We are reading two passages this evening at this stage. Exodus chapter 33, and then from the Gospel of John. Exodus chapter 33, if you're using the edition of the Pew Bible, you'll find it on page 87. The context here is that the Lord has now brought his people out of their slavery, their sin in Egypt. They have been at Sinai, and at Sinai he's been revealing them two great truths. First of all, how they are to worship God, and secondly then, how they are to live for God. or how they're to walk with God as his people. And of course, by this stage, that terrible incident of the Golden Calf, where the people gave up hope of Moses being their leader and made their own idol to represent God, that's all happened And God is rightly and righteously angry with his people because of their sin. And Moses has interceded on their behalf, but is uncertain as to what the future holds for the people of God, Israel. Because God was willing to blot them out and begin again with Moses. And in that context, we want to read then of when the Lord says, Moses, I want you to lead the people forward. Moses asks a very important question. The Lord said to Moses, depart, go up from here. You and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt. To the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob saying, to your offspring I will give it. I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey, but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way. For you are a stiff-necked people. When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned and no one put on his ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, say to the people of Israel, you are a stiff-necked people. If for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments that I may know what to do with you. Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onwards. Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp far off from the camp. And he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the tent, All the people would rise up and each would stand at his tent door and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent and the Lord would speak with Moses. When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship each at his tent door. Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face. As a man speaks to his friend, when Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. Moses said to the Lord, see, you say to me, bring this people up but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, I know you by name, and you've also found favor in my sight. Now, therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your way that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people. And he said, my presence, will go with you and I will give you rest. Then we turn in the New Testament to the Gospel of John chapter 14. John chapter 14. And of course we have a different, we're in a different age, different context. But the Lord Jesus is now going to be leaving his disciples, returning to heaven by the cross. The disciples are concerned and anxious about that and what that will mean for them. And so we read John chapter 14, page 1086. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known the Father. Also, from now on you do know him, and have seen him. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long, and you will still And you still do not know me, Philip. Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak in my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. Amen. Well, let us again unite together in prayer. Let us pray. We thank you, almighty God, for the word of God. We thank you for the written word, the word that the spirit gave in the past that came via prophets and through visions and dreams when you spoke in various ways and at different times. And then in the last days, 2,000 years ago, you spoke through your son and his apostles. We thank you that that word was written down that we have a more sure word of prophecy. We thank you that this word is trustworthy. We thank you that you have preserved your word down through the centuries. And though the words that ordinary men have written have come and gone and have largely after a time been forgotten, the word of God endures forever. We thank you that we know that not one good word, or not one word of this book, of your word, will fall to the ground. But all things that are written and spoken of will come to pass. Lord, we thank you for the passages that we've read this evening. We thank you for the reality and the honesty of this chapter in Exodus, the chapter before, showing us that though the people had been called out of Egypt, though they had gone out under the blood of the Lamb, that blood that pointed forward to the true Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, whose blood would be shed. Yet, Lord, we see unbelief rising up in their hearts many times, different ways as they journeyed under Moses. They doubted that you could supply them bread. They doubted that you would supply them with meat. They looked back and they said, we prefer the old things, the old food that we had in Egypt to what we're now receiving in the wilderness. Lord, they doubted that you would deliver them from their enemies. And oh Lord, in how many different ways, over this period of just over a year, unbelief arose within their hearts. And oh Lord, we find in them a picture of ourselves. We may not be in unbelief, about our bread today or about water today, but we can fall into doubts and fears, unbelief. We can be afraid of the future, afraid of the unknown. We can be afraid of man. We can be afraid of what is happening in the world. we can so easily lose our perspective. And then Lord God, we know that in your world also, some very, very difficult experiences come into the lives of your people. Like a Joseph can be sold into slavery and be lied against and betrayed and be forgotten about. Like Elijah, We can be rejected and resisted because we proclaim the Lord, the Lord, He is God. Like Esther, we can find ourselves in situations that really perplex us about the future and wellbeing of our people and your people. Lord God, we know that also adversity comes. and trials such as it came to Job. And in a way that we do not understand, the devil is able to sift your people as he was able to sift Peter. But we thank you that the devil is always under your control. He is like a dog on a chain. So far and no further. And we thank you, Lord God, that the Apostle Paul, that great pastor of men and women, was able to write, no temptation, no trial comes upon you except that which is common to man. And with it, God provides the way of escape. And until the moment that you bring us out of our trials, you will give us grace in and through those trials. grace and strength that we have not of ourselves, that we may not have experienced the depth of or the breadth of before, but it comes from you, so that when we are weak, we become strong. Lord God, we pray this evening for this congregation. We pray for the individual families that make it up. And do you know every family tonight? I know only a few as an undershepherd. But you, the good shepherd, you know every last individual. You know those who are walking through the dark valley this evening. Those whose hearts are breaking within them because of tragic circumstances that have overtaken their family. and that have plunged them into darkness and into grief and sorrow and loss, the kind of which we can't ultimately comfort them in. Lord, we thank you that you are the God of all comfort. We pray now this evening for that dear family that has lost a son, family of this congregation. May they even now at this time explains the peace of God descending upon them. The peace of God standing guard over their hearts which are aching and over their minds which are running wild no doubt with this thought and that thought from we should have known this or we could have done something or why has God allowed this? Lord, stand guard over their minds and their hearts and keep them in Christ Jesus. Help your people here to be a praying, loving people at this time, people full of compassion. Lord, to be able to show that in ways that do not intrude, but ways that encourage, whether that is through a card, through a message and a text, or whatever way, O Lord, through an act of kindness, through a meal provided, whatever way, O Lord, lead your people out to care for this dear family. And O Lord, we pray for others this evening who are caring for loved ones, who are either in weakness, in midlife, or they are coming to the end of their lives. And the wages of sin that are death are working themselves out in that physical body. We pray, Lord God, for grace and strength for those who care for such patients, O Lord. Wisdom, understanding, And O Lord, for hope and confidence and for that assurance that as the outward man perishes, the inward man is being renewed more and more into the image and likeness of Christ. Father, we pray this evening for any who are uncertain as to the way forward in their lives, any who are making decisions, Lord, enable them to know your will, to know the path that you would have them take, and enable them to do that with confidence. We pray this evening for this congregation corporately. The difficult experiences that it has gone through in recent years, and being without an under-shepherd, to lead them with the other elders. Lord, raise up one. He will come in and out among them. He will pastor them. He will teach them. He will be an example unto them of Christ. Lord, help your people to know whom that one is to be and keep them, O Lord, in unity of spirit and unity of purpose. Keep them, O Lord, prayerful. Keep them faithful. Keep them full of hope, O Lord, in these days. We pray, Lord, that you would raise up a generation who will serve in the biblical offices that are appointed for the church, the office of elder, the office of deacon. And Lord, we pray that you would raise up a generation that will take forward the baton of the gospel, as Paul wrote to Timothy, as we are reading this morning. Lord God, bless your church throughout this land. When we look back and we see the times of the past, the 16th and 17th century, Lord, our hearts ache because we are not in such days. But help us not, O Lord, to live in the past. We are here and now. And help us to be faithful now, knowing that you will do all things well into the future. Lord, forgive now our sin, open our minds and still our hearts and change our wills as the spirit speaks to us of Christ this evening through his word. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, I want you to turn, please, brethren, to Psalm 25. That's the portion that we're going to be looking at this evening. Psalm 25. This is a very well-known psalm to many of us. It's found on page 550. And we want to look at it this evening particularly pardon me, through the lens of verses four and five. But before we do that, let's read the scripture together. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust. Let me not be put to shame. Let not my enemies jump for joy over me. Indeed, none who wait for you shall reap shame. They shall reap shame who are treacherous and wantonly. Make me to know your paths, O Lord, or your ways, O Lord. Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation. For you I wait all the day long. Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love. For they have been from of old, Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions. According to your steadfast love, remember me for the sake of your goodness, O Lord. Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness for those who keep his covenant and testimonies. For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is abundant. Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant, My eyes are ever towards the Lord, for he will pluck my feet out of the net. Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged. Bring me out of my distresses. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins. Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me. O God, my soul, and deliver me. Let me not reap shame, for I take refuge in you. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you. Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. You and I want to go somewhere where we've not been before. And we have to say, give me directions. Tell me the way. How can I get to this one's house or that town or wherever? It's a question we ask many times, isn't it? What is the way to to take. Tell me the way to your house. And this psalm is all about knowing the way. Knowing the way. Not the way on earth to a place, an earthly place, but knowing the way of the Lord. At the heart of the psalm lies verse four and five, I believe. And we're going to structure our thoughts this evening around these verses. Literally verse four is, Your way, O Lord, make me to know. Your paths teach me. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation. For you I wait throughout the day. This is the language of the believer, the man, the woman, the young person who knows God to be the God of salvation. In the promised one, in Messiah, the Old Testament name for us, that Messiah is now Christ, the Greek form of the name. Knowing salvation in Christ, knowing the forgiveness of our sins, knowing eternal life is the greatest blessing that a man, a woman, a young person can have. But the Christian life is a journey. It has a starting point and it has a continuation. and it has an end. And so in the light of this, the psalmist here is praying, and it is David who is praying, your way, oh Lord, or it may be your ways, we'll come to that later, oh Lord, make me to know. And we want to take that as our title this evening, your way, make me to know. And David prays this prayer in the light of three realities in his life. First of all, the presence of his enemies. He prays this prayer, your way, O Lord, show me in the presence, in the midst of my enemies. The psalm begins and the psalm ends, verses two and three. and 19 to 22 with a reference to the enemies that David faces. And David, of course, is not any ordinary individual. Yes, he came from ordinary humble beginnings and background, but in the eternal purpose of God, he is now the king of Israel. He is the representative of Jesus Christ on earth at that time, ruling Israel, the nation, and also anticipating Christ, the King of Zion, the King of the church. And David in that role, finds that he has enemies. Look at what he says in verse 2, Oh my God and you I have trusted, let me not, literally it is reap shame, let not my enemies jump for joy over me. And then at the end of the Psalm, verse 19, consider how many are my enemies. And with hatred expressed in violence, they hate me. What a situation. David just doesn't have one enemy or two. He has lots of enemies. And he doesn't just have people who are saying unkind things, untrue things, nasty things behind his back. He has people who have literally got the sword in their hands and at the first opportunity would drive it through David. We don't know who precisely these enemies are. If we think of David's life, Saul was such an enemy. and his army that he sent out after David when David was the king in the wings waiting anointed by God under the prophet Samuel. But then we know that later on in his life David also led out the armies of Israel at that time and he was face to face with enemies in the other nations. and how Goliath would have loved to been chopping off David's head, not the other way around. And then of course, we read on in the story of David and towards the end of his life, or certainly when he was well established in his kingship, we find enemies in his own household. Absalom, his own son. And part of that was because of his poor parenting. But part of it also was because of his own sin, what he'd sown in his own life, he was now reaping. So David was never without his enemies. And he prays, your way, O Lord. Show me, as I am surrounded by enemies who want to destroy me. And of course, there's more at stake here than just David's life, the life of a single man, because when the king falls, the nation falls. When the leadership in the church falls, the church is in trouble. And so David speaks about Israel, verse 22. Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. It's not just David that's in this trouble and surrounded by enemies, it's the church, it's the nation that is ruled by God and meant to reflect God and to honor God. And brethren, you and I are not Davids. but you are men and women for whom Christ died. You're the apple of God's eye. And you can be sure that the devil is on your case and he is against you. And he will stir up all kinds of people as you go through life to oppose you. and they will want to bring you down. The devil wants to bring me down, he wants to bring you down, he wants to bring us down, every day of our lives. Because he knows when you fall, there's a body of people behind you that fall. Maybe your family, what it does to your children. And so brethren, When we are surrounded by enemies, and that can happen at a whole range of levels. It could be in your place of work, where when somebody discovered that you're a Christian, their attitude flipped towards you immediately. It's as if you were a dinosaur from another age. Or it could be in your wider family, you're the only believer in your household and so you there find that other family members, they're always wanting to bring you down. And behind much, if not Behind much, if not most, if not all of this activity lies the hatred, the enmity of the evil one towards Christ, towards his bride, towards his children individually. And brethren, how important it is for us to pray in the presence of our enemies, Your way, O Lord, show me. Lord, this is beyond me. We're wrestling, as Paul says, with principalities and powers in the heavenly places. They're too great for us, but they're not too great for Christ. Christ has conquered them. And in Christ, they are not too great for you or for me. In Him, we have the victory already. And we need to live out that victory in our lives. And how do we do that? Well, David does it in the simplest of ways, but the most helpful of ways. He prays. Verse 16, turn to me, turn to me. Verse 17, Bring me out. Verse 18 and 19. See, consider, so he prays. Isn't that so simple? When we know that our enemies are around us and against us, then let's pray. But then notice also, he trusts verse two and verse three. Oh my God, in you I have trusted. Let me not be put to shame. His enemies are trying to, I think here, trick him into some kind of sin, because the same word as we have in Genesis 2.25, that after Adam and Eve sinned, they were full of shame. And so, he prays, he trusts the Lord, he prays, he trusts the Lord, that the Lord will keep him from And in this temptation, and in this time of danger, and how important that is, there is nothing happening in your life or in my life that is greater than the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing. And so, let us trust Him at all times, as the Psalm says. And then, when he's prayed and he trusts, it's not abracadabra, everything's better, and everything's gone away. No, look at the third thing he does. He waits. Verse three. Indeed, none who wait for you shall reap shame. Verse five. For I wait for you throughout the day. It's not like waiting for a bus. You're a few minutes early, or the bus is a few minutes late, and you say, where's the bus, where's the bus? And after a few minutes, maybe a half an hour, if it's had a breakdown, the bus turns up, or another one turns up. No, this is a waiting where it goes on and on, and David can't tell when the Lord is going to intervene, but he knows the Lord is in control, and that's what, Enables him to wait and enables him to have confidence and this word wait It's a very very interesting word it's it's like When you go to put a load on a trailer, let's say you're shifting moving house, and you've got a wee trailer you put behind your car and Or if, as I did, you grew up on a farm, you know what it is to bring in bales of hay or bags of turf or peat, whatever you call them here in this part of Scotland. And if you're going to move something, you've got to make sure it's strapped down so that it's not going to spill. That's the picture here. The Lord has things strapped down. Strapped down. Not going to spill. Such is His power, such is His wisdom, such is His goodness to you and me, that He's got it all under control, and so we can wait upon Him. So, your way, O Lord, teach me in the presence of my enemies, in the presence of our enemies. It's really important that we pray this for the church in this day and age as well, because there are many enemies that are rising against the church. I hope you follow the work of the Christian Institute, and I hope you're encouraged. you read of the victory last week in the Scottish courts of that CEO in Stirling who was wrongly dismissed and again it was when someone heard that he was a Christian just changed the whole attitude and we need wisdom. We need to be able to pray. We need to be able to trust. We need to be able to wait for the Lord to bring honor to His name and to bring things to a conclusion in His time. And secondly, let's see. Your way, O Lord, show me in the light of my sin. In the light of a sin, Verses six to 11, the middle section of the Psalm, David seems to be focused upon his sin. And as I've tried to understand this, it seems to me that the connection is that as he has been in the midst of this trouble, it has caused him to look at his life and to reflect on his life. And the memory of past sins and failures are brought to the fore of his mind. And so he prays, Lord, given the sinner I am, I have been, I continue to be, I will be until I draw my last breath your way. Oh Lord, show me. And I think it's interesting just to take a moment to note the words that David uses here to describe his own sin. Verse seven, he says, the sins, remember not the sins of my youth. And the picture here is of a dark sport. and you're playing darts and you're aiming for the bullseye or you're aiming for that double one or double twelve or whatever and you throw the dart and you miss the board entirely. That's the picture behind the word sins. In other words, you and I, we know what we should be aiming for, we know what we're wanting to be, but our lives, when we go through life, it's like throwing the dart, it just misses the target altogether. And isn't that true of our lives? There are sins. We know what is right, we want to do what is right, but we miss the target altogether. In verse 7 we have the word transgressions and it's a different picture but it complements it and here now we want to go to the local public building could be a primary school a secondary school or whatever and typically at those buildings you will see no trespassing or trespassers will be persecuted. In other words, there's a clear boundary here that is set around this building and you don't cross that, otherwise you trespass. And isn't that part of sin as well? God has set out a clear framework, especially in the commandments. You shall not, and you shall on the other hand. And what do we do? We trespass, we break through. And that's true of all of us. We turn to our own ways. We do our own thing. And then the third word is found in verse 11. And the ESV, it's not the best translation. It is, for your name's sake, oh Lord, pardon my iniquity. God doesn't pardon guilt. He takes away our guilt when he's dealt with our sin. So it's pardon my iniquity. And we have another picture here. And again, it's a very vivid one. It's the picture of something being twisted so that it runs off course. And David is saying that within me, there's a twistedness that makes me run off course. And the best illustration that I can give you is my brother had a mini car, not one of the BMW minis, but one of the old minis that were made by British Leyland, he was before that, Morris and Austin minis. And the mini has a subframe. And one day I was driving behind my brother and I noticed that the car kept heading towards the hedge. Discovered that the subframe was twisted. So it didn't matter how good a driver you were, this car was going to go towards the hedge. And David is saying, within you and me, there is this twistedness in our subframe, which goes back to Genesis chapter three, And it means that we constantly, instead of going like that, we're always going off course. And isn't that true? Isn't that so true of our lives? And so David says, your way, show me in the light of my own sin. The sins that I've committed in the youth, Yes, I think of those, but there's still sin in my life and will be. And so, David, what does he, look at the words he uses now in the light of that sin. He says, remember not. Well, he says, first of all, remember your mercy. And it's mercy, it's in his mercy that God deals with our sin. Remember not the sins of my youth. And then, according to your steadfast love, remember me. Not steadfast love, that means your grace. That's what God conceived in eternity, towards us, grace. I'm going to show this man, this woman, grace. And it's set upon us from eternity. And it works itself out then in his mercy that he lifts away our sin and bears it away. And of course, that's what Christ fulfilled on the cross. And the Old Testament believer was pointed to in the lamb that was killed and in the other sacrifices as well. They all pointed him or her to Christ who would bear away the sins of his people. And so brethren, every day, in the light of our remaining sin, let us never get beyond that position of remembering, I am a sinner, saved by grace. And the devil, you see again, he wants to puff us up in pride. And he wants us to make us think that after we've been a Christian for so many years, well, we're better than others and we've somehow got beyond and we're doing very well. Well, that's the lie of the devil. Scripture reminds us, as David does here, our sins, our transgressions, our iniquity. So your way, O Lord, show me in the presence of my enemies. Your way, O Lord, show me in the light of my sin. And then thirdly this evening, your way, O Lord, show me in the unknowns of my life or situation. And that's where we come to verses 12 through to 18 of the psalm, because the enemies still haven't gone. They're still there. Even as David has prayed and trusted and waited, and even as David has reflected upon his own life and examined his own heart and confessed his own sin and become more conscious of that, it's not, hey presto, And his enemies are gone. No, he's still having to live in this situation of hostility. And he prays, your way, Lord, make me to know. Notice the emphasis in these verses on the Lord making known his way. Verse 12, who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will He instruct in the way. Isn't that beautiful? Not He might instruct, or He sometimes will instruct, or He most times will instruct, but He will instruct. If you and I want to know the way of the Lord, He will make His way known to us. Not happen, Mostly it doesn't happen instantaneously, but it will happen surely and certainly. As we pray, as we trust, as we wait, as we keep short accounts with this God, confessing our sin each day. And then, if you go even back to verse 8, good and upright is the Lord, therefore he instructs sinners in the way. Again, it's the way that we should go. So, David has great confidence here, even in the midst of uncertainty and in the unknowns of his life. And the unknowns of this enemy and these enemies that are around him, not knowing still necessarily how to go forward, but he has confidence that the Lord will show him his way. And the Lord will lead him into his well. The Lord will deliver him from his enemies. The Lord will give him strength and grace. And that's especially clear as David is conscious, look at verse 15, of these enemies, they're out to trap him. And they're like the hunter, the game hunter of old. And you went out when there wasn't much food and you laid a trap for a rabbit or for a bird. And what'd you do? You didn't leave it where it could be seen visibly, you covered it over. And the bird or the animal wasn't aware of it until, snap, the trap was caught. And look at what David says, my eyes, verse 15, constantly are fixed on you, for it is you who will pluck me, my feet, for it is he who will pluck my feet out of the hidden net. So, David then prayed, Lord, Show me your ways in the unknown of my situation, in the unknowns of life. And brethren, that is absolutely true. There are those here in this congregation who are much older than I am as a Christian. They've been in the faith much longer. And they will be able to tell you that. They'll be able to say how at times in their lives, they didn't know whether to turn this way, that way, or the other way. And in grace, having prayed, and trusting the Lord, and waiting, and thinking, and working through things, the Lord opened up the way. And this autumn, in the will of God, I will be 32 years in the ministry. And that's my testimony. That's my testimony. That when we pray, Your way, O Lord, show me. In the midst of the unknowns of life, in the midst of the unknowns of church life, in the midst of the unknowns of ministry, He does it. I find myself often asking the question, Lord, what shall I do? this situation, perhaps it's pastoral situation, perhaps it's some opposition, whatever it is, Lord, what shall I do? And he has graciously shown me what to do. And I want to encourage you with that thought as a congregation as well. You've had a long ministry with Andrew Quigley and I've seen blessing and known blessing in that. You've had a short ministry, difficult time, and you're looking, I trust, to the future with confidence in Christ. And I want you to hold onto the fact that His way, He will make you to know. Trust, pray, Wait. Be conscious of sin that remains in your own life. Be conscious of sin in your corporate life. Never be afraid to go back and examine things again in the light of Scripture. And have assurance that He will make His purpose known. in the unknown of your situation. Your way, O Lord, make me to know. I want to touch as I close on why I read John chapter 14. Your way, O Lord, make me to know. And what did Jesus say? I am the way. Ultimately, this is a prayer. You're Christ, O Covenant Lord. You're Christ, O God, that has brought me into a relationship with you. Make me to know Him. And we think of the great Apostle Paul. Oh, those words in Philippians chapter three, and you read them, you say, what, Paul? I want to know Christ. and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so somehow to attain to the out-resurrection from the dead. Imagine the Apostle, he knew Christ and he didn't know Christ, because there was more to know. And brethren, Our prayer, yes, we pray this prayer in the light of our enemies, we pray it in the light of our sin, we pray it in the unknown of our situations, but surely, if none of those things are true of us this evening and apply to us, and I don't think there's many that would say that is the case, but if it were the case, then we can pray and we should be praying, your Christ, make me to know. And to make me to know is not to make me to know in my head, where I know lots of information and facts. It's to make me to know in my heart and in my will, so that my whole being is being offered up as a sacrifice to Him. which is our only reasonable service in the light of what he has given to us. Your way, your Christ, make me to know. Amen.