Do You Love Me?

[0:00] If we could, this morning, for a short while, and with the Lord's help, we'll turn back to Psalm 116, Psalm 116, page 613, and I'd like us to look at the whole psalm, but if we just read again at the beginning, Psalm 116, verse 1, I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice, and my pleas for mercy, because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

[0:51] I love the Lord. I love the Lord. You know, if there was ever a psalm which describes what it is to be a Christian, it's Psalm 116.

[1:06] And I don't know about you, but whenever I read this psalm, I'm immediately reminded of what Jesus asked Peter, which we're reading in John 21, where Jesus asked Peter, do you love me?

[1:19] And he didn't ask him just once, he asked him three times, do you love me? Do you love me? And each time, as we read there in John 21, Peter confessed openly and publicly, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

[1:34] And even if, I suppose, if we could speculate as to what Peter's favourite psalm was, I would hazard a guess that it was Psalm 116. Because Psalm 116, it opens with Peter's testimony, and it opens with the testimony of every one of the Lord's people.

[1:52] Every Christian says, as we can see here in Psalm 116, I love the Lord because my voice and prayers he did hear. And you know, my friend, as we come to Psalm 116 this morning, I want you to see that Jesus is asking you the same question that he asked Peter.

[2:12] Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? Now, there's no doubt that Jesus loves you. There's no doubt about that because Jesus has demonstrated his love towards you as a sinner.

[2:28] He's demonstrated his love towards you in dying upon the cross. But what's your response to the love of Jesus? That's what's being asked of us this morning. What do you think of Jesus' death?

[2:40] When you think of the cross, and as we were saying to the children about the crown of thorns upon Jesus' head, what is your response to the love of Jesus? What do you think of the death of Jesus?

[2:52] Do you think it was just a tragic accident? Or do you know in your heart that the cross of Jesus Christ is a demonstration of God's love towards you?

[3:03] My friend, Jesus is asking you this morning, do you love me? Do you love me? And I'm sure that many of you here today, even though you wouldn't outwardly say, I'm a Christian, you would answer Jesus' question, if Jesus was to ask you personally this morning, you would say, just like Peter, yes, Lord, you know that I love you, but.

[3:29] Yes, Lord, you know that I love you, but. And the but is not because you doubt the Lord's love for you. It's not because you doubt what Jesus has done on the cross.

[3:40] Your but is all because you doubt yourself. And you doubt if you're a Christian at all. Well, my friend, if you love the Lord, but you're not sure that you're a Christian, then I want you to see that Psalm 116 is the personal testimony of a Christian.

[4:00] And Psalm 116 really is personal. It's a personal testimony. And I say that because it uses the words I, my, and me over 30 times in this Psalm, which emphasizes that it's a very personal Psalm.

[4:15] And it describes the personal conversion of a Christian where the Lord deals with us very personally, where he brings us to that point in our lives where we can say openly and publicly, I love the Lord.

[4:32] I love the Lord. Now, Psalm 116, it's part of a group of six hymns, or they should be described as hymns, called the Hallel hymns.

[4:43] And they're Psalms 113 to Psalm 118. And these hymns, they're called the Hallel hymns because they recount the experience of the children of Israel, the Israelites, when they were delivered from bondage and slavery in Egypt.

[4:58] And they're called Hallel hymns from the word Hallelujah, which means praise the Lord. And you'll notice that each of these Hallel Psalms, they all conclude or they either begin or they have this emphasis on giving the Hallelujah to the Lord for his salvation.

[5:17] And you know, that's the reason every Christian sings the Hallelujah and confesses, I love the Lord. It's because they too have been delivered from slavery to sin and they've been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ.

[5:33] That's why we're looking at this Hallel Psalm this morning. And so Psalm 116, it's a Hallel Psalm or a Hallel hymn. It's the personal testimony of a Christian who praises the Lord for their salvation.

[5:47] And I just want us to draw out four aspects of the Christian's testimony. Four aspects of the Christian's testimony. And the first thing we see is confession. Confession. Confession.

[5:59] Where in verses one and two, the psalmist says, or the Christian says, I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy, because he inclined his ear to me.

[6:11] Therefore, I will call on him as long as I live. As we said, these opening words of this psalm, they are the personal confession of a Christian.

[6:24] And it was Spurgeon who said that the words, I love the Lord, they are a blessed declaration, he said. In fact, Spurgeon said that it's a wonderful thing. It's a wonderful thing to be able to say, whether publicly to others or even privately to yourself, to be able to say, I love the Lord.

[6:42] I love the Lord. My friend, do you love the Lord this morning? But you know, the reason any of us would ever confess that we love the Lord is simply because the Lord loved us first.

[6:59] It's not what our Bible reminds us and affirms to us, that we love him because he first loved us. And that God, this God, this great God of heaven, who is love, he has demonstrated his love towards us in that whilst we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

[7:17] And Jesus affirms to us, he said to his disciples in John 15, greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you.

[7:29] And you know, what's wonderful is that even Paul, the apostle Paul, who didn't really know the love of God until he was converted, and Paul assures us that when we confess that we love the Lord, we can't be separated from the love of Jesus Christ.

[7:48] You know, Paul, when he was converted, he came to say, I am persuaded. I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, neither height nor depth, nor any other creature is able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

[8:09] You know, my friend, if the love of God has been poured into your heart by the Holy Spirit, then when Jesus asks you, do you love me? And you respond and say, yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

[8:24] Then you have the confession of the Christian. You have the confession of the Christian, I love the Lord. But you know, the confession of the Christian is not only that you love the Lord because he first loved you.

[8:39] The confession of the Christian is that you can also say with the psalmist, he has heard my voice. He has heard my pleas for mercy. He has inclined his ear to me.

[8:51] He has heard me. I love the Lord because he heard me. And you know, the language that the psalmist is using, it's wonderful language because it's the language of humiliation.

[9:03] Where the psalmist says that the Lord, the God of heaven, the covenant king, he has stretched down and lowered himself and even humbled himself all the way down to listen to my little pleas for mercy.

[9:19] He's heard me. That's what the psalmist is saying. The Lord has humbled himself to listen to me. And as you would expect, the psalmist, he's amazed, he's honored, he feels privileged to have the king of glory, the covenant king, the one who is enthroned on high.

[9:39] Listen to him and bow down and hear his cry. And what is the psalmist's response? What is the Christian's response to the Lord, listening to his voice?

[9:52] His response is love. I love the Lord because he heard me. I love him because he listened to my voice. And you know, my friend, maybe when you look back into your past, maybe even your recent past, I'm sure that you can confess that there was a time in your life when you didn't love the Lord.

[10:19] Yes, you respected the Lord. You respected the Lord's house, the Lord's day, the Lord's cause, the Lord's people. But you couldn't say that you loved the Lord. He loved you.

[10:31] There was no doubt about that. He spoke to you many times in the gospel. And you heard his voice on many occasions as sermons were preached to you and preachers encouraged you to come to him.

[10:44] And even then, he was reminding you that he loved you and he was calling you to come. The Lord spoke to you through his word. He spoke to you through other Christians. He spoke to you through providence.

[10:55] He spoke to your conscience. Right into the recesses of your soul, the Lord spoke to you time and time again. through many different experiences. But back then, you didn't listen.

[11:09] There was a day that you didn't love the Lord and you didn't listen. And yet, maybe you can say that today, the Spirit has started working in your life.

[11:23] You've started hearing like you've never heard before. Where you actually enjoy coming to church. Maybe in the past it was a drag. The time took forever to pass.

[11:34] But now you love coming and you love listening. And you love speaking to the Lord. And the more you speak to the Lord, you know now that the more he listens. And the more you listen to him, the more you want to speak to him.

[11:48] And the more you speak to the Lord, the more he is listening to you. And he's listening to your voice. And you know, that's when it becomes a relationship with the Lord.

[12:01] Where he speaks and you listen. And you speak and you know that he's listening. That's when you know that you love the Lord. And you learn to love him more and more and more.

[12:15] But you know, we have to ask, well, how did this change take place? What caused you to start listening to the Lord and speaking to the Lord and loving the Lord?

[12:26] How did this change take place? That's what I want us to consider secondly. So there are four aspects to the Christian's testimony. There's confession, I love the Lord. But then there's this change.

[12:38] That's what the psalmist talks about in verse three. The change. He says, The snares of death encompassed me. The pangs of the grave took hold on me. I suffered distress and anguish.

[12:50] Then I called in the name of the Lord. O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul. Gracious is the Lord and righteous. Our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple.

[13:02] When I was brought low, he saved me. The psalmist says that the change which takes place in the experience of a Christian is from death to life.

[13:14] It's from darkness to light. It's from the dungeon to liberty. And the psalmist, he describes death, and he says, and he describes the sorrows of death like a snare. The snares of death encompassed me.

[13:27] He says that death was like an army hemming me in on every side with no way of escape. That's what I was like before I was converted.

[13:37] That's what he's saying. Death had its grip upon me. I was ensnared by death and the power of death, and even says, the pangs of the grave laid hold upon me.

[13:49] The grave had its grip upon me. And you know, the psalmist, he describes death and the grave like these two kings who are allied together in order to bring destruction upon a sinner.

[14:03] Death, he says, is this army that's hemming you in, and the grave is this other army that's slowly, slowly moving in to destroy you. That's what you're like as someone who's unconverted.

[14:17] Death and the grave are encircling you. But you know what I love about verse 3? And these enemies that are described, death and the grave.

[14:28] Verse 3 is quoted in the New Testament. And it's quoted when Peter, Peter who confessed that he loved Jesus. Peter was preaching on the day of Pentecost when over 3,000 souls were saved.

[14:43] And Peter quotes Psalm 116. And he says that sinners, sinners were delivered from death and from the power of the grave.

[14:55] And Peter quoted this verse in order to emphasize the power of the resurrection through Jesus Christ. He stressed that even though Jesus was delivered into the hands of death and the grave, they couldn't hold him.

[15:08] these two kings, death and the grave, which ruled the world in many ways for centuries, they were defeated by King Jesus on the cross.

[15:20] And even as Paul says in the New Testament, King Jesus stands over our enemies. The enemy of death and the enemy of the grave. And Jesus says, O death, where is your sting?

[15:35] O grave, where is your victory? You know, my friend, the wonder of salvation is that King Jesus, our King, He has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

[15:52] And as someone who loves the Lord today, if you love the Lord today and if you know the Lord, you can say that death is not the enemy it once was.

[16:05] Yes, there's the pain of death. There's no hiding that. There's the pain of loss and separation because of the death of a loved one. But you know, the hope of the Christian in the face of death is that we do not mourn as those without hope.

[16:23] The hope of the Christian is that death is not eternal. Because death cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. My friend, you may ask, how did I come to embrace the love of Christ and the promise of eternal life?

[16:40] And the truth is, it was all because of what Jesus has done. It was through the humiliation of Jesus. Because it was through the humiliation of Jesus that he listened to your pleas for mercy.

[16:53] And it was through the humiliation of Jesus in dying your death that this change was able to take place in your life. This change from death to life, from darkness to light, from the dungeon to liberty.

[17:08] And you know, when the Lord heard your voice, when the Lord heard your voice, it was that he answered your pleas for mercy.

[17:20] this is what the psalmist is talking about. And you know, when you heard the Lord speak to you in his word, that's when he effectually called you by his spirit. You know, when the Lord begins to work in your life, and maybe you can see this for yourself in your own experience, the Lord convinces you of your sin and misery.

[17:42] He convinces you that you're separated from a holy God. He convinces you that as a sinner, these two kings are surrounding you. Death and the grave are right on top of you.

[17:53] And you need to cry out for mercy. The Lord convinces you that you need salvation. And he lifts your eyes and he opens your eyes and he renews your mind and the knowledge of Christ.

[18:05] And he makes you see not only the brokenness of your condition, but also the beauty of Jesus. And you know, when you are brought to the end of yourself, you're made to realize that you can do no other but cry to Jesus for mercy.

[18:23] And as the psalmist reminds you, you were saved and your soul was delivered and your pleas were heard, not because of who you are, not because of the family you're brought up in, not because of the things that you have experienced or even the feelings that you have, but all because your pleas for mercy were heard.

[18:44] The Lord has heard your cries because of who he is. As he says in verse 5, the Lord is gracious, righteous, and merciful.

[18:55] That's what he says. Gracious is the Lord and righteous our God is merciful. You know, the description which the psalmist gives of the Lord, it's so beautiful because he says the Lord who saves, the Lord who saves is the one who bestows favour, imputes righteousness, and loves unconditionally.

[19:16] He's gracious, righteous, and merciful. You know, my friend, when you think of who the Lord is and what the Lord has done in you and for you, is it any wonder that when Jesus asks you, do you love me?

[19:33] Your confession has to be, yes, Lord. You know that I love you. I love the Lord because he's heard my voice. He's heard my pleas for mercy.

[19:44] He's answered my prayers exceedingly, abundantly, above all, more than I could ask or even think. So there's the confession. Then there's the change. And then thirdly, the third aspect of the Christian's testimony is conversion.

[20:00] Conversion. He says in verse 7, Return, O my soul, to your rest. For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.

[20:11] I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believed, even when I spoke, I am greatly afflicted. I said in my alarm, all mankind are liars.

[20:22] What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? So the third aspect is conversion. But in many ways, change and conversion they're synonymous.

[20:33] They mean the same thing. Because the transformation of a person from darkness to light, from death to life, from the dungeon to liberty, it's a change which happens at conversion.

[20:47] But I want us to, or I want to highlight this aspect of conversion because the psalmist does. The psalmist emphasized that the change that takes place in your life, it's all because of the Lord.

[20:58] The Lord is gracious, merciful, and righteous. The Lord, he bestows favor, he imputes righteousness, he loves you unconditionally. That's the change which the Lord has brought about in your life.

[21:09] But when the psalmist speaks about conversion, he does so in the sense of your active involvement in turning away from sin.

[21:22] Meaning that conversion is not just a work of the Lord. It's primarily a work of the Lord, of course. But, the psalmist draws attention to the fact in verse 7 that you have a responsibility.

[21:36] The word return at the beginning of verse 7 literally means to turn back. Meaning that you are turned away from the Lord and you need to turn back to the Lord.

[21:48] And that's what it means to be converted. It's to turn back. It means to turn around, to actively turn away from your sin and turn back to the Lord. And that's what he's saying here.

[21:59] He says in verse 7, Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. The psalmist, he's describing his soul and he says that he's making this conscious decision to turn away from his sin and turn back to the Lord.

[22:22] Now, he's active in his conversion. He's actively seeking the Lord. He's not passive. He's not passive. He's not passively saying like many people do and even in this congregation they say, well, salvation is all of the Lord and if I'm in the elect I'll be saved and there's nothing I can do about it.

[22:42] No. The psalmist, he says, he's actively turning back to the Lord. He's actively turning away from his sin and turning to face the Lord.

[22:54] And you know, that's why repentance is not enough. Because repentance is only to change your mind. Where you repent of your sin you turn your mind.

[23:06] It's like you turn your head but you don't turn your whole body. Repentance is a change of mind but conversion is a change of character.

[23:18] And repentance won't succeed without conversion. Repentance won't succeed without conversion. You need to change your mind. You need to change your character.

[23:30] The whole of your mind and body have to turn away from sin and back to the Lord. And what the psalmist is reminding us is that we need to be actively involved in both. Because you can know what it's, you can know that it's wrong to say this or to do that or to go to this place and you can experience conviction of sin in your heart and repent of your sin in your mind but not convert with your whole body.

[23:57] You can have a change of mind but not a change of character. But the Bible stresses very clearly that we must be active in both repentance and conversion.

[24:10] Because repentance won't succeed without conversion. repentance won't succeed without conversion. Both sorrow for sin and turning away from sin must be part of the Christian's character.

[24:28] And you know as a Christian when you grow listening to the Lord speaking to him in prayer gathering in fellowship your conscience should be more and more alert to what is of Christ and what is of life and you should be actively turning away from what is of death and the grave.

[24:48] You should be turning away from it. Even the psalmist confesses that his desire is not to walk amongst that which is of death and the grave. He says in verse 9 I will walk I will walk he says before the Lord in the land of the living.

[25:09] The conversion of the psalmist means that he doesn't want to walk among the dead and around the grave. He doesn't want to walk in sin. He wants to walk in the light of Christ.

[25:22] He doesn't want to seek the pleasures of this world. He wants to seek more and more of what belongs to Jesus. He wants to walk in the land of the living. He wants to spend time speaking about the things that are of Christ and are of life.

[25:39] And you know that's what we need to be actively involved in. He actively involved in fellowship and prayer and reading the Bible. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

[25:53] And the psalmist he wanted to do that because he's now alive in Christ. He's been brought out of death and out of the grave. He's alive in Christ. He's been begotten again to a living hope.

[26:07] He's become a new creation in Christ. He's been brought from darkness and death and the grave to life and light and freedom in Christ. And because of all that he says I love the Lord.

[26:22] I love the Lord. My friend is that your testimony today? Is that your testimony today? Jesus is asking you today do you love me?

[26:34] Do you love me? And if your answer is yes Lord you know that I love you. Well because of your confession your desire to actively turn away from the things which contradict your confession you have to turn away from all these things.

[26:52] My friend if you love the Lord you will actively guard your character your conduct your conversation and your company. If you love the Lord you will actively guard your character your conduct your conversation and your company and you will do that by your commitment which is what we see lastly.

[27:19] As we said Psalm 116 there are four aspects to the Christian's testimony. There's confession change conversion and commitment. Commitment.

[27:32] Look at verse 12. The psalmist asks what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.

[27:43] I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord I am your servant. I am your servant the son of your maidservant.

[27:56] You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people in the courts of the house of the Lord in your midst O Jerusalem.

[28:11] Praise the Lord. There's commitment. Now we mentioned earlier that this psalm is part of a group of six hymns called the Hallel Hymns.

[28:23] And as we said there's Psalms 113 to Psalm 118. And these Hallel Hymns they were traditionally sung during what was the Passover meal. Because the purpose of the Passover as you know it was to remember the experience of the Israelites when they were delivered from bondage and slavery in Egypt and brought in towards the promised land.

[28:45] And in the course of the Passover meal and if you want to read more about this there's a wonderful bit that's written in Ari Finlayson's book The Cross and the Experience of Our Lord he talks about the four cups in the Passover meal.

[29:01] Because there were four cups in the Passover meal and they were all filled with wine. These four cups and each cup was to be passed around the Passover table. And each cup was associated with the benefits that the children of Israel received through their deliverance from Egypt and through their deliverance from bondage and slavery in Egypt.

[29:22] And so when the Passover meal when it was prepared and all set up there would be the Passover lamb there would be the unleavened bread there would be bitter herbs and there would be these four cups.

[29:35] And the Passover meal would begin by singing the first Hallel hymn Psalm 113. Because Psalm 113 it praises the Lord for his faithfulness towards his people.

[29:49] And then after singing Psalm 113 the first cup would be taken and it would be passed around the Passover table. And that cup was called the cup of consecration.

[30:01] And the cup of consecration it reminded the Jews that God delivered the Israelites from Egypt not because there was anything good in them but all because of the Lord's covenant faithfulness.

[30:13] And so once that cup was passed around the gathering at the Passover meal they would then sing Psalm 114 which is the second Hallel hymn. And this Hallel hymn Psalm 114 it begins with the words when Israel went out from Egypt.

[30:31] And after that Psalm was sung the second cup of wine was then passed around the Passover table. It was called the cup of release. And as the cup of release as it was passed around the Passover table as this cup was passed through everybody the owner of the house they would retell the history of the children of Israel and how they came up out of Egypt and they would talk about how the Passover was first of all first instituted.

[31:02] And so then after that was done after the cup of release was passed around the Passover meal would be eaten. There would be the Passover lamb there would be the unleavened bread the bitter herbs they would all be eaten as this Passover meal.

[31:14] And once the Passover meal was finished then they would sing Psalm 115 and Psalm 116 because these two Psalms they are all about dedication and commitment to the Lord.

[31:31] Psalm 115 begins with the words not unto us Lord not to us but do thou glory take. It's a statement of declaration and then Psalm 116 it begins as we were singing earlier with this wonderful confession I love the Lord because my voice and prayers he did hear.

[31:53] But as we see here in verse 12 of Psalm 116 the Psalmist considers how he should render thanks to the Lord for his gift of salvation.

[32:04] He says what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? And in verses 13 and 14 in this act of public commitment the Psalmist acknowledges the Lord for his salvation.

[32:16] He says I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. And so after singing Psalm 116 the third cup would be taken.

[32:33] The third cup of wine would then be passed around the Passover table. And this cup of wine as you could imagine it was called the cup of salvation as it's mentioned in verse 13 of Psalm 116.

[32:47] And once the cup of salvation is passed around the Passover table they would then sing Psalm 117. It's the shortest psalm in the Bible. But it's a psalm that emphasizes the coming Messiah and the hope for all the nations of the world.

[33:06] And then after Psalm 117 was sung as the Passover meal was coming to an end they would take the cup of the Messiah the fourth cup the cup of the Messiah and traditionally the cup of the Messiah was filled with wine and it was passed around the Passover table everybody was to pass it but no one was to drink from it because the cup of the Messiah was not to be drunk from until the Messiah would drink from it himself.

[33:38] and you immediately in your mind go to the upper room don't you? That's what I love about the Gospels. They tell us that in the upper room Jesus sat there with his disciples and they ate the Passover meal together but it was near the end of the Passover meal that Jesus institutes the Lord's Supper where he takes bread and after he has given thanks we're told that he broke it and he says to the disciples this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me and after they had eaten the bread Jesus took the cup we're told the cup of the Messiah the last cup he takes the cup of the Messiah and he holds it before them and he says this cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood drink all of it in remembrance of me and it was then that Jesus he had instituted the Lord's

[34:39] Supper for the first time and as the gospel writers affirmed to us that when they had finished their meal they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives they sang Psalm 118 the last Hallel hymn a hymn of thanksgiving but you know when we consider Psalm 116 and this the Christian's testimony and when you think that this Psalm this Psalm 116 it's interwoven with the Lord's Supper as we said there's four aspects to the Christian's testimony confession change conversion commitment and you know the commitment of the Christian is when you take the cup the commitment of the Christian is when you take the cup and call upon the name of the Lord and that's what we'll be doing God willing next Lord's day when we come and sit around the Lord's table we come and gather with the

[35:41] Lord's people we'll pass the cup around the cup the cup in many ways the cup of the Messiah and we'll call upon the name of the Lord and as those who come to sit forward come forward and sit within the fence your testimony will be a testimony of confession change conversion and commitment confession change conversion and commitment and you know is it any wonder that the psalmist he concludes with these words of commitment he says in verse 17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people in the courts of the house of the Lord in your midst O Jerusalem praise the Lord praise the Lord or hallelujah hallelujah you know my friend Jesus is asking you today do you love me very simple question and if your response is yes Lord you know that I love you yes Lord you know that I love you if that's your response then your testimony surely your testimony is the

[37:02] Christian's testimony of Psalm 116 a testimony of conversion of confession change conversion and commitment and your commitment your commitment will be when you come and sit at the Lord's table God willing next Lord's day and say with the psalmist of Psalm 116 I'll off salvation take the cup on God's name will I call I'll pay my vows now to the Lord before his people all my friend Jesus is asking you today do you love me do you love me may the Lord bless these thoughts to us let us pray oh Lord our gracious God we marvel at the love of Christ we marvel that that love has been demonstrated towards us in the cross of

[38:04] Jesus and we thank thee and we praise thee that even the Christian's testimony is that I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me help us Lord we pray to to be those who are willing to confess openly and publicly that we love the Lord because he first loved us Lord bless us then we pray watch over us we ask keep the evil one from us and help us ever to look to take away our iniquity receive us graciously for Jesus sake Amen we're going to bring our service to a conclusion by singing the words of that psalm psalm 116 we're singing in verse 13 down to the end of the psalm psalm 116 it's on page 396 psalm 116 at verse 13 down to the end of the psalm

[39:21] I'll of salvation take the cup on God's name will I call I'll pay my vows now to the Lord before his people all dear in God's sight is his saints death thy servant Lord am I thy servant sure thy handmaid son my bands thou didst untie thank offerings I to thee will give and on God's name will call I'll pay my vows now to the Lord before his people all within the courts of God's own house within the midst of thee O city of Jerusalem praise to the Lord give ye these verses of psalm 116 to God's praise I'll of salvation take the cup on God's name will I call I'll pay my vows now to the Lord before him I'll pay my amounts now to the Lord before his people all.

[40:32] Here in the sight is his sick death, thy servant, Lord, am I.

[40:49] Thy servant sure thy hand made sun, my pants not tits untie.

[41:06] And God's praise I to thee will give, and on God's name we'll call.

[41:22] I'll pay my amounts now to the Lord before his people all.

[41:41] Within the courts of God's own house, within the midst of thee, O city of Jerusalem, praise to the Lord give ye.

[42:16] 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.