Our scripture reading this evening is Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews 12. The text for the sermon is verses 25 to the end of the chapter, and I will not reread that. Hebrews chapter 12. Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation, which speaketh unto you as unto children, my son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently, lest any man feel of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. Lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright, for ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. But they could not endure that which was commanded, and if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. But ye are come unto Mount Zion. and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of Sprinkly, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Now the text begins here to the end of the chapter. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh, for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. Whose voice then shook the earth, but now he hath promised saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. So far we read God's holy word. Just notice a couple of things in the translation, especially verse 28. 28 says, wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, that's literally a kingdom which cannot be shaken. So it's using the same word that's used in verse 26 and 27, God's shaking. But the kingdom that we receive cannot be moved or shaken, literally. And then in that same verse, let us have grace whereby we may serve God. You have really two exhortations there. Let us have grace and then whereby let us serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. So that is the text for the sermon tonight, verses 25 through 29. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, the text begins with an admonition, see that ye refuse not him that speaketh. And this is following directly upon the text that we considered last time, verses 18 through 24, and very much tied to the reason why God gave the text that we consider, remember, to encourage the Hebrew Christians not to go back to the old way of worshiping God, not to go back to the Old Testament way of worshiping God with sacrifices, but rather to remain faithful to their confession that Jesus is the Messiah. The passage that we considered last week demonstrated that they had left behind Mount Sinai, God coming to meet Israel surrounded by signs of judgment, the fire and the smoke, the lightning and the thunder, the ground shaking, all signs of God's judgment. the sound of the trumpet and God speaking his law to them and the people then running away in terror from what they saw and what they heard. And he says, you have not come to that mount. When you confess Jesus, that's not where you came, not to that mount, but rather you have come to Mount Zion, beautiful Mount Zion. And then he puts one thing on after another, just heaping up the beautiful and the blessings that they have their beautiful Mount Zion, the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the angels praising Jesus, all the members of the church being firstborn and so on and so on. That's where your confession of Jesus has taken you, not to Mount Sinai, but to Mount Zion. And that brings us to the text, which is the final warning and that whole message that he's been building up upon since Hebrews 1, verse 1, all the way to this point, the final warning, see them. See them. It stresses the importance of considering what He just set before them, those two mountains. The beginning words are translated in another part in this book, chapter 3, 12, take heed, take heed. The point is, do not simply wave off what I just said to you. Do not ignore it. It's too important of a matter. Give it your full consideration. What is your response to what was just said, just set before you? See that you do not refuse him that speaketh unto you. The word refuse is the same word translated in verse 8, 19, that they entreated. They heard God speaking and they entreated that God would not speak to them any longer. And now this verse says, see that you don't do that. See that you do not refuse to hear the one speaking. The Israelites could not bear it. They did not want to hear it. In the end, they rejected God's word to them. And now the text comes to the Hebrew Christians and to us and says, take heed to yourself. Do not follow the way of the rebellious Israelites who refused to listen to the word of God. That brought upon them dire judgments. Rather, the inspired writer, will lead us to see that these Hebrew Christians and we have an eternal kingdom, an eternal kingdom in which to worship God. So the opening admonition, see that ye refuse not him that speaketh. A couple of things about that. First of all, it's obviously negative. See that you do not refuse. In the theme, we'll put it in the positive. See that ye listen. See that ye listen will be the idea. And then he that speaketh unto you is obviously God. But now go back to the very beginning of the book of Hebrews and remember, how does God speak to us? Through his son. And that's why we take as the theme with the sermon tonight, the final admonition to hear God's son. The final admonition to hear God's son. And then the three things, first of all, the inescapable judgment that is talked about right there in verse 25. Secondly, the sovereign shaking Verses 26 and 27 talk about God shaking. And then thirdly, the eternal kingdom that is described in verse 28. So first of all, as we consider this under the theme, the final admonition to hear God's son, we consider the inescapable judgment of those who will not hear. And the point is driven home for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. They that refused is of course Old Testament Israel who refused to hear God speaking to them. Refuse means to lay aside, to beg off. Jesus used that word in the parable of the great wedding feast when his servants of the king went out and invited people, called them to the feast. And one after another, they made excuses. That's the idea of refusing. They refused to come because they made all kinds of excuses why they shouldn't come. This is what Israel did, according to verse 19, when they said, they entreated that God not speak to us any longer. This is the same people that when Moses came down from the mount and his face was aglow, and they said to Moses, put a veil over you. We can't look at that glory of God that is shining from your face. And 2 Corinthians points out the problem was not that they couldn't stand the brightness. The problem is they didn't want to see the glory of God in Jesus Christ. And so they said to Moses, cover it up. We can't stand to look at it. This is Israel. Israel showed its rebellious nature all through its history, starting already in the land of Egypt, when Moses and Aaron came and things became a bit tough with Pharaoh on them, and they refused to listen to Aaron. Aaron and Moses no longer leave us alone. At the Red Sea, when they saw Pharaoh approaching, they were ready to stone Moses to death. Time and again in the wilderness, they rebelled against Moses. When they arrived at the door of Canaan, Kadesh Barnea and the ten tribes came back with the evil report. They rejected the word of Joshua and Caleb and they refused to enter into Canaan. The book of Hebrews has given a number of illustrations of the the rebellious nature of Israel through its history. In chapter three, beginning at verse eight, harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day and the temptation, when your fathers tempted me, proved me, saw my works 40 years, and God then swear they shall not enter into my rest. Or again in chapter four, Hebrews chapter four, the first verse, Let us fear lest a promise being left us of entering into the rest. Any of you should seem to come short of it for unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. So God's judgment came on Israel. When they refused to enter into Canaan, God sent them back out into the wilderness, and a whole generation perished in the wilderness. Under God's wrath, they experienced plagues and fiery serpents and death. In Canaan, when they rebelled against God, God sent their enemies to oppress them and to make them subject to the heathen. Ultimately, Jerusalem was destroyed, and the temple of God destroyed, and the palace of the king. The voice that they heard was the voice of God speaking to them ordinarily through the prophets that God sent to them, Moses, and Elijah, and Isaiah, and Haggai, and so on through the Old Testament. If they did not escape, when the prophets came from God and they refused to hear them, that's what verse 25 is talking about. God came down to them even on Mount Sinai and they would not listen. Verse 25 says, if they escape not who refused him that spake on earth. That word spake is a kind of an unusual word, which means to exhort or to warn or to instruct. And it often has the idea that someone comes in the name of the Lord and gives you a message from God. This is the word used That describes Joseph being warned of God in a dream of what Herod intended to do, kill all the children of Bethlehem. It's the word used when Cornelius the centurion was warned by an angel to send for Peter. He was instructed to send for Peter or of Noah being warned of God of things not come as yet. God sent prophets who warned in the name of God, admonished, taught the people. But ultimately it was God's own son that they refused to hear. They rejected Jesus and they put him to death. Israel as a nation was rejected by God. when they rejected God's own Son, the Messiah. If they escaped not, what about those who today will not listen to the Word of God? As it says, Much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. Speaketh from heaven. So there's a contrast here. Who is the one speaking to us from heaven? And that, of course, is the exalted Lord Jesus Christ sitting upon the throne. Recall again, I read reference to that earlier, but the very first two verses of Hebrews in chapter one, God, who at sundry time and in diverse manners, spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds. God speaks through his son, the son enthroned in the heavens because he accomplished everything that his father sent him to do, taking upon himself flesh. He revealed the father. He willingly took on himself the guilt of his people's sins and paid for their sins and defeated the power of sin and the power of the devil. Therefore, God raised him up from the dead, exalted him to the height of heaven, and set him down at his own right hand in glory. It is the Son, therefore, speaking from heaven that continues to speak. God is still speaking, but it's through the Son. Notice the tense there. If we turn away from him that speaketh, he's still speaking to us, not a God who spoke and is finished, but a God who speaks. Christ still speaks and he commands all men everywhere to repent and believe. He does that through the written word, but especially through the preached word, as he, the king of heaven and earth sends his ambassadors, the preachers of the gospel with the message to preach Christ crucified and risen again. Repent, believe, and submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ. That's the word that continues to go forth into all the earth. And so that's the point of comparison from the lesser, that is the Israelites who heard the word of God from the one on the earth to those today who are hearing the word of God sent out of heaven from Jesus himself. If the Old Testament hearers who ignored the word of God did not escape judgment. And again, the book of Hebrews says that frequently. Already in chapter two of Hebrews, we read that if the word spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which began to be spoken by the Lord, confirmed unto us by them that heard him, and so on." Again in chapter 10. He that despised Moses' law, verse 28, chapter 10, 28, he that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God and counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and done despite unto the Spirit of grace. a terrible judgment awaits those who will not hear the word of Jesus Christ. This should take away all false notions that people sometimes present that the God of the Old Testament, oh, He was stern. He was strict. He could be harsh. But the God of the New Testament, oh, He's all love. He's all smiles. You don't have to worry about that. If you sin, your sins have been paid for. God never becomes unhappy when you walk in sin. The last verse of the chapter eliminates that. Our God is a consuming fire. Our God. Not merely God, but our God, the God that we confess, the God that we serve is a consuming fire. He destroys with his consuming fire. He is jealous for his glory. He does not smile at sin. He chastens his people, he punishes the ungodly, he consumes them. That's what he is. In fact, the judgments for those in the new dispensation are more severe than even they were for the Israel of old, and rightly so. The Old Testament people were like children from a spiritual point of view. They did not have the Spirit of Jesus Christ. They did not have the spiritual understanding of a spiritual adult, so to speak. And besides that, they were taught by pictures. Now, pictures are a wonderful thing to help you understand something, to visualize something, but the message of pictures is not always so clear and obvious. If you think about that, what exactly, if you look at this picture exactly, what is it instructing us to believe and to do? Pictures teaching us and showing us what we should do. That's far more difficult than someone simply telling you. what to believe and what to do. They had pictures and the pictures pointed ahead to things that they couldn't see to a Messiah that was coming and from the pictures it seemed he would lay down his life and from the pictures it seemed that he must be in some way very God From the pictures, they got the idea that there is a covenant of friendship that the Messiah would establish with his people. And so. The Old Testament pictures. Came. But now, today, Christ has come. His work is very clear. His identity is fully revealed. The way of salvation is completely expressed to us. It's all of faith, all of grace, nothing of works. Are works required? Absolutely. But not because they earn anything, rather simply because they're a way of thanking God. So the demand is believe in Jesus Christ, live out of faith, live out of the life of gratitude, which includes good works. They are required as a way of saying thanks, but they earn absolutely nothing. If one hears this very clear message of the gospel and yet refuses to heed, he can only expect a dreadful judgment. Again, God is a consuming fire. And when Jesus came, he expressed to us what that would be like, an eternity of suffering, the wrath of God, a burning fire, pain and sorrow and wailing and gnashing of teeth that never ends. The judgment is inescapable for those who will not hear God speaking. More evidence is seen in the divine shaking. This is found in verses 26 and 27. We read there, whose voice then shook the earth. But now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And then verse 27 explains that. And this word, yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. That's not so easy to understand. First of all, when God talks about a shaking, then we should think of an earthquake. We come an earthquake. An earthquake is a sign of judgment. And it's a sign of judgment that is, as we all know, connected to the second coming of Jesus Christ. God promised this, all right? Well, where did God promise that? He promised it in Haggai chapter two. Let me read a couple of verses from Haggai chapter two, verses six and seven. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, yet once it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come now. Probably many of you are thinking, hey, that's the Messiah. That's the Messiah. And that's a reference to the coming of Jesus. And the desire of all nations shall come. That's Jesus who will come. That's the promise then in Haggai. Yet once it is a little while, God says in Haggai, and I will shake the coming of Jesus Christ into the world in a certain sense was a shaking of the world. It was the destruction of the old covenant. It was the destruction of the old way of worshiping God through sacrifices and the Passover and ceremonies. It was the destruction also of the kingdoms of this world, of Satan's power. It was overcome when Jesus died and rose again. Haggai says, yet a little while. It was 500 years about after he prophesied that, that Jesus came and accomplished what God sent him to do. God shook the very foundations of the worship of God, the Old Testament way, and even the foundations of the world. Now, how does that match here with Hebrews 12, which says, whose voice then shook the earth? And that may well and probably does refer to God shaking the earth, Mount Sinai, His voice then shook the earth then. But now, he says, he promises, I will shake. I will shake once more, not only the earth, but the heavens. Clearly, what Hebrews is talking about is the second coming of Jesus Christ, which is connected throughout with earthquakes. Earthquakes. Matthew chapter 24, verse 7. One of the signs of Jesus coming is pestilences, earthquakes in diverse places. And then in verse 29 of Matthew 24, looking at the very end, when Jesus comes immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened The moon shall not give her light, the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Same word used in the text. And again, the book of Revelation, as it's describing the coming of Jesus Christ, repeatedly refers to earthquakes. Chapter six, verse 12, the opening of the sixth seal brings a great Earthquake. And chapter 8, verse 5, when the angel took the fire from the censer and cast it onto the earth, there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake. And one more reference in chapter 16, verse 18, Chapter 16 verse 18 of Revelation says, and there were voices and thunders and lightnings and a great earthquake, such as there was not since men were upon the earth so mighty an earthquake and so great. So how does Haggai and Hebrews 12 and Revelation all fit together? Haggai is talking about the coming of Jesus, prophesying of his coming. And Hebrews and Revelation are looking at his second coming. Now, you know. That when God talks about the coming of Jesus. It is all one work. One work. His first coming, his second coming is all one work. And sometimes even the Bible will describe it as one day, one day. And that's hard for us to grasp because Jesus was born some 2000 years ago and he still hasn't come. And how can you describe this as being one day? Well, again, God isn't concerned about time. As the Bible says, one day is a thousand years, a thousand years is one day. To God, time means nothing. What's important is the one work of God in Jesus Christ. So that, first of all. And then secondly, when the prophets were looking ahead to the coming of Jesus Christ, they saw it then as one work. And there might have been many different events separated by many years, but when they looked ahead, they saw one work and that's how they described it. One great example of that is the prophecy of Joel that Peter quoted in Acts 2. The prophet Joel said that the spirit of God will be poured out upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Okay, that's good. But then Joel went on immediately right after that and said, and there will be fire and vapor and smoke and blood. How does that all fit together? Pentecost and the last days, he put them together. Because as he was looking, it all looked as though it went together, one work. So likewise, Haggai. Haggai looks ahead and sees an earthquake. He sees the coming of Jesus, his initial coming. Second coming to him, looking at it, it looks like one work and it is. It's not inaccurate. God did shake the earth when Jesus came the first time. As we said. Destroying, removing the Old Testament worship, destroying the power of Satan's kingdom. God shook the earth. But Hebrews 12 is talking about a different shaking, the final shaking of the creation. Verse 27 speaks of it's the removing of something that final shaking will be the removing of the things that are made. the things that are made, this world, the whole universe, even the heaven of glory, all those things that God made will be shaken and removed, removed. That's what God intends. Because you see. All this creation. will have served its purpose. The work of Jesus, when he comes, will be complete. The last elect, redeemed child of God will have been gathered into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. And therefore, there's no need for this world. There's no need for the universe. And God will shake it. And the shaking of this universe will cause it to crumble. The kingdoms of this world will crumble. The whole of the universe will crumble and be no more. But that has a purpose. Because as the text says. Yet once more signifying the removal of those things that are shaken as of things that are made that in order that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. So what would that be? Well, that's the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The spiritual kingdom of Jesus Christ. that will abide, that will remain. That's the point here. First of all, the point of Hebrews is Jesus coming the first time destroyed the Old Testament way of worshiping. That's over. And yet the true worship of God continued after Jesus came. And in the end, God will destroy all the kingdoms of this world and They will lie in heaps, but his purpose is that that which remains will abide. The shaking of the world will take away what God wants to get rid of. And then his kingdom abides. That's what verse 28 is about. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, beautiful symbolism there, all these other things will be shaken and destroyed, but this kingdom cannot be shaken. We receiving that. That's the kingdom of Jesus Christ. It's a kingdom that he established at his first coming already because he established it in righteousness when he paid for the sins of his people, justified them so that they are now called the righteous citizens of his kingdom. He maintained the justice of God and at the same time destroyed the kingdoms of this world that all oppose the kingdom of God. Their power is undone. This kingdom is eternal. It cannot be shaken. And it therefore abides. That's the kingdom already spoken of way back in Hebrews chapter 1, verse 8. But unto the Son, he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. The kingdom of Jesus Christ is forever and ever. And so interesting, the connection here that in Revelation, it is the earthquake that is connected with the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ. Listen to Revelation chapter 11, verse 13. And the same hour there was a great earthquake, and the 10th part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men 7,000, and the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven. And now verse 15, and the seventh angel sounded the trumpet, and there were great voices in heaven saying, and now I'm gonna give you the literal translation, the kingdom of this world, the anti-Christian kingdom, is become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. The kingdom of this world will lie in heaps. The kingdom of Christ will be forever and ever. That's the spiritual kingdom. That's the Mount Zion, the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem. That's the kingdom of Jesus Christ, which cannot be shaken. All the things of this creation will crumble. They will all burn with a fervent heat. The enemies of God removed and put into their eternal judgment. But we have received a kingdom. We've received it. We have it now already. And the purpose of that kingdom is that God may be worshipped and glorified forever. All the songs that we sang tonight and sing are emphasizing that. Worshipping God, his glory, his glory, Worship belongs to God alone in that eternal kingdom. There will be no competition for who will be worshiped. No competition. All through history, man has served himself. All through history, Satan has coveted and sought the worship of man for himself. Again, Verse 29 reminds us, our God is a consuming fire. That's from Deuteronomy 4, verse 24. And there it adds, our God is jealous. He is jealous. Do not worship any other God. Do not worship as you think He ought to be worshipped. Worship Him alone. as he demands. Rightly does verse 28 point out we need grace for this. Wherefore we receiving the kingdom which cannot be moved or shaken. Let us have grace. Let us have grace. What does that mean? What are we supposed to do? Let us have grace. We know that grace is an attribute of God. We know that its basic meaning is beauty, but that it's God's favor. It's also the power of God that says we are saved by grace through faith. Let us have grace. Are we supposed to seek grace? Yes. Yes, we are. Compare it to verse 14, which said, They're those that fail of the grace of God. Why? Because they turned away from him, because they rejected his word, because they would have nothing to do with him. They had no grace. But to have grace is the very opposite of that. And how do we have grace? Well, what does Ephesians 2 say? You are saved by grace through faith. Through faith. And Romans 5 too says we have access to more grace through faith. Because faith takes hold of Jesus. He's the source of all our grace. He's our strength. Have grace means simply, therefore, embrace Jesus Christ by faith. Hold fast to him. And again, it's tied to this. Listen to him. Hear his message. Believe in him. Submit yourself to Jesus. The king. By His grace, we must even now serve Him. As I pointed out, you could translate that probably better to say, whereby let us serve God. Let us serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Worshipping God not as we please, not bringing sacrifices, Hebrews, Do not bring the sacrifice and worship God in those ways. Worship Him in a way that is acceptable to Him, not with movies and dances and entertainment, not with fancy ceremonies that we enjoy. But acceptable worship is from the heart, adoring God, adoring Him. The text speaks of worshiping Him with Reverence and godly fear. And the point of both of those words is that you simply stand in awe of this great God. We see him. We see our own unworthiness. We see his greatness and his glory and his grace and mercy toward us. And we simply stand in awe of him. That's worship. We adore him. And again, to go back to the book of Revelation, can you find better words to express the awe that God's people in heaven and the angels give in chapter four, thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. For chapter five, with 10,000 times 10,000 angels, 100 million angels saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And then every creature in heaven, in earth, cry out blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever. That is God's goal. Everything else will be shaken, removed, but this kingdom will endure where God will be worshiped forever. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we so look forward to that day, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, the removing of all the things that thou hast made in order that the eternal kingdom may be all, and thy glory is revealed there completely. Until that day, make us to be faithful, to hear the one who speaks from heaven, to obey his voice, to delight in him and to serve him already now, and to worship the one only true God in and through Jesus Christ. What a privilege thou hast given us, O God. And we look forward to the complete reality expressed here. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Psalm 145B. 145b, O Lord, thou art my God and King, and I will ever bless thy name. I will extol thee every day, and evermore thy praise proclaim. We'll sing the first three. stanza eight and stanza 14, the last. So one through three, eight and 14 of 145 B. me. And I will walk. This is the hour our God promised to raise the sons of men, ♪ Then the Christmas time I shall throw ♪ ♪ Thy feet shall fill the world with hope ♪ ♪ Then all my pain is gone, all my sorrow is gone ♪ Eternal is thy kingdom, Lord, forever strong and true. ♪ Hell-wide dominion, silver moon ♪ ♪ Let us just keep the glorious praise of Him who reigns above us ♪ Forever and forevermore. And bless the Lord, ye hosts of hope, in your heavenly home. And bless the Lord, ye saints below, who with his grace Let all that breathe in praise unite to glorify his name. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. Amen.