[0:00] In the Gospel according to John, chapter 12, I'm going to read from the beginning of that chapter as far as verse 11. Gospel of John, chapter 12, at the beginning of the chapter.
[0:21] That's page 1083. It should be, I think, in the pew Bibles, the church Bibles, if you're using those. So John 12, verses 1 to 11.
[0:57] And anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, he who was about to betray him, said, Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?
[1:18] He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. And having charge of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
[1:29] Jesus said, Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.
[1:41] When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came not only on account of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him, many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
[2:06] And may the Lord be pleased to bless to us this reading of his word and our study of it as we come to look at it in a moment. We'll sing again before that in Psalm 27, Psalm number 27 on page 31.
[2:22] Singing verses 1 to 5. The Lord's my Savior and my light. Who will make me dismayed? The Lord's the stronghold of my life.
[2:35] Why should I be afraid? When evildoers threaten me to take my life away, my adversaries and my foes will stumble in that day. Although an army hems me in, my heart will fear no dread.
[2:49] Though war against me should arise, I will lift up my head. One thing I'll plead before the Lord, and this I'll seek always, that I may come within God's house and dwell there all my days, that on the beauty of the Lord I constantly may gaze, and in his house may seek to know direction in his ways.
[3:10] For in his dwelling he will keep me safe in troubled days. Within his tent he'll shelter me, and on a rock me raise. We'll sing these six stanzas, the Lord's my Savior and my light.
[3:26] The Lord's my Savior and my light.
[3:36] The Lord's my Savior and my light. Will, will make me dismayed. The Lord's my Savior and my light. The Lord's the strong hope of my light.
[3:50] Why should I be afraid? When people do works better me, to take my life away.
[4:10] My heart will heal, My heart will feel no dread. My heart will feel no dread.
[4:32] The End The End The End
[6:02] The End And we're looking at verses 1 to 8, John 12 verses 1 to 8, where we find an account here of what Mary did at this special occasion when Jesus and others were invited to dinner.
[6:50] And when Mary took this expensive ointment and poured it out on his feet, wiping them with her hair, which would not have been uncommon in those days.
[7:03] I imagine most of us were sitting around a table today at lunchtime for our Sunday lunch. But if not, then cast your mind back to the last time you did that.
[7:18] And imagine as you sit down at the table with others, as you look across from you, that you're looking into the eyes of a man you knew had been dead for four days.
[7:32] And there he is sitting at the table with you. What would you think? How would you feel? And as you look at them both, and realize what had happened shortly before this, you begin then to see this Mary coming with her expensive ointment and pouring this on the feet of Jesus.
[8:19] And then you hear Christ's response to the objection of Judas Iscariot, a response that obviously focuses on his own death.
[8:34] The focus is not on Lazarus, who had been raised from the dead before this, and is now sitting alive at this table. The focus is on the other person who took him back from the dead, so that it moves to focus on his death and not the resurrection or raising of Lazarus.
[9:01] What an occasion that was. What an amazing dinner that would have been had you been sitting there. And that's what happened in this house in Bethany in the lifetime of Jesus.
[9:20] Two things that we can take from that. First of all, the preciousness of Christ to Mary. And secondly, her perception, the perception of the woman in relation to what she did.
[9:39] The preciousness of Christ. This was an occasion to which Jesus had been invited. Probably an occasion when it was something of a celebratory dinner, or a dinner of thanksgiving, for what he had done in raising Lazarus from the dead.
[9:56] Because we read that this was, whether it was the house of Mary and Martha, in fact, in Mark, we read that it was the house of Simon the leper, and it appears very much to be the same event.
[10:09] So it wasn't apparently the house of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, but they were present. Martha, as was her custom, was serving. And Mary then came with this expensive ointment and anointed Jesus' feet.
[10:26] Now look at the value of this ointment, first of all, because that tells you something. It tells you about how Mary was thinking at this time in relation to Jesus.
[10:37] We're told here that she took this pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and we're told that in Mark's Gospel, and here also in the response of Judas, why was this ointment not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?
[10:56] In other words, this ointment was worth near enough an average worker's yearly wage. Because a denarii a day was about what an average worker, if you can call it that, would have earned for his or her work, particularly a kind of laborer type of work.
[11:20] A denarii a day. So if you add it up over the course of a year, this is near enough a year's worth of wages. Why on earth would somebody take such an expensive nard, such an expensive ointment, and use it in this way and just simply pour it out on the feet of this man Jesus?
[11:43] What was Mary thinking? What would make her do such a thing? She did it out of love.
[11:56] She did it because she knew this Jesus for herself to be worth everything that she could give him by way of loving service, such as the pouring out of this ointment.
[12:10] It was really an indication or symbolical, if you like, of what was in her heart. She had this love for Christ, and we'll see in a moment it was in relation to what he would do for her, particularly by his death.
[12:25] But she showed that love by pouring out this ointment. For Judas Iscariot, it was a wastage. And maybe others looking in were really pretty much saying the same thing.
[12:37] Why would she do such a thing with such an expensive perfume? Why didn't she keep it and use it little by little? Why didn't she keep it as an investment and be able to sell it for a much greater sum in the future?
[12:53] No, she poured it out because that's what love does. Love for Jesus Christ does not look at boundaries. Love for Jesus Christ does not measure how far you can go and then draw back.
[13:10] I know we sometimes very often do that. And sometimes we do put a boundary on our love, or the extent to which we love him, or the extent to which we show that we love him. And we sometimes draw back from showing the love that we have for Christ to the extent that he requires and that we would really like to give.
[13:29] There are things which make us afraid of doing so. And we'll see in a moment that we learn from this passage how we should think in relation to what Mary did of those issues as well.
[13:42] In a sense, she was just following what Jesus himself is found doing in the next chapter. Because here he is, and he takes off his outer garments and ties a towel around his waist, and then begins to wash the feet of his disciples.
[13:59] And he puts a question to them. Do you know what I have done to you? That's love being poured out. Love lowering itself so as to provide for others and meet their need.
[14:13] The love of Jesus Christ himself. And here is Mary's love being poured out, as it were, in the act of anointing him with this expensive ointment.
[14:25] You don't just look at the ointment and the pouring out of the ointment. You look into her heart. You look into what's in that heart. You look at the love that caused this pouring out of the ointment because she's really pouring out her love towards him.
[14:39] She's manifesting by what she's doing that this heart of hers is really being poured out for him. And really she's saying, it's the least I can do for him.
[14:51] She's giving her very best ointment to this act of love.
[15:04] Now that challenges me tonight. I'm sure it challenges you as well. Are we giving the best to Jesus? Are we giving him the best of our time when we are at our most alert are we giving him the best of our resources in terms of our service?
[15:26] Are we giving him the best of each day and the best of each week as time goes on and our life goes on? Is our concern to give the very best service we can to this Jesus Christ?
[15:39] Because Mary is telling us he absolutely deserves nothing less. His love in fact demands nothing less. And when he has shown such a pouring out of love in order to save us from our sins, what this is really saying to us tonight is, isn't it the least you can do to give your very life to him?
[16:03] To give the whole of your life to him? To make your heart a heart that pours out its love to this same Christ.
[16:16] And you notice how focused she was on the issue. You don't read in the passage that she had any hesitancy in coming. She had, I'm sure, certain fears in her heart.
[16:28] Every human being does. But she came and just, it's explained, matter of fact, she took this ointment, she anointed the feet of Jesus and then wiped his feet with her hair.
[16:40] She didn't look round at all these men that were in the room, these disciples of Jesus. She didn't say, well, I'd like to do this, but I'd really be embarrassed if I did it. She did it. She did it because her love in her heart was absolutely, at that time, almost oblivious, you might say, to the others that were in the room and to what they might be thinking.
[17:04] It didn't really matter to her what other people thought or how many people were witnessing it. As far as Mary was concerned, there was only herself and Jesus.
[17:14] She was focused on this act of love and she did it. She did it to him. You know, sometimes you hear commentators talking about sportsmen, especially top-class professional sportsmen, whether it's tennis or whatever sport it is.
[17:35] Take tennis, for example, when you find somebody like Andy Murray just standing there ready to receive a serve from whoever he's playing against and you see him going through the match the way he does.
[17:48] You can see the focus from his eyes, from his gestures, from his posture, and often you'll find the commentator saying when these players are really in the zone that that's what they're doing.
[17:59] And they'll tell you they're absolutely oblivious to the crowd around them, to the noise of the crowd for those moments that they're so concentrated in the zone, as it were. They're really oblivious to what's around with them.
[18:11] Everything is focused upon this immediate matter of fact that they have to do. That's so it is for Mary. And sometimes we may feel as we read that passage that, well, it just really gets to us because we know we're so far short of that ourselves.
[18:30] And you may be here tonight and saying, I wish my love for Christ were as focused as that. I wish that my love for Jesus could actually close out all other things that are around me at any given time and that I would be so focused on him as Mary was so that it would be just like there was nobody in the whole world but myself and himself.
[18:56] Well, I would like that too. But I don't find it. And I'm sure you have to say, neither do I, except rarely. But you know what Jesus really says to us.
[19:09] Again, it's from John's Gospel. It's not that you and I would be able to say absolutely and with certainty, Lord, look at how great my love is.
[19:23] When you go to his interview with Peter, Peter who had himself denied the Lord three times, who had lapsed so badly as to cave in to those who asked him, was he not also a disciple of Jesus?
[19:38] And so Jesus three times asked him, Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me? And of course Peter couldn't really say to Jesus with confidence, Lord, of course I love you.
[19:52] Look at the greatness of my love. I love you with all my heart in the light of his failure. How could he say that? But what did he say? He said, Lord, and you can imagine that he was somewhat bowed, maybe even quietly saying it, Lord, you know all things.
[20:17] you know that I love you. He couldn't say, you know that I love you more than anybody else loves you. He had once thought like that.
[20:28] Though all men should forsake you, I will never do it. And he had done it. And he hadn't listened to his Lord's voice when he forewarned him of what Satan really had in mind in order to actually take Peter aside and catch him up in his temptations.
[20:44] But now he's got the opportunity of confessing his love for Jesus. And that's what he does. And he doesn't confess great love. He doesn't confess a love that's never failed.
[20:56] He confesses genuine love. And that's really more than anything else. Though, of course, there's nothing wrong with seeking love to be enlarged and multiplied and love to grow for Jesus.
[21:10] But what he's really saying, the bottom line, if you like, tonight is, do you love me genuinely? Do you really love me?
[21:23] Do you love me so that you will give your best to me? Do you love me despite your failures? So that you can say, Lord, you know all things.
[21:35] You do know that I love you. Now, it really would be only hatred that would despise such an act as Mary's.
[21:48] And that's what you find. Judas Iscariot, one of the disciples who was about to betray him, said, why was this not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?
[22:02] His motive was not genuine, but it was a test for Mary. After she had done this, this was what confronted her.
[22:18] And isn't it interesting that it's Mary's love for Jesus and the way it was shown that brings out what's in Judas' heart.
[22:28] Isn't that interesting? Isn't that significant? It's when you show your love for Jesus that you will find opposition to what you're doing.
[22:41] It's when you really pour out your love for Christ that you will find that there are people in the world who will simply disagree with that to some extent or other, some more vehemently than others, some even to the extent of Judas Iscariot that will tell you going about and dedicating your life to Jesus and showing your love for Him in giving all of this to Him, your time and your efforts and your very person.
[23:05] What a waste of a life! That's what Mary found. Yes, there will be trial. There will be opposition.
[23:19] There will be those who think it's just a waste. But you know, the pain of regret would have been much more for Mary than the pain of opposition right now as she did this.
[23:37] If she had gone home from this occasion, from this dinner, and had held back from doing what she did, the opportunity would never again have come her way to do what she did on this occasion.
[23:51] because this was just six days before the Passover, shortly before Jesus would go out to die. She would never have this opportunity again.
[24:03] She had her flask with her. She probably knew that she would be found at fault if she carried through with what she intended to do.
[24:14] But she did it. And that occasion was an occasion from which she would have no regret. Ah, but she would have had had she failed to do it then.
[24:31] Now maybe you're here tonight and in your heart you love the Lord Jesus Christ and you've never really shown it to the extent that you would like or should.
[24:47] You're here as it were with your flask. It's not that you don't believe in Jesus or believe in God. But you have fears in your heart about the consequences of giving your life to Christ, of showing your love for Christ.
[25:09] Break your flask. Don't take it home with you. Anoint him here and now. Let your love pour forth.
[25:24] Because if you go back and not do it tonight and if you don't get another opportunity to do it, the pain of your regret will be an awful pain.
[25:41] I know what people will say. Mary must have been a very strong person. If only I had the strength of Mary's faith.
[25:53] If only I had the amount of Mary's love. Then I would do it. I would show people that I loved him.
[26:04] I would go and take communion and show that I am his and that he is mine. I would come forward and show that I am a Christian more visibly than I am.
[26:15] I would show in my life more dedication to him than I do now. Don't think that Mary wasn't afraid.
[26:27] But look especially at verse 6 and the final part of it. Where Jesus, verse 7 and the first part of it, Jesus said, leave her alone.
[26:38] Jesus immediately came to her protection. This is not a matter of Mary's strength. This is not a matter of Mary's own faith or Mary's love.
[26:53] Though it is part of the whole passage and all that she does in this act as an act of love. We've said that. But the reason she goes forward with it and does it is not because she's confident in herself or confident she can deal with whatever things come her way.
[27:09] People don't come to pour out their love for Jesus confident that they can then look after whatever opposition comes. Christ himself will do that for you.
[27:22] These are wonderful words that you read when Jesus said, leave her alone. Who's going to dare interfere with the authority of those words?
[27:35] And when you give yourself to Christ and when you pour out your love for Him and upon Him whatever act it is that you do for Him in love even if you complain that your love is so small that your faith is so feeble compared to others let Him take care of you.
[27:55] Let Him take care of the consequences. Let Him take care of the aftermath. Let Him take care of whatever things happen after that. all He's concerned for you to do is to love Him and show your love for Him.
[28:12] And isn't it as we said the least we can do? The preciousness of Christ to Mary is not about herself it's about Him.
[28:25] How precious is Jesus tonight to you? Is He precious to you? Is He precious above every other person you know?
[28:42] Is He so precious that you couldn't live without Him? Is He precious that the very best things you have are not too much to give to Him?
[28:53] Will you give over your own reputation to Him? Will you put your past in His hands? Will you lay out your future into His care and keeping?
[29:09] He's precious to this woman and surely tonight that tells you that He must be precious to yourself and to myself too.
[29:21] look secondly at the perception of this woman. Remember that Mary was often at the feet of Jesus. You read in Luke chapter 10 of how the contrast between herself and her sister Martha who was always scurrying around the house doing very necessary things but at one time Jesus found fault with her for that because she came and said to Jesus do you not care that my sister has left me alone to serve?
[29:49] And you remember very well what He said to her. Martha, Martha you are cumbered. You are actually taken up too much with many things like these but Mary has chosen the good part.
[30:01] Mary has chosen this relation with me at this time that learns from me that's prepared to be my disciple that can put things aside and just sit at my feet and learn from me and learn who I am and learn what I am for her.
[30:18] And she had learned sufficiently however clearly she saw it we can't say for sure but she had learned sufficiency and she had certainly learned in advance of anything the disciples had learned of the significance of Christ's death.
[30:33] Now what she did really came from what she thought of Him. Right? That's important. Our actions flow from our thoughts.
[30:44] and her thoughts what she thought of Him really went back to what He did for her. You can see that in His reply to Judas Iscariot.
[30:58] Leave her alone that she may keep it or she has kept it for the day of my burial. Different ways of translating that. When you go to Mark 14 for the same incident perhaps the words there make it a bit clearer than in the translation you have there in John chapter 12 Mark 14 and at verse 8 where the words there are she has done what she could she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.
[31:27] in other words the anointing as far as Jesus and Mary was concerned the anointing with which she anointed Christ at this time was not an anointing of Him as a prophet or as a priest or as a king it was an anointing as you do with a dead body or as you did with a dead body in those days as would be done indeed with His body when He had died.
[31:50] It's an anointing specific to death and to a dead body. you might say that's weird that's strange why would Mary come and anoint Him before He had died as if He was dead?
[32:05] Why would she come and anoint Him here at this dinner in this house when He's alive and sitting at this table? And why does Jesus say leave her alone she has kept this beforehand and done this beforehand against my burial?
[32:20] Well because He's telling her that this act of Mary in anointing Him is specifically related to His death and to His burial. She has a measure of understanding of the significance of that death for herself and she's prepared to show it by pouring out this ointment even if others don't understand what she's doing.
[32:44] She understood enough of the death of Jesus and what He had taught her about it so that He meant so much to her and His death meant so much to her that she anointed Him now with reference to that death.
[33:10] You know when we come to take communion one of the things we learn from 1 Corinthians chapter 11 is that we come to take communion and in the elements that are used of bread and wine those who take that with believing in Christ for their salvation they discern the Lord's body.
[33:38] One of the things the Corinthians were guilty of was abusing the sacrament of the Lord's Supper to such an extent that they were treating it pretty much as a common meal and not really at all being concerned as they should have been to think about what this meant and to see in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper outwardly in the bread and the wine what they signified and what they meant and what they represented was nothing less than Christ and His death.
[34:05] They discerned they should have discerned the Lord's body when they were not. And when you come to take communion you take that cup and you take that bread you don't say of them this is nothing other than bread and wine.
[34:25] Your faith informs you and your love informs you. Your renewed mind informs you. this represents something to me more precious than I can describe.
[34:41] It represents the death of my Lord. It's like Mary coming with her flask and breaking it over Jesus anointing him beforehand for his burial.
[34:54] burial. She recognized the value of Christ and his death. So tonight it's not just asking the question is Jesus precious to you?
[35:10] How precious is he to you? Is his death precious to you? Where does his death fit into your life and your experience?
[35:21] what do you think of when you think of Jesus hanging on the cross? What do you think of when you read these words that he uttered?
[35:32] My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? When you read of the elements of the natural creation and the darkness that enveloped the land as Jesus died, what does that death mean to you and mean to me?
[35:56] Was it something like it was for Mary? Do we just read about it and then forget it? Is it something we live by each day? Is it something in relation to which, as it were, we take out a flask of love each day and anoint him in regard to his death, thankfully, lovingly?
[36:23] That's what it teaches us, isn't it? And it's not, as we said before, that Mary is such a superior person to anybody else. It's not that she has such an overwhelmingly strong love and faith in Christ that we can't possibly get to that level of attainment spiritually, therefore we can't possibly see ourselves as doing any such thing to show our love for Jesus.
[36:53] It's a very simple act, yet it has profound significance. And perhaps at times we're guilty, and I don't want to be misunderstood in this, perhaps we're guilty of making the likes of taking communion to be so profoundly difficult and complex that we feel it's not for us.
[37:22] It is outwardly a simple act of devotion. It's a breaking of your flask of love and a pouring it out for him.
[37:35] And it has profound significance because for one thing, as we'll see now, it actually touches other people as well. And first and foremost, it touches Jesus himself.
[37:48] She has done, as Mark puts it, she has done a beautiful thing, a thing of beauty. Isn't that an amazing and significant thing that a simple act like this, in this context, registers with Jesus so profoundly that he can say, leave it alone, this is an act that is really beautiful in my sight.
[38:11] I see beauty in this, because it's done for me, and it's significant in my eyes. You see, our acts of love, whatever we think of them, and however small we might see them, and however much we might see them in relation to other people as hardly significant at all, that doesn't matter.
[38:38] It's what he thinks of them that really matters. And if Jesus is telling me tonight that this is what he said to Mary, and saying to you tonight that every act of love, small or great, means so much to him, then we should not hesitate to show our love for him.
[39:03] Sometimes we focus, you know, so much on what it means to ourselves, that we just simply lose sight of the fact that there is in Christ himself a registering or a response, if you like, to our acts of love, even if we say that they are poor and pathetic and sin affected.
[39:28] Let these words soak into your heart. She has done a beautiful thing to me. Oh, that the Savior would say that over your life and mine tonight.
[39:44] That we would be happy that Jesus himself finds satisfaction in my little acts of love to him. Whatever they mean to me, however much I do or do not derive from them by way of benefit, all that really matters to me is that they meet with his approval.
[40:05] and that they mean so much to him. Pour out your flask. Let it register with him.
[40:18] Let it give him satisfaction as it did for Mary. And then the fragrance filled the whole house.
[40:30] When she poured it out, you can see there in verse 3, the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. That too is significant because it tells us that every single person in that room to some extent or other could actually say when they left that room, well, that was some perfume.
[40:49] That was some fragrance. Nobody left that room without the fragrance having touched them in some way or other. other. And when you show your love for Christ, that's going to touch the lives of other people to some extent, small or great.
[41:10] And it's not just that coming to love Christ and show our love for him will benefit ourselves. What we pray for and what God gives us opportunity for is that hopefully other people will see in our small acts of love for him what a beautiful person Jesus is.
[41:32] How worthy he is that love should be poured out for him. How worthy he is that my love and your love should be poured out for him. Oh, don't keep the fragrance of your life to yourself.
[41:46] In a sense, you can't do it anyway because the fragrance of spiritual life spreads out whether we like it or not. But the more you pour out your love to him, the more you show your love for him, the more certain you can be that others will taste of it, that others will benefit of it, from it, as you pray.
[42:07] The whole house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. We always pray, don't we? We're thinking of a time of communion coming up, God willing, shortly.
[42:20] We always pray, and I always try and intimate that that's an important occasion for everybody, not just those who are going to come to take communion. Because our prayer is that the fragrance of that spiritual activity and act of devotion on the part of God's people will spread and fill the whole house.
[42:44] That others will actually come to say, you know, I'm really glad I went to the communion, communion, because something of the beauty of Jesus really fell upon me and touched my heart.
[42:56] And I don't think I want to be the person I was coming to that place. The fragrance filled the room. And you go back to what she did.
[43:10] Had she not done it, not only would she not have experienced the way Jesus came to her protection, she would never have experienced, and neither would these other people in the room have experienced the fragrance of that perfume.
[43:28] You see, you're back again to the importance of doing it now. And doing it when it's on your mind to do it. If you don't, not only will you go back with your perfume bottle unopened in your heart, but others will go home untouched by the fragrance of your love for Jesus.
[43:57] Samuel Rutherford, one of Scotland's great theologians from the past, whose book of letters, as you can still find them published, is really one of the great books.
[44:10] I would appeal to you to read them. You can get versions of them that explain the old words that are used in his language. But when you read what these letters say about love for Christ and love poured out, and the way love is significant in relation to Jesus, they will touch your heart too.
[44:32] In one letter to a noble woman, this is what he said, true faith is humble and sees no way to escape but only in Christ.
[44:47] And I believe that you have put an esteem and high price upon Christ. And they cannot but believe and so be saved who love Christ and to whom he is precious.
[45:05] Now you see what he's saying? We very often turn that the other way round. So that we say those who believe and are therefore saved cannot but love Christ.
[45:19] But what he's saying is putting it the other way round. Those who love Christ and those to whom he is precious cannot but believe and so be saved. In other words, if you genuinely love Christ tonight, you're saved.
[45:33] There's enough evidence in your love without ever even going to your faith. That you have eternal life. That you belong to Christ.
[45:46] That he has loved you with an everlasting love. So that's Rutherford, but he goes on to say, and let's take this home with us tonight.
[45:57] be homely and hunger for a feast and fill of his love. Nothing has a nearer resemblance to the color and hue and luster of heaven than Christ loved and to breathe out love words and love sighs for him.
[46:17] That's typical Rutherford language, but notice what he's saying. He's not saying nothing has a nearer resemblance to the color of heaven than Christ's love. No, that's not what he's saying.
[46:29] Nothing has a nearer resemblance to the color of heaven than Christ loved because it's when you love Christ here that you're anticipating how you will love him in heaven and to breathe out love words and love sighs for him.
[46:52] In other words, to tell him every day as Peter did, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you.
[47:05] Let's pray. Gracious and eternal God, your word teaches us to give thanks for your prior love, the love with which you loved the world, so that you gave your only begotten son, that whoever should believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
[47:28] We give thanks tonight for the opportunities we have to love you and to show our love for you, for the way that you assure us, O Lord, that that love by your blessing touches other lives too.
[47:41] you. It's not of our goodness or because, Lord, we are so good or better than others, but by your blessing and by and through our obedience, you are pleased to spread forth the perfume of love among your people and even in this world.
[48:01] So receive our thanks, we pray now, and pardon all our sin for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's conclude our worship this evening singing in Psalm 116, 116, again from Sing Psalms, you'll find it on page 154, Psalm 116, page 154.
[48:26] We're to sing verses 1 to 9, I love the Lord because he heard my voice, he listened when I cried to him for aid, I'll call on him as long as I shall live because he turned to hear me when I prayed.
[48:43] These verses 1 to 9, let's stand to sing. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[48:53] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[49:04] Amen. Amen. Amen.
[49:30] Amen. Amen. In an entangled need, upon me dimly anguish of the grave.
[49:50] With grief and trouble I was overcome.
[50:01] Then on the name of God I call, Lord, sing. The Lord, our God, His kind and full of grace.
[50:22] O righteous, uncompassionate is He. The Lord protects all those of childlike pain.
[50:42] When I was in great need, He rescued me. Rest, O my soul, God, I've been good to you.
[51:02] Are you, O Lord, that saved my soul from death?
[51:13] My feet from soundly and my eyes from tears. That I may live for you while I have breath.
[51:34] I'll go to the main door this evening after the benediction. Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you now and evermore.
[51:47] Amen.