All the Blessings

[0:00] Well, if we could, this evening, with the Lord's help and the Lord's enabling, if we could turn back to that portion of Scripture that we read in Ephesians chapter 1, Ephesians chapter 1, and if you read again from the beginning, Ephesians chapter 1, from the beginning.

[0:28] Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

[0:43] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, and so on.

[0:58] When I was studying at ETS, or Edinburgh Theological Seminary, or it was actually the Free Church College when I was there, I was one of the last Free Church College students.

[1:12] But when I was there, there was a number of private students who were studying with us. And there was one man, a Glaswegian, his name was Craig Scott. He's now actually a minister in the Orange County of sunny California in the United States.

[1:28] As lucky for some, I'm in Barvis, but he is in California. That said, Craig, he had a very difficult upbringing in Glasgow. But by the grace of God, he was converted at the age of 16, and he spent a lot of his time reading solid Christian books.

[1:47] He actually read through Calvin's Institutes at the age of 16. I don't know how many of you have read through Calvin's Institutes, but that's what Craig spent his time doing as a teenager. And by the time I met Craig in college, he had this amazing thirst for God's Word.

[2:03] But you know, it was the way that Craig lived his life. That's what often spoke to me, the way he lived his life every single day. Because knowing Craig's background and knowing his upbringing, when I would meet Craig in college every morning, I would come in and say, as I usually would, Morning Craig, how are you today?

[2:21] And with a strong Glaswegian accent, Craig would reply, sorry Ina, good morning Myrtle, my friend, I'm blessed. So he would say to me every morning, I'm blessed.

[2:33] I'm blessed. And that was the thing, Craig knew and believed that as a child of God, as Paul says there in verse 3, he had received every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.

[2:47] And that's how Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians. He wants to remind them and he wants to remind us how we are tonight. How are we tonight?

[2:58] So when someone asks you, how are you? Paul says, our response should not be the generic answer, I'm fine. Okay.

[3:10] Well. Paul says, our answer to the question, how are you? is, I'm blessed. I'm blessed. And so when someone asks you, how are you?

[3:21] After tonight, you're going to say, I'm blessed. Because as we begin our study of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, I wanted to see in this opening section, the section that we read earlier, I want us to see that this opening section presents to us two things.

[3:37] There's two headings. So we see, first of all, all the believers and then all the blessings. All the believers and all the blessings. So first of all, Paul speaks about all the believers.

[3:51] He says there in verse one, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

[4:06] Now the word Ephesus means desirable because the ancient city of Ephesus was a desirable place to live.

[4:17] Ephesus was a wealthy seaport city. It was situated on the southwest coast of what is now modern day Turkey. And as a seaport city, the city of Ephesus, it had built up its reputation as a key trade route on what was the Aegean Sea.

[4:34] And it had built up its reputation so much so that the Ephesians, they had made their city an important and influential city within what was then the Roman Empire.

[4:49] Sadly, Ephesus as a city was also known for its idolatry and its immorality because the Ephesians, they had built a temple, a Greek temple to the Greek goddess Artemis, or as the Romans described it, the goddess Diana.

[5:05] And the temple was a huge temple. It was double the size of any other Greek temple, which made it known as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

[5:16] And of course, with such a prominent and a prestigious temple in their city to this famous Greek goddess Artemis, for the city, it was a money-making opportunity.

[5:29] And Ephesians, as they were, they took hold of that money-making opportunity because they made their fortune by making all these little silver shrines of the goddess Artemis or Diana.

[5:41] And they distributed all these little silver shrines all over the ancient world. They made money out of their Greek goddess. But the Ephesians, they were not only selling their idolatry, they were also a city that were spreading their immorality.

[5:58] Because with the presence of this idolatrous temple, this ancient wonder of the world, that often meant two things, temple priests and temple prostitutes.

[6:11] And with many people passing through this trade route city of Ephesus, the temple prostitutes also made this impressive income for the Ephesians.

[6:22] And so in reality, Ephesus at the time was nothing more than sin city. It was a city full of idolatry and immorality. It was a city full of idolatry and immorality.

[6:38] And yet around the year 54 AD, it was into the darkness of that cosmopolitan and commercial context and culture that the Lord directed the Apostle Paul to plant a church and place a lampstand in that seaport city of Ephesus.

[6:59] In fact, we read in Acts chapter 19 that during his third missionary journey, Paul stayed in sin city, the sin city of Ephesus, for two to three years.

[7:11] And as you'd expect, Paul being Paul, a preacher of the gospel, he challenged and confronted all the idolatry and all the immorality in Ephesus. And by God's grace, many people in Ephesus, they were persuaded by the gospel.

[7:27] They turned away from worshipping idols and turned to worshipping the living and through God. What's more is that the gospel had such an impact and such an influence upon all these Ephesians that the sales of those silver shrines plummeted, which caused chaos among all the traders because they claimed that their business had come into disrepute and Artemis or Diana, she would be deposed as the great goddess of Asia.

[8:00] And you know, the gospel had such an impact, such an influence that the church in Ephesus, they became a light in darkness. The Ephesian Christians were, as Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount, they were the light of the Ephesian world and they were the salt of the Ephesian earth.

[8:20] And for that reason, Paul's letter to the Ephesians, you could say it's actually a unique letter because this letter is unlike many of Paul's other letters.

[8:31] Because many of Paul's other letters, like the letter to the Philippians or the Galatians or the Corinthians, they're all dealing with issues. Some are dealing with, Paul is dealing with counterfeit Christians in some letters or false teachers or heresy within the church.

[8:48] But when you come to this letter, Paul doesn't mention any of these problems. He doesn't mention any of these problems to the Ephesians because as a church, they seem to be a church that was faithfully ploughing away in their furrow.

[9:04] The Ephesians were just faithfully ploughing away in their furrow. That's what he says there in verse 1, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus.

[9:15] They're faithfully ploughing away in their furrow. In fact, when Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians, which was about, you could say, five to ten years after he had planted the church.

[9:27] So, if he planted the church in 54 AD, it was about 64 AD when he wrote this letter. And he was writing to a church, as you'd expect, only ten years later.

[9:37] It's still in its infancy. But Paul wrote to this letter, this letter to this church, in order to encourage them and in order to exhort them.

[9:50] And Paul did that because Paul knew that when things are going well in a church, when things are going well, there's always a temptation to forget the Lord and to lose focus on the Lord.

[10:07] When things are going well, there's always that temptation to drift and to lose sight of who it's all about and why we are doing this. Which is why Paul reminds the Ephesians of their salvation.

[10:21] That's what he reminds them. We'll come to that in chapter 2. That they're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. He reminds them of their salvation. But he also reminds them of their service.

[10:32] Towards the end of his letter, where he says that like soldiers on a battlefield, they must put on the whole armour of God and stand firm.

[10:42] And you know, Paul's letter to the Ephesians, it's this letter of encouragement to these young Christians. It's a letter of exhortation, where Paul, he's commending them and even congratulating the church in Ephesus for their faithfulness in Christ Jesus.

[10:59] For faithfully ploughing away in their furrow. He commends them and he congratulates them for their faithfulness, for their fervency in the gospel and even their focus upon resisting the temptation of the idolatry and immorality within their own city.

[11:17] But, as you know, a commendation and congratulations should never lead to complacency. It should never lead to complacency.

[11:31] And I say that because it did lead to complacency with the Ephesians. We know the history of the church in Ephesus. It stretches beyond this letter from 64 AD.

[11:46] Of course, many of the years after Paul first planted the church in Ephesus, the Ephesians, they were a good church. They were a faithful church. That's what he says there. They were ploughing away in their furrow.

[11:57] They were loving and a forward-looking congregation. But they were a people who you could say, well, they loved the grace of God.

[12:09] They gloried in the gospel. They were well taught and well trained. They had this long line of preachers and pastors who proclaimed solid and sound doctrine.

[12:21] And even in Acts chapter 18, we're told that when Paul planted the church in Ephesus, he did so alongside others. There were others there. There was Priscilla and Aquila.

[12:32] There was Apollos. All these names that we're familiar with. Paul was the church planter. Apollos, you could say, he was the church pastor for a number of years. But during that time, Paul returned to Ephesus.

[12:44] He built up the congregation in the faith by preaching to them the whole counsel of God. And then later, as time went on, we go through the New Testament and we see Paul's apprentice, Timothy, he took over in Ephesus.

[12:59] That's what the letters of Timothy are all about. Timothy is there to continue the ministry. But it was at that time when Timothy was in Ephesus that there was this doctrinal drift in the Ephesians.

[13:12] Not because of Timothy's preaching. There was nothing wrong with Timothy's preaching. He was preaching the word in season and out of season. The problem was there were pastoral problems within the leadership at Ephesus.

[13:24] To the point that Timothy, he wanted to throw in the towel. But Paul encouraged him. As we studied those two letters not so long ago, he encouraged Timothy to stand firm and stay focused and preach the word.

[13:37] And it was around that time when Timothy was in Ephesus that the apostle John arrives in Ephesus. And it was from Ephesus that John wrote his letters, 1, 2 and 3 John.

[13:51] Which, as we know from our study of 1 John, there were difficulties in that church. The difficulties of the false teaching of Gnosticism. But not only difficulties in the church, there was division in the church in Ephesus.

[14:05] Which shouldn't be a surprise because there's nothing new under the sun. There's always division in the church. But what we see in the history of the church of Ephesus is that as time progressed beyond this letter, Paul's congratulations here, Paul's commendation here, because by the time Jesus writes his letter in the book of Revelation, so 90 AD, 95 AD, the church in Ephesus, they're no longer a loving and forward-looking church.

[14:44] Jesus says they are loveless and they're legalistic because they have left their first love. Which is why the church in Ephesus, although it's faithful here at this point, it should be a warning to us.

[15:00] Because, you know, we can often, I was thinking about this, we can often congratulate and commend ourselves as a denomination for our great legacy of preachers who preach solid and sound doctrine.

[15:13] And that because of them, we have this biblical knowledge, like the Ephesians did, and this theological education and our confessional position, we were able to dot all the I's and cross all the T's.

[15:25] But the danger, the danger as it was with the Ephesians at this point in their history, is that they had heard much, but did little with it.

[15:37] And that's a danger for us too. We've heard much, but what are we doing with it? You know, we can have a head full of knowledge, but a heart that's lacking in love.

[15:50] We can be legalistic, and yet loveless. We can lose our first love, which is why, you know, as we begin yet another Bible study, we should be praying as we were singing.

[16:03] Singing in Psalm 25, that verse I highlighted to you, verse 4 and 5, This is his truth, Therein my teacher be.

[16:19] This should be our teacher as we come to yet another study. Show me thy ways, O Lord, thy paths, O teach thou me, and do thou lead me in thy truth, Therein my teacher be.

[16:31] Show me, teach me, lead me. You know, I believe that Paul was someone who never lost his first love. Maybe it was because he had such a dramatic conversion that Paul always had a love for the Lord and a love for the Lord's people and even a love for the lost.

[16:50] And when it came to the church in Ephesus, a church which he planted and nurtured and watched grow, Paul loved the Ephesians. He wanted to look out for all these believers.

[17:02] And so when Paul writes this letter ten years into their ministry, he begins his letter the way he always began his letters. He affirms his authorship.

[17:13] He says, I'm writing to you. My name is Paul. Which, as you know, is not the way we write a letter or type an email or send a text or post a Christmas card. We always begin with the recipient rather than the writer.

[17:27] But in the ancient world, you begin with the writer rather than the recipient. And so as Paul begins his letter, he not only affirms his authorship, Paul, he also affirms his apostolic authority.

[17:45] Paul says he is an apostle. By apostle of Christ Jesus, he's a sent one. That's what the word apostle means. And he's writing his letter by divine inspiration.

[17:57] It's by divine instruction. It's by the will of God. God has commanded him to write this letter. And the first thing Paul writes about to all these believers, all these saints, as he says there in verse one, the saints who are faithfully plowing their furrow in Ephesus, all these believers, the first thing he writes about is all the blessings they have received through faith in Jesus Christ.

[18:25] That's what I want us to see secondly. All the blessings. So all the believers, that's the first thing he addresses. All these saints. But then secondly, he addresses all the blessings.

[18:37] All the blessings. Look at verse three. He says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

[18:53] Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Christ Jesus, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved.

[19:17] Now, when I was in school, the one subject I hated, and sorry teachers, but the one subject I hated was English. I loved maths, I loved physics, I loved chemistry, but I hated English.

[19:32] I could never get my head around, and Donnie is looking at me, I could never get my head around the need for proper paragraphs or punctuation. I could write all these long sentences with no paragraphs and no punctuation.

[19:47] It would just be this happened and then that happened and then that and that and that and that and that. But you know, I take comfort from Ephesians chapter 1 because verses 3 to 14 in Ephesians chapter 1, they have no paragraphs and no punctuation.

[20:05] Verses 3 to 14 in chapter 1 of Ephesians is one long sentence. One long sentence. So verse 3 to 14.

[20:16] It is a capital letter at the beginning of verse 3 and a full stop at the end of verse 14. In fact, the sentence, it's 203 words in Greek.

[20:28] It's 244 words in English. And as you know, the average length of a sentence, well, depending on who's writing it, but the average length of a sentence is about 15 to 20 words.

[20:41] So Paul's sentence here is 10 times the average length of a sentence. It's one long sentence. And of course, when you read it in our modern ESV, these Bibles, these modern Bible versions, they want to tidy up all of Paul's sentence structure by adding all the paragraphs and adding all the punctuation.

[21:03] But when Ephesians chapter 1 verses 3 to 14, when they were originally penned by Paul, they had no paragraphs and no punctuation. It was one long sentence.

[21:14] In fact, it's the longest sentence in the Bible. But Paul wrote this sentence not because of his lack of education like me, but because he was full of excitement.

[21:25] Paul was full of excitement about what he's writing. Because in this long sentence, Paul describes all the blessings that all believers receive in and through Jesus Christ.

[21:39] And that's how he begins this long sentence. He says, verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

[21:56] Now the word blessed there, verse 3, we've seen it many times before. It's a beautiful word. We always talk about being blessed, don't we? And it's a word, it's a beautiful word because it literally means to kneel.

[22:11] To kneel. And the word blessed, it should always picture and portray to us this image, this illustration of someone kneeling before a king.

[22:21] And as they're kneeling before the king, they have their head bowed and their hand outstretched. And what they're receiving from the gracious hand of the king is something that they don't deserve.

[22:34] The king is giving to them something they don't deserve. Their head is bowed, their hands outstretched, and they're receiving from the king something they don't deserve.

[22:44] He's blessing them. That's what the king is doing. He's blessing this individual. He is graciously giving to them what they don't deserve. He's blessing them. Which is why Paul writes at the beginning of this long sentence, blessed.

[23:01] How are you? You're blessed. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ Jesus with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

[23:15] You know, when the Bible says something once, we should take notice. When it says something twice, we should sit up. When it says something three times in the same verse, we should stop and consider exactly what it's saying.

[23:27] Paul says three times, we are blessed, blessed, and blessed. We are blessed. All believers receive all the blessings, he says.

[23:39] We receive every, every spiritual blessing from the gracious hand of King Jesus. And it all comes to us from the heavenly places.

[23:51] And you know, we need to stress the every in verse three. The every spiritual blessing. We have to stress the every because well, Pentecostal Christians will teach you and tell you that you only receive the second blessing of speaking in tongues or the gift of healing once you have been baptized by the Holy Spirit.

[24:17] So that's the second blessing. The first blessing, according to them, is when you are converted. But the second blessing is speaking in tongues. But you know, I'll never forget what Steve Lawson said when he was asked by a Pentecostal pastor, have you received the second blessing, Dr. Lawson?

[24:35] Have you received the second blessing? And Steve Lawson said, yes. I've received the second blessing and the third blessing and the fourth blessing and the fifth blessing.

[24:46] In fact, he said, Paul says, I have received every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. And that's what we need to remember. Whenever anybody says to you and asks you, have you received the second blessing?

[25:00] That's your answer. Yes. I have received every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ because all believers receive all the blessings in and through Jesus Christ.

[25:16] And you know, in order to emphasize his point, Paul repeatedly uses one of the shortest words in the longest sentence. One of the shortest words in the longest sentence.

[25:26] And as we were reading it earlier, I asked you to look out for that word, the word in. And when you read through this sentence, you see that Paul repeatedly says that all believers, they receive all the blessings because they're in Christ.

[25:42] They're in him. They're in the beloved. That's what he says again and again and again. It's all in him, in love, in Christ, in the beloved.

[25:53] Again and again, it's all in Christ. But the thing is, Paul repeats the word in again and again because when this letter was written, when Paul wrote this letter in 64 AD, he wrote it with the intention that it was to be read audibly.

[26:18] The Ephesians weren't all going to have a copy as they gathered for worship. They weren't going to have a copy of their own Bible in their own language. No, this letter was going to be written so that it would be read audibly.

[26:31] And when someone is speaking audibly, repetition is important to emphasize a point. That's why I'm always repeating myself. It's not that I'm stuck for words.

[26:43] As you know, I'm never stuck for words. It's all for emphasis. You emphasize the point because you repeat by repeating yourself. And that's what Paul does here. Paul repeats the word in.

[26:54] He repeats the smallest word in the longest sentence in order to emphasize that all believers receive all the blessings in and through their union with Christ.

[27:09] Paul repeats the word in. I'm repeating myself again. He repeats the word in to emphasize that all believers receive all the blessings in and through their union with Christ.

[27:20] He says that it's all in him, in the beloved, in Christ Jesus. It's all in Christ. And you know, for Paul, Paul loves the doctrine of union with Christ.

[27:36] He writes about it in almost every one of his letters. Because Paul knows that our union with Christ underlies every aspect of our salvation.

[27:47] And that's what Paul seeks to show us in this long sentence. The sentence with over 200 words. He wants to show us how important our union with Christ is.

[27:58] That we are in Christ Jesus. We are in union with him. And Paul says, right from the outset, he says, God the Father has blessed us by graciously giving to us all these gifts, all these graces through our union with his son, Jesus Christ.

[28:19] And the thing about this union, it's an inseparable union. You cannot be separated from him. We have, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

[28:32] And there's no separation from those who are in Christ Jesus. And so when Paul lists all these gracious gifts, he wants to remind us that you have them all.

[28:44] You have them all now. Or they're promised to you for the future. They are all yours in and through Christ Jesus. And what's amazing is that when Paul lists all these gracious gifts, he begins where God began.

[29:00] he begins with our election. Because our election is all of grace. It's a gracious gift.

[29:10] Our election is a gracious gift. Because, as you know, God didn't have to choose us. There was nothing in us, nothing worthy of us, nothing good, nothing deserving of God's election.

[29:24] And yet, verse 4, we're told, even as he chose us in him from before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him.

[29:36] Then he says, and in love. So in union with the one who is love, he predestined us. Why? Because our predestine, our predestination is also all of grace.

[29:50] Our election is all of grace. Our predestination is all of grace. So too, says Paul, the next verse, keep following the sentence, this long sentence, so too is our adoption as sons and daughters of God the Father.

[30:05] And it's all through his Son, Jesus Christ. And because that gracious act of adoption is according, as he says, according to the purpose of his will, it means we are blessed with justification and sanctification.

[30:22] We're declared righteous. We're being made holy before God. And it's all, he says, verse 6, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved.

[30:34] More than that, he goes on, he keeps going. More than that, it's in him we have our redemption. How do we have our redemption? Through his precious blood. And what do we have through his redemption?

[30:48] Forgiveness. Which again, is all according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight.

[30:58] He has made us for our perseverance. The perseverance of the saints, he says, why has he done it? And how has he done it? By making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he set forth.

[31:13] How? In Christ. But you know, there's an end product. An end product which God has planned for the fullness of time. Our glorification.

[31:27] Where our glorification in Christ will see the unification of all things. Verse 10. In a new heaven and a new earth. As a plan, he has set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him.

[31:43] Things in heaven and things on earth. Our glorification in Christ will see the unification of all things in a new heaven and in a new earth. And then he says, in him we will obtain an inheritance.

[31:58] An inheritance that is incorruptible undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for us. You know, you follow Paul's train of thought.

[32:11] And Paul is saying to us, our election, our predestination, our adoption, our justification, our sanctification, our redemption, our forgiveness, our pardon, our perseverance, our saints, our glorification, and our eternal inheritance.

[32:28] It is all of grace. We deserve none of it. And that's what we must always remember. We deserve none of it.

[32:41] But it has all been graciously given and gifted to us by the hand of the king. It's all given and gifted to us in and through Jesus Christ.

[32:54] And you know, even reading through this sentence, you think Paul would probably finish it about verse 12. But he didn't want to stop there.

[33:07] But you would think Paul would end with reaching our heavenly inheritance. He'd stop at that point. But Paul goes on. He wants to remind us and reassure us that all these glorious gifts, all these graces, they all come with a guarantee.

[33:25] They all come with a guarantee. We all buy things and we all have guarantees on them. Paul says, this is your guarantee for all the gifts that God has given you. And they all come with this eternal guarantee because all believers receive all the blessings and they're all guaranteed because, verse 13, in him.

[33:47] In him you also when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.

[34:05] So the Holy Spirit tonight is your guarantee. The Holy Spirit who dwells within you is your guarantee that all of these glorious gifts of election, predestination, redemption, forgiveness, justification, adoption, sanctification, your glorification and your internal inheritance, all these glorious gifts and graces which you have graciously received from the hand of the king, they are all yours.

[34:38] And they're all yours for time and for eternity. And nothing and no one can take them from you. Nothing and no one can take them from you.

[34:48] And you know, when you consider all the believers and all the blessings that we receive through our union with Christ, you know, it's no wonder Paul wrote that beautiful doxology.

[34:59] You remember at the end of Romans chapter 11, Paul writes this doxology and he says it's from him and through him and to him are all things.

[35:11] To him be glory forever and ever. Amen. These are all the blessings you have received. All believers have received all the blessings.

[35:25] And so when I ask you on the way out tonight, which I'm going to ask you, as I always do, how are you? What are you going to say? Not I'm fine. I'm okay. I'm struggling on.

[35:38] You're going to say, Myrdo, I'm blessed. Myrdo, I'm blessed. I'm blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. And they are all yours.

[35:50] All these blessings, they're all yours for time and for eternity. So you're blessed. That's how you are tonight.

[36:01] May the Lord bless these thoughts to us. Let us pray. Oh, Father, we marvel at thy goodness and thy grace towards us.

[36:13] That all these gifts and all these graces, that they are ours. And Lord, it is beyond our asking and even beyond our thinking that we as sinful human beings that have fallen short of the glory of God, that have sinned in thought and word and deed, where our hearts are black, our minds are corrupt, our thoughts are twisted.

[36:38] And yet, Lord, we thank thee that we are those who were elect from all eternity, who were predestined for the glorious hope that is to come. We have been adopted in the beloved, justified by faith, sanctified through the Spirit, that we are those who have received that redemption and forgiveness and even our inheritance.

[37:03] And Lord, all that we have received from thee, we do not deserve the least of it. But yet, Lord, we bless and praise thee that thou art a God who is so gracious, who has given to us what we do not deserve, and a God who is merciful, who has withheld from us what we do deserve.

[37:22] Lord, bless thy truth to us, bless our study of thy word. There will be an encouragement to us to remind us to keep ploughing our furrow and to be faithful in it, to faithfully plough away, ever looking to Jesus.

[37:37] We would not become complacent, but that we might keep our eyes firmly upon the Lord, knowing that he is the Lord, that he is in control, and that he has promised to begin that good work in us, and also bring it on to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

[37:54] Bless us, Lord, together we pray. We thank thee, O Lord, that we are all united as one in Christ Jesus, united through him who is our King and Head. So, Lord, bless us together and shine thy face upon us, not because we deserve it, but, Lord, only because thou art gracious.

[38:13] Hear us, and we pray. Do us good, we ask for Jesus' sake. Amen. We're going to bring our service to our conclusion.

[38:23] This evening, we're going to sing the words of Psalm 89. Psalm 89 in the Scottish Psalter. Psalm 89, page 345.

[38:37] Psalm 89. Psalm 89. Psalm 89. Psalm 89. If you were to ask David how he is, he would say, verse 15, that he's greatly blessed.

[38:50] He's not just blessed, but he's greatly blessed. Psalm 89, verse 15. O greatly blessed the people are, the joyful sound that know, in brightness of thy face, O Lord, they ever on shall go.

[39:04] They in thy name shall all the day rejoice exceedingly, and in thy righteousness shall they, exalted, be on high. down to the verse marked 18. Did I write 19?

[39:16] I write 18 in English. Okay. 18 it is, of Psalm 89, to God's praise. Amen. Amen. O greatly blessed the people are, the joyful sound and the joyful sound that know.

[39:41] In brightness of thy face, O Lord, they ever on shall go.

[39:59] O Lord, they ever on shall go. In thy name shall all the day rejoice exceedingly, and in thy righteousness shall live, and in thy name shall be exalted, be on high.

[40:36] Because the glory of their strength doth only stand doth only stand in thee, and in thy favor shall the Lord and power exalted thee.

[41:11] O God is our defense and he, to us doth safety bring.

[41:29] the Holy One of Israel is our almighty King.

[41:48] Amen. 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.