Lest We Forget

[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 chapter 14, Mark chapter 14, and if we take as our text the words of verse 9, where Jesus says, And truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.

[0:42] Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.

[0:52] Amen. On a day like today, a day which is known throughout our nation as Remembrance Sunday, this is the Lord's day which has been dedicated, you could say, for people to gather in places of worship the length and breadth of our country, to remember and to honour those who lost their lives in the horrors of war, both past and present.

[1:25] And as you know, Remembrance Sunday, it always takes place on the Lord's day nearest the 11th of November, which is the anniversary of the end of the First World War.

[1:36] A war which ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day on the 11th month, 1918. But at this time of year and on days like today with remembrance services taking place everywhere, a phrase which is commonly used and a phrase which we're all familiar with is the phrase lest we forget.

[1:58] Lest we forget. But before that phrase was ever used in the context of war, it was first written in a poem in 1897 by a man called Joseph Rudyard Kipling.

[2:14] And in fact, Kipling, he was the man who wrote the famous children's story, The Jungle Book. But the poem which Kipling wrote, as many of you know, was called Recessional.

[2:26] And the opening verses of the poem reads, God of our fathers known of old, Lord of our far-flung battle line, Beneath whose awful hand we hold, Dominion over palm and pine, Lord God of hosts be with us yet, Lest we forget, Lest we forget.

[2:43] But what many people don't know about Kipling's poem is that the phrase, Lest we forget, actually came from the Bible, in which Kipling, he based his inspiration for his poem on the Lord's command to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 12.

[3:03] Because when the children of Israel, when they were standing on the banks of the River Jordan, ready to cross over into the promised land, Moses told the children of Israel about all the blessings that they were going to receive in the promised land.

[3:18] And Moses, he said to them, When the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, to give you with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, And when you eat and are full, Moses says, Take care, lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

[3:52] Take care, lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And by basing his poem on the words, Lest you forget, Kipling wanted to emphasize that a nation should never forget the true source of its success.

[4:12] And for the children of Israel, the source of their success on entering into the promised land, the source was the Lord. And for Kipling, the source of success for the British people during times of war, it was to be attributed, yes, to the British army, but it was done by the help and enabling of the Lord God of hosts.

[4:37] He says, Lord God of hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget. And Kipling's choice of title, the Lord God of hosts, it's certainly fitting for the theme of war, because the title literally means, the Lord God of the armies, the Lord God of the armies, Lord God of hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget.

[5:05] But you know, when we come to this passage in Mark's gospel, we see that Jesus also wants us to remember someone, lest we forget. But he doesn't ask us to remember our war heroes, or the success of the children of Israel on entering into the promised land.

[5:23] Jesus wants us to remember a particular woman who anointed him for burial. And Jesus says that we are to remember her, lest we forget.

[5:34] He says, Assuredly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told, as a memorial to her.

[5:46] Jesus says that we are to remember her. And there are three things that I'd like us to see that Jesus asks us to remember about this woman. Because he says that we're to remember her character, we are to remember her criticism, and we are to remember her compassion.

[6:05] Remember her character, remember her criticism, and remember her compassion. We are to remember her. Lest we forget.

[6:16] So let's first of all, remember her compassion. Remember her compassion. Look again at verse 1. It says, It was now two days before the Passover, and the feast of unleavened bread, and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him.

[6:33] For they said, Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people. And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head.

[6:51] And so Mark introduces us to chapter 14 in his gospel by reminding us of what day of the week it is. He says that it's two days before the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread.

[7:07] And if you remember, this is the final week, the final week in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. And by this point in his gospel, Mark has brought us through three years of Jesus' teaching, miracles, and healings.

[7:22] Because the first ten chapters of his gospel, Mark has quickly walked us through three years of Jesus' life and ministry. But then in the final six chapters, chapters 11 to 16, Mark, he slows everything down and he almost gives to us a day by day and hour by hour account of what happened in this final week of Jesus' life.

[7:48] Because in chapter 11, when we were looking at it, we saw that on a Sunday afternoon, Jesus entered into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. He had crowds going before him and crowds following behind him, singing Hosanna.

[8:03] Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And then from one Sunday to the next, everything is going to change. Because Jesus entered into Jerusalem riding on a donkey one Sunday, and then the following Sunday is when Jesus rises from the dead.

[8:21] From one Sunday to the next, everything is going to change. But everything would change not only in the experience of Jesus, everything would change in the experience of the entire world.

[8:34] Because the events of this one week, they would bring salvation to a lost world. And so on Sunday afternoon, Jesus enters into Jerusalem on a colt, and he goes to the temple.

[8:46] Then on Monday morning, Jesus curses a fig tree that was in full bloom, that had no figs on it. It had the outward appearance of being full of life, but inwardly it was fruitless.

[8:59] And in the act of curshing the fig tree, Jesus was curshing the religion of the temple. Then on Monday afternoon, Jesus entered the temple for a second time, and he drives out all those who were buying and selling in the temple court.

[9:15] He turns over the tables of the money changers, and he says to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of thieves.

[9:27] Then on Tuesday morning, Jesus was in the temple for the third time. And on this occasion, the chief priests and the elders and the scribes, they all come to Jesus, and they're all asking Jesus, who gave him the authority to drive everyone out of the temple, the day before.

[9:45] But Jesus knows their heart. And he tells a parable in chapter 12 that describes what they're planning to do to Jesus, that they're going to kill him. They've had enough of him, so they want to kill him.

[9:58] Nevertheless, it doesn't stop Jesus, and it doesn't deter the religious police, because they send the Pharisees, and they send the Herodians, and they send the Sadducees to question Jesus further.

[10:10] And then Jesus, he continues to condemn all their false teaching, and the false teaching of the scribes. And so within two days, Jesus has condemned every aspect of Jewish religion.

[10:24] And then on Tuesday afternoon, at the beginning of chapter 13, we saw that Jesus proceeded to condemn the temple. He prophesied about the destruction of the temple, saying that there will not be left one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.

[10:42] And following that prophecy we saw last week, that Jesus prophesied about the destruction and judgment of the world. That after the wars, and all the rumors of war, and kingdom rising against kingdom, nation against nation, earthquakes, and all the famines, Jesus says, the end will come at an hour when you think not, and you'll see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

[11:08] And so Jesus says, you need to be ready. You need to be prepared. What I say to you, I say to all of you, stay awake. Stay awake. And then we begin chapter 14.

[11:21] And it's now Wednesday. Wednesday according to Jewish time. Tuesday evening, if we're going according to our time, because the day of Tuesday had ended at sundown, and Wednesday began.

[11:35] So it's now Wednesday, and Mark tells us that in two days time, it will be the beginning of Passover, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. In two days time, it's going to be Friday.

[11:46] The day that Jesus will die upon the cross as a sacrifice for sin. In two days time, it will be the day on which the Passover, Lamb of God, will be slain in order to take away the sins of the world.

[12:01] In two days time, everything will change, as life and immortality are brought to light through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[12:13] But what we see here is that, in these opening verses, is that nothing has changed for the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders. Despite Jesus condemning the religion of the temple, and condemning their theology as the religious leaders in the temple, and despite prophesying about the destruction of the temple, the religious leaders, they are now more determined than ever to have Jesus put to death.

[12:40] They are now actively seeking to arrest him, as it says, by stealth or craft and trickery, and kill him. They want to put him to death.

[12:55] But it's onto that backdrop that Mark tells us about this woman. This woman who went to anoint Jesus. And with this Mark, he wants us to see the contrast between the hatred and venom of the religious leaders towards Jesus, and the tenderness and the compassion of this woman towards Jesus.

[13:20] And of course, Mark is directing us to the contrast that still exists in the world today. There are still two different opinions about this man called Jesus.

[13:31] There are some like the religious leaders who will not have this man to rule over them. And despite all they hear from Jesus and all the challenges they encounter in his word, they would still be happier if he remained silent.

[13:49] But there are others like this woman who view Jesus as a precious savior and who are willing to give Jesus their everything because he's worthy of the best gifts.

[14:03] And my friend, the contrast, it begs the question, which one describes you? Which one describes you? Which one are you? Which type of person fits your character?

[14:18] Are you the religious person in church again today? Happy with your religion, but not happy to have Jesus as your redeemer?

[14:28] Or are you like this woman who sees nothing in herself, but only has eyes for Jesus? Which type of person describes your character?

[14:41] Which one describes you? Well, this woman is the character which Jesus wants us to remember. And Jesus tells us to remember her character because she viewed him as someone who is precious.

[14:56] And that's certainly emphasized to us by her gift to Jesus. Because she came to Jesus carrying an alabaster box of ointment full of pure nard.

[15:08] Now, alabaster, it was this type of stone commonly found in Israel. And it was like a hard stone, resembling like a white marble-like substance that was often used to carry perfume in.

[15:24] And the perfume was kept in the alabaster box and it was sealed with wax, with a lid, to keep the perfume in it and to preserve the perfume from being spoiled.

[15:35] And the perfume contained in the alabaster box, we're told that it was said to be pure nard. And nard was like this expensive aromatic oil from an Indian herb.

[15:47] It had been extracted from the root of it. And it said that to produce this nard, it said that it produces this beautiful smell, this sweet aroma, that as soon as it's opened, as soon as it's let out, it would fill the whole house.

[16:05] And this woman who saw Jesus as more precious than ointment, she came to him and she broke the alabaster box and anointed him. And the fact that she broke the box means that the perfume could never be used again.

[16:23] Which means that she could never anoint the head of someone else with that beautiful perfume. She could never reuse the ointment to display her love and adoration for another.

[16:35] Because when this woman broke the alabaster box, there was no going back. But this woman, she had no desire to go back because she saw that Jesus was precious.

[16:48] And in that moment of outwardly declaring her love and adoration for Jesus, this woman gave Jesus everything. She gave everything to her Savior.

[17:01] She gave her all to Jesus. And you know, in my mind, I have in my mind the thought that this alabaster box is a picture of the woman's heart.

[17:16] Just like her heart. In her act of coming to Jesus, she came to him because she saw her need of him. And in her act of breaking the alabaster box, she saw her need to commit her life to Jesus because he is precious.

[17:35] And in her act of pouring out that precious perfume over the head of Jesus, she openly and publicly gave her soul, her life, her all to Jesus Christ.

[17:49] My friend, this woman committed everything to Jesus because she saw him as precious. And that's what we need to do today if we view Jesus as precious.

[18:01] That's what we need to do if we see that this Jesus, if we view him as the fairest among 10,000 and one who is altogether lovely.

[18:12] If that's how we view Jesus, then we need to come and commit our life to him. And we need to keep giving to him our everything. Because that's what he deserves.

[18:24] That's what he deserves after all that he has done for us. That's what Jesus deserves from us for us to come and commit our life to him.

[18:35] And Jesus says to us today about this woman, remember her character. Remember her character. Remember what she did. She gave her all to Jesus.

[18:47] Remember her character lest we forget. But secondly, Jesus says about this woman, remember her criticism. Remember her criticism.

[19:00] If you look again at verse 3, while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head.

[19:15] There were some who said among themselves indignantly, why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor.

[19:26] And they scolded her. But Jesus said, leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you.

[19:36] And whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. And so not everyone in the house in Bethany thought the same way as this woman.

[19:47] Not everyone thought that pouring precious perfume over the head of Jesus was a good use of their resources. But this woman did. She saw the value and the significance of anointing Jesus.

[20:01] She saw that Jesus was precious and she was criticized for her actions. But what's even more remarkable is that this woman, I believe, was criticized in her own home.

[20:14] Now I know that Mark tells us that the owner of the house was a man called Simon the leper. And that Simon the leper, he must have been a healed leper, otherwise he would have been an outcast as a Jew.

[20:29] But he lived in a house located in the village of Bethany which was situated on the outskirts of Jerusalem. And during the feast of Passover, Jesus had been resident in the house of Simon the leper.

[20:44] And although we can't be quite sure as to who Simon the leper was and who this unnamed woman was who anointed the head of Jesus, I was reading about this and I want to suggest to you, you can disagree if you want, you don't have to agree with everything I say, but I want to suggest anyway that the house in which Jesus was staying was a house with which he was very, very familiar.

[21:09] And I say that because it has been suggested that Simon the leper was actually the father of Mary, Martha and Lazarus.

[21:20] And there are many occasions in the Gospels where we encounter the family of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Because there was the occasion you'll remember of teaching when Martha was distracted with all her serving, her much serving, but it was Mary who sat at the feet of Jesus listening to Jesus and listening to his teaching.

[21:43] There was also the occasion of mourning when Lazarus had died and Mary and Martha they both came to Jesus and they said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died.

[21:57] But what Mary and Martha came to discover was that the Lord was there for them as much as he was there for Lazarus when he raised him from the dead. But in John chapter 12 we also read of the occasion of the anointing.

[22:12] When Jesus was eating in the house at a house in Bethany with Martha serving and Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from the dead and it's then that Mary comes in and she breaks an alabaster box of ointment and she anoints Jesus.

[22:29] Now in John's gospel it says that Mary anointed his feet and not his head. But the difference in statements are not to cause confusion but to affirm the authenticity of the gospel records.

[22:42] Because had they been completely identical then we would have to conclude that they're not accurate or they're not true they're just photocopies of one another.

[22:53] They're not eyewitness accounts. But the fact that they're different proves that they are eyewitness accounts. And so I believe that the house in Bethany belonged to Simon the leper but it was also the house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

[23:07] And it was Mary who anointed Jesus because she believed that Jesus was precious. More precious than precious ointment.

[23:18] But as we said not everyone in the house of Bethany thought the same. Because we read here that Mary was criticised by some of the disciples for what she did.

[23:29] They asked her or they asked Jesus why was this ointment wasted? Why all the waste? Why all this waste? And to justify their statement the disciples gave this self righteous statement against Mary.

[23:44] They say this alabaster box could have been sold for over 300 denarii and given to the poor. We could have used this box which was worth a year's wages and we could have sold it and given it, given all the money to the poor.

[24:00] but Mary has just gone and wasted it. She's gone and wasted it all. But you know the disciples' desire for selling the alabaster box it wasn't actually out of a genuine concern for the poor because they had never been concerned for the poor.

[24:16] When you read about the occasion of feeding the 5,000 and feeding the 4,000 they all gathered to listen to Jesus but and they had nothing to eat and the disciples are saying well send them home.

[24:29] Send them home they can go and feed themselves. So they had no interest in them then. When the poor little children came to Jesus the disciples stopped them coming to Jesus and Jesus said no do not hinder the little children for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

[24:47] And when they looked at the temple and all its extravagance and all the money that had been spent on it they were overwhelmed by it because that's the things that they desired. And as a group the disciples they were always arguing amongst themselves who's the greatest.

[25:03] Who's the greatest one of us? Who's going to have the most in the kingdom of heaven? And so it wasn't out of a genuine desire for the poor that the disciples wanted to sell this alabaster box.

[25:16] They saw it as a waste because they wanted gain from it. But you know as a consequence of their criticism of Mary the disciples they not only implied that Jesus was unworthy of such a precious gift they also revealed the true condition of their heart.

[25:36] That they were more interested in possessions and money than Jesus. That they viewed their things and their desire for gain as more of a priority in their lives than Jesus Christ.

[25:51] Jesus was two days away from being crucified on a Roman cross and all that concerned them was money. And you know as a church and as individuals we have to be careful when it comes to our possessions and our things and our money.

[26:12] We need to remember this woman Mary and realise that we need to be more concerned about Jesus and the gospel than all the other things. We need to be more concerned about eternity and eternal life than all the other things.

[26:28] We need to put Jesus first and view Jesus as the one who is precious and worthy of all of our alabaster boxes. We need to put Jesus first in our lives and in our witness before everything else.

[26:43] We need to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and then all other things will be added unto us. us. We need to ensure that loving Jesus and following Jesus and serving Jesus are the priorities in our lives.

[27:00] And we need to exalt Jesus high above all our possessions and our things and our money. We need to do that. And my unconverted friend, you know, Jesus was right when he said, you will not always have me.

[27:17] You will not always have me. The opportunity will not always be there. The opportunity to give your alabaster box to Jesus and close in with Jesus and commit your life to Jesus, the opportunity will not always be there.

[27:32] One day that opportunity is going to be taken from you. You will not always have me. You will not always have me. But Jesus says to us today, remember this woman, remember her criticism, because she was criticized openly for displaying her love for Jesus rather than her love for possessions.

[27:54] Remember her criticism, because she was criticized for putting Jesus and the gospel first before all her desires and her wants. Remember her criticism, because there were so many opinions and so many critics all around her.

[28:12] And you know, the church is full of them. people who think they know better, could do better, have better ideas, better suggestions of how things should be done. But like these disciples, the critics only ever criticize those who are actually doing something.

[28:32] The critics only ever criticize because they never get anything done themselves. But Jesus says about this woman, remember her criticism.

[28:44] Because she was criticized and despite all her criticism, she wasn't interested in public opinion. Because when Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, when she sat listening to the voice of Jesus and absorbing all his teaching, she realized that it didn't matter what others thought of her.

[29:05] When Mary lost her only brother Lazarus, there were many who tried to provide comfort but they were poor comforters. because Mary realized that the only one who could give her true comfort in the face of death was the one who promised to her that he is the resurrection and the life.

[29:24] No one else could do that but Jesus. No one else could meet her needs except Jesus. No one else could provide for her and sustain her and uphold her and bless her and keep her apart from Jesus.

[29:38] which is why despite public opinion she came to Jesus and poured out her alabaster box. And how does Jesus describe her actions of love and commitment and devotion to him?

[29:56] He says she has done a beautiful thing for me. She has done a beautiful thing. Remember her, he says.

[30:08] Remember her, lest you forget. And so Jesus wants us to remember this woman Mary. We are to remember her character, we are to remember her criticism, but lastly we are to remember her compassion.

[30:23] Remember her compassion. If you look again at verse 6, Jesus said leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.

[30:37] For you always have the poor with you and whenever you want you can do good for them but you will not always have me. She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for burial and truly I say to you wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.

[30:58] And when speaking about this woman, it was J.C. Ryle who makes the comment in his commentary, he says, it's only when someone understands the sinfulness of their sin and the mercy of Christ in dying for them, it's only then that they will never think anything too good or too costly to give to Jesus.

[31:24] And it's for that reason Jesus calls us to remember this woman, to remember her compassion towards him. Because as Jesus says, she has done a beautiful thing.

[31:38] The disciples criticized her for her actions but Jesus praises her for her actions. And he says about her, she has done what she could. She has done what she could.

[31:52] And you know, there's a lesson here for us all. Because if you're a Christian here today, Jesus is asking you to do all that you can for him. Do all that you can for him.

[32:05] Live your life for his glory. Serve him with a humble heart in this community. Witness for him faithfully and consistently.

[32:16] Speak on his behalf when necessary. Give your utmost at all cost. Do everything to the best of your ability and gifting even if that means that you have to step out of your comfort zone to do it.

[32:36] She did what she could. And Jesus is teaching us to do what we can. And my Christian friend, wouldn't it, wouldn't we all love Jesus to say of us at the last day, he did all that he could.

[32:53] She did all that she could for me. she did a beautiful thing. He did a beautiful thing for me. But there's also the lesson here for those who are still not committed to following Jesus Christ.

[33:08] And the lesson is the same. You need to do all you can. You need to do all you can to be saved. You can't just sit and wait for your conversion to happen.

[33:22] you can't think that salvation will just come to you and drop into your lap. You can't sit back and tell everyone that if you're in the elect, well I'm going to be saved.

[33:35] And you can't think that your efforts of righteousness will ever stand before a holy God, because they won't. My friend, you can't relax for a moment in the condition that you're in.

[33:48] You need to do all that you can to be saved. You need to do all that you can. You need to ask the Lord to reveal himself to you. Show me myself.

[34:01] And when the Lord shows you yourself, say to him, show me thyself. Show me yourself. You need to ask the Lord to reveal these things to you.

[34:11] You need to seek the Lord with all your heart. You need to commit your life to Jesus Christ. You need to humble yourself before Jesus and confess that he is Lord over your life.

[34:24] You need to do all that you can to be saved. Because if you don't, I promise you, nothing will happen.

[34:36] If you do not seek the Lord, nothing will happen. You must seek him. And if you continue continue in the way you're going, if you don't do anything, you will continue in the lost state that you're in.

[34:58] And that's the state you'll end your life in. You need to do all that you can. That's what we're learning from this. She did all that she could.

[35:10] And Jesus explains why she did all that she could. she has anointed my body for burial. She anointed my body for burial. The disciples had criticized Mary for her outward display of love and devotion to Jesus.

[35:27] They criticized it that's so extravagant and so wasteful. But what her critics had failed to see is what she saw. Because when Mary saw Jesus, she didn't just see her king.

[35:42] She also saw her precious savior. She saw the Passover lamb who would take away the sin of the world. She saw Jesus as the one who would be wounded for her transgressions and bruised for her iniquities.

[35:58] And that the chastisement of God that would bring her peace, it was laid upon him. She saw the cross. That's what she saw. And she saw Jesus going to the cross to take her sin, to stand condemned in her place and to experience her hell and to die her death.

[36:20] She did a beautiful thing. And she did all that she could because she saw the cross of Calvary as an even more beautiful thing. And she saw the cross of Calvary as Jesus doing all that he could to save her.

[36:43] But the critics of her didn't see the cross at all. They'd been told about the cross again and again. Jesus is going up to Jerusalem he says.

[36:55] Jesus he's going, he's going to be condemned to death, delivered into the hands of sinful men who will mock him and spit on him and flog him and crucify him. And yet they still fail to see what Mary saw.

[37:09] Because they fail to see the beauty of Jesus. They fail to see the wondrous cross upon which the Prince of Glory died. And it's because of what she saw in Jesus and what she did for Jesus that Jesus says to us today, remember her.

[37:32] Remember her lest we forget assuredly I say to you wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.

[37:50] And this gospel of Jesus Christ it has been preached many times in this part of the world and I'm sure that this woman has been mentioned many times too from this pulpit.

[38:01] But my friend Jesus is saying to us today remember this woman don't forget her don't ignore her don't criticize her don't overlook her remember this woman remember what she saw she saw the beauty of Jesus remember what she did she committed herself to Jesus remember her character how she saw Jesus as more precious than anything else in the world and she openly and publicly confessed him as her Lord remember her criticism how she ignored public opinion what other people thought she ignored it all in order to serve the Lord she loved and adored and remember her compassion how she moved with compassion towards her saviour by anointing his body for burial and she did it only because

[39:12] Jesus had moved in compassion towards her and made her see the wonder and the glory of his cross and Jesus is saying to us today remember her remember her lest we forget may the Lord bless these thoughts to us let us pray oh Lord we give thanks to thee for that reminder today of love and devotion displayed to our Lord and Lord we do ask that thou wouldst enable us to love thee more enable us Lord to devote ourselves to thee more not only personally in our private devotions but also publicly that we would give ourselves more and more to Jesus because we see his beauty that we see the wonder of who he is and what he has done that he died that we might have life and have it more abundantly and oh

[40:18] Lord we pray for those who still cannot see Jesus for who he really is we ask that thou would open their eyes that they might be able to say that with the psalmist that I the beauty of the Lord behold me and admire and that I in his holy place may reverently inquire oh Lord do us good and we pray thee bless us on this thine own holy day undertake for us impress upon us thy word that we would leave here rejoicing rejoicing that we met with Jesus do us good then we pray for Jesus sake amen we shall conclude by singing in psalm 25 psalm 25 in the Scottish Psalter the first version of the psalm psalm 25 we're singing from verse 4 down to the verse mark 9 show me thy ways

[41:24] O Lord thy paths so teach thou me and do thou lead me in thy truth therein my teacher be for thou art God that dost to me salvation send and I expect and I upon thee all the day expecting do attend thy tender mercies Lord I pray thee to remember and loving kindnesses for they have been of old forever down to the verse mark 9 of Psalm 25 to God's praise show me thy ways O Lord thy paths so teach thou me and do thou lead me in thy truth therein my teacher be for thou work for thou love through his salvation send and I upon thee all the day expecting to attend thy tender mercies

[42:51] Lord I pray thee to remember my loving kindnesses for they have been of old forever my sins and faults of you through thou O Lord forget after thy mercy think on me and for thy goodness great God good and upright is the way his sinners show the meek in judgment he will guide and make his path to

[44:08] Lord the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God the Father the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forever more Amen