Our topic this morning is Secured by Seeking Mercy or another title could be Attentive to God's Mercy. Part of a theme of coming to God and the reason we're doing that theme is because we're looking at the Psalms 120 to 134 that are called Psalms of Ascent in your Bible. and they're thought to be Psalms of Ascent because they are Psalms that were sung by Israel by the pilgrims as they made their one of three annual pilgrimages up to Jerusalem. God had revealed himself to Israel. He had revealed himself at the Exodus. Notably, of course, he revealed himself from the beginning and through Abraham, but he revealed himself to a whole nation through the exodus and on that particular occasion he revealed to them that he was sovereign over all the nations of the earth because he was a group of slaves who now became God's people and they were very aware of the fact that God had revealed his hand as a mighty God. I was very grateful this morning to hear Bob open up for us something of God's sovereignty over all things. It's the issue all the time, isn't it? Is God sovereign over all the nations of the earth? Well, certainly at that point, Israel had an example that God was over all the nations of the earth. And then they showed themselves singularly ungrateful and singularly untrusting in the fact that God was sovereign. And other nations came, they wanted to be like other nations, they wanted to trust the same things that other nations trusted. And it was like they were a group of people over whom God had never ruled and who never knew that God was reigning. but still God would persist with them and if you read Psalm 78, which we won't do this morning, but if we were to read Psalm 78, where all these things are spelled out, you would see how the finale of what God did in the context of him wonderfully revealing himself as a God who's reigning and then having his people so Shockingly, really, almost ignorant of the fact that he had done anything in the creation at all. God came to them and revealed himself through David. It says the Lord awoke us from a sleep like a strong man shouting because of wine. That's a bit rude to apply that to God, isn't it? Think of a drunken man roaring with wine and this is a picture of God. But it's not God out of control. It's God coming to say to his people, I'm still your God. Wouldn't you look up and see who I am? So God awoke us from sleep like a strong man shouting because of wine. And he put his adversaries to rout and he put them to everlasting shame. And you say, what's he actually referring to? It says he rejected the tent of Joseph. He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, though they were fairly large-ish in their size, but he chose the tribe of Judah, so what's he talking about? And Mount Zion, which he loves, and he built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth which he's founded forever, and he chose David, his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds, from following the nursing ewes, and he brought him to shepherd Jacob, his people, Israel his inheritance. With upright heart he shepherded them, and guided them with his skillful hand. God wanted to come to his people and say to him, I rule all the nations. And remember that delightful story, we sometimes can sign it down to the children's talks, but we have that delightful story of young David as a young man before he was king, but prepared in heart, going out to take some cheese to his brothers who are out there fighting the war. And he says, who's that guy over there? Oh, it's Goliath. Why isn't anybody fighting him? Oh, he's looking so big. Well, aren't we God's people? Why isn't anybody going out to fight him? He could fall over just with a feather. And David could not get it into his mind that Israel wouldn't take on Goliath. And so he went out there with all naivety perhaps of a young lad and five little stones in his sling and off he only needs one of them. And down Goliath went. But that's the great story. And we all think David's a great brave fellow. But David wasn't brave at all. David wasn't a man of bravery. He was a man of faith. I mean, the result you'll see is brave, you see. But that's not what David would have felt. David would have felt God was strong. and that God had actually established himself. So you have the fact of God's sovereignty demonstrated clearly to a nation so that they actually live by everything that God says, so that their future is controlled by what God has promised, and who need to look to him constantly, and who's given them his law so that as they keep them, God's blessing will remain on them. All those things, and they forget all those things, and God still says, but I still want them to know that I'm king. And so, as part of that, he proclaims to them in two notable Psalms, which become very important in the New Testament. He proclaims to them in two notable Psalms. Chapter two of the Psalm, first of all, why do the nations rage? And why do the peoples plot in vain, and the kings set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and his anointed, saying, let's burn their bonds and cast them away from us? He who sits in the heavens laughs. It's laughable to God that the nations think that they are in control. The interesting thing is that that's not just said by God, but that is revealed to a human being, and a human being wrote that song. Interesting, isn't it? I just put words into God's mouth and it is God speaking. But can you see the human being that's come to that faith? And I wonder if that's the faith that's in our hearts this morning. What should it matter that my boss is this and that and the other? What should it matter that my income is such and such and such and such? What should it matter that my health is this and that and the other? What should it matter that I feel so helpless in the context of this and that and the other? God laughs at the idea that there would be any other power that would actually threaten what he's about with us. And that was the faith that God gave to Israel when he gave them David. And he said, David, you shepherd my people and you show them and you lead them because in you being the king of Israel, I am king of my people. That is, I've sent you to represent to Israel the fact that I'm king over all of their So, he who sits in the heavens laughs at the nations and he says, I've set my king on Zion, my holy hill. And so, David's throne was God's throne, not because David was a great guy, not even because he was godly really, but simply because God was over his people and he'd sent David to actually be that amongst his people. And so, he said, you'll break these nations with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. The kingship of Israel was not like the kingship of any other nation. It was not like it in regard to its constitutional monarchy, if you like. God wrote the constitution. They were under the law of God. And it was not like it in regard to how it was supported. It was 100% dependent upon God. When Hezekiah had a problem with the Rabshakeh, yelling insults from the walls of Jerusalem, he took the letter that the Rabshakeh from the Assyrians was sent to him, and he laid it out before the Lord. Who was the chief of staff of the armies of Israel? Who was the commander of the armies of Israel? Not Hezekiah. God was. You see, it was not like any other kingship. It was a kingship not to be something in its own right, not to compete with what the world was like, but very simply to represent God's kingship over the nations. And as such, these remarkable Psalms, Psalm 2 and Psalm 110, have been written. Why would the nations think that they could oppose David? What chance would they have, like snowflakes chasing a chance in hell? As we say, what chance would they have of actually overcoming that kingship? Not again, because David was even right, but because it was God's kingship that was being represented. And Psalm 110, the same sort of thing, where it says, The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power. And he talks about how because God's kingship amongst his people is so clear, the people rise up and say, yes, this is what we're going to be about. So Israel had opened up to them the kingship of God over his people. And what about ourselves? Well, can you see that these two Psalms, Psalm 2 and Psalm 110, which God put into our Old Testament and by which he was a light that guided Israel and guided the world, have been fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ himself. Because these Psalms are the Psalms that are mentioned more than all the other Psalms in the New Testament. and they're used in particular to describe the work and the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because here God comes to a people over whom he has reigned and yet as Isaiah says they become like a people over whom he's never reigned. You know they're so lacking in faith, they become so legalistic, they think that their welfare depends 100% upon themselves rather than 100% on God. They're nothing like his people. But in his mercy and in the sovereignty he has over the nations, he says, I want a people who know I'm king. And so he sends them Jesus and says, David, this new David, Jesus Christ will shepherd my people. And when he shepherds his people, the idea of anybody opposing Jesus would be unthinkable. So if you like Jesus before Pontius Pilate, before Pilate there, In the same spirit in which David goes out to fight Goliath, says to his judge, you would have no authority over me at all unless it was given to you by my father. He is the one who shepherded us and who shepherded us as God's sovereign way of showing to us that he is the Lord. So we come to these psalms of Psalm 123 today and 24-25 will make reference to, but mostly Psalm 123. So if you've got it open, have a look at it now. We'll come back a little bit more to the nature of Christ's kingship in a moment. But let's have a look at this psalm. To you I lift up my eyes. You are enthroned in the heavens. There's the enthroning of God. Behold his eyes, the second use of the word eyes, of servants look to the hand of their masters, the eyes third use of the maid servant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God. So we have the first part of the psalm is about eyes, where are we looking? Where are we looking? That's the first point. Second thing is, we'll look to the Lord, verse 2, until he has mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us, second use, and have mercy upon us, third use. For we've had more than enough of contempt, so we've had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, the contempt of the proud. You see, the direction of the psalm starts with where our eyes are, talks about mercy, and it talks thirdly about scorn. Now, we're going to look at it in reverse order, if you like, because the setting in which we are at the present time, and as Bob opened up to us this morning, the setting in which we are is that we're in a community and we're in a world which is just full of scorn. Is that true? The idea that God would reign is just an abomination to our present community. In fact, those who call themselves secular humanists and even gather themselves together in various societies in different countries, set out their actual agenda and say, the one thing that there must not be in any religion, because religion is fine, but the one thing that must not be in any religion, is in fact the fact that there's a God who's in control and a God who can supervise over us at all. So it's a matter that was of great importance to Israel that God reigned and yet he says here, have mercy upon us Lord because we've had more than enough of contempt, our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease at the contempt of the proud. The proud, what does it mean to be a proud person? We just see a person with a toss of the head and we say there's a proud person. But what's actually going on in a proud person? They feel superior, yes, and feel superior to us. I suppose that's what we feel, isn't it? But is there more than that? Are they not wanting to be equal with God in being proud? We are creatures, aren't we? And for a human being to have an inordinate view of themselves is in fact that is to be proud, is in fact to be competing with God and to want to take the place that he has. Take the place he has in the universe, take the place he has over other people. And it says here, we're the scorn of those who are at ease. You know, if you feel as though you're in command of things, then you're at ease. That is, you're at ease in yourself and feel like you're in control of the whole situation. And so here's this easy grace, if you like, of people who, for periods of time at least, are given by God to have, as it were, enough string, enough rope to go out and do what they do for a time. And is that easy to handle? Is that easy to withstand? Well, not according to the psalmist. If we go on to the next psalm, it says from verse... I'll read it from verse 1. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say, if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive. Is that how it is? Well, it is, isn't it? because the powers of the people of this world, in the way that they appeal, I mean, all that's in the flesh, what is in the world? All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. That's what John says, isn't it? All that's in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye. Can you see how the governments of this world, or not so much just the governments of this world, but the world when it sets out to be something apart from God, which may be represented by certain governments, When they set up to do that, then the things they must appeal to are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. Are those things powerful? They are very powerful. If governments appeal to those things, do they have power? Well, they do have power for a period of time, don't they? And in certain ways. And we feel that, and we sense that, and we're surrounded by it. And so the psalmist very honestly says, if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive when their anger was kindled against us. Why would the world be angry with a bunch of do-gooders? I mean, if that's a take-off of what Christians are. Why would the government be angry with a bunch of just, you know, innocuous people sitting in churches, minding their own business on Sunday? Can you see how hateful it is to them that people actually trust God? They have pride and they're trying to take the place of God. And we're saying, no, we trust God. That's a hateful thing to them. And so he says, their anger was kindled against us and the flood would have swept us away. The torrent would have gone over us and then over us would have gone the raging waters. But blessed be the Lord who's not given us his prey into their teeth. The Lord is sovereign, we've been saying, and Israel had their own experience of that, but here they also had their experience of the pride of the nations, and they found it totally unable to be contained within themselves, unless the Lord actually acted to do that. And can you see how important that principle is? Because if the nature of the nation's powers is this and that, in regard to what it appeals to, in regard to where it's coming from, that is pride and being at ease and scornful, then how would it be if we tried to compete with that power? What powers would we have to apply to? What powers would we have to use? Can you see how this is also real for Peter, for example, in the New Testament, where he could see Christ reigning and then Christ's reign was scorned, and then he was seen as a disciple of Jesus, and he was scorned, and how did he cope? What did he appeal to? Well, amongst other things, his old vocabulary. He denied the Lord with oaths and curses. Do you see what resources we have of ourselves and how inappropriate they are? for representing the reign of God and the creation. If God is the God who is over all the nations and he reigns by grace, if he reigns by wanting to even bring through the shepherding of his care for us to people who don't even want to know that he's in charge, then how can you represent that just by appealing to one's own ego, appealing to one's own background resources? If the Lord didn't take our side, we'd be just plain overwhelmed. That's true, isn't it? The scorn that is in this world is abominable, and it is vicious, and it's not manageable by us, and we need to take ourselves to the Lord, as the psalmist says. And so this particular psalmist in verse 2 says, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, and as the eyes of a maid servant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God. till he has mercy on us." So their eyes are looking upward to the God who reigns. And there's a choice there, isn't there? But there's a choice that's based on a very clear fact. And this clear fact is like us being servants of God, or slaves of God, if you like, or servants of God. But here, if you're in a servant place in a household, whose property are you dealing with? Whose agenda do you have to fulfill? Whose timetable is in place? How would you know what to do unless you're looking to the hand of your master? And if looking to the hand of your master suggests that you're looking to the hand of your master to do something, that is if you are under the rule of God, by nature of the case, your life is not dependent anymore on yourself, but on the hand of God. Hand of God means God does something. Somebody rudely said one time, if the Holy Spirit was taken out away from the church, 90% of what the church is would go on untroubled. That's a very rude statement and I don't think it's true at all. How much does my life depend on the fact of God doing something? And if it doesn't, then is God king? I mean, of course he is. But does it matter? Can you see how the Lord, our Father, has needed to send and has sent his beloved son, who represents to us the truth of the truth of his reign. And when we look at Christ and the fact of his coming, how has he represented that reign to us? It's very interesting to see how he's actually done that. Get myself relocated again, some notes. So I've completely lost my place here. But how has God, here it is, how has God represented his reign to us? For example, in John chapter 12 and verse 31. Here we have the son of David. Here we have, if you like, the new David. Here you have the shepherd that God has sent to us to show to us that God is reigning over all things. And what does he actually have to come and do and what kind of powers does he apply to John chapter 12 and verse 31. Now is the judgment of this world and now with the ruler of this world be cast out. Do you see that when the Lord comes, he doesn't play around the periphery? You know, the Lord healed, not healed, but he did heal, but he fed 5,000 people. And after he fed 5,000 people, people wanted to make him king. Was he interested in being king on those terms? said you only seek me because you ate of the loaves. They didn't actually see what he was actually saying. Christ didn't want to play around on the edges. Sometimes I wonder if our desire for God to be king is to actually simply fulfill the agenda we've already put in place. But God's kingship is about his own agenda, his own timetable, his own purposes, his own love. And there's no question of him being in authority, but he wants to bring us into that with him. And so Christ doesn't play around on the edges of persuading us that God is in control by just working a smart miracle that says, ah, God's in charge after all. He's wanting to go right through to the heart. And if he's going to go through to the heart, he has to actually deal with the one who's actually set up an alternative regime, an alternative trust, an alternative modifications of our wants and so forth, with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life and so forth. He set up all those things and Christ has to go through to the heart of that and disengage our affections from the world. so that we actually know that he's actually reigning. It's an amazing thing, isn't it? And I think John has this in mind when he says, Jesus came to his own and his own received him not. Isn't that astounding? That is, we can be so satiated with the things that this world's providing, we can be so self-contented with the temporary agendas we've got, which is at the moment working out, that the fact of God's reign doesn't actually really figure. And the Lord has had to come and dismantle the whole edifice of what Satan is about. And so he says, now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And what has he got in mind? Well, he's got in mind the cross. He has to go to the cross to dismantle his false edifice of trust in our hearts that somehow everything is okay because we are managing. And so he casts him down from his evil place. In Hebrews 2 says a very similar thing. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14 and 15. It says, since therefore children share in flesh and blood, Christ himself partook of the same things through death, through death. He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage. So the world, while it's putting its case together and putting its own kingdom together, in fact has got nothing but people who are constantly afraid of death, afraid of something going wrong that will lead to death. No freedom at all in that. And then when he died on the cross and he set us loose from our sins, he sent his apostles out into the world to actually proclaim his reign, Acts 5 verse 31. And what did they actually say? The God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him in his right hand as leader and saviour to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. So if you and I are going to be persuaded about the reign of God, how are we going to be persuaded? By a miracle? Well, it might help. But what would really get through to us if He gave you repentance and forgiveness of sins? Then you would know that there's a God who doesn't just pray around on the periphery, competing with the powers of this world, saying, you can do a miracle, I can do a better one. It actually goes through to the heart of our dilemma and sets us free from our actual sins. That's the way we actually come to know that God's reigning. I can remember, if I may give somewhat of a testimony, I could just about name the date and the place on the floor where I was standing, when I actually realized that my heart was free of all my sins. That very night I went out to a meeting that we had, which dear Jeffrey spoke. He spoke about the Kingdom of God. And I can still remember the sensation of being about two inches off the ground. When does it come through to us that God is King? when your sins are forgiven. That's the load that weighs our minds down. That's what keeps us trammeled up with wanting something or other else to work out. So we'll think then that God's control. God will know that God's in control when he's removed us from our sins and announced repentance to us. What a tremendous thing it would be today if you actually heard the gospel and knew in your heart that all your sins were forgiven. You can't just go out singing. and the temporary reversals that seem so pressing, and the contestings that come from the world, would be put in their proper place. And you'd say, nothing would have any power over me at all, unless it was given to me by my father, whom I now know. Victory announced them by giving us repentance and he's installed at God's right hand, waiting until all his enemies are made a footstool for his feet. You'll know that verse in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 24, 26, where Christ is already right now seated at the right hand of the Father. We've been learning he has his humanity there and he's just waiting. That's a wonderful picture, isn't it? No restlessness here, just waiting till his enemies be made a footstool for his feet. Now we've seen something about how the kingship of Christ is actually brought through to us. So now can we come back to Psalm 123 and it says, to you we lift up our eyes. I trust that's what we've been doing. are you who are enthroned in the heavens, behold his eyes of servants look to the hands of their masters, eyes of a maidservant, the hands of a mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God till he have, isn't that interesting, till he have grace or shows us grace or has mercy upon us. It's the actual word hen which actually means grace, kindness. It's the good hearted favour that's shown to a person in need. That's the technical meaning if you like of that word. So our eyes look to the Lord until he has mercy on us. Now I find it very interesting. And I did a little check. I was only as late as this morning. I thought now, no, last night I was, it came to me that, what did the psalmist look to when they found themselves oppressed within this world of people that hate God? And you would think, in today's modern world, that when you're oppressed, you'd look for, what would the word that come to your mind? When you're oppressed, you would look for? For? Freedom, or yes, good, yes. Or when you're unjustly treated, you would look for? Justice. And I went through the various places, and it's generally, when the word justice appears, it's not what human beings are looking for, it's what God is, and what they trust God for, but it's not what they ask for. Interesting. Let me give you an example. For example, Psalm 31 verse 9. Psalm 31 verse 9. Be gracious to me Lord, same word, for I'm in distress. My eyes wasted from grief, my soul and my body also. For my life is spent with sorrow, my years with sighing, my strength failed because of my iniquity. So why is he looking for grace? Because of his iniquity and my bones waste away. And then verse 11, because of my adversaries, I become a reproach, especially to my neighbors and an object of dread to my acquaintance. I think that word iniquity is sometimes a different translation, but that's mine and it's the right one. said he, having deeply studied the Hebrew, which I haven't, but nonetheless that's what I'm told. Psalm 31 verse 10, life spent with sorrow, years with sighing, because of my iniquity, bones waste away. Because of my adversities, why do I need grace? Because of my iniquities and because of my enemies, both things. Isn't it interesting? Another one, 86, 14. I've just taken some samples. 86 and verse 14. Oh Lord, oh God, insolent men have risen up against me. Band of ruthless men seek my life. Here's the hostility of those who hate God. And they do not set you before them, but you are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. turn to me and be gracious to me, give your strength to your servant and save the son of your maidservant, show me a sign of your favor and that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because you, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me." Now what I noticed in that And why I'm doing this is that our propensity when we face injustice is to look for justice. The New Testament, the Old Testament, the Psalms don't do that. They know God is just, but when they ask God to act, when they ask to see the hand of the Lord revealed, they don't precisely ask for justice. They ask for mercy and for grace. Isn't that interesting? What does the world need to see? We think that the world needs to see justice and that is true. But what should we be actually looking for as sinners? Come to God for justice and you'll never be able to pray a decent prayer because your conscience will always be saying you're not worthy to get it. But come to God for what we should come to God for and we can ask for the whole bottle. Mercy! Graciousness, the good-heartedness of faith to those who are in need. Because what does the world need to see? Well, from one point of view, the world needs to see justice and God will do that. Let's leave that. God is good at doing that and He will do that. But what we should be looking for and what does the world need to see? The world, what we need to be looking for is mercy for me. I don't deserve to be looked after in this situation. What kind of a faithful disciple have I been? Well, I look to him for his mercy. And why would I look to him for mercy? So that the nations may look at why the Lord helped me and be ashamed. Be ashamed of what? Be ashamed of their distrust. Can you see the world not so much needs to see justice, of course it needs to see that. I'm not trying to diminish that. But what we need to look for is mercy, and that's what the world needs to see, because that's the way that God has displayed his rulership over the creation, by mercy. Wonderful, isn't it? One more reference, back to 67 in verse 1 and 2, to show that these things are not just in one or two places, but general. May God be gracious to us and bless us, and make his face shine upon us, Why? Because I'm tired. That's the reason we'd give for a start, isn't it? But why should we be so insistent and so desirous that God have mercy upon us so that your way, the way of your kingship, may be known upon the earth and your saving power amongst all nations. You got it? It's lovely, isn't it? So come back to Psalm 123 and see how appropriate it all is. Our eyes look to the Lord until he has mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, or be gracious to us and have and have mercy upon us. For we have had more than enough contempt. Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease and the contempt of the proud. But what do we come to then in verse chapter 125 and we'll finish with that. Those who trust in the Lord, that is, trust in his reign, they are like Mount Zion. Where are the pilgrims going? Well, they're going to Jerusalem. When we come to the Lord, where have we come? What's the Lord's temple now? It's not over at Jerusalem. The Lord, as it were, decommissioned his temple. when he tore the temple veil. You can come without a temple. Where is the temple? The temple is the rent flesh of Christ. That's where God has expressed his reign. That's where we come to know that he is reigning. and that's where God is right, that's why we've read, well it's wonderful that we've read Revelation 5 this morning. Worthy is he to take the scroll and to break open the seals and he takes the rest of the book of Revelation, is the Lamb of God taking the book of history, the book of the history of your life and with his nail-pierced hands breaking it open. When we come to God and the place where he reigns, we come to Christ and the broken flesh of Christ. And as we stand there and we've come to Christ, we are actually in the place of the reign of God over the whole creation. And our hearts know and leap to the thought that he is over all things. And then we can look at the various things that are taking place in our lives and we can say this also comes to me from the hand of the Lord because this event could not have happened unless the Lord brought it to me as part of his own sovereign working. Why would a man be born blind? Why would that awful thing happen? This man was not born blind, says Jesus, because of his parents' sins or because of his sins. How prurient we are wanting to know what sin reasons there are, why things go wrong. This man was born blind so that the works of God could be made manifest in him. What a wonderful way to live out the rest of our lives. Why this Tuesday? well this Tuesday is the Tuesday given to us for the wonderful works of God. So those who trust in the Lord, 1, 2, 5, those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion which can't be moved but abides forever, not because it's just a mountain, because it's sort of the special center of Jerusalem, but because it's the place that represents God's reign upon the earth. As the mountains surround Jerusalem so the Lord surrounds his people from this time forth and forevermore. For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, lest the righteous stretch out their hands to do wrong. Isn't that wonderful? God is so going to look after you that you will never be stretched beyond your endurance so as to sin. Isn't that lovely? What can we trust God for in our lives? Well, trust him for everything. And then he says, Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, that is, those who are good because they're trusting in the Lord, and to those who are upright in their hearts, but to those who turn aside to their crooked ways, the Lord will lead away evildoers. But peace be upon Israel. Dear Father, we bless you because you have appointed your son head over all things for the church. And you've appointed him head over all things in order that there may be nothing lacking of all your purpose for the creation. But what we're amazed at ourselves, our Father, is that we who have not wanted to know that you reigned over anything, have actually by your shepherd, Jesus, been brought to the knowledge of your sovereignty. Then, Father, grant to our hearts a whole stillness this morning as we know that we are forgiven. we have come under the reign of your dear son and of yourself and so our father we are glad that all things are in your hands and we bless you in his name amen