Let us turn to God's Word again
in that portion of Scripture that we read, the book of the
Prophet Jeremiah. And I want to direct you tonight
to the last two verses in chapter 39. Jeremiah 39, verses 17 and
18. the word that Jeremiah is commanded
to go and speak to the Ethiopian eunuch, he bade Melech, but says
the Lord through his servant the prophet, but I will deliver
thee in that day, saith the Lord, and thou shalt not be given into
the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid, for I will surely
deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy
life shall be for a prey unto them, because thou hast put thy
trust in me, saith the Lord." The words are not really dissimilar
to words spoken to another. Those words at the end of chapter
45 that was spoken to Barak who was a sort of scribe to the prophet
Jeremiah. There in that short 45th chapter,
we find words very similar to the ones I've just read. In the
last two verses, verses 4 and 5, Thus shalt thou say unto him
that is unto Barak, The Lord saith thus, Behold, that which
I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted
I will pluck up. Even this whole land And seekest
thou great things for thyself, seek them not. For behold, I
will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord. But thy life
will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest. And we have on a previous occasion
considered those words for a text and I think I then remarked on
the fact that of course there is a sermon of J.C. Philpott from those very words
at the end of chapter 45 that was preached in the Old Salem
Chapel here in Portsmouth round about the year 1840. In fact only a few days ago I
was reading again that particular sermon and I would commend it
to you. the words that the Prophet Jeremiah
was commanded to speak to to Barak. But tonight we come to
consider these words at the end of chapter 39. Similar words,
yes, but this time words that were spoken to this man called
Ebed Melek. He was an Ethiopian He was a eunuch and he was serving
there in the court of the king of Judah. The king being Zedekiah. And he was the one really who
was good to Jeremiah. He was involved in Jeremiah's
deliverance out of the dungeon as we saw in the first part of
our reading in chapter 38. when his enemies had come to
the king and obtained permission from the king to take the prophet
and they had taken him and they cast him into the dungeon where
there was no water but mire and we're told our Jeremiah being
cast there is sinking in the mire. But then Ebed Melech the
Ethiopian, one of the units, is the one who goes and pleads
for the life of the Prophets and he received permission to
deliver him at least out of that terrible dungeon. He took men with him, we read,
and went into the house of the king under the treasury and took
them, told, cast clouts and all rotten rags and let them down
by court into the dungeon to Jeremiah And he says to the Prophet,
put down these old cast clouds and rotten rags under thine arm
holds, under thine armpits, we would say, onto the courts. And the Prophet does so and they
draw up Jeremiah out of the dungeon. But then he remains in the courts
of the prison. He still doesn't enjoy any liberty,
but at least he is not now sinking in the mire, in the dungeon. And it is to this man that the
Lord God sends the gracious words of our text, the promise. What
we have here is God's promise. God says, But I will deliver
thee in that day. Thou shalt not be given into
the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid. I will surely deliver
them, and they shall not fall by the sword, but thy life shall
be for a prey unto them, because thou hast put thy trust in me,
says the Lord." What is the time that he's being spoken of? Well,
it is the time of the captivity. That's what we have a description
of really in this 39th chapter. We're told quite specifically
the time. The historic time is mentioned
in the opening verses. It was the ninth year of Zedekiah's
reign, the tenth month, when the armies of Nebuchadrezzar
or Nebuchadnezzar, it's the same person, just a different spelling,
an R or an N. Nebuchadnezzar comes with his
army against Jerusalem, besieges it, And after a period of about
18 months, in the 11th year, the fourth month, the ninth of
the month, the city was broken up. And the king and all his
court flew, but the armies of the Chaldeans pursue after them.
And Zedekiah is taken, his sons are killed before his eyes, his
own eyes are taken out and he's bound up with chains and carried
off into Babylon. So this is the time then of the
Babylonian captivity and we have this word that is spoken now
to this man who was not a Jew, he was an Ethiopian, he was a
eunuch and yet God as a gracious word for such a man as this. And that's what I want us to
consider tonight, that life that He's spoken of. Thy life shall
be for a prayer unto thee, says the Lord God. We bear it, God says, Thy life
will I give unto them for a prayer. And first of all I want us to
consider the significance then of what is being said here. there
are some five promises here in verses 17 and 18 but we're noticing
in particular this fifth promise the last of the five promises
but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee says the Lord God It is that life of God that is
coming to his soul, but where that life of God is granted to
any sinner, that life is given for a price. Remember the language
of the Apostle Paul at the end of Philippians, where he speaks
of their faith, unto you he says, it is given in the behalf of
Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for his
sake as the faith is given it's given in Christ's behalf says
the apostle to those Philippians it is the gift of God and yet
where there is that faith there will also come trials, troubles,
tribulations and testings. But it is interesting to observe that such
a life as is preyed upon is really one of the marks of those who
are the true children of God. What is God doing at the time
of the Babylonian exile? Yes, he is visiting a judgment
upon Judah because of their sins. It's the punishment of their
sin when God comes and makes use of this awful heathen monarch
Nebuchadnezzar. But God is also so working amongst
his people that he is preserving the true remnant, the true Israel
of God. We know they are not all Israel
that are of Israel but there was a remnant and one of the
marks of the remnant is that they have this life but this
life is given for a price. Now we see that previously here
in chapter 21 Look at what it says there, chapter 21 and verses 8 and 9, God says unto
these people, They shall say, Thus saith the Lord, Behold,
I said before you the way of life, and the way of death. He that abideth in this city
shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.
But he that goeth out, and falleth to the Caolians that besiege
you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a pride. This is the remnant. That remnant is going to be taken
away, removed into Babylon. They're going to languish 70
years in exile, but there is the true remnant. And that life
that is being preserved is given for a cry. And we saw it again
in the opening part of our reading. There in chapter 38 and verse
2, Thus saith the Lord, He that remaineth in this city shall
die, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. But he
that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live, for he shall have
his life for a pride, and shall live." You see the significance
there. Those whose life seems to be
in the most grave danger, this is the remnant. Now, there is
spiritual significance here. And we certainly must recognize
that when we take account of the names of these men. We know
how important names are in Holy Scripture. The names that are
given to certain men is part of the message of the Prophet. The names that the Prophet sometimes
give to their children is part of the message. We see that in
Isaiah's case. And here the names of these men,
Baruch, whose life was given to him for a prey. What does
Baruch mean? It means blessed. He's one of those blessed men.
Or remember how we read of the blessed men throughout the Book
of Psalms. Those blessed men are the Lord's
men. And this man that we're considering tonight, Hebed-Melech,
his name means servant of the King. Those who are the Lord's servants,
those who are the Lord's disciples, they will know something in a
spiritual sense of the experience that is being described here.
This was a very real literal experience. This man was actually
taken away into exile, but his life was preserved. But how that
life was preyed upon, his natural life, But can we not also speak
of a spiritual life? If we have any life of God in
our souls, if we have any spiritual life, that surely is the gift
of God. Or remember those words that
were spoken to Barak, we've already referred to them, there at the
end of chapter 45, Thy life, God says, Thy life will I give
unto them for a price, or the very life is the gift of God. The Lord Jesus, what does He
say in the course of His ministry concerning those that the Father
has given to Him? I give unto them eternal life,
He says. I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. No man is able to pluck them
out of My hand. My Father which gave them is
greater than all. No man can pluck them out of
my Father's hand. Or there will be the attempt
to take away that life, that spiritual life, that new life,
that life of God in the soul. But it cannot be destroyed. It is an eternal life. I give
unto them eternal life, says the Lord Jesus Christ. By grace
I is saved, through faith. And that not of yourselves, Paul
says, it is the gift of God. All that very life of faith that
they are to live, the very faith that they are exercising, it
is what God has given to them. And now God has bestowed it so
freely and so sovereignly. Remember the language that we
have at the beginning of Peter's second general epistle. when
he speaks of them that have obtained like precious faith with us. All they've obtained is faith.
And as I've said on previous occasions, the particular verb
that we have there, the verb to obtain, it literally means
to obtain a thing by the casting of a lot. It seems to be obtained
merely by chance, but there's no chance. The fictitious powers
of chance and fortune I defy. My life's minutest circumstance
is subject to His eye. When the lot is cast into the
lap, what does a wise man say? The whole disposing thereof is
of the Lord. And it is a demonstration of
the absolute sovereignty of God. Nothing happens by chance. That
life that is obtained, it's obtained by the goodwill and pleasure
of God. It is what God himself has appointed. That spiritual life is a given
life. That new life that we must all
have that comes of course by that great miracle of the new
birth. when the sinner dead in trespasses and sins is born again
and becomes a partaker now of the divine nature. It's the life
of God in the soul of the man. And yet, how that life, that
spiritual life is preyed upon. What do we read here? Thy life
shall be for a prey unto thee. preyed upon by these carnivorous
beasts that feed upon other creatures. Who are these that would prey
upon the life of God that has been brought into the soul of
some sinner? Well we know the devil himself
would prey upon that life. Do we not read of the devil?
as a roaring lion, there's a carnivorous beast if ever there was one,
and the devil is a roaring lion, we're told, walketh about seeking
whom he may devour. And our God's people know that.
But it's not just, it's not just the devil, is it? David cries
out in the Psalm, Psalm 57, my soul is among lions, he says. Lions in the plural, not just
the devil. Oh, there are many lions. We
can think of something of the experience of Daniel. We're familiar, I'm sure, with
that sixth chapter of the book of Daniel, where Daniel himself
is cast into the den of lions. And there surely that man's life
is in the gravest of danger. Will they not devour him? And
yet God preserves him in the midst of all those lions. Previous
to that we read of those three Hebrew young men cast into the
fiery furnace and yet even there in the fires, in the midst of
the furnace they are not consumed or they are delivered and there's
no smell of any smoke upon them and when the king, it's the same
Nebuchadnezzar that we read of here in chapter 39 in Jeremiah,
the same man was that one who had cast those three young men
into the midst of those flames. What do we read in Daniel 3? 24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king
was a stone. and rose up in haste, and spake,
and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound
into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the
king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see
four men, loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have
no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Oh how the Lord, you see, will
preserve that life that has been given. He is with His people,
with His children all the time, whenever their spiritual life
is being preyed upon by any of these beasts. He is there. And what beasts there are, it's
not just the devil. It's not just the world. Oh,
the world is a great enemy. The world lies in wickedness.
All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of
the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is
of the world. But it's not just the devil,
it's not just the world, it's not just enemies without. It's also that within. buried
in one of his hymns, it's not in Gadsby's, but he says, each
human breast is Daniel's den, where lusts like lions lay and
yell and rend on faithful men who fall in easy prey. Oh, how
that life of God, you see, is preyed upon. How it's preyed
upon. It is the life of faith. and
this man has that faith thou hast put thy trust in me says
the Lord but you know where there is faith will not the devil seek
to assault that faith will he not come sometimes even with
the most wicked thoughts infidel thoughts some of God's children
are brought to that to question the very being of God atheistic
thoughts that awful rebellion calling the Word of God into
question. It's the devil, you see, he comes and he plants these
wicked thoughts in the mind, seeking to destroy the life of
God. It's the devil, yes, but he's
got that within us that he can so easily take advantage of.
It's only the Lord Jesus who can say, the Prince of this world,
come us and that nothing can burn. Oh, there is so much in
us, in our fallen nature. that he can so easily begin to
take advantage of how he comes sometimes and it's
not now coming with those wicked thoughts of unbelief and rebellion
he comes sometimes and he puffs us up with pride and we think
we've we've come to something, we've attained some standing
in our Christian experience and we begin to presume with God.
Ought is pride a cursing pride, that spirit by God abhorred,
do what we will, it haunts us still and keeps us from the Lord. how it does keep us from the
Lord, how we have to learn our complete and utter dependence
upon him all the time, nothing of ourselves. This life is preyed
upon you sir. Or there are those times surely
when we see the world and it's such
an attractive place and we covet the things of the world and we
desire these things and our hearts go after these things covetousness,
worldliness. Are not these terrible carnivorous
beasts that so often come and devour any spiritual life that
is in us? And we sometimes feel that we're
hardly preserved at all if we're the sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a remarkable word that
we find in the book of the prophet Amos chapter 3 verse 12 he says
as the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs
or a piece of an ear and sometimes we feel as if our spiritual life
has been so preyed upon it's been almost devoured and what
is left of it? is there anything left of it? And you know this, I say, should
not take us by surprise. This is the mark of those who
have the life of God in their souls. They will find that life
being assaulted. Satan will not be inactive. And
he will seek to take advantage of us. And we have the record in scripture
of the experiences of the god all we are told much are we not
concerning that man after God's own heart so much of David's
experience is contained there in the in the books of Samuel
in Kings and also of course in the book of Psalms and why are
these things written? they are all written for our
learning that's what Paul says all these things are written
for our learning that we through Patience or endurance and comfort
of the Scriptures might have hope. Patience. Now we have to be those who are
patient, who patiently endure, who persevere. In all this good
fight of faith, these things are written. All that we learn
concerning David and David's experiences. What does David
say? He says in the 119th Psalm, My
soul is continually in my hand. or he feels that his soul is
so vulnerable that he's going to lose it. It's in his hands. That suggests really it's in
great danger. He might lose his grip, it might
be lost. Now he cries out to his friend Jonathan in the first
book of Samuel when he's having constantly to flee from Jonathan's
father King Saul. He says, there is but a step
between me and death. Why my very next step will be
my last step. I'm going to die. How can I endure
this conflict? I shall now perish one day, he
says. All these things are written,
you see, that we might understand what the life of God is all about. thy life shall be for a price
unto thee. When we come to the New Testament
we see just the same. Paul speaks of himself and his
ministry and he says many things and amongst those many things
he says he's in death's off. In death's off. You remember
how there at the end of 2nd Corinthians he's having to defend his apostleship. The false apostles have come
and stolen the hearts of those Corinthians. And he has to speak
of himself, he doesn't want to do this. But read through the
11th and 12th chapters there. And how he gives that great catalogue
of all that he had to endure. Why there were times when he
thought he would die and not live. And how that life of God
you see is ever being assaulted. Again, what does Peter say? In 2 Peter 4 verse 18, If the
righteous scarcely be saved. If the righteous scarcely be
saved. Now, it's a word that we have
to read, and meditate upon, and think upon. What is it saying,
that word? Is it suggesting to us that that life of God, that
new life, that spiritual life that has come into the person
who is born again of the Spirit of God, is it saying that that
life can be lost? It's not saying that. The Lord
Jesus says he gives eternal life. Eternal life is eternal life. It will never be destroyed. Why
eternal life will take the believer, even through death itself, into
the very presence of God? It cannot be destroyed. Or the
Puritan Richard Sibbes remarks concerning that statement, if
the righteous scarcely be saved, and says, it's not a word of
doubt, but a word of difficulty. It's the same as we have in our
text you see. It means that that life is going to be attacked,
it's going to be preyed upon. There are enemies that will seek
to destroy the work of God in the soul but they cannot prevail. And that's the comfort of the
people of God. There is no deficiency. no deficiency at all in the grace
of God. Why the life of faith is bound
up, is it not, with the trying of faith? As these two come together
they cannot be separated. Again the language of of Peter
when he speaks of the trying or the trial of your faith he
says it's much more precious than of gold that perisheth though
it be tried in the fire is to be found unto praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ where there is faith there will
be that trying of the faith God has joined these two together
and what God has joined together, let not man put asunder. God
has said, thy life shall be for a price, unchosen. How does he continue? Because. And that's an important word
here in the text. There's a connection you see.
between what has been said and what's about to be said. Thy
life shall be for a prey unto thee because thou hast put thy
trust in me. It's because he has a real faith
that he's having to experience and to endure the trying of that
faith. All God sees that all that trial
is good. It's good for the man, it's good
for the faith of God that is in that man. Concerning those carnivorous
beasts, God says in the Psalms, slay them not, lest my people
forget. or we're prone to forget our
complete utter dependence upon the Lord God. We have to learn it in experience.
We can do nothing of ourselves. We're all weakness. All our strength,
all our help, all our enabling must come from the Lord God.
And so God in his inscrutable wisdom recognizes the importance
of the trial, to teach his people what it is to live a life of
spiritual dependence. We're not independent. We're
in no way independent. We're those who must ever be
looking to the Lord, ever coming to the Lord, ever calling upon
the Lord, day by day, moment by moment. All we have to live
the life. and it's the life of faith. But here is our comfort, you
see, that the one that we have to do with is none other than
the Lord God Himself. Because thou hast put thy trust
in me, saith the Lord. Oh, it's that covenant name,
I am the Lord, I change not, Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. That's where we draw our strength. It all comes from Him and His
covenant. Jerusalem was, of course, destroyed. The temple raised to the ground. Jeremiah goes into Egypt. The remnant is taken away into
Babylon. And then of course after this
prophecy we have the lamentations of the Prophet, the lamentations
of Jeremiah. And remember what he says there
in chapter 3 verse 22 following, it is of the Lord's mercy that
we are not consumed Because His compassions fail not, they are
new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness. The
Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in
Him. The Lord is good unto them that
wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. Oh, that's the lesson
that we have to learn. The goodness of God, the grace
of God. And so here we see how he speaks not only of the life
being preyed upon, life given for a prey, all but what promises
we have. As I said at the outset, it's
all couched in promise. Five promises. I will deliver
thee in that day, saith the Lord. Thou shalt not be given into
the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid. I will surely deliver
thee. Thou shalt not fall by the sword,
thy life shall be for a prey unto them. Now what is the promise
here? We've considered in particular
that last of the promises, life given for a prey, but what are
those four previous promises? Well it's all really the promise
of deliverance. In fact we have that twice, God
says I will deliver. I will surely deliver well let us turn to consider
the promise that God gives the promise in particular of deliverance
three things I want to mention as we draw to a conclusion this
evening first of all the time of the promise the time of the
promise I will deliver thee, God says, in that day. In that day. What is that day? Well, it's the time of the captivity. In the previous verse, verse
16, Jeremiah is told to speak to Ebed-Melech, the Ethiopian,
saying, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, Behold,
I will bring my words upon this city for evil and not for good,
and they shall be accomplished in that day before them. And
that's what we have, of course, in the first part of the chapter.
The description of how that day came, and it was an awful time,
it was the time of captivity, the King of Babylon with his
army besieging Jerusalem, the city being broken up, and all
that follows. It is that time, oh it was a
time, a grievous time, for this man who was there as a servant
in the courts of the King. But look at what it says there
in verse 16. Behold, I will bring my words upon this
city, God says, for evil. Now we know the significance
even of that word, behold. Here is something to consider.
Here is something that we should look to and look into. And Mark,
God says He will bring His words upon this city for evil. Or what is this evil? It's not
moral evil. All perish the thought God is
not the author of sin. What is this evil? Really it's
not something moral, it's that that's calamitous. God says again in the book of
the prophet Amos, shall there be evil in the city and I have
not done it. Calamity! And that's what had
happened. We go back again to what said
previously in chapter 35 verse 17, Therefore thus said the Lord
God of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring upon Judah
and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that
I have pronounced against them because I have spoken unto them
but they have not heard, and I have called unto them, but
they have not answered." Or God had sent His servant, He'd sent
Jeremiah the prophet, He'd sent others of the prophets, but they'd
shut their ears, they wouldn't listen, they wanted to hear the
words of the false prophets who were saying, peace, peace, when
there was no peace. But all that God had pronounced
by His faithful servants, all that terrible calamity, it must
come. it must come and so it was in
that day oh but this is the time of the promise in the midst of
all the confusion all the commotion this poor Ethiopian eunuch is
assured that his life is going to be preserved all these men that he is afraid
of they won't be able to do anything against him God will secure him,
secure his safety but you know again when we read in that third
chapter of the Lamentations how Jeremiah reminds us that God delights in mercies
much more than in judgments Oh, look at the language that we
have there in chapter 3 of Lamentations. Verse 32, Though he cause grief,
yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he does not afflict willingly
nor grieve the children of men. Oh, that day! Can we not think
of that day in a Gospel sense? I will deliver thee in that day."
Isn't that the great day of the Gospel when we read such words
here in the Old Testament? The last days? The day in which we're living? Behold now is the accepted time
and behold now is the day of salvation. All God's time you
see. Oh this is the time in which
we're living. What a favored people we are that we should
hear such promises as these that were spoken to this man those
many many years ago and yet left on record for our instruction,
for our learning, for our encouragement. The time. The time of the promise. But then also, secondly here,
observe the truth. The truth of this promise. He says here, in delivering, I will deliver
thee. That's how it reads, as it were,
in the margin. There's a repetition, in delivering,
I will deliver thee. It's rendered in the text, I
will surely deliver them because the repetition you see is not
vain repetition. The repetition emphasizes the
certainty of the deliverance. Paul speaks of that God who delivered
us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust
that he shall yet deliver us. Well this is the God the God
who speaks truth he is not a man that he should lie nor the son
of man that he should repent hath he said it shall he not
do it hath he spoken it shall he not make it good or there
is such an emphasis here God says in verse 17 I will deliver
thee in that day And then again here in verse 18, in the margin,
in delivering, I will deliver thee, or as we have it in the
text, I will surely deliver thee. And the way in which it's rendered
in the actual verse, doesn't it have the idea of God's oath,
the sureness of it? When God's made promise to Abraham,
because he could swear by no greater, we're told, he swore
by himself. how his word is so sure, why
he has magnified his word, the psalmist says, above all his
nine. Oh, it's the truth of his promise,
the timing of his promise, why that's so perfect, just when
the trouble comes. And the deliverance that God
will grant in the midst of those troubles is so sure. Ah, but then, as we conclude,
observe this man, Abed Melech. Here is the man who is trusting
in the promise. Oh, we see the reality of this
man's faith, because God says thou hast put thy trust in Melech. His trust is in the Lord God.
Now as we have already seen he was bold to defend the Prophet
Jeremiah when he was cast into the miry pit when his feet were
sinking in the mire there in the dungeon. It was this man
who comes forward and speaks on the Prophet's behalf bold
to go before the king and to request his release and it was
granted and he takes these men at the king's instruction and
they draw up Jeremiah with cords they take him out of the dungeon here is his faith and we see
his faith you see love of the brethren We know that we have passed from
death unto life, John says, because we love the brethren. And what
a faith this is, it is a faith that worketh by love. It works by love. James says, I will show thee
my faith by my works. How important it is, you see.
Faith working, working by love. Faith demonstrating. And this
is what we see in this man. The love that he bears towards
the Lord's servant and the love that he really bears towards
the Lord God Himself. The very one whom Jeremiah, his
servant, are. Oh here is the promise you see.
These five promises. but besides promises there are
also commandments and statutes and precepts and this man he
doesn't just live off the promises of God he seeks to live in accordance,
in obedience to the precepts of God or there's the reality
of his faith friends we're not to be those who are partial in
the word of God Oh God grant that we might be those who delight
in it all. Yes we love the promises exceeding
great and precious promises but we heed also all the solemn warnings
and we do take account, we desire to take account of all the holy
precepts all we want to be those who as we read God's Word are
beginning to think God's thoughts after Him but not only to think
God's thoughts but to live that life that life of faith to conform
more and more to the image of our Lord Jesus Christ our lives
you see are given if we have spiritual life it's the gift
of God but how that life is going to be preyed upon And what is
the great antidote to all those assaults of those various carnivorous
beasts principle among them the devil himself? What is the great
antidote for which to live the life of the Christian? Oh God grant that we might live
such lives. God says, but I will deliver
thee in that day saith the Lord, and thou shalt not be given into
the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid, for I will surely
deliver them, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy
life shall be for a prayer unto thee, because thou hast put thy
trust in Me, saith the Lord. May the Lord bless to us His
Word. Amen. Let us conclude our worship today
as we sing the hymn 954. The tune is Holly, 348. Save me, O God, my spirit cries,
and on thy faithful word rely. Save me from sin, my desperate
foe, that fills my soul with every woe. The hymn 954.