The Lord has magnified his word
above all his name. What a remarkable privilege it
is. What a remarkable gift of God
it is for us to have this book that rests in our laps now. What a remarkable book. I was
looking through, cleaning up my filing cabinet here some weeks
ago, and I found an old sermon of mine. I haven't looked at
it closely, but the title of it from our early days was just
simply, We Believe God. We Believe God. He has written
it in His Word, and we believe it. We believe what it says from
cover to cover. We believe what it says about
his character and his being. We believe what it says about
us. We believe what it says about
history. We believe what it says about
science. We believe what it says about
his dear and precious son. This is a book written by God. It's a book written by God about
His Son, about His Son's bride, about the way His Son saves His
bride. It's His story, it's His book. And if we don't come to this
book, and don't keep coming to this book, as the Word of God,
magnified above all thy name." It means that in the eyes of God,
this is a preeminent book, isn't it? There is nothing else. As much as we read other things,
and sadly we read other things with delight, there's no book
ever been written like this book. We believe that it's inspired.
We believe that it's infallible. We believe that it's inerrant.
We believe that God wrote it. We acknowledge that in the transmission
over time there are little things in translations. that are probably
not as accurate as we would like them to be. Not one single one
of them affects one single doctrine in all the scripture. They are
tiny little things. This is God's Word. God has preserved
it for thousands of years because it's His Word. And because of
that, it's huge that it's a book with authority, with absolute
authority. As Colossians once said, it is
the word of the truth. and it contains the Gospel. It's a complete Word. It's finished. When it was finished, written,
that was sufficient. The early apostles had absolutely
everything written down by God for all of His Church until the
Lord comes back and these books are burnt up with the rest of
this creation because God's children won't need them any longer. It's
a complete word, it's a sufficient word, it's the final word of
God, it's God breathed. And God has so ordained it that
he cannot be known outside of him taking the words of the revelation
of this book. and making them to be alive in
the life of His people. So it's not only an authoritative
word, it's a necessary word, a necessary word that we need
to hear, a necessary word that reveals the Lord Jesus and reveals
the Gospel. And Romans 10 makes them ask
some questions, but they are really statements, aren't they? These are great statements. It
says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. And then it makes these statements,
and how then shall they call on him in whom they have not
believed? And how shall they believe in him whom they have
not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? And as it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. The Bible is God's saving revelation. It's how He reveals Himself,
how He reveals Himself to His chosen people. The Lord Jesus,
of course, treated this book with the greatest of reverence.
He never debated with people about it. He quoted from it. He referred to it. He expounded
it. He lived upon it as the very
Word of God. He wouldn't enter into debates
with people about it. He just says, this is what the
scriptures say, end of story. And when he was doing battle
with Satan, where did he go? He who is all-powerful, our great
mediator, when he went and did battle on our behalf with Satan,
where did he go? Where did he go to turn back
those fiery darts of Satan? He just went to this word, didn't
he? You can read it in Luke Chapter
4. He quoted from Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy Chapter 8, Deuteronomy
16, Deuteronomy 13. He just refuted and turned Satan
and his wily schemes away just by quoting this word. And when
he began his teaching ministry in that great message that he
brought to the people in Luke chapter 4 in Nazareth, what did
he do? What did he do? He just quoted. He turned in
the Bible and he deliberately turned, he found the passage
that he wanted to speak on and he read from Isaiah 61, those
great words, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because he hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and the recovering
of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."
What a remarkable word. He begins his ministry with the
word of God. He finishes his life, quoting,
those quotations from the cross. If you start in Psalm 22, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? If you look there and go
through the next ten psalms, you will see that all of his
words are just quoting this remarkable book that we have in our laps. What a remarkable miracle that
we have in this book. What a remarkable miracle, 40
writers, some writing in palaces, some writing in prisons, some
of them judges, some of them priests, some of them kings,
prophets, some of them prime ministers of superpowers, some
of them shepherds, some of them scribes, some of them fishermen. some of them soldiers, 40 different
writers, writing over a period of 1,500 to 1,600 years. And this book, perfectly free
from error, perfectly free from contradiction. What a remarkable
word we have in our hands, brothers and sisters. a book of prophecy where God promises
and God delivers. At least 2,400 times God promises
and God delivers, and there are probably far more. When you read
God saying, I will, in the scriptures, you have a promise from Almighty
God. No honest person, no honest person
can deny the reality of the prophecies in this scripture. They are detailed,
they are particular, they are personal. It's interesting that
the Lord appeals to history. He doesn't appeal to the intelligence
of man. He appeals to history. He says, just look at the histories
fulfilling this word. If God would give us eyes to
see, we would see that that history, this beautiful history we have
before us here, is also a history that continues from the cross
and from the early church right through until today. God still
speaks and God still reveals. It's an open book. It's an honest
book. Those authors were men just like
you and I. And God lays their life bare
before us, their triumphs and their sins just laid there. In our history of men, we want
to try and exalt them in all sorts of ways and cover up their
indiscretions. God just lays the life of his
servants bare before all this world. He wants to reveal again
and again that salvation is by sovereign grace. The Bible is called a lamp. It's called a light. a lamp unto
my feet, a light to my path. It's a mirror. It is likened
to that laver in which you could wash. It's bread. It's the bread that the Lord
Jesus told Satan that God's people live upon. It's milk. Milk for
babies. It's strong meat for those who
think they have grown beyond it. They'll find that they need
milk again and again. It's honey. It's fire. It's likened to a hammer. It's likened to a sword, isn't
it? It's the sword of the spirit.
And it's likened to good seed. What a precious revelation we
have of our God. I wanted to say those things
about the Bible because I think it's beautiful the way the Bride
here in Song of Solomon, if you turn your Bibles into Chapter
5, the Bride in Song of Solomon has been challenged about how
beautiful is her Beloved. What is He? What is He to you? What is He more than another
Beloved? And then she goes into this extraordinary description
which just gets better and better and more wonderful. And then
in a sense in this verse before us at the end of chapter 15,
she's talked about his legs. She begins by talking about his
head. He talks about her glory is ahead and He locks her eternal
comfort. His eyes are constantly upon
her, guidance and that look of love. His cheeks, her safety. His lips, her revelation. His hands, His power and His
sovereignty. His heart, His belly is His joy. Verse 15, His legs are as pillars. It's His strength, as the Lord
said of His Son. He's laid help upon one who is
mighty. All this needs to be sustained
by one who is mighty. And then, His legs are as pillars
of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is
as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth most sweet. Yay, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved and this is
my friend, our daughter, daughters of Jerusalem." So she goes to
talk about his countenance, his appearance in general, how he
appears to her. And that's another one of these
beautiful pictures that is likened to Lebanon and likened to the
cedars of Lebanon. And then she says, His mouth
is most sweet. His words to her are most sweet. And then she finishes by saying,
He's altogether lovely. This is my beloved. I suppose the point I'm trying
to make is that she's rounded this off by saying, this is what
he appears like in general, this is what he appears like to me. And then she finishes by saying,
yes, he's altogether lovely, but in between those two, this
summary in a sense of his appearance and what he is to her. It's linked
by these beautiful words, isn't it? His mouth is most sweet,
His words. You see, without His words, without
His words, without Him speaking to us, without Him taking this
word and revealing His Son in His glory to us in this word,
we don't see The idea that we can see the Lord Jesus today
and not see him outside of this word, that we can look for revelations
in some sense of physical or some spiritual revelation of
the Lord Jesus outside of this word, is doing a dishonour to
God. Those that do are promised to
be led into deception by God Himself. I've quoted to you often
those words in 2 Thessalonians. Those who want to have these
things, to experience something outside of the Word of God. He talks about these people that
are deceived. deceived by the working of Satan
in 2 Thessalonians 2, with all the deceivalness and unrighteousness
in them that perish, because they receive not the love of
the truth. It's one thing to acknowledge
truth, but in God's sight, His people are led by Him to love
the truth. to love the truth that they might
be saved. And for this cause God shall
send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie." I
take it that when God promises to send a strong delusion to
people, those people are deluded, because they receive not the
love of the truth. They wanted to have They wanted
to have their salvation. They wanted to have their righteousness. They wanted to have a God of
their own imagining, a God outside of this world. That's why I think
it's so significant, the Shulamite. Shulamit talks about all of these
things and twice in this list of ten things she talks about
His words. She said, His lips are like lilies,
dropping sweet smelling myrrh. His mouth is most sweet. So that's how we come to see
His countenance, don't we? We see the countenance. We see
the appearance. We behold Him, as it were, as
we read this book. Isn't it better to have your
faith grounded in God's revelation written down rather than grounded
as it was for me in remarkable things I thought I had experienced?
Thank God that He takes us out of those things and takes us
and establishes us upon a rock, that unmovable rock of His Word,
His countenance. I love Numbers 6, 22 and 27. It's the most beautiful words,
isn't it? It's a Trinitarian blessing.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and unto his
sons, saying, On this wise you shall bless the children of Israel,
saying unto them, and you probably know the words well, The Lord
bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make His face to shine
upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance
upon thee, and give thee peace." What a great blessing Aaron was
to bless the people of God with. It was a Trinitarian blessing,
wasn't it? Three times the Lord is mentioned. The first one is
God the Father. We are kept by God the Father,
aren't we? Kept by the power of God through
faith. The Lord bless you and keep you. God the Son. Where did we see
God the Father? Philip, after three years with
the Lord Jesus, he said, show us the Father and that will be
enough. Give us some miraculous revelation,
Jesus, and that will be enough. What did the Lord Jesus say to
him? You've been with me all this time, Philip. If you have
seen me, you have seen the Father. You have seen the Father. They had seen Him, but they hadn't
seen Him until God the Holy Spirit. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our heart to give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. God, by miraculous creation,
commands, by miraculous creation just by His Word. How did He create this universe?
He just spoke a word. He spoke a word. Billions of
stars came into existence. He spoke a word and all of this
creation we have before us right now is there. He speaks a word
and He creates. He speaks a word and He creates
in the physical realm. He speaks a word and He maintains
the physical realm. You see, all of this is upheld. The only reason we are floating
here in nothingness for this little short time, the only reason
we aren't sailing at thousands of miles an hour directly towards
the sun or just disappearing is because He upholds all things
by the word of His power. He created by saying a word. He sustains this universe right
now by saying a word and exactly what He does for His people.
as we read in 2nd Corinthians, in a creative miracle taking
his word, he causes his people to see the Lord Jesus. The Lord
make his face to shine upon you and we will see, we will see
in that look, that look of faith, that look of new birth, that
look that Nicodemus needed to have. Otherwise he would still
be in darkness. You'll see in that look that
there is grace. The Lord make His face to shine
upon thee and be gracious unto thee. And God the Holy Spirit
comes at that special time in believers' lives. The Lord lift
up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace. The Lord, God the Holy Spirit,
causes us, his people, as he takes this word and shines it
upon the Lord Jesus, causes his people to see who they are, who
the Lord is, and give thee peace. And the next verse is wonderful. It's a promise from God to these
people that he's blessed. He says, I shall put my name
upon the children of Israel. They'll wear his name. They'll
be called sons of God. They will, like a bride, bear
their husband's name. They'll have his name upon them. No doubt you've heard many times
quoted those verses from Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 23, verse 6, it's
good to know these words again and again, isn't it? It's good
to be reminded when talking about Him. In His days, Judah shall
be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is the name
whereby He shall be called. It's obviously talking about
the Lord Jesus. Earlier on it's called the branch.
He's called the Lord Our Righteousness, the Lord Our Righteousness. And in the intervening chapters
we have one of those great chapters, verse 31, which talks of the
New Covenant, God putting His Spirit upon His people, God taking
away their sins forever. And in chapter 33 of Jeremiah,
There's a description in verse 16. Chapter 33, verse 16. In those
days, Judas shall be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely.
And this is the name wherewith she, the bride of Christ, shall
be called. What's her name? The Lord our
righteousness. Brothers and sisters, it doesn't
get much better this side of heaven. Isn't it glorious? He says, look unto me and be
ye saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there
is none else. We look, salvation is looking
upon him, looking upon his countenance, this revealed countenance. So
many saw the Lord Jesus, but they never saw Him. It's the
same all through history, isn't it? So many heard about Him,
so many saw the remarkable things that He did, but they never saw
Him. They never really saw Him. They saw a man, saw a man they
could treat with contempt. They saw a man who seemed to
them weak. I love that story the Lord gives
us in John Chapter 9 of the man born blind. It seems as if he
had no eyes. It seems as if that's what the
medical term is for this man. Just empty sockets. And in verse
11, the Lord comes and he heals him. And in verse 11, he says,
he's a man. They say he's a man. In verse 17, he's called a prophet. And the Lord comes back to him.
The Lord comes back after he's been kicked out of their religion.
cast aside, in a sense in their minds, cast into hell, anathema,
declared against him, no longer fit to worship God, no longer
fit to come into the temple, no longer fit to join with us
in our religion. And then we have that beautiful
description of him, his description of the Lord. What does faith
bring? Jesus heard that they had cast
him out, and when he found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe
on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is
he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him,
Thou hast but seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. It's he who now speaks. You hear
his voice. What a great word he had. And
he said, this man who had this creative miracle done in his
life, he said, Lord, I believe. Lord, I believed and believe
and he worshipped him. That's what it means to see the
Lord, isn't it? You see, it didn't matter that
he was kicked out of their religion. When we see the Lord, we'll see
him like Isaiah did. We'll see him high and lifted
up. We'll see him exalted. We'll
see him glorious. We'll see him reigning supremely. That's what Paul saw on that
Damascus Road, didn't he? It's almost impossible to think
that in that three and a half years, with Paul in and around
Jerusalem and in that region, that at some stage he hadn't
actually seen the Lord Jesus. It's almost impossible with all
the fuss the Lord Jesus and His disciples and John the Baptist
had made. But on the Damascus Road, he saw Him. And then after three days of
blindness, in Acts 9, 20, he says, what did he do? And his
eyes were awakened. He preached Christ in the synagogue,
that he is the Son of God, proving that this is the very Christ. His countenance is a different
countenance through the eyes of faith. And Paul describes
it, doesn't he, again as a creative miracle. But when it pleased
God, not when it pleased Paul, not when it pleased other people,
when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me, it pleases God
to reveal His Son in people. that I might preach him among
the heathen." This is the sight of the countenance of God that
faith brings. And it comes, it comes through
God speaking. He says in Isaiah 55, 3, Incline
your ear and come unto me. Here in your soul shall live. I will make an everlasting covenant
with you, even the sure mercies of David. She is delighted in
all of these amazing attributes and now she wraps it up and says
she's countenance. This countenance is amazing. This countenance is beautiful. This countenance is, as she says,
as Lebanon. at countenance, as Lebanon is
famous, famous for its beauty, famous for its height, famous
for its majesty. He's lifted up. As she said earlier,
he's the chiefest among 10,000. He's the standard bearer. He's
the king. like Solomon, he's compared to
Solomon, he's the king of peace, he's the king in wisdom, he's
the king in power and dominion, he's the king in splendor. And Lebanon is famous for the
fragrance of those mountains, herbs and those beautiful cedars,
the fragrance of him. is imputed and imparted righteousness. What does he say of her who knows
herself to be black? He says, you are all fair, my
love. You see, in the Lord Jesus we
see the countenance of a mediator. We see the countenance of one
who is high lifted up, the king. We see the countenance of one
who is a king and a man. In chapter 2 verse 6 she says,
His left hand is under my head, his right hand doth embrace me. A man to hold, a man to love. He took her in and his banner
over her was love. The beloved is mine and I am
his. The countenance of this man,
this God man, is the countenance of a redeemer, a black. She who is black is now all fair. She who is black has no spot
in her. The countenance of this mediator
is the countenance of her husband. She's called the spouse. It's a great fragrance. Lebanon
is known for its height. It's known for the fragrance
of the herbs and the pine trees on its mountain. It's known for
its fruitfulness. He is so remarkably fruitful. in so many ways he keeps just
lavishing and lavishing good things of his bounty upon his
people. He is the greatest of all. And
she says he's as excellent as the cedars. Those cedars, of
course, are the cedars that they used for the building of the
temple and those palaces in Jerusalem, even Solomon's palace. They were
huge trees. The big ones were 130 feet, which
is 30-something meters, I think, Angus. So 30-something meters
long. And 8 feet, 2.4 meters in diameter
at the base, they were huge trees. And if you go onto the internet
and just Google Cedars of Lebanon, you'll see remarkable pictures
of them. Just beautiful trees. They are
trees which adorn this mountain. They are cedars that God claims
as His own trees, cedars of Lebanon which He has planted just like
those trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. The timber is known like our
Saviour for its firmness, for its strength, for its fragrance,
It's a preservative and remarkably not only is it able to preserve
itself but it seems as if it preserves things around it. They are magnificent trees and
of course they are evergreen trees. He is like, His countenance
is as Lebanon, excellent as the seas. And then she talks about
his mouth. She talks about how sweet it
is, his mouth. Again it's a reference
to his word and his promises. And here in this list of ten
amazing things about our Saviour, we actually have this mentioned
twice, don't we? It's celebrated a second time. The chief and the loveliest thing
about the Lord Jesus is the fact that He communicates with us,
His Church. He comes to His bride and He
speaks to His bride. It's delightful, isn't it? What
a remarkable privilege that we have boldness to march, as it
were, into the courts of heaven. We have boldness in our access
to the throne of grace, to come to Him in prayer. It's all so
delightful, isn't it? More delightful than we imagined
to participate in those ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Ways of remembering Him publicly, personally and as a family. How delightful it is to be gathered
together with his saints in church. David just missed it when he
was away, didn't he? He longed, he felt envious of
the sparrows, the swallows that nested in the temple. If he could
just be there. How delightful. As I said earlier,
nothing more important happens in our lives. There are so many
gifts and so many blessings poured out upon us. But above all these
things, these glorious things, these necessary and important
things, are those glimpses of His glory when He speaks to us
by His word. Oh brothers and sisters, I pray
that the Lord would give you again and again just the light
as His Word just leaps from the page and grips ahold of you. And like Jeremiah said of the
Word in Jeremiah 20 verse 9, His Word has become unto me like
a fire, like a fire. He's being harassed, Jeremiah.
Life is tough when you are a lone voice in a big city and destruction
is imminent and you bring the word of God. And I said, I will
not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name. And he
said, but his word was in my heart. as a burning fire shut
up in my bones and I was weary with forbearing. I was weary
of holding it in." And he says, I couldn't. He just, in the midst
of the most appalling opposition that any prophet of God suffered,
he just had to speak those words because it had burnt in his heart. Why, it's so special, isn't it?
It's so special that God allows us time to read His Word, that
in church this Word is more quoted and more honoured than the words
of men. You see, she doesn't just say
His Word, His mouth is sweet, she says it is most sweet The
psalmist says of the Lord Jesus, Thou art fairer than the children
of men. Grace is poured into Thy lips. Therefore God has blessed thee
forever." Grace is poured into his lips and grace comes from
his lips to us. Nothing compares, nothing compares
to the voice of God speaking to the hearts of his people.
His lips are like lilies, she said, dropping sweet-smelling
myrrh, that beautiful fragrance, that healing balm. How much do
we, sinners living in this body of flesh, need that preservative,
that sweet-smelling myrrh? I love what she says, it drips.
It's not forced out, squeezed or extracted. It drips. It flows abundantly. His voice. He says, I have put my words
in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of my hand,
that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundation of the
earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people. He speaks. What wonderful things
he speaks. What's he saying in heaven right
now? What beautiful words. again from
His lips right now. He speaks. His words speak. He speaks on behalf of His bride. He intercedes for us right now. What words He speaks. He speaks
to the Father. He speaks to the Father for sinners
like us. And then He speaks by His Spirit
through His word, and He speaks to us. He speaks His words of
promise. He speaks His words revealing
our heart. He speaks, as we said earlier,
words of honesty about us. If He speaks to us with honesty,
we can come to Him with honesty. He knows all things. What a word! His sheep hear His
voice. There is just one voice that
the sheep follow. It's the voice that she heard
in 5 verse 2 of this psalm. It's the voice that she heard
and she says that it's the voice of my beloved that knocks, saying,
Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled. No wonder now, at the end of
this glorious description, faith's description of her husband, she
says it again so delightfully, his lips, which are like lily,
are now most sweet. Is that how the word of God comes
to you." So often we read it, don't we? And it is just dull. So often we look around our houses
and there are so many other things that delight us and take our
time, and yet God has given us this precious, precious word. Let's read some of Psalm 19. The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than
gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter than the honey and the
honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant
warned, and in keeping them there is great reward. She has spoken so often of his
word. his lips in Song of Solomon. She delights in the fact that
he is a God, he is a husband, who comes to her and speaks so
beautifully. Let him kiss me with the kisses
of his mouth. Why? For thy love is better than
wine. She can go to him and ask when
she is lost. She says, Tell me, O thou whom
my soul loveth, where do you feed? Where do you fleed your
flock? Where do you make them to rest
at noon? Why should I be one who is turned away? And then
he says to her, go thy way by the footsteps of the flock. But
he makes sure that she knows that she's the fairest among
women. He'll give direction. It's a
voice that calls again and again in Song of Solomon. It's a voice
that says, rise up my love. my fair one, and come away, 2
verse 10. He's continually calling her
to rise up, to know who you are, my beautiful one, and come away. As I just said earlier in chapter
5, it's a voice that knocks. But in 5 verse 6, It's a voice
that moves her heart. Even in the midst of her disobedience,
it moved her heart. My soul failed when he spoke. It's a word that reveals. And
when he would not answer, she was left not doing nothing. But searching and seeking, when
He speaks, we have heard His voice and it is precious to us. The one thing that she wants,
isn't it, is to be back with Him and to hear Him speak again
to her. What words our God speaks to
us in His book? I trust you have your favourite
ones. I trust you have your ones that you go back to again and
again. And you find in this book these words that are so powerful
and so true. These words that are signed and
sealed by the blood of God, the Son. Signed. What does he say? Listen to these
promises. They're well known and we need
to just read them again and again. We know, we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
Thee called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called,
them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified. What shall we say? This is what
He has done. This is what He says. This is what He promises. What shall we say then? to these
things. If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect?" Is there any accusation God will hear
against one of his children? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather is risen again, who is even at
the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Listen
to this. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Who, what, shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation We're all in tribulation of one
sort or another. Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, in all these things. We
are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded,
I hope brothers and sisters you are persuaded by God's word,
I am 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 creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. They are God's words, aren't
they? They are the words of a husband to his bride. They are sweet. They are most sweet. May God make them sweet to us. The very next words in the beginning
of chapter 9 in Romans are, I say the truth in Christ. We have God's truth. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, but we thank you
most especially.