In this sermon, the speaker discusses the story of Joseph from the Bible. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and went through various trials and hardships. Eventually, he rose to a position of power in Egypt. The speaker emphasizes the importance of seeing Jesus as the only Savior and trusting and obeying Him. He also highlights the significance of having a pure heart in order to have a true vision of God. The sermon concludes with a prayer of repentance and a recognition of our own sins.

Will you kindly turn with me in the scriptures to Matthew chapter 5, which forms the basis of our meditation today. Purity of heart and the vision of God. Said Jesus, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Pondering over the challenging implications of this the sixth beatitude, one cannot fail to have some kind of sympathy with those who say that the beatitudes have a reference to a future life rather than to the present. Now I believe, and we have said this earlier on, that that is untenable really. But nevertheless one is frightened by the reference here to the purity of heart. If it is only the pure of heart that see God, will any of us see him in this world? And what is the vision of God? Will any of us be able to have the scum taken out of our eyes that with any clarity we can behold him? However, one is glad to be reminded that there is nevertheless a present and a future application to these beatitudes. And we need to remember that at all times, but especially when we come to this beatitude today. It is not altogether something that applies to the future, though it has a future application. When we shall be out of these bodies, and we shall be in the presence of God, and we shall see as he sees us and know as he knows us. Even so, even so, there is a present day by day application of these very words as of the other beatitudes. And this is where the shoe pinches all of us very especially. Now we shall examine these breathtaking words this morning by noting in turn two things. The content of the particular blessedness where Jesus here holds forth, namely the vision of God. And then the condition that relates to its actual enjoyment. Purity of heart. I would like you to pray for me for special grace this morning. I never like to lead people on a guilt trip that is not born of the Spirit of God. We need to be convicted and convinced of certain things in our lives, but it must be the work of the Spirit of God and not of the preacher. And a subject like this can lead every member in the congregation on a guilt outing. If so, then let it be the conviction of the Spirit of God and not anything I may say that would appear to be aimed at creating a guilt that is false. I don't want to do that. Now the first thing then that is before us is the vision that is promised. Blessed are the pure in heart, they shall see God. They shall see God. It's obvious to the reader of scripture that the vision promised here is something different from that rendered possible to our natural sight, the sight of our physical eyes. God is pure spirit and as such is not capable of being seen by our natural eyes. Whenever scripture tells us that someone has seen God in any visible form, in any tangible form, then it means that God has taken upon himself to manifest himself not as pure spirit, but in some form or other in order that man should know that he's there and know something about him. As for example, the pillar and the cloud in the wilderness in the history of Israel. Just to mention two illustrations. God is pure spirit. He's not a pillar of cloud. God is not a pillar of fire. God is pure spirit. Normally and naturally God is unseen, cannot be touched, but he makes himself such that men from time to time can even see that in which he appears. Otherwise it is necessarily spiritual. God's nature is essentially spiritual and the vision of him must be spiritual for God clearly said to Moses, you cannot see my face for no one may see me and live. We cannot see God in his essential being as spirit and live until and unless covered by the atoning blood of Christ and his righteousness. Rid of this body we shall see him in the world that is to come. This means therefore that the vision promised in this particular word of our text is not to the natural eye. It is to the spiritual. It is of the same order of vision as that to which our Lord refers when he told the disciples of old. Before long he says the world will not see me anymore. The world will not see me anymore. But you will see me. Why is he able to say that? Well evidently because he is going to give them a sense of his awareness spiritually that will not be given to the world. Peter lying in prison guarded by two soldiers and the doors of the prison bolted and barred and he sees them moving back on their hinges and he sees someone taking him by the hand and taking him out and leading him to liberty. You see that's seeing God. Jesus later explains that kind of vision of God when he says two chapters later in John 16 the spirit will take from what is mine and will make it known to you. The redeemed have the capacity for the vision of God in this life. Now let's look at that for a moment. The vision of God promised in this present world. I can only point to illustrations of this. This is an endless theme as indeed is the other part. The vision of God promised to us in the world to come. We shall be even shorter there not because there is no material but because our time is limited. The present vision of God. Our present vision of God involves for example the capacity to recognize God in and behind the events of life. That is a most crippling and shattering kind of blindness which is totally oblivious to the imminence of God in the affairs of daily life and living, in the progress of history, in what is going on in your office, in your home, in your street, wherever you are. If we can only see men doing man's thing then my friends you and I have cause to tremble and especially in days such as ours. I don't want to go off at that tangent today but if you cannot see God in the affairs of daily life then you'll have some ulcers or a breakdown or something sooner or later. It's inevitable. The kind of present vision of God to which I mean to refer is beautifully illustrated in the experience of Joseph for example. Now you're going to be hearing about Joseph next Wednesday evening. Do see that you're there to hear Desmond McConaughey from Ottawa. He's a dear friend of mine and the Lord has greatly blessed him in the churches where he's ministered. He comes with a fresh understanding of things and you'll be blessed if you're able to join him. Well now you'll be hearing about Joseph. You remember Joseph was sold by his embittered brothers for the price of a slave. They hated him. And then he was pitchforked from one experience to another. I don't want to steal Desmond McConaughey's message. I'm not going to do that. But he was pitchforked from an unhappy home into a pit. From a pit into a caravan taken as a slave to Egypt. From the caravan into the home of somebody who bought him as a slave, a high-ranking official in Egypt. From there he was pitchforked into prison and from prison to the palace. What a whirling set of human experiences. But at long last those responsible for setting that chain of human history a-going, humanly speaking, there they are before him. The brothers that sold him, that hated him, that couldn't speak kindly to him. There they are. And not only are they before him, but they're absolutely dependent on him for bread to eat and thus to live. And they're getting a bit frightened. But you see Joseph has seen God in history. And rather than come down with a rod of iron as he might have, for all power was in his hand, the reigning Pharaoh has put the ring from his finger on Joseph's finger. And he rides in the second chariot. And when he rides in the second chariot they all bow the knee before him. Oh he had power, he had authority. And he says to his brothers, his enemies, who sold him for the price of a slave, fellows, he says, don't look so gloomy and dismal. It wasn't you really who did it. Oh no, you did it. But listen, he says, God actually was in it. And he sent me beforehand in order to preserve life. God had a big, God had a large purpose. And it wasn't all you he says, God was in it. And you see the man wasn't sour. He was in control of himself because he saw God in it. You and I get agitated very times because we don't see God in anything. We only see men. Especially when we ourselves are involved and we're hurt in any way. Now to see God in the affairs of daily life and living is something that keeps people sane. God means us to see him you see. And you will have serenity and sanity to the extent that you can really see God behind men. And if you can't see God behind men, the Lord have mercy on you. Faber, the hymn writer, has a lovely stanza in his hymn when he says, thrice blessed is he to whom has given the instinct that can tell that God is on the field when he is most invisible. That's it. When he is most invisible. All your worldlings are around, intelligent, cultured, powerful, insightful in every other realm. And they're looking around and they're saying, where is God? But the man or the woman of faith sees him. And that vision arises from a purity of heart. For ultimately you see, it is only sin that blocks out the vision of God, nothing else. Not the fact that you haven't been to a university for a degree, important as that may be. Not the fact that you're poor rather than rich or rich rather than poor. It's not that at all. There is only one thing that shuts out the knowledge of God and the vision of God. It's sin. And where you have purity of heart, God in his glory is manifest and the soul senses the reality of it. Let me give you another illustration. Such a vision of God in the present involves also the capacity to learn from him and about him as he is revealed in the affairs of life. You see this most graphically and most beautifully, most perfectly in the life of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. You know, it seemed at times as if he saw God in everything, either by comparison or by contrast. He could hardly look at a blade of grass without remembering that God clothed it. He painted it. His father painted it. Or the lily of the field and he saw it in all its glory, far surpassing that of Solomon. And where did it all come from? Oh, my father made it and caused it to grow. Even when he thinks of an unjust judge, not a just one, he sees his father by contrast of course, by contrast. God will do with you the opposite to what this man does because God is not unjust but just. The lily of the field, the sowing of the seed, almost everything has something to say about God. How is it? Well, for this reason you see, his heart was pure. It isn't that he had a special pair of glasses that enabled him to see a visible God there. You know, you can wear some kind of goggles and they play ducks and drakes with your eyes and you can see all sorts of visions beyond. I once had a pair on and I took them off rather quickly. It isn't as if Jesus had some queer pair of spectacles on that he could see figures everywhere. No, no, no, no, no. But you see there was no sin between him and God. His soul was pure. And when he saw a sparrow fall, he saw God falling with the sparrow. Oh, you and I miss so much when we don't see God in the affairs of this life and like our Lord, out of that experience being able to teach others about him. So many of the mystics and so many of the saints of God in various circumstances have been, have been more than conquerors because of this vision of God in the here and now. Think of Madame Guillaume, rotting in that foul French dungeon and beginning to sing in her desolation and in her anguish physically with no hope of getting out. A little bird am I, shot in from birds and air, content to sing my little song to him who placed me here. Oh, how beautiful. Madame Guillaume, what are you doing? I'm singing to God and here she's composing hymns and she's singing them to the Lord there's no one else to sing to. But she sees God in prison. See? And she leaves mankind and she leaves the church. She bequeaths to the church a wealth of understanding that many of us desperately need. She had the vision of God. Or let me give one other illustration. There are so many that one can give. The vision of God in the present time may also include the ability to discern the pattern and direction of his workings in history. The way he's moving and therefore the way we ought to be going if we're going with God. And this is fellowship. It's going with God. I find that among the most priceless illustrations of this, apart from our Lord of course, is that of Moses. Abram, we were hearing of Abram on Wednesday night but I won't illustrate from Abram this morning or you think I'm trying to steal the thunder from all these fellows. I'm not doing that. But let me illustrate from Moses. Well of course Moses is coming the week after next. Sorry. There you are. You see we're all in the one Bible. But let me read to you from the epistle to the Hebrews. By faith Moses when he was grown up, now notice the verbs here, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt because he was looking forward to his reward. By faith he left Egypt not fearing the king's anger. He preserved, he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. Now let me just look at that. Behind the wheels and the woes of that enslaved people, with a taskmaster's lash coming down upon them all through the long day, this man Moses saw something among that ancient rabble community now humiliated after being there for 400 years of slaves. He saw something among them he did not see in the courts of Egypt. What did he see? Well he didn't see nice clothes, he didn't see anybody wearing a crown, didn't see anybody wearing a halo. They were sweating it out. All the grime and all the dirt and all the misery and all the heartache and all the anguish of it. But Moses saw something Moses man, what do you see? I see that God is with them. In a way he's not found in the Egyptian court. I see God working alongside of them and I see Messiah coming from among them and so you see he refused the honor of being called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be ill-treated alongside of them. He left Egypt not fearing the fury of the Pharaoh. He could see the unseen. Oh brothers and sisters some of our eyes have need to be opened and the only thing that keeps them shut is impurity in the heart. Now something about the vision of God promised in the life hereafter. I can only refer to this. You will understand that this is the subject of subject, but I can only refer to it. Precious as it is, bliss as it is to be able to see God in the here and now, all that is but the first fruit, the foretaste, the foregleam of what the Bible holds out for the redeemed of the Lord. Clothed in their resurrection bodies and pure in heart, the saints of God will one day, as John says in the Revelation, they will one day move into a place where there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve him and they shall see his face. Now we see through a glass darkly, says Paul. Oh we see, Moses saw, Abram saw my day. We see, we see, we see because sin is taken away. We have the capacity to see, but even so, says Paul, in comparison with that which is to come, we're still like men looking through a dark glass. It doesn't, it isn't a clear glass, you can't see through it, there's a, it's shot with a hue of darkness. We're looking through a glass darkly. Oh but then, he says, by, by, by contrast, when we see his face, it will be face to face. We shall have perfect vision of the God who is spirit and we shall see him as he is. The Old Testament even is enraptured at the prospect of this, but of course so is the new. And I, says the Psalmist in Psalm 17, 15, I in righteousness, I will see your face. When I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness. Says Isaiah in chapter 33 and verse 17, your eyes shall see the King in his beauty. And Jesus prayed to his Father, Father, he says, I want those whom you have given me to be with me where I am, to see my glory, the glory you have given me before the world was created. I want them to see my glory, which is the glory of the Father. So much then, so much for this first main thrust, the vision promised. Now a few words about the condition postulated. The vision attracts us. We sense that we need the vision of God in the here and now and we desire the vision of God, the beatific vision in the world which is to come. If we have no such hope, we are of all men most miserable. But what are the conditions? Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Now what, what are the implications of heart purity? What does it mean? Jesus Christ here and elsewhere inevitably stresses first of all the inwardness of true religion. It's a matter of the heart. True religion is a matter of the heart. Now we mustn't go to other, to the extreme of saying that all the emphasis in the Bible is upon character. It is not. The Bible also stresses conduct, the way we behave, what we do. It says that we shall be judged by our words and by our works. And these are what we say. These are things we do, our activity. But the priority falls inevitably in Scripture upon the kind of person we are, upon character. And character of course has this inward side to it. Character is never what, something on the surface. It is something deep. It is what I am in the depths of my soul. Now our Lord was probably stressing it at this point by way of contrast to the externalism of pharisaic religion. You see, they were content, provided you were in the Lord's house on the Sabbath. Doesn't matter whether you're a killer in your heart or not. Many of them were in the synagogue at the right time, doing the right things, planning to kill the very Messiah. But you see, they scored the point. They were there. And as far as pharisaic was religion, the most important thing was doing the right thing. Doing the right thing. The externality of things was so important. And they minimized the significance of character, of the quality and condition of spirit that must be underlying. But now you notice that you can't evade the thrust of Jesus. Blessed are the pure in... You read on into the Sermon on the Mount and he's not saying, you'll see it very clearly, and elsewhere too of course, and the whole of the New Testament. Jesus is not saying, the only thing that matters is your condition of heart. No, no, no. You are the, you are a city set upon a hill. You've got to let your light shine, your salt, you've got to let the salt work. You are, you, you are, you are this and that and there's something for you to do and to go places and do things. And the most important thing of all is this. What you are in your heart, in your soul, in your spirit, in the depth of your being. Jesus takes us right to the source of life and of behavior. Now, granted that our Lord requires purity in the heart, purity at the very source and center of desire, thought and emotion. What does he really mean by purity? These are very important questions. May I suggest two or three things and I cannot, I cannot complete it. There are so many things involved probably, but I think we can refer to some of the major things. First of all, purity of heart implies a heart that has been cleansed from sin. See, we've got to start there because we come to this with all our hearts soiled. If there was an exception here this morning, if there was somebody who had come to church and said, well my heart has never been soiled. Well now, we would have to start somewhere else then, but there isn't anyone. Because you see the scriptures say, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. All of us, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The heart, says the scripture, is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. That's your heart, my heart, apart from the grace of God. And it was Jesus who said, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, and so forth. Where do they come from Jesus? Out of the heart of men. Well now then, if this is the quality, if this is the condition of the human heart, then evidently any man who's going to have purity of heart has got to undergo a cathartic process. There has to be a process of cleansing. That is why we have that great old hymn, there is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. You and I need that to be pure. We have to be cleansed. Such purity only emerges, of course, as the Bible tells us, by obedience to the truth, by being washed in the blood, by being obedient to the Spirit, by walking with God. But now let's add to that. A pure heart is not only a cleansed heart, but a changed heart. If my heart is normally unclean, then it has to be changed, it has to be given a new direction, so that it doesn't move in the way of uncleanness as it previously did. What's the point of a heart being cleansed if all the time, like a pig it's going back to the mire? What's the point of a heart being cleansed when all the time it gravitates to the dirt and to the mess? A pure heart is a heart that's not only cleansed, but having been cleansed, it has in the process been changed. To desire after purity, to long after purity, and to seek purity, literally to seek it. And the Bible promises this, God promises this in the Bible. He says right away back in Genesis, and it comes through to the New, listen to Ezekiel 36. Let me just take out these words. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. I'll take away the heart of stone, and I'll give you a heart of flesh. I will put a new heart within you, and I will put a new spirit, even my Holy Spirit within you. The spirit that animates the inner life of a man must be holy if the person is to see God. Then let me add to that, a pure heart is not only a cleansed heart and a changed heart, it must also be a heart that is unmixed in its condition and in its motives. No heart can claim to be pure, which is a mixture of good and evil. Now at best in this life, all of us are a mixture, but the mixture should be changing in its ratio from day to day. We cannot claim to be wholly pure in this life. Pure gold is unmixed gold, all gold. Pure milk is unadulterated milk, and the pure heart is a heart that is unadulterated by the opposite. We do not get that in a day. Positionally in Christ it is ours. In terms of prospect we shall have it, but in actuality in this life of ours, being the kind of people we are, we only overcome the territory of evil and the power of evil little by little. And oftentimes we slip back to where we were a month or so ago, so that so many steps forward results in so many steps backward. So that it's a progressive thing, and it must also be an integrated heart. Do you remember the psalmist crying in Psalm 86 and verse 11, Unite my heart, he says, to praise thy name. Did you ever ponder that prayer? Unite my heart, the heart there speaks of the whole inner life. And you see what the psalmist found was this, his head wanted one thing, his emotions wanted another thing, and even when both wanted the right thing, his will was weak and vacillating, and he wasn't quite sure where he was. He was at sixes and sevens. And so he prays to God, Unite my whole heart, my whole inner life, so that all of me inside of me is geared and harnessed to do your will. Oh it is so easy to be divided inside the citadel of our own hearts. Blessed are the pure in heart, says Jesus, they shall see God. Now lastly, if this is what is meant by purity, how is it to be achieved? Well, as I've already indicated, it must be a progressive experience. But how? Well fundamentally, God must do it. And if Jesus Christ had not made provision for this in his death, and by the gift of the Spirit, and the inspiration of his word, and the creation of the fellowship of the Saints, it would be impossible. It is only possible because of the work of Christ, the power of the Spirit, the fellowship of the Saints, and the sovereign provisions of God for us, according to his promises. It is only possible there. But now, having said that, having agreed with the writer of the hymn who says, "'Tis thine to cleanse the heart, to sanctify the soul, to pour fresh life on every part, and new create the whole,' having agreed to that, how do we get there? Now brothers and sisters, as I understand it, this is what Jesus is telling us in these Beatitudes. And I'm going to repeat something. Purity of heart begins with a poverty of spirit that recognizes my own condition as lost. Now you may say, I don't see the connection. Well Jesus says he does. I think that's the meaning of it. Purity of heart can only begin when I have come to the point where I see that I am undone, I am unimpure, I am unholy, I am unworthy, I am lost before God. More, purity of heart proceeds, it begins to germinate, and you see maybe the first petal on the little flower, as we begin to mourn on account of our sin. Not now mourning for other people's sin in the first place, but for our own. We're saddened by who and what we are. We're worried because of ourselves. We lose some sleepless nights because of the things we find within. And when something disturbs the dirt in our souls and it comes up to our minds and to our consciousness, we're amazed that these things come from us. We mourn. Following upon poverty of spirit resulting in a deep mourning of the condition on account of what's on in us, of what's going on in us, comes the desire for the things that are absent in one's life. The things that God requires of us. And Jesus put it like this, blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, after the right things, to be right with God, to be right with men, to be right at all times rather than to be wrong. Purity of spirit is something that is going to come out of that climate, out of that soil, prepared in this way. Arising out of the quest for righteousness, there emerges a new quality of spirit in the individual concerned, because he is enabled to have mercy on people. Blessed are the merciful. Having recognized the gravity of my own sin against God, I do not now find it so difficult to forgive the wrongs of other people against me. I'm not a God to be sinned against, and no one has sinned against me as I have sinned against God. Therefore, logic and the new spirit of God in my heart alike, require of me that I should have mercy upon those who have stepped on my toes, or said unkind things, or thought unkind things, or whatever. Have mercy, blessed are the merciful. Now, the last step up to our text this morning is this. Now, there will now arise from the very condition of the things that are going on in our soul, there will now arise the first fruits, the evident first fruits of heart purity. And heart purity springs out of this soil. If you like, the picture here is this. You want to grow something in your garden, at the moment it's all just growing weeds. The kind of dandelions we had in our lawn earlier on, there's something even worse than that. What are you going to do with it? Well, what Jesus is saying here is this, you've got to deal with the soil. And you've really got to put the spade down very deeply, and you've got to turn things upside down, and you've got to get rid of the things that are evil. Throw them outside, and the stones, and the whatnot. Take things up by the root. But then when the soil is ready, and you attend to it, you will find that ultimately something will happen. There will come in your soul a purity of thought, a purity of desire, a purity of ambition. And across the whole thing will be written, in due course, if you move in that direction, holiness unto the Lord. Now, this is a lifelong experience, let me repeat, and a lifelong discipline. But it is true that as men become progressively pure in heart, so do they learn also to hear the voice of God, to see the face of God. You know, that is what fellowship is, according to the Old Testament way of looking at it. Come before my face, says the Lord. That is what he means when he calls his people to fellowship. Come before my face, look up into my face. And the pure in heart can look into his face. I have read somewhere of the famous musician Mozart, walking in the countryside with a friend, a huntsman. You've probably read of it too. They were enjoying the walk together very much. They came to a turn in the road when the wind began to blow, and as they passed a little copse, through which the rising wind was heard to blow, the huntsman said excitedly, look, it'll startle her. After a brief silent, Mozart replied, in pensive mood, listen man, he said, to that dire pass on from God's great organ. A lark shot upwards from its hiding place, singing as it enjoyed its liberty of wing in the sky, looks at the gamester, what a lovely shot. The musician replied, listen man, listen to the thrill of that voice. You see, each man saw or heard what he was capacitated to see or hear. The huntsman only saw the bird as a good shot. He didn't hear the sound, he didn't hear the voice, or if he did, it didn't come through. Mozart had a different, a different attitude. He was capacitated for something different. Brothers and sisters, this is the major division in human life. Those who are blind to God and those who can see him. Those who are capacitated to see God now and will see him hereafter, and those who are not. That may be dividing some of us in the pew this morning. You and I alone know before God whether we're blind or whether we have the sight, whether we have been capacitated by the grace of God for this or for that. I beg of you, if you know not what it is to see God in anything, pray for the gift of sight this morning, the cleansing of your heart, the renewing of your heart, the secret lies in the heart. I'm coming to a close. I remember reading recently about Francis Ridley Haverhill. It's in a little book on Fanny Crosby, a lovely blind hymn writer of the United States. Francis Ridley Haverhill had just heard at this point of Fanny Crosby. Who is this Fanny Crosby, she said, and she received the reply, I quote, she's a blind lady whose heart can see splendidly in the sunshine of the love of God. Miss Haverhill penned some lines of greeting to her American fellow minister of song, both of them being writers of hymns and poetry, and from that, what she penned at that time, I just want to give you these lines. Must not the world be a desolate place for eyes that are sealed with a seal of tears? Eyes that are open only for tears. How can she sing in the dark like this? What is her fountain of light and bliss? Her heart can see. Her heart can see. Well, may she sing so joyously, for the king himself in his tender grace has shown her the brightness of his face. And who shall pine for a glow-worm light when the sun goes forth in his radiant night? She can read his law as a shining chart, for his fingers have written it on her heart. She can read his love, for on all her way, his hand is writing it every day. Bright cloud, indeed. Must that darkness be where Jesus only, the heart can see? My dear friend, have you ever for a moment's vision been caught up with Jesus? Has he caught your gaze? That moment is the most momentous moment in history, for when once you see Jesus as the only Savior and receive him and trust him and walk with him and obey him, you are on the way to heart purity. The way is open, and he is its donor and its perfecter. Let us pray. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Oh, heavenly Father, we bow humbly before you, first of all to acknowledge our sins. Yes, the sins of which we have become aware as we read your word, and as we apply it to ourselves. We may not have been aware of them when we came into the sanctuary today, but now we are. And particularly of the block it places between us and the vision of yourself, so that we grope in the darkness as blind men, though intellectually we know the way of life and light. Forgive us, we pray. Oh, heavenly Father, lead us out of where we are to where you desire us to be. And should there be within these sacred walls this morning anyone who has yet to come to Jesus Christ for cleansing and forgiveness, that this process may begin. We pray that you will draw such. And as there are many of us who have begun on that road and have somewhere or other taken a wrong turn, take us back to the junction and point us again in the right way. Breathe your spirit upon us and send us forward into this new week with the capacity to see what hitherto we've not been able to see. Father, hear our prayers in Jesus' name. Amen. Our closing hymn this morning is number 529. 529. I would like to read.