[0:00] I could return to Matthew chapter 27 and read it verse 50. Matthew chapter 27 verse 50. Jesus when he had cried again with a loud voice yielded up the ghost.
[0:13] And behold the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And the earth did quake and the rocks rent and the graves were opened. And many bodies of the saints who slept arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection.
[0:29] And went into the holy city and appeared unto men. Now when the centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus saw the earthquake.
[0:40] And those things that were done they feared greatly saying. Truly this was the son of God. The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.
[0:55] Now I suppose that from Sunday school days we have all of us a more or less clear picture of what the temple was like.
[1:06] You had the outer court which was open to all Jews. And of course the Jews were a priestly nation. And open to proselytes to Israel. And then you had a compartment which was called the holy place.
[1:21] And here the priests carried on regularly a certain ceremonial. They attended to the daily sacrifices.
[1:31] They burned infants. They trimmed lamps and so on. And finally you had the holy of holies. In which was the ark of the covenant you remember with the mercy seat above it.
[1:46] And here the high priest only went through the intervening curtain. And then just once a year on the day of atonement.
[2:00] And not without the appropriate sacrificial blood. And for all the rest of the year behind the thick folds of that dividing curtain.
[2:12] It was silent and dark and undisturbed and untrodden by man. You'll also remember that it meant death to any unauthorized person.
[2:27] That's to anyone other than the high priest. To intrude upon the mysteries of the holy of holies. And even it would mean death to the high priest himself.
[2:38] If he went in at any other time than on the Yom Kippur. The day of atonement. Or if he went in without the proper blood of sacrifice.
[2:49] And therefore it was. It was bound to be. That there was an atmosphere of an approachableness. About the holy of holies.
[3:01] Because here a man with his appalling sin. Was being confronted by an infinitely holy God.
[3:14] Now when Jesus. The one true. The one real. The one final. Or as our fathers used to say. The one antitypical.
[3:25] Sin bearer. Died on the cross of Calvary. At that precise moment we're told. The earth did quake. And the rocks rent.
[3:36] And the veil of the temple. That curtain we've been talking about. Was rent and twain. From the top to the bottom. And if you go back to the chapter where you read. In Hebrews.
[3:47] We are reminded of the words. The Holy Ghost in this way signifying. That the way into the holiest. Was now. As against what had been.
[3:57] Made manifest. Now that renting of the temple. Was a sign and symbol. Surely. That Israel's monopoly.
[4:08] Of religious privileges. With respect to the temple. And its ceremonies. That its monopoly was at an end. And now. Gentiles.
[4:19] As well as. The other great division of humanity. Gentiles. As well as Jews. Would be admitted. You remember Paul says. Now in Christ Jesus. And he's addressing.
[4:31] A representative. Community of Gentiles. Gentile Christians. Now. In Christ Jesus. Jesus. Ye who were sometimes. Far off.
[4:41] Are made nigh. By the blood of Christ. For he is our peace. Who have made both one. Having abolished. In his flesh. The enmity. And again.
[4:55] It's. It was a sign and a symbol. The reigning of the veil. Of the fact. That a new. Dispensation. Of. Relationships. Between God.
[5:06] And. Man. Was. Now. Established. And forever established. It was also. A sign and a symbol. That.
[5:17] All that Jesus. Had said. That his death. Would mean. For. Reconciliation. Was true. We're told. That. By the apostle. That he was.
[5:28] By apostle Paul. He was declared. To be. The son of God. With power. By the resurrection. From the dead. And already. The.
[5:38] The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. The. Those. Those. Those. People. That. Were told. In verse. Fifty. Seats. Got. Got up out of their graves. And went into the holy city.
[5:49] City. These were. These were. Sort of. The. The. Attendant. Events. Significant events. To the resurrection.
[5:59] Of. Of the. Saviour. There are. Three points. I want to. Consider. If I may. With you. First of all. The rending of the temple. Declared.
[6:11] Or symbolized. The setting aside. Of the Jewish. Temple. It symbolized. The dissolving. Of. The. Old Testament.
[6:21] Arrangements. For. The approach. Of the sinner. To God. When Jesus. Give up the ghost. To the eternal spirit. As the writer. To the Hebrew. Says. And.
[6:33] And. And. And. Finalized. His. His. Offering up. Of himself. To God. A sacrifice. To. Satisfy. Divine justice. Then. Everything.
[6:43] Which. The temple. And its services. Had stood for. Was at an end. You can say. That the temple. Had reached. Its. Gospel. Terminus.
[6:55] The ritual. Worship. Of. The. Idville. Was. Dismantled. If you want. To use. That metaphor. The site. Was cleared. For a new building. And.
[7:07] What had been. Previously. A. Very sacred. Soil. Was now. No more sacred. Than any plot. Of grounds. Throughout.
[7:17] Palestine. Remember. Jesus. Indicated that. To the woman. Of. Sighter. When he said. The. The time. Is with us.
[7:29] When neither. In this mountain. Nor yet. In Jerusalem. Shall men. Worship the father. For the. For they. That worship the father. Must worship. And that's. That's the new. Era. Worship him.
[7:39] In spirit. And in truth. Think of. Jesus. Saying. For a moment. That.
[7:50] If they destroyed. This temple. A. That's a quote. From him. In three days. I will build it up. And. And John adds. As a gloss.
[8:02] He adds. He spake. Of the temple. Of his body. That body. In which. Dwelt the fullness. Of. The Godhead. That body.
[8:12] Which. Continues. In a sense. That was only. You know. Faintly. Typified. By the Jewish temple. It. It. Continues to be. The true dwelling.
[8:22] Place. Of God. In humanity. The true meeting place. Between God. And man. In these. Words. Destroy this temple.
[8:34] Our Lord. And. And. What followed. Our Lord. Was predicting. His own death. And resurrection. But it also. Included. A hint.
[8:46] Of. Reference. To. The. Dissection. Of this. Great stone. Temple. In which. He. And his disciples. Stood. When he. When he made the prediction.
[8:59] He laid. The. Responsibility. For. The. For that. Distraction. As seen in his own death. And. As also. Seen in the. In the.
[9:10] Demolation. Of the Jewish temple. He laid it. At the doors. Of the Jews. Themselves. Christ. And. When. The. The Jewish people. Slew Christ.
[9:21] They. Themselves. Destroyed. The religious system. Under which. They had lived. And under which. They had. Had so much blessing. You remember.
[9:31] The metaphor. The. The. The story. The parable. Our Lord used. Comparing. His father. To a great man. Uh. Who. Had.
[9:42] Labourers. Working. At some distance. And he. Sent. Various servants. And they. Mistreated them. Last of all. He sent. Unto. Unto.
[9:53] Unto them. A son. That was a picture of. God's. The father. Sending Christ. Into the world. He sent. His son. Into the world. And he said. I know how they treated the servants. But they will.
[10:04] Revenance. Surely. They will. Revenance. My son. But they didn't. And. The. The man. The great man.
[10:14] Said. Judge. Between me. And my vineyard. What more. Could have been done. That I did not do. And nothing was left. But to let. Judgment. Loose.
[10:26] Well. That's exactly. What happened. In God's. All wise. And all just. Providence. To the Jewish people. And the effects of it. Are with them. To this day. Well.
[10:38] Of course. There was a great. Call. For. To repentance. There was time. For repentance. You remember.
[10:49] Peter's sermon. And the impressive response. On the day of Pentecost. To that sermon. That's. That's true. But by and large. The. The Jewish nation. Rejected Christ.
[11:00] And. And clung. To Leviticus. In spite of God's. Desmontering. So abruptly. And so loudly. And impressively. The Levitical system. When the. The veil of the temple.
[11:11] Was whipped in two. From the top. To the bottom. And of course. Not many years afterwards. The Roman legions. Desecrated. The temple.
[11:23] And destroyed it. Forever. Our Lord. Used a rather. Enigmatic. Reference. To that. When he said. Wherever the carcass is.
[11:34] There. Will the eagles. Be gathered together. After. God. Had finished. With the temple. Whatever the Jews. Thought it to be. It was only a carcass. A carcass. Of a.
[11:45] Thing that had been useful. And living. Once upon a time. But it no longer. Was. Was serviceable. And. Many take the reference. To the eagles. To be. To the.
[11:56] Banner sign. Of the. Roman legions. Up till then. The. Legions. Had not been permitted. By the Roman authorities. To. Enter.
[12:07] Jerusalem. And certainly not. To carry the. The sign of allegiance. Throughout. Jerusalem. But here. Was the final stroke. Of providence. When they. Massacred.
[12:17] A million Jews. And defiled. And destroyed. The Jewish temple. But also. Was the. Abolition.
[12:30] Of. Temple worship. Because the Lord Jesus Christ. Had taken its place. It means that. Acceptable worship. Is no longer. Localised. In. A particular.
[12:41] Place. Or building. Now we believe that. In theory. I'm not awfully sure. I'm not awfully sure. That there isn't. A little bit. Of Romanism.
[12:51] Still. In the future. About buildings. But. In evangelical. On evangelical. Doctrine. There's no question. We don't believe. That. Religion. Is any longer.
[13:02] Localised. In a particular. Place. Or building. Jesus said. To the woman. Cycle. The hour cometh. When. Neither. In this mountain. Nor yet. In Jerusalem.
[13:13] Shall men. Worship the father. The hour cometh. And now is. When the two. Worshippers. Shall worship the father. In spirit. And the truth. Forget the buildings. Well.
[13:23] Look how thoroughly. They did forget the buildings. When the very first. Church building. Was an upper room. A pretty crump place at that. A napa room. Which is perfectly serviceable.
[13:34] For one of the greatest prayer meetings. That the world has ever seen. Now. To attempt. To restore. Any such.
[13:45] System. You know. To attempt to. Localise worship. To attempt to. Reintroduce. Priestly associations. And priestly equipment.
[13:58] Is to. Run. Counter. To the divine will. Which has dismantled it. Forever. All right. You may naturally think. Of Roman Catholic.
[14:09] Time priesthood. Or Greek Orthodox priesthood. I would suggest to you. That we've got also. Protestant clericalism. Which sometimes. Will. Outrun. Easily outrun.
[14:21] Roman Catholic. Priesthood. For it's going back. To the beggary elements. Of the Old Testament. God is to be found.
[14:32] God is to be approached. Solely. In Christ. Whoever. Lives at his right hand. The sacrifice. And. The priest.
[14:43] In his own person. To be accepted. By faith alone. Whosoever. Shall call. Upon the name of the Lord. Shall be saved. How wonderful that word is.
[14:54] Whosoever. There was an old friend. Of my father. A. Some of the. More. The older people. Pessing will know.
[15:05] Well. Probably knew him. He's been dead. A number of years now. There. In Callum. Akever. Crossboss. Known. Affectionately. As Callum. Peake. And.
[15:16] After my father died. I used to go regularly. Our family did. To go and stay. With the. With the. McEvers. When he was a student. Callum McEver. Told me once.
[15:27] He was a student. At Spain Bridge. And of course. The Spain bridges. You know. And in the Haber. In general. There's still a lot of. Roman Catholics there. And he said.
[15:37] The old. Believers. And the most discerning. Believers. In Spain Bridge. In Philmanivic. There was a. A Roman priest there.
[15:48] That they believed. Was a genuine. Evangelical. Roman priest or not. Evangelical. Preacher of the gospel. McEver said.
[16:00] That he met. An individual. Called Lachie. I suspected. It was Lachie McLean. Because McLean. Is the name. That goes with Lachie. West there. I don't know. He met this man. Lachie.
[16:11] Who had a sister. And she'd been in service. I don't know. Was it with Lachie. Or one of the big houses. One of the big lodges. In the Kilmanivic area. And suddenly.
[16:21] She took ill. And the priest. Was sent for. And the priest. Who came. Was this. Man. That. McEver was referring to.
[16:33] Who. The good people. The good Protestants. Of Kilmanivian. Believed to be. An evangelical believer. Now. The. The priest. Hurried. It was.
[16:44] An urgent. An emergency. He hurried. To the house. Where. This lady was. And Lachie. Told. McEver. That.
[16:57] He wasn't about. Putting his ear. To the keyhole. To hear. What. The priest. Was saying. To his sister. In administering. The last rites. The priest.
[17:08] Hadn't he discovered. That in his hurry. He'd forgotten. The materials. For the last rites. And Lachie's sister. Was in a terrible state. You can imagine. What a.
[17:19] A devout Roman Catholic. Would feel like. Facing death. Without the. Last rites. Being administered. But then. Lachie heard. What he didn't expect. To hear.
[17:30] He heard. This priest. Saying to. His sister. Never mind. He said. About the. Materials. For the last rite. He said. You and I. Will come.
[17:41] To. Gather. In prayer. To the one. Great. High. Priest. And we don't. Need the last rites. And he heard. This. Say. Priest. Roman Catholic.
[17:51] Priest. Leading that woman. To the throne of grace. Through the merits of Jesus. And no other merits. And she died. Maccever said.
[18:01] A believer in Jesus. So what a wonderful word that is. It's all been. Dismantled the old system. That whosoever. Can be a Roman priest.
[18:13] Or a Roman. Communicant. Or. A Protestant. Whosoever. Shall call. Directly. On the name of the Lord.
[18:23] Through the merits of Jesus. Shall be saved. How thankful we are for that. Today. Secondly.
[18:35] The rent veil. Symbolizes. The coming. Of. Gospel. Revelation. Light. The departing. Of the shadows. That's what the Bible describes.
[18:45] The Old Testament. System. For all its merits. For the purpose. For which it was given. A thing of shadows. A. A. A. A. And the rent veil. Symbolized. The. Because of course.
[18:56] Into the. Into the Holy of Holies. For the first time. There stream now. A. The. The light. A. The light. From outside. So that.
[19:06] It was symbolic. Of the departing shadows. Of the Old Testament. Revelation. The light. Previously. Everything. Had been. Marked. By an atmosphere. Of. Of.
[19:16] Of darkness. And obscurity. You remember. How the prophet said. The veil. Is spread. Over all nations. And a tabern over all people. That was the message.
[19:27] Of the Old Testament prophet. Or as the. The Zechariah's father said. They were sitting in darkness. And in the shadow of death. And. And that was due. Not only to.
[19:38] The lack of a New Testament. Revelation. And. The. The lack of an experience. Of a once for all. Savior. But. To.
[19:49] To. To. Israel's own. A. Rebellious. History. And regard. Zechariah said. The day dawn.
[19:59] From on high. The day spring from on high. Had visited us. To give light to them. Who sit in darkness. And in the shadow of death. The darkness. The darkness was dispelled. We've also remembered.
[20:12] In the temple. In our Lord's day. There was no longer. The. The. The. The. The sign. Of. What's called. The Shekinah glory.
[20:23] You know. That strange light. Or fire. Whatever it was. That. That. At the very earliest. Beginnings of the tabernacle. Symbolized the divine presence.
[20:33] And which. Israel sinned away. The glory was departed. The. Ikebod. And it was just dark in thee. On and around the mercy seat. Around the outstretched.
[20:46] Wings of the cherubim. On the ark. Of the cabinet. In there. In the. Holy of holies. There reigned. A. A.
[20:57] A. A. Darkness. And a silence. As deep as death itself. While outside. The Middle East. Sunshine. Blazed down.
[21:08] Upon. The world. Well. That. Was a symbol. As we say. Of. The.
[21:18] Imperfect. Revelation. And it was a symbol. Of the special darkness. Which Israel had incurred. And incurred. By us. Spiritual. Waywardness.
[21:29] The glory. Had departed. And the light was gone. But now. With the death of the senior. Who. Fulfilled.
[21:40] The old testament. There. Broke. Into. A. Into the world. The light.
[21:50] Of a new revelation. Symbolized. By. The rending. Of the temple. Veil. And it has shone. Onto the atonement. Arrangements.
[22:02] Which God. Has made in Christ. The glorious. Light. Of his revelation. God. Was. In Christ. However. It. However. It was.
[22:12] That he. Mediated his. Mercy and salvation. In times past. Here. Something new. God. Was. In Christ. Reconciling. The world. Not just Jews.
[22:23] But the whole world. To himself. Not imputing. Their trespasses. And to them. Now. Of course.
[22:33] Calvary. Certainly. Speaks. Of the. Absolute. Righteousness. Of God. Who cannot tolerate. Human sin. Who will not tolerate. Human sin.
[22:43] And. I. I think. We can see. That. Divine righteousness. Was. Proclaimed. As never before. In the death.
[22:54] Of Jesus. As. As. As. God. Looked. Judicially. On human guilt. And. Administered. Just. Punishment. Upon the person. Of his own son.
[23:04] Sin. Bearer. That was. Never more. Startlingly. Clean. Than. In. The death. Of. God's own son. Hell.
[23:15] Itself. At its worst. And. Who can. Imagine. What that. Is like. Hell. Hell. Itself. Is. No. Match.
[23:26] For. Calvary. As. A demonstration. Of. The holiness. Of God. With which. He will always. Deal. With. Human sin. It was.
[23:37] Never more. Strikingly. Clean. Than. In the death. Of his own son. He hath made him. Who knew. No sin. To be sin. For us.
[23:53] But. Although Calvary. Speaks. And. Should we be thankful. Of the. Righteousness. And the holiness. Of God. It also speaks. Especially. Of the marvelous.
[24:04] Love of God. Towards sinful. Humanity. God. So. Loved. The world. That he gave. Gave to Calvary. His only begotten son.
[24:15] That whosoever. Believeth in him. Should not. Perish. But have everlasting life. So we can say.
[24:25] We'll say. New Testament. The darkness. Is past. And the true light. Now. Shines. Third point. Briefly.
[24:38] The rending of the. Temple veil. Permits. It's symbolic of this. Permits. All. Who are willing.
[24:48] To draw near. To God. You know how the. Bible closes. With these. Wonderful words. In the book of Revelation. Let him.
[25:00] That is a thirst. Come. And whosoever. Will. Let him. Take. The water. Of. Life. Freely. What.
[25:10] What kind of thirst. Is that? Surely. The thirst. Of a stricken. Conscience. Surely. The thirst.
[25:20] That. Represents. The agony. Of a life. Alienated. From God. Perhaps. There's somebody. In this building. This morning. And. Your conscience. Your heart.
[25:31] Is. Is. Thirsting. For forgiveness. For peace. So. Listen. If that's so. Let him. Let her. Who is a thirst.
[25:41] Cam. And. Whosoever. Will. Let him. Take. The water. Of life. Freely. Nobody. But the. Properly.
[25:52] Appointed. High. Priest. Could. Enter. The Holy of Holies. Up to that moment. But with the rending of the. Temple veil. As Jesus. Gave up the ghost. And. Completed.
[26:03] His. His. Sacrificial. Atoning. Work. Work. For his people. All. Are made welcome. You know. How he put it. In the parable. He depicts. God.
[26:13] As being like. A man. Who gave a great dinner. And he says. And he's talking about. Calvary. Being passed. And everything's. Ready for the. Sillate. A can. I have prepared.
[26:24] My dinner. My oxen. And my fatlings. Are killed. And all things. Are ready. Can to the marriage. Everything's ready. And of course.
[26:38] He sent his servant. You remember. Out into the streets. And leads to the city. And said. Gather as many. As you shall find. And bring them. Into my house. That my house. May be filled. And that. That was a.
[26:49] That was a picture. Of the way. That the gospel. Was going to reach out. To the ordinary Jews. In a way. That they'd never done before. As well. As to the church officials. Of Israel. The ordinary Jews. Were pressed.
[27:00] To come close to God. As they'd never been pressed before. In Christ. Ah. But he wasn't finished. He then. The servants. Came back. And said. Lord. Let us down. Well.
[27:10] He said. Away you go. Into the highways. And hedges. And. Compel them. To come in. Well. Of course. He was referring to the Gentiles. And that's the kind of gospel.
[27:26] That we have today. Where all are welcome. I suppose we can speak. As. Many of the old fathers spoke of. There have been two sides. Of this veil.
[27:36] Between. God and men. Rendering fellowship. Impossible. When. One man is a sinner. There's a side. That is. Woven. By our sin.
[27:47] And our rebellion. Where we ourselves. Flee. Guiltily. From God. I was talking. Yesterday. Of the. People coming to the mountain. And.
[27:57] And. Talking to me. About sin. And. And the need. That I had to be. Converted. You know. And. I wanted to get away. That's only. That's two of us all.
[28:09] When. When we're faced. With these realities. That. That. You know. We flee. Giftily. From God. We don't want anything. To do. With God. We can't point. Our finger.
[28:19] And say. What a stupid man Adam was. Going and hiding. In the trees of the garden. That's what we all do. Unless. And until. By the grace of God. We're brought. Face to face. With God. To have dealings with him.
[28:32] So man. All men. All women. Flee. By nature. Giftily. From God. And want nothing. To do with it. Because they know. That their sin.
[28:42] Has alienated them. From God. And then. There's a side. Representing. The inevitable. Antagonism. Of the divine nature. To man. Say. The psalmist.
[28:54] Asked the question. It's. Psalm 24. Who shall ascend. Into the hill of God. Or who shall stand. In his holy place. And he's got an answer. He that hath clean hands.
[29:05] And a pure heart. Who hath not lifted up. His soul. Into vanity. Life. Of course friends. In the ultimate sense. There's no such person.
[29:17] There's no such. Human being. Apart from Christ himself. Because as Paul says. All have been. Jews and Gentiles. And out of Christ.
[29:27] Access to God. Is impossible. Manson. Objectively. Is a barrier. And as we weren't saying. Adam going and hiding himself. In the garden.
[29:38] Manson. Subjectively. Is a complete barrier. What we are commemorating. Today though. Is that. Our blessed. Savior.
[29:49] Has come. And as we move. The barrier. Totally. By dying. In our place. By opening. A new. And a living way. Into the holiest. Who is atoning. Who is reconciling.
[30:00] Death. And to the person. Any person. However sinful. However alienated.
[30:10] From God. The most unlikely. And spiritually remote. Gentile. As well as the. Homeborn Jew. Any person. Who approaches God.
[30:21] Through this mediator. For him. For her. There is a clear. Uncluttered. Unhindered. Way of action. And that's.
[30:35] Just as it should be. In God's plan. Because justice. Is satisfied. The middle wall. Of partition. Has been removed. And removed. By God himself.
[30:45] In the version of his son. It's not. It's not man. Presuming. To tear aside. He couldn't do it anyway. But. It's not man. Presuming. To take away. The wall of partition. God did it.
[31:00] The handwriting. Of ordinances. That was against us. Has been taken away. Has been obliterated. And the strange.
[31:12] But lovely truth. Is this. That the law. Will now bless. Instead of curse. The person. Who comes. Penitently. To God. Naming only.
[31:23] The name of Jesus. And there will be peace. In his soul. Or a cursed soul. Through that same. Sacrifice. And intercession. Of Jesus. There's no need.
[31:34] To hide. Although by nature. That's what we want to do. We want to get away. From. The God. That we sinned against. The reaction. Is natural.
[31:49] There's no need. To hide. When you come to Jesus. And. There's no sense. Of a. Sense of a need. To hide. Because the axis.
[32:00] Is gloriously. Real. For the chief of sinners. One. One final point. I wanted to make. The book of Revelation.
[32:14] Says. And to him. That loved us. And washed us. From our sins. In his own. Blood. And made us. Kings.
[32:25] And priests. To God. And his father. To him. Be glory. And dominion. Forever. And ever. Well. There's you've got. The new testament. Revelation. Brought about. By the rending of the veil.
[32:36] By the dissolution. Of the temple. And of course. The real power behind it. Is the death of Christ. And all believers. Are now. Serving priests. And you know.
[32:48] We've got a better access. I don't know how we use it. I regret. I use it very little. Compared with what I ought. And it's for each one. To judge themselves. We've got a better access.
[32:59] To God. Than Aaron. The. That the official. High priest of Israel. Ever had. Not for Christian believers. One day out of the. The feast 65.
[33:10] The Yom Kippur. But every day. Through Christ. And if we don't use it. It's. Surely friends. Because we don't. Stop to think. What a marvelous.
[33:20] Privilege it is. That we. The sinful. Sons of men. That we deserve. To be cast out. Of God's presence. That we've been given. Free access. To the throne of grace. Well.
[33:33] You see. We're called upon. To be priests. Now. Not priests of course. Concerned with offering atonement. That has been done. Only by the Lord Jesus. But the priests.
[33:44] With service to do. We're called. To offer. Spiritual sacrifices. To God. I'm just going to remind. As if I may. One thing this morning. One of the services.
[33:56] That. Believers can do. A marvelous service. Because they have access. To God. Through Christ. Is intercession. On behalf of others.
[34:09] Think of all the people. In your own congregation. Today. You've got the privilege. Of access to God. And we'll be seen. As symbols of that. Privilege. In a few moments.
[34:21] You've got the privilege. Of access to God. I've got it. Think of all the people. Never mind. In the city of Aberdeen. But in our own. Just within our own congregation. Who today. Are needing.
[34:32] And perhaps. Desperately needing. Our prayers. It's. Isn't it. A fair question. To ask. How far.
[34:42] Are we using. That. Privilege. In a city. Here we have. A world of lost sinners. Here we have. Fellow. Christians. In need.
[34:53] Today. Tempted. In one way or another. And we don't know. How badly tempted. Some of them are. We don't know. The. The convolutions. And difficulties. Of their circumstances. How much.
[35:04] They need our prayers. Fellow Christians. Witnessing. In a city. And it's. It's no easy business. To witness anyway. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's hard to witness.
[35:15] In a city. From many points of view. Fellow Christians. Free church. Or otherwise. Who need our prayers. believers. Well. If we have accepted Christ.
[35:27] How do. We make use. Of this. Unrestricted. Access. To God. That we have. As intercessors. On behalf. Of our fellow men.
[35:39] Christians. Or non-Christians. We are glad to. And grateful. To observe. The Lord's Supper. But the Lord's Supper. The privilege. Of the Lord's Supper. Brings.
[35:49] Its own responsibilities. And one of these. Is. That we're reminded. That. We can't simply. Take the benefits. Thank God. For the benefits. Of the ordinance.
[36:01] And then do nothing. It would be a good. Thing. If we were able. This Sabbath day. To pray. With renewed. Earnestness.
[36:11] And love. And compassion. For all the men. And women. We know. Especially. And a lot. We don't know. Christians. Or non-Christians. Who are very much.
[36:22] In need of our prayer. And to him who loved us. And washed us from our sins. In his own blood. And made us. Kings and priests. Serving priests.
[36:33] Be glory. Forever and ever. Amen. Now. We sing to his praise. In.
[36:45] Psalm number 22. And. From verse 17. Verse 17. Psalm 22. Verse 17. Let us sing to verse 23.
[36:55] In the tune of Salzburg. 128. Here are the words of the Messiah. In the sufferings.
[37:08] On our behalf. Psalm 22. Verse 17. I all my bones. Need fell. They do upon me. Look. And stare. Upon my vesture.
[37:19] Lots. They cast. And clothes. Among them. Share. But be not far. Oh Lord. My strength. Haste to give help to me. From sword my soul.
[37:29] From power of dogs. My darling. Set thou free. That word darling. There is an old English word. And. It could be quite commonly. I came across that recently.
[37:41] It would. Quite commonly. Religious people. Use it. You know. About people's souls. The most precious thing of all. And.
[37:51] He's wanting. His soul. His life. To be set free. From the. Power. Of dogs. Down to verse. 23. Let's sing. To God's prayer. Now.
[38:04] We. Come to the part. Of the service. That's. Especially devoted. To the observance. Of the. Lord's Supper. I want to. Draw your attention. Under. The heading.
[38:15] Of fencing the table. To. This thought. That as many. As are led. By the. Spirit of God. They are the. Sons of God. Three. This thought.
[38:38] This thought.