[0:00] Psalm 100 Psalm 100 Psalm 100
[1:30] Come ye before him and rejoice. I know that the Lord is God in me.
[1:50] With the Lord is God in me. We are his glory, he doth us be.
[2:10] And for his sheep he doth us take.
[2:21] O enter then his gates with praise. Approach with joy his courts unto.
[2:41] Praise, Lord, and bless his name always. For it is seemingly so to do.
[3:01] For by the Lord our God is good. His mercy is forever true.
[3:21] Yes, true that all times firmly stood. And shall from me to age endure.
[3:41] Let us bow in prayer. Amen. O Lord, we pray that we might indeed be found amongst those, as it says in the Psalm, all that on earth to dwell, sing to the Lord.
[3:59] And we pray that we might bring praise to our God. For you are worthy of all honour and majesty and glory and praise. We are commanded in your word to glorify you.
[4:13] That is the main purpose of our existence here. And we're told that whoso offereth praise glorifieth me. And so we pray that we might indeed seek to be people of praise.
[4:27] That praise might be something that is spontaneous from our heart and on our lips. So that we will praise the living and through God. We ask, O Lord, that we may speak the language of heaven, which is a language of praise, more and more while we're here on earth.
[4:44] And journeying to the celestial city. We pray that you will fill our hearts and fill our gaze. So that we will be fixed upon you.
[4:55] Indeed, that's how we're told to run the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, who is the author and the finisher of our faith. And so we pray, Lord, for the grace so to do.
[5:07] Forgive us, Lord, for how often we try and run the race in our own strength. And how often we run the race not looking to you in the way that we should. And sometimes it's only when we fall or when we find ourselves tumbling or we find ourselves wandering that we begin to look to you.
[5:29] And so we pray that every day we may seek to walk worthy of the high calling to which we've been called. That we, having put our hand to the plough, may not be looking back.
[5:41] But that we might be pressing forward, like the apostle said. That he was pressing toward the mark. The high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And we pray that that might be how we are found too.
[5:53] And that our delight will be in you. And we are told in the word to delight ourselves in the Lord. And we pray that that might be how we find ourselves every day and every night.
[6:07] Lord, we give thanks for another opportunity of worshipping you. And we pray that our worship will be spiritual. And deliver us, Lord, from anything that isn't right.
[6:20] Keep the evil one away from us because he is always seeking to disturb. And he will do all in his power to rob us of our enjoyment of you. And so we pray that he won't trouble us tonight.
[6:33] And that we will hear what God the Lord will speak, knowing that to his folk he speaks peace. We pray then that you will bless us. Bless everybody connected to this congregation.
[6:45] And we give thanks, Lord, that we can bring all our worries and all our concerns and all our needs to you. Lord, we hear of those who are unwell. And we pray for child and we've heard that he's been flown away.
[6:58] And ask, Lord, that it might please you to bring healing to him. And that he may, in a very real way, come to know you as his Lord and God. And we heard of Donny MacKinnon's mother who took us through.
[7:13] Lord, we commit her into your care. We give thanks that you're the sovereign Lord over all. Sovereign over everything. You are the great physician. You determine the number of our days.
[7:24] But we pray that it might please you to raise her up again and be with her in her old age. We pray for Mrs. McKeever as well in hospital. We pray, Lord, for the man who was so seriously injured in that motorbike accident and all connected to him.
[7:45] Lord, we realize that our lives so often hang in the balance. And there is so little between us, between life and death. David himself said, there is but a step between me and death.
[7:59] And sometimes that is just how it is. How quickly circumstances change. And Lord our God, we give thanks that you're the great physician. And we're told in your word to bring everything to God in prayer.
[8:12] And everything by praise and with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known unto God. And so that everything doesn't just mean the spiritual, although it means that.
[8:26] But it also means, above all, it means the spiritual. But it also involves the temporal, the physical, the emotional, the mental.
[8:37] All these different aspects of our lives. And so we pray your blessing upon all who are in need. And we remember those maybe who didn't mention there are many who are in need of thee.
[8:49] And so we pray that you will bless them. Bless the aged. We pray that you will be with those who are finding it harder and harder to do for themselves. And that's a very difficult thing when we begin to lose our independence.
[9:03] Which we take for granted. And find that we are dependent upon others. And we pray, Lord, for those who, because of illness, are unable to do for themselves.
[9:14] We pray that you will bless them. We ask, O Lord, that you will bless our young people in a day where there are so many pressures. And, Lord, that you will bless them and help them to grow up in this world.
[9:28] We pray for every parental prayer. We pray for the teaching of parents over the years. And maybe there are some tonight who have gone way far away.
[9:43] And have turned their back upon what they were taught in their youth. Lord, might it please you even to arrest some of them tonight. In a way where they will remember what they were taught when they were young.
[9:56] That the words from your word might come flooding back. And that they will turn to yourself. Train up a child in the way that it will go. When he's old, he will not depart from it.
[10:07] And so we pray that we pray for those who were instructed well. And yet, as so far, have turned away from you. But we pray that in mercy that you will bring them back.
[10:21] O Lord, our God, we ask that you will be with those who struggle with all the difficulties in life. With those who are in the grip of vices. Those, Lord, who are in the grip of problems in whatever shape or form.
[10:35] We pray, Lord, for us as an island. As we face so much pressure financially. With regard to rising energy costs and food bills.
[10:47] And we're seeing that it's becoming more and more difficult. And we pray, Lord, that you will help us. That you will grant wisdom to our leaders. And we pray that our leaders may turn to yourself.
[11:00] In many ways, that looks an impossibility. The way they so often talk. And the way they so often live. But nothing is impossible with you. And we pray that there will be more and more out of our nation.
[11:12] That will seek after the living God. So we pray for those in Westminster and Holyrood. And locally here in the council. We pray for all who have big decisions to make.
[11:23] We pray, Lord, that you will indeed halt the tide of evil. That is so often apparent in the laws of our land. Where people are turning what is right to wrong.
[11:38] And making what is wrong to appear right. They're turning your word upside down. Oh, Lord, have mercy upon us. And deliver us, we pray, as a nation. From so often the direction we're going.
[11:51] Lord, we pray, as David prayed about Ahithophel. When he joined the rebellion with Absalom. Turn their counsel. Turn his counsel to foolishness. Is what David prayed.
[12:03] And we pray for those who are seeking to undermine your cause. And to undermine your ways and your laws. Turn their counsel to foolishness.
[12:14] So that it won't come to anything. Oh, Lord, we pray then that you'll bless us. Bless us as we wait upon you. We pray for any who might not yet know you personally. They know about you.
[12:26] They've heard from, maybe from their youngest days of their youth. But so far they have not come into that personal, close relationship with you. Oh, Lord, we pray that even tonight that that may happen.
[12:39] And so we pray to bless the congregation here. Pray to bless the intermoderator. We pray to bless the office bearers. And pray to encourage your people here.
[12:51] We ask that you'll be with them. Every single one of them. Lord, guide this congregation in the right way. And we pray that a suitable pastor will soon be found for them.
[13:04] They want to lead them in the paths of righteousness as an under shepherd who will be led ultimately by yourself. And so we pray that you will watch over everything that is being done.
[13:17] We remember the WFM on Tuesday. We pray for Jackie and we pray for her mother who we heard wasn't well. We commit to your care and keeping. Watch over us and cleanse us from our every sin.
[13:29] We pray in Jesus name we ask it. Amen. We're going to continue singing in Psalm number 37. Psalm number 37 and we sing verses 1 to 7.
[13:41] Psalm 37, 1 to 7. Psalm 37, 1 to 7. Psalm 37, 1 to 7. For evil doers fret thou not thyself unquietly.
[13:52] Nor do thou envy bear to those that work in equity. For even like unto the grass soon be cut down shall they. And like the green and tender herb they wither shall away.
[14:05] Set thou thy trust upon the Lord and be thou doing good. And so thou in the land shalt dwell and verily have food. Delight thyself in God.
[14:16] He'll give thine heart's desire to thee. Thy way to God commit him trust. It bring to pass shall he. And like unto the light he shall thy righteousness display.
[14:28] And he thy judgment shall bring forth like noontide of the day. Rest in the Lord and patiently wait for him. Do not fret for him who prospering in his way success in sin doth get.
[14:42] Psalm 37, 1 to 7. For evil doers fret thou not. Thyself unquietly. For evil doers fret thou not thyself unquietly. Thou fret thou not thyself unquietly.
[14:54] Nor do thou end may bear to those that work in equity. For even I shall not thyself unquietly.
[15:05] Soon be. God of sin. For even I shall not come to thy love. to those that work in equity.
[15:21] For even I unto thy love soon be a doubt shall they unlike the green and tendered hair they wither shall away.
[15:57] Since I trust upon the Lord and be thou doing good and so thou in the man's shoulder dwell unreadly offered.
[16:34] Be right thyself in God He'll give thine heart desire to thee thy way to God God let him trust and bring to power shall he and I unto the light he shall thy righteous menace play and he thy judgment shall bring forth like noontide of the day.
[17:47] Read him the Lord and patiently wait for him do not fear for him who brought spring in his way success in sin and again.
[18:25] And read two portions of God's word first of all from John's Gospel and then in the book of Psalms, Psalm 23 John chapter 10 in the Gospel of John John chapter 10 John chapter 10 Verse 11 Verily, verily, I say unto you he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold but climbeth up some other way the same as a thief and a robber but he that entereth in by the door is a shepherd of the sheep to him the porter openeth and the sheep hear his voice and he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
[19:22] And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers. This parable spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things they were which he spake to them.
[19:38] Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
[19:52] I am the door. By me, if any man enters in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy.
[20:07] I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
[20:18] He that is an hireling and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth. And the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
[20:32] The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and have known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
[20:51] And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.
[21:08] No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
[21:21] Then we'll turn to the book of Psalms, Psalm 23. Psalm 23.
[21:54] I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
[22:07] Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
[22:21] Amen. Amen. And may God bless to us these readings of his own holy word. I'm going to sing again from Psalm number 91. Psalm 91. And we're going to sing verses 1 to 5.
[22:32] Five stanzas. Psalm 91, verses 1 to 5. He that doth in the secret place of the Most High reside, under the shade of him that is, the Almighty, shall abide.
[22:49] I of the Lord my God will say he is my refuge still. He is my fortress and my God, and in him trust I will. Assuredly he shall thee save and give deliverance from subtle fowler snare, and from the noise and pestilence.
[23:07] His feathers shall thee hide, thy thrust under his wings shall be. His faithfulness shall be a shield and buckler unto thee. Thou shalt not need to be afraid for terrors of the night, nor for the arrow that doth fly by day while it is light.
[23:25] Psalm 91, verses 1 to 5. He that doth in the secret place. He that doth in the secret place. He that doth in the secret place of the Most High reside, Under the shade of him that is, the Almighty, shall abide.
[24:04] I of the Lord my God will say, he is my ever-send.
[24:22] He is my fortress and my Lord, my name of Zion.
[24:40] That doth in the thick messeting, He has cast into the eyes of ourobe. He that doth in the Risale-Age, And in God, we also have cut out hisermaid that doth land faithful toward Israel, as of Hisbased Readyuds home.
[25:06] The hope that I some blessed earth Is ever shot behind thy cross The mother's wind shall be His faithfulness shall be As you can but come to thee The shall not lead to thee Of faith forever From the night
[26:10] Not for the hour O I am high Thy day what it is like Let's turn again to the second reading Psalm 23 Probably the best known part of God's word Along with John 3.16 probably Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want He makes me to lie down in green pastures He leads me beside still waters and so on I suppose this is the psalm that we know best of all There's probably a portion of God's word that most if not all of us learnt when we were young
[27:12] And it's amazing the imagery that the Bible so often uses in describing things We find that God often uses that And Jesus himself when he was here he often picked on objects and used them to describe He would maybe use a coin or a fish or he would talk of the cornfields He was always the birds He would point to the birds and give a spiritual illustration about that And about the flowers and spiritual illustrations about that And so we find beautiful imagery here in this particular psalm Now it's interesting that a lot of the prominent people in the Bible were shepherds Abel the very first martyr He was a shepherd And then of course Moses You remember how Moses at the age of 40 He ran away from Egypt after killing the Egyptian
[28:13] And he spent 40 years in the wilderness Before he spent another 40 years in the wilderness leading the people of Israel to the land of promise But for 40 years Moses was a shepherd Looking after his father-in-law's flocks And then of course David King David was a great shepherd king Before ever he was a king he was a shepherd And he had used the tremendous experiences of being a shepherd He was integral to his being a king And God himself describes himself as Israel's shepherd You will find that on quite a lot of occasions in the Bible That God describing himself as his people's shepherd And then again in the New Testament We find that Jesus He describes himself as a good shepherd That's what we read there in John's Gospel John chapter 10
[29:13] Indeed he's spoken about as a good shepherd He's spoken about later on as a great shepherd And he's spoken about in Peter as the chief shepherd So he's all of these things The Lord Jesus Christ And so we know that as a good shepherd That Jesus has come to seek and to save That which is lost And it's wonderful to think of Jesus And the role of the shepherd Because we see here a shepherd who has never lost a sheep or a lamb And a shepherd who will go to the end of the earth To find the sheep who are lost And you know sometimes people will say to themselves And they'll say well Ah there's no hope for me because I'm lost I'm a lost soul Well I would say to you There's real hope for you Because that's the person that Jesus has come for Jesus said that I didn't come for the righteous I didn't come for those who are whole and well
[30:14] I came for those who were sick I came to seek and to save out those who are lost So if a person finds themselves as being lost Straight away they qualify for salvation They qualify for asking the Lord to have mercy upon their soul And so that's the great work of the shepherd That he has come to seek and to save those that are lost Now David begins the psalm in a very definite assured way Where he says the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want Now I suppose here in the highlands And maybe particularly in the islands We might be a wee bit more prone sometimes to self-doubt And maybe to sometimes lacking in assurance Well we find that David is very very clear here In his assurance He's making a very bold statement
[31:18] But it's not bold It's a statement that is full of faith He says the Lord is my shepherd And you'll find throughout the Bible That there are a lot of these moments Where God's people make very definite claims About the Lord Their relationship to the Lord Even Thomas When Thomas as we term doubting Thomas When he saw the risen Jesus Who he had refused to believe had risen When he actually saw him he said My Lord and my God I hope tonight that all of us are able to say that My Lord and my God Well that's what David is saying here very clearly Very assuredly And as we know Christianity is all about a relationship It's a It's If we use the word a religion It's a religion of relationships And
[32:19] The I suppose we'd say It'd be an awful thing if your family Were going to say Well you know I I don't know if If he or she loves me at all I've no idea We would be quite hurt by that And I'm sure we must often hurt the Lord If we can use that reverently By the way we talk Where we say well I hope I hope he loves me When we think of that the Lord Jesus has died for us He's given his life He couldn't do more He did the ultimate And yet sometimes we question his love We question our relationship with him We question these things So it's something we really ought to Ought to examine more closely Now of course we are prone We know that And I use this spiritually On a good day spiritually When the sun is shining It might be a lot easier to say
[33:20] Oh the Lord is my shepherd But we know that every day isn't a sunny day spiritually There are cold days There are stormy days There are dark days And some days We have a heart of unbelief That is really Bubbling away there Sometimes Satan has a field day with us And there are days That our vision of the Lord is clouded And some days We might not be able to see it As assuredly As on other occasions So we need to ask the Lord Lord help me Give me assurance And if any of you are here tonight And you are struggling with assurance Remember that it is not where the Lord wants you to be Now I know that sometimes Our own natural disposition Can have a bearing At times Upon our spirituality That are these things Because we sometimes We try and separate completely Our body Our mind And our soul But we have got to remember That in one sense
[34:21] We are just the one person Here And very often These things are interlinked I remember reading somewhere In Spurgeons Him saying Somebody came complaining About a lack of assurance And he said It is not so much Your assurance It is your liver That is out of order In other words It was a physical ailment That this person had That was really affecting them Affecting their whole being And in turn Was actually impacting Upon their assurance Now we know that These things can happen But the Lord won't leave us there And he brings us back Because he wants us to know him And knowing him Is the most important thing Because once we come to know him We want to know him More and more And more and more That is what the Apostle Paul Was like And I am sure That in this world There have been few people Who knew the Lord Quite like the Apostle Paul He was taken up To the third heaven He had insights And knowledge of Jesus Christ
[35:23] That was quite extraordinary And yet Paul's prayer Was this That I might know him It is not that Paul Did not know him It is that all that Paul Had already come to know of him Made him want to know Even more And that's We pray Is how we will be as well And that's what happens In relationships That as time goes on We get to know each other More and more and more So here we have It's saying very clearly The Lord is my shepherd And when David says I shall not want He then sort of Explains maybe In the next verse Next couple of Or verses Or all the verses What that actually means And he says He maketh me To lie down In green pastures And you know It's a beautiful picture This This picture of There's the sheep Lying in lush Green pastures
[36:23] And there's the The river A gentle stream Flowing by It's an artist's dream Or a photographer's dream Well here's David And he's picturing himself Lying down In green pastures Now you and I know We live in a Area of the world Where there are Plenty sheep And we know I'm sure all of us Know enough about sheep And the one thing You won't get sheep to do Is just To get them to lie down If you want a sheep To lie down Normally You can't just say To the sheep Right lie down If you're going to Shear a sheep You won't say To the sheep Right on your back I'm going to clip you You have to grab hold of them And turn them over And do that Even if you've got a sheep To lie down And you sat on that sheep The moment you got up The sheep would get up as well So what's the best way To get a sheep to lie down Well the best way of course Is once the sheep is content And how's the sheep content The sheep is content
[37:24] When they feed You won't find a hungry sheep Lying down But you know Once a sheep Sheep are in a field And they're able to Graze away for a while And then you'll see They may be chewing Their cud And then they'll lie down They're content And this is a picture That David brings This picture of contentment Because as we said The hungry sheep Won't lie down Sheep won't The only way That you will get a sheep To really lie down And if you're going to feed it Is by force And so it's not By force The sheep is lying down In the green pastures Here it is After they have fed well And spiritually That's what the Lord does For us in the gospel He enables us to feed well And of course God's word Is our feeding Whether it's our own Personal reading Or what we're doing Here tonight Where we gather together Around the word And it's the most
[38:26] Important thing That we can do For our lives You know When you come to faith Remember what it was like What the Bible Was like to you When you first came To faith It was so real So living Sometimes Sadly As time goes on We become used To the great privilege Of prayer And the great privilege Of having God's word But You will remember Just as I did I was somebody Who grew up With the Bible I knew it I knew an awful lot About it I didn't remember I was brought up With all the Bible stories And everything But I still remember When I came Coming to faith And I'd been taught To pray But when you come To faith All of a sudden Prayer is real You have somebody To speak to Anytime Anywhere About anything But here's the word And this word The more you delve Into it The more you realise
[39:26] That there are Riches here That's why the Bible It talks of The word being like It's more precious Than gold It's sweeter Than honey It is here It's a lamp To our path A light To guide us In the way All these things These are wonderful things And you discover that When you come to faith The word is key It is central To your life And so it is that Which you find yourself Chewing over And it's something That we should do Every single day Is chew Over the word Get a little bit Of the word And chew over it Remember when Israel Were crossing the Jordan With Joshua And he was leading him Into the promised land And God said to Joshua You shall meditate Well Joshua This was his command To Israel You shall meditate Upon the law Day and night So that you may be careful
[40:27] To do all that is written Therein For then you will make Your way prosperous And then you will have Good success So the Lord is saying The key To life In all its various Shapes and forms Is the word And it is imperative That you meditate Now meditate Has the idea Of muttering To oneself And what you're simply doing Is taking God's word in And you're thinking Over it And I believe That every single day It's something I try to do And something I would Encourage And maybe some of you Do that Encourage you to do Every day Rather than Yes by all means Read Read big sections Of God's word You can never read Too much of it But even take A little of it And prayerfully Ask God To make this word Such that you
[41:27] Understand What's saying Open my eyes That I may behold Wonderful things Out of your law Wonderful things Out of your word And God will do that And this is where God's word Becomes very real And very personal To you Where you're able to As it were Digest it Take it on board Get it down Deep within Becomes real to you So it's important That every day We get a little Of God's word And that's what God is saying To the Israelites Before they cross The Jordan If you're wanting To make your way Prosperous And have good success Make sure That the word of God Is your spiritual diet Every day And so that's So important For us as well Now as we said About the sheep In order to get The sheep to lie down It has to be fed It has to be content And we know Sheep are very Very easily scared They seem to run At the slightest thing If you You get a sheep
[42:28] A field Full of sheep And you just jump Over the fence Instantly They're off When one goes They all go They're very Very sensitive Although they can be The most stubborn Annoying thing Animals when you're Trying to pen them Or do something With them Yet they're Very sensitive They run Very quickly And you know That's what Because they're afraid And you know That's what happened To us right At the very beginning As we fell With Adam And as we sinned What did sin Cause Adam to do Cause him to run away He ran away From God And remember Where God Came into the garden To call for Adam Adam Where are you Adam was gone He was running When he heard The voice of God I've got to go I've got to hide And you see That's what That's a natural Instinct of the heart That's why So many people today
[43:29] They build Their Shelters as it were From God Of humanism And secularism And atheism And all these things Right Let's get God Out of the picture We'll hide from God There is no God See that Once you do that Then you take Accountability away You take all these Things You move these Things out So that You're there You're in this World where God Isn't That's because We've run away From God At the very beginning But thankfully God came after Adam Saying Adam Where are you Called God God called Adam And he's calling Us as well Wherever you are Whoever you are God is calling you Again Back to himself If you've gone away Come back to him That's a wonderful thing And you know Here's the big difference When you come to faith Irrespective of what you've done
[44:32] Even if you've really blown it If you've gone wrong You still Will make your way to God Before you come to faith When you've done wrong When you're really Out of sorts And guilt is lying You try and blot it out You try and get rid of it One way or another Try and remove it Try and hide Try and hide from God Although you may not realise That's what you're trying to do That is what you're trying to do But it's a very reverse Once you come to faith You've stopped running And I think a classic example Of that is David Because There's nobody Blew it bigger than David A man after God's own heart And yet You remember how David Not only did he have That adulterous relationship With Bathsheba Which was bad But what made it Ten times worse In order to try and Cover His sin He had Uriah
[45:33] Bathsheba's husband Killed He thought he could Get rid of it like that But remember When David came to realise What he had done Did he continue Running away from God No He went straight to God That's where we have Psalm 51 It's a great Sinner's prayer Who has come to realise What they've done And you know Psalm 51 Should be part of our Should be part of us as well But that's the beauty of it We run Instead of running Away from God We run to God Everybody in this world Is running in one of two directions They're either running Away from God Or running to God That's where everybody's Running tonight Either to God Or away from God I hope and pray You're running To God Tonight Because that is The safest place To be And so we find The psalmist Is saying Here he Maketh me to lie down
[46:34] In green pastures He leads me beside The still waters And here you have again This beautiful picture Before us And again In the Bible The Lord is spoken of As water Jesus himself Speaks of himself As the water Water of life And the Holy Spirit Is shown By the way of water You have different pictures Sometimes there's a flood And that And other times Like the Jew I will be as a Jew And to Israel And that's how God deals You know there have been times This island has seen A lot of it Revival times I would love Never been in a revival I would love to I would love to be But that's when Bible talks about Where the Lord Pours down Where he floods As it were Water Unto the thirsty ground But he talks also Of the Jew Now
[47:34] The thing about the Jew Is When you go out Unless it's that Sometimes you can There can be a really Really heavy Jew And you can almost Feel it in the air But most times In the summer You're not aware of it And you're not saying To yourself Oh I'm feeling the Jew's pouring down Tonight It might be After a while Or maybe if there's Washing out And you go out And the washing If there's quite a bit Of dew Although it's been A nice day The washing's Quite damp Now you didn't see Anything fall But down it came And sometimes That's the way God works In fact it's the way Most of the time That he works That it's just this Little heavenly Drop And the Lord Gives us sufficient Every day Of that Jew Of that spiritual Jew Into our souls So let us Let us thank him For that But we would love To see Days of revival And then he says Very Just rush on He restoreth my soul He leadeth me
[48:35] In the paths Of righteousness Now if you restore Anything You fix it Some people Are brilliant At restoration There's some people That get old cars Our friend And he's extraordinary At what he can do With old cars Loves getting old cars And doing them up And gets them going And they're good As ever they were Some people Are brilliant At restoring furniture That's broken And it's falling To pieces Sometimes it's our health That is broken And it's restored So all through life There's a lot of A lot of restoration Going on But here we see That it is Spiritual restoration Getting back To where we were Now Not all restoration Spiritually Is because we've Gone astray There can be various Reasons for Restoration A classic Is Elijah Elijah needed restoration But it wasn't because He had gone astray As such
[49:35] It was because He was burnt out So there are various Different degrees Of restoration But very often It's because We've gone astray We've wandered away From the Lord And You know The thing is Quite often We can wander away And we don't know it And we need to be We need to be told We've wandered Because A lot of the time Even in our Christian life We saunter We sort of Just as it were Amble along And then Every so often We get a Wake up call And we realise Oh my I have drifted David of course That's an extreme Example After David's Great sin Do you remember David didn't realise Where he was David Despite what he had done Despite His adulterous Relationship And despite His killing Of Uriah He didn't Figure out Just what
[50:36] He had done Until the Prophet Nathan Came God sent The Prophet Nathan And what Did Nathan do He told David A little story Told him about Two men Lived next door To each other One was a Poor man And he'd only Got the one Wee sheep The man next door A wee lamb The man next door Was a rich man Who had a flock Of sheep Visitor came To the rich man What did the rich man Do Jumped over the fence And got the poor Man's little lamb What did he do He killed it And got it ready For eating So that He was going to Feed the visitor With the poor Man's lamb When he himself Had a flock Of sheep When David Heard that story It was like He was furious Initially He said That man's Going to die That man Has to repay He saw The injustice Of it That was terrible See David Was so backslidden At that moment He couldn't see That's me Didn't see At that moment
[51:36] David at that moment Was a Pharisee You know the Pharisee Sees himself As very good Or herself As very good And sees the sin In other people Just like the Pharisee In the temple Who was standing there And he was praying And he says Oh I thank the Lord I'm not like other men I do this And I do that And he's telling God How good he is I thank you Lord I'm not like that Poor publican Over there In the corner And remember That publican Couldn't even lift His head to heaven But just Smote upon his breast Saying Lord Be merciful to me A sinner And Jesus said That's the man Who went home Justified Not the Pharisee Well David At that moment Was a Pharisee Until Nathan said David You are the man And at that moment Were the words Of the prophet The Holy Spirit Went like an arrow Into David's heart And he realized Poor That is me And he just Collapses spiritually
[52:36] And as we said That's where we have Psalm 51 And maybe Psalm 32 And he's saying What's one of his cries Restore A right spirit Within me Here's the restoration David is talking here In Psalm 23 About restoring Well there came a time In David's life Where he was really Crying out Oh Lord You really need To restore me Because I have Fallen so badly And so This is what the Lord Does He restores our soul And it's Restoration I believe Involves repentance The two go together In order for us To be restored We need to repent And we need to Learn to follow The Lord We can't be walking In the paths Of righteousness Unless we're following The Lord Who is righteousness Himself And it's important And that's what We have to do Is ask the Lord To help us
[53:37] To follow him Closely To follow the Lord Is good And I would say Even if you're Following the Lord Far off tonight It's better than Not following him At all But it's a dangerous Place And I say this Because it tells us About the Apostle Peter Before he denied Jesus That he followed Jesus Afar off You see The closer we are To Jesus The less likely We are to fall The further away We are from Jesus The more likely We are to fall That's what happened With Peter And you remember How it came to a point Where Peter was denying Jesus with oaths And with curses And then of course The Lord turned And looked upon Peter And so the Lord Tells us He leads us In paths of righteousness For his name's sake That's what it's all about About his glory's sake Just say a word In verse 4
[54:37] Yea though I walk Through the valley Of the shadow of death Some people think The shadow of death Is simply illness And things like that Where you don't actually die It may be that But I believe It goes on Into the reality of death Yea though I walk Through the valley Of the shadow of death I will fear no evil For thou art with me Thy rod and thy staff They comfort me Isn't that great It says yea though I walk Through I'm going right through it Through the valley Of the shadow of death And you'll notice That it doesn't say The valley of death But the shadow of death It was Spurgeon who said The shadow of a dog Can't bite The shadow of a sword Can't hurt you And the shadow of death Cannot ultimately destroy you So an element of truth Or a lot of truth In that Sure when When you were young There were shadows That scared you But they couldn't really
[55:38] Do anything to you But the shadows When you're young Sometimes shadows Terrify you But in order For there to be a shadow There has to be light And the light That is here Yea though I walk Through the valley Of the shadow of death I will fear no evil Because there's a light There's a light In the shadow And who is the light The light is the Lord He is He is in death With us And you know That's the most wonderful thing Because in life We have friends We have family We have loads of support We have this That The next thing Going on But there's one thing We have to face All alone There comes a point Where there's nobody Else going to be there But you But you know When you have the Lord You're never on your own Even down Into death's dark veil He's there with you Every step He's with the dying saint And I believe He's very close To the dying saint And maybe tonight You're saying
[56:38] You're saying Oh you know I feel very unready For death Well maybe that's Because you're not Right now dying I believe that the Lord Will give us a grace For life And he'll give us A grace for death And so we find here That the psalmist Is saying For you are with me Your rod And your staff They comfort me Believe it's the one thing The shepherd's crook here And you know that If you get out After sheep And you have You have the The crook There will be times You have to prod them To push them on Put a wee bit of the stick Sometimes on their back To shove them Get them on And other times If you had a shepherd's crook You can use the head of it In order to put it round The neck See of a lamb To pull it back And the Lord Does that for us too Sometimes he has To discipline us Sometimes he has To take the rod down Upon our back Because we wander We go astray We're disobedient Sometimes he's seen That we love sin So much That we're kind of Neglecting him
[57:38] And we would love To say Oh I don't love sin Anymore Of course we do We side with it We're sinners It's part of our nature But we have to Fight against it And sometimes The Lord And the correcting But also the staff Is that which We lean on And a stick You get a stick To lean on That's what we do With the Lord Jesus We lean on him And time is gone Just Maybe pick this up I go You prepare a table Before me In the presence Of my enemies Thou anointest My head with oil My cup Runs over I don't know But maybe While it's talking Here in verse 4 Of this might be This might be You can see it In this As one way Of here we are Here's the believer And all the privileges In 2 and 3 The blessings Verse 4 Down into death Start fail And then in verse 5 We have Preparing a table Before me
[58:39] In the presence Of my enemies I don't know We don't know With regard to The spirit world What is going on But you know We will be taken Transported To glory And we believe That we will Pass through Forces While we're On that journey Because we know That the evil one Is termed The prince Of the power Of the air And we believe That there will be Evil spirits That are around us Just as there are Angelic spirits That are evil spirits As well But as we pass To glory And transported To glory In a moment We will be In the presence There will be The evil But the Lord Has anointed us And the Lord Is preserving us And it's as if There's a very table Set before us In the presence Of our enemies As we're brought Into the dwelling Place forever Because that's what It says Surely goodness And mercy Shall follow me All the days Of my life And I will dwell
[59:40] In the house Of the Lord Forever Love that word Dwell That's it Fixed abode Not going anywhere else I want to dwell That's my dwelling place That's what I'm going to be Forevermore And there are these Two great Wonderful things Following us All the days Of our life Goodness and mercy Ask yourself This question Is there anything You would prefer To follow you Throughout life Than God's goodness And his mercy I can't think of Anything greater Than that God's goodness And God's mercy Would follow Every day Of life If you were to be Told Look you can have Anything There's people Will come to you And they're offering you A couple of things In this world Great things Could you really Put them Above God's goodness And mercy Douglas Macmillan If you've never read The book The Lord The Lord
[60:40] Our Shepherd The Lord's Man The late Douglas Macmillan Professor In the Free Church College He had been Before a shepherd For about 14 years And he did a Conference down in Wales For years ago And he did a few lectures And it's turned into A wee book And I've never read Anything better On Psalm 23 Than Douglas' book And he is As an ex-shepherd And he's talking About the dogs He's spiritualising And visualising Here are the two dogs God's two dogs That are Guiding the sheep home One's called Goodness And one's called Mercy And these two dogs Are there And they're guiding Into the eternal Pen As it were Into the eternal Dwelling place Is there anything Better that we could want Well I hope Tonight That that's where You are Discovering God's goodness And mercy And that this
[61:41] Goodness and mercy Will follow you All the days Of your life And that you And I will dwell In the house Of the Lord Forever Let us pray Lord we give thanks For reflecting upon Your word For a wee while And we pray That this word Will go down Deep into our souls And that you'll Bless us Bless every home Every family Bless Lord Those whom we love And we give thanks That we can bring Them to you And ask your blessing On them Watch over us And guide us And keep us And do us good And forgive us Their sin In Jesus name Amen We're going to conclude Singing in this psalm The 23rd psalm Psalm 23 Psalm 23 Psalm 23
[62:55] We will sing the whole psalm The Lord's my shepherd I'll not want The Lord's my shepherd The Lord's my shepherd The shepherd I'll not want He made me down to long The Lord's my shepherd And pastor's green He laid on me The quiet water Her body pequика He走了 I gave glad me to God of me within the paths of righteousness be not if so an insane
[64:18] I walk in death the dark there yet will lie fear for the heart with me and thy robe and staff me comfort still my people thou hast furnished in presence all my foe my head thou dost with oil and oil and my cup never flow flow and mercy and mercy of my life shall surely follow me and in in
[66:02] God's house forever more my dwelling place shall be now may the grace mercy and peace of God the Father Son and Holy Spirit rest and abide upon each one of you now and forever more Amen Amen