Jacob's God will ever shield
thee. Psalm 20 says, The Lord hear
thee in the day of trouble. The name of the God of Jacob
defend thee. Send thee help from the sanctuary. Strengthen thee out of Zion. God loves the dwellings of Zion
more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Church Psalm 146. Thank you. Jeff reading that
for praying for Psalm 146. I love the song. Don't you? We
love the song. And this one is just marvelous. I wanted to preach through this
and we will look down through it. But one verse really caught
my attention. But it began, praise ye the Lord.
The word is hallelujah. It's a wonderful word. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. It's a shame
that modern man has taken that and just abused itself. Taken
the name of God in vain. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.
Don't you say that. Praise. Praise means glorify
and honor. Give Him all the glory, all the
credit. Give Him the praise that He's
due. God forbid that we should glory
in anything or anyone but our Lord Jesus Christ in Him. Praise the Lord. Don't you say
that. Oh, pray. Oh, my soul. Bless the Lord.
Oh, my soul. While I live will I praise the
Lord. As long as I live. If you're alive, that is, if
you've been quickened, you're going to praise the Lord. If
not, you won't. I'll sing praises unto my God while I have any
being. Sing! Don't you love to sing?
Whether you can sing or not, you do, don't you? Love it. Why? You just, your heart, out
of the abundance of the heart, the mouth, sing. Put not your
trust in princes. Don't trust man. Don't go to
Egypt. Don't look to the world or leaders
for any help. They're in the Son of Man. There's
no help. They can't help themselves. Look
at verse 4. His breath, man is one breath
away from eternity. Just what a frail creature. Why would you trust and look
to such a frail creature? He returns to his earth. You
know what we own? A little dirt. Six feet in the
ground. That's where they're going to
put us. That's where we come from. And that very day his thoughts
will perish. Everything man thinks, everything
he thinks is going to be revealed to be wrong. We're going to find
out God is true, only God. And what everybody else thinks
about you or me or whoever, it's over. And they're not going to
give us a thought. happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.
And we'll come back to that in a minute. Which made heaven. Yes, He did. And the earth and
the sea and all that therein is. He's our Creator. We know
it. You know it, don't you? You know
that. Don't just believe it. You know it. You know Him. You believe and you're happy.
You're glad to be in His hands, aren't you? You're glad. Your
hope is in the Lord our God. Verse 6, Who made heaven and
earth, sea, and all that therein is, which keepeth truth forever. Truth. Truth makes us free to
truth. Enlightens us to truth. Aren't
you glad? Aren't you happy for the truth? The whole world's
believing a lie. They're following liars, blind
leaders of the blind. Oh, blessed God has given us
eyes to see, ears to hear. We have the truth. God keeps
saying this over and over through his scripture. Mercy and truth. Righteousness and peace. Truth.
Truth. Which executes, verse 7, judgment
for the oppressed. Our God does all things well. The judge of the earth. He does
right. Aren't you glad, God? reigns,
gives food to the hungry. Oh, blessed are those that hunger
and thirst after righteousness. He gives you the bread of life,
Christ's body and His blood. The Lord looseth the prisoners.
Human beings are prisoners on this earth, aren't they? Held
captive by the God of this world. Somebody say it. But God. Sent His Son, Emmanuel, to turn
them loose. Go after that wild ass's coat.
Oh, he can't be ridden. He won't come. Yes, he will.
Yes, he will. And I'm going to get on him and
ride him on into glory. Lucif the prisoner. The Lord
opened the eyes of the blind. The Lord raiseth up them that
are bowed down by sin, by oppression, everything. The Lord loveth the
righteous. He loveth His people in Christ. The Lord preserveth the strangers. He relieveth the fatherless and
the widowed. The way of the wicked He turneth upside down. Man's
inside out, upside down in it. Judgment's turned way backward.
And the Lord sees to it. The Lord makes sure that man
just stays in a state of confusion. Isn't that what Daniel said? Confusion of face belongs to
us. If you don't acknowledge God, if man won't acknowledge
God, if he doesn't acknowledge his Creator, he's a bloomer,
an idiot. And God's just going to turn him inside out in the
way of the wicked. There is no peace, no peace for
the wicked. Zero. Ever. On this earth. Ever. Until God does a work in them. The Lord
shall reign forever. Don't you love that? Thy God. Is He your God? O Zion? Sons
of Jacob? unto all generations. He's always
reigned and ruled, ever will. The Lord thy God reigneth. What
do you got to say to that? Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. And we could just
quit. But there's one verse, verse
5, right in the middle of this. And somebody may think, what's
that got to do with any of this? It's got everything to do with
it. Happy. Oh, how blessed. and supremely
happy man wants to be happy, trying to do everything to make
himself happy, trying to get things to make him happy, happy,
happy, happy, happy. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help. Happy if you know him, happy
if you trust him, happy if you hope in him, happy, happy, happy. Now, To know something of God,
you need to know something about Jacob. Okay? To know something about salvation,
I mean the salvation that's told of in this book and there is
no other. To know something about salvation
of a soul, eternal salvation, you must know something about
Jacob, who Jacob is, what Jacob was. To be saved, you have to
be a Jacob. To be saved. You have to be a
Jacob. For this message to mean anything
to you, you have to feel yourself to be just like Jacob. And here's the promise. I'll
go ahead and say it. Malachi 3, 6, he said, I am the Lord,
I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. You'll never be destroyed. You'll
never be cast out. You'll never, with the rest of
this world is destroyed and put away, not you, oh sons of Jacob. There I am laughing. We're going
to. Our mouths be only filled with
laughter. All right, let's look at Jacob. Go back to Genesis
25. Do you know most of Genesis is
the story of Jacob? Most of Genesis is taken up with
the story of Jacob, and that's my design. Genesis 25, who is
Jacob? What is Jacob? Who is this Jacob
fellow? Well, he's a nobody. He's nobody. He's a common, he's one of two
twins, twin boys, Jacob and Esau. He's common. He's ordinary. He's
a son of Adam. He's unremarkable. There ain't
nothing about him that's special. Look at Genesis 25 verse 27.
Look at it. It says, The boys grew, these
two twins, more of Rebekah. And Esau was a cunning hunter,
a man of the field. You would have been impressed
with Esau. Hairy all over, really manly man. Hairy all over. He could hunt. Cunning. He was
skillful. But he could provide. Probably
a man you wouldn't want to tangle with. Okay? Jacob was Plainly. Dwelling in tents. What? Yeah, he stayed home. Sat in
a tent. I mean, he's a bookworm. Oh,
but Rebecca, his mother loved him. Well, big deal. Oh, he's special. His mama loves
him. Well, every son of Adam's mama loves him. And that doesn't
make him special, does it? We're one of a whole bunch of
Worms were all the same. All the same. I said, Jacob,
he's unremarkable. He's nothing special. He's a
nobody. You probably wouldn't like him. But God said, Jacob have I loved,
and he so have I. The only thing that distinguished
Jacob from his brother Esau, for anybody else, is the sovereign,
electing love of God. Jacob. All right, so he's a nobody,
from nowhere. He's a common ordinary. He's
a sinner. That's what his name means. Look
at chapter 27. His brother, you know the story. Jacob's a sinner. Jacob's a sinner. He deceived his brother, mind
you. This wasn't an innocent thing.
It was of the Lord. Jacob, his brother came in from
hunting. He was going to provide food
for the family, and Jacob schemed and connived and said, I'm going
to get the birthright from him. And he was weak, and he said,
give me something to eat. And Jacob said, I will if you
give me the birthright. You know, and Esau, God hated
Esau because Esau hated God. But God said, Esau said, I don't
know, what do you mean the birthright? Here, take it. Give me some of
that pottage. Give me some of that soup. I'm about to die.
He said, give me the birthright. I will. He deceived him. All right? And then a little
while later, he deceived his blind father. Isaac. And that's a wonderful story,
but Jacob was a deceiver, wasn't he? Came in, deceived his blind
father in tricking him into giving him the blessing that belonged
to his older brother. He didn't care about Esau. He
didn't care about anybody. Who did he care about? Jacob! He's a sinner. And this is what
Esau said about him, and when Esau found out what he did, verse
36, chapter 27, Esau said, Is not he rightly named? Jacob,
supplanter, deceiver. What about us by nature? Huh? What about us when we're
born? Do we not come forth from the
womb speaking lies? Huh? Full of ourselves? Are not
our children born that way? Huh? Do you not have to try to
teach them to do right and try to keep them from doing wrong?
Do you not have to spank them, punch them when they do wrong?
Do you not? It comes so easy. My, they're out for themselves.
And they'll trick anybody. Even as little babies, remember,
they'll cry when they're in the cry-bed. Tricks, deceit. Is that right? You know it's
right. Now here's what Romans 3 says about mankind. There's
none righteous. No, not one. There's none that
understand. Jacob didn't understand. He said
there's none that seeketh after God. There's no mention of Jacob
seeking God at all until God came to him. They're all gone
out of the way. Old Jacob, we're going to see.
They together become unprofitable. Jacob was good for nothing. Nobody. There's none good, no, not one.
It says the way of peace they don't know. There's no fear of
God before their eyes. That's mankind, is it not? And I quoted to you earlier,
you know, you wouldn't die for, you wouldn't die for Jacob. You
wouldn't, you wouldn't give two cents for Jacob, but God. Why, we were yet sinners. Christ
had been. Amen. This is a faithful saint,
worthy of all acceptation. Why? Because all are sinners.
Nothing to nobody. Not worth saving. But God sent
His Son, Jesus Christ, came into the world to save sinners, even
the chief. Paul said he was a pattern. He
was a pattern. Jacob's a pattern. This is who
God sent, okay? Jacob, look at chapter 28 with
me. Go to chapter 28. Jacob was afraid. Jacob was, he was afraid of everybody
and everything but God. He feared everything and everybody
but God. And he was on the run. He was running for his life.
He was running scared. You see why? Chapter 28, look
at this. And he just so happened to light on a place. Chapter
28, verse 10, he went out of Beersheba. He's traveling, he's
journeying, he's a nomad. He's roaming everywhere, he ran
away from home, ran away from his father, ran away from Esau,
ran away from his father-in-law. Verse 11, he lighted upon a certain
place. He just happened to come to this
certain place and tarried there all night. The sun was set, took
the stones. Boy, he went a rockin' hard place,
isn't he? And he lay down in that place
to sleep, and he dreamed, and behold, God showed him something. God came to him and showed him
a ladder set up on earth, a ladder reaching from earth to heaven,
the top of it in heaven. And the angels of God ascended
and descended. What's this all about? Do you
know? Hey, Jacob, do you know? Jacob's going to find out. That's
Christ, isn't it? The one that bridges the gap
between earth and heaven. The one that came down to God
from heaven. Of which things the angels desire to look into.
And all the blessings of God are in Christ. Come from above. Go to God for us. That's Christ. He's that ladder. Jacob's ladder
is Christ. And God revealed that to him.
He's beginning to open his understanding. Look at this. And behold, the
Lord God stood above it. Verse 13. And said, I am the
Lord God of Abraham thy father, the God of Isaac. And he went
on to promise him everything he's going to do for us. And
do you know from here on, God calls Himself by the God of Jacob. I'm Jacob's God. More than anything
else. Do you know He calls Himself,
He doesn't say the God of Moses, some. The God of David, some.
The God of Abraham, some. But more than anything else,
He says, I'm the God of Jacob. David wrote over and over, and
you're happy to see that? Jacob. The God of Jacob. Jacob. He's the God of nobodies. He's
the God of worthless sinners. He's the God that comes and seeks
and finds and saves those that are not looking for Him. Jacob's running. He's running
from home. He's running from his brother.
He's running from his father-in-law. He's running into trouble. He
runs into trouble after trouble. He gets himself into all kinds
of trouble all his day, but bless God, somebody comes running after
Him. That's the next, look at chapter
32. His next story. He keeps running. He can run,
but you can't hide. Look at chapter 32 of Genesis.
Alright, Jacob's running. He ends up in another place.
Look at it. Chapter 32, verse 24. Jacob was left alone. That's us, you know, in the world.
Jacob had all kinds of people in his life, family, children,
wives and people in the communities, places he lived, his father-in-law
and all that, and he had trouble, just trouble, trouble, trouble,
trouble, trouble, and finally he's left alone. And they wrestled the man with
him. Somebody came to him and laid hold of old Jacob and put
him down on the ground. until the breaking of the day,
until the sun arose with healing in its way. He had him down on
the ground and he prevailed not against him. In other words,
he's trying old Jacob out. And he touched the hollow of
Jacob's thigh, verse 25, the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out
of joint and he wrestled with it. And the angel, this is Christ,
you know that. And this is what Christ does
for all of his people in time through the gospel. And he said, Let me go. The day
breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee
go. Jacob laid hold of Christ. Christ
laid hold of him, and Jacob laid hold back. Christ came for him,
and Jacob was glad. He latched on to his Savior and
said, I will not let you go until you bless me. What's your name? Who are you? What's your name? Go ahead. What's your name? Cheat. No good. Less than the least. Chief of sinners. Deceiver. I've deceived everybody. Mostly
myself. That's who I am. That's what
I am. That's what I've done. That's
all I've ever done. And here's what Jesus Christ
said, not anymore. Not anymore. And God changed
his name. Why? What did Jacob do to deserve
it? Nothing but God. So now you're a prince. You're
mine. Now you're mine. You're not your own. You're bought
with a price. I am your God and you're my son. Oh, happy is he that the God
of Jacob, praise Him. And Jacob limped. He was not
the same after that. Not the same. From a common,
ordinary, nobody and nothing, a sinner, fearful and afraid,
in darkness, he was in darkness that night, in ignorance, didn't
know God, headed for destruction. But God sent Christ and laid
hold of him and revealed himself to him. All right, that's Jacob. Oh, happy is he that hath the
God of Jacob for his help. Jacob's God. Who is Jacob's God? Turn with me to where? How about Ephesians 1? Ephesians 1, go there. Jacob's God is the God of sovereign,
electing, love, mercy, and grace. The God who chooses to save sinners
like Jacob. If he didn't, if he didn't choose
some of them, nobody would be saved. Jacob would not have called
on God if God hadn't come calling on him. He would not have sought
the Lord if the Lord hadn't sought him. He would not have laid hold
on Christ if Christ hadn't laid hold on him. He wouldn't know
who he was, what he was, and where he was headed until God
told him who he was, where he was, and where he was headed.
And then promised him, that's not where you're headed. I'm
taking you somewhere else. I'm taking you higher. You're
going to destroy yourself. I've come to save you. This is Jacob's God. Where did
I tell you to turn? You can turn anywhere. But Ephesians
1, look at Ephesians 4, don't you love this? We turn, we read
this all the time. Why? Because this is Jacob's
story. This is my story. Ephesians 1, verse 3, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
See, Jacob tried everything and everybody he had. He had lots
of things, didn't he? Cattle and family and all that,
and he was not happy. Why? He had no God. And he's looking for happiness
and all that and peace and safety, but he's scared. He's scared
of everybody and everything. But God comes to him. In verse
4, chosen according to He hath chosen us in Christ before the
foundation of the world, that an old worthless sinner could
be holy and without blame before God. Stand before God some day
and God did this in love. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon the sons of Jacob. He said, Jacob
have I loved. He just said it. There was nothing
lovely about Jacob. God's love is sovereign. God
bestows His love on whom He will. There's nobody lovely except
the Son of God. The Son of God was the only human
being to ever live that deserved that God looked at him and said,
He's just lovely. Not one single son of Adam like
that. But God, and this is the mystery
of godliness, how God could love a sinner like old Jacob that
didn't love God. And that's all of God's people
until he does this work. Oh, but predestined the adoption
of children. He said, I'm Jacob's God. Now
he's my son. God called him his son. You know, I'm just certain Jacob
never got used to calling himself Israel. I don't walk around calling
myself a Christian. I'm ashamed to call myself that.
I'm not ashamed of Christ. I really do believe Christ, but
I'm ashamed of myself. I'm such a poor example of a
Christian. What are you then? I'm not proud of it. I'm just
ashamed of it, but that's what I am. But God says, no you're
not. You're my son. You're my son. I see Christ in you. I see you
in Christ. You're my son. I love you. Jacob have I loves. Well, what
about this sovereign love? You know, whoever God loves,
they're loved. You remember when Jacob, Isaac
said, I blessed him and he blessed Esau said, change it, give me
the blessing. No, he said, I blessed him and
he'll be blessed. I've spoken it, nothing's going
to change it. You want to look at that? Isaiah
41. Go over there, Isaiah 41. Hurry,
I got 104 more scriptures. No, but oh my, you can't believe
how much. Scripture talks about Jacob.
Isaiah 41. He's the God of sovereign elect
in love, mercy, and grace. He's our God and Savior. That's who He is. Isaiah 41,
verse 8. But thou Israel. Calls Him Israel. Art my servant Jacob. Yes, Jacob. Whom I have chosen. Seed of Abraham,
my friend, thou whom I have taken from the end of the earth and
called thee from the chief men thereof, thou art my servant.
I have chosen thee and not cast thee away. Fear thou not. I am
with thee. Be not dismayed. I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. I will
help thee. Yea! Don't you love the word
yea? It's like a cheer. It's yes.
All the promises of God in Christ are yay. Yes and yay. Joyful. Yay, I will uphold thee
with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed
against thee shall be ashamed and confounded. They that shall
be as nothing. But I'm nothing, Lord. I'm Jacob.
I know that. Now you're something because
you're mine. And they that strive with thee shall perish. Verse 14, Fear not thou worm
Jacob. I will help thee. And you men
of Israel, you sons of Jacob, sayeth the Lord, I am your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel. I have redeemed you. I have bought
you with a price, you worm, you. Do you mind being called a worm?
Do you? A dog? Anybody? Don't you wish
you were as obedient as old Jake? Huh? Dog, you worm. Man, they want me to tell this
story again. I've told it so many times. About the worms. You know, I bought worms. You
know, she bought some worms. We just unpackaged them last
night. She paid a lot more than I did.
She bought 700 worms. What was it, $39.95? Thirty-six.
$36 for worms. You can go out and
dig them up anywhere. Wait for rain, they'll be crawling
all over the pavement. She paid $36 for worms. And I did the same thing, except
I bought 2,000. And they sent them to me in the
mail, and it was a ball of worms in a sack. And I open it up,
and it's the most despicable thing, that mine were still all,
they were all writhing and wriggling and stuck and clung together
like a mass of corruption. That's what it looked like, just
a mass of writhing, wriggling animals. No eyes, no ears, no
mouth, no nothing, just worms. They came from the dirt. You
know that? That's where, that's what they're made of. You ever
seen that? They'll go right back to the dirt as soon as they start
drying out. They live in the dirt. They live for the dirt.
They won't eat live things. They eat dead things. They have
to have dead things. They live on dead things. They
hate the light. Turn on the light, they'll bury
down in the earth. Isn't that us? They love darkness
rather than light. They eat dead things, not living
bread. That's us in it, all of us by
nature. Our children, they don't love
light. They love darkness, even as others.
But God. I bought those worms. She bought
those worms. Brought them home. Brought them
to my home. Paid good money for worms. You think I'm a fool? God sent His Son to die for worms. Turn to Psalm 22 with me. Psalm
22. Okay? And I brought those worms home,
remember? And I made a home for them. I provided for them. I
was so merciful and gracious and kind to worms. I made a home
for them. I fed them. I tended to them. And as I said, not one single
worm ever, the whole time I had not one single worm ever acknowledge
me. Not one single worm ever said
thank you. And I'd open the top up and they'd
all run. Not one of them said, hey master,
thank you. Not one. Not one call. Not one. Can you love worms? Huh? Can you? Do you know I got up
in the middle of the night to check on those worms? That's unbelievable. Well, the
Son of God came to this earth and it's much greater condescension
than it would for me to become a worm. You know, how can I give
these worms understanding? How can I make them see? They're
blind. How can I show them that they're
fitted for destruction? They're of the earth and they're
going to go back to the earth. How? What if I could go down
and become a worm? What if I could become a worm?
Why would I do that anyway? But what if I did? Set my load. I'm going to show somebody. I'm
going to reveal myself to somebody. And I became a worm. Got down
in there within the dirt and the muck and the mire and became
filthy. And I told one of them, listen, I'm taking you out of here. Yeah, you worm. I'm taking you
with me. Where? Glory. What's that? What's that? Light. Psalm 22, My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? This is Christ on the cross.
Why art thou so far from helping me? The words of my Lord, O my
God, I cry in the daytime, thou hear'st none. In the night season,
I am not silent. Verse 4, Our fathers trusted
in thee, they trusted, thou didst deliver, they cried unto thee,
were delivered, they trusted in thee, were not confounded,
but I am a worm, and no man. If you keep reading, this is
Christ on the cross, crucified. He said, I'm a worm. Christ had
to become us. Come down here, give us an understanding. We know that the Son of God has
come. And given who? Who does He do
this for? He chooses whom He will, Brother
John. God, before the world began, said, John Davis. Who? John Davis. Where is he from?
West Virginia. Where? What's he doing? Is he a good
man? Is he seeking the Lord? No. But
God says he's mine. Isn't that something? He's mine. That's the one. Oh, you don't
want that? That's the one I came for, to
die for. And I'm going to make him understand.
I'm going to give him an understanding that he might know me that is
true. And he's in me that is true.
This is salvation. And this is eternal life. And
I'm going to take him out of darkness into my marvelous light.
I'm going to bring him out of death into light. I'm going to
take him out of this cesspool and be in glory with him. Jacob. He's our God and Savior. And Christ came down to this
earth, made sin for his people, he who knew no sin. And for someone
to try to, I just tried to describe it, you can't do it. You can't
do it. God made him Santa. Became a
worm. Who is the God of Jacob? He's
our covenant God. He's covenant God. Now go with
me to Isaiah 43. Covenant God. And throughout
the story of Jacob, God kept reappearing to him. One time,
Brother Kelly, it says the angels faced him. It's a place called
Mahanael. I like that story. Mahanel. That's where the angels
met him. Jacob was going somewhere again
and the angels came to him and reminded him again, I'm your
God. Fear not. Fear not. Kept having
to say, fear not. Fear not. Fear not. I'm with
thee. I'll uphold you. You're mine. You're mine. You're
not on your own anymore. You're mine. Isaiah 43, man oh
man, don't you love this? It says here, look at this, he's
the covenant God. Now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou
art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. Through the rivers, they shall
not overflow thee. When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned. The flame shall not kindle upon
thee. I am the Lord thy God, the Holy
One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave this world for you. Ethiopia and Cebu for thee, lives
to serve you in my purpose concerning you. Precious in my sight. Jacob, I have loved thee. Remember he said in Jeremiah
31, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. I'll give men
for thee, people for thine. I fear not. I am with thee. I'll bring your seed from the
east, gather thee from the west, say to the north, give up to
the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from far, my daughters
from the ends of the earth. Everyone is called by my name.
Who? The sons of Jacob. I have created
Him, them for My glory. I have formed Him and them. Yea,
I have made Him and them. Bring them, the blind people
that have eyes, the deaf that have ears. Let the nations be
gathered together. Now in verse 10 it says, You
are My witnesses, My servant whom I have chosen, that you
may know and believe Me and understand I am He. Before Me there was
no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I, even I,
am the Lord. Beside Me there is no Savior.
I have declared I've saved, I've showed. Verse 13, Yes, yea, before
the day was, I am he, and there's none that can deliver out of
my hand. I will work, and who shall let it? And you're mine,
I'm your Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Happy. Oh, happy. You see, the God of Jacob. Was Jacob a sinner after all
that? Yes, he was. And when he was
all over, Jacob said to him, he was 140, whatever he said,
few and evil have been all the days of my life. He was thinking
about himself. But God. There was none of it
evil. It was all good. It's all for
Jacob's salvation, because he's the God of Jacob. And everything
concerning Jacob works together for his good. Even his sin. Isn't that something? Happy. Okay, John, let's sing
closing hymn.