In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of seeking to excel in Christian experience. He refers to the verse in 1 Corinthians 12 where it says to earnestly desire the best gifts. The speaker then focuses on the phrase "covet the best" and encourages the audience to understand the significance of staying close to Christ and seeking His guidance. He references Isaiah 40:11, where it describes God as a shepherd who gathers His people and cares for them. The sermon concludes with a reminder that Jesus is the good shepherd who gave His life for His sheep.

This year, a short reading, and I want to turn to John's Gospel, Chapter 12, and where we have been in a previous night's reading. But it's because we use this verse night by night that I want to refresh your mind with it. It's John Chapter 12, John Chapter 12. We read 37 through to 41, and we get a better connection. John 12, verse 37. But though he hath done so many very costly for them, yet they believed not on him. That the same of Isaiah the prophet mighty foretold, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed on the court, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed. That's Isaiah 53, of course. And God willing, we shall be reserving our fourth and final night for a special study on the one chapter, mainly. That is the 53rd chapter. And this is how you remember it begins, according to our translation of the Old Testament. And we were looking in to see who it is was speaking, and why they were speaking and when. But at 39, therefore they could not believe, because as Isaiah said again, you see how This man is Isaiah, John here in his gospel. Therefore they could not believe, because as Isaiah said again, he hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Isaiah, when he saw his glory, and spake of him. Now we have a number of the hymns together. I always think it helps you to settle down into the heart. And we turn to number 628. Number 628. One of the things that I have always been careful of is the introduction to the study or to the subject. And that may vary in length, or otherwise from time to time. But one of the things that makes me careful of the introduction is a very simple remark that a sister present in the Bible class said to me one night after the meeting. She said, you know, I enjoy those little introductions very much. And very often the introduction would just be something that I was bringing you up to date with, where my own personal devotion or experience was concerned. Now I have another little introduction tonight for you. And I want you to turn over to where I turned over earlier this morning actually. And let's enter the Corinthians there. We're into 1 Corinthians. And I want you to look at above at the end of chapter 12. But before I do that, just to refresh your mind on other little introductions. And I think even messages that rhyme from the past. Some of you may remember 1 Corinthians 14 and verse 12. Even so ye, for as much as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, think that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. And some of you may remember that I have drawn attention to find words in that verse more than once. The five words are, choose that ye may excel. In fact, I took that up, I can well remember, as an opening message to the study on the book of Daniel. Choose that ye may excel. Now there's a young lady out of the mission field in Spain tonight. Young lady by the name of Laura Sandler. She has been here in that school at meetings. And when I mentioned this first years ago in the Chainical Church, God really blessed that to her. And I have known her to mention this some years later, when she has been speaking personally to me. That is a great motto for a young woman or a young man, or as it any stage in Christian experience, seek that ye may excel. But now the one I want you to look at in introduction for a moment here tonight, is found at the end of 1 Corinthians 12. Let's read the verse. Now this morning, no later than this morning, I don't go hungry for us to shoot into the mind. But I'll tell you what did shoot into the mind. There were certain words dropped away completely from my mind at that moment, and I was left here with three words. And I'll show you what the three words are. Covet the best. Now, get hold of those three words tonight. Covet the best. And if you put those two sentences together, seek that ye may excel, and covet the best, you will have got a powerful motive for the future that you will only keep by those who live by it. Can I not say this in passing? All the years I have sought to do that in some little measure, I feel, before God. One can only go simple, Lord, no other way. I discovered this that I could clutter my shelves, for instance, with second-rate materials and stuff. And when I clutter my shelves with second-rate stuff, then I'm going to clutter my mind with second-rate stuff eventually, and I'm going to waste a lot of time. I didn't want second-rate material on my shelves. I coveted the best, and I'll show you how I was gained the best. I have often mentioned this. I don't think I've ever shown you my precious little volume, but there it is. It's quite dilapidated and stuck together by commenting and commenting on teenage versions. And in that he lists no less than about 1,500 books, right from the early fathers, about the 4th or 5th century, right up to 1876 when he put it to the press. Now, when I go through that, I notice he has all the books for a day that are set out in three types of print. The books he heartily commends are in beige-black print, the name of the writer is. The one that is of lesser value in his eyes is in small print, and not black. And then those, the least, are in very tiny. I have thought to go after the ones in black. I don't say that I've always been able to confound myself to that, because in some places they can be very scarce. But what I would say is this, and repeat it again, there is the best, and you can go after the best, and if you covet the best, you'll get God's promise to do that with you. Now, I mention that in the introduction tonight because where we are in the book of Isaiah for this month, or for the four nights actually together in the two months, where we are, we are under the very best. Because as I said to you, there's no one in all the Old Testament far more of Christ than Isaiah did. He's far more of Christ than any other man. And for my part, I'm sure along with you tonight, we would want to sit under the man who is no Christ than any other man. Who wouldn't? So that is why we'll come, and together we're devoting ourselves to the book of Isaiah, and we're wanting to seek it. Now, the first night, remember, we used the words we read from John 12. These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of him. And I have come through four places there where he saw him, and what he saw. Now, that's four months, and that's what we're going to see tonight. Thanks to Aaliyah Bradley. And we're coming through from Isaiah chapter 22, and we're coming through to Isaiah 14. Now, all together in a step. So let's come straight away to number one, and that is through Isaiah chapter 22. I think we'll read first, and we'll come here to this place. And it shall come to pass on that day that I will call my servant Elijah, the son of And I will close him with my robe, and strap him to death with my girdle. And I will commit my government into his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah, and he's a king of the house of David, where I lay upon his shoulder. So he shall open, and none shall shut, and he shall shut, and none shall open. Now, if your memory is good, and your knowledge is sufficient, you'll remember that's right. Because you're seeing it on opposite view when I turn over to Revelation chapter 37. That I will reach back into Isaiah 22 as we know it, and claim those words for himself. And say to the church of Philadelphia that he was the one who had the king of David, and he would open, and none would shut, and he would shut, and none would open. Now, the words I use, the key words tonight. One of the key form, we're going to make the record in a moment. One of the key suggests, the key suggests authority. Whenever a young man or woman was said to get the key years ago, they had come to the age of responsibility and authority. And so I have used as the first word tonight, the word supremacy. And what we will be staring at tonight with both eyes, is the supremacy of Christ. He saw the supremacy. Chapter 22 and verse 22. Now, Bible's open there in chapter 22, and let's see if we can gather up the story together. It says in verse 20, and it shall come to pass that that day, I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Mosiah. Now here's the story, and I'll gather up for you this day. There was a man by the name of Shem. You see his name makes 15 if you look. And he was the treasurer, according to verse 15. In other words, he had the charge of the treasures and the riches of the house of David. Now, of course, David was long dead by this time. Had retired, and other kings had called him in his grave. But it was still looked upon as the house of David. And the house of David, the royal house, was of treasures and riches. Now, Shem left, had he not? And God said he was going to remove Shem there, and he was going to bring in another man called Eliakim, verse 10. And he was going to take the key, and lay it upon his shoulder. Now, what does that mean? Well, I think that was a kind of an inputting into the office of the treasurer. In other words, he was his investiture. And so, the key was laid on his shoulder. Investiture into the office. But what we want out of this is here, that he, that was taken and laid upon his shoulder to Robert Lee's thinking of responsibility, to guess that this man had the key. And he could open, and he could close. Now, this was the treasure of the house of David and the riches. But the patients were asked for an effort tonight, that here was a man, and he had the key, and he could open, and he could close it with. Now, come with me. Into the book of the Revelation here. And we come now to chapter 3. And we see that verse in Isaiah 23, over in Revelation chapter 3 and verse 7 and 8. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, these things have he that is true, he that is holy, he that hath the key of David. He that openeth, and no one shutteth, and shutteth, and no man hath. In other words, now our Lord Jesus steps right into the picture of the scene and says, and then says, I am the true Elijah too. I am the real Elijah too. I am the one who has the key. I am the one which is open. I am the one which is closed. I have the authority, and the powers, and the supremacy, that that man, Elijah, hath in the days of Hezekiah the king of Judah. So, we've got, I think, a connection. And I think we've got a little more. We've got an understanding and a meaning about what this key was. It was suggesting this man has the power, Christ has the power, to open and to close. Not when he left and who came first. The next thing that I want you to notice here is how our Lord addressed this church. First of all, here he says to this church here of Philadelphia about faith, I know my works, behold, I have kept before me an open door, and no man can shut it. But thou hast a real strength, and hast kept my words, and hast not denied my name. Now, I can see two things there, and I can see a lot in the two things. First of all, can I say here, this church had but little strength. It was a small church. In other words, the Lord is addressing the few, because that is all we hear. They had little strength, they were but a few. But look again, they had kept his words, and not denied his name. They had been faithful. So put the two words together, and what he got now, a familiar expression. Here were the faithful few. And our Lord is addressing the faithful few. Now, what does he say to them? This is how I can actually know. He says here, behold, I have kept before me an open door. And no man can shut it. What does he mean by that? Well, those who have done the work and research, and those of us who come later, we call them editors. But those who have done the work tell us, that this church is going down to your still position. That it had access to the cave, and it had access right up the great valley, all the way up into the heart of Angelina itself. And other words, there was before us a vast open door for service and blessing. Now, what is the Lord saying to this church? He says, I'm setting before you this open door. I'm throwing open up avenues of service for you, and for blessing and usefulness. Why? Because you have been the faithful few. And he's rewarding the faithful few. And it's the faithful few, he addresses and says, I set before you an open door, vast, unreached, unframed, religious, and precious for me. Well, I'll tell you dear people in this class tonight what I did. And I'll tell you openly. I bowed my head at that point in my study. And I said, Lord Jesus, I thank you for this, but then you've always been doing it. You've always been rewarding the faithful few. And it's to the faithful few that you open the door to vast, unreached, unframed, precious, and carefully, spiritually, for God. You're wanting blessing then tonight? Are you wanting the Lord to open doors to you for service and for blessing and for a future? Remember this. He only does it for the faithful few. And those who are not faithful, even though they're the only few, the Lord never opens doors for them. They are fit where they're sat for a lifetime. But for the man or the woman that will prove himself or herself to be amongst the faithful few, the Lord will come straight away and say, I set before you an open door, vast, unreached, religious. And that's how we reward the faithful. Oh, I say to you tonight, don't be discouraged. All you have to be is amongst the faithful few. And it's thee. And the Lord will reward you without reservation or doubt. Keep faithful. So, I want you to notice two things and hear the game. Something that I only caught the hold of in preparation for our class tonight. You are looking here at one set of keys in chapter three, aren't you? It says here, I am the king of games. And I open a door and I thought, you know, that key was a key that was to do with the immediate and the present. And it was opening up then and then for them. Here, in this world, church, and message, and birth, and increase for them. Go back into chapter one. See another set of keys. Revelation chapter one. And we come here now to verse 18. I am he that liveth and was dead. I like to read that with far more emphasis than that. I am he that liveth and was dead. In other words, Christ is saying here, I was dead. And I am alive. And then he spills in the rain that he did with John here, and says, I was dead. I'm alive, I'm alive. I'm alive forevermore. And now he says, and have the keys. Here's another set of keys. Have the keys of hell and death. But what are those keys to do with? Not with this world. Those keys are to do with the next world. Those are the keys of hell and of death. The first set of keys in chapter three are to do with this world. And the second set of keys I mentioned are to do with the next world. In other words, the Lord has the keys of both worlds. He has the keys of all worlds. And he has the keys for this world to open up for you and me. The future. And success. And blessing and holiness. And then for the times, constantly during this long, he has the keys for the next world to open up the way for me here. So whether it's this world or that world, here or down here, he has the keys. And if it's the next world, he has the keys. In other words, we have here our Lord's absolute. And that's why I called out for you to sing with me tonight an opening word. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord. Come with me now to the second thing. He called his adventure, Isaiah in chapter 22, he called the man that is the key. The car is he, and the trend is he. Now, we come into chapter 28. And we come here through verse 16. And we are getting onto a little more familiar ground here with Morse, I think. Isaiah chapter 28, and verse 16. Therefore thus says the Lord God, behold I am named Zion for the foundation of stone. Tried stone, precious stone, precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. And he that hath leaned with shall not decay. So the second thing Isaiah saw, he called the stone. That is the second thing I'll study tonight. Behold, Isaiah is Zion of stone. Now, one learns, and especially when you're a young man, you've got to be willing to learn. And I remember the older men used to say repeatedly, the best way to interpret Scripture is to let Scripture interpret Scripture. That's quite a thing. But there are two grounds. In other words, if you can get one verse to move right back over onto the other verse, and clear it up for you, you're letting Scripture interpret Scripture. Now, you can't go wrong with that. And that's a great thing to do. Well, when does Scripture interpret Scripture for this? Well, we're into 1 Peter here. And we come to what Peter had to say and how he referred to this very portion. 1 Peter, and chapter 2. Whereupon, nearing the time of old malice and old guile, and hypocrisy that envies an evil speeching, a new-born babe desires to appeal unto the Word that he may grow thereby in serving the taste of the Lord's grace, to learn cunning as unto a learning stone. This will allow you to think of man chosen of God and precious. He's full of Isaiah. He's full, full of Isaiah. Ye are to a blithely stone those of the spiritual heart of your mercy. Wherefore, behold, Isaiah and Zion, a chief quarterstone, elect and precious. So, thank you, Peter. You've helped us to understand and be sure. Was Isaiah speaking about Christ here? When he said, behold, Isaiah and Zion, a stone. This is Christ and Isaiah. Now, have a close look in here. The first thing I want you to meet with is in verse 15. I'll be ready to look in there. And we're just reading the latter part of the verse. For we have made lies our refuge. And under falsehood have we made ourselves. Who? Well, this was God's own people. This was the Jews. This was Israel at this time. And who were they making their refuge? It was Egypt. And they were going down to Egypt for help. And how did God classify their refuge? That's what we're going to look into this part. He called it a refuge of light. That's what he called it. A refuge of light. In other words, that's what Egypt would turn out to be to Israel if it was accustomed it. Well, now, that's very apt, that expression, isn't it? We know of a lot of people in our land today who have nothing else but a refuge of light. And that's all we're depending upon. For eternity, under sheltering, under a refuge of light. And you can read a lot into that. Well, now, come again with me here. It says in verse 16, Therefore, thus says the Lord God, behold, behold, I lay in Zion a foundation. As over against a refuge of light. Something you can build on. Something you can depend upon. Not a refuge of light, but a foundation. And he tells us who the foundation is. He says, I lay for the foundation a stone, as I call a stone. And we know by Peter's letter, that's Christ. So you see the scene there. It was over against a refuge of light. As God came and said, I'm going to lay instead a foundation. And he that believeth will never make haste or hurry away in fleeing. Shall we just have a look at the stone for a moment here? We're looking at Christ. You notice, first of all, it is spoken of as a foundation stone. And that is exactly what Christ is. He is the foundation. I'm building on Him. Everything I have, I'm building on Him. I've built my house on Him. I've built my future on Him. I've built my foundation for eternity on Him. I've got built everything on Him. He's the foundation. Not only the foundation stone, you notice it's said to be a time stone. Now, a dear brother in Christ went home to heaven. Under sad circumstances for all evangelicals. But I honor him to this day as a great brother. And I'm thinking of the late Pastor Willie Mullins. And I remember Willie Mullins on the Christ stone. And I remember him coming through all the things that tried Christ. And all the ways he was tried. The pastor always said in his own mannered way of preaching. That he was tested by temptation. In the wilderness. By the devil. And there he was tested by the king. Peter tested him. Thomas tested him. And they all tested him. Yes, he was tested by the king. And then he was tested by the tomb. Whenever he was in the tomb. And lived there, dead. For those three days. And since then he has been tested by time. Of the centuries of God. Tested by temptation. Tested by the king. Tested by trial. And tested by the tomb. And tested by time. The stone I mourn tonight. Has been now tested. And that's the foundation. That's what I mourn. And when I think about a long eternity in an immortal stone. I need a sure foundation. A sure foundation for eternity. Yes, a foundation stone is Christ's stone. And then he has also here, a corner stone. And do you know what that is? You've seen a lot of them. You go up there to a brother's house. Frank Cox to Coxcroft. And go down to Coxcroft and come to Frank. And you see him in one of those little houses there. And he'll point out to you a corner stone I'm sure. There it is here, right at the corner. And it's out this way. And it's along this way. And the old cottage is projected out. Now what does a corner stone do in an old cottage or house? Well, it joins all the sites together. And it held them together. And it got joined by her together. And held all together. Supported all together. Dear people here tonight. All of us as different from one another as could be. From backgrounds as varied as could be. And yet here we are tonight. And we're all one. And we're all together. How does it come? It's that corner stone. It's the corner stone. Binding us all and holding us all together. He's the corner stone. There's only one. And he has joined and bound millions of living stones together. He's the chief corner stone. Because Peter talks about you also as loving living stones. You're a stone in the building. I'm a stone. We're all stones. But that's all we are. He's the chief corner stone. And so he's beneath me as the foundation stone. And he's there as the corner stone. And then it says he's also a precious corner stone. And of course that would be true, wouldn't it? I don't think there would be too many corner stones available putting up any building. You might have got one or two. So let's adopt an approach of that. There wasn't just us. Every corner stone. That stone would be great. And so was Christ. He is precious. He's the one and only corner stone. Now, just I draw one more thing from this and then we will leave it for a minute. It says here for whom I live. As God has created me. God has laid this stone. And God has laid it for a foundation. And I've got a sure foundation. I've got an authentic foundation. He that believeth shall not take it. The thought is hurry and panic and fear. That's the meaning there. And whenever the last hour comes. Will not be running heather and feather here and there and fear and panic wandering. They can't see it said here. He saw, this is where we say. King of half the king. The king of all of us. King of all of us. He saw the stone. The chief corners. Now let's come to the third thing. Third thing now we'll enter chapter 32 of Isaiah. Chapter 32. And now we come to verses 1 and 2 here. Behold a king shall reign in righteousness. As all kings should do of course. And princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind. And a harbor from the tempest. As rivers of water in a dry place. As the shadow of a grain truck. Well, that's sweet to your taste, isn't it? And the next thing that I change is this. He calls the fantasy chapter 22. He calls the stone chapter 28. Now it has me. He calls me shelter. Chapter 32. He calls me shelter. And a man shall be a hiding place from the wind. Here's the hiding place. I'm not sure that this is the place where Corrie Ten Boom took her great little boat from. You remember that Jewish woman survived the camps in Germany, in Nazi Germany? And she wrote her book afterwards, The Hiding Place. Remember how one sister died in the concentration camp and she survived? A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind. He's called The Hiding Place. Question number one. Who's the king? Says here about a king and a man. I think if the king is the man, the man's the king. But who is the king? In the first place, I think, I can suggest. And dear old Matthew Henry was to the fore here. He says, I think in the first place the king himself was Teddy Kyle. I think that he was the king in the first place, who was a hiding place from the wind. What wind? Well, if you know the background, the Assyrians were threatening the very systems of Judah at that time. The winds were blowing up and there were lots against the nation. And then Henry Kyle came and he went before the Lord and he took the threatening letter from Tenebrous and he went and spread before the Lord. And there he was between them and the nation. A hiding place from the nation. Sheltering the nation from the winds of persecution and threat that were blowing up. Well, a man can be a hiding place. I meant it more than once. I was brought up, I remember well, in the 30s, 1930s. And the man was a working man in those days. He had very, very little to live on and people went with family on. If he got 10 shillings a week at that time he was well off. I was from the farming background and they were no better. Many a farmer would go to his farm to the good man that he was. And I remember well my father hard pressed, very hard pressed. And he sang to my wife and I was a wee nipper running around but I could remember him. And he said, you know dear, I come in between you and the world. I come in between you and the world. And he did. And he did what? He capped the roof over her head. Look, there's a far bigger man than Henry Kyle. Very often in these Old Testament prophets there was a first, immediate thing in their minds. But through that, by means of that, they're moved up to their greatest, something infinitely great. And I know that's what is here, is the Messiah. He himself said nature to the woman of the well. He talked to arrow rivers of living water. John said unto me there are more beautiful rivers of living water. In other words, Christ reached back and got hold of this and took up his mind. That's him. This and took up his mind. Why don't you look in here and see the three or four things here. And we must move through fairly quickly at that. The first thing I want you to notice, and those who may be taking notes. Number one, you'll notice the refuge. He says a man shall be a hiding place for the wind. And we know the winds can blow. They can. Sometimes they can do very well. Sometimes it's the cold, chewing winds of the world blowing upon our souls. Sometimes it's country winds, little Billy, that would have you all caught on the way to heaven before you would know where you are. Country winds. Sometimes it's headwinds. In fact, I would almost say they're headwinds all the way. All the route. Headwinds. And some of them are very strong. Ah, yes. But what happens when you go down the road and the wind comes up and the rain begins to come down? You're a free shelter. And you pull in under the old bush and the trees or the hedge or whatever it may be. And that's your hiding place. Where should you head for, Christian, when the winds begin to rush? Run to your hiding place. There's a man and he's the hiding place. Run to him. Look again. There's not only a retreat. Secondly, there's a retreat. I take this word. It says, a coward from the tempest. Now, do you see the difference? The two expressions, they're not similar. Notice in the first one, he's talking about wind. And the second one, he's talking about a tempest. There's the difference. In other words, the wind has risen to tempest force. And they can do that all right. And you can be just in the midst of a real tempest. Tempest of trouble and suffering and turmoil that you don't know where or what. Yes, the winds can rise. All right, they can get very rough. But what should you do? Let's go back to that illustration. You're going down the road, a country road, I imagine, say, for illustration. And the winds come up and the rains are beginning to come. And you head for a hiding place. But then the winds get stronger. And the rain gets heavier and becomes a downpour. What do you do then? You get deeper in to your hiding place. Don't you? You draw back into that hiding place and that passage of deeper in. And that's what you should do when the winds get rougher and come to tempest force. Get deeper in. I've seen it happen. I've seen souls with trouble, a notion of trouble. But it seems to me the more trouble, the deeper in. And that's what drags you in. Later you'll find God even for it. Come to a service. You normally have a refuge in a retreat. A certain thing you have here is a river. It says, as rivers of water, not singular, plural. As rivers of water in a dry place. Well, the Savior is there. But it's Christ that's being brought before us. But let's take the dry place for a moment. You can understand that a natural way, a geographical way. But then when you find your way, you can think of all the dry places. This world is a dry place. Not much in it for the challenge of God. Oh, it's a dry place. You come back out of it. Some of you in here tonight have been in it all day. You didn't find much in it. You come back out of it soaked. You feel dry. Not watered rightly. Or again, sometimes it goes so spiritually. You come into the meeting. You happen to look without for it rightly. You look in and you say, oh, what a dry place. I'm dry, I'm dry, I'm dry. Or again, it may be not only the world and the soul. It may be meetings, motels. All I've been in meetings that were a dry place. Dry city. My dear child of God. There's a man tonight. And he says to you and to me. He says he is a revolution. And you remember how he said in John chapter 7. If any man says it is a dry place anywhere. Let him come on to thee. And he that believeth on thee, without faith or fonder in him, shall go rubbish. There's a man. And he's the answer to all survivors. He can be enlightened. And what a refreshment. Fourthly, you'll notice now the rock. You have the refuge. You have the retreat. You have the river. And now you have the rock. As the shadow of a great rock. And it may be that. And you know the picture. You're filling in for yourself without me. You can see a traveller, can't you? And he's heading across the desert place. And the sun is overpowering. As it beams down and shoots its rays down upon his head. And he's overpowered with it. And then he sees a rock. A great rock. And the shadow. And there he comes and lies down on it. Dear child of God. That world out there would overpower you. Overpower you. Overpower anyone. But we can see a shadow. A great rock deep within his shadow. How deep deep within the shadow of the rock? You've got to be very close to the rock. Be very close to Christ. You'll find him. He saw the supremacy. He saw the shadow. So that is one more. We will change to that. We come now into chapter 40. Chapter 40. And straight away you will have, as was on the screen, chapter 40 and verse 11. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with him. Yes, you got it. He saw the shepherd. Now, we've got to get a little of the chapter to get the text. Drop back down to verse 3 and 4 and see if you understand there as you will. Verse 3. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness preparing thee the way of the Lord. Who's that? John. John the Baptist. And what's he calling for? What's he doing? Preparing the way of the Lord. Preparing for what? For whom? For the coming of the Lord. Come down to verse 10. It becomes even more definite. For whom the Lord God will come. Which God has. And I think it's dear old Ebenezer Meyer has put it here. When they have eaten. Every eye will be looking for who is coming. For whom the Lord will come. And when he comes it will be. The shepherd. The shepherd. Suffering and underwhelming. He came in the form of the shepherd. Another example. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives things for life for the sheep. He appears in the form. Can I just take three things to do with the shepherd then? We're in verse 11. Arbitrary. And the first thing that I have here is prediction. It says he shall feed the flock like a shepherd. The word feed there is actually bigger than mere feeding. It means to tend the flock. In other words, everything the flock requires he will feed it. And of course we know our Lord did that and done it. But I want just the word feed just for a moment. It says he shall feed his flock. Now it's lovely isn't it? Lovely to see a flock being fed. Many a time I saw a flock being fed in the country. A flock of sheep. And he can just transpose that over and take it over into a little church. Say on the Lord's Day morning. And there's the flock. And in order to feed the flock he has given some pastures and heaps. And through the evening he feeds the flock. Oh how lovely that he should provide. Well that's why he put these gifts in the box. In order to feed. But now look not only at the prefection. Look at the prefection. It says he shall gather the lambs. I take of the young lambs the new born lamb. And carry them in his boot. See how close he has the lamb. Now every one of you here tonight at one stage were just a lamb. You were a lamb. That's all you were just born into the kingdom. Don't you remember how close you were? When you were first saved. How was that? I saw a flock here then. He shall gather the lambs. And carry them in his boot. You were there because that's where Christ had you. He had you in his boot. That's why your salvation. Because you would get away from there. But on the first thing here. Not only got the provision and the preservation. Notice another expression here. It says and gently lead. And I have emphasised gently. And gently lead those that are the young. Here's the pinch. Which he's going to do. Gently lead those that are. Who are those that are the young? These are not those where the young lamb has just been born. They're not there yet. The lamb is yet unborn. And these are carrying the virgin. And to that very thoughtful shepherd. Gently lead those that are made to die. You virgins. Maybe you're here tonight. Dear child of God. You virgins. Many virgins. Nobody else. No surprise. I understand this as a pastime here. And I knew virgins. Others knew nothing about it. Now sometimes we can be tempted to use the whip. Sometimes we can be tempted to overdrive it. But no. We're thinking particularly of those who are carrying heavy burdens. And they are so. They're being to be taken care of. Gently lead those. He knows the pace. That you people might. Apart from that. From his being a Christ. We're through with that. These things take Isaiah. When he taught his glory. And the faith of him. Before this event. Before this journey. Chapter three. Before the shepherd. Chapter three too. Before the shepherd. God willing. I want you to go through chapter forty-two and sixty-one. Number six, one, five. Six, one, five. Those are closing days.