. Isn't the Lord Jesus the image
of the invisible God? And yet, when we think in terms
of that whole economy of salvation, and the covenant of grace, the
Father is the one who, as it were, sustains the majesty of
the Godhead, and there is the Son, and He stands as a surety.
of all the elect, and he comes as the servant of God, and he
can say here in the chapter of verse 28, my Father is greater
than I. I and my Father are one, yet
when we think in terms of the whole outworking of salvation,
my Father is greater than I, because he comes as that one
who is the mediator of the covenant. and comes to accomplish all the
goodwill and purpose of the Father. And ultimately, ultimately all
will be offered up unto the Father. We have it in the language of
Paul there in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 24, then come at the end Speaking of the coming of Christ,
then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom
to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule
and all authority and power. For he must reign till he hath
put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under
his feet, but when he says all things are put under him it is
manifest that he is accepted which did put all things under
him and when all things shall be subdued unto him then shall
the son also himself be subject unto him that put all things
under him that God may be all in all all ultimately you see
is to the glory of God all is to the glory of God, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. And so Christ says, whatsoever
ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may
be glorified in the Son. All of salvation centers in the
glory of God. And that's where our prayer must
center then. Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, Thy will
be done in earth as it is in heaven. And here we have that
assurance that the Lord Himself will hear and will answer our
prayers. What does He say in verse 13?
That will I do. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my
name, that will I do. And again he says it there in
the 14th verse that he will do he will do that that will be
to the honor and glory of God if ye shall ask anything in my
name I will do it or God grant us faith to believe that what
does James say to us? ye have not because ye ask not
You ask and you receive not because you ask, amiss that you may consume
it upon your lusts. Always to come and we are to
learn to pray even as the Lord Himself shows us by His own blessed
example. We pray for the accomplishment
of the goods, will and pleasure of our God that all might redound
to the honor and the glory of His name. May the Lord be pleased
to bless His Word to us. Amen.