Luke 12:11-12

The book of Luke, chapter 12, verses 11 and 12, and when they bring you under the synagogues and under the magistrates and powers, take ye no thought, how or what thing ye shall answer or what ye shall say. for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say. God blessed to us is sacred and holy word this morning. Many years ago I had a couple in my church that had been around to various churches in the area, attended a lot of different ones before they came to our church. And they told me of an unusual experience they had when they went to a church, the angelical church in the area. They had gone to morning worship service expecting the pastor, whose name, believe it or not, was Ronald McDonald, to expound the word of God, as is typical. And so, the service proceeded normally as the congregation sang hymns and the pastor prayed and the collection was taken. Then Pastor McDonald stood up before the congregation, and the congregation was waiting for him to announce the text from which he was going to preach. However, Pastor McDonald, with a solemn faith, looked at the congregation and said this, the Lord did not give me a message to speak to you today. Then he dismissed the congregation after a word of prayer. My friends were stunned that this happened to them. And you might think, well, how could in the world could something like this happen? Evidently, if this pastor maybe even rely on something like this, text of scripture here, you know, the Holy Spirit’s going to give you what you need to say. And so he claimed he was not given anything that morning to speak to the congregation. However, if you read the context, and I think it’s pretty clear, he’s not talking about a pastor standing before congregation to preach. He’s talking about when they hall you before the council, religious councils, or religious courts, or even the civil courts. that you would be guided by the spirit as to what to say. I think he’s mixing some apples with oranges here. And it really has to do with the apostles in particular that he’s speaking to. But any child of God, at least at that period of time, could perhaps be given, as we’ll call it, a word of knowledge by the spirit, to say, what the spirit wanted them to say on that occasion. But to apply such promises to modern day ministers, I think is a serious error. You can’t use this text to justify not studying to show yourself approved under God as the scripture commands us. We have plenty of the say. We’ve got a whole book here, 66 different books in it, that has plenty of people. plenty to say where God has spoken. And the Spirit has given this book, so therefore everything we’re saying is really coming from the Spirit, hopefully, as our words correspond with what the Word of God says. I’m afraid Mr. Ronald McDonald, Pastor Ronald McDonald, must be condemned for his behavior. And I suggest he spent some time in the Word so that he can speak instructions to his people. Now the Lord here is giving instructions to his disciples in the first part of this chapter, and we’ve been talking about these instructions for the last several weeks. The whole section provides really an important part of truth for us as the people of God. We have to avoid hypocrisy. One of the things about the Pharisees is they were hypocrites, and he focuses on that first. and verse one. Remember, he says, there is going to be a final judgment. We’re all going to have to stand before God, and everything, even the things done in secret, will have to be brought to light at that point. Nothing will remain hidden, as he says in verse 2. And then all the truth revealed to you by Christ privately is to be publicly is to be publicly proclaimed. If we compare verse 3 with Matthew’s gospel, that seems to be the focus of that passage as we saw in a previous study. Versus four and five, he says, don’t let the fear of man prevent you from proclaiming the gospel to others. Don’t let that be a source of deterrent for you. Put your faith. God’s Providence who watches over the smallest things like the birds and the hairs of your head and so forth, that he will take care of you. Not only in the needs that you have, but he will also take care of you with regard to your witness. Versus 6 and 7. We looked at verses 8 and 9 in our last study and said, you can’t be a secret Christian. If you don’t confess Jesus Christ publicly and openly, that Jesus says on the day of judgment, he’s not going to recognize you, nor will the Father, nor will the Holy Angels. Matthew’s Gospel talks about the Father. Here he talks about the Holy Angels. And then he mentions, as we talked about last week, the unpardonable sin. There is such a thing as the unpardonable sin, which involves speaking against the Holy Ghost. We tried to address that last week of the best of our abilities. That is a difficult subject to address. But now the Lord teaches not to be over-anxious as to what you will say when suddenly required to speak for Jesus Christ. Versus 11 and 12. See, all these are interrelated as we begin to put it together. So let me begin by saying, this. You as a Christian must not be over-anxious as to what you will say when suddenly required to speak for Christ. Now, you should be prepared to defend your faith. Jesus wants you to realize how severely you may be treated by the world. He doesn’t want to realize how severely you may be treated by the world. He doesn’t want to soft pedal this. He’s laying it out that you might have a hard time as you go out and try to give the gospel. And he would steal yourself to expect hardship. Expect to be hauled before the councils and the courts and have to face these kinds of things for Christ’s sake. Most of Christ’s people, including the apostles, were rather simple, common folk. A lot of them were fishing. A lot of us are just, we were common workers. So it would be difficult, perhaps, for us, and maybe we’d be a bit anxious, if we’d get hauled before a court and have to answer for our faith and what we’re saying and so forth. It’d be a bit of a bit of a court and have to answer for our faith and what we’re saying and so forth. It’d be a very intimidating, let’s put that way. But Jesus tells you here to expect this. Be prepared that this is going to happen. You’ll notice he says when they bring you, not if they bring you, when they do so. He’s telling it’s going to happen. Again, you’re reminded there is a cross to bear to follow Christ. There is a there is a cost. in following the Savior. The world is going to use religious courts. It will use the civil courts, anything it can do to silence you, shut you up, and keep you from giving out the gospel, Jesus Christ. However, the Lord’s purpose in this is to have you bear testimony before the court concerning the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So you should be prepared to do that. defend your faith. Now, you find this promise has primary reference to the public trials of God’s disciples. He says in the last part of verse 11, or, yes, excuse me, the last part of verse 12 here, excuse me, it is verse 11. Take no thought, what thing you shall answer or what you shall say. where the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say. Now, the apostles may be apprehensive to testify. They would be condemned if they did not plead their cause well. The cause of the gospel may suffer if they have a failure in judgment or in memory or eloquence on their partner thinking maybe I can’t just, you know, clarify the doctrine or maybe I get nervous and don’t know what I’m going to say and so forth. You could imagine it’s not an easy thing. Even Luther, remember when he stood before the Roman Catholic Council, how he was fearful. It wasn’t an easy to ask for him. We think of the bold words he spoke, and no doubt the Lord gave him strength to do it but it wasn’t an easy task to do that you’re standing alone and you have all these people against you the Lord therefore counseled them not to fret not to worry about take e no thought he says here and what this means is you know you don’t have to seriously study about what you’re going to have to reply you don’t have to rely on on your own human ingenuity or reasoning to come up with an answer. Don’t be apprehensive. The Lord is not going to allow you to be put to shame. He will give you, by his spirit, what to say. Now that ought to be a confidence builder, shouldn’t it? So he encourages him here. During the early days in the New Testament era, the Holy Spirit gave extraordinary gifts to men. We could talk about speaking in a foreign language. We could talk about prophecy. Or as First Corinthians also speaks about a word of knowledge, where it seemed like the Spirit would give you, like, direct communication as to what to say. And it seems to me this is what he’s saying here, that when they get hold before the counsel, that the Spirit is actually going to tell you what words to use to speak to these people. Well, I’d feel a lot better if that was the case, you know, when I was going to speak, that I don’t have to worry about, he’s going to tell me what to say. The Holy Spirit would give them the exact words to say so that the message would come across. And the Apostles and the disciples of Christ could rely on the Spirit, to directly help them, and they didn’t have to rely on their own wisdom. They didn’t have to concoct their own argumentation that way. And he would also give them boldness, speak. Can you imagine if the Spirit of God is giving you direct communication like that, how much bolder you could be when you spoke? So these various courts were not really battling the Christian. They were battling. it’s God. And God here stands for his people. It says, I’ll take care of you. In the book of Acts, you have several instances where this seems to be exactly what God did, according to the promise of this text. Now, look with me at Acts chapter 4, if you would. It would be nice if we could have the time to read the first 14 verses of this text. chapter. But I don’t really have the time this morning to do that, but let me zero in on this because it’s not that difficult to remember the storyline here. John and Peter have healed the lame man who’s at the gate of the temple. And everybody is amazed. And they take the occasion to proclaim Christ, of course. It’s by Christ that this man is healed, and they begin to give the gospel. Well, the Sanhedron, the Jewish Council, was not too happy about that, and hauled them before them to give them the ultimatum. Notice verse 7. And when they set them in their midst, they asked, by what power or what name? have you done this? Verse 8. Then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost, said on them, ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel. And then he gives the answer that we ought to obey God rather than man. And he’s done this by the power of Jesus of Nazareth, whom God raised from the dead. And then jump down, if you would, to verse 13. now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. How do these people get this ability to answer like this? Well, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And he gave them the answer that they needed to have. Now look at chapter six. Here we have Stephen, who is hauled before the hand Sanhedron again. Another person hauled before the Sanhedron. And he has to give an account for his actions. But you’ll notice verse 10 here that when he taught and did great wonders and miracles among the people, we read here, they disputed with Stephen and verse 10, they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Right? The Spirit of God guided him. And they, even though they tried to contradict him, they couldn’t. And therefore, what could they say? And then verse 15. And they all, and all that sat in the council looked steadfastly on. him and saw his face that had been the face as a face of an angel. God’s presence was there with Stephen. And so you have to read, you know, and I have to read chapter 7, 51 through 60 here. As he lays into them for the evil they’re done and they stone him to death. But he sees Christ standing at the right hand of the father and he’s, asked the Lord to receive his spirit and he goes to be with the Lord. But you can look at these two passages and I think they give us an indication of the spirit guiding these men, giving them the words to say, and they couldn’t be resisted. They were powerful words. Paul stood before Felix, Festus, Agrippa, testified for Christ. Now, we’re not told us. anything about the spirit in those passages, but we can be assured that the Holy Spirit guided Paul on those occasions also. In 2 Timothy chapter 4, verses 16 and 17, if you want to look there, Paul has to stand before Pharaoh, or excuse me, Nero, the Roman emperor, you can imagine that was not an easy task. And he tells us something here that is interesting with regard to this. He says, if my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me, I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. The other people were scared. Paul stands there, and he says in verse 17, notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me. and strengthened me that by me the preaching might be now fully known that all the Gentiles might hear and I was delivered out of the mouth of the line. The Lord stood with me. He took care of me. Here I think he was given the words to say too. And so these occasions show us how, I think if you look, studied them carefully, you’ll see that this was fulfilled. God did exactly what he promised. he would do for the apostles. So you find this promise as primary reference to the public trials of God’s people. Now, you can apply this promise in a secondary sense to every Christian. And this is what I’m going to try to do this morning. You know, the days of extraordinary gifts have ended. You’re not going to be given a word of God. knowledge by the Holy Spirit today. 1 Corinthians 138 says, charity never faileth, but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail, whether there be tongues, they shall cease, whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. This doesn’t mean all knowledge, but a word of knowledge, a special gift of the spirit. So you’re not going to be told directly by the Spirit what to say. nor should expect it because you now have the completed canon of Scripture. And there’s a sense in which this is what the Spirit has told you. If you study it, you’ll have the answer as to what to say. So he will at least allow you to present a strong argument coming from the Word of God when you speak before those who would ask you about the faith and maybe Charles. you with something. So it is, by the way of, I think, diligent study of the scriptures then, that the Spirit will direct us and guide us as to what we are to say when we have to stand before others about the faith, even if it means going to court. But a teacher, especially a minister, shouldn’t expect some direct communication from the service. spirit of God so that he doesn’t need to study the word of God. That is out of line. Let me tell you a brief story. When I was in high school, our church was building a new church. Our church was so old, it was like, it’s now a landmark in the area. And so it was in Allison Park. So we were building just down the street a little bit. and I was going to go to school later that summer, so off to seminary. So I thought I’d, you know, work a bit, do some odd jobs at the work site and earn a few dollars. The man who was building the church was a Pentecostal preacher. So my dad would drop me off of the old church in the morning and then he’d drive. the work and then the contractor guy would come in and he would stop with the church and we both kneeled down and pray in the morning before we went off to work so he knew I was going to go to seminary and so forth so after a while he doing this he brought me in Matthew Henry’s commentaries he said oh here I’m going to give these to you because you’re going off you’re going to seminary and I thought wow this is great. And then he said this, he didn’t need them anymore because God would just directly tell him what to say when he got to church. So it’s not just one person out in the middle of there that’s doing, there’s more than one person that has this thought. So we have to keep that in mind. There are going to be occasions that arise when suddenly you’re going to have an opportunity to speak for Christ. It may be in the workplace. It may be before relatives or neighbors. Somehow or other, it’s going to come up. In God’s Providence, he’s going to open the door. And you’re not going to have time to carefully prepare and lay your argument out and so forth. You’re going to have to give an impromptu response off the top of your head. On such an occasion, you’re going to have to rely on the basic truths of scripture that you know. Now the Holy Spirit will help you. I think he will guide you as far as maybe bringing the mind a verse of scripture or a passage that you could use. But he’s not going to tell you, oh, this is what you’re to say, Jack. Or this is what you’re to say, John or Marcy or anyone else. But he will guide your thoughts. I think we can count on that. But that means that you’re going to have to have some knowledge of scripture. And he will bring it to mind. He says, yeah, here’s that passage. Use this passage. You know, and it’ll come to your mind saying, I know how to use this passage. It ought to be a good passage for this. And he will help you. And so you can speak for Christ on those occasions. And you don’t have to be hesitant about that. But this means you have to study the Word of God. You can’t have the Holy Spirit bring to mind what you don’t know. So you have to know the scripture and he’ll bring it to mind. So the first thing we have to do is study the script. Read the scriptures, know them. So you are familiar. with the word of God. But the Holy Spirit will help you by maybe bringing a passage to mine when you’re speaking to someone. And you say, I know, I use that passage, and you bring it out. Now, with regard to all this, we have to be careful that we do not act like Moses. We do not act like Moses in Exodus chapter 4. at the burning bush when God says, I want you to go down to Pharaoh and tell him, let my people go. Oh, Lord, I am slow of speech. I’m not an eloquent man. Couldn’t you get somebody else? He didn’t want to do it. Now, you may feel that way. You might think, why do I have to speak for crying? You let somebody else do, well, I don’t have the pastor to do something. somebody that’s knowledgeable. I’m not that knowledgeable. Well, God placed you in that circumstance. God gave you that opportunity, and God wants you to do it. You know what he told Moses, basically, when Moses argued, he said, all right, I’ll set Aaron down with the help you out. But if you look at the passage carefully, Moses does most of the talking anyhow. So when he gets down, there. God guided him as to what he needed to say. But God wouldn’t let Moses wiggle out of it. If you read Jeremiah chapter one, God says to Jeremiah, you, I am going to send to my people and to the other nations, and you are going to give them my word. Me, I’m just a young man. I don’t know, you know, I don’t know that much. When I formed you in your mother’s womb I made you for this very purpose, she says. Now, that’s pretty hard to argue with that. You know, God says, hey, I brought you into existence for this very reason. Don’t tell me you’re not going to do it. You’re going to, don’t you be fearful. You tell them exactly. I’ll give you the words. He said, I’ll give you the actual words to say. But you tell them what I tell you. So he also. tried to sort of wiggle out and say, I am not, you know, I’m not qualified to do this. He says, yes, you are. Either you’re the person I want. Go out and do it. So let’s be encouraged by the case of Moses and Jeremiah, because neither one felt that they were up to the task, but both of them did what God required them. You may feel like that. You may feel unqualified, but the Lord would have you. speak for him anyways. God is the one who made your mouth. God is the one who brought you into existence. God is the one who placed you in the exact circumstances when this issue came up where suddenly you’re called upon to speak for the faith. He’s not going to give you the exact words to use, but I believe his spirit will guide us and help us so that we can say something for effective and useful. All we may not say it is eloquently as we’d like, but I think we can still say it, and we can say something that is of value. You know, it’s not eloquence. It’s not man’s wisdom that carries the day anyhow. It’s the Holy Spirit. Right? And so it’s not human wisdom. So do your best, and let the Spirit do his work. So we have no sure. excuse for not speaking for Christ. We have people who tried to give excuses, but they weren’t allowed to do it. Then, if I had time this one, I’d also drag, we could spend all morning on these three passages. I directed Isaiah chapter 6. Well, here’s a man who is a man of unclean lips, he sees the Holy Thrace, Holy God, and you don’t know what to think. And God cleanses his mouth. You know, they take the hot coals and touches his mouth and he’s a man of unclean lips. Well, now you’re not a man of unclean lips. I’ve cleansed your lips. And then God says, after this whole thing, and we see him coming, it seems, to faith in Christ. Because that was Christ, by the way, that he saw, according to New Testament. God says something. He says, who’s going to go for us? Who’s going to speak for us? And what does Isaiah say? Here I am, send me. Now that’s the Spirit. We ought to have. right? If God has saved us, we ought to be willing and desirous of speaking a word for him. So it’s not to be so much like Moses and Jeremiah. Let’s be more like Isaiah in this regard and realize what he’s done for us and not look for an excuse to get out of it. Peter says in 1. Peter 3, 14, and 15, be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is within you with meekness and fear. That’s what we’re called upon to do. Trust in the Lord to teach you what to say. He’ll give you wisdom if you act in faith. Isaiah 50 in verse 7 says, The Lord God will help me. Therefore, shall I not be confounded. You don’t need to be confounded. The Lord will help you in your situation. So you can apply this promise in a secondary sense to all believers. Now, you should pray for a good memory of God’s work. You’re going to need it. Don’t underestimate the value of daily Bible reading and studying. You can’t underestimate it. You have to hide the word of God in your heart. Not only that you might not sin against God, but that you may testify for the Lord. I think we have to know the word of God. And this is where a good memory of God’s promises come in to us and help us and will aid us in our witness. First, God promises will fortify us. If you know what God says, you can boldly speak it. The righteous are as bold as a lion, the Bible says. And there’s promises in Scripture for almost every kind of situation you could possibly find yourself in. So whatever happens, it should alleviate our fears if we know what God would have us say. Or of these times, direct us as to what to say. So when you’re anxious and you’re troubled, God can calm your fears. He can embolden you. Just start speaking. Just start saying something that brings out a message from God’s word to these people that you’re speaking to. And you’ll find, I sometimes, verses of scripture, just come to your mind. I don’t even know how it comes to my mind. Sometimes you’re studying and all of a sudden a scripture strikes you. And you’re saying, yeah, this scripture goes right along with this other scripture. Do I think I, am that knowledgeable? No, but I think the spirit will guide us. And I think sometimes he’s making me think by reminding me of these other verses of scripture that would apply to this situation. you’re not alone. The Lord’s with you. The Spirit of God is within you. So don’t be overcome. You can powerfully witness for Christ. But to that end, store up gospel knowledge. Put the word of God in your mind. As I said, the Holy Spirit cannot bring to your mind what you don’t know. The scripture says, in John 1424, but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I said unto you. You can remember what I said, and he’ll bring it to mind so that you can speak it. So here you are. You’ve got God’s, we have Christ’s words right here in front of you. Give it to us by the Spirit. The Spirit can bring to mind these very words so that you know what to say. Not the direct communication, but indirectly. Just guide you in this regard. Let me close with this thought. Pastor Ronald McDonald thought he’s got to receive some extraordinary message from God so that he could get up and preach to people. But he was dead wrong. If we are going to be true teachers of the Word, we must study. show ourselves approved under God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. So however, while the time of extraordinary gifts are gone, let us look at this and take it in the light of the spirit of release direct us and guide us. And I think that will give you confidence when you have to speak and you may be a little fearful or nervous. Just speak God’s truth. How can you go wrong? If you’re bringing God’s truth to bear, you’re stepping in the right direction, that’s what they need to hear. Do your best. Do your best. There’s times when I’ve witnessed the people and I’m like, oh, why didn’t I think of that before I was there? Well, it wasn’t to be at that time. Maybe some other time I’ll bring that to bear. But you speak the word that comes to mind that you can think about and God will use it. Let’s close with a word there. Father, we thank you that you are God of goodness and grace to your people. We don’t always understand what to say and how best to say it. But, Father, I pray that you’d give us the boldness and the wisdom from your word to say something because it is really your spirit that makes it effectual even as simple as quoting a verse of scripture. Even if we didn’t even expand it, that alone is very powerful when your spirit applies it. Bless us as your people, Father. Encourage us in our daily witness. In the name of Christ, we ask these things with Thanksgiving. Amen. Well, this morning, since we’re having the Lord’s supper, I need to direct your attention to the Song of Solomon, if you would, as we continue to look through this book in preparation for the supper. I want to look at verse 14. Now, almost two years ago I spoke on this verse of scripture. I decided since we were going through more verse by verse at this point, I would go over it. But I would expanded it and tried to bring out more nuance from it. Oh, my dove, thou are in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice, for as sweet as thy voice, my countenance is commonly. Chapter 2, verse 14. That’s song of Solomon. Previously, Christ is called his bride, his love and his fair one in chapter 2 and verse 10. But here he adds another word of endearment, my dove, here. He did say in 115, thou hast dove’s eyes, and here he calls them his people, my dove. David in the Psalms calls the church God’s turtle dove, Psalm 6813. The bride of Christ is often described like this in this song and elsewhere in scripture. It’s a term that’s used by lovers. It’s an affectionate language that would be used. Now, we could look at the dove’s character. Oh, my dove. There’s innocent and harmless nature that the Christian has. We see that from that passage in Matthew 10, 16, be as wise as a serpent, be as harmless as doves. The believers should be blameless, harmless, the sons of God in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation. A dove is beautiful. Psalm 68, 13, the wings of a dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold. Believers who are washed in the blood of Christ and justified by Christ’s righteousness sanctified by His grace are beautiful to the Lord. You could be fearful or timid. Jose 1111 they shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt as a dove of the land of Assyrian. We’re often distressed, frightened, fearful by the world, the flesh, and the devil. Mornful. I did mourn as a dove. Isaiah 38, 14, Hezekiah says that. Believers mourn over their sins. Morn over the loss of Christ’s presence. Their unworthiness and their precarious circumstances. And you’re spirit-like. Are you not? In the New Testament, do we not have the Holy Spirit descending in a bodily shape like a dove? Luke 3.22. Believers have been spirit born and they are spirit-led. So they bear the emblem of a dove, as the spirit himself does. The dove’s character. We see the dove’s condition. He’s in the clefts of the rock. rock in the secret places of the stairs. The stairs are steep and accessible places up in the cliff sides, where there’s perhaps indentations where they could hide and secrete themselves. Doves often take up their abode in their abode in the hollow places of the hollow places of rocks and cliffs according to Jeremiah 428. They hide themselves there, hoping from protection from all the dangers at which they’re exposed. Now the bride, dove-like, hides yourself out of unbelief and fear and at some distance from the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s not the best circumstance. Christ sees you fright. he sees you troubled. He anxiously is seeking you’re anxiously seeking your own refuge rather than going to the Lord for your refuge. He basically, I think, is saying here what he said to Elijah. Remember when Elijah was running from Jezebel when his life was in danger and he goes through the desert and he goes to the Mount Horam. And what? does God say to him, what doest thou here? What are you doing here? My dove, what are you doing up there in the clefts of the rock? Why are you hiding for protection there? So the person in the cleft of the rocks is so affected by a sense of unworthiness as the shrink back from going to Christ and need a word of encouragement to come to the Lord. So that’s what we have for. The dove’s condition. You see, the dove given this command. Let me see, thy countenance. Let me hear thy voice. Why do you shy away from Christ? Why do you hide your face from him? Do you feel like Ezra? Oh my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God. For iniquities are increased over my head and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. Ezra 9. 9.6. Is that why? Are you too ashamed to face Christ? because of your foolish sin or behavior or your lack of faith or your silliness and seeking help elsewhere? Jesus says, here he expresses his desire he wants to see your face. What do you hide for? He wants you to draw near. To look upon him with love and delight. Don’t hide like Adam after he sinned in the garden. Jesus desires to hear your voice in prayer. That you may come before the throne of grace and cast all your care upon him for he cares for you. In song, that you may sing his praise as you sing the songs of Zion. So don’t ignore Christ’s command but eagerly do what he says here. Let me see thy countenance. Let me hear thy voice. The dove’s consolation is this. For sweet is thy voice and thy countenance, he says, is commonly. There is no voice as sweet to Christ as that of his bride who pleads with him in prayer. There is no music as precious to Christ as the songs of Zion, sung by the people of God. Who is more lovely and beautiful as a soul that’s been washed in the blood of Christ and given his righteousness. There’s nobody to compare to that. Don’t hide. Come near. Draw near. I want you to come near. Now with that in mind, hear Christ’s command, do this and remembrance of me. Come to the table. Do this. And remember, don’t remain at a distance. Draw a near to the Savior. You may be like a dove. You may be fearful. You may be timid. You may be mournful. You may be at a distance. But Christ still declares here that you’re my dove. You’re beautiful. And your blames. As one saved by his grace. And the Lord’s supper reminds you, I have one. I am one of his redeemed people. Let’s see. Let’s keep that in mind when we come to the table. Lastly, see how tender Christ is toward a fainting believer. The Lord Jesus Christ desires to fellowship with you. Let me see thy comments. We should desire his fellowship. We should seek it. He’s not saying stay away. He’s saying come. Let’s fellowship together. And so he encourages us as people to come to the table. And I encourage you this morning. I hope that you’ve confessed all your known sins, and that you can come to the table with a heart that’s open to have Christ’s blessing, rest upon you this morning. Well, let’s have a word of prayer as we come to the table this morning. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity. we have the fellowship around your table. Bless your word to us. Encourage us as we come. And may we see, Father, that you love us. Yes, we are unworthy of the least mercy from you. We are unworthy of your love. But you’ll love us anyways. And I pray, Lord, that we may rest upon that as we come to the table this morning. and realize what a privilege it is to know you and the salvation that is in you. What’s in Jesus’ name, we pray these things. We ask for your blessing, Father, upon the bread and the cup this morning as we come to the table. Amen. As Mark come at this time, and we will have an opportunity to have the Lord’s supper. Now, we have… have the cup and the bread, both in little cups. So take one of each, if you would.