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[0:00] Now with our view to God's help, can we turn together to consider words which we find in the psalm which we have read in the book of Psalms, Psalm 119, and we will turn to verse 27.

[0:22] Psalm 119, at verse 27, Make me to understand the way of thy precepts, so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.

[0:43] These verses, this verse, verse 27.

[0:56] Now, this psalm, Psalm 119, is, as you all know, the longest psalm in the Bible.

[1:17] And in it, there are several features which recur. I think, first of all, I might say something about the poetry of Psalm 119, because it's sent out in a very interesting way, this poem.

[1:47] You know that you'll have noticed, anyway I'm certain, over the years, as you've been reading this psalm, that the psalm is broken up in 22 different sections.

[2:01] And each section of the psalm is represented by a letter in the Hebrew alphabet.

[2:11] Now, the Hebrew's way of writing poetry is different to our way in English or Gaelic or in a European culture.

[2:25] Because, you see, the Hebrew way of writing and the Hebrew structure of poetry is quite different in that it is usually done in the form of parallelisms.

[2:39] But, this poem is written almost differently, again, to the normal way of Hebrew poetry. Because, this poem is called an acrostic poem.

[2:54] Now, an acrostic poem is written so that every verse of every section begins with the letter of the alphabet of which the section is represented.

[3:13] Every verse in the Hebrew of this poem begins so that you have a beautiful symmetry in the way in the way in which it is written. Now, all that is just by the way.

[3:24] But, C.H. Spurgeon, the great 19th century Baptist preacher, used this form of poetry in his exposition of Psalm 119, which he called the Golden Alphabet.

[3:47] Now, this golden alphabet, you will notice, has to do very particularly with the Word of God, the Law of the Lord.

[3:58] Because, there are several words that are used in the psalm. There are statutes, there are judgments, there are the law, there is thy word, all of them meaning the same thing.

[4:13] In fact, this psalm is a celebration of the relationship of God's children to his own word. And remember, my friends, that that is the very hymn, the key of this psalm.

[4:31] It is a celebration of the relationship that exists between God's children and God's own word.

[4:42] Now, in the verse which we have chosen today as our text, we have the psalmist taking the position of a student.

[4:54] He is a learner, he is a pupil in the school of Christ. And here, I want us to consider the student's prayer.

[5:06] That's my first quote, the student's prayer. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts. That's the first quote that I want us to share together.

[5:21] Make me to understand the way of thy precepts. And then secondly, following on from the student's prayer, I want us to look at the student's practice.

[5:35] Because, you notice that the psalmist puts it like this, make me to understand the way of thy precepts, so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.

[5:49] And then I want thirdly to look at the effects of the student's practice. Because, you see, I will talk of thy wondrous works.

[6:01] These things have an effect on people. And then finally, the connection between the student's prayer and the student's practice.

[6:13] These four thoughts then this morning. First of all, I want us here to see in this text the student's prayer.

[6:24] And you will notice that the prayer deals with the main point of his life. There's nothing in the world more important to this student than one thing.

[6:41] And that is the way of thy precepts. This is the most important thing in the whole of his life. The way of thy precepts.

[6:54] It's not just thy precepts. Have you noticed the way this man prays? He says, make me to understand, not thy precepts.

[7:05] He says, make me to understand the way of thy precepts. And why does he make that distinction between thy precepts and the way of thy precepts?

[7:23] I'll tell you why. Because you see, the great issue in this man's life is putting godliness into practice in his everyday living.

[7:35] It's not just enough to know about it. There are thousands of people in the world who know about it. But they've never lived it.

[7:46] They've never experienced it in their own hearts and lives and power to live it out in their practice. But the concern of this man in this prayer is the way of thy precepts.

[8:01] The way of life. My dear friend, let me ask you a question this morning at the outset of our sermon. Let me ask you this.

[8:13] Have you got a concern at all about the way of God's precepts? Are you concerned in the least about living in God's way?

[8:24] The way that the Bible talks about the way of life? Well I'm going to show you what will prove that you have an interest in the way of God's precepts.

[8:37] And the way of life as it is laid out by the Lord. I'll show you it from this text. What will prove that you are an earnest student in the way of God is simply this.

[8:51] That you will make the way of God in your life a martyr of prayer. You see that's the difference between a man who is on the periphery of the church and a man who really knows the Lord and who knows it in his heart.

[9:12] The way of God's precepts become a matter of prayer to this man. And he becomes concerned about it so much that it's the all-consuming passion in his life that he might know the way of God's precepts.

[9:31] Have you become concerned about these things? Or are you just content to drift along coming to church and going from church? Or is it real to you so that you want God in your life more than anything else?

[9:49] And you want God's ways in your life more than anything else? Well my friend, this is the student's prayer. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts.

[10:01] But now I want us to look more closely at the student's prayer. And the first thing that I want us to notice about it is this.

[10:12] It's a prayer which implies a great need. Make me to understand.

[10:23] You see that's the need of everyone in this place today. A need to understand the gospel.

[10:34] Because by nature the Bible makes it evidently plain that we don't know the gospel. We don't know what it's all about.

[10:45] We're like these people that Plato talked about in his discussions. Plato has a very powerful image in one of his writings in the Republic.

[11:02] Now Plato was a heathen man. And he has a very powerful image talking about man in his heathenism. And this is his image.

[11:15] He's talking about men in a dark cave. And they're groping around looking for the light. And that's the way people are in this world.

[11:28] They're in a dark cave. As far as the things of the Spirit of God are concerned. You're living in the darkness my unconverted friend.

[11:39] Living in the darkness. And there's only one way which you can be brought to the light. And it is this.

[11:51] By going to God and trying to earnestly make me to understand the way of thy precepts. All my friends you know this.

[12:03] There's nothing that I long more for you dear people. Unconverted people. There's nothing that I long more for you than to see some of you, many of you, all of you, coming to know the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.

[12:27] All do you understand then that this prayer is a prayer that is born out of a deep need.

[12:40] And you know when a man has a prayer that is born out of a deep need. That prayer becomes for that man a confession. That's what it becomes.

[12:52] It becomes a confession. Because this man who is saying to God, make me to understand the way of thy precepts. He's confessing his ignorance to God.

[13:06] He's confessing his ignorance. And I believe with all my heart that that's an element in the life of every man who becomes a seeker after the grace of God in the Gospel.

[13:21] He goes to God with his ignorance. And he says, make me to understand. I don't understand it. You know one of the most hopeful signs that I've ever seen in the lives of men and women in respect to the Gospel is this.

[13:41] People who used to tell me that they knew it all. And suddenly they begin to lose confidence in what they know.

[13:52] And they start to confess in the presence of God that they are blind and wretched and naked and ignorant before God. And they start to see that they've never understood the Gospel in their lives.

[14:08] And they want desperately to understand this Gospel blessing in their own lives. Is that your case today?

[14:20] You thought for so long as you wandered along in the paths of life that you knew it all. And you were self-contained and self-sufficient.

[14:31] And you had it all worked out. And you knew your philosophy in life. And you knew your way of living. You knew it all. But when God stepped in, God showed you that you really knew nothing.

[14:46] And God showed you that you needed a new understanding that only He Himself can give you. And you started to pray to God in a way that you had never prayed before.

[15:01] In earnestness. Asking God, make me to understand. Make me to understand.

[15:12] My friend, I've got great hope for you. If you're a man or a woman here who has started to go to God saying to God, I don't understand it. I'm ignorant. But make me to understand it.

[15:26] I've got great hopes for you. I hope that your prayer will go on and on. Till at last you come to know Him as He is the Savior of lost man.

[15:41] I don't know it. That's what you're saying. But make me to understand it. And you see this prayer, it doesn't stop with just a confession of this man's ignorance.

[15:55] It goes on from that. And it goes on to this. Here is a man, this student, who begins to make great requests to God.

[16:09] Great requests. Why? How? How come the great requests that this man has begun to make to God? You see this man has come to discover something of who God is.

[16:23] And he knows that there is no one else to whom he can go. Do you know I love to see God working in men's lives.

[16:34] And you know one of the things that I've noticed again and again and again in people's lives, when God begins to work, I've noticed this.

[16:45] Do you know that God begins to shut doors that you thought were so full of answers to your questions?

[16:56] Doors begin to close one by one by one in your life. Doors that you thought would contain the answer to your need as a sinner.

[17:15] Doors that you thought would be full to overthrow with answers.

[17:28] Doors that you thought would be full to overthrow with answers. And they've turned to dust before your eyes so that God has shut you up.

[17:43] My friend, who knows that what's happening in your life is this, that God is shutting you up to himself. God is shutting you up to himself.

[17:55] What a blessing! If God would make everything turn to dust. The gold that you thought you had would turn to dust.

[18:06] So that you would see your need of Christ as a Saviour. And if the doors that you thought contained the answers to all your needs were to close on you.

[18:17] So that you come to make great requests to a great God. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts. My friend, have you become a humble supplicant at the throne of God's mercy yet?

[18:33] Have you been brought low? Remember the way the psalmist in Psalm 116 speaks about this. He says, I was brought low.

[18:44] He did me help afford. Have you been brought low? Have you been brought to your knees where you're crying to God out of the depths of your need?

[18:57] Make me to understand the way of thy precepts. You see, one thing I want to say about the student's prayer is this. This student confesses that he doesn't know the answer to life.

[19:13] This student confesses his own ignorance. But this student knows where to go with the needs of his soul.

[19:25] He knows that he must go to God. And that's the only place he can go. Everything else is empty. Every other door is shut.

[19:36] But he goes to the one whose precepts they are and he says, Make me to understand the way of thy precepts. My friend, isn't it time for you to go to God?

[19:51] I said, haven't you been wandering long enough in the maze and in the labyrinth in ways of your own mind? Have you not been trying to find an answer to your soul's need and to the power of God in your life, in your own mind and in your own ways?

[20:10] And is it not time now that you went once and for all to God and ask him, lead me, make me to understand the way of thy precepts?

[20:22] Is it not time that you went to him for leading or for guidance? You know, we're so foolish. Human beings, we're so foolish. One thing that sin has done to us is this.

[20:36] We think that we're capable to glorify God in our own strength. We think that we have it in us. That in our lives there is what will do God's service.

[20:52] But you know, we've got something very basic to learn about ourselves and it's this. That our best is not good enough for God.

[21:03] We must go to him or we must ask him to take over where we fail. And our whole life in this world is a failure.

[21:15] And God can shape instruments to his glory out of our failures. And that's what Christianity is all about. Christianity is all about God suddenly stepping into man's life where man has failed.

[21:34] God's life where man has failed. God failed himself, failed his fellow man, failed objectively. And Christianity is all about God stepping in.

[21:47] I remember reading a book. A book written by a series of very famous men. And it was called this, When God Stepped In.

[22:00] When God Stepped In. And it was a book full of testimonies. Testimonies to the grace of God in the lives of these men.

[22:12] And the testimony that they all had was this, There came a day in my life when God stepped in. And when God came into my life and into my heart and into my experience.

[22:25] My dear friend, is it not time for you to ask God to step in, to come into your life so that you will understand the way of his precepts.

[22:38] But then I want us to turn to see the practice to which he puts this teaching, this student, this student's practice.

[22:51] And you notice that he says this, teach me, make me to understand the way of thy precepts.

[23:05] So shall I talk of thy wondrous works. Now, just one word about this word, talk. This word, talk, in the Hebrew, it means three things.

[23:23] It could be translated in three different ways. First of all, the word talk could mean pay. So will I pray about thy wonderful works.

[23:41] That's the first thing it could mean. You see, when a man comes to understand the path of God's judgments, he's a man who begins to pray about God's wonderful works in his life.

[23:58] And then secondly, this word which is translated in our Bible talk, could have been translated in this way, So will I meditate on all thy wonderful works.

[24:15] So will I meditate. Because you see, when a man becomes a student in the school of Christ, that man begins to meditate on the things of God and on the works of God.

[24:32] Maybe one of the great needs of the Christian church in the 20th century is this, that we will learn again what it is to spend more time and to make time to meditate on the ways of God in our lives.

[24:53] And I think that we are living, my friends, living in a very busy world, a world that goes non-stop. And everything seems to have to be done in a hurry.

[25:06] So it's an amazing thing, the kind of society in which we live. A few years ago, not maybe 30, 40 years ago, nearly every craft in these villages was being worked.

[25:25] Worked with the spade, worked with the plough. They were black in spring and green in summer. And our crafts are now turning very often to washes, day washes, as a sign that they are not being worked.

[25:46] And yet, there was one thing that was true of the Christians about, in that time, and it was this, they made time to meditate.

[25:57] They made time to meditate. Now, we make excuses of this hustle and this puzzle and this hassle and whatever else. We make excuses that we don't have time for God.

[26:10] My friend, we have to ensure in our lives, if we are Christians, that we make time for God. That we make time for God.

[26:23] God claims your time. And he claims it in this way, that you will spend it meditating on his wonderful works. But then thirdly, it could mean, as the AV has translated it, So will I talk of thy wonderful works.

[26:42] I will talk of them. Now, I want to ask today, what are the wonderful works of which this student talks?

[26:53] As he puts the way of God's precepts into practice in his life. What does he talk of? What does he meditate of? What does he pray about?

[27:05] What does he pray about? What does he meditate on? What does he talk of? What does he meditate on? What does he talk of? When he talks, it says, of God's wonderful works.

[27:18] Now, I think we can divide God's wonderful works into two specific ways. He talks first of all about Christ's work for him.

[27:33] Christ's work for him. That's what he meditates on. That's what he prays about. What the Lord Jesus did in his coming into the world to seek and to save that which was lost.

[27:48] Christ's work for him. My dear friend, my Christian friend, have you got tired of speaking about Christ's work for you?

[28:02] Have you got tired of meditating on his death on the cross for you? Do you honestly believe that you've done enough for thinking about this great fact that Jesus left the realms of glory and that he came into this world which is so sinful?

[28:28] And he came to seek and to save that which was lost. My friend, can you ever find enough time to talk of God's wonderful work in sending a saviour to suffer, to bleed, to die at a place called Calvary?

[28:49] In other words, do you tired of thinking of the love of God in his Son?

[29:04] Are you tired of meditating on that love divine, all love's excelling, joy of heaven to earth come down? Are you tired of that? Are you tired of that?

[29:15] There are people in this world and they can't meditate on that. That's one thing they have no time for. The death of the cross, the work of Christ as our Redeemer.

[29:29] They have no time for that. But you see, when God makes a man to know the way of his precepts, the death of Christ, the love of Christ, becomes a real force to be reckoned with in that man's life.

[29:51] So that he says, the love of Christ constrains me, thus to judge, that if one died for all, then all died.

[30:02] And that they who live will live henceforth not for themselves, but for him who died for them and who rose again. My friend, I wonder when you last, or if you can say, he loved me and he gave himself for me.

[30:22] That's the canon of this gospel that we preach. I will talk of thy wonders, thy wondrous works. I will talk of thy works.

[30:33] I will talk of thy works. And a book of remembrance was written. For those who thought upon his name, I will think of thy wondrous works. But I want to suggest to you that there is something else of which these people think.

[30:50] They think of the works of Christ for them. And they think also of the works of the Spirit in them. That's a fascinating subject for meditation, my friend.

[31:04] These two facets of the Christian life are so few that there is enough in them to take up your eternity.

[31:18] The work of Christ for you, and the work of the Spirit in you. Do you remember when the Spirit of God began to work in your life?

[31:33] Do you remember when Christianity became something different just to the Roman and the Roman thing that it has been to be for so long? Somehow you became intrigued with the faith of God.

[31:49] Somehow or other there was a new interest and a new affection in your life. So that you couldn't get enough of God and you couldn't get enough of the things of God and you couldn't get enough of the company of the Nars people and you couldn't get enough of God's church, God's house.

[32:11] One, what produced these desires in your heart. I'll tell you what did it, the work of the Spirit in your life.

[32:22] in your life. I will talk, I will meditate, I will pray about thy wondrous works. My friends, do you know the work of the Spirit in your life? Do you know the work of the Spirit of God in your life?

[32:38] Well, I want us to place one or two of the aspects of the work of the Spirit that this man talks about in his life. First of all, he talks about God's work in effectual calling.

[32:55] Because this man can place the work of the Spirit of God in his life to a day when the Spirit of the Lord began to convince him of his sins and misery. Do you remember that time in your life?

[33:14] Can you talk about the Spirit's work in your life going to a point where you are awakened? Do you remember how Robert McChairn could be?

[33:26] When free grace awoke me with life from on high and legal fear shook me, I was humbled to die. Do you remember a time like that in your life?

[33:38] When free grace awoke me with life from on high and legal fear shook me so that you tendered to die and death became an awful prospect in your life.

[33:56] Because you knew that at death you were going to meet a major who as far as you are concerned is hostile to you. My dear friend, is that to me?

[34:11] As you knew the prospect of life from death and eternity, do you knew the prospect of going to meet a major who is hostile to you?

[34:24] God who is against you and who says concerning me, I will be afraid. My friend, is that to me? God's people knew a time.

[34:39] And the Lord awakened them to see that they were sinners in the hands of an angry God. Sinners in the hands of an angry God.

[34:54] But the Spirit of God convinced them of their sin and misery. And then he enlightened their minds in the knowledge of Christ.

[35:05] Oh, dear friend, do you remember a day when you saw, as you never saw before, the relevance of the Christ who died for you?

[35:18] Do you remember a day when you saw before, as you never saw before, the grace of God. Do you remember a day when you saw before, the grace of God. From you, my Savior and my God. Where may this being, half rejoice.

[35:31] And tenets walked you all abroad. Happy day! Happy day! When Jesus washed my sins away.

[35:41] Do you know the way in which Jesus washed your sins away? Do you know that you have been set free by the blood of Christ? Do you know, my friend, that Jesus died in order that you might live?

[35:57] Do you know it? Do you know it in your heart? Do you know it in your soul? So it be so close to the world, Jesus. He is more to you than life.

[36:10] He is more to you than you can ever tell because all your salvation is in Him. His name is Jesus. For He shall save His people from their sins.

[36:23] My friend, have your mind been enlightened to know Christ? And then, we speak about a day in their life when their will was renewed.

[36:39] They used to think it was the most awful tragedy to be a Christian. But the day came when God, in the work of His Spirit, changed all that.

[36:53] And you know how that was expressed, first of all and foremostly in that experience, it was expressed like this. If only, if only I could be a Christian.

[37:06] If only I knew Him. If only I could be His. Do you remember the days in your own life, when you were going and saying, if only, if only, if only the Lord would open my eyes and my heart to Him.

[37:23] If only I could know Him. And then, the story changed. And the story came to this. I know in Him I have believed.

[37:37] And I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him. I think. That day, my friend, you've got a story to tell if that's what came into your life.

[37:51] You've got a story to tell if the Spirit of the Lord renewed your way. So that you were saying, I will go with this man. Do you remember that day when Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, came to meet Rebekah, looking for a wife for Isaac.

[38:13] And he said to her, will thou go with this man? Will thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. My friend, have you come to the point in your life yet where you will say, by the grace and by the power and by the influence of the Spirit of God, I will go.

[38:36] I will go. I will go with this man, Jesus. I will be His servant. I will be His bride. I will be His friend forever.

[38:48] Because He showed a friendship to me that will never ever be repaid in the whole of my life and in all eternity. I will go with this man.

[39:00] Has your way been done? Do you know how it happens? It's not because God takes you as you would take a bullet and attest Him to the yoke and put a rope around His horns or around His head and grab Him.

[39:17] That's not the way the Spirit of God works at all. The Spirit of God, when He begins His work in the lives of men and women, does it in this most secret kind of way, when He changes your desires and He makes you want Him.

[39:36] He makes you want Him. But then God's people have other ways in which they speak of the work of the Spirit. They speak of a muster spirit of prayer.

[39:48] They have to confess. And I've heard the Lord's people here so often confessing in the prayer meeting. We know not what we should ask for us, we ought.

[40:01] But the Spirit Himself making a decision for us. The Spirit Himself teaching them to pray.

[40:13] But then we have to talk about the work of the Spirit as the Spirit of prayer. Do you have to talk today about the work of the Spirit as the Spirit of assurance, the Spirit bearing witness with all spirits that we are the children of God.

[40:31] Do you know that witness in your spirit? The witness of the Holy Spirit by producing fruits and marks in your life that can only be His.

[40:42] Do you know that in your life? Can you talk about that today? That's what the people of God have to talk about. That's why we have our fellowship meeting at the communion where the Lord's people talk about the marks and the fruits of the grace of God in their lives.

[41:04] They talk about it. The work of the Spirit. What about the work of the Spirit as the Spirit of holiness? And you talk about that in your life today. The work of the Spirit as the Spirit of holiness.

[41:18] Producing new desires in your heart that weren't there at one time. Do you know it's an amazing change, this change that comes into a man's life when the Lord becomes His teacher.

[41:30] There was a time when you wanted nothing more than sin. But today your heart goes out for holiness.

[41:41] What did that, how did that come about in your life? Simply by the work of the Spirit of God wanting holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.

[41:54] I will talk of thy wondrous work. And this man, this student, putting it into practice, he talks about it plainly.

[42:05] Plainly. Plainly. Lucidly. You know, some of the things that the Christian has to talk about are called in the Bible the deep things of God.

[42:17] The deep things of God. And yet, in all that profundity, the Christian speaks of them lucidly because he knows it.

[42:30] You ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. He knows it because he has a living Savior walking with him in the way through life.

[42:45] He speaks frequently. It's not just once in a blue moon this man talks about Christ. He talks about the work of the Spirit. He speaks about it frequently.

[42:57] They that feared the Lord spake often one to another. This is the theme song of his life. This is what he wants to be talking about. All the rest is scoble.

[43:09] Beside this, he wants just to speak about Christ. Everything else is rubbish. There are stone. This man wants Jesus. And he wants the work of the Spirit as his theme in life.

[43:25] And he speaks to the point. He doesn't beat around the bush. He says, you know, it's funny when you get into company with some people, you've got to go round in circles for half an hour before you can reach Christ with him.

[43:41] But when Christians meet together, that's not the way at all. They're not going round the bush. They're coming, you see. Jesus Christ, you know, he's like a magnet in the life of God's children.

[43:56] Like a magnet. And they're like iron filings thrown to the magnet. They want to come to the main things.

[44:07] They want to come to Christ. Oh, my friend, what do you want to be spending your time in this world? Do you want to be spending your time in all the rubbish and the scandal that's going on?

[44:20] Or do you want to spend your time with Jesus? And with the work of the Lord, the wondrous works of the Lord. That's the subject of God's people's life then.

[44:32] Now, I want to suggest three effects that this has in the life of God's child. The first thing is this, I want to say, as we speak of the wondrous works of God, it honors the Lord himself.

[44:51] Do you know there's nothing more honorable and more honoring to the Lord than to see Christians who pray to and who meditate on and who talk of the Lord himself.

[45:05] That's the kind of Christians we want in Shabbos. That's the kind of believers we'd love to have in this congregation. Believers who are meditating and who are praying and who are talking of the Lord.

[45:21] That's the kind of believers we want. Because that kind of conversation honors God. Oh, there's nothing more honorable to him than to be speaking of it.

[45:38] Speaking a word for him. Witnessing for the Lord in your everyday life. There's nothing more honorable to the Lord than that. Now, I know that there are some of you here and you find it difficult.

[45:53] I know that there are some people who are reserved and they find it difficult to speak. But, oh friends, isn't Christ worth breaking the barrier of Shavau reserve?

[46:05] Isn't it worth breaking the barrier of Shavau reserve to speak a word for Jesus in this world? I know how difficult it is for you to make your witness and your testimony clear on the side of Christ.

[46:19] I know that. I feel it every day in my life. The difficulties that I have myself as I stand before you in this pulpit. Hence, you don't know the difficulties that some of us who have been called to this work in the Gospel have.

[46:36] In standing to do our work. You don't know it. And yet, it's something we've all got to do. You know, I believe with all my heart that one of the most deadening influences in any church is the spirit that says, we'll leave it to the minister, we'll leave it to the elders, we'll leave it to this or to that or to the next person to speak for Christ.

[47:05] You can't leave it. You can't leave it. You have a witness to make for the Lord. And there's nothing that honors the Lord more. And you know this, in the end of the day, a faithful witness allied to a consistent walk in this world, is one of the most powerful influences for good in any congregation.

[47:33] If there are those consistent Christians who speak a word for the Lord on a personal basis to people, I believe with all my heart that that will make an impression in the lives of those of you who know not the Lord more than anything else in the world.

[47:54] And then, secondly, it edifies fellow saints. It edifies fellow saints.

[48:06] It's for the good of the community to speak, to talk of the wondrous works of the Lord. In the book, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, John Bunyan, the Tinker of Bedford, speaks about one of the influences in his own life as he was coming to faith in Christ.

[48:32] And he speaks about a gathering of godly women who sat on chairs on the roadway beside their house talking about the gospel, talking about Christ.

[48:49] And he said that in his own broad heart, there was very little, humanly speaking, that touched him.

[49:01] Like these women speaking with an infectious love for their Savior. Well, it touched him, it reached him, in a way that nothing in the world could reach him.

[49:21] Yes, my friends, it edifies fellow saints. It does, to speak about the Lord, to talk together about the things of God and his Christ.

[49:33] It's good. It's good. But one other thing I want to say, and it's this. It will do yourself good, too.

[49:45] Did you ever notice in the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000? Did you ever notice this? It was only as Jesus began to break the loaves and the fishes that they increased.

[50:02] It was only as the Lord began to break the loaves and the fishes that they grew. And I think that as you break the bread of Christian fellowship with one another in the Lord, that it's then that you'll discover that it grows.

[50:28] There was a very, very telling illustration in the writings of Magda on this point.

[50:40] And it was this. The full breasts of a mother, if they are not sucked, they will run dry. The full breasts of a mother, if not sucked, will become dry.

[50:56] And so it is in the point of Christian fellowship with the people of God. And so it is with the exercise of any grace.

[51:07] Unless the graces that God gives you are put into exercise, then don't be surprised if they run dry in your life.

[51:18] If you turn away from prayer, don't be surprised if the grace of prayer runs low in your life. If you turn away from conversation and fellowship with the people of God, don't be surprised if your life runs dry.

[51:37] Make me to understand the way of thy presence. So shall I talk of thy wondrous works.

[51:53] Oh well friends, isn't it strange how often you've experienced this. When you go into the fellowship of the Lord's people and when you begin to talk about Christ.

[52:04] Even though you would be like these men on the road to Emmaus, talking about him under sand. Do you know that's the way they went?

[52:16] Have you ever discovered how often, when you've been in their company and in their fellowship and when you've talked about his wondrous works, have you ever noticed how often Jesus himself draws near?

[52:31] Have you ever noticed how often he's given you his presence and his fellowship in the company of your fellow believers?

[52:43] But the last thing I want to say is the connection between the prayer and the practice. Oh there's a deep connection between prayer and practice.

[52:57] It's only as God keeps you refreshed in the understanding of his paths that you will be able by his grace to talk about his wondrous works.

[53:12] And it doesn't matter how long you've been a student in this school. You've still got to be praying and asking him, Make me to understand the way of thy precepts.

[53:25] So shall I talk of thy wondrous works. You know my friends, yesterday's understanding of the ways of God are not good enough for tomorrow.

[53:39] The Christian is a man who must always be going on, going on and growing in the knowledge of the Lord. The time's gone, let us pray. Thy ways of peace.

[53:50] Thy ways are ways of pleasantness and all thy paths are peace. O Lord, give Christ, give Christ to someone in this gathering today.

[54:04] And may the words of our mouth and the thoughts of our heart be pleasing to thee. And use what is in thy will. O Lord, for thy great glory.

[54:16]  For Jesus' sake. Amen.