Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.barvas.freechurch.org/sermons/1549/psalm-43-a-prayer-for-our-community/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] If we could, this evening with the Lord's help and the Lord's enabling, we could turn to the Book of Psalms and Psalm 43.

[0:19] Book of Psalms, Psalm 43, we're going to look at the whole Psalm, but we'll just take as our text the words of verse 3. Psalm 43 at verse 3, send out your light and your truth.

[0:35] Let them lead me, let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. Send out your light and your truth.

[0:47] As we come to the end of another year, with the prospect of a new year now ahead of us, we often become very reflective.

[1:07] We become reflective and we often think back over this past year and consider some of the things that have happened. And inevitably for all of us, there have been highs and there have been lows.

[1:22] There have been blessings and there have been difficult providences. There have been joys and there have been sorrows. There are those who were with us at the beginning of the year who are no longer with us.

[1:34] There have been additions to our families and there have been subtractions. Where some will confess maybe that this has been the best year of their life.

[1:46] Others will confess that this was the worst year of their life. And with that, we are always reminded that a lot can happen in the space of only one year.

[1:57] But as a congregation over this past year, the Lord has been good to us. The Lord has blessed us. The Lord has been faithful to us. Not because we deserved it.

[2:09] But as you know, it's solely because the Lord is gracious. And he has graciously answered the prayers of the Lord's people. The Lord has been good to us.

[2:19] To the point that we can say as a congregation that the Lord has done in us and for us. Far above and beyond our asking or our thinking. But as we come to the end of a year and the new year approaching.

[2:37] What should we pray for? What is it that we should be praying for? What is it that we should petition the Lord for? What is it that we should plead with the Lord to see?

[2:52] And I want to suggest that the words of our text this evening. They should be our prayer for the year ahead. Send out your light and your truth.

[3:05] Send out your light and your truth. And that's what I want us to see. I want us to see that Psalm 43 is a prayer. And that these words should be our prayer for our community.

[3:18] It should be our prayer for those in our homes. Those in our families. Those in the school. Those in our workplaces. It should be our prayer for our community.

[3:29] Send out your light and your truth. But you know I was thinking about this. And the way I want to look at it this evening. That Psalm 43 is not only a prayer of the church for its community.

[3:44] I want us to see that Psalm 43 is a prayer of our church for our community to pray. It's a prayer that we want our community to pray.

[3:58] It should be, I want us to say, that it should be the longing of our church and our congregation. And the longing of the Lord's people. That our community would take these words upon their lips.

[4:11] It should be our heart's desire to see our community seek the Lord in prayer. By uttering the words of Psalm 43.

[4:25] And I say that because I believe that in this Psalm. Or the way I want to look at it this evening. Is that the Psalmist is asking the Lord three things. He's asking the Lord three things.

[4:35] He's saying, defend me, direct me and deliver me. Defend me, direct me and deliver me. So if we look first of all at his plea to defend me.

[4:49] He says, defend me. Look at verses 1 and 2 again. He says, vindicate me O God. And defend my cause against an ungodly people. From the deceitful and unjust man.

[5:00] Deliver me. For you are the God in whom I take refuge. Why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning? Because of the oppression of the enemy. This prayer which we long for our community to pray.

[5:15] It begins by asking God for vindication. It begins by the Psalmist coming to God. And asking God to be his defence.

[5:25] But the language which the Psalmist is using is not the language of the battlefield. When he's asking for God to be his defence. It's not the language of the battlefield. It's the language of the courtroom.

[5:38] He's not asking that God would come to his defence and aid like a warrior in the midst of battle. He's asking that God would stand as his judge and defend him.

[5:50] By making a righteous judgement about him. And that's why the Psalmist says, vindicate me O God. Or judge me O God. And defend my cause.

[6:01] But you know when we think about it. It's not something that we would ever think of asking for. That God would stand as our judge and bring judgement upon us.

[6:13] But the reason the Psalmist makes such a bold request. Is that he has come to know that the Lord is his refuge. That's what he says in verse 2. And that he's come to know that by trusting in the Lord.

[6:27] And that by committing his life to the Lord. He's sheltering under the defence and the righteousness of the Lord. He has come to know that, well you could say that he's clothed in the righteousness of the Lord.

[6:41] He's come to know that he's protected and defended by the righteousness of the Lord. The Psalmist has come to know that the Lord will defend his cause.

[6:52] Not because of his own self-righteousness. But solely on the basis of the Lord's righteousness. And because of the Lord's righteous judgement of him.

[7:03] The Psalmist has come to realise that he now stands in contrast to all those around him. That's what he says. He says those around him are the ungodly, the deceitful and the unjust.

[7:20] And it's interesting that he gives those descriptions. And he contrasts himself with those descriptions. Because he says that the ungodly, the ungodly first of all, they are those who are not loved.

[7:35] The ungodly, literally he's saying they are not loved with covenant love. They're not loved with covenant love. They've not experienced the covenant love of the Lord.

[7:47] A covenant love which assures every sinner who commits their life to the Lord. That there is nothing they can do to make the Lord love them any more than he already does.

[7:59] And there is nothing they can do to make him love them any less. It's a covenant love which affirms to every sinner who commits themselves to the Lord that they are more sinful than they could ever imagine.

[8:14] But they are more loved than they could ever realise. And this is what the psalmist confesses that he has come to know in contrast to those around them.

[8:24] In contrast to the ungodly. He has come to know and experience the covenant love of the Lord. A love which never changes and remains constant because the Lord remains faithful.

[8:37] But because of the Lord's righteous judgement of him, the psalmist not only contrasts himself with the ungodly. He also contrasts himself with, as he says himself, the deceitful.

[8:51] But the deceitful are not just those who are liars or they don't have the truth in them. The psalmist describes the deceitful as those who have committed an act of treachery.

[9:04] And they have been disloyal. They have betrayed a king. That's the kind of word which has been used. And what the psalmist is trying to highlight to us is that because he has come to know the Lord by sheltering under his defence, under his righteousness.

[9:21] He now stands in contrast to those who are still in Adam. Where they are still under the curse of Adam. Adam, as we know, who committed the act of treachery, of betrayal, disloyalty against the king of kings.

[9:40] And for those who are in Adam, they are under the sentence and condemnation of death. But what the psalmist says is that the Lord has come to his defence.

[9:52] He is in the Lord, you could say. He is in Christ. He is sheltering under the defence and righteousness of Christ. Which is why he says that he not only stands in contrast to the ungodly and the deceitful.

[10:08] But he also stands in contrast to those who are unjust. Those who are unrighteous. Those who do not have the Lord as their defence.

[10:18] They are not sheltering under the righteousness of Christ. And so my friend, the psalmist is confessing in prayer that he has come to know that he stands in contrast to those around him.

[10:32] Because the Lord is his righteousness. The Lord is his righteousness. And that because he is trusting in the Lord and has committed his life to the Lord.

[10:44] The Lord loves him with covenant love. And he is no longer in Adam under the curse. He is now in Christ. And because he is in Christ, he has been made righteous.

[10:56] And he has been made as righteous as Christ himself. As righteous as Christ himself. And you know, that's what I love about Calvary.

[11:09] Because at Calvary, we are always reminded, as Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 5. That the Christ who knew no sin. He was without sin.

[11:22] And yet he became sin. He became the sin bearer of his people. In which the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. And he became sin for us.

[11:35] All so that we could be made the righteousness of God in him. Where, as we know, by our very nature we are bankrupt. We are, as it says here, ungodly, deceitful and unjust.

[11:49] We are unrighteous. And yet, when we trusted in this Christ, our sin and our debt was credited to his account. He became sin for us.

[12:03] All so that when God judges us, he will judge us as righteous in his sight. We are as righteous tonight as Christ himself.

[12:17] That's the wonder of it. That's the wonder of the doctrine of justification. We are as righteous tonight as Christ himself. It's Calvary's great transaction.

[12:28] We should never lose sight of it. But this is what the psalmist has come to know. He has come to know that God as his, he has come to know God as his judge. But he's also come to know the Lord as his righteousness and his defence.

[12:46] And this is what Paul spoke about in the New Testament. That because we have Christ as our defence. If we sin, says Paul. We have an, no it's John who said it.

[12:57] If we sin, we have an advocate with the Father. We have someone whom we are sheltering under. We have someone who is pleading our cause. We have someone who is defending our position.

[13:10] John says that there is, he is none other than Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He is the righteous one. And so when the psalmist makes this bold request to be judged by God.

[13:23] He can do so only on the faith that Christ is his defence. Christ is his advocate. Christ is his righteousness. And because of that he knows that he will be vindicated.

[13:37] Because Christ is standing on his behalf. He knows that on the day of judgement. When God makes his righteous judgement upon him. He will be vindicated.

[13:49] He will be cleared. And that's what the catechism affirms to us. A wonderful catechism. That at the resurrection, when all the graves are opened.

[14:00] And the dead rise and stand before the judgement seat of Christ. To give an account. We're taught in the catechism that every Christian will be raised up in glory.

[14:13] Openly acknowledged and acquitted on the day of judgement. Made perfectly blessed. And go into the full enjoying of God. And go into the full enjoying of God to all eternity. Every Christian will be openly acknowledged.

[14:27] I love that word, acknowledged. Will be known as the children of God. But not only the children, will be acknowledged and acquitted. On the day of judgement.

[14:39] All because Christ is our righteousness. Christ is our righteousness. And my friend, this should be our longing.

[14:50] That our community would take these words upon their lips. Christ is my righteousness. Christ is my defence.

[15:01] He is my advocate with the Father. And you know, that's what Robert Murray McShane confessed. When he wrote that well-known hymn, Jehovah Sidkenu.

[15:12] You know the words, Jehovah Sidkenu, they mean the Lord is our righteousness. And McShane confessed like many others in our community.

[15:24] I once was a stranger to grace and to God. I knew not my danger and felt not my load. Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree, Jehovah Sidkenu was nothing to me.

[15:37] But as McShane continued his hymn, he said, When free grace awoke me by light from on high, Then legal fear shook me, I trembled to die.

[15:48] No refuge, no safety in self could I see. Jehovah Sidkenu, my saviour must be. And you know, as a man who died at the age of only 29, McShane concluded his confession that the Lord was his righteousness.

[16:07] He concluded with the words, In threading the valley, the shadow of death, This watchword shall rally my faltering breath. For while from life's fever, my God sets me free.

[16:21] Jehovah Sidkenu, my death song shall be. And I think that should be our longing. That everyone in our community would have the same confession as McShane.

[16:34] Because, you know, we gather so often at funerals for those who have died in our community. But our longing should be that those in our community would be prepared for death by confessing Jehovah Sidkenu, The Lord our righteousness.

[16:51] The Lord our righteousness. And so it should be our heart's desire that our community would seek the Lord in prayer by saying, defend me.

[17:03] Defend me. Christ is my righteousness. But secondly, it should be our longing that our community would ask the Lord, direct me. Direct me.

[17:16] So you've looked, if you look secondly at verse 3. The psalmist says, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.

[17:28] Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy. And I will praise you with a lyre. O God, my God. The world we live in today is a world that is full.

[17:43] It's full of opinions, full of suggestions, full of religions, full of philosophies, full of secularism, full of atheism, full of lies, full of deceit, full of corruption, full of darkness.

[17:59] The world we live in today is a world that is full. And yet it's a world that is lacking. And what it lacks is God's light and God's truth.

[18:13] It lacks direction. Because everyone is wandering aimlessly with no rest. Everyone is in a hurry but going nowhere.

[18:24] Everyone is searching for happiness but can never find it. Everyone is filling their lives. And yet they are never full. And it seems to me that the psalmist is asking for direction and leading and guidance because he has this emptiness in his life.

[18:41] He has this void in his heart. He has this feeling of complete lostness and lack of direction and purpose because he's come to realize that the world is so full of things that are on offer to him but these things, they don't fill him.

[18:58] They don't satisfy him. It doesn't meet his deepest needs. And you know my friend, that should be our longing for our community. That the people in our community will come to the realization that there is something missing in their life.

[19:13] And that true happiness is not found in their health or their wealth or even their family. Our longing for our community should be that they will come to a feeling of lostness and emptiness.

[19:28] And that in turn it will cause them to ask the Lord, direct me, lead me, guide me, reveal yourself to me.

[19:39] Send out your light and your truth. And you know, it's a wonderful request because it's a plea for the Lord to reveal himself and make himself known to those who are in darkness.

[19:54] Send out your light and your truth. And the Lord has been doing that since, well, the beginning of creation. In that moment in Genesis 1, when the God who is light and in whom there is no darkness at all, he spoke into the darkness of this world and he said, let there be light.

[20:17] And there was light. God sent out his light and by doing so, he revealed himself. He made himself known. In which the creation of this world continues to reveal God's light to us each and every day.

[20:31] Where, as we were singing, the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim his handiwork. God is faithfully revealing his light to us every single day.

[20:44] And I was thinking about this the other day because Finley, he's now at the age he is and he's aware of the dark mornings.

[20:55] And he asked me the other morning, Daddy, will the sun be getting up today? And I said, well, of course it will. It'll be up later on. And then Finley responds with his three-year-old mind and asks his usual question, why?

[21:11] And, you know, I had to think for a moment, why is the sun going to get up today? And then I thought, the sun will get up because God is faithful.

[21:22] God is faithful to his promise of a new day. And it was after my conversation with Finley, after that, it led me to think that, is that what Jeremiah meant in the book of Lamentations?

[21:36] When he says, it is because of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not, they are new every morning. Then he says, great is thy faithfulness.

[21:50] And it seems that for Jeremiah, when the light dispelled the darkness, bringing in a new day with it, it also brought with it the promise of the Lord's mercies and the Lord's faithfulness.

[22:03] The light of a new day, it revealed the Lord's character, that the Lord is merciful and the Lord is faithful. And it seems to me that the psalmist is pleading with the Lord to reveal to him, in his darkness, the light of the Lord's mercy and the Lord's faithfulness.

[22:24] He's asking the Lord to send out his light, to reveal himself to him, to reveal his character, to reveal his mercy and his faithfulness towards him.

[22:36] But what's remarkable is that in sending out his light, the Lord also accompanies it with his truth. By revealing himself with his light, he directs him with his truth.

[22:50] By exposing his character with the light, he expresses his promises with his truth. And that's what we find in God's word. We're reminded that God's light has been revealed and sent out, sent out every day through creation, but God's truth has been affirmed and sent out to us through his word.

[23:16] And that's what we mentioned about in Psalm 19. The heavens are declaring the glory of God. The skies are proclaiming his handiwork. Day after day, God is speaking.

[23:27] Night after night, God is revealing his knowledge. But then David went on to say in verse 7, that God's truth has also been sent out from his word.

[23:39] He says that the law of the Lord is perfect. And it's so perfect that it's able to convert the soul that is lying in sin. He says that the word of God, as Paul puts it, is the power of God unto salvation to those who believe.

[23:57] The word of God has power. But you know, there's something else here. What we must see is that the psalmist is emphasizing in his plea to the Lord, he's emphasizing the sending out.

[24:14] That's the emphasis of the line. Send out your light and your truth. And this is important because God has always been sending out his light and his truth through different ways and through different means.

[24:31] As we said, he's sent out his light through creation. He sent out his truth through the revelation of his word. But for centuries, the Lord has sent out his light and his truth through different people who were sent and commissioned by the Lord.

[24:48] The Lord sent his light and his truth through his people Israel. They were to be a light in darkness, a light among the nations. And they were to be the light in darkness and herald the truth of God's word by living according to it.

[25:06] The Lord sent out his light and his truth through all the Old Testament prophets. Where they proclaim the Lord's message and they affirm the Lord's promises. But then in the New Testament, the writer to the Hebrews, he says that even though God spoke through his people in the past and he spoke through the prophets, he has also spoken through his son.

[25:31] He's spoken through his son, Jesus Christ. Because he sent him and he sent him as the light and he sent him as the truth. He is the light and truth of God.

[25:44] He is the light of the world and he is the way, the truth and the life. He's been sent, the son has been sent to give leading, direction and guiding to get to the Father's house.

[26:00] But more than that, Jesus who is the light and the truth, he sent apostles as his representatives. They were sent and commissioned by Jesus.

[26:10] That's what the word apostle means. It's someone who is sent. It's a sent one. So they've been sent and commissioned by God to be God's light and God's truth.

[26:22] And that's what the church is. That's what the church of Jesus Christ is. It has been sent and commissioned to be God's light and God's truth in the world.

[26:34] And as I know what Jesus said, you are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Therefore, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, that they may see you living out the truth.

[26:50] And in turn, glorify your Father, which is in heaven. My friend, we have been given God's light and God's truth. And God has chosen us and commissioned us to be sent out with the light and with his truth.

[27:07] As the apostle Paul puts it, we are ambassadors for Christ. And God is making his appeal through us. He's doing it through us.

[27:20] And our appeal as those who bear the light and carry the truth, our appeal to those in our community, is you must be reconciled to God. You must be reconciled to God.

[27:33] So my friend, as the church of Jesus Christ, we've been called to be like Jesus and lead people back to the Father's house.

[27:44] We've been called and commissioned to lead the prodigals of our community who have spent their life in the far country. We are to lead them and direct them to the Father's house because it's there that they will hear a word of forgiveness and receive the promise of reconciliation.

[28:03] And that's what the psalmist prays for. He says, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy.

[28:15] And I will praise you with a lyre, O God, my God. He prays to the Lord, that the Lord would lead them and direct them to the Lord's house, to be in the Lord's presence.

[28:28] And that should be our longing, that our community would ask for direction. And that the Lord would use us to give them direction, to direct them to experience forgiveness and enjoy peace and reconciliation with God.

[28:48] But the Lord can't use us to give directions and to bring people to his holy hill unless we are willing to be used. Unless we are prayerfully seeking opportunities to speak a word of light and truth to someone in darkness.

[29:08] The Lord will not use us unless we are willing to be his ambassador. But the point is, we should be willing.

[29:19] And we should be seeking opportunities to be used and sent out as God's light and God's truth. We should be willing and we should be seeking opportunities to lead people to the Lord and to the Lord's house.

[29:37] We should be willing and we should be willing and we should be seeking opportunities to get alongside people and create friendships and build relationships and make contacts and reach out to those in our community.

[29:51] Those who don't go to church and those who maybe haven't been for a while. My friend, we have been sent out with God's light and God's truth.

[30:02] And we are to lead and direct and guide people to God's house. And that those in our community will speak about coming to church the way the psalmist spoke.

[30:17] Then I will go to the altar of God. To God my exceeding joy. That they will view church as their chiefest joy. Just like the way we view it.

[30:30] We have come to see this place as our chiefest joy. And so it should be our heart's desire that our community would seek the Lord in prayer by saying, Defend me.

[30:42] Christ is my righteousness. Direct me. Christ is my light and my truth. But lastly, and more briefly, it should be our longing that our community would ask the Lord, Deliver me.

[30:59] Deliver me. He says in verse 5, Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him.

[31:12] My salvation and my God. This closing verse, it's very familiar to us, as we said, because it's repeated three times between Psalm 42 and Psalm 43.

[31:26] And it's because of this repetition of one verse, or chorus you could say, some commentators have suggested that Psalm 43 is actually the end of Psalm 42.

[31:38] Which is probably correct. But anyway, in view of looking at these verses from the perspective of our community and using them as a prayer, I want us to see that in this closing verse, our longing as a church should be that those who live with us, and those who live around us, and those who live near us, that they should come before the Lord saying, Deliver me.

[32:07] Deliver me. Deliver me. But what we see in this verse is the reason why they should come before the Lord, asking for deliverance.

[32:18] Because the question is asked in verse 5, Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you so disturbed or disquieted within me? And with that we see that the soul has been awakened.

[32:30] The soul that was once dead and numb to the things of God and to his word and just passing it over. The soul has been awakened.

[32:42] And the soul is troubled and disturbed and is downcast because there's something missing. Where there was once satisfaction and happiness that came from all the material things in life, or the blessings of health and family and friends.

[33:00] These things were good, but they didn't fill the void. They didn't bring through satisfaction and through happiness. And as a result, there is this restlessness and disquiet.

[33:10] There is discontentment and displeasure. And as we said earlier, We should long for the people in our community to experience this feeling of complete lostness.

[33:23] And a lack of direction and purpose. In which they come to realise that even though the world is full with everything that's on offer, it doesn't fill them.

[33:34] It doesn't satisfy them. It doesn't meet their deepest needs. We should long for the people in our community to come to the realisation that there is something missing in their life.

[33:46] And that true happiness is not found in health and wealth and family. Our longing should be that they have this feeling of lostness and emptiness and restlessness.

[33:59] That they would seek the Lord and ask to be delivered from their sin. I don't know about you, but I can certainly relate to this from my own experience.

[34:11] Because when I came to the end of myself, I felt completely lost and empty. I had tried to find satisfaction and happiness in the world and all its pleasures.

[34:25] But at the end of it all, I felt completely empty. Completely empty. And in some way or another, I remember asking myself these very questions.

[34:36] Why am I so downcast? What's wrong with me? Why do I feel so empty and so lost? Why is my sin weighing down on me? Why is my soul bothering me?

[34:47] And it was because of this emptiness and restlessness that I knew that the only place I could go was to the Lord. And the only thing I could ask the Lord was to be delivered from this burden of guilt and feeling of lostness and emptiness.

[35:04] And you know, that's the point. That's the place to which we should pray that people would be brought. That the people in our community, that the Lord would bring them to that point where they see their need of the Lord.

[35:22] And their need to seek the Lord and ask to be delivered from their sin. And it's only when they're brought to that point that there will come this word of comfort.

[35:35] Hope in God. Hope in God. That's what the psalmist says was his experience. Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you in turmoil within me?

[35:47] Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. In his emptiness and his lostness, when the psalmist came to the realization that there was nowhere else to go, and there was nowhere in this world he could find satisfaction and through happiness, he found hope in God.

[36:08] He found hope in God. But how did he find hope in God? And I believe that the last sentence of the psalmist tells us how he found hope in God.

[36:25] It's very difficult to translate this sentence, the last sentence, because if we were to translate it literally, it would read, I will praise him for his countenance of salvation, because he is my God.

[36:39] I will praise him for his countenance of salvation, because he is my God. And with this, I believe that the psalmist is again, he's talking about God's light and God's truth.

[36:54] He's speaking about the light of God's countenance. He's speaking about the shining face of God's salvation. And as you know, there is only one person and one face in whom the light of God's salvation shines.

[37:13] And the apostle Paul, he put it so beautifully in 2 Corinthians 4. He says, You know, one of the most wonderful verses in the Bible.

[38:05] He gave the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Shone into our heart. And that's how the psalmist found hope and assurance in the Lord.

[38:17] Because when he came to the end of himself, he sought the Lord and committed his life to the Lord. And he confessed, I will praise him for his countenance of salvation, because he is my God.

[38:31] And so as we come to the end of another year, with the prospect of a new year ahead of us, it should be our desire that this psalm becomes the prayer of our community.

[38:59] It should be our longing that our community would take these words upon their lips. Defend me, for Christ is my righteousness.

[39:10] Direct me, for Christ is my light and my truth. And deliver me, for Christ has shined his face of salvation into my heart.

[39:25] It's a wonderful psalm. Psalm 43. A prayer for our community. May the Lord bless these thoughts to us. Let us pray.

[39:36] O Lord, our gracious God, that thou wouldst enable us and teach us to pray. Teach us to have a burden for those around us.

[39:49] And help us, Lord, to pray earnestly for them. To see them as precious souls. To see them as those who are heading towards a great eternity.

[39:59] And help us, Lord, we ask thee as thy people, not to get caught up in the world. Although the world has many things for us and many good blessings. Help us, Lord, we pray, to have eternity in our mind.

[40:14] To be living as those who have a citizenship elsewhere. And, Lord, to be encouraging those to come with us. To be encouraging them to confess Jehovah Sidkenu.

[40:26] The Lord our righteousness. O Lord, bless us, we pray. Bless us as a congregation, we ask. Help us to keep sending out thy light and thy truth.

[40:37] Help us, Lord, to be thy light and to be thy truth. Lord, to speak words of truth to those who are still in darkness. Give to us a boldness, we pray.

[40:48] We are those who are so weak. We are so timid. We are those who want to cower away. But we thank thee for the great promise. That we are able to do all things.

[40:58] Through Christ who gives us strength. Help us, Lord, we pray, to be bold for thee. To be strong. To know that it is not by might, nor by power.

[41:09] But by thy spirit alone. Do us good, then, we pray thee. Help us to apply these things to our lives. And help us, Lord, to live. Live them out faithfully. In this dark and perverse world.

[41:22] Go before us, then, we pray. Remember us, each and every one. And even those who could not be with us this evening. Be near them, wherever they are. Undertake for us, we ask.

[41:33] And do us good. For Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen. We shall conclude by singing in that psalm.

[41:43] In Psalm 43. Psalm 43. We're singing. It's page 264. We're singing from verse 3 down to the end of the psalm. Psalm 43.

[41:58] From verse 3. O send thy light forth and thy truth. Let them be guides to me. And bring me to thine holy hill.

[42:10] E'n where thy dwellings be. Then will I to God's altar go. To God my chiefest joy. Yea, God, my God, thy name to praise. My heart I will employ.

[42:21] Down to the verse marked 5 of Psalm 43. To God's praise. Amen. O send thy light forth and thy truth.

[42:39] Let them be guides to me. And bring me to thy holy hill.

[42:58] In where thy dwellings be. Then will I turn God's altar go.

[43:18] To God my chiefest joy. Ye'er God, my God, thy name to praise.

[43:38] My heart I will employ. Why art thou then, cast thou my soul?

[43:59] What should discourage thee? And why your relaxing thoughts are loud?

[44:18] God, my heart, my heart, my heart. And why your heart is quieted in me. Still trust in God for him to praise.

[44:30] God, my heart, my heart. And why your heart is quieted in me. God, my heart, my heart. Hod, my heart, my heart, my heart. By thy heart, my heart. And why my heart, my heart. Be well, my heart. And why my heart, my heart.

[44:41]  And why my heart is quieted in me. Good cause I yet shall have. In all my kindness is the health My God that hath me saved The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ The love of God the Father And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit To be with you all now and forevermore Amen