[0:00] And that's from page 175, saying in verses 8, down to 13. Lord, there is none among the gods that may with thee compare. And like the works which thou hast done, not any work is there.
[0:12] All nations whom thou made shall come and worship reverently. For thy face is in thee, O Lord, thy name shall glorify. This is our prayer as we come to focus on God's work. We're acknowledging the fact that there is no God but God.
[0:24] None can compare with him. And then at the same time we are praying in verse 11 that he would teach us his ways. That he would teach us his truths. That he would enable us to walk with him.
[0:34] That he would unite our hearts to himself so that we would fear and worship him. Psalm 86, verses 8 down to 13. To God's praise. Psalm 86, verses 8 down to 13.
[1:25] Psalm 86, verses 8 down to 13.
[1:55] Psalm 86, verses 8 down to 13.
[2:25] Psalm 86, verses 9 down to 13.
[2:55] Psalm 86, verses 8 down to 13. Psalm 86, verses 9 down to 13.
[3:25] How is your life and sing? Your life and God's tutoring. unto thy name always.
[3:36] Because thy mercy toward me in greatness shall excel and thou deliver as my soul out from the lowest hell.
[4:15] Well, could you please turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter 17. 1 Samuel chapter 17. And I'd like us to look at verses 1 down to 54 of this chapter.
[4:26] 1 Samuel chapter 17. Verses 1 down to 54. But if you could look with me at verses 45 and 47. We read then, said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield.
[4:40] But I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee unto mine hand. And I will smite thee and take thine hand from thee.
[4:51] And I will give the carcasses of the hosts of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear.
[5:05] For the battle is the Lord's. He will give you into our hands. Well, this morning as we close this communion season, we come to one of the best known, but also one of the most abused of all the biblical narratives.
[5:23] It's a well-known biblical story. Even people with absolutely no church background are familiar with the story of the shepherd boy killing the giant Goliath.
[5:35] But it's also a story that's been greatly abused. Many people come away from this story thinking that the message is the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Or there is always hope for the underdog.
[5:47] Or God will give you victory over the giants of your life, whether that be the giant of sickness, or the giant of a particular employer, or the giant of a playground bully, or the giant of a particularly difficult relationship.
[6:01] Our problem is, we want to identify with David, the hero of this story. But that wasn't how the Old Testament Christians read this story.
[6:12] They identified with Israel, the people of God, and they looked to the Saviour the Lord graciously provided for his people. And so as we go through this story today, I want us to put ourselves in the shoes of Israel, the people of God, and look at the Saviour that God has appointed for his people, one greater than David, namely the Lord Jesus Christ.
[6:36] So let's go into this story. And it's really divided into three sections. The first thing we see is an unhappy situation. An unhappy situation. And that's in verses 1 to 11. And what we see in these verses is that God's people are taunted and threatened by a powerful enemy.
[6:52] God's people are taunted and threatened by a powerful enemy. Now the battle lines are drawn very much in verses 1 to 3, where we're told that the Philistines and the Israelites are at war with each other.
[7:05] Now throughout 1 Samuel, the Israelites and the Philistines are constantly warring with each other. And they're fighting to resolve the issue of who is really God? The God of the Israelites or the God of the Philistines?
[7:17] Which God is powerful enough to save his people? And we're told in verse 1 that the Philistines assemble at Shoko, while the Israelites assemble at the valley of Ela in verse 2.
[7:30] And there is something of a standoff in verse 3, where the Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, and there was a valley between them. And after the battle lines are drawn, we are introduced to the Philistine champion, Goliath of Gath, in verses 4 to 7.
[7:48] We might well picture the Israelites standing in their rows, pouring out their torrents of abuse on the Philistines, telling them that they would teach them a lesson, just as they had taught them a lesson through Jonathan, back in 1 Samuel 14.
[8:03] And suddenly the Philistine ranks give way, revealing their latest weapon, their latest development in Philistine military technology, Goliath of Gath.
[8:14] And we're given a wonderful description of Goliath. We're told about his appearance in verse 4, where we're told that he had a height of six cubits in a span, over nine feet tall.
[8:25] And after speaking of his appearance, we're told about his armour in verses 5 and 6. Now very few Israelites wore armour at this time. In fact, only Saul is recorded as possessing armour.
[8:36] Goliath's armour is recorded in detail. Verses 5 and 6 we read, he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of brass, and he had grease of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders.
[8:54] Now I just want to note the emphasis here on mail or scale armour. That's not accidental. Reptiles have scales. Snakes of scales.
[9:07] The writer of Samuel is trying to describe Goliath as looking like a giant snake. And if you think that I'm reading too much into this, then this word brass or bronze, which occurs four times in these verses, is the same word from which we get the word snake in Hebrew.
[9:24] And that is significant. Throughout the Bible, there is this ongoing warfare, beginning in Genesis 3, between the seed of the woman through whom the Messiah will come, through whom God's name will be glorified, and the seed of the serpent.
[9:39] This ongoing warfare. And so we are seeing this giant snake looking down on the people of God, through whom the seed of God, the Messiah, will come. And after recording Goliath's appearance and his armour, we are then told about his arsenal, or his weapons, verse 7, where we are told that his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron, and one balian shield went before him.
[10:05] So here we have this giant snake, this Satan-like enemy, bearing down on the people of God. And we are then confronted with the challenge of the Philistine champion in verses 8 to 10.
[10:18] He demands in verse 8 that the Israelites appoint a warrior to fight him, saying, Why are you come out to set your battle in array? Am I not a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul?
[10:29] Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to fight me. And this will be a winner-takes-all contest, where Goliath says in verse 9, If he be able to fight with me and to kill me, then will we be your servants.
[10:42] But if I prevail against him and kill him, then we shall be your servants, and we shall serve you. It will be a winner-takes-all contest. And after laying down the gauntlet, this giant snake then keeps insults on the people of God, saying in verse 10, I defy the armies of Israel this day.
[11:02] Give me a man that we may fight together. He is saying, Am I not a God-hating Philistine? Why won't any of your men of the living God fight me?
[11:13] You can't really believe in your God at all. You must believe that a nine-foot warrior is more powerful than your supposed living God when it comes to a real battle, when it comes to life outside of the tabernacle, when it comes to life outside of the church.
[11:30] And we're then brought to the reaction of Saul and the Israelites in verse 11. Saul and the Israelites were told they're left impressed by this giant snake, but also depressed by him.
[11:41] They're at a low point as this giant snake threatens to bring them into slavery. They're facing the same crisis that they once experienced in Egypt all over again.
[11:52] But I wonder, have you noticed something that's missing in verses 1 to 11? Or someone that's missing in verses 1 to 11? There is no mention of the Lord.
[12:05] And there is no mention of the Lord because the Lord doesn't enter the Israelites thinking. They find themselves in a helpless situation, in a hopeless situation, and instead of waiting on the Lord and hoping, they look at the size of the problem and they despair.
[12:20] They're relying on their own resources. So God's people are taunted and threatened by a powerful enemy. And today as Christians, as God's people, as God's children, we all face opposition.
[12:33] The devil is described in the Bible as being like a giant snake, a great dragon who uses circumstances and uses people to cause us to doubt in a living, loving God of power and grace who is committed to his people.
[12:48] And like Goliath, he mocks and sneers as he hisses, I know you go to church. I know you know all the theory about being a Christian. But let's see how you really cope when faced with real temptation.
[13:01] Let's see the look on your God-praising face when you get a terrifying medical diagnosis. Let's see you really speak about joy in the Lord when your finances aren't looking so great.
[13:12] Let's see how you really respond when someone pours scorn on your being a Christian and maybe professing faith for the very first time. Let's see how you really believe in God's covenant promises when your family seems so far from the Lord Jesus.
[13:28] Let's see how you cope when people aren't there for you, when people let you down, when people throw you under the bus. We see this as we go throughout 1 Samuel and as we go throughout the Bible.
[13:39] The devil wants us to look at the bigness of our problem and surrender in slave-like fear to him rather than focusing on the bigness of our God and surrendering our problems and worries to him because the devil knows when we have a small view of God, when we have a diminished view of God, we won't depend on him.
[14:00] We won't surrender our concerns in prayer to him. We won't rejoice in him. We won't place our hope in him. An unhappy situation.
[14:11] Which brings us secondly to an unlikely champion. An unlikely champion and that's brought out in verses 12 to 44. And what we see in these verses is that David doesn't seem like the champion who will deliver God's people.
[14:27] David doesn't seem like the champion who will deliver God's people. Israel right now need a deliverer. They need one to fight on their behalf and Saul was meant to be that deliverer.
[14:38] You remember that Saul was anointed to fight the Philistines and you remember that Saul was head and shoulders above all the other Israelites and you remember that Saul possessed his armour and you remember that only Saul and Jonathan possessed weapons.
[14:53] If anyone could and if anyone should take on this well armoured this very tall this arsenal bearing giant Goliath it is Saul.
[15:04] But what is Saul doing? Verse 11 he is cowering with the rest of the nation. He is impressed by Goliath and depressed by Goliath. The Lord's anointed has no intention of facing the Lord's enemy in the Lord's name for the Lord's honour and glory.
[15:21] Israel needs a new deliverer. Israel needs a new saviour. Israel needs a new king. Israel needs what? A good shepherd.
[15:33] And suddenly David the shepherd boy is introduced to us in verses 12 to 19. But these verses highlight David's weakness rather than his strength. He doesn't seem like a rescuer.
[15:44] Doesn't seem like a redeemer. Doesn't seem like a saviour. We're told in verse 14 that he is Jesse's youngest son. We're told in verse 15 that he is too young to be a soldier. His three older brothers go off to war while he stays at home with the sheep.
[15:58] And we read in verses 17 to 19 that his father is treating him as an errand boy. You know, I love David's faithfulness here. His humility. His faithfulness in the very smallest of things.
[16:10] In chapter 16 he is anointed as the Lord's king. What's he doing in chapter 17? Delivering cheese sandwiches for his brothers. And this servant-like attitude is further brought out in verse 32, verse 34, verse 36 where David repeatedly calls himself your servant.
[16:30] When I was in St. Andrew's at the Free Church we would get a lot of members of the divinity faculty at the university coming to the church services and one was the professor of systematic theology in the university.
[16:42] Now one would ask what would the professor of systematic theology do in St. Andrew's Free Church? Would he seek to only speak with the minister or with the elders? Would he be surrounded by divinity students passing on his wonderful pearls of wisdom?
[16:56] He would be found at the church teas and coffees hoovering up after the younger children. It was his faithfulness in the very smallest things. And today you might think nobody notices your faithfulness in the very smallest things.
[17:10] You might think nobody notices anything that you do in this church or in this community in the name of Jesus for the glory of God but God notices faithfulness in the very smallest things just as he notes in his inspired word that David delivered cheese sandwiches to his brothers.
[17:30] And as we meet David therefore we are confronted with an apparently weak and lowly servant. And as the story progresses we see that David this weak and lowly servant is also a despised and rejected servant.
[17:44] He is despised and rejected by his brother Eliab in verses 20 to 30. David arrives on the front lines just as Goliath is mocking the Lord and the Lord's people verse 23.
[17:55] Stop there. That's probably the first time David ever heard the Lord's name being blasphemed. We are very accustomed to hearing the Lord's name being blasphemed in our public spheres of life and also when we switch on the television.
[18:11] But blaspheming the Lord's name was a capital offence in Israel David wasn't used to hearing this. And it unsettles him. It angers him. And he says in verse 26 what shall be done to the man that killeth his Philistine and taketh away the reproach from Israel for who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God.
[18:32] And at this point there is a confrontation between David and Eliab in verses 28 to 30. It is an exchange between the oldest and the youngest between the soldier and the shepherd between the man and the boy.
[18:45] And Eliab says to him you shouldn't be here little brother. You shouldn't be here. You should be looking after those few sheep. What an insult isn't it? You should be looking after your few sheep.
[18:57] And he says you shouldn't be here because you have an evil heart that just wants to see men die. He is emphasising that David has nothing positive to contribute to this situation.
[19:09] And you know friends sometimes the worst discouragement that you will ever face as a Christian can come from members of your own family. And that's what David experiences here. But not only that he is despised and rejected by Saul.
[19:23] Verses 31 to 39. It's reported to Saul as someone who's eager to fight Goliath and Saul is filled with joy and hope. He must have been wondering was this going to be a very tall man?
[19:34] Was he going to be a very powerfully built man? Was he going to be a warrior from some place that he didn't know of? But the smile quickly disappears when Saul sees David. We might imagine his eyes widening, his jaw dropping, his head shaking in disbelief.
[19:48] And again Saul emphasizes that David is just a boy and this is a battle-hardened Philistine. Verse 33. He says, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight him, for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.
[20:04] He's saying, David, Saul, Goliath's been fighting before you were even born. How can you take him on? And we've already noted that sometimes the worst discouragement that we can face as Christians can come from our family.
[20:19] But sometimes other discouragement may come from people who are professing to be Christians, professing to be God's people, people like Saul.
[20:32] Stories told of William Kay, founder of the modern missionary movement in the West, who would go around different churches trying to spread a passion for missions overseas.
[20:43] And he was just a young man at the time, and at one meeting he was so excited and he was calling on the people to support the work of foreign mission, and one older minister got up and he said to him, young man, sit down, if the Lord wants to convert the heathen, he will do so in his own way and in his own time.
[21:00] He was discouraged by a member of that church, someone claiming to be a Christian. But not only is David despised and rejected by Eliab, not only is he despised and rejected by Saul, he is also despised and rejected by Goliath in verses 40 to 44.
[21:17] David marches out to Goliath, taking only a staff and five smooth stones for his sling in verse 40. And Goliath sees someone moving toward him, and his heart lifts.
[21:28] He's been calling out for 40 days straight for someone to come and fight him, and now someone is coming to fight him. But he is quickly disappointed. He comes toward David in verse 41, and he looks David over, and in verse 42 we read that he despises him, because he sees that David's only a boy.
[21:47] This won't be a prestigious victory. It would be like the Barcelona A-team coming to face the point football club. It wouldn't be a prestigious victory. And in order to make most of the contest, Goliath engages in this psychological onslaught.
[22:03] He insults David's weapons, verse 43, where he says to him, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? Then he goes on and he curses David by his gods. And then in verse 44, he threatens to kill David, dishonor his corpse, and deny him an honourable burial, saying, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.
[22:26] David doesn't seem like the champion who will deliver God's people. And this morning, as we survey David, we might note that there are wonderful parallels with King Jesus.
[22:38] Because Isaiah speaks of Jesus being the servant of the Lord. And going even farther, Isaiah declares Jesus to be the despised and rejected servant of the Lord.
[22:49] He is a man from whom people hide their faces and refuse to esteem. His life is so pitiful, his death is so wretched, that people despise him, and they reject him.
[23:01] And today, people still fall into the error of Eliab, Saul, and Goliath, by refusing to think highly of the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords. Some speak of him as being gentle Jesus, meek and mild.
[23:14] Others say he is so heavenly minded, that he is of no earthly good. He is of no significance or relevance for today, or the issues of today. Others say his life, and his death, is simply a sad, tragic story.
[23:29] And even as Christians, we can contribute to this wrong view of Jesus. If we never speak of Jesus, or if we simply make him seem to be marginal or incidental to our lives, is that going to lead people to highly esteem him?
[23:46] If we disregard Jesus' total lordship over our lives, so that he becomes nothing more than a celestial Santa Claus, a shoulder for us to cry on when the going gets tough, is that going to lead people to highly esteem him?
[24:00] Or if we so personalise and privatise our faith that we never tell people about the impact that Jesus has made on our lives, is that going to lead people to highly esteem him?
[24:12] Jesus is an unlikely deliverer, and our calling is to point people to the greatness of who he is, and the great things he has done, so that people will accept him and worship him, for he truly is.
[24:29] Like Roman and Song of Solomon, may our testimony be to people, he is altogether lovely. Like the Apostle Paul, may our only boast be in Christ and his cross.
[24:42] May we be like John, who we've kept coming back to this week, decreasing where Christ is increasing. An unlikely champion. Which brings us finally to an unexpected victory.
[24:57] Verses 45 to 54. An unexpected victory. And what we see in these verses is that God's people experience a great victory brought about by God's unlikely deliverer.
[25:10] God's people experience a great victory brought about by God's unlikely deliverer. David has gone to fight Goliath. And Goliath has really trash-talked David and his God in verses 40 to 44.
[25:24] And now David speaks to Goliath in verses 45 to 47. And he says in verse 45 that he has come in the name of the Lord. He says to Goliath, you come against me with a sword and a sword.
[25:37] A spear and a javelin. Goliath, is that all you've got? Goliath, I come to you in the name of the Lord. I come to you with the power of God.
[25:48] The promises of God. The presence of God. The protection of God. I come to you in the name of the living God. Are you planning, Goliath, on fighting the living God with just a sword and a spear and a javelin?
[26:02] What a contrast, isn't it? Goliath the giant says, do you come against me with a staff? And Goliath says, do you come, David says, do you come against my God with a sword and a spear and a javelin?
[26:15] And David then announces that through him, the Lord will destroy Goliath. Verse 46, he says, this day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand and I will smite thee. The word can actually mean I will stone thee.
[26:27] And you remember that the Old Testament penalty for blasphemy was stoning by death. And then David goes on to say that the result of all of this will be that the earth will know that there is a God in Israel.
[26:37] Verses 46 and 47, he says, I will give the carcasses of the hosts of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
[26:49] And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with spear, sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands. This is really David's driving concern and driving ambition in this chapter.
[27:02] Verse 26, we need David say, what shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine and taketh away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?
[27:14] Verse 36, David then says, thy servants slew both the lion and the bear and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seen he hath defied the armies of the living God.
[27:25] And now in verse 46, David says the same. Goliath has blasphemed David's God, caused Israel to doubt the power, the greatness, the glory, the grace, the salvation of their God.
[27:36] David's concern is God's glory, that God would be worshipped by his own people and by the nations. And Goliath's death will prove to God's people and to the nations that God is God and his name will not be defamed.
[27:53] Isn't that a model of what our priorities and interests should be? God's been praised, God's been prized, God's been worshipped, God's been glorified, God's been treasured, God's been trusted, ought to be the goal, the objective, the priority of every Christian.
[28:10] Probably you all grew up with the shorter catechism. What is man's chief end? Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. And then we come to the battle, verses 48 to 54.
[28:23] Goliath advances toward David and what does David do? David, we're told, runs boldly, fearlessly, courageously toward Goliath just as Jesus marched forward to the cross and the cup of suffering that we saw on Friday night.
[28:41] And the battle's all over in a minute. It's a bit of an anticlimax. A few years ago, my flatmates and I were wanting to watch Amir Khan boxing match and so we locked the doors of our flat, we got in lots of cans of Coke and made up lots of burgers and we made sure that nobody was going to interrupt us for the whole day.
[29:01] We watched all the build-up, we watched the weigh-in, we watched the trash-talking, we watched Amir Khan get into the boxing room. He swung one punch and it was all over in a minute. It was such an anticlimax.
[29:14] It's the same in 1 Samuel 17. We've had the weigh-in, Goliath's weight has been measured, David's weight has been measured. We've had the trash-talking, Goliath's mocked David and his God, David has mocked Goliath and his false gods.
[29:28] We then have them both running to face each other, there's then the slingshot and the instant death. David then cuts off Goliath's head displaying it before the Israelites and the Philistines verse 51 and the Philistines run up in fear.
[29:42] Meanwhile, the Israelites emboldened and equipped by the victory of the Lord through his unlikely servant chase after the Philistines, killing them along the road. Verses 52 and 53.
[29:54] this is an unexpected victory as we see this unlikely champion fighting in the Lord's name for the Lord's honour against the Lord's enemy.
[30:06] And today we are reminded that God has brought about an even greater victory, the victory over sin, death, the devil, the greatest giants of all through Jesus Christ, the unlikely champion.
[30:20] like David, Jesus had a concern to save his people for what? The glory of God. And like David, Jesus went into the battle abandoned by all his friends and family.
[30:34] Yes, we see his mother in John standing by the cross, but where are the crowds who welcomed him into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday with shouts of Hosanna? Where are the disciples who have seen all his miracles and heard all his teaching?
[30:48] Where is Peter who said, Lord, I will stand by you through thick and through thin and go even to death with you? Where is Judas, the keeper of the money bag? Jesus is alone, thrown under the bridge by his own friends.
[31:03] Like David, Jesus ran onto the field of battle with perfect confidence and was victorious over the giants of sin, death, and the devil, and we get to share in that victory, though we didn't lift a finger to help him.
[31:19] It is all of his sovereign grace. And like David, who used Goliath's sword against him, Jesus used his enemies' weapons against them as men did their worst to Jesus.
[31:32] Jesus was doing his best for mankind. As the devil laughed as the nails were driven through Jesus' hand, he was crushing the serpent's head under his nail-pierced feet.
[31:44] This is the confidence of every single Christian that we are following in the wake of a victorious Christ, an unlikely champion who has achieved an unmistakable, unimaginable victory.
[31:59] And if your confidence is in this, Jesus, you can rejoice whatever you are going through that you are living in the light of his victory. We saw at the very start today that the devil wants us to be immobilised, imprisoned by the bigness of our problems and our circumstances.
[32:18] But when we see Jesus as our victorious king, the conqueror of sin, death, and the devil, it transforms everything. It transforms the way that we read the Bible.
[32:29] It's no longer a dry historic book. We read it as God's written account of his victory for the glory of his name and the eternal good of his people.
[32:40] It transforms the way that we evangelise where we realise we aren't simply giving good advice. We realise we're not simply trying to see pews filled. We realise we are heralds, ambassadors of good news going into our community saying, hear ye, hear ye, the king has come and the king has won and the king is returning for a final celebration.
[33:04] Join the celebration. And it transforms our view of other people where we don't need to labour for the approval of others who may constantly disapprove of us because we have all the approval of the king of kings and the lord of lords and we are covered in his righteousness.
[33:23] And it transforms our view of the future where we don't worry about our lives flying out of control but rejoice that all things are placed under the feet of our king.
[33:34] and it transforms our view of death where though we may fear the physical aspect of dying and there's nothing wrong with that. We don't fear what's on the other side because we know there is life, there is hope, there is resurrection, there is redemption because death has been conquered.
[33:55] Where, oh death, is your victory? Where, oh death, is your sting? The apostle Paul said that if Christ hasn't been crucified and raised, our preaching is useless.
[34:06] If Christ hasn't been crucified and risen, our faith is useless. If Christ hasn't been crucified and risen, we are still in our sins. If Christ hasn't been crucified and risen, we are lost.
[34:17] If Christ hasn't been crucified and risen, we are to be pitied more than any other people. But Christ has been crucified and he is risen and he is victorious and the story of David and Goliath is a wonderful foreshadowing of that supreme, ultimate victory for the glory of God's name and the eternal good of God's people.
[34:47] Amen. We'll close this time of worship by singing the words of Psalm 117.
[34:58] Psalm 117 on page 244. We're singing the whole psalm. The psalm that calls the nations to praise God for his loving kindness and his truth.
[35:10] A psalm that encourages us to bless the Lord. We'll give you praise unto the Lord. All nations it be, likewise he people all accord his name to magnify. For great to us wherever are his loving kindnesses, his truth endures forevermore.
[35:24] The Lord, O do ye bless. Psalm 117 to God's praise. O give ye praise unto the Lord, O nations of thee, like wise ye people, the Lord.
[35:52] O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, his name to magnify. magnify. For great to us word, whatever are his loving kindnesses, his truth endures forevermore.
[36:25] That the Lord, O Lord, O Lord, do ye blessed. Well, it only remains for me to express as our congregation our sincere and heartfelt thanks to Mr. Ferrier for his willingness to be with us over these days.
[36:46] He very gladly and very freely accepted a very heavy program of preaching from Friday evening through to Monday.
[36:58] But as he said himself, he very often has four services on a Sunday so it was better to have five services over four days than four services in one day.
[37:09] But nevertheless, it was a heavy program and we're very grateful to him for his willingness to preach and we're very thankful to God for the freedom that he gave to him and of the abilities he has given to him and that they should be consecrated to the Lord's service in the work of the ministry.
[37:31] And we will remember you, Mr. Ferrier, in your congregation in the north coast of Scotland and we were hearing a little about some of the challenges of that ministry last evening.
[37:43] And we will remember you. And please convey our Christian greetings to our brothers and sisters in that part of the church. I would like to thank the congregation for all your help with different aspects of the communion weekend and not least for remembering us in the months and for all the provision that you made to host visitors and to have fellowship and so on.
[38:11] And we pray that God will bless and that there will be food from all that took place over these days. So the fifth session will be closed with the benediction now and you will please allow Mr. Ferrier to go to the door.
[38:29] He's leaving on the ferry this afternoon and we pray him a safe towel and much blessing in the work of the gospel.
[38:39] Thank you.