Challenges to Godliness Part 1 By Andrew Davies

Then together to the book of Job, and we'll look at the first twelve verses of chapter one.
Hopefully, God willing, we'll be able to look at the book over the next few weeks.
It's a rich and a wonderful book, and I trust that it will be of help and encouragement to us all.
I won't read the verses again. Ross has already read them.
But it's useful to ask the question, why should we look at the book and study it together?
And the answer, the short answer to that is because we live in a suffering world,
and we need to be able to handle suffering.
The world is a beautiful place, but it's a place of deep darkness as well.
And we're all involved in suffering. If we haven't already been, we certainly will be.
So what does the Bible say to us about it, about suffering in general,
and about the suffering of the godly in particular?
Because Job was a good and a godly man, but he suffered.
Why did God allow that to happen?
If God is just and good, why does he allow a good man to suffer?
That's a real issue. It's a real issue for believers,
because sometimes believers may doubt God's goodness.
It's also a good issue and a good question for unbelievers to face.
Sometimes they turn away from God in bitterness and in anger.
So we need to be able to help people who do that and who are puzzled,
if not bewildered, by this problem.
The fundamental answer of the book is that we are only human and we are not God.
Though the book is about suffering, you could say that it's also about the incomprehensibility of God.
That's a long word that simply means we don't understand God.
That really is the theme of the book.
Our grasp of the mysteries of life is very limited.
We are powerless, as we've seen only this last week, powerless in the face of nature's forces.
And we only see a tiny section of the whole picture.
We grasp, if you like, one or two threads in the divine tapestry.
So we must be very careful before we say too much.
We need to be on our guard lest we too readily express opinions about this matter.
We need humility. We need to know our place.
Perhaps the greatest sin of mankind is arrogance, pride.
That's why Satan fell. That's why Adam fell.
And if that is so, then when face to face with life's conundrums and with the power of nature,
if when we don't really understand those things, then how much less are we able to understand the being of God himself?
So the fundamental message of the book is be careful before you speak.
Don't pontificate.
Don't try to answer questions which you may not be able to answer here in this life,
and just suspend judgment and bow before the mighty and the sovereign hand of God.
Having said that, however, there are certain shafts of light upon this theme of why the godly are allowed to suffer,
which the book does provide for us, and which it would be useful and helpful, I think, for us to look at.
Well now, in these opening verses, the first twelve verses of chapter one,
there are two things I just want to call our attention to.
The first is the challenge of godliness, and the second is the challenge to godliness.
Let's look at the challenge of godliness first of all.
We're confronted here with a godly man. His name is Job.
He's described as blameless and upright, a man who feared God and shunned evil.
Now, when you think of words like that, and that kind of character sketch, how do you measure up to it?
How do I measure up to it?
If, for instance, this book were about you or me, and this were the opening verse of the book,
and it was your life or my life, how would you summarize your life, and how would I summarize mine?
Could we say, this man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and shunned evil, or this woman?
It's a challenge to us in terms of our character. What kind of a person am I?
How do I see myself? How do other people see me? Most importantly, how does God see me?
For some people, the big thing in their lives is cleverness, how intelligent they are, how clever, how shrewd perhaps.
For other people, it's their appearance, how they look.
For others, it's popularity. How do we get on with other people? How do people feel about us?
For others, it may be sporting ability, how tough we are, how skillful we are.
Well, there are all sorts of ways in which we could look at ourselves, and other people could look at us,
and we judge people by many standards. We judge them by their physical appearance, their physical strength,
whether they're physically impressive, or whether they're socially amiable and amenable,
whether they're psychologically balanced, and so on.
We judge in all sorts of ways when we think of ourselves and others, but what is God really looking for?
How does God see us? Well, here is the way God saw this man.
He is described for his goodness, for his godliness.
But it's important, isn't it, to realize what goodness, what godliness really is.
And whenever we're asked to define something, it's always a good idea to look at what is not said.
What is godliness? Well, what is not mentioned here about Job?
Let's begin there. What is not mentioned about him?
You'll notice there's no mention about his religious background.
We're not told, for example, whether he came from a God-fearing family. He may well have, but we're not told that.
It is a blessing to come from a God-fearing family, but that's not mentioned here.
So godliness cannot just be coming from a godly family, from a religious background.
It can't be that that makes people godly.
Now, we may come from a Christian home, a God-fearing family, but that doesn't make us godly, obviously.
We may come from a family that is not God-fearing, and yet we may be godly.
So it isn't our family background that really makes people good or godly.
There's no mention here either of his religious rituals, although we are told about the way in which he sacrificed on behalf of his children.
But we're not told whether, for example, he abstained from certain food or certain drink.
We're not told whether he observed certain special religious days.
We're not told whether he dressed in certain special religious clothes.
Those things may have some meaning for some people, but that's not godliness.
People are not godly because of those things. Those things are not mentioned.
That's not the secret. If it were, they would undoubtedly have been mentioned.
Well, what is mentioned? How is this man's godliness defined?
And it's defined for us in a number of words. The first is the word blameless.
The man was blameless. We could translate that. He was a complete man.
He was a balanced man. He was, if you like, a consistent man.
You can be devout in worship, but dishonest at work.
Job was a balanced, consistent man.
He was the same in the worship of God, as it were, with God's people as he was in work.
And honesty in work is part of worship, just as devotion in the house of God is part of worship.
He was consistent. It's possible, isn't it, for us to ask God for forgiveness, to be forgiven,
and yet to refuse to forgive others. That is inconsistent.
Our Lord told us that we're to be forgiving as we ask for forgiveness.
It's possible to say that we love God, and yet we despise certain people created in the image of God.
That's inconsistent. Job was a consistent man.
There was something whole and balanced about his spiritual life and his moral life.
He was blameless. He was consistent.
And then we're told he was upright, and that suggests to us sincerity and integrity and honesty and truthfulness.
He was upright, straight. He was a straight man, straightforward.
He was without hypocrisy, without pretense.
Now, those are the two characteristics that are particularly selected for special mention.
Clearly, these two things—he was blameless, he was upright—are not natural qualities.
It wasn't that Job had been born like this, whereas other people, unfortunately, had been born without these qualities.
These are qualities that God gives to people. They're not native to us. We don't have them by right of birth.
They're gifts. That's why Christ came. Christ came to do two things for us—to put us right and to make us good.
Those were the two great reasons why he came. And to put us right means to put us right with God.
It means to give us a new record, so to speak, by wiping the old slate clean.
And not only by wiping the old slate of our sins clean, but giving us his righteousness as well, so that we are put right with God.
That's what the Bible means by justification. Our Lord came to do that, but he also came to make us good,
to actually infuse into us a new heart or a new spirit or a new character so that we become good.
The one is an act of God, finished, complete. The other is a work of God that goes on day by day in our lives.
Christ came to do both those things for us—to put us right and to make us good—
so that the qualities that we're being reminded of here in Job are God-given. They're the work of Christ for us and in us,
and they're not, therefore, natural to any one of us. Godliness is a gift of God,
and it's something that we have to look for and ask for and plead with God that he might give to us.
This man is so described. He was blameless and upright.
Then you'll notice we're told that he was a man who feared God and shunned evil.
Again, the two things go together. He feared God and shunned evil, or turned away from evil.
This is the secret of godliness, isn't it? The fear of God. It's the beginning of wisdom.
The fear of God means that we are conscious of God wherever we are and whatever we are doing.
It means that we are in God's presence not only in a meeting like this, but in school or in university
or in the factory or in the office or in the hospital or in the school or wherever.
We are in the presence of God or in the home. Whatever we are doing, wherever we are,
we are in God's presence, and we fear God. He conceals. His eye is upon us.
I may have mentioned the fact that the little community that Howell Harris,
the great evangelical preacher of the 18th century in Wales, the little community that Howell Harris
set up in the place called Trevecca in mid-Wales, had a room in it for many years,
and I can remember as a young boy actually being in that room and seeing this for myself.
Now it's not there, unfortunately, but in this particular room where the family, the community lived,
Harris had an eye painted in the ceiling, a huge eye. Imagine that this whole ceiling,
and the room was about this size, had this enormous eye painted there.
And he had it painted there deliberately so that the people living in the community,
were as it were, physically reminded that God's eye was upon them all the time.
He could see them. Wherever they were, whatever they were doing, He could see them. His eye was upon them.
Now the fear of God means living in that consciousness, so that what we do in work,
what we do in our own rooms, what we do when we're by ourselves, God can see.
Here was a man who feared God. The eye of God was upon him, and we cannot hide anything from God,
and in the end our hearts are open to Him, and He's going to give us a record of how it really was with us
on the day of judgment. So the greatest reality that we have to face is the reality of God,
though we often do not live as if that were true. But He did. He lived in the fear of God,
and the result of that was that He turned from evil. It was the flip side, if you like,
of His fear in God. He turned from evil. He was aware of God, the purity and the holiness of God,
and therefore He turned from all that was against God's will. And His turning from evil was because
He feared God, wasn't it? Simply because He wanted to be good. It was because God was looking upon Him,
and He wanted to be a good man because God had required that of Him. He was a man who feared God
and shunned evil. So there are certain things in our lives that we need to actually shun.
There are certain things that we ought not to be looking at. There are certain films that we should
not be viewing. There are certain magazines that we should not be seeing. There are certain
attitudes that we ought to be eradicating from our lives. There are certain relationships that need
to be put right. We shun evil because we fear God. This was a godly man. That's godliness,
living in the presence in the eye of the Almighty. Those, therefore, are the two descriptions of
Job's godliness. He was blameless and upright on the one hand, and then he feared God and shunned
evil. Now, how would you expect the godliness of a man like this to be expressed? And we read here
that it was expressed first in his home life, his family life, and secondly in the community.
We're told about his godliness within the family in verses 4 and 5. We read there that his sons,
he had seven and three daughters, his sons, the seven of them, would go and feast in their houses
each on his appointed day and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink
with them. So when the days of the feasting had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them.
He would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all,
because, he said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.
The place in the end where our godliness will really be known is in the home.
Here was a man whose godliness surfaced within the family. He was concerned about his children.
It was a very close family, clearly, because they ate regularly in each other's homes,
so there was a closeness about the family. And they were a family who enjoyed each other's
company. They ate together. They drank together. There was a conviviality and a camaraderie about
them. So they were a close, it seems, happy family. But they were too dangerous. The first was
the danger of sin. So it's possible for people to sin with their lips. The second was that they
might curse God. They may be irreverent. They may say things about God that they shouldn't be sinning.
Job knew that that was possible, that even though he was a godly man, his sons might sin against
God. His sons, his daughters, might curse God. They might be irreverent. They might be flippant.
They might be foolish in the way they lived before God. So knowing that and fearing that,
he prayed for them. He sanctified them, as it were, with his prayers, and he offered sacrifices on their
behalf. He wanted to bring them under the blood of atonement. So the family of this man was the
family that knew something about his godliness. Here was a father who prayed for his children,
and they knew it, and who wanted his children gathered under the blood of the atonement,
as he offered sacrifices on their behalf. So they were a privileged family, these children.
They had a godly father. And it's right that we, if we are parents, should be realistic about
our children, that we should be concerned about them, the possibility of them sinning against God
and cursing God, especially when they've been eating and drinking, perhaps, when they've let
their hair down, so to speak, and they're relaxed, and they've got a few quantities of alcohol within
them, maybe, and they start to say things and to do things that they shouldn't. We need to be
concerned about our children and to pray for them as he did, and to seek to bring them under the
sound of the gospel, under the blood of the everlasting covenant. We want them to be forgiven.
We want them to be saved. His godliness surfaced at home in that way, but it surfaced also in the
community. He was a very well-known man. We read that he was the greatest of all the people of the
East. Later on in the book, there in chapter 29, we're told by him about some of the things that
he was known for within the community, and he speaks there about his being eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame, a father to the poor. He was a man who stood against the wicked, who plucked
the victim out of the hands of the wicked, and so on. He was a good man in the community, a good,
upright man in the family, and a good, upright man in the community. It's a good question to ask
whether we are known as good, godly people within our communities, in our schools. Are we known to be
godly young people in the office? Are we known to be godly people in the factory, wherever we are?
Are we known to be godly people? Well, he was known for his eminent godliness, his goodness,
his graciousness, and his kindness. This is the challenge of Job's godliness.
But then, notice with me secondly the challenge to Job's godliness, and we're told in verses 6 to 11
about this charge that was brought against God because it was brought against Job. It's the
charge that Satan delivers. It's a very serious charge. Remember, the sons of God come to present
themselves before the Lord, and Satan has to come among them. He's a servant, an unwilling servant,
but he's under the Lord's authority, and he has to come in with them because he's under God's
control, and he comes before the Almighty. And the Lord says to him, from where do you come?
And Satan answered and said, from going to and fro on the earth and from walking back and forth on it.
Like a restless tiger in a cage, Satan has been on earth doing his terrible work.
And the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the
earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shines evil? And then this is the cynical
charge. Satan answered the Lord and said, does Job fear God for nothing? It's not surprising that he
should fear you. Look what you've done for him. Look at the blessings you've bestowed upon him.
You've made a hedge around him, around his household, around everything that he has on every
side. You've blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land.
Look at him. He's the most prosperous man in the east. It's no wonder he praises you and worships
you and fears you. Look at all these blessings you've lavished upon him. You stretch out your
hand and touch everything he has, and he'll surely curse you to his face. That's the charge.
It's a challenge to Job's godliness. It's a very serious charge, and it comes from Satan,
the accuser. It comes, of course, in response to God's question. To God's challenge, have you
considered my servant Job? So God has invested a great deal in this man. God has chosen this man.
This man is supposed to be a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God and who
shuns evil. And so the Lord says to Satan, Well, here he is.
Look at him. Have you considered him? Have you really thought about this man's godliness?
Look at him now. What do you make of this man? You've been traveling through the earth.
What do you make of this man? And you see, the challenge is too much.
Satan will not give Job any credit. He will not give God any credit. So he wants to debase and
belittle and slight both Job and God. And so he brings this cynical charge against God. Does Job
fear God for nothing? We are reminded, I think, here of what goes on behind the scenes, out of
sight, things that we are often totally unaware of, the cosmic conflict between God and Satan.
We have a spiritual, malevolent, malignant enemy. He has one aim, to discredit God,
to rob God of his glory. He hates God. That is why godliness irks him. That is why godliness
disturbs him profoundly. That is why when Satan finds a church that is at peace with itself
and with God, he hates it. If there is a church that is thriving, if there is a church that is
beginning to make inroads into his territory, he hates it. He will do anything to destroy it.
He attacks God. He attacks God's people. So the challenge to Job's godliness and to God's
goodness is a cynical, serious charge. He's attacking the goodness of God, the power of God.
He's attacking God's people, and by attacking God's people, he's attacking God. If he can
discredit God, by discrediting God's people, he'll do it. So here's the big charge.
And this conflict is going on all the time. It's a real conflict. We are, as I say, unaware of it
very often, but the Bible gives us insights into it, glimpses into it. Here is one of them,
Ephesians chapter 6 is another. But there are encouraging things for us to remember here.
The first is that Satan is under God's control and under God's authority.
There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and
Satan also came among them. Here he is, this slinking wretch.
He's there, too. He has to be there, because God has summoned him there.
He's under God's control. He's under God's authority. You have to come, Satan, too,
and you have to stand before me, says the Almighty.
We need to remember that. Satan is not in control of the universe. Satan is not in control of the
world. I mean by that the universe. God is in control. God is in charge of his universe,
and God is in charge of everything that is happening. He is the one who is in all authority
over all power in heaven and on earth, so that here is an evil spirit under the authority of God.
And angels, the good angels, the unfallen angels, they serve God willingly. But this
wretch, this Satan, hates God, and he has to serve God unwillingly. But he's under God's authority.
He's been given a great deal of latitude and a great deal of freedom, but he's under God's
authority. This is so clear, is it not, in the rest of the scripture? I'm reminded of
those words there in the book of Jude, in which we have some very fascinating insights into this
whole matter, into the conflict between good and evil. Remember how it's put to us in Jude verse 6,
And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own habitation, he,
God, has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day.
So God has reserved in everlasting chains, they're all on chains, under darkness these evil spirits
for the judgment of the great day. It's the same thing. So the power of Satan is very real,
but it's limited, and he is intent on destroying God's name by challenging God's people.
And in a way that we do not understand, God gave him permission to afflict Job. The Lord
said to Satan, behold, all that Job has is in your power, only do not lay a hand on his person.
And so Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. Now, that is a most mysterious verse.
All that he has is in your power. Now, we don't understand that.
We accept it, we acknowledge it, we believe it. Everything he has is in your power, only touch not,
do not lay a hand on his person. It's a very mysterious verse, but equally mysterious is
that verse that you'll find in the 22nd chapter of the Gospel of Luke in connection with our
Lord's trial and then his eventual crucifixion. Remember how in verse 53 of Luke chapter 22,
we read that our Lord said, when I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize me,
but this is your hour, and the power of darkness, this is your hour, and the power of darkness.
Here is our Lord, as it were, handing himself over to the power of darkness.
He's in control, he's sovereign in it all, but he's handing himself over to the power of darkness.
The reality of evil, but in the middle of it all, and above it all, the sovereignty of God.
God gave Satan permission to afflict Job, and that's the area in which the mystery lies.
What I think is important for us to grasp here is that God and godliness are on trial.
They're on trial now. You and I, God's people, God's cause, God's church,
and God himself is on trial. You see, let's ask the question, why did Job live the way that he did?
Why was he blameless and an upright man? Why did he fear God and shun evil? Why?
Was it because God had blessed him with all these material endowments? Was that the reason?
Was Satan actually telling the truth here? Is it because God had blessed Job with health,
with strength, with prosperity, that he was fearing God? Is that the reason why people
fear God? Do people love God because God blesses them with gifts? Do people love God because
he makes them healthy? Well then, what if they should become sick? Do people love God because
he blesses them with material possessions? Well, what if they should lose them? What then?
What then is the only reason why people love God because they want to keep on the right side of him,
because they believe that somehow or another he's going to bless them? Is it a kind of pagan view of
God? God's there to give us what we want, and provided he gives us what we want, we fear him,
we love him, we serve him. Is that our view of God? That's the satanic charge. That's Satan's
charge. That's satanic. If anything is satanic, that's satanic. Does Job fear God for naught?
Exactly. Is this the reason why people fear God? Is this the reason people become Christians?
Because in becoming Christians, in fearing God, God is going to bless them with gifts.
So we're really looking all the time to be blessed with gifts, to be made happy and prosperous,
and that's the only reason why we fear God. Well, is that true?
That's the whole point of this book. Why did Job fear God? Why do we fear God?
Here's what the enemy of our soul said. You're true? Is it true of us? What if
what happened to Job happened to you and me? What if God, as it were, gave to Satan authority to
touch all that we have, let alone our health for the moment? Suppose God gave authority to Satan
to touch all that we have. What are we going to do then about our faith in God and about fearing God?
That's the great charge. That's the great challenge to Godliness. And you're familiar with
the wonderful, magnificent response that Job gave to this charge. Remember,
we haven't got time to look at the rest of this chapter this evening, but remember how
one after another a messenger returned to him, telling him about a natural catastrophe
or what we call a human atrocity. There were these things happening to him one after another.
First of all, his oxen and his donkeys are taken away, and in a raid his servants are killed. And
then remember that his sons and his family are killed. And remember that all his possessions
are lost, and the man is left without a thing. And remember his response. He rose and tore his
robe and shaved his head and fell to the ground and worshipped and said,
naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked will I return there. The Lord gave,
the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Those are wonderful words.
God is worth fearing because He is God. God is worth loving because He is God. If you have Him,
you have all you need. That's really what Job was saying to Satan. He was giving the lie to
Satan's child. Despite the catastrophe, despite the darkness, despite the ignorance, he still
trusted God. He glorified God. He loved God. Think of John the Baptist, this
bow on the edges of a preacher. How did John the Baptist die?
His head was presented to King Herod on a platter. Where was God in all of that?
Here's Satan again. Does John the Baptist fear you for naught? James,
you remember, was killed, one of the early church, with a sword.
Stephen, stone to death. Where is God in all of this? Do these men fear God for naught?
What about all the great martyrs throughout the running history of the church?
What about people whom we've known, perhaps even in our own congregation,
who've been through the mill and who know something of suffering and affliction?
And yet they love God and they fear God, although their lives have been touched with tragedy.
Satan says, do these people fear God for naught? Touch all that He's got. Take it all away and
they'll curse you to your face. Job would not do that and could not do that, even though his wife
was to try to persuade him to do that in her agony and in her grief. Though he trusted God,
he loved God, he feared God, even though he had nothing left. Yet, says the hymn writer,
yet, yet how rich is my condition. God and heaven are still my home. And Satan,
the wretch behind the scenes, stands confronted, amazed, bewildered. He can't handle this. He
can't cope with this. He's brought this terrible charge against Job and against God. He's issued
this tremendous challenge to godliness, and he's been wrongly defeated and set packing.
That's exactly what you and I are to do in the middle of our sufferings.
We are to do something to the spiritual realm that causes hell to be bewildered and Satan to be
confounded. Satan cannot handle a Christian who fears God simply because God is worthy to be
feared and worthy to be loved. He hates that because he hates God. That it's the grace of
God that enables poor, ordinary, mortal people like Job to triumph when everything has been
taken away and he's got nothing left but God. In the end, you know, that is what heaven will be.
Heaven will be not just walking the golden streets. Heaven will be seeing our savior.
Heaven will be having Christ. And if you have Christ and Christ has you, it's all right.
I'm not saying that there isn't untold anguish and unspeakable pain. We shall have to look at
that as we examine the story of Job, because the way Job reacted to all that happened to him,
the way he responded to it, the way the Lord blessed him through it, and the way he learned
lessons from it, that's immensely instructive and helpful for us. But right at the very beginning,
we are confronted with the fundamental issue, and it's the issue of why we love and fear God.
In the end, it must be because God is the greatest and the most wonderful reality of all.
If I, Jesus, the hymn writer wrote, Jesus only, then my sky will have a gem. It's an old-fashioned
hymn, and some of the language in the old-fashioned hymns is old-fashioned. But the hymn writer had
found something and he was talking about something indescribably precious to him. He had found the
pearl of greatest price. He had in his possession the salvation of his immortal soul and body.
He knew what it was to be redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. He knew what it was to be a child
of God, a child of heaven. He knew that. So whatever else he did not have, he had that.
It's the Apostle Paul standing chained to two Roman soldiers, looking at the potent takes the
rulers of the age, sitting in their pomp and their luxury. Do you remember the story in Acts 26?
He's been in prison for two years. He's chained to two Roman soldiers. There they are, these rulers
of the day, in all their luxury and their pomp, everything going well for them. They've got all
the money in the world. They've got all the possessions in the world. They're the richest
people on earth, and they look at this poor little fellow standing between two Roman soldiers,
and Paul says to them, I would to God that you and everybody who listened to me today were all
together such as I am. I wish you had what I've got. He had nothing in human terms. All he had
were two chains and a Roman soldier and two years in a Roman prison. That's all he had.
But as he saw them with all they had, he said, oh, I wish you had what I've got.
I wish you had peace with God. I wish you had the knowledge that your sins were forgiven.
I wish you had a savior. I wish you knew God as I know Him. He felt sorry for them.
They had nothing, multi-millionaires they were, but they had nothing, nothing, poor, poor people,
nothing, and he had everything. He had Christ. He had God, and he longed that they should know
it. You remember how he wrote about it to Timothy? God has not given us a spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Oh, the passage we were looking at this morning
in the Bible study, the kingdom of God does not consist in food and drink.
Though we enjoy our food and our drink, but righteousness and peace and joy and the Holy
Ghost, if you have those things, then you have all that God could conceivably bless you with
in this life and in the world again. Does Job fear God for nothing?
Now Job was able to shout the omnipotence of grace. There's a lovely book written about
Job. It's one of the best books on the book of Job that I've ever read.
It's by a man called Green, and the book is called The Triumph of Job over Satan.
I think the book would be better entitled The Triumph of God's Grace in Job over Satan.
Are we godly people? Do we love and fear God because He is Himself?
And if we do, then let's confound Satan. Let's bewilder Satan. Let's love God and fear God
because God is God. God is good and God is gracious. And in the end we shall say something
to the principalities and the powers in heavenly places that will exalt and glorify God Himself
so that all the honor and the praise are due to Him and none to ourselves.
Well, we'll see now closing here. I wonder, and I don't know whether we know the tune here,
Peter. Have you found a tune? Wonderful. 663 it is, a hymn of John Newton's. There is
another hymn in the book we look at, perhaps, God willing, on another occasion
written by John Newton with the same theme. But let's sing this one tonight. 663. Let us love and
sing and wonder. Let us praise the Savior's name. He has hushed the Lord's loud thunder.
He has quenched Mount Sinai's flame. He has washed us with His blood. He has brought us nigh to God.
What a privilege it is to be His and to praise Him. Well, that's what we're being told to do.
That's the way it is.