[0:00] Welcome to our service this evening and as we come together to worship God we pray his blessing on his word to us.
[0:14] We shall begin singing to God's praise the 23rd Psalm, Psalm 23. We are going to sing the whole psalm.
[0:26] The Lord's my shepherd I'll not want, he makes me down to lie. In pasture screen he leadeth me the quiet waters by.
[0:38] My soul he does restore again and me to walk doth make. Within the paths of righteousness even for his own name's sake. Yea though I walk in death's dark veil, yet will I fear none ill.
[0:52] For thou art with me and thy rod and staff me comfort still. My table thou hast furnished in presence of my foes. My head thou dost with oil anoint and my cup overflows.
[1:07] Goodness and mercy all my life shall surely follow me. And in God's house forevermore my dwelling place shall be. Psalm 23 to God's praise.
[1:21] The Lord's my shepherd I'll not want, he makes me down to lie. The Lord's my shepherd I'll not want, he makes me down to lie.
[1:46] Then I shall sing the whole psalm. The Lord's my shepherd I'll not want, he makes me down to lie. The Lord's my shepherd I'll not want, he makes me down to lie.
[1:59] The Lord's my shepherd I'll not want, he makes me down to lie. My soul he does restore again and me to walk doth make.
[2:18] His advice.
[2:37] O my hope, in a gesture, I will, yet you will, I will fear not live.
[2:52] For thou art with me on thy rod, I will, yet you will, My typical love was furnished In the presence of my voice, My head the dust with light Anoint on the mic of all the rose.
[3:42] Goodness and mercy All my life Shall surely follow me And in the touch For evermore My dwelling in place shall be Just join together in prayer Let us pray O Lord, O God, as we gather in your name At this evening hour of worship We pray that you would bless us together As we call upon your name In prayer As we sing your praises
[4:44] As we read your word And as we look To your own And to be upon us As that word is Contemplated With your help We seek, Lord, your blessing upon This day that bears your name A day that is appointed As a day of rest A day where we can Legitimately Go apart from The Endeavours of Each day And Come to be with Our God in worship We give thanks That we have the example Of your own Beloved son Who Oftentimes Not only Did he observe
[5:44] The Lord's day As the Sabbath of the Lord But he also took opportunity To go aside And to spend time With you In worship In praise In prayer And wrestled Even as we Are encouraged To wrestle For His own Activities And the activities Of The church Of which he was head We are given Encouragement Through his example That he is the great Intercessor Of his people And that he Diligently Applied Himself To that role Even in the Time that Was appointed To him For His earthly Activities And now we
[6:45] Believe On going Even at the Right hand Of the majesty On high He donned The Priestly garb Of the great High priest And he did not Divest himself Off it And we have The example Of the old Testament Where we Understand that When the high priest Came to offer Sacrifice He Divested himself Of the Priestly garb Of That was Multicolored And instead He He wore The plain Linen Garb That was His to wear Inside The Temple As he Engaged in The various Activities
[7:45] That were His In the Offering Of sacrifice Upon that Sacrifice Being offered Upon this Blood Being shed The high priest Would emerge And he Would At some Point Clothe himself Again with The multitude Garment Upon which Were the Bells And pomegranates Whose motion Signified That the Sacrifice Offered Was accepted We Acknowledge That you Accepted The sacrifice Offered By the Great high Priest And you Signified that Through the Rising From the Dead Of the Son of Man Whose Ascension To your Right hand Signifies to Us that He is There To do Business For us
[8:45] And we Give thanks That in our Meager Endeavour To Petition The God Of heaven That is One who Joins With us Who Goes before Us Who fills Our mouth Even And we Marble At the Way In which That sometimes Takes place We We can Come to This place We can Prepare And we Ought to Prepare For What it Is that Is right For us To To pray For But Our first Prayer is For you To fill Our mouths That what We seek Would be To your Glory So help Us by Filling our Mouth With The Right Words That we Should Solicit Your help In appropriate Ways To the Needs of Those who Are gathered With us And
[9:46] Many others Who are not Here For whom We pray And On whose Behalf We would Desire Your own Blessing In particular Those of Your own People who Would want To be Here Who do Not need To tell Us Because We know From their Very Life That this Is the Place That was Special to Them They Joyed When to The house Of God They went Their Heart Rejoiced At being Found With the Lord's People In Worship We give Thanks for The pleasure It gave To them And for The way In which It filled Their life In so Many different Ways Flooding out Flowing out To Expression In the way That they Carried
[10:46] Themselves In the Community And within Various ways In which They were Able to Witness to The truth Of a Living Saviour A Saviour Who became Everything To them We pray For every One of Them That are Still In this World And who Are in Need of Being Remembered Some Who are Confined To their Homes Through the Frailty Of old Age Some Because of Various Forms Of Decrepitude That Deters From Coming Some Confined To Hospital Beds Or Care Homes Overtaken By the Passage Of Time And the Various Ways In which It impacts Upon us We pray For grace To be Imparted To them They may Know that They are Contained Within the Prayers Of the Lord's People That in
[11:47] A meaningful Way That they Would be Lifted up Through The Ministration Of your Spirit We pray Lord that You would Remember All such Visit The sick Hail Them We ask And bind Up the Wounds Of the Afflicted Whether Their Afflictions Are Body Bodily Or Mentally Or Even Spiritually We give Thanks That you Know all Our Needs We Remember Those who Are Grieving And Sorrowful You Have Visited Us In Recent Days As a Community As a Congregation And We Pray Lord That you Would Bless The Voice Of Death To Us That we Would Heed It And Understand That it Is Speaking To Us Where We Are That our Journey In This World Cannot Be Truly Thought Of Us Having A Duration Over Which We Have No Control
[12:47] Some May Think That Their Days Are Very Quickly Being Exhausted And They Arrive At Such A Decision Or A Conclusion Based Upon The Passage Of Time And The Way It Has Impacted Upon Them And Yet There May Be Many Others Whose Years Are Far Few Far Less Than These Many Years Of Others And Yet Their Hourglass May Well Be May Be Far Spent These Things Are Hidden From Us So It Is Wisdom For Every One Of Us To Spend Our Time Wisely And To Avail Ourselves Of The Day Of Opportunity Grant Grace To Us That Would Be Whatever We Are Whether You Are Your People Or Yet To Be Numbered
[13:47] Amongst Them That We That We That We Would Use To Us Wisely That You Would Benefit Us Through That Thinking Of Of Of Of The Opportunities That You Give To Us As Opportunities That You Would Open The Eyes Of Our Understanding To That End Remember Us As Homes As Families Remember Us As An Island Nation And As Nation Among Nations We Pray Lord For Governments Our Own Whether It Be In Westminster And Holyrood And Those Who Govern Us Locally We Pray For Remember The Queen We Pray For In Her Old Age Thankful For Any Evidence That There Is Of Our Saving Interest In Christ May That Be Genuine She Has Achieved
[14:49] Many Years In The World She Has Seen Much And You Have Granted Many Blessings To Her Not Just Materially But Also Spiritual Blessings May They Truly Be Fruitful In Her Experience To The Yielding Of The Salvation Of Her Soul Remember Her Family May They Too Come To A Knowledge Of Christ May They Know That There Is The King Of Kings Before Whom All Must Bow The Throne Of Heaven Is Far Loftier Than Any Throne That Is In This World However Bejeweled It May Be Whatever History It May Have This World's Kingdoms Have Come And Have Gone But The Kingdom Of Kingdom Of Christ Is Without End We Remind Us Of The Bounty That You Have To Share With All Who Would Partake
[15:49] Of It May We Petition The Heavens That You May Pour Out Your Blessing Upon Us May We Be Sealous In Desiring The Souls Of Others That Christ May See Of The Travel Of His Soul And Be Satisfied Hear Us And Pardon Us Cleansing From Sin In Jesus The Redeemer's Name We Ask It Amen We're Going To Hear The Word Of God As We Have It In The Old Testament Scriptures The Old Testament Scriptures The Book Of The Prophet Zechariah And We Shall Read Chapter Thirteen Book Of The Prophet Zechariah Chapter Thirteen We'll Read The Whole Chapter In That Day There Shall Be A Fountain Open To The House Of David And
[16:49] To The Inhabitants Of Jerusalem For Sin And For Uncleanness And It Shall Come To Pass In That Day Says The Lord Of Host That I Will Cut Off The Names Of The Idols Out Of The Land And They Shall No More Be Remembered And Also I Will Cause The Prophets And The Unclean Spirit To Pass Out Of The Land And It Shall Come To Pass That When Any Shall Yet Prophesy Then His Father And His Mother That Begaten Shall Say Unto Thou Shalt Not Live For Thou Speakest Lies In The Name Of The Lord And His Father And His Mother That Begat Him Shall Thrust Him Through When He Prophesieth And It Shall Come To Pass In That Day That The Prophets Shall Be Ashamed Every One Of His Vision When He Hath Prophesied Neither Shall They Wear A Rough Garment To Deceive But He Shall Say I
[17:50] Am No Prophet I Am An Husband Man For A Man Taught Me To Keep Cartel From My Youth And One Shall Say Unto Him What Are These Wounds In Thine Hands Then He Shall Answer Those With Which I Was Wounded In The House Of My Friends Away Go Sword Against My Shepherd And Against The Man That Is My Fellow Sait The Lord Of Hosts Smite The Shepherd And The Sheep Shall Be Scattered And I Will Turn Mine Hand Upon The Little Ones And It Shall Come To Pass That In All The Man Sait The Lord Two Parts Therein Shall Be Cut Off And Die But The Third Shall Be Left Therein And I Will Bring The Third Part Through The Fire And Will Refine Them As Silver Is Refined And Will Try Them As Gold Is Tried They Shall Call On My Name And I Will Hear Them I Will Say It
[18:50] Is My People And They Shall Say The Lord Is My God Amen And May The Lord At His Blessing To This Reading Of His Word And To His Name Be The Praise We're Going To Sing Now From Psalm 80 Psalm 80 From The Beginning Of The Psalm Here Israel's Shepherd Like A Flock Thou That Does Joseph Guide Shine Forth Thou O Thou That Does Between The Jerubim Abide In Ephraim's And Benjamins And In Manasseh's Sight O Come For Our Salvation Stir Up Thy Strength And Might Turn Us Again O Lord Our God And Upon Us Vouch Save To Make Thy Countenance To Shine And So We Shall Be Safe O Lord Of Hosts Almighty God How Long Shall Kindle Be Thy Wrath Against The Prayer Made By
[19:50] Thine Own Folk To Thee Thou Tears Of Sorrow Gives To Them Instead Of Bread To Eat Thee Tears Instead Of Drink Thou Gives To Them Down Of Thing Thou Thou Thusliche Thou so we shall be safe.
[20:21] A vine from Egypt brought thou hast, by thine outstretched hand, and thou the heathen outed cast to plant it in their land.
[20:32] We're going to sing from the beginning of the psalm to verses 1 to 6. Here is his shepherd, like a flock, thou that dost Joseph guide.
[20:49] To this little shepherd, like a flock, thou that dost choose again, shine forth all the lightest between, the cherubim sabay.
[21:23] In the france and then human beings, and in the land of the side, O come, fire salvation, stir up thy strength and might.
[21:55] Turn us again, O Lord your God, and thou art us much safe.
[22:11] O Lord your God, and thou art us all. And thou art us all.
[22:22] And thou art us all. O Lord your God, and thou art us all.
[22:35] Almighty God, how long shall it kingdom be? Thy love, thy love against the fear, and may I lie nor hold to thee.
[22:59] Thy love, the Lord your God, and may I lie nor do you, through the Lord your God, and may I lie nor do you, and may I lie nor do you.
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[23:36] And our good lives hale s byérience as her.* oficho's bride divine our enemies among themselves a question of the life like us to turn now for a short while to the passage that we read together the Old Testament book of the prophet Zechariah reading again chapter 13 and at verse 7 Zechariah chapter 13 at verse 7 Awake O sword against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow saith the Lord of hosts smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones the prolific writer and preacher
[24:58] John Blanchard who passed away this year already he has written many books and many books of a popular nature and very readable books that are very helpful to Christians and to non-Christians alike if they're interested in reading books to do with the scripture he's written a small book on the minor prophets and in that book he analyzes the content of the various prophets that bear the name the minor prophets and he identifies five features that are repeated in each one of these books he sees the sovereignty of God God's judgment upon sin he sees the amazing love of God and he sees the need that there is for the sinner to get right with God and finally the feature that we're interested in
[26:15] I suppose tonight the coming Messiah each one of these prophecies at some point they make reference to the Lord Jesus Christ as the future king the one who is going to come as God's anointed now in Zechariah we may find all of these things but the verse that we're looking at this evening clearly describes to us Messiah in terms of the work that he is engaged in doing I'd like us to look at these words and just very simply just consider the meaning of them and I'm sure in many respects what is meant by the prophet is reasonably easily understood but in other ways there may be aspects to what he is saying that is not necessarily as easily followed because if you are someone who's interested in the theology of the scriptures and you read theologians you'll find that they're not necessarily in agreement in the interpretation of some of what these prophets write but we can ask very simple questions to just try and take with us something of what is meant by these words first of all we can confidently assert that these words of the text apply to the passion of the
[28:00] Lord Jesus we can do so on the basis of scripture itself so that's the first starting point when we read these words and they're very dramatic words we need to understand that there is a very plain truth at the heart of what is said secondly there is a question I suppose that can be asked and answered again straightforwardly who is saying these words awake o sword we're told who that is but then it follows what exactly is he saying when he says awake o sword thirdly we can ask who is he speaking about if we believe that these words are to be understood as applied to the passion of the
[29:08] Lord Jesus Christ the who is an expansion of that thought because it is Christ in a very peculiar specific way he is speaking of the sword being awoken and smiting this passion and why would the passion who is calling for the sword to smite the passion who is spoken of here why does this why is it to be understood like that it seems quite strange to us surely when we read these words and we say at one level we're saying the passion of whom it speaks is Christ that the person who is being spoken of is the Lord who is wanting the sword to smite the shepherd who is Christ that seems quite you know that's something that you would not expect so it has to be explained in some way and finally there is the consequences that are following on from this once this happens once the shepherd is smitten we are told that the sheep will be scattered and so on so very simple questions
[30:39] I hope they're simple I hope they're easily more easily understood when we unpack them a wee bit now why do we know or how do we know that the person who is at the heart of this rest is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ I suppose if we have any knowledge of the scripture it would be relatively easy for us to arrive at that conclusion because if we believe from the passage that is here from the context from the prophecy of Zechariah that he is someone who is looking forward with anticipation to the coming of Messiah and to the salvation of God's people through his offices so it's not difficult for us just by looking at these words of prophecy to believe that he is more than likely speaking of this person but there's a more certain way of doing that we know from scripture itself that scripture helps us understand scripture that when the scripture says something that very often there is an explanation of that scripture either within that context or with regard to prophecy the best explanation of it is when we are told that this is a prophecy that is being fulfilled that God often tells us that what we are witnessing in the word of
[32:20] God is prophecy being fulfilled let me give you a couple of examples from Matthew's gospel and then the key text if you like that makes us confident that this word that we are reading here applies to the passion of Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 14 we read there that it might be fulfilled what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet the land of Sabulon and the land of Naphtalem by the way of the sea beyond Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles the people which sat in darkness saw great light and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up now that is a prophecy as we read it from Isaiah and it is referred to as it sees or is witness to the ministry of the
[33:25] Lord Jesus Christ commencing amongst them so scripture foretells the activity of Christ scripture then identifies the fulfillment of that prophecy when it actually becomes fulfilled it says this is what you see this is how it is to be understood then again in Matthew 5 verse 17 Jesus says think not that I am come to destroy the law of the prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfill Jesus in his own ministry alerts those who are under his teaching to the fact that they are not only able to hear something from his mouth but that what he says to them is very often to be seen and understood as him fulfilling what God has already said he would come to do but then we have the final part of this jigsaw if you like the certainty with which we can look at this version understand what he is saying when
[34:36] Jesus Christ himself says these words apply to me in Matthew 26 and verse 31 then said Jesus unto them all ye shall be offended because of me this night for it is written I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad again but after I am risen again I will go before you to Galilee so Jesus there quite clearly identifies this passage he says what the passage is then he says this is how this passage is going to be fulfilled and it is fulfilled in the experience that is his particularly prior to his crucifixion he tells the disciples they're all going to take their leave of him they're going to scatter they're going to run away at that time you know that
[35:46] Peter says I will never do this but Christ is saying this is the fulfillment of scripture I'm talking about and you're not going to undermine what scripture says although the court does not speak specifically or especially of his death it is implied there can't be a rising there can't be a resurrection without a death and it is implied it cannot and almost goes without saying that Jesus knew that he had to die and very often we find him explaining that fact to the disciples even though they are reluctant to accept what he has to say they struggled to understand the significance of what he taught and that to us seems so remarkable because with the benefit of hindsight we are so clever we find it so difficult to put ourselves into the shoes of the disciples who were looking face to face with
[36:53] Christ and they did not expect that that relationship would be terminated by death his death anyway but that is what Jesus taught so that's the first thing we know that this passage very simply is speaking about the Lord Jesus Jesus himself says these words they apply to me so the second thing which we can think about is how or in what sense are the words of this passage applicable to the Lord Jesus the one who is saying awake is we are told the Lord of hosts and he seems to be speaking to the sword and saying to the sword awake and smite the shepherd now that is something that is difficult for us to understand at a human level how can the
[37:56] Lord of hosts be saying to this one who has identified himself as the shepherd of which the passage speaks how can God be saying to God the son that he is going to be smitten by the sword of whatever the sword is and that's I suppose an inevitable source of questioning for us what is the sword why is it why is he saying to the sword smack the shepherd well the answer I suppose is reasonably easy for us to come to terms with in the light of what the gospel teaches the sword we often come across in the scripture is identified as a sword of God's retribution it's a sword of justice a sword of righteousness that
[38:58] God yields to punish usually his enemies but that doesn't explain to us why God would speak of the sword of his righteousness and say to the sword of his righteousness awake and smite the shepherd I suppose there is a need for caution in the way that we interpret these words Dr.
[39:28] Kennedy Fringwell when he is talking of this passage he wants the reader to be guarded in the way that he understands how the smiting of the shepherd actually takes place and he makes a simple point which is usually when the judge carries out when the judge comes to a conclusion and he sentences the person who is accused it is not the judge that carries out the sentence somebody else is responsible for doing that in other words the judge is not usually the executioner humanly speaking is what he is saying and even though this is the argument of
[40:30] Dr. Kennedy he says even though he says awake and smite he is not the one who will do the smiting and this is what he says even among men the judge never executes the sentence it may be more according to truth to regard the arch criminal Satan as the executioner because although he who has the power of death is allowed to act he has no commission from heaven for the work in which he is engaged and is earning death in common with all the slaves who serve unto him while he inflicts the sentence of death on others others what he is saying is the person who will carry out this sentence is not God even though it's God who has sentenced the shepherd and there is this sort of tension between what we read in the gospels and in the interpretation of the gospels by the apostle
[41:41] Paul when he tells the church that there were evil men who were responsible for the crucifixion of Christ and there are a whole host of individuals who can identify who are instrumental in bringing Christ to the cross and creating causing his death those who put nails in his hands and his feet those who pierced his side those who put the thorns upon his head Pilate who was responsible for putting the sentence upon him the Roman soldiers who were responsible for executing the sentence and so on and behind it all is the initiator the arch enemy as Kennedy calls him the devil but the thing for us is this he is saying await oh sword because he is the one who is responsible in the sense of bringing to fruition that which is necessary for the salvation of sinners he is the one who is outworking his own word in its honest application for the salvation of lost souls it is awake not because of the fact that the sword is physically slumbering but because of this in the sense that it was not until the day appointed that Christ could die not before and not after in the fullness of
[43:34] God's time Christ came to do the will of God in the fullness of time all the orchestrated powers of hell gathered together to couldn't to death but not before and until that point the sword could effectively be said to be asleep until the appointed time he nor anyone else could not do anything except what God had commanded and where and how or even by what hand that would carry the blame is all kept under God's power the sheep deserved as we understand it God's judgment Christ the shepherd took the place of the sheep the commentator
[44:38] T.V. Moore makes a very good point he says this it was as if sin was so dreadful and evil that the assumption of its guilt by a sinless mediator must for a time make a division even in the absolute unity of the Godhead itself it is the most awful illustration of the repulsive and separating power of sin that the history of the universe affords that's a very telling statement the awfulness of sin required the execution of the sentence albeit by the hands of those who were willing to do it Christ was treated as if he was sin itself and those who took their hand in that were delighted to do so Samuel
[45:39] Rutherford writes the sword behoved to sleep till the term day came and then the sword awaked against him for God would not want payment one hour before the time but when the hour came he was glad of the day and willing to pay the debt and had the sum ready it's a mystery but this is what the scripture tells us concerning Christ that this is how it would be now here we have an answer to the question who is the smitten one it is not just the shepherd but my shepherd the man that is my fellow the one as some would have it who stands next to me this is the one that God in his goodness might if you can call it that and what else can you call it it is out of his grace out of his mercy out of his goodness that he provides one such upon whom his displeasure will fall for the salvation of sinners we know from the psalms which we often sing that Christ is the shepherd of the sheep we've sung one of them two of them we've sung psalm 23 the
[47:09] Lord is my shepherd we sung psalm 80 here Israel's shepherd the psalmist begins Jesus calls himself the good shepherd the apostle Peter calls Christ the apostle and bishop of our souls the good shepherd the one who is the shepherd of our souls Peter says God has entrusted him with the care of his sheep and we read that Christ is fully minded to care for them he tells his father when he prays to him that this is something that he has gladly taken upon himself thine they were he says to his father but you gave them to me they were you sheep but you have given them to me what am I to do with them well I have to care for them it's interesting that when you think of a flock of sheep anyone that we know of there's a mixed bag of sheep there
[48:13] I was recently watching a program to do with farming and television to do with the sales of sheep and there were some magnificent sheep there lambs ewes rams and their backs were as square as some tables breeding and they were you could look at them and they were almost exactly the same that's not the kind of flock that Jesus had these are not the kind of sheep that were so perfectly formed and without a flock this flock this sheep these sheep that God the father gave to them they were nothing like that they were taken out of Adam's fallen race he mentioned
[49:14] Dr Kennedy and he said they were given to him as sinners he knew what was needed to be done in order to be to be gathering them into his fold but all in the flock were under arrest as criminals and condemned to die and he had to buy them all by his blood that's the thing this is the field where he had to go to find his sheep and find them he did and the only way he could find them was by knowingly and with full conviction of what he was doing perfectly conformed to the will of God that it was by allowing the sword to smite him that the sheep would be his not one would be lost not one just recently one of the elders over in
[50:23] Graver passed away when I went to Graver as a minister when I was a student I had sold my sheep I couldn't look after them because I was based of the island when I came to Graver two gentlemen over there gave me three sheep each and one of them was the late Mulder McLeod and three magnificent cross whale dead sheep there were and maybe a year afterwards I used to put my sheep out to the moor and one of the sheep was missing and I told him I got them all but one and he says that's not the way to look at it and he gave me a lesson there and then that that one was missing was important and he taught me that the heart of the true shepherd would be concerned with the one that was missing and
[51:32] Christ teaches us that not one of the sheep that God the father gave to him was unimportant not one they were all of the same whatever shape whatever size whether they were black or speckled or pure white it didn't matter they were given to him by the father and he would seek them out and bring them in and that for him meant going to the cross that for him meant going to meet the sword that for him meant being pierced that for him meant being the focus of the eternal displeasure of a holy god he is the good shepherd in the vos theánt you in a sanit beast from you
[52:50] When it tells you about the death of Christ, it tells you the awful reality of what it meant for Christ to die on the cross. What it meant for Christ, the Son of God, to come under the pressure, the weight of the sins of the world.
[53:11] And to meet a holy God and answer for these sins. The sheep were scattered.
[53:24] You know, Jesus was praying in the garden. The darkness that embraced the moment was so terrible they could not endure it, who were eyewitnessed to it, who were present there.
[53:37] Such was the awfulness of it. Such was the terrible nature of the cross. They were not standing there or looking at it idly as if it was a trivial thing.
[53:48] God was doing business with Christ in a terrible way. They were scattered. They didn't believe it was possible for them to flee from his side, but they did.
[54:06] And prophecy is being fulfilled just as Christ said. Where he stood, none could stand with him. And that's what the scripture says.
[54:24] And it's at any wonder that the scripture insists. He trod the wine, bless him. Alone we are told. Alone because nobody could stand where he was to stand.
[54:35] He was standing, being judged by God, and God was judging him. For the sins of the world. The passion of Christ was unable to do anything other than what he did.
[54:52] And that is the awfulness of its reality. John L. Mackay in his comments on the last part of this verse, which some find difficult to understand, because of what it says, I will turn my hand upon the little ones.
[55:12] Who are these little ones? And what does it mean to turn his hand upon them? And some interpret that by saying, it's as if the word of God is saying to us that God was protecting this little flock from the awful reality of what we are seeing here.
[55:32] Christ was the one upon whom the fire of heaven was coming down. And the little flock was being preserved in that situation. Well, that's one possibility.
[55:44] I don't think it's the possibility that is contained within the verse. What John L. Mackay says is that this speaks of the scattering that will inevitably be part of the experience of the Church of Christ from time to time.
[56:04] In the early growth of the Church from time to time and from then on we see the persecution that comes to be the experience of the Church of Christ.
[56:16] We see that it is through the persecution of the Church that the Gospel spreads in its early days. And still to this day the Church is being hounded with a seal, with a venom.
[56:36] That is no different to what the Church in Christ's day endured. The disciples, yes, they will be scattered. The flock as a whole will encounter persecution.
[56:49] But that is not simply fulfilled in the experience of the Church of Christ's day. But always. But just as surely we must remember all this under God's hand.
[57:10] Away go sword against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellows. Save the Lord of hosts. Smile the shepherd. The sheep shall be scattered. I will turn my hand upon the little ones.
[57:20] God knows. God knew. God was at the heart of what was being transacted there.
[57:38] But not culpable, not guilty of the vices that were responsible for bringing that to fruition, if you like. God knows.
[57:49] This is Christ. This is the Son of God. This is the Shepherd of the Sheep of God. This is the Saviour of sinners. This is the one that endured the cross, despising the shame.
[58:05] And this is the one who still brings in from the plain, from the heights, all who are the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
[58:17] Are you one of them? Do you rejoice that he has brought you in? Do you delight in the fact that not one will be missing?
[58:28] Are you still numbered amongst the lost sheep who are scattered and who flees when the Good Shepherd calls you to come?
[58:44] May you hear his voice and may you respond to his word too. Even tonight, let us pray. Lord, we marvel at your way of salvation in Christ.
[58:57] We wonder at how meticulously the plan of salvation was created, executed and brought to a successful conclusion as far as the fullness of it is concerned.
[59:18] Yet there are some still to be brought in. If they are here, we pray that you would bring them in, that you would convince them of the need that there is to hear the voice of one who is the Good Shepherd.
[59:34] We pray your blessing upon the preaching of the word. The other shepherds you have sent out, may they rejoice at seeing. Men and women, young and old, respond to the gospel of your grace.
[59:51] Bless us together for giving our sins in Jesus. Amen. We are going to conclude singing some verses again from Psalm 80.
[60:03] The last three verses of the Psalm. Psalm 80, 17-19. Psalm 80, 17-19.
[60:42] O let thy hand be still upon the man of thy right hand. O let thy hand be still upon the man of thy right hand.
[61:10] The son of man who for thy self.
[61:21] The may death is long to shine. So henceforth we will not go back.
[61:40] Have going to cycle into him. Think of заг Luke's eyes. O fer様 jours are looked upon… The son of." The Lord shall be stood upon upon the Type— The son of the Lord cannot fear… The son of the holy earth, The son of the Son of the Holy of the Son of the Son of the Son of the Son of the Son of the Son of the Son of the Son of the Son of the Holy of Son of the Son and of the Son of the Son of the Son of the Holy of Son of the Son of God.
[62:01] Peach is alive upon the Son of the Son of the Son of the Son of the Son of the Son of the Son of the Son of the Son of the Son of grace. Turn aside him, O God of hosts, and upon us shall sleep.
[62:27] You may find out the night to shine, and it's all without delay.
[62:49] You may grace, mercy, and peace be upon the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, rest and abide with you all now and always. Amen. Amen.