Gooding, David: 4 - The Law of the Peace Offering

Why have you forsaken me? And all thank God for what he said next. But, but thou art holy. His faith and confidence in God, utterly unbroken, even in the moment of his being forsaken. All to think the impossible for a moment, if our Lord's faith had been broken then, the whole universe would have flown apart, you know. It's he that has kept it together. Oh no, my good Christian friend, it's he that has brought us back to God and will keep God and us together eternally. Through his sacrifice now, Christ begins the work of restoration on us, doesn't he? What's he done for your confidence? Let me examine your flank, your loins, my good brother and sister. How's your confidence standing? Well, Paul says, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and we have access into this grace wherein we stand, and not only so, we glory. Yes, that Greek word means we have confidence. Yes. Christ's sacrifice has restored our confidence in God. We glory in tribulation, we boast in hope of the glory of God. We even have confidence in our tribulation, knowing that through Christ and his sacrifice, all shall be well. And it affects our motives, doesn't it? Begins to purify our motives. For now, instead of seeking self, we say with Paul, it's the love of Christ constrains me. Knowing this, that if one died, then all died. He died for all that they which live should no longer live to themselves, but to him that died and rose for them. And it begins to affect our inwards, doesn't it? We mustn't boast, but you love the Lord, don't you, my sister? You'll say to me, well, I'm a poor creature. I'm not what I ought to be, but I do love the Lord. And why do you love the Lord? Well, you say the answer is this, I love him because he first loved me. And this is our blessed Lord making us whole again, bringing us back to fellowship with God, removing the guilt, removing the wrath, back integrated into fellowship, restoring our confidence in God, beginning to change our motivations, our kidneys, and beginning to warm our very inwards towards God. And we spend a lot of time on that, more perhaps than we should, but that's the peace offering, or some of its ideas. And now we're going to come to the practical matter of the instructions for the priest. We thought about the sacrifice as a picture of our Lord. Now we're going over to the other side of affairs, the practice of peace. And the priest responsible to tell the offerer when he came with his sacrifice, what he was to do with it, uh, uh, uh, in order to please the Lord. Now, the last time we studied, last week, I read the passage, and I asked you to notice one special thing. Each of these laws begins with a similar phrase, and this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings. The other law of the sin offering. And then last week I got you to notice the next phrase that follows, because we found that the next phrase that follows is the phrase that sets the key to the law. So I'm going to read the early verses of this law and then ask you what you think the key word is to say. Okay? So here we come. Verse eleven of chapter seven of Leviticus, and this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which one shall offer unto the Lord. If he offer it for a Thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of Thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil and unleavened wafers anointed with oil and cakes mingled with oil of fine flour soaked. With cakes of leavened bread he shall offer his oblation with the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving. And of it he shall offer one out of each oblation for an heave offering unto the Lord. It shall be the priest that sprinkleeth the blood of the peace offerings. And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his oblation. He shall not leave any of it until the morning. On the showing of those two verses then, anybody like to venture an opinion? What is the key notion of this law, the key idea? What is the word that keeps getting repeated? Offer. Offer, yes, thank you very much. Offer! Time and time again, all the way through, isn't it? We'll see the first thing the priest had got to look to in this particular sacrifice when the man brought it, was now the practical side. How was he to offer it? And what was he to offer with it? Did you notice that verse twelve? If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil. And then it was going to say, if he offer it for a Thanksgiving, then this is how he shall eat it. And if he offer it for a vow, this is how he shall eat it. In other words, what this is concerned with is how the man is going to set about enjoying his sacrifice. Yes? It's not going to be a question now of the man coming and offering a sacrifice to the Lord, and when the sacrifice is finished, going home. No, no. This is the sacrifice of peace offerings. When the man offers it, part will go for the Lord, part will come back to the man, the Lord will give him part back, and part will have to go to the priest, and then part will have to be with his neighbors. And therefore, it's the priest's job to tell the man what he's got to do to enjoy all the benefits. Do you see here, you've got a whole carcass of a animal, yeah? You come with a bullock. You're a rich farmer, you come with a bullock, and you offer the bullock for your peace offering to the Lord. So the priest comes, and the thing is killed, and the fat and some of the inwards put on the altar, and then the animal's cut up, and the priest gives you back the mighty great part of the bull. Well, how would you eat it? Can't eat it raw, can you? Do you eat your Sunday joint raw? No, of course not. You cook it. And when you cook your Sunday joint, do you eat it by itself? Just one solid plate of meat. No, I think not, do you? Yes, no, you wouldn't enjoy it if you just ate the meat. So you have to eat certain things with it, don't you? Cook potatoes and two veggies or something and roast beef. You, what can you eat with it? And some people like loaves and garlic bread and things, and some don't, you see. Now, what was the man going to eat with it? And he's going to enjoy this beautiful piece of beef, you see, yes? Ah, and then if he got a bullock, mm, well, could he put some in the fridge and eat it next week? No, he couldn't. No, if you want to enjoy it, it's got to be eaten within a day or two. So now we're in the level of, of not just offering the sacrifice, but enjoying the sacrifice. Yes. And it's going to talk to us, isn't it? Christ has made peace. And now we're a question, a question of our enjoying the peace. Christ has made fellowship with God for us, but now we've got to give ourselves to how can we enjoy fellowship with God, yes? The practice of peace. So observation number one, I'm going to briefly put them through now, hmm, and see what you think about them. In the enjoyment of the sacrifice, in the enjoyment of the o- o- of the peace and the plenty and the provision and the fellowship, really to enjoy it. Well, the first thing that is said, and the priest has to know, if he offer it for a thanksgiving. You'll see, in Israel, if you really wanted to enjoy a lovely round of roast beef, what you could do was to bring a bullock and offer it to the Lord for a peace offering, as a thank offering, to thank the Lord for something. And when you gave thanks by offering this, this bullock on the altar, and you thank the Lord, you say, there you are, Lord, I want to thank you for what you've done for me. Here's a father, for instance, and his wife has just given birth to their firstborn child, and it's a son and heir, and father is proud as he can be, of course, this is son and heir, but they now want to thank the Lord for it. So here they bring a peace offering and, uh, and they give it to the priest as their thank offering to the Lord. But what happens if you, if you give a thank offering to the Lord like that in ancient Israel? He gave seventy percent of it back to you, and you got a marvelous good roast of beef out of it. Do you see? So if you gave thanks, then you enjoyed the meal. Hey, what lesson would you, uh, draw from that if you had to draw a lesson, if you were really put on the spot and you hadn't prepared a sermon, but you were not told to get up on your hind legs and preach a sermon for that? What has Thanksgiving got to do, as far as we're concerned, with enjoying, yeah? Praise. Praise, yes. Sing in praise. Sing in praise, yes. Um, as Thanksgiving to sing praise, yes. What's that got to do with enjoying peace? Well, let me ask a simpler question to start with. Do we have to give thanks? Are we supposed to give thanks? Yeah, common consent. I see. What's the good of giving thanks? Pleasure to God. Pleasure to God, yes. Mm-hmm. Yes. The duty to give thanks, we have it, don't we? I'm going to suggest to you that when it comes to the practice of peace and enjoying the peace of God, perhaps thanksgiving is one of the first practical ways of entering into that enjoyment. Why? Because the very moment you start thanking God, then you're considering all his benefits, aren't you? Eh? And it's by thanking the Lord, you can't thank the Lord for what you've got to say, now what do I thank him for now? And then you begin to think about all the benefits he's given you, and as you think of the benefits, then you begin to enjoy the peace and plenty, do you not? Well, I don't know about you, but you see, I have to take myself, uh, uh, in a firm hand sometimes, you see. When I wake up in the morning, that's always a difficult time for me. My biological clocks make me an old night owl, you see, and I'm all fuzz and go at night, but in the morning, no good whatsoever, you see. So as I stagger into the bathroom, oh dear me, another day. So I say, oh, come on, Gooding, this won't do, you see, the day the Lord has made this is this now, now start giving thanks, Gooding. And I sort of say, well, what do I have to give thanks about today? My old rheumatism and this, that, and the other, you know. Um, so I had to take myself in hand, and I said, well, as a start, my boy, here are some lists of things. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who? And there's a string of them to start with anyway, if you're hard up for things to praise the Lord for in the morning. Uh, hard up for things I can't think what I could thank the Lord for. Well, here's some start. Who forgives all our iniquities. Oh, the mere thinking about it and thanking the Lord for it revives in the heart, doesn't it? Some of the wonderful provision of God. Who forgiveth all our iniquities, who healeth all our diseases, that is those that get healed is he that does it. Who delivereth thy soul from destruction? You ever had times like that, good friend? I've had, looking back on them, how near I have been to death's door, and the Lord preserved me. Who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercy? Who satisfies thy mouth with good things? Yes. So there I am a shaving, you know, so I say, come on, goodie, get started, my boy, start thanking. Because I know about you. My temptation is not to, and to forget all these benefits. And then you get down, turn the wireless on, and there's been a disaster here and a volcano there and a famine somewhere else, and before you know where you are, your mind is full of gloom, isn't it? What? And living in this sorry old world, the radio and the press don't make life easy, do they? They don't tell you thirty seven million fathers have been kind to their children today. No, they don't tell you that. No, no, that wouldn't be worth paying the newspaper man for, would it? What do you pay the newspaper man for? One father has murdered his child today out of the whole world. Right? And we allow our minds to be full of all sorts of gloomy things and sad things. And you know, if we do it in the end, it will have repercussions on our health, won't it? Begin to undermine our peace. We shouldn't be careless of the world's suffering. We need to watch what we fill our minds with. Do you know, not here, of course, not not here at all, but I travel this wide world, and sometimes, if believers are not careful, you'll get the impression that their assembly they're in is all about bad things and the terrible things that folks are doing. Pity, isn't it? Comparatively rarely will you sit down to beef steak and somebody said, my brother, have you been enjoying Ephesians lately? Aren't they, isn't that wonderful? I was enjoying that the other day and sharing some of the growth. So do you know what Mr. So-and-so has done? We fill our minds with the bitter things and the difficult things, instead of making a practice of filling our minds with the lovely things. Giving thanks to the Father. Oh, how many times in that little epistle to the Colossians are we exhorted to give thanks? Giving thanks to the Father, who has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the thanks in light. Walk in him, abounding with thanksgivings. Whatsoever you do, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, with thanksgivings. We have a duty to give thanks. Not just to give thanks when I feel like it, but a duty to give thanks. And we shall have to take ourselves in hand if we're falling down in our duty to offer the sacrifice of praise. In everything, give thanks. Difficult, isn't it, madam? When you face long, drawn out pain, or difficulties in the family, or the threat of bereavement, or difficulties in business, and life seems to come caving in on top of you, how can we give thanks? It stands the scripture, in everything give thanks. Our blessed Lord did, didn't he? Do you know what, when he came to the night on which he was betrayed and Calvary lay ahead with all its torment, he was about to be tormented by the wrath of God on our behalf, and he took the bread that symbolized his body, and he gave. We'll just imagine it. He gave thanks, his sacrifice of praise. What about our confidence in God? Can we, can we have confidence in him that in spite of seeming black as dirt disaster, and if need be, mental depression. Have we the confidence in the Lord, can we have it, that we can dare to believe that behind the black cloud there is the sunshine of a father's heart, and at all things he works together for our ultimate good. Why, if we can believe it, then even the effort now to give thanks, broken as it may be and difficult, will start to lift the cloud. Thanks, the practice of peace. And then it says, if he offer it for Thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of Thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil of fine flour soaked. With cakes of leavened bread shall he offer his oblation, with the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving. Now, I understand the first bit. You offer your sacrifice, and you have to offer to the Lord also these cakes, and because they're going to be offered to the Lord on his altar, they mustn't be made with leaven. So they're the cakes that are unleavened. That says verse twelve. But now look what verse thirteen says. With cakes of leavened bread, he shall offer his oblation with sacrifice of peace offerings for thanksgiving. What shall we make about that? With leavened bread? Here, gentlemen, tell me, what does leaven speak of in, in the Bible? Yeah? Sin. Pardon? Sin. Sin. Yes, corruption, yes. One Corinthians five, the old leaven of malice and hypocrisy and all that evil stuff, yes? So in the sacrifices offered to God, normally there was to be no leaven. How can it come here that God says you shall eat this with cakes made with leaven? Cool, now that's a hard one, isn't it? Come on, theologians, and you experts in the law, usually. How would you account for this? I had to eat this with cakes of leaven bread. Imagine the man coming to the priest and the priest saying, now you've got the cakes of unleavened bread. Yes, good. Now where are the cakes with the leavened bread? And the man saying, you give me leavened bread? Leavened bread? I thought you mustn't eat any leaven. Yeah, you'll need to have some cakes made with leaven. Why is that? Huh? No offers? When you come, my dear brothers and sisters, let me put it this way to you. Come to give thanks to the Lord, and you give thanks for all that Christ has done for you, yes? There's no leaven about his sacrifice, is there? No corruption about him. He was utterly sinless, yes? But as you stand there, enjoying the benefits of the sacrifice of Christ, any leaven about you? Would it be the raising up of sacrifice? Ah, yes. The raising up of for bread, it would be as as we would raise up, uh, Thanksgiving. Yes, we raise up Thanksgiving to God, yes. Yes, and I'm saying when we raise up Thanksgiving to God for the great sacrifice of Christ, in him there was no evil, was there? There was nothing sinful in him. He was absolutely pure, no leaven in him. But what about us? We're still sinners. Oh yes, you're still sinners. First man that's been prepared to admit it here, to say publicly he's still a sinner, he says. And so, my dear elder, are you, I might say. Here's us coming to enjoy the results of the sacrifice of Christ, and in us there's evil stin- still, isn't it? Greed? Well, there is, isn't there? Why do you think God allowed them to to bring the the cakes with leaven in? Well, I'm going to say this, because God in picture form was wanting to say that he is a realist. We're none of us perfect yet, are we? What? Even in our holy moments, even in our holy moments of worship, say, of a Lord's Day morning when we surround, uh, the emblem, and we get up to give thanks. It's not always a hundred percent pure, is it? Sometimes a good brother gets up and he's going to impress the brethren of what he did. He made a spectacularly marvelous prayer. Ooh. So there was a bit of pride even in the moment when he was, uh, addressing the Father. And there's another gets up to give thanks, but in the heart there's lurking still a little bit of resentment against brother so-and-so sitting over there. It's a bit of leaven, isn't it? Yes. Yes. And I want to say this, you know, when it comes to the practice of peace, and to knowing the peace of God in our lives, then we shall have to face the fact that we are not perfect yet. Shall we not? Goodness me, my dear brother and sister, if you thought the Bible taught that through trusting Christ tonight you could be a hundred percent perfect tomorrow, you'll be a bit disturbed tomorrow, won't you, what? Hey? Anybody here been on the road to glory longer than I have? I've been on the road to glory nearly fifty six years. Anybody beat that? Yes. Yes, you've been how long? Just over sixty. Just over sixty. Listen to that. Tell me, sir, are you perfect yet? Not at all. You aren't, you see. Goodness me. Does that upset you? Ha ha ha. Cool, now we're getting at things, aren't we? Does that upset you also? It does. Yes, of course it does. None of us ought to be complacent, ought we? We never sit down and say, well, that doesn't matter, I'm not perfect, that doesn't matter. We can't say that, can we? On the other hand, you know, if we imagined that we had to be perfect before we could come into God's presence, well, would we ever come? We wouldn't, would we? Do you say our, our service, even our worship on our side is tainted, isn't it? And if we're going to have peace of mind, we shall have to face this fact that we're not yet perfect. We're striving onwards towards perfection, yes, we're not yet perfect. And when it comes to the Lord's Supper, for instance, the Lord doesn't say, now you be perfect, and then you can come to the Lord's Supper, does he? He says, no, we are to discern ourselves, and when we find there's something wrong with us, we are to judge ourselves and confess it, and then come. Yes. You see, if we imagine that we are perfect, when we're not, it can have some funny results. I've known learned, big, prominent preachers. And suddenly they fall out, and they're having the most masterful row. Do you see? And, uh, if you were to listen to what they say, it's a row about doctrine. One brother doesn't agree with the other brother's interpretation. And you say, but look at the matter, that the matter is a very small matter, really. Where's all the fuss and the heat coming from? And perhaps you wouldn't have to look long to see that really the dispute isn't over doctrine at all. It's a bit of hidden jealousy down here. Only instead of facing the fact that he's jealous, the good man suppresses that. But all his old jealousy comes out the moment the other brother makes one foot out of line smack hard, a woof, a blow up. Why? Because of the old hidden jealousy is still working. And you know, if we're going to know true peace and harmony, we shall have to recognize that where inside in me, my flesh, there dwells no good thing. As a preacher, I can be jealous and silly and foolish and proud. And if I don't recognize that and imagine I'm near perfect, I shall fall into all sorts of hurtful things, you'll see. And I shan't recognize the fact I'm being proud and envious and jealous. God wants us to be realist, you know. Face ourselves. And that is the way to spiritual health, by God's grace, to discern ourselves, to notice the leaven, uh, to confess our sin and ask his cleansing, yes. Do we realize? And then we shall have to hurry here now. We're told that if he, uh, uh, brings his sacrifice, then the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace, uh, offerings for Thanksgiving, verse fifteen, shall be eaten on the day of his oblation. He shall not leave any of it until the morning. Why do you think God did that? Why did he say that you can't leave any of the flesh till the morning? It's difficult, wouldn't it, if you had a whole bullock? Can't eat it all in one day. Couldn't leave it till the morning. Any suggestions? Why did God say that? Because the, well, the next morning you might be in a different frame of mind. Yeah. You might be, uh, you might have did something against God that night or something, Mm. and you couldn't. Couldn't eat it next day. Yeah. Yes, that's very possible. Yes, they're very possible. But even supposing, let's think the best we can of the man, that he remained in the good frame of mind even. Then the next day he couldn't eat it anyway. If he didn't eat it all the first day, he couldn't eat it the second day. What would you do if you got the whole bullock? Anyone here fancy a guess? What would you, you, you, you eat this roast bullock and you stuff yourself again and again and again, and the wife says, have another bit, and you say, no, I don't think I can anymore. I've eaten too much already. And she said, but there's still a whole side of the thing, a whole leg of the mutton left. You'll have to eat it. And I can't, I shall burst. Would it be a pity to, I- I- I mean, if we can't eat it tomorrow, you say, well, go and bury it in the garden. Would you? Share. Pardon? Share. You'd share it, wouldn't you? You'd have to, man. Yes. Do you know this is the sacrifice that makes fellowship? And here's God saying, when you've offered your Thanksgiving offering to me, now I give it back to you, and you and I have fellowship together over that sacrifice, and incidentally, don't you try to eat it all. Saying, when you've offered your Thanksgiving offering to me, now I give it back to you, and you and I have fellowship together over that sacrifice, and incidentally, don't you try to eat it all yourself, will you? You must be prepared to share it. That's exceedingly important, my brothers. We can't eat our little morsel alone, you know. God won't have it. One day we're all going to be in glory together, all redeemed by the blood of Christ. And while you're on earth, says God, my great, uh, sacrifice of peace offering not only reconciles you to me and brings you into fellowship with me, but it brings you into fellowship with all believers, the great apostles. Your fellowship is with us, and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We must, you know. We must share our benefits. Do you remember the parable the Lord Jesus taught too about this? He says, you know, if you don't forgive, your heavenly father won't forgive you, isn't he? If you've been forgiven, God will demand that you pass that forgiveness on, and you'll forget, prepare to forgive the other man when he says sorry. You will not be allowed forgiveness if you're not prepared to share it. Yes. That's a very important lesson, isn't it? If we're going to en- enter into the joy of peace. And now last two things that we notice, last three things, and then we shall have to stop, as you'll never invite me again if I go on like this. Joel say, notice verse nineteen twenty. Any flesh, anyone that eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings that pertain unto the Lord, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul should be cut off. Oh yes. It's one thing to admit that we're sinners before God and ask him in his mercy to help us overcome, to be realist with ourselves. On the other hand, if we grow careless and we allow ourselves unclean behavior and we do not repent, then we shall bring the disciplines of God on us, shall we not? Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For if we discern ourselves, we shall not be judged, but when we are judged, we're chastened of the Lord. We shall have to keep short accounts with God, shouldn't we, about our conduct, and not try to imagine that we can practically enjoy the peace of God in our hearts and, uh, enjoy all the benefits of the work of Christ while still living and indulging in uncleanness. And that's not only physical uncleanness, is it? Moral uncleanness. But envy and jealousy and spite are unclean things, aren't they? And we shall have to ask God's grace to get rid of them. And then they weren't allowed to eat any of the fat or the bread, or the blood. Why? Because the fat was the very best of the sacrifice. That had to be for God. Don't you try and eat that. And I imagine many an Israelite would be tempted, wouldn't we? Take all of that. Did you ever like dripping? Perhaps you didn't. You were brought up in a this modern affluent age. But when I was a boy, one of the treats was a bit of bread and dripping, you beautiful dripping corn. It was, you'll see, like the fat. No, you don't, says God. The fat is for me. That's the best of it. You give the best to me. And an Israelite could be tempted that it will add to his enjoyment by taking what belonged to the Lord, eh? And sometimes we're stupid enough, aren't we, to do that? We think it's going to increase our joy if we take what is the Lord's. My energy that should be for the Lord. My time that should be for the Lord. And I think I shall increase my joy in life if I take what should be the Lord's and spend it on myself. Yes? You know, that's the way, in the end, that will lead to the opposite of peace, because it will spoil our fellowship with the Lord, won't it? And finally, the priest had to tell the offerer, now you gave that part to the Lord, and you have this part for yourself and your friends, and uh, now this part you give to me. And the man said, what do you want that for? Well, I'm a priest, and I have to live, don't I? So the man had to give this part to the priest. That's a nice thought, wasn't it? You'll see, so when he went home to bed that night, he could say to himself, well, I said my own prayers tonight and given God thanks, that's lovely, but you know what, wifey dear? No, what are you thinking now? I'm thinking that tomorrow, when the priest gets up, he'll have this lovely leg of beef to eat, you see, and he'll be enjoying it too, and he'll give thanks to God all the better for that, won't he, when he now next comes to the, uh, tabernacle, he'll give thanks to God as one of God's priests. So I've been maintaining one of God's priests. Ours. And then I think about ourselves, of all the blessings that Christ has given us. Spiritual blessings, material blessings. Wouldn't it be a lovely thing to think tonight? That you had passed on some blessing the Lord had given you, and you had passed it on to one of God's dear people. So that tonight, somewhere, Belfast, Carrickfergus, China, Japan, somebody will kneel at their bedside tonight and pour out a heart of thanksgiving to God. And God will get all the thanks and the praise because of a something you gave them. Oh, what a present to God that is, eh what? Not only to praise God yourself, to make God a present of somebody else's praise. Cool. If you could get ten folks tonight, through what you have done, what you had given, that would bow their knees and give thanks to God, and you could hear them praising the Lord. Well, you'd be covered with embarrassment to start with, wouldn't you? But what a thing it would be to be able to think, oh, by God's mercy, I've been able to make God a present of that praise from the hearts of these ten people. I tell you, you'd feel like a multi-millionaire. Talk about peace and plenty and fellowship and integration with God. You'd feel like shouting hallelujah. Yes. Well, that's been a long session, hasn't it? You'll say, sorry if you had to catch a bus and the bus is gone, uh, I- I've got a spare seat in my car and I'll drive you wherever you want to go, Josie. Uh, apologies to all husbands and wives who are waiting at home alarmed that you haven't turned up, Josie. Tell them that you had this curious preacher tonight, uh, and uh, he went over the time. I sincerely apologize if I've embarrassed you. On the other hand, there's a simple remedies in your own hand, Josie. When I'm gone, you can tell the elders, and they'll make sure it never happened. But meanwhile, let's give thanks and then go. Lord, we have spent a long while over thy word this evening, trying to think. We praise thee for all that we perceive of the wealth of the riches of our blessed Lord Jesus and his sacrifice. We thank thee for sins forgiven, for fellowship with thee, for peace with God that remains constant and unchanging. We thank thee for restoring our confidence in thee. And we thank thee, Lord, if in any degree we have begun to love thee, and we long to serve thee. Now, Lord, help us to give heed to these practical things, how we may enjoy the peace of God in daily. Help us to be a thankful people. Help us, Lord, to be honest with ourselves and our shortcomings and failures, and to seek thy grace to overcome them progressively. Help us, Lord, to be those who love and welcome all who are in the body of Christ. Help us, Lord, to cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit. Help us, Lord, not to rob thee. Thou hast blessed us so much. O Lord, save us from stealing for thee what is thine and thine alone. And help us, Lord, so to serve others that the result of what we may give or do, others may be led to praise thee and to thank thee. So we ask thine evening blessing through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.