Jehoshaphat was one of the good
kings of Israel, and Israel prospered while he was reigning. Look in
2 Chronicles chapter 17. And Jehoshaphat, his son, reigned
in his stead and strengthened himself against Israel. And he
placed forces in all the fenced cities of Judah, and set garrisons
in the land of Judah and the cities of Ephraim and Asa his
father had taken. And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat,
because he walked in the ways of his father David, and sought
not unto Balaam, but sought to the Lord God of his father, and
walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel.
Therefore, the Lord established the kingdom in his hand, and
all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presence, and he had riches and
honor in abundance, and his heart was lifted up in the ways of
the Lord." Well, wouldn't that be a blessing if that's the description
of my heart and your heart? Lifted up in the ways of the
Lord. Moreover, he took away the high
places and groves out of Judah. Now, under his reign, Judah prospered
to the point that three nations wanted to attack them and take
everything they had. So let's pick up in chapter 20. And it came to pass after this
also that the children of Moab and the children of Ammon and
with them other besides the Ammonites came against Jehoshaphat to battle. There were actually three nations
as we see the children of Mount Seir also. Then there came some
that told Jehoshaphat saying, there cometh a great multitude
against thee from beyond the sea on this side of Syria and
behold, they be in Hazazontemar, which is in Enjedi. And Jehoshaphat
feared. He knew that this was a battle
that he could not win. And he was afraid when he saw
these nations coming against him. He feared, and look what
he did. He set himself to seek the Lord. Now he knew at this time the
only one who could help him was the Lord. So he set himself,
he gave himself, he set himself to seek the Lord and he proclaimed
a fast throughout all Judea. And I want the same thing for
us. Oh, that we're together right now seeking the Lord, seeking
his favor, seeking his presence, seeking his grace, seeking a
word from him, seeking his protection, seeking the Lord together. That's
what we're doing here right now. We're seeking the Lord together. Something special about that.
I'm thankful for that gracious privilege. So he proclaimed to
fast throughout all of Judah, And Judah gathered themselves
together to ask help of the Lord. Even out of all the cities of
Judah, they came to seek the Lord. Now, can you imagine this?
All these people coming together from these different cities to
ask help of the Lord. We don't have any power before
these armies, and we need your help. We're no match for our enemies. I'm no match for myself. I need to save for myself. I'm
no match for my sin. I need to save for my sins. I'm
no match for the world, for the flesh, for the devil. I'm no
match and I need help. I need help. his favor. Lord,
help me. I love the way that Syrophoenician
woman came up to the Lord and she said, Lord, help me. She's
saying, if you don't help me, I won't be helped. I need your
help. Do you need the Lord's help?
Now, all of Judah was gathered together to seek the Lord's help. You've heard that saying, God
helps those who help themselves. Do you know the opposite is true?
God only helps those who cannot help themselves. I need the Lord's help. And we're
here together seeking his favor. The writer to the Hebrew said,
let us come boldly under the throne of grace to obtain mercy
and find grace to help. in time of need." Well, this
is a time of need and I need grace to help. And we're called
upon to come boldly with confidence to the throne of grace to obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Lord, help me. Verse five, now, Jehoshaphat
stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the house
of the Lord before the new court. And said, and look at the arguments
he uses with the Lord in seeking his help. And would to God that
you and I use these same arguments in seeking the help of the Lord.
First, he speaks of the sovereignty of God. Look what he says, and
he said, oh Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? And rulest not thou over all
the kingdoms of the heathen? Now, these people that are coming
against us, we don't have any strength before them. We don't
have any power before them, but you do. They're in your hand
and they can't make a move without you because you rule over all
things. You see, God is absolutely sovereign. I love to think about that. You
know what that means? That means me and you were in
his hand. That means everybody outside of this room is in his
hand. And that means he controls everything. And we remind him
of that. Now, these three nations that
are coming against us that we're scared to death of, they're in
your hand, and you rule and reign over them, and they can't do
anything without you. You're in control. Isn't that
a glorious thing to know that the Lord's in control? We don't
much believe it, but boy, when we do believe it, don't we rejoice?
When I really believe that the Lord is in control and everything
and everybody is in his hand, and the only thing that's gonna
happen is his will being done, I relax. I relax, and he reminds
the Lord of this. You rule and reign over everything.
He has a will, he has the power and the right to make it come
to pass, and he always does make it come to pass. Then Jehoshaphat
reminds him of his omnipotence in verse six. He said, and in
thy hand is there not power and might so that none is able to
withstand thee? These people that are coming,
They can't stand before you. You're God. You're omnipotent. The Lord God omnipotent reigneth
and is in absolute control. They're coming, but they're in
your hands and there's nothing they can do to us without your
permission. You're in absolute control. Now,
the Lord already knew this, didn't he? They weren't giving him any
new information. He didn't know, but they're using this in prayer.
Lord, you're God. You're God, you're sovereign,
and you're all powerful. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? If God be for us, who can be against us? Now, go on reading,
verse seven. Art not thou our God, who didst
drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel,
and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend, forever. Now he reminds God now of the
covenant that he made with Abraham. And I love the way he calls Abraham,
Abraham, your friend. Now I'm looking at some people
right now whom God would say, they're my friends. That's a
glorious thing to think about, isn't it? To think that I'm the
friend of God, that God counts me his friend. And if I'm a believer,
he counts me his friend, just like he did Abraham. The Lord
said, you are my friends. If you do whatsoever, I command
you. If you believe the gospel, you're my friends. A servant
doesn't know what his Lord does, but I'm making the will of my
father known to you. You're my friends, Abraham. And
notice he said, Abraham, his friend forever. what the Lord did for Abraham's
sake. He said, we're children of Abraham.
Art thou not our God who didst drive out the inhabitants of
this land before thy people Israel and gavest it to the seed of
Abraham, thy friend forever, the seed of Abraham. Now turn
with me for a moment to Luke chapter 19. You're familiar with this story
of Zacchaeus and how the Lord made himself known to Zacchaeus.
Zacchaeus make haste and come down and he made haste and he
came down. And we read beginning in verse
six, and he made haste and came down and received him joyfully.
Oh, Al, that's the only way you receive the Lord Jesus Christ,
joyfully. And when they saw it, they all
murmured, saying that he was gone to be a guest with a man
that is a sinner. They didn't like this. And Zacchaeus stood
and said to the Lord, he wasn't talking to anybody else, he was
speaking to the Lord. Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I
give to the poor. And if I've taken anything from
any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus
said unto him, this day is salvation come to this house because look
at all the things he did. No, this day salvation is coming
to this house for this one reason, for he also is a son of Abraham. the seed of Abraham. Turn with
me for a moment to Genesis chapter 19. Now, Abraham is a type of the
Lord Jesus Christ here, God's friend forever, and God has mercy
upon us for Christ's sake. Now look in Genesis 19, beginning in verse 15. And when the morning arose, then
the angels hasted Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife and thy
two daughters which are here, lest thou be consumed in the
iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men
laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and
upon the hand of the two daughters, the Lord being merciful unto
him. And they brought him forth and
set him without the city." Now look in verse 22. The angel said to Lot, haste
thee, escape hither, for I cannot do anything till thou become
hither, till you're out of here. I can't move. I can't destroy
this city till you're out. Therefore, the name of the city
was called Zoar. Look in verse 29. And it came
to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God
remembered Abraham, his friend forever. and sent Lot, lingering
Lot, out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the
cities in which Lot dwelt. Now you see in that passage of
scripture, why did God deliver Lot? One reason, for Abraham's
sake. That's the only reason. You can't
find any other reason than Lot that the Lord would deliver him.
But he did it for Abraham's sake. And what a wonderful picture
of the gospel we have here. Why does God save sinners? He
does it for Christ's sake. His friend forever, his eternal
friend. All that is is typical of the
gospel. What all God did for Abraham's sake, you think of
what David did for Jonathan's sake, what he did for Mephibosheth,
same thing. Now he's reminding him, you do
what you do for your covenant's sake. For Abraham thy seed forever's
sake. Now go on reading. Back to our
text in 2 Chronicles 20. Verse 8, And they dwelt therein,
and have built thee a sanctuary then for thy name, saying, If
when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence,
or famine, And we stand before this house, where his name is,
and in thy presence, for in thy name is in this house, and cry
unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help."
That's the promise. He reminds the Lord of this promise.
If we look to this sanctuary, which is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the house of God, and we cry in our affliction for your help,
you've promised you'll hear. Verse 10, and now, Behold, the
children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom thou wouldst
not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt,
but they turned from them and destroyed them not. Behold, I
say, how they reward us to come to cast us out of thy possession,
which thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, wilt thou not judge
them? For we have no might. against this great company that
cometh against us. Neither know we what to do, but
our eyes are upon thee. Now Jehoshaphat says we have
no might, no power, no ability, no spiritual ability to stand
before we have no might. You know, the only time we look
to the Lord's ability is when we have no ability. And this
is a good place to be, to have no ability, because as long as
you have some ability, you will not look to the Lord and His
ability. That's promised. Now, we have no might to stand
before this great company, no ability. You know, I was thinking
about this. I realized that there are those
who almost revel in their inability and use it to excuse their sin.
But you know, people that do that don't really believe in
their inability. They're just looking for an excuse for sin,
that's it. They don't really believe in their inability. But
someone who does, someone who believes it, I tell you what,
if you and I ever see who the Lord is, we'll know our inability.
we'll know our sinfulness. It comes from seeing Him. And
when you see Him in that light, you will be looking to His ability. Now, here's two things that we
must learn. Our inability, we have no might,
and His mighty ability to save. It's only in my inability that
I can look to his ability. Abraham staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God. O our God, verse 12, wilt thou
not judge them? For we have no might against
this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what
to do. We have no idea as to what to
do. We're hemmed up. We don't, it's
not like we have an option and we don't have a choice. We don't
know what to do. So here's where we're camping
right here. Our eyes are upon thee. We're just waiting to see
what you do. We know we can't do anything
and we don't have anything else to do. Our eyes are upon thee. We're waiting to see what you
do. Verse 13, and when all of Judah
stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives and
their children, Here they are, all of Judah, their kids, the
women, helpless people with these mighty armies coming, and they
just stand looking to the Lord to take care of them. Now let's
go and read him. Verse 14. Then upon Jehaziel,
the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaniah, the son of Jeiel,
the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the
Spirit of the Lord. in the midst of the congregation. Oh, this is what I want right
now. The Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation.
Go on reading. And he said, Hearken ye, all
Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou King Jehoshaphat,
thus saith the Lord unto you, be not afraid, nor dismayed by
reason of this great multitude, For the battle is not yours. It's God's. Now there's only
way, there's only one way I can not be afraid or dismayed. And
that's if the battle's not mine. But it's God's. If the battle's mine, I'll lose. I know that. If the battle's
mine, I will lose. And I'm asking the Lord's help.
Lord, help me because if you don't help me, if you don't fight
my battles for me, I will lose. Now that's the way we come into
the Lord's presence. If you don't fight my battles
for me, I will lose. You see, I want the entire burden of my
salvation to be upon the Lord. I want every bit of it to be
on him. I don't want to have any of it.
Paul said, I know whom I believed. I'm persuaded he's able to keep
that which I've committed to him against that day. I've committed
the entire salvation of my soul to him. I've committed to him.
My hands are off. It's up to him to save me. It's
utterly up to him to save me. I'm completely dependent upon
him. If he doesn't save me, I won't be saved. Oh, how I need His
help, His favor, His mercy. I look only to Him. The Lord being responsible for
my salvation. Now look what He says. The battle's
not yours, but God's. Verse 16. Tomorrow. Go ye down
against them. These three nations. Behold,
they come up by the cliff of Ziz. And you shall find there
at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel, You
should not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves. Don't get up. Set yourselves.
Stand ye still and see the salvation of the Lord. with you oh judah
and jerusalem fear not nor be dismayed tomorrow go out against
them for the lord will be with you now this is the same thing
that moses said when the children of israel were crossing the red
sea remember that stand still and see the salvation of god
but he said the lord will fight your battles for you now what
is my battle My biggest problem, my greatest
enemy is me. My greatest enemy is my sin. My sin is ever before me. I can't stand before this great
enemy. And I'm asking the Lord to fight
my battle for me. And he promises he will. Stand still and see the salvation
of God. He saved me from my sins. It is finished. Stand still and
see the salvation of God. And how did Jehoshaphat respond
to that? Verse 17, You shall not need
to fight in this battle. Set yourself, stand ye still,
and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow
go out against them, for the Lord shall be with you. And Jehoshaphat
bowed his head with his face to the ground. And all Judah
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshiping
the Lord. Now here is the only response
to the gospel. I love it. Worship. Worship. What do you do when
you worship? Nothing. You bow down in your
heart before God and know that He is God and beside Him is none
else. You know you have no control.
You know He has all control. You know you have no power. You
know He has all power. You know He's the Lord. And you worship. You worship Him for who He is. Isn't it good news that He's
going to fight your battles for you? You may have battles you're
looking at. He's going to fight them for
you. What do you do? You worship. Verse 19, and the
Levites of the children of the Kothethites and of the children
of the Korites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a
loud voice on high. And they rose early in the morning,
just like he told them to do. I wonder how they felt knowing
the Lord was gonna fight for them. I mean, they had this promise. All you gotta do is sit here
and watch. I'm gonna fight for you. So they go out against their
enemy, knowing the Lord is gonna fight for them. And they rose
early in the morning, verse 20, and went forth into the wilderness
of Tekoa. And as they went forth, Jehoshaphat
stood and said, hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem,
believe in the Lord your God, so shall you be established.
Believe his prophets, so shall you prosper. Believe God. Believe
what he said. Believe his words. You'll be
established and you'll prosper. Now you might be as poor as a
church mouse, but you're still prospering because God's fighting
for you. Doesn't matter what your condition
is, God's fighting for you. Verse 21, and when he'd consulted
with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord that should
praise the beauty of holiness. And they went out before the
army and to say, praise the Lord for his mercy endureth forever. They went out to praise the beauty
of holiness. Now this is a phrase that we
find over and over in the scripture. The beauty of holiness. Worship
the Lord in the beauty of holiness. God is holy. And His holiness is beautiful. The only way I know how to describe
God's holiness is the cross. That is the description of God's
holiness. Every attribute of God is displayed in the cross
and every attribute is holy. We see His holy wisdom. Him making
a way to be just and justify somebody like me. I see His holy
justice. Sin is going to be punished, even if it's on His Son. I see
His holy grace. He has mercy in a way that magnifies
His holiness. I see His holy love. Everything
regarding God is holy. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. Now in Isaiah chapter six, Isaiah said in the year
that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. Now what happened that
year that King Uzziah died? We're in second Chronicles, turn
second Chronicles 26. Verse 16. Now Uzziah was a man that was
greatly used of God, but when he was strong, His heart was
lifted up to his destruction for he transgressed against the
Lord, his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn
incense upon the altar of incense. Now only one person could burn
incense. That's the priest. And all of
a sudden he takes upon himself to do that. He thinks I can come
in on my own. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and
with him fourscore priests of the Lord that were valiant men.
And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth
not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord. But to
the priests, the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn
incense, go out of the sanctuary, for thou hast trespassed, neither
shall it be for thine honor from the Lord God. Then Uzziah was
wroth and had a censer in his hand to burn incense. He was
going to do it anyway. And while he was wroth with the priests,
the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in
the house of the Lord from beside the incense altar. And Azariah,
the chief priest, and all the priests looked upon him, and
behold, he was leprous in his forehead. And they thrust him
out from this. Yea, himself hasted also to go
out, because the Lord had smitten him. Now in the year that King
Uzziah died, Isaiah says, when I saw God's utter holiness and
how he cannot be approached apart from the great high priest. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I also saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted
up, and his train filled the temple. And then Isaiah tells
us about the seraphims that were flying around the throne crying
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. The whole earth
is full of His glory. And the scripture points out
something about these seraphims. Now, I don't know what they were.
They were some kind of angelic beings, I suppose. I've heard
different views of it, but I think they were some kind of angelic
beings. And they had six wings. And they were sinless. They were not fallen. They'd
been preserved from sin. But the scripture points out
with these six wings, they did fly. With two of these wings,
they covered their face. They couldn't look upon the Lord
because he was holy. So they covered their face. These
are sinless beings. They still covered their face.
And with two wings, they covered their feet. They were ashamed
of themselves. Now, they never sinned, but they
knew they would if He didn't prevent it. They knew that. They
were ashamed of themselves. They were ashamed of their walk.
And they didn't have any sin, yet they were ashamed. So they
covered their feet. And with two, they did fly, ready
for obedience, crying, holy, holy, holy. That was their cry, the beauty
of holiness. Now, I don't know that I could
rejoice in the beauty of holiness without the other part of this
verse. Turn back to 2 Chronicles 20, verse 21. And when he had consulted with
the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord that should praise
the beauty of holiness as they went out before the army. Do
you find holiness beautiful? I tell you how you do is if you're
in Christ. If you're in Christ, you're not
afraid. You see the holiness of the Lord and you see it. And
do you see the beauty of holiness, the beauty of the Lord God, let
the beauty of the Lord God be upon us. But we couldn't really
see the beauty of it without the latter part of this verse.
They went out before the army to say, praise the Lord for his
mercy endures forever. Now notice that word endures
is an italics. Uh, that word endures is, um,
it never had a beginning. It never has an end. Now, mercy. I'll tell you who mercy means
something to. If your sin is all your fault,
you want mercy. You want mercy more than anything
else. Now, if your sin's not your fault, you don't really
ever truly cry for mercy. But if your sin is all your fault,
every bit of it, it's all your fault. Can't blame somebody else.
Can't blame your circumstances. Can't blame your environment.
You can't blame the sovereignty of God. Your sin is all your
fault, period. You know what you need? You need
mercy. And I love this kind of mercy.
It's a mercy that never had a beginning and never has an end. His mercy
endures forever. Aren't you thankful for eternal
mercy? You see, all of God's blessings are eternal. He saved
us, Timothy said, Paul said to Timothy, he saved us, he called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which were given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. The mercy I have was given me
before time began. And it's never going to end.
Now, can you praise the Lord? If you believe in that kind of
mercy, you can see the beauty of holiness and you rejoice in
it. Now let's go on reading verse 22. And when they began to sing and
to praise, Now, they're praising the Lord for what he promised
he would do. He hadn't done it yet, but they
knew he would because he said he would. And they were thanking
him for this. So look, and when they began
to sing and to praise the praise, the Lord set ambushments against
the children of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, which were coming
against Judah, and they were smitten. When did this happen?
When they began to sing. And when they began to praise
in faith, before it ever took place, but as they did that,
the Lord sent these ambushments against them. Verse 23, for the
children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of
Mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them. And when they'd
made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy
another. And Israel just, I mean, Judah
just sit there watching this. All three of these nations were
battling each other, killing each other, and he just watched.
The Lord was fighting their battles for them. Verse 24, and when
Judah came toward the watchtower in the wilderness, they looked
into the multitude and behold, all there were were dead bodies
fall into the earth and none escaped, not even one. All their enemies were dead. They were put to death and not
even one of them escaped. Now, I've already said my greatest
enemy is myself, my sins. But here's what we see through
the preaching of the gospel. All of our sins are dead. Not
one has escaped. I don't have one sin that's gonna
be brought before God in judgment. They're all gone. You know, when
Paul said, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, there's
only one reason why he would have said that, because I am
dead indeed to sin. Sin has nothing to say to me.
All my sin has been put away. We watch the Lord fighting our
battle for us. Verse 25, and when Jehoshaphat
and the people came to take away the spoil of them, All these
dead bodies with gold and silver and so on, they found among them
in abundance, both riches with the dead bodies and precious
jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they
could carry away. And they were, how many days
in gathering the spoil? Three days. And I think of the
spoil our Lord gathered for us in those three days. Complete justification, complete
sanctification, perfect conformity to the image of Christ. Oh, the
spoil. We have a whole lot more than
we would have if we would have never fallen, don't we? They
couldn't even carry it. Oh, three days of, of spoil taking. Verse 26, and on the fourth day,
they assembled themselves in the Valley of Birka, which means
blessing for there they blessed the Lord. Now, what do you do
when you bless the Lord? You know, the psalmist did say,
bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that's within me, bless his
holy name. We obviously can't confer blessings on him. He's
the blessed one. But I'll tell you what it means.
It means speak well of him. Speak well of him, his glory,
his honor. They spoke well of him. They
blessed the name of the Lord. Therefore, the name of the same
place was called the Valley of Berekeh unto this day, the place
of blessing. Then they returned every man
of Judah and Jerusalem and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them to go
again to Jerusalem with joy for the Lord had made them to rejoice
over their enemies. And they came to Jerusalem with
psalteries and harps and trumpets into the house of the Lord. And
the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when
they had heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of
Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was
quiet for his God gave him rest. Roundabout. Turn to Romans 8. This is what
we'll close with. This is God fighting for you. Verse 31. If God be for us, who can be against us? If He's for you in purpose. Verse
28, we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. If
He's for you in foreknowledge, for whom, not what, but whom
He did foreknow, know beforehand, love beforehand. Then He also
did predestinate. If He's for you in predestination,
Then he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he also called, if he's
for you in calling. And whom he called, then he also
justified, he's for you in justification. And whom he justified, then he
also glorified. He's for you in glorification,
you're actually glorified. That's not you will be, this
is actually in the past tense, you already are. But that's how
real union with Christ is. He's glorified, I am too. Now
what shall we then say to these things if God be for us? Who can be against us? He that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely, get that word freely, give us
all things, not most things, but all things? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. That's God fighting for you,
Him justifying you. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea rather that's risen again, who's even
at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation
or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril
or sword? As it's written, for thy sake we're killed all the
day long. We're accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay,
in all these things we're more than conquerors. through him
that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
and just in case I've left out anything else, nor any other
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let's pray.