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[0:00] Well, I want to wish everybody a very good evening, and it's nice to have you worshiping with us this evening. And we trust that we'll know God's blessing in the worship, and that the Lord will indeed open our eyes to see him and our ears to hear him, as we draw close to him in his word.

[0:18] We're going to begin reading from Psalm 91. This is in the Scottish Psalter. He that doth in the secret place of the Most High reside, under the shade of him that is the Almighty shall abide.

[0:33] I of the Lord my God will say, he is my refuge still, he is my fortress and my God, and in him trust I will. Assuredly he shall thee save and give deliverance from subtle fowler snare, and from the noise and pestilence.

[0:49] His feather shall he hide, and thy trust under his wings shall be. His faithfulness shall be a shield and buckler unto thee.

[1:01] Let us now bow in prayer. O Lord, our gracious God, as we come before you this evening, we pray that we might know you, that we might know the riches of your grace.

[1:13] We come calling upon the name of the Lord. And we give thanks, Lord, that the invitation is so great in your word, that it tells us whoever calls upon the Lord.

[1:26] Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And we pray that up and down our land, and throughout this world, that many will be calling out to you for that salvation.

[1:39] Because you alone can save. You are God of heaven and earth. And you are the God who has made that salvation possible. Because of your great love.

[1:50] For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And we pray that young and old, that rich and poor, that those of all different backgrounds and cultures and creeds may indeed hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[2:13] And that they may come to experience the truth. And knowing that the truth alone is what is able to set us free. These are the great words of Jesus where he says, I am the way, the truth of the life.

[2:26] And he also says, the truth shall make you free. In other words, Jesus makes us free. Oh Lord, oh God, we pray then that you will bless us. That you will bless us this evening and that you will watch over us in our time together.

[2:42] We pray, Lord, that as we engage with you in the word. And as we worship you in the quietness of our own homes and in the quietness of our own hearts.

[2:53] That you will meet with us. We give thanks for this awesome privilege that the King of Glory, the creator of heaven and earth. Is willing to meet with us individuals who we are.

[3:08] And that you are willing to come and even to fellowship with us. And to commune with us in and through your son, Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, be gracious and merciful to us.

[3:19] Not according to our deserving, but according to your tender mercies. Lord, bless and pity us. Shine on us with high face. We pray that you will bless all who are in need today.

[3:32] And we realize that our needs are so varied. As we battle all the different issues and struggles in life. Whether they be physical or mental or social or relationships.

[3:47] Or emotional or financial or spiritual. We pray, Lord, that into all the different situations. And all the stresses and turmoils that life brings.

[3:59] And all the changing circumstances. Oh Lord, we ask that you will help. And that you will work. And that you will do good. Lord, because so often we find ourselves utterly powerless.

[4:11] In the face of situations and in the face of events. And like the one in the Bible says. Lord, our eyes are upon you. Because we do not know what to do.

[4:23] And so, Lord, we pray. That you will enrich us. That you will bless us. And that you will do in us and for us. Far and beyond anything that we could ask or even think. Lord, we pray that you will be with those who are seriously ill.

[4:38] May your healing hand be laid upon them. That it might please you, Lord, to raise up those who are seriously ill. And we realize that one of the impacts of the COVID has been.

[4:51] Where treatments for so many people have slowed down or even stopped. And we know that this is causing so much anguish and distress. And so, we pray into all the mix that has been brought about through this virus.

[5:05] Lord, that you will work. That you will work physically and spiritually and mentally and socially in every different way. Lord, our God, we pray for those in authority over us.

[5:17] We pray, Lord, for those who are seeking to find a vaccine. And we pray that what they're working on. We know that tests are underway. That these things will prove to be incredibly effective.

[5:29] And that it might indeed bring about a change in life. So that a greater sense of our freedom and returning to a greater degree of normality may once again be discovered.

[5:43] And we pray that side by side with that, that there will be things discovered, whether old or new. That will take the worst out of the COVID-19. And pray for our emergency services and paramedics and all the ambulance services and A&E workers and police and fire and coast guard and lifeboat.

[6:06] And all the different services, Lord, that are so often tending to people in emergency situations. We pray to protect them and grant them your grace and strength.

[6:18] And often in dealing with the aftermath of these things. Because we're all human. And we realize that often there is personal distress involved. So we pray for them.

[6:29] Pray for those who are so much trying to help other people. Thanks for the great display of kindness that goes on in our communities and in our land. So often these things are missed out.

[6:40] We so often brought the bad news. But there is so much good news. And so many people are doing so much good to and for others. We give thanks, Lord, for all this. We pray, Lord, that you will bless our leaders, those in authority over us.

[6:55] O grant them the wisdom from above. O Lord, may we look to you. May people realize that righteousness alone exalts a nation. That sin is a reproach to people.

[7:06] That our governments may realize this and look to you. And so as we wait upon you, we ask that you will bless us. Bless young and old alike. Do us good, we pray. Bless those who are bereaved, those whose hearts are sore, their nursing broken hearts.

[7:21] O bind up these broken hearts, Lord, we pray. And watch over us and forgive us our every sin. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. I'm just going to say a wee word to the young people.

[7:37] One of the greatest places that we have here in Stornoway, without a shadow of doubt, are our wonderful castle grounds. And if you, like me, go to the castle grounds often, I try and go there quite often.

[7:51] I go for a walk. I go in different directions. Sometimes I'll go out the back road and go up Gallows Hill that way. Other times I might park near the YM and go across the bridge and maybe along the front, in front of the castle and up some of the lovely new paths that they've made.

[8:10] Because the castle grounds are actually stunning. There's so much work that's going on to it. When you look at the castle itself. And as for the wall that they're building in front of the castle, it's absolutely magnificent.

[8:24] The dry stone wall. Just superb. You go to the castle gardens and there's so many little plants and bushes and shrubs that have been planted. And little trees here and there.

[8:36] Just now with all the greenery and as you go along the paths and there's the benches there. It's just, it's a magnificent place and it's here on our doorstep. And one day recently as I was walking along and I say, imagine owning this.

[8:51] Wouldn't it be wonderful?

[9:12] And then I stopped and I thought, you know, in a sense, you and I do. Because the amazing thing is that the castle grounds have been given to us.

[9:24] It's given to a trust, a trust, look after the grounds. But it's free for us to go to. Any day we can go. We can go on our bike and there's just wonderful cycle paths all over.

[9:37] Or we can just walk and we can enjoy nature. And it's ours. It's quite extraordinary. And we don't have the worry of having to look after.

[9:48] Because I was thinking side by side with that. Wouldn't it be wonderful to own it? And then I said, what a worry it would be to have to look after this or this ground. But we don't even have to do that.

[9:59] The trust has been given to the trust. And it got me thinking about what it means to be a Christian. Because the moment you become a Christian, you are brought into a kingdom.

[10:13] Not just into a great place, but into a kingdom. Because you see, King Jesus, the moment that we come to believe in Jesus and trust in Jesus, then King Jesus becomes our king, the king of our heart.

[10:29] And King Jesus walks with us wherever we go. He takes us into his kingdom. In a sense, his kingdom comes into our heart, first of all. And that's why we pray in the Lord's Prayer, Thy kingdom come.

[10:44] Where we're wanting King Jesus to come into our heart. And into the hearts of our family. Into the hearts of our friends. So that Jesus would have the rule. That he would be king there.

[10:56] Everywhere we go or whatever we do, Jesus is there with us. But one day, when we come to read this word, he's going to take us, if we believe and trust him, to be with himself.

[11:09] And the Bible tells us that the kingdom that Jesus has prepared is the most wonderful place. And it's going to be ours. We're told, for instance, in John, that it's a house of many mansions.

[11:23] This wonderful dwelling place. This wonderful place that we're going to live. And there's beautiful pictures given to us of the wonder of what there's going to be new heavens and a new earth.

[11:38] And it's all going to be full of brightness, of beauty, of loveliness. And we're going to live there. And it's all going to be ours. Because he says, all things are yours.

[11:48] So although the castle grounds are wonderful, and we love having them, and we're so thankful for them, they are just like the tiniest little, just like this little dot compared to the wonder of what God in Jesus has prepared for us.

[12:11] So I want you to think about that. And any time you're over the castle grounds, I want you to think beyond the castle grounds and to think of the King, the King Jesus, and what he is preparing for us if we trust in him and believe in him.

[12:26] Let's hear the Lord's Prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

[12:45] For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen. I'm going to read some of God's word. We're going to read this from, excuse me, from Hebrews, a letter to the Hebrews in chapter 2.

[13:02] Hebrews chapter 2. Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such great salvation?

[13:24] It was declared at first by the Lord and was attested to us by those who heard. While God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

[13:41] For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere. What is man that you are mindful of him?

[13:53] Or the son of man that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honour, putting everything in subjection under his feet.

[14:05] Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for evermore.

[14:32] For it was fitting that he for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

[14:43] For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, I will tell of your name to my brothers.

[14:56] In the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise. And again I will put my trust in him. And again, behold I and the children God has given me.

[15:07] Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

[15:27] For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

[15:48] For because he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Amen. And may God bless to us this reading of his own holy word.

[16:00] I want us to focus in particular on the last two verses of chapter 2 in Hebrews. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of his people.

[16:24] For because he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. God's love in reaching down to us in order to save us is absolutely awesome.

[16:44] Sometimes people don't really think about it or appreciate just what it is that God has done in order that we might be saved. We know, of course, that it's beautifully put in John chapter 3, verse 16, and supposing there was no other verse given to us, supposing that was our Bible.

[17:06] There is enough in that verse for us to know who God is, what God has done, what he has provided, and how to be saved. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

[17:27] the scope is so wide whosoever believes in him. But you'll notice here in our verse that it states there's these amazing words at the beginning, he had to be.

[17:42] He had to be. In order for the Lord Jesus Christ to save us, he had to be. What did he have to be?

[17:53] He had to be made like us, like his brothers. So in order for us to be reconciled to God, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, had to be made like us.

[18:10] That really is quite extraordinary because when you think of who the second person of the Godhead is, the Son of God is God, a very God. He is equal to the Father and to the Spirit.

[18:25] Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God is one who was involved in all the creation because it tells us that by him and through him everything that was made was made.

[18:37] So that in the formation of the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets, the earth that we live on, the mountains, the hills, the seas, the grass, the little insects, the animals, ourselves, the human race, he's involved in all of that and yet, and yet, the glory of this awesome being is such that he has to be made like us in order that we might be saved.

[19:10] And that's quite extraordinary. Now we've got to remember this, that God did not need to save us. God would have been perfectly right within himself to have left us all when we went wrong through the fall.

[19:25] He didn't have to, but he chose to. And it would have been the most awful thing if God had just left us. The sad thing is that's what our other people want.

[19:37] They don't want God. And they want to push God out of the picture. And that's why they hate the Bible and they hate church and they hate the Christian because the church and the Bible and Christians are a reminder to them that there is a God.

[19:53] And they don't want to even think that there is a God. But the wonderful thing is that God hasn't left us. It would be awful if he had. But the Bible tells us of what God has done through our Lord and Saviour.

[20:09] And everything that Jesus did as Saviour, he did for us. Jesus took human nature to himself. Now the human nature that Jesus took wasn't just for the 33 years that he lived here in this world.

[20:27] Because when Jesus died, he died in our nature. He was buried in our nature in the physicality of who we are. He rose again, the resurrection, he rose in our nature.

[20:42] Now we read of Jesus' ascension, where he ascended after 40 days to glory. He ascended in our nature. But after he ascended into glory, he went through another process of what we would call the glorification.

[20:58] And today he is in the most awesome glory, but still in our nature. He is shining as bright as the midday sun, but in our nature.

[21:10] he continues forever to have our nature. So it's quite an extraordinary thing that Jesus Christ who rules and reigns at his head of the church remains in our nature forever.

[21:25] That's one of the wonderful things. And another of the wonderful things is that we, that we shall resemble him. because it's told in the Bible, that's one of the great, one of the verses that I love, we shall see him as he is and we shall be like him.

[21:45] That's what happens. In this world we are being changed. Moment by moment, a little here and a little there. A death, a great change will take place.

[21:57] In glory and at the end another great change. When our bodies are reunited with our soul, there will be that final change and we will completely resemble our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[22:12] Now, God has shown us that from the very beginning that sin could only be dealt with by way of sacrifice. There's no other way.

[22:24] And the Bible shows us very clearly two of the main aspects of the whole area, the whole dealing of sacrifice the whole Old Testament system really highlighted two things.

[22:39] The holiness of God and the heinousness of sin in the sight of God. And that's something that so many people today don't understand. Because if we don't understand that God is so holy that he cannot tolerate sin in any shape or form, then we don't understand the need for salvation.

[23:01] it is only when we're brought to see that a holy God cannot meet with us as sinners unless the sin is dealt with.

[23:12] And that's what the Bible shows us. That's what the Bible sets out to show us of how God has dealt with what we ourselves are incapable of dealing with. And that's a great problem of sin.

[23:25] It's a great barrier, the great thing that has separated us from God. And all the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament, and indeed not just the sacrificial system, but the layout of the tabernacle and the temple and everything, it all pointed to Jesus Christ typifying, symbolizing what Jesus was to do and what Jesus has done for us.

[23:53] Now, the Bible talks of Jesus as a mediator. Now, in order for us to be saved, we have to have somebody who comes and mediates between God and ourselves.

[24:12] Now, we know that when a mediator is brought into a particular situation, when maybe two families have fallen out, two individuals have fallen out, two groups have fallen out, even two nations have fallen out, a mediator is somebody who comes in order to try to reconcile, to bring these two groups together, to deal with the issues that are separating.

[24:39] What is it that's separating the one group from the other? And that's what Jesus has come to do, is to deal with what is separating us from God.

[24:50] And what is separating us from God? It's our sin. who we are and what we've done and just everything, the whole aspect of original sin. And we can't deal with it, it is there.

[25:03] And so this is why Jesus is known as the mediator. And the thing is that there was nobody who could be qualified to act as a mediator.

[25:16] If you look around this world, it is only somebody who is equal with God and yet is a human being at the same time. Somebody who is one with us and one with God.

[25:31] There isn't even an angel that falls into that category. So that is why the second person of the Godhead, the Son of God, came into this world to take our nature so that he could be one with us and yet still one with God because he is God.

[25:50] And only that way can you have a real true mediator. And the human nature that Jesus took was total, it wasn't just the appearance of human nature, it was actual human nature.

[26:05] We read of Jesus being hungry when he approached the fig tree. We read of Jesus being thirsty on the cross. We read of Jesus being weary at the well of Samaria.

[26:16] We read of Jesus being exhausted, asleep in the ship. We read of Jesus weeping at the grave. We read of Jesus being sorrowful in the garden of Gethsemane.

[26:29] All the human traits and all the human emotions and characteristics that we have and we display, Jesus displayed these as well apart from sin because he was God, he was and is sinless but he was completely human as well.

[26:49] And then we read of what Jesus as this wonderful high priest so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest. Isn't that wonderful?

[27:02] You see, when we stop and we think of what we deserve and when we think of what our sin deserves, we don't deserve salvation.

[27:12] We don't deserve to be saved but because God is loving, because God is merciful, then he wants to save us and so Jesus is this merciful high priest.

[27:26] We often talk of mercy. Mercy, I've said it often enough before, assumes two things, a real need on the part of the one requiring mercy and resources completely sufficient to meet the need on the part of the one displaying mercy and that's how it is with ourselves and with Jesus.

[27:50] And so Jesus loves to be merciful, to help those who are in need and can't help themselves. And so we read of the Lord that he's one who delights in mercy.

[28:03] Now if you delight in something, it is something that is right of the, you love it, this is part of who you are and it's something that you love to display, something that you love to be. Well, that's who our God is, that is who our saviour is, our mediator, is someone who loves to display and to show his mercy.

[28:26] And the wonderful thing is that his mercy is not limited. It's not only for a period of time or now and again. The Bible tells us his mercies are new every morning, just as the sun rises every morning.

[28:38] So his mercies arrive and arise every morning as well. So there is a wonderful tenderness in Jesus' dealings with us all the time.

[28:49] We often read in the Bible of times when Jesus tells us that he was moved with compassion. We've said that, that whole idea of the compassion is your pain in my heart.

[29:04] That's what Jesus feels it. He feels your pain. He understands it. He understands your battles and your struggles. He understands the times you're really down and you feel you can't cope and all these things that just tear you apart and break you and hurt you and you just don't know, you find life is no longer just the way it used to be and you just don't know how to deal with and how to cope with.

[29:30] He understands because he's human but he's also God and this is a wonderful thing that he's able to help us in these things and we then see that his great work is that it's making propitiation.

[29:52] It's measurable in making propitiation and propitiation is our wrath related word. And you see unchecked, God's wrath hangs over us. God's wrath has to hang over us.

[30:05] God can't help his wrath hanging over us because of our sin. And if our sin is unchecked, God's wrath is over us. But on the cross, that's one of the wonderful things that Jesus did.

[30:18] He took God's wrath on himself. So that when we come to trust in Jesus, God's wrath is taken away. It's removed. God's wrath is no longer hanging over us.

[30:30] Yes, there are times that God will visit us with his word and his chastisement, but not his wrath. He won't come down in wrathful judgment on us because that wrath has been removed in Jesus Christ.

[30:48] How long has that wrath been removed for? Forever. But not only is he a merciful high priest, but he's also a faithful high priest. Now, that's a beautiful word, faithful.

[30:59] Someone who's loyal and steadfast, somebody that you can always count on, somebody who's always there. Wouldn't it be awful if Jesus was untrustworthy and you couldn't really depend on him?

[31:13] You weren't too sure whether what he said was true or not, that he would promise the earth but maybe wouldn't deliver it? But you know the wonderful thing is that everything that he has ever said is absolute truth and is guaranteed.

[31:32] Now, I'm sure faithfulness is one of the qualities that any employer looks for. Because what would be the use of employing somebody who had amazing abilities, has huge capacity for work, could work like three people and you'd say, this person's brilliant, this person's going to go places.

[31:50] but is completely unreliable, untrustworthy. It doesn't matter the abilities and capacities this person has, it's a nightmare because you can't depend on him or her in any shape or form where an employer wouldn't want somebody like that.

[32:09] But Jesus who has come to do the work for the Father on our behalf is absolutely trustworthy. He's altogether faithful. faithful. He's faithful to his Father.

[32:22] He's faithful to his people. He's faithful to every prophecy. He's faithful to every promise. He's faithful in facing every, resisting every temptation.

[32:37] He's faithful in suffering. He's faithful all the way to death. Absolutely and altogether faithful. That's what we read about.

[32:47] He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And then just in a word in verse 18, we read these wonderful words because he himself has suffered when tempted.

[32:59] He's able to help those who are being tempted. Now all people are tempted. You're tempted, I'm tempted. Everybody's tempted in this world. But temptation goes to another level the moment you become a Christian.

[33:14] There it becomes a raging battlefield. And before you become a Christian, yes, you know about temptation and you have to fight against temptation. But as I said, when you become a Christian, it goes on to a whole new level altogether.

[33:30] And Martin Luther always looked on temptation as one of the tools that God actually uses for the development and the spiritual growth of his people. temptation and a lot of humbling takes place through temptation.

[33:46] And the thing is Satan knows exactly how to get us. He knows your makeup. He knows your strengths. He knows your weaknesses. He knows where to hit. He's had thousands of years of experience.

[33:58] And he doesn't just hit us in the weak places. He hits us in strong points as well. You ask David and Abraham and Peter, not just in the weak part, but also in the strengths.

[34:09] And sometimes it's a mixture of both. Often his temptations come out of the blue. But you know the thing, the awful thing about temptation is that we are always ready to side with it because sin is attractive to us.

[34:26] We're already drawn to it. We're already by nature halfway there. And Satan knows I have this man, I have this woman, I have this boy, I have this girl, and I know exactly out of it that temptation.

[34:40] And that's why we need help. Because Satan will come, and you know one of the things he does, he hides the consequence of sin from us. He told Eve, ah, you won't die.

[34:53] God had said the day you eat, you die. Satan says, no, you won't. God is wanting you, is trying to stop you eating out because your eyes will be opened.

[35:04] You'll develop as a passion. You won't die. You know it. And that was the process of death began. That process that haunts us to this very day, it began at that moment.

[35:18] He's been a liar from the start. But this verse highlights the wonderful thing is that Jesus was tempted, but more than that, he has suffered when tempted.

[35:30] Now, a lot of people mistakenly think that it was easy for Jesus, that in his temptation there was no great problem. But it was the very reverse.

[35:43] Because, you see, temptation isn't a problem when you give in. If you give in to temptation, the temptation goes. Yes, you've sinned. You move from temptation.

[35:54] Remember, it isn't sin. But if you give in to the temptation to sin, then, of course, you do sin. But once you give in, then the resistance and the struggle is no longer there.

[36:06] Of course, it comes back again. But Jesus resisted. He could be tempted. But Jesus resisted every temptation. And through the resistance, there was suffering all the time.

[36:20] And Satan knew how to fix the temptations exactly. Like, for instance, in the wilderness when Jesus was starving. Make bread.

[36:30] Make bread of this. Go against God's will just now, but make bread for yourself. Out of the stones. You can. See, he fits the temptation exactly to where we are.

[36:43] So you remember when you're tempted that Jesus knows exactly what temptation is like. So why does the Lord not keep temptation from us? Well, partly in order to show us the dangers that actually lie out there where we realize that we're walking through a minefield and that temptation is one of the great dangers.

[37:06] He also uses temptation to humble us. And a lot of the humbling takes part through the temptation because it strips away pride and self and helps us to, teaches us to become much more reliant upon the Lord.

[37:24] As we said, Christ experienced the full force of temptation. But you know what we read here? Christ is able to help those who are tempted. How does he do that? Well, he does it in different ways.

[37:36] He brings forgiveness into our lives because of our sin and our failure. You and I know the sorrow that our failure shall bring upon us.

[37:50] When we have failed, when we let God down, how often we say, oh Lord, I'm sorry. And we go to the Lord because of our failures in the face of temptation. But Jesus forgives and he brings in the balm and healing of his forgiveness.

[38:04] And because Jesus himself has been tempted, he knows all about what temptation is like. He understands and so he's able to equip us and he's able to enable us to stand.

[38:19] Christ, of course, has set the great example of bringing God's word in the face of temptation. It is written. That's how Jesus dealt with temptation each time it is written. It is written. Now this word, when it tells us here that he comes to help us, has the idea of coming to the aid of.

[38:37] And that's what Jesus loves to do. He loves to come to the aid of people. You look at his life, you go and study his life in this world. It was a life of constantly coming to the aid of people.

[38:52] And I don't know what your situation might be today. It might not be temptation, but it might be many, many other things. And you need help. Well, you go to Jesus because he loves to help.

[39:06] It's what, he is merciful. He's faithful. He has a heart full of compassion. And he wants to help you. But he wants you to go to him.

[39:18] That's the order. He wants you to reach out. And it might be just a feeble hand or a trembling hand or an uncertain hand. But reach out to him. Because he's faithful.

[39:29] And he's merciful. And he's just. To forgive. To help. To do for you what you can't do yourself. Lord, bless us, we pray.

[39:40] We give thanks again for your word. Help us, Lord, to put our trust in you. Take away our sin. In Jesus' name. Amen. We're going to conclude now singing in Psalm 17 from St. Psalms.

[39:53] Psalm 17 from St. Psalms from the beginning. Lord, hear my righteous plea and listen to my cry. It does not rise deceitfully or come from lips that lie.

[40:04] Declare me innocent and vindicate my name. Lord, may your eyes see what is right and free me from all blame. Though you examine me and probe my heart and mind, though you test me in the night yet nothing you will find.

[40:19] I said I will not sin in anything I say. From those who practice violence I have kept far away. These verses of Psalm 17 and sing Psalms.

[40:32] Lord, hear my righteous plea and listen to my cry.

[40:44] It does not rise deceitfully or come from lips that lie.

[41:00] Declare me innocent and indicate my name.

[41:14] Lord, may your eyes say what is right and free me from all blame.

[41:30] Though you examine me and probe my heart and mind.

[41:46] none though you test me in the night yet nothing you find.

[42:02] I said I will not sin in anything I say.

[42:16] from those who practice violence I have kept far away.

[42:32] now may the grace, mercy and peace God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest and abide upon each one of you now and forevermore.

[42:43]  Amen.