It has been my practice for the
last good many years in the week preceding our conference
to bring at least one or two messages in preparation for the
conference as we anticipate God's blessings upon us next weekend. That's what I want to do this
morning and again this evening. There is a text of scripture
that the Lord, I believe, impressed upon my heart early in the year. I have attached it to almost
every piece of correspondence I've written both by hand or
by email this past several months, past eight months. And it is
a prayer, a burden in my heart. It is what I desire. that God
will be pleased to accomplish for us and with us in our midst
and as a result of the conference that we will have the privilege
of participating in the next weekend. You'll find my text
in Psalm 28 verse 9. My subject is four choice blessings
sought for God's elect. Four choice blessings. sought
for God's elect. Psalm 28, verse 9. Save thy people and bless thine
inheritance. Feed them also and lift them
up forever. Oh God, will you save your people.
Will you bless your inheritance? Will you feed them? Will you
lift them up forever? Lord God, this day, this hour,
will you save your people? Will you bless your inheritance? Will you feed them? Will you
lift them up forever? All right, now let's go back
to the beginning of the psalm and work our way down to our
text. The Psalm begins with a cry. It appears to be a cry of one
in great distress. Here is David, the man after
God's own heart, crying to the Lord Jehovah to help him, to
help him. You often think to yourself,
we shouldn't think like this, but we do. Is it proper to say
this to God in prayer? Is it proper to say that? Is
it proper to express this desire or that desire? It is proper
children of God always to speak honestly with God. If you're
in trouble, let God know you're in trouble. If your heart's heavy,
let God know your heart's heavy. So he knows it always, but he
delights for you to hear it and for you to say it and acknowledge
it before him and thus acknowledging your need before him. As David
speaks in this psalm, throughout this psalm and the other psalms,
always read them with an eye to the Lord Jesus Christ. David
throughout the Old Testament, as well as in the new is held
before us as a great imminent type and picture of our Lord
Jesus Christ. David in this Psalm, the anointed
king of Israel was apparently undergoing one of the times of
trial when Saul, the king sought David's life. David was prepared
to wait until God removed Saul. He would do nothing to take Saul
off the throne. But while he was waiting and
being patient as Saul's most faithful servant, Saul persecuted
him and would have slain him at any moment could have done
so. And David, as he flees for his
life and seeks to protect his life, cries out to God for help
in this song. Not only does David cry out in
the psalm, but I can hear our Lord Jesus, that one who in the
days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save
him from death and was heard in that he feared. It does my
heart good to know that God, my Savior, in human flesh. Jesus Christ, our mediator, he
who intercedes on our behalf in glory, he who is our mediator,
our advocate on high, who carries our burdens in his heart and
our names in his heart, cried to God with strong crying and
tears. You know what those words are?
Of course you do. You're so wracked with heaviness,
with strain on your very heart and soul, that you can hardly
express in words the deep distress you're in, strong crying and
tears. And he was heard in that he feared. He feared God. Perhaps it's referring
to that, his reverence and worship of God. He feared as a man the
things before him. I'm certain it refers to that.
Our Lord Jesus was a real man and he experienced all that you
and I experienced on this earth. All right, now let's begin in
verse one. Unto thee will I cry, O Lord, my rock. Be not silent to me, lest if
thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the
pit. Hear the voice of my supplications. When I cry unto thee, when I
lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle, draw me not away with
the wicked and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace
to their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts. Unto thee
will I cry, O Lord, my wrong. A cry is the expression of great
sorrow, grief, or pain. Here's a child of God, a believer
in desperate need, the need of one who's in fear. Some great
trial is upon God's servant. Some trouble shook him. Something
alarmed him, and he cries to the Lord, Oh, Lord, my rock. You remember? Habakkuk chapter
2 when Habakkuk deals with the Trials and difficulties facing
God's people. He cries almighty God and the
word is Oh mighty rock Moses said their rock their refuge
is not as our rock Their God is not as our God. I cry unto
thee. Oh Lord my rock the rock on which
I rest, the rock on which I'm built, the rock of refuge for
my soul. The Lord Jehovah is our rock
of salvation, the rock strong and mighty, the strong tower
unto whose name the righteous flee and are safe. Be not silent
to me. The psalmist begs the Lord God
not to turn a deaf ear to him. Lord, let me know that you hear
me. Let me know that you hear me. How often we cry to God. And it. Seems that God just doesn't
hear. And David is here crying, Lord,
I ask that you let me know that you hear me. I love what John
Trapp said concerning this request. He said, if God seemed to be
deaf to us, we must cry the louder, that is the more earnest thing,
that having prepared our hearts by such seeming silence, he may
cause his ears to hear. Why does the Lord appear to be
silent so that we may cry the more? Why does he appear to be
silent so that we may cling to him the more? Why does he appear
to be silent that we may pray to him the more? The Lord says
knock and it's not just, well, I've asked the Lord and that's
over with. No, no, it's knock. And knock, and knock, and knock,
and knock. Seek, and seek, and seek, and
seek. Ask, and ask, and ask, and ask. And it shall be given you. Next,
David urges his prayer with a very strong plea. Lord, don't be silent
to me, lest if thou be silent to me, I become like them that
go down to the pit. Perhaps he's referring to the
grave. the pit of death. Perhaps he's referring to hell,
the pit of the damned. Whatever it is, David's saying,
Lord, don't let me be like those who are abandoned of you. Look
at verse two. Hear the voice of my supplications
when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle. Now here, David continues to
press his suit at the throne of grace. The phrase, when I
lift up my hands, you will find it frequently used, particularly
in the Old Testament, as a representation of earnest prayer. It doesn't
suggest that we ought to pray as you see the Charismatics and
Pentecostals in their song services and prayer services, you know,
like this. No, no, it's not suggesting that
at all. the stretching out of the hands
toward God's temple, toward God's holy oracle, toward Jerusalem. You'll remember if my people
pray and seek my face toward this holy place. Not that we
are to directly go and bow toward Jerusalem physically, not that
we are to stretch out our hands toward heaven itself or even
the heavenly Jerusalem physically. But lifting up of our hands is
the lifting up of our hearts as beggars before God. The lifting
up of our hearts under the Lord God. Matter of fact, this is
what the scripture says. Let us lift up our heart with
our hands under God in the heavens. Let my prayer be set forth before
thee as incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening
sacrifice. Notice David prayed. lifting
his hands, lifting his heart toward God's holy oracle. That refers to the holy of holies,
the place of sacrifice, where the Ark of the Covenant was,
where the mercy seat was, that place into which Aaron, the high
priest, went once a year with the blood of the Paschal Lamb
to make atonement for the children of Israel. Turn back to Exodus
chapter 22. I'm sorry, chapter 25 in verse
22. Exodus 25. And verse 22, you'll see the
importance of this symbolically, symbolically. Now, please always
remember these Old Testament pictures were symbolical. It's called the Holy of Holies
because of the thing it represented, not because it was some kind
of especially holy place physically. There are no physical holy places. I just told Shelby one day this
week, I get so sick of myself. I'll talk about going to the
church over there. This building is not the church.
It's not the church. This is just a building. That's
all it is. The church is God's people, not
this building. We don't have any holy places. This place is dedicated for holy
purposes, the preaching of the gospel and the worship of God.
But we don't have holy places. We folks talk about going to
the Holy Land. My soul, if that land over there
is holy, give me none of it. There's nothing but war and strife
over yonder. That's not holy land. No, no. It portrays that which is our
holy inheritance in Christ Jesus, or it did in the Old Testament.
Now, so it is with the Ark of the Covenant. Some years ago,
I was listening to a fellow preach one time, and I couldn't believe
it. I just, I couldn't believe it. I was listening to him preaching
my pulpit. I couldn't believe it. The man
believed the gospel of God's grace, and he got to talk about
the Ark of the Covenant. He said, you know what happened
to that Ark of the Covenant? Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the
Lost Ark was better. He said that Ark was raptured
to heaven. You don't read anymore about
it in the Old Testament after Nebuchadnezzar, and here it is
pictured over in the Book of Revelation. Man, that Ark of
Revelation ain't the same Ark. He's the one the Ark pictured. If I could get hold of the original
Ark, I'd burn it. Well, no, I'd melt down the gold
and spend that, but I'd burn the rest of it. I'm not joking. Those things are, it's obnoxious,
it's idolatrous to make something holy out of something physical.
But look what the Ark represented. Exodus 25, verse 22. There will
I meet with thee, And I will commune with thee
from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims, which
are upon the ark of the testimony of all things, that I will give
thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. God says,
now here on this mercy seat, that lid that covered the ark,
that's where I'm going to meet you. That lid where the blood
was sprinkled every day of atonement once a year. The blood that covered
the broken law, the blood that covered the rod that sprang forth
to life, the blood that symbolizes everything, both the death and
condemnation of God's elect in a substitute and life springing
up from that substitute. That ark is Christ our Lord. And that mercy seat is Christ
our Redeemer. As a matter of fact, the word
propitiation in the New Testament, Bob, that's the word mercy seat.
And he is the propitiation. He's the mercy seat for our sins. The ark, then, and the mercy
seat represents Christ Jesus. And so David says, I lift up
my heart toward Christ, my Redeemer, our sin-atoning sacrifice, our
ark of salvation, the mercy seat. All right, now, look at this
call to judgment in verses four and five. Verses four and five,
David prayed for the Lord God to keep him from being led away
with the wicked and perishing with the hypocrites. Those who
speak peace to their neighbors, but they're lying. They're deceiving.
And then in verses four and five, he deals with those hypocrites
here. He seeks God's just judgment. He seeks God's just judgment
upon the ungodly. upon the reprobate, upon the
wicked. Now it's obvious that David here
represents our Lord Jesus, our divine mediator. These next two
verses, calling for God's wrath to fall upon the wicked. You
think, well, what a horrible thing to do. What a horrible
thing to do. Call for God to send men to hell?
Not if you're God's son. And not if you're speaking for
God. and not if you're speaking as
one who seeks the honor of God. Now, if you're calling for God's
wrath to come on somebody because you want to get even with them,
that's another story. You're calling for God's judgment
to fall on somebody because you want some revenge, that's another
story. I recall back years ago, When
I had cancer, this was a long time ago, some fellows in West
Virginia had been getting together praying that God's judgment would
fall on me. And they were dead sure it had
happened. I mean, they were dead sure it had happened. And while
I was in the middle of taking treatments, Pastor Dan Parks,
brother E.W. Parks, asked me to preach in
a Bible conference. And there's a whole slew of those
fellows present. And I got done preaching. And
the ringleader, as I was walking out, I heard and somebody else
heard his wife say, I heard he couldn't talk anymore. That's what he's wanting. Now,
that's horrible. That's horrible. You don't seek
revenge. You don't seek vengeance for
yourself. That's a horrible evil. But here David speaks as a representative
man. He speaks as God's anointed king,
and he speaks of that which is God's purpose. That which is
God's purpose. They were ordained to this condemnation.
Read it in Jude verse 4. That's God's purpose. They were
ordained to this thing. They stumble over the stumbling
stone and fall into hell. Read it in 1 Peter chapter 2.
This is God's purpose. So he speaks here as a representative
man, as a public man anointed as king over God's Israel. He
speaks not only as a representative man, but he speaks of the wicked,
not as his enemies, but as God's enemies. And he's speaking typically
prophetically, portraying the Lord Jesus, God's anointed one,
seeking not revenge for himself, but the honor of God, asking
that God will deal with the wicked in strict justice, just as he
deals with the righteous in strict justice. that he deal with the
wicked exactly according to law just as he does with the righteous
exactly according to law look at verse four give them give
them what does it say according to your eternal decree that's
not what it says that's not what it says that is his eternal decree
that is his eternal decree but that's not what it says It says,
give them according to their deeds. You see, judgment, that
which is called God's strange work, is always presented in
Scripture as a matter of just retribution. In other words,
if you go to hell, you'll go to hell because you have fought
against God all your life. You'll go to hell because you've
heard and despised the word of truth. You'll go to hell because
you've mocked God to his face all your life, and you leave
this world mocking God. Give them according to their
deeds. Say, well, if God's predestined everything, it's his fault. You
take that up with God on a day of judgment if you dare. If you
dare. According to their wickedness,
the wickedness of their endeavors, the wickedness of their endeavors,
the very plowing of the wicked. What is it, Merle? It's an abomination
to God. Everything God's enemy does,
everything you who hate God, everything you do is wickedness. The breath you take is wickedness. And that which you do with deliberate
effort against God is even more wicked. Read on. Give them after
the work of their hands. Render to them their desert,
what they deserve. Because, because, that's an important
word. Because they regard not the works
of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy
them. and not build them up. Here the
Holy Spirit specifically tells us why reprobate sinners are
judged of God and condemned. It is because, do you see that? It is because you regard not
the works of the Lord. It is because you regard not
the operation of God's hands. Now let me spend a minute here.
I want you to understand what this book teaches. I want you
to hear God speak to you. If you go to hell, it'll be because
you regard not God's works. It will be because you regard
not the works of his hands. That is to say, because you ignore
God, you go to hell. They regard not God's work of
creation as if there were no first calls of all things, whereas
the Lord God, we're told, is he who created all things for
his pleasure. They are and were created. They
regard not God's work of providence They take no notice either of
the judgments of God or of the mercies of God. It's as if they
think that God, if he did create the heavens and the earth, forsook
it all and he does nothing, neither good nor evil. He acts in no
way in providence. The wicked do. You wicked ones
speak about God's judgments. Oh, that hurricane, well, that's... How do you explain something
like that? That's called judgment. It's called judgment. It's called
judgment. See the sunshine out there? Beautiful
day. Man, we had a beautiful week.
Air's been easy to breathe, not too much humidity. Heat's been
down a little bit. What's that called? It's called
mercy. It's called mercy. And God did both. We live in
this land where we have, as no nation on earth has peace. Everywhere
else in the world, there's constant war. What is that? The war is judgment. The peace
is mercy. It's mercy. The judgment, picturing
judgment to come. That which is sure to land your
soul in hell forever. The mercy is a picture of God's
goodness and mercy and gives you space for repentance. How
can you say that? Well, let's see what God says.
I formed the light and create darkness. I make peace and create
evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
They regard not God's work of creation, his work of providence,
and they regard not God's work of redemption. They trample underfoot
the blood of the Son of God and count the blood of the covenant
to be a common thing, an unholy thing, and do despite to the
Spirit of grace. You see, men dare to presume. I dare say some of you sitting
here, you've been sitting under the sound of the gospel all your
life, some of you, and you still think, well, one of these days,
I'll start serving the Lord. One of these days, I'll get right
with God. One of these days, I know assured
I'll make up to God. As if you can. As if you can. You see, you've
been infiltrated in your mind with the Arminian delusion with
which all men are born that somehow Christ's blood is up to you to
make a fact sure. And somehow Christ's Spirit only
says if you give him permission. Somehow God's grace is only that
which hinges on your will. Oh no. Oh no. You better pay
attention to this preacher. Jerry Sadler, if you and Don
Fortner say it's because God intervenes, not because we intervene
with God. It's because the blood of Christ
has been sprinkled on our hearts by the operation of His Spirit.
Not because we have taken hold of God for ourselves, but He's
taken hold of us, causing us to take hold of Him. It's not
because of our will, but His will. And if God leaves you alone,
if God leaves you to yourself, if God Almighty doesn't intervene
for you, oh, eternal woe, eternal woe is your just dessert. because you regard not the works
of the Lord, nor the operations of his hand, the sweet, gracious
operations of his spirit. Because of their contempt for
God and his mighty works of redemption and grace, the wicked are destroyed
forever. And this is all exactly according
to God's purpose. It's always a matter of justice.
And it's exactly according to God's purpose. Turn to Psalm
92. Psalm 92. I'll show you. Verse 5. O Lord, how great are thy works. That's what David's been talking
about back in our text, isn't it? They regard not the works of
the Lord. How great are thy works, and
thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not. A brutish man. Oscar, you deal
with brutes all the time, don't you? You got cattle down there,
they're just beasts. That's all they are. Beasts. What do they regard? Food and
water, and that's about it. That's about it. Anybody that
gives them food and water, they'll follow. There's a dog came up
here yesterday. Will's out playing in the front
yard. There's somebody's dog. I don't
know whose dog it was. I think I've seen it before. I don't
know whose dog it was. But Will reached out and pet the dog.
I'm probably going to have to beat the dog, run it off from
here. All you got to do is just scratch his nose a little bit,
give him a little something to drink. There he is. Oh, he's a boot. That's the way with the wick. Their God is their belly, just
brutes. A brutish man knoweth not. Neither doth the fool understand
this. Oh, now I understand why he calls him a brutish man, a
fool, a fool. When the wicked spring as the
grass, the wicked grow up like the grass out here in the field.
When all the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is for this purpose. that they shall be destroyed
forever. You did read that in the book
of God, didn't you? That's not my doctrine. That's
not Calvin's doctrine. That's not Gil's doctrine. That's
what God says right here in his word. It is that they may be
destroyed forever. David said, when I was envious
at the prosperity of the wicked, he said, I was as a beast before
you. He said, Lord, I was thinking like these brute fools. I envy
the man who prospered in this world. Why would you envy an
ox stalled up and fed with grain every day, fattened up like no,
like no calf out in the field anywhere, fattened up every day,
knowing that he's just being fattened to slaughter him. Why
would you envy him? That's what God says he's done
with the wicked. He set the world in their heart
that they might not find God. I don't know that I've ever said
this publicly. Don't know if I've ever even
said it to Doug in faith. Those two children sitting right there.
Since before they entered this world, I've been praying and
praying every day, God, Please don't set the world in their
hearts. Don't set the world in their
hearts. If he does, you're gone. Set the world in their hearts
that they might not find God. But rather hedge them about and
make yourself know. All right, look at verses six,
seven and eight. Here, the psalmist bows before the Lord God describes
all praise Honor glory to the God of all grace for his great
mercy grace and love for his free full salvation in Christ
Because God's not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation
by Jesus Christ Blessed be the Lord because he hath heard the
voice of my supplication Remember remember I began Bob. Well, don't
don't be silent to me. I And now, bless the Lord, he's
heard the voice of my supplication. The Lord is my strength and my
shield. My heart trusted in him and I'm
helped. Therefore, my heart greatly rejoiceth. With my song will I praise him. The Lord is their strength and
he is the saving strength of his anointed. While he was praying, the Lord
God answered his prayer and made David to know he answered his
prayer. Listen to this. And it shall come to pass that
before they call, I will answer. And while they're yet speaking,
I will hear. While they're still crying, Lord,
don't be silent, I'll not be silent. While they're still begging,
Lord, help me, I'll help. The Lord is my strength. He upholds me. He sustains me. He's the strength of my life,
the strength of my soul. He's my strength in all my troubles,
distresses, and trials. And he will be my strength in
the hour that I leave this world. He's my shield round about me
to protect me. The triune God with grace and
mercy is my shield. The Lord Jesus is my shield,
his blood and his righteousness my shield. My heart trusted in
him. Not in myself. Not in my own
works, not in my conscience, not in my feelings, not in my
heart. My heart trust in the Lord, my
God, my savior, my redeemer. Now watch this. And I am helped. Trust him and you are helped
you trust him because he's helped you and Your trust of him fetches
his help to you therefore my heart greatly rejoices Oh Rejoice
in the Lord always again. I say rejoice let your moderation
be known to all being the Lord's at hand and with my song will
I praise him because the Lord is their strength and He's not
just my strength, he's your strength too, if you trust him. He's not
just my strength, he's the strength of all his people. And he is
the saving strength of his anointed. David is fleeing from Saul, but
David's the Lord's anointed. And David says, Lord, you're
my strength, my saving strength. You'll deliver me from this because
you've anointed me to be king. The Lord Jesus Christ is God's
anointed. His name Christ means anointed
one. And he, as he walked through
this earth as our representative in all his troubles, he said,
he is near that justifies me. He is the saving strength of
his anointed. And you and I who believe God
are God's anointed ones. You have an unction from the
Holy One, anointed of God. And he is the saving strength
that is anointed. That means whatever it is that
you face, whatever your trial, whatever your adversity, whoever
your adversary is, he is your saving strength in all things. I read last night about a preacher
in England who lived a long, long time ago. His name was John
Rees. And another preacher visiting him just as he was about to die,
asked him about his confidence in that hour. I don't know anything
about the background. Perhaps the other preacher himself
was a little shaky in his faith. Perhaps he thought Mr. Reeves was shaky in his faith.
Perhaps the other preacher was not a gospel preacher. I don't
have any idea. But he asked him about his confidence just as
he was dying. And the question so roused up
John Rhys that he managed to muster enough strength to raise
himself in his bed and look the man right in the face. And this
is what he said. Christ in his person. Christ
in the love of his heart and Christ in the power of his arm
is the rock on which I rest and now. As he laid back on his pillow,
he said, death strike and went to glory. He is the saving strength of
his anointed. Now, let's look at our text.
Here in verse nine, here are four choice blessings of grace
to be sought for God's elect. These four great boons of mercy
are the things that are on my heart in anticipation of our
conference. Oh, God, will you be pleased to use the preaching
of the gospel as it goes forth from this pulpit to perform these
great wonders here and around the world for the praise of the
glory of your grace? Watch how the psalm closes. Save
thy people. Save thy people. Well, Brother
Don, why should we pray for that? You know God's going to save
all his people. That's the reason we should pray for it. Why would
you pray for what you know he's not going to do? Why would you
ask God to do what you know is contrary to his purpose? Well,
we won't see everybody say, no, no. No, that's not so. That's not so. We want God to
save all his elect. We seek the salvation of God's
sheep, all of God's sheep. And we pray that God will save
his people. the people he gave to his son
before the world began. His people are those for whom
Christ died. We're praying that God will now,
by the effectual, omnipotent power and grace of his spirit,
save his people. In this place, you won't ever
find, not as long as this pastor is
here, and I hope as long as this building stands and these people
are here, you will never find us begging sinners to do something. There won't be any altar calls.
Our altar's in glory. We don't have one down here.
There won't be any press put on folks. Raise your hand now
if you want to be saved. They're trying to massage your brain
psychologically and talk you into a profession of faith. This
preacher is not going to chase ambulances and try to get you
to make a profession of faith when you're in the hospital.
I'm not going to do it. You call somebody else. Don't
call me. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. I'm
concerned about your soul, Skip. I'm not concerned about anything
else with regard to you, just your soul. That's all. I'm concerned
about the souls of these young people, the men and women to
whom we minister. Their souls. I want you to know God. I'm not
interested in getting you in the church, getting you on the
roll, getting you having another number added to the church rolls.
No, sir. What do you do? I don't beg you to do anything.
I beg God to do something for you. I beg God to do something
for you. Lord, save your people. Bless thine inheritance. The Lord God declares that Jacob
is his portion. Rex Bartley. You are God's inheritance. Can you show that? God's inheritance. God's heritage in all the earth. This is what God has gathered
for himself and is gathering for himself out of all creation. You. You are his. God's inheritance. God bless
your inheritance. Bless your inheritance with the
knowledge of yourself, with the knowledge Christ our Redeemer.
Bless your inheritance in the sweet experience of your grace.
And make me a blessing to your inheritance. Bless your inheritance
for Christ's sake. Feed them also. Feed them. Feed them with your word. Feed them with knowledge and
understanding. Feed them by the effectual power
of your spirit. Feed them by the gospel of your
grace. Feed them. Feed them. Well, Tom Harding
had an article a few weeks ago in his bulletin on this very
text, and he said, what does sheep need? They need sheep food. and Christ crucified is the food
for God's sheep. Feed them, feed them. Oh God,
open your word and show Christ to us and cause us to feed on
him who is the bread of life. This word feed has the idea of
shepherding. Remember when the Lord told Peter,
he said, feed my sheep, shepherd my sheep, shepherd my flock.
Here, this man who is himself one of God's shepherds, This
man who is himself one of God's appointed pastors in Zion. This
man who is himself a keeper of sheep. He says, Lord, you be
the shepherd. You be the shepherd. Oh, God, will you in this place
be the shepherd of these sheep? You be the shepherd. I'm responsible
as your pastor. That word, Pastor Bobby, means
shepherd. That's the word. I'm responsible to shepherd your
soul. But I can't. I can't. Except the good shepherd
speak through me by his word to shepherd you. The shepherd
guides the sheep. The shepherd protects the sheep. The shepherd carries the sheep
in his arms. The shepherd protects the sheep. The shepherd feeds the sheep.
The shepherd brings the sheep home. Lord, feed them and lift
them up. Lift them up by your grace. Lift
them up from death. by the regenerating power of
your spirit. Lift them up from the death and lethargy to which
we are so horribly prone in this body of flesh by the reviving
of your grace. Lift them up. Lift them up. Lift
up their souls. Lift up their hearts. Lift up
their spirits. Revive your people, O Lord. And
lift them up forever. Lift them up forever. Come, Lord Jesus, and lift us
to glory. Lift us up in that great resurrection
when we shall see you as you are, and seeing you as you are,
be made like you in body, soul, and spirit. Lift them up forever. Amen.