He Has Done All Things Well

[0:00] Well, if we could, with the Lord's help this morning, turn back to that portion of Scripture that we read. The Gospel according to Mark, in chapter 7.

[0:17] The Gospel according to Mark, chapter 7. And if we just take as our text the words of verse 37. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, He has done all things well.

[0:33] He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak. But in particular the words, He has done all things well.

[0:45] He has done all things well. As a relatively young minister, when I meet someone for the first time, someone who is a complete stranger.

[1:01] And we are talking and asking questions about one another, just to get to know one another. One of the questions which is sure to crop up is the question, what do you do?

[1:11] As in, what is your occupation? And of course I would always respond by saying, well I'm the minister in Barvis. But having been in that situation a few times now, I've come to realise that my occupation, it either starts a conversation or it ends one.

[1:29] And I suppose that all depends on someone's view of a minister. Because sometimes people don't feel comfortable talking to a minister. I don't know why I don't bite.

[1:42] And I won't do anything against them. But you know, thinking about it, sometimes people don't feel comfortable around a minister. Because they don't want to bring up the subject of Jesus.

[1:55] And sometimes it's Christians who don't feel comfortable talking about Jesus. And maybe that's because Jesus is so different. His life and his message, it goes against the grain of society.

[2:08] And it stands in contrast to the way the world, what the world knows and the way the world thinks. It breaks down every religious barrier and the message of Jesus.

[2:19] It tramples down every tradition in order that people will see who he is and what he is really like. And that's what makes people uncomfortable. Because deep down, whether they openly acknowledge it or not, they know that what Jesus is saying is true.

[2:37] And that it's relevant to them. And so as we come to this passage in Mark's Gospel, Mark wants us to see that everything Jesus says and everything Jesus does, it seeks to break down all the barriers that people may have.

[2:53] And it seeks to trample down all the traditions that people may hold to. And it seeks to remove all the misconceptions people use as excuses.

[3:05] Until the point that they come to where they're confessing about Jesus Christ. He has done all things well. And if Mark wants us to take anything home with us this morning, it's this statement from verse 37.

[3:20] He has done all things well. Because when Jesus travels to two different locations within the land of Israel, and he encounters two different types of people, that's what they were saying about him.

[3:36] That's what they had come to discover about Jesus. Because they both came to know and experience the power of the Gospel in Jesus Christ. And both came to say about Jesus, He does all things well.

[3:51] And of course, that's what I want you to say about Jesus too. He has done all things well. And so this morning I want us to travel with Jesus to these two different locations within the land of Israel.

[4:05] And I want us to witness what happened when Jesus encountered these two people. Because Jesus met, as we can see, a determined disciple and a compassionate crowd.

[4:20] A determined disciple and a compassionate crowd. So we look firstly at Jesus meeting a determined disciple. It says in verse 24, And from there, that is Galilee, he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

[4:38] And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know. Yet he could not be hidden. But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet.

[4:50] Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, So after debating with the Pharisees, as we saw last week, Jesus was debating with the Pharisees in Galilee over the issues of tradition and religious righteousness.

[5:17] Jesus travels northwest to the sea coast of the land of Israel to the region of Tyre and then further north, Sidon. And it's interesting that when Jesus moves away from Galilee, he found someone desperately needing him.

[5:34] But when he was in Galilee, when he was in the central location of Israel with the Pharisees, they thought that they didn't need Jesus. In fact, Jesus' presence in Galilee was making the Pharisees uncomfortable and they wanted to get rid of him.

[5:49] Because the Pharisees thought and taught that salvation belonged to the Jews. And that it was only the Jews who deserved to be saved. But the Pharisees thought that they deserved to be saved, not just because of their nationality, but also because of their outward appearance and their outward actions of religious righteousness.

[6:11] And so the Pharisees, they had no interest in Jesus. They had no interest in hearing the message about sin. And they had no interest in hearing about the condition of their heart.

[6:22] Because they only sought to earn their way into heaven by paying lip service to God. But the reality was, their heart, it was far from them. And that's the condition of many people in our community and in our island.

[6:39] Where they think that when they die, they will somehow appear before God in heaven. Because they pleased God by all of their good works and their church attendance and their lip service.

[6:51] But the reality is, my friend, a heart that is far from Jesus in time will be even further from Jesus in eternity.

[7:02] A heart that is far from Jesus now will be even further from Jesus in eternity. But when Jesus traveled those 30 or so miles to the northwest region of Tyre and Sidon, Jesus encountered a heart that was earnestly seeking Him.

[7:23] Because we're told that Jesus didn't want anyone to know where He was. But Mark tells us that it was because of the earnest desire of this woman that Jesus couldn't remain hidden.

[7:37] Mark says in verse 25, Immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of Him and came and fell down at His feet. And before we go any further and discover what kind of woman this was that came to Jesus, we have to see that this unnamed woman came to Jesus in complete desperation.

[8:00] because she was a mother bound up in the interests of her young daughter. Her beloved daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit. She was under the possession of Satan.

[8:12] And this woman, she comes and she falls at the feet of Jesus begging Him, just begging Him to help her and to restore her precious child again.

[8:23] And, well, you know, every parent, every parent knows what it is to feel the pain of their own children. They hate the moment that they become ill.

[8:35] They don't like seeing them ill, wishing that it was them that was suffering instead of their child. Longing that they would take away the pain from them. But they know they can't.

[8:47] And they know that they can only look on and helplessly wait for the situation to change. And I'm sure that this mother tried everything to help her daughter. The love of a parent for their own child would do anything for them.

[9:03] But with her daughter possessed by an evil spirit, no teaching could reach her mind. No witch doctor could address the situation. No potion or ointment could be prescribed for her.

[9:17] And now at her wits end and emptied of her resources and emptied of her own efforts and emptied of all the authority over her own life and hit an absolute rock bottom knowing that everything she had ever tried to help her daughter was totally useless.

[9:36] She came to Jesus. She came to Jesus begging him because when the moment of her extremity came and her need became so great to whom else could she go but to Jesus.

[9:54] And my friend there is one thing that this woman was going to discover about Jesus and that is he does all things well. He does all things well.

[10:07] She may not have understood why this happened to her and to her daughter. She may not have recognised why her situation was so dark and why her precious child was enduring such agony but it wasn't the why that brought her to Jesus.

[10:25] It was the fact that she knew that Jesus was the only one who could help her and Jesus was the only one who could speak comfort and peace into her situation.

[10:37] And maybe for you today my friend there may be many why's in your heart and many why's in your mind where you're asking why this way?

[10:49] Why this experience? Why now? Why me? Why my family? Why? But my dear friend maybe what you need to discover is not why something has happened.

[11:06] As hard and as difficult as that may be maybe what you need to discover today is that the only person who is truly able to help you and speak comfort and peace into your situation is this Jesus.

[11:23] And that when you look to him and cry out to him for help even in the darkest of circumstances you'll be able to confess to Jesus he has done all things well.

[11:38] he has done all things well. And that's not to say that the situation that you're facing at the moment is without pain or that turning to Jesus your pain will all of a sudden disappear.

[11:51] It's to say that you don't have to do it alone because Jesus promises to be by your side to help you and encourage you if you only call out to him.

[12:05] And that's what this woman did. She came to Jesus and we're told in verse 26 now the woman was a Gentile a Syrophoenician by birth and she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

[12:20] She kept pleading with Jesus to help her and to cast the demon out of her daughter. But what Mark wants us to realise about this woman is that she was an outsider wanting in.

[12:35] She was an outsider wanting in because according to Jewish tradition and the religious righteousness of the Pharisees Jesus should never have helped this woman.

[12:47] Mark tells us that she was a Greek and she was a Syrophoenician by birth. And Mark gives us these details in order to emphasise that she's an outsider. She was a Greek.

[12:59] She's someone who spoke Greek. She didn't speak the language of God's people. She didn't speak Hebrew. And she was a Syrophoenician. She was from the foreign land of Phoenicia which was a region that was part of Syria.

[13:14] And so she has nothing to do with the Jews. She's from another country. She wasn't from the promised land of Israel. And she was an alien to the Israelite culture and customs.

[13:25] She didn't know how to worship God like the Jews did. She didn't know how to perform all the acts of religious righteousness. She didn't have all the promises that had been given throughout the Old Testament.

[13:39] She wasn't part of God's covenant people. She was an outcast. She was religiously unclean. But it was not only her nationality that was against her because she was a Greek.

[13:49] The fact she was a woman was against her too. Because she was this single woman living in a society which was dominated by men.

[14:00] everything was against this woman. Everything she had and everything she was in amongst a Jewish society indicated that she shouldn't come anywhere near Jesus.

[14:14] And that's what Jesus told her. He says to her let the children be fed first for it's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.

[14:26] and to our ears Jesus has just insulted this woman. And it's a woman he's never met. She's a complete stranger to him.

[14:38] And she has just told Jesus she's come to Jesus begging him telling him that her daughter is possessed by a demon and she'll probably die and her world is falling down around her and the first response Jesus has to this woman is to call her a dog.

[14:56] And there's no way to get round this. There's no way to get round what Jesus is saying and somehow make an excuse for what he's saying to the woman. I mean we could say that dogs were highly favoured animals in Israel because of their humility and their obedience but the truth is they weren't.

[15:17] Dogs were viewed as unclean animals. They were scavengers. They were described by the Jews as the most despicable insolent and miserable of all creatures.

[15:29] And so when Jesus calls this unnamed woman and this unknown woman a dog he's not complimenting her. He's telling her what she is because in the eyes of the Jews that's what outsiders wear.

[15:43] That's what Greeks wear. That's what Syrophoenician women wear. They were dogs. But Jesus wasn't telling her something she didn't know already.

[15:55] Because when Jesus says it's not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. In his little illustration the children were of course the Jews. They were the children of Israel.

[16:07] They had received the bread from heaven. And Jesus was emphasizing that the message of salvation it's for the Jews first. And this woman she knew that. She knew it was for God's special people.

[16:20] She knew that salvation was for the Jews first. And so in this statement Jesus gives the woman the answer she expects. Because she knows how she is viewed by the Jews.

[16:34] She knows she's an outsider. But she's an outsider wanting in. And she's determined to get in. Because what we need to see is that when Jesus speaks to this woman and calls her a dog he's testing her.

[16:51] And he's testing her to see if she's committed. To see if she's determined. To see if her plea is genuine. Because if she wasn't genuinely seeking the help of Jesus she would have walked away at the first hurdle.

[17:07] But this determined disciple confesses to Jesus exactly what he wants to hear. She says to him yes Lord yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.

[17:24] And in that statement we see that this woman understood far better than the Pharisees did. And that's the contrast that Marcus is trying to make.

[17:34] The contrast between the Pharisees at the beginning of chapter seven and these Gentiles at the end of chapter seven. Because this woman she understood what she was before Jesus.

[17:49] She understood that she wasn't an Israelite. She understood that she didn't have all the privileges that the Jews had. She understood that she was this outsider. She knew that she was understood by the Jews to be a dog.

[18:02] She knew she was unclean. She knew she was sinful. But this woman not only understood who she was. Her response tells us that she understood who Jesus was.

[18:13] because she addresses him as Lord. Yes Lord. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.

[18:25] She knew Jesus to be Lord. My friend this woman understood that she was undeserving of the least of his mercies. She knew she didn't deserve to be saved or helped in any way.

[18:42] but she also knew that there was nowhere else to go but to Jesus. She understood that the gospel of Jesus Christ the son of God it was to the Jew first then to the Gentiles.

[19:00] And that's what the apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 1. He says I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it's the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

[19:16] And my friend there is one thing for sure. This woman wasn't ashamed of the gospel. She wasn't ashamed. She wasn't ashamed of making Jesus her Lord.

[19:27] She wasn't ashamed of bending her knee before Jesus. She wasn't ashamed to stand up for Christ. But you know sometimes I think we're ashamed of this gospel.

[19:38] and we're too ashamed to speak of the Jesus of the gospel. Where we make excuses of our apathy and our lack of vision.

[19:52] And we act like the Pharisees. We hide behind all our religious barriers and traditions and claim that there are so many incomers on our island now where we say just like the Pharisees did, they don't understand our culture, they don't understand our custom, they don't come to church, they don't keep the Sabbath, they don't have an interest in church.

[20:15] My friend, does that mean they don't need the gospel? Does that mean the gospel isn't for them? Does that mean the gospel is only for those who attend church and are baptized in the church and have been brought up in the church?

[20:31] Who is the gospel for? Who is the message of salvation? for? My friend, is there a certain criteria of person or class of people that this gospel is suitable for?

[20:46] Yes. Yes, there is. There is only one criteria of person needed to embrace the message of the gospel.

[21:00] You must see what you are as a sinner and you must see what Jesus is as Lord. God which means my friend that this glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, it's for the sinner, it's for the outsider, it's for the outcast, it's for the drug addict, it's for the gambler, it's for the alcoholic, it's for the broken home, it's for the broken family.

[21:28] This gospel is for everyone because Jesus is for everyone, every home and every family in our community and in our island and in our nation, it's for them.

[21:41] But if this gospel is for everyone, why are we ashamed of it? Why are we ashamed of it? Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes.

[22:04] Then why are we ashamed to stand up for it? Why are we afraid to share it? We have the greatest message in all the world and it's for the outsider.

[22:17] It's for you, it's for me, it's for everyone. But you know the wonder of this gospel is that Jesus made himself to be the outsider.

[22:35] And he made himself to be the outsider in order to take upon himself our sin. And now that he made himself the outsider, he wants to come in.

[22:52] He wants to come in. He wants into your heart and into your life and into your experience. Jesus now wants in.

[23:07] And he's knocking at the door of your heart. And we need to let him in. My friend, will you let him in?

[23:19] Because where else are you going to go with all your troubles, all your concerns? you need to let him in. Drop all the barriers, lose the traditions.

[23:33] Let him in. Let him in. Let him in. That's what this woman did. Because when she submitted her cause entirely to Jesus, she wasn't disappointed.

[23:51] Jesus heard her plea and granted her request. and all that she would have said about Jesus when she came home to see her daughter lying in bed and the demon gone.

[24:03] She would have thought of Jesus and said, he does all things well. He's done all things well. And so we've encountered a determined disciple.

[24:14] but secondly, I'd like us to consider a compassionate crowd. A compassionate crowd. If we read at verse 31, then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Decapolis.

[24:33] And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And so Jesus left this northwest region of Israel and Tyre and Sidon and he traveled southeast to the opposite direction to the region of the Decapolis before he would eventually return to the Sea of Galilee.

[25:00] But in this section, Mark tells us what happened when Jesus reached the region of the Decapolis. In fact, Mark is the only one to tell us about this occasion in his gospel.

[25:13] All the other gospel writers don't mention what happens here. But this miracle which Jesus performs, it's a significant event in his ministry. Because through it, Jesus will reveal his identity to the people in the Decapolis.

[25:30] Now the region of the Decapolis literally means the region of ten cities. And although it was still part of the land of Israel, it was Gentile territory.

[25:41] It was inhabited by Gentiles. It was inhabited by all the outsiders. But what's remarkable is that this is the area to which legion was sent.

[25:55] When Jesus, remember when Jesus healed him on the banks of the Red Sea, of the Sea of Galilee. You remember back in chapter 5, that when Jesus healed legion from his demon possession, he naturally wanted to follow Jesus and learn more about Jesus, but Jesus wouldn't let him follow.

[26:16] And Jesus said to legion, go home to your friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he has had compassion on you.

[26:28] And Mark told us that when legion heard the commission of Jesus, he departed and began to proclaim in the Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him and everyone marvelled.

[26:43] And now when Jesus arrives in the region of the Decapolis, that message of compassion which had been preached by legion, it had been received by all the people and it was now being evidenced in the life of the people there.

[26:58] And it seems that legion's sermons about Jesus and about all the great things that the Lord had done. It had given to the people of the Decapolis this vivid description of Jesus that when he entered their region they recognised him straight away.

[27:16] Because when he arrived in the region of the Decapolis we're told in verse 32, as soon as he got there they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment and they begged him to lay his hand on him.

[27:30] And just like the Syrophoenician woman in the previous section who came to Jesus pleading on behalf of her daughter. This crowd had taken compassion upon a member of their community and they came to Jesus pleading on his behalf.

[27:49] Pleading for Jesus to help. Begging him. Just begging Jesus to put his hand on him. And if Mark is teaching us anything with these two people that we're meeting or these two groups it's that we have such a responsibility and a privilege to bring people before Jesus in prayer.

[28:13] Because there are many things we can't do for our family. And there are many things we can't do for the people of our community. There are many things in which we are completely helpless.

[28:25] We're helpless when they're experiencing illness. We're helpless when they're mourning. We are helpless in their salvation. But what we have been reminded of here is that we can pray for them.

[28:40] We can bring them to Jesus. We can come to Jesus begging for his help and for Jesus to have compassion upon them. And maybe saying this it's of little help to you.

[28:55] Maybe you're thinking well I've tried all that. I've been praying for a long time. I've been begging Jesus to help me. I've been begging Jesus to help the one I love.

[29:08] And you feel nothing is changing. Nothing is different. You just want to give up. Well my friend all I can say to you is keep praying.

[29:21] Keep persisting. Keep bringing them to Jesus. Because he promises that he will help you. That doesn't mean he will change the situation.

[29:35] But he will give you grace to deal with the situation. And for this compassionate crowd they came to Jesus. Just like the Syrophoenician woman did. Because this compassionate crowd they had no claim on Jesus.

[29:49] They were Gentiles too. They were also outsiders. They were the dogs of the society that the Jews saw. And the Jews considered them as nothing more than unclean and unfit to receive the message of salvation.

[30:03] But what made the difference is that this compassionate crowd they had the testimony of legion. And we should never underestimate the testimony of a believer.

[30:14] We should never undermine the influence and effect that a Christian witness has on other people whether it's home or in the workplace or that's at school or in the community because this compassionate crowd could see in legion's life the evidence of Jesus at work.

[30:34] And they knew that if the message of the gospel was for a man who had been demon possessed then the message of the gospel was for anyone. It's for anyone.

[30:47] That's what they thought. And they thought it's even for someone who is deaf and unable to speak. But it's Mark's description of this man which is key to understanding what's actually going on here.

[31:02] Because when Mark describes this man as deaf and with a speech impediment Mark is actually drawing our attention to what was promised in the Old Testament.

[31:13] Because the word used here for a speech impediment it occurs only once elsewhere in the Bible and that's in Isaiah 35.

[31:25] And this is interesting because in Isaiah chapter 35 Isaiah is prophesying about the arrival of the Messiah. He's speaking about seeing the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God.

[31:39] And Isaiah says that when the Messiah appears he will come and save you. that when salvation comes there is the promise that the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf will be unstopped, the lame will leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb will sing.

[31:59] And so what Mark is emphasizing to us is that the promise of Isaiah is being fulfilled here in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Where the blind are receiving their sight, the deaf are hearing, those which with a speech impediment are speaking, those who are lame are now walking and dancing and praising God.

[32:23] And they should have been all these indicators that the salvation of the Lord has finally arrived. But what Isaiah made clear in his prophecy is that the arrival of the Messiah and the message of salvation, it wasn't just for the Jews.

[32:39] Isaiah says it shall be for others. it shall be for others. And Isaiah goes on to say it shall be for the ransomed of the Lord who will come to Zion with singing and with everlasting joy upon their heads in which they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

[33:02] And that was the great hope of the gospel, that the message of salvation would be for others. It would be for others. that's what we were singing about in Psalm 100, our opening item of praise, that great missionary psalm in which the psalmist had the vision and the desire that all people that on earth do dwell would sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.

[33:28] That was the longing, that was the hope of all the people of God. But the problem was the Jews had kept the message of salvation to themselves. they'd become proud of their identity and they didn't want to share this great message of hope to anyone.

[33:45] But in the day of the Lord when the Messiah finally arrived, the Messiah was going to ensure that the message of the gospel would not only be for the Jews but also for the Gentiles.

[33:57] It would be for everyone. The gospel would go beyond the shores of Israel to the far corners of the world. But Mark's connection with the Old Testament in this word and the promise of the Messiah, it's all building.

[34:14] Everything in Mark's gospel from chapter 1 to chapter 8, it's all building towards Peter's confession of who Jesus is. And all the references to Jesus telling the crowds not to tell anyone what he has done, it's all moving and building towards this glorious climax in Mark's gospel.

[34:35] In chapter 8, we'll get there soon. At the point when Jesus asks Peter, who do you say that I am? And then Peter publicly reveals who the Messiah is.

[34:50] He publicly confesses the identity of Jesus and he says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And of course we shouldn't overlook the miracle which Jesus performed.

[35:03] were told in taking him aside from the crowd privately he put his fingers into his ears and after spitting touched his tongue, looked up to heaven and sighed and said to him, Efaftha, that is be opened.

[35:18] And his ears were opened, his tongue was released and he spoke plainly. But even though this miracle was as wonderful and as personal as it was, Mark's purpose in recording this section is to show us that the prophecies of the Old Testament have now been fulfilled.

[35:41] The arrival of the Messiah has taken place, salvation has come, the restoration has begun and as Isaiah prophesied this promise of salvation and restoration will be for others.

[35:53] It's for all the outsiders. And in this miracle of Jesus the people of the Gentile region of the Decapolis, they were witnessing for themselves the arrival of the Messiah.

[36:06] They were discovering for the first time the beauty and the wonder of salvation. That salvation was for them. Salvation was for them.

[36:18] And so in this miracle Jesus is breaking down all the nationalistic barriers, all the religious barriers, all the traditional barriers. church, he's trampling it all under foot and he's emphasizing that the way of salvation, it's now open.

[36:36] Open for everyone to come. He's saying it's open to whosoever. Whosoever. That's the call of the gospel.

[36:49] Whosoever will let him come. And looking at this glorious provision of salvation through Jesus Christ, it's no wonder that this compassionate crowd were astonished beyond measure.

[37:05] I love that phrase. They were astonished beyond measure. And they were astonished beyond measure because Jesus had done in them and for them far above their asking or their thinking.

[37:20] and all the people of the Decapolis, all they could say about Jesus, he has done all things well. He has done all things well.

[37:31] Legion had been sent to the people of the Decapolis to tell what great things the Lord had done. But now the compassionate crowds, they're also confessing themselves that in the provision of the Lord's salvation, he has done all things well.

[37:48] And my friend, this statement will always be true of Jesus. He has done all things well. From leaving glory to his incarnation, he has done all things well.

[38:02] His life and ministry, he has done all things well. His death on the cross, he has done all things well. The resurrection in the empty tomb, he has done all things well.

[38:14] The ascension to the right hand of the Father, interceding on our behalf. he has done all things well. Coming to judge us at the last day, our confession will be, he has done all things well.

[38:29] I just hope and pray that this is what you are saying about Jesus for yourself. That you are saying about his provision of salvation.

[38:41] salvation. Because that was certainly the testimony of the determined disciple and the compassionate crowd. He has done all things well.

[38:52] God bless you. I just want to close with a few words from J.C. Ryle. I know I quote him a lot, but I really like him and I really recommend him to you.

[39:06] I think he ties everything in this passage together so beautifully. Because J.C. Ryle says in his commentary, let us remember as we look forward to the days ahead.

[39:18] We do not know what they might be, bright or dark, many or few. But we do know that we are in the hands of him who has done all things well.

[39:30] He will not err in any of his dealings with us. He will take and give. He will afflict and bereave. He will move and will settle with perfect wisdom at the right time and in the right way.

[39:45] The great shepherd of the sheep makes no mistakes, for he leads every lamb of his flock by the right way. But, says Ryle, we shall never see the full beauty of these words until the resurrection morning.

[40:00] And it's only then that we shall look back over our lives and know the meaning of everything that happened from the first to the last. And we shall remember the way in which we were led.

[40:14] And we will confess he has done all things well. My friend, may that be our confession. As we leave this place today, he has done all things well.

[40:28] May the Lord bless these thoughts to us. Let us pray. O Lord, our gracious God, we give thanks to thee that the one who does do all things well.

[40:39] We often look at our circumstances. And Lord, we wonder how or why these things are in our experience. But Lord, we know that we have the great promise that thou art one who is working all things together for good to them who are the called according to thine own purpose.

[40:59] Help us, we pray thee, to cast every care into thine own hand, to realize that thou art the Jesus who has opened for us a new and a living way, that we may come to him, that he is the Messiah, that our confession would be, that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

[41:18] Lord, bind us together, we pray thee. Watch over us and keep us in the week that lies ahead. We are often reminded and have been reminded again. We do not know what is before us, but we give thanks that we are able to cast our cares into the one who does all things well.

[41:36] Go before us then and do us good. For Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen. Amen. We shall conclude by singing in Psalm 73.

[41:50] Psalm 73 in the Scottish Psalter, singing from verse 25 down to the end of the psalm. Psalm 73 from verse 25.

[42:14] Psalm 73, to God's praise. Psalm 73, to God's praise.

[42:35] Him, how, by the heavens I put thee, O Lord, alone, and in the earth whom I desire, beside the There is none.

[43:06] My flesh and heart doth fail but God doth fail me never.

[43:19] For of my heart God is the strength and portion forever.

[43:33] For though they that are far from thee forever perish shall then that a holy from thee though thou hast destroyed at all.

[44:01] But surely it is good for me that I draw near to God.

[44:14] In God I trust that all thy works I may declare abroad 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.

[44:38] Amen. Amen. Thank you fording for this thing I appreciate this.

[44:56] How are you to be with it? Take out I who could think should be I hope and you