[0:00] and turn back to the chapter we had, Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22. Last week, of course, we were in the Garden of Gethsemane. We're still in the Garden this week. Last week we read from Mark, this week we read from Luke, verse 39, of course down to verse 46. For the sake of a text, we can just take the verse we have in verse 41. And he withdrew from them a bit of stone's throw and knelt down and prayed.
[0:36] And so on, to the end of the section in verse 46. That's where last week we were first entered the Garden of Gethsemane.
[0:46] We spent so many weeks in the Old Testament, so many weeks seeing the destruction and pain of sin. We then got some leverage as we saw the travelling temple in the desert. The last week we found ourselves in the Garden.
[0:59] The final few hours, the final few days, the final few evenings. And here we have our Saviour and his disciples. And in the Garden, the Saviour and our chosen few, our chosen three disciples. They were in the Garden. And we thought last week, we saw the sorrow of our Saviour.
[1:18] We saw how the weight of the burden of the task that lay ahead of him, how that weighed down on him. Well, for a short time this evening, we can see the same verses, this time from Luke, of course. And we can see, it's a short time, the prayer in the Garden. So last week, we saw sorrow in the Garden. Tonight, we can see prayer in the Garden. First of all, seeing briefly the prayer of the disciples. And then, of course, seeing the prayer of our Saviour.
[1:50] When we come, of course, to this passage, come to this section, as we said last week, and we say it not just for effect, we say it because it's true. And not saying it just to make myself sound humble, but because it's true. We come to a passage here, we come to a section here where there's much mystery for us as Christians. There's much mystery for us. And we tread very carefully in some of these verses. We must do. And for us to claim we have full knowledge of what's being said here, I think we claim wrong. It's a very dangerous thing to say that. But what God does give us, He's given us. And we can use what He's given us to try and see what's going on here for His glory and for our encouragement. So first of all, the prayer of the disciples.
[2:38] He said Jesus is here not just with disciples, He's here with His friends. These are the men who have been with Him for all the steps of His journey. We saw last week He chose these three to be with Him, and they followed Him up, they're close to Him, and He's going off to pray. Before He goes off to pray, He gives them a simple command, an instruction to His disciples. Verse 40, when He came to the place, it's the garden, He said to them, pray that you may not enter into temptation.
[3:14] Pray that you may not enter into temptation. We know ourselves that Jesus doesn't need these men. The disciples that Jesus chose, He didn't need them to accomplish His purposes. He is God. He didn't need their help. He didn't need their encouragement, in one sense. But in other sense, He did. He chose these men to be with Him. He chose to teach these men.
[3:44] He chose to have at this point, near the end of His life on earth, when the whole reality of the burden, of the weight of sin is laying on Him so heavily just now. He takes these men, His friends with Him.
[3:59] Let's never underestimate the scriptural reality and importance placed on biblical friendship and biblical fellowship. We're made to serve one another. If our Lord desired the company of His disciples, then how much more should we be the same? No Christian is a Christian on our own. No Christian survives or serves on our own. We serve as part of a family and we are a church family here, not just a congregation, not just a gathering of God's people randomly put together. No, we're here as church family as we've been pushing every Sunday evening the last few weeks, not here as minister and hearers, not here as minister and congregation, not even here as minister elders and congregation.
[4:42] We're here as one church family together equally underneath our Saviour. So, Jesus asks, tells the disciples to pray. But note what He says to them. He's not asking them for their prayers for Him. Pray that you may not enter into temptation. Yes, He makes use of their company. Yes, He has them close to Him, but He's not asking them to pray for Him. What He's about to go through, there is nothing they can say. He must endure what He's about to endure. Nothing they can do will lessen His sufferings. But He asks them, He tells them, He commands them gently but clearly to pray pray for themselves, not to fall into temptation. Quite literally, He prays that they wouldn't fall into the trial. Pray that you will not fall into the trial or a trial. The question, of course, then is, what temptation will these men face? When Jesus tells them, pray you won't be tempted, pray you won't fall into the trial. What is the trial they are about to face? And thankfully, Scripture interprets
[5:56] Scripture and we see the problem that these men had at the end of verse 45, or verse 45 and near the end. When He rose from prayer, Jesus rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. Why?
[6:10] Sleeping for sorrow. He left them praying. He came back. A short time had passed. The atmosphere was so heavy. The weight of reality, the weight of evil, the weight of the burden of sin, the weight of what was to come that evening was so heavy. These poor men, they couldn't survive it. They couldn't keep their eyes open. It weighed down them too much. They just had to close themselves off from the world and they fell asleep. Exhaustion to go over them. They've just heard in the last day or two, as much as they can understand. They've heard their Saviour's told them He's about to be killed. He's told them He's about to be taken and tortured and killed. And they can't hear that. They can't bear that. And we can't begin to imagine the weight in the air, the pressure in the air in that garden that evening.
[7:08] As our Saviour begins to feel the reality of the full, final weight of all the sins of all His people. Begin to crush and push down on Him. Yes, He suffered His whole life. He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. We know that. But at this point, Jesus is about to find Himself on the cross.
[7:28] Tortured, we heard that last week. Tortured and hung on that cross to physically feel suffering, to physically, slowly suffocate. But spiritually, to have on His shoulders the very weight of hell for every one of His people. And the disciples, it's too much for them to bear.
[7:50] It's too much for them to bear. The temptation they had, the temptation they had to give in to fear, to give in to doubt. They're about to see their whole world fall apart. The next day or two, they're going to see the man they thought was going to be the Messiah who would rescue their people and destroy the Roman army, destroy the Roman nation who had conquered their people. These disciples would see that man they put all their faith in, dead on a cross, hanging there lifeless, stabbed on His side, taken down, put into a tomb. All their hopes vanished, all their plans of a glorious future, gone. We actually covered that a few months ago now, before I was here as a minister, just one of the the servants we saw. The disciples after the crucifixion we saw, we touched on just the devastation these men felt. Again, the Bible's honest. God is honest when He talks to us in His word. These were normal men.
[8:54] Even though Jesus had told them the plan, they didn't understand it and we certainly wouldn't either in their place. And when they saw their Saviour being dragged away, when they saw the end come, we see that.
[9:04] They react with swords. They lop off the ear of this poor high priest's servant. There is violence, there is fear, there is panic. Jesus tells them to pray, don't fall into temptation. Don't fall into temptation to lose your faith.
[9:21] Temptation to find yourself in the depths of fear. Again, we think we wouldn't be like these men. If that was us there that evening, we'd have listened properly to Jesus. And when it all came apart, when Judas came, when the soldiers came, when these men, these armed men came, we wouldn't panic and fear like these disciples. Well, we perhaps wouldn't say it like that, but often we might catch ourselves thinking that way.
[9:48] But we know we're the exact same. Because think yourself, and I'll think with you, think yourself this past week, this past month perhaps. Those of us here who know Jesus and you love Jesus and you follow Jesus, how often have you found yourself despairing? How often have we found ourselves despairing?
[10:09] At something going on in our personal life, something going on, our family situation, our work situation, the world around us, the current imminent threat of perhaps escalation of the war and so on and so on, and so on and so on, financial ruin perhaps around the corner of our nation and so on and so on.
[10:27] There's so many reasons for us to fear personally and nationally. And we find ourselves falling into the same trap the disciples did. We say that the future is now so uncertain for us, there's nothing left but sorrow and fear and sadness.
[10:45] But same as Jesus this evening, he as it were knew the end from the beginning. Of course, we know the story. We know the account. We know that Jesus rises again. We know that that he tells them that one day soon he rises again a few days after this and the disciples see the risen Savior and he commissions them. We know it's good news for them. But they don't at this point in time.
[11:08] All they see is their Savior, their friend, their Messiah, their Rabbi, their teacher being dragged away and battered and beaten and hung on a cross. They don't see the future. They don't know the future. We don't see past this evening.
[11:22] Whatever worries, dear brother, dear sister, whatever worries we have in our minds. And it's okay me up here saying that and saying this. But you know yourselves, your own personal worries, your private perhaps health worries, physical and mental, your private family situations, whatever they might be. Whatever complications and pain, dear brother, dear sister, is in your life just now.
[11:45] Let's learn together from the disciples. The king of time, the one who's with the full scope of reality and his full possession, the one through whom all things were made and are sustained, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is fully God, with all the power and control and sovereign control that God has.
[12:08] He knows the end from the beginning. He knows what tonight holds for us, what this week holds for us. In prayer, we are told to pray as much as say, not to fall into that same temptation our poor brothers here in the garden fell into. But then we see Jesus praying. Jesus goes to pray.
[12:33] He went through from a stone's throw and knelt down and prayed saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.
[12:50] He went a stone's throw and knelt down and prayed. We've covered this before, but of course, the custom at this time for a rabbi when he prayed, for a Jewish man even when he prayed in the temple, how did a Jewish man pray normally? Well, at this time, we know from outside, we know from secular, historical sources, not just scripture. We know in general that the faithful Jewish man prayed, kind of squarely stood, he stands strongly, and he lifts your eyes up to heaven to pray.
[13:26] He lifts your eyes up to heaven to pray. And where do we see our Saviour praying? The Son of God who can lift his eyes up to heaven and know exactly who he is talking to.
[13:36] What position do we find our glorious Saviour, the second person of eternity, eternal God? God? He knelt down and prayed. The Creator himself, who said all things are made through and made for, He kneels down, He collapses down onto the ground.
[14:02] The Creator is now resting on top of the earth He Himself created, the dust He Himself has made, and He is there. He's there. And we know what's coming next. He's there, knelt down, bent down, collapsed down, because the pressure is weighing down on Him.
[14:23] Just very briefly, even the term here, He withthrew Himself. He withthrew from them a stone's throw. There's plenty of words Luke could have chosen to use for that. Plenty of options for him. Luke, as an educated man, Luke often uses a whole range of words and the word there, withthrew, it's a bit dramatic to be used if Luke's just meaning for us to say, He went. There's plenty of ways, Luke has said, Jesus just went a stone's distance. He went over there. But no, the word used here, withthrew, it has a sense of being torn away. He was torn away from them, a stone's distance. He was dragged away. He had to go and pray, because the time is getting closer and closer and closer. So what do we find in the words of our Saviour's prayer? As His end, as this pressure draws on, He prayed saying, Father, Son, praise to the Father.
[15:28] We heard last week that the prayer is Abba, Father. We see here He prays several times, Father, Abba, Father. The accounts aren't conflicting. They're capturing different parts of what was said in the prayers of our Saviour. He prays several times in the garden, Abba, Father, Father.
[15:48] Son, praise to the Father. The eternal Son, the eternal second person of the Godhead, praise to the eternal Father. He prays as fully human to God.
[16:05] As one, we'll see in a second, who had the full weight on his very human shoulders. Of course, He also prays as Son to Father, eternal Son to Father. There's no confusion, there's no confliction.
[16:19] Fully man, fully God. He speaks as Son to Father, fully God. He speaks to his Father. He cries out to his Father. There's no confusion of persons taking place. The unbreakable relationship, the eternal relationship between Father and Son. We see her taking place as the Son once more cries out to his Father.
[16:47] Throughout this whole time of ministry on earth, the Son would often pray to the Father. We know that. We see in Scripture again and again, Jesus prays and talks quite freely to the Father. But this time, there's something different. The prayer here is so different to the prayers we've seen before.
[17:03] The prayers we've seen before are so conversational. Here, the prayer, it's heavy, isn't it? It's very heavy. Father, if you are willing. We'll combine that with the last phrase of verse 42. Father, if you are willing, nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. We'll go back to the middle section in a second.
[17:28] If you're willing, and not my will, but your will be done. Brothers and sisters, here's what we said at the start. We must tread carefully here, very carefully.
[17:41] For all the study you can do and all the research and prayer that goes on into a study like this, and it's not always wise to say this in my book, but sometimes it is wise. We tread here on holy ground.
[17:52] We must confess that we know very little, but we do know we praise God for. As we come to this text, we are seeing, come to this reality, we are seeing something taking place in front of us that is glorious, but also that is just heart-rending. Father, if you are willing.
[18:16] As we come to this section, very briefly, there's a real danger here of us accidentally falling into a bit of heresy.
[18:28] And we don't use that word lightly. Accidentally. Because if we don't take the humanity of Jesus seriously, his full humanity, we don't appreciate fully what he did for us on the cross.
[18:40] Even last week, the brothers and I were talking about this, knowing this would come up this week, but there are some, and they mean well. And brothers and sisters who we love, who mean well, but they will perhaps think or say, perhaps some will even preach, that Jesus didn't perhaps grow.
[19:03] He was kind of born knowing everything, how to do everything almost. Jesus as carpenter never made a bad stool. Jesus as carpenter never made a door that didn't fit properly.
[19:14] He came out of a womb knowing how to do everything perfectly. If that's true, then Jesus is not fully human. If we say that Jesus did not grow or did not learn, then it might sound holy saying that, but actually we're condemned by 700 years of church history.
[19:34] The first century church fathers, they condemned that as heresy, rightfully so. Apollinarianism. Now the heresy itself is bigger than that, but part of the Apollinarianism heresy, named after the man, the bishop Apollinarius who started it, but essentially he taught that Jesus was human in his body.
[19:55] His body was human, but his mind was just God. His mind was fully divine. His body was human. That sounds pretty close to what we think the Bible says.
[20:08] That Jesus didn't learn anything. He didn't have to grow in knowledge. He didn't have to grow in experience. Do you stop and think? That then makes Jesus a less than perfect mediator.
[20:23] He must be fully man. He must be like us in all ways apart from sin. And there is no sin in having to grow and learn. There's no sin in that. That is how we're made as humans.
[20:35] We grow and we learn. Even our brother prayed in his prayer. He mentioned in his prayer the verse we have to back us up here, again from Luke's Gospel. Luke chapter 2.
[20:47] Luke chapter 2 and verse 52. Luke chapter 2. That pass away, throw away phrase. A throw away phrase. Jesus, of course, is a wee boy in the temple and his parents find him.
[20:59] They panic and they find him in the temple. And it's the end of that section. A verse we just read past. Luke 2 verse 52. The Holy Word of God, without fault, tells us this.
[21:14] That Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man. He grew in his wisdom, his understanding, his knowledge.
[21:28] Because he was human. Fully man. And perhaps we got an easy sometimes of that. But if we don't appreciate he was fully man. The Holy God, we get that.
[21:39] We understand that. Well, not understand that. We can appreciate that. Him being fully man, we get a bit uncomfortable. He is like us in all ways, apart from sin.
[21:50] Apart from sin, of course, we know that. But apart from that, like us in all ways. He grew in his knowledge. Grew in his wisdom. He was human. He was human.
[22:05] Fully human. Fully God. Still fully human. And here we see Jesus in the garden. Facing the full and real dread of his imminent torture and death.
[22:20] He knew what was ahead of him. And here we see the glorious but also heartbreaking reality. Yes, he is fully man, but also he is fully God. That tells us that he knew what he was doing.
[22:33] Yes, he learnt and he grew, but at the same time he is still fully God. He knew why he was here. And day by day, hour by hour, now minute by minute, he is heading closer to the end.
[22:44] And he knows that what lies ahead of him is the full burden of all the pressure, of all the pain, of an eternity worth of hell for every one of his precious people.
[22:56] He is about to face, we said last week, the longer catechism gives us the biblical backing, gives us the theological backing.
[23:07] The longer catechism, I forget the questions. If you listened last week, you have them in your notes, tells us that the divine nature, the divine nature supported the human nature to fully experience the wrath of God.
[23:25] To fully experience the punishment, the pain. When our Saviour became sin for us, he truly became sin for us on that cross. It wasn't just appeared to be.
[23:36] He bore on himself the full punishment. He experienced it truly and really in his very senses.
[23:51] Jesus in the garden at this point is feeling the full dread of what is lying ahead of him. Of course, humanly, he cannot begin to bear this burden. Father, if you are willing, this is not a show he is doing.
[24:03] Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. Jesus isn't doing this robotically. He's not just taking off a tick list of prophecies to fulfill from the Old Testament.
[24:17] He is experiencing this truly. Yes, he knew what was ahead of him. Yes, from eternity past, this is part of the divine plan of Father, Son and Spirit.
[24:27] But yet he experiences it. He truly experiences it. But he is willing. See, the emphasis on the prayer here isn't the removal of the pain ahead of him.
[24:41] The emphasis is his willingness to follow the will of the Father. Our Muslim and our JW and our Mormon friends will point to this passage as evidence that Jesus wasn't God.
[24:58] He's just man. If he's God, he wouldn't want rid of his burden. You're saying he's God. You're saying he's God's son. You're saying he's God in flesh. God incarnate.
[25:09] Well, if he was truly God, then God doesn't look scared. God doesn't want to give up. Reality is, these verses in this section, it makes our savour even more beautiful.
[25:24] Because it tells us, it shows us, he became like us. Truly like us. He humbled himself so much. He became like us so much. That he experienced the full horror of death.
[25:37] The full horror of it. Our saviour was willing. Eternally willing. He's not just willing at this point in time. He is eternally willing. From before time itself, his plan was in action.
[25:51] Before time ever was created. Before time. In the courts of eternity. This plan was there. It's a plan of God. It's a will of God.
[26:01] God's purpose is to complete this plan. Obedience to the Father. Obedience to the Father is what compels our saviour. He's obedient to his Father.
[26:13] But also love for his people. For him to take on. For him to be like us.
[26:24] For him to truly be our lamb. Our spot blameless lamb. He had to be fully human. And to be fully human. Is to feel the full pain of death.
[26:36] As it looms in front of you. Some glorious words. From Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 10. I'll just read them briefly. Hebrews chapter 10. Verses 5.
[26:48] Down to verse 10. So Hebrews 10. Verses 5 to 10. Quoting. In the Old Testament. From various parts of the Old Testament. The author tells us. The quotes we have here are the words of our saviour.
[27:00] Consequently. When Christ came into the world. He said. Sacrifices. And offerings. You have not desired. This is the psalm we sang at the start.
[27:11] Sacrifices and offerings. You have not desired. But a body. Have you prepared for me. In burnt offerings. And sin offerings. You have taken no pleasure. This is the words of our saviour.
[27:22] But I said. Behold. I have come to do your will. O God. As it is written of me. In the scroll. Of the book. As our saviour.
[27:34] Was incarnate. As he went from eternal son of God. To taking on human flesh. The words of the psalm. The words of our saviour.
[27:44] Inspired by the spirit. As the son. In obedience. To the father's plan and will. Says to the father. Behold. I have come to do your will.
[27:55] O God. As it is written of me. In the scroll. Of the book. A willing saviour. Who prays to his father. And finally. We see.
[28:07] The very. A pinnacle of his prayer. Remove this cup from me. Father. If you are willing. Remove this cup from me. Nevertheless. Not my will.
[28:18] But yours be done. We have heard this before. But just to remind ourselves. The cup. Being spoken of here. It is the. Old Testament terminology.
[28:30] It is the Old Testament image. Used again and again. Throughout the Old Testament. Throughout the judges. And the prophets. The cup. Symbolised. The wrath. Of God. The image being that.
[28:42] As God sees. As God sees. The sin. And the evil of the world. He is storing up his wrath. Drop by drop. By drop. In this cup. Again. As our brother prayed. That wrath.
[28:53] Must be experienced. Either by the sinner. Or. By our saviour. Now this cup. As it were. Is full to the brim. And our saviour.
[29:05] On the cross. Would. As it were. Drink every single. Drop. From the cup. Of God's wrath. He drank it.
[29:16] Knowing. What it would be like. For him. What it would feel like. For him. Knowing that. He would experience. Hell. Literally. Upon hell. Upon hell.
[29:27] He would experience. The full. Punishment. Due. For all his precious people. And we say that. So freely. But we have no idea. What we're saying. No idea. What he experienced.
[29:38] What it meant for him. And praise the Lord. We don't have to. If we know Jesus. If we love Jesus. We will never have to. Even taste of any of that. Because he experienced it for us. He took on himself.
[29:49] As our faithful. Spotless lamb. As the final sacrifice. As both the great high priest. And also. The sacrifice itself.
[30:01] On that cross. He drank as I were. From this cup. The cup described so.
[30:11] Bluntly. Bluntly. And so. Terrificly. Ezekiel 23. Verse 33. Quite succinctly called. A cup. Of horror.
[30:23] And desolation. A cup of horror. And desolation. Ezekiel 23. A cup of horror. And desolation. On that cross. Our saviour drank. To the very bottom.
[30:34] The cup of horror. And desolation. That's what our saviour felt. Experienced. In the most real sense possible. As his divine nature upheld.
[30:45] His human nature on that cross. And enabled him to fully. Receive. The full wrath of God. As he fully experienced. The horror. And desolation.
[30:56] Of that wrath. That is our saviour. As he prays in the garden. We saw this last week. Won't do it again. We saw last week. The anxiety.
[31:08] The pain. It brings him to verse 44. We see. It shows itself. In a medical sense. We saw last week. It's a medical reality. Talked about. My doctor friend. Who has seen this.
[31:19] In action. He saw. Someone. In a great medical situation. An awful medical situation. Sweating blood. Sweating it. As the capillaries burst.
[31:31] And as the stress. And pressure builds. Because of fear and anxiety. Your blood. As the smoke always burst. And it. Eeks through the pores. Where sweat is supposed to come through.
[31:43] He prays. And he prays. And we see. That as he prays. It wasn't just once. He prays his prayer. In verse 44. And being in agony. To your brother.
[31:53] To your sisters. Our saviour is in agony. He prayed. More earnestly. We saw from last week. He prays several times. Several times. But the end is coming.
[32:09] And the end is near. As we spend. The short time this evening. In this garden. Once more. We see a prayer. That shows us.
[32:20] The humanity of our saviour. That he is truly. Just like us. And always. Apart from sin. We see his divinity. A saviour who has come to die.
[32:33] From eternity past. Planned to come. And to die. We see his eternal. And active obedience. Towards the father.
[32:44] Not just in theory. But in practice. At this exact moment. It's ongoing. Never ending. Obedience to the father. We also of course. See his love. For us.
[32:55] His eternal love. For his people. Not just born to die. But. From time. Before time. From the courts. Of eternity. Our saviour knew.
[33:06] The second person. Of the Godhead. He knew. What was we mean for him. This is not for tonight. This is for. Closer to the end of our study. But just think. Just now.
[33:17] We have a saviour in heaven. At this moment. At the right hand of the father. Who is. Still what? Still fully man. And fully God. Who still.
[33:27] Has in his body. The marks of his love. For his people. Again. The quote from. Rabbi Duncan. Reverend.
[33:39] Duncan. We should say. But. The dust of the earth. Now sits enthroned in heaven. He has chosen. Out of his love for us. To remain fully man.
[33:51] And fully God. Yes. He is now in his. Resurrection body. But still. He bears a mark. In that body for us. One day we will see him. As he is. He has chosen.
[34:02] To become like his people. To remain like his people. So in him. We have a perfect high priest. Who is like us. And always. Apart from sin. At this very moment.
[34:13] Because of his. Active obedience. To the father. And his eternal love for us. We can know for certain. This evening. Because of the prayer. Of the pain. In the prayer of Gethsemane. We can know just now.
[34:24] As Christians. We have no worry. Of the future. We have an advocate. A perfect. Sacrifice. Who has endured for us.
[34:34] Or we will never have to endure. We can with confidence. This evening. And tonight. And tomorrow. And the rest of our time. Draw confidently. To the throne of grace. Knowing.
[34:45] Our sins. Have been truly forgiven. We have a saviour. Who is willing. To suffer. The wrath of God. For the sake of his people. Let's bow our heads now.
[34:56] Our word of prayer. Lord God. We come before you. Lord we thank you. For the gift of your word. Lord we ask you. Would help us. Not to leave this place. Just having grown.
[35:07] Perhaps. In our knowledge. Help us to grow. In our understanding also. Help us then. To put into practice. What it is we have heard. From your word. This evening. We give you praise. That your word. That is true. Lord we ask you.
[35:18] Would forgive. Anything that was said. Not in accordance. To your word. We praise Lord. That of all. What stands here. And who stands here. Might be. Nothing more than a jar of clay.
[35:28] But in your perfect word. We have perfect truth. We thank you. For the gift. Of a saviour. Who is. Who is willing. To give up his life. For his people. A saviour. Who endured.
[35:41] All the. The bitter. The eggs of that cup. For the sake of his people. Out of his. Obedience to you. Out of his love for us. Lord help us never.
[35:51] To grow tired. Of hearing that. Of being reminded. That we have a saviour. Who loves us. Who gave his life for us. Who at this very moment. Eternally loves us. And cares for us.
[36:02] And promises never. To lose a single one of us. Promises to keep us. And call us his own. Until he comes. To take us home. Until that day comes. Lord help us to serve you well. Thank you once more. For this gathering.
[36:13] Of your people this evening. This gathering. And we can spend time. Around your words. Singing your praises. Knowing that you are here with us. This evening. As we worship you. Help us even. As we come to sing. Our final item of praise.
[36:23] We thank you Lord. For the one leading the worship. Thank you Lord. For the willingness Lord. And the ability. Thank you Lord. For the great task. Of those who do lead worship. For they are leading your people. Into the sung worship of you.
[36:34] Our living God. Who deserves. Our highest praise. We ask all these things. In and through. And for Jesus. For his precious name's sake. Amen. Let's sing.
[36:46] God's praise. Psalm 31. Scottish Psalter. And Psalm 31. Psalm 31. Psalm 31.
[37:06] We sing verses. 1 down to verse 5. Off the psalm. In thee O Lord. I put my trust. Shamed. Let me never be. According to thy righteousness. Do thou deliver me.
[37:17] Bow down thine ear to me with speed. Send me deliverance. To save me. My strong rock be thou. And my house of defence. Psalm 31. Verses 1 to 5. To God's praise.
[37:28] O Lord. I put my trust.
[37:42] Shame that men ever be. According to thy righteousness.
[37:56] According to thy righteousness. According to thy righteousness. According to thy righteousness. To thou be never be. But unnigh near to me with speed.
[38:17] Send me deliverance. To save me.
[38:28] My strong rock be thou. And my earth's all defence.
[38:43] Because thy heart. My rock be. My rock be. I fall.
[38:54] I fall. My fall. I fall. I fall. I fall. I fall. I fall. Therefore. Do thou.
[39:06] Me lean. I. In fall. For thine order. In sake.
[39:17] For thine order. In sake. Until Thou art my strength thereof, Pour me out of the net, Which they exalted thee for me, So greatly have set.
[39:58] Into thine hands I do comment, My spirit for Thou art thee, O Rage, O that God of truth, That hast redeemed me.
[40:35] The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, And the love of God the Father, And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, Be with you now and forevermore. Amen. Amen.