Well please take your Bible and turn with me to the book of Isaiah chapter 42. And as we give our attention to the reading of God's word, I ask that as a sign of reference that we please stand. After you've turned to Isaiah 42, I'd like you to place your thumb there and turn with me briefly to Matthew chapter 12. It's a passage which will help direct us in our understanding of God's Word. We're going to find that Matthew himself cites from the passage in Isaiah that we'll have read this morning. This is in fact the longest Old Testament citation to be found in the Gospel of Matthew, and I think for an important reason, that this passage provides a prescription lens, as it were, to understand the ministry of Christ to sinners, not only in His earthly ministry, but also in His heavenly ministry to us this very day. So let's begin by reading Matthew chapter 12, beginning in verse 9. Jesus went on from there and entered their synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? They asked him this that they might accuse him. And Jesus said to them, which one of you has a sheep? And if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep? Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. And then he said to the man, stretch out your hand. And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy just like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Jesus, how they might destroy him. Jesus, being aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all. and he ordered them not to make himself known. Why would Jesus do this? Matthew tells us this was done to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. And now turning to Isaiah chapter 42, our sermon, we'll give attention to the first four verses, but for broader context, we will read verses one to nine. Isaiah 42, behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights, I've put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud, nor will he lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged, until he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands wait for his law. Thus says God, the Lord who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it. I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord, that is my name. My glory I give to no other, nor shall I give my praise to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass, but new things I now declare. Before they spring forth, I tell you of them. The grass withers and the flowers of the field fade, but the word of our God will stand forever. Please be seated. In 2009, a seven-year-old girl named Summer Thompson was on her way home from school. when she was abducted, raped, and murdered just a few houses down from my childhood home. It took nearly a week before the police found her body in an abandoned landfill in a different state. You might, in fact, remember it. It made national headlines. Justice for Summer read the national headlines. And in time, the killer was caught, he confessed to his crime, he was convicted, and now is serving six consecutive life sentences for the atrocities that he had committed. Summer's mother purchased the home in which her daughter was murdered, had the house burnt to the ground, and in its place, erected a garden, which is still maintained by volunteers in the community. Grove Park in Orange Park, Florida to this day. I think according to earthly standards, you could say that justice was served. At least as far as the earthly courts go, it couldn't get much, for lack of a word, better than that. The killer was caught. In many ways, life has sprung forth from this great tragedy. It brought a community together. And yet at this same time, to this day, there still stands a father and a mother bereft of their baby girl. I think it's a somber reminder that even on its best days, the earthly notions of justice that we have still falls so short of what we wish it could truly accomplish. The earthly courts might convict, they might condemn, they might punish the transgressor. But no judge on earth is able fully to restore the things that have been lost and the devastation and the heartache. How different we find the Bible's promise of heavenly justice inaugurated by the servant of the Lord. This is the first of four, perhaps even five passages in Isaiah that will give its attention to a particular figure, who is said to bring justice to the nations. You see, for 39 chapters, Isaiah has cried out time and time again against the problems of the radical injustice that is plaguing not simply the nation of Israel, but the nations throughout the face of the earth. Where civil leaders exploit the afflicted, where judges take bribes, where the powerful revel in bloodshed, where the people trust in the futility of idols that are unable to save, where the nations have acted arrogantly and with such cruelty and ruthlessness that they have invoked the curse of death to cover the face of the earth." Isaiah chapter 24 verse 6, Isaiah 25 verse 3. But a radical transition begins in chapter 40 of Isaiah where hope now dawns as Isaiah begins to sing of a servant sent from the Lord to bring true justice to the nations whose justice is unlike anything we have ever heard of or expected and far greater than we ever could have imagined. What we see here in our text Note three times it says, as it identifies the mission of the servant, what is it that he will do? Notice this in verses one and verse three and verse four. Three times it says what? That he will bring justice. And yet this kind of justice is not the justice that we would expect. not that it is a justice that disappoints us, but that it is a justice that shatters every hope or expectation, anything we could ever dream. And in bringing justice to the world, this servant of the Lord reveals the heart of the Maker of heaven and earth. There's three things I would like us to consider in this brief passage this morning. First, I would like us to consider the man who is this servant of the Lord. Secondly, I'd like us to consider the mission of the man. Why is it that he has come? And then finally, I would like us to consider the manner of that mission. In what form does his divinely given mandate come? How is it that he brings justice to the nations? And I think that's important. as it gives us the proper lens to understand why it is that the Lord Jesus Christ has come. So the man, the mission, and the manner. Well, over and over again, we see throughout the book of Isaiah that the Lord continues to contrast himself, who is the one true and living God, over and against the idols of this age. These idols who are deaf, dumb, and blind. Unable to save, though the nations cry out, although the whole world groans under the curse of death, and they cry out to their gods for deliverance, those gods are unable to save. Over and against those pagan deities. the Lord himself comes to his people with a joyous acclamation. As he shouts a joyous song here in chapter 42, verse one, pay attention, behold, look, consider my servant. But it raises an important question, doesn't it? Well, which servant are you talking about? See, when we read through Isaiah's prophecies, you'll find that there are a number of people that are called servants of the Lord. Isaiah himself, for instance, is called a servant of the Lord in chapter 20. Not only him, but King Hezekiah's treasurer, the steward of the Davidic throne, Eliakim, in chapter 20, is referred to as one of the servants of the Lord. In chapter 45, the Lord calls a pagan king, a man by the name of Cyrus, his anointed one, who is the Lord's servant, though he does not, in fact, know that he serves the Lord. Israel is called the Lord's servant, and yet at the same time the Lord calls His servant Israel a worm, blind and deaf and imprisoned. Chapters 41 and 42. And yet in stark contrast to all these various types of servant we see peppered throughout Isaiah's book, there stands one who shines higher and more majestic than any of the others. Here we find this particular servant is one who has been sent from the Lord, who consciously knows that he is in fact serving the Lord, and he is serving the Lord in such a way that the Lord looks upon his servant and says, behold the one in whom my soul delights. It is no unwitting servant, but it is the great servant that is sent to redeem Israel from all of his sin and all of his sorrow. And the descriptions here, even in this particular chapter, already attune our ears to the identity of this servant. Here is one who has been endued and empowered by the Holy Spirit to accomplish this particular task, to open the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf, to liberate the Lord's captive servant, Israel, and one who is sent to bring a light to the nations. In fact, the language we see here in chapter 42 evokes the same imagery we see in chapter seven to 11 of Isaiah, that one who would be born of a virgin, the one who would be enclosed with the spirit, the one upon whose shoulders would rest the government of the heavenly kingdom, this kingdom that would continue to expand and expand and expand, and no enemy would be able to stop the advancement of this heavenly kingdom. In fact, we see here in this particular chapter in verses 8 and 9 as the Lord calls this servant to a particular mission to inaugurate a new creation. Behold, I am doing something new, the Lord says, through the work of this servant. Culminating in chapter 66 of heaven itself coming to earth. See, unlike all these other servants, this servant spoken of here is spoken in such an ambiguous way that he is the Messiah. He is the Lord's chosen one who will sit on David's throne forever. Unlike all these other servants who have their own God-given tasks to fulfill, here is one who's been sent by God to bring God's saving purposes to fruition, to deliver the world from the curse of death and the execution of holy justice. It's what leads us to our second consideration, that of the mission of the servant. Three times it says here, the focus is on this servant of the Lord who will bring justice. Verse one, he is clothed in the spirit to bring forth justice. Verse three, he will bring forth justice faithfully. And verse four, to establish justice in the earth. This is not something that is just a fleeting moment of justice only to fizzle out after his passing. No, here is a servant who comes to establish it in such a way that it will not be revoked, even as the outer rims of the coastlands are waiting for such justice to be established. But it raises, again, another question for us. What does that justice look like? You know, I once had a friend in college who was obsessed with watching Law & Order SVU. I don't know if you've ever seen the show. I've never been able to stomach an entire episode. I love the old Law and Order episodes. I've been actually watching them with my mom as I'm up visiting her in Jacksonville. But SVU, the material is just so dark. I'm just not able to stomach it because it deals with those really particular crimes that just really are gut-wrenching. There was investigation of sexual assaults and crimes of such a depraved nature that it was difficult even to speak about them. And I remember asking this friend of mine in college, I said, why do you enjoy watching this show so much? Her response was short, but I think, illuminating, she says, I need it. I need to see justice done here. As a grown woman who had become the victim of heinous crimes against herself when she was a little girl, she was longing to see justice played out even in the lives of others for things that had never been able to be given her. I think we all have this longing for justice to be served. And elsewhere, Isaiah talks about this particular facet of justice that the Lord himself, on that final day, will come to reckon with the transgressors. That is actually how the book of Isaiah ends, that when the Lord returns, the enemies of the Lord will find their eyes melting in their sockets. It's really grotesque imagery, but it shows the Lord's perfect justice that comes against the predator. And it reminds us that Christ himself will return to call the whole human race to account for every transgression, ever rotten thought, word, and deed. We might think of it as justice meted out against the predator, but what does justice look like with respect to the prey? What does justice look like for one who has been assaulted? What does justice look like for the families of one who have lost a child to a grievous act of violence? What does it look like for those who are left standing in the wake of violence perpetrated against them? Now we need to notice here, in light of that question, where the accent falls in this particular passage. Since the servant of the Lord comes to bring justice, but the focus is on the justice he brings to those who have borne the weight of misery. Jesus comes to save those who have been bruised and broken by the fall. Notice how the objects of his justice-fueled mission are described, verse three. There's a bruised reed and a smoking flax. The thing about, for the men, is we get together on Sunday nights and sit around the fire pit. You see the log that's standing in the fire, and yet after a couple hours, that log has reduced to ash. And if you continue sitting there long enough, the embers are so frail. They are, the embers have become, so weak that you could just simply blow them and snuff them out and the ash just kind of scatters like dust to the wind. That's the imagery that we see here. The discernment of the Lord comes for those who are on the verge of burnout. For those who have been so bruised and hurt It's like a candle wick on its last leg. We have a servant who comes in perfect justice and the thing he promises to do is he will not snuff out the person who's on the verge of burnout. He will not come to break the one who feels like they have been bent so far that they cannot handle another ounce. The frail twig about to snap, the dying embers about to be snuffed out, the candlewick on the verge of burnout. Here, if you look down in verse seven, Isaiah elaborates on the nature of such suffering. It's described as those who are blind, those who have been enslaved, those who dwell in deep darkness. Where the perpetrator is not simply another human enemy, but those who suffer under the weight of the whole of the fall. Focus is not simply on those human enemies, though that is true, who have suffered mercilessly at the hands of others, but to all those who suffer under the curse of death itself. Remember what we considered last week in Isaiah 25? That veil of death hangs like a dark cloud over all of the nations. And the Lord comes to devour the devourer. He comes to bring true justice and deliver us from all of our oppressions. Here, the servant of the Lord comes to heal the brokenhearted. He comes to undo the curse of the fall, and he comes to do so in tenderness and mercy. Here, the servant comes to execute justice, and it is a justice that far exceeds anything that any earthly judge could ever offer. As he comes not only to judge sin, but to restore a people from all of the horrors that sin and death have inflicted on the world as he comes to make them whole and as he comes to inaugurate a new heaven and a new earth. And that tells us something of the manner of his ministry and it leads us to our final point. The servant comes as the executor of divine justice. But it is a justice that is far better than we ever could have imagined. It is a justice that consists in tenderness and mercy. I think so often we see justice and mercy at odds with one another, and that's why I read Isaiah 30, for us to recognize that the biblical view of justice, even for an earthly king, is that there's a disposition towards mercy. As the servant of the Lord comes to heal those who have been sinned against. He pardons the sinner himself, the transgressor, but he comes to make him whole. He washes him clean. Once again, we're confronted with this kingdom that turns everything upside down on its head. We read elsewhere that here is a God whose goodness consists in instructing sinners, not in destroying them. That's Psalm 25 verse eight. You think of what the Lord says to the prophet Malachi in Malachi chapter three, as we are told of a God who does not change. And he says, and it is on account of this fact, on the basis of God's immutable character that his people are not consumed. If we were to fast forward to Isaiah 55, the Lord himself tells his people that he is a God abounding in forgiveness. Why? He says, because I'm not like you. What, I mean, this is gonna knock us out of our pews. Why does the Lord show pardon? Why does he abound in forgiveness? Because he is not like man. See, we're the ones who are vindictive. We're the ones who hold grudges so easily. We're the ones who are typically so bent on the destruction of somebody who cuts us off in traffic. You know, you read 1st and 2nd Kings. We've been working through 1st and 2nd Kings in the evenings. You get to this point where you go, where's the Lord in all this? Why does he not come in judgment against the nation? In fact, it comes to this point where by the end of 2nd Kings, where the nation is finally sent off in judgment and in exile, you go, finally. There's this really striking moment in the life of Ahab, the northern kingdom's most wicked king, where the Lord comes against Ahab, husband of Jezebel, a man who has had a man killed just so he can steal his garden. And the Lord says, I'm gonna strip the kingdom from you. I'm gonna come against you in judgment. And here's this wicked king who is really only upset that he got caught. There's no real fear of the Lord, but he does begin to weep in sackcloth and ash. And the Lord, as it were, turns to Elijah and says, you see that? For that reason, I will delay judgment for one more generation. And you look and you go, it's clear that Ahab is faking it. But doesn't it give us a radically different view of our God? Again, I said earlier, we have this image of God being perched on a cloud with a lightning bolt in hand, ready to strike at our slightest infraction. But it's the exact opposite of what we find in the scriptures, even in the Old Testament. That here is the Lord, the Lord, abounding in steadfast love and mercy. The one who is, in fact, not quick to anger, but the one who is, in fact, slow to anger. The one who does not deal with us as our sins deserve. And one of the oldest heresies that we find in church history, and it's a recurrent problem that we see popping up over and over again in the history of the church, is people see the Old Testament God as being mean and nasty, and here comes Jesus to, even if he is the Son of God, that he just comes to kind of appease, to alleviate or appease a reluctant father. How different is the biblical testimony? For God so loved that he sent his son. John Murray makes this wonderful observation. It's not that God sends his son in order to love the world, but he sends his son because he loves the world. to where Jesus himself says, if you've seen me, you have seen the Father. It's why we recite in the Nicene Creed that the Son of God is God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made. He's not only mostly like the Father, he has come to reveal the perfect heart of the Father, one who comes in perfect justice and that justice consists in perfect mercy for those who have been wounded and bruised by the fall. Why? Because we serve a God who is unlike us. And yet we serve a God who has called us to be like him. Something that is only accomplished through the ministry of the servant who comes bearing the power of the spirit, who pours out his spirit on his church to conform us to the image of the servant of God who is in fact the son of the living God. Over and over again, the Bible tells us that here is a God who is unlike the pagan gods of old. I remember when I was teaching high school, my seventh graders, we would read selections from the Epic of Gilgamesh. And there's a flood story there. It's one of the oldest stories outside of the Bible in ancient literature. And you have this flood story where, why does the flood happen? Well, it happens because the human race has been up too late parting at night, and the gods are cranky because they're sleep deprived. And so they send a flood to snuff out the human race. Because they're devious and contemptuous. See, the gods of the pagans are just like us. They're irritated, they're easily swayed. But the God we have is a God who never wakes up on the wrong side of the bed. Why does God love you in Christ? Because he has decided to love you in Christ. and he will not change his mind. I, the Lord, am God, and I do not change. Therefore, you, O Israel, are not consumed. And here the servant of the Lord, the one in whom the Father deeply delights, comes to reveal the perfect heart of the Father, to dispel any doubt that you might have that God is some type of malicious, vindictive deity like the other gods of the nations. As we'll find in the coming weeks, it becomes the will of the father to crush his servant. That through the death of the servant, the people of God might have life. Over and over again, the Bible tells us that here's a God unlike the pagans of old, where wrath is, as it were, God's strange work. It's what he tells Moses. Mercy is his natural disposition. Lamentations chapter three, when the Lord afflicts, it is not from his heart. As he revealed himself to Moses at the heights of Sinai, saying, the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. As Paul writes to the church of Ephesus, here's a God who is not stingy in his mercy, but a God who is rich in mercy. Or elsewhere to the Church of Rome where Paul writes that where sin abounds, grace super abounds. To remind us that there is more grace in Christ than there is sin in you. And so the Lord sends his servant to reveal his very heart of affection for his people. And that in no uncertain terms, the New Testament reveals the identity of the long-awaited Isaianic servant to be Jesus of Nazareth. And that's why we turned to Matthew 12 at the beginning of the sermon. It is the longest quoted Old Testament citation in the Gospel of Matthew, and is one of the oldest Old Testament citations in all of the New Testament. And it's done so for a reason, to remind you of the very reason why Jesus has come. As here stands the servant of the Lord who comes not to be served like the pagan kings, but as the king of kings he comes to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. He doesn't come in the brazen pomp of a king in a high court, but is born in a cattle stall. He comes not to be served, but to serve quietly and faithfully as he gives his life for his people. And he comes just as the Lord had promised, healing the blind, the deaf, the mute, and the lame, yet making it clear that he has come not only to deal with the symptoms of sin, but as the great physician has come to reckon with the root cause of all these maladies and reckoning with sin and its curse. You think of the story where Jesus comes to that there's the paralytic who can't walk, and Jesus is standing beside him. And he posits this question to those in his midst. He says, which is easier to say, you know, hey, paralytic, lame guy, get up, walk, or to say to him, your sins are forgiven? Of course, the Pharisees know the answer. There's only one who can forgive sins, and that's God alone. And so Jesus says to the paralytic, says, your sins are forgiven. And of course they are like, well, what a blasphemer. Jesus says, I want to prove that the Son of Man has the power to forgive sins. He says to the paralytic, take up your bed and walk. That the healings and these mighty works, these magnificent signs that Jesus executes in his earthly ministry is proof that he's come not only to deal with the surface problem, He's not come simply to deal with the scabs of sin, but he's come to deal with the cancer that has infested itself deep in the human heart. And he comes to deal with these things in all tenderness and all mercy, not only to heal the sick and the frail, but to deal tenderly with the doubting as he comes to Thomas. To restore with gentleness those who have fallen, as he had done with Peter. To be the friend of sinners, as he was with tax agents and courtesans, calling them to repentance. Not only to heal the physically sick, but to call the morally sick to repentance and life. And even though Christ himself is the great servant of the Lord has ascended into heaven, his work has not ceased. I remember when I was in college, one of my college professors was a devout Roman Catholic and said, well, Christ is in heaven, he's very scary and he's so distant. And so he uses this as a reason to talk about why he prays to Mary and a host of other saints. But that is not the picture that the New Testament gives. Christ might be far from us physically, as it were, as he resides bodily in heaven, but he is not absent from us because he has poured his spirit on us. And the same Christ who is disposed to sinners on earth is equally disposed to sinners on heaven as he ever lives above as our prophet, our priest, and our king to make intercession for you before the throne of grace. The book of Hebrews describes Christ's earthly ministry, his humiliation as preparation, Christ's own boot camp as he enters into his exaltation, his office where he ever lives, sleeplessly to intercede for you so that you can rest well, so that you can lie down and sleep at night. Because the good shepherd cares for you. For now as he has ascended on high, having been made like us in every way, sin accepting, he has been made fit to intercede for us before the Father. Because having been tempted in every way, he can sympathize with us in all of our frailties. He knows what it is like to suffer a devastating loss. He knows what it is like to be tempted more than we know what it is like to be tempted. We feel like we felt the weight of temptation, yet we capitulate. Jesus felt the weight of temptation his whole life and never once capitulated. He knows the strength and the power of sin far greater than we do because he remained obedient to the Father to the point of death. And so now he becomes the source of strength and grace for all who flee to him for refuge, for comfort, and for grace. that we might have the grace needed to resist temptation, that we might have the strength needed to bear under these earthly griefs, that we might taste daily those fresh and daily mercies that we need when we stumble and fall time and time again. As Hebrews 5 tells us that though we are ignorant and wayward, Christ has come to deal gently with us. As he reveals to us that this is the Father's heart as well. As Christ says, he who has seen me has seen the Father. For all who turn to Christ, Christ will not turn you away. If you find that your soul is bruised and broken by the sins of others assailed against you, turn to Christ. He will bring hope and healing. For those with frail consciences that have been bruised by sins of your younger days, Christ comes to save and to make whole. And just as he was on earth, so now he is in heaven. As we have a Savior before us who says, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will indeed find rest for your souls. So the promise stands firm. Will you turn to Jesus? Will you come to him and know the justice that he gives the broken hearted? And know for certain this, he will not turn you away. Let us pray. Our gracious God and Heavenly Father, how grateful we are for these glad tidings that you give us, that we have a Savior in heaven who continues to make intercession for us here on earth, who comes to bind up the brokenhearted, who will not snuff out those who feel like they are at their last breath, who comes to make all things new. We pray that you would indeed come and make all things new and as we look forward to that day of our happy resurrection, we pray that you would sustain us as we long for that day when our faith will be made sight. We ask these things in Christ's name, amen. While they were eating, Jesus took some bread and after a blessing, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said, take and eat, this is my body. And when he had taken a cup and had given thanks, he gave it to them saying, drink from it all of you for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Calm and taste and see that the Lord is good. This meal is given to the people of God to feed us and to sustain us in all of our misery and all of our grief. It's so easy to have various circumstances in life assail our consciences and cause us to doubt God's goodness in the midst of trying times. And just as we've heard the gospel come to our ears this morning, so Christ gives that same gospel in a different mode, he comes, not just to our ears, but he comes to the other senses as well. He comes to the nose, he comes to the mouth and the tongue, to the fingers, to know that Christ himself has given himself for you, that you might taste and see that he is good. There's only two elements to this meal, the bread and a cup, but they signify all the benefits that come to us from the death of Christ. The body and the cup do not convert into the, or the bread and the cup do not convert into the body and blood of Christ, but they signify his death in the place of sinners whose fruit is communion with the living God that we are now welcome to feast at his table, taste and see that the Lord is good. Christ comes to us and he is present by his spirit. And he takes these frail elements and feeds, not simply our bellies, but he feeds our faith. This morning you might find that your faith is weak. Properly speaking, it is not our faith that saves. See, a weak faith still lays hold of a strong Savior. It is our Savior who saves through faith. And so this meal is given to those with a weak faith. Those who still trust in Christ, it's still a true faith and he comes in all of his gentleness and all of his mercy as we heard this morning that he promises he will not turn you away. He will not snuff you out. All that's required is this, simply to come. If you have put your hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you feel so frustrated that you've sinned yet again, that same besetting sin that you continue to capitulate to, and you're mourning it, you're grieving it, common taste that the Lord's mercies are new every morning, that this cup is given for you. It's given to stir in you that longing for holiness. It's not a rabbit's foot so you can take and continue nursing pet sins. You do that, that's eating and drinking improperly. That's eating and drinking judgment to yourself. Don't do that. But it's given to strengthen our faith that we might with a renewed diligence seek to put sin to death. And that war that the Christian fights every day against indwelling sin, this is the fuel that we need for the fight. If you don't belong to Christ, if you've not been baptized, if you have not publicly professed faith in Christ, or if you're under discipline of your church here or wherever you are a member, we kindly ask that you refrain so that you might consider what true repentance looks like. As Pastor Joel always says, when the elements pass by, please let them pass you by, if that describes you, but don't let Christ pass you by. Consider what it is like to have your sins forgiven. And if you want to talk about this, as soon as the benediction ends, I'll be standing post right there, and I'm happy to talk with you about what it means to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ so that you can know the abundant joy that is found in the forgiveness of sins. Let us pray. Our gracious God and heavenly Father, we come to you with heavy hearts hungry and thirsty for a righteousness that we cannot acquire for ourselves. And so we come to you asking that you would feed us, that you would clothe us, and that you would restore to us the joy of our salvation. We come to lift our anxieties and hoist them upon you as you have beckoned us to do. with the great promise that you will give us your yoke, which is easy and light. Give us a foretaste of heaven this morning, we pray, we ask in Christ's name, amen.