God be merciful to me a sinner (Quality: Good)

[0:00] And depending upon the help of the Lord, dear friends, I invite your prayerful attention to Luke chapter 18, and in particular the last few words in the 13th verse, verse 13 of chapter 18 of Luke's gospel.

[0:23] God be merciful to me, a sinner. These words have been much on my mind.

[0:37] In the night watches, in past days, God be merciful to me, a sinner, the pair of the publican.

[0:48] And I'm so glad, my dear friends, that these words are left on record. I'm so glad because when our hearts and our consciences smite us, and we know the truth that we're sinners, and we know that we're sinners because the Holy Spirit is shone in the darkness of our dark, benighted minds, and we realize that we cannot stand before a holy, holy, holy God, unless we have one to stand between, unless we have a mediator.

[1:32] Oh, dear friends, these words were so poignant, I believe, because, you see, the Saviour makes a point here, especially.

[1:45] I don't wish, and I don't think it's needful or appropriate for me to dwell long on the subject of the Pharisee. There are one or two points I should, to be faithful, mention.

[1:59] The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. Well, that's as far as his prayer went, and that was as deep as it was. And it was a passing self-righteousness which could be eroded immediately.

[2:17] It was something which was all of I. You see, my dear friends, a true religion is not of I. It's not of self.

[2:28] It's not something we can engineer or propagate in our own back garden. I speak reverently. You know, a real religion is the gift of God.

[2:42] And, my dear friends, it's a painful business to know the depth of our sin. Now, you might, this evening, be feeling very conscious of your sin.

[2:55] The people of God do. And, though they perhaps have had good hope that they've obtained mercy, and yet still they come to the house of God with a, show me some token, Lord, for good, a token of thy special love.

[3:12] They don't come just as the door on its hinges, although, in a backsliding condition, that can go on and does go on. Sadly, amongst the people of God, sometimes they've lost their first love.

[3:27] You read that solemn word, it came very solemnly to me once, because it was a text on my birthday. And I have somewhat against thee, we read in Revelation, why?

[3:38] It has left thy first love. Yet, my dear friends, the Lord, for those whom he died, he will not let them, leave them altogether.

[3:51] He draws them. And if they don't come by drawing, he drives them, as my old pastor used to say. At the beginning of the year, I heard a sermon preached, and it was regarding Enoch.

[4:08] And Enoch walked with God. It was a very profitable time for my soul. And I thought, what a wonderful testimony the Lord gave of Enoch.

[4:22] We have other examples, Job, for instance, and so on, just to put your mind in the thought mode that I'm in. What a wonderful thing it is for a man to be said, or a woman, to walk with God.

[4:40] My dear friends, it seems to me, those that have a true desire to walk with God, and they come in with the hymn writer, and I marked it in my book, because I was thinking of it just before I left.

[4:56] You know, it's a wonderful hymn, isn't it? This desire, oh, for a closer walk with God, a calm, a heavenly frame. It's not what we are subject to by nature, is it?

[5:10] But if you have that desire, is that a prayer which bubbles up in your heart from time to time? Sometimes when you feel far off, and Satan assists your conscience well in reminding you of your sin, he delights to do that, and then you want this, you want to come to God again, you want to renew a closer walk with God, and you feel at times that your sin is separated between your God and yourself, and you don't like it.

[5:51] It's not a pleasant experience if you're a quicken soul. You want to know something of the sweetness of his love upon your spirit. you want to know a little sweet communion with him.

[6:03] Dear friends, how often have you come in to perhaps a prayer meeting in the evening of the week, and you've been churned up with many different things, and you've heard a brother speak in prayer, and how it's gone to your heart, and how you've felt that flowing together, and that unity, closeness in desire, and wanting that closeness with God.

[6:32] Yes, oh for a closer walk with God, a calm, a heavenly frame, a light to shine upon the road that leads me to the Lamb.

[6:42] Now the next verse you see is where these who find themselves in this prayer, God be merciful to me, a sinner, they come here pretty often.

[6:53] Where is the blessing as I knew when first I saw the Lord? Where's he gone? Satan, the old robber and spoiler has been about, hasn't he?

[7:04] He's come, and he's robbed, and he's spoiled, he's took the sweetness away. My old pastor used to say, Mr. Herbert Dawson, he used to say, he comes and takes the sweetness away, but he can't take the memory away.

[7:17] And do you know, I've found much comfort in that truth over the years. I remember when I was so ill in hospital, all the sweetness, the peace, I had, the sacred joy I had.

[7:33] I haven't got that sweetness now. The sweetness is gone, but I've still got the memory of it. It's a way mark, it's a way mark, but I trust to be with me for the remainder of my days.

[7:45] But all the sweetness is to be experienced. Someone else said to me, I've been ill some time, and I asked the person who the person was, and they said, I wish I still had the sweetness I had when I was in the depth of it.

[8:01] Ah, yes, but you've still got the memory of it. My dear friends, where is the blessing as I knew when first I saw the Lord? Where is the soul refreshing view? What was it of?

[8:12] Of Jesus. Jesus, crucified Saviour. Sweet the moments, rich in blessing, rich before the cross I spent.

[8:23] What's the effect on your soul? Life, and health, and peace possessing? Yes. That's by faith. Faith is the gift of God.

[8:34] We needed to daily pray for faith renewing, and faith, what peaceful hours I then enjoyed. How sweet their memory still.

[8:45] That rather confirms what I said, doesn't it? Because I hadn't thought of it in that way. But now I find an aching void the world can never fill. What does that aching void bring you to?

[8:56] This. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And my dear friends, I believe this, that when the Lord draws a poor sinner closer to him, he'll often be in trouble of some sort, in affliction, in deep waters, and that's the means he uses to draw them close to him through the journey of life.

[9:23] And some of you I know very well can look back and remember at some of your deepest troubles and bereavement and affliction.

[9:35] And there are the times when the Lord's been nearest to your soul. And it seems to me, my friends, as I look round amongst Christian brethren, there seems so many that have got some trouble.

[9:47] Why is it? Well, I wonder. As I look around this wicked world and I see the evils rampant which Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed for, I wonder if the Lord's not weaning his children for the day is nigh at hand.

[10:04] We don't know. No man knows the times. But we see the times and you read in that, I don't want to get on to that really but I can't help it. It's come. There is that 24th chapter of Matthew's Gospel and you see the things which the Saviour himself told his disciples and look around the world and see how they all fit.

[10:26] Prepare me, gracious God, to stand before thy face. Thy spirit must the work perform. It's all of grace. We're thankful for that, aren't we? It's all of grace. It's all of his spirit.

[10:38] Yes. Yes, how sweet their memory is still but now I find an aching void the world can never fill. There was a time, wasn't there, in our youth, perhaps, when we thought if we did this, achieve that and did something else there would be some satisfaction in it.

[10:55] Well, there is a satisfaction in a good job well done and so on but it's very limited, isn't it? It's, it's a, there's something which is nothing more than mental in its appreciation.

[11:09] It won't do anything for your soul, will it? It does nothing for the good of a soul. No. But now this prayer, God be merciful to me, a sinner.

[11:21] The hymn writer says, return, oh holy dove, return. Ah, what a blessed experience that is when you can really, truly, a call, as it were, to the Holy Spirit from the bottom of your heart, return, oh holy dove, return.

[11:37] Yes, sweet messenger at rest, I hate the sins that made thee mourn and drove thee from my breast. Yeah, God be merciful to me, a sinner, you see.

[11:50] You see, this is not a new theory I have to bring before you tonight, my dear friends. This is something the children of God over the generations, over the ages, through scripture, record, through the record of the saints, down through the ages, witness to these truths that they are sinners.

[12:13] And there is that hope and pardon for sinners. Now, you see, there is hope in air text in a great measure, isn't there? When we look at it, let us just continue for a minute, the publican standing afar off would not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven.

[12:36] Now, I was thinking about this, standing afar off, and it came to my mind like this. A few of the record we have in scripture of the crucifixion.

[12:51] We read in the women stood afar off, don't we? Words to that effect. They stood afar and they viewed Calvary, the saviour there.

[13:04] You know, that's the most we can expect to do in this life. It's the most we can expect to do. But I believe, as enabled, it's a very profitable thing to do for your soul and for mine as we view the scene at Calvary.

[13:25] Oh, for a closer walk with God. Oh, for a closer walk with God. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. You know, that closeness, the Lord uses our sin to draw us to him.

[13:39] Now, that sounds odd, doesn't it? Because sin separates us from God. I'm not contradicting myself there. What I am saying to you is that the conviction of sin of the Holy Spirit makes you flee to him out of absolute necessity.

[13:56] In this prayer, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And, of course, the other aspect of it is, I often find, that Satan, he puts his hand to something, doesn't he?

[14:11] What's Satan's desire but to separate the soul from God to discomfort the soul as much as possible, and the various inventive things he will bring into the lives of the dear Lord's people to harass and deject and dismay them.

[14:30] We often used to think in business, you know, I think he worked hard all the weekend to bring as many aggravations as possible on a Monday morning, to try to rob and spoil as soon as possible the things that you might have gleaned in the house of God in a day's rest, in a Sabbath day's rest of your soul, and you come and try and rob you of it.

[14:52] But what does he do? You see, he's so slow learning, isn't he? And I'm not saying we should ever underestimate the power of Satan, because it took the power of Almighty God and the precious blood of the Lamb to overcome Satan's power, but you know, he always is overturned in the end, because he comes to you and he tells you you're weak and your hope is in vain and the good that you seek you now shall obtain.

[15:23] He knows that verse very well, doesn't he? What does he do? He does exactly what he didn't intend to do, and that's to make you come and say, God be merciful to me, a sinner.

[15:34] That wasn't what he wanted to do. He wanted to deject you and dismay you, but you see, the Lord turns it around, and so, what a gracious, kind, wise God the people of God have.

[15:51] Now is he your God? It's good to know that Jesus is the friend of sinners, that Jesus has pardoned sin.

[16:04] Want to know? Has he pardoned my sin? I often say to my people the my's, the us's, the our's, the we's in scripture. Oh, that we might not be left outside of them, but to be one with them, be in them.

[16:22] I often think of the apostle Paul with his ambition. Saul of Tarsus was a Pharisee and a Pharisee, oh, he knew the law, he was a lawyer inside out, he could have a wonderful career had he gone the way he started.

[16:38] What knowledge he had, naturally speaking, very clever man. Yeah, but the God had had a purpose for him, that that knowledge would be used to his own honour and glory.

[16:49] He puts his hand on him by the Damascus road, strikes him down, what does he say? No, what will thou have me to do?

[17:02] When we're brought there, my dear friends, then the Lord begins to use one and another in the way. All the time we think we know best, and we want our way, the rebellious live in a dry land, it says, doesn't it?

[17:19] I think that's the right wording, forgive me if it's not, but that's what it means. I find, dear friends, in the pathway myself, that I need to pray more and more for submission to God's will.

[17:38] There's still that old eye in here, isn't there? He's got to be brought down, and all that which comes into our lives, I believe, is to make us sick of self and fond of him.

[17:54] Now, this publican standing afar off, he would not so much as lift up his eyes. No, he was not one who felt that he could be at the top of everything, at the front of everything, and he had nothing to boast of, because his conscience had been smiting him.

[18:11] Ah, but what did he know? He knew more than the publican, more than the Pharisee by a lot. Smote upon his breast saying, God, he knew God.

[18:25] He knew that there was a God, and he was a reality to him, whereas he was a figment of the other one's mind and imagination. The publican had a knowledge.

[18:39] God, be merciful. He knew that God was merciful. my dear friends, what a good thing it is, there's a merciful God to go to.

[18:55] I love that hymn, Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song, the joy of my heart, and the boast of my tongue. Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last, has won my affection, and ban my soul fast.

[19:15] Thy mercy in Jesus exempts me from hell. Mercy, my dear friends. My dear friends, where would we be without mercy?

[19:28] And what is mercy? Well, mercy is undeserved, isn't it? Dear friend and brother in the ministry, he used to work with me in the office, we were speaking one day on better things for a few minutes, and he told me the story about the lady who had got a son who was in the army near, I think it was near Aldershot, and this son was a bit of a rebel and he got in trouble with his CO, and he was due on a certain date to come up before the CO for reprimand or punishment to be administered, and the old lady saw him in the shop, the CO, and said, I say, you will have mercy on my son, won't you?

[20:06] And the CO snapped round at her and said, he doesn't deserve it, and the old lady meekly said, no, she said, it wouldn't be mercy if he did. Think about that. Mercy is undeserved.

[20:19] What a mercy that is in itself, isn't it? Undeserved. We don't deserve mercy, friends, do we? But we have a merciful God, and he says, he, she, that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.

[20:34] Now that's not the word of a prophet, not even the meek Moses, not David the psalmist, it's the words of the Saviour himself, God, man. What a mercy.

[20:48] These things are left on record for us. Another thing, as we realise this mercy, it, as it were, makes us cry the louder.

[21:01] Think of that one who cried after Jesus, and he cried the louder, that thou, son of David, would he say, have mercy on me. We realise the weight of our sin, the conviction of our sin, and their just desserts, which we deserve, for how it makes us cry for mercy, that we come to a merciful God, and so, the publican, he can say, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

[21:30] Yes, he, he knows, he is God, he knows that mercy is at his disposal, and he knows that he's a sinner, an undeserving sinner, but he cries.

[21:45] Now, my friends, do you feel like that? Do you know anything about this experience? I hope you do, because all the Lord's people know something of it. It will be impossible for any who are the true children of God not to realise that they need mercy because they're sinners.

[22:08] You know, it's not comfortable, is it, when the Lord deals with us and convicts us of our sin, and yet, however uncomfortable you might be of feeling your sin tonight, it's nothing but a mercy.

[22:25] It's nothing but a mercy. You remember that, won't you? You say, well, I don't like this mercy in as much it's so uncomfortable. I feel so terribly guilty for my sin.

[22:37] Ah, but if you didn't, you wouldn't seek a saviour. You wouldn't come with God, be merciful to me, a sinner, you see. And so, it's turned to blessing.

[22:48] It's to bring us to him. It's to bring us to walk close with God. It's to keep us from roaming into Bypath Meadow, as we read in Pilgrim's Progress.

[23:04] It keeps us looking unto Jesus. That's a safe place to be, dear friends, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

[23:16] Yes, then, for a closer walk with God, it'll be through God be merciful to me, a sinner. The closeness is kept through the knowledge of our sin and our need to call upon Him and His drawing love.

[23:39] No man cometh unto the Father but by me, the Savior said. True. The drawing of the Holy Spirit. That which you feel in these things, my dear friends, is, as I said before, is not that we inherited from our first fallen father, Adam.

[24:01] No. This is the answer of the prayer to His father of the last Adam. the Comforter has come and the Comforter will be with the living church until the Savior returns in like manner from heaven as was told the men of Galilee as they looked up at the ascension of the Savior ascending.

[24:26] Remembering this, that when the dear Savior ascended, He ascended with His hands raised in blessing to the disciples, not to the church, not to the world, to the church, I take that to me.

[24:40] So the Savior ascended to heaven looking down with His hands lifted up in blessing to the disciples, to the people, to the church.

[24:52] He's going to come in light manner. My dear friends, what a mercy that is when we think about Him. He's going to come in light manner. That's the way He will come, in blessing for the church, but in terror to the unbelieving world.

[25:11] Jesus is a door. His sides are two. Inside, outside, which side are you? which side am I?

[25:25] Oh, that we might win Christ and be found in Him, as the Apostle puts it. He laid all that that He obtained as a Pharisee.

[25:36] Once I counted as dung and dross, why? That He might win Christ, that I might win Christ and be found in Him. When Jesus is our all in all, then we have a good hope we're in a safe place.

[25:54] I well remember some years ago attending a funeral at a church and the old man that was preaching there was one of our ministers. It was because there was a very, very big family involved and some were church people and so the husband had in the church that was the reason.

[26:12] And I thought that I don't think this church had a gospel preached in it like this for ever so many years. but he finished off, I shall never forget it, I see his face now in my mind's eye and his face beamed and he said, you know, Jesus is everything to me.

[26:29] He'd been preaching the gospel, warning the people to flee from the wrath to come and you could see in his face that Jesus was everything to him.

[26:43] The grace of God is shone forth from his face. I well remember perhaps it was the last time Mr. Stanley Darrell preached at Bethesden on our special services there in the summer.

[26:57] He just made a comment in that he knew some, he said, as the older saints of God drew near the journey's end, their faces shone with the love and glory and grace of God.

[27:11] And you know, I sat back in that gallery and I looked at him and thought, yes, I can see what you mean. His face was shining with the glory of God. He'd been preaching Jesus, he'd been preaching of Christ crucified, the hope of sinners lost.

[27:28] Those who cry, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Well, my dear friends, these things are real. Now, the Saviour said, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.

[27:48] You see, here is a mystery, isn't it? The one who felt his sin the greatest also went down to his house justified, not in his own right, as it were, but in the mercy of God, in that view of justification by faith in the finished work of Calvary.

[28:17] That's where it was, and that's where is your comfort, and that's where is your security, my dear friends. we need no other name, no other blood, the precious blood of the Lamb, shed once to end all sacrifices for sin.

[28:44] all those sacrifices which were offered in the Old Testament were all pointing forward to the one sacrifice of pure blood, of rich blood, of the blood of God's Son, the Lamb of God, and he and he alone could purchase the souls of his people because all other men are sinners, and their blood was sinful, and as we have in that hymn, not all the blood of beasts on Jewish altar slain could give a guilty conscience peace or wash away a stain, but Christ, the heavenly Lamb, takes all our sins away, a sacrifice of no name, and rich of blood than they.

[29:38] And Satan will tell you, yes, but what about this sin? What about that sin? Since last, you had a sweet foretaste of his presence. You tell him, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses from all sin, that's what Luther did when he was giving him a walk over, and he said, you take your pen now, and write at the end of that scroll, full up of Luther's black sins, which Satan brought with him, he said, you take your red pen now, Satan, and you write, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses from all sin, he said, Satan's gone.

[30:12] He couldn't bear that. My dear friends, we need no other name, no other blood, no sanctuary, Lord, but there, him right who says, I love that hymn, I want so many hymns I love, but, you know, he's got it right, no other sanctuary, we need no other sanctuary, he speaks of that sanctuary in that hymn, doesn't he?

[30:43] Yes, our sanctuary's complete in him, we're safe in him, once in him, in him forever, thus the eternal covenant, note that, it's true, eternal covenant, it's not a temporary one, it's not like politicians make arrangements or anybody else and it's all gone to the wind for the ink's dry, this is eternal, this is eternal because it's a covenant made in eternity past, it's a covenant made between Father, Son and Holy Spirit, it's a covenant made for each of the three to perform a part of the work of the salvation of the souls, the electing love of the Father, elected a number and gave to the Son, the gift, my friends, the souls of the people of God are safe because they've been given to the Son by the Father in electing love, they're doubly saved because they've been purchased, and I speak very reverently by the precious blood of Christ shed in purchasing them with his own heart's blood and so the

[31:59] Saviour has a double ownership on the souls of every one the Father has given him and all, not some, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, they shall all come and say, God be merciful to me a sinner.

[32:18] that's what they've come to say, and mean it, and know it, and where will they find any relief, not in the world's trifling toys, no, but on their knees as it were, figuratively, spiritually, before the cross.

[32:42] cross, I think I've already quoted it once, sweet the moment's rich in blessing, which before the cross I spend. All my dear friends, is it so with you?

[32:56] Have you found a little softening as you come to the Lord's table from time to time? the Lord comes and breaks the bread with you, breaks that spiritual bread to your soul.

[33:11] What a mercy, my friends, if you know a little of that, or that we might know more of it. Take me back to the hymn, hope for closer, what we've got. It's that which we need, isn't it, that renewing?

[33:23] The dearest I have known, whate'er that I will be, help me to tear it from thy throne, and worship only thee.

[33:38] So shall my walk be close with God, calm, and serene my frame, so pure a light shall mark the road that leads me to the Lamb.

[33:52] All that closeness, we desire to know, how often we feel far from it. But, you know, I read the Ephesians, that first chapter, and I just wanted to look in there, because the words in there that actually brought me to read that portion were in the last words of the sixth verse of the first chapter, accepted in the beloved.

[34:23] God, that's how it's possible, my dear friends, for accepted in the presence of a holy, holy, holy God, because the Father in all his holiness, I speak with great reverence, views his church in his Son, in his beloved Son, in that cleft rock.

[34:45] rock. Yes, in that cleft rock. You remember that Moses sought to see the glory of God, and God, in the mount that was, and God said to him he could not see his glory and live, but there was a place by him, and he would put him in the cleft of the rock, and put his hand over him as he passed by, that he would only see his hind aparts, this was Moses.

[35:28] My dear friends, what wonderful gospel messenger is in that, isn't it? What a prophetical thing that was, that God taught Moses then, a place by me, where is Jesus, this evening, he's sitting in the right hand of the Father's throne in heaven, a place by me, where is a place of safety for the souls of his church, in that cleft side, in that cleft side, rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee, let the water and the blood from thy riven side which flowed, be of sin a double cure, cleanse me from its guilt and power, is that your prayer, cleanse me, God be merciful to me a sinner, cleanse me from its guilt and power by that precious blood applied once for all sin, yes, accepted in the beloved, this first chapter of

[36:38] Ephesians is so, how can I say, it's so nourishing to the soul, isn't it, because let's just look at it a moment, I mustn't be long because the time's going, but Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ, not by his own choosing, by the will of God, that's how he comes to be an apostle, it's not something he decided he'd take up, like hockey or something, it was something which was by the will of God and he knew it, didn't he, there was no doubt about that in Paul's mind when he was turned from being sort of Tarsus, it wouldn't matter what any man or what the Pharisees said, he knew where he stood with his God, the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus, what a mercy he added the last bit, it's not restricted to Ephesus what he's got to say, but to the faithful in Christ Jesus, those who are followers of him, what is his desire for them, grace be unto you and peace from God the Father and from the Lord

[37:51] Jesus Christ, both are concerned, you see, and look what his desire is, his prayer is for them, like a nursing father caring for the suckling, he takes him tenderly from his mother and he has every desire of protection and provision for him and so spiritually the apostle has here for the church, now he points them to this, doxology, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, why, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, how and where, in Christ Jesus, that's where the blessings are, and they'll be in heavenly places, the blessings are in heavenly places dispensed from heaven now to send us here, and eventually all will be in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, in eternal glory, now, it's not haphazard, it's according as he has chosen us, how, in him, that is in

[38:53] Jesus, before the foundation of the world, not just lately, before the foundation of the world, pointing back to covenant love, which I spoke of, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ, to himself, there's not time to go into adoption, but you know what adoption is, on a natural level, one is brought in, and treated as one of the family, becomes one of the family, they have their own place at the table, their own little bedroom, they have every provision as the son or the daughter, by birth, think of that, the wonder of it, adopted, to be a son of God, in Christ

[39:55] Jesus, yes, according to the good pleasure of his will, not their own, his will, back to election, back to covenant love again, yes, to the praise of the glory of his grace, now dear friends, those who are brought here, will want to praise the glory of his grace, there will be that which him writer puts in better words than mine, oh that my soul could love and praise him more, his beauty's trace, his majesty adore, live near his heart, that's a difficult part, that's what we need to do, God be merciful to me a sinner, that is the way, yes, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he, he, hath made us accepted in the beloved, I often say to my people, he doesn't say me, he says he, it's h, that's the important matter, not the m, he, and that's why my friends, the church are secure, because the work is his work, not my work, not your work, it's his work, and it's finished, for the saviour said so, it is finished, cried the lord in his dying minute, yes, accepted, wherein he hath made us, accepted, in the beloved, died, now he goes on to say a bit more, in whom we have redemption, through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, and so on, dear friends, when you get home, settle down, and look carefully at these verses of Ephesians, and see the wonder contained in it, and try and read it, with the emphasis on him, that the work is his, the purpose was his from the beginning, having predestinated us, he knows every step of our journey, he knows our last minuteous circumstance is subject to God's eye, how often we look back and say, well this has happened and that's happened, but,

[42:27] God had made a provision there, you can look back through your life, and you can see that over and over again, how the Lord has made a provision, and often it's made, and it's in the process of things before you have an inclination of what it will be, so great is his mercy, so much the riches of his grace, but, I want to go a bit deeper than that, just for a minute, before I close, and that's this, that the riches of his grace, they provide for your soul's need as well, and the Lord will bring a text on the calendar, the Lord will bring a phone call, the Lord will bring a card with a text on it, and it's a word in season, that person that wrote the card felt it laid on their mind to write it, little did they know how appropriate that was to the way you felt that morning when you opened it, oh the

[43:32] Lord's people, you mark these things dear friends, you think back, remember the way the Lord thy God has led to these 10, 20, 30, 40 years in the wilderness, matters not that many years, mostly if you can look back a year, or even a month, and know the Lord's leading, the 40 is just the round figure of the children of Israel being in the wilderness, although some of us here can now say that, 40 years of his mercy lengthened out, his patience lengthened out with us, yes, what a merciful God we have, yes, having predestinated us then as the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the beloved, made us sinners, those who cry, God be merciful to me a sinner, there the us, may we each be kept humble in that prayer,

[44:43] God be merciful to me a sinner, and I'll tell you this dear friends from experience, when you get into deep, deep waters, that's one of the two prayers that comes, you haven't got time for a long and lengthy, detailed prayer, is God be merciful to me a sinner, and Lord help me, they're the two prayers that I know, when you're in deep waters, and I tell you this too dear friends, to the honour and glory of my God, he answers them, he answers them, I can prove it, I'm standing here, there's the answer, Lord help me, and he did, and he'll help you too, because that journey, that last bit, the journey to make isn't it, it might be a narrow crossing, of the river, it might be at a wider place in the river, but underneath are those everlasting arms, been much on my mind of late, you know, sometimes, the Lord brings us to a place where we're sharply reminded, of the certainty of our passing, what a mercy to have a good hope through grace, then my friends, to be able to truly say, my hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus' precious blood and righteousness, that's the place dear friends, and that's the place that God brings his people to rest, those that cry,

[46:36] God be merciful to me a sinner, he brings them there, in those everlasting arms, he will not leave you then, he will be with you then, when we come to that loss of consciousness, which equals death, as a peace, a deep peace, which passeth all understanding, the Lord took me through that three times, as I've been resuscitated three times, by the medical staff, peace, though all the rain was turmoil, in the midst of it, peace, peace, by his cross, as Jesus made, those everlasting arms ashore, a dear brother in a ministry called to see me after I was just beginning to recuperate a bit, he said, you realise that you don't feel those everlasting arms until you're brought low enough to sink into them, but they're there from the day you're called by grace,

[48:00] I'd never thought of it like that before, you know he's right, when a soul is called by grace, brought to pray, God be merciful to me a sinner, those everlasting arms are underneath, and they won't be taken away, it's faithful that promised, blessed be his name, hallelujah, amen, let's conclude by singing hymn number 206, the tune is synod 245, in number 206, how sovereign is the love of

[49:23] God, to Israel's favoured race, paid is the mighty debt they owed, salvation is of grace, Emmanuel had not bled and died, nor suffered in our place, but for this truth, though sound it wide, salvation is of grace, hymn number 206, silence of hatred Oftentimes, Cheers, great cool, drinks, intimacy, whenever we know that you are next day that is of short through his It is the mighty Blessed..."

[50:33] These are pure...

[50:44] It all worth it without any gain, No.

[51:00] It all blows, giorni Pendlichen. And send his ear to the sun to show salvation is a presence.

[51:32] CHANGs The sound is white, celebration is a praise.

[52:21] The sound is white.

[52:51] The sound is white, celebration is a praise.

[53:11] The sound is white.

[53:41] The sound is white. The sound is white. The sound is white. The sound is white. The love of God the Father, the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit, rest and abide upon us each.

[53:55] In order of thy name everywhere. Amen.