[0:00] We're going to begin our service today singing to God's praise from Psalm 45. Psalm 45, the second version of the psalm.
[0:17] We're going to be looking at words from the psalm today. My heart in dieting is, good matter in a song, I speak the things that I have made which to the king belong.
[0:33] My tongue shall be as quick, and it is honour to indict, as is the pen of any scribe that useth fast to write.
[0:44] Thou art fairest of all men, grace in thy lips doth flow, and therefore blessings evermore on thee doth God bestow. Thy sword gird on thy thigh, thou that art most of might, appear in dreadful majesty and in thy glory bright.
[1:03] For meekness, truth, and right, ride prosperously in state, and thy right hand shall teach to thee things terrible and great. Thy shafts shall pierce their hearts, that force are to the king, whereby into subjection the people thou shalt bring.
[1:25] Let us sing these verses of Psalm 45, the second version of the psalm, to God's praise, My heart in dieting is, good matter in a song.
[1:38] My heart in dieting is, good matter in a song.
[1:58] I see the things that are not in a song. Which to the king belong?
[2:16] My tongue shall be a sway, Is on our children's night, As is the pen of every sky, The Jesus' path to rise, The earth's finished all, And heaven's set in thy way, In the past few years, Your grace and life in the Lord, Someone who has aabisd epirem,
[3:19] God of which hathom, God of the glory, And the ground, durch d und for majesty and if thy glory provide for me in death's truth and right like most cross me in fear and thy right heart is to thee things share the language thy shouts of years and hearts that forms are to the king whereby into some temptation the people who shall bring let's join together in prayer let's pray
[5:42] Lord oh God we give thanks that we can praise your name even in the midst of a world that is so careless and indifferent to the existence of God and lacking in any desire to come to you with praise or thanksgiving even for the many many good gifts that you present to us and deserve it as we are of the least of them we marvel at your forbearance and your long suffering your goodness and your kindness and your grace the many evidences that we have of our God who is personified in the many things that we enjoy in this world when these things should rightly be taken from us help us to see you in the way in which you hold out your hand to us mercifully extending to us these things that we take for granted even the opportunity to gather as we are gathered today for a time we were denied access to the public gathering of your people even though we understand that your church is not a body that is contained within four walls that your church is made up of men and women of every age even stretching into all ages and that you have a people who are still to be born but in the eye of the the creator they are before you just as surely as the souls that occupy the space of time and beyond time into eternity you have a people that have entered into the possession of the many things that are held out to your people here in the world that they will enjoy without hindrance and that they will delight in without equal in the sense that the many pleasures that we are given in this world they are still limited we cannot deny that we take pleasure in many things in this world but they are fleeting pleasures and they are often die juchtet by reason of the sin that is in our heart and the world that lies in sin and we give thanks that when we think of the church that we can think of a body that cannot be measured that has
[9:28] Christ as its head and has the glory of God as its end so we do give thanks that we are once again able to reflect upon the things that we were denied and in denial that we understood something of the true genuine privilege that it is to meet together with like-minded men and women who belong to Christ who have been bought with a price who have experienced your grace in their heart who have been delivered from the darkness of sin and who have entered into the awesome wonder of salvation by hand of a redeemer we give thanks that there are many of that number that we will never know in this world and yet we have fellowship with them in the spirit and that there are men and women of all ages as we said who live throughout the world who would worship as we would worship in and through the passion of your son
[10:45] Jesus Christ by whom we have access into your presence so help us to delight in that even today as we reflect upon it remember the church militant remember each one who is called up in the vile enmity that is in the world against God and against your son we pray that you would help us to remember one another even as we pray at a throne of grace for the needs that are so obvious in this world there are many who do not enjoy the privileges that we enjoy freedom to worship as we would want to worship there are many who are hounded and who are the victims of gross atrocities because of their faith in Jesus Christ we remember them and pray for the persecuted church we pray for them wherever they are found in these nations that clamour for liberty to be afforded them to live as they would want to live and yet at the heart of their recent death is the suppression of freedom especially the freedom to honour
[12:16] God through Christ so we pray for these nations that are embroiled in all manner of destructive forces at what we think of Afghanistan which is clearly at the heart of the attention of the media at the present but there are many other parts of the world where there are ongoing strife there is ongoing strife there is suppression of the liberty of your people there is the wanton destruction of the lives of those who would own and honour Christ as Lord we pray that you would remember any who have suffered at the hands of those who would desire to do her to Christ through his people we pray Lord that you would magnify your name even in our nation which is supposedly laying claim to be a liberating force for so many peoples and yet at the very same time at the heart of that liberating agenda there is the suppression of truth and the denial of the true liberty as the gospel affords it for to speak of
[13:49] Christ and the truth of God is anathema to the very people who would claim it for themselves hear our prayers on behalf of the God of heaven that your name would be highlighted that your name would be broadcast that your name would be on the lips of many to the praise thereof help us oh Lord to that end remember your people make them a praying people make them a people who are intent upon the glory of Christ to be once again in vogue in our day and generation much more than it is at the present that you would direct us to the footstool of Christ even to the foot of the cross that we would see him in his glory and be driven by what we see even in the crowned head that is bowed as his nail pierced hands pour out his life's blood on behalf of his people we give thanks that he gave his life willingly that no one had the power to take it from him but that he expired that he gave up the ghost and that he even in that moment showed that it was a moment of victory that it was in his power to lay claim to the grave being put under his feet that all who were in him would not suffer eternal death but rise again triumphant to be with him throughout all ages of eternity hear our prayers on behalf of those who cannot or do not pray for themselves we pray for the afflicted amongst us we pray for those who are unwell we pray for those who are suffering from grievous illnesses within their homes perhaps some in hospitals some who have been committed to care homes or hospices we remember them to you and pray for healing thankful that you are the great healer the great physician of souls we pray that you would magnify your grace amongst us that we would see that you are never silent that you are always speaking to us even through the predicaments of life we pray that you would remember the grieving the sorrowful the broken hearted we ask that you would sanctify the visitation of death to us at all times that we would remember that we are but creatures of the dust our sojourn is a short one our pilgrimage is just that and soon for your people it will be arrival at the safe haven to which you are bringing to others it will be to a destiny that they would much rather avoid lord help us to recognize that you are at work through your word and that we would pay heed as you speak to us in it guide us in that truth we pray forgiving every sin remembering all that we leave in your hands today that your word would not fall to the ground without yielding the fruit that would be to your glory cleanse from every sin we pray in Jesus name amen
[17:33] I'm going to read from the Old Testament scriptures and the book of Psalms the book of Psalms and Psalm 45 Psalm 45 in the title to the Psalm it says to the chief musician upon Shoshanim for the sons of Korah Amashil a song of loves my heart is indicting a good martyr I speak of the things which I have made touching the king my tongue is the pen of a ready writer thou art fairer than the children of men grace is poured into thy lips therefore God hath blessed thee forever gird thy sword upon thy thigh most mighty with thy glory and thy majesty and in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies whereby the people fall under thee thy throne
[18:51] O God is forever and ever the scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter thou lovest righteousness and hate wickedness therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows all thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces whereby they have made thee glad king's daughters swear among thy honourable woman upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of offer hearken o daughter and consider and incline thine ear forget also thine own people and thy father's house so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty for he is thy lord and worship thou him and the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favour the king's daughter is all glorious within her clothing is of wrought gold she shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee with gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought they shall enter into the king's palace instead of thy father shall be thy children whom thou mayest be princess in all the earth
[20:30] I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations therefore shall the people praise thee forever and ever and the lord that his blessing to this reading of his word and to his name be the praise before we sing the next psalm just a word to the younger folk here I was thinking of how privileged we are as a generation to have access to many truths through the medium of our computers most of us were especially glad to have access through our computer during the lockdown situation that confronted us we were able to access many many sermons and material that we would not otherwise have had easy access to but the computer may be an easy access to many things and for example
[21:48] I often find myself thinking of something or wanting to find something out and it's the easiest shortcut that you can do you can google it and find out what google says on it and you can go to youtube and find something on youtube that might have something said by someone that may be of help the thing about that is that not everything that you hear or read online is true sometimes what you will come across may be helpful and beneficial and will be something that you can trust but not everything and I'm sure that is very obvious to any one of us who would be wanting to find accuracy before us
[22:49] I know that one colleague corrected me a number of months ago and I had written something about youtube but I misspelled it I put down instead of y or u I just put the letter u and he said to me you better not say that or they think you are a bottle and they are not far wrong I'm afraid and I'm not apace with a lot of what we read on there but I was reading on there something to do with gardening and one trick that was suggested was that if you want rid of weeds there one sure fire cure for your weeds is if you use ordinary household vinegar and rather than using the poisons that you would associate with the type of weed killers that are in current use this was the best way to do it you use ordinary household vinegar by use it with some water but then
[24:00] I write someone else someone saying don't do that because when you use vinegar what you're doing is adding some kind of acid to the soil and through time you're going to poison your soil so it just reminded me of how opinion matters and how we can often have opinion presented as fact and truth now the truth is all important again when it comes to the computer and online opinion many people look to the computer to find out the truth about covid and about cures for covid and the rights and wrongs of vaccination and then you'll find that those who support the concept of vaccination as a preventative for the generation suffering in the future there are others who are equally determined that we should not believe that it's an error it's it's an untruth no you're left pondering who's right and what's right but the thing is this that when we want truth it's not to compute it that we should go to find it it's not to google or youtube we have god's truth as the source of all truth within the scriptures of the old testament and if we don't begin there whatever we're going to think about there are many things you want to find out that may not be spoken of explicitly in the bible but if it is anything of worth if it is anything of import where we go is to the word of god and there we find the truth of god there we find someone who says about himself that he is the way the truth and the life and he tells us that if we want the way to god then it's to him that we have to go whatever opinion a person has about him is really secondhand what he says about himself is all important and he tells us that no man comes to the father but by him and that is because he is the truth that he speaks so when we think about the benefits of computers and all the devices that we have and all the things that the computer presents to us which are very helpful no doubt and as
[27:06] I said we owe a lot to these devices during the lean times when we weren't allowed access to the public means of grace meeting together as we do today yet we must always remember that every one of us has this opportunity this privilege this word in our own hands there shouldn't be a home there shouldn't be a soul there shouldn't be an individual who doesn't have access to God's word for themselves at any time and when they turn to it when we turn to it we turn to the word of truth the word of life the word which cannot but direct us to him to God even as Christ has promised it to do we must remember that whoever we are be young or old we're going to sing the words of psalm 145 another psalm that speaks of the same subject that we have in the psalm 45 psalm 145 and the second version of the psalm good unto all men is the
[28:28] Lord over all his works his measure is thy works all praise to thee afford thy saints O Lord thy name shall bless that the glory of thy kingdom show shall they and of thy power tell that so men sons may know his kingdom's grace that doth excel thy kingdom hath none end at all that earth of ages all remain the Lord upholdeth all that fall the cast down races up again the eyes of all things Lord attend and on thee wait that here do live and though in season do do send sufficient food then to leave may thou thine hand dost open wide and everything dost satisfy that lives and earth on earth abide of thy great liberality the Lord is just in his ways all and holy in his works each one he is near to all that on him call who call in truth on him alone let us sing these verses psalm 145 the second version of the psalm from verse 9 good unto all men is the
[29:47] Lord or all his works his measure is beauty all men is the Lord for all his works his mercy is thy works of grace through thee afford thy sins O Lord thy name shall bless the glory of thy kingdom show shall be all thy power tell that soul and sons this peace may know this kingdom grace that does excel thy thy kingdom have none end and all who doth through thee just all remain the
[31:37] Lord that upon earth all that fall the God can raise earth of the King the eyes of all things Lord attend attend a heavenly way a dear good lamb of love and season to just end sufficient through them to relieve yea yea though thine hand could open wide and everything could satisfy the the plisom dove on earth the light of thy glory and quality the
[33:19] Lord is just the Lord is just in his ways all and holy in his works each one he sneered to all that on him come to all him on him alone and let us turn for a short while to the old testament scriptures and the book of psalms 45 and read at the beginning of the psalm my heart is indicted a good matter
[34:29] I speak of the things which I have made touching the king my tongue is the pen of a ready writer thou art fairer than the children of men thou art fairer than the children of men a number of years ago when our denomination was debating the topic of worship and discussing the need for embracing a broader hymnology one of the arguments made for that was that what we had as an exclusive psalm singing church was a psalm of the psalm of the psalm of the psalm book that was designed for the
[35:42] Old Testament form of worship and that it didn't address a New Testament church and that the New Testament church wanted to sing about the Lord Jesus Christ and that the psalms didn't allow us to do that to such great effect that was just one argument and I'm not saying that that argument was presented in denial of a truth and that truth is that the psalms are devoid of mention of Christ but I don't think that justice is done to the amount of matter that there is in the psalms that has to do with the passion of the Lord
[36:47] Jesus I think it's something that we often are guilty of overlooking as if the psalms are something or a body of hymns that partially think of Christ and that there are psalms that we are that are persuaded that are messianic psalms that is that the main topic of the psalm is to speak of Christ and to speak of the Messiah but Christ himself is someone who who spoke of the scripture in its entirety as being a scripture that referred to him and spoke of him and there are times when he may generalize and speak of the scripture as being a word that speaks of him as being a word that speaks of him but there are times that he speaks of the scripture and particularly the psalms are speaking of him in Luke chapter 24 4
[38:00] Jesus said to those these are the words which I spoke to you while I was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me.
[38:20] So he is not making an argument that every psalm and every job and tittle of every psalm is speaking exclusively about him but he is quite content to identify the psalms as a means by which truth concerning him is communicated adequately to the hearing ear.
[38:48] Now this psalm, psalm 45 is a psalm which may not on the surface appear to us to speak about Christ. For some it is a love song and it is a love song composed by a king concerning his bride, the king being Solomon and the bride being the Shunemite.
[39:18] Or one such bride, the daughter of Pharaoh. Now, there is no question but that when the psalm was composed, it was composed under the direction of the Holy Spirit.
[39:35] And when the composer was composed and when the composer was talking truths about the relationship that existed between himself and his bride, his description was so elevated that it could not possibly be speaking about a mere mortal such as he was himself as a composer.
[40:02] He was someone who was someone who was under the direction of the Holy Spirit, enabled to gaze with all on the face of one of which the scripture says there is one here who is greater than Solomon.
[40:21] And John Calvin in his commentary writes, Under Solomon as a type, the union of Christ and the church is set forth, and the majesty, wealth and extent of his kingdom is described.
[40:40] The faithful are taught that there is no greater blessedness than to be subjects under Christ's government. That succinctly places the opinion of many reformed commentators about the words of this psalm, that they are words that speak of Christ by way of time, directing the attention and the affection of those who read it to Christ.
[41:14] Because what it says of Christ, because what it says of Christ cannot be said really by any person other than him. So bearing that in mind, I want us to think today very briefly of three things that this verse says to us about Christ.
[41:33] First of all, it reminds us of his loveliness. Secondly, it reminds us of his word, his speech.
[41:47] And thirdly, it reminds us of his blessedness in the eyes of his God. His loveliness, his speech and his blessedness.
[42:01] Have you ever made a declaration of love concerning Christ?
[42:13] The Lord's people should have at some point made some kind of declaration concerning him. Not only do they understand from his word that he loves them, but they most surely have reciprocated that love and declared it to him.
[42:42] There is no question but that they may at some point in their life be convinced of their love for him.
[42:52] But they will have constant embarrassment about how inadequate their love is in comparison with his love for them.
[43:06] Now, when we use such language, I was reading recently of someone who said, we're talking about a preacher.
[43:20] And it was said of this preacher that he constantly, almost daily, every opportunity that he preached, he preached Christ.
[43:33] He preached about his work, he preached about his life, he preached about his death, he preached about his person, all the aspects that he could possibly discover from the word he spoke about.
[43:49] And it was said of him, the Lord's people who heard and preached, delighted in his preaching.
[44:01] But the remarkable thing was this, that those who held and preached so faithfully and so constantly about Christ, that those who did not love Christ, tired of hearing what this man had to say about Christ.
[44:23] Now, you know, for somebody who made a profession of loving Christ, that seems to me to be incredible.
[44:35] That anybody could tire of the Christ that I profess to love. And that some of you, and that some of you profess to love.
[44:48] It might, I hope, it does seem incredible to you if you're a Christian, that there are those who are not Christians and that they so soon tire of hearing about that Christ.
[45:03] Now, if that is the case, that at least should make you ask the question, why is that so?
[45:14] What is it about this Christ? And what is it about me that makes me tired of hearing about him? What is it about me that makes me feel that I've heard all I want to hear about him?
[45:31] Can we not try something else? Can we not hear something different? Can we not listen to some other word that may be of interest?
[45:44] Well, you can answer why such a feeling would be in your heart. But look at the loveliness of Christ.
[45:54] Where do we see it? Where do we see the loveliness of Christ? I know and I have met people that have said that they have seen Christ.
[46:08] That they have seen Christ. Physically. That they saw Christ. Now, what they saw, I'm not very sure.
[46:19] But nobody, but nobody would dissuade them that the Christ that they saw was nothing other than the real Christ.
[46:30] The Christ of the scripture. Now, the scripture doesn't tell us that you and I can see Christ physically today.
[46:43] Because the scripture tells us that those who saw Christ physically were those who were on the earth with him. The disciples, for example.
[46:54] The disciples were with him for part of his ministry. If not all of it. There were those of his family, those who grew up around him.
[47:05] They saw the physical Christ. And some of them, the Christ that they saw, did absolutely nothing for them. Even for some of the disciples, the Christ that they saw was nothing to write home about as far as his physical passion was concerned.
[47:27] And even after his death, when he rose from the dead, we are told that some of the church got to see him. That the disciples, all 11 of them, saw him after his death.
[47:42] The physical Christ. The risen Christ. Now, there's a lot of different discussion about what kind of body did Christ have after the resurrection.
[47:55] Was there changes in that body? What was the post-resurrection body of Christ like? But whatever it was like, it was like what he was like before he died on the cross.
[48:07] It was recognisably Christ. Not one of them who saw him thought that he was anything other than who he said he was. They sat with him.
[48:19] They ate with him. He spoke to them. And they recognised him to be who he was. Thomas didn't believe, but he met with them and he knew who he was.
[48:30] The two who were on the road to Emmaus walked with them on the road to Emmaus and they knew who he was. But he went to glory. He went to heaven.
[48:40] He's now at the right hand of God. He is no longer in this world except by his spirit. So where we see Christ is in his word.
[48:52] And what we see in his word enables us to say what the psalmist says, thou art fairer than the children of men.
[49:03] When we see him, we don't need to see his face physically. We don't need to be face to face with him in person to recognise this truth concerning Christ.
[49:18] But those who have met with Christ through his word, through the experience of the spirit directing their hearts to who he is, their words will be the words of the psalmist.
[49:33] You far excel the best of men. You are more excellent than the most excellent of men. It's not a physical beauty alone, even though that might be possible.
[49:48] It's not even a moral perfection, but a universal, comprehensive, all-encompassing vision of purity and holiness and all the attributes that are elevated within God's word, brought together in the one, and you enable to glimpse them and see him for what he is.
[50:11] And when you do, you are able to say, there's nobody quite like this Christ. When Solomon composed the song, he speaks there in terms of loving endearment.
[50:30] He says of the affection that was in the heart of one there who saw Christ, that, you know, the words seem so simple.
[50:43] You are fair, he says. You are fair. But the church of Christ, the body of believers, the single sinner who is converted, who sees Christ in his word and whose heart is warmed by what they see, there is no question but that what they see is something that stimulates in their heart the desire to speak of him as they speak of no other.
[51:18] He is seen in his perfect love. He is seen in all the divine attributes that are channeled through his humanity.
[51:33] It is said of, and this is something, maybe you can understand it, it is said of some preachers of a bygone age that the more they saw of Christ the less they thought of themselves.
[51:55] If you read some of the sermons and some of the writings of Samuel Rutherford or Robert Murray MacJane, ones who spent so much time speaking about Christ, but at the same time they saw him, they saw them as vile, sinful creatures.
[52:23] One of the preachers who was renowned for his preaching of Christ, it is said of him that he often found himself as he prepared his services, rolling around on the carpet of his study, bewailing the darkness of his own heart.
[52:51] It wasn't that he was focusing on his own heart, but that he was focusing on Christ. And the more he glimpsed of Christ, the more he glimpsed of his own natural wickedness and sinfulness.
[53:05] Some of you who are Christians will have read the works of Samuel Rutherford. And I took a note of one of the letters that he wrote.
[53:20] And if you ever have the opportunity to read, people don't read much today. And perhaps the words of Rutherford are an alien land for many.
[53:34] But one of the letters, just a part of it, to find out what a person who thinks of Christ would say about that Christ. What, he says, would I not give to have time that lies between Christ and me taken out of the way that we might once meet?
[53:59] I cannot think, but at the first sight I shall see of that most lovely and fairest face love shall come out of his two eyes and fill me with astonishment.
[54:14] I would but desire to stand at the other side of the gates of the new Jerusalem and look through a hole of the door and see Christ's face.
[54:27] A borrowed vision in this life would be my borrowed and begun heaven while the long, long look for day dawn.
[54:38] These words are remarkable words. His gatherings of letters written to fellow believers, some going through turmoil, some going through grief and sadness, and the best he can do for them is make them think for a time about this Christ that he loves so much that he may kindle in their heart love for this Christ that they might see someone who is fairer than the children of men.
[55:14] The Lord's people can only in a measure and for a time see this Christ for themselves.
[55:27] That's what I think anyway. I don't think that we can live in this world and have a perfect vision of Christ with us all the time so that our heart is filled with him because there are so many other things in this world that distract us and call us and hold out to us this beauty and that beauty and say, well, why not consider this for a while?
[55:54] But all these beauties are fading beauties whereas the beauty of Christ is ongoing it never fades.
[56:07] The second thing this verse speaks about is his words his speech grace he says is poured into thy lips if anything distinguishes Christ from the descendants of Adam it is his word even his enemies were forced to acknowledge that there was never anyone who spoke like him and we see him in his word in a way that we don't see him anywhere else because his word is who he is and when we read his word we see him it's as if God has given us this opportunity to glimpse who Christ is through the word that we read again in the Song of Solomon we read there about Christ and the writer says my beloved spoke and it's as if that itself is saying to us well when he spoke
[57:13] I was gripped by what he was saying I don't know what he was going to say but the moment I knew that he was speaking I knew that what he had to say was worth hearing my love my fair one he said and he recognises this one through his word and he understands that what he says is worth listening to I've been told that I have a voice that's recognisable to son in certain areas certain contexts but those who know you recognise your voice even from a distance even sheep recognise the voice of the shepherd if you have a pet they'll pick out your voice out of hundreds because they're attuned to it the Christian believer is attuned to the voice of Christ in a way that they are attuned to know their voice and when they discern his voice their ears shall pick to listen to what he has to say because he has spoken to us before he has spoken to us when he called us to himself he has spoken to us when he has challenged us concerning our state as sinners he has spoken to us and we recognised what was in his voice as a voice that needed to be heeded and responded to earnestly and with haste it means so much to us when Christ speaks to us you know we read the word and many of us read the word and our prayer is which is strange is it not our prayer is that we would hear his voice as we read his word how can that be when his word is truth we already said that when we spoke to the young one the word of
[59:23] God is truth the word of God is Christ speaking to us and yet we read the word and we crave to hear his voice as we read his word we want something to happen we want him to speak audibly into our situations into our griefs our sorrows our perplexities our challenges in this world we want Christ to speak to us so that we know that it is his voice that we are hearing and that's what makes all the difference to us if you're an unbeliever today you're saying to Christ you speak to me so that I know that it's you that's speaking to me speak to me so that my unbelief will vanish speak to me so that my listening to this world does not take precedence oh the believer delights in what Christ has to say to them because at critical points in their life this was the word that became everything to them
[60:30] Calvin calls this the grace of certainty the grace of certainty arising out of oratory the oratory gift that Christ has and I'm sure that every one of us has understood the power of oration the power of speech the power of the gift of the person who's a political animal who speaks before a crowd and he carries the people along by use of words and language he speaks to the emotions he speaks to the intellect he speaks to the situation that you are in but none spoke quite like Christ because the orator gifted as they may be with the use of language they can only look at the externals they have not the gift to delve into the heart of man who knows what is going on in your heart and when
[61:35] Christ speaks to you he speaks to your heart he speaks to you as someone who recognizes where you're at on Thursday evening I mentioned I was listening to someone who was converted during the revival in the 50s and she recounted her experience and part of her experience was the word of God coming to her where she was at personally speaking into her very being as it were and none but God could know where she was at or what was going on in her heart at that moment but when the word of God from the mouth of Christ is speaking to you as he has spoken to many of you that's what's true the spirit as Paul said enlightens the mind it brings light into the depth of one's being and that's from the birth of
[62:50] Christ grace is poured into their lips there's a certain inadequacy of that it doesn't describe to us the profusion it doesn't describe to us the the quality of what is contained within the word of God finally we know this that the God we are told of here who is the father of Christ he sees his son as most blessed therefore God has blessed thee forever because of who he is because of what he is because of what he has done blessedness there's not just the blessedness of the divine relationship that exists between father son and holy spirit but the blessedness that accrues to him as the redeemer of the lost the willing and obedient servant who came into the world to do the bidding of God for the salvation of sinners and God blesses him in the path of obedience we know from the scriptures that when
[64:21] Christ was in the world he was despised and rejected of men he was not esteemed by men he was the object of ridicule he was someone who in the eyes of the world was someone that should be shunned and yet God blessed him and God made him a blessing Christ today in the words of one he is the centre of heaven's glory he is at the centre of heaven's glory and he is the focus of heaven's worship you remember that because to this day if you are a Christian you are ridiculed in the same way
[65:24] Christ was ridiculed if you are a Christian believer you are exposed to the world's arrows who think of you little more than they thought of Christ they reject you because they rejected him but do not be deluded by what the world think of you or what the world think of Christ because in the eyes of God he was blessed God has blessed him not just blessed him then but blessed him forever and ever if you want to choose someone to describe to you the beauty of Christ the beauty of creation the beauty of this world who would you choose to describe that to you would you take someone who has no sight and say to the sightless show me the glory of this world as
[66:38] I created entity would you say to someone who has no sight here is my bride describe her to me no you wouldn't why would you listen to the description of the world who are sightless and not listen to the word of God which says to you that here we have someone who is altogether lovely here we have someone who is blessed of God not just for time but for eternity we're going to shortly sing the words that describe to us the enduring nature of the reign of Christ when we sing these words you think about them because it tells you it reminds you it encourages you to dwell upon the things that God's words say to us is true of this Christ
[67:39] I want you to think of the one of whom these words speak how many sermons would I have to preach on Christ before you get tired of Christ are you tired of hearing about him already have you heard enough about him already change change the record change the record that's the way many are by nature that's the way many are because in him there is no beauty but for the believer there is no beauty quite like it what must it take for there to be a transition from one place to the other let me tell you that there must be you cannot live your life in this world and see
[68:49] Christ as a root out of a dry ground and expect at the end of your days to go to a place where he is all the glory to go to a place where in Emmanuel's land all his people are there caught up in eternal admiration of who he is if you're out of step here you should be out of step here of course there's more to it than that but think of it think of what it means to be one of Christ's in love with him and deciding to know more of him may bless those thoughts let us pray most measureful God may we see your face as we are enabled to see it in your word spirit to to birds hear these verses on tops of mountains high.
[71:18] Of corn and hands glow in the air, on tops of mountains high.
[71:36] With frosted blue shall shake like trees on Lebanon the feet.
[71:55] The city shall be furnishing our citizens abide.
[72:14] In number shall lie to the God that grows upon the ground.
[72:33] His name forever shall endure. Last life of sun it shall heaven death.
[72:52] O ho say the last Blessed be the Lord, the God, the God of Israel.
[73:30] For He alone, the wondrous world, in glory that they shall.
[73:50] And blessed be His glorious name, through all eternity.
[74:08] The whole earth, when His glory fell, Amen.
[74:24] So let it be. Amen.