We're turning to 1 John chapter one. 1 John chapter one. We'll read the chapter, we'll go into chapter two as well. So it's 1 John, chapter number one, and we'll commence reading at the opening verse of this epistle. Let's hear God's word. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life. For the life was manifested, and we have seen it. And bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifest unto us. That which we have seen, and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. In these things write we on to you that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of Him and declare on to you that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Amen. We'll end our reading just at the end of verse 2. Let's unite in prayer. Let's pray for the meeting, pray for the preaching of the gospel. Help will be given. Our Father and our God in heaven, we come to the most important part of this worship service. We thank Thee for the praise of Thy people. We've been singing about Thee. Lord, we pray now, help me to preach about Jesus Christ tonight. He is the only Savior and the only Redeemer of God's elect. No one else is worth the preaching about but Christ and Christ alone. And as He is, O God, I pray that sinners may be drawn onto Him, that they would behold Him Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world may they find in Christ a beauty that they've never seen in him before as they consider what God has done for them in the gospel may that be that the thing which wins our heart from sin draws them savingly on to the Redeemer answer prayer Lord, fill me with thy Spirit, how in need I am for a fresh infilling. Grant such in this house tonight, for I pray these are prayers, my prayers, and through my Savior's precious name. Amen and amen. One of the benefits of being a minister There's maybe not too many. Some of the benefits or one of the benefits of being a minister is that you never have to do jury service. However, before entering the ministry, I was informed of Her Majesty's judicial services that my services were required. For six weeks, I would make my way over the Glensham Pass to the city of Londonderry to sit in a room filled with about 50 other people waiting to be called and selected to serve as a juror at the Crown Court that was sitting in that particular setting. Thankfully, my skill set of scrutinizing evidence was never called upon. If it had been, I would have seen it firsthand, the expert dissecting of evidence by barristers and lawyers within a court of law. I mention my jury call up for this reason. The passage that we have read together this evening brings us into a court of law. However, this court is not a court that sits on earth. It's not a county court or a crown court. It's not a high court, an appeal court. It's not a supreme court or court of justice or a court of human rights. This court has a sitting in another place. It's sitting is in heaven. The word that points us to this court scene is the word advocate that we find there in 1 John chapter 2 and the verse number 1. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Now when John writes and uses that term, little children, he's not speaking about infants, but rather he speaks of those whom he affectionately loves in the gospel. We see him using that endearing term throughout this little epistle. We find him using it on four other occasions within the chapter number two. It's used in the verse 12, the verse 13, the verse 18, and the verse number 20. It is again used in chapter 3, this time in verse 7 and the verse number 18. It's found in chapter 4, the verse number 4, and once again in chapter 5 and the verse number 21. Whenever you consider all of those references and draw them together, it's very obvious that when John speaks about little children, he's speaking about those who become children of God, not by baptism, not by confirmation, not by any other religious right, but by the new birth. When he speaks to these little children and he informs them that they have an advocate with the Father, He is reminding them that in heaven they have one who pleads for them. Though not a term that we would use ourselves, the term advocate would have been known by the Jewish readership of John's day, because it was used by writers of the day to denote an advocate in court, one who would be called to the aid of another, one who would stand by another in order to defend them within the court of law. As I thought about that term advocate and the role that an advocate would play within a court of law, I thought this verse is a verse that is well suited for those who would be employed in such a work on a daily basis. And so tonight in the gospel, I want to preach a message focusing on this thought of an advocate Want to preach a gospel message for a lawyer. A gospel message for a lawyer. You want to think about Jesus Christ. as an advocate. And as we do so, I want you to note a number of things. I want you to note in the first place the need for this advocate, the need for this advocate. For the Lord Jesus Christ to assume the role of an advocate, a role that he most assuredly does assume, it suggests to me that there is a pressing need for him to do so. And there is when we come to understand the gospel in its entirety. I want to present to you three reasons why we need Christ as an advocate. Why Christ the advocate is needed. Can I say in the first place that he is needed because there is an accuser that needs to be silenced. There is an accuser that needs to be silenced. Now as you know, with any matter of law, there is the accused. The one who is charged with some crime, they are known as the accused. And pleading for the accused is the advocate. We would use the term defense lawyer. But on the other side of the legal argument, there is an accuser. That accuser takes the form of what is known as a prosecuting lawyer. This is not one who is a defense lawyer, but rather he is the prosecuting lawyer. And it is the prosecuting lawyer or the accuser's job to take the evidence at hand and convict the accused of the crime to which they have been charged with that will cause then the judge to pass sentence on them in accordance to the law of the land. There is an accuser in any courtroom. Let me make the spiritual application. As sinners, we stand guilty before God. Satan happily stands to accuse us of our sin. The name Satan itself, one of the titles of the wicked one, the devil, literally translates to mean accuser or slanderer. And so the very name that he possesses brings to our thought of the work that he does. He brings accusation against the sinner. Now there's good grounds for that, for we have sinned against God. And therefore, he does not bring up some type of made-up evidence, some faulty evidence, but rather he brings to the attention of God full evidence, evidence that cannot be denied as to the guilt of the person that is being accused. As I thought about that and the role that the devil plays, possesses as the accuser, I started to think how ironic that is. He is the one who tempted the sinner to sin. He is the one who lured that sinner into sin. He was the one that told them that there were no consequences to their sin, and now he stands to accuse them. Now he stands and accuses them of the sin that he actually lured them and enticed them to commit. He is a two-faced enemy. That's what the devil is. He is two-faced. He comes initially and he appears to be the sinner's friend, enticing the sinner to commit sin. And then whenever he has him ensnared in the snare of sin, He then turns on the sinner to become the sinner's accuser and condemns the sinner of their sin. He's quite happy to go before God into the very high court of heaven. to prevent the sinner's acquittal. He's very happy to offer God the proof, the proof that the accused is a sinner. He's quite happy to show the God that God's truth condemns the sinner, that his righteousness would exclude them from the kingdom through which only righteousness alone can enter. He's quite happy to stand before God and accuse the sinner. Such an accuser needs to be silenced. And such is silence by Jesus Christ. Thank God they advocate. You see, the sinner's guilt, as I've said, though it cannot be denied, Lord Jesus Christ, he comes and he steps forth to befriend the culpable and to befriend the guilty. Not only does he befriend them, but he pleads his work on their behalf. Is it not true? Is it not true, sinner, that Satan, the accuser, justly accuses you tonight of your sin? Here you are tonight, burdened down with sin, burdened down with its guilt and its disgrace. If that wasn't bad enough, added to that is his accusing voice, the great accuser tormenting the mind and the heart when it comes to the matter of sin. Sinner, what you need in the gospel is that you need an advocate. You need someone to silence the accuser, and such a one is provided for you in the gospel, and his name is Jesus Christ the righteous. See, what he is able to do, he is able to take your sin, And He is able to take sin's guilt, and He is able to forgive you of your sin as you repent and confess that sin to God. And whenever that happens, Christ the righteous Advocate can face down the accuser. He, thank God, can answer all his charges, assuring the sinner that the accuser's claims are now unfounded, because the sinner's sins have been forgiven, they've been forgotten, and they've been claims under the blood of Jesus Christ. The accuser of the brethren, yes, the accuser of the sinner, can be silenced by the work of Jesus Christ. I read comforting words. For the child of God over there in Romans chapter 8, in the verses number 33 and the verse number 34, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also liveth, or who also maketh intercession for us. There is no charge that can be brought against the justified one. There is no condemnation upon the one who has become savingly acquainted with Jesus Christ. All condemnation has been withdrawn. I am in the favor and the smile of God. My sins are pardoned, my sins are washed in the crimson tide, and therefore when the devil comes to accuse me before the Father, Jesus Christ answers all his charges for me. knowing that none can charge the Christian for sins dealt with by Christ. The forgiven one can say in the words of the hymn writer, what though the accuser roar, of hills that I have done, I know them well thousands more. Jehovah findeth them. There is an accuser that needs to be silenced. And you're pleading of your own righteousness. Your own churchianity and your own morality will not find a place of hearing before God. There are no grounds. no grounds apart from the blood of Christ and His precious work on Calvary's cross that will cause the accuser to be silenced. That's the first reason there is an accuser that needs to be silenced. This is the need and why I need an advocate and why, sinner, you need an advocate. The second reason why Christ the advocate is needed is because there are charges that need to be answered. There are charges that need to be answered. Against the name of every human being stands a charred sheet that catalogues the many sins they have committed right down through their lifetime. From the first disobedient no uttered in infancy, to the last sinful thought that went through your mind just a moment ago. Each and every sin that you have committed has been catalogued, recorded by God in His record book. And those books are going to be opened someday. Charges are going to be brought against you for all of your wicked deeds and all of your wicked thoughts and all of your wicked speeches against the God of heaven. Charges that need to be answered. Charges that will be brought against you. Such a record. leads to you being justly charged for crimes against your Maker and your God. As I said, those charges must be answered. And when they are answered, they will be answered in the affirmative, because there is no getting away from our guilt of sin, all of sin, and come short of the glory of God. Innocent we're not. Guilty we are. Or as it tells us in Romans 3 verse 19, all the world guilty before God. All the world guilty before God. But the wonderful thing about the gospel is this, the Lord Jesus Christ takes my charge sheet, that sheet that is full of my sins. And across the charge sheet, he writes the words, tetelestai, finished, forgiven, cleansed, pardoned, justified. He takes my charge sheet, and he answers all my charges on my behalf. In the gospel, he takes my sins. He bears them to the cross. He kneels unto His cross. He pays for them by His death on the cross, and He gives to me then His righteousness. Thus, sin's charges are cancelled and cleared. The debt is paid. The sinner can go free. Someone has answered on my behalf. A substitute has taken my place. He has been willing to have it all placed on His account. He's been willing to die for me. He's been willing to pay the sin debt on my behalf. He answers every charge. It's as if the Son of God, when sin's charges are trumped up against the believer, it's as if the Son of God answers every one of sin's charges by saying, I have died for that sin. I have died for that sin. I have died for that sin. He died for every sin that I ever committed or I will ever commit. He's paid my debt. And so the choice is simple. Either you answer sin's charges or another answers them on your behalf. Now I know which one I would rather have. I'd rather have Christ answer the charges of my sin on my behalf. I'd rather Him to pay the debt for my sin. I would rather Him to absolve me of my sins than for me to answer those charges and have to pay for them in my damnation in God's hell. Christ my advocate answers sin's charges, for which I am eternally indebted to him for. With full assurance I can say as we have just sung, bold shall I stand on that great day, for who ought to my charge shall lay, fully absolved through thee I am from sin and fear, from guilt and shame. Would you not want to be absolved from all your sin? Would you not want God and the gospel to take sin's charge sheet and cancel them out and blot out your sin? Would you not want the record to be clear tonight? I tell you, if you were going to court tomorrow morning, and a list of charges were up against you, and you knew that you were guilty of them, And you knew that you would spend the rest of your life in imprisonment, and yet you received a telephone call tonight to say that your sins could be, or those charges could be cleared completely. Would you not take that offer? Sinner, would you not take that offer? Of course you would, to be cleared. And here you are, a charged sheet of sin against you. What are you going to do with the offer of God's pardon? God's forgiveness. In America, many years ago, a soldier who was complicit in many a crime, constantly in trouble with his commanding officer, was brought before him once again. The officer, entering the soldier's name on the charge sheet, he said, here he is again, here he is again. What can we do with him? He was so frustrated, he says, we've gone through almost every punishment that is available to us in order to try and get this man to change his life and to bring him into line and to bring him into a place of obedience. One of the military officers who was present within the room, he spoke up and he said, there's one thing that has not been done for him yet. The commanding officer said, what is that? He said, well, sir, he has never yet been forgiven. He's never yet been forgiven. Forgiven, roared the commanding officer. His case is entered. Yes, the officer said, but the soldier is not yet before you. And you, by the power that has been invested in you, you can cancel the charge. After the officer reflected for a few moments, he ordered the offending soldier to be brought in before him. When he asked if he had anything to say, he said, I have nothing to say. In actual fact, I'm sorry for what I've done. After some remarks, the officer said, we are resolved to forgive you. The soldier was taken aback, astonished, began to weep. The soldier thanked his commanding officer for the kindness shown and the mercy shown, and then he retired from the room. History records that never from that moment onwards did that soldier ever step out of line. Never once was he brought before the commanding officer again for any misdemeanor. Mercy had triumphed. Kindness had conquered the soldier. He had been forgiven. That was enough to change his whole life. Can I say this is the method that God adopts in the gospel? We are guilty. Sins charge us. They have been entered into the charge sheet. But the Lord delights in showing mercy. He delights in forgiving when we confess and acknowledge our sins. It is my prayer this evening that from this very night that you, if God would but forgive you in the gospel, from this day forward you would be careful not to grieve the one who has forgiven you so much." Forgiven. That's what conquered his heart, being forgiven. There's a third reason why Christ the Advocate is needed. There is a law that needs to be satisfied. There's a law that needs to be satisfied. God's law condemns Each one of us must be upheld the law of God. I've said it so many times, justice is not thrown out the window in order for the sinner to go free. No, rather justice must be upheld and satisfied if the sinner is to be freed from the law's demands. Jesus Christ, the advocate through his perfect life, by meeting all of the law's demands, satisfying it in every point. He thereby is able to forgive, to pardon, to deliver those who trust in him and his work on their behalf. There is a law, God's law, and it is a law that must be satisfied. But there has been an advocate who has satisfied the law on your behalf. The law will condemn you, The law will damn you. The law will eternally separate you from God's presence. As hard as you may try, sinner, you will never be able to satisfy God's law. And so sense and reason would surely but compel you, the sinner, to get to Christ. who alone has upheld the law, the one who has satisfied the justice of God, the one who has honored the law on your behalf and by faith received his work on your behalf. There is a law that needs to be satisfied. And having thought about the need for an advocate, we want to think quickly about the character of this advocate. If you were before the court some courts, whether it be this week or in the months ahead. You're not going to defend yourself. I'm sure you wouldn't want to be doing that. You're going to make sure that you're going to get the best lawyer, the best barrister that you can afford And you're certainly going to look at what his success rate is with respect to those whom he defends. You're not going to get a lawyer who loses almost every case. You're going to get someone who is competent, someone who is able to defend, someone who is qualified, someone who is successful to stand and to plead your case before the judge. When looking for someone to represent you before God, there is none more qualified and there is none more successful than Jesus Christ, the Advocate. I say that because of his character. His character gives weight to his advocacy. His character gives weight to his advocacy. Can I say in the first place, I want you to note his divine character. The advocate is presented in the gospel not merely as some human advocate, whose humanity would bring limitations to his advocacy, but rather this advocate is divine. That's understood by the name and the title that he possesses. Notice what is said of this advocate. He is named for us, Jesus Christ. Jesus, the name. Christ, the title. Jesus, the name. It is a name derived from the Hebrew name Joshua. It simply means Jehovah saves. Jehovah delivers. This is the one who is the advocate. And then Christ, that's His title. It translates to mean He's the Anointed One. He's the Messiah. He is none less than the Son of God. Here we have the Messiah, the one who sees. He's taking the role of the advocate on behalf of the sinner. And it is this that qualifies Him to reconcile God to man and man to God. Because He knows what God needs. He knows what God needs to reconcile God to men and men to God. He needs a perfect sacrifice. He needs a perfect life. And understanding what is needed by his death and by his life, he procures and secures salvation for the trusting sinner, thereby enabling him that moment of reconciliation between God and men and men and God. the foot of the old rugged cross. He is divine. The one I speak of is no man. This is the God-man, the one who steps between me and God, the mediator, the day's spring, the day's man, standing between me and God. For all that God would see in me is my sin. But there, Christ in the gospel, He stands between me and God. And now, what does God see? He sees me in His Son. He sees me in His Son. And I stand perfect. I stand as Christ stands before the Father because I've come to know Him. I tell you, sinner, this advocate, is an able advocate. Not only that, he is an acceptable advocate. He is a holy, sinless advocate. He is a faithful advocate. He is a kind, he is a gracious, he is an affectionate advocate. He is a constant, perpetual advocate. I tell you, this is the one you need. The dead, if they advocate, means that his pleas will be heard by God the Father, because he never turns his son away. There he goes before the Father, and he pleads on behalf of the sinner, let this sinner go free. They're trusting in me tonight. They're coming by the way of the cross. They're trusting in my righteousness and my work and all that I've done for them. Oh, set them free. And the Son's prayers are always heard. His petitions, His pleas. The case is heard and settled in heaven. Sinner, you need to look away from yourself. You need to solicit the help of this divine advocate. You need to seek His assistance. Sinner, what you need to do is you need to hand over your case to light. Hand it over to Him. Let Him deal with the charges. Let Him deal with its guilt. Let Him deal with the penalty of the broken law on your behalf. Let Him deal with it all. Let Him plead His work on your behalf. A divine character, but note something else about His character. Note His righteous character. Because John adds an adjective, righteous, when speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the advocate before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the righteous. By his righteousness, he stands apart from the sinner he represents. He stands apart from the sinner that he represents. The righteousness of the advocate is introduced by John in contrast to the unrighteousness of the sinner whom he represents. As one Christian writer put it, the advocate represents sinners, but he is not a sinner. He is an ambassador for a race of sinners, but he is not a sinner. You see, for him to have sin, and thereby not righteous, but being unrighteousness. To have sin would mean that the advocate is an accomplice, a partner in crime to those whom he's supposing to represent. He's no better than the sinner if he was unrighteous. And therefore his pleas would fall And yet this is not the case with Jesus Christ the righteous. The holy, pure, sinless, unpolluted, impeccable, unblemished Son of God has an advocacy with the Father that prevails. Thank God for that. He's heard. When you, the sinner, come to Christ and you place your case into his hands, Jesus Christ the righteous will stand up for you. And He'll plead for you. And what will He plead? He'll plead His righteousness. He'll plead His righteousness. Such a plea from such a righteous one will never be turned away by the Father. And therefore, we see the character. And as we see His character, this divine one, this righteous one, is He not most suited? for this particular task of being an advocate for the sinner. And thank also God for the Christian. We've thought about the need, we've thought about the character. Let me close by thinking about the work of this advocate, the work of the advocate. We need to ask the question, what work has Jesus Christ the righteous performed that enables him to be the advocate of those who trust in him? Look down at the second verse of 1 John chapter 2 and you'll find the answer to that question. We are told there that he is the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation for our sins. That word, propitiation, it appears again in this little epistle, 1 John 4, verse 10. Here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and he sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Now it is a word, propitiation. I'm sure you didn't use it this week. I'm sure you didn't use this word this week. You've probably never used it in your life apart from reading this particular word. It is not a word that we understand within our culture, but it was a word that would have been understood in the days of John. As they look back right into their history, as they looked into their Judaism, they would have understood what this word propitiation. It is one of the Bible's great words. And it has the thought behind it of reconciling, appeasing, or the turning away of anger. I just noticed on my Bible as I was preparing this afternoon, a little footnote here that I have in this copy of God's words from the Trinitarian Bible Society. Propitiation, it says here, the wrath-ending sacrifice by which the Lord Jesus Christ secured his people's pardon. the wrath-ending sacrifice by which the Lord Jesus Christ secured the pardon of his people. It is the turning away of wrath because a sacrifice has been made. It's not simply the turning away of wrath. That is only possible because a sacrifice has been made, propitiation. And that brings me to one place, a place called Calvary. This is the place where the work was done that would enable then Christ to be an advocate, that he could stand in the very courtroom of God and declare on my behalf, he must go free. for I have done a work for him on Calvary's middle cross." It is this work that makes his advocacy effective. Or as one Christian writer put it, Christ's propitiation is the foundation upon which his advocacy is built. Three quick things. about this sacrifice that placates or pacifies God. Firstly, the divine propitiation is complete. Every part is complete. No part is left undone. Christ has died for sin, His blood has been shed, and it has also been presented to the Father. The death of Christ, the offering of His blood were the two great transactions that had to take place, but that transaction has been completed when the Son of God died and rose again and ascended back to the Father. And therefore, sinner, what need of you? What need of you to bring your good works? your religious affiliations or your morality or your baptism or your confirmation or your first communion as add-ons to an already completed work. The cry is finished. Finished. I have made the sacrifice. I have put away wrath. I have died for sin. No need for any add-ons. No need for any bolt-ons. It's complete. Secondly, it's final. It's final because the sacrifice of Christ to turn away wrath and appease him is a complete sacrifice, and it only follows on that there is no need for its repetition. And that is emphasized for us in Scripture, Hebrews chapter 10. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. He sat down. The priest in the Old Testament, no seat in the temple, no time to sit, no time to rest, sacrifices morning, night, morning, night, continually being brought before the priest. to be brought before God in order to appease God and to cause there to be the putting away of sin, this constant repeating of the sacrifice day by day. But when Christ offered the propitiatory sacrifice, He sat down to declare, no more sacrifices. The final sacrifice has been made. No more. Listen, sinner, the work has been done for you. No other sacrifice is needed. Rest your soul on His sacrifice. Finally, the divine propitiation is sufficient, sufficient. The Savior's sacrifice on the cross was full and sufficient, enabling the sinner to be forgiven That would be verified by the Son of God being raised from the dead and being set at the Father's right hand. It is then for you to rest, repose, cast yourself upon a sufficient work, a work that is complete, a work that is final, a work that is sufficient. And because of it, divine wrath has been turned away because it was turned upon the Son of God when He hung and suffered and bled on Calvary's cross. And everyone who renounces their sin, everyone who confesses their sin, everyone who repents of their sin, and everyone who trusts in Christ will stand before God acquitted, justified, and accepted before God. By nature, we all stand condemned in heaven's high court. But an advocate has been provided in the gospel, Jesus Christ the righteous, who by his propitiation has answered all sin's charges. on the sinner's behalf. His pleas for their acquittal are heard and granted, because another of suitable standing has paid the penalty of sin on their behalf. That is the gospel. It is my prayer that you will solicit the help of such an advocate tonight, and that you'll come to know him in salvation. Because if you don't, you will stand before the judge of all men with no one to plead your case. No one to plead your case. Solicit his help. Seek his services. Trust in his work. So when it comes to that day of judgment and you stand before God, the judge of all men, that Christ will stand and plead your case and will demand your acquittal because He has paid for your sin on the cross of Calvary. If any man sins, We have an advocate with the righteous, or with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Come to Him and be saved from your sin. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Thank God for someone to stand beside us, and to plead our case. Someone who has paid our sin debt. Would you not like to know him? Would you not like sin's charge sheet to be blotted out tonight, cleared? Would you not want that sinner? Come to the Savior, bow your head, your heart before God. Confess, I am a sinner. There are many sins to my account, but I solicit your help. Be my advocate, be my savior, be my redeemer, be my friend. Pardon me of my sin. I turn from it. I rest my soul on thee. Come into my life and make me what I need to be and what I should be. Maybe tonight you haven't understood very much, but you've understood this, that you need the Savior. Well, then I'm at the door to help you, to assist you. You need to make your need known. I'm not here to put your arm up your back, try and get you to make some profession of faith that would only be sham. You need to step out for God. Leave your sin. Come to the Savior. and He will, He will save you now. Our Father, we thank Thee for the Advocate, provided for us in the Gospel, even Jesus Christ the Righteous. We thank Thee that His very character gives weight to His advocacy. We thank Thee that He is God and man. He's righteous, He pleads for me, the unrighteous one, and all we bless thee, for the grace of God, the saving power in our own souls. But we pray for those who are not saved in this house, and they're headed towards the judgment, and there's gonna be no one there to stand to defend them, only but the law to condemn. Oh, we pray that in time they would seek the Savior, that they would trust in his work on their behalf. Lord, move by thy spirit, solemnize every heart. May there be, O God, the workings of God in our midst, and we'll give thee all praise for it. We offer prayer in and through your Savior's precious name. Amen and amen. Thank you.