This evening we want to turn to Psalm 19. Psalm number 19. We'll take time to read the Psalm together. So we're in Psalm 19, and we'll begin our reading at the verse number one. It is a Psalm of David, inspired by the Spirit of God, obviously. But David is the human pain man. And so he comes to write that which the Spirit of God directed him to write. And he said these words, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day on today utter the speech, and night on tonight showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, the circuit onto the ends of it, and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The commandment of the Lord, sorry, The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned. And in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thy me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then shall I be upright and shall be innocent from the great transgression. The words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart. Be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. Amen. Let's pray together. Let's seek the Lord. Loving Father and gracious God, Lord, I pray in Jesus' name that thou wilt now come and help in the preaching and the going forth of thy word. Give, Lord, every word that I say tonight. Lord, direct, Lord, the tongue even this evening. We thank thee for giving the word for tonight. Lord, thou hast confirmed it. Lord, thou hast made it very clear that we've got the mind of God for this particular meeting. And Lord, we pray for now those who will sit under thy word. May it be a word for their soul, a word for their heart, if they're out of Christ. Lord, even for our own hearts, Lord, school us and instruct us in the things of God, we pray. So close us now in with thee, bless our waiting souls, and fill this house with thy glory and power. We pray these our prayers in and through the Savior's great and precious name. Amen. Political correctness is a term that is used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups within society. Since the late 1980s, the term political correctness has been used to describe a preference for inclusive language and the avoidance of language or behavior that can be seen as excluding, marginalizing or insulting to groups of people who are termed as being disadvantaged or discriminated against. Whenever it comes to language, political crackness has led to a conscious effort of society to use terms and expressions that are inclusive and are non-offensive to all social groups, promoting respect. and equality. The drive for political correctness led to a new politically correct version of the New Testament and Psalms to be released by the Oxford University Press in the year 1995. I am told that the New Testament in Psalms, an inclusive version, removes or changes Bible verses that could prove offensive. The introduction to that Bible version reads as follows. This version has undertaken the effort to replace or rephrase all gender-specific language, not referring to particular historical individuals, all pejorative references to race, color or religion and all identifications of persons by their physical disability alone by means of paraphrase alternative renderings and other acceptable means of conforming the language to the work of an inclusive Idea and so in that bible version god is no longer referred to as our father But rather he is referred to as father mother References to the jews killing jesus are removed or rewritten to eliminate anti-semitic overtones and instead of using the term son of man that favorite designation that Jesus Christ used of himself within the gospel records, Jesus Christ, instead of being called the Son of Man, is referred to as the Human One. There is something fundamental that we need to understand when we come to the Word of God. The Word of God is not, and will never be, politically correct. The language employed in God's Word is language that would be seen by many and deemed by many to be offensive. And yet it is Holy Ghost language. This is the language of God the Holy Spirit who is the author of Holy Scripture. And as I came to think about the language that the Spirit of God uses, I came to think of a number of terms and expressions that God the Holy Spirit uses in His Word to describe individuals who are yet in their sins. So tonight we want to consider just a number of those particular expressions and terms in this meeting. I want to be very clear. I'm not going about and out of my way to be offensive or to be as insulting as I possibly can in this particular gospel service. But I don't want to be faithful to the Scriptures and to draw your attention to how God in His Word describes the person who is yet in their sin. Let me also say before I commence that I was all of these things once in my life. These were terms and these were expressions that God justly used for me in my past before the grace of God appeared onto me and saved me from my sin. How then does the Word of God describe the sinner that today would be considered as being not politically correct? Well, in the first place, the sinner is described as being simple. Simple. Look there at the verse 7 of the psalm that we read. This evening it says, The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The term simple or simpleton would have been used in the past to describe a pupil in the school who was slow of learning. I know that in my own days at school, children would have cruelly used such a term to describe someone in their class that was below average with regard their learning. They would have referred to that individual as a simpleton or as an individual who was simple. And I say that that is certainly not language that should ever be used by boys or girls or by other individuals. God has made us all unique. And He has made us in the way that He wanted to make us. You know, some are high flyers when it comes to education, and yet others, they find that their niche is with regard to practical things. They may be individuals who are low with regard to their educational ability, but put them in front of a piece of wood, or put them in front of a piece of mechanics, and that individual, they come to life and they come to find what they are good at. And yet it is this term, simple, that David comes to use and employ at the end of the verse number 7. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. This is not the only time that this term is used, this term, simple, in Holy Scripture to describe a person or an individual. In Psalm 119 verse 130, the Word of God says, The entrance of thy words giveth light, it giveth understanding unto the simple. Proverbs 8 and the verse 5, O ye simple, understand wisdom, and ye fools be of an understanding heart. Proverbs 9, 13, The foolish woman is clamorous, she is simple and knoweth Nothing, Proverbs 14, 15, the simple believeth every word, but the prudent man looketh well to his going. One last verse, Proverbs 22, verse 3, a prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished. Whenever you come to bring all of those verses of Scripture together, you come to see that an individual who is termed as being simple by the Spirit of God is a person who lacks understanding. They are termed as an individual who we would speak of as being Gullible. They fall for everything. They are individuals who would be susceptible to believe everything that they are being told without questioning it, even if it isn't the truth. The simple are described in that final verse as an individual who knows that there is danger that lies ahead, But they continue in the direction that they are going without any divergence from it whatsoever. In other words, these are individuals who simply, knowingly walk into trouble. And they feel to hide themselves from that trouble. Every unsaved person could be said to be a simple one. Now that is not to say that such people are not well educated. In fact, those who are spiritually simple are some of the most educated and the most educationally acclaimed individuals that there are in this world. These are individuals who have titles in front of their names, doctor, professor, maybe a judge, a member of parliament. Not only that, but they have a string of letters even after their names. However, whenever it comes to a personal knowledge of the things of God and the knowledge of the truths that are contained within God's Word, these people can be wholly ignorant. And at times, They are willfully ignorant of such things. They are ignorant, they are simple when it comes to spiritual, eternal and biblical matters. And so they could be justly termed simple. They are simple. That would be important for me, I believe, at this time, just to set out in a number of ways how I believe that the sinner is. Simple. How they can be termed as a simple one. In what areas does the sinner come to evidence this simplicity? This simplicity with regard to spiritual matters? Well, the unregenerate are simple in that they are, number one, they are content with having incorrect views of God. This is how they come to show their simplicity. This is how they come to show their ignorance or their lack of understanding with regard to spiritual things. They come to evidence it, they come to show it by having incorrect views of God. You see, a person's view of God will determine how much serious thought they come to give to eternal and spiritual matters. A man or woman who has low views of God or who has incorrect views of God will give very little thought with regard to eternal and spiritual matters. There are people in this world and they would be termed as atheists, individuals who do not believe in the existence of God. Now the psalmist deals with such people here in this psalm. But he says, the heavens declare the glory of the Lord and the firmament showeth forth his handiwork. And to believe that there is no God and to believe that God does not exist is to deny irrefutable evidence that appears before the human eye day after day as we look upon creation and as we view the handiwork of God displayed in the cosmos. The cosmos or the universe Our creation itself declares that there is a Creator God, that God has designed and ordered and purposed all things. And so a person who does not believe in the existence of God is an atheist. These individuals, they don't believe that they're going to stand before some kind of non-existent entity as they see it and given account of their lies, to someone who in their minds does not exist, and that is one type of person. But then on the other hand, if the sinner does believe in God, and there are many who do believe in God's existence, they simply perceive Him to be a God who is loving, and a God who is benevolent, and a God who is kind. But they do not believe that God is holy. And they do not believe that God is just. And they do not believe that God is righteous. And therefore they continue in their sin without any thought of repenting from their sin. The simple are quite happy. And I speak in spiritual terms. The simple are quite happy to have deficient views of God. And yet I must challenge such views of God tonight. If such are your held views with regard to him, there is a God. Look around you. Having looked around you, then look above you. And having done that, then look inside you with an unprejudiced eye. And if you would only but do that, you would have to admit that there is a God, a God who has ordered and designed all things from the iris of your eye to the billions of stars that populate and beautify the night sky. And as for God being simply a loving and a benevolent and kind God, that is true. He is all of those things. But it is also true that he is holy, that he is just, that he is righteous. And because he is, he is said to be angry with the wicked every day. This is the God of the Bible. Oh, don't allow your simple mind to have incorrect views of God. In the second place, the unregenerate are simple in that they are satisfied with having low views of sin. Yes, they have incorrect views of God, but they also have low views of sin. Now, sin as a term or as a word has by and large been airbrushed out of today's vocabulary. Nothing anymore is sinful. Nothing anymore is sinful. Sin is seen by many to be an irrelevant idea. that should not be held by individuals, modern man who lives in the 21st century. And thus, many have low views with regard to sin. In fact, sin has been rebranded. It has had a rebranding in recent times. Modern sin simply calls, or modern man and society calls sin an accident. or a blunder, or a defect, or a mistake, or it's simply a character flaw in me, but God calls it sin. New words and phrases have been invented to replace the word sin. Society now calls lying being economical with the truth, but God still calls it sin. Society now calls adultery a little fling or an extramarital affair, but God still calls it sin. Society now calls murder, especially the murder of the unborn child, as simply birth control, but God still calls it sin. Society now calls sodomy an alternative lifestyle, but God still calls it sin. Society calls blasphemy a little slip of the tongue, but God still calls it sin. Society calls stealing, avoiding the taxman, but God calls it sin. Society calls being disobedient to parents individuality and the expression of my individuality, but God still calls it sin. What we find as a general rule is that people do not like to be confronted with this concept, this truth of their sin. Most seem to think that the title sinner Well, that should be reserved for only the most vile, the most violent, the most corrupt in society. Well, they come to soften their own spiritual diagnosis in the process. The unregenerate, oh, they're quite happy. They're quite happy to flex and to redefine the mean of God's Word to suit their purposes. It was deemed to be sinful in the past. With society now moving on and becoming more educated and more enlightened, we are told that these things are not now to be looked upon in such a negative light as they once were. I wonder is there someone here tonight, and you've got low views of your sin. I wonder is there an unsaved person, an unconverted individual, and you downplay your sin. You downplay it. It's not that bad preacher. Not as bad as someone else. Never committed adultery. I've never murdered an individual. It's simply, it's just a lie. It's simply just me being disobedient to my parents. I wonder, do you downplay your sin? Or is it the case that you have rebranded your sin and you've given it a new term so it's just not as stark as those terms that are employed in Scripture? But I must remind you as a preacher of the gospel that your sin is iniquity. That's how God describes it. Your sin is transgression. Your sin is rebellion. And from that sin, you need to be saved. You need to be rescued. You need to be delivered. And so, the sinner, in their simplicity, they're content to having incorrect views of God. They're satisfied with having low views of sin. Thirdly, the unregenerate are simple in that they are happy to have false views regarding salvation. You know, the ungodly think that if they simply try their best that they will arrive in heaven at the end of life. How many times have you not heard it? I'm trying to do my best. I'm living my best life. I'm trying to be the best that I can and I'm trying to exhibit all the goodness that I can as an individual. But such people, they come to see or they come to prove to themselves and show themselves that they are simple. Because they believe that the grounds upon which they can build their hope of heaven upon is upon their own goodness, their own efforts and their own works. But God is very clear that that is not the ground upon which any individual can ever gain heaven. The only ground upon which a person can gain heaven is upon the sacrifice of Christ, faith in Christ, a believing to the saving of the soul, and abandoning of sin. God is clear that it is not by what we can do, but it is what Jesus Christ has done that any of us will come to find ourselves in God's heaven. Galatians 2.16, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified notice that Paul speaks about Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Christ it's Christ Those familiar words of Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, for by grace are you saved through faith. That not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works. This any man should boast are those words in Titus 3, 5, so often repeated, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy. Hath he saved us by the washing of regeneration and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost? My dear friends, salvation is not found in yourself. Salvation is not found in self, it's found in the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The sacraments can't save you, personal morality cannot save you, this church or any other church cannot save you. Christ alone saves, Christ alone. A marshal in Napoleon's army, a man who was devoutly and enthusiastically attached to the French emperor was mortally wounded in battle. As he lay down in his tent, he sent for Napoleon, and Napoleon consented to that request, and he came. The poor man thought that his emperor could do anything for him, anything. So devoted was this man to Napoleon. Perhaps he even sought to put him even in the place of God. And so that marshal earnestly pleaded with his leader to save his life. The emperor sadly shook his head and turned away from that man. And as that dying man felt the cold and merciless hand of death drawing him irresistibly behind the curtain of the unseen world, he was heard to cry out these words, save me, Napoleon, save me. In the hour of death, that soldier found out And as powerful as Napoleon was, he could not spare him from death. Oh, I wonder if you come to that realization that there is only one Savior who can deliver you from spiritual and eternal death, and His name is Jesus Christ. Do you think that you'll gain a place in heaven any other way but through faith in Jesus Christ, all false views of salvation must be abandoned by you. And God's way of salvation so clearly set forth in His Word, faith in Jesus Christ, repentance from sin must be adopted by you if you are to find yourself at heaven's fair and blessed city. The wonderful thing is that God can make the simple wise, And the means by which he does that is through his word. Do you remember whenever Paul wrote to Timothy? There in 2 Timothy 3 verse 5, Paul says, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. What Timothy came to prove was really the truthfulness of the psalm. The words in Psalm 109 verse 13, the entrance of thy words giveth light, it giveth understanding to the simple. Through his exposure to the word of God as a child, Timothy came to understand his own sinful state and also he came to understand he could be delivered from that state. And that way he came to embrace, and through that and by that he was saved. He was made wise on to salvation. God can make the simple wise. On the words then of Proverbs 1 verse 22, Let me ask all who in this meeting are still in their sin, how long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? How long are you going to stay in your simple state? How long? How long will you love simplicity? Oh, may God be pleased to give you wisdom. Oh, that they were wise, that they understood, that they would consider their latter end. And so, in the Bible, the Word of God, the Scriptures, the sinner is described as being simple. It's not very politically correct, but it's biblical language. In the second place, the sinner is described as being a fool, a fool. I draw your attention to Just a number of verses that employ such non-politically correct language. Psalm 14 in the verse number 1. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that doeth good. This is repeated again in the Scriptures with regard to being a fool. God repeats it again. The fool has said in his heart that there is no God. Psalm 107, verse 17. Fools, because of their transgression and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. God is speaking here about the sinner. And what does he call them? He calls the sinner a fool. That's how God calls the sinner a fool. Proverbs 14 verse 9. I love this verse because I remember my mother used this verse with regard to an individual. And I thank God they're saved. They're saved tonight. But this is what my mother remembered so well. Because this individual, they often, well, they're a bit giddy. So they were, until God calmed them and tamed them. This is what she often quoted. Proverbs 14, verse 9, fools make a mock at sin. Fools make a mock at sin. The atheists, as well as the individual who does not want God in their life at all, are called fools by God. Those who mock at sin. Those who mock at sin are called fools by the Spirit of God. Now, if someone walked up to you tomorrow and called you a fool, well, I trust that the grace of God for many of you that know the Savior would restrain you. It's not something that you would want to be called, to be called a fool. You're a fool, but this is what God says. This is Holy Ghost language. I wonder would God put such a label on you tonight. Are you an individual who believes? Are you an individual who believes that you'll get away with sin? You're a fool. Are you an individual that believes that you can live in sin and then get to heaven? If you are, you're a fool. Are you an individual who believes that you can reject Christ? You can despise the gospel? You can evade the gospel. You can attempt to get to God your own way. Well, God would say that you're a fool. Are you a person who does not believe in God? Well, God would call you a fool. And if you do believe in God, are you someone who doesn't want Him to exercise any influence over your life or the choices that you make? If that is you, let me say tenderly and lovingly that God, not me, not me, but God calls you a fool. There was a man in scripture whom God called a fool to his face. God called him a fool to his face. He didn't say it behind his back. God wouldn't do that. God said that he was a fool and he told it to his face. He's known to us as the rich farmer, the individual that we read about in Luke chapter 12. Oh, the concern that man was the modernization of his farm. He put plans drawn up by the architect. to upgrade his barn so that he could store his bumper harvest crop in such barns. And whenever that project was completed, he then planned to take early retirement and enjoy the fruits of his labors for many years. He said to his soul, so that was much goods laid off for many years, take thy knees, eat, drink, and be merry. But little did that man know that before the clock struck midnight that very night, that man's soul was going to be out in God's great eternity. God listened to the man as he did a little bit of interpersonal communication. We thought about that. He did a little bit of talking to himself. He talked to himself, and God listened in, and then God responded to what he said. And this is what God said to that man, thou fool. God said it to him, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? Who are you here tonight presuming that you have many years to live? Can I say with all due respect that such presumption on your part is only but foolishness? The word of God makes it clear that none of us, preacher included, none of us are to boast ourselves of even tomorrow, for we know not what a day may bring forth. The man, the woman, who lives for sin and who lives for a moment of sinful pleasure is a fool. The individual who chooses death over life is a fool. The individual who chooses cursing rather than blessing is a fool. The person who chooses hell instead of heaven is a fool. Thomas Watson, the Puritan, he said, What fools are they who, for a drop of pleasure, come to drink a sea of wrath? Let me repeat that. What fools are they who, for a drop of pleasure, come to drink a sea of wrath? In the word of God, there was a man who died a fool, Abner. Standing at his graveside, King David takes up the oratory. He comes to give the funeral address and the graveside oration. And he comes to say these words in 2 Samuel 3, verses 33 and 34, Die, Abner, as a fool dieth. Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters, as a man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou. Why such an epitaph? Why such a tribute given at such a time as standing around the grave? May I suggest to you that Abner died as a fool because he died in his sin. And second of all, because he died within touching distance of the place of safety. You see, he was running to the city of refuge. He was evading the avenger of blood. And only if he had have crossed over the threshold of the gate of that city, Abner, Abner would have remained a living man. And yet one came beside him as he stood at the entrance of the gate and he smote him under the fifth rib and Abner died within reaching distance of the place of safety. I wonder is there someone here tonight and Christ is here by his spirit and Christ has offered you in the gospel He set forth, placarded before you as the only Redeemer, the only Savior of sinners. I wonder, will you be a fool? Tonight he's within, as it were, touching distance. But will you die? Will you die within touching distance of the place of safety? Or will you tonight be wise? Lay hold of Christ in the gospel. Make Him yours by faith and receive Him as your personal Savior. I pray that you'll not die as a fool dieth. Time is gone, so let me quickly give you a third and final designation that is given to the sinner in the Word of God that would not be looked upon as being very politically correct. And you'll find that label over there in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 3. There the sinner is called a child of wrath, a child of wrath. Speaking of his own former state and the former state of those to whom he was writing to, these individuals who were now believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul in verse number 3 of chapter 2, he says, among whom also we had In other words, this is what we are naturally. This is how we come out of our mother's womb. This is how we're born. We're born children of wrath. We are not born children of God, as others teach. We are born children of wrath. Now what is meant by that term? To be a child of wrath means that we are the objects. We are the objects of God's wrath. And also it means that we are headed to wrath. We are presently the objects of wrath and we are heading to wrath. To be a child of wrath means that we are the objects of wrath. John said in John 3, verse 36, that the one who believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. It is abiding on you, sinner, the wrath of God. What is withholding that wrath? To be, as it were, exhausted, or not exhausted, but exhibited and meted out upon you. What is holding back that wrath? I tell you what it is. It is the mercy of God. The mercy of God. But I say, sinner, the wrath of God abides presently on you. And that wrath is then going to be experienced in its fullness. in the day of wrath, when the sinner comes to be everlastingly separated from God and cast into the lake of fire. I wonder, does what I have just said to you, I wonder, does that make you feel uneasy? Does that make you feel uncomfortable? You say, preacher, I'm not a child of wrath. This is certainly not me. How dare you? You're offending me tonight in the language that you're using. Let me say again that this is Holy Ghost language. You are a child of wrath. Now does that make you feel uncomfortable? The thought that I am already an object of wrath and it is only God's mercy that restrains that wrath being executed against me and I am headed for wrath. Does that make you feel uncomfortable? Does it unsettle you? Does it disturb you? I trust it does. And I trust that it'll trouble you when you go to your bed tonight if you're not a Christian, that you are a child of wrath. And I trust that this will meet you tomorrow morning if God so spares you. and I trust that it'll hound you tomorrow at your workplace. This thought that I'm a child of wrath, that I am headed towards wrath, and I trust that it'll follow you and hound you throughout next week, and next month, and next year, until you humble yourself before God, and you receive Christ as your Savior, and you repent of your sin, and that God in his mercy comes and delivers you from your sin. The wonderful thing is that God can make and take a child of wrath and make them into a child of God. How does He do that? Well, He can do that because the Son of God, He bore the wrath. He bore the wrath of God against sin upon the cross. God poured out upon His Son, His beloved Son, His only begotten Son, the undeluded, the unadulterated, the unmixed wrath of God as payment for sin in order that we could be delivered from wrath to come. That wrath has come to be exhausted on the person of Jesus Christ when it comes to sin. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? That he has borne the wrath for all who will trust in him. Will you trust then in Jesus Christ tonight? Will you believe on him? Will you receive the one who bore God's wrath on the sinner's behalf? If you do so, thank God, he will make you his child. Politically correct, the word of God is not. Factually correct, it certainly is. I trust that then you'll come to side with what God has to say about you. that you would be made wise unto salvation, that the simplicity that you have with regard to your own state and who God is and how a man or woman, a boy or girl gets to heaven, that that simplicity would be revoked and that you would be made wise unto salvation, that the foolishness of sin would be forsaken by you, and that by faith in the Son of God that you would become a child of God tonight." God uses this language. This is how you are to view yourself, a simple one, a fool, a child of wrath. But thank God such can be made wise, and such can be made a child of God. I wonder, will you be such a person? Will tonight you come and put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, repenting of sin and believing on Christ and His work to the salvation of your soul. May God be pleased to bless His word to every heart. Let's bow our heads in prayer together. If you're not a Christian, why not in the stillness of this moment, just lift your heart now to God and say, Lord, save me. I'm a sinner, I've been a fool. And there's simplicity, this simplicity of my understanding. There's a lot of ignorance, but I've been made wise, I've heard the Word. God has dealt with my heart. Why not ask the Lord to save you and make you His child? And God, He can do that even for you just now, as you bow your head in prayer and as you lift your heart to Him. And if I can help you in this matter, then do avail yourself of the opportunity. I'm at the door. Always delighted to speak to people about spiritual things. And let's now seek the Lord together. Our loving Father, we commit now the preaching of thy word to thee. We're very thankful, O God, for the scriptures of truth. We thank thee, O God, that the Bible doesn't sugarcoat things. The Bible, Lord, and the word of God comes with directness of speech. This is who we are. This is what we are. Lord, we must side on God and God's side. This is how God is describing me. And Lord, I pray that sinners will come to understand their great need of the Savior. And so, Lord, work by thy Spirit again, we pray. Challenge hearts, deliver men, O God, and women from the ignorance of sin. And from, Lord, their foolishness, we pray, and deliver them from wrath to come, for there is a day of wrath. And Lord, we pray that thou wilt help them to hide themselves Lord, we think of that simple one who passed on, and yet the prudent one was the one who hid himself. Oh, may sinners hide themselves in Christ by faith, the one who is already born, the wrath of God against sin. Answer prayer, and may the blessing of the triune God be with all of thy believing people as we leave this place, and may the conviction of God the Holy Spirit be the portion of those who are still in their sin. We pray these, our prayers, in and through the Savior's lovely, precious, and holy name.