Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/stornowayfc/sermons/61959/worship/.

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] So we welcome you all in the Lord's name and we welcome those who are online as well. We pray that our time would be blessed together. So may we lift our voices and sing to God's praise by singing in Psalm 92a of the Sing Psalms version.

[0:18] We'll find that on page 122 of the Blue Books. Psalm 92a, we'll sing from the beginning of that psalm.

[0:30] So we'll sing down to verse Mark 4 and then we'll jump down to verse Mark 12 to the end of the psalm and sing them last two stanzas. I'll read these words.

[0:41] How good it is to praise the Lord, to sing a joyful song, and to your name, O God most high, make music all day long, to show your love when morning comes, your faithfulness at night, with music of stringed instruments, your praises to recite.

[0:59] For by your mighty deeds, O Lord, you make my spirit glad. I sing for joy when I survey the works your hands have made. And then at verse 12.

[1:10] So in old age, they still bear fruit.

[1:21] They will stay fresh and strong. They will proclaim the Lord is just, my rock who does no wrong. A psalm of thanks and praise to God, thanking Him for the time of Sabbath worship as they come to worship.

[1:37] And a reminder there in the last two verses of the everlasting worship that will continue in glory. So we'll stand together and sing these verses. How good it is to praise the Lord.

[1:49] How good it is to praise the Lord, to sing a joyful song.

[2:08] And to your name, O God most high, make music all day long.

[2:24] To show your love when morning comes, your faithfulness at night.

[2:42] With music all singed instruments, your praises to recite.

[2:58] For by your mighty deeds, O Lord, you make my spirit glad.

[3:17] I sing for joy when I survey the works your hands have made.

[3:34] Like palms and cedars flourishing, the righteous all will be.

[3:51] And planted in the house of God will grow upon thee.

[4:07] So in all days they still bear fruit.

[4:18] They will stay fresh and strong. They will proclaim the Lord is just.

[4:35] My God who does no wrong. Okay, we'll say a short prayer now for the young ones that are with us.

[4:53] Let us pray together. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this time that we have to come to church. We thank you that we can sing and lift our hearts and voice.

[5:06] And praise you and thank you for all that you have done for us. We thank you, God, for the homes that you have provided for us. The families that you give to us. And the friends that are around us.

[5:17] We thank you, Lord, for Sunday school. We thank you for all our teachers. And we pray that we would learn about you and learn about your son, Jesus Christ, as we go to our own classes.

[5:33] Lord, we pray that we would be like those that are planted within the house of God. And that though we are young.

[5:44] And Lord, we pray for the young. And we remember the young. We pray also that you would remain with them as they grow. But that they would grow strong.

[5:57] And grow in you. We pray, Lord, that they would trust in you. All the days of their lives. And even in the uncertainties and difficult things of life.

[6:08] And the questions that they have about life. We pray, Lord. That we would remember them. And that they would remember you. So be with us in our classes as we go there and shortly.

[6:21] Be with our teachers as they lead. We pray for them as well. And we pray that you would be with us. And be with all our friends as we gather together. Help us to have fun.

[6:32] In Jesus' name we ask these things. Amen. Okay, boys and girls. I'm just going to say a short word to you before you go off to your Sunday school classes.

[6:44] You might remember last week, of those who were here, I said that you were doing a lesson about people and the disciples and the friends of Jesus that were glad to speak about all the things that Jesus had done.

[7:00] But today, I believe, you're going to learn about someone who was glad to do anything for Jesus. I think you're going to learn about a man called Stephen today.

[7:11] He was not afraid to do anything for God. And to be obedient to God, even when other people were saying not to tell people about Jesus.

[7:22] He still went and told them. And I want to tell you a little story about a man called Hudson Taylor. I think it's James Hudson Taylor he was called.

[7:33] And he was a man who did a lot for God. He was a man who felt that God told him to go to China. So he did. And he spent 51 years in China.

[7:46] He was a man that did a lot there. And he loved the people, the Chinese people. And he lived just like the Chinese people did. And he was thankful to God for guiding him.

[8:02] And that's why he did so much. And that's why Stephen did so much. And that's why all of us who are Christians do so much. We're thankful for the heart that God has given us and all that he has done for us.

[8:19] Hudson Taylor, when he was in China, made this organization called the China Inland Mission. And do you know what he did?

[8:32] He managed to recruit 800 missionaries. And missionaries are people that go and tell people about Jesus. So there's 800 people just like him that went to tell people about Jesus all over China.

[8:50] And these 800 people managed to make 125 schools. And it is believed that this organization worked to the effect of converting 18,000 people to Christianity.

[9:12] James Hudson Taylor did a lot for God. And he said that all God's giants, the people who trust in God, he called them giants.

[9:28] And he said all God's giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they believed that God would be with them.

[9:40] And that's the same for everyone who believes in Jesus. They do things. And maybe sometimes they do strange things. And they do things that we don't understand.

[9:52] Because they believe that God is with them in everything. We do because God has done for us. And we value everything God has done for us.

[10:07] Even it might be beyond our own lives. We can do anything through God who gives us strength. Amen. Let us say the Lord's Prayer together.

[10:19] Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[10:31] Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil.

[10:43] For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen. Amen. We'll continue in praise to God by singing in Psalm 96a of the Sing Psalms version.

[11:01] You'll find that on page 126 of the Blue Book. Sing Psalms version of 96a. From the beginning we'll sing down to verse 10.

[11:13] Oh sing a new song to the Lord. Sing praises to his name. And his salvation day by day. Let all the earth proclaim.

[11:25] Sing down to verse 10. Tell every land the Lord is king. Established is the earth and cannot move. The Lord will judge the people in his truth.

[11:36] Today in our consideration as we move on to the next step of Psalm 40. We'll look at how David worships God. So our singings today are ones that really draw us in praise and worship to God.

[11:52] So let us stand and sing. Oh sing a new song to the Lord. Amen. O sing a new song to the Lord.

[12:09] Sing praises to his name. And his salvation day by day.

[12:26] Let all the earth proclaim. His glory as his mighty deeds.

[12:44] To every land declare. How great and awesome is the Lord.

[13:01] For other gods are rude and soul.

[13:19] The Lord made heaven's might. All power and majesty are his.

[13:37] He dwells in glorious light. All nations to the Lord.

[13:52] All nations to the Lord. The glory of God.

[14:04] He has said. He has said. Ascribe to God. And praise his name.

[14:16] Amen. Enter his. His words with joy and ring, and offering with you.

[14:38] Worship the Lord in holy fear, all earth before Him bound.

[14:56] Tell every land the Lord is King, established its Seer.

[15:12] And can all good, the Lord will chant, the people say His truth.

[15:29] We turn now to God's Word, and if we could turn to Paul's letter to the Ephesians, chapter 3.

[15:48] And then we'll turn after a short reading in Ephesians to Psalm 40. Paul's letter to the Ephesians, chapter 3, and we'll read from verse Mark 14.

[16:00] That short passage at the end of the chapter. Let us hear God's Word. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of His glory, He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

[16:56] Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we can ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.

[17:16] Amen. We turn with me now to the book of Psalms and Psalm 40. Our focus today will be from verse Mark 6 down to verse Mark 10, but I think we'll read from the beginning of Psalm 40, and we'll read down to the end of verse Mark 10.

[17:50] I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction out of the miry bog and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

[18:06] He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud or to those who go astray after a lie.

[18:25] You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and thoughts towards us. None can compare with you. I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.

[18:42] Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.

[18:52] Then I said, Behold, I have come. In the scroll of the book, it is written of me. I desire to do your will, O my God.

[19:04] Your law is within my heart. I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation. Behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord.

[19:17] I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart. I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation. I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.

[19:33] Amen. May the reading of God's word be blessed to us. May we turn to God in prayer. Let us pray. Amen. Our Father in heaven, we pray that you would give us peace of mind and rest as we come into your house and as we come before you, O God.

[20:00] Give us a clear sight of who you are and reveal to us yourself to us through your word. Lord, may you be great to us.

[20:13] May we understand what is the width, the height, the depth and breadth of you and your love towards us. And Lord, when we come before you, we acknowledge our weakness.

[20:28] We acknowledge that we have sinned and that we have a heart that is desire originally to incline itself towards sin. Lord, we pray that you would be one to renew our hearts and to change us and to transform us.

[20:49] That you would put within us a heart that would desire to come and worship you and to glorify your name and sing praises to you.

[21:00] Lord, we ask that you would be with us as we consider your word and as we draw from it, may it be rich to us.

[21:12] May it be encouraging to us and restoring our spirit, Lord. Lord, there are many who are crying out to you.

[21:28] There are many who are crying out from the depths of their heart because they do not know where to go or who to turn to. So Lord, we pray that you would reveal yourself to them too.

[21:43] Lord, reveal to the one who calls out to you. Reveal yourself to the one who does not know who to call to you.

[21:54] Lord, let us not be ashamed to declare of what you have done for us and the righteousness that you have placed within us through Christ Jesus and the riches of his mercy.

[22:08] Lord, help us to understand them and grasp them that we may be people that would be equipped and prepared to proclaim what you have done for us.

[22:21] That people who do not know where to turn to would hear of the salvation we have found in Jesus Christ and say of themselves that they need that too.

[22:33] Lord, give us a heart for souls that are lost, souls that are unconverted, souls that lay in the pit of destruction.

[22:45] Lord, we pray for them and we pray that the outreaching of your hand may touch them by whatever means, Lord, may it be.

[22:56] We pray for the efforts that are made in your church, in all denominations. Lord, we pray for the efforts that are made to proclaim your gospel this day.

[23:10] We pray your spirit be upon. We pray your spirit to bless it. Lord, we pray that you would be with us as we gather. Give us minds to focus our attention to you.

[23:26] Hearts that long to know you. Hearts that long to feel the riches of your grace and the provision and security that you afford to us through Christ Jesus.

[23:44] Lord, wash us in his blood. Lord, we pray for the spread of the gospel through our nation. We pray that it would go out and reach the ends of the world.

[23:57] Lord, we thank you for the provision made in offering these services online. And maybe it is by these means that you will reach the ends of the world.

[24:09] We do not know. But Lord, the gospel, we pray the gospel to be faithfully proclaimed by your men and within our own hearts, O Lord, as we go out into the world.

[24:23] Amen. Situations. We pray that we would have effect not of any strength of ourselves, for we often see our weaknesses and we are full of fear to speak about you.

[24:46] But Lord, may we be great in your eyes and may we do great things in your eyes as we rely on you and as we reckon and trust like Hudson Taylor that you would be one that would go with us.

[25:07] Lord, give us thanks for your provision. Lord, we pray for our people. We pray for each of us here. We pray that you would meet us at our needs and there are great needs amongst us.

[25:20] We pray for those who have concerns over health. We pray for those who have concerns for others. We pray for those who more. We pray that you would be with them and comfort them.

[25:32] Lord, be with us. May your word become alive to us. May it be a place of warmth to us where we desire to come back to.

[25:46] A place of instruction. A place Lord, where we see you and we see ourselves. So be with us, we ask as we turn to it now.

[26:00] Prepare our hearts. Be with those who worship in the Gaelic as well. We pray that you would be with them and that your spirit would equally be upon us and enrich our souls.

[26:13] all these things we ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. We'll continue in praise and sing in the Scottish Psalter version, Psalm 100.

[26:30] Scottish Psalter, Psalm 100 on page 362. Words that are familiar to us, but words that turn ourselves to thank God with cheerful voice for all that he has done for us.

[26:58] to praise him and to invite others to know of this great God. All people that on earth do dwell. Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice, himself with mirth, his praise forth tell, come ye before him and rejoice.

[27:17] We'll stand and we'll sing to God's praise all people that on earth do dwell. Amen. All people that on earth do dwell.

[27:32] Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice, himself with birth his praise foretell, love me before him and rejoice.

[28:01] Rejoice. Know that the Lord is on him singly to the Lord of his 우리 are Him trumping of the sand Chagarin's Digital Wag文 monkeys always.

[29:17] For it is simply so to do. For by the Lord our God is good, His mercy is forever sure, which to that all times were he stood, and shall from age to age change I'd like to turn our minds now to Psalm 40.

[30:20] And those who were here last week, we looked at the first verses up to verse 5. And we call that the waiting upon God, and we saw how the psalmist there trusted in God from where the situation that he was in as he lay in the pit of destruction and the mire that he was in.

[30:45] But God did not leave him there. God was one that rescued him from that place, and God was one that worked a transformation in his life.

[30:55] And we saw that transformation there in verse 3, with the new song that had been put within him. And then from verses 4 and 5, we saw that the psalmist then had a testimony in God, for what he had done for him, saying that with none can compare with you.

[31:19] God is incompatible and great. And God is one that is worthy to be trust. And he said the man who puts his trust in the Lord will be blessed.

[31:34] So now we turn to our step 2, in a sense, from verse Mark 6 down to verse Mark 10.

[31:45] And we will call this next section the worship of God. And you can see there is actually a shift in the psalm from where in the first part we saw that it was God who made approach to David, or the psalmist.

[32:03] But now as we look at this next passage from verse Mark 6, we'll see that the psalmist now draws near to God. This is his worship, to draw near to God, to approach God.

[32:23] And this is our heart as we come here. This is David's heart to draw near to God. This is our worship, to draw near to God as we gather, whether it be online or in person.

[32:38] We pray that our hearts would be directed towards God. And other worldly distractions will be set aside for this time, if at all possible, that we may lift our voices in praise and thanks to the one who rightly deserves all honour and glory.

[32:59] But as we come, we must be mindful that we do it in the right manner. God specified in the days of old how they were to approach God with sacrifices and offering.

[33:15] This is what God required. And so we, as we approach him today, must be mindful that worship is not something of our own imaginations.

[33:27] It is not something that we choose to do of ourselves. It is something that God has asked of us. Who knows where we'd end up if we did what we wanted.

[33:43] But really what worship comes down to is that it is a natural response or desire to approach this God. And to approach this God who reverently asks us to.

[33:59] There's a dutiful response, in a sense, to coming to worship God. We can say that worship is not just dutiful, though.

[34:12] Because, in a sense, our hearts are aligned to what God requires. Our hearts seek to lift up the name of God.

[34:24] Seek to come and praise him as God has asked us to. That work within us, that transformation, aligns us to God. So much so, that when we come, in that sense, we find that we have delight in worshipping God.

[34:44] It is a delight for the Christian to come and draw near to God. And such is the delight that they know that they cannot but declare the riches of his glory and what God has done for them.

[35:03] As we sing and gather together under his word. You see, this is our worship. To be dutiful to God's direction in it.

[35:15] We have a duty. And with the renewed heart that God has put in us, we find delight. But we are people who cannot keep these things silent.

[35:29] We desire to declare and tell people what God has done for us. So in our worship, there is a duty, there is a delight, and there is a declaration made.

[35:41] Even as we come here today, we make a declaration to the world that I am coming to worship God. So let us take our first point there.

[35:54] Duty. And you know, we don't really like to describe our worship as duty. It's not solely duty, though.

[36:04] It's not a box-ticking exercise that we do. It's a loving duty. It's a loving duty of that aligned heart that comes to God.

[36:15] But it is God that we come to. It is God that is above us. And we are the ones dutiful to him. This is what the writer in Ephesians wrote.

[36:29] For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and earth is named. You see the greatness of who his God is.

[36:42] Every family on heaven and earth is named on the outset. And our understanding of God is crucial to our worship. It will proportionally affect our worship, in fact.

[36:56] If God is nothing to you, there will be no worship. If God is little to you, there will be little worship. You may think God has been the almighty creator.

[37:09] He's the one who sustains us in our days. We may give him reasonable worship because we can reasonably understand him, in a sense.

[37:23] But if God is your God, and if God is the God of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength, then we have an intimate worship with God.

[37:37] And we have a heart to worship him. But God is not who we think he is.

[37:50] God is truth regardless of how we worship him. God is almighty and over all things.

[38:01] And we must come to worship him in a sense with a fear and reverence before the almighty creator. Let us read in verse 6 of Psalm 40.

[38:16] Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.

[38:26] Now you see David in his worship. He realizes that well, sacrifice and offering you have not desired.

[38:38] And this is an interesting insight for this day. Because this was a day when sacrifice and offering would have been required. So he's saying now sacrifice and offering, God does not desire these things.

[38:52] God does not require these things. which raises a question. Why did God ask for them? Why did God ask us to approach him with these offerings?

[39:08] But really what's coming through there is that David is identifying that, you know, the sacrifice in and of itself wasn't everything. The sacrifice wasn't the thing that would restore a relationship to God.

[39:24] all of itself. I'll just give you an illustration to make this clearer. You know, you may have worked in a job or you may have heard one of your colleagues say in their employment that, you know, my heart wasn't in it.

[39:43] And that really means that, well, they're not really enjoying their work. Their heart isn't in it. And they may seek another employment. But if you were to watch two people who were to fulfil the same task, one with the heart to do the work and one without the heart to do it, you may watch them and you would see significant differences in the way they approached it and the value that they gave to doing what they did, the task to fulfil the task that they had to do.

[40:21] That's the difference. Is there heart in it? Is the person's heart in it? The person that doesn't have the heart in it may actually do a better job. But you can see clear differences.

[40:36] And that is what God delights to see. The one that has the heart. That is where whose value lies. God loves a cheerful giver.

[40:46] It says in 2nd Corinthians. It doesn't say God loves a giver. God loves a cheerful giver. The heart of the matter is the crux. And this is what comes through in the psalm.

[40:58] It's through David. It is his heart as he comes to worship. We'll see that. But we've got to ask ourselves, where is our heart as we come to worship?

[41:13] Why do we come to worship? How great is God as we come to worship him? How do we sing when we sing praises to God?

[41:24] How do we pray when we pray to God? How great to you is God? And what David is saying here would have been probably controversial in its day.

[41:40] But with no heart of repentance, no acknowledgement of sin and only doing this outward traditional procedure offering sacrifices, God had no delight in it.

[41:53] If the heart was misaligned, God did not delight in it. And Samuel picks up on this as well in Old Testament times. He asks the question, has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices?

[42:09] As in obeying the voice of the Lord, behold, he says, it is better to obey than to offer sacrifice. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of rams.

[42:27] That lovingly dutiful offering of ourselves comes through there. But David says something else in this passage, which is quite interesting.

[42:40] He says that you have given me an open ear. Now, you look at this version, you think, well, okay, David said sacrifice and offering God has not desired.

[42:53] And God has given him an open ear. Is that open ear that God has given him understanding that these sacrifices and offerings are of little value if they come on of themselves.

[43:15] We can say that, and it is true in a sense that God does open our ears, God does unblock our ears to understand who he is. And David has a clear insight, a clearer insight maybe than many of in their day as to who God was.

[43:32] us. But if you look at the Scottish Psalter version, the version that we sing, you'll see that it says that, it doesn't say my ears were open, but my ears were bored.

[43:43] And that's really what the Hebrew is. It means a boring of the ear. And I want to just mention something here because it is worth mentioning. And it references a servant and a master really here.

[43:59] And the context of it comes from the Old Testament where the boring of the ear is a piercing of the ear as such.

[44:12] And the master would bore or pierce the servant's ear. And this would be a sign of something.

[44:24] So to give you the context of that sign, it would have been in the year of Jubilee, when the servant would have been set free.

[44:35] He would have done a six-year duty and he would have been set free. And in Exodus 21, I'll read a short passage here that really makes it clear for us.

[44:48] If the master gives him a wife in this time that he had been a slave, if the master gives him a wife and she bears him a son or a daughter, the wife and her children shall be the master, and he shall go out alone.

[45:07] But if the slave plainly says, I love my master, I love my wife, I love my children, I will not go out free, then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and the master shall bore his ear through with an awe, and he shall be his slave forever.

[45:35] The act of piercing the slave's ear meant that the slave was willingly submitting himself to remain within the master's house forever.

[45:50] And this is the heart of David coming through here in worship. He's saying, you have borne my ear, and I am one that will remain in your house forever.

[46:03] Dutifully devoted to your house, I choose to remain with you. But these words are not all about David.

[46:15] They're not all about ourselves. They're largely about Christ. And that's where the richness comes through in the boring of this ear. Jesus was the one that was represented in the sacrifices.

[46:31] But Jesus was the one that sacrificed with his heart. Christ is the servant that chose to have his ear bored to God's house in a sense.

[46:43] Christ is the one that chose to remain in the house of God for his love for the people. Like the slave who was willing to submit to those that were in the house, Christ was willing to submit for us.

[47:07] Christ is the one who submitted himself to the service of the father because he could say like the slave, I love my master, I love my wife, I love my children.

[47:26] It's as if he was saying I love my father, I love my bride, the church, and I love the children that you have given to me. and he chose that he would be pierced for these people that were given to him.

[47:44] And he chose that he would be the one that would remain forever with them. The one that chose to give his heart and life for these people.

[48:00] The act of piercing was a sign that the slave would remain forever, but that he was willing to do it. Christ was willing to be pierced for us in order that we may know him and that he may remain with us.

[48:22] But how was her heart? Do we have that heart's desire? to remain with God, to come to God, not to run after our own things, but to say dutifully, I remain with you.

[48:47] Matthew Henry writes, when the law of God is written on our hearts, our duty will be our delight. So briefly, we'll look at delight.

[49:00] And we see that from verse seven. Then I said, behold, I have come. In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I desire to do your will, O my God.

[49:12] Your law is within my heart. David as the one, that slave that was willing to come. Behold, I have come, he says.

[49:25] He comes to God. He comes and is so willing like that slave to come. And he confesses that in the scroll of the book it is written of me. Now this points to Christ, of course.

[49:38] But is it not true that David himself can confess that within the scroll of the book it is written of me. Within the scripture it is written of me. He saw who he is himself through God's word.

[49:52] And that is likened to ourselves. It is God's word that reveals who we really are. Negatively, it shows us who we are in our sin, who we are before God, who we are in our own nature, the things that we desire that are not good for us.

[50:11] But positively so, does the word of God show us who we are in Christ Jesus. We are adopted by him and we are redeemed by him.

[50:27] But there is a delight to do the will of God as well. It delights not his own will, not things that are pleasing to his own desires.

[50:38] God desires. He desires to do what God requires. That is our dutiful response as we come and worship. Our worship is not an arena for open experimentation.

[50:53] If we worship by doing what we enjoy, rather than doing what is pleasing to God, our worship will gravitate towards idolatry. Sproul, R.C.

[51:05] Sproul wrote these words. We must be careful in how we approach God. But it's a transforming work only that can make us really approach God with a heart of worship.

[51:27] And we desire to come to God and maybe we wonder why we come to God in such a way. We question ourselves and say I love these things of the world.

[51:40] But then I desire to do God's. I desire to come to God greater. That's the heart that God put in us. It's not our work of ourselves.

[51:56] You see of Christ this is true as well. Christ was the one who confessed himself. The will of God was difficult for him.

[52:13] Nevertheless not your will but yours be done. He was dutiful in his approach to God. But he delighted to do the will of God.

[52:26] And you see that at the extremities of life Christ our example was glad to fulfil the will of God. And in a sense we see that well delight to do God's will is not always a sense that we are happy full of praise joy and feeling joyous but it overlaps back into a dutiful sense.

[52:56] Paul had the thorn in his flesh and asked the Lord to remove it but he was content that it wasn't removed from. There's things that are difficult in our lives that are the Lord's will but we struggle to understand and we are not immune from the sharp end of life's stick as a sense.

[53:21] And of course we cry to God in our experiences. we plead with God in the situations that we find ourselves in.

[53:33] We ask why is this not different? Your will is too hard for me to grasp. We confess that your will is not what I want.

[53:46] Your will is not my will. but do we have the heart to say in confession as we come before God nevertheless not my will but yours be done.

[54:03] We have that servant willing to devote his life to God again. The one who is willing to have his ears pierced. Devoting himself not the things that I want.

[54:15] what does God desire of me? What is the will of God for my life? Whatever it is may we find a delight in it.

[54:27] We may not see the delight in it immediately. The delight may come afterwards. It may not even come in this lifetime but let our delight be in his will.

[54:42] May our heart be inclined to his ways. And may we be people that are not ashamed to speak of all that he has done for us.

[54:52] The last few verses there I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation. Behold I have not restrained my lips as you know O Lord.

[55:03] I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart. I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation. I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.

[55:16] We don't have time to go into this really. But it is that man who is unashamed to speak of what God has done for him.

[55:30] David was glad to tell of the righteousness and deliverance, the steadfast love of God in his experience. God is he was active and confident as he did so.

[55:45] You can see that I have is scattered through them two verses. And he comes before the great congregations gladly telling these things.

[56:00] Ephesians speaks of that we may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth of God.

[56:17] You know, we come together with our different experiences. And as Christians, you know, it's great hearing people's testimonies.

[56:29] And you think, well, I didn't know that about the person, and I didn't know they had gone through that. I didn't know God would work in such a way as he has done in that person's life. But as we come together, and as we gather together, unashamed of what God has done for us, may we declare that God has done a great work in my life.

[56:51] And as we do this together, we strengthen one another, strengthen with all the saints. What is the breadth, length, height, and depth?

[57:05] You know, we might hear of someone's conversion, or God working in someone's life, and we say, you know, it's amazing that God did that. And it extends our understanding of God.

[57:19] And you might hear something else, and it raises the might of God in your eyes. And then you hear something else, and you say, well, I didn't realize God could reach the depths.

[57:34] As we come together, we strengthen one another, and we uplift God's name, and praise him for all that he has done.

[57:47] And together, we enlarge our understanding of who God is. And as I said in the beginning, that's really central to the matter of our worship.

[58:02] Who is God to you? I pray that as we come together, we would have our eyes opened to understand who God is, what he has done for so and so, what he has done for me.

[58:24] And we say, God, wow, no one can compare with you. to the extent that we say, I'm not going to go anywhere else.

[58:40] All these desires that I have do not compare, the worldly desires do not compare to what Jesus can do for me, to what God can give me, to what remaining in his household means to me.

[58:56] as God becomes great to us, may we be people that have a heart to come to worship him, that have a heart to devote ourselves dutifully to him, have a heart to delight ourselves in whatever his will is for our life, but be unashamed to declare all that he has done, to be marked by God, to have our ears pierced as it were, that we would be willingly submissive to remain in his house forever.

[59:39] I pray that our hearts would be such. Pray it would be blessed to us, our worship, our duty, our delight, and our declaration.

[59:51] Amen. We'll conclude by singing in Psalm 40, the Scottish Psalter version, page 260 of the Blue Book. And we'll sing the verses that we read there, from verse 6 down to end of verse 10.

[60:19] No sacrifice, nor offering, didst not require.

[60:32] We'll sing down to the end of verse 10 that thy kindness which must love in us, concealed have not I, nor from the congregation great, have hid thy verity.

[60:46] We'll stand together, and we'll lift our voices and hearts, praising God, no sacrifice, nor offering. No sacrifice, Thine is no offering, it's thou at all desire.

[61:13] Mine is the Lord's sin, all three love, and burn its all three fire.

[61:31] Then to the Lord these were my words, I come, ye, O thou see.

[61:49] Where did thou own you, all the book, the great is of me.

[62:08] To do thy will I take delight, O thou my heart, thou art.

[62:28] Yea, that most holy law of thine I have within my heart.

[62:47] Within thy congregation great, I my righteousness did reach.

[63:06] O thou art, thou scroll, O Lord, that I refrain in not my speech.

[63:24] I never did within my heart conceal thy righteousness.

[63:41] I thy salvation have declared, and show thy faithfulness.

[64:01] Thy kindness which most loving is.

[64:12] Conceal it, have no time, nor from the congregation great, have it by benity.

[64:36] Conclude in prayer. Our heavenly Father, we thank you for this time we have had together to come and to praise your name.

[64:49] Lord, we pray that you would remain with us. Lord, give us hearts renewed to worship you. We pray for our service this evening.

[65:00] We pray for Mr. McKeever as he leads us. We pray you prepare at heart to receive the word. Be with us as we part. Forgive us our sins that we know are many and great.

[65:13] Through the name of Jesus Christ, the one who was pierced for our transgressions. Lord, in his name we ask these things.

[65:24] Amen. graciousさせ keys. Amen.

[65:36] Amen. Thank you. Thank you.

[65:56] Thank you.

[66:26] Thank you.

[66:56] Thank you.