The Safety of a Shadow

The safest place in the world is in the shadow of the Almighty, in the secret place of the Most High, under his wings. Now, there are those who make this position to refer to the Lord picturing himself as a mother bird. Back in Deuteronomy chapter 32, in verse 11, the Lord, through Moses, talks about himself as the eagle who flutters over the young and carries the young and protects the young.

I don't like to disagree with tradition, but I don't think that's what the psalmist is talking about. Now, I know that many years later, the Lord Jesus talked about gathering Jerusalem as a hen doth gather her chicks, but I don't think that's what Psalm 91 is talking about. The secret place of the Most High, the shadow of the Almighty, under his wings, I believe, is the holy of holies in the tabernacle.

If you'll look at some scriptures in the book of Psalms, you might come to agree with me, although I promise I will not make it a test of fellowship. Psalm 27, for example, verse 4, one thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple, for in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion, in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me, he shall set me up upon a rock. And then you turn over to Psalm 36, verses 7 and 8. How excellent is thy loving kindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. I think the clincher is Psalm 61 and verse 4, where the psalmist says, I will abide in thy tabernacle forever. I will trust in the shelter of thy wings.

Now, you people are Bible students, and you know that in the Holy of Holies were the two cherubim, and they hovered over the ark and looked down into the ark. And I think that Psalm 91 is talking about the believer in the Holy of Holies under his wings. And of course, you and I as New Testament Christians, being priests of God, have this same privilege.

In fact, it's not only a privilege, it's a great responsibility. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 19, when he starts to wrap up his application. Hebrews 10, 19, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.

And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Now, in the Old Testament, the common people dared not enter the tabernacle. But in the New Testament, you and I as the priests of God are not only invited, we are encouraged to enter into the Holy of Holies.

So, Psalm 91 is talking about abiding in the Holy of Holies under the shadow of his wings, under the shelter of God. And this is the safest place in all the world. Now, as we read Psalm 91, you notice that it's a psalm of confidence.

The psalmist is talking about how confident he is in this place under his wings, which leads me to suggest to us tonight that this abiding life, this life in the Holy of Holies, is a life of confidence because of the assurances that God gives to us. In Psalm 91, you are going to find four wonderful assurances that you can lay hold of if you are living in the Holy of Holies. Now, before we look at these four assurances, let me explain what it means to live in the Holy of Holies.

This is the Old Testament equivalent of what Jesus says in John 15, Abide in me. It's talking about fellowship. It's talking about communion.

It's talking about obedience. When you and I are living in the place of fellowship under his wings, then we can claim these assurances for ourselves. I think they are beautifully summarized in the last three verses of the psalm.

Verse 14, Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him. I will set him on high because he hath known my name. Here's the first assurance that you can claim if you are living under his wings.

You can be sure of adequate protection. In fact, the emphasis of this entire psalm is on adequate protection. Our God is a God who protects us.

Now, to the Old Testament Jew, the Old Testament Saint, this was a very significant thing. You must remember that Palestine was a very small country, that the Jewish people were not a warlike people. They were surrounded by enemies.

And it would be very meaningful to the Old Testament believer to know that God was protecting him. Now, because you are Bible students, you know that in the Old Testament, God promised physical protection to his people. He said to them, If you'll go into the land and obey me, if you'll keep my commandments, if you'll keep my statutes and my laws, here's what I'll do for you.

Number one, you'll always have rain. The rain will come down in its season and you'll always have crops. You'll not have famine.

You'll not have pestilence. Furthermore, when your armies have to go out to fight, one man will chase a thousand. I'll give you great victory.

Furthermore, if you obey my law, none of the diseases that you saw in Egypt will ever come to you. And your cattle will not lose their young. Your sheep will multiply.

Your families will multiply. You'll be able to dig iron ore and all sorts of metals out of the mountains. You'll find gold and silver and precious stones.

I will take care of you if you obey my law. And you won't have to worry about sickness. You won't have to worry about famine.

You won't have to worry about these physical, material things. This was God's covenant with the Jews. Now, sad to say they didn't keep their end of the bargain.

They disobeyed him. And every time they did, God had to spank them. He would turn the earth into concrete and the heavens into brass.

And there would be famine. And there would be drought. There would be war.

They would be defeated before their enemies. Sickness would come. Plagues would come when they disobeyed God.

I say that to remind you that nowhere in the New Testament do we have this same promise. I don't know of anywhere in God's covenant with his church where he says, if you obey me, you will never be sick. If you obey me, you will always have rain and always have good crops.

There are Christians today, I mean dedicated Christians, who are starving. There has been drought. And there has been famine.

And there are dedicated Christians who are, they're hungry. They're starving. Christians have gone to war.

I recall when the Second World War was in progress. My two brothers were in the Marine Corps. I was too young to be drafted.

And there were, oh, I suppose, eight or ten boys from our street, our block, who had gone to the service. And I remember the first time a gold star appeared in a window on our block. And some of you younger ones may not remember the gold stars.

But when a serviceman was killed, you went to your front window where you had your little service flag hanging to let people know you had someone in the service. And you exchanged the blue star for a gold star. There was a boy down the corner of our block.

He'd played baseball with my brothers. He was a fine kid, a lot of fun. And one day a gold star appeared in the window.

And you say to yourself, well, why are people killed? Lots of Christians lost sons and daughters and relatives in the war. And yet here's Psalm 91. Nowhere in the New Testament are we told that God gives to us the same kind of promise that he gave to the Old Testament Jew.

However, this doesn't mean Psalm 91 doesn't belong to us. What he's saying in Psalm 91 is that God protects his own. In Psalm 91, I counted 11 different kinds of perils that are listed.

He talks about pestilence. He talks about war. He talks about the snare of the fowler, which is an Old Testament picture of death, Satan out trying to catch you and kill you.

He talks about the destruction at noonday. He talks about fear. There are so many different problems discussed here.

I counted 11 of them. There may be more. What does the Lord say? The Lord is saying to you and me, if we are living in the holy of holies, we don't have to be afraid of those things.

If they do come, they cannot do us harm. They may hurt us, but they'll never harm us. You see, most of us have the idea, and it's a wrong idea, that when you're living in the holy of holies, you're sheltered and God pampers you.

And God says, now you'll never have any sickness. Nobody in your family is ever going to have an auto accident. Nobody in this family is ever going to go to war.

There are never going to be any premature deaths, but that just ain't so. I recall early in my ministry as a young pastor, I used to try to figure out and explain to my people why they were going through what they were going through. I've quit doing that.

Sometimes we just don't know. But I would be a liar if I stood here and said to you, your son may never be killed in an auto accident, or he will never be killed. Your daughter can never get any kind of a plague or a sickness, because you and I know better.

What he's saying here to you and me is this, that when a believer who lives in the holy of holies encounters trouble and difficulty and trial and sickness and danger, he does not have to be afraid. Whether or not he is spared that is no problem. God knows what he's doing.

The important thing is not what is done to me physically, the important thing is what happens to me spiritually. That's the important thing. Now, I don't doubt that the Holy Spirit of God could take a verse from Psalm 91, make it very real to a person, and he claimed that and it be his own.

I recall at a Youth for Christ rally many years ago, shortly after the war, hearing a man get up and give his testimony how God had spared his life. Once again, back in World War II, many of the Christian servicemen carried pocket New Testaments that had metal covers to them. You'll remember those.

And this fellow had been hit by a bullet, and the bullet had hit the New Testament and had penetrated the metal cover and had stopped at the back of the New Testament where the Psalms were, and the bullet was pointing to Psalm 91, verse 7. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come near thee. Well, it did come near him, very close, but God spared him. But you see, there may have been a Christian buddy five feet away that God didn't spare.

God had something different for him. The point I'm making is this, we don't have to be afraid. Many people go through life constantly afraid, wake up in the morning and say, I may be struck by lightning today.

That's an awful way to live. There are people who go through life always worrying about the latest calamity. What he's saying is this, if you and I are living in the holy of holies, God will give to us adequate protection.

Now, I think it goes a little deeper. I think that the Lord here is talking not simply about physical and material dangers. I think he's talking about spiritual dangers, too, because Satan was wise enough to quote from this Psalm.

I notice verse 13 says God not only protects us, but God helps us to be on the offensive. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder. The young lion and the serpent thou shalt trample under feet.

Now, we know who the lion is. The lion is Satan. Be sober, be vigilant, for your adversary the devil as a roaring lion goes about seeking whom he may devour.

We know who the serpent is, that old serpent the devil. So, here we have in verse 13, God says if you live in the holy of holies, not only will you not have to be afraid of physical danger. If it comes, it cannot harm you, though it may hurt you.

No evil will come with it. You will get victory, and even if your life is taken, I know what I'm doing. But he also says as you go through life, you can walk out and you can step on the devil.

You can put your heel on his head. You can put him in the place of defeat if you abide under the shadow of the Almighty. And so, I think the first assurance that we need to lay hold of is the assurance of adequate protection.

Now, let me drop this thought into your heart and we'll move into assurance number two, and it's this. God does not protect us to pamper us. God protects us to prepare us.

There's a big difference. Many of God's people when difficulty comes, sickness, surgery, death, they run to God and say, Oh, Lord, shelter me. Protect me.

I don't want to go back into the world. Oh, it's so hard out there. The wind is blowing and people don't like me.

If you were the baby in the family, you know what I'm talking about. Somehow the baby in the family always got the short end of the deal. My big brothers and my sister used to go out and play and do all sorts of things with the kids in the block, but I was left out.

And I'd come running to mother, and she was very wise. She didn't pamper me and say, Well, you stay here and I'll get some ice cream. She tried to fortify me to go right back and take my place with them.

That's what God does. God wants no pampered children. When you do run into the holy of holies, licking your wounds and wiping your tears, God says, Here I am.

I'll accept you. I love you. I'm going to shelter you.

I'm going to strengthen you, but not to keep you here. Spiritually speaking, yes, we're always in the holy of holies in Christ. But physically speaking, we've got to go out and face life.

God is our refuge. So he hides us and our strength. So he helps us a very present help in trouble.

And we go right back out to fight the battles and carry the burdens. There's a second assurance that comes to us if we live in the holy of holies. That's in verse 15.

He shall call upon me and I will answer him the assurance of adequate protection and the assurance of answered prayer. Now, I've been meditating on this. Jesus said, If you abide in me, that's the holy of holies, and my words abide in you, that's my holy of holies, my heart, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.

That's a remarkable promise. Doesn't say ask in my will. It says ask what you will.

You say, Well, wait a minute. I've asked lots of things and he didn't do it. Maybe you weren't in the holy of holies.

Let me explain. I've been meditating on this and I've asked the Lord the question, Why is it that when a Christian is living in the holy of holies, abiding in Christ, that God answers prayer? I think I found one reason why. In order to get to the holy of holies, you've got to go through the whole tabernacle.

Now, the Old Testament decreed that only once a year could the high priest go into the holy of holies. Now, you folks know how the tabernacle was put together. I don't have to draw you a picture.

As you came up to the tabernacle gate, there was a big altar, four and a half feet square, great big altar. This was the altar of burnt offering. It was on this altar that the offerings were made.

This was the place of sacrifice. Now, before you can get to the holy of holies, you've got to go to that altar. What he's saying is you can't pray unless you're saved.

He's also saying you can't pray and get answers unless you're surrendered. That was the altar of burnt offering. This means that before I dare to pray, I've got to come and put myself on the altar and say, now, Lord, here I am on the altar.

I am yielded to you. That is the altar of burnt offering. But you don't stop there.

It's tragic when so many Christians don't press into the holy of holies. The next step was the laver. Right in the middle of that courtyard was this huge brass basin.

And the water was in this. And this is where the priest washed their hands and priest washed their feet. They wouldn't dare enter in to the tabernacle with dirty hands and dirty feet, which says to me, I can't come and pray.

I can't expect God to answer my prayers if I have dirty hands and dirty feet. You know what the psalmist said. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.

So if I'm going to get to the holy of holies, it starts with salvation and surrender and cleansing. But it doesn't stop there. If I'm saved and yielded and clean, then I move into that holy place.

Now, you remember in the holy place of the tabernacle, there were three pieces of furniture, a lampstand with oil that burned, a table with bread on it, twelve loaves of bread, and then a little golden altar right before the veil, right before the holy of holies, where they burned incense. So if I've come from salvation and surrender and cleansing, then I move into the holy place and I feed on Jesus Christ, who is the bread of life. That means feeding on the word of God.

And I have the Holy Spirit. That's the oil in the lamp. I have the Holy Spirit giving me direction.

Do you see how it all fits together? If I am that kind of a priest, I will pray in the will of God. If I am saved and yielded and cleansed and I'm feeding on the word, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, and if I'm walking by the light of the Holy Spirit, the Bible calls this praying in the Holy Ghost. Then when I enter into the holy of holies, all of this has prepared me.

You see, many people want to come running into the holy of holies by the back door. There was no back door to the tabernacle. You've got to come by the front door.

My friends, the greatest blessing of prayer is the preparation for prayer. Getting to the place where God can answer prayer is in itself a great blessing. And then when the answer comes, you praise God not only for the answer, but for the fact that he built the kind of character in you that enabled him to answer.

Let me use an everyday illustration that every mother and dad and every grandma and grandpa will say amen to. Our children come and ask us for things. And as I said this morning, we delight to meet the needs of our children, but we don't pamper them.

Each of us, when we were children, each one of us asked for things that were wrong. And we give thanks that mother and dad said no. Our children have come and asked us for things that may be wrong.

And we have said no. And at the time they didn't like it. You don't love me.

You don't understand. I'm going to go out in the backyard and eat worms. What were we doing? Building character, building character.

Sometimes they ask for things that they're too young to enjoy. And we say, no, you better wait a little while. And then when we give this to you, you'll really be ready for it.

Well, I'm older than you think I am. No, you're younger than you think you are. Now you're 10 going on 25.

Now God does this. God wants to build character. And God says, you're not going to sneak in the back door of the tabernacle.

There is no back door. You're not going to crawl under the tent. Oh, no, can't have that.

You're going to come the way you have to come. First, it means salvation and then surrender. If you're rebellious, I'm sorry, I can't answer.

If I gave you what you wanted in the condition you were in, you'd never grow cleansing. I can't I can't hear your prayer if your hands and feet are dirty. Are you feeding on the word of God? Are you following the leading of the Holy Spirit? You see, when you're living in the holy of holies, you got there by the route that God ordained.

And therefore, God can answer prayer. The assurance of adequate protection, we don't have to be afraid. The assurance of answered prayer.

The longer I minister and the longer I live, the more convinced I am that we live by prayer. Far too many people look upon prayer as an emergency vehicle. They look upon prayer the way I look upon the axes and the equipment that's behind those glass doors.

In the case of an emergency, break this glass and run. Prayer is not like this. Prayer is not an emergency thing.

Living in the holy of holies is a moment by moment, day by day experience and privilege. And prayer is just as normal as breathing. In fact, Jesus said men ought always to pray and not to faint.

Now, the end of verse 15, we have a third assurance. If we live in the holy of holies, we will have the assurance of adequate protection and answered prayer and abiding presence. I will be with him in trouble.

I will deliver him and honor him. Abiding presence. I will be with him.

Now, according to some people's theology, the Christian should never be in trouble. But this says I will be with him in trouble. Doesn't say I'll keep him out of trouble.

He's not talking about the trouble we cause. So often we get mailed because of our radio ministry. And I'm glad when people write and they spell out in page after page all the problems that they've got.

And when you read between the lines and begin to weigh it, you say to yourself, hey, they're just doing in their own grease. They've made their own bed. Now it's very uncomfortable.

They got themselves into it. I'm sorry about this. Many, many times, friends, you and I, by disobeying God and running ahead of God, we get ourselves into trouble.

That's not what he's talking about. When that happens, we've got to come and say, Father, I'm a rebellious child. I've disobeyed you and I'm sorry.

And I want you to forgive me and get me back into the holy of holies. What he's saying here is when the child of God is in the will of God, God is with him. That's what he's saying.

I'll go one step further. He is saying here that you are immortal in the will of God until your work is done. Twice in my brief existence, I've been close to death.

I wasn't supposed to live past the age of two. The doctor told my mother that I had a condition and she would never raise me past the age of two. Well, thank God she did.

As most of you know, I was in an auto accident a few years ago and was just a millimeter away from eternity, and God brought me through. The chaplain said to my wife, he'll never make it. He was a very encouraging fellow.

He'll never make it. You know, when you are in the will of God, living for the glory of God, and none of us is doing all he ought to do, but our work keeps us here and God's will keeps us here until our work is done. I think there is an appointed time to man on the earth.

Job said this, I can hasten that time, but I can't go beyond it. Now, Satan would like to kill all of us. I don't think we appreciate that fact like we should.

When I hear people jesting about the devil made me do it. You don't joke about that. You just don't.

That's like joking about an atomic bomb. You just don't joke about it. Satan is a very real enemy and he hates you.

And he'd kill you if he could. What he's saying here is this, when the Christian gets into trouble because of the will of God, as Jesus did and Paul did and Peter did and Elijah did and Jeremiah did and Moses did, God is with him. The interesting thing he says is God delivers us because we know his name.

I notice in this psalm that there are several wonderful names of God. Verse one, he that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high. I like that.

The first time you find God called the most high God is back in Genesis chapter 14, when Abraham went out and fought that war and Abraham came back and the king of Sodom came out and said, here, you can have all the money, but you let me have the people. And Abraham said, I have lifted my hand to the most high God that I won't even take a shoestring off of you. Lest somebody says you've made Abraham rich, the most high God.

He's the God that wins the battles for us. He's the God that takes us through for his glory. In verse one, he's called the almighty.

He shall abide under the shadow of the almighty. That is also first use in the life of Abraham. Genesis chapter 17, God comes and says, I am the Lord almighty.

And you know what, Abraham, you're going to have a baby. Your wife's going to have a baby. You're going to be, get a son.

And Abraham laughs and Sarah laughs. He says, is anything too hard for the Lord? I'm God almighty. It's marvelous to know that I have watching over me.

Most high God. He's far above my enemies. He's far above the waves of the sea.

He's far above the two malts of the nations. He is the almighty and he wants to reach down with that almighty hand and help you with that problem. You've got in verse two, he's called the Lord capital letters, L O R D. That means Jehovah.

That means the covenant keeping God, the God who's faithful, the God who keeps his promises. And he's also called my God in verse two. He is my refuge and my fortress, my God.

That word God means the strong one. And so here we have the high God, the God who's almighty, the God who keeps his promises, the God who is strong on our behalf. And when you dwell in the secret place of the most high, you have abiding presence.

This kind of a God is with you. Now he's not against you. He's not far from you.

He's with you. I have noticed in my own life that when God is the closest to me, sometimes I don't even feel it. I mean, people say, pastor, I'm going through this difficulty and I don't feel God.

Well, I've been through that too, but I know he's there. You know why he said he would, I would much rather know that God is there than feel that God is there. My feelings can be wrong.

He has said to me, I will never leave thee. And I will never forsake thee. Now there's some conditions involved in this.

You say, I want God to be with me. I want God to help me in the holy of holies. Notice verse two in him.

Will I trust notice verse 14, because he has set his love upon me. Can I put these two together for you in him? Will I trust that's faith because he has set his love upon me. That's love.

You put these two together, my friend, trusting him and loving him. And he's with you. Verse 14, where he says, because he said his love on me, you young people appreciate that, that Hebrew verb there means because he's fallen in love with me.

It's one of the strongest words in the Hebrew language for falling in love. It's almost violent because he has fallen in love with me because he so loves me that he wants to abide with me. I will abide with him, which leads us to our fourth assurance.

Verse 16 with long life. Will I satisfy him and show him my salvation, the assurance of abundant provision. God says, I'm going to provide for you.

Now don't misunderstand verse 16 to the old Testament. Jew long life meant long life. The godly lived a long life, but David Brainerd died very young and he was a godly man.

Robert Murray McShane, the saintly Presbyterian preacher did not even live to be 30 years of age. Out on the mission fields of the world, young people have died. Verse 16 carries with it the idea of a full life.

It says Abraham died being full of years. You know what that means? A full life. Sometimes God enables people to get their work done a lot sooner.

Robert Murray McShane is still ministering today through his sermons, through the biography that Bonar wrote of him, through the hymns that we have in our hymn book. He got his work done in about 29 years. For some of the rest of us, it may take a little longer.

Verse 16 does not mean that I'm going to live to be 90. I hope the Lord comes back before then. Verse 16 suggests to us a satisfying life.

You know, my friend, the Christian in the will of God lives far more than does anybody else. A Christian serving God in the will of God, living in the Holy of Holies, has a satisfying life and a full life and an efficient life and a life of accomplishment. There are people in this church who have lived two and three lives in their accomplishments.

Why? Because they've been living in the will of God. That's amazing what Christians get done. I know you people come and say, Pastor, I'm not doing enough, and I feel that way.

I see the agenda of the things I should be doing, and I say I'm just not getting enough done. But you know, just think of that worldly crowd out there wasting time, wasting money, wasting energy. Think of those carnal Christians wasting their time, wasting their talents.

I thank God that when you live in the Holy of Holies, there is that abundant provision. He gives you a full life. I feel sorry for people who die after living an empty life.

When they're gone, you say, well, they're gone. He's talking here about quality, not so much quantity. Quantity is there, but the Lord pours quantity in with quality.

He's talking about a life of enrichment and a life of enjoyment and a life of enablement so that you pour into your years so much to the glory of God. Then you're preparing for an eternity of ministry. These then, I think, are some of the assurances that we have when we live in the Holy of Holies.

And to live in the Holy of Holies means to trust him, to obey him, and to love him. In 1862, D.L. Moody was coming back to the States from England, and three days out into the Atlantic, the shaft of the boat broke, and the boat began to tip, and the boat began to sink. Now, Mr. Moody hated the water anyway, and this was a real challenge to everybody, because the boat was sinking.

They held a meeting in the salon of the boat, and D.L. Moody tells about it. Let me read it to you. With one hand clasping a pillar to steady myself on the reeling vessel, I tried to read Psalm 91, and we prayed that God would still the raging of the sea and bring us to our desired haven.

It was a new psalm to me from that very hour. The 11th verse touched me very deeply. It was like the voice of divine assurance, and it seemed a very real thing as I read, He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways.

And surely he did it. God heard my cry and enabled me to say from the depth of my soul, Thy will be done. Sweet peace came to my heart.

I went to bed, fell asleep almost immediately, and never slept more soundly in all my life. Out of the depths, I cried unto my Lord, and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. And of course, another vessel came along, and they were rescued, and he arrived home safely.

But I noticed that Mr. Moody got from this psalm exactly what God wanted him to get. God calmed my fears. A sweet peace came to my heart.

God enabled me to say from the depth of my soul, Thy will be done. That is far more important than anything else. God is building character.

God is building character. And my friend, character is what you're taking to heaven with you. And a hundred years from now, that's going to be the important thing.

As I said this morning, what kind of character did I build? We get there by the grace of God. But while we're living here and waiting, we're building character for the glory of God. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty, under his wings, in the Holy of Holies.

This is the safest place in all the world. It's the most satisfying place in all the world. Gracious Father, we would come tonight asking that you would help us to live in the Holy of Holies.

Lord, all of us, or most of us, have come to the altar, and we have received the salvation through the blood. And many of us have laid ourselves on the altar in surrender, and we try to come to the laver for cleansing. Father, we want to move on into the Holy of Holies.

I pray that you will help us to love you more, to trust you more, and to obey you more, that we might appreciate and appropriate these wonderful assurances. For that one who may be here, Father, who's never been born again, I pray, that one who's living outside the tabernacle, who's never come to the altar, never come to the cross, I pray that that one tonight might come and trust Christ. Now, Lord, in the days to come, make this psalm very real to us.

Grant to us the kind of assurance, the kind of fearlessness, the kind of courage that we need in this battle of life. May we claim your promises for Jesus' sake. In his name I pray. Amen.