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[0:00] Let's turn together in our Bibles to Isaiah chapter 49. This is the passage that Joel has asked for us to read and consider.

[0:14] If you happen to have one of the church Bibles, one of the church Bibles, it's page 736. 736, 736, Isaiah 49, and we're going to pick up from verse 8 and read through to verse 17.

[0:33] So Isaiah 49, beginning at verse 8, reading through to verse 17. This is God's faithful word.

[0:44] We know it is true, but we also know it is relevant and applicable for us today. So let's listen to what God says. This is what the Lord says. In the time of my favor, I will answer you, and in the day of salvation, I will help you.

[1:01] I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, to save the captives, come out, and to those in darkness, be free.

[1:17] They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them.

[1:30] He who has compassion on them will lead them, so he will guide them and lead them beside springs of water. I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up.

[1:43] See, they will come from afar, some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Aswan. Shout for joy, O heavens!

[1:56] Rejoice, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

[2:07] But Zion said, The Lord has forsaken me. The Lord has forgotten me. Can a mother forget the baby at her breast, and have no compassion on the child she has born?

[2:23] Though she may forget, I will not forget you. See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are ever before me.

[2:35] Your sons hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you. And we give thanks to God for his word, and ask that he would bless it to us as we hear it preached.

[2:49] Let's sing once more together as we prepare to hear from God's word as Joel comes and preaches to us. and we'll sing together. 816 in our hymn books, 816.

[3:01] Fill thou my life, O Lord my God, in every path with praise. 816. 816. Fill thou my life, O Lord, O Lord my God, in every path with praise.

[3:43] Thou thine, O Lord, in every path with praise. 816. 816. 816. 916. 916. 916.

[3:53] 916. 1016. 1016. 1016. 1016. 1116. 1116. 1116. 1116. 1116. 1116.

[4:04] 1116. 1116.

[4:27] 1116. 1216. But all day or night, from sacredness we pray.

[4:40] But all my life, in every step, in fellowship with me.

[5:01] It's great to be here and I want to bring you the warm greetings of Puritan Reformed Seminary.

[5:18] And my own congregation, Heritage Reformed, from Grand Rapids, Michigan. I'm sure they'd be delighted to meet you and to be with you and worship Christ together with you.

[5:31] Have you ever felt forsaken by God? Forgotten?

[5:43] Neglected? Marginalized? Well, this morning, I have an incredible text with God's help to bring to you.

[5:57] From Isaiah 49. And we want to look at verses 14 through 17a. I'm going to read them again.

[6:08] But Zion said, The Lord has forsaken me and my Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?

[6:22] Yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually before me.

[6:32] Thy children shall make haste. I want to speak to you this morning about God's covenant love for his Zion.

[6:47] And we'll look at that in three thoughts. First, we'll look at that love doubted by afflicted Zion. Second, we'll look at that love unequaled by a mother's love.

[7:01] And second, we'll look at that love guaranteed by reassuring promises. God's covenant love for his Zion, doubted by afflicted Zion, unequaled by a mother's love, guaranteed by reassuring promises.

[7:17] Well, our text this morning is taken from what is often called the second part of Isaiah. Chapters 40 through 66.

[7:30] These are remarkable chapters because Isaiah is prophesying here about Judah. And about her return to Israel after her captivity in Babylon, before Judah actually goes into exile.

[7:53] And that's confusing for some people when they read this. But what Isaiah is doing is he's warning Judah that her sin, the first part of the book especially, would bring captivity at the hands of Babylon.

[8:07] And the visit of the Babylonian king's envoys to Hezekiah set the stage for that prediction. And although the fall of Jerusalem won't actually happen until many years later, 586 BC to be exact, Isaiah assumes that it will happen because God has told him it will.

[8:33] And he proceeds to then predict the restoration of the people. He says, God will redeem you from Babylon, just as He rescued you from Egypt. And he predicts already now that someone named Cyrus, the Persian, will come along, who will unite the Medes and Persians and conquer Babylon in 539 BC.

[8:55] And he would then make a decree that Cyrus would make a decree allowing the Jews to return home in 538 BC.

[9:08] And of course, all of this is not just a prediction, a marvelous prediction into the future, but it all is prefiguring the greater salvation from sin through Christ, who will come in the fullness of time to deliver His people, not only physically back into their land, but into the heavenly land of Canaan forever and forever.

[9:34] And so what is happening in Isaiah 49 is that Isaiah is saying God has all these rich and glorious promises for Judah as she returns from exile.

[9:51] But then we read at the beginning of our text these amazing words, But Zion said, The Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me.

[10:04] In other words, Zion is determined not to rejoice in God's faithful covenantal promises, but discredits those promises.

[10:17] Much like Caleb, like the majority report of 10, not like Caleb and Joshua, but the majority report of 10 that we heard about in the children's talk.

[10:28] Zion's going to doubt these promises. They're going to fall on deaf ears, as it were. Why is that? Well, before I answer that question, I need to answer this question.

[10:44] Who is Zion? The word Zion is used all throughout the Bible many times. The name Zion has expanded repeatedly in the scriptures.

[10:58] At first, Zion appears in scriptures as one of the names of the Jebusite fortress conquered by David. That was just an 11-acre portion in southeast Jerusalem.

[11:11] That's all it was. Later on, the word Zion came to include, under Solomon's reign, the temple and the king's palace. In fact, the temple area became the primary meaning of Zion.

[11:26] And then in the Psalms, thirdly, Zion came to symbolize the entire city of Jerusalem. And then in New Testament times, the term Zion came to refer to the living church of God all over the world.

[11:45] And finally, near the end of the New Testament, fifthly, the meaning of Zion has expanded so much that now it refers even to heaven itself.

[11:58] The holy city, Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God, Hebrews 12, 22 says. Well, how can you combine all five of these meanings of Zion and make sense of those different meanings?

[12:17] Well, this way. Zion is a symbol of the dwelling place of God in and through Jesus Christ with his people.

[12:29] God in the midst of us is the major theme of Zion. So just as a pillar of fire and cloud stood above the tabernacle during the wilderness wandering, so a cloud of glory filled the temple dedicated by Solomon.

[12:49] And so in Psalm 50, we're told that God's glorious presence is in Zion. Psalm 78 and 132, we're told that the Lord loves and chooses Zion. Psalm 9 and 99, we're told he's present in the temple in Zion.

[13:02] Zion. So the very meaning of the word Zion is God is always in the midst of his people. His promises are always true.

[13:13] But you see, Zion won't be able to believe that. Isaiah is looking ahead and he sees Zion in Babylon.

[13:27] He sees Zion in Babylon knowing that her walls are ruined back in Jerusalem. Her palaces are torn down. The temple is destroyed.

[13:39] Everything's in a pitiful sight. There's not one stone left upon another. And so Zion is full of doubts. That's understandable.

[13:52] How can God's promises be true? Also in your life today, when everything seems to run, in his providence, seems to run counter to those promises. When everything seems sad and desperate and going the wrong way.

[14:07] That's how Zion was feeling. Her harps were hanging on the willows. She felt no liberty to sing the songs of Zion. How could the rich promises of God be embraced when there seems to be no future?

[14:24] And so she complains, the Lord has forsaken me and my Lord has forgotten me. And yet as understandable as that complaint is, it's also unjustifiable.

[14:42] God had given promises. Zion would never be forsaken, God had said. Because the Messiah would be forsaken. Because Jesus would cry out on the cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

[15:00] His church will never be forsaken. You see, what Zion was doing was something fundamentally wrong. Zion was looking around at all the circumstances rather than at the Lord.

[15:13] She was looking at the human reasonableness of doubt rather than the divine unreasonableness of doubt. And so she said, my Lord has forsaken me and has forgotten me.

[15:29] But we've all been there. And there are many times in my life, I'm sure in yours as well, if you're a believer, that you say, you know, I know this. I know this so well.

[15:39] And yet when circumstances come along that seem to overwhelm us, either our own internal sins, our own consciousness of our smallness compared to God's majesty, or else, more commonly perhaps, a sense of divine desertion that can encroach itself upon us when providence seems to go against us.

[15:59] We all know what it is to say with Naomi, call me Mara, for the Lord has dealt bitterly with me. And we cry out with the psalmist, has God forgotten to be kind? Shall I his presence faithless find?

[16:13] Shall me for wrath henceforth replace his tender mercies and his grace? And so we complain.

[16:26] But how does God respond to Zion's complaints? To our complaints? Well, you would expect that God would become angry, wouldn't you?

[16:38] Zion, look what I've done for you. I've delivered you from Egypt. I've done miracles for you. I've given you food and drink in the wilderness. What are you doing denying me? Doubting me?

[16:51] But God is so gracious, so amazingly loving. What he does in Isaiah 49, and I hope you never forget this because it's just an amazing, comforting truth, is after this long list of promises, actually it goes back to verse 1 through 13, 13 verses of promise that escalate and get so exalted that finally in verse 13, we break out into singing, sing, oh heavens, and be joyful, oh earth, for the Lord has comforted his people, will have mercy upon his afflicted, and then Zion complains.

[17:30] After 13 verses of promises. So what does God do? He gives Zion four more, even better, and more glorious promises in our text this morning.

[17:46] The first one is this, look at verse 15. Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget thee.

[17:59] God's love is absolutely incomprehensible. You know, the Bible often pictures God's love in terms of human love so we can identify with it and all kinds of relationships are brought to the foreground.

[18:15] There's the love of a husband and wife. God says his love is even better than that. There's the love of a groom and a bride. God says his love is even better than that. There's the love of close friends like David and Jonathan.

[18:27] God says my love is even better than that. There's the love of a father for a child. He compares himself to that. But here is maybe the most amazing text of all.

[18:40] God compares himself in his love to a mother loving, in the original Hebrew, actually a sick, sucking child. A little baby whom she miraculously feeds who's not well.

[18:54] Now, we men, we love our children. But if you've stood beside the birth of your children and you've seen the bonding moment when that child is born and handed to your wife, you know that you stand outside of that inner circle.

[19:21] You cannot fathom a mother's love for her child. The constant care. Robert Murray McShane said it's as if the child is one with the mother.

[19:34] It's a piece of her. In a sense, it's true. And that child, you see, receives that mother's care day and night when that child is sick or afflicted.

[19:47] I remember my mother saying to me many times when I was sick, I just wish I could be sick for you. And you could be well. There's such an incredible love.

[19:59] I used to think when she said that to me, yeah, I kind of wish that too. Rather have you be sick than me. How could you love me so much that you'd rather be sick than me?

[20:11] But that's what a mother's love is like. When a child is sick, she's sick at heart. She feels the baby suffering as her own. McShane said, you must break to pieces the mother's heart before you can change her love to her child.

[20:28] And yet, God says, they may forget. You see, sin takes its toll even on such sacred and tender bonds as a mother's love for her child.

[20:41] That free, unbought, unselfish love that is constant and tender. There are mothers who abandon their own children. I was in Sacramento, California at a conference and somebody got very ill and they took me to the hospital to visit that person and we pulled up to the emergency room and there was what I thought was a mailbox outside the emergency room.

[21:07] But it was odd. There was a picture of a baby on the mailbox. So I said to my chauffeur, why the picture of a baby on the mailbox? He said, well that's not a mailbox. He said, that's, that's a very sad box.

[21:24] You open that box if you don't want your baby and you put your baby in there and you drive away. Forsake a baby? When a mother forsakes a baby it's so unusual it makes headlines in the newspaper.

[21:39] But, God says, they may forget but I, but I will never, never, no, never, no, never.

[21:52] Hebrews 13, five negatives. Strong, strong, strong, strong, strong positive. Never absolutely will I forsake thee. Now in Isaiah 66 is the only other time in the Bible where God actually compares his love to a mother's love and he says there as a mother, verse 13, as one who as mother comforts so will I comfort you as if God says, no, mother comforts you, I will comfort you.

[22:22] There's sort of an equality there. But here God is saying my love is superior to the love of a mother. That's, that's a big promise.

[22:36] You know your mother won't forsake you. Don't you know that? No matter what you do, you're still the child of your mother. She's not going to forsake you. But God says, my love supersedes that.

[22:50] You see, your mother's arms wrap around you for a few short years, but my everlasting arms are always around my Zion. A mother nourishes her child for a short time with food that is miraculously supplied to her.

[23:09] But I feed my child with bread enough and to spare in my father's house through my son forever. A mother clothes her young child with natural clothing, but I clothe you, Zion, with the spiritual garments of my salvation.

[23:28] A mother prays for a blessing upon her child, but my prayers are always effectual. A mother seems unwearied in caring for a child, but she too needs her sleep and gets tired.

[23:41] But I am the Lord who never sleeps and never slumbers. And I always care for my child. I'm the great high priest who always has my Zion in my eye.

[23:57] Who is always burying my Zion on my shoulders. Who is engraving my Zion as we'll hear in a moment in the palms of my hand. Who has my Zion bound on my high priestly heart. I can never, I cannot forsake or forget my Zion.

[24:16] And why not? Because Jesus Christ can say, my Zion is given to me by my Father. And I had to suffer and die for her.

[24:30] And be raised again. and I prayed for her. Father, that the same love, John 17, 26, wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them.

[24:45] I want you to grasp this. Everything in the Bible is ultimately revolving around this amazing father-son relationship. The Gospel of John 17 times refers to the amazing love of the father for his son.

[25:01] The father's love for his son is the instigating force for the Gospel. It's the power of his eternal heart of love that he wanted to shed that love abroad in the hearts of human beings.

[25:15] That love is superlative. That love is amazing. And God says, I'm willing to forsake my son so that I will never forsake you, dear believer, and so that you may participate in the very same love that I have for you that I have for my son.

[25:36] That is phenomenal. I've worked with a number of families who have adopted children and many parents have said to me, I love those adopted children just as much as I love the biological ones.

[25:49] Well, here you have an incredible love. The natural, unique son of God is loved by his father with an incredible love, love of infinity, coming from an infinite heart of God, and that same love is now poured upon finite creatures.

[26:13] And you, Zion, have the audacity to say that I'm going to forsake you and forget you? That's an insult to me.

[26:25] I love you more than a mother loves her child. Promise number two, look at verse 16a.

[26:42] Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. It was an ancient custom of those who were far from home, captives, sailors, to have drawings of loved ones or cherished objects burned or punctured or inscribed on various parts of their body, often on their arms and sometimes all the way down to their hands.

[27:18] And those inscriptions were rubbed in with indigo or henna or some other colored substance to make them unerasable. people. The problem is, after a while, especially those who were working out in the fields as captives, with all that hard work, it would gradually wear away.

[27:42] The indigo or the henna would wear away. Now, when those people engraved, or rather drew, these things on their body, what they would often do was the most impersonal things they would draw higher on their arm.

[28:02] Like the camel and the tent would often be on the higher part of their arm. Then they might have on the lower part of their arm a picture of friends. But then on their hand, because their livelihood is by their hands, the hand was a very dear object to them, they would have their dearest object.

[28:26] And they would engrave that with indigo. Now, why all this? Well, they would do this for one reason.

[28:38] They didn't want to have their love flag for these various objects because they're far away. They're in captivity. And so what many people would do is they would draw, Israelites would do in the fields, they would draw the walls of Jerusalem on their hands because they didn't want to forget Jerusalem.

[29:03] But whatever it was, what was nearest to their heart and nearest to their affections, they would draw on their hands. hands. And you see, what God is saying now is I will not only draw on my hand an indigo, but I will engrave in my hands, there's a hint here at the sufferings of Jesus, whose hands were pierced, I will engrave in my hands, the palms of my hands, you, your name.

[29:40] I will not forsake you, I will not forget you, my love is superior to a mother's, and here's promise number two, because I've engraven you, the palms of my hands, you are my dearest, most tender object of affection, in my son, that I have in all the world.

[30:03] It's impossible for me to forget you. And every word of this, every phrase of this promise conveys some truth.

[30:14] I, that's my sovereignty, have, from eternity past, graven, unchangeable, thee, that's my intimacy, personal relationship, on the palms of my hands, that's my faithfulness, love.

[30:35] Top lady put it this way, Augustus top lady, my name from the palms of his hands, eternity will not erase, impressed on his heart, it remains in marks of indelible grace.

[30:46] Yes, I to the end shall endure, as sure as the earnest is given, more happy, but not more secure, the glorified spirits in heaven.

[31:00] You know, the first time I went to Jerusalem, we were coming to the walls of Jerusalem, I was very excited, but just before we got there, we saw a painter, and he was painting the walls of Jerusalem, it was beautiful, the old Jerusalem, he sat there, on his canvas, and he would look out at Jerusalem, and do a few brush strokes, and we stood there and watched him ten minutes, because it was so grippy, we could just see the walls of Jerusalem coming together, he was doing it fast, too, and I thought later, you know, that's what God does with our lives, he's got his eternal plan, and then he paints out that plan on the canvas of our lives, a plan of eternal love, when we deserve nothing but eternal wrath.

[31:55] Zion, you're crazy to think the Lord has forsaken you and forgotten you, he's loved you from all eternity, he's loved you sovereignly, graciously, faithfully, unchangeably, but, it's not it.

[32:06] But, Zion, I will never, no never, forsake you or forget you. Promise number three, look at verse 16b, thy walls are continually before me.

[32:21] I was a young boy, I remember reading this text, I remember thinking, that's wonderful, I thought the walls were like problems that you had to get around, and God saw all those problems, and so you could trust him with all the problems.

[32:38] All these problems were walls, and God had those problems in view, and he'd help you around them. Well, that's not the meaning of all. I mean, that's true, but, these walls are rebuilt walls of Jerusalem.

[32:55] This is what Isaiah is saying, Zion, when you go to Babylon, you're going to see rubbish, and you're going to say, my God's forgotten me and forsaken me, but I see rebuilt walls.

[33:07] And you're going to say, well, there's not a stone left upon another, there's no possibility, there's no future, we're in Babylon's grip, God has forsaken us, God has forgotten us, God says, no, no.

[33:20] I'll bring you back, and there's going to be rebuilt walls here. You will go back, and you know what, Zion?

[33:31] Your ruined walls shall now be perfect walls, and you will worship me again in my temple. You see, Zion, you see a heap of rubbish, but I see walls.

[33:47] you will be tormented by the Sambalots and Tobias of this world, who will tell you there's nothing but rubbish, who will tell you you cannot do the work, but I see walls.

[34:03] The Sambalots and Tobias shall not get the victory, but I shall, in you and through you. Zion, you think you're forsaken and forgotten?

[34:18] I will rebuild you and remake you to be partakers of my kingdom, my glory, my inheritance, my beauty, my salvation, my son.

[34:36] It's a beautiful promise. I don't know if you have anything like this in England, but in America, some time ago, they came out with these huge, huge machines that, I don't even know what you call them, but they can repair a highway this way.

[34:56] On one end of the machine, they're breaking up the cement of the old highway that is just too bumpy and too many potholes and all that cement goes into one end of the machine and somehow in the midst of that machine, that cement is worked with, and on the other end of the machine, it's a long machine, maybe 40, 50 feet, the other end of the machine lays down the new highway in fresh, spotless cement.

[35:28] It's absolutely amazing. One end comes the rubbish, the other end, from the very rubbish comes a beautiful highway with no potholes.

[35:40] and you see Zion, God's saying, that's what I'm going to do with you. You see rubbish, I'll take that very rubbish and I'll remake you. Also internally, you see, when God converts you, he doesn't take another person and put that person inside of you, he converts you, he makes of you a new creation.

[36:04] The rubbish comes in and his work comes out. I see walls. You'll worship me again with a pure heart. Zion, you're not forsaken, you're not forgotten.

[36:17] Your walls are before me. And then number four, and this is the apex in some ways, thy children shall make haste.

[36:32] You know, many people sitting here this morning have children. So do I. you probably worried more about your children, your life than anything else, right?

[36:46] Because you don't have control over everything all the time. And I'm sure there's not a single person here that thinks they've been a wonderful parent all their life. We all have our shortcomings, we all know it, and we all feel our failures.

[37:01] And we say, what's going to happen to my children? The Lord says, thy children shall make haste. I'm a covenant keeping God.

[37:12] I will fulfill my promises. I will bring back the children from the Babylon of this world, and they will make haste to run to Jerusalem to worship me.

[37:26] And I will build my church from the rising generation. And all the destroyers that made thee waste, all the Sembalats and Tobias of this world shall lose the battle and the children shall be the future church.

[37:43] And your sons and your daughters shall serve the Lord in truth. God doesn't say every single son, doesn't say every single promise, every single daughter, but he says, this is my promise, from your seed, I will raise up a people to serve the Lord.

[38:04] God is. What a glorious promise-keeping God the Lord is. Forsaken, forgotten, no, says God.

[38:20] Here's four more promises. Trust me, believe in me, don't faint, press on, even in Babylon, don't despair when you're in darkness.

[38:34] I will not desert you. I will not forget you. It's impossible. To forget you means I'd have to forget my whole salvation. It would mean my whole plan would be ruined.

[38:45] My son's work would be in vain. I'd have too much to lose in letting you go. if you're a believer, your salvation is more secure than Adam was in paradise pre-fall because he could still possibly fall but your salvation cannot be taken away from you because it's secure in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[39:16] So be like Joshua and Caleb. Stop looking at the circumstances around you and predicting your future because of them but look to the God of promises and say he has promised I will go forward and trust in the Lord our God.

[39:37] Now I have two things I want to say yet to those of you who don't know the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity as your Lord and as your Savior.

[39:49] The first is this. And it's a warning. If you've never seen the rubbish of yourself and of your own sin if you've never needed the Lord if you've never seen that your life is in ruins because essentially you're selfish and you're not living to the glory of God and not a love for your neighbor which is the purpose of life you're missing what life is all about.

[40:22] And you can have all kinds of things going for you. You could be handsome or beautiful. You could have lots of money. You could be popular. You could have a great job.

[40:33] You could have a great spouse, great friends. But if you don't have the Lord Jesus Christ you're missing what life is all about. And you're not motivated then to live to his glory and you're missing the whole target of what life is all about.

[40:51] That's really what the word sin means. Missing the target. God has given us one thing to aim at in our life that is his glory. If you're not focused on his glory, when you get out of bed each morning and you don't say, Lord help me to live to my glory today, that's not the engine that drives your life.

[41:10] Well yes, you're physically alive in this world, but you're spiritually dead. And there's something so much better you see.

[41:22] Something so much better in this life and in the life to come. You can know this glorious God. You can love him and serve him and glorify him forever.

[41:36] And you will experience a peace that passes all understanding. So I warn you even as I invite you, don't go your own way.

[41:48] That will lead to eternal destruction. That will lead to rubbish forever in condemnation, in hell. But plead God's promises. Turn to him.

[42:00] I invite you to come and taste a love that is beyond your mother's love. love. This love is incredible. You wouldn't sell everything you own in this world probably for the memory of your mother's love.

[42:15] But here's a love that's far better. Don't throw this love away. Don't destroy yourself. Come to this love. Repent. Believe the gospel.

[42:28] Turn to Jesus Christ. Ask him to show you your rubbish. Ask him to show you his renovating grace. To take the rubbish of your heart and to make it a smooth highway. Trust him.

[42:43] So let me close with this illustration. There was once a pig farmer and he was going to market and he walked by a house of a pastor by the name of Roland Hill.

[42:55] And Roland Hill was a very close friend of Charles Spurgeon. And Hill was discouraged in the 19th century. about the lack of fruit upon his own ministry. He was pacing the study and he looked out the window and saw this pig farmer going by with all these pigs following him.

[43:14] And the pigs followed him right to their death. So when the pig farmer came out of the slaughterhouse, Roland Hill was right there to meet him.

[43:26] He said, I have a question for you. How can you get pigs to follow you to their death and I can't get sinners to follow my message, to follow Jesus Christ to eternal life?

[43:47] Well, the pig farmer said, didn't you see what I was doing as I went along? I was just, every step I went, I just dropped a few crumbs out of my pocket. Just a few crumbs of pig's food.

[44:02] And for a few crumbs of pig's food, these foolish pigs will follow me to their death. my dear friend, don't you follow this world's allurements, this world's pig's food to your death.

[44:29] But turn to Jesus Christ for life. He's a promising God. And all God's promises are yes and amen in Jesus Christ.

[44:45] Trust Him. Amen. Let's pray. Amen. Great God of heaven, we thank Thee so much for the gospel.

[44:57] We thank Thee for Thy amazing promises, Thy promises of love and eternal commitment in Thy Son. We thank Thee, Lord, that Thou art mindful of our human frailty.

[45:13] Even when we doubt, even when we're discouraged, to feel forsaken and forgotten, Thou will come with more promises. Oh God, help us to be believing, not faithless.

[45:27] Help us to trust Thee, even in those times when promises seem so far away. and the cross providences of trials and troubles seem so close at hand.

[45:42] Deliver us from all our doubts and help us to live in the full assurance of faith and the full assurance of Thy promises. And help us to trust Thy covenant love for Thy Zion.

[45:56] Lord, please go with us further today. Bring us back to this house of prayer tonight. Be with David Woolen as he preaches. Be with Peter Robinson as he preaches from week to week.

[46:11] Do bless, Lord. Do bless this flock. Continue to let it grow quantitatively and qualitatively. Let Thy kingdom come in great abundance among them.

[46:23] Do bless that outdoor preaching. Do draw in other sinners. Save them, O God, through the blood of Thy Son and the promises of the gospel applied to the soul by the Holy Spirit so that we may all follow God fully.

[46:42] We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. We're going to sing now number 493.

[46:54] how deep the Father's love. 4-9-3. Thank you.

[47:29] Thank you.

[47:59] Thank you. Thank you.

[48:59] Thank you. Thank you.

[49:31] Thank you. Thank you.

[50:03] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[50:15] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Amen.

[50:27] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever.

[50:42]  Amen.