Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/stornowayfc/sermons/64155/davids-prayer/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Let's turn for a while to that passage we read in the Old Testament, the book of Psalms, and Psalm 141. It's the psalm that we've just sung all the way through.

[0:16] Psalm 141. I'm not going to read it again because it's too long, but I do want to just survey the psalm because I think one of the mistakes we make necessarily so when we sing the psalms is that we don't sing all the way through it because the psalms are units in themselves.

[0:41] They were written as units. There's a beginning, there's a middle, and there's an end. And sometimes by breaking up, by singing, say, only two or three verses, then we lose the context of that psalm and we lose the perspective of it.

[0:57] Now, I'm not suggesting that every time we sing we have to sing the whole psalm. I mean, we just can't do that. We can't sing the whole of Psalm 119, for example, in one go or even in one service, and there are other psalms like that.

[1:09] But all I'm saying is that we lose out when we break them up. We lose the structure in which they were written. And now I want to look at this psalm because I think it's also very important, because we do sing the psalms in the Free Church.

[1:23] But it's important to know what we're singing and why we're singing it. And sometimes questions arise as to the meaning of what we're singing. It's always important to explain so that next time we come to sing it, we'll sing with much more enthusiasm and with much more understanding.

[1:40] We need the two things when we're praising God. We need enthusiasm, but we also need the understanding, to know what it is that we are singing. And so that's why tonight I just want to spend a few moments just thinking about this psalm.

[1:55] Why do I pick the psalm? It's an evening psalm. That's one of the things that's written about this psalm. It's an evening psalm. This is an evening service. What do we expect from an evening service?

[2:06] Well, one thing I would expect if I was a Christian, if I was sitting where you are, is to be able to go away and have something which will prepare me for the coming week.

[2:18] We don't always get that in a service. But I think that's what you should expect. That's what I would expect from an evening service. Because that's us.

[2:29] We've come to the end of the Lord's Day, and we're ready now to go into another week, which for many of you will be full of difficulties and uncertainties. Who knows what's going to happen tomorrow?

[2:40] Who knows what's going to happen on Wednesday or Thursday? And we just don't know. We live in a completely uncertain world. And as Christians, we know that we're in danger continuously.

[2:53] We're in danger from the evil one. We know we have an enemy, the evil one, that seeks to destroy us. That's why Jesus, when he prayed for his disciples, his prayer was, keep them from the evil one.

[3:07] Jesus' prayer was, keep them from the evil one. Now, he doesn't pray that without a reason. He prays that because he knows that there is an evil one, and they need to be kept from the evil one. And I believe that tonight he is still praying.

[3:19] That's what it means that he ever lives, to make intercession for us. He's praying those, say that same prayer, keep them from the evil one. How does he keep us from the evil one? By the application of his word.

[3:32] That's why it's important to come to church Sunday morning and Sunday evening. Because what we didn't get in the morning, we might get in the evening. What we didn't get in the evening, we might get in the morning.

[3:43] That means that we come and we use the day wisely and making the most of the Lord's day in worship. It's good to do that and to listen to God's word with an appetite for God's word.

[3:57] So then, that's why tonight I want to take this evening psalm, and I'd like us to try and understand it in such a way, hopefully, that it will give us understanding, but that it will also prepare us for the days that lie ahead.

[4:12] I want us to say three things from this psalm. First of all, I want us to see how David prays. How David prays.

[4:23] The next thing I want us to see in the second place is what David prays for. He prays for three things, which we'll look at in a few moments' time. What David prays for.

[4:33] Then, lastly, I want us to see what David prays against. He prays against his enemies. We're going to look at the question. What do we do with psalms that appear to pray against our enemies in the light of the New Testament where Jesus tells us to love our enemies?

[4:53] How are we going to understand these properly and correctly? and practically in the Christian life? Well, then, we've got plenty of work in front of us. First of all, how David prays.

[5:06] He tells us, Lord, I call upon you. He doesn't tell us, Lord, I have prepared my speech to you. Lord, I have looked up my dictionary to find all the right and appropriate.

[5:20] You know how easy it is to find the appropriate words, the right words, and we can come, especially if you're a linguistic specialist. If you're an expert in the English language, you can sound as if you have the perfect prayer.

[5:35] I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being as exact as we can, but that's not necessarily what prayer is. Prayer is when we come to God calling to him, crying to him, earnestly coming to him from the very depths of our heart.

[5:53] And I don't believe for a moment that God is primarily interested in whether we're good at grammar or not. Some of us are good, some of us aren't. But prayer is when we come to God with our hearts.

[6:06] What was it that Jesus said? He said, God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. David also comes urgently.

[6:18] He comes under pressure. Sometimes God places us under pressure so that to squeeze us and tighten us so that we'll come running to him with this urgency that the psalmist came, Lord, I call to you, hasten to me.

[6:36] This is not a man who's sitting comfortably in an armchair and he's got nothing else to do and he wants to just do some religious things. This is a man who's in trouble, who knows he's in danger, he's fearing, he's under stress, he's under pressure.

[6:50] When you're under stress and under pressure, you know the best thing that you can do is to go to the psalms because the people who wrote the psalms, they know what that kind of pressure, maybe it's different circumstances, but they know what it is to be under pressure when we're trying to serve God and when we're trying to live for God.

[7:07] Lord, I call to you and hasten to me. Please come quickly. There's an urgency about his prayer, but there's also a confidence.

[7:18] He knows that when he prays, he's not just sending words into the air and hoping for the best. He knows that he's coming in that covenant relationship with God knowing that whatever he's done and whatever he's been through that the Lord himself has not changed in his love for him.

[7:38] God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And we very often, we fail to pray because of something that's going on in our lives in which we, perhaps we've done something wrong, perhaps we've backslidden, perhaps we've become, we're very conscious of, that we've lost our temper with someone and we've gone through a rough time and some of it is our own fault and perhaps even all of it is our own fault and you think that God is going to write you off because you haven't lived as consistently as that.

[8:14] Well, that's why we need to come back to the word because the word reminds us time and again that God doesn't change. His love is steadfast and however we've lived, whether we've lived consistently and which one of us does live, we can come in on the confidence that his mercies endure forever.

[8:34] And so he's confidently asking that God will give ear to my voice when I call to you. But look at what he says also in verse 2. He says, let my prayer, and here's something I think is very interesting, let my prayer be counted as incense before you, as the lifting up of my hands, as the evening sacrifice.

[8:57] Now in the Old Testament, there were two sacrifices daily. There was one in the morning and there was one in the evening. And part of that sacrifice, it wasn't simply the death of the animal, but there was also the other altar that existed within the holy place, the place of worship and the place of sacrifice.

[9:16] There were two altars. There was the altar where the animals were burned, but there was also the altar inside that was made of gold. And on this altar wasn't an animal, it was incense. And the incense was burned by the priests and it was made up of a variety of ointments and incense so that the blend of incense, nobody else was allowed to use this mixture for anything else.

[9:40] They weren't allowed to use it as perfume or to make their house smell nice or anything like that. They could only be used for the altar of incense. And they would burn that.

[9:54] And you could watch the fragrant smoke rising to the ceiling of the holy place. And that was to indicate that just like that, our prayer rose to God.

[10:08] And just as certainly as that incense rose up to God, and as certainly as God promised that he would receive that incense, with that same assurance, God tells his people in every generation, this is how I hear your prayer.

[10:27] Now, one of the biggest problems, daily problems in the Christian life is confidence in prayer. And here's one way in which we can prepare ourselves for the coming week. How confident are you in prayer as we begin another new week?

[10:43] How confident are you? Because I don't need to tell you how important it is to regularly come to God in prayer. But one of the reasons we fail to do that is because we get disillusioned.

[10:56] We give up on ourselves. And we think for whatever reason that God's not hearing or answering our prayers. We probably think we're not important to him. We think that there are other people who are more important and who live better lives than we do.

[11:09] And so therefore, we just write ourselves off. If you are in Christ tonight, if you're a believer in the Lord, you can go straight to God.

[11:21] The apostle says, let us come boldly, boldly to the throne of grace. So you go boldly tonight and from henceforth. You go boldly knowing that God doesn't accept your prayer on the basis of whether you've lived up to what you should have lived up to.

[11:38] But you go boldly on the basis of what Christ has done for you. And God has promised on that basis he will hear and he will answer your prayer.

[11:50] And you can be absolute just as David was sure that as that incense rose to God, he watched it rising so we can be sure that our prayer comes to him and he accepts it and he hears it with love and with affection towards us and he will do everything.

[12:09] He will withhold no good thing from his people. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. That is how David prays.

[12:21] So that's the first thing as we prepare for another week. Let's make sure that you go into this week in prayer asking God that he'll prepare you for whatever lies ahead.

[12:33] What does David pray for? He goes on in verse 3 from verse 3 onwards to list a number of things about himself that he prays for.

[12:46] Now sometimes we get the balance wrong. Sometimes we become so obsessed with ourselves in prayer that we fail to think of anyone else. That's wrong. But it's equally unwise to become so mindful of other people that you fail to pray for yourself.

[13:02] You have to pray for both. You have to pray for both. And here is where David prays for himself. There are other times when we're asked to pray for other people. Here is where David prays for himself.

[13:15] And he prays for himself in three respects each one a part of the body. First of all he prays for his mouth and then he prays for his head and then he prays for his heart.

[13:30] Rather I should have the order is wrong with his mouth first of all and then his heart and then his head. And I want us to pray I would like to think that we will go out of this place praying for those exact same things as we go to seek to serve the Lord.

[13:50] First of all he says in verse 3 set a guard oh Lord over my mouth. Then he says it in a slightly different way. One of the things about the Psalms is what you call Hebrew parallelism where he says one thing then he says exactly the same things but he uses a different way of saying it just to reinforce the point.

[14:10] So he says it first set a guard oh Lord over my mouth then he says keep watch over the door of my lips. Right away we're reminded of that second chapter that we read in James chapter 3 that very famous and challenging chapter in which James recognizes how dangerous our tongues are.

[14:38] And what he's saying in this is this that it's the smallest one of the smallest active parts of your body a tiny tiny part of your body and yet it's capable of more destruction than any other part of your body how it doesn't matter how strong you are you're capable of a lot of destruction the Bible tells us we're capable of far more destruction by the use of our tongues than in any other way.

[15:09] And I don't need to list we could talk all night about the various ways in which we can let ourselves down and our saviour down by the way in which we speak to others.

[15:24] I'm always struck as I read the life and the ministry of Jesus Christ of how winsome he was towards other people and how what he said the way he said things his gentleness and that's why the apostle talks about the meekness and the gentleness of Jesus.

[15:46] How are people going to know the meekness and gentleness of Christ in us unless it's by the way in which we behave and the way in which we use our tongues the way in which we speak to others.

[16:03] I'm talking about in our places of work I'm talking about the extent to which we moan and complain all the time I'm talking about the way in which we gossip and in which we're never satisfied until we find some piece of news that we need to pass on to someone else regardless of whether we found out to be true or not and even if it is true it's harmful to pass it on to someone else.

[16:29] Do you realize how much damage you can do to someone's reputation just by what you say about that person even if you believe it to be the truth?

[16:44] Is it necessary? Is it true? Is it helpful? Is it Christ-like? That should always be the question before we open our mouths.

[16:56] Is it true? Is it helpful? Is it necessary? Is it Christ-like? Is it the kind of things that Jesus would say?

[17:06] I see a lot of young people wearing the band WWJD. Great. It was brilliant. Such a brilliant thing. I hope that we remember WWJD for the benefit of the older ones who don't know what that means.

[17:19] What would Jesus do? A lot of young people wear that as a wristband with these initials on it. It's a great reminder of that great principle.

[17:34] What would Jesus do? Always to ask that question, but there should be another one. WWJS. What would Jesus say? Is that not correct? It's not just a question of doing, it's a question of saying.

[17:47] The amount of damage that we can do could differ so much by just stopping for a moment and thinking before we say what we're about to say.

[18:01] Very often what we're about to say we'll know, we'll discover that it wasn't necessary and it certainly wasn't going to be helpful. Then when we get angry unnecessarily, I know there's such a thing as righteous anger.

[18:19] The Bible talks about righteous anger. Even Jesus himself became angry on more than one occasion like when he turned over the tables in the temple when he saw the money changers and when he turned them over and when he said my house is to be a house of prayer but you've made it into a den of thieves.

[18:35] That was real and it was righteous anger. He had every right to be angry. I hear too many people saying there's such a thing as righteous anger. Most of the time when we get angry including myself it's not righteous at all.

[18:50] It's sinful anger. That's why the Bible warns us away from it because in anger why is anger? Well one of the reasons why anger is so wrong is because you end up saying things that you actually don't mean.

[19:02] You end up saying it and you regret it afterwards. You come away from the situation and you've said something and you've hurt someone and you've said something that perhaps wasn't quite true and you've said it.

[19:14] That's it. You can't unsay it again. That's it. And you've caused a whole lot of damage. And that's why the psalmist was no different from us. David was no different from us.

[19:26] He was a human being. He was a sinful human being trying to serve God and to live for him. And he knew how dependent he was upon the help and the strength that God was going to give him.

[19:38] So that's why he prayed, set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. There's another prayer, isn't it? That's another way of going into an uncertain week.

[19:51] Who knows what things are going to provoke us this week and how we're going to be challenged in these very important ways. He also prays for his heart. He also prays for his heart.

[20:02] And the Bible tells us that that's where sin begins. That's where it began way back in Genesis chapter 3 when the serpent came into the garden and spoke to Eve. and where she saw that the fruit was good, it was pleasing to the eyes and it was palatable, it was lovely to look on and she saw that by the look that it must be good and she was tempted in that way because her heart was, her heart listened to the serpent and she ended up doing what the serpent told her and tempted her to do.

[20:44] James tells us this, blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

[20:55] Where does that take place? It takes place in our thought life. How is our thought life tonight as Christians? What kind of things do we entertain in our minds?

[21:11] It's one thing for a thought to suddenly come upon us and for us to throw it out again. It's another thing to entertain and to play around with thoughts that we know are sinful.

[21:26] Things that we know are sinful. Ideas that we know are sinful. Situations that we know are sinful. Temptations where even by thinking about what we're thinking about we know that we're sinning.

[21:41] Sin begins in our hearts. David knows that. You and I know that as well. I know it. We all know it. Ask God to not let my heart incline to any evil.

[21:54] But it's particularly in relation to his company. The people that he knows in this world who don't belong to God that he's asking God for protection from.

[22:06] Because the people that he knew in the world he calls them wicked deeds. He calls them wicked people. Now to me it's really important that we remember how the Bible defines the word wicked.

[22:20] The wicked man or the wicked woman in the Bible is not the Jezebels and the Ahabs. They were wicked. But it doesn't just begin there. The wicked person in the Bible is the person who rejects God's word in their lives.

[22:36] The person who says no to God. The person who has no time for God. The person who doesn't listen to the gospel. That's the person who in God's eyes is a wicked person.

[22:48] Now you might object to that. You might say well I've lived all my life as a righteous I don't consider myself wicked. In fact I think it's really outrageous of you to tell me that just because I'm not a Christian that I am wicked.

[23:03] It's not me that's telling you it's the Bible that's telling us. That's the word that the Bible uses. It's not the murderer the mass murderer. It's the person who has said I will not have this man to reign over me Jesus.

[23:18] I will not have him to be my savior. I will not do what he says. I will not come into his kingdom. I will not accept him as my lord and my savior.

[23:29] every time you reject the gospel that's what you're saying. And what you're saying is I don't care what God is saying to me.

[23:40] I'm going to live my life my way. That's what the Bible calls wickedness. The person who sets his mind to refuse to listen to God's word and to the gospel.

[23:53] That is the wicked man and the wicked woman. Now David knew that he was surrounded by people like that. People who and he knew also that there was a danger in the kind of world that he lived in.

[24:10] So he asked that God would keep him from being tempted or from being drawn into the schemes of wicked people. Of people who he knew had no time for God.

[24:23] But then he asks for his head. He asks for his head. He prays for his head. What do we mean by that? Well in verse 5 it tells us this is what he says let a righteous man strike me.

[24:39] Let a righteous man strike me. Now why in the world is he asking to be struck to be hit by someone?

[24:50] He's asking not to be struck by anyone. He's asking to be struck by specifically someone he knows who loves the Lord.

[25:05] And he says if that righteous man strikes me it's for a reason. He's not speaking literally he's speaking metaphorically and what he's asking is that he would be corrected by others who love the Lord as he did himself.

[25:24] You know sometimes we don't know when we go wrong. Sometimes we go wrong and we don't even realize what we're doing ourselves. But other people do notice it and it's quite wrong of you as a brother or a sister in the Lord if you see someone going astray for you to say nothing about it.

[25:47] Even if it means that you will be spoken to angrily or even if it means that they will reject you or whatever it means it is our duty and I say this to myself it is our duty to go to a person in love if you know that that person I don't mean the kind of person who does something you don't agree with that's not what I'm talking about at all.

[26:13] I'm talking about when a brother or a sister you know that that person is going wrong is backsliding or straying off the road that they should be on it is wrong for you to do nothing about it you pray about it first of all but then we must do more than that we must go in humility and in loving fellowship and we must go to that person but equally it works the other way as well when we go wrong and someone comes to us a brother or sister in Christ and says look can I stop you and talk to you for a few moments time and can I just give you a concern that I have you must accept that in love and in humility as God as God sends to correct that's what David is speaking about and he knew from his own experience what that was all about you remember when he committed adultery with

[27:14] Bathsheba and he arranged for her husband to be killed and for months afterwards he was oblivious to the seriousness of what he had done it's incredible isn't it that a Christian someone of the standing of David can do something so wrong and yet be oblivious to what he has done his heart went hard and cold and resistant and God sent a brother Nathan the prophet you remember 2 Samuel chapter 8 he sent him to speak to him I don't believe for a moment it was easy for Nathan I reckon he was trembling from head to foot at the prospect of having to go to David and having to bring up this awkward subject much easier much much easier for Nathan to just stay where he was and hope for the best but he didn't he went to him and he said David I've got something to say to you so remember the story about the lamb and the visitor and how David at last was shown how he showed David the awfulness of what he had done and

[28:14] David took it so so graciously didn't he he confessed he admitted the wrong that he had done and he came back to the Lord he said I have sinned against the Lord and that was the beginning of course of David's repentance you can read all about it in those chapters and in Psalm 51 his life was never the same again and yet he was forgiven by God there's a place where God used someone else to go to him and reason with him so that that's that's perhaps why he says this let the righteous man because he saw how precious it was and how absolutely necessary it was for him that he would still be far away from the Lord if it hadn't been for Nathan and coming to him and and correcting him let the righteous man strike me but you know just before you you're rushing out the door to go to someone who you think is going astray just think twice count to ten make sure make sure that you know what you're doing and make sure that you've prayed about it humbly and earnestly and remember what the apostle says let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall we're all vulnerable all of us every single one of us and any one of us could fall in a moment in time and if you don't have that consciousness then don't go and start correcting a brother because that's what the

[29:40] Lord meant when he talked about trying to remove the beam trying to remove the mote in your brother's eye the little tiny speck from your brother's eye well there's a great beam sticking out of our own eye just make sure that you're not like mouth he prays for his heart and he prays for his head but the psalm also tells us what David prays against that's how David prepares himself in the evening for the next day but he's also conscious that there are those who hate him and the reason he has enemies not just in the ordinary sense that a king might have people who disagree with him who are plotting his downfall or enemies from the outside who are trying to invade his territory all of these things would take place in David's time but there's an added dimension to this and that is because

[30:44] David knew there were people who hated him because of who he was and because of who he served they hated him because they hated his God they loathed the living and the true God that's the first thing we need to remember that by praying against enemies we're asking God we're praying against those who hate God and who hate David because they hate God but the question still remains there are many psalms several psalms amongst two we sing them 35 for example Psalm 83 Psalm 109 Psalm 137 Psalm 140 to name but a few in which the psalmist actually prays for the destruction of those who are against him now the question is this do we how do we sing those psalms in the light of what

[31:53] Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5 I say to you love your enemies pray for those who hate you how do we sing that in the light of the fact that what we really want in the new testament is for our enemies to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth are these two things not incompatible how how can say on the one hand lord destroy my enemies and on the other hand lord have mercy on my enemies well I want to suggest to you tonight very simply that you can let me explain our first priority as God's people living in the new testament in the light of the gospel is to pray for the salvation of those who hate God tonight that is our first priority and it doesn't matter what they're doing well it does matter it's awful but whatever we pray for those tonight who blaspheme

[33:03] God you see it on the television all the time you read about it in the newspaper people and you think you think it makes you know when I hear some people watch the telly and you hear people laughing at the gospel and making a mockery of the gospel you know it really makes you tremble sometimes doesn't it knowing that what they are mocking is the truth of God and one day those very same people will have to stand and give an account for every word that they've spoken against the Lord it just is awful isn't it now what's my response well part of me is angry and yet I've got to remember that Christ has asked us he's commanded us to pray for those who are totally against even those who hate God tonight so we must pray we pray for those who worship other religions who are involved in other religions we pray for those who are blaspheming blasphemous we pray for those who have broken the law for those who are criminals for those who have set their hearts to such an extent that you wouldn't ever think there was any hope for a person like that but time and again

[34:16] God proves to us doesn't he that nobody is beyond reach of the gospel that's why our first response should be to pray to get on our knees and to pray for those who we know and it's the same maybe in your place of work when they know you're a Christian or someone in your family who knows you're a Christian and they deliberately try and trip you up because they're so spiteful against the gospel and because they just hate so much the fact that you're a Christian they'll try and do whatever they can to make you lose your temper or to make you stumble in some kind of way what is it who knows what God will do is the same with your husband or someone who you know like your son or daughter brother sister neighbor whatever let's really earnestly pray that God will have mercy upon them even if at this moment in time they're showing all the signs of hating

[35:23] God with a vengeance who knows what God will do in that person's life and you know this when God moves in a person's life and when that person is converted they're destroyed you ever thought of that when you were converted you were destroyed the person you once were died that's what the Bible tells us that's what Paul tells us in chapter six of Romans that the person he once was what he calls the old man died came to nothing came to an end and what emerged what rose was the new man and that's what we're praying for we're praying for the destruction of those who tonight refuse to listen to God by their conversion by listening to the gospel but the second thing I would say is this that the Bible clearly tells us that God will bring this world to an end and there will be a judgment in which all of us the whole world will appear before the judgment seat of

[36:31] Jesus the Bible goes on to tell us that that God will judge with his own vengeance and will punish with his own vengeance all those who have refused to listen to him and those who have refused to accept him as their saviour God are you telling me that you refuse to pray for that day are you telling me tonight that you don't want the end of the world to come if you're a believer and you're in Christ tonight then everything that God says is something that we pray for everything and when Jesus tells us in the Lord's prayer thy kingdom come your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven that's what we're praying for we're praying for the end of the world and we're praying for

[37:34] Jesus to come again and we're praying for the destruction of all that is evil in this world and God will bring that day about the destruction the end of all who have refused to believe in him so we're able to pray for our enemies and we're able to pray against them for them and against them but praying that the Lord's will will be done and that in wrath he will remember mercy that's the bulk of the psalm then this evening I don't want us to take any more time there are some awkward verses in verse six for example when their judges are thrown over the cliffs so then shall they hear my words for they are pleasant as when one plows and breaks up the earth so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of

[38:35] Sheol these are awkward words and scholars have spent many hours trying to figure out what these words mean do you know what I think it means it's very simply this the day will come when we will be as dead as anyone else the wages of sin is death it's appointed unto man once to die so that when David writes in verse seven as when one plows and breaks up the earth for all our talk and for all our life in this world for all the scattered at the mouth of she was like the door of death every one of us will end up in the same way in verse six when he talks about when their judges are thrown over the cliff another way of expressing that is if you'll read the small print at the bottom of your ESV Bible when their judges fall into the hands of the rock these were judges they weren't righteous listening to

[39:42] God these were men as I've said before and women who were acting wickedly against God by refusing to live and yet they were full of opinions or they knew everything they were able to give an opinion on every single subject under the one they appear to be so powerful and here's David and saying finally their end will be the same but the day will come when that day happens when they fall into the hands of God then for the first time they shall hear my words what were these words the words of the gospel they shall hear my words they'll remember them they'll remember what they've heard during their life here in the world the words that they've refused to take seriously for they are pleasant oh if that's where you are tonight you're not a Christian you haven't yet accepted Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for you I hope that you come to discover how lovely and how pleasant the words of

[40:48] God are the words of eternal life the words by which God appeals to the worst sinners in the world people who have given up on themselves people who have despaired because they think how can God possibly accept me after a whole life against him rebelling against him doing things and thinking things saying things living living a life that I know to be a sinful life but that is the kind of person that God is able to save so why don't you come why don't you take that step of faith come to Jesus now before it's too late and discover how pleasant the gospel is how great the gospel is and how it's the words they are the words of everlasting life may God bless his own word to us let's pray our father in heaven we thank you for our time together this evening and we thank you lord for the loveliness of this day and in a part of the world where we see very little of the warmth and we experience very little of the warmth of sunshine which other people experience day by day all year we're so appreciative of your goodness to us and the greatness of

[42:14]  God and lord we want to recognize even the loveliness of this day as a token of the loveliness of God and the God who has touched us through even today we pray that we will come to discover the greatness of serving that lord and believing in the lord jesus christ and entering into your kingdom so that our lives would be changed lord we pray that we will hear your word this evening and respond in faith to the invitation to how jesus invites us to come to himself bless lord we pray our worship and hear our prayer in jesus name amen and in jesus thank you dois row ok and hear in him so that in jesus go thanks whoever were and thanks for for evening