Okay, lovely to see you all.
Why don't you turn in your scriptures to Ezekiel chapter 34. As you
know, it's one of my favorite passages in the scriptures and
we're looking at the Lord gathering one of his lost sheep out of
Matthew's gospel this morning, the Syro-Phoenician woman. So
it's lovely to have you all here. This is the last week we began
this coronavirus restrictions. with a meeting here and we'll
finish our time here. So next week we'll be in town.
So lovely to see you all. Are we on and working, Normie?
We are. Very good. Well, welcome, all
of you, here and afar. Let's just read some of these
Remarkable verses, these remarkable promises from our God. Ezekiel
34 is a chapter in which the Lord's I will is declared to
us 25 times and the they shall is declared 20 times. And that's
the gospel we proclaim, isn't it? Our God sovereignly rules
over all things and he will and they shall. Let's start in verse
11 and just listen to some of these glorious words from our
savior. For thus saith the Lord God, behold, I, even I, will
both search my sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh
out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are
scattered, so will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them
out of all places where they have been scattered in a cloudy
and dark day. And I will bring them out from
the people and gather them from the countries and will bring
them to their own land and feed them upon the mountains of Israel
by the rivers and all the inhabited places of the country. I will
feed them in a good pasture. The good pasture is the word
of God, of course. And upon the high mountains of
Israel shall their fold be and there shall they lie in a good
fold and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains
of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie
down, saith the Lord God. If you go over to verse 25, and
I will make with them a covenant of peace. So verse 24, and I,
the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David, a prince
among them, I, the Lord, have spoken it. He's obviously not
talking about David, the physical king, he's talking about the
David who is the Lord Jesus Christ, the great servant and great shepherd
of his sheep. Verse 25, and I will make with
them a covenant of peace, and cause the evil beasts to cease
out of the land, and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness
and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the
places around about my hill a blessing, and I will cause the shower to
come down in his season, and there shall be showers of blessing. The Lord's promise is that he
will feed his flock, and he will cause them to lie down, saith
the Lord God. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we thank you for gathering us again together, and we do pray,
Heavenly Father, that the heavens might be rent. and that you might
come and reveal yourself in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the blessed Holy Spirit might take the things of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the things promised, the things written, the things
done, the things that he's doing right now, and reveal them to
us, that we might, in the midst of a world of turmoil and trouble
and so much uncertainty, Heavenly Father, we might be caused by
your grace at work in our lives to lie down, to be at peace,
Heavenly Father. We pray your blessing on us,
Heavenly Father, today, and we pray for those who can't be with
us, and we thank you, Heavenly Father, for the wonder of you
revealing yourself to your people in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Bless us for his sake this morning, our Father, for
we come as empty handed beggars seeking your mercy and your grace
and we praise you father god that you delight to show mercy
be merciful to us our father today for jesus sake and we pray
in his name amen okay we're going to play hymn number 15 holy holy
holy is the lord god almighty Early in the morning our song
shall rise to thee. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Early in the morning our songs
shall rise to Thee. Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty! God in three Persons, blessed
Trinity. Grasping down their golden crowns
around the glassy sea. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. ? Beside thee ? ? Though the eye
of sinful man ? ? Thy glory may not see ? ? Only thou art holy
? ? There is none beside thee ? ? Perfect in power and in glory
? Love and mercy. All thy works shall praise thy
name in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and
mighty, God in three persons, G'day. Good to see everyone. Really good. We've been longing
for this moment for some time. And obviously the coronavirus
has unsettled a lot of people. We've had three months of isolation. We're a bit stir crazy. But all
these things are brought into the world and into our lives
to, it would seem to separate us from our God and separate
us from each other and to cause trials and tribulations and worries
and dramas. And it's been interesting to
see the responses of some of the people in our life over the
last three months and how how insecure they are in regard to
the future of this world and the things that are going on.
We've had a family member that was obsessed with the fact that
America and China were plotting against Australia, that Australia
were joining in with it. We've had speculation from so
many people about what could happen and will happen and apparently
is going to happen but doesn't end up happening. You know, and
it changes sometimes four times a day as far as the news and
things go. And so there's been, I suppose
what I've observed is the insecurity of people. And these things come
and they are huge, you know, the coronavirus is a global pandemic
in a sense and has killed a lot of people. But it's just a picture
of so many things that were sent by God, set by God against us
from the very beginning. In Genesis 3, you just have to
read every element of society, every element of creation, in
a sense, was set against the saints and their communion with
their Father in heaven. And it does trouble us, but the
solution is so simple. We can see that men take up their
armor and they take up their wisdom and there's so much that
they do do to try and combat these things and to guard themselves
and to prepare and You know at the end of the day a great example
of that is how much toilet paper do you need in heaven? but it
showed the human nature is shown there as frail and and insecure,
and again, like I said, the solution is so simple. While these things
seem like mountains to us, and they truly are, and if we got
anywhere near the bottom of half of them, we would find out just
how much more frail we really are in the grand scheme of things. But the reality is, we have fundamental
truths that we cling to. that far outweigh swords and
abilities and resources and wisdom. And whether we have a coronavirus
or not, we cling to that reality, that truth every day. That's
our gospel. And it's by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, by faith in his sovereignty and by faith in fundamental
truths, like the fact that he governed all things from before
the foundation of the world, that these things have come slipping
through his hands for our good. He restrains all the rest of
the sin of men, all the consequences of sin in this world. He restrains
all the activities of Satan that don't suit his purposes, that
don't bring glory and honor to him and don't bring good to his
people. So it's been interesting in the
midst of it to watch on this little machine, on our little
machine at home, and see while there was a great panic in the
world, and certainly a great panic amongst saints in regard
to what's going to happen to our worship, the Lord's provided. And we've been three months now,
and while it hasn't been perfect, He's continued to provide and
continue to sustain our worship. We don't worship our God with
human strength and human wisdom. We worship our God with faith,
and it's a faith that he creates within us. And because it is
such a simple solution, I want to go back to a real simple story. In some ways, it's been sort
of palmed off to kids and masks, but the story of David and Goliath
is a great example to us. It's a really good example of
where our hearts, where we must desire our hearts to be in all
situations of difficulty, all trials and temptations and Lord
willing, even in those blessed times. We just pray that the
Lord would give us the faith of young David. Now, David, as
Angus just said, is a representative of our great faithful representative,
our Lord Jesus Christ. But within each converted saint
of God, there's a new man who doesn't sin. And this is a great
example of his faith too. So it's a great way that we can
deal with the difficulties of this world, whether they're really
obvious like Corona or a pandemic, Goliath, or whether it's the
frailty of our bodies, whether it's the agonies of loved ones
that don't believe, whatever comes our way, whatever's coming
our way, may the Lord Jesus Christ fit our eyes back on him and
cause us to be reminded of those fundamental truths that we celebrate
every day. So I just want to read out of
1 Samuel 17, very simply, just a few verses. I want to start,
I want to read 36 and 37 first. David's come to the camp, Goliath's
blaspheming the Lord and disdaining the armies of God and Israel. Men are cringing. They're considering
their wisdom. They're considering their abilities
and they're cringing. And David's unmoved. And Saul
calls him to him and he speaks of things in his life where the
Lord has sustained him. 1 Samuel 17, 36. And as David declares the activities
of God in his life, and I think this is a really important thing
for us to remember those Ebenezers, If you've met the Lord, the Lord
has strengthened you and he has at times brought you through
great trials, at least that trial of conversion. And it's something
that if he hasn't yet, he will continue to repeat in your life.
But it's great to be reminded and to remember the times when
the Lord has acted faithfully in our life and to come back
to that place. And while we can't know what's
going on around us, we certainly can't control it. And we have
no idea of the spiritual element to it all. We can just look to
our savior instead of looking to this world. So in 36, David,
he remembers some Ebeneezers. He says, Thy servant slew both
the lion and the bear. You can imagine this young guy
doing this in the bush. And this uncircumcised Philistine
shall be as one of them, seeing that he hath defied the armies
of the living God. David said, moreover, the Lord
that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the
paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, go,
and the Lord be with thee. So it's just a simplistic faith. It's something that is within
us. Obviously, it's something we need the Lord to bring forward
and to grow and to strengthen. But it is the only weapon. And
it is the only way that we worship our God, by trusting in him,
by letting go of all our resources and waiting on him. So either
way, David goes out and the Philistine Goliath disdains him, and he
curses him by his own gods. And in 45, David just declares
this beautiful statement, and it should, and I prayerfully,
it will be our statement throughout our life and throughout the trials
and difficulties of the future. So in 45, then said David to
the Philistine, thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear
and with a shield. These are the weapons of men.
These are the strengths of men. And whether it's the strength
of a man like Goliath or men like Nebuchadnezzar, whether
it's the strength of Satan himself, It doesn't really matter because
then David says, and Lord willing this is how we feel, But I come
to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies
of Israel, whom thou hast defied. Will the Lord deliver thee into
mine hand, and I'll smite thee, and I'll take thine head from
thee, and I'll give the carcasses of the hosts of the Philistines
this day, under the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts
of the earth, that all the earth, and this is the purpose, that
all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly, another
purpose, all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not
with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's and he will
give you into our hands. This is the place of great repose,
trusting in a saviour who is in control of all things. One
of the wonderful things we've had out of Corona, and I'm sure
that you can go and glean heaps of things from it, we've had
the most incredible privilege to be locked up with Noah while
the Lord works in his heart. And if any of you remember those
times, early times in your life, in your conversion, the only
thing that matters is the truth. And the only truth is the Word
of God. And while you're given eyes to
see just how changeable this world is, it's described as a
sea in the scriptures. It's tossed to and fro and you
just get comfortable with one thing and another thing comes
along and you think, I can't bear any more of this and the
Lord reveals that you actually can. And with all this uncertainty
and all these things, it's been wonderful to see Noah come back
to these foundational truths. And they're the truths we declare
every week. They're the truths that we cling
to every day, Lord willing. The truths we pray for. And they're
truths that, Lord willing, we encourage each other in. Yeah,
it's been a trial. But it's just one of many in
our lives. And we have a great God who stands way and above
all these things and operates only ever for our good. It's
a great thing to remember. Let's pray. Father, thank you
that you test us and you try our faith. Not that you need
to know or not that there's something that you don't know. Thank you
that you show us our frailty, Heavenly Father, and thank you
that you take us through things that would remind us again of
our need of a Saviour. Thank you, Heavenly Father, that
all things necessary for our journey through this life and
our union with you in eternity have been provided for in that
one great substitute, that great King of Kings, our Lord Jesus
Christ. Father, direct our attention
to him Not only in the difficult times, but in the good days.
Remind us when we see a sunset or a sky. Remind us, Heavenly
Father, of the wonder of your grace. Remind us that all these
things will continue until you've gathered up your sheep and brought
them to yourself. And I pray, Heavenly Father,
that you would just Give us a soundness. Cause us, Heavenly Father, to
just to wait and to rest like John did upon the breast of our
Saviour as He rests after His finished work. We thank you so
much, Heavenly Father, for the grace of Church and for opportunity
to begin meeting back together again. But just remind us of
those Ebenezers, Heavenly Father. We thank you We thank you for
the power of your spirit amongst us, and we thank you, Heavenly
Father, for the blood of your Son. In his name we pray. Amen. Thank you, Simon, as you open
your psalm books to hymn number 33, Come Thou Fount
of Every Blessing. As so often happens when someone
else is speaking here, I think they've been looking over my
shoulder and they've read all my notes and I sit back there thinking,
why don't you just keep on going? I can rest easy. Come thou fount of every blessing.
Thanks. It's time. Come thou fount of every blessing,
to my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tones above. Grace and bounty fixed upon it,
Mount of thy redeeming blood. Here I praise my heaven-easer,
Hither by the help I've come, And I hope by thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home. Jesus saw me when a stranger,
Wand'ring from the fold of God, He to rescue me from danger Interposes
precious blood O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained
to be. Left out goodness like a fetter,
I'm a wandering heart to Thee. Prose to wander, Lord, I feel
it. Prose to leave, God, I long. It's not hard though, take and
seal it, seal it for love. Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it, prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, O take and seal
it. Seal it for thy courts above. Why don't you turn in your scriptures
to Matthew chapter 15. I wanted to have a look at this story that
begins in verse 21 and just goes down to verse 28. So it's a short
and simple story of a Canaanite woman who was enabled of God
to exercise great faith. Only twice in the scriptures
is someone declared to have great faith. This Canaanite woman and
the centurion, you might recall, who said, you just say a word. You just say a word, Lord God,
and my servant will be healed. You don't need to be there. I
don't need to be there. You just say a word. We want to look at several things
in this passage, and I trust that the Lord might cause us
to go away with a simple, childlike, Great faith, I want to look at
the way to great faith, the object of great faith, the exercise
and testing of great faith, the hope of great faith, and the
reward of great faith. The Lord Jesus was with, in the
earlier part of this chapter, you can go and read it at your
leisure, is with the scribes and the Pharisees, and Mark chapter
seven gives a more clear and more poignant account of this,
but nevertheless, they came with their self-righteousness to stand
in judgment of the Lord and his disciples. And the Lord tells
his people, he tells them two wonderful things, he says, When
these people are offended, when the religious self-righteous
people are offended, which is what they were, the disciples
said, you're offending these Pharisees. And he said, verse
13, every plant which my heavenly father has not planted shall
be rooted up. Then he says to all of us today,
let them alone, they be blind leaders of the blind, and if
the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. He just says, you come with me. He says that righteousness doesn't
come from anything external. Righteousness is a heart matter,
and righteousness is the Lord Jesus Christ. and him alone when
he takes up residence in his people. And this is him drawing
one of his children to himself. Verse 21, Then Jesus went thence,
and departed, so he left them. He departed into the coasts of
Tyre and Sidon. And behold, whenever you read
that word in scripture, that word behold means to take careful
note. Every little detail in this story
is significant and important. Don't miss a word. Behold a woman. of Canaan, Mark calls it a certain
woman. All of the women saved, all of
the church are certain women. A woman of Canaan came out of
the same coast and cried unto him saying, have mercy on me,
O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. But he answered her not a word.
And his disciples came and besought him saying, send her away for
she crieth after us. But he said, he answered and
said, I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. Then came she and worshipped
him. Mark says that she came and she
fell at his feet, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, it
is not me. It is not right to take the children's
bread and to cast it to dogs. And she said, "'Truth, Lord,
yet the dogs eat of the crumbs "'which fall from their master's
table.' "'Then Jesus answered and said unto her, "'O woman,
great is thy faith. "'Be it unto thee even as thou
wilt.' "'And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.'" My prayer is that we would be
found to be people in whom the Lord plants faith, great faith,
and what He plants, He nurtures and nourishes. In glorious ways, he causes his
people to look to the Lord Jesus Christ in his true character.
We're going to sing number 19. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I'm so pleased Normie chose these
hymns for us today. Couldn't be more relevant. Thank
you. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness fails his lovely
face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale, My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. His hope is covenant, His blood
supports me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all I hope and say. On Christ the solid rock
I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. Then he shall come with trumpet
sound. Oh, may I then in him be found. Rest in his righteousness alone. All blessed to stand before the
throne. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. Let's turn in our scriptures
again to Matthew chapter 15. Faith. Saving faith. The Lord Jesus asks a poignant
question in Luke chapter 18 verse 8. He says, When the Son of Man
returns, will he find faith on the earth? Will he find faith
on the earth? Well, the answer is two parts,
isn't it? He will find very little of true
and genuine faith on this earth, which is the reason for the question.
And he'll find faith on this earth. He'll find faith on this
earth where he plants it, where he creates it, where he gives
it, where he sustains it. We speak a lot of faith, a lot
about faith, and the scriptures speak a lot about faith. And
it shouldn't be, it should be very plainly obvious to us how
incredibly significant the whole issue of faith is. It's simply
trusting one who is the faithful one of God. It is impossible,
as Hebrews 11 says, without faith it is impossible to please God,
impossible. impossible Romans 14 23 says
whatsoever is not of faith is sin it's a good verse to contemplate
isn't it whatsoever says our God whatsoever is not of faith
is sin truth saving faith is the glorious gift of God it's
the operation of God I love that verse in Hebrews 12 too, the
Lord Jesus Christ is both the author and finisher of faith. He wrote it. He wrote the book
of faith. He wrote that book of faith.
He holds that book of faith in his hand, doesn't he? There's
a verse in Acts chapter 26 that I've been quoting a number of
times of late. where the Lord causes his apostle
Paul to stand once again before enemies of the gospel and declare
his conversion and he says that Paul has a purpose in this life. He's going to protect him, he's
going to deliver him, he's going to send him And he's sending
him to the Gentiles of this world to ask, he says, to open their
eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of
Satan under God that they may receive the forgiveness of sins
and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that
is in me. It's a great description of faith,
isn't it? The faith that we bring to our great God in true saving
faith is the faith that Paul describes, isn't it? He says
in Galatians 2.20, he says, I'm
crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And when he lives, when he lives
in people, he lives with faith, doesn't he? And the life which
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God
who loved me and gave himself for me. Saving faith, sanctifying
faith, it's purifying faith. Peter was made to declare on
that day of the Jerusalem Council in Acts chapter 15, they're purified,
their hearts by faith. It's saving faith, it's saving
faith. And it's a spiritual faith. It's given by the Spirit of God,
it's given as the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed. Peter, who
knew something about the trials of faith, He knew something about
the pride of flesh. He knew something, he was exposed
and something was revealed of him on that night when he stood
up so proud before all of those people and stood up with the
most extraordinary courage before those soldiers came to rest to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Courage that you and I ought
to be in awe of, brothers and sisters. And he cut off that
servant's ear and was healed by the Lord Jesus Christ. And
minutes later, moments later, there he is before a servant
girl denying the Lord Jesus Christ. He knew, he knew, he knew more
in those moments about himself and about the glory of the Lord
than he could have ever learnt from a life of ease and peace.
It's the true saving face, as Peter says in 1 Peter 1.21. It
comes from God, isn't it? By Him. Who? By Him. You save
people who by Him believe in God. There's a spiritual testimony,
a real living historical testimony. There's a spiritual testimony
revealing the Lord Jesus Christ. and him crucified. And he goes
on in that verse to say that raised him from the dead and
gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God. So as I said earlier, the Lord
calls upon us to take careful note of this journey, this journey
of this woman. And he says, behold, behold,
In verse 21, then Jesus went thence and departed into the
coasts of Tyre and Sidon. Our great saviour, as we read
in Ezekiel 34, is on a mission in this world and he always goes.
He always comes. He came from heaven to earth.
He came to seek and to save the lost. He came not to cause the
righteous but sinners to repentance. He came to where this certain
man could meet him. He came at a particular time.
And he came at the particular time and for these particular
circumstances in his life. I love what Mark 7 says about
the Lord Jesus Christ when he went to these coasts. It seems
as if he went and took his disciples there to have a break from all
of the busyness of ministry. And Mark 7 says, and he could
not be hid. What a great description of our
Lord. What a great testimony from our God. He could not be
hid. He won't be hid. He won't be hid from his people.
So the first thing we need to note in this story, Jesus went
thence. The Lord Jesus Christ goes to
a place where he can meet her. The Lord Jesus Christ left the
legalists in their self-righteousness. And if you want to know the evils
of self-righteousness, read the earlier part of this chapter
and read what happens in Mark, read the Lord's description of
them in Mark chapter seven. It's a very salutary lesson about
the yeast of legalists. He says in verse 14, let them
alone, let them alone. And she came to him. She came
to him. She came, a woman of Canaan,
came out of the same coast, and cried unto him, saying, Have
mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously
vexed with the devil. When the Lord God brings his
children to himself, he'll bring them He'll bring them as mercy
beggars. Have mercy on me. I need your
mercy. I can't come and I don't come
to you offering anything. I come empty and needy. See, the self-righteous religionists,
the one who works, he comes to get his reward at the end of
the day. He comes to get his wages for what he's done. You
can read about them in Matthew 7. They come to meet God. They
can go through this world and they come to meet the Lord Jesus
Christ on that great day. And they come with all of their
activities, their great works and their many works. And he
says, away from me, I never knew you, you lawless ones. See, the
self-righteous religionists that the Lord Jesus left come for
a reward for all of his hard labor. The self-righteous religionist
stands in judgment of the God of glory and stands in judgment
of the very word of God. But this Canaanite woman, she
comes as a heathen. She comes from a cursed nation. This was a nation that the Jews
had good reason to despise. Cain's obviously the cursed son
of Noah. So this Canaanite nation had
lived in open rebellion against the God of glory and against
the clear revelation of God for thousands of years. And the Jews
absolutely despised them. When the Pharisees knew that
he'd gone there, they would have seen that this is an absolutely
sure and certain sign that this man, Jesus of Nazareth, cannot
be the Messiah. He's a friend of publicans and
sinners. He's there dealing with these, this Canaanite woman. She comes as a cursed lady from
a cursed nation. She comes as all of God's people
do, all of the children of Adam. They come and all they have in
their history, all you dig deep down in your history and all
you'll find You go all the way back to Adam and all you have
in all of your family tree is a history of rebellion against
God. That's all you have. We think we're special because
of the color of our skin and the things that we have achieved
in this world and the country we live in. You chase them all
back and they're all the same. What did Paul describe them as?
The Gentiles, the Gentiles, the Gentiles in the flesh. Ephesians
2.12 says that you were without Christ. You're without Christ,
being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel. And these Canaanite
people had witnessed, witnessed the Commonwealth of Israel, they'd
witnessed the covenants. They were strangers from the
covenants of promise. They had witnessed the covenants
of promise being fulfilled again and again and again, just across
the road from them almost for thousands of years. And they
snubbed their nose at God and his glory. Strangers from the
covenant of promise having no hope and without God in the world. That's the description of people
outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. This lady came seeking mercy. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. The Lord God, in sovereign mercy,
had caused this daughter to be possessed of a demon that he
would draw her to himself. She had nowhere else to go. She
had no one else to go. There is often a lot of pain
on the path to glory. When you mark your Ebenezers
of the Lord's mercy in your life, you'll see that so often It's
in Ebenezer where there has been great pain and that great pain
has revealed a great saviour. She, like so many other pictures
of women in travail throughout the scriptures, is a picture
of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. were unable to bring
forth fruit. You think of Sarah, and Hannah,
and Rachel, and even John the Baptist's mother, Elizabeth.
They were unable to bring forth fruit. They're pictures of the
bride of Christ placed again and again in a place of great
need, with great heaviness of heart, in a place where they're
beyond all human help, and only the arm of omnipotence can bring
deliverance. Only a mighty sovereign God,
a God of all grace, a God of all power can create the fruit
of lips which sing praises to his name. And that's what he
does. So this woman came, the Lord
Jesus came first. This woman came, she came to
the right place. She left her worthless, empty,
useless religion and came to the Lord. That's exactly what
all of God's children do. All of God's children are rescued
from empty, useless, vain religion. You can read about it in Mark
chapter 7. See, did Paul lose anything when he left the religion
of the Jews? Did he lose anything at all?
He had everything this world could offer, couldn't he? Riches,
fame, position, a future. And he says it's manure. It's
just dung in the streets, brothers and sisters. Leave them alone,
says the Lord Jesus Christ. Just leave them alone and you
come to him. She came, she came to the right place. She came
to the right person. She came to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And she came with the right reason. She came looking for mercy. She
came as a beggar. She didn't come as someone who
was owed something. She came, she came. Come unto
me, says the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a command, you come unto
him. Come unto him, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and
you will find rest for your souls. Come to him whose yoke is easy
and his burden is light." She came, she came as a mercy beggar. But she came and she came declaring
and him revealing himself as the object of great faith. See,
the strength and power of faith is not in us, brothers and sisters,
it's in the object of our faith. She says, have mercy on me, O
Lord, thou son of David. As I said earlier, Mark says
she came and she fell at his feet, she besought him and she
fell at his feet. She'd heard of him, he'd been
there before in Mark chapter 3, you can read about it. And
what she'd heard, what she'd heard of this Lord Jesus Christ
had caused her to now come. She'd heard that others had received
mercy. She'd heard that others had received
grace. She came because she had a need. See, why didn't she come earlier?
Why didn't she come? Why don't people come to the
Lord Jesus Christ? They have no need. They have
no need. It's as simple as that. They
have no need. And secondly, people don't come to the Lord Jesus
Christ because the time of love, I love that word in Ezekiel 16,
there is a time of love when the Lord comes and he says to
dead people, he says, live. Live. So why did she come now? Why do people come? She came
because her need was desperate. She came because her need was
immediate. She came because her need was imperative. Her need
was vital. The Lord creates a hunger and
a thirst for righteousness. He has to create it before he
fills it with himself. He has to strip people before
he fills them. But she comes doing something
that those self-righteous religious Jews that he'd just been speaking
to earlier in this chapter had no idea of, she acknowledges
that this man standing before you, this very ordinary looking
Jewish man, this Jesus of Nazareth was Lord. He was ruler over all. Even the demons need his permission
and he can by a word or he can just by his will expel the demons. He does all things after the
counsel of His own will. Whatever He wills is done, brothers
and sisters. It's always being done. It's
being done right now. And it will be done until he
returns. And then it will be done in such glory that we'll
see it in ways that will cause us to be amazed at the hand of
providence in all the times of our life. Three times in this
short passage of scripture, in this short conversation she has
with him, she calls him Lord. She calls him Lord. Our God is
in the heavens. He does whatsoever he wills. And she calls him Lord and she
uses the title that only the Jews used of him, the son of
David, the Messiah of Israel, the Christ of God, God incarnate,
Emmanuel, God with us, the anointed one of God. She accepts his title
and she's happy to use it. One of the things that's become
extraordinarily common in modern religion is people use the name
Jesus all the time. I hear it over and over and over
again. in what they write and what they say, and they hardly
ever use his title. He earned his title, brothers
and sisters. And she comes and she gives him
his title, Lord, Lord, Son of David, Lord, Messiah. God has made this Jesus whom
you crucified, both Lord and Christ. She acknowledges that this man,
Jesus of Nazareth, is the one from whom God's mercy is bestowed. He says, doesn't he, to Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have mercy on
whom I'll have mercy. And I'll harden whom I'll harden.
I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. And she acknowledges
that he has the right to dispose mercy upon whom he wishes to
dispose mercy. She's a beggar and she's in the
hand of a sovereign God. verse 23 but he answered her
not a word this is the most politically
incorrect passage in scripture almost isn't it if you go along
to a counselor of any sort whatsoever and you take Matthew 15 there
you would be kicked out of your counseling job in class 101 He
answered her, not a word. See, she's a mercy beggar. She
has no claims on Him. Not even a claim that would demand
for Him to answer her pleading, unless He should choose to do
so. That's the God of this creation,
brothers and sisters. He answered her, not a word. There's a great lesson in that
and I don't have time to explore it very deeply. But so often we feel like the
heavens are brass and we feel that we plead and plead and plead
and we do as this woman does, we bring our children and our
loved ones before the Lord and we hear not a word. We have to remember that the
promises of God are written so clearly in the scriptures He
may not at this time give us a word and he may not speak to
you as you wish. He may not give you the answer
that you desire. But we need to remember that
our Lord God, our Lord Jesus Christ, you can read about it
in Romans chapter eight, he always lives to intercede for those
in heaven. He's always bringing the case of all of his children.
You see, in the midst of this, we must always remember that
the Lord Jesus Christ loved this woman with an everlasting love. And he's drawn her to himself
with cords of everlasting love. Her faith is exercised, isn't
it? Her faith is tried. See, great faith, which the Lord
Jesus Christ sees in her and declares her to have, great faith
perseveres under the discouragements which would drown fleshly faith,
faith that has its beginning in the work of man. The one hope
for our eternal souls is that God has begun a good work in
you, brothers and sisters, and when he's begun a good work,
he's promised that he'll carry on that good work, he'll finish
it. He's the author and finisher of it. Peter describes this trial
of faith, and he no doubt must have thought of his own activities,
didn't he? 1 Peter 1.7 says that the trial of your faith be much
more precious than gold. The trial of your faith is precious,
and your faith becomes more precious that perishes. More precious
than gold that perishes, though it be tried by fire, might be
found under praise and honor and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. In whom though
you see him not, you don't see him now, yet believing, you rejoice
with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of
your faith, even the salvation of your souls. See, tested faith
is like gold, which is tested by the fire. And then it's approved
as the standard. It's proved by its testing that
it's come from God. He answered her, not a word. And his disciples came and besought
him saying, send her away, verse 23, for she crieth after us. What extraordinary discouragement
she had in her flesh. She was discouraged by his silence
and now she's discouraged by the disciples. What a picture
these disciples are of us. We continually want to have the
center stage. Listen to them. She cries after
us. She wasn't crying after them
at all. She was crying after the Lord. How often do we want
to put ourselves at the center of everything? In every situation,
dear oh dear, this flesh needs to be put down again and again.
Send her away. Send her away. Send her away. What a dagger to her heart those
words must have been. What a picture. of how wrong
we can be when we judge others by the eyes of flesh and by the
eyes of unbelief. It's the bruised reed, an insignificant
little plant that you can tread on and walk away and count it
as nothing. A bruised reed you'll not break.
A smoking flax, so little smoke that it looks like it's completely
dead. Is that what your faith is like? A smoking flax you'll not quench.
That's our God. How wrong we are. How wrong these
apostles were. How wrong, how wrong. May the Lord use the story of
this lady to humble all of us. But verse 24, it gets worse for
her. But he answered and said, but
I'm not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Here he is declaring to her,
but he's also speaking to the disciples, isn't he, in her hearing. and he's apparently appearing
to vindicate their desire to send her away. It's a great test,
isn't it? One of the great tests of faith
is how do you respond to the God of electing grace? That's what he's declaring here.
He says, I've come for a particular people. I didn't come for everyone.
I've come for my sheep. I've come for my lost sheep. How do you respond? to successful,
particular, ransoming, reconciling, redeeming love in the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The religious world and all natural
men say it's not fair. It's not fair. It's not fair. I am owed the love of God because
I'm so lovable. I'm owed the reward of God because
I'm so worthy. He's come purposefully. He's come particularly. He'll
come successfully, as we'll see. He reminds her at the very beginning,
at the very beginning of her journey with him, he reminds
her of the fact of electing love, electing grace, that there's
a remnant chosen according to grace. He reminds her of particular
redemption. He reminds her that he came to
seek and to save the lost, those that are really lost at the fall,
not just damaged a little bit so that they can exercise their
free will, but the lost, completely lost, utterly lost, lost in their
natural birth, come forth from their mother's womb speaking
lies, lost in their attempts at religion to cover up, to cover
up their sin, the lost sheep. See, man-made religion, is all
about building the creature up. Build them up. God loves you.
Jesus died for you. You are worthy. The Holy Spirit
wants to save you. It wants to build them up in
good works. It wants to build them up in
self-esteem. It wants to build them up in
piety. It wants to build them up in do, do, do. Get them in
and keep them busy. And then applaud their busyness.
God's religion is to bring the creature down into the dust of
self-abasement and self-abhorrence. She was down, wasn't she? But
she still had further to go. God does not build up until he's
cast down and now God doesn't save until he's made the sinner
to be utterly lost. Man is proud and he needs to
be humbled. again and again and again. Man's
alive and he needs to be killed. Man's full and he needs to be
emptied. Man is whole and healthy and
he needs to be wounded. Man is clothed and he needs to
be stripped. Man is rich, rich in self-worth
and rich in self and of all sorts and he needs to be made poor.
Man is pretending always to be a sovereign. You shall be his
gods is what courses through the veins of all of us. And until
he meets a real sovereign he'll never be dethroned. Our God will
dethrone people. The scribes and Pharisees are
put before us brothers and sisters Not in the scriptures for us
to get on some high horse and say, well, I'm better than them.
The scribes and Pharisees are a picture of you. They are a
picture of you in your Adam flesh. They send him away and he goes
away. She wants, she leaves and she
has nowhere else to go. It's a painful process. It's
a necessary process, but when the great physician is at work
and he does that wounding into the heart that happened on the
day of Pentecost, it's a sovereign work of God. And you children
of God will chart some of these paths. As Simon said earlier,
you'll raise some Ebenezers. You raise them Ebenezers when
you are revealed as what you are and revealed as your need. Circumcised hearts, when these
great physicians circumcise hearts, are fragile. They're woundable. They're humbled. I love what
Jeremiah says, we often quote Jeremiah 31 verse 3, that I've
loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness,
with loving grace, I will draw you to myself. He goes on in
verse 9 to say, they shall come with weeping and with supplications,
with pleading will I lead them. When you come that way, he then
goes on to say, I will cause them to walk by the rivers of
waters in a straight way. as waters that flow from the
throne of grace. God will use you after he's made
you to be a nothing. The battle is his. He says to
those Galatians, if a man think himself to be something, when
he is nothing, he deceives himself. The great face acknowledges This
God, great faith's response, we see in verse 25 to the person
and work of Christ. This is how she responds when
she's declared about the electing grace of God. Then came she and
worshipped him. Mark says she fell at his feet,
saying, Lord, help me. I'm going to acknowledge you
as the Lord. Again, in all of those things, you're still Lord.
You're even more precious as Lord now. She believed him as
God. So that's what worship is, isn't
it? Anything that you worship is
your God. Anything you worship is your
God. She worshipped him as God. See, faith bows where religion
is offended. What a wonderful reaction. What
a wonderful response to sovereign election and particular redemption. To the God of glory. The sovereign
creator. The sovereign God of grace and
glory. How rare it is. How rare it was
in his day. It was a certain woman. How rare
it is in his day. She worshipped him. I love looking
up words in my old dictionary that I have in my office and
it's extraordinary that the writers of the dictionary, when God caused
this dictionary of ours to be written, do you know what the
word before worship is? It's worse. Do you know what
the very next word after worship is? Worst. On either side, on
either side of worship in our dictionaries is worse and worse.
She came, she came. Worship, the word worship comes
from worth-ship. What's his worth? What's he worth
to you? The Pharisees said to Judas.
30 pieces of silver will do me, thank you very much. 30 pieces
of silver. She came and she bowed, didn't
she? She worshipped, she worshipped his character. She worshipped
him as the sovereign ruler over demons and diseases and all things.
She worshipped him as the sovereign ruler over her. Her life was
in his hands and he could do with it as he saw fit. She worshipped
him. as a merciful, a mercy-giving,
successful saviour. She worshipped him when he spoke.
She said truth, Lord. We'll look at that in a minute.
She worshipped him. Whatever he says is right. Whatever
he says is good, even if it offends me and offends myself and my
sense of self-worth. The worship, the worth-ship of
his providences. Where your treasure is, there
your heart is also. For her he became that pearl
of great price, that great treasure. He's precious. That word precious means that
he's priceless, he's beyond value. She worshipped a sovereign God.
You can't worship a God who is not absolutely sovereign. You
cannot worship a God who is not absolutely successful. You cannot
worship a God who does not absolutely reign and rule over all things.
Our God reigneth. That's our declaration, isn't
it? Again and again, our God reigneth. That means that all
the false gods and all the false religion are just empty and vanity. The other thing I want you to
see about great faith is that great faith bows and great faith
worships before it receives any word of blessing from God. Great
faith bows and great faith worships before all the blessings come. what a lesson what a lesson for
us let's read verse 26 together he answered and said it is not meat It is not meat to
take the children's bread and give it unto dogs. It is not meat to take the children's
bread and cast it unto dogs. What's her response? He calls
her a dog. She's a gentile dog. In the eyes
of all the Jews, they would have been saying amen to this, wouldn't
they? So she acknowledged and believed
his account of her. She was nothing but a heathen.
She was not even worthy of a response to her pleas. She's in his hands. She stays there as a dog. She
says, I'm a dog, but I'm your dog. True faith is always tried
faith. The Lord's saying, isn't it? He says, I have the sovereign
right to give this bread, this bread of life, as I see fit. And it's always right. Whatever
I do is always right because I do it. True faith is tested yet again. You see, the trying of our faith
is not to prove it to God. God is the author of faith. He
gave it to you. He doesn't stand in any doubt
of His work. The trials of our faith are for
you and for those around you. What lessons the disciples learned
as they witnessed her exhibiting great faith. See your faithfulness
under great trials is such an encouragement to your brethren. There's such an encouragement. I know something of the trials
that you've been through. And I weep and I pray and I agonize
for what you go through. and I go through them with you. That's what it is to be part
of the body. And when the Lord carries you
through those trials when it seems so dark that there's no
light to be seen and there's no way forward and you're trapped
at the Red Sea with an army behind you, an impossibility in front
of you, and your God comes and he makes a way yet again and
he just holds you up and he sustains your faith and your brothers
and sisters in Christ are looking on from a distance and they think
wow isn't our God great isn't our God he's promised and here's
a promise fulfilled yet again and some of them go on and on
and on for you who have children The trying of your faith may
last until you leave this earth. The trying of your faith. And
she said, she said truth. That was her response. He says,
it's not right for me to take this precious bread and give
it to dogs. And she says, that's the truth,
Lord. That's the truth, Lord. See, he tries. He tries her understanding, doesn't
he? He shuts her up to sovereign particular redemption. He shuts
her up and says that my redemption is not universal, it's particular. I'll save my people from their
sins. He's come to seek and save his
elect, the ones that are lost in this world, not the ones that
are found and have some worthiness in their religion. He comes to
give faith. Not man-made faith that causes
the work of God to be effectual. God's faith is effectual because
it's a revelation of who the faithful one is. Faith is not our saviour. Faith
is just that open-handed gift that receives the saviour. She acknowledges contrary to
all modern religion that God doesn't love everyone and he
has a particular people and he has this manna this precious
manna from heaven he is the bread of life himself and that bread
of life will come to his own Faith is made to see the mystery
of the gospel. In particular, redemption. Faith
is made to see the mystery of the character of God. His substitutionary death in
the place of certain individuals. The fact that he didn't come
to make salvation possible. He died to put it away. It's
called the children's bread. It's the children's bread. And
the children will receive their bread He tried her heart concerning
her understanding of who he was and what he came to do. And great
faith's response, you can read it there in verse 27. It's a
great response, isn't it? What does she say to all of this?
She just says, truth, Lord. Truth, Lord. You declare who
you are. It's true. You declare what you're
doing in this world, true. Everything that you read in this
precious book, the answer to that is truth, Lord. I don't have to understand it.
I just have to say truth, Lord. Truth, Lord. When you say, Jacob,
have I loved, and Esau, have I hated, what do you say? Truth, Lord. When he says that
I came to lay down my life's blood for my people, my particular
people, and I died for them alone, what does the child of God say?
Truth, Lord. The Pharisees and the Sadducees
and all of the others, as religious people all the way through history
have done, they want to stand up there and they want to debate
and argue. The child of God, the humble child of God, the
needy child of God, the desperate child of God will just say truth
Lord. This is who you are. He tried her heart concerning
her understanding of who God is and he tried her heart in
terms of her understanding of faith. You see, her heart was
fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ. And it couldn't be moved. No
matter how many discouragements there were, no matter how discouraging
it might have been when he declared who he was, for her it was an
encouragement to stay. It was an encouragement to stay. So he ignored her and she stayed.
He said, I've had nothing to do with you and you're a dog.
And she stayed. He said, I'm only here for the
lost sheep of the House of Israel and she wasn't one of them. And
she stayed. She stayed, and she said, verse
27, isn't this glorious? She says, truth Lord, yet the
dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table. She
says, I'm a dog, and I'm a dog, I'm your dog, and I'm gonna stay
underneath your table. She knew, didn't she? She knew
from recent history that there were crumbs that came to some
people. of her nation. She knew from the history of
the scriptures. She knew that the crumbs came
to Rahab. Rahab the harlot, she's declared
to be. Most unlikely person to be saved. Ruth the Moabitess. Naaman the
Syrian. Gentile crumbs. Gentiles receiving crumbs. She believed his word. Truth,
Lord. I'm a dog, but I'm your dog,
and here I'm staying. I'm not gonna be moved an inch
away from you. I'm gonna camp myself underneath
this table, and I'm not going anywhere. See, faith that can
be defeated is not faith at all. Faith that comes from God, it's
the gift of God. When those Pharisees came and
said, what must we do? What must be worked to do the
works of God? What did the Lord Jesus reply
to them in John 6, 28? This is the work of God, that you believe. You believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. The world says that there's so
many other places to go. She had nowhere else to go. Canaan
and all of its religion could do her no good. The Jews and
all their religion could do her no good. Nothing had done her
any good. Nothing had done her any good.
There was no hope. She's saying, all my hope is
in Christ. And if crumbs are all I can get,
then crumbs will be enough for me. All I need is your crumbs. Are you satisfied? with his crumbs. Or would you prefer the banquet
that's on offer down the road with the idolaters? Just the
crumbs will do. What a great answer our Lord
gives. May it be an answer that he confirms in our hearts, brothers
and sisters in Christ, and all that might hear us. Then Jesus
answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto
thee, even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. He didn't go to the daughter.
He didn't come and pronounce anything over the daughter. He
just willed it, and her daughter was healed that very hour. As
I said, faith bows and faith worships before the blessings
come. Great faith's not discouraged
by what it sees within. or the circumstances because
it doesn't look to those things for hope. See, faith just sees
Christ. Great faith sees Christ and seeing
Him finds in Him all the sufficiency for all it ever needs. If Christ
is all my hope and all my hope's in Him, then I've already won
the battle. I've already won the battle before I receive any
so-called perceived blessings. He's won the battle He's won
it all. It's not by my strength, it's
not by my righteousness, it's not by my merits, it's not by
my will, it's not by my ability of anything that I do. It's all
mercy and it's all of grace. He's won that great victory. He's won that great victory. See faith is always victorious
because its object is the Lord Jesus Christ and our Lord Jesus
Christ sits on the throne of glory right now brothers and
sisters and everything and everyone in this world is in his hands
and all of his people are seated you can read it in Ephesians
121 all of his people are now seated together with him there
God's people say, truth Lord. Can you see it? Can you feel
it? Forget about your seeing and
forget about your feelings and just look to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Faith is always failing when it looks anywhere but to the
Lord Jesus Christ. She didn't take her eyes off
him for a second. She waited upon his word. Faith, when it
looks to experiences, when it looks to doctrine, when it looks
to knowledge of anything that takes our eyes off the Redeemer,
is always weak and frail and failing. True faith just looks
to Christ. looks to Christ defined in his
true character as he defined himself to her and he proved
it to her and those watching on and he did it he did it with
the most unlikely person he did it in the most unlikely place
he went to a cursed land and went to a cursed people that's
where he that's the only place he can go looking for his sheep
brothers and sisters there's nothing good down here He left
the self-righteous religionists, the Jews, and he went to show
how he saves sinners. And he saves sinners in a way
where he gets all the glory. and they have all of their hopes,
all of their aspirations, all of their desires fixed on Him. He's called a nail in a sure
place. I love that expression about
our Saviour. He was nailed to a cross and now He sits in a
fixed place in Heaven's glory. She was left stripped of everything.
She was just left with him. And if you got him, you got everything.
Christ is all, it's all you need. If you got him, you've got everything.
You got everything in this world and you got everything in the
one to come. The Jews were left with their religion and their
righteousness and their traditions and who was better off, a cursed
Canaanite dog or those proud Jews? And look what he says to
her, be it unto thee even as thou wilt. He puts his will in
the hands of her will. Isn't that glorious? Isn't that
glorious? She say, my will is captive to
your will. And if you will my salvation,
I'm secure. My will's captive to your person,
your character. You save in such a way as you
get all the glory. Her will is that he would get
glory. Her will is that he would be honoured and lifted up. My
will is to be under your table receiving the crumbs that you
provide. My will is to be with you always. My will is that you get all the
glory, because I've got nothing. No wonder the Lord causes to
echo from the lips of his disciples. Lord, I believe. Help thou mine
unbelief. I just need a crumb. Lord, I
believe. I really do believe. And all
I see in this flesh of mine is wicked unbelief. The disciples
cried out, Lord, increase our faith. Simply, the child of God says,
thy will be done. When your will's done, my will's
done. I often think what might have
happened in the journey of this woman. She may well have been
there, not very far away from this was that mountain and the
Lord Jesus Christ, the crucified Lord. met there with 500 of his
brethren and spoke about himself and spoke peace to the hearts
of those people. How she must have felt when she
heard the news from Jerusalem that those Jews had hung him
naked on a cross and condemned him as worthy of not being fit
to grace this earth and cast him away in their minds as just
a common piece of trash. How precious he was to her. a woman great is thy faith be
it unto thee even as thou wilt and her daughter was made whole
from that very hour you will my daughter's salvation and you
and she will be saved that's what that word whole means means
to be saved you don't even have to speak a word you just will
it and it's done now to live by did he he didn't
say well come on here you are all of this has happened and
here you are I'll give you a list of ten rules and another 600
to go by and you can now work out your own personal holiness
see the love of Christ great faith looks to him and loves
him the love of Christ compels the love of Christ constrains
she saw him and she loved him. And she worshipped him more than
the millions in Jerusalem that went up to the feasts of the
Jews. She worshipped him and she shows us what true worship
of our God is. She worshipped him in his true
character. She worshipped him and she honoured him with her
lips. and she honored him with her
heart. He said to those pharisees he'd left, you honor me with
your lips, but your heart's far from me. See, true faith is a
hard work. He'd captured her heart. The providences you wouldn't
wish upon anyone, but if the providences bring you to the
feet and into the arms of the Lord Jesus Christ, praise God
for the providences. Great faith. He declared that
she had great faith. When she went home that day,
went home and she found her daughter on her bed, resting and at peace,
says Mark's Gospel. What did she say? Did she say
to all of her neighbours, look what my great faith has done?
Not a word. A thousand times no, brothers
and sisters. When she goes home, what did
she say? What a great saviour I have. What a great friend of
sinners. That friend of sinners is my
friend. That saviour is my saviour. That Lord is my Lord. That Lord
loves me. I have everything because I have
Him. May the Lord bless His words
to our hearts and may He cause us to be faithful. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we pray
that you might bless us and keep us with our eyes fixed upon your
dear and precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We praise you Heavenly
Father that our faith is a gift from God and our faith is a blood-bought
faith. Father, increase our faith. Cause the object of our faith
to be magnified in our eyes. And cause us, Heavenly Father,
in the midst of this world, in the midst of our flesh, which
will try and test and toss us around, Heavenly Father. May
you lead us to the rock that is higher than us, our Father,
that nail secured in a safe and strong place. Bless your words
to our hearts, Heavenly Father. May we go in peace, just looking
to your Son, for we pray in Jesus' name, for his glory. Amen. I might finish by... Do we have
a hymn, Normie? Or do you want me to finish by
reading? If you don't have another one,
we'll read, Jude. If we can read Jude, then we might sing that
last song we sang, will we? Now unto Him we sing in church
and Lord willing next Sunday morning as we meet in our normal
building, which will be just lovely again. Now unto Him that
is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before
the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise
God, our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and ever. Amen.