and worship his great and holy name by turning to number four. June is 930. Hymn number four. Keep silence all created things and wait your maker's nod. My soul stands trembling while she sings the honors of her God. Life, death and hell and worlds unknown hang on his firm decree, he sits on no precarious throne, nor borrows leave to be. ♪ And raise you in exultation ♪ ♪ My soul serves the King ♪ ♪ God, she sings in your praise ♪ ♪ The fruit of life ♪ ♪ And all is perfectly free ♪ ♪ It is eternal, pre-eternal ♪ ♪ The Lord has changed to be ♪ ♪ Change, change, come now ♪ ♪ Holy Christ, the Lord is come ♪ Every element, form, and sight, from life eternal, ♪ The witness of Joseph's birth ♪ ♪ And makes his blood so strong ♪ ♪ We do believe that Joseph's birth ♪ Oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ New strength to overcome ♪ ♪ Father of all ♪ ♪ May Jesus come to thee ♪ ♪ Lord, take your lustre, creature kind ♪ ♪ Love from the rich and plain ♪ ♪ Glorious and holy ♪ ♪ Angel of mine ♪ ♪ Rich in the cross ♪ ♪ My God, I could not come to see ♪ ♪ Thy faith in purest light ♪ ♪ But to Thee I come ♪ ♪ And righteousness every right ♪ ♪ In thy heaven of right and grace ♪ ♪ Alleluia ♪ ♪ By thy name ♪ ♪ We who fail in song ♪ ♪ Of old age ♪ ♪ Pray in thy glory ♪ From the sacred and holy word of God we shall turn to read psalm number 50, the 50th psalm, a psalm of Asaph. The mighty God, even the Lord hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and it shall not keep silence. The fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God is judge himself, Selah. Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against thee. I am God, even thy God. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifice or thy burnt offerings to have been continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills? I know all the fowls of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is mine, and the faunas thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most High, and call upon Me in that I have trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me. But unto the wicked, he saith, what hast thou to do, to declare My statutes? Or that thou shouldest take My covenant in thy mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest My words behind thee, when thou saw'st a thief, and thou consent'st with him that has been partaken with adulterers. For thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speak'st against thy brother, thou slander'st thy own mother's son. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence. Thou thought'st that I was altogether such an one as thyself, I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me, and him that ordereth conversation aright, will I show thee salvation of God. May God bless his holy and sacred word to us. May he teach us to pray. Almighty and most gracious God, the one who has spoken, that that we have just been reading in thy holy word, spoken in thy creative works, spoken in thy holy word by the fathers and the prophets, in these last days, has spoken unto us by his Son, who made air of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down in the right hand of the majesty on high, henceforth expecting, till his enemies be made his footstool. This is the great and eternal God to whom we come now. Thou art that eternal Father, eternally begotten Son, and the eternally proceeding Spirit, thrice holy and not unable to be discerned by the natural man or the carnal mind. And yet nor there are a people to whom thou dost show thyself. The people of whom thy word speaks, they shall all be taught of the Lord. And this house of prayer, greatly honoured, was built by our forefathers for that very that sinners might be taught of the Lord through the ministry of the servants of God whom thou hast sent into this pulpit over the long years of its history. And even now, Lord, with their beloved pastor and others who occupy this pulpit, thou art still teaching sinners, calling them out of nature's darkness into thy marvellous light, showing them their need of a Saviour, and revealing that Saviour to them. Lord, this has been wrought many, many, many times within these walls, and we pray that it may continue to be so, that our dear friend and brother in the ministry there, beloved pastor and deacons and members of church and congregation, mark thy goodness today, May they be pleading that precious word, according to that word I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you, fear ye not. And Lord, that is a personal word to thy dear people, brought out of the Egypt of this world, brought out of nature's darkness, brought through the Red Sea, as it were the precious blood of Christ, my spirit remaineth among you. May we know that this anniversary day, both the preacher and the hearers, that thy dear spirit is still working and know that that precious truth that David learned when he was commanded to wait before he went to attack or resist the Philistines, when thou hearest a sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, then thou shalt go forth, knowing the Lord is gone before thee. Or may we hear a sound of a going this day, a moving Lord by the dear Spirit in the hearts of the hearers and the preacher alike, and then we will know that thou dost remain among us, and that to bless. The law of this house of prayer was built that sinners might hear the gospel. And we are gathered here this afternoon hour, and this is the one thing, among other things we have in common, all have sinned, from the youngest here to the oldest, all have sinned. and come short of the glory of God. And Lord, however much we strive, we cannot only come short of that glory. Our fallen nature and the hindrances of the world and the flesh of the devil all resist us in coming anywhere near the honour and glory of thy holy law that is just. that our blessed be thy holy name, there is one. He is the holy and just one, thy dear son in our nature, God incarnate, who willingly, voluntarily came under the law to satisfy it, to give the honor due to it, the glory due to it, and so provide for helpless, coming short sinners a robe of righteousness to cover them, and precious blood to cleanse. And all those here this afternoon who solemnly feel they have come short, that their conscience testifies against them. For may they look to that One who has fulfilled, yea, magnified the law, made it honourable for sinners. And may we look to that cross at Golgotha where the dear Redeemer hung, between two thieves, making atonement for the sins of His church, for coming sinners. And may we look now to the precious blood of Christ, as the firstborn in the night of the Passover would be looking at that blood, which had it not been sprinkled on the doorpost, would have meant His demise. Under the blood we are saved. We will look into the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ this afternoon hour. O Lord Jesus, do bear thy witness to its living power, for it is as vitally strong this day as it was when the dying thief rejoiced to see it. So Lord, do bless us this afternoon, do grant quickening grace, in dead hearts and do enliven living hearts. Do bring sinners to the footstool of mercy. Do apply the Word with divine power. Do make it spirit and life to this congregation and empty senders, not away. Be thy dear servant, the beloved pastor here. Lord, we thank thee for him. in that fellowship in the Gospel over many years. Do uphold him, he has many infirmities, but Lord, thy grace has sustained him thus far, and we pray he may be encouraged today to hold on his way, believing he is where the Lord has put him, and that being so, the Lord will provide. Do bless the deacons the Church and the members of Congregation also. And may there be a united, living, loving people, desiring to know nothing among men, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The hills of Zion represented here this afternoon, and my dear servant who has turned in with us, we affectionately bear Him before thee, and little cause over which thou hast placed Him. that he and all the hills of Zion represented here this afternoon may know the same blessings we desire for our dear friends here. And we look back with thanksgiving, Lord, over many, many years of fellowship with them. We think of one Lord who has passed from time into eternity since we last stood here, our dear friend, Ina. We thank thee, Lord, for that remembrance of her grace and of our fellowship and love in the things of God. And Lord, as fast as sheep to Jesus go, may lambs recruit the fold below. And any Lord who come with a special burden this afternoon, seek in some divine direction how to handle it, how to manage it, or may there be something read, or said, or sung, that will meet their case by thy divine application, that they may go from thy courts rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer. We think of those who live around this house of prayer. They see thy people coming and going. Lord, does it ever cross their mind What do these feeble Jews? Is it nothing to ye, thee or ye that pass by? What a question! Lord, it would have been nothing to us but for grace. And Lord, all the day may come when graceless hearts that live near this house of prayer may be so wrought upon by thy Spirit that they cannot pass by any longer, but are driven in by need drawn in by desire to hear what God the Lord will say to them within these walls. We pray for the dear young people, the children, the young friends. We thank thee for the goodly number worship here. And this is thy kindness, solemn responsibility to bring them up in the nurture, admonition and fear of the Lord. In this terrible day, falling away, an apostasy, how much more is prayer needed that they may be kept? Put thy fear in their hearts, Lord, and then they will not depart from thee. Bless those who are growing up, grown up into life, hear prayer for those things that one and another feel to be in need of this afternoon hour. May they beseech and besiege even the throne of grace. It will be like Jacob when he said, when wrestling with the angel of the covenant, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. Lord, what a personal word that word me is. So often thy people are like the man at the pool of Bethesda. Others go down first and are healed. And still they look on in their helpless, feelingly hopeless state. Oh Lord, do thou walk near them like thou didst that man? Wilt thou be made whole? I have no man. Ah, but their man Christ Jesus stood by him. What a difference that made. We pray, O Lord, for our beloved land in this momentous day, when thou hast brought one low who ruled over us and raised up another. We cannot but tremble at these great changes. Sadly, we have no confidence in those who desire to rule and those who do rule. We must look beyond them to the unshakable, unchangeable throne of God. We do pray nonetheless, as we are exhorted to do, for the new Prime Minister No, Lord, we understand he does not believe in God. Yet thou hast used such men, unbeknown to them, to further thy cause many times. And we pray thou put a restraining hand on those around him who would further seek to desecrate thy law and thy word and thy day, and those foundation truths that once made Great Britain great. O Lord, we who tremble, we wonder, what the future holds, but thou dost not wonder, thou knowest. And we, as part of that little remnant that sigh and cry for the abominations done in the land, we pray, Lord, remember thy people, thy chosen, thy little flock, Lord, who desire thy care and thy keeping. Now we thank thee, Lord, for thy many, many mercies. The beautiful rain thou send, just as needful as the sunshine, O how faithful and how kind thou art to thy land! And now, Lord, we hear of showers of blessing, thou art scattering full and free, showers thee thirsty land refreshing. Let some drops now fall on me. Hear our poor cry, Lord, help one to speak and others to hear. May there be prayer in the pew, that there may be power in the pulpit. We look to thee, Lord Jesus, alone. For thy dear name's sake. Amen. The collections today are for the dear pastor here. May you be blessed in your giving. acknowledgement of what has been made to you through God's goodness. Shall we further sing hymn 377 to the tune of Abbeydale 274. My soul, take courage from the Lord, believe and plead his holy word. To him alone do thou complain, nor shalt thou seek his face. In vain, upon him call in humble prayer, Thou still art his peculiar care, He'll surely turn and smile again, Nor shalt thou seek his face. In vain. 377, 274. He shall take coverage from the Lord. He hath made this world divine, ♪ To thee alone we'll go, O God, to thee alone ♪ O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, ♪ Thou shalt not see me perish there ♪ ♪ I'll never see thee again ♪ ♪ Hail, white and brave ♪ ♪ That watches on ♪ ♪ Strength of the American ♪ ♪ Of Australia ♪ ♪ I have not yet ascended ♪ ♪ Where pitchforks by starlight gleam ♪ ♪ How clear the night ♪ ♪ Shall be so strange to me ♪ Thou shalt not see His face again. ♪ May he give us the freedom ♪ ♪ May God guide us, may God protect us ♪ ♪ Thou shalt not see me ♪ ♪ Which Thou hast made me ♪ ♪ Thou shalt not make me ♪ ♪ And thousands more ♪ ♪ As he is seven ♪ ♪ Still break the crown ♪ ♪ With glory still ♪ ♪ Thou shalt not speak the silence of death ♪ ♪ In heaven and earth and in heaven and on high ♪ ♪ Spread the truth, the grace of God ♪ ♪ Rejoice, rejoice, all ye citizens of heaven above ♪ Seeking the Lord's help and your very grateful attention. I'll direct your thoughts this afternoon to the epistle of Paul to the Philippians in chapter 4. We shall read verses 6 and 7. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4, verses 6 and 7. We have before us this afternoon a precept followed by a promise. And God who is the author of the precept is also the author of the promise. And God who will give to his people the grace of the precept will assuredly give them also the grace of the promise. So when we come to an exhortation like this, and yes, we often have to feel our prayerless state and our far-off condition, we may ask the God of the precept to give us the grace to go with it. And indeed, my dear friend, there's not a precept in Holy Scripture. What you need, and I need, the God of the precept to give grace to go with it. In no other way can we walk out the precepts and commands and ordinances of Almighty God unless He give the grace. That will not make either you or I a fatalist if we understand that truth at right. It will make us diligent in seeking God's help. The Spirit helpeth our infirmities, Paul writes elsewhere, we know not what we should pray for as we ought. What a mercy there is one who is so concerned for a poor, infirm sinner this afternoon in Lamberhurst Chapel, feeling so infirm in all the precepts, but perhaps especially in this one, in prayer. You may ask the Spirit who helpeth our infirmities to come and breathe into your heart the very prayer that you long to feel. Now, the apostle here is writing to the church at Philippi, a church very dear to him. Of all the churches that we read of in the New Testament, we have the most detailed account of the establishment of a church in the case of Philippi. The Lord's servant Paul, who was being mightily used by God had a very mysterious path before he came to Philippi. There were two places he longed to go to. Two places he thought if only he could get there, he would be under God's hand, be a great tool in the kingdom of Christ. The one was Bithynia, the other was Asia. Of the one we read, the spirit for Baden, and the other we read, the spirit suffered him not. Two shut doors. It is no use your eye kicking against a door that God has shut. You won't open it. So you say, what do you do when God shuts doors rather than opens them? You wait. And you wait. And you wait until He opens the door He has for you. And Paul had to wait. We don't know how long he had to wait, whether it was a few days or weeks, even months perhaps. But eventually the Lord opened the door and he saw that man on the shore saying, come over into Macedonia and help us. I says, Paul, no, there's a door opened for me. Mind you, God didn't tell him all that lay through that door. He didn't tell him yet about the stripes and the dungeon and the midnight hour. God is very gracious in that respect. He does not load us before we need the load on our back. But Paul went. And friends, you may be surprised perhaps what's come to you through the door that you went through at God's bidding. You might even have said, if I'd known what was through that door, I'd have been far more hesitant to have gone. And yet, my dear friend, you would have gone, because the love of Christ constraineth us. And where the love of Christ is in the heart, whatever it may cost through that door, then you will learn that blessed truth. Thy shoe shall be iron and brass, and as thy days, so shall thy strength be. So Paul goes to Macedonia, Holy Ghost guiding his steps and we find him not in a synagogue, no we find him in the open air preaching to a few women who had gathered for prayer by the riverside and they were seeking and they were asking, they were knocking but they felt they had not got what they, at least one of them at least, had not got what she really felt she needed within and That was Lydia, wasn't it? Whose heart the Lord opened. And so the church began to be established. Later on the Philippian jailers added, and the church begins to grow. And they were a favoured church. They were a united church. They were an active church, not just in faith, but in practical works of faith. The two go together. they were very careful to seek to do good where they could. Not relying on their works, no. Knowing what the Lord Jesus Christ had done for them, the question was, what shall I do to show my love and appreciation for what he's done for me? Were the whole realm of nature mine that were a present far too small? so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. Would to God we felt that truth more. Well, so he exhorts them here. He writes in love, probably from a prison cell, and he writes with this exhortation and this promise. The Holy Ghost guiding his pen, his tongue, So it's a message not just from Paul. It's a message from the God of all grace. And it's a message not just from Paul this afternoon, nor from me, the unworthy servant of God in the pulpit this afternoon. It's a message from the God of all grace. To one or more of you here this afternoon who are in urgent, pressing need of prayer. You're in a corner. You're in a great strait. You don't know which way to turn, which way to go. And you've come into this little chapel begging the Lord to tell you, show you. And what is he saying? Put it before me in the matter of prayer. As we read in Psalm 50, call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me. Now, our text then, first of all with this exhortation, what does it not say? And sometimes the truth of God stands out even more clearly when we know what it doesn't say. Even our Lord Jesus Christ in John 14 says concerning the heavenly managers, if it were not so, I would have told you. But he had told them. And there is a heavenly mansion he's bringing his dear people to, and may we be found there as we sung in our opening hymn. But what does our text not say then? It does not say, and listen, young and old, it does not say, be careless. Your soul is too precious. The day of judgment is too near. Eternity too long for you to be careless. about your never-dying soul. Or you say, but our past has often told us that we cannot do these things ourselves. But your past has also told you there's one who can do it within your heart. Or how we need, dear friends, to be stirred up then. With the urgency of our text, we must not be careless. Nowhere, not one page of scripture says to sinner or saint, be careless. It's an offence to your creator, to whom you are accountable, answerable. Remember that. So it doesn't say be careless. It says be careful for nothing. What it means is this dear friends, whatever care may come into your life, small or great, you are encouraged, you're not forbidden to lay it before the Lord. And indeed, that care that's come, and you know what the word care means in that respect, it's a burden, it's a need, whatever care has come, the Lord is saying whatever that care may be, whether it be body or soul, time or eternity, family, business, church, relationships, whatever it may be, he said, bring it unto me. Be careful for nothing. Friend, there's nothing in your life this afternoon now that you're forbidden to bring to God for help with. Indeed, in our text this afternoon, you're encouraged. Be careful for nothing, even what we might call the little things in life. And those of us who are getting older, some things we never thought about when we were younger, asking help for. We now find we have to ask help for. Natural strength begins to decay. Our minds aren't as sharp as they once were and our memories begin to be uncertain. And so more and more that little prayer becomes ours. Lord help me. even in what you might call mundane things. You dear children, you may pray concerning your studies, your friends, and maybe there's one young one here this afternoon with a strange, unusual burden in their life they perhaps have not told anybody. I hope it's your sins, I hope it's your never dying soul, and you'd hardly dare pray about it. And our text tells you that's the very thing you need to do. To come and tell Him. Come and lay before this great God. Be careful for nothing, everything. That's the other end of the matter, isn't it? Not just small things, but great things. Now in that psalm that we read, God had a controversy with His people. Because they were not bringing before Him in prayer, humble prayer. all their matters. They rely on a dead form of religion, just a routine, without fellowship, without communion in it. Oh how poor that religion is. May God deliver us from it. He says in another psalm, I am the Lord thy God that brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it. Friend, it honours God When you ask Him for great things, there's nothing too great for you to ask Him. I've often thought of the dying thief. I think it's probably the most stupendous venture on the page of scripture of a poor sinner. There was a man on the borders of the pit, literally, within an hour or so he could have been plunged to the bottomless abyss like the other thief did go. never to be delivered from it. But in that latest hour his eye was opened to see the beauty of the one on the centre cross and his unholiness in comparison. But oh, there's a glimmer of hope. This one has a kingdom. He's a king. He has subjects. Who can tell? Unworthy as I am, wretched though I am, guilty though I am, I'll ask. I can but ask. If he says no, well, so be it. Would he say no? If I ask him to receive me, will he say me nay? Not though earth and not though heaven pass away. O poor guilty sinner, bring your guilt and your need and your wretched state like the dying thief did. Who can tell but what this precious Jesus will turn and smile on you, the coming sinner? In fact, he said he will. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. So we may ask great things, and you may ask great things in Providence as well. not to be wrongly covetous. Don't mistake me. There are many things we think we need that we don't. It's my God shall supply all your need. And who's the best judge of your need this afternoon? You say, well, I think I know what I need. Friends, your judgment is fallible and so is mine. Your father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask him. He knows what you have need of. He is the best judge. Yes, blessed be His holy name. And whatever He sees you truly need for your soul's eternal good and your providential continuance, He will not withhold from you. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are but dust. Oh, be careful then for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. You may say there are two things puzzle me in this text, in the precepts. One, doesn't God already know? You just said He does. Why do we need to pray then? Because He wills it. And that should be enough, dear friend. I will for these things be inquired of by the house of Israel to do them for them. Are you an inquiring one this afternoon? Has God made you an inquiring one? It was that that convinced Ananias that the sword of Tarsus was a child of God. When he was commanded to go and find him and put his hands on him and he might receive his sight, Ananias was very hesitant. This man had come to Damascus, he told the Lord, with a long list of people to arrest and take back to Jerusalem and probably to kill. And I'm on that list. Lord, don't you know, Ananias, I know all about it. But go thy way, Ananias. He's a chosen vessel unto me. And here's the proof. Behold, he prayeth. There's the proof. Is that proof in your life? In mine? When did you last breathe out a living prayer to the God of our text? You say, well, I did bow my head when I came into this house of prayer. I hope you did. You should do. Remember whose house it is and why you've come. But just leave that to your side for one moment. But in your daily concerns, perhaps even this morning in some matter, it was, Lord, help me. Lord, smile upon me. Lord, come where I am. That prayer has been heard. And he who taught you to pray will assuredly answer it. He will be inquired of. That's the first thing. The second thing that may puzzle you is this word thanksgiving. Not that we deny that thanksgiving is good. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord. But it seems somehow in the wrong order, doesn't it, to our poor finite minds. Surely the time for thanksgiving is when the prayer is heard and answered. Well, it certainly is. It certainly is. And sadly, many of God's mercies lie forgotten in unthankfulness and without praise in his dying. That's God dishonouring. Oh, friends, may God deliver us from that unthankful spirit. It's the age we're living in, isn't it? Paul, the writer to one of the churches, said that the Markov would never be unthankful. Unthankful. There was a godly man in Bedfordshire by the name of Mr. Woodcraft. He was a minister of the Gospel. A very dear minister to some of us as well. He was a farmer. And he lived next door to another farmer who did not believe in God at all. Mr. Wilcroft was not ashamed of his light, and he got talking to this man once, and he said, do you ever say, Grace, give thanks at your meal? Who knows, the man said, I take it for granted. Well, Mr. Wilcroft said, my friend, he says, what my pigs do, they take it for granted. Friends, if you take for granted God's mercies, don't be surprised if he takes them from you. That's a word of exhortation. Don't take your health for granted, your strength for granted, your opportunity to come to the house of God for granted. It's a privilege. The day may come when you are not able to come because of ill health and other things. How sad then to look back on missed opportunities when you neglected. Friends, don't take the house of God for granted or the ministry of your dear pastor for granted. No. Because dear friends, if we take them for granted, the Lord can take them from us. How careful we should be with an unthankful spirit. May the Lord deliver us from it. Thanksgiving then is not out of order in our text. For three reasons. One is, thank God there's a God to go to. Oh, what a mercy. The door of mercy is not shut. What at mercy has one waiting to be gracious? Does one who has bid us pray, be thankful for it? Were that, did thou not hear and answer prayer, that were a grief I could not bear? But at prayer hearing, answering, God supports me under every load. And I have a dear man of God, now in glory, and his wife, many years ago now, their lad of four years old, were suddenly taken with a brain haemorrhage. and rushed into hospital in the Midlands. And the father, he said to the Lord out loud, Lord, I could not bear it if my lad were taken from me. And the Lord spoke in the words of one of our hymns, that were a grief I could not bear. Didst thou not hear an answer prayer? But a prayer hearing, answering God supports me under every load. So I knew the Lord would take my lad, and I knew he'd hear my prayers for grace to go with it. And he did. Our dear friend, the Lord knows how to deal with his dear people. And bless his dear holy name. A prayer hearing, prayer answering God supports us under every load. Be thankful for it. Bless his name for it. You're yet on praying ground. No prayer in hell. The rich man had many needs there, even his tongue to be moistened, and even that couldn't happen. Or even to tell his brethren, yet in the flesh, let them warn about this place, and that wouldn't happen either, in the way he thought. Friends, prayer is for this time state. Even in heaven there's no prayer because there's no need for it. It's all praise there. But if there's no prayer, what you hear below, dear friends, there'll be no praise hereafter. This is the second thing we should give thanks for, that God has given a plea, a name, a name to be pleaded by the most vilest of wretches, the most emptiest of sinners, the most backward of prayers, the most far off who feel their need, and that name is Jesus. The name the Father loves to hear His children plead. All such pleading He approves and blesses them indeed. Oh dear friends, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. We have one in court for us. Yes, be thankful for it. In other words, when you bring your need, there's one waiting to take it and present it with his own merits. before His Heavenly Father, His Name and His Love and His Blood and His Righteousness. What else should we be thankful for? His love in time past forbids me to think. He'll leave me at last in trouble to sing. Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review confirms His good pleasure to help me quite through. Oh, child of God, have you nothing to thank him for? Has he been a dry breast to you? Has he never answered your prayers? Has he never opened the doors? Oh, poor child of God, how low you've gone. Have you forgotten all he's done for you? You say, well, I've got a great need now. I know. And the Lord knows. But friend, don't dishonor your God by refusing to acknowledge. his love in time past. Some of us wouldn't be here this afternoon but for his love in time past. But we are here because of that. Bless his holy name. Be careful for nothing then but everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known unto God. You say, what's the difference in prayer and supplication? If you go, for example, to the River Thames and you go to its source up in the Cotswolds and the Chilterns, you can see the water tumbling down with great force in those streams that feed that noble river. You go to London though, by the time there is much, so it's the same river, the same water, but it's flowing on much more gently. And prayer is that gentle stream and supplicates that water tumbling down the rocks, urgency. And while we would not and must not lay down a line for God to work in, very, very often, before your prayer is answered, God will turn it from prayer into supplication. Like Jacob, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And dear friend, I can say that your encouragement If God has turned your prayer into supplication in some particular matter, and you felt the liberty in so doing, then the Lord is already on his way to answer. Already God is moving in the matter. He who gives prayer, he who gives supplication, he will answer. Every Holy Ghost wrought prayer will have a Holy Ghost wrought answer. Bless God for it. You say, but I haven't got an answer yet to the prayer I've been praying. Then why is that? Well, there may be two reasons. One, of course, it must not be the Lord's time yet. And His time is perfect. And the second thing is you may not be ready for the answer yet. You say, I'm ready. Are you sure? Are you empty enough? Are you weak enough? Are you poor enough? Are you destitute enough? Are you emptied enough? Then you're ready. That's why Hannah had to wait. You see, I spent many times, well I'm ready for the answer Lord, but year after year it wasn't granted. Until friends, when she was bereft of support from the other wife, her own husband, even Eli the priest misunderstood her. She shut up to God and God alone. And she pours out her heart in supplication before the Lord. The Lord's time had come. And we read wonderful words, you know. Well, at last Eli and I admired the dear man for knowing his mistake. Some men would have covered it up. He didn't. He knew he'd made a mistake in misjudging that dear woman. He said, go in peace. The Lord granted thy petition. I was asked of him. Hannah walked out, text She poured out her heart before the Lord. She told him all her case. She made a vow as well that she would give the gift that she was asking for back to the Lord and worship the giver more than the gift. And she went away no more sad. Hannah, where have your tears gone? Why are you not weeping? What happened? Why are you smiling? Nothing's changed. Oh, yes, it has, says Hannah. I'm carrying in my heart a promise from my covenant God. I'm assured of having my Samuel in my arms as if I already got him now. Faith, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, that's real religion, friends, and there's not much of it. And I'm not throwing stones. Would to God we knew more of it. How many of you, dear friends who worship here, Sabbath by Sabbath and week by week, have come into this house of God, cast down, and gone out and lifted up? When did it last happen? When your tears wiped away under the sound of the gospel, when did it last happen? Or that it might happen more, and more. It's that old word, oh, Mr. Hammond of Staplehurst used to say, what we want is application. Application. God's servants are not sent to entertain you, friends. Not for you to mark the text out of ten. Oh, was it a bit better this morning than the last time we heard him? Friend, that's dishonouring. It's application we want. Food! Yes. I've strayed from my text. Let's come back to it. Let us now look at the promise that will follow where God's given the grace of the precepts and the peace of God. which passeth all understanding, should keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Now, friends, it's our minds that are so busy, at least mine is. Oh, the distracting thoughts, the fears, the doubts, the temptations. Oh, can anyone put things in order? Is that where you are this afternoon? Did you become distracted in the little Lambrus chapel this afternoon? So many things to pray about, yet you can't pray. Things to put right, you can't put them right. The devil is roaring, where is your God? You don't know which way to turn. Your poor mind is distracted. Why is your poor mind distracted? Because dear friends, in your heart, you're lacking the very thing, at the moment, in the experience of it, that will bring peace. What is it? What will bring peace into a distracted heart and mind like yours? Why, the Prince of Peace, that one who stood up on Galilee's lake that was rocking violently under the storm. Peace, be still. There was a great calm. A friend, he dealt with two storms that night. You say two? Yes, the literal storm, that was around him, he can deal with that, friend. You've got a storm, in stormy waters this afternoon, Lord, I don't know which way it's going to be. He can manage. And dear friend, she said, where's the other storm? It was in the hearts of his disciples. And friend, in one sense, that storm was more fierce than the one outside. That's where you are this afternoon. You know, deep, deep down, the Lord can deal with your difficulty, but oh, the storm of unbelief in your heart. Why are you so fearful? Where is your faith? Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. Well, here we have them, hearts and minds taken control of by this great God, through Christ Jesus. Friends, it's through Christ Jesus, God is at peace with his people. It's through the merits of Christ, the name of Christ, the blood of Christ, the righteousness of Christ, the advocacy of Christ, the high priesthood of Christ, you name it. It's through Christ Jesus. And those words, Christ Jesus, are very precious. Jesus, the name in his holy humanity. Christ, the anointed one, without measure by the spirit. In that glorious person of Emmanuel, two natures meeting together in sweet harmony. The peace of God. You think, dear friends, that three times we have peace from God, peace with God, and the peace of God. The three, slight or very great differences, but they're all one really. Peace from God tells us it's source. Reconciliation. Peace with God. There is the soul at one in heart and mind with God in this matter that you've got to lay before Him. The peace of God seems to be something very precious. Between the three persons of the glorious Trinity there is a peace undescribable that you and I cannot begin to fathom. But the wonderful thing of it is in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, where, as I said just now, divinity and humanity meet together, that peace of God dwells. And just as our Lord prayed in His High Priestly prayer, that love with those who love me may be in them and I in them, so the peace of God that is in me may be in them and I in them. Oh, that's why it's past understanding. If ever you felt that peace in your heart, dear friend, you'd be a miracle to yourself. Where are those fears gone? Where are those sins gone? Where's that temptation gone? Where's that darkness gone? Peace. Peace made by the blood of the cross. Friends, it's precious peace. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. And don't forget that word that is complementary to it in John. Perfect love casteth out fear. And that's why you're so fearful dear friend, you're not made perfect in love. If you're made perfect in love, the fears would go. We're not always there, only occasionally I know in our experience. But it is true. When perfect love dwells, perfect peace comes. You can rest. The Lord knows, underneath the everlasting arms, He's undertaking for you, you're like a child carried by Him. The peace of God, which passeth and understandeth you keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Now friends, go back to Hannah for a moment. Why was she at peace? There were three reasons. One, because she had now received a promise. And friend, God never gives a promise without failing to honour it. Sooner or later nature will change and one of God's promises fail. She had in her heart now, through the lips of Eli, a promise from a promise-giving, promise-fulfilling God. No wonder she went away in peace. No wonder. And so will you go away from Little Chapel of Lambeth this afternoon. If you had the same blessing Hannah did. A word of God shut up in your heart, locked up there by the blessed spirit. Yes, the word that I have rested on shall help my heaviest hours. The second thing was this, she had a wonderful sense that though there were those who didn't understand her and one we re-persecuted her it seems, but her God understood. Her God knew. The friend that's seated close to the brother, the one born from adversity, he knew you. And that's a comfort. Then, friend, you can leave what others think or don't think. That matters not. If you're one with your God in this matter, you can leave it with Him. He knows the way that you take, and when He has tried you, you'll come forth as gold. And the third reason why Hannah went away in peace, she had the answer of a good conscience. She said, in what way? She'd made a vow. The vow was that when God gave her this child she longed for so much, she would give it back to the Lord. And do you know, dear friend, the Lord waited until she made that vow? Or until she was brought to make it, shall we say. You know, the Lord could have delivered Jonah out of the belly of the whale sooner than he came out, but he didn't. He waited. until Jonah vowed to do the very thing God told him to do. Then the Lord spake to the fish. Friends, pay thy vows unto the Most High, says the Word of God. Go back to Psalm 50. Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most High God, and call upon Me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me. Well, dear friends, here is a prayer hearing, prayer answering God. Or this might be some help to some poor devil-dragged child of God this afternoon. Someone imprisoned, either in their soul or circumstances. There is a God in heaven, read Daniel 2. Why do you say that? Five times in that chapter, we read these words, there is a God in heaven. And there is. There's a God in heaven, dear friends. Why do you fear? Why are you so disconsolate? Why are you despairing? Was it not Martin Luther, who at one time got very depressed, so depressed that he left his home one day, went out of the fields and was away several hours. And he came back and he found all the shutters down and black cloth on the table. And he said to his wife, whatever's happened? Oh, just God is dead. Oh, she mustn't say that. Why should you be living as if he's dead? You've gone around these last few days with not a smile on your face as if there's no God to go to. Might as well take that black cloth away, open the windows. There is a God in heaven. And so there is, dear friend, this afternoon, for our nation, this critical time, for the Church of Christ, you and your family, you and your business, you and your relationships, and you and your never-dying soul, there is a God in heaven. May you be able to say, like David did, this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide, even unto death. May God His blessing. Amen. Shall we now sing hymn 720 to Infestus 464. Endless blessings on the Lamb. Broken hearts repeat the same. His dear heart was broken too. when he bore the curse for you, your dread crimes once pierced his heart, shank his soul in vengeful snarl, but his sin, atoning blood, now maintains your peace with God. 720. ♪ With music sweet to adore ♪ ♪ And empathy deep and surely ♪ ♪ Is in our hearts pure and true ♪ ♪ Worthy Father has born thee ♪ ♪ Lord and Christ of distant stars ♪ ♪ And his soul in grateful joy ♪ ♪ And his favor to me provide ♪ ♪ Now returning to me ♪ ♪ Endless praises of thee praise ♪ ♪ Praise with rising hymn of praise ♪ ♪ We are counted in this town ♪ ♪ In this town they have their place ♪ ♪ Children raised ♪ ♪ And in his turn ♪ ♪ Joy and pain ♪ ♪ They found nature fine too ♪ O say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's ♪ In future and in glory ♪ ♪ Blessed is that which comes ♪ ♪ When I go out there ♪ ♪ Long and strong ♪ ♪ Then thy wonders ♪ ♪ Will prevail ♪ ♪ And thou, O my love, ♪ ♪ And as mercy there shall be ♪ ♪ Thou my shepherd and my friend ♪ ♪ We will trust in thee ♪ And now, dear Lord, do cover with thy mantle of thy forgiving love all that thy pure and holy eyes have seen amiss in our worship. this afternoon hour with us during the interval and gather us again around thy word in the evening hour, we pray. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the Holy Spirit's favour rest and abide with us each, both now and evermore. Amen.