Job 35

Job chapter 35 is where we will be at this evening. Job chapter 35. Just a shorter chapter, just 16 verses in this chapter.

But we will be looking at it in its entirety in Job chapter 35. All right, let's go to the Lord in prayer and then we'll get right into our text with one another.

Father, we're so thankful for this day and we're thankful for just the opportunity of gathering together. We thank you for the fellowship which we can enjoy. We thank you even more for the opportunity of opening up your word. So we pray now as we take time to open up the word of God that you would speak truth into our hearts and into our minds and Lord that you would draw us closer to you. We pray that as we do so that we would come to a greater and grander understanding of who you are, that it would impact our lives on a daily level. Lord, that as that truth and that knowledge is gained, that it would drive us to live closer with one another, but also to live intentionally in the world you put us in. And may it be for your glory and honor and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Job chapter 35 is a continuation of Elihu's speeches. Unlike the first cycle of speeches which we see between Job and his three friends, there are no interruptions in Elihu's speech. Elihu seems to give pauses and breaks for people to respond. He asks questions in such that if I'm wrong, show me, or if this is unwise, then please point me in the right direction.

And nobody responds. Job never responds to any of the truths which Elihu proclaims. Job's three friends do not respond to any of the truths which he proclaims. And so Elihu just continues to answer the charges that he brought against not only Job, but against Job's three counselors. And the charges are that they had not answered correctly or accurately. He is neither for nor against Job. He is neither for nor against Job's friends. Some think that Elihu holds just as rigidly to double retribution theology as others. Now, I know you get tired of hearing that theme, but we are going to learn it whether or not we want to or not because retribution theology is just simply that you are going to be repaid according to your works. If you do good, you get good. If you do bad, you get bad. Double retribution theology implies that the good will indeed get good and the bad will indeed get bad and there's no deviation or separation from that. So if there are bad things in your life, it is because you are bad. And if there are good things in your life, it is because you are behaving and acting good. It is still very popular, at least longed for theology today because man would love to convince himself that his good deeds can outweigh his bad deeds. He loves to convince himself that indeed he can kind of hold God hostage, if you will, or compel God to bless him based upon his actions. Even prosperity gospels say, well, if you sow into this ministry, God will sow into you. And that is, if you do enough good,

God will do good back to you. Same principle. But I disagree with some Bible commentators who claim that Elihu does hold that retribution theology because if we look at it accurately, we will see truths that surely test and try Job. But we also see truths that test and try Job's friends. We see someone other than speaking in. He himself said that God brings wisdom and counsel when a messenger, or in his text he says, an angel is given to speak the truth into it. He propels that he is indeed that messenger that is not claiming any kind of false or puffed up knowledge. I do not believe because, again, we have to let scripture give its commentary on scripture. God never condemns anything Elihu says.

There are no charges of falsehood brought against him. As a matter of fact, it seems to be reinforced when the Lord God Almighty does speak. And so we pay special attention. These matters seem to be a precursor to the speeches of God. They seem to be opening up the word of God to us so that we will be prepared for when God does indeed speak. We are being separated from how we understand things and perceive things, and we are being shown over and over again that we need a higher level of wisdom, wisdom, that we need someone to speak truth into us, ultimately that someone will be God himself.

Elihu is kind of the forerunner, if you will, before him. And we say all of this because there's much truth that we will even see tonight that does not bear its full weight until we understand the theology that comes with Christianity. And so that's just a good way of saying these things make a lot of sense to us. They make a lot of sense to us because we're on this side of the cross. We understand the blessings we have in Christ, but it is still in a process, the very early stages of being unfolded to humanity here in the book of Job. So if you remember in chapter 34, Elihu proposes two questions that he wants to answer. He spends the majority of the 34th chapter answering the first one. The 35th chapter will answer the second one. Those two questions are found for you in verse 4 and verse 9 of chapter 34.

The verse 4 of 34 said, let us choose for ourselves what is right. Let us know among ourselves what is good. So the first question that is answered in the 34th chapter is, who or what is just?

And we looked at that last time we were together, the fact that God indeed is just, not just right, but that he is just, that it is proper, that it is accurate. In verse 9, the question is, for he has said, that is, Job, it profits a man nothing when he is pleased with God. So here's the second question.

What good is it to be pleasing to God? What good is it to be pleasing to God? Job said, yes, all of these things have happened in my life. I have not sinned. There's nothing going on in my life. There's nothing wrong. But yet God has brought all this assessment to me. Now, has Job ever said this verbatim? No. What Elihu is doing is condensing the arguments of Job. And essentially, if we were to go back and read it, we see the heart cry of Job says, what have I gained from all of my righteousness?

What have I gained from living as I should? If I'm suffering just like the wicked, then what gain has there been to me? So that question will be answered for us in the 35th chapter. And tonight, I want you to see the gain of godliness. Paul writes to Timothy that some suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

But he says, but indeed, godliness is a means of gain when coupled with what? Contentment. That godliness with contentment is a means of gain. That we are not godly simply because when Paul was writing that, he is speaking of, I have learned to be in hunger. I've learned to be in want. I've learned to be in thirst. I've learned to suffer. All these things. He says, some suppose that godliness is a means of gain. So even Paul is writing that some perceived in his day that to be godly meant you would prosper. But is the gain of godliness worldly prosperity and even worldly comfort?

Paul is writing, he says, I have been shipwrecked. I have been beaten. Some don't want this because they think that godliness is a means of gain. Paul says godliness is a means of gain when coupled with contentment. So what is the gain of godliness? That question is answered for us all the way back in the book of Job. In Job chapter 35. Let's read the text. Then Elihu continued and said, Do you think that this is according to justice? Do you say my righteousness is more than God's?

For you say, what advantage will it be to you? What profit will I have more than if I had sinned? I will answer you and your friends with you. Look at the heavens and sea and behold the clouds.

They are higher than you. If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him? And if your transgressions are many, what do you do to him? If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand? Your wickedness is for a man like yourself and your righteousness is for a son of man. Because of the multitude of oppressions, they cry out. They cry for help because of the arm of the mighty. But no one says, where is God my maker who gives songs in the night, who teaches us more than the beast of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of heaven.

There they cry out, but he does not answer because of the pride of evil men. Surely God will not listen to an empty cry, nor will the almighty regard it. How much less when you say you do not behold him, the case is before him. You must wait for him. And now, because he has not visited in his anger, nor has he acknowledged transgression well. So Job opens his mouth emptily and he multiplies words without knowledge. I know it seems confusing, but there's a lot in it we're going to unpack in these 16 verses. What is the gain of godliness? He poses the question again, for you say, what advantage will it be to you? What profit will I have more than if I had sinned?

And we would say it this way, why should I be godly? If I'm going to suffer, if I'm going to go through trials and tribulations, if all of the difficulties of life are not removed from me simply because I'm living according to a standard, why do it? What profit is there in it? What gain could be accomplished from godliness? But Elihu says, I will answer you and I will answer your friends.

One of Job's three friends had indeed attempted to answer this in a prior response. If you were to go back and read that, you will see that as soon as he begins his response, he deviates very quickly from course and begins to chastise and rebuke Job and to make accusations against Job and never gets around to answering it. Some say that Elihu does the very same thing here, but I say that you're wrong if you agree with that, not to call you, you know, wrong in your interpretation, but hopefully we'll be able to open up and see how indeed Elihu does answer that question. What gain is there to godliness? What can we hope to attain? Why even pursue this? Why is it a matter of concern? If the promise is not there that we will prosper and all will go well, that it'll be roses and buttercups the rest of our life, why go after it? If we're going to suffer, is Jesus himself promised that we will?

What motivation do we have for godliness in our living? Elihu begins where we ought to begin, and we see that the first matter that is gained in godliness and gained in living as we should, is that there is a realization of the exalted position of god. He begins with the exalted position of god. And friend, I believe this is one of the matters that theologically man needs to comprehend accurately. There's something, this is something that is of utmost importance. This would be what I would call, when we begin to look at the salvation of man, is a big rock issue. And it's tucked right here in the midst of Job chapter 35. And he says, look at the heavens and see. He says, I'm going to answer your question. But he doesn't begin to answer the question by looking upon the surface of the earth. He doesn't even begin to answer the question of what profit is there to godliness by looking at the life of Job. He does not even begin to focus on the suffering of Job.

Look at what he says, look at the heavens and see. And behold the clouds, are they not higher than you? That is, Elihu moves to the exalted position of the Almighty to address the gain of humanity.

And he does something that we need to comprehend. And something that I believe it is very hard, especially for American Christians to comprehend, and even, I would dare say, all mankind to comprehend.

Because Elihu poses two questions. He says, if you sin and you do wrong, what harm or what loss have you done to God? Or if you've done right and you've lived righteously, what has he gained by your life?

Now here's the answer to that. And I promise when I say it, it's going to be so hard. God neither gains nor loses anything based upon our actions. He has not profited.

God neither gains nor loses anything based upon our actions. He has not profited. God neither gains nor loses anything based upon our actions. He has not profited. He may be exalted among mankind, but he is not made bigger because we are better.

Our righteousness does not make him a higher being. He has no gain from our righteousness. Now stay with me. That doesn't mean he doesn't desire it, that he doesn't long for it, that he doesn't care for it. We're just asking the question, what does God gain when we do what is right?

In his, if we use the term person, even though we know he's a spirit, but let's say the word being, that would be better. In his being, his being is not increased because we are righteous.

He is holy, holy, holy from all of eternity past and to all of eternity future. He is completely perfect.

He is not made more holy because we do right. He is not made more perfect because his people obey. He is other than us.

If there was no creation, if the heavens and the earth had never been created, if he had never formed man out of the dust of the ground, nor took from the side of man a rib and fashioned a woman and brought the two together, God would still be perfectly holy, holy, holy.

He is not enlarged by creation. He is not made better by creation.

Creation adds nothing to him. I know that's a deep concept. But on the other side, he is not made less holy when we sin.

His worthiness is not lessened or belittled when we fall. Our failures do not make him less God, do not make him less holy, holy, holy, do not make him less magnificent.

When man fell in the garden of Eden, that did nothing to belittle the being of the Almighty. He was just as holy before man's creation as he was after man's fall.

God neither gains nor loses based upon our actions. He is in an exalted position.

And the reason that is important, the reason that is a big rock issue, friend, listen to me, God does not give you or take away from you with any ulterior motives.

He's not angry because you belittled him. He's not angry because you made him less. And he's not pleased because you made him better. So what we get is given to us without any outside influence other than what we deserve.

Now stay with me in this message, okay? Elihu begins with this principle. God does not look at you and say, I am so mad at you because you did this to me.

I'm just going to, I'm going to discipline you and rebuke you until the time. Now, we know Christianity, book of Hebrews, he whom the father loves, he disciplines.

That's within the family. The fatherhood of God. But the discipline is not because we made God smaller.

The discipline is because we were failing in our job of exalting him among mankind. And that's a big difference. It's a big difference.

Some believe that the great being in the sky is so angry at them because they have failed so much, he would never welcome them because he's mad because of everything they've done to him. Nothing we have ever done would make him smaller.

But then some convince themselves that they've done so much for him, he must reward them because they have exalted him so much by their activity. Nothing we do can make God any bigger. He is exalted regardless of us.

So when we look at our lives, it is not that he's out to get us or that he's out to bless us, Elihu says.

He deals with us with an unbiased ring. He is just. He's just. And man gets what man deserves.

There's no favoritism. And there's no hatred. God hates sin.

He hates pride. We understand all those things. But it's not because we have made him less God. He's not out to set things straight.

Don't ever lose sight of the exalted position of God. The disciplinary actions that come to the children of God are a direct result of their lack of faithfulness among mankind, the creation of God.

They are failing to exalt who he is. They are failing to fulfill their roles and their calling and their responsibilities. And just as we said this morning, there is a different set of standards for the household of faith than there is for the world out there.

Because we've been given a charge. We've been given a commission. We have been called. God's disciplinary actions for the nation of Israel is because he called the nation to himself. He didn't all of a sudden become God because he called Abram out of the land of the era of the Chaldeans.

He was God who called Abram out of the land of the era of the Chaldeans. And Abram's job was to become a nation to exalt the God that always was among the mankind that was present upon the face of the earth.

Their failure to exalt him was the reason for their discipline. It didn't belittle God. It didn't make him less God. And their obedience didn't make him more God.

But it is a direct result of their interactions with others. But when we look at our own lives and we say, Why am I going through this? Why should I?

What gain do I have with godliness? Well, the gain is that we come to a proper understanding of who he is.

Look at the heavens. See how much higher they are than you. One of the things that God will say, Do you know where I keep the rain? Can you tell the lightning how to run its course?

Do you know where the storehouses of thunder are? God will begin to proclaim the glories of the heavens. And he will start in that exalted position. And he will move from the heavens down to creation, much like Elihu.

Because we need to see the greatness before we can be overwhelmed by his presence in our smallness. So notice the exalted position of God.

And then Elihu acknowledges the failure of man. He acknowledges it. One of Job's charges, if we would call it that, would be that multitudes are suffering, and yet it seems as if God does not notice.

The multitudes are crying out in misery, and God does not answer. Where is God in his silence, and where is God in his concealment, when there are multitudes crying out, and yet there is no relief and no response.

Many of Job's friends kind of skirted around that one, but not Elihu. He says in verse 9, Because of the multitude of oppression, they cry out. What does he say?

Job, you're absolutely right. There are multitudes of people living in oppression. By the way, this wording here is the same word used in the book of Exodus when it says that there was a new king who came in the land, and the people cried out, and God responded to that cry.

They cried out. What was the difference? They were the covenant people of God, and they cried out, and God heard their cry. But here, he says, You're right, Job. Because of the multitude of oppression, they cry out.

They cry for help because of the arm of the mighty. So what is he doing? He's acknowledging that when we look upon the surface of the earth, that there are multitudes and multitudes and multitudes of people suffering.

And they're crying out. And there seems to be no deliverance. And here is the great question that is asked. If God is good, then why are so many people suffering? And if God is good, why are the bad things suffering?

Well, Elihu answers that, at least during his time here. And he gives an answer for why. Why are they suffering and there is no deliverance? Well, he says in verse 10, But no one says, Where is God, my maker?

You know the first reasoning he gives for why there's no deliverance? Because those suffering aren't crying out. Oh, they're crying out to other mankind. They're crying out to others.

They're saying, This is not fair. This shouldn't be happening to me. Why do I deserve this? They're complaining and they're crying out to anyone that will listen. But they're not saying, Where is God, my maker?

They're not praying. And he answers why later. He says, Because of their pride.

It is the pride of self-reliance that says, I'm going to get my way out of this. And they're not coming in humility and saying, Oh, I need a deliverer and I need a rescuer.

And this is true today. And I'm not saying that this is just a blanket accusation. But friend, listen to me. How many people are in the midst of suffering internally and externally. And yet in their own pride, they will not cry out to a holy God for deliverance.

And I would dare you to find anywhere in scripture or anywhere in history in which someone sincerely cried out to God. That they were not either comforted in their suffering.

Or delivered from it. Where God did not respond. That God just said, Oh, I hear you, but I'm not responding.

No. History testifies elsewhere. That in the midst of the suffering, when those who would cast off their pride and cry out in desperation, that God draws near the brokenhearted.

He draws near the suffering. He doesn't always remove the pain. He does not always remove the suffering. He does not always remove the misery. But his presence is there. And he joins them in it.

He says, So many are there. And they're crying out. And there seems to be no relief. First of all, because no one says, Where is God my maker? And notice how he describes God my maker.

Who gives songs in the night. Scripture in the night. Always speaks to sinful or desperate situation. And what he is saying is, There is one who will give a song of praise in the midst of the suffering. But they're not seeking him.

And we have to acknowledge that. If we stay consistent with Elihu's realization that sometimes suffering is the very vehicle that God uses to draw men to himself.

That their failure to be drawn to him through the midst of suffering is the failure of man. And we acknowledge that.

That some are there. Because of their own pride. You say, Oh, but there are those who do cry out. And there are those who do pray. But look at what he says. Who teaches us more than beasts of the earth.

And makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens. There they cry out. But he does not answer. You say, Oh, see, there it is. They cry out. But he does not answer. Why does God not answer? But he goes on.

Surely God will not listen to an empty cry. Surely God will not listen to an empty cry. Nor will the Almighty regard it.

What do you mean by that? Well, what Elihu is saying is. If your cry is one merely of self-preservation. That's an empty cry. Rather than self-humiliation.

He said, Oh, God, you'd be exalted. If you're just crying out. We say it this way. If we want the benefit of the rescue. Without the desire to know the rescuer. He said, That's an empty cry.

If in the midst of the pain. We say, God, just get me out of this. Rather than, Oh, God, I want to know you in this. See the difference.

One is empty. For it is regard for self. And the other is desperation to know the one who is present.

And what Elihu is saying is that God will not regard the empty cry. The one who says, I don't deserve this.

Now, because stay with me. We'll get to that in just a minute. I don't deserve this. I've done better than this. Because we have failed to acknowledge the exalted position of God.

And therefore, we have put ourselves in that position. And we must acknowledge the failure of man. Third.

We see that we gain in the midst of godliness. A confident trust in the Almighty. Elihu says.

Verse 13. Surely God will not listen to an empty cry. Nor will the Almighty regard it. Look at verse 14. How much less when you say you do not behold him. And so now he turns to Job. He says, Job, you say you don't see him.

You say you can't see him moving. And what use is there in a God that is invisible? Well, here is the realization. We know that indeed we cannot behold him. We do not see him yet. We will see him someday.

We know in Christ that that is a reality. But we do not see him. And but what does he say? The case is before him. So what is he telling Job? Job, though you do not see God.

Though you do not have the benefit of being before the throne of God. Though you are not in the presence of his tribunal. This is what I want you to know, Job. Job, God knows what's going on.

Your case is before him. You do not have to be in his presence. Remember what he had said in verse, in chapter 34.

God does not need to ask man about himself nor further investigate man for he knows all things about man. And now what he says is Job, you don't have to see him to know he is aware.

Just because he is invisible does not mean he is unknown. He is intimately aware of your case. He knows what is going on. And look what he says. And you must wait for him.

It is a confident trust. It is hard. That's that word patience, right? Well, I say don't pray for patience because God may give it to you. Or don't read the book of Job because God may give it to you.

And look at what Elihu says. What you understand is in the midst of that trial, in the midst of that suffering, here's the confidence you can have. God knows your circumstances.

God knows your case. He knows your trial. Even if you do not have the privilege of seeing him, he knows. And you trust this reality.

You wait here. God is just. And if God knows and God is just, Elihu says, then wait. Because your circumstances do not dictate nor put a period at the end of your life of how everything is going to be.

Wait. And do not trust in what is seen. Do not trust in what is felt. But trust in the Almighty who knows. And your confidence is in his character, not in your circumstances.

And if he knows, and if he is just, and if he is almighty, and if he is exalted, then he says, you must wait for him.

This, my friend, is one charge we can say Job was guilty of. For how many times did Job say, oh, I wish that I could stand before him. Oh, I wish that I could stand before him.

Oh, I wish that I could stand before him. And Elihu says, maybe you ought to just sit still and wait on him. His presence does not increase his knowledge.

Because he is omnipresent. When you see him, it doesn't mean you're going to show him things he doesn't already know. Just wait.

You say, oh, but I don't see him moving, Pastor. And I don't see him working. And I don't see him doing anything. That's a thing that I have said quite often. And I don't see him. Where is he working at? What is he doing?

Well, here's the realization. We know he is. And we know he is just. And we know he is good. So what do we do? We wait. We wait.

He will not deviate from his character. And don't let circumstances put a period at the end of your situation. It says, have confident trust in the Almighty.

And this is a gain of godliness. For we wait. Fourth and finally. And this really is the crux of the matter.

This is the thing we have to get right. It is the acceptance of the weight or the guilt of our sin.

The accusation of Job. Is God has done to me what I do not deserve.

And you say, well, God has said that Job is complete. Right. Finish it. Among men. Among men. There is none other like him. Among men. Now, that puts him in the realm of what?

Mankind. Right. You say, well, that makes sense. Job was a man. I believe Job was literally a man. We have him mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. At least two other times. In connection with other men.

Men that walk the face of the earth. Job is not just some, you know, make-believe guy. This is not some parable. This is a literal man. And God says that Job is complete among men. There is no other like him among men.

But when you put him among men, he may be complete among men. But that does not mean he's perfect in heaven. Because when you're in the realm of mankind, you have this inherited sin nature.

We believe that, right? That we are all sinners by nature. We are not sinners because we do wrong. We're sinners because we are wrong. We have inherited this sin nature because the first Adam, the book of Romans tells us, introduced sin.

And we're longing for the second Adam who would release us from that. That is Christ. And so, first Adam. Adam, the name Adam, you know what it means, right? Literal translation of Adam is man.

The first man introduced sin. And therefore, all have sinned. And so, Job is complete among men. But he is still in the realm of mankind. Which means he is a sinner.

And we can acknowledge that. He may be the cleanest sinner in the bunch, but he's still a sinner. And so, Elihu is going to bring this up.

And this is where we need to understand this. He says in verse 15, And now because he, that is God, has not visited in his anger.

You say, are you telling Job that God is not angry with him? I mean, the man who lost all of his possessions, all of his children, all of his health, all of his prominence, all of his prestige.

He lost everything. I mean, his skin is oozing and turning black. And he's scraping it with pot shirts of clay. I mean, he is an appalling man to behold.

And I love you who says, God has not visited you in anger. How can you say that God is not angry with him? This is how. Nor has he acknowledged transgressions well.

That's a good way of saying, God has not given you what your sins deserve. As bad as it is, God has not given you the weight of your sin.

Why? For the wages of sin is death. We deserve death.

Eternal death. We deserve to be eternally cast out of his presence. And here is the acceptance of this.

No matter how much we enter into suffering, no matter how much pain, no matter how much misery, no matter how much of this, we have still not borne what we accept and deserve.

I still have not been given what my sins deserve. And in Christ Jesus, I never will be. In Christ, I have been redeemed. In Christ, another has borne the weight of my sin and my shame and my suffering.

In Christ, there will be no condemnation put upon me. So no matter how bad it gets, God has still not visited me in anger.

And he still has not counted against me the fullness of my sin. Because what we deserve is hell.

That's what we deserve. The weight of our sins is the lake of fire created for Satan and his demons.

That's what we deserve. So see, one of the gains of godliness is that we would never say, I don't deserve this.

Because the reality is, we would say, I deserve much worse than this. That's what I deserve. I deserve much, much worse than this.

Because if God was to visit me unbiased according to what I have done, wages of sin is death.

Now here's the fullness of the gospel. When he looks at you, he does see there's a biased perception of his children. We are the apple of his eye.

We are his dearly beloved ones. Why? Because we have been covered with the blood of the lamb. And he does not see us, but he sees Christ in us.

And he sees us as his precious, dear children, the people of his covenant. And his covenants matter. The covenant not of Mount Sinai, but the covenant of promise, the covenant of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

And so when he beholds us, he sees us as his dear saints. He will discipline us and correct us in seasons so that we can live according to our inheritance. But he does not ever visit us in his anger.

He comes to us, as we said this morning, with the greatest of correction and gentleness. It may not always feel gentle, but it is restrained by the blood of Christ.

Why? Because he has not acknowledged the transgressions well. It's just a, it's hard to translate that in the English language.

The Greek scholars will tell you and the Hebrew scholars will tell you that we really can't translate it. But the wordy translation just means this. He has not looked at the fullness of our sins and came to us with that.

But rather in Christ, he looks at the fullness of Christ and comes to us in that. And what we must do is we must accept the weight of our sin and therefore it would stifle us and we would be like Job and we would cover our mouths and say, I can never, ever declare, I don't deserve this.

I can never say, that's unfair. I can never say, God, what are you doing? Because I would have to say, God, why are you doing the good that you're doing to me even in spite of me?

Even though it doesn't feel good? Because he says, so Job has opened his mouth emptily and he multiplies words without knowledge.

What does he say? He says, Job, you don't get it. you don't yet understand that even though you may be complete among men, God still has not visited you as a man.

But that sin nature that's inside of you and the weight of your sin, this is not retribution theology. This is what they call soteriology, the study of salvation, why a man stands in desperate need of that.

That God, in grace and in mercy, even in our worst days, has not visited us in the fullness of the weight of our sin.

Even for the non-believer that's going through seasons of suffering that God would use to call him to himself, to himself. God, but in their own pride, they won't do it.

God has not visited them in the fullness of their sin. We accept the weight of our sin and we gain an understanding through godliness with contentment in each and every circumstance because in spite of us, God is so, so good to us.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this night. We thank you for the opportunity we've had together together and we thank you for this place. But more than that, we thank you for your grace and your mercy.

We thank you that in Christ Jesus we have the promise that you will never visit us in the fullness of our sin. That his blood has covered us, that we have been redeemed, and may that realization sustain us even in the midst of trials and suffering and tribulation.

But Lord, we pray for those who do not know you, those of our own community, our own family, who have not yet accepted Christ. We pray that the walls of pride would be removed and that whatever you allow to take place in their lives, that it would lead them to cry out to you in humility, not just to be rescued from a temporal suffering, but that they may know an eternal redeemer.

Lord, may we continue to shine the light of the gospel to all those around us, and we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen.