Paris Reidhead emphasizes the distinction between true believers and false professors in his sermon 'Wheat or Chaff.' He explains that true followers of Christ are transformed from the inside out, possessing a new heart and spirit, and are characterized by their desire to please God in every aspect of their lives. Reidhead warns against the dangers of a superficial faith that merely follows religious practices without genuine commitment to Christ as Lord. He encourages listeners to examine their lives for evidence of true transformation and to seek a deeper relationship with God, emphasizing the importance of repentance and brokenness before the Lord. Ultimately, he calls for a commitment to walk the narrow path that leads to life, contrasting it with the broad way that leads to destruction.

Matthew 7 verse 13 commences the portion. We have seen in this, that is called the Sermon on the Mount, that our Lord is giving to us a description of his people. Many times during the past 18 months I have spoken to you in one way or another by reference, direct or indirect, to God's new thing, the church. This new thing that he promised through Isaiah, the new covenant that he gave through Jeremiah, the new relationship that he described through Ezekiel, and now the Lord Jesus is building his new thing and he's describing it here in Matthew 7. In the Beatitudes he tells us that the man that's going to be part of this new thing is going to be remade from the inside out. A new nature, and a new heart, and a new spirit, and a new creation. He's going to be an enigma to those around him, he's going to be a contradiction to the world. Blessed is this one, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are they that mourn, blessed are the meek, these are the blessed, because they are poor in spirit and are meek and mourn as the result of God's glorious operation upon them, making them new creations. And therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creation, and all things have passed away. Then he describes the attitude of this new creation toward the law, not that he is lawless, but that because the law giver indwells him, he is unable to keep the law. As Ezekiel said, I will cause him to walk in my statutes. The law will be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Then he described the works of piety, praying, tithe, or giving alms and fasting. Again it would be not just the outward activity of words being addressed in a reverent tone toward God somewhere, but the inner devotion of the heart and life to the Lord. The alms would be given not as money but as love, and fasting would be not the refraining from food alone, but the complete consuming of the life in concern for those for whom prayer was being offered. He said it's going to be an interior life, it's going to come from something that God does in the secret chamber of the heart. The Christian is going to be one that has partaken of God's life. Outwardly he will seem the same, but because he has partaken of the divine nature, everything about him will be new and different and fresh and vital and alive. Every spiritual relationship will reflect it, and then he said every economic relation will affect it. The way he works, the way he serves, his social relationships will reflect this. Finally we came last Sunday to that matter of judging. He's not going to be censorious, he will not judge others as to their motives. He will judge himself and he will recognize that he has partaken of life, that this life is being manifest in him, and if someone else is not behaving consistent with that life, he is not to be judged as much as he is to be pitied and to be prayed for. The one that has been born of God will have the mind of Christ, and his great concern will be that in everything he conforms to what God has purposed and planned for him. His great burden is going to be that he shall be all that the Lord Jesus intended him to be. He will manifest, therefore, this life by asking God to make him to be what he should be, asking God to cause him to become what God has purposed that he should be. In other words, the whole of this portion is an explanation of the verse, except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Theirs consisted in ideas, in doctrines, and consisted in activity, consisted in national expectations, and in privations such as fasting, tithing, praying, but all done outwardly, all done by the mere energy of human personality. And the Lord said, this is what you know, this is what you see, this is what's ever before you. What I'm doing is completely other than that which you've beheld with the Pharisees. I'm going to start not by the outside, nipping off here and trimming there and pressing in the other, shaping and molding, as a sculptor takes a piece of wood or stone and would shape it. No, no, said the Lord, I'm not doing that. I'm going within. I'm going to give him a new heart and a new nature and a new spirit. I'm going to make him a new creation. I'm going to begin where the man's need really is. Now we come to this portion that I've chosen to call a fan in the Lord's hands. You remember John's word saying, repent and be baptized, for there's one coming after me that's prepared to pour me the latchet of whose shoes I am unworthy to lose. He it is that shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, for he shall gather his wheat into garners, but his chaff he shall burn with everlasting fire, for the fan is in the Lord's hands. Well, now he's going to separate wheat and chaff. The primary concern with this company this morning is not to, though there may be that application and I want you to honestly put the word to the measure of your own heart and its need. My great concern today is not to imply to you that you are one of these that will be chaff, but rather to let you see the glorious privilege that it is yours of being wheat, the Lord's wheat, and what he has prepared to do for you, and what he has prepared to give you, and how he intends you should be blessed by him. Of course, the negative aspect is here, that shall be mentioned, but primarily I want you to see what the Lord's people are, and how they will live, and how they will walk. And so from that point of view, we see the first of the four analogies that our Lord makes to his own. He begins by saying that the entrance into this new thing is through a gate. But beware, said he, because there are two gates. They seem to be the same. They're placed where the wayfaring man might behold them. There are those on the outside exhorting the passersby to turn in. But said he, one of these gates is very appealing, very attractive. Outwardly it seems to be everything that one could ask for. It's a wide gate, it's easy to go through, and there's a broad way, palm-lined and comfortable, with pavilions on the side for resting as you will. A most attractive way from this wide gate. It's a religion, is this. It isn't the unsaved. I don't believe that the broad way here described is the broad way of the world, such as we have a block to the right. The scripture speaks of the rebellious sinner saying he is as a sheep that's turned to his own way. I don't believe that the impenitent sinner, that is the irreligious sinner, is interested in any gate or any way. He simply wants to please himself. Here the Lord is talking about a religious system, two systems if you please, one leading to death and one to life. I would say that they're constructed out of the same doctrinal material. My own personal feeling is that they both are made of the same substance, just as we would relate our theology and our position in theology to that of the Pharisees as over against the Sadducees. For the Pharisees were fundamental, they were orthodox, but they lacked life and the gate that to which they pointed and to which they beckoned the passers by would lead to this broad way that went to death. And so our Lord is saying here my people have turned in at the straight gate, this narrow gate, and they're in this narrow way, this strict way. Let's see for a moment the contrast by way of character of the people on the two ways. First Timothy, excuse me, Second Timothy and the third chapter will give to us the means of measuring the two ways. Let me read the first several verses. This know also that in the last days perilous time shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters and proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truth breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Now notice, having a form of godliness. These are religious people. These are people that have turned in the gate and are pursuing away. They would have so many of the doctrinal marks and stamps of the orthodox, that they would pass for orthodox. Having a form of godliness. We have elsewhere in the scripture a description of the ungodly, those that have no interest in Christianity at all, or religion as such. Here are those that have a form of godliness. They've turned in a wide gate and they're going down a broad way. And it's wide enough so that they can be lovers of their own selves, and covetous, boasters, and proud, and blasphemers, disobedient to parents, and unthankful, and unholy, without natural affection, and truth breakers. They can be there and still be on the way, and still think they're going to heaven, and still be comfortable, still be religious, still be accepted, even though they're traitors, and heady, and high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. They have a form of godliness, but they're denying the power. That power which transforms the life, makes all things new, and and changes all things to the will and purpose of God. And he says, from such turn away. These are religious people, and he's describing what will pass for orthodoxy. He says in the last days, perilous times will come, but when? It was perilous then, because here at this very time, we find after the resurrection of Christ, the Judaizers came in and put this gate in front of the church, and beguiled and enticed many. And so it's been something that's continued down across the entire period of church history. Two gates, and two ways, and two destinations. One leads to life, the other leads to death. And they both have the same scripture, the same doctrine, the same scheme. The difference is that one has a straight, a straight gate. I think of the evangelist in Pilgrim's Progress, which to which I've referred in the past, when he spoke to Pilgrim as he came out of the city with the great weight upon him. And he said, you see on their wicked gate, that little old gate, that straight gate through which one must come, the only way to forgiveness is through repentance. They accept you, repent. Accept you, repent, you'll perish. And repentance here is in my thought and mind, this straight gate, where there's a change of purpose from pleasing self to pleasing God, a change of intention, a change of goal, and it is the seed of all holiness and all righteousness. You think of the travesty on truth if repentance is made sorrow, an emotion. And someone can can come into a gate because he's had sorrow. An emotion is a fleeting thing, just it flits, it goes so quickly. It's just an emotion. Ephemeral, passes like the breeze. What value is an emotion? One day you're sorry, and the next day you're glad. One moment you're sorry, and the next moment you're glad. Can you put dependence upon your emotions? No, this straight gate has to have something more than emotion, has to have something more than feelings. It has to be the commitment of the life, and the fixing of the will, and the setting of the purpose, enabled by God, and made possible by the grace of the Spirit of God. A setting of the purpose from pleasing self to pleasing God. And thus, everyone that's come that's Christ, at the very outset of his meeting the Lord, formed firmly that purpose to please God. This you can expect of every child of God. Now let me ask you, have you done that? If you're a child of God, you have done it. And today in your heart is a deep passionate longing to please God. You came in the straight gate. If in you, as you know, and yourself, and search yourself, you find that you turned in a wide gate, just an emotional response to the dangers of hell, and the beauties of heaven, and there wasn't fixed within you this purpose to make Jesus Christ Lord, and to obey him, and please him. You didn't commit yourself to him in this, to his sovereignty. Then I submit to you that you better realize that right in front of you today is that straight gate, medium now. You can't go back across the years and undo the past. You may have been in a wide gate in a broad way, but there's still the narrow gate in front of you this moment. You don't need to return anyplace. You can't undo the years. But right now you can recognize that what is required by Christ is a total commitment to his sovereignty in every area of your life, and render it to him now. And then that narrow way is to walk in the light of his sovereignty, in the unfolding of his will, through his word, and by his spirit. Everyone that's born of God has come in through that straight gate. There isn't any other way to life. If you haven't come through that straight gate, you're not God. You've not been born of him. If you've been born of him, you've come in that gate. It's just that simple. You can't make any alternatives. You can't make any extenuations. It's there. You today, then, as a child of God, know that you have come in that straight gate, and you are on that narrow way, if the deep inner purpose of your heart is to please God in everything. And you're willing to take any attitude, any action, any motive, any relationship, any part of your life, and stretch it against the word of God at any time. This characterizes the child of God. This is what's happened to you, dear Christian friend, if you have been born into God's family. The second thing is this. Something's happened to the tree. Here he describes prophets, teachers, or professors. And so we will use this as professors. Beware of false professors, which come among you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? So even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. You were a corrupt tree by nature. All of us were, under the sentence of death, because of that inward pollution, this terrible thing of sin. What was it that characterized us? What was that fruit that was found on us as being corrupt trees? I think Romans, the first chapter again, ought to be seen by us. There are some scriptures that we never should outgrow. And one of these scriptures is Romans chapter 1, verses 29 to 32. And here we find the fruit that you find on the corrupt tree. They that do such things are worthy of death, being filled with all unrighteousness, and fornication, and wickedness, and covetousness, and maliciousness, and full of envy, murder, and debate, and deceit, and malignity, whisperers, and backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, knowing the judgment of God that they which do such things are worthy of death. Not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. And here is that tree, that fruit that you find growing on that tree that has unchanged. It may be in the vineyard, it may be in the orchard, may be associated with the other trees, the same leaves, the same bark, and outwardly the same species, but there's something different, there's something interior, there's something supernatural. Those trees that have undergone the miracle of God's grace, and the heart of the tree has changed, and the nature of the tree has changed. Such trees that produce this fruit, such persons that continue to bring forth that bradfruit, are going to be cut down and cast into the fire, and be burned, as he has said. What is he doing? He's going by his grace, as you come through this straight gate of repentance toward God, then you meet him in the miracle in which he goes right to the very heart of your being, and changes your nature, and puts within you a new nature, yea, even himself. And thus the tree is changed inwardly because it's partaken of divine light. Thus the corrupt, the good tree cannot continue habitually to bring forth this kind of fruit, and if there is one that falsely professes to be in Christ, that brings forth this fruit habitually, and perennially, and continually, the evidence is they've never had the miracle performed upon them. It changes the nature of the tree. That's what he's saying here. He does something within his people. He puts within them a new light. He says, I'll take away the heart of stone, and I'll put within them a heart of flesh, and I'll put my spirit within them, and cause them to walk in my statutes. You say, well can't a Christian do one of these things? You mean to say that if I will do one of these things, I'm not saved? No, but if you do one of these things, and say you've done it, you're going to deal with it as sin, and you can't make peace with it. You can't justify it, can't vindicate it, because a good tree cannot be content to bring forth evil fruit, because something's happened to the tree, because the kind of life it's received. What is the fruit that you'll find on the tree that's undergone this miracle of grace? You find it in Galatians 5. The fruit of the spirit is love, and joy, and peace, long-suffering, and gentleness, and goodness, and meekness, and faith, and temperance. Oh, something's happened. They've partaken of new life. It's simply taking the branches that were, and putting into it a whole new life force. It's changing it. This is what's happened to you, dear child of God. And therefore, if you're born of God, and see that in your life is something one, so much as one of this corrupt fruit, that life within you is going to cause you to take that thing that is evil, and bring it to the Lord for forgiveness, and cleansing, and pardon, you can't make peace with it, because something happened. Now, if a person professes to be a Christian, and be content to bear generation after generation, year after year, month after month, week after week, even day after day, these fruits of evil, and live with it, and culture it, and nourish it, and fertilize it with thought and effort, then the evidence is they've never had the miracle take place. Because the good tree just can't be content with the evil fruit. Something's happened. It'll be there, but it won't stay there. Now let's notice the next thing. He speaks about the people that have had come in the gate of repentance, and have had the miracle of changing their nature and life performed upon them. And now he says, those that call me Lord, thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord. Now said he, there are two gates, one's wide, there's two trees, one has the leaf and the bark, not the heart of the matter. And then there are two ways to say Lord. One can say Lord is a fact of history, Lord in heaven, or is Lord in history, or is Lord in the future. But there's only one way that there's saving significance to saying Lord. Thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord. Where? Well, in the place where the crime has been committed. And what was the crime? The crime was this, that I was Lord of my own life, and you were Lord of your life, and we ruled and reigned to please ourselves. Now we see this crime. We've turned in this straight gate. We've had taken and performed upon us this miracle of a new nature imparted by the sovereign and supernatural grace of God. Now we say Lord, how? Just Lord in terms of an enunciation of a fact? No. Lord is the testimony of a transaction. Here was a throne in my heart that I usurped. It belonged to another sovereign, and I took it as mine. And now I've abdicated the throne and abandoned it to the rightful sovereign. Now Lord, this is yours. Confess with the mouth Jesus to be Lord. What does he say? There are some people that have said, Lord, Lord, but they have remained seated on the throne. They've continued to rule their life. They've continued to live to please themselves. They've continued to govern. They've never abdicated. Oh, they've learned what to say. They've said, Lord, Lord. And they've learned what to do. They've cast out devils and done miracles. They've learned where to go. They've associated with the people of God. And they have passed through the years undetected. But they come to the door and they knock on the door and say, Lord, let us in. And from within they hear him now say, away with you. I never knew you, ye that work iniquity. What didn't they? Didn't he know them in the sense of his omniscience? Yes. And didn't they know him? Yes. How many times we hear people say to others or use it, perhaps you've used it yourself in personal work. Do you know the Lord? Well, I wonder if perhaps it wouldn't be well for us to change that and say, does the Lord know you? Has the Lord given you his life? Have you received from him this supernatural gift of redeeming, transforming light? Have you been born of God? Well, you see, everyone that's been born of God has said, Lord, but said it in this manner. Lord Jesus Christ is the sovereign of my life to reign and to rule. Is he the sovereign of your life to reign and to rule? This is what he is indeed if you've received him thus. But should it be that you haven't received him thus, then it could be that you'd go undetected by the church, but you'll never pass by his scrutiny because he looks on the heart. And one day, that person that has refused to meet him on the terms that he demands will be exposed. What of this now? How have you said, Lord, have you turned in the straight gate? His people have. Have you had the miracle upon you that's changed you inwardly so that you hate the fruit of your old life and are willing to denounce it? You've made war against it and love the fruit of righteousness and are allowing him to do it. Have you said, Lord, in the sense that you want to obey him and everything that he asks of you and have committed your life unreservedly to his sovereignty? His people have. You see, what I'm trying to get you to see is what his people have done, that you might know the exquisite joy that is yours of being one of his people. That you've turned in that gate and you've received this miracle of new life. And now you gladly own him as Lord in every particular, in every detail. And your purpose is to please him in every area of your life. His people are. And then we come to the last thing. His people have built a house. Well, they built it on a foundation. What's the foundation? We'll write back there at the straight gate, the foundation of repentance toward God, recognizing that Jesus Christ is Lord and he is the rock upon which we build. Why we've said this has been a crime living to please myself and governing my own life. I'm through with this crime. And so right under our whole Christian testimony, the rock was placed, the rock Christ Jesus, since he is Lord, my life is built upon this deity and not only his deity, but his sovereignty and his sovereignty extended into my life. And then upon that rock in our relationship to it, we build our testimony that we're sinners worthy of death, but the Jesus Christ died for sinners. And we've depended of our sin and we've received him as Lord and his savior. And the structure begins to be built. And that structure now gives us shelter and it gives us comfort. It's the place of pleasure. It's the place of joy. And around us is a structure, a structure of truth, a structure of doctrine that provides security and comfort and assurance to our hearts. Well, over here is another man. He has the same doctrine, has the same scripture verses, and he has ascended to their truth. But what's the difference? He's built the structure, but not upon the rock of repentance and conversion and regeneration. And they are both against the ground and they can't be discovered until that day when the wind rises and the water falls and the flood comes and the house on the sand will be destroyed. Our Lord is saying that throughout the entire period that the gospel is preached, these two things are going to go side by side. And it behooves you to check for yourself. Certainly you can't check for others. How are you to know what gate another may have gone in other than by the way he lives? If he lives in the manner in which you've seen, the scripture says, from such turn away. How do you know what's happened to another other than by the fruit that may be there? How do you know how one says, Lord, other than by the obedience that is read? No, this isn't for you as an individual to have private judgment of others in this regard. The church, of course, has the necessity of testing the genuineness. And by this means, and this means alone, can the purity of testimony be protected and can the church remain blessable before God? But the great concern ought to be in your heart today. Is this true of me? Well, if it isn't, let's make it so. Let's not wait. Let's deal with the matter. It can be true. Let's get to the thing. Let's go right to it now. Don't hide it. Don't bury it. Be like an infection. It's going to burst out in the eruption sooner or later. If there's any uncertainty, let's face it. Get on with this thing in prayer and in study. It's going to be exposed one day. But if it's true, if these things are true, that you have turned in the straight gate, what does it mean? It means that the purpose of your life is to please God in everything. How many times we think that we were to please God at the gate entrance? No, we were to please God there and then to keep on pleasing him the whole journey. Well, everyone, I guess, would like to please God today so they wouldn't have to bother about it tomorrow. But that's not it. You turn in this straight gate so that you can walk the narrow way of total obedience to the will of the Lord as long as you live. Has the Lord produced this fruit? Then let's go to it and tear off anything that's of the old life. Break before God. Confess wherein that fruit may have come that we hate and God hates. Break up our hearts and break off those limbs and branches that continue to bear that evil fruit. Deal with it. Let's get on now with this thing so God can bless. This is what he's saying. This is what he does to the redeemed heart, perhaps because of the blight and the fungus of the world around us. Some of the fruit in your life has this character of the old life, but that you know God has done a miracle in your heart. All right. Don't coddle the poisonous fruit. Rip it from the tree. Rip it from the branch. Confess it. Get it under the blood so that the tree, healthy and wholesome, can begin to bear heavenly fruit again. This is what he's saying. You said Lord back there, but somewhere along the line, you've become Lord of your own life, turned to your own way. Well, now let's see here, what are we going to do? Get on with it. Confess the things you've done in your own strength for your own pleasure and reestablish as Lord. Let me illustrate it. If God has done a sound work in your heart and you may have, as the oldsters have said, backslidden or gotten out of fellowship with God, what are you going to do about it? Well, deal with it right now. Suppose you were going on a trip from here to Chicago. Your ticket read from here to Chicago. You got on the train, but there was an unusually long delay in Buffalo. So you said, well, I'm going to go for a little walk. The conductor assured you you'd have time, but somehow he was incorrect. When you came back, you found out that the train had gone on and you were stranded in Buffalo. Now, what do you do? Walk back to New York and start over again. No, you don't need to do that. You get right on the train where you got off. And if God has done a sound work in your life and you've entered in the straight gate, and God has done this work of transforming you inwardly, and you have confessed from the heart Jesus to be Lord, and you have built your house on the rock, but things have come in to corrupt and pollute and to change and to hurt your testimony and grieve God and put you under discipline and censor from the Lord, what should we do, dear child? Deal with it right there, right at the point, point of brokenness right now. For the point of brokenness is the point of blessing. And we'll never outgrow the need for brokenness. If the work is genuine in our lives, it doesn't mean that the tree won't need to be pruned and we won't need to keep checking on the narrow way. Not so, but it means that we've purposed to please God. We've undergone and experienced the supernatural work. We have owed Jesus to be Lord. We've built a house on the rock and anything that comes, we break over this for the responsibility is ours. We confess it, forsake it, know the cleansing of the blood and reestablished fellowship, and then go on with the Lord. If the work is genuine, but no amount of brokenness and confession as a false professing Christian is going to set the matter right, you may have to go right back to the gate and come in. If it wasn't done genuinely, but I'm talking now to those that know they're children of God, and yet you've strayed from that narrow way and the fruit has become poisonous, bitter. Deal with it now, that broken fellowship, wrong attitudes and motives, those things that God calls sin. Deal with it right here and then reestablish it and go on with the Lord. But this is what his people do. They want to be right with God. They want to be right. The difference between Saul and David is what I bring you in closing. Saul was rebellious and proud a professor of religion. But when Saul sinned and Samuel said, what is the bleeding of the sheep I hear and the lowing of the cattle? Saul said, don't tell the people. He tried to hide it. The difference was this, that when Samuel came or when Nathan came to David, remember what he said? And what did he say? Have mercy upon me, oh God. David broke. David had turned in the straight gate, walking the narrow way, had a miracle. He's a friend of God. Jesus was Lord. He built the house on the rock and he sinned, but God forgave him when he broke. Saul wanted to cover it and David wanted to be cleansed from it. And you evidence the genuineness of your profession by what you do about sin uncovered in your life. Oh, that we might say, yes, the work is right. God's done a work, but this has come in to interfere and hinder. Now I'm going to break before the Lord. And blessing always comes from brokenness. Won't you, if God has done a real work, won't you just see that everything is right and God will meet you and bless you. Let's bow our hearts. Oh God, let none of us be like Saul who knew all the words and phrases and acts and ceremonies, but his heart was raw like Judas that was with Christ, but he betrayed him. Father, we would be like David in everything save in his sin. We would love thee and seek thee. And then Lord, when sin is uncovered, would break before thee. God be merciful. Have mercy upon me, oh God. Blot out mine uncleanness. Cleanse me from all iniquity. This is the man, the friend of thine, oh God. And so grant that those that have turned in the straight gate and have had the miracle change their natures and have confessed with the mouth, Jesus to be Lord and built on the rock, but have been veered aside and gone off the path. Lord, that they might get back on now today. God, forgive me, cleanse me, purge me. Let this be the cry of every heart. We know that this is what thy people do, oh God of grace. Let thy people hear, realize what thou hast done in them, and then allow thee to do for them all that they need. Dear heart, you know your life. You know what the Lord has done. You know whether you've actually been born of God, have the witness of the Spirit that you're born of God. You know that. If you aren't sure, you better make sure. Oh dear child of God, if sin has come into your life, don't cherish it, nourish it. Let the word of God uncover it, and then break and bend before the Lord. Have mercy upon me, oh God. This is the cry, this is the cry of the redeemed heart. I entreat you, I give you this invitation. Meet the Lord. If I can help, if there's a place of prayer here that you'll be protected and be quiet, but obey God. Meet the Lord. This is what he asks of you, because of all he's done for and in you. Now let us stand for prayer and the benediction. Father, thou art looking for a people thou canst bless, but before thou canst bless, thy people must be blessable. Thou said my name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with him that is of a broken and a contrite spirit, to revive the hearts of the broken and to revive the spirits of the contrite ones. Now our God, we pray thee that thou by thy spirit will hold thy word upon us. And where we see we've turned from the narrow way, or we've allowed that corrupt fruit to come again, we've said Lord, but haven't allowed him to be Lord. Oh, grant Lord we shall deal with it ruthlessly, knowing that as we are thorough thou also will cleanse and pardon. Father, go with us. Keep us from frittering away what thou mayest have said by light talk. Help us to think and to meditate and work in our lives, Lord, and get for thyself here something holy thine by which thou canst bring glory and honor and praise to the Lord Jesus. Bless every heart and may they lay hold of all the promises in Christ, knowing that they are and amen in him. Now may thy grace, mercy, and peace be in divide with each of us now and until we meet again. Amen.