A Faith Mission

[0:00] Well, if we could, this morning, with the Lord's help and the Lord's enabling, if we could turn back to that portion of Scripture that we read, the Gospel according to Mark, and chapter 2.

[0:17] Mark, chapter 2, and if we just read again from the beginning. And when Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.

[0:30] And many were gathered together so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And they came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.

[0:42] And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him. And when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven.

[1:00] Son, your sins are forgiven. God willing, next Lord's Day, the faith mission will begin a three-week mission in our community where they will be working alongside both churches in our community to reach out and to invite people to come and hear the Gospel.

[1:27] And the invitation to come will be the invitation that the Gospel gives. It will be an invitation to whosoever. And I'm sure that we can think of people maybe in our homes, people in our families, people in the community.

[1:41] They come to church regularly, but, well, they're not committed Christians yet. I'm sure we can think of others who come to church occasionally and we would want to invite them.

[1:51] I'm sure we can think of some people who don't come to church at all. And, you know, there are many people in our community who need the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And with the faith mission coming to our community to work alongside us, I want us to see that this is an opportunity.

[2:09] It's an opportunity for us to invite people to come and hear the Gospel. This is an opportunity for us to invite whosoever to be under the sound of the Gospel.

[2:21] Because the mission tent that you'll see being erected on Thursday and then Friday, the mission tent, it's a neutral venue, you could say. It's an informal setting.

[2:32] It's a stepping stone. But most importantly, it's an opportunity. It's an opportunity to invite someone to come along. Now, if you've already decided that you're not going to go to the tent because, well, you think that it's not for you or you don't feel part of it or it's not really my scene, I want to say to you the old phrase, don't knock it until you've tried it.

[2:59] Don't knock it until you've tried it. Come along one night, and if you don't like it, well, that's fine. You don't have to come again. But don't knock it until you've tried it. And, you know, I was thinking, I was thinking about the faith mission coming to our community and working alongside us.

[3:16] And, you know, the wonderful opportunity it is for people to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was thinking about the faith mission that I was drawn back to this passage in Mark's gospel.

[3:28] Because in this passage, we also read about a faith mission. Because Jesus, we're told here, he's preaching the gospel in a house meeting. He's in church.

[3:39] And there are four friends who are on this faith mission. And they're seeking to bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus. And, you know, we can actually learn a lot from this passage and these four friends who were on this faith mission.

[3:54] We can learn a lot from them as we prepare for a faith mission in our community. And I just want us to look at this passage this morning. I want us to consider it under three headings.

[4:06] Three headings. The crammed crowds, the committed Christians, and the compassionate Christ. So the crammed crowds, the committed Christians, and the compassionate Christ.

[4:19] So if we look first of all at the crammed crowds, we see them in verses one and two. We're told that when Jesus returned to Capernaum, after some days, it was reported that he was at home.

[4:31] And many were gathered together so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. So Mark chapter two, it begins with Jesus returning home to Capernaum.

[4:46] Having traveled around all the cities and villages throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and even healing every disease and sickness, we're told that Jesus returned home to Capernaum.

[5:01] In fact, this was the home of the apostle Peter. But this home had actually become a house church. And word had spread among the community that Jesus was back in Capernaum, and more and more people were coming to hear him preach.

[5:19] And on this particular occasion, there were lots and lots of people who came to see Jesus. In fact, we're told in verse two that there was so many people that there was no more room, not even at the door.

[5:31] Wouldn't you love church to be like that? That there's no more room, not even at the door. The house church, it was bursting at the seams to the point that there was standing room only.

[5:42] They were everywhere in the house. They were sitting in the windows. They were standing around the room. The crowds, they were crammed into the house that there was no more room, not even at the door.

[5:52] But you know, it's not actually clear as to why the crowds were there. They may have been coming for the message, but other people, they were probably coming to see a miracle.

[6:06] And I say that it's not clear because at that time, throughout the region of Galilee, Jesus was this new phenomenon. He was the new thing in town. And people, they had seen Jesus perform all these miracles.

[6:18] And they were amazed. They had heard Jesus speak. And they knew that he spoke with his authority, not like the scribes did. He spoke with authority. And so as the fame of Jesus spread throughout the region of Galilee, the crowds would follow him.

[6:33] And the crowds would gather wherever he was to be found. And in many ways, human nature being what it is, the crowds were attracting an even greater crowd.

[6:45] And they've all gathered together on this particular day in this house church. Whether they were there for the message or for a miracle, it's not clear. But they were all there.

[6:56] And like any preacher, standing in a room full of people, Jesus, we're told, he seized the opportunity to preach the word to them. Jesus preached the word to them.

[7:09] And this is important because Mark is affirming to us that the ministry of Jesus, it wasn't just about miracles. The ministry of Jesus wasn't just about going about cleansing lepers and casting out demons and giving the blind their sight and making the lame walk and the deaf to hear and the dead to rise.

[7:27] Yes, miracles were wonderful. And they were a glorious display of the power and compassion of Jesus. But the ministry of Jesus wasn't just about miracles.

[7:39] The ministry of Jesus was about the message. The ministry of Jesus was about the message of salvation. And the ministry of Jesus was all about preaching the word.

[7:50] And that's what we're told he was doing. We're told at the end of verse 2, and he was preaching the word to them. He was preaching the word. It wasn't a moralistic lesson.

[8:02] It wasn't an informative lecture. It wasn't a motivational speech. It wasn't a positive talk on how to be a better person and live a better life. No, this crammed crowd that were gathered before Jesus, they heard Jesus preach the word to them.

[8:19] He preached the word to them. But what did Jesus preach? What word did he give to them? Well, in chapter 1, when Jesus begins his ministry, we're told that Jesus came preaching the gospel of the kingdom.

[8:35] Jesus preached the timeless truth that the kingdom of God is at hand. And we're to repent and believe in the gospel. And you know, what better message to preach?

[8:46] What better word to bring to a crammed crowd? What better message in all the world is there than this good news of Jesus Christ? Because whatever ailments the people came with, whatever problems they had, whatever burdens they bore, whatever issues that were going on in their life, Jesus knew that whatever miracle he was going to perform before their eyes, it was never going to get to the heart of the problem.

[9:14] Because of course, the heart of the problem was always the problem of the heart. They needed the message of the gospel. And they needed the message of the gospel more than witnessing a miracle.

[9:26] which is why Jesus preached the word to them. Because it's only the word of God that can tend to our greatest need. It's only the word of God that can deal with our heart problem of sin.

[9:40] It's only the word of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's the only thing that can change our life and transform our heart. And Jesus himself, he is the word.

[9:52] John tells us, he is the word who became flesh. He came to dwell among us. And so as Jesus is preaching the word to them, he's preaching inevitably about himself.

[10:06] He's preaching about who he is. He's preaching about why he came. He's preaching about their need to come to him. He's preaching that he's the remedy to their ruin.

[10:17] That he's the son of God who became became man in order to save sinners. And he's come to call sinners to repent and believe in the gospel.

[10:31] And so the question is, well, are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? We told the children that they're all different on the outside, but they're all the same on the inside.

[10:45] Are you a sinner? And if you're a sinner, then Jesus is calling you to repent and believe in the gospel. Because as the crammed crowds, as they crammed into their local church in Capernaum, Jesus preached the word to them.

[11:01] And here in our local church in Barbas, here today, it's the same word that has to be preached to you. It's the same word because nothing else will do.

[11:13] Nothing else will change your life. Nothing else will convert you. Nothing else will give you hope in the midst of an uncertain life. Nothing else will bring comfort in the midst of your sorrows.

[11:24] Nothing else will encourage you when you're at your lowest. Nothing else will remind you of God's faithfulness to you when you're worried about the future. Nothing else will show you your need of salvation and that you can have your sins forgiven.

[11:38] Nothing else will do your soul any good apart from this word. Because the Bible is so clear. Faith comes by hearing. and hearing by the word of God.

[11:51] Nothing else will do you good my friend apart from this word. This Jesus. And that's who Jesus was presenting to the crammed crowd.

[12:05] Presenting himself as the remedy to the ruin. Jesus preached the word to them. But it was as Jesus was preaching to the crammed crowds.

[12:17] We see that committed Christians appeared at the local church. And that's what we see secondly. So the crammed crowds and then the committed Christians.

[12:29] The committed Christians were told in verse 3 and they came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd they removed the roof above him and when they had made an opening they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.

[12:50] So as the crowds from the community as they crammed into this house church there were many types of people inevitably who were in church that day. just like there is here today.

[13:02] There were those who were believers in Jesus they would have been at church. There were those who were unbelievers but interested in Jesus they would have been at church. There were others who were probably religious and we see them later on and they didn't see their need of Jesus at all.

[13:17] They thought they were already saved and going to heaven. But you know there was one crowd or one group that wasn't there at church yet. There were those who were not yet part of this crammed crowd because they had been detained.

[13:35] They couldn't make it to church on time because they were trying to carry their paralysed friend to get to Jesus. And I like to call these four friends who arrived at this crammed crowd I want to call them the committed Christians because as committed Christians they knew that for their paralysed friend he had no hope of recovery without Jesus.

[14:00] Only Jesus could help him. And as a paralytic these committed Christians they knew that anyone with a disability living in the first century they were going to have a lifetime of poverty.

[14:12] They were often stigmatised as people. They were ostracised as being paralysed for being paralysed. They were shunned for their disability and they were viewed as spiritually and morally inferior.

[14:24] Those who were paralysed they lived their life as outcasts. And yet these committed Christians they had faith in Jesus Christ. They had faith to believe that Jesus could change their friend's life.

[14:39] So what did they do? They went on a faith mission. They went on a faith mission to bring their friend to Jesus. But what we see is that this faith mission of these committed Christians Christians it had barriers and obstacles to overcome.

[14:56] Because when they finally get to church although they're running late, church has already started, they come to church and they see that the church is packed. There's no more room at the door, they can't get in.

[15:09] There's people everywhere. There's people everywhere, there's no room for them and certainly no room for their paralysed friend. Now when these committed Christians, when they saw the crammed crowds in church, well they could have easily said to themselves and turned to their paralysed friend and said, well it's not God's will for you to be healed today.

[15:31] They could have said that, well we've tried, it doesn't seem to be God's will, God has closed the door on us. Because, well, there's no access to Jesus. They could have said that.

[15:43] But you know, they were determined, they were committed Christians. They were committed to completing their faith mission by bringing their friend to Jesus. And so we're told in verse 4, when they could not get near Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above them.

[16:01] And when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. When these committed Christians, when they saw the crammed crowds, it didn't put them off bringing their friend to Jesus.

[16:14] Because, well, they just climbed up onto the roof. They saw an access to Jesus. It might seem like an obstacle, but it was an access to them. They climbed the outdoor staircase.

[16:25] That was a common feature of the houses in Galilee. And when they got onto the roof, they just carried their friend up onto the roof. When they got onto the roof, it wouldn't have been too difficult for them just to lift the tiles out of the way and then scrape away the coating mixture of clay and make this hole large enough for the paralysed friend to be dropped through the roof, onto the floor.

[16:51] And, you know, it must have been amazing to be at church that day because you can imagine Jesus. Jesus, he's preaching to the people, preaching to this crammed crowd.

[17:03] He's telling them about himself and then all of a sudden there's this sound above them, this thudding, this thudding sound on the roof, maybe even the sound of dragging. And there would have been this noise then of scratching, scratching and scraping away at the roof as it was being pulled apart.

[17:20] And then all of a sudden light is streaming in into the house and there would be dust and debris falling onto the floor, falling maybe all over Jesus himself. And then without any announcement, there's this mat that's dropped through, tied by ropes, and it's dropped onto the floor to the feet of Jesus.

[17:44] And, you know, in their faith mission, these committed Christians, they did the only thing they could by bringing their friend to Jesus. They brought their friend to Jesus.

[17:59] You know, one commentator, he says, these men didn't just pray about it. They didn't just pray about it and hope that something would change for their friend. He says, they put some feet into their prayers and did something about it.

[18:16] They brought their friend to Jesus. It wasn't enough for these committed Christians just to sit at home and pray over their paralysed friend.

[18:27] Of course, there's power in prayer. That's not what I'm saying. But prayer is no substitute for action. Our feet must have prayer. Our faith must have prayer with it.

[18:41] You know, my Christian friend, we need to learn from these committed Christians and their faith mission and seek to bring people to Jesus. Because we're not only to bring people to Jesus every day through prayer, we're to bring them every day to the throne of grace, but we're also to bring people to Jesus by introducing them to the gospel.

[19:05] whether that's speaking to them about Jesus or inviting them to come to church or inviting them to attend mission or to bring people to Jesus.

[19:18] My friend, gone are the days. Gone are the days of people just coming to church. This building is evidence of it. Gone are the days of them, of families making an appearance in church.

[19:32] Gone are the days of every member of the community being represented in God's house on the Lord's day. Gone are the days of expecting people just to walk through the doors and the place to be a crammed crowd.

[19:45] No, as committed Christians were to enter our faith mission and go to the people of our community and compel them to come, invite them to hear the word of God and come to Jesus.

[20:00] And like these committed Christians, we have to take our responsibility seriously. We're not to come up with our poor excuses. Because our motivation, as it should always be, our motivation for lost souls should be our love for them.

[20:21] That should be our motivation. That's what should motivate us. That's what should make us invite and urge and exhort and encourage and compel and plead and persuade our friends, our family, our neighbours to come right to the feet of Jesus.

[20:38] That's what should motivate us. Our love for lost souls. Now I know that some of you, and I've been there, my friend, myself, my friend, I know that you've got friends that you've been asking before.

[20:55] Probably neighbours, probably members of your family. Maybe you've been asking them to come to church for years. And maybe you've tried and tried and tried. But you know, I want to say to you, don't give up.

[21:10] Don't give up. Don't stop asking. Don't stop compelling them to come. And maybe you're the kind of person who's always in their ear.

[21:24] You know, they would miss it if you stopped. They would miss it if you stopped. Keep going to them. Keep asking them. Keep inviting them. Because our responsibility is to invite them.

[21:38] What they do with the invitation, well, that's up to them. The offer is to whosoever. God, you're to compel them and invite them. What they do with that is up to them.

[21:50] But my friend, if you aren't inviting people to come to church, if you aren't inviting people to know Jesus, if you're not speaking to them about their soul. And you know, I was speaking to someone the other day.

[22:02] And they were saying that Christians don't speak to me about my soul like they used to. Christians used to always speak to me about my soul. But nobody speaks to me about my soul anymore.

[22:15] That's a shame. If we're not speaking to people about their soul, then we have to ask ourselves, in comparison to the example of these committed Christians, am I a committed Christian?

[22:28] Am I a committed Christian? I'm not questioning if you're a Christian or not. But are you wholeheartedly out and out for Jesus? Are you a committed Christian on a faith mission?

[22:41] Are you a committed Christian on a faith mission? And it all comes back to this one question, how much do I love them?

[22:51] How much do I love my unconverted friends? How much do I love my unconverted family members? How much do I love my unconverted neighbours to keep this message from them? And my friend, no matter how difficult it may be, you might be saying to yourself, well it's easy for you.

[23:08] You're a minister. That's your job. That's what you do all the time. I am terrified every time I speak about Jesus. My heart races, my mouth is dry, I'm sweating.

[23:21] But I tell you this, I would far rather experience all that and tell them about Jesus than say nothing at all. And you know my friend, it doesn't matter how difficult it is or how uncomfortable we may feel or how much of a challenge it is.

[23:39] The Bible says to us, if our gospel is hid, it is hid to those who are lost. And you know what, what a thing to do to people who are lost, to hide the gospel from them.

[23:54] If our gospel is hid, it is hid to those who are lost. These committed Christians, they didn't know what Jesus would do with their friend.

[24:07] But they knew that Jesus was the only answer. They knew that Jesus was this compassionate Christ. And that's what I want us to consider lastly. The compassionate Christ.

[24:19] We've seen the crammed crowds, they're all in church. Then the committed Christians, they're up on the roof. But lastly, we see the compassionate Christ. How does he deal with this lame man?

[24:30] The compassionate Christ. Look at verse 5. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, son, your sins are forgiven. You know, undoubtedly, the crammed crowds would have been annoyed.

[24:46] They would have been annoyed that these committed Christians were disrupting the church service. They were waiting for a miracle. They were waiting to hear the word of Jesus. And everyone, they would have been distracted by this paralyzed man being dropped through the roof.

[25:00] But you know, we're told here that Jesus saw their faith. Jesus saw their faith. And notice, faith gets Jesus' attention.

[25:13] Faith gets Jesus' attention when Jesus saw their faith. Not just the faith of the committed Christians, but also the faith of the paralytic. When Jesus saw their faith, he responded to their faith.

[25:28] And he responded to their faith because faith gets Jesus' attention. Faith, in fact, pleases Jesus. That's what the Bible reminds us.

[25:38] Without faith. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. But God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. And that's what can be said of these committed Christians and this paralytic.

[25:53] They were on a faith mission. They were diligently seeking Jesus by faith. But look at what Jesus says to them. When he saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven.

[26:07] Son, your sins are forgiven. And you know what's remarkable? Is that the crammed crowds, well, they could only see the external need of the paralytic.

[26:19] But Jesus could see the eternal need of the paralytic. Jesus knew that this man had a greater problem than his paralysis.

[26:31] Jesus knew that he had a heart problem. The heart of his problem was the problem of his heart. Jesus didn't see the external. He looked straight into the eternal, the eternal need of this man.

[26:43] Because Jesus knew that his sin separated him from a holy God. His sin had defiled him and made him unholy. His sin had made him incapable of saving himself.

[26:56] His sin was going to bring him one day to a lost eternity in hell if he hadn't been brought to the feet of Jesus. And you know my unconverted friends sitting here today, I need not remind you that when Jesus looks at you.

[27:16] When Jesus looks at you, he doesn't see your external need. Oh no. He sees your eternal need. When Jesus looks at you, he sees that what you desperately need is eternal life.

[27:33] And what you desperately need more than anything else in all the world is to hear what this man heard. Because this man heard Jesus speak to him with such compassion and say to him, son, your sins are forgiven.

[27:50] Your sins are forgiven. And don't you just love the word forgiven? Forgiven. The word forgiven, it literally means to send away.

[28:05] And that's what Jesus was saying to the paralytic. He had come to him in faith. And Jesus says to him, your sins, they have been sent away. Your sins have been sent away.

[28:16] Your sins have been taken from you and sent from you as far as east is distant from the west. Is that not what we were singing in Psalm 103?

[28:27] As far as east is from the west, so far has he in his love removed all our iniquity. My friend, when you come to this compassionate Christ by faith, when you come to him seeking cleansing, he promises to forgive you.

[28:43] He promises forgiveness. Jesus promises to send all your sins away from you and to cleanse you as white as snow. My friend, when you come to this Jesus by faith, he will say to you with such compassion, son, daughter, your sins are forgiven.

[29:04] Your sins are forgiven. And yes, yes, you're completely unworthy of Jesus's forgiveness. Just like this paralytic was. Yes, you don't deserve Jesus's forgiveness.

[29:17] Yes, you can't earn Jesus's forgiveness. Yes, you have no right to Jesus's forgiveness. But Jesus isn't looking for your worth. He's looking for your faith.

[29:30] He's looking for faith in him. And the thing is, you must come to Jesus in faith, just like this paralytic with not a leg to stand on.

[29:42] You're to come to him in complete humility. And you must cling to Jesus by faith, depending upon what he has done on the cross at Calvary.

[29:54] And when you do, when you come to him asking for cleansing, he will say to you, son, daughter, your sins, they are forgiven.

[30:05] They're taken away. They're driven away. Son, daughter, your sins are forgiven. What better words to hear in church than those precious words?

[30:19] Your sins are forgiven. But of course, when we read this passage, not everyone was happy with the command of this compassionate Christ. We're told in verse 6, now some of the Pharisees were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, why does this man speak like that?

[30:39] He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone? And you know, having heard Jesus, having heard him speak, without even saying anything to one another, the scribes, they're all looking at one another, listening to what Jesus has been saying and actually seen what Jesus has done and all these things.

[31:00] They're questioning in their hearts, claiming, well, Jesus, he's blaspheming. He's robbing God of his honour. Who can forgive sins but God alone? Now, their theology, their theology was correct because only God can forgive sins.

[31:17] But that's the whole point of Mark's gospel. Jesus is the son of God. Jesus is the God-man. Jesus is the Christ who came into the world to save sinners. And as the God-man, Jesus knows what's in the heart, mind and soul of every person.

[31:33] He knows what's in us. He knows what we're thinking. He knows what we're speaking about. He knows what we're doing. He even knows what we're thinking right now. He even knows what we think of him.

[31:47] Which is why he says in verse 8, immediately Jesus perceives in a spirit that they thus questioned within themselves and said to them, why do you question these things in your hearts?

[31:58] Which is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or to say, rise, take up your bed and walk? Don't you just love Jesus' question?

[32:10] Which is easier? What's easier to say, your sins are forgiven or get up and walk? Of course, it would be easier to say, your sins are forgiven.

[32:24] Because, well, no one would ever know if you were telling the truth or not. No one could argue against it if I was to say to anyone here today, your sins are forgiven.

[32:35] There would be nothing that could prove or disprove that you've forgiven someone their sins. That's why the Roman Catholic Church is worth billions. Because it feeds people the lie that the priest or the Pope can forgive you your sins and absolve you from purgatory and send you straight into heaven.

[32:55] But that's the lie that sends people to a lost eternity in hell. Because there's no proof. There's no proof that they have power or authority to forgive sin.

[33:07] But with Jesus. With Jesus, there's proof. There's proof with Jesus because we're told in verse 10, but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority and the power on earth to forgive sins.

[33:24] He says to the paralytic, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home. And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all so that they were all amazed and glorified God saying, we never saw anything like this.

[33:42] You know, by healing the paralytic, Jesus proves that he is, he and he alone has power and authority to forgive sin. By dealing with the external need, Jesus proves that he can deal with our eternal need.

[33:58] Jesus proves that he has authority to forgive you. He has authority to take away your sin and to send your sins away when you come to him by faith.

[34:11] And you notice here, this church, it was crammed. There was no more room. And yet we're told that he got up in front of them all and they parted like the Red Sea to let him out the door.

[34:25] Everybody moved back when they saw that this man got up onto his feet because they realized this man, Jesus, he alone has authority on earth to forgive sin.

[34:39] Jesus proved that he can forgive our sin. And you know, when you look at this passage, it's when the crammed crowds in this house and the committed Christians on the roof, it's when they saw this compassionate Christ acting with such power and authority, they were amazed and were told that they glorified God.

[35:03] They glorified God. It's a wonderful passage about a faith mission to bring a friend to Jesus.

[35:15] And you know, that should be our longing as we prepare to work alongside the faith mission. That crammed crowds would come and gather with the committed Christians and hear about this compassionate Christ.

[35:31] Who better to bring them to? And where better to bring them than to the feet of Jesus? That should be our motive, our desire, to bring people to the feet of Jesus.

[35:46] Because as we've been reminded today, he alone has power and authority to forgive sin. And my unconverted friend, he has power and authority to forgive your sin if you come to him by faith.

[36:03] May the Lord bless these thoughts to us. Let us pray. O Lord, our gracious God, may we give thanks to thee for our compassionate Christ, that he deals with us not as we deserve, but he deals with us according to his grace and he shows us mercy.

[36:24] And Lord, our prayer is that we would come to him or that we would come, we would hear what Jesus said to that paralytic, your sins are forgiven. And Lord, that we would all know what forgiveness is, that we would all experience it, we would know it in our own heart and soul, and that we would walk with this Jesus day by day, looking to him as the author and the finisher of our faith.

[36:49] Lord, bless us together then we pray. Prepare us, Lord, as the faith mission come among us. We ask that thou wouldst give us a boldness to stand up for Jesus, to speak out for him, and to compel them to come in, that the Master's house may be filled.

[37:05] Oh, do us good then we pray. Go before us for Jesus' sake. Amen. We're going to bring our service to a conclusion this morning by singing to God's praise in Psalm 32.

[37:22] Psalm 32, page 243 in the Scottish Psalter. Psalm 32, page 243.

[37:38] We're singing the first two verses and then the last two verses of the psalm. The whole psalm is about the blessedness of knowing forgiveness of sin. And that's what David says in verses 1 and 2.

[37:50] He says, O blessed is the man to whom is freely pardoned all the transgression he hath done whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not as sin and in whose spirit there is no guile nor fraud is found therein.

[38:06] And our response to the forgiveness of sin is to be glad, to rejoice. That's how David concludes the psalm. He says in verse 11, You righteous in the Lord be glad. In him do you rejoice, all ye that upright are in heart for joy lift up your voice.

[38:23] So Psalm 32 verses 1 and 2 and 10 and 11 and we'll stand to sing if you're able to God's praise. O blessed is the man to whom his free heart hath done all the transgression he hath done whose sin is covered.

[39:05] Blessed is the man to whom The Lord Imputed Not his Sin And in Whose spirit There is No guile Nor Brought his Fire Let him To The Mind that Wicked Is His Sorrows Shall Abund But If Thou Trusteth In The Lord

[40:08] Mercy Shall Come Past Round He Righteous Send The Lord Reclad In Him Do Ye Rejoice All Give That A Bright In Heart For Joy Lift Up Your Voice The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, now and forevermore. Amen.

[41:03] Old God Mhm.

[41:25] I ficar