I'll turn in your Bibles to give
attention to Song of Solomon. Yet again, this delightful book,
I'm already starting to miss it in anticipation of us moving
on to other parts of God's Word. It has for me been a remarkable
journey. I trust the Lord We'll leave
it as a book that you turn to again and again and look to with
delight and with comfort. Here we have in chapter 8, the
last chapter, who is this? Verse 5. Who is this that cometh
up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Some weeks ago we looked at the
fact that to come out of the wilderness, to come up out of
the wilderness, is to be leaning. She's leaning. And she says,
I raised thee up under the apple tree. There thy mother brought
thee forth. There she brought forth that
bare thee. And then she says these words
that I read earlier. This is her prayer, isn't it?
Set me, this is her request of her Lord. Set me as a seal upon
thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm. And then she gives these
reasons. Firstly, for love is strong as
death. Secondly, jealousy is cruel as
the grave. The coals thereof are coals of
fire which has the most vehement flames. Thirdly, many waters cannot quench
love, neither can the floods drown it." She's asking in anticipation
of him being taken from her for a season again. She's asking
him to set her as a seal. See at the end of the Song of
Solomon, she's asking him to make haste, my beloved, make
haste in your return to me. The church knows that he has
come The Church knows that he has dealt bountifully with his
bride, and we know that it's for our good that he's gone away. But Revelation wants us to understand,
at the beginning of Revelation, it says, he is coming. When you think of the Lord Jesus,
Please think of him on his way back now, right now. Which is why the wise man says
in Ecclesiastes, it's best better to go into the house of mourning
than into the house of feasting. It's good, it's good to think
about our time on this earth, how short it is and how necessarily
we must leave this place and we must necessarily stand in
the very presence of this holy, holy, holy God. Let's pray before we begin. Our
Heavenly Father, we pray that you would bless your words to
us, that you'd cause us to think with the requisite seriousness
about the depths of this prayer that the Church prays for her
beloved. Heavenly Father, we pray that
you would cause your words to bring life and cause your words
to bring light. and cause them to be a lamp to
our feet, and cause us, Heavenly Father, to look to your words
with delight, to look to your words as your means of speaking
to us. Make them spirit and life again
this morning, Heavenly Father. Bless both the speaker and the
hearers, and bless our friends who are not with us, our Father.
We do commit ourselves into your hands. These are great and awesome
words that you have set on the lips of the church and may you
set them as words on our lips. We pray this for the glory of
your dear son, our father. Bless us in his name we pray.
Amen. Okay, she begins, set me as a
seal, a seal on your heart, a seal on your arm. The seal implies
many things in the scriptures, obviously it implies nearness. Set me sealed on your heart,
set me sealed on your arm. The seal is a sign of authenticity. I still remember when I was a
little kid in my grandfather's house, I don't know where they've
gone now, but they had the wax and they had the stamp of whatever
it was and so in those days you actually wrote a letter and you
dribbled some wax onto the letter and when the wax was still soft
you put the stamp of your family into the letter. It sealed it. It was meant to be secure. It was meant to be opened by
the one intended. It's a sign of commitment and
promise. It's a sign, of course, of something
incredibly important. It's a sign of something unchangeable. Once something has been set and
sealed, it's there set. until such time as the one to
whom it is the recipient comes to undo it. Which is why in Revelation
we find John in Heaven, And there is this scroll, sealed
with seven seals, that perfect number of seals, and in that
scroll are all of God's eternal purposes. This scroll in chapter 5 was
there and they looked, they looked, no man in heaven, Nor on the
earth, neither under the earth was able to open the book, neither
to look thereon. And John wept much. If this sealed scroll of God's
eternal purposes cannot be opened, all of God's purposes will fall
to the ground. the deaths of all those saints,
from Abel to Stephen, to probably by the time John wrote, Peter
and almost all the apostles had been murdered. brutally murdered
and hundreds of others, Stephen and others. You can read about
them in Hebrews chapter 10 and 11. And he wept much because
no man was found worthy to open and read the book, neither look
thereon. And one of the elders says to
me, weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the book
and loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo, in the
midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst
of the elders, stood a lamb, as it had been slain, having
seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God
sent forth into all the earth. And he came, this lamb, this
lion, and I love the next word, he came and he took, he took
the book out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne.
He had every right to take the book. He had every right to take
it. He earned that right by his life
and his death. It's a sign of God's covenantal
purposes being perfectly completed and fulfilled. Set me as a seal. Her desire, her desire is to be set
there. Her desire is as she leans on
him and as she communes with him and as she thinks of him
going, is for him to set her, to set her as a seal on his heart. Set her as a seal on his heart,
set her as a seal on his arm. One of the wonderful things about
the Lord's dealings with his people, she's leaning. Leaning people are weak people. Leaning people are needy people. She's been brought to a place
where she's seen what her strength brings to her. And she knows
that she must lean. See, who keeps you, brothers
and sisters? Who keeps us? Who keeps us looking
to the Lord? in the midst of so many circumstances
around us, which would cause us to look everywhere else. Who
creates that love? Who creates that desire that
David spoke of, that one thing of desire? Where does it come
from? She's here talking about His
love, isn't it? And we know from the scriptures,
we love Him. Why? is only one reason, because
He first loved us. She's saying, and I'm quoting
someone and I don't know who the quote's from, so I'm sure
if they're in heaven they'll be delighted, if they're on earth
they'll forgive me. Let me have a place in thy heart, an interest
in thy love. Be Thou my High Priest, let my
name be written on Thy breastplate, nearer Thy heart. Let Thy power
be engaged for me, as an evidence of Thy love to me. Let me be
not only a seal upon Thine heart, but a seal upon Thine arm. Let me be ever borne up in Thy
arms, and know it to my comfort. set me as a seal upon your heart. Let nothing in me or anything
in my life hinder your affection for me." She's bringing him to
remembrance of those promises he's made. He says, I'll never,
never, never leave you nor forsake you. And yet the Church cries,
Lord, don't forsake me. His promises He'll keep us, and
the Church cries, Lord, keep me. Of course, with both of these
references, we are drawn, as Solomon must have thought deeply
at the opening of that temple when God, the Holy Spirit, came
down with power. Let's turn in our Bibles back
to Exodus 28. and look at this ceiling. The engraver, he carved the names
of the 12 tribes of Israel on those stones, and a stone representing
each tribe, then named and numbered. There were to be shoulder pieces
made in verse 11. With the work of an engraver
in stone, like the engraving of a signet, shalt thou engrave
the two stones with the names of the children of Israel. and
thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold, and thou shalt
put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ethod for stones of memorial."
On the shoulder it's stones of memorial unto the children of
Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names
before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial. In verse 28 there is talk about,
we're given the description of this. I'm sorry, I've gone too
far ahead of me. Down in verse 15 and following we have a description
of the work of the ethod which went on the breastplate and it's
called the breastplate of judgment. after the evening, and it has
gold and blue and purple and scarlet and fine twine linen,
and it's square for 16. It's just a span, it's not very
big, just a span by a span, and then in it are these stones. 12 stones, and verse 21, and the
stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, 12
according to their names, like the engravings of a signet. Everyone
with his name shall be according to the 12 tribes. And it's all
attached beautifully with gold rings. And Aaron, verse 29, shall
bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate
of judgment upon his heart when he goes into the holy place for
a memorial before the Lord. continually, and thou shalt put
in the breastplate of judgment the urim and the thummin, and
thou shalt be upon Aaron's heart when he goes before the Lord,
and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon
his heart before the Lord continually. Set me, the church is saying,
set me named and carried into the Holy of Holies by the high
priest. And we know in Hebrews that all
of these things that Moses did were a picture of things he had
seen in heaven. They were shadows and types. They were a picture of the Lord
Jesus taking his people upon his heart, named Everyone named
from before the foundation of the world, named and numbered,
perfectly known and perfectly carried on his heart and on his
arm and into the Holy of Holies, into the very place where God
himself is revealed. Engrave me on your heart, High
Priest. Make intercession for me. Bear
my judgement. Make sacrifice for me. Pronounce
blessings. The Lord bless thee and keep
thee. The Lord make his face to shine
upon thee. the Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee and give thee peace." Such was the blessing of the
high priest when he came back out. The seal is a sign of the
covenant. That was the covenant that was
confirmed with Abraham. That circumcision was a seal.
But it's a seal of a covenant that he had with God before he
did anything. It was a sign and a seal of an
eternal covenant. Set me, she sang, you my beloved,
set me thee, cause me to know it. set me on my heart, set me
in your inward affections, set me that your right hand of power
rule mightily over all things for my good." In verse 14 of
chapter 5 she says, his hands are as gold rings set with the
barrel. All he does is the fulfilling
of that eternal covenant, the purpose of God. To set is to
be put in a place of a foundation, is to be dug down deep and laid
with a foundation on a rock. And please note, she's saying
to him, you do this, you do the setting. You put me in that place. You confirm your eternal covenant
with me. He says they shall never perish.
This arm of his which rules all things in this universe, governs
every electron, the movement of the thoughts of men, rules
all things. It's so easy, isn't it, in this
world that seems to treat the Lord with contempt and growing
contempt. It's so easy for us to forget
that He is sovereignly ruling absolutely everything, brothers
and sisters. His right hand of power rules
all things. They'll never perish. No one
shall pluck them out of his hand. They're secure in his hand. Love from his heart, but with
sovereign power of his arm, delivering her, supporting her, bearing
her up under all trials. Set me as a seal in continual
remembrance continually in his sight, under
his care, under his inspection, as Isaiah 49 says, with graven
on the palms of his hand. What a remarkable thing, when
he looks at those pierced hands, he sees the names of all of his
bride. all at once, every single one
of them, that knows exactly everything that's happening in their lives. That's why Paul says in 2 Timothy,
Nevertheless, despite all that we see, the foundation of God
standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth. The Lord knows
and continually knows them that are His. She's been brought to
lean on her beloved. She's been brought to a place
of communion and consolation with Him. I love that old hymn,
a poem of John Kemp's. Let me read it to you. Twixt
Jesus and the chosen race. subsists a bond of sovereign
grace, that hell with its infernal train shall ne'er dissolve or
rend in twain. This sacred bond shall never
break, though earth should to her centre shake. Rest, doubting
saint, assured of this, for God has pledged His holiness. He swore that once the deed was
done, it was settled by the Great Three One. Christ was appointed
to redeem all that the Father loved in Him. Hail, Sacred Union,
firm and strong! How great thy grace, how sweet
the song, That rebel worms should ever be, One with incarnate Deity. one in the tomb, one when he
rose, one when he triumphed over his foes, one when in heaven
he took his seat, while seraphs sang at hell's defeat. Blessed by the wisdom and the
grace, the eternal love and faithfulness, that's in the gospel scheme revealed,
and is by God the Spirit sealed. That sort of features into one
further instance, isn't it? When you believed you were sealed. Sealed. in whom He also trusted
after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with the Holy
Spirit of promise." Set me as a seal. And as I said a few times
earlier, it's fascinating how she now goes to the reasons Don't
forget that little word for, because. She goes to the reasons
why she can pray that remarkable prayer. Set me as a seal on your
heart. Set me as a seal on your arm. Because love is as strong as death. Love is as strong as death. It's
almost as if death's banner is, I yield to none. Death conquers
all. Death is pictured as an enemy. It's irresistible. It's triumphant. It refuses to give up its victims. It destroys all connections,
all relations, all ties. Death holds its prey. It doesn't matter whether they
sit on a throne, or live in a slum, or are hidden in the jungles.
Death stalks and catches all. It holds its prey. But see, His
love is as strong as death. Romans 8 is a familiar passage,
isn't it? And we have in Romans 8 a list
of 17 armed and strong men standing against the saints of God. Who shall bring any charge? Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Verse 35. Shall tribulation,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword? For it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all day long. We are accounted asleep for the
shorter night. In all these things we are more
than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
I have confidence, I'm persuaded, that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor power, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus. This love of Christ is as strong
as death. Christ's love conquers the strongest
opposition. No foe even as strong as death
is able to withstand the shepherds searching and finding his sheep. He goes, as you read in Ezekiel
34, he goes over hill and dale, he searches all this earth. It's
just picturing our God's care and constant provision. It's not as if He doesn't know
where His sheep are. He put them there. And He put
them there in the circumstances they are in. And He'll find them
and He'll bring them out. He'll bring them out as He brought
Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah. He'll bring them out as he did
when he destroys Jericho. And there was Rahab. What was
Rahab? A harlot. A harlot in a cursed
town. And she was brought out. Ruth,
destitute widow. in a cursed Malabar nation and
God brought her to himself. Paul, on and on, on and on the
list goes throughout time. Trophies of grace gathered by
the love of the Lord Jesus. Paul, you, me, we know something
of his triumph to gain and keep his own. You see, she's saying,
let me know and be sealed in this love, to be overcome and
taken captive by it. She's looking forward to that
day when death and the Lord Jesus must face each other in that
awesome battle. that Solomon's father David wrote
about again and again and again. You can read particularly about
it in Psalm 22, in Gethsemane and Golgotha. And what did the
Lord Jesus do? He swirled up death in victory. What was the promise of Hosea
hundreds and hundreds of years beforehand? He said, O death,
I will be your plague. O grave, I will be your destruction. In fact, in the New Testament,
after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, they changed its
name for the saints. It's called sleep now. Sleep. They sleep. You can read about them in 1
Corinthians. They sleep. O death, I will be your plague. Such is the love of the Lord
Jesus. He takes his own captive and
it holds them as tight as death has held the billions. the billions in these thousands
of years that have gone. His love is stronger than that. She pleads his love and she pleads
his jealousy. His jealousy is as cruel as the
grave, or maybe it can be as well translated, his zeal is
as firm as hell. That's how Luther translated
the Hebrew and it seems as if the scriptures back it up in
so many ways. He's a jealous God. His name
is Jealous. He's powerful and he's jealous. He's a jealous husband. And it's his zeal, Isaiah 9 verse
7, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. Isaiah
is speaking that prophecy that many will be reading in this
next little while. For unto us, verse 6, a child
is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon
his shoulder. the government of all of this
universe is upon his shoulder, the government of all things
for his church is upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called,
wonderful counsellor, the mighty God, Emmanuel, God with us, here,
now, mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,
of the increase of his government in peace, there shall be no end,
upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order it,
to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth,
even forever." What a throne, what a king, even forever. The zeal of the Lord And when the Lord Jesus came
to that place, which was to bear His name, the place which was
to bear the honour of His sacrifice, the place where God was to meet
with men, and men in their religion had turned it into a den of thieves. It was remembered when he made
that court of rips and he drove those people out of that temple,
the zeal of thine house has eaten me up. This great God, this great
Beloved, this great Saviour set his face like a flint. He's jealous,
he's zealous. Isn't it wonderful? He's jealous
for his bride's love. He's jealous for his bride's
companionship. He's jealous and zealous to hear
her words, we read it again and again, how he's captivated by
her. He's jealous for a look of her. He's jealous by just seeing her
beauty. Thou art beautiful, O my love,
as Tersa, comely as Jerusalem. terrible as an army with banners,
turn thine eyes away from me, for they have overcome me." And
he goes on to speak again and again. And she can say in verse
10 of chapter 7, I am my beloved's and his desire is toward me. His desire is toward me. how fair she is made, how pleasant
she is made. Vatha, O love, he describes her,
full delights. First he talks of death. He now says that his zeal is
as cruel as the grave. What shocking words the scriptures
use of those who go to the grave. Lost, perished, they're held
in chains. There is a great God fixed. Such is the power of the love
of the Lord Jesus for His bride. Nothing can snatch them from
His hand. The lost, and the saved are both
secured in their place. Set me there, Lord, the saved
are secured by His love, the lost secured by His holy justice. Set me, set me there. The cold thereof are the coals of God." Jealousy cools the grave, the
coals thereof are the coals of fire. She's describing His love. It's as intense as fire, but
the coals of it, this fire, keeps its intensity with its own fuel. It's not just fire, but it's
coals of fire. His love for his bride is intense
and blazing love, and it's love that never diminishes. It's like
that altar, wasn't it, Leviticus chapter 9 when they finally get
the tabernacle built and that altar is there. And that fire
that was never to go out was a fire that was started by God. Isaiah meets the Lord. Turn back a couple of pages from
Isaiah 9. He meets the Lord. He has spent
five chapters pronouncing woe on everyone else. He meets the
Lord in the temple, and like anyone who's ever met him, I
saw the Lord. The year the king Uzziah died,
I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne. If you ever see God,
you will see him on a throne, high and lifted up in his train
filled the temple, Above it stood the Seraphim, each one had six
wings, and with two he covered his face, and with two he covered
his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to the other and
said, Holy, holy, holy, give me God. you will see Him high
and lifted up. If you meet God, you will see
Him as holy, holy, holy. He is the Lord of hosts, the
whole earth is full of His glory, and the post of the door moved
at the voice of Him that cried. Even the inanimate things moved
at His voice. And the house was filled with
smoke. Then I said, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am
a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips. For mine eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims
unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken
with the tongs from off the altar, and he laid it upon my mouth. and said, Lo, this is what the
altar is about for God's children. Lo, this has touched thy lips,
and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged." And the
next verses as you read on are almost shocking, and the religious
world must shudder as it reads them. Isaiah is sent out to preach
judgment, to make the heart of this people fat and their ears
heavy. lest they see." Extraordinary judgement. Isaiah, like all of
God's children, is rescued out of the religion that God is judging
and always has judged and continually judged. The cause of God. The cause of God's love for His
bride is in Himself. There is none like it. And it
has the most vehement flame. It has the most intense. It flames with an intensity of
His love. His love for His Father's glory. His love for His Father's name. His love for His Father's honour. And all of them are wrapped up.
in the intensity of his flaming love for his people. It's a most vehement flame, it's
a consuming flame. She's saying, set me at this
place. Bring me into remediance of your
character, of your covenant. Remind me that you are a consuming
fire and if I am set on your heart and I am carried in your
arm, I am safe. I am safe from that consuming
fire. The God is holy and his love
burns with a passion. His love burns fiercely. His love burns with a love that's
generated from his own character. A love which is a love which
will consume the dross. One of the shocking passages
in all the scripture is in Leviticus chapter 9 and 10. And you have
sacrifice, animal after animal, rams and bullocks, kids and calves,
lambs, again and again. These are brought at the commissioning
of that temple. And the blood is brought Again
and again the baron puts his hand on that beast and identifies
the beast's death as a death that he and the people of Israel
deserved. And it was taken into that altar
And in verse 24 of chapter 9, after this long and bloody ceremony,
there came a fire from before the Lord and it consumed upon
the altar the burnt offering and the fat, which all the people
saw. When all the people saw, they
shouted and they fell on their faces. experienced something of the
holiness of God. It was all, of course, picturing
the Lord Jesus on that altar. Read on, verse 10, and it follows
on, And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of
them incense and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and
offered strange fire before the Lord, which he had commanded
them not. And then went out far from the Lord and devoured them,
and they died before the Lord. And Moses said unto Aaron, This
it is that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them
that come nigh me. I will be considered holy that
come before me, and before all the people I will be glorified."
And Aaron held his peace. Such is the vehemence of this
flame of God's love. Such is the need for the Shulamite
and us to be set on his heart and set upon his arm. Nadab and Abayu are pictures
of those who suffer the fire of God's wrath in hell. She's saying she wants the one
place of security in all of this world before God who is holy,
before God who is a consuming fire. And then she says, many
waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. What waters
and what floods have gone in an attempt to quench this love
throughout time. He tasted death in all its bitterness. He was forsaken by man and forsaken
by God, his Father. And yet it says, for the joy
set before him, the joy of his Father's honour and glory, the
joy that his Father might be seen to be just and the justifier,
the joy set before him to love and honour his bride, to present
her wholly spotless and unblameable, no tokens would do. It must be real sin that was
put on him. It must be real sins that must
be dealt with. It must be real righteousness,
the righteousness of God that clothes his people. And so taken
into that holy place, on his head Aaron wore that great sign,
wasn't it? Holiness to the Lord. To be carried into the presence
of God, she must be as holy as God is holy. Only holy things
can adorn the thrice holy God. here in His love, not that we
love God, but He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. It's the love of God in Christ
Jesus that cannot be quenched. There's a wonderful article in
your bullet. The waters of shame and suffering
cannot quench love. The waters of death, the waters
of our unworthiness, as we see in Song of Solomon, the waters
of her rejection and turning from him at a time when he came
to her. The waters of our rejection,
the waters of our inconsistency, This is this love that cannot
be quenched and it cannot be drowned by the flood. Like Noah's
Ark, it rises on those waters, those waters that would seem
to consume it at every moment. She's saying, come and love me,
Lord, with that love, that strong love that finds its own fuel. There is nothing in me to fan
those flames. The flames of that vehement love
are fanned by Him. for His glory. There have been
so many waters that have come over your life and mine to drown
His love. But as we saw in Solomon, when
she is drawn by Him back to her, He never mentions, not a word
is said about her sin. She's welcomed back as she was
before she'd sinned. He doesn't behold iniquity in
Israel. His sins, our sins, the sins
of his people, are put behind his back. Lord help us to believe but your
love is not quenched by the things of our flesh. It's an amazing prayer. It's a remarkable prayer, isn't
it? She's praying to be carried into the very presence of God,
sealed and set on his heart and on his arm. But she is also praying
something remarkable, I think, brothers and sisters. She's praying
a prayer that we need to ponder
and meditate upon. She's saying, let nothing come
between me and my Saviour. Sometimes we need to count the
cost and ponder what we pray. She's saying, you burn away with
your fervent love, that love that is strong. Burn and destroy
the idols of my heart. anything and everything which
comes between my jealous husband and his bride's affection. They must be and they will be
removed. Set me, she says. You do the
setting. Set me as a seal upon your heart,
upon his arm. Publicly display me. as belonging to you and you alone
in this world. Publicly display me before God
in heaven. Take me into that holy place. David Freud in Psalm 139. Search me, O God, and know my
heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked
way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. She's praying,
isn't she? I need a mediator. I need a reconciler. Lord Jesus, be my high priest. Carry me into the holy of holies. Make me know that my home is
in heaven. Here I'm a pilgrim and a stranger. Cut me free by your grace and by your love. to the things that tie me to
this world." It is her description of his
love, but in many ways it's a description of a love that he burns in the
hearts of his people. It was fervent love that caused
the people we read about throughout this book and in this last 2000
years. A fervent love, a love that he
alone can flame, can fan into flame and a love that he alone
can keep. That they love not their own
lives unto death. make me to know my name and my
home is in heaven. As Hebrews 9.14 says, How much
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God? Dear brothers and
sisters, he may take you through some extraordinary times. Job
is set before us as an example. God stripped away from Job everything
that he had. Stripped away from Job everything
about his body. He sat on a dung heap, scratching
his sores with a broken bit of pottery. Love unquenchable. Love that is fervent. Love that is strong. Brought those things into his
life. I have heard you by the hearing
of the ear, but Now mine eye seeth Thee. Job was brought through
these extraordinary trials, these fiery trials, to see Thee. He was better off at the end
than he was at the beginning. Such is the prayer that she's
praying, I believe, brothers and sisters. Purge me. Cleanse me. Take my idols away from me. Take the things away that come
between you and me. Set me on your heart, nothing
between. Do it with the power of your
arm, nothing between your sovereign hand. Do it with the fervency
and the strength and the power of that love, that love that's
unchangeable, that love We caused our Saviour to be both the altar
and the sacrifice, to have the flames of God's holy wrath consume
Him as it were, and for Him to come through the other end, triumphant. Triumphant and triumphant and he carries her now. Moment
by moment, right now at this very moment, he's in the Holy
of Holies and he bears the marks and those wounds and he bears
the names of every one of his children. Such is the love of
our God. What a great love it is. What
an extraordinary love it is compared to the love of God which is paraded
before this world. Set me, my Father, set me. Let's pray.