[0:00] Good evening and a warm welcome to the service.
[0:24] This evening we're going to begin this time of worship by singing to God's praise in the psalm that we will study this evening. Psalm 123 and we'll sing the whole of the psalm.
[0:37] O thou who dwellest in the heavens, I lift mine eyes to thee. Behold, as servants' eyes do look their master's hand to see. We'll sing the whole of this psalm to God's praise.
[0:48] O thou that dwellest. In the heavens I lift mine eyes to thee.
[1:04] Behold, as servants' eyes do look their master's hand to see.
[1:15] As handmaid's eyes her mistress' hand, so do our eyes attend.
[1:30] Upon the Lord our God until to us he mercy send.
[1:43] O Lord be gracious to us and to us gracious be.
[1:56] Because replenish with contempt exceedingly are we.
[2:10] Our soul is filled with scorn of those that at their ease abide.
[2:24] And with the insolent contempt of those that swell in pride.
[2:37] Just one or two prayer points before we come to pray. You may remember Mark from Open Doors who came last year and spoke at the prayer meeting actually just this time last year.
[2:53] And he was in touch this week and gave me a few prayer points as we think about the persecuted church. The danger is when we are in a difficult situation locally that we fixate on that.
[3:09] We don't think about brothers and sisters internationally. And so he's given me a few prayer points here to help us in our prayers. He says, first of all, our Asia team are telling us that our partners in India and Pakistan are describing a pretty desperate situation amongst those who are in lockdown and can't earn a daily wage.
[3:33] While there is some food aid being provided, Christians are in many cases not receiving it because they are Christians. Please pray for them and for our partners who need wisdom and are doing their best to respond.
[3:47] So that's India and Pakistan. Similarly, point two, we are receiving reports from several countries where Christians are again being overlooked in the distribution of food aid.
[4:00] In these cases, please could we ask for prayer for courage and strength for those Christians who are being told they can receive food and medicine. If they were to deny Christ.
[4:11] Pray that they will stand for Christ and trust God. Please pray that God would bless them and provide for them. And the third prayer point that Mark brings is please pray for God's wisdom and direction for both our field leaders and also for our team leaders here in the UK.
[4:29] We need to hear God's voice clearly for how to navigate this season so that we can continue to bring strength to the church, not only in this season, but going forward.
[4:41] So these are some prayer points to have in our minds and to help us in prayer. So let's unite our hearts in prayer. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege that we have of prayer.
[4:57] We thank you for the responsibility also that you give to us as those who are called to pray. We have read in the psalm we have sung, in the psalm of those who suffer for your name's sake, those who experience contempt, those who experience ridicule.
[5:17] It's something that the psalmist often experienced, something that he often writes of. And we hear in so many of the psalms the pain, the distress, the need for your help as he went through many difficult experiences.
[5:34] And as we track through scripture, we see time and time again how your people were called to endure much as they put their faith in you and sought to walk in the path that you called them to.
[5:49] And we think of Jesus, our Savior, the man of sorrows, the one who was so accustomed to scorn, to ridicule, to contempt of the crowds that went so quickly from shouting acclamation to shouting crucify him.
[6:12] We know that on the cross, Jesus suffered physically, he suffered psychologically, he suffered spiritually under the weight of our sin and did it so that we could be saved.
[6:27] And we thank you for Jesus, we thank you for all that he did so that we could have that salvation. And we pray, Lord, for strength, we pray for protection, we pray for endurance to be able to take up our crosses and to follow Jesus.
[6:44] Even sometimes when that means that there may be a measure of contempt and ridicule that we have to suffer. We don't know much of this in this land and we're thankful for that.
[6:57] But we have read there of our brothers and sisters in different parts of the world who suffer contempt and ridicule and violence as a way of life simply because of their faith in Christ.
[7:12] We think of those in India, we think of those in Pakistan, we think of those in other countries which haven't been mentioned simply because of the danger there is even in identifying the fact that there are Christians in these countries.
[7:27] We think of those who are starving just now and who are not being given the food that they need in desperate circumstances because of their faith in Jesus.
[7:37] We think of those who are being held to ransom and being told that they will not eat and they will not drink unless they deny Jesus. And we pray as we're directed to you, Lord, that you would give them strength, that you would give them all that they need to be able to stay true to the faith that you have given them and to follow Christ.
[8:01] And we pray for those who persecute them. And we ask that you would touch their hearts, that you would change their hearts. We pray for countries where there's a policy even of persecution of Christians.
[8:35] And we ask, Lord, for a turning around, that you would move in the hearts of those that you have allowed to be in authority, that they would repent, that they would believe in Jesus and that they would lead in such a way as to bring glory to your name.
[8:52] We pray, Lord, for our own country and for those that you have allowed to be in positions of power here. And we ask, Lord, for wisdom for them. We pray, Lord, that even when they do not ask for wisdom from heaven, that you would grant it to them.
[9:10] And in so doing, Lord, that you would make them aware that they need so much more than they can find in themselves or from the counsellors that are around them. And give to them, we pray, a sense of their own need of help from above.
[9:27] We ask, Lord, that you would be with us in this evening. We pray for your help as we open your word. We pray that you would speak into our lives. We pray your blessing on every home that may tune in or listen in to the services.
[9:45] We can't see each other at present, but you're the God who sees every person in whom you are working, every heart that there is an interest in.
[9:57] And, Lord, we ask that you would be working to cause those who are yet lost to find salvation in Christ. And those who are your people, Lord, we pray that you would sanctify us, that you would make us more like Jesus.
[10:11] We pray for the Youth Fellowship who meet online just after this, that you would be at work amongst them. And as they come close to assessments and some perhaps exams, we're not sure.
[10:24] We ask that you would give them all that they need to be able to get through this time and that you would guide and direct them. We thank you that you are the God who has a plan for each one of our lives.
[10:36] And we pray that as we acknowledge you, you would direct our path. We pray, Lord, for the General Assembly of the Church that meets briefly tomorrow. And with the limited business that they have to go through, we pray that you would give wisdom to each of them.
[10:52] We pray for the moderator, especially Donny G from Portree. And we ask that you would give him, Lord, wisdom. And we pray that you would give him strength as he serves you in Portree at this time.
[11:06] And as, Lord, he seeks to reach out to those whose hearts will be sore, some who are grieving, having lost loved ones in the care home in Portree, some who are anxious about loved ones who are sick.
[11:20] We pray for them and we pray for Donny as he reaches out. In the name of Jesus, we ask that you would help him as he seeks to show the compassion of Christ.
[11:32] So hear our prayers go before us in this evening. Open your word to us, we pray. And open us, our hearts, Lord, to your word.
[11:42] And we ask all these things together with the forgiveness of our sins. In Jesus' name, Amen. We will read now the psalm that we sang, the short psalm, Psalm 123.
[11:56] And we'll spend just a few minutes this evening looking at this psalm. Again, it's entitled as the previous three psalms, A Song of Ascent.
[12:12] This is God's word. I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven, as the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of our mistress.
[12:28] So our eyes look to the Lord, our God, till he shows us his mercy. Have mercy on us, O Lord. Have mercy on us. For we have endured much contempt.
[12:40] We have endured much ridicule from the pride. Much contempt from the arrogant. Amen. And may God bless that reading of his word to us.
[12:58] Someone shared an article with me just the other day. It related to a hospital in New York City called Samaritan's Purse.
[13:13] It was set up in New York City just recently by Christians who were trying to help and offer support and treatment during the worst of the COVID-19 outbreak.
[13:28] And whilst this hospital has been open, hundreds of patients have been treated. Much in the way of help has been given. But now, as the worst of the outbreak seems to be over, a New York City Council speaker, Corey Johnson is his name, he demanded that the Christian charity leave the city.
[13:49] And I'm not going to read out the full comments, but the gist of his comments could be summarized like this. No one invited you to come here.
[14:00] No one wants you here. And so, to quote him in his tweet, it's time for Samaritan's Purse to leave New York City. You know, in spite of the compassion that they showed, in spite of the help that they gave in Jesus' name, they were treated with contempt.
[14:21] They are being treated with contempt. And that's just one story. We've heard a little as well about India and Pakistan.
[14:31] We could talk about China. We could talk about Iran. We could go to Egypt. We could read articles about Nigeria or Eritrea or Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, North Korea.
[14:44] And we could hear testimony after testimony, story after story, about Christians who are being treated with contempt. Christians who are suffering persecution.
[14:57] And even in this country, although it's small scale by comparison, we know something of what it is to suffer ridicule and contempt for Jesus' sake.
[15:09] And if you don't, post something online. Post something on social media about Christ, about your faith in Jesus, about the glory of Christ.
[15:22] And you'll see very, very quickly how ridicule and contempt will roll in. And Psalm 123 is a psalm that shows us how to deal with contempt, how to deal with the hits that come to us, that come on us for Jesus' sake.
[15:45] It's a short psalm that has a sharp focus. And it deals with that very practical question, how do you deal with contempt?
[15:57] And there's two points this evening. And the first point is we bear it. How do you deal with contempt? Will you bear it?
[16:09] Know that the psalmist here, he doesn't actually come straight to the point. We've read the whole psalm, so we see what's going on. But as we look at the psalm, if we're looking at this and reading it for the first time, we can see that the psalmist, he doesn't come straight to the point here.
[16:26] He doesn't mention anything about suffering and contempt and struggles in the first verse, or the second verse. We know from verses three and four that he's going through trouble.
[16:38] But the psalm doesn't start on that note of trouble. It doesn't start with a cry of panic or despair. It doesn't start with a scream of frustration. Why not, we might ask.
[16:53] And I think the reason that this psalm doesn't start in this way is in part because this is not something new for the psalmist. He has become accustomed to this.
[17:06] So this doesn't come as a shock and a surprise. He expects it. And if we were to flick back through psalms, we wouldn't have to go far back to see examples of how the psalmist struggled regularly with ridicule and contempt.
[17:26] So none of this comes as a shock. He expects it, I think. And for the Christian, we need to expect that sometimes we will be treated with contempt for Jesus' sake.
[17:41] Sometimes we will be ridiculed. Sometimes it will sting, it will hurt. But it's something that we have to bear. John the Baptist, he prepared the wafer for Jesus.
[17:55] Jesus said of John the Baptist in Matthew 11, and verse 11, Truly I tell you, among those born of women, there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.
[18:06] Now that means that he did a lot of things right when Jesus speaks of him in that exalted way in terms of his fellow man.
[18:17] Now, did John the Baptist have a trouble-free life? Did people always speak well of him? Did he have many social media followers? Did he have many admirers? Was he always the one who was getting invited on the trending talk shows of the day?
[18:32] Well, no. He was considered in his culture and time to be a very strange character. He was looked on as a very odd man.
[18:46] And we know from looking at his life that he was imprisoned for his preaching after preaching for a while. We know that ultimately, in terms of this world, he was beheaded for his faith and for his unwillingness to compromise the truth of what God's word says.
[19:10] And then when we think about John, John never pointed to himself. He was always pointing to Jesus. What about Jesus? God the Son, the perfect man, the one who never sinned, the pinnacle of humanity.
[19:30] Did everyone speak well of Jesus as he came into ministry? Well, no, they didn't. Matthew 11, verses 18 and 19, it says there, for John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say he is a demon.
[19:49] The Son of Man, Jesus, came eating and drinking, and they say he's a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.
[20:00] So we see both John the Baptist and Jesus, they were treated with contempt. And if you and I are going to follow Jesus and seek to be like Jesus, we will immediately find that we have an enemy, the devil.
[20:16] He's the prince of this world, he's described as, and he will make sure that in this world where he is so active, you and I will take some hits.
[20:28] So expect it. I'll bear it. Mike Tyson, the boxer, you've maybe seen, he's making a comeback, or he's planning on making a comeback to the boxing world, which is attracting a fair bit of media attention.
[20:49] I guess it's probably going to be quite a lucrative thing for him. So he's training, and he's sharing videos of his training. He's getting fit, he's getting fast.
[21:00] He's preparing to get in the ring. But when he gets there, if he gets there, he will have to be prepared to take some hits.
[21:11] And if you are a Christian, you and I need to be prepared to take some hits. So often people think that to become a Christian or to live as a Christian is like selecting the easy track for life.
[21:31] You know, if you can't handle normal life, head into the church, people say. Become a believer in Jesus. You get your Christian crutch because you're the type of person who can't live without a crutch.
[21:46] You withdraw from the fast lane. You escape from the real world and you amble your way through the meadows of life in a low gear. That's the Christian world, say so many people.
[21:58] It's what it is to be a Christian. Meadows and flowers and soft music. It's just a life for a soft person.
[22:11] But that's not consistent with what Jesus taught. It's not consistent with what we see of how followers of Christ lived in the Bible.
[22:25] Jesus said, if anyone wants to follow me, take up your cross. Matthew 16, 24. It will involve suffering.
[22:36] You will have a cross to bear. Jesus says, if anyone wants to follow me, expect persecution. Expect that not everyone will love you, but many people will be against you.
[22:50] John 15, 20. Jesus said, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. Jesus said in Luke 14, if anyone wants to follow me, count the cost.
[23:06] Because it will cost. Sometimes you will face contempt. Sometimes you will be the one who is subject to ridicule.
[23:17] You know, if you're living for other people's approval, if you're the kind of person who feeds off likes on social media, Christian life is not for you.
[23:30] Because you will sometimes be treated with contempt. Just as the psalmist was. But our calling is to bear it.
[23:43] Bear it. Don't focus on it. Don't fixate on it. But bear it. And focus on God. That's the second point.
[23:56] It's our final point. Bear the contempt. Bear the ridicule. Point number one. Point number two. Behold your God. That takes us to the beginning of the psalm.
[24:10] I lift up my eyes to you, says the psalmist, to you whose throne is in heaven. Now, for anyone who was tuning in a couple of weeks ago, you might say, didn't we have this already?
[24:22] Haven't we heard this before? Well, we've heard something similar to it before. In Psalm 121, the psalmist says in verse one, I lift up my eyes to the hills.
[24:33] And in Psalm 121, the psalmist, as he's setting off on his journey to the place of worship, he's foreseeing trouble. And so he lifts his eyes up to God, to the maker of heaven and earth, because he knows that's where he will get his help from.
[24:52] Now, in this psalm, the psalmist isn't foreseeing trouble or anticipating trouble, but he has suffered trouble. He has endured contempt and ridicule.
[25:05] But he's still lifting his eyes up to God. Tim Keller on this psalm says, Believers feel the pain of this world's contempt.
[25:19] How do we keep from either adopting its views or becoming resentful and withdrawn, he asks.
[25:32] Then he answers, we must lift our eyes to God. This is more than simply to take a look. It denotes a steady, reflective, adoring gaze filled with longing and desire.
[25:46] That's what it means to behold our God. We have a steady, reflective, adoring gaze filled with longing and desire.
[25:56] So we behold our God. We look to God. So, what do we look to God for? Well, there's four things that we can see in this section.
[26:08] First of all, we look to God for perspective. I lift my eyes to you, verse 1, to you whose throne is in heaven. And the key word there, I think, is throne.
[26:19] Our eyes are lifted from earth to heaven. Our eyes are lifted from the seemingly powerful enemies that sometimes attack us to the throne of the almighty God, who is more powerful than all the enemies of this world combined.
[26:37] And as we lift our eyes from our troubles to our God, we're given a much bigger picture. We're given a different perspective.
[26:50] we keep getting told just now that we need to see the big picture. You know, in respect of this lockdown and the restrictions on our movements, we're told, you have to see the big picture here.
[27:06] Staying at home is not easy. And not being able to visit the people that we love is not easy. Not meeting together as we're in the habit of doing in church, it's not easy.
[27:17] But we recognise that we need to keep on keeping on with these restrictions. We don't break the lockdown because we see the bigger picture. We see the difficult things of the present in proper perspective when we think about the future.
[27:37] When we think about the virus being driven back. When we think about the vaccination being found. You know, it's only as we have the right perspective that we behave wisely.
[27:53] And the psalmist, whether he is en route to worship or whether he is one who has arrived in the place of worship, remember these are all psalms where they are ascending to the place of worship, whether the psalmist is there or he's en route.
[28:09] He suffered ridicule, he suffered contempt because of his desire and his determination to worship God and that stings. So what could that drive you to do when you and I suffer something of what the psalmist experienced?
[28:24] Well, for some people when they suffer ridicule and contempt it could cause them to be fearful, it could cause them actually to stop worshipping, to turn back. We quite often sing with the children, I have decided to follow Jesus.
[28:42] No turning back, no turning back. And it's easy to sing that out but it's not always easy to live that out. Especially when we're under attack for following Jesus.
[28:55] And for others when they experience contempt and ridicule, it could cause them to get angry, dark, spiritually, it could cause them to become embittered and be unattractive because of the bitterness that poisons their own hearts.
[29:16] It's the kind of thing that sometimes can make us full of self-pity and hate towards those who attack us. that's the danger of when we suffer these things.
[29:32] So we need the right perspective. We need to see our God. We need to see that he is in control. We need to see that he is more powerful than anyone who can come against us.
[29:45] Some people, some of the commentators think that Nehemiah was the one who wrote the psalm. We're not sure. But remember, Nehemiah is the one who was called to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
[29:59] And in Nehemiah 4, we haven't got time to go there, but you can read it yourselves, he's under attack. We can very much imagine him writing these words as he suffers the attacks, the contempt, the ridicule of Sanballat and Tobiah.
[30:15] They were always on his case. They were always trying to get him to give up or slow down, but he never did. He was resolute in the work that God called him to do. He never lost perspective.
[30:27] And if we have proper perspective, if we remember, as we sang last week, that there is a higher throne, we keep our eyes on God and we won't lose heart even when we do suffer ridicule and contempt.
[30:46] 2 Corinthians 4, verse 16. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
[31:05] So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
[31:17] Who said that? Well, Paul said that. You may not be familiar with Paul. You may ask the question, what did he know about suffering? Did he have to suffer for Jesus' sake?
[31:28] Well, yes, he did. It was part of this calling. Jesus told him at the point that he met with him on Damascus, so that he would have to suffer much for the cause of Christ.
[31:41] And Paul, in 2 Corinthians 11, he shares something of what he suffered. Let me give you just an extract of it. He says, five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.
[31:53] Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was pelted with stones. Three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in open sea. I have been constantly on the move.
[32:03] I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, and in danger from false believers.
[32:16] I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep. I have known hunger and thirst and have gone without food. I have been cold. and naked and so the list goes on.
[32:30] He suffered much for Jesus' sake but he persevered. He had a perspective that caused him to fix his eyes on Christ to behold his God.
[32:47] And if Paul is not enough to encourage us to keep on in spite of sufferings, think on Jesus. Hebrews 12. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.
[33:01] Verse 2. The author and perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
[33:16] Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
[33:28] When we think about the cross, when we think about what Christ suffered for us, then anything that we may have to suffer for his name's sake is put in perspective.
[33:43] perspective. So we look to God, we behold our God and we're given perspective. We look to God for perspective. Secondly here, we look to God for direction.
[33:56] Verse 2. As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of our mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God.
[34:09] Wearsby, the commentator, says, in eastern countries, masters often commanded their servants by means of hand signals. So the servants kept their eyes on the master's hand, and this is what gave them direction for their work.
[34:28] Now who are we? Well, we're servants of God, aren't we? We are slaves. We have been bought at a price. We have been bought by the blood of Jesus.
[34:40] He is our Lord. He is our master. He is the one who directs our lives. And so, just as the manservant and the maidservant needed to be in a position where they could see the hand of their master, we, as Alexander McLaren puts it, we should stand where we can see Jesus.
[35:03] And that's maybe such an obvious thing, but it's such an important thing. We look to God for direction. And in order to look to God for direction, we need to be able to see him.
[35:18] We need to be positioned in our lives in such a way that we can see God. Otherwise, when he gives us the signal to stop or to go, we'll miss it.
[35:32] Now, some may say, what does that mean? Why would we ever be in a position where we're not able to see God? The answer to that question is because we are prone to allow other people, other things, other duties, other responsibilities, leisure interests, pastimes, to become so big in our lives that they block our vision of God.
[35:58] When our work becomes all consuming, we can't see God. God. When our girlfriend or our wife or our friend becomes all that fills our eyes and fills our mind, we can't see God.
[36:12] When our hobbies take over our life and take over our time, we can't see God. We can't see God. We will lack the direction and the guidance that we need.
[36:27] But when we can see him, when we are able to fix our eyes on Christ, when we are in the word, when we are in prayer, when we have all these other things in their proper place, then we are able to see him.
[36:42] And when we can see him, when we can behold him, we are able to receive the direction that we need. We look to God for direction. We look to God for perspective.
[36:55] Thirdly, we look to God for provision. Again, a commentator says the master's hand was also the source of their provision, what they needed for their daily sustenance.
[37:11] Now, when we think about God's provision for us, we tend to think in terms of daily bread. You must have stayed on our daily bread and we've been taught to pray that way.
[37:24] We tend to think about money, we tend to think about food, we tend to think about a roof over our heads and a job and a measure of health and strength. God is the one who provides us with all these things.
[37:36] He promises that he will give us what we need, not always what we want, but he will give us what we need. But there are other things that we need, non-tangible things, things like fortitude, things like endurance and grit and determination and courage and peace, perseverance, strength.
[37:59] These are things that we need and God provides these things to us. He sustains us, not just with food on our plates, not just with a roof over our heads, but he sustains us with everything that we need to keep on keeping on.
[38:19] 2 Peter 1, 3, we're in 2 Peter recently, it says, his divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, but the everything that we need for life and godliness, it comes in daily portions.
[38:38] So we have to keep coming to God, looking to him for the provision for the supplies that will carry us through. If you have a car, it needs fuel.
[38:51] So week by week, we're next door with Jimmy Glen, we're down at Ardazig and we're filling our car up with fuel.
[39:02] We do that regularly because if we don't do that, the car will stop, it will grind to a halt. For us, morning by morning, we are to come to God, we're to look to God for the provisions that we need, the sustaining grace that enables us to keep on keeping on following Jesus.
[39:25] We look to God for all that he will provide us to live lives which are holy and bring glory to his name.
[39:39] So we look to God for protection finally. We look to God for perspective, we look to God for direction, we look to God for provision and finally we look to God for protection.
[39:55] As the eyes of the slave look to the hand of their master, still verse 2, as the eyes of the maid look to the hand of our mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God till he shows us mercy.
[40:09] Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt, we have endured much ridicule from the proud, much contempt from the arrogant.
[40:23] And the key word there in these verses, very predictably, is the word mercy. It's repeated three times for emphasis so that we won't miss it.
[40:34] The psalmist is looking to God for mercy. It could also be translated as grace. He's looking for help. He's looking for deliverance.
[40:46] He's looking for protection from his enemies. He's looking to God for something that he realizes he has no right to.
[40:57] He has no entitlement to. There are things that we know that we are entitled to, benefits and grants maybe in this time. And so we look to the authorities and we expect to get it.
[41:08] And if we don't get it, we complain. The psalmist is not looking for what he's entitled to. He is looking for what he knows he has no entitlement to. Mercy.
[41:22] Grace. But he's looking to God for something that he believes that God is willing to give him. There's a story told of a mother who sought from Napoleon.
[41:38] pardon for her son. Her son had committed an offense. It was his second offense. And he was told that justice demanded his death.
[41:55] And so his mother intervened and she stood before Napoleon and she asked for mercy. I don't ask for justice, said the mother.
[42:09] I plead for mercy. But, said the emperor, he does not deserve mercy. Sir, cried the mother, it would not be mercy if he deserved it.
[42:22] And mercy is all I ask. Well, then, said Napoleon, I will show mercy. And her son was saved.
[42:35] And that's the way that the psalmist came to God. He came looking for God's mercy. He came looking for God's grace. He came looking for God's protection.
[42:47] He came looking for God's salvation. And we know that when we come to God in that way, his promise is that he will not drive us away, but he will hear our cry.
[43:03] He will help us. He will save us. And he alone is the one who is able to save us. There's no one else who can give us protection from sin and from Satan and from death and from hell.
[43:25] Only the Lord Jesus can. so let us be encouraged to behold our God.
[43:39] And we'll sing to finish the words of that hymn, Behold our God. who has held the oceans in his hands, who has numbered every grain of sand?
[44:13] Kings and nations tremble at his voice. All creation rises to rejoice.
[44:25] Behold our God, seated on his throne, come let us adore him.
[44:37] Behold our King, nothing can compare, come let us adore him.
[44:58] Who has given counsel to the Lord? Who can question any of his words?
[45:09] Who can teach the one who knows all things? Who can fathom all his wondrous deeds?
[45:21] Behold our God, seated on his throne, come let us adore him. Behold our King, nothing can compare, come let us adore him.
[45:43] Come let us adore him. Come let us adore him. Come let us adore him. Come let us adore him. Who has felt the nails upon his hand, bearing all the guilt of sinful man?
[46:04] God eternal, humble to the grave. Jesus, Savior, risen now to reign.
[46:16] Behold our God, seated on his throne, come let us adore him.
[46:27] Behold our King, nothing can compare, come let us adorepts him.
[46:53] You will reign forever. You will reign forever. Let your glory fill the earth.
[47:08] Let your glory fill the earth. Let your glory fill the earth. Behold our God seated on the throne.
[47:27] Come let us adore him. Behold our King. Nothing can compare. Come let us adore him.
[47:48] Come let us adore him.
[48:18] Let the worship of God the Holy Spirit be with us all. Now and forevermore. Amen.