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[0:00] The Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 5 The Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 5 And we can read from the beginning.

[0:34] And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain. And when he was sent, his disciples came unto him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness.

[1:12] For there is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you. And shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.

[1:22] Rejoice and be exceeding glad. For great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Well this evening we're continuing our study of this well-known passage of scripture in chapters 5 to 7 of Matthew's Gospel.

[1:45] A passage which we've often termed as the Sermon on the Mount. As we've said before, the purpose of the Sermon on the Mount was to teach those who had entered into the kingdom of heaven.

[1:57] It was to teach them how to live as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. But when Jesus calls us to live as those who are part of the kingdom of heaven. He's saying that every citizen should live like a king or a queen.

[2:15] Jesus is of course the king of the kingdom of heaven. But he calls all those who are citizens in the kingdom of heaven by faith and repentance. He calls them to emulate and mirror their lives on the king.

[2:30] And so we are to imitate and mirror our king, King Jesus. And we're to do it in such a manner that we too are to be like kings and queens.

[2:41] We are to live like kings. And what Jesus is teaching us in the Sermon on the Mount is that we're to live in the manner that we were meant to live. We're to live in the manner in which we were created to live.

[2:56] Because in our first beginnings as God's creation, you'll remember that Adam was created as king. And that's what we've been seeing us in our study of the Shorter Catechism on Sunday evening.

[3:09] Because if you remember when we were looking at Genesis 1 and the creation account, we saw that when God created the world, He first of all created a kingdom for Adam to live in when He created the Garden of Eden.

[3:25] And then as the apex of God's creation, God created Adam. He said He's created in His own image after His own likeness. And when God created Adam, He created him as a king.

[3:39] The king of the kingdom in the Garden of Eden. Where God is ultimately the king over all His creation. But He created Adam in His image and in His likeness.

[3:52] He created Adam as an image bearer of the true king. And so Adam was created as a king. Because we're told that when Adam was created, He was to have dominion over every living thing.

[4:06] And He was to rule over all the earth. Words that are used for a king. And Adam was created as a king and He was given the position of king over God's creation.

[4:17] But as we know, Adam fell. As a result, Adam lost his kingdom. Because he was exiled out of the Garden of Eden. And he was cursed. Cursed by God.

[4:28] So when we come to the Gospels, we're presented with the last Adam, Jesus Christ. And when He appears on the stage of redemption in the Gospel of Matthew, His purpose is to restore the fallen kingdom.

[4:44] And the effects of the fallen king. And as we said before, Matthew's Gospel is all about the king and his kingdom. Jesus and the kingdom of heaven.

[4:55] But in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew wants us to see that it's far more than that. Because it's also about restoring the descendants of the king and their kingdom. It's about restoring the ruined image and the likeness of God, the creator king.

[5:12] It's about restoring that ruined image that was lost way back at the creation. And so the purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is to teach those who have entered into the kingdom of heaven.

[5:24] That's you and me. It's to teach us how to live as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Because every citizen of the kingdom of heaven should live like a king.

[5:36] Imitating and mirroring our lives on King Jesus. And what we must see is that Jesus is teaching us to live like Adam lived before the fall.

[5:49] Which in one sense is an impossibility because we're corrupted to the core with sin. We possess, as we saw in the Lord's day, we possess original sin. We act and we act upon that sin.

[6:02] We sin in thought, word and in deed. But what Jesus is telling us in the Sermon on the Mount is that through faith and repentance, we are to live as a restored, renewed and redeemed people.

[6:17] We're to live as kings imitating and mirroring our King Jesus Christ. Because as we've said before, we're to give this sermon a theme or the sermon a title.

[6:30] It would be Christ-centered living for Christ-centered lives. And so when we began our study of this challenging sermon, we notice that Jesus, he opens with it with all these beatitudes, these blessings, the list of blessings which are bestowed upon those who are imitating the King and who are part of the kingdom of heaven.

[6:52] Those who live as kings within the kingdom. And what Jesus wants us to understand is that these beatitudes, these blessings from the King, they are blessings upon those who are part of the kingdom of heaven and they are graciously given.

[7:09] But they are given on the condition of obedience to the King because the promise of blessing is determined by the condition of obedience.

[7:22] The King promises to bless us for our character and conduct as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. And at the outset of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses these beatitudes to draw our attention to what the marks of Christian character and conduct really are.

[7:39] And we know that there are nine beatitudes, there are nine marks which are initially given regarding Christian character and conduct.

[7:50] And we've looked at the first six of them. We said that the first mark of Christian character and conduct is modesty because Jesus said, Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.

[8:02] We're not to be proud. Jesus said there's no room for pride in the kingdom of heaven. We have nothing to boast. We are poverty stricken. We have nothing to boast except in Jesus Christ.

[8:14] But in our poverty we are promised the kingdom of heaven. And then the second mark of Christian character and conduct was mourning. He says, Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.

[8:28] But it's not only the state of mourning because of loss, but mourning over the state of our heart. And the need to have a renewed heart and a renewed mind, which will result in a renewed lifestyle.

[8:40] And Jesus urges us to mourn over our sin and our state of mind. And then the third mark was meekness. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

[8:53] And in our meekness we are to be submissive. Submissive to the authority of the king. We're to be humble, teachable, to possess a teachable spirit and be willing to be taught and shaped by the word of God.

[9:06] Then the fourth mark was Moab. Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Our earnest desire should be to have more and more of Jesus.

[9:21] It's a desire to be more Christ-like, more Christ-centered, more Christ-focused in their life and witness. Then the fifth mark was mercy. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

[9:33] And it's a beatitude that we were being taught to show mercy towards others because we ourselves have received mercy. We are to possess love in action by showing mercy towards others.

[9:48] And lastly we looked at the sixth mark of morality. Where he says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And in this beatitude Jesus is reminding us that our hearts, our hearts need to be pure because they are by default immoral and impure.

[10:06] Our immoral heart affects every area of our lives. It affects our mind, our emotions, our will, our affections and our conscience. And so we've seen the first six.

[10:19] That's just running through what we've looked at. Modesty, mourning, meekness, moa, mercy and morality. And this evening we're looking at the last three of these beatitudes. And these final three marks of Christian character and conduct we see Mediator, mistreated and my sake.

[10:43] Mediator, mistreated and my sake. So he says first of all refers to a mediator. Blessed, in verse 9, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.

[10:58] And what we see in this beatitude is that it's the seventh mark of Christian character and conduct and it follows on from the need to have a heart of purity.

[11:10] And Jesus is saying to us that morality is one thing. But to be a mediator is another thing altogether. To live a life that is morally pure is one thing.

[11:22] But to live your life as a peacemaker is something completely different. But what's interesting is that this word peacemaker in verse 9 it's the only it's only found here in the New Testament.

[11:36] And this reference for us to be peacemakers it isn't specific. And it leaves us with the question well what kind of peacemakers is Jesus asking us to be?

[11:47] Is he referring to large scale peacemaking like war and battles? Or is Jesus referring to small scale squabbles and fallouts that are on a domestic scale?

[12:01] And I guess that it's been left in general terms because both are in mind. Jesus is referring to peacemaking on both a large scale and a small scale level. And so according to this beatitude the mark of Christian character and conduct is that we are to be peacemakers in our home our church and our community.

[12:24] And this is an emphasis which is repeated throughout the Bible because time and time again the Lord's people are called to be peacemakers. We are to possess the mark of peace.

[12:37] Because we were reading in Romans chapter 12 and Paul reminded us that we are to strive for peace. And he says that we are to live peaceably with everyone.

[12:50] And even when we were singing in Psalm 34 the psalmist said depart from ill do good seek peace pursue it earnestly and is peace not the third characteristic which is mentioned in Galatians 5 to do with the fruit of the spirit because Paul says the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness gentleness faithfulness and self-control.

[13:20] We are to be peacemakers we are to be defined by peace and as you know the word peace was a very common word upon the lips of a Jew because when two Jews would greet one another they wouldn't shake one another's hands but when they would greet one another or when they would part from one another they would do so by saying shalom they would say shalom which means peace and in that greeting from the fruit shalom a Jew would be saying may you have no battles and may all the peace that God alone can give you can he put will he put upon you in your heart in your mind and in your body shalom but what is what is the greatest contradiction and the saddest reality is that despite this Jewish greeting of shalom the Jews have never been a nation which has been defined by peace because for the nation of Israel they have always there have always been wars and rumors of war and there have always been divisions in the nation of Israel since the death of Solomon the kingdom when the kingdom was divided with Rehoboam and Jeroboam there was animosity there was disunity there was even hatred between the Lord's people and what does the psalmist pray for in Psalm 122 a well known psalm to us but what does he pray for when he prays for Jerusalem what does he pray for when he prays for all of the Lord's people we sing it so often and he says pray that Jerusalem may have peace and felicity let them that love thee and thy peace have still prosperity and then the psalmist goes on to say therefore I wish that peace may still within thy walls remain and ever may thy palaces prosperity retain and the psalmist in Psalm 122 he knew that prosperity the blessing of God's people it lies in the desire to seek peace it lies in the desire to be peacemaker and so Jesus is teaching us here that our characteristic and conduct is that we are to be peaceable we're not to seek conflict or be responsible for it we're not to enter into arguments or disputes and squabbles over whatever it may be and if we possess that quality it's admirable and commendable if we have the ability to hold our tongue because as James tells us our tongue is hard to tame it's an unruly evil set on fire by hell but in this beatitude

[16:22] Jesus he's going further than that he's going further than just managing to hold your tongue because Jesus isn't referring to peace keepers he's referring to peacemakers he's not just referring to those who avoid squabbles and quarrels and keep out of the way and hold their tongue and stay quiet Jesus isn't referring just to keeping the peace for the sake of peace and the desire to tell everyone and proclaim like the false prophets peace peace when there is no peace and what Jesus is telling us is that a peace keeper is someone who has the ability to say nothing but a peacemaker a peacemaker is someone who has the ability to say sorry they have the ability to say sorry we often use the phrase no pain no gain but what Jesus is saying to us here is no pain no peace no pain no peace because peace comes through pain for there is often pain when we have to apologise to someone we have hurt or someone we have fallen out with whether it's someone as close to us as our husband or a wife or a friend or even a neighbour and there is pain in saying sorry because we have to admit that we were wrong and we have to admit that we have caused them hurt and that we have stepped out of line and sometimes sorry is one of the hardest words to say and our lack of using the word sorry it's caused many divisions throughout the years and the centuries but it should be and it ought to be says Jesus a characteristic of the people of God for the doctrine that Jesus is teaching us is the doctrine that we have all experienced and that's what he's getting at it's the doctrine we've all experienced because of Jesus it's the doctrine of reconciliation and Jesus is saying that we are to be so lacking and in order to live as kings in the kingdom of heaven we are to imitate the prince of peace and we will not only be blessed with the title children of

[18:59] God when we emulate and mirror our father in heaven but we should realise that we are ones who have been brought into reconciliation brought to reconciliation in our experience through his son God is the author of peace and the source of peace and reconciliation and that's what the apostle Paul emphasises to us that God has reconciled us to himself through our Lord Jesus Christ our mediator Jesus Christ and he did it says Paul he made peace God made peace with fallen mankind kind and he did it through pain because he made peace through the blood of the cross and what Jesus is saying to us is that we are to be like him we are to be mediators we are to bring reconciliation between ourselves and those who wronged us or we who have wronged them and we're to make the first step in that reconciliation process because by doing that we are imitating what our heavenly father has done for us what he has done for us as his children and we'll be called and known by others as the children of

[20:23] God God not only brought peace and reconciliation between us and himself but he removed the enmity that separated us he not only removed it through the blood of Jesus Christ but he is the one who initiated it God took the first step in order to bring reconciliation to reconcile God and man and what Jesus is saying in your daily life and in your experience that's the way you ought to be you ought to initiate reconciliation you ought to be peacemakers you ought to take the first step because that's your duty as those who belong to the kingdom of heaven you have received it from God therefore you ought to show it to other people mediator mediator that's the seventh mark of

[21:27] Christian character and conduct is to be a mediator a peacemaker possess the characteristic of a mediator and initiate reconciliation but then we see mistreated he says in verse 10 blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven this is the eighth mark of Christian character and conduct which Jesus presents to us in the sermon on the mount and when we consider it it may seem strange to us that Jesus should move from peacemaking to persecution and from the work of reconciliation to the experience of hostility because in contrast to the previous beatitude and call to be peacemakers Jesus reminds us here that there are some there are some cases and however hard we may try to make peace with some people they will refuse to live at peace with us in other words Jesus is saying that not all attempts of reconciliation succeed in fact some may take the initiative to oppose us and act in a hostile manner towards us and remain at enmity with us and when you look at it out of all the beatitudes these last two in verses 10 to 12 they seem to be the most unexpected for we can sort of understand that we can be blessed by living upright lives before the Lord we were blessed because of our obedience to the Lord but it's more difficult for us to understand that we can be blessed when we're being persecuted and it's harder for us to see why Jesus would say that there is a promise of blessing for those who are persecuted because we can often wonder well where's the blessing in persecution where is the blessing in the experience of hostility and for

[23:32] Matthew's first readers reading his gospel this beatitude would have been a surprise to them because Matthew's gospel was primarily written to a Jewish audience and many of these Jewish Christians of whom he wrote to they had experienced persecution and they would have had to flee from their homes because of the persecution of the Roman Emperor Nero who was persecuting as many Christians that he could get his hands on and it's often said that I don't know if you've read it before that Nero hated Christians so much that he used to use them as lampposts to light all the way to his palace he'd impale them Christians all the way up on posts and then said to no fire it's an awful thing but to be a Christian in the early church meant that you were signing your death word your life was forfeited and it's in that context that Matthew writes his gospel and he draws attention to the words of Jesus that those who are part of the kingdom of heaven they are blessed even though they are experiencing persecution but what Jesus wants to be clear on with this point is that he's not saying that we are blessed because we are persecuted he doesn't say that we're blessed in the experience of persecution on account of social or ethical or racial differences no Jesus tells his people that we are blessed when we are persecuted for righteousness sake we are persecuted on account of righteousness we are persecuted for righteousness sake for Christ's sake and what Jesus is saying to us is that he's basically saying blessed are they who are persecuted because by

[25:33] God's grace they are determined to live as I live we will be persecuted because we are imitators of Jesus and because we are imitators of Jesus we will be blessed and in this beatitude Jesus is driving home the point for the need of Christ centred living for Christ centred lives he's saying that to be persecuted for righteousness sake is to be persecuted for being like me because when Jesus came into the world his righteousness exposed the evil of this world and people hated him for it his whole life went against the grain of their hypocrisy and lying and dishonesty and selfishness and greed and by the way he lived his life it cut through them and caused them to hate Jesus and because they hated it they hated the fact that he was exposing their hearts and their inner nature and they hated it so much that they had to get rid of Jesus so they crucified they killed

[26:43] Jesus for exposing them life came into the world but men loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil and in a similar manner many people hate any exposure of their sin and evil deeds which come from evidences of the righteousness of Christ in his followers and persecution can come in a number of ways it doesn't have to be physical because most of the time in our case it's probably verbal and that's seen mostly in our own nation where the Christian is disregarded and marginalized and neglected and disdained and scorned by those in our government and even in society they don't care about the Christian they hate us they hate us the Christian is hated and it's becoming more and more evident we're seeing it all over the news in church magazines and on the internet the Christian is hated and the reason the world hates the

[27:54] Christian is because of righteousness sake it's because they go against the grain of society and they want to follow Jesus instead of following the world they swim against the tide and against the stream of secularism and the world takes exception to that and the Christian is despised from being different the Christian is hated one minister in particular that comes to my mind all the time is David Robertson I won't agree with everything that David Robertson says but he stands up for the truth and he debates with parliament and atheists and the secularists of the day and I remember in college that he told us that he receives hundreds of letters of hate mail every single month he's hated hated for standing up for Christ and it might seem like a strong word to use but that's the word

[28:54] Jesus used he said if the world hates you know that it hated me before it ever hated you my friend we live in a society where the Christian has been marginalised and disrespected and the world loves it those who hate the Christian loved it when the ferry started sailing and the planes started flying and the shops started opening on the Lord's Day those who hate the Christian loved it when gay marriage became permissible those who hate the Christian love it when they see Christians falling and scorned for standing up for the truth those who hate Christians are proud that they aren't in Christ and they have an earnest desire to get rid of Christianity altogether and it's frightening it's frightening but you know in a sense I sometimes wonder of the Christian church in our land we are persecuting ourselves with apathy apathy towards Christ apathy towards the cause apathy towards the church apathy towards our

[30:06] Christian witness and sometimes I think we're persecuting ourselves because we aren't standing up for righteousness sake and we aren't imitating Christ as we ought to be and I'm speaking to myself before I'm preaching to you because we live in a nation that's founded on Christian values but the problem we have is that one of these values is called tolerance and sometimes I think we've become so tolerant and so politically correct that our Christianity has also sunk to a level that it's hardly even noticed where on the one hand the world has become so tolerant of us but in the same vein we have become far too tolerant of the world and the church is too close to the world to the point where there's no longer any distinction because we've been drawn in by vanity fear and drawn aside from our goal our goal is Jesus as living as those who are part of the kingdom of heaven

[31:18] Christ centred living for Christ centred lives we've become peacekeepers and say nothing because we want peace at all costs regardless of the truth many of the reformers of the bifond era were burned for their stand up for their stand for the gospel but for them it was truth at all costs peace if possible my friend the eighth mark of Christian character and conduct is that we are mistreated only when we're like Jesus we are persecuted for righteousness sake there was one commentator who asked the probing and very challenging question is there anything in your conduct that reveals Christ's righteousness righteousness and is Jesus Christ seen in your character just shoot straight through is there anything in your conduct that reveals

[32:22] Christ's righteousness and is Jesus Christ seen in your character so we've considered mediated or mistreated and lastly we see my sake verse 11 blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you and the ninth and the last beatitude or mark of Christian character and conduct is persecution for the sake of Jesus Christ and when we read these verses we can see that they follow very very closely with the previous beatitude which basically said the same thing that there is blessing when you are persecuted for righteousness sake for the sake of Jesus Christ but in this beatitude Jesus says there is blessing in the midst of persecution reviling and speaking evil and false accusations for the sake of Jesus

[33:27] Christ it's basically the same thing but what is key to understand in this beatitude is that Jesus says the persecution is for my sake because when Jesus says that he's personalising the whole thing he makes it all personal because he says it's because of my sake that you are persecuted and what I believe that Jesus is drawing our attention to is the fact that everyone in the kingdom of heaven is united to Jesus Christ we are in union with him and that even our persecution is evidence that we are in union with him because we noted earlier that Jesus said if the world hates you know that it hated me before it ever hated you but then Jesus went on to say the same passage in John 15 if you were of the world the world would love you as its own but because you are not of the world and I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hates you and in these words

[34:36] Jesus reminds us that our union with him is such that when we are persecuted or are experiencing reviling or people speaking against us Jesus is reminding us that when persecution happens we need to be assured that we are still united to him we are still united to him we haven't been forsaken by him because we can often relate our circumstances to our relationship with the Lord and think that the Lord has abandoned us when things go wrong and when things go against us but I believe that Jesus is seeking to remind us that he is the one who chose us out of the world and because he chose us out of the world we did not choose him but he chose us and appointed us to go and bear food and so Jesus is reminding us and especially his original hearers he is reminding them that he is still with them in the midst of all their persecution and just as

[35:42] Jesus said in the last beatitude there is blessing in being faithful there is blessing in being faithful faithful to Jesus but the promise of blessing which is given here isn't the reward of the kingdom of heaven as it is in the last beatitude blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven because this time the reward is heaven itself because he says in verse 12 rejoice in the exceeding land for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you and so the promise which Jesus lays before us is the promise and the reward of heaven he says rejoice and be glad for great is your reward in heaven and what Jesus is highlighting for us is that persecution however it may come to us in this life it will come to an end and the reward is heaven and the example which

[36:49] Jesus gives us is the example of all the prophets all the prophets of the old testament because we know that many of the prophets they were hated because of the message they preached and they were often rejected by the people to the point that Isaiah's entrance into heaven came when he was sawn in half but we must not just see those who preached as prophets because the life of Job was a prophetic message to the Lord's people although Job never experienced persecution through punishment he had to endure persecution through providence and the same was true of Joseph his persecutors may have been his brothers but the providence of it all was probably the greatest persecution and the most difficult thing he had to deal with and that may be the same for you tonight your persecution may not be persecution through people but persecution through providence providences that have caused you to wonder where the Lord was in it all and how the

[38:05] Lord could ever bring good out of such dark providences but in the midst of all that you've had to go through in life Jesus is saying remember that your great reward is in heaven and what we must see is that the purpose of Jesus in pointing to all the prophets of the Old Testament is to encourage us to look beyond this world and you know that was the approach that the writer to the Hebrews took when he was writing to persecuted Christians the whole letter to the Hebrews is to persecuted Christians where they're wanting to turn back to their old religion and turn back from following Jesus and the writer to the Hebrews he did the same as what Jesus is doing here by pointing to all those in the Old Testament who walked by faith and we have the list of them in Hebrews chapter 11 where he goes through all the people of faith like Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Joseph and Moses and he says I could go on but time would fail me to tell you about

[39:16] Gideon and Samson and David and Samuel but he says all these great men and women of the Old Testament they're the cloud of witnesses who are pointing us just to one person and they're telling us look to Jesus and he says lay aside every sin and weight that will hinder you and you run you just keep running run the race and in the midst of all your persecution and all your providences you keep looking to Jesus the author and the finisher of your faith why because the joy that was set before him he endured the cross despising his shame and is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God you look to Jesus he says look to the one enthroned in heaven fix your eyes on him keep looking and keep running and keep going keep going he said that's what he was saying to all these persecuted

[40:23] Christians and you know it was the same reason that John wrote his revelation to persecuted Christians it was to encourage them because when we look at the book of revelation John is saying this is the vision I have of heaven and he presents to us the vision of all those who are persecuted now standing before the throne of God where one of the elders said to him in this revelation these are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation and the ropes are washed and made white in the blood of the lamb and they are now before the throne of God and they serve him day and night in his temple and the one who sits on the throne he dwells among them and they shall neither hunger nor thirst any more and the sun shall not strike them nor any heat for the lamb who is in the midst of the throne he will shepherd them and lead them to the fountains of living water and God shall wipe away every tear that they ever shed in this world and my friend is it any wonder to us then that Jesus says rejoice and be glad for great is your reward in heaven great is your reward in heaven and what

[41:53] Jesus is saying in the right of the Hebrews and John keep going keep going that ends our study of the Beatitudes but it doesn't end our study of the Sermon on the Mount because Jesus has only begun to teach us to see the need of Christ centred living for Christ centred lives but so far he's shown us nine marks that's a lot to learn and a lot to adopt nine marks of Christian character and conduct which we are to adopt in our lives modesty mourning meekness moa mercy morality mediator mistreated my sake and God willing we'll continue to look at this great sermon next week may the Lord bless these thoughts to us let us pray O Lord our gracious

[42:55] God we give thanks to thee that thou art our teacher and help us Lord to have a teachable spirit help us to realize that we are ever in the school of Christ and Lord help us to come to thee as pupils every day asking Lord that thou wouldst teach us even to pray teach us Lord to walk with thee teach us to listen and to be obedient for we fail thee Lord day after day we realize how much we stray from thine hand that thou in thy grace and thy mercy wouldst be the good shepherd of the Lord and draw us back to the fold reminding us that thou art the one who feeds us the one who leads us the one who leads us even into pasture screen Lord bless us we pray and uphold us by thy unrighteous right hand and take us to our homes in safety cleanse us we pray for Jesus sake Amen shall conclude by singing

[44:01] Psalm 84 Psalm 84 in the Scottish Saunter page 338 Psalm 84 singing from verse 4 down to the verse 9 Psalm 84 verse 4 singing Gonna Ooft

[45:02] Qué Times sulh salvationолет rejoiced men are Jamboard появ let the trosses that all hath done the pools with water filled.

[46:03] So they from dread not merely told still forward unto strength until in Zion they appear before the Lord and when Lord God of hosts my prayer here O Jacob's God to hear sing all the shill through the wonder face of thine anointed ear

[47:15]  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.