[0:00] Let's read from 1st Samuel chapter 13. That's on page 282 in the ESV Bible, 1st Samuel chapter 13.
[0:30] And rather bizarrely, the chapter begins by saying this, Saul was years old when he began to reign.
[0:43] This is the only place in the Bible where there is a blank like this, and it's left out because there is a blank in the original version.
[0:56] Other versions of the Bible have tried to make an educated guess as to what ought to be in that verse, but the translators of the ESV, they reckon that in order to be accurate to the original, they would simply put what the original says, which is, Saul was years old when he began to reign.
[1:19] And of course, there are all kinds of arguments as to whether they should have done that or not. But in any case, that's what they've done, and that's what is there in front of us. And he reigned for something and two years over Israel.
[1:34] Saul chose 3,000 men of Israel. 2,000 were with Saul in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and 1,000 were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent home, every man to his tent.
[1:48] 2,000 men of Israel.
[2:18] And 6,000 horsemen and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped at Michmash to the east of Beth-Avon. When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble, for the people were hard-pressed, the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and tombs and cisterns.
[2:36] And some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him, trembling. He waited for seven days, the time appointed by Samuel.
[2:52] But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, Bring the burnt offering here to me and the peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering.
[3:06] As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. Samuel said, What have you done?
[3:18] And Saul said, When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, I said, Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.
[3:31] So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering. And Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you.
[3:45] For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.
[4:03] And Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal. The rest of the people went up after Saul to meet the army. They went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people who were present with him, about six hundred men.
[4:21] There's three thousand at the beginning of the chapter. There's only six hundred left. The rest have fled. And Saul and Jonathan, his son, and the people who were present with him, stayed in Gebeah of Benjamin.
[4:33] But the Philistines encamped in Michmash. And raiders came out of the camps of the Philistines in three companies. One company turned towards Ofra, to the land of Shual. Another company turned towards Beth Horon.
[4:46] Another company turned towards the border that looks down on the valley of Zeboim, towards the wilderness. Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make themselves swords for spears.
[5:00] But every one of the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, or his sickle. And the charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares and for the mattocks, and a third of a shekel for sharpening the axes and for setting the goads.
[5:18] So on the day of the battle, there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people with Saul and Jonathan, but Saul and Jonathan, his son, had them. And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash.
[5:35] Amen. And may God bless his own word. We've heard God's word speaking to us once again this evening. We're going to sing in Psalm 130.
[5:45] That's the Scottish Psalter version on page 421. The tune is Martyrdom. Page number 421. We're going to sing the whole of the psalm.
[6:04] Psalm 130. Lord, from the depths to thee I cried, my voice, Lord, do thou hear. unto my supplications voice to give an attentive ear.
[6:16] Lord, who shall stand if thou, O Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, but yet with thee forgivenesses that feared thou mayest be. Psalm 130, the whole of the psalm.
[6:26] And once again, we're going to stand to sing. Amen. Lord, from the depths to thee I cry, my voice, Lord, do thou hear.
[6:52] I'm to my supplications voice, give an attentive ear.
[7:08] Lord, who shall stand if thou, O Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, but yet with thee forgivenesses, that fear thou mayest be.
[7:41] I wait for God, my soul not wait.
[7:52] My hope is in his word. More handed at our morning watch, my soul is for the Lord.
[8:16] I say, Lord, I may not to watch, a morning light to see.
[8:33] Let Israel open the Lord, for with mercy be.
[8:50] And plentious redemption Is ever found within And from all his iniquities He is special redeemed 1 Samuel chapter 13, the chapter that we read.
[9:43] Verse 13, And Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God with which he commanded you.
[10:01] I don't remember much of my young childhood, but I do remember one instance that took place when I was three years old, all these years ago.
[10:15] We lived in a place called Carr Bridge. It's where the landmark center is. It's probably known best for us, for the landmark center nowadays. But our house was right beside the landmark center.
[10:26] In fact, the land which was taken over by the landmark center was the place we used to go as a family for walks when I was three or four years old. But my father lived, we lived in a Manson Carr Bridge and my father kept bees.
[10:45] He kept, he had a beehive about 100 yards to the back of the house. And one day, on my own, I decided to investigate the bees.
[11:00] It must have been when my mother and father weren't looking. Off I went by myself on this expedition and walked up to the beehive and looked inside it and shook it.
[11:16] And that's why I remember, and I will never forget, what happened after that and the stings that my mother had to pull out of me in the kitchen shortly afterwards.
[11:29] Left a traumatic mark on my, on my character from then on. When I read this chapter, that's what I think about because that's what happened when Jonathan took his men and when they attacked a garrison of the Philistines.
[11:51] Originally, there were 3,000 men. Saul had 2,000 men and Jonathan had 1,000 men. The rest, they rather foolishly sent home. Perhaps it was complacency on Saul's part.
[12:04] Perhaps he felt that because he had won such a decisive victory before against Nahash, the Ammonite, that he didn't need that number of men. But in any case, that's what happened.
[12:15] He sent them all home. He had 2,000. Jonathan had 1,000. Jonathan, of course, as you know, was his son. And Jonathan, we're going to discover next time, is a man who is a very special character in the Bible.
[12:31] Not only because he was naturally courageous, but he was a man of faith. A far greater example of a man of faith than his father was. Where his father forsook God, Jonathan worshipped God.
[12:46] And Jonathan was a hero in the Bible. In any case, here, Jonathan took his men and he defeated one of the Philistine garrisons.
[12:56] The Philistines heard, and like the bees, they gathered en masse. There were swarms of them.
[13:09] 30,000 chariots. Did you see that when we read it? 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen. They were like the sand of the seashore.
[13:20] Teach shore. As far as they were concerned, they weren't interested in who the actual leader of the troop of soldiers was.
[13:31] As far as they were concerned, they were Israelites and they were going to teach the Israelites and they were going to sting them as painfully and as destructively as they possibly could.
[13:46] And what happened after that was a real tragedy. the people, instead of being gathered together by their leader who they had set over them and in fact who God had appointed over them, they panicked.
[13:59] They reacted. Some of them hid in caves and holes and tombs and cisterns. Some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan. They went as far as they could to escape the impending doom which they thought was going to come upon the land.
[14:17] Now, meanwhile, Saul had made an agreement with Samuel that Samuel would come down on a certain day, seven days from when he made the agreement.
[14:30] And Samuel, Saul, on the one hand watching all of these people scattering to the four winds and on the other hand Samuel not showing up as he said he was going to, Saul himself panicked and there is this massive overreaction, a knee-jerk reaction.
[14:51] They tell us even normally and naturally that if you're in dire straits, the last thing you want to do is to act quickly.
[15:04] When you're in dire straits, that's the time for acting slowly and thoughtfully and especially when it's a Christian. If that's true normally, how much more is it true with God's people that when we find ourselves in dire straits, that's not the time to be suddenly making snap decisions.
[15:28] Like Saul, and if ever there was an example of how we ought not to make such quick judgments, here is one of them. Saul knew that Samuel was coming to meet him in order to offer a sacrifice to the Lord because he knew that everything had to begin with the Lord and worshipping him.
[15:52] But instead of waiting for Samuel, in actual fact, if he had just waited a few moments longer, Samuel did actually come on the day when he said he would come. It's not like this is two or three days late.
[16:05] Samuel did actually come but because Saul was watching his men scattering to the four winds, he thought, he reckoned there was going to be no one left to fight the Philistines.
[16:16] So instead of that, he tried to encourage his men by himself offering up the sacrifice that Samuel said he was going to offer.
[16:31] Of course, when Samuel eventually did show up and he said, what have you done? He said, I forced myself and offered the burnt offering and Samuel said to Saul, you have done foolishly.
[16:42] You have not kept the command of the Lord with which he commanded you. Now the Lord is going to take the kingdom out of your hands. He's not going to be yours forever because God has sought out a man after his own heart and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people.
[17:03] Then Saul saw that the number of troops that he had left was only 600 men. What in the world was he ever going to do with 600 men against 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen like the sand on the seashore?
[17:19] But it was even worse than that. If ever there was a chapter of despair, then this is it. There is absolutely no hope. When you get to the end of the chapter, the Israelites have absolutely no hope.
[17:34] They face annihilation. They face extermination by this massive Philistine force who have been stirred up because Jonathan took his men and because he destroyed one of their garrisons.
[17:47] They are filled with rage and they are going to use every means possible to stamp out the Hebrews once and for all. It was even worse than that because now there were no blacksmiths.
[17:57] And of course it doesn't take a university degree to work out that any army has to have swords. They have to have weapons. And if there's no blacksmiths then there's no swords or at least there's no sharp swords.
[18:13] The sharp swords are rendered ineffective. The Philistines had invaded the territories where there were blacksmiths and they had got rid of them either by taking them to their own side capturing them or just killing them.
[18:26] The Philistines were obviously extremely clever people in war. They knew exactly where to strike to make surgical strikes. And here we have an example of their cleverness.
[18:40] Every one of the Israelites went down. In fact, so much so that the Israelites, they became dependent on the Philistines for sharpening their axes and their mattocks and their plowshares.
[18:52] And of course, I can't imagine any Philistine blacksmiths being too willing to sharpen a sword for the Hebrews. And so it goes from bad to worse.
[19:03] The charge was two thirds of a shekel. They charged them a fortune for sharpening any of the instruments that they wanted to charge. And so they had them just where they wanted them.
[19:16] And all it was was a matter of time before the Philistines decided to strike. And the more they held off, the more they were surrounding Israel just as an enemy force, then the more they were frightening the Israelites and the more panic there was and despair and fear and terror amongst the Israelites.
[19:39] And that was fine for the Philistines because they could wait. I mean, what's the point in going to war when your enemy are scattering from you in any case? They just sit back and watch them disappearing into the horizon.
[19:52] So by the time you come to the end of this chapter, the Israelites have got nothing left. Absolutely nothing.
[20:08] The question I want to put to you tonight is this. Given the dire straits that you've just described, why in the world would Samuel make such a fuss about whether Saul made a sacrifice or not?
[20:33] Why is this such a big issue in the chapter? Because sacrifice lies at the heart of what God is.
[20:48] And that's why it is a big issue. It wouldn't have been a big issue if this was just a history book about any other nation. Nobody would be particularly interested.
[21:00] It would have no relevance at all. But this is not just a nation. This is no ordinary war. These are the people of God. And God has chosen to dwell in the midst of His people.
[21:11] He is close. He is near to His people. He has entered into a covenant with His people. They are different from every other nation in the world. And their difference begins with the way in which they approach God.
[21:27] And what Saul is doing on this occasion, he has decided to do it himself. And that's why I've called this in the intimation sheet, DIY religion.
[21:42] That's what Saul did. This is an example of DIY religion. You perhaps think about DIY religion as perhaps people making up their own gods. That's what it is.
[21:53] But here is a man who approaches the living and true God in his own way. That's equally DIY. And it's equally wrong and foolish, destructive.
[22:07] I want to ask tonight, why? Why? such an innocent, such a trivial matter should be treated with such seriousness.
[22:19] Especially if you're, we live in a world where things are done by ourselves, aren't they? we live in a world where so many trades, when you're trying to do a job in the house, I suppose it started off with people calling a tradesman in.
[22:35] And perhaps they were objecting to the charges that the tradesman would charge them, and they would say, well, that's a small job, I can do it myself. And slowly but surely, the whole business of DIY has grown, hasn't it?
[22:51] So there's a DIY for almost everything nowadays, from changing something electrical in your house, to building a wall, to building an extension, to tuning a piano, to giving a haircut, you name it.
[23:06] and there's always some way of doing it yourself, isn't there? But you know as well as I do that if you are keen on DIY, you know there's some things that are far more dangerous than others.
[23:25] Like, for example, when you decide to, when you fancy yourself as an electrician, decide to rewire the house, you're doing something very dangerous, very, very careful what you're doing because you could electrocute yourself, or you could burn the house down, I suppose.
[23:42] It's the same with mechanics. If you decide to tinker with the brakes of your car, you better be very careful, know what you're doing because if you get it wrong, then you might endanger your own life or the life of someone else.
[23:56] And then, in retrospect, you will know how important it was to go to someone who knew what they were doing.
[24:08] And that's the chance you take when you decide to take matters into your own hands. Because there are people, some people do this with medicine, they go on the internet and they say, well, here's how I feel, and they type in a Google search of how I feel, and then there'll be a screed of suggestions and symptoms and all the rest of it.
[24:27] And they make up their mind, oh, well, this is, the internet's told me what's wrong with me. That's fine, I know now what's wrong with me, so that's okay, instead of going to the doctor. How foolish is that? How crazy is that?
[24:40] You're tinkering about with your own life, or your health. And that's what we're talking about here when it comes to dealing with the Lord.
[24:52] You can't do it yourself. You can't do it yourself. And I reckon that that's news to a lot of people in the 21st century world.
[25:11] Because if you ask people in that world about God, you bring up the subject of God, that within seconds they're telling you their opinion of how things should be done, their opinion of what God is like.
[25:28] And it usually begins with, well, I like to think of God as, and I really find difficult to believe that God would do this or that or the next thing.
[25:39] And really what they're doing is a DIY religion because they've come to their own conclusions as to what God is and to who God is. And so if you ask a hundred different people tonight who God is, you get a hundred different answers.
[25:54] Can I say this, that whatever chances you take rewiring the house or playing with the brakes, whatever you do, don't make this mistake because it can lead to a lost eternity.
[26:08] When it comes to God, we can't do it ourselves. And that's what Saul is doing. He thinks his whole understanding, it's very clear to me that his whole understanding of sacrifice is completely wrong.
[26:24] He thinks of sacrifice as some way in which he's going to call God in. And he treats this almost like a superstition to him.
[26:35] It's kind of similar to what they did several chapters before when Samuel was a young boy. And when the Israelites once again were in dire straits against the Philistines, when they were losing the battle, somebody had an idea, let's call the Ark of the Covenant.
[26:52] So they called the Ark of the Covenant not because they wanted to return to God but because they believed that if the Ark of the Covenant was amongst them that it would be some kind of lucky charm and that somehow or other they would get the power through the Ark to defeat their enemies and what happened was exactly the opposite.
[27:08] They were defeated and the enemy walked off with the Ark of the Covenant. Saul is doing something similar. He's making a sacrifice, not paying the slightest heed to what God commanded about how a sacrifice should be made because he thinks he's in a panic and he thinks that somehow everything's going to change as long as he is going to be a before and after, there's going to be fear and panic before and as long as he makes the sacrifice that would solve the problem.
[27:35] That was never, never the purpose of sacrifice in the first place. And in order I think to try and understand the wrongness of what Saul did on this occasion, you have to understand the whole point of sacrifice.
[27:57] And anyone who really wants to know the Bible absolutely has to come to terms with sacrifice. Anyone who wants to know the Christian faith has to come to terms with sacrifice.
[28:13] You cannot understand what happened on the cross and how our sins were forgiven through the death of Jesus unless you see it in terms of sacrifice and God's ultimate giving of himself in the person of Jesus Christ at Calvary in order to procure our forgiveness.
[28:33] It's all the sacrifice. If you don't understand sacrifice, you're understanding of the gospel. So this is not just about Old Testament. This is about New Testament as well. This is about how we grasp what Jesus did on the cross.
[28:49] Do you want to grasp what Jesus did? Is that not why we're here tonight? Well, we'll never do it until we go back into the Old Testament and until we rediscover how important, how essential sacrifice was.
[29:04] It was very simple this, simply this. Sacrifice was God's way of bringing sinful man to himself. It was a particular method devised by God in which we could be reconciled to him and our sin would be forgiven.
[29:25] And it goes all the way back. It doesn't go back just to Moses. It doesn't even just go back to Abraham. It goes all the way back to Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve sinned and fell and when God came into the garden and said, Adam, where are you?
[29:39] And of course, he put them out of the garden. not before he brought skins to them, animal skins to cover their nakedness.
[29:51] We believe that that was the first sacrifice that ever was made in the Bible and it was made by God. That was God instituting this way. It was his way of saying, whilst you have fallen and whilst the whole world has plunged into carnage because of your sin, there is an answer.
[30:10] There's a way now in which you can be reconciled to God and forgiven. You remember that not long after that, Cain and Abel. The reason that Cain killed Abel was because Abel brought the sacrifice to God and God received that sacrifice because Abel somehow understood what sacrifice was all about and because it was so important to him, he brought the very best of his flock and he, in faith, offered his sacrifice to God because he knew how much he needed God's forgiveness.
[30:46] And so it went on, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and then on to Moses. Now here is where, it was at the time of Moses that the whole system of sacrifice was regularized by the Lord.
[30:59] Moses' brother Aaron was the high priest at the time and God said, and here's the point, here's the point, God said that sacrifice could not be made by anyone other than the right person.
[31:24] If God was going to receive that sacrifice, it had to be the right person. Aaron, Moses' brother, was the first person who was qualified or had the authority to stand as the priest, that's what a priest was, someone who stood between the people and God and who brought the animal.
[31:47] That's what a sacrifice was. It was an animal, a lamb or a goat or a bull that was brought and through the death of that animal, the wages of sin were paid and God's people were reconciled to him because the animal died.
[32:05] It had to take place at exactly the right time, in exactly the right way, by exactly the right person and if it didn't, then God was displeased.
[32:19] Why was he displeased? Well, you see, that's our arrogance, isn't it? If you're asking that question and I suppose there's something natural within us that says, well, why should he be displeased?
[32:29] That's you and that's our arrogance against God because that's what he said. And anything that God says, that's where sin begins. Sin begins with our ignoring God, our refusal to listen to him.
[32:44] It doesn't begin when we thieve from someone or when we hurt someone. Sin begins when we refuse and when we ignore God's commands.
[32:55] sins. And so what Saul did was incredibly sinful. Not because he took someone's life or because he stole someone from someone.
[33:08] It's because he acted differently to what God had commanded. And it's not as if God hadn't made it clear. He made it abundantly clear. Everyone knew sacrifice must be carried out by the priest.
[33:26] And what it tells us is this that a good thing and sacrifice was a good thing. A good thing done in the wrong place by the wrong person in the wrong way is sin.
[33:38] You're probably saying to yourself well wasn't this a good thing that Saul did? No it wasn't. Because it was done in the wrong place in the wrong way by the wrong person.
[33:49] you have to listen to God. Now I'll tell you why sacrifice was so important to God.
[34:02] Because every time an animal died it pointed forward to Jesus' death on Calvary.
[34:13] It was impossible for any animal to take anyone's sins away. But this was God's way of pointing the people of Israel to one day still to come in the future when Messiah would be both priest and the sacrifice together.
[34:37] and by his one ultimate final decisive death on the cross our sin would be once for all finally decisively ultimately forgiven and cleansed.
[34:57] And so you ask me tonight what's so important about sacrifice I say without it I'm not a Christian. There's no forgiveness. I'm lost.
[35:09] There's no hope. I don't have God in my life without sacrifice because there's a separation between me and God. And if God doesn't bridge the gap then I'm lost.
[35:23] And so are you. But tonight God has bridged the gap. In the Lord Jesus Christ when he died at Calvary we were reconciled to God.
[35:36] And that's why there's good news tonight. Without sacrifice there's you see if you ask people to make up their own religion they'll devise their own way of justifying themselves.
[35:47] Perhaps you've done that yourself. When you think of where you stand before God you think of well there's always the good side of it. But God says that we've all sinned.
[35:57] We're all lost. There's no one righteous. No not one. God has bridged the gap through the death of his son.
[36:09] When he died he died as the once for all sacrifice for sin. So what God is saying in rebuking Saul on this occasion you're tinkering about with the most important truth in all the world.
[36:25] God you're messing about with the gospel. Whatever else you do tonight don't mess about with the gospel. Don't try a DIY when it comes to God.
[36:40] If you really want to know tonight how to be right with God you have to listen to him. You have to accept what he has done for you because you can't do anything.
[36:55] for him to save your soul. It's impossible. You can't say to God I can do it. You can't say to God I can achieve my own salvation.
[37:08] It's the one thing however skilled you are in this life it's the one thing you can't do for yourself is to make yourself right with God. God has done it all.
[37:22] He's done it through the death of his own son and all that needs to happen now is for you to accept him to surrender to him to throw away your pride and to throw away all the different voices that right now tell you don't do it don't come to God you've got your life to live and all these other voices that resist the gospel.
[37:47] who are you going to listen to? Are you going to listen to them or are you going to listen to the Lord himself? I know who I'm listening to and I hope you are listening to and I long for the day when you will come and accept that the sacrifice of Jesus that has been perfectly done for you because it's God who has done it.
[38:20] Well I was sorely tempted tonight to go on to the next chapter I'm glad I didn't because there's enough in this chapter I think to keep us occupied and I hope to challenge us and to bring us to the gospel.
[38:32] You see the gospel is included in everything in the Old Testament even the most obscure Old Testament passage you can always find the gospel and I hope that we found the gospel this evening even in what Saul did sinfully there are some people in the Bible that are heroes examples for us to follow.
[38:49] Sadly there are other people in the Bible who are examples for us not to follow. It's like God is saying to us see Saul this is what you don't do. This is how you don't live.
[39:00] Negative examples I think you would call them. And they're there for our instruction not as an example to follow but for our instruction.
[39:11] But I was so tempted to go on to the next chapter because the next chapter of course tells the sequel to the story. But perhaps it's as well to leave it with the Israelites in dire straits.
[39:28] They've got nothing. They're reduced to nobody with no swords, no spears, no strength, no power, no confidence. They're all disappearing by the man.
[39:39] man. And the reason that perhaps it might be good to leave it there is because that's sometimes where we are, when we feel that we're overwhelmed by our own circumstances.
[40:00] There are times like that in the Christian life. God does not promise to make us immune from the kind of troubles that other people have to suffer. Sometimes Christians have to suffer even more because they are Christians.
[40:18] But perhaps there are those of us tonight and that's where you're at. You're not facing the Philistines, but you're facing an overwhelming situation in your life and you feel that you have absolutely nothing.
[40:37] Your resources have all been stripped away. You're terrified. You don't know who to turn to. All you can see is the enemy, whatever that is.
[40:51] Remember that there is an enemy. And behind so many of our difficulties in this life, the devil is trying to destroy us. that's when you look to God in faith.
[41:10] It would be easy for the Israelites to look to God in faith at the end of the next chapter when God has actually come in and saved them. I'm sure you know that having read the next chapter.
[41:22] But it can't have been easy if you had been in that army when they were reduced to nothing. And there are many times in the Bible when God's people were reduced to emptiness where all they had was God himself.
[41:44] And when that happens and when you turn your eyes to God and cry to him, that's where it's faith.
[41:55] look at all the Psalms that are written. You go through the Psalms, so many of them are written just like that. Psalm 18, the cords of death entangled me.
[42:10] Destruction hit me like a wave, encircled by the snares of death. These words could have been written in this chapter, couldn't they? I face the terrors of the grave.
[42:21] in the next verse, in my distress I called on God. I cried out to the Lord for aid.
[42:32] He from his temple heard my voice. He listened to the prayer I made. And faith is when you pray to him, not knowing how he's going to answer, but knowing that he's faithful and that he will in his own way, in his own time, answer because he loves you and because he is committed towards his people.
[42:58] Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we give thanks again this evening that we've been reminded of the severity of God and the mercy of God, the anger of the Lord and the love of God.
[43:17] Both of these came together at Calvary. God, we ask, Lord, that we might perceive and apprehend the gospel in Jesus Christ afresh this evening.
[43:29] Once again, we pray for anyone who is still outside of your kingdom. We pray that, Lord, that as we've been thinking about how necessary sacrifice is, that we will perceive the one great sacrifice which alone can cleanse us from our sin.
[43:47] May we take hold of that and may we receive it as our own so that we discover the new life that can be given to us in Jesus Christ.
[44:00] Amen. Amen. Psalm number 46, and that's on page 60.
[44:18] Page number 60, we're going to sing from verse 7 to 11, the last five stanzas. Psalm number 46, it's the sing psalms version from verse 7 to verse 11.
[44:33] The Lord Almighty is with us to strengthen and sustain, for Jacob's God, our strong defense and fortress will remain. Come, see the works the Lord has done, the judgments he commands, the desolations he has brought to pass in many lands.
[44:49] Psalm 46a, from 7 to 11, and we're going to stand to sing. The Lord Almighty is with us to strengthen and sustain, for Jacob's blood, our strong defense and fortress will remain.
[45:33] Come, see the works the Lord has done, the judgments he commands, the desolations he has brought to pass in many lands.
[46:07] in every land throughout the earth, he makes all conflict cease.
[46:23] He shatters hope and spear and shield and brings his reign of peace.
[46:38] peace. Be still and o'er the diem God on earth exalted high and all the nations of the world the world my name will glorify.
[47:09] The Lord Lord Almighty Almighty is with us to strengthen us to strengthen and sustain.
[47:26] For Jacob's God our strong defense and fortress will remain.
[47:43] And now may the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father and the communion and fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest on and abide with each one of us both now and always.
[47:54] Amen. Amen.