We're turning to the 2nd Gospel, Mark's Gospel chapter 10, and we'll read from the verse 46 of the chapter to its conclusion. And so it's Mark's Gospel chapter 10, and we'll read from verse number 46, let's hear the word of the Lord as it is penned here in Mark's gospel. And they came to Jericho, and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples, a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. And when he had heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thy son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace. But he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto you? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, go thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. Let's bow our heads briefly in prayer. Our gracious Father, we thank thee for thy word. And now as we come to preach upon it, that our hearts will be challenged and blessed. And Lord, may our souls go out to thee in love as we come to behold our God and as we come to understand who Jesus Christ truly is. So answer prayer and close us in with thee, for we offer prayer in and through the Savior's glorious name. Amen. Well, if you've been following our series on the titles and the names of the Lord Jesus Christ with any kind of interest, you'll be aware that already two of the titles that we've considered have referred to Him in terms of His sonship. Initially we thought about Him along these lines as the Son of God. Scripture repeatedly presents Jesus Christ as the eternal Son, as one who is co-equal, co-eternal, and co-substantial with God the Father and with God the Holy Spirit. Two weeks ago we thought of him in light of the title that Daniel gives him there in Daniel chapter 7 where he is referred to as the Son of Man. And how we brought to your attention that Daniel uses that particular title to speak of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. That Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. Well, today we want to continue this theme of considering some other titles that are given to Christ in which His Sonship is referred to. And so my message for today, and my title for today's message is, Jesus, Son of. Jesus son of. Now we've thought about him Jesus son of God. Jesus the son of man. The first sonship that we want to think about today title is Jesus the son of David. Jesus the son of David. Now it's very interesting to note that the Savior's association with David That preeminent, that prominent Old Testament Bible character, he appears at the bookends of the New Testament Scripture. Now, if you're of a younger generation, you might be asking the question, well, what is a bookend? Well, a bookend is simply a support that was placed at either end of a row of books in order to keep those books upright. And so you'll find that there is reference to Jesus Christ and this man David as bookends as we come into the New Testament and then as we leave the New Testament scriptures. you want to turn to Matthew chapter 1 in order to prove that, and we'll be considering a number of titles here of the Savior. In Matthew chapter 1 we read these words, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And then in the book of the Revelation chapter 21 and the verse 6, and that is the final chapter, we read in Revelation chapter 21 and the verse, or the previous chapter, we read in Revelation chapter 21 verse, or 22 I think it's verse 16, yes, sorry, 22 verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify unto you these things in the churches, I am," now we understand what that title is from last week, I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and the morning star. Now, notice that the Lord Jesus Christ, He doesn't call Himself the branch of David, but rather He calls Himself the root of David. We understand that the root comes before the branch. The seed is sown, that seed starts to germinate, it then places roots down into the ground, and then the tree, the plant, it breaks the ground, and the branches then come after the root. And so Jesus Christ, he speaks of himself as the root of David. But Jesus Christ came into the world after David, but Jesus Christ preceded David. because he is the eternal Son of God. Thus he is the root of David. And from him came forth David's life, because in him was light, and him was the life of men, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he is the root of David. And so we find that this must be important If we come into the New Testament and we're confronted with this thought, this truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of David, and it's almost as if this is the last declaration concerning Jesus Christ in the New Testament, and now Revelation chapter 22, and He is associated with David again, then there must be something significant. If He is the Son of David, He is the root and the offspring of David. Now, the word Son, among the Jews had a variety of meanings. When we use the word son, we normally mean simply one thing, the offspring of, or the son, the male offspring of a mother and of a father. But the word son can also, in Jewish culture, can also refer to grandson. And it can also mean a descendant of one who is an object of tender affection, one who is to us as a son. And therefore, whenever we come to say that Jesus Christ is the son of David, we're not saying that he was like Solomon, who was David's son, but we're simply saying that he was a descendant of David, one who was of the family of David. And this is what Matthew comes to especially draw our attention to in the opening chapter of his gospel. And we've already turned there. Now if you are to write a piece of literature, there are certain rules that you would follow as a writer or as an author. One of the first rules in writing is the need to hook the reader on page one. If you fail to get a reader's attention in the opening paragraphs of a piece of literature, that person will set that piece of literature aside and they'll just pick up another book. You have to get their attention. You have to, as it were, throw out a hook in order for them to continue to read that particular piece of literature. Now, if you were looking at Matthew chapter 1, as a Westerner, as one who is a non-Jew, you would scratch your head and wonder, why does Matthew list all of these names in Matthew chapter 1, names that are unfamiliar to us, names that are hard to pronounce. Why would Matthew begin a piece of literature, his gospel, with such a list of names? It doesn't make literally any sense. It doesn't. We look at it and we wonder why. Well, For a non-Jew, these list of names seems completely pointless, but not to the Jewish reader. You see, this list of names is Matthew's hook in order to get the attention of the Jewish reader. This is a way that he grabs their attention. This is the way that he causes curiosity to arise within their minds as they begin to read these lists of names. Because the Jews as a people group were a people group who were obsessed in tracing their family trees. Now I know that people like to trace their family trees today. Ancestry.com or whatever is formed. Everybody's looking for some kind of rich uncle or rich relative, someone who has maybe given them a bit of money or maybe left them a little bit of money. Well, the Jews, they were engrossed in the tracing of the family tree back again. And so Matthew, he traces the genealogy of Jesus Christ all the way back to two key Jewish men in Jewish history. to Abraham and to David. And thus he begins his gospel with the words, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, and now here are his claims. The son of David, the son of Abraham. Now notice that Matthew designates the Savior firstly as the son of David. Now, in biblical history, that order doesn't make sense because we know that David or we know that Abraham came before David. And so, why does he not write here the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of Abraham, the son of David? We see what Matthew is doing here by employing this order is reminding those who read his gospel that Jesus Christ is of royal stock and blood. That Jesus Christ is of royal stock and blood and thus he is the promised Messiah. You see the promise had been made by God in the Old Testament that the Messiah would come from a certain tribe and from a certain throne. The tribe would be the tribe of Judah. We read about that in the book of Genesis. When Jacob comes to die, he comes to speak about the one who would arise from the tribe of Judah, that kingly tribe, Shiloh, Shiloh appearing, and to him shall all the gathering of the people be. And then down through the scriptures, we come to find that the The Spirit of God becomes more specific that it's not just from a tribe in Judah, or the tribe of Israel, the tribe of Judah, but from a certain family, and from a certain lineage, and it would be from David's household. And thus, whenever the Jews were looking for the Messiah, they had to be able to trace his ancestry all the way back to David if his claim of Messiahship was to be verified. And that the Jews were able to do because the records were kept in the temple until AD 70, when the Romans razed the temple to the ground and burnt all of the records concerning their ancestry and that is why the Jews cannot trace back their ancestry to the tribes of Israel today. But here we have David and he's going to come from the house or Jesus is going to come from the house of David and we find throughout the Old Testament scriptures We find passages that really clearly set forth the Davidic lineage of the Messiah, and I'm going to quote just a number of them to you. Some of them are familiar. Think of those words in Isaiah 9, verse 6 and 7. For unto you a child is born. And unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David. And upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth forever, the zeal of the Lord of the hosts will perform this. Again in Isaiah 11 verse 1 and 2, there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse. and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, and the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord. And this is a reference to the Messiah. And then in Jeremiah 23 verse 5, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. It would be impossible to convince a Jew that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. unless you were able to show that he descended from David. And thus Matthew sets about to prove through the long list of names, he presents to his readership that Jesus Christ is the son, the direct descendant of David. In actual fact, if you look at a closer examination of Matthew chapter 1, you come to find that the whole genealogy presented to us in Matthew chapter 1 is structured around David's house. If you look at the verses 1 through to 6, you'll see the origins of David's line from Abraham to David's father, Jesse. And then from verse 7 downwards to the verse 11, you'll see the rise and the decline of the house of David. And in the verses 12 through to 17, you see the descent into obscurity into the house of David, with regard to the house of David. In fact, it's almost as if It's almost as if the house of David is going to go out of existence, but just whenever you think it is, Christ, the root and the offspring of David, appears in fulfillment to the covenant promise that was made to David in 2 Samuel. chapter 7 and the verse 16. 2 Samuel chapter 7 and the verse 16 is the covenant promise that was made to David concerning his seed. 2 Samuel chapter 7 verse 16. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee thy throne shall be established forever. God is promising to David here in 2 Samuel chapter 7 that he would have a son who would rule forever and forever. Now that wasn't fulfilled in Solomon. Solomon died. had to vacate the throne, another had to take his place. As glorious as Solomon's reign was, it wasn't an everlasting reign, neither was it fulfilled in the sum total of the kings of Israel, as impressive as their reigns were, but rather the fulfillment of the promise in 2 Samuel chapter 7, was in Christ. He is the seed of David whose kingdom and throne is established forever. And whenever Jesus Christ appears during his earthly ministry, Jesus Christ as a direct descendant from David had the right to go and establish his throne in Jerusalem and to set up an earthly kingdom. But he did not come to establish an earthly kingdom. He would say, my kingdom is not of this world. His was a greater kingdom, a universal kingdom. But Jesus Christ, as the direct descendant of David, had the right to become king of Israel. And that's what the people wanted him to be. And that's what they tried to make him to be. They wanted to make him as king. But the Savior left their presence. he understood that his kingdom was not of this world." Now in the book of Psalms you come to read a beautiful statement that God made even with regard to David. And it really reminds us with regard to his covenant with David. Psalm 89, Psalm 89 verses 34 This is speaking about the covenant that God made with David. Psalm 89 verse 34 to 37. My covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips. Once I have sworn by my holiness that I will not lie on to David. His seed shall endure forever. And his throne as the sun before me, it shall be established forever as the moon and as a faithful witness in the heaven, Selah." God promised to David that his seed would endure forever. And this comes to be fulfilled in David's greater son. You've heard that statement. Preachers use it, David's greater son. It's speaking about Jesus Christ, the son of David. And it comes to be fulfilled in David's greater son, the one who came into the world. Isn't that a lovely statement in verse 35? I will not lie, on to David. I will not lie. There's tremendous comfort for every child of God because the God who did not lie to David is a God who will not lie to me either. He cannot lie. God is not a man that He should lie. Neither the Son of Man that He should repent and turn from what He has said. What God has said, thank God, He will fulfill. And therefore we can rely and we can count on the promises of God because He keeps His promises as He kept His promise to David. This unchangeable God will keep His promises to us, His people. It's interesting to notice as you read through the Gospels, that although the religious leaders did not want to acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Son of God or the Son of David, and thus identify Him as the promised Messiah, those who came to witness the Savior's miracles come to affirm that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of David, this long-awaited Messiah who was a direct descendant of David. An example of that is found in Matthew 12. In Matthew chapter 12, verses 22 and 23. Matthew 12, verses 22 and 23. Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed and said, Is not this the son of David? Knows what the Pharisees said. They said, this fellow does not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. These individuals who witnessed the same miracle had a different estimation about Jesus Christ. And that is the same in a congregation of people. Many have their estimation of Jesus Christ. You hear the same word, you sit under the same ministry, but to you, Jesus Christ means nothing. You have not submitted yourself to Him in the gospel. You have not believed on Him. You have not received Him. You have not acknowledged Him to be the Son of God, to be the Son of David, to be the Messiah whom God sent into the world in order to redeem fallen mankind from their sin. And yet others have come to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And we read about another man who comes to do the same thing. His name is blind Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus. The man who sat by the roadside begging in Mark chapter 10 and it's very interesting in verse 47 of John chapter 10 it says and when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth and so Bartimaeus knows exactly who it is that's walking up the road And all about the commotion and all the crowds that were gathered around the Savior that day. He knew that it was Jesus of Nazareth. And he began to cry out and say, Jesus of Nazareth, have mercy on me. No, he doesn't say that. He says, Jesus, thy son of David. He's been told it's Jesus of Nazareth. But there's something about Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus is a man of faith. And he comes to acknowledge that this Jesus of Nazareth is Jesus, the Son of God, or the Son of David. This is the one who was promised to David. This is the Messiah. This is the one who delivers. This is the one who has come to ransom and to redeem and to establish his kingdom. And what does he cry out? Jesus, thy Son of David, have mercy on me. Now let me ask you, have you ever Have you ever cried that prayer? Have you ever uttered those words? Here you are. We're into the month of April, the year of our Lord, 2024. You sat under the ministry for years, decades, some of you, and yet you've never, never have you once cried to God, Lord, have mercy upon me. That's what you need. You need mercy. You need God's mercy. God's mercy in the gospel. Have you ever said, like that publican said in the temple, Jesus, thy son of David, Lord, have mercy upon me, the sinner. Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. It's the mercy of God you need. And so here we have people, they've got no theological training. They haven't been to Bible college. They're not as well schooled in the scriptures as the religious zealots of the day, and yet they have come to a settled conclusion that Jesus of Nazareth is the son of David. And that's why we come to find whenever Jesus Christ made his triumphant entrance into the city of Jerusalem, just prior to his crucifixion, we read these words, that those who went before him and those who went after him, they cried out these words, to the Son of David. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest." And so this thought, this truth, this title, this Son of David, it's more than a statement with regard to his physical genealogy. It is a messianic title. When they refer to him as Jesus, the son of David, they meant that he was the long-awaited deliverer, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. He is the son of David. But Jesus Christ is not only the son of David, he is also the son of Abraham. The son of Abraham, that's what we read in Matthew chapter 1. in the verse number one the generations this is the generation the book of the generation of jesus christ the son of david the son of abraham now some think that the second statement refers to david as the son of abraham i believe that it refers to jesus christ jesus christ is the son of abraham because just as the jew expected the Messiah to come from David's family, they also expected him to be a descendant from Abraham's family. And that is why Matthew is able to trace, and that is why he does this, he traces the family line not just back to David, but way back to the father of the nation, way back to Abraham. Albert Barnes, he made a very interesting comment. He said, though Jesus was of humble birth, yet he was descendant from most illustrious ancestors. Abraham, the father of the faithful, and David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, the conqueror, the magnificent and victorious leader of the people of God, were both among his ancestors. And so we have this title, Jesus, the son of David, that speaks to us of his royal pedigree. Jesus, son of Abraham, that speaks to us of his racial pedigree, his royal pedigree, son of David, his racial pedigree, son of Abraham. Now, covenants are central to God's plan of redemption for mankind. Covenant understanding and an understanding of the covenants are vital. we come to understand Christ's redeeming work. The covenant is simply a compact that is made by God with His people, which really comes to define His relationship with them and the promise, blessings of His covenanted ones. And so Matthew, he begins his gospel by presenting Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of two covenants, the Davidic covenant and the Abrahamic covenant. God's covenant with David was that he promised a son to sit on his throne forever. That was God's promise. That was his compact. That was the covenant that God made with David. But God also made a covenant with Abraham. And in that covenant, he promised that through Abraham's seed, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. That was God's promise. We read of that covenant in Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12 the verses 1 to 3 God speaking here to Abraham He says now the Lord had said unto Abram get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house Unto a land that I will show thee and I will make of thee. Here's God's promise I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and When Matthew turns to Jesus Christ as the son of David, he's declaring that he's the promised king who would rule the world. When he speaks of him as the son of Abraham, he's declaring that he is the promised savior who would bless the world. And what would he bless the world with? Through his seed. What would God bless the world with through His seed, Jesus Christ? With material blessing? With temporal blessings? No. He'll bless the world with spiritual blessings. And we thought about that last Sunday evening. I trust you were here to hear that message. The Word of God reminds us there in Acts chapter 3 that through his seed, through Abraham, came the blessing. God sent his Son to bless you in turning every one of you away from his iniquities. That's the blessing. that has come through Abraham's seed. It is this, the son of Abraham, who has purchased for us, all who believe, both Jew and non-Jew, the blessing of the forgiveness of sins through his death upon the cross of Calvary. So I asked you, has that blessing become yours? The blessing, spiritual blessing. that are ours in and through Christ as God in the gospel. Has he turned away your iniquities? Those iniquities that haunt you, those iniquities that burden you, those iniquities that cause you shame, those iniquities that fill you with guilt, those iniquities that will eternally damn your soul in hell. Has he turned you away from your iniquities? Thank God if you come to him today confessing sin, repenting of sin, placing your faith in Christ, he will turn you away from your iniquities. Oh, may such occur at such a period of time. He is the son of Abraham, Jesus, son of David, Jesus, son of Abraham, Jesus, son of Mary. In Mark chapter 6, the question is asked by those who had just listened to the Savior preach in the synagogue. On that particular occasion, the Savior returns to his own country and he begins to preach and as he has preached, We read that they heard him, they were astonished. Verse number two, Mark six, from whence hath this man these things, and what wisdom is this which is given to him, that such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter? And there it gives us a little window into the Savior's life. We know very little about the Savior's life from birth right up to manhood, but we notice here that he is termed as the carpenter, Jesus Christ. worked with wood." It appears through these words. It's not that he's the son of the carpenter, but he is the carpenter. Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Judah and Simeon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. The people that heard the Savior that day could hardly believe their ears. They could hardly believe that the preacher was the carpenter, the son of Mary. What training had he? That's how they looked upon it. They didn't acknowledge him as the son of God. These words were not meant to be complimentary in any kind of way, and yet the worshipers, whenever they uttered them, we find that they are careful not to refer to him as the son of Joseph. That's very strange because we're often referred to mainly as the son of our father. But they're very careful to term Him as the Son of Mary. And in that, we come to find that the miraculous conception of Jesus Christ, where Mary was overshadowed by the powerful Holy Ghost, that saw no involvement in any earthly father, is protected in what they say as they term Him the Son of Mary. Because the Savior derived his humanity from Mary. A body was prepared for him, and yet it was through Mary that the Son of God would come through the virgin birth. How did Christ, the Son of God, become man? Or should a catechism ask, Christ, the Son of God, became man by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary and born of her, yet without sin. He derives his human nature from Mary, a nature that is obviously preserved from sin through the miracle of the incarnation. And because he has no sin, The Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, could be the Savior of sinners. So He is the Son of Mary. That might all be very familiar to you, but let me ask you, is He your Savior? Is He your Savior today? He who took to Himself a true body by the virgin birth, He is able to identify with the sons of men. He's able to pass through and did pass through all that we pass through in this life with the exception of sin. He knows what it is to weep. He knows what it is to thirst. He knows what it is to be abandoned. He knows what it is to be forsaken. He knows what it is to be spoken against. He knows it all. And therefore, He is able to identify with us. I heard a statement just this week as I prepared, though a real man, He is not a mere man. He is God-man. Though a real man, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, though a real man, He's not a mere man. He is God-man. But He is the Son of Mary. The Son of Mary. But let me close with one final thought. It's one o'clock. One final thought. Luke's Gospel, Chapter 1. Now remember, we're considering these sonship titles of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the angel Gabriel is dispatched from heaven with a message concerning the one who would be born of Mary. In verse 31, verse 30, the angel said unto her, fear not Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great. and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord shall give on to him," what? The throne of his father David. We've come full circle. We've thought about the Son of God as the Son of David. Here we have this thought again, the Son of David, the throne is going to be given to this one, but he's going to be called the Son of the Highest. As Christians, it is always incumbent upon us to hold the Son of God in highest regard. And this title of Christ certainly does that. Here He is designated the Son of the Highest. It can be literally translated this one, the Son of the Most High, the Son of the Most High. Now as you consider the Savior's earthly ministry, only for the fact that it is recorded in the inspired scriptures that He is the Son of the Highest, you would hardly think that such a glorious title should be suited to Him. The Son of the Highest? But sure He's born in squalor. The squalor of an animal shelter. and he lies in a manger. Son of the highest, but sure he lives in Nazareth, in the home of a carpenter, and not one of the royal palaces in the city of Jerusalem. Son of the highest, but sure when night falls, he's no place of retirement, for he declares that he has nowhere to place his weary head. Son of the highest, but sure he has to borrow a coat of an ass to ride into Jerusalem, for he owns no such mode of transport himself. Son of the highest, but sure he's treated like a criminal by both the religious and the political establishment of the day. Son of the highest, but he's beaten, he's spat upon, he's crowned with a crown of thorns and scourged by wicked and sinful men. Son of the highest, but sure he's stripped naked, and he's kneeled to a Roman cross of wood, Son of the Highest, but sure he's bruised and he's put to grief by his father, Son of the Highest, but sure he's brought to the dust of death, he's buried and he's enclosed in a tomb. And if the Gospel of Counts 6 ended at that point, the point where Christ expired, we would have to question, is such a title befitting Jesus Christ? we would think him to be better termed, son of the lowest. Son of the lowest. And yet that is not where the gospel accounts end, because Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, the son of Mary, the son of God, the son of man, the Lord Jesus Christ, he rises again from the dead. And he ascends back into heaven, and there he takes his rightful place at the Father's right hand. And by doing so, he comes to prove that he always was, and he always is, and that he will continue to be forever the Son of the Highest. He's the Son of the Highest. Glory to God in the highest, because the Son of the Highest has come. to bring peace and goodwill toward men. I wonder, do we recognize Jesus Christ to be the Son of the Highest? Because, brethren and sisters, if we acknowledge Him to be the Son of the Highest, we will have no problem in obeying His commandments. There'll be no difficulty in that, because these are the commands of the Son of the Highest. And not only that, but we'll have no difficulty with adhering to His Word and what God says to us in His Word. And we'll have no problem in following His counsel and submitting to His truth as it is found in the Word of God, because there is none as high as He. And therefore, our obedience and our worship and our love should be exclusively to Him, the Son of the Highest. Jesus the son of David, Jesus the son of Abraham, Jesus the son of Mary, Jesus the son of the highest. Titles that draw our attention to the Savior's royal pedigree and to his racial pedigree. Titles bring us to the thought and the truth of His humanity, the Son of Mary, as well as to His deity, the Son of the Most High, the Son of the Highest. Oh, may God help us to love Him. May God help us to serve Him until we see Him face to face, enthroned in highest splendor, exalted as the Son of the Highest. May God help us to adore Him and to worship Him in all that we say and do in our lives. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Our God and our Father, We bless Thee, O God, for Thy dear Son, Jesus Christ, He who is the darling of heaven, He who was in the bosom of the Father, left heaven. We bless Thee, O God, that He did not divest Himself of His deity, but He took to Himself humanity. He took to himself our nature, not the nature of angels, but he took to himself of the seed of Abraham. He took to himself our nature without sin. We rejoice in him who lived for us. He satisfied the law on our behalf. He rendered it glorious. He fulfilled each part of it in letter and in spirit. Rejoice in him who went to the cross and died for our sins in the flesh. We praise thee that he not only did that, but he rose again. And he is exalted far, far above all. Far above all, far above all. Jesus, the crucified, far above all. Low at his footstool, adoring we fall. Christ has been exalted far above all. He is the son of the highest. Oh, to give him the worship that is due on to him and the obedience that is required. May we not resist, oh God, that which God speaks to us through his son, as is found in his word. But help us, Lord, to be obedient children. And may we understand that there is none greater than he, We pray, Lord, that thou will bless our hearts now as we leave this place, and may we all return to the house of God this evening. This is our place. We must be planted in the house of God. Give us good roots, Lord, in this place, and save us from our wanderings, we pray, and help us, Lord, to serve the Lord as thou hast called us, Lord, to this place, for we offer prayer in and through the Savior's holy name.