I realize I have neglected to read the form, so I think I'll do that now. The form for the Lord's Supper, found in the back of the Psalter on page 91. Page 91. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, attend to the words of the institution of the Holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ as they are delivered by the Holy Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11, 23 through 29. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he break it and said, take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, this do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. that we may now celebrate the supper of the Lord to our comfort. It is above all things necessary first rightly to examine ourselves. And that's the section we read then, the second column of page 91. The true examination of ourselves consists of these three parts. First, that everyone consider by himself his sins and the curse due to him for them to the end that he may abhor and humble himself before God. Considering that the wrath of God against sin is so great, that rather than it should go unpunished, He hath punished the same in His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, with the bitter and shameful death of the cross. Secondly, that everyone examine his own heart, whether he doth believe this faithful promise of God, that all his sins are forgiven him, only for the sake of the passion and death of Jesus Christ. and that the perfect righteousness of Christ is imputed and freely given him as his own, yea, so perfectly as if he had satisfied in his own person for all his sins and fulfilled all righteousness. Thirdly, that everyone examine his own conscience, whether he purposeth henceforth to show true thankfulness to God in his whole life and to walk uprightly before him. As also, whether he hath laid aside unfeignedly all enmity, hatred, envy, and doth firmly resolve henceforward to walk in true love and peace with his neighbor. All those then who are thus disposed, God will certainly receive in mercy and count them worthy partakers of the table of his son Jesus Christ. On the contrary, those who do not feel this testimony in their hearts eat and drink judgment to themselves. Therefore, we also, according to the command of Christ and the Apostle Paul, admonish all those who are defiled with the following sins to keep themselves from the table of the Lord and declare to them that they have no part in the kingdom of Christ, such as all idolaters, all those who invoke deceased saints, angels, or other creatures, all those who worship images, all enchanters, diviners, charmers, and those who confide in such enchantments, all despisers of God and of his word and of the holy sacraments, all blasphemers, all those who are given to raise discord, sex, and mutiny in church or state, all perjured persons, all those who are disobedient to their parents and superiors, all murderers, contentious persons, and those who live in hatred and envy against their neighbors, all adulterers, whoremongers, drunkards, thieves, usurers, robbers, gamesters, that is, gamblers, covetous, and all who lead offensive lives. All these, while they continue in such sins, shall abstain from this meat which Christ hath ordained only for the faithful, lest their judgment and condemnation be made the heavier. But this is not designed, dearly beloved brethren and sisters in the Lord, to deject the contrite hearts of the faithful, as if none might come to the supper of the Lord but those who are without sin. For we do not come to this supper to testify thereby that we are perfect and righteous in ourselves. But on the contrary, considering that we seek our life out of ourselves in Jesus Christ, we acknowledge that we lie in the midst of death. Therefore, notwithstanding, we feel many infirmities and miseries in ourselves as namely that we have not perfect faith. and that we do not give ourselves to serve God with that zeal as we are bound, but have daily to strive with the weakness of our faith and the evil lusts of our flesh. Yet since we are by the grace of the Holy Spirit sorry for these weaknesses and earnestly desire us to fight against our unbelief and to live according to all the commandments of God, therefore we rest assured that no sin or infirmity which still remaineth against our will in us can hinder us from being received of God in mercy and from being made worthy partakers of this heavenly meat and drink." So far we read the form for examination. We turn now to Psalm 63. Psalm 63. The text for the sermon is the first two verses of the psalm. Psalm 63, O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee, Thus will I bless thee while I live, I will lift up my hands in thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as with morrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help, Therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. My soul followeth hard after thee, thy right hand upholdeth me, but those that seek my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth. They shall fall by the sword, they shall be a portion for foxes, but the king shall rejoice in God. "'Everyone that sweareth by him shall glory, "'but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.'" So far we read God's holy word. The text again, the first two verses, and just a couple of changes to note the more literal translation. "'O God, my God thou art, I am seeking Thee. My soul thirsteth for Thee. My flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, to see Thy power and Thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible is a marvelous gift of God. His revelation to his people of his greatness, his glory and his saving work. There are passages. That are so high. That we say with the psalmist, I cannot attain unto it. It is too high for me. There are passages that are so profound, such as John chapter one, which speaks of the eternal word. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God and the word became flesh. There are other passages that express emotions so powerful, emotions of joy, emotions of sorrow that We wonder if we will ever be able to express such things, ever be able to rise to such a height, or whether we will ever experience such a depth. Such a text is found here in Psalm 63. It is the song of a believer, David, It is a song that expresses such deep desire for God that, again, you wonder, can I actually say these words myself? In the historical context is given in the in the introduction really, just before verse 1, a psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. The fact that verse 11 refers to the king, the king shall rejoice, indicates that David writes this when he is king. And this is probably then the time when Absalom rose up against him, and when it seemed as though most of Israel rose up against David in support of Absalom. And David, not wanting to destroy, to have a battle in the middle of the city of Jerusalem, decided that he would leave Jerusalem, he and a band of people, and they went out into the wilderness. Understand that to know what these verses mean, it isn't important for us to know exactly the time or the circumstance of David, but it does seem as though that's the time. In this psalm, David sings with confidence. Oh God, my God thou art. That's confidence. He's not doubting that. He is absolutely certain that his enemies will be overcome. They will descend, he says in verse 9, into the lower parts of the earth. The sword will take their life. He's confident in God. In this psalm, he sings of his great longing for God. It's a song of a man who is separated from the God whom he loves with all his heart. with all his being. He cannot wait, you might say, until he can be in the presence of God once again in Jerusalem. David describes himself and he describes his own longing. This is a very personal psalm, as of course the psalms are. But the psalms are unique. All of Scripture is inspired by Jesus Christ and His Spirit. But the Psalms are the personal expression. And they're the expression of the psalmist, as they have it here, David. But because the Spirit of Jesus Christ is giving these words, we have to understand that in a certain sense, these are Jesus' words. He expresses this great longing for God. And it's only because they are His longing that the Spirit that comes into David can express the same kind of longing. But that's how they become ours. Because this is our song. And the Spirit gives us this kind of longing so that we can sing with David, oh God, My God thou art, I am seeking thee. That kind of longing. And that's what I use for preparatory. Because that should be our desire as we approach the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper, when we approach the Lord's Supper, we are obviously expressing a sorrow for our sins. We will examine ourselves this week, and we will see our sins and our sinful nature, and we will come to the table of the Lord saying, I am a sinner. We also will express as we come to the table of the Lord, our confidence that our sins are forgiven in the blood of Jesus Christ. And that's the only way. But the Lord's supper is also a supper. And a supper is a place where there is fellowship, where there is communion. And therefore we come to the supper of the Lord with that expression, I long for fellowship with God. And that's what this psalm expresses. And yet you understand as you read these words the difficulty for us. It expresses such an intense desire for God that we might wonder, really, can I? Do I have that kind of longing for God as is expressed in this psalm? But we must. By the grace of God, We will be filled with that kind of desire to fellowship with him. Let's consider then these verses under the theme thirsting for God in a spiritual desert. We'll notice in the first place, our parched souls. Secondly, the blessed desire. And thirdly, our confident seeking David, is crying out out of a parched and dry soul. We said already that he's living in the wilderness. He is literally in a dry and thirsty land. He's in the desert where rain does not fall, but exceptionally very rarely would it fall there. It's a dry and parched land. Hardly anything lives there. No plants, animals only pass through. The sun bakes the land and everything that is in it day after day after day and nothing can live very long there. It's miserable, it's desolate. This certainly added to the misery of David who left his comfortable home and the city of Jerusalem behind and now lives on the hard baked land in the wilderness. But David was not concerned, first of all, about his living conditions. He was not so concerned about the fact that it wasn't a very nice place to live. Rather, his concern is spiritual. And the desert in which he lived was an apt picture of the way he felt his soul was existing. in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. Water itself is a picture. Water and life are very much connected. Everything needs water. Plants need water, animals, all people need it. Water sustains life and water refreshes and it renews. David was far from Jerusalem. He was living separate from the whole religious life of the nation, separate from the tabernacle, separate from the sacrifices, separate from the life, life with God. And those things were the means of faith for him, as preaching is the means of faith for us, For the Israelite, it was those Old Testament pictures. It was the sacrifices that pointed them to the Messiah. It was the life of the covenant that you experience there at the tabernacle of God. But all he sees around him is death, a dry and thirsty land, a desolate land, nothing for his soul. And that's what's drying up. He could feel his spiritual life becoming weaker and weaker and ebbing away. That's true of David. But it was also true if you step back now and think, but this is a psalm that the spirit of Jesus Christ has given to David, and therefore this is the word of Jesus himself describing his life. in the midst of this world. And it's very appropriate. He left the joy, the life of fellowship with the Father. He was in the bosom of the Father enjoying life with God. And he came into this world. He came in the form of a servant. It would not be a pleasant life. He would He would have all the restrictions that we have, and he would live under the law. In this life, no one was so conscious of the fact that this is a spiritual wasteland, a desert, as was Jesus. A sin-cursed world. A world of death. A world of corruption. That's why Jesus can say, oh God, my God thou art, my soul longs for thee. He was in the wilderness of this world of sin, not his sin, of course, but the sin of his people. He came into the sphere of death. in the sphere of corruption and the curse. He came to battle sin and Satan in this world. He took upon himself our guilt and he would bear the wrath of God, the catechism says, all his life long. He would bear that wrath. And especially when he hung there on the cross, and the hot, horrible wrath of God poured out upon him, so that he could not see anything of the fellowship of God. And he cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And at the end of that ordeal, I thirsted. And that was a physical thirst, of course, because of what he had gone through. But there's a spiritual dimension of that. My soul thirsts for thee. These are the words of Jesus. But not only David, not only Jesus, but the words of God's people at different times in their lives. Because this world is a spiritual wilderness. It's a desert place. Now that can be deceiving because we're not living literally in a desert. And if you would say to people, you understand the way I feel, I feel as though I'm living in a spiritual desert, they would say, are you out of your mind? Look, look at all you have. You can go to the grocery store and you can buy anything you want there. You can find restaurants anywhere you go and find plenty to eat. And you can take care of your mind. There are schools around, grade schools, high schools, universities, libraries. You can fill your mind. There's cultural things for you to enjoy. The world offers its movies and plays and symphonies, the art galleries, the museums, the cultural centers, and you have radio and television and the internet at your fingertips that can take you anywhere in the world. How can you call this place a desert? How can you say that your soul feels parched and dried when all around you, you have all these opportunities? But for all that, that's what this world is for a believer. It's a desert. Because all that I've just said, that man says, look at all these opportunities, look at all the fun and the relaxation and all the things for your body, they are only for the body and for the earthly mind. They're all by men and for men and directed toward men's kingdom. It's all ultimately for the kingdom of the Antichrist. There isn't anything good in this world for the soul, for the spiritual soul. What the world has to offer is like sawdust for the soul. If you take that in your mouth, you'll be only more dried out. It destroys man's spiritual soul. This world will destroy it. All the education, all the culture, all the fine food does not provide one spiritual crumb for your soul, nothing. That's what David has experienced. That's what God's people experience in their life. How does a person come to this? How does a person come to the point where he knows this is true of him, for him, and he cries out with David? Well, sad to say, it's often by a deliberate sin that a believer reaches this point. For David, you understand he's out in the wilderness because of his horrible sins with Bathsheba, murder, adultery, and God said the sword will never depart from your family. And so it hasn't. And his son picked up the sword and chased him out of Jerusalem. Other times God's people left when they shouldn't have. Abraham going down to Egypt. Elimelech and Nehomai going to Moab. Lot going to Sodom. And so today too it can be a deliberate spiritual journey into a spiritual desert. A choice that a believer makes. to forsake the church and go and live as the prodigal son who also was starving. Or a man who, for the sake of bread, that is, for money, for a better job, forsakes the church, forsakes the truth, and discovers he is in a spiritual wilderness where there's nothing for his soul. So the child of God can drift away. Drift away from God. The Bible is full of examples of that. You think of Judah, the son of Jacob who forsook his family and went to live with the Canaanites and the horrible consequences of that. Or Judah that forsook God, wandering farther and farther away from him until God gave them into the hands of the Babylonians. They were in a spiritual wilderness. So the child of God can drift. So that our prayers become a mere formality. And they become less and less frequent. So that reading the word of God is something we do, but There's no joy there. There's no digging into the scriptures. It's just a surface reading. And after a while, we don't have time for that. So that church attendance becomes a mere custom, just what we do. And perhaps that begins to suffer as well. And before you know it, the soul is parched and dry. Can I add that even if we do not walk away from the truth, do not forsake the church, nor cast us into this extreme circumstances of David, we are still in the wilderness of this world. We are still surrounded by those who have no use for God, have no use for his word, cannot feed our souls in this place. And sometimes it's persecution. So that the church runs for its very life and is not able to have worship services and is scattered and finds itself very much in the wilderness. That's when the parched soul begins to long for God. Thirst. Again, a graphic picture, isn't it? We all know something about thirst. Even little children who come in on a hot day and say, Mom, I need a drink of water. I'm so thirsty. Thirst. Powerful. You can't put aside thirst. You can get so thirsty you can hardly speak. You can't get your mind off from it. It consumes you. I must have something to drink. God made us that way so that when we are thirsty, we are simply focused in on that. We must have something to drink. In Exodus 17, when Israel was out in the wilderness at Rephidim and they'd had no water to drink, the people were ready to stone Moses to death because he couldn't give them water. A person who is thirsty will not rest until he has something to drink. The text says, now take that, take that powerful, powerful drive for something to drink. Thirst for God, that's what we're talking about, a thirst for God. David says that, I thirst for thee. He longed for God as a dying man in a desert longs for something to drink. So David longs for God. He knew his urgent need. It consumed his whole being. Notice that. My soul thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee. The whole of my being, body and soul yearning for God. That was David. And that was Jesus. He knew his need. Oh, he knew how much he needed his father and desired his fellowship. He went to his heavenly father at every opportunity that he could, prayed. He spent sometimes whole nights in prayer, so much he longed for God, so much he needed to have fellowship with God. And the Word he memorized, and that Word he studied, and he drew all the strength that he possibly could from the Word. And especially as he drew near to the end of his life, how he needed God. Read his beautiful prayer in John 17, the night before he died. So what of us? We are no less dependent on God. God gives us life, spiritual life. We cannot live on our own. We cannot. We need the constant supply of spiritual food, as our earthly bodies must have food and drink to sustain them, so our souls cannot live without spiritual food. Do we realize how much we need God? I fear that that's rare indeed, that we really understand that. We're so wrapped up in earthly things. They so satisfy our soul from a different perspective that we think we're full, we think we're fine, when in fact we can be languishing spiritually. So who has this desire and how does this come about that a person cries out with David, The answer is, of course, God has to create this in us. It's not natural. God creates it in us, first of all, by giving us life. A dead body does not experience thirst. A person who is spiritually dead does not long for God. Never does. God gives us life. And he brings to our parched condition the need that we have. He makes us to understand how important it is, what a great need this is to have God. Think of Jesus at the well of Samaria and that Samaritan woman. And how He was speaking to her in order to make her understand her spiritual need to quicken within her a proper thirst for God, a thirst for the truth. And how He showed her her sins. And how He showed her that He was the true Savior that could give a water with which she would never thirst again. He was creating within her the thirst, the recognition. That comes to a child of God when he recognizes that we're in a desert. I cannot be fed by the things of this world. I need God. Absolutely. Then he longs for God. He longs for God as David longed for Him with great thirst. It can come through adversity. Sometimes God brings us through great trials and sorrows in order to make us recognize how insufficient we are for ourselves, how nothing in this world can help me. I need God. We go to Him then, cry out to Him, Sometimes through great trouble because of our own sin and the spiritual pain that that brings. Or sometimes in a more positive way, it's by meditating in God's Word and praying for Him that He makes us more and more love Him and more and more long for Him. But God creates it. He makes a person desire that, the thirst which God alone can quench. Isaiah speaks of that in Isaiah chapter 55, 1. Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. Or what Jesus himself said on the great day of the feast in John chapter 7. The great day of the feast, he cried out, if any man thirsts, let him come unto me. He that believeth on me, as the scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And he says, that's the spirit. That's the next verse. Or even in heaven itself, this is spoken of in Revelation 22, verse 17, And the Spirit and the bride say, Come, and let him that heareth say, Come, and let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. God creates the thirst. God creates a desire, and that desire is certainly a blessed desire. That desire is expressed in verse 2. This is what I want. To see thy power and thy glory. Both the power and the glory of God come with God's saving of his people. The power, first of all, is the power to save. Because what is power? Power is the strength to accomplish what you will to do. It's the ability, the strength to do what you need to do. That's power. God has all power. He upholds heaven and earth. The sun rises and sets by the power of God. The snow falls and blankets the earth by the power of God. The seasons change from one to another by the power of God. God's power controls everything, all men, all creatures. But here the emphasis is on the saving power of God. David can see the power of God and the creation around him, but it's the saving power that he wants to see. The Bible speaks of that. In Psalm 21, one, the king showed joy in thy strength, O Lord, and in thy salvation. How greatly shall he rejoice? Strength, salvation. Or again, in Psalm 77, thou art the God that doest wonders, thou that hast declared thy strength the wonder is the power of the wonderful miraculous power of God to save and his strength or again Psalm 119 verse 18 verse 14 the Lord is my strength and song and has become my salvation strength salvation That's what David longs to see. The power of God to save. The power that alone is able to save from sin. The power that alone is able to save from the enemy that oppresses and seeks the destruction of God's people. He wants to see the power of God. He wants to see the glory of God. The glory of God is the radiance of all His perfections, all God's infinite perfections, His love, His mercy, His truth, His power. All of those things are infinite and they are a glorious, glorious light emanating from God. God is revealed in His glory. Yes, in the creation. but in His saving work especially. Numbers 14.21, for example, as truly as I live, as the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, because all those men which have seen my glory and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, his saving power, that's where his glory was revealed. And again, Psalm 115, verse one, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. That's his glory, the glory revealed in his saving work. So where does David want to go? Does he want to go back to the Red Sea and see where God opened up the waters and delivered Israel? Does he want to go to the battlefields where Israel was fighting the Philistines and the hail stones came down and killed the Philistines? No. He said, I want to go to the sanctuary. That's where I want to see the power and the glory of God in salvation. In that day, of course, for David, it was the tabernacle where the ark was. It's the place where God chose to dwell with his people. God had filled that tabernacle with his glory. That's where God dwelt. That's the place where God would fellowship with his people, where they could draw near. David is thirsting for him. That's where he wanted to be, where God was. And that, of course, is exactly what happens with believers when they are afflicted and they see their sins, because that's what affliction reminds us of. What do we deserve from God? We deserve affliction. And so we see our sins and we say, I need to see the power of God and the glory of God that delivers me from my sin. The power of God. When David would look at the. The sacrifices and see the guilt transferred from the person to the animal. God's power to transfer guilt. to an animal that would then be burned. And he would see the glorious wrath of God consuming that animal and recognize there is salvation, God saving me from my sin. That's the power, the power of God, the glory of God in the redemption by blood. So that we can know that glorious, saving power of God. That's what David longed to see. And that, of course, is in the Messiah. That's in the Messiah. The one who was promised, the one who was typified in the lamb that is consumed on the altar, the one that is typified in the high priest in his beautiful, spotless white robes pointing ahead to Jesus Christ, who would be both the high priest and the sacrifice, and the power of Jesus that would come and destroy the enemies of the church and save his people. All of that realized in Jesus and his cross. He is the glory of God, God in the flesh, the revelation of God in perfection. He's the power of God unto salvation. There is none other. He would take upon himself the guilt of his people. He would take upon himself the wrath of God. He would finish it, completely finish it, and destroy in the process the enemies of sin and the enemies of the devil and the enemies of this world and hell itself and the grave. He would destroy all of that. The power to save. in Jesus alone. And by that, he would then open up the way into the most holy place so that God's people could go and fellowship with God. For us today, the church, the worship service, is what the child of God longs, where he longs to be. Because that's where the gospel is preached. That's where Jesus Christ crucified is set before us. The glory and the power of God to save. The mighty power of God that destroyed Satan and all the enemies of God's people. and delivered us from sin. That's our greatest concern. Our first concern is not the world out there that might oppress us. It's our sin. That's what's on our mind. Our wretched old man of sin. That's like a spiritual leech that is sucking the lifeblood out of us and leaving our souls parched and dried. That is our great concern. It's in the sanctuary that that old man of sin is once again put to death, where the new is quickened, made stronger, where we receive the food and drink for our souls, which we cannot find in the wilderness of this world. That's where we behold the power and the glory of God here in the sanctuary. Now, the desire of God's people is not merely here. We don't stop here. Obviously, ultimately, it's heaven. It's being able to be in glory, to behold the glory and the power of God as the saints now in heaven are extolling as they stand around the throne and they sing the praises of God and the Lamb. His power, His glory, they are praising. That's ultimately what this psalm is speaking of, not merely that we can go to church. This is where we want to be because this is where we see the power and glory, but ultimately it's heaven. That's our blessed desire. And for that, we seek. Confidently. Confidently. The confidence of David, O God, thou art my God. That's quite something to say that. That's a personal confession. This is not the words of the ungodly. They never have this desire. They do not know the love of God. They hate God, they will never seek Him. This is a confession of faith. Someone who has known the blessedness of fellowship with God, has tasted of His goodness, has known the joy of Father's house, has seen His power and His glory there in that house, but he's missing that. And he seeks it. And he seeks it confidently. Take note of that. This kind of confidence in God, this kind of confidence in salvation leads to seeking God, fleeing the world. The Arminian says, If you are so confident that God will save you, you're chosen and you have sovereign grace, that will lead to a Christian who is, who doesn't care. I can live as I please. I'm saved anyway. And this Texas, no, that's not how the child of God who has confidence responds. Nor is it the mystical One who looks at us and says, oh, you people have easy believism. You just, you believe and therefore you know you're going to heaven. No, what you need is, is an experience and, and you're, you need to doubt day after day. That's not what David says. Oh God, thou art my God. Tremendous confidence and seeking, seeking this God. wanting to be near to him, desiring to enjoy fellowship with this God. That's what this text expresses. And that seeking is exactly what we must do. Continuously, not occasionally, not when it suits us, Not in a cold and formal manner. I tell you the word seeking, it's very basic meaning is to break in as if you're standing on the outside and nothing can keep you out. You will break in seeking God. That's the sentence. Earnest. All the while looking toward heaven. We seek him, seek him early. We seek him. We get up in the morning and we. We look to God. Yes, I'm busy. Yep, I have school. I have work. I have things to do. But. Through it all. That's the one I'm seeking. I'm seeking God. Early. All through the day. Young and old. we seek God. But until the day that we reach heaven, we seek God here in church. That's one of the things we should draw from this, the importance of being here in church. And of being here not merely in body, but having our souls filled with a desire. We long for God. We desire to see his glory and his power. That's what must fill our souls when we come to church. Not only because the preaching of the gospel, but also because the sacraments. They too point to the power and glory of God to save in Jesus Christ. And so we prepare ourselves. We see our sins. We confess them before God. We recognize our total dependence. And we examine ourselves as we come to the table of the Lord, but we come with great longing. fellowship with God, enjoying Him. May God give us that grace. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank Thee for Thy abundant goodness to us, that we have the right to draw near to the God of heaven and earth, and that Though our natural condition is to hate and flee from Thee, Thou hast put in our hearts a desire to seek Thee. So, Lord, quicken that every day. Make us to live unto Thee and to draw near to Thee with joy and confidence for Jesus' sake. Amen. We sing that psalm, a versification in Psalm 100, Psalter number 164. 164, Thou art my God, O God of grace, and earnestly I seek Thy face, my heart cries out for thee. Let's sing all the stanzas, number 164. Thy spirit burns like mist through trees, and exhaled in the desert breeze in which no water flows. Yes, in the times of old thy power and glory to behold lived in thy holy place because thy I wish to be by His side. Praise to thy holy name, and like a mountain of sunshine, and shall my soul be satisfied. When I'm blind, when I'm lost and blind, when there is need of me, because my head not ceases to be beneath the shadow I once was lost, but now am found. be mine. And whatsoever he saves me now, who in his grace be mine? By all his creatures let his name be honored and adored. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his countenance, lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. Amen.