1 John chapter 1. John's little
epistle. Chapter 1. I want to begin reading
in verse 1 and read down through chapter 2 and verse 2. Our subject
this morning is an advocate with a father. 1 John chapter 1. That which was
from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen
with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have
handled of the word of life. For the life was manifested,
and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that
eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto
us. That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you. that ye also may have fellowship
with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with
His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto
you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which
we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light,
and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship
with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as
He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If
we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned,
we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. My little children,
these things write I unto you that you sin not. And if any
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous. And He is the perpetuation for
our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world. An advocate with the Father for
those who have sinned. John here in these few verses
that I read to you gives a clear and emphatic testimony of the
full and free forgiveness of sins that is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. I do not know how clear He could
have been or how forceful or how broad that He could have
been when He said, If we walk in the light as He is in the
light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of
Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. From all sin He cleanses. And then in verse 9, if we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And then in chapter 2, in verse
12, he mentions it to these little children again. I write unto
you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for
His sake. Well, it's evident that John
was not afraid to set forth these truths, this one glorious truth,
so boldly and so broadly that if any man sinned, We have an
advocate. We have a representative with
a father. We have a lawyer there. If I
was writing this today, I would say if you sin, dear child of
God, you have a lawyer with a father. One in the Father's presence
to plead your cause and bring you off from any and all condemnation. And John was so plain with this,
wasn't he? He preached it and taught it
and wrote about it so freely and so boldly. He sets forth this view for a
purpose. He does this to promote holiness
and comfort and gratitude in the hearts of God's little children. Some may want to tell us and
some have told us That such a clear declaration of the free grace
of God in Christ in forgiving us our sin promotes licentious
living. That it promotes carelessness
and that it breeds an attitude that if our sins are so freely
forgiven, then we may freely sin. But John doesn't promote
such a view. Can you believe that any apostle,
riding under the inspiration of God, would set forth a doctrine
that would promote sin? This man was moved by the Holy
Spirit, and being moved by the Holy Spirit, he sets forth this
clear declaration that in Jesus Christ, all our sins are freely
forgiven. And the Holy Spirit led him to
do that. And John was writing here to his little children.
My little children, these things I write unto you. This word here,
the meaning of it is darlings. My little darlings. My favorite
ones, he writes to them. Would he write to these little
children? and promote a doctrine among
them that would lead them in a licentious life? Why, he'd
never do that, would he? You have children. Most of you
here today have children. You have grandchildren. Would
you say or do anything to your children that would promote a
hard attitude to sin? Well, you'd never do that if
you said anything or done anything that led your child into sin. It would break your heart. And
when John is writing here to his little children about the
freeness of forgiveness, he does it with the intention of producing
in them gratitude and promoting the holiness of life and happiness
of life. The Bible is clear on this teaching
of forgiveness of sins everywhere, that those who are conscious
of sins forgiven will in turn love the One who forgave them. And the more sins that we are
conscious of, the more we love Him who forgives our sins. I
want to turn to a couple of places over in Luke's Gospel, chapter
7, I want to give you an example of this. For those who say that
we shouldn't preach so freely the forgiveness of sins, all
sins, through Jesus Christ, because it will lead to an attitude of
living in sin and carelessness, well, let's see what the Bible
says about that. Let me read you this story. The
Bible says it much better than I could say it. Here in Luke,
chapter 7, And in verse 36, the Lord Jesus comes into this Pharisee's
house and he sets down to eat in Luke chapter 7 and verse 36. And in verse 37, a woman in the
city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus set at meat
in the Pharisee's house, she brought a box, this alabaster
box of precious ointment. And verse 38 says, She stood
at his feet behind him, weeping, and began to wash his feet with
tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed
his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. And when the Pharisee
which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying,
If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what
manner of woman this is that toucheth him, for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering him said,
Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he said, Master,
say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors. The one
owed 500 pence, which is a fabulous sum, they tell us. And the other
owed only 50 pence. And when they had nothing to
pay, he freely, frankly, graciously forgave them both. Now look at
this. Tell me, therefore, which of
them will love Him most." Now, there's a principle our Lord
is teaching here, and it's just this. When He forgives somebody
their sins, they're going to love Him. They're not going to
hate Him. They're not going to bring shame
on His name. They're not wanting to grieve
Him. He has forgiven them, and they love Him. And here's another
principle that our Lord teaches here. The more sins you are conscious
of being forgiven, the more you love. The more you love. Ain't that what he said in verse
42? Which of them will love him most?
And even Simon this Pharisee said that is a true principle.
Look what he said in verse 43. Simon answered and said, I suppose,
well, he didn't admit it so freely, but he did admit it. to whom
he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast
rightly judged." You have rightly judged. When a person is conscious
of sin before God, and God for Christ's sake forgives that sin,
that person will love the Lord for forgiven. And he went ahead
and said in verse 44, he turned to the woman and said to Simon,
seest thou this woman? I entered into thy house. You
gave me no water for my feet. She has washed my feet with her
tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. You gave me
no kiss, but this woman since the time that I came in has not
ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil you did not
anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with oil, with ointment.
Wherefore, I say unto thee, that her sins, which are many, are
forgiven her. And how could we tell that? For
she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth
little. Here was a sinful woman, and
she came to the Lord Jesus Christ because she loved Him, because
He had forgiven her mountains of sins. And she loved him so
much that she risked being humiliated in front of all of these Pharisees. And yet she came to Christ. Why? Because he had forgiven her many
sins. Therefore she loved. Therefore, those who tell us
that we should not set forth so freely the forgiveness of
sin, they don't know what they say. They don't know whereof
they affirm. Let me show you one more passage
of Scripture over in the book of Psalms, chapter 116. Look
over in the book of Psalms, chapter 116. Here's how David put it
when the Lord delivered him, forgave him of all his sins.
Look what an attitude of gratitude put in him. Psalm 116 and look
in verse 1. I love the Lord. Why do you love
him, David? Because he hath heard my voice
and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his
ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. The sorrows of death can pass
me. The pains of hell got hold upon
me. I found trouble, and I found
sorrow. Then called I upon the name of
the Lord, O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is
the Lord, and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. The Lord
preserveth the simple. I was brought low, and He helped
me. Return unto Thy rest, O my soul,
for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with Thee. For he hath delivered
my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in
the land of the living." Boy, look how full of gratitude David
was. I will walk before the Lord all
the days of my life. As I face my subjects in my kingdom,
as I live before my family, I will walk before the Lord in the land
of the living. I'll call upon Him as long as
I live. What was wrong with this man?
Why did he have such resolve that as long as he lived, I'm
going to pray and seek my Lord? The Lord had mercifully and graciously
delivered him. And brothers and sisters, The
more sin that you're conscious of, and the more sins that you're
conscious of being delivered from through the Lord Jesus Christ,
the more you're going to love the Lord. It does not lead to
licentiousness. It does not lead to carelessness
in your life. Right the contrary. It promotes
holiness and it promotes gratitude and it promotes happiness, doesn't
it? What if you could leave here
this morning with all your sins forgiven? Would you be happy? If you see all your sins freely
washed away? Yes, you would be happy, wouldn't
you? Of course you would be happy. Look back over now at our text
again, and let's look at it right quickly. With this in mind, with
what we've been saying in mind this morning, let's look at the
first part of this text. Chapter 2 and verse 1. My little children, these things
I write unto you, that ye sin not. Now John is telling us two
things here. He's telling us, number one,
that he's writing these things unto us because these things
that he's writing to us will be a deterrent to sin. What had he been writing to us
about? free forgiveness of sin. If we
walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanseth
us. You know, some have told us a
believer walking with the Lord is not a sinner anymore. Well,
what do we do with a verse like this? When we walk with our triune
God, in the light, as He is in the light, the blood cleanses
us from all sin. Every day we walk with Him, there
is a fountain open and you are cleansed from all your sins.
We are sinners, but we are cleansed from sin. And John said, I write
this unto you because this will be a deterrent for your sinning. You will live in such gratitude
to Him, it will be a deterrent. from you for your sin. If you
love the Lord Jesus and you're conscious of His goodness and
His love for you, isn't this a deterrent? If you're tempted,
what do you say in your heart? I'm not going to yield to this.
My Lord loves me. My Lord is grieved with my sin. So I will not commit this sin.
It's a deterrent for your sin. One man said this. Love and gratitude
has bands that are stronger than iron. The love of Christ will
constrain us from sin when the whip of the law will not do it. Holding a believer's conscience
over hell will not do it. All of us have known men who
were outwardly wicked and profane. And yet through the fear of torment,
through the fear of hell, they have cleaned up their outward
life. They've become very moral. But
when the fear of hell subsides, so does their morality. And their
whole problem was this. They were just trying to serve
the Lord because they were afraid they were going to hell. That's
not a good motive for serving the Lord, is it? Here's a motive
for serving the Lord. You have delivered me. You have
been gracious to me. My eyes were full of tears. My
heart was full of sorrow. My feet was ready to walk off
into the grave. But you delivered me. You had
mercy on me. And I'm going to call upon you
the rest of my life. I'm going to serve you out of
gratitude for what you did for me. You see, a man's heart who is
filled with a sense of gratitude and love, And it's so because
he's conscious of sins forgiven. You know what I think we need
to do earnestly and honestly? Instead of denying our sins,
instead of lessening our sins, or instead of sweeping our sins
under the rug, you and I should really pray, O God, open my heart
that I may see more of my sins. I want to see the mountains of
sin and then open my heart to let me see that all my sins are
washed away. All my sins are forgiven. And
the reason we should pray that, brothers and sisters, is because
when we see a mountain of sin forgiven, it will fill our heart
with gratitude. It will be a deterrent for our
sinning. That is the first thing John
is saying to us here in this passage. Second thing he's telling us
is this. He's saying literally to us, he's commanded us, little
children, sin not. Do not sin. It's not a suggestion. It's a commandment from God through
the Apostle John. These things I write unto you. Don't sin. Sin not. Now isn't it somewhat embarrassing
that this great apostle has to write these things unto a child
of God? Not to sin? You would think we
would know better than that. But he writes this unto us. Sin
not. Let me give you some reasons,
brothers and sisters, quickly, while you and I should heed this
warning not to sin. First is this. Who is sin against? It's against God, isn't it? I
may sin against Clarence, but my sin is ultimately against
God. And this is why it's so evil. Because it's against a good God. Against Thee and Thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight. Sin is an infinite
thing. Because it's against an infinite
God. Therefore, don't do it. Don't
sin, John said. Don't yield to temptation. Watch
against sin. Pray against sin. Be careful
not to sin. Guard your heart with all diligence.
Don't sin. Secondly, sin not because sinning
often brings the chastening whip of our Lord upon our backs. Those I love I rebuke. and chastening. And no chastening
for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous. You know what I'm
talking about this morning, don't you? You know what it is to sin,
and you know what it is for your Heavenly Father to lay His strap
across your back, and it hurts, doesn't it? God knows how to
correct His children. He knows how to hurt His children.
David lost his son, his infinite son, because of his sin. Solomon
lost his kingdom. It was divided because of Solomon's
sin. Peter went out and wept bitterly
because he betrayed his master. He denied his master. Many of
those in the Corinthian church were weakly and sickly, and some
of them was dying because of the chastening hand upon them.
These things I write unto you, that ye sin not. And thirdly, these things I write
unto you, that ye sin not, because our sinning so often diminishes
our joy, and it often brings fear and doubts to our conscience. Does it not? Remember David in
Psalms 51, after he had committed that awful sin with Bathsheba,
he writes that wonderful Psalms and he says, Restore unto me
the joy of thy salvation. How had he lost the joy of his
salvation? Through his sinning. And then
he became very afraid. He said, Lord, take not your
Holy Spirit from me. He became doubtful of His salvation,
didn't He? That's what sin does. I tell
you, some days we can be so strong in faith, we can be so confident
and full of assurance, but if we yield to sin and we sin and
we sin, then we're apt to fall into doubts and fears, even of
our salvation. Sin not. Fourthly, sin not because
it's contrary to your new nature. It's not who you are anymore
in your inner man. I delight in the law of God after
the inner man. And there's a check put upon
your conscience when you sin, is there not? And that check
is from that new creature that's within you. If any man be in
Christ, he's a new creature. And that new creature cannot
sin, he despises sin, and he puts a check upon sin. Sin not,
therefore. So when people say that John
here is promoting a doctrine or a teaching that leads to licentiousness
or liberty to sin, he does not. He's telling us this to keep
us from sin. And yet, at the same time, John
is very conscious that true believers sin. Is he not? This is not a contradiction to
tell us not to sin, to pray against sin, and then turn right around
and tell us, you do sin. That's not a contradiction of
term. The Bible says there is not a just man upon earth. that doeth good, and sinneth
not." And here he tells us as we walk with our God, as we fellowship
with Him and enjoy Him, there is a need to be washed from our
sins. A Christian is not a man who
has no sin, but he is a man to whom God will not impute sin.
A Christian is not a man who never sins and never falls into
sin, but he is a man that when he does sin, he has an advocate. He has a lawyer with a father
to plead and maintain his cause. Who is it now? Let's look at
this. Who is it that makes intercessions for transgressors? It's Jesus Christ. It's Jesus
Christ. There's one mediator between
God and man. That's the man, Christ Jesus. But notice here how John identifies
him. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. He could have said we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And boy,
that would have been a comfort to us, wouldn't it? Because Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, is on the right hand of God to plead
for us. And that's comforting because you know the Father loves
Him. The Father looks upon Him and
says, Oh, my Son, You're my only begotten Son. You were with me
from all eternity. And the Son looks upon the Father
and says, Oh, You're my Father. I love You. They've fellowshiped
from eternity, haven't they? So He could have said, We have
an Advocate, Jesus Christ. the Son of God. But He says something
different and He does it on purpose. And this is even better. What
does He say about our Lawyer in God's right hand? He says
that He is Jesus Christ the Righteous. Why is this important? Because
we're talking here about a court of law. We're talking about the court
of heaven. We have sinned. And our case has come up before
the court of heaven, before the father. And we need somebody
there who can legally represent us. Yes, he's the son of God,
and therefore he could plead with passion to his father. But brothers and sisters, it's
not the son of God we need there so much as it is the righteous. Son of God. He's got to be somebody
that is holy and harmless and undefiled and separate from sinners. If you've committed a crime and
they've arrested you for it and they take you up to the courtroom
and you're standing there before the judge, do you want a lawyer
that the court don't even like? Do you want some scoundrel there
to represent you and the judge dispatches him and says, I know
you. I know what kind of reputation
you've got in the community. You're a sorry man. I wouldn't
want that kind of lawyer, would you? And Jesus Christ is not
that kind of a lawyer. He is the righteous one. And when he speaks, the court
listens. Everybody is silent, Shannon.
Because Jesus, the Righteous One, speaks. One thing we love
about the Lord Jesus Christ, everything He was, everything
about Him, everything He did was good. It was holy. When He was born, remember what
the Holy Spirit called Him? That holy thing that would be
born of you? As He went about, He went about
doing good. On the cross, when He bore our
sins in His own body, it was said, the just for the unjust. He that knew no sin was made
sin. Every step of the way in His
life, it had this attached to it, this is the righteous one. And He ascended to heaven in
our glorified humanity. And He's on the Father's right
hand. And when He speaks, there's a hush that goes across the courtroom. Angels hide their faces. Angels
shut their lips. Why? Because the Righteous One
is speaking. And who's He speaking for? Somebody
who has sinned. Someone who has sinned. They tell us sometimes that that
you can go to court and this has happened, and you've got
a lawyer that's there when you're not even there to represent you. And you can't for the life of
you represent yourself. What would you say if you had
to represent yourself this morning and you had sinned, you're guilty,
and you had to plead your own cause before the court of heaven?
What would you say? How would you plead it? Legally,
what would you say? Oh, I can plead mercy. I do that
all the time. Be merciful to me, a sinner.
Have mercy upon me. But there's something more concerning
than mercy. And that's justice. Justice is concerned. I've sinned. I'm standing before the court
of heaven. I can't just go plead mercy. What about justice? And
that's why we have a righteous Advocate to plead for us. Since
He's righteous, He will plead for justice. And then, when justice
is satisfied, what happens? Then mercy comes. Then forgiveness
comes. Our Advocate is above reproach. Is He not? I do always those things that
please my Father. Everything I do, it pleases my
Father. I am the righteous one. And when
He speaks and says, Father, I will, the Father listens. The court
of heaven listens. My righteous servant. We often read that in the Old
Testament. Listen to Isaiah chapter 53. Verse 11, The Lord, that
is the Father, shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall
be satisfied. Why? Because he was righteous.
By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he
shall bear their iniquity. Therefore, I will divide him
a portion with the great, and he shall divide the small with
the strong, because my righteous servant has poured out his soul
unto death. He was numbered with the transgressors,
and he bore the sins of many." And listen to this. My righteous
servant made intercessions for the transgressors. My righteous
servant. made intercessions for the transgression.
Everything our Lord Jesus is, everything that He does, everything
that He will ever do is done from the standpoint of righteousness. Do you have an advocate with
God this morning? With the Father? Notice this about Him. What does
He plead? He's a righteous advocate. What
does he plead? Our text in verse 2 says this,
and he is the propitiation. He is the atoning victim for
our sins. He pleads himself. That's what he pleads. He pleads
his blood shedding. He pleads his sufferings on the
cross. He pleads his death. He is the propitiation, and that's
what he pleads. We have a little track back on
the track table written by Hensworth Jonas. I recommend it to you. And I've got a little quote here
that he wrote in that pamphlet on this very subject. And listen
to what he says that Jesus Christ pleads and how he pleads. Our advocate first enters a guilty
plea on our behalf. Now, isn't that amazing? He doesn't
deny our guilt. He owns it and says, Father,
they've sinned. He doesn't come, brothers and
sisters, to plead the cause of the righteous. He's not calling righteous people
to repentance. He's not pleading for righteous
people. Who's he pleading for? If any
man sinned, you say, I haven't sinned. Then you don't need an
advocate. We need an advocate when we've
sinned. So Brother Jonas says he first
enters this guilty plea. And then, Brother Jonas says
this. Our advocate quickly reminds
the court that the penalty has already been paid and that double
jeopardy would be an act of injustice. He then presents the evidence
of full payment to the court. He would say, in effect, to his
Heavenly Father and the judge of all the earth, look at my
blood. that crimson tide that washes
white as snow. My Father, look at my hands,
the nail-scarred hands that suffered torture for man's sin. Look at my side, I was pierced
for His redemption. Look at my head, the thorny crowns
that pass upon my brow. Father, look at the evidence.
What evidence? The wounds in his hand, the hole
in his side, the scars on his brow. My father, forgive this
sinning child for my sake, for my wounds sake. You think the
father could turn that away? Never, never. The father comes forth with this
verdict, forgive him. Forgiven of all. And what does that produce? Oh,
a sense of guilt that's gone. A sense of happiness. A sense of peace. Thy sins are
forgiven thee. Go in peace. Is this the advocate, brothers
and sisters, that you need? Do you ever think about that?
Is it one that you need? Do you have Him? If you're a
believer, you have an advocate. You have an advocate with a Father. And you can say with King David,
as often as you sin, Lord, plead my cause. The only clients this advocate
takes are guilty sinners. It takes no others. The only
qualification for retaining this advocate is to be guilty. If any man has sinned, we have
an advocate. John doesn't stop to qualify
the sin that you and I have committed. He doesn't say anything about
who has committed the sin. Let the sin be as black as hell
itself. And let the one who has committed
it be the weakest child of God that's ever lived in this world.
Yet, if he entertains this advocate, this advocate will plead his
cause and bring him off from any and all condemnation. Have you sinned? Yes, you have. Aren't we vile people? We are
vile people. A man told me one time, he said,
Bruce, you're never going to build up a congregation by telling
people that they're sinners. I'd rather preach to a few people
who know they're sinners and know their need of an advocate
with a father than preach to a stadium full of people that
says, I've never sinned that bad. We are vile people. We are sinful people. But we
have an advocate with a Father who is willing and who is able
to plead the cause of every man and woman who comes to God by
Him. If I told you this morning that
you had to meet certain qualifications to come to God, I would discourage
you to death. You've got to clean up yourself
and you've got to prepare yourself to come to God. That would discourage
you to death. But if I told you to come to
God freely through Jesus Christ, that should encourage you to
come. Sin's an awful thing. And guilt is an awful thing.
It can torment us. But there's a way to get rid
of it. Go to this advocate. Get him to plead your cause.
And when He does, you don't have to run around with your head
down all the time, feeling so guilty and afraid. You know the
only reason you and I fear death? You know the only reason we fear
standing before God? Do you know what it is? Our sins! If we can get rid of our sins
and be conscious of it, we can live without this torment and
fear of death and the judgment to come. Well, that's what our
text is telling us. We have an Advocate, and He's
the propitiation. He's the atoning victim for our
sins. Therefore, come to Him. And when
He pleads your cause, oh my, you'll be so happy. And you'll
be so joyful. And you'll go singing with these
little Christmas birds. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away, away. Your sins are pardoned and now
you're free. They're all taken away. Let's sing 233. Depths of mercy
can there be. Somebody come and play for me,
would you? Depths of mercy can there be. Mercies feel reserved
for me. Page 233. Jean is not going to be with
us after today, so we are going to use her up if we can. Jean
is going to Florida for a while. Spend some time with her family where it is good and warm and
we are happy for her. Page 233. Depths of mercy, can
there be? Mercy still reserved for me. And if you have a pen, I never
do this, I think I've done it one time to our song book, but
if you have a pen, go to Mr. Wesley's last verse where he
says, Jesus weeps and loves me still. Put plead in there. Jesus pleads and loves me still. Deaths of mercy can there be? Mercy still reserved for me? Can my God His wrath forbear? me the chief of sinners fair. I have long withstood His grace,
long provoked Him to His face, would not hearken to His calls,
Grieve Him by a thousand souls. Now incline me to repent. Let me now my sins lament. Now my fault behold before we
believe and sin no more. There for me my Savior stands,
holding for His wounded hands. God is love, I know I feel. Jesus flees and loves me, Our Father, thank You for Your
Word. What a wonderful Gospel that You've given us to preach,
and given us to believe, and given us to save, to be saved
by. Thank You for it. Thank You for
this wonderful day, this beautiful day. Lord, be gracious, be merciful
and gracious to Jean as she travels. We'll miss her greatly. Comfort
her and strengthen her. Be a husband to her. You've taken
her sweet husband, and she feels the weight of it and the loss
of it. Lord, our Lord Jesus, be a husband to her. Be merciful
to Jenny, Jim's daughter. They're in the hospital. Be gracious to her. And Father,
would you be pleased to teach her while she's suffering? Open
her heart to teach her of Christ the Lord and comfort her spirit. Bless this, dear people. Thank
you for all of them that's gathered here today. We go home today. I pray, our Father, that you
will do a work in our hearts, in our homes, and visit us, that
we may pray, sing, and worship you in our homes. Thank you for
everything. In Christ, our Lord's name, amen.
We'll have service Wednesday night for you that want to come,
and we'll have service next Sunday. Next Monday is Christmas, isn't
it? Thank you all for your gifts. You've been so generous to me
and Cindy. Thank you for it, and the Lord
bless you and uphold you. Any words before we go?