[0:00] Well, if we could, this evening, with the Lord's help and the Lord's enabling, if we could turn back to that portion of Scripture that we read, the book of Psalms, the book of Psalms and Psalm 136.
[0:14] The book of Psalms, Psalm 136, I will read again from the beginning.
[0:33] Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods, for His steadfast love endures forever.
[0:45] Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His steadfast love endures forever. Now, I'm not sure what it's like nowadays in the school canteen.
[1:01] I don't know what it's like in Scotland of Shia at present, but I'm sure the children can fill me in after the service. You know, I always remember what it was like when I was in the canteen or the school canteen.
[1:13] I went to Sandwick Hill Primary School, and there's somebody else here this evening who also went to Sandwick Hill Primary School. We won't highlight who that is just now. But you know, at lunchtime, we would all gather in the school canteen to eat.
[1:28] But before we would tuck into our school dinner or our packed lunch, whatever was available that day, we would all have to stop and say the grace. And as we'd sit together, we would all say together, we would say the words, for what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful for Jesus' sake.
[1:48] Amen. Now, as schoolchildren, we said those words because we were told to, and not because we wanted to, and not because we had the desire to. We just quoted the grace parrot fashion, just like a religious routine.
[2:03] But you know, there wasn't any real thought in our minds or even thankfulness in our heart for what was actually before us. But you know, as we consider Psalm 136 this evening, it's a psalm which is reminding us and reaffirming to us the importance of thinking and thanking the Lord for His goodness to us.
[2:26] Because you know, what does it mean to be truly thankful to the Lord? What does it mean to acknowledge the Lord for His goodness? What does it mean to worship the Lord and to praise the Lord and to thank the Lord for His goodness to us?
[2:42] You know, there was one commentator who said, gratitude is about understanding what we deserve. Gratitude is about understanding what we deserve.
[2:54] Now, as you know, my friend, when it comes to God, we deserve nothing from Him. Because as sinners by position and as sinners by practice, God doesn't do us anything.
[3:08] We are not guaranteed anything by God. We shouldn't even expect anything from God. We can't presume anything from God. Because as sinners by position and practice, we don't deserve anything from Him.
[3:23] And we can't demand anything from Him. We have nothing to claim or cling to with God in and of ourselves. In fact, as sinners by position and practice, what we do deserve is God's condemnation and curse.
[3:40] What we do deserve is His penalty and punishment. What we do deserve is His wrath and His rage against us. And yet, that's not the God we find described in this psalm.
[3:56] Because the God of the Bible, He is a God who is gracious and merciful. He displays His grace and He demonstrates His mercy.
[4:06] He displays His grace by giving to us what we don't deserve. And He demonstrates His mercy by not giving to us what we do deserve.
[4:19] He displays His grace and demonstrates His mercy. And you know, the psalmist, he asserts and affirms that God's grace and mercy are all because His steadfast love endures forever.
[4:31] It's all because His steadfast love endures forever. And that's what we see in this psalm. The psalmist, he has a head and a heart that is full of praise to the Lord.
[4:45] His head and his heart are full of praise to the Lord. And it's all because he's thinking and thanking the Lord for His covenant, His creation, and His compassion.
[4:55] And so there are headings this evening.
[5:06] The psalmist, he has a head and a heart full of praise to the Lord. And it's all because he's thinking and thanking the Lord for His covenant, His creation, and His compassion. So first of all, his covenant.
[5:19] He's thinking and thanking the Lord for His covenant. We'll read again in verse 1. It says, Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever.
[5:30] Give thanks to the God of gods for His steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords for His steadfast love endures forever. To Him who alone does great wonders for His steadfast love endures forever.
[5:46] Now, when you read Psalm 136, what immediately strikes you is this repetition. The repetition of this phrase, His steadfast love endures forever. His steadfast love endures forever.
[5:58] His steadfast love endures forever. And, you know, you might be tempted to think that, well, it's a bit too repetitious. But, you know, in Jewish tradition, Psalm 136 was referred to as the great Hallel Psalm.
[6:14] Or, the great Hallelujah Psalm. And it was known and loved by the people of Israel as the great Hallel Psalm because of the repetition of this phrase.
[6:25] They loved this repetition. They loved this phrase that was repeated again and again and again. His steadfast love endures forever. His steadfast love endures forever.
[6:36] And, you know, they loved this Psalm because of the way it was sung. And the way it was sung was so stirring and so stimulating as a Psalm of praise.
[6:47] In fact, Psalm 136, you could say that it was sung in a similar way to our form of Gaelic singing. Where the worship leader or the presenter, he would sing the first line.
[7:03] But instead of the congregation repeating the line as it is in Gaelic singing, the congregation would respond with the words, His steadfast love endures forever. And this would go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, as both presenter and congregation are singing this great Hallel Psalm.
[7:24] So, the presenter would say, Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, and the congregation for His steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods for His steadfast love endures forever.
[7:36] Give thanks to the Lord of lords for His steadfast love endures forever. And what would shine through so beautifully as the congregation, both presenter and congregation, sang this Psalm, was this phrase that's repeated in every single verse, His steadfast love endures forever.
[7:55] His steadfast love endures forever. His steadfast love endures forever. But you know, the purpose of this Psalm of praise, it was to remind and reaffirm and reassure us, as the Lord's people, that everything we are as the Lord's people, and everything we need as the Lord's people, and everything we have as the Lord's people, it's all because His steadfast love endures forever.
[8:28] His steadfast love endures forever. And you know, this point, it's emphasized to us by the repeated word, chesed.
[8:39] Chesed. Now, when you read this Psalm in its original language, what you would see is that the last word of every verse is the word chesed.
[8:50] Now, when Hebrew has a word at the end of the verse, or the end of a sentence, that's the emphasis. Not the beginning, but the end. So, if the word is at the end of the sentence, it's a word that's been emphasized.
[9:02] And the word that's been emphasized is this word chesed. Now, chesed is a familiar, yet fascinating biblical word. Because the word chesed, it describes and draws attention to God's love.
[9:18] It's His steadfast love. His covenant love for His people. His unchanging love. Chesed is a word that illuminates and illustrates.
[9:32] It's actually drawing upon the illustration of love that exists within a marriage. Because, as you know, when a man and a woman love one another, they enter into a covenant.
[9:45] And when they enter into a covenant, vows are made and rings are exchanged. And they enter into a legally binding contract with promises coming from both parties, from the man and from the woman.
[9:59] But, you know, when it comes to this word chesed, and God's steadfast covenant love, the thing about God's steadfast covenant love is that there is no possibility of separation.
[10:12] There's no possibility of severance. There's no option for division or divorce. Because when we speak about covenant or covenant theology, we mean that God, in His love and out of His own good pleasure, He chose to enter into this legally binding contract.
[10:31] He chose to promise and to vow to His people, I will be your God, and you will be my people. But, as you know, the wonder of this covenant, God's covenant of grace, God's chesed, the wonder of it is that it's based upon the grace and the mercy and the love of God.
[10:52] Meaning that the covenant that God entered into with His people, it's not based upon our obedience to the covenant. It's all based upon the Lord's obedience to the covenant.
[11:05] We would never be able to keep our side of the contract. But the Lord has covenanted Himself to His people where there is no chance of this covenant ever being broken.
[11:18] And He did it in order to redeem and renew and restore lost sinners solely out of His own grace, love, and mercy. That's why He has revealed Himself to us in the Bible as the Lord.
[11:33] It's not only His name, it's who He is. We see that at the beginning of the psalm. He is the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever.
[11:49] It's not only His name, it's who He is. He's the one who keeps covenant. Now, as we've said many times before, whenever we see that title in capital letters, whenever we see the Lord in capital letters, it means the one who keeps covenant.
[12:05] The one who has entered into an agreement with His people. The one who promises never to leave them and never to forsake them. Never to let them go. And this person who is the Lord, He is the covenant king.
[12:20] He's the second person of the Trinity. He's the Son of God. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one who keeps covenant.
[12:31] And that's why the psalmist opens with this exhortation and this encouragement to give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever.
[12:43] And you know, my friend, the wonder of wonders is that the Lord knows that we are sinful sinners. He knows that we faint and fail.
[12:54] He knows that we disobey and we disappoint. He knows that we lose sight of Him and we let Him down. But the wonder of wonders is that His steadfast love endures forever.
[13:09] We fluctuate up and down. We draw close to the Lord and we drift from Him. And yet His steadfast love endures forever. His chesed, His covenant love, it's unrestrained love.
[13:23] It's unreserved love. It's unrestricted love. But more than that, my friend, the chesed of our Jesus, it's unqualified love. It's unconditional love.
[13:33] It's unchanging love because, you know, there's nothing you can do to make the Lord love you any more than He already does. And there's nothing you can do to make Him love you any less.
[13:46] It doesn't matter how you feel in yourself. His steadfast love endures forever. His steadfast love endures forever. It doesn't depend upon your fitness or your feelings because His steadfast love endures forever.
[14:00] It doesn't depend upon even your situations or your circumstances in life because His steadfast love endures forever. It doesn't depend upon your sins or your sicknesses or your sufferings or the sorrows you're encountering because His steadfast love endures forever.
[14:21] It doesn't even depend upon what people speak or say or share about you because His steadfast love endures forever.
[14:32] And the thing is, our Jesus, He declared His chesed, His steadfast covenant love towards us. He declared it towards us in John 15 when He said, Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.
[14:49] More than that, our Jesus demonstrated His chesed, His covenant, steadfast love, and He did it through His own death upon the cross.
[15:02] You know, is that not why Paul asked that thought-provoking question in Romans 8? And you know, as a Christian, you should always go back to that question that Paul asked. Thought-provoking question.
[15:14] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ, he asked. Shall tribulation?
[15:25] No. Distress? No. Persecution? No. Famine? No. Nakedness? No. Peril? No. Sword? No.
[15:36] No. In all these things, he says, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, says Paul, that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, neither height nor depth, nor any other creature is able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ, our Lord.
[16:02] And why? Why are we not able to be separated from the love of Christ? Because His steadfast love endures forever. His steadfast love endures forever.
[16:16] And so we see that the psalmist, he has a head and a heart that is full of praise to the Lord. He's thinking and thanking the Lord for His covenant. He's thinking and thanking the Lord for His covenant.
[16:29] But then secondly, he's thinking and thanking the Lord for His creation. He's thinking and thanking the Lord for His creation. Look at verse 2 and then we'll jump down to verse 5.
[16:42] He says, Give thanks to the God of gods for His steadfast love endures forever. And then verse 5, To Him who by understanding made the heavens for His steadfast love endures forever.
[16:54] To Him who spread out the earth above the waters for His steadfast love endures forever. To Him who made the great lights for His steadfast love endures forever. The sun to rule over the day for His steadfast love endures forever.
[17:08] The moon and stars to rule over the night for His steadfast love endures forever. Now as we said, and as you can clearly see from the repetition in this psalm, the steadfast love of the Lord is the focus and the foundation of this great Hallel psalm.
[17:27] But as the psalmist continues, he not only exhorts and encourages us to give thanks to God who is the covenant king using the title Lord. He also exhorts and encourages us to give thanks to God, the creator king.
[17:43] And he does that by using the title God of Gods. We see that in verse 2. Give thanks to the God of Gods for His steadfast love endures forever.
[17:56] And this title, God of Gods, it highlights that our God is not only the covenant king, He's also the creator king. Now we often see this kind of repeated phrase in the Bible where it says God of Gods.
[18:11] We see these kinds of repeated phrases in the Bible in order to emphasize that there's nothing or no one in comparison to. In the tabernacle, you'll remember that there was a section of the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies.
[18:27] So there was no place holy in comparison to that place. Solomon wrote the Song of Songs. There's no song in comparison to that song.
[18:38] Jesus is described as the king of kings and the lord of lords. And here God, our creator, in verse 2, he's described as the God of Gods, emphasizing that there's nothing or no one in comparison to him.
[18:56] Therefore, like the psalmist, our response, our response, we're to have a head and a heart that is full of praise to the God of Gods. We're to think and thank him not only for his covenant and his covenant love towards us, but we're also to think and thank him for his creation, his wonderful creation.
[19:17] He says in verse 4, to him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever. To him, he says, he says that again and again, verses 4, 4, 5, 6, and 7, he says, to him who alone does great wonders, to him who by understanding made the heavens, to him who spread out the earth above the waters, to him who made the great lights, for his steadfast love endures forever.
[19:45] To him, says the psalmist, to him we're to ascribe all the praise, honor, and glory, because he is the God of Gods. There is no other like him. As the psalmist says in Psalm 96, all the other gods, they are but idols dumb, which blinded nations fear.
[20:04] But our God, the God of Gods, he is the Lord by whom the heavens created were. My friend, he alone does wondrous works.
[20:14] That's what he says in verse 4. He alone spoke into the darkness and said, let there be, and it was, and he saw there was all very good.
[20:24] He alone created this world by the word of his power in the space of six days and all very good. He alone brought this world into being. And the thing is, the angels didn't help him bring it into being.
[20:39] The other gods of wood and stone didn't help him bring this world into being. Mankind didn't help him bring this world into being. No, he did it all.
[20:51] And he did it alone. Because, as it says, he alone does great wondrous works. He alone does great wondrous works.
[21:03] And you know, in these verses, I love how the psalmist, he brings us all the way back to Genesis 1. And he reminds us who the God of gods really is.
[21:16] That he's the God who made the heavens with the work of just his finger. He spread out the earth, you could say, by the palms of his hands.
[21:27] And, well, he made the great light in the sky. We read that in verses 8 and 9. How he made the sun to rule the day and the moon to set a watch by night.
[21:39] And also, as we're told in Genesis 1, it's just thrown in there. He made the stars also. He counts the number of the stars. He names them every one.
[21:54] You know, last Christmas, I think I had it in here as a children's address, but last Christmas, David got a telescope and on clear nights, we would be looking into the sky and see some of the stars.
[22:07] But, you know, we also had a helpful teacher on the phone because Donnie Macaulay would always be on the phone when we were outside with a telescope. And he would be up in Carloway or down in Carloway telling us which way to look out of our front door so we would see certain stars.
[22:24] He would name them, name the stars for us or tell us the constellations and where we were to be looking up at. And, you know, I have to say I learned a lot from Donnie during those months of the Carloway vacancy.
[22:37] But, you know, it always reminded me of what David said. David the psalmist, not David my son. Because in Psalm 8, David says, when I look up into the heavens which thine own fingers framed and to the moon and to the stars which were by thee ordained, then say I, what is man that he remembered is by thee or what the son of man that thou so kind to him shouldst be.
[23:05] And you look at this psalm and you're echoing the psalmist here. He alone does wondrous works. He alone does wondrous works. But, you know, we not only have to look at the creation around us, we can look at the creation that we are ourselves.
[23:23] We were singing that in Psalm 100. The God of gods has not only brought this whole world into being, we have also been fearfully and wonderfully made by him.
[23:35] We were singing that in Psalm 100 that without our aid he did us make. Without our aid he did us make. And you know, the imagery and the illustration that the Bible often uses to depict and describe the creative work of the God of gods is that of a potter.
[23:55] That's the language that's used throughout the opening chapters in Genesis. God is described to us as a potter. Like a potter molding a lump of clay where we were just formed and fashioned from the dust of the ground.
[24:10] We were made into the image and likeness of God our creator. We're not as some say we are just a random chance of biology or a scientific accident or even descendants of apes.
[24:25] No, our origin our beginning our genesis it began with the God of gods the God of all creation. And you know my friend this is what gives us dignity because science doesn't dignify man.
[24:43] The world doesn't dignify man. Society doesn't dignify man. But in the eyes of the God of gods the creator of heaven and earth this is the wonder of it.
[24:56] Every single one of us let me make this personal every single one of you you have been uniquely personally individually made and shaped and formed and fashioned in the image and likeness of the God of gods because it's in him said Paul it's in him that we live and move and have our being and we are to worship him we're to praise him we're to honour him in our head and in our heart we're to think upon him and thank him because he's the one who gave us a beginning he's the one who gave to us in existence he's the one who made us a living soul he's the one who made us for eternity we were talking about that this morning that we need to live life with an eternal perspective he has made us for eternity and he's also made us for his own glory that's our catechism man's chief end to glorify the God of gods and to enjoy him forever and as I've said before the God of gods he thinks so highly of the life that he has given to us that one day he will ask us what we did with it he has given you life it's a gift and the God of gods is going to ask you one day to give an account of your life he's going to ask you to give an account of the gift that he has given to you the gift of life itself he'll ask you what you did with it don't my friend the God of gods has made us and he made us without our aid and the thing is he didn't have to create us he chose to create us he desired to create us he desired to create us and make us and put us in this time period of the world's history and he's done it all for his own glory and out of his own good pleasure it's all because his steadfast love endures forever but as you know we're not like Adam was at the beginning of the creation our sins and our sicknesses our sufferings and our sorrows they all remind us that we're fallen in
[27:22] Adam our aging and our aches and our agonies they tell us that the curse of Adam is upon us all and yet the wonder of wonders is that the God of gods this potter he is still making us in Christ he is still making us he has begun that good work and he's bringing it on to completion as the potter he's still molding and shaping and cutting and bending the clay into what he has planned and purpose for our lives we might not know what he's doing in our lives but the potter knows he knows what he's doing in our lives and that's why I love those words in Isaiah 64 where Isaiah he prays oh oh lord thou art our father and we are the clay and thou art potter that we are the work of thy hands and my friend you know what better hands to be in tonight than the hands of the potter there are no safer hands to be in tonight than the hands of the potter because he knows everything about us and he's working in our lives for our good although we might not be able to see it he's working for our good and ultimately for his own glory it's our good and his glory you know
[28:49] I remember hearing Sinclair Ferguson using the illustration of when he went to visit a potter's workshop and he said when entering through the door into the potter's workshop you came into what was the reception area and when you came into the reception area you were confronted by a large sign which read workshop downstairs showroom upstairs workshop downstairs showroom upstairs and so Sinclair Ferguson he explains that he proceeded first of all to go downstairs to the workshop and in the workshop he says that he witnessed the process of the potter where the object would begin in its begin its life as this meaningless and worthless lump of clay but when it was picked up by the potter and then spun on his wheel it was shaped and molded into what would become a useful vessel and that of course it took time it took skill it took care but once molded it was then ready to be put into the kiln at a thousand degrees it was fired in the kiln and even when it came out of the kiln it still wasn't finished because he watched the potter gently sand it he sanded the pot and then he painted it with the most intricate detail and then it went back into the kiln once more it had to go into the kiln to be glazed and once completed the finished article was then taken to the showroom upstairs and put on display for all to see and as
[30:32] Sinclair Ferguson said the end product looked very different to the lump of clay it was at the beginning and you know my Christian friend needless to say we can certainly apply that illustration to our own lives that in this world we must pass through the molding and the shaping and the cutting and the sanding and the painting and even the fires of the workshop downstairs and it's all so that when the potter is finished with us we will be taken upstairs to the showroom to be put on display as a trophy of grace and presented as Peter says presented faultless before his glory with exceeding joy but here's the question why does he do it why does he bother why does he have any interest at all it's all because his steadfast love endures forever his steadfast love endures forever and so we see that the psalmist he has a head and he has a heart full of praise to the lord he's thinking and thanking the lord for his covenant his covenant love he's thinking and thanking the lord for his creation not only what he can see but also himself what the lord is doing in his own life but then lastly and briefly he's thinking and thanking the lord for his compassion his compassion
[32:10] So he's thinking and thanking the Lord for his covenant, his creation, and lastly, his compassion. Look at verse 3, and then we'll jump down to verse 10.
[32:21] It says, Now as we've said, and as you can clearly see from the repetition of this psalm, the steadfast love of the Lord is the focus and the foundation of this great Hallel Psalm.
[32:59] And the psalmist, he has exhorted and encouraged us to give thanks to God, who is the covenant king. And he's done that using the title Lord in verse 1. He's exhorted and encouraged us to give thanks to God, our creator king, using the title God of gods in verse 2.
[33:17] But now as a psalmist, he exhorts us and he encourages us to give thanks to God, our compassionate king, using verse 3, the title Lord of lords.
[33:30] And as we mentioned earlier, the phrases, Holy of holies, song of songs, God of gods, king of kings, and here, Lord of lords, they all emphasize that there's nothing and there's no one in comparison to our God.
[33:45] And here the psalmist says that he's the Lord of lords. He's our compassionate king because he renews, he rescues, he redeems, he restores, and he reigns over his people.
[34:00] And we can see that in the example of the children of Israel.
[34:14] That's the example that's given here. They were slaves in Egypt. And yet they were rescued, we're told, by a strong hand. They were redeemed by an outstretched arm.
[34:26] They were restored as God's covenant people. They were renewed throughout that wilderness period. And then the Lord reigned over them as the Lord of lords because he alone defeats all his and our enemies.
[34:40] But, you know, what you'll notice about the last verses of this psalm, how it's talking about the redemption of the Lord, or the compassion of this king, you'll notice that Moses isn't mentioned.
[34:55] Moses was present for every single one of these verses that are mentioned here. But Moses isn't mentioned at all in the psalm. Moses was just a bystander.
[35:07] Moses was the servant of the Lord. He wasn't really doing anything. Because it wasn't Moses that rescued and redeemed and restored and renewed and reigned over his people.
[35:19] It was, as the psalmist says, it was the Lord of lords. The compassionate king. The Lord Jesus Christ. And, you know, is that not how Jesus is depicted and described in the New Testament?
[35:33] He's described as one who moved with compassion. He moved with compassion. Do you know what I love that phrase? He moved with compassion.
[35:45] It's repeatedly mentioned throughout the New Testament. And even it's illustrating what this psalmist emphasizing to us. That Jesus moved with compassion because his steadfast love endures forever.
[36:01] The reason Jesus moves towards lost sinners like you and I is because his steadfast love endures forever.
[36:17] And, you know, when we see Jesus moving with compassion in the Gospels, we see that he moves towards those who feel completely unworthy and unwanted and some who are even unwilling to come to him.
[36:31] He moves with compassion, we see in Mark 1, towards a leper and then to a tax collector and later on towards a prostitute. He moves with compassion towards those who are sinful, those who are sick, those who are suffering and those who are sorrowing.
[36:46] Jesus even moved with compassion towards a whole congregation. Because he said that so many of them were like sheep without a shepherd.
[36:59] They were like sheep without a shepherd. And, you know, my friend, it's a reminder to us that there's nowhere, there is nothing, and there is no one to whom Jesus will not go.
[37:12] There is no one, nothing, or nowhere that Jesus will not go. There's nothing that will keep him from you. There's no boundary or barrier that will keep Jesus from you.
[37:24] Because the glory of the Gospel. And we've been reminded here in Psalm 136 that he is the compassionate Christ. Because his steadfast love endures forever.
[37:36] And he's able to meet you at your point of need, whatever that need may be. He's able to forgive you and cleanse you and make you his if you ask him.
[37:48] And you're to ask him, why? Because his love hasn't changed. His steadfast love endures forever.
[37:59] He is the compassionate Christ. Do you know, my friend, like the psalmist, like the psalmist, we're to have a head and a heart that is full of praise to the Lord.
[38:10] We're to think upon and thank the Lord. As we go into a new week, this is what this psalm is calling us to do. To think upon the Lord. And to thank the Lord.
[38:22] For his covenant, his creation, and his compassion. We're to think upon and thank the Lord for his covenant, his creation, and his compassion.
[38:34] Why? Because his steadfast love endures forever. His steadfast love endures forever.
[38:46] But may the Lord bless these thoughts to us. Let us pray. O Lord, our God, who is likened unto thee among the gods?
[39:02] For as the psalmist says that all the other gods are but idol is dumb, which blinded nations fear. But our God is the Lord by whom the heavens created were.
[39:13] And we give thanks this evening for thine own covenant. The covenant love of a great God and a great King. A love that has been declared and even demonstrated to us.
[39:26] In and through the death of thy son, Jesus. We thank thee, Lord, for the creation. A creation that speaks to us day after day. That the heavens declare the glory of God.
[39:38] And the skies proclaim thine own handiwork. And yet, Lord, we give thanks that our God who has not stopped working in his creation. He is still working in us as thy people, both to will and to do of his own good pleasure.
[39:54] And Lord, we do pray that even this evening, we would know thine own compassion moving towards us. As Jesus passes by in the gospel, reminding us that he is a shepherd.
[40:07] And that he looks upon those who are without a shepherd. He looks upon them with compassion, calling them to come to him. Oh, Lord, bless thy truth to us, we pray.
[40:19] Bless us as we go into a new week. That we would think and thank the Lord for his steadfast love that endures forever. Keep us then, we pray. Go before us.
[40:29] Take away our iniquity. Receive us graciously. For Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen. We're going to bring our service to a conclusion by singing this evening in Psalm 8.
[40:44] Psalm 8 in the Scottish Psalter. It's on page 207 in the blue psalm book. Psalm 8 in the Scottish Psalter.
[41:03] We're singing verses 1, 3, and 4. Is that right? Yeah. Psalm 8 in the Scottish Psalter. Page 207. How excellent in all the earth, Lord, our Lord is thy name, who hast thy glory far advanced above the starry frame.
[41:23] And then verses 3 and 4. When I look up unto the heavens, which thine own fingers framed, unto the moon and to the stars which were by thee ordained, then say I, what is man that he remembered is by thee?
[41:36] Or what the Son of Man that thou so kind to him shouldst be. We'll sing these verses of Psalm 8 to God's praise. Psalm 8 in the Scottish Psalter.
[41:49] How excellent in all the earth, Lord, our Lord is thy name.
[42:03] Who hast thy glory far advanced above the starry frame.
[42:18] When I look up unto the heavens, which thy own fingers framed, unto the moon and to the stars, which where by thee ordained.
[42:48] When say I bought his hand that he remembered his hand that he remembered his hand he remembered.
[43:04] I bought the Son of Man that thou so kind to him shouldst be.
[43:23] 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.