Good morning. Thank you once
again for your warm welcome. It's a pleasure to be amongst
you. Turn with me please in your Bibles
to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 12. Our great and glorious God, we
come before Thee in the precious name of our Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ. We thank Thee for the access
granted to us this morning to enter into the courts of Thy
presence, to bring our hymns of praise to Thee and our prayers
of supplication. We thank Thee for the promise
of Thy presence with us as we meet together in Thy name. We
thank thee that this is an activity which brings us into the very
presence of Almighty God and the Spirit, and by faith we are
able to lay hold on those amazing, wonderful, glorious truths of
revelation and grace to men. We pray that thou wilt be pleased
to speak to us this day, to bless us as we wait upon to sustain
and nourish our souls, to open our eyes that we might see the
Saviour Jesus Christ. And we ask that Thou wilt be
pitiful unto us, merciful and gracious, and that Thou wilt
be pleased to take away all those hurts and all those sadnesses
and all those trials which beset us, that we might be able to
see above and beyond them and look into the very presence of
God, there to see the Saviour who gave himself for us. Help
us to realise that we have an interest in the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ by thy grace and mercy towards us and give
us that confidence in the completed work by which men and women and
boys and girls are made fit for the presence of God. For Jesus'
sake we ask it, amen. The first verse of Matthew chapter
12 reads, at that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through
the corn and his disciples were unhungered and began to pluck
the ears of corn and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it,
they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not
lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have
ye not read what David did when he was unhungered, and they that
were with him? How he entered into the house
of God, and did eat the showbread which was not lawful for him
to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the
priests? Or have ye not read in the law
how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane
the Sabbath and are blameless? But I say unto you that in this
place is one greater than the temple. But if ye had known what
this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not
have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord, even
of the Sabbath day. And when he was departed thence,
he went into their synagogue. And behold, there was a man which
had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is
it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days, that they might accuse
him? And he said unto them, What man
shall there be among you that shall have one sheep, And if
it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on
it and lift it out? How much then is a man better
than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do
well on the Sabbath days. Then said he to the man, stretch
forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth. and
it was restored whole, like as the other. Then the Pharisees
went out and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew
himself from thence, and great multitudes followed him, and
he healed them all, and charged them that they should not make
him known. that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Behold, my servant, whom
I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased,
I will put my spirit upon him. and he shall show judgment to
the Gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry,
neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised
reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench,
till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall
the Gentiles trust. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from His Word. My earnest desire today is that
you might see the Lord Jesus Christ. See Him by faith. See Him by faith as Lord and
Saviour. See Him with spiritual eyes,
eyes that have been enlivened, eyes that have been touched by
God Himself, eyes that will reveal the new life that is to be found
in Him alone. It is my desire that today you
might see the Lord Jesus Christ in a new and in a real and vital
way. I would like to hear, I would
like to hear that you, like Zacchaeus, sought to see Jesus who he was. I would like to be as that woman
of Samaria who could say to you, come see a man who showed me
all things ever I did, is not this the Christ? Yet I fear,
for all my earnest desire, and for all your genuine seeking,
that like Zacchaeus, try as you will, you will not be able to
see him for the press. Zacchaeus was a little man and
he was aware that for all he wanted to see the Lord Jesus
Christ, the press was too much. The pressures, the pressures
that came in upon him, the pressures of those around about him, The
pressure that comes in upon us as men and women in these days. The pressures of sin. The pressures
of this world. The pressures of our nature and
the weaknesses of our nature. The pressures of the flesh. The pressures that the devil
brings upon us. How ever are we to see over all
these insurmountable problems? How are we going to be able to
see the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of such a press? How are we going to be able,
though we desire it, though we might be called to do so, How
are we ever going to free ourselves when we are so weak in our flesh,
when our eyes are so blinded by sin, when we are so impotent
by nature, when this world is so strong in its temptations
and its distractions, the devil so able to blind and dominate
us in our natural man? How are we ever going to be able
to see the Lord Jesus Christ. It is because we are so little
of stature. Zacchaeus is a picture of us
all and we need to be wise to understand what that picture
means. We are little of stature and
those pressures around about us are so high and mighty and
overwhelming. We cannot see Jesus, though we
be encouraged to do so. A preacher might say, come and
see the Lord Jesus. He might by the cleverness of
his words, by his ability with vocabulary, by the force of his
argument, be able to prick our consciences, but he cannot enable
us to see Jesus. A preacher might stir our imagination
by the splendid pictures that he is able to paint before us. He may be able to thrill our
hearts by the force of his arguments. He may be able to bring us, as
it were, almost into the very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ
by the things that he is able to say and do, but he cannot
enable us to see the Lord Jesus Christ. He might stoke our desires
for heavenly things, but you will not be able to see Jesus. You must and you will be overwhelmed
by the press. You are too little of stature. But the wonderful thing about
the Gospel, the wonderful thing about what we are told in the
Old Testament and in the New Testament, is that there is a
way to see Jesus. It does not come from within
yourself. It does not come from behind
the pulpit. It must come as a miraculous,
creative, divine work from on high. It must be a transformation,
a conversion, an alteration that takes place from outside yourself
to the very heart and soul of your being by a power that transcends
anything that we can ever achieve or accomplish by ourselves. In Isaiah chapter 52 and verse
10, we read these words, The Lord hath made bare his holy
arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth
shall see the salvation of our God. How is that possible? How is it possible that we who
are little of stature, we who cannot see the Lord because of
the press, how is it possible that we are going to see the
Lord? Well, Things which are impossible
with men are possible with God. And the Lord has bared his holy
arm. The picture is of a working man,
a man who has rolled up his sleeves, a man who has taken upon himself
the burden of a task, a man who is labouring to accomplish the
end of his desire. Salvation is of the Lord and
this world will witness the salvation of God. He has revealed his holy
way of salvation and he has sent his precious Son into the world
to that end. The purpose of the coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ is to save his people from their sins. The Son of God did not come and
then fail. in the task which was set to
him. Isaiah 42, verse 7 says, he came
to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison,
them that sit in darkness, out of the prison house. That was
the purpose of his coming, to save the people that had been
committed into his hands, to deliver them out of the prison
of their own sin, to take them who were blinded towards holy
heavenly things and to open their eyes that they might see the
truth. He came with that purpose and
he achieved as the Son of God that purpose. He came to accomplish
his work, a substitutionary atonement. He came to lay down his life
to pay the price of redemption. He came to liberate the captives
by the deliverance of his own soul into that captivity as the
substitute for his people. He died for their release. Romans 5 verse 6 says, when we
were yet without strength, when we were yet little in stature,
when we were yet blinded by this world, when we were yet subsumed
by the pressures of our nature, when we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. And this is the
hearing of the gospel. It is the calling of God himself
into the heart and into the soul of one who is dead, one who is
in their own abilities, incapable of doing anything for themselves
spiritually. The word of God comes in power. It comes with a revealing power. It comes to open eyes. It comes
to liberate captives. It comes to enable those who
are dead in sin. And this is the work of God.
The Apostle Paul, in giving his testimony of the words of Jesus
Christ to him, said this, that he would be sent as the Apostle
to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, from
the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness
of sins and an inheritance amongst them which are sanctified. This is the great possibility
of God's work amongst men. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ
came to do. This is what the arm of God was
bared to accomplish. That which is impossible with
men is possible with God. Our verse this morning is found
in the 18th verse of Matthew chapter 12. Behold, my servant,
whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased. This morning, like that woman
from the well, I say, come see a man who told me all things
ever I did. Is not this the Christ? I can't
show you Christ, not with spiritual eyes, not with spiritual understanding,
not in a saving way. You cannot see Christ for yourself. It is a natural impossibility. But here is one, one who is God,
one who is powerful, one who has the enabling strength in
his arm that is bared. He says, behold my servant whom
I have chosen. And the loveliness of the Word
of God is this, that when He so declares to a sinner who is
dead in their nature, dead in their sins, He speaks with life-giving
power. The Lord Jesus Christ stood outside
the grave of Lazarus and He declared, Lazarus, come forth. power was
in the words. The power was vested in Christ. When God himself says to the
sinner, behold my servant, it's a word that comes with illuminating
power from the Holy Ghost. People tell us that this is a
request People tell us that God is asking men and women to behold
his son, that there's a suggestion here that it would be a good
idea to do it. Not a bit of it. God comes with
a word of command. He comes with a word of power. He comes with a word that the
very gates of hell cannot prevail against. He comes and he says,
behold my servant. And those who are blind see,
and those who are deaf hear, and those who have no strength
are enlivened and enabled and equipped. And we see Jesus when
the Holy Spirit in his power opens the eyes of the blind. When God commands, the press
disappears. The little statue is of no matter. When the Father points a man
or a woman to Christ, that individual sees the Saviour in whom they
trust for life eternal. We see Him, we see Him as the
Father sees Him. nor as men construe him. And it is significant, I think,
that here the Father, in this verse that is quoted from Isaiah
42, it is here stated that Jesus Christ is revealed as the servant
of God. The Father presents Christ the
Son, as His servant, the eternal Son of God, co-eternal, co-equal
with the Father, the everlasting Son of God, here described by
His Father as a servant. Elsewhere, He is called the Beloved
Son. Here his title is servant. The Father is speaking, speaking
to the church, speaking to those whom he calls to himself, speaking
as it were with this word of power, behold you redeemed people. Behold, you elect people. Behold, you people that are called
in time by the power of my Spirit and the gospel of salvation.
Behold, my servant. The servant who in his mediatorial
role came to fulfill his father's will, came to do all that was
required, came to lay down his life as a servant at his father's
behest. This is Christ in the uniqueness
of this role of suffering servant. There is one God and there is
one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. There is no other way except
we see this servant, except we see this one. who fulfilled all
the will of his Father. Except we are given eyes to see
and a spirit to understand. Except we see the significance
of the cross and the consequences that flowed from it. Except we
see the sufferings of the servant. there is no other way of approach. The elect of God are called to
look upon Christ, the mediator, and this is God's way of salvation. The first thing we learn from
this verse, then 18, is that God calls his people, calls them
with power, calls them efficaciously, calls them by giving life to
the weak, to the dead, to the captive, calls them to look and
behold the servant. The servant, we are told, whom
I have chosen. The Lord Jesus Christ, in the
eternal covenant of God, was pleased to stand in the presence
of his Father, and voluntarily commit to the salvation, redemption
and deliverance of the elect of God. And the Father, hearing
that voluntary willingness of His Son to come, chose Him to
fulfil all righteousness on their behalf. And so this great entrance
into the world of the Son of God, the Lamb of God, this Servant
of God is a statement of the great work of the covenant and
Christ as mediator of that covenant. to accomplish the eternal purpose
of God in the redemption of his chosen people. He says, I will
put my spirit upon him and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. Here is the one whom is chosen
by God. The Spirit was committed to him,
a Spirit beyond measure, a Spirit that would sustain and protect
him, a Spirit which would equip him as the God-Man, Christ taking
our flesh, Christ entering into our humanity, Christ a man amongst
men. and yet with the anointing of
the power of the Spirit upon him as the one who would sustain
and protect him. Christ was equipped by his Father
as his chosen one. He was equipped to fulfil all
his Father's will and to reveal the justice and holiness and
truth and grace and love and mercy that God would have revealed
to his people. Here is the one whom God chose. And this is why we insist that
there is no other way. That the Lord Jesus Christ is
the only way of salvation. That there is no other means.
That there is no other faith. That there is no other religion.
People call us exclusive. People call us divisive. We say
here is the servant that God has sent. Here is the mediator
of the covenant. Here is the one who opens the
way of access. This is God's chosen way and
there is none else. And so we preach Jesus Christ
crucified. So we lift up the mediator that
God has chosen. So we look to Him alone as the
only way of salvation. God the Father says, look, behold
my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved. Oh, the loveliness
of this phrase. Here we see the love of the father
for his son. Yes, he was the servant. Yes,
he was chosen to fulfill all the obligations of the covenant,
but he was loved of his father. precious to the Father. He was unique, He is unique,
the peerless, precious Son of God. Verse 19, we are told, He
shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear His voice
in the streets. This beloved Son of God came
to do the will of His Father. He is not one who is going to
be detained or distracted by the things around about him.
He came to fulfil the will of his father and his father loved
him for it. He came as the beloved Son, the
only begotten of the Father, and He came to do His Father's
will. Oh, the single-mindedness of
our Saviour, the way in which He came into this world and from
the very outset set His face as a flint towards Jerusalem,
could say in the earliest days of his life, wist ye not that
I must be about my father's business? This is the great task. This
is the great yoke that was placed upon him. Here is the burden
of his existence. This is the work which he came
to do. And the father loved his son. Lord Jesus Christ did not engage
in the affairs of this world. He did not run for office. He did not engage in the politics. He did not even become embroiled
in the religion of the men around about him. He simply declared
the truth and he let it be at that. and these men who opposed
him, these men who would have slain him, these men who came
to him with all their questions about what was right and wrong
to do on certain days, whether it was appropriate that he should
heal here or heal there or when these things should be done,
these were the schemers, these were the divisors of fables,
these were the people who construed and constructed rules and regulations
that men must abide by in order to please God, and Christ wiped
them all away because He came to do the will of His Father
completely and entirely. And though these people sought
even to destroy the Son of God, the Father placed His Spirit
upon Him. The Father protected Him, and
the Father gave Him every strength and grace that was required. The Lord Jesus Christ's voice
was not heard in the street, ranting and raving. clearly declaring
the truth that was revealed in him. He did not engage with this
world in all of its activities, but he came with a message of
life to those who would be given ears to hear. He does not contend
with this world, nor the men of this world, nor indeed with
Satan himself. The Lord Jesus Christ does not
argue with his enemies. He lays them low. The Lord Jesus
Christ is not coming again some day to battle out a final conclusion
to this world with the devil and with the forces of this world.
He will merely speak a word. and all things will be accomplished. We follow the God of all creation,
the sovereign God in whom all power is vested. And men and
women tell us that we have to fight against this evil and we
have to labour against this wrongdoing. We, if we follow Christ, need
simply to declare the truth, to speak the gospel, to be like
Him, not let our words be heard in the street, but simply to
declare the truth of God's way of salvation, to point, as it
were, to the Lord Jesus Christ and say, in Him alone is life
to be found. The Lord Jesus Christ's obligation
was to his Father and his Father alone. He was answerable to justice. He became subject to the wrath
of God for the sins of his people. He set his own life as a propitiation
for their sin. In 1 John 4, verse 10, we read,
Herein is love. Not that we loved God, but that
he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our
sin. This is the beloved son. This
is the one who was sent as the suffering servant. This is the
one that the Father says, behold my servant. He was beaten, bruised,
and battered. He became sin for his people.
He took the cup of judgment and he drank it to the dregs, willingly,
voluntarily, placidly, fulfilling all righteousness for the deliverance
of his people. God's beloved son. his perfect life, his atoning
death, his precious blood. We dare not demean that sacrifice,
that labour that he accomplished. We dare not dishonour his work
by seeking to find another way. We must see him and him alone
as the only way of salvation. Dare we try to find another way? Dare we look to ourselves and
to our works as to be pleasing to God? Dare we imagine that
we can bring anything to add to this suffering servant, to
this chosen one, to this one who is beloved of God the Father,
and add to his work our efforts, our strength, our abilities? Dare we tread underfoot the blood
of Christ? Yet sadly that is exactly what
religion does. Religion of any hue or disguise
that we might discover. The religion of the heathen in
the jungle or the religion of the purist in his church. It doesn't matter what we bring
if we detract from Jesus Christ's complete sacrifice, then we despise
that which God has ordained. Hebrews 10.29 says, How much
sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who
hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the
blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy
thing. It is in Christ alone that salvation
is to be found. We read then something which
is truly amazing in this verse. The Father says, Behold my servant
whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased. The Lord Jesus Christ pleased
His Father in many ways, and the Father delights in Him. He delights in the work that
He accomplished for the salvation of the chosen fallen people. And I have no doubt that in the
Saviour's perfect life, The father was well pleased. I have no doubt
that in all the miracles that the son accomplished, the father
was well pleased. In the words that he spoke, in
the way that he lived, in the fulfilment of the perfect law,
the father was well pleased. But that's not the thrust of
what we have here in this verse. The Lord Jesus Christ was absolutely
an obedient child. He fulfilled all the will of
his Father. He did everything perfectly that
he was asked to do. And yet, here, in seven words,
we are told it pleased the Lord to bruise him. In Isaiah 53 verse
10 we read these words, it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath
put him to grief. The Lord Jesus Christ, though
he fulfilled the will of his father as a perfect servant,
though he was the chosen one of God, though he was beloved,
yet this one in whom the father was well pleased was bruised
and was beaten. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. It's a strange thing. It would
ordinarily appear that a father's pleasure would be in the obedience
of his son. A father might indeed praise
and laud the good that his son does, but here God is said to
be pleased in bruising his son. There's almost a perversity from
our human point of view in what these words reveal. And yet we
see the justice and the holiness of God taking pleasure in the
death of the Beloved Son, the bruising of the Son pleasing
to the Father. And here we see the price of
the deliverance of his people. Here we see the need for satisfaction
for that great offence that had been committed. Here we see the
true price of redemption being set forth. This one for the love
of his people, this one for the honour of the law, this one for
the upholding of holiness, must die, must be bruised, must be
beaten, must be inflicted with the very wrath of God in his
body and in his soul, must take the sword of God's justice and
have it plunged into his own heart. Hebrews chapter 2 verse
10 said, it became him for whom are all things and by whom are
all things in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain
of their salvation perfect through sufferings. It is becoming the
perfections of His Father's nature. It is becoming the perfections
of His wisdom, His veracity, His justice, that this Son, Jesus
Christ, this servant, should be punished for sin. And it was agreeable to the Lord
Jesus Christ all His Father's will in suffering and dying in
their place. This is the great work of the
cross. This is what we are called to
look upon. This is what we are called to
see. Not the perfections of Christ's
obedience, not the miracles that He performed, not the loveliness
of His character, not the example that it sets for us, but this
moment of His death, this suffering that He undertook. Herein in
the blood of the Lamb is the cleansing work accomplished. Herein in the sacrifice of the
precious Lamb of God is the redemption of His people assured. In Isaiah 53, in the verse that
we quoted, where it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, we read these
words, He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. By the suffering
and death of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour brought salvation
and life to his people. As the Lord Jesus Christ hung
upon the cross, he saw his seat. He saw those for whom he died. He saw, as it were, the prize
of his suffering. He saw you and me. if we are his people. He saw
us and because of the love that he had for us, he willingly gave
his life as the substitute for our need. He shall see his seed,
that people that are born and born again, that people whom
he owned as his own bright, that people that he loved, that people
that he willingly gave his life for. He shall see his seed, he
shall prolong his days, he shall live again. The Lord Jesus Christ
certainly was raised again from the dead and in just a few days
was empty and Christ was arisen. But that life that was prolonged
is the life of His people, is the eternal life that He gives
to His church, is the life that comes to those who are dead in
sin. It is the fact that the Lord
Jesus Christ shall never be without His people, without His children. In the 20th verse we read, a
bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not
quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. The Lord Jesus
Christ gave his Son a promise that by the shedding of His blood,
by the redemption of that people, He would have as an inheritance
those whom the Father loved and called as His own in eternity. Here is the great promise, the
great confidence in which we trust, that as God the Father
promised His Son a people, that people will be given to Him. That is why we have confidence
personally as we trust in Him. We see that the work has been
done and we do not need to have any confidence in our own strength
or in our own flesh. Our confidence is in Christ and
we see that we can take this message and we can confidently
declare it to a sinful world, for that same message will bring
in, as the Lord bears his arm, as the Lord says to sinners in
this world who are his chosen people, behold my servant whom
I love. As the Lord God is pleased to
send the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel into
the hearts and lives of men and women, there will be a seed,
there will be a coming, there will be a gathering. And that
people whom God has chosen will never have anything happen to
them until that word is sent forth into their heart in victory. A bruised reed shall he not break. Men and women, perhaps here this
morning, have been bruised and battered by this world. We've
come through experiences that have almost shaken us completely. We've suffered things in our
lives. We've had hardship that has been
almost unbearable. We have seen the storms of this
world break around our heads. And we have almost been at that
point where we would have said, with Elijah of old, I'm happier
to simply lie down and die than to face another day. Bruised,
beaten, battered. and yet unbroken. Why? Because a bruised reed he
will not break. We have seen, as it were, the
very fires of hell unleashed against our souls. We have felt
the weariness of this pilgrim walk. We have been so troubled
in the depths of our hearts concerning our nature and the glory of God
and the impending judgment and we have not known where to turn. And he will not quench the smoking
flats. until he sends forth his victory. There is a judgment to be found
in God, a judgment which declares his people free from sin, fit
for heaven, a righteous people, a people made holy and blameless
before God because of the work of Jesus Christ. This is his
work. It is the work of God that we
should believe. It is the work which He has bared
His arm to accomplish. And it is the work that Jesus
Christ has secured. Here we see in these verses the
Lord Jesus Christ as the one to whom alone we can point men
and women. Come see a man who told me all
things ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Come
see Jesus Christ. I trust that the Lord God himself
will open our eyes this morning, that we might see Him. Our God
will absolutely and inexorably bring His people home. He is
doing it as the gospel is preached today and every day. He is doing
it as He sends forth His judgment unto victory throughout the length
and breadth of this world. Not one of His people will be
lost. Behold my servant, says the Lord
God, whom I have chosen as the only way of salvation, my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased. Here is the one who alone can
give life to the troubled soul. This morning may we have that
grace to look upon him. Amen. Heavenly Father, as we reflect
upon the great work of salvation and the means by which that work
was accomplished by the coming of Thy dear Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, into this world as Thy servant, as that one who was
chosen of Thee from amongst all others to be the only way of
salvation, Give us eyes to see this morning, we pray. Cause
us to look upon that One who in His sufferings and in His
death is the only way of salvation for our souls. Heavenly Father,
we bless Thee for such a plan, for such a redemption, for such
a means of grace. We thank Thee for the cross.
We thank Thee for the Saviour. We thank Thee for the blood that
was shed and the body that was broken. And we thank Thee that
Thou hast left us an opportunity to dwell upon that great sacrifice
in the fellowship of believers as we commune together upon these
things. The bread and the cup that speak
to us of the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, help
us to see him this morning, even as we participate in this Feast
of Remembrance. help us to look upon Jesus Christ,
the bruised and the broken one, the one whose life was given,
the one whose blood was shed, the one whose body was broken
for the deliverance of his people. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. For the love that God had for
sinners such as we are, we thank thee, Heavenly Father, for that
great plan of grace, that great salvation. that is found in him. Bless these elements as they
pass from person to person. Bless us together as we commune
in the death of our Saviour. Bless us and take us from this
place, rejoicing in our hearts that God has done all things
well and our salvation is secured. May it be so for thy name's sake.
Amen.