Redemption Applied

[0:00] Well, if we could, with the Lord's help and the Lord's guidance this evening, we could turn back to that portion of Scripture that we read. The Gospel according to John. John chapter 3.

[0:16] And if we just read the first three verses. John chapter 3 from the beginning. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

[0:28] This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

[0:40] Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

[0:51] This evening I'd like us to resume our study of the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

[1:04] And for many of us, the catechism is something that we grew up with, where we had the privilege, maybe we didn't think it was a privilege at the time, but we had the privilege of being taught the catechism, probably in Sunday school and reciting it to our Sunday school teacher or to our parents.

[1:23] And when we were young, we probably didn't think it then, but the Shorter Catechism is a beautiful document. And it was compiled for the purpose of concisely presenting all of the Reformed doctrines of the Christian faith.

[1:39] But as you know, the catechism, it dates way back to the 17th century, where our parliament at Westminster, it sought to produce a creedal statement in order that all of the Reformed churches within the British Isles would be unified in their doctrine.

[1:57] They would all have this unified statement. And so in 1643, the work began, and it took four years and over 100 ministers to produce the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Westminster Shorter Catechism and the Larger Catechism.

[2:13] And these three documents, they were then approved by the British Parliament in 1647. And looking at our parliament today and how much things have changed and the laws that have now been passed, I doubt that these documents of the Confession and the Catechisms, I doubt that they would even receive a first hearing.

[2:36] in Parliament today. Nevertheless, we are the beneficiaries of those of the past, for these documents, they've shaped and structured and unified the Reformed Church throughout the centuries, not only in Britain, but throughout the world.

[2:52] And we ought to cherish these documents, especially in a day and generation when the Word of God has been undermined and it's been eroded from society.

[3:03] Of course, the Westminster documents, they're not authoritative. The Bible is our sole authority. They're not, the Westminster documents are not to be elevated above Scripture or above God because they are subordinate to the Word of God.

[3:20] Yet, they concisely and systematically present the truths found within the pages of Scripture. And we've seen that so far in our study of the Shorter Catechism.

[3:31] I know it was a while since we were last looking at it, but we've reached question 29. And so, from question 1 to 28, the Catechism has dealt with various topics.

[3:43] But when we look at the way in which the Catechism is written and structured, there's this beautiful flow to all the questions where one question leads into another question.

[3:55] because when we begin with the question, what is God? When we begin with that question, we reach the end and we're given a presentation of the Gospel.

[4:07] Because we're told that God is three persons. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. And that God works in creation and He works in our lives through providence.

[4:17] And as our Creator, He created the world perfectly and everything in it. Even mankind was made in righteousness. But the problem of humanity with illness and war and natural disaster and death, it all relates to that moment when Adam fell into an estate of sin and misery by sinning against God.

[4:41] And yet, the wonder of it all is that God didn't leave Adam in that estate of sin and misery because He provided a Redeemer. That's what the Catechism says. And it says that the Redeemer of God's elect was revealed as the Lord Jesus.

[4:54] Christ, who is the eternal Son of God who became man. Which means that our Redeemer is both God and man. He has two distinct natures, one person forever.

[5:07] And as our Redeemer, Jesus Christ carries out various roles because He executes His office as a prophet and as a priest and as a king, both in His dying upon the cross and His rising from the dead.

[5:20] And so when we read through the first 28 questions of the Catechism, there's this beautiful flow with all the questions. And so by the time we come to question 28, we know the story of redemption.

[5:34] We know what God has done. That we were created righteous, but we fell into ruin by Adam's transgression. And yet God provided a remedy in the person of Jesus and Jesus has accomplished redemption by His death and resurrection.

[5:52] And that's the message of the Gospel. That's the message that's presented to us in the Gospel. Righteousness, ruin, remedy, redemption. But now as we come to question 29 and looking onwards, the Catechism moves from the accomplishment of Christ's redemption on the cross to the application of Christ's redemption to the believer.

[6:18] The Catechism moves from redemption accomplished to redemption applied. And the first question the Catechism seeks to answer is how is the death of Christ applied to us?

[6:31] And how do we benefit from what Jesus did on the cross? How do we benefit from Jesus' death and resurrection? And the answer which the Catechism gives is that we are made partakers of the redemption accomplished by Christ by the effectual application of it by the Holy Spirit.

[6:53] And so the Holy Spirit is the means by which Christ's redemption is applied to us. And that's the teaching we find presented here in John chapter 3. We often go to verse 16 to get the Gospel.

[7:08] But before we reach verse 16 Jesus teaches about the redemption applied to us by the Holy Spirit. Because we see here Jesus the teacher who has come from God and he's giving a lesson on the work of the Holy Spirit in redemption and he's delivering his lesson to this man called Nicodemus who was a ruler of the Jews.

[7:32] So let's listen into this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus so that we'll understand more about the work of the Holy Spirit in redemption. But as we do I want us to ask just three questions.

[7:45] I want us to ask who, what and how. Who, what and how. So first of all let's ask who. Who.

[7:57] Read again with me at verse 1. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him Rabbi we know that you're a teacher come from God for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

[8:13] Jesus answered him Truly I say to you unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?

[8:27] Jesus answered Truly, truly I say to you unless one is born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. This night time meeting between Jesus and Nicodemus was going to have a radical impact upon the ruler of the Jews because Nicodemus was a Pharisee and he lived by the strictest possible rules of his religion.

[8:54] But when he came to Jesus he was seeking answers to his questions that his religion couldn't provide. And as Nicodemus sits through this night class he can't get his head around the teaching of Jesus.

[9:09] And he begins to question everything Jesus is saying to him. And yet Nicodemus he wasn't a man who was ignorant of his Bible. He was a teacher in Israel.

[9:19] He was a professor of theology. He knew what the scriptures said and what the scriptures taught. But what Jesus was teaching Nicodemus is that there is a radical difference between knowledge in the head and knowledge in the heart.

[9:36] And you know sometimes that six inches or so between the head and the heart it's a massive gulf. A massive gulf. And I have no doubt that many of us if not all of us in here we understand the work of Christ in our head.

[9:55] we understand what verse 16 means. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

[10:09] But my friend there's a radical difference between knowing that in our head and knowing it in our heart. And that's why Jesus says in verse 5 he answered truly truly I say to you unless one is born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

[10:29] Which means that we can't fully understand anything to do with the work of Christ on the cross without the Holy Spirit applying it to us. We can't see the beauty of Christ and the wonder of salvation without the application of the spirit.

[10:45] But before we ask what what does the spirit do in our redemption and before we ask how how does the spirit work in our redemption I want us to ask who?

[10:56] Who is the Holy Spirit? Because the Holy Spirit is not an object he's a person he is a person of the Godhead there are three persons in the Godhead God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit and all three persons in the Godhead they are the same in substance equal in power and glory there's not an order one is not subordinate to the other God the Father isn't greater than God the Son or God the Holy Spirit they are equal in power and glory which means when the catechism says that God is a spirit infinite eternal and unchangeable in his being wisdom power holiness justice goodness and truth that is true of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit as one God they are the same but as three persons they carry out a work that is in a sense unique to them because although they're always working together in a trinity and they're always part of whatever the other person of the trinity is doing whether that's in creation or providence or redemption or in the life of a believer they're working together but as persons they have unique roles within that work which means that we can say that God the Father is principally active he was principally active in the work of creation we can say that God the Son was principally active in the work of redemption through his obedience and death on the cross but what about the Holy Spirit what is the

[12:38] Holy Spirit's primary role well the answer to that question comes from Jesus in John chapter 16 where Jesus is speaking to his disciples in the upper room and he says when the spirit of truth has come he will guide you into all truth he will not speak on his own authority but whatever he hears he will speak and he will tell you things to come he will glorify me for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you therefore the primary work of the Holy Spirit is to make Jesus Christ known the principal role of the Holy Spirit is to glorify and to exalt Jesus Christ he is to illuminate Jesus before our eyes because the wonderful thing about the Holy Spirit is that his work is not about him his work is all about Jesus and when you're thinking about it the reason many people neglect the Holy Spirit or think less of him and fail to focus upon him more is because that's his role and that's what he wants us to do because he wants our focus and our attention to all be on

[13:50] Jesus and not upon himself he wants our focus to be upon the work of Christ and the gospel the Holy Spirit wants our focus to be upon Jesus and make us confess that he is the fairest among ten thousand and one who is all together lovely and I suppose an illustration of this would be that when you see a building a magnificent building it's all lit up at night you often see it on the TV Buckingham Palace or Edinburgh Castle and when these grand structures are all illuminated by these bright floodlights you don't ever hear anyone comment and say aren't those floodlights so wonderful aren't those floodlights so beautiful in what they're doing and so bright you never hear a comment about the floodlights because the work of the floodlight isn't to draw attention to itself the work of the floodlight is to draw attention to the magnificent structure that it's illuminating and that's what the Holy Spirit does with Jesus he illuminates

[15:00] Christ he makes Christ known to us he reveals Jesus Christ to us in the gospel and the first time the Holy Spirit revealed Christ was at the incarnation Jesus was conceived in his mother's womb by the Holy Spirit the first step to revealing Jesus was the incarnation and then at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry when Jesus was being baptized in the river Jordan by John the Baptist the Holy Spirit descended from heaven in order to make Jesus known because it was at that point that God the Father said this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased my friend the work of the Holy Spirit is to make Christ known to us and he makes Christ known in scripture the whole of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation every single word it's inspired by the Holy

[16:00] Spirit and without the Holy Spirit we wouldn't be able to understand the Bible without the Holy Spirit we wouldn't believe any of the Bible without the Holy Spirit the Bible is an empty book to us but the Holy Spirit not only makes Christ known in God's word he also makes Christ known in the preaching of God's word and in the singing of God's word because our worship it must be done in spirit and in truth our worship must contain the truth of God's word and the application of God's spirit worship is not worship without the spirit because the principal role of the Holy Spirit is to exalt Jesus Christ it's to make Jesus known to us it's to reveal the beauty and the glory of Jesus to us and in the life of a Christian it's the Holy Spirit who makes Jesus more and more precious because as we go on in our

[17:04] Christian lives it's the Holy Spirit who works in us and through us in order to make us see that this world is changing and passing away but Jesus is remaining the same and he remains our hope and the anchor of our soul and don't you find it interesting that all the names of the Holy Spirit are for the purpose of making Jesus more precious to us he's called the comforter the spirit of truth the helper and the way in which the Holy Spirit comforts us in our times of sorrow and sadness and the way in which he teaches us in our times of doubt and uncertainty and the way in which he helps us in our times of weakness and frailty he does it by lifting before us the loveliness of Christ the loveliness of Jesus Christ which is why

[18:04] Nicodemus couldn't fully understand what Jesus was talking about his lesson in the classroom of Jesus had left him with more questions than answers because by this point the Holy Spirit hadn't made Christ known to Nicodemus and so when John tells us that Nicodemus came to Jesus by night he's more than telling us the hour of the day or of the night that this night time class took place John is telling us the condition of Nicodemus his soul that his soul was still in darkness because although he knew the scriptures in his head he didn't know them in his heart which is why the first thing Jesus says to Nicodemus except a man be born again he cannot enter the kingdom of God and Nicodemus responds by asking what does that mean what does that mean and that's what I'd like us to ask secondly we've asked who who is the

[19:14] Holy Spirit but now let's ask what what does the Holy Spirit do what does the Holy Spirit do look at verse 3 Jesus answered him truly I say to you unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Nicodemus said to him how can a man be born when he's old can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born Jesus answered truly truly I say to you unless one is born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God in this dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus Jesus is reducing all of his questions and issues to one problem Nicodemus are you born again you have questions that your religion cannot answer and you have interests that you can't that the world cannot satisfy for you and you have issues that you can't find a resolution for but

[20:16] Nicodemus you're missing the central and vital point of genuine biblical Christianity you must be born again you must be born again nevertheless we read of Nicodemus protesting Jesus' claim by asking how can someone be born when he's old does he have to enter into a second time into his mother's womb and when you listen to what Nicodemus is asking Jesus it almost seems crazy that he would even think that because here's a man who knows his bible he knows all the laws of god he knows the old testament he knows the story of redemption and yet he thinks that in order to be born again you have to physically be born again but Jesus assures Nicodemus that being born again is not a work of the flesh but a work of the holy spirit because he says in verse 6 that which is born of the flesh is flesh that which is born of the spirit is spirit and so Nicodemus

[21:28] Jesus says the only way to be born again is to be born of water and of the spirit now we have to be clear on this point that when Jesus says we need to be born of water he's not talking about baptism because baptism has never saved anyone and will never save anyone the only way to be saved is faith in the finished work of Jesus which means that when Jesus refers to being born of water he's talking about the need for cleansing the need for purification getting rid of your sin and to some extent Nicodemus could understand that part that the only way to be saved was by getting rid of your sin by purification because the Pharisees they were obsessed with practicing all the purity laws they were obsessed with all their washing all the sacrifices and all their tithing and all their fasting and trying to remain uncontaminated they were obsessed with being religiously and morally pure in the sight of others but Jesus says to

[22:40] Nicodemus you cannot be fit for heaven by your religion and your religious duties knowledge and theology doesn't make you fit for heaven keeping God's law and being a good person doesn't make you fit for heaven no no says Jesus unless you are cleansed with the washing of water and born of the spirit of God you cannot you will not it is impossible for you to enter the kingdom of God Nicodemus you must be born from above born from above in other words Jesus is saying to Nicodemus the Holy Spirit must work in your heart the Holy Spirit must apply the finished work of the cross by working faith in you and this is what we mean by the term regeneration regeneration because regeneration means to be brought back to life for example a generator a generator generates electricity it brings something that is dead like a light or a socket and it brings it to life but something that is regenerated it indicates that it was once living then it died and then it's brought to life again or you could say that when someone's heart stops beating their heart can be regenerated by a defibrillator and in a sense that's what the

[24:24] Holy Spirit does when he applies the finished work of Christ to us he brings us back to life because according to the Bible we were in a state of righteousness before the fall prior to the fall we had life we had life but the moment Adam sinned we sinned in him and we fell with him in his first transgression and in Adam we all died and our spiritual condition without the work of regeneration is that we're all dead we're all dead we're dead in our trespasses and sins but when the Holy Spirit regenerates us by working faith in us we're made alive we're spiritually resurrected from the dead which is why Paul says in the New Testament as in Adam all die but in Christ all shall be made alive and that life which we have given been given in regeneration it's new life we're not only being born again we're being made brand new in that moment of regeneration we are given a new birth we're given a new beginning we're given a new heart we become a new creation just like a newborn baby fresh out of the womb brand new tasting life for the first time and

[25:54] Jesus says to Nicodemus that this work of regeneration and experiencing new birth it's all a work of the Holy Spirit it's all of God just like the work of creation is all of God just like the work of redemption is all of God so too is the work of applying that redemption to the heart of a believer it's all of God and that's what Jesus teaches in verse 8 the wind blows where it wishes and you hear it sound but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit and Jesus explains to Nicodemus that the Holy Spirit is just like a wind not only in the fact that we can't see the wind but in the fact that we can't create the wind we can't contain the wind and we can't control the wind it's above and beyond us and that's just like the work of the Holy Spirit we can't create it we can't manufacture or mimic the work of the Spirit in someone's heart we can't control the work of the Spirit by increasing it or decreasing it and we certainly can't contain the work of the Spirit by demanding him to do something because as

[27:09] God the Holy Spirit is sovereign and so what Jesus is saying here to Nicodemus is that without the effectual application of the Holy Spirit we can never become a Christian without the Spirit working in us we will be lost without the Holy Spirit awakening our minds and enlivening our hearts and bringing us from death to life we will remain dead in our trespasses and sins without the Holy Spirit working and revealing to us the beauty and the glory of Jesus Christ in the gospel church is boring and reading the Bible seems like a waste of time that's the work of the Holy Spirit and you know that's what the Apostle Paul said when he was writing to Titus Titus was that young island minister serving on the Greek island of Crete and Paul wrote to Titus reminding him to teach his island congregation that we are saved he says not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to God's mercy through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy

[28:23] Spirit in other words my friend salvation is all of grace it's God's gift to us there for the taking salvation we don't deserve it we don't earn it we can't work for it it's all of grace but don't ever think that because God is sovereign in salvation and the work of the believer is all of the Lord and of the Holy Spirit don't ever think that that excuses us from not seeking the Lord don't ever think to yourself if I'm going to be saved I will be saved because the Bible never once says sit where you are and do nothing but it does say come ask seek knock look listen believe follow that's what the Bible says and I always remember hearing the story about

[29:29] George Whitefield he was a famous evangelist in the 18th century and he was used mightily by the Lord in the conversion of thousands in Britain and in America and George Whitefield's favourite text to preach on was John 3 7 marvel not and I said unto thee you must be born again and the story is told that in one of his final addresses that Whitefield gave Whitefield said I am now 55 years of age and I more than ever convinced that the truth of the new birth is a revelation from God himself and that without it you can never be saved but it was after his address that an unconverted man came up and asked Whitefield he said if the new birth is a revelation of God himself why do you so often preach that you must be born again to which Whitefield just looked at the man and said because you must be born again you must be born again you need to have a new beginning you need to experience a new birth you need to be made a new creation you need to ask

[30:51] Jesus to come into your heart and that my friend that is the plea of scripture and that is my plea as your minister and as a Christian that you must be born again you need to ask Jesus to come into your heart but how does that happen how does Jesus come into our heart well that's what I want us to ask thirdly and finally we've asked who is the Holy Spirit we've asked what what does the Holy Spirit do he regenerates us but lastly let's ask how how does the Holy Spirit apply the work of the cross to us how we look at verse 9 Nicodemus said to him how can these things be Jesus answered him are you a teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things when Nicodemus heard this lesson on the application of

[31:55] Christ's cross work by the Holy Spirit he asked the same question that we're asking now how can these things be and the catechism it explains that when the Holy Spirit works faith in us through our regeneration we are at that moment united to Christ we are united to Christ you know I was just thinking in relation to the Queen's 90th birthday this coming Thursday I was thinking what does a Christian have in common with the Queen what does a Christian have in common with the Queen the simple answer is they have two birthdays the Queen has the actual anniversary of the day she was born this Thursday 21st of April but she also has an official royal birthday on a certain Saturday in June and why the Queen has two birthdays it dates all the way back to the 18th century and something to do with

[33:00] George II but the reason why a Christian has two birthdays is all to do with the Holy Spirit and a reunion with Christ because we all have a natural birthday the day we were born but we also have a spiritual birthday the day that the Holy Spirit regenerated us and we were united to Jesus Christ and in that moment the Holy Spirit came to dwell within our heart now I know that for some people they can't pinpoint a definitive moment in their life when they were converted because it was either a gradual change over time or there was no change at all and what I mean by that is that there was never a moment when they didn't believe or trust in Jesus for their salvation but from God's perspective there was a definitive moment we might not know it but God knows it because the moment we were regenerated when we were born again when we were made new we were united to Jesus

[34:05] Christ because as we said earlier that definitive moment at that moment of regeneration we were brought back to life before the fall we had life but the moment Adam sinned we sinned in him fell with him in his first transgression in Adam we all died we were united to Adam in life we were united to Adam in death and so when we're united to Adam our spiritual condition is that we're all dead we're dead in our trespasses and sins but when the Holy Spirit regenerates us by working faith in us we're born again we're made alive we're resurrected from the dead and this is what Paul was teaching what we said earlier as in Adam all die but in Christ all are made alive all are made alive and what Paul was teaching is that the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration and union with Christ it's simultaneous it happens at the same time because when we are in

[35:11] Christ we are made alive when we are in Christ we are regenerated when we are in union with Christ we're made new and you know Paul loves this concept of union with Christ because in every letter he's writing about it and he's emphasizing how precious our salvation is because of union with Christ and when you read Paul's letters all you see is that every aspect of our salvation every spiritual blessing which flows to us which we receive from God we receive it because we are alive in Christ we are in Christ we are in union with Christ and these are key phrases for Paul he's always saying in Christ you'll find it everywhere in the New Testament in Christ with Christ we're in Christ we're with Christ and he repeats them all over his letter because for Paul everything we are as a

[36:12] Christian comes back to an inseparable union with Jesus Christ but for Paul there are only two positions that we can be in because we're either united to Adam or we are united to Christ and if we are united to Adam which we are when we are born that's our condition if we're united to Adam then we're still under the curse we're dead in our trespasses and sins and we're walking according to the course of this world if we're in Adam we need to be taken out of Adam and brought into union with Christ otherwise we're on a direct route to hell but says Paul if we are in union with Christ we've been made alive we've been regenerated we've been born again Christ dwells in us by the Holy Spirit because if we are in Christ

[37:13] Christ is in us and that's what it means when the Bible says that we're baptized with the Spirit or we receive the Spirit or we're filled with the Spirit or we have the Spirit or we're sealed with the Holy Spirit all these phrases that are in the New Testament that often cause so much confusion I want to say they're all synonymous of one another they all mean the same thing there's no second blessing there's no higher tier of Christianity the Holy Spirit doesn't do a half job because when Christ comes into our heart by the Holy Spirit he comes in to stay if we're in Christ Christ is in us doesn't matter how much we sin or fall or let him down he will never depart from us or sever his union with us and this is what I love about the believers union with Christ that every Christian can say because he lives in me he's always with me because he lives in me he's always with me he's with me everywhere

[38:23] I go he's with me when I go to work he's with me when I go to school he's with me when I go shopping he's with me when I'm in the car but not only that because Christ lives in me he's with me when I go through illness he's with me when I experience sorrow and he's with me when I'm confronted with things that are far too much for me to bear my friend Jesus was true to his word when he said I will never leave you and I will never forsake you because when he made that promise he dwells within us if Christ if you are in Christ Christ is in you and that's why Paul could say with confidence I'm persuaded fully persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come in the future neither height nor depth nor any other creature is able to separate us from the love of God which is in

[39:28] Christ Jesus our Lord in Christ if Christ is in us we are in him but there's even more than that there's far more than that and with this I'll finish because when we are in union with Christ when Christ is in us and we are in Christ all the benefits and blessings of salvation flow from that union as one theologian put it he said union with Christ it's the fountainhead from which every spiritual blessing flows to the Christian our effectual calling repentance and faith pardon justification adoption sanctification perseverance and glorification salvation and what this means my friend is that God willing everything we're going to look at in the coming weeks they all flow from our union with

[40:38] Christ they all flow from that start point of regeneration and union with Christ and they're all applied to us by the Holy Spirit what a lesson Nicodemus received the night he met with Jesus and I hope that tonight we too have learned as we have met with Jesus we learned who the Holy Spirit is what the Holy Spirit does and how the Holy Spirit works and that we ought to pray that he would work in our hearts and in the hearts of those in our community to reveal Jesus as a precious saviour to them I have one more question for you we've asked who what and how but all I want to ask you is are you are you are you in Christ or are you out of Christ are you in Christ or are you out of Christ your default position is that you are not in Christ therefore you need to be in Christ you need you must be born again are you in Christ may the

[42:13] Lord bless these thoughts to us let us pray O Lord our gracious God we give thanks to thee for revealing to us in thy word how thou art one who works in us both to will and to do of thine own good pleasure although these things O Lord are in some sense so perplexing beyond even our thoughts or our imagination but yet Lord we bless thee that thou art one who does work and Lord we do ask that thou wouldst work amongst us work in us and through us work in those who are still out of Christ that they may be brought into Christ to receive all the blessings that are found in him oh it is a wonder to know him it is a wonder to be loved by him that we Lord would seek that better portion to know that this world offers us nothing nothing worth clinging to but in Jesus we have the promise of eternal life do us good then we pray all keep us in the week that lies ahead a week that is unknown to us but known to thee that is why we cast every care into thine hand knowing that thou art one who will keep us do us good and go before us for

[43:29] Jesus sake amen we shall conclude by singing in psalm 143 psalm 143 it is in the scottish psalter that is the second version of the psalm I am going to ask the presenter if he will start from verse 6 it is a good place to start this is John Murdo's favourite psalm if anybody didn't know that it is John Murdo's favourite psalm it is a lovely psalm psalm 143 the second version of the psalm from verse 6 lo I do stretch my hands to thee my help alone for thou well understand all my complaint and moan my thirsting soul desires and longeth after thee as thirsty ground requires with rain refreshed to be lord let my prayer prevail to answer it make speed for lo my spirit doth fail hide not thy face in need lest I be like to those that do in darkness sit or him that downward goes into the dreadful pit from verse 6 down to the verse mark 10 of psalm 143 we'll stand we'll stand to sing to god's praise though I do stretch my hands to thee my help alone for thou well understand all my complaints and and more my thirsting soul desire and longeth after thee as thirsty ground requires with rain refresh to thee lord let my prayer prevail to answer it makes thee for though my spirit fail

[45:48] I knock thy face in thee lest I be like to those that do in darkness sit or in the downward goes into the dreadful pit because I trust in thee O Lord cause me to hear thy loving kindness free when morning does appear cause me to know the way when my path but to thee for why my soul on high

[47:01] I do lift up to thee from my fear send me in city to me guide because I flee to thee Lord that thou mayst me hide my God alone art thou teach me thy righteousness thy spirit could lead me to the land of our brightness 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