In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the story of Jacob and his encounter with his brother Esau. Jacob is filled with fear and distress upon hearing that Esau is coming to meet him with four hundred men. In response, Jacob divides his people and possessions into two groups, hoping that if one is attacked, the other will escape. Jacob also sends gifts ahead to appease Esau. Later, Jacob is left alone and wrestles with a man, which the preacher highlights as a significant moment in the story. The sermon also briefly mentions Jacob's time with his uncle Laban and the conflicts that arise.

We're going to begin at Genesis 31. He's moved on from meeting God in grace at Bethel, as we saw yesterday. He has spent 20 years in his uncle's home, Laban, and he's married his two daughters, Rachel and Leah, for whom he has served 14 years. He's served a further six years, during which time he's acquired a great mass of cattle and considerable riches. But in the process, he's made an enemy of Laban. Typical of what seems to be happening in this man's life, Jacob's life. Now, chapter 31. And he heard the words of Laban's son, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's. And of that which was our father's, has he gotten all this glory? And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and behold, it was not toward him as before. Isn't this lovely English? Dear old authorised version. Lovely. I don't know that I want it improved. And he beheld the countenance of Laban, and behold, it was not toward him. As before. We don't use these phrases, but we understand what they mean. And somehow for me, I chuckle sometimes when Pam and I are reading the word together, we stop and say, let's read that again. So unlike what we say today, but how beautiful and how pungent. Well, this is just one of those other, another such phrase. And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee. Verse 20. And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled. He'd fled from Esau, now he's fleeing from Laban. So he fled with all that he had, and he rose up and passed over the river, and set his face toward the Mount Gilead. And it was told Laban on the third day, that Jacob was fled. And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days journey, and they overtook him in the Mount Gilead. And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob, either good or bad. Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the Mount, and Laban with his brethren pitched in the Mount of Gilead. And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters as captains, taken with a sword? Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me? And didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp? And hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Thou hast now done foolishly in so doing. It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt. But the God of your father spake to me yesterday night, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob, either good or bad. Chapter 32 verse 1 And Jacob went on his way back home. And the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host. What an encouragement for this man. It was difficult to go back home, because there was Esau. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host. And he called the name of that place Mahana'i. That's my pronunciation, and you'll accept it that it's right, at least for the moment. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother, unto the land of Seir, the country of Eden. And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau. Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now. And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and men's servants, and women's servants. And I've sent to tell my lord that I might find grace in thy sight. It didn't turn out quite as he thought. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. And he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and camels, into two bands. And he said, If Esau come to the one company and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. He's in a jam. As I said yesterday, between the devil and the deep blue sea. Can't go back to Laban. But he's got to face Esau. And perhaps, almost for the first time in his life, he really prayed. He's moving. And what a prayer. It's a wonderful prayer. And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which sent unto me, you said it, Lord, return unto thy country and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou showed unto thy servant. For with my staff, with only a staff in my hand, I passed over this Jordan. And now I've become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children. But thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. He's laying hold of promises in his hour of need. And he lodged there that same night, and took of that which came to his hand, a present for Esau his brother, two hundred she-goats, twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milk camels with their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten foals. Terrific lot! And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, and every drove by themselves, and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove. You see they were the droves, they were first of all the goats, and then the camels, and then the cows and the asses, four of them, great batches of them, and put a space between them. And he commanded the foremost saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou, and whither goest thou, and whose are all these before thee? Then thou shalt say, They be thy servants Jacob's, it is a present sent unto my lord Esau, and behold also he is behind us. And so he commanded the second, and the third, and all that followed the drove saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him. And say ye moreover, Behold thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face, and peradventure he will accept of my hand. So the present went over before him, and himself lodged that night in the company. And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two women servants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had. And Jacob was left alone. And there wrestled a man with him. This is the great, and most important, episode I think in the story. It's been leading up to this. And what follows, follows as a result of this. And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him, until the breaking of the day. And when the man saw that he prevailed not against Jacob, he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh. And the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go. This is the man who says it. For the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, With shame, it's Jacob. I've been that all along. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. And here we have to go to the revised version to get the real meaning. Just a slight alteration. For thou hast striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. He said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, which means the face of God. For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Peniel, the sun rose upon him, and he halted on his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh unto this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew which shrank. Well now, what have we been seeing as the main feature in the character and outworking of this man? It is really his ingrained tendency to be trying to get by his own efforts and scheme what grace had already promised him and purposed for him. He was trying to prevail with God to get blessings, and with man to get ahead of Esau by his own schemes, his own efforts, when all the time that was precisely what the grace of God had got for him. And in these efforts of his, he resorted to things that hardly bear scrutiny. And he got himself into many sorrows. And made enemies against himself. Now that is what some of us call, inverted commas, striving. Whenever there's a group of Christians who spend a lot of time together and learn lessons together, they tend to coin certain words to express what they mean. Other people may not understand them, but they do. And all I can say amongst those with whom I'm so close here, with whom I've learnt so many rich lessons of grace, there are certain words which we have coined. And if we use them, I think it's only fair to explain what we mean. Otherwise you say, what is this word they keep on? This is a cliché. This word striving. We know what it means, some of us. We say, the Lord convicted me of striving. Or, I think our brother there is striving. Well now there's a certain striving, that is, putting forth your best endeavours on a given occasion, which is not in mind here. And I'm going to use this word, it's valid to use it provided we understand what we mean and I'm trying to tell you. What we mean is precisely this, and virtually no more. It's striving in unbelief, in ignorance of the promises, in ignorance that Jesus is on the throne, in ignorance of the resources of the mind trying to do and get by my own wretched efforts and struggles and schemes and expedients. What is already potentially there in the Lord Jesus for me. It's a very big thing. It's a very important thing to see it. Striving. And I say, this is it. I don't know a more accurate picture of this thing and we've got to have a word for it. Otherwise we have to use whole sentences. When these things are not just little ideas, but things by which you live, you want to express them to your brother, you have to find a phrase. This is it. Striving, getting worried, thinking what I can do. Not letting God do it. Not seeing He has a plan. I say in ignorance. Well it's only, it's in practice, intellectually we all know that if we're joined to Christ we've got all we need. We know potentially that grace has got something better for us than we've ever dreamed. That every situation is part of that plan. But when it comes to it, we lose sight of that. And we resort in the daily living and trying to get victory to our own efforts. Beginning in the spirit we try to be made perfect by the flesh. And in the affairs of our life, the affairs of our family. Oh, what striving! As if Jesus wasn't on the throne and the devil wasn't on the run. Young people strive in the matter perhaps of a life partner. As if the God of love hasn't got that perfectly arranged. Which one? Or if there's one? As if the thing that He's planned isn't so much better than the best that you can work out for yourself. Striving. And it can also come into the Lord's work. I've had to see striving in certain situations arise in this holiday conference, but striving in myself. And I find a sort of situation arises and I'm up in arms and I must do something. And when I do it, it's usually the wrong thing. And there has to be a lot of repenting on my part. Otherwise I'm going to run into trouble and great damage can be done. Oh, striving. Oh, what troubles you would dove yourself in. What sin when you really see them in the right light. What enemies we may make. How we may be criticized. He says, as Christians, look at that. That can happen in our churches, in our Christian service. In East Africa, there's a very saintly Christian and I, William Negenda told me that whenever he returned from his various visits to Europe or to England, he used to have a real heart-to-heart session with this senior brother in the Lord of an old prophet, if you like. And he'd ask all stories. He'd never been out of his country, not well enough to do that. But he seemed to know everything that was happening with regard to these brothers of his who'd been here and the people they'd touched. And William often used to mention my name as one of those he'd had contact with in England and who were beginning perhaps to respond to the message of grace. And William told me a rather humbling thing. He said, what's that man's name? You sometimes talk to me about him. Yes, that's it, Heston. He said, I always get the feeling that he's striving. And William told me, and oh, how true it is. I met Jacob. And the reason why he was concerned about this man who thought he'd got a vision but was striving to implement it was he could be a real danger to the cause of revival in England. He wasn't letting God do it. He tried to work it out. He tried to organize it. He tried to surprise it. But here you have it summarized in Jacob. Now it seems to me this is the one thing that God is dealing with in Jacob. Because it's the cause of his sins. It's the cause of his troubles. And if God doesn't help him over it, he's going to run into such trouble that that purpose of grace that God had in mind might be thwarted. But God doesn't intend it to be thwarted. And he knows this is the thing he intends to do it. It is God's great preoccupation with Jacob. I wonder could it be said this is God's great preoccupation with you? You don't see it. Why? It's built into our early conception of the Christian life. Take that famous hymn. There is a green hill, one line of which says Oh dearly, dearly has he loved and we must love him too and trust in his redeeming blood. But try his works to do. Try to win souls. Try to be successful. Try to be one up on other Christians. I believe it is. I know it is with me. His preoccupation with me. Would you have thought that? It is. And it's obviously so here. How instructive this record is. Now before we move on, just let's remind ourselves of what we've seen. First of all, we've seen God's choice of Jacob and the sweet and breathtaking plans he had for him and his seed which were made known even before he was born. They were so much of grace that he had done, they were made before he done any good to merit them or any evil to forfeit them. And then we saw in due course that first revelation of God to him at Bethel. I suppose you can interpret it if you like as his conversion but I rather hesitate. The first revelation of God to him. You might have what you thought was a conversion but there wasn't much of a revelation of the God of grace to you then. Or there was. I don't know. We'll talk about it. Call it just that. That first time that God really met him and he had an experience of God. The God who got all these good things in mind for him. Because of his sin. And yet there wasn't much said about that. In that first great meeting of God where Jacob came to know the God of his fathers personally there wasn't a lot of conviction of sin. And all I can say in my first meeting with Jesus there wasn't a lot of conviction of sin. I'm afraid I can't remember putting a thing right. I can't remember going to anybody and saying look that thing to anybody necessary. There were lots of things wrong but at that time God didn't deal with me about them. He dealt with me in utter grace beginning where I could bear it. And I said Lord Jesus there's an empty heart here running away from you and rebelling. I was convicted of rebellion but not much else. I said if you've never come into my heart before come now. But oh there's been plenty of conviction of sin afterwards and so it is God was not in a great hurry with Jacob. He was going to really deal with this man and make him what he wanted to be but he began where Jacob was and that's how he dealt with us. It isn't always so. I think if a person is saved into a repenting fellowship he'll have an awareness of what he needs to repent of much earlier at that very moment often. And I know those who've been saved the battle is if I come to Christ I've got to go the whole way and they already having heard the Christians giving their testimonies they know originally but very often alas new converts are not saved into a repenting fellowship of Christians. Repentance is still a strange thing with us in England all too strange but when revival continues and it is beginning and continuing in England the Christians are a repenting to their testimony obviously at a very early stage partake of the same spirit. It's a lovely thing and what's helped me very much is to see that really and truly this is native to the new convert. Those of us who got stuck and have been struggling away trying to get better and better and so on when we hear this sort of message it's a very strange thing to have to start repenting that's only because we've been stuck in the water it's native why he begins by seeing what he is and coming to Jesus and going on that way. But even so I don't suppose God really goes as deeply with him as he intends to and as he sees that man need. Essentially it's a word and a work of grace to us where we are. Now that's more or less what we see now we go on from there. Jacob then goes to Egypt and he marries those two daughters for whom he had to serve 14 years without wages very largely and then he thought well he ought to have something to provide for his family he couldn't be dependent on Laban the whole time on his father in law and that was reasonable and so the thing was talked over with Laban and Jacob suggested that certain clocks with certain markings should be his the straight and the speckled and so on. Most of Laban's were straight brown and so Laban said well that's pretty good they'll all produce straight brown he's only going to have the speckled that's fine and then he did some other rather destructible things which we didn't go into but Jacob was one of this and I'd very much like to discuss it with him can it really happen when the cattle were conceiving or bearing I'm not quite sure which it was the Hebrew isn't too clear apparently whether this change happened when they were conceiving or when they were bearing anyway he had poles put in front of their eyes from which he peeled the bark so they were striped and speckled and lo and behold when the so many of them had those markings now I don't know whether that really happened it happened here anyway and I don't disbelieve it of course it is known that pregnant mothers sometimes have a beautiful picture in front of them all the time they're carrying their baby you wouldn't believe it but my mother tells me she had the most beautiful picture but I don't think it works please turn the cassette over now do not fast wind it in either direction but I don't think it works but anyway that was his little scheme and it seemed to work and the result was the great majority of the flock that it grew became Jacobs that seems all right business is business in the big wide world you've got to be out for number one not the child of God Abraham Abraham knew God so much that when he was given the offer of all the spoils from Sodom they're not going to take a penny of it I'm not going to be enriched by something that's a little bit below the counter I'm not going to have it said that Sodom has made me rich oh God you've got to make me rich I'm getting rich at all but that wasn't Jacob that wasn't Jacob and it isn't us all too often and Jacob acted in a way I'm worthy of an hour of promises striving again and the result was as with Esau so with Laban he made an enemy of Laban and we just do need to ask ourselves have you any Esau's have you any Laban people you know they've got something against you oh that's silly they've got it all wrong but wait a minute as we've had to see Pam and I have a little situation that arose even yesterday we had to say when we were criticized over a matter of handling something on the staff there's nothing without fire have you a Laban and his face is not toward you could it be your wife and she's grieved there he is again oh she doesn't understand I must have my bit of spare time I can't be tied down to the children all the time it could be from day to day oh she wasn't your Laban yesterday but she may be today and Esau back home at work your boss your colleague your someone in the church we're not one with them and there's a sense in which there's a oneness possible even with the unconverted it's not the same level of course but the Bible says Jesus said if you come to the altar there remember that your brother has ought against you you may have nothing against him no I don't get it but you know he's got something against you he said you stop and you get right with him well how can I get right he goes on to tell you agree with him and he decides adversely quickly it's as quick it's as simple as that let God show you what is the fire which has produced the smoke face it up and oh may God bring us to the place where we're getting to the habit of saying oh God you're right I'm wrong and then go and agree with him getting together and discussing it is not the question there's no discussion it's as simple as this brother I was wrong he thought you were coming to discuss it and accuse him he's taken off his guard when you accuse him that's brokenness there's another cliche word if you like but they're all right provided you know what it is brokenness is simply the opposite of hardness hardness says it's your fault brokenness says it's mine and you know as we shall see Jacob wanted to get right with Ethel by some other way than that of brokenness that present to appease his brother and many a man has brought home from the office on his way back a box of chocolates because things weren't quite right with his wife when he left I won't put it right it needs more than a box of chocolates to wash away sin well so here is Jacob but this is the point I want to show you he can't stay any longer with Laban he's made that nest intolerable for himself and yet he's still the object of unchanging grace at that very plight very position in time God comes to him and says return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred and I will be with thee no word of reproach no word of conviction I'm going to be with you want to know what to do go back home and I will be with you and then too you see this unchanging grace toward this sinner Jacob that when he fled by stealth and Laban followed after him goodness knows what Laban was going to do to him God appeared in a dream on behalf of his man he's a sinner he's wrong but he's still God's man and God cast the mantle of forgiveness and protection over him and forbids Laban to say either any good or ill to Jacob and he dares and then here he is going on his way back home he's all I mean he's enough Jan he's got to meet Esau and yet as he goes on his way in there appear to him a shining host of angels to encourage him this is God's house two bands of angels to carry me home this is the unchanging grace of God it would almost seem as if God is not quite moral he's taking his time and ultimately indeed at this point now very soon now he's going to deal with his child and deal with that in him which has grieved God and caused so many troubles but you get to deal with him in grace and so it is with us I'm amazed how the Lord allows us to act in certain ways at certain trains and manifest them in this situation and that situation without appearing to reprove it oh the more obvious things our own hearts will do that I know there been so many things in me they became part and part when I wake up my way of even doing the Lord's work my way of handling people and he even helps us in our troubles some of which are caused by our very these very things in us and he puts the mantle of protection over us and delivers us out of it until we think well of course this and that doesn't matter there's a very interesting verse in Psalm 50 which says these things and if God doesn't need a mind he's that sort of God he pushes people around why shouldn't I he's angry with the wicked every day why shouldn't I want to hit their heads off and so on it's alright it isn't alright it isn't alright he's ultimately going to deal with us now that sounds a rather ominous word he's ultimately going to deal with us he's got to deal with it ultimately what do you really mean there's going to be a big tick off for somebody or if not a big tick off there's going to be some sort of penalty imposed but it doesn't do very much though of course discipline has to be involved perhaps only harms the person or else drives them to despair and discouragement but when he's dealing with him in another way he doesn't deal with him ultimately only in discipline though discipline sometimes come into it it's ultimately in mercy and grace and the amazing thing is this it gets results you might criticize God's leniency as you might say with Jacob still going on with him I'll be with you when he's got himself into this and he knows the way to reach his heart and God's way gets results this is a little insight into the whole message of the grace of God as opposed to the message of law the message of law sounds very impressive what we ought to do what we ought not to do the grace of God seems so different but it gets results and so it is with his dealings with us well then how did he deal with Jacob he dealt with Jacob by allowing a situation of crisis to blow up indeed he engineered it he wasn't the cause of Jacob's sins but he allowed them to happen because a situation was going to arise which would disgrace in a deeper way in his life and here he is he's made an enemy of Laban and he's going to go back home where Esau is he hoped that 20 years had cooled his temper that man was intent on killing Jacob for what he'd done he's in a jam and the crisis was simply this the urgent need and very often that is the crisis which God uses to get to something much deeper you see it wasn't merely that Jacob needed to be reconciled to his brother he did but God through that was going to deal with this whole thing of this carnal self-will this refusal unwillingness to see God as his all merely that but that's it you may well I may well be in such a thing in fact this question of reconciliation I've had three experiences at least this this Cleveland when I've done the wrong thing and someone's been hurt and I was inclined to shrug it off and there wrestled a man with me over that because it's you that's wrong and I have to go to Jesus a relationship to another a long-standing wrong relationship or just a recent one just one that happened an hour ago it matters not now someone got something against me someone's grieved with me you may say well they don't understand that doesn't help and I'm adept at putting on the shelf these issues I don't want to face them how glad I am there wrestles a man with me in the process God's going to show this whole thing it's not enough to say I'm all wrong I see I wasn't letting God do it I did it I wasn't letting God handle it I did it I didn't trust God therefore I had to have my experience we must let God show us the thing that caused it if we're to get the blessing he's got for us out of it no repentance of course on Jacob's part he blithely goes on much encouraged on his way home oh we know it's a little difficult but why what these angels I mean that's good I think God's going to be with him and he little knows he's going to his big meeting with God he's had one at Bethel but there's another one coming up in a moment at Peniel but there's a deeper one coming and it's going to be called Peniel the face of God he's going to meet God face to face you know it's possible to be in the household of faith in the house of God but not to be having face to face encounters with God and I would say the main purpose of in a face to face encounter with God do you remember when Absalom was brought home from his exile he got so far but no further David said I can't have him in the palace he dwelt two full years in Jerusalem and saw not the King's face now could that be true of us here I've been saved I've a long time ago recently but I haven't been seeing the King's face it's not a real face to face encounter with God have you had such face to face he's coming up to it little knows he's going to have that awesome interview put for us here in a symbolic way it actually happened this way but obviously for Jacob as for us it was meant to convey symbolically terrific things so he goes to the messenger saying I'm coming oh well I hope and then he learns that Jacob is coming to meet him with four hundred men what do you want four hundred for how many four hundred what do you want four hundred for he knew and poor old Jacob was scared stiff he hasn't forgotten and he's really coming up to the crisis which then it was a prayer oh thank God the troubles there may not always be these sort of troubles it may be my financial trouble or maybe even sorrow or sickness God uses these things I mustn't limit it only to the question of a wrong relationship but all these hours we rarely get there and what a lovely prayer he says and now I'm not worthy praise the Lord he's getting a little further he said I came over with only a staff in my hand and look at now what I've got my unworthiness in the beginning didn't apparently hinder you blessing me as you have and therefore surely my current unworthiness needn't be above what a lovely prayer the way to talk to the Lord in trouble to sing and that love he went much when he first bestated upon it and though you're all wrong now surely he won't find a hindrance in your unworthiness now to help no he won't this is the way to pray then he's honest to live and may pray the Lord I fear him I'm frankly scared and then he goes back to the promise that you said I was no no no he can't leave things with God he's still Jacob now he says what I had better do and so he has this lovely plan of sending on those droves of cattle as a present will you please notice for he said I will appease him with the present that goeth before me he was trying to find a way out of his predicament without brokenness without repentance I have a book on my shelves good enough for me I haven't even read this book it's enough the title of some other books like this and the title of this book is by D.R. Davis The Art of Dodging Repentance and that's precisely what Jacob's doing trying to appease a person with a present can be so nice give them a little present if you left them out then bring them in no no that won't put it right well they're quite glad to see you are changing your brother I've been wrong then only does the blood of Jesus Christ wash them away not else are you an addict I am I'm afraid of dodging repentance trying to get right trying to get right with other people trying to get blessing with God without the sort of thing that happened to Jacob so he's moving up little knowing that night to the great encounter with God face to face we're going to leave it there and I rather think that this is like one of Tchaikovsky's symphonies I'm a great lover of Tchaikovsky and I don't know any music that holds you in suspense I think of that lovely piece of his the Capriccio Italien and the sort of movements sort of quiet movements you know they're leading you his music sort of keeps you on and you know then there's going to be a great crescendo and that's how I think it is here this chapter 32 he's going on he's going to have this encounter face to face with God now there are some parts of Tchaikovsky and you'll just sit there oh isn't it lovely the strings quietly building up building up the brass are going to come in in a moment here an encounter with God face to face it's the God who loves you as you are the God who sent Jesus full of grace yes he's full of truth too we're going to see truth in a way that we haven't perhaps seen it before about ourselves but it's only that grace might abound to us and this wretched name of ours might be Jesus be his all in all so therefore we're at that point in the Tchaikovsky symphony the woodwind the strings the brass are about to come in what you think is going to be a tremendous crescendo it might be the sweetest melody you've ever heard on the French horn I know it is but it's going to be face to face let us pray shall we say the grace the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore Amen