We read the word of God this morning from Isaiah chapter 54. Isaiah chapter 54, you can find that on page 548. Page 548 in your Pew Bibles. Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear. Break forth into singing and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child. For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations. Spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes. For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed, Neither be confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame, for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood anymore. For God, thy maker, is thine husband. The Lord of hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. The God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit and a wife of youth. When thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me, for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted! Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established, thou shalt be far from oppression, thou shalt not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near thee. Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me. Whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work, and I have created the waster to destroy. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, Seth the Lord. The Lord uses here the metaphor of holy matrimony in this chapter and he continues that in the next chapters. Our text this morning is verse seven and eight. And then Lord willing, verses nine and 10 will be our communion worship service. And verse 17 will be our applicatory sermon. And then in several weeks, in my farewell, I hope to go back to the beginning of this chapter, the first several verses, the enlargening of our tent. But now verses seven and eight. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. May the Lord add his blessing on the preaching of his word. The church, Zion, is God's bride. He has taken her that was barren. and makes her fruitful. She lives in a hostile world, but she doesn't have to be afraid. For her husband is also her maker. He's sovereign. And he is her redeemer. And he is the Holy One of Israel. Now we need to put this chapter in place with really the theme of the whole book. And the whole theme of the book of Isaiah is set forth in Isaiah 1 verse 27, Israel shall be redeemed with judgment. Israel shall be redeemed with judgment and her converts with righteousness. So you got the idea there of judgment and righteousness. There is going to be an outpouring of wrath like a sudden flood. but for God's people that will serve to chasten them, to purify them, to strengthen them in faith and obedience. Isaiah here is pointing God's people then to trust not in themselves, but to trust in the God of their salvation, to trust in Jesus Christ alone, because Jesus Christ alone, chapter 53, is the one, the servant of Jehovah, who has taken the infinite wrath of God. Christ has taken the infinite wrath of God so that we only experience, verse 8, a little wrath. May we experience, then, in this coming week as we look at our sin, And as we experience the wrath of God for our sins, may we experience also His saving help, His mercy and His kindness that is everlasting. So my theme is God's overflowing wrath in a moment. God's overflowing wrath for a moment. Notice with me that overflowing wrath. Notice then also in the very title the short duration of that wrath. And then thirdly, the reason why this wrath is so short. We have here in these two verses Hebrew parallelism. And in Hebrew parallelism, usually there are two statements. The two statements sometimes are set there, the ideas corresponding or further elaborating what the first statement says. I find many of those kind of statements. The second statement backs up and just says it in a different way what the first statement says. We don't have that in this, Hebrew parallelism, but rather, as in many of the Proverbs, this Hebrew parallelism has a contrast. And what is the contrast of the two ideas in each verse? The contrast in verse 7 is forsaken yet gathered. Verse 8, the contrast is wrath and kindness. And the contrast is thirdly, between for a moment and everlasting kindness. And those contrasts are then very, very significant for us. Significant to us so that we may understand when we come to the Lord's table, that we may come with confidence We're going to have a week of examining ourselves and our sins. It's very unsettling business. But we don't stay away from the Lord's table because we're so sinful, but rather we come with a confidence that our wrath that we experience is short because someone else, Our Lord Jesus has suffered the infinite wrath of God on the cross of Calvary. The Lord here is addressing his people, a people who had departed away from him in sin. And departing away from God in sin brings judgment. that God in this punishment of his people has one purpose in mind and that purpose in mind is to cleanse them. It is to sanctify them. It is to draw them back to himself. Yes, Israel will be redeemed with judgment. An overflowing wrath of short duration because of Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus Christ. Let's deal with that wrath in first a moment. We read in verse 8, a little wrath. That's not a literal translation really of the text. It's understandable why our King James calls it a little wrath because of what comes afterward. It is for a moment. But the idea in the word that is used in verse 8 is there will be an overflowing wrath, a flood like as of a sudden flash flood. Not a flood that lasts 40 days and 40 nights, but a flood that is sudden. It's a terrible flood, a flood of wrath. The wrath of the Almighty God. the wrath of God toward his own people in Zion. Now that might sound surprising to you. There are many that do not want to think of God as a wrathful God because they only want to consider him as a God of love. And that's why in modern translations of the Bible, you don't find the old word propitiation. That word propitiation means the removal of God's wrath. Jesus Christ did that. But these two do belong together, God's love and God's wrath. How do they belong together? They belong together because God loves Himself. They belong together because God seeks Hisself. And therefore He is perfectly wrathful, angry with anyone who is opposed to Him or who is opposed to His Word. God is a self-seeking God. He is a holy God that comes out in verse 3, I believe it is. No, verse 4. He is thy Redeemer and He is the Holy One of Israel. That's verse 5. He's the Holy One. You see, God should be a God-seeker, Himself seeking. For us to seek ourselves would be sinful, isn't it? Because we are sinful. God seeks Himself and God's people are to be God-seekers. So God's wrath pours out because of His holiness. He perfectly seeks himself as the only good. That holiness of God is emphasized throughout the Scriptures, isn't it? Boys and girls, you might remember Hannah. Hannah, she prayed for a young son. Of course, Eli thought she was drunk, a wanton woman. She has to explain herself to old Eli. And later on she comes with a beautiful prayer, and part of that prayer is 1 Samuel 2, verse 2. Thou art holy, she says. And Isaiah has that vision, doesn't he, at the beginning of this prophecy, Isaiah chapter 6, where the holy seraphim are flying around, covering themselves and covering their feet, and crying out one to the other, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. And our husband, The one who has betrothed us as his bride is described then in Isaiah 54, verse 5, as thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Well, that holiness means that one is set apart, doesn't it? He is incomprehensible. He is full of majesty and beauty. He is set apart from his creatures. He is set apart from sin. and He is wholly consecrated to Himself. In Him is light and no darkness at all. God is holy. And God's people are supposed to be holy. That means we are to be set apart from sin, saying no to sin, and we are supposed to be wholly consecrated to our God, the God of our salvation. When God is self-centered, God's people are to be God-centered. And therefore, His holiness burns. His holiness burns in wrath against all who oppose Him or oppose, contradict His Word. That wrath burns out at sinners. And it consumes, doesn't it? Consumes like a fire. How terrible that wrath of God is in its intensity. Do I need to remind you how God consumed and swallowed up the old world with a flood because of sin? Do I need to remind you of His wrath against Sodom and Gomorrah where they were burned up with fire and brimstone? Do I need to remind you of how God's wrath reacted to Egypt with the ten plagues and finally swallowing up Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea? Or do I need to remind you When Korah, Dathan, and Abiram rebelled against God and against God's servant Moses, how the earth swallowed them up. Or other times when fire would come down from heaven and burn those of the Israelites who were murmuring and rebelling. Isaiah and many of the other prophets in the Old Testament speak about the great day of the Lord that is coming. A day of fierce wrath and anger that will lay and leave the earth desolate. So there's a wrath against sinners. Perhaps you and I say, yes, this earth and the wicked of this earth, they deserve that. But this is God's word now to his people, Israel, Zion. It's alarming because this wrath comes upon his people. God is a jealous God. His anger burns against his own bride. when she seeks others' lovers. Isaiah earlier in his prophecy speaks of that fierce anger that burns like a fire, destroying the land so that the land is completely darkened. It is a terrible wrath because the Lord hides His face from us. The Lord's angry with His church, with His people. Isn't that a terrible thing? Think of David a moment. David, when he sinned and he tried to cover it up and did not confess his sin, how he dried up within himself. He knew that God's face was against him. God was not with him. God was, as it were, forsaken him. That's what he experiences. And that is what the church experiences too, doesn't it? Here in verses seven and eight, we have to understand that we are looking at the church organically. That is, we look at the church here with the elect in the church, but also the reprobate in the church. The church composed of those who are true Christians, righteous, and also composed of hypocrites, workers of iniquity. We can think in the Old Testament times when Israel thrived under godly leadership, godly kings or judges. But we can also think of times when Israel was underneath the thumb of oppressive or sinful leaders, kings, priests, and prophets. Oh, how the church was oppressed during those times. God in His wrath would give them over to their enemies for a season. Well, that is true of the church. We look at the church organically, but we recognize always that the remnant is a small number. Not all that say Lord, Lord are saved. That little flock is what constitutes the real Jerusalem or the real Zion. A little flock that is saved. A little flock that is in the part of that organism called the church. She is redeemed with judgment. How does that take place? Because that remnant is in the midst of a church that is increasingly becoming more and more corrupt. We see that today, don't we? It wasn't only Israel of old. There's apostasy in the church. The church goes wayward, and the remnant is a part of that church. He's in that church, and so deliverance for his church can only come about by a separation wrought by God. A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I and some family members went down to the Creation Museum. Wonderful exhibits there, but I was struck with Looking at the flood, it portrayed it as a catastrophe. I got my blood boiling a little bit. The flood wasn't a catastrophe. The flood was deliverance for Noah and his family. Yes, yes it would catastrophe the world. They were ripe for judgment, but the flood was a wonderful deliverance where Noah and his family were separated out from that wicked world that would seek to destroy and cut off the line of Noah and prevent the coming of Jesus. Righteous Lot was a citizen in Sodom and Gomorrah. But the Lord was good to Lot, separating him from that wicked city of Sodom and Gomorrah and even members of his household, delivering him, saving him alive. So now also with Israel, as Isaiah, hundreds of years before the actual Babylonian captivity, says you're going to experience God's fierce anger. And anger because Israel as a whole had rebelled against God, served other gods, and walked in wickedness. And the remnant that is still in that Israel, they're going to experience that wrath, aren't they? They too are gonna go down to Babylon as slaves or servants. Well, what is true of the church organic and the remnant in it is also true of us individually, isn't it? Individually, as a whole, our flesh, that is our soul and our body, is very sinful. We think, we desire, and we do sinful things. We have a new heart, we are born again by God, but that new heart still rests in this sinful body. And so we will experience God's wrath on us in our lives. Perhaps not for particular sins, but at least we do as part of this world that we live in, we become sick, don't we? Farmers have good years, but they also have bad years when either it's too wet in the spring or whether it's too dry as it has been the last couple weeks in the summertime. We experience the misery because of sin. And that's why our lives are a constant battle, aren't they? Struggle. We taste God's wrath in our lives. Read Psalm 90. All our days pass underneath thy wrath, and we are consumed. To deny this, the wrath of God even upon us, because our sinful flesh, is to deny the seriousness of sin. It is not the case that, well, we're saved, God's gonna bring us to heaven so I can sin all I want. God is angry with sin and he will punish sin. To deny that God is wrathful with all our sin is to deny or belittle the holiness of God. Yes, yes, you and I, God's children, are chastened by the Lord. We experience that wrath, don't we? Even when the gospel is preached. When our sins are pointed out for us in God's law. When there's a rebuke that is pointed to you and me under the preaching of the gospel. God exposes our sin so that we may know that God has no pleasure in iniquity. So wrath, the wrath of God, a terrible wrath of God is always experienced also by God's people, God's children, God's bride. But that wrath, that wrath is radically different as it is experienced, as it's received by the objects of that wrath. The objects of that wrath are the world, the wicked, but the objects of that wrath are also God's people. The world comes underneath God's judgment, and the world is indifferent, isn't it? They deny that there is a God. They just say, it's my bad luck. It's just something I have to go through with this life. Pharaoh and his host. All the time experiencing that wrath of God in the plagues, did not want to acknowledge God. Sodom and Gomorrah, destroyed. Even Lot warns parts of his family, there are those who will not listen. The world is indifferent, but the church, the church organically considered, God loves her. And we see then God's work in our lives is a work not in hatred, but it's a work in love. It's a jealous love. He will redeem His church. Boys and girls, you want to know how much your parents love you? Your parents don't turn a blind eye to when they see you walking in sin. No, they don't. They love you so much that they take it seriously, and they take your backside seriously with a board, with a rod, to instruct you. They care for your souls. That's love. And that's what God does. As His wrath burns against our sin, He takes us, as it were, over His knee, and He chastens us. We do not receive that wrath and indifference, but rather we bear and experience that wrath as God's displeasure with our sin, and we're humbled. We're humbled because we love our God, and we love to serve and live for Him, and it bears us sorrow that we have hurt Him. or that we've heard his name. Realize that in this coming week as you and I are called to self-examination. Not pretty. We're going to see there a lot of actions And behind the actions, we're gonna see the motives and the desires and the thoughts. We're gonna see the sinful nature. And those sins, those motives, those desires bring alienation away from God, don't they? And we're going to feel the chastening hand of God because of the fall of Adam and our fall in him. We will be, we will experience ourself as gold being purified by fire. Not a pleasant process. Fiery fire. But making the gold pure, so in our lives. Terrible wrath. Forsaken by God, we read, verse 7. God hiding His face from us. What could be worse? And as we experience God withdrawing Himself, there comes the old devil like a foe. A roaring lion seeking to devour. Seeking us to get us to be angry with God for not giving us what we want or making our life difficult. Sorrow. Sorrow when we experience this displeasure of Lord because in our hearts we love God. We grieve for our sin. God loves His children and that's why sin is so serious, so terrible. It is really a rejection of God and His Word. And God is asking us in His wrath, how could you do this to me? How could you do this to me, wife of my youth? You whom I've loved from eternity, how could you do this to me? Turn your back to me. Sin against me. And he makes us feel his chastening hand as a loved child feels the chastening hand of their father or their mother. It's a terrible wrath that we call upon ourselves. And one thinks of the words that we're going to sing in our last song. In thy wrath and hot displeasure, chasten not thy servant, Lord. An overflowing flood of wrath. But here's the gospel. Here is the gospel that overflowing wrath of God is of a moment, verse 8. Or verse 7 even puts it more clearly, it is a small moment, a fraction of a moment. Thank God for that. Not everlasting wrath, not infinite wrath, but terrible wrath for a moment, for a fraction of a moment. Is that true? Is that true? God's Word says it, doesn't it? Do you notice those words after verse 8? Seth, the Lord, Seth, Jehovah, the covenant God, thy Redeemer. He's saying it to us. And Jehovah is saying it's for a moment or it's for a very small moment. Or to use another text, Psalm 30, verse 5, His anger endureth but for a moment. And there's many more verses like that. His God's wrath only for a moment. Think of during periods of the judges. Boys and girls, when you study the judges, sometimes it was 15, 17, 20, and even 22 years under the oppressors. That seems like a long time. And Isaiah, as he's talking about the punishment that is going to come for Zion, his church, It's going to be 70 years! You call that a moment? A fraction of a moment? But you see here that God's clock is not the same as our clock, is it? We read in the Scriptures that a thousand years are as a day to the Lord. So we read of that, not only now of God's wrath, but we also read of the Lord's coming again. A thousand years are as a day to the Lord. What does it mean? What does it mean that God's wrath for his people is but for a small moment? And it means this, what we suffer. even if it be for years, is really a small time. It's just long enough to humble us, to correct us, to prepare us for our place in glory. Psalm 90 talks about our years being, whether by strength 70 years or even 80 years, nothing but trouble. A small moment. Let's understand what that small moment is by God's own word. For you'll notice there's a contrast in our passages. The contrast is between a small moment and an everlasting kindness. Or an eternal kindness. How long has the Lord loved us? And the answer is eternity in our passage. Eternity. He knew and he loved us. He chose us before the foundations of the world. That's eternity. And he will continue to love and to hold us close and to save us for all eternity. It will never end. so what is that small time that small amount where he hides his face whether it be 70, 80 years or whether it be several years of a debilitating disease or other trials or difficulties we're going through and we feel his hastening in his hastening hand, what is that small little time compared to eternity? And the answer is it's just a drop in the bucket. A drop in the bucket. And as we stand this week examining our sin, We're going to recognize how we deserve an eternity in hell. We deserve God's infinite wrath for all of our sins, individually and collectively. And the little misery that we feel here in this world compared to eternity is very short. Compared to what we deserve, it's as nothing. There's a second reason. This wrath that we experience at the hand of God is for a small moment because why? He knows our frame. He knows that that is all that we can bear and He will never give His children more than they can bear. And therefore we will taste what is relatively only a little wrath. And beloved, for God's children, for his bride, that cup of the Lord's wrath is indeed bitter. It's bitter. But not one drop of that cup of wrath is punishment for our sins. Not one drop of God's cup of wrath for our sins is punishment. And we're gonna see why pretty soon. And the answer is because there's one. There is one who has borne all the punishment for all of our sins. And we will not be punished even for one sin. Yes, that wrath, only for a moment, not pleasant. It's terrible, a fact. But it is in God's love to draw us closer to him, back to himself, in faith and love and obedience. Why is this wrath of God for his dear children or for his bride? That's really the picture that is given here, the metaphor that's used. Why is it so short? When we deserve an eternity of wrath? Destruction? Well, we read at the beginning of the chapter. We read it in verse eight. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but, here's the reason, with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. God is speaking here to the wife of His youth whom He loved and He chose. And yes, for a while, because of her sin, He turns His face from her. He might withdraw Himself from her. But He is her husband. He loves her. He is her maker. He has created her for Himself. And He is her Redeemer. And when we read that word, Redeemer, in our passage, one cannot help but think of that beautiful love story of Boaz and Naomi. How Boaz gives of himself. He becomes the Goel. to redeem Naomi and therefore also Ruth and to take her as his own. God's wrath is but for a moment because he will have mercy. Mercy that looks at us in our pathetic state, unable to change ourselves And he gives mercy each new day to refashion us more and more in his own image, in the image of Jesus Christ. Mercies new every morning we sing great is thy faithfulness. God is our husband by his sovereign choice. He called us, he made us his own. and he will keep us just as Hosea kept his unfaithful wife, Gomar. We experience God's overflowing wrath only for a small moment because you and I stand in Jesus Christ because God has given us to Christ And because Christ went to the cross, and we were there with Christ, and Christ bore the infinite wrath for us in our place. Do you see the importance of where our pericope of Scripture comes in Isaiah's prophecy? Isaiah 53 speaks about the Christ, He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. And then Isaiah 53, verse 10. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He hath put Him to grief. His soul was made an offering for sin. That's really what the Lord's Supper is all about, isn't it? We come to the supper as redeemed sinners. We come to the supper as those who have broken God's commandments, but we stand in Jesus Christ who has taken the infinite wrath of God and taken the punishment for each and every and all sins of his people. He who suffered once made complete atonement and we do not pay at all for our sins. God's wrath passed over and landed on Jesus Christ. And so not a drop, let me say it again, I did before, not a drop of the wrath of God that we experience is a drop of wrath, or is a drop of punishment. Not at all. But rather it is God's loving, chastening hand drawing you and I closer again to Him in love. God correcting us. God polishing us. God preparing us for those mansions of glory. So our salvation doesn't rest in our feelings. Our feelings are, God has abandoned me. I'm a sinner. God doesn't want to listen to me. Our salvation is rooted in God's word. I have given my son for you. And he makes a beautiful promise, doesn't he? As we examine ourselves this week, as we see our sins. What a blessing! What a blessing that His wrath is but for a small moment and His kindness and His mercies are everlasting. He makes a promise to you and I. What does He say to us, His bride? He says, verse 7, with great mercies I gather thee. Mercies! New every morning. He looks down at us in our pitiful condition and he says, I'm going to help you. I'm going to save you. I'm going to draw you to myself. And you will not be lost. Gathered. Gathered by him as he gathers all of his people from all different nations gathered to him infinitely connected to Christ Jesus and nothing Nothing is able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus We need to feel that chastening hand of God to bring us closer to him and And as we experience at times that wrath of God for our sins, then the misery attached. Oh beloved, by God's word, the Lord says it, experience then also his mercy and his kindness that are everlasting. Amen. Let's turn in the back of our Psalters, page 91. Usually I read this part of the form before the sermon, but I wanted to read it this morning after the sermon. We're called to examine ourselves, and we start with the second column, page 91. The true examination of ourselves consists of these three parts. First, that everyone consider by himself the sins and the curse due to him for them, to the end that he may abhor and humble himself before God, considering that the wrath of God against sin is so great that rather than it should go unpunished, he hath punished the same in his beloved Son, Jesus Christ, with the bitter and the shameful death of the cross. We're being told, look to Jesus Christ in our examination. Secondly, That everyone may examine his own heart whether he doth believe this faithful promise of God that all his sins are forgiven him only for the sake of the passion and the death of Jesus Christ. And that the perfect righteousness of Christ is imputed and freely given him as his own, yea, so perfectly as if he had satisfied in his own person for all his sins and fulfilled all righteousness. Thirdly, that everyone examine his own conscience, whether he purposeth henceforth to show true thankfulness to God in his whole life, and to walk uprightly before him, as also whether he hath laid aside unfaintedly all enmity, hatred, and envy, and to firmly resolve henceforward to walk in true love and peace with his neighbor. All those then who are thus disposed, God will certainly receive in mercy and count them worthy partakers of the table of his Son, Jesus Christ. On the contrary, those who do not feel this testimony in their hearts eat and drink judgment to themselves. Therefore, we also, according to the command of Christ and the Apostle Paul, admonish all those who are defiled with the following sins to keep themselves from the table of the Lord and declare to them that they have no part in the kingdom of Christ. such as all idolaters, all those who invoke deceased saints or angels or other creatures, all those who worship images, all enchanters, diviners, charmers, and those who confide in such enchantments, all despisers of God and of His Word and of the Holy Sacraments, all blasphemers, all those who are given to raise discord, sex, and mutiny in church or state, all perjured persons, all those who are disobedient to their parents and superiors, all murderers, contentious persons, those who live in hatred and envy against their neighbors, all adulterers, whoremongers, drunkards, thieves, usurers, robbers, gamesters, covetous, and all who lead offensive lives, All these, while they continue in such sins, shall abstain from this meat which Christ has ordained only for the faithful, lest their judgment and condemnation be made the heavier. But this is not designed, dearly beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord, to deject the contrite hearts of the faithful, as if none might come to the supper of the Lord but those that are without sin, For we do not come to this supper to testify thereby that we are perfect and righteous in ourselves, but on the contrary, considering that we seek our life out of ourselves in Jesus Christ, we acknowledge that we lie in the midst of death. Therefore, notwithstanding we feel many infirmities and miseries in ourselves, as namely that we have not perfect faith and we do not give ourselves to serve God with that zeal as we are bound, but have daily to strive with the weakness of our faith and the evil lust of our flesh. Yet, since we are, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, sorry for these weaknesses, and earnestly desirous to fight against our unbelief and to live according to all the commandments of God, therefore we rest assured that no sin or infirmity which still remaineth against our will in us can hinder us from being received of God in mercy and from being made worthy partakers of this heavenly meat and drink. Let us pray. Unworthy sinners, Father. Sinful desires. Sinful motives. Sinful thinking. Sinful actions. Sinful words. As we examine ourselves, Father, Search us. Show us our sins so that we may hate that sin, flee from that sin, and cry out for that mercy of our God. That we may trust then and rejoice next week, knowing that we stand in Christ Jesus and He bore the infinite wrath of God on the cross so that we only experience a little wrath for a short time. Use that time, Father, to correct us, to draw us closer to Thee, to polish us, to prepare us for our place in glory. We ask that in the name of our Lord Jesus, for His sake, Amen. Let's turn in our Psalters to number 102. In thy wrath and hot displeasure, chasten not thy servant, Lord. Let thy mercy without measure help and peace to me afford. Let's sing the first four stanzas. Help and peace to be afforded. Heavy is life's regulation, so our knowledge meant as well. Broken by the indignation, I All my prayer is now before thee, all has come to thee. As we adore thy father's love, we share a feeling of peace. For all the years and eons yet, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the communion of the Holy Spirit be yours, amen. I'm sorry.