← Back to sermon library
It's good to see you all. It's
good to be back at Free Grace Baptist Church. You can turn
with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 14. We're gonna consider Peter's
denial this morning. It's called, When the Rooster
Crows. So we're gonna look at verses 66 through 72 this morning,
but I will begin reading at verse 53 to set the context. Mark chapter 14, we'll begin
reading at verse 53. And they led Jesus away to the
high priest. And with him were assembled all
the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes. But Peter followed
him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest.
And he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire.
Now the chief priests and all the council sought testimony
against Jesus to put him to death, but found none. For many bore
false witness against him, but their testimonies did not agree.
Then some rose up and bore false witness against him, saying,
We heard him say, I will destroy this temple made with hands,
and within three days I will build another made without hands.
But not even then did their testimony agree. And the high priest stood
up in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, Do you answer nothing?
What is it these men testify against you? But he kept silent
and answered nothing. Again, the high priest asked
him, saying to him, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?
Jesus said, I am. And you will see the Son of Man
sitting at the right hand of the power and coming with the
clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his
clothes and said, what further need do we have of witnesses?
You've heard the blasphemy. What do you think? They all condemned
him to be deserving of death. Then some began to spit on him
and to blindfold him and to beat him and say to him, prophesy.
And the officer struck him with the palms of their hands. Now
as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the
high priest came. And when she saw Peter warming
himself, she looked at him and said, you also were with Jesus
of Nazareth. But he denied it, saying, I neither
know nor understand what you are saying. And he went out on
the porch, and a rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him
again, and began to say to those who stood by, this is one of
them. But he denied it again. And a little later, those who
stood by said to Peter again, surely you are one of them, for
you are a Galilean and your speech shows it. And he began to curse
and swear, I do not know this man of whom you speak. And the
second time the rooster crowed. Then Peter called to mind the
word that Jesus said to him, before the rooster crows twice,
you will deny me three times. And when he thought about it,
he wept. Amen. Let us pray. O Lord our God,
we are thankful for the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank
you, O God, that he came down, he took on human flesh, and became
obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
And, O God, we see in this account, we know it was your predetermined
purpose, but we see the wickedness of man on display, in crucifying
the Lord of glory, but also how the disciples scattered, also
how one of the disciples denied our Lord. And we're thankful,
O God, that Christ did go the way of the cross to die for wretched
sinners, even those who might deny Christ in a time of pressure. Thank you, God, that there is
mercy and forgiveness, as there was for Peter. There's mercy
and forgiveness for sinners that are found in the finished work
of the Savior. We're thankful that He alone went to the cross.
We're thankful that He alone died on the cross. He alone was
buried. He alone was raised. And we shall
be raised with Him. Thank you for this promise that
you've given to us. Thank you for this truth that we can cling
to day by day, that Christ is a gracious and good Lord. Christ
is a powerful Lord. And Christ forgives and saves
sinners like us. And so we ask God you'd help
us this day to understand what your word says. Give us illumination,
we pray. Give us a spirit of wisdom and
revelation by your spirit. And we pray today, oh God, that
you would strengthen your saints. Help us to realize how weak we
are and how much we need you. And we also pray, oh God, that
you'd save sinners this day, that you would work in their
hearts a mighty work by your spirit, and we pray that you'd
work with the word as you do so. And in all things, oh God,
we pray that you'd be glorified, and we pray these things in the
name of Christ, amen. Well, some sounds can trigger
an emotional response. Sometimes that response is a
warm and fuzzy response. Sometimes it's a negative response.
And I've done this experiment with my daughter. It's called
Daddy Snacks. It's kind of like Pavlov's dog,
but every time I open the pantry door and every time I grab a
wrapper, I hear the pitter-patter of little feet come by. It doesn't
matter where I am or where she is in the house, but all of a
sudden there's two beady eyes looking straight up at me. She
associates the sound of the door with some snacks. Now that's
a silly little example, but it was something that was very real
for Peter in a negative way. with respect to the rooster that
crows twice. Now remember that Mark, even
though he is the author, the apostolic authority is Peter.
In a lot of ways, this is Peter's gospel. And Peter himself alone
mentions how it's twice the rooster crows. He remembers the day that
he denied his Lord. Now, remember too, Peter was
the one who confessed that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
driving to that point in Mark's gospel in Mark chapter eight.
And Mark is trying to answer the question, who is Jesus? And
Peter's the one who says, you are the Christ, the Son of God.
and how far he falls on the day of his Lord's death as he denies
his Lord. Who is he and who does he say
that he is when people ask and people are watching? Who does
he confess Jesus to be when a servant girl asks him, were you not with
Jesus of Nazareth? And the bigger picture when it
comes to the section in Mark's gospel, it is Jesus' passion.
It's the way he goes to his cross, the way in which he will die.
He wants us to see how alone Jesus really is when he goes
to the cross. The enemies hate him, his disciples
scatter, and even there's this naked streaker in 51 and 52,
and no name who runs away as well. Jesus is very alone as
he goes to die. And so it's in this section that
we see then how further alone Jesus is when Peter denies his
Lord. I think that's the problem that
we see in these verses. How one so easily can fall and
deny our Lord. The fear of man leads to denial
of our Lord. And that Peter feared being identified
with him, he feared man. And I think our own fear of man
is greater than we care to admit. We all like to think we would
stand up in a day of oppression. We all like to think we'd stand
up in a time of persecution. But the only way we can do so
is by the power of God Most High to keep us strong in those moments. You'd be surprised how often
in history God's people fall. But there is great mercy and
forgiveness. Even if one denies the Lord, there is forgiveness
in Christ. And so we see in verses 66-72,
Peter denies his Lord, fulfilling Christ's prediction. He does
so before the rooster crows twice. So we'll frame this sermon under
two headings, under that idea of the rooster crowing twice.
So first of all, we'll see before the rooster crows once, verses
66 through 68. Then secondly, we'll see before
the rooster crows twice, verses 69 through 72. So before the
rooster crows once, and then before the rooster crows twice.
So let's see what happens before the rooster crows once, verses
66 through 68. And notice in verse 66, now as
Peter was below in the courtyard, One of the servant girls of the
high priest came in. We cannot miss the sandwich effect
that is going on here in Mark's gospel. A lot of the language
we see in verse 66 is a bookend with verse 54. But Peter followed
him in at a distance, Didn't want to be associated with him,
he follows him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the
high priest. And he sat with the servants and warmed himself
at the fire. We cannot miss the irony. We
cannot miss the contrast that Mark is trying to display here.
Peter is in the courtyard below. Peter is in the courtyard down
from where Christ is in the upper room, as Christ himself is giving
a true witness. In the face of false witnesses,
in the face of potential death, Christ says, I am, and you will
see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power and
coming with the clouds of heaven. And what then does Peter do in
the courtyard? What then does Peter do at the
same time Christ is on trial? Well, we see Peter is fearful
of a little servant girl. So the servant girl of the high
priest, she comes in, Peter is there warming himself with the
other servants. She wanders in and she sees him
warming himself, again, going with verse 54, and she looked
at him. She looked at him and Luke's
gospel says she looked intently. She stares for a moment. She
wonders where she's seen this one before. And I don't know
about you, but I don't like to be stared at. I probably shouldn't
have been a pastor because everybody's staring at me right now, but
I don't like to be stared at when I don't expect anybody to
be staring at me. I don't like to be stared at
perhaps when I'm trying to hide myself. And so Peter's trying
to hide himself. He doesn't want to be seen. Here
comes this girl looking straight at him. And Luke's gospel says
he looked intently. intently, or she looked intently. She had a stare, she had a gaze
upon her that she's seen this person before and it kind of
spooks Peter. So she looks at him and she says,
you also were with Jesus of Nazareth. She identifies who the ringleader
is. She identifies that it's this
Jesus of Nazareth. You were once with him. And notice what he does in the
first encounter, verse 68. But he denied it, saying, I neither
know nor understand what you are saying. He pleads ignorance."
Now we know Peter suffers from hand, foot, and mouth disease.
It's probably something you and I struggle with as well. We kind
of put our foot in our mouths more than we'd like to admit,
but we Thankfully, there's mercy and forgiveness in Christ. And
Peter does it often. Right after he confesses, you're
the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus says, I'm going to go die.
And Peter says, no way. And Jesus says, get behind me,
Satan. Peter says in Mark 14, after
Jesus says all the disciples are going to scatter, Peter's
like, not me. Even if everybody else, I'm not
going to be the one who does it. And that's when Jesus says,
assuredly, I say to you that day, even this night, or today,
even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me
three times. And perhaps as Pastor Butler
said when he went through Matthew's gospel, Peter's three naps in
the garden precede Peter's three denials. And this is his first
encounter, his first denial. In the first place, he pleads
ignorance. Now what's interesting is Ryle
points out how small a temptation it really is. Jesus has threat
of death. Now perhaps Peter would have
been associated with him and he was fearful he might receive
the same treatment. But notice really how small a
threat it really is. How small a person and how minor
the temptation that leads him to sin. Ryle says, let us beware
of making light of temptations because they seem little and
insignificant. There is nothing little that
concerns our souls. A little leaven leavens the whole
lump. A little spark may kindle a great fire. A little leak may
sink a great ship. A little provocation may bring
out from our hearts great corruption and end in bringing our souls
into great trouble. It was a little threat from a
little girl that began to set Peter off on the path to denial. So he starts here. He pleads
ignorance and he says, He goes out, you don't understand what
you're saying, he goes out on the porch, probably, again, it's
dark, by the fire you can be seen, he goes to the porch to
hide. No one's gonna see him there,
right? It's darker, he's trying to hide his face and his shame. And then only Mark has that last
part of the verse there, and a rooster crowed. And a rooster
crowed. You'd like to think, perhaps,
that Peter would clue in, right? The rooster crowed. Jesus said
the rooster's gonna crow twice. And as you're reading it, you're
kind of like, Peter, the rooster crowed once already. Pay attention. Do you know what's happening?
So often, perhaps, we forget to hear and clue in to what is
going on. And he doesn't. And things get
far more worse for him. I think what this whole section
really teaches us is how fearful of man we really are. Brethren,
again, we never like to admit that, but we are much more afraid
of what man thinks than we like to say. We're not as courageous
as we'd like to think we would be. And most people won't stand
up for what is right when their life and their livelihood are
on the line. It's easy to say you will when everything's great. It's easy to say you will when
we're plump and fat because we've had a good meal. It's easy to
say all those things. But it's very difficult when
perhaps your sleep is deprived when you're being beaten, when
you're being tortured. It's a much different scenario. And it's not as though Peter's
life was being threatened here. Pilate, he just desired to gratify
the people, yet he still sinned. And perhaps a modern example,
I'm just doing my job. The fear of man leads to denials
of our Lord. That's why there's a reason in
history that people threaten Christians with violence. There's
a reason in history that God-haters threaten God's people with violence. They want you to fear. They want
you to be scared. They want you to fear man rather
than God. That's why in those moments,
it's best to pray now, when all things are good, that we would
have strength in those times. Strength in those moments that
God would give us the strength we need to stand in those times. And that's important for the
original audience of the book. And that's why it's important
for us as well. The original audience here is the Roman Church. And they would have been facing,
perhaps, the reality of persecution. They would have been facing the
reality of oppression. And so they had to ask themselves,
they had to question and examine themselves, Lord, give me the
strength to stand in those dark times. And perhaps as we read
history as well, we can see many a times how God's people cave. how God's people break when they
are brutalized by others. There's a Pentecostal pastor
who lived in Bulgaria. His name was Harlan Popov. I
probably didn't say it as well as my Russian members at our
church do, but he was arrested under charges of conspiring against
the state. Most of the time when you preach
the gospel, you're not arrested for preaching the gospel. You're
arrested and charged for conspiring against the state. And he does
talk about a lot of different ways they were tortured. He eventually
spent 13 years in prison. But to get a confession out of
him, to confess that, yeah, he was conspiring against the state,
what the Soviets did is they would bring him out at nighttime
into a room that was white. They would shine a light right
on the white walls and he'd have to stand. And anytime he shut
his eyes, he'd get smacked. Anytime he fell over, he'd get
smacked. Anytime anything happened where he wasn't staring at the
white wall, he would get smacked. Because what they were trying
to do was not just break their bodies, but break their minds. Now, it wasn't so much that he
denied his Lord, but he writes in his memoir about how we all
went to trial and we all said, we did it. A bunch of pastors
were brought out. They all said, yeah, we did it.
We engage in crimes against... They all confessed how brutalized
God's people can be. And may this passage teach us
and give us a sober recognition of how much we need our God and
how much we fear man. We must be aware of the rooster's
crow, and more importantly, the words of our Lord in those times. So that's what happens before
the rooster crows once. Let's then look, secondly, at
before the rooster crows twice, verses 69 through 72. And notice Mark's very abrupt
here. It's to build suspense. And the
servant girl saw him again and began to say with those who stood
by. This is one of them, but again,
he denied it. Again, she's interacting with
the ones who perhaps they're a little bit longer than she
was. Isn't that the guy? Wasn't he walking around with
Peter, the servant girl, identifies him again, and Mark has lesser
detail here, again, to build that suspense for us, to build
the intensity and build tension. The Bible isn't just true, it's
also the most well-written book there ever was, and certainly
we see that as tension builds. Builds to that third denial in
verse 70 through 72. Notice, and a little later. Luke
says it's about an hour, about an hour later. Hopefully, within
that hour, you have time to regroup and collect your thoughts and
maybe get ready for the next one, but not so here. A little
later, those who stood by said to Peter again. Surely you are
one of them for you are a Galilean and your speech shows it. He's identified by the difference
in his speech. You realize American and Canadians
talk different? I didn't realize that till I
lived in America and everybody said you do say a boot a lot
of the time. People understood that. We might look different
or look the same, but we sound very different. I think in Britain,
too, there's different dialects and the different way they speak
with the different accents. And so they could see that here
with the Galilean. Surely you are one of them. You
are a Galilean, and your speech shows it. And this is where we
see Peter's best in action. I'm being sarcastic, by the way.
Now, I don't think other people understand I can be sarcastic
sometimes, but that's okay. But we see his worst, if you
wanna be honest and real. Verse 71, he began to curse and
to swear. Peter does not let his yes be
yes and his no be no. And the language of swearing
there does come up in Matthew chapter five, where Jesus says,
let your yes be yes and your no be no. That is, don't be rash
in swearing an oath. That's exactly what Peter does
here. And he adds the curse to it as
well. Then he began to curse and to
swear. And again, don't miss the contrast. Don't miss the irony. Don't miss
what's going on in the upper room where Jesus is standing
on trial. Jesus is falsely accused by the
Sanhedrin while he bears witness, you will see me sitting at the
right hand of the power and coming with the clouds of But his disciple
is denying Him and bearing false witness. Jesus is being falsely
accused and now his disciple is bearing false witness. And so when he invokes this curse,
what he is saying is, if what I say or what I do does not happen,
may whatever I invoke, may it be happened to me. May there
be consequences if what one says is not true. And perhaps to the
language of swearing is calling upon perhaps God, or a transcendent
entity, as the lexicons say, for aid. I will do it. I will
engage it. This is absolutely true. And
he says, I do not know this man. Notice he can't even say his
name. I do not know this man. Far different from Mark 8, 29,
where he says, you are the Christ, the Son of God. Harry won't even
identify himself with Jesus. When there's all the marbles,
when everything's at stake, he crumbles and he falls. And notice what clues him in,
72. A second time, the rooster crowed. Again, only Mark includes the
twice aspect of it. Usually when we're reading the
Gospels, it's good to look at how they mesh, but it's also
more important, I think, to look at how they differ. Luke's emphasis
seems to be the look. The little girl looked intently,
and then Jesus looked after the rooster crowed, right? Peter
was more concerned about the look of a girl than the look
of his Lord. That, I think, is Luke's emphasis. Well, here,
Mark's emphasis is the twice. Twice. Twice. Before the rooster
crows, twice. Peter likely remembered it till
the day he died. I don't think they had alarm
clocks back then, so he would have heard a lot of roosters
crowing. I'm sure he remembered it every
time. I denied my Lord that day. I denied. I'm surmising, I'm
speculating, I know that, but perhaps he did. He remembered
it was the day he died, and we see that here. He told Mark,
Mark, it was twice. the rooster crowed twice. He remembers the prediction just
as Jesus had said, before the rooster crows twice, you will
deny me three times. The words of Jesus in Mark 14.30
finally ring true for Peter here in Mark 14.72. What Jesus had said would happen
has come to pass. And so what does Peter do? When
he thought about it, he wept. All who he thought he was, all
what he thought he was, has been shattered in this moment. He went from the confessor in
Mark 8 to the denier in Mark 14, and he goes out and he weeps. Now, thankfully, this isn't the
end for Peter. Certainly with Judas, it was. Judas did not
find mercy in Jesus. In Mark's gospel, once Judas
betrays the Lord, he's out. Matthew has Judas when he hangs
himself, but not so in Mark's gospel. But Peter does not do
what Judas does. It's a contrast with him. And
thankfully, again, this is not the end. France says his remorse
contrasted with Judas' apparently settled disloyalty, points to
failure under pressure, rather than a deliberate change of allegiance.
And for that, Marx readers will have noted with relief, there
remains the prospect of forgiveness and rehabilitation. There is
mercy and forgiveness in the Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren,
if you suffer, you have Christ who is with you. If you go through
persecution, you have Christ who is with you and who will
give you the strength that you need. But if you deny, there
is a Christ who forgives as well. And so while it's good for us
to see how fearful of man we are, it's also more important
to see how forgiving Christ is in these verses. Notice what
Jesus forgives. Denial. Brethren, denial is not
the unforgivable sin. And you see that with Peter here. Now, John gives us a more detailed
restoration of Peter. You know, he asks him three times,
Peter, do you love me? And Peter says, I love you. Mark,
once again, is a little more subtle. Matthew and the others
are perhaps a little more meat and potatoes. They just tell
you like it is. Mark kind of draws us in and sometimes uses
less words to help us to stop and to think. But we see the
forgiveness in two words in Mark 16 verse 7. And I think in Mark 16, 7, it
is a restoration and a comfort of the promise of what Jesus
said in the denial prediction in Mark 14, verses 27 through
31. But notice, these ladies come
upon the day of his resurrection. There's a young man sitting on
the right side. They were alarmed. They were
afraid. Mark is all about fear in his gospel. He wants us to
examine where our fear lies. Is it with God or with men? You
seek Jesus, this young man says, an angel, who is crucified. He
is risen. He is not here. See the place
where they laid him. But go tell his disciples and
Peter. He specifically singles out Peter. Just two words that signify Jesus's
forgiveness in this book. Sometimes we need John 21, but
sometimes we just need two words, and Peter. And in that message
of Aunt Peter to the disciples the ladies were to bring, it
highlights that the risen Savior still loves them, the risen Savior
identifies with them, suffered for them, and forgives them. Because brethren, the best of
men are men at best. And there are many of God's true
saints who engage in wicked sins and might even deny. But if one
who denies confesses their sins and believes on Christ and has
believed on Christ, can find mercy in Him. Ryle again says,
let us be careful to remember that Simon Peter's case does
not stand alone. The Word of God contains many
other examples of the infirmity of true believers, which we shall
do well to observe. The histories of Noah, Abraham,
David Hezekiah will supply us with mournful proof that the
infection of sin remains even in the regenerate, and that no
man is so strong as to be beyond the danger of falling. Let us
not forget this. Let us walk humbly with our God.
Happy is the man who is always reverent. Many of God's people
have fallen, but God's people find mercy in Christ and what
he has done. So that's the sin that Christ
forgives. But also notice the repentance
that he forgives as well. Now, perhaps I'm stretching things.
That's possible. But we see at the end there in
verse 72, he wept. Now, what is repentance? It's
a change of mind. It's a sorrow over sin. And I
think it's good for God's people to verbalize it. I'm sorry for
the specific sin that I have committed. It's good to verbally
repent and seek forgiveness for known sins against God and against
man. And it really should be words.
But sometimes God hears our tears, doesn't he? Turn with me to Psalm
39. In Psalm 39, David is praying
a prayer of forgiveness, seeking forgiveness from his God, the
one he hopes in. And he says in verse 8 of Psalm
39, Deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not make me the reproach of
the foolish. I was mute. I did not open my mouth, because
it was you who did it. Remove your plague from me. I
am consumed by the blow of your hand. When with rebukes you correct
man for iniquity, you make his beauty melt away like a moth.
Surely every man is a vapor, say La. So it is in the context
of confessing his sin. And he says in verse 12, hear
my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry. Do not be silent at
my tears. For I am a stranger with you,
a sojourner, as all my fathers were. Remove your gaze from me
that I may regain strength before I go away and am no more. But
it's that language, do not be silent at my tears. Tears. God even forgives the
tears of his people. Sometimes we hold grudges longer
than God does. Sometimes we think that our being
righted is more important than forgiveness. And sometimes we
require to say, I'm sorry, please forgive me. And people should
say, I'm sorry, please forgive me. But notice how quick God
is to forgive. He went out and he wept. Judas
doesn't weep in Matthew chapter 26, 27. Peter weeps. And this is probably
so hard for us to grasp. Forgiveness is so hard for us
to grasp. It is so very foreign to us,
isn't it? Brethren, we believe it. We believe it to be true.
We believe it as it says in the gospel. We believe upon Christ
and find forgiveness in him. But brethren, as we are born
into this world, We still want things to be right. We still
want people to receive their comeuppance. Don't deny it. You all want it. You want it
in your families. You want it with your spouses.
We do. We are so very slow to forgive. But God is a God who forgives. And that's an important thing
for us to see in these verses. Yes, Peter's denial. Yes, his
fear. Yes, our weakness. But more importantly,
the forgiveness that God gives us. The forgiveness that God
shows us in the work of the Son. And when you consider the fear
of man, when you consider the depravity of man, when you consider
all the wickedness in this world, a most perplexing question should
arise in our minds. Why in the world does he forgive?
Why in the world should he forgive? Why in the world do we deserve
forgiveness? And the answer to that question
is we do not deserve forgiveness. It is a gift that God gives,
and we receive that gift through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Even someone who denies can find forgiveness in the Lord. And so brethren, if you are in
Christ, and you still struggle with sins, and you are fearful
about denying the Lord, and you do, perhaps in time and space,
There is forgiveness in Him. Never forget, He forgives all
the sins of His people, past, present, and future. And why does He do this? Because
He is good. He is love. And we see this manifested
in the work of the Son. how that Son was sent, that Son
took on human flesh, and that Son died upon the cross for wretched
sinners like you and I. We should see how forgiving God
is. And if you're an unbeliever here
today, no doubt you have violated God's law a myriad of times.
No doubt you've done wicked things and brought shame upon friends,
upon yourself. You've done terrible things to
others, but there is mercy and forgiveness in Christ. Believe
upon Him, you shall be saved, and you shall find forgiveness
for your sins in the blood of the Lamb. This is what we see
before the rooster crows twice. Well, let us pray. Our gracious God, please forgive
us for our fear of man. Please forgive us for our weakness.
Please forgive us for our pride. Please forgive us for our arrogance,
O God. We know that any sort of oppression,
any sort of persecution that should come upon us is according
to your plan. And we know, O God, that you
will give us the fresh supply that we need in those moments.
And so we ask, O God, while things are well, while things are going
well, so to speak, from without, O God. We pray that you would
prepare our hearts. We pray, O God, that you protect
us. We pray, O God, that you would help us to stand in those
days and help us also to be reminded, though, O God, if we do not,
that there is forgiveness in Christ for denying. We pray we
wouldn't. We pray, O God, we would not
deny our Lord. We pray, O God, that we would not be like Peter,
who did not identify with him. But we also pray, O God, that
we would see that there is forgiveness in you. And so help us to see,
O God, that You are a God who forgives, that You are a God
who is merciful, You are a God who is kind. And we ask, O God,
as we ponder and consider all Your good works, that we would
then fear You. For we know that the fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We pray, O God, that
we would fear You by faith. And so we pray, O God, that you
give your people encouragement and strength today. Thank you,
O God, you teach us how weak we are and how much we need you.
Thank you, O God, that you remind us day by day and week by week
of the forgiveness that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. We
do not deserve this forgiveness that we have received. So thank
you, O God, for taking our sins away. May it cause us to bless,
may it cause us to praise, and may it cause us as well to be
forgiving. towards others. Please forgive us for not being
forgiving. And so we also pray, O God, that you'd supply us with
the strength that we need day by day to honor and glorify you.
We pray, O God, that we would do so as we recount all the good
things that you've done for us. And we pray, if there are any
here today who do not know you, we pray, O God, you'd work in
them a mighty work by your Spirit with the Word. Show them their
sin and show them the fountain filled with blood that is drawn
from Emmanuel's veins. Thank you, O God, for your grace.
Thank you for your love. And we pray that we, your people,
would give you honor and praise and glory. And we pray these
things in the name of Christ. Amen. Well, we'll close with
a brief time of meditation. Is that right? Okay. And when
the pianos finish, you're dismissed.
