[0:00] Let us join together in the worship of God. We shall sing to his praise from Psalm 25.
[0:24] Psalm 25 and the first version of the psalm and from verse 4 to verse 10.
[0:37] Show me thy ways, O Lord, thy paths, O teach thou me, and do thou lead me in thy truth, therein my teacher be.
[0:47] For thou art God that dost to me salvation send, and I upon thee all the day expecting to attend. Thy tender mercies, Lord, I pray thee to remember, and lovingkindnesses, for they have been of old forever.
[1:06] My sins and faults of youth do thou, O Lord, forget. After thy mercy think on me, and for thy goodness great.
[1:17] God good and upright is, the way he'll sinners show, the meek in judgment he will guide and make his path to know. The whole paths of the Lord are truth and mercy sure to those that do his covenant keep, and testimonies pure.
[1:37] And so on down. We'll sing these verses. Psalm 25, the first version of the psalm from verse 4 to 10. Show me thy ways, O Lord, thy paths, O teach thou me.
[1:49] Show me thy ways, O Lord, thy paths, O teach thou me.
[2:04] Under thou reign be in thy truth, therein my teacher be.
[2:19] For thou art God that dost, to me salvation send, and I upon thee all the day expecting to attend.
[2:49] Light and gladness, O Lord, thy grace, O Lord, I pray thee to remember, and lovingkindnesses, for they have been of old forever.
[3:19] forever. My sins and thoughts of you, do thou, O Lord, forgive?
[3:36] God trading. After thou art thou in sight. After thou art thou in sight. You five things, to me andest upon me that boy and buy thy goodness day.
[3:54] God's good and the pride is, the way his sinners show, the weak in judgment he will guide, and make his path to know, the hope has softened on, and to the mercy's good, to those that do his crown, and keep our testimony pure.
[5:00] Let us join together in prayer. Let us pray. O Lord our God, as we come before you in prayer, we would ask for your help, knowing that without you, we are unable to fulfill our obligation to worship as we ought to.
[5:28] We acknowledge that as fallen creatures, we come short of your glory. We sin in thought, in word, and in deed, and in our most holy things, we are inclined to add sin to that also.
[5:48] We would pray for your help, as we pray, and that your spirit would undertake for us, and that we would magnify you, and that we would magnify you, our God, more than we are able to do.
[6:06] For by ourselves, our inclinations are sinful. we bless you, we bless you, and thank you, that you know us better than we know ourselves.
[6:20] And even when we contemplate the scripture, and we understand the way in which the disciples, who were most closely associated with you, who were the most taught of all of these people that are in the world.
[6:46] You took them to yourself, you took time to speak to them, and to speak to them from the word, that is your own word. And yet they failed to comprehend the truths that you set before them.
[7:08] The spirit had not come, no doubt, and they were, they were incapable of entering into the truth, as your church on earth is today, because of that.
[7:25] Because when they were empowered from on I, the difference was great. But our sin still comes between us and you.
[7:40] We bless you and thank you for your word that reminds us of the privileges that we enjoy, that when we come to you asking anything in your name, then you have promised to supply us with it when we are in no doubt in earnestness and in other dependence upon you.
[8:09] We acknowledge that often you are the God of the last resort, but we pray for forgiveness for every time that we look upon you like that.
[8:21] We pray that as you have loved us, that we might love you. And you are given the promise to us that as the Father has loved you, you have loved, because you have loved me and believed that I have come from the Father.
[8:45] We know that you are a good God, that you are a just God, that you are a holy God, and all of these things cannot change the way you deal with us as your people.
[9:01] are instead making it ever more sure that when we come, that we know what to expect. So bless us accordingly, and bless us according to the to the goodness and the grace that you have not only promised, but demonstrated in our lives as they're true.
[9:25] Remember all that we bring before you at this time. May your blessing be on your word, so that hear us of it or do us of it.
[9:36] May those who are strangers to you be brought within the fold. You have many sheep that are not of the fold, that you have promised to take in. Gather them in, we pray.
[9:49] May the shepherd do us the good shepherd, who has endowed unto shepherds to go out in his name. Trace and track them and bring them to where they are, wherever they are, scattered to the ends of the world.
[10:08] Whatever agency that you use, we give thanks for the privilege of hearing your word preached in public or through the mediums of radio and television and internet.
[10:21] All of these you have given to us. you have given to us many of these privileges and many others that are used to the detriment of your name.
[10:32] we pray for forgiveness for every sin that is ours with regard to how we spend our time and misuse the privileges that we have.
[10:45] We pray your blessing upon all who proclaim the word. We would ask your blessing upon their labor, all the missionaries of the cross, all the places in the world that were once dependent upon missionaries who are now sending missionaries out themselves.
[11:05] We pray for the those who are preparing to be preachers of the cross who are coming to the end of their training in our seminary as they sit exams and as they wait upon your final call to them and placing them in congregations.
[11:30] May they look to the Lord as the congregations who will call them to be their ministers wait upon the Lord. Make us understand the need that there is to be more dependent upon you, dependent upon the life that your word gives.
[11:48] here are petitions on behalf of those who are unwell amongst us. Bless the sick, heal them we pray, be they at home or in hospital or being cared for by others wherever.
[12:05] We remember those who have succumbed to COVID and we pray that as evidences appear to indicate that the disease is regressing.
[12:19] We pray that you would ensure that the various remedies that have been sought and found and are being applied that they may be fruitful.
[12:33] The nations of the earth that are less privileged than our own may also be beneficiaries of the research that is current. Remembering the various nations of the earth that are in poverty and who have huge populations that may know nothing of the remedies being available to them.
[12:58] we remember in your presence those who are prisoners because of their profession of faith know that there are nations that are but they're enemies of the gospel.
[13:17] Do thou in mercy work amongst them through the witnesses that you have endowed with grace to be fearless in the face of such enmity.
[13:29] We give thanks for the history of our own nation that has demonstrated that such were in our nation at the time of persecution who were fearless and who ensured that the gospel would be shared amongst those who even then were resistant to it.
[13:55] we give thanks for every good and perfect gift that comes to us from the Father of lights and the God of all grace.
[14:08] We pray that you would remember our nation those who govern us those who will shortly be sitting in the new Scottish Parliament pray for the royal household the Queen and our family and all who mourn in the like fashion as a result of bereavement within the family circle.
[14:31] Hear our petitions we pray may your blessing be accompanying your word to those who witness to the truth in their lives and to those who bear testimony to the saving influence of Christ upon their life.
[14:46] May it be redound to your glory for giving sin in Jesus' name. Amen. We are going to hear the word of God as we have it in the New Testament scriptures and we are reading from John chapter 17.
[15:01] John chapter 17 These words spoke Jesus and lift up his eyes to heaven and said, Father the out is come, glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee.
[15:17] As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
[15:36] I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
[15:53] I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word.
[16:06] Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and have known truly that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
[16:28] I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine and I am glorified in them.
[16:43] And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are.
[17:03] While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled.
[17:19] And now come I to thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
[17:38] I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
[17:51] Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth, as thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world, and for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
[18:12] And so on. May God add this blessing to a reading of his word, and to his name be the praise. Let us read some verses at the beginning of this chapter that we have read.
[18:26] These words, speak Jesus, and lift up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour has come, glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
[18:48] And this is life eternal, that he might know thee, the only true God, that Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. At verse 2 we read, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
[19:12] There are many in the world and they do not believe God's word. They might believe parts of it, but most, are a big majority of it.
[19:31] They have no belief in it at all. For example, this passage that we have here that speaks of eternal life, would be a passage that they would treat with a measure of disdain, because to all intents and purposes what they believe must be provable, it must be something that they can't test, physically test, and if they can't see it, if they can't experience it, if they can't know for certain, by the powers of deduction that they possess, that such a thing exists, they will dismiss the dirt of hand.
[20:22] Well, if we believe in the word of God, if we believe in the scripture, which is the word of God, then we cannot but believe that there is such a thing as eternal life, that there is life that is different to the life that we measure in this world.
[20:44] We measure our days in the world, we measure our existence in the world from the point of our birth to the point of our death. What lies in between these two points are usually considered to be our life.
[21:00] Whatever it's made up of, whatever activities we engage in, that is our life. And many look at their life and they despair of it, they think little of it, or they celebrate it and very often today when a person dies, the funeral service takes on this guise, a celebration of the life of whoever, John Smith.
[21:33] It's a celebration of their life. The focus is upon the things that are worth remembering in the eyes or in the opinion of those who are doing the celebrating.
[21:49] Within the Christian church, even those who are supposed to believe in such a thing as eternal life don't. The Christian life, as far as they're concerned, is bound up with the things of this world.
[22:09] And to be a Christian is somebody who is a Christian in this world. What lies beyond is too mysterious for them if there is any mystery in their mind concerning it.
[22:26] But the scripture tells us that eternal life is something that the Lord Jesus Christ has promised.
[22:40] He says in verse 2 here, as you have given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given to him.
[22:53] It is a gift on the part of Christ that he bestows on those that God has given to.
[23:05] If you remember the Apostle James, he is a believer in Jesus Christ.
[23:17] He is someone who knew the Lord Jesus Christ, someone who heard the Lord Jesus Christ preach and he believed wholeheartedly that there was something beyond the here and now, something that was beyond the experience of life in this world.
[23:39] Whereas he says you know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
[23:50] but that you are to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. But now you rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil.
[24:04] Therefore to him that knoweth to be good and doeth it, not to him it is sin. James the Apostle was there focusing on the living, the true living of life here in this world.
[24:19] But he was doing it, he was speaking of it as somebody who was aware of eternal life as someone, something that was beyond this world and that this experience of living in this world affected.
[24:43] There are many, I was reading some time ago in the works of John Blanchard, he was talking about the reaction or the beliefs of some concerning life in this world.
[25:01] There are many people and when they think about life in this world, they're very philosophical about it because everyone knows. And if they don't, they're in denial that however long lived they are, that beyond this world, whatever lies, they know that there is a point beyond which they cannot go.
[25:23] And whatever lies beyond it in their thinking is sometimes vague and sometimes nebulous, sometimes it is totally unrealistic.
[25:37] realistic. But what they do know is that this world is something that they can only enjoy for a time. I think Blanchard was speaking about someone and he was talking, so waxing lyrical about his life and the way life was running out as it were.
[26:01] And so many people do this. He said, this body, my body, is like an old car. It spends more and more time in the garage.
[26:14] Something might be serious, something maybe not serious, but it's always going wrong. One of these days it's not going to be worthwhile putting it into the garage for repairs.
[26:29] that's the way many people treat death, with humour, because they don't like to think about the possibility of anything being beyond death itself.
[26:50] But I want us to think about these words that we have here, beginning with the gift. Jesus describes eternal life as a gift.
[27:05] And it's a gift that he gives himself. And it is a gift he gives himself to those that God has given to him.
[27:19] the apostle Paul believes that eternal life is a gift.
[27:35] In Romans chapter 6 and verse 23, he tells us that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[27:49] writing to the Ephesian congregation, he says in chapter 2, By grace are you saved through faith, and not of yourselves.
[28:05] It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And so on. Salvation is salvation unto eternal life.
[28:18] salvation and the recipients of that salvation are those who are clearly meant to understand, clearly meant to believe that the salvation that they have from Christ, through Christ, is salvation that leads them to eternal life.
[28:45] Jesus, when he was addressing Nicodemus in the gospel of John, very liberally I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, he says to Nicodemus.
[29:03] And he continues in that same chapter, whosoever believeth in Jesus or the Son of Man will not perish but have eternal life.
[29:17] And the reason was that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him would not perish but have everlasting life.
[29:29] Life eternal, life everlasting. and it is theirs not because they have accumulated points or accumulated some kudos with God that would allow them to inherit it or possess it by their own endeavours.
[29:51] It is something that God gives through Christ to them. They could not purchase it because they could not afford it.
[30:04] They could not achieve it because they could not strive successfully for it. There are many who lived and who have spent their days thinking that this is something that was possible, that they could achieve eternal life by their own endeavours.
[30:26] That there is a way in which they could perform good works and that by reason of their good works that they would earn their way to heaven.
[30:38] But Jesus will say to them who have that belief and say the same to those who have taught them to think like that, that they are not of the number that have received the gift of eternal life.
[31:02] For none can deserve it by their own endeavours. None deserve it by reason of what they believe other than to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
[31:16] In the context here, God gave the Son authority over all flesh so that he could give eternal life to them.
[31:30] In the epistle to the Hebrews in chapter 2, Behold, I and the children that God has given to me.
[31:45] A verse that is indelibly imprinted in my own memory from my early Christian experience. Behold, I and the children which God hath given me for as much and as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death, that is the devil, and delivered them who through the fear of death were all lifetime subject to bondage.
[32:18] A passage that speaks of the life and the ministry of Christ and what he achieved by it. Christ is the source of this gift, God the Father and the Son.
[32:35] Eternal life cannot come from any other source. who notice how John speaks about the life that is in their possession in his first epistle.
[32:49] He begins to write that epistle with these words in his mind, on his heart, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life, for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us, that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with the Son, Jesus Christ, and these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
[33:40] Christ gave himself a ransom for the believer, and he is not willing that any for whom he died, that they should perish.
[33:53] You must always remember that salvation is all of grace, and whoever receives salvation, they are not deserving of the least of God's mercies, and certainly not that mercy.
[34:08] It's entirely the work of God in total. God can choose to bless whoever and if ever he chooses, and he can choose to allow you to believe that it was all done for, all down to your energy in seeking or praying or whatever, and he ties himself to being found by the seeker and answering the prayers of the penitent, and so on.
[34:42] It may appear to us that this is what we are doing and what we have done is the reason for our salvation. He, however, is the one who bestows the gift and who allows the believer to come to that place through Christ Jesus.
[35:08] God is the God God I was reminded this week in a reading of some daily readings of the account that we have of John Knox famous Scottish preacher.
[35:21] When he was on his death bed, he was fading for several hours, he called to his wife and asked her to read the scripture to him.
[35:37] He just said to her, go and read where I first cast my anchor. And this is the chapter that she read to him.
[35:52] He had eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ.
[36:21] And at the same time, there he was in the eyes of men dying, passing away, on his way into eternity.
[36:32] And yet he was sure that he already possessed eternal life when he came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as the Saviour.
[36:44] And this is what you discover when you discover who are given the gift of eternal life. We already quoted the words of the apostle John in John chapter 3 and verses 15 and 16.
[37:06] Verses that we are so familiar with. for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
[37:26] But later on in the same gospel he goes on to emphasize the reality of what he is saying there.
[37:40] All that the father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out he says. Any person who comes to Christ because the father has given them to him he is not going to turn them away.
[37:57] Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me has everlasting life. Scripture says to as many as received him give he power to be the sons of God.
[38:17] And this is what has to be true about every one of us. The life everlasting of which he speaks is life without end through the Lord Jesus Christ.
[38:31] Eternity beckons and every person who enters into eternity will go to their final destiny. If they are believers they will go to be with Christ which is far better.
[38:45] They will know the wonder of his grace being fulfilled to the fullness of their experience.
[39:05] John in the epistle to the revelations he writes the spirit and the bride say come and let him that heareth say come let him that is her thirst come to whoever will let him take the water of life freely.
[39:24] In the gospel we have an invitation to come to Christ to believe in Christ and any and all who believe in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
[39:39] we live in a perishing world. There are many today who are industrious in trying to preserve the world.
[39:53] They are trying to do their utmost to ensure that this world will not succumb to the evils to which it is exposed because of the iniquity that is in the heart of man.
[40:08] They are destroying their environment and many are industriously involved in ensuring that that will not happen. But they ignore the fact that they are in a perishing world.
[40:22] I am not saying that their industry is in vain in that respect that they should do all in their power to ensure that we do our utmost for this world in which we live.
[40:35] So that we will not be destroyed but that will not be the case in any of this day will come when God has said that this world will come to an end.
[40:48] But those who are in Christ will live on. Those who are in Christ will never die. Those who are in Christ will live with him with the life that is without end.
[41:02] do you believe that? Do you believe that that is what the scripture teaches? Well I do. I believe that the scripture speaks clearly to every one of us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of our soul.
[41:20] And whoever believes in him we are told with the same certainty that they shall not perish but that they shall have everlasting life. May you be amongst them.
[41:33] May I be amongst them. May God bless these words. Let us pray. Forgive us, O Lord, for every shortcoming we have in presenting the word of truth. May you guide us to Christ.
[41:45] May you speak to our souls. May you continue to watch over us, cleanse from sin, and may grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit be with you